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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/7925.txt b/7925.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a7260dd --- /dev/null +++ b/7925.txt @@ -0,0 +1,22708 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Expositions of Holy Scripture + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Posting Date: August 4, 2012 [EBook #7925] +Release Date: April, 2005 +First Posted: May 31, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, Chew-Hung, Lee, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +PSALMS + +by + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + + + + + +VOLUME I: PSALMS _I to XLIX_ + + +CONTENTS + + +BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE (Psalm i. 1, 2; cl. 6) + +A STAIRCASE OF THREE STEPS (Psalm v. 11, 12) + +ONE SAYING FROM THREE MEN (Psalm x. 6; xvi. 8; xxx. 6) + +MAN'S TRUE TREASURE IN GOD (Psalm xvi. 5, 6) + +GOD WITH US, AND WE WITH GOD (Psalm xvi. 8, 11) + +THE TWO AWAKINGS (Psalm xvii. 15; lxxiii. 20) + +SECRET FAULTS (Psalm xix. 12) + +OPEN SINS (Psalm xix. 13) + +FEASTING ON THE SACRIFICE (Psalm xxii. 26) + +THE SHEPHERD KING OF ISRAEL (Psalm xxiii. 1-6) + +A GREAT QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER (Psalm xxiv. 3) + +THE GOD WHO DWELLS WITH MEN (Psalm xxiv. 7-10) + +GUIDANCE IN JUDGMENT (Psalm xxv. 8, 9) + +A PRAYER FOR PARDON AND ITS PLEA (Psalm xxv. 11) + +GOD'S GUESTS (Psalm xxvii. 4) + +'SEEK YE'--'I WILL SEEK' (Psalm xxvii. 8, 9) + +THE TWO GUESTS (Psalm xxx. 5) + +'BE ... FOR THOU ART' (Psalm xxxi. 2, 3, R.V.) + +'INTO THY HANDS' (Psalm xxxi. 5) + +GOODNESS WROUGHT AND GOODNESS LAID UP (Psalm xxxi. 19) + +HID IN LIGHT (Psalm xxxi. 20) + +A THREEFOLD THOUGHT OF SIN AND FORGIVENESS (Psalm xxxii. 1, 2) + +THE ENCAMPING ANGEL (Psalm xxxiv. 7) + +STRUGGLING AND SEEKING (Psalm xxxiv. 10) + +NO CONDEMNATION (Psalm xxxiv. 22) + +SKY, EARTH, AND SEA: A PARABLE OF GOD (Psalm xxxvi. 5-7) + +WHAT MEN FIND BENEATH THE WINGS OF GOD (Psalm xxxvi. 8, 9) + +THE SECRET OF TRANQUILLITY (Psalm xxxvii. 4, 5, 7) + +THE BITTERNESS AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE (Psalm xxxix. 6, +12) + +TWO INNUMERABLE SERIES (Psalm xl. 5, 12) + +THIRSTING FOR GOD (Psalm xlii. 2) + +THE PSALMIST'S REMONSTRANCE WITH HIS SOUL (Psalm xliii. 5) + +THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY (Psalm xlv. 2-7, R.V.) + +THE PORTRAIT OF THE BRIDE (Psalm xlv. 10-15, R.V.) + +THE CITY AND RIVER OF GOD (Psalm xlvi. 4-7) + +THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF JACOB (Psalm xlvi. 11) + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE (Psalm xlviii. 1-14) + +TWO SHEPHERDS AND TWO FLOCKS (Psalm xlix. 14; Rev. vii. 17) + + + + +BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE + + + 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, + nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the + scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord.' + --PSALM i. 1, 2. + + 'Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the + Lord.'--PSALM cl. 6. + +The Psalter is the echo in devout hearts of the other portions of divine +revelation. There are in it, indeed, further disclosures of God's mind +and purposes, but its especial characteristic is--the reflection of the +light of God from brightened faces and believing hearts. As we hold it +to be inspired, we cannot simply say that it is man's response to God's +voice. But if the rest of Scripture may be called the speech of the +Spirit of God _to_ men, this book is the answer of the Spirit of God +_in_ men. + +These two verses which I venture to lay side by side present in a very +remarkable way this characteristic. It is not by accident that they +stand where they do, the first and last verses of the whole collection, +enclosing all, as it were, within a golden ring, and bending round to +meet each other. They are the summing up of the whole purpose and issue +of God's revelation to men. + +The first and second psalms echo the two main portions of the old +revelation--the Law and the Prophets. The first of them is taken up with +the celebration of the blessedness and fruitful, stable being of the man +who loves the Law of the Lord, as contrasted with the rootless and +barren life of the ungodly, who is like the chaff. The second is +occupied with the contemplation of the divine 'decree' by which the +coming King is set in God's 'holy hill of Zion,' and of the blessedness +of 'all they who put their trust in Him,' as contrasted with the swift +destruction that shall fall on the vain imaginations of the rebellious +heathen and banded kings of earth. + +The words of our first text, then, may well stand at the beginning of +the Psalter. They express the great purpose for which God has given His +Law. They are the witness of human experience to the substantial, though +partial, accomplishment of that purpose. They rise in buoyant triumph +over that which is painful and apparently opposed to it; and in spite of +sorrow and sin, proclaim the blessedness of the life which is rooted in +the Law of the Lord. + +The last words of the book are as significant as its first. The closing +psalms are one long call to praise--they probably date from the time of +the restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah, when, as we know, 'the service +of song' was carefully re-established, and the harps which had hung +silent upon the willows by the rivers of Babylon woke again their +ancient melodies. These psalms climb higher and higher in their +rapturous call to all creatures, animate and inanimate, on earth and in +heaven, to praise Him. The golden waves of music and song pour out ever +faster and fuller. At last we hear this invocation to every instrument +of music to praise Him, responded to, as we may suppose, by each, in +turn as summoned, adding its tributary notes to the broadening river of +harmony--until all, with gathered might of glad sound blended with the +crash of many voices, unite in the final words, 'Let every thing that +hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.' + +I. We have here a twofold declaration of God's great purpose in all His +self-revelation, and especially in the Gospel of His Son. + +Our first text may be translated as a joyful exclamation, 'Oh! the +blessedness of the man--whose delight is in the law of the Lord.' Our +second is an invocation or a command. The one then expresses the purpose +which God secures by His gift of the Law; the other the purpose which He +summons us to fulfil by the tribute of our hearts and songs--man's +happiness and God's glory. + +His purpose is Man's blessedness. + +That is but another way of saying, God is love. For love, as we know it, +is eminently the desire for the happiness of the person on whom it is +fixed. And unless the love of God be like ours, however it may transcend +it, there is no revelation of Him to our hearts at all. If He be love, +then He 'delights in the prosperity' of His children. + +And that purpose runs through all His acts. For perfect love is +all-pervasive, and even with us men, it rules the whole being; nor does +he love at all who seeks the welfare of the heart he clings to by fits +and starts, by some of his acts and not by others. When God comes forth +from the unvisioned light, which is thick darkness, of His own eternal, +self-adequate Being, and flashes into energy in Creation, Providence, or +Grace, the Law of His Working and His Purpose are one, in all regions. +The unity of the divine acts depends on this--that all flow from one +deep source, and all move to one mighty end. Standing on the height to +which His own declarations of His own nature lift our feebleness, we can +see how the 'river of God that waters the garden' and 'parts' into many +'heads,' gushes from one fountain. One of the psalms puts what people +call the 'philosophy' of creation and of providence very clearly, in +accordance with this thought--that the love of God is the source, and +the blessedness of man the end, of all His work: 'To Him that made great +lights; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that slew mighty kings; +for His mercy endureth for ever.' + +Creation, then, is the effluence of the loving heart of God. Though the +sacred characters be but partially legible to us now, what He wrote, on +stars and flowers, on the infinitely great and the infinitely small, on +the infinitely near and the infinitely far off, with His creating hand, +was the one inscription--God is love. And as in nature, so in +providence. The origination, and the support, and the direction of all +things, are the works and the heralds of the same love. It is printed in +starry letters on the sky. It is graven on the rocks, and breathed by +the flowers. It is spoken as a dark saying even by sorrow and pain. The +mysteries of destructive and crushing providences have come from the +same source. And he who can see with the Psalmist the ever-during mercy +of the Lord, as the reason of creation and of judgments, has in his +hands the golden key which opens all the locks in the palace chambers of +the great King. He only hath penetrated to the secret of things +material, and stands in the light at the centre, who understands that +all comes from the one source--God's endless desire for the blessedness +of His creatures. + +But while all God's works do thus praise Him by testifying that He seeks +to bless His creatures, the loftiest example of that desire is, of +course, found in His revelation of Himself to men's hearts and +consciences, to men's spirits and wills. That mightiest act of love, +beginning in the long-past generations, has culminated in Him in whom +'dwelleth the whole fulness of the Godhead bodily,' and in whose work is +all the love--the perfect, inconceivable, patient, omnipotent love of +our redeeming God. + +And then, remember that this is not inconsistent with or contradicted by +the sterner aspects of that revelation, which cannot be denied, and +ought not to be minimised or softened. _Here_, on the right hand, are +the flowery slopes of the Mount of Blessing; _there_, on the left, the +barren, stern, thunder-riven, lightning-splintered pinnacles of the +Mount of Cursing. Every clear note of benediction hath its low minor of +imprecation from the other side. Between the two, overhung by the hopes +of the one, and frowned upon and dominated by the threatenings of the +other, is pitched the little camp of our human life, and the path of our +pilgrimage runs in the trough of the valley between. And yet--might we +not go a step farther, and say that above the parted summits stretches +the one overarching blue, uniting them both, and their roots deep down +below the surface interlace and twine together? That is to say, the +threatenings and rebukes, the acts of retributive judgment, which are +contained in the revelation of God, are no limitation nor disturbance of +the clear and happy faith that all which we behold is full of blessing, +and that all comes from the Father's hand. They are the garb in which +His Love needs to array itself when it comes in contact with man's sin +and man's evil. The love of God appears no less when it teaches us in +grave sad tones that 'the wages of sin is death,' than when it proclaims +that 'the gift of God is eternal life.' + +Love threatens that it may never have to execute its threats. Love warns +that we may be wise in time. Love prophesies that its sad forebodings +may not be fulfilled. And love smites with lighter strokes of +premonitory chastisements, that we may never need to feel the whips of +scorpions. + +Remember, too, that these sterner aspects both of Law and of Gospel +point this lesson--that we shall very much misunderstand God's purpose +if we suppose it to be blessedness for us men _anyhow_, irrespective +altogether of character. Some people seem to think that God loves us so +much, as they would say--so little, so ignobly, as I would say--as that +He only desires us to be happy. They seem to think that the divine love +is tarnished unless it provides for men's felicity, whether they are +God-loving and God-like or no. Thus the solemn and majestic love of the +Father in heaven is to be brought down to a weak good nature, which only +desires that the child shall cease crying and be happy, and does not +mind by what means that end is reached. God's purpose _is_ blessedness; +but, as this very text tells us, not blessedness anyhow, but one which +will not and cannot be given by God to those who walk in the way of +sinners. His love desires that we should be holy, and 'followers of God +as dear children'--and the blessedness which it bestows comes from +pardon and growing fellowship with Him. It can no more fall on +rebellious hearts than the pure crystals of the snow can lie and sparkle +on the hot, black cone of a volcano. + +The other text that I have read sets forth another view of God's +purpose. God seeks our praise. The glory of God is the end of all the +divine actions. Now, that is a statement which no doubt is irrefragable, +and a plain deduction from the very conception of an infinite Being. But +it may be held in such connections, and spoken with such erroneous +application, and so divorced from other truths, that instead of being +what it is in the Bible, good news, it shall become a curse and a lie. +It may be so understood as to describe not our Father in heaven, but an +almighty devil! But, when the thought that God's purpose in all His acts +is His own glory, is firmly united with that other, that His purpose in +all His acts is our blessing, then we begin to understand how full of +joy it may be for us. His glory is sought by Him in the manifestation of +His loving heart, mirrored in our illuminated and gladdened hearts. Such +a glory is not unworthy of infinite love. It has nothing in common with +the ambitious and hungry greed of men for reputation or self-display. +That desire is altogether ignoble and selfish when it is found in human +hearts; and it would be none the less ignoble and selfish if it were +magnified into infinitude, and transferred to the divine. But to say +that God's glory is His great end, is surely but another way of saying +that He is love. The love that seeks to bless us desires, as all love +does, that it should be known for what it is, that it should be +recognised in our glad hearts, and smiled back again from our brightened +faces. God desires that we should know Him, and so have Eternal Life; He +desires that knowing Him, we should love Him, and loving should praise, +and so should glorify Him. He desires that there should be an +interchange of love bestowing and love receiving, of gifts showered down +and of praise ascending, of fire falling from the heavens and sweet +incense, from grateful hearts, going up in fragrant clouds acceptable +unto God. It is a sign of a Fatherly heart that He '_seeketh_ such to +worship Him'. He desires to be glorified by our praise, because He loves +us so much. He commences with an offer, He advances to a command. He +gives first, and then (not till then) He comes seeking fruit from the +'trees' which are 'the planting of the Lord, that He might be +glorified.' His plea is not 'the vineyard belongs to Me, and I have a +right to its fruits,' but 'what could have been done more to My +vineyard, that I have not done in it?--judge between Me and My +vineyard.' First, He showers down blessings; then, He looks for the +revenue of praise! + +II. We may also take these passages as giving us a twofold expression of +the actual effects of God's revelation, especially in the Gospel, even +here upon earth. + +The one text is the joyful exclamation built upon experience and +observation. The other is a call which is answered in some measure even +by voices that are often dumb in unthankfulness, often broken by sobs, +often murmuring in penitence. + +God does actually, though not completely, make men blessed here. Our +text sums up the experience of all the devout hearts and lives whose +emotions are expressed in the Psalms. He who wrote this psalm would +preface the whole book by words into which the spirit of the book is +distilled. It will have much to say of sorrow and pain. It will touch +many a low note of wailing and of grief. There will be complaints and +penitence, and sighs almost of despair before it closes. But this which +he puts first is the note of the whole. So it is in our histories. +They will run through many a dark and desert place. We shall have +bitterness and trials in abundance, there will be many an hour of +sadness caused by my own evil, and many a hard struggle with it. But +high above all these mists and clouds will rise the hope that seeks the +skies, and deep beneath all the surface agitations of storms and +currents there will be the unmoved stillness of the central ocean of +peace in our hearts. In the 'valley of weeping' we may still be +'blessed' if 'the ways' are in our hearts, and if we make of the very +tears 'a well,' drawing refreshment from the very trials. With all its +sorrows and pains, its fightings and fears, its tribulations in the +world, and its chastenings from a Father's hand, the life of a Christian +is a happy life, and 'the joy of the Lord' remains with His servants. + +More than twenty centuries have passed since that psalm was written. As +many stretched dim behind the Psalmist as he sang. He was gathering up +in one sentence the spirit of the past, and confirming it by his own +life's history. And has any one that has lived since then stood up and +said--'Behold! I have found it otherwise. I have waited on God, and He +has not heard my cry. I have served Him, and that for nought. I have +trusted in Him, and been disappointed. I have sought His face--in vain. +And I say, from my own experience, that the man who trusts in Him is +_not_ blessed'? Not one, thank God! The history of the past, so far as +this matter is concerned, may be put in one sentence 'They looked unto +Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed,' and as for +the present, are there not some of us who can say, 'This poor man cried, +and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles'? + +Brethren! make the experiment for yourselves. Test this experience by +your own simple affiance and living trust in Jesus Christ. We have the +experience of all generations to encourage us. What has blessed them is +enough for you and me. Like the meal and the oil, which were the +Prophet's resource in famine, yesterday's supply does not diminish +to-morrow's store. We, too, may have all that gladdened the hearts and +stayed the spirits of the saints of old. 'Oh! taste and see that God is +good.' 'Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.' + +So, too, God's gift produces man's praise. + +What is it that He desires from us? Nothing but our thankful recognition +and reception of His benefits. We honour God by taking the full cup of +salvation which He commends to our lips, and by calling, while we drink, +upon the name of the Lord. Our true response to His Word, which is +essentially a proffer of blessing to us, is to open our hearts to +receive, and, receiving, to render grateful acknowledgment. The echo of +love which gives and forgives, is love which accepts and thanks. We have +but to lift up our empty and impure hands, opened wide to receive the +gift which He lays in them--and though they be empty and impure, yet +'the lifting up of our hands' is 'as the evening sacrifice'; our sense +of need stands in the place of all offerings. The stained thankfulness +of our poor hearts is accepted by Him who inhabits the praises of +eternity, and yet delights in the praises of Israel. He bends from +heaven to give, and all He asks is that we should take. He only seeks +our thankfulness--but He does seek it. And wherever His grace is +discerned, and His love is welcomed, there praise breaks forth, as +surely as streams pour from the cave of the glacier when the sun of +summer melts it, or earth answers the touch of spring with flowers. + +And that effect is produced, notwithstanding all the complaints and +sighs and tears which sometimes choke our praise. It _is_ produced even +while these last; the psalms of thanksgiving are not all reserved for +the end of the book. But even in those which read like the very sobs of +a broken heart, there is ever present some tone of grateful +acknowledgment of God's mercy. He sends us sorrow, and He wills that we +should weep--but they should be tears like David's, who, at the lowest +point of his fortunes, when he plaintively besought God, 'Put Thou my +tears into Thy bottle'--could say in the same breath, 'Thy vows are upon +me, O God: I will render praises unto Thee.' God works on our souls that +we may have the consciousness of sin, and He wills that we should come +with broken and contrite hearts, and like the king of Israel wail out +our confessions and supplications--'Have mercy upon me, O God! according +to Thy loving-kindness.' But, like him, we should even in our lowliest +abasement, when our hearts are bruised, be able to say along with our +contrition, 'Open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy +praise.' Our sorrows are never so great that they hide our mercies. The +sky is never so covered with clouds that neither sun nor stars appear +for many days. And in every Christian heart the low tones of lamentation +and confession are blended with grateful praise. So it is even in the +darkest moments, whilst the blast of misfortune and misery is as a storm +against the wall. + +But a brighter hope even for our life here rises from these words, if we +think of the place which they hold in the whole book. They are the last +words. Whatever other notes have been sounded in its course, all ends in +this. The winter's day has had its melancholy grey sky, with many a +bitter dash of snow and rain--but it has stormed itself out, and at +eventide, a rent in the clouds reveals the sun, and it closes in +peaceful clearness of light. + +The note of gladness heard at the beginning, 'Oh! the blessedness of the +man that delights in the law of the Lord,' holds on persistently, like a +subdued and almost bewildered undercurrent of sweet sound amid all the +movements of some colossal symphony, through tears and sobs, confession +and complaint, and it springs up at the close triumphant, like the ruddy +spires of a flame long smothered, and swells and broadens, and draws all +the intricate harmonies into its own rushing tide. Some of you remember +the great musical work which has these very words for its theme. It +begins with the call, 'All that hath life and breath, praise ye the +Lord,' and although the gladness saddens into the plaintive cry of a +soul sick with hope deferred, 'Will the night soon pass?' yet, ere the +close, all discords are reconciled, and at last, with assurance firmer +for the experience of passing sorrows, loud as the voice of many waters +and sweet as harpers harping with their harps, the joyful invocation +peals forth again, and all ends, as it does in a Christian man's life, +and as it does in this book, with 'Praise ye the Lord.' + +III. We have here also a twofold prophecy of the perfection of Heaven. + +Whilst it is true that both of these purposes are accomplished here and +now, it is also true that their accomplishment is but partial, and that +therefore for their fulfilment we have to lift our eyes beyond this +world of imperfect faith, of incomplete blessedness, of interrupted +praise. Whether the Psalmist looked forward thus we do not know. But for +us, the very shortcomings of our joys and of our songs are prophetic of +the perfect and perpetual rapture of the one, and the perfect and +perpetual music of the other. We know that He who has given us so much +will not stay His hand until He has perfected that which concerns us. We +know that He who has taught our dumb hearts to magnify His name will not +cease till 'out of the lips of babes and sucklings, He has perfected +praise.' We know that the pilgrims in whose hearts are the ways are +blessed, and we are sure that a fuller blessedness must belong to those +who have reached the journey's end. + +And so these words give us a twofold aspect of that future on which our +longing hopes may well fix. + +It is the perfection of man's blessedness. Then the joyous exclamation +of our first text, which we have often had to strive hard not to +disbelieve, will be no more a truth of faith but a truth of experience. +Here we have had to trust that it was so, even when we could scarce +cleave to the confidence. There, memory will look back on our wanderings +through this great wilderness, and, enlightened by the issue of them +all, will speak only of Mercy and Goodness as our angel guides all our +lives. The end will crown the work. Pure unmingled consciousness of +bliss will fill all hearts, and break into the old exclamation, which we +had sometimes to stifle sobs ere we could speak on earth. When He says, +'Come in! ye blessed of My Father,' all our tears and fears, and pains +and sins, will be forgotten, and we shall but have to say, in wonder and +joy, 'Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still +praising Thee.' + +It is the perfection of God's praise. We may possibly venture to see in +these wonderful words of our text a dim and far-off hint of a +possibility that seems to be pointed at in many parts of Scripture--that +the blessings of Christ's mighty work shall, in some measure and manner, +pass through man to his dwelling-place and its creatures. Dark shadows +of evil--the mystery of pain and sorrow--lie over earth and all its +tribes. 'We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth +righteousness.' And the statements of Scripture which represent creation +as suffering by man's sin, and participant in its degree in man's +redemption, seem too emphatic and precise, as well as too frequent, and +in too didactic connections, to be lightly brushed aside as poetic +imagery. May it not be that man's transgression + + 'Broke the fair music that all creatures made + To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed,' + +and that man's restoration may, indeed, bring back all that hath life +and breath to a harmonious blessedness--according to the deep and +enigmatical words, which declare that 'the creature itself also shall be +delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory +of the children of God'? Be that as it may, at all events our second +text opens to us the gates of the heavenly temple, and shows us there +the saintly ranks and angel companies gathered in the city whose walls +are salvation and its gates praise. They harmonise with that other later +vision of heaven which the Seer in Patmos beheld, not only in setting +before us worship as the glad work of all who are there, but in teaching +the connection between the praises of men, and the answering hymns of +angels. The harps of heaven are hushed to hear _their_ praise who can +sing, 'Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood,' and, in answer to +that hymn of thanksgiving for unexampled deliverance and resorting +grace, the angels around the throne break forth into new songs to the +Lamb that was slain--while still wider spread the broadening circles of +harmonious praise, till at last 'every creature which is in heaven, and +on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all +that are in them,' join in the mighty hymn of 'Blessing, and honour, and +glory, and power, unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb +for ever and ever.' Then the rapturous exclamation from human souls +redeemed,--'Oh! the blessedness of the men whom Thou hast loved and +saved,' shall be answered by choral praise from everything that hath +breath. + +And are you dumb, my friend, in these universal bursts of praise? Is +that because you have not chosen to take the universal blessing which +God gives? You have nothing to do but to receive the things that are +freely given to you of God--the forgiveness, the cleansing, the life, +that come from Christ by faith. Take them, and call upon the name of the +Lord, And can you refuse His gifts and withhold your praise? You can be +eloquent in thanks to those who do you kindnesses, and in praise of +those whom you admire and love, but your best Friend receives none of +your gratitude and none of your praise. Ignoble silence and dull +unthankfulness--with these you requite your Saviour! 'I tell you that, +if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out!' + + + + +A STAIRCASE OF THREE STEPS + + + 'All those that put their trust in Thee ... them also that love Thy + name ... the righteous.'--PSALM v. 11, 12. + +I have ventured to isolate these three clauses from their context, +because, if taken in their sequence, they are very significant of the +true path by which men draw nigh to God and become righteous. They are +all three designations of the same people, but regarded under different +aspects and at different stages. There is a distinct order in them, and +whether the Psalmist was fully conscious of it or not, he was +anticipating and stating, with wonderful distinctness, the Christian +sequence--faith, love, righteousness. + +These three are the three flights of stairs, as it were, which lead men +up to God and to perfection, or if you like to take another metaphor, +meaning the same thing, they are respectively the root, the stalk, and +the fruit of religion. 'They that put their trust in Thee ... them also +that love Thy Name ... the righteous.' + +I. So, then, the first thought here is that the foundation of all is +trust. + +Now, the word that is employed here is very significant. In its literal +force it really means to 'flee to a refuge.' And that the literal +signification has not altogether been lost in the spiritual and +metaphorical use of it, as a term expressive of religious experience, is +quite plain from many of the cases in which it occurs. Let me just +repeat one of them to you. 'Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful to +me, for my soul trusteth in Thee; yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I +make my refuge.' There the picture that is in the words is distinctly +before the Psalmist's mind, and he is thinking not only of the act of +mind and heart by which he casts himself in confidence upon God, but +upon that which represents it in symbol, the act by which a man flees +into some hiding-place. The psalm is said in the superscription to have +been written when David hid in a cave from his persecutor. Though no +weight be given to that statement, it suggests the impression made by +the psalm. In imagination we can see the rough sides of the cavern that +sheltered him arching over the fugitive, like the wings of some great +bird, and just as he has fled thither with eager feet and is safely +hidden from his pursuers there, so he has betaken himself to the +everlasting Rock, in the cleft of which he is at rest and secure. To +trust in God is neither more nor less than to flee to Him for refuge, +and there to be at peace. The same presence of the original metaphor, +colouring the same religious thought, is found in the beautiful words +with which Boaz welcomes Ruth, when he prays for her that the God of +Israel may reward her, 'under the shadow of whose wings thou hast come +to trust.' + +So, as a man in peril runs into a hiding-place or fortress, as the +chickens beneath the outspread wing of the mother bird nestle close in +the warm feathers and are safe and well, the soul that trusts takes its +flight straight to God, and in Him reposes and is secure. + +Now, it seems to me that such a figure as that is worth tons of +theological lectures about the true nature of faith, and that it tells +us, by means of a picture that says a great deal more than many a +treatise, that faith is something very different from a cold-blooded act +of believing in the truth of certain propositions; that it is the flight +of the soul--knowing itself to be in peril, and naked, and unarmed--into +the strong Fortress. + +What is it that keeps a man safe when he thus has around him the walls +of some citadel? Is it himself, is it the act by which he took refuge, +or is it the battlements behind which he crouches? So in faith--which is +more than a process of a man's understanding, and is not merely the +saying, 'Yes, I believe all that is in the Bible is true; at any rate, +it is not for me to contradict it,' but is the running of the man, when +he knows himself to be in danger, into the very arms of God--it is not +the running that makes him safe, but it is the arms to which he runs. + +If we would only lay to heart that the very essence of religion lies in +this 'flight of the lonely soul to the only God,' we should understand +better than we do what He asks from us in order that He may defend us, +and how blessed and certain His defence is. So let us clear our minds +from the thought that anything is worth calling trust which is not thus +taking refuge in God Himself. + +Now, I need not remind you, I suppose, that all this is just as true +about us as it was about David, and that the emotion or the act of his +will and heart which he expresses in these words of my text is neither +more nor less than the Christian act of faith. There is no difference +except a difference of development; there is no difference between the +road to God marked out in the Psalms, and the road to God laid down in +the Gospels. The Psalmist who said, 'Trust ye in the Lord for ever,' and +the Apostle who said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt +be saved,' were preaching identically the same doctrine. One of them +could speak more fully than the other could of the Person on whom trust +was to be rested, but the trust itself was the same, and the Person on +whom it rested was the same, though His Name of old was Jehovah, and His +Name to-day is 'Immanuel, God with us.' + +Nor need I do more than point out how the context of the words that I +have ventured to detach from their surroundings is instructive: 'Let all +those that put their trust in Thee rejoice because Thou defendest them.' +The word for defending there continues the metaphor that lies in the +word for 'trust,' for it means literally to cover over and so to +protect. Thus, when a man runs to God for His refuge, God + + 'Covers his defenceless head + With the shadow of His wings.' + +And the joy of trust is, first, that it brings round me the whole +omnipotence of God for my defence, and the whole tenderness of God for +my consolation, and next, that in the very exercise of trust in such +defence, so fortified and vindicated by experience, there is great +reward. All who thus flee into the refuge shall find refuge whither they +flee, and shall be glad. + +II. Then the next thought of my texts, which I do not force into them, +but which results, as it seems to me, distinctly from the order in which +they occur in the context, is that love follows trust. + +'All those that put their trust in Thee--they also that love Thee.' If I +am to love God, I must be quite sure that God loves me. My love can +never be anything else than an answer to His. It can only be secondary +and derived, or I would rather say reflected and flashed back from His. +And so, very significantly, the Psalmist says, 'Those that love Thy +Name,' meaning by 'Name,' as is always meant by it, the revealed +character of God. If I am to love God, He must not hide in the darkness +behind His infinity, but must come out and give me something about Him +that I know. The three letters G O D mean nothing, and there is no power +in them to stir a man's heart. It must be the knowledge of the acts of +God that brings men to love Him. And there is no way of getting that +knowledge but through the faith which, as I said, must precede love. For +faith realises the fact that God loves. 'We have known and believed the +love that God hath to us.' The first step is to grasp the great truth of +the loving God, and through that truth to grasp the God that loves. And +then, and not till then, does there spring up in a man's heart love +towards Him. But it is only the faith that is set on Him who hath +declared the Father unto us that gives us for our very own the grasp of +the facts, which facts are the only possible fuel that can kindle love +in a human heart. 'We love Him because He first loved us,' and we shall +never know that He loves us unless we come to the knowledge through the +road of faith. So John himself tells us when he says, in the words that +I have already quoted, 'We have known and believed.' He puts the +foundation last, 'We have known,' because 'we have believed' 'the love +that God hath to us.' + +And so faith is the only possible means by which any of us can ever +experience, as well as realise, the love that kindles ours. It is the +possession of the fact of redemption for my very own and of the +blessings which accompany it, and that alone, that binds a man to God in +the bonds of love that cannot be broken, and that subdues and unites all +vagrant emotions, affections, and desires in the mighty tide of a love +that ever sets towards Him. As surely as the silvery moon in the sky +draws after it the heaped waters of the ocean all round the world, so +God's love draws ours. They that believe contemplate, and they that +believe experience the effects of that divine love, which must be +experienced ere our answering love can be flashed back to heaven. + +Students of acoustics tell us that if you have two stringed instruments +in adjacent apartments, tuned to the same pitch, a note sounded on one +of them will be feebly vibrated upon the other as soon as the waves of +sound have reached the sensitive string. In like manner a man's heart +gives off a faint, but musical, little tinkle of answering love to God +when the deep note of God's love to him, struck on the chords of heaven +up yonder, reaches his poor heart. + +Love follows trust. So, brethren, if we desire to be warmed, let us get +into the sunshine and abide there. If we desire to have our hearts +filled with love to God, do not let us waste our time in trying to pump +up artificial emotions or to persuade ourselves that we love Him better +than we do, but let us fix our thoughts and fasten our refuge-seeking +trust on Him, and then that shall kindle ours. + +III. Lastly, righteousness follows trust and love. + +The last description here of the man who begins as a believer and then +advances to being a lover is _righteous_. That is the evangelical order. +That is the great blessing and beauty of Christianity, that it goes an +altogether different way to work to make men good from that which any +other system has ever dreamed of. It says, first of all, trust, and that +will create love and that will ensure obedience. Faith leads to +righteousness because, in the very act of trusting God, I come out of +myself, and going out of myself and ceasing from all self-admiration and +self-dependence and self-centred life is the beginning of all good and +has in it the germ of all righteousness, even as to live for self is the +mother tincture out of which we can make all sins. + +And faith leads to righteousness in another way. Open the heart and +Christ comes in. Trust Him and He fills our poor nature with 'the law of +the Spirit of life that was in Christ Jesus,' and that 'makes me free +from the law of sin and death.' Righteousness, meaning thereby just what +irreligious men mean by it--viz. good living, plain obedience to the +ordinary recognised dictates of morality, going straight--that is most +surely attained when we cease from our own works and say to Jesus +Christ, 'Lord, I cannot walk in the narrow path. Do Thou Thyself come to +me and fill my heart and keep my feet.' They that trust and love are +'found in Him, not having their own righteousness, but that which is of +God by faith.' + +And love leads to righteousness because it brings the one motive into +play in our hearts which turns duty into delight, toil into joy, and +makes us love better to do what will please our beloved Lover than +anything besides. Why did Jesus Christ say,'My yoke is easy and My +burden is light'? Was it because He diminished the weight of duties or +laid down an easier slipshod morality than had been enjoined before? No! +He intensified it all, and His Commandment is far harder to flesh and +blood than any commandments that were ever given. But for all that, the +yoke that He lays upon our necks is, if I may so say, padded with +velvet; and the burden that we have to draw behind us is laid upon +wheels that will turn so easily that the load is diminished, inasmuch as +for Duty He substitutes Himself and says to us, 'If ye love Me, keep My +Commandments.' + +So, dear brethren! here is a very easily applied, and a very +far-reaching test for us who call ourselves Christians: Does our love +and does our trust culminate in practical righteousness? We are all +tempted to make too much of the emotions of the religious life, and too +little of its persistent, dogged obedience. We are all too apt to think +that a Christian is a man that believes in Jesus Christ. 'Justification +by faith alone without the works of the law' used to be the watchword of +the Evangelical Church. It might be so held as to be either a blessed +truth or a great error, and many of us make it an error instead of a +blessing. + +On the other hand, there is only one way by which righteousness can be +attained, and that is: first by faith and then by love. Here are three +steps: 'we have known and believed the love that God hath to us'; that +is the broad, bottom step. And above it 'we love Him because He first +loved us,' that is the central one. And on the top of all, 'herein is +our love made perfect that we keep His Commandments.' They that trust +are they also who love Thy Name, and they who trust through love are, +and only they are, the righteous. + + + + +ONE SAYING FROM THREE MEN + + + 'The wicked hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved.' + --PSALM x. 6. + + 'Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' + --PSALM xvi. 8. + + 'And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.' + --PSALM xxx. 6. + +How differently the same things sound when said by different men! Here +are three people giving utterance to almost the same sentiment of +confidence. A wicked man says it, and it is insane presumption and +defiance. A good man says it, having been lulled into false security by +easy times, and it is a mistake that needs chastisement. A humble +believing soul says it, and it is the expression of a certain and +blessed truth. 'The wicked saith in his heart, I shall not be moved.' A +good man, led astray by his prosperity, said, 'I shall not be moved,' +and the last of the three put a little clause in which makes all the +difference, '_because He is at my right hand_, I shall never be moved.' +So, then, we have the mad arrogance of godless confidence, the mistake +of a good man that needs correction, and the warranted confidence of a +believing soul. + +I. The mad arrogance of godless confidence. + +The 'wicked' man, in the psalm from which our first text comes, said a +good many wrong things 'in his heart.' The tacit assumptions on which a +life is based, though they may never come to consciousness, and still +less to utterance, are the really important things. I dare say this +'wicked man' was a good Jew with his lips, and said his prayers all +properly, but in his heart he had two working beliefs. One is thus +expressed: 'As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in +his heart, I shall not be moved.' The other is put into words thus: 'He +hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, He hideth His face. He will +never see it.' + +That is to say, the only explanation of a godless life, unless the man +is an idiot, is that there lie beneath it, as formative principles and +unspoken assumptions, guiding and shaping it, one or both of these two +thoughts: either 'There is no God,' or 'He does not care what I do, and +I am safe to go on for evermore in the present fashion.' It might seem +as if a man with the facts of human life before him, could not, even in +the insanest arrogance, say, 'I shall not be moved, for I shall never be +in adversity.' But we have an awful power--and the fact that we +exercise, and choose to exercise, it is one of the strange riddles of +our enigmatical existence and characters--of ignoring unwelcome facts, +and going cheerily on as though we had annihilated them, because we do +not reflect upon them. So this man, in the midst of a world in which +there is no stay, and whilst he saw all round him the most startling and +tragical instances of sudden change and complete collapse, stands +quietly and says, 'Ah! _I_ shall never be moved'; 'God doth not require +it.' + +That absurdity is the basis of every life that is not a life of +consecration and devotion--so far as it has a basis of conviction at +all. The 'wicked' man's true faith is this, absurd as it may sound when +you drag it out into clear, distinct utterance, whatever may be his +professions. I wonder if there are any of us whose life can only be +acquitted of being utterly unreasonable and ridiculous by the +assumption, 'I shall never be moved'? + +Have you a lease of your goods? Do you think you are tenants at will or +owners? Which? Is there any reason why any of us should escape, as some +of us live as if we believed we should escape, the certain fate of all +others? If there is not, what about the sanity of the man whose whole +life is built upon a blunder? He is convicted of the grossest folly, +unless he be assured that either there is no God, or that He does not +care one rush about what we do, and that consequently we are certain of +a continuance in our present state. + +Do you say in your heart, 'I shall never be moved'? Then you must be +strong enough to resist every tempest that beats against you. Is that +so? 'I shall never be moved'--then nothing that contributes to your +well-being will ever slip from your grasp, but you will be able to hold +it tight. Is that so? 'I shall never be moved'--then there is no grave +waiting for you. Is that so? Unless these three assumptions be +warranted, every godless man is making a hideous blunder, and his +character is the sentence pronounced by the loving lips of Incarnate +Truth on the rich man who thought that he had 'much goods laid up for +many years,' and had only to be merry--'Thou fool! Thou fool!' + +If an engineer builds a bridge across a river without due calculation of +the force of the winds that blow down the gorge, the bridge will be at +the bottom of the stream some stormy night, and the train piled on the +fragments of it in hideous ruin. And with equal certainty the end of the +first utterer of this speech can be calculated, and is foretold in the +psalm, 'The Lord is King for ever and ever.... The godless are perished +out of the land.' + +II. We have in our second text the mistake of a good man who has been +lulled into false confidence. + +The Psalmist admits his error by the acknowledgment that he spoke 'in my +prosperity'; or, as the word might be rendered, 'in my _security_.' This +suggests to us the mistake into which even good men, lulled by the quiet +continuance of peaceful days, are certain to fall, unless there be +continual watchfulness exercised by them. + +It is a very significant fact that the word which is translated in our +Authorised Version 'prosperity' is often rendered 'security,' meaning +thereby, not safety, but a belief that I am safe. A man who is +prosperous, or at ease, is sure to drop into the notion that 'to-morrow +will be as this day, and much more abundant,' unless he keeps up +unslumbering watchfulness against the insidious illusion of permanence. +If he yields to the temptation, in his foolish security, forgetting how +fragile are its foundations, and what a host of enemies surround him +threatening it, then there is nothing for it but that the merciful +discipline, which this Psalmist goes on to tell us he had to pass +through by reason of his fall, shall be brought to bear upon him. The +writer gives us a page of his own autobiography. 'In my security I said, +I shall never be moved.' 'Lord! by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain +to stand strong. Thou didst hide Thy face.' What about the security +then? What about 'I shall never be moved' then? 'I was troubled. I cried +to Thee, O Lord!'--and then it was all right, his prayer was heard, and +he was in 'security'--that is, safety--far more really when he was +'troubled' and sore beset than when he had been, as he fancied, sure of +not being moved. + +Long peace rusts the cannon, and is apt to make it unfit for war. Our +lack of imagination, and our present sense of comfort and well-being, +tend to make us fancy that we shall go on for ever in the quiet jog-trot +of settled life without any very great calamities or changes. But there +was once a village at the bottom of the crater of Vesuvius, and great +trees, that had grown undisturbed there for a hundred years, and green +pastures, and happy homes and flocks. And then, one day, a rumble and a +rush, and what became of the village? It went up in smoke-clouds. The +quiescence of the volcano is no sign of its extinction. And as surely as +we live, so sure is it that there will come a 'to-morrow' to us all +which shall _not_ be as this day. No man has any right to calculate upon +anything beyond the present moment, and there is no basis whatever, +either for the philosophical assertion that the order of nature is +fixed, and that therefore there are no miracles, or for the practical +translation of the assertion into our daily lives, that we may +reasonably expect to go on as we are without changes or calamities. +There is no reason capable of being put into logical shape for believing +that, because the sun has risen ever since the beginning of things, it +will rise to-morrow, for there will come a to-morrow when it will _not_ +rise. In like manner, the longest possession of our mercies is no reason +for forgetting the precarious tenure on which we hold them all. + +So, Christian men and women! let us try to keep vivid that consciousness +which is so apt to get dull, that nothing continueth in one stay, and +that we _shall_ be moved, as far as the outward life and its +circumstances are concerned. If we forget it, we shall need, and we +shall get, the loving Fatherly discipline, which my second text tells us +followed the false security of this good man. The sea is kept from +putrefying by storms. Wine poured from vessel to vessel is purified +thereby. It is an old truth and a wholesome one, to be always +remembered, 'because they have no changes therefore they fear not God .' + +III. Lastly, we have the same thing said by another man in another key. +'Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' The prelude to +the assertion makes all the difference. Here is the warranted confidence +of a simple faith. + +The man who clasps God's hand, and has Him standing by his side, as his +Ally, his Companion, his Guide, his Defence--that man does not need to +fear change. For all the things which convict the arrogant or mistaken +confidences of the other men as being insanity or a lapse from faith +prove the confidence of the trustful soul to be the very perfection of +reason and common sense. + +We may be confident of our power to resist anything that can come +against us, if He be at our side. The man that stands with his back +against an oak-tree is held firm, not because of his own strength, but +because of that on which he leans. There is a beautiful story of some +heathen convert who said to a missionary's wife, who had felt faint and +asked that she might lean for a space on her stronger arm, 'If you love +me, lean hard.' That is what God says to us, 'If you love Me, lean +hard.' And if you do, because He is at your right hand, you will not be +moved. It is not insanity; it is not arrogance; it is simple faith, to +look our enemies in the eyes, and to feel sure that they cannot touch +us, 'Trust in Jehovah; so shall ye be established.' Rest on the Lord, +and ye shall rest indeed. + +In like manner the man who has God at his right hand may be sure of the +unalterable continuance of all his proper good. Outward things may come +or go, as it pleases Him, but that which makes the life of our life will +never depart from us as long as He stands there. And whilst He is there, +if only our hearts are knit to Him, we can say, 'My heart and my flesh +faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. I +shall not be moved. Though all that can go goes, He abides; and in Him I +have all riches.' Trust not in the uncertainty of outward good, but in +the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. + +The wicked man was defiantly arrogant, and the forgetful good man was +criminally self-confident, when they each said, 'I shall not be moved.' +We are only taking up the privileges that belong to us if, exercising +faith in Him, we venture to say, 'Take what Thou wilt; leave me Thyself; +I have enough.' And the man who says, 'Because God is at my right hand, +I shall not be moved,' has the right to anticipate an unbroken +continuance of personal being, and an unchanged continuance of the very +life of his life. That which breaks off all other lives abruptly is no +breach in the continuity, either of the consciousness or of the +avocations of a devout man. For, on the other side of the flood, he does +what he does on this side, only more perfectly and more continually. 'He +that doeth the will of God abideth for ever,' and it makes comparatively +little difference to him whether his place be on this or on the other +side of Jordan. We 'shall not be moved,' even when we change our station +from earth to heaven, and the sublime fulfilment of the warranted +confidence of the trustful soul comes when the 'to-morrow' of the skies +is as the 'to-day' of earth, only 'much more abundant.' + + + + +MAN'S TRUE TREASURE IN GOD + + + 'The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou + maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; + yea, I have a goodly heritage.'--PSALM xvi. 5, 6. + +We read, in the law which created the priesthood in Israel, that 'the +Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, +neither shalt thou have any part among them. I am thy part and thine +inheritance among the children of Israel' (Numbers xvii. 20). Now there +is an evident allusion to that remarkable provision in this text. The +Psalmist feels that in the deepest sense he has no possession amongst +the men who have only possessions upon earth, but that God is the +treasure which he grasps in a rapture of devotion and self-abandonment. +The priest's duty is his choice. He will 'walk by faith and not by +sight.' + +Are not all Christians priests? and is not the very essence and +innermost secret of the religious life this--that the heart turns away +from earthly things and deliberately accepts God as its supreme good, +and its only portion? These first words of my text contain the essence +of all true religion. + +The connection between the first clause and the others is closer than +many readers perceive. The 'lot' which 'Thou maintainest,' the 'pleasant +places,' the 'goodly heritage,' all carry on the metaphor, and all refer +to God as Himself the portion of the heart that chooses and trusts Him. +'Thou maintainest my lot'--He who is our inheritance also guards our +inheritance, and whosoever has taken God for his possession has a +possession as sure as God can make it. 'The lines are fallen to me in +pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage'--the heritage that is +goodly is God Himself. When a man chooses God for his portion, then, and +then only, is he satisfied--'satisfied with favour, and full of the +goodness of the Lord.' Let me try to expand and enforce these thoughts, +with the hope that we may catch something of their fervour and their +glow. + +I. The first thought, then, that comes out of the words before us is +this: all true religion has its very heart in deliberately choosing God +as my supreme good. + +'The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup.' The two words +which are translated in our version 'portion' and 'inheritance' are +substantially synonymous. The latter of them is used continually in +reference to the share of each individual, or family, or tribe in the +partition of the land of Canaan. There is a distinct allusion, +therefore, to that partition in the language of our text; and the two +expressions, part or 'portion,' and 'inheritance,' are substantially +identical, and really mean just the same as if the single expression had +stood--'The Lord is my Portion.' + +I may just notice in passing that these words are evidently alluded to +in the New Testament, in the Epistle to the Colossians, where Paul +speaks of God 'having made us meet for our portion of the inheritance of +the saints in light.' + +And then the 'portion of my cup' is a somewhat strange expression. It is +found in one of the other Psalms, with the meaning 'fortune,' or +'destiny,' or 'sum of circumstances which make up a man's life.' There +may be, of course, an allusion to the metaphor of a feast here, and God +may be set forth as 'the portion of my cup,' in the sense of being the +refreshment and sustenance of a man's soul. But I should rather be +disposed to consider that there is merely a prolongation of the earlier +metaphor, and that the same thought as is contained in the figure of the +'inheritance' is expressed here (as in common conversation it is often +expressed) by the word 'cup,' namely, 'that which makes up a man's +portion in this life.' It is used with such a meaning in the well-known +words, 'My cup runneth over,' and in another shape in 'The cup which My +Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?' It is the sum of +circumstances which make up a man's 'fortune.' So the double metaphor +presents the one thought of God as the true possession of the devout +soul. + +Now, how do we possess God? We possess things in one fashion and persons +in another. The lowest and most imperfect form of possession is that by +which a man simply keeps other people off material good, and asserts the +right of disposal of it as he thinks proper. A blind man may have the +finest picture that ever was painted; he may call it his, that is to +say, nobody else can sell it, but what good is it to him? A lunatic may +own a library as big as the Bodleian, but what use is it to him? Does +the man who collects the rents of a mountain-side, or the poet or +painter to whom its cliffs and heather speak far-reaching thoughts, most +truly possess it? The highest form of possession, even of things, is +when they minister to our thought, to our emotion, to our moral and +intellectual growth. We possess even them really, according as we know +them and hold communion with them. But when we get up into the region of +persons, we possess them in the measure in which we understand them, and +sympathise with them, and love them. Knowledge, intercourse, sympathy, +affection--these are the ways by which men can possess men, and spirits, +spirits. A disciple who gets the thoughts of a great teacher into his +mind, and has his whole being saturated by them, may be said to have +made the teacher his own. A friend or a lover owns the heart that he or +she loves, and which loves back again; and not otherwise do we possess +God. + +Such ownership must be, from its very nature, reciprocal. There must be +the two sides to it. And so we read in the Bible, with equal frequency: +the Lord is the inheritance of His people, and His people are the +inheritance of the Lord. He possesses me, and I possess Him--with +reverence be it spoken--by the very same tenure; for whoso loves God has +Him, and whom He loves He owns. There is deep and blessed mystery +involved in this wonderful prerogative, that the loving, believing heart +has God for its possession and indwelling Guest; and people are apt to +brush such thoughts aside as mystical. But, like all true Christian +mysticism, it is intensely practical. + +We have God for ours, first, in the measure in which our minds are +actively occupied with thoughts of Him. We have no merely mystical or +emotional possession of God to preach. There is a real, adequate +knowledge of Him in Jesus Christ. We know God, His character, His heart, +His relations to us, His thoughts of good concerning us, sufficiently +for all intellectual and for all practical purposes. + +I wish to ask you a plain question: Do you ever think about Him? There +is only one way of getting God for yours, and that is by bringing Him +into your life by frequent meditation upon His sweetness, and upon the +truths that you know about Him. There is no other way by which a spirit +can possess a spirit, that is not cognisable by sense, except only by +the way of thinking about him, to begin with. All else follows that. +That is how you hold your dear ones when they go to the other side of +the world. That is how you hold God, who dwells on the other side of the +stars. There is no way to 'have' Him, but through the understanding +accepting Him, and keeping firm hold of Him. Men and women that from +Monday morning to Saturday night never think of His name--how do they +possess God? And professing Christians that never remember Him all the +day long--what absurd hypocrisy it is for them to say that God is +theirs! + +Yours, and never in your mind! When your husband, or your wife, or your +child, goes away from home for a week, do you forget them as utterly as +you forget God? Do you have them in any sense if they never dwell in the +'study of your imagination,' and never fill your thoughts with sweetness +and with light? + +And so again when the heart turns to Him, and when all the faculties of +our being, will, hope, and imagination, and all our affections and all +our practical powers, when they all touch Him, each in its proper +fashion, then and then only can we in any reasonable and true sense be +said to possess God. + +Thought, communion, sympathy, affection, moral likeness, practical +obedience, these are the way--and not by mystical raptures only--by +which, in simple prose fact, it is possible for the finite to grasp the +infinite, and for a man to be the _owner_ of God. + +Now there is another consideration very necessary to be remembered, and +that is that this possession of God involves, and is possible only by, a +deliberate act of renunciation. The Levite's example, that is glanced at +in my text, is always our law. You must have no part or inheritance +amongst the sons of earth if God is to be your inheritance. Or, to put +it into plain words, there must be a giving up of the material and the +created if there is to be a possession of the divine and the heavenly. +There cannot be _two_ supreme, any more than there can be two +pole-stars, one in the north and the other in the south, to both of +which a man can be steering. You cannot stand with + + 'One foot on land, and one on sea, + To one thing constant never.' + +If you are to have God as your supreme good, you must empty your heart +of earth and worldly things, or your possession of Him will be all +words, and imagination, and hypocrisy. Brethren! I wish to bring that +message to your consciences to-day. + +And what is this renunciation? There must be, first of all, a fixed, +deliberate, intelligent conviction lying at the foundation of my life +that God is best, and that He and He only is my true delight and desire. +Then there must be built upon that intelligent conviction that God is +best, the deliberate turning away of the heart from these material +treasures. Then there must be the willingness to abandon the outward +possession of them, if they come in between us and Him. Just as +travellers in old days, that went out looking for treasures in the +western hemisphere, were glad to empty their ships of their less +precious cargo in order to load them with gold, you must get rid of the +trifles, and fling these away if ever they so take up your heart that +God has no room there. Or rather, perhaps, if the love of God in any +real measure, howsoever imperfectly, once gets into a man's soul, it +will work there to expel and edge out the love and regard for earthly +things. Just as when the chemist collects oxygen in a vessel filled with +water, as it passes into the jar it drives out the water before it; the +love of God, if it come into a man's heart in any real sense, in the +measure in which it comes, will deliver him from the love of the world. +But between the two there is warfare so internecine and endless that +they cannot co-exist: and here, to-day, it is as true as ever it was +that if you want to have God for your portion and your inheritance you +must be content to have no inheritance amongst your brethren, nor part +amongst the sons of earth. + +Men and women! are you ready for that renunciation? Are you prepared to +say, 'I know that the sweetness of Thy presence is the truest sweetness +that I can taste; and lo! I give up all besides and my own self'? + + + 'O God of good, the unfathomed Sea! + Who would not yield himself to Thee?' + + +And remember, that nothing less than these is Christianity--the +conviction that the world is second and not first; that God is best, +love is best, truth is best, knowledge of Him is best, likeness to Him +is best, the willingness to surrender all if it come in contest with His +supreme sweetness. He that turns his back upon earth by reason of the +drawing power of the glory that excelleth, is a Christian. The +Christianity that only trusts to Christ for deliverance from the +punishment of sin, and so makes religion a kind of fire insurance, is a +very poor affair. We need the lesson pealed into our ears as much as any +generation has ever done, 'Ye cannot serve God and mammon.' A man's real +working religion consists in his loving God most and counting His love +the sweetest of all things. + +II. Now let me turn to the next point that is here, viz. that this +possession is as sure as God can make it. 'Thou maintainest my lot.' +Thou art Thyself both my heritage and the guardian of my heritage. He +that possesses God, says the text, by implication, is lifted above all +fear and chance of change. + +The land, the partition of which amongst the tribes lies at the bottom +of the allusive metaphor of my text, was given to them under the +sanction of a supernatural defence; and the law of their continuance in +it was that they should trust and serve the unseen King. It was He, +according to the theocratic theory of the Old Testament, and not +chariots and horses, their own arm and their own sword, that kept them +safe, though the enemies on the north and the enemies on the south were +big enough to swallow up the little kingdom at a mouthful. + +And so, says the Psalmist allusively, in a similar manner, the Divine +Power surrounds the man who chooses God for his heritage, and nothing +shall take that heritage from him. + +The lower forms of possession, by which men are called the owners of +material goods, are imperfect, because they are all precarious and +temporary. Nothing really belongs to a man if it can be taken from him. +What we may lose we can scarcely be said to have. They _are_ mine, they +_were_ yours, they _will be_ somebody else's to-morrow. Whilst we have +them we do not have them in any deep sense; we cannot retain them, they +are not really ours at all. The only thing that is worth calling mine is +something that so passes into and saturates the very substance of my +soul that, like a piece of cloth dyed in the grain, as long as two +threads hold together the tint will be there. That is how God gives us +Himself, and nothing can take Him out of a man's soul. He, in the +sweetness of His grace, bestows Himself upon man, and guards His own +gift in the heart, which is Himself. He who dwells in God and God in him +lives as in the inmost keep and citadel. The noise of battle may roar +around the walls, but deep silence and peace are within. The storm may +rage upon the coasts, but he who has God for his portion dwells in a +quiet inland valley where tempests never come. No outer changes can +touch our possession of God. They belong to another region altogether. +Other goods may go, but this is held by a different tenure. The life of +a Christian is lived in two regions: in the one his life has its roots, +and its branches extend to the other. In the one there may be whirling +storms and branches may toss and snap, whilst in the other, to which the +roots go down, may be peace. Root yourselves in God, making Him your +truest treasure, and nothing can rob you of your wealth. + +We here in this commercial community see many examples of great fortunes +and great businesses melting away like yesterday's snow. And surely the +certain alternations of 'booms' and bad times might preach to some of +you this lesson: Set not your hearts on that which can pass, but make +your treasure that which no man can take from you. + +Then, too, there is the other thought. God will help us so that no +temptations shall have power to make us rob _ourselves_ of our treasure. +None can take it from us but ourselves, but we are so weak and +surrounded by temptations so strong that we need Him to aid us if we are +not to be beguiled by our own treacherous hearts into parting with our +highest good. A handful of feeble Jews were nothing against the gigantic +might of Assyria, or against the compacted strength of civilised Egypt; +but there they stood, on their rocky mountains, defended, not by their +own strength, but by the might of a present God. And so, unfit to cope +with the temptations round us as we are, if we cast ourselves upon His +power and make Him our supreme delight, nothing shall be able to rob us +of that possession and that sweetness. + +And there is just one last point that I would refer to here on this +matter of our stable possession of God. It is very beautiful to observe +that this psalm, which, in the language of my text, rises to the very +height of spiritual and, in a good sense, mystical devotion, recognising +God as the One Good for souls, is also one of the psalms which has the +clearest utterance of the faith in immortality. Just after the words of +my text we read these others, in which the Old Testament confidence in a +life beyond the grave reaches its very climax: 'Thou wilt not leave my +soul in Sheol, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine holy one to see +corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is +fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' + +That connection teaches us that the measure in which a man feels his +true possession of God here and now, is the measure in which his faith +rises triumphant over the darkness of the grave, and grasps, with +unfaltering confidence, the conviction of an immortal life. The more we +know that God is our portion and our treasure, the more sure, and calmly +sure, we shall be that a thing like death cannot touch a thing like +that, that the mere physical fact is far too small and insignificant a +fact to have any power in such a region as that; that death can no more +affect a man's relation to God, whom he has learned to love and trust, +than you can cut thought or feeling with a knife. The two belong to two +different regions. Thus we have here the Old Testament faith in +immortality shaping itself out of the Old Testament enjoyment of +communion with God, with a present God. And you will find the very same +process of thought in that seventy-third psalm, which stands in some +respects side by side with this one as attaining the height of mystical +devotion, joined with a very clear utterance of the faith in +immortality: 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon +earth that I desire beside Thee! Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, +and afterwards receive me to glory.' + +So Death himself cannot touch the heritage of the man whose heritage is +the Lord. And his ministry is not to rob us of our treasures as he robs +men of all treasures besides (for 'their glory shall not descend after +them'), but to give us instead of the 'earnest of the inheritance'--the +bit of turf by which we take possession of the estate--the broad land in +all the amplitude of its sweep, into our perpetual possession. 'Thou +maintainest my lot.' Neither death nor life 'shall separate us from the +love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' + +III. And then the last thought here is that he who thus elects to find +his treasure and delight in God is satisfied with his choice. 'The +lines'--the measuring-cord by which the estate was parted off and +determined--'are fallen in pleasant places; yea!'--not as our Bible has +it, merely 'I have a _goodly_ heritage,' putting emphasis on the fact of +possession, but--'the heritage is goodly to _me_,' putting emphasis on +the fact of subjective satisfaction with it. + +I have no time to dwell upon the thoughts that spring from these words. +Take them in the barest outline. No man that makes the worse choice of +earth instead of God, ever, in the retrospect, said: 'I have a goodly +heritage.' One of the later Roman Emperors, who was among the best of +them, said, when he was dying: 'I have been everything, and it profits +me nothing.' No creature can satisfy your whole nature. Portions of it +may be fed with their appropriate satisfaction, but as long as we feed +on the things of earth there will always be part of our being like an +unfed tiger in a menagerie, growling for its prey, whilst its fellows +are satisfied for the moment. You can no more give your heart rest and +blessedness by pitching worldly things into it, than they could fill up +Chat Moss, when they made the first Liverpool and Manchester Railway, by +throwing in cartloads of earth. The bog swallowed them and was none the +nearer being filled. + +No man who takes the world for his portion ever said, 'The lines are +fallen to me in pleasant places.' For the make of your soul as plainly +cries out 'God!' as a fish's fins declare that the sea is its element, +or a bird's wings mark it out as meant to soar. Man and God fit each +other like the two halves of a tally. You will never get rest nor +satisfaction, and you will never be able to look at the past with +thankfulness, nor at the present with repose, nor into the future with +hope, unless you can say, 'God is the strength of my heart, and my +portion for ever.' But oh! if you do, then you have a goodly heritage, a +heritage of still satisfaction, a heritage which suits, and gratifies, +and expands all the powers of a man's nature, and makes him ever capable +of larger and larger possession of a God who ever gives more than we can +receive, that the overplus may draw us to further desire, and the +further desire may more fully be satisfied. + +The one true, pure, abiding joy is to hold fellowship with God and to +live in His love. The secret of all our unrest is the going out of our +desires after earthly things. They fly forth from our hearts like Noah's +raven, and nowhere amid all the weltering flood can find a +resting-place. The secret of satisfied repose is to set our affections +thoroughly on God. Then our wearied hearts, like Noah's dove returning +to its rest, will fold their wings and nestle fast by the throne of God. +'All the happiness of this life,' said William Law, 'is but trying to +quench thirst out of golden _empty_ cups.' But if we will take the Lord +for 'the portion of our cup,' we shall never thirst. + +Let me beseech you to choose God in Christ for your supreme good and +highest portion; and having chosen, to cleave to your choice. So shall +you enter on possession of good that truly shall be yours, even 'that +good part, which shall not be taken away from' you. + +And, lastly, remember that if you would have God, you must take Christ. +He is the true Joshua, who puts us in possession of the inheritance. He +brings God to you--to your knowledge, to your love, to your will. He +brings you to God, making it possible for your poor sinful souls to +enter His presence by His blood; and for your spirits to possess that +divine Guest. 'He that hath the Son, hath the Father'; and if you trust +your souls to Him who died for you, and cling to Him as your delight and +your joy, you will find that both the Father and the Son come to you and +make their home in you. Through Christ the Son you will receive power to +become sons of God, and 'if children, then heirs, heirs of God,' because +'joint heirs with Christ.' + + + + +GOD WITH US, AND WE WITH GOD + + + 'I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right + hand, I shall not be moved.... 11. In Thy presence is fulness of + joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' + --PSALM xvi. 8, 11. + + +There are, unquestionably, large tracts of the Old Testament in which +the anticipation of immortality does not appear, and there are others in +which its presence may be doubtful. But here there can be no hesitation, +I think, as to the meaning of these words. If we regard them carefully, +we shall not only see clearly the Psalmist's hope of immortal life, but +shall discern the process by which he came to it, and almost his very +act of grasping at it; for the first verse of our text is manifestly the +foundation of the second; and the facts of the one are the basis of the +hopes of the other. That is made plain by the 'therefore' which, in one +of the intervening verses, links the concluding rapturous anticipations +with the previous expressions. + +If, then, we observe that here, in these two verses which I have read, +there is a very remarkable parallelism, we shall get still more +strikingly the connection between the devout life here and the +perfecting of the same hereafter. Note how, even in our translation, the +latter verse is largely an echo of the former, and how much more +distinctly that is the case if we make a little variation in the +rendering, which brings it closer to the original. 'I have set the Lord +always _before me_,' says the one,--that is the present. 'In Thy +_presence_ is fulness of joy,' says the other,--that is the consequent +future. And the two words, which are rendered in the one case 'before +me' and in the other case 'in Thy presence,' are, though not identical, +so precisely synonymous that we may take them as meaning the same thing. +So we might render 'I have set the Lord always before _my_ face': +'Before _Thy_ face is fulness of joy.' The other clause is, to an +English reader, more obviously parallel: 'Because He is at _my right +hand_ I shall not be moved'--shall be steadied here. 'At _Thy right_ +hand are pleasures for evermore'--the steadfastness here merges into +eternal delights hereafter. + +So then, we have two conditions set before us, and the link between them +made very plain. And I gather all that I have to say about these words +into two statements. First, life here may be God's presence with us, to +make us steadfast. And secondly, if so, life hereafter will be our +presence with God to make us glad. That is the Psalmist's teaching, and +I will try to enforce it. + +I. First, then, life here may be God's presence with us, to make us +steadfast. + +Mark the Psalmist's language. 'I have set the Lord always _in front of_ +me--before my face.' Emphasis is placed on 'set' and 'always.' God is +ever by our sides, but we may be very far away from Him, 'though He be +not far off from every one of us,' and if we are to have Him blazing, +clear and unobscured above and beyond all the mists and hubbub of earth, +we shall need continual effort in order to keep Him in our sight. 'I +have set the Lord'--He permits me to put out my hand, as it were, and +station Him where I want Him, that I may always have Him in my sight, +and be able to look at Him and be calm and blessed. + +You cannot do that, if you let the world, and wealth, and business, and +anxieties, and ambitions, and cares, and sorrows, and duties, and family +responsibilities, jostle and hustle Him out of your minds and hearts. +You cannot do it if, like John Bunyan's man with the muckrake, you keep +your eyes always down on the straw at your feet, and never lift them to +the crown above. How many men in Manchester walk its streets from year's +end to year's end, and never look up to the sky except to see whether +they must take their umbrellas with them or not? And so all the +magnificence and beauty of the daily heavens, and the nightly gemming of +the empty places with perpetually burning stars, are lost to them! So, +God is blazing there in front of us, but unless we set ourselves to it, +we shall never see Him. You have to look, by a conscious effort, over +and away from the things that are 'seen and temporal' if you want to see +the things that are 'unseen and eternal.' + +But if you disturb the whole tenor of your being by agitations and +distractions and petty cares, or if you defile it by sensual and fleshly +lusts, and animal propensities gratified, and poor, miserable, worldly +ambitions and longings filling up your souls, then God can no more be +visible before your face than the blessed sun can mirror himself in a +storm-tossed sea or in a muddy puddle. The heart must be pure, and the +heart must be still, and the mind must be detached from earth, and glued +to Heaven, and the glasses of the telescope must be sedulously cleansed +from dust, if we are to be blessed with the vision of God continuously +before our face. + +Then note, still further, that if thus we have made God present with us, +by realising the fact of His presence, when He comes, He comes with His +hands full. 'I have set the Lord always before me,' says the Psalmist. +And then he goes on to say, 'Because He is at my right hand.' Not only +in front of you, then, David, to be looked at, but at your side! What +for? What do we summon some one to come and stand beside us for? In +order that from his presence there may come help and succour and courage +and confidence. And so God comes to the right hand of the man who +honestly endeavours through all the confusions and bustles of life to +realise His sweet and calming presence. Where He comes He comes to help; +not to be a spectator, but an ally in the warfare; and whoever sets the +Lord before him will have the Lord at his right hand. + +And then, note, still further, the steadfastness which God brings. I +have spoken of the effort which brings God. I speak now of the +steadfastness which He brings by His coming. The Psalmist's anticipation +is a singularly modest one. 'Because He is at my right hand I +shall'--What? Be triumphant? No! Escape sorrows? No! Have my life filled +with serenity? No! 'I shall not be moved.' That is the best I can hope +for. To be able to stand on the spot, with steadfast convictions, with +steadfast purposes, with steadfast actions--continuously in one +direction; 'having overcome all, to stand'--that is as much as the best +of us can desire or expect, in this poor struggling life of ours. + +What a profound consciousness of inward weakness and of outward +antagonism there breathes in that humble and modest hope, as being the +loftiest result of the presence of Omnipotence for our aid: 'I shall not +be moved'! When we think of our inner weakness, when we remember the +fluctuations of our feelings and emotions, when we compare the ups and +downs of our daily life, or when we think of the larger changes covering +years, which affect all our outlooks, our thoughts, our plans; and how + + 'We all are changed by still degrees, + All but the basis of the soul,' + +it is much to say, 'I shall not be moved.' And when we think of the +obstacles that surround us, of the storms that dash against us, how we +are swept by surges of emotion that wash away everything before their +imperious onrush, or swayed by blasts of temptation that break down the +strongest defences, or smitten by the shocks of change and sorrow that +crush the firmest hearts, it is much to say, in the face of a world +pressing upon us with the force of the wind in a cyclone, that our poor, +feeble reed shall stand upright and 'not be moved' in the fiercest +blast. 'What went ye out for to see?' 'A reed shaken with the +wind'--that is humanity. 'Behold! I have made thee an iron pillar and +brazen walls, and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not +prevail'--that is weak man, stiffened into uprightness, and rooted in +steadfastness by the touch of the hand of a present God. + +And, brother! there is nothing else that will stay a man's soul. The +holdfast cannot be a part of the chain. It must be fastened to a fixed +point. The anchor that is to keep the ship of your life from dragging +and finding itself, when the morning breaks, a ghastly wreck upon the +reef, must be outside of yourself, and the cable of it must be wrapped +round the throne of God. The anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, +which will neither break nor drag, can only be firm when it 'enters into +that within the veil.' God, and God only, can thus make us strong! So, +dear friends, let us see to it that we fasten our aims and purposes, our +faith and love, our submission and obedience, upon that mighty Helper +who will be with us and make us strong, that we may 'stand fast in the +Lord and in the power of His might.' + +II. Now, secondly, notice how, if so, life hereafter will be our +presence with God, to make us glad. + +I have already pointed out briefly the connection between these two +portions of my text, and I need only remark here that the link which +holds them together is very obvious. If a man loves God, and trusts Him, +and 'walks with Him,' after the fashion described in our former verse, +then there will spring up, irrepressible and unconquerable, a conviction +in that man's soul that this sweet and strong communion, which makes so +much of the blessedness of life, must last after death. Anything is +conceivable rather than that a man who walks with God shall cease to be! +Rather, when he 'is not' any more 'found' among men, it is only because +'God took him.' Thus the emotions and experiences of a truly devout soul +are (apart from the great revelation in Jesus Christ which hath brought +'life and immortality to light') the best evidence and confirmation of +the anticipation of immortal life. It cannot be, unless our whole +intellectual faculties are to be put into utter confusion, that such an +experience as that of the man who loves God, and tries to trust Him, and +walk before Him, is destined to be brought to nothingness with the mere +dissolution of this earthly frame. The greatness and the smallness, the +achievements and the failures, of the religious life as we see it here, +all bear upon their front the mark of imperfection, and in their +imperfection prophesy and proclaim a future completion. Because it is so +great in itself, and because, being so great, its developments and +influence are so strangely and sadly checked, the faith that knits a man +to Christ demands eternity for its duration, and infinitude for its +perfection. Thus, he that says 'I have set the Lord always before me,' +goes on to say, with an undeniable accuracy of inference, 'Therefore +Thou wilt not leave my soul in the under world.' God is not going to +forget the soul that clave to Him, and anything is believable sooner +than that. + +Our texts not only assert this connection and base the confidence of +immortality on the present experiences of the spirit that trusts in God, +but also give the outline, at least, of the correspondences between the +imperfections of the present and the perfectnesses of the future. And I +cast this into two or three words before I close. + +This is the first of them. If you will turn your faces to God, amidst +all the flaunting splendours and vain shows and fleeting possessions of +this present, His face will dawn on you yonder. We can say but little of +what is meant by such a hope as that. But only this we can say, that +there will be, as yet unimaginable, new wealths of revelation of the +Father, and to match them, as yet unimaginable new inlets of +apprehension and perception upon our parts, so that the sweetest, +clearest, closest, most satisfying vision of God that has ever dawned on +sad souls here, shall be but 'as in a glass darkly' compared with that +face to face sight. We live away out on the far-off outskirts of the +system where those great planets plough along their slow orbits, and +turn their languid rotations at distances that imagination faints in +contemplating, and the light and the heat and the life that reach them +are infinitesimally small. We shall be shifted into the orb that is +nearest the sun; and oh! what a rapture of light and life and heat will +come to our amazed spirits: 'I have set the Lord always before me.' +Twilight though the light has been, I have tried to keep it. I shall be +of the sons of light close to the Throne and shall see Thy face. I shall +be satisfied when I wake out of this sleep of life into Thy likeness. + +Then, again, if you will keep God at your right hand here, He will set +you on His hereafter. Keep Him here for your Companion, for your Ally, +for your Advocate, to breathe strength into you by the touch of His +hand, as some feeble man, leaning upon a stronger arm, may be upheld. If +you will do that, then the place where the favoured servants stand will +be yours; the place where trusted counsellors stand will be yours; the +place where the sheep stand will be yours; the place where the Shepherd +sits will be yours; for He to whom it is said, 'Sit Thou at My right +hand till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool,' says to us, 'Where I am +there shall also My servant be.' Keep God by your sides, and you will be +lifted to Christ's place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. + +Lastly, if we let ourselves be stayed by God amidst the struggle and +difficulty, we shall be gladdened by Him with perpetual joys. The +emphasis of the last words of my text is rather on the adjectives than +on the nouns--_full_ joy, _eternal_ pleasure. And how both +characteristics contradict the experiences of earth, even the gladdest, +which we fain would make permanent! For I suppose that no earthly joy is +either central, reaching the deepest self, or circumferential, embracing +the whole being of a man, but that only God can so go into the depths of +my soul as that from His throne there He can flood the whole of my +nature with felicity and peace. In all other gladnesses there is always +in the landscape one bit of sullen shadow somewhere or other, +unparticipant of the light, while all around is blazing. And we need +that He should come to make us blessed. + +Joys here are no more lasting than they are complete. As one who only +too sadly proved the truth of his own words, burning out his life before +he was six-and-thirty, has said-- + + 'Pleasures are like poppies spread, + You seize the flower, its bloom is shed! + Or like the snowflake in the river. + A moment white--then gone for ever.' + +Oh! my friend, 'why do ye spend your money for that which is not bread?' +The life of faith on earth is the beginning, and only the beginning, of +that life of calm and complete felicity in the heavenly places. + +I have shown you the ladder's foot, 'I have set the Lord always before +me.' The top round reaches the throne of God, and whoever begins at the +bottom, and holds fast the beginning of his confidence firm unto the +end, for him the great promise of the Master will come true, and +Christ's 'joy will remain in him and his joy shall be full.' + + + + +THE TWO AWAKINGS + + + 'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' + --PSALM xvii. 15. + + 'As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou + shalt despise their image.'--PSALM lxxiii. 20. + +Both of these Psalms are occupied with that standing puzzle to Old +Testament worthies--the good fortune of bad men, and the bad fortune of +good ones. The former recounts the personal calamities of David, its +author. The latter gives us the picture of the perplexity of Asaph its +writer, when he 'saw the prosperity of the wicked.' + +And as the problem in both is substantially the same, the solution also +is the same. David and Asaph both point onwards to a period when this +confusing distribution of earthly good shall have ceased, though the one +regards that period chiefly in its bearing upon himself as the time when +he shall see God and be at rest, while the other thinks of it rather +with reference to the godless rich as the time of their destruction. + +In the details of this common expectation, also, there is a remarkable +parallelism. Both describe the future to which they look as an awaking, +and both connect with it, though in different ways and using different +words, the metaphor of an image or likeness. In the one case, the future +is conceived as the Psalmist's awaking, and losing all the vain show of +this dreamland of life, while he is at rest in beholding the appearance, +and perhaps in receiving the likeness, of the one enduring Substance, +God. In the other, it is thought of as God's awaking, and putting to +shame the fleeting shadow of well-being with which godless men befool +themselves. + +What this period of twofold awaking may be is a question on which good +men and thoughtful students of Scripture differ. Without entering on the +wide subject of the Jewish knowledge of a future state, it may be enough +for the present purpose to say that the language of both these Psalms +seems much too emphatic and high-pitched, to be fully satisfied by a +reference to anything in this life. It certainly looks as if the great +awaking which David puts in immediate contrast with the death of 'men of +this world,' and which solaced his heart with the confident expectation +of beholding God, of full satisfaction of all his being, and possibly +even of wearing the divine likeness, pointed onwards, however dimly, to +that 'within the veil.' And as for the other psalm, though the awaking +of God is, no doubt, a Scriptural phrase for His ending of any period of +probation and indulgence by an act of judgment, yet the strong words in +which the context describes this awaking, as the 'destruction' and the +'end' of the godless, make it most natural to take it as here referring +to the final close of the probation of life. That conclusion appears to +be strengthened by the contrast which in subsequent verses is drawn +between this 'end' of the worldling, and the poet's hopes for himself of +divine guidance in life, and afterwards of being taken (the same word as +is used in the account of Enoch's translation) by God into His presence +and glory--hopes whose exuberance it is hard to confine within the +limits of any changes possible for earth. + +The doctrine of a future state never assumed the same prominence, nor +possessed the same clearness in Israel as with us. There are great +tracts of the Old Testament where it does not appear at all. This very +difficulty, about the strange disproportion between character and +circumstances, shows that the belief had not the same place with them as +with us. But it gradually emerged into comparative distinctness. +Revelation is progressive, and the appropriation of revelation is +progressive too. There is a history of God's self-manifestation, and +there is a history of man's reception of the manifestation. It seems to +me that in these two psalms, as in other places of Old Testament +Scripture, we see inspired men in the very course of being taught by +God, on occasion of their earthly sorrows, the clearer hopes which alone +could sustain them. They stood not where we stand, to whom Christ has +'brought life and immortality to light'; but to their devout and +perplexed souls, the dim regions beyond were partially opened, and +though they beheld there a great darkness, they also 'saw a great +light.' They saw all this solid world fade and melt, and behind its +vanishing splendours they saw the glory of the God whom they loved, in +the midst of which they felt that there _must_ be a place for them, +where eternal realities should fill their vision, and a stable +inheritance satisfy their hearts. + +The period, then, to which both David and Asaph look, in these two +verses, is the end of life. The words of both, taken in combination, +open out a series of aspects of that period which carry weighty lessons, +and to which we turn now. + +I. The first of these is that to all men the end of Life is an awaking. + +The representation of death most widely diffused among all nations is +that it is a sleep. The reasons for that emblem are easily found. We +always try to veil the terror and deformity of the ugly thing by the +thin robe of language. As with reverential awe, so with fear and +disgust, the tendency is to wrap their objects in the folds of metaphor. +Men prefer not to name plainly their god or their dread, but find +roundabout phrases for the one, and coaxing, flattering titles for the +other. The furies and the fates of heathenism, the supernatural beings +of modern superstition, must not be spoken of by their own appellations. +The recoil of men's hearts from the thing is testified by the aversion +of their languages to the bald name--death. And the employment of this +special euphemism of sleep is a wonderful witness to our weariness of +life, and to its endless toil and trouble. Everywhere that has seemed to +be a comforting and almost an attractive name, which has promised full +rest from all the agitations of this changeful scene. The prosperous and +the wretched alike have owned the fatigue of living, and been conscious +of a soothing expectance which became almost a hope, as they thought of +lying still at last with folded hands and shut eyes. The wearied workers +have bent over their dead, and felt that they are blest in this at all +events, that they rest from their labours; and as they saw them absolved +from all their tasks, have sought to propitiate the power that had made +this ease for them, as well as to express their sense of its merciful +aspect, by calling it not death, but sleep. + +But that emblem, true and sweet as it is, is but half the truth. Taken +as the whole, as indeed men are ever tempted to take it, it is a +cheerless lie. It is truth for the senses--'the foolish senses,' who +'crown' Death, as 'Omega,' the last, 'the Lord,' because '_they_ find no +_motion_ in the dead.' Rest, cessation of consciousness of the outer +world, and of action upon it, are set forth by the figure. But even the +figure might teach us that the consciousness of life, and the vivid +exercise of thought and feeling, are not denied by it. Death is sleep. +Be it so. But does not that suggest the doubt--'in that sleep, what +dreams may come?' Do we not all know that, when the chains of slumber +bind sense, and the disturbance of the outer world is hushed, there are +faculties of our souls which work more strongly than in our waking +hours? We are all poets, 'makers' in our sleep. Memory and imagination +open their eyes when flesh closes it. We can live through years in the +dreams of a night; so swiftly can spirit move when even partially freed +from 'this muddy vesture of decay.' That very phrase, then, which at +first sight seems the opposite of the representation of our text, in +reality is preparatory to and confirmatory of it. That very +representation which has lent itself to cheerless and heathenish +thoughts of death as the cessation not only of toil but of activity, is +the basis of the deeper and truer representation, the truth for the +spirit, that death is an awaking. If, on the one hand, we have to say, +as we anticipate the approaching end of life, 'The night cometh, when no +man can work'; on the other the converse is true, 'The night is far +spent; the day is at hand.' + +We shall sleep. Yes; but we shall wake too. We shall wake just because +we sleep. For flesh and all its weakness, and all its disturbing +strength, and craving importunities--for the outer world, and all its +dissipating garish shows, and all its sullen resistance to our hand--for +weariness, and fevered activity and toil against the grain of our +tastes, too great for our strength, disappointing in its results, the +end is blessed, calm sleep. And precisely because it is so, therefore +for our true selves, for heart and mind, for powers that lie dormant in +the lowest, and are not stirred into full action in the highest, souls; +for all that universe of realities which encompass us undisclosed, and +known only by faint murmurs which pierce through the opiate sleep of +life, the end shall be an awaking. + +The truth which corresponds to this metaphor, and which David felt when +he said, 'I shall be satisfied when I awake,' is that the spirit, +because emancipated from the body, shall spring into greater intensity +of action, shall put forth powers that have been held down here and +shall come into contact with an order of things which here it has but +indirectly known. To our true selves and to God we shall wake. Here we +are like men asleep in some chamber that looks towards the eastern sky. +Morning by morning comes the sunrise, with the tender glory of its rosy +light and blushing heavens, and the heavy eyes are closed to it all. +Here and there some lighter sleeper, with thinner eyelids or face turned +to the sun, is half conscious of a vague brightness, and feels the +light, though he sees not the colours of the sky nor the forms of the +filmy clouds. Such souls are our saints and prophets, but most of us +sleep on unconscious. To us all the moment comes when we shall wake and +see for ourselves the bright and terrible world which we have so often +forgotten, and so often been tempted to think was itself a dream. +Brethren, see to it that that awaking be for you the beholding of what +you have loved, the finding, in the sober certainty of waking bliss, of +all the objects which have been your visions of delight in the sleep of +earth. + +This life of ours hides more than it reveals. The day shows the sky as +solitary but for wandering clouds that cover its blue emptiness. But the +night peoples its waste places with stars, and fills all its abysses +with blazing glories. 'If light so much conceals, wherefore not life?' +Let us hold fast by a deeper wisdom than is born of sense; and though +men, nowadays, seem to be willing to go back to the 'eternal sleep' of +the most unspiritual heathenism, and to cast away all that Christ has +brought us concerning that world where He has been and whence He has +returned, because positive science and the anatomist's scalpel preach no +gospel of a future, let us try to feel as well as to believe that it is +life, with all its stunted capacities and idle occupation with baseless +fabrics, which is the sleep, and that for us all the end of it is--to +awake. + +II. The second principle contained in our text is that death is to some +men the awaking of God. + +'When Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image.' Closely rendered, +the former clause would read simply 'in awaking,' without any specifying +of the person, which is left to be gathered from the succeeding words. +But there is no doubt that the English version fills the blank correctly +by referring the awaking to God. + +The metaphor is not infrequent in the Old Testament, and, like many +others applying to the divine nature, is saved from any possibility of +misapprehension by the very boldness of its materialism. It has a +well-marked and uniform meaning. God 'awakes' when He ends an epoch of +probation and long-suffering mercy by an act or period of judgment. So +far, then, as the mere expression is concerned, there may be nothing +more meant here than the termination by a judicial act in this life, of +the transient 'prosperity of the wicked.' Any divinely-sent catastrophe +which casts the worldly rich man down from his slippery eminence would +satisfy the words. But the emphatic context seems, as already pointed +out, to require that they should be referred to that final crash which +irrevocably separates him who has 'his portion in this life,' from all +which he calls his 'goods.' + +If so, then the whole period of earthly existence is regarded as the +time of God's gracious forbearance and mercy; and the time of death is +set forth as the instant when sterner elements of the divine dealings +start into greater prominence. Life here is predominantly, though not +exclusively, the field for the manifestation of patient love, not +willing that any should perish. To the godless soul, immersed in +material things, and blind to the light of God's wooing love, the +transition to that other form of existence is likewise the transition to +the field for the manifestation of the retributive energy of God's +righteousness. Here and now His judgment on the whole slumbers. The +consequences of our deeds are inherited, indeed, in many a merciful +sorrow, in many a paternal chastisement, in many a partial +exemplification of the wages of sin as death. But the harvest is not +fully grown nor ripened yet; it is not reaped in all its extent; the +bitter bread is not baked and eaten as it will have to be. Nor are men's +consciences so awakened that they connect the retribution, which does +befall them, with its causes in their own actions, as closely as they +will do when they are removed from the excitement of life and the deceit +of its dreams. 'Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily.' +For the long years of our stay here, God's seeking love lingers round +every one of us, yearning over us, besetting us behind and before, +courting us with kindnesses, lavishing on us its treasures, seeking to +win our poor love. It is sometimes said that this is a state of +probation. But that phrase suggests far too cold an idea. God does not +set us here as on a knife edge, with abysses on either side ready to +swallow us if we stumble, while He stands apart watching for our +halting, and unhelpful to our tottering feebleness. He compasses us with +His love and its gifts, He draws us to Himself, and desires that we +should stand. He offers all the help of His angels to hold us up. 'He +will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not +slumber.' The judgment sleeps; the loving forbearance, the gracious aid +wake. Shall we not yield to His perpetual pleadings, and, moved by the +mercies of God, let His conquering love thaw our cold hearts into +streams of thankfulness and self-devotion? + +But remember, that that predominantly merciful and long-suffering +character of God's present dealing affords no guarantee that there will +not come a time when His slumbering judgment will stir to waking. The +same chapter which tells us that 'He is long-suffering to us-ward, not +willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,' +goes on immediately to repel the inference that therefore a period of +which retribution shall be the characteristic is impossible, by the +solemn declaration, '_But_ the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in +the night.' His character remains ever the same, the principles of His +government are unalterable, but there may be variations in the +prominence given in His acts, to the several principles of the one, and +the various though harmonious phases of the other. The method may be +changed, the purpose may remain unchanged. And the Bible, which is our +only source of knowledge on the subject, tells us that the method _is_ +changed, in so far as to intensify the vigour of the operation of +retributive justice after death, so that men who have been compassed +with 'the loving-kindness of the Lord,' and who die leaving worldly +things, and keeping worldly hearts, will have to confront 'the terror of +the Lord.' + +The alternation of epochs of tolerance and destruction is in accordance +with the workings of God's providence here and now. For though the +characteristic of that providence as we see it is merciful forbearance, +yet we are not left without many a premonition of the mighty final 'day +of the Lord.' For long years or centuries a nation or an institution +goes on slowly departing from truth, forgetting the principles on which +it rests, or the purposes for which it exists. Patiently God pleads with +the evil-doers, lavishes gifts and warnings upon them. He holds back the +inevitable avenging as long as restoration is yet possible--and _His_ +eye and heart see it to be possible long after men conclude that the +corruption is hopeless. But at last comes a period when He says, 'I have +long still holden My peace, and refrained Myself, now will I destroy'; +and with a crash one more hoary iniquity disappears from the earth which +it has burdened so long. For sixty times sixty slow, throbbing seconds, +the silent hand creeps unnoticed round the dial and then, with whirr and +clang, the bell rings out, and another hour of the world's secular day +is gone. The billows of the thunder-cloud slowly gather into vague form, +and slowly deepen in lurid tints, and slowly roll across the fainting +blue; they touch--and then the fierce flash, like the swift hand on the +palace-wall of Babylon, writes its message of destruction over all the +heaven at once. We know enough from the history of men and nations since +Sodom till to-day, to recognise it as God's plan to alternate long +patience and 'sudden destruction':-- + + 'The mills of God grind slowly, + But they grind exceeding small'; + +and every such instance confirms the expectation of the coming of that +great and terrible day of the Lord, whereof all epochs of convulsion and +ruin, all falls of Jerusalem, and Roman empires, Reformations, and +French Revolutions, and American wars, all private and personal +calamities which come from private wrong-doing, are but feeble +precursors. 'When Thou awakest, Thou wilt despise their image.' + +Brethren, do we use aright this goodness of God which is the +characteristic of the present? Are we ready for that judgment which is +the mark of the future? + +III. Death is the annihilation of the vain show of worldly life. + +The word rendered _image_ is properly shadow, and hence copy or +likeness, and hence image. Here, however, the simpler meaning is the +better. 'Thou shalt despise their shadow.' The men are shadows, and all +their goods are not what they are called, their 'substance,' but their +_shadow_, a mere appearance, not a reality. That show of good which +seems but is not, is withered up by the light of the awaking God. What +He despises cannot live. + +So there are the two old commonplaces of moralists set forth in these +grand words--the unsatisfying character of all merely external delights +and possessions, and also their transitory character. They are +non-substantial and non-permanent. + +Nothing that is without a man can make him rich or restful. The +treasures which are kept in coffers are not real, but only those which +are kept in the soul. Nothing which cannot enter into the substance of +the life and character can satisfy us. That which we are makes us rich +or poor, that which we own is a trifle. + +There is no congruity between any outward thing and man's soul, of such +a kind as that satisfaction can come from its possession. 'Cisterns that +can hold no water,' 'that which is not bread,' 'husks that the swine did +eat'--these are not exaggerated phrases for the good gifts which God +gives for our delight, and which become profitless and delusive by our +exclusive attachment to them. There is no need for exaggeration. These +worldly possessions have a good in them, they contribute to ease and +grace in life, they save from carking cares and mean anxieties, they add +many a comfort and many a source of culture. But, after all, a true, +lofty life may be lived with a very small modicum. There is no +proportion between wealth and happiness, nor between wealth and +nobleness. The fairest life that ever lived on earth was that of a poor +Man, and with all its beauty it moved within the limits of narrow +resources. The loveliest blossoms do not grow on plants that plunge +their greedy roots into the fattest soil. A little light earth in the +crack of a hard rock will do. We need enough for the physical being to +root itself in; we need no more. + +Young men! especially you who are plunged into the busy life of our +great commercial centres, and are tempted by everything you see, and by +most that you hear, to believe that a prosperous trade and hard cash are +the realities, and all else mist and dreams, fix this in your mind to +begin life with--God is the reality, all else is shadow. Do not make it +your ambition to get _on_, but to get _up_. 'Having food and raiment, +let us be content.' Seek for your life's delight and treasure in +thought, in truth, in pure affections, in moderate desires, in a spirit +set on God. These are the realities of our possessions. As for all the +rest, it is sham and show. + +And while thus all without is unreal, it is also fleeting as the shadows +of the flying clouds; and when God awakes, it disappears as they before +the noonlight that clears the heavens. All things that are, are on +condition of perpetual flux and change. The cloud-rack has the likeness +of bastions and towers, but they are mist, not granite, and the wind is +every moment sweeping away their outlines, till the phantom fortress +topples into red ruin while we gaze. The tiniest stream eats out its +little valley and rounds the pebble in its widening bed, rain washes +down the soil, and frost cracks the cliffs above. So silently and yet +mightily does the law of change work that to a meditative eye the solid +earth seems almost molten and fluid, and the everlasting mountains +tremble to decay. + +'Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?' Are we going to be +such fools as to fix our hopes and efforts upon this fleeting order of +things, which can give no delight more lasting than itself? Even whilst +we are in it, it continueth not in one stay, and we are in it for such a +little while! Then comes what our text calls God's awaking, and where is +it all then? Gone like a ghost at cockcrow. Why! a drop of blood on your +brain or a crumb of bread in your windpipe, and as far as you are +concerned the outward heavens and earth 'pass away with a great' +silence, as the impalpable shadows that sweep over some lone hillside. + + 'The glories of our birth and state + Are shadows, not substantial things; + There is no armour against fate, + Death lays his icy hand on kings.' + +What an awaking to a worldly man that awaking of God will be! 'As when a +hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth, but he awaketh and his soul +is empty.' He has thought he fed full, and was rich and safe, but in one +moment he is dragged from it all, and finds himself a starving pauper, +in an order of things for which he has made no provision. 'When he +dieth, he shall carry nothing away.' Let us see to it that not in utter +nakedness do we go hence, but clothed with that immortal robe, and rich +in those possessions that cannot be taken away from us, which they have +who have lived on earth as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Let +us pierce, for the foundation of our life's house, beneath the shifting +sands of time down to the Rock of Ages, and build there. + +IV. Finally, death is for some men the annihilation of the vain shows in +order to reveal the great reality. + +'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' + +'Likeness' is properly 'form,' and is the same word which is employed in +reference to Moses, who saw 'the similitude of the Lord.' If there be, +as is most probable, an allusion to that ancient vision in these words, +then the 'likeness' is not that conformity to the divine character which +it is the goal of our hopes to possess, but the beholding of His +self-manifestation. The parallelism of the verse also points to such an +interpretation. + +If so, then, we have here the blessed confidence that when all the +baseless fabric of the dream of life has faded from our opening eyes, we +shall see the face of our ever-loving God. Here the distracting whirl of +earthly things obscures Him from even the devoutest souls, and His own +mighty works which reveal do also conceal. In them is the hiding as well +as the showing of His power. But there the veil which draped the perfect +likeness, and gave but dim hints through its heavy swathings of the +outline of immortal beauty that lay beneath, shall fall away. No longer +befooled by shadows, we shall possess the true substance; no longer +bedazzled by shows, we shall behold the reality. + +And seeing God we shall be satisfied. With all lesser joys the eye is +not satisfied with seeing, but to look on Him will be enough. Enough for +mind and heart, wearied and perplexed with partial knowledge and +imperfect love; enough for eager desires, which thirst, after all +draughts from other streams; enough for will, chafing against lower +lords and yet longing for authoritative control; enough for all my +being--to see God. Here we can rest after all wanderings, and say, 'I +travel no further; here will I dwell for ever--_I shall be satisfied_.' + +And may these dim hopes not suggest to us too some presentiment of the +full Christian truth of assimilation dependent on vision, and of vision +reciprocally dependent on likeness? 'We shall be like Him, for we shall +see Him as He is,'--words which reach a height that David but partially +discerned through the mist. This much he knew, that he should in some +transcendent sense behold the manifested God; and this much more, that +it must be 'in righteousness' that he should gaze upon that face. The +condition of beholding the Holy One was holiness. We know that the +condition of holiness is trust in Christ. And as we reckon up the rich +treasure of our immortal hopes, our faith grows bold, and pauses not +even at the lofty certainty of God without us, known directly and +adequately, but climbs to the higher assurance of God within us, +flooding our darkness with His great light, and changing us into the +perfect copies of His express Image, His only-begotten Son. 'I shall be +satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness,' cries the prophet Psalmist. +'It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master,' responds the +Christian hope. + +Brethren! take heed that the process of dissipating the vain shows of +earth be begun betimes in your souls. It must either be done by Faith, +whose rod disenchants them into their native nothingness, and then it is +blessed; or it must be done by death, whose mace smites them to dust, +and then it is pure, irrevocable loss and woe. Look away from, or rather +look through, things that are seen to the King eternal, invisible. Let +your hearts seek Christ, and your souls cleave to Him. Then death will +take away nothing from you that you would care to keep, but will bring +you your true joy. It will but trample to fragments the 'dome of +many-coloured glass' that 'stains the white radiance of eternity.' +Looking forward calmly to that supreme hour, you will be able to say, 'I +will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makest me +dwell in safety.' Looking back upon it from beyond, and wondering to +find how brief it was, and how close to Him whom you love it has brought +you, your now immortal lips touched by the rising Sun of the heavenly +morning will thankfully exclaim, 'When I awake, I am still with Thee.' + + + + +SECRET FAULTS + + + 'Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' + PSALM xix. 12. + +The contemplation of the 'perfect law, enlightening the eyes,' sends the +Psalmist to his knees. He is appalled by his own shortcomings, and feels +that, beside all those of which he is aware, there is a region, as yet +unilluminated by that law, where evil things nestle and breed. + +The Jewish ritual drew a broad distinction between inadvertent--whether +involuntary or ignorant--and deliberate sins; providing atonement for +the former, not for the latter. The word in my text rendered 'errors' is +closely connected with that which in the Levitical system designates the +former class of transgressions; and the connection between the two +clauses of the text, as well as that with the subsequent verse, +distinctly shows that the 'secret faults' of the one clause are +substantially synonymous with the 'errors' of the other. + +They are, then, not sins hidden from men, whether because they have been +done quietly in a corner, and remain undetected, or because they have +only been in thought, never passing into act. Both of these pages are +dark in every man's memory. Who is there that could reveal himself to +men? who is there that could bear the sight of a naked soul? But the +Psalmist is thinking of a still more solemn fact, that, beyond the range +of conscience and consciousness, there are evils in us all. It may do us +good to ponder his discovery that he had undiscovered sins, and to take +for ours his prayer, 'Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' + +I. So I ask you to look with me, briefly, first, at the solemn fact +here, that there are in every man sins of which the doer is unaware. + +It is with our characters as with our faces. Few of us are familiar with +our own appearance, and most of us, if we have looked at our portraits, +have felt a little shock of surprise, and been ready to say to +ourselves, 'Well! I did not know that I looked like that!' And the bulk +even of good men are almost as much strangers to their inward +physiognomy as to their outward. They see themselves in their +looking-glasses every morning, although they 'go away and forget what +manner of men' they were. But they do not see their true selves in the +same fashion in any other mirror. It is the very characteristic of all +evil that it has a strange power of deceiving a man as to its real +character; like the cuttle-fish, that squirts out a cloud of ink and so +escapes in the darkness and the dirt. The more a man goes wrong the less +he knows it. Conscience is loudest when it is least needed, and most +silent when most required. + +Then, besides that, there is a great part of every one's life which is +mechanical, instinctive, and all but involuntary. Habits and emotions +and passing impulses very seldom come into men's consciousness, and an +enormously large proportion of everybody's life is done with the minimum +of attention, and is as little remembered as it is observed. + +Then, besides that, conscience wants educating. You see that on a large +scale, for instance, in the history of the slow progress which Christian +principle has made in leavening the world's thinkings. It took eighteen +centuries to teach the Church that slavery was unchristian. The Church +has not yet learned that war is unchristian, and it is only beginning to +surmise that possibly Christian principle may have something to say in +social questions, and in the determination, for example, of the +relations of capital and labour, and of wealth and poverty. The very +same slowness of apprehension and gradual growth in the education of +conscience, and in the perception of the application of Christian +principles to duty, applies to the individual as to the Church. + +Then, besides that, we are all biassed in our own favour, and what, when +another man says it, is 'flat blasphemy,' we think, when we say it, is +only 'a choleric word.' We have fine names for our own vices, and ugly +ones for the very same vices in other people. David will flare up into +generous and sincere indignation about the man that stole the poor man's +ewe lamb, but he has not the ghost of a notion that he has been doing +the very same thing himself. And so we bribe our consciences as well as +neglect them, and they need to be educated. + +Thus, down below every life there lies a great dim region of habits and +impulses and fleeting emotions, into which it is the rarest thing for a +man to go with a candle in his hand to see what it is like. + +But I can imagine a man saying, 'Well, if I do not know that I am doing +wrong, how can it be a sin?' In answer to that, I would say that, thank +God! ignorance diminishes criminality, but ignorance does not alter the +nature of the deed. Take a simple illustration. Here is a man who, all +unconsciously to himself, is allowing worldly prosperity to sap his +Christian character. He does not know that the great current of his life +has been turned aside, as it were, by that sluice, and is taken to drive +the wheels of his mill, and that there is only a miserable little +trickle coming down the river bed. Is he any less guilty because he does +not know? Is he not the more so, because he might and would have known +if he had thought and felt right? Or, here is another man who has the +habit of letting his temper get the better of him. He calls it 'stern +adherence to principle,' or 'righteous indignation'; and he thinks +himself very badly used when other people 'drive him' so often into a +temper. Other people know, and _he_ might know, if he would be honest +with himself, that, for all his fine names, it is nothing else than +passion. Is he any the less guilty because of his ignorance? It is plain +enough that, whilst ignorance, if it is absolute and inevitable, does +diminish criminality to the vanishing point, the ignorance of our own +faults which most of us display is neither absolute nor inevitable; and +therefore, though it may, thank God! diminish, it does not destroy our +guilt. 'She wipeth her mouth and saith, I have done no harm': was she, +therefore, chaste and pure? In all our hearts there are many vermin +lurking beneath the stones, and they are none the less poisonous because +they live and multiply in the dark. 'I know nothing against myself, yet +am I not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the Lord.' + +II. Now, secondly, let me ask you to look at the special perilousness of +these hidden faults. + +As with a blight upon a rose-tree, the little green creatures lurk on +the underside of the leaves, and in all the folds of the buds, and +because unseen, they increase with alarming rapidity. The very fact that +we have faults in our characters, which everybody sees but ourselves, +makes it certain that they will grow unchecked, and so will prove +terribly perilous. The small things of life are the great things of +life. For a man's character is made up of them, and of their results, +striking inwards upon himself. A wine-glassful of water with one drop of +mud in it may not be much obscured, but if you come to multiply it into +a lakeful, you will have muddy waves that reflect no heavens, and show +no gleaming stars. + +These secret faults are like a fungus that has grown in a wine-cask, +whose presence nobody suspected. It sucks up all the generous liquor to +feed its own filthiness, and when the staves are broken, there is no +wine left, nothing but the foul growth. Many a Christian man and woman +has the whole Christian life arrested, and all but annihilated, by the +unsuspected influence of a secret sin. I do not believe it would be +exaggeration to say that, for one man who has made shipwreck of his +faith and lost his peace by reason of some gross transgression, there +are twenty who have fallen into the same condition by reason of the +multitude of small ones. 'He that despiseth little things shall fall by +little and little'; and whilst the deeds which the Ten Commandments +rebuke are damning to a Christian character, still more perilous, +because unseen, and permitted to grow without check or restraint, are +these unconscious sins. 'Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that +thing which he alloweth.' + +III. Notice the discipline, or practical issues, to which such +considerations should lead. + +To begin with, they ought to take down our self-complacency, if we have +any, and to make us feel that, after all, our characters are very poor +things. If men praise us, let us try to remember what it will be good +for us to remember, too, when we are tempted to praise ourselves--the +underworld of darkness which each of us carries about within us. + +Further, let me press upon you two practical points. This whole set of +contemplations should make us practise a very rigid and close +self-inspection. There will always be much that will escape our +observation--we shall gradually grow to know more and more of it--but +there can be no excuse for that which I fear is a terribly common +characteristic of the professing Christianity of this day--the all but +entire absence of close inspection of one's own character and conduct. I +know very well that it is not a wholesome thing for a man to be always +poking in his own feelings and emotions. I know also that, in a former +generation, there was far too much introspection, instead of looking to +Jesus Christ and forgetting self. I do not believe that +self-examination, directed to the discovery of reasons for trusting the +sincerity of my own faith, is a good thing. But I do believe that, +without the practice of careful weighing of ourselves, there will be +very little growth in anything that is noble and good. + +The old Greeks used to preach, 'Know thyself.' It was a high behest, and +very often a very vain-glorious one. A man's best means of knowing what +he is, is to take stock of what he does. If you will put your conduct +through the sieve, you will come to a pretty good understanding of your +character. 'He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city +broken down, without walls,' into which all enemies can leap unhindered, +and out from which all things that will may pass. Do you set guards at +the gates and watch yourselves with all carefulness. + +Then, again, I would say we must try to diminish as much as possible the +mere instinctive and habitual and mechanical part of our lives, and to +bring, as far as we can, every action under the conscious dominion of +principle. The less we live by impulse, and the more we live by +intelligent reflection, the better it will be for us. The more we can +get habit on the side of goodness, the better; but the more we break up +our habits, and make each individual action the result of a special +volition of the spirit guided by reason and conscience, the better for +us all. + +Then, again, I would say, set yourselves to educate your consciences. +They need that. One of the surest ways of making conscience more +sensitive is always to consult it and always to obey it. If you neglect +it, and let it prophesy to the wind, it will stop speaking before long. +Herod could not get a word out of Christ when he 'asked Him many +questions' because for years he had not cared to hear His voice. And +conscience, like the Lord of conscience, will hold its peace after men +have neglected its speech. You can pull the clapper out of the bell upon +the rock, and then, though the waves may dash, there will not be a +sound, and the vessel will drive straight on to the black teeth that are +waiting for it. Educate your conscience by obeying it, and by getting +into the habit of bringing everything to its bar. + +And, still further, compare yourselves constantly with your model. Do as +the art students do in a gallery, take your poor daub right into the +presence of the masterpiece, and go over it line by line and tint by +tint. Get near Jesus Christ that you may learn your duty from Him, and +you will find out many of the secret sins. + +And, lastly, let us ask God to cleanse us. + +My text, as translated in the Revised Version, says, '_Clear_ Thou me +from secret faults.' And there is present in that word, if not +exclusively, at least predominantly, the idea of a judicial acquittal, +so that the thought of the first clause of this verse seems rather to be +that of pronouncing guiltless, or forgiving, than that of delivering +from the power of. But both, no doubt, are included in the idea, as +both, in fact, come from the same source and in response to the same +cry. + +And so we may be sure that, though our eye does not go down into the +dark depths, God's eye goes, and that where He looks He looks to pardon, +if we come to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. + +He will deliver us from the power of these secret faults, giving to us +that divine Spirit which is 'the candle of the Lord,' to search us, and +to convince of our sins, and to drag our evil into the light; and giving +us the help without which we can never overcome. The only way for us to +be delivered from the dominion of our unconscious faults is to increase +the depth and closeness and constancy of our communion with Jesus +Christ; and then they will drop away from us. Mosquitoes and malaria, +the one unseen in their minuteness, and the other, 'the pestilence that +walketh in darkness,' haunt the swamps. Go up on the hilltop, and +neither of them are found. So if we live more and more on the high +levels, in communion with our Master, there will be fewer and fewer of +these unconscious sins buzzing and stinging and poisoning our lives, and +more and more will His grace conquer and cleanse. + +They will all be manifested some day. The time comes when He shall bring +to light the hidden things and darkness and the counsels of men's +hearts. There will be surprises on both hands of the Judge. Some on the +right, astonished, will say, 'Lord, when saw we Thee?' and some on the +left, smitten to confusion and surprise, will say, 'Lord, Lord, have we +not prophesied in Thy name?' + +Let us go to Him with the prayer, 'Search me, O God! and try me; and see +if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.' + + + + +OPEN SINS + + + 'Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not + have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be + innocent from the great transgression.'--PSALM xix. 13. + +Another psalmist promises to the man who dwells 'in the secret place of +the Most High' that' he shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor +for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh at +noonday,' but shall 'tread upon the lion and adder.' These promises +divide the dangers that beset us into the same two classes as our +Psalmist does--the one secret; the other palpable and open. The former, +which, as I explained in my last sermon, are sins hidden, not from +others, but from the doer, may fairly be likened to the pestilence that +stalks slaying in the dark, or to the stealthy, gliding serpent, which +strikes and poisons before the naked foot is aware. The other resembles +the 'destruction that wasteth at noonday,' or the lion with its roar and +its spring, as, disclosed from its covert, it leaps upon the prey. + +Our present text deals with the latter of these two classes. +'Presumptuous sins' does not, perhaps, convey to an ordinary reader the +whole significance of the phrase, for it may be taken to define a single +class of sins--namely, those of pride or insolence. What is really meant +is just the opposite of 'secret sins'--all sorts of evil which, whatever +may be their motives and other qualities, have this in common, that the +doer, when he does them, knows them to be wrong. + +The Psalmist gets this further glimpse into the terrible possibilities +which attach even to a servant of God, and we have in our text these +three things--a danger discerned, a help sought, and a daring hope +cherished. + +I. Note, then, the first of these, the dreaded and discerned +danger--'presumptuous sins,' which may 'have dominion over' us, and lead +us at last to a 'great transgression.' + +Now the word which is translated 'presumptuous' literally means _that +which boils or bubbles_; and it sets very picturesquely before us the +movement of hot desires--the agitation of excited impulses or +inclinations which hurry men into sin in spite of their consciences. It +is also to be noticed that the prayer of my text, with singular pathos +and lowly self-consciousness, is the prayer of 'Thy servant,' who knows +himself to be a servant, and who therefore knows that these glaring +transgressions, done in the teeth of conscience and consciousness, are +all inconsistent with his standing and his profession, but yet are +perfectly possible for him. + +An old mediaeval mystic once said, 'There is nothing weaker than the +devil stripped naked.' Would it were true! For there is one thing that +is weaker than a discovered devil, and that is my own heart. For we all +know that sometimes, with our eyes open, and the most unmistakable +consciousness that what we are doing was wrong, we have set our teeth +and done it, Christian men though we may profess to be, and may really +be. All such conduct is inconsistent with Christianity; but we are not +to say, therefore, that it is incompatible with Christianity. Thank God! +that is a very different matter. But as long as you and I have two +things--viz. strong and hot desires, and weak and flabby wills--so long +shall we, in this world full of combustibles, not be beyond the +possibility of a dreadful conflagration being kindled by some +devil-blown sparks. There are plenty of dry sticks lying about to put +under the caldron of our hearts, to make them boil and bubble over! And +we have, alas! but weak wills, which do not always keep the reins in +their hands as they ought to do, nor coerce these lower parts of our +nature into their proper subordination. Fire is a good servant, but a +bad master; and we are all of us too apt to let it become master, and +then the whole 'course of nature' is 'set on fire of hell.' The servant +of God may yet, with open eyes and obstinate disregard of his better +self and of all its remonstrances, go straight into 'presumptuous sin.' + +Another step is here taken by the Psalmist. He looks shrinkingly and +shudderingly into a possible depth, and he sees, going down into the +abyss, a ladder with three rungs on it. The topmost one is wilful, +self-conscious transgression. But that is not the lowest stage; there is +another step. Presumptuous sin tends to become despotic sin. 'Let them +not _have dominion_ over me.' A man may do a very bad thing once, and +get so wholesomely frightened, and so keenly conscious of the disastrous +issues, that he will never go near it again. The prodigal would not be +in a hurry, you may depend upon it, to try the swine trough and the far +country, and the rags, and the fever, and the famine any more. David got +a lesson that he never forgot in that matter of Bathsheba. The bitter +fruit of his sin kept growing up all his life, and he had to eat it, and +that kept him right. They tell us that broken bones are stronger at the +point of fracture than they were before. And it is possible for a man's +sin--if I might use a paradox which you will not misunderstand--to +become the instrument of his salvation. + +But there is another possibility quite as probable, and very often +recurring, and that is that the disease, like some other morbid states +of the human frame, shall leave a tendency to recurrence. A pin-point +hole in a dyke will be widened into a gap as big as a church-door in ten +minutes, by the pressure of the flood behind it. And so every act which +we do in contradiction of our standing as professing Christians, and in +the face of the protests, all unavailing, of that conscience which is +only a voice, and has no power to enforce its behests, will tend to +recurrence once and again. The single acts become habits, with awful +rapidity. Just as the separate gas jets from a multitude of minute +apertures coalesce into a continuous ring of light, so deeds become +habits, and get dominion over us. 'He sold himself to do evil.' He made +himself a bond-slave of iniquity. It is an awful and a miserable thing +to think that professing Christians do often come into that position of +being, by their inflamed passions and enfeebled wills, servants of the +evil that they do. Alas! how many of us, if we were honest with +ourselves, would have to say. 'I am carnal, sold unto sin.' + +That is not the lowest rung of the slippery ladder. Despotic sin ends in +utter departure. + +The word translated here, quite correctly, 'transgression,' and +intensified by that strong adjective attached, 'a _great_ +transgression,' literally means _rebellion_, _revolt_, or some such +idea; and expresses, as the ultimate issue of conscious transgression +prolonged and perpetuated into habit, an entire casting off of +allegiance to God. 'No man can serve two masters.' 'His servants ye are +whom ye obey,' whomsoever ye may call your master. The Psalmist feels +that the end of indulged evil is going over altogether to the other +camp. I suppose all of us have known instances of that sort. Men in my +position, with a long life of ministry behind them, can naturally +remember many such instances. And this is the outline history of the +suicide of a Christian. First secret sin, unsuspected, because the +conscience is torpid; then open sin, known to be such, but done +nevertheless; then dominant sin, with an enfeebled will and power of +resistance; then the abandonment of all pretence or profession of +religion. The ladder goes down into the pit, but not to the bottom of +the pit. And the man that is going down it has a descending impulse +after he has reached the bottom step and he falls--Where? The first step +down is tampering with conscience. It is neither safe nor wise to do +anything, howsoever small, against that voice. All the rest will come +afterward, unless God restrains--'first the blade, then the ear, then +the full corn in the ear,' and then the bitter harvest of the poisonous +grain. + +II. So, secondly, note the help sought. + +The Psalmist is like a man standing on the edge of some precipice, and +peeping over the brink to the profound beneath, and feeling his head +beginning to swim. He clutches at the strong, steady hand of his guide, +knowing that unless he is restrained, over he will go. 'Keep Thou back +Thy servant from presumptuous sins.' + +So, then, the first lesson we have to take is, to cherish a lowly +consciousness of our own tendency to light-headedness and giddiness. +'Blessed is the man that feareth always.' That fear has nothing cowardly +about it. It will not abate in the least the buoyancy and bravery of our +work. It will not tend to make us shirk duty because there is temptation +in it, but it will make us go into all circumstances realising that +without that divine help we cannot stand, and that with it we cannot +fall. 'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.' The same Peter that said, +'Though all should forsake Thee, yet will not I,' was wiser and braver +when he said, in later days, being taught by former presumption, 'Pass +the time of your sojourning here in fear.' + +Let me remind you, too, that the temper which we ought to cherish is +that of a confident belief in the reality of a divine support. The +prayer of my text has no meaning at all, unless the actual supernatural +communication by God's own Holy Spirit breathed into men's hearts be a +simple truth. 'Hold Thou me up,' 'Keep Thou me back,' means, if it means +anything, 'Give me in my heart a mightier strength than mine own, which +shall curb all this evil nature of mine, and bring it into conformity +with Thy holy will.' + +How is that restraining influence to be exercised? There are many ways +by which God, in His providence, can fulfil the prayer. But the way +above all others is by the actual operation upon heart and will and +desires of a divine Spirit, who uses for His weapon the Word of God, +revealed by Jesus Christ, and in the Scriptures. 'The sword of the +Spirit is the Word of God,' and God's answer to the prayer of my text is +the gift to every man who seeks it of that indwelling Power to sustain +and to restrain. + +That will keep our passions down. The bubbling water is lowered in its +temperature, and ceases to bubble, when cold is added to it. When God's +Spirit comes into a man's heart, that will deaden his desires after +earth and forbidden ways. He will bring blessed higher objects for all +his affections. He who has been fed on 'the hidden manna' will not be +likely to hanker after the leeks and onions, however strong their smell +and pungent their taste, that grew in the Nile mud in Egypt. He who has +tasted the higher sweetnesses of God will have his heart's desires after +lower delights strangely deadened and cooled. Get near God, and open +your hearts for the entrance of that divine Spirit, and then it will not +seem foolish to empty your hands of the trash that they carry in order +to grasp the precious things that He gives. A bit of scrap-iron +magnetised turns to the pole. My heart, touched by the Spirit of God +dwelling in me, will turn to Him, and I shall find little sweetness in +the else tempting delicacies that earth can supply. 'Keep Thy servant +back from,' by depriving him of the taste for, 'presumptuous sins.' + +That Spirit will strengthen our wills. For when God comes into a heart, +He restores the due subordination which has been broken into discord and +anarchy by sin. He dismounts the servant riding on horseback, and +carrying the horse to the devil, according to the proverb, and gives the +reins into the right hands. Now, if the gift of God's Spirit, working +through the Word of God, and the principles and the motives therein +unfolded, and therefrom deducible, be the great means by which we are to +be kept from open and conscious transgression, it follows very plainly +that our task is twofold. One part of it is to see that we cultivate +that spirit of lowly dependence, of self-conscious weakness, of +triumphant confidence, which will issue in the perpetual prayer for +God's restraint. When we enter upon tasks which may be dangerous, and +into regions of temptation which cannot but be so, though they be duty, +we should ever have the desire in our hearts and upon our lips that God +would keep us from, and in, the evil. + +The other part of our duty is to make it a matter of conscience and +careful cultivation, to use honestly and faithfully the power which, in +response to our desires, has been granted to us. All of you, Christian +men and women, have access to an absolute security against every +transgression; and the cause lies wholly at your own doors in each case +of failure, deficiency, or transgression, for at every moment it was +open to you to clasp the Hand that holds you up, and at every moment, if +you failed, it was because your careless fingers had relaxed their +grasp. + +III. Lastly, observe the daring hope here cherished. + +'Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great +transgression.' That is the upshot of the divine answer to both the +petitions which have been occupying us in these two successive sermons. +It is connected with the former of them by the recurrence of the same +word, which in the first petition was rendered 'cleanse'--or, more +accurately, 'clear'--and in this final clause is to be rendered +accurately, 'I shall be _clear_ from the great transgression.' And it +obviously connects in sense with both these petitions, because, in order +to be upright and clear, there must, first of all, be divine cleansing, +and then divine restraint. + +So, then, nothing short of absolute deliverance from the power of sin in +all its forms should content the servant of God. Nothing short of it +contents the Master for the servant. Nothing short of it corresponds to +the power which Christ puts in operation in every heart that believes in +Him. And nothing else should be our aim in our daily conflict with evil +and growth in grace. Ah! I fear me that, for an immense number of +professing Christians in this generation, the hope of--and, still more, +the aim towards--anything approximating to entire deliverance from sin, +have faded from their consciences and their lives. Aim at the stars, +brother! and if you do not hit them, your arrow will go higher than if +it were shot along the lower levels. + +Note that an indefinite approximation to this condition is possible. I +am not going to discuss, at this stage of my discourse, controversial +questions which may be involved here. It will be time enough to discuss +with you whether you can be absolutely free from sin in this world when +you are a great deal freer from it than you are at present. At all +events, you can get far nearer to the ideal, and the ideal must always +be perfect. And I lay it on your hearts, dear friends! that you have in +your possession, if you are Christian people, possibilities in the way +of conformity to the Master's will, and entire emancipation from all +corruption, that you have not yet dreamed of, not to say applied to your +lives. 'I pray God that He would sanctify you wholly, and that your +whole body, soul, and spirit be preserved blameless unto the coming.' + +That daring hope will be fulfilled one day; for nothing short of it will +exhaust the possibilities of Christ's work or satisfy the desires of +Christ's heart. + +The Gospel knows nothing of irreclaimable outcasts. To it there is but +one unpardonable sin, and that is the sin of refusing the cleansing of +Christ's blood and the sanctifying of Christ's Spirit. Whoever you are, +whatever you are, go to God with this prayer of our text, and realise +that it is answered in Jesus Christ, and you will not ask in vain. If +you will put yourself into His hands, and let Him cleanse and restrain, +He will give you new powers to detect the serpents in the flowers, and +new resolution to shake off the vipers into the fire. For there is +nothing that God wants half so much as that we, His wandering children, +should come back to Him, and He will cleanse us from the filth of the +swine trough and the rags of our exile, and clothe us in 'fine linen +clean and white.' We may each be sinless and guiltless. We can be so in +one way only. If we look to Jesus Christ, and live near Him, He 'will be +made of God unto us wisdom,' by which we shall detect our secret sins; +'righteousness,' whereby we shall be cleansed from guilt; +'sanctification,' which shall restrain us from open transgression; 'and +redemption,' by which we shall be wholly delivered from evil and +'presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding +joy.' + + + + +FEASTING ON THE SACRIFICE + + + 'The meek shall eat and be satisfied.'--PSALM xxii. 26. + +'The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering for thanksgiving shall +be offered in the day of his oblation.' Such was the law for Israel. And +the custom of sacrificial feasts, which it embodies, was common to many +lands. To such a custom my text alludes; for the Psalmist has just been +speaking of 'paying his vows' (that is, sacrifices which he had vowed in +the time of his trouble), and to partake of these he invites the meek. +The sacrificial dress is only a covering for high and spiritual +thoughts. In some way or other the singer of this psalm anticipates that +his experiences shall be the nourishment and gladness of a wide circle; +and if we observe that in the context that circle is supposed to include +the whole world, and that one of the results of partaking of this +sacrificial feast is 'your heart shall live for ever,' we may well say +with the Ethiopian eunuch, 'Of whom speaketh the Psalmist thus?' + +The early part of the psalm answers the question. Jesus Christ laid His +hand on this wonderful psalm of desolation, despair, and deliverance +when on the Cross He took its first words as expressing His emotion +then: 'My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Whatever may be our +views as to its authorship, and as to the connection between the +Psalmist's utterances and his own personal experiences, none to whom +that voice that rang through the darkness on Calvary is the voice of the +Son of God, can hesitate as to who it is whose very griefs and sorrows +are thus the spiritual food that gives life to the whole world. + +From this, the true point of view, then, from which to look at the whole +of this wonderful psalm, I desire to deal with the words of my text now. + +I. We have, first, then, the world's sacrificial feast. + +The Jewish ritual, and that of many other nations, as I have remarked, +provided for a festal meal following on, and consisting of the material +of, the sacrifice. A generation which studies comparative mythology, and +spares no pains to get at the meaning underlying the barbarous worship +of the rudest nations, ought to be interested in the question of the +ideas that formed and were expressed by that elaborate Jewish ritual. In +the present case, the signification is plain enough. That which, in one +aspect, is a peace-offering reconciling to God, in another aspect is the +nourishment and the joy of the hearts that accept it. And so the work of +Jesus Christ has two distinct phases of application, according as we +think of it as being offered to God or appropriated by men. In the one +case it is our peace; in the other it is our food and our life. If we +glance for a moment at the marvellous picture of suffering and +desolation in the previous portion of this psalm, which sounds the very +depths of both, we shall understand more touchingly what it is on which +Christian hearts are to feed. The desolation that spoke in 'Why hast +Thou forsaken Me?' the consciousness of rejection and reproach, of +mockery and contempt, which wailed, 'All that see Me laugh Me to scorn; +they shoot out the lip; they shake the head, saying, "He trusted on the +Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He +delighteth in Him"'; the physical sufferings which are the very picture +of crucifixion, so as that the whole reads liker history than prophecy, +in 'All My bones are out of joint; My strength is dried up like a +potsherd; and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws'; the actual passing into +the darkness of the grave, which is expressed in 'Thou hast brought Me +into the dust of death'; and even the minute correspondence, so +inexplicable upon any hypothesis except that it is direct prophecy, +which is found in 'They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon +My vesture'--these be the viands, not without bitter herbs, that are +laid on the table which Christ spreads for us. They are parts of the +sacrifice that reconciles to God. Offered to Him they make our peace. +They are parts and elements of the food of our spirits. Appropriated and +partaken of by us they make our strength and our life. + +Brethren! there is little food, there is little impulse, little strength +for obedience, little gladness or peace of heart to be got from a Christ +who is _not_ a Sacrifice. If we would know how much He may be to us, as +the nourishment of our best life, and as the source of our purest and +permanent gladness, we must, first of all, look upon Him as the Offering +for the world's sin, and then as the very Life and Bread of our souls. +The Christ that feeds the world is the Christ that died for the world. + +Hence our Lord Himself, most eminently in one great and profound +discourse, has set forth, not only that He is the Bread of God which +'came down from heaven,' but that His flesh and His blood are such, and +the separation between the two in the discourse, as in the memorial +rite, indicates that there has come the violent separation of death, and +that thereby He becomes the life of humanity. + +So my text, and the whole series of Old Testament representations in +which the blessings of the Kingdom are set forth as a feast, and the +parables of the New Testament in which a similar representation is +contained, do all converge upon, and receive their deepest meaning from, +that one central thought that the peace-offering for the world is the +food of the world. + +We see, hence, the connection between these great spiritual ideas and +the central act of Christian worship. The Lord's Supper simply says by +act what my text says in words. I know no difference between the rite +and the parable, except that the one is addressed to the eye and the +other to the ear. The rite is an acted parable; the parable is a spoken +rite. And when Jesus Christ, in the great discourse to which I have +referred, dilates at length upon the 'eating of His flesh and the +drinking of His blood' as being the condition of spiritual life, He is +not referring to the Lord's Supper, but the discourse and the rite refer +both to the same spiritual truth. One is a symbol; the other is a +saying; and symbol and saying mean just the same thing. The saying does +not refer to the symbol, but to that to which the symbol refers. It +seems to me that one of the greatest dangers which now threaten +Evangelical Christianity is the strange and almost inexplicable +recrudescence of Sacramentarianism in this generation to which those +Christian communities are contributing, however reluctantly and +unconsciously, who say there is something more than commemorative +symbols in the bread and wine of the Lord's table. If once you admit +that, it seems, in my humble judgment, that you open the door to the +whole flood of evils which the history of the Church declares have come +with the Sacramentarian hypothesis. And we must take our stand, as I +believe, upon the plain, intelligible thoughts--Baptism is a declaratory +symbol, and nothing more; the Lord's Supper is a commemorative symbol, +and nothing more; except that both are acts of obedience to the +enjoining Lord. When we stand there we can face all priestly +superstitions, and say, 'Jesus I know; and Paul I know; but who are ye?' +'The meek shall eat and be satisfied,' and the food of the world is the +suffering Messiah. + +But what have we to say about the act expressed in the text? 'The meek +shall eat.' I do not desire to dwell at any length upon the thought of +the process by which this food of the world becomes ours, in this +sermon. But there are two points which perhaps may be regarded as +various aspects of one, on which I would like to say just a sentence or +two. Of course, the translation of the 'eating' of my text into +spiritual reality is simply that we partake of the food of our spirits +by the act of faith in Jesus Christ. But whilst that is so, let me put +emphasis, in a sentence, upon the thought that personal appropriation, +and making the world's food mine, by my own individual act, is the +condition on which alone I get any good from it. It is possible to die +of starvation at the door of a granary. It is possible to have a table +spread with all that is needful, and yet to set one's teeth, and lock +one's lips, and receive no strength and no gladness from the rich +provision. 'Eat' means, at any rate, incorporate with myself, take into +my very own lips, masticate with my very own teeth, swallow down by my +very own act, and so make part of my physical frame. And that is what we +have to do with Jesus Christ, or He is nothing to us. 'Eat'; claim your +part in the universal blessing; see that it becomes yours by your own +taking of it into the very depths of your heart. And then, and then +only, will it become your food. + +And how are we to do that if, day in and day out, and week in and week +out, and year in and year out, with some of us, there be scarce a +thought turned to Him; scarce a desire winging its way to Him; scarce +one moment of quiet contemplation of these great truths. We have to +ruminate, we have to meditate; we have to make conscious and frequent +efforts to bring before the mind, in the first place, and then before +the heart and all the sensitive, emotional, and voluntary nature, the +great truths on which our salvation rests. In so far as we do that we +get good out of them; in so far as we fail to do it, we may call +ourselves Christians, and attend to religious observances, and be +members of churches, and diligent in good works, and all the rest of it, +but nothing passes from Him to us, and we starve even whilst we call +ourselves guests at His table. + +Oh! the average Christian life of this day is a strange thing; very, +very little of it has the depth that comes from quiet communion with +Jesus Christ; and very little of it has the joyful consciousness of +strength that comes from habitual reception into the heart of the grace +that He brings. What is the good of all your profession unless it brings +you to that? If a coroner's jury were to sit upon many of us--and we are +dead enough to deserve it--the verdict would be, 'Died of starvation.' +'The meek shall eat,' but what about the professing Christians that feed +their souls upon anything, everything rather than upon the Christ whom +they say they trust and serve? + +II. And now let me say a word, in the second place, about the rich +fruition of this feast. + +'The meek shall be satisfied.' 'Satisfied!' Who in the world is? And if +we are not, why are we not? Jesus Christ, in the facts of His death and +resurrection--for His resurrection as well as His death are included in +the psalm--brings to us all that our circumstances, relationships, and +inward condition can require. + +Think of what that death, as the sacrifice for the world's sin, does. It +sets all right in regard to our relation to God. It reveals to us a God +of infinite love. It provides a motive, an impulse, and a Pattern for +all life. It abolishes death, and it gives ample scope for the loftiest +and most exuberant hopes that a man can cherish. And surely these are +enough to satisfy the seeking spirit. + +But go to the other end, and think, not of what Christ's work does for +us, but of what we need to have done for us. What do you and I want to +be satisfied? It would take a long time to go over the catalogue; let me +briefly run through some of the salient points of it. We want, for the +intellect, which is the regal part of man, though it be not the highest, +truth which is certain, comprehensive, and inexhaustible; the first, to +provide anchorage; the second, to meet and regulate and unify all +thought and life; and the last, to allow room for endless research and +ceaseless progress. And in that fact that the Eternal Son of the Eternal +Father took upon Himself human nature, lived, died, rose, and reigns at +God's right hand, I believe there lie the seeds of all truth, except the +purely physical and material, which men need. Everything is there; every +truth about God, about man, about duty, about a future, about society; +everything that the world needs is laid up in germ in that great gospel +of our salvation. If a man will take it for the foundation of his +beliefs and the guide of his thinkings, he will find his understanding +is satisfied, because it grasps the personal Truth who liveth, and is +with us for ever. + +Our hearts crave, however imperfect their love may be, a perfect love; +and a perfect love means one untinged by any dash of selfishness, +incapable of any variation or eclipse, all-knowing, all-pitying, +all-powerful. We have made experience of precious loves that die. We +know of loves that change, that grow cold, that misconstrue, that may +have tears but have no hands. We know of 'loves' that are only a fine +name for animal passions, and are twice cursed, cursing them that give +and them that take. The happiest will admit, and the lonely will +achingly feel, how we all want for satisfaction a love that cannot fail, +that can help, that beareth all things, and that can do all things. We +have it in Jesus Christ, and the Cross is the pledge thereof. + +Conscience wants pacifying, cleansing, enlightening, directing, and we +get all these in the good news of One that has died for us, and that +lives to be our Lord. The will needs authority which is not force. And +where is there an authority so constraining in its sweetness and so +sweet in its constraint as in those silken bonds which are stronger than +iron fetters? Hope, imagination, and all other of our powers or +weaknesses, our gifts or needs, are satisfied when they feed on Christ. +If we feed upon anything else it turns to ashes that break our teeth and +make our palates gritty, and have no nourishment in them. We shall be +'for ever roaming with a hungry heart' unless we take our places at the +feast on the one sacrifice for the world's peace. + +III. I can say but a word as to the guests. + +It is 'the meek' who eat. The word translated 'meek' has a wider and +deeper meaning than that. 'Meek' refers, in our common language, mainly +to men's demeanour to one another; but the expression here goes deeper. +It means both 'afflicted' and 'lowly'--the right use of affliction being +to bow men, and they that bow themselves are those who are fit to come +to Christ's feast. There is a very remarkable contrast between the words +of my text and those that follow a verse or two afterwards. 'The meek +shall eat and be satisfied,' says the text. And then close upon its +heels comes, 'All those that be fat upon earth shall eat.' That is to +say, the lofty and proud have to come down to the level of the lowly, +and take indiscriminate places at the table with the poor and the +starving, which, being turned into plain English is just this--the one +thing that hinders a man from partaking of the fulness of Christ's +feeding grace is self-sufficiency, and the absence of a sense of need. +They that 'hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled'; and +they that come, knowing themselves to be poor and needy, and humbly +consenting to accept a gratuitous feast of charity--they, and only they, +do get the rich provisions. + +You are shut out because you shut yourselves out. They that do not know +themselves to be hungry have no ears for the dinner-bell. They that feel +the pangs of starvation and know that their own cupboards are empty, +they are those who will turn to the table that is spread in the +wilderness, and there find a 'feast of fat things.' + +And so, dear friends! when He calls, do not let us make excuses, but +rather listen to that voice that says to us, 'Why do you spend your +money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which +satisfieth not.... Incline your ear unto Me; hear, and your soul shall +live.' + + + + +THE SHEPHERD KING OF ISRAEL + + + 'The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. 2. He maketh me to lie + down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. 3. He + restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for + His name's sake. 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the + shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod + and Thy staff, they comfort me. 5. Thou preparest a table before me + in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my + cup runneth over. 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all + the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for + ever.'--PSALM xxiii. 1-6. + +The king who had been the shepherd-boy, and had been taken from the +quiet sheep-cotes to rule over Israel, sings this little psalm of Him +who is the true Shepherd and King of men. We do not know at what period +of David's life it was written, but it sounds as if it were the work of +his later years. There is a fulness of experience about it, and a tone +of subdued, quiet confidence which speaks of a heart mellowed by years, +and of a faith made sober by many a trial. A young man would not write +so calmly, and a life which was just opening would not afford material +for such a record of God's guardianship in all changing circumstances. + +If, then, we think of the psalm as the work of David's later years, is +it not very beautiful to see the old king looking back with such vivid +and loving remembrance to his childhood's occupation, and bringing up +again to memory in his palace the green valleys, the gentle streams, the +dark glens where he had led his flocks in the old days; very beautiful +to see him traversing all the stormy years of warfare and rebellion, of +crime and sorrow, which lay between, and finding in all God's guardian +presence and gracious guidance? The faith which looks back and says, 'It +is all very good,' is not less than that which looks forward and says, +'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.' + +There is nothing difficult of understanding in the psalm. The train of +thought is clear and obvious. The experiences which it details are +common, the emotions it expresses simple and familiar. The tears that +have been dried, the fears that have been dissipated, by this old song; +the love and thankfulness which have found in them their best +expression, prove the worth of its simple words. It lives in most of our +memories. Let us try to vivify it in our hearts, by pondering it for a +little while together now. + +The psalm falls into two halves, in both of which the same general +thought of God's guardian care is presented, though under different +illustrations, and with some variety of detail. The first half sets Him +forth as a shepherd, and us as the sheep of His pasture. The second +gives Him as the Host, and us as the guests at His table, and the +dwellers in His house. + +First, then, consider that picture of the divine Shepherd and His +leading of His flock. + +It occupies the first four verses of the psalm. There is a double +progress of thought in it. It rises, from memories of the past, and +experiences of the present care of God, to hope for the future. 'The +Lord is my Shepherd'--'I will fear no evil.' Then besides this progress +from what was and is, to what will be, there is another string, so to +speak, on which the gems are threaded. The various methods of God's +leading of His flock, or rather, we should say, the various regions into +which He leads them, are described in order. These are Rest, Work, +Sorrow--and this series is so combined with the order of time already +adverted to, as that the past and the present are considered as the +regions of rest and of work, while the future is anticipated as having +in it the valley of the shadow of death. + +First, God leads His sheep into rest. 'He maketh me to lie down in green +pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.' It is the hot +noontide, and the desert lies baking in the awful glare, and every stone +on the hills of Judaea burns the foot that touches it. But in that +panting, breathless hour, here is a little green glen, with a quiet +brooklet, and moist lush herb-age all along its course, and great stones +that fling a black shadow over the dewy grass at their base; and there +would the shepherd lead his flock, while the sunbeams, like swords,' are +piercing everything beyond that hidden covert. Sweet silence broods +there, The sheep feed and drink, and couch in cool lairs till he calls +them forth again. So God leads His children. + +The psalm puts the rest and refreshment _first_, as being the most +marked characteristic of God's dealings. After all, it is so. The years +are years of unbroken continuity of outward blessings. The reign of +afflictions is ordinarily measured by days. 'Weeping endures for a +night.' It is a rainy climate where half the days have rain in them; and +that is an unusually troubled life of which it can with any truth be +affirmed that there has been as much darkness as sunshine in it. + +But it is not mainly of outward blessings that the Psalmist is thinking. +They are precious chiefly as emblems of the better spiritual gifts; and +it is not an accommodation of his words, but is the appreciation of +their truest spirit, when we look upon them, as the instinct of devout +hearts has ever done, as expressing both God's gift of temporal mercies, +and His gift of spiritual good, of which higher gift all the lower are +meant to be significant and symbolic. Thus regarded, the image describes +the sweet rest of the soul in communion with God, in whom alone the +hungry heart finds food that satisfies, and from whom alone the thirsty +soul drinks draughts deep and limpid enough. + +This rest and refreshment has for its consequence the restoration of the +soul, which includes in it both the invigoration of the natural life by +the outward sort of these blessings, and the quickening and restoration +of the spiritual life by the inward feeding upon God and repose in Him. + +The soul thus restored is then led on another stage; 'He leadeth me in +the paths of righteousness for His name's sake,'--that is to say, God +guides us into work. + +The quiet mercies of the preceding verse are not in themselves the end +of our Shepherd's guidance; they are means to an end, and that is--work. +Life is not a fold for the sheep to lie down in, but a road for them to +walk on. All our blessings of every sort are indeed given us for our +delight. They will never fit us for the duties for which they are +intended to prepare us, unless they first be thoroughly enjoyed. The +highest good they yield is only reached through the lower one. But, +then, when joy fills the heart, and life is bounding in the veins, we +have to learn that these are granted, not for pleasure only, but for +pleasure in order to power. We get them, not to let them pass away like +waste steam puffed into empty air, but that we may use them to drive the +wheels of life. The waters of happiness are not for a luxurious bath +where a man may lie, till, like flax steeped too long, the very fibre be +rotted out of him; a quick plunge will brace him, and he will come out +refreshed for work. Rest is to fit for work, work is to sweeten rest. + +All this is emphatically true of the spiritual life. Its seasons of +communion, its hours on the mount, are to prepare for the sore sad work +in the plain; and he is not the wisest disciple who tries to make the +Mount of Transfiguration the abiding place for himself and his Lord. + +It is not well that our chief object should be to enjoy the consolations +of religion; it is better to seek first to do the duties enjoined by +religion. Our first question should be, not, How may I enjoy God? but, +How may I glorify Him? 'A single eye to His glory' means that even our +comfort and joy in religious exercises shall be subordinated, and (if +need were) postponed, to the doing of His will. While, on the one hand, +there is no more certain means of enjoying Him than that of humbly +seeking to walk in the ways of His commandments, on the other hand, +there is nothing more evanescent in its nature than a mere emotion, even +though it be that of joy in God, unless it be turned into a spring of +action for God. Such emotions, like photographs, vanish from the heart +unless they be fixed. Work for God is the way to fix them. Joy in God is +the strength of work for God, but work for God is the perpetuation of +joy in God. + +Here is the figurative expression of the great evangelical principle, +that works of righteousness must follow, not precede, the restoration of +the soul. We are justified not by works, but for works, or, as the +Apostle puts it in a passage which sounds like an echo of this psalm, we +are 'created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before +ordained _that we should walk in them_.' The basis of obedience is the +sense of salvation. We work not _for_ the assurance of acceptance and +forgiveness, but _from_ it. First the restored soul, then the paths of +righteousness for _His_ name's sake who has restored me, and restored me +that I may be like Him. + +But there is yet another region through which the varied experience of +the Christian carries him, besides those of rest and of work. God leads +His people through sorrow. 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the +shadow of death, I will fear no evil.' + +The 'valley of the shadow of death' does not only mean the dark approach +to the dark dissolution of soul and body, but any and every gloomy +valley of weeping through which we have to pass. Such sunless gorges we +have all to traverse at some time or other. It is striking that the +Psalmist puts the sorrow, which is as certainly characteristic of our +lot as the rest or the work, into the future. Looking back he sees none. +Memory has softened down all the past into one uniform tone, as the +mellowing distance wraps in one solemn purple the mountains which, when +close to them, have many a barren rock and gloomy rift, All behind is +good. And, building on this hope, he looks forward with calmness, and +feels that no evil shall befall. + +But it is never given to human heart to meditate of the future without +some foreboding. And when 'Hope enchanted smiles,' with the light of the +future in her blue eyes, there is ever something awful in their depths, +as if they saw some dark visions behind the beauty. Some evils may come; +some will probably come; one at least is sure to come. However bright +may be the path, somewhere on it, perhaps just round that turning, sits +the 'shadow feared of man.' So there is never hope only in any heart +that wisely considers the future. But to the Christian heart there may +be this--the conviction that sorrow, when it comes, will not harm, +because God will be with us; and the conviction that the Hand which +guides us into the dark valley, will guide us through it and up out of +it. Yes, strange as it may sound, the presence of Him who sends the +sorrow is the best help to bear it. The assurance that the Hand which +strikes is the Hand which binds up, makes the stroke a blessing, sucks +the poison out of the wound of sorrow, and turns the rod which smites +into the staff to lean on. + +The second portion of this psalm gives us substantially the same +thoughts under a different image. It considers God as the host, and us +as the guests at His table and the dwellers in His house. + +In this illustration, which includes the remaining verses, we have, as +before, the food and rest, the journey and the suffering. We have also, +as before, memory and present experience issuing in hope. But it is all +intensified. The necessity and the mercy are alike presented in brighter +colours; the want is greater, the supply greater, the hope for the +future on earth brighter; and, above all, while the former set of images +stopped at the side of the grave, and simply refused to fear, here the +vision goes on beyond the earthly end; and as the hope comes brightly +out, that all the weary wanderings will end in the peace of the Father's +house, the absence of fear is changed into the presence of triumphant +confidence, and the resignation which, at the most, simply bore to look +unfaltering into the depth of the narrow house, becomes the faith which +plainly sees the open gate of the everlasting home. + +God supplies our wants in the very midst of strife. 'Thou preparest a +table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head +with oil. My cup runneth over.' Before, it was food and rest first, work +afterwards. Now it Is more than work--it is conflict. And the mercy is +more strikingly portrayed, as being granted not only _before toil_, but +_in warfare_. Life is a sore fight; but to the Christian man, in spite +of all the tumult, life is a festal banquet. There stand the enemies, +ringing him round with cruel eyes, waiting to be let slip upon him like +eager dogs round the poor beast of the chase. But for all that, here is +spread a table in the wilderness, made ready by invisible hands; and the +grim-eyed foe is held back in the leash till the servant of God has fed +and been strengthened. This is our condition--always the foe, always the +table. + +What sort of a meal should that be? The soldiers who eat and drink, and +are drunken in the presence of the enemy, like the Saxons before +Hastings, what will become of them? Drink the cup of gladness, as men do +when their foe is at their side, looking askance over the rim, and with +one hand on the sword, 'ready, aye ready,' against treachery and +surprise. But the presence of the danger should make the feast more +enjoyable too, by the moderation it enforces, and by the contrast it +affords--as to sailors on shore, or soldiers in a truce. Joy may grow on +the very face of danger, as a slender rose-bush flings its bright sprays +and fragrant blossoms over the lip of a cataract; and that not the wild +mirth of men in a pestilence, with their 'Let us eat and drink, for +to-morrow we die,' but the simple-hearted gladness of those who have +preserved the invaluable childhood gift of living in the present moment, +because they know that to-morrow will bring God, whatever it brings, and +not take away His care and love, whatever it takes away. + +This, then, is the form under which the experience of the past is +presented in the second portion,--joy in conflict, rest and food even in +the strife. Upon that there is built a hope which transcends that in the +previous portion of the psalm. As to this life, 'Goodness and mercy +shall follow us.' This is more than 'I will fear no evil.' That said, +sorrow is not evil if God be with us. This says, sorrow is mercy. The +one is hope looking mainly at outward circumstances, the other is hope +learning the spirit and meaning of them all. These two angels of +God--Goodness and Mercy--shall follow and encamp around the pilgrim. The +enemies whom God held back while he feasted, may pursue, but will not +overtake him. They will be distanced sooner or later; but the white +wings of these messengers of the covenant will never be far away from +the journeying child, and the air will often be filled with the music of +their comings, and their celestial weapons will glance around him in all +the fight, and their soft arms will bear him up over all the rough ways, +and up higher at last to the throne. + +So much for the earthly future. But higher than all that rises the +confidence of the closing words, 'I shall dwell in the house of the Lord +for ever.' This should be at once the crown of all our hopes for the +future, and the one great lesson taught us by all the vicissitudes of +life. The sorrows and the joys, the journeying and the rest, the +temporary repose and the frequent struggles, all these should make us +_sure_ that there is an end which will interpret them all, to which they +all point, for which they may all prepare. We get the table in the +wilderness here. It is as when the son of some great king comes back +from foreign soil to his father's dominions, and is welcomed at every +stage in his journey to the capital with pomp of festival, and +messengers from the throne, until he enters at last his palace home, +where the travel-stained robe is laid aside, and he sits down with his +father at his table. God provides for us here in the presence of our +enemies; it is wilderness food we get, manna from heaven, and water from +the rock. We eat in haste, staff in hand, and standing round the meal. +But yonder we sit down with the Shepherd, the Master of the house, at +His table in His kingdom. We put off the pilgrim-dress, and put on the +royal robe; we lay aside the sword, and clasp the palm. Far off, and +lost to sight, are all the enemies. We fear no change. We 'go no more +out.' + +The sheep are led by many a way, sometimes through sweet meadows, +sometimes limping along sharp-flinted, dusty highways, sometimes high up +over rough, rocky mountain-passes, sometimes down through deep gorges, +with no sunshine in their gloom; but they are ever being led to one +place, and when the hot day is over they are gathered into one fold, and +the sinking sun sees them safe, where no wolf can come, nor any robber +climb up any more, but all shall rest for ever under the Shepherd's eye. + +Brethren! can you take this psalm for yours? Have you returned unto +Christ, the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls? Oh! let Him, the Shepherd +of Israel, and the Lamb of God, one of the fold and yet the Guide and +Defender of it, human and divine, bear you away from the dreary +wilderness whither He has come seeking you. He will carry you rejoicing +to the fold, if only you will trust yourselves to His gentle arm. He +will restore your soul. He will lead you and keep you from all dangers, +guard you from every sin, strengthen you when you come to die, and bring +you to the fair plains beyond that narrow gorge of frowning rock. Then +this sweet psalm shall receive its highest fulfilment, for then 'they +shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more, neither shall +the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst +of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains +of waters, and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes.' + + + + +A GREAT QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER + + + 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in + His holy place?'--PSALM xxiv. 3. + +The psalm from which these words are taken flashes up into new beauty, +if we suppose it to have been composed in connection with the bringing +of the Ark into the Temple, or for some similar occasion. Whether it is +David's or not is a matter of very small consequence. But if we look at +the psalm as a whole, we can scarcely fail to see that some such +occasion underlies it. So just exercise your imaginations for a moment, +and think of the long procession of white-robed priests bearing the Ark, +and followed by the joyous multitude chanting as they ascended, 'Who +shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy +place?' They are bethinking themselves of the qualifications needed for +that which they are now doing. They reach the gates, which we must +suppose to have been closed that they might be opened, and from the +half-chorus outside there peals out the summons, 'Lift up your heads, O +ye gates! and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory +shall come in.' Then from within another band of singers answers with +the question, 'Who is this King of Glory' who thus demands entrance? And +triumphantly the reply rings out, 'The Lord, strong and mighty; the +Lord, mighty in battle.' Still reluctant, the question is put again, +'Who is this King of Glory?' and the answer is given once more, 'The +Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory.' There is no reference in the +second answer to 'battle.' The conflicts are over, and the dominion is +established, and at the reiterated summons the ancient gates roll back +on their hinges, burst as by a strong blow, and Jehovah enters into His +rest, He and the Ark of His strength. If that is the general connection +of the psalm--and I think you will admit that it adds to its beauty and +dramatic force if we suppose it so--then this introductory question, +sung as the procession climbed the steep, had realised what was needed +for those who should get the entrance that they sought, and comes to be +a very significant and important one. I deal now with the question and +its answer. + +I. The question of questions. + +That question lies deep in all men's hearts, and underlies sacrifices +and priesthoods and asceticisms and tortures of all sorts, and is the +inner meaning of Hindoos swinging with hooks in their backs, and others +of them measuring the road to the temple by prostrating themselves every +yard or two as they advance. These self-torturers are all asking the +same question: 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?' It +sometimes rises in the thoughts of the most degraded, and it is present +always with some of the better and nobler of men. + +Now, there are three places in the Old Testament where substantially the +same question is asked. There is this psalm of ours; there is another +psalm which is all but a duplicate, which begins with 'Lord, who shall +abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?' And there is +another shape into which the question is cast by the fervent and +somewhat gloomy imagination of one of the prophets, who puts it thus: +'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who shall dwell with +the everlasting burnings?' There never was a more disastrous +misapplication of Scripture than the popular idea that these two last +questions suggest the possibility of a creature being exposed to the +torments of future punishment. They have nothing to do with that. 'Who +among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?' If you want a commentary, +remember the words, 'Our God is a consuming fire.' That puts us on the +right track, if we needed any putting on it, for answering this +question, not in the gruesome and ghastly sense in which some people +take it, but in all the grandeur of Isaiah's thought. He sees God as +'the everlasting burnings.' Fire is the emblem of life as well as of +death; fire is the means of quickening as well as of destroying; and +when we speak of Him as 'the everlasting burnings' we are reminded of +the bush in the desert, where His own signature was set, 'burning and +not consumed.' + +So the question in all the three places referred to is substantially the +same--and what does it indicate? It indicates the deep consciousness +that men have that they need to be in that home, that for life and peace +and blessedness, they must get somehow to the side of God, and be quiet +there, as children in their Father's house. We all know that this is +true, whether our life is regulated by it or not. Very deep in every +man's conscience, if he will attend to its voice, there is that which +says, 'You are a pilgrim and a sojourner, and homeless and desolate +until you nestle beneath the outspread wings in the Holy Place, and are +a denizen of God's house.' + +The question further suggests another. The universal +consciousness--which is, I believe, universal--though it is overlain and +stifled by many of us, and neglected and set at nought by others--is +that this fellowship with God, which is indispensable to a man's peace, +is impossible to a man's impurity. So the question raises the thought of +the consciousness of sin which comes creeping over a man when he is +sometimes feeling after God, and seems to batter him in the face, and +fling him back into the outer darkness, 'How can I enter in there?' and +conscience has no answer, and the world has none, and as I shall have to +say presently, the answer which the Old Testament, as Law, gives is +almost as hopeless as the answer which conscience gives. But at all +events that this question should rise and insist upon being answered as +it does proves these three things--man's need of God, man's sense of +God's purity, man's consciousness of his own sin. + +And what does that ascent to the hill of the Lord include? All the +present life, for, unless we are 'dwelling in the house of the Lord all +the days of our lives beholding His beauty and inquiring in His Temple,' +then we have little in life that is worth the having. The old Arab right +of claiming hospitality of the Sheikh into whose tent the fugitive ran +is used in Scripture over and over again to express the relation in +which alone it is blessed for a man to live--namely, as a guest of +God's. That is peace. That is all that we require, to sit at His +fireside, if I may so say, to claim the rites of hospitality, which the +Arab chief would not refuse to the veriest tatterdemalion, or the +greatest enemy that he knew, if he came into his tent and sought it. God +sits in the door of His tent, and is ready to welcome us. + +The ascent to the hill of the Lord means more than that. It includes +also the future. I suppose that when men think about another +world--which I am afraid none of us think about as often as we ought to +do, in order to make the best of this one--the question, in some shape +or other, which this band of singers lifted up, rises to their lips, +'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His +Holy Place' beyond the stars? Well, brethren! that is the question which +concerns us all, more than anything else in the world, to have clearly +and rightly answered. + +II. Note the answer to this great question. + +The psalm answers it in an instructive fashion, which we take as it +stands. 'He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.' Let me measure +myself by the side of that requirement. 'Clean hands?'--are mine clean? +'And a pure heart?'--what about mine? 'Who hath not lifted up his soul +unto vanity'--and where have my desires and thoughts so often gone? 'Nor +sworn deceitfully.' These are the qualifications that our psalm dashes +down in front of us when we ask the question. + +The other two occasions to which I have referred, where the same +question is put, give substantially the same answer. It might be +interesting, if one had time, or this was the place, to look at the +differences in the replies, as suggesting the slight differences in the +ideal of a good man as presented by the various writers, but that must +be left untouched now. Taking these four conditions that are laid down +here, we come to this, that psalmist and prophet with one voice say that +same solemn thing: 'Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' +There is no faltering in the answer, and it is an answer to which the +depths of conscience say 'Yes.' We all admit, when we are wise, that for +communion with God on earth, and for treading the golden pavements of +that city into which nothing that is unclean shall enter, absolute +holiness is necessary. Let no man deceive himself--that stands the +irreversible, necessary condition. + +Well, then, is anybody to go in? Let us read on in our psalm. An +impossible requirement is laid down, broad and stern and unmistakable. +But is that all? 'He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and +righteousness from the God of his salvation.' So, then, the impossible +requirement is made possible as a gift to be received. And although I do +not know that this psalmist, in the twilight of revelation, saw all that +was involved in what he sang, he had caught a glimpse of this great +thought, that what God required, God would give, and that our way to get +the necessary, impossible condition realised in ourselves is to +'receive' it. 'He shall receive ... righteousness from the God of his +salvation.' Now, do you not see how, like some great star, trembling +into the field of the telescope, and sending arrowy beams before it to +announce its approach, the great central Christian truth is here +dawning, germinant, prophesying its full rising? And the truth is this, +'that I might be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, but that +which is of God through Christ.' Ah, brethren! impossibilities become +possible when God comes and says, 'I give thee that which thou canst not +have.' The old prophet asked the question, 'What doth God require of +thee?' and his answer was, 'That thou shouldst do justice, and love +mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.' If he had gone on to ask a better +question, 'What does God give thee?' he would have said what all the New +Testament says, 'He gives what He commands, and He bestows before He +requires.' And so in Jesus Christ there is the forgiveness that blots +out the past, and there is the new life bestowed that will develop the +righteousness far beyond our reach. And thus the question which evoked +first the answer that might drive us to despair, evokes next a response +that commands us to hope. + +But that is not all, for the psalm goes on: 'This is the generation of +them that seek Him, that seek Thy face.' Yes; couched in germ there lies +in that last word the great truth which is expanded in the New +Testament, like a beech-leaf folded up in its little brown sheath +through all the winter, and ready to break and give out its green +plumelets as soon as the warm rains and sunshine of spring come. 'They +that seek Him'--'if thou seek Him He will be found of thee.' The +requirement of righteousness, as I have said, is not abolished by the +Gospel, as some people seem to think that it substitutes faith for +righteousness; but it is made possible by the Gospel which through faith +gives righteousness. And what the Psalmist meant by 'seeking' we +Christian people mean by 'faith.' Earnest desire and confident +application to Him are sure to obtain righteousness. To these there will +never be returned a refusing answer. 'I have never said to any of the +seed of Jacob, seek ye Me in vain.' So, brethren! if we seek we shall +receive; if we receive we shall be holy, if we are holy we shall dwell +with God, in sweet and blessed communion, and be denizens of His house, +and sit together in heavenly places with Him all the days of our lives, +and then shall pass, when 'goodness and mercy have followed us all the +days of our lives,' and 'dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.' + + + + +THE GOD WHO DWELLS WITH MEN + + + 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates: and be ye lift up, ye everlasting + doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 8. Who is this King of + glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9. + Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting + doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 10. Who is this King of + glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.' + --PSALM xxiv. 7-10. + +This whole psalm was probably composed at the time of the bringing of +the ark into the city of Zion. The former half was chanted as the +procession wound its way up the hillside. It mainly consists of the +answer to the question 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?' and +describes the kind of men that dwell with God, and the way by which they +obtain their purity. + +This second half of our psalm is probably to be thought of as being +chanted when the procession had reached the summit of the hill and stood +before the barred gates of the ancient Jebusite city. It is mainly in +answer to the question, 'Who is this King of Glory?' and is the +description of the God that dwells with men, and the meaning of His +dwelling with them. + +We are to conceive of a couple of half choirs, the one within, the other +without the mountain hold. The advancing choir summons the gates to open +in the grand words: 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates! even lift them up, +ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.' Their lofty +lintels are too low for His head to pass beneath; so they have to be +lifted that He may find entrance. They are 'everlasting doors,' grey +with antiquity, hoary with age. They have looked down, perhaps, upon +Melchizedek, King of Salem, as he went forth in the morning twilight of +history to greet the patriarch. But in all the centuries they have never +seen such a King as this King of Glory, the true King of Israel who now +desires entrance. + +The answer to the summons comes from the choir within. 'Who is this King +of Glory?' the question represents ignorance and possible hesitation, as +if the pagan inhabitants of the recently conquered city knew nothing of +the God of Israel, and recognised no authority in His name. Of course, +the dramatic form of question and answer is intended to give additional +force to the proclamation as by God Himself of the Covenant name, the +proper name of Israel's God, as Baal was the name of the Canaanite's +God, 'the Lord strong and mighty; the Lord mighty in battle,' by whose +warrior power David had conquered the city, which now was summoned to +receive its conqueror. Therefore the summons is again rung out, 'Lift up +your heads, O ye gates! and the King of Glory shall come in.' And once +more, to express the lingering reluctance, ignorance not yet dispelled, +suspicion and unwilling surrender, the dramatic question is repeated, +'Who is this King of Glory?' The answer is sharp and authoritative in +its brevity, and we may fancy it shouted with a full-throated +burst--'The Lord of Hosts,' who, as Captain, commands all the embattled +energies of earth and heaven conceived as a disciplined army. That great +name, like a charge of dynamite, bursts the gates of brass asunder, and +with triumphant music the procession sweeps into the conquered city. + +Now these great words, throbbing with the enthusiasm at once of poetry +and of devotion, may, I think, teach us a great deal if we ponder them. + +I. Notice, first, their application, their historical and original +application, to the King who dwelt with Israel. + +We must never forget that in the Old Testament we have to do with an +incomplete and a progressive revelation, and that if we would understand +its significance, we must ever endeavour to ascertain to what point in +that progress the words before us belong. We are not to read into these +words New Testament depth and fulness of meaning; we are to take them +and try to find out what they meant to David and to his people; and so +we shall get a firm basis for any deeper significance which we may +hereafter see in them. The thought of God, then, in these words is +mainly that of a God of strong and victorious energy, a warrior-God, a +conquering King, one whose word is power, who rules amidst the armies of +heaven, and amidst the inhabitants of earth. + +A brief consideration of each expression is all which can be attempted +here. 'Who is this King of Glory?' The first idea, then, is that of +sovereign rule; the idea which had become more and more plain and clear +to the national consciousness of the Hebrew with the installation of +monarchy amongst them. And it is very beautiful to see how David lays +hold of that thought of God being Himself the King of Israel; and dwells +so often in his psalms on the idea that he, poor, pale, earthly shadow, +is but a representative and a viceroy of the true King who sits in the +heavens. He takes off his crown and lays it before His throne and says: +'Thou art the King of Israel, the King of Glory.' + +The Old Testament meaning of that word 'glory' is a great deal more +definite than the ordinary religious use of it amongst us. The 'glory of +God' in the Old Testament is, first and foremost, the supernatural light +that dwelt between the cherubim and was the manifestation and symbol of +the divine Presence. And next it is the sum total of all the impression +made upon the world by God's manifestation of Himself, the Light, of +which the material and supernatural light between the cherubs was but +the emblem; all by which God flames and flashes Himself upon the +trembling and thankful heart; that glory which is substantially the same +as the Name of the Lord. And in this brightness, lustrous and dark with +excess of light, this King dwells. The splendour of His regalia is the +brightness that emanates from Himself. He is the King of Glory. + +Next, we have the great Name, 'the Lord,' Jehovah, which speaks of +timeless, independent, unchanging, self-sufficing being. It declares +that He is His own cause, His own law, His own impulse, the staple from +which all the links of the chain of being depend, and not Himself a +link, the fontal Source of all which is. + +We say: 'I am that which I have become; I am that which I have been +made; I am that which I have inherited; I am that which circumstances +and example and training have shaped me to be.' God says: 'I AM THAT I +AM.' This name is also significant, not only because it proclaims +absolute, independent, underived, timeless being, but because it is the +Covenant name, and speaks of the God who has come into fellowship with +men, and has bound Himself to a certain course of action for their +blessing, and is thus the Lord of Israel, and the God, in a special +manner, of His people. + +'The Lord mighty in battle.' A true warrior-God, who went out in no +metaphorical sense, but in prose reality, fought for His people and +subdued the nations under them, in order that His name might be spread +and His glory be known in the earth. + +And then, still further, 'the Lord of Hosts,' the Captain of all the +armies of heaven and earth. In that name is the thought to which the +modern world is coming so slowly by scientific paths, that all being is +one ordered whole, subject to the authority of one Lord. And in addition +to that, the grander thought, that the unity of nature is the will of +God; and that as the Commander issues His orders over all the field, so +He speaks and it is done. The hosts are the angels of whom it is said: +'Bless the Lord all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His that do His +pleasure.' The hosts are the stars that fill the nightly heavens, of +whom it is said, 'He bringeth out their host by number.' The hosts are +all creatures that live and are; and all are the soldiers and servants +of this conquering King. Such is the name of the Lord that dwelt with +Israel, the great conception that rises before this Psalmist. + +II. Now turn to the second application of these great words, that speak +to us not only of the God that dwelt in Zion in outward and symbolical +form, by means of a material Presence which was an emblem of the true +nearness of Israel's God, but yet more distinctly, as I take it, of the +Christ that dwells with men. + +The devout hearts in Israel felt that there was something more needed +than this dwelling of Jehovah within an earthly Temple, and the process +of revelation familiarised them with the thought that there was to be in +the future a 'coming of the Lord' in some special manner unknown to +them. So that the whole anticipation and forward look of the Old +Testament system is gathered into and expressed by almost its last +words, which prophesy that 'the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple,' +and that once again this King of Glory shall stand before the +everlasting gates and summon them to open. + +And when was that fulfilled? Fulfilled in a fashion that at first sight +seems the greatest contrast to all this vision of grandeur, of warlike +strength, of imperial power and rule with which we have been dealing; +but which yet was not the contrast to these ideas so much as the highest +embodiment of them. For, although at first sight it seems as if there +could be no greater contrast than between the lion might of the Jehovah +of the Old Testament, and the lamb gentleness of the Jesus of the New, +if we look more closely we shall see that it is not a relation of +contrast that exists between the two. Christ is all, and more than all, +that this psalm proclaimed the Jehovah of the Old Covenant to be. Let us +look again from that point of view at the particulars already referred +to. + +He is the highest manifestation of the divine rule and authority. There +is no dominion like the dominion of the loving Christ, a kingdom based +upon suffering and wielded in gentleness, a kingdom of which the crown +is a wreath of thorns, and the sceptre a rod of reed; a dominion which +is all exercised for the blessing of its subjects, and which, therefore, +is an everlasting dominion. There is no rule like that; no height of +divine authority towers so high as the authority of Him who rules us so +absolutely because He gave Himself for us utterly. This is the King, the +Prince of the kings of the earth, because this is the Incarnate God who +died for us. + +Christ is the highest raying out of the divine Light, or, as the Epistle +to the Hebrews calls it, 'the effulgence of His glory.' The true glory +of God lies in His love, and of that love Christ is the noblest and most +wondrous example. So all other beams of the divine character, bright as +their light is, are but dim as compared with the sevenfold lustre of the +light that shines from the gentle loving-kindness of the heart of +Christ. He has glorified God because He shows us that the divinest thing +in God is love. + +For the same reason, He is the mightiest exhibition of the divine +power--'the Lord strong and mighty.' There is no work of God's hand, no +work of God's will so great as that by which we are turned from darkness +to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. The Cross is God's +noblest revelation of power; and in Him, His weakness, His surrender, +His death, with all the wonderful energies that flow from that death for +man's salvation, we see the divine strength made perfect in the human +weakness of Jesus. The Gospel of Christ 'is the power of God unto +salvation to everyone that believeth.' _There_ is divine power in its +noblest form, in the paradoxical shape of a dying man; in its noblest +effect, salvation; in its widest sweep to all who believe. + + ''Twas great to speak a world from nought, + 'Tis greater to redeem.' + +This 'strong Son of God' is the arm of the Lord in whom live and act the +energies of omnipotence. + +Christ is 'the Lord mighty in battle.' True, He is the Prince of peace, +but He is also the better Joshua, the victorious Captain, in whom dwells +the conquering divine might. Through all the gentleness of His life +there winds a martial strain, and it is not in vain that the Evangelist +who was most deeply penetrated by the sweetness of His love, is the one +who most often speaks of Him as overcoming, and who has preserved as His +last words to His timid followers, that triumphant command, 'Be of good +cheer! I have overcome the world.' He has conquered for us, binding the +strong man, and so He will spoil his house. Sin, hell, death, the devil, +law, fear, our own foolish hearts, all temptations that hover around +us--they are all vanquished foes of a 'Lord' that is 'mighty in battle.' +And as He overcame, so shall we if we will trust Him. + +Christ is the Commander and Wielder of all the forces of the universe. +As one said to Him in the days of His flesh, 'I am a man under +authority, and I say to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. So do Thou +speak and Thy word shall be sovereign.' And so it was. He spake to +diseases and they vanished. He spake to the winds and the seas and there +was a great calm. He spake to demons, and murmuring, but yet obedient, +they came out of their victims. He flung His word into the recesses of +the grave, and Lazarus came forth, fumbling with the knots on his +grave-clothes, and stumbling into the light. 'He spake and it was done.' +Who is He, the utterance of whose will is sovereign amongst all the +regions of being? 'Who is the King of Glory?' 'Thou art the King of +Glory, O Christ!' 'Thou art the Everlasting Son of the Father.' + +III. And now, lastly, let me ask you to look, and that for a moment, at +the application of these words to the Christ who will dwell in our +hearts. + +His historical manifestation here upon earth and His Incarnation, which +is the true dwelling of Deity amongst men, are not enough. They have +left something more than a memory to the world. He is as ready to abide +as really within our spirits as He was to tabernacle upon earth amongst +men. And the very central message of that Gospel which Is proclaimed to +us all is this, that if we will open the gates of our hearts He will +come in, in all the plenitude of His victorious power, and dwell in our +hearts, their Conqueror and their King. + +What a strange contrast, and yet what a close analogy there is between +the victorious tones and martial air of this summons of my text. 'Lift +up your heads, O ye gates! that the King of Glory may come in,' and the +gentle words of the Apocalypse: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; +if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him.' But +He that in the Old Covenant arrayed in warrior arms, summoned the rebels +to surrender, is the same as He who, in the New, with the night-dews in +His hair, and patience on His face, and gentleness in the touch of His +hand upon the door, waits to enter in. Brethren! open your hearts, 'and +the King of Glory shall come in.' + +And He will come in as a king that might seek to enter some city far +away on the outposts of his kingdom, besieged by his enemies. If the +King comes in, the city will be impregnable. If you open your hearts for +Him He will come and keep you from all your foes and give you the +victory over them all. So, to every hard-pressed heart, waging an +unequal contest with toils and temptations, and sorrows and sins, this +great hope is given, that Christ the Victor will come in His power to +garrison heart and mind. As of old the encouragement was given to +Hezekiah in his hour of peril, when the might of Sennacherib insolently +threatened Jerusalem, so the same stirring assurances are given to each +who admits Christ's succours to his heart--'He shall not come into this +city, for I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake' Open +your hearts and the conquering King will come in. + +And do not forget that there is another possible application of these +words lying in the future, to the conquering Christ who shall come +again. The whole history of the past points onwards to yet a last time +when 'the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple,' and predicts that +Christ shall so come in like manner as He went up to heaven. Again will +the summons ring out. Again will He come arrayed in flashing brightness, +and the visible robes of His imperial majesty. Again will He appear, +mighty in battle, when 'in righteousness He shall judge and make war.' +For a Christian, one great memory fills the past--Christ has come; and +one great hope brightens the else waste future--Christ will come. That +hope has been far too much left to be cherished only by those who hold a +particular opinion as to the chronology of unfulfilled prophecy. But it +should be to every Christian heart 'the blessed hope,' even the +appearing of the glory of Him who has come in the past. He is with and +in us, in the present. He will come in the future 'in His glory, and +shall sit upon the throne of His glory.' All our pardon and hope of +God's love depend upon that great fact in the past, that 'the Lord was +made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.' Our purity +which will fit us to dwell with God, our present blessedness, all our +power for daily strife, and our companionship in daily loneliness, +depend on the present fact that He dwells in our hearts by faith, the +seed of all good, and the conquering Antagonist of every evil. And the +one light which fills the future with hope, peaceful because assured, +streams from that most sure promise that He will come again, sweeping +from the highest heavens, on His head the many crowns of universal +monarchy, in His hand the weapons of all-conquering power, and none +shall need to ask, 'Who is this King of Glory?' for every eye shall know +Him, the Judge upon His throne, to be the Christ of the Cross. Open the +doors of your hearts to Him, as He sues for entrance now in the meekness +of His patient love, that on you may fall in that day of the coming of +the King, the blessing of the servants who wait for their returning +Lord, that 'when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him +immediately.' + + + + +GUIDANCE IN JUDGMENT + + + 'Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in + the way. 9. The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He + teach His way.'--PSALM xxv. 8, 9. + +The Psalmist prays in this psalm for three things: deliverance, +guidance, and forgiveness. Of these three petitions the central one is +that for guidance. 'Show me Thy ways, O Lord,' he asks in a previous +verse; where he means by 'Thy ways,' not God's dealings with men, but +men's conduct as prescribed by God. In my text he exchanges petition for +contemplation; and gazes on the character of God, in order thereby to be +helped to confidence in an answer to his prayer. Such alternations of +petition and contemplation are the very heartbeats of devotion, now +expanding in desire, now closing on its treasure in fruition. Either +attitude is incomplete without the other. Do _our_ prayers pass into +such still contemplation of the face of God? Do _our_ thoughts of His +character break into such confident petition? My text contains a +striking view of the divine character, a grand confidence built +thereupon, and a condition appended on which the fulfilment of that +confidence depends. Let us look at these in turn. + +I. First, then, we have here the Psalmist's thought of God. 'Good and +upright is the Lord.' + +Now it is clear that the former of these two epithets is here employed, +not in its widest sense of moral perfectness, or else 'upright,' which +follows, would be mere tautology, but in the narrower sense, which is +familiar too, to us, in our common speech, in which _good_ is tantamount +to _kind_, _beneficent_, or to say all in a word, _loving_. _Upright_ +needs no explanation; but the point to notice is the decisiveness with +which the Psalmist binds together, in one thought, the two aspects of +the divine nature which so many people find it hard to reconcile, and +the separation of which has been the parent of unnumbered misconceptions +and errors as to Him and to His dealings. 'Good _and_ upright, loving +_and_ righteous is the Lord,' says the Psalmist. He puts in no +qualifying word such as, loving _though_ righteous, righteous and _yet_ +loving. Such phrases express the general notions of the relation of +these two attributes. But the Psalmist employs no such expressions. He +binds the two qualities together, in the feeling of their profoundest +harmony. + +Now let me remind you that neither of these two resplendent aspects of +the divine nature reaches its highest beauty and supremest power, except +it be associated with the other. In the spectrum analysis of that great +light there are the two lines; the one purest white of righteousness, +and the other tinged with a ruddier glow, the line of love. The one +adorns and sets off the other. Love without righteousness is flaccid, a +mere gush of good-natured sentiment, impotent to confer blessing, +powerless to evoke reverence. Righteousness without love is as white as +snow, and as cold as ice; repellent, howsoever it may excite the +sentiment of awe-struck distance. But we need that the righteousness +shall be loving, and that the love shall be righteous, in order that the +one may be apprehended in its tenderest tenderness and the other may be +adored in its loftiest loftiness. + +And yet we are always tempted to wrench the two apart, and to think that +the operation of the one must sometimes, at all events on the outermost +circumference of the spheres, impinge upon, and collide with, the +operations of the other. Hence you get types of religion--yes! and two +types of Christianity--in which the one or the other of these two +harmonious attributes is emphasised to such a degree as almost to blot +out the other. You get forms of religion in which the righteousness has +swallowed up the love, and others in which the love has destroyed the +righteousness. The effect is disastrous. In old days our fathers fell +into the extreme on the one hand; and the pendulum has swung with a +vengeance as far from the vertical line, to the other extreme, in these +days as it ever did in the past. The religion which found its +centre-point and its loftiest conception of the divine nature in the +thought of His absolute righteousness made strong, if it made somewhat +stern, men. And now we see renderings of the truth that God is love +which degrade the lofty, noble, sovereign conception of the righteous +God that loveth, into mere Indulgence on the throne of the universe. And +what is the consequence? All the stern teachings of Scripture men recoil +from, and try to explain away. The ill desert of sin, and the necessary +iron nexus between sin and suffering--and as a consequence the +sacrificial work of Jesus Christ, and the supreme glory of His mission +in that He is the Redeemer of mankind--are all become unfashionable to +preach and unfashionable to believe. God is Love. We cannot make too +much of His love, unless by reason of it we make too little of His +righteousness. + +The Psalmist, in his childlike faith, saw deeper and more truly than +many would-be theologians and thinkers of this day, when he proclaimed +in one breath 'Good _and_ upright is the Lord.' Let us not forget that +the Apostle, whose great message to the world was, as the last utterance +completing the process of revelation, 'God is Love,' had it also in +charge to 'declare unto us that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness +at all.' + +II. And so, secondly, mark the calm confidence builded on this +conception of the divine character. + +What a wonderful 'therefore' that is!--the logic of faith and not of +sense. 'Good and upright is the Lord; _therefore_ will He teach sinners +in the way.' The coexistence of these two aspects in the perfect divine +character is for us a guarantee that He cannot leave men, however guilty +they may be, to grope in the dark, or keep His lips locked in silence. +The Psalmist does not mean guidance as to practical advantages and +worldly prosperity. That may also be looked for, in a modified degree. +But what he means is guidance as to the one important thing, the +sovereign conception of duty, the eternal law of right and wrong. God +will not leave a man without adequate teaching as to that, just because +He is loving and righteous. + +For what _is_ love, in its loftiest, purest, and therefore in its divine +aspect? What is it except an infinite desire to impart, and that the +object on which it falls shall be blessed. So because 'the Lord is good, +and His tender mercies are over all His works,' certainly He must +desire, if one may so say, as His deepest desire, the blessedness of His +creatures. He is a God whose nature and property it is to love, and His +love is the infinite and ceaseless welling out of Himself, in all forms +of beauty and blessedness, according to the capacity and contents of His +recipient creatures. He is 'the giving God,' as James in his epistle +eloquently and wonderfully calls Him, whose very nature it is to give. +And that is only to say, in other words, 'good _is the Lord_.' + +But then 'good _and_ upright'--that combination determines the form +which His blessings shall assume, the channel in which by preference +they will flow. If we had only to say, 'good is the Lord,' then our +happiness, as we call it, the satisfaction of our physical needs and of +lower cravings, might be the adequate expression of His love. But if God +be righteous, then because Himself is so, it must be His deepest desire +for us that we should be like Him. Not our happiness but our rectitude +is God's end in all that He does with us. It is worth His while to make +us, in the lower sense of the word, 'happy,' but the purpose of joy as +of sorrow is to make us pure and righteous. We shall never come to +understand the meaning of our own lives, and will always be blindly +puzzling over the mysteries of the providences that beset us, until we +learn that not enjoyment and not sorrow is His ultimate end concerning +us, but that we may be partakers of His holiness. Since He is righteous, +the dearest desire of His loving heart, and that to which all His +dealings with us are directed; and that, therefore, to which all our +desires and efforts should be directed likewise, is to make us righteous +also. + +'Therefore will He teach sinners in the way.' If the righteousness +existed without the love it must 'come with a rod,' and the sinners who +are out of the way must incontinently be crushed where they have +wandered. But since righteousness is blended with love, therefore He +comes, and must desire to bring all wanderers back into the paths which +are His own. + +I need not do more than in a word remind you how strong a presumption +there lies in this combination of aspects of the divine nature, in +favour of an actual revelation. It seems to me that, notwithstanding all +the objections that are made to a supernatural and objective revelation, +there is nothing half so monstrous as it would be to believe, with the +pure deist or theist, that God, being what He is, righteous and loving, +had never rent His heavens to say one word to man to lead him in the +paths of righteousness. I can understand Atheism, and I can understand a +revealing God, but not a God that dwells in the thick darkness, and is +yet Love and Righteousness, and looks down upon this world and never +puts out a finger to point the path of duty. A silent God seems to me no +God but an Almighty Devil. Revelation is the plain conclusion from the +premisses that 'good and upright is the Lord!' + +I speak not, for there is no time to do so, of the various manners in +which this divine desire to bring sinners into the way fulfils itself. +There are our consciences; there are His providences; there is the +objective revelation of His word; there are the whispers of His Spirit +in men's hearts. I do not know what you believe, but I believe that God +can find His way to my heart and infuse there illumination, and move +affections, and make my eye clear to discern what is right. 'He that +formed the eye, shall He not see?' He that formed the eye, shall He not +send light to it? Are we to shut out God, in obedience to the dictates +of an arbitrary psychology, from access to His own creature; and to say, +'Thou hast made me, and Thou canst not speak to me. My soul is Thine by +creation, but its doors are close barred against Thee; and Thou canst +not lay Thy hand upon it?' 'Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will +He teach sinners in the way.' + +III. Now notice, again, the condition on which the fulfilment of this +confidence depends. + +'The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His +way.' The fact of our being sinful only makes it the more imperative +that God should speak to us. But the condition of our hearing and +profiting by the guidance is meekness. By meekness the Psalmist means, I +suppose, little else than what we might call docility, of which the +prime element is the submission of my own will to God's. The reason why +we go wrong about our duties is mainly that we do not supremely want to +go right, but rather to gratify inclinations, tastes, or passions. God +is speaking to us, but if we make such a riot with the yelpings of our +own kennelled desires and lusts, and listen to the rattle and noise of +the street and the babble of tongues, He + + 'Can but listen at the gate, + And hear the household jar within.' + +'The meek will He guide in judgment; the meek will He teach His way.' +Some of us put our heads down like bulls charging a gate. Some of us +drive on full speed, and will not shut off steam though the signals are +against us, and the end of that can only be one thing. Some of us do not +wish to know what God wishes us to do. Some of us cannot bear suspense +of judgment, or of decision, and are always in a hurry to be in action, +and think the time lost that is spent in waiting to know what God the +Lord will speak. If you do not clearly see what to do, then clearly you +may see that you are to do _nothing_. + +The ark was to go half a mile in front of the camp before the foremost +files lifted a foot to follow, in order that there should be no mistake +as to the road. Wait till God points the path, and wish Him to point it, +and hush the noises that prevent your hearing His voice, and keep your +wills in absolute submission; and above all, be sure that you act out +your convictions, and that you have no knowledge of duty which is not +expressed in your practice, and you will get all the light which you +need; sometimes being taught by errors no doubt, often being left to +make mistakes as to what is expedient in regard to worldly prosperity, +but being infallibly guided as to the path of duty, and the path of +peace and righteousness. + +And now, before I close, let me just remind you of the great fact which +transcends the Psalmist's confidence whilst it warrants it. + +Because God is Love, and God is Righteousness, He cannot but speak. But +this Psalmist did not know how wonderfully God was going to speak by +that Word who has called Himself the Light of men; and who has said, 'He +that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light +of life.' He 'teaches sinners in the way,' by Jesus Christ; for we have +Him for our Pattern and Example. We have His love for our impelling +motive. We have His Spirit to speak in our hearts, and to 'guide us into +all truth.' And this Shepherd, 'when He putteth forth His own sheep, +goeth before them; and the sheep follow Him and know His voice.' The +Psalmist's confidence, bright as it is, is but the glow of the morning +twilight. The full sunshine of the transcendent fact to which God's +righteous love impelled and bound Him is Christ, who makes us know the +will of the Father. But we want more than knowledge. For we all know our +duty a great deal better than any of us do it. What is the use of a +guide to a lame man? But our Guide says to us, 'Arise and walk,' and if +we clasp His hand we receive strength, and 'the lame man leaps as a +hart.' + +So, dear brethren! let us all cleave to Him, the Guide, the Way, and the +Life which enables us to walk in the way. If we thus cleave, then be +sure that He will lead us in the paths of righteousness, which are paths +of peace. He is the Way; He is the Leader of the march; He gives power +to walk in the light, and His one command, 'Follow Me,' unfolds into all +duty and includes all direction, companionship, perfection, and +blessedness. + + + + +A PRAYER FOR PARDON AND ITS PLEA + + + 'For Thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is + great.'--PSALM xxv. 11. + +The context shows us that this is the prayer of a man who had long loved +and served God. He says that 'on God' he 'waits all the day,' that his +'eyes are ever toward the Lord,' that he has 'integrity and uprightness' +which will 'preserve him, for he waits upon God,' and yet side by side +with this consciousness of devotion and service there lie the profound +sense of sin and of the need of pardon. The better a man is, the more +clearly he sees, and the more deeply he feels, his own badness. If a +shoe is all covered with mud, a splash or two more or less will make no +difference, but if it be polished and clean, one speck shows. A black +feather on a swan's breast is conspicuous. And so the less sin a man has +the more obvious it is, and the more he has the less he generally knows +it. But whilst this consciousness of transgression and cry for pardon +are inseparable and permanent accompaniments of a devout life all along +its course, they are the roots and beginning of all true godliness. And +as a rule, the first step which a man takes to knit himself consciously +to God is through the gate of recognised and repeated and confessed sin +and imploring the divine mercy. + +I. Notice, first, here the cry for pardon. + +'I believe in the forgiveness of sins' hundreds of thousands of +Englishmen have said twice to-day. Most of us, when we pray at all, push +in somewhere or other the petition, 'Forgive us our sins.' And how many +of us understand what we mean when we ask for that? And how many of us +feel that we need the thing which we seem to be requesting? Let me dwell +for a moment or two upon the Scriptural idea of forgiveness. Of course +we may say that when we ask forgiveness from God we are transferring +ideas and images drawn from human relations to the divine. Be it so. +That does not show that there is not a basis of reality and of truth in +the ideas thus transferred. But there are two elements in forgiveness as +we know it, both of which it seems to me to be very important that we +should carry in our minds in interpreting the Scriptural doctrine. There +is the forgiveness known to law and practised by the lawgiver. There is +the forgiveness known to love and practised by the friend, or parent, or +lover. The one consists in the remission of external penalties. A +criminal is forgiven, or, as we say (with an unconscious restriction of +the word _forgiven_ to the deeper thing), _pardoned_, when, the +remainder of his sentence being remitted, he is let out of gaol, and +allowed to go about his business without any legal penalties. But there +is a forgiveness deeper than that legal pardon. A parent and a child +both of them know that parental pardon does not consist in the waiving +of punishment. The averted look, the cold voice, the absence of signs of +love are far harder to bear than so-called punishment. And the +forgiveness, which belongs to love only, comes when the film between the +two is swept away, and both the offended and the offender feel that +there is no barrier to the free, unchecked flow of love from the heart +of the aggrieved to the heart of the aggressor. + +We must carry both of these ideas into our thoughts of God's pardon in +order to see the whole fulness of it. And perhaps we may have to add yet +another illustration, drawn from another region, and which is enshrined +in one of the versions of the Lord's Prayer, where we read, 'Forgive us +our _debts_.' When a debt is forgiven it is cancelled, and the payment +of it no longer required. But the two elements that I have pointed out, +the remission of the penalty and the uninterrupted flow of God's love, +are inseparably united in the full Scriptural notion of forgiveness. + +Scripture recognises as equally real and valid, in our relations to God, +the judicial and the fatherly side of the relationship. And it declares +as plainly that the wages of sin is death as it declares that God's love +cannot come in its fulness and its sweetness, upon a heart that indulges +in unconfessed and unrepented sin. They are poor friends of men who, for +the sake of smoothing away the terrible side of the Gospel, minimise or +hide the reality of the awful penalties which attach to every +transgression and disobedience, because they thereby maim the notion of +the divine forgiveness, and lull into a fatal slumber the consciences of +many men. + +Dear brethren! I have to stand here saying, 'Knowing, therefore, the +terrors of the Lord, we persuade men.' This is sure and certain, that +over and above the forcing back upon itself of the love of God by my +sin, that sin by necessary consequence will work out awful results for +the doer in the present and in the future. I do not wish to dwell upon +that thought, only remember that God is a Judge and God is the Father, +and that the divine forgiveness includes both of these elements, the +sweeping away of the penal consequences of men's sin, wholly in the +future, and to some extent in the present; and the unchecked flow of the +love of God to a man's heart. + +There are awful words in Scripture--which are not to be ruled out of it +by any easy-going, optimistic, rose-water system of a mutilated +Christianity--there are awful words in Scripture, concerning what you +and I must come to if we live and die in our sins, and there would be no +message of forgiveness worth the proclaiming to men, if it had nothing +to say about the removal of that which a man's own unsophisticated +conscience tells him is certain, the fatal and the damnable effects of +his departure from God. + +But let us not forget that these two aspects do to a large extent +coincide, when we come to remember that the worst of all the penal +consequences of sin is that it separates from God, and exposes to 'the +wrath of God,' a terrible expression by which the Bible means the +necessary disapprobation and aversion of the divine nature, being such +as it is, from man's sin. + +Experimentalists will sometimes cut off one or other of the triple rays +of which sunlight is composed by passing the beam through some medium +which intercepts the red, or the violet, or the yellow, as may chance. +And my sin makes an atmosphere which cuts off the gentler rays of that +divine nature, and lets the fiery ones of retribution come through. It +is not that a sinful man, howsoever drenched overhead in the foul pool +of his own unrepented iniquity, is shut out from the love of God, which +lingers about him and woos him, and lavishes upon him all the gifts of +which he is capable, but that he has made himself incapable of receiving +the sweetest of these influences, and that so long as he continues thus, +his life and his character cannot but be odious and hateful in the pure +eyes of perfect love. + +But whilst thus there are external consequences which are swept away by +forgiveness, and whilst the real hell of hells and death of deaths is +the separation from God, and the misery that must necessarily ensue +thereupon, there are consequences of man's sin which forgiveness is not +intended to remove, and will not remove, just because God loves us. He +loves us too well to take away the issues in the natural sphere, in the +social sphere, the issues perhaps in bodily health, reputation, +position, and the like, which flow from our transgression. 'Thou wast a +God that forgavest them, and Thou didst inflict retribution for their +inventions.' He does leave much of these outward issues unswept away by +His forgiveness, and the great law stands, 'Whatsoever a man soweth that +shall he also reap.' And yet the pardon that you and I need, and which +we can all have for the asking, flows to us unchecked and full--the +great stream of the love of God, to whom we are reconciled, when we turn +to Him in penitent dependence on the blood and righteousness of Jesus +Christ, our Lord. + +This consciousness of sin and cry for pardon lie at the foundation of +vigorous practical religion. It seems to me that the differences between +different types of Christianity, insipid elegance and fiery earnestness, +between coldness and fervour, the difference between a sapless and a +living ministry and between a formal and a real Christianity, are very +largely due to the differences in realising the fact and the gravity of +the fact of transgression. The prominence which we give to that in our +thoughts will largely determine our notions of ourselves, and of +Christ's work, and to a great extent settle what we think Christianity +is for, and what in itself it is. If a man has no deep consciousness of +sin he will be satisfied with a very superficial kind of religion. +'Every man his own redeemer' will be his motto. And not knowing the +necessity for a Saviour, he will not recognise that Christianity is +fundamentally and before anything else, a system of redemption. A moral +agent? Yes! A large revelation of great truth? Yes! A power to make +men's lives, individually and in the community, nobler and loftier? By +all means. But before all these, and all these consequentially on its +being a system by which sinful men, else hopeless and condemned, are +delivered and set free. So, dear brethren! let me press upon you +this,--unless my Christianity gives large prominence to the fact of my +own transgression, and is full of a penitent cry for pardon, it lacks +the one thing needful, I was going to say--it lacks, at all events, that +which will make it a living power blessedly ruling my heart and life. + +II. Note in the next place the plea for pardon. + +'For Thy name's sake.' The Psalmist does not come with any carefully +elaborated plea, grounded upon anything in himself, either on the +excuses and palliations of his evil, his corrupt nature, his many +temptations, and the like, or on the depth and reality of his +repentance. He does not say, 'Forgive me, for I weep for my evil and +loathe myself.' Nor does he say, 'Forgive me, for I could not help doing +it, or because I was tempted; or because the thing that I have done is a +very little thing after all.' He comes empty-handed, and says, 'For Thy +name's sake, O Lord!' + +That means, first, the great thought that God's mercy flows from the +infinite depths of His own character. He is His own motive. The fountain +of His forgiving love wells up of itself, drawn forth by nothing that we +do, but propelled from within by the inmost nature of God. As surely as +it is the property of light to radiate and of fire to spread, so surely +is it His nature and property to have mercy. He forgives, says our text, +because He is God, and cannot but do so. Therefore our mightiest plea is +to lay hold of His own strength, and to grasp the fact of the unmotived, +uncompelled, unpurchased, and therefore unalterable and eternal +pardoning love of God. + +Scientists tell us that the sun is fed and kept in splendour by the +constant impact of bodies from without falling in upon it, and that if +that supply were to cease, the furnace of the heavens would go out. But +God, who is light in Himself, needs no accession of supplies from +without to maintain His light, and no force of motives from without to +sway His will. We do not need to seek to bend Him to mercy, for He is +mercy in Himself. We do not need to stir His purpose into action, for it +has been working from of old and 'its goings forth are from +everlasting.' He is His own motive, He forgives because of what He is. +So let us dig down to that deepest of all rock foundations on which to +build our confidence, and be sure that, if I may use such an expression, +the necessity of the divine nature compels Him to pardon iniquity, +transgression, and sin. + +Then there is another thought here, that the past of God is a plea with +God for present forgiveness. 'Thy name' in Scripture means the whole +revelation of the divine character, and thus the Psalmist looks back +into the past, and sees there how God has, all through the ages, been +plenteous in mercy and ready to forgive all that called upon Him; and he +pleads that past as a reason for the present and for the future. +Thousands of years have passed since David, if he was the Psalmist, +offered this prayer; and you and I can look back to the blessed old +story of _his_ forgiveness, so swift, so absolute and free, which +followed upon confession so lowly, and can remember that infinitely +pathetic and wonderful word which puts the whole history of the +resurrection and restoration of a soul into two clauses. 'David said +unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord: and Nathan said unto +David'--finishing the sentence--'And the Lord hath made to pass the +iniquity of thy sin.' What He was He is; what He is He will be. 'For Thy +name's sake, pardon mine iniquity.' + +There is yet another thought that may be suggested. The divine +forgiveness is in order that men may know Him better. That is +represented in Scripture as being the great motive of the divine +actions--'for the glory of Thine own name.' That may be so put as to be +positively atrocious, or so as to be perfectly divine and lovely. It has +often been put, by hard and narrow dogmatists, in such a way as to make +God simply an Almighty selfishness, but it ought to be put as the Bible +puts it, so as to show Him as an Almighty love. For why does He desire +that His name should be known by us but for our sakes, that the light of +that great Name may come to us, 'sitting in darkness and in the shadow +of death,' and that, knowing Him for what He is, we may have peace, and +rest, and joy, and love, and purity? It is pure benevolence that makes +Him act, 'for the glory of His great name'; sweeping away the clouds +that a darkened earth may expand and rejoice, and all the leaves unfold +themselves, and every bird sing, in the restored sunshine. + +And there is nothing that reveals the inmost hived sweetness and honey +of the name of God like the assurance of His pardon. 'There is +forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared.' Oh, dear brethren! +unless you know God as the God that has forgiven you, your knowledge of +Him is but shallow and incomplete, and you know not the deepest +blessings that flow to them who find that this is life eternal to know +the only true God as the all-forgiving Father. + +Note the connection between the Psalmist's plea and the New Testament +plea. David said, 'For Thy name's sake, pardon,' we say, 'For Christ's +sake, forgive.' Are the two diverse? Is the fruit diverse from the bud? +Is the complete noonday diverse from the blessed morning twilight? +Christ _is_ the Name of God, the Revealer of the divine heart and mind. +When Christian men pray 'For the sake of Christ,' they are not bringing +a motive, which is to move the divine love which else lies passive and +inert, because God's love was the cause of Christ's work not Christ's +work the cause of God's love, but they are expressing their own +dependence on the Great Mediator and His work, and solemnly offering, as +the ground of all their hope, that perfect sacrifice which is the medium +by which forgiveness reaches men, and without which it is impossible +that the government of the righteous God could exist with pardon. Christ +has died; Christ, in dying, has borne the sins of the world; that is, +yours and mine. And therefore the pardon of God comes to us through that +channel, without, in the slightest degree, trenching on the awfulness of +the divine holiness or weakening the sanctities of God's righteous +retributive law. 'For Christ's sake hath forgiven us' is the daylight +which the Psalmist saw as morning dawn when he cried, 'For Thy name's +sake, pardon mine iniquity.' + +III. Lastly, note the reason for the earnest cry, 'For it is great.' + +That may be a reason for the pardon; more probably it is a reason for +the prayer. The fact is true in regard to us all. There is no need to +suppose any special heinous sin in the Psalmist's mind. I would fain +press upon all consciences that listen to me now that these lowly words +of confession are true about every one of us, whether we know it or not. +For if you consider how much of self-will, how much of indifference, of +alienation from, if not of antagonism against, the law of God, go to +every trifling transgression, you will think twice before you call it +small. And if it be small, a microscopic viper, the length of a cutting +from your finger nail, has got the viper's nature in it, and its poison, +and its sting, and it will grow. A very little quantity of mud held in +solution in a continuously flowing river will make a tremendous delta at +the mouth of it in the course of years. And however small may have been +the amount of evil and deflection from God's law in that flowing river +of my past life, what a filthy, foul bank of slime must be piled up down +yonder at the mouth! + +If the fact be so, then is not that a reason for our all going to the +only One who can dredge it away, and get rid of it? 'Pardon me; for it +is great.' That is to say, 'There is no one else who can deal with it +but Thyself, O Lord! It is too large for me to cart away; it is too +great for any inferior hand to deal with. I am so bad that I can come +only to Thyself to be made better.' It is blessed and wise when the +consciousness of our deep transgression drives us to the only Hand that +can heal, to the only Heart that can forgive. + +So, dear friends! in a blessed desperation of otherwise being unable to +get rid of this burden which has grown on our backs ounce by ounce for +long years, let us go to Him. He and He alone can deal with it. 'Against +Thee, Thee only, have I sinned,' and to Thee, Thee only, will I come. + +Only remember that, before you ask, God has given. He is 'like the dew +upon the grass, that waiteth not for man.' Instead of praying for pardon +which is already bestowed, do you see to it that you take the pardon +which God is praying you to receive. Swallow the bitter pill of +acknowledging your own transgression; and then one look at the crucified +Christ and one motion of believing desire towards Him; 'and the Lord +hath made to pass the iniquity of thy sin.' + + + + +GOD'S GUESTS + + + 'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that + I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.' + --PSALM xxvii. 4. + +We shall do great injustice to this mystical aspiration of the Psalmist, +if we degrade it to be the mere expression of a desire for unbroken +residence in a material Temple. He was no sickly, sentimental seeker +after cloistered seclusion. He knew the necessities and duties of life +far better than in a cowardly way to wish to shirk them, in order that +he might loiter in the temple, idle under the pretence of worship. Nor +would the saying fit into the facts of the case if we gave it that low +meaning, for no person had his residence in the temple. And what follows +in the next verse would, on that hypothesis, be entirely inappropriate. +'In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me.' No one went into the +secret place of the Most High, in the visible, material structure, +except the high priest once a year. But this singer expects that his +abode will be there always; and that, in the time of trouble, he can +find refuge there. + +Apart altogether from any wider considerations as to the relation +between form and spirit under the Old Covenant, I think that such +observations compel us to see in these words a desire a great deal +nobler and deeper than any such wish. + +I. Let us, then, note the true meaning of this aspiration of the +Psalmist. + +Its fulfilment depends not on where we are, but on what we think and +feel; for every place is God's house, and what the Psalmist desires is +that he should be able to keep up unbroken consciousness of being in +God's presence and should be always in touch with Him. + +That seems hard, and people say, 'Impossible! how can I get above my +daily work, and be perpetually thinking of God and His will, and +consciously realising communion with Him?' But there is such a thing as +having an undercurrent of consciousness running all through a man's life +and mind; such a thing as having a melody sounding in our ears +perpetually, 'so sweet we know not we are listening to it' until it +stops, and then, by the poverty of the naked and silent atmosphere, we +know how musical were the sounds that we scarcely knew that we heard, +and yet did hear so well high above all the din of earth's noises. + +Every man that has ever cherished such an aspiration as this knows the +difficulties all too well. And yet, without entering upon thorny and +unprofitable questions as to whether the absolute, unbroken continuity +of consciousness of being in God's presence is possible for men here +below, let us look at the question, which has a great deal more bearing +upon our present condition--viz. whether a greater continuity of that +consciousness is not possible than we attain to to-day. It does seem to +me to be a foolish and miserable waste of time and temper and energy for +good people to be quarrelling about whether they can come to the +absolute realisation of this desire in this world, when there is not one +of them who is not leagues below the possible realisation of it, and +knows that he is. At all events, whether or not the line can be drawn +without a break at all, the breaks might be a great deal shorter and a +great deal less frequent than they are. An unbroken line of conscious +communion with God is the ideal; and that is what this singer desired +and worked for. How many of my feelings and thoughts to-day, or of the +things that I have said or done since I woke this morning, would have +been done and said and felt exactly the same, if there were not a God at +all, or if it did not matter in the least whether I ever came into touch +with Him or not? Oh, dear friends! it is no vain effort to bring our +lives a little nearer that unbroken continuity of communion with Him of +which this text speaks. And God knows, and we each for ourselves know, +how much and how sore our need is of such a union. 'One thing have I +desired, that will I seek after; that I, in my study; I, in my shop; I, +in my parlour, kitchen, or nursery; I, in my studio; I, in my +lecture-hall--'may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my +life.' In our 'Father's house are many mansions.' The room that we spend +most of our lives in, each of us, at our tasks or our work-tables may be +in our Father's house, too; and it is only we that can secure that it +shall be. + +The inmost meaning of this Psalmist's desire is that the consciousness +of God shall be diffused throughout the whole of a man's days, instead +of being coagulated here and there at points. The Australian rivers in a +drought present a picture of the Christian life of far too many of us--a +stagnant, stinking pool here, a stretch of blinding gravel there; +another little drop of water a mile away, then a long line of +foul-smelling mud, and then another shallow pond. Why! it ought to run +in a clear stream that has a scour in it and that will take all filth +off the surface. + +The Psalmist longed to break down the distinction between sacred and +secular; to consecrate work, of whatsoever sort it was. He had learned +what so many of us need to learn far more thoroughly, that if our +religion does not drive the wheels of our daily business, it is of +little use; and that if the field in which our religion has power to +control and impel is not that of the trivialities and secularities of +our ordinary life, there is no field for it at all. + +'All the days of my life.' Not only on Wednesday nights, while Tuesday +and Thursday are given to the world and self; not only on Sundays; not +for five minutes in the morning, when I am eager to get to my daily +work, and less than five minutes at night, when I am half asleep, but +through the long day, doing this, that, and the other thing for God and +by God and with God, and making Him the motive and the power of my +course, and my Companion to heaven. And if we have, in our lives, things +over which we cannot make the sign of the cross, the sooner we get rid +of them the better; and if there is anything in our daily work, or in +our characters, about which we are doubtful, here is a good test: does +it seem to check our continual communion with God, as a ligature round +the wrist might do the continual flow of the blood, or does it help us +to realise His presence? If the former, let us have no more to do with +it; if the latter, let us seek to increase it. + +II. And now let me say a word about the Psalmist's reason for this +aspiration. + +The word which he employs carries with it a picture which is even more +vividly given us by a synonymous word employed in the same connection in +some of the other psalms. 'That I may dwell in the house of the +Lord'--now, that is an allusion, not only, as I think, to the Temple, +but also to the Oriental habit of giving a man who took refuge in the +tent of the sheikh, guest-rites of protection and provision and +friendship. The habit exists to this day, and travellers among the +Bedouins tell us lovely stories of how even an enemy with the blood of +the closest relative of the owner of the tent on his hands, if he can +once get in there and partake of the salt of the host, is safe, and the +first obligation of the owner of the tent is to watch over the life of +the fugitive as over his own. So the Psalmist says, 'I desire to have +guest-rites in Thy tent; to lift up its fold, and shelter there from the +heat of the desert. And although I be dark and stained with many evils +and transgressions against Thee, yet I come to claim the hospitality and +provision and protection and friendship which the laws of the house do +bestow upon a guest.' Carrying out substantially the same idea, Paul +tells the Ephesians, as if it were the very highest privilege that the +Gospel brought to the Gentiles: 'Ye are no more strangers, but +fellow-citizens with the saints, and _of the household of God_'; +incorporated into His family, and dwelling safely in His pavilion as +their home. + +That is to say, the blessedness of keeping up such a continual +consciousness of touch with God is, first and foremost, the certainty of +infallible protection. Oh! how it minimises all trouble and brightens +all joys, and calms amidst all distractions, and steadies and sobers in +all circumstances, to feel ever the hand of God upon us! He who goes +through life, finding that, when he has trouble to meet, it throws him +back on God, and that when bright mornings of joy drive away nights of +weeping, these wake morning songs of praise, and are brightest because +they shine with the light of a Father's love, will never be unduly moved +by any vicissitudes of fortune. Like some inland and sheltered valley, +with great mountains shutting it in, that 'heareth not the loud winds +when they call' beyond the barriers that enclose it, our lives may be +tranquilly free from distraction, and may be full of peace, of +nobleness, and of strength, on condition of our keeping in God's house +all the days of our lives. + +There is another blessing that will come to the dweller in God's house, +and that not a small one. It is that, by the power of this one satisfied +longing, driven like an iron rod through all the tortuosities of my +life, there will come into it a unity which otherwise few lives are ever +able to attain, and the want of which is no small cause of the misery +that is great upon men. Most of us seem, to our own consciousness, to +live amidst endless distractions all our days, and our lives to be a +heap of links parted from each other rather than a chain. But if we have +that one constant thought with us, and if we are, through all the +variety of occupations, true to the one purpose of serving and keeping +near God, then we have a charm against the frittering away of our lives +in distractions, and the misery of multiplicity; and we enter into the +blessedness of unity and singleness of purpose; and our lives become, +like the starry heavens in all the variety of their motions, obedient to +one impulse. For unity in a life does not depend upon the monotony of +its tasks, but upon the simplicity of the motive which impels to all +varieties of work. So it is possible for a man harassed by multitudinous +avocations, and drawn hither and thither by sometimes apparently +conflicting and always bewildering, rapidly-following duties, to say, +'This one thing I do,' if all his doings are equally acts of obedience +to God. + +III. So, lastly, note the method by which this desire is realised. + +'One thing have I desired, ... that will I seek after' There are two +points to be kept in view to that end. A great many people say, 'One +thing have I desired,' and fail in persistent continuousness of the +desire. No man gets rights of residence in God's house for a longer time +than he continues to seek for them. The most advanced of us, and those +that have longest been like Anna, who 'departed not from the Temple,' +day nor night, will certainly eject ourselves unless, like the Psalmist, +we use the verbs in both tenses, and say, 'One thing _have_ I desired +... that _will_ I seek after.' John Bunyan saw that there was a back +door to the lower regions close by the gates of the Celestial City. +There may be men who have long lived beneath the shadow of the +sanctuary, and at the last will be found outside the gates. + +But the words of the text not only suggest, by the two tenses of the +verbs, the continuity of the desire which is destined to be granted, but +also by the two verbs themselves--desire and seek after--the necessity +of uniting prayer and work. Many desires are unsatisfied because conduct +does not correspond to desires. Many a prayer remains unanswered because +its pray-ers never do anything to fulfil their prayers. I do not say +they are hypocrites; certainly they are not consciously so, but I do say +that there is a large measure of conventionality that means nothing, in +the prayers of average Christian people for more holiness and likeness +to Jesus Christ. + +Dear friends! if we truly wish this desire of dwelling in the house of +the Lord to be fulfilled, the day's work must run in the same direction +as the morning's petition, and we must, like the Psalmist, say, 'I _have +desired_ it of the Lord, so I, for my part, _will seek after it_.' Then, +whether or not we reach absolutely to the standard, which is none the +less to be aimed at, though it seems beyond reach, we shall arrive +nearer and nearer to it; and, God helping our weakness and increasing +our strength, quickening us to 'desire,' and upholding us to 'seek +after,' we may hope that, when the days of our life are past, we shall +but remove into an upper chamber, more open to the sunrise and flooded +with light; and shall go no more out, but 'dwell in the house of the +Lord for ever.' + + + + +'SEEK YE'--'I WILL SEEK' + + + 'When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face; My heart said unto Thee, Thy + face, Lord, will I seek. 9. Hide not Thy face far from me.' + --PSALM xxvii. 8, 9. + +We have here a report of a brief dialogue between God and a devout soul. +The Psalmist tells us of God's invitation and of his acceptance, and on +both he builds the prayer that the face which he had been bidden to +seek, and had sought, may not be hid from him. The correspondence +between what God said to him and what he said to God is even more +emphatically expressed in the original than in our version. In the +Hebrew the sentence is dislocated, at the risk of being obscure, for the +sake of bringing together the two voices. It runs thus, 'My heart said +to Thee,' and then, instead of going on with his answer, the Psalmist +interjects God's invitation 'Seek ye My face,' and then, side by side +with that, he lays his response, 'Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' The +completeness and swiftness of his answer could not be more vividly +expressed. To hear was to obey: as soon as God's merciful call sounded, +the Psalmist's heart responded, like a harp-string thrilled into music +by the vibration of another tuned to the same note. Without hesitation, +and in entire correspondence with the call, was his response. So +swiftly, completely, resolutely should we respond to God's voice, and +our ready 'I will' should answer His commandment, as the man at the +wheel repeats the captain's orders whilst he carries them out. Upon such +acceptance of such an invitation we, too, may build the prayer, 'Hide +not Thy face far from me.' + +Now, there are three things here that I desire to look at--God's +merciful call to us all; the response of the devout soul to that call; +and the prayer which is built upon both. + +I. We have God's merciful call to us all. + +'Thou saidst, Seek ye My face.' Now, that expression, 'the face of God,' +though highly metaphorical, is perfectly clear and defined in its +meaning. It corresponds substantially to what the Apostle Paul calls, in +speaking of the knowledge of God beyond the limits of revelation, 'that +which may be known of God'; or, in more modern language, the side of the +divine nature which is turned to man; or, in plainer words still, God, +in so far as He is revealed. It means substantially the same thing as +the other Scriptural expression, 'the name of the Lord.' Both phrases +draw a broad distinction between what God is, in the infinite fulness of +His incomprehensible being, and what He is as revealed to man; and both +imply that what is revealed is knowledge, real and valid, though it may +be imperfect. + +This, then, being the meaning of the phrase, what is the meaning of the +invitation: 'Seek ye My face'? Have we to search for that, as if it were +something hidden, far off, lost, and only to be recovered by our effort? +No: a thousand times no! For the seeking, to which God mercifully +invites us, is but the turning of the direction of our desires to Him, +the recognition of the fact that His face is more than all else to men, +the recognition that whilst there are many that say, 'Who will show us +any good?' and put the question impatiently, despairingly, vainly, they +that turn the seeking into a prayer, and ask, 'Lord! lift Thou the light +of Thy countenance upon us,' will never ask in vain. To seek is to +desire, to turn the direction of thought and will and affection to Him +and to take heed that the ordering of our daily lives is such as that no +mist rising from them shall come between us and that brightness of +light, or hide from us the vision splendid. They who seek God by desire, +by the direction of thought and will and love, and by the regulation of +their daily lives in accordance with that desire, are they who obey this +commandment. + +Next we come to that great thought that God is ever sounding out to all +mankind this invitation to seek His face. By the revelation of Himself +He bids us all sun ourselves in the brightness of His countenance. One +of the New Testament writers, in a passage which is mistranslated in our +Authorised Version, says that God 'calls us by His own glory and +virtue.' That is to say, the very manifestation of the divine Being is +such that there lies in it a summons to behold Him, and an attraction to +Himself. So fair is He, that He but needs to withdraw the veil, and +men's hearts rejoice in that countenance, which is as the sun shining in +his strength; 'nor know we anything more fair than is the smile upon His +face.' If we see Him as He really is, we cannot choose but love. By all +His works He calls us to seek Him, not only because the intellect +demands that there shall be a personal Will behind all these phenomena, +but because they in themselves proclaim His name, and the proclamation +of His name is the summons to behold. + +By the very make of our own spirits He calls us to Himself. Our +restlessness, our yearnings, our movings about as aliens in the midst of +things seen and visible, all these bid us turn to Him in whom alone our +capacities can be satisfied, and the hunger of our souls appeased. You +remember the old story of the Saracen woman who came to England seeking +her lover, and passed through these foreign cities, with no word upon +her tongue that could be understood of those that heard her except his +name whom she sought. Ah! that is how men wander through the earth, +strangers in the midst of it. They cannot translate the cry of their own +hearts, but it means, 'God--my soul thirsteth for Thee'; and the thirst +bids us seek His face. + +He summons us by all the providences and events of our changeful lives. +Our sorrows by their poignancy, our joys by their incompleteness and +their transiency, alike call us to Him in whom alone the sorrows can be +soothed and the joys made full and remain. Our duties, by their +heaviness, call us to turn ourselves to Him, in whom alone we can find +the strength to fill the _role_ that is laid upon us, and to discharge +our daily tasks. + +But, most of all, He summons us to Himself by Him who is the Angel of +His Face, 'the effulgence of His glory, and the express image of His +person.' In the face of Jesus Christ, 'the light of the knowledge of the +glory of God' beams out upon us, as it never shone on this Psalmist of +old. He saw but a portion of that countenance, through a thick veil +which thinned as faith gazed, but was never wholly withdrawn. The voice +that he heard calling him was less penetrating and less laden with love +than the voice that calls us. He caught some tones of invitation +sounding in providences and prophecies, in ceremonies and in law; we +hear them more full and clear from the lips of a Brother. They sound to +us from the cradle and the cross, and they are wafted down to us from +the throne. God's merciful invitation to us poor men never has taken, +nor will, nor can, take a sweeter and more attractive form than in +Christ's version of it: 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest.' Friend! that summons comes to us; may +we deal with it as the Psalmist did! + +II. That brings me to note, secondly, the devout soul's response to the +loving call from God. + +I have already pointed out how beautifully and vividly the contrast +between the two is expressed in our text: 'Seek ye My face'--'Thy face +will I seek.' The Psalmist takes the general invitation and converts it +into an individual one, to which he responds. God's 'ye' is met by his +'I.' The Psalmist makes no hesitation or delay--'_When_ Thou saidst ... +my heart said to Thee.' The Psalmist gathers himself together in a +concentrated resolve of a fixed determination--'Thy face _will_ I seek.' +That is how we ought to respond. + +Make the general invitation thy very own. God summons all, because He +summons each. He does not cast His invitations out at random over the +heads of a crowd, as some rich man might fling coins to a mob, but He +addresses every one of us singly and separately, as if there were not +another soul in the universe to hear His voice but our very own selves. +It is for us not to lose ourselves in the crowd, since He has not lost +us in it; but to appropriate, to individualise, to make our very own, +the universality of His call to the world. It matters nothing to you +what other men may do; it matters not to you how many others may be +invited, and whether they may accept or may refuse. When that 'Seek ye' +comes to my heart, life or death depends on my answering, 'Whatsoever +others may do, as for me I will seek Thy face.' We preachers that have +to stand and address a multitude sound out the invitation, and it loses +in power, the more there are to listen to us. If I could get you one by +one, the poorest words would have more weight with you than the +strongest have when spoken to a crowd. Brother! God individualises us, +and God speaks to Thee, 'Wilt thou behold My face?' Answer, 'As for me, +I will.' + +Again, the Psalmist 'made haste, and delayed not, but made haste' to +respond to the merciful summons. Ah! how many of us, in how many +different ways, fall into the snare 'by-and-by'! 'not now'; and all +these days, that slip away whilst we hesitate, gather themselves +together to be our accusers hereafter. Friend! why should you limit the +blessedness that may come into your life to the fag end of it when you +have got tired and satiated, or tired and disappointed with the world +and its good? 'Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him +while He is near.' It is poor courtesy to show to a merciful invitation +from a bountiful host if I say; 'After I have looked to the oxen I have +bought, and tested them, and measured the field that I have acquired; +after I have drunk the sweetness of wedded life with the wife that I +have married, then I will come. But, for the present, I pray thee, have +me excused.' And that is what many are doing, more or less. + +The Psalmist gathered himself together in a fixed resolve, and said, 'I +_will_.' That is what we have to do. A languid seeker will not find; an +earnest one will not fail to find. But if half-heartedly, now and then, +when we are at leisure in the intervals of more important and pressing +daily business, we spasmodically bethink ourselves, and for a little +while seek for the light of God's felt presence to shine upon us, we +shall not get it. But if we lay a masterful hand, as we ought to do, on +these divergent desires that draw us asunder, and bind ourselves, as it +were, together, by the strong cord of a resolved purpose carried out +throughout our lives, then we shall certainly not seek in vain. + +Alas! how strange and how sad is the reception which this merciful +invitation receives from so many of us! Some of you never hear it at +all. Standing in the very focus where the sounds converge, you are deaf, +as if a man behind the veil of the falling water of Niagara, on that +rocky shelf there, should hear nothing. From every corner of the +universe that voice comes; from all the providences and events of our +lives that voice comes; from the life and death of Jesus Christ that +voice comes; and not a sound reaches your ears. 'Having ears, they hear +not,' and some of us might take the Psalmist's answer, with one sad word +added, as ours--'When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto +Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I _not_ seek.' + +Brethren! it is heaven on earth to say, 'Thou dost call, and I answer. +Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.' Yet you shut yourselves up to, +and with, misery and vanity, if you so deal with God's merciful summons +as some of us are dealing with it, so that He has to say, 'I called, and +ye refused; I stretched out My hand, and no man regarded.' + +III. Lastly, we have here a prayer built upon both the invitation and +the acceptance. + +'Hide not Thy face far from me.' That prayer implies that God will not +contradict Himself. His promises are commandments. If He bids us seek He +binds Himself to show. His veracity, His unchangeableness, are pledged +to this, that no man who yields to His invitation will be balked of his +desire. He does not hold out the gift in His hand, and then twitch it +away when we put out encouraged and stimulated hands to grasp it. You +have seen children flashing bright reflections from a mirror on to a +wall, and delighting to direct them away to another spot, when a hand +has been put out to touch them. That is not how God does. The light that +He reveals is steady, and whosoever turns his face to it will be +irradiated by its brightness. + +The prayer builds itself on the assurance that, because God will not +contradict Himself, therefore every heart seeking is sure to issue in a +heart finding. There is only one region where that is true, brethren! +there is only one tract of human experience in which the promise is +always and absolutely fulfilled:--'Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and +ye shall find.' We hunt after all other good, and at the best we get it +in part or for a time, and when possessed, it is not as bright as when +it shone in the delusive colours of hope and desire. If you follow other +good, and are drawn after the elusive lights that dance before you, and +only show how great is the darkness, you will not reach them, but will +be mired in the bog. If you follow after God's face, it will make a +sunshine in the shadiest places of life here. You will be blessed +because you walk all the day long in the light of His countenance, and +when you pass hence it will irradiate the darkness of death, and +thereafter, 'His servants shall serve Him, and shall see His face,' and, +seeing, shall be made like Him, for 'His name shall be in their +foreheads.' + +Brethren! we have to make our choice whether we shall see His face here +on earth, and so meet it hereafter as that of a long-separated and +long-desired friend; or whether we shall see it first when He is on His +throne, and we at His bar, and so shall have to 'call on the rocks and +the hills to fall on us, and cover us from the face of Him who is our +Judge.' + + + + +THE TWO GUESTS + + 'His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may + endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'--PSALM xxx. 5. + +A word or two of exposition is necessary in order to bring out the force +of this verse. There is an obvious antithesis in the first part of it, +between 'His anger' and 'His favour.' Probably there is a similar +antithesis between a 'moment' and 'life.' For, although the word +rendered 'life' does not unusually mean a _lifetime_ it _may_ have that +signification, and the evident intention of contrast seems to require it +here. So, then, the meaning of the first part of my text is, 'the anger +lasts for a moment; the favour lasts for a lifetime.' The perpetuity of +the one, and the brevity of the other, are the Psalmist's thought. + +Then, if we pass to the second part of the text, you will observe that +there is there also a double antithesis. 'Weeping' is set over against +'joy'; the 'night' against the 'morning.' And the first of these two +contrasts is the more striking if we observe that the word 'joy' means, +literally, 'a joyful shout,' so that the voice which was lifted in +weeping is conceived of as now being heard in exultant praise. Then, +still further, the expression 'may endure' literally means 'may come to +lodge.' So that Weeping and Joy are personified. Two guests come; one, +dark-robed and approaching at the fitting season for such, 'the night.' +The other bright, coming with all things fresh and sunny, in the dewy +morn. The guest of the night is Weeping; the guest that takes its place +in the morning is Gladness. + +The two clauses, then, of my text suggest substantially the same +thought, and that is the persistence of joy and the transitoriness of +sorrow. The one speaks of the succession of emotions in the man; the +other, of the successive aspects of the divine dealings which occasion +these. The whole is a leaf out of the Psalmist's own experience. The +psalm commemorates his deliverance from some affliction, probably a +sickness. That is long gone past; and the tears that it caused have long +since dried up. But this shout of joy of his has lasted all these +centuries, and is like to be immortal. Well for us if we can read our +life's story with the same cheery confidence as he did his, and have +learned like him to discern what is the temporary and what the permanent +element in our experience! + +I. Note, first, the proportion of joy and sorrow in an ordinary life. + +The Psalmist expresses, as I have said, the same idea in both clauses. +In the former the 'anger' is contemplated not so much as an element in +the divine mind, as in its manifestations in the divine dealings. I +shall have a word or two, presently, to say about the Scriptural +conception of the 'anger' of God and its relation to the 'favour' of +God; but for the present I take the two clauses as being substantially +equivalent. + +Now is it true--is it not true?--that if a man rightly regards the +proportionate duration of these two diverse elements in his life, he +must come to the conclusion that the one is continuous and the other is +but transitory? A thunderstorm is very short when measured against the +long summer day in which it crashes; and very few days have them. It +must be a bad climate where half the days are rainy. If we were to take +the chart and prick out upon it the line of our sailing, we should find +that the spaces in which the weather was tempestuous were brief and few +indeed as compared with those in which it was sunny and calm. + +But then, man looks before and after, and has the terrible gift that by +anticipation and by memory he can prolong the sadness. The proportion of +solid matter needed to colour the Irwell is very little in comparison +with the whole of the stream. But the current carries it, and half an +ounce will stain miles of the turbid stream. Memory and anticipation +beat the metal thin, and make it cover an enormous space. And the misery +is that, somehow, we have better memories for sad hours than for joyful +ones, and it is easier to get accustomed to 'blessings,' as we call +them, and to lose the poignancy of their sweetness because they become +familiar, than it is to apply the same process to our sorrows, and thus +to take the edge off them. The rose's prickles are felt in the flesh +longer than its fragrance lives in the nostrils, or its hue in the eye. +Men have long memories for their pains as compared with their +remembrance of their sorrows. + +So it comes to be a piece of very homely, well-worn, and yet always +needful, practical counsel to try not to magnify and prolong grief, nor +to minimise and abbreviate gladness. We can make our lives, to our own +thinking, very much what we will. We cannot directly regulate our +emotions, but we can regulate them, because it is in our own power to +determine which aspect of our life we shall by preference contemplate. + +Here is a room, for instance, papered with a paper with a dark +background and a light pattern on it. Well, you can manoeuvre your eye +about so as either to look at the black background--and then it is all +black, with only a little accidental white or gilt to relieve it here +and there; or you can focus your eye on the white and gold, and then +that is the main thing, and the other is background. We can choose, to a +large extent, what we shall conceive our lives to be; and so we can very +largely modify their real character. + + 'There's nothing either good or bad + But thinking makes it so.' + +They who will can surround themselves with persistent gladness, and they +who will can gather about them the thick folds of an everbrooding and +enveloping sorrow. Courage, cheerfulness, thankfulness, buoyancy, +resolution, are all closely connected with a sane estimate of the +relative proportions of the bright and the dark in a human life. + +II. And now consider, secondly, the inclusion of the 'moment' in the +'life.' + +I do not know that the Psalmist thought of that when he gave utterance +to my text, but whether he did it or not, it is true that the 'moment' +spent in 'anger' is a part of the 'life' that is spent in the 'favour.' +Just as within the circle of a life lies each of its moments, the same +principle of inclusion may be applied to the other contrast presented +here. For as the 'moment' is a part of the 'life,' the 'danger' is a +part of the love. The 'favour' holds the 'anger' within itself, for the +true Scriptural idea of that terrible expression and terrible fact, the +'wrath of God,' is that it is the necessary aversion of a perfectly pure +and holy love from that which does not correspond to itself. So, though +sometimes the two may be set against each other, yet at bottom, and in +reality, they are one, and the 'anger' is but a mode in which the +'favour' manifests itself. God's love is plastic, and if thrown back +upon itself, grieved and wounded and rejected, becomes the 'anger' which +ignorant men sometimes seem to think it contradicts. There is no more +antagonism between these two ideas when they are applied to God than +when they are applied to you parents in your relations to a disobedient +child. You know, and it knows, that if there were no love there would be +little 'anger.' Neither of you suppose that an irate parent is an +unloving parent. 'If ye, being evil, know how,' in dealing with your +children, to blend wrath and love, 'how much more shall your Father +which is in heaven' be one and the same Father when His love manifests +itself in chastisement and when it expands itself in blessings! + +Thus we come to the truth which breathes uniformity and simplicity +through all the various methods of the divine hand, that howsoever He +changes and reverses His dealings with us, they are one and the same. +You may get two diametrically opposite motions out of the same machine. +The same power will send one wheel revolving from right to left, and +another from left to right, but they are co-operant to grind out at the +far end the one product. It is the same revolution of the earth that +brings blessed lengthening days and growing summer, and that cuts short +the sun's course and brings declining days and increasing cold. It is +the same motion which hurls a comet close to the burning sun, and sends +it wandering away out into fields of astronomical space, beyond the ken +of telescope, and almost beyond the reach of thought. And so one uniform +divine purpose, the 'favour' which uses the 'anger,' fills the life, and +there are no interruptions, howsoever brief, to the steady continuous +flow of His outpoured blessings. All is love and favour. Anger is masked +love, and sorrow has the same source and mission as joy. It takes all +sorts of weathers to make a year, and all tend to the same issue, of +ripened harvests and full barns. O brethren! if we understand that God +means something better for us than happiness, even likeness to Himself, +we should understand better how our deepest sorrows and bitterest tears, +and the wounds that penetrate deepest into our bleeding hearts, all come +from the same motive, and are directed to the same end as their most +joyful contraries. One thing the Lord desires, that we may be partakers +of His holiness, and so we may venture to give an even deeper meaning to +the Psalmist's words than he intended, and recognise that the 'moment' +is an integral part of the 'life,' and the 'anger' a mode of the +manifestation of the 'favour.' + +III. Lastly, notice the conversion of the sorrow into joy. + +I have already explained the picturesque image of the last part of my +text, which demands a little further consideration. There are two +figures presented before us, one dark robed and one bright garmented. +The one is the guest of the night, the other is the guest of the +morning. The verb which occurs in the first clause of the second half of +my text is not repeated in the second, and so the words may be taken in +two ways. They may either express how Joy, the morning guest, comes, and +turns out the evening visitant, or they may suggest how we took Sorrow +in when the night fell, to sit by the fireside, but when morning +dawned--who is this, sitting in her place, smiling as we look at her? It +is Sorrow transfigured, and her name is changed into Joy. Either the +substitution or the transformation may be supposed to be in the +Psalmist's mind. + +Both are true. No human heart, however wounded, continues always to +bleed. Some gracious vegetation creeps over the wildest ruin. The +roughest edges are smoothed by time. Vitality asserts itself; other +interests have a right to be entertained and are entertained. The +recuperative powers come into play, and the pang departs and poignancy +is softened. The cutting edge gets blunt on even poisoned spears by the +gracious influences of time. The nightly guest, Sorrow, slips away, and +ere we know, another sits in her place. Some of us try to fight against +that merciful process and seem to think that it is a merit to continue, +by half artificial means, the first moment of pain, and that it is +treason to some dear remembrances to let life have its way, and to-day +have its rights. That is to set ourselves against the dealings of God, +and to refuse to forgive Him for what His love has done for us. + +But the other thought seems to me to be even more beautiful, and +probably to be what was in the Psalmist's mind--viz. the transformation +of the evil, Sorrow itself, into the radiant form of Joy. A prince in +rags comes to a poor man's hovel, is hospitably received in the +darkness, and being received and welcomed, in the morning slips off his +rags and appears as he is. Sorrow is Joy disguised. + +If it be accepted, if the will submit, if the heart let itself be +untwined, that its tendrils may be coiled closer round the heart of God, +then the transformation is sure to come, and joy will dawn on those who +have done rightly--that is, submissively and thankfully--by their +sorrows. It will not be a joy like what the world calls +joy--loud-voiced, boisterous, ringing with idiot laughter; but it will +be pure, and deep, and sacred, and permanent. A white lily is fairer +than a flaunting peony, and the joy into which sorrow accepted turns is +pure and refining and good. + +So, brethren! remember that the richest vintages are grown on the rough +slopes of the volcano, and lovely flowers blow at the glacier's edge; +and all our troubles, big and little, may be converted into gladnesses +if we accept them as God meant them. Only they must be so accepted if +they are to be thus changed. + +But there may be some hearts recoiling from much that I have said in +this sermon, and thinking to themselves, 'Ah! there are two kinds of +sorrows. There are those that _can_ be cured, and there are those that +_cannot_. What have you got to say to me who have to bleed from an +immedicable wound till the end of my life?' Well, I have to say +this--look beyond earth's dim dawns to that morning when 'the Sun of +Righteousness shall arise, to them that love His name, with healing in +His wings.' If we have to carry a load on an aching back till the end, +be sure that when the night, which is far spent, is over, and the day +which is at hand hath broken, every raindrop will be turned into a +flashing rainbow when it is smitten by the level light, and every sorrow +rightly borne be represented by a special and particular joy. + +Only, brother! if a life is to be spent in His favour, it must be spent +in His fear. And if our cares and troubles and sorrows and losses are to +be transfigured hereafter, then we must keep very near Jesus Christ, who +has promised to us that His joy will remain with us, and that our +sorrows shall be turned into joys. If we trust to Him, the voices that +have been raised in weeping will be heard in gladness, and earth's minor +will be transposed by the great Master of the music into the key of +Heaven's jubilant praise. If only 'we look not at the things seen, but +at the things which are not seen,' then 'our light affliction, which is +but for a moment, will work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal +weight of glory'; and the weight will be no burden, but will bear up +those who are privileged to bear it. + + + + +'BE ... FOR THOU ART' + + + 'Be Thou to me a strong Rock, an house of defence to save me. 3. For + Thou art my Rock and my Fortress.'--PSALM xxxi. 2, 3 (R.V.). + +It sounds strange logic, 'Be ... for Thou art,' and yet it _is_ the +logic of prayer, and goes very deep, pointing out both its limits and +its encouragements. The parallelism between these two clauses is even +stronger in the original than in our Version, for whilst the two words +which designate the 'Rock' are not identical, their meaning is +identical, and the difference between them is insignificant; one being a +rock of any shape or size, the other being a perpendicular cliff or +elevated promontory. And in the other clause, 'for a house of defence to +save me,' the word rendered 'defence' is the same as that which is +translated in the next clause 'fortress.' So that if we were to read +thus: 'Be Thou a strong Rock to me, for a house, a fortress, for Thou +art my Rock and my Fortress,' we should get the whole force of the +parallelism. Of course the main idea in that of the 'Rock,' and +'Fortress' is only an exposition of one phase of the meaning of that +metaphor. + +I. So let us look first at what God is. + +'A rock, a fortress-house.' Now, what is the force of that metaphor? +Stable being, as it seems to me, is the first thought in it, for there +is nothing that is more absolutely the type of unchangeableness and +steadfast continuance. The great cliffs rise up, and the river glides at +their base--it is a type of mutability, and of the fleeting generations +of men, who are as the drops and ripples in its course--it eddies round +the foot of the rocks to which the old man looks up, and sees the same +dints and streaks and fissures in it that he saw when he was a child. +The river runs onwards, the trees that root themselves in the clefts of +the rock bear their spring foliage, and drop their leaves like the +generations of men, and the Rock is 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and +for ever.' And God the Unchangeable rises, if I may so say, like some +majestic cliff, round the foot of which rolls for ever the tide of human +life, and round which are littered the successive layers of the leaves +of many summers. + +Then besides this stable being, and the consequences of it, is the other +thought which is attached to the emblem in a hundred places in +Scripture, and that is defence. 'His place of defence shall be the +munitions of rocks.' When the floods are out, and all the plain is being +dissolved into mud, the dwellers on it fly to the cliffs. When the +enemy's banners appear on the horizon, and the open country is being +harried and burned, the peasants hurry to the defence of the hills, and, +sheltered there, are safe. And so for us this Name assures us that in +Him, whatever floods may sweep across the low levels, and whatever foes +may storm over the open land and the unwalled villages, there is always +the fortress up in the hills, and thither no flood can rise, and there +no enemy can come. A defence and a sure abode is his who dwells in God, +and thus folds over himself the warm wings that stretch on either side, +and shelter him from all assault. 'Lead me to the Rock that is higher +than I.' + +But the Rock is a defence in another way. If a hard-pressed fugitive is +brought to a stand and can set his back against a rock, he can front his +assailants, secure that no unseen foe shall creep up behind and deal a +stealthy stab and that he will not be surrounded unawares. 'The God of +Israel shall be your rearward,' and he who has 'made the Most High his +habitation' is sheltered from 'the pestilence that walketh in darkness,' +as well as from 'the destruction that wasteth at noon-day,' and will be +cleansed from 'secret faults' if he keeps up unbroken his union with +God, for the 'faults' which are not recognised as faults by his +partially illuminated conscience are known to God. But the Rock is a +defence in yet another way, for it is a sure foundation for our lives. +Whoso builds on God need fear no change. When the floods rise, and the +winds blow, and the rain storms down, the house that is on the Rock will +stand. + +And, then, in the Rock there is a spring, and round the spring there is +'the light of laughing flowers,' amidst the stern majesty of the cliff. +Just as the Law-giver of old smote the rock, and there gushed out the +stream that satisfied the thirst of the whole travelling nation, so Paul +would have us Christians repeat the miracle by our faith. Of us, too, it +may be said, they drank 'of that Rock that followed them, and that Rock +was Christ.' Stable being, secure defence, a fountain of refreshment and +satisfaction: all these blessings lie in that great metaphor. + +II. Now, note our plea with God, from what He is. + +'Be Thou to me a Rock ... for Thou art a Rock.' Is that not illogical? +No, for notice that little word, 'to me'--be Thou _to me_ what Thou art +in Thyself, and hast been to all generations.' That makes all the +difference. It is not merely 'Be what Thou art,' although that would be +much, but it is 'be it to me,' and let _me_ have all which is meant in +that great Name. + +But then, beyond that, let me point out to you how this prayer suggests +to us that all true prayer will keep itself within God's revelation of +what He is. We take His promises, and all the elements which make up His +name or manifestation of His character to the world, whether by His acts +or by the utterances of this Book, or by the inferences to be drawn from +the life of Jesus Christ, the great Revealer, or by what we ourselves +have experienced of Him. The ways by which God has revealed Himself to +the world define the legitimate subjects, and lay down the firm +foundation, of our petitions. In all His acts God reveals Himself, and +if I may so say, when we truly pray, we catch these up, and send them +back again to heaven, like arrows from a bow. It is only when our +desires and prayers foot themselves upon God's revelation of Himself, +and in essence are, in various fashions, the repetition of this prayer +of my text: 'Be ... for Thou art,' that we can expect to have them +answered. Much else may call itself prayer, but it is often but petulant +and self-willed endeavour to force our wishes upon Him, and no answer +will come to that. We are to pray about everything; but we are to pray +about nothing, except within the lines which are marked out for us by +what God has told us, in His words and acts, that He Himself is. Catch +these up and fling them back to Him, and for every utterance that He has +made of Himself, 'I am' so-and-so, let us go to Him and say 'Be Thou +that to me,' and then we may be sure of an answer. + +So then two things follow. If we pray after the pattern of this prayer, +'Be Thou to me what Thou art,' then a great many foolish and +presumptuous wishes will be stifled in the birth, and, on the other +hand, a great many feeble desires will be strengthened and made +confident, and we shall be encouraged to expect great things of God. +Have you widened your prayers, dear friend!--and I do not mean by that +only your outward ones, but the habitual aspiration and expectation of +your minds--have you widened these to be as wide as what God has shown +us that He is? Have you taken all God's revelation of Himself, and +translated it into petition? And do you expect Him to be to you all that +He has ever been to any soul of man upon earth? Oh! how such a prayer as +this, if we rightly understand it and feel it, puts to shame the +narrowness and the poverty of our prayers, the falterings of our faith, +and the absence of expectation in ourselves that we shall receive the +fulness of God. + +God owns that plea: 'Be ... what Thou art.' He cannot resist that. That +is what the Apostle meant when he said, 'He abideth faithful, He cannot +deny Himself.' He must be true to His character. He can never be other +than He always has been. And that is what the Psalmist meant when he +goes on, after the words that I have taken for my text, and says, 'For +Thy Name's sake lead me and guide me,' What is God's Name? The +collocation of letters by which we designate Him? Certainly not. The +Name of God is the sum total of what God has revealed Himself as being. +And 'for the sake of the Name,' that He may be true to that which He has +shown Himself to be, He will always endorse this bill that you draw upon +Him when you present Him with His own character, and say 'Be to me what +Thou art.' + +III. Lastly, we have here the plea with God drawn from what we have +taken Him to be to us. + +That is somewhat different from what I have already been dwelling upon. +Mark the words: 'Be Thou to me a strong Rock, for Thou art _my_ Rock and +_my_ Fortress.' What does that mean? It means that the suppliant has, by +his own act of faith, taken God for his; that he has appropriated the +great divine revelation, and made it his own. Now it seems to me that +that appropriation is, if not _the_ point, at least one of the points, +in which real faith is distinguished from the sham thing which goes by +that name amongst so many people. A man by faith encloses a bit of the +common for his very own. When God says that He 'so loved the world that +He gave His ... Son,' I should say, 'He loved _me_, and gave Himself for +_me_.' When the great revelation is made that He is the Rock of Ages, my +faith says: '_My_ Rock and _my_ Fortress.' Having said that, and claimed +Him for mine, I can then turn round to Him and say, 'Be to me what I +have taken Thee to be.' + +And that faith is expressed very beautifully and strikingly in one of +the Old Testament metaphors, which frequently goes along with this one +of the Rock. For instance, in a great chapter in Isaiah we find the +original of that phrase 'the Rock of Ages.' It runs thus, 'Trust ye in +the Lord for ever, for in the Lord JEHOVAH is the _Rock of Ages_.' Now +the word for trust there literally means, to flee into a refuge, and so +the true idea of faith is 'to fly for refuge,' as the Epistle to the +Hebrews has it, 'to the Hope set before us,'--that is (keeping to the +metaphor), to the cleft in the Rock. + +That act of trust or flight will make it certain that God will be to us +for a house of defence, a fortress to save us. Other rock-shelters may +crumble. They may be carried by assault; they may be riven by +earthquakes. 'The mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be +removed,' but this Rock is impregnable, and all who take refuge in it +are safe for ever. + +And so the upshot of the whole matter is that God will be to us what we +have faith to believe that He is, and our faith will be the measure of +our possession of the fulness of God. If we can only say in the fulness +of our hearts--and keep to the saying: 'Be Thou to me a Rock, for Thou +art my Rock,' then nothing shall ever hurt us; and 'dwelling in the +secret place of the Most High' we shall be kept in safety; our 'abode +shall be the munitions of rocks, our bread shall be given us, and our +water shall be made sure.' + + + + +'INTO THY HANDS' + + + 'Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord + God of truth.'--PSALM xxxi. 5. + +The first part of this verse is consecrated for ever by our Lord's use +of it on the Cross. Is it not wonderful that, at that supreme hour, He +deigned to take an unknown singer's words as His words? What an honour +to that old saint that Jesus Christ, dying, should find nothing that +more fully corresponded to His inmost heart at that moment than the +utterance of the Psalmist long ago! How His mind must have been +saturated with the Old Testament and with these songs of Israel! And do +you not think it would be better for us if ours were completely steeped +in those heart-utterances of ancient devotion? + +But, of course, the Psalmist was not thinking about his death. It was an +act for his life that he expressed in these words:--'Into Thine hands I +commit my spirit.' If you will glance over the psalm at your leisure, +you will see that it is the heart-cry of a man in great trouble, +surrounded by all sorts of difficulties, with his very life threatened. +He was down in the very depths of darkness, and ringed about by all +sorts of enemies at that moment, not sitting comfortably, as you and I +are here, but in the midst of the hurly-burly and the strife, when by a +dead lift of faith he flung himself clean out of his disasters, and, if +I might so say, pitched himself into the arms of God. 'Into Thine hands +I commit my spirit,' as a man standing in the midst of enemies, and +bearing some precious treasure in his hand might, with one strong cast +of his arm, fling it into the open hand of some mighty helper, and so +baulk the enemies of their prey. That is the figure. + +I. Now, let me say a word as to where to lodge a soul for safe keeping. + +'Into Thine hands'--a banker has a strong room, and a wise man sends his +securities and his valuables to the bank and takes an acknowledgment, +and goes to bed at night, quite sure that no harm will come to them, and +that he will get them when he wants them. And that is exactly what the +Psalmist does here. He deposits his most precious treasure in the safe +custody of One who will take care of it. The great Hand is stretched +out, and the little soul is put into it. It closes, and 'no man is able +to pluck them out of My Father's hand.' + +Now that is only a picturesque way of putting the most threadbare, bald, +commonplace of religious teaching. The word faith, when it has any +meaning at all in people's minds when they hear it from the pulpit, is +extremely apt, I fear, to create a kind of, if not disgust, at least a +revulsion of feeling, as if people said, 'Ah, there he is at the old +story again!' But will you freshen up your notions of what faith it +means by taking that picture of my text as I have tried to expand and +illuminate it a little by my metaphor? That is what is meant by 'Into +Thy hands I commit my spirit.' There are two or three ways in which that +is to be done, and one or two ways in which it is not to be done. + +We do it when we trust Him for the salvation of our souls. There are a +great many good Christian people who go mourning all their days, or, at +least, sometimes mourning and sometimes indifferent. The most that they +venture to say is, 'But I cannot be sure.' Our grandfathers used to +sing:-- + + ''Tis a point I long to know, + Oft it causes anxious thought.' + +Why should it cause anxious thought? Take your own personal salvation +for granted, and work from that. Do not work _towards_ it. If you have +gone to Christ and said, 'Lord, I cannot save myself; save me. I am +willing to be saved,' be sure that you have the salvation that you ask, +and that if you have put your soul in that fashion into God's hands, any +incredible thing is credible, and any impossible thing is possible, +rather than that you should fail of the salvation which, in the bottom +of your hearts, you desire. Take the burden off your backs and put it on +His. Do not be for ever questioning yourselves, 'Am I a saved man?' You +will get sick of that soon, and you will be very apt to give up all +thought about the matter at all. But take your stand on the fact, and +with emancipated and buoyant hearts, and grateful ones, work from it, +and because of it. And when sin rises up in your soul, and you say to +yourselves, 'If I were a Christian I could not have done that,' or, 'If +I were a Christian I could not be so-and-so'; remember that all sin is +inconsistent with being a Christian, but no sin is incompatible with it; +and that after all the consciousness of shortcomings and failure, we +have just to come back to the old point, and throw ourselves on God's +love. His arms are open to clasp us round. 'Into Thy hands I commit my +spirit.' + +Further, the Psalmist meant, by committing himself to God, trusting Him +in reference to daily life, and all its difficulties and duties. Our act +of trust is to run through everything that we undertake and everything +that we have to fight with. Self-will wrenches our souls out of God's +hands. A man who sends his securities to the banker can get them back +when he likes. And if we undertake to manage our own affairs, or fling +ourselves into our work without recognition of our dependence upon Him, +or if we choose our work without seeking to know what His will is, that +is recalling our deposit. Then you _will_ get it back again, because God +does not keep anybody's securities against his will--you will get it +back again, and much good it will do you when you have got it! +Self-will, self-reliance, self-determination--these are the opposites of +committing the keeping of our souls to God. And, as I say, if you +withdraw the deposit, you take all the burden and trouble of it on your +own shoulders again. Do not fancy that you are 'living lives of faith in +the Son of God,' if you are not looking to Him to settle what you are to +do. You cannot expect that He will watch over you, if you do not ask Him +where you are to go. + +But now there is another thing that I would suggest, this committing of +ourselves to God which begins with the initial act of trust in Him for +the salvation of our souls, and is continued throughout life by the +continual surrender of ourselves to Him, is to be accompanied with +corresponding work. The Apostle Peter's memory is evidently hovering +round this verse, whether he is consciously quoting it or not, when he +says, 'Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the +keeping of their souls to Him _in welldoing_,' which has to go along +with the act of trust and dependence. There must come the continual +ordering of the life in accordance with His will; for 'well-doing' does +not mean merely some works of beneficence and 'charity,' of the sort +that have monopolised to themselves the name in latter days, but it +means the whole of righteous conduct in accordance with the will of God. + +So Peter tells us that it is vain for us to talk about committing the +keeping of our soul to God unless we back up the committing with +consistent, Christlike lives. Of course it is vain. How can a man expect +God to take care of him when he plunges himself into something that is +contrary to God's laws? There are many people who say, 'God will take +care of me; He will save me from the consequences.' Not a bit of it--He +loves us a great deal too well for that. If you take the bit between +your teeth, you will be allowed to go over the precipice and be smashed +to pieces. If you wish to be taken care of, keep within the prescribed +limits, and consult Him before you act, and do not act till you are sure +of His approval. God has never promised to rescue man when he has got +into trouble by his own sin. Suppose a servant had embezzled his +master's money through gambling, and then expected God to help him to +get the money to pay back into the till. Do you think that would be +likely to work? And how dare you anticipate that God will keep your +feet, if you are walking in ways of your own choosing? All sin takes a +man out from the shelter of the divine protection, and the shape the +protection has to take then is chastisement. And all sin makes it +impossible for a man to exercise that trust which is the committing of +his soul to God. So it has to be 'in welldoing,' and the two things are +to go together. 'What God hath joined let not man put asunder.' You do +not become a Christian by the simple exercise of trust unless it is +trust that worketh by love. + +But let me remind you, further, that this committing of our souls into +God's hands does not mean that we are absolved from taking care of them +ourselves. There is a very false kind of religious faith, which seems to +think that it shuffles off all responsibility upon God. Not at all; you +lighten the responsibility, but you do not get rid of it. And no man has +a right to say 'He will keep me, and so I may neglect diligent custody +of myself.' He keeps us very largely by helping us to keep our hearts +with all diligence, and to keep our feet in the way of truth. + +So let me now just say a word in regard to the blessedness of thus +living in an atmosphere of continual dependence on, and reference to, +God, about great things and little things. Whenever a man is living by +trust, even when the trust is mistaken, or when it is resting upon some +mere human, fallible creature like himself, the measure of his +confidence is the measure of his tranquillity. You know that when a +child says, 'I do not need to mind, father will look after that,' he may +be right or wrong in his estimate of his father's ability and +inclination; but as long as he says it, he has no kind of trouble or +anxiety, and the little face is scarred by no deep lines of care or +thought. So when we turn to Him and say, 'Why should I the burden bear?' +then there comes--I was going to say 'surging,' but 'trickling' is a +better word--into my heart a settled peacefulness which nothing else can +give. Look at this psalm. It begins, and for the first half continues, +in a very minor key. The singer was not a poet posing as in affliction, +but his words were wrung out of him by anguish. 'Mine eyes are consumed +with grief; my life is spent with grief'; 'I am ... as a dead man out of +mind'; 'I am in trouble.' And then with a quick wheel about, 'But I +trusted in Thee, O Lord! I said, Thou art my God.' And what comes of +that? This--'O how great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for +them that fear Thee!' 'Blessed be the Lord, for He hath showed me His +marvellous kindness in a strong city.' And then, at the end of all, his +peacefulness is so triumphant that he calls upon 'all His saints' to +help him to praise. And the last words are 'Be of good courage, and He +shall strengthen your heart.' That is what you will get if you commit +your soul to God. There was no change in the Psalmist's circumstances. +The same enemy was round about him. The same 'net was privily laid for +him.' All that had seemed to him half an hour before as wellnigh +desperate, continued utterly unaltered. But what _had_ altered? God had +come into the place, and that altered the whole aspect of matters. +Instead of looking with shrinking and tremulous heart along the level of +earth, where miseries were, he was looking up into the heavens, where +God was; and so everything was beautiful. That will be our experience if +we will commit the keeping of our souls to Him in well doing. You can +bring June flowers and autumn fruits into snowy January days by the +exercise of this trust in God. It does not need that our circumstances +should alter, but only that our attitude should alter. Look up, and cast +your souls into God's hands, and all that is round you, of disasters and +difficulties and perplexities, will suffer transformation; and for +sorrow there will come joy because there has come trust. + +I need not say a word about the other application of this verse, which, +as I have said, is consecrated to us by our Lord's own use of it at the +last. But is it not beautiful to think that the very same act of mind +and heart by which a man commits his spirit to God in life may be his +when he comes to die, and that death may become a voluntary act, and the +spirit may not be dragged out of us, reluctant, and as far as we can, +resisting, but that we may offer it up as a libation, to use one +metaphor of St. Paul's, or may surrender it willingly as an act of +faith? It is wonderful to think that life and death, so unlike each +other, may be made absolutely identical in the spirit in which they are +met. You remember how the first martyr caught up the words from the +Cross, and kneeling down outside the wall of Jerusalem, with the blood +running from the wounds that the stones had made, said, 'Lord Jesus! +receive my spirit.' That is the way to die, and that is the way to live. + +One word is all that time permits about the ground upon which this great +venture of faith may be made. 'Thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of +Truth.' The Psalmist, I think, uses that word 'redeemed' here, not in +its wider spiritual New Testament sense, but in its frequent Old +Testament sense, of deliverance from temporal difficulties and +calamities. And what he says is, in effect, this: 'I have had experience +in the past which makes me believe that Thou wilt extricate me from this +trouble too, because Thou art the God of Truth.' He thinks of what God +has done, and of what God is. And Peter, whom we have already found +echoing this text, echoes that part of it too, for he says, 'Let them +commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as _unto a +faithful Creator_,' which is all but parallel to 'Lord God of Truth.' So +God will continue as He has begun, and finish what He has begun. + +'A faithful Creator--' He made us to need what we do need, and He is not +going to forget the wants that He Himself has incorporated with our +human nature. He is bound to help us because He made us. He is the God +of Truth, and He will help us. But if we take 'redeemed' in its highest +sense, the Psalmist, arguing from God's past mercy and eternal +faithfulness, is saying substantially what the Apostle said in the +triumphant words, 'Whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate +to be conformed to the image of His Son ... and whom He did predestinate +them He also ... justified, and whom He justified them He also +glorified.' 'Thou hast redeemed me.' 'Thou art the God of Truth; Thou +wilt not lift Thy hand away from Thy work until Thou hast made me all +that Thou didst bind Thyself to make me in that initial act of redeeming +me.' + +So we can say, 'He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for +us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' You +have experiences, I have no doubt, in your past, on which you may well +build confidence for the future. Let each of us consult our own hearts, +and our own memories. Cannot _we_ say, 'Thou hast been my Help,' and +ought we not therefore to be sure that He will not 'leave us nor forsake +us' until He manifests Himself as the God of our salvation? + +It is a blessed thing to lay ourselves in the hands of God, but the New +Testament tells us, 'It is a fearful thing to _fall into_ the hands of +the living God.' The alternative is one that we all have to +face,--either 'into Thy hands I commit my spirit,' or into those hands +to fall. Settle which of the two is to be your fate. + + + + +GOODNESS WROUGHT AND GOODNESS LAID UP + + + 'Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that + fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee + before the sons of men!'--PSALM xxxi. 19. + +The Psalmist has been describing, with the eloquence of misery, his own +desperate condition, in all manner of metaphors which he heaps +together--'sickness,' 'captivity,' 'like a broken vessel,' 'as a dead +man out of mind.' But in the depth of desolation he grasps at God's +hand, and that lifts him up out of the pit. 'I trusted in Thee, O Lord! +Thou art my God.' So he struggles up on to the green earth again, and he +feels the sunshine; and then he breaks out--'Oh! how great is Thy +goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee.' So the psalm +that began with such grief, ends with the ringing call, 'Be of good +courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the +Lord.' + +Now these great words which I have read for my text, and which derive +even additional lustre from their setting, do not convey to the hasty +English reader the precise force of the antithesis which lies in them. +The contrast in the two clauses is between goodness laid up and goodness +wrought; and that would come out a little more clearly if we transposed +the last words of the text, and instead of reading, as our Authorised +Version does, 'which Thou hast wrought for them that trusted in Thee +before the sons of men,' read 'which Thou hast wrought before the sons +of men for them that trusted in Thee.' + +So I think there are, as it were, two great masses of what the Psalmist +calls 'goodness'; one of them which has been plainly manifested 'before +the sons of men,' the other which is 'laid up' in store. There are a +great many notes in circulation, but there is far more bullion in the +strong-room. Much 'goodness' has been exhibited; far more lies +concealed. + +If we take that antithesis, then, I think we may turn it in two or three +directions, like a light in a man's hand; and look at it as suggesting-- + +I. First, the goodness already disposed--'wrought before the sons of +men'; and that 'laid up,' yet to be manifested. + +Now, that distinction just points to the old familiar but yet +never-to-be-exhausted thought of the inexhaustibleness of the divine +nature. That inexhaustibleness comes out most wondrously and beautifully +in the fundamental manifestation of God on which the Old Testament +revelation is built--I mean the vision given to Moses prior to his call, +and as the basis of his message, of the bush that burned and was not +consumed. That lowly shrub flaming and not burning out was not, as has +often been supposed, the symbol of Israel which in the furnace of +affliction was not destroyed. It meant the same as the divine name, then +proclaimed; 'I AM THAT I AM,' which is but a way of saying that God's +Being is absolute, dependent upon none, determined by Himself, infinite, +and eternal, burns and is not burned up, lives and has no proclivity +towards death, works and is unwearied, 'operates unspent,' is revealed +and yet hidden, gives and is none the poorer. + +And as we look upon our daily lives, and travel back in thought, some of +us over the many years which have all been crowded with instances and +illustrations of divine faithfulness and favouring care, we have to +grasp both these exclamations of our text, 'Oh! how great is Thy +goodness which Thou hast wrought,' how much greater 'is Thy goodness +which is laid up!' The table has been spread in the wilderness, and the +verities of Christian experience more than surpass the legends of hungry +knights finding banquets prepared by unseen hands in desert places. It +is as when Jesus made the multitude sit down on the green grass and +feast to the full, and yet abundance remained undiminished after +satisfying all the hungry applicants. The bread that was broken yielded +more basketfuls for to-morrow than the original quantity in the lad's +hands. The fountain rises, and the whole camp, 'themselves and their +children and their cattle,' slake their thirst at it, and yet it is full +as ever. The goodness wrought is but the fringe and first beginnings of +the mass that is laid up. All the gold that has been coined and put into +circulation is as nothing compared with the wedges and ingots of massive +bullion that lie in the strong room. God's riches are not like the +world's wealth. You very soon get to the bottom of its purse. Its +'goodness,' is very soon run dry; and nothing will yield an +unintermittent stream of satisfaction and blessing to a poor soul except +the 'river of the water of life that proceedeth out of the Throne of God +and of the Lamb.' + +So, dear brethren! that contrast may suggest to us how quietly and +peacefully we may look forward to all the unknown future; and hold up to +it so as to enable us to scan its general outlines, the light of the +known and experienced past. Let our trustful prayer be; 'Thou hast been +my help: leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!' and +the answer will certainly be: 'I will not leave thee, till I have done +unto thee that which I have spoken to thee of.' Our Memory ought to be +the mother of our Hope; and we should paint the future in the hues of +the past. Thou hast goodness 'laid up,' more than enough to match 'the +goodness Thou hast wrought.' God's past is the prophecy of God's future; +and my past, if I understand it aright, ought to rebuke every fear and +calm every anxiety. We, and only we, have the right to say, 'To-morrow +shall be as this day, and much more abundant.' That is delusion if said +by any but by those that fear and trust in the Inexhaustible God. + +II. Now let us turn our light in a somewhat different direction. The +contrast here suggests the goodness that is publicly given and that +which is experienced in secret. + +If you will notice, in the immediate neighbourhood of my text there come +other words which evidently link themselves with the thought of the +goodness laid up: 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence.' +That is where also the 'goodness' is. 'Thou shalt keep them secretly in +a pavilion ... blessed be the Lord! for He hath shewed me His marvellous +kindness in a strong city.' So, then, the goodness which is wrought, and +which can be seen by the sons of men, dwindles in comparison with the +goodness which lies in that secret place, and can only be enjoyed and +possessed by those who dwell there, and whose feet are familiar with the +way that leads to it. That is to say, if you wish the Psalmist's thought +in plain prose, all these visible blessings of ours are but pale shadows +and suggestions of the real wealth that we can have only if we live in +continual communion with God. The spiritual blessings of quiet minds and +strength for work, the joys of communion with God, the sweetness of the +hopes that are full of immortality, and all these delights and +manifestations of God's inmost love and sweetness which are granted only +to waiting hearts that shut themselves off from the tumultuous delights +of earth as the bases of their trust or the sources of their +gladness--these are fuller, better than the selectest and richest of the +joys that God's world can give. God does not put His best gifts, so to +speak, in the shop-windows; He keeps these in the inner chambers. He +does not arrange His gifts as dishonest traders do their wares, putting +the finest outside or on the top, and the less good beneath. 'Thou hast +kept the good wine until now.' It is they who inhabit 'the secret place +of the Most High,' and whose lives are filled with communion with Him, +realising His presence, seeking to know His will, reaching out the +tendrils of their hearts to twine round Him, and diligently, for His +dear sake, doing the tasks of life; who taste the selected dainties from +God's gracious hands. + +How foolish, then, to order life on the principle upon which we are all +tempted to do it, and to yield to the temptation to which some of us +have yielded far too much, of fancying that the best good is the good +that we can touch and taste and handle and that men can see! No! no! +Deep down in our hearts a joy that strangers never intermeddle with nor +know, a peace that passes understanding, a present Christ and a Heaven +all but present, because Christ is present--these are the good things +for men, and these are the things which God does not, because He cannot, +fling broadcast into the world, but which He keeps, because He must, for +those that desire them, and are fit for them. 'He causeth His sun to +shine, and His rain to fall on the unthankful and on the disobedient,' +but the goodness laid up is better than the sunshine, and more +refreshing and fertilising and cleansing than the rain, and it comes, +and comes only, to them that trust Him, and live near Him. + +III. And so, lastly, we may turn our light in yet another direction, and +take this contrast as suggesting the goodness wrought on earth, and the +goodness laid up in heaven. + +Here we see, sometimes, the messengers coming with the one cluster of +grapes on the pole. There we shall live in the vineyard. Here we drink +from the river as it flows; there we shall be at the fountain-head. Here +we are in the vestibule of the King's house, there we shall be in the +throne room, and each chamber as we pass through it is richer and fairer +than the one preceding. Heaven's least goodness is more than earth's +greatest blessedness. All that life to come, all its conditions and +everything about it, are so strange to us, so incapable of being bodied +forth or conceived by us, and the thought of Eternity is, it seems to +me, so overwhelmingly awful that I do not wonder at even good people +finding little stimulus, or much that cheers, in the thought of passing +thither. But if we do not know anything more--and we know very little +more--let us be sure of this, that when God begins to compare His +adjectives He does not stop till He gets to the superlative degree and +that _good_ begets _better_, and the better of earth ensures the _best_ +of Heaven. And so out of our poor little experience here, we may gather +grounds of confidence that will carry our thoughts peacefully even into +the great darkness, and may say, 'What Thou didst work is much, what +Thou hast laid up is more.' And the contrast will continue for ever and +ever; for all through that strange Eternity that which is wrought will +be less than that which is laid up, and we shall never get to the end of +God, nor to the end of His goodness. + +Only let us take heed to the conditions--'them that fear Him, them that +trust in Him.' If we will do these things through each moment of the +experiences of a growing Christian life, and at the moment of the +experience of a Christian death, and through the eternities of the +experience of a Christian heaven, Jesus Christ will whisper to us, 'Thou +shalt see greater things than these.' + + + + +HID IN LIGHT + + + 'Thou shall hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride + of man; Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife + of tongues.'--PSALM xxxi. 20. + +The word rendered 'presence' is literally 'face,' and the force of this +very remarkable expression of confidence is considerably marred unless +that rendering be retained. There are other analogous expressions in +Scripture, setting forth, under various metaphors, God's protection of +them that love Him. But I know not that there is any so noble and +striking as this. For instance, we read of His hiding His children 'in +the secret of His tabernacle,' or tent; as an Arab chief might do a +fugitive who had eaten of his salt, secreting him in the recesses of his +tent whilst the pursuers scoured the desert in vain for their prey. +Again, we read of His hiding them 'beneath the shadow of His wing'; +where the divine love is softened into the likeness of the maternal +instinct which leads a hen to gather her chickens beneath the shelter of +her own warm and outspread feathers. But the metaphor of my text is more +vivid and beautiful still. 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy +face.' The light that streams from that countenance is the hiding-place +for a poor man. These other metaphors may refer, perhaps, the one to the +temple, and the other to the outstretched wings of the cherubim that +shadowed the Mercy-seat. And, if so, this metaphor carries us still more +near to the central blaze of the Shekinah, the glory that hovered above +the Mercy-seat, and glowed in the dark sanctuary, unseen but once a year +by one trembling high priest, who had to bear with him blood of +sacrifice, lest the sight should slay. The Psalmist says, into that +fierce light a man may go, and stand in it, bathed, hid, secure. 'Thou +shalt hide them in the secret of Thy face.' + +I. Now, then, let us notice, first, this hiding-place. + +The 'face' of God is so strongly figurative an expression that its +metaphorical character cannot but be obvious to the most cursory reader. +The very frankness, and, we may say, the grossness of the image, saves +it from all misconception, and as with other similar expressions in the +Old Testament, at once suggests its meaning. We read, for example, of +the 'arm,' the 'hand,' the 'finger' of God, and everybody feels that +these mean His power. We read of the 'eye' of God, and everybody knows +that that means His omniscience. We read of the 'ear' of God, and we all +understand that that holds forth the blessed thought that He hears and +answers the cry of such as be sorrowful. And, in like manner, the 'face' +of God is the apprehensible part of the divine nature which turns to +men, and by which He makes Himself known. It is roughly equivalent to +the other Old and New Testament expression, the 'name of the Lord,' the +manifested and revealed side of the divine nature. And that is the +hiding-place into which men may go. + +We have the other expression also in Scripture, 'the light of Thy +countenance,' and that helps us to apprehend the Psalmist's meaning. +'The light of Thy face' is 'secret.' What a paradox! Can light conceal? +Look at the daily heavens--filled with blazing stars, all invisible till +the night falls. The effulgence of the face is such that they that stand +in it are lost and hid, like the lark in the blue sky. 'A glorious +privacy of light is Thine.' There is a wonderful metaphor in the New +Testament of a woman 'clothed with the sun,' and caught up into it from +her enemies to be safe there. And that is just an expansion of the +Psalmist's grand paradox, 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy +face.' Light conceals when the light is so bright as to dazzle. They who +are surrounded by God are lost in the glory, and safe in that seclusion, +'the secret of Thy face.' + +A thought may be suggested, although it is somewhat of a digression from +the main purpose of my text, but it springs naturally out of this +paradox, and may just deserve a word. Revelation is real, but revelation +has its limits. That which is revealed is 'the face of God,' but we +read, 'no man can see My face.' After all revelation He remains hidden. +After all pouring forth of His beams He remains 'the God that dwelleth +in the thick darkness,' and the light which is inaccessible is also a +darkness that can be felt. Apprehension is possible; comprehension is +impossible. What we know of God is valid and true, but we never shall +know all the depths that lie in that which we do know of Him. His face +is 'the secret'; and though men may malign Him when they say, 'Verily, +Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel!' and He answers +them, 'I have not spoken in secret' in a dark 'place of the earth,' it +still remains true that revelation has its mysteries born of the +greatness of its effulgence, and that all which we know of God is 'dark +with excess of light.' + +But that is aside from our main purpose. Let me rather remind you of how +the thought of the secret of God's face being the secure hiding-place of +them that love Him points to this truth--that that brightness of light +has a repellent power which keeps far away from all intermingling with +it everything that is evil. The old Greek mythologies tell us that the +radiant arrows of Apollo shot forth from his far-reaching bow, wounded +to death the monsters of the slime and unclean creatures that crawled +and revelled in darkness. And the myth has a great truth in it. The +light of God's face slays evil, of whatsoever kind it is; and just as +the unlovely, loathsome creatures that live in the dark and find +themselves at ease there writhe and wriggle in torment, and die when +their shelter is taken away and they are exposed to the light beating on +their soft bodies, so the light of God's face turned upon evil things +smites them into nothingness. Thus 'the secret of His countenance' is +the shelter of all that is good. + +Nor need I remind you how, in another aspect of the phrase, the 'light +of His face,' is the expression for His favour and loving regard, and +how true it is that in that favour and loving regard is the impregnable +fortress into which, entering, any man is safe. I said that the +expression the 'face of the Lord' roughly corresponded to the other one, +'the name of the Lord,' inasmuch as both meant the revealed aspect of +the divine nature. You may remember how we read, 'The name of the Lord +is a strong tower into which the righteous runneth and is safe.' The +'light' of the face of the Lord is His favour and loving regard falling +upon men. And who can be harmed with that lambent light--like sunshine +upon water, or upon a glittering shield--playing around Him? + +Only let us remember that for us 'the face of God' is Jesus Christ. He +is the 'arm' of the Lord; He is the 'name' of the Lord; He is the +'face.' All that we know of God we know through and in Him; all that we +see of God we see by the shining upon us of Him who is 'the eradiation +of His glory and the express image of His person.' So the open secret of +the 'face' of God is Jesus, the hiding-place of our souls. + +II. Secondly, notice God's hidden ones. + +My text carries us back, by that word 'them,' to the previous verse, +where we have a double description of those who are thus hidden in the +inaccessible light of His countenance. They are 'such as fear Thee,' and +'such as trust in Thee.' Now, that latter expression is congruous with +the metaphor of my text, in so far as the words on which we are now +engaged speak about a 'hiding-place,' and the word which is translated +'trust' literally means 'to flee to a refuge.' So they that flee to God +for refuge are those whom God hides in the 'secret of His face.' Let us +think of that for a moment. + +I said, in the beginning of these remarks, that there was here an +allusion, possibly, to the Temple. All temples in ancient times were +asylums. Whosoever could flee to grasp the horns of the altar, or to +sit, veiled and suppliant, before the image of the god, was secure from +his foes, who could not pass within the limits of the Temple grounds, in +which strife and murder were not permissible. We too often flee to other +gods and other temples for our refuges. Ay! and when we get there we +find that the deity whom we have invoked is only a marble image that +sits deaf, dumb, motionless, whilst we cling to its unconscious skirts. +As one of the saddest of our modern cynics once said, looking up at that +lovely impersonation of Greek beauty, the Venus de Milo, 'Ah! she is +fair; but she has no arms,' so we may say of all false refuges to which +men betake themselves. The goddess is powerless to help, however +beautiful the presentment of her may have seemed to our eyes. The evils +from which we have fled to these false deities and shelterless +sanctuaries will pursue us across the threshold; and as Elijah did with +the priests of Baal upon Carmel, will slay us at the very foot of the +altar to which we have clung, and vexed with our vain prayers. There is +only one shrine where there is a sanctuary, and that is the shrine above +which shines 'the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'; into the +brightness of which poor men may pass and therein may hide themselves. +God hides us, and His hiding is effectual, in the secret of the light +and splendour of His face. + +I said, too, that there was an allusion, as there is in all the psalms +that deal with men as God's guests, to the ancient customs of +hospitality, by which a man who has once entered the tent of the chief, +and partaken of food there, is safe, not only from his pursuers, but +from his host himself, even though that host should be the +kinsman-avenger. The red-handed murderer, who has eaten the salt of the +man whose duty it otherwise would have been to slay him where he stood, +is safe from his vengeance. And thus they who cast themselves upon God +have nothing to fear. No other hand can pluck them from the sanctuary of +His tent. He Himself, having admitted them to share His hospitality, +cannot and will not lift a hand against them. We are safe _from_ God +only when we are safe _in_ God. + +But remember the condition on which this security comes. 'Thou shalt +hide _them_ in the secret of Thy face.' Whom? Those that flee for refuge +to Thee. The act of simple faith is set forth there, by which a poor +man, with all his imperfections on his head, may yet venture to put his +foot across the boundary line that separates the outer darkness from the +beam of light that comes from God's face. 'Who among us shall dwell with +the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?' +That question does not mean, as it is often taken to mean--What mortal +can endure the punishments of a future life? but, Who can venture to be +God's guests? and it is equivalent to the other interrogation, 'Who +shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy +place?' The answer is, If you go to Him for refuge, knowing your danger, +feeling your impurity, _you_ may walk amidst all that light softened +into lambent beauty, as those Hebrew children did in the furnace of +fire, being at ease there, and feeling it well with themselves, and +having nothing about them consumed except the bonds that bound them. + +Remember that Jesus Christ is the Hiding-place, and that to flee to Him +for refuge is the condition of security, and all they who thus, from the +snares of life, from its miseries, disappointments, and burdens, from +the agitation of their own hearts, from the ebullition of their own +passions, from the stings of their own conscience, or from other of the +ills that flesh is heir to, make their hiding-place--by the simple act +of faith in Jesus Christ--in the light of God's face, are thereby safe +for evermore. + +But the initial act of fleeing to the refuge must be continued by +abiding in the refuge. It is of no use to take shelter in the light +unless we abide in the light. It is of no use to go to the Temple for +sanctuary unless we continue in it for sacrifice and worship. We must +'walk in the light as God is in the light.' That is to say, the +condition of being hid in God is, first of all, to take refuge in Jesus +Christ, and then to abide in Him by continual communion. 'Your life is +hid with Christ in God.' Unless we have a hidden life, deep beneath, and +high above, and far beyond the life of sense, we have no right to think +that the shelter of the Face will be security for us. The very essence +of Christianity is the habitual communion of heart, mind, and will with +God in Christ. Do you live in the light, or have you only gone there to +escape what you are afraid of? Do you live in the light by the continual +direction of thought and heart to Him, cultivating the habit of daily +and hourly communion with Him amidst the distractions of necessary duty, +care, and changing circumstances? + +But not only by communion, but also by conduct, must we keep in the +light. The fugitive found outside the city of refuge was fair game for +the avenger, and if he strayed beyond its bounds there was a sword in +his back before he knew where he was. Every Christian, by each sin, +whether it be acted or only thought, casts himself out of the light into +the darkness that rings it round, and out there he is a victim to the +beasts of prey that hunt in darkness. An eclipse of the sun is not +caused by any change in the sun, but by an opaque body, the offspring +and satellite of the earth, coming between the earth and sun. And so, +when Christian men lose the light of God's face, it is not because there +is any 'variableness or shadow of turning' in Him, but because between +Him and them has come the blackness--their own offspring--of their own +sin. You are not safe if you are outside the light of His countenance. +These are the conditions of security. + +III. Lastly, note what the hidden ones find in the light. + +This burst of confidence in my text comes from the Psalmist immediately +after plaintively pouring out his soul under the pressure of +afflictions. His experience may teach us the interpretation of his glad +assurance. + +God will keep all real evil from us if we keep near Him; but He will not +keep the externals that men call evil from us. I do not know whether +there is such a thing as filtering any poisons or malaria by means of +light, but I am sure that the light of God filters our atmosphere for +us. Though it may leave the external form of evil it takes all the +poison out of it and turns it into a harmless minister for our good. The +arrows that are launched at us may be tipped with venom when they leave +the bow, but if they pass through the radiant envelope of divine +protection that surrounds us--and they must have passed through that if +they reach us--it cleanses all the venom from the points though it +leaves the sharpness there. The evil is not an evil if it has got our +length; and its having touched us shows that He who lets it pass into +the light where His children safely dwell, knows that it cannot harm +them. + +But, again, we shall find if we live in continual communion with the +revealed Face of God, that we are elevated high above all the strife of +tongues and the noise of earth. We shall 'outsoar the shadow of the +night,' and be lifted to an elevation from which all the clamours of +earth will sound faint and poor, like the noises of the city to the +dwellers on the mountain peak. Nor do we find only security there, for +the word in the second clause of my text, 'Thou shalt _keep_ them +_secretly_,' is the same as is employed in the previous verse in +reference to the treasures which God _lays up_ for them that fear Him. +The poor men that trust in God, and the wealth which He has to lavish +upon them, are both hid, and they are hid in the same place. The +'goodness wrought before the sons of men' has not emptied the reservoir. +After all expenditure the massy ingots of gold in God's storehouse are +undiminished. The mercy still to come is greater than that already +received. 'To-morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant.' This +river broadens as we mount towards its source. + +Brethren! the Face of God must be either our dearest joy or our greatest +dread. There comes a time when you and I must front it, and look into +His eyes. It is for us to settle whether at that day we shall 'call upon +the rocks and the hills to hide us' from it, or whether we shall say +with rapture, 'Thou hast made us most blessed with Thy countenance'! +Which is it to be? It must be one or other. When He says, 'Seek ye My +Face,' may our hearts answer, 'Thy Face, Lord, will I seek,' that when +we see it hereafter, shining as the sun in his strength, its light may +not be darkness to our impure and horror-struck eyes. + + + + +A THREEFOLD THOUGHT OF SIN AND FORGIVENESS + + + 'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is + covered. 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not + iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.' + --PSALM xxxii. 1, 2. + +This psalm, which has given healing to many a wounded conscience, comes +from the depths of a conscience which itself has been wounded and +healed. One must be very dull of hearing not to feel how it throbs with +emotion, and is, in fact, a gush of rapture from a heart experiencing in +its freshness the new joy of forgiveness. It matters very little who +wrote it. If we accept the superscription, which many of those who +usually reject these ancient Jewish notes do in the present case, the +psalm is David's, and it fits into some of the specific details of his +great sin and penitence. But that is of very small moment. Whoever wrote +it, he sings because he must. + +The psalm begins with an exclamation, for the clause would be better +translated, 'Oh! the blessedness of the man.' Then note the remarkable +accumulation of clauses, all expressing substantially the same thing, +but expressing it with a difference. The Psalmist's heart is too full to +be emptied by one utterance. He turns his jewel, as it were, round and +round, and at each turn it reflects the light from a different angle. +There are three clauses in my text, each substantially having the same +meaning, but which yet present that substantially identical meaning with +different shades. And that is true both in regard to the three words +which are employed to describe the fact of transgression, and to the +three which are employed to describe the fact of forgiveness. It is +mainly to these, and the large lessons which lie in observing the shades +of significance in them, that I wish to turn now. + +I. Note the solemn picture which is here drawn of various phases of sin. + +There are three words employed--'transgression,' 'sin,' 'iniquity.' They +all mean the same thing, but they mean it with a different association +of ideas and suggestions of its foulness. Let me take them in order. The +word translated 'transgression' seems literally to signify separation, +or rending apart, or departure, and hence comes to express the notion of +apostasy and rebellion. + +So, then, here is this thought; all sin is a going away. From what? +Rather the question should be--from _whom_? All sin is a departure from +God. And that is its deepest and darkest characteristic. And it is the +one that needs to be most urged, for it is the one that we are most apt +to forget. We are all ready enough to acknowledge faults; none of us +have any hesitation in saying that we have done wrong, and have gone +wrong. We are ready to recognise that we have transgressed the law; but +what about the Lawgiver? The personal element in every sin, great or +small, is that it is a voluntary rending of a union which exists, a +departure from God who is with us in the deepest recesses of our being, +unless we drag ourselves away from the support of His enclosing arm, and +from the illumination of His indwelling grace. + +So, dear brethren! this was the first and the gravest aspect under which +the penitent and the forgiven man in my text thought of his past, that +in it, when he was wildly and eagerly rushing after the low and sensuous +gratification of his worst desires, he was rebelling against, and +wandering far away from, the ever-present Friend, the all-encircling +support and joy, the Lord, his life. You do not understand the gravity +of the most trivial wrong act when you think of it as a sin against the +order of Nature, or against the law written on your heart, or as the +breach of the constitution of your own nature, or as a crime against +your fellows. You have not got to the bottom of the blackness until you +see that it is flat rebellion against God Himself. This is the true +devilish element in all our transgression, and this element is in it +all. Oh! if once we do get the habit formed and continued until it +becomes almost instinctive and spontaneous, of looking at each action of +our lives in immediate and direct relation to God, there would come such +an apocalypse as would startle some of us into salutary dread, and make +us all feel that 'it is an evil and a bitter thing' (and the two +characteristics must always go together), 'to depart from the living +God.' The great type of all wrongdoers is in that figure of the Prodigal +Son, and the essence of his fault was, first, that he selfishly demanded +for his own his father's goods; and, second, that he went away into a +far country. Your sins have separated between you and God. And when you +do those little acts of selfish indulgence which you do twenty times a +day, without a prick of conscience, each of them, trivial as it is, like +some newly-hatched poisonous serpent, a finger-length long, has in it +the serpent nature, it is rebellion and separation from God. + +Then another aspect of the same foul thing rises before the Psalmist's +mind. This evil which he has done, which I suppose was the sin in the +matter of Bathsheba, was not only rebellion against God, but it was, +according to this text, in the second clause, 'a sin,' by which is meant +literally _missing an aim_. So this word, in its pregnant meaning, +corresponds with the signification of the ordinary New Testament word +for sin, which also implies error, or missing that which ought to be the +goal of our lives. That is to say, whilst the former word regarded the +evil deed mainly in its relation to God, this word regards it mainly in +its relation to ourselves, and that which before Him is rebellion, the +assertion of my own individuality and my own will, and therefore in +separation from His will, is, considered in reference to myself, my +fatally missing the mark to which my whole energy and effort ought to be +directed. All sin, big or little, is a blunder. It never hits what it +aims at, and if it did, it is aiming at the wrong thing. So doubly, all +transgression is folly, and the true name for the doer is 'Thou fool!' +For every evil misses the mark which, regard being had to the man's +obvious destiny, he ought to aim at. 'Man's chief end is to glorify God +and to enjoy Him for ever'; and whosoever in all his successes fails to +realise that end is a failure through and through, in whatever smaller +matters he may seem to himself and to others to succeed. He only strikes +the target in the bull's eye who lets his arrows be deflected by no +gusts of passion, nor aimed wrong by any obliquity of vision; but with +firm hand and clear eye seeks and secures the absolute conformity of his +will to the Father's will, and makes God his aim and end in all things. +'Thou hast created us for Thyself, and only in Thee can we find rest.' O +brother! whatever be your aims and ends in life, take this for the +surest verity, that you have fatally misunderstood the purpose of your +being, and the object to which you should strain, if there is anything +except God, who is the supreme desire of your heart and the goal of your +life. All sin is missing the mark which God has set up for man. + +Therefore let us press to the mark where hangs the prize which whoso +possesses succeeds, whatsoever other trophies may have escaped his +grasp. + +But there is another aspect of this same thought, and that is that every +piece of evil misses its own shabby mark. 'A rogue is a round-about +fool.' No man ever gets, in doing wrong, the thing he did the wrong for, +or if he gets it, he gets something else along with it that takes all +the sweet taste out of it. The thief secures the booty, but he gets +penal servitude besides. Sin tempts us with glowing tales of the delight +to be found in drinking stolen waters and eating her bread in secret; +but sin lies by suppression of the truth, if not by suggestions of the +false, because she says never a word about the sickness and the headache +that come after the debauch, nor about the poison that we drink down +along with her sugared draughts. The paltering fiend keeps the word of +promise to the ear, and breaks it to the hope. All sin, great or little, +is a blunder, and missing of the mark. + +And lastly, yet another aspect of the ugly thing rises before the +Psalmist's eye. In reference to God, evil is separation and rebellion; +in reference to myself, it is an error and missing of my true goal; and +in reference to the straight standard and law of duty, it is, according +to the last of the three words for sin in the text, 'iniquity,' or, +literally, _something twisted_ or distorted. It is thus brought into +contrast with the right line of the plain, straight path in which we +ought to walk. We have the same metaphor in our own language. We talk +about things being right and wrong, by which we mean, in the one case, +parallel with the rigid law of duty, and in the other case, 'wrung,' or +wavering, crooked and divergent from it. There is a standard as well as +a Judge, and we have not only to think of evil as being rebellion +against God and separation from Him, and as, for ourselves, issuing in +fatal missing of the mark, but also as being divergent from the one +manifest law to which we ought to be conformed. The path to God is a +right line; the shortest road from earth to Heaven is absolutely +straight. The Czar of Russia, when railways were introduced into that +country, was asked to determine the line between St. Petersburg and +Moscow. He took a ruler and drew a straight line across the map, and +said, 'There!' Our Autocrat has drawn a line as straight as the road +from earth to Heaven, and by the side of it are 'the crooked, wandering +ways in which we live.' + +Take these three thoughts then--as for law, divergence; as for the aim +of my life, a fatal miss; as for God, my Friend and my Life, rebellion +and separation--and you have, if not the complete physiognomy of evil, +at least grave thoughts concerning it, which become all the graver when +we think that they are true about us and about our deeds. + +II. And so let me ask you to look secondly at the blessed picture drawn +here of the removal of the sin. + +There are three words here for forgiveness, each of which adds its quota +to the general thought. It is 'forgiven,' 'covered,' 'not imputed.' The +accumulation of synonyms not only sets forth various aspects of pardon, +but triumphantly celebrates the completeness and certainty of the gift. + +As to the first, it means literally to lift and bear away a load or +burden. As to the second, it means, plainly enough, to cover over, as +one might do some foul thing, that it may no longer offend the eye or +smell rank to Heaven. Bees in their hives, when there is anything +corrupt and too large for them to remove, fling a covering of wax over +it, and hermetically seal it, and no foul odour comes from it. And so a +man's sin is covered over and ceases to be _in evidence_, as it were +before the divine Eye that sees all things. He Himself casts a merciful +veil over it and hides it from Himself. A similar idea, though with a +modification in metaphor, is included in that last word, the sin is not +reckoned. God does not write it down in His Great Book on the debit side +of the man's account. And these three things, the lifting up and +carrying away of the load, the covering over of the obscene and ugly +thing, the non-reckoning in the account of the evil deed; these three +things taken together do set forth before us the great and blessed truth +that a man's transgressions may become, in so far as the divine heart +and the divine dealings with him are concerned, as if nonexistent. + +Men tell us that that is not possible and that it is immoral to preach a +doctrine of forgiveness. O dear brethren! there is no gospel to preach +that will touch a man's heart except the gospel that begins with +this--God bears away, covers over, does not reckon to a man, his +rebellions, his errors, his departures from the law of right. Sin _is_ +capable of forgiveness, and, blessed be God! every sin He is ready to +forgive. I should be ashamed of myself to stand here, and not preach a +gospel of pardon. I know not anything else that will touch consciences +and draw hearts except this gospel, which I am trying in my poor way to +lay upon your hearts. + +Notice how my text includes also a glance at the condition on our part +on which this absolute and utter annihilation of our wicked past is +possible. That last clause of my text, 'In whose spirit there is no +guile,' seems to me to refer to the frank sincerity of a confession, +which does not try to tell lies to God, and, attempting to deceive Him, +really deceives only the self-righteous sinner. Whosoever opens his +heart to God, makes a clean breast of it, and without equivocation or +self-deception or the palliations which self-love teaches, says, 'I have +played the fool and erred exceedingly,' to that man the Psalmist thinks +pardon is sure to come. + +Now remember that the very heart and centre of that Jewish system was an +altar, and that on that altar was sacrificed the expiatory victim. I am +not going to insist upon any theory of an atonement, but I do want to +urge this, that Christianity is nothing, if it have not explained and +taken up into itself that which was symbolised in that old ritual. The +very first words from human lips which proclaimed Christ's advent to man +were, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,' +and amongst the last words which Christ spoke upon earth, in the way of +teaching His disciples, were these, 'This is My blood, shed for many for +the remission of sins.' The Cross of Christ explains my psalm, the Cross +of Christ answers the confidence of the Psalmist, which was fed upon the +shadow of the good things to come. He has died, the Just for the unjust, +that the sins which were laid upon Him might be taken away, covered, and +not reckoned to us. + +Brethren! unless my sins are taken away by the Lamb of God they remain. +Unless they are laid upon Christ, they crush me. Unless they are covered +by His expiation, they lie there before the Throne of God, and cry for +punishment. Unless His blood has wiped out the record that is against +us, the black page stands for ever. And to you and me there will be said +one day, in a voice which we dare not dispute, 'Pay Me that thou owest!' +The blacker the sin the brighter the Christ. I would that I could lay +upon all your hearts this belief, 'the blood of Jesus Christ,' and +nothing else, 'cleanses from all sin!' + +III. I will touch in a word only upon the last thought suggested by the +text, and that is the blessedness of this removal of sin. + +As I said, my text is really an exclamation, a gush of rapture from a +heart that is tasting the fresh-drawn blessedness of pardon. And the +rest of the psalm is little more than an explanation of the various +aspects and phases of that blessedness. Let me just run over them in the +briefest possible manner. + +If we receive this forgiveness through Jesus Christ and our faith in +Him, then we have manifold blessedness in one. There is the blessedness +of deliverance from sullen remorse and of the dreadful pangs of an +accusing conscience. How vividly, and evidently as a transcript from a +page in his own autobiography, the Psalmist describes that condition, +'When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day +long'! When a man's heart is locked against confession he hears a tumult +of accusing voices within himself, and remorse and dread creep over his +heart. The pains of sullen remorse were never described more truly and +more dreadfully than in this context. 'Day and night Thy hand was heavy +upon me, my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.' Some of us +may know something of that. But there is a worse state than that, and +one or other of the two states belongs to us. If we have not found our +way into the liberty of confession and forgiveness, we have but a choice +between the pains of an awakened conscience and the desolation of a dead +one. It is worse to have no voice within than to have an accusing one. +It is worse to feel no pressure of a divine Hand than to feel it. And +they whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron have sounded the +lowest depths. They are perfectly comfortable, quite happy; they say all +these feelings that I am trying to suggest to you seem to them to be +folly. 'They make a solitude and call it peace.' It is an awful thing +when a man has come to this point, that he has got past the accusations +of conscience, and can swallow down the fiercest draughts without +feeling them burn. Dear brethren! there is only one deliverance from an +accusing conscience which does not murder the conscience, and that is +that we should find our way into the peace of God which is through +Christ Jesus and His atoning death. + +Then, again, my psalm goes on to speak about the blessedness of a close +clinging to God in peaceful trust, which will ensure security in the +midst of all trials, and a hiding-place against every storm. The +Psalmist uses a magnificent figure. God is to him as some rocky island, +steadfast and dry, in the midst of a widespread inundation; and taking +refuge there in the clefts of the rock, he looks down upon the tossing, +shoreless sea of troubles and sorrows that breaks upon the rocky +barriers of his Patmos, and stands safe and dry. Only through +forgiveness do we come into that close communion with God which ensures +safety in all disasters. + +And then there follows the blessedness of a gentle guidance and of a +loving obedience. 'Thou shalt guide me with Thine eye.' No need for +force, no need for bit and bridle, no need for anything but the glance +of the Father, which the child delights to obey. Docility, glad +obedience unprompted by fear, based upon love, are the fruits of pardon +through the blood of Christ. + +And, lastly, there is the blessedness of exuberant gladness; the joy +that comes from the sorrow according to God is a joy that will last. All +other delights, in their nature, are perishable; all other raptures, by +the very necessity of their being and of ours, die down, sometimes into +vanity, always into commonplace or indifference. But the joy that +springs in the pardoned heart, and is fed by closeness of communion with +God, and by continual obedience to His blessed guidance, has in it +nothing that can fade, nothing that can burn out, nothing that can be +disturbed. The deeper the penitence the surer the rebound into gladness. +The more a man goes down into the depths of his own heart and learns his +own evil, the more will he, trusting in Christ, rise into the serene +heights of thankfulness, and live, if not in rapture, at least in the +calm joy of conscious communion and unending fellowship. Every tear may +be crystallised into a diamond that shall flash in the light. And they, +and only they, who begin in the valley of weeping, confessing their sins +and imploring forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus +Christ our Lord, will rise to heights of a joy that remains, and +remaining, is full. + + + + +THE ENCAMPING ANGEL + + + 'The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and + delivereth them.'--PSALM xxxiv. 7. + +If we accept the statement in the superscription of this psalm, it dates +from one of the darkest hours in David's life. His fortunes were never +lower than when he fled from Gath, the city of Goliath, to Adullam. He +never appears in a less noble light than when he feigned madness to +avert the dangers which he might well dread there. How unlike the terror +and self-degradation of the man who 'scrabbled on the doors,' and let +'the spittle run down his beard,' is the heroic and saintly constancy of +this noble psalm! And yet the contrast is not so violent as to make the +superscription improbable, and the tone of the whole well corresponds to +what we should expect from a man delivered from some great peril, but +still surrounded with dangers. There, in the safety of his retreat among +the rocks, with the bit of level ground where he had fought Goliath just +at his feet in the valley, and Gath, from which he had escaped, away +down at the mouth of the glen (if Conder's identification of Adullam be +correct), he sings his song of trust and praise; he hears the lions roar +among the rocks where Samson had found them in his day; he teaches his +'children,' the band of broken men who there began to gather around him, +the fear of the Lord; and calls upon them to help him in his praise. +What a picture of the outlaw and his wild followers tamed into something +like order, and lifted into something like worship, rises before us, if +we follow the guidance of that old commentary contained in the +superscription! + +The words of our text gain especial force and vividness by thus +localising the psalm. Not only 'the clefts of the rock' but the presence +of God's Angel is his defence; and round him is flung, not only the +strength of the hills, but the garrison and guard of heaven. + +It is generally supposed that the 'Angel of the Lord' here is to be +taken collectively, and that the meaning is--the 'bright-harnessed' +hosts of these divine messengers are as an army of protectors round them +who fear God. But I see no reason for departing from the simpler and +certainly grander meaning which results from taking the word in its +proper force of a singular. True, Scripture does speak of the legions of +ministering spirits, who in their chariots of fire were once seen by +suddenly opened eyes 'round about' a prophet in peril, and are ever +ministering to the heirs of salvation. But Scripture also speaks of One, +who is in an eminent sense 'the Angel of the Lord'; in whom, as in none +other, God sets His 'Name'; whose form, dimly seen, towers above even +the ranks of the angels that 'excel in strength'; whose offices and +attributes blend in mysterious fashion with those of God Himself. There +may be some little incongruity in thinking of the single Person as +'encamping round about' us; but that does not seem a sufficient reason +for obliterating the reference to that remarkable Old Testament +doctrine, the retention of which seems to me to add immensely to the +power of the words. + +Remember some of the places in which the 'Angel of the Lord' appears, in +order to appreciate more fully the grandeur of this promised protection. +At that supreme moment when Abraham 'took the knife to slay his son,' +the voice that 'called to him out of heaven' was 'the voice of the Angel +of the Lord.' He assumes the power of reversing a divine command. He +says, 'Thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from _Me_,' and +then pronounces a blessing, in the utterance of which one cannot +distinguish His voice from the voice of Jehovah. In like manner it is +the Angel of the Lord that speaks to Jacob, and says, 'I am the God of +Bethel.' The dying patriarch invokes in the same breath 'the God which +fed me all my life long,' 'the Angel which redeemed me from all evil,' +to bless the boys that stand before him, with their wondering eyes +gazing in awe on his blind face. It was that Angel's glory that appeared +to the outcast, flaming in the bush that burned unconsumed. It was He +who stood before the warrior leader of Israel, sword in hand, and +proclaimed Himself to be the Captain of the Lord's host, the Leader of +the armies of heaven, and the true Leader of the armies of Israel; and +His commands to Joshua, His lieutenant, are the commands of 'the Lord.' +And, to pass over other instances, Isaiah correctly sums up the spirit +of the whole earlier history in words which go far to lift the +conception of this Angel of the Lord out of the region of created +beings--'In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His +face saved them,' + +It is this lofty and mysterious Messenger, and not the hosts whom He +commands, that our Psalmist sees standing ready to help, as He once +stood, sword-bearing by the side of Joshua. To the warrior leader, to +the warrior Psalmist, He appears, as their needs required, armoured and +militant. The last of the prophets saw that dim, mysterious Figure, and +proclaimed, 'The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple; +even the Angel of the Covenant, whom ye delight in'; and to his gaze it +was wrapped in obscure majesty and terror of purifying flame. But for us +the true Messenger of the Lord is His Son, whom He has sent, in whom He +has put His name; who is the Angel of His face, in that we behold the +glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; who is the Angel of the +Covenant, in that He has sealed the new and everlasting covenant with +His blood; and whose own parting promise, 'Lo! I am with you always,' is +the highest fulfilment to us Christians of that ancient confidence: 'The +Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.' + +Whatever view we adopt of the significance of the first part of the +text, the force and beauty of the metaphor in the second remain the +same. If this psalm were indeed the work of the fugitive in his rocky +hold at Adullam, how appropriate the thought becomes that his little +encampment has such a guard. It reminds one of the incident in Jacob's +life, when his timid and pacific nature was trembling at the prospect of +meeting Esau, and when, as he travelled along, encumbered with his +pastoral wealth, and scantily provided with means of defence, 'the +angels of God met him, and he named the place Mahanaim,' that is, two +camps--his own feeble company, mostly made up of women and children, and +that heavenly host that hovered above them. David's faith sees the same +defence encircling his weakness, and though sense saw no protection for +him and his men but their own strong arms and their mountain fastness, +his opened eyes beheld the mountain full of the chariots of fire, and +the flashing of armour and light in the darkness of his cave. + +The vision of the divine presence ever takes the form which our +circumstances most require. David's then need was safety and protection. +Therefore he saw the Encamping Angel; even as to Joshua the leader He +appeared as the Captain of the Lord's host; and as to Isaiah, in the +year that the throne of Judah was emptied by the death of the earthly +king, was given the vision of the Lord sitting on a throne, the King +Eternal and Immortal. So to us all His grace shapes its expression +according to our wants, and the same gift is Protean in its power of +transformation; being to one man wisdom, to another strength, to the +solitary companionship, to the sorrowful consolation, to the glad +sobering, to the thinker truth, to the worker practical force--to each +his heart's desire, if the heart's delight be God. So manifold are the +aspects of God's infinite sufficiency, that every soul, in every +possible variety of circumstance, will find there just what will suit +it. That armour fits every man who puts it on. That deep fountain is +like some of those fabled springs which give forth whatsoever precious +draught any thirsty lip asked. He takes the shape that our circumstances +most need. Let us see that we, on our parts, use our circumstances to +help us in anticipating the shapes in which God will draw near for our +help. + +Learn, too, from this image, in which the Psalmist appropriates to +himself the experience of a past generation, how we ought to feed our +confidence and enlarge our hopes by all God's past dealings with men. +David looks back to Jacob, and believes that the old fact is repeated in +his own day. So every old story is true for us; though outward form may +alter, inward substance remains the same. Mahanaim is still the name of +every place where a man who loves God pitches his tent. We may be +wandering, solitary, defenceless, but we are not alone. Our feeble +encampment may lie open to assault, and we be all unfit to guard it, but +the other camp is there too, and our enemies must force their way +through it before they get at us. We are in its centre--as they put the +cattle and the sick in the midst of the encampment on the prairies when +they fear an assault from the Indians--because we are so weak. Jacob's +experience may be ours: 'The Lord of Hosts is with us: the God of Jacob +is our refuge.' + +Only remember that the eye of faith alone can see that guard, and that +therefore we must labour to keep our consciousness of its reality fresh +and vivid. Many a man in David's little band saw nothing but cold gray +stone where David saw the flashing armour of the heavenly Warrior. To +the one all the mountain blazed with fiery chariots, to the other it was +a lone hillside, with the wind moaning among the rocks. We shall lose +the joy and the strength of that divine protection unless we honestly +and constantly try to keep our sense of it bright. Eyes that have been +gazing on earthly joys, or perhaps gloating on evil sights, cannot see +the Angel presence. A Christian man, on a road which he cannot travel +with a clear conscience, will see no angel, not even the Angel with the +drawn sword in His hand, that barred Balaam's path among the vineyards. +A man coming out of some room blazing with light cannot all at once see +into the violet depths of the mighty heavens, that lie above him with +all their shimmering stars. So this truth of our text is a truth of +faith, and the believing eye alone beholds the Angel of the Lord. + +Notice, too, that final word of deliverance. This psalm is continually +recurring to that idea. The word occurs four times in it, and the +thought still oftener. Whether the date is rightly given, as we have +assumed it to be, or not, at all events that harping upon this one +phrase indicates that some season of great trial was its birth-time, +when all the writer's thoughts were engrossed and his prayers summed up +in the one thing--deliverance. He is quite sure that such deliverance +must follow if the Angel presence be there. But he knows too that the +encampment of the Angel of the Lord will not keep away sorrows, and +trial, and sharp need. So his highest hope is not of immunity from +these, but of rescue out of them. And his ground of hope is that his +heavenly Ally cannot let him be overcome. That He will let him be +troubled and put in peril he has found; that He will not let him be +crushed he believes. Shadowed and modest hopes are the brightest we can +venture to cherish. The protection which we have is protection in, and +not protection from, strife and danger. It is a filter which lets the +icy cold water of sorrow drop numbing upon us, but keeps back the poison +that was in it. We have to fight, but He will fight with us; to sorrow, +but not alone nor without hope; to pass through many a peril, but we +shall get through them. Deliverance, which implies danger, need, and +woe, is the best we can hope for. + +It is the least we are entitled to expect if we love Him. It is the +certain issue of His encamping round about us. Always with us, He will +strike for us at the best moment. The Lord God is in the midst of her +always; 'the Lord will help her, and that right early.' So like the +hunted fugitive in Adullam we may lift up our confident voices even when +the stress of strife and sorrow is upon us; and though Gath be in sight +and Saul just over the hills, and we have no better refuge than a cave +in a hillside; yet in prophecy built upon our consciousness that the +Angel of the Covenant is with us now, we may antedate the deliverance +that shall be, and think of it as even now accomplished. So the Apostle, +when within sight of the block and the headsman's axe, broke into the +rapture of his last words: 'The Lord shall deliver me from every evil +work, and will preserve me to His heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for +ever and ever. Amen.' Was he wrong? + + + + +STRUGGLING AND SEEKING + + + 'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the + Lord shall not want any good thing.'--PSALM xxxiv. 10. + +If we may trust the superscription of this psalm, it was written by +David at one of the very darkest days of his wanderings, probably in the +Cave of Adullam, where he had gathered around him a band of outlaws, and +was living, to all appearance, a life uncommonly like that of a brigand +chief, in the hills. One might have pardoned him if, at such a moment, +some cloud of doubt or despondency had crept over his soul. But instead +of that his words are running over with gladness, and the psalm begins +'I will bless the Lord at all times, and His praise shall continually be +in my mouth.' Similarly here he avers, even at a moment when he wanted a +great deal of what the world calls 'good,' that 'they that seek the Lord +shall not want any good thing.' There were lions in Palestine in David's +time. He had had a fight with one of them, as you may remember, and his +lurking place was probably not far off the scene of Samson's exploits. +Very likely they were prowling about the rocky mouth of the cave, and he +weaves their howls into his psalm: 'The young lions do lack, and suffer +hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good.' + +So, then, here are the two thoughts--the struggle that always fails and +the seeking that always finds. + +I. The struggle that always fails. + +'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger.' They are taken as the type +of violent effort and struggle, as well as of supreme strength, but for +all their teeth and claws, and lithe spring, 'they lack, and suffer +hunger.' The suggestion is, that the men whose lives are one long fight +to appropriate to themselves more and more of outward good, are living a +kind of life that is fitter for beasts than for men. A fierce struggle +for material good is the true description of the sort of life that hosts +of us live. What is the meaning of all this cry that we hear about the +murderous competition going on round us? What is the true character of +the lives of, I am afraid, the majority of people in a city like +Manchester, but a fight and a struggle, a desire to have, and a failure +to obtain? Let us remember that that sort of existence is for the +brutes, and that there is a better way of getting what is good; the only +fit way for man. Beasts of prey, naturalists tell us, are always lean. +It is the graminivorous order that meekly and peacefully crop the +pastures that are well fed and in good condition--'which things are an +allegory.' + +'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger'--and that, being +interpreted, just states the fact to which every man's experience, and +the observation of every man that has an eye in his head, distinctly +say, 'Amen, it is so.' For there is no satisfaction or success ever to +be won by this way of fighting and struggling and scheming and springing +at the prey. For if we do not utterly fail, which is the lot of so many +of us, still partial success has little power of bringing perfect +satisfaction to a human spirit. One loss counterbalances any number of +gains. No matter how soft is the mattress, if there is one tiny thorn +sticking up through it all the softness goes for nothing. There is +always a Mordecai sitting at the gate when Haman goes prancing through +it on his white horse; and the presence of the unsympathetic and +stiff-backed Jew, sitting stolid at the gate, takes the gilt off the +gingerbread, and embitters the enjoyment. So men count up their +disappointments, and forget all their fulfilled hopes, count up their +losses and forget their gains. They think less of the thousands that +they have gained than of the half-crown that they were cheated of. + +In every way it is true that the little annoyances, like a grain of dust +in the sensitive eye, take all the sweetness out of mere material good, +and I suppose that there are no more bitterly disappointed men in this +world than the perfectly 'successful men,' as the world counts them. +They have been disillusionised in the process of acquisition. When they +were young and lusted after earthly good things, these seemed to be all +that they needed. When they are old, and have them, they find that they +are feeding on ashes, and the grit breaks their teeth, and irritates +their tongues. The 'young lions do lack' even when their roar and their +spring 'have secured the prey,' and 'they suffer hunger' even when they +have fed full. Ay! for if the utmost possible measure of success were +granted us, in any department in which the way of getting the thing is +this fighting and effort, we should be as far away from being at rest as +ever we were. + +You remember the old story of the _Arabian Nights_, about the wonderful +palace that was built by magic, and all whose windows were set in +precious stones, but there was one window that remained unadorned, and +that spoiled all for the owner. His palace was full of treasures, but an +enemy looked on all the wealth and suggested a previously unnoticed +defect by saying, 'You have not a roc's egg.' He had never thought about +getting a roc's egg, and did not know what it was. But the consciousness +of something lacking had been roused, and it marred his enjoyment of +what he had and drove him to set out on his travels to secure the +missing thing. There is always something lacking, for our desires grow +far faster than their satisfactions, and the more we have, the wider our +longing reaches out, so that as the wise old Book has it, 'He that +loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth +abundance with increase.' You cannot fill a soul with the whole +universe, if you do not put God in it. One of the greatest works of +fiction of modern times ends, or all but ends, with a sentence something +like this, 'Ah! who of us has what he wanted, or having it, is +satisfied?' 'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger'--and the +struggle always fails--'but they that seek the Lord shall not want any +good thing.' + +II. The seeking which always finds. + +Now, how do we 'seek the Lord'? It is a metaphorical expression, of +course, which needs to be carefully interpreted in order not to lead us +into a great mistake. We do not seek Him as if He had not sought us, or +was hiding from us. But our search of Him is search after one who is +near every one of us, and who delights in nothing so much as in pouring +Himself into every heart and mind, and will and life, if only heart, +mind, will, life, are willing to accept Him. It is a short search that +the child by her mother's skirts, or her father's side, has to make for +mother or father. It is a shorter search that we have to make for God. + +We seek Him by desire. Do you want Him? A great many of us do not. We +seek Him by communion, by turning our thoughts to Him, amidst all the +rush of daily life, and such a turning of thought to Him, which is quite +possible, will prevent our most earnest working upon things material +from descending to the likeness of the lions' fighting for it. We seek +Him by desire, by communion, by obedience. And they who thus seek Him +find Him in the act of seeking Him, just as certainly as if I open my +eye I see the sun, or as if I dilate my lungs the atmosphere rushes into +them. For He is always seeking us. That is a beautiful word of our +Lord's to which we do not always attach all its value, 'The Father +_seeketh_ such to worship Him.' Why put the emphasis upon the 'such,' as +if it was a definition of the only kind of acceptable worship? It is +that. But we might put more emphasis upon the 'seeketh' without spoiling +the logic of the sentence; and thereby we should come nearer the truth +of what God's heart to us is, so that if we do seek Him, we shall surely +find. In this region, and in this region only, there is no search that +is vain, there is no effort that is foiled, there is no desire +unaccomplished, there is no failure possible. We each of us have, +accurately and precisely, as much of God as we desire to have. If there +is only a very little of the Water of Life in our vessels, it is because +we did not care to possess any more. 'Seek, and ye shall find.' + +We shall be sure to find everything in God. Look at the grand +confidence, and the utterance of a life's experience in these great +words: 'Shall not want any good.' For God is everything to us, and +everything else is nothing; and it is the presence of God in anything +that makes it truly able to satisfy our desires. Human love, sweet and +precious, dearest and best of all earthly possessions as it is, fails to +fill a heart unless the love grasps God as well as the beloved dying +creature. And so with regard to all other things. They are good when God +is in them, and when they are ours in God. They are nought when wrenched +away from Him. We are sure to find everything in Him, for this is the +very property of that infinite divine nature that is waiting to impart +itself to us, that, like water poured into a vessel, it will take the +shape of the vessel into which it is poured. Whatever is my need, the +one God will supply it all. + +You remember the old Rabbinical tradition which speaks a deep truth, +dressed in a fanciful shape. It says that the manna in the wilderness +tasted to every man just what he desired, whatever dainty or nutriment +he most wished; that the manna became like the magic cup in the old +fairy legends, out of which could be poured any precious liquor at the +pleasure of the man who was to drink it. The one God is everything to us +all, anything that we desire, and the thing that we need; Protean in His +manifestations, one in His sufficiency. With Him, as well as in Him, we +are sure to have all that we require. 'Seek ye first the Kingdom ... and +all these things shall be added unto you.' + +Let us begin, dear brethren! with seeking, and then our struggling will +not be violent, nor self-willed, nor will it fail. If we begin with +seeking, and have God, be sure that all we need we shall get, and that +what we do not get we do not need. It is hard to believe it when our +vehement wishes go out to something that His serene wisdom does not +send. It is hard to believe it when our bleeding hearts are being +wrenched away from something around which they have clung. But it is +true for all that. And he that can say, 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee, +and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee,' will find that +the things which he enjoys in subordination to his one supreme good are +a thousand times more precious when they are regarded as second than +they ever could be when our folly tried to make them first. 'Seek first +the Kingdom,' and be contented that the 'other things' shall be +appendices, additions, over and above the one thing that is needful. + +Now, all that is very old-fashioned, threadbare truth. Dear brethren! if +we believed it, and lived by it, 'the peace of God which passes +understanding' would 'keep our hearts and minds.' And, instead of +fighting and losing, and desiring to have and howling out because we +cannot obtain, we should patiently wait before Him, submissively ask, +earnestly seek, immediately find, and always possess and be satisfied +with, the one good for body, soul, and spirit, which is God Himself. + +'There be many that cry, Oh! that one would show as any good.' The wise +do not cry to men, but pray to God. 'Lord! lift Thou the light of Thy +countenance upon us.' + + + + +NO CONDEMNATION + + + 'None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.' + --PSALM xxxiv. 22. + +These words are very inadequately represented in the translation of the +Authorised Version. The Psalmist's closing declaration is something very +much deeper than that they who trust in God 'shall not be desolate.' If +you look at the previous clause, you will see that we must expect +something more than such a particular blessing as that:--'The Lord +redeemeth the soul of His servants.' It is a great drop from that +thought, instead of being a climax, to follow it with nothing more than, +'None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.' But the Revised +Version accurately renders the words: 'None of them that trust in Him +shall be _condemned_.' There we have something that is worthy to follow +'The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants,' and we have a most +striking anticipation of the clearest and most Evangelical teaching of +the New Testament. + +The entirely New Testament tone of these words of the psalm comes out +still more clearly, if we recognise that, not only in the latter, but in +the former, part of the clause, we have one of the very keynotes of New +Testament teaching. When we read in the New Testament that 'we are +justified by faith,' the meaning is precisely the same as that of our +text. Thus, however it came about, here is this Psalmist, David or +another, standing away back amidst the shadows and symbols and +ritualisms of that Old Covenant, and rising at once above all the mists, +right up into the sunshine, and seeing, as clearly as we see it nineteen +centuries after Jesus Christ, that the way to escape condemnation is +simple faith. Let us look at both of the parts of these great words. We +consider-- + +I. The people that are spoken of here. + +'None of them that trust in Him'--I need not, I suppose, further dwell +upon the absolute identity shown by this phrase between the Old and the +New Testament conceptions; but I should like to make a remark, which I +dare say I have often made before--it cannot be made too often--that, +whatever be the differences between the Old and the New, this is not the +difference, that they present two different ways of approaching God. +There are a great many differences; the conception of the divine nature +is no doubt infinitely deepened, made more tender and more lofty, by the +thought of the Fatherhood of God. The contents of the revelation which +our faith is to grasp are brought out far more definitely and +articulately and fully in the New Testament. But in the Old, the road to +God was the same as it is to-day; and from the beginning there has only +been, and through all Eternity there will only be, one path by which men +can have access to the Father, and that is by faith. 'Trust' is the Old +Testament word, 'faith' is the New. They are absolutely identical, and +there would have been a flood of light--sorely needed by a great many +good people--cast upon the relations between those two complementary and +harmonious halves of a consistent whole, if our translators had not been +influenced by their unfortunate love for varying translations of the +same word, but had contented themselves with choosing one of these two +words 'trust' or 'faith,' and had used that one consistently and +uniformly throughout the Old and New books. Then we should have +understood, what anybody who will open his eyes can see now, that what +the New Testament magnifies as 'faith' is identical with what the Old +Testament sets forth as 'trust.' 'None of them that trust in Him shall +be condemned.' + +But there is one more remark to make on this matter, and that is that a +great flood of light, and of more than light, of encouragement and of +stimulus, is cast upon that saving exercise of trust by noticing the +literal meaning of the word that is rightly so rendered here. All those +words, especially in the Old Testament, that express emotions or acts of +the mind, originally applied to corporeal acts or material things. I +suppose that is so in all language. It is very conspicuously so in the +Hebrew. And the word that is here translated, rightly, 'trust,' means +literally to fly to a refuge, or to betake oneself to some defence in +order to get shelter there. + +There is a trace of both meanings, the literal and the metaphorical, in +another psalm, where we read, amidst the Psalmist's rapturous heaping +together of great names for God: 'My Rock, in whom I will trust.' Now +keep to the literal meaning there, and you see how it flashes up the +whole into beauty: 'My Rock, to whom I will flee for refuge,' and put my +back against it, and stand as impregnable as it; or get myself well into +the clefts of it, and then nothing can touch me. + + 'Rock of Ages! cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee.' + +Then we find the same words, with the picture of flight and the reality +of faith, used with another set of associations in another psalm, which +says: 'He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt +thou trust.' That grates, one gets away from the metaphor too quickly; +but if we preserve the literal meaning, and read, 'under His wings shalt +thou flee for refuge,' we have the picture of the chicken flying to the +mother-bird when kites are in the sky, and huddling close to the warm +breast and the soft downy feathers, and so with the spread of the great +wing being sheltered from all possibility of harm. This psalm is +ascribed to David when he was in hiding. The superscription says that it +is 'a psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; +who drove him away, and he departed.' And where did he go? To the cave +in the rock. And as he sat in the mouth of it, with the rude arch +stretching above him, like the wings of some great bird, feeling himself +absolutely safe, he said, 'None of them that take refuge in Thee shall +be condemned.' + +Does not that metaphor teach us a great deal more of what faith is, and +encourage us far more to exercise it, than much theological +hair-splitting? What lies in the metaphor? Two things, the earnest +eagerness of the act of flight, and the absolute security which comes +when we have reached the shadow of the great Rock in a weary land. + +But there is one thing more that I would notice, and that is that this +designation of the persons as 'them that trust in Him' follows last of +all in a somewhat lengthened series of designations for good people. +They are these: 'the righteous'--'them that are of a broken +heart'--'such as be of a contrite spirit'--'His servants,' and then, +lastly, comes, as basis of all, as, so to speak, the keynote of all, +'none of them that _trust_ in Him.' That is to say--righteousness, true +and blessed pulverising of the obstinate insensibility of self alienated +from God, true and blessed consciousness of sin, joyful surrender of +self to loving and grateful submission to God's will, are all connected +with or flow from that act of trust in Him. And if you are trusting in +Him, in anything more than the mere formal, dead way in which multitudes +of nominal Christians in all our congregations are doing so, your trust +will produce all these various fruits of righteousness, and lowliness, +and joyful service. 'Faith' or 'trust' is the mother of all graces and +virtues, and it produces them all because it directly kindles the +creative flame of an answering love to Him in whom we trust. So much, +then, for the first part of my remarks. Consider, next-- + +II. The blessing here promised. + +'None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned.' The word which is +inadequately rendered 'desolate,' and more accurately 'condemned,' +includes the following varying shades of meaning, which, although they +are various, are all closely connected, as you will see--to incur guilt, +to feel guilty, to be condemned, to be punished. All these four are +inextricably blended together. And the fact that the one word in the Old +Testament covers all that ground suggests some very solemn thoughts. + +First of all, it suggests this, that guilt, or sin, and condemnation and +punishment, are, if not absolutely identical, inseparable. To be guilty +is to be condemned. That is to say, since we live, as we do, under the +continual grip of an infinitely wise and all-knowing law, and in the +presence of a Judge who not only sees us as we are, but treats us as He +sees us--sin and guilt go together, as every man knows that has a +conscience. And sin and guilt and condemnation and punishment go +together, as every man may see in the world, and experience in himself. +To be separated from God, which is the immediate effect of sin, is to +pass into hell here. 'Every transgression and disobedience,' not only +'shall receive its just recompense,' away out yonder, in some misty, +far-off, hypothetical future, but down here to-day. All sin works +automatically, and to do wrong is to be punished for doing it. + +Then my text suggests another solemn thought, and that is that this +judgment, this condemnation, is not only present, according to our +Lord's own great words, which perhaps are an allusion to these: 'He that +believeth not is condemned already'; but it also suggests the +universality of that condemnation. Our Psalmist says that only through +trusting Him can a man be taken and lifted away, as it were, from the +descent of the thundercloud, and its bolt that lies above his head. +'They that trust Him are not condemned,' every one else is; not 'shall +be,' but is, to-day, here and now. If there is a man or woman in my +audience now who is not exercising trust in God through Jesus Christ, on +that man or woman, young or old, cultivated or uncultivated, professing +Christian or not, there is bound the burden of their sin, which is the +crushing weight of their condemnation. + +So my text suggests, that the sole deliverance from this universal +pressure of the condemnatory influence of universal sin lies in that +fleeing for refuge to God. And then comes in the Christian addition, 'to +God, as manifested in Jesus Christ.' The Psalmist did not know that. All +the more wonderful is it that without the knowledge he should have risen +to the great thought of our text--all the more inexplicable unless you +believe that 'holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy +Ghost.' + +Wonderful it is still, but not unintelligible, if you believe that. But +you and I know more than this singer did; for we can listen to the +Master, who says, 'He that believeth on Him is not condemned'; and to +the servant who echoes--and perhaps both of them are alluding to our +psalm--'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in +Christ Jesus.' My faith, if it knits me to Jesus Christ, unties the +bonds by which my sin is bound upon me, for it makes me to share in His +Spirit, in His righteousness, in His glory. + +And so, dear brethren! the Psalmist, though he did not know it, may +point us away to the truth hidden from him, but sunlight clear for us, +that by simple trust we may receive the Saviour through whom all our +condemnation will pass away, and may be found in Him having the +'righteousness which is of God by faith.' + +'Not condemned'--Is that all? Are the blessings of the Gospel all to be +reduced to this mere negative expression? Certainly not. The Psalmist +could have said a great deal more, and in the previous context he does +say a great deal more. But to that restrained and moderate statement of +the case, which is far less than the facts of the case, 'he that +trusteth is not condemned,' let us add Paul's expansion, 'whom He called +them He also justified, and whom He justified them He also glorified.' + + + + +SKY, EARTH, AND SEA: A PARABLE OF GOD + + + 'Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth + unto the clouds. 6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; + Thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, Thou preservest man and + beast. 7. How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the + children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.' + --PSALM xxxvi. 5-7. + +This wonderful description of the manifold brightness of the divine +nature is introduced in this psalm with singular abruptness. It is set +side by side with a vivid picture of an evildoer, a man who mutters in +his own heart his godlessness, and with obstinate determination plans +and plots in forgetfulness of God. Without a word to break the violence +of the transition, side by side with that picture, the Psalmist sets +before us these thoughts of the character of God. He seems to feel that +that character was the only relief in the contemplation of the miserable +sights of which the earth is only too full. We should go mad when we +think of man's wickedness unless we could look up and see, with one +quick turn of the eye, the heaven opened and the throned Love that sits +up there gazing on all the chaos, and working to soothe sorrow, and to +purify evil. + +Perhaps there is another reason for this dramatic and striking swiftness +of contrast between the godless man and the revealed God. The true test +of a life is its power to bear the light of God being suddenly let in +upon it. How would yours look, my friend! if all at once a window in +heaven was opened, and God glared in upon you? Set your lives side by +side with Him. They always are side by side with Him whether you know it +or not; but you had better bring your 'deeds to the light that they may +be made manifest' now, than to have to do it as suddenly, and a great +deal more sorrowfully, when you are dragged out of the shows and +illusions of time, and He meets you on the threshold of another world. +Would a beam of light from God, coming in upon your life, be like a +light falling upon a gang of conspirators, that would make them huddle +all their implements under their cloaks, and scuttle out of the way as +fast as possible? Or would it be like a gleam of sunshine upon the +flowers, opening out their petals and wooing from them fragrance? Which? + +But I turn from such considerations as these to the more immediate +subject of my contemplations in this discourse. I have ventured to take +so great words for my text, though each clause would be more than enough +for many a sermon, because my aim now is a very modest one. I desire +simply to give, in the briefest way, the connection and mutual relation +of these wonderful words; not to attempt any adequate treatment of the +great thoughts which they contain, but only to set forth the meaning and +interdependence of these manifold names for the beams of the divine +light, which are presented here. The chief part of our text sets before +us God in the variety and boundlessness of His loving nature, and the +close of it shows us man sheltering beneath God's wings. These are the +two main themes for our present consideration. + +I. We have, first, God in the boundlessness of His loving nature. + +The one pure light of the divine nature is broken up, in the prism of +the psalm, into various rays, which theologians call, in their hard, +abstract way, divine attributes. These are 'mercy, faithfulness, +righteousness.' Then we have two sets of divine acts--'judgments,' and +the 'preservation' of man and beast; and finally we have again +'lovingkindness,' as our version has unfortunately been misled, by its +love for varying its translation, to render the same word which begins +the series and is there called 'mercy.' + +Now that 'mercy' or 'lovingkindness' of which my text thus speaks, is +very nearly equivalent to the New Testament 'love'; or, perhaps, still +more nearly equivalent to the New Testament 'grace.' Both the one and +the other mean substantially this--active love communicating itself to +creatures that are inferior and that might have expected something else +to befall them. Mercy is a modification of love, inasmuch as it is love +to an inferior. The hand is laid gently upon the man, because if it were +laid with all its weight it would crush him. It is the stooping goodness +of a king to a beggar. And mercy is likewise love in its exercise to +persons that might expect something else, being guilty. As a general +coming to a body of mutineers with pardon and favour upon his lips, +instead of with condemnation and death; so God comes to us forgiving and +blessing. All His goodness is forbearance, and His love is mercy, +because of the weakness, the lowliness, and the ill desert of us on whom +the love falls. + +Now notice that this same 'quality of mercy' stands here at the +beginning and at the end. All the attributes of the divine nature, all +the operations of the divine hand lie within the circle of His +mercy--like diamonds set in a golden ring. Mercy, or love flowing out in +blessings to inferior and guilty creatures, is the root and ground of +all God's character; it is the foundation and impulse of all His acts. +Modern science reduces all modes of physical energy to one, for which it +has no name but--energy. We are taught by God's own revelation of +Himself--and most especially by His final and perfect revelation of +Himself in Jesus Christ--to trace all forms of divine energy back to one +which David calls 'mercy,' which John calls 'love.' + +It is last as well as first, the final upshot of all revelation. The +last voice that speaks from Scripture has for its special message 'God +is Love.' The last voice that sounds from the completed history of the +world will have the same message, and the ultimate word of all +revelation, the end of the whole of the majestic unfolding of God's +purposes will be the proclamation to the four corners of the universe, +as from the trump of the Archangel, of the name of God as Love. The +northern and the southern poles of the great sphere are one and the +same, a straight axle through the very heart of it, from which the +bounding lines swell out to the equator, and towards which they converge +again on the opposite side of the world. So mercy is the strong +axletree, the northern pole and the southern, on which the whole world +of the divine perfections revolves and moves. The first and last, the +Alpha and Omega of God, beginning and crowning and summing up all His +being and His work, is His mercy, His lovingkindness. + +But next to mercy comes faithfulness. 'Thy faithfulness reacheth unto +the clouds.' God's faithfulness is in its narrowest sense His adherence +to His promises. It implies, in that sense, a verbal revelation, and +definite words from Him pledging Him to a certain line of action. 'He +hath said, and shall He not do it?' 'He will not alter the thing that is +gone out of His lips.' It is only a God who has actually spoken to men +who can be a 'faithful God.' He will not palter with a double sense, +'keeping His word of promise to the ear, and breaking it to the hope.' + +But not only His articulate promises, but also His own past actions, +bind Him. He is always true to these; and not only continues to do as He +has done, but discharges every obligation which His past imposes on Him. +The ostrich was said to leave its eggs to be hatched in the sand. Men +bring men into positions of dependence, and then lightly shake +responsibility from careless shoulders. But God accepts the cares laid +upon Him by His own acts, and discharges them to the last jot. He is a +'faithful Creator.' Creation brings obligations with it; obligations for +the creature; obligations for the Creator. If God makes a being, God is +bound to take care of the being that He has made. If He makes a being in +a given fashion, He is bound to provide for the necessities that He has +created. According to the old proverb, if He makes mouths it is His +business to feed them. And He recognises the obligation. His past binds +Him to certain conduct in His future. We can lay hold on the former +manifestation, and we can plead it with Him. 'Thou hast been, and +therefore Thou must be.' 'Thou hast taught me to trust in Thee; +vindicate and warrant my trust by Thy unchangeableness.' So His word, +His acts, and His own nature, bind God to bless and help. His +faithfulness is the expression of His unchangeableness. 'Because He +could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself.' + +Take, then, these two thoughts of God's lovingkindness and of God's +faithfulness and weave them together, and see what a strong cord they +are to which a man may cling, and in all His weakness be sure that it +will never give nor break. Mercy might be transient and arbitrary, but +when you braid in 'faithfulness' along with it, it becomes fixed as the +pillars of heaven, and immutable as the throne of God. Only when we are +sure of God's faithfulness can we lift up thankful voices to Him, +'because His mercy endureth for ever.' A despotic monarch may be all +full of tenderness at this moment, and all full of wrath and sternness +the next. He may have a whim of favour to-day, and a whim of severity +to-morrow, and no man can say, 'What doest thou?' But God is not a +despot. He has, so to speak, 'decreed a constitution.' He has limited +Himself. He has marked out His path across the great wide region of +possibilities of the divine action; He has buoyed out His channel on +that ocean, and declared to us His purposes. So we can reckon on God, as +astronomers can foretell the motions of the stars. We can plead His +faithfulness along with His love, and feel that the one makes sure that +the other shall be from everlasting to everlasting. + +The next beam of the divine brightness is righteousness. 'Thy +righteousness is like the great mountains.' Righteousness is not to be +taken here in its narrow sense of stern retribution which gives to the +evildoer the punishment that he deserves. There is no thought here, +whatever there may be in other places in Scripture, of any opposition +between mercy and righteousness, but the notion of righteousness here is +a broader and greater one. It is just this, to put it into other words, +that God has a law for His being to which He conforms; and that +whatsoever things are fair and lovely, and good, and pure down here, +those things are fair, and lovely, and good, and pure up there; that He +is the Archetype of all excellence, the Ideal of all moral completeness: +that we can know enough of Him to be sure of this that what we call +right He loves, and what we call right He practises. + +Brethren! unless we have that for the very foundation of our thoughts of +God, we have no foundation to rest on. Unless we feel and know that 'the +Judge of all the earth doeth right,' and is right, and law and +righteousness have their home and seat in His bosom, and are the +expression of His inmost being, then I know not where our confidence can +be built. Unless 'Thy righteousness, like the great mountains,' +surrounds and guards the low plain of our lives, they will lie open to +all foes. + +Then, next, we pass from the divine character to the divine acts. Mercy, +faithfulness, and righteousness all converge and flow into the great +river of the divine 'judgments.' + +By judgments are not meant merely the acts of God's punitive +righteousness, the retributions that destroy evildoers, but all God's +decisions and acts in regard to man. Or, to put it into other and +briefer words, God's judgments are the whole of the 'ways,' the methods +of the divine government. So Paul, alluding to this very passage when he +says 'How unsearchable are Thy judgments!' adds, as a parallel clause, +meaning the same thing, 'and Thy ways past finding out.' That includes +all which men call, in a narrower sense, judgments, but it includes, +too, all acts of kindness and loving gifts. God's judgments are the +expressions of His thoughts, and these thoughts are thoughts of good and +not of evil. + +But notice, in the next place, the boundlessness of all these +characteristics of the divine nature. + +'Thy mercy is in the heavens,' towering up above the stars, and dwelling +there, like some divine ether filling all space. The heavens are the +home of light, the source of every blessing, arching over every head, +rimming every horizon, holding all the stars, opening into abysses as we +gaze, with us by night and by day, undimmed by the mist and smoke of +earth, unchanged by the lapse of centuries; ever seen, never reached, +bending over us always, always far above us. So the mercy of God towers +above us, and stoops down towards us, rims us all about and arches over +us all, sheds down its dewy benedictions by night and by day; is filled +with a million stars and light-points of duty and of splendour; is near +us ever to bless and succour and help, and holds us all in its blue +round. + +'Thy faithfulness reacheth to the clouds.' Strange that God's fixed +faithfulness should be compared to the very emblems of mutation. The +clouds are unstable, they whirl and melt and change. Strange to think of +the unalterable faithfulness as reaching to them! May it not be that the +very mutability of the mutable may be the means of manifesting the +unalterable sameness of God's faithful purpose, of His unchangeable +love, and of His ever consistent dealings? May not the apparent +incongruity be a part of the felicity of the bold words? Is it not true +that earthly things, as they change their forms and melt away, leaving +no track behind, phantomlike as they are, do still obey the behests of +that divine faithfulness, and gather and dissolve and break in brief +showers of blessing, or short, sharp crashes of storm, at the bidding of +that steadfast purpose which works out one unalterable design by a +thousand instruments, and changeth all things, being in itself +unchanged? The thing that is eternal, even the faithfulness of God, +dwells amid, and shows itself through, the things that are temporal, the +flying clouds of change. + +Again, 'Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.' Like these, its +roots are fast and stable; like these, it stands firm for ever; like +these, its summits touch the fleeting clouds of human circumstance; like +these, it is a shelter and a refuge, inaccessible in its steepest peaks, +but affording many a cleft in its rocks, where a man may hide and be +safe. But, unlike these, it knew no beginning, and shall know no end. +Emblems of permanence as they are, though Olivet looks down on Jerusalem +as it did when Melchizedek was its king, and Tabor and Hermon stand as +they did before human lips had named them, they are wearing away by +winter storms and summer heats. But, as Isaiah has taught us, when the +earth is old, God's might and mercy are young; for 'the mountains shall +depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from +thee.' 'The earth shall wax old like a garment, but My righteousness +shall not be abolished.' It is more stable than the mountains, and +firmer than the firmest things upon earth. + +Then, with wonderful poetical beauty and vividness of contrast, there +follows upon the emblem of the great mountains of God's righteousness +the emblem of the 'mighty deep' of His judgments. Here towers Vesuvius; +there at its feet lie the waters of the bay. So the righteousness +springs up like some great cliff, rising sheer from the water's edge, +while its feet are laved by the sea of the divine judgments, +unfathomable and shoreless. The mountains and the sea are the two +grandest things in nature, and in their combination sublime; the one the +home of calm and silence, the other in perpetual motion. But the +mountain's roots are deeper than the depths of the sea, and though the +judgments are a mighty deep, the righteousness is deeper, and is the bed +of the ocean. + +The metaphor, of course, implies obscurity, but what sort of obscurity? +The obscurity of the sea. And what sort of obscurity is that? Not that +which comes from mud, or anything added, but that which comes from +depth. As far as a man can see down into its blue-green depths they are +clear and translucent; but where the light fails and the eye fails, +there comes what we call obscurity. The sea is clear, but our sight is +limited. + +And so there is no arbitrary obscurity in God's dealings, and we know as +much about them as it is possible for us to know; but we cannot see to +the bottom. A man on the cliff can look much deeper into the ocean than +a man on the level beach. The higher you climb the further you will see +down into the 'sea of glass mingled with fire' that lies placid before +God's throne. Let us remember that it is a hazardous thing to judge of a +picture before it is finished; of a building before the scaffolding is +pulled down, and it is as hazardous for us to say about any deed or any +revealed truth that it is inconsistent with the divine character. Wait a +bit; wait a bit! 'Thy judgments are a great deep.' The deep will be +drained off one day, and you will see the bottom of it. 'Judge nothing +before the time.' + +But as an aid to patience and faith hearken how the Psalmist finishes up +his contemplations: 'O Lord! Thou preservest man and beast.' Very well +then, all this mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, judgment, high as the +heavens, deep as the ocean, firm as the hills, it is all working for +this--to keep the millions of living creatures round about us, and +ourselves, in life and well-being. The mountain is high, the deep is +profound. Between the mountain and the sea there is a strip of level +land. God's righteousness towers above us; God's judgments go down +beneath us; we can scarcely measure adequately the one or the other. But +upon the level where we live there are the green fields where the cattle +browse, and the birds sing, and men live and till and reap and are fed. +That is to say, we all have enough in the plain, patent facts of +creation and preservation of man and animal life in this world to make +us quite sure of what is the principle that prevails up to the very top +of the inaccessible mountains, and down to the very bottom of the +unfathomable deep. What we know of Him, in the blessings of His love and +providence, ought to interpret for us all that is perplexing. What we +understand is good and loving. Let us be sure that what we do not yet +understand is good and loving too. The web is of one texture throughout. +The least educated ear can catch the music of the simpler melodies which +run through the Great Composer's work. We shall one day be able to +appreciate the yet fuller music of the more recondite parts, which to us +at present seem only jangling and discord. It is not His melody but our +ears that are at fault. But we may well accept the obscurity of the +mighty deep of God's judgment, when we can see plainly that, after all, +the earth is full of His mercy, and that 'the eyes of all things wait on +God, and He giveth them their meat in due season.' + +II. So much, then, for the great picture here of these boundless +characteristics of the divine nature. Now let us look for a moment at +the picture of man sheltering beneath God's wings. + +'How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of +men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.' God's +lovingkindness, or mercy, as I explained the word might be rendered, is +_precious_, for that is the true meaning of the word translated +'excellent.' We are rich when we have that for ours; we are poor without +it. Our true wealth is to possess God's love, and to know in thought and +realise in feeling and reciprocate in affection His grace and goodness, +the beauty and perfectness of His wondrous character. That man is +wealthy who has God on his side; that man is a pauper who has not God +for his. + +'How precious is Thy lovingkindness, _therefore_ the children of men put +their trust.' There is only one thing that will ever win a man's heart +to love God, and that is that God should love him first, and let him see +it. 'We love Him because He first loved us,' is the New Testament +teaching. Is it not all adumbrated and foretold in these words: 'How +precious is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men +put their trust'? + +We may be driven to worship after a sort by power; we may be smitten +into some cold admiration, into some kind of reluctant subjection and +trembling reverence, by the manifestation of divine perfections. But +there is only one thing that wins a man's heart, and that is the sight +of God's heart; and it is only when we know how precious His +lovingkindness is that we shall be drawn towards Him. + +And then this last verse tells us how we can make God our own: 'They put +their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.' The word here rendered, and +accurately rendered, 'put their trust,' has a very beautiful literal +meaning. It means to flee for refuge, as the manslayer might flee into +the strong city, or as Lot did out of Sodom to the little city on the +hill, or as David did into the cave from his enemies. So, with such +haste, with such intensity, staying for nothing, and with the effort of +your whole will and nature, flee to God. That is trust. Go to Him for +refuge from all evil, from all harm, from your own souls, from all sin, +from hell, and death, and the devil. + +Put your trust under 'the shadow of His wings.' That is a beautiful +image, drawn, probably, from the grand words of Deuteronomy, where God +is likened to the 'eagle stirring up her nest, fluttering over her +young,' with tenderness in her fierce eye, and protecting strength in +the sweep of her mighty pinion. So God spreads the covert of His wing, +strong and tender, beneath which we may all gather ourselves and nestle. + +And how can we do that? By the simple process of fleeing unto Him, as +made known to us in Christ our Saviour; to hide ourselves there. For let +us not forget how even the tenderness of this metaphor was increased by +its shape on the tender lips of the Lord: 'How often would I have +gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under +her wings!' The Old Testament took the emblem of the eagle, sovereign, +and strong, and fierce; the New Testament took the emblem of the +domestic fowl, peaceable, and gentle, and affectionate. Let us flee to +that Christ, by humble faith with the plea on our lips-- + + 'Cover my defenceless head + With the shadow of Thy wing'; + +and then all the Godhead in its mercy, its faithfulness, its +righteousness, and its judgments will be on our side; and we shall know +how precious is the lovingkindness of the Lord, and find in Him the home +and hiding-place of our hearts for ever. + + + + +WHAT MEN FIND BENEATH THE WINGS OF GOD + + + 'They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; + and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. 9. For + with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light.' + --PSALM xxxvi. 8, 9. + +In the preceding verses we saw a wonderful picture of the boundless +perfections of God; His lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, and +of His twofold act, the depths of His judgments and the plainness of His +merciful preservation of man and beast. In these verses we have an +equally wonderful picture of the blessedness of the godly, the elements +of which consist in four things: satisfaction, represented under the +emblem of a feast; joy, represented under the imagery of full draughts +from a flowing river of delight; life, pouring from God as a fountain; +light, streaming from Him as source. + +And this picture is connected with the previous one by a very simple +link. Who are they who 'shall be abundantly satisfied'? The men 'who put +their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.' That is to say, the simple +exercise of confidence in God is the channel through which all the +fulness of divinity passes into and fills our emptiness. + +Observe, too, that the whole of the blessings here promised are to be +regarded as present and not future. 'They shall be abundantly satisfied' +would be far more truly rendered in consonance with the Hebrew: 'They +_are_ satisfied'; and so also we should read 'Thou _dost_ make them +drink of the river of Thy pleasures; in Thy light _do_ we see light.' +The Psalmist is not speaking of any future blessedness, to be realised +in some far-off, indefinite day to come, but of what is possible even in +this cloudy and sorrowful life. My text was true on the hills of +Palestine, on the day when it was spoken; it may be true amongst the +alleys of Manchester to-day. My purpose at this time is simply to deal +with the four elements in which this blessedness consists--satisfaction, +joy, life, light. + +I. Satisfaction: 'They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of +Thy house.' + +Now, I suppose, there is a double metaphor in that. There is an +allusion, no doubt, to the festal meal of priests and worshippers in the +Temple, on occasion of the peace-offering, and there is also the simpler +metaphor of God as the Host at His table, at which we are guests. 'Thy +house' may either be, in the narrower sense, the Temple; and then all +life is represented as being a glad sacrificial meal in His presence, of +which 'the meek shall eat and be satisfied,' or Thy 'house' may be taken +in a more general sense; and then all life is represented as the +gathering of children round the abundant board which their Father's +providence spreads for them, and as glad feasting in the 'mansions' of +the Father's house. + +In either case the plain teaching of the text is, that by the might of a +calm trust in God the whole mass of a man's desires are filled and +satisfied. What do we want to satisfy us? It is something almost awful +to think of the multiplicity, and the variety, and the imperativeness of +the raging desires which every human soul carries about within it. The +heart is like a nest of callow fledglings, every one of them a great, +wide open, gaping beak, that ever needs to have food put into it. Heart, +mind, will, appetites, tastes, inclinations, weaknesses, bodily +wants--the whole crowd of these are crying for their meat. The Book of +Proverbs says there are three things that are never satisfied: the +grave, the earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that never +says, 'It is enough.' And we may add a fourth, the human heart, +insatiable as the grave; thirsty as the sands, on which you may pour +Niagara, and it will drink it all up and be ready for more; fierce as +the fire that licks up everything within reach and still hungers. + +So, though we be poor and weak creatures, we want much to make us +restful. We want no less than that every appetite, desire, need, +inclination shall be filled to the full; that all shall be filled to the +full at once, and that by one thing; that all shall be filled to the +full at once, by one thing that shall last for ever. Else we shall be +like men whose store of provision gives out before they are half-way +across the desert. And we need that all our desires shall be filled at +once by one thing that is so much greater than ourselves that we shall +grow up towards it, and towards it, and towards it, and yet never be +able to exhaust or surpass it. + +Where are you going to get that? There is only one answer, dear +brethren! to the question, and that is--God, and God alone is the food +of the heart; God, and God alone, will satisfy your need. Let us bring +the full Christian truth to bear upon the illustration of these words. +Who was it that said, 'I am the Bread of Life. He that cometh unto Me +shall never hunger'? Christ will feed my mind with truth if I will +accept His revelation of Himself, of God, and of all things. Christ will +feed my heart with love if I will open my heart for the entrance of His +love. Christ will feed my will with blessed commands if I will submit +myself to His sweet and gentle, and yet imperative, authority. Christ +will satisfy all my longings and desires with His own great fulness. +Other food palls upon man's appetite, and we wish for change; and +physiologists tell us that a less wholesome and nutritious diet, if +varied, is better for a man's health than a more nutritious one if +uniform and monotonous. But in Christ there are all constituents that +are needed for the building up of the human spirit, and so we never +weary of Him if we only know His sweetness. After a world of hungry men +have fed upon Him, He remains inexhaustible as at the beginning; like +the bread in His own miracles, of which the pieces that were broken and +ready to be given to the eaters were more than the original stock, as it +appeared when the meal began, or like the fabled feast in the Norse +Walhalla, to which the gods sit down to-day, and to-morrow it is all +there on the board, as abundant and full as ever. So if we have Christ +to live upon, we shall know no hunger; and 'in the days of famine we +shall be satisfied.' + +O brethren! have you ever known what it is to feel that your hungry +heart is at rest? Did you ever know what it is to say, 'It is enough'? +Have you anything that satisfies your appetite and makes you blessed? +Surely, men's eager haste to get more of the world's dainties shows that +there is no satisfaction at its table. Why will you 'spend your money +for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth +not,' as Indians in famine eat clay which fills their stomachs, but +neither stays hunger, nor ministers strength? Eat and your soul shall +live. + +II. Now, turn to the next of the elements of blessedness here--Joy. +'Thou makest them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.' + +There may be a possible reference here, couched in the word 'pleasures,' +to the Garden of Eden, with the river that watered it parting into four +heads; for 'Eden' is the singular of the word which is here translated +'pleasures' or 'delight.' If we take that reference, which is very +questionable, there would be suggested the thought that amidst all the +pain and weariness of this desert life of ours, though the gates of +Paradise are shut against us, they who dwell beneath the shadow of the +divine wing really have a paradise blooming around them; and have +flowing ever by their side, with tinkling music, the paradisaical river +of delights, in which they may bathe and swim, and of which they may +drink. Certainly the joys of communion with God surpass any which +unfallen Eden could have boasted. + +But, at all events, the plain teaching of the text is that the simple +act of trusting beneath the shadow of God's wings brings to us an ever +fresh and flowing river of gladness, of which we may drink. The whole +conception of religion in the Bible is gladsome. There is no puritanical +gloom about it. True, a Christian man has sources of sadness which other +men have not. There is the consciousness of his own sin, and the contest +that he has daily to wage; and all things take a soberer colouring to +the eye that has been accustomed to look, however dimly, upon God. Many +of the sources of earthly felicity are dammed up and shut off from us if +we are living beneath the shadow of God's wings. Life will seem to be +sterner, and graver, and sadder than the lives 'that ring with idiot +laughter solely,' and have no music because they have no melancholy in +them. That cannot be helped. But what does it matter though two or three +surface streams, which are little better than drains for sewage, be +stopped up, if the 'pure river of the water of life' is turned into your +hearts? Surely it will be a gain if the sadness which has joy for its +very foundation is yours, instead of the laughter which is only a +mocking mask for a death's head, and of which it is true that even 'in +laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is +heaviness.' Better to be 'sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,' than to be +glad on the surface, with a perpetual sorrow and unrest gnawing at the +root of your life. + +And if it be true that the whole Biblical conception of religion is of a +glad thing, then, my brother! it is your duty, if you are a Christian +man, to be glad, whatever temptations there may be in your way to be +sorrowful. It is a hard lesson, and one which is not always insisted +upon. We hear a great deal about other Christian duties. We do not hear +so much as we ought about the Christian duty of gladness. It takes a +very robust faith to say, 'Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, +neither shall fruit be in the vine, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I +will joy in the God of my salvation,' but unless we can say it, there is +an attainment of Christian life yet unreached, to which we have to +aspire. + +But be that as it may, my point is simply this--that all real and +profound possession of, and communion with, God in Christ will make us +glad; glad with a gladness altogether unlike that of the world round +about us, far deeper, far quieter, far nobler, the sister and the ally +of all great things, of all pure life, of all generous and lofty +thought. And where is it to be found? Only in fellowship with Him. 'The +river of Thy pleasures' may mean something yet more solemn and wonderful +than pleasures of which He is the Author. It may mean pleasures _which +He shares_, the very delights of the divine nature itself. The more we +come into fellowship with Him, the more shall we share in the very joy +of God Himself. And what is His joy? He delights in mercy; He delights +in self-communication: He is the blessed, the happy God, because He is +the giving God. He delights in His love. He 'rejoices over' His penitent +child 'with singing,' + +In that blessedness we may share; or if that be too high and mystical a +thought, may we not remember who it was that said: 'These things speak I +unto you that My joy may remain in you'; and who it is that will one day +say to the faithful servant: 'Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord'? +Christ makes us drink of the river of His pleasures. The Shepherd and +the sheep drink from the same stream, and the gladness which filled the +heart of the Man of Sorrows, and lay deeper than all His sorrows, He +imparts to all them that put their trust in Him. + +So, dear brethren! what a blessing it is for us to have, as we may have, +a source of joy, frozen by no winter, dried up by no summer, muddied and +corrupted by no iridescent scum of putrefaction which ever mantles over +the stagnant ponds of earthly joys! Like some citadel that has an +unfailing well in its courtyard, we may have a fountain of gladness +within ourselves which nothing that touches the outside can cut off. We +have but to lap a hasty mouthful of earthly joys as we run, but we +cannot drink too full draughts of this pure river of water which makes +glad the city of God. + +III. We have the third element of the blessedness of the godly +represented under the metaphor of Life, pouring from the fountain, which +is God. 'With Thee is the fountain of life.' + +The words are true in regard to the lowest meaning of 'life'--physical +existence--and they give a wonderful idea of the connection between God +and all living creatures. The fountain rises, the spray on the summit +catches the sunlight for a moment, and then falls into the basin, jet +after jet springing up into the light, and in its turn recoiling into +the darkness. The water in the fountain, the water in the spray, the +water in the basin, are all one. Wherever there is life there is God. +The creature is bound to the Creator by a mystic bond and tie of +kinship, by the fact of life. The mystery of life knits all living +things with God. It is a spark, wherever it burns, from the central +flame. It is a drop, wherever it is found, from the great fountain. It +is in man the breath of God's nostrils. It is not a gift given by a +Creator who dwells apart, having made living things, as a watchmaker +might a watch, and then 'seeing them go.' But there is a deep mystic +union between the God who has life in Himself and all the living +creatures who draw their life from Him, which we cannot express better +than by that image of our text, 'With Thee is the fountain of life.' + +But my text speaks about a blessing belonging to the men who put their +trust under the shadow of God's wing, and therefore it does not refer +merely to physical existence, but to something higher than that, namely, +to that life of the spirit in communion with God, which is the true and +the proper sense of 'life'; the one, namely, in which the word is almost +always used in the Bible. + +There is such a thing as death in life; living men may be 'dead in +trespasses and sins,' 'dead in pleasure,' dead in selfishness. The awful +vision of Coleridge in the _Ancient Mariner_, of dead men standing up +and pulling at the ropes, is only a picture of the realities of life; +where, as on some Witches' Sabbath, corpses move about and take part in +the activities of this dead world. There are people full of energy in +regard of worldly things, who yet are all dead to that higher region, +the realities of which they have never seen, the actions of which they +have never done, the emotions of which they have never felt. Am I +speaking to such living corpses now? There are some of my audience alive +to the world, alive to animalism, alive to lust, alive to passion, alive +to earth, alive perhaps to thought, alive to duty, alive to conduct of a +high and noble kind, but yet dead to God, and, therefore, dead to the +highest and noblest of all realities. Answer for yourselves the +question--do you belong to this class? + +There is life for you in Jesus Christ, who '_is_ the Life.' Like the +great aqueducts that stretch from the hills across the Roman Campagna, +His Incarnation brings the waters of the fountain from the mountains of +God into the lower levels of our nature, and the fetid alleys of our +sins. The cool, sparkling treasure is carried near to every lip. If we +drink, we live. If we will not, we die in our sins, and are dead whilst +we live. Stop the fountain, and what becomes of the stream? It fades +there between its banks, and is no more. You cannot even live the animal +life except that life were joined to Him. If it could be broken away +from God it would disappear as the clouds melt in the sky, and there +would be nobody, and you would be nowhere. You cannot break yourself +away from God _physically_ so completely as to annihilate yourself. You +can do so _spiritually_, and some of you do it, and the consequence is +that you are dead, _dead_, DEAD! You can be made 'alive from the dead,' +if you will lay hold on Jesus Christ, and get His life-giving Spirit +into your hearts. + +IV. Light. 'In Thy light shall we see light.' + +God is 'the Father of lights.' The sun and all the stars are only lights +kindled by Him. It is the very crown of revelation that 'God is light, +and in Him is no darkness at all.' Light seems to the unscientific eye, +which knows nothing about undulations of a luminiferous ether, to be the +least material of material things. All joyous things come with it. It +brings warmth and fruit, fulness and life. Purity, and gladness, and +knowledge have been symbolised by it in all tongues. The Scripture uses +light, and the sun, which is its source, as an emblem for God in His +holiness, and blessedness, and omniscience. This great word here seems +to point chiefly to light as knowledge. + +This saying is true, as the former clause was, in relation to all the +light which men have. 'The inspiration of the Almighty giveth him +understanding.' The faculties by which men know, and all the exercise of +those faculties, are His gift. It is in the measure in which God's light +comes to the eye that the eye beholds. 'Light' may mean not only the +faculty, but the medium of vision. It is in the measure in which God's +light comes, and because His light comes, that all light of reason in +human nature sees the truth which is its light. God is the Author of all +true thoughts in all mankind. The spirit of man is a candle kindled by +the Lord. + +But as I said about life, so I say about light. The material or +intellectual aspects of the word are not the main ones here. The +reference is to the spiritual gift which belongs to the men 'who put +their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.' In communion with Him who +is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of +glories, realities, and brightnesses. Where other eyes see only +darkness, we behold 'the King in His beauty, and the land that is very +far off.' Where other men see only cloudland and mists, our vision will +pierce into the unseen, and there behold 'the things which are,' the +only real things, of which all that the eye of sense sees are only the +fleeting shadows, seen as in a dream, while these are the true, and the +sight of them is sight indeed. They who see by the light of God, and see +light therein, have a vision which is more than imagination, more than +opinion, more than belief. It is certitude. Communication with God does +not bring with it superior intellectual perspicuity, but it does bring a +perception of spiritual realities and relations, which, in respect of +clearness and certainty, may be called sight. Many of us walk in +darkness, who, if we were but in communion with God, would see the lone +hillside blazing with chariots and horses of fire. Many of us grope in +perplexity, who, if we were but hiding under the shadow of God's wings, +would see the truth and walk at liberty in the light, which is knowledge +and purity and joy. + +In communication with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. It +is wonderful how, when a man lives near God, he gets to know what he +ought to do. That great Light, which is Christ, is like the star that +hung over the Magi, blazing in the heavens, and yet stooping to the +lowly task of guiding three wayfaring men along a muddy road upon earth. +So the highest Light of God comes down to be 'a lantern for our paths +and a light for our feet.' + +And in the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of +darkness and of sorrow. 'To the upright there ariseth light in the +darkness'; and the darkest hours of earthly fortune will be like a +Greenland summer night, when the sun scarcely dips below the horizon, +and even when it is absent, all the heaven is aglow with a calm +twilight. + +All these great blessings belong to-day to those who take refuge under +the shadow of His wings. But blessed as the present experience is, we +have to look for the perfecting of it when we pass from the forecourt to +the inner sanctuary, and in that higher house sit with Christ at His +table and feast at 'the marriage supper of the Lamb.' Here we drink from +the river, but there we shall be carried up to the source. The life of +God in the soul is here often feeble in its flow, 'a fountain sealed' +and all but shut up in our hearts, but there it will pour through all +our being, a fountain springing up into everlasting life. The darkness +is scattered even here by beams of the true light, but here we are only +in the morning twilight, and many clouds still fill the sky, and many a +deep gorge lies in sunless shadow, but there the light shall be a broad +universal blaze, and there shall be 'nothing hid from the heat thereof.' + +Now, dear brethren! the sum of the whole matter is, that all this +fourfold blessing of satisfaction, joy, life, light, is given to you, if +you will take Christ. He will feed you with the bread of God; He will +give you His own joy to drink; He will be in you the life of your lives, +and 'the master-light of all your seeing.' And if you will not have Him, +you will starve, and your lips will be cracked with thirst; and you will +live a life which is death, and you will sink at last into outer +darkness. + +Is that the fate which you are going to choose? Choose Christ, and He +will give you satisfaction, and joy, and life, and light. + + + + +THE SECRET OF TRANQUILLITY + + + 'Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the + desires of thine heart 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord.... 7. Rest + in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.'--PSALM xxxvii. 4, 5, 7. + +'I have been young, and now am old,' says the writer of this psalm. Its +whole tone speaks the ripened wisdom and autumnal calm of age. The dim +eyes have seen and survived so much, that it seems scarcely worth while +to be agitated by what ceases so soon. He has known so many bad men +blasted in all their leafy verdure, and so many languishing good men +revived, that-- + + 'Old experience doth attain + To something of prophetic strain'; + +and is sure that 'to trust in the Lord and do good' ever brings peace +and happiness. Life with its changes has not soured but quieted him. It +does not seem to him an endless maze, nor has he learned to despise it. +He has learned to see God in it all, and that has cleared its confusion, +as the movements of the planets, irregular and apparently opposite, when +viewed from the earth, are turned into an ordered whole, when the sun is +taken for the centre. What a contrast between the bitter cynicism put +into the lips of the son, and the calm cheerful godliness taught, +according to our psalm, by the father! To Solomon, old age is +represented as bringing the melancholy creed, 'All is vanity'; David +believes, 'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the +desires of thine heart.' Which style of old age is the nobler? what kind +of life will lead to each? + +These clauses, which I have ventured to isolate from their context, +contain the elements which secure peace even in storms and troubles. I +think that, if we consider them carefully, we shall see that there is a +well-marked progress in them. They do not cover the same ground by any +means; but each of the later flows from the former. Nobody can 'commit +his way unto the Lord' who has not begun by 'delighting in the Lord'; +and nobody can 'rest in the Lord' who has not 'committed his way to the +Lord.' These three precepts, then, the condensed result of the old man's +lifelong experience, open up for our consideration the secret of +tranquillity. Let us think of them in order. + +I. Here is the secret of tranquillity in freedom from eager, earthly +desires--'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the +desires of thine heart.' + +The great reason why life is troubled and restless lies not without, but +within. It is not our changing circumstances, but our unregulated +desires, that rob us of peace. We are feverish, not because of the +external temperature, but because of the state of our own blood. The +very emotion of desire disturbs us; wishes make us unquiet; and when a +whole heart, full of varying, sometimes contradictory longings, is +boiling within a man, how can he but tremble and quiver? One desire +unfulfilled is enough to banish tranquillity; but how can it survive a +dozen dragging different ways? A deep lesson lies in that word +_distraction_, which has come to be so closely attached to _desires_; +the lesson that all eager longing tears the heart asunder. Unbridled and +varying wishes, then, are the worst enemies of our repose. + +And, still further, they destroy tranquillity by putting us at the mercy +of externals. Whatsoever we make necessary for our contentment, we make +lord of our happiness. By our eager desires we give perishable things +supreme power over us, and so intertwine our being with theirs, that the +blow which destroys them lets out our life-blood. And, therefore, we are +ever disturbed by apprehensions and shaken by fears. We tie ourselves to +these outward possessions, as Alpine travellers to their guides, and so, +when they slip on the icy slopes, their fall is our death. If we were +not eager to stand on the giddy top of fortune's rolling wheel, we +should not heed its idle whirl; but we let our foolish hearts set our +feet there, and thenceforward every lurch of the glittering instability +threatens to lame or kill us. He who desires fleeting joys is sure to be +restless always, and to be disappointed at the last. For, even at the +best, the heart which depends for peace on the continuance of things +subjected to a thousand accidents, can only know quietness by forcibly +closing its eyes against the inevitable; and, even at the best, such a +course must end on the whole in failure. Disappointment is the law for +all earthly desires; for appetite increases with indulgence, and as it +increases, satisfaction decreases. The food remains the same, but its +power to appease hunger diminishes. Possession bring indifference. The +dose that lulls into delicious dreams to-day must be doubled to-morrow, +if it is to do anything; and there is soon an end of that. Each of your +earthly joys fills but a part of your being, and all the other ravenous +longings either come shrieking at the gate of the soul's palace, like a +mob yelling for bread, or are starved into silence; but either way there +is disquiet. And then, if a man has fixed his happiness on anything +lower than the stars, less stable than the heavens, less sufficient than +God, there does come, sooner or later, a time when it passes from him, +or he from it. Do not venture the rich freightage of your happiness in +crazy vessels. If you do, be sure that, somewhere or other, before your +life is ended, the poor frail craft will strike on some black rock +rising sheer from the depths, and will grind itself to chips there. If +your life twines round any prop but God your strength, be sure that, +some time or other, the stay to which its tendrils cling will be plucked +up, and the poor vine will be lacerated, its clusters crushed, and its +sap will bleed out of it. + +If, then, our desires are, in their very exercise, a disturbance, and in +their very fruition prophesy disappointment, and if that certain +disappointment is irrevocable and crushing when it comes, what shall we +do for rest? Dear brethren! there is but one answer--'Delight thyself in +the Lord.' These eager desires, transfer to Him; on Him let the +affections fix and fasten; make Him the end of your longings, the food +of your spirits. This is the purest, highest form of religious +emotion--when we can say, 'Whom have I but Thee? possessing Thee I +desire none beside.' And this glad longing for God is the cure for all +the feverish unrest of desires unfulfilled, as well as for the ague fear +of loss and sorrow. Quietness fills the soul which delights in the Lord, +and its hunger is as blessed and as peaceful as its satisfaction. + +Think how surely rest comes with delighting in God. For that soul must +needs be calm which is freed from the distraction of various desires by +the one master-attraction. Such a soul is still as the great river above +the falls, when all the side currents and dimpling eddies and backwaters +are effaced by the attraction that draws every drop in the one +direction; or like the same stream as it nears its end, and, forgetting +how it brawled among rocks and flowers in the mountain glens, flows with +a calm and equable motion to its rest in the central sea. Let the +current of your being set towards God, then your life will be filled and +calmed by one master-passion which unites and stills the soul. + +And for another reason there will be peace: because in such a case +desire and fruition go together. 'He shall give thee the desires of +thine heart.' Only do not vulgarise that great promise by making it out +to mean that, if we will be good, He will give us the earthly blessings +which we wish. Sometimes we shall get them, and sometimes not; but our +text goes far deeper than that. God Himself is the heart's desire of +those who delight in Him; and the blessedness of longing fixed on Him is +that it ever fulfils itself. They who want God have Him. Your truest joy +is in His fellowship and His grace. If, set free from creatural +delights, our wills reach out towards God, as a plant growing in +darkness to the light--then we shall wish for nothing contrary to Him, +and the wishes which run parallel to His purposes, and embrace Himself +as their only good, cannot be vain. The sunshine flows into the opened +eye, the breath of life into the expanding lung--so surely, so +immediately the fulness of God fills the waiting, wishing soul. To +delight in God is to possess our delight. Heart! lift up thy gates: open +and raise the narrow, low portals, and the King of Glory will stoop to +enter. + +Once more: desire after God will bring peace by putting all other wishes +in their right place. The counsel in our text does not enjoin the +extinction, but the subordination, of other needs and appetites--'Seek +ye _first_ the kingdom of God.' Let that be the dominant desire which +controls and underlies all the rest. Seek for God in everything, and for +everything in God. Only thus will you be able to bridle those cravings +which else tear the heart. The presence of the king awes the crowd into +silence. When the full moon is in the nightly sky, it sweeps the heavens +bare of flying cloud-rack, and all the twinkling stars are lost in the +peaceful, solitary splendour. So let delight in God rise in our souls, +and lesser lights pale before it--do not cease to be, but add their +feebleness, unnoticed, to its radiance. The more we have our affections +set on God, the more shall we enjoy, because we subordinate, His gifts. +The less, too, shall we dread their loss, the less be at the mercy of +their fluctuations. The capitalist does not think so much of the year's +gains as does the needy adventurer, to whom they make the difference +between bankruptcy and competence. If you have God for your 'enduring +substance,' you can face all varieties of condition, and be calm, +saying-- + + 'Give what Thou canst, without Thee I am poor, + And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.' + +The amulet that charms away disquiet lies here. Still thine eager +desires, arm thyself against feverish hopes, and shivering fears, and +certain disappointment, and cynical contempt of all things; make sure of +fulfilled wishes and abiding joys. 'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He +shall give thee the desires of thine heart.' + +II. But this is not all. The secret of tranquillity is found, secondly, +in freedom from the perplexity of choosing our path. + +'Commit thy way unto the Lord'--or, as the margin says, 'roll' it upon +God; leave to Him the guidance of thy life, and thou shalt be at peace +on the road. + +This is a word for all life, not only for its great occasions. Twice, or +thrice, perhaps in a lifetime, a man's road leads him up to a high +dividing point, a watershed as it were, whence the rain runs from the +one side of the ridge to the Pacific, and from the other to the +Atlantic. His whole future may depend on his bearing the least bit to +the right hand or to the left, and all the slopes below, on either side, +are wreathed in mist. Powerless as he is to see before him, he has yet +to choose, and his choice determines the rest of his days. Certainly he +needs some guidance then. But he needs it not less in the small +decisions of every hour. Our histories are made up of a series of +trifles, in each of which a separate act of will and choice is involved. +Looking to the way in which character is made, as coral reefs are built +up, by a multitude of tiny creatures whose united labours are strong +enough to breast the ocean; looking to the mysterious way in which the +greatest events in our lives have the knack of growing out of the +smallest; looking to the power of habit to make any action of the mind +almost instinctive: it is of far more importance that we should become +accustomed to apply this precept of seeking guidance from God to the +million trifles than to the two or three decisions which, at the time of +making them, we know to be weighty. Depend upon it that, if we have not +learned the habit of committing the daily-recurring monotonous steps to +Him, we shall find it very, very hard to seek His help, when we come to +a fork in the road. So this is a command for all life, not only for its +turning-points. + +What does it prescribe? First, the subordination--not the extinction--of +our own _inclinations_. We must begin by ceasing from self. Not that we +are to cast out of consideration our own wishes. These are an element in +every decision, and often are our best helps to the knowledge of our +powers and of our duties. But we have to take special care that they +never in themselves settle the question. They are second, not first. +'Thus I will, and therefore thus I decide; my wish is enough for a +reason,' is the language of a tyrant over others, but of a slave to +himself. Our first question is to be, not 'What should I like?' but +'What does God will, if I can by any means discover it?' Wishes are to +be held in subordination to Him. Our will is to be master of our +passions, and desires, and whims, and habits, but to be servant of God. +It should silence all their cries, and itself be silent, that God may +speak. Like the lawgiver-captain in the wilderness, it should stand +still at the head of the ordered rank, ready for the march, but +motionless, till the Pillar lifts from above the sanctuary. Yes! 'Commit +thy way'--unto whom? Conscience? No: unto Duty? No: but 'unto +God'--which includes all these lower laws, and a whole universe besides. +Hold the will in equilibrium, that His finger may incline the balance. + +Then the counsel of our text prescribes the submission of our _judgment_ +to God, in the confidence that His wisdom will guide us. Committing our +way unto the Lord does not mean shifting the trouble of patient thought +about our duty off our own shoulders. It is no cowardly abnegation of +the responsibility of choice which is here enjoined; nor is there any +sanction of lazily taking the first vagrant impulse, wafted we know not +whence, that rises in the mind, for the voice of God. But, just because +we are to commit our way to Him, we are bound to the careful exercise of +the best power of our own brains, that we may discover what the will of +God is. He does not reveal that will to people who do not care to know +it. I suppose the precursor of all visions of Him, which have calmed His +servants' souls with the peace of a clearly recognised duty, has been +their cry, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' God counsels men who +use their own wits to find out His counsel. He speaks to us through our +judgments when they take all the ordinary means of ascertaining our +course. The law is: Do your best to find out your duty; suppress +inclination, and desire to do God's will, and He will certainly tell you +what it is. I, for my part, believe that the Psalmist spoke a truth when +he said, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy +steps.' Only let the eye be fixed on Him, and He will guide us in the +way. If we chiefly desire, and with patient impartiality try, to be +directed by Him, we shall never want for direction. + +But all this is possible only if we 'delight in the Lord.' Nothing else +will still our desires--the voice within, and the invitations without, +which hinder us from hearing the directions of our Guide. Nothing else +will so fasten up and muzzle the wild passions and lusts that a little +child may lead them. To delight in Him is the condition of all wise +judgment. For the most part, it is not hard to discover God's will +concerning us, if we supremely desire to know and do it; and such +supreme desire is but the expression of this supreme delight in Him. +Such a disposition wonderfully clears away mists and perplexities; and +though there will still remain ample scope for the exercise of our best +judgment, and for reliance on Him to lead us, yet he whose single object +is to walk in the way that God points, will seldom have to stand still +in uncertainty as to what that way is. 'If thine eye be single, thy +whole body shall be full of light.' + +Thus, dear brethren! these two keys--joy in God, and trust in His +guidance--open for us the double doors of 'the secret place of the Most +High'; where all the roar of the busy world dies upon the ear, and the +still small voice of the present God deepens the silence, and hushes the +heart. Be quiet, and you will hear Him speak--delight in Him, that you +may be quiet. Let the affections feed on Him, the will wait mute before +Him, till His command inclines it to decision, and quickens it into +action; let the desires fix upon His all-sufficiency; and then the +wilderness will be no more trackless, but the ruddy blaze of the guiding +pillar will brighten on the sand a path which men's hands have never +made, nor human feet trodden into a road. He will 'guide us with His +eye,' if our eyes be fixed on Him, and be swift to discern and eager to +obey the lightest glance that love can interpret. Shall we be 'like the +horse or the mule, which have no understanding,' and need to be pulled +with bridles and beaten with whips before they know how to go; or shall +we be like some trained creature that is guided by the unseen cord of +docile submission, and has learned to read the duty, which is its joy, +in the glance of its master's eye, or the wave of his hand? 'Delight +thyself in the Lord: commit thy way unto Him.' + +III. Our text takes one more step. The secret of tranquillity is found, +thirdly, in freedom from the anxiety of an unknown future. 'Best in the +Lord, and wait patiently for Him.' + +Such an addition to these previous counsels is needful, if all the +sources of our disquiet are to be dealt with. The future is dim, after +all our straining to see into its depths. The future is threatening, +after all our efforts to prepare for its coming storms. A rolling vapour +veils it all; here and there a mountain peak seems to stand out; but in +a moment another swirl of the fog hides it from us. We know so little, +and what we do know is so sad, that the ignorance of what may be, and +the certainty of what must be, equally disturb us with hopes which melt +into fears, and forebodings which consolidate into certainties. We are +sure that in that future are losses, and sorrows, and death; thank God! +we are sure too, that He is in it. That certainty alone, and what comes +of it, makes it possible for a thoughtful man to face to-morrow without +fear or tumult. The only rest from apprehensions which are but too +reasonable is 'rest in the Lord.' If we are sure that He will be there, +and if we delight in Him, then we can afford to say, 'As for all the +rest, let it be as He wills, it will be well.' That thought alone, dear +friends! will give calmness. What else is there, brethren! for a man +fronting that vague future, from whose weltering sea such black, +sharp-toothed rocks protrude? Shall we bow before some stern Fate, as +its lord, and try to be as stern as It? Shall we think of some frivolous +Chance, as tossing its unguided waves, and try to be as frivolous as It? +Shall we try to be content with an animal limitation to the present, and +heighten the bright colour of the little to-day by the black background +that surrounds it, saying, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die'? +Is it not better, happier, nobler, every way truer, to look into that +perilous uncertain future, or rather to look past it to the loving +Father who is its Lord and ours, and to wait patiently for Him? +Confidence that the future will but evolve God's purposes, and that all +these are enlisted on our side, will give peace and power. Without it +all is chaos, and we flying atoms in the anarchic mass; or else all is +coldblooded impersonal law, and we crushed beneath its chariot-wheels. +Here, and here alone, is the secret of tranquillity. + +But remember, brethren! that the peaceful confidence of this final +counsel is legitimate only when we have obeyed the other two. I have no +business, for instance, to expect God to save me from the natural +consequences of my own worldliness or folly. If I have taken up a course +from eager desires for earthly good, or from obedience to any +inclination of my own without due regard to His will, I have no right, +when things begin to go awry, to turn round to God and say, 'Lord! I +wait upon Thee to save me.' And though repentance, and forsaking of our +evil ways at any point in a man's course, do ensure, through Jesus +Christ, God's loving forgiveness, yet the evil consequences of past +folly are often mercifully suffered to remain with us all our days. He +who has delighted in the Lord, and committed his way unto Him, can +venture to front whatever may be coming; and though not without much +consciousness of sin and weakness, can yet cast upon God the burden of +taking care of him, and claim from his faithful Father the protection +and the peace which He has bound Himself to give. + +And O dear friends! what a calm will enter our souls then, solid, +substantial, 'the peace of God,' gift and effluence from the 'God of +peace'! How blessed then to leave all the possible to-morrow with a very +quiet heart in His hands! How easy then to bear the ignorance, how +possible then to face the certainties, of that solemn future! Change and +death can only thin away and finally remove the film that separates us +from our delight. Whatever comes here or yonder can but bring us +blessing; for we must be glad if we have God, and if our wills are +parallel with His, whose Will all things serve. Our way is traced by +Him, and runs alongside of His. It leads to Himself. Then rest in the +Lord, and 'judge nothing before the time.' We cannot criticise the Great +Artist when we stand before His unfinished masterpiece, and see dim +outlines here, a patch of crude colour there. But wait patiently for +Him, and so, in calm expectation of a blessed future and a finished +work, which will explain the past, in honest submission of our way to +God, in supreme delight in Him who is the gladness of our joy, the +secret of tranquillity will be ours. + + + + +THE BITTERNESS AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE + + 'Surely every man walketh in a vain shew.... 12. I am a stranger + with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.' + --PSALM xxxix. 6, 12. + +These two sayings are two different ways of putting the same thing. +There is a common thought underlying both, but the associations with +which that common thought is connected in these two verses are +distinctly different. The one is bitter and sad--a gloomy half truth. +The other, out of the very same fact, draws blessedness and hope. The +one may come from no higher point of view than the level of worldly +experience; the other is a truth of faith. The former is at best +partial, and without the other may be harmful; the latter completes, +explains, and hallows it. + +And that this progress and variety in the thought is the key to the +whole psalm is, I think, obvious to any one who will examine it with +care. I cannot here enter on that task but in the hastiest fashion, by +way of vindicating the connection which I trace between the two verses +of our text. The Psalmist begins, then, with telling how at some time +recently passed--in consequence of personal calamity not very clearly +defined, but apparently some bodily sickness aggravated by mental sorrow +and anxiety--he was struck dumb with silence, so that he 'held his peace +even from good.' In that state there rose within him many sad and +miserable thoughts, which at last forced their way through his locked +lips. They shape themselves into a prayer, which is more complaint than +petition--and which is absorbed in the contemplation of the manifest +melancholy facts of human life--'Thou hast made my days as an +handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee.' And then, as that +thought dilates and sinks deeper into his soul, he looks out upon the +whole race of man--and in tones of bitterness and hopelessness, affirms +that all are vanity, shadows, disquieted in vain. The blank hopelessness +of such a view brings him to a standstill. It is true--but taken alone +is too dreadful to think of. 'That way madness lies,'--so he breaks +short off his almost despairing thoughts, and with a swift turning away +of his mind from the downward gaze into blackness that was beginning to +make him reel, he fixes his eyes on the throne above--'And now, Lord! +what wait I for? my hope is in Thee.' These words form the turning-point +of the psalm. After them, the former thoughts are repeated, but with +what a difference--made by looking at all the blackness and sorrow, both +personal and universal, in the bright light of that hope which streams +upon the most lurid masses of opaque cloud, till their gloom begins to +glow with an inward lustre, and softens into solemn purples and reds. He +had said, 'I was dumb with silence--even from good.' But when his hope +is in God, the silence changes its character and becomes resignation and +submission. 'I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it.' The variety +of human life and its transiency is not less plainly seen than before; +but in the light of that hope it is regarded in relation to God's +paternal correction, and is seen to be the consequence, not of a defect +in His creative wisdom or love, but of man's sin. 'Thou with rebukes +dost correct man for iniquity.' That, to him who waits on the Lord, is +the reason and the alleviation of the reiterated conviction, 'Every man +is vanity.' Not any more does he say every man 'at his best state,' or, +as it might be more accurately expressed, 'even when most firmly +established,'--for the man who is established in the Lord is not vanity, +but only the man who founds his being on the fleeting present. Then, +things being so, life being thus in itself and apart from God so +fleeting and so sad, and yet with a hope that brightens it like sunshine +through an April shower--the Psalmist rises to prayer, in which that +formerly expressed conviction of the brevity of life is reiterated, with +the addition of two words which changes its whole aspect, 'I am a +stranger _with Thee_.' He is God's guest in his transient life. It is +short, like the stay of a foreigner in a strange land; but he is under +the care of the King of the Land--therefore he need not fear nor sorrow. +Past generations, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--whose names God 'is not +ashamed' to appeal to in His own solemn designation of Himself--have +held the same relation, and their experience has sealed His faithful +care of those who dwell with Him. Therefore, the sadness is soothed, and +the vain and fleeting life of earth assumes a new appearance, and the +most blessed and wisest issue of our consciousness of frailty and +insufficiency is the fixing of our desires and hopes on Him in whose +house we may dwell even while we wander to and fro, and in whom our life +being rooted and established shall not be vain, howsoever it may be +brief. + +If, then, we follow the course of contemplation thus traced in the +psalm, we have these three points brought before us--first, the thought +of life common to both clauses; second, the gloomy, aimless hollowness +which that thought breathes into life apart from God; third, the +blessedness which springs from the same thought when we look at it in +connection with our Father in heaven. + +I. Observe the very forcible expression which is given here to the +thought of life common to both verses. + +'Every man walketh in a vain show.' The original is even more striking +and strong. And although one does not like altering words so familiar as +those of our translation, which have sacredness from association and a +melancholy music in their rhythm--still it is worth while to note that +the force of the expression which the Psalmist employs is correctly +given in the margin, 'in an image'--or 'in a shadow.' The phrase sounds +singular to us, but is an instance of a common enough Hebrew idiom, and +is equivalent to saying--he walks in the character or likeness of a +shadow, or, as we should say, he walks as a shadow. That is to say, the +whole outward life and activity of every man is represented as fleeting +and unsubstantial, like the reflection of a cloud which darkens leagues +of the mountains' side in a moment, and ere a man can say, 'Behold!' is +gone again for ever. + +Then, look at the other image employed in the other clause of our text +to express the same idea, 'I am a stranger and a sojourner, as all my +fathers.' The phrase has a history. In that most pathetic narrative of +an old-world sorrow long since calmed and consoled, when 'Abraham stood +up from before his dead,' and craved a burying-place for his Sarah from +the sons of Heth, his first plea was, 'I am a stranger and a sojourner +with you.' In his lips it was no metaphor. He was a stranger, a visitor +for a brief time to an alien land; he was a sojourner, having no rights +of inheritance, but settled among them for a while, and though dwelling +among them, not adopted into their community. He was a foreigner, not +naturalised. And such is our relation to all this visible frame of +things in which we dwell. It is alien to us; though we be in it, our +true affinities are elsewhere; though we be in it, our stay is brief, as +that of 'a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night.' + +And there is given in the context still another metaphor setting forth +the same fact in that dreary generalisation which precedes my text, +'Every man at his best state'--or as the word means, 'established,'--with +his roots most firmly struck in the material and visible--'is +only a breath.' It appears for a moment, curling from lip and nostril +into the cold morning air, and vanishes away, so thus vaporous, filmy, +is the seeming solid fact of the most stable life. + +These have been the commonplaces of poets and rhetoricians and moralists +in all time. But threadbare as the thought is, I may venture to dwell on +it for a moment. I know I am only repeating what we all believe--and all +forget. It is never too late to preach commonplaces, until everybody +acts on them as well as admits them--and this old familiar truth has not +yet got so wrought into the structure of our lives that we can afford to +say no more about it. + +'Surely every man walketh in a shadow.' Did you ever stand upon the +shore on some day of that 'uncertain weather, when gloom and glory meet +together,' and notice how swiftly there went, racing over miles of +billows, a darkening that quenched all the play of colour in the waves, +as if all suddenly the angel of the waters had spread his broad wings +between sun and sea, and then how in another moment as swiftly it flits +away, and with a burst the light blazes out again, and leagues of ocean +flash into green and violet and blue. So fleeting, so utterly perishable +are our lives for all their seeming solid permanency. 'Shadows in a +career, as George Herbert has it--breath going out of the nostrils. We +think of ourselves as ever to continue in our present posture. We are +deceived by illusions. Mental indolence, a secret dislike of the +thought, and the impostures of sense, all conspire to make us blind to, +or at least oblivious of, the plain fact which every beat of our pulses +might preach, and the slow creeping hands of every parish clock confirm. +How awful that silent, unceasing footfall of receding days is when once +we begin to watch it! Inexorable, passionless--though hope and fear may +pray, 'Sun! stand thou still on Gibeon; and thou moon! in the valley of +Ajalon,'--the tramp of the hours goes on. The poets paint them as a +linked chorus of rosy forms, garlanded, and clasping hands as they dance +onwards. So they may be to some of us at some moments. So they may seem +as they approach; but those who come hold the hands of those who go, and +that troop has no rosy light upon their limbs, their garlands are faded, +the sunshine falls not upon the grey and shrouded shapes, as they steal +ghostlike through the gloom--and ever and ever the bright and laughing +sisters pass on into that funereal band which grows and moves away from +us unceasing. Alas! for many of us it bears away with it our lost +treasures, our shattered hopes, our joys from which all the bright +petals have dropped! Alas! for many of us there is nothing but sorrow in +watching how all things become 'part and parcel of the dreadful past.' + +And how strangely sometimes even a material association may give new +emphasis to that old threadbare truth. Some more permanent _thing_ may +help us to feel more profoundly the shadowy fleetness of _man_. The +trifles are so much more lasting than their owners. Or, as 'the +Preacher' puts it, with such wailing pathos, 'One generation passeth +away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth for ever.' +This material is perishable--but yet how much more enduring than we are! +The pavements we walk upon, the coals in our grates--how many +millenniums old are they? The pebble you kick aside with your foot--how +many generations will it outlast? Go into a museum and you will see +hanging there, little the worse for centuries, battered shields, notched +swords, and gaping helmets--aye, but what has become of the bright eyes +that once flashed the light of battle through the bars, what has become +of the strong hands that once gripped the hilts? 'The knights are dust,' +and 'their good swords are' _not_ 'rust.' The material lasts after its +owner. Seed corn is found in a mummy case. The poor form beneath the +painted lid is brown and hard, and more than half of it gone to pungent +powder, and the man that once lived has faded utterly: but the handful +of seed has its mysterious life in it, and when it is sown, in due time +the green blade pushes above English soil, as it would have done under +the shadow of the pyramids four thousand years ago--and its produce +waves in a hundred harvest fields to-day. The money in your purses now, +will some of it bear the head of a king that died half a century ago. It +is bright and useful--where are all the people that in turn said they +'owned' it? Other men will live in our houses, will preach from this +pulpit, and sit in these pews, when you and I are far away. And other +June days will come, and the old rose-trees will flower round houses +where unborn men will then be living, when the present possessor is gone +to nourish the roots of the roses in the graveyard! + +'Our days are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.' So said David on +other occasions. We know, dear brethren! how true it is, whether we +consider the ceaseless flux and change of things, the mystic march of +the silent-footed hours, or the greater permanence which attaches to the +'things which perish,' than to our abode among them. We know it, and yet +how hard it is not to yield to the inducement to act and feel as if all +this painted scenery were solid rock and mountain. By our own +inconsiderateness and sensuousness, we live in a lie, in a false dream +of permanence, and so in a sadder sense we walk in 'a vain +show,'--deluding ourselves with the conceit of durability, and refusing +to see that the apparent is the shadowy, and the one enduring reality +God. It is hard to get even the general conviction vivified in men's +minds, hardest of all to get any man to reflect upon it as applying to +himself. Do not think that you have said enough to vindicate neglect of +my words now, when you call them commonplace. So they are. But did you +ever take that well-worn old story, and press it on your own +consciousness--as a man might press a common little plant, whose juice +is healing, against his dim eye-ball--by saying to yourself, 'It is true +of _me_. _I_ walk as a shadow. _I_ am gliding onwards to my doom. +Through _my_ slack hands the golden sands are flowing, and soon _my_ +hour-glass will run out, and _I_ shall have to stop and go away.' Let me +beseech you for one half-hour's meditation on that fact before this day +closes. You will forget my words then, when with your own eyes you have +looked upon that truth, and felt that it is not merely a toothless +commonplace, but belongs to and works in _thy_ life, as it ebbs away +silently and incessantly from _thee_. + +II. Let me point, in the second place, to the gloomy, aimless hollowness +which that thought, apart from God, infuses into life. + +There is, no doubt, a double idea in the metaphor which the Psalmist +employs. He desires to set forth, by his image of a shadow, not only the +transiency, but the unsubstantialness of life. Shadow is opposed to +substance, to that which is real, as well as to that which is enduring. +And we may further say that the one of these characteristics is in great +part the occasion of the other. Because life is fleeting, therefore, in +part, it is so hollow and unsatisfying. The fact that men are dragged +away from their pursuits so inexorably makes these pursuits seem, to any +one who cannot see beyond that fact, trivial and not worth the +following. Why should we fret and toil and break our hearts, 'and scorn +delights, and live laborious days' for purposes which will last so short +a time, and things which we shall so soon have to leave? What is all our +bustle and business, when the sad light of that thought falls on it, but +'labouring for the wind'? 'Were it not better to lie still?' Such +thoughts have at least a partial truth in them, and are difficult to +meet as long as we think only of the facts and results of man's life +that we can see with our eyes, and our psalm gives emphatic utterance to +them. The word rendered 'walketh' in our text is not merely a synonym +for passing through life, but has a very striking meaning. It is an +intensive frequentative form of the word--that is, it represents the +action as being repeated over and over again. For instance, it might be +used to describe the restless motion of a wild beast in a cage, raging +from side to side, never still, and never getting any farther for all +the racing backward and forward. So here it signifies 'walketh to and +fro,' and implies hurry and bustle, continuous effort, habitual unrest. +It thus comes to be parallel with the stronger words which follow,--'Surely +they are _disquieted_ in vain'; and one reason why all this +effort and agitation are purposeless and sad, is because the man who is +straining his nerves and wearying his legs is but a shadow in regard to +duration--'He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.' + +Yes! if we have said all, when we have said that men pass as a fleeting +shadow--if my life has no roots in the Eternal, nor any consciousness of +a life that does not pass, and a light that never perishes, if it is +derived from, directed to, 'cribbed, cabined, and confined' within this +visible diurnal sphere, then it is all flat and unprofitable, an +illusion while it seems to last, and all its pursuits are folly, its +hopes dreams, its substances vapours, its years a lie. For, if life be +thus short, I who live it am conscious of, and possess whether I be +conscious of them or no, capacities and requirements which, though they +were to be annihilated to-morrow, could be satisfied while they lasted +by nothing short of the absolute ideal, the all-perfect, the +infinite--or, to put away abstractions, 'My soul thirsteth for God, the +living God!' 'He hath put eternity in their heart,' as the book of +Ecclesiastes says. Longings and aspirations, weaknesses and woes, the +limits of creature helps and loves, the disproportion between us and the +objects around us--all these facts of familiar experience do witness, +alike by blank misgivings and by bright hopes, by many disappointments +and by indestructible expectations surviving them all, that nothing +which has a date, a beginning, or an end, can fill our souls or give us +rest. Can you fill up the swamps of the Mississippi with any cartloads +of faggots you can fling in? Can you fill your souls with anything which +belongs to this fleeting life? Has a flying shadow an appreciable +thickness, or will a million of them pressed together occupy a space in +your empty, hungry heart? + +And so, dear brethren! I come to you with a message which may sound +gloomy, and beseech you to give heed to it. No matter how you may get on +in the world--though you may fulfil every dream with which you began in +your youth--you will certainly find that without Christ for your Brother +and Saviour, God for your Friend, and heaven for your hope, life, with +all its fulness, is empty. It lasts long, too long as it sometimes seems +for work, too long for hope, too long for endurance; long enough to let +love die, and joys wither and fade, and companions drop away, but +without God and Christ, you will find it but 'as a watch in the night.' +At no moment through the long weary years will it satisfy your whole +being; and when the weary years are all past, they will seem to have +been but as one troubled moment breaking the eternal silence. At every +point _so_ profitless, and all the points making so thin and short a +line! The crested waves seem heaped together as they recede from the eye +till they reach the horizon, where miles of storm are seen but as a line +of spray. So when a man looks back upon his life, if it have been a +godless one, be sure of this, that he will have a dark and cheerless +retrospect over a tossing waste, with a white rim of wandering barren +foam vexed by tempest, and then, if not before, he will sadly learn how +he has been living amidst shadows, and, with a nature that needs God, +has wasted himself upon the world. 'O life! as futile then as frail'; +'surely,' in such a case, 'every man walketh in a vain show.' + +III. But note, finally, how our other text in its significant words +gives us the blessedness which springs from this same thought of life, +when it is looked at in connection with God. + +The mere conviction of the brevity and hollowness of life is not in +itself a religious or a helpful thought. Its power depends upon the +other ideas which are associated with it. It is susceptible of the most +opposite applications, and may tend to impel conduct in exactly opposite +directions. It may be the language of despair or of bright hope. It may +be the bitter creed of a worn-out debauchee, who has wasted his life in +hunting shadows, and is left with a cynical spirit and a barbed tongue. +It may be the passionless belief of a retired student, or the fanatical +faith of a religious ascetic. It may be an argument for sensuous excess, +'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die'; or it may be the stimulus +for noble and holy living, 'I must work the works of Him that sent me +while it is day. The night cometh.' The other accompanying beliefs +determine whether it shall be a blight or a blessing to a man. + +And the one addition which is needed to incline the whole weight of that +conviction to the better side, and to light up all its blackness, is +that little phrase in this text, 'I am a stranger _with Thee_, and a +sojourner.' There seems to be an allusion here to remarkable words +connected with the singular Jewish institution of the Jubilee. You +remember that by the Mosaic law, there was no absolute sale of land in +Israel, but that every half century the whole returned to the +descendants of the original occupiers. Important economical and social +purposes were contemplated in this arrangement, as well as the +preservation of the relative position of the tribes as settled at the +Conquest. But the law itself assigns a purely religious purpose--the +preservation of the distinct consciousness of the tenure on which the +people held their territory, namely, obedience to and dependence on God. +'The land shall not be sold for ever, for the land is Mine, for ye are +_strangers and sojourners with Me_.' Of course, there was a special +sense in which that was true with regard to Israel, but David thought +that the words were as true in regard to his whole relation to God, as +in regard to Israel's possession of its national inheritance. + +If we grasp these words as completing all that we have already said, how +different this transient and unsubstantial life looks! You must have the +light from both sides to stereoscope and make solid the flat surface +picture. Transient! yes--but it is passed in the presence of God. +Whether we know it or no, our brief days hang upon Him, and we walk, all +of us, in the light of His countenance. That makes the transient +eternal, the shadowy substantial, the trivial heavy with solemn meaning +and awful yet vast possibilities. 'In our embers is something that doth +live.' If we had said all, when we say 'We are as a shadow,' it would +matter very little, though even then it _would_ matter something, how we +spent our shadowy days; but if these poor brief hours are spent 'in the +great Taskmaster's eye,'--if the shadow cast on earth proclaims a light +in the heavens--if from this point there hangs an unending chain of +conscious being--Oh! then, with what awful solemnity is the brevity, +with what tremendous magnitude is the minuteness, of our earthly days +invested! 'With Thee'--then I am constantly in the presence of a +sovereign Law and its Giver; 'with Thee'--then all my actions are +registered and weighed yonder; 'with Thee'--then 'Thou, God, seest me.' +Brethren! it is the prismatic halo and ring of eternity round this poor +glass of time that gives it all its dignity, all its meaning. The lives +that are lived before God cannot be trifles. + +And if this relation to time be recognised and accepted and held fast by +our hearts and minds, then what calm blessedness will flow into our +souls! + +'A stranger with Thee,'--then we are the guests of the King. The Lord of +the land charges Himself with our protection and provision; we journey +under His safe conduct. It is for His honour and faithfulness that no +harm shall come to us travelling in His territory, and relying on His +word. Like Abraham with the sons of Heth, we may claim the protection +and help which a stranger needs. He recognises the bond and will fulfil +it. We have eaten of His salt, and He will answer for our safety.--'He +that toucheth you toucheth the apple of Mine eye.' + +'A stranger with Thee,'--then we have a constant Companion and an +abiding Presence. We may be solitary and necessarily remote from the +polity of the land. We may feel amid all the visible things of earth as +if foreigners. We may not have a foot of soil, not even a grave for our +dead. Companionships may dissolve and warm hands grow cold and their +close clasp relax--what then? He is with us still. He will join us as we +journey, even when our hearts are sore with loss. He will walk with us +by the way, and make our chill hearts glow. He will sit with us at the +table--however humble the meal, and He will not leave us when we discern +Him. Strangers we are indeed here--but not solitary, for we are +'strangers with Thee.' As in some ancestral home in which a family has +lived for centuries--son after father has rested in its great chambers, +and been safe behind its strong walls--so, age after age, they who love +Him abide in God.--'Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all +generations.' + +'Strangers with Thee,'--then we may carry our thoughts forward to the +time when we shall go to our true home, nor wander any longer in a land +that is not ours. If even here we come into such blessed relationships +with God, that fact is in itself a prophecy of a more perfect communion +and a heavenly house. They who are strangers with Him will one day be +'at home with the Lord,' and in the light of that blessed hope the +transiency of this life changes its whole aspect, loses the last trace +of sadness, and becomes a solemn joy. Why should we be pensive and +wistful when we think how near our end is? Is the sentry sad as the hour +for relieving guard comes nigh? Is the wanderer in far-off lands sad +when he turns his face homewards? And why should not we rejoice at the +thought that we, strangers and foreigners here, shall soon depart to the +true metropolis, the mother-country of our souls? I do not know why a +man should be either regretful or afraid, as he watches the hungry sea +eating away this 'bank and shoal of time' upon which he stands--even +though the tide has all but reached his feet--if he knows that God's +strong hand will be stretched forth to him at the moment when the sand +dissolves from under him, and will draw him out of many waters, and +place him high above the floods in that stable land where there is 'no +more sea.' + +Lives rooted in God through faith in Jesus Christ are not vanity. Let us +lay hold of Him with a loving grasp--and 'we shall live also' _because_ +He lives, _as_ He lives, _so long_ as He lives. The brief days of earth +will be blessed while they last, and fruitful of what shall never pass. +We shall have Him with us while we journey, and all our journeyings will +lead to rest in Him. True, men walk in a vain show; true, 'the world +passeth away and the lust thereof,' but, blessed be God! true, also, 'He +that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' + + + + +TWO INNUMERABLE SERIES + + + 'Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, + and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in + order unto Thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more + than can be numbered ... 12. Innumerable evils have compassed me + about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not + able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head; + therefore my heart faileth me.'--PSALMS xl. 5, 12. + +So then, there are two series of things which cannot be numbered, God's +mercies, man's sins. This psalm has for its burden a cry for +deliverance; but the Psalmist begins where it is very hard for a +struggling man to begin, but where we always should begin, with grateful +remembrance of God's mercy. His wondrous dealings seem to the Psalmist's +thankful heart as numberless as the blades of grass which carpet the +fields, or as the wavelets which glance in the moonlight and break in +silver upon the sand. They come pouring out continuously, like the +innumerable undulations of the ether which make upon the eyeballs the +single sensation of light. He thinks not only of God's wonderful works, +His realised purposes of mercy, but of 'His thoughts which are to +us-ward,' the purposes, still more wonderful, of a yet greater mercy +which wait to be realised. He thinks not only of God's lovingkindness to +Him, but his contemplations embrace God's goodness to his brethren--'Thy +thoughts which are to us-ward.' And as he thinks of all this 'multitude +of His tender mercies,' his lips break into this rapturous exclamation +of my text. + +But there is a wonderful change in tone, in the two halves of the psalm. +The deliverance that seems so complete in the earlier part is but +partial. The triumph and the trust seem both to be clouded over. A +frowning mass lifts itself up against the immense mass of God's mercies. +The Psalmist sees himself ringed about by numberless evils, as a man +tied to a stake might be by a circle of fire. 'Innumerable evils have +compassed me about.' His conscience tells him that the evils are +deserved; they are his iniquities transformed which have come back to +him in another shape, and have laid their hands upon him as a constable +does upon a thief. 'Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me'--they hem +him in so that his vision is interrupted, the smoke from the circle of +flame blinds his eyes--'I cannot see.' His roused conscience and his +quivering heart conceive of them as 'more than the hairs of his head,' +and so courage and confidence have ebbed away from him. 'My heart +faileth me----,' and there is nothing left for him but to fling himself +in his misery out of himself and on to God. + +Now what I wish to do in this sermon is not so much to deal with these +two verses separately as to draw some of the lessons from the very +remarkable juxtaposition of these two innumerable things--God's tender +mercies, and man's iniquity and evil. + +I. To begin with, let me remind you how, if we keep these two things +both together in our contemplations, they suggest for us very forcibly +the greatest mystery in the universe, and throw a little light upon it. + +The difficulty of difficulties, the one insoluble problem is----, given +a good and perfect God, where does sorrow come from, and why is there +any pain? Men have fumbled at that knot for all the years that there +have been men in the world, and they have not untied it yet. They have +tried to cut it and it has resisted all their knives and all their +ingenuity. And there the question stands before us, grim, insoluble, the +despair of all thinkers and often the torture of our own hearts, in the +hours of our personal experience. Is it true that 'God's mercies are +innumerable'? If it be, what is the meaning of all this that makes me +writhe and weep? Nobody has answered that question, and nobody ever +will. + +Only let us beware of the temptation of blinking half of the facts by +reason of the clearness of our confidence or the depth of our feeling of +the other half. That is always our temptation. You must have had a +singularly unruffled life if there has never come to you some moment +when, in the depth of your agony, you have ground your teeth together, +as you said to yourself, 'Is there a God then at all? And does He care +for me at all? And can He help me at all? And if there is, why in the +name of pity does He not?' + +Well, my brother! when such moments come to us, and they come to us all +sooner or later--and I was going to add a parenthesis, which you will +think strange, and say that they come to us all sooner or later, blessed +be God!--when such moments come to us, do not let the black mass hide +the light one from you, but copy this Psalmist, and in the energy of +your faith, even though it be the extremity of your pain, grasp and grip +them both; and though you have to say and to wail: 'Innumerable evils +have compassed me about,' be sure that you do not let that prevent you +from saying, 'Many, O Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works which are to +us-ward. They are more than can be numbered.' + +I do not enter upon this as a mere matter of philosophical speculation. +It is far too serious and important a matter to be so dealt with, in a +pulpit at any rate, but I would also add in one sentence that the mere +thinker, who looks at the question solely from an intellectual point of +view, has need to take the lesson of my two texts, and to be sure that +he keeps clear before him both halves of the facts--though they seem to +be as unlike each other as the eclipsed and the uneclipsed silver half +of the moon--with which he has to deal. + +Remember, the one does not contradict the other; but let us ask +ourselves if the one does not _explain_ the other. If it be that these +mercies are so innumerable as my first text says, may it not be that +they go deep down beneath, and include in their number, the experience +that seems most opposite to them, even the sorrow that afflicts our +lives? Must it not be, that the innumerable sum of God's mercies has not +to have subtracted from it, but has to have added to it, the sum which +also at intervals appears to us innumerable, of our sorrows and our +burdens? Perhaps the explanation does not go to the bottom of the +bottomless, but it goes a long way down towards it. 'Whom the Lord +loveth, He chasteneth' makes a bridge across the gulf which seems to +part the opposing cliffs, these two sets effect, and turn the darker +into a form in which the brighter reveals itself. 'All things work +together for good.' And God's innumerable mercies include the whole sum +total of my sorrows. + +II. So, again, notice how the blending of these two thoughts together +heightens the impression of each. + +All artists, and all other people know the power of contrast. White +never looks so white as when it is relieved against black; black never +so intense as when it is relieved against white. A white flower in the +twilight gleams out in spectral distinctness, paler and fairer than it +looked in the blazing sunshine. So, if we take and put these two things +together--the dark mass of man's miseries and the radiant brightness of +God's mercies, each heightens the colour of the other. + +Only, let me observe, as I have already suggested that, in the second of +my two texts, whilst the Psalmist starts from the 'innumerable evils' +that have compassed him about, he passes from these to the earlier evils +which he had done. It is pain that says, 'Innumerable evils have +compassed me about.' It is conscience that says, 'Mine iniquities have +taken hold upon me.' His wrong-doing has come back to him like the +boomerang that the Australian savage throws, which may strike its aim +but returns to the hand that flung it. It has come back in the shape of +a sorrow. And so 'Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me' is the +deepening of the earliest word of my text. Therefore, I am not reading a +double meaning into it, but the double meaning is in it when I see here +a reference both to a man's manifold sorrows and to a man's multiplied +transgressions. Taking the latter into consideration, the contrast +between these two heightens both of them. + +God's mercies never seem so fair, so wonderful, as when they are looked +at in conjunction with man's sin. Man's sin never seems so foul and +hideous as when it is looked at close against God's mercies. You cannot +estimate the conduct of one of two parties to a transaction unless you +have the conduct of the other before you. You cannot understand a +father's love unless you take into account the prodigal son's sullen +unthankfulness, or his unthankfulness without remembering his father's +love. You cannot estimate the clemency of a patient monarch unless you +know the blackness and persistency of the treason of his rebellious +subjects, nor their treason, except when seen in connection with his +clemency. You cannot estimate the long-suffering of a friend unless you +know the crimes against friendship of which his friend has been guilty, +nor the blackness of his treachery without the knowledge of the other's +loyalty to him. So we do not see the radiant brightness of God's +loving-kindness to us until we look at it from the depth of the darkness +of our own sin. The stars are seen from the bottom of the well. The +loving-kindness of God becomes wonderful when we think of the sort of +people on whom it has been lavished. And my evil is never apprehended in +its true hideousness until I have set it black and ugly, but searched +through and through, and revealed in every deformed outline, and in +every hideous lineament, by the light against which I see it. You must +take both in order to understand either. + +And not only so, but actually these two opposites, which are ever +warring with one another in a duel, most merciful, patient, and +long-suffering on His part--these two elements do intensify one another, +not only in our estimation but in reality. For it is man's sin that has +drawn out the deepest and most wonderful tenderness of the divine heart; +and it is God's love partly recognised and rejected, which leads men to +the darkest evil. Man's sin has heightened God's love to this climax and +consummation of all tenderness, that He has sent us His Son. And God's +love thus heightened has darkened and deepened man's sin. God's chiefest +gift is His Son. Man's darkest sin is the rejection of Christ. The +clearest light makes the blackest shadow, the tenderer the love, the +more criminal the apathy and selfishness which oppose it. + +My brother! let us put these two great things together, and learn how +the sin heightens the love, and how the love aggravates the sin. + +III. That leads me to another point, that the keeping of these two +thoughts together should lead us all to conscious penitence. + +The Psalmist's words are not the mere complaint of a soul in affliction, +they are also the acknowledgment of a conscience repenting. The +contemplation of these two numberless series should affect us all in a +like manner. + +Now there is a superficial kind of popular religion which has a great +deal to say about the first of these texts; and very little or next to +nothing about the second. It is a very defective kind of religion that +says:--'Many, O Lord my God! are Thy thoughts which are to us-ward,' but +has never been down on its knees with the confession 'Mine iniquities +have taken hold upon me.' But defective as it is, it is all the religion +which many people have, and I doubt not, some of my hearers have no +more. I would press on you all this truth, that there is no deep +personal religion without a deep consciousness of personal +transgression. Have you got that, my brother? Have you ever had it? Have +you ever known what it is so to look at God's love that it smites you +into tears of repentance when you think of the way you have requited +Him? If you have not, I do not think the sense of God's love has gone +very deeply into you, notwithstanding all that you say; and sure I am +that you have never got to the point where you can understand it most +clearly and most deeply. The sense of sin, the consciousness of personal +demerit, the feeling that I have gone against Him and His loving +law,--that is as important and as essential an element in all deep +personal religion as the clear and thankful apprehension of the love of +God. Nay, more; there never has been and there never will be in a man's +heart, a worthy adequate apprehension of, and response to, the wonderful +love of God, except it be accompanied with a sense of sin. I, therefore, +urge this upon you that, for the vigour of your own personal religion, +you must keep these two things well together. Beware of such a shallow, +easy-going, matter-of-course, taking for granted God's infinite love, +that it makes you think very little of your own sins against that love. + +And remember, on the other hand, that the only way, or at least by far +the surest way, to learn the depth and the darkness of my own +transgression is by bringing my heart under the influence of that great +love of God in Jesus Christ. It is not preaching hell that will break a +man's heart down into true repentance. It is not thundering over him +with the terrors of law and trying to prick his conscience that will +bring him to a deep real knowledge of his sin. These may be subordinate +and auxiliary, but the real power that convinces of sin is the love of +God. The one light which illuminates the dark recesses of one's own +heart, and makes us feel how dark they are, and how full of creeping +unclean things, is the light of the love of God that shines in Jesus +Christ, the light that shines from the Cross of Calvary. Oh, dear +friends! if we are ever to know the greatness of God's love we must feel +our personal sin which that great love has forgiven and purged away, and +if we are ever to know the depth of our own evil, we must measure it by +His wonderful tenderness. We must set our 'sins in the light of His +countenance,' and contrast that supreme sacrifice with our own selfish +loveless lives, that the contrast may subdue us to penitence and melt us +to tears. + +IV. Lastly, looking at these two numberless series together will bring +into the deepest penitence a joyful confidence. + +There are regions of experience the very opposite of that error of which +I have just been speaking. There are some of us, perhaps, who have so +profound a sense of their own shortcomings and sins that the mists +rising from these have blurred the sky to us and shut out the sun. Some +of you, perhaps, may be saying to yourselves that you cannot get hold of +God's love because your sin seems to you to be so great, or may be +saying to yourselves that it is impossible that you should ever get the +victory over this evil of yours, because it has laid hold upon you with +so tight a grasp. If there be in any heart listening to me now any +inclination to doubt the infinite love of God, or the infinite +possibility of cleansing from all sin, let me come with the simple word, +Bind these two texts together, and never so look at your own evil as to +lose sight of the infinite mercy of God. It is safe to say--ay! it is +blessed to say--'Mine iniquities are more than the hairs of mine head,' +when we can also say, 'Thy thoughts to me are more than can be +numbered.' + +There are not two innumerable series, there is only one. There is a +limit and a number to my sins and to yours, but God's mercies are +properly numberless. They overlap all our sins, they stretch beyond our +sins in all dimensions. They go beneath them, they encompass them, and +they will thin them away and cause them to disappear. My sins may be +many, God's mercies are more. My sins may be inveterate, God's mercy is +from everlasting. My sins may be strong, God's mercy is omnipotent. My +sins may seem to 'have laid upon me,' God can rescue me from their grip. +They are a film on the surface of the deep ocean of His love. My sins +may be as the sand which is by the seashore, innumerable, the love of +God in Jesus Christ is like the great sea which rolls over the sands and +buries them. My sins may rise mountains high, but His mercies are a +great deep which will cover the mountains to their very summit. Ah! my +sin is enormous, God's mercy is inexhaustible. 'With Thee is plenteous +redemption, and He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.' + + + + +THIRSTING FOR GOD + + + 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.'--PSALM xiii. 2. + +This whole psalm reads like the sob of a wounded heart. The writer of it +is shut out from the Temple of his God, from the holy soil of his native +land. One can see him sitting solitary yonder in the lonely wilderness +(for the geographical details that occur in one part of the psalm point +to his situation as being on the other side of the Jordan, in the +mountains of Moab)--can see him sitting there with long wistful gaze +yearning across the narrow valley and the rushing stream that lay +between him and the land of God's chosen people, and his eye resting +perhaps on the mountaintop that looked down upon Jerusalem. He felt shut +out from the presence of God. We need not suppose that he believed all +the rest of the world to be profane and God-forsaken, except only the +Temple. Nor need we wonder, on the other hand, that his faith did cling +to form, and that he thought the sparrows beneath the eaves of the +Temple blessed birds! He was depressed, because he was shut out from the +tokens of God's presence; and because he _was_ depressed, he shut +himself out from the reality of the presence. And so he cried with a cry +which never is in vain, 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God!' + +Taken, then, in its original sense, the words of our text apply only to +that strange phenomenon which we call religious depression. But I have +ventured to take them in a wider sense than that. It is not only +Christian men who are cast down, whose souls 'thirst for God.' It is not +only men upon earth whose souls thirst for God. All men, everywhere, may +take this text for theirs. Every human heart may breathe it out, if it +understands itself. The longing for 'the living God' belongs to all men. +Thwarted, stifled, it still survives. Unconscious, it is our deepest +misery. Recognised, yielded to, accepted, it is the foundation of our +highest blessings. Filled to the full, it still survives unsatiated and +expectant. For all men upon earth, Christian or not Christian, for +Christians here below, whether in times of depression or in times of +gladness, and for the blessed and calm spirits that in ecstasy of +longing, full of fruition, stand around God's throne--it is equally true +that their souls 'thirst for God, for the living God.' Only with this +difference, that to some the desire is misery and death, and to some the +desire is life and perfect blessedness. So that the first thought I +would suggest to you now is, that there is an unconscious and +unsatisfied longing after God, which is what we call the state of +nature; secondly, that there is an imperfect longing after God, fully +satisfied, which is what we call the state of grace; and lastly, that +there is a perfect longing, perfectly satisfied, which is what we call +the state of glory. Nature; religion upon earth; blessedness in +heaven--my text is the expression, in divers senses, of them all. + +I. In the first place, then, there is in every man an unconscious and +unsatisfied longing after God, and that is the state of nature. + +Experience is the test of that assertion. And the most superficial +examination of the facts of daily life, as well as the questioning of +our own souls, will tell us that _this_ is the leading feature of +them--a state of unrest. What is it that one of those deistic poets of +our own land says, about 'Man never _is_, but always _to be_ blest'? +What is the meaning of the fact that all round about us, and we +partaking of it, there is ceaseless, gigantic activity going on? The +very fact that men work, the very fact of activity in the mind and life, +noble as it is, and root of all that is good, and beautiful as it is, is +still the testimony of nature to this fact that I by myself am full of +passionate longings, of earnest desires, of unsupplied wants. 'I +thirst,' is the voice of the whole world. + +No man is made to be satisfied from himself. For the stilling of our own +hearts, for the satisfying of our own nature, for the strengthening and +joy of our being, we need to go beyond ourselves, and to fix upon +something external to ourselves. We are not independent. None of us can +stand by himself. No man carries within him the fountain from which he +can draw. If a heart is to be blessed, it must go out of the narrow +circle of its own individuality; and if a man's life is to be strong and +happy, he must get the foundation of his strength somewhere else than in +his own soul. And, my friends! especially you young men, all that modern +doctrine of self-reliance, though it has a true side to it, has also a +frightfully false side. Though it may he quite true that a man ought to +be, in one sense, sufficient for himself, and that there is no real +blessedness of which the root does not lie within the nature and heart +of the man; though all that be quite true, yet, if the doctrine means +(as on the lips of many a modern eloquent and powerful teacher of it, it +does mean) that we can do without God, that we may be self-reliant and +self-sufficient, and proudly neglectful of all the divine forces that +come down into life to brighten and gladden it, it is a lie, false and +fatal; and of all the falsehoods that are going about this world at +present, I know not one that is varnished over with more apparent truth, +that is smeared over with more of the honey that catches young, ardent, +ingenuous hearts, than that half-truth, and therefore most deceptive +error, which preaches independence, and self-reliance, and which +_means_--a man's soul does not 'thirst for the living God.' Take care of +it! We are made _not_ to be independent. + +We are made, next, to need, not _things_, but _living beings_. 'My soul +thirsteth'--for what? An abstraction, a possession, riches, a thing? No! +'my soul thirsteth for God, for _the living God_.' Yes, hearts want +hearts. The converse of Christ's saying is equally true; He said, 'God +is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit'; man +has a spirit, and man must have Spirit to worship, to lean upon, to live +by, or all will be inefficient and unsatisfactory. Oh, lay this to +heart, my brother!--no _things_ can satisfy a living soul. No +accumulation of dead matter can become the life of an immortal being. +The two classes are separated by the whole diameter of the +universe--matter and spirit, thing and person; and _you_ cannot feed +yourself upon the dead husks that lie there round about you--wealth, +position, honour. Books, thoughts, though they are nobler than these +other, are still inefficient. Principles, 'causes,' emotions springing +from truth, these are not enough. I want more than that, I want +something to love, something to lay a hand upon, that shall return the +grasp of the hand. A living man must have a living God, or his soul will +perish in the midst of earthly plenty, and will thirst and die whilst +the water of earthly delights is running all around him. We are made to +need _persons_, not _things_. + +Then again, we need _one_ Being who shall be all-sufficient. There is no +greater misery than that which may ensue from the attempt to satisfy our +souls by the accumulation of objects, each of them imperfect and finite, +which yet we fancy, woven together, will make an adequate whole. When a +heart is diverted from its one central purpose, when a life is split up +in a hundred different directions and into a hundred different emotions, +it is like a beam of light passed through some broken surface where it +is all refracted and shivered into fragments; there is no clear vision, +there is no perfect light. If a man is to be blessed, he must have one +source to which he can go. The merchantman that seeks for many goodly +pearls, may find the many; but until he has bartered them all for the +one, there is something lacking. Not only does the understanding require +to pass through the manifold, up and up in ever higher generalisations, +till it reaches the One from whom all things come; but the heart +requires to soar, if it would be at rest, through all the diverse +regions where its love may legitimately tarry for a while, until it +reaches the sole and central throne of the universe, and there it may +cease its flight, and fold its weary wings, and sleep like a bird within +its nest. We want a _Being_, and we want _one Being_ in whom shall be +sphered all perfection, in whom shall abide all power and blessedness; +beyond whom thought cannot pass, out of whose infinite circumference +love does not need to wander; besides whose boundless treasures no other +riches can be required; who is light for the understanding, power for +the will, authority for the practical life, purpose for the efforts, +motive for the doings, end and object for the feelings, home of the +affections, light of our seeing, life of our life, the love of our +heart, the one living God, infinite in wisdom, power, holiness, justice, +goodness and truth; who is all in all, and without whom everything else +is misery. 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.' + +Brother! let me ask you the question, before I pass on--the question for +the sake of which I am preaching this sermon: Do _you_ know that Father? +I know this much, that every heart here now answers an 'Amen' (if it +will be honest) to what I have been saying. Unrest; panting, desperate +thirst, deceiving itself as to where it should go; slaking itself 'at +the gilded puddles that the beasts would cough at,' instead of coming to +the water of life!--that is the state of man without God. That is +nature. That is irreligion. The condition in which every man is that is +not trusting in Jesus Christ, is this--thirsting for God, and not +knowing _whom_ he is thirsting for, and so not getting the supply that +he wants. + +II. There is a conscious longing, imperfect, but answered; and that is +the state of grace--the beginning of religion in a man's soul. + +If it be true that there are, as part of the universal human experience, +however overlaid and stifled, these necessities of which I have been +speaking, the very existence of the necessities affords a presumption, +before all evidence, that, somehow and somewhere, they shall be +supplied. There can be no deeper truth--none, I think, that ought to +have more power in shaping some parts of our Christian creed, than this, +that God is a faithful Creator; and where He makes men with longings, it +is a prophecy that those longings are going to be supplied. The same +ground which avails to defend doctrines that cannot be so well defended +by any other argument--the same ground on which we say that there is an +immortality, because men long for it and believe in it; that there is a +God because men cannot get rid of the instinctive conviction that there +is; that there is a retribution, because men's consciences do ask for +it, and cry out for it--the very same process which may be applied to +the buttressing and defending of all the grandest truths of the Gospel, +applies also in this practical matter. If I, made by God who knew what +He was doing when He made me, am formed with these deep necessities, +with these passionate longings--then it cannot but be that it is +intended that they should be to me a means of leading me to Him, and +that there they should be satisfied. For He is 'the faithful Creator,' +and He remembers the conditions under which His making of us has placed +us. 'He knoweth our frame,' and He remembereth what He has implanted +within us. And the presumption is, of course, turned into an actual +certainty when we let in the light of the Gospel upon the thing. Then we +can say to every man that thus is yearning after a goodness dimly +perceived, and does not know what it is that he wants, and we say to you +now, Brother! betake yourself to the cross of Christ go with those wants +of yours to 'the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world': He +will interpret them to you. He will explain to you, as you do not now +know, what they mean; and, better than that, He will supply them all. +Your souls are thirsting; and you look about, here and there, and +everywhere, for springs of water. _There_ is the fountain--go to Christ. +Your souls are thirsting for God. The unfathomed ocean of the Godhead +lies far beyond my lip; but here is the channel through which there +flows that river of water of life. Here is the manifested God, here is +the granted God, here is the Godhead coming into connection and union +with man, his wants and his sins--the 'living God' and His living Son, +His everlasting Word. 'He that believeth upon Him shall never hunger, +and he that cometh unto Him shall never thirst.' God is the divine and +unfathomable ocean; Christ the Son is the stream that brings salvation +to every man's lips. All wants are supplied there. Take it as a piece of +the simplest prose, with no rhetorical exaggeration about it, that +Christ is _everything_, everything that a man can want. We are made to +require, and to be restless until we possess, perfect truth--there it +is! We are made to want, and to be restless until we get, perfect, +infinite unchangeable love--there it is! We must have, or the burden of +our own self-will will be a misery to us, a hand laid upon the springs +of our conduct, authoritative and purifying, and have the blessedness of +some voice to say to us, 'I bid thee, and that is enough'--there it is! +We must have rest, purity, hope, gladness, life in our souls--there they +all are! Whatever form of human nature and character be yours, my +brother!--whatever exigencies of life you may be lying under the +pressure of--man or woman, adult or child, father or son, man of +business or man of thought, struggling with difficulties or bright with +joy--Oh! believe us, the perfecting of your character may be got in the +Lamb of God, and without Him it never can be possessed. Christ is +everything, and 'out of His fulness all we receive grace for grace.' + +Not only in Christ is there the perfect supply of all these necessities, +but also that fulness _becomes ours_ on the simple condition of desiring +it. The thirst for the living God in a man who has faith in Christ +Jesus, is not a thirst which amounts to pain, or arises from a sense of +non-possession. But in this divine region the principle of the giving is +this--to desire is to have; to long for is to possess. There is no wide +interval between the sense of thirst and the trickling of the stream +over the parched lip; but ever it is flowing, flowing past us, and the +desire is but the opening of the lips to receive the limpid and +life-giving waters. No one ever desired the grace of God, really and +truly desired it; but just in proportion as he desired it, he got +it--just in proportion as he thirsted, he was satisfied. Therefore we +have to preach that grand gospel that faith, simple, conscious longing, +turned to Christ, avails to bring down the full and perfect supply. + +But some Christian people here may reply, 'Ah! I wish it were so: what +was that you were saying at the beginning of your sermon, about men +having religious depression, about Christians longing and not +possessing?' Well, I have only this to say about that matter. Wherever +in a heart that really believes on God in Christ, there is a thirst that +amounts to pain, and that has with it a sense of non-possession, that is +not because Christ's fulness has become shrunken; that is not because +there is a change in God's law, that the measure of the desire is the +measure of the reception; but it is only because, for some reason or +other that belongs to the man alone, the desire is not deep, genuine, +simple, but is troubled and darkened. What we ask, we get. If I am a +Christian, however feeble I may be, the feebleness of my faith and the +feebleness of my desire may make my supplies of grace feeble; but if I +am a Christian, there is no such thing as an earnest longing +unsatisfied, no such thing as a thirst accompanied with a pain and sense +of want, except in consequence of my own transgression. + +And thus there _is_ a longing imperfect in this life, but fully supplied +according to the measure of its intensity, a longing after 'the living +God'; and that is the state of a Christian man. And O my friend! that is +a widely different desire from the other that I have been speaking +about. It is blessed thus to say, 'My soul thirsteth for God.' It is +blessed to feel the passionate wish for more light, more grace, more +peace, more wisdom, more of God. That _is_ joy, that _is_ peace! Is that +_your_ experience in this present life? + +III. Lastly, there is a perfect longing perfectly satisfied; and that is +heaven. + +We shall not there be independent, of course, of constant supplies from +the great central Fulness, any more than we are here. One may see in one +aspect, that just as the Christian life here on earth is in a very true +sense a state of never thirsting any more, because we have Christ, and +yet in another sense is a state of continual longing and desire--so the +Christian and glorified life in heaven, in one view of it, is the +removal of all that thirst which marked the condition of man upon earth, +and in another is the perfecting of all those aspirations and desires. +Thirst, as longing, is eternal; thirst, as aspiration after God, is the +glory of heaven; thirst, as desire for more of Him, is the very +condition of the celestial world, and the element of all its +blessedness. + +That future life gives us two elements, an infinite God, and an +indefinitely expansible human spirit: an infinite God to fill, and a +soul to be filled, the measure and the capacity of which has no limit +set to it that we can see. What will be the consequence of the contact +of these two? Why this, for the first thing, that always, at every +moment of that blessed life, there shall be a perpetual fruition, a +perpetual satisfaction, a deep and full fountain filling the whole soul +with the refreshment of its waves and the music of its flow. And yet, +and yet--though at every moment in heaven we shall be satisfied, filled +full of God, full to overflowing in all our powers--yet the very fact +that the God who dwells in us, and fills our whole natures with +unsullied and perfect blessedness, is an infinite God; and that we in +whom the infinite Father dwells, are men with souls that can grow, and +can grow for ever--will result in this, that at every moment our +capacities will expand; that at every moment, therefore, the desire will +grow and spring afresh; that at every moment God will be seen unveiling +undreamed-of beauties, and revealing hitherto unknown heights of +blessedness before us; and that the sight of that transcendent, +unapproached, unapproachable, and yet attracting and transforming glory, +will draw us onward as by an impulse from above, and the possession of +some portion of it will bear us upward as by a power from within; and +so, nearer, nearer, ever nearer to the throne of light, the centre of +blessedness, the growing, and glorifying, and greatening souls of the +perfectly and increasingly blessed shall 'mount up with wings as +eagles.' Heaven _is_ endless longing, accompanied with an endless +fruition--a longing which is blessedness, a longing which is life! + +My brother! let me put two sayings of Scripture side by side, 'My soul +thirsteth for God, for the living God,'--'Father Abraham! send Lazarus, +that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.' +There be two thirsts, one, the longing for God, which, satisfied, is +heaven; one, the longing for quenching of self-lit fires, and for one +drop of the lost delights of earth to cool the thirsty throat, which, +unsatisfied, is hell. Then hearken to the final vision on the page of +Scripture, 'He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as +crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.' To us it +is showed, and to us the whole revelation of God converges to that last +mighty call, 'Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him +take the water of life freely!' + + + + +THE PSALMIST'S REMONSTRANCE WITH HIS SOUL + + + 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted + within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, the health of my + countenance, and my God.'--PSALM xliii. 5. + +This verse, which closes this psalm, occurs twice in the previous one. +It is a kind of refrain. Obviously this little psalm, of which my text +is a part, was originally united with the preceding one. That the two +made one is clear to anybody that will read them, by reason of +structure, and tone, and similarity of the singer's situation, and the +recurrence of many phrases, and especially of these significant words of +my text. + +The Psalmist is in circumstances of trouble and sorrow. We need not +enter upon them particularly, but the thing that I desire to point out +is that three times does the Psalmist take himself to task and question +himself as to the reasonableness of the emotions that are surging in his +soul, and checks these by higher considerations. Thrice he does it; +twice in vain, for the trouble and anxiety come rolling back upon him in +spite of the moment's respite, but the third time he triumphs. + +I. We note, then, first, that moods and emotions should be examined and +governed by a higher self. + +In the Psalmist's case, his gloom and despondency, which could plead +good reasons for their existence, had everything their own way at first, +and swept over his soul like the first rush of waters which have burst +their bounds. But, presently, the ruling part of his nature wakes, and +brings the feebler lower soul to its tribunal, and says, in effect, +'Now! now that I am here, what hast thou to say about these sorrows that +thou hast been complaining about? _Why_ art thou cast down, O my soul? +Why art thou disquieted? ... Hope in God!' + +I shall have a word or two to say presently about the details of this +remonstrance, but the main point that I make, to begin with, is just +this, that however strong and reasonably occasioned by circumstances a +man's emotions and feelings, either of the bright or the dark kind, may +be, they are not to be indulged, unless they have passed muster and +examination by that higher and better self. It is necessary to keep a +very tight hand upon _all_ our feelings, whether they be the natural +desires of the sensuous part of our nature, or whether they be the +sentiments of sadness, or doubt, or anxiety, or perplexity, which are +the natural results of outward circumstances of trial; or whether, on +the contrary, they be the bright and buoyant ones which come, like +angels, along with prosperous hours. But that necessity, commonplace as +it is of all morals and all religion, is yet a thing which, day by day, +we so forget that we need to be ever and anon reminded of it. + +There are hosts of people who, making profession of being Christians, do +not habitually put the brake on their moods and tempers, and who seem to +think that it is a sufficient vindication of gloom and sadness to say +that things are going badly with them in the outer world, and who act as +if they supposed that no joy can be too exuberant and no elation too +lofty if, on the other hand, things are going rightly. It is a miserable +travesty of the Christian faith to suppose that its prime purpose is +anything else than to put into our hands the power of ruling ourselves +because we let Christ rule us. + +And so, dear brethren! though it be the A B C of Christian teaching, +suffer this word of exhortation. It is only 'milk for babes,' but it is +milk that the babes are very unwilling to take. Learn from this verse +before us the solemn duty of rigid control, by the higher self, of the +tremulous, emotional lower self which responds so completely to every +change of temperature or circumstances in the world without. And +remember that there should be a central heat which keeps the temperature +substantially the same, whatever be the weather outside. As the +wheel-house, and the steering gear, and the rudder of the ship proclaim +their purpose of guidance and direction, so eloquently and unmistakably +does the make of our inward selves tell us that emotions and moods and +tempers are meant to be governed, often to be crushed, always to be +moderated, by sovereign will and reason. In the Psalmist's language, 'My +soul' has to give account of its tremors and flutterings to 'Me,' the +ruling Self, who should be Lord of temperament, and control the +fluctuations of feeling. + +II. Note that there are two ways of looking at causes of dejection and +disquiet. + +The whole preceding parts of both the psalms, before this refrain, are +an answer to the question which my text puts. 'Why art thou cast down, O +my soul?' 'My soul' has been talking two whole psalms, to explain why it +is cast down. And after all the eloquent torrent of words to vindicate +and explain its reasons for sadness--separation from the sanctuary, +bitter remembrances of bright days, which the poet tells us are 'a +sorrow's crown of sorrow,' taunts of enemies and the like--after all +these have been said over and over again, the Psalmist says to himself: +'Come now, let us hear it all once more. _Why_ art thou cast down? Why +art thou disquieted within me? Thou hast been telling the reasons +abundantly. Speak them once again, and let us have a look at them.' + +There is a court of appeal in each man, which tests and tries his +reasons for his moods; and these, which look very sufficient to the +flesh, turn out to be very insufficient when investigated and tested by +the higher spirit or self. We should 'appeal from Philip drunk to Philip +sober.' And if a man will be honest with himself, and tell himself why +he is in such a pucker of terror, or why he is in such a rapture of joy, +nine times out of ten the attempt to tell the reasons will be the +condemnation of the mood which they are supposed to justify. If men +would only bring the causes or occasions of the tempers and feelings +which they allow to direct them, to the bar of common sense, to say +nothing of religious faith, half the furious boilings in their hearts +would stop their ebullition. It would be like pouring cold water into a +kettle on the fire. It would end its bubbling. Everything has two +handles. The aspect of any event depends largely on the beholder's point +of view. 'There's nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.' +'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within +me?' The answer is often very hard to give; the question is always very +salutary to ask. + +III. Note that no reasons for being cast down are so strong as those for +elation and calm hope. + +'Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my +countenance and my God.' I need not deal here with the fact that the +first of the three occurrences of this refrain is, in our Bible, a +little different from the other two. That is probably a mistake in the +text. In all three cases the words ought to stand the same. + +Try to realise what God is to yourselves--'My God' and 'the health of my +countenance.' That will stimulate sluggish feeling; that will calm +disturbed emotion. He that can say 'My God!' and in that possession can +repose, will not be easily moved, by the trivialities and +transitorinesses of this life, to excessive disquiet, whether of the +exuberant or of the woful sort. There is a wonderful calming power in +realising our possession of God as our portion--not stagnating, but +quieting. I am quite sure that the troubles of our lives, and the +gladnesses of our lives, which often distract, would be far less +operative in disturbing, if we felt more that God was ours and that we +were God's. + +Brethren! 'there is no joy but calm.' To be at rest is better than +rapture. And there is no way of getting and keeping a fixed temper of +still tranquillity unless we go into that deep and hidden chamber, in +the secret place of the Most High, where we cannot 'hear the loud winds +when they call,' but dwell in security, whatever storms harass the land. +'Why art thou cast down,' or lifted 'up,' and, in either case, +'disquieted'? 'Hope in God,' and be at rest. + +IV. Note that the effort to lay hold on the truth which calms is to be +repeated in spite of failures. + +The words of our text are thrice repeated in these two psalms. In the +two former instances they are followed by a fresh burst of pained +feeling. A moment of tranquillity interrupts the agitation of the +Psalmist's soul, but is soon followed by the recurrence of 'the horrible +storm' that 'begins afresh.' A tiny island of blue appears in his sky, +and then the pale, ugly, grey rack drives across it once more. But the +guiding self keeps the hand firm on the tiller, notwithstanding the wash +of the water and the rolling of the ship, and the dominant will conquers +at last, and at the third time the yielding soul obeys and is quiet, +because the Psalmist's will resolved that it should be quiet, and it +hopes in God because He, by a dead lift of effort, lifts it up to hope. + +No effort at tranquillising our hearts is wholly lost; and no attempt to +lay hold upon God is wholly in vain. Men build a dam to keep out the +sea, and the winter storms make a breach in it, but it is not washed +away altogether, and next season they will not need to begin to build +from quite so low down; but there will be a bit of the former left, to +put the new structure upon, and so by degrees it will rise above the +tide, and at last will keep it out. + +Did you ever see a child upon a swing, or a gymnast upon a trapeze? Each +oscillation goes a little higher; each starts from the same lowest +point, but the elevation on either side increases with each renewed +effort, until at last the destined height is reached and the daring +athlete leaps on to a solid platform. So we may, if I might say so, by +degrees, by reiterated efforts, swing ourselves up to that steadfast +floor on which we may stand high above all that breeds agitation and +gloom. It is possible, in the midst of change and circumstances that +excite sad emotions, anxieties, and fears--it is possible to have this +calmness of hope in God. The rainbow that spans the cataract rises +steadfast above the white, tortured water beneath, and persists whilst +all is hurrying change below, and there are flowers on the grim black +rocks by the side of the fall, whose verdure is made greener and whose +brightness is made brighter, by the freshening of the spray of the +waterfall. So we may be 'as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,' and may +bid dejected and disquieted souls to hope in God and be still. + + + + +THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY + + + 'Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy + lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee forever. 3. Gird Thy sword + upon Thy thigh, O mighty one, Thy glory and Thy majesty. 4. And in + Thy majesty ride on prosperously, because of truth and meekness and + righteousness: and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things. + 5. Thine arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under Thee; they are in + the heart of the King's enemies. 6. Thy throne, O God, is for ever + and ever: a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. 7. Thou + hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness: therefore God, Thy + God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.' + --PSALM xlv. 2-7 (R.V.). + +There is no doubt that this psalm was originally the marriage hymn of +some Jewish king. All attempts to settle who that was have failed, for +the very obvious reason that neither the history nor the character of +any of them correspond to the psalm. Its language is a world too wide +for the diminutive stature and stained virtues of the greatest and best +of them, and it is almost ludicrous to attempt to fit its glowing +sentences even to a Solomon. They all look like little David in Saul's +armour. So, then, we must admit one of two things. Either we have here a +piece of poetical exaggeration far beyond the limits of poetic license, +or 'a greater than Solomon is here.' Every Jewish king, by virtue of his +descent and of his office, was a living prophecy of the greatest of the +sons of David, the future King of Israel. And the Psalmist sees the +ideal Person who, as he knew, was one day to be real, shining through +the shadowy form of the earthly king, whose very limitations and +defects, no less than his excellences and his glories, forced the devout +Israelite to think of the coming King in whom 'the sure mercies' +promised to David should be facts at last. In plainer words, the psalm +celebrates Christ, not only although, but because, it had its origin and +partial application in a forgotten festival at the marriage of some +unknown king. It sees Him in the light of the Messianic hope, and so it +prophesies of Christ. My object is to study the features of this +portrait of the King, partly in order that we may better understand the +psalm, and partly in order that we may with the more reverence crown Him +as Lord of all. + +I. The Person of the King. + +The old-world ideal of a monarch put special emphasis upon two +things--personal beauty and courtesy of address and speech. The psalm +ascribes both of these to the King of Israel, and from both of them +draws the conclusion that one so richly endowed with the most eminent of +royal graces is the object of the special favour of God. 'Thou art +fairer than the children of men, grace is poured into Thy lips: +therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.' + +Here, at the very outset, we have the keynote struck of superhuman +excellence; and though the reference is, on the surface, only to +physical perfection, yet beneath that there lies the deeper reference to +a character which spoke through the eloquent frame, and in which all +possible beauties and sovereign graces were united in fullest +development, in most harmonious co-operation and unstained purity. + +'Thou art fairer than the children of men.' Put side by side with that, +words which possibly refer to, and seem to contradict it. A later +prophet, speaking of the same Person, said: 'His visage was so marred, +more than any man, and His form than the sons of men.... There is no +form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that +we should desire Him.' We have to think, not of the outward form, +howsoever lovely with the loveliness of meekness and transfigured with +the refining patience of suffering it may have been, but of the beauty +of a soul that was all radiant with a lustre of loveliness that shames +the fragmentary and marred virtues of the best of us, and stands before +the world for ever as the supreme type and high-water mark of the grace +that is possible to a human spirit. God has lodged in men's nature the +apprehension of Himself, and of all that flows from Him, as true, as +good, as beautiful; and to these three there correspond wisdom, +morality, and art. The latter, divorced from the other two, becomes +earthly and devilish. This generation needs the lesson that beauty +wrenched from truth and goodness, and pursued for its own sake, by +artist or by poet or by _dilettante_, leads by a straight descent to +ugliness and to evil, and that the only true satisfying of the deep +longing for 'whatsoever things are lovely' is to be found when we turn +to Christ and find in Him, not only wisdom that enlightens the +understanding, and righteousness that fills the conscience, but beauty +that satisfies the heart. He is 'altogether lovely.' Nor let us forget +that once on earth 'the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His +raiment did shine as the light,' as indicative of the possibilities that +lay slumbering in His lowly Manhood, and as prophetic of that to which +we believe that the ascended Christ hath now attained--viz. the body of +His glory, wherein He reigns, filled with light and undecaying +loveliness on the Throne of the Heaven. Thus He is fairer in external +reality now, as He is, by the confession of an admiring, though not +always believing, world, fairer in inward character than the children of +men. + +Another personal characteristic is 'Grace is poured into Thy lips.' +Kingly courtesy, and kingly graciousness of word, must be the +characteristic of the Sovereign of men. The abundance of that bestowment +is expressed by that word, 'poured.' We need only remember, 'All +wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth,' or how +even the rough instruments of authority were touched and diverted from +their appointed purpose, and came back and said, 'Never man spake like +this Man.' To the music of Christ's words all other eloquence is harsh, +poor, shallow--like the piping of a shepherd boy upon some wretched +oaten straw as compared with the full thunder of the organ. Words of +unmingled graciousness came from His lips. That fountain never sent +forth 'sweet waters and bitter.' He satisfies the canon of St. James: +'If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.' Words of +wisdom, of love, of pity, of gentleness, of pardon, of bestowment, and +only such, came from Him. 'Daughter! be of good cheer.' 'Son! thy sins +be forgiven thee.' 'Come unto Me all ye that labour and are +heavy-laden.' + +'Grace is poured into Thy lips'; and, withal, it is the grace of a King. +For His language is authoritative even when it is most tender, and regal +when it is most gentle. His lips, sweet as honey and the honeycomb, are +the lips of an Autocrat. 'He speaks, and it is done: He commands, and it +stands fast.' He says to the tempest, 'Be still!' and it is quiet; and +to the demons, 'Come out of him!' and they disappear; and to the dead, +'Come forth!' and he stumbles from the tomb. + +Another personal characteristic is--'God hath blessed Thee for ever.' By +which we are to understand, not that the two preceding graces are the +reasons for the divine benediction, but that the divine benediction is +the cause of them; and therefore they are the signs of it. It is not +that because He is lovely and gracious therefore God hath blessed Him; +but it is that we may know that God has blessed Him, since He is lovely +and gracious. These endowments are the results, not the causes; the +signs or the proofs, not the reasons of the divine benediction. That is +to say, the humanity so fair and unique shows by its beauty that it is +the result of the continual and unique operation and benediction of a +present God. We understand Him when we say, 'On Him rests the Spirit of +God without measure or interruption.' The explanation of the perfect +humanity is the abiding Divinity. + +II. We pass from the person of the King, in the next place, to His +warfare. + +The Psalmist breaks out in a burst of invocation, calling upon the King +to array Himself in His weapons of warfare, and then in broken clauses +vividly pictures the conflict. The Invocation runs thus: 'Gird on thy +sword upon thy thigh, O mighty hero! gird on thy glory and thy majesty, +and ride on prosperously on behalf (or, in the cause) of truth and +meekness and righteousness.' The King, then, is the perfection of +warrior strength as well as of beauty and gentleness--a combination of +qualities that speaks of old days when kings _were_ kings, and reminds +us of many a figure in ancient song, as well as of a Saul and a David in +Jewish history. + +The singer calls upon Him to bind on His side His glittering sword, and +to put on, as His armour, 'glory and majesty.' These two words, in the +usage of the psalms, belong to Divinity, and they are applied to the +monarch here as being the earthly representative of the divine +supremacy, on whom there falls some reflection of the glory and the +majesty of which He is the vice-regent and representative. Thus arrayed, +with His weapon by His side and glittering armour on His limbs, He is +called upon to mount His chariot or His warhorse and ride forth. + +But for what? 'On behalf of truth, meekness, righteousness.' If He be a +warrior, these are the purposes for which the true King of men must draw +His sword, and these only. No vulgar ambition or cruel lust of conquest, +earth-hunger, or 'glory' actuates Him. Nothing but the spread through +the world of the gracious beauties which are His own can be the end of +the King's warfare. He fights for truth; He fights--strange paradox--for +meekness; He fights for righteousness. And He not only fights _for_ them, +but _with_ them, for they are His own, and by _reason_ of them He 'rides +prosperously,' as well as 'rides prosperously' in order to establish +them. + +In two or three swift touches the Psalmist next paints the tumult and +hurry of the fight. 'Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.' +There are no armies or allies, none to stand beside Him. The one mighty +figure of the Kingly Warrior stands forth, as in the Assyrian sculptures +of conquerors, erect and solitary in His chariot, crashing through the +ranks of the enemy, and owing victory to His own strong arm alone. + +Then follow three short, abrupt clauses, which, in their hurry and +fragmentary character, reflect the confusion and swiftness of battle. +'Thine arrows are sharp.... The people fall under Thee.' ... 'In the +heart of the King's enemies.' The Psalmist sees the bright arrow on the +string; it flies; he looks--the plain is strewed with prostrate forms, +the King's arrow in the heart of each. + +Put side by side with that this picture:--A rocky road; a great city +shining in the morning sunlight across a narrow valley; a crowd of +shouting peasants waving palm branches in their rustic hands; in the +centre the meek carpenter's Son, sitting upon the poor robes which alone +draped the ass's colt, the tears upon His cheeks, and His lamenting +heard above the Hosannahs, as He looked across the glen and said, 'If +thou hadst known the things that belong to thy peace!' That is the +fulfilment, or part of the fulfilment, of this prophecy. The +slow-pacing, peaceful beast and the meek, weeping Christ are the reality +of the vision which, in such strangely contrasted and yet true form, +floated before the prophetic eye of this ancient singer, for Christ's +humiliation is His majesty, and His sharpest weapon is His +all-penetrating love, and His cross is His chariot of victory and throne +of dominion. + +But not only in His earthly life of meek suffering does Christ fight as +a King, but all through the ages the world-wide conflict for truth and +meekness and righteousness is His conflict; and wherever that is being +waged, the power which wages it is His, and the help which is done upon +earth He doeth it all Himself. True, He has His army, willing in the day +of His power, and clad in priestly purity and armour of light, but all +their strength, courage, and victory are from Him; and when they fight +and conquer, it is not they, but He in them who struggles and overcomes. +We have a better hope than that built on 'a stream of tendency that +makes for righteousness.' We know a Christ crucified and crowned, who +fights for it, and what He fights for will hold the field. + +This prophecy of our psalm is not exhausted yet. I have set side by side +with it one picture--the Christ on the ass's colt. Put side by side with +it this other. 'I beheld the heaven opened; and lo! a white horse. And +He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness +He doth judge and make war.' The psalm waits for its completion still, +and shall be fulfilled on that day of the true marriage supper of the +Lamb, when the festivities of the marriage chamber shall be preceded by +the last battle and crowning victory of the King of kings, the Conqueror +of the world. + +III. Lastly, we have the royalty of the King. + +'Thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever.' This is not the place nor +time to enter on the discussion of the difficulties of these words. I +must run the risk of appearing to state confident opinions without +assigning reasons, when I venture to say that the translation in the +Authorised Version is the natural one. I do not say that others have +been adopted by reason of doctrinal prepossessions; I know nothing about +that; but I do say that they are not by any means so natural a +translation as that which stands before us. What it may mean is another +matter; but the plain rendering of the words, I venture to assert, is +what our English Bible makes it--'Thy throne, O God! is for ever and +ever.' + +Then it is to be remembered that, throughout the Old Testament, we have +occasional instances of the use of that great and solemn designation in +reference to persons in such place and authority as that they are +representatives of God. So kings and judges and lawyers and the like are +spoken of more than once. Therefore there is not, in the language, +translated as in our English Bible, necessarily the implication of the +unique divinity of the persons so addressed. But I take it that this is +an instance in which the prophet was 'wiser than he knew,' and in which +you and I understand him better than he understood himself, and know +what God, who spoke through him, meant, whatsoever the prophet, through +whom He spoke, did mean. That is to say, I take the words before us as +directly referring to Jesus Christ, and as directly declaring the +divinity of His person, and therefore the eternity of His kingdom. + +We live in days when that perpetual sovereignty is being questioned. In +a revolutionary time like this it is well for Christian people, seeing +so many venerable things going, to tighten their grasp upon the +conviction that, whatever goes, Christ's kingdom will not go; and that, +whatever may be shaken by any storms, the foundation of His Throne +stands fast. For our personal lives, and for the great hopes of the +future beyond the grave, it is all-important that we should grasp, as an +elementary conviction of our faith, the belief in the perpetual rule of +that Saviour whose rule is life and peace. In the great mosque of +Damascus, which was a Christian church once, there may still be read, +deeply cut in the stone, high above the pavement where now Mohammedans +bow, these words, 'Thy kingdom, O Christ! is an everlasting kingdom.' It +is true, and it shall yet be known that He is for ever and ever the +Monarch of the world. + +Then, again, this royalty is a royalty of righteousness. 'The sceptre of +Thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest +wickedness.' His rule is no arbitrary sway, His rod is no rod of iron +and tyrannical oppression, His own personal character is righteousness. +Righteousness is the very life-blood and animating principle of His +rule. He loves righteousness, and, therefore, puts His broad shield of +protection over all who love it and seek after it. He hates wickedness, +and therefore He wars against it wherever it is, and seeks to draw men +out of it. And thus His kingdom is the hope of the world. + +And, lastly, this dominion of perennial righteousness is the dominion of +unparalleled gladness. 'Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee +with the oil of joy above Thy fellows.' Set side by side with that the +other words, 'A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' And remember +how, near the very darkest hour of the Lord's earthly experiences, He +said:--'These things have I spoken unto you that My joy may remain in +you, and that your joy may be full.' Christ's gladness flowed from +Christ's righteousness. Because His pure humanity was ever in touch with +God, and in conscious obedience to Him, therefore, though darkness was +around, there was light within. He was 'sorrowful, yet always +rejoicing,' and the saddest of men was likewise the gladdest, and +possessed 'the oil of joy above His fellows.' + +Brother! that kingdom is offered to us; participation in that joy of our +Lord may belong to each of us. He rules that He may make us like +Himself, lovers of righteousness, and so, like Himself, possessors of +unfading joy. Make Him your King, let His arrow reach your heart, bow in +submission to His power, take for your very life His words of +graciousness, lovingly gaze upon His beauty till some reflection of it +shall shine from you, fight by His side with strength drawn from Him +alone, own and adore Him as the enthroned God-man, Jesus Christ, the Son +of God. Crown Him with the many crowns of supreme trust, heart-whole +love, and glad obedience. So shall you be honoured to share in His +warfare and triumph. So shall you have a throne close to His and eternal +as it. So shall His sceptre be graciously stretched out to you to give +you access with boldness to the presence-chamber of the King. So shall +He give you too, 'the oil of joy for mourning,' even in the 'valley of +weeping,' and the fulness of His gladness for evermore, when He sets you +at His right hand. + + + + +THE PORTRAIT OF THE BRIDE + + 'Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget + also thine own people, and thy father's house; 11. So shall the King + desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him. 12. And + the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among + the people shall entreat thy favour. 13. The King's daughter within + the palace is all glorious: her clothing is inwrought with gold. 14. + She shall be led unto the King in broidered work: the virgins, her + companions, that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 15. With + gladness and rejoicing shall they be led; they shall enter into the + King's palace.'--PSALM xlv. 10-15 (R.V.). + +The relation between God and Israel is constantly represented in the Old +Testament under the emblem of a marriage. The tenderest promises of +protection and the sharpest rebukes of unfaithfulness are based upon +this foundation. 'Thy Maker is thy Husband'; or, 'I am married unto +thee, saith the Lord.' The emblem is transferred in the New Testament to +Christ and His Church. Beginning with John the Baptist's designation of +Him as the Bridegroom, it reappears in many of our Lord's sayings and +parables, is frequent in the writings of the Apostle Paul, and reaches +its height of poetic splendour and terror in that magnificent +description in Revelation of 'the Bride, the Lamb's wife,' and 'the +marriage supper of the Lamb.' + +Seeing, then, the continual occurrence of this metaphor, it is unnatural +and almost impossible to deny its presence in this psalm. In a former +sermon I have directed attention to the earlier portion of it, which +presents us, in its portraiture of the King, a shadowy and prophetic +outline of Jesus Christ. I desire, in a similar fashion, to deal now +with the latter portion, which, in its portrait of the bride, presents +us with truths having their real fulfilment in the Church collectively +and in the individual soul. + +Of course, inasmuch as the consort of a Jewish monarch was not an +incarnate prophecy as her husband was, the transference of the +historical features of this wedding-song to a spiritual purpose is not +so satisfactory, or easy, in the latter part as in the former. There is +a thicker rind of prose fact, as it were, to cut through, and certain of +the features cannot be applied to the relation between Christ and His +Church without undue violence. But, whilst we admit that, it is also +clear that the main, broad outlines of this picture do require as well +as permit its higher application. Therefore I turn to them to try to +bring out what they teach us so eloquently and vividly of Christ's gifts +to, and requirements from, the souls that are wedded to Him. + +I. Now the first point is this--the all-surrendering Love that must mark +the Bride. + +The language of the tenth verse is the voice of prophecy or inspiration; +speaking words of fatherly counsel to the princess--'Forget also thine +own people and thy father's house.' Historically I suppose it points to +the foreign birth of the queen, who is called upon to abandon all old +ties, and to give herself with wholehearted consecration to her new +duties and relations. + +In all real wedded life, as those who have tasted it know, there comes, +by sweet necessity, the subordination, in the presence of a purer and +more absorbing love, brought close by a will itself ablaze with the +sacred glow. + +Therefore, while giving all due honour to other forms of Christian +opposition to the prevailing unbelief, I urge the cultivation of a +quickened spiritual life as by far the most potent. Does not history +bear me out in that view? What, for instance, was it that finished the +infidelity of the eighteenth century? Whether had Butler's _Analogy_ or +Charles Wesley's hymns, Paley's _Evidences_ or Whitefield's sermons, +most to do with it? A languid Church breeds unbelief as surely as a +decaying oak does fungus. In a condition of depressed vitality, the +seeds of disease, which a full vigour would shake off, are fatal. Raise +the temperature, and you kill the insect germs. A warmer tone of +spiritual life would change the atmosphere which unbelief needs for its +growth. It belongs to the fauna of the glacial epoch, and when the +rigours of that wintry time begin to melt, and warmer days to set in, +the creatures of the ice have to retreat to arctic wildernesses, and +leave a land no longer suited for their life. A diffused unbelief, such +as we see around us to-day, does not really arise from the logical basis +on which it seems to repose. It comes from something much deeper,--a +certain habit and set of mind which gives these arguments their force. +For want of a better name, we call it the spirit of the age. It is the +result of very subtle and complicated forces, which I do not pretend to +analyse. It spreads through society, and forms the congenial soil in +which these seeds of evil, as we believe them to be, take root. Does +anybody suppose that the growth of popular unbelief is owing to the +logical force of certain arguments? It is in the air; a wave of it is +passing over us. We are in a condition in which it becomes shall drop +the toys of earth as easily and naturally as a child will some trinket +or plaything, when it stretches out its little hand to get a better gift +from its loving mother. Love will sweep the heart clean of its +antagonists; and there is no real union between Jesus Christ and us +except in the measure in which we joyfully, and not as a reluctant +giving up of things that we would much rather keep if we durst, 'count +all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus +our Lord.' + +Have the terms of wedded life changed since my psalm was written? Is +there less need now than there used to be that, if we are to possess a +heart, we should give a whole heart? And have the terms of Christian +living altered since the old days, when He said, 'Whosoever he be of you +that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple'? Ah! I +fear me that it is no uncharitable judgment to say that the bulk of +so-called Christians are playing at being Christians, and have never +penetrated into the depths either of the sweet all-sufficiency of the +love which they say that they possess, or the constraining necessity +that is in it for the surrender of all besides. Many happy husbands and +wives, if they would only treat Jesus Christ as they treat one another, +would find out a power and a blessedness in the Christian life that they +know nothing about at present. 'Daughter! forget thine own people and +thy father's house!' + +II. Again, the second point here is that which directly follows--the +King's love and the Bride's reverence. 'So shall the King greatly desire +thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.' + +The King is drawn, in the outgoings of His affection, by the sweet trust +and perfect love which has surrendered everything for him and happily +followed him from the far-off land. And then, in accordance with +Oriental ideas, and with His royal rank, the bride is exhorted, in the +midst of the utter trust and equality born of love, to remember, 'He is +thy Lord, and reverence thou Him.' So, then, here are two thoughts that +go, as I take it, very deep into the realities of the Christian life. +The first is that, in simple literal fact, Jesus Christ is affected, in +His relation to us, by the completeness of our dependence upon Him, and +surrender of all else for Him. We do not believe that half vividly +enough. We have surrounded Jesus Christ with a halo of mystery and of +remoteness which neither lets us think of Him as being really man or +really God. And I press on you this as a plain fact, no piece of pulpit +rhetoric, that His relation to us as Christians hinges upon our +surrender to Him. Of course, there is a love with which He pours Himself +out over the unworthy and the sinful--blessed be His name!--and the more +sinful and the more unworthy, the deeper the tenderness and the more +yearning the pity and pathos of invitation which He lavishes upon us. +But that is a different thing from this other, which is that He is +pleased or displeased, actually drawn to or repelled from us, in the +measure of the completeness and gladness of our surrender of ourselves +to Him. That is what Paul means when he says that he labours that +'whether present or absent he may be pleasing to Christ.' And this is +the highest and strongest motive that I know for all holy and noble +living, that we shall bring a smile into our Master's face and draw Him +nearer to ourselves thereby. '_So_ shall the King greatly desire thy +beauty.' + +Again, in the measure in which we live out our Christianity, in +whole-hearted and thorough surrender, in that measure shall we be +_conscious_ of His nearness and feel His love. + +There are many Christian people that have only religion enough to make +them uncomfortable, only enough to make religion to them a system of +regulations, negative and positive, the reasonableness and sweetness of +which they but partially apprehend. They must not do _this_ because it +is forbidden; they ought to do _that_ because it is commanded. They +would much rather do the forbidden thing, and they have no wish to do +the commanded thing, and so they live in twilight, and when they come +beside a man who really has been walking in the light of Christ's face, +the language of his experience, though it be but a transcript of facts, +sounds to them all unreal and fanatical. They miss the blessing that is +waiting for them, just because they have not really given up themselves. +If by resolute and continual opening of our hearts to Christ's real love +and presence, and by consequent casting off of our false and foolish +self-dependence, we were to blow away the clouds that come between us +and Him, we should feel the sunshine. But as it is, a miserable +multitude of professing Christians 'walk in the darkness, and have no +light,' or, at the most, but some wintry sunshine that struggles through +the thick mist, and does little more than reveal the barrenness that +lies around. Brethren! if you want to be happy Christians, be +out-and-out ones; and if you would have your hands and your hearts +filled with Christ, empty them of the trash that they grip so closely +now. + +Then, on the other side, there is the reminder and exhortation: 'He is +thy Lord, worship thou Him.' The beggar-maid that, in the old ballad, +married the king, in all her love was filled with reverence; and the +ragged, filthy souls, whom Jesus Christ stoops to love, and wash, and +make His own, are never to forget, in the highest rapture of their joy, +their lowly adoration, nor in the glad familiarity of their loving +approach to Him, cease to remember that the test of love is, 'Keep My +commandments.' + +There are types of emotional and sentimental religion that have a great +deal more to say about love than about obedience; that are full of half +wholesome apostrophes to a 'dear Lord,' and almost forget the '_Lord_' +in the emphasis which they put on the '_dear_.' And I want you to +remember this, as by no means an unnecessary caution, and of especial +value in some quarters to-day, that the test of the reality of Christian +love is its lowliness, and that all that which indulges in heated +emotion, and forgets practical service, is rotten and spurious. Though +the King desire her beauty, still, when He stretches out the golden +sceptre, Esther must come to Him with lowly guise and a reverent heart. +'He is thy Lord, worship thou Him.' + +III. The next point in this portraiture is the reflected honour and +influence of the bride. + +There are difficulties about the translation of the 12th verse of our +psalm with which I do not need to trouble you. We may take it for our +purpose as it stands before us. 'The daughter of Tyre' (representing the +wealthy, outside nations) 'shall be there with a gift; even the rich +among the people shall entreat thy favour.' + +The bride being thus beloved by the King, thus standing by His side, +those around recognise her dignity and honour, and draw near to secure +her intercession. Translate that out of the emblem into plain words, and +it comes to this--if Christian people, and communities of such, are to +have influence in the world, they must be thorough-going Christians. If +they are, they will get hatred sometimes; but men know honest people and +religious people when they see them, and such Christians will win +respect and be a power in the world. If Christian men and Christian +communities are despised by outsiders, they very generally earn the +contempt and deserve it, both from men and from heaven. The true +evangelist is Christian character. They that manifestly live with the +sunshine of the Lord's love on their faces, and whose hands are plainly +clear from worldly and selfish graspings, will have the world +recognising the fact and honouring them accordingly. 'The sons of them +that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that +despised thee shall bow themselves down to the soles of thy feet.' When +the Church has cast the world out of its heart, it will conquer the +world--and not till then. + +IV. The next point in this picture is the fair adornment of the bride. +The language is in part ambiguous; and if this were the place for +commenting would require a good deal of comment. But we take it as it +stands in our Bible, 'The King's daughter is all glorious within'--not +within her nature, but within the innermost recesses of the palace--'her +clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in +raiment of needlework.' + +It is an easy and well-worn metaphor to talk about people's character as +their dress. We speak about the 'habits' of a man, and we use that word +to express both his customary manners and his costume. Custom and +costume, again, are the same word. So here, without any departure from +the well-trodden path of Scriptural emblem, we cannot but see in the +glorious apparel the figure of the pure character with which the bride +is clothed. The Book of the Revelation dresses her in the fine linen +clean and white, which symbolises the lustrous radiance and snowy purity +of righteousness. The psalm describes her dress as partly consisting in +garments gleaming with gold, which suggests splendour and glory, and +partly in robes of careful and many-coloured embroidery, which suggests +the patience with which the slow needle has been worked through the +stuff, and the variegated and manifold graces and beauties with which +she is adorned. + +So, putting all the metaphors together, the true Christian character, +which will be ours if we really are the subjects of that divine love, +will be lustrous and snowy as the snows on Hermon, or as was the garment +whose whiteness outshone the neighbouring snows when He was +'transfigured before them.' Our characters will be splendid with a +splendour far above the tawdry beauties and vulgar conspicuousness of +the 'heroic' and worldly ideals, and will be endowed with a purity and +harmony of colouring in richly various graces, such as no earthly looms +can ever weave. + +We are not told here how the garment is attained. It is no part of the +purpose of the psalm to tell us that, but it is part of its purpose to +insist that there is no marriage between Christ and the soul except that +soul be pure, none except it be robed in the beauty of righteousness and +the splendour of consecration, and the various gifts of an all-giving +Spirit. The man that came into the wedding-feast, with his dirty, +every-day clothes on, was turned out as a rude insulter. But what of the +queen that should come foully dressed? There would be no place for her +amidst its solemnities. You will never stand at the right hand of +Christ, unless jour souls here are clothed in the fine linen clean and +white, and over it the flashing wealth and the harmonised splendour of +the gold and embroidery of Christlike graces. We know how to get the +garment. Faith strips the rags and puts the best robe on us; and effort +based upon faith enables us day by day to put off the old man with his +deeds and to put on the new man. The bride 'made _herself_ ready,' and +'to her was _granted_ that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean +and white.' + +V. Lastly, we have the picture of the homecoming of the bride. 'She +shall be brought unto the King.... with gladness and rejoicing shall +they be brought; they shall enter into the King's palace.' + +The presence of virgin companions waiting on the bride is no more +difficult to understand here than it is in Christ's parable of the Ten +Virgins. It is a characteristic of all parabolical representation to be +elastic, and sometimes to duplicate its emblems for the same thing; and +that is the case here. But the main point to be insisted upon is this, +that, according to the perspective of Scripture, the life of the +Christian Church here on earth is, if I may so say, a betrothal in +righteousness and loving-kindness; and that the betrothal waits for its +consummation in that great future when the bride shall pass into the +presence of the King. The whole collective body of sinful souls redeemed +by His blood, and who know the sweetness of His partially received love, +shall be drawn within the curtains of that upper house, and enter into a +union with Christ Jesus ineffable, incomprehensible till experienced; +and of which the closest union of loving souls on earth is but a dim +shadow. 'He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit'; and the reality +of our union with Him rises above the emblem of a marriage, as high as +spirit rises above flesh. + +The psalm stops at the palace-gate. 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, +neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath +prepared for them that love Him.' But there is a solemn prelude to that +completed union and its deep rapture. Before it there comes the last +campaign of the conquering King on the white horse, who wars in +righteousness. Dear friends! you must choose now whether you will be of +the company of the Bride or of the company of the enemy. 'They that were +ready went in with Him unto the marriage, and the door was shut.' + +Which side of the door do _you_ mean to be on? + + + + +THE CITY AND RIVER OF GOD + + + 'There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of + God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5. God is + in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and + that right early. 6. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He + uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7. The Lord of hosts is with + us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.'--PSALM xlvi 4-7. + +There are two remarkable events in the history of Israel, one or other +of which most probably supplied the historical basis upon which this +psalm rests. One is that wonderful deliverance of the armies of +Jehoshaphat from the attacking forces of the bordering nations, which is +recorded in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Chronicles. There you +will find that, by a singular arrangement, the sons of Korah, members of +the priestly order, were not only in the van of the battle, but +celebrated the victory by hymns of gladness. It is possible that this +may be one of those hymns; but I think rather that the more ordinary +reference is the correct one, which sees in this psalm and in the two +succeeding ones, echoes of that supernatural deliverance of Israel in +the time of Hezekiah, when + + 'The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,' + +and Sennacherib and all his army were, by the blast of the breath of His +nostrils, swept into swift destruction. + +The reasons for that historical reference may be briefly stated. We +find, for instance, a number of remarkable correspondences between these +three psalms and portions of the Book of the prophet Isaiah, who, as we +know, lived in the period of that deliverance. The comparison, for +example, which is here drawn with such lofty, poetic force between the +quiet river which 'makes glad the city of God,' and the tumultuous +billows of the troubled sea, which shakes the mountain and moves the +earth, is drawn by Isaiah in regard to the Assyrian invasion, when he +speaks of Israel refusing 'the waters of Shiloah, which go softly,' and, +therefore, having brought upon them the waters of the river--the power +of Assyria--'which shall fill the breadth of Thy land, O Immanuel!' +Notice, too, that the very same consolation which was given to Isaiah, +by the revelation of that significant appellation, 'Immanuel, God with +us,' appears in this psalm as a kind of refrain, and is the foundation +of all its confident gladness, 'The Lord of Hosts is with us.' Besides +these obvious parallelisms, there are others to which I need not refer, +which, taken together, seem to render it at least probable that we have +in this psalm the devotional echo of the great deliverance of Israel +from Assyria in the time of Hezekiah. + +Now, these verses are the cardinal central portion of the song. We may +call them The Hymn of the Defence and Deliverance of the City of God. We +cannot expect to find in poetry the same kind of logical accuracy in the +process of thought which we require in treatises; but the lofty emotion +of devout song obeys laws of its own: and it is well to surrender +ourselves to the flow, and to try to see with the Psalmist's eyes for a +moment his sources of consolation and strength. + +I take the four points which seem to be the main turning-points of these +verses--first, the gladdening river; second, the indwelling Helper; +third, the conquering voice; and fourth, the alliance of ourselves by +faith with the safe dwellers in the city of God. + +I. First, we have the gladdening river--an emblem of many great and +joyous truths. + +The figure is occasioned by, or at all events derives much of its +significance from, a geographical peculiarity of Jerusalem. Alone among +the great cities and historical centres of the world, it stood upon no +broad river. One little perennial stream, or rather rill of living +water, was all which it had; but Siloam was mightier and more blessed +for the dwellers in the rocky fortress of the Jebusites than the +Euphrates, Nile, or Tiber for the historical cities which stood upon +their banks. One can see the Psalmist looking over the plain eastward, +and beholding in vision the mighty forces which came against them, +symbolised and expressed by the breadth and depth and swiftness of the +great river upon which Nineveh sat as a queen, and then thinking upon +the little tiny thread of living water that flowed past the base of the +rock upon which the temple was perched. It seems small and +unconspicuous--nothing compared to the dash of the waves and the rise of +the floods of those mighty secular empires, still, 'There is a river the +streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.' Its waters shall never +fail, and thirst shall flee whithersoever this river comes. + +It is also to be remembered that the psalm is running in the track of a +certain constant symbolism that pervades all Scripture. From the first +book of Genesis down to the last chapter of Revelation, you can hear the +dashing of the waters of the river. 'It went out from the garden and +parted into four heads.' 'Thou makest them drink of the river of Thy +pleasures.' 'Behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the +house eastward,' and 'everything shall live whithersoever the river +cometh.' 'He that believeth on me, out of His belly shall flow rivers of +living water.' 'And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as +crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.' Isaiah, +who has already afforded some remarkable parallels to the words of our +psalm, gives another very striking one to the image now under +consideration, when he says, 'The glorious Lord will be unto us a place +of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars.' The +picture in that metaphor is of a stream lying round Jerusalem, like the +moated rivers which girdle some of the cities in the plains of Italy, +and are the defence of those who dwell enclosed in their flashing links. + +Guided, then, by the physical peculiarity of situation which I have +referred to, and by the constant meaning of Scriptural symbolism, I +think we must conclude that this river, 'the streams whereof make glad +the city of God,' is God Himself in the outflow and self-communication +of His own grace to the soul. The stream is the fountain in flow. The +gift of God, which is living water, is God Himself, considered as the +ever-imparting Source of all refreshment, of all strength, of all +blessedness. 'This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe +should receive.' + +We must dwell for a moment or two still further upon these words, and +mark how this metaphor, in a most simple and natural way, sets forth +very grand and blessed spiritual truths with regard to this +communication of God's grace to them that love Him and trust Him. First, +I think we may see here a very beautiful suggestion of the manner, and +then of the variety, and then of the effects of that communication of +the divine love and grace. + +We have only to read the previous verses to see what I mean. 'God is our +refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not +we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be +carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be +troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.' There +you can hear the wild waves dashing round the base of the firm hills, +sapping their strength, and toppling their crests down in the bubbling, +yeasty foam. Remember how, not only in Scripture but in all poetry, the +sea has been the emblem of endless unrest. Its waters, those barren, +wandering fields of foam, going moaning round the world with +unprofitable labour, how they have been the emblem of unbridled power, +of tumult and strife, and anarchy and rebellion! Then mark how our text +brings into sharpest contrast with all that hurly-burly of the tempest, +and the dash and roar of the troubled waters, the gentle, quiet flow of +the river, 'the streams whereof make glad the city of God'; the +translucent little ripples purling along beds of golden pebbles, and the +enamelled meadows drinking the pure stream as it steals by them. Thus, +says our psalm, not with noise, not with tumult, not with conspicuous +and destructive energy, but in silent, secret underground communication, +God's grace, God's love, His peace, His power, His almighty and gentle +Self flow into men's souls. Quietness and confidence on our sides +correspond to the quietness and serenity with which He glides into the +heart. Instead of all the noise of the sea you have within the quiet +impartations of the voice that is still and small, wherein God dwells. +The extremest power is silent. The mightiest force in all the universe +is the force which has neither speech nor language. The parent of all +physical force, as astronomers seem to be more and more teaching us, is +the great central sun which moveth all things, which operates all +physical changes, whose beams are all but omnipotent, and yet fall so +quietly that they do not disturb the motes that dance in their path. +Thunder and lightning are child's play compared with the energy that +goes to make the falling dews and quiet rains. The power of the sunshine +is the root power of all force which works in material things. And so we +turn, with the symbol in our hands, to the throne of God, and when He +says, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,' we are aware of an +energy, the signature of whose might is its quietness, which is +omnipotent because it is gentle and silent. The seas may roar and be +troubled, the tiny thread of the river is mightier than them all. + +And then, still further, in this first part of our text there is also +set forth very distinctly the number and the variety of the gifts of +God. 'The streams whereof,' literally, 'the divisions whereof,'--that is +to say, going back to Eastern ideas, the broad river is broken up into +canals that are led off into every man's little bit of garden ground; +coming down to modern ideas, the water is carried by pipes into every +man's household and chamber. The stream has its divisions; listen to +words that are a commentary upon the meaning of this verse, 'All these +worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing unto every man +severally as He will'--an infinite variety, an endless diversity, +according to all the petty wants of each that is supplied thereby. As +you can divide water all but infinitely, and it will take the shape of +every containing vessel, so into every soul according to its capacities, +according to its shape, according to its needs, this great gift, this +blessed presence of the God of our strength, will come. The varieties of +His gifts are as much the mark of His omnipotence as the gentleness and +stillness of them. + +And then I need only touch upon the last thought, the effects of this +communicated God. 'The streams make glad'--with the gladness which comes +from refreshment, with the gladness which comes from the satisfying of +all thirsty desires, with the gladness which comes from the contact of +the spirit with absolute completeness; of the will, with perfect +authority; of the heart, with changeless love; of the understanding, +with pure incarnate truth; of the conscience, with infinite peace; of +the child, with the Father; of my emptiness, with His fulness; of my +changeableness, with His immutability; of my incompleteness, with His +perfectness. They to whom this stream passes shall know no thirst; they +who possess it from them it shall come. Out of him 'shall flow rivers of +living water.' That all-sufficient Spirit not only becomes to its +possessor the source of individual refreshment, and slakes his own +thirst, but flows out from him for the gladdening of others. + + 'The least flower with a brimming cup may stand, + And share its dew-drop with another near.' + +The city thus supplied may laugh at besieging hosts. With the deep +reservoir in its central fortress, the foe may do as they list to all +surface streams, its water shall be sure, and no raging thirst shall +ever drive it to surrender. The river breaks from the threshold of the +Temple, within its walls, and when all beyond that safe enclosure is +cracked and parched in the fierce heat, and no green thing can be seen +in the dry and thirsty land, that stream shall 'make glad the city of +our God,' and 'everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh.' +'Thou shalt be as a well-watered garden, and as a river whose streams +fail not.' + +II. Then notice, secondly, substantially the same general thought, but +modified and put in plain words--the indwelling Helper. + +'God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her, +_and that_ right early,' or, as the latter clause had better be +translated, as it is given in the margin of some of our Bibles, 'God +shall help her at the appearance of the morning.' There are two promises +here: first of all, the constant presence; and second, help at the right +time. Whether there be actual help or no, there is always with us the +potential help of God, and it flashes into energy at the moment that He +knows to be the right one. The 'appearing of the morning' He determines; +not you or I. Therefore, we may be confident that we have God ever by +our sides. Not that that Presence is meant to avert outward or inward +trouble and trial, and painfulness and weariness; but in the midst of +these, and while they last, here is the assurance, 'She shall not be +moved'; and that it will not always last, here is the ground of the +confidence, 'God shall help her when the morning dawns.' + +I need not point out to you the contrast here between the tranquillity +of the city which has for its central Inhabitant and Governor the +omnipotent God, and the tumult of all that turbulent earth. The waves of +the troubled waters break everywhere,--they run over the flat plains and +sweep over the mountains of secular strength and outward might, and +worldly kingdoms, and human polities and earthly institutions, acting on +them all either by slow corrosive action at the base, or by the tossing +floods swirling against them, until they shall be lost in the ocean of +time. For 'the history of the world is the judgment of the world.' When +He wills the plains are covered and mountains disappear, but one rock +stands fast--'The mountain of the Lord's house is exalted above the top +of the mountains'; and when everything is rocking and swaying in the +tempests, here is fixity and tranquillity. 'She shall not be moved.' +Why? Because of her citizens? No. Because of her guards and gates? No! +Because of her polity? No! Because of her orthodoxy? No! But because God +is in her, and she is safe, and where He dwells no evil can come. 'Thou +carriest Caesar and his fortunes.' The ship of Christ carries the Lord +and His fortunes; and, therefore, whatsoever becomes of the other little +ships in the wild dash of the tempest, this with the Lord on board +arrives at its desired haven--'God is in the midst of her, she shall not +be moved.' + +Then, still further, that Presence which is always the pledge of +stability, and unmoved calm, even while causes of agitation are storming +around, will, as I said, flash into energy, and be a Helper and a +Deliverer at the right moment. And when will that right moment be? At +the appearing of the morning. 'And when they arose early in the morning, +they were all dead corpses'; in the hour of greatest extremity, but ere +the foe has executed his purposes; not too soon for fear and faith, not +too late for hope and help; when the morning dawns, when the appointed +hour of deliverance, which He alone determines, has struck. 'It is not +for you to know the times and seasons'; but this we may know, that He +who is the Lord of time will ever save at the best possible moment. He +will not come so quickly as to prevent us from feeling our need; He will +not tarry so long as to make us sick with hope deferred, or so long as +to let the enemy fulfil his purposes of destruction. 'Lord, behold! he +whom Thou lovest is sick. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and +Lazarus. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days +still in the same place where He was.... Lord, if Thou hadst been here, +my brother had not died. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise +again.... And he that was dead came forth.' + +The Lord may seem to sleep on His hard wooden pillow in the stern of the +little fishing boat, and even while the frail craft begins to fill may +show no sign of help. But ere the waves have rolled over her, the cry of +fear that yet trusts, and of trust that yet fears, wakes Him who knew +the need, even while He seemed to slumber, and one mighty word, as of a +master to some petulant slave, 'Peace! be still,' hushes the confusion, +and rebukes the fear, and rewards the faith. + +'The Lord is in the midst of her'--that is the perennial fact. 'The Lord +shall help her, and that right early'--that is the 'grace for seasonable +help.' + +III. The psalm having set forth these broad grounds of confidence, goes +on to tell the story of actual deliverance which confirms them, and of +which they are indeed but the generalised expression. + +The condensed narrative moves to its end by a series of short crashing +sentences like the ring of the destructive axe at the roots of trees. We +see the whole sequence of events as by lightning flashes, which give +brief glimpses and are quenched. The grand graphic words seem to pant +with haste, as they record Israel's deliverance. That deliverance comes +from the Conquering Voice. 'The heathen raged' (the same word, we may +note, as is found a verse or two back, 'Though the waters thereof +_roar_'), 'the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth +melted.' With what vigour these hurried sentences describe, first, the +wild wrath and formidable movements of the foe, and then the One +Sovereign Word which quells them all, as well as the instantaneous +weakness that dissolves the seeming solid substance when the breath of +His lips smites it! + +And where will you find a grander or loftier thought than this, that the +simple word--the utterance of the pure will of God conquers all +opposition, and tells at once in the sphere of material things? He +speaks, and it is done. At the sound of that thunder-voice, hushed +stillness and a pause of dread fall upon all the wide earth, deeper and +more awe-struck than the silence of the woods with their huddling +leaves, when the feebler peals roll through the sky. 'The depths are +congealed in the heart of the sea'--as if you were to lay hold of +Niagara in its wildest plunge, and were with a word to freeze all its +descending waters and stiffen them into immovableness in fetters of +eternal ice. So He utters His voice, and all meaner noises are hushed. +'The lion hath roared, who shall not fear?' + +He speaks--no weapon, no material vehicle is needed. The point of +contact between the pure divine will and the material creatures which +obey its behests is ever wrapped in darkness, whether these be the +settled ordinances which men call nature, or the less common which the +Bible calls miracle. In all alike there is, to every believer in a God +at all, an incomprehensible action of the spiritual upon the material, +which allows of no explanations to bridge over the gulf recognised in +the broken utterances of our psalm, 'He uttered His voice: the earth +melted.' + +How grandly, too, these last words give the impression of immediate and +utter dissolution of all opposition! All the Titanic brute forces are, +at His voice, disintegrated, and lose their organisation and solidity. +'The hills melted like wax'; 'The mountains flowed down at Thy +presence.' The hardness and obstinacy is all liquefied and enfeebled, +and parts with its consistency and is lost in a fluid mass. As two +carbon points when the electric stream is poured upon them are gnawed to +nothingness by the fierce heat, and you can see them wasting before your +eyes, so the concentrated ardour of His breath falls upon the hostile +evil, and lo! it is not. + +The Psalmist is generalising the historical fact of the sudden and utter +destruction of Sennacherib's host into a universal law. And it _is_ a +universal law--true for us as for Hezekiah and the sons of Korah, true +for all generations. Martin Luther might well make this psalm the battle +cry of the Reformation, and we may well make our own the rugged music +and dauntless hope of his rendering of these words:-- + + And let the Prince of Ill + Look grim as e'er he will, + He harms us not a whit. + For why? His doom is writ. + A word shall quickly slay him.' + +IV. Then note, finally, how the psalm shows us the act by which we enter +the City of God. + +'The Lord of Hosts is with _us_; the God of Jacob is _our_ refuge.' It +is not enough to lay down general truths, however true and however +blessed, about the safe and sacred city of God--not enough to be +theoretically convinced of the truth of the supreme governance and +ever-present aid of God. We must take a further step that will lead us +far beyond the regions of barren intellectual apprehension of the great +truths of God's love and care. These truths are nothing to us, brethren! +unless, like the Psalmist here, we make them our own, and losing the +burden of self in the very act of grasping them by faith, unite +ourselves with the great multitude who are joined together in Him, and +say, 'He is _my_ God: He is _our_ refuge.' That living act of +'appropriating faith' presupposes, indeed, the presence of these truths +in our understandings, but in the very act they are changed into powers +in our lives. They pass into the affections and the will. They are no +more empty generalities. Bread nourishes, not when it is looked at, but +when it is eaten. 'He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.' We feed +on Christ when we make Him ours by faith, and each of us is sustained +and blessed by Him when we can say, 'My Lord and my God!' + +Mark, too, how there is here set forth the twofold ground for our +calmest confidence in these two mighty names of God. + +'The Lord of Hosts is with us.' That majestic name includes all the +deepest and most blessed thoughts of God which the earlier revelation +imparted. That name of 'Jehovah' proclaims at once His Eternal Being and +His covenant relation--manifesting Him by its mysterious meaning as He +who dwells above time, the tideless sea of absolute unchanging +existence, from whom all the stream of creatural life flows forth +many-coloured and transient, to whom it all returns, who, Himself +unchanging, changeth all things, and declaring Him, by the historical +associations connected with it, as having unveiled His purposes in firm +words, to which men may trust, and as having entered into that solemn +league with Israel which underlay their whole national life. He is _the +Lord_ the Eternal,--the covenant name. + +He is the Lord of Hosts, the 'Imperator,' absolute Master and Commander, +Captain and King of all the combined forces of the universe, whether +they be personal or impersonal, spiritual or material, who, in serried +ranks, wait on Him, and move harmonious, obedient to His will. And this +Eternal Master of the legions of the universe is with us, weak and poor, +and troubled and sinful as we are. Therefore, we will not fear: what can +man do unto us? + +Again, when we say, 'The God of Jacob is our refuge,' we reach back into +the past, and lay hold of the mercies promised to, and received by, the +long vanished generations who trusted in Him and were lightened. As, by +the one name, we appeal to His own Being and uttered pledge, so, by the +other, we appeal to His ancient deeds--past as we call them, but present +with Him, who lives and loves in the undivided eternity above the low +fences of time. All that He has been, He is; all that He has done, He is +doing. We on whom the ends of the earth are come have the same Helper, +the same Friend that 'the world's grey fathers' had. They that go before +do not prevent them that come after. The river is full still. The van of +the pilgrim host did, indeed, long, long ago drink and were satisfied, +but the bright waters are still as pellucid, still as near, still as +refreshing, still as abundant as they ever were. Nay, rather, they are +fuller and more accessible to us than to patriarch and Psalmist, 'God +having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should +not be made perfect.' + +For we, brethren! have a fuller revelation of that mighty name, and a +more wondrous and closer divine presence by our sides. The psalm +rejoices in that 'The Lord of Hosts is with us'; and the choral answer +of the Gospel swells into loftier music, as it tells of the fulfilment +of psalmists' hopes and prophets' visions in Him who is called +'Immanuel,' which is, being interpreted, 'God with us.' The psalm is +confident in that God dwelt in Zion, and our confidence has the more +wondrous fact to lay hold of, that even now the Word who dwelt among us +makes His abode in every believing heart, and gathers them all together +at last in that great city, round whose flashing foundations no tumult +of ocean beats, whose gates of pearl need not be closed against any +foes, with whose happy citizens 'God will dwell, and they shall be His +people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.' + + + + +THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF JACOB + + + 'The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge.' + --PSALM xlvi. 11. + +Some great deliverance, the details of which we do not know, had been +wrought for Israel, and this psalmist comes forth, like Miriam with her +choir of maidens, to hymn the victory. The psalm throbs with exultation, +but no human victor's name degrades the singer's lips. There is only one +Conqueror whom he celebrates. The deliverance has been 'the work of the +Lord'; the 'desolations' that have been made on the 'earth' 'He has +made.' This great refrain of the song, which I have chosen for my text, +takes the experience of deliverance as a proof in act of an astounding +truth, and as a hope for the future. 'The Lord of hosts is with us; the +God of Jacob is our Refuge.' + +There is in these words a significant duplication of idea, both in +regard to the names which are given to God, and to that which He is +conceived as being to us; and I desire now simply to try to bring out +the force of the consolation and strength which lie in these two +epithets of His, and in the double wonder of His relation to us men. + +I. First, then, I ask you to look at the twin thoughts of God that are +here. 'The Lord of hosts ... The God of Jacob.' + +Now, with regard to the former of these grand names, it may be observed +that it does not occur in the earliest stages of Revelation as recorded +in the Old Testament. The first instance in which we find it is in the +song of Hannah in the beginning of the first Book of Samuel; and it +re-appears in the Davidic psalms and in psalms and prophecies of later +date. + +What 'hosts' are they of which God is the Lord? Is that great title a +mere synonym for the half-heathenish idea of the 'God of battles'? By no +means. True! He is the Lord of the armies of Israel, but the hosts which +the Psalmist sees ranged in embattled array, and obedient to the command +of the great Captain, are far other and grander than any earthly armies. +If we would understand the whole depth and magnificent sweep of the idea +enshrined in this name, we cannot do better than recall one or two other +Scripture phrases. For instance, the account of the Creation in the Book +of Genesis is ended by, 'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, +and all the host of them.' Then, remember that, throughout the Old +Testament, we meet constantly with the idea of the celestial bodies as +being 'the hosts of heaven.' And, still further, remember how, in one of +the psalms, we hear the invocation to 'all ye His hosts, ye ministers of +His that do His pleasure,' 'the angels that excel in strength,' to +praise and bless Him. If we take account of all these and a number of +similar passages, I think we shall come to this conclusion, that by that +title, 'the Lord of hosts,' the prophets and psalmists meant to express +the universal dominion of God over the whole universe in all its +battalions and sections, which they conceived of as one ranked army, +obedient to the voice of the great General and Ruler of them all. + +So the idea contained in the name is precisely parallel with that to +which the heathen centurion in the Gospels had come, by reflecting upon +the teaching of the legion in which he himself commanded, when he said, +'I am a man under authority, having servants under me; and I say to this +one, Go, and he goeth; to another, Come, and he cometh; to another, Do +this, and he doeth it--speak Thou the word!' To him Jesus Christ was +Captain of the Lord's hosts, and Ruler of all the ordered forces of the +universe. The Old Testament name enshrines the same idea. The universe +is an ordered whole. Science tells us that. Modern thought emphasises +it. But how cruel, relentless, crushing, that conception may be unless +we grasp the further thought which is presented in this great Name, and +see, behind all the play of phenomena, the one Will which is the only +power in the universe, and sways and orders all besides! The armies of +heaven and every creature in the great _Cosmos_ are the servants of this +Lord. Then we can stand before the dreadful mysteries and the all but +infinite complications of this mighty Whole, and say, 'These are His +soldiers, and He is their Captain, the Lord of hosts.' + +Next we turn, by one quick bound, from the wide sweep of that mighty +Name to the other, 'The God of Jacob.' The one carries us out among the +glories of the universe, and shows us, behind them all, the personal +Will of which they are the servants, and the Character of which they are +the expressions. The other brings us down to the tent of the solitary +wanderer, and shows us that that mighty Commander and Emperor enters +into close, living, tender, personal relations with one poor soul, and +binds Himself by that great covenant, which is rooted in His love alone, +to be the God who cares for and keeps and blesses the man in all his +wanderings. Neither does the command of the mighty Whole hinder the +closest relation to the individual, nor does the care of the individual +interfere with the direction of the Whole. The single soul stands out +clear and isolated, as if there were none in the universe but God and +himself; and the whole fulness of the divine power, and all the +tenderness of the God-heart, are lavished upon the individual, even +though the armies of the skies wait upon His nod. + +So, if we put the two names together, we get the completion of the great +idea; and whilst the one speaks to us of infinite power, of absolute +supremacy, of universal rule, and so delivers us from the fear of +nature, and from the blindness which sees only the material operations +and not the working Hand that underlies them, the other speaks to us of +gentle and loving and specific care, and holds out the hope that, +between man and God, there may be a bond of friendship and of mutual +possession so sweet and sacred that nothing else can compare with it. +The God of Jacob is the Lord of hosts. More wondrous still, the Lord of +hosts is the God of Jacob. + +II. Note, secondly, the double wonder of our relation to this great God. + +There is almost a tone of glad surprise, as well as of triumphant +confidence, in this refrain of our psalm, which comes twice in it, and +possibly ought to have come three times--at the end of each of its +sections. The emphasis is to be laid on the 'us' and the 'our,' as if +that was the miracle, and the fact which startled the Psalmist into the +highest rapture of astonished thankfulness. + +'The Lord of hosts is with _us_.' What does that say? It proclaims that +wondrous truth that no gulf between the mighty Ruler of all and us, the +insignificant little creatures that creep upon the face of this tiny +planet, has any power of separating us from Him. It is always hard to +believe that. It is harder to-day than it was when our Psalmist's heart +beat high at the thought. It is hard by reason of our sense-bound +blindness, by reason of our superficial way of looking at things, which +only shows us the nearest, and veils with their insignificances the +magnitude of the furthest. Jupiter is blazing in our skies every night +now; he is not one-thousandth part as great or bright as any one of the +little needle-points of light, the fixed stars, that are so much further +away; but he is nearer, and the intrusive brightness of the planet hides +the modest glories of the distant and shrouded suns. Just so it is hard +for us ever to realise, and to walk in the light of the realisation of, +the fact that the Lord of hosts, the Emperor of all things, is of a +truth with each of us. + +It is harder to-day than ever it was; for we have learned to think +rightly--or at least more rightly and approximately rightly--of the +position and age of man upon this earth. The Psalmist's ancient question +of devout thankfulness is too often travestied to-day into a question of +scoffing or of melancholy unbelief: 'When I consider the heavens, the +work of Thy hands; what is man? Art Thou mindful of him?' This psalm +comes to answer that. 'The Lord of hosts is with us.' True, we are but +of yesterday, and know nothing. True, earth is but a pin-point amidst +the universe's glories. True, we are crushed down by sorrow and by care; +and in some moods it seems supremely incredible that we should be of +such worth in the scale of Creation as that the Lord of all things +should, in a deeper sense than the Psalmist knew, have dwelt with us and +be with us still. But bigness is not greatness, and there is nothing +incredible in the belief that men, lower than the angels, and needing +God more because of their sin, do receive His visitations in an +altogether special sense, and that, passing by the lofty and the great +that may inhabit His universe, His chariot wheels stoop to us, and that, +because we are sinners, God is with us. + +Let me remind you, dear brethren! of how this great thought of my text +is heightened and transcended by the New Testament teaching. We believe +in One whose name is 'Immanuel, _God with us_.' Jesus Christ has come to +be with men, not only during the brief years of His earthly ministry, in +corporeal reality, but to be with all who love Him and trust Him, in a +far closer, more real, more deep, more precious, more operative Presence +than when He dwelt here. Through all the ages Christ Himself is with +every soul that loves Him; and He will dwell beside _us_ and bless _us_ +and keep _us_. God's presence means God's sympathy, God's knowledge, +God's actual help, and these are ours if we will. Instead of staggering +at the apparent improbability that so transcendent and mighty a Being +should stoop from His throne, where He lords it over the universe, and +enter into the narrow room of our hearts, let us rather try to rise to +the rapture of the astonished Psalmist when, looking upon the +deliverance that had been wrought, this was the leading conviction that +was written in flame upon his heart, 'The Lord of hosts is with _us_.' + +And then the second of the wonders that are here set forth in regard to +our relations to Him is, 'the God of Jacob is _our_ Refuge.' + +That carries for us the great truth that, just as the distance between +us and God makes no separation, and the gulf is one that is bridged over +by His love, so distance in time leads to no exhaustion of the divine +faithfulness and care, nor any diminution of the resources of His grace. +'The God of Jacob is _our_ Refuge.' The story of the past is the +prophecy of the future. What God has been to any man He will be to every +man, if the man will let Him. There is nothing in any of these grand +narratives of ancient days which is not capable of being reproduced in +our lives. God drew near to Jacob when he was lying on the stony ground, +and showed him the ladder set upon earth, with its top in the heavens, +and the bright-winged soldiers and messengers of His will ascending and +descending upon it, and His own face at the top. God shows you and me +that vision to-day. It was no vanishing splendour, no transient +illumination, no hallucination of the man's own thoughts seeking after a +helper, and the wish being father to the vision. But it was the +unveiling for a moment, in supernatural fashion, of the abiding reality. +'The God of Jacob is _our_ Refuge'; and whatever He was to His servant +of old He is to-day to you and me. + +We say that miracle has ceased. Yes. But that which the miracle effected +has not ceased; and that from which the miracle came has not ceased. The +realities of a divine protection, of a divine supply, of a divine +guidance, of a divine deliverance, of a divine discipline, and of a +divine reward at the last, are as real to-day as when they were mediated +by signs and wonders, by an open heaven and by an outstretched hand. +They who went before have not emptied the treasures of the Father's +house, nor eaten all the bread that He spreads upon the table. God has +no stepchildren, and no favourite and spoiled ones. All that the elder +brethren have had, we, on whom the ends of the dispensation are come, +may have just as really; and whatever God has been to the patriarch He +is to us to-day. + +Remember the experience of the man of whom our text speaks. The God of +Jacob manifested Himself to him as being a God who would draw near to, +and care for, and help, a very unworthy and poor creature. Jacob was no +saint at the beginning. Selfishness and cunning and many a vice clung +very close to his character; but for all that, God drew near to him and +cared for him and guided him, and promised that He would not leave him +till He had done that which He had spoken to him of. And He will do the +same for us--blessed be His name!--with all our faults and weaknesses +and craftiness and worldliness and sins. If He cared for that +huckstering Jew, as He did, even in his earlier days, He will not put us +away because He finds faults in us. 'The God of Jacob,' the supplanter, +the trickster, 'is our Refuge.' + +But remember how the divine Presence with that man had to be, because of +his faults, a Presence that wrought him sorrows and forced him to +undergo discipline. So it will be with us. He will not suffer sin upon +us; He will pass us through the fire and the water; and do anything with +us short of destroying us, in order to destroy the sin that is in us. He +does not spare His rod for His child's crying, but smites with judgment, +and sends us sorrows 'for our profit, that we should be partakers of His +holiness.' We may write this as the explanation over most of our +griefs--'the God of Jacob is our Refuge,' and He is disciplining us as +He did him. + +And remember what the end of the man was. 'Thy name shall no more be +called Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince thou hast power with God, and +hast prevailed.' So if we have God, who out of such a sow's ear made a +silk purse, out of such a stone raised up a servant for Himself, we may +be sure that His purpose in all discipline will be effected on us +submissive, and we shall end where His ancient servant ended, and shall +be in our turn princes with God. + +Let me recall to you also the meaning which Jesus Christ found in this +name. He quoted 'the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob' as being +the great guarantee and proof to us of immortality. 'The God of Jacob is +our Refuge.' If so, what can the grim and ghastly phantom of death do to +us? He may smite upon the gate, but he cannot enter the fortress. The +man who has knit himself to God by saying to God, 'Lo! I am Thine, and +Thou art mine,' in that communion has a proof and a pledge that nothing +shall ever break it, and that death is powerless. The fact of +religion--true, heartfelt religion, with its communion, its prayer, its +consciousness of possessing and of being possessed, makes the idea that +death ends a man's conscious existence an absurdity and an +impossibility. + +'The God of Jacob is our Refuge,' and so we may say to the storms of +life, and after them to the last howling tornado of death--Blow winds +and crack your cheeks, and do your worst, you cannot touch me in the +fortress where I dwell. The wind will hurtle around the stronghold, but +within there shall be calm. + +Dear brethren! make sure that you are in the refuge. Make sure that you +have fled for 'Refuge to the hope set before you in the Gospel.' The +Lord of hosts is with us,' but you may be parted from Him. He is our +Refuge, but you may be standing outside the sanctuary, and so be exposed +to all the storms. Flee thither, cast yourselves on Him, trust in that +great Saviour who has given Himself for us, and who says to us, 'Lo! I +am with you always.' Take Christ for your hiding-place by simple faith +in Him and loving obedience born of faith, and then the experience of +our Psalmist will be yours. Your life will not want for deliverances +which will thrill your heart with thankfulness, and turn the truth of +faith into a truth of experience. So you may set to your seals the great +saying of our psalm, which is fresh to-day, though centuries have passed +since it came glowing fiery from the lips of the ancient seer, and may +take up as yours the great words in which Luther has translated it for +our times, the 'Marseillaise' of the Reformation-- + + 'A safe stronghold our God is still; + A trusty shield and weapon; + He'll help us clear from all the ill + That hath us now o'ertaken.' + + + + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE + + + 'Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our + God, in the mountain of His holiness. 2. Beautiful for situation, + the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the + north, the city of the great King. 3. God is known in her palaces + for a refuge. 4. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by + together. 5. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, + and hasted away. 6. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of + a woman in travail. 7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an + east wind. 8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the + Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for + ever. 9. We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst + of Thy temple. 10. According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise + unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of righteousness. + 11. Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, + because of Thy judgments. 12. Walk about Zion, and go round about + her: tell the towers thereof. 13. Mark ye well her bulwarks, + consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation + following. 14. For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be + our guide even unto death.'--PSALM xlviii. 1-14. + +The enthusiastic triumph which throbs in this psalm, and the specific +details of a great act of deliverance from a great peril which it +contains, sufficiently indicate that it must have had some historical +event as its basis. Can we identify the fact which is here embalmed? + +The psalm gives these points--a formidable muster before Jerusalem of +hostile people under confederate kings, with the purpose of laying siege +to the city; some mysterious check which arrests them before a sword is +drawn, as if some panic fear had shot from its towers and shaken their +hearts; and a flight in wild confusion from the impregnable +dwelling-place of the Lord of hosts. The occasion of the terror is +vaguely hinted at, as if some solemn mystery brooded over it. All that +is clear about it is that it was purely the work of the divine +hand--'Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind'; and that +in this deliverance, in their own time, the Levite minstrels recognised +the working of the same protecting grace which, from of old, had +'commanded deliverances for Jacob.' + +Now there is one event, and only one, in Jewish history, which +corresponds, point for point, to these details--the crushing destruction +of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib. There, there was the same +mustering of various nations, compelled by the conqueror to march in his +train, and headed by their tributary kings. There, there was the same +arrest before an arrow had been shot, or a mound raised against the +city. There, there was the same purely divine agency coming in to +destroy the invading army. + +I think, then, that from the correspondence of the history with the +requirements of the psalm, as well as from several similarities of +expression and allusion between the latter and the prophecies of Isaiah, +who has recorded that destruction of the invader, we may, with +considerable probability, regard this psalm as the hymn of triumph over +the baffled Assyrian, and the marvellous deliverance of Israel by the +arm of God. + +Whatever may be thought, however, of that allocation of it to a place in +the history, the great truths that it contains depend upon no such +identification. They are truths for all time; gladness and consolation +for all generations. Let us read it over together now, if, perchance, +some echo of the confidence and praise that is found in it may be called +forth from our hearts! If you will look at your Bibles you will find +that it falls into three portions. There is the glory of Zion, the +deliverance of Zion, and the consequent grateful praise and glad trust +of Zion. + +I. There is the glory of Zion. + +Hearken with what triumph the Psalmist breaks out: 'Great is the Lord, +and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His +holiness. Beautiful for situation (or rather elevation), the joy of the +whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the +great King.' Now these words are something more than mere patriotic +feeling. The Jew's glory in Jerusalem was a different thing altogether +from the Roman's pride in Rome. To the devout men amongst them, of whom +the writer of this psalm was one, there was one thing, and one only, +that made Zion glorious. It was beautiful indeed in its elevation, +lifted high upon its rocky mountain. It was safe indeed, isolated from +the invader by the precipitous ravines which enclosed and guarded the +angle of the mountain plateau on which it stood; but _the one_ thing +that gave it glory was that in _it_ God abode. The name even of that +earthly Zion was 'Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord is there.' And the emphasis +of these words is entirely pointed in that direction. What they +celebrate concerning _Him_ is not merely the general thought that the +Lord is great, but that the Lord is _great in Zion_. What they celebrate +concerning _it_ is that it is His city, the mountain of His holiness, +where He dwells, where He manifests Himself. Because there is His +self-manifestation, therefore He is there greatly to be praised. And +because the clear voice of His praise rings out from Zion, therefore is +she 'the joy of the whole earth.' The glory of Zion, then, is that it is +the dwelling-place of God. + +Now, remember, that when the Old Testament Scripture speaks about God +abiding in Jerusalem, it means no heathenish or material localising of +the Deity, nor does it imply any depriving of the rest of the earth of +the sanctity of His presence. The very psalm which most distinctly +embodies the thought of God's abode protests against that narrowness, +for it begins, 'The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the +world and they that dwell therein.' The very ark which was the symbol of +His presence, protests by its name against all such localising, for the +name of it was 'the ark of the covenant of the God of the whole earth.' +When the Bible speaks of Zion as the dwelling-place of God, it is but +the expression of the fact that there, between the cherubim, was the +visible sign of His presence--that there, in the Temple, as from the +centre of the whole land, He ruled, and 'out of Zion, the perfection of +beauty, God shone.' + +We are, then, not 'spiritualising,' or forcing a New Testament meaning +into these words, when we see in them an Eternal Truth. We are but +following in the steps of history and prophecy, and of Christ and His +Apostles, and of that last vision of the Apocalypse. We are but +distinguishing between an idea and the fact which more or less perfectly +embodies it. An idea may have many garments, may transmigrate into many +different material forms. The idea of the dwelling of God with men had +its less perfect embodiment, has its more perfect embodiment, will have +its absolutely perfect embodiment. It had its less perfect in that +ancient time. It has its real but partial embodiment in this present +time, when, in the midst of the whole community of believing and loving +souls, which stretches wider than any society that calls itself a +Church, the living God abides and energises by His Spirit and by His Son +in the souls of them that believe upon Him. 'Ye are come unto Mount Zion +and unto the city of the living God.' And we wait for the time when, +filling all the air with its light, there shall come down from God a +perfect and permanent form of that dwelling; and that great city, the +New Jerusalem, 'having the glory of God,' shall appear, and He will +dwell with men and be their God. + +But in all these stages of the embodiment of that great truth the glory +of Zion rests in this, that in it God abides, that from it He flames in +the greatness of His manifestations, which are 'His praise in all the +earth.' It is that presence which makes her fair, as it is that presence +which keeps her safe. It is that light shining within her palaces--not +their own opaque darkness, which streams out far into the waste night +with ruddy glow of hospitable invitation. It is God in her, not anything +of her own, that constitutes her 'the joy of the whole earth.' 'Thy +beauty was perfect, through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, +saith the Lord.' Zion is where hearts love and trust and follow Christ. +The 'city of the great King' is a permanent reality in a partial form +upon earth--and that partial form is itself a prophecy of the perfection +of the heavens. + +II. Still further, there is a second portion of this psalm which, +passing beyond these introductory thoughts of the glory of Zion, +recounts with wonderful power and vigour the process of the deliverance +of Zion. + +It extends from the fourth to the eighth verses. Mark the dramatic +vigour of the description of the deliverance. There is, first, the +mustering of the armies--'The kings were assembled.' Some light is +thrown upon that phrase by the proud boast which the prophet Isaiah puts +into the lips of the Assyrian invader, 'Are not my princes altogether +kings?' The subject-monarchs of the subdued nationalities that were +gathered round the tyrant's standard were used, with the wicked craft of +conquerors in all ages, to bring still other lands under the same iron +dominion. 'The kings were assembled'--we see them gathering their +far-reaching and motley army, mustered from all corners of that gigantic +empire. They advance together against the rocky fortress that towers +above its girdling valleys. 'They saw it, they marvelled'--in wonder, +perhaps, at its beauty, as they first catch sight of its glittering +whiteness from some hill crest on their march; or, perhaps, stricken by +some strange amazement, as if, basilisk-like, its beauty were deadly, +and a beam from the Shechinah had shot a nameless awe into their +souls--'they were troubled, they hasted away.' + +I need not dilate on the power of this description, nor do more than +notice how the abruptness of the language, huddled together, as it were, +without connecting particles, conveys the impression of hurry and +confusion, culminating in the rush of fugitives fleeing under the +influence of panic-terror. They are like the well-known words, 'I came, +I saw, I conquered,' only that here we have to do with swift +defeat--they came, they saw, they were conquered. They are, in regard to +vivid picturesqueness, arising from the broken construction, singularly +like other words which refer to the same event in the forty-sixth psalm, +'The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the +earth melted.' In their scornful emphasis of triumph they remind us of +Isaiah's description of the end of the same invasion--'So Sennacherib, +king of Assyria, departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.' + +Mark, still further, the eloquent silence as to the cause of the panic +and the flight. There is no appearance of armed resistance. This is no +'battle of the warrior with garments rolled in blood,' and the shock of +contending hosts. But an unseen Hand smites once--'and when the morning +dawned they were all dead corpses.' The impression of terror produced by +such a blow is increased by the veiled allusion to it here. The silence +magnifies the deliverance. If we might apply the grand words of Milton +to that night of fear-- + + 'The trumpet spake not to the armed throng, + But kings sat still, with awful eye, + As if they surely knew their sovereign Lord was by.' + +The process of the deliverance is not told here, as there was no need it +should be in a hymn which is not history, but the lyrical echo of what +is told in history; one image explains it all--'Thou breakest the ships +of Tarshish with an east wind.' The metaphor--one that does not need +expansion here--is that of a ship like a great unwieldy galleon, caught +in a tempest. However strong for fight, it is not fit for sailing. It is +like some of those turret ships of ours, if they venture out from the +coast and get into a storm, their very strength is their destruction, +their armour wherein they trusted ensures that they shall sink. And so, +this huge assailant of Israel, this great 'galley with oars,' washing +about there in the trough of the sea, as it were--God broke it in two +with the tempest, which is His breath. You remember how on the medal +that commemorated the destruction of the Spanish Armada--our English +deliverance--there were written the words of Scripture: 'God blew upon +them and they were scattered.' What was there true, literally, is here +true in figure. The Psalmist is not thinking of any actual scattering of +hostile fleets--from which Jerusalem was never in danger; but is using +the shipwreck of 'the ship of Tarshish' as a picture of the utter, +swift, God-inflicted destruction which ground that invading army to +pieces, as the savage rocks and wild seas will do the strongest craft +that is mangled between them. + +And then, mark how from this dramatic description there rises a loftier +thought still. The deliverance thus described links the present with the +past. 'As we have heard so have we seen in the city of the Lord of +hosts, in the city of our God.' Yes, brethren! God's merciful +manifestation for ourselves, as for those Israelitish people of old, has +this blessed effect, that it changes hearsay and tradition into living +experience;--this blessed effect, that it teaches us, or ought to teach +us, the inexhaustibleness of the divine power, the constant repetition +in every age of the same works of love. Taught by it, we learn that all +these old narratives of His grace and help are ever new, not past and +gone, but ready to be reproduced in their essential characteristics in +our lives too. 'We have heard with our ears, O Lord, our fathers have +told us what work Thou didst in their days.' But is the record only a +melancholy contrast with our own experience? Nay, truly. 'As we have +heard so have we seen.' We are ever tempted to think of the present as +commonplace. The sky right above our heads is always farthest from +earth. It is at the horizon behind and the horizon in front, where earth +and heaven seem to blend. We think of miracles in the past, we think of +a manifest presence of God in the future, but the present ever seems to +our sense-bound understandings as beggared and empty of Him, devoid of +His light. But this verse suggests to us how, if we mark the daily +dealings of that loving Hand with us, we have every occasion to say, Thy +loving-kindness of old lives still. Still, as of old, the hosts of the +Lord encamp round about them that fear Him to deliver them. Still, as of +old, the voice of guidance comes from between the cherubim. Still, as of +old, the pillar of cloud and fire moves before us. Still, as of old, +angels walk with men. Still, as of old, His hand is stretched forth, to +bless, to feed, to guard. Nothing in the past of God's dealings with men +has passed away. The eternal present embraces what we call the past, +present, and future. They that went before do not prevent us on whom the +ends of the ages are come. The table that was spread for them is as +fully furnished for the latest guests. The light, which was so magical +and lustrous in the morning beauty, for us has not faded away into the +light of common day. The river which flowed in these past ages has not +been drunk up by the thirsty sands. The fire that once blazed so clear +has not died down into grey ashes. 'The God of _Jacob_ is _our_ refuge.' +'As we have heard so have we seen.' + +And then, still further, the deliverance here is suggested as not only +linking most blessedly the present with the past, but also linking it +for our confidence with all the _future_. 'God will establish it for +ever.' + + 'Old experience doth attain + To something of prophetic strain.' + +In the strength of what that moment had taught of God and His power, the +singer looks onward, and whatever may be the future he knows that the +divine arm will be outstretched. God will establish Zion; or, as the +word might be translated, God will hold it erect, as if with a strong +hand grasping some pole or banner-staff that else would totter and +fall--He will keep it up, standing there firm and steadfast. + +It would lead us too far to discuss the bearing of such a prophecy upon +the future history and restoration of Israel, but the bearing of it upon +the security and perpetuity of the Church is unquestionable. The city is +immortal because God dwells in it. For the individual and for the +community, for the great society and for each of the single souls that +make it up, the history of the past may seal the pledge which He gives +for the future. If it had been possible to destroy the Church of the +living God, it had been gone long, long ago. Its own weakness and sin, +the ever-new corruptions of its belief and paring of its creed, the +imperfections of its life and the worldliness of its heart, the +abounding evils that lie around it and the actual hostility of many that +look upon it and say, Raze it, even to the ground, would have smitten it +to the dust long since. It lives, it has lived in spite of all, and +therefore it shall live. 'God will establish it for ever.' + +In almost every land there is some fortress or other, which the pride of +the inhabitants calls 'the maiden fortress,' and whereof the legend is, +that it has never been taken, and is inexpugnable by any foe. It is true +about the tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion. +The grand words of Isaiah about this very Assyrian invader are our +answer to all fears within and foes without: 'Say unto him, the virgin, +the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the +daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.... I will defend +this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David's sake.' +'God will establish it for ever,' and the pledges of that eternal +stability are the deliverances of the past and of the present. + +III. Then, finally, there is still another section of this psalm to be +looked at for a moment, which deals with the consequent grateful praise +and glad trust of Zion. + +I must condense what few things I have to say about these closing +verses. The deliverance, first of all, deepens the glad meditation on +God's favour and defence. 'We have thought,' say the ransomed people, as +with a sigh of rejoicing, 'we have thought of Thy loving-kindness in the +midst of Thy temple.' The scene of the manifestation of His power is the +scene of their thankfulness, and the first issue of His mercy is His +servants' praise. + +Then, the deliverance spreads His fame throughout the world. 'According +to Thy name, O God! so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy +right hand is full of righteousness.' The name of God is God's own +making known of His character, and the thought of these words is double. +They most beautifully express the profoundest trust in that blessed name +that it only needs to be known in order to be loved. There is nothing +wanted but His manifestation of Himself for His praise and glory to +spread. Why is the Psalmist so sure that according to the revelation of +His character will be the revenue of His praise? Because the Psalmist is +so sure that that character is purely, perfectly, simply good--nothing +else but good and blessing--and that He cannot act but in such a way as +to magnify Himself. That great sea will cast up nothing on the shores of +the world but pearls and precious things. He is all 'light, and in Him +is no darkness at all.' There needs but the shining forth in order that +the light of His character shall bring gladness and joy, and the song of +birds, and opening flowers wheresoever it falls. + +Still further, there is the other truth in the words, that we +misapprehend the purpose of our own deliverances, and the purpose of +God's mercy to Zion, if we confine these to any personal objects or lose +sight of the loftier end of them all--that men may learn to know and +love Him. Brethren! we neither rightly thank Him for His gifts to us nor +rightly apprehend the meaning of His dealings, unless the sweetest +thought to us, even in the midst of our own personal joy for +deliverance, is not 'we are saved,' but 'God is exalted.' + +And then, beyond that, the deliverance produces in Zion, the mother city +and her daughter villages, a triumph of rapture and gladness. 'Let mount +Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad because of Thy +judgments.' Yes, even though an hundred and four score and five thousand +dead men lay there, they were to be glad. Solemn and awful as is the +baring of His righteous sword, it is an occasion for praise. It is right +to be glad when men and systems that hinder and fight against God are +swept away as with the besom of destruction. 'When the wicked perish +there is shouting,' and the fitting epitaph for the oppressors to whom +the surges of the Red Sea are shroud and gravestone is, 'Sing ye to the +Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously.' + +The last verses set forth, more fully than even the preceding ones, the +height and perfectness of the confidence which the manifold mercies of +God ought to produce in men's hearts. The citizens who have been cooped +up during the invasion, and who, in the temple, as we have seen, have +been rendering the tribute of their meditation and thankful gratitude to +God for His loving-kindness, are now called upon to come forth from the +enclosure of the besieged city, and free from all fear of the invading +army, to 'walk about Zion, and go round about her and tell the towers,' +and 'mark her bulwarks and palaces.' + +They look first at the defences, on which no trace of assault appears, +and then at the palaces guarded by them, that stand shining and +unharmed. The deliverance has been so complete that there is not a sign +of the peril or the danger left. It is not like a city besieged, and the +siege raised when the thing over which contending hosts have been +quarrelling has become a ruin, but not one stone has been smitten from +the walls, nor one agate chipped in the windows of the palaces. It is +unharmed as well as uncaptured. + +Thus, we may say, no matter what tempests assail us, the wind will but +sweep the rotten branches out of the tree. Though war should arise, +nothing will be touched that belongs to Thee. We have a city which +cannot be moved; and the removal of the things which can be shaken but +makes more manifest its impregnable security, its inexpugnable peace. As +in war they will clear away the houses and the flower gardens that have +been allowed to come and cluster about the walls and fill up the moat, +yet the walls will stand; so in all the conflicts that befall God's +church and God's truth, the calming thought ought to be ours that if +anything perishes it is a sign that it is not His, but man's excrescence +on His building. Whatever is His will stand for ever. + +And then, with wonderful tenderness and beauty, the psalm in its last +words drops, as one might say, in one aspect, and in another, _rises_ +from its contemplations of the immortal city and the community to the +thought of the individuals that make it up: 'For this God is our God for +ever and ever; He will be our guide _even_ unto death.' Prosaic +commentators have often said that these last two words are an +interpolation, that they do not fit into the strain of the psalm, and +have troubled themselves to find out what meaning to attach to them, +because it seemed to them so unlikely that, in a hymn that had only to +do with the community, we should find this expression of individual +confidence in anticipation of that most purely personal of all evils. +That seems to me the very reason for holding fast by the words as being +a genuine part of the psalm, because they express a truth, without which +the confident hope of the psalm, grand as it is, is but poor consolation +for each heart. It is not enough for passing, perishing men to say, +'Never mind your own individual fate: the society, the community, will +stand fast and firm.' + +I want something more than to know that God will establish Zion for +ever. What about _me_, my own individual self? And these last words +answer that question. Not merely the city abides, but 'He will be our +guide even unto death.' And surely, if so--if His loving hand will lead +the citizens of His eternal kingdom even to the edge of that great +darkness--He will not lose them even in its gloom. Surely there is here +the veiled hope that if the city be eternal and the gates of the grave +cannot prevail against _it_, the community cannot be eternal unless the +individuals be immortal. + +Such a hope is vindicated by the blessed words of a newer revelation: +'God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for +them a city.' + +Dear brethren! remember the last words, or all but the last words of +Scripture which, in their true text and reading, tell us how, instead of +aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, we may become fellow-citizens +with the saints. 'Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may +have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gate into +the city!' + + + + +TWO SHEPHERDS AND TWO FLOCKS + + + 'Like sheep they are laid in the grave; Death shall feed on them.' + --PSALM xlix. 14. + + 'The Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them.' + --REV. vii. 17. + +These two verses have a much closer parallelism in expression than +appears in our Authorised Version. If you turn to the Revised Version +you will find that it rightly renders the former of my texts, 'Death +shall be their shepherd,' and the latter, 'The Lamb which is in the +midst of the throne shall be their Shepherd.' The Old Testament Psalmist +and the New Testament Seer have fallen upon the same image to describe +death and the future, but with how different a use! The one paints a +grim picture, all sunless and full of shadow; the other dips his pencil +in brilliant colours, and suffuses his canvas with a glow as of molten +sunlight. The difference between the two is partly due to the progress +of revelation and the light cast on life and immortality by Christ +through the Gospel. But it is much more due to the fact that the two +writers have different classes in view. The one is speaking of men whose +portion is in this life, the other of men who have washed their robes +and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And it is the characters +of the persons concerned, much more than the degree of enlightenment +possessed by the writers, that makes the difference between these two +pictures. Life and death and the future are what each man makes of them +for himself. We shall best deal with these two pictures if we take them +separately, and let the gloom of the one enhance the glory of the other. +They hang side by side, like a Rembrandt beside a Claude or a Turner, +each intensifying by contrast the characteristics of the other. So let +us look at the two--first, the grim picture drawn by the Psalmist; +second, the sunny one drawn by the Seer. Now, with regard to the former, + +I. The grim picture drawn by the Psalmist. + +We too often forget that a psalmist is a poet, and misunderstand his +spirit by treating his words as matter-of-fact prose. His imagination is +at work, and our sympathetic imagination must be at work too, if we +would enter into his meaning. Death a shepherd--what a grim and bold +inversion of a familiar metaphor! If this psalm is, as is probable, of a +comparatively late date, then its author was familiar with many sweet +and tender strains of early singers, in which the blessed relation +between a loving God and an obedient people was set forth under that +metaphor. 'The Lord is _my_ Shepherd' may have been ringing in his ears +when he said, 'Death is _their_ shepherd.' He lays hold of the familiar +metaphor, and if I may so speak, turns it upside down, stripping it of +all that is beautiful, tender, and gracious, and draping it in all that +is harsh and terrible. And the very contrast between the sweet relation +which it was originally used to express, and the opposite kind of one +which he uses it to set forth, gives its tremendous force to the daring +metaphor. + +'Death is their shepherd.' Yes, but what manner of shepherd? Not one +that gently leads his flock, but one that stalks behind the huddled +sheep, and drives them fiercely, club in hand, on a path on which they +would not willingly go. The unwelcome necessity, by which men that have +their portion in this world are hounded and herded out of all their +sunny pastures and abundant feeding, is the thought that underlies the +image. It is accentuated, if we notice that in the former clause, 'like +sheep they are laid in the grave,' the word rendered in the Authorised +Version 'laid,' and in the Revised Version 'appointed,' is perhaps more +properly read by many, 'like sheep they are _thrust down_.' There you +have the picture--the shepherd stalking behind the helpless creatures, +and coercing them on an unwelcome path. + +Now that is the first thought that I suggest, that to one type of man, +Death is an unwelcome necessity. It is, indeed, a necessity to us all, +but necessities accepted cease to be painful; and necessities +resisted--what do they become? Here is a man being swept down a river, +the sound of the falls is in his ears, and he grasps at anything on the +bank to hold by, but in vain. That is how some of us feel when we face +the thought, and will feel more when we front the reality, of that awful +'must.' 'Death shall be their shepherd,' and coerce them into darkness. +Ask yourself the question, Is the course of my life such as that the end +of it cannot but be a grim necessity which I would do anything to avoid? + +This first text suggests not only a shepherd but a fold: 'Like sheep +they are thrust down to the grave.' Now I am not going to enter upon +what would be quite out of place here: a critical discussion of the Old +Testament conception of a future life. That conception varies, and is +not the same in all parts of the book. But I may, just in a word, say +that 'the grave' is by no means the adequate rendering of the thought of +the Psalmist, and that 'Hell' is a still more inadequate rendering of +it. He does not mean either the place where the body is deposited, or a +place where there is punitive retribution for the wicked, but he means a +dim region, or, if I might so say, a localised condition, in which all +that have passed through this life are gathered, where personality and +consciousness continue, but where life is faint, stripped of all that +characterises it here, shadowy, unsubstantial, and where there is +inactivity, absolute cessation of all the occupations to which men were +accustomed. But there may be restlessness along with inactivity; may +there not? And there is no such restlessness as the restlessness of +compulsory idleness. That is the main idea that is in the Psalmist's +mind. He knows little about retribution, he knows still less about +transmutation into a glorious likeness to that which is most glorious +and divine. But he conceives a great, dim, lonely land, wherein are +prisoned and penned all the lives that have been foamed away vainly on +earth, and are now settled into a dreary monotony and a restless +idleness. As one of the other books of the Old Testament puts it, it is +a 'land of the shadow of death, without order, and in which the light is +as darkness.' + +I know, of course, that all that is but the imperfect presentation of +partially apprehended, and partially revealed, and partially revealable +truth. But what I desire to fix upon is that one dreary thought of this +fold, into which the grim shepherd has driven his flock, and where they +lie cribbed and huddled together in utter inactivity. Carry that with +you as a true, though incomplete thought. + +Let me remind you, in the next place, with regard to this part of my +subject, of the kind of men whom the grim shepherd drives into that grim +fold. The psalm tells us that plainly enough. It is speaking of men who +have their portion in this life, who 'trust in their wealth, and boast +themselves in the multitude of their riches ... whose inward thought is +that their house shall continue for ever ... who call their lands after +their own names.' Of every such man it says: 'when he dieth he shall +carry nothing away'--none of the possessions, none of the forms of +activity which were familiar to him here on earth. He will go into a +state where he finds nothing which interests him, and nothing for him to +do. + +Must it not be so? If we let ourselves be absorbed and entangled by the +affairs of this life, and permit our whole spirits to be bent in the +direction of these transient things, what is to become of us when the +things that must pass have passed, and when we come into a region where +there are none of them to occupy us any more? What would some Manchester +men do if they were in a condition of life where they could not go on +'Change on Tuesdays and Fridays? What would some of us do if the +professions and forms of mental activity in which we have been occupied +as students and scholars were swept away? 'Whether there be knowledge it +shall cease; whether there be tongues they shall vanish away,' and what +are you going to do then, you men that have only lived for intellectual +pursuits connected with this transient state? We are going to a world +where there are no books, no pens nor ink, no trade, no dress, no +fashion, no amusements; where there is nothing but things in which some +of us have no interest, and a God who 'is not in all our thoughts.' +Surely we shall be 'fish out of water' there. Surely we shall feel that +we have been banned and banished from everything that we care about. +Surely men that boasted themselves in their riches, and in the multitude +of their wealth, will be necessarily condemned to inactivity. Life is +continuous, and all on one plane. Surely if a man knows that he must +some day, and may any day, be summoned to the other side of the world, +he would be a wise man if he got his outfit ready, and made some effort +to acquire the customs and the arts of the land to which he was going. +Surely life here is mainly given to us that we may develop powers which +will find their field of exercise yonder, and acquire characters which +shall be in conformity with the conditions of that future life. Surely +there can be no more tragic folly than the folly of letting myself be so +absorbed and entangled by this present world, as that when the transient +has passed, I shall feel homeless and desolate, and have nothing that I +can do or care about amidst the activities of Eternity. Dear friend, +should _you_ feel homeless if you were taken, as you will be taken, into +that world? + +Turn now to + +II. The sunny landscape drawn by the Seer. + +Note the contrast presented by the shepherds. 'Death shall be their +shepherd.' 'The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their +Shepherd.' I need not occupy your time in trying to show, what has +sometimes been doubted, that the radiant picture of the Apocalyptic Seer +is dealing with nothing in the present, but with the future condition of +certain men. I would just remind you that the words in which it is +couched are to a large extent a quotation from ancient prophecy, a +description of the divine watchfulness over the pilgrim's return from +captivity to the Land of Promise. But the quotation is wonderfully +elevated and spiritualised in the New Testament vision; for instead of +reading, as the Original does: 'He that hath mercy on them shall lead +them,' we have here, 'the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall +be their Shepherd,' and instead of their being led merely to 'the +springs of water,' here we read that He 'leads them to the fountains of +the water of life.' + +We have to think, first, of that most striking, most significant and +profound modification of the Old Testament words, which presents the +Lamb as 'the Shepherd.' All Christ's shepherding on earth and in heaven +depends, as do all our hopes for heaven and earth, upon the fact of His +sacrificial death. It is only because He is the 'Lamb that was slain' +that He is either the 'Lamb in the midst of the Throne,' or the Shepherd +of the flock. And we must make acquaintance with Him first in the +character of 'the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,' +before we can either follow in His footsteps as our Guide, or be +compassed by His protection as our Shepherd. + +He is the Lamb, and He is the Shepherd--that suggests not only that the +sacrificial work of Jesus Christ is the basis of all His work for us on +earth and in heaven, but the very incongruity of making One, who bears +the same nature as the flock to be the Shepherd of the flock, is part of +the beauty of the metaphor. It is His humanity that is our guide. It is +His continual manhood, all through eternity and its glories, that makes +Him the Shepherd of perfected souls. They follow Him because He is one +of themselves, and He could not be the Shepherd unless he were the Lamb. + +But then this Shepherd is not only gracious, sympathetic, kin to us by +participation in a common nature, and fit to be our Guide because He has +been our Sacrifice and the propitiation of our sins, but He is the Lamb +'in the midst of the throne,' wielding therefore all divine power, and +standing--not as the rendering in our Bible leads an English reader to +suppose, on the throne, but--in the middle point between it and the ring +of worshippers, and so the Communicator to the outer circumference of +all the blessings that dwell in the divine centre. He shall be their +Shepherd, not coercing, not driving by violence, but leading to the +fountains of the waters of life, gently and graciously. It is not +compulsory energy which He exercises upon us, either on earth or in +heaven, but it is the drawing of a divine attraction, sweet to put forth +and sweet to yield to. + +There is still another contrast. Death huddled and herded his reluctant +sheep into a fold where they lay inactive but struggling and restless. +Christ leads His flock into a pasture. He shall guide them 'to the +fountains of waters of life.' I need not dwell at any length on the +blessed particulars of that future, set forth here and in the context. +But let me suggest them briefly. There is joyous activity. There is +constant progression. He goeth before; they follow. The perfection of +heaven begins at entrance into it, but it is a perfection which can be +perfected, and is being perfected, through the ages of Eternity, and the +picture of the Shepherd in front and the flock behind, is the true +conception of all the progress of that future life. 'They shall follow +the Lamb whithersoever He goeth'--a sweet guidance, a glad following, a +progressive conformity! 'In the long years liker must they grow.' + +Further, there is the communication of life more and more abundantly. +Therefore there is the satisfaction of all desire, so that 'they shall +hunger no more, neither thirst any more.' The pain of desire ceases +because desire is no sooner felt than it is satisfied, the joy of desire +continues, because its satisfaction enables us to desire more, and so, +appetite and eating, desire and fruition, alternate in ceaseless +reciprocity. To us, being every moment capable of more, more will be +given; and 'to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.' + +There is one point more in regard to that pasture into which the Lamb +leads the happy flock, and that is, the cessation of all pains and +sorrows. Not only shall they 'hunger no more, neither thirst any more'; +but 'the sun shall not smite them, nor any heat, and God shall wipe away +all tears from their eyes.' Here the Shepherd carried rod and staff, and +sometimes had to strike the wandering sheep hard: there these are needed +no more. Here He had sometimes to move them out of green pastures, and +away from still waters, into valleys of the shadow of death; but +'there,' as one of the prophets has it: 'they shall lie in a good fold, +and in a fat pasture shall they feed.' + +But now, we must note, finally, the other kind of men whom this other +Shepherd leads into His pastures, 'They have washed their robes and made +them white in the blood of the Lamb.' Aye! that is it. That is why He +can lead them where He does lead them. Strange alchemy which out of two +crimsons, the crimson of our sins and the crimson of His blood, makes +one white! But it is so, and the only way by which we can ever be +cleansed, either with the initial cleansing of forgiveness, or with the +daily cleansing of continual purifying and approximation to the divine +holiness, is by our bringing the foul garment of our stained personality +and character into contact with the blood which, 'shed for many,' takes +away their sins, and infused into their veins, cleanses them from all +sin. + +You have yourselves to bring about that contact. '_They_ have washed +their robes.' And how did they do it? By faith in the Sacrifice first, +by following the Example next. For it is not merely a forgiveness for +the past, but a perfecting, progressive and gradual, for the future, +that lies in that thought of washing their robes and making them white +in the blood of the Lamb. + +Dear brethren, life here and life hereafter are continuous. They are +homogeneous, on one plane though an ascending one. The differences there +are great--I was going to say, and it would be true, that the +resemblances are greater. As we have been, we shall be. If we take +Christ for our Shepherd here, and follow Him, though from afar and with +faltering steps, amidst all the struggles and windings and rough ways of +life, then and only then, will He be our Shepherd, to go with us through +the darkness of death, to make it no reluctant expulsion from a place in +which we would fain continue to be, but a tranquil and willing following +of Him by the road which He has consecrated for ever, and deprived for +ever of its solitude, because Himself has trod it. + +Those two possibilities are before each of us. Either of them may be +yours. One of them must be. Look on this picture and on this; and +choose--God help you to choose aright--which of the two will describe +your experience. Will you have Christ for your Shepherd, or will you +have Death for your shepherd? The answer to that question lies in the +answer to the other--have you washed your robes, and made them white in +the blood of the Lamb; and are you following Him? You can settle the +question which lot is to be yours, and only you can settle it. See that +you settle it aright, and that you settle it soon. + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + + +VOLUME II: PSALMS _LI to CXLV_ + + +CONTENTS + + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PARDON (Psalm li. 1, 2) + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PURITY (Psalm li. 10-12) + +FEAR AND FAITH (Psalm lvi. 3, 4) + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE (Psalm lvi. 13, R.V.) + +THE FIXED HEART (Psalm lvii. 7) + +WAITING AND SINGING (Psalm lix. 9, 17) + +SILENCE TO GOD (Psalm lxii, 1-5) + +THIRST AND SATISFACTION (Psalm lxiii. 1, 5, 8) + +SIN OVERCOMING AND OVERCOME (Psalm lxv. 8) + +THE BURDEN-BEARING GOD (Psalm lxviii. 19, A.V. and R.V.) + +REASONABLE RAPTURE (Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26) + +NEARNESS TO GOD THE KEY TO LIFE'S PUZZLE (Psalm lxxiii. 28) + +MEMORY, HOPE, AND EFFORT (Psalm lxxviii. 7) + +SPARROWS AND ALTARS (Psalm lxxxiv. 3) + +HAPPY PILGRIMS (Psalm lxxxiv. 5-7) + +BLESSED TRUST (Psalm lxxxiv. 12) + +'THE BRIDAL OF THE EARTH AND SKY' (Psalm lxxxv. 10-13) + +A SHEAF OF PRAYER ARROWS (Psalm lxxxvi. 1-5) + +CONTINUAL SUNSHINE (Psalm lxxxix. 15) + +THE CRY OF THE MORTAL TO THE UNDYING (Psalm xc. 17) + +THE SHELTERING WING (Psalm xci. 4) + +THE HABITATION OF THE SOUL (Psalm xci. 9, 10) + +THE ANSWER TO TRUST (Psalm xci. 14) + +WHAT GOD WILL DO FOR US (Psalm xci. 15, 16) + +FORGIVENESS AND RETRIBUTION (Psalm xcix. 8) + +INVIOLABLE MESSIAHS AND PROPHETS (Psalm cv. 14, 15) + +GOD'S PROMISES TESTS (Psalm cv. 19) + +SOLDIER PRIESTS (Psalm cx. 3) + +GOD AND THE GODLY (Psalms cxi. 3; cxii. 3) + +EXPERIENCE, RESOLVE, AND HOPE (Psalm cxvi. 8, 9) + +REQUITING GOD (Psalm cxvi. 12, 13) + +A CLEANSED WAY (Psalm cxix. 9) + +LIFE HID AND NOT HID (Psalm cxix. 11; xl. 10) + +A STRANGER IN THE EARTH (Psalm cxix. 19, 64) + +'TIME FOR THEE TO WORK' (Psalm cxix. 126-128) + +SUBMISSION AND PEACE (Psalm cxix. 165) + +LOOKING TO THE HILLS (Psalm cxxi. 1, 2) + +MOUNTAINS ROUND MOUNT ZION (Psalm cxxv. 1, 2) + +THE CHARGE OF THE WATCHERS IN THE TEMPLE (Psalm cxxxiv. 1-3) + +GOD'S SCRUTINY LONGED FOR (Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24) + +THE INCENSE OF PRAYER (Psalm cxli. 2) + +THE PRAYER OF PRAYERS (Psalm cxliii. 10) + +THE SATISFIER OF ALL DESIRES (Psalm cxlv. 16, 19) + + + + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PARDON + + + '... Blot out my transgressions. 2. Wash me throughly from mine + iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.'--PSALM li. 1, 2. + +A whole year had elapsed between David's crime and David's penitence. It +had been a year of guilty satisfaction not worth the having; of sullen +hardening of heart against God and all His appeals. The thirty-second +Psalm tells us how _happy_ David had been during that twelvemonth, of +which he says, 'My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. +For day and night Thy hand was heavy on me.' Then came Nathan with his +apologue, and with that dark threatening that 'the sword should never +depart from his house,' the fulfilment of which became a well-head of +sorrow to the king for the rest of his days, and gave a yet deeper +poignancy of anguish to the crime of his spoiled favourite Absalom. The +stern words had their effect. The frost that had bound his soul melted +all away, and he confessed his sin, and was forgiven then and there. 'I +have sinned against the Lord' is the confession as recorded in the +historical books; and, says Nathan, 'The Lord hath made to pass from +thee the iniquity of thy sin.' Immediately, as would appear from the +narrative, that very same day, the child of Bathsheba and David was +smitten with fatal disease, and died in a week. And it is _after_ all +these events--the threatening, the penitence, the pardon, the +punishment--that he comes to God, who had so freely forgiven, and +likewise so sorely smitten him, and wails out these prayers: 'Blot out +my transgressions, wash me from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin.' + +One almost shrinks from taking as the text of a sermon words like these, +in which a broken and contrite spirit groans for deliverance, and which +are, besides, hallowed by the thought of the thousands who have since +found them the best expression of their sacredest emotions. But I would +fain try not to lose the feeling that breathes through the words, while +seeking for the thoughts which are in them, and hope that the light +which they throw upon the solemn subjects of guilt and forgiveness may +not be for any of us a mere cold light. + +I. Looking then at this triad of petitions, they teach us first how +David thought of his sin. + +You will observe the reiteration of the same earnest cry in all these +clauses, and if you glance over the remainder of this psalm, you will +find that he asks for the gifts of God's Spirit, with a similar +threefold repetition. Now this characteristic of the whole psalm is +worth notice in the outset. It is not a mere piece of Hebrew +parallelism. The requirements of poetical form but partially explain it. +It is much more the earnestness of a soul that cannot be content with +once asking for the blessings and then passing on, but dwells upon them +with repeated supplication, not because it thinks that it shall be heard +for its 'much speaking,' but because it longs for them so eagerly. + +And besides that, though the three clauses do express the same general +idea, they express it under various modifications, and must be all taken +together before we get the whole of the Psalmist's thought of sin. + +Notice again that he speaks of his evil as 'transgressions' and as +'sin,' first using the plural and then the singular. He regards it first +as being broken up into a multitude of isolated acts, and then as being +all gathered together into one knot, as it were, so that it is one +thing. In one aspect it is 'my transgressions'--'that thing that I did +about Uriah, that thing that I did about Bathsheba, those other things +that these dragged after them.' One by one the acts of wrongdoing pass +before him. But he does not stop there. They are not merely a number of +deeds, but they have, deep down below, a common root from which they all +came--a centre in which they all inhere. And so he says, not only 'Blot +out my _transgressions_,' but 'Wash me from mine _iniquity_.' He does +not merely generalise, but he sees and he feels what you and I have to +feel, if we judge rightly of our evil actions, that we cannot take them +only in their plurality as so many separate deeds, but that we must +recognise them as coming from a common source, and we must lament before +God not only our 'sins' but our 'sin'--not only the outward acts of +transgression, but that alienation of heart from which they all come; +not only sin in its manifold manifestations as it comes out in the life, +but in its inward roots as it coils round our hearts. You are not to +confess acts alone, but let your contrition embrace the principle from +which they come. + +Further, in all the petitions we see that the idea of his own single +responsibility for the whole thing is uppermost in David's mind. It is +_my_ transgression, it is _mine_ iniquity, and _my_ sin. He has not +learned to say with Adam of old, and with some so-called wise thinkers +to-day: 'I was tempted, and I could not help it.' He does not talk about +'circumstances,' and say that they share the blame with him. He takes it +all to himself. 'It was _I_ did it. True, I was tempted, but it was my +soul that made the occasion a temptation. True, the circumstances led me +astray, but they would not have led me astray if I had been right, and +_where_ as well as _what_ I ought to be.' It is a solemn moment when +that thought first rises in its revealing power to throw light into the +dark places of our souls. But it is likewise a blessed moment, and +without it we are scarcely aware of ourselves. Conscience quickens +consciousness. The sense of transgression is the first thing that gives +to many a man the full sense of his own individuality. There is nothing +that makes us feel how awful and incommunicable is that mysterious +personality by which every one of us lives alone after all +companionship, so much as the contemplation of our relations to God's +law. 'Every man shall bear his own burden.' 'Circumstances,' yes; +'bodily organisation,' yes; 'temperament,' yes; 'the maxims of society,' +'the conventionalities of the time,' yes,--all these things have +something to do with shaping our single deeds and with influencing our +character; but after we have made all allowances for these influences +which affect _me_, let us ask the philosophers who bring them forward as +diminishing or perhaps annihilating responsibility, 'And what about that +_me_ which these things influence?' After all, let me remember that the +deed is _mine_, and that every one of us shall, as Paul puts it, give +account of _himself_ unto God. + +Passing from that, let me point for one moment to another set of ideas +that are involved in these petitions. The three words which the Psalmist +employs for sin give prominence to different aspects of it. +'Transgression' is not the same as 'iniquity,' and 'iniquity' is not the +same as 'sin.' They are not aimless, useless synonyms, but they have +each a separate thought in them. The word rendered 'transgression' +literally means rebellion, a breaking away from and setting oneself +against lawful authority. That translated 'iniquity' literally means +that which is twisted, bent. The word in the original for 'sin' +literally means missing a mark, an aim. And this threefold view of sin +is no discovery of David's, but is the lesson which the whole Old +Testament system had laboured to print deep on the national +consciousness. That lesson, taught by law and ceremonial, by +denunciation and remonstrance, by chastisement and deliverance, the +penitent king has learned. To all men's wrongdoings these descriptions +apply, but most of all to his. Sin is ever, and his sin especially is, +rebellion, the deflection of the life from the straight line which God's +law draws so clearly and firmly, and hence a missing the aim. + +Think how profound and living is the consciousness of sin which lies in +calling it _rebellion_. It is not merely, then, that we go against some +abstract propriety, or break some impersonal law of nature when we do +wrong, but that we rebel against a rightful Sovereign. In a special +sense this was true of the Jew, whose nation stood under the government +of a divine king, so that sin was treason, and breaches of the law acts +of rebellion against God. But it is as true of us all. Our theory of +morals will be miserably defective, and our practice will be still more +defective, unless we have learned that morality is but the garment of +religion, that the definition of virtue is obedience to God, and that +the true sin in sin is not the yielding to impulses that belong to our +nature, but the assertion in the act of yielding, of our independence of +God and of our opposition to His will. And all this has application to +David's sin. He was God's viceroy and representative, and he sets to his +people the example of revolt, and lifts the standard of rebellion. It is +as if the ruler of a province declared war against the central authority +of which he was the creature, and used against it the very magazines and +weapons with which it had intrusted him. He had rebelled, and in an +eminent degree, as Nathan said to him, given to the enemies of God +occasion to blaspheme. + +Not less profound and suggestive is that other name for sin, that which +is twisted, or bent, mine 'iniquity.' It is the same metaphor which lies +in our own word 'wrong,' that which is wrung or warped from the straight +line of right. To that line, drawn by God's law, our lives should run +parallel, bending neither to the right hand nor to the left. But instead +of the firm directness of such a line, our lives show wavering +deformity, and are like the tremulous strokes in a child's copy-book. +David had the pattern before him, and by its side his unsteady purpose, +his passionate lust, had traced this wretched scrawl. The path on which +he should have trodden was a straight course to God, unbending like one +of these conquering Roman roads, that will turn aside for neither +mountain nor ravine, nor stream nor bog. If it had been thus straight, +it would have reached its goal. Journeying on that way of holiness, he +would have found, and we shall find, that on it no ravenous beast shall +meet us, but with songs and everlasting joy upon their lips the happy +pilgrims draw ever nearer to God, obtaining joy and gladness in all the +march, until at last 'sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' But instead +of this he had made for himself a crooked path, and had lost his road +and his peace in the mazes of wandering ways. 'The labour of the foolish +wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to come to the +city.' + +Another very solemn and terrible thought of what sin is, lies in that +final word for it, which means 'missing an aim.' How strikingly that +puts a truth which siren voices are constantly trying to sing us out of +believing! Every sin is a blunder as well as a crime. And that for two +reasons, because, first, God has made us for Himself, and to take +anything besides for our life's end or our heart's portion is to divert +ourselves from our true destiny; and because, second, that being so, +every attempt to win satisfaction or delight by such a course is and +must be a failure. Sin misses the aim if we think of our proper +destination. Sin misses its own aim of happiness. A man never gets what +he hoped for by doing wrong, or, if he seem to do so, he gets something +more that spoils it all. He pursues after the fleeing form that seems so +fair, and when he reaches her side, and lifts her veil, eager to embrace +the tempter, a hideous skeleton grins and gibbers at him. The siren +voices sing to you from the smiling island, and their white arms and +golden harps and the flowery grass draw you from the wet boat and the +weary oar; but when a man lands he sees the fair form end in a slimy +fish, and she slays him and gnaws his bones. 'He knows not that the dead +are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.' Yes! every +sin is a mistake, and the epitaph for the sinner is 'Thou fool!' + +II. These petitions also show us, in the second place, How David thinks +of forgiveness. + +As the words for sin expressed a threefold view of the burden from which +the Psalmist seeks deliverance, so the triple prayer, in like manner, +sets forth that blessing under three aspects. It is not merely pardon +for which he asks. He is making no sharp dogmatic distinction between +forgiveness and cleansing. + +The two things run into each other in his prayer, as they do, thank God! +in our own experience, the one being inseparable, in fact, from the +other. It is absolute deliverance from the power of sin, in all forms of +that power, whether as guilt or as habit, for which he cries so +piteously; and his accumulative petitions are so exhaustive, not because +he is coldly examining his sin, but because he is intensely feeling the +manifold burden of his great evil. + +That first petition conceives of the divine dealing with sin as being +the erasure of a writing, perhaps of an indictment. There is a special +significance in the use of the word here, because it is also employed in +the description of the Levitical ceremonial of the ordeal, where a curse +was written on a scroll and blotted out by the priest. But apart from +that the metaphor is a natural and suggestive one. Our sin stands +written against us. The long gloomy indictment has been penned by our +own hands. Our past is a blurred manuscript, full of false things and +bad things. We have to spread the writing before God, and ask Him to +remove the stained characters from its surface, that once was fair and +unsoiled. + +Ah, brethren! some people tell us that the past is irrevocable, that the +thing once done can never be undone, that the life's diary written by +our own hands can never be cancelled. The melancholy theory of some +thinkers and teachers is summed up in the words, infinitely sad and +despairing when so used, 'What I have written I have written.' Thank +God! we know better than that. We know who blots out the handwriting +'that is against us, nailing it to His Cross.' We know that of God's +great mercy our future may 'copy fair our past,' and the past may be all +obliterated and removed. And as sometimes you will find in an old +monkish library the fair vellum that once bore lascivious stories of +ancient heathens and pagan deities turned into the manuscript in which a +saint has penned his Contemplations, an Augustine his Confessions, or a +Jerome his Translations, so our souls may become palimpsests. The old +wicked heathen characters that we have traced there may be blotted out, +and covered over by the writing of that divine Spirit who has said, 'I +will put My laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts.' As +you run your pen through the finished pages of your last year's diaries, +as you seal them up and pack them away, and begin a new page in a clean +book on the first of January, so it is possible for every one of us to +do with our lives. Notwithstanding all the influence of habit, +notwithstanding all the obstinacy of long-indulged modes of thought and +action, notwithstanding all the depressing effect of frequent attempts +and frequent failures, we may break ourselves off from all that is +sinful in our past lives, and begin afresh, saying, 'God helping me! I +will write another sort of biography for myself for the days that are to +come.' + +We cannot erase these sad records from our past. The ink is indelible; +and besides all that we have visibly written in these terrible +autobiographies of ours, there is much that has sunk into the page, +there is many a 'secret fault,' the record of which will need the fire +of that last day to make it legible, Alas for those who learn the black +story of their own lives for the first time then! Learn it now, my +brother! and learn likewise that Christ can wipe it all clean off the +page, clean out of your nature, clean out of God's book. Cry to Him, +with the Psalmist, 'Blot out my transgressions!' and He will calm and +bless you with the ancient answer, 'I have blotted out as a thick cloud +thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.' + +Then there is another idea in the second of these prayers for +forgiveness: '_Wash me throughly_ from mine iniquity.' That phrase does +not need any explanation, except that the word expresses the antique way +of cleansing garments by treading and beating. David, then, here uses +the familiar symbol of a robe, to express the 'habit' of the soul, or, +as we say, the character. That robe is all splashed and stained. He +cries to God to make it a robe of righteousness and a garment of purity. + +And mark that he thinks the method by which this will be accomplished is +a protracted and probably a painful one. He is not praying for a mere +declaration of pardon, he is not asking only for the one complete, +instantaneous act of forgiveness, but he is asking for a process of +purifying which will be long and hard. 'I am ready,' says he, in effect, +'to submit to any sort of discipline, if only I may be clean. Wash me, +beat me, tread me down, hammer me with mallets, dash me against stones, +rub me with smarting soap and caustic nitre--do anything, anything with +me, if only those foul spots melt away from the texture of my soul!' A +solemn prayer, my brethren! if we pray it aright, which will be answered +by many a sharp application of God's Spirit, by many a sorrow, by much +very painful work, both within our own souls and in our outward lives, +but which will be fulfilled at last in our being clothed like our Lord, +in garments which shine as the light. + +We know, dear brethren! who has said, 'I counsel thee to buy of Me white +raiment, that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear.' And we know +well who were the great company before the throne of God, that had +'washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.' +'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though +they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.' 'Wash me throughly +from mine iniquity.' + +The deliverance from sin is still further expressed by that third +supplication, 'Cleanse me from my sin.' That is the technical word for +the priestly act of declaring ceremonial cleanness--the cessation of +ceremonial pollution, and for the other priestly act of making, as well +as declaring, clean from the stains of leprosy. And with allusion to +both of these uses, the Psalmist employs it here. That is to say, he +thinks of his guilt not only as a blotted past record which he has +written, not only as a garment spotted by the flesh which his spirit +wears, but he thinks of it too as inhering in himself, as a leprosy and +disease of his own personal nature. He thinks of it as being, like that, +incurable, fatal, twin sister to and precursor of death; and he thinks +of it as capable of being cleansed only by a sacerdotal act, only by the +great High Priest and by His finger being laid upon it. And we know who +it was that--when the leper, whom no man in Israel was allowed to touch +on pain of uncleanness, came to His feet--put out His hand in triumphant +consciousness of power, and touched him, and said, 'I _will_! be thou +clean.' Let this be thy prayer, 'Cleanse me from my sin'; and Christ +will answer, 'Thy leprosy hath departed from thee.' + +III. These petitions likewise show us whence the Psalmist draws his +confidence for such a prayer. + +'According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my +transgressions.' His whole hope rests upon God's own character, as +revealed in the endless continuance of His acts of love. He knows the +number and the greatness of his sins, and the very depth of his +consciousness of sin helps him to a corresponding greatness in his +apprehension of God's mercy. As he says in another of his psalms, +'Innumerable evils have compassed me about; they are more than the hairs +of my head.... Many, O Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works.... They are +more than can be numbered.' This is the blessedness of all true +penitence, that the more profoundly it feels its own sore need and great +sinfulness, in that very proportion does it recognise the yet greater +mercy and all-sufficient grace of our loving God, and from the lowest +depths beholds the stars in the sky, which they who dwell amid the +surface-brightness of the noonday cannot discern. + +God's own revealed character, His faithfulness and persistency, +notwithstanding all our sins, in that mode of dealing with men which has +blessed all generations with His tender mercies--these were David's +pleas. And for us who have the perfect love of God perfectly expressed +in His Son, that same plea is incalculably strengthened, for we can say, +'According to Thy tender mercy in Thy dear Son, for the sake of Christ, +blot out my transgressions.' Is the depth of our desire, and is the +firmness of our confidence, proportioned to the increased clearness of +our knowledge of the love of our God? Does the Cross of Christ lead us +to as trustful a penitence as David had, to whom meditation on God's +providences and the shadows of the ancient covenant were chiefest +teachers of the multitude of His tender mercies? + +Remember further that a comparison of the narrative in the historical +books seems to show, as I said, that this psalm followed Nathan's +declaration of the divine forgiveness, and that therefore these +petitions of our text are the echo and response to that declaration. + +Thus we see that the revelation of God's love precedes, and is the cause +of, the truest penitence; that our prayer for forgiveness is properly +the appropriating, or the effort to appropriate, the divine promise of +forgiveness; and that the assurance of pardon, so far from making a man +think lightly of his sin, is the thing that drives it home to his +conscience, and first of all teaches him what it really is. As long as +you are tortured with thoughts of a possible hell because of guilt, as +long as you are troubled by the contemplation of consequences affecting +your happiness as ensuing upon your wrongdoing, so long there is a +foreign and disturbing element in even your deepest and truest +penitence. But when you know that God has forgiven--when you come to see +the 'multitude of Thy tender mercies,' when the fear of punishment has +passed out of your apprehension, then you are left with a heart at +leisure from dread, to look the fact and not the consequences in the +face, and to think of the moral nature, and not of the personal results, +of your sin. And so one of the old prophets, with profound truth, says, +'Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth any more +because of thy sin, when I am pacified towards thee for all thou hast +done.' + +Dear friends! the wheels of God's great mill may grind us small, without +our coming to know or to hate our sin. About His chastisements, about +the revelation of His wrath, that old saying is true to a great extent: +'If you bray a fool in a mortar, his folly will not depart from him.' +You may smite a man down, crush him, make his bones to creep with the +preaching of vengeance and of hell, and the result of it will often be, +if it be anything at all, what it was in the case of that poor wretched +Judas, who, because he only saw wrath, flung _himself_ into despair, and +was lost, not because he had betrayed Christ, but because he believed +that there was no forgiveness for the man that had betrayed. + +But Love comes, and 'Love is Lord of all.' God's assurance, 'I have +forgiven,' the assurance that we do not need to plead with Him, to bribe +Him, to buy pardon by tears and amendment, but that it is already +provided for us--the blessed vision of an all-mighty love treasured in a +dying Saviour, the proclamation 'God was in Christ, reconciling the +world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them'--Oh! these +are the powers that break, or rather that melt, our hearts; these are +the keen weapons that wound to heal our hearts; these are the teachers +that teach a 'godly sorrow that needeth not to be repented of.' Think of +all the patient, pitying mercy of our Father, with which He has lingered +about our lives, and softly knocked at the door of our hearts! Think of +that unspeakable gift in which are wrapped up all His tender +mercies--the gift of Christ who died for us all! Let it smite upon your +heart with a rebuke mightier than all the thunders of law or terrors of +judgment. Let it unveil for you not only the depths of the love of God, +but the darkness of your own selfish rebellion from Him. Measure your +crooked lives by the perfect rightness of Christ's. Learn how you have +missed the aim which He reached, who could say, 'I delight to do Thy +will, O my God!' And let that same infinite love that teaches sin +announce frank forgiveness and prophesy perfect purity. Then, with heart +fixed upon Christ's Cross, let your cry for pardon be the echo of the +most sure promise of pardon which sounds from His dying lips; and as you +gaze on Him who died that we might be freed from all iniquity, ask Him +to blot out your transgressions, to wash you throughly from your +iniquity, and to cleanse you from your sins. Ask, for you cannot ask in +vain; ask earnestly, for you need it sorely; ask confidently, for He has +promised before you ask; but ask, for unless you do, you will not +receive. Ask, and the answer is sent already--'The blood of Jesus Christ +cleanseth from all sin.' + + + + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PURITY + + + '... Renew a right spirit within me. 11. ... And take not Thy Holy + Spirit from me. 12. ... And uphold me with Thy free Spirit.' + --PSALM li. 10-12. + +We ought to be very thankful that the Bible never conceals the faults of +its noblest men. David stands high among the highest of these. His words +have been for ages the chosen expression for the devotions of the +holiest souls; and whoever has wished to speak longings after purity, +lowly trust in God, the aspirations of love, or the raptures of +devotion, has found no words of his own more natural than those of the +poet-king of Israel. And this man sins, black, grievous sin. +Self-indulgent, he stays at home while his army is in the field. His +moral nature, relaxed by this shrinking from duty, is tempted, and +easily conquered. The sensitive poet nature, to which all delights of +eye and sense appeal so strongly, is for a time too strong for the +devout soul. One sin drags on another. As self-indulgence opened the +door for lust, so lust, which dwells hard by hate, draws after it +murder. The king is a traitor to his subjects, the soldier untrue to the +chivalry of arms, the friend the betrayer of the friend. Nothing can be +blacker than the whole story, and the Bible tells the shameful history +in all its naked ugliness. + +Many a precious lesson is contained in it. For instance, It is not +innocence which makes men good. 'This is your man after God's own heart, +is it?' runs the common, shallow sneer. Yes; not that God thought little +of his foul sin, nor that 'saints' make up for adultery and murder by +making or singing psalms; not that 'righteousness' as a standard of +conduct is lower than 'morality'; but that, having fallen, he learned to +abhor his sin, and with deepened trust in God's mercy, and many tears, +struggled out of the mire, and with unconquered resolve and strength +drawn from a divine source, sought still to press towards the mark. It +is not the attainment of purity, not the absence of sin, but the +presence and operation, though it be partial, of an energy which is at +war with all impurity, that makes a man righteous. That is a lesson +worth learning. + +Again, David was not a hypocrite because of this fall of his. All sin is +inconsistent with a religious character. But it is not for us to say +what sin is incompatible with a religious character. + +Again, the worst sin is not some outburst of gross transgression, +forming an exception to the ordinary tenor of a life, bad and dismal as +such a sin is; but the worst and most fatal are the small continuous +vices, which root underground and honeycomb the soul. Many a man who +thinks himself a Christian, is in more danger from the daily commission, +for example, of small pieces of sharp practice in his business, than +ever was David at his worst. White ants pick a carcase clean sooner than +a lion will. + +Most precious of all is the lesson as to the possibility of all sin +being effaced, and of the high hopes which even a man sunk in +transgression has a right to cherish, as to the purity and beauty of +character to which he may come. What a prayer these clauses contain to +be offered by one who has so sinned! What a marvellous faith in God's +pardoning love, and what a boldness of hope in his own future, they +disclose! They set forth a profound ideal of a noble character; they +make of that ideal a prayer; they are the prayer of a great +transgressor, who is also a true penitent. In all these aspects they are +very remarkable, and lead to valuable lessons. Let us look at them from +these points of view successively. + +I. Observe that here is a remarkable outline of a holy character. + +It is to be observed that of these three gifts--a right spirit, Thy Holy +Spirit, a free spirit--the central one alone is in the original spoken +of as God's; the 'Thy' of the last clause of the English Bible being an +unnecessary supplement. And I suppose that this central petition stands +in the middle, because the gift which it asks is the essential and +fundamental one, from which there flow, and as it were, diverge on the +right hand and on the left, the other two. God's Holy Spirit given to a +man makes the human spirit holy, and then makes it 'right' and 'free.' +Look then at the petitions, not in the order in which they stand in the +text, but in the order which the text indicates as the natural one. + +Now as to that fundamental petition, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me,' +one thing to notice is that David regards himself as possessing that +Spirit. We are not to read into this psalm the fully developed New +Testament teaching of a personal Paraclete, the Spirit whom Christ +reveals and sends. To do that would be a gross anachronism. But we are +to remember that it is an anointed king who speaks, on whose head there +has been poured the oil that designated him to his office, and in its +gentle flow and sweet fragrance, symbolised from of old the inspiration +of a divine influence that accompanied every divine call. We are to +remember, too, how it had fared with David's predecessor. Saul had been +chosen by God; had been for a while guided and upheld by God. But he +fell into sin, and--not because he fell into it, but because he +continued in it; not because he did wrong, but because he did not +repent--the solemn words are recorded concerning him, that 'the Spirit +of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord +troubled him.' The divine influence which came on the towering head of +the son of Kish, through the anointing oil that Samuel poured upon his +raven hair, left him, and he stood God-forsaken because he stood +God-forsaking. And so David looks back from the 'horrible pit and miry +clay' into which he had fallen, where, stained with blood and lust, he +lies, to that sad gigantic figure, remembered so well and loved by him +so truly--the great king who sinned away his soul, and bled out his life +on the heights of Gilboa. He sees in that blasted pine-tree, towering +above the forest but dead at the top, and barked and scathed all down +the sides by the lightning scars of passion, the picture of what he +himself will come to, if the blessing that was laid upon his ruddy locks +and his young head by the aged Samuel's anointing should pass from him +too as it had done from his predecessor. God had departed from Saul, +because Saul had refused His counsel and departed from Him; and Saul's +successor, trembling as he remembers the fate of the founder of the +monarchy, and of his vanished dynasty, prays with peculiar emphasis of +meaning, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from _me_!' + +That Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, had descended upon him when he was +anointed king, but it was no mere official consecration which he had +thereby received. He had been fitted for regal functions by personal +cleansing and spiritual gifts. And it is the man as well as the king, +the sinful man much rather than the faulty king, that here wrestles with +God, and stays the heavenly Visitant whom his sin has made to seem as if +He would depart. What he desires most earnestly, next to that pardon +which he has already sought and found, is that his spirit should be made +holy by God's Spirit. That is, as I have said, the central petition of +his threefold prayer, from which the others come as natural +consequences. + +And what is this 'holiness' which David so earnestly desires? Without +attempting any lengthened analysis of the various shades of meaning in +the word, our purpose will be served if I point out that in all +probability the primary idea in it is that of separation. God is +holy--that is, separated by all the glory of His perfect nature from His +creatures. Things are holy--that is, separated from common uses, and +appropriated to God's service. Whatever He laid His hand on and claimed +in any especial manner for His, became thereby holy, whether it were a +ceremony, or a place, or a tool. Men are holy when they are set apart +for God's service, whether they be officially consecrated for certain +offices, or have yielded themselves by an inward devotion based on love +to be His. + +The ethical signification which is predominant in our use of the word +and has made it little more than a synonym for moral purity is certainly +not the original meaning, as is sufficiently clear from the fact that +the word is applied to material things which could have no moral +qualities, and sometimes to persons who were not pure, but who were in +some sense or other set apart for God's service. But gradually that +meaning becomes more and more completely attached to the word, and +'holiness' is not only separation for God, but separation from sin. That +is what David longs for in this prayer; and the connection of these two +meanings of the word is worth pointing out in a sermon, for the sake of +the great truth which it suggests, that the basis of all rightness and +righteousness in a human spirit is its conscious and glad devotion to +God's service and uses. A reference to God must underlie all that is +good in men, and on the other hand, that consecration to God is a +delusion or a deception which does not issue in separation from evil. + +'Holiness' is a loftier and a truer word than 'morality,' 'virtue,' or +the like; it differs from these in that it proclaims that surrender to +God is the very essence of all good, while they seek to construct a +standard for human conduct, and to lay a foundation for human goodness, +without regard to Him. Hence, irreligious moralists dislike the very +word, and fall back upon pale, colourless phrases rather than employ it. +But these are inadequate for the purpose. Man's duties can never be +summed up in any expression which omits man's relation to God. How do I +stand to Him? Do I belong to Him by joyous yielding of myself to be His +instrument? That, my friends! is the question, the answer to which +determines everything about me. Rightly answered, there will come all +fruits of grace and beauty in the character as a natural consequence; +'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report,' every virtue and +every praise grow from the root of consecration to God. Wrongly +answered, there will come only fruits of selfishness and evil, which may +simulate virtue, but the blossom shall go up in dust, and the root in +stubble. Do you seek purity, nobleness, strength, and beauty of soul? +Learn that all these inhere in and flow from the one act of giving up +yourself to God, and in their truest perfection are found only in the +spirit that is His. Holiness considered as moral excellence is the +result of holiness considered as devotion to God. And learn too that +holiness in both aspects comes from the operation and indwelling in our +spirits of a divine Spirit, who draws away our love from self to fix it +on Him, which changes our blindness into sight, and makes us by degrees +like Himself, 'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.' The +Spirit of the Lord is the energy which produces all righteousness and +purity in human spirits. + +Therefore, all our desires after what is good and true should shape +themselves into the desire for that Spirit. Our prayer should be, 'Make +me separate from evil, and that I may be so, claim and keep me for Thine +own. As Thou hast done with the Sabbath amongst the days, with the bare +summit of the hill of the Lord's house among the mountains, with Israel +amidst the nations, so do with me; lay Thine hand upon me for Thine own. +Let my spirit, O God! know its destination for Thee, its union with +Thee. Then being Thine, it will be clean. Dwell in me, that I may know +myself Thine. Seal me with that gracious influence which is the proof +that Thou possessest me, and the pledge that I possess Thee. "Take not +Thy Holy Spirit from me."' + +So much for the chief of these petitions, which gives the ideal +character in its deepest relations. There follow two other elements in +the character, which on either side flow from the central source. The +_holy_ spirit in a man will be a _right_ spirit and a _free_ spirit. +Consider these further thoughts in turn. + +'A right spirit.' You will observe that our translators have given an +alternative rendering in the margin, and as is not seldom the case, it +is a better one than that adopted in the text. 'A constant or firm +spirit' is the Psalmist's meaning. He sees that a spirit which is +conscious of its relation to God, and set free from the perturbations of +sin, will be a spirit firm and settled, established and immovable in its +obedience and its faith. For Him, the root of all steadfastness is in +consecration to God. + +And so this collocation of ideas opens the way for us to important +considerations bearing upon the practical ordering of our natures and of +our lives. For instance, there is no stability and settled persistency +of righteous purpose possible for us, unless we are made strong because +we lay hold on God's strength, and stand firm because we are rooted in +Him. Without that hold-fast, we shall be swept away by storms of +calamity or by gusts of passion. Without that to steady us, our own +boiling lusts and desires will make every fibre of our being quiver and +tremble. Without that armour, there will not be solidity enough in our +character to bear without breaking the steady pressure of the world's +weight, still less the fierce hammering of special temptation. To stand +erect, and in that sense to have a right spirit--one that is upright and +unbent--we must have sure footing in God, and have His energy infused +into our shrinking limbs. If we are to be stable amidst earthquakes and +storms, we must be built on the rock, and build rock-like upon it. Build +thy strength upon God. Let His Holy Spirit be the foundation of thy +life, and then thy tremulous and vagrant soul will be braced and fixed. +The building will become like the foundation, and will grow into 'a +tower of strength that stands four-square to every wind.' Rooted in God, +thou shalt be unmoved by 'the loud winds when they call'; or if still +the tremulous leaves are huddled together before the blast, and the +swaying branches creak and groan, the bole will stand firm and the +gnarled roots will not part from their anchorage, though the storm-giant +drag at them with a hundred hands. The spirit of holiness will be a firm +spirit. + +But there is another phase of connection between these two points of the +ideal character--if my spirit is to be holy and to preserve its +holiness, it must be firm. That is to say, you can only get and keep +purity by resistance. A man who has not learned to say 'No!'--who is not +resolved that he _will_ take God's way in spite of every dog that can +bay or bark at him, in spite of every silvery voice that woos him +aside--will be a weak and a wretched man till he dies. In such a world +as this, with such hearts as ours, weakness _is_ wickedness in the long +run. Whoever lets himself be shaped and guided by anything lower than an +inflexible will, fixed in obedience to God, will in the end be shaped +into a deformity and guided to wreck and ruin. Dreams however rapturous, +contemplations however devout, emotions however deep and sacred, make no +man pure and good without hard effort, and that to a large extent in the +direction of resistance. Righteousness is not a mere negative idea, and +Scripture morality is something much deeper than prohibitions. But there +is no law for us without prohibitions, and no righteousness without +casting out evil that is strong in us, and fighting against evil that is +attractive around us. Therefore we need firmness to guard holiness, to +be the hard shell in which the rich fruit matures. We need a wholesome +obstinacy in the right that will neither be bribed nor coaxed nor +bullied, nor anyhow persuaded out of the road in which we know that we +should walk. 'Add to your faith manly vigour.' Learn that an +indispensable requisite of holiness is prescribed in that command, 'Whom +resist, steadfast in the faith.' And remember that the ground of all +successful resistance and the need for it are alike taught in that +series of petitions, which makes a holy spirit the foundation of a +constant spirit, and a constant spirit the guard of a holy spirit. + +Then consider, for a moment, the third element in the character which +David longs to possess--a _free_ spirit. He who is holy because full of +God's Spirit, and constant in his holiness, will likewise be 'free.' +That is the same word which is in other places translated 'willing'--and +the scope of the Psalmist's desire is, 'Let my spirit be emancipated +from sin by _willing_ obedience.' This goes very deep into the heart of +all true godliness. The only obedience which God accepts is that which +gladly, and almost as by an instinctive inward impulse, harmonises the +human will with the divine. 'Lo! I come: in the volume of the book it is +written of me, I delight to do Thy will, and Thy law is within my +heart.' That is a blessed thought, that we may come to do Him service +not because we must, but because we like; not as serfs, but as sons; not +thinking of His law as a slave-driver that cracks his whip over our +heads, but as a friend that lets us know how we may please Him whom it +is our delight to obey. And so the Psalmist prays, 'Let my obedience be +so willing that I had rather do what Thou wilt than anything besides.' + +'_Then_,' he thinks, 'I shall be free.' Of course--for the correlative +of freedom is lawful authority, and the definition of freedom is willing +submission. If for us duty is joy, and all our soul's desires flow with +an equable motion parallel to the will of God, then there is no sense of +restraint in keeping within the limits beyond which we do not seek to +go. The willing spirit sets us free, free from the 'ancient solitary +reign' of the despot Self, free from the mob rule of passions and +appetites, free from the incubus of evil habits, free from the authority +of men's voices and examples. Obedience is freedom to them that have +learned to love the lips that command. We are set free that we may +serve: 'O Lord! truly I am Thy servant; Thou hast loosed my bonds.' We +are set free in serving: 'I will walk at liberty, for I keep Thy +precepts.' Let a willing, free spirit uphold me. + +II. Observe, too, that desires for holiness should become prayers. + +David does not merely long for certain spiritual excellences; he goes to +God for them. And his reasons for doing so are plain. If you will look +at the former verses of this psalm, you will see that he had found out +two things about his sin, both of which make him sure that he can only +be what he should be by God's help. He had learned what his crimes were +in relation to God, and he had further learned what they indicated about +himself. The teaching of his bitter experience as to the former of these +two matters lies in that saying which some people have thought strange. +'Against _Thee only_ have I sinned.' What! Had he not committed a crime +against human law? had he not harmed Uriah and Bathsheba? were not his +deeds an offence to his whole kingdom? Yes, he knew all that; but he +felt that over and above all that was black in his deed, considered in +its bearing upon men, it was still blacker when it was referred to God; +and a sadder word than 'crime' or 'fault' had to be used about it. I +have done wrong as against my fellows, but worse than that, I have +_sinned_ against God. The notion of _sin_ implies the notion of God. Sin +is wilful transgression of the law of _God_. An atheist can have no +conception of sin. But bring God into human affairs, and men's faults +immediately assume the darker tint, and become men's sins. Therefore the +need of prayer if these evils are to be blotted out. If I had done crime +against man only, I should not need to ask God for pardon or cleansing; +but I have sinned against Him, and done this evil in His sight, +therefore my desires for deliverance address themselves to Him, and my +longings for purity must needs break into the cry of entreaty to that +God with whom are forgiveness and redemption from all iniquity. + +And still further, looking at the one deed, he sees in it something more +than an isolated act. It leads him down to its motive; that motive +carries him to the state of mind in which it could have power; that +state of mind, in which the motive could have power, carries him still +deeper to the bias of his nature as he had received it from his parents. +And thinking of how he had fallen, how upon his terraced palace roof +there the eye had inflamed the heart, and the heart had yielded so +quickly to the temptations of the eye, he finds no profounder +explanation of the disastrous eclipse of goodness than this: 'Behold! I +was shapen in iniquity.' + +Is that a confession or a palliation, do you think? Is he trying to +shuffle off guilt from his own shoulders? By no means, for these words +are the motive for the prayer, 'Purge me, and I shall be clean.' That is +to say, he has learned that isolated acts of sin inhere in a common +root, and that root a disposition inherited from generation to +generation to which evil is familiar and easy, to which good, alas! is +but too alien and unwelcome. None the less is the evil done _his_ deed. +None the less has he to wail in full consciousness of his individual +responsibility: 'Against Thee have _I_ sinned.' But the effect of this +second discovery, that sin has become so intertwisted with his being +that he cannot shake off the venomous beast into the fire and feel no +harm, is the same as that of the former--to drive him to God, who alone +can heal the nature and separate the poison from his blood. + +Dear friends! there are some of you who are wasting your lives in +paroxysms of fierce struggle with the evil that you have partially +discovered in yourselves, alternating with long languor, fits of +collapse and apathy, and who make no solid advance, just because you +will not lay to heart these two convictions--your sin has to do with +God, and your sins come from a sinful nature. Because of the one fact, +you must go to God for pardon; because of the other, you must go to God +for cleansing. There, in your heart, like some black well-head in a +dismal bog, is the source of all the swampy corruption that fills your +life. You cannot stanch it, you cannot drain it, you cannot sweeten it. +Ask Him, who is above your nature and without it, to change it by His +own new life infused into your spirit. He will heal the bitter waters. +He alone can. Sin is against God; sin comes from an evil heart; +therefore, if your longings for that ideal perfectness are ever to be +fulfilled, you must make prayers of them, and cry to Him who hears, +'Create in me a clean heart, O God! take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.' + +III. Finally, observe that prayers for perfect cleansing are permitted +to the lips of the greatest sinners. + +Such longings as these might seem audacious, when the atrocity of the +crime is remembered, and by man's standard they are so. Let the criminal +be thankful for escape, and go hide himself, say men's pardons. But here +is a man, with the evil savour of his debauchery still tainting him, +daring to ask for no mere impunity, but for God's choicest gifts. Think +of his crime, think of its aggravations from God's mercies to him, from +his official position, from his past devotion. Remember that this cruel +voluptuary is the sweet singer of Israel, who had taught men songs of +purer piety and subtler emotion than the ruder harps of older singers +had ever flung from their wires. And this man, so placed, so gifted, set +up on high to be the guiding light of the nation, has plunged into the +filth of these sins, and quenched all his light there. When he comes +back penitent, what will he dare to ask? Everything that God can give to +bless and gladden a soul. He asks for God's Spirit, for His presence, +for the joy of His salvation; to be made once again, as he had been, the +instrument that shall show forth His praise, and teach transgressors +God's ways. Ought he to have had more humble desires? Does this great +boldness show that he is leaping very lightly over his sin? Is he +presumptuous in such prayers? God be thanked--no! But, knowing all his +guilt, and broken and contrite in heart (crushed and ground to powder, +as the words mean), utterly loathing himself, aware of all the darkness +of his deserts, he yet cherishes unconquerable confidence in the pitying +love of God, and believes that in spite of all his sin, he may yet be +pure as the angels of heaven--ay, even holy as God is holy. + +Thank God we have such an example for our heartening! Lay it to heart, +brethren! You cannot believe too much in God's mercy. You cannot expect +too much at His hands. He is 'able to do exceeding abundantly above all +that we ask or think.' No sin is so great but that, coming straight from +it, a repentant sinner may hope and believe that all God's love will be +lavished upon him, and the richest of God's gifts be granted to his +desires. Even if our transgression is aggravated by a previous life of +godliness, and have given the enemies great occasion to blaspheme, as +David's did, yet David's penitence may in our souls lead on to David's +hope, and the answer will not fail us. Let no sin, however dark, however +repeated, drive us to despair of ourselves, because it hides from us our +loving Saviour. Though beaten back again and again by the surge of our +passions and sins, like some poor shipwrecked sailor sucked back with +every retreating wave and tossed about in the angry surf, yet keep your +face towards the beach, where there is safety, and you will struggle +through it all, and though it were but on some floating boards and +broken pieces of the ship, will come safe to land. He will uphold you +with His Spirit, and take away the weight of sin that would sink you, by +His forgiving mercy, and bring you out of all the weltering waste of +waters to the solid shore. + +So whatever thy evil behaviour, come with it all, and cast thyself +before Him, with whom is plenteous redemption. Embrace in one act the +two truths, of thine own sin and of God's infinite mercy in Jesus +Christ. Let not the one blind you to the other; let not the one lead you +to a morbid despondency, which is blind to Christ, nor the other to a +superficial estimate of the deadliness of sin, which is blind to thine +own self. Let the Cross teach thee what sin is, and let the dark +background of thy sin bring into clear prominence the Cross that +bringeth salvation. Know that thou art utterly black and sinful. Believe +that God is eternally, utterly, inconceivably, merciful. Learn both, in +Him who is the Standard by which we can estimate our sin, and the Proof +and Medium of God's mercy. Trust thyself and all thy foulness to Jesus +Christ; and, so doing, look up from whatsoever horrible pit and miry +clay thou mayest have fallen into, with this prayer, 'Create in me a +clean heart, O God! and renew a right spirit within me, take not Thy +Holy Spirit from me, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.' Then the +answer shall come to you from Him who ever puts the best robe upon His +returning prodigals, and gives His highest gifts to sinners who repent. +'From all your filthiness will I cleanse you, a new heart also will I +give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will put My +Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes.' + + + + +FEAR AND FAITH + + + 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. 4. ... In God I have + put my trust: I will not fear.'--PSALM lvi. 3, 4. + +It is not given to many men to add new words to the vocabulary of +religious emotion. But so far as an examination of the Old Testament +avails, I find that David was the first that ever employed the word that +is here translated, _I will trust_, with a religious meaning. It is +found occasionally in earlier books of the Bible in different +connections, never in regard to man's relations to God, until the +Poet-Psalmist laid his hand upon it, and consecrated it for all +generations to express one of the deepest relations of man to his Father +in heaven. And it is a favourite word of his. I find it occurs +constantly in his psalms; twice as often, or nearly so, in the psalms +attributed to David as in all the rest of the Psalter put together; and +as I shall have occasion to show you in a moment, it is in itself a most +significant and poetic word. + +But, first of all, I ask you to notice how beautifully there comes out +here the _occasion_ of trust. 'What time I am afraid, I will put my +trust in Thee.' + +This psalm is one of those belonging to the Sauline persecution. If we +adopt the allocation in the superscription, it was written at one of the +very lowest points of David's fortunes. And there seem to be one or two +of its phrases which acquire new force, if we regard the psalm as drawn +forth by the perils of his wandering, hunted life. For instance--'Thou +tellest my wanderings,' is no mere expression of the feelings with which +he regarded the changes of this early pilgrimage, but is the confidence +of the fugitive that in the doublings and windings of his flight God's +eye marked him. 'Put thou my tears into Thy _bottle_'--one of the few +indispensable articles which he had to carry with him, the water-skin +which hung beside him, perhaps, as he meditated. So read in the light of +his probable circumstances, how pathetic and eloquent does that saying +become--'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.' That goes deep +down into the realities of life. It is when we are 'afraid' that we +trust in God; not in easy times, when things are going smoothly with us. +Not when the sun shines, but when the tempest blows and the wind howls +about his ears, a man gathers his cloak round him, and cleaves fast to +his supporter. The midnight sea lies all black; but when it is cut into +by the oar, or divided and churned by the paddle, it flashes up into +phosphorescence, and so it is from the tumults and agitation of man's +spirit that there is struck out the light of man's faith. There is the +bit of flint and the steel that comes hammering against it; and it is +the contact of these two that brings out the spark. The man never knew +confidence who does not know how the occasion that evoked and preceded +it was terror and need. 'What time I am _afraid_, I will trust.' That is +no trust which is only fair weather trust. This principle--first fear, +and only then, faith--applies all round the circle of our necessities, +weaknesses, sorrows, and sins. + +There must, first of all, be the deep sense of need, of exposedness to +danger, of weakness, of sorrow, and only then will there come the +calmness of confidence. A victorious faith will + + 'rise large and slow + From out the fluctuations of our souls, + As from the dim and tumbling sea + Starts the completed moon.' + +And then, if so, notice how there is involved in that the other +consideration, that a man's confidence is not the product of outward +circumstances, but of his own fixed resolves. 'I _will_ put my trust in +Thee.' Nature says, 'Be afraid!' and the recoil from that natural fear, +which comes from a discernment of threatening evil, is only possible by +a strong effort of the will. Foolish confidence opposes to natural fear +a groundless resolve not to be afraid, as if heedlessness were security, +or facts could be altered by resolving not to think about them. True +faith, by a mighty effort of the will, fixes its gaze on the divine +Helper, and there finds it possible and wise to lose its fears. It is +madness to say, 'I will not to be afraid!' it is wisdom and peace to +say, 'I will trust, and not be afraid.' But it is no easy matter to fix +the eye on God when threatening enemies within arm's-length compel our +gaze; and there must be a fixed resolve, not indeed to coerce our +emotions or to ignore our perils, but to set the Lord before us, that we +may not be moved. When war desolates a land, the peasants fly from their +undefended huts to the shelter of the castle on the hilltop, but they +cannot reach the safety of the strong walls without climbing the steep +road. So when calamity darkens round us, or our sense of sin and sorrow +shakes our hearts, we need effort to resolve and to carry into practice +the resolution, 'I flee unto Thee to hide me.' Fear, then, is the +occasion of faith, and faith is fear transformed by the act of our own +will, calling to mind the strength of God, and betaking ourselves +thereto. Therefore, do not wonder if the two things lie in your hearts +together, and do not say, 'I have no faith because I have some fear,' +but rather feel that if there be the least spark of the former it will +turn all the rest into its own bright substance. Here is the stifling +smoke, coming up from some newly-lighted fire of green wood, black and +choking, and solid in its coils; but as the fire burns up, all the +smoke-wreaths will be turned into one flaming spire, full of light and +warmth. Do you turn your smoke into fire, your fear into faith. Do not +be down-hearted if it takes a while to convert the whole of the lower +and baser into the nobler and higher. Faith and fear do blend, thank +God! They are as oil and water in a man's soul, and the oil will float +above, and quiet the waves. 'What time I am afraid'--there speak nature +and the heart; 'I will trust in Thee'--there speaks the better man +within, lifting himself above nature and circumstances, and casting +himself into the extended arms of God, who catches him and keeps him +safe. + +Then, still further, these words, or rather one portion of them, give us +a bright light and a beautiful thought as to the _essence_ and inmost +centre of this faith or trust. Scholars tell us that the word here +translated 'trust' has a graphic, pictorial meaning for its root idea. +It signifies literally to cling to or hold fast anything, expressing +thus both the notion of a good tight grip and of intimate union. Now, is +not that metaphor vivid and full of teaching as well as of impulse? 'I +will trust in Thee.' 'And he exhorted them all, that with purpose of +heart they should _cleave_ unto the Lord.' We may follow out the +metaphor of the word in many illustrations. For instance, here is a +strong prop, and here is the trailing, lithe feebleness of the vine. +Gather up the leaves that are creeping all along the ground, and coil +them around that support, and up they go straight towards the heavens. +Here is a limpet in some pond or other, left by the tide, and it has +relaxed its grasp a little. Touch it with your finger and it grips fast +to the rock, and you will want a hammer before you can dislodge it. +There is a traveller groping along some narrow broken path, where the +chamois would tread cautiously, his guide in front of him. His head +reels, and his limbs tremble, and he is all but over, but he grasps the +strong hand of the man in front of him, or lashes himself to him by the +rope, and he can walk steadily. Or, take that story in the Acts of the +Apostles, about the lame man healed by Peter and John. All his life long +he had been lame, and when at last healing comes, one can fancy with +what a tight grasp 'the lame man held Peter and John.' The timidity and +helplessness of a lifetime made him hold fast, even while, walking and +leaping, he tried how the unaccustomed 'feet and ankle bones' could do +their work. How he would clutch the arms of his two supporters, and feel +himself firm and safe only as long as he grasped them! That is faith, +cleaving to Christ, twining round Him with all the tendrils of our +heart, as the vine does round its pole; holding to Him by His hand, as a +tottering man does by the strong hand that upholds. + +And there is one more application of the metaphor, which perhaps may be +best brought out by referring to a passage of Scripture. We find this +same expression used in that wonderfully dramatic scene in the Book of +Kings, where the supercilious messengers from the king of Assyria came +up and taunted the king and his people on the wall. 'What confidence is +this wherein thou trustest? Now, on whom dost thou trust, that thou +rebellest against me? Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this +bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which, if a man lean, it will go into +his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, unto all that +trust on him,' The word of our text is employed there, and as the phrase +shows, with a distinct trace of its primary sense. Hezekiah was leaning +upon that poor paper reed on the Nile banks, that has no substance, or +strength, or pith in it. A man leans upon it, and it runs into the palm +of his hand, and makes an ugly festering wound. Such rotten stays are +all our earthly confidences. The act of trust, and the miserable issues +of placing it on man, are excellently described there. The act is the +same when directed to God, but how different the issues. Lean all your +weight on God as on some strong staff, and depend upon it that your +support will never yield nor crack and no splinters will run into your +palms from it. + +If I am to cling with my hand I must first empty my hand. Fancy a man +saying, 'I cannot stand unless you hold me up; but I have to hold my +bank book, and this thing, and that thing, and the other thing; I cannot +put them down, so I have not a hand free to lay hold with, you must do +the holding.' That is what some of us are saying in effect. Now the +prayer, 'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe,' is a right one; but not +from a man who will not put his possessions out of his hands that he may +lay hold of the God who lays hold of him. + + 'Nothing in my hand I bring.' + +Then, of course, and only then, when we are empty-handed, shall we be +free to grip and lay hold; and only then shall we be able to go on with +the grand words-- + + 'Simply to Thy Cross I cling,' + +as some half-drowned, shipwrecked sailor, flung up on the beach, clasps +a point of rock, and is safe from the power of the waves that beat +around him. + +And then one word more. These two clauses that I have put together give +us not only the occasion of faith in fear, and the essence of faith in +this clinging, but they also give us very beautifully the _victory_ of +faith. You see with what poetic art--if we may use such words about the +breathings of such a soul--he repeats the two main words of the former +verse in the latter, only in inverted order--'What time I am afraid, I +will trust in Thee.' He is possessed by the lower emotion, and resolves +to escape from its sway into the light and liberty of faith. And then +the next words still keep up the contrast of faith and fear, only that +now he is possessed by the more blessed mood, and determines that he +will not fall back into the bondage and darkness of the baser. 'In God I +have put my trust; I will not fear.' He has confidence, and in the +strength of that he resolves that he will not yield to fear. If we put +that thought into a more abstract form it comes to this: that the one +true antagonist and triumphant rival of all fear is faith, and faith +alone. There is no reason why any man should be emancipated from his +fears either about this world or about the next, except in proportion as +he has faith. Nay, rather it is far away more rational to be afraid than +not to be afraid, unless I have this faith in Christ. There are plenty +of reasons for dread in the dark possibilities and not less dark +certainties of life. Disasters, losses, partings, disappointments, +sicknesses, death, may any of them come at any moment, and some of them +will certainly come sooner or later. Temptations lurk around us like +serpents in the grass, they beset us in open ferocity like lions in our +path. Is it not wise to fear unless our faith has hold of that great +promise, 'Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; there shall no evil +befall thee'? But if we have a firm hold of God, then it is wise not to +be afraid, and terror is folly and sin. For trust brings not only +tranquillity, but security, and so takes away fear by taking away +danger. + +That double operation of faith in quieting and in defending is very +strikingly set forth by an Old Testament word, formed from the verb here +employed, which means properly _confidence_, and then in one form comes +to signify both _in security_ and _in safety_, secure as being free from +anxiety, safe as being sheltered from peril. So, for instance, the +people of that secluded little town of Laish, whose peaceful existence +amidst warlike neighbours is described with such singular beauty in the +Book of Judges, are said to 'dwell _careless_, quiet, and _secure_.' The +former phrase is literally 'in trust,' and the latter is 'trusting.' The +idea sought to be conveyed by both seems to be that double one of quiet +freedom from fear and from danger. So again, in Moses' blessing, 'The +beloved of the Lord shall dwell _in safety_ by Him,' we have the same +phrase to express the same twofold benediction of shelter, by dwelling +in God, from all alarm and from all attack: + + 'As far from danger as from fear, + While love, Almighty love is near.' + +This thought of the victory of faith over fear is very forcibly set +forth in a verse from the Book of Proverbs, which in our version runs +'The righteous is bold as a lion.' The word rendered 'is bold' is that +of our text, and would literally be 'trusts,' but obviously the metaphor +requires such a translation as that of the English Bible. The word that +properly describes the act of faith has come to mean the courage which +is the consequence of the act, just as our own word _confidence_ +properly signifies trust, but has come to mean the boldness which is +born of trust. So, then, the true way to become brave is to lean on God. +That, and that alone, delivers from otherwise reasonable fear, and Faith +bears in her one hand the gift of outward safety, and in her other that +of inward peace. + +Peter is sinking in the water; the tempest runs high. He looks upon the +waves, and is ready to fancy that he is going to be swallowed up +immediately. His fear is reasonable if he has only the tempest and +himself to draw his conclusions from. His helplessness and the scowling +storm together strike out a little spark of faith, which the wind cannot +blow out, nor the floods quench. Like our Psalmist here, when Peter is +afraid, he trusts. 'Save, Lord! or I perish.' Immediately the +outstretched hand of his Lord grasps his, and brings him safety, while +the gentle rebuke, 'O thou of little faith! wherefore didst thou doubt?' +infuses courage into his beating heart. The storm runs as high as ever, +and the waves beat about his limbs, and the spray blinds his eyes. If he +leaves his hold for one moment down he will go. But, as long as he +clasps Christ's hand, he is as safe on that heaving floor as if his feet +were on a rock; and as long as he looks in Christ's face and leans upon +His upholding arm, he does _not_ 'see the waves boisterous,' nor tremble +at all as they break around him. His fear and his danger are both gone, +because he holds Christ and is upheld by Him. In this sense, too, as in +many others, 'this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our +faith.' + + + + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE + + + 'For Thou hast delivered my soul from death: hast Thou not delivered + my feet from falling? that I may walk before God in the light of the + living.'--PSALM lvi. 13 (R.V.). + +According to the ancient Jewish tradition preserved in the +superscription of this psalm, it was written at the lowest ebb of +David's fortunes, 'when the Philistines took him in Gath,' and as you +may remember, he saved himself by adding the fox's hide to the lion's +skin, and by pretending to be an idiot, degraded as well as delivered +himself. Yet immediately after, if we accept the date given by the +superscription, the triumphant confidence and devout hope of this psalm +animated his mind. How unlike the true man was to what he appeared to be +to Achish and his Philistines! It is strange that the inside and the +outside should correspond so badly; but yet, thank God! it is possible. +We note, + +I. The deliverance realised by faith before it is accomplished in fact. + +You will observe that I have made a slight alteration in the translation +of the words. In our Authorised Version they stand thus: 'Thou hast +delivered my soul from death; _wilt_ Thou not deliver my feet from +falling?' as if some prior deliverance was the basis upon which the +Psalmist rested his expectation of that which was still to come. But +there is no authority in the original for that variation of tenses, and +both clauses obviously refer to the same period and the same +deliverance. Therefore we must read: 'Thou hast delivered my soul from +death: _hast_ Thou not delivered,' etc.; the question being equivalent +to a strong affirmation, 'Yea, Thou hast delivered my feet from +falling.' This reference of both clauses to the same period and the same +delivering act, is confirmed by the quotation of these words in a very +much later psalm, the 116th, where we read, with an addition, 'Thou hast +delivered my soul from death, _mine eyes from tears_, and my feet from +falling.' + +So, then, the Psalmist is so sure of the deliverance that is coming that +he sings of it as past. He is still in the very thick of the trouble and +the fight, and yet he says, 'It is as good as over. Thou _hast_ +delivered.' + +How does he come to that confidence? Simply because his future is God; +and whoever has God for his future can turn else uncertain hopes into +certain confidences, and make sure of this, that however Achish and his +giant Philistines of Gath, wielding Goliath's arms, spears like a +weaver's beam, and brazen armour, may compass him about, in the name of +the Lord he will destroy them. They are all as good as dead, though they +are alive and hostile at this moment. In the midst of trouble we can +fling ourselves into the future, or rather draw the future into the +present, and say, 'Thou _hast_ delivered my soul from death.' It is safe +to reckon on to-morrow when we reckon on God. We to-day have the same +reasons for the same confidence; and if we will go the right way about +it, we, too, may bring June's sun into November's fogs, and bask in the +warmth of certain deliverance even when the chill mists of trouble +enfold us. + +But then note, too, here, the substance of this future intervention +which, to the Psalmist's quiet faith, is present:--'My soul from death,' +and after that he says, 'My feet from falling,' which looks very like an +anticlimax and bathos. But yet, just because to deliver the feet from +falling is so much smaller a thing than delivering a life from death, it +comes here to be a climax and something greater. The storm passes over +the man. What then? After the storm has passed, he is not only alive, +but he is standing upright. It has not killed him. No, it has not even +shaken him. His feet are as firm as ever they were, and just because +that is a smaller thing, it is a greater thing for the deliverance to +have accomplished than the other. God does not deliver by halves; He +does not leave the delivered man maimed, or thrown down, though living. + +Remember, too, the expansion of the text in the psalm to which I have +already referred, one of a much later date, which by quoting these words +really comments upon them. The later Psalmist adds a clause. 'Mine eyes +from tears,' and we may follow on in the same direction, and note the +three spheres in which the later poet hymns the delivering hand of God +as spiritualising for us all our deeper Christian experience. 'Thou hast +delivered my soul from death,' in that great redemption by which the Son +has died that we may never know either the intensest bitterness of +physical death, or the true death of which it is the shadow and the +emblem. 'Thou hast delivered mine eyes from tears'; God wipes away tears +here, even before we come to the time when He wipes away all tears from +off all faces, and no eyes are delivered from tears, except eyes that +have looked through tears to God. 'And my feet from falling'--redeeming +grace which saves the soul; comforting grace which lightens sorrow; +upholding grace which keeps us from sins--these are the elements of what +God has done for us all, if our poor feeble trust has rested on Him. + +How did David get to this confidence? Why, he prayed himself into it. If +you will read the psalm, you will see very clearly the process by which +a man comes to that serene, triumphant trust that the battle is won even +whilst it is raging around him. The previous portion of the psalm falls +into two parts, on which I need only make this one remark, that in both +we have first of all an obvious disquieting fact, and then a flash of +victorious confidence. Let me just read a word or two to you. The +Psalmist begins in a very minor key. 'Be merciful unto me, O God! for +man would swallow me up'--that is Achish and his Philistines. 'He +fighting daily oppresseth me; mine enemies daily would swallow me up.' +He reiterates the same thought with the dreary monotony of sorrow, 'for +there be many that fight against me, O Thou most High!' But swiftly his +note changes into 'What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. In God I +will praise His word'; that is to say, His promise of deliverance, 'in +God I have put my trust.' He has climbed to the height, but only for a +moment, for down he drops again, and begins anew the old miserable +complaint. The sorrow is too clinging to be cast off at one struggle. It +has been dammed out for the moment, but the flood rushes too heavily, +and away goes the dam, and back pours the black water. 'Every day they +wrest my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.' And he goes +on longer on his depressing key this second time than he did the first, +but he rises above it once more in the same fashion, and the refrain +with which he had closed the first part of the psalm closes the second. +'In God will I praise His word; in the Lord will I praise His word.' Now +he has won the height and keeps it, and breaks into a paean of victory in +words of the text. + +That is to say, pray yourselves into confidence, and if it does not come +at first, pray again. If the consolation seems to glide away, even +whilst you are laying hold of it, grasp it once more, and close your +fingers more tightly on it. Do not be afraid of going down into the +depths a second time, but be sure that you try to rise out of them at +the same point as before, by grasping the assurance that in God, in His +strength, and by His grace, you will be able to set your seal to the +truth of His great promise. Thus will you rise to this confidence which +calleth things that are not as though they were, and brings the +to-morrow that is sure to dawn with all its brightness and serenity into +the turbulent, tempestuous, and clouded atmosphere of to-day. We shall +one day escape from all that burdens, and tries, and tasks us; and until +then this blessed assurance, the fruit of prayer, is like the food that +the ravens brought to the prophet in the ravine, or the bread and water +that the angel awoke him to partake of when he was faint in the +wilderness. The true answer to David's prayer was the immediate access +of confidence unshaken, though the outward answer was a long time in +coming, and years lay between him and the cessation of his persecutions +and troubles. So we may have brooks by the way, in quiet confidence of +deliverance ere yet the deliverance comes. Then note, + +II. The impulse to service which deliverance brings. + +'That I may walk before God in the light of the living'; that is God's +purpose in all His deliverances, that we may thereby be impelled to +trustful and grateful service. And David makes that purpose into a vow, +for the words might almost as well be translated, 'I _will_ walk before +Him.' Let us see to it that God's purpose is our resolve, and that we do +not lose the good of any of the troubles or discipline through which He +passes us; for the worst of all sorrows is a wasted sorrow. + +'Thou hast delivered my feet that I may walk.' What are feet for? +Walking. Further, notice the precise force of that phrase, 'that I may +walk _before God_.' It is not altogether the same as the cognate one +which is used about Enoch, that 'he walked _with_ God.' That expresses +communion as with a friend; this, the ordering of one's life before His +eye, and in the consciousness of His presence as Judge and as +Taskmaster. So you find the expression used in almost the only other +occasion where it occurs in the Old Testament, where God says to +Abraham, 'Walk before Me, and'--because thou dost order thy life in the +consciousness that I am looking at thee--'be thou perfect.' So, to walk +before God is to live even in all the distracting activities of daily +life, with the clear realisation, and the continued thought burning in +our minds that we are doing them all in His presence. Think of what a +regiment of soldiers on parade does as each file passes in front of the +saluting point where the commanding officer is standing. How each man +dresses up, and they pull themselves together, keeping step, sloping +their rifles rightly. We are not on parade, but about business a great +deal more serious than that. We are doing our fighting with the Captain +looking at us, and that should be a stimulus, a joy and not a terror. +Realise God's eye watching you, and sin, and meanness, and negligence, +and selfishness, and sensuality, and lust, and passion, and all the +other devils that are in you will vanish like ghosts at cockcrow. 'Walk +before Me,' and if you feel that I am beside you, you cannot sin. 'Walk +before Me, and be thou perfect.' Notice, + +III. The region in which that observance of the divine eye is to be +carried on. + +'In the light of the living,' says the Psalmist. That seems to +correspond to the first clause of his hope; just as the previous word +that I have been commenting upon, 'walking before Him,' corresponds to +the second, where he speaks about his feet. 'Thou hast delivered my soul +from death.... I will walk before Thee in the light of the +living'--where Thou dost still permit my delivered soul to be. And the +phrase seems to mean the sunshine of human life contrasted with the +darkness of _Sheol_. + +The expression is varied in the 116th Psalm, which reads 'the land of +the living.' The really living are they who live in Jesus, and the real +light of the living is the sunshine that streams on those who thus live, +because they live in Him who not only pours His light upon their hearts, +but, by pouring it, turns themselves into 'light in the Lord.' We, too, +may have the brightness of His face irradiating our faces and +illuminating our paths, as with the beneficence of a better sunshine. +The Psalmist points us the way thus to walk in light. He vows that, +because his heart is full of the great mercies of his delivering God, he +will order all his active life as under the consciousness of God's eye +upon him, and then it will all be lightened as by a burst of sunshine. +Our brightest light is the radiance from the face of God whom we try to +love and serve, and the Psalmist's confidence is that a life of +observance of His commandments in which gratitude for deliverance is the +impelling motive to continual realisation of His presence, and an +accordant life, will be a bright and sunny career. You will live in the +sunshine if you live before His face, and however wintry the world may +be, it will be like a clear frosty day. There is no frost in the sky, it +does not go above the atmosphere, and high above, in serene and wondrous +blue, is the blaze of the sunshine. Such a life will be a guided life. +There will still remain many occasions for doubt in the region of +belief, and for perplexity as to duty. There will often be need for +patient and earnest thought as to both, and there will be no lack of +calls for strenuous effort of our best faculties in order to apprehend +what our Guide means us to do, and where He would have us go, but +through it all there will be the guiding hand. As the Master, with +perhaps a glance backwards to these words, said, 'He that followeth Me +shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' If He is +in the light let us walk in the light, and to us it will be purity and +knowledge and joy. + + + + +THE FIXED HEART + + + 'My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give + praise.'--PSALM lvii. 7. + +It is easy to say such things when life goes smoothly with us. But this +Psalmist, whether David or another, says this, and means it, when all +things are dark and frowning around him. The superscription attributes +the words to David himself, fleeing from Saul, and hiding in the cave. +Whether that be so or no, the circumstances under which the Psalmist +sings are obviously those of very great difficulty and oppression. But +he sings himself into confidence and good cheer. In the dark he believes +in the light. There are some flowers that give their perfumes after +sunset and are sweetest when the night dews are falling. The true +religious life is like these. A heart really based upon God, and at rest +in Him, never breathes forth such fragrant and strong perfume as in the +darkness of sorrow. The repetition of 'My heart is fixed' adds emphasis +to the expression of unalterable determination. The fixed heart is +resolved to 'sing and give praise' in spite of everything that might +make sobs and tears choke the song. + +I. Note the fixed heart. + +The Hebrew uses the metaphor of the 'heart' to cover a great deal more +of the inward self than we are accustomed to do. We mainly mean thereby +that in us which loves. But the Old Testament speaks of the 'thoughts +and intents' as well as the 'affections' of the heart. And so to this +Psalmist his 'heart' was not only that in him which loved, but that +which purposed and which thought. When he says 'My heart is fixed' he +does not merely mean that he is conscious of a steadfast love, but also +and rather of a fixed and settled determination, and of an abiding +communion of thought between himself and God. And he not only makes this +declaration as the expression of his experience for the moment, but he +mortgages the future, and in so far as any man dare, he ventures to say +that this temper of entire consecration, of complete communion, of fixed +resolve to cleave to God, which is his present mood, will be his future +whatever may wait his outward life then. The lesson from that resolve is +that our religion, if it is worth anything, must be a continuous and +uniformly acting force throughout our whole lives, and not merely +sporadic and spasmodic, by fits and starts. The lines that a child's +unsteady and untrained hand draws in its copy-book are too good a +picture of the 'crooked, wandering ways in which we live,' in so far as +our religion is concerned. The line should be firm and straight, uniform +in breadth, unvarying in direction, like a sunbeam, homogeneous and +equally tenacious like an iron rod. Unless it be thus strong and +uniform, it will scarcely sustain the weights that it must bear, or +resist the blows that it must encounter. + +For a fixed heart I must have a fixed determination, and not a mere +fluctuating and soon broken intention. I must have a steadfast +affection, and not merely a fluttering love, that, like some butterfly, +lights now on this, now on that, sweet flower, but which has a flight +straight as a carrier pigeon to its cot, which shall bear me direct to +God. And I must have a continuous realisation of my dependence upon God, +and of God's sweet sufficiency, going with me all through the dusty day. +A firm determination, a steadfast love, a constant thought, these at +least are inculcated in the words of my text. 'My heart is fixed, O God! +my heart is fixed.' + +Ah, brethren! how unlike the broken, interrupted, divergent lines that +we draw! Our religious moments are not knit together, and touching one +upon the other, but they are like the pools in the bed of a half dried +up Australian stream--a pond here, and a stretch of white, blistering +pebbles there, and then a little drop of water, and then another reach +of dryness. They should all be knit together by one continuous flow of a +fixed love, desire, and thought. Is our average Christianity fairly +represented by such words as these of my text? Do they not rather make +us burn with shame when we think that a man who lived in the twilight of +God's revelation, and was weighed upon by distresses such as wrung this +psalm out of him, should have poured out this resolve, which we who live +in the sunlight and are flooded with blessings find it hard to echo with +sincerity and truth? Fixed hearts are rare amongst the Christians of +this day. + +II. Notice the manifold hindrances to such a uniformity of our religious +life. + +They are formidable enough, God knows, we all know it, and I do not need +to dwell upon them. There is, for example, the tendency to fluctuation +which besets all our feelings, and especially our religious emotions. +What would happen to a steam-engine if the stoker now piled on coals and +then fell asleep by the furnace door? One moment the boiler would be +ready to burst; at another moment there would be no steam to drive +anything. That is the sort of alternation that goes on amongst hosts of +Christians to-day. Their springtime and summer are followed certainly by +an autumn and a bitter winter. Every moment of elevation has a +corresponding moment of depression. They never catch a glimpse of God +and of His love brighter and more sweet than ordinary without its being +followed by long weariness and depression and darkness. That is the kind +of life that many of you are contented to live as Christian people. + +But is there any necessity for such alternations? Some degree of +fluctuation there will always be. The very exercise of emotion tends to +its extinction. Varying conditions of health and other externals will +affect the buoyancy and clear-sightedness and vivacity of the spiritual +life. Only a barometer that is out of order will always stand at set +fair. The vane which never points but to south is rusty and means +nothing. + +But while there cannot be absolute uniformity, there might and should be +a far nearer approach to an equable temperature of a much higher range +than the readings of most professing Christians give. There is, indeed, +a dismally uniform arctic temperature in many of them. Their hearts are +fixed, truly, but fixed on earth. Their frost is broken by no thaw, +their tepid formalism interrupted by no disturbing enthusiasm. We do not +now speak of these, but of those who have moments of illumination, of +communion, of submission of will, which fade all too soon. To such we +would earnestly say that these moments may be prolonged and made more +continuous. We need not be at the mercy of our own unregulated +feelings. We can control our hearts, and keep them fixed, even if they +should wish to wander. If we would possess the blessing of an +approximately uniform religious life, we must assert the control of +ourselves and use both bridle and spur. A great many religious people +seem to think that 'good times' come and go, and that they can do +nothing to bring or keep or banish them. But that is not so. If the fire +is burning low, there is such a thing on the hearth as a poker, and +coals are at hand. If we feel our faith falling asleep, are we powerless +to rouse it? Cannot we say 'I _will_ trust'? Let us learn that the +variations in our religious emotions are largely subject to our own +control, and may, if we will govern ourselves, be brought far nearer to +uniformity than they ordinarily are. + +Besides the fluctuations due to our own changes of mood, there are also +the distracting influences of even the duties which God lays upon us. It +is hard for a man with the material task of the moment that takes all +his powers, to keep a little corner of his heart clear, and to feel that +God is there. It is difficult in the clatter of the mill or in the +crowds on 'Change, to do our work as for and in remembrance of Christ. +It _is_ difficult; but it is possible. Distractions are made +distractions by our own folly and weakness. There is nothing that it is +our duty to do which an honest attempt to do from the right motive could +not convert into a positive help to getting nearer God. It is for us to +determine whether the tasks of life, and this intrusive external and +material world, shall veil Him from us, or shall reveal Him to us. It is +for us to determine whether we shall make our secular avocation and its +trials, little and great, a means to get nearer to God, or a means to +shut Him out from us, and us from Him. There is nothing but sin +incompatible with the fixed heart, the resolved will, the continual +communion, nothing incompatible though there may be much that makes it +difficult to realise and preserve these. + +And then, of course, the trials and sorrows which strike us all make +this fixed heart hard to keep. It is easy, as I said, to vow, 'I will +sing and give praise,' when flesh is comfortable and prosperity is +spreading its bright sky over our heads. It is harder to say it when +disappointment and bitterness are in the heart, and an empty place there +that aches and will never be filled. It is harder for a man to say it +when, like this Psalmist, his soul is 'amongst lions' and he 'lies +amongst them that are set on fire.' But still, rightly taken, sorrow is +the best ladder to God; and there is no such praise as comes from the +lips that, if they did not praise, must sob, and that praise because +they are beginning to learn that evil, as the world calls it, is the +stepping-stone to the highest good. 'My heart is fixed. I will sing and +give praise' may be the voice of the mourner as well as of the +prosperous and happy. + +III. Lastly, let me say just a word as to the means by which such a +uniform character may be impressed upon our religious experience. + +There is another psalm where this same phrase is employed with a very +important and illuminating addition, in which we read, 'His heart is +fixed, trusting in the Lord.' That is the secret of a fixed +heart--continuous faith rooted and grounded in Him. This fluttering, +changeful, unreliable, emotional nature of mine will be made calm and +steadfast by faith, and duties done in the faith of God will bind me to +Him; and sorrows borne and joys accepted in the faith of God will be +links in the chain that knits Him to me. + +But then the question comes, how to get this continuous faith? Brethren! +I know no answer except the simple one, by continually making efforts +after it, and adopting the means which Christ enjoins to secure it. A +man climbing a hill, though he has to look to his feet when in the +slippery places, and all his energies are expended in hoisting himself +upwards by every projection and crag, will do all the better if he lifts +his eye often to the summit that gleams above him. So we, in our upward +course, shall make the best progress when we consciously and honestly +try to look beyond the things seen and temporal, even whilst we are +working in the midst of them, and to keep clear before us the summit to +which our faith tends. If we lived in the endeavour to realise that +great white throne, and Him that sits upon it, we should find it easier +to say, 'My heart is fixed, O God! my heart is fixed.' + +But be sure of this, there will be no such uniformity of religious +experience throughout our lives unless there be frequent times in them +in which we go into our chambers and shut our doors about us, and hold +communion with our Father in secret. Everything noble and great in the +Christian life is fed by solitude, and everything poor and mean and +hypocritical and low-toned is nourished by continual absence from the +secret place of the Most High. There must be moments of solitary +communion, if there are to be hours of strenuous service and a life of +continual consecration. + +We need not ask ourselves the question whether the realisation of the +ideal of this fixedness in its perfect completeness is possible for us +here on earth or not. You and I are a long way on this side of that +realisation yet, and we need not trouble ourselves about the final +stages until we have got on a stage or two more. + +What would you think of a boy if, when he had just been taught to draw +with a pencil, he said to his master, 'Do you think I shall ever be able +to draw as well as Raphael?' His teacher would say to him, 'Whether you +will or not, you will be able to draw a good deal better than now, if +you try.' We need not trouble ourselves with the questions that disturb +some people until we are very much nearer to perfection than any of us +yet are. At any rate, we can approach indefinitely to that ideal, and +whether it is possible for us in this life ever to have hearts so +continuously fixed as that no attraction shall draw the needle aside one +point from the pole or not, it is possible for us all to have them a +great deal steadier than in that wavering, fluctuating vacillation which +now rules them. + +So let us pray the prayer, 'Unite my heart to fear Thy name,' make the +resolve, 'My heart is fixed,' and listen obediently to the command, 'He +exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the +Lord.' + + + + +WAITING AND SINGING + + + 'Because of his strength will I wait upon Thee: for God is my + defence.... 17. Unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my + defence, and the God of my mercy.'--PSALM lix. 9, 17. + +There is an obvious correspondence between these two verses even as they +stand in our translation, and still more obviously in the Hebrew. You +observe that in the former verse the words 'because of' are a supplement +inserted by our translators, because they did not exactly know what to +make of the bare words as they stood. 'His strength, I will wait upon +Thee,' is, of course, nonsense; but a very slight alteration of a single +letter, which has the sanction of several good authorities, both in +manuscripts and translations, gives an appropriate and beautiful +meaning, and brings the two verses into complete verbal correspondence. +Suppose we read, 'My strength,' instead of 'His strength.' The change is +only making the limb of one letter a little shorter, and as you will +perceive, we thereby get the same expressions in both verses. + +We may then read our two texts thus: 'Upon Thee, O my Strength! I will +wait.... Unto Thee, O my Strength, I will sing!' They are, word for +word, parallel, with the significant difference that the waiting in the +one passes into song, in the other, the silent expectation breaks into +music of praise. And these two words--_wait_ and _sing_--are in the +Hebrew the same in every letter but one, thus strengthening the +impression of likeness as well as emphasising, with poetic art, that of +difference. The parallel, too, obviously extends to the second half of +each verse, where the reason for both the waiting and the praise is the +same--'For God is my defence'--with the further eloquent variation that +the song is built not only on the thought that 'God is my defence,' but +also on this, that He is 'the God of my mercy.' + +These two parallel verses, then, are a kind of refrain, coming in at the +close of each division of the psalm; and if you examine its structure +and general course of thought, you will see that the first stands at the +end of a picture of the Psalmist's trouble and danger, and makes the +transition to the second part, which is mainly a prayer for deliverance, +and finishes with the refrain altered and enlarged, as I have pointed +out. + +The heading of the psalm tells us that its date is the very beginning of +Saul's persecution, when 'they watched the house to kill' David, and he +fled by night from the city. There is a certain correspondence between +the circumstances and some part of the picture of his foes here which +makes the date probable. If so, this is one of David's oldest psalms, +and is interesting as showing his faith and courage, even in the first +burst of danger. But whether that be so or not, we have here, at any +rate, the voice of a devout soul in sore sorrow, and we may well learn +the lesson of its twofold utterance. The man, overwhelmed by calamity, +betakes himself to God. 'Upon Thee, O my Strength! will I wait, for God +is my defence.' Then, by dint of _waiting_, although the outward +circumstances keep just the same, his temper and feelings change. He +began with, 'Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! for they lie in wait +for my soul.' He passes through 'My Strength! I will wait upon Thee,' +and so ends with 'My Strength! I will sing unto Thee.' We may then throw +our remarks into two groups, and deal for a few moments with these two +points--the waiting on God, and the change of waiting into praise. + +Now, with regard to the first of these--the waiting on God--I must +notice that the expression here, 'I will _wait_,' is a somewhat +remarkable one. It means accurately, 'I will watch Thee,' and it is the +word that is generally employed, not about our looking up to Him, but +about His looking down to us. It would describe the action of a shepherd +guarding his flock; of a sentry keeping a city; of the watchers that +watch for the morning, and the like. By using it, the Psalmist seems as +if he would say--There are two kinds of watching. There is God's +watching over me, and there is my watching for God. I look up to Him +that He may bless; He looks down upon me that He may take care of me. As +He guards me, so I stand expectant before Him, as one in a besieged +town, upon the ramparts there, looks eagerly out across the plain to see +the coming of the long-expected succours. God 'waits to be +gracious'--wonderful words, painting for us His watchfulness of fitting +times and ways to bless us, and His patient attendance on our unwilling, +careless spirits. We may well take a lesson from His attitude in +bestowing, and on our parts, wait on Him to be helped. For these two +things--vigilance and patience--are the main elements in the scriptural +idea of waiting on God. Let me enforce each of them in a word or two. + +There is no waiting on God for help, and there is no help from God, +without watchful expectation on our parts. If ever we fail to receive +strength and defence from Him, it is because we are not on the outlook +for it. Many a proffered succour from heaven goes past us, because we +are not standing on our watch-tower to catch the far-off indications of +its approach, and to fling open the gates of our heart for its entrance. +He who expects no help will get none; he whose expectation does not lead +him to be on the alert for its coming will get but little. How the +beleaguered garrison, that knows a relieving force is on the march, +strain their eyes to catch the first glint of the sunshine on their +spears as they top the pass! But how unlike such tension of watchfulness +is the languid anticipation and fitful look, with more of distrust than +hope in it, which we turn to heaven in our need! No wonder we have so +little living experience that God is our 'strength' and our 'defence,' +when we so partially believe that He is, and so little expect that He +will be either. The homely old proverb says, 'They that watch for +providences will never want a providence to watch for,' and you may turn +it the other way and say, 'They that do _not_ watch for providence will +never _have_ a providence to watch for.' Unless you put out your +water-jars when it rains you will catch no water; if you do not watch +for God coming to help you, God's watching to be gracious will be of no +good at all to you. His waiting is not a substitute for ours, but +because He watches therefore we should watch. We say, we expect Him to +comfort and help us--well, are we standing, as it were, on tiptoe, with +empty hands upraised to bring them a little nearer the gifts we look +for? Are our 'eyes ever towards the Lord'? Do we pore over His gifts, +scrutinising them as eagerly as a gold-seeker does the quartz in his +pan, to detect every shining speck of the precious metal? Do we go to +our work and our daily battle with the confident expectation that He +will surely come when our need is the sorest and scatter our enemies? Is +there any clear outlook kept by us for the help which we know must come, +lest it should pass us unobserved, and like the dove from the ark, +finding no footing in our hearts drowned in a flood of troubles, be fain +to return to the calm refuge from which it came on its vain errand? +Alas, how many gentle messengers of God flutter homeless about our +hearts, unrecognised and unwelcomed, because we have not been watching +for them! Of what avail is it that a strong hand from the beach should +fling the safety-line with true aim to the wreck, if no eye on the deck +is watching for it? It hangs there, useless and unseen, and then it +drops into the sea, and every soul on board is drowned. It is our own +fault--and very largely the fault of our want of watchfulness for the +coming of God's help--if we are ever overwhelmed by the tasks, or +difficulties, or sorrows of life. We wonder that we are left to fight +out the battle ourselves. But are we? Is it not rather, that while God's +succours are hastening to our side we will not open our eyes to see, nor +our hearts to receive them? If we go through the world with our hands +hanging listlessly down instead of lifted to heaven, or full of the +trifles and toys of this present, as so many of us do, what wonder is it +if heavenly gifts of strength do not come into our grasp? + +That attitude of watchful expectation is vividly described for us in the +graphic words of another psalm, 'My soul waiteth for the Lord more than +they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for +the morning.' What a picture that is! Think of a wakeful, sick man, +tossing restless all the night on his tumbled bed, racked with pain made +harder to bear by the darkness. How often his heavy eye is lifted to the +window-pane, to see if the dawn has not yet begun to tint it with a grey +glimmer! How he groans, 'Would God it were morning!' Or think of some +unarmed and solitary man, benighted in the forest, and hearing the wild +beasts growl and scream and bark all round, while his fire dies down, +and he knows that his life depends on the morning breaking soon. With +yet more eager expectation are we to look for God, whose coming is a +better morning for our sick and defenceless spirits. If we are not so +looking for His help, we need never be surprised that we do not get it. +There is no promise and no probability that it will come to men in their +sleep, who neither desire it nor wait for it. And such vigilant +expectation will be accompanied with patience. There is no impatience in +it, but the very opposite. 'If we hope for that we see not, then do we +with patience wait for it.' If we know that He will surely come, then if +He tarry we can wait for Him. The measure of our confidence is ever the +measure of our patience. Being sure that He is always 'in the midst of' +Zion, we may be sure that at the right time He will flame out into +delivering might, helping her, and that right early. So waiting means +watchfulness and patience, both of which have their roots in trust. + +Further, we have here set forth not only the nature, but also the object +of this waiting. 'Upon Thee, O _my Strength_! will I wait, for God is +_my Defence_.' + +The object to which faith is directed, and the ground on which it is +based, are both set forth in these two names here applied to God. The +name of the Lord is Strength, therefore I wait on Him in the confident +expectation of receiving of His power. The Lord is 'my Defence,' +therefore I wait on Him in the confident expectation of safety. The one +name has respect to our condition of feebleness and inadequacy for our +tasks, and points to God as infusing strength into us. The other points +to our exposedness to danger and to enemies, and points to God as +casting His shelter around us. The word translated 'defence' is +literally 'a high fortress,' and is the same as closes the rapturous +accumulation of the names of his delivering God, which the Psalmist +gives us when he vows to love Jehovah, who has been his Rock, and +Fortress, and Deliverer; his God in whom he will trust, his Buckler, and +the Horn of his salvation, and his _High Tower_. The first name speaks +of God dwelling in us, and His strength made perfect in our weakness; +the second speaks of our dwelling in God, and our defencelessness +sheltered in Him. 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous +runneth into it, and is safe.' As some outnumbered army, unable to make +head against its enemies in the open, flees to the shelter of some hill +fortress, perched upon a crag, and taking up the drawbridge, cannot be +reached by anything that has not wings, so this man, hard pressed by his +foes, flees into God to hide him, and feels secure behind these strong +walls. + +That is the God on whom we wait. The recognition of His character as +thus mighty and ready to help is the only thing that will evoke our +expectant confidence, and His character thus discerned is the only +object which our confidence can grasp aright. Trust Him as what He is, +and trust Him because of what He is, and see to it that your faith lays +hold on the living God Himself, and on nothing beside. + +But waiting on God is not only the recognition of His character as +revealed, but it involves, too, the act of laying hold on all the power +and blessing of that character for myself. '_My_ strength, _my_ +defence,' says the Psalmist. Think of what He is, and believe that He is +that for _you_, else there is no true waiting on Him. Make God thy very +own by claiming thine own portion in His might, by betaking thyself to +that strong habitation. We cannot wait on God in crowds, but one by one, +must say, '_My_ strength and _my_ defence.' + +And now turn to the second verse of our two texts: 'Unto Thee, O my +Strength! will I sing, for God is my defence and the God of my mercy.' + +Here we catch, as it were, waiting expectation and watchfulness in the +very act of passing over into possession and praise. For remember the +aspect of things has not changed a bit between the first verse of our +text and the last. The enemies are all round about David just as they +were, 'making a noise like a dog,' as he says, and 'going round about +the city.' The evil that was threatening him and making him sad remains +entirely unlightened. What has altered? He has altered. And how has he +altered? Because his waiting on God has begun to work an inward change, +and he has climbed, as it were, out of the depths of his sorrow up into +the sunlight. And so it ever is, my friends! There is deliverance in +spirit before there is deliverance in outward fact. If our patient +waiting bring, as it certainly will bring, at the right time, an answer +in the removal of danger, and the lightening of sorrow, it will bring +first the better answer, 'the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding,' to keep your hearts and minds. That is the highest +blessing we have to seek for in our waiting on God, and that is the +blessing which we get as soon as we wait on Him. The outward deliverance +may tarry, but ever there come before it, as heralds of its approach, +the sense of a lightened burden and the calmness of a strengthened +heart. It may be long before the morning breaks, but even while the +darkness lasts, a faint air begins to stir among the sleeping leaves, +the promise of the dawn, and the first notes of half-awakened birds +prelude the full chorus that will hail the sunrise. + +It is beautiful, I think, to see how in the compass of this one little +psalm the singer has, as it were, wrought himself clear, and sung +himself out of his fears. The stream of his thought, like some mountain +torrent, turbid at first, has run itself bright and sparkling. How all +the tremor and agitation have gone away, just because he has kept his +mind for a few minutes in the presence of the calm thought of God and +His love. The first courses of his psalm, like those of some great +building, are laid deep down in the darkness, but the shining summit is +away up there in the sunlight, and God's glittering glory is sparklingly +reflected from the highest point. Whoever begins with, 'Deliver me--I +will wait upon Thee,' will pass very quickly, even before the outward +deliverance comes, into--'O my Strength! unto Thee will I sing!' Every +song of true trust, though it may begin with a minor, will end in a +burst of jubilant gladness. No prayer ought ever to deal with +complaints, as we know, without starting with thanksgiving, and, blessed +be God, no prayer need to deal with complaints without ending with +thanksgiving. So, all our cries of sorrow, and all our acknowledgments +of weakness and need, and all our plaintive beseechings, should be +inlaid, as it were, between two layers of brighter and gladder thought, +like dull rock between two veins of gold. The prayer that begins with +thankfulness, and passes on into waiting, even while in sorrow and sore +need, will always end in thankfulness, and triumph, and praise. + +If we regard this second verse of our text as the expression of the +Psalmist's emotion at the moment of its utterance, then we see in it a +beautiful illustration of the effect of faithful waiting to turn +complaining into praise. If we regard it rather as an expression of his +confidence, that 'I shall yet praise Him for the help of His +countenance,' we see in it an illustration of the power of patient +waiting to brighten the sure hope of deliverance, and to bring summer +into the heart of winter. As resolve, or as prophecy, it is equally a +witness of the large reward of quiet waiting for the salvation of the +Lord. + +In either application of the words their almost precise correspondence +with those of the previous verse is far more than a mere poetic +ornament, or part of the artistic form of the psalm. It teaches us this +happy lesson--that the song of accomplished deliverance, whether on +earth, or in the final joy of heaven, will be but a sweeter, fuller +repetition of the cry that went up in trouble from our waiting hearts. +The object to which we shall turn with our thankfulness is He to whom we +betook ourselves with our prayers. There will be the same turning of the +soul to Him; only instead of wistful waiting in the longing look, joy +will light her lamps in our eyes, and thankfulness beam in our faces as +we turn to His light. We shall look to Him as of old, and name Him what +we used to name Him when we were in weakness and warfare,--our +'Strength' and our 'Defence.' But how different the feelings with which +the delivered soul calls Him so, from those with which the sorrowful +heart tried to grasp the comfort of the names. Then their reality was a +matter of faith, often hard to hold fast. Now it is a matter of memory +and experience. 'I called Thee my strength when I was full of weakness; +I tried to believe Thou wast my defence when I was full of fear; I +thought of Thee as my fortress when I was ringed about with foes; I know +Thee now for that which I then trusted that Thou wast. As I waited upon +Thee that Thou mightest be gracious, I praise Thee now that Thou hast +been more gracious than my hopes.' Blessed are they whose loftiest +expectations were less than their grateful memories and their rich +experience, and who can take up in their song of praise the names by +which they called on God, and feel that they knew not half their depth, +their sweetness, or their power! + +But the praise is not merely the waiting transformed. Experience has not +only deepened the conception of the meaning of God's name; it has added +a new name. The cry of the suppliant was to God, his strength and +defence; the song of the saved is to the God who is also the God of his +mercy. The experiences of life have brought out more fully the love and +tender pity of God. While the troubles lasted it was hard to believe +that God was strong enough to brace us against them, and to keep us safe +in them; it was harder still to think of them as coming from Him at all; +it was hardest to feel that they came from His love. But when they are +past, and their meaning is plainer, and we possess their results in the +weight of glory which they have wrought out for us, we shall be able to +look back on them all as the mercies of the God of our mercy, even as +when a man looks down from the mountain-top upon the mists and the +clouds through which he passed, and sees them all smitten by the +sunshine that gleams upon them from above. That which was thick and damp +as he was struggling through it, is irradiated into rosy beauty; the +retrospective and downward glance confirms and surpasses all that faith +dimly discerned, and found it hard to believe. Whilst we are fighting +here, brethren! let us say, 'I will wait for Thee,' and then yonder we +shall, with deeper knowledge of the love that was in all our sorrows, +sing unto Him who was our strength in earth's weakness, our defence in +earth's dangers, and is for ever more the 'God of our mercy,' amidst the +large and undeserved favours of heaven. + + + + +SILENCE TO GOD + + + 'Truly my soul waiteth upon God.... 5. My soul, wait thou only upon + God.' + PSALM lxii. 1, 5. + +We have here two corresponding clauses, each beginning a section of the +psalm. They resemble each other even more closely than appears from the +English version, for the 'truly' of the first, and the 'only' of the +second clause, are the same word; and in each case it stands in the same +place, namely, at the beginning. So, word for word, the two answer to +each other. The difference is, that the one expresses the Psalmist's +patient stillness of submission, and the other is his self-encouragement +to that very attitude and disposition which he has just professed to be +his. In the one he speaks of, in the other to, his soul. He stirs +himself up to renew and continue the faith and resignation which he has, +and so he sets before us both the temper which we should have, and the +effort which we should make to prolong and deepen it, if it be ours. Let +us look at these two points then--the expression of waiting, and the +self-exhortation to waiting. + +'Truly my soul waiteth upon God.' It is difficult to say whether the +opening word is better rendered 'truly,' as here, or 'only,' as in the +other clause. Either meaning is allowable and appropriate. If, with our +version, we adopt the former, we may compare with this text the opening +of another psalm (lxxiii.), 'Truly God is good to Israel,' and there, as +here, we may see in that vehement affirmation a trace of the struggle +through which it had been won. The Psalmist bursts into song with a +word, which tells us plainly enough how much had to be quieted in him +before he came to that quiet waiting, just as in the other psalm he +pours out first the glad, firm certainty which he had reached, and then +recounts the weary seas of doubt and bewilderment through which he had +waded to reach it. That one word is the record of conflict and the +trophy of victory, the sign of the blessed effect of effort and struggle +in a truth more firmly held, and in a submission more perfectly +practised. It is as if he had said, 'Yes! in spite of all its +waywardness and fears, and self-willed struggles, my soul waits upon +God. I have overcome these, and now there is peace within.' + +It is to be further observed that literally the words run, 'My soul is +silence unto God.' That forcible form of expression describes the +completeness of the Psalmist's unmurmuring submission and quiet faith. +His whole being is one great stillness, broken by no clamorous passions, +by no loud-voiced desires, by no remonstrating reluctance. There is a +similar phrase in another psalm (cix. 4), which may help to illustrate +this: 'For my love they are my adversaries, but I am prayer'--his soul +is all one supplication. The enemies' wrath awakens no flush of passion +on his cheek, or ripple of vengeance in his heart. He meets it all with +prayer. Wrapped in devotion and heedless of their rage, he is like +Stephen, when he kneeled down among his yelling murderers, and cried +with a loud voice, 'Lord! lay not this sin to their charge.' So here we +have the strongest expression of the perfect consent of the whole inward +nature in submission and quietness of confidence before God. + +That silence is first a silence of the will. The plain meaning of this +phrase is resignation; and resignation is just a silent will. Before the +throne of the Great King, His servants are to stand like those long rows +of attendants we see on the walls of Eastern temples, silent, with +folded arms, straining their ears to hear, and bracing their muscles to +execute his whispered commands, or even his gesture and his glance. A +man's will should be an echo, not a voice; the echo of God, not the +voice of self. It should be silent, as some sweet instrument is silent +till the owner's hand touches the keys. Like the boy-prophet in the hush +of the sanctuary, below the quivering light of the dying lamps, we +should wait till the awful voice calls, and then answer, 'Speak, Lord! +for Thy servant heareth.' Do not let the loud utterances of your own +wills anticipate, nor drown, the still, small voice in which God speaks. +Bridle impatience till He does. If you cannot hear His whisper, wait +till you do. Take care of running before you are sent. Keep your wills +in equipoise till God's hand gives the impulse and direction. + +Such a silent will is a strong will. It is no feeble passiveness, no +dead indifference, no impossible abnegation that God requires, when He +requires us to put our wills in accord with His. They are not slain, but +vivified, by such surrender; and the true secret of strength lies in +submission. The secret of blessedness is there, too, for our sorrows +come because there is discord between our circumstances and our wills, +and the measure in which these are in harmony with God is the measure in +which we shall feel that all things are blessings to be received with +thanksgiving. But if we will take our own way, and let our own wills +speak before God speaks, or otherwise than God speaks, nothing can come +of that but what always has come of it--blunders, sins, misery, and +manifold ruin. + +We must keep our _hearts_ silent too. The sweet voices of pleading +affections, the loud cry of desires and instincts that roar for their +food like beasts of prey, the querulous complaints of disappointed +hopes, the groans and sobs of black-robed sorrows, the loud hubbub and +Babel, like the noise of a great city, that every man carries within, +must be stifled and coerced into silence. We have to take the animal in +us by the throat, and sternly say, 'Lie down there and be quiet.' We +have to silence tastes and inclinations. We have to stop our ears to the +noises around, however sweet the songs, and to close many an avenue +through which the world's music might steal in. He cannot say, 'My soul +is silent unto God,' whose whole being is buzzing with vanities and +noisy with the din of the market-place. Unless we have something, at +least, of that great stillness, our hearts will have no peace, and our +religion no reality. + +There must be the silence of the _mind_, as well as of the heart and +will. We must not have our thoughts ever occupied with other things, but +must cultivate the habit of detaching them from earth, and keeping our +minds still before God, that He may pour His light into them. Surely if +ever any generation needed the preaching--'Be still and let God +speak'--we need it. Even religious men are so busy with spreading or +defending Christianity, that they have little time, and many of them +less inclination, for quiet meditation and still communion with God. +Newspapers, and books, and practical philanthropy, and Christian effort, +and business, and amusement, so crowd into our lives now, that it needs +some resolution and some planning to get a clear space where we can be +quiet, and look at God. + +But the old law for a noble and devout life is not altered by reason of +any new circumstances. It still remains true that a mind silently +waiting before God is the condition without which such a life is +impossible. As the flowers follow the sun, and silently hold up their +petals to be tinted and enlarged by his shining, so must we, if we would +know the joy of God, hold our souls, wills, hearts, and minds still +before Him, whose voice commands, whose love warms, whose truth makes +fair, our whole being. God speaks for the most part in such silence +only. If the soul be full of tumult and jangling noises, His voice is +little likely to be heard. As in some kinds of deafness, a perpetual +noise in the head prevents hearing any other sounds, the rush of our own +fevered blood, and the throbbing of our own nerves, hinder our catching +His tones. It is the calm lake which mirrors the sun, the least catspaw +wrinkling the surface wipes out all the reflected glories of the +heavens. If we would mirror God our souls must be calm. If we would hear +God our souls must be silence. + +Alas, how far from this is our daily life! Who among us dare to take +these words as the expression of our own experience? Is not the troubled +sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, a truer +emblem of our restless, labouring souls than the calm lake? Put your own +selves by the side of this Psalmist, and honestly measure the contrast. +It is like the difference between some crowded market-place all full of +noisy traffickers, ringing with shouts, blazing in sunshine, and the +interior of the quiet cathedral that looks down on it all, where are +coolness and subdued light, and silence and solitude. 'Come, My people! +enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee.' 'Commune +with your own heart and be still.' 'In quietness and confidence shall be +your strength.' + +This man's profession of utter resignation is perhaps too high for us; +but we can make his _self-exhortation_ our own. 'My soul! wait thou only +upon God.' Perfect as he ventures to declare his silence towards God, he +yet feels that he has to stir himself up to the effort which is needed +to preserve it in its purity. Just because he can say, 'My soul waits,' +therefore he bids his soul wait. + +I need not dwell upon that self-stimulating as involving the great +mystery of our personality, whereby a man exalts himself above himself, +and controls, and guides, and speaks to his soul. But a few words may be +given to that thought illustrated here, of the necessity for conscious +effort and self-encouragement, in order to the preservation of the +highest religious emotion. + +We are sometimes apt to forget that no holy thoughts or feelings are in +their own nature permanent, and the illusion that they are so, often +tends to accelerate their fading. It is no wonder if we in our selectest +hours of 'high communion with the living God' should feel as if that +lofty experience would last by virtue of its own sweetness, and need no +effort of ours to retain it. But it is not so. All emotion tends to +exhaustion, as surely as a pendulum to rest, or as an Eastern torrent to +dry up. All our flames burn to their extinction. There is but one fire +that blazes and is not consumed. Action is the destruction of tissue. +Life reaches its term in death. Joy and sorrow, and hope and fear, +cannot be continuous. They must needs wear themselves out and fade into +a grey uniformity like mountain summits when the sun has left them. + +Our religious experience too will have its tides, and even those high +and pure emotions and dispositions that bind us to God can only be +preserved by continual effort. Their existence is no guarantee of their +permanence, rather is it a guarantee of their transitoriness, unless we +earnestly stir up ourselves to their renewal. Like the emotions kindled +by lower objects, they perish while they glow, and there must be a +continual recurrence to the one Source of light and heat if the +brilliancy is to be preserved. + +Nor is it only from within that their continuance is menaced. Outward +forces are sure to tell upon them The constant wash of the sea of life +undermines the cliffs and wastes the coasts. The tear and wear of +external occupations is ever acting upon our religious life. Travellers +tell us that the constant friction of the sand on Egyptian hieroglyphs +removes every trace of colour, and even effaces the deep-cut characters +from basalt rocks. So the unceasing attrition of multitudinous trifles +will take all the bloom off your religion, and efface the name of the +King cut on the tables of your hearts, if you do not counteract them by +constant earnest effort. Our devotion, our faith, our love are only +preserved by being constantly renewed. + +That vigorous effort is expressed here by the very form of the phrase. +The same word which began the first clause begins the second also. As in +the former it represented for us, with an emphatic 'Truly,' the struggle +through which the Psalmist had reached the height of his blessed +experience, so here it represents in like manner the earnestness of the +self-exhortation which he addresses to himself. He calls forth all his +powers to the conflict, which is needed even by the man who has attained +to that height of communion, if he would remain where he has climbed. +And for us, brethren! who shrink from taking these former words upon our +lips, how much greater the need to use our most strenuous efforts to +quiet our souls. If the summit reached can only be held by earnest +endeavour, how much more is needed to struggle up to it from the valleys +below! + +The silence of the soul before God is no mere passiveness. It requires +the intensest energy of all our being to keep all our being still and +waiting upon Him. So put all your strength into the task, and be sure +that your soul is never so intensely alive as when in deepest abnegation +it waits hushed before God. + +Trust no past emotions. Do not wonder if they should fade even when they +are brightest. Do not let their evanescence tempt you to doubt their +reality. But always when our hearts are fullest of His love, and our +spirits stilled with the sweetest sense of His solemn presence, stir +yourselves up to keep firm hold of the else passing gleam, and in your +consciousness let these two words live in perpetual alternation: 'Truly +my soul waiteth upon God. My soul! wait thou only upon God.' + + + + +THIRST AND SATISFACTION + + + 'My soul thirsteth for Thee.... 5. My soul shall be satisfied.... 8. + My soul followeth hard after Thee.'--PSALM lxiii. 1, 5, 8. + +It is a wise advice which bids us regard rather what is said than who +says it, and there are few regions in which the counsel is more salutary +than at present in the study of the Old Testament, and especially the +Psalms. This authorship has become a burning question which is only too +apt to shut out far more important things. Whoever poured out this sweet +meditation in the psalm before us, his tender longings for, and his +jubilant possession of, God remain the same. It is either the work of a +king in exile, or is written by some one who tries to cast himself into +the mental attitude of such a person, and to reproduce his longing and +his trust. It may be a question of literary interest, but it is of no +sort of spiritual or religious importance whether the author is David or +a singer of later date endeavouring to reproduce his emotions under +certain circumstances. + +The three clauses which I have read, and which are so strikingly +identical in form, constitute the three pivots on which the psalm +revolves, the three bends in the stream of its thought and emotion. 'My +soul thirsts; my soul is satisfied; my soul follows hard after Thee.' +The three phases of emotion follow one another so swiftly that they are +all wrapped up in the brief compass of this little song. Unless they in +some degree express our experiences and emotions, there is little +likelihood that our lives will be blessed or noble, and we have little +right to call ourselves Christians. Let us follow the windings of the +stream, and ask ourselves if we can see our own faces in its shining +surface. + +I. The soul that knows its own needs will thirst after God. + +The Psalmist draws the picture of himself as a thirsty man in a +waterless land. That may be a literally true reproduction of his +condition, if indeed the old idea is correct, that this is a work of +David's; for there is no more appalling desert than that in which he +wandered as an exile. It is a land of arid mountains without a blade of +verdure, blazing in their ghastly whiteness under the fierce sunshine, +and with gaunt ravines in which there are no pools or streams, and +therefore no sweet sound of running waters, no shadow, no songs of +birds, but all is hot, dusty, glaring, pitiless; and men and beasts +faint, and loll out their tongues, and die for want of water. And, says +the Psalmist, such is life, if due regard be had to the deepest wants of +a soul, notwithstanding all the abundant supplies which are spread in +such rich and loving luxuriance around us--we are thirsty men in a +waterless land. I need not remind you how true it is that a man is but a +bundle of appetites, desires, often tyrannous, often painful, always +active. But the misery of it is--the reason why man's misery is great +upon him is--mainly, I suppose, that he does not know what it is that he +wants; that he thirsts, but does not understand what the thirst means, +nor what it is that will slake it. His animal appetites make no +mistakes; he and the beasts know that when they are thirsty they have to +drink, and when they are hungry they have to eat, and when they are +drowsy they have to sleep. But the poor instinct of the animal that +teaches it what to choose and what to avoid fails us in the higher +reaches; and we are conscious of a craving, and do not find that the +craving reveals to us the source from whence its satisfaction can be +derived. Therefore 'broken cisterns that can hold no water' are at a +premium, and 'the fountain of living waters' is turned away from, though +it could slake so many thirsts. Like ignorant explorers in an enemy's +country, we see a stream, and we do not stop to ask whether there is +poison in it or not before we glue our thirsty lips to it. There is a +great old promise in one of the prophets which puts this notion of the +misinterpretation of our thirsts, and the mistakes as to the sources +from which they can be slaked, into one beautiful metaphor which is +obscured in our English version. The prophet Isaiah says, according to +our reading, 'the parched land shall become a pool.' The word which he +uses is that almost technical one which describes the phenomenon known +only in Eastern lands, or at least known in them only in its superlative +degree; the mirage, where the dancing currents of ascending air simulate +the likeness of a cool lake, with palm-trees around it. And, says he, +'the mirage shall become a pool,' the romance shall turn into a reality, +the mistakes shall be rectified, and men shall know what it is that they +want, and shall get it when they know. Brethren! unless we have listened +to the teaching from above, unless we have consulted far more wisely and +far more profoundly than many of us have ever done the meaning of our +own hearts when they cry out, we too shall only be able to take for ours +the plaintive cry of the half of this first utterance of the Psalmist, +and say despairingly, 'My soul thirsteth.' Blessed are they who know +where the fountain is, who know the meaning of the highest unrests in +their own souls, and can go on to say with clear and true +self-revelation, 'My soul thirsteth for God!' + +That is religion. There is a great deal more in Christianity than +longing, but there is no Christianity worth the name without it. There +is moral stimulus to activity, a pattern for conduct, and so on, in our +religion, and if our religion is only this longing--well then, it is +worth very little; and I fancy it is worth a good deal less if there is +none of this felt need for God, and for more of God, in us. + +And so I come to two classes of my hearers; and to the first of them I +say, Dear friends! do not mistake what it is that you 'need,' and see to +it that you turn the current of your longings from earth to God; and to +the second of them I say, Dear friends! if you have found out that God +is your supreme good, see to it that you live in the good, see to it +that you live in the constant attitude of longing for more of that good +which alone will slake your appetite. + + 'The thirst that from the soul doth rise + Doth ask a drink divine,' + +and unless we know what it is to be drawn outwards and upwards, in +strong aspirations after something--'afar from the sphere of our +sorrow,' I know not why we should call ourselves Christians at all. + +But, dear friends! let us not forget that these higher aspirations after +the uncreated and personal good which is God have to be cultivated very +sedulously and with great persistence, throughout all our changing +lives, or they will soon die out, and leave us. There has to be the +clear recognition, habitual to us, of what is our good. There has to be +a continual meditation, if I may so say, upon the all-sufficiency of +that divine Lord and Lover of our souls, and there has to be a vigilant +and a continual suppression, and often excision and ejection, of other +desires after transient and partial satisfactions. A man who lets all +his longings go unchecked and untamed after earthly good has none left +towards heaven. If you break up a river into a multitude of channels, +and lead off much of it to irrigate many little gardens, there will be +no force in its current, its bed will become dry, and it will never +reach the great ocean where it loses its individuality and becomes part +of a mightier whole. So, if we fritter away and divide up our desires +among all the clamant and partial blessings of earth, then we shall but +feebly long, and feebly longing, shall but faintly enjoy, the cool, +clear, exhaustless gush from the fountain of life--'My soul thirsteth +for God!'--in the measure in which that is true of us, and not one +hairsbreadth beyond it, in spite of orthodoxy, and professions, and +activities, are we Christian people. + +II. The soul that thirsts after God is satisfied. + +The Psalmist, by the magic might of his desire, changes, as in a sudden +transformation scene in a theatre, all the dreariness about him. One +moment it is a 'dry and barren land where no water is'; the next moment +a flash of verdure has come over the yellow sand, and the ghastly +silence is broken by the song of merry birds. The one moment he is +hungering there in the desert; the next, he sees spread before him a +table in the wilderness, and his soul is 'satisfied as with marrow and +with fatness,' and his mouth praises God, whom he possesses, who has +come unto him swift, immediate, in full response to his cry. Now, all +that is but a picturesque way of putting a very plain truth, which we +should all be the happier and better if we believed and lived by, that +we can have as much of God as we desire, and that what we have of Him +will be enough. + +We can have as much of God as we desire. There is a quest which finds +its object with absolute certainty, and which finds its object +simultaneously with the quest. And these two things, the certainty and +the immediateness with which the thirst of the soul after God passes +into a satisfied fruition of the soul in God, are what are taught us +here in our text; and what you and I, if we comply with the conditions, +may have as our own blessed experience. There is one search about which +it is true that it never fails to find. The certainty that the soul +thirsting after God shall be satisfied with God results at once from His +nearness to us, and His infinite willingness to give Himself, which He +is only prevented from carrying into act by our obstinate refusal to +open our hearts by desire. It takes all a man's indifference to keep God +out of his heart, 'for in Him we live, and move, and have our being,' +and that divine love, which Christianity teaches us to see on the throne +of the universe, is but infinite longing for self-communication. That is +the definition of true love always, and they fearfully mistake its +essence, and take the lower and spurious forms of it for the higher and +nobler, who think of love as being what, alas! it often is, in our +imperfect lives, a fierce desire to have for our very own the thing or +person beloved. But that is a second-rate kind of love. God's love is an +infinite desire to give Himself. If only we open our hearts--and nothing +opens them so wide as longing--He will pour in, as surely as the +atmosphere streams in through every chink and cranny, as surely as if +some great black rock that stands on the margin of the sea is blasted +away, the waters will flood over the sands behind it. So unless we keep +God out, by not wishing Him in, in He will come. + +The certitude that we possess Him when we desire Him is as absolute. As +swift as Marconi's wireless message across the Atlantic and its answer; +so immediate is the response from Heaven to the desire from earth. What +a contrast that is to all our experiences! Is there anything else about +which we can say 'I am quite sure that if I want it I shall have it. I +am quite sure that when I want it I have it'? Nothing! There may be +wells to which a man has to go, as the Bedouin in the desert has to go, +with empty water-skins, many a day's journey, and it comes to be a fight +between the physical endurance of the man and the weary distance between +him and the spring. Many a man's bones, and many a camel's, lie on the +track to the wells, who lay down gasping and black-lipped, and died +before they reached them. We all know what it is to have longing desires +which have cost us many an effort, and efforts and desires have both +been in vain. Is it not blessed to be sure that there is One whom to +long for is immediately to possess? + +Then there is the other thought here, too, that when we have God we have +enough. That is not true about anything else. God forbid that one should +depreciate the wise adaptation of earthly goods to human needs which +runs all through every life! but all that recognised, still we come back +to this, that there is nothing here, nothing except God Himself, that +will fill all the corners of a human heart. There is always something +lacking in all other satisfactions. They address themselves to sides, +and angles, and facets of our complex nature; they leave all the others +unsatisfied. The table that is spread in the world, at which, if I might +use so violent a figure, our various longings and capacities seat +themselves as guests, always fails to provide for some of them, and +whilst some, and those especially of the lower type, are feasting full, +there sits by their side another guest, who finds nothing on the table +to satisfy his hunger. But if my soul thirsts for God, my soul will be +satisfied when I get Him. The prophet Isaiah modifies this figure in the +great word of invitation which pealed out from him, where he says, 'Ho! +everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' But that figure is not +enough for him, that metaphor, blessed as it is, does not exhaust the +facts; and so he goes on, 'yea, come, buy wine'--and that is not enough +for him, that does not exhaust the facts, therefore he adds, 'and milk.' +Water, wine, and milk; all forms of the draughts that slake the thirsts +of humanity, are found in God Himself, and he who has Him needs seek +nowhere besides. + +Lastly-- + +III. The soul that is satisfied with God immediately renews its quest. + +'My soul followeth hard after Thee.' The two things come together, +longing and fruition, as I have said. Fruition begets longing, and there +is swift and blessed alternation, or rather co-existence of the two. +Joyful consciousness of possession and eager anticipation of larger +bestowments are blended still more closely, if we adhere to the original +meaning of the words of this last clause, than they are in our +translation, for the psalm really reads, 'My soul cleaveth after Thee.' +In the one word 'cleaveth,' is expressed adhesion, like that of the +limpet to the rock, conscious union, blessed possession; and in the +other word 'after Thee' is expressed the pressing onwards for more and +yet more. But now contrast that with the issue of all other methods of +satisfying human appetites, be they lower or be they higher. They result +either in satiety or in a tyrannical, diseased appetite which increases +faster than the power of satisfying it increases. The man who follows +after other good than God, has at the end to say, 'I am sick, tired of +it, and it has lost all power to draw me,' or he has to say, 'I +ravenously long for more of it, and I cannot get any more.' 'He that +loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth +abundance with increase.' You have to increase the dose of the narcotic, +and as you increase the dose, it loses its power, and the less you can +do without it the less it does for you. But to drink into the one God +slakes all thirsts, and because He is infinite, and our capacity for +receiving Him may be indefinitely expanded; therefore, + + 'Age cannot wither, nor custom stale + His infinite variety'; + +but the more we have of God, the more we long for Him, and the more we +long for Him the more we possess Him. + +Brethren! these are the possibilities of the Christian life; being its +possibilities they are our obligations. The Psalmist's words may well be +turned by us into self-examining interrogations and we may--God grant +that we do!--all ask ourselves; 'Do I thus thirst after God?' 'Have I +learned that, notwithstanding all supplies, this world without Him is a +waterless desert? Have I experienced that whilst I call He answers, and +that the water flows in as soon as I open my heart? And do I know the +happy birth of fresh longings out of every fruition, and how to go +further and further into the blessed land, and into my elastic heart +receive more and more of the ever blessed God?' + +These texts of mine not only set forth the ideal for the Christian life +here, but they carry in themselves the foreshadowing of the life +hereafter. For surely such a merely physical accident as death cannot be +supposed to break this golden sequence which runs through life. Surely +this partial and progressive possession of an infinite good, by a nature +capable of indefinitely increasing appropriation of, and approximation +to it is the prophecy of its own eternal continuance. So long as the +fountain springs, the thirsty lips will drink. God's servants will live +till God dies. The Christian life will go on, here and hereafter, till +it has reached the limits of its own capacity of expansion, and has +exhausted God. 'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well +of water, springing up into everlasting life.' + + + + + +SIN OVERCOMING AND OVERCOME + + + 'Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, Thou + shalt purge them away.'--PSALM. lxv. 3. + +There is an intended contrast in these two clauses more pointed and +emphatic in the original than in our Bible, between man's impotence and +God's power in the face of the fact of sin. The words of the first +clause might be translated, with perhaps a little increase of vividness, +'iniquities are too strong for me'; and the 'Thou' of the next clause is +emphatically expressed in the original, 'as for our transgressions' +(which we cannot touch), '_Thou_ shalt purge them away.' Despair of self +is the mother of confidence in God; and no man has learned the +blessedness and the sweetness of God's power to cleanse, who has not +learned the impotence of his own feeble attempts to overcome his +transgression. The very heart of Christianity is redemption. There are a +great many ways of looking at Christ's mission and Christ's work, but I +venture to say that they are all inadequate unless they start with this +as the fundamental thought, and that only he who has learned by serious +reflection and bitter personal experience the gravity and the +hopelessness of the fact of the bondage of sin, rightly understands the +meaning and the brightness of the Gospel of Christ. The angel voice that +told us His name, and based His name upon His characteristic work, went +deeper into the 'philosophy' of Christianity than many a modern thinker, +when it said, 'Thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He shall save His +people from their sins.' So here we have the hopelessness and misery of +man's vain struggles, and side by side with these the joyful confidence +in the divine victory. We have the problem and the solution, the barrier +and the overleaping of it; man's impotence and the omnipotence of God's +mercy. My iniquities are too strong for me, but Thou art too strong for +them. As for our transgressions, of which I cannot purge the stain, with +all my tears and with all my work, 'Thou shalt purge them away.' Note, +then, these two--first, the cry of despair; second, the ringing note of +confidence. + +I. The cry of despair. + +'Too strong for me,' and yet they _are_ me. Me, and _not_ me; mine, and +yet, somehow or other, my enemies, although my children--too strong for +me, yet I give them their strength by my own cowardly and feeble +compliance with their temptations; too strong for me and overmastering +me, though I pride myself often on my freedom and spirit when I am +yielding to them. Mine iniquities are mine, and yet they are not mine; +me and yet, blessed be God! they can be separated from me. + +The picture suggested by the words is that of some usurping power that +has mastered a man, and laid its grip upon him so that all efforts to +get away from the grasp are hopeless. Now, I dare say, that some of you +are half consciously thinking that this is a piece of ordinary pulpit +exaggeration, and has no kind of application to the respectable and +decent lives that most of you live, and that you are ready to say, with +as much promptitude and as much falsehood as the old Jews did, even +whilst the Roman eagles, lifted above the walls of the castle, were +giving them the lie: 'We were never in bondage to any man.' You do not +know or feel that anything has got hold of you which is stronger than +you. Well, let us see. + +Consider for a moment. You are powerless to master your evil, considered +as habits. You do not know the tyranny of the usurper until a rebellion +is got up against him. As long as you are gliding with the stream you +have no notion of its force. Turn your boat and try to pull against it, +and when the sweat-drops come on your brow, and you are sliding +backwards, in spite of all your effort, you will begin to find out what +a tremendous down-sucking energy there is in that quiet, silent flow. So +the ready compliance of the worst part of my nature masks for me the +tremendous force with which my evil tyrannises over me, and it is only +when I face round and try to go the other way, that I find out what a +power there is in its invisible grasp. + +Did you ever try to cure some trivial bad habit, some trick of your +fingers, for instance? You know what infinite pains and patience and +time it took you to do that, and do you think that you would find it +easier if you once set yourself to cure that lust, say, or that +petulance, pride, passion, dishonesty, or whatsoever form of selfish +living in forgetfulness of God may be your besetting sin? If you will +try to pull the poison fang up, you will find how deep its roots are. It +is like the yellow charlock in a field, which seems only to spread in +consequence of attempts to get rid of it--as the rough rhyme says; 'One +year's seeding, seven years' weeding'--and more at the end of the time +than at the beginning. Any honest attempt at mending character drives a +man to this--'My iniquities are too strong for me.' + +I do not for a moment deny that there may be, and occasionally is, a +magnificent force of will and persistency of purpose in efforts at +self-improvement on the part of perfectly irreligious men. But, if by +the occasional success of such effort, a man conquers one form of evil, +that does not deliver him from evil. You have the usurping dominion deep +in your nature, and what does it matter in essence which part of your +being is most conspicuously under its control? It may be some animal +passion, and you may conquer that. A man, for instance, when he is +young, lives in the sphere of sensuous excitement; and when he gets old +he turns a miser, and laughs at the pleasures that he used to get from +the flesh, and thinks himself ever so much wiser. Is he any better? He +has changed, so to speak, the kind of sin. That is all. The devil has +put a new viceroy in authority, but it is the old government, though +with fresh officials. The house which is cleared of the seven devils +without getting into it the all-filling and sanctifying grace of God and +love of Jesus Christ will stand empty. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so +does Satan, and the empty house invites the seven ill-tenants, and back +they come in their diabolical completeness. + +So, dear friends! though you may do a great deal--thank God!--in +subduing evil habits and inclinations, you cannot touch, so as to +master, the central fact of sin unless you get God to help you to do it, +and you have to go down on your knees before you can do that work. +'Iniquities are too strong for me.' + +Then, again, consider our utter impotence in dealing with our own evil +regarded as guilt. When we do wrong, the judge within, which we call +conscience, says to us two things, or perhaps three. It says first, +'That is wrong'; it says secondly, 'You have got to answer for it'; and +I think it says thirdly, 'And you will be punished for it.' That is to +say, there is a sense of demerit that goes side by side with our evil, +as certainly as the shadow travels with the substance. And though, +sometimes, when the sun goes behind a cloud, there is no shadow, and +sometimes, when the light within us is darkened, conscience does not +cast the black shade of demerit across the mind; yet conscience is +there, though silent. When it does speak it says, 'You have done wrong, +and you are answerable.' Answerable to whom? To it? No! To society? No! +To law? No! You can only be answerable to a person, and that is God. +Against Him we have sinned. We do wrong; and if wrong were all that we +had to charge ourselves with, it would be because there was nothing but +law that we were answerable to. We do unkind things, and if unkindness +and inhumanity were all that we had to charge ourselves with, it would +be because we were only answerable to one another. We do suicidal +things, and if self-inflicted injury were all our definition of evil, it +would be because we were only answerable to our conscience and +ourselves. But we _sin_, and that means that every wrong thing, big or +little, which we do, whether we think about God in the doing of it or +no, is, in its deepest essence, an offence against Him. + +The judgment of conscience carries with it the solemn looking for of +future judgment. It says, 'I am only a herald: _He_ is coming.' No man +feels the burden of guilt without an anticipation of judgment. What are +you going to do with these two feelings? Do you think that _you_ can +deal with them? It is no use saying, 'I am not responsible for what I +did; I inherited such-and-such tendencies; circumstances are so-and-so. +I could not help it; environment, and evolution, and all the rest of it +diminish, if they do not destroy, responsibility.' Be it so! And yet, +after all, this is left--the certainty in my own convictions that I had +the power to do or not to do. That is a fundamental part of a man's +consciousness. If it is a delusion, what is to be trusted, and how can +we be sure of anything? So that we are responsible for our action, and +can no more elude the guilt that follows sin than we can jump off our +own shadow. And I want you to consider what you are going to do about +your guilt. + +One thing you cannot do--you cannot remove it. Men have tried to do so +by sacrifices, and false religions. They have swung in the air by means +of hooks fastened into their bodies, and I do not know what besides, and +they have not managed it. You can no more get rid of your guilt by being +sorry for your sin than you could bring a dead man to life again by +being sorry for his murder. What is done is done. 'What I have written I +have written!' Nothing will ever 'wash that little lily hand white +again,' as the magnificent murderess in Shakespeare's great creation +found out. You can forget your guilt; you can ignore it. You can adopt +some of the easily-learned-by-rote and fashionable theories that will +enable you to minimise it, and to laugh at us old-fashioned believers in +guilt and punishment. You do not take away the rock because you blow out +the lamps of the lighthouse, and you do not alter an ugly fact by +ignoring it. I beseech you, as reasonable men and women, to open your +eyes to these plain facts about yourselves, that you have an element of +demerit and of liability to consequent evil and suffering which you are +perfectly powerless to touch or to lighten in the slightest degree. + +Consider, again, our utter impotence in regard to our evil, looked upon +as a barrier between us and God. That is the force of the context here. +The Psalmist has just been saying, 'O Thou that hearest prayer! unto +Thee shall all flesh come.' And then he bethinks himself how flesh +compassed with infirmities can come. And he staggers back bewildered. +There can be no question but that the plain dictate of common sense is, +'We know that God heareth not sinners.' My evil not only lies like a +great black weight of guilt and of habit on my consciousness and on my +activity, but it actually stands like a frowning cliff, barring my path +and making a barrier between me and God. 'Your hands are full of blood; +I hate your vain oblations,' says the solemn Voice through the prophet. +And this stands for ever true--'The prayer of the wicked is an +abomination.' There frowns the barrier. Thank God! mercies come through +it, howsoever close-knit and impenetrable it may seem. Thank God! no sin +can shut Him out from us, but it can shut us out from Him. And though we +cannot separate God from ourselves, and He is nearer us than our +consciousness and the very basis of our being, yet by a mysterious power +we can separate ourselves from Him. We may build up, of the black blocks +of our sins flung up from the inner fires, and cemented with the +bituminous mortar of our lusts and passions, a black wall between us and +our Father. You and I have done it. We can build it--we cannot throw it +down; we can rear it--we cannot tunnel it. Our iniquities are too strong +for us. + +Now notice that this great cry of despair in my text is the cry of a +single soul. This is the only place in the psalm in which the singular +person is used. 'Iniquities are too strong for us,' is not sufficient. +Each man must take guilt to himself. The recognition and confession of +evil must be an intensely personal and individual act. My question to +you, dear friend! is, Did you ever know it by experience? Going apart by +yourself, away from everybody else, with no companions or confederates +to lighten the load of your felt evil, forgetting tempters and +associates and all other people, did you ever stand, you and God, +face to face, with nobody to listen to the conference? And did you +ever feel in that awful presence that whether the world was full of +men, or deserted and you the only survivor, would make no difference +to the personal responsibility and weight and guilt of your individual +sin? Have you ever felt, 'Against Thee, Thee only, have +I'--solitary--'sinned,' and confessed that iniquities are 'too strong +for me'? + +II. Now, let me say a word or two about the second clause of this great +verse, the ringing cry of confident hope. + +The confidence is, as I said, the child of despair. You will never go +into that large place of assured trust in God's effacing finger passed +over all your evil until you have come through the narrow pass, where +the black rocks all but bar the traveller's foot, of conscious impotence +to deal with your sin. You must, first of all, dear friends! go down +into the depths, and learn to have no trust in yourselves before you can +rise to the heights, and rejoice in the hope of the glory and of the +mercy of God. Begin with 'too strong for me,' and the impotent 'me' +leads on to the almighty 'Thou.' + +Then, do not forget that what was confidence on the Psalmist's part is +knowledge on ours. 'As for our transgressions, Thou wilt purge them +away.' You and I know why, and know how. Jesus Christ in His great work +for us has vindicated the Psalmist's confidence, and has laid bare for +the world's faith the grounds upon which that divine power proceeds in +its cleansing mercy. 'Thou wilt purge them away,' said he. 'Christ hath +borne our sins in His own body on the tree,' says the New Testament. I +have spoken about our impotence in regard to our own evil, considered +under three aspects. I meant to have said more about Christ's work upon +our sins, considered under the same three aspects. But let me just, very +briefly, touch upon them. + +Jesus Christ, when trusted, will do for sin, as habit, what cannot be +done without Him. He will give the motive to resist, which is lacking +in the majority of cases. He will give the power to resist, which is +lacking in all cases. He will put a new life and spirit into our nature +which will strengthen and transform our feeble wills, will elevate and +glorify our earthward trailing affections, will make us love that which +He loves, and aspire to that which He is, until we become, in the change +from glory to glory, reflections of the image of the Lord. As habit and +as dominant power within us, nothing will cast out the evil that we have +entertained in our hearts except the power of the life of Christ Jesus, +in His Spirit dwelling within us and making us clean. When 'a strong man +keeps his house, his goods are in peace, but when a stronger than he +cometh he taketh from him all his implements in which he trusteth, and +divideth his spoil.' And so Christ has bound the strong man, in that one +great sacrifice on the Cross. And now He comes to each of us, if we will +trust Him, and gives motives, power, pattern, hopes, which enable us to +cast out the tyrant that has held dominion over us. 'If the Son make you +free, ye shall be free indeed.' + +And I tell all of you, especially you young men and women, who +presumably have noble aspirations and desires, that the only way to +conquer the world, the flesh, and the devil, is to let Christ clothe you +with His armour; and let Him lay His hand on your feeble hands whilst +you aim the arrows and draw the bow, as the prophet did in the old +story, and then you will shoot, and not miss. Christ, and Christ alone, +within us will make us powerful to cast out the evil. + +In like manner, He, and He only, deals with sin, considered as guilt. +Here is the living secret and centre of all Christ's preciousness and +power--that He died on the Cross; and in His spirit, which knew the +drear desolation of being forsaken by God, and in His flesh, which bore +the outward consequences of sin, in death as a sinful world knows it, +'bare our sins and carried our sorrows,' so that 'by His stripes we are +healed.' + +If you will trust yourselves to the mighty Sacrifice, and with no +reservation, as if you could do anything, will cast your whole weight +and burden upon Him, then the guilt will pass away, and the power of sin +will be broken. Transgressions will be buried--'covered,' as the +original of my text has it--as with a great mound piled upon them, so +that they shall never offend or smell rank to heaven any more, but be +lost to sight for ever. + +Christ can take away the barrier reared by sin between God and the human +spirit. Solid and black as it stands, His blood dropped upon it melts +away. Then it disappears like the black bastions of the aerial +structures in the clouds before the sunshine. He hath opened for us a +new and living way, that we might 'have access and confidence,' and, +sinners as we are, that we might dwell for ever more at the side of our +Lord. + +So, dear brother! whilst humanity cries--and I pray that all of us may +cry like the Apostle, 'Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me +from the body of this death?'--Faith lifts up, swift and clear, her +ringing note of triumph, which I pray God or rather, which I beseech you +that you will make your own, 'I thank God! I through Jesus Christ our +Lord.' + + + + +THE BURDEN-BEARING GOD + + + 'Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.'--(A.V.). + + 'Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden.' + --PSALM lxviii. 19 (R.V.). + +The difference between these two renderings seems to be remarkable, and +a person ignorant of any language but our own might find it hard to +understand how any one sentence was susceptible of both. But the +explanation is extremely simple. The important words in the Authorised +Version, 'with benefits,' are a supplement, having nothing to represent +them in the original. The word translated '_loadeth_' in the one +rendering and '_beareth_' in the other admits of both these meanings +with equal ease, and is, in fact, employed in both of them in other +places in Scripture. It is clear, I think, that, in this case, at all +events, the Revision is an improvement. For the great objection to the +rendering which has become familiar to us all, 'Who daily loadeth us +_with benefits_,' is that these essential words are not in the original, +and need to be supplied in order to make out the sense. Whereas, on the +other hand, if we adopt the suggested emendation, 'Who daily beareth our +burdens,' we get a still more beautiful meaning, which requires no +forced addition in order to bring it out. So, then, I accept that varied +form of our text as the one on which I desire to say a few words now. + +I. The first thing that strikes me in looking at it is the remarkable +and eloquent blending of majesty and condescension. + +It is not without significance that the Psalmist employs that name for +God in this clause, which most strongly expresses the idea of supremacy +and dominion. Rule and dignity are the predominant ideas in the word +'Lord,' as, indeed, the English reader feels in hearing it; and then, +side by side with that, there lies this thought, that the Highest, the +Ruler of all, whose absolute authority stretches over all mankind, +stoops to this low and servile office, and becomes the burden-bearer for +all the pilgrims who will put their trust in Him. This blending together +of the two ideas of dignity and condescension to lowly offices of help +and furtherance is made even more emphatic if we glance back at the +context of the psalm. For there is no place in Scripture in which there +is flashed before the mind of the singer a grander picture of the +magnificence and the glory of God, than that which glitters and flames +in the previous verses. We read in them of God 'riding through the +heavens by His name Jehovah'; of Him as marching at the head of the +people, through the wilderness, and of the earth quivering at His tread, +and the heavens dropping at His presence. We read of Zion itself being +moved at the presence of the Lord. We read of His word going forth so +mightily as to scatter armies and their kings. We read of the chariots +of God as 'twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.' All is gathered +together in the great verse, 'Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led +captivity captive.' And then, before he has taken breath almost, the +Psalmist turns, with most striking and dramatic abruptness, from the +contemplation, awe-struck and yet jubilant, of all that tremendous, +magnificent, and earth-shaking power to this wonderful thought, 'Blessed +be the Lord! who daily beareth our burdens.' Not only does He march at +the head of the congregation through the wilderness, but He comes, if I +might so say, behind the caravan, amongst the carriers and the porters, +and will bear anything that any of the weary pilgrims intrusts to His +care. + +Oh, dear brethren! if familiarity did not dull the glory of it, what a +thought that is--a God that carries men's loads! People talk much +rubbish about the 'stern Old Testament Deity'; is there anything +sweeter, greater, more heart-compelling and heart-softening, than such a +thought as this? How all the majesty bows itself, and declares itself to +be enlisted on our side, when we think that 'He that sitteth on the +circle of the heavens, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers' +is the God that 'daily beareth our burdens'! + +And that is the tone of the Old Testament throughout, for you will +always find braided together in the closest vital unity the +representation of these two aspects of the divine nature; and if ever we +hear set forth a more than ordinarily magnificent conception of His +power and majesty be sure that, if you look, you will find side by side +with it a more than ordinarily tender representation of His gentleness +and His grace. And if we look deeper, this is not a case of contrast, it +is not that there are sharply opposed to each other these two things, +the gentleness and the greatness, the condescension and the +magnificence, but that the former is the direct result of the latter; +and it is just because He is Lord, and has dominion over all, that, +therefore, He bears the burdens of all. For the responsibilities of the +Creator are in proportion to His greatness, and He that has made man has +thereby made it necessary that He should, if they will let Him, be their +Burden-bearer and their Servant. The highest must be the lowest, and +just because God is high over all, blessed for ever, therefore is He the +Supporter and Sustainer of all. So we may learn the true meaning of +elevation of all sorts, and from the example of loftiest, may draw the +lesson for our more insignificant varieties of height, that the higher +we are, the more we are bound to stoop, and that men are then likest +God, when their elevation suggests to them responsibility, and when he +that is chiefest becomes the servant. + +II. So, then, notice next the deep insight into the heart and ways of +God here. + +'He daily beareth our burdens.' If there is any meaning in this word at +all, it means that He so knits Himself with us as that all which touches +us touches Him, that He takes a share in all our pressing duties, and +feels the reflection from all our sorrows and pains. We have no +impassive God in the heavens, careless of mankind, nor is His settled +and changeless and unshaded blessedness of such a sort as that there +cannot pass across it--if I may not say a shadow, I may at least say--a +ripple from men's pangs and troubles and cares. Love is the +identification of oneself with the beloved object. We call it sympathy, +when we are speaking about the fellow feeling between man and man that +is kindled of love. But there is something deeper than sympathy in that +great Heart, which gathers into itself all hearts, and in that great +Being, whose being underlies all our beings, and is the root from which +we all live and grow. God, in all our afflictions, is afflicted; and in +simple though profound verity, has that which is most truly represented +to men, by calling it a fellow feeling with our infirmities and our +sorrows. + + + 'Think not thou canst sigh a sigh, + And thy Maker is not nigh; + Think not thou canst weep a tear, + And thy Maker is not near.' + +For want of a better word, we speak of the sympathy of God: but we need +something far more intimate and unwearied than we understand by that +word, to express the community of feeling between all who trust Him and +His own infinite heart. If this bearing of our burden means anything, it +gives us a deep insight, too, into His workings, as well as into His +heart. For it covers over this great truth that He Himself comes to us, +and by the communication of His own power to us, makes us able to bear +the burdens which we roll upon Him. The meaning of His 'lifting our +load,' in so far as that expression refers to the divine act rather than +the divine heart, is that He breathes into us the strength by which we +can carry the heavy task of duties, and can endure the crushing pressure +of our sorrows. All the endurance of the saints is God in them bearing +their burdens. + +Notice, too, '_daily_ beareth,' or, as the Hebrew has it yet more +emphatically because more simply, 'day by day beareth.' He travels with +us, in the greatness of His might and the long-suffering of His +unwearied patience, through all our tribulation, and as He has 'borne +and carried' His people 'all the days of old,' so, at each new +recurrence of new weights, He is with us still. Like some river that +runs by the wayside and ever cheers the traveller on the dusty path with +its music, and offers its waters to cool his thirsty lips, so, day by +day, in the slow iteration of our lingering sorrows, and in the +monotonous recurrence of our habitual duties, there is with us the +ever-present help of the Ancient of Days, who measures out daily +strength for the daily load, and never sends the one without proffering +the other. + +III. So, again, notice here the remarkable anticipation of the very +heart of the Gospel. + +'The God who daily beareth our burdens,' says the Psalmist. He spoke +deeper things than he knew, and was wiser than he understood. For the +hope that gleams in these words comes to fulfilment, in Him of whom it +was written in prophetic anticipation, so clear and definite that it +reads like historical narrative--'He bare our grief and carried our +sorrows. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. The Lord hath laid +on Him the iniquity of us all.' + +Ah! it were of small avail to know a God that bore the burden of our +sorrows and the load of our duties, if we did not know a God who bore +the weight of our sins. For that is the real crushing weight that breaks +men's hearts and bows them to the earth. So the New Testament, with its +message of a Christ on whom is laid the whole pressure of the world's +sin, is the deepest fulfilment of the great words of my text. + +IV. Note, lastly, what we should therefore do with our burdens. + +First, we should cast them on God, and _let_ Him carry them. He cannot +unless we do. One sometimes sees a petulant and self-confident little +child staggering along with some heavy burden by the parent's side, but +pushing away the hand that is put out to help it to carry its load. And +that is what too many of us do when God says to us, 'Here, My child! let +Me help you, I will take the heavy end of it, and do you take the light +one.' 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord'--and do it by faith, by simple +trust in Him, by making real to yourselves the fact of His divine +sympathy, and His sure presence, to aid and to sustain. + +Having thus let Him carry the weight, do not you try to carry it too. As +our good old hymn has it-- + + 'Why should I the burden bear?' + +It is a great deal more God's affair than yours. We have, indeed, in a +sense, to carry it. 'Every man shall bear his own burden.' The weight of +duty is not to be indolently shoved off our shoulders on to His, saying, +'Let Him do the work.' We have indeed to carry the weight of sorrow. +There is no use in trying to deny its bitterness and its burden, and it +would not be well for us that it should be less bitter and less heavy. +In many lands the habit prevails, especially amongst the women, of +carrying heavy loads on their heads; and all travellers tell us that the +practice gives a dignity and a grace to the carriage, and a freedom and +a swing to the gait, which nothing else will do. Depend upon it, that so +much of our burdens of work and weariness as is left to us, after we +have cast them upon Him, is intended to strengthen and ennoble us. But +do not let there be the gnawings of anxiety. Do not let there be the +self-torment of aimless prognostications of evil. Do not let there be +the chewing of the bitter morsel of irrevocable sorrows; but fling all +upon God. And remember what the Master has said, and His servant has +repeated: 'Take no anxious care ... for your heavenly Father knoweth'; +'Cast your anxiety upon Him, for He careth for you.' + +And the last advice that comes from my text is, to see that your tongues +are not silent in that great hymn of praise which ought to go up to 'the +Lord that daily beareth our burdens.' He wants only our trust and our +thanks, and is best paid by the praise of our love, and of our heaping +still more upon His ever strong and ready arm. Bless the Lord! who +beareth our burdens, and see that you give Him yours to bear. Listen to +Him who hath said, 'Come unto Me all ye that ... are heavy laden, and I +will give you rest.' + + + + +REASONABLE RAPTURE + + + 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I + desire besides Thee. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is + the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.' + --PSALM lxxiii. 25, 26. + +We have in this psalm the record of the Psalmist's struggle with the +great standing difficulty of how to reconcile the unequal distribution +of worldly prosperity with the wisdom and providence of God. That +difficulty pressed more acutely upon men of the Old Dispensation than +even upon us, because the very promise of that stage of revelation was +that Godliness brought with it outward well-being. Our Psalmist reaches +a solution, not exactly by the same path by which the writers of the +Books of Job and Ecclesiastes find an answer to the problem. This man +gives up the endeavour to solve the question by reflection and thought, +and as he says, 'goes into the sanctuary of God,' gets into communion +with his Father in heaven, and by reason of that communion reaches a +conclusion which is, at all events, an approximate solution of his +difficulty, viz. the belief of a future life, 'Then understood I their +end.' The solemn vision of a life beyond the present, which should be +the outcome and retribution of this, rises before him from out of his +agitated thoughts, like the moon, pale and phantom-like, from a stormy +sea. That truth, if revealed at all to the Psalmist's contemporaries, +certainly did not occupy the same position of clearness or of prominence +as it does in our religious beliefs. But here we see a soul led up by +its wrestlings to apprehend it, and as was said of a statesman, 'calling +a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old.' So we get +here a soul taught by God, and filled with Him by communion, therefore +lifted to the height of a faith in a future life, and so made able to +look out upon all the perplexities and staggering mysteries of earth's +mingled ill and good, if not with distinct understanding, at least with +patient faith. + +The words of my text indicate for us the very high-water mark of +religious experience, the very apex and climax of what some people would +call mystical religion to which this man has climbed, because he fought +with his doubts, and by God's grace was able to lay them. To him the +world's uncertain ill or good becomes infinitely insignificant, because +for the future he has a clear vision of a continued life with God, and +because for the present he knows that to have God in his heart is all +that he really needs. + +I. We have here, first, a necessity which, misdirected, is the source of +man's misery. + +'Whom have I in heaven but Thee? there is none upon earth that I desire +besides Thee.' If men would interpret the deepest voices of their own +souls that is what they would all say, because, from the very make of +our human nature there is not one of us, howsoever weak and sinful and +small, but is great enough to be too great to be filled with anything +smaller than God. Our thoughts, even the thoughts of the least +enlightened amongst us, go wandering through eternity; and as the writer +of the Book of Ecclesiastes says:--'He hath set eternity in men's +hearts.' We all of us need, though, alas! so few of us know that we +need, a living possession of a living perfect Person, for mind, for +heart, for will. Nothing short of the 'fulness of God' is enough for the +smallest amongst us. So, because we do not believe this, because +hundreds of you do not know what it is for which your souls are crying +out, 'the misery of man is great upon him.' You try to fill that deep +and aching void in your hearts, which is a sign of your possible +nobleness, and a pledge of your possible blessedness, with all manner of +minute rubbish, which can never fill up the gap that is there. Cartload +after cartload may be tilted into the bottomless bog, and there is no +more solid ground on the surface than there was at the beginning. Oh, my +brother! consult thine own deepest need; listen to that voice, often +stifled, often neglected, and by some of you always misunderstood, which +speaks in your wills, minds, consciences, hopes, desires, hearts; and is +it not this: 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God'? + +There is none in the heaven, with all its stars and angels, enough for +thee but Him. There is none upon earth, with all its flowers, and +treasures, and loves, that will calm and still thy soul but only God. +The words of my text spring from a necessity felt by every man, +misdirected by a tragical majority of men, and therefore the source of +restlessness and misery. + +II. Secondly, we see here the longing which, rightly directed and +cherished, is the very spirit of religion. + +He, and only he, is the religious man, who can take these words of my +text for the inmost words of his conscious effort and life. Only in the +measure in which you and I recognise that God is our sole and +all-sufficient good, in that measure have we any business to call +ourselves devout or Christian people. That is a sharp test, is it not? +Is it not a valid and an accurate one? Is that not what really makes a +religious man, namely, the supreme admiration of, and aspiration after, +and possession of God, and God alone? What a contrast that forms to our +ordinary notions of what religion is! High above all creeds which are +valuable as leading up to this enthusiasm of longing and rapture of +possession, high above all preliminaries and preparations in the way of +outward services and ceremonial or united acts of worship, which are +only helps to this inward possession, rises such a thought of religion +as this. You are not a Christian because you believe a creed. The very +death of Jesus Christ is a means to this end. In order that we might +come into personal, rapturous, and hallowing possession of God, His very +Self in our hearts and spirits, Jesus Christ died and rose again. Do not +mistake the staircase for the presence-chamber. Do not fancy that you +are Christian people because you hold certain opinions or beliefs in +regard of certain doctrines. Do not fancy that religion consists in +either the mere outward practice of, or abstinence from, certain forms +of conduct. Such things are the means to, or the outcome of, this inward +devotion, but the true essence of our religion is that we recognise God +as our only good, and that in Him we find absolute rest and perfect +sufficiency. + +Is that your religion, my brother? What a contrast these words of my +text present not only to our notions of what constitutes religion, but +to our practice! What is the thing that you and I crave most to have? +What is the thing that we lament most of all when we lose? Where do our +desires go when we take the guiding hand off them, and let them run as +they will? For some of us there are dearer hearts on earth than His, +Perhaps for some of us there are more dearly loved faces in heaven than +His. Taking the two extreme possible cases, and supposing at the one end +of the scale a man that had everything but God, and at the other end a +man that had nothing but God, do we live as if we believed that the man +that had everything _minus_ God is a pauper; and the other who has God +_minus_ everything is 'rich to all the intents of bliss'? Let us shape +our desires, aspirations, efforts, according to that certain truth. + +I do not need to remind you that this lofty height of conscious longing, +not unblest with contemporaneous fruition, is above the height to which +we habitually rise. But what I would now insist upon is only this, that +whilst there will be variations, whilst there will be ups and downs, the +periods in our lives when we do not consciously recognise Him as our +supreme and single good are the periods that drop below duty and +blessedness. Acknowledge the imperfections, but Oh, my friends! you +Christian men and women, who know that these hours of high communion +with a loving God are not diffused through your whole life, do not sit +down contented, and say that it must be so; but confess them as being +imperfections which are your own fault, and remember that just as much, +and not one hairsbreadth more than, we can take these words of my text +for ours, so much and no more, have we a right to call ourselves +religious men and women. + +III. Again, we have here the blessed possession, which deadens earthly +desires. + +That clause, 'There is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee,' +might, I think, be rendered more accurately 'With Thee'--that is to say, +'possessing Thee,'--I desire none 'upon earth.' If we thus have been +longing after God, and fuller possession of Him, and if in some measure, +in answer to the desire, as is always the case, we have received into +mind and heart and will more of His preciousness and sweetness, then +that will kill the desires that otherwise would conflict with it. Our +great poet, speaking about a supreme earthly love, says-- + + 'That rich golden shaft + Hath killed the flock of all affections else, + That lived in her.' + +And the same thing is true about this higher life. This new affection +will deaden, and in some sense destroy, the desires that turn to lower +and to earthly things. The sun when it rises quenches the brightest +stars that can but fade in his light and die. And so when, in answer to +our longing, God lifts the light of His countenance--a better +sunrise--upon us, that new affection dims and quenches the brightness of +these little, though they be lustrous points, that shed a fragmentary +and manifold twinkling over the darkness of our former night. 'Walk in +the light,' and your heaven will be naked of all competing brightness. + +Only remember that this supreme, and in some sense exclusive, love and +longing does not destroy the sweetness of lower possessions and +blessings. A new deep love in a man or a woman's heart does not make +their former affections less, but more, sweet and noble and strong. And +so when we get to love God best, and to love all other persons and +things in Him, and Him in them, then they become sources of dignity and +nobleness, of sweetness and strength, in our lives, which they otherwise +never would be. If you want to make all your family affections, for +instance, more permanent, more lofty, and more blessed, let them be all +in God: + + 'I trust he lives in God, and there + I find him worthier to be loved,' + +says the poet about one that had been carried into the other life. It is +true about us in our relations to one another, even whilst we remain +here. Let God be first, and the second rises higher in the scale than +when we thought it first. The more our hearts are knit to Him and all +other desires are subordinated to Him, the more do they become precious, +and powers for good in our lives. + +IV. And so, lastly, we have here the possession which is the pledge of +perpetuity. + +The Psalmist, in the last verse of my text, supposes an extreme, and in +some sense, an impossible case. 'My flesh'--my bodily frame--'and my +heart'--some portion of my immaterial being--'faileth.' The clause +should probably be taken as hypothetical. 'Even supposing that it has +come to this,' says he, 'that I had been separated from my body, and +that along with the body there had also been "consumed" (as is the +meaning of the original word) some portion of my spiritual being, even +then, though there were only a thin thread of personality left, enough +to call "me" and no more, so to speak, I should cling with that to God, +and I know that then I should have enough, for "God is the Rock of my +heart, and my Portion for ever."' + +These two last words are obviously here to be taken in their widest +extension. The whole context requires us to suppose that the Psalmist's +eye is looking across the black gorge of death to the shining table-land +beyond. So here we are admitted to see faith in the future life in the +very act of growth. The singer soars to that sunlit height of confidence +in the endless blessedness of union with God, just because he feels so +deeply the sacredness and the blessedness of his present communion with +God. + +Next to the resurrection of Jesus Christ the best proof of immortality +lies in the present experience of communion with God. Anything is more +reasonable than to believe that a soul which can grasp God for its good, +which can turn itself to, and be united with, an infinite Being; and +itself is capable of indefinite approximation towards that Being, should +have its course and career cut short by such a surface thing as death. +If there be a God at all, anything is more reasonable than to believe +that the union, formed between Him and me by faith here, can ever come +to an end until I have exhausted Him, and drawn all His fulness into +myself. This communion, by its 'very sweetness yieldeth proof that it +was born for immortality.' And the Psalmist here, just because to-day +God is the Rock of his heart, is sure that that relation must last on, +through life, through death, ay! and for ever, 'when all that seems +shall suffer shock.' + +So, my brethren! here is the choice and alternative presented before us. +And I ask you which is the wise man, he who clutches at external +possessions which cannot abide, or he who hungers for that indwelling +God, who sinks into the very substance of his soul, and is more +inseparable from him than his very body? Which is the wise man, he of +whom it shall one day be said, 'This night thy soul shall be required of +thee,' and 'His glory shall not descend after him,' or the man who knows +for what his heart hungers, and knowing it turns to God in Christ, by +simple faith and lowly aspiration, as his enduring Treasure; and then, +and therefore, can look out with a calm smile of security over all the +tumbling sea of change, and beyond the dark horizon there where sight +fails; and can say, 'I am persuaded that neither things present, nor +things to come, nor life, nor death, nor any other creature, shall be +able to separate me from the God who is my Treasure, and the Life of my +very self'? + + + + +NEARNESS TO GOD THE KEY TO LIFE'S PUZZLE + + + 'It is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the + Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works.'--PSALM lxxiii. 28. + +The old perplexity as to how it comes, if God is good and wise and +strong, that bad men should prosper and good men should suffer, has been +making the Psalmist's faith reel. He does not answer the question +exactly as the New Testament would have done, but he does find a +solution sufficient for himself in two thoughts, the transiency of that +outward prosperity, and the eternal sufficiency of God. 'It was too +painful for me until I went into the Sanctuary, then understood I their +end'; and on the other hand: 'Thou art the Strength of my life, and my +Portion for ever.' So he climbs at last to the calm height where he +learns that, whatever be a man's outward prosperity, if he is separated +from God he ceases to be. As the context says: 'They that are far from +Thee shall perish.' 'Thou hast destroyed'--already, before they +die--'all them that go a-whoring from Thee.' And on the other hand, +whatever be the outward condition, God is enough. 'It is good for me,' +rich or poor harassed or at rest, afflicted or prosperous, in health or +sickness, solitary or compassed about with loving friends, 'it is good +for me to draw near to God'; and nothing else is good. Thus the river +that has had to fight its way through rocks, and has been chafed in the +conflict, and has twisted its path through many a deep, dark, sunless +gorge, comes out at last into the open, and flows with a broad sunlit +breast, peaceable and full, into the great ocean--'It is good for me to +draw near to God.' + +But that is not all. The Psalmist goes on to tell how we are to draw +near to God: 'I have put my trust in Him.' And that is not all, for he +further goes on to tell how, drawing near to God through faith, all +these puzzles and mysteries about men's condition cease to perplex, and +a beam of light falls upon the whole of them. 'I have put my trust in +God, that I may declare all Thy works.' There are no knots in the thread +now. + +I. So here we have, first the truth of experience that nearness to God +is the one good. + +Of course, it is so in the Psalmist's view, since he believes, as we +profess to believe, that, to quote the words of another Psalmist, 'With +Thee is the fountain of life'; and therefore that to 'draw near to Thee' +is to carry our little empty pitchers to that great spring that is +always flowing with waters ever sweet and clear. Union with God is life, +in all senses of the word, according as the creature is capable of union +with Him. Why! there is no life in a plant except God's power is +vitalising it. 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow' because +God makes them grow. There is no bodily life in a man, unless He +continually breathes into the nostrils the breath of life. If you stop +the flow of the fountain, then all the pools are dry. There is no life +intellectual in a man, except by the 'inspiration of the Almighty,' from +whom 'all just thoughts do proceed.' Above all these forms of life the +real life of a spirit is the life derived from the union with God +Himself, whereby He pours Himself into it, and in the deepest sense of +the words it is true: 'Because I live ye shall live also.' 'It is good +for me to draw near to God,' because, unless I do, and if I am separated +from Him, my true self is dead, even whilst I seem to live. All that are +parted from Him perish; all that are joined to Him, and only they, do +live what is worth calling life. Cut off the sunbeam from the sun, and +what becomes of it? It vanishes. Separate a soul from God, and it is +dead. What is all the good of the world to you if your true self is +dead? And what an absurdity it is to deck a corpse with riches and pomp +of various kinds! That is what the men of the world are doing, who have +chained themselves to earth, and cut themselves off from God. 'For me it +is good to draw near to God.' Do you draw near? Because if you do not, +no matter what prosperity you have, you do not know anything about the +true life and real good for heart and spirit. + +I suppose I need scarcely go on pointing out other aspects of this +supreme--or more truly, this solitary--good. For instance, nothing is +really good to me unless I have it within me, so as that it can never be +wrenched away from me. The blessings that we cannot incorporate with the +very substance of our being are only partial blessings after all; and +all these things round us that do minister to our necessities, tastes, +affections, and sometimes to our weaknesses, these good things fail just +in this, that they stand outside us, and there is no real union between +us and them. So, changes come, and we have to unclasp hands, and the +footsteps that used to be planted by the side of ours cease, and our +track across the sands is lonely; and losses come, and death comes, and +all the glory and the good that were only externally possessed by us we +leave behind us. As this psalm says: 'I considered their end ... how +they are brought into desolation, as in a moment!' What is the good of a +good that is not incorporated into any being? What is the good of a good +about which I cannot say, with a smile of confidence, 'I know that +where-ever I may go, and whatever may befall me, that can never pass +from me'? There is but one good of that sort. 'I am persuaded that ... +neither life nor death ... nor any other creature, shall separate us +from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 'It is good +for me,' amidst the morasses and quicksands and bogs of life's uncertain +and shifting ill and good, to set my feet upon the rock, and to say: +'Here I stand, and my footing will never give way.' Do you, brother! +possess a changeless, imperishable, inwrought good like that? You may if +you like. + +But remember, too, that in regard to this Christian good, it is not only +the possession of it, but the aspiration after it, that is blessed. The +Psalmist does not only say, 'It is good for me to be near to God,' but +he says, 'It is good for me to draw near.' There is one kind of life in +which the seeking is all but as blessed as the finding. There is one +kind of life in which to desire is all but as full of peace, and power, +and joy as to possess. Therefore, another psalm, which begins by +celebrating the blessedness of the men that dwell in God's house, and +are 'still praising Thee,' goes on to speak of the blessedness, not less +blessed, of the men 'in whose heart are the ways.' They who have reached +the Temple are at rest, and blessed in their repose. They who are +journeying towards it are in action, and blessed in their activity. 'It +is good to draw near'; and the seeking after God is as far above the +possession of all other good as heaven is above earth. + +But then, notice further, how our Psalmist comes down to very plain, +practical teaching. He seems to feel that he must explain what he means +by drawing near to God. And here is his explanation. 'I have put my +trust in the Lord.' + +II. The way to nearness to God is twofold. + +On the one hand the true path is Jesus Christ, on the other hand the +means by which we walk upon that path is our faith. The Apostle puts it +all in a nutshell when he says that his prayer for the Ephesian Church +is that 'Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,' and then, by a +linked chain which we have not now to consider, leads up to the final +issues of that faith in that indwelling Christ--'that ye may be filled +with all the fulness of God.' So to draw near and to possess that good, +that only good which is God, all that is needed is--and it is +needed--that we should turn with the surrender of our hearts, with the +submission of our wills, with the outgoing of our affections, and with +the conformity of our practical life, to Jesus. Seeing Him, we see the +Father, and having Him near us, we feel the touch of the divine hand, +and being joined to the Lord, we are separated from the vanities of +life, and united to the Supreme Good. + +Dear brethren! this Psalmist shows us how hard it is for us to keep up +that continual attitude of faith, how many difficulties there are in +daily life, in the way of our continually being true to our deepest +convictions, and seeking after Him amidst all the distracting whirl and +perplexities of our daily lives. But he shows us, too, how possible it +is, even for men constituted as we are, moment by moment, day by day, +task by task, to keep vivid the consciousness of our dependence upon +Him, and the blessed consciousness of our being beside Him, and how, if +we do, strength will come to us for everything. The secret of a joyous +walk lies in this, 'I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is +at my right hand I shall not be moved.' We draw near to God when we +clutch Christ in faith. Our faith manifests itself, not merely by a lazy +reliance upon what He once did, long ago, on the Cross for us; but by +daily, effortful revivifying of our consciousness of His presence, of +our consciousness of our dependence upon Him, and by the continual +reference of thoughts, desires, plans, and actions to Himself. + +Keep God beside you so, and then there will follow what this Psalmist +reached at last, a peaceful insight into what else are full of +perplexity and difficulty, the ways of God in the world. + +To myself, to my dear ones, to the nation, to the Church, to the world, +there come many perplexing riddles as to God's dealings, that cannot be +solved except by getting close to Him. Just as a little child nestling +on its mother's bosom, with its mother's arm around it, looks out with +peaceful eye and a bright smile, upon everything beyond the safe nest, +so they who are near to God can bear to look at difficulties and +perplexities, and the mysteries of their own sorrows and of the world's +miseries, and say, 'All things work together for good'; 'I have put my +trust in the Lord, that I may declare _all_ Thy works.' Stand in the +sun, and all the planets move around it manifestly in order. Take your +place anywhere else, and there is confusion. Get beside God, and look +out on the world, and you will see it as He saw it when, 'Behold! it was +very good.' + +Now, dear friends! my text in its first part may become the description +of our death. One man holds on to the world as it is slipping away from +him. I remember a story about a coast-guardsman that was flung over the +cliffs once, and when they picked up his dead body, all under the nails +was full of chalk that he had scraped off the cliffs in his desperate +attempts to clutch at something to hold by. That is like one kind of +death. But another kind may be: 'It is good for me to draw near to God.' +And when we reach His side, and see all the past from the centre, and in +the light of the Eternal Present, to which it has led, we shall be able +to declare all His works, and to give thanks 'for all the way by which +the Lord our God hath led us' and the world 'these many years in the +wilderness.' + + + + +MEMORY, HOPE, AND EFFORT + + + 'That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of + God, but keep His commandments.'--PSALM lxxviii. 7. + +In its original application this verse is simply a statement of God's +purpose in giving to Israel the Law, and such a history of deliverance. +The intention was that all future generations might remember what He had +done, and be encouraged by the remembrance to hope in Him for the +future; and by both memory and hope, be impelled to the discharge of +present duty. + +So, then, the words may permissibly bear the application which I purpose +to make of them in this sermon, re-echoing only (and aspiring to nothing +more) the thoughts which the season has already, I suppose, more or +less, suggested to most of us. Smooth motion is imperceptible; it is the +jolts that tell us that we are advancing. Though every day be a New +Year's Day, still the alteration in our dates and our calendars should +set us all thinking of that continual lapse of the mysterious thing--the +creature of our own minds--which we call time, and which is bearing us +all so steadily and silently onwards. + +My text tells us how past, present, and future--memory, hope, and effort +may be ennobled and blessed. In brief, it is by associating them all +with God. It is as the field of His working that our past is best +remembered. It is on Him that our hopes may most wisely be set. It is +keeping His commandments which is the consecration of the present. Let +us, then, take the three thoughts of our text and cast them into New +Year's recommendations. + +I. First, then, let us associate God with memory by thankful +remembrance. + +Now I suppose that there are very few of the faculties of our nature +which we more seldom try to regulate by Christian principles than that +great power which we have of looking backwards. Did you ever reflect +that you are responsible for what you remember, and for how you remember +it, and that you are bound to train and educate your memory, not merely +in the sense of cultivating it as a means of carrying intellectual +treasures, but for a religious purpose? The one thing that all parts of +our nature need is God, and that is as true about our power of +remembrance as it is about any other part of our being. The past is then +hallowed, noble, and yields its highest results and most blessed fruits +for us when we link it closely with Him, and see in it not only, nor so +much, the play of our own faculties, whether we blame or approve +ourselves, as rather see in it the great field in which God has brought +Himself near to our experience, and has been regulating and shaping all +that has befallen us. The one thing which will consecrate memory, +deliver it from its errors and abuses, raise it to its highest and +noblest power, is that it should be in touch with God, and that the past +should be regarded by each of us as it is, in deed and in truth, one +long record of what God has done for us. + +We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a +long-connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the +agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst they were hot, and +life was all hurry and bustle. The men on the deck of a ship see the +beauty of the city that they have left behind, better than when they +were pressing through its narrow streets. And though the view of the +receding houses from the far-off waters may be an illusion, our view of +the past, if we see God brooding over it all, and working in it all, is +no illusion. The meannesses are hidden, the narrow places are invisible, +all the pain and suffering is quieted, and we are able to behold more +truly than when we were in the midst of them, the bearing, the purpose, +and the blessedness alike of our sorrows and of our joys. + +Not a few of us are old enough to have had a great many mysteries of our +early days cleared up. We have seen at least the beginnings of the +harvest which the ploughshare of sorrow and the winter winds were +preparing for us, and for the rest we can trust. Brethren! remember your +mercies; remember your losses; and 'for all the way by which the Lord +our God has led us these many years in the wilderness,' let us try to be +thankful, including in our praises the darkness and the storm as well as +the light and the calm. Some of us are like people who, when they get +better of their sicknesses, grudge the doctor's bill. We forget the +mercies as soon as they are past, because we only enjoyed the sensuous +sweetness of them whilst it tickled our palate, and did not think, in +the enjoyment of them, whose love it was that they spoke of to us. +Sorrows and joys, bring them all in your thanksgivings, and 'forget not +the works of God.' + +Such a habit of cultivating the remembrance of God's hand as moving in +all our past, will not, in the slightest degree, interfere with lower +and yet precious exercises of that same faculty. We shall still be able +to look back, and learn our limitations, mark our weaknesses, gather +counsels of prudence from our failures, tame our ambitions by +remembering where we broke down. And such an exercise of grateful +God-recognising remembrance will deliver us from the abuses of that +great power, by which so many of us turn our memories into a cause of +weakness, if not of sin. There are people, and we are all tempted to be +of the number, who look back upon the past and see nothing there but +themselves, their own cleverness, their own success; 'burning incense to +their own net, and sacrificing to their own drag.' Another mood leads us +to look back into the past dolefully and disappointedly, to say, 'I have +broken down so often; my resolutions have all gone to water so quickly; +I have tried and failed over and over again. I may as well give it all +up, and accept the inevitable, and grope on as well as I can without +hope of self-advancement or of victory.' Never! If only we will look +back to God we shall be able to look forward to a perfect self. +To-morrow need never be determined by the failures that have been. We +may still conquer where we have often been defeated. There is no worse +use of the power of remembrance than when we use it to bind upon +ourselves, as the permanent limitations of our progress, the failures +and faults of the past. 'Forget the things that are behind.' Your old +fragmentary goodness, your old foiled aspirations, your old frequent +failures--cast them all behind you! + +And there are others to whom remembrance is mainly a gloating over old +sins, and a doing again of these--ruminating upon them; bringing up the +chewed food once more to be masticated. Some of us gather only poisonous +weeds, and carry them about in the _hortus siccus_ of our memories. +Alas! for the man whose memory is but the paler portraiture of past +sins. Some of us, I am sure, have our former evils holding us so tight +in their cords that when we look back memory is defiled by the things +which defiled the unforgettable past. Brethren! you may find a refuge +from that curse of remembrance in remembering God. + +And some of us, unwisely and ungratefully, live in the light of departed +blessings, so as to have no hearts either for present mercies or for +present duties. There is no more weakening and foolish misdirection of +that great gift of remembrance than when we employ it to tear down the +tender greenery with which healing time has draped the ruins; or to turn +again in the wound which is beginning to heal the sharp and poisoned +point of the sorrow which once pierced it. For all these abuses--the +memory that gloats upon sin; the memory that is proud of success; the +memory that is despondent because of failures; the memory that is +tearful and broken-hearted over losses--for all these the remedy is that +we should not forget the works of God, but see Him everywhere filling +the past. + +II. Again, let us live in the future by hope in Him. + +Our remembrances and our hopes are closely connected; one might almost +even say that the power by which we look backwards and that by which we +look forwards are one and the same. At all events, Hope owes to Memory +the pigments with which it paints, the canvas on which it paints, and +the objects which it portrays there. But in all our earthly hopes there +is a feeling of uncertainty which brings alarm as well as expectation, +and he whose forward vision runs only along the low levels of earth, and +is fed only by experience and remembrance, will never be able to say, 'I +hope with certitude, and I know that my hope shall be fulfilled.' For +him 'hopes, and fears that kindle hopes,' will be 'an indistinguishable +throng'; and there will be as much of pain as of pleasure in his forward +glance. + +But if, according to my text, we set our hopes on God, then we shall +have a certainty absolute. What a blessing it is to be able to look +forward to a future as fixed and sure, as solid and as real, as much our +possession, as the irrevocable past! The Christian man's hope, if it be +set on God, is not a 'may be,' but a 'will be'; and he can be as sure of +to-morrow as he is of yesterday. + +They whose hopes are set on God have a certain hope, a sufficient one, +and one that fills all the future. All other expectations are fulfilled, +or disappointed, as the case may be, but are left behind and outgrown. +This one only never palls, and is never accomplished, and yet is never +disappointed. So if we set our hopes on Him, we can face very quietly +the darkness that lies ahead of us. Earthly hopes are only the mirrors +in which the past reflects itself, as in some king's palace you will +find a lighted chamber, with a great sheet of glass at each end, which +perpetuates in shining rows the lights behind the spectator. A curtain +veils the future, and earthly hope can only put a mirror in front of it +that reflects what has been. But the hope that is set on God draws back +the curtain, and lets us see enough of a fixed, eternal future to make +our lives bright and our hearts calm. The darkness remains; what of +that, if + + 'I only know I cannot drift + Beyond His love and care'? + +Set your hopes on God, and they will not be ashamed. + +III. Lastly, let us live in the present by strenuous obedience. + +After all, memory and hope are meant to fit us for work in the flying +moment. Both should impel us to this keeping of the commandments of God; +for both yield motives which should incline us thereto. A past full of +blessing demands the sacrifice of loving hearts and of earnest hands. A +future so fair, so far, so certain, so sovereign, and a hope that grasps +it, and brings some of its sweet fragrance into the else scentless air +of the poor present, ought to impel to service, vigorous and continual. +Both should yield motives which make such service a delight. + +If my memory weakens me for present work, either because it depresses my +hope of success, or because it saddens me with the remembrance of +departed blessings, then it is a curse and not a good. And if I dream +myself away in any future, and forget the exigencies of the imperative +and swiftly-passing moment, then the faculty of hope, too, is a curse +and a weakening. But both are delivered from their possible abuses, if +both are made into means of helping us to fill the present with loving +obedience. These two faculties are like the two wings that may lift us +to God, like the two paddles, one on either side of the ship, that may +drive us steadily forward, through all the surges and the tempest. They +find their highest field in fitting us for the grinding tasks and the +heavy burdens that the moment lays upon us. + +So, dear friends! we are very different in our circumstances and +positions. For some of us Hope's basket is nearly empty, and Memory's +sack is very full. For us older men the past is long, the earthly future +is short. For you younger people the converse is the case. It is Hope +whose hands are laden with treasures for you, Memory carries but a +little store. Your past is brief; your future is probably long. The +grains of sand in some of our hour-glasses are very heaped and high in +the lower half, and running very low in the upper. But whichever +category we stand in, one thing remains the same for us all, and that is +duty, keeping God's commandments. That is permanent, and that is the one +thing worth living for. 'Whether we live we live unto the Lord; or +whether we die we die unto the Lord.' + +So let us front this New Year, with all its hidden possibilities, with +quiet, brave hearts, resolved on present duty, as those ought who have +such a past to remember and such a future to hope for. It will probably +be the last on earth for some of us. It will probably contain great +sorrows for some of us, and great joys for others. It will probably be +comparatively uneventful for others. It may make great outward changes +for us, or it may leave us much as it found us. But, at all events, God +will be in it, and work for Him should be in it. Well for us if, when +its hours have slidden away into the grey past, they continue to witness +to us of His love, even as, while they were wrapped in the mists of the +future, they called on us to hope in Him! Well for us if we fill the +passing moment with deeds of loving obedience! Then a present of keeping +His commandments will glide into a past to be thankfully remembered, and +will bring us nearer to a future in which hope shall not be put to +shame. To him who sees God in all the divisions and particles of his +days, and makes Him the object of memory, hope, and effort, past, +present, and future are but successive calm ripples of that mighty river +of Time which bears him on the great ocean of Eternity, from which the +drops that make its waters rose, and to which its ceaseless flow +returns. + + + + +SPARROWS AND ALTARS + + + 'Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for + herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine altars, O Lord of + Hosts, my King, and my God.'--PSALM lxxxiv. 3. + +The well-known saying of the saintly Rutherford, when he was silenced +and exiled from his parish, echoes and expounds these words. 'When I +think,' said he, 'upon the sparrows and swallows that build their nests +in the kirk of Anwoth, and of my dumb Sabbaths, my sorrowful, bleared +eyes look asquint upon Christ, and present Him as angry.' So sighed the +Presbyterian minister in his compelled idleness in a prosaic +seventeenth-century Scotch town, answering his heart's-brother away back +in the far-off time, and in such different circumstances. The Psalmist +was probably a member of the Levitical family of the Sons of Korah, who +were 'doorkeepers in the house of the Lord.' He knew what he was saying +when he preferred his humble office to all honours among the godless. He +was shut out by some unknown circumstances from external participation +in the Temple rites, and longs to be even as one of the swallows or +sparrows that twitter and flit round the sacred courts. No doubt to him +faith was much more inseparably attached to form than it should be for +us. No doubt place and ritual were more to him than they can permissibly +be to those who have heard and understood the great charter of spiritual +worship spoken first to an outcast Samaritan of questionable character: +'Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall men worship the +Father.' But equally it is true that what he wanted was what the outward +worship brought him, rather than the worship itself. And the psalm, +which begins with 'longing' and 'fainting' for the courts of the Lord, +and pronouncing benedictions on 'those that dwell in Thy house,' works +itself clear, if I might so say, and ends with 'O Lord of Hosts! Blessed +is the man that trusteth in Thee'--for he shall 'dwell in Thy house,' +wherever he is. So this flight of imagination in the words of my text +may suggest to us two or three lessons. + +I. I take it first as pointing a bitter and significant contrast. + +'The sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself,' +while I! We do not know what the Psalmist's circumstances were, but if +we accept the conjecture that he may have accompanied David in his +flight during Absalom's rebellion, we may fancy him as wandering on the +uplands across Jordan, and sharing the agitations, fears, and sorrows of +those dark hours, and in the midst of all, as the little company hurried +hither and thither for safety, thinking, with a touch of bitter envy, of +the calm restfulness and serene services of the peaceful Temple. + +But, pathetic as is the complaint, when regarded as the sigh of a +minister of the sanctuary exiled from the shrine which was as his home, +and from the worship which was his occupation and delight, it sounds a +deeper note and one which awakens echoes in our hearts, when we hear in +it, as we may, the complaint of humanity contrasting its unrest with the +happier lot of lower creatures. Do you remember who it was that +said--and on what occasion He said it--'Foxes have holes, and birds of +the air have roosting-places, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay +His head'? That saying, like our text, has a narrower and a wider +application. In the former it pathetically paints the homeless Christ, a +wanderer in a land peculiarly 'His own,' and warns His enthusiastic +would-be follower of the lot which he was so light-heartedly undertaking +to share. But when Jesus calls Himself 'Son of Man,' He claims to be the +realised ideal of humanity, and when, as in that saying, He contrasts +the condition of 'the Son of Man' with that of the animal creation, we +can scarcely avoid giving to the words their wider application to the +same contrast between man's homelessness and the creatures' repose which +we have found in the Psalmist's sigh. + +Yes! There is only one being in this world that does not fit the world +that he is in, and that is man, chief and foremost of all. Other beings +perfectly correspond to what we now call their 'environment.' Just as +the soft mollusc fits every convolution of its shell, and the hard shell +fits every curve of the soft mollusc, so every living thing corresponds +to its place and its place to it, and with them all things go smoothly. +But man, the crown of creation, is an exception to this else universal +complete adaptation. 'The earth, O Lord! is full of Thy mercy,' but the +only creature who sees and says that is the only one who has further to +say, 'I am a stranger on the earth.' He and he alone is stung with +restlessness and conscious of longings and needs which find no +satisfaction here. That sense of homelessness may be an agony or a joy, +a curse or a blessing, according to our interpretation of its meaning, +and our way of stilling it. It is not a sign of inferiority, but of a +higher destiny, that we alone should bear in our spirits the 'blank +misgivings' of those who, amid unsatisfying surroundings, have blind +feelings after 'worlds not realised,' which elude our grasp. It is no +advantage over us that every fly dancing in the treacherous gleams of an +April sun, and every other creature on the earth except ourselves, on +whom the crown is set, is perfectly proportioned to its place, and has +desire and possessions absolutely conterminous. + +'The son of man hath not where to lay his head.' Why must he alone +wander homeless on the bleak moorland, whilst the sparrows and the +swallows have their nests and their houses? Why? Because they _are_ +sparrows and swallows, and he is man, and 'better than many sparrows.' +So let us lay to heart the sure promises, the blessed hopes, the +stimulating exhortations, which come from that which, at first sight, +seems to be a mystery and half an arraignment of the divine wisdom, in +the contrast between the restlessness of humanity and the reposeful +contentment of those whom we call the lower creatures. Be true to the +unrest, brother! and do not mistake its meaning, nor seek to still it, +until it drives you to God. + +II. These words bring to us a plea which we may use, and a pledge on +which we may rest. + +'Thine altars, O Lord of hosts! my King and my God.' The Psalmist pleads +with God, and lays hold for his own confidence upon the fact that +creatures which do not understand what the altar means, may build beside +it, and those which have no notion of who the God is to whom the house +is sacred, are yet cared for by Him. And he thinks to himself, 'If I can +say "_My_ King and _my_ God," surely He that takes care of them will not +leave me uncared for.' The unrest of the soul that is capable of +appropriating God is an unrest which has in it, if we understand it +aright, the assurance that it shall be stilled and satisfied. He that is +capable of entering into the close personal relationship with God which +is expressed by that eloquent little pronoun and its reduplication with +the two words, 'King' and 'God'--such a creature cannot cry for rest in +vain, nor in vain grope, as a homeless wanderer, for the door of the +Father's house. + +'Doth God care for oxen; or saith He it altogether for our sakes?' +'Consider the fowls of the air; your heavenly Father feedeth them.' And +the same argument which the Apostle used in the one of these sayings, +and our Lord in the other, is valid and full of encouragement when +applied to this matter. He that 'satisfies the desires of every living +thing,' and fills full the maw of the lowest creature; and puts the +worms into the gaping beak of the young ravens when they cry, is not the +King to turn a deaf ear, or the back of His hand, to the man who can +appeal to Him with this word on his lips, 'My King and my God!' We grasp +God when we say that; and all that we see of provident recognition and +supply of wants in dealings with these lower creatures should encourage +us to cherish calm unshakable confidence that every true desire of our +souls after Him is as certain to be satisfied. + +And so the glancing swallows around the eaves of the Temple and the +twittering sparrows on its pinnacles may proclaim to us, not only a +contrast which is bitter, but a confidence which is sweet. We may be +sure that we shall not be left uncared for amongst the many pensioners +at His table, and that the deeper our wants the surer we are of their +supply. Our bodies may hunger in vain--bodily hunger has no tendency to +bring meat; but our spirits cannot hunger in vain if they hunger after +God; for that hunger is the sure precursor and infallible prophet of the +coming satisfaction. + +These words not only may hearten us with confidence that our desires +will be satisfied if they are set upon Him, but they point us to the one +way by which they are so. Say 'My King and my God!' in the deepest +recesses of a spirit conscious of His presence, of a will submitting to +His authority, of emptiness expectant of His fulness; say that, and you +are in the house of the Lord. For it is not a question of place, it is a +question of disposition and desire. This Psalmist, though, when he began +his song, he was far away from the Temple, and though he finished it +sitting on the same hillside on which he began it, when he had ended it +was within the curtains of the sanctuary and wrapt about with the +presence of his God. He had regained as he sang what for a moment he had +lost the consciousness of when he began--viz. the presence of God with +him on the lone, dreary expanse of alien soil as truly as amidst the +sanctities of what was called His House. + +So, brethren! if we want rest, let us clasp God as ours; if we desire a +home warm, safe, sheltered from every wind that blows, and inaccessible +to enemies, let us, like the swallows, nestle under the eaves of the +Temple. Let us take God for our Hope. They that hold communion with +Him--and we can all do that wherever we are and whatever we may be +doing--these, and only these, 'dwell in the house of the Lord all the +days of their lives.' Therefore, with deepest simplicity of expression, +our psalm goes on to describe, as equally recipients of blessedness, +'those that dwell in the house of the Lord,' and those in 'whose heart +are the ways' that lead to it, and to explain at last, as I have already +pointed out, that both the dwellers in, and the pilgrims towards, that +intimacy of abiding with God are included in the benediction showered on +those who cling to Him, 'Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee!' + +III. Lastly, we may take this picture of the Psalmist's as a warning. + +Sparrows and swallows have very small brains. They build their nests, +and they do not know whose altars they are flitting around. They pursue +the insects on the wing, and they twitter their little songs; and they +do not understand how all their busy, glancing, brief, trivial life is +being lived beneath the shadow of the cherubim, and all but in the +presence of the veiled God of the Shekinah. + +There are too many people who live like that. We are all tempted to +build our nests where we may lay our young, or dispose of ourselves or +our treasures in the very sanctuary of God, with blind, crass +indifference to the Presence in which we move. The Father's house has +many mansions, and wherever we go we are in God's Temple. Alas! some of +us have no more sense of the sanctities around us, and no more +consciousness of the divine Eye that looks down upon us, than if we were +so many feathered sparrows flitting about the altar. + +Let us take care, brethren! that we give our hearts to be influenced, +and awed, and ennobled, and tranquillised by the sense of ever more +being in the house of the Lord. Let us see to it that we keep in that +house by continual aspiration, cherishing in our hearts the ways that +lead to it; and so making all life worship, and every place what the +pilgrim found the stone of Bethel to be, a house of God and a gate of +heaven. For everywhere, to the eye that sees the things that are, and +not only the things that seem--and to the heart that feels the unseen +presence of the One Reality, God Himself--all places are temples, and +all work may be beholding His beauty and inquiring in His sanctuary; and +everywhere, though our heads rest upon a stone, and there be night and +solitude around us, and doubt and darkness in front of us, and danger +and terror behind us, and weakness within us, as was the case with +Jacob, there will be the ladder with its foot at our side and its top in +the heavens; and above the top of it His face, which when we see it look +down upon us, makes all places and circumstances good and sweet. + + + + +HAPPY PILGRIMS + + + 'Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are + the highways to Zion. 6. Passing through the valley of Weeping they + make it a place of springs; yea, the early rain covereth it with + blessings. 7. They go from strength to strength, every one of them + appeareth before God in Zion.'--PSALM lxxxiv. 5-7. + +Rightly rendered, the first words of these verses are not a calm, +prosaic statement, but an emotional exclamation. The Psalmist's tone +would be more truly represented if we read, 'How blessed is the man,' or +'Oh, the blessednesses!' for that is the literal rendering of the Hebrew +words, 'of the man whose strength is Thee.' + +There are three such exclamations in this psalm, the consideration of +which leads us far into the understanding of its deepest meaning. The +first of them is this, 'How blessed are they that dwell in Thy house!' +Of course the direct allusion is to actual presence in the actual Temple +at Jerusalem. But these old psalmists, though they attached more +importance to external forms than we do, were not so bound by them, even +at their stage of development of the religious life, as that they +conceived that no communion with God was possible apart from the form, +or that the form itself was communion with God. We can see gleaming +through all their words, though only gleaming through them, the same +truth which Jesus Christ couched in the immortal phrase--the charter of +the Church's emancipation from all externalisms--'neither in this +mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, shall men worship the Father.' To 'dwell +in the house of the Lord' is not only to be present in bodily form in +the Temple--the Psalmist did not think that it was _only_ that--but to +possess communion with Him, of which the external presence is but the +symbol, the shadow, and the means. + +But there is another blessing. To be there is blessing, to wish to be +there is no less so.--'Blessed are the men in whose heart are the ways.' +The joyous company that went up from every corner of the land to the +feasts in Jerusalem made the paths ring with their songs as they +travelled, and as the prophet says about another matter, 'they went up +to Zion with songs and joy upon their heads,' and so the search after is +only a shade less blessed--if it be even that--than the possession of +communion with God. + +But there is a third blessedness in our psalm. 'Oh! the blessedness of +the man that trusteth in Thee.' That includes and explains both the +others. It confirms what I have said, that we do great injustice to the +beauty and the spirituality of the Old Testament religion, if we +conceive of it as slavishly tied to external forms. And it suggests the +thought that in trust there lie both the previous elements, for he that +trusts possesses, and he that trustingly possesses is thereby impelled +as trustingly to seek for, larger gifts. + +So, then, I turn to this outline sketch of the happy pilgrims on the +road, and desire to gather from it, as simply as may be, the stimulating +thoughts which it suggests to us. + +I. Let me ask you, then, following the words which I have read to you, +to look with me, first at the blessedness of the pilgrims' spirit. + +'Blessed are the men in whose heart are the ways.' A singular +expression, and yet a very eloquent and significant one! 'The ways' are, +of course, the various roads which, from every corner of the land, lead +to the Temple, and the thought suggested is that the men whom the +Psalmist pronounces blessed, and in whose blessednesses his longing +heart desires to share, are the men who are restless till they are on +the path, whose eyes are ever travelling to the goal, who have a 'divine +discontent' with distance from God, and who know the impulse and the +sting that sends them ever travelling on the path that leads to Him. + +On any lower level it is perfectly true that the very salt of life is +aspiration after an unattained ideal; that there is nothing that so +keeps a man young, strong, buoyant, and fits him for nobilities of +action, as that there shall be gleaming for ever before him in the +beckoning distance a horizon that moves ever as he moves. When we cease +to be the slaves of unattained ideals in any department, it is time for +us to die; indeed, we are dead already. There are men in every civilised +country, with the gipsy strain in their blood, who never can be at rest +until they are in motion, to whom a settled abode is irksome, and to +whom the notion of blessedness is that they shall be out in the free +plains. '_Amplius_,' the dying Xavier's word, '_further afield_,' is the +motto of all noble life--scientist, scholar, artist, man of letters, man +of affairs; all come under the same law, that unless there is something +before them which has dominated their hearts, and draws their whole +being towards it, their lives want salt, want nobility, want freshness, +and a green scum comes over the pool. We all know that. To live is to +aspire; to cease to aspire is to die. + +Well then, looking all round our horizon there stands out one path for +aspiration which is clearly blessed to tread--one path, and one path +alone. For, oh brethren! there are needs in all our hearts, deep +longings, terrible wounds, dreary solitudes, which can only be appeased +and healed and companioned when we are pressing nearer and nearer God, +that infinite and divine Source of all blessedness, of all peace and +good. To possess God is life; to feel after God is life, too. For that +aim is sure, as we shall see, to be satisfied. That aim gives, and it is +the only one which does give, adequate occupation for every power of a +man's soul; that aim brings, simultaneously with its being entertained, +its being satisfied; for, as I have already said, in the one act of +faith there lie both these elements of blessedness--the possession of, +and the seeking after, God. The religious life is distinguished from all +others in two respects; one is the contemporaneousness and co-existence +of desire and fruition, and the other is the impossibility that fruition +shall ever be so complete and perfect as that desire shall die. And +because thus all my nature may reach out its yearnings to Him, and in +reaching out may find that after which it feels, and yet, finding it, +must feel after it all the more; therefore, high above all other +delights of search, high above all other blessednesses of pilgrimage, +high above all the buoyancy and concentration of aim and contempt of +hindrances which pour into a soul, before which the unattained ideal +burns beckoning and inviting, there stands the blessedness of the man +'in whose heart are the ways' which lead to God in Zion. + +II. And now notice the blessedness of the pilgrims' experience. + +If you use the Revised Version you will see the changes upon the +Authorised which it makes, following the stream of modern critics and +commentators, and which may thus be reproduced: 'Passing through the +Valley of Weeping, they make it a _place of springs_, the rain also +_covereth it with blessings_.' No doubt the poet is referring here to +the actual facts of the pilgrimage to Zion, No doubt, on some one of the +roads, there lay a gloomy gorge, the name of which was the Valley of +Weeping; either because it dimly commemorated some half-forgotten +tragedy long ago, or, more probably, because it was arid and frowning +and full of difficulty for the travellers on the march. The Psalmist +uses that name with a lofty imaginative freedom, which itself confirms +the view that I have taken, that there is something deeper in the psalm +than the mere external circumstances of the pilgrimages to the Holy +City. For, he says, 'passing through the Valley of Weeping, they make it +a place of springs.' They, as it were, pour their tears into the wells, +and they become sources of refreshment and fertility. + +But there are other kinds of moisture than tears and fountains. And so +he goes on: 'the rain also' from above 'covereth it with blessings'; the +blessings being, I suppose, the waving crops which the poet's +imagination conceives of as springing up all over the else arid ground. +Irrigated thus by the pilgrims' labour, and rained upon thus by God's +gift from heaven, 'the wilderness rejoices and blossoms as the rose.' + +Now, translate that--it scarcely needs translation, I suppose, to +anybody who will read the psalm with the least touch of a poetic +imagination--translate that, and it just comes to this. If we have in +our hearts, as our chief aim, the desire to get closer to God, then our +sorrows and our tears will become sources of refreshment and fertility. +Ah! how different all our troubles, large and little, look when we take +as our great aim in life what is God's great purpose in giving us +life--viz. that we should be moulded into His likeness and enriched by +the possession of Himself. That takes the sting out of sorrow, and +although it leaves us in no morbid condition of insensibility, it yet +makes it possible for us to gather our tears into reservoirs which shall +be to us the sources of many a blessing, and many a thankfulness. _He_ +puts them into His bottle; we have to put them into our wells. And be +sure of this, that if we understood better the meaning of life, that it +was all intended to be our road to God, and if we judged of things more +from that point of view, we should less frequently be brought to stand +by what we call the mysteries of Providence and more able to wring out +of them all the rich honey which is stored in them all for us. Not the +least of the blessednesses of the pilgrim heart is its power of +transmitting the pilgrim's tears into the pilgrim's wells. Brothers! do +you bring such thoughts to bear on the disappointments, anxieties, +sorrows, losses that befall you, be they great or small? If you do, you +will have learned, better than I can say it, how strangely grief changes +its aspect when it is looked upon as the helper and servant to our +progress towards God. + +But that is not all. If, with the pilgrims' hearts, we rightly use our +sorrows, we shall not be left to find refreshment and fertilising power +only in ourselves, but the benediction of the rain from heaven will come +down, and the great Spirit of God will fall upon our hearts, not in a +flood that drowns, but broken up into a beneficent mist that falls +quietly upon us, and brings with itself the assurance of fertility. And +so the secret of turning the desert into abundance, and tears into +blessings, lies in having the pilgrim's heart. + +III. Notice the blessedness of the pilgrims' advance. + +'They go from strength to strength.' I do not know whether the Psalmist +means to use that word 'strength' in the significance which it also has +in old English, of a fortified place, so that the metaphor would be that +from one camp of security, one fortress to another, they journey safe +always, because of their protection; or whether he means to use it +rather in its plain and simple sense, according to which the +significance would be that these happy pilgrims do not get worn out on +the journey, as is the wont of men that set out, for instance, from some +far corner of India to Mecca, and come in battered and travel-stained, +and half dead with their privations, but that the further they go the +stronger they become; and on the road gain more vigour than they could +ever have gained by ease and indulgence in their homes. But, whichever +of these two meanings we may be disposed to adopt, the great thought +that comes out of both of them is identical--viz. that this is one of +the distinguishing joys of a Christian career of pressing forward to +closer communion and conformity with our Lord and Master, in whom God is +manifested--viz. that we grow day by day in strength, and that effort +does not weaken, but invigorates. + +And now I have to put a very plain question. Is that growing strength +anything like the general characteristic of us professing Christians? I +wonder how many people there are listening to me now that have been +members of Christian churches for half a century almost, but are not a +bit better than they were away back in the years that they have almost +forgotten? I wonder in how many of our cases there has been an arrested +development, like that which you will sometimes see in deformed people, +the lower limbs all but atrophied? I wonder how many of us are babes of +forty years old, and from how many of our minds the very conception of +continual growth, as an essential of Christian life, has altogether +vanished? Brother! are you any further than you were ten years ago? + +I remember once, long ago, when I was on board a sailing ship, that we +had baffling winds as we tried to run up the coast; and morning after +morning for a week we used to come up on deck, and _there_ were the same +windmill, and the same church-tower that we had seen last night, and the +night before and the night before that. That is the sort of voyage that +a great many of you Christian people are making. There may be motion; +there is no progress. Round and round and round you go. That is not the +way to get to Zion. 'They go from strength to strength,' and unless you +are doing that, you know little about the blessedness of the pilgrim +heart. + +IV. Lastly, note the blessedness of the pilgrims' arrival. + +'Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.' Then there is one road +on which whosoever travels is sure to reach his goal. On all others +caravans get lost, overwhelmed in a sandstorm, or slain by robbers; and +the bleached bones of men and camels lie there on the sand for +centuries. This caravan always arrives. For no man ever wanted God who +did not possess Him, and the measure of our desire is the prophecy of +our possession. Surely it is worth while, even from the point of view of +self-interest, to forsake all these lower aims in which success is +absolutely problematical, or, while pursuing them as far as duty and +necessity require, in and through them, as well as above and beyond +them, to press towards the one aim in which failure is impossible. You +cannot say about say other course--'Blessed is the man that enters on +it, for he is sure to reach what he desires.' Other goals are elusive; +the golden circlet may never drop upon your locks. But there is one path +on which all that you seek you shall have, and you are on it if 'in your +hearts are the _ways_.' + +I need not say a word about the ultimate fulfilment of this great +promise of our text; how that there is not only in our psalm, gleaming +through it, a reference to the communion of earth rather than to the +external Presence in the sanctuary, but there is also hinted, though +less consciously, to the Psalmist himself, yet necessarily from the +nature of the case the perfecting of that earthly communion in the +higher house of the Lord in the heavenly Zion. Are all these desires, +these longings, these efforts after God which make the nobleness and the +blessedness of a life on earth, and which are always satisfied, and yet +never satiated, to be crushed into nothingness by the accident of bodily +dissolution? Then, then, the darkest of all clouds is drawn over the +face of God, and we are brought into a state of absolute intellectual +bewilderment as to what life, futile and frail, has been for at all. No, +brother! God never gives mouths but He sends meat to fill them; and He +has not suffered His children to long after Him, to press after Him, +only in order that the partial fulfilment of their desires and yearnings +which is possible upon earth should be all their experience. + + 'He thinks he was not made to die, + And Thou hast made him; Thou art just.' + +Be sure that 'every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.' + +So, brethren! let us take the pilgrim scrip and staff; and be sure of +this, that the old blessed word will be fulfilled, that we shall not +be lost in the wilderness, where there is no way, nor grope and +search after elusive and fleeting good; but that 'the ransomed of the +Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy +shall be upon their heads.' + + + + +BLESSED TRUST + + + 'O Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.' + --PSALM lxxxiv. 12. + +In my last sermon from the central portion of this psalm I pointed out +that the Psalmist thrice celebrates the blessedness of certain types of +character, and that these threefold benedictions constitute, as it were, +the keynotes of the portions of the psalm in which they respectively +occur. They are these: 'Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house'; +'Blessed is the man in whose heart are the ways'; and this final one, +'Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.' + +Now, this last benediction includes, as I then remarked, both of the +others; both the blessedness belonging to dwelling in, and that realised +by journeying towards, the House of the Lord. For trust is both fruition +and longing; both aspiration and possession. But it not only includes +the other two: it explains and surpasses them. For they bear, deeply +stamped upon them, the impression of the imperfect stage of revelation +to which the psalm belongs, and are tied to form in a manner which we +ought not to be. But here the Psalmist gets behind all the externals of +ceremonial worship, and goes straight to the heart of spiritual religion +when, for dwelling in, and journeying towards, any house of the Lord, he +substitutes that plain expression, 'the man that trusteth in Thee.' + +Now, the other two benedictions of which I have spoken do respectively +form the centre of the first and second portions of this psalm; in each +case the remainder of the section being an explanation of that central +utterance. And here the case is the same; for the verses which precede +this final exclamation are various phases of the experience of a man who +trusts in God, and are the ground upon which his faith is pronounced +'blessed.' + +So I desire now to view these three preceding verses together, as being +illustrations of the various blessednesses of the life of trust in God. +They are not exhaustive. There are other tints and flashes of glory +sleeping in the jewel which need the rays of light to impinge upon it at +other angles, in order to wake them into scintillation and lustre. But +there is enough in the context to warrant the Psalmist's outburst into +this final rapturous exclamation, and ought to be enough to make us seek +to possess that life as our own. + +I. First, then, note here how the heart of religion always has been, and +is, trust in God. + +This Psalmist, nourished amidst the externalisms of an elaborate +ceremonial, and compelled, by the stage of revelation at which he stood, +to localise worship in an external Temple, in a fashion that we need not +do, had yet attained to the conviction that, in the desert or in the +Temple, God was near; that no weary pilgrimage was needed to reach His +house, but that with one movement of a trusting heart the man clasped +God wherever he was. And that is the living centre of all religion. I do +not mean merely that our way to be sure of God is not through the +understanding only, but through the outgoing of confidence in Him--but I +mean that the kernel of a devout life is trust in God. The bond that +underlies all the blessedness of human society, the thing that makes the +sweetness of the sweetest ties that can knit men together, the secret of +all the happy loves of husband and wife, friend and friend, parent and +child, is simple confidence. And the more utter the confidence the more +tranquilly blessed is the union and the life that flow from it. Transfer +this, then--which is the bond of perfectness between man and man--to our +relation to God, and you get to the very heart of the mystery. Not by +externalisms of any kind, not by the clear dry light of the +understanding, but by the outgoing of the heart's confidence to God, do +we come within the clasp of His arms and become recipients of His grace. +Trust knits to the unseen, and trust alone. + +That has always been the way. This Psalmist is no exception to the +devout souls of his time. For though, as I have said, externalisms and +ritualisms filled a place then, that it is an anachronism and a +retrogression that they should be supposed to fill now, still beneath +all these there lay this one ancient, permanent relation, the relation +of trust. From the day in which the 'father of the faithful' as he is +significantly called Abraham, 'believed God, and it was counted to him +for righteousness,' down all through the ages of that ancient Church, +every man who laid a real hold upon God clasped Him by the outstretched +hand of faith. So the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews was fully +warranted in claiming all these ancient heroes, sages, and saints, as +having lived by faith, and as being the foremost files in the same army +in which the Christians of his day marched. The prophets who cried, +'Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting +strength,' were saying the very same thing as the Apostles who preached +'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' The +contents of the faith were expanded; the faith itself was identical. +Like some of those old Roman roads, where to-day the wains of commerce +and the chariots of ease and the toiling pedestrians pass over the lava +blocks that have been worn by the tramp of legions and rutted by the +wheels of their chariots, the way to God that we travel is the way on +which all the saints from the beginning of time have passed in their +pilgrimage. Trust is, always has been, always will be, the bond that +knits men with God. + +And trust is blessed, because the very attitude of confident dependence +takes the strain off a man. To feel that I am leaning hard upon a firm +prop, to devolve responsibility, to put the reins into another's hand, +to give the helm into another steersman's grasp, whilst I may lie down +and rest, that is blessedness, though there be a storm. In the story of +frontier warfare we read how, day by day, the battalion that had been in +the post of danger, and therefore of honour, was withdrawn into the +centre; and another one was placed in the position that it had occupied. +So, when we trust we put Him in the front, and we march more quietly, +more blessedly, when we are in the centre, and He has to bear the brunt +of the assailing foe. + +Christian people! have you got as far past the outsides of religion as +this Psalmist had? Do you recognise as clearly as he did that all this +outward worship, and a great deal of our theology, is but the +scaffolding; and that the real building lies inside of that; and that it +is of value only as being a means to an end? Church membership is all +very well; coming to church and chapel is all right; the outsides of +worship will be necessary as long as our souls have outsides--their +bodies. But you do not get into the house of the Lord unless you go in +through 'the door of faith,' which is opened to us all. The heart of the +religious life, which makes it blessed, is trust in God. + +II. And now, secondly, a life of faith is a blessed life, because it +talks with God. + +I have already said that my text is expanded in the preceding verses. +And I now turn to them to catch the various flashes of the diversely +coloured blessedness of this life. The first of them is that which I +have just mentioned. The Psalmist has described for us the happy +pilgrims passing from strength to strength, and in imagination has +landed them in the Temple. And then he goes on to tell us what they did +and found there. + +The first thing that they did was to speak to Him who was in the Temple. +'Behold! O God our Shield! and look upon the face of Thine anointed.' +They had, as he has just said, 'Every one of them appeared before God in +Zion.' As they looked up to Him they asked Him to look down upon them. +'Behold! O God our Shield!' 'Shield' here is the designation of God +Himself, and is an exclamation addressed to Him--'Thou who art our God +and Shield, look down upon us!' And then comes a singular clause, about +which much might be said if time permitted: 'Look upon the face of Thine +anointed.' The use of that word 'anointed' seems to suggest that the +psalm is either the outpouring of a king, or that it is spoken by some +one in the train of a king, who feels that the favour bestowed upon the +king will be participated in by his followers. But whilst that, if it be +the explanation, might carry with it a hint as to the great truth of the +mediation of Jesus Christ, our true King, I pass that by altogether, and +fix upon the thought that here one element of the blessedness of the +life of faith lies in the desire that God should look upon us. For that +look means love, and that look secures protection and wise distribution +of gifts. And it is life to have His eye fixed upon me, and to be +conscious that He is looking at me. Dear brethren! if we want a lustre +to be diffused through all our days, depend upon it, the surest and the +only way to secure it is that that Face shall be felt to be turned +toward us, 'as the sun shineth in his strength'; and then all the +landscape will rejoice, and the birds will sing and the waters will +flash. 'Look upon me, and let me sun myself beneath Thine eye'--to have +that desire is blessed; and to feel that the desire is accomplished is +more blessed still. + +Dear friends! it seems to me that the ordinary Christian life of this +day is terribly wanting in this experience of frank, free talk with God, +and that that is one reason why so many of us professing Christians know +so little of the blessedness of the man that trusts in God. You have +religion enough to keep you from doing certain gross acts of sin; you +have religion enough to make you uncomfortable in neglected duty. You +have religion enough to impel you to certain acts that you suppose to be +obligatory upon you. But do you know anything about the elasticity and +spring of spirit in getting near God, and pouring out all your hearts to +Him? The life of faith is not blessed unless it is a life of frank +speaking with God. + +III. The life of faith is blessed, because it has fixed its desires on +the true good. + +The Psalmist goes on--'A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand; I +had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the +tents of wickedness.' 'A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.' +We all know how strangely elastic time is, and have sometimes been +amazed when we remembered what an infinity of joy or sorrow we had lived +through in one tick of the pendulum. When men are dreaming, they pass +through a long series of events in a moment's space. When we are truly +awake, we live long in a short time, for life is measured, not by the +length of its moments, but by the depth of its experiences. And when +some new truth is flashed upon us, or some new emotion has shaken us as +with an earthquake, or when some new blessing has burst into our lives, +then we know how 'one day' with men may be as it is with God, in a +deeper sense, 'as a thousand years,' so great is the change that it +works upon us. There is nothing that will so fill life to the utmost +bounds of its elastic capacity as strong trust in Him. There is nothing +that will make our lives so blessed. This Psalmist, speaking with the +voice of all them that trust in the Lord, here declares his clear +consciousness that the true good for the human soul is fellowship with +God. + +But the clearest knowledge of that fact is not enough to bring the +blessedness. There must be the next step--'I had rather be a doorkeeper +in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness'--the +definite resolve that I, for my part, will act according to my +conviction, and believing that the best thing in life is to have God in +life, and that that will make life, as it were, an eternity of +blessedness even while it is made up of fleeting days, will put my foot +down and make my choice, and having made it, will stick to it. It is all +very well to say that 'A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand': +have I _chosen_ to dwell in the courts; and do I, not only in estimate +but in feeling and practice, set communion with God high above +everything besides? + +This psalm, according to the superscription attached to it, is one 'for +the sons of Korah.' These sons of Korah were a branch of the Levitical +priesthood, to whose charge was committed the keeping of the gates of +the Temple, and hence this phrase is especially appropriate on their +lips. But passing that, let me just ask you to lay to heart, dear +friends! this one plain thought, that the effect of a real life of faith +will be to make us perfectly sure that the true good is in God, and +fixedly determined to pursue that. And you have no right to claim the +name of a believing Christian, unless your faith has purged your eyes, +so that you can see the hollowness of all besides, and has stiffened +your will so that you can determine that, for your part, 'the Lord is +the Strength of your heart, and your Portion for ever.' The secret of +blessedness lies here. 'Seek ye the Kingdom of God and all these things +shall be added unto you.' + +IV. Lastly, a life of faith is a life of blessedness, because it draws +from God all necessary good. + +I must not dwell, as I had hoped to do, upon the last words preceding my +text, 'The Lord God is a Sun and Shield'--brightness and defence--'the +Lord will give grace and glory': 'grace,' the loving gifts which will +make a man gracious and graceful; 'glory,' not any future lustre of the +transfigured soul and glorified body, but the glory which belongs to the +life of faith here on earth. Link that thought with the preceding one. +'The Lord is a Sun ... the Lord will give glory'; like a little bit of +broken glass lying in the furrows of a ploughed field, when the sun +smites down upon it, it flashes, outshining many a diamond. If a man is +walking upon a road with the sun behind him, his face is dark. He wheels +himself round, and it is suffused with light, as Moses' face shone. 'We +all, with unveiled faces beholding, are changed from glory to glory.' If +we walk in the sunshine we shall shine too. If we 'walk in the light' we +shall be 'light in the Lord.' + +'No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.' Trust is +inward, and the outside of trust is an upright walk; and if a man has +these two, which, inasmuch as one is the root and the other is the +fruit, are but one in reality, nothing that is good will be withheld +from Him. For how can the sun but pour its rays upon everything that +lives? 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh +down from the Father of lights.' So the life is blessed that talks with +God; that has fixed its desires on Him as its Supreme Good; that is +irradiated by His light, glorified by the reflection of His brightness, +and ministered to with all necessary appliances by His loving +self-communication. + +We come back to the old word, dear friends! 'Trust in the Lord, and do +good, and verily thou shalt be fed.' We come back to the old message +that nothing knits a man to God but faith with its child, righteousness. +If trusting we love, and loving we obey, then in converse with Him, in +fixed desires after Him, in daily and hourly reception from Him of +Himself and His gifts, the life of earth will be full of a blessedness +more real, more deep, more satisfying, more permanent, than can be found +anywhere besides. + +Who was it that said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man +cometh to the Father but by Me'? Tread that path, and you will come into +the house of the Lord, and will dwell there all the days of your life. +'Believe in God, believe also in Me.' + + + + +'THE BRIDAL OF THE EARTH AND SKY' + + + 'Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have + kissed each other. 11. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and + righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12. Yea, the Lord shall + give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. 13. + Righteousness shall go before Him, and shall set us in the way of + His steps.'--PSALM lxxxv. 10-13. + +This is a lovely and highly imaginative picture of the reconciliation +and reunion of God and man, 'the bridal of the earth and sky.' + +The Poet-Psalmist, who seems to have belonged to the times immediately +after the return from the Exile, in strong faith sees before him a +vision of a perfectly harmonious co-operation and relation between God +and man. He is not prophesying directly of Messianic times. The vision +hangs before him, with no definite note of time upon it. He hopes it may +be fulfilled in his own day; he is sure it will, if only, as he says, +his countrymen 'turn not again to folly.' At all events, it will be +fulfilled in that far-off time to which the heart of every prophet +turned with longing. But, more than that, there is no reason why it +should not be fulfilled with every man, at any moment. It is the ideal, +to use modern language, of the relations between heaven and earth. Only +that the Psalmist believed that, as sure as there was a God in heaven, +who is likewise a God working in the midst of the earth, the ideal might +become, and would become, a reality. + +So, then, I take it, these four verses all set forth substantially the +same thought, but with slightly different modifications and +applications. They are a four-fold picture of how heaven and earth ought +to blend and harmonise. This four-fold representation of the one thought +is what I purpose to consider now. + +I. To begin with, then, take the first verse:--'Mercy and Truth are met +together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.' We have here +_the heavenly twin-sisters, and the earthly pair that correspond_. + +'Mercy and Truth are met together'--that is one personification; +'Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other' is another. It is +difficult to say whether these four great qualities are here regarded as +all belonging to God, or as all belonging to man, or as all common both +to God and man. The first explanation is the most familiar one, but I +confess that, looking at the context, where we find throughout an +interpenetration and play of reciprocal action as between earth and +heaven, I am disposed to think of the first pair as sisters from the +heavens, and the second pair as the earthly sisters that correspond to +them. Mercy and Truth--two radiant angels, like virgins in some solemn +choric dance, linked hand in hand, issue from the sanctuary and move +amongst the dim haunts of men making 'a sunshine in a shady place,' and +to them there come forth, linked in a sweet embrace, another pair, +Righteousness and Peace, whose lives depend on the lives of their elder +and heavenly sisters. And so these four, the pair of heavenly origin, +and the answering pair that have sprung into being at their coming upon +earth;--these four, banded in perfect accord, move together, blessing +and light-giving, amongst the sons of men. Mercy and Truth are the +divine--Righteousness and Peace the earthly. + +Let me dwell upon these two couples briefly. 'Mercy and Truth are met +together' means this, that these two qualities are found braided and +linked inseparably in all that God does with mankind; that these two +springs are the double fountains from which the great stream of the +'river of the water of life,' the forthcoming and the manifestation of +God, takes its rise. + +'Mercy and Truth.' What are the meanings of the two words? Mercy is love +that stoops, love that departs from the strict lines of desert and +retribution. Mercy is Love that is kind when Justice might make it +otherwise. Mercy is Love that condescends to that which is far beneath. +Thus the 'Mercy' of the Old Testament covers almost the same ground as +the 'Grace' of the New Testament. And Truth blends with Mercy; that is +to say--Truth in a somewhat narrower than its widest sense, meaning +mainly God's fidelity to every obligation under which He has come, God's +faithfulness to promise, God's fidelity to His past, God's fidelity, in +His actions, to His own character, which is meant by that great word, +'He sware by _Himself_!' + +Thus the sentiment of mercy, the tender grace and gentleness of that +condescending love, has impressed upon it the seal of permanence when we +say: 'Grace and Truth, Mercy and Faithfulness, are met together.' No +longer is love mere sentiment, which may be capricious and may be +transient. We can reckon on it, we know the law of its being. The love +is lifted up above the suspicion of being arbitrary, or of ever changing +or fluctuating. We do not know all the limits of the orbit, but we know +enough to calculate it for all practical purposes. God has committed +Himself to us, He has limited Himself by the obligations of His own +past. We have a right to turn to Him, and say; 'Be what Thou art, and +continue to be to us what Thou hast been unto past ages,' and He +responds to the appeal. For Mercy and Truth, tender, gracious, stooping, +forgiving love, and inviolable faithfulness that can never be otherwise, +these blend in all His works, 'that by two immutable things, wherein it +was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.' + +Again, dear brethren! let me remind you that these two are the ideal +two, which as far as God's will and wish are concerned, are the only two +that would mark any of His dealings with men. When He is, if I may so +say, left free to do as He would, and is not forced to His 'strange act' +of punishment by my sin and yours, these, and these only, are the +characteristics of His dealings. Nor let us forget--'We beheld His +glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, _full of grace +and truth_.' The Psalmist's vision was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in +whom these sweet twin characteristics, that are linked inseparably in +all the works of God, are welded together into one in the living +personality of Him who is all the Father's grace embodied; and is 'the +Way and the Truth and the Life.' + +Turn now to the other side of the first aspect of the union of God and +man, 'Mercy and Truth are met together'; these are the heavenly twins. +'Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other'--these are the earthly +sisters who sprang into being to meet them. + +Of course I know that these words are very often applied, by way of +illustration, to the great work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, which is +supposed to have reconciled, if not contradictory, at least divergently +working sides of the divine character and government. And we all know +how beautifully the phrase has often been employed by eloquent +preachers, and how beautifully it has been often illustrated by devout +painters. + +But beautiful as the adaptation is, I think it is an adaptation, and not +the real meaning of the words, for this reason, if for no other, that +Righteousness and Peace are not in the Old Testament regarded as +opposites, but as harmonious and inseparable. And so I take it that here +we have distinctly the picture of what happens upon earth when Mercy and +Truth that come down from Heaven are accepted and recognised--then +Righteousness and Peace kiss each other. + +Or, to put away the metaphor, here are two thoughts, first that in men's +experience and life Righteousness and Peace cannot be rent apart. The +only secret of tranquillity is to be good. He who is, first of all, +'King of Righteousness' is 'after that also King of Salem, which is King +of Peace.' 'The effect of righteousness shall be peace,' as Isaiah, the +brother in spirit of this Psalmist, says; and on the other hand, as the +same prophet says, 'The wicked is like a troubled sea that cannot rest, +whose waters cast up mire and dirt; there is no peace, saith my God, to +the wicked,' but where affections are pure, and the life is worthy, +where goodness is loved in the heart, and followed even imperfectly in +the daily practice, there the ocean is quiet, and 'birds of peace sit +brooding on the charmed wave.' The one secret of tranquillity is first +to trust in the Lord and then to do good. Righteousness and Peace kiss +each other. + +The other thought here is that Righteousness and her twin sister, Peace, +only come in the measure in which the mercy and the truth of God are +received into thankful hearts. My brother! have you taken that Mercy and +that Truth into your soul, and are you trying to reach peace in the only +way by which any human being can ever reach it--through the path of +righteousness, self-suppression, and consecration to Him? + +II. Now, take the next phase of this union and cooperation of earth and +heaven, which is given here in the 11th verse--'Truth shall spring out +of the earth, and Righteousness shall look down from heaven.' That is, +to put it into other words--God responding to man's truth. + +Notice that in this verse one member from each of the two pairs that +have been spoken about in the previous verse is detached from its +companion, and they are joined so as to form for a moment a new pair. +Truth is taken from the first couple; Righteousness from the second, and +a third couple is thus formed. + +And notice, further, that each takes the place that had belonged to the +other. The heavenly Truth becomes a child of earth; and the earthly +Righteousness ascends 'to look down from heaven.' The process of the +previous verse in effect is reversed. 'Truth shall spring out of the +earth, Righteousness shall look down from heaven'; that is to say--man's +Truth shall begin to grow and blossom in answer, as it were, to God's +Truth that came down upon it. Which being translated into other words is +this: where a man's heart has welcomed the Mercy and the Truth of God +there will spring up in that heart, not only the Righteousness and +Peace, of which the previous verse is speaking, but specifically a +faithfulness not all unlike the faithfulness which it grasps. If we have +a God immutable and unchangeable to build upon, let us build upon Him +immutability and unchangeableness. If we have a Rock on which to build +our confidence, let us see that the confidence which we build upon it is +rocklike too. If we have a God that cannot lie, let us grasp His +faithful word with an affiance that cannot falter. If we have a Truth in +the heavens, absolute and immutable, on which to anchor our hopes, let +us see to it that our hopes, anchored thereon, are sure and steadfast. +What a shame it would be that we should bring the vacillations and +fluctuations of our own insincerities and changeableness to the solemn, +fixed unalterableness of that divine Word! We ought to be faithful, for +we build upon a faithful God. + +And then the other side of this second picture is 'Righteousness shall +look down from heaven,' not in its judicial aspect merely, but as the +perfect moral purity that belongs to the divine Nature, which shall bend +down a loving eye upon the men beneath, and mark the springings of any +imperfect good and thankfulness in our hearts; joyous as the husbandman +beholds the springing of his crops in the fields that he has sown. + +God delights when He sees the first faint flush of green which marks the +springing of the good seed in the else barren hearts of men. No good, no +beauty of character, no meek rapture of faith, no aspiration Godwards is +ever wasted and lost, for His eye rests upon it. As heaven, with its +myriad stars, bends over the lowly earth, and in the midnight when no +human eye beholds, sees all, so God sees the hidden confidence, the +unseen 'Truth' that springs to meet His faithful Word. The flowers that +grow in the pastures of the wilderness, or away upon the wild prairies, +or that hide in the clefts of the inaccessible mountains, do not 'waste +their sweetness on the desert air,' for God sees them. + +It may be an encouragement and quickening to us to remember that +wherever the tiniest little bit of Truth springs upon the earth, the +loving eye--not the eye of a great Taskmaster--but the eye of the +Brother, Christ, which is the eye of God, looks down. 'Wherefore we +labour, that whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing unto +Him.' + +III. And then the third aspect of this ideal relation between earth and +heaven, the converse of the one we have just now been speaking of, is +set forth in the next verse: 'Yea, the Lord shall give that which is +good and our land shall yield her increase.' That is to say, Man is here +responding to God's gift. + +You see that the order of things is reversed in this verse, and that it +recurs to the order with which we originally started. 'The Lord shall +give that which is good.' In the figure that refers to all the skyey +influence of dew, rain, sunshine, passing breezes, and still ripening +autumn days; in the reality it refers to all the motives, powers, +impulses, helps, furtherances by which He makes it possible for us to +serve Him and love Him, and bring forth fruits of righteousness. + +And so the thought which has already been hinted at is here more fully +developed and dwelt upon, this great truth that earthly fruitfulness is +possible only by the reception of heavenly gifts. As sure as every leaf +that grows is mainly water that the plant has got from the clouds, and +carbon that it has got out of the atmosphere, so surely will all our +good be mainly drawn from heaven and heaven's gifts. As certainly as +every lump of coal that you put upon your fire contains in itself +sunbeams that have been locked up for all these millenniums that have +passed since it waved green in the forest, so certainly does every good +deed embody in itself gifts from above. No man is pure except by +impartation; and every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from the +Father of Lights. + +So let us learn the lesson of absolute dependence for all purity, +virtue, and righteousness on His bestowment, and come to Him and ask Him +ever more to fill our emptiness with His own gracious fulness and to +lead us to be what He commands and would have us to be. + +And then there is the other lesson out of this phase of the ideal +relation between earth and heaven, the lesson of what we ought to do +with our gifts. 'The earth yields her increase,' by laying hold of the +good which the Lord gives, and by means of that received good quickening +all the germs. Ah, dear brethren! wasted opportunities, neglected +moments, uncultivated talents, gifts that are not stirred up, rain and +dew and sunshine, all poured upon us and no increase--is not that the +story of much of all our lives, and of the whole of some lives? Are we +like Eastern lands where the trees have been felled, and the great +irrigation works and tanks have been allowed to fall into disrepair, and +so when the bountiful treasure of the rains comes, all that it does is +to swell for half a day the discoloured stream that carries away some +more of the arable land; and when the sunshine comes, with its swift, +warm powers, all that it does is to bleach the stones and scorch the +barren sand? 'The earth which _drinketh in the rain_ that cometh oft +upon it, and yieldeth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, +receiveth the blessing of God.' Is it true about you that the earth +yieldeth her increase, as it is certainly true that 'the Lord giveth +that which is good'? + +IV. And now the last thing which is here, the last phase of the fourfold +representation of the ideal relation between earth and heaven is, +'Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His +steps.' That is to say, God teaches man to walk in His footsteps. + +There is some difficulty about the meaning of the last clause of this +verse, but I think that having regard to the whole context and to that +idea of the interpenetration of the heavenly with the human which we +have seen running through it, the reading in our English Bible gives +substantially, though somewhat freely, the meaning. The clause might +literally be rendered 'make His footsteps for a way,' which comes to +substantially the same thing as is expressed in our English Bible. +Righteousness, God's moral perfectness, is set forth here in a twofold +phase. First it is a herald going before Him and preparing His path. The +Psalmist in these words draws tighter than ever the bond between God and +man. It is not only that God sends His messengers to the world, nor only +that His loving eye looks down upon it, nor only 'that He gives that +which is good'; but it is that the whole heaven, as it were, lowers +itself to touch earth, that God comes down to dwell and walk among men. +The Psalmist's mind is filled with the thought of a present God who +moves amongst mankind, and has His 'footsteps' on earth. This herald +Righteousness prepares God's path, which is just to say that all His +dealings with mankind--which, as we have seen, have Mercy and +Faithfulness for their signature and stamp--are rooted and based in +perfect Rectitude. + +The second phase of the operation of Righteousness is that that majestic +herald, the divine purity which moves before Him, and 'prepares in the +desert a highway for the Lord,'--that that very same Righteousness comes +and takes my feeble hand, and will lead my tottering footsteps into +God's path, and teach me to walk, planting my little foot where He +planted His. The highest of all thoughts of the ideal relation between +earth and heaven, that of likeness between God and man, is trembling on +the Psalmist's lips. Men may walk in God's ways--not only in ways that +please Him, but in ways that are like His. 'Be ye therefore perfect, +even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' + +And the likeness can only be a likeness in moral qualities--a likeness +in goodness, a likeness in purity, a likeness in aversion from evil, for +His other attributes and characteristics are His peculiar property; and +no human brow can wear the crown that He wears. But though His mercy can +but, from afar off, be copied by us, the righteousness that moves before +Him, and engineers God's path through the wilderness of the world, will +come behind Him and nurselike lay hold of our feeble arms and teach us +to go in the way God would have us to walk. + +Ah, brethren! that is the crown and climax of the harmony between God +and man, that His mercy and His truth, His gifts and His grace have all +led us up to this: that we take His righteousness as our pattern, and +try in our poor lives to reproduce its wondrous beauty. Do not forget +that a great deal more than the Psalmist dreamed of, you Christian men +and women possess, in the Christ 'who of God is made unto us +Righteousness,' in whom heaven and earth are joined for ever, in whom +man and God are knit in strictest bonds of indissoluble friendship; and +who, having prepared a path for God in His mighty mission and by His +sacrifice on the Cross, comes to us, and as the Incarnate Righteousness, +will lead us in the paths of God, leaving us an Example, that 'we should +follow in His steps.' + + + + +A SHEAF OF PRAYER ARROWS + + + 'Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. 2. + Preserve my soul, for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant + that trusteth in Thee. 3. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry + unto Thee daily. 4. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee, + O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5. For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready + to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon + Thee.'--PSALM lxxxvi. 1-5. + +We have here a sheaf of arrows out of a good man's quiver, shot into +heaven. This series of supplications is remarkable in more than one +respect. They all mean substantially the same thing, but the Psalmist +turns the one blessing round in all sorts of ways, so great does it seem +to him, and so earnest is his desire to possess it. They are almost all +quotations from earlier psalms, just as our prayers are often words of +Scripture, hallowed by many associations, and uniting us with the men of +old who cried unto God and were answered. + +The structure of the petitions is remarkably uniform. In each there are +a prayer and a plea, and in most of them a direct invocation of God. So +I have thought that, if we put them all together now, we may get some +lessons as to the invocations, the petitions, and the pleas of true +prayer; or, in other words, we may be taught how to lay hold of God, +what to ask from Him, and how to be sure of an answer. + +I. First, the lesson as to how to lay hold upon God. + +The divine names in this psalm are very frequent and significant, and +the order in which they are used is evidently intentional. We have the +great covenant name of Jehovah set in the very first verse, and in the +last verse; as if to bind the whole together with a golden circlet. And +then, in addition, it appears once in each of the other two sections of +the psalm, with which we have nothing to do at present. Then we have, +further, the name of _God_ employed in each of the sections; and +further, the name of _Lord_, which is not the same as _Jehovah_, but +implies the simple idea of superiority and authority. In each portion of +the psalm, then, we see the writer laying his hand, as it were, upon +these three names--'Jehovah,' 'my God,' 'Lord'--and in all of them +finding grounds for his confidence and reasons for his cry. + +Nothing in our prayers is often more hollow and unreal than the formal +repetitions of the syllables of that divine name, often but to fill a +pause in our thoughts. But to 'call upon the Name of the Lord' means, +first and foremost, to bring before our minds the aspects of His great +and infinite character, which are gathered together into the Name by +which we address Him. So when we say 'Jehovah!' 'Lord!' what we ought to +mean is this, that we are gazing upon that majestic, glorious thought of +Being, self-derived, self-motived, self-ruled, the being of Him whose +Name can only be, 'I am that I am.' Of all other creatures the name is, +'I am that I have been made,' or 'I am that I became,' but of Him the +Name is, 'I am that I am.' Nowhere outside of Himself is the reason for +His being, nor the law that shapes it, nor the aim to which it tends. +And this infinite, changeless Rock is laid for our confidence, Jehovah +the Eternal, the Self-subsisting, Self-sufficing One. + +There is more than that thought in this wondrous Name, for it not only +expresses the timeless, unlimited, and changeless being of God, but also +the truth that He has entered into what He deigns to call a Covenant +with us men. The name Jehovah is the seal of that ancient Covenant, of +which, though the form has vanished, the essence abides for ever, and +God has thereby bound Himself to us by promises that cannot be +abrogated. So that when we say, 'O Lord!' we summon up before ourselves, +and grasp as the grounds of our confidence, and we humbly present before +Him as the motives, if we may so call them, for His action, His own +infinite being and His covenanted grace. + +Then, further, our psalm invokes '_my_ God.' That names implies in +itself, simply, the notion of power to be reverenced. But when we add to +it that little word '_my_,' we rise to the wonderful thought that the +creature can claim an individual relation to Him, and in some profound +sense a possession there. The tiny mica flake claims kindred with the +Alpine peak from which it fell. The poor, puny hand, that can grasp so +little of the material and temporal, can grasp all of God that it needs. + +Then, there is the other name, 'Lord,' which simply expresses +illimitable sovereignty, power over all circumstances, creatures, orders +of being, worlds, and cycles of ages. Wherever He is He rules, and +therefore my prayer can be answered by Him. When a child cries 'Mother!' +it is more than all other petitions. A dear name may be a caress when it +comes from loving lips. If we are the kind of Christians that we ought +to be, there will be nothing sweeter to us than to whisper to ourselves, +and to say to Him, 'Abba! Father!' See to it that your calling on the +Name of the Lord is not formal, but the true apprehension, by a +believing mind and a loving heart, of the ineffable and manifold +sweetnesses which are hived in His manifold names. + +II. Now, secondly, we have here a lesson as to what we should ask. + +The petitions of our text, of course, only cover a part of the whole +field of prayer. The Psalmist is praying in the midst of some unknown +trouble, and his petitions are manifold in form, though in substance, as +I have said, they may all be reduced to one. Let me run over them very +briefly. 'Bow down Thine ear and hear me.' That is not simply the +invocation of the omniscience of a God, but an appeal for loving, +attentive regard to the desires of His poor servant. The hearing is not +merely the perception in the divine mind of what the creature desires, +but it is the answer in fact, or the granting of the petition. The best +illustration of what the Psalmist desires here may be found in another +psalm, where another Psalmist tells us his experience and says, 'My cry +came unto His ears, and the earth shook and trembled.' You put a +spoonful of water into a hydraulic press at the one end, and you get a +force that squeezes tons together at the other. Here there is a poor, +thin stream of the voice of a sorrowful man at the one end, and there is +an earthquake at the other. That is what 'hearing' and 'bowing down the +ear' means. + +Then the prayers go on to three petitions, which may be all regarded as +diverse acts of deliverance or of help. 'Preserve my soul.' The word +expresses the guardianship with which a garrison keeps a fortress. It is +the Hebrew equivalent of the word employed by Paul--'The peace of God +shall _keep_ your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.' The thought is that +of a defenceless man or thing round which some strong protection is +cast. And the desire expressed by it is that in the midst of sorrow, +whatever it is, the soul may be guarded from evil. Then, the next +petition--'Save Thy servant'--goes a step further, and not only asks to +be kept safe in the midst of sorrows, but to be delivered out of them. +And then the next petition--'Be merciful unto me, O Lord!'--craves that +the favour which comes down to inferiors, and is bestowed upon those who +might deserve something far otherwise, may manifest itself, in such acts +of strengthening, or help, or deliverance, as divine wisdom may see fit. +And then the last petition is--'Rejoice the soul of Thy servant.' The +series begins with 'hearing,' passes through 'preserving,' 'saving,' +showing 'mercy,' and comes at last to 'rejoice the soul' that has been +so harassed and troubled. Gladness is God's purpose for us all; joy we +all have a right to claim from Him. It is the intended issue of every +sorrow, and it can only be had when we cleave to Him, and pass through +the troubles of life with continual dependence on and aspiration towards +Himself. + +So these are the petitions massed together, and out of them let me take +two or three lessons. First, then, let us learn to make all wishes and +annoyances material of prayer. This man was harassed by some trouble, +the nature of which we do not know; and although the latter portion of +his psalm rises into loftier regions of spiritual desire, here, in the +first part of it, he is wrestling with his afflicting circumstances, +whatever they were, and he has no hesitation in spreading them all out +before God and asking for His delivering help. Wishes that are not +turned into prayers irritate, disturb, unsettle. Wishes that are turned +into prayers are calmed and made blessed. Stanley and his men lived for +weeks upon a poisonous root, which, if eaten crude, brought all manner +of diseases, but, steeped in running water, had all the acrid juices +washed out of it, and became wholesome food. If you steep your wishes in +the stream of prayer the poison will pass out of them. Some of them will +be suppressed, all of them will be hallowed, and all of them will be +calmed. Troubles, great or small, should be turned into prayers. Breath +spent in sighs is wasted; turned into prayers it will swell our sails. +If a man does not pray 'without ceasing,' there is room for doubt +whether he ever prays at all. What would you think of a traveller who +had a valuable cordial of which he only tasted a drop in the morning and +another in the evening; or who had a sure staff on which to lean which +he only employed at distant intervals on the weary march, and that only +for a short time? Let us turn all that we want into petitions, and all +that annoys us let us spread before God. + +Learn, further, that earnest reiteration is not vain repetition. 'Use +not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they shall be +heard for their much speaking,' said the Master. But the same Master +'went away from them and prayed the third time, using the same words.' +As long as we have not consciously received the blessing, it is no vain +reiteration if we renew our prayers that it may come upon our heads. The +man who asks for a thing once, and then gets up from his knees and goes +away, and does not notice whether he gets the answer or not, does not +pray. The man who truly desires anything from God cannot be satisfied +with one languid request for it. But as the heart contracts with a sense +of need, and expands with a faith in God's sufficiency, it will drive +the same blood of prayer over and over again through the same veins; and +life will be wholesome and strong. + +Then learn, further, to limit wishes and petitions within the bounds of +God's promises. The most of these supplications of our text may be found +in other parts of Scripture, as promises from God. Only so far as an +articulate divine word carries my faith has my faith the right to go. In +the crooked alleys of Venice there is a thin thread of red stone, inlaid +in the pavement or wall, which guides through all the devious turnings +to the Piazza, in the centre, where the great church stands. As long as +we have the red line of promise on our path, faith may follow it and +will come to the Temple. Where the line stops it is presumption, and not +faith, that takes up the running. God's promises are sunbeams flung down +upon us. True prayer catches them on its mirror, and signals them back +to God. We are emboldened to say, 'Bow down Thine ear!' because He has +said, 'I will hear.' We are encouraged to cry, 'Be merciful!' because we +have our foot upon the promise that He will be; and all that we can ask +of Him is, 'Do for us what Thou hast said; be to us what Thou art.' + +The final lesson is, Leave God to settle how He answers your prayer. The +Psalmist prayed for preservation, for safety, for joy; but he did not +venture to prescribe to God _how_ these blessings were to be ministered +to him. He does not ask that the trouble may be taken away. That is as +it may be; it may be better that it shall be left. But he asks that in +it he shall not be allowed to sink, and that, however the waves may run +high, they shall not be allowed to swamp his poor little cockle-shell of +a boat. This is the true inmost essence of prayer--not that we should +prescribe to Him how to answer our desires, but that we should leave all +that in His hands. The Apostle Paul said, in his last letter, with +triumphant confidence, that he knew that God would 'deliver him and save +him into His everlasting kingdom.' And he knew, at the same time, that +his course was ended, and that there was nothing for him now but the +crown. How was he 'saved into the kingdom' and 'delivered from the mouth +of the lion'? The sword that struck off the wearied head that had +thought so long for God's Church was the instrument of the deliverance +and the means of the salvation. For us it may be that a sharper sorrow +may be the answer to the prayer, 'Preserve Thy servant.' It may be that +God's 'bowing down His ear' and answering us when we cry shall be to +pass us through a mill that has finer rollers, to crush still more the +bruised corn. But the end and the meaning of it all will be to 'rejoice +the soul of the servant' with a deeper joy at last. + +III. Finally, mark the lesson which we have here as to the pleas that +are to be urged, or the conditions on which prayer is answered. + +'I am poor and needy,' or, as perhaps the words more accurately mean, +'afflicted and poor.' The first condition is the sense of need. God's +highest blessings cannot be given except to the men who know they want +them. The self-righteous man cannot receive the righteousness of Christ. +The man who has little or no consciousness of sin is not capable of +receiving pardon. God cannot put His fulness into our emptiness if we +conceit ourselves to be filled and in need of nothing. We must know +ourselves to be 'poor and naked and blind and miserable' ere He can make +us rich, and clothe us, and enlighten our eyes, and flood our souls with +His own gladness. Our needs are dumb appeals to Him; and in regard to +all outward and lower things, they bind Him to supply us, because they +themselves have been created by Him. He that hears the raven's croak +satisfies the necessities that He has ordained in man and beast. But, +for all the best blessings of His providence and of His love, the first +steps towards receiving them are the knowledge that we need them and the +desire that we should possess them. + +Then the Psalmist goes on to put another class of pleas derived from his +relation to God. These are mainly two--'I am holy,' and 'Thy servant +that trusteth in Thee.' Now, with regard to that first word 'holy,' +according to our modern understanding of the expression it by no means +sets forth the Psalmist's idea. It has an unpleasant smack of +self-righteousness, too, which is by no means to be found in the +original. But the word employed is a very remarkable and pregnant one. +It really carries with it, in germ, the great teaching of the Apostle +John. 'We love Him because He first loved us.' It means one who, being +loved and favoured by God, answers the divine love with his own love. +And the Psalmist is not pleading any righteousness of his own, but +declaring that he, touched by the divine love, answers that love, and +looks up; not as if thereby he deserved the response that he seeks, but +as knowing that it is impossible but that the waiting heart should thus +be blessed. They who love God are sure that the answer to their desires +will come fluttering down upon their heads, and fold its white wings and +nestle in their hearts. Christian people are a great deal too much +afraid of saying, 'I love God.' They rob themselves of much peace and +power thereby. We should be less chary of so saying if we thought more +about God's love to us, and poked less into our own conduct. + +Again, the Psalmist brings this plea--'Thy servant that trusteth in +Thee.' He does not say, 'I deserve to be answered because I trust,' but +'because I trust I am sure that I shall be answered'; for it is absurd +to suppose that God will look down from heaven on a soul that is +depending upon Him, and will let that soul's confidence be put to shame. +Dear friend! if your heart is resting upon God, be sure of this, that +anything is possible rather than that you should not get from Him the +blessings that you need. + +The Psalmist gathers together all his pleas which refer to himself into +two final clauses--'I cry unto Thee daily,' 'I lift up my soul unto +Thee'--which, taken together, express the constant effort of a devout +heart after communion with God. To withdraw my heart from the low levels +of earth, and to bear it up into communion with God, is the sure way to +get what I desire, because then God Himself will be my chief desire, and +'they who seek the Lord shall not want any good.' + +But the true and prevailing plea is not in our needs, desires, or +dispositions, but in God's own character, as revealed by His words and +acts, and grasped by our faith. Therefore the Psalmist ends by passing +from thoughts of self to thoughts of God, and builds at last on the sure +foundation which underlies all his other 'fors' and gives them all their +force--'For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in +mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.' + +Brethren! turn all your wishes and all your annoyances into prayers. If +a wish is not fit to be prayed about, it is not fit to be cherished. If +a care is too small to be made a prayer, it is too small to be made a +burden. Be frank with God as God is frank with you, and go to His +throne, keeping back nothing of your desires or of your troubles. To +carry them there will take the poison and the pain out of wasps' stings, +and out of else fatal wounds. We have a Name to trust to, tenderer and +deeper than those which evoked the Psalmist's triumphant confidence. Let +us see to it that, as the basis of our faith is firmer, our faith be +stronger than his. We have a plea to urge, more persuasive and mighty +than those which he pressed on God and gathered to his own heart. 'For +Christ's sake' includes all that he pled, and stretches beyond it. If we +come to God through Him who declares His name to us, we shall not draw +near to the Throne with self-willed desires, nor leave it with empty +hands. 'If ye ask anything in My Name, I will do it.' + + + + +CONTINUAL SUNSHINE + + + 'Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, + O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.'--PSALM lxxxix. 15. + +The Psalmist has just been setting forth, in sublime language, the +glories of the divine character--God's strength, His universal sway, the +justice and judgment which are the foundation of His Throne, the mercy +and truth which go as heralds before His face. A heathen singing of any +of his gods would have gone on to describe the form and features of the +god or goddess who came behind the heralds, but the Psalmist remembers +'Thou shalt not make unto thyself any ... likeness of God.' A sacred +reverence checks his song. He veils his face in his mantle while He whom +no man can see and live passes by. Then he breaks into rapturous +exclamations which are very prosaically and poorly represented by our +version. For the text is not a mere statement, as it is made to be by +reading 'Blessed is the people,' but it is a burst of adoring wonder, +and should be read, 'Oh! the blessedness of the people that know the +joyful sound.' + +Now, the force of this exclamation is increased if we observe that the +word that is rendered 'joyful sound' is the technical word for the +trumpet blast at Jewish feasts. The purpose of these blasts, like those +of the heralds at the coronation of a king, was to proclaim the presence +of God, the King of Israel, in the festival, as well as to express the +gladness of the worshippers. Thus the Psalmist, when he says, 'Blessed +is the people that know the joyful sound,' has no reference, as we +ordinarily take him to have, to the preaching of the Gospel, but to the +trumpet-blasts that proclaimed the present God and throbbed with the +gladness of the waiting worshippers. So that this exclamation is +equivalent to 'Oh! how blessed are the people who are sure that they +have God with them!' and who, being sure, bow before Him in loving +worship. It is to be further noticed that the subsequent words of the +text state the first element which it indicates of that blessedness of a +devout life, 'They shall walk, O Lord! in the light of Thy countenance.' + +I. We deal first with the meaning of this phrase. + +Of course, 'the light of Thy countenance' is a very obvious and natural +symbol for favour, complacency, goodwill on the part of Him that is +conceived of as looking on any one. We read, for instance, in reference +to a much lower subject in the Book of Proverbs, 'In the light of the +king's countenance is life, and his favour is as a cloud of the latter +rain.' Again we have, in the Levitical benediction, the phrase +accompanied in the parallel clauses by what is really an explanation of +it, 'The Lord cause His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto +thee.' So that the simple and obvious meaning of the words, 'the light +of Thy countenance,' is the favour and lovingkindness of God manifested +in that gracious Face which He turns to His servants. As for the other +chief word in the clause, 'to walk' is the equivalent throughout +Scripture for the conduct of the active life and daily conversation of a +man, and to walk in the light is simply to have the consciousness of the +divine Presence and the experience of the divine lovingkindness and +friendship as a road on which we travel our life's journey, or an +atmosphere round us in which all our activities are done and in which we +ever remain, as a diver in his bell, to keep evil and sin from us. + +There is only one more remark in the nature of explanation which I make, +and that is that the expression here for walking is cast in the original +into a form which grammarians call intensive, strengthening the simple +idea expressed by the word. We may express its force if we read, 'They +walk continually in the light of Thy countenance.' + +Is not that just a definition of the Christian life as an unbroken +realisation of the divine Presence, and an unbroken experience of the +lovingkindness and favour of God? Is not that religion in its truest, +simplest essence, in its purest expression? The people who are sure that +they have their King in their midst, and who feel that He is looking +down upon them with tender pity, with loving care, with nothing but +friendship and sweetness in His heart, these people, says the Psalmist, +are blessed. So much, then, for the meaning of the word. + +II. Consider the possibility of such a condition being ours. + +Can such a thing be? Is it possible for a man to go through life +carrying this atmosphere constantly with him? Can the continuity which, +as I remarked, is expressed by the original accurately rendered, be kept +up through an ordinary life that has all manner of work to do, or are we +only to 'hear the joyful sound,' now and then, at rare intervals, on set +occasions, answering to these ancient feasts? Which of the two is it to +be, dear brethren? There is no need whatever why any amount of hard +work, or outward occupations of the most secular character, or any +amount of distractions, should break for us the continuity of that +consciousness and of that experience. We may carry God with us wherever +we go, if only we remember that where we cannot carry Him with us we +ought not to go. We may carry Him with us into all the dusty roads of +life; we may always walk on the sunny side of the street if we like. We +may always bear our own sunshine with us. And although we are bound to +be diligent in business, and some of us have had to take a heavy lift of +a great deal of hard work, and much of it apparently standing in no sort +of relation to our religious life, yet for all that it is possible to +bend all to this one direction, and to make everything a means of +bringing us nearer to God and fuller of the conscious enjoyment of His +presence. And if we have not learned to do that with our daily work, +then our daily work is a curse to us. If we have allowed it to become so +absorbing or distracting as that it dims and darkens our sense of the +divine Presence, then it is time for us to see what is wrong in the +method or in the amount of work which is thus darkening our consciences. +I know it is hard, I know that an absolute attainment of such an ideal +is perhaps beyond us, but I know that we can approach--I was going to +say infinitely, but a better word is indefinitely--nearer it than any of +us have ever yet done. As the psalm goes on to say in the next clause, +it is possible for us to 'rejoice in His Name all the day.' Ay, even at +your tasks, and at your counters, and in your kitchens, and in my study, +it is possible for us; and if our hearts are what and where they ought +to be, the possibility will be realised. Earthly duty has no necessary +effect of veiling the consciousness of God. + +Nor is there any reason why our troubles, sorrows, losses, solitude +should darken that sunshine. I know that that is hard, too, perhaps +harder than the other. It is more difficult to have a sense of the +sunshine of the divine Presence shining through the clouds of disaster +and sorrow than even it is to have it shining through the dust that is +raised by traffic and secular occupation. But it _is_ possible. There is +nothing in all the sky so grand as clouds smitten by sunshine, and the +light is never so glorious as when it is flashed back from them and dyes +their piled bosoms with all celestial colours. There is no experience of +God's Presence so blessed as that of a man who, in the midst of sorrow, +has yet with him the assurance of the Father's friendship and favour and +love, and so can say 'as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.' This sunshine +shines in the foulest corners, and the most thunder-laden clouds only +flash back its glories in new forms. + +There is only one thing that breaks the continuity of that blessedness, +and that is our own sin. We carry our own weather with us, whether we +will or no, and we can bring winter into the middle of summer by +flinging God away from us, and summer into the midst of winter by +grappling Him to our hearts. There is only one thing that necessarily +breaks our sense of His Presence, and that is that our hearts should +turn away from His face. A man can work hard and yet feel that God is +with him. A man can be weighed upon by many distresses and yet feel that +God is with him and loves him; but a man cannot commit the least tiny +sin and love it, and feel at the same time that God is with him. The +heart is like a sensitive photographic plate, it registers the +variations in the sunshine; and the one hindrance that makes it +impossible for God's light to fall upon my soul with the assurance of +friendship and the sense of sweetness, is that I should be hugging some +evil to my heart. It is not the dusty highway of life nor the dark vales +of weeping and of the shadow of death through which we sometimes have to +pass that make it impossible for this sunlight to pour down upon us, but +it is our gathering round ourselves of the poisonous mists of sin +through which that light cannot pierce; or if it pierce, pierces +transformed and robbed of all its beauty. + +III. Let me note next the blessedness which draws out the Psalmist's +rapturous exclamation. + +The same phrase is employed in one of the other psalms, which, I think, +bears in its contents the confirmation of the attribution of it to +David. When he was fleeing before his rebellious son, at the very lowest +ebb of his fortunes, away on the uplands of Moab, a discrowned king, a +fugitive in danger of death at every moment, he sang a psalm in which +these words occur: 'There be many that say, Who will show us any good?' +'Lord, lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us'; and then follows, +'Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than when their corn and wine +abound.' The speech of the many, 'Who will show us any good?' is +contrasted with the prayer of the one, 'Lord, lift Thou up the light of +Thy countenance upon us.' That is blessedness. It is the only thing that +makes the heart to be at rest. It is the only thing that makes life +truly worth living, the only thing that brings sweetness which has no +after taint of bitterness and breeds no fear of its passing away. To +have that unsetting sunshine streaming down upon my open heart, and to +carry about with me whithersoever I go, like some melody from hidden +singers sounding in my ears, the Name and the Love of my Father +God--that and that only, brother, is true rest and abiding blessedness. +There are many other joys far more turbulent, more poignant, but they +all pass. Many of them leave a nauseous taste in the mouth when they are +swallowed; all of them leave us the poorer for having had them and +having them no more. For one who is not a Christian I do not know that +it _is_ + + 'Better to have loved and lost + Than never to have loved at all.' + +But for those to whom God's Face is as a Sun, life in all its +possibilities is blessed; and there is no blessedness besides. So let us +keep near Him, 'walking in the light,' in our changeful days, 'as He is +in the light' in His essential and unalterable being; and that light +will be to us all which it is taken in Scripture to symbolise--knowledge +and joy and purity; and in us, too, there will be 'no darkness at all.' + +But there is one last word that I must say, and that is that a possible +terror is intertwined with this blessedness. The next psalm to this +says, with a kind of tremulous awe in the Psalmist's voice: 'Thou hast +set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy +countenance.' In that sense all of us, good and bad, lovers of God and +those that are careless about Him, walk all the day long in the light of +His face, and He sees and marks all our else hidden evil. It needs +something more than any of us can do to make the thought that we do +stand in the full glaring of that great searchlight, not turned +occasionally but focussed steadily on us individually, a joy and a +blessing to us. And what we need is offered us when we read, 'His +countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, and I fell at His +feet as dead. And He laid His hand upon me and said, Fear not! I am He +that liveth and was dead; and behold! I am alive for ever more.' If we +put our poor trust in the Eternal Light that was manifest in Christ, +then we shall walk in the sunshine of His face on earth, and that lamp +will burn for us in the darkness of the grave and lead us at last into +the ever-blazing centre of the Sun itself. + + + + +THE CRY OF THE MORTAL TO THE UNDYING + + + 'Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou + the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish + Thou it.--PSALM xc. 17. + +If any reliance is to be placed upon the superscription of this psalm, +it is one of the oldest, as it certainly is of the grandest, pieces of +religious poetry in the world. It is said to be 'A prayer of Moses, the +man of God,' and whether that be historically true or no, the tone of +the psalm naturally suggests the great lawgiver, whose special task it +was to write deep upon the conscience of the Jewish people the thought +of the wages of sin as being death. + +Hence the sombre magnificence and sad music of the psalm, which +contemplates a thousand generations in succession as sliding away into +the dreadful past, and sinking as beneath a flood. This thought of the +fleeting years, dashed and troubled by many a sin, and by the righteous +retribution of God, sent the Psalmist to his knees, and he found the +only refuge from it in these prayers. These two petitions of our text, +the closing words of the psalm, are the cry forced from a heart that has +dared to look Death in the eyes, and has discovered that the world after +all is a place of graves. + +'Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish Thou the +work of our hands upon us.' There are two thoughts there--the cry of the +mortal for the beauty of the Eternal; and the cry of the worker in a +perishable world for the perpetuity of his work. Look at these two +thoughts briefly. + +I. We have here, first, the yearning and longing cry of the mortal for +the beauty of the Eternal. + +The word translated 'beauty' in my text is, like the Greek equivalent in +the New Testament, and like the English word 'grace,' which corresponds +to them both susceptible of a double meaning. 'Grace' means both +_kindness_ and _loveliness_, or, as we might distinguish both +graciousness and gracefulness. And that double idea is inherent in the +word, as it is inherent in the attribute of God to which it refers. For +that twofold meaning of the one word suggests the truth that God's +lovingkindness and communicating mercy _is_ His beauty, and that the +fairest thing about Him, notwithstanding the splendours that surround +His character, and the flashing lights that come from His many-sided +glory, is that He loves and pities and gives Himself. God is all fair, +but the central and substantial beauty of the divine nature is that it +is a stooping nature, which bows to weak and unworthy souls, and on them +pours out the full abundance of its manifold gifts. So the 'beauty of +the Lord' means, by no quibble or quirk, but by reason of the essential +loveliness of His lovingkindness, both God's loveliness and God's +goodness; God's graciousness and God's gracefulness (if I may use such a +word). + +The prayer of the Psalmist that this beauty may be _upon_ us conceives +of it as given to us from above and as coming floating down from heaven, +like that white Dove that fell upon Christ's head, fair and meek, gentle +and lovely, and resting on our anointed heads, like a diadem and an +aureole of glory. + +Now that communicating graciousness, with its large gifts and its +resulting beauty, is the one thing that we need in view of mortality and +sorrow and change and trouble. The psalm speaks about 'all our years' +being 'passed away in Thy wrath,' about the very inmost recesses of our +secret unworthiness being turned inside out, and made to look blacker +than ever when the bright sunshine of His face falls upon them. From +that thought of God's wrath and omniscience the poet turns, as we must +turn, to the other thought of His gentle longsuffering, of His +forbearing love, of His infinite pity, of His communicating mercy. As a +support in view both of our dreary and yet short years, and our certain +mortality, and in the contemplation of the evils within and suffering +from without, that harass us all, there is but one thing for us to +do--namely, to fling ourselves into the arms of God, and in the spirit +of this great petition, to ask that upon us there may fall the dewy +benediction of His gentle beauty. + +That longing is meant to be kindled in our hearts by all the discipline +of life. Life is not worth living unless it does that for us; and there +is no value nor meaning either in our joys or in our sorrows, unless +both the one and the other send us to Him. Our gladness and our +disappointments, our hopes fulfilled and our hopes dissipated and +unanswered are but, as it were, the two wings by which, on either side, +our spirits are to be lifted to God. The solemn pathos of the earlier +portion of this psalm--the funeral march of generations--leads up to the +prayerful confidence of these closing petitions, in which the sadness of +the minor key in which it began has passed into a brighter strain. The +thought of the fleeting years swept away as with a flood, and of the +generations that blossom for a day and are mown down and wither when +their swift night falls, is saddening and paralysing unless it suggests +by contrast the thought of Him who, Himself unmoved, moves the rolling +years, and is the dwelling-place of each succeeding generation. Such +contemplations are wholesome and religious only when they drive us to +the eternal God, that in Him we may find the stable foundation which +imparts its own perpetuity to every life built upon it. We have +experienced so many things in vain, and we are of the 'fools' that, +being 'brayed in a mortar,' are only brayed fools after all, unless +life, with its sorrows and its changes, has blown us, as with a +hurricane, right into the centre of rest, and unless its sorrows and +changes have taught us this as the one aspiration of our souls: 'Let the +beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,' and then, let what may come, +come, let what can pass, pass, we shall have all that we need for life +and peace. + +And then, note further, that this gracious gentleness and +long-suffering, giving mercy of God, when it comes down upon a man, +makes him, too, beautiful with a reflected beauty. If the beauty of the +Lord our God be upon us, it will cover over our foulness and deformity. +For whosoever possesses in any real fashion God's great mercy will have +his spirit moulded into the likeness of that mercy. We cannot have it +without reflecting it, we cannot possess it without being assimilated to +it. Therefore, to have the grace of God makes us both gracious and +graceful. And the true refining influence for a character is that into +it there shall come the gift of that endless pity and patient love, +which will transfigure us into some faint likeness of itself, so that we +shall walk among men, able, in some poor measure, after the manner of +our Master, to say, 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' He said +it in a sense and in a measure which we cannot reach, but the +assimilation to and reflection of the divine character is our aim, or +ought to be, if we are Christians. 'Let the beauty of the Lord our God +be upon us,' and 'change us into the same image from glory to glory.' + +II. We have here the cry of the worker in a fleeting world for the +perpetuity of his work. + +'Establish,' or make firm, 'the work of our hands upon us, yea the work +of our hands establish Thou it.' The thought that everything is passing +away so swiftly and inevitably, as the earlier part of the psalm +suggests, might lead a man to say, 'What is the use of my doing +anything? I may just as well sit down here, and let things slide, if +they are all going to be swallowed up in the black bottomless gulf of +forgetfulness.' The contemplation has actually produced two opposite +effects, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,' is quite as fair +an inference from the fact as is 'Awake to righteousness and sin not,' +if the fact itself only be taken into account. There is nothing +religious in the clearest conviction of mortality, if it stands alone. +It may be the ally of profligate and cynical sensuality quite as easily +as it may be the preacher of asceticism. It may make men inactive, from +their sense of the insignificant and fleeting nature of all human works, +or it may stimulate to intensest effort, from the thought, 'I must work +the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh.' All +depends on whether we link the conviction of mortality with that of +eternity, and think of our perishable selves as in relationship with the +unchanging God. + +This prayer expresses a deep longing, natural to all men, and which yet +seems incompatible with the stern facts of mortality and decay. We +should all like to have our work exempted from the common lot. What +pathetically futile attempts to secure this are pyramids, and +rock-inscriptions, and storied tombs, and posthumous memoirs, and rich +men's wills! Why should any of us expect that the laws of nature should +be suspended for our benefit, and our work made lasting while everything +beside changes like the shadows of the clouds? Is there any way by which +such exceptional permanence can be secured for our poor deeds? Yes, +certainly. Let us commit them to God, praying this prayer, 'Establish +Thou the work of our hands upon us.' + +Our work will be established if it is His work. This prayer in our text +follows another prayer (verse 16)--namely, 'Let _Thy_ work appear unto +Thy servants.' That is to say, My work will be perpetual when the work +of my hands is God's work done through me. When you bring your wills +into harmony with God's will, and so all your effort, even about the +little things of daily life, is in consonance with His will, and in the +line of His purpose, then your work will stand. If otherwise, it will be +like some slow-moving and frail carriage going in the one direction and +meeting an express train thundering in the other. When the crash comes, +the opposing motion of the weaker will be stopped, reversed, and the +frail thing will be smashed to atoms. So, all work which is man's and +not God's will sooner or later be reduced to impotence and either +annihilated or reversed, and made to run in the opposite direction. But +if our work runs parallel with God's, then the rushing impetus of His +work will catch up our little deeds into the swiftness of its own +motion, and will carry them along with itself, as a railway train will +lift straws and bits of paper that are lying by the rails, and give them +motion for a while. If my will runs in the line of His, and if the work +of my hands is 'Thy work,' it is not in vain that we shall cry +'Establish it upon us,' for it will last as long as He does. + +In like manner, all work will be perpetual that is done with 'the beauty +of the Lord our God' upon the doers of it. Whosoever has that grace in +his heart, whosoever is in contact with the communicating mercy of God, +and has had his character in some measure refined and ennobled and +beautified by possession thereof, will do work that has in it the +element of perpetuity. + +And our work will stand if we quietly leave it in His hands. Quietly do +it to Him, never mind about results, but look after motives. You cannot +influence results, let God look after them; you can influence motives. +Be sure that they are right, and if they are, the work will be eternal. + +'Eternal? What do you mean by eternal? how can a man's work be that?' +Part of the answer is that it may be made permanent in its issues by +being taken up into the great whole of God's working through His +servants, which results at last in the establishment of His eternal +kingdom. Just as a drop of water that falls upon the moor finds its way +into the brook, and goes down the glen and on into the river, and then +into the sea, and is there, though undistinguishable, so in the great +summing up of everything at the end, the tiniest deed that was done for +God, though it was done far away up amongst the mountain solitudes where +no eye saw, shall live and be represented, in its effects on others and +in its glad issues to the doer. + +In the highest fashion the Psalmist's cry for the perpetuity of the +fleeting deeds of dying generations will be answered in that region in +which his dimmer eye saw little but the sullen flood that swept away +youth and strength and wisdom, but in which we can see the solid land +beyond the river, and the happy company who rejoice with the joy of +harvest, and bear with them the sheaves, whereof the seed was sown on +this bank, in tears and fears. 'Blessed are the dead that die in the +Lord. Their works do follow them.' 'The world passeth away, and the +fashion thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' + + + + +THE SHELTERING WING + + + 'He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt + thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.' + --PSALM xci. 4. + +We remember the magnificent image in Moses' song, of God's protection +and guidance as that of the eagle who stirred up his nest, and hovered +over the young with his wings, and bore them on his pinions. That +passage may possibly have touched the imagination of this psalmist, when +he here employs the same general metaphor, but with a distinct and +significant difference in its application. In the former image the main +idea is that of training and sustaining. Here the main idea is that of +protection and fostering. _On_ the wing and _under_ the wing suggest +entirely different notions, and both need to be taken into account in +order to get the many-sided beauties and promises of these great +sayings. Now there seems to me here to be a very distinct triad of +thoughts. There is the covering wing; there is the flight to its +protection; and there is the warrant for that flight. 'He shall cover +thee with His pinions'; that is the divine act. 'Under His wings shalt +thou trust'; that is the human condition. 'His truth shall be thy shield +and buckler'; that is the divine manifestation which makes the human +condition possible. + +I. A word then, first, about the covering wing. + +Now, the main idea in this image is, as I have suggested, that of the +expanded pinion, beneath the shelter of which the callow young lie, and +are guarded. Whatever kites may be in the sky, whatever stoats and +weasels may be in the hedges, the brood are safe there. The image +suggests not only the thought of protection but those of fostering, +downy warmth, peaceful proximity to a heart that throbs with parental +love, and a multitude of other happy privileges realised by those who +nestle beneath that wing. But while these subsidiary ideas are not to be +lost sight of, the promise of protection is to be kept prominent, as +that chiefly intended by the Psalmist. + +This psalm rings throughout with the truth that a man who dwells 'in the +secret place of the Most High' has absolute immunity from all sorts of +evil; and there are two regions in which that immunity, secured by being +under the shadow of the Almighty, is exemplified here. The one is that +of outward dangers, the other is that of temptation to sin and of what +we may call spiritual foes. Now, these two regions and departments in +which the Christian man does realise, in the measure of his faith, the +divine protection, exhibit that protection as secured in two entirely +different ways. + +The triumphant assurances of this psalm, 'There shall no evil befall +thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling,'--'the pestilence +shall smite thousands and ten thousands beside thee, but not come nigh +thee,'--seem to be entirely contradicted by experience which testifies +that 'there is one event to the evil and the good,' and that, in +epidemics or other widespread disasters, we all, the good and the bad, +God-fearers and God-blasphemers, do fare alike, and that the conditions +of exemption from physical evil are physical and not spiritual. It is of +no use trying to persuade ourselves that that is not so. We shall +understand God's dealings with us, and get to the very throbbing heart +of such promises as these in this psalm far better, if we start from the +certainty that whatever it means it does _not_ mean that, with regard to +external calamities and disasters, we are going to be God's petted +children, or to be saved from the things that fall upon other people. +No! no! we have to go a great deal deeper than that. If we have felt a +difficulty, as I suppose we all have sometimes, and are ready to say +with the half-despondent Psalmist, 'My feet were almost gone, and my +steps had well-nigh slipped,' when we see what we think the complicated +mysteries of divine providence in this world, we have to come to the +belief that the evil that is in the evil will never come near a man +sheltered beneath God's wing. The physical external event may be +entirely the same to him as to another who is not covered with His +feathers. Here are two partners in a business, the one a Christian man, +and the other is not. A common disaster overwhelms them. They become +bankrupts. Is insolvency the same to the one as it is to the other? Here +are two men on board a ship, the one putting his trust in God, the other +thinking it all nonsense to trust anything but himself. They are both +drowned. Is drowning the same to the two? As their corpses lie side by +side among the ooze, with the weeds over them, and the shell-fish at +them, you may say of the one, but only of the one, 'There shall no evil +befall thee, neither any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' + +For the protection that is granted to faith is only to be understood by +faith. It is deliverance from the evil in the evil which vindicates as +no exaggeration, nor as merely an experience and a promise peculiar to +the old theocracy of Israel, but not now realised, the grand sayings of +this text. The poison is all wiped off the arrow by that divine +protection. It may still wound but it does not putrefy the flesh. The +sewage water comes down, but it passes into the filtering bed, and is +disinfected and cleansed before it is permitted to flow over our fields. + +And so, brethren! if any of you are finding that the psalm is not +outwardly true, and that through the covering wing the storm of hail has +come and beaten you down, do not suppose that that in the slightest +degree impinges upon the reality and truthfulness of this great promise, +'He shall cover thee with His feathers.' Anything that has come through +_them_ is manifestly not an 'evil.' 'Who is he that will harm you if ye +be followers of that which is good?' 'If God be for us who can be +against us?' Not what the world calls, and our wrung hearts feel that it +rightly calls, 'sorrows' and 'afflictions,'--these all work for our +good, and protection consists, not in averting the blows, but in +changing their character. + +Then, there is another region far higher, in which this promise of my +text is absolutely true--that is, in the region of spiritual defence. +For no man who lies under the shadow of God, and has his heart filled +with the continual consciousness of that Presence, is likely to fall +before the assaults of evil that tempt him away from God; and the +defence which He gives in that region is yet more magnificently +impregnable than the defence which He gives against external evils. For, +as the New Testament teaches us, we are kept from sin, not by any +outward breastplate or armour, nor even by the divine wing lying above +us to cover us, but by the indwelling Christ in our hearts. His Spirit +within us makes us 'free from the law of sin and death,' and conquerors +over all temptations. + +I say not a word about all the other beautiful and pathetic associations +which are connected with this emblem of the covering wing, sweet and +inexhaustible as it is, but I simply leave with you the two thoughts +that I have dwelt upon, of the twofold manner of that divine protection. + +II. And now a word, in the second place, about the flight of the +shelterless to the shelter. + +The word which is rendered in our Authorised Version, 'shalt thou +trust,' is, like all Hebrew words for mental and spiritual emotions and +actions, strongly metaphorical. It might have been better to retain its +literal meaning here instead of substituting the abstract word 'trust.' +That is to say, it would have been an improvement if we had read with +the Revised Version, not, 'under His wings shalt thou trust,' but 'under +His wings shalt thou take refuge.' For that is the idea which is really +conveyed; and in many of the psalms, if you will remember, the same +metaphor is employed. 'Hide me beneath the shadow of Thy wings'; +'Beneath Thy wings will I take refuge until calamities are overpast'; +and the like. Many such passages will, no doubt, occur to your memories. + +But what I wish to signalise is just this, that in this emblem of flying +into a refuge from impending perils we get a far more vivid conception, +and a far more useful one, as it seems to me, of what Christian faith +really is than we derive from many learned volumes and much theological +hair-splitting. 'Under His wings shalt thou flee for refuge.' Is not +that a vivid, intense, picturesque, but most illuminative way of telling +us what is the very essence, and what is the urgency, and what is the +worth, of what we call faith? The Old Testament is full of the +teaching--which is masked to ordinary readers, but is the same teaching +as the New Testament is confessedly full of--of the necessity of faith +as the one bond that binds men to God. If only our translators had +wisely determined upon a uniform rendering in Old and New Testament of +words that are synonymous, the reader would have seen what is often now +reserved for the student, that all these sayings in the Old Testament +about 'trusting in God' run on all fours with 'Believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ and thou shalt be saved.' + +But just mark what comes out of that metaphor; that 'trust,' the faith +which unites with God, and brings a man beneath the shadow of His wings, +is nothing more or less than the flying into the refuge that is provided +for us. Does that not speak to us of the urgency of the case? Does that +not speak to us eloquently of the perils which environ us? Does it not +speak to us of the necessity of swift flight, with all the powers of our +will? Is the faith which is a flying into a refuge fairly described as +an intellectual act of believing in a testimony? Surely it is something +a great deal more than that. A man out in the plain, with the avenger of +blood, hot-breathed and bloody-minded, behind him might believe, as much +as he liked, that there would be safety within the walls of the City of +Refuge, but unless he took to his heels without loss of time, the spear +would be in his back before he knew where he was. There are many men who +know all about the security of the refuge, and believe it utterly, but +never run for it; and so never get into it. Faith is the gathering up of +the whole powers of my nature to fling myself into the asylum, to cast +myself into God's arms, to take shelter beneath the shadow of His wings. +And unless a man does that, and swiftly, he is exposed to every bird of +prey in the sky, and to every beast of prey lurking in wait for him. + +The metaphor tells us, too, what are the limits and the worth of faith. +A man is not saved because he believes that he is saved, but because by +believing he lays hold of the salvation. It is not the flight that is +impregnable, and makes those behind its strong bulwarks secure. Not my +outstretched hand, but the Hand that my hand grasps, is what holds me +up. The power of faith is but that it brings me into contact with God, +and sets me behind the seven-fold bastions of the Almighty protection. + +So, brethren! another consideration comes out of this clause: 'Under His +wings shalt thou trust.' If you do not flee for refuge to that wing, it +is of no use to you, however expanded it is, however soft and downy its +underside, however sure its protection. You remember the passage where +our Lord uses the same venerable figure with modifications, and says: +'How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen +doth gather her brood under her wings, _and ye would not_.' So our +'would not' thwarts Christ's 'would.' Flight to the refuge is the +condition of being saved. How can a man get shelter by any other way +than by running to the shelter? The wing is expanded; it is for us to +say whether we will 'flee for refuge to the hope set before us.' + +III. Now, lastly, the warrant for this flight. + +'His truth shall be thy shield.' Now, 'truth' here does not mean the +body of revealed words, which are often called God's truth, but it +describes a certain characteristic of the divine nature. And if, instead +of 'truth,' we read the good old English word 'troth,' we should be a +great deal nearer understanding what the Psalmist meant. Or if 'troth' +is archaic, and conveys little meaning to us; suppose we substitute a +somewhat longer word, of the same meaning, and say, 'His faithfulness +shall be thy shield.' You cannot trust a God that has not given you an +inkling of His character or disposition, but if He has spoken, then you +'know where to have him.' That is just what the Psalmist means. How can +a man be encouraged to fly into a refuge, unless he is absolutely sure +that there is an entrance for him into it, and that, entering, he is +safe? And that security is provided in the great thought of God's troth. +'Thy faithfulness is like the great mountains.' 'Who is like unto Thee, +O Lord! or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?' That faithfulness +shall be our 'shield,' not a tiny targe that a man could bear upon his +left arm; but the word means the large shield, planted in the ground in +front of the soldier, covering him, however hot the fight, and circling +him around, like a wall of iron. + +God is 'faithful' to all the obligations under which He has come by +making us. That is what one of the New Testament writers tells us, when +he speaks of Him as 'a faithful Creator.' Then, if He has put desires +into our hearts, be sure that somewhere there is their satisfaction; and +if He has given us needs, be sure that in Him there is the supply; and +if He has lodged in us aspirations which make us restless, be sure that +if we will turn them to Him, they will be satisfied and we shall be at +rest. 'God never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them.' 'He +remembers our frame,' and measures His dealings accordingly. When He +made me, He bound Himself to make it possible that I should be blessed +for ever; and He has done it. + +God is faithful to His word, according to that great saying in the +Epistle to the Hebrews, where the writer tells us that by 'God's +counsel,' and 'God's oath,' 'two immutable things,' we might have +'strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope +set before us.' God is faithful to His own past. The more He has done +the more He will do. 'Thou hast been my Help; leave me not, neither +forsake me.' Therein we present a plea which God Himself will honour. +And He is faithful to His own past in a yet wider sense. For all the +revelations of His love and of His grace in times that are gone, though +they might be miraculous in their form, are permanent in their essence. +So one of the Psalmists, hundreds of years after the time that Israel +was led through the wilderness, sang: 'There did _we_'--of this present +generation--'rejoice in Him.' What has been, is, and will be, for Thou +art 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' We have not a God +that lurks in darkness, but one that has come into the light. We have to +run, not into a Refuge that is built upon a 'perhaps,' but upon 'Verily, +verily! I say unto thee.' Let us build rock upon Rock, and let our faith +correspond to the faithfulness of Him that has promised. + + + + +THE HABITATION OF THE SOUL + + + 'Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most + High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall + any plague come nigh thy dwelling.'--PSALM xci. 9, 10. + +It requires a good deal of piecing to make out from the Hebrew the +translation of our Authorised Version here. The simple, literal +rendering of the first words of these verses is, 'Surely, Thou, O Lord! +art my Refuge'; and I do not suppose that any of the expedients which +have been adopted to modify that translation would have been adopted, +but that these words seem to cut in two the long series of rich promises +and blessings which occupy the rest of the psalm. But it is precisely +this interruption of the flow of the promises which puts us on the right +track for understanding the words in question, because it leads us to +take them as the voice of the devout man, to whom the promises are +addressed, responding to them by the expression of his own faith. + +The Revised Version is much better here than our Authorised Version, for +it has recognised this breach of continuity of sequence in the promises, +and translated as I have suggested; making the first words of my text, +'Thou, O Lord! art my Refuge,' the voice of one singer, and 'Because +thou hast made the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall +thee, neither shall any evil come nigh thy dwelling,' the voice of +another. + +Whether or no it be that in the Liturgical service of the Temple this +psalm was sung by two choirs which answered one another, does not matter +for our purpose. Whether or no we regard the first clause as the voice +of the Psalmist speaking to God, and the other as the same man speaking +to himself, does not matter. The point is that, first, there is an +exclamation of personal faith, and that then that is followed and +answered, as it were, by the further promise of continual blessings. One +voice says, 'Thou, Lord! art my Refuge,' and then another voice--not +God's, because that speaks in majesty at the end of the psalm--replies +to that burst of confidence, 'Thou hast made the Lord thy habitation' +(as thou hast done by this confession of faith), 'there shall no evil +come nigh thy dwelling.' + +I. We have here the cry of the devout soul. + +I observed that it seems to cut in two the stream of promised blessings, +and that fact is significant. The psalm begins with the deep truth that +'He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under +the shadow of the Almighty.' Then a single voice speaks, 'I will say of +the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God, in Him will I trust.' +Then that voice, which thus responds to the general statement of the +first verse, is answered by a stream of promises. The first part of our +text comes in as the second speech of the same voice, repeating +substantially the same thing as it said at first. + +Now, notice that this cry of the soul, recognising God as its Asylum and +Home, comes in response to a revelation of God's blessing, and to large +words of promise. There is no true refuge nor any peace and rest for a +man unless in grasping the articulate word of God, and building his +assurance upon that. Anything else is not confidence, but folly; +anything else is building upon sand, and not upon the Rock. If I trust +my own or my brother's conception of the divine nature, if I build upon +any thoughts of my own, I am building upon what will yield and give. For +all peaceful casting of my soul into the arms of God there must be, +first, a plain stretching out of the hands of God to catch me when I +drop. So the words of my text, 'Thou art my Refuge,' are the best answer +of the devout soul to the plain words of divine promise. How abundant +these are we all know, how full of manifold insight and adaptation to +our circumstances and our nature we may all experience, if we care to +prove them. + +But let us be sure that we _are_ hearkening to the voice with which He +speaks through our daily circumstances as well as by the unmistakable +revelation of His will and heart in Jesus Christ. And then let us be +sure that no word of His, that comes fluttering down from the heavens, +meaning a benediction and enclosing a promise, falls at our feet +ungathered and unregarded, or is trodden into the dust by our careless +heels. The manna lies all about us; let us see that we gather it. 'When +Thou saidst, Seek ye My Face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy Face, Lord, +will I seek.' When Thou saidst, 'I will be thy Strength and thy +Righteousness,' have I said, 'Surely, O Jehovah! Thou art my Refuge'? +Turn His promises into your creed, and whatever He has declared in the +sweet thunder of His voice, loud as the voice of many waters, and +melodious as 'harpers harping with their harps,' do you take for your +profession of faith in the faithful promises of your God. + +Still further, this cry of the devout soul suggests to me that our +response ought to be the establishment of a close personal relation +between us and God. 'Thou, O Lord! art my Refuge.' The Psalmist did not +content himself with saying 'Lord! Thou hast been _our_ Dwelling-place +in all generations,' or as one of the other psalmists has it, 'God is +_our_ Refuge and _our_ Strength.' That thought was blessed, but it was +not enough for the Psalmist's present need, and it is never enough for +the deepest necessities of any soul. We must isolate ourselves and +stand, God and we, alone together--at heart-grips--we grasping His hand, +and He giving Himself to us--if the promises which are sent down into +the world for all who will make them theirs can become ours. They are +made payable to your order; you must put your name on the back before +you get the proceeds. There must be what our good old Puritan +forefathers used to call, in somewhat hard language, 'the appropriating +act of faith,' in order that God's richest blessings may be of any use +to us. Put out your hand to grasp them, and say, 'Mine,' not 'Ours.' The +thought of others as sharing in them will come afterwards, for he who +has once realised the absolute isolation of the soul and has been alone +with God, and in solitude has taken God's gifts as his very own, is he +who will feel fellowship and brotherhood with all who are partakers of +like precious faith and blessings. The 'ours' will come; but you must +begin with the 'mine'--'_my_ Lord and _my_ God.' 'He loved _me_, and +gave Himself for _me_.' + +Just as when the Israelites gathered on the banks of the Red Sea, and +Miriam and the maidens came out with songs and timbrels, though their +hearts throbbed with joy, and music rang from their lips for national +deliverance, their hymn made the whole deliverance the property of each, +and each of the chorus sang, 'The Lord is my Strength and my Song, He +also is become my Salvation,' so we must individualise the common +blessing. Every poor soul has a right to the whole of God, and unless a +man claims all the divine nature as his, he has little chance of +possessing the promised blessings. The response of the individual to the +worldwide promises and revelations of the Father is, 'Thou, O Lord! art +my Refuge.' + +Further, note how this cry of the devout soul recognises God as He to +whom we must go because we need a refuge. The word 'refuge' here gives +the picture of some stronghold, or fortified place, in which men may +find security from all sorts of dangers, invasions by surrounding foes, +storm and tempest, rising flood, or anything else that threatens. Only +he who knows himself to be in danger bethinks himself of a refuge. It is +only when we know our danger and defencelessness that God, as the Refuge +of our souls, becomes precious to us. So, underlying, and an essential +part of, all our confidence in God, is the clear recognition of our own +necessity. The sense of our own emptiness must precede our grasp of His +fulness. The conviction of our own insufficiency and sinfulness must +precede our casting ourselves on His mercy and righteousness. In all +regions the consciousness of human want must go before the recognition +of the divine supply. + +II. Now, note the still more abundant answer which that cry evokes. + +I said that the words on which I have been commenting thus far, seem to +break in two the continuity of the stream of blessings and promises. But +there may be observed a certain distinction of tone between those +promises which precede and those which follow the cry. Those that follow +have a certain elevation and depth, completeness and fulness, beyond +those that precede. This enhancing of the promises, following on the +faithful grasp of previous promises, suggests the thought that, when God +is giving, and His servant thankfully accepts and garners up His gifts, +He opens His hand wider and gives more. When He pours His rain upon the +unthankful and the evil, and they let the precious, fertilising drops +run to waste, there comes after a while a diminution of the blessing; +but they who store in patient and thankful hearts the faithful promises +of God, have taken a sure way to make His gifts still larger and His +promises still sweeter, and their fulfilment more faithful and precious. + +But now notice the remarkable language in which this answer is couched. +'Thou hast made the Most High thy Habitation, there shall no evil befall +thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' + +Did you ever notice that there are two dwelling-places spoken of in this +verse? 'Thou hast made the Most High thy Habitation'; 'There shall no +plague come nigh thy dwelling.' The reference of the latter word to the +former one is even more striking if you observe that, literally +translated, as in the Revised Version, it means a particular kind of +abode--namely, a tent. 'Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation.' +The same word is employed in the 90th Psalm: 'Lord, Thou hast been our +Dwelling-place in all generations.' Beside that venerable and ancient +abode, that has stood fresh, strong, incorruptible, and unaffected by +the lapse of millenniums, there stands the little transitory canvas tent +in which our earthly lives are spent. We have two dwelling-places. By +the body we are brought into connection with this frail, evanescent, +illusory outer world, and we try to make our homes out of shifting +cloud-wrack, and dream that we can compel mutability to become +immutable, that we may dwell secure. But fate is too strong for us, and +although we say that we will make our nest in the rocks, and shall never +be moved, the home that is visible and linked with the material passes +and melts as a cloud. We need a better dwelling-place than earth and +that which holds to earth. We have God Himself for our true Home. Never +mind what becomes of the tent, as long as the mansion stands firm. Do +not let us be saddened, though we know that it is canvas, and that the +walls will soon rot and must some day be folded up and borne away, if we +have the Rock of Ages for our dwelling-place. + +Let us abide in the Eternal God by the devotion of our hearts, by the +affiance of our faith, by the submission of our wills, by the aspiration +of our yearnings, by the conformity of our conduct to His will. Let us +abide in the Eternal God, that 'when the earthly house of this +tabernacle is dissolved,' we may enter into two buildings 'eternal in +the heavens'--the one the spiritual body which knows no corruption, and +the other the bosom of the Eternal God Himself. 'Because thou hast made +Him thy Habitation,' that Dwelling shall suffer no evil to come near it +or its tenant. + +Still further, notice the scope of this great promise. I suppose there +is some reference in the form of it to the old story of Israel's +exemption from the Egyptian plagues, and a hint that that might be taken +as a parable and prophetic picture of what will be true about every man +who puts his trust in God. But the wide scope and the paradoxical +completeness of the promise itself, instead of being a difficulty, point +the way to its true interpretation. 'There shall no plague come nigh thy +dwelling'--and yet we are smitten down by all the woes that afflict +humanity. 'No evil shall befall thee'--and yet 'all the ills that flesh +is heir to' are dealt out sometimes with a more liberal hand to them who +abide in God than to them who dwell only in the tent upon earth. What +then? Is God true, or is He not? Did this psalmist mean to promise the +very questionable blessing of escape from all the good of the discipline +of sorrow? Is it true, in the unconditional sense in which it is often +asserted, that 'prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, and +adversity of the New'? I think not, and I am sure that this psalmist, +when he said, 'there shall no evil befall thee, nor any plague come nigh +thy dwelling,' was thinking exactly the same thing which Paul had in his +mind when he said, 'All things work together for good to them that love +God, to them that are called according to His purpose.' If I make God my +Refuge, I shall get something a great deal better than escape from +outward sorrow--namely, an amulet which will turn the outward sorrow +into joy. The bitter water will still be given me to drink, but it will +be filtered water, out of which God will strain all the poison, though +He leaves plenty of the bitterness in it; for bitterness is a tonic. The +evil that is in the evil will be taken out of it, in the measure in +which we make God our Refuge, and 'all will be right that seems most +wrong' when we recognise it to be 'His sweet will.' + +Dear brother! the secret of exemption from every evil lies in no +peculiar Providence, ordering in some special manner our outward +circumstances, but in the submission of our wills to that which the good +hand of the Lord our God sends us for our good; and in cleaving close to +Him as our Refuge. Nothing can be 'evil' which knits me more closely to +God; and whatever tempest drives me to His breast, though all the four +winds of the heavens strive on the surface of the sea, it will be better +for me than calm weather that entices me to stray farther away from Him. + +We shall know that some day. Let us be sure of it now, and explain by it +our earthly experience, even as we shall know it when we get up yonder +and 'see all the way by which the Lord our God has led us.' + + + + +THE ANSWER TO TRUST + + + 'Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: + I will set him on high, because he hath known My name.' + --PSALM xci. 14. + +There are two voices speaking in the earlier part of this psalm: one +that of a saint who professes his reliance upon the Lord, his Fortress; +and another which answers the former speaker, and declares that he shall +be preserved by God. In this verse, which is the first of the final +portion of the psalm, we have a third voice--the voice of God Himself, +which comes in to seal and confirm, to heighten and transcend, all the +promises that have been made in His name. The first voice said of +himself, '_I_ will trust'; the second voice addresses that speaker, and +says, '_Thou_ shalt not be afraid'; the third voice speaks of him, and +not to him, and says, 'Because _he_ hath set his love upon Me, therefore +will I deliver him.' + +Why does this divine voice speak thus indirectly of this blessing of His +servant? I think partly because it heightens the majesty of the +utterance, as if God spake to the whole universe about what He meant to +do for His friend who trusts Him; and partly because, in that general +form of speech, there is really couched an 'whosoever'; and it applies +to us all. If God had said, 'Because thou hast set thy love upon Me, I +will deliver thee,' it had not been so easy for us to put ourselves in +the place of the man concerning whom this great divine voice spoke; but +when He says, 'Because _he_ hath set _his_ love upon Me,' in the 'he' +there lies 'everybody'; and the promise spoken before the universe as to +His servants is spoken universally to His servants. + +So, then, these words seem to me to carry two thoughts: the first, what +God delights to find in a man; and the second, what God delights to give +to the man in whom He finds it. + +I. Note, first, what God delights to find in man. + +There is, if we may reverently say so, a tone of satisfaction in the +words, 'Because he hath set his love upon Me,' and 'because he hath +known My name.' Thus, then, there are two things that the great Father's +heart seeks, and wheresoever it finds them, in however imperfect a +degree, He is glad, and lavishes upon such a one the most precious +things in His possession. + +What are these two things? Let us look at each of them. Now the word +rendered 'set his love' includes more than is suggested by that +rendering, beautiful as it is. It implies the binding or knitting +oneself to anything. Now, though love be the true cement by which men +are bound to God, as it is the only real bond which binds men to one +another, yet the word itself covers a somewhat wider area than is +covered by the notion of love. It is not my love only that I am to +fasten upon God, but my whole self that I am to bind to Him. God +delights in us when we cling to Him. There is a threefold kind of +clinging, which I would urge upon you and upon myself. + +Let us cling to Him in our thoughts, hour by hour, moment by moment, +amidst all the distractions of daily life. Whilst there are other things +that must legitimately occupy our minds, let us see to it that, ever and +anon, we turn ourselves away from these, and betake ourselves, with a +conscious gathering in of our souls, to Him, and calm and occupy our +hearts and minds with the bright and peaceful thoughts of a present God +ever near us, and ever gracious to us. Life is but a dreary stretch of +wilderness, unless all through it there be dotted, like a chain of ponds +in a desert, these moments in which the mind fixes itself upon God, and +loses sorrows and sins and weakness and all other sadnesses in the calm +and blessed contemplation of His sweetness and sufficiency. The very +heavens are bare and lacking in highest beauty, unless there stretch +across them the long lines of rosy-tinted clouds. And so across our +skies let us cast a continuous chain of thoughts of God, and as we go +about our daily work, let us try to have our minds ever recurring to +Him, like the linked pools that mirror heaven in the midst of the barren +desert, and bring a reflection of life into the midst of its death. +Cleave and cling to God, brother! by frequent thoughts of Him, diffused +throughout the whole continuity of the busy day. + +Then again, we might say, let us cleave to Him by our love, which is the +one bond of union, as I said, between man and God, as it is the one bond +of union between man and man. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all +thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all +thy strength,' was from the beginning the Alpha, and until the end will +be the Omega, of all true religion; and within the sphere of that +commandment lie all duty, all Christianity, all blessedness, and all +life. The heart that is divided is wretched; the heart that is +consecrated is at rest. The love that is partial is nought; the love +that is worth calling so is total and continuous. Let us cling to Him +with our thoughts; let us cling to Him with the tendrils of our hearts. + +Let us cleave to Him, still further, by the obedient contact of our +wills with His, taking no commandments from men, and no overpowering +impressions from circumstances, and no orders from our own fancies and +inclinations and tastes and lusts, but receiving all our instructions +from our Father in heaven. There is no real contact between us and God, +no real cleaving to Him, howsoever the thought of God may be in our +minds, and some kind of imperfect love to Him may be supposed to be in +our hearts, unless there be the absolute submission of our wills to His +authority; and only in the measure in which we are able to say, What He +commands I do, and what He sends I accept, and my will is in His hands +to be moulded, do we really get close and keep close to our Father in +the heavens. He that hath brought himself into loving touch with God, +and clings to Him in that threefold fashion, by thought, love, and +submission, he, and only he, is so joined to the Lord as to be one +Spirit. + +Now that is not a state to be won and kept without much vigorous, +conscious effort. The nuts in a machine work loose; the knots in a rope +'come untied,' as the children say. The hand that clasps anything, by +slow and imperceptible degrees, loses muscular contraction, and the grip +of the fingers becomes slacker. Our minds and affections and wills have +that same tendency to slacken their hold of what they grasp. Unless we +tighten up the machine it will work loose; and unless we make conscious +efforts to keep ourselves in touch with God, His hand will slip out of +ours before we know that it is gone, and we shall fancy that we feel the +impression of the fingers long after they have been taken away from our +negligent palms. + +Besides our own vagrancies, and the waywardness and wanderings of our +poor, unreliable natures, there come in, of course, as hindrances, all +the interruptions and distractions of outside things, which work in the +same direction of loosening our hold on God. If the shipwrecked sailor +is not to be washed off the raft he must tie himself on to it, and must +see that the lashings are reliable and the knots tight; and if we do not +mean to be drifted away from God without knowing it, we must make very +sure work of anchor and cable, and of our own hold on both. Effort is +needed, continuous and conscious, lest at any time we should slide away +from Him. And this is what God delights to find: a mind and will that +bind themselves to Him. + +There is another thing in the text which, as I take it, is a consequence +of that close union between man in his whole nature and God: 'I will set +him on high because he hath known My name.' Notice that the knowledge of +the name comes after, and not before, the setting of the love or the +fixing of the nature upon God. God's 'name' is the same thing as His +self-revelation or His manifested character. Then, does not every one to +whom that revelation is made know His name? Certainly not. The word +'know' is here used in the same deep sense in which it is employed all +but uniformly in the New Testament--the same sense in which it is used +in the writings of the Apostle John. It describes a knowledge which is a +great deal more than a mere intellectual acquaintance with the facts of +divine revelation. Or, to put the thought into other words, this is a +knowledge which comes after we have set our love upon God, a knowledge +which is the child of love. We forget sometimes that it is a Person, and +not a system of truth, whom the Bible tells us we are to know. And how +do you know people? Only by familiar acquaintance with them. You might +read a description of a man, perfectly accurate, sufficiently full, but +you would not therefore say you knew him. You might know about him, or +fancy you did, but if you knew him, it would be because you had summered +and wintered with him, and lived beside him, and were on terms of +familiar acquaintance with him. As long as it is God and not theology, +the knowledge of whom makes religion, so long it will not be the head, +but the heart or spirit, that is the medium or organ by which we know +Him. You have to become acquainted with Him and be very familiar with +Him--that is to say, to fix your whole self upon Him--before you 'know' +Him; and it is only the knowledge which is born of love and familiarity +that is worth calling knowledge at all. Just as with our earthly +relationships and acquaintances, only they who love a man or a woman +know such a one right down to the very depth of their being, so the one +way to know God's name is to bind myself to Him with mind and heart and +will, as friends cleave to one another. Then I shall know Him and be +known of Him. + +Still further, this knowledge which God delights to find in us men, is a +knowledge which is experience. There is all the difference between +reading about a foreign country and going to see it with your own eyes. +The man that has been there knows it; the man that has not knows about +it. And only he knows God to whom the commonplaces of religion have +turned into facts which he verifies by his own experiences. + +It is a knowledge, too, which influences life. Obviously the words of my +text look back to what the saint was represented as saying in an earlier +portion of the psalm. Why does God declare that the man has set his love +upon Him, and knows His name? Because the saint professed this, 'I will +say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress.' These are His name. +The man knows it; he has it not only upon his lips, but in his heart, +and feels that it is true, and acts accordingly. 'He is my Refuge and my +Fortress; my God, in Him will I trust.' The knowledge which God regards +as knowledge of Him is one based upon experience and upon familiar +acquaintance, and issuing in joyful recognition of my possession of Him +as mine, and the outgoing of my confidence to Him. These are the things +that God desires and delights to find in men. + +II. Note, secondly, what God gives to the man in whom He finds such +things. + +'I will deliver him'; 'I will set him on high.' These two clauses are +substantially parallel, and yet there is a difference between them, as +is the nature of the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, where the same ideas +are repeated with a shade of modification, and the second of them +somewhat surpassing the first. 'I will deliver him,' says the promise. +That confirms the view that the promise in the previous verse, 'There +shall no plague come nigh thy dwelling,' does not mean exemption from +sorrow and trial because, if so, there would be no relevancy or +blessedness in the promise of deliverance. He who needs 'deliverance' is +the man who is surrounded by evils, and God's promise is not that no +evil shall come to the man who trusts Him, but that he shall be +delivered out of the evil that does come, and that it will not be truly +evil. + +And why is he to be delivered? 'Because he has bound himself to Me,' +says God, 'therefore will I deliver him.' Of course, if I am fastened to +God, nothing that does not hurt Him can hurt me. If I am knit to Him as +closely as this psalm contemplates, it is impossible but that out of His +fulness my emptiness shall be filled, and with His rejoicing strength my +weakness will be made strong. It is just the same idea as is given to us +in the picture of Peter upon the water, when the cold waves are up to +his knees, and the coward heart says, 'I am ready to sink,' but yet, +with the faith that comes with the fear, he puts out his hand and grasps +Christ's hand, and as soon as he does, and the two are united, he is +buoyant, and rises again, and the water is beneath the soles of his +feet. 'He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.' +Whoever is joined to God is lifted above all evil, and the evil that +continues to eddy about him will change its character, and bear him +onwards to his haven. For he who is thus knit to God in the living, +pulsating bond of thought and affection and submission, will be +delivered from sin. + +When a boy first learns to skate, he needs some one to go behind him and +hold him up whilst he uses his unaccustomed limbs; and so, when we are +upon the smooth, treacherous ice of this wicked world, it is by leaning +on God that we are kept upright. 'He hath set himself close to Me, I +will deliver him,' says God. 'Yea! he shall not fall, for the Lord is +able to make him stand.' + +Still further, we have another great promise, which is the explanation +and extension of the former, 'I will set him on high, because he hath +known My name.' That is more than lifting a man up above the reach of +the storms of life by means of any external deliverance. There is a +better thing than that--namely, that our whole inward life be lived +loftily. If it is true of us that we know His name, then our lives are +'hid with Christ in God,' and far below our feet will be all the riot of +earth and its noise and tumult and change. We shall live serene and +uplifted lives on the mount, if we know His name and have bound +ourselves to Him, and the troubles and cares and changes and duties and +joys of this present will be away down below us, like the lowly cottages +in some poor village, seen from the mountain top, the squalor out of +sight, the magnitude diminished, the noise and tumult dimmed to a mere +murmur that interrupts not the sacred silence of the lofty peak where we +dwell with God. 'I will set him on high because he knows My name.' + +Then, perhaps, there is a hint in the words, as there is in subsequent +words of the verse, of an elevation even higher than that, when, life +ended and earth done, He shall receive into His glory those whom He hath +guided by His counsel. 'I will set him on high, because he hath known My +name,' says the Jehovah of the Old Covenant. 'To him that overcometh +will I grant to sit with Me on My throne,' says the Jesus of the New, +who is the Jehovah of the Old. + + + + +WHAT GOD WILL DO FOR US + + + 'He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in + trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16. With long life will + I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.'--PSALM xci. 15, 16. + +When considering the previous verses of this psalm, I pointed out that +at its close we have God's own voice coming in to confirm and expand the +promises which, in the earlier portion of it, have been made in His name +to the devout heart. The words which we have now to consider cover the +whole range of human life and need, and may be regarded as being a +picture of the sure and blessed consequences of keeping our hearts fixed +upon our Father, God. He Himself speaks them, and His word is true. + +The verses of the text fall into three portions. There are promises for +the suppliant, promises for the troubled, promises for mortals. 'He +shall call upon Me and I will answer him'; that is for the suppliant. 'I +will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him'; that is +for the distressed. 'With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My +salvation'; that is for the mortal. Now let us look at these three. + +I. The promise to the suppliant. + +'He will call upon Me and I will answer.' We may almost regard the first +of these two clauses as part of the promise. It is not merely a Hebrew +way of putting a supposition, 'If he calls upon Me, then I will answer +him,' nor merely a virtual commandment, 'Call, if you expect an answer,' +but itself is a part of the blessing and privilege of the devout and +faithful heart. 'He shall call upon Me'; the King opens the door of His +chamber and beckons us within. + +In these great words we may see set forth both the instinct, as I may +call it, of prayer, and the privilege of access to God. If a man's heart +is set upon God, his very life-breath will be a cry to His Father. He +will experience a need which is not degraded by being likened to an +instinct, for it acts as certainly as do the instincts of the lower +creatures, which guide them by the straightest possible road to the +surest supply of their need. Any man who has learned in any measure to +love God and trust Him will, in the measure in which he has so learned, +live in the exercise and habit of prayer; and it will be as much his +instinct to cry to God in all changing circumstances as it is for the +swallows to seek the sunny south when the winter comes, or the cold +north when the sunny south becomes torrid and barren. So, then, 'He +shall call upon Me' is the characteristic of the truly God-knowing and +God-loving heart, which was described in the previous verse. 'Because he +has clung to Me in love, therefore will I deliver him; because he has +known My name, therefore will I set him on high,' and because he has +clung and known therefore it is certain that He will 'call upon Me.' + +My friend! do you know anything of that instinctive appeal to God? Does +it come to your heart and to your lips without your setting yourself to +pray, just as the thought of dear ones on earth comes stealing into our +minds a hundred times a day, when we do not intend it nor know exactly +how it has come? Does God suggest Himself to you in that fashion, and is +the instinct of your hearts to call upon Him? + +Again, we see here not only the unveiling of the very deepest and most +characteristic attribute of the devout soul, but also the assurance of +the privilege of access. God lets us speak to Him. And there is, +further, a wonderful glimpse into the very essence of true prayer. 'He +shall call upon Me.' What for? No particular object is specified as +sought. It is God whom we want, and not merely any things that even He +can give. If asking for these only or mainly is our conception of what +prayer is, we know little about it. True prayer is the cry of the soul +for the living God, in whom is all that it needs, and out of whom is +nothing that will do it good. 'He shall call upon Me,' that is prayer. + +'I will answer him.' Yes! Of course the instinct is not all on one side. +If the devout heart yearns for God, God longs for the devout heart. If I +might use such a metaphor, just as the ewe on one side of the hedge +hears and answers the bleating of its lamb on the other, so, if my heart +cries out for the living God, anything is more credible than that such a +cry should not be answered. You may not get this, that, or the other +blessing which you ask, for perhaps they are not blessings. You may not +get what you fancy you need. We are not always good at translating our +needs into words, and it is a mercy that there is Some One that +understands what we do want a great deal better than we do ourselves. +But if below the specific petition there lies the cry of a heart that +calls for the living God, then whether the specific petition be answered +or dispersed into empty air will matter comparatively little. 'He shall +call upon Me,' and that part of his prayer 'I will answer' and come to +him and be in him. Is that our experience of what it is to pray, and our +notion of what it is to be answered? + +II. Further, here we have a promise for suppliants. + +I take the next three clauses of the text as being all closely +connected. 'I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honour +him'--in trouble, His presence; from trouble, His deliverance; after +trouble, glorifying and refining. There are the whole theory and process +of the discipline of the devout man's life. + +'I will be with him in trouble.' The promise is not only that, when +trials of any kind, larger or smaller, more grave or more slight, fall +upon us, we shall become more conscious, if we take them rightly, of +God's presence, but that all which is meant by God's presence shall +really be more fully ours, and that He is, if I may say so, actually +nearer us. Though, of course, all words about being near or far have +only a very imperfect application to our relation to Him, still the +gifts that are meant by His presence--that is to say, His sympathy, His +help, His love--are more fully given to a man who in the darkness is +groping for his Father's hand, and yet not so much groping for as +grasping it. He _is_ nearer us as well as _felt_ to be nearer us, if we +take our sorrows rightly. The effect of sorrow devoutly borne, in +bringing God closer to us, belongs to it, whether it be great or small; +whether it be, according to the metaphor of an earlier portion of this +psalm, 'a lion or an adder'; or whether it be a buzzing wasp or a +mosquito. As long as anything troubles me, I may make it a means of +bringing God closer to myself. + +Therefore, there is no need for any sorrowful heart ever to say, 'I am +solitary as well as sad.' He will always come and sit down by us, and if +it be that, like poor Job upon his dunghill, we are not able to bear the +word of consolation, yet He will wait there till we are ready to take +it. He is there all the same, though silent, and will be near all of us, +if only we do not drive Him away. 'He will call upon Me and I will +answer him'; and the beginning of the answer is the real presence of God +with every troubled heart. + +Then there follows the next stage, deliverance from trouble; 'I will +_deliver_ him.' That is not the same word as is employed in the previous +verse, though it is translated in the same way in our Bibles. The word +here means lifting up out of a pit, or dragging up out of the midst of +anything that surrounds a man, and so setting him in some place of +safety. Is this promise always true, about people who in sorrow of any +kind cast themselves upon God? Do they always get deliverance from Him? +There are some sorrows from the pressure of which we shall never escape. +Some of us have to carry such. Has this promise no application to the +people for whom outward life can never bring an end of the sorrows and +burdens that they carry? Not so. He will deliver us not only by taking +the burden off our backs, but by making us strong to carry it, and the +sorrow, which has changed from wild and passionate weeping into calm +submission, is sorrow from which we have been delivered. The serpent may +still wound our heel, but if God be with us He will give us strength to +press the wounded heel on the malignant head, and we can squeeze all the +poison out of it. The bitterness remains; be it so, but let us be quite +sure of this, that though sorrow be lifelong, that does not in the least +contradict the great and faithful promise, 'I will be with him in +trouble and deliver him,' for where He is _there_ is deliverance. + +Lastly, there is the third of these promises for the troubled. 'I will +honour him.' The word translated 'honour' is more correctly rendered +'glorify.' Is not that the end of a trouble which has been borne in +company with Him; and from which, because it has been so borne, a devout +heart is delivered even whilst it lasts? Does not all such sorrow +hallow, ennoble, refine, purify the sufferer, and make him liker his +God? 'He for our profit, that we should be partakers of His holiness.' +Is not that God's way of glorifying us before heaven's glory? When a +blunt knife is ground upon a wheel, the sparks fly fast from the edge +held down upon the swiftly-revolving emery disc, but that is the only +way to sharpen the dull blade. Friction, often very severe friction, and +heat are indispensable to polish the shaft and turn the steel into a +mirror that will flash back the sunshine. So when God holds us to His +grindstone, it is to get a polish on the surface. 'I will deliver him +and I will glorify him.' + +III. Last of all, we have the promise for mortals. + +'With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.' I do not +know whether by that first clause the Psalmist meant, as people who +sometimes like to make the Psalmist mean as little as possible tell us +that he did mean, simply 'length of days.' For my own part I do not +believe that he did. He meant that, no doubt, for longevity was part of +the Old Testament promises for this life. But 'length of days' does not +'satisfy' all old people who attain to it, and that 'satisfaction' +necessarily implies something more than the prolongation of the physical +life to old age. The idea contained in this promise may be illustrated +by the expression which is used in reference to a select few of the Old +Testament saints, of whom it is recorded that they died 'full of days.' +That does not merely mean that they had many days, but that, whatever +the number, they had as many as they wished, and departed unreluctantly, +having had enough of life. They looked back, and saw that all the past +had been very good, and that goodness and mercy had determined and +accompanied all their days, and so they did not wish to linger longer +here, but closed their eyes in peace, with no hungry, vain cravings for +prolonged life. They had got all out of the world which it could give, +and were contented to have done with it all. + +So this promise assures us that, if we are of those who, in the midst of +fleeting days, lay hold on the 'Ancient of Days' and live by Him, we +shall find a table spread in the wilderness, and like travellers in an +inn, having eaten enough, shall willingly obey the call to leave the +meal provided on the road, and pass into the Father's house, and sit at +the bountiful feast there. + +The heart that lives near God, whether its years be few or many, will +find in life all that life is capable of giving, and when the end comes +will not be unwilling that it should come, nor hold on desperately to +the last fag-end and fragment of life that it can keep within its +clutches, but will be satisfied to have lived and be contented to die. + +Nor is this all, for says the Psalmist, 'I will show him My salvation.' +That sight comes after he is satisfied with length of days here. And so +I think the fair interpretation of the words, in their place in this +psalm, is, that however dimly, yet certainly, here the Psalmist saw +something beyond. It was not a black curtain which dropped at death. He +believed that, yonder, the man who here had been living near God, +calling to Him, realising His presence, and satisfied with the fatness +of His house upon earth, would see something that would satisfy him +more. 'I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.' That is +satisfaction indeed, and the vision, which is possession, of that +perfected salvation is the vision that makes the blessedness of heaven. + +So, dear friends! we, if we will, may have access to God's chamber at +every moment, and may have His presence, which will make it impossible +that we should ever be alone. We may have Him to deliver us from all the +evil that is in evil, and to turn it into good. We may have Him to +purge, and cleanse, and uplift, and change us into His likeness, even by +the ministry of our trials. We may get out of life the last drop of the +sweetness that He has put in it; and when it comes to a close, may say, +'It is enough! Let Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen +Thy salvation,' and then we may go to see it better in that world where +we shall all, if we attain thither, be 'satisfied' when we 'awake in His +likeness.' + + + + +FORGIVENESS AND RETRIBUTION + + + 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance + of their inventions.'--PSALM xcix. 8. + +When the prophet Isaiah saw the great vision which called him to +service, he heard from the lips of the seraphim around the Throne the +threefold ascription of praise: 'Holy! holy! holy! Lord God of hosts.' +This psalm seems to be an echo of that heavenly chorus, for it is +divided into three sections, each of which closes with the refrain, 'He +is holy,' and each of which sets forth some one aspect or outcome of +that divine holiness. In the first part the holiness of His universal +dominion is celebrated; in the second, the holiness of His revelations +and providences to Israel, His inheritance; in the third, the holiness +of His dealings with them that call upon His name, both when He forgives +their sins and when He scourges for the sins that He has forgiven. + +Two remarks of an expository character will prepare the way for what I +have further to say. The first is that the word 'though' in my text, +which holds together the two statements that it contains, is commentary +rather than translation. For the original has the simple 'and,' and the +difference between the two renderings is this, that 'though' implies +some real or apparent contrariety between forgiveness and taking +vengeance, which makes their co-existence remarkable, whereas 'and' lays +the two things down side by side. The Psalmist simply declares that they +are both there, and puts in no such fine distinction as is represented +by the words 'though,' or 'but,' or 'yet.' To me it seems a great deal +more eloquent in its simplicity and reticence that he should say, 'Thou +forgavest them and tookest vengeance,' than that he should say 'Thou +forgavest them though Thou tookest vengeance.' + +Then there is another point to be noted, viz. we must not import into +that word 'vengeance,' when it is applied to divine actions, the notions +which cluster round it when it is applied to ours. For in its ordinary +use it means retaliation, inflicted at the bidding of personal enmity or +passion. But there are no turbid elements of that sort in God. His +retribution is a great deal more analogous to the unimpassioned, +impersonal action of public law than it is to the 'wild justice of +revenge.' When we speak of His 'vengeance' we simply mean--unless we +have dropped into a degrading superstition--the just recompense of +reward which divinely dogs all sin. There is one saying in Scripture +which puts the whole matter in its true light, 'Vengeance is Mine; I +will repay,' saith the Lord; the last clause of which interprets the +first. So, then, with these elucidations, we may perhaps see a little +more clearly the sequence of the Psalmist's thought here--God's +forgiveness, and co-existing with that, God's scourging of the sin which +He forgives; and both His forgiveness and the scourging, the efflux and +the manifestation of the divine holiness. Now just let us look at these +thoughts. Here we have-- + +I. The adoring contemplation of the divine forgiveness. + +I suppose that is almost exclusively a thought due to the historical +revelation, through the ages, to Israel, crowned, as well as deepened, +by the culmination and perfecting of the eternal revelation of God in +Jesus Christ our Lord. I suppose the conception of a forgiving God is +the product of the Old and of the New Testament. But familiar as the +word is to us, and although the thing that it means is embodied in the +creed of Christendom, 'I believe ... in the forgiveness of sins,' I +think that a great many of us would be somewhat put to it, if we were +called upon to tell definitely and clearly what we mean when we speak of +the forgiveness of sins. Many of us, prior to thinking about the matter, +would answer 'the non-infliction or remission of penalty.' And I am far +from denying that that is an element in forgiveness, although it is the +lowest and the most external, in both the Old Testament and the New +Testament conception of it. But we must rise a great deal higher than +that. We are entitled, by our Lord's teaching, to parallel God's +forgiveness and man's forgiveness; and so perhaps the best way to +understand the perfect type of forgiveness is to look at the imperfect +types which we see round us. What, then, do we mean by human +forgiveness? It is seen in multitudes of cases where there is no +question at all of penalty. Two men get alienated from one another. One +of them does something which the other thinks is a sin against +friendship or loyalty, and he who is sinned against says, 'I forgive +you.' That does not mean that he does not inflict a penalty, because +there is no penalty in question. Forgiveness is not a matter of conduct, +then, primarily, but it is a matter of disposition, of attitude, or, to +put it into a shorter word, it is a matter of the heart; and even on the +lower level of the human type, we see that remission of penalty may be a +part, sometimes is and sometimes is not, but is always the smallest part +of it, and a derivative and secondary result of something that went +before. An unconscious recognition of this attitude of mind and heart, +as being the essential thing in forgiveness, brings about an instance of +the process by which two words that originally mean substantially the +same thing come to acquire each its special shade of meaning. What I +refer to is this--when a judicial sentence on a criminal is remitted, we +never hear any one speak about the criminal being 'forgiven.' We keep +the word 'pardon,' in our daily conventional intercourse, for slight +offences or for the judicial remission of a sentence. The king pardons a +criminal; you never hear about the king 'forgiving' a criminal. And +that, as I take it, is just because people have been groping after the +thought that I am trying to bring out, viz. that the remission of +penalty is one thing, and purging the heart of all alienation and hatred +is another; and that the latter is forgiveness, whilst the former has to +be content with being pardon. + +The highest type of forgiveness is the paternal. Every one of us who +remembers our childhood, and every one of us who has had children of his +own, knows what paternal forgiveness is. It is not when you put away the +rod that the little face brightens again and the tears cease to flow, +but it is when _your_ face clears, and the child knows that there is no +cloud between it and the father, or still more the mother, that +forgiveness is realised. The immediate effect of our transgressions is +that we, as it were, thereby drop a great, black rock into the stream of +the divine love, and the channel is barred by our action; and God's +forgiveness is when, as was the case in another fashion in the Deluge, +the floods rise above the tops of the highest hills; and as the good old +hymn that has gone out of fashion nowadays, says, over sins: + + 'Like the mountains for their size, + The seas of sovereign grace arise.' + +When the love of God flows over the black rock, as the incoming tide +does over some jagged reef, then, and not merely when the rod is put on +the shelf, is forgiveness bestowed and received. + +But, as I have said, the remission of penalty _is_ an element in +forgiveness. Some people say: 'It is a very dangerous thing, in the +interests of Christian truth, to treat that relation of a loving Father +as if it expressed all that God is to men.' Quite so; God is King as +well as Father. There are analogies, both in paternal and regal +government, which help us to understand the divine dealings with us; +though, of course, in regard to both we must always remember that the +analogies are remote and not to be pressed too far. But even in +recognising the fact that an integral part of forgiveness is remission +of penalty, we come back, by another path, to the same point, that the +essence of forgiveness is the uninterrupted flow of love. Remission of +penalty;--yes, by all means. But then the question comes, what _is_ the +penalty of sin? And I suppose that the deepest answer to that is, +separation from God. But if the true New Testament conception of the +penalty of sin is the eternal death which is the result of the rending +of a man away from the Source of life, then the remission of the penalty +is precisely identical with the uninterrupted flow of the divine love. +The mists of autumnal mornings drape the sky in gloom, and turn the +blessed sun itself into a lurid ball of fire. Sweep away the mists, and +its rays again pour out beneficence. The man who sins, piles up, as it +were, a cloud-bank between himself and God, and forgiveness, which is +the remission of the penalty, is the sweeping away of the cloud-bank, +and the pouring out of sunshine upon a darkened heart. So, brethren! the +essence of forgiveness is that God shall love me all the same, though I +sin against Him. + +But now turn, in the next place, to + +II. God's scourging of the sin which He forgives. + +Look at the instances in our psalm, 'Moses and Aaron among His +priests.... They called upon the Lord and He answered them. Thou wast a +God that forgavest them, and Thou tookest vengeance of their doings.' +Moses dies on Pisgah, Aaron is stripped of his priestly robes by his +brother's hand and left alone amongst the clouds and the eagles, on the +solitary summit of the mountain, and yet Moses and Aaron knew themselves +forgiven the sins for which they died those lonely deaths. And these are +but instances of what is universally true, that the sin which is +pardoned is also 'avenged' in the sense of having retribution dealt out +to it. + +I need not dwell upon this at any length, but let me just remind you how +there are two provinces of human experience in which this is abundantly +true: one, that of outward consequences, and another that of inward +consequences. Take, for instance, two men, boon companions, who together +have wasted their substance in riotous living. One of them is converted, +as we call it, becomes a Christian, knows himself forgiven. The other +one is not. Is the one less certain to have a corrugated liver than the +other? Will the disease, the pauperism, the ruined position in life, the +loss of reputation be any different in the cases of him who is pardoned +and of him who is not? No; the two will suffer in a similar fashion, and +the different attitude that the one has to the divine love from that +which the other has, will not make a hair of difference as to the +results that follow. The consequences are none the less divine +retribution because they are the result of natural laws, and none the +less penal because they are automatically inflicted. + +There is another department in which we see the same law working, and +that is the inward consequences. A man does change his attitude to his +former sins, when he knows that he is pardoned; but the results of these +sins will follow all the same, whether he is forgiven or not. Memory +will be tarnished, habits will be formed and chain a man, capacities +will be forfeited, weaknesses will ensue. The wounds may be healed, but +the scars will remain, and when we consider how certainly, and as I +said, divinely, such issues dog all manner of transgression, we can +understand what the Psalmist meant when, not thinking about a future +retribution, but about the present life's experiences, he said, 'Thou +wast a God that forgavest them, and Thou tookest vengeance of their +inventions.' 'The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold, +therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing,' and that will be +his case whether he is forgiven, or not forgiven, by the divine love. + +So, dear friends! do not let us confound the two things which are so +widely separated, the flow of the divine love to us irrespective of our +sins, which is the true forgiveness, and the remission of the penalty, +the infliction of which may itself be a part of forgiveness. 'Whatsoever +a man soweth that shall he also reap,' and he will reap it whether he +has sown darnel and tares and poisonous seeds, of which he is now +ashamed, and for which he has received forgiveness, or whether he has +not asked nor received it. + +Only remember that if we humbly realise the great fact that God has +forgiven us, we can, as they say, 'take our punishment' in an altogether +different spirit and temper, and it comes to be, not judicial penalty, +but paternal chastisement, the token of love, and of which we can say +that 'We are judged of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with +the world.' + +Lastly, my text leads us to think of-- + +III. Forgiveness and scourging as both issues of holy love. + +Some people, in their narrow and altogether superficial view of +Christianity, would divide between the two, and say forgiveness comes +from God's love, and scourging comes from His holiness. But this psalm +puts the two together, just as we must put together as inseparable from +each other the two conceptions of holiness and of love. Now our modern +notions of what is meant by the love of God are a great deal too +sentimental and gushing and limp. Love is degraded unless there be +holiness in it. It becomes immoral good nature, much more than anything +that deserves the name of love. A God who is all love, so much so that +it makes no difference to Him whether a man is a saint or a sinner, is +not a God to be worshipped, and scarcely a God to be admired. He is +lower than we, not higher. But His holy love is like a sea of glass +mingled with fire; the love being shot all through, as it were, with +streams of flame. + +This holy love underlies the forgiveness of sins. To forgive may +sometimes be profoundly right; it may sometimes be profoundly immoral. A +general gaol delivery simply sets the scoundrels free; a universal +amnesty is a failure of justice, and a very doubtful benefit. But the +forgiveness, which is the issue of holy love, is a means to an end, and +the end which it has in view is that, drawn by answering love to a +pardoning God, we may be drawn from the sins which alienate us from Him. +There is no such sure way of making a man forsake his sins as to give +him the assurance that God has forgiven them. 'Thou shalt be ashamed and +confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy sins, +when'--I smite? no--'I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast +done.' 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them,' and in the very act of +forgiving, didst draw them from their sins. + +That holy love, in like manner, underlies retribution. I have been +speaking of retribution mainly as it is seen in the working of natural +law. It is none the less God's act, because it is the operation of the +laws which He impressed upon His creation at the beginning. You have +weaving machines in your mills that whenever a thread breaks, stop dead. +Is it the machine or the maker that is to get the credit of that? God +has set us in an order of things wherein, and has given us a nature +whereby, automatically, every sin, as it were, stops the loom, and +'every transgression and disobedience receives its just recompense of +reward.' But men sometimes say 'that is Nature; that is not God.' God +lies at the back of Nature, and works through Nature. Although Nature is +not God, God is Nature. Therefore it is 'Thou' that 'takest vengeance of +their inventions.' Let us, then, remember that retribution is a token of +love, meant to drive us from our sins, just as forgiveness is meant to +draw us from them. Our Psalmist had come the length of putting these two +things together, forgiveness and retribution. We have reached further, +and here is the New Testament enlargement and deepening and explanation +of the Old Testament thought: 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful +and just to forgive us our sins,' and in the very act, 'to cleanse us +from all unrighteousness.' 'If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the +Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.' + + + + +INVIOLABLE MESSIAHS AND PROPHETS + + + 'He reproved kings for their sakes; 15. Saying, Touch not Mine + anointed, and do My prophets no harm.'--PSALM cv. 14, 15. + +The original reference of these words is to the fathers of the Jewish +people--the three wandering shepherds, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The +Psalmist transfers to them the great titles which properly belong to a +later period of Jewish history. None of the three were ever in the +literal sense of the word 'anointed,' but all the three had what +anointing symbolised. None of them were in the literal or narrow sense +of the word 'prophets'--that is to say, predicters of future events--but +one of them was called a 'prophet' even in his lifetime. And they all +possessed that intimacy of communion with God which imparted the power +of _forth-speaking for_ Him. Insignificant as they were, they were +bigger than the Pharaohs and Abimelechs and the other kinglets that +strutted their little day beside them. Astonished as the monarch of +Egypt would have been, or the king of the Philistines either, if he had +been told that the wandering shepherd was of far more importance for the +world than he was, it was true. 'He suffered no man to do them wrong: +yea, He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not Mine anointed, +and do My prophets no harm.' + +Further, as Judaism, with its anointings and prophecies was a narrower +system following upon a wider one, so a wider one has succeeded it; and +we step into the position occupied by these patriarchs--on whose heads +no anointing oil had been poured, and into whose lips no supernatural +gifts of prediction had been infused. It is no arrogance, but the +simplest recognition of the essential facts of the case, if we take +these words of the Psalmist's and transfer them bodily to the whole mass +of Christian people, and to each individual atom that makes up the mass. +All are anointed; all are prophets; of all it is true that God suffers +no man nor thing to do them wrong. And kings and dynasties and the +politics of the world are all in the hands of One whose supreme purpose +is that through men there may be made known to all mankind the +significant tidings of His love. Therefore, His Church is founded upon a +rock, and earth is the servant of the servants of God. + +I. Every Christian is a 'messiah.' + +You know that the word 'anointed' is a translation of the Hebrew word +'Messiah,' or of the Greek word 'Christ.' The meaning of the symbolic +'anointing' was simply consecration to office by the divine will, and +endowment with the capacity for that office by the divine gift. In the +ancient system it was mainly employed--though not, perhaps, +exclusively--as a means of designating, and when received in humble +dependence on God, of fitting, a man for the two great offices of king +and priest. + +Oil was an appropriate symbol. Its gentle flow, its soothing, suppling +effect, and in another aspect, its value as a means of invigoration and +sustenance, and in yet another, as a source of light, peculiarly adapted +it to be an emblem of the bestowment on a patient and trustful and +submissive heart that was saying, 'Lord, take me, and use me as Thou +wilt,' of that divine Spirit by whose silent, sweet, soft-flowing, +strong influences men were prepared for God's service. + +Jesus was the Christ, the Messias, because that Divine Spirit dwelt in +Him without measure. If we are Christians in the real sense of the word, +then, however imperfectly, yet really, and by God's grace increasingly, +there is such a union between us and our Saviour as that into us there +does flow the anointing of His Spirit. There being a community of life +derived from the Source of Life, it is no presumption to say that every +Christian man is a Christ. + +The word has been used of late with unwise significations, but the truth +that has been inadequately expressed by such uses is the great truth of +Scripture; 'He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit,' and there does +flow the anointing oil from the head of the High Priest to the skirts of +the garments. Every man and woman who has any hold of Jesus Christ at +all, in the measure of his or her hold, is drawing from Him this +'unction of the Holy One.' So, brethren, rise to the solemnity, the +awfulness, the joyfulness of your true position, and understand that +you, too, are anointed, though not for the same purposes (and in humbler +and derived fashion), for which the Spirit dwelt without measure upon +'the First-born among many brethren.' + +Kings were anointed; and when that divine gift comes into a man's heart, +it, and as I believe, only it, makes him lord of himself, of +circumstances, of time, and of the world. 'All things are yours, and ye +are Christ's.' There is one real royalty--the royalty of the man who +rules because he submits. Every Christian soul may be described as +Gideon's brethren were described, 'As thou art, so were they: each one +resembled the children of a king,' for if Christ's Spirit is in the +Christian's spirit, the disciple will grow like his Master, and it will +be growingly true of us, that 'as He is, so are we in this world.' + +Priests were anointed. And we, if we are Christian people, have the +prerogative of direct access to the Divine Presence, and need neither +Church nor sacraments to intervene or mediate between us and Him. The +true democracy of Christianity lies in that word 'Mine anointed.' + +II. Further, every Christian man is a prophet. + +I have already said that there is no historical warrant for supposing +that the gift of prophecy, in its narrower sense, was ever bestowed upon +any of these patriarchs. But prediction is only one corner of the +prophetic office. The word is connected with a root which means 'to +boil, or bubble like a fountain,' and it expresses, not so much the +theme of the utterance as its nature. The welling up, from a full heart, +of God's thoughts and God's truth, that is prophecy. The patriarchs were +prophets, not in the sense that they had the gift of beholding and +foretelling visions of the future, and all the wonder that should be, +but in the higher sense--for it is the higher as well as broader--of +being bearers of a divine word, breathed into them by that anointing +Spirit, that it might be uttered forth by them. That sort of prophetic +inspiration belongs to all Christians. It is the result of the +relationship between Christ and Christians of which we have been +speaking. Every one who has been anointed will be thus gifted. + +God's 'messiahs' will be God's prophets. If we are in touch with God, +and have our hearts and whole spiritual natures drawn and kept so near +Him as that we are ever receiving from Him of His transcendent and +mysterious life, then silence will be impossible. The lips will not be +able to contain themselves, but will speak forth that of which the heart +is full. And thus every Christian man, in the measure of his true +Christianity, will be a prophet of the most High. + +I do not need to point the lesson. A silent Christian is an anomaly, a +contradiction in terms, as much as black light, or dark stars. If Christ +is in you He will come out of you. If your hearts are full the crystal +treasure will flow over the brim. It is easy to be dumb when you have +nothing to say, and that is the condition of hundreds of people who +fancy themselves to be, and are called by others, 'Christians.' 'Mine +anointed' cannot help being 'My prophets.' If you are not prophets, if +there never is any bubbling up of the fountain demanding utterance, ask +yourselves whether there is any fountain there at all. + +III. And so, lastly, every Christian man, in his double capacity of +anointed and prophet, is watched over by God. + +One is tempted to diverge into wider considerations, and speak of the +relative importance of things secular and sacred (to adopt a doubtful +distinction) in the history of the world, and how the former are for the +sake of the latter. But I do not yield to the temptation. Let me rather +take the thought here as it applies to our own little lives. + +Abraham more than once in his lifetime, though sometimes by his own +fault, was brought into very perilous places. There are one or two +incidents which are familiar to most of us, I dare say, in his life +which are evidently referred to in the phrase 'He reproved kings for +their sakes.' The principle remains in full force to-day, and God says +to every thing and person, Death included, 'Do My prophets no harm.' +They may slay; they cannot harm. If I might use a very homely metaphor, +sportsmen train retriever dogs to bring their game without ruffling a +feather. God trains evils and sorrows to lay hold of us, and bring us +to, and lay us down at, His feet untouched. + +There is no real harm in so-called evil. That is the interpretation that +Christianity gives to such words as this of my text, not because it is +forced to weaken them by the obstinate facts of life, but because it has +learned to strengthen them by the understanding of what is harm and what +is good; what is gain and what is loss. Peter shall be delivered out of +prison by the skin of his teeth when they are hammering at the scaffold +on the other side of the wall, and the dawn is just beginning to show +itself in the sky; whilst James shall have his head cut off. Was that +because God loved Peter better than James? Was one harmed and the other +not? Ah! Peter's turn came all in good time. Peter and his brother Paul +had both to bow their necks to the headsman's sword one day, although +one of them said, 'Who shall harm you if ye be followers of that which +is good?' and the other said, when within sight of his death, 'He shall +deliver me from every evil work.' Were they disappointed? Let us hear +how Paul ends the same verse: 'and shall save me into His heavenly +kingdom.' Ay! and he _was_ 'saved into the heavenly kingdom' when +outside the walls of Rome; where a gaudy church stands now, he died for +his Master. No harm came to him. God said to Death, 'Do My prophet no +harm!' and Death docilely did him good, and brought him to his Lord. + +Only, dear friends! let us remember that the inviolableness of the +ambassador depends on his function, and not on his person; and that if +we want to be kept from all evil, we must do the work for which we have +been sent here. So let us understand the meaning of our difficulties and +sorrows. Let us set ourselves to our tasks, live up to the level of the +high names which we have a right to claim, and be sure that there is no +harm in the harm that befalls us; and that all evil things 'work +together for good to them that love God.' + + + + +GOD'S PROMISES TESTS + + + 'Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him.' + --PSALM cv. 19. + +I do not think I shall be mistaken if I affirm that these words do not +convey any very clear idea to most readers. They were spoken with +reference to Joseph, during the period of his imprisonment. For the +understanding of them I think we must observe that there is a contrast +drawn between two 'words,' 'his' (_i.e._ Joseph's) and God's. If we lay +firm hold of that clue, I think it will lead us into clear daylight, and +it will be obvious that Joseph's word, which delayed its coming, or +fulfilment, was either his boyish narrative of the dreams that +foreshadowed his exaltation, or less probably, his words to his +fellow-prisoners in the interpretation of their dreams. In either case, +the _terminus ad quem_, the point to which our attention is directed, is +the period when that word came to be fulfilled, and what my text says is +that during that long season of unfulfilled hope, the 'word of God,' +which was revealed in Joseph's dream, and was the ground on which his +own 'word' rested--did what? Encouraged, heartened, strengthened him? +No, that unfulfilled promise might encourage or discourage him; but the +Psalmist fixes our thoughts on another effect which, whether it +encouraged or discouraged, it certainly had, namely, that it tested him, +and found out what stuff he was made of, and whether there was staying +power enough in him to hold on, in unconquerable faith, to a promise +made long since, communicated by no more reliable method than a dream, +and of the fulfilment of which not the faintest sign had, for all these +weary years, appeared. His circumstances, judged by appearances, +shattered his early visions, and bade him believe them to be no more +than the boyish aspirations which grown men dismiss or find melt away of +themselves when life's realities wake the dreamer. We might either say +that the non-fulfilment of the promise tested Joseph, or that the +promise, by its non-fulfilment, tested him. The Psalmist chooses the +latter more forcible and half paradoxical mode of speech. It proved the +depth and vitality of his faith, and his ability to see things that are +not as though they were. Will this man be able continually through years +of poverty and imprisonment to keep his eye on the light beyond, to see +his star through clouds? Will he despise the 'light affliction,' in the +potent and immovable belief that it is 'but for a moment?' + +Thus, for all these years the great blessed word, or the hope that was +built upon it, tested Joseph in the very depths of his soul. And is not +that just what our anticipations, built upon God's assurances, whether +they are in regard to earthly matters that seem long in coming, or +whether they, as they ought to do, travel beyond the bounds of the +material, to grasp _the_ hope which is _the_ promise, 'the hope of +eternal life,' ought to do for us, test us and find out what sort of +people we are? And they do! + +Let us go back to the man in our text. According to some commentators, +he was imprisoned for something like ten years. We do not know how long +his Egyptian bondage had lasted, nor how long before that his endurance +of the active ill-will of his surly brothers had gone on. But at all +events his chrysalis stage was very long, and one would not have +wondered if he had said to himself, down in that desert pit or in that +Egyptian dungeon, 'Ah, yes! they _were_ dreams, and _only_ dreams,' or +if he had, as so many of us do, turned his back on his youthful visions, +and gained the sad power of being able to smile at his old hopes and +ambitions. Brethren! especially you young men and women, cherish your +youthful dreams. They are often the prophecies of capacities and +possibilities, signs of what God means you to make yourselves. But that +is apart from my subject. Suppose we had clear before us, with +unwavering confidence in its reality, the great promise which God has +given us, do you not think that its presence would purify our souls, and +give power and dignity to our lives? + +The promise was a test, says my text. The word which it employs to +designate the manner of testing or trying, is one drawn from the +smelting operations of the goldsmith, by which, heat being applied, the +mass is made fluid and the dross is run off, and as the result of the +trial, there flows out gold refined by fire. + +'Having these promises, dearly beloved! let us cleanse ourselves from +all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.' 'Every man who hath this hope +in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.' The result of the great +promise of eternal life and of the hope that it kindles is meant to be +that it shall purge our spirits from meanness, from sense, from undue +dependence upon the miserable trivialities of to-day, that it shall +emancipate us from slavery to the moment, and lead us into the liberty +of the eternities, 'while we look not at the things that are seen, but +at the things which are not seen.' Oh! if we would only see clearly and +habitually before us--for we could if we would--what God's heart +inclines Him to do for us, and what He certainly will do for us, in the +far-off future, if we will only let Him, do you not think that these +trifles that put us off our equanimity this morning would have been +borne with a little more composure? Do you not think that the things +that looked so huge when we were down abreast of them would, by the laws +of perspective, diminish in their proportions as we rose steadily above +them, until all the hubbub in the valley was unheard on the mountain +peak, and the great trees that waved their giant branches below and shut +out the sky from our eyes while we were among them would dwindle to a +green smear on the plain, and all the foes 'show scarce so gross as +beetles,' from the height from which we look down upon them? Get up +beside God's promise, if you would take the true dimensions of cares and +tasks, and burdens and sorrows. Then, brother! you will learn the truth +of the paradox, 'light ... but for a moment'; though often they all but +crush the burden-bearing shoulder and seem to last through slow years. + +'The word of the Lord tried him,' and because it tried him, it purified +him. If we give credence, as we ought to, to that word, it will purify +_us_, and it will test of what contexture our faith is. The further away +the object of any hope is, the more noble the cherishing of it makes a +life. The trivial, short-lived anticipations which do not look beyond +the end of next week are far less operative in making strong and noble +characters than are those, of whatever kind they may be otherwise, which +look far ahead and need years for their realisation. It is a blessing to +have the mark far, far away, because that means that the arm that pulls +the bow must draw more strongly, and the eye that sees the goal must +gaze more intently. Be thankful for the promise that cannot be fulfilled +in this world because it lifts us above the low levels, and already +makes us feel as if we were endowed with immortality. + +The word will test our patience, and it will test our willingness, +though we be heirs of the kingdom, to do humble tasks. Christian men in +this world are sons of a King, and look forward to a royal inheritance, +but in the meantime they have, as it were, to keep a little huckster's +shop in a back alley. But if we adequately realised the promise of our +inheritance, the meanness of our surroundings and the triviality of our +occupations would not make us mean or trivial, but our souls would be +'like stars' and 'dwell apart' while we travelled 'on life's common way +in cheerful godliness,' and did small duties in such a manner as to make +them great. + +Because Joseph was sure that God's long-lingering word would be +fulfilled, he did not mind though he had to be the lackey of his +brothers, the Midianites' chattel, Potiphar's slave, Pharaoh's prisoner, +and a servant of servants in his dungeon. So with us, the measure of our +willing acceptance of our present tasks, burdens, humiliations, and +limitations is the measure of our firm faith in the promise that +tarries. + +'If we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it,' +says the Apostle, though most of us would have said exactly the +opposite. We generally suppose that the more ardent the hope, the more +is it impatient of delay. Paul had learned better. The more certain the +assurance, the better we can tolerate the procrastination of its +fulfilment. + +So, brethren! God's greatest gift to us, like all His other gifts, has +in it the quality of testing us; and we can come to a pretty fair +approximation to an estimate of what sort of Christian people we are, by +observing how we deal with God's promises of help according to our need +here and of heaven hereafter. How do we deal with them? Why, a sadly +large number of us never think about them at all; and a large proportion +of the others would a great deal rather stay working in the huckster's +shop in the back alley, than go home to the King. I am quite sure that +if the inmost sentiments of the bulk of professing Christians about a +future life were dragged into light, these would be a revelation of a +faith all honeycombed with insincerity. God tests us, and it is a sharp +test if we submit ourselves to it; He tests us by His promises. 'Child, +wilt thou believe?' is the first testing question put to us by these. +'Wilt thou keep them hid in thy heart?' is the next. 'Wilt thou go out +towards them in desire?' is the next. 'Wilt thou live worthy of them?' +is the last. 'The word of the Lord tried him.' + +So let us be thankful for the delays of love, for the wide gap between +promise and realisation. It was for Joseph's sake that the slow years +were multiplied between the first gleam of his future and the full +sunshine of his exaltation. And it is for our sakes that God in like +manner protracts the period of anticipation and non-fulfilment. 'If the +vision tarry, wait for it.' 'Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus +their brother' very dearly. 'When He heard, therefore, that he was sick, +He abode still two days'--to give time for Lazarus to die--'in the same +place where He was.' Ay, and when each sister came to Him with her most +natural and yet most faithless 'Lord! if Thou hadst been here my brother +had not died,' He only said, 'If thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see +the glory of God.' Was not Lazarus dearer, restored from the grave, than +he would have been, raised from his sickbed? Is not the delaying of the +blessing a means of increase of the blessing? And shall not we be sure +that however long 'He that shall come' may seem to tarry ere He comes, +when He _has_ come they who have waited for His coming more than they +that watch for the morning and have sometimes been ready to cry out: +'Hath the Lord forgotten? Doth His promise fail for ever more?' will be +ashamed of their impatient moments and will humbly and thankfully +exclaim: 'He came at the very right time and did _not_ tarry.' 'Until +the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him,' and the +coming of that word was all the more blessed for every heavy-laden hour +of hope deferred, which, by God's grace, did not make the heart sick, +but prepared it for fuller possession of the blessings enhanced by the +delays of love. + + + + +SOLDIER PRIESTS + + + 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the + beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew + of thy youth.'--PSALM cx. 3. + +It is no part of my present purpose to establish the reference of this +psalm to our Lord. We have Christ's own authority for that. + +It does not seem to be typical--that is to say, it does not appear to +have had a lower application to a king of Israel who was a shadow of the +true monarch, but rather to refer only to the coming Sovereign, whom +David was helped to discern, indeed, by his own regal office, but whose +office and character, as here set forth, far surpass anything belonging +to him or to his dynasty. The attributes of the King, the union in His +case of the royal and priestly dignities, His seat at the right hand of +God, His acknowledged supremacy over the greatest Jewish ruler, who here +calls him 'my Lord,' His eternal dominion, His conquest of many nations, +and His lifting up of His head in triumphant rule that knows no end--all +these characteristics seem to forbid the possibility of a double +reference, and to demand the acknowledgment of a distinct and exclusive +prophecy of Christ. + +Taking that for granted without more words, it strikes one as remarkable +that this description of the subjects of the Priest-King should be thus +imbedded in the very heart of the grand portraiture of the monarch +Himself. It is the anticipation of the profound New Testament thought of +the unity of Christ and His Church. By simple faith a union is brought +about so close and intimate that all His is theirs, and the picture of +His glory is incomplete without the vision of 'the Church, which is His +body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.' Therefore, between +the word of God which elevates Him to His right hand, and the oath of +God which consecrates Him a priest for ever, is this description of the +army of the King. + +The full force of the words will, I hope, appear as we advance. For the +present it will be enough to say that there are really in our text three +co-ordinate clauses, all descriptive of the subjects of the monarch, +regarded as a band of warriors--and that the main ideas are these:--the +subjects are willing soldiers; the soldiers are priests; the +priest-soldiers are as dew upon the earth. Or, in other words, we have +here the very heart of the Christian character set forth as being +willing consecration; then we have the work which Christian men have to +do, and the spirit in which they are to do it, expressed in that +metaphor of their priestly attire; and then we have their refreshing and +quickening influence upon the world. + +I. The subjects of the Priest-King are willing soldiers. + +In accordance with the warlike tone of the whole psalm, our text +describes the subjects as an army. That military metaphor comes out more +clearly when we attach the true meaning to the words, 'in the day of Thy +power.' The word rendered, and rightly rendered, 'power,' has the same +ambiguity which that word has in the English of the date of our +translation, and for a century later, as you may find in Shakespeare and +Milton, who both used it in the sense of 'army.' Singularly enough we do +not employ 'powers' in that meaning, but we do another word which means +the same thing--and talk of 'forces,' meaning thereby 'troops.' By the +way, what a melancholy sign it is of the predominance of that infernal +military spirit, that it should have so leavened language, that the +'forces' of a nation means its soldiers, its embattled energies turned +to the work of destruction. But the phrase is so used here. 'The day of +Thy power' is not a mere synonym for 'the time of Thy might,' but means +specifically 'the day of Thine army,' that is, 'the day when Thou dost +muster Thy forces and set them in array for the war.' + +The King is going forth to conquest. But He goes not alone. Behind Him +come His faithful followers, all pressing on with willing hearts and +high courage. Then, to begin with, the warfare which He wages is one not +confined to Him. Alone He offers the sacrifice by which He atones; but, +as we shall see, we too are priests. He rules, and His servants rule +with Him. But ere that time comes, they are to be joined with Him in the +great warfare by which He wins the earth for Himself. 'As Captain of the +Lord's host am I now come.' He wins no conquests for Himself; and now +that He is exalted at God's right hand, He wins none by Himself. We have +to do His work, we have to fight His battles as good soldiers of Jesus +Christ. By power derived from Him, but wielded by ourselves; with +courage inspired by Him, but filling our hearts; not as though He needed +us, but inasmuch as He is pleased to use us, we have to wage warfare for +and to please Him who hath chosen us to be soldiers. The Captain of our +salvation sits at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be +made His footstool. He has bidden us to keep the field and fight the +fight. From His height He watches the conflict--nay, He is with us while +we wage it. So long as we strike for Him, so long is it His power that +teaches our hands to war. Our King's flag is committed to our care; but +we are not left to defend it alone. In indissoluble unity, the King and +the subjects, the Chief and His vassals, the Captain and His soldiers, +are knit together--and wheresoever His people are, in all the danger and +hardships of the long struggle, there is He, to keep their heads in the +day of battle, and make them more than conquerors. + +Then, again, that warfare is shared in by all the subjects. It is a levy +_en masse_--an armed nation. The whole of the people are embodied for +the battle. It is not the work of a select few, but of every one who +calls Christ 'Lord,' to be His faithful servant and soldier. Whatever +varieties of occupation may be set us by Him, one purpose is to be kept +in view and one end to be effected by them all. Every Christian man is +bound to strive for the reduction of all human hearts under Christ's +dominion. The tasks may be different, but the result should be one. Some +of us have to toil in the trenches, some of us to guard the camp, some +to lead the assault, some to stay by the stuff and keep the +communications open. Be it so. We are all soldiers, and He alone has to +determine our work. We are responsible for the spirit of it, He for its +success. + +Again, there are no _mercenaries_ in these ranks, no pressed men. The +soldiers are all volunteers. 'Thy people shall be willing.' Pause for a +moment upon that thought. + +Dear brethren! there are two kinds of submission and service. There is +submission because you cannot help it, and there is submission because +you like it. There is a sullen bowing down beneath the weight of a hand +which you are too feeble to resist, and there is a glad surrender to a +love which it would be a pain not to obey. Some of us feel that we are +shut in by immense and sovereign power which we cannot oppose. And yet, +like some raging rebel in a dungeon, or some fluttering bird in a cage, +we beat ourselves, all bruised and bloody, against the bars in vain +attempts at liberty, alternating with fits of cowed apathy as we slink +into a corner of our cell. Some of us, thank God! feel that we are +enclosed on every side by that mighty Hand which none can resist, and +from which we would not stray if we could, and we joyfully hide beneath +its shelter, and gladly obey when it points. Constrained obedience is no +obedience. Unless there be the glad surrender of the will and heart, +there is no surrender at all. God does not want compulsory submission. +He does not care to rule over people who are only crushed down by +greater power. He does not count that those serve who sullenly acquiesce +because they dare not oppose. Christ seeks for no pressed men in His +ranks. Whosoever does not enlist joyfully is not reckoned as His. And +the question comes to us, brethren!--What is my relation to that loving +Lord, to that Redeemer King? Do I submit because His love has won my +heart, and it would be a pang not to serve Him; or do I submit because I +know Him strong, and am afraid to refuse? If the former, all is well; He +calls us 'not servants but friends.' If the latter, all is wrong; we are +not subjects, but enemies. + +There is another idea involved in this description. The soldiers are not +only marked by glad obedience, but that obedience rests upon the +sacrifice of themselves. The word here rendered 'willing' is employed +throughout the Levitical law for 'freewill offerings.' And if we may +venture to bring that reference in here, it carries us a step farther in +this characterisation of the army. This glad submission comes from +self-consecration and surrender. It is in that host as it was in the +army whose heroic self-devotion was chaunted by Deborah under her +palm-tree, 'The people willingly offered themselves.' Hence came +courage, devotion, victory. With their lives in their hands they flung +themselves on the foe, and nothing could stand against the onset of men +who recked not of themselves. There is one grand thing even about the +devilry of war--the transcendent self-abnegation with which, however +poor and unworthy may be the cause, a man casts himself away, 'what time +the foeman's line is broke.' The poorest, vulgarest, most animal natures +rise for a moment into something like nobility, as the surge of the +strong emotion lifts them to that height of heroism. Life is then most +glorious when it is given away for a great cause. That sacrifice is the +one noble and chivalrous element which gives interest to war--the one +thing that can be disentangled from its hideous associations, and can be +transferred to higher regions of life. That spirit of lofty consecration +and utter self-forgetfulness must be ours, if we would be Christ's +soldiers. Our obedience will then be glad when we feel the force of, and +yield to, that gentle, persuasive entreaty, 'I beseech you, brethren! by +the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.' +There is 'one Sacrifice for sin for ever'--which never can be repeated, +nor exhausted, nor copied. And the loving, faithful acceptance of that +sacrifice of propitiation leads our hearts to the response of +thank-offering, the sacrifice and surrender of ourselves to Him who has +given Himself not only to, but for us. It cannot be recompensed, but it +may be acknowledged. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for He has died +for us. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for only in such surrender do +we truly find ourselves. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for such a +sacrifice makes all life fair and noble, and that altar sanctifies the +gift. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for without such sacrifice we +have no place in the host whom He leads to victory. 'Thy people shall be +willing offerings in the day of Thy power.' + +Still further, another remarkable idea may be connected with this word. +By a natural transition, of which illustrations may be found in other +languages, it comes to mean '_free_,' and also '_noble_.' As, for +instance, it is used in the fifty-first Psalm, 'Uphold me with Thy +_free_ Spirit'--and in the forty-seventh, 'The _princes_ of the people +are gathered together.' And does not this shading of +significations--willing sacrifices, free, princely--remind us of another +distinctly evangelical principle, that the willing service which rests +upon glad consecration raises him who renders it to true freedom and +dominion? Every man enlisted in His body-guard is noble. The Prince's +servants are every other person's master. The King's livery exempts +from all other submission. As in the old Saxon monarchies, the monarch's +domestics were nobles, the men of Christ's household are ennobled +by their service. They who obey Him are free from every yoke of +bondage--'free indeed.' All things serve the soul that serves Christ. +'He hath made us kings unto God.' + +II. The soldiers are priests. + +That expression, 'in the beauties of holiness,' is usually read as if it +belonged either to the words immediately preceding, or to those +immediately following. But in either case the connection is somewhat +difficult and obscure. It seems better regarded as a distinct and +separate clause, adding a fresh trait to the description of the army, +and what that is we need not find any difficulty in ascertaining. 'The +beauties of holiness' is a frequent phrase for the sacerdotal garments, +the holy festal attire of the priests of the Lord. So considered, how +beautifully it comes in here! The conquering King whom the psalm hymns +is a Priest for ever; and He is followed by an army of priests. The +soldiers are gathered in the day of the muster, with high courage and +willing devotion, ready to fling away their lives; but they are clad not +in mail, but in priestly robes--like those who wait before the altar +rather than like those who plunge into the fight--like those who +compassed Jericho with the ark for their standard, and the trumpets for +all their weapons. We can scarcely fail to remember the words which echo +these and interpret them: 'The armies which were in heaven followed Him +on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean'--a strange +armour against sword-cut and spear-thrust. + +The main purpose, then, of this part of our text seems to be to bring +out the priestly character of the Christian soldier--a thought which +carries with it many important considerations, on which I can barely +touch. + +Mark, then, how the warfare which we have to wage is the same as the +priestly service which we have to render. The conflict is with our own +sin and evil; the sacrifice we have to offer is ourselves. As soldiers, +we have to fight against our selfish desires and manifold imperfections; +as priests, we have to lay our whole selves on His altar. The task is +the same under either emblem. We have a conflict to wage in the world, +and in the world we have a priestly work to do, and these are the same. +We have to be God's representatives in the world, bringing Him nearer to +men's apprehensions and hearts by word and work. We have to bring men to +God by entreaty, and by showing the path which leads to Him. That +priestly service for men is in effect identical with the merciful +warfare which we have to wage in the world. The Church militant is an +army of priests. Its warfare is its sacerdotal function. It fights for +Christ when it opposes the message of His grace and the power of His +blood to its own and the world's sins--and when it intercedes in the +secret place for the coming of His kingdom. + +Does not this metaphor teach us also, what is to be our defence and our +weapon in this warfare? Not with garments rolled in blood, nor with +brazen armour do they go forth, who follow Him that conquered by dying. +Their uniform is the beauties of holiness, 'the fine linen clean and +white, which is the righteousness of saints.' Many great thoughts lie in +such words, which I must pass over. But this one thing is obvious--that +the great power which we Christian men are to wield in our loving +warfare is--_character_. Purity of heart and life, transparent simple +goodness, manifest in men's sight--these will arm us against dangers, +and these will bring our brethren glad captives to our Lord. We serve +Him best, and advance His kingdom most, when the habit of our souls is +that righteousness with which He invests our nakedness. Be like your +Lord, and as His soldiers you will conquer, and as His priests you will +win some to His love and fear. Nothing else will avail without that. +Without that dress no man finds a place in the ranks. + +The image suggests, too, the spirit in which our priestly warfare is to +be waged. The one metaphor brings with it thoughts of strenuous effort, +of discipline, of sworn consecration to a cause. The other brings with +it thoughts of gentleness and sympathy and tenderness, of still waiting +at the shrine, of communion with Him who dwells between the Cherubim. +Whilst our work demands all the courage and tension of every power which +the one image presents, it is to be sedulously guarded from any tinge of +wrath or heat of passion, such as mingles with conflict, and is to be +prosecuted with all the pity and patience, the brotherly meekness of a +true priest. 'The wrath of men worketh not the righteousness of God.' If +we forget the one character in the other, we shall bring weakness into +our warfare, and pollution into our sacrifice. 'The servant of the Lord +must not strive.' We must not be animated by mere pugnacious desire to +advance our principles, nor let the heat of human eagerness give a false +fervour to our words and work. We cannot scold nor dragoon men to love +Jesus Christ. We cannot drive them into the fold with dogs and sticks. +We are to be gentle, long-suffering, not doing our work with passion and +self-will, but remembering that gentleness is mightiest, and that we +shall best 'adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour' when we go among men +with the light caught in the inner sanctuary still irradiating our +faces, and our hands full of blessings to bestow on our brethren. We are +to be soldier-priests, strong and gentle, like the ideal of those +knights of old who were both, and bore the cross on shield and helmet +and sword-hilt. + +He, our Lord, is our pattern for both; and from Him we derive the +strength for each. He is the Captain of our salvation, and we fight +beneath His banner, and by His strength. He is a merciful and faithful +High Priest, and He consecrates His brethren to the service of the +sanctuary. To Him look for your example of heroism, of fortitude, of +self-forgetfulness. To Him look for your example of gentle patience and +dewy pity. Learn in Christ how possible it is to be strong and mild, to +blend in fullest harmony the perfection of all that is noble, lofty, +generous in the soldier's ardour of heroic devotion; and of all that is +calm, still, compassionate, tender in the priest's waiting before God +and mediation among men. And remember, that by faith only do we gain the +power of copying that blessed example, to be like which is to be +perfect--not to be like which is to fail wholly, and to prove that we +have no part in His sacrifice, nor any share in His victory. + +III. The final point in this description must now engage us for a few +moments. The soldier-priests are as dew upon the earth. + +'From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth.' These +words are often misunderstood, and taken to be a description of the +fresh, youthful energy attributed by the psalm to the Priest-King of +this nation of soldier-priests. The misunderstanding, I suppose, has led +to the common phrase, 'The dew of one's youth.' But the reference of the +expression is to the army, not to its leader. 'Youth' here is a +collective noun, equivalent to 'young men.' The host of His +soldier-subjects is described as a band of young warriors whom He leads, +in their fresh strength and countless numbers and gleaming beauty, like +the dew of the morning. + +There are two points in this last clause which may occupy us for a few +moments--that picture of the army as a band of youthful warriors; and +that lovely emblem of the dew as applied to Christ's servants. + +As to the former--there are many other words of Scripture which carry +the same thought, that he who has fellowship with God, and lives in the +constant reception of the supernatural life and grace which come from +Jesus Christ, possesses the secret of perpetual youth. The world ages +us, time and physical changes tell on us all, and the strength which +belongs to the life of nature ebbs away, but the life eternal is subject +to no laws of decay and owes nothing to the external world. So we may be +ever young in heart and spirit. It is possible for a man to carry the +freshness, the buoyancy, the elastic cheerfulness, the joyful hope of +his earliest days, right on through the monotony of middle-aged +maturity, and even into old age, unshadowed by the lonely reflection of +the tombs which the setting sun casts over the path. It is possible for +us to get younger as we get older, because we drink more full draughts +of the fountain of life: and so to have to say at the last, 'Thou hast +kept the good wine until now.' 'Even the youths shall faint and be +weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the +Lord shall renew their strength.' If we live near Christ, and draw our +life from Him, then we may blend the hopes of youth with the experience +and memory of age; be at once calm and joyous, wise and strong, +preserving the blessedness of each stage of life into that which +follows, and thus at last possessing the sweetness and the good of all +at once. We may not only bear fruit in old age, but have blossoms, +fruit, and flowers--the varying product and adornment of every stage of +life, united in our characters. + +Then, with regard to the other point in this final clause--that emblem +of the dew leads to many considerations upon which I can but +inadequately touch. + +It comes into view here, I suppose, mainly for the sake of its effect +upon the earth. It is as a symbol of the refreshing which a weary world +will receive from the conquests and presence of the King and His host, +that the latter are likened to the glittering morning dew. Another +prophetic Scripture gives us the same emblem when it speaks of Israel +being 'in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord.' Such ought +to be the effect of our presence. We are meant to gladden, to adorn, to +refresh, this parched, prosaic world, with a freshness brought from the +chambers of the sunrise. + +It is worth while to notice how we may discern a sequence of thought in +these successive features of description in our text. It began with that +inmost spirit and motive of the Christian life, the submission of will +and consecration of self to Christ. It advanced to the function and +character of His servants in the world. And now it deals finally with +the influence which they are to exert by this their soldier-like +obedience and priestly ministration. + +There is progress of thought, too, in another way. We began with a +symbol that had in it something almost harsh and stern. We advanced to +one in which there was a predominance of gentle and gracious thoughts +and images. And now all that was severe, and all that reminded either of +opposition or of effort, has melted away into this sweet emblem. Instead +of the 'confused noise' of the battle of the warrior, we have the +silence of the dawn, and the noiseless falling of the dew amid the +solitudes of the wildernesses, or the recesses of the mountains. So the +highest thought of our Christian influence, is that it comes with silent +footfall and refreshes men's souls, like His, who will come down as +'rain upon the mown grass,' who will not strive nor cry, but in gentle +omnipotence and meek persistence of love, 'will not fail nor be +discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth.' + +Remember other symbols by which the same general thought of Christian +influence upon the world is set forth with very remarkable variation. +'Ye are the light of the world.'--'Ye are the salt of the earth.' The +light guides and gladdens; the salt preserves and purifies; the dew +freshens and fertilises; the light, conspicuous; the salt, working +concealed; and the dew, visible like the former, but yet unobtrusive and +operating silently like the latter. Some of us had rather be light than +salt; prefer to be conspicuous rather than to diffuse a wholesome silent +influence around us. But these three types must all be blended, both in +regard to the manner of working, and in regard to the effects produced. +We shall refresh and beautify the world only in proportion as we save it +from its rottenness and corruption, and we shall do either only in +proportion as we bear abroad the name of Christ, in whom is 'life; and +the life is the light of men.' + +Nor need we omit allusions to other associations connected with this +figure. The dew, formed in the silence of the darkness while men sleep, +falling as willingly on a bit of dead wood as anywhere, hanging its +pearls on every poor spike of grass, and dressing everything on which it +lies with strange beauty, each separate globule tiny and evanescent, but +each flashing back the light, and each a perfect sphere, feeble one by +one, but united, mighty to make the pastures of the wilderness +rejoice--so, created in silence by an unseen influence, weak when taken +singly, but strong in their myriads, glad to occupy the lowliest place, +and each 'bright with something of celestial light,' Christian men and +women are to be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord. + +Brethren! that characteristic, like all else which is good, belongs to +us in proportion as we keep near to Christ Jesus, and are filled with +His fulness. All these emblems which have been occupying us now, +originally belonged to Him, and we receive from Him the grace that makes +us as He is in the world. He Himself is the Warrior King, the Captain of +the Lord's host, the true Joshua, whose last word ere His Cross was a +shout of victory, 'I have overcome the world'--whose promises from the +throne seven times crown the conqueror who overcomes as He overcame. He +makes us His soldiers and strengthens us for the war, if we live by +faith in Him. He Himself is the Priest--the only Eternal Priest of the +world--who wears on His head the mitre and the diadem, and bears in His +hand the sceptre and the censer; and He makes us priests, if faith in +His only sacrifice and all-prevalent intercession be in our souls. He is +the dew unto Israel--and only by intercourse with Him shall we be made +gentle and refreshing, silent blessings to all the weary and the parched +souls in the wilderness of the world. + +Everything worth being or doing comes from Jesus Christ. Heroic courage; +then hold His hand, and He will strengthen your heart. Glad surrender; +then think of His sacrifice for us until ours to Him be our answering +gift. Priestly power; then let Him bring us nigh by His blood, that we +too may be able to have compassion on the ignorant and to draw them to +God. Dewy purity and freshness; then open your hearts for the reception +of His grace, for all the invigoration that we can impart to the world +is but the communication of that refreshing wherewith we ourselves are +refreshed of Christ. In every aspect of our relations to the world, we +draw all our fitness for all our offices from that Lord, who is and +gives everything that we can be or do. Then let us seek by humble faith +and habitual contact with Him and His truth, to have our emptiness +filled by His fulness, and our unfitness made ready for all service by +His all-sufficiency. + +And let me close by reiterating what I have said already. There is a +twofold manner of subjection--the spurious and the real. The involuntary +is nought; the glad and cheerful surrender alone is counted submission. +This psalm shows us Christ surrounded by His friends who are glad to +obey. But it also shows us Christ ruling in the midst of His enemies. +They cannot help obeying; His dominion is established over them, but +they do not wish to have Him to reign over them, and therefore they are +enemies--even though they be subjects. Which is it with you, my brother? +Do you serve because you love--and love because He died for you? or do +you serve because you must? Then, remember, constrained service is no +service; and subjects without loyalty are rebel traitors. Our psalm +shows us Christ gathering His army in array. He is calling each of us to +a place there, in this day of His power, and day of His grace. Take heed +lest the day of His power should for you darken into that other day of +which this psalm speaks--the day of His wrath, when He strikes through +kings, and bruises the head over many countries. Put your trust in that +Saviour, my friend! cleave to that Sacrifice, then you will not be +amongst those whom He treads down in His march to victory, but one of +that happy band of priestly warriors who follow Him as He goes forth +'conquering and to conquer.' + + + + +GOD AND THE GODLY + + + 'His righteousness endureth for ever.'--PSALMS cxi. 3; cxii. 3. + +These two psalms are obviously intended as a pair. They are identical in +number of verses and in structure, both being acrostic, that is to say, +the first clause of each commences with the first letter of the Hebrew +alphabet, the second clause with the second, and so on. The general idea +that runs through them is the likeness of the godly man to God. That +resemblance comes very markedly to the surface at several points in the +psalms, and pervades them traceably even where it is less conspicuous. +The two corresponding clauses which I have read as my text are the first +salient instances of it. But I propose to deal not only with them, but +with a couple of others which occur in the course of the psalms, and +will appear as I proceed. + +The general underlying thought is a noteworthy one. The worshipper is to +be like his God. So it is in idolatry; so it should be with us. Worship +is, or should be, adoration of and yearning after the highest +conceivable good. Such an attitude must necessarily lead to imitation, +and be crowned by resemblance. Love makes like, and they who worship God +are bound to, and certainly will, in proportion to the ardour and +sincerity of their devotion, grow like Him whom they adore. So I desire +to look with you at the instances of this resemblance or parallelism +which the Psalmist emphasises. + +I. The first of them is that in the clauses which I have read as our +starting-point, viz. God and the godly are alike in enduring +righteousness. + +That seems a bold thing to say, especially when we remember how lofty +and transcendent were the Old Testament conceptions of the righteousness +of God. But, lofty as these were, this Psalmist lifts an unpresumptuous +eye to the heavens, and having said of Him who dwells there, 'His +righteousness endureth for ever,' is not afraid to turn to the humble +worshipper on this low earth, and declare the same thing of him. Our +finite, frail, feeble lives may be really conformed to the image of the +heavenly. The dewdrop with its little rainbow has a miniature of the +great arch that spans the earth and rises into the high heavens. And so, +though there are differences, deep and impassable, between anything that +can be called creatural righteousness, and that which bears the same +name in the heavens, the fact that it does bear the same name is a +guarantee to us that there is an essential resemblance between the +righteousness of God in its lustrous perfectness, and the righteousness +of His child in its imperfect effort. + +But how can we venture to run any kind of parallelism between the +eternity of the one and that of the other? God's righteousness we can +understand as enduring for ever, because it is inseparable from His very +being; because it is manifested unbrokenly in all the works that for +ever pour out from that central Source, and because it and its doings +stand fast and unshaken amidst the passage of ages, and the 'wreck of +matter and the crash of worlds.' But may there not be, if not an +eternity, yet a perpetuity, in our reflection of the divine +righteousness which shall serve to vindicate the application of the same +mighty word to both? Is it not possible that, unbroken amidst the stress +of temptation, and running on without interruptions, there may be in our +hearts and in our lives conformity to the divine will? And is it not +possible that the transiencies of our earthly doings may be sublimed +into perpetuity if there is in them the preserving salt of +righteousness? + + 'The actions of the just + Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust.' + +And may it not be, too, that though this Psalmist may have had no clear +articulate doctrine of eternal life beyond, he may have felt, and +rightly felt, that there were things that were too fair to die, and that +it was inconceivable that a soul which had been, in some measure, tinged +with the righteousness of God could ever be altogether a prey to the law +of transiency and decay which seizes upon things material and corporeal? +That which is righteous is eternal, be it manifested in the acts of the +unchanging God or in the acts of a dying man, and when all else has +passed away, and the elements have melted with fervent heat, 'he that +doeth the will of God,' and the deeds which did it, 'shall abide for +ever.' 'His righteousness endureth for ever.' + +Now, brethren! there are two ways in which we may look at this +parallelism of our text: the one is as containing a stringent +requirement; the other as holding forth a mighty hope. It contains a +stringent requirement. Our religion does not consist in assenting to any +creed. Our religion is not wholly to consist of devout emotions and +loving and joyous acts of communion and friendship with God. There must +be more than these; these things there must be. For if a man is to be +guided mainly by reason, there must, first of all, be creed; then there +must be corresponding emotions. But creed and emotions are both meant to +be forces which shall drive the wheels of life, and conduct is, after +all, the crown of religion and the test of godliness. They that hold +communion with God are bound to mould their lives into the likeness of +His. 'Little children, let no man deceive you,' and let not your own +hearts deceive you. You are not a Christian because you believe the +truths of the Gospel. You are not such a Christian as you ought to be, +if your religion is more manifest in loving trust than in practical +obedience which comes from trust. 'He that doeth righteousness is +righteous,' and he is to be righteous 'even as He is righteous.' If you +are God's, you will be like God. Apply the touchstone to your lives, and +test your Christianity by this simple and most stringent test. + +But again, we may look at the thought as holding forth a great hope. I +do not wish to force upon Old Testament writers New Testament truth. It +would be an anachronism and an absurdity to make this Psalmist +responsible for anything like a clear evangelistic statement of the way +by which a man may be made righteous. That waited for coming days, and +eminently for Jesus Christ. But it would be quite as great a mistake to +eviscerate the words of their plain implications. And when they put side +by side the light and the reflection, God and the godly, it seems to me +to be doing violence to their meaning for the sake of trying to make +them mean less than they do, if we refuse to recognise that they have at +any rate an inkling of the thought that the Original and Pattern of +human righteousness was likewise the Source of it. This at least is +plain, that the Psalmist thought that 'the fear of the Lord' was not +only, as he calls it at the close of the former of the two psalms, 'the +beginning of wisdom,' but also the basis of goodness, for he begins his +description of the godly with it. + +I believe that he felt, what is assuredly true, that no man, by his own +unaided effort, can ever work out for himself a righteousness which will +satisfy his own conscience, and that he must, first of all, be in touch +with God, in order to receive from Him that which he cannot create. Ah, +brethren! the 'fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness +of saints,' is woven in no earthly looms; and the lustrous light with +which it glistens is such as 'no fuller on earth can white' men's +characters into. Another Psalmist has sung of the man who can stand in +the holy place, 'He shall _receive_ the blessing from the Lord, even +righteousness from the God of his salvation,' and our psalms hint, if +they do not articulately declare, how that reception is possible for us, +when they set forth waiting upon God as the condition of being made like +Him. We translate the Psalmist's feeling after the higher truth which we +know, when we desire 'that we may be found in Him, not having our own +righteousness which is of the law, but that which is of God by faith.' +So much, then, for the first point of correspondence in these two +psalms. + +II. God and the godly are alike in gracious compassion. + +If you will turn to the two psalms for a moment, and look at the last +clauses of the two fourth verses, you will see how that thought is +brought out. In the former psalm we read, 'The Lord is gracious and full +of compassion': in the latter we find, 'he' (the upright man) 'is +gracious and full of compassion, and righteous.' + +I need not trouble you with any remarks about certain difficulties that +lie in the rendering of that latter verse. Suffice it to say that they +are such as to make more emphatic the intentional resemblance between +the godly as there described, and God as described in the previous one. +Of both it is said 'gracious and full of compassion.' + +Now that great truth of which I have been speaking, the divine +righteousness, is like white Alpine snow, sublime, but cold, awful and +repellent, when taken by itself. Our hearts need something more than a +righteous God if we are ever to worship and draw near. Just as the white +snow on the high peak needs to be flushed with the roseate hue of the +morning before it can become tender, and create longings, so the +righteousness of the great white Throne has to be tinged with the ruddy +heart-hue of gracious compassion if men are to be moved to adore and to +love. Each enhances the other. 'What God hath joined together,' in +Himself, 'let not man put asunder'; nor talk about the stern Deity of +the Old Testament, and pit Him against the compassionate Father of the +New. He is righteous, but the proclaimers of His righteousness in old +days never forgot to blend with the righteousness the mercy; and the +combination heightens the lustre of both attributes. + +The same combination is absolutely needful in the copy, as is +emphatically set forth in our text by the addition of 'and righteous,' +in the case of the man. For whilst with God the tyro attributes do lie, +side by side, in perfect harmony, in us men there is always danger that +the one shall trench upon the territory of the other, and that he who +has cultivated the habit of looking upon sorrows and sins with +compassion and tenderness shall somewhat lose the power of looking at +them with righteousness. So our text, in regard to man, proclaims more +emphatically than it needs to do in regard to the perfect God, that ever +his highest beauty of compassion must be wedded to righteousness, and +ever his truest strength of righteousness must be softened with +compassion. + +But beyond that, note how, wherever there is the loving and childlike +contemplation of God, there will be an analogy in our compassion, to His +perfectness. We are transformed by beholding. The sun strikes a poor +little pane of glass in a cottage miles away, and it flashes with some +likeness of the sun and casts a light across the plain. The man whose +face is turned Godwards will have beauty pass into his face, and all +that look upon him will see 'as it had been the countenance of an +angel.' + +If we have, in any real and deep measure, received mercy we shall +reflect mercy. Remember the parable of the unmerciful debtor. The +servant that cast himself at his lord's feet, and got the acquittal of +his debt, and went out and gripped his fellow-servant by the throat, +leaving the marks of his fingernails on his windpipe, with his 'Pay me +that thou owest!' had all the pardon cancelled, and all the debt laid +upon his shoulders again. If we owe all our hope and peace to a +forgiving God, how can we make anything else the law of our lives than +that, having received mercy, we should show mercy? The test of your +being a forgiven man is your forgivingness. There is no getting away +from that plain principle, which modifies the declaration of the freedom +of God's full pardon. + +But I would have you notice, further, as a very remarkable illustration +of this correspondence between the gracious and compassionate Lord and +His servant, that in the verses which follow respectively the two about +which I am now speaking, the same idea is wrought out in another shape. +In the psalm dealing with the divine character and works we read, +immediately after the declaration that He is 'gracious and full of +compassion,' this--'He hath given meat to them that fear Him'; and the +corresponding clause in the second of our psalms is followed by this--to +translate accurately--'It is well with the man who showeth favour and +lendeth.' So man's open-handedness in regard to money is put down side +by side with God's open-handedness in regard to giving meat unto them +that fear Him. And again, in the ninth verse of each psalm, we have the +same thought set forth in another fashion. 'He sent redemption unto His +people,' says the one; 'He hath dispersed, He hath given to the poor,' +says the other. That is to say, our paltry giving may be paralleled with +the unspeakable gifts which God has bestowed, if they come from a love +which is like His. It does not matter though they are so small and His +are so great; there is a resemblance. The tiniest crystal may be like +the hugest. God gives to us the possession of things in order that we +may enjoy the luxury, which is one of the elements in the blessedness of +the blessed God, who is blessed because He is the giving God, the luxury +of giving. Poor though our bestowments must be, they are not unlike His. +The little burn amongst the heather carves its tiny bed, and impels its +baby ripples by the same laws which roll the waters of the Amazon, and +every fall that it makes over a shelf of rock a foot high is a miniature +Niagara. + +III. So, lastly, we have still another point, not so much of resemblance +as of correspondence, in the firmness of God's utterances and of the +godly heart. + +In the first of our two psalms we read, in the seventh verse, 'All His +commandments are _sure_.' In the second we read, in the corresponding +verse, 'his heart is _fixed_, trusting in the Lord.' The former psalm +goes on, 'His commandments _stand fast_ for ever and ever; and the next +psalm, in the corresponding verse, says 'his heart is _established_,' +the original employing the same word in both cases, which in our version +is rendered, in the one place, 'stand fast,' and in the other +'established.' So that the Psalmist is thinking of a correspondence +between the stability of God's utterances and the stability of the heart +that clasps them in faith. + +His commandments are not only precepts which enjoin duty. All which God +says is law, whether it be directly in the nature of guiding precept, or +whether it be in the nature of revealing truth, or whether it be in the +nature of promise. It is sure, reliable, utterly trustworthy. We may be +certain that it will direct us aright, that it will reveal to us +absolute truth, that it will hold forth no flattering and false +promises. And it is 'established.' The one fixed point amidst the whirl +of things is the uttered will of God. + +Therefore, the heart that builds there builds safely. And there should +be a correspondence, whether there is or no, between the faithfulness of +the Speaker and the faith of the hearer. A man who is doubtful about the +solidity of the parapet which keeps him from toppling over into the +abyss will lean gingerly upon it, until he has found out that it is +firm. The man that knows how strong is the stay on which he rests ought +to lean hard upon it. Lean hard upon God, put all your weight upon Him. +You cannot put too much, you cannot lean too hard. The harder the +better; the better He is pleased, and the more He breathes support and +strength into us. And, brethren! if thus we build an established faith +on that sure foundation, and match the unchangeableness of God in Christ +with the constancy of our faith in Him, then, 'He that believeth shall +never make haste,' and as my psalm says, 'He shall not be afraid of evil +tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.' + +The upshot of the whole matter is--we cannot work out for ourselves a +righteousness that will satisfy our own consciences, nor secure for +ourselves a strength that will give peace to our hearts, and stability +to our lives, by any other means than by cleaving fast to God revealed +in Jesus Christ. + +We have borne the image of the earthly long enough; let us open our +hearts to God in Christ. Let us yield ourselves to Him; let us gaze upon +Him with fixed eyes of love, and labour to make our own what He bestows +upon us. Thus living near Him, we shall be bathed in His light, and show +forth something of His beauty. Godliness is God-likeness. It is of no +use to say that we are God's children if we have none of the family +likeness. 'If ye were Abraham's sons ye would do the works of Abraham,' +said Christ to the Jews. If we are God's sons we shall do the works of +God. 'Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect;' be +ye merciful as your Father is merciful. And if thus we here, dwelling +with Christ, are being conformed to the image of His Son, we shall one +day 'be satisfied' when we 'awake in His likeness.' + + + + +EXPERIENCE, RESOLVE, AND HOPE + + + 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and + my feet from falling. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of + the living.'--PSALM cxvi. 8, 9. + +This is a quotation from an earlier psalm, with variations which are +interesting, whether we suppose that the Psalmist was quoting from +memory and made them unconsciously, or whether, as is more probable, he +did so, deliberately and for a purpose. The variations are these. The +words in the original psalm (lvi.) according to the Revised Version, +read, 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death; hast Thou not delivered +my feet from falling?' The writer of this psalm felt that that did not +say all, so he put in another clause: 'Thou hast delivered my soul from +death, _mine eyes from tears_, and my feet from falling.' It is not +enough to keep a man alive and upright. God will wipe away his tears; +and will often keep him from shedding them. + +Then the original psalm goes on: 'Thou hast delivered ... my feet from +falling, that I may walk before God,' but the later Psalmist goes a step +further than his original. The first singer had seen what it is always a +blessing to see--what God meant by all the varieties of His providences, +viz. that the recipient might walk as in His presence; but the later +poet not only discerns, but accords with, God's purpose, yields himself +to the divine intention, and instead of simply saying 'That was what God +meant,' he says, 'That is what I am going to do--I will walk before the +Lord.' There is still another variation which, however, does not alter +the sense. The original psalm says, 'in the light of the living'; the +other uses another word, a little more intelligible, perhaps, to an +ordinary reader, and says, 'in the land of the living.' + +Now, noting these significant variations, I would draw attention to this +expression of the Psalmist's acceptance of the divine purpose, and the +vision that it gave him of his future. It is hard to say whether he +means 'I will walk' or 'I shall walk'; whether he is expressing a hope +or giving utterance to a fixed resolve. I think there is an element of +both in the words. At all events, I find in them three things: a sure +anticipation, a firm resolve, and a far-reaching hope. + +I. A sure anticipation. + +'Thou hast'--'I will.' The past is for this Psalmist a mirror in which +he sees reflected the approaching form of the veiled future. God's past +is the guarantee of God's future. Godless people, who get wearied of the +monotony of life, begin to say before they have gone far in it, 'Oh! +there is nothing new. That which is to be hath already been. It is just +one continual repetition of the same sort of thing.' But that is only +partially true. There is only one man in the world who can truly and +certainly say, 'To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant'; +and that is the man who says; 'He delivered my soul from death, mine +eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.' For the continuance of +things here is not guaranteed to us by the fact that they have lasted +for so long. Why, nobody knows whether the sun will rise to-morrow or +not--whether there will be a to-morrow or not. There will come one day +when the sun sets for the last time. What people call the 'uniformity of +nature' affords no ground on which to build certainty as to the future. +We all do it, but we have no right to do it. But when we bring God into +the future, that makes all the difference. His past is the guarantee and +the revelation of His future, and every person that grasps Him in faith +has the right to pray with assurance, 'Thou hast been my Helper; leave +me not, neither forsake me,' and to declare triumphantly, 'The Lord will +perfect that which concerneth me.' + +So, brethren! all the past, as it is recorded for us in Scripture, lives +and throbs with faithful promises for us to-day. Though the methods of +the manifestation may alter, the essence of it remains the same. As one +of the Apostles says, 'Whatsoever things were written aforetime were +written for our advantage, that we, through the encouragement ministered +by the Scriptures, might have hope'; and looking forward into all the +future, might discern its wastes unknown, all lighted up by the one glad +certainty that He that is 'the same yesterday and to-day and for ever' +will be there, and we shall be beside Him. What God has done, He will +keep on doing. 'The Lord hath delivered mine eyes from tears, and my +feet from falling,' and therefore 'I shall walk before the Lord in the +land of the living.' + +Our experience yields fuel for our faith. We have been near death many a +time; we have never fallen into it. Our eyes have been wet many a time; +God has dried them. Our feet have been ready to fall many a time, and if +at the moment when we were tottering on the edge of the precipice, we +have cried to Him and said, 'My feet have well-nigh slipped,' a strong +Hand has been held out to us. 'The Lord upholdeth them that are in the +act of falling,' as the old psalm, rightly rendered, has it, and if we +have pushed aside His hand, and gone down, then the next clause of the +same verse applies, for He 'raiseth up those that have fallen,' and are +lying prostrate. + +As it has been, so it will be. 'Thou hast been with me in six troubles,' +therefore 'in the seventh Thou wilt not forsake me.' We can wear out +men; and we cannot argue that because a man has had long patience with +some unworthy recipient of his goodness, his patience will never give +out. But it is safe to argue thus about God. 'I say not unto thee, until +seven times, but until seventy times seven'--the two perfect numbers +multiplied into each other, and the product again multiplied by one of +them, to give the measureless measure of the exhaustless divine love, +and the sure guarantee that to His servant 'to-morrow shall be as this +day, and much more abundant.' + +Then, again, if we put a little different meaning into the Psalmist's +words (and as I said, I think both meanings lie in them), they suggest +that he did not look forward into the future only with expectation, but +that along with expectation there was resolve. So we have here + +II. A firm resolve. + +'I will walk before the Lord.' What does 'walking before the Lord' mean? +There are two or three expressions very like each other, yet entirely +different from each other, in the Old and in the New Testament, about +this matter. We read of 'walking with God,' and of 'walking before God,' +and of 'walking after God.' And whilst there is much that is common to +all the expressions, they look at the same idea from different angles. +'Walking with God,' communion, fellowship, and companionship are implied +there. 'Walking after God,' guidance, direction, and example, and our +poor imitation and obedience, are most conspicuous there. And 'walking +before God' means, I suppose, mainly, feeling always that we are in His +presence, and have the light of His face, and the glance of His +all-seeing eye, falling upon us. 'If I take the wings of the morning, +and fly into the uttermost parts of the sea, Thou art there.' 'Thou art +acquainted with all my ways, search me, O God!' That is walking before +God. To put it into colder words, it means the habitual--I do not say +unbroken, but habitual--effort to feel in our conscious hearts that we +are in His sight; not only that we are with Him, but that we are 'naked +and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.' And that is to be +the result, says our psalm, as it is the intention, of all that God has +been doing with us in His merciful providence, in His quickening, +sustaining, and comforting influences in the past. He sent all these +varying conditions, kept the psalmist alive, kept him from weeping, or +dried his tears, kept him from falling, with the intention that he +should be continually blessed in the continuous sunshine of God's +presence, and should open out his heart in it and for it, like a flower +when the sunbeams strike it. Oh! how different life would look if we +habitually took hold of all its incidents by that handle, and thought +about them, not as we are accustomed to do, according to whether they +tended to make us glad or sorry, to disappoint or fulfil our hopes and +purposes, but looked upon them all as stages in our education, and as +intended, if I might so say, to force us, when the tempests blow, close +up against God; and when the sunshine came, to woo us to His side. Would +not all life change its aspect if we carried that thought right into it, +and did not only keep it for Sundays, or for the crises of our lives, +but looked at all the trifles as so many magnets brought into action by +Him to attract us to Himself? Dear brother, it is not enough to +recognise God's purpose, we must fall in with it, accept the intention, +and co-operate with God in fulfilling it. It is a matter of purity and +of piety, to say, 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death, that I may +walk before Thee.' + +But there has to be something more. There have to be a firm resolve, and +effort without which the firmest resolve will all come to nothing, and +be one more paving-stone for the road that is 'paved with good +intentions.' That firm resolve finds utterance in the not vain vow, 'I +will'--in spite of all opposition and difficulties--'I will walk before +the Lord,' and keep ever bright in my mind the thought, 'Thou God seest +me.' + +Ay! and just in the measure in which we do so shall we have joy. In some +of those inhuman prisons where they go in for solitary confinement, +there is a little hole somewhere in the wall--the prisoner does not know +where--at which at any moment in the four-and-twenty hours the eye of +the gaoler may be, and they say that the thought of that unseen eye, +glaring in upon the felons, drives some of them half mad. The thought +that poor Hagar found to be her only comfort in the wilderness--and so +christened the well after it--'Thou God seest me,' must be the source of +our purest joy; or it must be a ghastly dread. When He comes at last, +some men will lift up their faces to the sunshine and have their faces +irradiated by the light; and some will call on the rocks and the hills +to cover them from His face, and prefer rather to be crushed than to be +blasted by the brightness of His countenance. If we are right with God, +then the gladdest of thoughts is, 'Thou knowest me altogether, and Thou +hast beset me behind and before.' If we are right with God, 'Thou hast +laid Thine hand upon me' will mean for us support and blessing. If we +are wrong, it will mean a weight that crushes to the earth. + +And if we are right with Him, that same thought brings with it security +and companionship. Ah! we do not need ever to say 'I am alone' if we are +walking before God. It brings with it, of course, an armour against +temptation. What mean, lustful, worldly seduction has any power when a +man falls back on the thought, 'God sees me, and God is with me'? Do you +remember the very first instance in Scripture of the use of this phrase? +The Lord said unto Abraham, 'Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.' That +was not only a commandment, but it was a promise, and we might as truly, +for the sense of the passage, read, 'Walk before Me, and thou shalt be +perfect.' That thought of the present God draws the teeth of all raging +lions, and takes the stings out of all serpents, and paralyses and +reduces to absolute nothingness every temptation. Clasp God's hand, and +you will not fall. + +III. There is lastly here, a far-reaching hope. + +I do not know whether the Psalmist had any notion of any land of the +living except the land of Earth, where men pass their natural lives. I +almost think that both he and his brother, whose words he was imitating, +had some glimpse of a future life of closer union, when eyes should no +more weep nor feet fall. At any rate, you and I cannot help reading that +hope into his words. When we read, 'I will walk before the Lord in the +land of the living,' we cannot but think of the true and perfect +deliverance, when it shall be said, with a depth and a fulness of +meaning with which it is never said here, 'Thou hast delivered my soul +from death,' and the black dread that towered so high, and closed the +vista of all human expectation of the future, is now away back in the +past, hull-down on the horizon as they say about ships scarcely visible, +and no more to be feared. We cannot but think of the perfect deliverance +of 'mine eyes from tears,' when 'God shall wipe away the tears from off +all faces, and the rebuke of His people from off all the earth.' We +cannot but think of the perfect deliverance of 'my feet from falling' +when the redeemed of the Lord shall stand firm, and walk at liberty on +the golden pavements, and no more dread the stumbling-blocks of earth. +We cannot but think of the perfect presence of God, the perfect +consciousness that we are near Him, when He shall 'present us faultless +before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.' We cannot but +think of the perfect activity of that future state when we 'shall walk +with Him in white,' and 'follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' And +one guarantee for all that far-reaching hope is in the tiny experiences +of the present; for He who hath delivered our souls from death, our eyes +from tears, and our feet from falling, is not going to expose Himself to +the scoff, 'This "God" began to build, and was not able to finish.' But +He will complete that which He has begun, and will not stay His hand +until all His children are perfectly redeemed and perfectly conscious of +His perfect Presence. + + + + +REQUITING GOD + + + 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? + 13. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the + Lord.'--PSALM cxvi. 12, 13. + +There may possibly be a reference here to a part of the Passover ritual. +It seems to have become the custom in later times to lift high the wine +cup at that feast and drink it with solemn invocation and glad +thanksgiving. So we find our Lord taking the cup--the 'cup of blessing' +as Paul calls it--and giving thanks. But as there is no record of the +introduction of that addition to the original Paschal celebration, we do +not know but that it was later than the date of this psalm. Nor is there +any need to suppose such an allusion in order either to explain or to +give picturesque force to the words. It is a most natural thing, as all +languages show, to talk of a man's lot, either of sorrow or joy, as the +cup which he has to drink; and there are numerous instances of the +metaphor in the Psalms, such as 'Thou art the Portion of mine +inheritance and of my cup, Thou maintainest my lot.' 'My cup runneth +over.' That familiar emblem is all that is wanted here. + +Then one other point in reference to the mere words of the text may be +noticed. 'Salvation' can scarcely be taken in its highest meaning here, +both because the whole tone of the psalm fixes its reference to lower +blessings, and because it is in the plural in the Hebrew. 'The cup of +salvation' expresses, by that plural form, the fulness and variety of +the manifold and multiform deliverances which God had wrought and was +working for the Psalmist. His whole lot in life appears to him as a cup +full of tender goodness, loving faithfulness, delivering grace. It runs +over with divine acts of help and sustenance. As his grateful heart +thinks of all God's benefits to him, he feels at once the impulse to +requite and the impossibility of doing so. With a kind of glad despair +he asks the question that ever springs to thankful lips, and having +nothing to give, recognises the only possible return to God to be the +acceptance of the brimming chalice which His goodness commends to his +thirst. + +The great thought, then, which lies here is that we best requite God by +thankfully taking what He gives. + +Now I note to begin with--how deep that thought goes into the heart of +God. + +Why is it that we honour God most by taking, not by giving? The first +answer that occurs to you, no doubt, is--because of His all-sufficiency +and our emptiness. Man receives all. God needs nothing. We have all to +say, after all our service, 'Of Thine own have we given Thee.' No doubt +that is quite true; and rightly understood that is a strengthening and a +glad truth. But is that all which can be said in explanation of this +principle? Surely not. 'If I were hungry I would not tell thee; for the +world is mine and the fulness thereof,' is a grand word, but it does not +give all the truth. When Paul stood on Mars Hill, and, within sight of +the fair images of the Parthenon, shattered the intellectual basis of +idolatry, by proclaiming a God 'not worshipped with men's hands as +though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all men all things,' that +truth, mighty as it is, is not all. We requite God by taking rather than +by giving, not merely because He needs nothing, and we have nothing +which is not His. If that were all, it might be as true of an almighty +tyrant, and might be so used as to forbid all worship before the gloomy +presence, to give reverence and love to whom were as impertinent as the +grossest offerings of savage idolaters. But the motive of His giving to +us is the deepest reason why our best recompense to Him is our thankful +reception of His mercies. The principle of our text reposes at last on +'God is love and wishes our hearts,' and not merely on 'God has all and +does not need our gifts.' + +Take the illustration from our own love and gifts. Do we not feel that +all the beauty and bloom of a gift is gone if the giver hopes to receive +as much again? Do we not feel that it is all gone if the receiver thinks +of repaying it in any coin but that of the heart? Love gives because it +delights in giving. It gives that it may express itself and may bless +the recipient. If there be any thought of return it is only the return +of love. And that is how God gives. As James puts it, He is 'the giving +God,--who gives,' not as our version inadequately renders, 'liberally,' +but 'simply'--that is, I suppose, with a single eye, without any +ulterior view to personal advantage, from the impulse of love alone, and +having no end but our good. Therefore it is, because of that pure, +perfect love, that He delights in no recompense, but only in the payment +of a heart won to His love and melted by His mercies. Therefore it is +that His hand is outstretched, 'hoping for nothing again.' His Almighty +all-sufficiency needs nought from us, and to all heathen notions of +worship and tribute puts the question: 'Do ye requite the Lord, O +foolish people and unwise?' But His deep heart of love desires and +delights in the echo of its own tones that is evoked among the rocky +hardnesses of our hearts, and is glad when we take the full cup of His +blessings and, as we raise it to our lips, call on the name of the Lord. +Is not that a great and a gracious thought of our God and of His great +purpose in His mercies? + +But now let us look for a moment at the elements which make up this +requital of God in which He delights. And, first I put a very simple and +obvious one, let us be sure that we recognise the real contents of our +cup. It _is_ a cup of salvations, however hard it is sometimes to +believe it. Of how much blessing and happiness we all rob ourselves by +our slowness to feel that! Some of us by reason of natural temperament; +some of us by reason of the pressure of anxieties, and the aching of +sorrows, and the bleeding of wounds; some of us by reason of mere +blindness to the true character of our present, have little joyous sense +of the real brightness of our days. It seems as if joys must have passed +and be seen in the transfiguring light of memory, before we can discern +their fairness; and then, when their place is empty, we know that we +were entertaining angels unawares. Many men and women live in the gloom +of a lifelong regret for the loss of some gift which, when they had it, +seemed nothing very extraordinary, and could not keep them from +annoyance with trifles. Common sense and reasonable regard for our own +happiness and religious duty unite, as they always do, in bidding us +take care that we know our blessings. Do not let custom blind you to +them. Do not let tears so fill your eyes that you cannot see the +goodness of the Lord. Do not let thunderclouds, however heavy their +lurid piles, shut out from you the blue that is in your sky. Do not let +the empty cup be your first teacher of the blessings you had when it was +full. Do not let a hard place here and there in the bed destroy your +rest. Seek, as a plain duty, to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the +crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life. Take full account of all +the pains, all the bitter ingredients, remembering that for us weak and +sinful men the bitter is needful. If still the cup seem charged with +distasteful draught, remember whose lip has touched its rim, leaving its +sacred kiss there, and whose hand holds it out to you while He says, 'Do +this in remembrance of Me.' The cup which my Saviour giveth me, can it +be anything but a cup of salvations? + +Then, again, another of the elements of this requital of God is--be sure +that you take what God gives. + +There can be no greater slight and dishonour to a giver than to have his +gifts neglected. You give something that has, perhaps, cost you much, or +which at any rate has your heart in it, to your child, or other dear +one; would it not wound you if a day or two after you found it tossing +about among a heap of unregarded trifles? Suppose that some of those +Rajahs who received presents on a royal visit to India had gone out from +the durbar and flung them into the kennel, that would have been insult +and disaffection, would it not? But these illustrations are trivial by +the side of our treatment of the 'giving God.' Surely of all the follies +and crimes of our foolish and criminal race, there is none to match +this--that we will not take and make our own the things that are freely +given to us of God. This is the height of all madness; this is the +lowest depth of all sin. He spares not His own Son, the Son spares not +Himself, the Father gives up His Son for us all because He loves, the +Son loves us, and gives Himself to us and for us, and we stand with our +hands folded on our breasts, will not condescend so much as to stretch +them out, or hold our blessings with so slack a grasp that at any time +we may let them slip through our careless fingers. He prays us with much +entreaty to receive the gift, and neglect and stolid indifference are +His requital. Is there anything worse than that? Surely Scripture is +right when it makes the sin of sins that unbelief, which is at bottom +nothing else than a refusal to take the cup of salvation. Surely no +sharper grief can be inflicted on the Spirit of God than when we leave +His gifts neglected and unappropriated. + +In the highest region of all, how many of these there are which we treat +so! A Saviour and His pardoning blood; a Spirit and His quickening +energies; that eternal life which might spring in our souls a fountain +of living waters--all these are ours. Are we as strong as we might be if +we used the strength which we have? How comes it that with the fulness +of God at our sides we are empty; that with the word of God in our hands +we know so little; that with the Spirit of God in our hearts we are so +fleshly; that with the joy of our God for our portion we are so +troubled; that with the heart of God for our hiding-place we are so +defenceless? 'We have all and abound,' and yet we are poor and needy, +like some infatuated beggar, in rags and wretchedness, to whom wealth +had been given which he would not use. + +In the lower region of daily life and common mercies the same strange +slowness to take what we have is found. There are very few men who +really make the best of their circumstances. Most of us are far less +happy than we might be, if we had learned the divine art of wringing the +last drop of good out of everything. After our rude attempts at smelting +there is a great deal of valuable metal left in the dross, which a wiser +system would extract. One wonders when one gets a glimpse of how much of +the raw material of happiness goes to waste in the manufacture in all +our lives. There is so little to spare, and yet so much is flung away. +It needs a great deal of practical wisdom, and a great deal of strong, +manly Christian principle, to make the most of what God gives us. +Watchfulness, self-restraint, the power of suppressing anxieties and +taking no thought for the morrow, and most of all, the habitual temper +of fellowship with God, which is the most potent agent in the chemistry +that extracts its healing virtue from everything--all these are wanted. +The lesson is worth learning, lest we should wound that most tender +Love, and lest we should impoverish and hurt ourselves. Do not complain +of your thirsty lips till you are sure that you have emptied the cup of +salvation which God gives. + +One more element of this requital of God has still to be named, the +thankful recognition of Him in all our feasting--'call on the name of +the Lord.' Without this the preceding precept would be a piece of pure +selfish Epicureanism--and without this it would be impossible. Only he +who enjoys life in God enjoys it worthily. Only he who enjoys life in +God enjoys it at all. This is the true infusion which gives sweetness to +whatever of bitter, and more of sweetness to whatever of sweet, the cup +may contain, when the name of the Lord is pronounced above it. The +Jewish father at the Passover feast solemnly lifted the wine cup above +his head, and drank with thanksgiving. The meal became a sacrament. So +here the word rendered 'take' might be translated 'raise,' and we may be +intended to have the picture as emblematical of our consecration to all +our blessings by a like offering of them before God and a like invoking +of the Giver. + +Christ gave us not only the ritual of an ordinance, but the pattern for +our lives, when He 'took the cup and gave thanks.' So common joys become +sacraments, enjoyment becomes worship, and the cup which holds the +bitter or the sweet skilfully mingled for our lives becomes the cup of +blessing and salvation drank in remembrance of Him. If we carried that +spirit with us into all our small duties, sorrows, and gladnesses, how +different they would all seem! We should then drink for strength, not +for drunkenness. We should not then find that God's gifts hid Him from +us. We should neither leave any of them unused nor so greedily grasp +them that we let His hand go. Nothing would be too great for us to +attempt, nothing too small for us to put our strength into. There would +be no discord between earthly gladness and heavenly desires, nor any +repugnance at what He held to our lips. We should drink of the cup of +His benefits, and all would be sweet--until we drew nearer and slaked +our thirst at the river of His pleasures and the Fountain-head itself. + +One more word. There is an old legend of an enchanted cup filled with +poison, and put treacherously into a king's hand. He signed the sign of +the Cross and named the name of God over it, and it shivered in his +grasp. Do you take that name of the Lord as a test. Name Him over many a +cup of which you are eager to drink, and the glittering fragments will +lie at your feet, and the poison be spilled on the ground. What you +cannot lift before His pure eyes and think of Him while you enjoy is not +for you. Friendships, schemes, plans, ambitions, amusements, +speculations, studies, loves, businesses--can you call on the name of +the Lord while you put these cups to your lips? If not, fling them +behind you--for they are full of poison which, for all its sugared +sweetness, at the last will 'bite like a serpent and sting like an +adder.' + + + + +A CLEANSED WAY + + + 'Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed + thereto according to Thy word.'--PSALM cxix. 9. + +There are many questions about the future with which it is natural for +you young people to occupy yourselves; but I am afraid that the most of +you ask more anxiously 'How shall I _make_ my way?' than 'How shall I +_cleanse_ it?' It is needful carefully to ponder the questions: 'How +shall I get on in the world--be happy, fortunate?' and the like, and I +suppose that that is the consideration which presses with special force +upon a great many of you. Now I want you to think of another question: +'How shall I _cleanse_ my way?' For purity is the best thing; and to be +good is a wiser as well as a nobler object of ambition than any other. +So my object is just to try and urge upon my dear young friends before +me the serious consideration for a while of this grave question of my +text, and the answers which are given to it. + +If I can get you once to be smitten with a passion for purity, all but +everything is gained. But I shall not be content if even that is the +issue of my pleading with you now, for I want to have you all +Christians. And that is why I have asked you to listen to what I have to +say to you on this occasion. + +I. So, first, we have here the great practical problem for life: +'Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?' Or, in other words, +'How may I live a pure and a noble life?' + +It is a question, of course, for everybody: it is _the_ question for +everybody, but it is more especially one for you young people. And I +wish to urge it upon you for two or three reasons, which I very briefly +specify. + +First, I desire to press upon you this question, because, as I have +said, you are under special temptations not to ask it. There are so many +other points in your future unresolved, that you are only too apt to put +aside the consideration of this one in favour of those which seem to be +of more pressing and immediate importance. And you have the other +temptation, common to us all, but especially attending you as young +people, of living without any plan of life at all. The sin and the +misery of half the world are that they live from hand to mouth, knowing +why they do each single action at the moment, but never looking a dozen +inches beyond their noses to see where all the actions taken together +tend; and so being just like weathercocks, whirled round by every wind +of temptation that comes to them. If they are good or pure they are so +by accident, by impulse, or because they have never been tempted. They +have no definite plan or theory of life which they could put into words +if anybody asked them on what principles, and for what end, and towards +what objects they were living. And as everybody is tempted into such an +unreflecting way of life, so you especially are tempted to it, because +at your age judgment and experience are not so strong as inclination and +passion; and everything has got the fresh gloss of novelty upon it, and +it seems to be sometimes sufficient delight to live and get hold of the +new joys that are flooding in upon you. And therefore I want you to stop +and for a moment think whether you have any plan of life that bears +being put into words, whether you can tell God and your own consciences +what you are living for. + +And I urge this question upon you for another reason--because it is +worth while for _you_ to ask it. For you have still the prerogative that +some of us have lost, of determining the shape that your life's course +is to take. The path that you are going to tread lies all unmarked out +across the plain of life. You may be pretty nearly what you like. Life +is before you, with great blessed possibilities; it is behind some of +us. All the long years which you may probably have are all plastic in +your hands yet; they are moulded into a rigid shape for men like me. We +have made our beds, and we must lie on them. You have your life in your +own hands; therefore, I beseech you, while you have not to ask this +question with the bitter meaning with which old men that have made their +paths, and made them filthy, have to ask it--'How shall an _old_ man +cleanse his way, and get rid of the filth?'--consider how you may secure +that your way in the untrodden future shall be clean, and do not rest +till you get an answer. + +And I press it upon you for another reason, because you have special +temptations to make your ways unclean. It is a fearful ordeal that every +young man and woman has to face, as he or she steps across the dividing +boundary between childhood and youth, when parental authority is +weakened, and the leading-strings are loosened, and the young swimmer is +as it were cut away from the buoys, and has to battle with the waves +alone. There are hundreds of young men in Manchester, there are many of +them here now, who have come up into this great city from quiet country +homes where they were shielded by the safeguards of a father's and a +mother's love and care, and have been flung into this place, with its +every street swarming with temptation, and companions on the benches of +the university, at the desks, in the warehouses, and the workshops, +leading them away into evil and teaching them the devil's +alphabet--young men with their evenings vacant and with no home. Am I +speaking to any such standing in slippery places? Oh, my young friend! +there is nothing in all these temptations, the fascinations of which you +are beginning to find out, there is nothing in them all worth soiling +your fingers for; there is nothing in them all that will pay you for the +loss of your innocence. There is nothing in them all except a fair +outside with poison at the core. You see the 'primrose path'; you do not +see, to use Shakespeare's solemn words, 'the everlasting burnings' to +which it leads. And so I plead with you all, young men and women, to lay +this question to heart; and I beseech you to credit me when I say to you +that you have not yet touched the gravest and the most pressing problem +of life unless you have asked yourselves in a serious mood of deep +reflection, 'Wherewithal shall I cleanse my way?' + +II. So much for the first point to which I ask your attention. Now, +secondly, look at this answer, which tells us that we can only make our +way clean on condition of constant watchfulness. 'By taking heed +thereto.' + +That seems a very plain, simple, common-sense answer. The best made road +wants looking after if it is to be kept in repair. What would become of +a railway that had no surfacemen and platelayers going along the line +and noticing whether anything was amiss? I remember once seeing a bit of +an old Roman road; the lava blocks were there, but for want of care, +here a young sapling had grown up between two of them and had driven +them apart; there they were split by the frost, here was a great ugly +gap full of mud; and the whole thing ended in a jungle. How shall a man +keep his road in repair? 'By taking heed thereto.' Things that are left +to go anyhow in this world have a strange knack of going one how. You do +not need anything else than negligence to ensure that things will come +to grief. + +And so, at first sight, my text simply seems to preach the plain truth: +if you want to keep your road right, look after it. But if you look at +your Bibles, you will see that the word 'thereto' is a supplement, and +that all that the Psalmist really says is 'by taking heed.' And perhaps +it is to himself rather than to his 'way' that a man is exhorted to +'take heed.' 'Take heed to thyself' is the only condition of a pure and +noble life. + +That such a condition is necessary, will appear very plain from two +considerations. First, it is clear that there must be constant +watchfulness, if we consider what sort of a world this is that we have +got into And it is also plain, if we consider what sort of creatures we +are that have got into it. + +First, it is plain if we consider what sort of a world this is that we +have got into. It is a world a great deal fuller of inducements to do +wrong than of inducements to do right; a world in which there are a +great many bad things that have a deceptive appearance of pleasure; a +great many circumstances in which it seems far easier to follow the +worse than to follow the better course. And so, unless a man has learned +the great art of saying 'No!' 'So did not I because of the fear of the +Lord'; he will come to rack and ruin without a doubt. There are more +things round about you that will tempt you downwards than will draw you +upwards, and your only security is constant watchfulness. As George +Herbert says:-- + + 'Who keeps no guard upon himself is slack, + And rots to nothing at the next great thaw.' + +And that is what will happen to you, as sure as you are living, in spite +of all your good resolutions, unless you back up those resolutions with +perpetual jealous watchfulness over yourselves. 'Keep thy heart with all +diligence.' + +And the same lesson is pealed out to us if we consider what sort of +creatures we are that have got into this world all full of wickedness. +We are creatures evidently made for self-government. Our whole nature is +like a monarchy. There are things in each of us that are never meant to +rule, but to be kept well down under control, such as strong passions, +desires rooted in the flesh which are not meant to get the mastery of a +man, and there are parts of our nature which are as obviously intended +to be supreme and sovereign: the reason, the conscience, the will. + +There is a deal of pestilent talk which one sometimes hears, amongst +young men especially, about 'following nature.' Yes! I say, 'Follow +nature!' and nature says, 'Let the man govern the animal!' and 'Do not +set beggars on horseback,' nor allow your passions to guide you, but +keep a tight hand on them, suppress them, scourge them, rule them by +your reason, by your conscience, and by your will. + +Suppose a man were to say about a steamship, 'The structure of this +vessel shows that it is meant that we should get a roaring fire up in +the furnaces, and set the engines going at full speed, and let her go as +she will.' Would he not have left out of account that there was a +steering apparatus, which was as plainly meant to guide as are the +engines to drive? What are the rudder and the wheel for?--do they not +imply a pilot? and is not the make of our souls as plainly suggestive of +subordination and control? Doth not nature itself teach you that you do +not follow, but outrage, nature, when you let your passions rule, and +that you only then follow nature when you bow the whole man under the +dominion of the conscience, and when conscience stands waiting for the +voice of God? + + 'Unless above himself he can erect + Himself, how mean a thing is man!' + +You are called upon by the very world that you have come into, and by +the very sort of person that you yourself are, to exercise that +perpetual watchfulness which is the only condition of cleansing your +way. There must be a strong guard on the frontier, which shall examine +all the thoughts and purposes and desires that would pass out, and all +the temptations and seductions that would pass in; and take care that +none shall pass which cannot bring the King's warrant, 'Keep thy heart +with diligence.' 'Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By +taking heed thereto.' + +III. This constant watchfulness, to be of any use, must be regulated by +God's Word. 'Taking heed thereto, according to Thy word.' + +The guard on the frontier who is to keep the path must have instructions +from headquarters, and not choose and decide according to their own +phantasy, but according to the King's orders. Or to use another +metaphor, it is no use having a guard unless the guard has a lantern, +and the lantern and light is the Word of God. + +That brings me to say, and only in a word or two, how inadequate for the +task of regulating our own lives our own watchfulness is. Conscience is +the captain of the guard, and there is only one judgment in which +conscience is always and infallibly right, and that is when it says, 'It +is right to do right; and it is wrong to do wrong.' But when you begin +to ask conscience, 'And, pray, what _is_ right and what _is_ wrong?' it +is by no means invariably to be trusted; for you can educate conscience +up or down to almost anything; and you can warp conscience, and you can +bribe conscience, and you can stifle conscience. And so it is not enough +that we should exercise the most watchful care over our course, and +decide upon the right and the wrong of it by our own judgments; we may +be fearfully wrong notwithstanding it all. It is not enough for a man to +have a good watch in his pocket unless now and then he can get Greenwich +time by which he can set it, and unless that has been secured by taking +an observation of the sun. And so you cannot trust to anything in +yourselves for the guidance of your own way or for the determination of +your duty, but you must look to that higher Wisdom that has condescended +to speak to us, and give us in this Book the revelation of its will. Men +rebel against the moral law of the Bible, and speak of it as if it were +a restraint and a sharp taskmaster. Ah, no! It is one of the greatest +tokens of God's infinite love to us that He has not left us to grope our +way amidst the illusions of our own judgments, and the questionable +shapes of human conceptions of right and wrong, but that He has declared +to us His own character for the standard of all perfection, and given us +in the human life of the Son of His love the all-sufficient pattern for +every life. + +So I need not dwell at any length upon the thought that in that word of +God, in its whole sweep, and eminently and especially in Christ, who is +the Incarnate Word, we have an all-sufficient Guide. A guide of conduct +must be plain--and whatever doubts and difficulties there may be about +the doctrines of Christianity there is none about its morality. A guide +of conduct must be decisive--and there is no faltering in the utterance +of the Book as to right and wrong. A guide of conduct must be capable of +application to the wide diversities of character, age, circumstance--and +the morality of the New Testament especially, and of the Old in a +measure, secures that, because it does not trouble itself about minute +details, but deals with large principles. The morality of the Gospel, if +I may so say, is a morality of centres, not of circumferences; of +germinal principles, not of special prescriptions. A guide for morals +must be far in advance of the followers, and it has taken generations +and centuries to work into men's consciences, and to work out in men's +practice, _a portion_ of the morality of that Book. People tell us that +Christianity is worn out. Ah! it will not be worn out until all its +moral teaching has become part of the practice of the world, and that +will not be for a year or two! The men that care least about Christian +doctrines are foremost to admit that the Sermon on the Mount is the +noblest code of morality that has ever been promulgated. If the world +kept the commandments of the New Testament, the world would be in the +Millennium; and all the sin and crime, and ninety-nine-hundredths of all +the sorrow, of earth would have vanished like an ugly dream. Here is the +guide for you, and if you take it you will not err. + +My dear young friend! did you ever try to measure one day's actions by +the standard of this Book? Let me press upon you this: Cultivate the +habit--the habit of bringing all that you do side by side with this +light; as a scholar in some school of art will take his feeble copy, and +hold it by the side of the masterpiece, and compare line for line, and +tint for tint. Take your life, and put it by the side of the Great Life, +and you will begin to find out how 'according to Thy word' is the only +standard by which to set your lives. + +IV. And now I have one last thing to say. All this can only be done +effectually if you are a Christian. My psalm does not go to the bottom; +it goes as far as the measure of revelation granted to its author +admitted; but if a person had no more to say than that, it would be a +weary business. It is no use to tell a man, 'Guard yourself, guard +yourself,' nor even to tell him, 'Guard yourself according to God's +word,' if God's word is only a _law_. + +The fatal defect of all attempts at keeping my heart by my own +watchfulness is that keeper and kept are one and the same, and so there +may be mutiny in the garrison, and the very forces that ought to subdue +the rebellion may have gone over to the rebels. You want a power outside +of you to steady you. The only way to haul a boat up the rapids is to +have some fixed point on the shore to which a man may fasten a rope and +pull at that. You get that eternal guard and fixed point by which to +hold in Jesus Christ, the dear Son of God's love, who has died for you. + +You want another motive to be brought to bear upon your conduct, and +upon your convictions and your will mightier than any that now influence +them; and you get that if you will yield yourself to the love that has +come down from heaven to save you, and says to you, 'If you love Me, +keep My commandments.' You want for keeping yourself and cleansing your +way reinforcements to your own inward vigour, and you will get these if +you will trust to Jesus Christ, who will breathe into you the Spirit of +His own life, which will make you 'free from the law of sin and death.' + +You want, if your path is to be cleansed--the youngest of you, the most +tenderly nurtured, the purest, the most innocent wants--forgiveness for +a past path, which is in some measure stained and foul, as well as +strength for the future, to deliver you from the dreadful influence of +the habit of evil. And you get all these, dear friends! in the blood of +Jesus Christ that cleanses from all sin. + +So, standing as you do in the place where two ways meet, and with your +choice yet in your power, I beseech you, turn away from the broad, easy +road that slopes pleasantly downwards, and choose the narrow, steep path +that climbs. Better rocks than mud, better the painful life of +self-restraint and self-denial than the life of pleasing self. + +Oh! choose the better portion, choose Christ for your Leader, your Law, +your Lord! Trust yourselves to that great sacrifice which He made on the +Cross, that all the past for you may be cleansed, and the future may be +swept clear; and, so trusting, be sure He will be with you, to keep you +and to guide you into the path which His own hand has raised above the +filth of the world; the path of holiness, along which you may walk with +feet and garments unstained till you come to Zion, 'with songs and +everlasting joy upon your heads,' and bless Him there for all the way by +which He led you home. + + + + +LIFE HID AND NOT HID + + + 'Thy word have I hid in my heart.'--PSALM cxix. 11. + + 'I have not hid Thy righteousness in my heart.'--PSALM xl. 10. + +Then there are two kinds of hiding--one right and one wrong: one +essential to the life of the Christian, one inconsistent with it. He is +a shallow Christian who has no secret depths in his religion. He is a +cowardly or a lazy one, at all events an unworthy one, who does not +exhibit, to the utmost of his power, his religion. It is bad to have all +the goods in the shop window; it is just as bad to have them all in the +cellar. There are two aspects of the Christian life--one between God and +myself, with which no stranger intermeddles; one patent to all the +world. My two texts touch these two. + +I. 'I have hid Thy word within my heart.' There we have the word hidden, +or the secret religion of the heart. + +Now, I have often had occasion to remind you that the Old Testament use +of the word 'heart' is much wider than our modern one, which limits it +to being the seat and organ of love, affection, or emotion; whereas in +the Old Testament the 'heart' is the very vital centre of the personal +self. As the Book of Proverbs has it, 'out of it are the issues of +life,' all the outgoings of activity of every kind, both that which we +ascribe to the head, and that which we ascribe to the heart. These come, +according to the Old Testament idea, from this central self. And so, +when the Psalmist says, 'I have hid Thy word within my heart,' he means +'I have buried it deep in the very midst of my being, and put it down at +the very roots of myself, and there incorporated it with the very +substance of my soul.' + +Now, I venture to take that expression, 'Thy word,' in a somewhat wider +sense than the Psalmist employed it. There are three ideas conveyed by +that expression in Scripture; and two of them are distinctly found in +this psalm. + +First, there is the plain, obvious one, which means by 'the word,' +written revelation. The Bible of the Psalmist was a very small volume +compared with ours. The Pentateuch, and perhaps some of the historical +books, possibly also one or two of the prophets--and these were about +all. Yet this fragmentary word he 'hid in his heart.' Now, dear +brethren! I wish to say a very practical thing or two, and I begin with +this. If you want to be strong Christian people, hide the Bible in your +heart. When I was a boy the practice of good Christian folk was to read +a daily chapter. I wonder if that is kept up. I gravely suspect it is +not. There are, no doubt, a great many causes contributing to the +comparative decay amongst professing Christians, of Bible reading and +Bible study. There is modern 'higher criticism,' which has a great deal +to say about how and when the books were made, especially the books that +composed this Psalmist's Bible. But I want to insist that no theories, +were they ever so well established--as I take leave to say they are +not--no theories about these secondary questions touch the value of +Scripture as a factor in the development of the Christian life. Whatever +a man may think about these, he will be none the less alive, if he is +wise, to the importance of the daily devotional study of Scripture. + +Then there is another set of reasons for the neglect of Scripture, in +the multiplication of other forms of literature. People have so many +other books to read now, that they have not much time for reading their +Bibles, or if they have, they think they have not. No literature will +ever take the place of the old Book. Why, even looked at as a mere +literary product there is nothing in the world like it! And no religious +literature, sermons, treatises, still less magazines and periodicals, +will do for Christian men what the Bible will do for them. You make a +tremendous mistake, for your own souls' sake, if your religious reading +consists in what people have said and thought about Scripture, more than +in the Scripture itself. Why should you dip your pitchers into the +reservoir, when you can take them up to where the spring comes gushing +out of the hillside, pure and limpid and living? + +Then there is the drive of our modern life which crowds out the word. +Get up a quarter of an hour earlier and you will have time to read your +Bible. It will be well worth the sacrifice, if it is a sacrifice. I do +not mean by reading the Bible what, I am afraid, is far too common, +reading a scrap of Scripture as if it were a kind of charm. But I would +most earnestly press upon you that muscle and fibre will distinctly +atrophy and become enfeebled, if Christian people neglect the first +plain way of hiding the word in their heart, which is to make the +utterances of Scripture as if incorporated with their very being, and +part of their very selves. + +But there is another use of the expression, 'Thy word,' which is not +without example in this great psalm of praise of the word. In one place +in it we read, 'For ever, O Lord! Thy word is settled in heaven'; that +is not the Bible. 'Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. They +continue this day according to Thy ordinances'; these are not the +Bible--'for all are Thy servants.' 'Unless Thy law had been my delight, +I should have perished in my afflictions'; I think that is not the Bible +either, but it is the utterance of God's will, as expressed in the +Psalmist's affliction. God's word comes to us in His providences and in +many other ways. It is the declaration of His character and purposes, +however they are declared, and the expression of His will and command, +however expressed. In that wider sense of the phrase, I would say, 'Hide +that manifested will of God in your hearts.' Let us cultivate the habit +of bringing all 'the issues of life'--the streams that bubble up from +that fountain in the centre of our being--into close relation to what we +know to be God's will concerning us. Let the thought of the will of God +sit sovereign arbiter, enthroned in the very centre of our personality, +ruling our will, bending it and making it yielding and conformed to His, +governing our affections, regulating our passions, restraining our +desires, stimulating our slothfulness, quickening our aspirations, +lifting heavenwards our hopes, and bringing the whole of the activities +that well up from our hearts into touch with the will of God. Cast the +healing branch into the very eye of the fountain, and then all the +streams will partake of the cleansing. Let that known will of God be as +the leaven hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. A +fanciful interpretation of that emblem makes the three measures to mean +the triple constituents of humanity, body, soul, and spirit. We may +smile at the fantastic exposition, but let us take heed to obey the +exhortation. When God's will is deeply planted within, it will work +quickening change on the heavy dough of our sluggish natures. It is when +we bring the springs of our actions--namely, our motives, which are our +true selves--into touch with His uttered will, that our deeds become +conformed to it. Look after the motives, and the deeds will look after +themselves. 'I have hid Thy word within my heart.' + +And now I venture upon a further application of this phrase, of which +the Psalmist had no notion, but which, in God's great mercy, in the +progress of revelation, we can make. There is a better word of God than +the Bible; there is a better word of God than any will uttered in His +providences and the like. There is the Incarnate Word of God, who 'was +from the beginning with God, and was God,' and is manifested in these +last times unto us. I am keeping well within the analogy of Scripture +teaching when I see the perfecting of revelation by the spoken Word as +reached in the revelation by the personal word; and when, in addition to +the exhortation, to hide the Scripture in your hearts, and to hide the +uttered will of God, however uttered, in your hearts, I add, let us hide +Christ in our hearts. For He will 'dwell in our hearts by faith,' and if +He is shrined within the curtains of the secret place within us, which +is 'the secret place of the Most High,' then, in the courts of the +sanctuary, there will be a pure sacrifice and a priest clad 'in the +beauties of holiness.' + +II. The word not hidden, or the religion of the outward life. + +Our second text brings into view the outer side of the devout life, that +which is turned to the world. The word is to be hidden in the heart, for +this very end of being then revealed in the life. For what other purpose +is it to be set in the centre of our being and applied to the springs of +action, than to mould action, and so to be displayed in conduct? It is +not to be hid like some forgotten and unused treasure in a castle vault, +but to be buried deep in a living person, that it may affect all that +person's character and acts. 'There is nothing hidden, but that it +should come abroad.' The deepest, sacredest, most secret Christian +experiences are to be operative on the outward life. A man may be caught +up into the third heavens and there hear words which mortal speech +cannot utter, but the incommunicable vision should tell on his patience +and fortitude, and influence his Christian work. Nor is our +manifestation of the springs of our action to be confined to conduct. +However eloquent it is, it will be all the more intelligible for the +commentary supplied by confession with the mouth. Speech for Christ is a +Christian obligation. 'What ye hear in the ear, that proclaim ye on the +housetops.' True, there is a legitimate reticence as to the depths of +personal religion, which needs very strong reasons to warrant its being +broken through. Peter told Mark nothing of the interview which he had +with Christ on the Resurrection morning, but he must have told the fact. +We shall do well to be silent as to what passes between Jesus and us in +secret; but we shall not do well if, coming from our private communion +with Him, we do not 'find' some to whom we can say, 'We have found the +Messiah,' and so bring them to Jesus. + +The word, if hid in the heart, will certainly be manifest in the life. +For not only is it impossible for a man who deeply and continually +realises God's will, and lives in touch with Jesus Christ, to prevent +these experiences from visibly affecting His life and conduct, but also +in the measure in which we have that conscious inward possession of the +divine word and the divine Christ we shall be impelled to manifest them +to our fellows by every means in our power. What, then, is the inference +to be drawn from the fact that there are thousands of professing +Christian people in Manchester, who never felt the slightest touch of a +necessity to make known the Master whom they say they serve? They must +be very shallow Christians, having no depth of experience, or that +experience would insist on coming out. True Christian emotion is like a +fire smouldering within some substance, that never rests till it burns +its way to the outside. As one of the prophets puts it, 'I said I will +speak no more in Thy name'; he goes on to tell how his resolve of +silence gave way under the pressure of the unuttered speech--'Thy word +shut up in my bones was like a fire, and I was weary of forbearing and I +could not stay.' So it will always be. Every genuine conviction demands +utterance. A full heart needs the relief of speech. If you feel no need +to show your allegiance and love to Christ by speech as well as by life, +I shrewdly suspect you have little love or allegiance to hide. + +Further, the more we show it, the more need there is for us to cultivate +the hidden element in our religion. If I were talking to ministers I +should have a great deal to say about that. There are preachers who +preach away their own religion. The two attitudes of mind in imparting +and in receiving are wholly different; and if one is allowed to encroach +upon the other, nothing but harm can come. 'As thy servant was busy here +and there, he was gone,'--that is the short account of the decay of +personal religion in many a life outwardly diligent in Christian work. +If there is a proportionate cultivation of the hidden self, then the act +of manifesting will tend to strengthen it. It is meant that our +Christian convictions and affections should grow in strength and in +transforming power upon ourselves, by reason of utterance; just as when +you let air in, the fire burns brighter. But it is quite possible that +we may dissipate and scatter our feeble religion by talking about it; +and some of us may be in danger of that. The loftier you mean to build +your tower, the deeper must be the foundation that you dig. The more any +of us are trying to do for Jesus Christ, the more need there is that we +increase our secret communion with Jesus Christ. + +We may wrongly hide our religion so that it evaporates. Too many +professing Christians put away their religion as careless housewives +might do some precious perfume, and when they go to take it out, they +find nothing but a rotten cork, a faint odour, and an empty flask. Take +care of burying your religion so deep, as dogs do bones, that you cannot +find it again, or if you do discover, when you open the coffin, that it +holds only a handful of dry dust. The heart has two actions. In one it +opens its portals and expands to receive the inflowing blood which is +the life. In the other it contracts to drive the life through the veins. +For health there must be both motions; the receptiveness, in the secret +'hiding of the word in the heart'; the expulsive energy in the 'not +hiding Thy righteousness in my heart.' + + + + +A STRANGER IN THE EARTH + + + 'I am a stranger in the earth: hide not Thy commandments from me.... + 64. The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy: teach me Thy statutes.' + --PSALM cxix. 19, 64. + +There is something very remarkable in the variety-in-monotony of this, +the longest of the psalms. Though it be the longest it is in one sense +the simplest, inasmuch as there is but one thought in it, beaten out +into all manner of forms and based upon all various considerations. It +reminds one of the great violinist who out of one string managed to +bring such music and melody. + +The one thought is the infinite preciousness of God's law, by which, of +course, is not meant the written record of that law which lies in +Scripture, but the utterances of God's law in any form, by which men may +receive it. You will find that that wider signification of the word +'law,' 'commandment,' 'statute,' is essential to the understanding of +every portion of this psalm. + +And now these two petitions which I have put together base the prayer, +which they both offer, in slightly varied form ('Teach me Thy statutes,' +or 'Hide not Thy commandments from me,') upon two diverse +considerations, which, taken in conjunction, are extremely interesting. + +The two facts on which the one petition rests, are like two great piers +on two opposite sides of a river, each of which holds one end of the +arch. 'The earth is full of Thy mercy'; ay! but 'I am a stranger upon +the earth.' These two things are both true, and from each of them, and +still more from both of them taken together, rises up this petition. Let +us look then at the facts, and then at the prayer that is built upon +them. + +Take first that thought of the rejoicing earth, full of God's mercy as +some cup is full of rich wine, or as the flowers in the morning are +filled with dew. The Bible does not look at the external world, the +material universe, from a scientific point of view, nor does it look at +it from a poetical point of view, but from a simply religious one. +Nothing that modern science has taught us to say about the world in the +least affects this principle which the Psalmist lays down, that it is +all full of God's mercy. The thought is intended to exclude man and +man's ways and all connected with him, as we shall see presently, but +the Psalmist looks out upon the earth and all the rest of its +inhabitants, and he is sure of two things: one, that God's direct act is +at work in it all, so as that every creature that lives, and everything +that is, lives and is because God is there, and working there; and next, +that everything about us is the object of loving thoughts of God's; and +has, as it were, some reflection of God's smile cast across it like the +light of flowers upon the grass. Spring days with life 're-orient out of +dust,' and the annual miracle beginning again all round, with the birds +in the trees, that even dwellers in towns can hear singing as if their +hearts would burst for very mirth and hopefulness, the blossoms +beginning to push above the frosty ground, and the life breaking out of +the branches that were stiff and dry all through the winter, proclaim +the same truth as the Psalmist was contemplating when he spoke thus. He +looks all round, and everywhere sees the signature of a loving divine +Hand. + +The earth is full to brimming of Thy mercy. It takes faith to see that; +it takes a deeper and a firmer hold of the thought of a present God than +most men have, to feel that. For the most of us, the world has got to be +very empty of God now. We hear rather the creaking of the wheels of a +great machine, or see the workings of a blind, impersonal force. But I +believe that all that is precious and good in the growth of knowledge +since the old days when this Psalmist wrote may be joyfully accepted by +us, and deep down below all we may see the deeper, larger truth of the +living purpose and will of God Himself. And I know no reason why +twentieth-century men, full to the fingertips of modern scientific +thought, may not say as heartily as the old Psalmist said, 'The earth, O +Lord! is full of Thy mercy.' + +But then there is another side to all this. Amidst all this sunny play +of gladness, and apocalypse of blessing, there stands one exception. +Hearken to the other word of my texts, 'I am a stranger upon the earth.' +Man is out of joint with the great whole, out of harmony with the music, +the only hungry one at the feast. All other creatures are admirably +adapted for the place they fill, and the place they fill is sufficient +for them. But I stand here, knowing that I do not belong to this goodly +fellowship, feeling that I am an exception to the rule. As Colonel +Gardiner said, 'I looked at the dog, and I wished that _I_ was a dog.' +Ah! many another man has felt, Why is it that whilst every creature, the +motes that dance in the sunbeam, and the minutest living things, however +insignificant, are all filled to the very brim of their capacity--why is +it that I, the roof and crown of things, stand here, a sad and solitary +stranger, having made acquaintance with grief; having learned what they +know not, the burden of toil and care, cursed with forecast and +anticipation, saddened by memory, torn by desires? 'We look before and +after, and pine for what is not.' All other beings fit their place, and +their place fits them like a glove upon a fair hand, but I stand here 'a +stranger upon the earth.' And the more I feel, or at least the more I am +convinced that it is full of God's mercy, the more I feel that there is +something else which I need to make me, in my fashion, as really and as +completely blessed as the lowest of His creatures. + +The Psalmist tells us what that something more is: 'I am a stranger upon +the earth; hide not Thy commandments from me.' That is my food, that is +what I need; that is the one thing that will make our souls feel at +rest, that we shall have not merely a Bible in our hands, but the will +of God, the knowledge and the love of the will of God, in our hearts. +When we can say 'I delight to do Thy will, and my whole being seeks to +lay itself beneath the mould of Thine impressing purpose, and to be +shaped accordingly'; Oh! then, then the care and the toil and the sorrow +and the restlessness and the sense of transiency, all change. Some of +them pass away altogether; those of them that survive are transfigured +from darkness to glory. Just as some gloomy cliff, impending over the +plain, when the rising sun smites upon it, is changed into a rosy and +golden glory, so the frowning peaks that look down upon us, are all +transmuted and glorified, when once the light of God's recognised will +falls upon them. + + 'All is right that seems most wrong, + If it be His sweet will.' + +And when He has not hidden His commandments from us, but we have them in +our hearts, for the joy and the strength of our lives, then, then it +does not matter, though we have to say, 'foxes have holes, and birds of +the air have their roosting-places,' and I only, in creation, have 'not +where to lay my head.' If we have His will in our hearts, and are humbly +and yet lovingly trying to do it, then toil becomes easy, and work +becomes blessedness. If we have His will in our hearts, and are seeking +to cleave to it, then and only then, do we cease to feel that it is sad +that we should be strangers upon the earth, because then and then only +can we say 'we seek for a better country, that is, a heavenly.' + +Oh, dear friends! we shall be cursed with restlessness and 'weighed upon +with sore distress'; and a fleeting world will, by its very +fleetingness, be a misery to us, until we have learned to yield our +wills to God, and to drink in His law as the joy and the rejoicing of +our hearts. A stranger upon the earth needs the statutes of the Lord, he +needs no more, and then they will be as the Psalmist says in another +place, 'his song in the house of his pilgrimage.' + +But the first of our two texts suggests further to us the certainty that +this petition shall not be in vain. If the thought, 'I am a stranger in +the earth,' teaches us our need of God's commandments, the thought, 'the +earth is full of Thy mercies,' assures us that we shall get what we +need. + +Surely it is not going to be the case that we only are to be left hungry +when all other creatures sit at His table and feast there. Surely He who +knows what each living thing requires, and opens His hand, and satisfies +their desires, is not going to leave the nobler famishing of an immortal +soul uncared for. + +Surely if all through the universe besides, we see that the measure of a +creature's capacity is the measure of God's gift to it, there is not +going to be, there need not be, any disproportion between what we +require and what we possess. Surely if His ear can hear and translate, +and His loving hand can open to satisfy, the croaking of the young raven +when it cries, He will neither mistake nor neglect the voice of a man's +heart, when it is asking what is so in accordance with His will as that +He should let him know and love His statutes. + +It is not meant to be the case that we lie in the middle of His +creation, the one exception to the universal law, like Gideon's fleece, +dry and dusty, while every poor bit of bush and grass round about is +soaked with His dew. If 'the earth is full of Thy mercy,' Thou thereby +hast pledged Thyself that my heart shall be full of Thy law and Thy +grace, if I desire it. + +And so, dear brethren! whilst the one of these twin considerations +should send us to our knees, the other should hearten and wing our +prayers. And if, on the one hand, we feel that to bring us up to the +level of the poorest of His creatures, we need a firm grasp and a hearty +love of His law deep in our spirits, on the other hand, the fact that +the feeblest and the poorest of His creatures is saturated and soaked +with as much of God's goodness as it can suck in, may make us quite sure +that our souls will not vainly pant after Him in a 'dry and thirsty land +where no water is.' 'The earth, O Lord! is full of Thy mercy.' Am I to +be empty of the highest mercy, the knowledge of Thy will? Never! never! + +And so, 'Say not, Who shall ascend up into the heavens? say not, Who +shall pass over the sea to bring Thy law near, that we may hear and do +it? Behold! the word is very nigh thee.' The law, the will of God, and +the power to perform it are braided together, in inextricable union, in +Jesus Christ Himself; and the prayer of my psalm most deeply understood, +turns itself all into this:--Give me Christ, more of the knowledge of +Him who is my law and Thine uttered will; more of the love of Him whom +to love is to be at home everywhere, and to be filled with Thy mercy; +more of the likeness to Him whom to imitate is holiness; whom to +resemble is perfection. 'The earth is full of Thy mercy.' 'The Word was +made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, full of grace +and truth.' And of that fulness can all we receive. Then will we be +strangers here no longer; and our hearts will be replenished with a +better mercy than all the universe beside is capable of containing. + + + + +'TIME FOR THEE TO WORK' + + + 'It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy + Law. 127. Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold, yea, above + fine gold. 128. Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all + things to be right; and I hate every false way.' + --PSALM cxix. 126-128. + +If much that we hear be true, a society to circulate Bibles is a most +irrational and wasteful expenditure of energy and money. We cannot +ignore the extent and severity of the opposition to the very idea of +revelation, even if we would; we should not if we could. We are told +with some exaggeration--the wish being father to the thought--that the +educated mind of the country has broken with Christianity, a statement +which is equally remarkable for its accuracy and for its modesty. But it +has a basis of truth in the widespread disbelief diffused through the +literary and so-called cultivated classes. There is no need to spend +time in referring at length to facts which are only too familiar to most +of us. Every sphere of knowledge, every form of literature, is enlisted +in the crusade. Periodicals that lie on all our tables, works of +imagination that your daughters read, newspapers that go everywhere, are +full of it. Poetry, forgetting her lineage and her sweetness, strains +_her_ voice in rhapsodies of hostility. Science, leaping the hedge +beyond which _she_ at all events is a trespasser,--or in finer language, +'prolonging its gaze backwards beyond the boundary of experimental +evidence,' or in still plainer terms, _guessing_, affirms that she +discerns in matter the promise and potency of every form of life; or +presently, in a devouter mood, looking on the budding glories of the +spring, declines to _profess_ the creed of Atheism. Learned criticism +demonstrates the impossibility of supernatural religion. The leader of +an influential school leaves behind him a voice hollow and sad, as from +the great darkness, in which we seem to hear the echoes of a life +baffled in the attempt to harmonise the logical and the spiritual +elements of a large soul: 'There may be a God. The evidence is +insufficient for proof. It only amounts to one of the lower degrees of +probability. He may have given a revelation of His will. There are +grounds sufficient to remove all antecedent improbability. The question +is wholly one of evidence; but the evidence required has not been, and +cannot be, forthcoming. There is room to hope for a future life, but +there is no assurance whatever. Therefore cultivate in the region of the +imagination merely those hopes which can never become certainties, for +they are infinitely precious to mankind.' + +Ah, brethren! do we not hear in these dreary words the cry of the +immortal hunger of the soul for God, for the living God? The concessions +they make to Christian apologists are noteworthy, but that unconscious +confession of need is the most noteworthy. Surely, as the eye prophesies +light, so the longing of the soul and the capacity for forming such +ideals are the token that He is for whom heart and flesh do thus yearn. +And how blessed is it to set over against these dreary ghosts that call +themselves hopes, and that pathetic vain attempt to find refuge in the +green fields of the imagination from the choking dust of the logical +arena, the old faithful words: 'This is the record, that God hath given +to us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son'! + +But my object in referring to these forms of opinion was merely to +prepare the way for my subsequent observations; I have no intention of +dealing with any of them by way of criticism or refutation. This is not +the place nor the audience, nor am I the person, for that task. But I +have thought that it might not be inappropriate to this occasion if I +were to ask you to consider with me, from these words, the attitude of +mind and heart to God's word which becomes the Christian in times of +opposition. + +The Psalmist was surrounded, as would appear, by widespread defection +from God's law. But instead of trembling as if the sun were about to +expire, he turns himself to God, and in fellowship with Him sees in all +the antagonism but the premonition that He is about to act for the +vindication of His own work. That confidence finds expression in the +sublime invocation of our text. Then with another movement of thought, +the contemplation of the departures makes him tighten his own hold on +the law of the Lord, and the contempt of the gainsayers quickens his +love: '_Therefore_ I love,' etc. And as must needs be the case, that +love is the measure of his abhorrence of the opposite; and because God's +commandments are so dear to him, therefore he recoils with healthy +hatred from false ways. So, I think, we have a fourfold representation +here of our true attitude in the face of existing antagonism--calm +confidence in God's work for His law; earnest prayer, which secures the +forthputting of the divine energy; an increased intensity of cleaving to +the word; and a decisive opposition to the ways which make it void. + +I ask your attention to some remarks on each of these in their order. +So, then, we have-- + +I. Calm confidence that times of antagonism evoke God's work for His +word. + +Now I dare say that some of you feel that is not the first thought that +should be excited by the opposition around us. 'We have no sort of +doubt,' you may say, 'that God will take care of His own word, if there +be such a thing; but the question that presses is, Have we it in this +book? Answer that for us, and we will thank you; but platitudes about +God watching over His truth are naught. The first thing to do is to meet +these arguments and establish the origin of Scripture. Then it will +follow of itself that it will not perish.' + +But I take leave to think we, as Christians, arc not bound to revise the +foundation belief of our lives at the call of every new antagonist. Life +is too short for that. There is too much work waiting, to suspend our +activity till we have answered each denier. We do not hold our faith in +the word of God, as the winners at a match do their cups and belts, on +condition of wrestling for them with any challenger. It is a perfectly +legitimate position to say, We hold a ground of certitude, from which +none of this strife of tongues is able to dislodge us. 'We have heard +Him ourselves, and know that this is the Christ.' The Scriptures which +we have received, not without knowledge of the grounds on which +controversialists defend them, have proved themselves to us by their own +witness. The light is its own proof. We have the experience of Christ +and His law. He has saved our souls, He has changed our lives. We know +in whom we have believed, and we are neither irrational nor obstinate +when we avow that we will not pretend to suspend these convictions on +the issue of any debate. We decline to dig up the piles of the bridge +that carries us over the abyss because voices tell us that it is rotten. +It is shorter and perfectly reasonable to answer, 'Rotten, did you say? +Well, we have tried it, and it bears'; which, being translated into less +simple language, is just the assertion of certitude built on facts and +experience which leaves no place for doubt. All the opposition will be +broken into spray against that rock bulwark: 'Thy words were found, and +I did eat them, and they are the joy and rejoicing of my heart.' + +So I venture to think that, speaking to Christian men and women, I have +a right to speak on the basis of our common belief, and to encourage +them to cherish it notwithstanding gainsayers. I am not counselling +stolid indifference to the course of modern thought, nor desertion of +the duty of defence. We are not to say, 'God will interfere; I need do +nothing.' But the task of controversy is not for all Christians, nor the +duty of following the flow of opinion. There is plenty of more +profitable work than that for most of us. The temper which our text +enjoins _is_ for us all; and this calm confidence, that at the right +time God will work for His word, is its first element. + +This confidence rests upon our belief in a divine providence that +governs the world, and on the observed laws of its working. It is ever +His method to send His succour _after_ the evil has been developed, and +_before_ it has triumphed. Had it come sooner, the priceless benefits of +struggle, the new perceptions won in controversy of the many-sided +meaning and value of His truth, the vigour from conflict, the wholesome +sense of our weakness, had all been lost. Had it come later, it had come +too late. So He times His help, in order that we may derive the greatest +possible benefit from both the trial and the aid. We have all been dealt +with so in our personal histories, whereof the very motto might be, +'When I said my foot slippeth, Thy mercy, O Lord! held me up.' The same +law works on the wider platform. The enemy shall be allowed to pass +through the breadth of the land, to spread dread and sorrow through +village and hamlet, to draw his ranks round Jerusalem, as a man closes +his hand on some insect he would crush. _To-morrow_, and the assault +will be made; but _to-night_ 'the angel of the Lord went forth and smote +the camp; and when they arose in the morning,' expecting to hear the +wild war-cry of the conquerors as they stormed across the undefended +walls, 'they were all dead corpses.' Then, as it would appear, a +psalmist, moved by that mighty victory, cast it into words, which remain +for all generations the law of the divine aid, and imply all that I am +urging now: 'The Lord is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; +the Lord shall help her at the dawning of the morning.' True, we are no +judges of the time. Our impatience is ever outrunning His calm +deliberation. An illusion besets us all that _our_ conflicts with +unbelief are the severest the world has ever seen; and there is a great +deal of exaggeration on both sides at present as to the real extent and +importance of existing antagonism to God's revelation. A widespread +literature provides so many--I would not say empty--spaces for any voice +to reverberate in, that both the shouters and the listeners are apt to +fancy the assailants are an army, when they are only a handful, armed +mainly with trumpets and pitchers. There have been darker days of +antagonism than these. 'He that believeth shall not make haste.' This +confidence in the punctual wisdom of His working involves the other +belief, that if He does not 'work,' it is because the time is not yet +ripe; the negations and contradictions have still an office to fulfil, +and no hurt that cannot be repaired has been done to the faith of the +Church or the power of the word. + +Nor can we forecast the manner of His working. He can call forth from +the solitary sheepfolds the defenders of His word, as has ever been His +wont, raising the man when the hour had come, even as He sent His son in +the fulness of time. He can lead science on to deeper truth; He can +quicken His Church into new life; He can guide the spirit of the age. We +believe that the history of the world is the unfolding of His will, and +the course of opinion guided in its channel by the Voice which the +depths have obeyed from of old. Therefore we wait for His working, +expecting no miracle, prescribing no time, hurried by no impatience, +avoiding no task of defence or confession; but knowing that, unhasting +and unresting He will arise when the storm is loudest, and somehow will +say, 'Peace! be still.' Then they who had not cast away their confidence +for any fashion of unbelief that passeth away will rejoice as they sing, +'Lo! this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.' + +This confidence is confirmed by the history of all the past assaults on +Scripture. + +The whole history of the origin, collection, preservation, transmission, +diffusion, and present influence of the Bible involves so much that is +surprising and unique, as to amount to at least a strong presumption of +a divine care. Among all the remarkable things about the Book, nothing +is more remarkable than that there it is, after all that has happened. +When we think of the gaps and losses in ancient literature, and the long +stormy centuries that lie between us and its earlier pages, we can +faintly estimate the chances against their preservation. It is strange +that the Jewish race should have so jealously preserved books which +certainly did not flatter national pride, which put a mortifying +explanation on national disasters, which painted them and their fathers +in dark colours, which proclaimed truths they never loved, and breathed +a spirit they never caught. It is stranger still, that in the long years +of dispersion the very vices and limitations of the people subserved the +same end, and that stiff pedantry and laborious trifling--the poorest +form of intellectual activity--should have guarded the letter of the +word, as the coral insects painfully build up their walls round some +fair island of the Southern Sea. When one thinks of the great gulf of +language between the Old and New Testaments, of the variety of authors, +periods, subjects, literary form, the animosities of Christian and Jew, +it _is_ strange that we have the Book here _one_, and that all these +parts should blend into unity, unless the source and theme were one, and +one Hand had shaped each, and cared for the gathering together of all. + +It has been demonstrated over and over again to have no pretensions to +be a divine revelation; and yet here it is, believed by millions, and +rooted so firmly in European language and thought, that no revolution +short of a return to barbarism can abolish it. It has been proved to be +a careless, unauthenticated collection of works of different periods, +styles, and schools of thought, having no unity but what is given by the +bookbinder: and lo! here it is still, not disintegrated, much less +dissolved. Each age brings its own destructive criticism to play on it, +confessing thereby that its predecessors have effected nothing; for as +the Bible says about sacrifices, so we may say about assaults on +Scripture, 'If they had done their work, would they not have ceased to +be offered?' And the effect of the heaviest artillery that can be +brought into position is as transient as the boom of their report and +the puff of their smoke. Why, who knows anything about the world's +wonders of books that a hundred years ago made good men's hearts tremble +for the ark of God? You may find them in dusty rows on the top shelves +of great libraries. But if their names had not occurred in the pages of +Christian apologists, flies in amber, nobody in this generation would +ever have heard of them. And still more conspicuously is it so with +earlier examples of the same kind. Their work is as hopelessly dead as +they. And the Book seems none the worse for all the shot--like the rock +that a ship fired at all night, taking it for an enemy, and could not +provoke to answer nor succeed in sinking. Surely some dim suspicion of +the hopelessness of the attempt might creep into the hearts of men who +know what _has_ been. Surely the signal failure and swift fading away of +all former efforts to dethrone the Bible might lead to the question, +'Does it not lay its deep foundations in the heart of man and the +purpose of God, too deep to be reached by the short tools of mere +criticism, too massive to be overthrown by all the weight of +materialistic science?' It is with the Bible as it was with the Apostle, +on whose hand, as he crouched over the newly-lit flame, the viper +fastened, 'and he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.' +The barbarous people, who changed their minds after they had looked a +great while and saw no harm come to him, were not altogether wrong, and +might teach a lesson to some modern wise men, that, among the other +facts which they deal with, they should try to estimate this fact of the +continued existence and influence of Scripture, and the failure thus far +of all attempts to shake its throne or break the sweet influences of its +bands. + +Brethren! we, at all events, should learn the lesson of historical +experience. The Gospel and the Book which is its record, have met with +eager, eloquent, learned antagonists before to-day, and they have +passed. Little more than a generation has sufficed to sweep them to +oblivion. So it will be again. The forms of opinion, the tendencies of +thought, which now seem to some of its enemies so certain to conquer, +will follow these forgotten precursors into the dim land. May we not see +them--these ancient discrowned kings that ruled over men and rebelled +against Christ, these beliefs that no man now believes--rising from +their shadowy thrones in the underworld to meet the now living and +ruling unbelief, when it, too, shall have gone down to them; 'All they +shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou +become like unto us?' Yes, each in its turn 'becomes but a noise' when +he 'passes the time appointed'--the time when God arises to do His act +and vindicate His word. + +II. We have here, secondly, earnest prayer which brings that divine +energy. + +The confidence that God _will_ work underlies and gives energy to the +prayer that God _would_ work. The belief that a given thing is in the +line of the divine purpose is not a reason for saying, 'We need not +pray; God means to do it,' but is a reason for saying on the contrary, +'God means to do it; let us pray for it.' And this prayer, based upon +the confidence that it is His will, is the best service that any of us +can render to the Gospel in troublous times. + +I shall have a word to say presently on the _sort_ of outflow of the +divine energy which we should principally expect and desire; but let me +first remind you, very briefly, how the prayers of Christian men do +condition--I had almost said regulate--that outflow. + +I need not put this matter on its abstract and metaphysical side. Two +facts are enough for my present purpose--one, a truth of faith, that the +actual power wherewith God works for His word remains ever the same; +one, a truth of observation and experience, that there are variations in +the intensity of its operations and effects in the world. Wherefore? +Surely because of the variations in the human recipients and organs of +the power. Here at one end is the great fountain, ever brimming. Draw +from it ever so much, it sinks not one hair's-breadth in its pure basin. +Here, on the other side, is an intermittent flow, sometimes in scanty +driblets, sometimes in painful drops, sometimes more full and free on +the pastures of the wilderness. Wherefore these jerks and spasms? It +must be something stopping the pipe. Yes, of course. God's might is ever +the same, but our capacity of receiving and transmitting that might +varies, and with it varies the energy with which that unchanging power +is exerted in the world. Our faith, our earnestness of desire, our +ardour and confidence of prayer, our faithfulness of stewardship and +strenuousness of use, measure the amount of the unmeasured grace which +we can receive. So long as our vessels are brought, the golden oil does +not cease to flow. When they are full, it stays. The principle of the +variation in actual manifestation of the unvarying might of God is found +in the Lord's words: 'According to your faith be it unto you.' So, then, +we may expect periods of quickened energy in the forth-putting of the +divine power. And these will correspond to, and be consequent on, the +faithful prayers of Christian men. See to it, brethren! that you keep +the channels clear, that the flow may continue full and increase. Let no +mud and ooze of the world, no big blocks of sin nor subtler +accumulations of small negligences, choke them again. Above all, by +simple, earnest prayer keep your hearts, as it were, wide open to the +Sun, and His light will shine on you, and His grace fructify through +you, and His Spirit will work in you mightily. + +The tenor of these remarks presupposes a point on which I wish to make +one or two observations now, viz. that the manner of the divine working +which we should most earnestly desire in a time of diffused unbelief is +the elevation of Christian souls to a higher spiritual life. + +I do not wish to exclude other things, but I believe that the true +antidote to a widespread scepticism is a quickened Church. We may indeed +desire that in other ways the enemy should be met. We ought to pray that +God would work by sending forth defenders of the truth, by establishing +His Church in the firm faith of disputed verities, and by all the +multitude of ways in which He can sway the thoughts and tendencies of +men. But I honestly confess that I, for my part, attach but secondary +importance to controversial defences of the faith. No doubt they have +their office; they may confirm a waverer, they may establish a believer, +they may show onlookers that the Christian position is tenable; they +may, in some rare cases of transcendent power, prevent a heresy from +spreading and from descending to another generation. But oftenest they +are barren of result, and where they do their work, it is not to be +forgotten that there may remain as true a making void of God's law by an +evil heart of unbelief as by an understanding cased in the mail of +denial. You may hammer ice on an anvil, or bray it in a mortar. What +then? It is pounded ice still, except for the little portion melted by +heat of percussion, and it will soon all congeal again. Melt it in the +sun, and it flows down in sweet water, which mirrors that light which +loosed its bonds of cold. So hammer away at unbelief with your logical +sledge-hammers, and you will change its shape, perhaps; but it is none +the less unbelief because you have ground it to powder. It is a mightier +agent that must melt it--the fire of God's affection, of all lower, +howsoever tender, loves that once filled the whole heart. Such surrender +is not pain but gladness, inasmuch as the deeper well that has been sunk +dries the surface springs, and gathers all their waters into itself. The +new treasure that has filled the heart compels, by glad compulsion, the +surrender or, at least, the subordination, of all former affections to +the constraint of all-mastering love. + +The same thing is true in regard to the union of the soul with Christ. +The description of the bride's abandonment of former duties and ties may +be transferred, without the change of a word, to our relations to Him. +If love to Him has really come into our hearts, it will master all our +yearnings and tendencies and affections, and we shall feel that we +cannot but yield up everything besides, by reason of the sovereign power +of this new affection. Christ demands from us (if I may use the word +'demand' for the beseeching of love), for His sake, and for our sakes, +the entire surrender of ourselves to Him. And that new affection will +deal with the old loves, just as the new buds upon the beech-trees in +the spring deal with the old leaves that still hang withered on some of +the branches. It will push them from their hold, and they will drop. If +a river should be turned into some dark cave where unclean beasts have +herded and littered for years, the bright waters would sweep out on +their bosom all the filth and rottenness. So, when the love of Christ +comes surging and flashing into a heart, it will bear out on its broad +surface all conflicting and subordinate inclinations, with the passions +and lusts that used to rule and befoul the spirit. Christ demands +complete surrender, and, if we are Christians, that absolute abandonment +will not be a pain nor unwelcome. We epidemic. That is a doctrine which +one influential school of modern disbelievers, at all events, cannot but +admit. + +What then? Why this--that to change the opinions you must change the +atmosphere; or, in other words, the true antagonist of a diffused +scepticism is a quickened Christian life. Brethren! if we had been what +we ought, would such an environment have ever been possible as that +which produces this modern unbelief? Even now, depend upon it, we shall +do more for Christ by catching and exhibiting more of His Spirit than by +many arguments--more by words of prayer to God than by words of +reasoning to men. A higher tone of spiritual life would prove that the +Gospel was mighty to mould and ennoble character. If our own souls were +gleaming with the glory of God, men would believe that we had met more +than the shadow of our own personality in the secret place. If the fire +of faith were bright in us, it would communicate itself to others, for +nothing is so contagious as earnestness. If we believed, and therefore +spoke, the accent of conviction in our tones would carry them deep into +some hearts. If we would trust Christ's Cross to stand firm without our +stays, and arguing less about it, would seldomer try to _prop_ it, and +oftener to _point_ to it, it would draw men to itself. When the power +and reality of Scripture as the revelation of God are questioned, the +best answer in the long-run will be a Church which can adduce itself as +the witness, and can say to the gainsayers, 'Why, herein is a marvellous +thing, that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine +eyes!' Brethren! do you see to it that your life be thus a witness that +you have heard His voice; and make it your contribution to the warfare +of this day, if you do not bear a weapon, that you lift your hands and +heart to God. Moses on the mount helped the struggling ranks below in +their hand-to-hand combat with Amalek. Hezekiah's prayer, when he spread +the letter of the invader before the Lord, was more to the purpose than +all his munitions of war. Let your voice rise to heaven like a fountain, +and blessings will fall on earth. 'Arise, O Lord! plead Thine own cause. +The tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually.' + +III. We have here, thirdly, as the fitting attitude in times of +widespread unbelief, a love to God's word made more fervid by +antagonism. + +There may be a question what reason for the Psalmist's love is pointed +at in this 'therefore.' We shall hardly be satisfied with the slovenly +and not very reverent explanation, that the word is introduced, without +any particular meaning, because it begins with the initial letter proper +to this section; nor does it seem enough to suppose a mere general +reference to the excellences of the law of the Lord, which are the theme +of the whole psalm. Such an interpretation blunts the sharp edge of the +thought, and has nothing in its favour but the general want of +connection between the separate verses. There are, however, one or two +other instances where a thought is pursued through more than one verse, +and the usual mere juxtaposition gives place to an interlocking, so that +the construction is not unexampled. It is most natural to take the plain +meaning of the words, and to suppose that when the Psalmist said, 'They +have made void Thy law, therefore I love Thy commandments,' he meant, +'The prevailing opposition is the reason why I, for my part, grasp Thy +law more strongly.' The hostility of others evokes my warmer love. The +thought, so understood, is definite, true, and important, and so I +venture to construe it, and enforce it as containing a lesson for the +day. + +And here I would first observe that I desire not to be understood as +urging the substitution of feeling for reason, nor as trying to enlist +passion in a crusade against the opponent's logic. Still less do I +desire to counsel the exaggeration of opinions because they are +denied--that besetting danger of all controversy. + +But surely the emotions have a place and an office, if not indeed in the +search for, and the submission to, the truth of God, yet in the defence +and adherence to that truth when found. The heart may not be the organ +for the investigation and apprehension of truth, though it has a part to +play even there; but the tenacity with which I cleave to truth, when +apprehended, is far more an affair of the will than of the +understanding--it is the heart's love steadying the mind, and holding it +fixed to the rock. And love has also a place in the defence of the +truth. It gives weight to blows, and wings to the arrows. It makes +arguments to be wrought in fire rather than in frost. It lights the +enthusiasm which cannot despair, the diligence that will not weary, the +fervour that often goes farther to sway other minds than the sharpest +dialectics of a passionless understanding. There _are_ causes in which +an unimpassioned advocacy is worse than silence; and this is one of +them. The word of the living God which has saved our souls and brought +to us all that makes our natures rich and strong, and all that peoples +the great darkness with fair hopes solid as certainties, demands and +deserves fervour in its soldiers, and loyal love in its subjects. + +And while it is weakness to over-emphasise our beliefs _merely_ because +they are denied, and one of the saddest issues of controversy, that both +sides are apt to be hurried into exaggerated statements which calmer +thoughts would repudiate; on the other hand, there _is_ a legitimate +prominence which ought to be given to a truth _precisely_ because it is +denied. The time to underline and accentuate strongly our convictions +is, when society is slipping away from them, provided it be done without +petulance, passion, or the falsehood of extremes. + +If ever there was a period when such general considerations as these had +a practical application, this is the time. Would that all such as my +voice now reaches would take these grand words for theirs: 'They make +void Thy law, therefore I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above +fine gold!' + +Such increase of affection because of gainsayers is the natural instinct +of loyal and chivalrous love. If your mother's name were defiled, would +not your heart bound to her defence? When a prince is a dethroned exile, +his throne is fixed deeper in the hearts of his adherents 'though his +back be at the wall' and common souls become heroes because their +devotion has been heightened to sublimity of self-sacrifice by a +nation's rebellion. And when so many voices are proclaiming that God has +never spoken to men, that our thoughts of His Book are dreams, and its +long empire over men's spirits a waning tyranny, does cool indifference +become us? Will not fervour be sobriety, and the glowing emotion of our +whole nature our reasonable service? + +Such increase of affection because of gainsayers is the fitting end and +main blessing of the controversy which is being waged. We never fully +hold our treasures till we have grasped them hard, lest they should be +plucked from us. No truth is established till it has been denied and has +survived. Antagonism to the word of God should have, and will have, to +those who use it rightly, a blessing in its train, in bringing out yet +more of the preciousness and manifoldness, the all-sufficiency and the +universality of the Book. 'The more 'tis shook, the more it shines.' The +fiercer the blast, the firmer our confidence in the inexpugnable +solidity of that tower of strength that stands four square to every wind +that blows. 'The word of the Lord is tried, therefore Thy servant loveth +it.' + +Such increase of attachment to the word of God because of gainsayers, is +the instinct of self-preservation. The sight of so many making void the +law makes a man bethink himself of what his own standing is. We, as +they, are the children of the age. The tendencies to which they have +yielded operate on us too, and our only strength is, 'Hold Thou me up, +and I shall be safe!' The present condition of opinion remands us all to +our foundations, and should teach us that nothing but firm adherence to +God revealed in His word, and to the word which reveals God, will +prevent us, too, from drifting away to shoreless, solitary seas of +doubt, barren as the foam, and changeful as the crumbling, restless +wave. + +Such strength of affection in the presence of diffused doubt is not to +be won without an effort. All our churches afford us but too many +examples of men and women who have lost the warmth of their first love, +if not their love itself, for no better reason than because so many +others have lost it. The effect of popular unbelief stretches far beyond +those who are directly affected by its arguments, or avowedly adopt its +conclusions. It is hard to hold by a creed which so many influential +voices tell you it is a sign of folly and of being behind the age to +believe. The consciousness that Christian truth is denied, makes some of +you falter in its profession, and fancy that it is less certain simply +because it is gainsaid. The mist wraps you in its folds, and it is +difficult to keep warm in it, or to believe that love and sunshine are +above it all the same. 'Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many +shall wax cold.' + +Therefore, brethren! do you consciously endeavour that the tempest shall +make you tighten your hold on Christ and His word. He appeals to us, +too, with that most pathetic question, in which yearning for our love +and sorrow over the departed disciples blend so wondrously, as if He +cast Himself on our loyalty: 'Will ye also go away?' Let us answer, not +with the self-confidence that was so signally put to shame, 'Though all +should forsake Thee, yet will not I'; but with the resolve that draws +its firmness from His fulness and from our knowledge of the power of His +truth, 'Lord! to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.' + +IV. And lastly, we have here, as the final trait in the temper which +becomes such times, healthy opposition to the ways which make void the +word of the Lord. + +That is the Psalmist's last movement of feeling, and you see that it +comes second, not first, in the order of his emotions. It is the +consequence of his love, the recoil of his heart from the practices and +theories which contradicted God's law. + +Now, far be it from me to say a word which should fan the embers of the +_odium theologicum_ into a blaze against either men or opinions. But +there is a truth involved which seems to be in danger of being forgotten +at present, and that to the detriment of large interests as well as of +the forgetters. The correlative of a hearty love for any principle or +belief is--we may as well use the obnoxious word--a healthy hatred for +its denial and contradiction. They are but two aspects of one thing, +like that pillar of old which, in its single substance, was a cloud and +darkness to the foes, and gave light by night to the friends of Him who +dwelt in it. Nay, they are but two names for the very same thing viewed +in the very same motion, which is love as it yearns towards and cleaves +to its treasure; and hatred, as by the identical same act it recoils and +withdraws from the opposite: 'He will hold to the one, and therefore and +therein despise the other.' + +Much popular teaching as to Christian truth seems to me to ignore this +plain principle, and to be working harm, especially among our younger +cultivated men and women, whom it charms by an appearance of liberality, +which in their view, contrasts very favourably with the narrowness of us +sectarians. I am free to admit that in our zeal about small matters (and +in a certain 'provincialism,' so to speak, which characterised the type +of English Christianity till within a recent period) we needed, and +still need, the lesson, and I will thankfully accept the rebuke that +reminds me of what I ever tend to forget, that the golden rod, wherewith +the divine Builder measures from jewel to jewel in the walls of the New +Jerusalem, takes in wider spaces than we have meted with our lines. But +that is a very different matter from the tone which vitiates and weakens +so much modern adherence to Christ's Gospel and Christ's Church. The old +principle, 'in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty,' made no +attempt to determine what belonged to these two classes, and in practice +their bounds may often have been wrongly set, so as to include many of +the latter among the former; but it at all events recognised the +distinction as the basis of its next clause, 'in all things, charity.' +But nowadays, to listen to some liberal teachers, one would think that +nothing was necessary, except the great sacred principle, that nothing +is necessary; and that charity could not exist, unless that distinction +were effaced. + +I pray you, and if I may venture so far, I would especially pray my +younger hearers, to take note, that however fair this way of looking at +varying forms of Christian opinion may be, it really reposes on a basis +which they will surely think twice before accepting, the denial that +there is such a thing as intellectual certitude in religion which can be +cast into definite propositions. If there be any truth at all, to +confess _it_ is to deny its opposite, to cleave to _this_ is to reject +that, to love the one is to hate the other. I fear--I know--that there +are many minds among us who began with simply catching this tone of +tolerance, and who have been insensibly borne along to an enfeebled +belief that there is such a thing as religious truth at all, and that +the truth lies in the word of God. Dear friends! let me beseech you to +take heed lest, while you are only conscious of your hearts expanding +with the genial glow of liberality, by little and little you lose your +power of discerning between things that differ, your sense of the worth +of the Scripture as the depository of divine truth, and from your slack +hand the hem of the vesture in which its healing should fall away. + +As broad a liberality as you please within the limits that are laid down +by the very nature of the case. 'These things are written that ye might +believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye +might have life through His name.' Wheresoever that record is accepted, +that divine Name confessed, that faith exercised, and that life +possessed, there, with all diversities, own a brother. Wheresover these +things are not, loyalty to your Lord demands that the strength of your +love for His word should be manifested in the strength of your recoil +from that which makes it void. 'I love Thy commandments, and I hate +every false way.' + +I am much mistaken if times are not rapidly coming on us when a decisive +election of his side will be forced on every man. The old antagonists +will be face to face once more. Compromises and hesitations will not +serve. The country between the opposing forces will be stripped of every +spot that might serve as cover for neutrals. On the one side a mighty +host, its right the Pharisees of ecclesiasticism and ritual, with their +banner of authority, making void the law of God by their tradition; its +left, and never far away from their opposites on the right with whom +they are strangely leagued, working into each other's hands, the +Sadducees denying angel and spirit, with their war-cry of unfettered +freedom and scientific evidence; and in the centre, far rolling, +innumerable, the dusky hosts of mere animalism, and worldliness, and +self, making void the law by their sheer godlessness. And on the other +side, 'He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is +called the Word of God, and they that were with Him were called, and +chosen, and faithful.' The issue is certain from of old. Do you see to +it that you are of those who were valiant for the truth upon the earth. + +Let not the contradiction of many move you from your faith; let it lift +your eyes to the hills from whence cometh our help. Let it open your +desires in prayer to Him who keeps His own word, that it may keep His +Church and bless the world. Let it kindle into fervent enthusiasm, which +is calm sobriety, your love for that word. Let it make decisive your +rejection of all that opposes. Driftwood may float with the stream; the +ship that holds to her anchor swings the other way. Send that word far +and wide. It is its own best evidence. It will correct all the +misrepresentation of its foes, and supplement the inadequate defences of +its friends. Amid all the changes of attacks that have their day and +cease to be, amid all the changes of our representations of its endless +fulness, it will live. Schools of thought that assail and defend it +pass, but it abides. Of both enemy and friend it is true, 'The grass +withereth, and the flower thereof passeth away.' How antique and +ineffectual the pages of the past generations of either are, compared +with the ever-fresh youth of the Bible, which, like the angels, is the +youngest and is the oldest of books. The world can never lose it; and +notwithstanding all assaults, we may rest upon _His_ assurance, whose +command is prophecy, when He says, 'Write it before them in a table, and +note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and +ever.' + + + + +SUBMISSION AND PEACE + + + 'Great peace have they which love Thy law; and nothing shall offend + them.' + PSALM cxix. 165. + +The marginal note says 'they shall have no stumbling block.' + +We do great injustice to this psalm--so exuberant in its praises of 'the +law of the Lord'--if we suppose that that expression means nothing more +than the Mosaic or Jewish revelation. It does mean that, of course, but +the psalm itself shows that the writer uses the expression and its +various synonyms as including a great deal more than any one method by +which God's will is made known to man. For he speaks, for instance, in +one part of the psalm of God's 'word,' as being settled for ever in the +heavens, and of the heavens and earth as continuing to this day, +'according to Thine ordinances.' + +So we are warranted in giving to the thought of our text the wider +extension of taking the divine 'law' to include not only that directory +of conduct contained in Scripture, but the expressed will of God, +involving duties for us, in whatever way it is made known. The love of +that uttered will, the Psalmist declares, will always bring peace. Such +an understanding of the text does not exclude the narrower reference, +which is often taken to be the only thought in the Psalmist's mind, nor +does it obliterate the distinction between the written law of God and +the disclosures of His will which we collect by the exercise of our +faculties on events around and facts within us. But it widens the +horizon of our contemplations, and bases the promised peace on its true +foundation, the submission of the human to the divine will. + +Let us then consider how true love to the will of God, however it is +made known to us, either in the Book or in our consciousness, or in +daily providences, or by other people's hints, is the talisman that +brings to us, in all circumstances, and in every part of our nature, a +tranquillity which nothing can disturb. + +Of course, by 'love' here is meant, not only delight in the +expression of, but the submission of the whole being to, God's will; +and we love the law only when, and because, we love the Lawgiver. + +I. Thus loving the law of God, not only with delight in the vehicle of +its expression, but with inward submission to its behests, we shall +have, first of all, the peacefulness of a restful heart. + +Such a heart has found an adequate and worthy object for the outgoings +of its affections. Base things loved always disturb. Noble things loved +always tranquillise. And he to whom his judgment declares that the best +of all things is God's manifested will, and whose affections and +emotions and actions follow the dictate of his judgment, has a love +which grasps whatsoever things are noble and fair and of good report, +and is lifted to a level corresponding with the loftiness of its +objects. For our hearts are like the creatures in some river, of which +they tell us that they change their colour according to the hue of the +bed of the stream in which they float and of the food of which they +partake. The heart that lives on the will of God will be calm and +steadfast, and ennobled into reposeful tranquillity like that which it +grasps and grapples. + +Little boats which are made fast to the sides of a ship rise and fall +with the tide, as does that to which they are attached. And our hearts, +if they be roped to the fleeting, the visible, the creatural, the +finite, partake of the fluctuations, and finally are involved in the +destruction, of that which they have made their supreme good. And +contrariwise, they who love that which is eternal shine with a light +thrown by reflection from the object of their love, and 'he that doeth +the will of God abideth for ever,' like the will which he doeth. 'Great +peace'--the peace of a restful heart--'have they that love Thy law.' + +II. Then again, such love brings the calm of a submitted will. + +Brethren! it is not sorrow that troubles us so much as resistance to +sorrow. It is not pain that lacerates; it cuts, and cuts clean when we +keep ourselves still and let it do its merciful ministry upon us. But it +is the plunging and struggling under the knife that makes the wounds +jagged and hard to heal. The man who bows his will to the Supreme, in +quiet acceptance of that which He sends, is never disturbed. Resistance +distracts and agitates; acquiescence brings a great calm. Submission is +peace. And when we have learned to bend our wills, and let God break +them, if that be His will, in order to bend them, then 'nothing shall by +any means hurt us'; and nothing shall by any means trouble us. + +If you were ever on board a sailing-ship you know the difference between +its motion when it is beating up against the wind and when it is running +before it. In the one case all is agitation and uneasiness, in the other +all is smooth and frictionless and delicious. So, when we go with the +great stream, in not ignoble surrender, then we go quietly. It is God's +great intention, in all that befalls us in this life, to bring our wills +into conformity with His. Blessed is the ministry of sorrow and of pain +and of loss, if it does that for us, and disastrous and accursed is the +ministry of joy and success if it does not. There is no joy but calm, +and there is no calm but in--not the annihilation, but--the intensest +activity of will, in the act of submitting to that higher will, which is +discerned to be 'good,' and is gratefully taken as 'acceptable,' and +will one day be seen to have been 'perfect.' The joy and peace of a +submitted will are the secret of all true tranquillity. + +III. Then again, there comes by such a love the peace of an obedient +life. + +When once we have taken it (and faithfully adhere to the choice) as our +supreme desire to do God's will, we are delivered from almost all the +things that distract and disturb us. Away go all the storms of passion, +and we are no more at the mercy of vagrant inclinations. We are no +longer agitated by having to consult our own desires, and seeking to +find in them compass and guide for our lives--a hopeless attempt! All +these sources of agitation are dried up, and the man who has only this +desire, to do his duty because God has made it such, has an ever +powerful charm, which makes him tranquil whatever befalls. + +And as thus we may be delivered from all the agitations and +cross-currents of conflicting wishes, inclinations, aims, which +otherwise would make a jumble and a chaos of our lives, so, on the other +hand, if for us the supreme desire is to obey God, then we are delivered +from the other great enemy to tranquillity--namely, anxious forecasting +of possible consequences of our actions, which robs so many of us of so +many quiet days. 'I do the little I can do,' said Faber, 'and leave the +rest with Thee,' and that will bring peace. Instead of wondering what is +to come of this step and that, whether our plans will turn out as we +hope, and so being at the mercy of contingencies impossible to be +forecasted, we cast all upon Him and say, 'I have nothing to do with the +far end of my actions. Thou givest them a body as it has pleased Thee. I +have to do with this end of my actions--their motive; and I will make +that right, and then it is Thy business to make the rest right.' And so, +'great peace have they which love Thy law.' + +An obedient life not only delivers us from the distractions of +miscellaneous desires, and from the anxiety of unforeseen results, but +it contributes to tranquillity in another way. The thing that makes us +most uneasy is either sin done or duty neglected. Either of these, +however small it may appear, is like a horse-hair upon the sheets of a +bed, or a little wrinkle in that on which a man lies, disturbing all his +repose. No man is really at rest unless his conscience is clear. 'The +wicked is like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up +mire and dirt.' But if the uttered will of the Lord is our supreme +object, then in this direction, too, tranquillity is ours. + +IV. Lastly, such a love gives the peace of freedom from temptations. + +'Nothing shall offend them.' 'There shall be no stumbling-block to +them.' The higher love casts out the lower. It is well, when, by +reinforcing conscience by considerations of duty, or even sometimes by +the lower thoughts of consequences, a man is able to pass by a +temptation which appeals to him, and conquers the inclination to go +wrong. But it is far better--and it is possible--to be lifted up into +such a region as that the temptation does not appeal to him any more. + +To take a very homely illustration, whether is it better for a man to +steel himself, and walk past the door of a public-house, though the +fumes appeal to his sense, and stir his inclinations; or to go past, and +never know any attraction to enter? Which is best, to overcome our +temptations, or to live away up in the high regions to which the malaria +of the swamps never climbs, and where no disease-germs can ever reach? + +That elevation is possible for us, if only we keep in close touch with +God, and love the law because our hearts are knit to the Law-giver. +'There shall be no occasion of stumbling in him,' as the Apostle John +varies the expression of my text. Within, there will be no traitors to +surrender the camp to the enemy without. So Paul in the letter to the +Philippians attributes to 'the peace of God which passeth understanding' +a military function, and says that it will 'garrison the heart and +mind,' and keep them 'in Christ Jesus,' which is but the Christian way +of saying, 'Great peace have they which love Thy law; and there is no +occasion of stumbling in them.' + + + + +LOOKING TO THE HILLS + + + 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my + help. 2. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.' + --PSALM cxxi. 1, 2. + +The so-called 'Songs of Degrees,' of which this psalm is one, are +usually, and with great probability, attributed to the times of the +Exile. If that be so, we get an appropriate background and setting for +the expressions and emotions of this psalm. We see the exile, wearied +with the monotony of the long-stretching, flat plains of Babylonia, +summoning up before his mind the distant hills where his home was. We +see him wondering how he will be able ever to reach that place where his +desires are set; and we see him settling down, in hopeful assurance that +his effort is not in vain, since his help comes from the Lord. 'I will +lift up my eyes unto the hills'; away out yonder westwards, across the +sands, lie the lofty summits of my fatherland that draws me to itself. +Then comes a turn of thought, most natural to a mind passionately +yearning after a great hope, the very greatness of which makes it hard +to keep constant. For the second clause of my text cannot possibly be, +as it is translated in our Authorised Version, an affirmation, but must +be taken as the Revised Version correctly gives it, a question: 'I will +lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help?' How am I +to get there? And then comes the final turn of thought: 'My help cometh +from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.' + +So then, there are three things here--the look of longing, the question +of weakness, the assurance of faith. + +I. The look of longing. + +'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills'--a resolution, and a +resolution born of intense longing. Now the hills that the Psalmist is +thinking about were visible from no part of that long-extended plain +where he dwelt; and he might have looked till he wore his eyes out, ere +he could have seen them on the horizon of sense. But although they were +unseen, they were visible to the heart that longed for them. He directs +his desires further than the vision of his eyeballs can go. Just as his +possible contemporary, Daniel, when he prayed, opened his window towards +the Jerusalem that was so far away; and just as Mohammedans still, in +every part of the world, when they pray, turn their faces to the +_Kaabah_ at Mecca, the sacred place to which their prayers are directed; +and just as many Jews still, north, east, south or west though they be, +face Jerusalem when they offer their supplications--so this psalmist in +Babylon, wearied and sick of the low levels that stretched endlessly and +monotonously round about him, says, 'I will look at the things that I +cannot see, and lift up my eyes above these lownesses about me, to the +loftinesses that sense cannot behold, but which I know to be lying +serene and solid beyond the narrowing horizon before me.' + +There was the look of longing, and the longing which made non-vision +into a look; and there was the effort to divert his attention from the +things around him to the things afar off; and there was the realisation, +by reason of the effort, of these distant but most certain realities. + +Now this Psalmist's home-sickness, if I may so call it, had nothing at +all religious about it. It was simply that he wanted to get to his own +country--his own, though he had been born in exile; and there was +nothing more devout or spiritual or refining about his longing than +there is about the wish to return to his native country that any +foreigner in a distant land feels. But when we take these words, as we +all ought to do, as the motto of our lives, we must necessarily attach +the loftiest religious meaning to them. And here start up the plain, +simple, but tight-gripping and stimulating questions, 'Do I see the +Unseen? Does that far-off, dim land assume substance and reality to me? +Do I walk in the light of it raying out to me through earth's darkness? +Do I dwell contented with never a glimpse of it?' It comes to be a very +sharp question with us professing Christians, whether the horizon of our +inward being is limited by, and coterminous with, the horizon of our +senses, or whether, far beyond the narrow limits to which these can +reach, our spirits' desire stretches boundless. Are, to us, the things +unseen the solid things, and the things visible the shadows and the +phantoms? The Apocalyptic seer, in his rocky Patmos, was told that he +was to be shown 'the things which _are_'; and what was it that he saw? A +set of what people call unreal and symbolic visions. 'The things which +are,' the world would have said, 'are the rocks that you are standing +on, and the sea that is dashing upon them, and all the solid-seeming +Roman world, and the power that has got you in its grip. These are the +realities, and these things that you think you see, these are the +dreams.' But it is exactly the other way. The world and all that is +about us, Manchester and its hubbub, warehouses crammed with cloth, and +mills full of jennies and throstles--these are the shadows; and the +things that only the believing eye beholds, that are wrapped in the +invisibility of their own greatness, these, and these only, are the +realities. We see with the bodily eyes the shadows on the wall, as it +were, but we have to turn round and see with the eyes of our minds the +light that flings the shadows. 'I will lift up my eyes' from the +mud-flats where I live to the hills that I cannot see, and, seeing them, +I shall be blessed. + +Further, do we know anything of that longing that the Psalmist had? He +was perfectly comfortable in Babylon. There was abundance of everything +that he wanted for his life. The Jews there were materially quite as +well off, and many of them a great deal better off, than ever they had +been in their narrow little strip of mountain land, shut in between the +desert and the sea. But for all that, fat, wealthy Babylon was not +Palestine. So amidst the lush vegetation, the wealth of water and the +fertile plains, the Psalmist longed for the mountains, though the +mountains are often bare of green things. It was that longing that led +to his looking to the hills. Do we know anything of that longing which +makes us 'that are in this tabernacle to groan, being burdened'? 'Absent +from the Lord,' and 'present in the body,' we should not be at ease, nor +at home. Unless our Christianity throws us out of harmony and +contentment with the present, it is worth very little. And unless we +know something of that immortal longing to be nearer to God, and fuller +of Christ, and emancipated from sense, and from the burdens and +trivialities of life, we have yet to learn what the meaning of 'walking +not after the flesh but after the Spirit' really is. + +Further, do we make any effort like that of this Psalmist, who +encourages and stimulates himself by that strong 'I _will_ lift up my +eyes'? You will not do it unless you make a dead lift of effort. It is a +great deal easier for a man to look at what is at his feet than to crane +his neck gazing at the stars. + +And so, unless we take up and persevere in maintaining a habitual +attitude of stirring up and lifting up ourselves, gravitation will be +too much for us, and down will go the head, and down the eyes; and down +will go the desires, and we shall be like men that live in some +mountainous country, who never lift their gaze to the solemn white +summits that travellers come across half Europe to see. Christian men +and women too often walk beneath the very peaks of the mountains of God, +and rarely lift their vision there. They perhaps do so for an hour and a +half on a Sunday morning, or an hour on a Wednesday evening, when there +is no other engagement, or for a minute or two in the morning before +they hurry down to breakfast, or a minute or two at night when they are +dead beat and unfit for anything. For the rest of the time, _there_ are +the mountains and _here_ is the saint, and he seldom or never turns his +head to look at them! Is that the sort of Christianity that is likely to +be a power in the world, or a blessing to its possessor? + +II Further, notice the question of weakness. + +'From whence cometh my help?' The loftier our ideal, the more painful +ought to be our conviction of incapacity to reach it. The Christian +man's one security is in feeling his peril, and the condition of his +strength is his acknowledgment and vivid consciousness always of his +weakness. The exile in Babylon had a dreary desert, peopled by wild Arab +tribes hostile to him, stretching between his present home and that +where he desired to be, and it would be difficult for him to get away +from the dominion that held him captive, unless by consent of the power +of whom he was the vassal. So the more the thought of the mountains of +Israel drew the Psalmist, the more there came into his mind the thought, +'How am I to be made able to reach that blessed soil?' And surely, if +_we_ saw, with anything like a worthy apprehension and vision, the +greatness of that blessedness that lies yonder for Christian souls, we +should feel far more deeply than we do the impossibility, as far as we +are concerned, of our ever reaching it. The sense of our own weakness +and the consciousness of the perils upon the path ought ever to be +present with us all. + +Brethren! if, on the one hand, we have to cultivate, for a healthy, +vital Christianity, a vision of the mountains of God, on the other hand +we have to try to deepen in ourselves the wholesome sense of our own +impotence, and the conviction that the dangers on the road are far too +great for us to deal with. 'Blessed is the man that feareth always.' +'Pride goeth before destruction.' Remember the Franco-German war, and +how the French Prime Minister said that they were going into it 'with a +light heart,' and how some of the troops went out of Paris in railway +carriages labelled 'for Berlin'; and when they reached the frontier they +were doubled up and crushed in a month. Unless we, when we set ourselves +to this warfare, feel the formidableness of the enemy and recognise the +weakness of our own arms, there is nothing but defeat for us. + +III. Finally, notice the assurance of faith. + +The Psalmist asks himself, 'From whence cometh my help?' and then the +better self answers the questioning, timid self: 'My help cometh from +the Lord, which made heaven and earth.' There will be no reception of +the divine help unless there is a sense of the need of the divine help. +God cannot help me before I am brought to despair of any other help. It +is only when a man says, 'There is none other that fighteth for us, but +only Thou, O God!' that God comes to help. + +There is a story in the Book of Chronicles, about one battle in which +Judah engaged, of a very singular kind. The first step in the campaign +was that the king of Judah gathered all his people together, and prayed +to God, and said, 'We know not what we shall do. We have no strength +against this great multitude that cometh against us, but our eyes are +unto Thee.' Then a prophet came and assured him of victory, and next day +they arrayed the battle. It was set in this strange fashion: in the +forefront were put the priests and Levites, with their instruments of +music, and not soldiers with spears and bows, and they marched out to +battle with this song, 'The Lord is gracious and merciful. His mercy +endureth for ever.' Then, without the stroke of sword or thrust of +spear, God fought for them and scattered their foes. + +'Which things are an allegory.' If we recognise our helplessness, God is +our help. If we conceit ourselves to be strong, we are weak; if we know +ourselves to be impotent, Omnipotence pours itself into us. We read once +that Jesus Christ healed 'them that had need of healing.' Why does the +Evangelist not say, without that periphrasis, 'healed the sick'? Because +he would emphasise, I suppose, amongst other things, the thought that +only the sense of need fits for the reception of healing and help. + +If, then, we desire that God should be 'the Strength of our hearts, and +our Portion for ever,' the coming of His help must be wooed and won by +our sense of our own impotence, and only they who say, 'We have no might +against this great multitude that cometh against us,' will ever hear +from Him the blessed assurance, 'The Lord will fight for you.' 'Stand +still, and see the salvation of the Lord!' So, brethren! the assurance +of faith follows the consciousness of weakness, and both together will +lead, and nothing else will lead, to the realisation of the vision of +faith, and bring us at last, weak as we are, to the hills where the +weary and foot-sore flock 'shall lie down in a good fold, and on fat +pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.' + + + + +MOUNTAINS ROUND MOUNT ZION + + + 'They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be + removed, but abideth for ever. 2. As the mountains are round about + Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth, + even for ever.'--PSALM cxxv. 1, 2. + +The so-called 'Songs of Degrees,' of which this psalm is one, are +probably a pilgrim's song-book, and possibly date from the period of the +restoration of Israel from the Babylonish captivity. In any case, this +little psalm looks very much like a record of the impression that was +made on the pilgrim, as he first topped the crest of the hill from which +he looked on Jerusalem. Two peculiarities of its topographical position +are both taken here as symbols of spiritual realities, for the +singularity of the situation of the city is that it stands on a mountain +and is girdled by mountains. There is a tongue of land or peninsula cut +off from the surrounding country by deep ravines, on which are perched +the buildings of the city, while across the valley on the eastern side +is Olivet, and, on the south, another hill, the so-called 'Hill of Evil +Counsel'; but upon the west and north sides there are no conspicuous +summits, though the ground rises. Thus, really, though not apparently, +there lie all round the city encircling defences of mountains. +Similarly, says the Psalmist, set and steadfast as on a mountain, and +compassed about by a protection, like the bastions of the everlasting +hills, are they whose trust is in the Lord. Faith, then, gives inward +stability, and faith secures an encircling defence. + +But, more than that, notice that the mountains encompass a mountain. +Faith, in some measure, makes the protected like the Protector. And +then, beyond that, notice the two 'for evers.' Zion cannot be moved, it +'abideth for ever,' and 'the Lord is about His people from henceforth +and for ever.' To trust in God gives the transitory creature a kind of +share in the uncreated eternity of that in which he trusts. Now these +are four thoughts worth carrying away with us. + +I. The simple act of trust in God brings inward stability. + +The word here that is rightly translated 'trust,' like most expressions +in the Old Testament for religious emotion, has a distinctly +metaphorical colouring about it. It literally means to 'hang upon' +something, and so, beautifully, it tells us what faith is--just hanging +upon God. Whoever has laid his tremulous hand on a fixed something, +partakes, in the measure in which he does grasp it, of the fixity of +that on which he lays hold; so 'they that trust in the Lord shall be as +Mount Zion,' that stands there summer and winter, day and night, year +out and year in, with its strong buttresses and its immovable mass, the +very emblem of solidity and stability. + +Ay! and this is true about these tremulous hearts of ours. There is one +way to make them stable, and only one; and that is that they shall be +fastened, as it were, to that which is stable, and so be steadfast +because they hold by what is steadfast. There is no other means by which +any heart can be made immovable, except in so far as it may be moved by +holy impulses and sweet drawings of love and loftinesses of aspiration +towards God; there is no other means by which a heart, with all its +inward perturbations and all its outward sources of agitation, can be +made calm and still, except by living, deep, continual fellowship with +Him who is the Eternal Calm, and from whose stable Being we mutable men +can derive serenity which is a faint likeness of His immutability. 'We +which have believed do enter into rest.' + +How can I still these hot desires of mine, this self-asserting will, all +these various passions and emotions which sweep through my soul, and +which must not be made mute and dead--or else there will come corruption +and stagnation--but must be made so to move as that in their very motion +shall be rest? How can I do that? By one way, and one only. Live in +fellowship with God, and that will quiet perturbations within and +tumults without. The foot of the Master on the midnight stormy sea will +smooth the waves which the moonbeams have not power to still, but only +to reveal their heavings. 'They that trust in the Lord shall be like +Mount Zion, which cannot be moved,' and yet is not torpid in its +immobility, but full of fertility and of beauty wedded to its +steadfastness. + +In like manner, the only way by which not only the inward storms can be +quieted, but the outward assaults of perturbing circumstances, +disasters, changes, difficult duties, and the like, can ever be received +with tranquillity is, that they should be received in quiet faith. And, +in like manner, the only way by which men can be made steadfast and +immovable in brave, pertinacious adherence to the simple law of right, +whatsoever temptations may try to draw them aside, and whatsoever frowns +may gather upon the face of affairs so as to frighten them from the path +of rectitude--the only way by which they can conquer evil, so as not to +be hurried into forbidden paths, is this same making sure of their hold +upon God, and carrying with them day by day, and moment by moment, into +all the little difficulties and small temptations that would lead to +trivial faults, the one solemn thought that bids all these back into +their lairs--God is near me and I am with Him. + +Oh, brethren! if we could live in touch with Him and, as this great word +for 'trust' suggests, be fastened to Him, as a man, swinging from a +cliff over the crawling sea, fathoms below him, clutches the rope that +is his safety--then we should live in tranquillity, and be steadfast, +immovable. + +They say that in the great church of St. Peter there is only one +temperature in summer and winter; that the fiercest heat may be pouring +down in the colonnades, or the sharpest frost may have silenced the +tinkling fall of the fountains in the Piazza; but within the great +portal the thermometer stands the same. Thus, if we live in the Temple, +and keep inside its doors, the thermometer in our hearts will be fixed; +and the anemometer--the measurer of the wind--will point to calm all the +year round. 'They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which +cannot be moved.' + +II. Again, this same attitude of realising the divine Presence, Will, +and Help, will bring around us encircling defences. + +I have already said that one peculiarity of the topography of the sacred +city is that, at first sight, the metaphor of my text seems to break +down, for nobody, looking at the situation of the city with uninstructed +eye, would say that it was compassed all around with mountains. On two +sides it manifestly is; on two sides it apparently is not, though the +land rises on the north and west till it is higher than the tops of the +houses. We may not be fanciful in taking that as a parable. 'As the +mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His +people'--a very real defence, but a defence that it takes an instructed +eye to see; no obvious protection, palpable to the vulgar touch, and +manifest to the sensuous eye, but something a great deal better than +that--a real protection, through which we may be sure that nothing which +is evil can ever pass. + +Whatsoever does get over the encircling mountains, and reaches us, we +may be sure, is not an evil but a very real good. Only we have to +interpret the protection on the principles of faith, and not on those of +sense. When, then, there come down upon us--as there do upon us all, +thank God!--dark days, and sad days, and solitary days, and losses and +bitternesses of a thousand kinds, do not let us falter in the belief +that if we have our hearts set on God, nothing has come to us but what +He has let through. Our sorrows are His angels, though their faces are +dark, and though they bear a sword that flames and turns every way. It +is hard to believe; it is certainly true, and if we could carry the +confidence of it as a continual possession into our ordinary lives, they +would be very different from what they are to-day. + +III. And then, remember the other thing that I said. My text suggests +that-- + +Simple trust in God, in some measure, assimilates the protected to the +Protector. + +The mountains girdle a mountain, and so my trust opens my heart to the +entrance into my heart of something akin to God. As the Apostle Peter, +in his brave way, is not afraid to say, it makes us 'partakers of the +divine nature.' The immovableness of the trustful man is not all unlike +the calmness of the trusted God; and the steadfastness of the one is a +reflex of the unchangeableness of the other. We have not understood the +meaning of faith, nor have we risen to the experience of its best +effects upon ourselves, unless we understand that its great blessing and +fruit, and the purpose for which we are commanded to cherish it, is that +thereby we may become like Him in whom we trust. 'They that make them +are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.' That is the +key to the degradations that inhere in idolatrous worship, and that +principle is true about all worship--as the god so is every one that +trusteth in it. 'As the mountains are round about Mount Zion,' God is +round about the people that are becoming Godlike. + +IV. Mark further the significant repetition of the same expression in +reference to the stability of the man protected and the continuance of +the protection. Both are 'for ever'. That is to say, if it is true that +God is round about me, and that, in some humble measure, my heart has +been opening to be calmed and steadied by the influx of His own life, +then His 'for ever' is my 'for ever,' and it cannot be that He should +live and I should die. The guarantee of the eternal being of the +trustful soul is the experience to-day of the reality of the divine +protection. And thus we may face everything--life, death, whatsoever may +come, assured that nothing touches the continuity and the perpetuity of +the union between the trusting soul and the trusted God. 'The mountains +shall depart and the hills be removed, but My lovingkindness shall not +depart from thee; nor shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith +the Lord.' The earthquake comes. It shatters a continent and changes the +face of nature; makes valleys where there were mountains, and mountains +where there were vales, and open seas where there were fertile plains +and covers everything with ruin and with rubbish. But there emerge from +the cloudy and chaotic confusion the city perched on the hill and its +encompassing heights. 'The world passeth away, and the fashion thereof, +but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' + + + + +THE CHARGE OF THE WATCHERS IN THE TEMPLE + + + 'Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by + night stand in the House of the Lord. 2. Lift up your hands in the + Sanctuary, and bless the Lord. 3. The Lord that made Heaven and + earth bless thee out of Zion.'--PSALM cxxxiv. + +This psalm, the shortest but one in the whole Psalter, will be more +intelligible if we observe that in the first part of it more than one +person is addressed, and in the last verse a single person. It begins +with 'Bless _ye_ the Lord'; and the latter words are, 'The Lord bless +_thee_.' No doubt, when used in the Temple service, the first part was +chanted by one half of the choir, and the other part by the other. Who +are the persons addressed in the first portion? The answer stands plain +in the psalm itself. They are, 'All ye servants of the Lord, which by +night stand in the House of the Lord.' That is to say, the priests or +Levites whose charge it was to patrol the Temple through the hours of +night and darkness, to see that all was safe and right there, and to do +such other priestly and ministerial work as was needful; they are called +upon to 'lift up their hands in'--or rather _towards_--'the Sanctuary, +and to bless the Lord.' + +The charge is given to these watching priests, these nightly warders, by +some single person--we know not whom. Perhaps by the High Priest, +perhaps by the captain of their band. They listen to the exhortation to +praise, and answer, in the last words of this little psalm, by invoking +a blessing on the head of the unnamed speaker who gave the charge. So we +have in this antiphonal choral psalm a little snatch of musical ritual +falling into two parts--the charge to the watchers and the answering +invocation. We may find a good deal of practical teaching in it. Let us +look, then, at this choral charge and the response to it. + +The charge to the watchers. + +We do not know what the office of these watchers was, but in the second +Temple, to the period of which this psalm may possibly belong, their +duties were carefully defined, and Rabbinical literature has preserved a +minute account of the work of the nightly patrol. + +According to the authorities, two hundred and forty priests and Levites +were the nightly guard, distributed over twenty-one stations. The +captain of the guard visited these stations throughout the night with +flaming torches before him, and saluted each with 'Peace be unto thee.' +If he found the sentinel asleep he beat him with his staff, and had +authority to burn his cloak (which the drowsy guard had rolled up for a +pillow). We all remember who warned His disciples to watch, lest coming +suddenly He should find them asleep. We may remember, too, the blessing +pronounced in the Apocalypse on 'Him who watcheth and keepeth his +garments, lest he walk naked.' Shortly before daybreak the captain of +the guard came, as the Talmud says: 'All times were not equal. Sometimes +he came at cockcrow, or near it, before or after it. He went to one of +the posts where the priests were stationed, and opened a wicket which +led into the court. Here the priests, who marched behind him torch in +hand, divided into two companies which went one to the east, and one to +the west, carefully ascertaining that all was well. When they met each +company reported "It is peace." Then the duties of the watch were ended, +and the priests who were to prepare for the daily sacrifice entered on +their tasks.' + +Our psalm may be the chant and answering chant with which the nightly +charge was given over to the watchers, or it may be, as some +commentators suppose, 'the call and counter-call with which the watchers +greeted each other when they met.' + +Figure then, to yourselves, the band of white-robed priests gathered in +the court of the Temple, their flashing torches touching pillar and +angle with strange light, the city sunk in silence and sleep, and ere +they part to their posts the chant rung in their ears:--'Bless ye the +Lord, all ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the House of +the Lord! Lift up your hands to the Sanctuary, and bless the Lord!' + +Notice, then, that the priests' duty is to praise. It is because they +are the servants of the Lord that, therefore, it is their business to +bless the Lord. It is because they stand in the House of the Lord that +it is theirs to bless the Lord. They who are gathered into His House, +they who hold communion with Him, they who can feel that the gate of the +Father's dwelling, like the gate of the Father's heart, is always open +to them, they who have been called in from their wanderings in a +homeless wilderness, and given a place and a name in His House better +than of sons and daughters, have been so blessed in order that, filled +with thanksgiving for such an entrance into God's dwelling and of such +an adoption into His family, their silent lips may be filled with +thanksgiving and their redeemed hands be uplifted in praise. + +So for us Christians. We are servants of the Lord--His priests. That we +'stand in the House of the Lord' expresses not only the fact of our +great privilege of confiding approach to Him and communion with Him, +whereby we may ever abide in the very Holy of Holies and be in the +secret place of the Most High, even while we are busy in the world, but +it also points to our duty of ministering; for the word 'stand' is +employed to designate the attendance of the priests in their office, and +is almost equivalent to 'serve.' 'To bless the Lord,' then, is the work +to which we are especially called. If we are made a 'royal priesthood,' +it is that we 'should show forth the praises of Him who has called us +out of darkness into His marvellous light.' The purpose of that full +horn of plenty, charged with blessings which God has emptied upon our +heads, is that our dumb lips may be touched into thankfulness, because +our selfish hearts have been wooed and charmed into love and life. + +The Rabbis had a saying that there were two sorts of angels: the angels +that served, and the angels that praised; of which, according to their +teaching, the latter were the higher in degree. It was only a +half-truth, for true service is praise. + +But whatever the form in which praise may come, whether it be in the +form of vocal thanksgiving, or whether it be the glad surrender of the +heart, manifested in the conscious discharge of the most trivial duties, +whether we 'lift up our hands in the Sanctuary, and bless the Lord' with +them, or whether we turn our hands to the tools of our daily occupation +and handle them for His sake, alike we maybe praising Him. And the thing +for us to remember is that the place where we, if we are Christians, +stand, and the character which we, if we are Christians, sustain, bind +us to live blessing and praising Him whilst we live. 'Behold!'--as if He +would point to all the crowded list of God's great mercies--'Bless ye +the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord that ... stand in the house of the +Lord.' + +And then there is another point that comes out of this charge to the +watchers, viz. the necessity of strenuously trying to unite together +service of God and communion with God. These priests might have +said--'When we go our rounds through the empty and echoing corridors of +the dark Temple, we perform the charge which God gave us; and it needs +not that we pray. We are working for Him and doing the work which He +appointed us; and that is better than all external ritual.' But this +unknown speaker who charges them knew better than that. The priests' +service under the Old Covenant was very unspiritual service. Their work +was sometimes very repulsive and always purely external work, which +might be done without one trace of religion or devotion in it. And so +the speaker here warns them, as it were, against the temptation which +besets all men that are concerned in the outward service of the house of +God, to confound the mere outward service with inward devotion. The +charge bids us remember that the more sedulously our hands and thoughts +are employed about the externals of religious duties, the more must we +see to it that our inmost spirits are baptized into fellowship with God. + +It is not enough to patrol the Temple courts unless we 'lift up our +hands to the sanctuary,' and with our hearts 'bless the Lord.' And all +we who in any degree and any department are officially or +semi-officially connected with the work of the Christian Church have +very earnestly and especially to lay this to heart. We ministers, +deacons, Sunday-school teachers, tract distributors, have much need to +take care that we do not confound watching in the courts of the Temple +with lifting up our own hands and hearts to our Father that is in +heaven; and remember that the more outward work we do, the more inward +life we ought to have. The higher the stem of the tree grows and the +broader its branches spread the deeper must strike and the wider must +extend its underground roots, if it is not to be blown over and become a +withered ruin. + +And so all you Christian men and women! will you take the plain lesson +that is here? All ye that stand ready for service, and doing service, +all 'ye that stand in the house of the Lord, behold' your peril and your +duty--and 'bless ye the Lord,' and remember that the more work the more +prayer to keep it from rotting; the more effort the more communion; and +that at the end we shall discover with alarm, and with shame confess 'I +kept others' vineyards and my own vineyard have I not kept'; unless, +like our Master, we prepare for a day of work and toil in the Temple by +a night of quiet communion with our Father on the mountainside. + +And then there is another lesson here which I only touch, and that is +that all times are times for blessing God. 'Ye who _by night_ stand in +the house of the Lord, bless the Lord': so though no sacrifice was +smoking on the altar, and no choral songs went up from the company of +praising priests in the ritual service; and although the nightfall had +silenced the worship and scattered the worshippers, yet some low murmur +of praise would be echoing through the empty halls all the night long, +and the voice of thanksgiving and of blessing would blend with the clank +of the priests' feet on the marble pavements as they went their +patrolling rounds; and their torches would send up a smoke not less +acceptable than the wreathing columns of the incense that had filled the +day. And so as in some convents you will find a monk kneeling on the +steps of the altar at each hour of the four-and-twenty, adoring the +Sacrament exposed upon it, so (but in inmost reality and not in a mere +vulgar outside form that means nothing) in the Christian heart there +should be a perpetual adoration and a continual praise--a prayer without +ceasing. What is it that comes first of all into your minds when you +wake in the middle of the night? Yesterday's business, to-morrow's +vanities, or God's present love and your dependence upon Him? + +In the night of sorrow, too, do our songs go up, and do we hear and obey +the charge which commands not only perpetual adoration, but bids us fill +the night with music and with praise? Well for us if it be, anticipating +the time when 'they rest not day nor night saying, Holy! Holy! Holy!' + +Now, that is the priests' charge. Look for a moment at the answering +blessing: 'The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.' + +'Thee?' Whom? Him who gave the solemn charge. Their obedience to it is +implied in the blessing which the priests invoke on the head of the +unnamed speaker. So they express their joyful consent to his charge, and +their desires for his welfare whose clear voice has summoned them to +their high duty and privilege. They obey, and their first prayer is a +prayer for him. + +May we venture to draw from this interchange of counsel and benediction +a simple lesson as to the best form in which mutual goodwill and +friendship may express itself? It is by the interchange of stimulus to +God's service and praise, and of grateful prayer. He is my best friend +who stirs me up to make my whole life a strong sweet song of +thanksgiving to God for all His numberless mercies to me. Even if the +exhortation becomes rebuke, faithful are such wounds. It is but a +shallow affection which can be eloquent on other subjects of common +interests, but is dumb on this, the deepest of all; which can counsel +wisely and rebuke gently in regard to other matters, but has never a +word to say to its dearest concerning duty to the God of all mercies. + +And the true response to any loving exhortation to bless God, or any +religious impulse which we receive from one another, is to invoke God's +blessing on faithful lips that have given us counsel. + +This is the best recompense to Christian teachers. If any poor words of +ours have come to any of your hearts with power for conviction, or +instruction, or encouragement, let your response be, I beseech you, 'The +Lord that hath made heaven and earth bless _thee_.' We need your +prayers. We are weak, often sad, often discouraged. We are tempted ever +to handle God's truth professionally, instead of living on it for +ourselves. We are tempted to think that our work is in vain, and to lose +heart because we do not see the spiritual results which we would fain +reap. And in many an hour of languor and despondency, when the wheels of +life turn heavily and the sky seems very far away, and our message seems +to have lost its grandeur and certainty to ourselves, and our handling +of it looks as if it had been one long failure, then we need and may be +helped by the voice of cheer coming through the night from those whom we +have tried to counsel: 'The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee.' + +But observe, further, the two kinds of blessing which answer to one +another--God's blessing of man, and man's blessing of God. The one is +communicative, the other receptive and responsive. The one is the great +stream which pours itself over the precipice; the other is the basin +into which it falls and the showers of spray which rise from its +surface, rainbowed in the sunshine, as the cataract of divine mercies +comes down upon it. God blesses us when He gives. We bless God when we +thankfully take, and praise the Giver. God's blessing then, must ever +come first. 'We love Him because He first loved us.' Ours is but the +echo of His, but the acknowledgment of the divine act, which must +precede our recognition of it as the dawn must come in order that the +birds may wake to sing. + +Our highest service is to take the gifts of God, and with glad hearts to +praise the Giver. + +Our blessings are but words. God's blessings are realities. We wish good +to one another when we bless each other. But He does good to men when He +blesses them. Our wishes may be deep and warm, but, alas! how +ineffectual. They flutter round the heads of those whom we would bless, +but how seldom do they actually rest upon their brows. But God's +blessings are powers. They never miss their mark. Whom He blesses are +blessed indeed. + +That experience of the ineffectual emptiness of blessings from the most +loving hearts gives point to the emphatic designation here of 'the Lord +which made heaven and earth,' a formula which is common in this +connection. It brings before the eye of faith the mighty Name, and the +mighty work of Him in whose blessing we shall be rich. He is the Lord, +the Eternal and the Covenant King. He has made heaven and earth. If He +who lives above all limitations of time, the Source of life, who has the +fulness of life in Himself, He who has revealed Himself to Israel and +bound Himself to fulfil His covenant with all who plead it, He whose +sovereign effortless power willed and spake into being the azure deeps +of heaven with all its stars, and the solid earth with its tribes--if +He, with such infinite resources to bestow on us as we need, if He +blesses us, it will be with no vain wishes nor with the invoking of the +goodwill of a higher power, but with the veritable communication of +good, and we shall be blessed indeed. + +Observe, too, the channel through which God's blessings come--'out of +Zion.' For the Jew, the fulness of divine glory dwelt between the +Cherubim, and the richest of the divine blessings were bestowed on the +waiting worshippers there, and no doubt it is still true that God dwells +in Zion, and blesses men from thence. The New Testament analogue to the +Old Testament Temple is no outward building. That would be absurd +confusing of the very nature of type and antitype. A material type must +have a spiritual fulfilment. A rite cannot correspond to a rite, nor a +building to a building. But the correspondence in Christianity to the +Temple where God dwelt, and from which He scattered His blessings is +twofold--one proper and original, the other secondary and derived. In +the true sense, Jesus Christ is the Temple. In Him God dwelt; in Him, +man meets God; in Him was the place of revelation; in Him the place of +sacrifice. 'In this place is one greater than the Temple,' and the +abiding of Jehovah above the mercy-seat was but a material symbol, +shadowing and foretelling the true indwelling of all the fulness of the +Godhead bodily in that true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and +not man. So the great fountain of all possible good and benediction +which was opened for the believing Jew in 'Zion,' is opened for us in +Jesus Christ who stood in the very court of the Temple, and called in +tones of clear, loud invitation: 'If any man thirst let him come unto Me +and drink.' We may each pass through the rent veil into the holiest of +all, and there, laying our hand on Jesus, touch God, and opening our +empty palm extended to Him, can receive from Him all the blessing that +we need. + +There is another application of the Temple symbol in the New +Testament--a derivative and secondary one--to the Church, that is, to +the aggregate of believers. In it God dwells through Christ. Receiving +His Spirit, instinct with His life, it is His Body, and as in His +earthly life 'He spake of the Temple of His "literal" body,' so now that +Church becomes the Temple of God, being builded through the ages. In +that Zion all God's best blessings are possessed and stored, that the +Church may, by faithful service, impart them to the world. Whosoever +desires to possess these blessings must enter thither--not by any +ceremonial act, or outward profession, but by becoming one of those who +put their whole heart's confidence in Jesus Christ. Within that sacred +enclosure we receive whatever divine love and power can give. If we are +knit to Christ by our faith, we share in proportion to our faith in all +the wealth of blessing with which God has blessed Him. We possess Christ +and in Him all. The ancient benediction, which came from the lips of the +priestly watchers, and rang through the empty corridors of the darkened +Temple, asked for much: 'The Lord who made heaven and earth bless thee +out of Zion.' But the Apostolic assurance sounds a yet deeper and more +wonderful note of confidence when it proclaims that already, however to +ourselves we may seem sad and needy, and however little we may have +counted our treasures or made them our own, 'God hath blessed us with +all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.' + + + + +GOD'S SCRUTINY LONGED FOR + + + 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; + 24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way + everlasting.'--PSALM cxxxix. 23, 24. + +This psalm begins with perhaps the grandest contemplation of the divine +Omniscience that was ever put into words. It is easy to pour out +platitudes upon such a subject, but the Psalmist does not content +himself with generalities. He gathers all the rays, as it were, into one +burning point, and focusses them upon himself: 'Oh, Lord! Thou hast +searched _me_, and known _me_.' All the more remarkable, then, is it +that the psalm should end with asking God to do what it began with +declaring that He does. He knows us each, altogether; whether we like it +or not, whether we try to hinder it or not, whether we remember it or +not. Singular, therefore, is it to find this prayer as the very climax +of all the Psalmist's contemplation. It is more than the 'searching' +which was spoken of at the beginning, which is desired at the end. It is +a process which has for its issue the cleansing of all the evil that is +beheld. The prayer of the text is in fact the yearning of the devout +soul for purity. I simply wish to consider the series of petitions here, +in the hope that we may catch something of their spirit, and that some +faint echo of them may sound in our desires. My purpose, then, will be +best accomplished if I follow the words of the text, and look at these +petitions in the order in which they stand. + +I. Note then, first, the longing for the searching of God's eye. + +Now, the word which is here rendered 'search' is a very emphatic and +picturesque one. It means to dig deep. God is prayed, as it were, to +make a cutting into the man, and lay bare his inmost nature, as men do +in a railway cutting, layer after layer, going ever deeper down till the +bed-rock is reached. 'Search me'--dig into me, bring the deep-lying +parts to light--'and know my heart'; the centre of my personality, my +inmost self. That is the prayer, not of fancied fitness to stand +investigation, but of lowly acknowledgment. In other words, it is really +a form of confession. 'Search me. I know Thou wilt find evil, but +still--search me!' It seems to me that there are two main ideas in this +petition, on each of which I touch briefly. + +One is, that it is a glad recognition of a fact which is very terrible +to many hearts. The conception of God as 'knowing me altogether,' down +to the very roots of my being, is either the most blessed or the most +unwelcome thought, according to my conception of what His heart to me +is. If I think of Him, as so many of us do, as simply the 'austere man' +who 'gathers where he did not straw,' and 'reaps where he did not sow'; +if my thought of God is mainly that of an Investigator and a Judge, with +pure eyes and rigid judgment, then I shall be more ignorant of myself, +and more confident in myself, than the most of men are when they bethink +themselves, if I do not feel that I shrink up like a sensitive plant's +leaf when a finger touches it, and would fain curl myself together, and +hide from His eye something that I know lurks and poisons at the centre +of my being. + +The gaoler's eye at the slit in the wall of the solitary prisoner's cell +is a constant terror to the man who knows that it may be upon him at +every moment, and does not know where the eyehole is, or when the +merciless eye may be at it, but if we love one another we do not shrink +from opening out our inward baseness to each other. We can venture to +tell those that are dear to us as our own hearts the things that lie in +our own hearts and make them black and ugly in all eyes but love's; or +if we cannot venture to do it wholly, at all events we do it more fully, +and more willingly, and with more of something that is almost pleasure +in the very act of confession, in proportion as we are bound by the +sacred ties of love to the recipient of the confession. There is a joy, +and a blessedness deeper than joy, in discovering ourselves, even our +unworthy selves, when we know that the eye that looks is a loving eye. + +If, then, we have rightly conceived of our relation to Him, that +infinite Lover of all our hearts, who looks, 'with other eyes than ours, +and makes allowance for us all,' there will be a certain blessedness, +almost like joy, in turning ourselves inside out before Him; and in +feeling that every corner of our hearts lies naked and opened unto the +eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 'Search me, O God!' is the voice of +confident love, which is sure of the love that contemplates the sinner. + +And for us Christian people, to whom all these attributes of Deity are +gathered together and brought very near our hearts and our experiences +in the person of our Brother Christ, the thought of such knowledge of us +becomes still more blessed. Just as the Apostle who was conscious of +many sins, could say to his Master, not in petulance, but in +deeply-moved confidence, 'Thou knowest all things! Why dost Thou ask me +questions? Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest, notwithstanding my +denials, that I love Thee,' so may we turn to Jesus Christ, who knows +what is in men, and who knows each man, and may be sure that the eye +which looks upon our unworthiness pities our sinfulness, and is ready to +bear it all away. There is a deeper gladness in pouring out our hearts +to our loving Lord than in locking them in sullen silence, with the vain +conceit that we thereby hide ourselves from Him. Make a clean breast of +your evil, and you will find that the act has in it a blessedness all +unique and poignant. 'Pour out your hearts before Him, O ye people! God +is a refuge for us.' + +This prayer is also an expression of absolute willingness to submit to +the searching process. God is represented in my text as searching the +secrets of a man's heart, not that God may know, but that the man may +know. By His Spirit He will come into the innermost corners of our +nature, if this prayer is a real expression of our desire, and there the +illumination of His presence will flash light into all the dark places +of our experience and of our natures. We cannot afford to be in +ignorance of these. Pestilence breathes in the unventilated, unlighted, +uncleansed recesses of a neglected nature. It is only on condition of +the light of God's convincing Spirit being cast into every part of our +being that we shall be able to overcome and annihilate the creeping +swarms of microscopic sins that are there, minute but mighty in their +myriads to destroy a man's soul. 'Search me' is the expression of a +penitence that knows itself to be full of evil, that does not know all +the evil of which it is full, that needs enlightenment, that desires +deliverance, that is sure of the love that looks, and that so spreads +itself, as a bleacher spreads some piece of stained cloth in the +gracious sunshine and sprinkles it with the pure water of heaven that +all the stains may melt away. + +It is useless to ask God to search us if we lock our hearts against His +searching. The mere natural exercise, if I may so say, of the divine +attribute of Omniscience we cannot hinder. He knows us thereby +altogether, whether we like it or not; but the 'searching' of my text is +one which He cannot put in force without our consent. We have to confess +our sins unto the Lord ere this kind of divine scrutiny can be brought +to bear. By His natural Omniscience, He knows them altogether, but the +seeing which is preparatory to destroying them depends on our +willingness to submit ourselves to the often painful process by which He +drags our sins to light. Do you want Him to come and search your hearts, +and tell you in your spirits what He has found there? Do you desire to +know your hidden evil? Then keep close to Him, and tell Him what the sin +is which you know to be sin; and ask Him to show you what the sins are +which, as yet, you have not grown up to the height of understanding and +acknowledging. + +II. Next, there follows the longing for the divine testing of our +thoughts. + +Now you will have observed, I suppose, that in the second clause of my +text, 'try me, and know my thoughts' the result of the investigation is +somewhat different from that of the previous clause. The 'searching' +issued in a divine knowledge of the heart; the 'trying,' or testing, +issues in a divine knowledge of the thoughts. The distinction between +these two, in the Biblical use of the expressions, is not precisely the +same as in our modern popular speech. We are accustomed to talk of the +heart as being the seat of emotions, affections, feelings, whereas we +relegate thoughts to the head. But Scripture does not quite take that +metaphorical view. In it the heart is the centre of personal being, and +out of it there come, not only emotions and loves, but 'thoughts and +intents.' The difference, then, between these two, 'heart' and +'thoughts' is this, the one is the workshop and the other is the +product. The heart is the place where the thoughts are elaborated. So +you see the process of the Psalmist's prayer is from the centre a little +outwards, first the inmost self, and then the 'thoughts,' meaning +thereby the whole web of activities, both intellectual and emotional, of +which the heart, in his sense of the word, is the seat and source. In +like manner as the field of investigation is somewhat shifted in the +second petition, so the manner of investigation is correspondingly +different. 'Search' is the divine scrutiny of the inner man by the eye; +'test' is the trial as metals are tried and proved by the fiery furnace. + +So, then, the innermost man is searched by the divine knowledge, and the +thoughts which the innermost man produces are tested by the divine +providence. And our second petition is for a trial by facts, by external +agencies, of the true nature and character of the purposes, desires, +designs, intentions, as well as of the affections and loves and joys. +That is to say, this second prayer submits absolutely to any discipline, +fiery and fierce and bitter, by which the true character of a man's +activities may be made clear to himself. Oh! it is a prayer easily +offered; hard to stand by. It is a prayer often answered in ways that +drive us almost to despair. It means, 'Do anything with me, put me into +any seven-fold heated furnace of sorrow, do anything that will melt my +hardness, and run off my dross, which Thy great ladle will then skim +away, that the surface may be clear, and the substance without alloy.' + +Do you pray that prayer, brother! knowing all that it means, and being +willing to take the answer, in forms that may rack your heart, and +sadden your whole lives? If you are wise, you will. Better to go +crippled into life than, 'having two hands or two feet, to be cast into +hell fire'! Better to be saved though maimed, than to be entire and +lost. + +'Try me.' It is an awful prayer. Let us not offer it lightly, or +unadvisedly; but if we are wise let it be our inmost desire. And when +the answer comes, and sorrows fall, do not let us murmur, do not let us +kick, do not let us wonder, but let us say, 'Thou art a God that hearest +prayer,' and 'I will glorify God in the fires.' Then 'the trial of your +faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be +tried with fire, shall be found unto praise and honour and glory.' + +III. The next petition of my text is a longing for the casting out of +evil. + +'See if there be any wicked way in me.' Now, that _if_ is not the 'if' +of doubt whether any such 'ways' are in the man, but it is the 'if' of +consciousness that there are such, though what they are he may not +clearly discern. And so, it is the 'if' of humility--knowing that he is +not justified because he knows nothing against himself--and not the 'if' +of presumption. + +I have only time to observe here, in a word or two, what would well +deserve more expanded treatment, and that is, the very striking and +significant expression here employed for this evil way that the Psalmist +desires to be detected, that it may be cast out. The word rendered +'wicked'--or more properly, wickedness--is literally 'forced labour,' +which was, in old times, and still is in some countries, laid upon the +inhabitants at the command of authority; and then, because forced labour +is grievous labour, it comes to mean sorrow. So the 'way of wickedness' +that the Psalmist feels is in him is the way of compulsory service, and +the way that leads to sorrow. That is to say, all sin is slavery, and +all sin leads to a bitter and a bad end, and its fruit is death. And so, +because the man feels that his better self is in bondage, and +shudderingly apprehends that the courses which he pursues can only end +in bitterness and misery, he turns to God and asks Him that He would +enlighten him as to what these fatal courses are. 'See if there be any +way of wickedness in me,' because he is quite sure that the evil which +God sees, God will help him to overcome. + +Ah, friends! we all have such ways deeply lodged within us, and we do +not always know that we have; but if we will turn ourselves to Him, He +will prevent our 'condemning ourselves in things that we allow' and +increasing the sensitiveness of our consciences, He will teach us that +many things that we did not know to be wrong are harmful. + +As soon as we learn that they are, He will help us to cast them out. God +has nothing to do with our evil but to fight against it. Be sure of +this, that whatsoever evil in us He thus searches and shows us. He does +so in order to fling it from us. He goes down into the cellars of our +hearts, with the candle of His Spirit in His hand, in order that He may +lay hold of all the explosives there, and having drenched them so that +they shall not catch fire, may cast them clean out so that they may not +blow us to destruction. + +IV. The last petition of my text is for guidance in 'the everlasting +way.' + +The 'ways of wickedness' are in us; the 'way everlasting' we need to be +led into. That is to say, naturally we incline to evil; it must be the +divine hand and the divine Spirit that lead our feet in the paths of +righteousness. When we ask Him to 'guide us in the way everlasting,' we +ask that we may know what is duty, and that we may incline to do it. And +He answers it by the gift of His divine Spirit, by the quickening of our +consciences, by bringing nearer to our hearts the great Example who has +left us His footsteps as a legacy that we may tread in them. + +Whosoever walks in Christ's footsteps is walking in 'the way +everlasting,' for that path is rightly so named which leads to eternal +blessedness. It is everlasting, too, inasmuch as nothing of human effort +or work abides except that which is in conformity with the will of God, +and inasmuch as it, and it alone, is not broken short off by death, but +runs, borne upon one mighty arch that spans the gorge, clean across the +black abyss, and continues straight on in the same course, only with a +swifter upward gradient, through all the ages of eternity. The man who +here has lived for God will live yonder as he has lived here, only more +completely and more joyously for ever. 'A highway shall be there, and a +way, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with +songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads.' + + + + +THE INCENSE OF PRAYER + + + 'Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense, and the lifting + up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.'--PSALM cxli. 2. + +The place which this psalm occupies in the Psalter, very near its end, +makes it probable that it is considerably later in date than the prior +portions of the collection. But the Psalmist, who here penetrates to the +inmost meaning of the symbolic sacrificial worship of the Old Testament, +was not helped to his clear-sightedness by his date, but by his +devotion. For throughout the Old Testament you find side by side these +two trends of thought--a scrupulous carefulness for the observance of +all the requirements of ritual worship, and a clear-eyed recognition +that it was all external and symbolical and prophetic. Who was it that +said 'Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of +rams'? Samuel, away back in the times when many scholars tell us that +the loftier conceptions of worship had not yet emerged. Similar +utterances are scattered throughout the Old Testament, and the +prominence given to the more spiritual side depends not on the speaker's +date but on his disposition and devotion. So here this Psalmist, because +his soul was filled with true longings after God, passes clear through +the externals and says, 'Here am I with no incense, but I have brought +my prayer. I am empty-handed, but because my hands are empty, I lift +them up to Thee; and Thou dost accept them, as if they were--yea, rather +than if they were--filled with the most elaborate and costly +sacrifices.' + +So here are two thoughts suggested, which sound mere commonplace, but if +we realised them, in our religious life, that life would be +revolutionised; first, the incense of prayer; second, the sacrifice of +the empty-handed. Let us look at these two points. + +I. The Incense of Prayer. 'Let my prayer come before Thee as incense.' + +Now, that symbol of incense is thus used in many places in Scripture. I +need only remind you of one or two instances. You remember how, when the +father of John the Baptist went into the Holy Place, as was his priestly +duty at the time of the offering of the evening oblation, the whole +multitude were in the Outer Court praying; he in the Inner Court, +presenting the symbolical worship, and they, without, offering the real. +Then, if we turn to the grand imagery of the Book of the Revelation, +where we find the heavenly temple opened up to our reverent gaze, we +read that the elders, the representatives of redeemed humanity, have +'golden bowls full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints.' So +there is no fancifulness in interpreting the incense of the ancient +ritual as meaning simply the prayers of devout hearts. Of course there +has been a great deal of nonsense talked about the symbolical +signification of these Old Testament rites, and there is need for sober +sense to put the rein upon a vivid imagination in interpreting these; +still clear utterances of Scripture as well as this verse itself remove +all need for hesitation to accept this meaning of the symbol. + +Now, let me remind you of the place which the Altar of Incense occupied. +The Temple was divided into three courts, the Outer Court, the Holy +Place, and the Holiest of All. The Altar of Incense stood in the second +of these, the Holy Place; the Altar of Burnt Offering stood in the court +without. It was not until that Altar, with its expiatory sacrifice, had +been passed, that one could enter into the Holy Place, where the Altar +of Incense stood. There were three pieces of furniture in that Place, +the Altar of Incense, the Golden Candlestick, and the Table of the +Shewbread. Of these three, the Altar of Incense stood in the centre. +Twice a day the incense was kindled upon it by a priest, by means of +live coals brought from the Altar of Burnt Offering in the Outer Court, +and, thus kindled, the wreaths of fragrant smoke ascended on high. All +day long the incense smouldered upon the altar; twice a day it was +kindled into a bright flame. + +Now, if we take these things with us, we can understand a little more of +the depth and beauty of this prayer, and see how much it tells us of +what we, as the priests of the most High God--which we are, if we are +Christian people at all--ought to have in our censers. + +I need not dwell upon the careful and sedulous preparation from pure +spices which went to the making of the incense. So we have to prepare +ourselves by sedulous purity if there is to be any life or power in our +devotions. But I pass from that, and ask you to think of the lovely +picture of true devoutness given in that inflamed incense, wreathing in +coils of fragrance up to the heavens. Prayer is more than petition. It +is the going up of the whole soul towards God. Brother! do you know +anything of that instinctive and spontaneous rising up of desire and +aspiration and faith and love, up and up and up, until they reach Him? +Do you realise that just in the measure in which we set our minds as +well as our affections, and our affections as well as our minds, on the +things which are above, just to that extent, and not one hairsbreadth +further, have we the right to call ourselves Christians at all? I fear +me that for the great mass of Christian professors the great bulk of +their lives creeps along the low levels like the mists in winter, that +hug the marshes instead of rising, swirling up like an incense cloud, +impelled by nothing but the fire in the censer up and up towards God. +Let us each ask the question for himself, Is my prayer '_directed_'--as +is the true meaning of the Hebrew word--'before Thee as incense'? + +Remember, too, that the incense lay dead, unfragrant, and with no +capacity of soaring, till it was kindled; that is to say, unless there +is a flame in my heart there will be no rising of my aspirations to God. +Cold prayers do not go up more than a foot or two above the ground; they +have no power to soar. There must be the inflaming before there can be +the mounting of the aspiration. You cannot get a balloon to go up unless +the gas within it is warmer than the atmosphere round it. It is because +we are habitually such tepid Christians that we are so tongue-tied in +prayer. + +Where was the incense kindled from? From coals brought from the Altar of +Burnt Offering in the outer court; that is to say, light the fire in +your heart with a coal brought from Christ's sacrifice, and then it will +flame; and only then will love well upwards and desires be set on the +things above. The beginning of Christian fervour lies in the habitual +realising as a fact of the great love which 'loved me and gave itself +for me.' There is no patent way of getting a vivid Christian experience +except the old way of clinging close to Jesus Christ the Saviour; and in +order to do that, we have to think about Him, as well as to feel about +Him, a great deal more than I fear the most of us do. + +Further, does not this lovely symbol of my text suggest to us a glorious +thought, the acceptableness even of our poor prayers, if they come from +hearts inflamed with love because of Christ's great redeeming love? The +Psalmist, thinking humbly of himself and of the worth of anything that +he can bring, says, 'Let my prayer come before Thee as incense,' an +'odour of a sweet smell, acceptable to God'; yes, even our prayers will +be sweet to Him if they are prayers of true aspiration and mounting +faith, leaping from a kindled heart, kindled at the great flame of +Christ's love. + +Were you ever in a Roman Catholic cathedral? Did you ever see there the +little boys that carry the censers, swinging them backwards and forwards +every now and then, and by means of the silver chains lifting the +covers? What is that for? Because the incense would go out unless the +air was let into it. So a constant effort is needed in order to keep the +incense of our prayers alight. We have to swing the censer to get rid of +the things that make our hearts cold; we have to stir the fire, and only +so shall we keep up our devotion. Remember the incense burned all day +long on the altar; though perhaps but smouldering, like the banked-up +fires in the furnaces of a steamer that lies at anchor, still the glow +was there; and twice a day there came the priest with his pan full of +fresh glowing coals from the altar in the Outer Court, and kindled it up +into a flame once more. Which things are thus far an allegory that our +devotion is to be diffused throughout our lives in a lambent glow, and +if it is, it will have to be fed by special acts of worship day by day. + +You hear people talk of not caring about times and seasons of prayer, +and of the beauty of making all life a prayer. Amen! I say so too. But +depend upon it that there will never be devotion diffused through life +unless there is devotion concentrated at points in the life. There must +be reservoirs as well as pipes in order to supply the water through the +whole city. So the incense is perpetually to be heaped on the Altar of +Incense, but also it is to be stirred to a fragrant blaze and fed, +morning and evening, by fresh coals from the altar. + +II. Now let me say a word about the other thought here--the sacrifice of +the empty-handed. + +'The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.' In accordance +with the genius of Hebrew poetry the same general idea is repeated in +the second member of the parallelism, but with modifications. What is +implied in likening the uplifted empty hands to the evening sacrifice? +First, it is a confession of impotent emptiness, a lifting up of +expectant hands to be filled with the gift from God. And, says this +Psalmist, 'Because I bring nothing in my hand, Thou dost accept me, as +if I came laden with offerings.' That is just a picturesque way of +putting a familiar, threadbare truth, which, threadbare as it is, needs +to be laid to heart a great deal more by us, that our true worship and +truest honour of God lies not in giving but in taking. 'He is not +worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing that +He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.' That one truth, Paul +felt on Mars Hill, was sure enough to make all the temples and statues +by which he was surrounded crumble into nothingness. But it does not +merely destroy idolatry. It cuts up by the root much of what we call +Christian worship. How many people worship because they think they +ought? How many people talk about Christian worship as being a +duty--'Our duty we have now performed'? How many have never had a +glimpse of this thought, that God wills us to draw near to Him, not +because it pleases Him but because it blesses us, and that we are to +worship, not in order that we may bring anything, either the sacrifices +of bulls and goats, or the more refined ones that we bring nowadays, but +in order that, bringing our emptiness into touch with His infinite +fulness, as much of that fulness as we need to make us full, and as much +of that blessedness as we need to make us blessed, may pass into our +lives. Oh! if we understand 'the giving God,' as James calls Him in his +letter; and if we had learned the old lesson of that fiftieth Psalm, 'If +I were hungry I would not tell thee.... Will I eat the flesh of bulls +and drink the blood of goats? He that offereth praise glorifieth Me, and +to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation +of God'--if we had learned that, and laid it to heart, and applied it to +our own worship and our lives, mountains of misconception would be +lifted away from many hearts. In our service we do not need to bring any +merit of our own. This great principle destroys not only the gross +externalities of heathen sacrifice, and the notion that worship is a +duty, but it destroys the other notion of our having to bring anything +to deserve God's gifts. And so it is an encouragement to us when we feel +ourselves to be what we are, and what we should always feel ourselves to +be, empty-handed, coming to Him not only with hearts that aspire like +incense, but with petitions that confess our need, and cast ourselves +upon His grace. See that you desire what God wishes to give; see that +you go to Him for what He does give. See that you give to Him the only +thing that He does wish, or that it lies in your power to give, and that +is yourself. + + Nothing in my hand I bring, + Simply to Thy Cross I cling. + +'Let the lifting of my hands be as the evening sacrifice'; as the +Psalmist has it in another place, 'What shall I render to the Lord for +all His benefits?'--it is not a question of rendering, but 'I will +_take_ the cup of salvation.' Taking is our truest worship, and the +lifting up of empty, expectant hands is, in God's sight, as the evening +sacrifice. + + + + +THE PRAYER OF PRAYERS + + + 'Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God! Thy spirit is good; + lead me into the land of uprightness.'--PSALM cxliii. 10. + +These two clauses mean substantially the same thing. The Psalmist's +longings are expressed in the first of them in plain words, and in the +second in a figure. 'To do God's will' is to be in 'the land of +uprightness.' That phrase, in its literal application, means a stretch +of level country, and hence is naturally employed as an emblem of a +moral or religious condition. A life of obedience to the will of God is +likened to some far stretching plain, easy to traverse, broken by no +barren mountains or frowning cliffs, but basking, peaceful and fruitful, +beneath the smile of God. Into such a garden of the Lord the Psalmist +prays to be led. + +In each case his prayer is based upon a motive or plea. 'Thou art my +God'; his faith apprehends a personal bond between him and God, and +feels that that bond obliges God to teach him His will. If we adopt the +reading in our Bibles of our second clause a still deeper and more +wonderful plea is presented there. 'Thy Spirit is good,' and therefore +the trusting spirit has a right to ask to be made good likewise. The +relation of the believing spirit to God not only obliges God to teach it +His will, but to make it partaker of His own image and conformed to His +own purity. So high on wings of faith and desire soared this man, who, +at the beginning of his psalm, was crushed to the dust by enemies and by +dangers. So high we may rise by like means. + +I. Notice, then, first, the supreme desire of the devout soul. + +We do not know who wrote this psalm. The superscription says that it was +David's, and although its place in the Psalter seems to suggest another +author, the peculiar fervour and closeness of intimacy with God which +breathes through it are like the Davidic psalms, and seem to confirm the +superscription. If so, it will naturally fall into its place with the +others which were pressed from his heart by the rebellion of Absalom. +But be that as it may, whosoever wrote the psalm, was a man in extremest +misery and peril, and as he says of himself, 'persecuted,' +'overwhelmed,' 'desolate.' The tempest blows him to the Throne of God, +and when he is there, what does he ask? Deliverance? Scarcely. In one +clause, and again at the end, as if by a kind of after-thought, he asks +for the removal of the calamities. But the main burden of his prayer is +for a closer knowledge of God, the sound of His lovingkindness in his +inward ear, light to show him the way wherein he should walk, and the +sweet sunshine of God's face upon his heart. There is a better thing to +ask than exemption from sorrows, even grace to bear them rightly. The +supreme desire of the devout soul is practical conformity to the will of +God. For the prayer of our text is not 'Teach me to _know_ Thy will.' +The Psalmist, indeed, has asked _that_ in a previous clause--'Cause me +to know the way wherein I should walk.' But knowledge is not all that we +need, and the gulf between knowledge and practice is so deep that after +we have prayed that we may be caused to know the way, and have received +the answer, there still remains the need for God's help that knowledge +may become life, and that all which we understand we may do. To such +practical conformity to the will of God all other aspects of religion +are meant to be subservient. + +Christianity is a revelation of truth, but to accept it as such is not +enough. Christianity brings to me exemption from punishment, escape from +hell, deliverance from condemnation and guilt, and by some of us, that +is apt to be regarded as the whole Gospel; but pardon is only a means to +an end. Christianity brings to us the possibility of indulgence in sweet +and blessed emotions, and a fervour of feeling which to experience is +the ante-past of heaven, and for some of us, all our religion goes off +in vaporous emotion; but feeling alone is not Christianity. Our religion +brings to us sweet and gracious consolations, but it is a poor affair if +we only use it as an anodyne and a comfort. Our Christianity brings to +us glorious hopes that flash lustre into the darkness, and make the +solitude of the grave companionship, and the end of earth the beginning +of life, but it is a poor affair if the mightiest operation of our +religion be relegated to a future, and flung on to the close. All these +things, the truth which the Gospel brings, the pardon and peace of +conscience which it ensures, the joyful emotion which it sets loose from +the ice of indifference, the sweet consolations with which it pillows +the weary head and bandages the bleeding heart, and the great hopes +which flash light into glazing eyes, and make the end glorious with the +rays of a beginning, and the western heaven bright with the promise of a +new day--all these things are but subservient means to this highest +purpose, that we should do the will of God, and be conformed to His +image. They whose religion has not reached that apex have yet to +understand its highest meaning. The river of the water of life that +proceeds from the Throne of God and the Lamb is not sent merely to +refresh thirsty lips, and to bring music into the silence of a waterless +desert, but it is sent to drive the wheels of life. Action, not thought, +is the end of God's revelation, and the perfecting of man. + +But, then, let us remember that we shall most imperfectly apprehend the +whole sweep and blessedness of this great supreme aim of the devout +soul, if we regard this doing of God's will as merely the external act +of obedience to an external command. Simple doing is not enough; the +deed must be the fruit of love. The aim of the Christian life is not +obedience to a law that is recognised as authoritative, but joyful +moulding of ourselves after a law that is felt to be sweet and loving. +'I delight to do Thy will, yea! Thy law is within my heart.' Only when +thus the will yields itself in loving and glad conformity to the will of +God is true obedience possible for us. Brother! is that your +Christianity? Do you desire, more than anything besides, that what He +wills you should will, and that His law should be stamped upon your +hearts, and all your rebellious desires and purposes should be brought +into a sweet captivity which is freedom, and an obedience to Christ +which is kingship over the universe and yourselves? + +II. Note, secondly, the divine teaching and touch which are required for +this conformity. + +The Psalmist betakes himself to prayer, because he knows that of himself +he cannot bring his will into this attitude of harmonious submission. +And his prayer for 'teaching' is deepened in the second clause of our +text into a petition, which is substantially the same in meaning, but +yet sets the felt need and the coveted help in a still more striking +light, in its cry for the touch of God's good spirit to guide, as by a +hand grasping the Psalmist's hand, into the paths of obedience. + +We may learn from this prayer, then, that practical conformity to God's +will can never be attained by our own efforts. Remember all the +hindrances that rise between us and it; these wild passions of ours, +this obstinate gravitating of tastes and desires towards earth, these +animal necessities, these spiritual perversities, which make up so much +of us all--how can we coerce these into submission? Our better selves +sit within like some prisoned king, surrounded and 'fooled by the rebel +powers' of his revolted subjects; and our best recourse is to send an +embassy to the Over-lord, the Sovereign King, praying Him to come to our +help. We cannot will to will as God wills, but we can turn ourselves to +Him, and ask Him to put the power within us which shall subdue the evil, +conquer the rebels, and make us masters of our own else anarchic and +troubled spirits. For all honest attempts to make the will of God our +wills, the one secret of success is confident and continual appeal to +Him. A man must have gone a very little way, very superficially and +perfunctorily, on the path of seeking to make himself what he ought to +be, unless he has found out that he cannot do it, and unless he has +found out that there is only one way to do it, and that is to go to God +and say, 'O Lord! I am baffled and beaten. I put the reins into Thy +hand; do Thou inspire and direct and sanctify.' + +That practical conformity to the will of God requires divine teaching, +but yet that teaching must be no outward thing. It is not enough that we +should have communicated to us, as from without, the clearest knowledge +of what we ought to be. There must be more than that. Our Psalmist's +prayer was a prophecy. He said, 'Teach me to do Thy will.' And he +thought, no doubt, of an inward teaching which should mould his nature +as well as enlighten it; of the communication of impulses as well as of +conceptions; of something which should make him love the divine will, as +well as of something which should make him know it. + +You and I have Jesus Christ for our Teacher, the answer to the psalm. +His teaching is inward and deep and real, and answers to all the +necessities of the case. We have His example to stand as our perfect +law. If we want to know what is God's will, we have only to turn to that +life; and however different from ours His may have been in its outward +circumstances, and however fragmentary and brief its records in the +Gospels may sometimes seem to us, yet in these little booklets, telling +of the quiet life of the carpenter's Son, there is guidance for every +man and woman in all circumstances, however complicated, and we do not +need anything more to teach us what God's will is than the life of Jesus +Christ. His teaching goes deeper than example. He comes into our hearts, +He moulds our wills. His teaching is by inward impulses and +communications of desire and power to do, as well as of light to know. A +law has been given which can give life. As the modeller will take a +piece of wax into his hand, and by warmth and manipulation make it soft +and pliable, so Jesus Christ, if we let Him, will take our hard hearts +into His hands, and by gentle, loving, subtle touches, will shape them +into the pattern of His own perfect beauty, and will mould all their +vagrant inclinations and aberrant distortions into 'one immortal feature +of loveliness and perfection.' 'The _grace of God_ that bringeth +salvation hath appeared unto all men _teaching_ that, denying +ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,' controlling +ourselves, 'righteously,' fulfilling all our obligations to our +fellows, 'and godly,' referring everything to Him, 'in this present +world.' + +That practical conformity to the divine will requires, still further, +the operation of the divine Spirit as our Guide. 'Thy Spirit is good +lead me into the land of uprightness.' There is only one power that can +draw us out of the far-off land of rebellious disobedience, where the +prodigals and the swine's husks and the famine and the rags are, into +the 'land of uprightness,' and that is, the communicated Spirit of God, +which is given to all them that desire Him, and will lead them in paths +of righteousness for His name's sake. It is He that works in us, the +willing and the doing, according to His own good pleasure. 'He shall +guide you,' said the Master, 'into all truth'--not merely into its +knowledge, but into its performance, not merely into truth of +conception, but into truth of practice, which is righteousness, and the +fulfilling of the Law. + +III. Lastly, note the divine guarantee that this practical conformity +shall be ours. + +The Psalmist pleads with God a double motive--His relation to us and His +own perfectness, 'Thou art my God; therefore teach me.' 'Thy Spirit is +good; therefore lead me into the land of uprightness.' I can but glance +for a moment at these two pleas of the prayer. + +Note, then, first, God's personal relation to the devout soul, as the +guarantee that that soul shall be taught, not merely to know, but also +to do His will. If He be 'my God,' there can be no deeper desire in His +heart, than that His will should be my will. And this He desires, not +from any masterfulness or love of dominion, but only from love to us. If +He be my God, and therefore longing to have me obedient, He will not +withhold what is needed to make me so. God is no hard Taskmaster who +sets us to make bricks without straw. Whatsoever He commands He gives, +and His commandments are always second and His gifts first. He bestows +Himself and then He says, 'For the love's sake, do My will.' Be sure +that the sacred bond which knits us to Him is regarded by Him, the +faithful Creator, as an obligation which He recognises and respects and +will discharge. We have a right to go to Him and to say to Him, 'Thou +art my God; and Thou wilt not be what Thou art, nor do what Thou hast +pledged Thyself to do, unless Thou makest me to know and to do Thy +will.' + +And on the other hand, if we have taken Him for ours, and have the bond +knit from our side as well as from His, then the fact of our faith gives +us a claim on Him which He is sure to honour. The soul that can say, 'I +have taken Thee for mine,' has a hold on God which God is only too glad +to recognise and to vindicate. And whoever, humbly trusting to that +great Father in the heavens, feels that he belongs to God, and that God +belongs to him, is warranted in praying, 'Teach me, and make me, to do +Thy will,' and in being confident of an answer. + +And there is the other plea with Him and guarantee for us, drawn from +God's own moral character and perfectness. The last clause of my text +may either be read as our Bible has it, 'Thy Spirit is good; lead me,' +or 'Let Thy good Spirit lead me.' In either case the goodness of the +divine Spirit is the plea on which the prayer is grounded. The goodness +here referred to is, as I take it, not merely beneficence and +kindliness, but rather goodness in its broader and loftier sense of +perfect moral purity. So that the thought just comes to this--we have +the right to expect that we shall be made participant of the divine +nature for so sweet, so deep, so tender is the tie that knits a devout +soul to God, that nothing short of conformity to the perfect purity of +God can satisfy the aspirations of the creature, or discharge the +obligations of the Creator. + +It is a daring thought. The Psalmist's desire was a prophecy. The New +Testament vindicates and fulfils it when it says 'We shall be like Him, +for we shall see Him as He is.' Since He now dwells in 'the land of +uprightness,' who once dwelt among us in this weary world of confusion +and of sin, then we one day shall be with Him. Christ's heart cannot be +satisfied, Christ's Cross cannot be rewarded, the divine nature cannot +be at rest, the purpose of redemption cannot be accomplished, until all +who have trusted in Christ be partakers of divine purity, and all the +wanderers be led by devious and yet by right paths, by crooked and yet +by straight ways, by places rough and yet smooth, into 'the land of +uprightness.' Where and what He is, there and that shall also His +servants be. + +My brother! if to do the will of God is to dwell in the land of +uprightness, disobedience is to dwell in a dry and thirsty land, barren +and dreary, horrid with frowning rocks and jagged cliffs, where every +stone cuts the feet and every step is a blunder, and all the paths end +at last on the edge of an abyss, and crumble into nothingness beneath +the despairing foot that treads them. Do you see to it that you walk in +ways of righteousness which are paths of peace; and look for all the +help you need, with assured faith, to Him who shall 'guide us by His +counsel and afterwards receive us to His glory.' + + + + +THE SATISFIER OF ALL DESIRES + + + 'Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living + thing ... 19. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him: He + also will hear their cry, and will save them.'--PSALM cxlv. 16, 19. + +You observe the recurrence, in these two verses, of the one emphatic +word 'desire.' Its repetition evidently shows that the Psalmist wishes +to run a parallel between God's dealings in two regions. The same +beneficence works in both. Here is the true extension of natural law to +the spiritual world. It is the same teaching to which our Lord has given +immortal and inimitable utterance, when He says, 'Your heavenly Father +feedeth them.' And so we are entitled to look on all the wonders of +creation, and to find in them buttresses which may support the edifice +of our faith, and to believe that wherever there is a mouth God sends +food to fill it. 'Thou openest Thine hand'--that is all--'and satisfiest +the desire of every living thing.' But to fulfil the desires of them who +are not only 'living things,' but 'who fear' Him, is it such a simple +task? Sometimes more is wanted than an open hand before that can be +accomplished. So, looking not only at the words I have read, but at the +whole of their setting, which is influenced by the thought of this +parallelism, we see here two sets of pensioners, two kinds of wants, two +forms of appeal, two processes of satisfaction. + +I. Two kinds of pensioners. + +'Every living thing--' life makes a claim on God, and whatever desires +arise in the living creature by reason of its life, God would be untrue +to Himself, a cruel Parent, an unnatural Father, if He did not satisfy +them. We do not half enough realise the fact that the condescension of +creation lies not only in the act of creating, but in the willing +acceptance by the Creator of the bonds under which He thereby lays +Himself; obliging Himself to see to the creatures that He has chosen to +make. And so, as one of the New Testament writers puts it, in his simple +way, with a profound truth, 'He is a faithful Creator'; and wherever +there is a creature that He has made to need anything, He has thereby +said, 'As I live, that creature shall have what it needs.' + +Then, take the other class, 'them that fear Him'; or as they are +described in the context--by contrast with 'the wicked who are +destroyed'--'the righteous.' That is to say, whilst, because we are +living things, like the bee and the worm, we have a claim on God +precisely parallel with theirs for what we may need by reason of His +gift, which we never asked for, His gift of life, we shall have a +similar but higher claim on Him if we are 'they that fear Him' with that +loving reverence which has no torment in it, and that love Him with that +reverential affection which has no presumption in it, and whose love and +fear coalesce in making them long to be righteous like the Object of +their love, to be holy like the Object of their fear. And just as the +fact of physical life binds God to care for it, and to give all that is +needed for its health, growth, blessedness, so the fact of man's having +in his heart the faintest tremor of reverential dread, the feeblest +aspiration of outgoing affection, the most faltering desire after purity +of life and conduct, binds God to answer these according to the man's +need. Of all incredibilities in the world, there is nothing more +incredible, because there is nothing more contrary to the very depths of +the divine nature, than that desires, longings, expectations, which are +the direct result of the love and fear of God, and the hunger and thirst +after righteousness, should not be answered. + +Now that is a very wide principle, and I do not believe that it is +trusted enough by many. It comes to this--wherever you find in people a +confidence which grows with their love of God, be sure that there is, +somewhere or other in the universe of things, that which answers it. + +Take a case. If there was not a word in the New Testament about Jesus +Christ's resurrection, the fact that just in proportion as men grow in +devotion, in love of God, in fear of Him, in longing to be good and to +appear like Him, in that same proportion does their conviction that +there must be a life beyond the grave become firm and certain--that +fact would be enough to make any one who believed in God sure that the +hope thus rooted in love to Him, and fed by everything that draws us +nearer to Him, could not be a delusion, nor be destined to be left +unfulfilled. + +And we might go round the whole circle of dim religious aspirations and +desires, and find in all of them illustrations of the principle so +profoundly and so simply put in our psalm, that the same Love which, in +the realm of the physical world, binds itself to satisfy the life which +it imparts, is at work in the higher regions, and will 'fulfil the +desires of them that fear Him.' + +II. Again, there are two sets of needs. + +The first of them is very easily disposed of. 'The eyes of all wait upon +Thee, and Thou givest them their meat.' That is all. Feed the beast, and +give it the other things necessary for its physical existence, and there +is no more to be done. But there is more wanted for the desires of the +men that love and fear God. These are glanced at in the context, 'He +also will hear their cry, and will save them'; 'the Lord preserveth all +them that love Him.' That is to say, there are deeper needs in our +hearts and lives than any that are known amongst the lower creatures. +Evils, dangers inward and outward, sorrows, disappointments, losses of +all sorts shadow our lives, in a fashion which the happy, careless life +of field and forest knows nothing about. Give them their meat, and they +curl themselves up and lie down to sleep, satisfied. Man longs for +something more and needs something more. + +'He will save them.' Now, I do not suppose that 'save' here is employed +in its full New Testament sense, but it approximates to that sense. +And, further, there are other aspects of our needs set forth in the +context, on which I briefly touch. Do not let us vulgarise such a saying +as this of my text, 'He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him,' +as if it only meant that if a man fears God he may set his longing upon +any outward thing, and be sure to get it. There is nothing so poor, so +unworthy as that promised in Scripture. For one thing, it is not true; +for another, it would not be good if it were. The way to spoil children +is not the way to perfect saints; and to give them what they want +because they want it, is the sure way to spoil children of all ages. We +may be quite certain that our heavenly Father is not going to do that. +The promise here means something far nobler and loftier. The fact of +creation binds God to supply all the wants which spring from life. The +fact of our loving and fearing Him binds Him to supply all the wants +which spring from our love and fear. And it is these desires which the +Psalmist is thinking of. + +What is the object of desire to a man who loves God? God. What is the +object of desire to a man who fears Him? God. What is the object of +desire to a righteous man? Righteousness. And these are the desires +which God is sure to fulfil to us. Therefore, there is only one region +in which it is safe and wise to cherish longings, and it is the region +of the spiritual life where God imparts Himself. Everywhere else there +will be disappointments--thank Him for them. Nowhere else is it +absolutely true that He will 'fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.' +But in this region it is. Whatever any of us desire to have of God, we +are sure to get. We open our mouths and He fills them. In the Christian +life desire is the measure of possession, and to long is to have. And +there is nowhere else where it is absolutely, unconditionally, and +universally true that to wish is to possess, and to ask is to have. + +Oh! then, is it not a foolish thing for us to worry and torture and +sweat, in order to win for ourselves for a little while the uncertain +possession of incomplete bliss? Would it not be wiser, instead of +letting the current of our desires dribble itself away through a +thousand channels in the sand and get lost, to gather it all into one +great stream which is sure to find its way to the broad ocean? 'Delight +thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart,' +for these will then be after Himself, and Himself only. + +III. Further, there are here two forms of appeal. + +'The eyes of all wait upon Thee.' That is beautiful! The dumb look of +the unconscious creature, like that of a dog looking up in its master's +face for a crust, makes appeal to God, and He answers that. But a dumb, +unconscious look is not for us. 'He also will hear their cry.' Put your +wish into words if you want it answered; not for His information, but +for your strengthening. 'Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need +of these things before ye ask Him.' What then? Why should I ask Him? +Because the asking will clear your thoughts about your desires. It will +be a very good test of them. There are many things that we all wish, +which I am afraid we should not much like to put into our prayers, not +because of any foolish notion that they are too small to find a place +there, but because of an uncomfortable suspicion that perhaps they are +not the kind of things that we ought to wish. And if we cannot make the +desire into a cry, the sooner we make it dead as well as dumb the better +for ourselves. The cry will serve, too, as a stimulus to the wishes +which are put into words. Silent prayer is well, but there is a +wonderful power on ourselves--it may be due to our weakness, but still +it exists--in the articulate and audible utterance of our petitions to +God. I would fain that all of us were more in the habit of putting into +distinct words that we ourselves can hear, the wishes that we cherish. I +am sure our prayers would be more sincere, less wandering, more earnest +and real, if they were spoken, as well as felt, prayers. + +Let us remember, dear brethren! that the condition of our getting the +higher gifts is not only that we should love and fear, and in the +silence of our own hearts should wish for, but that we should definitely +ask for, them. Not only desire, but 'their cry,' brings the answer. + +IV. And now one last word. Note the two processes of satisfying. + +'Thou openest Thine hand.' That is enough. But God cannot satisfy our +deepest desires by any such short and easy method. There is a great deal +more to be done by Him before the aspirations of love and fear and +longing for righteousness can be fulfilled. He has to breathe Himself +into us. Lower creatures have enough when they have the meat that drops +from His hand. They know and care nothing for the hand that feeds. But +God's best gifts cannot be separated from Himself. They are Himself, and +in order to 'satisfy the desires of them that fear Him' there is no way +possible, even to Him, but the impartation of Himself to the waiting +heart. + +That is a mystery deep and blessed. Oh, that we may all know, by our +own living experience, what it is to have not only the gifts which drop +from His hands, but the gifts which cannot be parted from Him, the +Giver! He has to discipline us for His highest gifts, in order that we +may receive them. And sometimes He has to do that, as I have no doubt He +has done it with many of us, by withholding or withdrawing the +satisfaction of some of our lower desires, and so emptying our hearts +and turning the current of our wishes from earth to heaven. If you are +going to pour precious wine into a chalice, you begin by emptying out +the less valuable liquid that may be in it. So God often empties us, in +order that He may fill us, and takes away the creatures in order that we +may long for the Creator. + +Not only has He to give us Himself, and to discipline us in order to +receive Him, but He has to put all His gifts which meet our deepest +desires into a great storehouse. He does not open His hand and give us +peace and righteousness, and growing knowledge of Himself, and closer +union, and the other blessings of the Christian life, but He gives us +Jesus Christ. We are to find all these blessings in Him, and it depends +upon us whether we find them or not, and how much of them we find. You +will always find as much in Christ as you want, but you may not find +nearly as much in Him as you could; and you will never find as much in +Him as there is. God sends His Son, and in that one gift, like a box +'wherein sweets compacted lie,' are all the gifts that even His hand can +bestow, or our desires require. So be sure that you have what you have, +and that you suck out of the Rose of Sharon all the honey that lies deep +in its calyx. Expand your desires to the width of Christ's great +mercies; for the measure of our wishes is the limit of our possession. +He has laid up the supply of all our need in the storehouse, which is +Christ; and He has given us the key. Let us see to it that we enter in. +'Ye have not because ye ask not.' 'To him that hath shall be given, and +he shall have abundance.' + +END OF VOL. II. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture, by +Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 7925.txt or 7925.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/9/2/7925/ + +Produced by Charles Franks, Chew-Hung, Lee, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Expositions of Holy Scripture + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Release Date: April, 2005 [EBook #7925] +[This file was first posted on May 31, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Charles Franks, Chew-Hung, Lee, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + +EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +PSALMS + +by + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + + + + + +VOLUME I: PSALMS _I to XLIX_ + + +CONTENTS + + +BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE (Psalm i. 1, 2; cl. 6) + +A STAIRCASE OF THREE STEPS (Psalm v. 11, 12) + +ONE SAYING FROM THREE MEN (Psalm x. 6; xvi. 8; xxx. 6) + +MAN'S TRUE TREASURE IN GOD (Psalm xvi. 5, 6) + +GOD WITH US, AND WE WITH GOD (Psalm xvi. 8, 11) + +THE TWO AWAKINGS (Psalm xvii. 15; lxxiii. 20) + +SECRET FAULTS (Psalm xix. 12) + +OPEN SINS (Psalm xix. 13) + +FEASTING ON THE SACRIFICE (Psalm xxii. 26) + +THE SHEPHERD KING OF ISRAEL (Psalm xxiii. 1-6) + +A GREAT QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER (Psalm xxiv. 3) + +THE GOD WHO DWELLS WITH MEN (Psalm xxiv. 7-10) + +GUIDANCE IN JUDGMENT (Psalm xxv. 8, 9) + +A PRAYER FOR PARDON AND ITS PLEA (Psalm xxv. 11) + +GOD'S GUESTS (Psalm xxvii. 4) + +'SEEK YE'--'I WILL SEEK' (Psalm xxvii. 8, 9) + +THE TWO GUESTS (Psalm xxx. 5) + +'BE ... FOR THOU ART' (Psalm xxxi. 2, 3, R.V.) + +'INTO THY HANDS' (Psalm xxxi. 5) + +GOODNESS WROUGHT AND GOODNESS LAID UP (Psalm xxxi. 19) + +HID IN LIGHT (Psalm xxxi. 20) + +A THREEFOLD THOUGHT OF SIN AND FORGIVENESS (Psalm xxxii. 1, 2) + +THE ENCAMPING ANGEL (Psalm xxxiv. 7) + +STRUGGLING AND SEEKING (Psalm xxxiv. 10) + +NO CONDEMNATION (Psalm xxxiv. 22) + +SKY, EARTH, AND SEA: A PARABLE OF GOD (Psalm xxxvi. 5-7) + +WHAT MEN FIND BENEATH THE WINGS OF GOD (Psalm xxxvi. 8, 9) + +THE SECRET OF TRANQUILLITY (Psalm xxxvii. 4, 5, 7) + +THE BITTERNESS AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE (Psalm xxxix. 6, +12) + +TWO INNUMERABLE SERIES (Psalm xl. 5, 12) + +THIRSTING FOR GOD (Psalm xlii. 2) + +THE PSALMIST'S REMONSTRANCE WITH HIS SOUL (Psalm xliii. 5) + +THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY (Psalm xlv. 2-7, R.V.) + +THE PORTRAIT OF THE BRIDE (Psalm xlv. 10-15, R.V.) + +THE CITY AND RIVER OF GOD (Psalm xlvi. 4-7) + +THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF JACOB (Psalm xlvi. 11) + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE (Psalm xlviii. 1-14) + +TWO SHEPHERDS AND TWO FLOCKS (Psalm xlix. 14; Rev. vii. 17) + + + + +BLESSEDNESS AND PRAISE + + + 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, + nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the + scornful. 2. But his delight is in the law of the Lord.' + --PSALM i. 1, 2. + + 'Let every thing that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the + Lord.'--PSALM cl. 6. + +The Psalter is the echo in devout hearts of the other portions of divine +revelation. There are in it, indeed, further disclosures of God's mind +and purposes, but its especial characteristic is--the reflection of the +light of God from brightened faces and believing hearts. As we hold it +to be inspired, we cannot simply say that it is man's response to God's +voice. But if the rest of Scripture may be called the speech of the +Spirit of God _to_ men, this book is the answer of the Spirit of God +_in_ men. + +These two verses which I venture to lay side by side present in a very +remarkable way this characteristic. It is not by accident that they +stand where they do, the first and last verses of the whole collection, +enclosing all, as it were, within a golden ring, and bending round to +meet each other. They are the summing up of the whole purpose and issue +of God's revelation to men. + +The first and second psalms echo the two main portions of the old +revelation--the Law and the Prophets. The first of them is taken up with +the celebration of the blessedness and fruitful, stable being of the man +who loves the Law of the Lord, as contrasted with the rootless and +barren life of the ungodly, who is like the chaff. The second is +occupied with the contemplation of the divine 'decree' by which the +coming King is set in God's 'holy hill of Zion,' and of the blessedness +of 'all they who put their trust in Him,' as contrasted with the swift +destruction that shall fall on the vain imaginations of the rebellious +heathen and banded kings of earth. + +The words of our first text, then, may well stand at the beginning of +the Psalter. They express the great purpose for which God has given His +Law. They are the witness of human experience to the substantial, though +partial, accomplishment of that purpose. They rise in buoyant triumph +over that which is painful and apparently opposed to it; and in spite of +sorrow and sin, proclaim the blessedness of the life which is rooted in +the Law of the Lord. + +The last words of the book are as significant as its first. The closing +psalms are one long call to praise--they probably date from the time of +the restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah, when, as we know, 'the service +of song' was carefully re-established, and the harps which had hung +silent upon the willows by the rivers of Babylon woke again their +ancient melodies. These psalms climb higher and higher in their +rapturous call to all creatures, animate and inanimate, on earth and in +heaven, to praise Him. The golden waves of music and song pour out ever +faster and fuller. At last we hear this invocation to every instrument +of music to praise Him, responded to, as we may suppose, by each, in +turn as summoned, adding its tributary notes to the broadening river of +harmony--until all, with gathered might of glad sound blended with the +crash of many voices, unite in the final words, 'Let every thing that +hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.' + +I. We have here a twofold declaration of God's great purpose in all His +self-revelation, and especially in the Gospel of His Son. + +Our first text may be translated as a joyful exclamation, 'Oh! the +blessedness of the man--whose delight is in the law of the Lord.' Our +second is an invocation or a command. The one then expresses the purpose +which God secures by His gift of the Law; the other the purpose which He +summons us to fulfil by the tribute of our hearts and songs--man's +happiness and God's glory. + +His purpose is Man's blessedness. + +That is but another way of saying, God is love. For love, as we know it, +is eminently the desire for the happiness of the person on whom it is +fixed. And unless the love of God be like ours, however it may transcend +it, there is no revelation of Him to our hearts at all. If He be love, +then He 'delights in the prosperity' of His children. + +And that purpose runs through all His acts. For perfect love is +all-pervasive, and even with us men, it rules the whole being; nor does +he love at all who seeks the welfare of the heart he clings to by fits +and starts, by some of his acts and not by others. When God comes forth +from the unvisioned light, which is thick darkness, of His own eternal, +self-adequate Being, and flashes into energy in Creation, Providence, or +Grace, the Law of His Working and His Purpose are one, in all regions. +The unity of the divine acts depends on this--that all flow from one +deep source, and all move to one mighty end. Standing on the height to +which His own declarations of His own nature lift our feebleness, we can +see how the 'river of God that waters the garden' and 'parts' into many +'heads,' gushes from one fountain. One of the psalms puts what people +call the 'philosophy' of creation and of providence very clearly, in +accordance with this thought--that the love of God is the source, and +the blessedness of man the end, of all His work: 'To Him that made great +lights; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him that slew mighty kings; +for His mercy endureth for ever.' + +Creation, then, is the effluence of the loving heart of God. Though the +sacred characters be but partially legible to us now, what He wrote, on +stars and flowers, on the infinitely great and the infinitely small, on +the infinitely near and the infinitely far off, with His creating hand, +was the one inscription--God is love. And as in nature, so in +providence. The origination, and the support, and the direction of all +things, are the works and the heralds of the same love. It is printed in +starry letters on the sky. It is graven on the rocks, and breathed by +the flowers. It is spoken as a dark saying even by sorrow and pain. The +mysteries of destructive and crushing providences have come from the +same source. And he who can see with the Psalmist the ever-during mercy +of the Lord, as the reason of creation and of judgments, has in his +hands the golden key which opens all the locks in the palace chambers of +the great King. He only hath penetrated to the secret of things +material, and stands in the light at the centre, who understands that +all comes from the one source--God's endless desire for the blessedness +of His creatures. + +But while all God's works do thus praise Him by testifying that He seeks +to bless His creatures, the loftiest example of that desire is, of +course, found in His revelation of Himself to men's hearts and +consciences, to men's spirits and wills. That mightiest act of love, +beginning in the long-past generations, has culminated in Him in whom +'dwelleth the whole fulness of the Godhead bodily,' and in whose work is +all the love--the perfect, inconceivable, patient, omnipotent love of +our redeeming God. + +And then, remember that this is not inconsistent with or contradicted by +the sterner aspects of that revelation, which cannot be denied, and +ought not to be minimised or softened. _Here_, on the right hand, are +the flowery slopes of the Mount of Blessing; _there_, on the left, the +barren, stern, thunder-riven, lightning-splintered pinnacles of the +Mount of Cursing. Every clear note of benediction hath its low minor of +imprecation from the other side. Between the two, overhung by the hopes +of the one, and frowned upon and dominated by the threatenings of the +other, is pitched the little camp of our human life, and the path of our +pilgrimage runs in the trough of the valley between. And yet--might we +not go a step farther, and say that above the parted summits stretches +the one overarching blue, uniting them both, and their roots deep down +below the surface interlace and twine together? That is to say, the +threatenings and rebukes, the acts of retributive judgment, which are +contained in the revelation of God, are no limitation nor disturbance of +the clear and happy faith that all which we behold is full of blessing, +and that all comes from the Father's hand. They are the garb in which +His Love needs to array itself when it comes in contact with man's sin +and man's evil. The love of God appears no less when it teaches us in +grave sad tones that 'the wages of sin is death,' than when it proclaims +that 'the gift of God is eternal life.' + +Love threatens that it may never have to execute its threats. Love warns +that we may be wise in time. Love prophesies that its sad forebodings +may not be fulfilled. And love smites with lighter strokes of +premonitory chastisements, that we may never need to feel the whips of +scorpions. + +Remember, too, that these sterner aspects both of Law and of Gospel +point this lesson--that we shall very much misunderstand God's purpose +if we suppose it to be blessedness for us men _anyhow_, irrespective +altogether of character. Some people seem to think that God loves us so +much, as they would say--so little, so ignobly, as I would say--as that +He only desires us to be happy. They seem to think that the divine love +is tarnished unless it provides for men's felicity, whether they are +God-loving and God-like or no. Thus the solemn and majestic love of the +Father in heaven is to be brought down to a weak good nature, which only +desires that the child shall cease crying and be happy, and does not +mind by what means that end is reached. God's purpose _is_ blessedness; +but, as this very text tells us, not blessedness anyhow, but one which +will not and cannot be given by God to those who walk in the way of +sinners. His love desires that we should be holy, and 'followers of God +as dear children'--and the blessedness which it bestows comes from +pardon and growing fellowship with Him. It can no more fall on +rebellious hearts than the pure crystals of the snow can lie and sparkle +on the hot, black cone of a volcano. + +The other text that I have read sets forth another view of God's +purpose. God seeks our praise. The glory of God is the end of all the +divine actions. Now, that is a statement which no doubt is irrefragable, +and a plain deduction from the very conception of an infinite Being. But +it may be held in such connections, and spoken with such erroneous +application, and so divorced from other truths, that instead of being +what it is in the Bible, good news, it shall become a curse and a lie. +It may be so understood as to describe not our Father in heaven, but an +almighty devil! But, when the thought that God's purpose in all His acts +is His own glory, is firmly united with that other, that His purpose in +all His acts is our blessing, then we begin to understand how full of +joy it may be for us. His glory is sought by Him in the manifestation of +His loving heart, mirrored in our illuminated and gladdened hearts. Such +a glory is not unworthy of infinite love. It has nothing in common with +the ambitious and hungry greed of men for reputation or self-display. +That desire is altogether ignoble and selfish when it is found in human +hearts; and it would be none the less ignoble and selfish if it were +magnified into infinitude, and transferred to the divine. But to say +that God's glory is His great end, is surely but another way of saying +that He is love. The love that seeks to bless us desires, as all love +does, that it should be known for what it is, that it should be +recognised in our glad hearts, and smiled back again from our brightened +faces. God desires that we should know Him, and so have Eternal Life; He +desires that knowing Him, we should love Him, and loving should praise, +and so should glorify Him. He desires that there should be an +interchange of love bestowing and love receiving, of gifts showered down +and of praise ascending, of fire falling from the heavens and sweet +incense, from grateful hearts, going up in fragrant clouds acceptable +unto God. It is a sign of a Fatherly heart that He '_seeketh_ such to +worship Him'. He desires to be glorified by our praise, because He loves +us so much. He commences with an offer, He advances to a command. He +gives first, and then (not till then) He comes seeking fruit from the +'trees' which are 'the planting of the Lord, that He might be +glorified.' His plea is not 'the vineyard belongs to Me, and I have a +right to its fruits,' but 'what could have been done more to My +vineyard, that I have not done in it?--judge between Me and My +vineyard.' First, He showers down blessings; then, He looks for the +revenue of praise! + +II. We may also take these passages as giving us a twofold expression of +the actual effects of God's revelation, especially in the Gospel, even +here upon earth. + +The one text is the joyful exclamation built upon experience and +observation. The other is a call which is answered in some measure even +by voices that are often dumb in unthankfulness, often broken by sobs, +often murmuring in penitence. + +God does actually, though not completely, make men blessed here. Our +text sums up the experience of all the devout hearts and lives whose +emotions are expressed in the Psalms. He who wrote this psalm would +preface the whole book by words into which the spirit of the book is +distilled. It will have much to say of sorrow and pain. It will touch +many a low note of wailing and of grief. There will be complaints and +penitence, and sighs almost of despair before it closes. But this which +he puts first is the note of the whole. So it is in our histories. +They will run through many a dark and desert place. We shall have +bitterness and trials in abundance, there will be many an hour of +sadness caused by my own evil, and many a hard struggle with it. But +high above all these mists and clouds will rise the hope that seeks the +skies, and deep beneath all the surface agitations of storms and +currents there will be the unmoved stillness of the central ocean of +peace in our hearts. In the 'valley of weeping' we may still be +'blessed' if 'the ways' are in our hearts, and if we make of the very +tears 'a well,' drawing refreshment from the very trials. With all its +sorrows and pains, its fightings and fears, its tribulations in the +world, and its chastenings from a Father's hand, the life of a Christian +is a happy life, and 'the joy of the Lord' remains with His servants. + +More than twenty centuries have passed since that psalm was written. As +many stretched dim behind the Psalmist as he sang. He was gathering up +in one sentence the spirit of the past, and confirming it by his own +life's history. And has any one that has lived since then stood up and +said--'Behold! I have found it otherwise. I have waited on God, and He +has not heard my cry. I have served Him, and that for nought. I have +trusted in Him, and been disappointed. I have sought His face--in vain. +And I say, from my own experience, that the man who trusts in Him is +_not_ blessed'? Not one, thank God! The history of the past, so far as +this matter is concerned, may be put in one sentence 'They looked unto +Him and were lightened, and their faces were not ashamed,' and as for +the present, are there not some of us who can say, 'This poor man cried, +and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles'? + +Brethren! make the experiment for yourselves. Test this experience by +your own simple affiance and living trust in Jesus Christ. We have the +experience of all generations to encourage us. What has blessed them is +enough for you and me. Like the meal and the oil, which were the +Prophet's resource in famine, yesterday's supply does not diminish +to-morrow's store. We, too, may have all that gladdened the hearts and +stayed the spirits of the saints of old. 'Oh! taste and see that God is +good.' 'Blessed is the man that trusteth in Him.' + +So, too, God's gift produces man's praise. + +What is it that He desires from us? Nothing but our thankful recognition +and reception of His benefits. We honour God by taking the full cup of +salvation which He commends to our lips, and by calling, while we drink, +upon the name of the Lord. Our true response to His Word, which is +essentially a proffer of blessing to us, is to open our hearts to +receive, and, receiving, to render grateful acknowledgment. The echo of +love which gives and forgives, is love which accepts and thanks. We have +but to lift up our empty and impure hands, opened wide to receive the +gift which He lays in them--and though they be empty and impure, yet +'the lifting up of our hands' is 'as the evening sacrifice'; our sense +of need stands in the place of all offerings. The stained thankfulness +of our poor hearts is accepted by Him who inhabits the praises of +eternity, and yet delights in the praises of Israel. He bends from +heaven to give, and all He asks is that we should take. He only seeks +our thankfulness--but He does seek it. And wherever His grace is +discerned, and His love is welcomed, there praise breaks forth, as +surely as streams pour from the cave of the glacier when the sun of +summer melts it, or earth answers the touch of spring with flowers. + +And that effect is produced, notwithstanding all the complaints and +sighs and tears which sometimes choke our praise. It _is_ produced even +while these last; the psalms of thanksgiving are not all reserved for +the end of the book. But even in those which read like the very sobs of +a broken heart, there is ever present some tone of grateful +acknowledgment of God's mercy. He sends us sorrow, and He wills that we +should weep--but they should be tears like David's, who, at the lowest +point of his fortunes, when he plaintively besought God, 'Put Thou my +tears into Thy bottle'--could say in the same breath, 'Thy vows are upon +me, O God: I will render praises unto Thee.' God works on our souls that +we may have the consciousness of sin, and He wills that we should come +with broken and contrite hearts, and like the king of Israel wail out +our confessions and supplications--'Have mercy upon me, O God! according +to Thy loving-kindness.' But, like him, we should even in our lowliest +abasement, when our hearts are bruised, be able to say along with our +contrition, 'Open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy +praise.' Our sorrows are never so great that they hide our mercies. The +sky is never so covered with clouds that neither sun nor stars appear +for many days. And in every Christian heart the low tones of lamentation +and confession are blended with grateful praise. So it is even in the +darkest moments, whilst the blast of misfortune and misery is as a storm +against the wall. + +But a brighter hope even for our life here rises from these words, if we +think of the place which they hold in the whole book. They are the last +words. Whatever other notes have been sounded in its course, all ends in +this. The winter's day has had its melancholy grey sky, with many a +bitter dash of snow and rain--but it has stormed itself out, and at +eventide, a rent in the clouds reveals the sun, and it closes in +peaceful clearness of light. + +The note of gladness heard at the beginning, 'Oh! the blessedness of the +man that delights in the law of the Lord,' holds on persistently, like a +subdued and almost bewildered undercurrent of sweet sound amid all the +movements of some colossal symphony, through tears and sobs, confession +and complaint, and it springs up at the close triumphant, like the ruddy +spires of a flame long smothered, and swells and broadens, and draws all +the intricate harmonies into its own rushing tide. Some of you remember +the great musical work which has these very words for its theme. It +begins with the call, 'All that hath life and breath, praise ye the +Lord,' and although the gladness saddens into the plaintive cry of a +soul sick with hope deferred, 'Will the night soon pass?' yet, ere the +close, all discords are reconciled, and at last, with assurance firmer +for the experience of passing sorrows, loud as the voice of many waters +and sweet as harpers harping with their harps, the joyful invocation +peals forth again, and all ends, as it does in a Christian man's life, +and as it does in this book, with 'Praise ye the Lord.' + +III. We have here also a twofold prophecy of the perfection of Heaven. + +Whilst it is true that both of these purposes are accomplished here and +now, it is also true that their accomplishment is but partial, and that +therefore for their fulfilment we have to lift our eyes beyond this +world of imperfect faith, of incomplete blessedness, of interrupted +praise. Whether the Psalmist looked forward thus we do not know. But for +us, the very shortcomings of our joys and of our songs are prophetic of +the perfect and perpetual rapture of the one, and the perfect and +perpetual music of the other. We know that He who has given us so much +will not stay His hand until He has perfected that which concerns us. We +know that He who has taught our dumb hearts to magnify His name will not +cease till 'out of the lips of babes and sucklings, He has perfected +praise.' We know that the pilgrims in whose hearts are the ways are +blessed, and we are sure that a fuller blessedness must belong to those +who have reached the journey's end. + +And so these words give us a twofold aspect of that future on which our +longing hopes may well fix. + +It is the perfection of man's blessedness. Then the joyous exclamation +of our first text, which we have often had to strive hard not to +disbelieve, will be no more a truth of faith but a truth of experience. +Here we have had to trust that it was so, even when we could scarce +cleave to the confidence. There, memory will look back on our wanderings +through this great wilderness, and, enlightened by the issue of them +all, will speak only of Mercy and Goodness as our angel guides all our +lives. The end will crown the work. Pure unmingled consciousness of +bliss will fill all hearts, and break into the old exclamation, which we +had sometimes to stifle sobs ere we could speak on earth. When He says, +'Come in! ye blessed of My Father,' all our tears and fears, and pains +and sins, will be forgotten, and we shall but have to say, in wonder and +joy, 'Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; they will be still +praising Thee.' + +It is the perfection of God's praise. We may possibly venture to see in +these wonderful words of our text a dim and far-off hint of a +possibility that seems to be pointed at in many parts of Scripture--that +the blessings of Christ's mighty work shall, in some measure and manner, +pass through man to his dwelling-place and its creatures. Dark shadows +of evil--the mystery of pain and sorrow--lie over earth and all its +tribes. 'We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth +righteousness.' And the statements of Scripture which represent creation +as suffering by man's sin, and participant in its degree in man's +redemption, seem too emphatic and precise, as well as too frequent, and +in too didactic connections, to be lightly brushed aside as poetic +imagery. May it not be that man's transgression + + 'Broke the fair music that all creatures made + To their great Lord, whose love their motion swayed,' + +and that man's restoration may, indeed, bring back all that hath life +and breath to a harmonious blessedness--according to the deep and +enigmatical words, which declare that 'the creature itself also shall be +delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory +of the children of God'? Be that as it may, at all events our second +text opens to us the gates of the heavenly temple, and shows us there +the saintly ranks and angel companies gathered in the city whose walls +are salvation and its gates praise. They harmonise with that other later +vision of heaven which the Seer in Patmos beheld, not only in setting +before us worship as the glad work of all who are there, but in teaching +the connection between the praises of men, and the answering hymns of +angels. The harps of heaven are hushed to hear _their_ praise who can +sing, 'Thou hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood,' and, in answer to +that hymn of thanksgiving for unexampled deliverance and resorting +grace, the angels around the throne break forth into new songs to the +Lamb that was slain--while still wider spread the broadening circles of +harmonious praise, till at last 'every creature which is in heaven, and +on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all +that are in them,' join in the mighty hymn of 'Blessing, and honour, and +glory, and power, unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb +for ever and ever.' Then the rapturous exclamation from human souls +redeemed,--'Oh! the blessedness of the men whom Thou hast loved and +saved,' shall be answered by choral praise from everything that hath +breath. + +And are you dumb, my friend, in these universal bursts of praise? Is +that because you have not chosen to take the universal blessing which +God gives? You have nothing to do but to receive the things that are +freely given to you of God--the forgiveness, the cleansing, the life, +that come from Christ by faith. Take them, and call upon the name of the +Lord, And can you refuse His gifts and withhold your praise? You can be +eloquent in thanks to those who do you kindnesses, and in praise of +those whom you admire and love, but your best Friend receives none of +your gratitude and none of your praise. Ignoble silence and dull +unthankfulness--with these you requite your Saviour! 'I tell you that, +if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out!' + + + + +A STAIRCASE OF THREE STEPS + + + 'All those that put their trust in Thee ... them also that love Thy + name ... the righteous.'--PSALM v. 11, 12. + +I have ventured to isolate these three clauses from their context, +because, if taken in their sequence, they are very significant of the +true path by which men draw nigh to God and become righteous. They are +all three designations of the same people, but regarded under different +aspects and at different stages. There is a distinct order in them, and +whether the Psalmist was fully conscious of it or not, he was +anticipating and stating, with wonderful distinctness, the Christian +sequence--faith, love, righteousness. + +These three are the three flights of stairs, as it were, which lead men +up to God and to perfection, or if you like to take another metaphor, +meaning the same thing, they are respectively the root, the stalk, and +the fruit of religion. 'They that put their trust in Thee ... them also +that love Thy Name ... the righteous.' + +I. So, then, the first thought here is that the foundation of all is +trust. + +Now, the word that is employed here is very significant. In its literal +force it really means to 'flee to a refuge.' And that the literal +signification has not altogether been lost in the spiritual and +metaphorical use of it, as a term expressive of religious experience, is +quite plain from many of the cases in which it occurs. Let me just +repeat one of them to you. 'Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful to +me, for my soul trusteth in Thee; yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I +make my refuge.' There the picture that is in the words is distinctly +before the Psalmist's mind, and he is thinking not only of the act of +mind and heart by which he casts himself in confidence upon God, but +upon that which represents it in symbol, the act by which a man flees +into some hiding-place. The psalm is said in the superscription to have +been written when David hid in a cave from his persecutor. Though no +weight be given to that statement, it suggests the impression made by +the psalm. In imagination we can see the rough sides of the cavern that +sheltered him arching over the fugitive, like the wings of some great +bird, and just as he has fled thither with eager feet and is safely +hidden from his pursuers there, so he has betaken himself to the +everlasting Rock, in the cleft of which he is at rest and secure. To +trust in God is neither more nor less than to flee to Him for refuge, +and there to be at peace. The same presence of the original metaphor, +colouring the same religious thought, is found in the beautiful words +with which Boaz welcomes Ruth, when he prays for her that the God of +Israel may reward her, 'under the shadow of whose wings thou hast come +to trust.' + +So, as a man in peril runs into a hiding-place or fortress, as the +chickens beneath the outspread wing of the mother bird nestle close in +the warm feathers and are safe and well, the soul that trusts takes its +flight straight to God, and in Him reposes and is secure. + +Now, it seems to me that such a figure as that is worth tons of +theological lectures about the true nature of faith, and that it tells +us, by means of a picture that says a great deal more than many a +treatise, that faith is something very different from a cold-blooded act +of believing in the truth of certain propositions; that it is the flight +of the soul--knowing itself to be in peril, and naked, and unarmed--into +the strong Fortress. + +What is it that keeps a man safe when he thus has around him the walls +of some citadel? Is it himself, is it the act by which he took refuge, +or is it the battlements behind which he crouches? So in faith--which is +more than a process of a man's understanding, and is not merely the +saying, 'Yes, I believe all that is in the Bible is true; at any rate, +it is not for me to contradict it,' but is the running of the man, when +he knows himself to be in danger, into the very arms of God--it is not +the running that makes him safe, but it is the arms to which he runs. + +If we would only lay to heart that the very essence of religion lies in +this 'flight of the lonely soul to the only God,' we should understand +better than we do what He asks from us in order that He may defend us, +and how blessed and certain His defence is. So let us clear our minds +from the thought that anything is worth calling trust which is not thus +taking refuge in God Himself. + +Now, I need not remind you, I suppose, that all this is just as true +about us as it was about David, and that the emotion or the act of his +will and heart which he expresses in these words of my text is neither +more nor less than the Christian act of faith. There is no difference +except a difference of development; there is no difference between the +road to God marked out in the Psalms, and the road to God laid down in +the Gospels. The Psalmist who said, 'Trust ye in the Lord for ever,' and +the Apostle who said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt +be saved,' were preaching identically the same doctrine. One of them +could speak more fully than the other could of the Person on whom trust +was to be rested, but the trust itself was the same, and the Person on +whom it rested was the same, though His Name of old was Jehovah, and His +Name to-day is 'Immanuel, God with us.' + +Nor need I do more than point out how the context of the words that I +have ventured to detach from their surroundings is instructive: 'Let all +those that put their trust in Thee rejoice because Thou defendest them.' +The word for defending there continues the metaphor that lies in the +word for 'trust,' for it means literally to cover over and so to +protect. Thus, when a man runs to God for His refuge, God + + 'Covers his defenceless head + With the shadow of His wings.' + +And the joy of trust is, first, that it brings round me the whole +omnipotence of God for my defence, and the whole tenderness of God for +my consolation, and next, that in the very exercise of trust in such +defence, so fortified and vindicated by experience, there is great +reward. All who thus flee into the refuge shall find refuge whither they +flee, and shall be glad. + +II. Then the next thought of my texts, which I do not force into them, +but which results, as it seems to me, distinctly from the order in which +they occur in the context, is that love follows trust. + +'All those that put their trust in Thee--they also that love Thee.' If I +am to love God, I must be quite sure that God loves me. My love can +never be anything else than an answer to His. It can only be secondary +and derived, or I would rather say reflected and flashed back from His. +And so, very significantly, the Psalmist says, 'Those that love Thy +Name,' meaning by 'Name,' as is always meant by it, the revealed +character of God. If I am to love God, He must not hide in the darkness +behind His infinity, but must come out and give me something about Him +that I know. The three letters G O D mean nothing, and there is no power +in them to stir a man's heart. It must be the knowledge of the acts of +God that brings men to love Him. And there is no way of getting that +knowledge but through the faith which, as I said, must precede love. For +faith realises the fact that God loves. 'We have known and believed the +love that God hath to us.' The first step is to grasp the great truth of +the loving God, and through that truth to grasp the God that loves. And +then, and not till then, does there spring up in a man's heart love +towards Him. But it is only the faith that is set on Him who hath +declared the Father unto us that gives us for our very own the grasp of +the facts, which facts are the only possible fuel that can kindle love +in a human heart. 'We love Him because He first loved us,' and we shall +never know that He loves us unless we come to the knowledge through the +road of faith. So John himself tells us when he says, in the words that +I have already quoted, 'We have known and believed.' He puts the +foundation last, 'We have known,' because 'we have believed' 'the love +that God hath to us.' + +And so faith is the only possible means by which any of us can ever +experience, as well as realise, the love that kindles ours. It is the +possession of the fact of redemption for my very own and of the +blessings which accompany it, and that alone, that binds a man to God in +the bonds of love that cannot be broken, and that subdues and unites all +vagrant emotions, affections, and desires in the mighty tide of a love +that ever sets towards Him. As surely as the silvery moon in the sky +draws after it the heaped waters of the ocean all round the world, so +God's love draws ours. They that believe contemplate, and they that +believe experience the effects of that divine love, which must be +experienced ere our answering love can be flashed back to heaven. + +Students of acoustics tell us that if you have two stringed instruments +in adjacent apartments, tuned to the same pitch, a note sounded on one +of them will be feebly vibrated upon the other as soon as the waves of +sound have reached the sensitive string. In like manner a man's heart +gives off a faint, but musical, little tinkle of answering love to God +when the deep note of God's love to him, struck on the chords of heaven +up yonder, reaches his poor heart. + +Love follows trust. So, brethren, if we desire to be warmed, let us get +into the sunshine and abide there. If we desire to have our hearts +filled with love to God, do not let us waste our time in trying to pump +up artificial emotions or to persuade ourselves that we love Him better +than we do, but let us fix our thoughts and fasten our refuge-seeking +trust on Him, and then that shall kindle ours. + +III. Lastly, righteousness follows trust and love. + +The last description here of the man who begins as a believer and then +advances to being a lover is _righteous_. That is the evangelical order. +That is the great blessing and beauty of Christianity, that it goes an +altogether different way to work to make men good from that which any +other system has ever dreamed of. It says, first of all, trust, and that +will create love and that will ensure obedience. Faith leads to +righteousness because, in the very act of trusting God, I come out of +myself, and going out of myself and ceasing from all self-admiration and +self-dependence and self-centred life is the beginning of all good and +has in it the germ of all righteousness, even as to live for self is the +mother tincture out of which we can make all sins. + +And faith leads to righteousness in another way. Open the heart and +Christ comes in. Trust Him and He fills our poor nature with 'the law of +the Spirit of life that was in Christ Jesus,' and that 'makes me free +from the law of sin and death.' Righteousness, meaning thereby just what +irreligious men mean by it--viz. good living, plain obedience to the +ordinary recognised dictates of morality, going straight--that is most +surely attained when we cease from our own works and say to Jesus +Christ, 'Lord, I cannot walk in the narrow path. Do Thou Thyself come to +me and fill my heart and keep my feet.' They that trust and love are +'found in Him, not having their own righteousness, but that which is of +God by faith.' + +And love leads to righteousness because it brings the one motive into +play in our hearts which turns duty into delight, toil into joy, and +makes us love better to do what will please our beloved Lover than +anything besides. Why did Jesus Christ say,'My yoke is easy and My +burden is light'? Was it because He diminished the weight of duties or +laid down an easier slipshod morality than had been enjoined before? No! +He intensified it all, and His Commandment is far harder to flesh and +blood than any commandments that were ever given. But for all that, the +yoke that He lays upon our necks is, if I may so say, padded with +velvet; and the burden that we have to draw behind us is laid upon +wheels that will turn so easily that the load is diminished, inasmuch as +for Duty He substitutes Himself and says to us, 'If ye love Me, keep My +Commandments.' + +So, dear brethren! here is a very easily applied, and a very +far-reaching test for us who call ourselves Christians: Does our love +and does our trust culminate in practical righteousness? We are all +tempted to make too much of the emotions of the religious life, and too +little of its persistent, dogged obedience. We are all too apt to think +that a Christian is a man that believes in Jesus Christ. 'Justification +by faith alone without the works of the law' used to be the watchword of +the Evangelical Church. It might be so held as to be either a blessed +truth or a great error, and many of us make it an error instead of a +blessing. + +On the other hand, there is only one way by which righteousness can be +attained, and that is: first by faith and then by love. Here are three +steps: 'we have known and believed the love that God hath to us'; that +is the broad, bottom step. And above it 'we love Him because He first +loved us,' that is the central one. And on the top of all, 'herein is +our love made perfect that we keep His Commandments.' They that trust +are they also who love Thy Name, and they who trust through love are, +and only they are, the righteous. + + + + +ONE SAYING FROM THREE MEN + + + 'The wicked hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved.' + --PSALM x. 6. + + 'Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' + --PSALM xvi. 8. + + 'And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.' + --PSALM xxx. 6. + +How differently the same things sound when said by different men! Here +are three people giving utterance to almost the same sentiment of +confidence. A wicked man says it, and it is insane presumption and +defiance. A good man says it, having been lulled into false security by +easy times, and it is a mistake that needs chastisement. A humble +believing soul says it, and it is the expression of a certain and +blessed truth. 'The wicked saith in his heart, I shall not be moved.' A +good man, led astray by his prosperity, said, 'I shall not be moved,' +and the last of the three put a little clause in which makes all the +difference, '_because He is at my right hand_, I shall never be moved.' +So, then, we have the mad arrogance of godless confidence, the mistake +of a good man that needs correction, and the warranted confidence of a +believing soul. + +I. The mad arrogance of godless confidence. + +The 'wicked' man, in the psalm from which our first text comes, said a +good many wrong things 'in his heart.' The tacit assumptions on which a +life is based, though they may never come to consciousness, and still +less to utterance, are the really important things. I dare say this +'wicked man' was a good Jew with his lips, and said his prayers all +properly, but in his heart he had two working beliefs. One is thus +expressed: 'As for all his enemies, he puffeth at them. He hath said in +his heart, I shall not be moved.' The other is put into words thus: 'He +hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, He hideth His face. He will +never see it.' + +That is to say, the only explanation of a godless life, unless the man +is an idiot, is that there lie beneath it, as formative principles and +unspoken assumptions, guiding and shaping it, one or both of these two +thoughts: either 'There is no God,' or 'He does not care what I do, and +I am safe to go on for evermore in the present fashion.' It might seem +as if a man with the facts of human life before him, could not, even in +the insanest arrogance, say, 'I shall not be moved, for I shall never be +in adversity.' But we have an awful power--and the fact that we +exercise, and choose to exercise, it is one of the strange riddles of +our enigmatical existence and characters--of ignoring unwelcome facts, +and going cheerily on as though we had annihilated them, because we do +not reflect upon them. So this man, in the midst of a world in which +there is no stay, and whilst he saw all round him the most startling and +tragical instances of sudden change and complete collapse, stands +quietly and says, 'Ah! _I_ shall never be moved'; 'God doth not require +it.' + +That absurdity is the basis of every life that is not a life of +consecration and devotion--so far as it has a basis of conviction at +all. The 'wicked' man's true faith is this, absurd as it may sound when +you drag it out into clear, distinct utterance, whatever may be his +professions. I wonder if there are any of us whose life can only be +acquitted of being utterly unreasonable and ridiculous by the +assumption, 'I shall never be moved'? + +Have you a lease of your goods? Do you think you are tenants at will or +owners? Which? Is there any reason why any of us should escape, as some +of us live as if we believed we should escape, the certain fate of all +others? If there is not, what about the sanity of the man whose whole +life is built upon a blunder? He is convicted of the grossest folly, +unless he be assured that either there is no God, or that He does not +care one rush about what we do, and that consequently we are certain of +a continuance in our present state. + +Do you say in your heart, 'I shall never be moved'? Then you must be +strong enough to resist every tempest that beats against you. Is that +so? 'I shall never be moved'--then nothing that contributes to your +well-being will ever slip from your grasp, but you will be able to hold +it tight. Is that so? 'I shall never be moved'--then there is no grave +waiting for you. Is that so? Unless these three assumptions be +warranted, every godless man is making a hideous blunder, and his +character is the sentence pronounced by the loving lips of Incarnate +Truth on the rich man who thought that he had 'much goods laid up for +many years,' and had only to be merry--'Thou fool! Thou fool!' + +If an engineer builds a bridge across a river without due calculation of +the force of the winds that blow down the gorge, the bridge will be at +the bottom of the stream some stormy night, and the train piled on the +fragments of it in hideous ruin. And with equal certainty the end of the +first utterer of this speech can be calculated, and is foretold in the +psalm, 'The Lord is King for ever and ever.... The godless are perished +out of the land.' + +II. We have in our second text the mistake of a good man who has been +lulled into false confidence. + +The Psalmist admits his error by the acknowledgment that he spoke 'in my +prosperity'; or, as the word might be rendered, 'in my _security_.' This +suggests to us the mistake into which even good men, lulled by the quiet +continuance of peaceful days, are certain to fall, unless there be +continual watchfulness exercised by them. + +It is a very significant fact that the word which is translated in our +Authorised Version 'prosperity' is often rendered 'security,' meaning +thereby, not safety, but a belief that I am safe. A man who is +prosperous, or at ease, is sure to drop into the notion that 'to-morrow +will be as this day, and much more abundant,' unless he keeps up +unslumbering watchfulness against the insidious illusion of permanence. +If he yields to the temptation, in his foolish security, forgetting how +fragile are its foundations, and what a host of enemies surround him +threatening it, then there is nothing for it but that the merciful +discipline, which this Psalmist goes on to tell us he had to pass +through by reason of his fall, shall be brought to bear upon him. The +writer gives us a page of his own autobiography. 'In my security I said, +I shall never be moved.' 'Lord! by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain +to stand strong. Thou didst hide Thy face.' What about the security +then? What about 'I shall never be moved' then? 'I was troubled. I cried +to Thee, O Lord!'--and then it was all right, his prayer was heard, and +he was in 'security'--that is, safety--far more really when he was +'troubled' and sore beset than when he had been, as he fancied, sure of +not being moved. + +Long peace rusts the cannon, and is apt to make it unfit for war. Our +lack of imagination, and our present sense of comfort and well-being, +tend to make us fancy that we shall go on for ever in the quiet jog-trot +of settled life without any very great calamities or changes. But there +was once a village at the bottom of the crater of Vesuvius, and great +trees, that had grown undisturbed there for a hundred years, and green +pastures, and happy homes and flocks. And then, one day, a rumble and a +rush, and what became of the village? It went up in smoke-clouds. The +quiescence of the volcano is no sign of its extinction. And as surely as +we live, so sure is it that there will come a 'to-morrow' to us all +which shall _not_ be as this day. No man has any right to calculate upon +anything beyond the present moment, and there is no basis whatever, +either for the philosophical assertion that the order of nature is +fixed, and that therefore there are no miracles, or for the practical +translation of the assertion into our daily lives, that we may +reasonably expect to go on as we are without changes or calamities. +There is no reason capable of being put into logical shape for believing +that, because the sun has risen ever since the beginning of things, it +will rise to-morrow, for there will come a to-morrow when it will _not_ +rise. In like manner, the longest possession of our mercies is no reason +for forgetting the precarious tenure on which we hold them all. + +So, Christian men and women! let us try to keep vivid that consciousness +which is so apt to get dull, that nothing continueth in one stay, and +that we _shall_ be moved, as far as the outward life and its +circumstances are concerned. If we forget it, we shall need, and we +shall get, the loving Fatherly discipline, which my second text tells us +followed the false security of this good man. The sea is kept from +putrefying by storms. Wine poured from vessel to vessel is purified +thereby. It is an old truth and a wholesome one, to be always +remembered, 'because they have no changes therefore they fear not God .' + +III. Lastly, we have the same thing said by another man in another key. +'Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.' The prelude to +the assertion makes all the difference. Here is the warranted confidence +of a simple faith. + +The man who clasps God's hand, and has Him standing by his side, as his +Ally, his Companion, his Guide, his Defence--that man does not need to +fear change. For all the things which convict the arrogant or mistaken +confidences of the other men as being insanity or a lapse from faith +prove the confidence of the trustful soul to be the very perfection of +reason and common sense. + +We may be confident of our power to resist anything that can come +against us, if He be at our side. The man that stands with his back +against an oak-tree is held firm, not because of his own strength, but +because of that on which he leans. There is a beautiful story of some +heathen convert who said to a missionary's wife, who had felt faint and +asked that she might lean for a space on her stronger arm, 'If you love +me, lean hard.' That is what God says to us, 'If you love Me, lean +hard.' And if you do, because He is at your right hand, you will not be +moved. It is not insanity; it is not arrogance; it is simple faith, to +look our enemies in the eyes, and to feel sure that they cannot touch +us, 'Trust in Jehovah; so shall ye be established.' Rest on the Lord, +and ye shall rest indeed. + +In like manner the man who has God at his right hand may be sure of the +unalterable continuance of all his proper good. Outward things may come +or go, as it pleases Him, but that which makes the life of our life will +never depart from us as long as He stands there. And whilst He is there, +if only our hearts are knit to Him, we can say, 'My heart and my flesh +faileth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. I +shall not be moved. Though all that can go goes, He abides; and in Him I +have all riches.' Trust not in the uncertainty of outward good, but in +the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. + +The wicked man was defiantly arrogant, and the forgetful good man was +criminally self-confident, when they each said, 'I shall not be moved.' +We are only taking up the privileges that belong to us if, exercising +faith in Him, we venture to say, 'Take what Thou wilt; leave me Thyself; +I have enough.' And the man who says, 'Because God is at my right hand, +I shall not be moved,' has the right to anticipate an unbroken +continuance of personal being, and an unchanged continuance of the very +life of his life. That which breaks off all other lives abruptly is no +breach in the continuity, either of the consciousness or of the +avocations of a devout man. For, on the other side of the flood, he does +what he does on this side, only more perfectly and more continually. 'He +that doeth the will of God abideth for ever,' and it makes comparatively +little difference to him whether his place be on this or on the other +side of Jordan. We 'shall not be moved,' even when we change our station +from earth to heaven, and the sublime fulfilment of the warranted +confidence of the trustful soul comes when the 'to-morrow' of the skies +is as the 'to-day' of earth, only 'much more abundant.' + + + + +MAN'S TRUE TREASURE IN GOD + + + 'The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou + maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; + yea, I have a goodly heritage.'--PSALM xvi. 5, 6. + +We read, in the law which created the priesthood in Israel, that 'the +Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, +neither shalt thou have any part among them. I am thy part and thine +inheritance among the children of Israel' (Numbers xvii. 20). Now there +is an evident allusion to that remarkable provision in this text. The +Psalmist feels that in the deepest sense he has no possession amongst +the men who have only possessions upon earth, but that God is the +treasure which he grasps in a rapture of devotion and self-abandonment. +The priest's duty is his choice. He will 'walk by faith and not by +sight.' + +Are not all Christians priests? and is not the very essence and +innermost secret of the religious life this--that the heart turns away +from earthly things and deliberately accepts God as its supreme good, +and its only portion? These first words of my text contain the essence +of all true religion. + +The connection between the first clause and the others is closer than +many readers perceive. The 'lot' which 'Thou maintainest,' the 'pleasant +places,' the 'goodly heritage,' all carry on the metaphor, and all refer +to God as Himself the portion of the heart that chooses and trusts Him. +'Thou maintainest my lot'--He who is our inheritance also guards our +inheritance, and whosoever has taken God for his possession has a +possession as sure as God can make it. 'The lines are fallen to me in +pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage'--the heritage that is +goodly is God Himself. When a man chooses God for his portion, then, and +then only, is he satisfied--'satisfied with favour, and full of the +goodness of the Lord.' Let me try to expand and enforce these thoughts, +with the hope that we may catch something of their fervour and their +glow. + +I. The first thought, then, that comes out of the words before us is +this: all true religion has its very heart in deliberately choosing God +as my supreme good. + +'The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup.' The two words +which are translated in our version 'portion' and 'inheritance' are +substantially synonymous. The latter of them is used continually in +reference to the share of each individual, or family, or tribe in the +partition of the land of Canaan. There is a distinct allusion, +therefore, to that partition in the language of our text; and the two +expressions, part or 'portion,' and 'inheritance,' are substantially +identical, and really mean just the same as if the single expression had +stood--'The Lord is my Portion.' + +I may just notice in passing that these words are evidently alluded to +in the New Testament, in the Epistle to the Colossians, where Paul +speaks of God 'having made us meet for our portion of the inheritance of +the saints in light.' + +And then the 'portion of my cup' is a somewhat strange expression. It is +found in one of the other Psalms, with the meaning 'fortune,' or +'destiny,' or 'sum of circumstances which make up a man's life.' There +may be, of course, an allusion to the metaphor of a feast here, and God +may be set forth as 'the portion of my cup,' in the sense of being the +refreshment and sustenance of a man's soul. But I should rather be +disposed to consider that there is merely a prolongation of the earlier +metaphor, and that the same thought as is contained in the figure of the +'inheritance' is expressed here (as in common conversation it is often +expressed) by the word 'cup,' namely, 'that which makes up a man's +portion in this life.' It is used with such a meaning in the well-known +words, 'My cup runneth over,' and in another shape in 'The cup which My +Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?' It is the sum of +circumstances which make up a man's 'fortune.' So the double metaphor +presents the one thought of God as the true possession of the devout +soul. + +Now, how do we possess God? We possess things in one fashion and persons +in another. The lowest and most imperfect form of possession is that by +which a man simply keeps other people off material good, and asserts the +right of disposal of it as he thinks proper. A blind man may have the +finest picture that ever was painted; he may call it his, that is to +say, nobody else can sell it, but what good is it to him? A lunatic may +own a library as big as the Bodleian, but what use is it to him? Does +the man who collects the rents of a mountain-side, or the poet or +painter to whom its cliffs and heather speak far-reaching thoughts, most +truly possess it? The highest form of possession, even of things, is +when they minister to our thought, to our emotion, to our moral and +intellectual growth. We possess even them really, according as we know +them and hold communion with them. But when we get up into the region of +persons, we possess them in the measure in which we understand them, and +sympathise with them, and love them. Knowledge, intercourse, sympathy, +affection--these are the ways by which men can possess men, and spirits, +spirits. A disciple who gets the thoughts of a great teacher into his +mind, and has his whole being saturated by them, may be said to have +made the teacher his own. A friend or a lover owns the heart that he or +she loves, and which loves back again; and not otherwise do we possess +God. + +Such ownership must be, from its very nature, reciprocal. There must be +the two sides to it. And so we read in the Bible, with equal frequency: +the Lord is the inheritance of His people, and His people are the +inheritance of the Lord. He possesses me, and I possess Him--with +reverence be it spoken--by the very same tenure; for whoso loves God has +Him, and whom He loves He owns. There is deep and blessed mystery +involved in this wonderful prerogative, that the loving, believing heart +has God for its possession and indwelling Guest; and people are apt to +brush such thoughts aside as mystical. But, like all true Christian +mysticism, it is intensely practical. + +We have God for ours, first, in the measure in which our minds are +actively occupied with thoughts of Him. We have no merely mystical or +emotional possession of God to preach. There is a real, adequate +knowledge of Him in Jesus Christ. We know God, His character, His heart, +His relations to us, His thoughts of good concerning us, sufficiently +for all intellectual and for all practical purposes. + +I wish to ask you a plain question: Do you ever think about Him? There +is only one way of getting God for yours, and that is by bringing Him +into your life by frequent meditation upon His sweetness, and upon the +truths that you know about Him. There is no other way by which a spirit +can possess a spirit, that is not cognisable by sense, except only by +the way of thinking about him, to begin with. All else follows that. +That is how you hold your dear ones when they go to the other side of +the world. That is how you hold God, who dwells on the other side of the +stars. There is no way to 'have' Him, but through the understanding +accepting Him, and keeping firm hold of Him. Men and women that from +Monday morning to Saturday night never think of His name--how do they +possess God? And professing Christians that never remember Him all the +day long--what absurd hypocrisy it is for them to say that God is +theirs! + +Yours, and never in your mind! When your husband, or your wife, or your +child, goes away from home for a week, do you forget them as utterly as +you forget God? Do you have them in any sense if they never dwell in the +'study of your imagination,' and never fill your thoughts with sweetness +and with light? + +And so again when the heart turns to Him, and when all the faculties of +our being, will, hope, and imagination, and all our affections and all +our practical powers, when they all touch Him, each in its proper +fashion, then and then only can we in any reasonable and true sense be +said to possess God. + +Thought, communion, sympathy, affection, moral likeness, practical +obedience, these are the way--and not by mystical raptures only--by +which, in simple prose fact, it is possible for the finite to grasp the +infinite, and for a man to be the _owner_ of God. + +Now there is another consideration very necessary to be remembered, and +that is that this possession of God involves, and is possible only by, a +deliberate act of renunciation. The Levite's example, that is glanced at +in my text, is always our law. You must have no part or inheritance +amongst the sons of earth if God is to be your inheritance. Or, to put +it into plain words, there must be a giving up of the material and the +created if there is to be a possession of the divine and the heavenly. +There cannot be _two_ supreme, any more than there can be two +pole-stars, one in the north and the other in the south, to both of +which a man can be steering. You cannot stand with + + 'One foot on land, and one on sea, + To one thing constant never.' + +If you are to have God as your supreme good, you must empty your heart +of earth and worldly things, or your possession of Him will be all +words, and imagination, and hypocrisy. Brethren! I wish to bring that +message to your consciences to-day. + +And what is this renunciation? There must be, first of all, a fixed, +deliberate, intelligent conviction lying at the foundation of my life +that God is best, and that He and He only is my true delight and desire. +Then there must be built upon that intelligent conviction that God is +best, the deliberate turning away of the heart from these material +treasures. Then there must be the willingness to abandon the outward +possession of them, if they come in between us and Him. Just as +travellers in old days, that went out looking for treasures in the +western hemisphere, were glad to empty their ships of their less +precious cargo in order to load them with gold, you must get rid of the +trifles, and fling these away if ever they so take up your heart that +God has no room there. Or rather, perhaps, if the love of God in any +real measure, howsoever imperfectly, once gets into a man's soul, it +will work there to expel and edge out the love and regard for earthly +things. Just as when the chemist collects oxygen in a vessel filled with +water, as it passes into the jar it drives out the water before it; the +love of God, if it come into a man's heart in any real sense, in the +measure in which it comes, will deliver him from the love of the world. +But between the two there is warfare so internecine and endless that +they cannot co-exist: and here, to-day, it is as true as ever it was +that if you want to have God for your portion and your inheritance you +must be content to have no inheritance amongst your brethren, nor part +amongst the sons of earth. + +Men and women! are you ready for that renunciation? Are you prepared to +say, 'I know that the sweetness of Thy presence is the truest sweetness +that I can taste; and lo! I give up all besides and my own self'? + + + 'O God of good, the unfathomed Sea! + Who would not yield himself to Thee?' + + +And remember, that nothing less than these is Christianity--the +conviction that the world is second and not first; that God is best, +love is best, truth is best, knowledge of Him is best, likeness to Him +is best, the willingness to surrender all if it come in contest with His +supreme sweetness. He that turns his back upon earth by reason of the +drawing power of the glory that excelleth, is a Christian. The +Christianity that only trusts to Christ for deliverance from the +punishment of sin, and so makes religion a kind of fire insurance, is a +very poor affair. We need the lesson pealed into our ears as much as any +generation has ever done, 'Ye cannot serve God and mammon.' A man's real +working religion consists in his loving God most and counting His love +the sweetest of all things. + +II. Now let me turn to the next point that is here, viz. that this +possession is as sure as God can make it. 'Thou maintainest my lot.' +Thou art Thyself both my heritage and the guardian of my heritage. He +that possesses God, says the text, by implication, is lifted above all +fear and chance of change. + +The land, the partition of which amongst the tribes lies at the bottom +of the allusive metaphor of my text, was given to them under the +sanction of a supernatural defence; and the law of their continuance in +it was that they should trust and serve the unseen King. It was He, +according to the theocratic theory of the Old Testament, and not +chariots and horses, their own arm and their own sword, that kept them +safe, though the enemies on the north and the enemies on the south were +big enough to swallow up the little kingdom at a mouthful. + +And so, says the Psalmist allusively, in a similar manner, the Divine +Power surrounds the man who chooses God for his heritage, and nothing +shall take that heritage from him. + +The lower forms of possession, by which men are called the owners of +material goods, are imperfect, because they are all precarious and +temporary. Nothing really belongs to a man if it can be taken from him. +What we may lose we can scarcely be said to have. They _are_ mine, they +_were_ yours, they _will be_ somebody else's to-morrow. Whilst we have +them we do not have them in any deep sense; we cannot retain them, they +are not really ours at all. The only thing that is worth calling mine is +something that so passes into and saturates the very substance of my +soul that, like a piece of cloth dyed in the grain, as long as two +threads hold together the tint will be there. That is how God gives us +Himself, and nothing can take Him out of a man's soul. He, in the +sweetness of His grace, bestows Himself upon man, and guards His own +gift in the heart, which is Himself. He who dwells in God and God in him +lives as in the inmost keep and citadel. The noise of battle may roar +around the walls, but deep silence and peace are within. The storm may +rage upon the coasts, but he who has God for his portion dwells in a +quiet inland valley where tempests never come. No outer changes can +touch our possession of God. They belong to another region altogether. +Other goods may go, but this is held by a different tenure. The life of +a Christian is lived in two regions: in the one his life has its roots, +and its branches extend to the other. In the one there may be whirling +storms and branches may toss and snap, whilst in the other, to which the +roots go down, may be peace. Root yourselves in God, making Him your +truest treasure, and nothing can rob you of your wealth. + +We here in this commercial community see many examples of great fortunes +and great businesses melting away like yesterday's snow. And surely the +certain alternations of 'booms' and bad times might preach to some of +you this lesson: Set not your hearts on that which can pass, but make +your treasure that which no man can take from you. + +Then, too, there is the other thought. God will help us so that no +temptations shall have power to make us rob _ourselves_ of our treasure. +None can take it from us but ourselves, but we are so weak and +surrounded by temptations so strong that we need Him to aid us if we are +not to be beguiled by our own treacherous hearts into parting with our +highest good. A handful of feeble Jews were nothing against the gigantic +might of Assyria, or against the compacted strength of civilised Egypt; +but there they stood, on their rocky mountains, defended, not by their +own strength, but by the might of a present God. And so, unfit to cope +with the temptations round us as we are, if we cast ourselves upon His +power and make Him our supreme delight, nothing shall be able to rob us +of that possession and that sweetness. + +And there is just one last point that I would refer to here on this +matter of our stable possession of God. It is very beautiful to observe +that this psalm, which, in the language of my text, rises to the very +height of spiritual and, in a good sense, mystical devotion, recognising +God as the One Good for souls, is also one of the psalms which has the +clearest utterance of the faith in immortality. Just after the words of +my text we read these others, in which the Old Testament confidence in a +life beyond the grave reaches its very climax: 'Thou wilt not leave my +soul in Sheol, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine holy one to see +corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life; in Thy presence is +fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' + +That connection teaches us that the measure in which a man feels his +true possession of God here and now, is the measure in which his faith +rises triumphant over the darkness of the grave, and grasps, with +unfaltering confidence, the conviction of an immortal life. The more we +know that God is our portion and our treasure, the more sure, and calmly +sure, we shall be that a thing like death cannot touch a thing like +that, that the mere physical fact is far too small and insignificant a +fact to have any power in such a region as that; that death can no more +affect a man's relation to God, whom he has learned to love and trust, +than you can cut thought or feeling with a knife. The two belong to two +different regions. Thus we have here the Old Testament faith in +immortality shaping itself out of the Old Testament enjoyment of +communion with God, with a present God. And you will find the very same +process of thought in that seventy-third psalm, which stands in some +respects side by side with this one as attaining the height of mystical +devotion, joined with a very clear utterance of the faith in +immortality: 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon +earth that I desire beside Thee! Thou wilt guide me with Thy counsel, +and afterwards receive me to glory.' + +So Death himself cannot touch the heritage of the man whose heritage is +the Lord. And his ministry is not to rob us of our treasures as he robs +men of all treasures besides (for 'their glory shall not descend after +them'), but to give us instead of the 'earnest of the inheritance'--the +bit of turf by which we take possession of the estate--the broad land in +all the amplitude of its sweep, into our perpetual possession. 'Thou +maintainest my lot.' Neither death nor life 'shall separate us from the +love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' + +III. And then the last thought here is that he who thus elects to find +his treasure and delight in God is satisfied with his choice. 'The +lines'--the measuring-cord by which the estate was parted off and +determined--'are fallen in pleasant places; yea!'--not as our Bible has +it, merely 'I have a _goodly_ heritage,' putting emphasis on the fact of +possession, but--'the heritage is goodly to _me_,' putting emphasis on +the fact of subjective satisfaction with it. + +I have no time to dwell upon the thoughts that spring from these words. +Take them in the barest outline. No man that makes the worse choice of +earth instead of God, ever, in the retrospect, said: 'I have a goodly +heritage.' One of the later Roman Emperors, who was among the best of +them, said, when he was dying: 'I have been everything, and it profits +me nothing.' No creature can satisfy your whole nature. Portions of it +may be fed with their appropriate satisfaction, but as long as we feed +on the things of earth there will always be part of our being like an +unfed tiger in a menagerie, growling for its prey, whilst its fellows +are satisfied for the moment. You can no more give your heart rest and +blessedness by pitching worldly things into it, than they could fill up +Chat Moss, when they made the first Liverpool and Manchester Railway, by +throwing in cartloads of earth. The bog swallowed them and was none the +nearer being filled. + +No man who takes the world for his portion ever said, 'The lines are +fallen to me in pleasant places.' For the make of your soul as plainly +cries out 'God!' as a fish's fins declare that the sea is its element, +or a bird's wings mark it out as meant to soar. Man and God fit each +other like the two halves of a tally. You will never get rest nor +satisfaction, and you will never be able to look at the past with +thankfulness, nor at the present with repose, nor into the future with +hope, unless you can say, 'God is the strength of my heart, and my +portion for ever.' But oh! if you do, then you have a goodly heritage, a +heritage of still satisfaction, a heritage which suits, and gratifies, +and expands all the powers of a man's nature, and makes him ever capable +of larger and larger possession of a God who ever gives more than we can +receive, that the overplus may draw us to further desire, and the +further desire may more fully be satisfied. + +The one true, pure, abiding joy is to hold fellowship with God and to +live in His love. The secret of all our unrest is the going out of our +desires after earthly things. They fly forth from our hearts like Noah's +raven, and nowhere amid all the weltering flood can find a +resting-place. The secret of satisfied repose is to set our affections +thoroughly on God. Then our wearied hearts, like Noah's dove returning +to its rest, will fold their wings and nestle fast by the throne of God. +'All the happiness of this life,' said William Law, 'is but trying to +quench thirst out of golden _empty_ cups.' But if we will take the Lord +for 'the portion of our cup,' we shall never thirst. + +Let me beseech you to choose God in Christ for your supreme good and +highest portion; and having chosen, to cleave to your choice. So shall +you enter on possession of good that truly shall be yours, even 'that +good part, which shall not be taken away from' you. + +And, lastly, remember that if you would have God, you must take Christ. +He is the true Joshua, who puts us in possession of the inheritance. He +brings God to you--to your knowledge, to your love, to your will. He +brings you to God, making it possible for your poor sinful souls to +enter His presence by His blood; and for your spirits to possess that +divine Guest. 'He that hath the Son, hath the Father'; and if you trust +your souls to Him who died for you, and cling to Him as your delight and +your joy, you will find that both the Father and the Son come to you and +make their home in you. Through Christ the Son you will receive power to +become sons of God, and 'if children, then heirs, heirs of God,' because +'joint heirs with Christ.' + + + + +GOD WITH US, AND WE WITH GOD + + + 'I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right + hand, I shall not be moved.... 11. In Thy presence is fulness of + joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.' + --PSALM xvi. 8, 11. + + +There are, unquestionably, large tracts of the Old Testament in which +the anticipation of immortality does not appear, and there are others in +which its presence may be doubtful. But here there can be no hesitation, +I think, as to the meaning of these words. If we regard them carefully, +we shall not only see clearly the Psalmist's hope of immortal life, but +shall discern the process by which he came to it, and almost his very +act of grasping at it; for the first verse of our text is manifestly the +foundation of the second; and the facts of the one are the basis of the +hopes of the other. That is made plain by the 'therefore' which, in one +of the intervening verses, links the concluding rapturous anticipations +with the previous expressions. + +If, then, we observe that here, in these two verses which I have read, +there is a very remarkable parallelism, we shall get still more +strikingly the connection between the devout life here and the +perfecting of the same hereafter. Note how, even in our translation, the +latter verse is largely an echo of the former, and how much more +distinctly that is the case if we make a little variation in the +rendering, which brings it closer to the original. 'I have set the Lord +always _before me_,' says the one,--that is the present. 'In Thy +_presence_ is fulness of joy,' says the other,--that is the consequent +future. And the two words, which are rendered in the one case 'before +me' and in the other case 'in Thy presence,' are, though not identical, +so precisely synonymous that we may take them as meaning the same thing. +So we might render 'I have set the Lord always before _my_ face': +'Before _Thy_ face is fulness of joy.' The other clause is, to an +English reader, more obviously parallel: 'Because He is at _my right +hand_ I shall not be moved'--shall be steadied here. 'At _Thy right_ +hand are pleasures for evermore'--the steadfastness here merges into +eternal delights hereafter. + +So then, we have two conditions set before us, and the link between them +made very plain. And I gather all that I have to say about these words +into two statements. First, life here may be God's presence with us, to +make us steadfast. And secondly, if so, life hereafter will be our +presence with God to make us glad. That is the Psalmist's teaching, and +I will try to enforce it. + +I. First, then, life here may be God's presence with us, to make us +steadfast. + +Mark the Psalmist's language. 'I have set the Lord always _in front of_ +me--before my face.' Emphasis is placed on 'set' and 'always.' God is +ever by our sides, but we may be very far away from Him, 'though He be +not far off from every one of us,' and if we are to have Him blazing, +clear and unobscured above and beyond all the mists and hubbub of earth, +we shall need continual effort in order to keep Him in our sight. 'I +have set the Lord'--He permits me to put out my hand, as it were, and +station Him where I want Him, that I may always have Him in my sight, +and be able to look at Him and be calm and blessed. + +You cannot do that, if you let the world, and wealth, and business, and +anxieties, and ambitions, and cares, and sorrows, and duties, and family +responsibilities, jostle and hustle Him out of your minds and hearts. +You cannot do it if, like John Bunyan's man with the muckrake, you keep +your eyes always down on the straw at your feet, and never lift them to +the crown above. How many men in Manchester walk its streets from year's +end to year's end, and never look up to the sky except to see whether +they must take their umbrellas with them or not? And so all the +magnificence and beauty of the daily heavens, and the nightly gemming of +the empty places with perpetually burning stars, are lost to them! So, +God is blazing there in front of us, but unless we set ourselves to it, +we shall never see Him. You have to look, by a conscious effort, over +and away from the things that are 'seen and temporal' if you want to see +the things that are 'unseen and eternal.' + +But if you disturb the whole tenor of your being by agitations and +distractions and petty cares, or if you defile it by sensual and fleshly +lusts, and animal propensities gratified, and poor, miserable, worldly +ambitions and longings filling up your souls, then God can no more be +visible before your face than the blessed sun can mirror himself in a +storm-tossed sea or in a muddy puddle. The heart must be pure, and the +heart must be still, and the mind must be detached from earth, and glued +to Heaven, and the glasses of the telescope must be sedulously cleansed +from dust, if we are to be blessed with the vision of God continuously +before our face. + +Then note, still further, that if thus we have made God present with us, +by realising the fact of His presence, when He comes, He comes with His +hands full. 'I have set the Lord always before me,' says the Psalmist. +And then he goes on to say, 'Because He is at my right hand.' Not only +in front of you, then, David, to be looked at, but at your side! What +for? What do we summon some one to come and stand beside us for? In +order that from his presence there may come help and succour and courage +and confidence. And so God comes to the right hand of the man who +honestly endeavours through all the confusions and bustles of life to +realise His sweet and calming presence. Where He comes He comes to help; +not to be a spectator, but an ally in the warfare; and whoever sets the +Lord before him will have the Lord at his right hand. + +And then, note, still further, the steadfastness which God brings. I +have spoken of the effort which brings God. I speak now of the +steadfastness which He brings by His coming. The Psalmist's anticipation +is a singularly modest one. 'Because He is at my right hand I +shall'--What? Be triumphant? No! Escape sorrows? No! Have my life filled +with serenity? No! 'I shall not be moved.' That is the best I can hope +for. To be able to stand on the spot, with steadfast convictions, with +steadfast purposes, with steadfast actions--continuously in one +direction; 'having overcome all, to stand'--that is as much as the best +of us can desire or expect, in this poor struggling life of ours. + +What a profound consciousness of inward weakness and of outward +antagonism there breathes in that humble and modest hope, as being the +loftiest result of the presence of Omnipotence for our aid: 'I shall not +be moved'! When we think of our inner weakness, when we remember the +fluctuations of our feelings and emotions, when we compare the ups and +downs of our daily life, or when we think of the larger changes covering +years, which affect all our outlooks, our thoughts, our plans; and how + + 'We all are changed by still degrees, + All but the basis of the soul,' + +it is much to say, 'I shall not be moved.' And when we think of the +obstacles that surround us, of the storms that dash against us, how we +are swept by surges of emotion that wash away everything before their +imperious onrush, or swayed by blasts of temptation that break down the +strongest defences, or smitten by the shocks of change and sorrow that +crush the firmest hearts, it is much to say, in the face of a world +pressing upon us with the force of the wind in a cyclone, that our poor, +feeble reed shall stand upright and 'not be moved' in the fiercest +blast. 'What went ye out for to see?' 'A reed shaken with the +wind'--that is humanity. 'Behold! I have made thee an iron pillar and +brazen walls, and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not +prevail'--that is weak man, stiffened into uprightness, and rooted in +steadfastness by the touch of the hand of a present God. + +And, brother! there is nothing else that will stay a man's soul. The +holdfast cannot be a part of the chain. It must be fastened to a fixed +point. The anchor that is to keep the ship of your life from dragging +and finding itself, when the morning breaks, a ghastly wreck upon the +reef, must be outside of yourself, and the cable of it must be wrapped +round the throne of God. The anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, +which will neither break nor drag, can only be firm when it 'enters into +that within the veil.' God, and God only, can thus make us strong! So, +dear friends, let us see to it that we fasten our aims and purposes, our +faith and love, our submission and obedience, upon that mighty Helper +who will be with us and make us strong, that we may 'stand fast in the +Lord and in the power of His might.' + +II. Now, secondly, notice how, if so, life hereafter will be our +presence with God, to make us glad. + +I have already pointed out briefly the connection between these two +portions of my text, and I need only remark here that the link which +holds them together is very obvious. If a man loves God, and trusts Him, +and 'walks with Him,' after the fashion described in our former verse, +then there will spring up, irrepressible and unconquerable, a conviction +in that man's soul that this sweet and strong communion, which makes so +much of the blessedness of life, must last after death. Anything is +conceivable rather than that a man who walks with God shall cease to be! +Rather, when he 'is not' any more 'found' among men, it is only because +'God took him.' Thus the emotions and experiences of a truly devout soul +are (apart from the great revelation in Jesus Christ which hath brought +'life and immortality to light') the best evidence and confirmation of +the anticipation of immortal life. It cannot be, unless our whole +intellectual faculties are to be put into utter confusion, that such an +experience as that of the man who loves God, and tries to trust Him, and +walk before Him, is destined to be brought to nothingness with the mere +dissolution of this earthly frame. The greatness and the smallness, the +achievements and the failures, of the religious life as we see it here, +all bear upon their front the mark of imperfection, and in their +imperfection prophesy and proclaim a future completion. Because it is so +great in itself, and because, being so great, its developments and +influence are so strangely and sadly checked, the faith that knits a man +to Christ demands eternity for its duration, and infinitude for its +perfection. Thus, he that says 'I have set the Lord always before me,' +goes on to say, with an undeniable accuracy of inference, 'Therefore +Thou wilt not leave my soul in the under world.' God is not going to +forget the soul that clave to Him, and anything is believable sooner +than that. + +Our texts not only assert this connection and base the confidence of +immortality on the present experiences of the spirit that trusts in God, +but also give the outline, at least, of the correspondences between the +imperfections of the present and the perfectnesses of the future. And I +cast this into two or three words before I close. + +This is the first of them. If you will turn your faces to God, amidst +all the flaunting splendours and vain shows and fleeting possessions of +this present, His face will dawn on you yonder. We can say but little of +what is meant by such a hope as that. But only this we can say, that +there will be, as yet unimaginable, new wealths of revelation of the +Father, and to match them, as yet unimaginable new inlets of +apprehension and perception upon our parts, so that the sweetest, +clearest, closest, most satisfying vision of God that has ever dawned on +sad souls here, shall be but 'as in a glass darkly' compared with that +face to face sight. We live away out on the far-off outskirts of the +system where those great planets plough along their slow orbits, and +turn their languid rotations at distances that imagination faints in +contemplating, and the light and the heat and the life that reach them +are infinitesimally small. We shall be shifted into the orb that is +nearest the sun; and oh! what a rapture of light and life and heat will +come to our amazed spirits: 'I have set the Lord always before me.' +Twilight though the light has been, I have tried to keep it. I shall be +of the sons of light close to the Throne and shall see Thy face. I shall +be satisfied when I wake out of this sleep of life into Thy likeness. + +Then, again, if you will keep God at your right hand here, He will set +you on His hereafter. Keep Him here for your Companion, for your Ally, +for your Advocate, to breathe strength into you by the touch of His +hand, as some feeble man, leaning upon a stronger arm, may be upheld. If +you will do that, then the place where the favoured servants stand will +be yours; the place where trusted counsellors stand will be yours; the +place where the sheep stand will be yours; the place where the Shepherd +sits will be yours; for He to whom it is said, 'Sit Thou at My right +hand till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool,' says to us, 'Where I am +there shall also My servant be.' Keep God by your sides, and you will be +lifted to Christ's place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. + +Lastly, if we let ourselves be stayed by God amidst the struggle and +difficulty, we shall be gladdened by Him with perpetual joys. The +emphasis of the last words of my text is rather on the adjectives than +on the nouns--_full_ joy, _eternal_ pleasure. And how both +characteristics contradict the experiences of earth, even the gladdest, +which we fain would make permanent! For I suppose that no earthly joy is +either central, reaching the deepest self, or circumferential, embracing +the whole being of a man, but that only God can so go into the depths of +my soul as that from His throne there He can flood the whole of my +nature with felicity and peace. In all other gladnesses there is always +in the landscape one bit of sullen shadow somewhere or other, +unparticipant of the light, while all around is blazing. And we need +that He should come to make us blessed. + +Joys here are no more lasting than they are complete. As one who only +too sadly proved the truth of his own words, burning out his life before +he was six-and-thirty, has said-- + + 'Pleasures are like poppies spread, + You seize the flower, its bloom is shed! + Or like the snowflake in the river. + A moment white--then gone for ever.' + +Oh! my friend, 'why do ye spend your money for that which is not bread?' +The life of faith on earth is the beginning, and only the beginning, of +that life of calm and complete felicity in the heavenly places. + +I have shown you the ladder's foot, 'I have set the Lord always before +me.' The top round reaches the throne of God, and whoever begins at the +bottom, and holds fast the beginning of his confidence firm unto the +end, for him the great promise of the Master will come true, and +Christ's 'joy will remain in him and his joy shall be full.' + + + + +THE TWO AWAKINGS + + + 'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' + --PSALM xvii. 15. + + 'As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou + shalt despise their image.'--PSALM lxxiii. 20. + +Both of these Psalms are occupied with that standing puzzle to Old +Testament worthies--the good fortune of bad men, and the bad fortune of +good ones. The former recounts the personal calamities of David, its +author. The latter gives us the picture of the perplexity of Asaph its +writer, when he 'saw the prosperity of the wicked.' + +And as the problem in both is substantially the same, the solution also +is the same. David and Asaph both point onwards to a period when this +confusing distribution of earthly good shall have ceased, though the one +regards that period chiefly in its bearing upon himself as the time when +he shall see God and be at rest, while the other thinks of it rather +with reference to the godless rich as the time of their destruction. + +In the details of this common expectation, also, there is a remarkable +parallelism. Both describe the future to which they look as an awaking, +and both connect with it, though in different ways and using different +words, the metaphor of an image or likeness. In the one case, the future +is conceived as the Psalmist's awaking, and losing all the vain show of +this dreamland of life, while he is at rest in beholding the appearance, +and perhaps in receiving the likeness, of the one enduring Substance, +God. In the other, it is thought of as God's awaking, and putting to +shame the fleeting shadow of well-being with which godless men befool +themselves. + +What this period of twofold awaking may be is a question on which good +men and thoughtful students of Scripture differ. Without entering on the +wide subject of the Jewish knowledge of a future state, it may be enough +for the present purpose to say that the language of both these Psalms +seems much too emphatic and high-pitched, to be fully satisfied by a +reference to anything in this life. It certainly looks as if the great +awaking which David puts in immediate contrast with the death of 'men of +this world,' and which solaced his heart with the confident expectation +of beholding God, of full satisfaction of all his being, and possibly +even of wearing the divine likeness, pointed onwards, however dimly, to +that 'within the veil.' And as for the other psalm, though the awaking +of God is, no doubt, a Scriptural phrase for His ending of any period of +probation and indulgence by an act of judgment, yet the strong words in +which the context describes this awaking, as the 'destruction' and the +'end' of the godless, make it most natural to take it as here referring +to the final close of the probation of life. That conclusion appears to +be strengthened by the contrast which in subsequent verses is drawn +between this 'end' of the worldling, and the poet's hopes for himself of +divine guidance in life, and afterwards of being taken (the same word as +is used in the account of Enoch's translation) by God into His presence +and glory--hopes whose exuberance it is hard to confine within the +limits of any changes possible for earth. + +The doctrine of a future state never assumed the same prominence, nor +possessed the same clearness in Israel as with us. There are great +tracts of the Old Testament where it does not appear at all. This very +difficulty, about the strange disproportion between character and +circumstances, shows that the belief had not the same place with them as +with us. But it gradually emerged into comparative distinctness. +Revelation is progressive, and the appropriation of revelation is +progressive too. There is a history of God's self-manifestation, and +there is a history of man's reception of the manifestation. It seems to +me that in these two psalms, as in other places of Old Testament +Scripture, we see inspired men in the very course of being taught by +God, on occasion of their earthly sorrows, the clearer hopes which alone +could sustain them. They stood not where we stand, to whom Christ has +'brought life and immortality to light'; but to their devout and +perplexed souls, the dim regions beyond were partially opened, and +though they beheld there a great darkness, they also 'saw a great +light.' They saw all this solid world fade and melt, and behind its +vanishing splendours they saw the glory of the God whom they loved, in +the midst of which they felt that there _must_ be a place for them, +where eternal realities should fill their vision, and a stable +inheritance satisfy their hearts. + +The period, then, to which both David and Asaph look, in these two +verses, is the end of life. The words of both, taken in combination, +open out a series of aspects of that period which carry weighty lessons, +and to which we turn now. + +I. The first of these is that to all men the end of Life is an awaking. + +The representation of death most widely diffused among all nations is +that it is a sleep. The reasons for that emblem are easily found. We +always try to veil the terror and deformity of the ugly thing by the +thin robe of language. As with reverential awe, so with fear and +disgust, the tendency is to wrap their objects in the folds of metaphor. +Men prefer not to name plainly their god or their dread, but find +roundabout phrases for the one, and coaxing, flattering titles for the +other. The furies and the fates of heathenism, the supernatural beings +of modern superstition, must not be spoken of by their own appellations. +The recoil of men's hearts from the thing is testified by the aversion +of their languages to the bald name--death. And the employment of this +special euphemism of sleep is a wonderful witness to our weariness of +life, and to its endless toil and trouble. Everywhere that has seemed to +be a comforting and almost an attractive name, which has promised full +rest from all the agitations of this changeful scene. The prosperous and +the wretched alike have owned the fatigue of living, and been conscious +of a soothing expectance which became almost a hope, as they thought of +lying still at last with folded hands and shut eyes. The wearied workers +have bent over their dead, and felt that they are blest in this at all +events, that they rest from their labours; and as they saw them absolved +from all their tasks, have sought to propitiate the power that had made +this ease for them, as well as to express their sense of its merciful +aspect, by calling it not death, but sleep. + +But that emblem, true and sweet as it is, is but half the truth. Taken +as the whole, as indeed men are ever tempted to take it, it is a +cheerless lie. It is truth for the senses--'the foolish senses,' who +'crown' Death, as 'Omega,' the last, 'the Lord,' because '_they_ find no +_motion_ in the dead.' Rest, cessation of consciousness of the outer +world, and of action upon it, are set forth by the figure. But even the +figure might teach us that the consciousness of life, and the vivid +exercise of thought and feeling, are not denied by it. Death is sleep. +Be it so. But does not that suggest the doubt--'in that sleep, what +dreams may come?' Do we not all know that, when the chains of slumber +bind sense, and the disturbance of the outer world is hushed, there are +faculties of our souls which work more strongly than in our waking +hours? We are all poets, 'makers' in our sleep. Memory and imagination +open their eyes when flesh closes it. We can live through years in the +dreams of a night; so swiftly can spirit move when even partially freed +from 'this muddy vesture of decay.' That very phrase, then, which at +first sight seems the opposite of the representation of our text, in +reality is preparatory to and confirmatory of it. That very +representation which has lent itself to cheerless and heathenish +thoughts of death as the cessation not only of toil but of activity, is +the basis of the deeper and truer representation, the truth for the +spirit, that death is an awaking. If, on the one hand, we have to say, +as we anticipate the approaching end of life, 'The night cometh, when no +man can work'; on the other the converse is true, 'The night is far +spent; the day is at hand.' + +We shall sleep. Yes; but we shall wake too. We shall wake just because +we sleep. For flesh and all its weakness, and all its disturbing +strength, and craving importunities--for the outer world, and all its +dissipating garish shows, and all its sullen resistance to our hand--for +weariness, and fevered activity and toil against the grain of our +tastes, too great for our strength, disappointing in its results, the +end is blessed, calm sleep. And precisely because it is so, therefore +for our true selves, for heart and mind, for powers that lie dormant in +the lowest, and are not stirred into full action in the highest, souls; +for all that universe of realities which encompass us undisclosed, and +known only by faint murmurs which pierce through the opiate sleep of +life, the end shall be an awaking. + +The truth which corresponds to this metaphor, and which David felt when +he said, 'I shall be satisfied when I awake,' is that the spirit, +because emancipated from the body, shall spring into greater intensity +of action, shall put forth powers that have been held down here and +shall come into contact with an order of things which here it has but +indirectly known. To our true selves and to God we shall wake. Here we +are like men asleep in some chamber that looks towards the eastern sky. +Morning by morning comes the sunrise, with the tender glory of its rosy +light and blushing heavens, and the heavy eyes are closed to it all. +Here and there some lighter sleeper, with thinner eyelids or face turned +to the sun, is half conscious of a vague brightness, and feels the +light, though he sees not the colours of the sky nor the forms of the +filmy clouds. Such souls are our saints and prophets, but most of us +sleep on unconscious. To us all the moment comes when we shall wake and +see for ourselves the bright and terrible world which we have so often +forgotten, and so often been tempted to think was itself a dream. +Brethren, see to it that that awaking be for you the beholding of what +you have loved, the finding, in the sober certainty of waking bliss, of +all the objects which have been your visions of delight in the sleep of +earth. + +This life of ours hides more than it reveals. The day shows the sky as +solitary but for wandering clouds that cover its blue emptiness. But the +night peoples its waste places with stars, and fills all its abysses +with blazing glories. 'If light so much conceals, wherefore not life?' +Let us hold fast by a deeper wisdom than is born of sense; and though +men, nowadays, seem to be willing to go back to the 'eternal sleep' of +the most unspiritual heathenism, and to cast away all that Christ has +brought us concerning that world where He has been and whence He has +returned, because positive science and the anatomist's scalpel preach no +gospel of a future, let us try to feel as well as to believe that it is +life, with all its stunted capacities and idle occupation with baseless +fabrics, which is the sleep, and that for us all the end of it is--to +awake. + +II. The second principle contained in our text is that death is to some +men the awaking of God. + +'When Thou awakest, Thou shalt despise their image.' Closely rendered, +the former clause would read simply 'in awaking,' without any specifying +of the person, which is left to be gathered from the succeeding words. +But there is no doubt that the English version fills the blank correctly +by referring the awaking to God. + +The metaphor is not infrequent in the Old Testament, and, like many +others applying to the divine nature, is saved from any possibility of +misapprehension by the very boldness of its materialism. It has a +well-marked and uniform meaning. God 'awakes' when He ends an epoch of +probation and long-suffering mercy by an act or period of judgment. So +far, then, as the mere expression is concerned, there may be nothing +more meant here than the termination by a judicial act in this life, of +the transient 'prosperity of the wicked.' Any divinely-sent catastrophe +which casts the worldly rich man down from his slippery eminence would +satisfy the words. But the emphatic context seems, as already pointed +out, to require that they should be referred to that final crash which +irrevocably separates him who has 'his portion in this life,' from all +which he calls his 'goods.' + +If so, then the whole period of earthly existence is regarded as the +time of God's gracious forbearance and mercy; and the time of death is +set forth as the instant when sterner elements of the divine dealings +start into greater prominence. Life here is predominantly, though not +exclusively, the field for the manifestation of patient love, not +willing that any should perish. To the godless soul, immersed in +material things, and blind to the light of God's wooing love, the +transition to that other form of existence is likewise the transition to +the field for the manifestation of the retributive energy of God's +righteousness. Here and now His judgment on the whole slumbers. The +consequences of our deeds are inherited, indeed, in many a merciful +sorrow, in many a paternal chastisement, in many a partial +exemplification of the wages of sin as death. But the harvest is not +fully grown nor ripened yet; it is not reaped in all its extent; the +bitter bread is not baked and eaten as it will have to be. Nor are men's +consciences so awakened that they connect the retribution, which does +befall them, with its causes in their own actions, as closely as they +will do when they are removed from the excitement of life and the deceit +of its dreams. 'Sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily.' +For the long years of our stay here, God's seeking love lingers round +every one of us, yearning over us, besetting us behind and before, +courting us with kindnesses, lavishing on us its treasures, seeking to +win our poor love. It is sometimes said that this is a state of +probation. But that phrase suggests far too cold an idea. God does not +set us here as on a knife edge, with abysses on either side ready to +swallow us if we stumble, while He stands apart watching for our +halting, and unhelpful to our tottering feebleness. He compasses us with +His love and its gifts, He draws us to Himself, and desires that we +should stand. He offers all the help of His angels to hold us up. 'He +will not suffer thy foot to be moved; He that keepeth thee will not +slumber.' The judgment sleeps; the loving forbearance, the gracious aid +wake. Shall we not yield to His perpetual pleadings, and, moved by the +mercies of God, let His conquering love thaw our cold hearts into +streams of thankfulness and self-devotion? + +But remember, that that predominantly merciful and long-suffering +character of God's present dealing affords no guarantee that there will +not come a time when His slumbering judgment will stir to waking. The +same chapter which tells us that 'He is long-suffering to us-ward, not +willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance,' +goes on immediately to repel the inference that therefore a period of +which retribution shall be the characteristic is impossible, by the +solemn declaration, '_But_ the day of the Lord shall come as a thief in +the night.' His character remains ever the same, the principles of His +government are unalterable, but there may be variations in the +prominence given in His acts, to the several principles of the one, and +the various though harmonious phases of the other. The method may be +changed, the purpose may remain unchanged. And the Bible, which is our +only source of knowledge on the subject, tells us that the method _is_ +changed, in so far as to intensify the vigour of the operation of +retributive justice after death, so that men who have been compassed +with 'the loving-kindness of the Lord,' and who die leaving worldly +things, and keeping worldly hearts, will have to confront 'the terror of +the Lord.' + +The alternation of epochs of tolerance and destruction is in accordance +with the workings of God's providence here and now. For though the +characteristic of that providence as we see it is merciful forbearance, +yet we are not left without many a premonition of the mighty final 'day +of the Lord.' For long years or centuries a nation or an institution +goes on slowly departing from truth, forgetting the principles on which +it rests, or the purposes for which it exists. Patiently God pleads with +the evil-doers, lavishes gifts and warnings upon them. He holds back the +inevitable avenging as long as restoration is yet possible--and _His_ +eye and heart see it to be possible long after men conclude that the +corruption is hopeless. But at last comes a period when He says, 'I have +long still holden My peace, and refrained Myself, now will I destroy'; +and with a crash one more hoary iniquity disappears from the earth which +it has burdened so long. For sixty times sixty slow, throbbing seconds, +the silent hand creeps unnoticed round the dial and then, with whirr and +clang, the bell rings out, and another hour of the world's secular day +is gone. The billows of the thunder-cloud slowly gather into vague form, +and slowly deepen in lurid tints, and slowly roll across the fainting +blue; they touch--and then the fierce flash, like the swift hand on the +palace-wall of Babylon, writes its message of destruction over all the +heaven at once. We know enough from the history of men and nations since +Sodom till to-day, to recognise it as God's plan to alternate long +patience and 'sudden destruction':-- + + 'The mills of God grind slowly, + But they grind exceeding small'; + +and every such instance confirms the expectation of the coming of that +great and terrible day of the Lord, whereof all epochs of convulsion and +ruin, all falls of Jerusalem, and Roman empires, Reformations, and +French Revolutions, and American wars, all private and personal +calamities which come from private wrong-doing, are but feeble +precursors. 'When Thou awakest, Thou wilt despise their image.' + +Brethren, do we use aright this goodness of God which is the +characteristic of the present? Are we ready for that judgment which is +the mark of the future? + +III. Death is the annihilation of the vain show of worldly life. + +The word rendered _image_ is properly shadow, and hence copy or +likeness, and hence image. Here, however, the simpler meaning is the +better. 'Thou shalt despise their shadow.' The men are shadows, and all +their goods are not what they are called, their 'substance,' but their +_shadow_, a mere appearance, not a reality. That show of good which +seems but is not, is withered up by the light of the awaking God. What +He despises cannot live. + +So there are the two old commonplaces of moralists set forth in these +grand words--the unsatisfying character of all merely external delights +and possessions, and also their transitory character. They are +non-substantial and non-permanent. + +Nothing that is without a man can make him rich or restful. The +treasures which are kept in coffers are not real, but only those which +are kept in the soul. Nothing which cannot enter into the substance of +the life and character can satisfy us. That which we are makes us rich +or poor, that which we own is a trifle. + +There is no congruity between any outward thing and man's soul, of such +a kind as that satisfaction can come from its possession. 'Cisterns that +can hold no water,' 'that which is not bread,' 'husks that the swine did +eat'--these are not exaggerated phrases for the good gifts which God +gives for our delight, and which become profitless and delusive by our +exclusive attachment to them. There is no need for exaggeration. These +worldly possessions have a good in them, they contribute to ease and +grace in life, they save from carking cares and mean anxieties, they add +many a comfort and many a source of culture. But, after all, a true, +lofty life may be lived with a very small modicum. There is no +proportion between wealth and happiness, nor between wealth and +nobleness. The fairest life that ever lived on earth was that of a poor +Man, and with all its beauty it moved within the limits of narrow +resources. The loveliest blossoms do not grow on plants that plunge +their greedy roots into the fattest soil. A little light earth in the +crack of a hard rock will do. We need enough for the physical being to +root itself in; we need no more. + +Young men! especially you who are plunged into the busy life of our +great commercial centres, and are tempted by everything you see, and by +most that you hear, to believe that a prosperous trade and hard cash are +the realities, and all else mist and dreams, fix this in your mind to +begin life with--God is the reality, all else is shadow. Do not make it +your ambition to get _on_, but to get _up_. 'Having food and raiment, +let us be content.' Seek for your life's delight and treasure in +thought, in truth, in pure affections, in moderate desires, in a spirit +set on God. These are the realities of our possessions. As for all the +rest, it is sham and show. + +And while thus all without is unreal, it is also fleeting as the shadows +of the flying clouds; and when God awakes, it disappears as they before +the noonlight that clears the heavens. All things that are, are on +condition of perpetual flux and change. The cloud-rack has the likeness +of bastions and towers, but they are mist, not granite, and the wind is +every moment sweeping away their outlines, till the phantom fortress +topples into red ruin while we gaze. The tiniest stream eats out its +little valley and rounds the pebble in its widening bed, rain washes +down the soil, and frost cracks the cliffs above. So silently and yet +mightily does the law of change work that to a meditative eye the solid +earth seems almost molten and fluid, and the everlasting mountains +tremble to decay. + +'Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not?' Are we going to be +such fools as to fix our hopes and efforts upon this fleeting order of +things, which can give no delight more lasting than itself? Even whilst +we are in it, it continueth not in one stay, and we are in it for such a +little while! Then comes what our text calls God's awaking, and where is +it all then? Gone like a ghost at cockcrow. Why! a drop of blood on your +brain or a crumb of bread in your windpipe, and as far as you are +concerned the outward heavens and earth 'pass away with a great' +silence, as the impalpable shadows that sweep over some lone hillside. + + 'The glories of our birth and state + Are shadows, not substantial things; + There is no armour against fate, + Death lays his icy hand on kings.' + +What an awaking to a worldly man that awaking of God will be! 'As when a +hungry man dreameth, and behold he eateth, but he awaketh and his soul +is empty.' He has thought he fed full, and was rich and safe, but in one +moment he is dragged from it all, and finds himself a starving pauper, +in an order of things for which he has made no provision. 'When he +dieth, he shall carry nothing away.' Let us see to it that not in utter +nakedness do we go hence, but clothed with that immortal robe, and rich +in those possessions that cannot be taken away from us, which they have +who have lived on earth as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Let +us pierce, for the foundation of our life's house, beneath the shifting +sands of time down to the Rock of Ages, and build there. + +IV. Finally, death is for some men the annihilation of the vain shows in +order to reveal the great reality. + +'I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness.' + +'Likeness' is properly 'form,' and is the same word which is employed in +reference to Moses, who saw 'the similitude of the Lord.' If there be, +as is most probable, an allusion to that ancient vision in these words, +then the 'likeness' is not that conformity to the divine character which +it is the goal of our hopes to possess, but the beholding of His +self-manifestation. The parallelism of the verse also points to such an +interpretation. + +If so, then, we have here the blessed confidence that when all the +baseless fabric of the dream of life has faded from our opening eyes, we +shall see the face of our ever-loving God. Here the distracting whirl of +earthly things obscures Him from even the devoutest souls, and His own +mighty works which reveal do also conceal. In them is the hiding as well +as the showing of His power. But there the veil which draped the perfect +likeness, and gave but dim hints through its heavy swathings of the +outline of immortal beauty that lay beneath, shall fall away. No longer +befooled by shadows, we shall possess the true substance; no longer +bedazzled by shows, we shall behold the reality. + +And seeing God we shall be satisfied. With all lesser joys the eye is +not satisfied with seeing, but to look on Him will be enough. Enough for +mind and heart, wearied and perplexed with partial knowledge and +imperfect love; enough for eager desires, which thirst, after all +draughts from other streams; enough for will, chafing against lower +lords and yet longing for authoritative control; enough for all my +being--to see God. Here we can rest after all wanderings, and say, 'I +travel no further; here will I dwell for ever--_I shall be satisfied_.' + +And may these dim hopes not suggest to us too some presentiment of the +full Christian truth of assimilation dependent on vision, and of vision +reciprocally dependent on likeness? 'We shall be like Him, for we shall +see Him as He is,'--words which reach a height that David but partially +discerned through the mist. This much he knew, that he should in some +transcendent sense behold the manifested God; and this much more, that +it must be 'in righteousness' that he should gaze upon that face. The +condition of beholding the Holy One was holiness. We know that the +condition of holiness is trust in Christ. And as we reckon up the rich +treasure of our immortal hopes, our faith grows bold, and pauses not +even at the lofty certainty of God without us, known directly and +adequately, but climbs to the higher assurance of God within us, +flooding our darkness with His great light, and changing us into the +perfect copies of His express Image, His only-begotten Son. 'I shall be +satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness,' cries the prophet Psalmist. +'It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master,' responds the +Christian hope. + +Brethren! take heed that the process of dissipating the vain shows of +earth be begun betimes in your souls. It must either be done by Faith, +whose rod disenchants them into their native nothingness, and then it is +blessed; or it must be done by death, whose mace smites them to dust, +and then it is pure, irrevocable loss and woe. Look away from, or rather +look through, things that are seen to the King eternal, invisible. Let +your hearts seek Christ, and your souls cleave to Him. Then death will +take away nothing from you that you would care to keep, but will bring +you your true joy. It will but trample to fragments the 'dome of +many-coloured glass' that 'stains the white radiance of eternity.' +Looking forward calmly to that supreme hour, you will be able to say, 'I +will both lay me down in peace and sleep, for Thou, Lord, only makest me +dwell in safety.' Looking back upon it from beyond, and wondering to +find how brief it was, and how close to Him whom you love it has brought +you, your now immortal lips touched by the rising Sun of the heavenly +morning will thankfully exclaim, 'When I awake, I am still with Thee.' + + + + +SECRET FAULTS + + + 'Who can understand his errors? cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' + PSALM xix. 12. + +The contemplation of the 'perfect law, enlightening the eyes,' sends the +Psalmist to his knees. He is appalled by his own shortcomings, and feels +that, beside all those of which he is aware, there is a region, as yet +unilluminated by that law, where evil things nestle and breed. + +The Jewish ritual drew a broad distinction between inadvertent--whether +involuntary or ignorant--and deliberate sins; providing atonement for +the former, not for the latter. The word in my text rendered 'errors' is +closely connected with that which in the Levitical system designates the +former class of transgressions; and the connection between the two +clauses of the text, as well as that with the subsequent verse, +distinctly shows that the 'secret faults' of the one clause are +substantially synonymous with the 'errors' of the other. + +They are, then, not sins hidden from men, whether because they have been +done quietly in a corner, and remain undetected, or because they have +only been in thought, never passing into act. Both of these pages are +dark in every man's memory. Who is there that could reveal himself to +men? who is there that could bear the sight of a naked soul? But the +Psalmist is thinking of a still more solemn fact, that, beyond the range +of conscience and consciousness, there are evils in us all. It may do us +good to ponder his discovery that he had undiscovered sins, and to take +for ours his prayer, 'Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.' + +I. So I ask you to look with me, briefly, first, at the solemn fact +here, that there are in every man sins of which the doer is unaware. + +It is with our characters as with our faces. Few of us are familiar with +our own appearance, and most of us, if we have looked at our portraits, +have felt a little shock of surprise, and been ready to say to +ourselves, 'Well! I did not know that I looked like that!' And the bulk +even of good men are almost as much strangers to their inward +physiognomy as to their outward. They see themselves in their +looking-glasses every morning, although they 'go away and forget what +manner of men' they were. But they do not see their true selves in the +same fashion in any other mirror. It is the very characteristic of all +evil that it has a strange power of deceiving a man as to its real +character; like the cuttle-fish, that squirts out a cloud of ink and so +escapes in the darkness and the dirt. The more a man goes wrong the less +he knows it. Conscience is loudest when it is least needed, and most +silent when most required. + +Then, besides that, there is a great part of every one's life which is +mechanical, instinctive, and all but involuntary. Habits and emotions +and passing impulses very seldom come into men's consciousness, and an +enormously large proportion of everybody's life is done with the minimum +of attention, and is as little remembered as it is observed. + +Then, besides that, conscience wants educating. You see that on a large +scale, for instance, in the history of the slow progress which Christian +principle has made in leavening the world's thinkings. It took eighteen +centuries to teach the Church that slavery was unchristian. The Church +has not yet learned that war is unchristian, and it is only beginning to +surmise that possibly Christian principle may have something to say in +social questions, and in the determination, for example, of the +relations of capital and labour, and of wealth and poverty. The very +same slowness of apprehension and gradual growth in the education of +conscience, and in the perception of the application of Christian +principles to duty, applies to the individual as to the Church. + +Then, besides that, we are all biassed in our own favour, and what, when +another man says it, is 'flat blasphemy,' we think, when we say it, is +only 'a choleric word.' We have fine names for our own vices, and ugly +ones for the very same vices in other people. David will flare up into +generous and sincere indignation about the man that stole the poor man's +ewe lamb, but he has not the ghost of a notion that he has been doing +the very same thing himself. And so we bribe our consciences as well as +neglect them, and they need to be educated. + +Thus, down below every life there lies a great dim region of habits and +impulses and fleeting emotions, into which it is the rarest thing for a +man to go with a candle in his hand to see what it is like. + +But I can imagine a man saying, 'Well, if I do not know that I am doing +wrong, how can it be a sin?' In answer to that, I would say that, thank +God! ignorance diminishes criminality, but ignorance does not alter the +nature of the deed. Take a simple illustration. Here is a man who, all +unconsciously to himself, is allowing worldly prosperity to sap his +Christian character. He does not know that the great current of his life +has been turned aside, as it were, by that sluice, and is taken to drive +the wheels of his mill, and that there is only a miserable little +trickle coming down the river bed. Is he any less guilty because he does +not know? Is he not the more so, because he might and would have known +if he had thought and felt right? Or, here is another man who has the +habit of letting his temper get the better of him. He calls it 'stern +adherence to principle,' or 'righteous indignation'; and he thinks +himself very badly used when other people 'drive him' so often into a +temper. Other people know, and _he_ might know, if he would be honest +with himself, that, for all his fine names, it is nothing else than +passion. Is he any the less guilty because of his ignorance? It is plain +enough that, whilst ignorance, if it is absolute and inevitable, does +diminish criminality to the vanishing point, the ignorance of our own +faults which most of us display is neither absolute nor inevitable; and +therefore, though it may, thank God! diminish, it does not destroy our +guilt. 'She wipeth her mouth and saith, I have done no harm': was she, +therefore, chaste and pure? In all our hearts there are many vermin +lurking beneath the stones, and they are none the less poisonous because +they live and multiply in the dark. 'I know nothing against myself, yet +am I not hereby justified. But he that judgeth me is the Lord.' + +II. Now, secondly, let me ask you to look at the special perilousness of +these hidden faults. + +As with a blight upon a rose-tree, the little green creatures lurk on +the underside of the leaves, and in all the folds of the buds, and +because unseen, they increase with alarming rapidity. The very fact that +we have faults in our characters, which everybody sees but ourselves, +makes it certain that they will grow unchecked, and so will prove +terribly perilous. The small things of life are the great things of +life. For a man's character is made up of them, and of their results, +striking inwards upon himself. A wine-glassful of water with one drop of +mud in it may not be much obscured, but if you come to multiply it into +a lakeful, you will have muddy waves that reflect no heavens, and show +no gleaming stars. + +These secret faults are like a fungus that has grown in a wine-cask, +whose presence nobody suspected. It sucks up all the generous liquor to +feed its own filthiness, and when the staves are broken, there is no +wine left, nothing but the foul growth. Many a Christian man and woman +has the whole Christian life arrested, and all but annihilated, by the +unsuspected influence of a secret sin. I do not believe it would be +exaggeration to say that, for one man who has made shipwreck of his +faith and lost his peace by reason of some gross transgression, there +are twenty who have fallen into the same condition by reason of the +multitude of small ones. 'He that despiseth little things shall fall by +little and little'; and whilst the deeds which the Ten Commandments +rebuke are damning to a Christian character, still more perilous, +because unseen, and permitted to grow without check or restraint, are +these unconscious sins. 'Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that +thing which he alloweth.' + +III. Notice the discipline, or practical issues, to which such +considerations should lead. + +To begin with, they ought to take down our self-complacency, if we have +any, and to make us feel that, after all, our characters are very poor +things. If men praise us, let us try to remember what it will be good +for us to remember, too, when we are tempted to praise ourselves--the +underworld of darkness which each of us carries about within us. + +Further, let me press upon you two practical points. This whole set of +contemplations should make us practise a very rigid and close +self-inspection. There will always be much that will escape our +observation--we shall gradually grow to know more and more of it--but +there can be no excuse for that which I fear is a terribly common +characteristic of the professing Christianity of this day--the all but +entire absence of close inspection of one's own character and conduct. I +know very well that it is not a wholesome thing for a man to be always +poking in his own feelings and emotions. I know also that, in a former +generation, there was far too much introspection, instead of looking to +Jesus Christ and forgetting self. I do not believe that +self-examination, directed to the discovery of reasons for trusting the +sincerity of my own faith, is a good thing. But I do believe that, +without the practice of careful weighing of ourselves, there will be +very little growth in anything that is noble and good. + +The old Greeks used to preach, 'Know thyself.' It was a high behest, and +very often a very vain-glorious one. A man's best means of knowing what +he is, is to take stock of what he does. If you will put your conduct +through the sieve, you will come to a pretty good understanding of your +character. 'He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city +broken down, without walls,' into which all enemies can leap unhindered, +and out from which all things that will may pass. Do you set guards at +the gates and watch yourselves with all carefulness. + +Then, again, I would say we must try to diminish as much as possible the +mere instinctive and habitual and mechanical part of our lives, and to +bring, as far as we can, every action under the conscious dominion of +principle. The less we live by impulse, and the more we live by +intelligent reflection, the better it will be for us. The more we can +get habit on the side of goodness, the better; but the more we break up +our habits, and make each individual action the result of a special +volition of the spirit guided by reason and conscience, the better for +us all. + +Then, again, I would say, set yourselves to educate your consciences. +They need that. One of the surest ways of making conscience more +sensitive is always to consult it and always to obey it. If you neglect +it, and let it prophesy to the wind, it will stop speaking before long. +Herod could not get a word out of Christ when he 'asked Him many +questions' because for years he had not cared to hear His voice. And +conscience, like the Lord of conscience, will hold its peace after men +have neglected its speech. You can pull the clapper out of the bell upon +the rock, and then, though the waves may dash, there will not be a +sound, and the vessel will drive straight on to the black teeth that are +waiting for it. Educate your conscience by obeying it, and by getting +into the habit of bringing everything to its bar. + +And, still further, compare yourselves constantly with your model. Do as +the art students do in a gallery, take your poor daub right into the +presence of the masterpiece, and go over it line by line and tint by +tint. Get near Jesus Christ that you may learn your duty from Him, and +you will find out many of the secret sins. + +And, lastly, let us ask God to cleanse us. + +My text, as translated in the Revised Version, says, '_Clear_ Thou me +from secret faults.' And there is present in that word, if not +exclusively, at least predominantly, the idea of a judicial acquittal, +so that the thought of the first clause of this verse seems rather to be +that of pronouncing guiltless, or forgiving, than that of delivering +from the power of. But both, no doubt, are included in the idea, as +both, in fact, come from the same source and in response to the same +cry. + +And so we may be sure that, though our eye does not go down into the +dark depths, God's eye goes, and that where He looks He looks to pardon, +if we come to Him through Jesus Christ our Lord. + +He will deliver us from the power of these secret faults, giving to us +that divine Spirit which is 'the candle of the Lord,' to search us, and +to convince of our sins, and to drag our evil into the light; and giving +us the help without which we can never overcome. The only way for us to +be delivered from the dominion of our unconscious faults is to increase +the depth and closeness and constancy of our communion with Jesus +Christ; and then they will drop away from us. Mosquitoes and malaria, +the one unseen in their minuteness, and the other, 'the pestilence that +walketh in darkness,' haunt the swamps. Go up on the hilltop, and +neither of them are found. So if we live more and more on the high +levels, in communion with our Master, there will be fewer and fewer of +these unconscious sins buzzing and stinging and poisoning our lives, and +more and more will His grace conquer and cleanse. + +They will all be manifested some day. The time comes when He shall bring +to light the hidden things and darkness and the counsels of men's +hearts. There will be surprises on both hands of the Judge. Some on the +right, astonished, will say, 'Lord, when saw we Thee?' and some on the +left, smitten to confusion and surprise, will say, 'Lord, Lord, have we +not prophesied in Thy name?' + +Let us go to Him with the prayer, 'Search me, O God! and try me; and see +if there be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.' + + + + +OPEN SINS + + + 'Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not + have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be + innocent from the great transgression.'--PSALM xix. 13. + +Another psalmist promises to the man who dwells 'in the secret place of +the Most High' that' he shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor +for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh at +noonday,' but shall 'tread upon the lion and adder.' These promises +divide the dangers that beset us into the same two classes as our +Psalmist does--the one secret; the other palpable and open. The former, +which, as I explained in my last sermon, are sins hidden, not from +others, but from the doer, may fairly be likened to the pestilence that +stalks slaying in the dark, or to the stealthy, gliding serpent, which +strikes and poisons before the naked foot is aware. The other resembles +the 'destruction that wasteth at noonday,' or the lion with its roar and +its spring, as, disclosed from its covert, it leaps upon the prey. + +Our present text deals with the latter of these two classes. +'Presumptuous sins' does not, perhaps, convey to an ordinary reader the +whole significance of the phrase, for it may be taken to define a single +class of sins--namely, those of pride or insolence. What is really meant +is just the opposite of 'secret sins'--all sorts of evil which, whatever +may be their motives and other qualities, have this in common, that the +doer, when he does them, knows them to be wrong. + +The Psalmist gets this further glimpse into the terrible possibilities +which attach even to a servant of God, and we have in our text these +three things--a danger discerned, a help sought, and a daring hope +cherished. + +I. Note, then, the first of these, the dreaded and discerned +danger--'presumptuous sins,' which may 'have dominion over' us, and lead +us at last to a 'great transgression.' + +Now the word which is translated 'presumptuous' literally means _that +which boils or bubbles_; and it sets very picturesquely before us the +movement of hot desires--the agitation of excited impulses or +inclinations which hurry men into sin in spite of their consciences. It +is also to be noticed that the prayer of my text, with singular pathos +and lowly self-consciousness, is the prayer of 'Thy servant,' who knows +himself to be a servant, and who therefore knows that these glaring +transgressions, done in the teeth of conscience and consciousness, are +all inconsistent with his standing and his profession, but yet are +perfectly possible for him. + +An old mediaeval mystic once said, 'There is nothing weaker than the +devil stripped naked.' Would it were true! For there is one thing that +is weaker than a discovered devil, and that is my own heart. For we all +know that sometimes, with our eyes open, and the most unmistakable +consciousness that what we are doing was wrong, we have set our teeth +and done it, Christian men though we may profess to be, and may really +be. All such conduct is inconsistent with Christianity; but we are not +to say, therefore, that it is incompatible with Christianity. Thank God! +that is a very different matter. But as long as you and I have two +things--viz. strong and hot desires, and weak and flabby wills--so long +shall we, in this world full of combustibles, not be beyond the +possibility of a dreadful conflagration being kindled by some +devil-blown sparks. There are plenty of dry sticks lying about to put +under the caldron of our hearts, to make them boil and bubble over! And +we have, alas! but weak wills, which do not always keep the reins in +their hands as they ought to do, nor coerce these lower parts of our +nature into their proper subordination. Fire is a good servant, but a +bad master; and we are all of us too apt to let it become master, and +then the whole 'course of nature' is 'set on fire of hell.' The servant +of God may yet, with open eyes and obstinate disregard of his better +self and of all its remonstrances, go straight into 'presumptuous sin.' + +Another step is here taken by the Psalmist. He looks shrinkingly and +shudderingly into a possible depth, and he sees, going down into the +abyss, a ladder with three rungs on it. The topmost one is wilful, +self-conscious transgression. But that is not the lowest stage; there is +another step. Presumptuous sin tends to become despotic sin. 'Let them +not _have dominion_ over me.' A man may do a very bad thing once, and +get so wholesomely frightened, and so keenly conscious of the disastrous +issues, that he will never go near it again. The prodigal would not be +in a hurry, you may depend upon it, to try the swine trough and the far +country, and the rags, and the fever, and the famine any more. David got +a lesson that he never forgot in that matter of Bathsheba. The bitter +fruit of his sin kept growing up all his life, and he had to eat it, and +that kept him right. They tell us that broken bones are stronger at the +point of fracture than they were before. And it is possible for a man's +sin--if I might use a paradox which you will not misunderstand--to +become the instrument of his salvation. + +But there is another possibility quite as probable, and very often +recurring, and that is that the disease, like some other morbid states +of the human frame, shall leave a tendency to recurrence. A pin-point +hole in a dyke will be widened into a gap as big as a church-door in ten +minutes, by the pressure of the flood behind it. And so every act which +we do in contradiction of our standing as professing Christians, and in +the face of the protests, all unavailing, of that conscience which is +only a voice, and has no power to enforce its behests, will tend to +recurrence once and again. The single acts become habits, with awful +rapidity. Just as the separate gas jets from a multitude of minute +apertures coalesce into a continuous ring of light, so deeds become +habits, and get dominion over us. 'He sold himself to do evil.' He made +himself a bond-slave of iniquity. It is an awful and a miserable thing +to think that professing Christians do often come into that position of +being, by their inflamed passions and enfeebled wills, servants of the +evil that they do. Alas! how many of us, if we were honest with +ourselves, would have to say. 'I am carnal, sold unto sin.' + +That is not the lowest rung of the slippery ladder. Despotic sin ends in +utter departure. + +The word translated here, quite correctly, 'transgression,' and +intensified by that strong adjective attached, 'a _great_ +transgression,' literally means _rebellion_, _revolt_, or some such +idea; and expresses, as the ultimate issue of conscious transgression +prolonged and perpetuated into habit, an entire casting off of +allegiance to God. 'No man can serve two masters.' 'His servants ye are +whom ye obey,' whomsoever ye may call your master. The Psalmist feels +that the end of indulged evil is going over altogether to the other +camp. I suppose all of us have known instances of that sort. Men in my +position, with a long life of ministry behind them, can naturally +remember many such instances. And this is the outline history of the +suicide of a Christian. First secret sin, unsuspected, because the +conscience is torpid; then open sin, known to be such, but done +nevertheless; then dominant sin, with an enfeebled will and power of +resistance; then the abandonment of all pretence or profession of +religion. The ladder goes down into the pit, but not to the bottom of +the pit. And the man that is going down it has a descending impulse +after he has reached the bottom step and he falls--Where? The first step +down is tampering with conscience. It is neither safe nor wise to do +anything, howsoever small, against that voice. All the rest will come +afterward, unless God restrains--'first the blade, then the ear, then +the full corn in the ear,' and then the bitter harvest of the poisonous +grain. + +II. So, secondly, note the help sought. + +The Psalmist is like a man standing on the edge of some precipice, and +peeping over the brink to the profound beneath, and feeling his head +beginning to swim. He clutches at the strong, steady hand of his guide, +knowing that unless he is restrained, over he will go. 'Keep Thou back +Thy servant from presumptuous sins.' + +So, then, the first lesson we have to take is, to cherish a lowly +consciousness of our own tendency to light-headedness and giddiness. +'Blessed is the man that feareth always.' That fear has nothing cowardly +about it. It will not abate in the least the buoyancy and bravery of our +work. It will not tend to make us shirk duty because there is temptation +in it, but it will make us go into all circumstances realising that +without that divine help we cannot stand, and that with it we cannot +fall. 'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.' The same Peter that said, +'Though all should forsake Thee, yet will not I,' was wiser and braver +when he said, in later days, being taught by former presumption, 'Pass +the time of your sojourning here in fear.' + +Let me remind you, too, that the temper which we ought to cherish is +that of a confident belief in the reality of a divine support. The +prayer of my text has no meaning at all, unless the actual supernatural +communication by God's own Holy Spirit breathed into men's hearts be a +simple truth. 'Hold Thou me up,' 'Keep Thou me back,' means, if it means +anything, 'Give me in my heart a mightier strength than mine own, which +shall curb all this evil nature of mine, and bring it into conformity +with Thy holy will.' + +How is that restraining influence to be exercised? There are many ways +by which God, in His providence, can fulfil the prayer. But the way +above all others is by the actual operation upon heart and will and +desires of a divine Spirit, who uses for His weapon the Word of God, +revealed by Jesus Christ, and in the Scriptures. 'The sword of the +Spirit is the Word of God,' and God's answer to the prayer of my text is +the gift to every man who seeks it of that indwelling Power to sustain +and to restrain. + +That will keep our passions down. The bubbling water is lowered in its +temperature, and ceases to bubble, when cold is added to it. When God's +Spirit comes into a man's heart, that will deaden his desires after +earth and forbidden ways. He will bring blessed higher objects for all +his affections. He who has been fed on 'the hidden manna' will not be +likely to hanker after the leeks and onions, however strong their smell +and pungent their taste, that grew in the Nile mud in Egypt. He who has +tasted the higher sweetnesses of God will have his heart's desires after +lower delights strangely deadened and cooled. Get near God, and open +your hearts for the entrance of that divine Spirit, and then it will not +seem foolish to empty your hands of the trash that they carry in order +to grasp the precious things that He gives. A bit of scrap-iron +magnetised turns to the pole. My heart, touched by the Spirit of God +dwelling in me, will turn to Him, and I shall find little sweetness in +the else tempting delicacies that earth can supply. 'Keep Thy servant +back from,' by depriving him of the taste for, 'presumptuous sins.' + +That Spirit will strengthen our wills. For when God comes into a heart, +He restores the due subordination which has been broken into discord and +anarchy by sin. He dismounts the servant riding on horseback, and +carrying the horse to the devil, according to the proverb, and gives the +reins into the right hands. Now, if the gift of God's Spirit, working +through the Word of God, and the principles and the motives therein +unfolded, and therefrom deducible, be the great means by which we are to +be kept from open and conscious transgression, it follows very plainly +that our task is twofold. One part of it is to see that we cultivate +that spirit of lowly dependence, of self-conscious weakness, of +triumphant confidence, which will issue in the perpetual prayer for +God's restraint. When we enter upon tasks which may be dangerous, and +into regions of temptation which cannot but be so, though they be duty, +we should ever have the desire in our hearts and upon our lips that God +would keep us from, and in, the evil. + +The other part of our duty is to make it a matter of conscience and +careful cultivation, to use honestly and faithfully the power which, in +response to our desires, has been granted to us. All of you, Christian +men and women, have access to an absolute security against every +transgression; and the cause lies wholly at your own doors in each case +of failure, deficiency, or transgression, for at every moment it was +open to you to clasp the Hand that holds you up, and at every moment, if +you failed, it was because your careless fingers had relaxed their +grasp. + +III. Lastly, observe the daring hope here cherished. + +'Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great +transgression.' That is the upshot of the divine answer to both the +petitions which have been occupying us in these two successive sermons. +It is connected with the former of them by the recurrence of the same +word, which in the first petition was rendered 'cleanse'--or, more +accurately, 'clear'--and in this final clause is to be rendered +accurately, 'I shall be _clear_ from the great transgression.' And it +obviously connects in sense with both these petitions, because, in order +to be upright and clear, there must, first of all, be divine cleansing, +and then divine restraint. + +So, then, nothing short of absolute deliverance from the power of sin in +all its forms should content the servant of God. Nothing short of it +contents the Master for the servant. Nothing short of it corresponds to +the power which Christ puts in operation in every heart that believes in +Him. And nothing else should be our aim in our daily conflict with evil +and growth in grace. Ah! I fear me that, for an immense number of +professing Christians in this generation, the hope of--and, still more, +the aim towards--anything approximating to entire deliverance from sin, +have faded from their consciences and their lives. Aim at the stars, +brother! and if you do not hit them, your arrow will go higher than if +it were shot along the lower levels. + +Note that an indefinite approximation to this condition is possible. I +am not going to discuss, at this stage of my discourse, controversial +questions which may be involved here. It will be time enough to discuss +with you whether you can be absolutely free from sin in this world when +you are a great deal freer from it than you are at present. At all +events, you can get far nearer to the ideal, and the ideal must always +be perfect. And I lay it on your hearts, dear friends! that you have in +your possession, if you are Christian people, possibilities in the way +of conformity to the Master's will, and entire emancipation from all +corruption, that you have not yet dreamed of, not to say applied to your +lives. 'I pray God that He would sanctify you wholly, and that your +whole body, soul, and spirit be preserved blameless unto the coming.' + +That daring hope will be fulfilled one day; for nothing short of it will +exhaust the possibilities of Christ's work or satisfy the desires of +Christ's heart. + +The Gospel knows nothing of irreclaimable outcasts. To it there is but +one unpardonable sin, and that is the sin of refusing the cleansing of +Christ's blood and the sanctifying of Christ's Spirit. Whoever you are, +whatever you are, go to God with this prayer of our text, and realise +that it is answered in Jesus Christ, and you will not ask in vain. If +you will put yourself into His hands, and let Him cleanse and restrain, +He will give you new powers to detect the serpents in the flowers, and +new resolution to shake off the vipers into the fire. For there is +nothing that God wants half so much as that we, His wandering children, +should come back to Him, and He will cleanse us from the filth of the +swine trough and the rags of our exile, and clothe us in 'fine linen +clean and white.' We may each be sinless and guiltless. We can be so in +one way only. If we look to Jesus Christ, and live near Him, He 'will be +made of God unto us wisdom,' by which we shall detect our secret sins; +'righteousness,' whereby we shall be cleansed from guilt; +'sanctification,' which shall restrain us from open transgression; 'and +redemption,' by which we shall be wholly delivered from evil and +'presented faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding +joy.' + + + + +FEASTING ON THE SACRIFICE + + + 'The meek shall eat and be satisfied.'--PSALM xxii. 26. + +'The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering for thanksgiving shall +be offered in the day of his oblation.' Such was the law for Israel. And +the custom of sacrificial feasts, which it embodies, was common to many +lands. To such a custom my text alludes; for the Psalmist has just been +speaking of 'paying his vows' (that is, sacrifices which he had vowed in +the time of his trouble), and to partake of these he invites the meek. +The sacrificial dress is only a covering for high and spiritual +thoughts. In some way or other the singer of this psalm anticipates that +his experiences shall be the nourishment and gladness of a wide circle; +and if we observe that in the context that circle is supposed to include +the whole world, and that one of the results of partaking of this +sacrificial feast is 'your heart shall live for ever,' we may well say +with the Ethiopian eunuch, 'Of whom speaketh the Psalmist thus?' + +The early part of the psalm answers the question. Jesus Christ laid His +hand on this wonderful psalm of desolation, despair, and deliverance +when on the Cross He took its first words as expressing His emotion +then: 'My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Whatever may be our +views as to its authorship, and as to the connection between the +Psalmist's utterances and his own personal experiences, none to whom +that voice that rang through the darkness on Calvary is the voice of the +Son of God, can hesitate as to who it is whose very griefs and sorrows +are thus the spiritual food that gives life to the whole world. + +From this, the true point of view, then, from which to look at the whole +of this wonderful psalm, I desire to deal with the words of my text now. + +I. We have, first, then, the world's sacrificial feast. + +The Jewish ritual, and that of many other nations, as I have remarked, +provided for a festal meal following on, and consisting of the material +of, the sacrifice. A generation which studies comparative mythology, and +spares no pains to get at the meaning underlying the barbarous worship +of the rudest nations, ought to be interested in the question of the +ideas that formed and were expressed by that elaborate Jewish ritual. In +the present case, the signification is plain enough. That which, in one +aspect, is a peace-offering reconciling to God, in another aspect is the +nourishment and the joy of the hearts that accept it. And so the work of +Jesus Christ has two distinct phases of application, according as we +think of it as being offered to God or appropriated by men. In the one +case it is our peace; in the other it is our food and our life. If we +glance for a moment at the marvellous picture of suffering and +desolation in the previous portion of this psalm, which sounds the very +depths of both, we shall understand more touchingly what it is on which +Christian hearts are to feed. The desolation that spoke in 'Why hast +Thou forsaken Me?' the consciousness of rejection and reproach, of +mockery and contempt, which wailed, 'All that see Me laugh Me to scorn; +they shoot out the lip; they shake the head, saying, "He trusted on the +Lord that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him, seeing He +delighteth in Him"'; the physical sufferings which are the very picture +of crucifixion, so as that the whole reads liker history than prophecy, +in 'All My bones are out of joint; My strength is dried up like a +potsherd; and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws'; the actual passing into +the darkness of the grave, which is expressed in 'Thou hast brought Me +into the dust of death'; and even the minute correspondence, so +inexplicable upon any hypothesis except that it is direct prophecy, +which is found in 'They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon +My vesture'--these be the viands, not without bitter herbs, that are +laid on the table which Christ spreads for us. They are parts of the +sacrifice that reconciles to God. Offered to Him they make our peace. +They are parts and elements of the food of our spirits. Appropriated and +partaken of by us they make our strength and our life. + +Brethren! there is little food, there is little impulse, little strength +for obedience, little gladness or peace of heart to be got from a Christ +who is _not_ a Sacrifice. If we would know how much He may be to us, as +the nourishment of our best life, and as the source of our purest and +permanent gladness, we must, first of all, look upon Him as the Offering +for the world's sin, and then as the very Life and Bread of our souls. +The Christ that feeds the world is the Christ that died for the world. + +Hence our Lord Himself, most eminently in one great and profound +discourse, has set forth, not only that He is the Bread of God which +'came down from heaven,' but that His flesh and His blood are such, and +the separation between the two in the discourse, as in the memorial +rite, indicates that there has come the violent separation of death, and +that thereby He becomes the life of humanity. + +So my text, and the whole series of Old Testament representations in +which the blessings of the Kingdom are set forth as a feast, and the +parables of the New Testament in which a similar representation is +contained, do all converge upon, and receive their deepest meaning from, +that one central thought that the peace-offering for the world is the +food of the world. + +We see, hence, the connection between these great spiritual ideas and +the central act of Christian worship. The Lord's Supper simply says by +act what my text says in words. I know no difference between the rite +and the parable, except that the one is addressed to the eye and the +other to the ear. The rite is an acted parable; the parable is a spoken +rite. And when Jesus Christ, in the great discourse to which I have +referred, dilates at length upon the 'eating of His flesh and the +drinking of His blood' as being the condition of spiritual life, He is +not referring to the Lord's Supper, but the discourse and the rite refer +both to the same spiritual truth. One is a symbol; the other is a +saying; and symbol and saying mean just the same thing. The saying does +not refer to the symbol, but to that to which the symbol refers. It +seems to me that one of the greatest dangers which now threaten +Evangelical Christianity is the strange and almost inexplicable +recrudescence of Sacramentarianism in this generation to which those +Christian communities are contributing, however reluctantly and +unconsciously, who say there is something more than commemorative +symbols in the bread and wine of the Lord's table. If once you admit +that, it seems, in my humble judgment, that you open the door to the +whole flood of evils which the history of the Church declares have come +with the Sacramentarian hypothesis. And we must take our stand, as I +believe, upon the plain, intelligible thoughts--Baptism is a declaratory +symbol, and nothing more; the Lord's Supper is a commemorative symbol, +and nothing more; except that both are acts of obedience to the +enjoining Lord. When we stand there we can face all priestly +superstitions, and say, 'Jesus I know; and Paul I know; but who are ye?' +'The meek shall eat and be satisfied,' and the food of the world is the +suffering Messiah. + +But what have we to say about the act expressed in the text? 'The meek +shall eat.' I do not desire to dwell at any length upon the thought of +the process by which this food of the world becomes ours, in this +sermon. But there are two points which perhaps may be regarded as +various aspects of one, on which I would like to say just a sentence or +two. Of course, the translation of the 'eating' of my text into +spiritual reality is simply that we partake of the food of our spirits +by the act of faith in Jesus Christ. But whilst that is so, let me put +emphasis, in a sentence, upon the thought that personal appropriation, +and making the world's food mine, by my own individual act, is the +condition on which alone I get any good from it. It is possible to die +of starvation at the door of a granary. It is possible to have a table +spread with all that is needful, and yet to set one's teeth, and lock +one's lips, and receive no strength and no gladness from the rich +provision. 'Eat' means, at any rate, incorporate with myself, take into +my very own lips, masticate with my very own teeth, swallow down by my +very own act, and so make part of my physical frame. And that is what we +have to do with Jesus Christ, or He is nothing to us. 'Eat'; claim your +part in the universal blessing; see that it becomes yours by your own +taking of it into the very depths of your heart. And then, and then +only, will it become your food. + +And how are we to do that if, day in and day out, and week in and week +out, and year in and year out, with some of us, there be scarce a +thought turned to Him; scarce a desire winging its way to Him; scarce +one moment of quiet contemplation of these great truths. We have to +ruminate, we have to meditate; we have to make conscious and frequent +efforts to bring before the mind, in the first place, and then before +the heart and all the sensitive, emotional, and voluntary nature, the +great truths on which our salvation rests. In so far as we do that we +get good out of them; in so far as we fail to do it, we may call +ourselves Christians, and attend to religious observances, and be +members of churches, and diligent in good works, and all the rest of it, +but nothing passes from Him to us, and we starve even whilst we call +ourselves guests at His table. + +Oh! the average Christian life of this day is a strange thing; very, +very little of it has the depth that comes from quiet communion with +Jesus Christ; and very little of it has the joyful consciousness of +strength that comes from habitual reception into the heart of the grace +that He brings. What is the good of all your profession unless it brings +you to that? If a coroner's jury were to sit upon many of us--and we are +dead enough to deserve it--the verdict would be, 'Died of starvation.' +'The meek shall eat,' but what about the professing Christians that feed +their souls upon anything, everything rather than upon the Christ whom +they say they trust and serve? + +II. And now let me say a word, in the second place, about the rich +fruition of this feast. + +'The meek shall be satisfied.' 'Satisfied!' Who in the world is? And if +we are not, why are we not? Jesus Christ, in the facts of His death and +resurrection--for His resurrection as well as His death are included in +the psalm--brings to us all that our circumstances, relationships, and +inward condition can require. + +Think of what that death, as the sacrifice for the world's sin, does. It +sets all right in regard to our relation to God. It reveals to us a God +of infinite love. It provides a motive, an impulse, and a Pattern for +all life. It abolishes death, and it gives ample scope for the loftiest +and most exuberant hopes that a man can cherish. And surely these are +enough to satisfy the seeking spirit. + +But go to the other end, and think, not of what Christ's work does for +us, but of what we need to have done for us. What do you and I want to +be satisfied? It would take a long time to go over the catalogue; let me +briefly run through some of the salient points of it. We want, for the +intellect, which is the regal part of man, though it be not the highest, +truth which is certain, comprehensive, and inexhaustible; the first, to +provide anchorage; the second, to meet and regulate and unify all +thought and life; and the last, to allow room for endless research and +ceaseless progress. And in that fact that the Eternal Son of the Eternal +Father took upon Himself human nature, lived, died, rose, and reigns at +God's right hand, I believe there lie the seeds of all truth, except the +purely physical and material, which men need. Everything is there; every +truth about God, about man, about duty, about a future, about society; +everything that the world needs is laid up in germ in that great gospel +of our salvation. If a man will take it for the foundation of his +beliefs and the guide of his thinkings, he will find his understanding +is satisfied, because it grasps the personal Truth who liveth, and is +with us for ever. + +Our hearts crave, however imperfect their love may be, a perfect love; +and a perfect love means one untinged by any dash of selfishness, +incapable of any variation or eclipse, all-knowing, all-pitying, +all-powerful. We have made experience of precious loves that die. We +know of loves that change, that grow cold, that misconstrue, that may +have tears but have no hands. We know of 'loves' that are only a fine +name for animal passions, and are twice cursed, cursing them that give +and them that take. The happiest will admit, and the lonely will +achingly feel, how we all want for satisfaction a love that cannot fail, +that can help, that beareth all things, and that can do all things. We +have it in Jesus Christ, and the Cross is the pledge thereof. + +Conscience wants pacifying, cleansing, enlightening, directing, and we +get all these in the good news of One that has died for us, and that +lives to be our Lord. The will needs authority which is not force. And +where is there an authority so constraining in its sweetness and so +sweet in its constraint as in those silken bonds which are stronger than +iron fetters? Hope, imagination, and all other of our powers or +weaknesses, our gifts or needs, are satisfied when they feed on Christ. +If we feed upon anything else it turns to ashes that break our teeth and +make our palates gritty, and have no nourishment in them. We shall be +'for ever roaming with a hungry heart' unless we take our places at the +feast on the one sacrifice for the world's peace. + +III. I can say but a word as to the guests. + +It is 'the meek' who eat. The word translated 'meek' has a wider and +deeper meaning than that. 'Meek' refers, in our common language, mainly +to men's demeanour to one another; but the expression here goes deeper. +It means both 'afflicted' and 'lowly'--the right use of affliction being +to bow men, and they that bow themselves are those who are fit to come +to Christ's feast. There is a very remarkable contrast between the words +of my text and those that follow a verse or two afterwards. 'The meek +shall eat and be satisfied,' says the text. And then close upon its +heels comes, 'All those that be fat upon earth shall eat.' That is to +say, the lofty and proud have to come down to the level of the lowly, +and take indiscriminate places at the table with the poor and the +starving, which, being turned into plain English is just this--the one +thing that hinders a man from partaking of the fulness of Christ's +feeding grace is self-sufficiency, and the absence of a sense of need. +They that 'hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled'; and +they that come, knowing themselves to be poor and needy, and humbly +consenting to accept a gratuitous feast of charity--they, and only they, +do get the rich provisions. + +You are shut out because you shut yourselves out. They that do not know +themselves to be hungry have no ears for the dinner-bell. They that feel +the pangs of starvation and know that their own cupboards are empty, +they are those who will turn to the table that is spread in the +wilderness, and there find a 'feast of fat things.' + +And so, dear friends! when He calls, do not let us make excuses, but +rather listen to that voice that says to us, 'Why do you spend your +money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which +satisfieth not.... Incline your ear unto Me; hear, and your soul shall +live.' + + + + +THE SHEPHERD KING OF ISRAEL + + + 'The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want. 2. He maketh me to lie + down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. 3. He + restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for + His name's sake. 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the + shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod + and Thy staff, they comfort me. 5. Thou preparest a table before me + in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my + cup runneth over. 6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all + the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for + ever.'--PSALM xxiii. 1-6. + +The king who had been the shepherd-boy, and had been taken from the +quiet sheep-cotes to rule over Israel, sings this little psalm of Him +who is the true Shepherd and King of men. We do not know at what period +of David's life it was written, but it sounds as if it were the work of +his later years. There is a fulness of experience about it, and a tone +of subdued, quiet confidence which speaks of a heart mellowed by years, +and of a faith made sober by many a trial. A young man would not write +so calmly, and a life which was just opening would not afford material +for such a record of God's guardianship in all changing circumstances. + +If, then, we think of the psalm as the work of David's later years, is +it not very beautiful to see the old king looking back with such vivid +and loving remembrance to his childhood's occupation, and bringing up +again to memory in his palace the green valleys, the gentle streams, the +dark glens where he had led his flocks in the old days; very beautiful +to see him traversing all the stormy years of warfare and rebellion, of +crime and sorrow, which lay between, and finding in all God's guardian +presence and gracious guidance? The faith which looks back and says, 'It +is all very good,' is not less than that which looks forward and says, +'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.' + +There is nothing difficult of understanding in the psalm. The train of +thought is clear and obvious. The experiences which it details are +common, the emotions it expresses simple and familiar. The tears that +have been dried, the fears that have been dissipated, by this old song; +the love and thankfulness which have found in them their best +expression, prove the worth of its simple words. It lives in most of our +memories. Let us try to vivify it in our hearts, by pondering it for a +little while together now. + +The psalm falls into two halves, in both of which the same general +thought of God's guardian care is presented, though under different +illustrations, and with some variety of detail. The first half sets Him +forth as a shepherd, and us as the sheep of His pasture. The second +gives Him as the Host, and us as the guests at His table, and the +dwellers in His house. + +First, then, consider that picture of the divine Shepherd and His +leading of His flock. + +It occupies the first four verses of the psalm. There is a double +progress of thought in it. It rises, from memories of the past, and +experiences of the present care of God, to hope for the future. 'The +Lord is my Shepherd'--'I will fear no evil.' Then besides this progress +from what was and is, to what will be, there is another string, so to +speak, on which the gems are threaded. The various methods of God's +leading of His flock, or rather, we should say, the various regions into +which He leads them, are described in order. These are Rest, Work, +Sorrow--and this series is so combined with the order of time already +adverted to, as that the past and the present are considered as the +regions of rest and of work, while the future is anticipated as having +in it the valley of the shadow of death. + +First, God leads His sheep into rest. 'He maketh me to lie down in green +pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.' It is the hot +noontide, and the desert lies baking in the awful glare, and every stone +on the hills of Judaea burns the foot that touches it. But in that +panting, breathless hour, here is a little green glen, with a quiet +brooklet, and moist lush herb-age all along its course, and great stones +that fling a black shadow over the dewy grass at their base; and there +would the shepherd lead his flock, while the sunbeams, like swords,' are +piercing everything beyond that hidden covert. Sweet silence broods +there, The sheep feed and drink, and couch in cool lairs till he calls +them forth again. So God leads His children. + +The psalm puts the rest and refreshment _first_, as being the most +marked characteristic of God's dealings. After all, it is so. The years +are years of unbroken continuity of outward blessings. The reign of +afflictions is ordinarily measured by days. 'Weeping endures for a +night.' It is a rainy climate where half the days have rain in them; and +that is an unusually troubled life of which it can with any truth be +affirmed that there has been as much darkness as sunshine in it. + +But it is not mainly of outward blessings that the Psalmist is thinking. +They are precious chiefly as emblems of the better spiritual gifts; and +it is not an accommodation of his words, but is the appreciation of +their truest spirit, when we look upon them, as the instinct of devout +hearts has ever done, as expressing both God's gift of temporal mercies, +and His gift of spiritual good, of which higher gift all the lower are +meant to be significant and symbolic. Thus regarded, the image describes +the sweet rest of the soul in communion with God, in whom alone the +hungry heart finds food that satisfies, and from whom alone the thirsty +soul drinks draughts deep and limpid enough. + +This rest and refreshment has for its consequence the restoration of the +soul, which includes in it both the invigoration of the natural life by +the outward sort of these blessings, and the quickening and restoration +of the spiritual life by the inward feeding upon God and repose in Him. + +The soul thus restored is then led on another stage; 'He leadeth me in +the paths of righteousness for His name's sake,'--that is to say, God +guides us into work. + +The quiet mercies of the preceding verse are not in themselves the end +of our Shepherd's guidance; they are means to an end, and that is--work. +Life is not a fold for the sheep to lie down in, but a road for them to +walk on. All our blessings of every sort are indeed given us for our +delight. They will never fit us for the duties for which they are +intended to prepare us, unless they first be thoroughly enjoyed. The +highest good they yield is only reached through the lower one. But, +then, when joy fills the heart, and life is bounding in the veins, we +have to learn that these are granted, not for pleasure only, but for +pleasure in order to power. We get them, not to let them pass away like +waste steam puffed into empty air, but that we may use them to drive the +wheels of life. The waters of happiness are not for a luxurious bath +where a man may lie, till, like flax steeped too long, the very fibre be +rotted out of him; a quick plunge will brace him, and he will come out +refreshed for work. Rest is to fit for work, work is to sweeten rest. + +All this is emphatically true of the spiritual life. Its seasons of +communion, its hours on the mount, are to prepare for the sore sad work +in the plain; and he is not the wisest disciple who tries to make the +Mount of Transfiguration the abiding place for himself and his Lord. + +It is not well that our chief object should be to enjoy the consolations +of religion; it is better to seek first to do the duties enjoined by +religion. Our first question should be, not, How may I enjoy God? but, +How may I glorify Him? 'A single eye to His glory' means that even our +comfort and joy in religious exercises shall be subordinated, and (if +need were) postponed, to the doing of His will. While, on the one hand, +there is no more certain means of enjoying Him than that of humbly +seeking to walk in the ways of His commandments, on the other hand, +there is nothing more evanescent in its nature than a mere emotion, even +though it be that of joy in God, unless it be turned into a spring of +action for God. Such emotions, like photographs, vanish from the heart +unless they be fixed. Work for God is the way to fix them. Joy in God is +the strength of work for God, but work for God is the perpetuation of +joy in God. + +Here is the figurative expression of the great evangelical principle, +that works of righteousness must follow, not precede, the restoration of +the soul. We are justified not by works, but for works, or, as the +Apostle puts it in a passage which sounds like an echo of this psalm, we +are 'created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before +ordained _that we should walk in them_.' The basis of obedience is the +sense of salvation. We work not _for_ the assurance of acceptance and +forgiveness, but _from_ it. First the restored soul, then the paths of +righteousness for _His_ name's sake who has restored me, and restored me +that I may be like Him. + +But there is yet another region through which the varied experience of +the Christian carries him, besides those of rest and of work. God leads +His people through sorrow. 'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the +shadow of death, I will fear no evil.' + +The 'valley of the shadow of death' does not only mean the dark approach +to the dark dissolution of soul and body, but any and every gloomy +valley of weeping through which we have to pass. Such sunless gorges we +have all to traverse at some time or other. It is striking that the +Psalmist puts the sorrow, which is as certainly characteristic of our +lot as the rest or the work, into the future. Looking back he sees none. +Memory has softened down all the past into one uniform tone, as the +mellowing distance wraps in one solemn purple the mountains which, when +close to them, have many a barren rock and gloomy rift, All behind is +good. And, building on this hope, he looks forward with calmness, and +feels that no evil shall befall. + +But it is never given to human heart to meditate of the future without +some foreboding. And when 'Hope enchanted smiles,' with the light of the +future in her blue eyes, there is ever something awful in their depths, +as if they saw some dark visions behind the beauty. Some evils may come; +some will probably come; one at least is sure to come. However bright +may be the path, somewhere on it, perhaps just round that turning, sits +the 'shadow feared of man.' So there is never hope only in any heart +that wisely considers the future. But to the Christian heart there may +be this--the conviction that sorrow, when it comes, will not harm, +because God will be with us; and the conviction that the Hand which +guides us into the dark valley, will guide us through it and up out of +it. Yes, strange as it may sound, the presence of Him who sends the +sorrow is the best help to bear it. The assurance that the Hand which +strikes is the Hand which binds up, makes the stroke a blessing, sucks +the poison out of the wound of sorrow, and turns the rod which smites +into the staff to lean on. + +The second portion of this psalm gives us substantially the same +thoughts under a different image. It considers God as the host, and us +as the guests at His table and the dwellers in His house. + +In this illustration, which includes the remaining verses, we have, as +before, the food and rest, the journey and the suffering. We have also, +as before, memory and present experience issuing in hope. But it is all +intensified. The necessity and the mercy are alike presented in brighter +colours; the want is greater, the supply greater, the hope for the +future on earth brighter; and, above all, while the former set of images +stopped at the side of the grave, and simply refused to fear, here the +vision goes on beyond the earthly end; and as the hope comes brightly +out, that all the weary wanderings will end in the peace of the Father's +house, the absence of fear is changed into the presence of triumphant +confidence, and the resignation which, at the most, simply bore to look +unfaltering into the depth of the narrow house, becomes the faith which +plainly sees the open gate of the everlasting home. + +God supplies our wants in the very midst of strife. 'Thou preparest a +table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head +with oil. My cup runneth over.' Before, it was food and rest first, work +afterwards. Now it Is more than work--it is conflict. And the mercy is +more strikingly portrayed, as being granted not only _before toil_, but +_in warfare_. Life is a sore fight; but to the Christian man, in spite +of all the tumult, life is a festal banquet. There stand the enemies, +ringing him round with cruel eyes, waiting to be let slip upon him like +eager dogs round the poor beast of the chase. But for all that, here is +spread a table in the wilderness, made ready by invisible hands; and the +grim-eyed foe is held back in the leash till the servant of God has fed +and been strengthened. This is our condition--always the foe, always the +table. + +What sort of a meal should that be? The soldiers who eat and drink, and +are drunken in the presence of the enemy, like the Saxons before +Hastings, what will become of them? Drink the cup of gladness, as men do +when their foe is at their side, looking askance over the rim, and with +one hand on the sword, 'ready, aye ready,' against treachery and +surprise. But the presence of the danger should make the feast more +enjoyable too, by the moderation it enforces, and by the contrast it +affords--as to sailors on shore, or soldiers in a truce. Joy may grow on +the very face of danger, as a slender rose-bush flings its bright sprays +and fragrant blossoms over the lip of a cataract; and that not the wild +mirth of men in a pestilence, with their 'Let us eat and drink, for +to-morrow we die,' but the simple-hearted gladness of those who have +preserved the invaluable childhood gift of living in the present moment, +because they know that to-morrow will bring God, whatever it brings, and +not take away His care and love, whatever it takes away. + +This, then, is the form under which the experience of the past is +presented in the second portion,--joy in conflict, rest and food even in +the strife. Upon that there is built a hope which transcends that in the +previous portion of the psalm. As to this life, 'Goodness and mercy +shall follow us.' This is more than 'I will fear no evil.' That said, +sorrow is not evil if God be with us. This says, sorrow is mercy. The +one is hope looking mainly at outward circumstances, the other is hope +learning the spirit and meaning of them all. These two angels of +God--Goodness and Mercy--shall follow and encamp around the pilgrim. The +enemies whom God held back while he feasted, may pursue, but will not +overtake him. They will be distanced sooner or later; but the white +wings of these messengers of the covenant will never be far away from +the journeying child, and the air will often be filled with the music of +their comings, and their celestial weapons will glance around him in all +the fight, and their soft arms will bear him up over all the rough ways, +and up higher at last to the throne. + +So much for the earthly future. But higher than all that rises the +confidence of the closing words, 'I shall dwell in the house of the Lord +for ever.' This should be at once the crown of all our hopes for the +future, and the one great lesson taught us by all the vicissitudes of +life. The sorrows and the joys, the journeying and the rest, the +temporary repose and the frequent struggles, all these should make us +_sure_ that there is an end which will interpret them all, to which they +all point, for which they may all prepare. We get the table in the +wilderness here. It is as when the son of some great king comes back +from foreign soil to his father's dominions, and is welcomed at every +stage in his journey to the capital with pomp of festival, and +messengers from the throne, until he enters at last his palace home, +where the travel-stained robe is laid aside, and he sits down with his +father at his table. God provides for us here in the presence of our +enemies; it is wilderness food we get, manna from heaven, and water from +the rock. We eat in haste, staff in hand, and standing round the meal. +But yonder we sit down with the Shepherd, the Master of the house, at +His table in His kingdom. We put off the pilgrim-dress, and put on the +royal robe; we lay aside the sword, and clasp the palm. Far off, and +lost to sight, are all the enemies. We fear no change. We 'go no more +out.' + +The sheep are led by many a way, sometimes through sweet meadows, +sometimes limping along sharp-flinted, dusty highways, sometimes high up +over rough, rocky mountain-passes, sometimes down through deep gorges, +with no sunshine in their gloom; but they are ever being led to one +place, and when the hot day is over they are gathered into one fold, and +the sinking sun sees them safe, where no wolf can come, nor any robber +climb up any more, but all shall rest for ever under the Shepherd's eye. + +Brethren! can you take this psalm for yours? Have you returned unto +Christ, the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls? Oh! let Him, the Shepherd +of Israel, and the Lamb of God, one of the fold and yet the Guide and +Defender of it, human and divine, bear you away from the dreary +wilderness whither He has come seeking you. He will carry you rejoicing +to the fold, if only you will trust yourselves to His gentle arm. He +will restore your soul. He will lead you and keep you from all dangers, +guard you from every sin, strengthen you when you come to die, and bring +you to the fair plains beyond that narrow gorge of frowning rock. Then +this sweet psalm shall receive its highest fulfilment, for then 'they +shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more, neither shall +the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst +of the Throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains +of waters, and God shall wipe all tears from their eyes.' + + + + +A GREAT QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER + + + 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in + His holy place?'--PSALM xxiv. 3. + +The psalm from which these words are taken flashes up into new beauty, +if we suppose it to have been composed in connection with the bringing +of the Ark into the Temple, or for some similar occasion. Whether it is +David's or not is a matter of very small consequence. But if we look at +the psalm as a whole, we can scarcely fail to see that some such +occasion underlies it. So just exercise your imaginations for a moment, +and think of the long procession of white-robed priests bearing the Ark, +and followed by the joyous multitude chanting as they ascended, 'Who +shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy +place?' They are bethinking themselves of the qualifications needed for +that which they are now doing. They reach the gates, which we must +suppose to have been closed that they might be opened, and from the +half-chorus outside there peals out the summons, 'Lift up your heads, O +ye gates! and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory +shall come in.' Then from within another band of singers answers with +the question, 'Who is this King of Glory' who thus demands entrance? And +triumphantly the reply rings out, 'The Lord, strong and mighty; the +Lord, mighty in battle.' Still reluctant, the question is put again, +'Who is this King of Glory?' and the answer is given once more, 'The +Lord of hosts, He is the King of Glory.' There is no reference in the +second answer to 'battle.' The conflicts are over, and the dominion is +established, and at the reiterated summons the ancient gates roll back +on their hinges, burst as by a strong blow, and Jehovah enters into His +rest, He and the Ark of His strength. If that is the general connection +of the psalm--and I think you will admit that it adds to its beauty and +dramatic force if we suppose it so--then this introductory question, +sung as the procession climbed the steep, had realised what was needed +for those who should get the entrance that they sought, and comes to be +a very significant and important one. I deal now with the question and +its answer. + +I. The question of questions. + +That question lies deep in all men's hearts, and underlies sacrifices +and priesthoods and asceticisms and tortures of all sorts, and is the +inner meaning of Hindoos swinging with hooks in their backs, and others +of them measuring the road to the temple by prostrating themselves every +yard or two as they advance. These self-torturers are all asking the +same question: 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?' It +sometimes rises in the thoughts of the most degraded, and it is present +always with some of the better and nobler of men. + +Now, there are three places in the Old Testament where substantially the +same question is asked. There is this psalm of ours; there is another +psalm which is all but a duplicate, which begins with 'Lord, who shall +abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?' And there is +another shape into which the question is cast by the fervent and +somewhat gloomy imagination of one of the prophets, who puts it thus: +'Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who shall dwell with +the everlasting burnings?' There never was a more disastrous +misapplication of Scripture than the popular idea that these two last +questions suggest the possibility of a creature being exposed to the +torments of future punishment. They have nothing to do with that. 'Who +among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?' If you want a commentary, +remember the words, 'Our God is a consuming fire.' That puts us on the +right track, if we needed any putting on it, for answering this +question, not in the gruesome and ghastly sense in which some people +take it, but in all the grandeur of Isaiah's thought. He sees God as +'the everlasting burnings.' Fire is the emblem of life as well as of +death; fire is the means of quickening as well as of destroying; and +when we speak of Him as 'the everlasting burnings' we are reminded of +the bush in the desert, where His own signature was set, 'burning and +not consumed.' + +So the question in all the three places referred to is substantially the +same--and what does it indicate? It indicates the deep consciousness +that men have that they need to be in that home, that for life and peace +and blessedness, they must get somehow to the side of God, and be quiet +there, as children in their Father's house. We all know that this is +true, whether our life is regulated by it or not. Very deep in every +man's conscience, if he will attend to its voice, there is that which +says, 'You are a pilgrim and a sojourner, and homeless and desolate +until you nestle beneath the outspread wings in the Holy Place, and are +a denizen of God's house.' + +The question further suggests another. The universal +consciousness--which is, I believe, universal--though it is overlain and +stifled by many of us, and neglected and set at nought by others--is +that this fellowship with God, which is indispensable to a man's peace, +is impossible to a man's impurity. So the question raises the thought of +the consciousness of sin which comes creeping over a man when he is +sometimes feeling after God, and seems to batter him in the face, and +fling him back into the outer darkness, 'How can I enter in there?' and +conscience has no answer, and the world has none, and as I shall have to +say presently, the answer which the Old Testament, as Law, gives is +almost as hopeless as the answer which conscience gives. But at all +events that this question should rise and insist upon being answered as +it does proves these three things--man's need of God, man's sense of +God's purity, man's consciousness of his own sin. + +And what does that ascent to the hill of the Lord include? All the +present life, for, unless we are 'dwelling in the house of the Lord all +the days of our lives beholding His beauty and inquiring in His Temple,' +then we have little in life that is worth the having. The old Arab right +of claiming hospitality of the Sheikh into whose tent the fugitive ran +is used in Scripture over and over again to express the relation in +which alone it is blessed for a man to live--namely, as a guest of +God's. That is peace. That is all that we require, to sit at His +fireside, if I may so say, to claim the rites of hospitality, which the +Arab chief would not refuse to the veriest tatterdemalion, or the +greatest enemy that he knew, if he came into his tent and sought it. God +sits in the door of His tent, and is ready to welcome us. + +The ascent to the hill of the Lord means more than that. It includes +also the future. I suppose that when men think about another +world--which I am afraid none of us think about as often as we ought to +do, in order to make the best of this one--the question, in some shape +or other, which this band of singers lifted up, rises to their lips, +'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His +Holy Place' beyond the stars? Well, brethren! that is the question which +concerns us all, more than anything else in the world, to have clearly +and rightly answered. + +II. Note the answer to this great question. + +The psalm answers it in an instructive fashion, which we take as it +stands. 'He that hath clean hands and a pure heart.' Let me measure +myself by the side of that requirement. 'Clean hands?'--are mine clean? +'And a pure heart?'--what about mine? 'Who hath not lifted up his soul +unto vanity'--and where have my desires and thoughts so often gone? 'Nor +sworn deceitfully.' These are the qualifications that our psalm dashes +down in front of us when we ask the question. + +The other two occasions to which I have referred, where the same +question is put, give substantially the same answer. It might be +interesting, if one had time, or this was the place, to look at the +differences in the replies, as suggesting the slight differences in the +ideal of a good man as presented by the various writers, but that must +be left untouched now. Taking these four conditions that are laid down +here, we come to this, that psalmist and prophet with one voice say that +same solemn thing: 'Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.' +There is no faltering in the answer, and it is an answer to which the +depths of conscience say 'Yes.' We all admit, when we are wise, that for +communion with God on earth, and for treading the golden pavements of +that city into which nothing that is unclean shall enter, absolute +holiness is necessary. Let no man deceive himself--that stands the +irreversible, necessary condition. + +Well, then, is anybody to go in? Let us read on in our psalm. An +impossible requirement is laid down, broad and stern and unmistakable. +But is that all? 'He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, and +righteousness from the God of his salvation.' So, then, the impossible +requirement is made possible as a gift to be received. And although I do +not know that this psalmist, in the twilight of revelation, saw all that +was involved in what he sang, he had caught a glimpse of this great +thought, that what God required, God would give, and that our way to get +the necessary, impossible condition realised in ourselves is to +'receive' it. 'He shall receive ... righteousness from the God of his +salvation.' Now, do you not see how, like some great star, trembling +into the field of the telescope, and sending arrowy beams before it to +announce its approach, the great central Christian truth is here +dawning, germinant, prophesying its full rising? And the truth is this, +'that I might be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, but that +which is of God through Christ.' Ah, brethren! impossibilities become +possible when God comes and says, 'I give thee that which thou canst not +have.' The old prophet asked the question, 'What doth God require of +thee?' and his answer was, 'That thou shouldst do justice, and love +mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.' If he had gone on to ask a better +question, 'What does God give thee?' he would have said what all the New +Testament says, 'He gives what He commands, and He bestows before He +requires.' And so in Jesus Christ there is the forgiveness that blots +out the past, and there is the new life bestowed that will develop the +righteousness far beyond our reach. And thus the question which evoked +first the answer that might drive us to despair, evokes next a response +that commands us to hope. + +But that is not all, for the psalm goes on: 'This is the generation of +them that seek Him, that seek Thy face.' Yes; couched in germ there lies +in that last word the great truth which is expanded in the New +Testament, like a beech-leaf folded up in its little brown sheath +through all the winter, and ready to break and give out its green +plumelets as soon as the warm rains and sunshine of spring come. 'They +that seek Him'--'if thou seek Him He will be found of thee.' The +requirement of righteousness, as I have said, is not abolished by the +Gospel, as some people seem to think that it substitutes faith for +righteousness; but it is made possible by the Gospel which through faith +gives righteousness. And what the Psalmist meant by 'seeking' we +Christian people mean by 'faith.' Earnest desire and confident +application to Him are sure to obtain righteousness. To these there will +never be returned a refusing answer. 'I have never said to any of the +seed of Jacob, seek ye Me in vain.' So, brethren! if we seek we shall +receive; if we receive we shall be holy, if we are holy we shall dwell +with God, in sweet and blessed communion, and be denizens of His house, +and sit together in heavenly places with Him all the days of our lives, +and then shall pass, when 'goodness and mercy have followed us all the +days of our lives,' and 'dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.' + + + + +THE GOD WHO DWELLS WITH MEN + + + 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates: and be ye lift up, ye everlasting + doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 8. Who is this King of + glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. 9. + Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting + doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 10. Who is this King of + glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.' + --PSALM xxiv. 7-10. + +This whole psalm was probably composed at the time of the bringing of +the ark into the city of Zion. The former half was chanted as the +procession wound its way up the hillside. It mainly consists of the +answer to the question 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?' and +describes the kind of men that dwell with God, and the way by which they +obtain their purity. + +This second half of our psalm is probably to be thought of as being +chanted when the procession had reached the summit of the hill and stood +before the barred gates of the ancient Jebusite city. It is mainly in +answer to the question, 'Who is this King of Glory?' and is the +description of the God that dwells with men, and the meaning of His +dwelling with them. + +We are to conceive of a couple of half choirs, the one within, the other +without the mountain hold. The advancing choir summons the gates to open +in the grand words: 'Lift up your heads, O ye gates! even lift them up, +ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.' Their lofty +lintels are too low for His head to pass beneath; so they have to be +lifted that He may find entrance. They are 'everlasting doors,' grey +with antiquity, hoary with age. They have looked down, perhaps, upon +Melchizedek, King of Salem, as he went forth in the morning twilight of +history to greet the patriarch. But in all the centuries they have never +seen such a King as this King of Glory, the true King of Israel who now +desires entrance. + +The answer to the summons comes from the choir within. 'Who is this King +of Glory?' the question represents ignorance and possible hesitation, as +if the pagan inhabitants of the recently conquered city knew nothing of +the God of Israel, and recognised no authority in His name. Of course, +the dramatic form of question and answer is intended to give additional +force to the proclamation as by God Himself of the Covenant name, the +proper name of Israel's God, as Baal was the name of the Canaanite's +God, 'the Lord strong and mighty; the Lord mighty in battle,' by whose +warrior power David had conquered the city, which now was summoned to +receive its conqueror. Therefore the summons is again rung out, 'Lift up +your heads, O ye gates! and the King of Glory shall come in.' And once +more, to express the lingering reluctance, ignorance not yet dispelled, +suspicion and unwilling surrender, the dramatic question is repeated, +'Who is this King of Glory?' The answer is sharp and authoritative in +its brevity, and we may fancy it shouted with a full-throated +burst--'The Lord of Hosts,' who, as Captain, commands all the embattled +energies of earth and heaven conceived as a disciplined army. That great +name, like a charge of dynamite, bursts the gates of brass asunder, and +with triumphant music the procession sweeps into the conquered city. + +Now these great words, throbbing with the enthusiasm at once of poetry +and of devotion, may, I think, teach us a great deal if we ponder them. + +I. Notice, first, their application, their historical and original +application, to the King who dwelt with Israel. + +We must never forget that in the Old Testament we have to do with an +incomplete and a progressive revelation, and that if we would understand +its significance, we must ever endeavour to ascertain to what point in +that progress the words before us belong. We are not to read into these +words New Testament depth and fulness of meaning; we are to take them +and try to find out what they meant to David and to his people; and so +we shall get a firm basis for any deeper significance which we may +hereafter see in them. The thought of God, then, in these words is +mainly that of a God of strong and victorious energy, a warrior-God, a +conquering King, one whose word is power, who rules amidst the armies of +heaven, and amidst the inhabitants of earth. + +A brief consideration of each expression is all which can be attempted +here. 'Who is this King of Glory?' The first idea, then, is that of +sovereign rule; the idea which had become more and more plain and clear +to the national consciousness of the Hebrew with the installation of +monarchy amongst them. And it is very beautiful to see how David lays +hold of that thought of God being Himself the King of Israel; and dwells +so often in his psalms on the idea that he, poor, pale, earthly shadow, +is but a representative and a viceroy of the true King who sits in the +heavens. He takes off his crown and lays it before His throne and says: +'Thou art the King of Israel, the King of Glory.' + +The Old Testament meaning of that word 'glory' is a great deal more +definite than the ordinary religious use of it amongst us. The 'glory of +God' in the Old Testament is, first and foremost, the supernatural light +that dwelt between the cherubim and was the manifestation and symbol of +the divine Presence. And next it is the sum total of all the impression +made upon the world by God's manifestation of Himself, the Light, of +which the material and supernatural light between the cherubs was but +the emblem; all by which God flames and flashes Himself upon the +trembling and thankful heart; that glory which is substantially the same +as the Name of the Lord. And in this brightness, lustrous and dark with +excess of light, this King dwells. The splendour of His regalia is the +brightness that emanates from Himself. He is the King of Glory. + +Next, we have the great Name, 'the Lord,' Jehovah, which speaks of +timeless, independent, unchanging, self-sufficing being. It declares +that He is His own cause, His own law, His own impulse, the staple from +which all the links of the chain of being depend, and not Himself a +link, the fontal Source of all which is. + +We say: 'I am that which I have become; I am that which I have been +made; I am that which I have inherited; I am that which circumstances +and example and training have shaped me to be.' God says: 'I AM THAT I +AM.' This name is also significant, not only because it proclaims +absolute, independent, underived, timeless being, but because it is the +Covenant name, and speaks of the God who has come into fellowship with +men, and has bound Himself to a certain course of action for their +blessing, and is thus the Lord of Israel, and the God, in a special +manner, of His people. + +'The Lord mighty in battle.' A true warrior-God, who went out in no +metaphorical sense, but in prose reality, fought for His people and +subdued the nations under them, in order that His name might be spread +and His glory be known in the earth. + +And then, still further, 'the Lord of Hosts,' the Captain of all the +armies of heaven and earth. In that name is the thought to which the +modern world is coming so slowly by scientific paths, that all being is +one ordered whole, subject to the authority of one Lord. And in addition +to that, the grander thought, that the unity of nature is the will of +God; and that as the Commander issues His orders over all the field, so +He speaks and it is done. The hosts are the angels of whom it is said: +'Bless the Lord all ye His hosts; ye ministers of His that do His +pleasure.' The hosts are the stars that fill the nightly heavens, of +whom it is said, 'He bringeth out their host by number.' The hosts are +all creatures that live and are; and all are the soldiers and servants +of this conquering King. Such is the name of the Lord that dwelt with +Israel, the great conception that rises before this Psalmist. + +II. Now turn to the second application of these great words, that speak +to us not only of the God that dwelt in Zion in outward and symbolical +form, by means of a material Presence which was an emblem of the true +nearness of Israel's God, but yet more distinctly, as I take it, of the +Christ that dwells with men. + +The devout hearts in Israel felt that there was something more needed +than this dwelling of Jehovah within an earthly Temple, and the process +of revelation familiarised them with the thought that there was to be in +the future a 'coming of the Lord' in some special manner unknown to +them. So that the whole anticipation and forward look of the Old +Testament system is gathered into and expressed by almost its last +words, which prophesy that 'the Lord shall suddenly come to His Temple,' +and that once again this King of Glory shall stand before the +everlasting gates and summon them to open. + +And when was that fulfilled? Fulfilled in a fashion that at first sight +seems the greatest contrast to all this vision of grandeur, of warlike +strength, of imperial power and rule with which we have been dealing; +but which yet was not the contrast to these ideas so much as the highest +embodiment of them. For, although at first sight it seems as if there +could be no greater contrast than between the lion might of the Jehovah +of the Old Testament, and the lamb gentleness of the Jesus of the New, +if we look more closely we shall see that it is not a relation of +contrast that exists between the two. Christ is all, and more than all, +that this psalm proclaimed the Jehovah of the Old Covenant to be. Let us +look again from that point of view at the particulars already referred +to. + +He is the highest manifestation of the divine rule and authority. There +is no dominion like the dominion of the loving Christ, a kingdom based +upon suffering and wielded in gentleness, a kingdom of which the crown +is a wreath of thorns, and the sceptre a rod of reed; a dominion which +is all exercised for the blessing of its subjects, and which, therefore, +is an everlasting dominion. There is no rule like that; no height of +divine authority towers so high as the authority of Him who rules us so +absolutely because He gave Himself for us utterly. This is the King, the +Prince of the kings of the earth, because this is the Incarnate God who +died for us. + +Christ is the highest raying out of the divine Light, or, as the Epistle +to the Hebrews calls it, 'the effulgence of His glory.' The true glory +of God lies in His love, and of that love Christ is the noblest and most +wondrous example. So all other beams of the divine character, bright as +their light is, are but dim as compared with the sevenfold lustre of the +light that shines from the gentle loving-kindness of the heart of +Christ. He has glorified God because He shows us that the divinest thing +in God is love. + +For the same reason, He is the mightiest exhibition of the divine +power--'the Lord strong and mighty.' There is no work of God's hand, no +work of God's will so great as that by which we are turned from darkness +to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. The Cross is God's +noblest revelation of power; and in Him, His weakness, His surrender, +His death, with all the wonderful energies that flow from that death for +man's salvation, we see the divine strength made perfect in the human +weakness of Jesus. The Gospel of Christ 'is the power of God unto +salvation to everyone that believeth.' _There_ is divine power in its +noblest form, in the paradoxical shape of a dying man; in its noblest +effect, salvation; in its widest sweep to all who believe. + + ''Twas great to speak a world from nought, + 'Tis greater to redeem.' + +This 'strong Son of God' is the arm of the Lord in whom live and act the +energies of omnipotence. + +Christ is 'the Lord mighty in battle.' True, He is the Prince of peace, +but He is also the better Joshua, the victorious Captain, in whom dwells +the conquering divine might. Through all the gentleness of His life +there winds a martial strain, and it is not in vain that the Evangelist +who was most deeply penetrated by the sweetness of His love, is the one +who most often speaks of Him as overcoming, and who has preserved as His +last words to His timid followers, that triumphant command, 'Be of good +cheer! I have overcome the world.' He has conquered for us, binding the +strong man, and so He will spoil his house. Sin, hell, death, the devil, +law, fear, our own foolish hearts, all temptations that hover around +us--they are all vanquished foes of a 'Lord' that is 'mighty in battle.' +And as He overcame, so shall we if we will trust Him. + +Christ is the Commander and Wielder of all the forces of the universe. +As one said to Him in the days of His flesh, 'I am a man under +authority, and I say to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. So do Thou +speak and Thy word shall be sovereign.' And so it was. He spake to +diseases and they vanished. He spake to the winds and the seas and there +was a great calm. He spake to demons, and murmuring, but yet obedient, +they came out of their victims. He flung His word into the recesses of +the grave, and Lazarus came forth, fumbling with the knots on his +grave-clothes, and stumbling into the light. 'He spake and it was done.' +Who is He, the utterance of whose will is sovereign amongst all the +regions of being? 'Who is the King of Glory?' 'Thou art the King of +Glory, O Christ!' 'Thou art the Everlasting Son of the Father.' + +III. And now, lastly, let me ask you to look, and that for a moment, at +the application of these words to the Christ who will dwell in our +hearts. + +His historical manifestation here upon earth and His Incarnation, which +is the true dwelling of Deity amongst men, are not enough. They have +left something more than a memory to the world. He is as ready to abide +as really within our spirits as He was to tabernacle upon earth amongst +men. And the very central message of that Gospel which Is proclaimed to +us all is this, that if we will open the gates of our hearts He will +come in, in all the plenitude of His victorious power, and dwell in our +hearts, their Conqueror and their King. + +What a strange contrast, and yet what a close analogy there is between +the victorious tones and martial air of this summons of my text. 'Lift +up your heads, O ye gates! that the King of Glory may come in,' and the +gentle words of the Apocalypse: 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; +if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him.' But +He that in the Old Covenant arrayed in warrior arms, summoned the rebels +to surrender, is the same as He who, in the New, with the night-dews in +His hair, and patience on His face, and gentleness in the touch of His +hand upon the door, waits to enter in. Brethren! open your hearts, 'and +the King of Glory shall come in.' + +And He will come in as a king that might seek to enter some city far +away on the outposts of his kingdom, besieged by his enemies. If the +King comes in, the city will be impregnable. If you open your hearts for +Him He will come and keep you from all your foes and give you the +victory over them all. So, to every hard-pressed heart, waging an +unequal contest with toils and temptations, and sorrows and sins, this +great hope is given, that Christ the Victor will come in His power to +garrison heart and mind. As of old the encouragement was given to +Hezekiah in his hour of peril, when the might of Sennacherib insolently +threatened Jerusalem, so the same stirring assurances are given to each +who admits Christ's succours to his heart--'He shall not come into this +city, for I will defend this city to save it for Mine own sake' Open +your hearts and the conquering King will come in. + +And do not forget that there is another possible application of these +words lying in the future, to the conquering Christ who shall come +again. The whole history of the past points onwards to yet a last time +when 'the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple,' and predicts that +Christ shall so come in like manner as He went up to heaven. Again will +the summons ring out. Again will He come arrayed in flashing brightness, +and the visible robes of His imperial majesty. Again will He appear, +mighty in battle, when 'in righteousness He shall judge and make war.' +For a Christian, one great memory fills the past--Christ has come; and +one great hope brightens the else waste future--Christ will come. That +hope has been far too much left to be cherished only by those who hold a +particular opinion as to the chronology of unfulfilled prophecy. But it +should be to every Christian heart 'the blessed hope,' even the +appearing of the glory of Him who has come in the past. He is with and +in us, in the present. He will come in the future 'in His glory, and +shall sit upon the throne of His glory.' All our pardon and hope of +God's love depend upon that great fact in the past, that 'the Lord was +made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.' Our purity +which will fit us to dwell with God, our present blessedness, all our +power for daily strife, and our companionship in daily loneliness, +depend on the present fact that He dwells in our hearts by faith, the +seed of all good, and the conquering Antagonist of every evil. And the +one light which fills the future with hope, peaceful because assured, +streams from that most sure promise that He will come again, sweeping +from the highest heavens, on His head the many crowns of universal +monarchy, in His hand the weapons of all-conquering power, and none +shall need to ask, 'Who is this King of Glory?' for every eye shall know +Him, the Judge upon His throne, to be the Christ of the Cross. Open the +doors of your hearts to Him, as He sues for entrance now in the meekness +of His patient love, that on you may fall in that day of the coming of +the King, the blessing of the servants who wait for their returning +Lord, that 'when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him +immediately.' + + + + +GUIDANCE IN JUDGMENT + + + 'Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will He teach sinners in + the way. 9. The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He + teach His way.'--PSALM xxv. 8, 9. + +The Psalmist prays in this psalm for three things: deliverance, +guidance, and forgiveness. Of these three petitions the central one is +that for guidance. 'Show me Thy ways, O Lord,' he asks in a previous +verse; where he means by 'Thy ways,' not God's dealings with men, but +men's conduct as prescribed by God. In my text he exchanges petition for +contemplation; and gazes on the character of God, in order thereby to be +helped to confidence in an answer to his prayer. Such alternations of +petition and contemplation are the very heartbeats of devotion, now +expanding in desire, now closing on its treasure in fruition. Either +attitude is incomplete without the other. Do _our_ prayers pass into +such still contemplation of the face of God? Do _our_ thoughts of His +character break into such confident petition? My text contains a +striking view of the divine character, a grand confidence built +thereupon, and a condition appended on which the fulfilment of that +confidence depends. Let us look at these in turn. + +I. First, then, we have here the Psalmist's thought of God. 'Good and +upright is the Lord.' + +Now it is clear that the former of these two epithets is here employed, +not in its widest sense of moral perfectness, or else 'upright,' which +follows, would be mere tautology, but in the narrower sense, which is +familiar too, to us, in our common speech, in which _good_ is tantamount +to _kind_, _beneficent_, or to say all in a word, _loving_. _Upright_ +needs no explanation; but the point to notice is the decisiveness with +which the Psalmist binds together, in one thought, the two aspects of +the divine nature which so many people find it hard to reconcile, and +the separation of which has been the parent of unnumbered misconceptions +and errors as to Him and to His dealings. 'Good _and_ upright, loving +_and_ righteous is the Lord,' says the Psalmist. He puts in no +qualifying word such as, loving _though_ righteous, righteous and _yet_ +loving. Such phrases express the general notions of the relation of +these two attributes. But the Psalmist employs no such expressions. He +binds the two qualities together, in the feeling of their profoundest +harmony. + +Now let me remind you that neither of these two resplendent aspects of +the divine nature reaches its highest beauty and supremest power, except +it be associated with the other. In the spectrum analysis of that great +light there are the two lines; the one purest white of righteousness, +and the other tinged with a ruddier glow, the line of love. The one +adorns and sets off the other. Love without righteousness is flaccid, a +mere gush of good-natured sentiment, impotent to confer blessing, +powerless to evoke reverence. Righteousness without love is as white as +snow, and as cold as ice; repellent, howsoever it may excite the +sentiment of awe-struck distance. But we need that the righteousness +shall be loving, and that the love shall be righteous, in order that the +one may be apprehended in its tenderest tenderness and the other may be +adored in its loftiest loftiness. + +And yet we are always tempted to wrench the two apart, and to think that +the operation of the one must sometimes, at all events on the outermost +circumference of the spheres, impinge upon, and collide with, the +operations of the other. Hence you get types of religion--yes! and two +types of Christianity--in which the one or the other of these two +harmonious attributes is emphasised to such a degree as almost to blot +out the other. You get forms of religion in which the righteousness has +swallowed up the love, and others in which the love has destroyed the +righteousness. The effect is disastrous. In old days our fathers fell +into the extreme on the one hand; and the pendulum has swung with a +vengeance as far from the vertical line, to the other extreme, in these +days as it ever did in the past. The religion which found its +centre-point and its loftiest conception of the divine nature in the +thought of His absolute righteousness made strong, if it made somewhat +stern, men. And now we see renderings of the truth that God is love +which degrade the lofty, noble, sovereign conception of the righteous +God that loveth, into mere Indulgence on the throne of the universe. And +what is the consequence? All the stern teachings of Scripture men recoil +from, and try to explain away. The ill desert of sin, and the necessary +iron nexus between sin and suffering--and as a consequence the +sacrificial work of Jesus Christ, and the supreme glory of His mission +in that He is the Redeemer of mankind--are all become unfashionable to +preach and unfashionable to believe. God is Love. We cannot make too +much of His love, unless by reason of it we make too little of His +righteousness. + +The Psalmist, in his childlike faith, saw deeper and more truly than +many would-be theologians and thinkers of this day, when he proclaimed +in one breath 'Good _and_ upright is the Lord.' Let us not forget that +the Apostle, whose great message to the world was, as the last utterance +completing the process of revelation, 'God is Love,' had it also in +charge to 'declare unto us that God is Light, and in Him is no darkness +at all.' + +II. And so, secondly, mark the calm confidence builded on this +conception of the divine character. + +What a wonderful 'therefore' that is!--the logic of faith and not of +sense. 'Good and upright is the Lord; _therefore_ will He teach sinners +in the way.' The coexistence of these two aspects in the perfect divine +character is for us a guarantee that He cannot leave men, however guilty +they may be, to grope in the dark, or keep His lips locked in silence. +The Psalmist does not mean guidance as to practical advantages and +worldly prosperity. That may also be looked for, in a modified degree. +But what he means is guidance as to the one important thing, the +sovereign conception of duty, the eternal law of right and wrong. God +will not leave a man without adequate teaching as to that, just because +He is loving and righteous. + +For what _is_ love, in its loftiest, purest, and therefore in its divine +aspect? What is it except an infinite desire to impart, and that the +object on which it falls shall be blessed. So because 'the Lord is good, +and His tender mercies are over all His works,' certainly He must +desire, if one may so say, as His deepest desire, the blessedness of His +creatures. He is a God whose nature and property it is to love, and His +love is the infinite and ceaseless welling out of Himself, in all forms +of beauty and blessedness, according to the capacity and contents of His +recipient creatures. He is 'the giving God,' as James in his epistle +eloquently and wonderfully calls Him, whose very nature it is to give. +And that is only to say, in other words, 'good _is the Lord_.' + +But then 'good _and_ upright'--that combination determines the form +which His blessings shall assume, the channel in which by preference +they will flow. If we had only to say, 'good is the Lord,' then our +happiness, as we call it, the satisfaction of our physical needs and of +lower cravings, might be the adequate expression of His love. But if God +be righteous, then because Himself is so, it must be His deepest desire +for us that we should be like Him. Not our happiness but our rectitude +is God's end in all that He does with us. It is worth His while to make +us, in the lower sense of the word, 'happy,' but the purpose of joy as +of sorrow is to make us pure and righteous. We shall never come to +understand the meaning of our own lives, and will always be blindly +puzzling over the mysteries of the providences that beset us, until we +learn that not enjoyment and not sorrow is His ultimate end concerning +us, but that we may be partakers of His holiness. Since He is righteous, +the dearest desire of His loving heart, and that to which all His +dealings with us are directed; and that, therefore, to which all our +desires and efforts should be directed likewise, is to make us righteous +also. + +'Therefore will He teach sinners in the way.' If the righteousness +existed without the love it must 'come with a rod,' and the sinners who +are out of the way must incontinently be crushed where they have +wandered. But since righteousness is blended with love, therefore He +comes, and must desire to bring all wanderers back into the paths which +are His own. + +I need not do more than in a word remind you how strong a presumption +there lies in this combination of aspects of the divine nature, in +favour of an actual revelation. It seems to me that, notwithstanding all +the objections that are made to a supernatural and objective revelation, +there is nothing half so monstrous as it would be to believe, with the +pure deist or theist, that God, being what He is, righteous and loving, +had never rent His heavens to say one word to man to lead him in the +paths of righteousness. I can understand Atheism, and I can understand a +revealing God, but not a God that dwells in the thick darkness, and is +yet Love and Righteousness, and looks down upon this world and never +puts out a finger to point the path of duty. A silent God seems to me no +God but an Almighty Devil. Revelation is the plain conclusion from the +premisses that 'good and upright is the Lord!' + +I speak not, for there is no time to do so, of the various manners in +which this divine desire to bring sinners into the way fulfils itself. +There are our consciences; there are His providences; there is the +objective revelation of His word; there are the whispers of His Spirit +in men's hearts. I do not know what you believe, but I believe that God +can find His way to my heart and infuse there illumination, and move +affections, and make my eye clear to discern what is right. 'He that +formed the eye, shall He not see?' He that formed the eye, shall He not +send light to it? Are we to shut out God, in obedience to the dictates +of an arbitrary psychology, from access to His own creature; and to say, +'Thou hast made me, and Thou canst not speak to me. My soul is Thine by +creation, but its doors are close barred against Thee; and Thou canst +not lay Thy hand upon it?' 'Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will +He teach sinners in the way.' + +III. Now notice, again, the condition on which the fulfilment of this +confidence depends. + +'The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His +way.' The fact of our being sinful only makes it the more imperative +that God should speak to us. But the condition of our hearing and +profiting by the guidance is meekness. By meekness the Psalmist means, I +suppose, little else than what we might call docility, of which the +prime element is the submission of my own will to God's. The reason why +we go wrong about our duties is mainly that we do not supremely want to +go right, but rather to gratify inclinations, tastes, or passions. God +is speaking to us, but if we make such a riot with the yelpings of our +own kennelled desires and lusts, and listen to the rattle and noise of +the street and the babble of tongues, He + + 'Can but listen at the gate, + And hear the household jar within.' + +'The meek will He guide in judgment; the meek will He teach His way.' +Some of us put our heads down like bulls charging a gate. Some of us +drive on full speed, and will not shut off steam though the signals are +against us, and the end of that can only be one thing. Some of us do not +wish to know what God wishes us to do. Some of us cannot bear suspense +of judgment, or of decision, and are always in a hurry to be in action, +and think the time lost that is spent in waiting to know what God the +Lord will speak. If you do not clearly see what to do, then clearly you +may see that you are to do _nothing_. + +The ark was to go half a mile in front of the camp before the foremost +files lifted a foot to follow, in order that there should be no mistake +as to the road. Wait till God points the path, and wish Him to point it, +and hush the noises that prevent your hearing His voice, and keep your +wills in absolute submission; and above all, be sure that you act out +your convictions, and that you have no knowledge of duty which is not +expressed in your practice, and you will get all the light which you +need; sometimes being taught by errors no doubt, often being left to +make mistakes as to what is expedient in regard to worldly prosperity, +but being infallibly guided as to the path of duty, and the path of +peace and righteousness. + +And now, before I close, let me just remind you of the great fact which +transcends the Psalmist's confidence whilst it warrants it. + +Because God is Love, and God is Righteousness, He cannot but speak. But +this Psalmist did not know how wonderfully God was going to speak by +that Word who has called Himself the Light of men; and who has said, 'He +that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light +of life.' He 'teaches sinners in the way,' by Jesus Christ; for we have +Him for our Pattern and Example. We have His love for our impelling +motive. We have His Spirit to speak in our hearts, and to 'guide us into +all truth.' And this Shepherd, 'when He putteth forth His own sheep, +goeth before them; and the sheep follow Him and know His voice.' The +Psalmist's confidence, bright as it is, is but the glow of the morning +twilight. The full sunshine of the transcendent fact to which God's +righteous love impelled and bound Him is Christ, who makes us know the +will of the Father. But we want more than knowledge. For we all know our +duty a great deal better than any of us do it. What is the use of a +guide to a lame man? But our Guide says to us, 'Arise and walk,' and if +we clasp His hand we receive strength, and 'the lame man leaps as a +hart.' + +So, dear brethren! let us all cleave to Him, the Guide, the Way, and the +Life which enables us to walk in the way. If we thus cleave, then be +sure that He will lead us in the paths of righteousness, which are paths +of peace. He is the Way; He is the Leader of the march; He gives power +to walk in the light, and His one command, 'Follow Me,' unfolds into all +duty and includes all direction, companionship, perfection, and +blessedness. + + + + +A PRAYER FOR PARDON AND ITS PLEA + + + 'For Thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is + great.'--PSALM xxv. 11. + +The context shows us that this is the prayer of a man who had long loved +and served God. He says that 'on God' he 'waits all the day,' that his +'eyes are ever toward the Lord,' that he has 'integrity and uprightness' +which will 'preserve him, for he waits upon God,' and yet side by side +with this consciousness of devotion and service there lie the profound +sense of sin and of the need of pardon. The better a man is, the more +clearly he sees, and the more deeply he feels, his own badness. If a +shoe is all covered with mud, a splash or two more or less will make no +difference, but if it be polished and clean, one speck shows. A black +feather on a swan's breast is conspicuous. And so the less sin a man has +the more obvious it is, and the more he has the less he generally knows +it. But whilst this consciousness of transgression and cry for pardon +are inseparable and permanent accompaniments of a devout life all along +its course, they are the roots and beginning of all true godliness. And +as a rule, the first step which a man takes to knit himself consciously +to God is through the gate of recognised and repeated and confessed sin +and imploring the divine mercy. + +I. Notice, first, here the cry for pardon. + +'I believe in the forgiveness of sins' hundreds of thousands of +Englishmen have said twice to-day. Most of us, when we pray at all, push +in somewhere or other the petition, 'Forgive us our sins.' And how many +of us understand what we mean when we ask for that? And how many of us +feel that we need the thing which we seem to be requesting? Let me dwell +for a moment or two upon the Scriptural idea of forgiveness. Of course +we may say that when we ask forgiveness from God we are transferring +ideas and images drawn from human relations to the divine. Be it so. +That does not show that there is not a basis of reality and of truth in +the ideas thus transferred. But there are two elements in forgiveness as +we know it, both of which it seems to me to be very important that we +should carry in our minds in interpreting the Scriptural doctrine. There +is the forgiveness known to law and practised by the lawgiver. There is +the forgiveness known to love and practised by the friend, or parent, or +lover. The one consists in the remission of external penalties. A +criminal is forgiven, or, as we say (with an unconscious restriction of +the word _forgiven_ to the deeper thing), _pardoned_, when, the +remainder of his sentence being remitted, he is let out of gaol, and +allowed to go about his business without any legal penalties. But there +is a forgiveness deeper than that legal pardon. A parent and a child +both of them know that parental pardon does not consist in the waiving +of punishment. The averted look, the cold voice, the absence of signs of +love are far harder to bear than so-called punishment. And the +forgiveness, which belongs to love only, comes when the film between the +two is swept away, and both the offended and the offender feel that +there is no barrier to the free, unchecked flow of love from the heart +of the aggrieved to the heart of the aggressor. + +We must carry both of these ideas into our thoughts of God's pardon in +order to see the whole fulness of it. And perhaps we may have to add yet +another illustration, drawn from another region, and which is enshrined +in one of the versions of the Lord's Prayer, where we read, 'Forgive us +our _debts_.' When a debt is forgiven it is cancelled, and the payment +of it no longer required. But the two elements that I have pointed out, +the remission of the penalty and the uninterrupted flow of God's love, +are inseparably united in the full Scriptural notion of forgiveness. + +Scripture recognises as equally real and valid, in our relations to God, +the judicial and the fatherly side of the relationship. And it declares +as plainly that the wages of sin is death as it declares that God's love +cannot come in its fulness and its sweetness, upon a heart that indulges +in unconfessed and unrepented sin. They are poor friends of men who, for +the sake of smoothing away the terrible side of the Gospel, minimise or +hide the reality of the awful penalties which attach to every +transgression and disobedience, because they thereby maim the notion of +the divine forgiveness, and lull into a fatal slumber the consciences of +many men. + +Dear brethren! I have to stand here saying, 'Knowing, therefore, the +terrors of the Lord, we persuade men.' This is sure and certain, that +over and above the forcing back upon itself of the love of God by my +sin, that sin by necessary consequence will work out awful results for +the doer in the present and in the future. I do not wish to dwell upon +that thought, only remember that God is a Judge and God is the Father, +and that the divine forgiveness includes both of these elements, the +sweeping away of the penal consequences of men's sin, wholly in the +future, and to some extent in the present; and the unchecked flow of the +love of God to a man's heart. + +There are awful words in Scripture--which are not to be ruled out of it +by any easy-going, optimistic, rose-water system of a mutilated +Christianity--there are awful words in Scripture, concerning what you +and I must come to if we live and die in our sins, and there would be no +message of forgiveness worth the proclaiming to men, if it had nothing +to say about the removal of that which a man's own unsophisticated +conscience tells him is certain, the fatal and the damnable effects of +his departure from God. + +But let us not forget that these two aspects do to a large extent +coincide, when we come to remember that the worst of all the penal +consequences of sin is that it separates from God, and exposes to 'the +wrath of God,' a terrible expression by which the Bible means the +necessary disapprobation and aversion of the divine nature, being such +as it is, from man's sin. + +Experimentalists will sometimes cut off one or other of the triple rays +of which sunlight is composed by passing the beam through some medium +which intercepts the red, or the violet, or the yellow, as may chance. +And my sin makes an atmosphere which cuts off the gentler rays of that +divine nature, and lets the fiery ones of retribution come through. It +is not that a sinful man, howsoever drenched overhead in the foul pool +of his own unrepented iniquity, is shut out from the love of God, which +lingers about him and woos him, and lavishes upon him all the gifts of +which he is capable, but that he has made himself incapable of receiving +the sweetest of these influences, and that so long as he continues thus, +his life and his character cannot but be odious and hateful in the pure +eyes of perfect love. + +But whilst thus there are external consequences which are swept away by +forgiveness, and whilst the real hell of hells and death of deaths is +the separation from God, and the misery that must necessarily ensue +thereupon, there are consequences of man's sin which forgiveness is not +intended to remove, and will not remove, just because God loves us. He +loves us too well to take away the issues in the natural sphere, in the +social sphere, the issues perhaps in bodily health, reputation, +position, and the like, which flow from our transgression. 'Thou wast a +God that forgavest them, and Thou didst inflict retribution for their +inventions.' He does leave much of these outward issues unswept away by +His forgiveness, and the great law stands, 'Whatsoever a man soweth that +shall he also reap.' And yet the pardon that you and I need, and which +we can all have for the asking, flows to us unchecked and full--the +great stream of the love of God, to whom we are reconciled, when we turn +to Him in penitent dependence on the blood and righteousness of Jesus +Christ, our Lord. + +This consciousness of sin and cry for pardon lie at the foundation of +vigorous practical religion. It seems to me that the differences between +different types of Christianity, insipid elegance and fiery earnestness, +between coldness and fervour, the difference between a sapless and a +living ministry and between a formal and a real Christianity, are very +largely due to the differences in realising the fact and the gravity of +the fact of transgression. The prominence which we give to that in our +thoughts will largely determine our notions of ourselves, and of +Christ's work, and to a great extent settle what we think Christianity +is for, and what in itself it is. If a man has no deep consciousness of +sin he will be satisfied with a very superficial kind of religion. +'Every man his own redeemer' will be his motto. And not knowing the +necessity for a Saviour, he will not recognise that Christianity is +fundamentally and before anything else, a system of redemption. A moral +agent? Yes! A large revelation of great truth? Yes! A power to make +men's lives, individually and in the community, nobler and loftier? By +all means. But before all these, and all these consequentially on its +being a system by which sinful men, else hopeless and condemned, are +delivered and set free. So, dear brethren! let me press upon you +this,--unless my Christianity gives large prominence to the fact of my +own transgression, and is full of a penitent cry for pardon, it lacks +the one thing needful, I was going to say--it lacks, at all events, that +which will make it a living power blessedly ruling my heart and life. + +II. Note in the next place the plea for pardon. + +'For Thy name's sake.' The Psalmist does not come with any carefully +elaborated plea, grounded upon anything in himself, either on the +excuses and palliations of his evil, his corrupt nature, his many +temptations, and the like, or on the depth and reality of his +repentance. He does not say, 'Forgive me, for I weep for my evil and +loathe myself.' Nor does he say, 'Forgive me, for I could not help doing +it, or because I was tempted; or because the thing that I have done is a +very little thing after all.' He comes empty-handed, and says, 'For Thy +name's sake, O Lord!' + +That means, first, the great thought that God's mercy flows from the +infinite depths of His own character. He is His own motive. The fountain +of His forgiving love wells up of itself, drawn forth by nothing that we +do, but propelled from within by the inmost nature of God. As surely as +it is the property of light to radiate and of fire to spread, so surely +is it His nature and property to have mercy. He forgives, says our text, +because He is God, and cannot but do so. Therefore our mightiest plea is +to lay hold of His own strength, and to grasp the fact of the unmotived, +uncompelled, unpurchased, and therefore unalterable and eternal +pardoning love of God. + +Scientists tell us that the sun is fed and kept in splendour by the +constant impact of bodies from without falling in upon it, and that if +that supply were to cease, the furnace of the heavens would go out. But +God, who is light in Himself, needs no accession of supplies from +without to maintain His light, and no force of motives from without to +sway His will. We do not need to seek to bend Him to mercy, for He is +mercy in Himself. We do not need to stir His purpose into action, for it +has been working from of old and 'its goings forth are from +everlasting.' He is His own motive, He forgives because of what He is. +So let us dig down to that deepest of all rock foundations on which to +build our confidence, and be sure that, if I may use such an expression, +the necessity of the divine nature compels Him to pardon iniquity, +transgression, and sin. + +Then there is another thought here, that the past of God is a plea with +God for present forgiveness. 'Thy name' in Scripture means the whole +revelation of the divine character, and thus the Psalmist looks back +into the past, and sees there how God has, all through the ages, been +plenteous in mercy and ready to forgive all that called upon Him; and he +pleads that past as a reason for the present and for the future. +Thousands of years have passed since David, if he was the Psalmist, +offered this prayer; and you and I can look back to the blessed old +story of _his_ forgiveness, so swift, so absolute and free, which +followed upon confession so lowly, and can remember that infinitely +pathetic and wonderful word which puts the whole history of the +resurrection and restoration of a soul into two clauses. 'David said +unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord: and Nathan said unto +David'--finishing the sentence--'And the Lord hath made to pass the +iniquity of thy sin.' What He was He is; what He is He will be. 'For Thy +name's sake, pardon mine iniquity.' + +There is yet another thought that may be suggested. The divine +forgiveness is in order that men may know Him better. That is +represented in Scripture as being the great motive of the divine +actions--'for the glory of Thine own name.' That may be so put as to be +positively atrocious, or so as to be perfectly divine and lovely. It has +often been put, by hard and narrow dogmatists, in such a way as to make +God simply an Almighty selfishness, but it ought to be put as the Bible +puts it, so as to show Him as an Almighty love. For why does He desire +that His name should be known by us but for our sakes, that the light of +that great Name may come to us, 'sitting in darkness and in the shadow +of death,' and that, knowing Him for what He is, we may have peace, and +rest, and joy, and love, and purity? It is pure benevolence that makes +Him act, 'for the glory of His great name'; sweeping away the clouds +that a darkened earth may expand and rejoice, and all the leaves unfold +themselves, and every bird sing, in the restored sunshine. + +And there is nothing that reveals the inmost hived sweetness and honey +of the name of God like the assurance of His pardon. 'There is +forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared.' Oh, dear brethren! +unless you know God as the God that has forgiven you, your knowledge of +Him is but shallow and incomplete, and you know not the deepest +blessings that flow to them who find that this is life eternal to know +the only true God as the all-forgiving Father. + +Note the connection between the Psalmist's plea and the New Testament +plea. David said, 'For Thy name's sake, pardon,' we say, 'For Christ's +sake, forgive.' Are the two diverse? Is the fruit diverse from the bud? +Is the complete noonday diverse from the blessed morning twilight? +Christ _is_ the Name of God, the Revealer of the divine heart and mind. +When Christian men pray 'For the sake of Christ,' they are not bringing +a motive, which is to move the divine love which else lies passive and +inert, because God's love was the cause of Christ's work not Christ's +work the cause of God's love, but they are expressing their own +dependence on the Great Mediator and His work, and solemnly offering, as +the ground of all their hope, that perfect sacrifice which is the medium +by which forgiveness reaches men, and without which it is impossible +that the government of the righteous God could exist with pardon. Christ +has died; Christ, in dying, has borne the sins of the world; that is, +yours and mine. And therefore the pardon of God comes to us through that +channel, without, in the slightest degree, trenching on the awfulness of +the divine holiness or weakening the sanctities of God's righteous +retributive law. 'For Christ's sake hath forgiven us' is the daylight +which the Psalmist saw as morning dawn when he cried, 'For Thy name's +sake, pardon mine iniquity.' + +III. Lastly, note the reason for the earnest cry, 'For it is great.' + +That may be a reason for the pardon; more probably it is a reason for +the prayer. The fact is true in regard to us all. There is no need to +suppose any special heinous sin in the Psalmist's mind. I would fain +press upon all consciences that listen to me now that these lowly words +of confession are true about every one of us, whether we know it or not. +For if you consider how much of self-will, how much of indifference, of +alienation from, if not of antagonism against, the law of God, go to +every trifling transgression, you will think twice before you call it +small. And if it be small, a microscopic viper, the length of a cutting +from your finger nail, has got the viper's nature in it, and its poison, +and its sting, and it will grow. A very little quantity of mud held in +solution in a continuously flowing river will make a tremendous delta at +the mouth of it in the course of years. And however small may have been +the amount of evil and deflection from God's law in that flowing river +of my past life, what a filthy, foul bank of slime must be piled up down +yonder at the mouth! + +If the fact be so, then is not that a reason for our all going to the +only One who can dredge it away, and get rid of it? 'Pardon me; for it +is great.' That is to say, 'There is no one else who can deal with it +but Thyself, O Lord! It is too large for me to cart away; it is too +great for any inferior hand to deal with. I am so bad that I can come +only to Thyself to be made better.' It is blessed and wise when the +consciousness of our deep transgression drives us to the only Hand that +can heal, to the only Heart that can forgive. + +So, dear friends! in a blessed desperation of otherwise being unable to +get rid of this burden which has grown on our backs ounce by ounce for +long years, let us go to Him. He and He alone can deal with it. 'Against +Thee, Thee only, have I sinned,' and to Thee, Thee only, will I come. + +Only remember that, before you ask, God has given. He is 'like the dew +upon the grass, that waiteth not for man.' Instead of praying for pardon +which is already bestowed, do you see to it that you take the pardon +which God is praying you to receive. Swallow the bitter pill of +acknowledging your own transgression; and then one look at the crucified +Christ and one motion of believing desire towards Him; 'and the Lord +hath made to pass the iniquity of thy sin.' + + + + +GOD'S GUESTS + + + 'One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that + I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.' + --PSALM xxvii. 4. + +We shall do great injustice to this mystical aspiration of the Psalmist, +if we degrade it to be the mere expression of a desire for unbroken +residence in a material Temple. He was no sickly, sentimental seeker +after cloistered seclusion. He knew the necessities and duties of life +far better than in a cowardly way to wish to shirk them, in order that +he might loiter in the temple, idle under the pretence of worship. Nor +would the saying fit into the facts of the case if we gave it that low +meaning, for no person had his residence in the temple. And what follows +in the next verse would, on that hypothesis, be entirely inappropriate. +'In the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me.' No one went into the +secret place of the Most High, in the visible, material structure, +except the high priest once a year. But this singer expects that his +abode will be there always; and that, in the time of trouble, he can +find refuge there. + +Apart altogether from any wider considerations as to the relation +between form and spirit under the Old Covenant, I think that such +observations compel us to see in these words a desire a great deal +nobler and deeper than any such wish. + +I. Let us, then, note the true meaning of this aspiration of the +Psalmist. + +Its fulfilment depends not on where we are, but on what we think and +feel; for every place is God's house, and what the Psalmist desires is +that he should be able to keep up unbroken consciousness of being in +God's presence and should be always in touch with Him. + +That seems hard, and people say, 'Impossible! how can I get above my +daily work, and be perpetually thinking of God and His will, and +consciously realising communion with Him?' But there is such a thing as +having an undercurrent of consciousness running all through a man's life +and mind; such a thing as having a melody sounding in our ears +perpetually, 'so sweet we know not we are listening to it' until it +stops, and then, by the poverty of the naked and silent atmosphere, we +know how musical were the sounds that we scarcely knew that we heard, +and yet did hear so well high above all the din of earth's noises. + +Every man that has ever cherished such an aspiration as this knows the +difficulties all too well. And yet, without entering upon thorny and +unprofitable questions as to whether the absolute, unbroken continuity +of consciousness of being in God's presence is possible for men here +below, let us look at the question, which has a great deal more bearing +upon our present condition--viz. whether a greater continuity of that +consciousness is not possible than we attain to to-day. It does seem to +me to be a foolish and miserable waste of time and temper and energy for +good people to be quarrelling about whether they can come to the +absolute realisation of this desire in this world, when there is not one +of them who is not leagues below the possible realisation of it, and +knows that he is. At all events, whether or not the line can be drawn +without a break at all, the breaks might be a great deal shorter and a +great deal less frequent than they are. An unbroken line of conscious +communion with God is the ideal; and that is what this singer desired +and worked for. How many of my feelings and thoughts to-day, or of the +things that I have said or done since I woke this morning, would have +been done and said and felt exactly the same, if there were not a God at +all, or if it did not matter in the least whether I ever came into touch +with Him or not? Oh, dear friends! it is no vain effort to bring our +lives a little nearer that unbroken continuity of communion with Him of +which this text speaks. And God knows, and we each for ourselves know, +how much and how sore our need is of such a union. 'One thing have I +desired, that will I seek after; that I, in my study; I, in my shop; I, +in my parlour, kitchen, or nursery; I, in my studio; I, in my +lecture-hall--'may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my +life.' In our 'Father's house are many mansions.' The room that we spend +most of our lives in, each of us, at our tasks or our work-tables may be +in our Father's house, too; and it is only we that can secure that it +shall be. + +The inmost meaning of this Psalmist's desire is that the consciousness +of God shall be diffused throughout the whole of a man's days, instead +of being coagulated here and there at points. The Australian rivers in a +drought present a picture of the Christian life of far too many of us--a +stagnant, stinking pool here, a stretch of blinding gravel there; +another little drop of water a mile away, then a long line of +foul-smelling mud, and then another shallow pond. Why! it ought to run +in a clear stream that has a scour in it and that will take all filth +off the surface. + +The Psalmist longed to break down the distinction between sacred and +secular; to consecrate work, of whatsoever sort it was. He had learned +what so many of us need to learn far more thoroughly, that if our +religion does not drive the wheels of our daily business, it is of +little use; and that if the field in which our religion has power to +control and impel is not that of the trivialities and secularities of +our ordinary life, there is no field for it at all. + +'All the days of my life.' Not only on Wednesday nights, while Tuesday +and Thursday are given to the world and self; not only on Sundays; not +for five minutes in the morning, when I am eager to get to my daily +work, and less than five minutes at night, when I am half asleep, but +through the long day, doing this, that, and the other thing for God and +by God and with God, and making Him the motive and the power of my +course, and my Companion to heaven. And if we have, in our lives, things +over which we cannot make the sign of the cross, the sooner we get rid +of them the better; and if there is anything in our daily work, or in +our characters, about which we are doubtful, here is a good test: does +it seem to check our continual communion with God, as a ligature round +the wrist might do the continual flow of the blood, or does it help us +to realise His presence? If the former, let us have no more to do with +it; if the latter, let us seek to increase it. + +II. And now let me say a word about the Psalmist's reason for this +aspiration. + +The word which he employs carries with it a picture which is even more +vividly given us by a synonymous word employed in the same connection in +some of the other psalms. 'That I may dwell in the house of the +Lord'--now, that is an allusion, not only, as I think, to the Temple, +but also to the Oriental habit of giving a man who took refuge in the +tent of the sheikh, guest-rites of protection and provision and +friendship. The habit exists to this day, and travellers among the +Bedouins tell us lovely stories of how even an enemy with the blood of +the closest relative of the owner of the tent on his hands, if he can +once get in there and partake of the salt of the host, is safe, and the +first obligation of the owner of the tent is to watch over the life of +the fugitive as over his own. So the Psalmist says, 'I desire to have +guest-rites in Thy tent; to lift up its fold, and shelter there from the +heat of the desert. And although I be dark and stained with many evils +and transgressions against Thee, yet I come to claim the hospitality and +provision and protection and friendship which the laws of the house do +bestow upon a guest.' Carrying out substantially the same idea, Paul +tells the Ephesians, as if it were the very highest privilege that the +Gospel brought to the Gentiles: 'Ye are no more strangers, but +fellow-citizens with the saints, and _of the household of God_'; +incorporated into His family, and dwelling safely in His pavilion as +their home. + +That is to say, the blessedness of keeping up such a continual +consciousness of touch with God is, first and foremost, the certainty of +infallible protection. Oh! how it minimises all trouble and brightens +all joys, and calms amidst all distractions, and steadies and sobers in +all circumstances, to feel ever the hand of God upon us! He who goes +through life, finding that, when he has trouble to meet, it throws him +back on God, and that when bright mornings of joy drive away nights of +weeping, these wake morning songs of praise, and are brightest because +they shine with the light of a Father's love, will never be unduly moved +by any vicissitudes of fortune. Like some inland and sheltered valley, +with great mountains shutting it in, that 'heareth not the loud winds +when they call' beyond the barriers that enclose it, our lives may be +tranquilly free from distraction, and may be full of peace, of +nobleness, and of strength, on condition of our keeping in God's house +all the days of our lives. + +There is another blessing that will come to the dweller in God's house, +and that not a small one. It is that, by the power of this one satisfied +longing, driven like an iron rod through all the tortuosities of my +life, there will come into it a unity which otherwise few lives are ever +able to attain, and the want of which is no small cause of the misery +that is great upon men. Most of us seem, to our own consciousness, to +live amidst endless distractions all our days, and our lives to be a +heap of links parted from each other rather than a chain. But if we have +that one constant thought with us, and if we are, through all the +variety of occupations, true to the one purpose of serving and keeping +near God, then we have a charm against the frittering away of our lives +in distractions, and the misery of multiplicity; and we enter into the +blessedness of unity and singleness of purpose; and our lives become, +like the starry heavens in all the variety of their motions, obedient to +one impulse. For unity in a life does not depend upon the monotony of +its tasks, but upon the simplicity of the motive which impels to all +varieties of work. So it is possible for a man harassed by multitudinous +avocations, and drawn hither and thither by sometimes apparently +conflicting and always bewildering, rapidly-following duties, to say, +'This one thing I do,' if all his doings are equally acts of obedience +to God. + +III. So, lastly, note the method by which this desire is realised. + +'One thing have I desired, ... that will I seek after' There are two +points to be kept in view to that end. A great many people say, 'One +thing have I desired,' and fail in persistent continuousness of the +desire. No man gets rights of residence in God's house for a longer time +than he continues to seek for them. The most advanced of us, and those +that have longest been like Anna, who 'departed not from the Temple,' +day nor night, will certainly eject ourselves unless, like the Psalmist, +we use the verbs in both tenses, and say, 'One thing _have_ I desired +... that _will_ I seek after.' John Bunyan saw that there was a back +door to the lower regions close by the gates of the Celestial City. +There may be men who have long lived beneath the shadow of the +sanctuary, and at the last will be found outside the gates. + +But the words of the text not only suggest, by the two tenses of the +verbs, the continuity of the desire which is destined to be granted, but +also by the two verbs themselves--desire and seek after--the necessity +of uniting prayer and work. Many desires are unsatisfied because conduct +does not correspond to desires. Many a prayer remains unanswered because +its pray-ers never do anything to fulfil their prayers. I do not say +they are hypocrites; certainly they are not consciously so, but I do say +that there is a large measure of conventionality that means nothing, in +the prayers of average Christian people for more holiness and likeness +to Jesus Christ. + +Dear friends! if we truly wish this desire of dwelling in the house of +the Lord to be fulfilled, the day's work must run in the same direction +as the morning's petition, and we must, like the Psalmist, say, 'I _have +desired_ it of the Lord, so I, for my part, _will seek after it_.' Then, +whether or not we reach absolutely to the standard, which is none the +less to be aimed at, though it seems beyond reach, we shall arrive +nearer and nearer to it; and, God helping our weakness and increasing +our strength, quickening us to 'desire,' and upholding us to 'seek +after,' we may hope that, when the days of our life are past, we shall +but remove into an upper chamber, more open to the sunrise and flooded +with light; and shall go no more out, but 'dwell in the house of the +Lord for ever.' + + + + +'SEEK YE'--'I WILL SEEK' + + + 'When Thou saidst, Seek ye my face; My heart said unto Thee, Thy + face, Lord, will I seek. 9. Hide not Thy face far from me.' + --PSALM xxvii. 8, 9. + +We have here a report of a brief dialogue between God and a devout soul. +The Psalmist tells us of God's invitation and of his acceptance, and on +both he builds the prayer that the face which he had been bidden to +seek, and had sought, may not be hid from him. The correspondence +between what God said to him and what he said to God is even more +emphatically expressed in the original than in our version. In the +Hebrew the sentence is dislocated, at the risk of being obscure, for the +sake of bringing together the two voices. It runs thus, 'My heart said +to Thee,' and then, instead of going on with his answer, the Psalmist +interjects God's invitation 'Seek ye My face,' and then, side by side +with that, he lays his response, 'Thy face, Lord, will I seek.' The +completeness and swiftness of his answer could not be more vividly +expressed. To hear was to obey: as soon as God's merciful call sounded, +the Psalmist's heart responded, like a harp-string thrilled into music +by the vibration of another tuned to the same note. Without hesitation, +and in entire correspondence with the call, was his response. So +swiftly, completely, resolutely should we respond to God's voice, and +our ready 'I will' should answer His commandment, as the man at the +wheel repeats the captain's orders whilst he carries them out. Upon such +acceptance of such an invitation we, too, may build the prayer, 'Hide +not Thy face far from me.' + +Now, there are three things here that I desire to look at--God's +merciful call to us all; the response of the devout soul to that call; +and the prayer which is built upon both. + +I. We have God's merciful call to us all. + +'Thou saidst, Seek ye My face.' Now, that expression, 'the face of God,' +though highly metaphorical, is perfectly clear and defined in its +meaning. It corresponds substantially to what the Apostle Paul calls, in +speaking of the knowledge of God beyond the limits of revelation, 'that +which may be known of God'; or, in more modern language, the side of the +divine nature which is turned to man; or, in plainer words still, God, +in so far as He is revealed. It means substantially the same thing as +the other Scriptural expression, 'the name of the Lord.' Both phrases +draw a broad distinction between what God is, in the infinite fulness of +His incomprehensible being, and what He is as revealed to man; and both +imply that what is revealed is knowledge, real and valid, though it may +be imperfect. + +This, then, being the meaning of the phrase, what is the meaning of the +invitation: 'Seek ye My face'? Have we to search for that, as if it were +something hidden, far off, lost, and only to be recovered by our effort? +No: a thousand times no! For the seeking, to which God mercifully +invites us, is but the turning of the direction of our desires to Him, +the recognition of the fact that His face is more than all else to men, +the recognition that whilst there are many that say, 'Who will show us +any good?' and put the question impatiently, despairingly, vainly, they +that turn the seeking into a prayer, and ask, 'Lord! lift Thou the light +of Thy countenance upon us,' will never ask in vain. To seek is to +desire, to turn the direction of thought and will and affection to Him +and to take heed that the ordering of our daily lives is such as that no +mist rising from them shall come between us and that brightness of +light, or hide from us the vision splendid. They who seek God by desire, +by the direction of thought and will and love, and by the regulation of +their daily lives in accordance with that desire, are they who obey this +commandment. + +Next we come to that great thought that God is ever sounding out to all +mankind this invitation to seek His face. By the revelation of Himself +He bids us all sun ourselves in the brightness of His countenance. One +of the New Testament writers, in a passage which is mistranslated in our +Authorised Version, says that God 'calls us by His own glory and +virtue.' That is to say, the very manifestation of the divine Being is +such that there lies in it a summons to behold Him, and an attraction to +Himself. So fair is He, that He but needs to withdraw the veil, and +men's hearts rejoice in that countenance, which is as the sun shining in +his strength; 'nor know we anything more fair than is the smile upon His +face.' If we see Him as He really is, we cannot choose but love. By all +His works He calls us to seek Him, not only because the intellect +demands that there shall be a personal Will behind all these phenomena, +but because they in themselves proclaim His name, and the proclamation +of His name is the summons to behold. + +By the very make of our own spirits He calls us to Himself. Our +restlessness, our yearnings, our movings about as aliens in the midst of +things seen and visible, all these bid us turn to Him in whom alone our +capacities can be satisfied, and the hunger of our souls appeased. You +remember the old story of the Saracen woman who came to England seeking +her lover, and passed through these foreign cities, with no word upon +her tongue that could be understood of those that heard her except his +name whom she sought. Ah! that is how men wander through the earth, +strangers in the midst of it. They cannot translate the cry of their own +hearts, but it means, 'God--my soul thirsteth for Thee'; and the thirst +bids us seek His face. + +He summons us by all the providences and events of our changeful lives. +Our sorrows by their poignancy, our joys by their incompleteness and +their transiency, alike call us to Him in whom alone the sorrows can be +soothed and the joys made full and remain. Our duties, by their +heaviness, call us to turn ourselves to Him, in whom alone we can find +the strength to fill the _role_ that is laid upon us, and to discharge +our daily tasks. + +But, most of all, He summons us to Himself by Him who is the Angel of +His Face, 'the effulgence of His glory, and the express image of His +person.' In the face of Jesus Christ, 'the light of the knowledge of the +glory of God' beams out upon us, as it never shone on this Psalmist of +old. He saw but a portion of that countenance, through a thick veil +which thinned as faith gazed, but was never wholly withdrawn. The voice +that he heard calling him was less penetrating and less laden with love +than the voice that calls us. He caught some tones of invitation +sounding in providences and prophecies, in ceremonies and in law; we +hear them more full and clear from the lips of a Brother. They sound to +us from the cradle and the cross, and they are wafted down to us from +the throne. God's merciful invitation to us poor men never has taken, +nor will, nor can, take a sweeter and more attractive form than in +Christ's version of it: 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy +laden, and I will give you rest.' Friend! that summons comes to us; may +we deal with it as the Psalmist did! + +II. That brings me to note, secondly, the devout soul's response to the +loving call from God. + +I have already pointed out how beautifully and vividly the contrast +between the two is expressed in our text: 'Seek ye My face'--'Thy face +will I seek.' The Psalmist takes the general invitation and converts it +into an individual one, to which he responds. God's 'ye' is met by his +'I.' The Psalmist makes no hesitation or delay--'_When_ Thou saidst ... +my heart said to Thee.' The Psalmist gathers himself together in a +concentrated resolve of a fixed determination--'Thy face _will_ I seek.' +That is how we ought to respond. + +Make the general invitation thy very own. God summons all, because He +summons each. He does not cast His invitations out at random over the +heads of a crowd, as some rich man might fling coins to a mob, but He +addresses every one of us singly and separately, as if there were not +another soul in the universe to hear His voice but our very own selves. +It is for us not to lose ourselves in the crowd, since He has not lost +us in it; but to appropriate, to individualise, to make our very own, +the universality of His call to the world. It matters nothing to you +what other men may do; it matters not to you how many others may be +invited, and whether they may accept or may refuse. When that 'Seek ye' +comes to my heart, life or death depends on my answering, 'Whatsoever +others may do, as for me I will seek Thy face.' We preachers that have +to stand and address a multitude sound out the invitation, and it loses +in power, the more there are to listen to us. If I could get you one by +one, the poorest words would have more weight with you than the +strongest have when spoken to a crowd. Brother! God individualises us, +and God speaks to Thee, 'Wilt thou behold My face?' Answer, 'As for me, +I will.' + +Again, the Psalmist 'made haste, and delayed not, but made haste' to +respond to the merciful summons. Ah! how many of us, in how many +different ways, fall into the snare 'by-and-by'! 'not now'; and all +these days, that slip away whilst we hesitate, gather themselves +together to be our accusers hereafter. Friend! why should you limit the +blessedness that may come into your life to the fag end of it when you +have got tired and satiated, or tired and disappointed with the world +and its good? 'Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him +while He is near.' It is poor courtesy to show to a merciful invitation +from a bountiful host if I say; 'After I have looked to the oxen I have +bought, and tested them, and measured the field that I have acquired; +after I have drunk the sweetness of wedded life with the wife that I +have married, then I will come. But, for the present, I pray thee, have +me excused.' And that is what many are doing, more or less. + +The Psalmist gathered himself together in a fixed resolve, and said, 'I +_will_.' That is what we have to do. A languid seeker will not find; an +earnest one will not fail to find. But if half-heartedly, now and then, +when we are at leisure in the intervals of more important and pressing +daily business, we spasmodically bethink ourselves, and for a little +while seek for the light of God's felt presence to shine upon us, we +shall not get it. But if we lay a masterful hand, as we ought to do, on +these divergent desires that draw us asunder, and bind ourselves, as it +were, together, by the strong cord of a resolved purpose carried out +throughout our lives, then we shall certainly not seek in vain. + +Alas! how strange and how sad is the reception which this merciful +invitation receives from so many of us! Some of you never hear it at +all. Standing in the very focus where the sounds converge, you are deaf, +as if a man behind the veil of the falling water of Niagara, on that +rocky shelf there, should hear nothing. From every corner of the +universe that voice comes; from all the providences and events of our +lives that voice comes; from the life and death of Jesus Christ that +voice comes; and not a sound reaches your ears. 'Having ears, they hear +not,' and some of us might take the Psalmist's answer, with one sad word +added, as ours--'When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face, my heart said unto +Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I _not_ seek.' + +Brethren! it is heaven on earth to say, 'Thou dost call, and I answer. +Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.' Yet you shut yourselves up to, +and with, misery and vanity, if you so deal with God's merciful summons +as some of us are dealing with it, so that He has to say, 'I called, and +ye refused; I stretched out My hand, and no man regarded.' + +III. Lastly, we have here a prayer built upon both the invitation and +the acceptance. + +'Hide not Thy face far from me.' That prayer implies that God will not +contradict Himself. His promises are commandments. If He bids us seek He +binds Himself to show. His veracity, His unchangeableness, are pledged +to this, that no man who yields to His invitation will be balked of his +desire. He does not hold out the gift in His hand, and then twitch it +away when we put out encouraged and stimulated hands to grasp it. You +have seen children flashing bright reflections from a mirror on to a +wall, and delighting to direct them away to another spot, when a hand +has been put out to touch them. That is not how God does. The light that +He reveals is steady, and whosoever turns his face to it will be +irradiated by its brightness. + +The prayer builds itself on the assurance that, because God will not +contradict Himself, therefore every heart seeking is sure to issue in a +heart finding. There is only one region where that is true, brethren! +there is only one tract of human experience in which the promise is +always and absolutely fulfilled:--'Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and +ye shall find.' We hunt after all other good, and at the best we get it +in part or for a time, and when possessed, it is not as bright as when +it shone in the delusive colours of hope and desire. If you follow other +good, and are drawn after the elusive lights that dance before you, and +only show how great is the darkness, you will not reach them, but will +be mired in the bog. If you follow after God's face, it will make a +sunshine in the shadiest places of life here. You will be blessed +because you walk all the day long in the light of His countenance, and +when you pass hence it will irradiate the darkness of death, and +thereafter, 'His servants shall serve Him, and shall see His face,' and, +seeing, shall be made like Him, for 'His name shall be in their +foreheads.' + +Brethren! we have to make our choice whether we shall see His face here +on earth, and so meet it hereafter as that of a long-separated and +long-desired friend; or whether we shall see it first when He is on His +throne, and we at His bar, and so shall have to 'call on the rocks and +the hills to fall on us, and cover us from the face of Him who is our +Judge.' + + + + +THE TWO GUESTS + + 'His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life: weeping may + endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.'--PSALM xxx. 5. + +A word or two of exposition is necessary in order to bring out the force +of this verse. There is an obvious antithesis in the first part of it, +between 'His anger' and 'His favour.' Probably there is a similar +antithesis between a 'moment' and 'life.' For, although the word +rendered 'life' does not unusually mean a _lifetime_ it _may_ have that +signification, and the evident intention of contrast seems to require it +here. So, then, the meaning of the first part of my text is, 'the anger +lasts for a moment; the favour lasts for a lifetime.' The perpetuity of +the one, and the brevity of the other, are the Psalmist's thought. + +Then, if we pass to the second part of the text, you will observe that +there is there also a double antithesis. 'Weeping' is set over against +'joy'; the 'night' against the 'morning.' And the first of these two +contrasts is the more striking if we observe that the word 'joy' means, +literally, 'a joyful shout,' so that the voice which was lifted in +weeping is conceived of as now being heard in exultant praise. Then, +still further, the expression 'may endure' literally means 'may come to +lodge.' So that Weeping and Joy are personified. Two guests come; one, +dark-robed and approaching at the fitting season for such, 'the night.' +The other bright, coming with all things fresh and sunny, in the dewy +morn. The guest of the night is Weeping; the guest that takes its place +in the morning is Gladness. + +The two clauses, then, of my text suggest substantially the same +thought, and that is the persistence of joy and the transitoriness of +sorrow. The one speaks of the succession of emotions in the man; the +other, of the successive aspects of the divine dealings which occasion +these. The whole is a leaf out of the Psalmist's own experience. The +psalm commemorates his deliverance from some affliction, probably a +sickness. That is long gone past; and the tears that it caused have long +since dried up. But this shout of joy of his has lasted all these +centuries, and is like to be immortal. Well for us if we can read our +life's story with the same cheery confidence as he did his, and have +learned like him to discern what is the temporary and what the permanent +element in our experience! + +I. Note, first, the proportion of joy and sorrow in an ordinary life. + +The Psalmist expresses, as I have said, the same idea in both clauses. +In the former the 'anger' is contemplated not so much as an element in +the divine mind, as in its manifestations in the divine dealings. I +shall have a word or two, presently, to say about the Scriptural +conception of the 'anger' of God and its relation to the 'favour' of +God; but for the present I take the two clauses as being substantially +equivalent. + +Now is it true--is it not true?--that if a man rightly regards the +proportionate duration of these two diverse elements in his life, he +must come to the conclusion that the one is continuous and the other is +but transitory? A thunderstorm is very short when measured against the +long summer day in which it crashes; and very few days have them. It +must be a bad climate where half the days are rainy. If we were to take +the chart and prick out upon it the line of our sailing, we should find +that the spaces in which the weather was tempestuous were brief and few +indeed as compared with those in which it was sunny and calm. + +But then, man looks before and after, and has the terrible gift that by +anticipation and by memory he can prolong the sadness. The proportion of +solid matter needed to colour the Irwell is very little in comparison +with the whole of the stream. But the current carries it, and half an +ounce will stain miles of the turbid stream. Memory and anticipation +beat the metal thin, and make it cover an enormous space. And the misery +is that, somehow, we have better memories for sad hours than for joyful +ones, and it is easier to get accustomed to 'blessings,' as we call +them, and to lose the poignancy of their sweetness because they become +familiar, than it is to apply the same process to our sorrows, and thus +to take the edge off them. The rose's prickles are felt in the flesh +longer than its fragrance lives in the nostrils, or its hue in the eye. +Men have long memories for their pains as compared with their +remembrance of their sorrows. + +So it comes to be a piece of very homely, well-worn, and yet always +needful, practical counsel to try not to magnify and prolong grief, nor +to minimise and abbreviate gladness. We can make our lives, to our own +thinking, very much what we will. We cannot directly regulate our +emotions, but we can regulate them, because it is in our own power to +determine which aspect of our life we shall by preference contemplate. + +Here is a room, for instance, papered with a paper with a dark +background and a light pattern on it. Well, you can manoeuvre your eye +about so as either to look at the black background--and then it is all +black, with only a little accidental white or gilt to relieve it here +and there; or you can focus your eye on the white and gold, and then +that is the main thing, and the other is background. We can choose, to a +large extent, what we shall conceive our lives to be; and so we can very +largely modify their real character. + + 'There's nothing either good or bad + But thinking makes it so.' + +They who will can surround themselves with persistent gladness, and they +who will can gather about them the thick folds of an everbrooding and +enveloping sorrow. Courage, cheerfulness, thankfulness, buoyancy, +resolution, are all closely connected with a sane estimate of the +relative proportions of the bright and the dark in a human life. + +II. And now consider, secondly, the inclusion of the 'moment' in the +'life.' + +I do not know that the Psalmist thought of that when he gave utterance +to my text, but whether he did it or not, it is true that the 'moment' +spent in 'anger' is a part of the 'life' that is spent in the 'favour.' +Just as within the circle of a life lies each of its moments, the same +principle of inclusion may be applied to the other contrast presented +here. For as the 'moment' is a part of the 'life,' the 'danger' is a +part of the love. The 'favour' holds the 'anger' within itself, for the +true Scriptural idea of that terrible expression and terrible fact, the +'wrath of God,' is that it is the necessary aversion of a perfectly pure +and holy love from that which does not correspond to itself. So, though +sometimes the two may be set against each other, yet at bottom, and in +reality, they are one, and the 'anger' is but a mode in which the +'favour' manifests itself. God's love is plastic, and if thrown back +upon itself, grieved and wounded and rejected, becomes the 'anger' which +ignorant men sometimes seem to think it contradicts. There is no more +antagonism between these two ideas when they are applied to God than +when they are applied to you parents in your relations to a disobedient +child. You know, and it knows, that if there were no love there would be +little 'anger.' Neither of you suppose that an irate parent is an +unloving parent. 'If ye, being evil, know how,' in dealing with your +children, to blend wrath and love, 'how much more shall your Father +which is in heaven' be one and the same Father when His love manifests +itself in chastisement and when it expands itself in blessings! + +Thus we come to the truth which breathes uniformity and simplicity +through all the various methods of the divine hand, that howsoever He +changes and reverses His dealings with us, they are one and the same. +You may get two diametrically opposite motions out of the same machine. +The same power will send one wheel revolving from right to left, and +another from left to right, but they are co-operant to grind out at the +far end the one product. It is the same revolution of the earth that +brings blessed lengthening days and growing summer, and that cuts short +the sun's course and brings declining days and increasing cold. It is +the same motion which hurls a comet close to the burning sun, and sends +it wandering away out into fields of astronomical space, beyond the ken +of telescope, and almost beyond the reach of thought. And so one uniform +divine purpose, the 'favour' which uses the 'anger,' fills the life, and +there are no interruptions, howsoever brief, to the steady continuous +flow of His outpoured blessings. All is love and favour. Anger is masked +love, and sorrow has the same source and mission as joy. It takes all +sorts of weathers to make a year, and all tend to the same issue, of +ripened harvests and full barns. O brethren! if we understand that God +means something better for us than happiness, even likeness to Himself, +we should understand better how our deepest sorrows and bitterest tears, +and the wounds that penetrate deepest into our bleeding hearts, all come +from the same motive, and are directed to the same end as their most +joyful contraries. One thing the Lord desires, that we may be partakers +of His holiness, and so we may venture to give an even deeper meaning to +the Psalmist's words than he intended, and recognise that the 'moment' +is an integral part of the 'life,' and the 'anger' a mode of the +manifestation of the 'favour.' + +III. Lastly, notice the conversion of the sorrow into joy. + +I have already explained the picturesque image of the last part of my +text, which demands a little further consideration. There are two +figures presented before us, one dark robed and one bright garmented. +The one is the guest of the night, the other is the guest of the +morning. The verb which occurs in the first clause of the second half of +my text is not repeated in the second, and so the words may be taken in +two ways. They may either express how Joy, the morning guest, comes, and +turns out the evening visitant, or they may suggest how we took Sorrow +in when the night fell, to sit by the fireside, but when morning +dawned--who is this, sitting in her place, smiling as we look at her? It +is Sorrow transfigured, and her name is changed into Joy. Either the +substitution or the transformation may be supposed to be in the +Psalmist's mind. + +Both are true. No human heart, however wounded, continues always to +bleed. Some gracious vegetation creeps over the wildest ruin. The +roughest edges are smoothed by time. Vitality asserts itself; other +interests have a right to be entertained and are entertained. The +recuperative powers come into play, and the pang departs and poignancy +is softened. The cutting edge gets blunt on even poisoned spears by the +gracious influences of time. The nightly guest, Sorrow, slips away, and +ere we know, another sits in her place. Some of us try to fight against +that merciful process and seem to think that it is a merit to continue, +by half artificial means, the first moment of pain, and that it is +treason to some dear remembrances to let life have its way, and to-day +have its rights. That is to set ourselves against the dealings of God, +and to refuse to forgive Him for what His love has done for us. + +But the other thought seems to me to be even more beautiful, and +probably to be what was in the Psalmist's mind--viz. the transformation +of the evil, Sorrow itself, into the radiant form of Joy. A prince in +rags comes to a poor man's hovel, is hospitably received in the +darkness, and being received and welcomed, in the morning slips off his +rags and appears as he is. Sorrow is Joy disguised. + +If it be accepted, if the will submit, if the heart let itself be +untwined, that its tendrils may be coiled closer round the heart of God, +then the transformation is sure to come, and joy will dawn on those who +have done rightly--that is, submissively and thankfully--by their +sorrows. It will not be a joy like what the world calls +joy--loud-voiced, boisterous, ringing with idiot laughter; but it will +be pure, and deep, and sacred, and permanent. A white lily is fairer +than a flaunting peony, and the joy into which sorrow accepted turns is +pure and refining and good. + +So, brethren! remember that the richest vintages are grown on the rough +slopes of the volcano, and lovely flowers blow at the glacier's edge; +and all our troubles, big and little, may be converted into gladnesses +if we accept them as God meant them. Only they must be so accepted if +they are to be thus changed. + +But there may be some hearts recoiling from much that I have said in +this sermon, and thinking to themselves, 'Ah! there are two kinds of +sorrows. There are those that _can_ be cured, and there are those that +_cannot_. What have you got to say to me who have to bleed from an +immedicable wound till the end of my life?' Well, I have to say +this--look beyond earth's dim dawns to that morning when 'the Sun of +Righteousness shall arise, to them that love His name, with healing in +His wings.' If we have to carry a load on an aching back till the end, +be sure that when the night, which is far spent, is over, and the day +which is at hand hath broken, every raindrop will be turned into a +flashing rainbow when it is smitten by the level light, and every sorrow +rightly borne be represented by a special and particular joy. + +Only, brother! if a life is to be spent in His favour, it must be spent +in His fear. And if our cares and troubles and sorrows and losses are to +be transfigured hereafter, then we must keep very near Jesus Christ, who +has promised to us that His joy will remain with us, and that our +sorrows shall be turned into joys. If we trust to Him, the voices that +have been raised in weeping will be heard in gladness, and earth's minor +will be transposed by the great Master of the music into the key of +Heaven's jubilant praise. If only 'we look not at the things seen, but +at the things which are not seen,' then 'our light affliction, which is +but for a moment, will work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal +weight of glory'; and the weight will be no burden, but will bear up +those who are privileged to bear it. + + + + +'BE ... FOR THOU ART' + + + 'Be Thou to me a strong Rock, an house of defence to save me. 3. For + Thou art my Rock and my Fortress.'--PSALM xxxi. 2, 3 (R.V.). + +It sounds strange logic, 'Be ... for Thou art,' and yet it _is_ the +logic of prayer, and goes very deep, pointing out both its limits and +its encouragements. The parallelism between these two clauses is even +stronger in the original than in our Version, for whilst the two words +which designate the 'Rock' are not identical, their meaning is +identical, and the difference between them is insignificant; one being a +rock of any shape or size, the other being a perpendicular cliff or +elevated promontory. And in the other clause, 'for a house of defence to +save me,' the word rendered 'defence' is the same as that which is +translated in the next clause 'fortress.' So that if we were to read +thus: 'Be Thou a strong Rock to me, for a house, a fortress, for Thou +art my Rock and my Fortress,' we should get the whole force of the +parallelism. Of course the main idea in that of the 'Rock,' and +'Fortress' is only an exposition of one phase of the meaning of that +metaphor. + +I. So let us look first at what God is. + +'A rock, a fortress-house.' Now, what is the force of that metaphor? +Stable being, as it seems to me, is the first thought in it, for there +is nothing that is more absolutely the type of unchangeableness and +steadfast continuance. The great cliffs rise up, and the river glides at +their base--it is a type of mutability, and of the fleeting generations +of men, who are as the drops and ripples in its course--it eddies round +the foot of the rocks to which the old man looks up, and sees the same +dints and streaks and fissures in it that he saw when he was a child. +The river runs onwards, the trees that root themselves in the clefts of +the rock bear their spring foliage, and drop their leaves like the +generations of men, and the Rock is 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and +for ever.' And God the Unchangeable rises, if I may so say, like some +majestic cliff, round the foot of which rolls for ever the tide of human +life, and round which are littered the successive layers of the leaves +of many summers. + +Then besides this stable being, and the consequences of it, is the other +thought which is attached to the emblem in a hundred places in +Scripture, and that is defence. 'His place of defence shall be the +munitions of rocks.' When the floods are out, and all the plain is being +dissolved into mud, the dwellers on it fly to the cliffs. When the +enemy's banners appear on the horizon, and the open country is being +harried and burned, the peasants hurry to the defence of the hills, and, +sheltered there, are safe. And so for us this Name assures us that in +Him, whatever floods may sweep across the low levels, and whatever foes +may storm over the open land and the unwalled villages, there is always +the fortress up in the hills, and thither no flood can rise, and there +no enemy can come. A defence and a sure abode is his who dwells in God, +and thus folds over himself the warm wings that stretch on either side, +and shelter him from all assault. 'Lead me to the Rock that is higher +than I.' + +But the Rock is a defence in another way. If a hard-pressed fugitive is +brought to a stand and can set his back against a rock, he can front his +assailants, secure that no unseen foe shall creep up behind and deal a +stealthy stab and that he will not be surrounded unawares. 'The God of +Israel shall be your rearward,' and he who has 'made the Most High his +habitation' is sheltered from 'the pestilence that walketh in darkness,' +as well as from 'the destruction that wasteth at noon-day,' and will be +cleansed from 'secret faults' if he keeps up unbroken his union with +God, for the 'faults' which are not recognised as faults by his +partially illuminated conscience are known to God. But the Rock is a +defence in yet another way, for it is a sure foundation for our lives. +Whoso builds on God need fear no change. When the floods rise, and the +winds blow, and the rain storms down, the house that is on the Rock will +stand. + +And, then, in the Rock there is a spring, and round the spring there is +'the light of laughing flowers,' amidst the stern majesty of the cliff. +Just as the Law-giver of old smote the rock, and there gushed out the +stream that satisfied the thirst of the whole travelling nation, so Paul +would have us Christians repeat the miracle by our faith. Of us, too, it +may be said, they drank 'of that Rock that followed them, and that Rock +was Christ.' Stable being, secure defence, a fountain of refreshment and +satisfaction: all these blessings lie in that great metaphor. + +II. Now, note our plea with God, from what He is. + +'Be Thou to me a Rock ... for Thou art a Rock.' Is that not illogical? +No, for notice that little word, 'to me'--be Thou _to me_ what Thou art +in Thyself, and hast been to all generations.' That makes all the +difference. It is not merely 'Be what Thou art,' although that would be +much, but it is 'be it to me,' and let _me_ have all which is meant in +that great Name. + +But then, beyond that, let me point out to you how this prayer suggests +to us that all true prayer will keep itself within God's revelation of +what He is. We take His promises, and all the elements which make up His +name or manifestation of His character to the world, whether by His acts +or by the utterances of this Book, or by the inferences to be drawn from +the life of Jesus Christ, the great Revealer, or by what we ourselves +have experienced of Him. The ways by which God has revealed Himself to +the world define the legitimate subjects, and lay down the firm +foundation, of our petitions. In all His acts God reveals Himself, and +if I may so say, when we truly pray, we catch these up, and send them +back again to heaven, like arrows from a bow. It is only when our +desires and prayers foot themselves upon God's revelation of Himself, +and in essence are, in various fashions, the repetition of this prayer +of my text: 'Be ... for Thou art,' that we can expect to have them +answered. Much else may call itself prayer, but it is often but petulant +and self-willed endeavour to force our wishes upon Him, and no answer +will come to that. We are to pray about everything; but we are to pray +about nothing, except within the lines which are marked out for us by +what God has told us, in His words and acts, that He Himself is. Catch +these up and fling them back to Him, and for every utterance that He has +made of Himself, 'I am' so-and-so, let us go to Him and say 'Be Thou +that to me,' and then we may be sure of an answer. + +So then two things follow. If we pray after the pattern of this prayer, +'Be Thou to me what Thou art,' then a great many foolish and +presumptuous wishes will be stifled in the birth, and, on the other +hand, a great many feeble desires will be strengthened and made +confident, and we shall be encouraged to expect great things of God. +Have you widened your prayers, dear friend!--and I do not mean by that +only your outward ones, but the habitual aspiration and expectation of +your minds--have you widened these to be as wide as what God has shown +us that He is? Have you taken all God's revelation of Himself, and +translated it into petition? And do you expect Him to be to you all that +He has ever been to any soul of man upon earth? Oh! how such a prayer as +this, if we rightly understand it and feel it, puts to shame the +narrowness and the poverty of our prayers, the falterings of our faith, +and the absence of expectation in ourselves that we shall receive the +fulness of God. + +God owns that plea: 'Be ... what Thou art.' He cannot resist that. That +is what the Apostle meant when he said, 'He abideth faithful, He cannot +deny Himself.' He must be true to His character. He can never be other +than He always has been. And that is what the Psalmist meant when he +goes on, after the words that I have taken for my text, and says, 'For +Thy Name's sake lead me and guide me,' What is God's Name? The +collocation of letters by which we designate Him? Certainly not. The +Name of God is the sum total of what God has revealed Himself as being. +And 'for the sake of the Name,' that He may be true to that which He has +shown Himself to be, He will always endorse this bill that you draw upon +Him when you present Him with His own character, and say 'Be to me what +Thou art.' + +III. Lastly, we have here the plea with God drawn from what we have +taken Him to be to us. + +That is somewhat different from what I have already been dwelling upon. +Mark the words: 'Be Thou to me a strong Rock, for Thou art _my_ Rock and +_my_ Fortress.' What does that mean? It means that the suppliant has, by +his own act of faith, taken God for his; that he has appropriated the +great divine revelation, and made it his own. Now it seems to me that +that appropriation is, if not _the_ point, at least one of the points, +in which real faith is distinguished from the sham thing which goes by +that name amongst so many people. A man by faith encloses a bit of the +common for his very own. When God says that He 'so loved the world that +He gave His ... Son,' I should say, 'He loved _me_, and gave Himself for +_me_.' When the great revelation is made that He is the Rock of Ages, my +faith says: '_My_ Rock and _my_ Fortress.' Having said that, and claimed +Him for mine, I can then turn round to Him and say, 'Be to me what I +have taken Thee to be.' + +And that faith is expressed very beautifully and strikingly in one of +the Old Testament metaphors, which frequently goes along with this one +of the Rock. For instance, in a great chapter in Isaiah we find the +original of that phrase 'the Rock of Ages.' It runs thus, 'Trust ye in +the Lord for ever, for in the Lord JEHOVAH is the _Rock of Ages_.' Now +the word for trust there literally means, to flee into a refuge, and so +the true idea of faith is 'to fly for refuge,' as the Epistle to the +Hebrews has it, 'to the Hope set before us,'--that is (keeping to the +metaphor), to the cleft in the Rock. + +That act of trust or flight will make it certain that God will be to us +for a house of defence, a fortress to save us. Other rock-shelters may +crumble. They may be carried by assault; they may be riven by +earthquakes. 'The mountains shall depart, and the hills shall be +removed,' but this Rock is impregnable, and all who take refuge in it +are safe for ever. + +And so the upshot of the whole matter is that God will be to us what we +have faith to believe that He is, and our faith will be the measure of +our possession of the fulness of God. If we can only say in the fulness +of our hearts--and keep to the saying: 'Be Thou to me a Rock, for Thou +art my Rock,' then nothing shall ever hurt us; and 'dwelling in the +secret place of the Most High' we shall be kept in safety; our 'abode +shall be the munitions of rocks, our bread shall be given us, and our +water shall be made sure.' + + + + +'INTO THY HANDS' + + + 'Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord + God of truth.'--PSALM xxxi. 5. + +The first part of this verse is consecrated for ever by our Lord's use +of it on the Cross. Is it not wonderful that, at that supreme hour, He +deigned to take an unknown singer's words as His words? What an honour +to that old saint that Jesus Christ, dying, should find nothing that +more fully corresponded to His inmost heart at that moment than the +utterance of the Psalmist long ago! How His mind must have been +saturated with the Old Testament and with these songs of Israel! And do +you not think it would be better for us if ours were completely steeped +in those heart-utterances of ancient devotion? + +But, of course, the Psalmist was not thinking about his death. It was an +act for his life that he expressed in these words:--'Into Thine hands I +commit my spirit.' If you will glance over the psalm at your leisure, +you will see that it is the heart-cry of a man in great trouble, +surrounded by all sorts of difficulties, with his very life threatened. +He was down in the very depths of darkness, and ringed about by all +sorts of enemies at that moment, not sitting comfortably, as you and I +are here, but in the midst of the hurly-burly and the strife, when by a +dead lift of faith he flung himself clean out of his disasters, and, if +I might so say, pitched himself into the arms of God. 'Into Thine hands +I commit my spirit,' as a man standing in the midst of enemies, and +bearing some precious treasure in his hand might, with one strong cast +of his arm, fling it into the open hand of some mighty helper, and so +baulk the enemies of their prey. That is the figure. + +I. Now, let me say a word as to where to lodge a soul for safe keeping. + +'Into Thine hands'--a banker has a strong room, and a wise man sends his +securities and his valuables to the bank and takes an acknowledgment, +and goes to bed at night, quite sure that no harm will come to them, and +that he will get them when he wants them. And that is exactly what the +Psalmist does here. He deposits his most precious treasure in the safe +custody of One who will take care of it. The great Hand is stretched +out, and the little soul is put into it. It closes, and 'no man is able +to pluck them out of My Father's hand.' + +Now that is only a picturesque way of putting the most threadbare, bald, +commonplace of religious teaching. The word faith, when it has any +meaning at all in people's minds when they hear it from the pulpit, is +extremely apt, I fear, to create a kind of, if not disgust, at least a +revulsion of feeling, as if people said, 'Ah, there he is at the old +story again!' But will you freshen up your notions of what faith it +means by taking that picture of my text as I have tried to expand and +illuminate it a little by my metaphor? That is what is meant by 'Into +Thy hands I commit my spirit.' There are two or three ways in which that +is to be done, and one or two ways in which it is not to be done. + +We do it when we trust Him for the salvation of our souls. There are a +great many good Christian people who go mourning all their days, or, at +least, sometimes mourning and sometimes indifferent. The most that they +venture to say is, 'But I cannot be sure.' Our grandfathers used to +sing:-- + + ''Tis a point I long to know, + Oft it causes anxious thought.' + +Why should it cause anxious thought? Take your own personal salvation +for granted, and work from that. Do not work _towards_ it. If you have +gone to Christ and said, 'Lord, I cannot save myself; save me. I am +willing to be saved,' be sure that you have the salvation that you ask, +and that if you have put your soul in that fashion into God's hands, any +incredible thing is credible, and any impossible thing is possible, +rather than that you should fail of the salvation which, in the bottom +of your hearts, you desire. Take the burden off your backs and put it on +His. Do not be for ever questioning yourselves, 'Am I a saved man?' You +will get sick of that soon, and you will be very apt to give up all +thought about the matter at all. But take your stand on the fact, and +with emancipated and buoyant hearts, and grateful ones, work from it, +and because of it. And when sin rises up in your soul, and you say to +yourselves, 'If I were a Christian I could not have done that,' or, 'If +I were a Christian I could not be so-and-so'; remember that all sin is +inconsistent with being a Christian, but no sin is incompatible with it; +and that after all the consciousness of shortcomings and failure, we +have just to come back to the old point, and throw ourselves on God's +love. His arms are open to clasp us round. 'Into Thy hands I commit my +spirit.' + +Further, the Psalmist meant, by committing himself to God, trusting Him +in reference to daily life, and all its difficulties and duties. Our act +of trust is to run through everything that we undertake and everything +that we have to fight with. Self-will wrenches our souls out of God's +hands. A man who sends his securities to the banker can get them back +when he likes. And if we undertake to manage our own affairs, or fling +ourselves into our work without recognition of our dependence upon Him, +or if we choose our work without seeking to know what His will is, that +is recalling our deposit. Then you _will_ get it back again, because God +does not keep anybody's securities against his will--you will get it +back again, and much good it will do you when you have got it! +Self-will, self-reliance, self-determination--these are the opposites of +committing the keeping of our souls to God. And, as I say, if you +withdraw the deposit, you take all the burden and trouble of it on your +own shoulders again. Do not fancy that you are 'living lives of faith in +the Son of God,' if you are not looking to Him to settle what you are to +do. You cannot expect that He will watch over you, if you do not ask Him +where you are to go. + +But now there is another thing that I would suggest, this committing of +ourselves to God which begins with the initial act of trust in Him for +the salvation of our souls, and is continued throughout life by the +continual surrender of ourselves to Him, is to be accompanied with +corresponding work. The Apostle Peter's memory is evidently hovering +round this verse, whether he is consciously quoting it or not, when he +says, 'Let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the +keeping of their souls to Him _in welldoing_,' which has to go along +with the act of trust and dependence. There must come the continual +ordering of the life in accordance with His will; for 'well-doing' does +not mean merely some works of beneficence and 'charity,' of the sort +that have monopolised to themselves the name in latter days, but it +means the whole of righteous conduct in accordance with the will of God. + +So Peter tells us that it is vain for us to talk about committing the +keeping of our soul to God unless we back up the committing with +consistent, Christlike lives. Of course it is vain. How can a man expect +God to take care of him when he plunges himself into something that is +contrary to God's laws? There are many people who say, 'God will take +care of me; He will save me from the consequences.' Not a bit of it--He +loves us a great deal too well for that. If you take the bit between +your teeth, you will be allowed to go over the precipice and be smashed +to pieces. If you wish to be taken care of, keep within the prescribed +limits, and consult Him before you act, and do not act till you are sure +of His approval. God has never promised to rescue man when he has got +into trouble by his own sin. Suppose a servant had embezzled his +master's money through gambling, and then expected God to help him to +get the money to pay back into the till. Do you think that would be +likely to work? And how dare you anticipate that God will keep your +feet, if you are walking in ways of your own choosing? All sin takes a +man out from the shelter of the divine protection, and the shape the +protection has to take then is chastisement. And all sin makes it +impossible for a man to exercise that trust which is the committing of +his soul to God. So it has to be 'in welldoing,' and the two things are +to go together. 'What God hath joined let not man put asunder.' You do +not become a Christian by the simple exercise of trust unless it is +trust that worketh by love. + +But let me remind you, further, that this committing of our souls into +God's hands does not mean that we are absolved from taking care of them +ourselves. There is a very false kind of religious faith, which seems to +think that it shuffles off all responsibility upon God. Not at all; you +lighten the responsibility, but you do not get rid of it. And no man has +a right to say 'He will keep me, and so I may neglect diligent custody +of myself.' He keeps us very largely by helping us to keep our hearts +with all diligence, and to keep our feet in the way of truth. + +So let me now just say a word in regard to the blessedness of thus +living in an atmosphere of continual dependence on, and reference to, +God, about great things and little things. Whenever a man is living by +trust, even when the trust is mistaken, or when it is resting upon some +mere human, fallible creature like himself, the measure of his +confidence is the measure of his tranquillity. You know that when a +child says, 'I do not need to mind, father will look after that,' he may +be right or wrong in his estimate of his father's ability and +inclination; but as long as he says it, he has no kind of trouble or +anxiety, and the little face is scarred by no deep lines of care or +thought. So when we turn to Him and say, 'Why should I the burden bear?' +then there comes--I was going to say 'surging,' but 'trickling' is a +better word--into my heart a settled peacefulness which nothing else can +give. Look at this psalm. It begins, and for the first half continues, +in a very minor key. The singer was not a poet posing as in affliction, +but his words were wrung out of him by anguish. 'Mine eyes are consumed +with grief; my life is spent with grief'; 'I am ... as a dead man out of +mind'; 'I am in trouble.' And then with a quick wheel about, 'But I +trusted in Thee, O Lord! I said, Thou art my God.' And what comes of +that? This--'O how great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for +them that fear Thee!' 'Blessed be the Lord, for He hath showed me His +marvellous kindness in a strong city.' And then, at the end of all, his +peacefulness is so triumphant that he calls upon 'all His saints' to +help him to praise. And the last words are 'Be of good courage, and He +shall strengthen your heart.' That is what you will get if you commit +your soul to God. There was no change in the Psalmist's circumstances. +The same enemy was round about him. The same 'net was privily laid for +him.' All that had seemed to him half an hour before as wellnigh +desperate, continued utterly unaltered. But what _had_ altered? God had +come into the place, and that altered the whole aspect of matters. +Instead of looking with shrinking and tremulous heart along the level of +earth, where miseries were, he was looking up into the heavens, where +God was; and so everything was beautiful. That will be our experience if +we will commit the keeping of our souls to Him in well doing. You can +bring June flowers and autumn fruits into snowy January days by the +exercise of this trust in God. It does not need that our circumstances +should alter, but only that our attitude should alter. Look up, and cast +your souls into God's hands, and all that is round you, of disasters and +difficulties and perplexities, will suffer transformation; and for +sorrow there will come joy because there has come trust. + +I need not say a word about the other application of this verse, which, +as I have said, is consecrated to us by our Lord's own use of it at the +last. But is it not beautiful to think that the very same act of mind +and heart by which a man commits his spirit to God in life may be his +when he comes to die, and that death may become a voluntary act, and the +spirit may not be dragged out of us, reluctant, and as far as we can, +resisting, but that we may offer it up as a libation, to use one +metaphor of St. Paul's, or may surrender it willingly as an act of +faith? It is wonderful to think that life and death, so unlike each +other, may be made absolutely identical in the spirit in which they are +met. You remember how the first martyr caught up the words from the +Cross, and kneeling down outside the wall of Jerusalem, with the blood +running from the wounds that the stones had made, said, 'Lord Jesus! +receive my spirit.' That is the way to die, and that is the way to live. + +One word is all that time permits about the ground upon which this great +venture of faith may be made. 'Thou hast redeemed me, Lord God of +Truth.' The Psalmist, I think, uses that word 'redeemed' here, not in +its wider spiritual New Testament sense, but in its frequent Old +Testament sense, of deliverance from temporal difficulties and +calamities. And what he says is, in effect, this: 'I have had experience +in the past which makes me believe that Thou wilt extricate me from this +trouble too, because Thou art the God of Truth.' He thinks of what God +has done, and of what God is. And Peter, whom we have already found +echoing this text, echoes that part of it too, for he says, 'Let them +commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as _unto a +faithful Creator_,' which is all but parallel to 'Lord God of Truth.' So +God will continue as He has begun, and finish what He has begun. + +'A faithful Creator--' He made us to need what we do need, and He is not +going to forget the wants that He Himself has incorporated with our +human nature. He is bound to help us because He made us. He is the God +of Truth, and He will help us. But if we take 'redeemed' in its highest +sense, the Psalmist, arguing from God's past mercy and eternal +faithfulness, is saying substantially what the Apostle said in the +triumphant words, 'Whom He did foreknow, them He also did predestinate +to be conformed to the image of His Son ... and whom He did predestinate +them He also ... justified, and whom He justified them He also +glorified.' 'Thou hast redeemed me.' 'Thou art the God of Truth; Thou +wilt not lift Thy hand away from Thy work until Thou hast made me all +that Thou didst bind Thyself to make me in that initial act of redeeming +me.' + +So we can say, 'He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for +us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' You +have experiences, I have no doubt, in your past, on which you may well +build confidence for the future. Let each of us consult our own hearts, +and our own memories. Cannot _we_ say, 'Thou hast been my Help,' and +ought we not therefore to be sure that He will not 'leave us nor forsake +us' until He manifests Himself as the God of our salvation? + +It is a blessed thing to lay ourselves in the hands of God, but the New +Testament tells us, 'It is a fearful thing to _fall into_ the hands of +the living God.' The alternative is one that we all have to +face,--either 'into Thy hands I commit my spirit,' or into those hands +to fall. Settle which of the two is to be your fate. + + + + +GOODNESS WROUGHT AND GOODNESS LAID UP + + + 'Oh how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that + fear Thee; which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee + before the sons of men!'--PSALM xxxi. 19. + +The Psalmist has been describing, with the eloquence of misery, his own +desperate condition, in all manner of metaphors which he heaps +together--'sickness,' 'captivity,' 'like a broken vessel,' 'as a dead +man out of mind.' But in the depth of desolation he grasps at God's +hand, and that lifts him up out of the pit. 'I trusted in Thee, O Lord! +Thou art my God.' So he struggles up on to the green earth again, and he +feels the sunshine; and then he breaks out--'Oh! how great is Thy +goodness which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee.' So the psalm +that began with such grief, ends with the ringing call, 'Be of good +courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the +Lord.' + +Now these great words which I have read for my text, and which derive +even additional lustre from their setting, do not convey to the hasty +English reader the precise force of the antithesis which lies in them. +The contrast in the two clauses is between goodness laid up and goodness +wrought; and that would come out a little more clearly if we transposed +the last words of the text, and instead of reading, as our Authorised +Version does, 'which Thou hast wrought for them that trusted in Thee +before the sons of men,' read 'which Thou hast wrought before the sons +of men for them that trusted in Thee.' + +So I think there are, as it were, two great masses of what the Psalmist +calls 'goodness'; one of them which has been plainly manifested 'before +the sons of men,' the other which is 'laid up' in store. There are a +great many notes in circulation, but there is far more bullion in the +strong-room. Much 'goodness' has been exhibited; far more lies +concealed. + +If we take that antithesis, then, I think we may turn it in two or three +directions, like a light in a man's hand; and look at it as suggesting-- + +I. First, the goodness already disposed--'wrought before the sons of +men'; and that 'laid up,' yet to be manifested. + +Now, that distinction just points to the old familiar but yet +never-to-be-exhausted thought of the inexhaustibleness of the divine +nature. That inexhaustibleness comes out most wondrously and beautifully +in the fundamental manifestation of God on which the Old Testament +revelation is built--I mean the vision given to Moses prior to his call, +and as the basis of his message, of the bush that burned and was not +consumed. That lowly shrub flaming and not burning out was not, as has +often been supposed, the symbol of Israel which in the furnace of +affliction was not destroyed. It meant the same as the divine name, then +proclaimed; 'I AM THAT I AM,' which is but a way of saying that God's +Being is absolute, dependent upon none, determined by Himself, infinite, +and eternal, burns and is not burned up, lives and has no proclivity +towards death, works and is unwearied, 'operates unspent,' is revealed +and yet hidden, gives and is none the poorer. + +And as we look upon our daily lives, and travel back in thought, some of +us over the many years which have all been crowded with instances and +illustrations of divine faithfulness and favouring care, we have to +grasp both these exclamations of our text, 'Oh! how great is Thy +goodness which Thou hast wrought,' how much greater 'is Thy goodness +which is laid up!' The table has been spread in the wilderness, and the +verities of Christian experience more than surpass the legends of hungry +knights finding banquets prepared by unseen hands in desert places. It +is as when Jesus made the multitude sit down on the green grass and +feast to the full, and yet abundance remained undiminished after +satisfying all the hungry applicants. The bread that was broken yielded +more basketfuls for to-morrow than the original quantity in the lad's +hands. The fountain rises, and the whole camp, 'themselves and their +children and their cattle,' slake their thirst at it, and yet it is full +as ever. The goodness wrought is but the fringe and first beginnings of +the mass that is laid up. All the gold that has been coined and put into +circulation is as nothing compared with the wedges and ingots of massive +bullion that lie in the strong room. God's riches are not like the +world's wealth. You very soon get to the bottom of its purse. Its +'goodness,' is very soon run dry; and nothing will yield an +unintermittent stream of satisfaction and blessing to a poor soul except +the 'river of the water of life that proceedeth out of the Throne of God +and of the Lamb.' + +So, dear brethren! that contrast may suggest to us how quietly and +peacefully we may look forward to all the unknown future; and hold up to +it so as to enable us to scan its general outlines, the light of the +known and experienced past. Let our trustful prayer be; 'Thou hast been +my help: leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation!' and +the answer will certainly be: 'I will not leave thee, till I have done +unto thee that which I have spoken to thee of.' Our Memory ought to be +the mother of our Hope; and we should paint the future in the hues of +the past. Thou hast goodness 'laid up,' more than enough to match 'the +goodness Thou hast wrought.' God's past is the prophecy of God's future; +and my past, if I understand it aright, ought to rebuke every fear and +calm every anxiety. We, and only we, have the right to say, 'To-morrow +shall be as this day, and much more abundant.' That is delusion if said +by any but by those that fear and trust in the Inexhaustible God. + +II. Now let us turn our light in a somewhat different direction. The +contrast here suggests the goodness that is publicly given and that +which is experienced in secret. + +If you will notice, in the immediate neighbourhood of my text there come +other words which evidently link themselves with the thought of the +goodness laid up: 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy presence.' +That is where also the 'goodness' is. 'Thou shalt keep them secretly in +a pavilion ... blessed be the Lord! for He hath shewed me His marvellous +kindness in a strong city.' So, then, the goodness which is wrought, and +which can be seen by the sons of men, dwindles in comparison with the +goodness which lies in that secret place, and can only be enjoyed and +possessed by those who dwell there, and whose feet are familiar with the +way that leads to it. That is to say, if you wish the Psalmist's thought +in plain prose, all these visible blessings of ours are but pale shadows +and suggestions of the real wealth that we can have only if we live in +continual communion with God. The spiritual blessings of quiet minds and +strength for work, the joys of communion with God, the sweetness of the +hopes that are full of immortality, and all these delights and +manifestations of God's inmost love and sweetness which are granted only +to waiting hearts that shut themselves off from the tumultuous delights +of earth as the bases of their trust or the sources of their +gladness--these are fuller, better than the selectest and richest of the +joys that God's world can give. God does not put His best gifts, so to +speak, in the shop-windows; He keeps these in the inner chambers. He +does not arrange His gifts as dishonest traders do their wares, putting +the finest outside or on the top, and the less good beneath. 'Thou hast +kept the good wine until now.' It is they who inhabit 'the secret place +of the Most High,' and whose lives are filled with communion with Him, +realising His presence, seeking to know His will, reaching out the +tendrils of their hearts to twine round Him, and diligently, for His +dear sake, doing the tasks of life; who taste the selected dainties from +God's gracious hands. + +How foolish, then, to order life on the principle upon which we are all +tempted to do it, and to yield to the temptation to which some of us +have yielded far too much, of fancying that the best good is the good +that we can touch and taste and handle and that men can see! No! no! +Deep down in our hearts a joy that strangers never intermeddle with nor +know, a peace that passes understanding, a present Christ and a Heaven +all but present, because Christ is present--these are the good things +for men, and these are the things which God does not, because He cannot, +fling broadcast into the world, but which He keeps, because He must, for +those that desire them, and are fit for them. 'He causeth His sun to +shine, and His rain to fall on the unthankful and on the disobedient,' +but the goodness laid up is better than the sunshine, and more +refreshing and fertilising and cleansing than the rain, and it comes, +and comes only, to them that trust Him, and live near Him. + +III. And so, lastly, we may turn our light in yet another direction, and +take this contrast as suggesting the goodness wrought on earth, and the +goodness laid up in heaven. + +Here we see, sometimes, the messengers coming with the one cluster of +grapes on the pole. There we shall live in the vineyard. Here we drink +from the river as it flows; there we shall be at the fountain-head. Here +we are in the vestibule of the King's house, there we shall be in the +throne room, and each chamber as we pass through it is richer and fairer +than the one preceding. Heaven's least goodness is more than earth's +greatest blessedness. All that life to come, all its conditions and +everything about it, are so strange to us, so incapable of being bodied +forth or conceived by us, and the thought of Eternity is, it seems to +me, so overwhelmingly awful that I do not wonder at even good people +finding little stimulus, or much that cheers, in the thought of passing +thither. But if we do not know anything more--and we know very little +more--let us be sure of this, that when God begins to compare His +adjectives He does not stop till He gets to the superlative degree and +that _good_ begets _better_, and the better of earth ensures the _best_ +of Heaven. And so out of our poor little experience here, we may gather +grounds of confidence that will carry our thoughts peacefully even into +the great darkness, and may say, 'What Thou didst work is much, what +Thou hast laid up is more.' And the contrast will continue for ever and +ever; for all through that strange Eternity that which is wrought will +be less than that which is laid up, and we shall never get to the end of +God, nor to the end of His goodness. + +Only let us take heed to the conditions--'them that fear Him, them that +trust in Him.' If we will do these things through each moment of the +experiences of a growing Christian life, and at the moment of the +experience of a Christian death, and through the eternities of the +experience of a Christian heaven, Jesus Christ will whisper to us, 'Thou +shalt see greater things than these.' + + + + +HID IN LIGHT + + + 'Thou shall hide them in the secret of Thy presence from the pride + of man; Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife + of tongues.'--PSALM xxxi. 20. + +The word rendered 'presence' is literally 'face,' and the force of this +very remarkable expression of confidence is considerably marred unless +that rendering be retained. There are other analogous expressions in +Scripture, setting forth, under various metaphors, God's protection of +them that love Him. But I know not that there is any so noble and +striking as this. For instance, we read of His hiding His children 'in +the secret of His tabernacle,' or tent; as an Arab chief might do a +fugitive who had eaten of his salt, secreting him in the recesses of his +tent whilst the pursuers scoured the desert in vain for their prey. +Again, we read of His hiding them 'beneath the shadow of His wing'; +where the divine love is softened into the likeness of the maternal +instinct which leads a hen to gather her chickens beneath the shelter of +her own warm and outspread feathers. But the metaphor of my text is more +vivid and beautiful still. 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy +face.' The light that streams from that countenance is the hiding-place +for a poor man. These other metaphors may refer, perhaps, the one to the +temple, and the other to the outstretched wings of the cherubim that +shadowed the Mercy-seat. And, if so, this metaphor carries us still more +near to the central blaze of the Shekinah, the glory that hovered above +the Mercy-seat, and glowed in the dark sanctuary, unseen but once a year +by one trembling high priest, who had to bear with him blood of +sacrifice, lest the sight should slay. The Psalmist says, into that +fierce light a man may go, and stand in it, bathed, hid, secure. 'Thou +shalt hide them in the secret of Thy face.' + +I. Now, then, let us notice, first, this hiding-place. + +The 'face' of God is so strongly figurative an expression that its +metaphorical character cannot but be obvious to the most cursory reader. +The very frankness, and, we may say, the grossness of the image, saves +it from all misconception, and as with other similar expressions in the +Old Testament, at once suggests its meaning. We read, for example, of +the 'arm,' the 'hand,' the 'finger' of God, and everybody feels that +these mean His power. We read of the 'eye' of God, and everybody knows +that that means His omniscience. We read of the 'ear' of God, and we all +understand that that holds forth the blessed thought that He hears and +answers the cry of such as be sorrowful. And, in like manner, the 'face' +of God is the apprehensible part of the divine nature which turns to +men, and by which He makes Himself known. It is roughly equivalent to +the other Old and New Testament expression, the 'name of the Lord,' the +manifested and revealed side of the divine nature. And that is the +hiding-place into which men may go. + +We have the other expression also in Scripture, 'the light of Thy +countenance,' and that helps us to apprehend the Psalmist's meaning. +'The light of Thy face' is 'secret.' What a paradox! Can light conceal? +Look at the daily heavens--filled with blazing stars, all invisible till +the night falls. The effulgence of the face is such that they that stand +in it are lost and hid, like the lark in the blue sky. 'A glorious +privacy of light is Thine.' There is a wonderful metaphor in the New +Testament of a woman 'clothed with the sun,' and caught up into it from +her enemies to be safe there. And that is just an expansion of the +Psalmist's grand paradox, 'Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy +face.' Light conceals when the light is so bright as to dazzle. They who +are surrounded by God are lost in the glory, and safe in that seclusion, +'the secret of Thy face.' + +A thought may be suggested, although it is somewhat of a digression from +the main purpose of my text, but it springs naturally out of this +paradox, and may just deserve a word. Revelation is real, but revelation +has its limits. That which is revealed is 'the face of God,' but we +read, 'no man can see My face.' After all revelation He remains hidden. +After all pouring forth of His beams He remains 'the God that dwelleth +in the thick darkness,' and the light which is inaccessible is also a +darkness that can be felt. Apprehension is possible; comprehension is +impossible. What we know of God is valid and true, but we never shall +know all the depths that lie in that which we do know of Him. His face +is 'the secret'; and though men may malign Him when they say, 'Verily, +Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel!' and He answers +them, 'I have not spoken in secret' in a dark 'place of the earth,' it +still remains true that revelation has its mysteries born of the +greatness of its effulgence, and that all which we know of God is 'dark +with excess of light.' + +But that is aside from our main purpose. Let me rather remind you of how +the thought of the secret of God's face being the secure hiding-place of +them that love Him points to this truth--that that brightness of light +has a repellent power which keeps far away from all intermingling with +it everything that is evil. The old Greek mythologies tell us that the +radiant arrows of Apollo shot forth from his far-reaching bow, wounded +to death the monsters of the slime and unclean creatures that crawled +and revelled in darkness. And the myth has a great truth in it. The +light of God's face slays evil, of whatsoever kind it is; and just as +the unlovely, loathsome creatures that live in the dark and find +themselves at ease there writhe and wriggle in torment, and die when +their shelter is taken away and they are exposed to the light beating on +their soft bodies, so the light of God's face turned upon evil things +smites them into nothingness. Thus 'the secret of His countenance' is +the shelter of all that is good. + +Nor need I remind you how, in another aspect of the phrase, the 'light +of His face,' is the expression for His favour and loving regard, and +how true it is that in that favour and loving regard is the impregnable +fortress into which, entering, any man is safe. I said that the +expression the 'face of the Lord' roughly corresponded to the other one, +'the name of the Lord,' inasmuch as both meant the revealed aspect of +the divine nature. You may remember how we read, 'The name of the Lord +is a strong tower into which the righteous runneth and is safe.' The +'light' of the face of the Lord is His favour and loving regard falling +upon men. And who can be harmed with that lambent light--like sunshine +upon water, or upon a glittering shield--playing around Him? + +Only let us remember that for us 'the face of God' is Jesus Christ. He +is the 'arm' of the Lord; He is the 'name' of the Lord; He is the +'face.' All that we know of God we know through and in Him; all that we +see of God we see by the shining upon us of Him who is 'the eradiation +of His glory and the express image of His person.' So the open secret of +the 'face' of God is Jesus, the hiding-place of our souls. + +II. Secondly, notice God's hidden ones. + +My text carries us back, by that word 'them,' to the previous verse, +where we have a double description of those who are thus hidden in the +inaccessible light of His countenance. They are 'such as fear Thee,' and +'such as trust in Thee.' Now, that latter expression is congruous with +the metaphor of my text, in so far as the words on which we are now +engaged speak about a 'hiding-place,' and the word which is translated +'trust' literally means 'to flee to a refuge.' So they that flee to God +for refuge are those whom God hides in the 'secret of His face.' Let us +think of that for a moment. + +I said, in the beginning of these remarks, that there was here an +allusion, possibly, to the Temple. All temples in ancient times were +asylums. Whosoever could flee to grasp the horns of the altar, or to +sit, veiled and suppliant, before the image of the god, was secure from +his foes, who could not pass within the limits of the Temple grounds, in +which strife and murder were not permissible. We too often flee to other +gods and other temples for our refuges. Ay! and when we get there we +find that the deity whom we have invoked is only a marble image that +sits deaf, dumb, motionless, whilst we cling to its unconscious skirts. +As one of the saddest of our modern cynics once said, looking up at that +lovely impersonation of Greek beauty, the Venus de Milo, 'Ah! she is +fair; but she has no arms,' so we may say of all false refuges to which +men betake themselves. The goddess is powerless to help, however +beautiful the presentment of her may have seemed to our eyes. The evils +from which we have fled to these false deities and shelterless +sanctuaries will pursue us across the threshold; and as Elijah did with +the priests of Baal upon Carmel, will slay us at the very foot of the +altar to which we have clung, and vexed with our vain prayers. There is +only one shrine where there is a sanctuary, and that is the shrine above +which shines 'the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'; into the +brightness of which poor men may pass and therein may hide themselves. +God hides us, and His hiding is effectual, in the secret of the light +and splendour of His face. + +I said, too, that there was an allusion, as there is in all the psalms +that deal with men as God's guests, to the ancient customs of +hospitality, by which a man who has once entered the tent of the chief, +and partaken of food there, is safe, not only from his pursuers, but +from his host himself, even though that host should be the +kinsman-avenger. The red-handed murderer, who has eaten the salt of the +man whose duty it otherwise would have been to slay him where he stood, +is safe from his vengeance. And thus they who cast themselves upon God +have nothing to fear. No other hand can pluck them from the sanctuary of +His tent. He Himself, having admitted them to share His hospitality, +cannot and will not lift a hand against them. We are safe _from_ God +only when we are safe _in_ God. + +But remember the condition on which this security comes. 'Thou shalt +hide _them_ in the secret of Thy face.' Whom? Those that flee for refuge +to Thee. The act of simple faith is set forth there, by which a poor +man, with all his imperfections on his head, may yet venture to put his +foot across the boundary line that separates the outer darkness from the +beam of light that comes from God's face. 'Who among us shall dwell with +the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?' +That question does not mean, as it is often taken to mean--What mortal +can endure the punishments of a future life? but, Who can venture to be +God's guests? and it is equivalent to the other interrogation, 'Who +shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy +place?' The answer is, If you go to Him for refuge, knowing your danger, +feeling your impurity, _you_ may walk amidst all that light softened +into lambent beauty, as those Hebrew children did in the furnace of +fire, being at ease there, and feeling it well with themselves, and +having nothing about them consumed except the bonds that bound them. + +Remember that Jesus Christ is the Hiding-place, and that to flee to Him +for refuge is the condition of security, and all they who thus, from the +snares of life, from its miseries, disappointments, and burdens, from +the agitation of their own hearts, from the ebullition of their own +passions, from the stings of their own conscience, or from other of the +ills that flesh is heir to, make their hiding-place--by the simple act +of faith in Jesus Christ--in the light of God's face, are thereby safe +for evermore. + +But the initial act of fleeing to the refuge must be continued by +abiding in the refuge. It is of no use to take shelter in the light +unless we abide in the light. It is of no use to go to the Temple for +sanctuary unless we continue in it for sacrifice and worship. We must +'walk in the light as God is in the light.' That is to say, the +condition of being hid in God is, first of all, to take refuge in Jesus +Christ, and then to abide in Him by continual communion. 'Your life is +hid with Christ in God.' Unless we have a hidden life, deep beneath, and +high above, and far beyond the life of sense, we have no right to think +that the shelter of the Face will be security for us. The very essence +of Christianity is the habitual communion of heart, mind, and will with +God in Christ. Do you live in the light, or have you only gone there to +escape what you are afraid of? Do you live in the light by the continual +direction of thought and heart to Him, cultivating the habit of daily +and hourly communion with Him amidst the distractions of necessary duty, +care, and changing circumstances? + +But not only by communion, but also by conduct, must we keep in the +light. The fugitive found outside the city of refuge was fair game for +the avenger, and if he strayed beyond its bounds there was a sword in +his back before he knew where he was. Every Christian, by each sin, +whether it be acted or only thought, casts himself out of the light into +the darkness that rings it round, and out there he is a victim to the +beasts of prey that hunt in darkness. An eclipse of the sun is not +caused by any change in the sun, but by an opaque body, the offspring +and satellite of the earth, coming between the earth and sun. And so, +when Christian men lose the light of God's face, it is not because there +is any 'variableness or shadow of turning' in Him, but because between +Him and them has come the blackness--their own offspring--of their own +sin. You are not safe if you are outside the light of His countenance. +These are the conditions of security. + +III. Lastly, note what the hidden ones find in the light. + +This burst of confidence in my text comes from the Psalmist immediately +after plaintively pouring out his soul under the pressure of +afflictions. His experience may teach us the interpretation of his glad +assurance. + +God will keep all real evil from us if we keep near Him; but He will not +keep the externals that men call evil from us. I do not know whether +there is such a thing as filtering any poisons or malaria by means of +light, but I am sure that the light of God filters our atmosphere for +us. Though it may leave the external form of evil it takes all the +poison out of it and turns it into a harmless minister for our good. The +arrows that are launched at us may be tipped with venom when they leave +the bow, but if they pass through the radiant envelope of divine +protection that surrounds us--and they must have passed through that if +they reach us--it cleanses all the venom from the points though it +leaves the sharpness there. The evil is not an evil if it has got our +length; and its having touched us shows that He who lets it pass into +the light where His children safely dwell, knows that it cannot harm +them. + +But, again, we shall find if we live in continual communion with the +revealed Face of God, that we are elevated high above all the strife of +tongues and the noise of earth. We shall 'outsoar the shadow of the +night,' and be lifted to an elevation from which all the clamours of +earth will sound faint and poor, like the noises of the city to the +dwellers on the mountain peak. Nor do we find only security there, for +the word in the second clause of my text, 'Thou shalt _keep_ them +_secretly_,' is the same as is employed in the previous verse in +reference to the treasures which God _lays up_ for them that fear Him. +The poor men that trust in God, and the wealth which He has to lavish +upon them, are both hid, and they are hid in the same place. The +'goodness wrought before the sons of men' has not emptied the reservoir. +After all expenditure the massy ingots of gold in God's storehouse are +undiminished. The mercy still to come is greater than that already +received. 'To-morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant.' This +river broadens as we mount towards its source. + +Brethren! the Face of God must be either our dearest joy or our greatest +dread. There comes a time when you and I must front it, and look into +His eyes. It is for us to settle whether at that day we shall 'call upon +the rocks and the hills to hide us' from it, or whether we shall say +with rapture, 'Thou hast made us most blessed with Thy countenance'! +Which is it to be? It must be one or other. When He says, 'Seek ye My +Face,' may our hearts answer, 'Thy Face, Lord, will I seek,' that when +we see it hereafter, shining as the sun in his strength, its light may +not be darkness to our impure and horror-struck eyes. + + + + +A THREEFOLD THOUGHT OF SIN AND FORGIVENESS + + + 'Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is + covered. 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not + iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.' + --PSALM xxxii. 1, 2. + +This psalm, which has given healing to many a wounded conscience, comes +from the depths of a conscience which itself has been wounded and +healed. One must be very dull of hearing not to feel how it throbs with +emotion, and is, in fact, a gush of rapture from a heart experiencing in +its freshness the new joy of forgiveness. It matters very little who +wrote it. If we accept the superscription, which many of those who +usually reject these ancient Jewish notes do in the present case, the +psalm is David's, and it fits into some of the specific details of his +great sin and penitence. But that is of very small moment. Whoever wrote +it, he sings because he must. + +The psalm begins with an exclamation, for the clause would be better +translated, 'Oh! the blessedness of the man.' Then note the remarkable +accumulation of clauses, all expressing substantially the same thing, +but expressing it with a difference. The Psalmist's heart is too full to +be emptied by one utterance. He turns his jewel, as it were, round and +round, and at each turn it reflects the light from a different angle. +There are three clauses in my text, each substantially having the same +meaning, but which yet present that substantially identical meaning with +different shades. And that is true both in regard to the three words +which are employed to describe the fact of transgression, and to the +three which are employed to describe the fact of forgiveness. It is +mainly to these, and the large lessons which lie in observing the shades +of significance in them, that I wish to turn now. + +I. Note the solemn picture which is here drawn of various phases of sin. + +There are three words employed--'transgression,' 'sin,' 'iniquity.' They +all mean the same thing, but they mean it with a different association +of ideas and suggestions of its foulness. Let me take them in order. The +word translated 'transgression' seems literally to signify separation, +or rending apart, or departure, and hence comes to express the notion of +apostasy and rebellion. + +So, then, here is this thought; all sin is a going away. From what? +Rather the question should be--from _whom_? All sin is a departure from +God. And that is its deepest and darkest characteristic. And it is the +one that needs to be most urged, for it is the one that we are most apt +to forget. We are all ready enough to acknowledge faults; none of us +have any hesitation in saying that we have done wrong, and have gone +wrong. We are ready to recognise that we have transgressed the law; but +what about the Lawgiver? The personal element in every sin, great or +small, is that it is a voluntary rending of a union which exists, a +departure from God who is with us in the deepest recesses of our being, +unless we drag ourselves away from the support of His enclosing arm, and +from the illumination of His indwelling grace. + +So, dear brethren! this was the first and the gravest aspect under which +the penitent and the forgiven man in my text thought of his past, that +in it, when he was wildly and eagerly rushing after the low and sensuous +gratification of his worst desires, he was rebelling against, and +wandering far away from, the ever-present Friend, the all-encircling +support and joy, the Lord, his life. You do not understand the gravity +of the most trivial wrong act when you think of it as a sin against the +order of Nature, or against the law written on your heart, or as the +breach of the constitution of your own nature, or as a crime against +your fellows. You have not got to the bottom of the blackness until you +see that it is flat rebellion against God Himself. This is the true +devilish element in all our transgression, and this element is in it +all. Oh! if once we do get the habit formed and continued until it +becomes almost instinctive and spontaneous, of looking at each action of +our lives in immediate and direct relation to God, there would come such +an apocalypse as would startle some of us into salutary dread, and make +us all feel that 'it is an evil and a bitter thing' (and the two +characteristics must always go together), 'to depart from the living +God.' The great type of all wrongdoers is in that figure of the Prodigal +Son, and the essence of his fault was, first, that he selfishly demanded +for his own his father's goods; and, second, that he went away into a +far country. Your sins have separated between you and God. And when you +do those little acts of selfish indulgence which you do twenty times a +day, without a prick of conscience, each of them, trivial as it is, like +some newly-hatched poisonous serpent, a finger-length long, has in it +the serpent nature, it is rebellion and separation from God. + +Then another aspect of the same foul thing rises before the Psalmist's +mind. This evil which he has done, which I suppose was the sin in the +matter of Bathsheba, was not only rebellion against God, but it was, +according to this text, in the second clause, 'a sin,' by which is meant +literally _missing an aim_. So this word, in its pregnant meaning, +corresponds with the signification of the ordinary New Testament word +for sin, which also implies error, or missing that which ought to be the +goal of our lives. That is to say, whilst the former word regarded the +evil deed mainly in its relation to God, this word regards it mainly in +its relation to ourselves, and that which before Him is rebellion, the +assertion of my own individuality and my own will, and therefore in +separation from His will, is, considered in reference to myself, my +fatally missing the mark to which my whole energy and effort ought to be +directed. All sin, big or little, is a blunder. It never hits what it +aims at, and if it did, it is aiming at the wrong thing. So doubly, all +transgression is folly, and the true name for the doer is 'Thou fool!' +For every evil misses the mark which, regard being had to the man's +obvious destiny, he ought to aim at. 'Man's chief end is to glorify God +and to enjoy Him for ever'; and whosoever in all his successes fails to +realise that end is a failure through and through, in whatever smaller +matters he may seem to himself and to others to succeed. He only strikes +the target in the bull's eye who lets his arrows be deflected by no +gusts of passion, nor aimed wrong by any obliquity of vision; but with +firm hand and clear eye seeks and secures the absolute conformity of his +will to the Father's will, and makes God his aim and end in all things. +'Thou hast created us for Thyself, and only in Thee can we find rest.' O +brother! whatever be your aims and ends in life, take this for the +surest verity, that you have fatally misunderstood the purpose of your +being, and the object to which you should strain, if there is anything +except God, who is the supreme desire of your heart and the goal of your +life. All sin is missing the mark which God has set up for man. + +Therefore let us press to the mark where hangs the prize which whoso +possesses succeeds, whatsoever other trophies may have escaped his +grasp. + +But there is another aspect of this same thought, and that is that every +piece of evil misses its own shabby mark. 'A rogue is a round-about +fool.' No man ever gets, in doing wrong, the thing he did the wrong for, +or if he gets it, he gets something else along with it that takes all +the sweet taste out of it. The thief secures the booty, but he gets +penal servitude besides. Sin tempts us with glowing tales of the delight +to be found in drinking stolen waters and eating her bread in secret; +but sin lies by suppression of the truth, if not by suggestions of the +false, because she says never a word about the sickness and the headache +that come after the debauch, nor about the poison that we drink down +along with her sugared draughts. The paltering fiend keeps the word of +promise to the ear, and breaks it to the hope. All sin, great or little, +is a blunder, and missing of the mark. + +And lastly, yet another aspect of the ugly thing rises before the +Psalmist's eye. In reference to God, evil is separation and rebellion; +in reference to myself, it is an error and missing of my true goal; and +in reference to the straight standard and law of duty, it is, according +to the last of the three words for sin in the text, 'iniquity,' or, +literally, _something twisted_ or distorted. It is thus brought into +contrast with the right line of the plain, straight path in which we +ought to walk. We have the same metaphor in our own language. We talk +about things being right and wrong, by which we mean, in the one case, +parallel with the rigid law of duty, and in the other case, 'wrung,' or +wavering, crooked and divergent from it. There is a standard as well as +a Judge, and we have not only to think of evil as being rebellion +against God and separation from Him, and as, for ourselves, issuing in +fatal missing of the mark, but also as being divergent from the one +manifest law to which we ought to be conformed. The path to God is a +right line; the shortest road from earth to Heaven is absolutely +straight. The Czar of Russia, when railways were introduced into that +country, was asked to determine the line between St. Petersburg and +Moscow. He took a ruler and drew a straight line across the map, and +said, 'There!' Our Autocrat has drawn a line as straight as the road +from earth to Heaven, and by the side of it are 'the crooked, wandering +ways in which we live.' + +Take these three thoughts then--as for law, divergence; as for the aim +of my life, a fatal miss; as for God, my Friend and my Life, rebellion +and separation--and you have, if not the complete physiognomy of evil, +at least grave thoughts concerning it, which become all the graver when +we think that they are true about us and about our deeds. + +II. And so let me ask you to look secondly at the blessed picture drawn +here of the removal of the sin. + +There are three words here for forgiveness, each of which adds its quota +to the general thought. It is 'forgiven,' 'covered,' 'not imputed.' The +accumulation of synonyms not only sets forth various aspects of pardon, +but triumphantly celebrates the completeness and certainty of the gift. + +As to the first, it means literally to lift and bear away a load or +burden. As to the second, it means, plainly enough, to cover over, as +one might do some foul thing, that it may no longer offend the eye or +smell rank to Heaven. Bees in their hives, when there is anything +corrupt and too large for them to remove, fling a covering of wax over +it, and hermetically seal it, and no foul odour comes from it. And so a +man's sin is covered over and ceases to be _in evidence_, as it were +before the divine Eye that sees all things. He Himself casts a merciful +veil over it and hides it from Himself. A similar idea, though with a +modification in metaphor, is included in that last word, the sin is not +reckoned. God does not write it down in His Great Book on the debit side +of the man's account. And these three things, the lifting up and +carrying away of the load, the covering over of the obscene and ugly +thing, the non-reckoning in the account of the evil deed; these three +things taken together do set forth before us the great and blessed truth +that a man's transgressions may become, in so far as the divine heart +and the divine dealings with him are concerned, as if nonexistent. + +Men tell us that that is not possible and that it is immoral to preach a +doctrine of forgiveness. O dear brethren! there is no gospel to preach +that will touch a man's heart except the gospel that begins with +this--God bears away, covers over, does not reckon to a man, his +rebellions, his errors, his departures from the law of right. Sin _is_ +capable of forgiveness, and, blessed be God! every sin He is ready to +forgive. I should be ashamed of myself to stand here, and not preach a +gospel of pardon. I know not anything else that will touch consciences +and draw hearts except this gospel, which I am trying in my poor way to +lay upon your hearts. + +Notice how my text includes also a glance at the condition on our part +on which this absolute and utter annihilation of our wicked past is +possible. That last clause of my text, 'In whose spirit there is no +guile,' seems to me to refer to the frank sincerity of a confession, +which does not try to tell lies to God, and, attempting to deceive Him, +really deceives only the self-righteous sinner. Whosoever opens his +heart to God, makes a clean breast of it, and without equivocation or +self-deception or the palliations which self-love teaches, says, 'I have +played the fool and erred exceedingly,' to that man the Psalmist thinks +pardon is sure to come. + +Now remember that the very heart and centre of that Jewish system was an +altar, and that on that altar was sacrificed the expiatory victim. I am +not going to insist upon any theory of an atonement, but I do want to +urge this, that Christianity is nothing, if it have not explained and +taken up into itself that which was symbolised in that old ritual. The +very first words from human lips which proclaimed Christ's advent to man +were, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,' +and amongst the last words which Christ spoke upon earth, in the way of +teaching His disciples, were these, 'This is My blood, shed for many for +the remission of sins.' The Cross of Christ explains my psalm, the Cross +of Christ answers the confidence of the Psalmist, which was fed upon the +shadow of the good things to come. He has died, the Just for the unjust, +that the sins which were laid upon Him might be taken away, covered, and +not reckoned to us. + +Brethren! unless my sins are taken away by the Lamb of God they remain. +Unless they are laid upon Christ, they crush me. Unless they are covered +by His expiation, they lie there before the Throne of God, and cry for +punishment. Unless His blood has wiped out the record that is against +us, the black page stands for ever. And to you and me there will be said +one day, in a voice which we dare not dispute, 'Pay Me that thou owest!' +The blacker the sin the brighter the Christ. I would that I could lay +upon all your hearts this belief, 'the blood of Jesus Christ,' and +nothing else, 'cleanses from all sin!' + +III. I will touch in a word only upon the last thought suggested by the +text, and that is the blessedness of this removal of sin. + +As I said, my text is really an exclamation, a gush of rapture from a +heart that is tasting the fresh-drawn blessedness of pardon. And the +rest of the psalm is little more than an explanation of the various +aspects and phases of that blessedness. Let me just run over them in the +briefest possible manner. + +If we receive this forgiveness through Jesus Christ and our faith in +Him, then we have manifold blessedness in one. There is the blessedness +of deliverance from sullen remorse and of the dreadful pangs of an +accusing conscience. How vividly, and evidently as a transcript from a +page in his own autobiography, the Psalmist describes that condition, +'When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day +long'! When a man's heart is locked against confession he hears a tumult +of accusing voices within himself, and remorse and dread creep over his +heart. The pains of sullen remorse were never described more truly and +more dreadfully than in this context. 'Day and night Thy hand was heavy +upon me, my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.' Some of us +may know something of that. But there is a worse state than that, and +one or other of the two states belongs to us. If we have not found our +way into the liberty of confession and forgiveness, we have but a choice +between the pains of an awakened conscience and the desolation of a dead +one. It is worse to have no voice within than to have an accusing one. +It is worse to feel no pressure of a divine Hand than to feel it. And +they whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron have sounded the +lowest depths. They are perfectly comfortable, quite happy; they say all +these feelings that I am trying to suggest to you seem to them to be +folly. 'They make a solitude and call it peace.' It is an awful thing +when a man has come to this point, that he has got past the accusations +of conscience, and can swallow down the fiercest draughts without +feeling them burn. Dear brethren! there is only one deliverance from an +accusing conscience which does not murder the conscience, and that is +that we should find our way into the peace of God which is through +Christ Jesus and His atoning death. + +Then, again, my psalm goes on to speak about the blessedness of a close +clinging to God in peaceful trust, which will ensure security in the +midst of all trials, and a hiding-place against every storm. The +Psalmist uses a magnificent figure. God is to him as some rocky island, +steadfast and dry, in the midst of a widespread inundation; and taking +refuge there in the clefts of the rock, he looks down upon the tossing, +shoreless sea of troubles and sorrows that breaks upon the rocky +barriers of his Patmos, and stands safe and dry. Only through +forgiveness do we come into that close communion with God which ensures +safety in all disasters. + +And then there follows the blessedness of a gentle guidance and of a +loving obedience. 'Thou shalt guide me with Thine eye.' No need for +force, no need for bit and bridle, no need for anything but the glance +of the Father, which the child delights to obey. Docility, glad +obedience unprompted by fear, based upon love, are the fruits of pardon +through the blood of Christ. + +And, lastly, there is the blessedness of exuberant gladness; the joy +that comes from the sorrow according to God is a joy that will last. All +other delights, in their nature, are perishable; all other raptures, by +the very necessity of their being and of ours, die down, sometimes into +vanity, always into commonplace or indifference. But the joy that +springs in the pardoned heart, and is fed by closeness of communion with +God, and by continual obedience to His blessed guidance, has in it +nothing that can fade, nothing that can burn out, nothing that can be +disturbed. The deeper the penitence the surer the rebound into gladness. +The more a man goes down into the depths of his own heart and learns his +own evil, the more will he, trusting in Christ, rise into the serene +heights of thankfulness, and live, if not in rapture, at least in the +calm joy of conscious communion and unending fellowship. Every tear may +be crystallised into a diamond that shall flash in the light. And they, +and only they, who begin in the valley of weeping, confessing their sins +and imploring forgiveness through the merits and mediation of Jesus +Christ our Lord, will rise to heights of a joy that remains, and +remaining, is full. + + + + +THE ENCAMPING ANGEL + + + 'The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and + delivereth them.'--PSALM xxxiv. 7. + +If we accept the statement in the superscription of this psalm, it dates +from one of the darkest hours in David's life. His fortunes were never +lower than when he fled from Gath, the city of Goliath, to Adullam. He +never appears in a less noble light than when he feigned madness to +avert the dangers which he might well dread there. How unlike the terror +and self-degradation of the man who 'scrabbled on the doors,' and let +'the spittle run down his beard,' is the heroic and saintly constancy of +this noble psalm! And yet the contrast is not so violent as to make the +superscription improbable, and the tone of the whole well corresponds to +what we should expect from a man delivered from some great peril, but +still surrounded with dangers. There, in the safety of his retreat among +the rocks, with the bit of level ground where he had fought Goliath just +at his feet in the valley, and Gath, from which he had escaped, away +down at the mouth of the glen (if Conder's identification of Adullam be +correct), he sings his song of trust and praise; he hears the lions roar +among the rocks where Samson had found them in his day; he teaches his +'children,' the band of broken men who there began to gather around him, +the fear of the Lord; and calls upon them to help him in his praise. +What a picture of the outlaw and his wild followers tamed into something +like order, and lifted into something like worship, rises before us, if +we follow the guidance of that old commentary contained in the +superscription! + +The words of our text gain especial force and vividness by thus +localising the psalm. Not only 'the clefts of the rock' but the presence +of God's Angel is his defence; and round him is flung, not only the +strength of the hills, but the garrison and guard of heaven. + +It is generally supposed that the 'Angel of the Lord' here is to be +taken collectively, and that the meaning is--the 'bright-harnessed' +hosts of these divine messengers are as an army of protectors round them +who fear God. But I see no reason for departing from the simpler and +certainly grander meaning which results from taking the word in its +proper force of a singular. True, Scripture does speak of the legions of +ministering spirits, who in their chariots of fire were once seen by +suddenly opened eyes 'round about' a prophet in peril, and are ever +ministering to the heirs of salvation. But Scripture also speaks of One, +who is in an eminent sense 'the Angel of the Lord'; in whom, as in none +other, God sets His 'Name'; whose form, dimly seen, towers above even +the ranks of the angels that 'excel in strength'; whose offices and +attributes blend in mysterious fashion with those of God Himself. There +may be some little incongruity in thinking of the single Person as +'encamping round about' us; but that does not seem a sufficient reason +for obliterating the reference to that remarkable Old Testament +doctrine, the retention of which seems to me to add immensely to the +power of the words. + +Remember some of the places in which the 'Angel of the Lord' appears, in +order to appreciate more fully the grandeur of this promised protection. +At that supreme moment when Abraham 'took the knife to slay his son,' +the voice that 'called to him out of heaven' was 'the voice of the Angel +of the Lord.' He assumes the power of reversing a divine command. He +says, 'Thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from _Me_,' and +then pronounces a blessing, in the utterance of which one cannot +distinguish His voice from the voice of Jehovah. In like manner it is +the Angel of the Lord that speaks to Jacob, and says, 'I am the God of +Bethel.' The dying patriarch invokes in the same breath 'the God which +fed me all my life long,' 'the Angel which redeemed me from all evil,' +to bless the boys that stand before him, with their wondering eyes +gazing in awe on his blind face. It was that Angel's glory that appeared +to the outcast, flaming in the bush that burned unconsumed. It was He +who stood before the warrior leader of Israel, sword in hand, and +proclaimed Himself to be the Captain of the Lord's host, the Leader of +the armies of heaven, and the true Leader of the armies of Israel; and +His commands to Joshua, His lieutenant, are the commands of 'the Lord.' +And, to pass over other instances, Isaiah correctly sums up the spirit +of the whole earlier history in words which go far to lift the +conception of this Angel of the Lord out of the region of created +beings--'In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His +face saved them,' + +It is this lofty and mysterious Messenger, and not the hosts whom He +commands, that our Psalmist sees standing ready to help, as He once +stood, sword-bearing by the side of Joshua. To the warrior leader, to +the warrior Psalmist, He appears, as their needs required, armoured and +militant. The last of the prophets saw that dim, mysterious Figure, and +proclaimed, 'The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple; +even the Angel of the Covenant, whom ye delight in'; and to his gaze it +was wrapped in obscure majesty and terror of purifying flame. But for us +the true Messenger of the Lord is His Son, whom He has sent, in whom He +has put His name; who is the Angel of His face, in that we behold the +glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; who is the Angel of the +Covenant, in that He has sealed the new and everlasting covenant with +His blood; and whose own parting promise, 'Lo! I am with you always,' is +the highest fulfilment to us Christians of that ancient confidence: 'The +Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him.' + +Whatever view we adopt of the significance of the first part of the +text, the force and beauty of the metaphor in the second remain the +same. If this psalm were indeed the work of the fugitive in his rocky +hold at Adullam, how appropriate the thought becomes that his little +encampment has such a guard. It reminds one of the incident in Jacob's +life, when his timid and pacific nature was trembling at the prospect of +meeting Esau, and when, as he travelled along, encumbered with his +pastoral wealth, and scantily provided with means of defence, 'the +angels of God met him, and he named the place Mahanaim,' that is, two +camps--his own feeble company, mostly made up of women and children, and +that heavenly host that hovered above them. David's faith sees the same +defence encircling his weakness, and though sense saw no protection for +him and his men but their own strong arms and their mountain fastness, +his opened eyes beheld the mountain full of the chariots of fire, and +the flashing of armour and light in the darkness of his cave. + +The vision of the divine presence ever takes the form which our +circumstances most require. David's then need was safety and protection. +Therefore he saw the Encamping Angel; even as to Joshua the leader He +appeared as the Captain of the Lord's host; and as to Isaiah, in the +year that the throne of Judah was emptied by the death of the earthly +king, was given the vision of the Lord sitting on a throne, the King +Eternal and Immortal. So to us all His grace shapes its expression +according to our wants, and the same gift is Protean in its power of +transformation; being to one man wisdom, to another strength, to the +solitary companionship, to the sorrowful consolation, to the glad +sobering, to the thinker truth, to the worker practical force--to each +his heart's desire, if the heart's delight be God. So manifold are the +aspects of God's infinite sufficiency, that every soul, in every +possible variety of circumstance, will find there just what will suit +it. That armour fits every man who puts it on. That deep fountain is +like some of those fabled springs which give forth whatsoever precious +draught any thirsty lip asked. He takes the shape that our circumstances +most need. Let us see that we, on our parts, use our circumstances to +help us in anticipating the shapes in which God will draw near for our +help. + +Learn, too, from this image, in which the Psalmist appropriates to +himself the experience of a past generation, how we ought to feed our +confidence and enlarge our hopes by all God's past dealings with men. +David looks back to Jacob, and believes that the old fact is repeated in +his own day. So every old story is true for us; though outward form may +alter, inward substance remains the same. Mahanaim is still the name of +every place where a man who loves God pitches his tent. We may be +wandering, solitary, defenceless, but we are not alone. Our feeble +encampment may lie open to assault, and we be all unfit to guard it, but +the other camp is there too, and our enemies must force their way +through it before they get at us. We are in its centre--as they put the +cattle and the sick in the midst of the encampment on the prairies when +they fear an assault from the Indians--because we are so weak. Jacob's +experience may be ours: 'The Lord of Hosts is with us: the God of Jacob +is our refuge.' + +Only remember that the eye of faith alone can see that guard, and that +therefore we must labour to keep our consciousness of its reality fresh +and vivid. Many a man in David's little band saw nothing but cold gray +stone where David saw the flashing armour of the heavenly Warrior. To +the one all the mountain blazed with fiery chariots, to the other it was +a lone hillside, with the wind moaning among the rocks. We shall lose +the joy and the strength of that divine protection unless we honestly +and constantly try to keep our sense of it bright. Eyes that have been +gazing on earthly joys, or perhaps gloating on evil sights, cannot see +the Angel presence. A Christian man, on a road which he cannot travel +with a clear conscience, will see no angel, not even the Angel with the +drawn sword in His hand, that barred Balaam's path among the vineyards. +A man coming out of some room blazing with light cannot all at once see +into the violet depths of the mighty heavens, that lie above him with +all their shimmering stars. So this truth of our text is a truth of +faith, and the believing eye alone beholds the Angel of the Lord. + +Notice, too, that final word of deliverance. This psalm is continually +recurring to that idea. The word occurs four times in it, and the +thought still oftener. Whether the date is rightly given, as we have +assumed it to be, or not, at all events that harping upon this one +phrase indicates that some season of great trial was its birth-time, +when all the writer's thoughts were engrossed and his prayers summed up +in the one thing--deliverance. He is quite sure that such deliverance +must follow if the Angel presence be there. But he knows too that the +encampment of the Angel of the Lord will not keep away sorrows, and +trial, and sharp need. So his highest hope is not of immunity from +these, but of rescue out of them. And his ground of hope is that his +heavenly Ally cannot let him be overcome. That He will let him be +troubled and put in peril he has found; that He will not let him be +crushed he believes. Shadowed and modest hopes are the brightest we can +venture to cherish. The protection which we have is protection in, and +not protection from, strife and danger. It is a filter which lets the +icy cold water of sorrow drop numbing upon us, but keeps back the poison +that was in it. We have to fight, but He will fight with us; to sorrow, +but not alone nor without hope; to pass through many a peril, but we +shall get through them. Deliverance, which implies danger, need, and +woe, is the best we can hope for. + +It is the least we are entitled to expect if we love Him. It is the +certain issue of His encamping round about us. Always with us, He will +strike for us at the best moment. The Lord God is in the midst of her +always; 'the Lord will help her, and that right early.' So like the +hunted fugitive in Adullam we may lift up our confident voices even when +the stress of strife and sorrow is upon us; and though Gath be in sight +and Saul just over the hills, and we have no better refuge than a cave +in a hillside; yet in prophecy built upon our consciousness that the +Angel of the Covenant is with us now, we may antedate the deliverance +that shall be, and think of it as even now accomplished. So the Apostle, +when within sight of the block and the headsman's axe, broke into the +rapture of his last words: 'The Lord shall deliver me from every evil +work, and will preserve me to His heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for +ever and ever. Amen.' Was he wrong? + + + + +STRUGGLING AND SEEKING + + + 'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the + Lord shall not want any good thing.'--PSALM xxxiv. 10. + +If we may trust the superscription of this psalm, it was written by +David at one of the very darkest days of his wanderings, probably in the +Cave of Adullam, where he had gathered around him a band of outlaws, and +was living, to all appearance, a life uncommonly like that of a brigand +chief, in the hills. One might have pardoned him if, at such a moment, +some cloud of doubt or despondency had crept over his soul. But instead +of that his words are running over with gladness, and the psalm begins +'I will bless the Lord at all times, and His praise shall continually be +in my mouth.' Similarly here he avers, even at a moment when he wanted a +great deal of what the world calls 'good,' that 'they that seek the Lord +shall not want any good thing.' There were lions in Palestine in David's +time. He had had a fight with one of them, as you may remember, and his +lurking place was probably not far off the scene of Samson's exploits. +Very likely they were prowling about the rocky mouth of the cave, and he +weaves their howls into his psalm: 'The young lions do lack, and suffer +hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good.' + +So, then, here are the two thoughts--the struggle that always fails and +the seeking that always finds. + +I. The struggle that always fails. + +'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger.' They are taken as the type +of violent effort and struggle, as well as of supreme strength, but for +all their teeth and claws, and lithe spring, 'they lack, and suffer +hunger.' The suggestion is, that the men whose lives are one long fight +to appropriate to themselves more and more of outward good, are living a +kind of life that is fitter for beasts than for men. A fierce struggle +for material good is the true description of the sort of life that hosts +of us live. What is the meaning of all this cry that we hear about the +murderous competition going on round us? What is the true character of +the lives of, I am afraid, the majority of people in a city like +Manchester, but a fight and a struggle, a desire to have, and a failure +to obtain? Let us remember that that sort of existence is for the +brutes, and that there is a better way of getting what is good; the only +fit way for man. Beasts of prey, naturalists tell us, are always lean. +It is the graminivorous order that meekly and peacefully crop the +pastures that are well fed and in good condition--'which things are an +allegory.' + +'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger'--and that, being +interpreted, just states the fact to which every man's experience, and +the observation of every man that has an eye in his head, distinctly +say, 'Amen, it is so.' For there is no satisfaction or success ever to +be won by this way of fighting and struggling and scheming and springing +at the prey. For if we do not utterly fail, which is the lot of so many +of us, still partial success has little power of bringing perfect +satisfaction to a human spirit. One loss counterbalances any number of +gains. No matter how soft is the mattress, if there is one tiny thorn +sticking up through it all the softness goes for nothing. There is +always a Mordecai sitting at the gate when Haman goes prancing through +it on his white horse; and the presence of the unsympathetic and +stiff-backed Jew, sitting stolid at the gate, takes the gilt off the +gingerbread, and embitters the enjoyment. So men count up their +disappointments, and forget all their fulfilled hopes, count up their +losses and forget their gains. They think less of the thousands that +they have gained than of the half-crown that they were cheated of. + +In every way it is true that the little annoyances, like a grain of dust +in the sensitive eye, take all the sweetness out of mere material good, +and I suppose that there are no more bitterly disappointed men in this +world than the perfectly 'successful men,' as the world counts them. +They have been disillusionised in the process of acquisition. When they +were young and lusted after earthly good things, these seemed to be all +that they needed. When they are old, and have them, they find that they +are feeding on ashes, and the grit breaks their teeth, and irritates +their tongues. The 'young lions do lack' even when their roar and their +spring 'have secured the prey,' and 'they suffer hunger' even when they +have fed full. Ay! for if the utmost possible measure of success were +granted us, in any department in which the way of getting the thing is +this fighting and effort, we should be as far away from being at rest as +ever we were. + +You remember the old story of the _Arabian Nights_, about the wonderful +palace that was built by magic, and all whose windows were set in +precious stones, but there was one window that remained unadorned, and +that spoiled all for the owner. His palace was full of treasures, but an +enemy looked on all the wealth and suggested a previously unnoticed +defect by saying, 'You have not a roc's egg.' He had never thought about +getting a roc's egg, and did not know what it was. But the consciousness +of something lacking had been roused, and it marred his enjoyment of +what he had and drove him to set out on his travels to secure the +missing thing. There is always something lacking, for our desires grow +far faster than their satisfactions, and the more we have, the wider our +longing reaches out, so that as the wise old Book has it, 'He that +loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth +abundance with increase.' You cannot fill a soul with the whole +universe, if you do not put God in it. One of the greatest works of +fiction of modern times ends, or all but ends, with a sentence something +like this, 'Ah! who of us has what he wanted, or having it, is +satisfied?' 'The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger'--and the +struggle always fails--'but they that seek the Lord shall not want any +good thing.' + +II. The seeking which always finds. + +Now, how do we 'seek the Lord'? It is a metaphorical expression, of +course, which needs to be carefully interpreted in order not to lead us +into a great mistake. We do not seek Him as if He had not sought us, or +was hiding from us. But our search of Him is search after one who is +near every one of us, and who delights in nothing so much as in pouring +Himself into every heart and mind, and will and life, if only heart, +mind, will, life, are willing to accept Him. It is a short search that +the child by her mother's skirts, or her father's side, has to make for +mother or father. It is a shorter search that we have to make for God. + +We seek Him by desire. Do you want Him? A great many of us do not. We +seek Him by communion, by turning our thoughts to Him, amidst all the +rush of daily life, and such a turning of thought to Him, which is quite +possible, will prevent our most earnest working upon things material +from descending to the likeness of the lions' fighting for it. We seek +Him by desire, by communion, by obedience. And they who thus seek Him +find Him in the act of seeking Him, just as certainly as if I open my +eye I see the sun, or as if I dilate my lungs the atmosphere rushes into +them. For He is always seeking us. That is a beautiful word of our +Lord's to which we do not always attach all its value, 'The Father +_seeketh_ such to worship Him.' Why put the emphasis upon the 'such,' as +if it was a definition of the only kind of acceptable worship? It is +that. But we might put more emphasis upon the 'seeketh' without spoiling +the logic of the sentence; and thereby we should come nearer the truth +of what God's heart to us is, so that if we do seek Him, we shall surely +find. In this region, and in this region only, there is no search that +is vain, there is no effort that is foiled, there is no desire +unaccomplished, there is no failure possible. We each of us have, +accurately and precisely, as much of God as we desire to have. If there +is only a very little of the Water of Life in our vessels, it is because +we did not care to possess any more. 'Seek, and ye shall find.' + +We shall be sure to find everything in God. Look at the grand +confidence, and the utterance of a life's experience in these great +words: 'Shall not want any good.' For God is everything to us, and +everything else is nothing; and it is the presence of God in anything +that makes it truly able to satisfy our desires. Human love, sweet and +precious, dearest and best of all earthly possessions as it is, fails to +fill a heart unless the love grasps God as well as the beloved dying +creature. And so with regard to all other things. They are good when God +is in them, and when they are ours in God. They are nought when wrenched +away from Him. We are sure to find everything in Him, for this is the +very property of that infinite divine nature that is waiting to impart +itself to us, that, like water poured into a vessel, it will take the +shape of the vessel into which it is poured. Whatever is my need, the +one God will supply it all. + +You remember the old Rabbinical tradition which speaks a deep truth, +dressed in a fanciful shape. It says that the manna in the wilderness +tasted to every man just what he desired, whatever dainty or nutriment +he most wished; that the manna became like the magic cup in the old +fairy legends, out of which could be poured any precious liquor at the +pleasure of the man who was to drink it. The one God is everything to us +all, anything that we desire, and the thing that we need; Protean in His +manifestations, one in His sufficiency. With Him, as well as in Him, we +are sure to have all that we require. 'Seek ye first the Kingdom ... and +all these things shall be added unto you.' + +Let us begin, dear brethren! with seeking, and then our struggling will +not be violent, nor self-willed, nor will it fail. If we begin with +seeking, and have God, be sure that all we need we shall get, and that +what we do not get we do not need. It is hard to believe it when our +vehement wishes go out to something that His serene wisdom does not +send. It is hard to believe it when our bleeding hearts are being +wrenched away from something around which they have clung. But it is +true for all that. And he that can say, 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee, +and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee,' will find that +the things which he enjoys in subordination to his one supreme good are +a thousand times more precious when they are regarded as second than +they ever could be when our folly tried to make them first. 'Seek first +the Kingdom,' and be contented that the 'other things' shall be +appendices, additions, over and above the one thing that is needful. + +Now, all that is very old-fashioned, threadbare truth. Dear brethren! if +we believed it, and lived by it, 'the peace of God which passes +understanding' would 'keep our hearts and minds.' And, instead of +fighting and losing, and desiring to have and howling out because we +cannot obtain, we should patiently wait before Him, submissively ask, +earnestly seek, immediately find, and always possess and be satisfied +with, the one good for body, soul, and spirit, which is God Himself. + +'There be many that cry, Oh! that one would show as any good.' The wise +do not cry to men, but pray to God. 'Lord! lift Thou the light of Thy +countenance upon us.' + + + + +NO CONDEMNATION + + + 'None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.' + --PSALM xxxiv. 22. + +These words are very inadequately represented in the translation of the +Authorised Version. The Psalmist's closing declaration is something very +much deeper than that they who trust in God 'shall not be desolate.' If +you look at the previous clause, you will see that we must expect +something more than such a particular blessing as that:--'The Lord +redeemeth the soul of His servants.' It is a great drop from that +thought, instead of being a climax, to follow it with nothing more than, +'None of them that trust in Him shall be desolate.' But the Revised +Version accurately renders the words: 'None of them that trust in Him +shall be _condemned_.' There we have something that is worthy to follow +'The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants,' and we have a most +striking anticipation of the clearest and most Evangelical teaching of +the New Testament. + +The entirely New Testament tone of these words of the psalm comes out +still more clearly, if we recognise that, not only in the latter, but in +the former, part of the clause, we have one of the very keynotes of New +Testament teaching. When we read in the New Testament that 'we are +justified by faith,' the meaning is precisely the same as that of our +text. Thus, however it came about, here is this Psalmist, David or +another, standing away back amidst the shadows and symbols and +ritualisms of that Old Covenant, and rising at once above all the mists, +right up into the sunshine, and seeing, as clearly as we see it nineteen +centuries after Jesus Christ, that the way to escape condemnation is +simple faith. Let us look at both of the parts of these great words. We +consider-- + +I. The people that are spoken of here. + +'None of them that trust in Him'--I need not, I suppose, further dwell +upon the absolute identity shown by this phrase between the Old and the +New Testament conceptions; but I should like to make a remark, which I +dare say I have often made before--it cannot be made too often--that, +whatever be the differences between the Old and the New, this is not the +difference, that they present two different ways of approaching God. +There are a great many differences; the conception of the divine nature +is no doubt infinitely deepened, made more tender and more lofty, by the +thought of the Fatherhood of God. The contents of the revelation which +our faith is to grasp are brought out far more definitely and +articulately and fully in the New Testament. But in the Old, the road to +God was the same as it is to-day; and from the beginning there has only +been, and through all Eternity there will only be, one path by which men +can have access to the Father, and that is by faith. 'Trust' is the Old +Testament word, 'faith' is the New. They are absolutely identical, and +there would have been a flood of light--sorely needed by a great many +good people--cast upon the relations between those two complementary and +harmonious halves of a consistent whole, if our translators had not been +influenced by their unfortunate love for varying translations of the +same word, but had contented themselves with choosing one of these two +words 'trust' or 'faith,' and had used that one consistently and +uniformly throughout the Old and New books. Then we should have +understood, what anybody who will open his eyes can see now, that what +the New Testament magnifies as 'faith' is identical with what the Old +Testament sets forth as 'trust.' 'None of them that trust in Him shall +be condemned.' + +But there is one more remark to make on this matter, and that is that a +great flood of light, and of more than light, of encouragement and of +stimulus, is cast upon that saving exercise of trust by noticing the +literal meaning of the word that is rightly so rendered here. All those +words, especially in the Old Testament, that express emotions or acts of +the mind, originally applied to corporeal acts or material things. I +suppose that is so in all language. It is very conspicuously so in the +Hebrew. And the word that is here translated, rightly, 'trust,' means +literally to fly to a refuge, or to betake oneself to some defence in +order to get shelter there. + +There is a trace of both meanings, the literal and the metaphorical, in +another psalm, where we read, amidst the Psalmist's rapturous heaping +together of great names for God: 'My Rock, in whom I will trust.' Now +keep to the literal meaning there, and you see how it flashes up the +whole into beauty: 'My Rock, to whom I will flee for refuge,' and put my +back against it, and stand as impregnable as it; or get myself well into +the clefts of it, and then nothing can touch me. + + 'Rock of Ages! cleft for me, + Let me hide myself in Thee.' + +Then we find the same words, with the picture of flight and the reality +of faith, used with another set of associations in another psalm, which +says: 'He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt +thou trust.' That grates, one gets away from the metaphor too quickly; +but if we preserve the literal meaning, and read, 'under His wings shalt +thou flee for refuge,' we have the picture of the chicken flying to the +mother-bird when kites are in the sky, and huddling close to the warm +breast and the soft downy feathers, and so with the spread of the great +wing being sheltered from all possibility of harm. This psalm is +ascribed to David when he was in hiding. The superscription says that it +is 'a psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; +who drove him away, and he departed.' And where did he go? To the cave +in the rock. And as he sat in the mouth of it, with the rude arch +stretching above him, like the wings of some great bird, feeling himself +absolutely safe, he said, 'None of them that take refuge in Thee shall +be condemned.' + +Does not that metaphor teach us a great deal more of what faith is, and +encourage us far more to exercise it, than much theological +hair-splitting? What lies in the metaphor? Two things, the earnest +eagerness of the act of flight, and the absolute security which comes +when we have reached the shadow of the great Rock in a weary land. + +But there is one thing more that I would notice, and that is that this +designation of the persons as 'them that trust in Him' follows last of +all in a somewhat lengthened series of designations for good people. +They are these: 'the righteous'--'them that are of a broken +heart'--'such as be of a contrite spirit'--'His servants,' and then, +lastly, comes, as basis of all, as, so to speak, the keynote of all, +'none of them that _trust_ in Him.' That is to say--righteousness, true +and blessed pulverising of the obstinate insensibility of self alienated +from God, true and blessed consciousness of sin, joyful surrender of +self to loving and grateful submission to God's will, are all connected +with or flow from that act of trust in Him. And if you are trusting in +Him, in anything more than the mere formal, dead way in which multitudes +of nominal Christians in all our congregations are doing so, your trust +will produce all these various fruits of righteousness, and lowliness, +and joyful service. 'Faith' or 'trust' is the mother of all graces and +virtues, and it produces them all because it directly kindles the +creative flame of an answering love to Him in whom we trust. So much, +then, for the first part of my remarks. Consider, next-- + +II. The blessing here promised. + +'None of them that trust in Him shall be condemned.' The word which is +inadequately rendered 'desolate,' and more accurately 'condemned,' +includes the following varying shades of meaning, which, although they +are various, are all closely connected, as you will see--to incur guilt, +to feel guilty, to be condemned, to be punished. All these four are +inextricably blended together. And the fact that the one word in the Old +Testament covers all that ground suggests some very solemn thoughts. + +First of all, it suggests this, that guilt, or sin, and condemnation and +punishment, are, if not absolutely identical, inseparable. To be guilty +is to be condemned. That is to say, since we live, as we do, under the +continual grip of an infinitely wise and all-knowing law, and in the +presence of a Judge who not only sees us as we are, but treats us as He +sees us--sin and guilt go together, as every man knows that has a +conscience. And sin and guilt and condemnation and punishment go +together, as every man may see in the world, and experience in himself. +To be separated from God, which is the immediate effect of sin, is to +pass into hell here. 'Every transgression and disobedience,' not only +'shall receive its just recompense,' away out yonder, in some misty, +far-off, hypothetical future, but down here to-day. All sin works +automatically, and to do wrong is to be punished for doing it. + +Then my text suggests another solemn thought, and that is that this +judgment, this condemnation, is not only present, according to our +Lord's own great words, which perhaps are an allusion to these: 'He that +believeth not is condemned already'; but it also suggests the +universality of that condemnation. Our Psalmist says that only through +trusting Him can a man be taken and lifted away, as it were, from the +descent of the thundercloud, and its bolt that lies above his head. +'They that trust Him are not condemned,' every one else is; not 'shall +be,' but is, to-day, here and now. If there is a man or woman in my +audience now who is not exercising trust in God through Jesus Christ, on +that man or woman, young or old, cultivated or uncultivated, professing +Christian or not, there is bound the burden of their sin, which is the +crushing weight of their condemnation. + +So my text suggests, that the sole deliverance from this universal +pressure of the condemnatory influence of universal sin lies in that +fleeing for refuge to God. And then comes in the Christian addition, 'to +God, as manifested in Jesus Christ.' The Psalmist did not know that. All +the more wonderful is it that without the knowledge he should have risen +to the great thought of our text--all the more inexplicable unless you +believe that 'holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy +Ghost.' + +Wonderful it is still, but not unintelligible, if you believe that. But +you and I know more than this singer did; for we can listen to the +Master, who says, 'He that believeth on Him is not condemned'; and to +the servant who echoes--and perhaps both of them are alluding to our +psalm--'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in +Christ Jesus.' My faith, if it knits me to Jesus Christ, unties the +bonds by which my sin is bound upon me, for it makes me to share in His +Spirit, in His righteousness, in His glory. + +And so, dear brethren! the Psalmist, though he did not know it, may +point us away to the truth hidden from him, but sunlight clear for us, +that by simple trust we may receive the Saviour through whom all our +condemnation will pass away, and may be found in Him having the +'righteousness which is of God by faith.' + +'Not condemned'--Is that all? Are the blessings of the Gospel all to be +reduced to this mere negative expression? Certainly not. The Psalmist +could have said a great deal more, and in the previous context he does +say a great deal more. But to that restrained and moderate statement of +the case, which is far less than the facts of the case, 'he that +trusteth is not condemned,' let us add Paul's expansion, 'whom He called +them He also justified, and whom He justified them He also glorified.' + + + + +SKY, EARTH, AND SEA: A PARABLE OF GOD + + + 'Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; and Thy faithfulness reacheth + unto the clouds. 6. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; + Thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, Thou preservest man and + beast. 7. How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the + children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.' + --PSALM xxxvi. 5-7. + +This wonderful description of the manifold brightness of the divine +nature is introduced in this psalm with singular abruptness. It is set +side by side with a vivid picture of an evildoer, a man who mutters in +his own heart his godlessness, and with obstinate determination plans +and plots in forgetfulness of God. Without a word to break the violence +of the transition, side by side with that picture, the Psalmist sets +before us these thoughts of the character of God. He seems to feel that +that character was the only relief in the contemplation of the miserable +sights of which the earth is only too full. We should go mad when we +think of man's wickedness unless we could look up and see, with one +quick turn of the eye, the heaven opened and the throned Love that sits +up there gazing on all the chaos, and working to soothe sorrow, and to +purify evil. + +Perhaps there is another reason for this dramatic and striking swiftness +of contrast between the godless man and the revealed God. The true test +of a life is its power to bear the light of God being suddenly let in +upon it. How would yours look, my friend! if all at once a window in +heaven was opened, and God glared in upon you? Set your lives side by +side with Him. They always are side by side with Him whether you know it +or not; but you had better bring your 'deeds to the light that they may +be made manifest' now, than to have to do it as suddenly, and a great +deal more sorrowfully, when you are dragged out of the shows and +illusions of time, and He meets you on the threshold of another world. +Would a beam of light from God, coming in upon your life, be like a +light falling upon a gang of conspirators, that would make them huddle +all their implements under their cloaks, and scuttle out of the way as +fast as possible? Or would it be like a gleam of sunshine upon the +flowers, opening out their petals and wooing from them fragrance? Which? + +But I turn from such considerations as these to the more immediate +subject of my contemplations in this discourse. I have ventured to take +so great words for my text, though each clause would be more than enough +for many a sermon, because my aim now is a very modest one. I desire +simply to give, in the briefest way, the connection and mutual relation +of these wonderful words; not to attempt any adequate treatment of the +great thoughts which they contain, but only to set forth the meaning and +interdependence of these manifold names for the beams of the divine +light, which are presented here. The chief part of our text sets before +us God in the variety and boundlessness of His loving nature, and the +close of it shows us man sheltering beneath God's wings. These are the +two main themes for our present consideration. + +I. We have, first, God in the boundlessness of His loving nature. + +The one pure light of the divine nature is broken up, in the prism of +the psalm, into various rays, which theologians call, in their hard, +abstract way, divine attributes. These are 'mercy, faithfulness, +righteousness.' Then we have two sets of divine acts--'judgments,' and +the 'preservation' of man and beast; and finally we have again +'lovingkindness,' as our version has unfortunately been misled, by its +love for varying its translation, to render the same word which begins +the series and is there called 'mercy.' + +Now that 'mercy' or 'lovingkindness' of which my text thus speaks, is +very nearly equivalent to the New Testament 'love'; or, perhaps, still +more nearly equivalent to the New Testament 'grace.' Both the one and +the other mean substantially this--active love communicating itself to +creatures that are inferior and that might have expected something else +to befall them. Mercy is a modification of love, inasmuch as it is love +to an inferior. The hand is laid gently upon the man, because if it were +laid with all its weight it would crush him. It is the stooping goodness +of a king to a beggar. And mercy is likewise love in its exercise to +persons that might expect something else, being guilty. As a general +coming to a body of mutineers with pardon and favour upon his lips, +instead of with condemnation and death; so God comes to us forgiving and +blessing. All His goodness is forbearance, and His love is mercy, +because of the weakness, the lowliness, and the ill desert of us on whom +the love falls. + +Now notice that this same 'quality of mercy' stands here at the +beginning and at the end. All the attributes of the divine nature, all +the operations of the divine hand lie within the circle of His +mercy--like diamonds set in a golden ring. Mercy, or love flowing out in +blessings to inferior and guilty creatures, is the root and ground of +all God's character; it is the foundation and impulse of all His acts. +Modern science reduces all modes of physical energy to one, for which it +has no name but--energy. We are taught by God's own revelation of +Himself--and most especially by His final and perfect revelation of +Himself in Jesus Christ--to trace all forms of divine energy back to one +which David calls 'mercy,' which John calls 'love.' + +It is last as well as first, the final upshot of all revelation. The +last voice that speaks from Scripture has for its special message 'God +is Love.' The last voice that sounds from the completed history of the +world will have the same message, and the ultimate word of all +revelation, the end of the whole of the majestic unfolding of God's +purposes will be the proclamation to the four corners of the universe, +as from the trump of the Archangel, of the name of God as Love. The +northern and the southern poles of the great sphere are one and the +same, a straight axle through the very heart of it, from which the +bounding lines swell out to the equator, and towards which they converge +again on the opposite side of the world. So mercy is the strong +axletree, the northern pole and the southern, on which the whole world +of the divine perfections revolves and moves. The first and last, the +Alpha and Omega of God, beginning and crowning and summing up all His +being and His work, is His mercy, His lovingkindness. + +But next to mercy comes faithfulness. 'Thy faithfulness reacheth unto +the clouds.' God's faithfulness is in its narrowest sense His adherence +to His promises. It implies, in that sense, a verbal revelation, and +definite words from Him pledging Him to a certain line of action. 'He +hath said, and shall He not do it?' 'He will not alter the thing that is +gone out of His lips.' It is only a God who has actually spoken to men +who can be a 'faithful God.' He will not palter with a double sense, +'keeping His word of promise to the ear, and breaking it to the hope.' + +But not only His articulate promises, but also His own past actions, +bind Him. He is always true to these; and not only continues to do as He +has done, but discharges every obligation which His past imposes on Him. +The ostrich was said to leave its eggs to be hatched in the sand. Men +bring men into positions of dependence, and then lightly shake +responsibility from careless shoulders. But God accepts the cares laid +upon Him by His own acts, and discharges them to the last jot. He is a +'faithful Creator.' Creation brings obligations with it; obligations for +the creature; obligations for the Creator. If God makes a being, God is +bound to take care of the being that He has made. If He makes a being in +a given fashion, He is bound to provide for the necessities that He has +created. According to the old proverb, if He makes mouths it is His +business to feed them. And He recognises the obligation. His past binds +Him to certain conduct in His future. We can lay hold on the former +manifestation, and we can plead it with Him. 'Thou hast been, and +therefore Thou must be.' 'Thou hast taught me to trust in Thee; +vindicate and warrant my trust by Thy unchangeableness.' So His word, +His acts, and His own nature, bind God to bless and help. His +faithfulness is the expression of His unchangeableness. 'Because He +could swear by no greater, He sware by Himself.' + +Take, then, these two thoughts of God's lovingkindness and of God's +faithfulness and weave them together, and see what a strong cord they +are to which a man may cling, and in all His weakness be sure that it +will never give nor break. Mercy might be transient and arbitrary, but +when you braid in 'faithfulness' along with it, it becomes fixed as the +pillars of heaven, and immutable as the throne of God. Only when we are +sure of God's faithfulness can we lift up thankful voices to Him, +'because His mercy endureth for ever.' A despotic monarch may be all +full of tenderness at this moment, and all full of wrath and sternness +the next. He may have a whim of favour to-day, and a whim of severity +to-morrow, and no man can say, 'What doest thou?' But God is not a +despot. He has, so to speak, 'decreed a constitution.' He has limited +Himself. He has marked out His path across the great wide region of +possibilities of the divine action; He has buoyed out His channel on +that ocean, and declared to us His purposes. So we can reckon on God, as +astronomers can foretell the motions of the stars. We can plead His +faithfulness along with His love, and feel that the one makes sure that +the other shall be from everlasting to everlasting. + +The next beam of the divine brightness is righteousness. 'Thy +righteousness is like the great mountains.' Righteousness is not to be +taken here in its narrow sense of stern retribution which gives to the +evildoer the punishment that he deserves. There is no thought here, +whatever there may be in other places in Scripture, of any opposition +between mercy and righteousness, but the notion of righteousness here is +a broader and greater one. It is just this, to put it into other words, +that God has a law for His being to which He conforms; and that +whatsoever things are fair and lovely, and good, and pure down here, +those things are fair, and lovely, and good, and pure up there; that He +is the Archetype of all excellence, the Ideal of all moral completeness: +that we can know enough of Him to be sure of this that what we call +right He loves, and what we call right He practises. + +Brethren! unless we have that for the very foundation of our thoughts of +God, we have no foundation to rest on. Unless we feel and know that 'the +Judge of all the earth doeth right,' and is right, and law and +righteousness have their home and seat in His bosom, and are the +expression of His inmost being, then I know not where our confidence can +be built. Unless 'Thy righteousness, like the great mountains,' +surrounds and guards the low plain of our lives, they will lie open to +all foes. + +Then, next, we pass from the divine character to the divine acts. Mercy, +faithfulness, and righteousness all converge and flow into the great +river of the divine 'judgments.' + +By judgments are not meant merely the acts of God's punitive +righteousness, the retributions that destroy evildoers, but all God's +decisions and acts in regard to man. Or, to put it into other and +briefer words, God's judgments are the whole of the 'ways,' the methods +of the divine government. So Paul, alluding to this very passage when he +says 'How unsearchable are Thy judgments!' adds, as a parallel clause, +meaning the same thing, 'and Thy ways past finding out.' That includes +all which men call, in a narrower sense, judgments, but it includes, +too, all acts of kindness and loving gifts. God's judgments are the +expressions of His thoughts, and these thoughts are thoughts of good and +not of evil. + +But notice, in the next place, the boundlessness of all these +characteristics of the divine nature. + +'Thy mercy is in the heavens,' towering up above the stars, and dwelling +there, like some divine ether filling all space. The heavens are the +home of light, the source of every blessing, arching over every head, +rimming every horizon, holding all the stars, opening into abysses as we +gaze, with us by night and by day, undimmed by the mist and smoke of +earth, unchanged by the lapse of centuries; ever seen, never reached, +bending over us always, always far above us. So the mercy of God towers +above us, and stoops down towards us, rims us all about and arches over +us all, sheds down its dewy benedictions by night and by day; is filled +with a million stars and light-points of duty and of splendour; is near +us ever to bless and succour and help, and holds us all in its blue +round. + +'Thy faithfulness reacheth to the clouds.' Strange that God's fixed +faithfulness should be compared to the very emblems of mutation. The +clouds are unstable, they whirl and melt and change. Strange to think of +the unalterable faithfulness as reaching to them! May it not be that the +very mutability of the mutable may be the means of manifesting the +unalterable sameness of God's faithful purpose, of His unchangeable +love, and of His ever consistent dealings? May not the apparent +incongruity be a part of the felicity of the bold words? Is it not true +that earthly things, as they change their forms and melt away, leaving +no track behind, phantomlike as they are, do still obey the behests of +that divine faithfulness, and gather and dissolve and break in brief +showers of blessing, or short, sharp crashes of storm, at the bidding of +that steadfast purpose which works out one unalterable design by a +thousand instruments, and changeth all things, being in itself +unchanged? The thing that is eternal, even the faithfulness of God, +dwells amid, and shows itself through, the things that are temporal, the +flying clouds of change. + +Again, 'Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.' Like these, its +roots are fast and stable; like these, it stands firm for ever; like +these, its summits touch the fleeting clouds of human circumstance; like +these, it is a shelter and a refuge, inaccessible in its steepest peaks, +but affording many a cleft in its rocks, where a man may hide and be +safe. But, unlike these, it knew no beginning, and shall know no end. +Emblems of permanence as they are, though Olivet looks down on Jerusalem +as it did when Melchizedek was its king, and Tabor and Hermon stand as +they did before human lips had named them, they are wearing away by +winter storms and summer heats. But, as Isaiah has taught us, when the +earth is old, God's might and mercy are young; for 'the mountains shall +depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from +thee.' 'The earth shall wax old like a garment, but My righteousness +shall not be abolished.' It is more stable than the mountains, and +firmer than the firmest things upon earth. + +Then, with wonderful poetical beauty and vividness of contrast, there +follows upon the emblem of the great mountains of God's righteousness +the emblem of the 'mighty deep' of His judgments. Here towers Vesuvius; +there at its feet lie the waters of the bay. So the righteousness +springs up like some great cliff, rising sheer from the water's edge, +while its feet are laved by the sea of the divine judgments, +unfathomable and shoreless. The mountains and the sea are the two +grandest things in nature, and in their combination sublime; the one the +home of calm and silence, the other in perpetual motion. But the +mountain's roots are deeper than the depths of the sea, and though the +judgments are a mighty deep, the righteousness is deeper, and is the bed +of the ocean. + +The metaphor, of course, implies obscurity, but what sort of obscurity? +The obscurity of the sea. And what sort of obscurity is that? Not that +which comes from mud, or anything added, but that which comes from +depth. As far as a man can see down into its blue-green depths they are +clear and translucent; but where the light fails and the eye fails, +there comes what we call obscurity. The sea is clear, but our sight is +limited. + +And so there is no arbitrary obscurity in God's dealings, and we know as +much about them as it is possible for us to know; but we cannot see to +the bottom. A man on the cliff can look much deeper into the ocean than +a man on the level beach. The higher you climb the further you will see +down into the 'sea of glass mingled with fire' that lies placid before +God's throne. Let us remember that it is a hazardous thing to judge of a +picture before it is finished; of a building before the scaffolding is +pulled down, and it is as hazardous for us to say about any deed or any +revealed truth that it is inconsistent with the divine character. Wait a +bit; wait a bit! 'Thy judgments are a great deep.' The deep will be +drained off one day, and you will see the bottom of it. 'Judge nothing +before the time.' + +But as an aid to patience and faith hearken how the Psalmist finishes up +his contemplations: 'O Lord! Thou preservest man and beast.' Very well +then, all this mercy, faithfulness, righteousness, judgment, high as the +heavens, deep as the ocean, firm as the hills, it is all working for +this--to keep the millions of living creatures round about us, and +ourselves, in life and well-being. The mountain is high, the deep is +profound. Between the mountain and the sea there is a strip of level +land. God's righteousness towers above us; God's judgments go down +beneath us; we can scarcely measure adequately the one or the other. But +upon the level where we live there are the green fields where the cattle +browse, and the birds sing, and men live and till and reap and are fed. +That is to say, we all have enough in the plain, patent facts of +creation and preservation of man and animal life in this world to make +us quite sure of what is the principle that prevails up to the very top +of the inaccessible mountains, and down to the very bottom of the +unfathomable deep. What we know of Him, in the blessings of His love and +providence, ought to interpret for us all that is perplexing. What we +understand is good and loving. Let us be sure that what we do not yet +understand is good and loving too. The web is of one texture throughout. +The least educated ear can catch the music of the simpler melodies which +run through the Great Composer's work. We shall one day be able to +appreciate the yet fuller music of the more recondite parts, which to us +at present seem only jangling and discord. It is not His melody but our +ears that are at fault. But we may well accept the obscurity of the +mighty deep of God's judgment, when we can see plainly that, after all, +the earth is full of His mercy, and that 'the eyes of all things wait on +God, and He giveth them their meat in due season.' + +II. So much, then, for the great picture here of these boundless +characteristics of the divine nature. Now let us look for a moment at +the picture of man sheltering beneath God's wings. + +'How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of +men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.' God's +lovingkindness, or mercy, as I explained the word might be rendered, is +_precious_, for that is the true meaning of the word translated +'excellent.' We are rich when we have that for ours; we are poor without +it. Our true wealth is to possess God's love, and to know in thought and +realise in feeling and reciprocate in affection His grace and goodness, +the beauty and perfectness of His wondrous character. That man is +wealthy who has God on his side; that man is a pauper who has not God +for his. + +'How precious is Thy lovingkindness, _therefore_ the children of men put +their trust.' There is only one thing that will ever win a man's heart +to love God, and that is that God should love him first, and let him see +it. 'We love Him because He first loved us,' is the New Testament +teaching. Is it not all adumbrated and foretold in these words: 'How +precious is Thy loving-kindness, O God! therefore the children of men +put their trust'? + +We may be driven to worship after a sort by power; we may be smitten +into some cold admiration, into some kind of reluctant subjection and +trembling reverence, by the manifestation of divine perfections. But +there is only one thing that wins a man's heart, and that is the sight +of God's heart; and it is only when we know how precious His +lovingkindness is that we shall be drawn towards Him. + +And then this last verse tells us how we can make God our own: 'They put +their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.' The word here rendered, and +accurately rendered, 'put their trust,' has a very beautiful literal +meaning. It means to flee for refuge, as the manslayer might flee into +the strong city, or as Lot did out of Sodom to the little city on the +hill, or as David did into the cave from his enemies. So, with such +haste, with such intensity, staying for nothing, and with the effort of +your whole will and nature, flee to God. That is trust. Go to Him for +refuge from all evil, from all harm, from your own souls, from all sin, +from hell, and death, and the devil. + +Put your trust under 'the shadow of His wings.' That is a beautiful +image, drawn, probably, from the grand words of Deuteronomy, where God +is likened to the 'eagle stirring up her nest, fluttering over her +young,' with tenderness in her fierce eye, and protecting strength in +the sweep of her mighty pinion. So God spreads the covert of His wing, +strong and tender, beneath which we may all gather ourselves and nestle. + +And how can we do that? By the simple process of fleeing unto Him, as +made known to us in Christ our Saviour; to hide ourselves there. For let +us not forget how even the tenderness of this metaphor was increased by +its shape on the tender lips of the Lord: 'How often would I have +gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under +her wings!' The Old Testament took the emblem of the eagle, sovereign, +and strong, and fierce; the New Testament took the emblem of the +domestic fowl, peaceable, and gentle, and affectionate. Let us flee to +that Christ, by humble faith with the plea on our lips-- + + 'Cover my defenceless head + With the shadow of Thy wing'; + +and then all the Godhead in its mercy, its faithfulness, its +righteousness, and its judgments will be on our side; and we shall know +how precious is the lovingkindness of the Lord, and find in Him the home +and hiding-place of our hearts for ever. + + + + +WHAT MEN FIND BENEATH THE WINGS OF GOD + + + 'They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; + and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures. 9. For + with Thee is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light.' + --PSALM xxxvi. 8, 9. + +In the preceding verses we saw a wonderful picture of the boundless +perfections of God; His lovingkindness, faithfulness, righteousness, and +of His twofold act, the depths of His judgments and the plainness of His +merciful preservation of man and beast. In these verses we have an +equally wonderful picture of the blessedness of the godly, the elements +of which consist in four things: satisfaction, represented under the +emblem of a feast; joy, represented under the imagery of full draughts +from a flowing river of delight; life, pouring from God as a fountain; +light, streaming from Him as source. + +And this picture is connected with the previous one by a very simple +link. Who are they who 'shall be abundantly satisfied'? The men 'who put +their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.' That is to say, the simple +exercise of confidence in God is the channel through which all the +fulness of divinity passes into and fills our emptiness. + +Observe, too, that the whole of the blessings here promised are to be +regarded as present and not future. 'They shall be abundantly satisfied' +would be far more truly rendered in consonance with the Hebrew: 'They +_are_ satisfied'; and so also we should read 'Thou _dost_ make them +drink of the river of Thy pleasures; in Thy light _do_ we see light.' +The Psalmist is not speaking of any future blessedness, to be realised +in some far-off, indefinite day to come, but of what is possible even in +this cloudy and sorrowful life. My text was true on the hills of +Palestine, on the day when it was spoken; it may be true amongst the +alleys of Manchester to-day. My purpose at this time is simply to deal +with the four elements in which this blessedness consists--satisfaction, +joy, life, light. + +I. Satisfaction: 'They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of +Thy house.' + +Now, I suppose, there is a double metaphor in that. There is an +allusion, no doubt, to the festal meal of priests and worshippers in the +Temple, on occasion of the peace-offering, and there is also the simpler +metaphor of God as the Host at His table, at which we are guests. 'Thy +house' may either be, in the narrower sense, the Temple; and then all +life is represented as being a glad sacrificial meal in His presence, of +which 'the meek shall eat and be satisfied,' or Thy 'house' may be taken +in a more general sense; and then all life is represented as the +gathering of children round the abundant board which their Father's +providence spreads for them, and as glad feasting in the 'mansions' of +the Father's house. + +In either case the plain teaching of the text is, that by the might of a +calm trust in God the whole mass of a man's desires are filled and +satisfied. What do we want to satisfy us? It is something almost awful +to think of the multiplicity, and the variety, and the imperativeness of +the raging desires which every human soul carries about within it. The +heart is like a nest of callow fledglings, every one of them a great, +wide open, gaping beak, that ever needs to have food put into it. Heart, +mind, will, appetites, tastes, inclinations, weaknesses, bodily +wants--the whole crowd of these are crying for their meat. The Book of +Proverbs says there are three things that are never satisfied: the +grave, the earth that is not filled with water, and the fire that never +says, 'It is enough.' And we may add a fourth, the human heart, +insatiable as the grave; thirsty as the sands, on which you may pour +Niagara, and it will drink it all up and be ready for more; fierce as +the fire that licks up everything within reach and still hungers. + +So, though we be poor and weak creatures, we want much to make us +restful. We want no less than that every appetite, desire, need, +inclination shall be filled to the full; that all shall be filled to the +full at once, and that by one thing; that all shall be filled to the +full at once, by one thing that shall last for ever. Else we shall be +like men whose store of provision gives out before they are half-way +across the desert. And we need that all our desires shall be filled at +once by one thing that is so much greater than ourselves that we shall +grow up towards it, and towards it, and towards it, and yet never be +able to exhaust or surpass it. + +Where are you going to get that? There is only one answer, dear +brethren! to the question, and that is--God, and God alone is the food +of the heart; God, and God alone, will satisfy your need. Let us bring +the full Christian truth to bear upon the illustration of these words. +Who was it that said, 'I am the Bread of Life. He that cometh unto Me +shall never hunger'? Christ will feed my mind with truth if I will +accept His revelation of Himself, of God, and of all things. Christ will +feed my heart with love if I will open my heart for the entrance of His +love. Christ will feed my will with blessed commands if I will submit +myself to His sweet and gentle, and yet imperative, authority. Christ +will satisfy all my longings and desires with His own great fulness. +Other food palls upon man's appetite, and we wish for change; and +physiologists tell us that a less wholesome and nutritious diet, if +varied, is better for a man's health than a more nutritious one if +uniform and monotonous. But in Christ there are all constituents that +are needed for the building up of the human spirit, and so we never +weary of Him if we only know His sweetness. After a world of hungry men +have fed upon Him, He remains inexhaustible as at the beginning; like +the bread in His own miracles, of which the pieces that were broken and +ready to be given to the eaters were more than the original stock, as it +appeared when the meal began, or like the fabled feast in the Norse +Walhalla, to which the gods sit down to-day, and to-morrow it is all +there on the board, as abundant and full as ever. So if we have Christ +to live upon, we shall know no hunger; and 'in the days of famine we +shall be satisfied.' + +O brethren! have you ever known what it is to feel that your hungry +heart is at rest? Did you ever know what it is to say, 'It is enough'? +Have you anything that satisfies your appetite and makes you blessed? +Surely, men's eager haste to get more of the world's dainties shows that +there is no satisfaction at its table. Why will you 'spend your money +for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which satisfieth +not,' as Indians in famine eat clay which fills their stomachs, but +neither stays hunger, nor ministers strength? Eat and your soul shall +live. + +II. Now, turn to the next of the elements of blessedness here--Joy. +'Thou makest them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.' + +There may be a possible reference here, couched in the word 'pleasures,' +to the Garden of Eden, with the river that watered it parting into four +heads; for 'Eden' is the singular of the word which is here translated +'pleasures' or 'delight.' If we take that reference, which is very +questionable, there would be suggested the thought that amidst all the +pain and weariness of this desert life of ours, though the gates of +Paradise are shut against us, they who dwell beneath the shadow of the +divine wing really have a paradise blooming around them; and have +flowing ever by their side, with tinkling music, the paradisaical river +of delights, in which they may bathe and swim, and of which they may +drink. Certainly the joys of communion with God surpass any which +unfallen Eden could have boasted. + +But, at all events, the plain teaching of the text is that the simple +act of trusting beneath the shadow of God's wings brings to us an ever +fresh and flowing river of gladness, of which we may drink. The whole +conception of religion in the Bible is gladsome. There is no puritanical +gloom about it. True, a Christian man has sources of sadness which other +men have not. There is the consciousness of his own sin, and the contest +that he has daily to wage; and all things take a soberer colouring to +the eye that has been accustomed to look, however dimly, upon God. Many +of the sources of earthly felicity are dammed up and shut off from us if +we are living beneath the shadow of God's wings. Life will seem to be +sterner, and graver, and sadder than the lives 'that ring with idiot +laughter solely,' and have no music because they have no melancholy in +them. That cannot be helped. But what does it matter though two or three +surface streams, which are little better than drains for sewage, be +stopped up, if the 'pure river of the water of life' is turned into your +hearts? Surely it will be a gain if the sadness which has joy for its +very foundation is yours, instead of the laughter which is only a +mocking mask for a death's head, and of which it is true that even 'in +laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is +heaviness.' Better to be 'sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,' than to be +glad on the surface, with a perpetual sorrow and unrest gnawing at the +root of your life. + +And if it be true that the whole Biblical conception of religion is of a +glad thing, then, my brother! it is your duty, if you are a Christian +man, to be glad, whatever temptations there may be in your way to be +sorrowful. It is a hard lesson, and one which is not always insisted +upon. We hear a great deal about other Christian duties. We do not hear +so much as we ought about the Christian duty of gladness. It takes a +very robust faith to say, 'Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, +neither shall fruit be in the vine, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I +will joy in the God of my salvation,' but unless we can say it, there is +an attainment of Christian life yet unreached, to which we have to +aspire. + +But be that as it may, my point is simply this--that all real and +profound possession of, and communion with, God in Christ will make us +glad; glad with a gladness altogether unlike that of the world round +about us, far deeper, far quieter, far nobler, the sister and the ally +of all great things, of all pure life, of all generous and lofty +thought. And where is it to be found? Only in fellowship with Him. 'The +river of Thy pleasures' may mean something yet more solemn and wonderful +than pleasures of which He is the Author. It may mean pleasures _which +He shares_, the very delights of the divine nature itself. The more we +come into fellowship with Him, the more shall we share in the very joy +of God Himself. And what is His joy? He delights in mercy; He delights +in self-communication: He is the blessed, the happy God, because He is +the giving God. He delights in His love. He 'rejoices over' His penitent +child 'with singing,' + +In that blessedness we may share; or if that be too high and mystical a +thought, may we not remember who it was that said: 'These things speak I +unto you that My joy may remain in you'; and who it is that will one day +say to the faithful servant: 'Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord'? +Christ makes us drink of the river of His pleasures. The Shepherd and +the sheep drink from the same stream, and the gladness which filled the +heart of the Man of Sorrows, and lay deeper than all His sorrows, He +imparts to all them that put their trust in Him. + +So, dear brethren! what a blessing it is for us to have, as we may have, +a source of joy, frozen by no winter, dried up by no summer, muddied and +corrupted by no iridescent scum of putrefaction which ever mantles over +the stagnant ponds of earthly joys! Like some citadel that has an +unfailing well in its courtyard, we may have a fountain of gladness +within ourselves which nothing that touches the outside can cut off. We +have but to lap a hasty mouthful of earthly joys as we run, but we +cannot drink too full draughts of this pure river of water which makes +glad the city of God. + +III. We have the third element of the blessedness of the godly +represented under the metaphor of Life, pouring from the fountain, which +is God. 'With Thee is the fountain of life.' + +The words are true in regard to the lowest meaning of 'life'--physical +existence--and they give a wonderful idea of the connection between God +and all living creatures. The fountain rises, the spray on the summit +catches the sunlight for a moment, and then falls into the basin, jet +after jet springing up into the light, and in its turn recoiling into +the darkness. The water in the fountain, the water in the spray, the +water in the basin, are all one. Wherever there is life there is God. +The creature is bound to the Creator by a mystic bond and tie of +kinship, by the fact of life. The mystery of life knits all living +things with God. It is a spark, wherever it burns, from the central +flame. It is a drop, wherever it is found, from the great fountain. It +is in man the breath of God's nostrils. It is not a gift given by a +Creator who dwells apart, having made living things, as a watchmaker +might a watch, and then 'seeing them go.' But there is a deep mystic +union between the God who has life in Himself and all the living +creatures who draw their life from Him, which we cannot express better +than by that image of our text, 'With Thee is the fountain of life.' + +But my text speaks about a blessing belonging to the men who put their +trust under the shadow of God's wing, and therefore it does not refer +merely to physical existence, but to something higher than that, namely, +to that life of the spirit in communion with God, which is the true and +the proper sense of 'life'; the one, namely, in which the word is almost +always used in the Bible. + +There is such a thing as death in life; living men may be 'dead in +trespasses and sins,' 'dead in pleasure,' dead in selfishness. The awful +vision of Coleridge in the _Ancient Mariner_, of dead men standing up +and pulling at the ropes, is only a picture of the realities of life; +where, as on some Witches' Sabbath, corpses move about and take part in +the activities of this dead world. There are people full of energy in +regard of worldly things, who yet are all dead to that higher region, +the realities of which they have never seen, the actions of which they +have never done, the emotions of which they have never felt. Am I +speaking to such living corpses now? There are some of my audience alive +to the world, alive to animalism, alive to lust, alive to passion, alive +to earth, alive perhaps to thought, alive to duty, alive to conduct of a +high and noble kind, but yet dead to God, and, therefore, dead to the +highest and noblest of all realities. Answer for yourselves the +question--do you belong to this class? + +There is life for you in Jesus Christ, who '_is_ the Life.' Like the +great aqueducts that stretch from the hills across the Roman Campagna, +His Incarnation brings the waters of the fountain from the mountains of +God into the lower levels of our nature, and the fetid alleys of our +sins. The cool, sparkling treasure is carried near to every lip. If we +drink, we live. If we will not, we die in our sins, and are dead whilst +we live. Stop the fountain, and what becomes of the stream? It fades +there between its banks, and is no more. You cannot even live the animal +life except that life were joined to Him. If it could be broken away +from God it would disappear as the clouds melt in the sky, and there +would be nobody, and you would be nowhere. You cannot break yourself +away from God _physically_ so completely as to annihilate yourself. You +can do so _spiritually_, and some of you do it, and the consequence is +that you are dead, _dead_, DEAD! You can be made 'alive from the dead,' +if you will lay hold on Jesus Christ, and get His life-giving Spirit +into your hearts. + +IV. Light. 'In Thy light shall we see light.' + +God is 'the Father of lights.' The sun and all the stars are only lights +kindled by Him. It is the very crown of revelation that 'God is light, +and in Him is no darkness at all.' Light seems to the unscientific eye, +which knows nothing about undulations of a luminiferous ether, to be the +least material of material things. All joyous things come with it. It +brings warmth and fruit, fulness and life. Purity, and gladness, and +knowledge have been symbolised by it in all tongues. The Scripture uses +light, and the sun, which is its source, as an emblem for God in His +holiness, and blessedness, and omniscience. This great word here seems +to point chiefly to light as knowledge. + +This saying is true, as the former clause was, in relation to all the +light which men have. 'The inspiration of the Almighty giveth him +understanding.' The faculties by which men know, and all the exercise of +those faculties, are His gift. It is in the measure in which God's light +comes to the eye that the eye beholds. 'Light' may mean not only the +faculty, but the medium of vision. It is in the measure in which God's +light comes, and because His light comes, that all light of reason in +human nature sees the truth which is its light. God is the Author of all +true thoughts in all mankind. The spirit of man is a candle kindled by +the Lord. + +But as I said about life, so I say about light. The material or +intellectual aspects of the word are not the main ones here. The +reference is to the spiritual gift which belongs to the men 'who put +their trust beneath the shadow of Thy wings.' In communion with Him who +is the Light as well as the Life of men, we see a whole universe of +glories, realities, and brightnesses. Where other eyes see only +darkness, we behold 'the King in His beauty, and the land that is very +far off.' Where other men see only cloudland and mists, our vision will +pierce into the unseen, and there behold 'the things which are,' the +only real things, of which all that the eye of sense sees are only the +fleeting shadows, seen as in a dream, while these are the true, and the +sight of them is sight indeed. They who see by the light of God, and see +light therein, have a vision which is more than imagination, more than +opinion, more than belief. It is certitude. Communication with God does +not bring with it superior intellectual perspicuity, but it does bring a +perception of spiritual realities and relations, which, in respect of +clearness and certainty, may be called sight. Many of us walk in +darkness, who, if we were but in communion with God, would see the lone +hillside blazing with chariots and horses of fire. Many of us grope in +perplexity, who, if we were but hiding under the shadow of God's wings, +would see the truth and walk at liberty in the light, which is knowledge +and purity and joy. + +In communication with God, we see light upon all the paths of duty. It +is wonderful how, when a man lives near God, he gets to know what he +ought to do. That great Light, which is Christ, is like the star that +hung over the Magi, blazing in the heavens, and yet stooping to the +lowly task of guiding three wayfaring men along a muddy road upon earth. +So the highest Light of God comes down to be 'a lantern for our paths +and a light for our feet.' + +And in the same communion with God, we get light in all seasons of +darkness and of sorrow. 'To the upright there ariseth light in the +darkness'; and the darkest hours of earthly fortune will be like a +Greenland summer night, when the sun scarcely dips below the horizon, +and even when it is absent, all the heaven is aglow with a calm +twilight. + +All these great blessings belong to-day to those who take refuge under +the shadow of His wings. But blessed as the present experience is, we +have to look for the perfecting of it when we pass from the forecourt to +the inner sanctuary, and in that higher house sit with Christ at His +table and feast at 'the marriage supper of the Lamb.' Here we drink from +the river, but there we shall be carried up to the source. The life of +God in the soul is here often feeble in its flow, 'a fountain sealed' +and all but shut up in our hearts, but there it will pour through all +our being, a fountain springing up into everlasting life. The darkness +is scattered even here by beams of the true light, but here we are only +in the morning twilight, and many clouds still fill the sky, and many a +deep gorge lies in sunless shadow, but there the light shall be a broad +universal blaze, and there shall be 'nothing hid from the heat thereof.' + +Now, dear brethren! the sum of the whole matter is, that all this +fourfold blessing of satisfaction, joy, life, light, is given to you, if +you will take Christ. He will feed you with the bread of God; He will +give you His own joy to drink; He will be in you the life of your lives, +and 'the master-light of all your seeing.' And if you will not have Him, +you will starve, and your lips will be cracked with thirst; and you will +live a life which is death, and you will sink at last into outer +darkness. + +Is that the fate which you are going to choose? Choose Christ, and He +will give you satisfaction, and joy, and life, and light. + + + + +THE SECRET OF TRANQUILLITY + + + 'Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the + desires of thine heart 5. Commit thy way unto the Lord.... 7. Rest + in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.'--PSALM xxxvii. 4, 5, 7. + +'I have been young, and now am old,' says the writer of this psalm. Its +whole tone speaks the ripened wisdom and autumnal calm of age. The dim +eyes have seen and survived so much, that it seems scarcely worth while +to be agitated by what ceases so soon. He has known so many bad men +blasted in all their leafy verdure, and so many languishing good men +revived, that-- + + 'Old experience doth attain + To something of prophetic strain'; + +and is sure that 'to trust in the Lord and do good' ever brings peace +and happiness. Life with its changes has not soured but quieted him. It +does not seem to him an endless maze, nor has he learned to despise it. +He has learned to see God in it all, and that has cleared its confusion, +as the movements of the planets, irregular and apparently opposite, when +viewed from the earth, are turned into an ordered whole, when the sun is +taken for the centre. What a contrast between the bitter cynicism put +into the lips of the son, and the calm cheerful godliness taught, +according to our psalm, by the father! To Solomon, old age is +represented as bringing the melancholy creed, 'All is vanity'; David +believes, 'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the +desires of thine heart.' Which style of old age is the nobler? what kind +of life will lead to each? + +These clauses, which I have ventured to isolate from their context, +contain the elements which secure peace even in storms and troubles. I +think that, if we consider them carefully, we shall see that there is a +well-marked progress in them. They do not cover the same ground by any +means; but each of the later flows from the former. Nobody can 'commit +his way unto the Lord' who has not begun by 'delighting in the Lord'; +and nobody can 'rest in the Lord' who has not 'committed his way to the +Lord.' These three precepts, then, the condensed result of the old man's +lifelong experience, open up for our consideration the secret of +tranquillity. Let us think of them in order. + +I. Here is the secret of tranquillity in freedom from eager, earthly +desires--'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the +desires of thine heart.' + +The great reason why life is troubled and restless lies not without, but +within. It is not our changing circumstances, but our unregulated +desires, that rob us of peace. We are feverish, not because of the +external temperature, but because of the state of our own blood. The +very emotion of desire disturbs us; wishes make us unquiet; and when a +whole heart, full of varying, sometimes contradictory longings, is +boiling within a man, how can he but tremble and quiver? One desire +unfulfilled is enough to banish tranquillity; but how can it survive a +dozen dragging different ways? A deep lesson lies in that word +_distraction_, which has come to be so closely attached to _desires_; +the lesson that all eager longing tears the heart asunder. Unbridled and +varying wishes, then, are the worst enemies of our repose. + +And, still further, they destroy tranquillity by putting us at the mercy +of externals. Whatsoever we make necessary for our contentment, we make +lord of our happiness. By our eager desires we give perishable things +supreme power over us, and so intertwine our being with theirs, that the +blow which destroys them lets out our life-blood. And, therefore, we are +ever disturbed by apprehensions and shaken by fears. We tie ourselves to +these outward possessions, as Alpine travellers to their guides, and so, +when they slip on the icy slopes, their fall is our death. If we were +not eager to stand on the giddy top of fortune's rolling wheel, we +should not heed its idle whirl; but we let our foolish hearts set our +feet there, and thenceforward every lurch of the glittering instability +threatens to lame or kill us. He who desires fleeting joys is sure to be +restless always, and to be disappointed at the last. For, even at the +best, the heart which depends for peace on the continuance of things +subjected to a thousand accidents, can only know quietness by forcibly +closing its eyes against the inevitable; and, even at the best, such a +course must end on the whole in failure. Disappointment is the law for +all earthly desires; for appetite increases with indulgence, and as it +increases, satisfaction decreases. The food remains the same, but its +power to appease hunger diminishes. Possession bring indifference. The +dose that lulls into delicious dreams to-day must be doubled to-morrow, +if it is to do anything; and there is soon an end of that. Each of your +earthly joys fills but a part of your being, and all the other ravenous +longings either come shrieking at the gate of the soul's palace, like a +mob yelling for bread, or are starved into silence; but either way there +is disquiet. And then, if a man has fixed his happiness on anything +lower than the stars, less stable than the heavens, less sufficient than +God, there does come, sooner or later, a time when it passes from him, +or he from it. Do not venture the rich freightage of your happiness in +crazy vessels. If you do, be sure that, somewhere or other, before your +life is ended, the poor frail craft will strike on some black rock +rising sheer from the depths, and will grind itself to chips there. If +your life twines round any prop but God your strength, be sure that, +some time or other, the stay to which its tendrils cling will be plucked +up, and the poor vine will be lacerated, its clusters crushed, and its +sap will bleed out of it. + +If, then, our desires are, in their very exercise, a disturbance, and in +their very fruition prophesy disappointment, and if that certain +disappointment is irrevocable and crushing when it comes, what shall we +do for rest? Dear brethren! there is but one answer--'Delight thyself in +the Lord.' These eager desires, transfer to Him; on Him let the +affections fix and fasten; make Him the end of your longings, the food +of your spirits. This is the purest, highest form of religious +emotion--when we can say, 'Whom have I but Thee? possessing Thee I +desire none beside.' And this glad longing for God is the cure for all +the feverish unrest of desires unfulfilled, as well as for the ague fear +of loss and sorrow. Quietness fills the soul which delights in the Lord, +and its hunger is as blessed and as peaceful as its satisfaction. + +Think how surely rest comes with delighting in God. For that soul must +needs be calm which is freed from the distraction of various desires by +the one master-attraction. Such a soul is still as the great river above +the falls, when all the side currents and dimpling eddies and backwaters +are effaced by the attraction that draws every drop in the one +direction; or like the same stream as it nears its end, and, forgetting +how it brawled among rocks and flowers in the mountain glens, flows with +a calm and equable motion to its rest in the central sea. Let the +current of your being set towards God, then your life will be filled and +calmed by one master-passion which unites and stills the soul. + +And for another reason there will be peace: because in such a case +desire and fruition go together. 'He shall give thee the desires of +thine heart.' Only do not vulgarise that great promise by making it out +to mean that, if we will be good, He will give us the earthly blessings +which we wish. Sometimes we shall get them, and sometimes not; but our +text goes far deeper than that. God Himself is the heart's desire of +those who delight in Him; and the blessedness of longing fixed on Him is +that it ever fulfils itself. They who want God have Him. Your truest joy +is in His fellowship and His grace. If, set free from creatural +delights, our wills reach out towards God, as a plant growing in +darkness to the light--then we shall wish for nothing contrary to Him, +and the wishes which run parallel to His purposes, and embrace Himself +as their only good, cannot be vain. The sunshine flows into the opened +eye, the breath of life into the expanding lung--so surely, so +immediately the fulness of God fills the waiting, wishing soul. To +delight in God is to possess our delight. Heart! lift up thy gates: open +and raise the narrow, low portals, and the King of Glory will stoop to +enter. + +Once more: desire after God will bring peace by putting all other wishes +in their right place. The counsel in our text does not enjoin the +extinction, but the subordination, of other needs and appetites--'Seek +ye _first_ the kingdom of God.' Let that be the dominant desire which +controls and underlies all the rest. Seek for God in everything, and for +everything in God. Only thus will you be able to bridle those cravings +which else tear the heart. The presence of the king awes the crowd into +silence. When the full moon is in the nightly sky, it sweeps the heavens +bare of flying cloud-rack, and all the twinkling stars are lost in the +peaceful, solitary splendour. So let delight in God rise in our souls, +and lesser lights pale before it--do not cease to be, but add their +feebleness, unnoticed, to its radiance. The more we have our affections +set on God, the more shall we enjoy, because we subordinate, His gifts. +The less, too, shall we dread their loss, the less be at the mercy of +their fluctuations. The capitalist does not think so much of the year's +gains as does the needy adventurer, to whom they make the difference +between bankruptcy and competence. If you have God for your 'enduring +substance,' you can face all varieties of condition, and be calm, +saying-- + + 'Give what Thou canst, without Thee I am poor, + And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.' + +The amulet that charms away disquiet lies here. Still thine eager +desires, arm thyself against feverish hopes, and shivering fears, and +certain disappointment, and cynical contempt of all things; make sure of +fulfilled wishes and abiding joys. 'Delight thyself in the Lord, and He +shall give thee the desires of thine heart.' + +II. But this is not all. The secret of tranquillity is found, secondly, +in freedom from the perplexity of choosing our path. + +'Commit thy way unto the Lord'--or, as the margin says, 'roll' it upon +God; leave to Him the guidance of thy life, and thou shalt be at peace +on the road. + +This is a word for all life, not only for its great occasions. Twice, or +thrice, perhaps in a lifetime, a man's road leads him up to a high +dividing point, a watershed as it were, whence the rain runs from the +one side of the ridge to the Pacific, and from the other to the +Atlantic. His whole future may depend on his bearing the least bit to +the right hand or to the left, and all the slopes below, on either side, +are wreathed in mist. Powerless as he is to see before him, he has yet +to choose, and his choice determines the rest of his days. Certainly he +needs some guidance then. But he needs it not less in the small +decisions of every hour. Our histories are made up of a series of +trifles, in each of which a separate act of will and choice is involved. +Looking to the way in which character is made, as coral reefs are built +up, by a multitude of tiny creatures whose united labours are strong +enough to breast the ocean; looking to the mysterious way in which the +greatest events in our lives have the knack of growing out of the +smallest; looking to the power of habit to make any action of the mind +almost instinctive: it is of far more importance that we should become +accustomed to apply this precept of seeking guidance from God to the +million trifles than to the two or three decisions which, at the time of +making them, we know to be weighty. Depend upon it that, if we have not +learned the habit of committing the daily-recurring monotonous steps to +Him, we shall find it very, very hard to seek His help, when we come to +a fork in the road. So this is a command for all life, not only for its +turning-points. + +What does it prescribe? First, the subordination--not the extinction--of +our own _inclinations_. We must begin by ceasing from self. Not that we +are to cast out of consideration our own wishes. These are an element in +every decision, and often are our best helps to the knowledge of our +powers and of our duties. But we have to take special care that they +never in themselves settle the question. They are second, not first. +'Thus I will, and therefore thus I decide; my wish is enough for a +reason,' is the language of a tyrant over others, but of a slave to +himself. Our first question is to be, not 'What should I like?' but +'What does God will, if I can by any means discover it?' Wishes are to +be held in subordination to Him. Our will is to be master of our +passions, and desires, and whims, and habits, but to be servant of God. +It should silence all their cries, and itself be silent, that God may +speak. Like the lawgiver-captain in the wilderness, it should stand +still at the head of the ordered rank, ready for the march, but +motionless, till the Pillar lifts from above the sanctuary. Yes! 'Commit +thy way'--unto whom? Conscience? No: unto Duty? No: but 'unto +God'--which includes all these lower laws, and a whole universe besides. +Hold the will in equilibrium, that His finger may incline the balance. + +Then the counsel of our text prescribes the submission of our _judgment_ +to God, in the confidence that His wisdom will guide us. Committing our +way unto the Lord does not mean shifting the trouble of patient thought +about our duty off our own shoulders. It is no cowardly abnegation of +the responsibility of choice which is here enjoined; nor is there any +sanction of lazily taking the first vagrant impulse, wafted we know not +whence, that rises in the mind, for the voice of God. But, just because +we are to commit our way to Him, we are bound to the careful exercise of +the best power of our own brains, that we may discover what the will of +God is. He does not reveal that will to people who do not care to know +it. I suppose the precursor of all visions of Him, which have calmed His +servants' souls with the peace of a clearly recognised duty, has been +their cry, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?' God counsels men who +use their own wits to find out His counsel. He speaks to us through our +judgments when they take all the ordinary means of ascertaining our +course. The law is: Do your best to find out your duty; suppress +inclination, and desire to do God's will, and He will certainly tell you +what it is. I, for my part, believe that the Psalmist spoke a truth when +he said, 'In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy +steps.' Only let the eye be fixed on Him, and He will guide us in the +way. If we chiefly desire, and with patient impartiality try, to be +directed by Him, we shall never want for direction. + +But all this is possible only if we 'delight in the Lord.' Nothing else +will still our desires--the voice within, and the invitations without, +which hinder us from hearing the directions of our Guide. Nothing else +will so fasten up and muzzle the wild passions and lusts that a little +child may lead them. To delight in Him is the condition of all wise +judgment. For the most part, it is not hard to discover God's will +concerning us, if we supremely desire to know and do it; and such +supreme desire is but the expression of this supreme delight in Him. +Such a disposition wonderfully clears away mists and perplexities; and +though there will still remain ample scope for the exercise of our best +judgment, and for reliance on Him to lead us, yet he whose single object +is to walk in the way that God points, will seldom have to stand still +in uncertainty as to what that way is. 'If thine eye be single, thy +whole body shall be full of light.' + +Thus, dear brethren! these two keys--joy in God, and trust in His +guidance--open for us the double doors of 'the secret place of the Most +High'; where all the roar of the busy world dies upon the ear, and the +still small voice of the present God deepens the silence, and hushes the +heart. Be quiet, and you will hear Him speak--delight in Him, that you +may be quiet. Let the affections feed on Him, the will wait mute before +Him, till His command inclines it to decision, and quickens it into +action; let the desires fix upon His all-sufficiency; and then the +wilderness will be no more trackless, but the ruddy blaze of the guiding +pillar will brighten on the sand a path which men's hands have never +made, nor human feet trodden into a road. He will 'guide us with His +eye,' if our eyes be fixed on Him, and be swift to discern and eager to +obey the lightest glance that love can interpret. Shall we be 'like the +horse or the mule, which have no understanding,' and need to be pulled +with bridles and beaten with whips before they know how to go; or shall +we be like some trained creature that is guided by the unseen cord of +docile submission, and has learned to read the duty, which is its joy, +in the glance of its master's eye, or the wave of his hand? 'Delight +thyself in the Lord: commit thy way unto Him.' + +III. Our text takes one more step. The secret of tranquillity is found, +thirdly, in freedom from the anxiety of an unknown future. 'Best in the +Lord, and wait patiently for Him.' + +Such an addition to these previous counsels is needful, if all the +sources of our disquiet are to be dealt with. The future is dim, after +all our straining to see into its depths. The future is threatening, +after all our efforts to prepare for its coming storms. A rolling vapour +veils it all; here and there a mountain peak seems to stand out; but in +a moment another swirl of the fog hides it from us. We know so little, +and what we do know is so sad, that the ignorance of what may be, and +the certainty of what must be, equally disturb us with hopes which melt +into fears, and forebodings which consolidate into certainties. We are +sure that in that future are losses, and sorrows, and death; thank God! +we are sure too, that He is in it. That certainty alone, and what comes +of it, makes it possible for a thoughtful man to face to-morrow without +fear or tumult. The only rest from apprehensions which are but too +reasonable is 'rest in the Lord.' If we are sure that He will be there, +and if we delight in Him, then we can afford to say, 'As for all the +rest, let it be as He wills, it will be well.' That thought alone, dear +friends! will give calmness. What else is there, brethren! for a man +fronting that vague future, from whose weltering sea such black, +sharp-toothed rocks protrude? Shall we bow before some stern Fate, as +its lord, and try to be as stern as It? Shall we think of some frivolous +Chance, as tossing its unguided waves, and try to be as frivolous as It? +Shall we try to be content with an animal limitation to the present, and +heighten the bright colour of the little to-day by the black background +that surrounds it, saying, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die'? +Is it not better, happier, nobler, every way truer, to look into that +perilous uncertain future, or rather to look past it to the loving +Father who is its Lord and ours, and to wait patiently for Him? +Confidence that the future will but evolve God's purposes, and that all +these are enlisted on our side, will give peace and power. Without it +all is chaos, and we flying atoms in the anarchic mass; or else all is +coldblooded impersonal law, and we crushed beneath its chariot-wheels. +Here, and here alone, is the secret of tranquillity. + +But remember, brethren! that the peaceful confidence of this final +counsel is legitimate only when we have obeyed the other two. I have no +business, for instance, to expect God to save me from the natural +consequences of my own worldliness or folly. If I have taken up a course +from eager desires for earthly good, or from obedience to any +inclination of my own without due regard to His will, I have no right, +when things begin to go awry, to turn round to God and say, 'Lord! I +wait upon Thee to save me.' And though repentance, and forsaking of our +evil ways at any point in a man's course, do ensure, through Jesus +Christ, God's loving forgiveness, yet the evil consequences of past +folly are often mercifully suffered to remain with us all our days. He +who has delighted in the Lord, and committed his way unto Him, can +venture to front whatever may be coming; and though not without much +consciousness of sin and weakness, can yet cast upon God the burden of +taking care of him, and claim from his faithful Father the protection +and the peace which He has bound Himself to give. + +And O dear friends! what a calm will enter our souls then, solid, +substantial, 'the peace of God,' gift and effluence from the 'God of +peace'! How blessed then to leave all the possible to-morrow with a very +quiet heart in His hands! How easy then to bear the ignorance, how +possible then to face the certainties, of that solemn future! Change and +death can only thin away and finally remove the film that separates us +from our delight. Whatever comes here or yonder can but bring us +blessing; for we must be glad if we have God, and if our wills are +parallel with His, whose Will all things serve. Our way is traced by +Him, and runs alongside of His. It leads to Himself. Then rest in the +Lord, and 'judge nothing before the time.' We cannot criticise the Great +Artist when we stand before His unfinished masterpiece, and see dim +outlines here, a patch of crude colour there. But wait patiently for +Him, and so, in calm expectation of a blessed future and a finished +work, which will explain the past, in honest submission of our way to +God, in supreme delight in Him who is the gladness of our joy, the +secret of tranquillity will be ours. + + + + +THE BITTERNESS AND BLESSEDNESS OF THE BREVITY OF LIFE + + 'Surely every man walketh in a vain shew.... 12. I am a stranger + with Thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.' + --PSALM xxxix. 6, 12. + +These two sayings are two different ways of putting the same thing. +There is a common thought underlying both, but the associations with +which that common thought is connected in these two verses are +distinctly different. The one is bitter and sad--a gloomy half truth. +The other, out of the very same fact, draws blessedness and hope. The +one may come from no higher point of view than the level of worldly +experience; the other is a truth of faith. The former is at best +partial, and without the other may be harmful; the latter completes, +explains, and hallows it. + +And that this progress and variety in the thought is the key to the +whole psalm is, I think, obvious to any one who will examine it with +care. I cannot here enter on that task but in the hastiest fashion, by +way of vindicating the connection which I trace between the two verses +of our text. The Psalmist begins, then, with telling how at some time +recently passed--in consequence of personal calamity not very clearly +defined, but apparently some bodily sickness aggravated by mental sorrow +and anxiety--he was struck dumb with silence, so that he 'held his peace +even from good.' In that state there rose within him many sad and +miserable thoughts, which at last forced their way through his locked +lips. They shape themselves into a prayer, which is more complaint than +petition--and which is absorbed in the contemplation of the manifest +melancholy facts of human life--'Thou hast made my days as an +handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee.' And then, as that +thought dilates and sinks deeper into his soul, he looks out upon the +whole race of man--and in tones of bitterness and hopelessness, affirms +that all are vanity, shadows, disquieted in vain. The blank hopelessness +of such a view brings him to a standstill. It is true--but taken alone +is too dreadful to think of. 'That way madness lies,'--so he breaks +short off his almost despairing thoughts, and with a swift turning away +of his mind from the downward gaze into blackness that was beginning to +make him reel, he fixes his eyes on the throne above--'And now, Lord! +what wait I for? my hope is in Thee.' These words form the turning-point +of the psalm. After them, the former thoughts are repeated, but with +what a difference--made by looking at all the blackness and sorrow, both +personal and universal, in the bright light of that hope which streams +upon the most lurid masses of opaque cloud, till their gloom begins to +glow with an inward lustre, and softens into solemn purples and reds. He +had said, 'I was dumb with silence--even from good.' But when his hope +is in God, the silence changes its character and becomes resignation and +submission. 'I opened not my mouth; because Thou didst it.' The variety +of human life and its transiency is not less plainly seen than before; +but in the light of that hope it is regarded in relation to God's +paternal correction, and is seen to be the consequence, not of a defect +in His creative wisdom or love, but of man's sin. 'Thou with rebukes +dost correct man for iniquity.' That, to him who waits on the Lord, is +the reason and the alleviation of the reiterated conviction, 'Every man +is vanity.' Not any more does he say every man 'at his best state,' or, +as it might be more accurately expressed, 'even when most firmly +established,'--for the man who is established in the Lord is not vanity, +but only the man who founds his being on the fleeting present. Then, +things being so, life being thus in itself and apart from God so +fleeting and so sad, and yet with a hope that brightens it like sunshine +through an April shower--the Psalmist rises to prayer, in which that +formerly expressed conviction of the brevity of life is reiterated, with +the addition of two words which changes its whole aspect, 'I am a +stranger _with Thee_.' He is God's guest in his transient life. It is +short, like the stay of a foreigner in a strange land; but he is under +the care of the King of the Land--therefore he need not fear nor sorrow. +Past generations, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--whose names God 'is not +ashamed' to appeal to in His own solemn designation of Himself--have +held the same relation, and their experience has sealed His faithful +care of those who dwell with Him. Therefore, the sadness is soothed, and +the vain and fleeting life of earth assumes a new appearance, and the +most blessed and wisest issue of our consciousness of frailty and +insufficiency is the fixing of our desires and hopes on Him in whose +house we may dwell even while we wander to and fro, and in whom our life +being rooted and established shall not be vain, howsoever it may be +brief. + +If, then, we follow the course of contemplation thus traced in the +psalm, we have these three points brought before us--first, the thought +of life common to both clauses; second, the gloomy, aimless hollowness +which that thought breathes into life apart from God; third, the +blessedness which springs from the same thought when we look at it in +connection with our Father in heaven. + +I. Observe the very forcible expression which is given here to the +thought of life common to both verses. + +'Every man walketh in a vain show.' The original is even more striking +and strong. And although one does not like altering words so familiar as +those of our translation, which have sacredness from association and a +melancholy music in their rhythm--still it is worth while to note that +the force of the expression which the Psalmist employs is correctly +given in the margin, 'in an image'--or 'in a shadow.' The phrase sounds +singular to us, but is an instance of a common enough Hebrew idiom, and +is equivalent to saying--he walks in the character or likeness of a +shadow, or, as we should say, he walks as a shadow. That is to say, the +whole outward life and activity of every man is represented as fleeting +and unsubstantial, like the reflection of a cloud which darkens leagues +of the mountains' side in a moment, and ere a man can say, 'Behold!' is +gone again for ever. + +Then, look at the other image employed in the other clause of our text +to express the same idea, 'I am a stranger and a sojourner, as all my +fathers.' The phrase has a history. In that most pathetic narrative of +an old-world sorrow long since calmed and consoled, when 'Abraham stood +up from before his dead,' and craved a burying-place for his Sarah from +the sons of Heth, his first plea was, 'I am a stranger and a sojourner +with you.' In his lips it was no metaphor. He was a stranger, a visitor +for a brief time to an alien land; he was a sojourner, having no rights +of inheritance, but settled among them for a while, and though dwelling +among them, not adopted into their community. He was a foreigner, not +naturalised. And such is our relation to all this visible frame of +things in which we dwell. It is alien to us; though we be in it, our +true affinities are elsewhere; though we be in it, our stay is brief, as +that of 'a wayfaring man that turns aside to tarry for a night.' + +And there is given in the context still another metaphor setting forth +the same fact in that dreary generalisation which precedes my text, +'Every man at his best state'--or as the word means, 'established,'-- +with his roots most firmly struck in the material and visible--'is +only a breath.' It appears for a moment, curling from lip and nostril +into the cold morning air, and vanishes away, so thus vaporous, filmy, +is the seeming solid fact of the most stable life. + +These have been the commonplaces of poets and rhetoricians and moralists +in all time. But threadbare as the thought is, I may venture to dwell on +it for a moment. I know I am only repeating what we all believe--and all +forget. It is never too late to preach commonplaces, until everybody +acts on them as well as admits them--and this old familiar truth has not +yet got so wrought into the structure of our lives that we can afford to +say no more about it. + +'Surely every man walketh in a shadow.' Did you ever stand upon the +shore on some day of that 'uncertain weather, when gloom and glory meet +together,' and notice how swiftly there went, racing over miles of +billows, a darkening that quenched all the play of colour in the waves, +as if all suddenly the angel of the waters had spread his broad wings +between sun and sea, and then how in another moment as swiftly it flits +away, and with a burst the light blazes out again, and leagues of ocean +flash into green and violet and blue. So fleeting, so utterly perishable +are our lives for all their seeming solid permanency. 'Shadows in a +career, as George Herbert has it--breath going out of the nostrils. We +think of ourselves as ever to continue in our present posture. We are +deceived by illusions. Mental indolence, a secret dislike of the +thought, and the impostures of sense, all conspire to make us blind to, +or at least oblivious of, the plain fact which every beat of our pulses +might preach, and the slow creeping hands of every parish clock confirm. +How awful that silent, unceasing footfall of receding days is when once +we begin to watch it! Inexorable, passionless--though hope and fear may +pray, 'Sun! stand thou still on Gibeon; and thou moon! in the valley of +Ajalon,'--the tramp of the hours goes on. The poets paint them as a +linked chorus of rosy forms, garlanded, and clasping hands as they dance +onwards. So they may be to some of us at some moments. So they may seem +as they approach; but those who come hold the hands of those who go, and +that troop has no rosy light upon their limbs, their garlands are faded, +the sunshine falls not upon the grey and shrouded shapes, as they steal +ghostlike through the gloom--and ever and ever the bright and laughing +sisters pass on into that funereal band which grows and moves away from +us unceasing. Alas! for many of us it bears away with it our lost +treasures, our shattered hopes, our joys from which all the bright +petals have dropped! Alas! for many of us there is nothing but sorrow in +watching how all things become 'part and parcel of the dreadful past.' + +And how strangely sometimes even a material association may give new +emphasis to that old threadbare truth. Some more permanent _thing_ may +help us to feel more profoundly the shadowy fleetness of _man_. The +trifles are so much more lasting than their owners. Or, as 'the +Preacher' puts it, with such wailing pathos, 'One generation passeth +away, and another generation cometh, but the earth abideth for ever.' +This material is perishable--but yet how much more enduring than we are! +The pavements we walk upon, the coals in our grates--how many +millenniums old are they? The pebble you kick aside with your foot--how +many generations will it outlast? Go into a museum and you will see +hanging there, little the worse for centuries, battered shields, notched +swords, and gaping helmets--aye, but what has become of the bright eyes +that once flashed the light of battle through the bars, what has become +of the strong hands that once gripped the hilts? 'The knights are dust,' +and 'their good swords are' _not_ 'rust.' The material lasts after its +owner. Seed corn is found in a mummy case. The poor form beneath the +painted lid is brown and hard, and more than half of it gone to pungent +powder, and the man that once lived has faded utterly: but the handful +of seed has its mysterious life in it, and when it is sown, in due time +the green blade pushes above English soil, as it would have done under +the shadow of the pyramids four thousand years ago--and its produce +waves in a hundred harvest fields to-day. The money in your purses now, +will some of it bear the head of a king that died half a century ago. It +is bright and useful--where are all the people that in turn said they +'owned' it? Other men will live in our houses, will preach from this +pulpit, and sit in these pews, when you and I are far away. And other +June days will come, and the old rose-trees will flower round houses +where unborn men will then be living, when the present possessor is gone +to nourish the roots of the roses in the graveyard! + +'Our days are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.' So said David on +other occasions. We know, dear brethren! how true it is, whether we +consider the ceaseless flux and change of things, the mystic march of +the silent-footed hours, or the greater permanence which attaches to the +'things which perish,' than to our abode among them. We know it, and yet +how hard it is not to yield to the inducement to act and feel as if all +this painted scenery were solid rock and mountain. By our own +inconsiderateness and sensuousness, we live in a lie, in a false dream +of permanence, and so in a sadder sense we walk in 'a vain +show,'--deluding ourselves with the conceit of durability, and refusing +to see that the apparent is the shadowy, and the one enduring reality +God. It is hard to get even the general conviction vivified in men's +minds, hardest of all to get any man to reflect upon it as applying to +himself. Do not think that you have said enough to vindicate neglect of +my words now, when you call them commonplace. So they are. But did you +ever take that well-worn old story, and press it on your own +consciousness--as a man might press a common little plant, whose juice +is healing, against his dim eye-ball--by saying to yourself, 'It is true +of _me_. _I_ walk as a shadow. _I_ am gliding onwards to my doom. +Through _my_ slack hands the golden sands are flowing, and soon _my_ +hour-glass will run out, and _I_ shall have to stop and go away.' Let me +beseech you for one half-hour's meditation on that fact before this day +closes. You will forget my words then, when with your own eyes you have +looked upon that truth, and felt that it is not merely a toothless +commonplace, but belongs to and works in _thy_ life, as it ebbs away +silently and incessantly from _thee_. + +II. Let me point, in the second place, to the gloomy, aimless hollowness +which that thought, apart from God, infuses into life. + +There is, no doubt, a double idea in the metaphor which the Psalmist +employs. He desires to set forth, by his image of a shadow, not only the +transiency, but the unsubstantialness of life. Shadow is opposed to +substance, to that which is real, as well as to that which is enduring. +And we may further say that the one of these characteristics is in great +part the occasion of the other. Because life is fleeting, therefore, in +part, it is so hollow and unsatisfying. The fact that men are dragged +away from their pursuits so inexorably makes these pursuits seem, to any +one who cannot see beyond that fact, trivial and not worth the +following. Why should we fret and toil and break our hearts, 'and scorn +delights, and live laborious days' for purposes which will last so short +a time, and things which we shall so soon have to leave? What is all our +bustle and business, when the sad light of that thought falls on it, but +'labouring for the wind'? 'Were it not better to lie still?' Such +thoughts have at least a partial truth in them, and are difficult to +meet as long as we think only of the facts and results of man's life +that we can see with our eyes, and our psalm gives emphatic utterance to +them. The word rendered 'walketh' in our text is not merely a synonym +for passing through life, but has a very striking meaning. It is an +intensive frequentative form of the word--that is, it represents the +action as being repeated over and over again. For instance, it might be +used to describe the restless motion of a wild beast in a cage, raging +from side to side, never still, and never getting any farther for all +the racing backward and forward. So here it signifies 'walketh to and +fro,' and implies hurry and bustle, continuous effort, habitual unrest. +It thus comes to be parallel with the stronger words which follow,-- +'Surely they are _disquieted_ in vain'; and one reason why all this +effort and agitation are purposeless and sad, is because the man who is +straining his nerves and wearying his legs is but a shadow in regard to +duration--'He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.' + +Yes! if we have said all, when we have said that men pass as a fleeting +shadow--if my life has no roots in the Eternal, nor any consciousness of +a life that does not pass, and a light that never perishes, if it is +derived from, directed to, 'cribbed, cabined, and confined' within this +visible diurnal sphere, then it is all flat and unprofitable, an +illusion while it seems to last, and all its pursuits are folly, its +hopes dreams, its substances vapours, its years a lie. For, if life be +thus short, I who live it am conscious of, and possess whether I be +conscious of them or no, capacities and requirements which, though they +were to be annihilated to-morrow, could be satisfied while they lasted +by nothing short of the absolute ideal, the all-perfect, the +infinite--or, to put away abstractions, 'My soul thirsteth for God, the +living God!' 'He hath put eternity in their heart,' as the book of +Ecclesiastes says. Longings and aspirations, weaknesses and woes, the +limits of creature helps and loves, the disproportion between us and the +objects around us--all these facts of familiar experience do witness, +alike by blank misgivings and by bright hopes, by many disappointments +and by indestructible expectations surviving them all, that nothing +which has a date, a beginning, or an end, can fill our souls or give us +rest. Can you fill up the swamps of the Mississippi with any cartloads +of faggots you can fling in? Can you fill your souls with anything which +belongs to this fleeting life? Has a flying shadow an appreciable +thickness, or will a million of them pressed together occupy a space in +your empty, hungry heart? + +And so, dear brethren! I come to you with a message which may sound +gloomy, and beseech you to give heed to it. No matter how you may get on +in the world--though you may fulfil every dream with which you began in +your youth--you will certainly find that without Christ for your Brother +and Saviour, God for your Friend, and heaven for your hope, life, with +all its fulness, is empty. It lasts long, too long as it sometimes seems +for work, too long for hope, too long for endurance; long enough to let +love die, and joys wither and fade, and companions drop away, but +without God and Christ, you will find it but 'as a watch in the night.' +At no moment through the long weary years will it satisfy your whole +being; and when the weary years are all past, they will seem to have +been but as one troubled moment breaking the eternal silence. At every +point _so_ profitless, and all the points making so thin and short a +line! The crested waves seem heaped together as they recede from the eye +till they reach the horizon, where miles of storm are seen but as a line +of spray. So when a man looks back upon his life, if it have been a +godless one, be sure of this, that he will have a dark and cheerless +retrospect over a tossing waste, with a white rim of wandering barren +foam vexed by tempest, and then, if not before, he will sadly learn how +he has been living amidst shadows, and, with a nature that needs God, +has wasted himself upon the world. 'O life! as futile then as frail'; +'surely,' in such a case, 'every man walketh in a vain show.' + +III. But note, finally, how our other text in its significant words +gives us the blessedness which springs from this same thought of life, +when it is looked at in connection with God. + +The mere conviction of the brevity and hollowness of life is not in +itself a religious or a helpful thought. Its power depends upon the +other ideas which are associated with it. It is susceptible of the most +opposite applications, and may tend to impel conduct in exactly opposite +directions. It may be the language of despair or of bright hope. It may +be the bitter creed of a worn-out debauchee, who has wasted his life in +hunting shadows, and is left with a cynical spirit and a barbed tongue. +It may be the passionless belief of a retired student, or the fanatical +faith of a religious ascetic. It may be an argument for sensuous excess, +'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die'; or it may be the stimulus +for noble and holy living, 'I must work the works of Him that sent me +while it is day. The night cometh.' The other accompanying beliefs +determine whether it shall be a blight or a blessing to a man. + +And the one addition which is needed to incline the whole weight of that +conviction to the better side, and to light up all its blackness, is +that little phrase in this text, 'I am a stranger _with Thee_, and a +sojourner.' There seems to be an allusion here to remarkable words +connected with the singular Jewish institution of the Jubilee. You +remember that by the Mosaic law, there was no absolute sale of land in +Israel, but that every half century the whole returned to the +descendants of the original occupiers. Important economical and social +purposes were contemplated in this arrangement, as well as the +preservation of the relative position of the tribes as settled at the +Conquest. But the law itself assigns a purely religious purpose--the +preservation of the distinct consciousness of the tenure on which the +people held their territory, namely, obedience to and dependence on God. +'The land shall not be sold for ever, for the land is Mine, for ye are +_strangers and sojourners with Me_.' Of course, there was a special +sense in which that was true with regard to Israel, but David thought +that the words were as true in regard to his whole relation to God, as +in regard to Israel's possession of its national inheritance. + +If we grasp these words as completing all that we have already said, how +different this transient and unsubstantial life looks! You must have the +light from both sides to stereoscope and make solid the flat surface +picture. Transient! yes--but it is passed in the presence of God. +Whether we know it or no, our brief days hang upon Him, and we walk, all +of us, in the light of His countenance. That makes the transient +eternal, the shadowy substantial, the trivial heavy with solemn meaning +and awful yet vast possibilities. 'In our embers is something that doth +live.' If we had said all, when we say 'We are as a shadow,' it would +matter very little, though even then it _would_ matter something, how we +spent our shadowy days; but if these poor brief hours are spent 'in the +great Taskmaster's eye,'--if the shadow cast on earth proclaims a light +in the heavens--if from this point there hangs an unending chain of +conscious being--Oh! then, with what awful solemnity is the brevity, +with what tremendous magnitude is the minuteness, of our earthly days +invested! 'With Thee'--then I am constantly in the presence of a +sovereign Law and its Giver; 'with Thee'--then all my actions are +registered and weighed yonder; 'with Thee'--then 'Thou, God, seest me.' +Brethren! it is the prismatic halo and ring of eternity round this poor +glass of time that gives it all its dignity, all its meaning. The lives +that are lived before God cannot be trifles. + +And if this relation to time be recognised and accepted and held fast by +our hearts and minds, then what calm blessedness will flow into our +souls! + +'A stranger with Thee,'--then we are the guests of the King. The Lord of +the land charges Himself with our protection and provision; we journey +under His safe conduct. It is for His honour and faithfulness that no +harm shall come to us travelling in His territory, and relying on His +word. Like Abraham with the sons of Heth, we may claim the protection +and help which a stranger needs. He recognises the bond and will fulfil +it. We have eaten of His salt, and He will answer for our safety.--'He +that toucheth you toucheth the apple of Mine eye.' + +'A stranger with Thee,'--then we have a constant Companion and an +abiding Presence. We may be solitary and necessarily remote from the +polity of the land. We may feel amid all the visible things of earth as +if foreigners. We may not have a foot of soil, not even a grave for our +dead. Companionships may dissolve and warm hands grow cold and their +close clasp relax--what then? He is with us still. He will join us as we +journey, even when our hearts are sore with loss. He will walk with us +by the way, and make our chill hearts glow. He will sit with us at the +table--however humble the meal, and He will not leave us when we discern +Him. Strangers we are indeed here--but not solitary, for we are +'strangers with Thee.' As in some ancestral home in which a family has +lived for centuries--son after father has rested in its great chambers, +and been safe behind its strong walls--so, age after age, they who love +Him abide in God.--'Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all +generations.' + +'Strangers with Thee,'--then we may carry our thoughts forward to the +time when we shall go to our true home, nor wander any longer in a land +that is not ours. If even here we come into such blessed relationships +with God, that fact is in itself a prophecy of a more perfect communion +and a heavenly house. They who are strangers with Him will one day be +'at home with the Lord,' and in the light of that blessed hope the +transiency of this life changes its whole aspect, loses the last trace +of sadness, and becomes a solemn joy. Why should we be pensive and +wistful when we think how near our end is? Is the sentry sad as the hour +for relieving guard comes nigh? Is the wanderer in far-off lands sad +when he turns his face homewards? And why should not we rejoice at the +thought that we, strangers and foreigners here, shall soon depart to the +true metropolis, the mother-country of our souls? I do not know why a +man should be either regretful or afraid, as he watches the hungry sea +eating away this 'bank and shoal of time' upon which he stands--even +though the tide has all but reached his feet--if he knows that God's +strong hand will be stretched forth to him at the moment when the sand +dissolves from under him, and will draw him out of many waters, and +place him high above the floods in that stable land where there is 'no +more sea.' + +Lives rooted in God through faith in Jesus Christ are not vanity. Let us +lay hold of Him with a loving grasp--and 'we shall live also' _because_ +He lives, _as_ He lives, _so long_ as He lives. The brief days of earth +will be blessed while they last, and fruitful of what shall never pass. +We shall have Him with us while we journey, and all our journeyings will +lead to rest in Him. True, men walk in a vain show; true, 'the world +passeth away and the lust thereof,' but, blessed be God! true, also, 'He +that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' + + + + +TWO INNUMERABLE SERIES + + + 'Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, + and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in + order unto Thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more + than can be numbered ... 12. Innumerable evils have compassed me + about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not + able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head; + therefore my heart faileth me.'--PSALMS xl. 5, 12. + +So then, there are two series of things which cannot be numbered, God's +mercies, man's sins. This psalm has for its burden a cry for +deliverance; but the Psalmist begins where it is very hard for a +struggling man to begin, but where we always should begin, with grateful +remembrance of God's mercy. His wondrous dealings seem to the Psalmist's +thankful heart as numberless as the blades of grass which carpet the +fields, or as the wavelets which glance in the moonlight and break in +silver upon the sand. They come pouring out continuously, like the +innumerable undulations of the ether which make upon the eyeballs the +single sensation of light. He thinks not only of God's wonderful works, +His realised purposes of mercy, but of 'His thoughts which are to +us-ward,' the purposes, still more wonderful, of a yet greater mercy +which wait to be realised. He thinks not only of God's lovingkindness to +Him, but his contemplations embrace God's goodness to his brethren--'Thy +thoughts which are to us-ward.' And as he thinks of all this 'multitude +of His tender mercies,' his lips break into this rapturous exclamation +of my text. + +But there is a wonderful change in tone, in the two halves of the psalm. +The deliverance that seems so complete in the earlier part is but +partial. The triumph and the trust seem both to be clouded over. A +frowning mass lifts itself up against the immense mass of God's mercies. +The Psalmist sees himself ringed about by numberless evils, as a man +tied to a stake might be by a circle of fire. 'Innumerable evils have +compassed me about.' His conscience tells him that the evils are +deserved; they are his iniquities transformed which have come back to +him in another shape, and have laid their hands upon him as a constable +does upon a thief. 'Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me'--they hem +him in so that his vision is interrupted, the smoke from the circle of +flame blinds his eyes--'I cannot see.' His roused conscience and his +quivering heart conceive of them as 'more than the hairs of his head,' +and so courage and confidence have ebbed away from him. 'My heart +faileth me----,' and there is nothing left for him but to fling himself +in his misery out of himself and on to God. + +Now what I wish to do in this sermon is not so much to deal with these +two verses separately as to draw some of the lessons from the very +remarkable juxtaposition of these two innumerable things--God's tender +mercies, and man's iniquity and evil. + +I. To begin with, let me remind you how, if we keep these two things +both together in our contemplations, they suggest for us very forcibly +the greatest mystery in the universe, and throw a little light upon it. + +The difficulty of difficulties, the one insoluble problem is----, given +a good and perfect God, where does sorrow come from, and why is there +any pain? Men have fumbled at that knot for all the years that there +have been men in the world, and they have not untied it yet. They have +tried to cut it and it has resisted all their knives and all their +ingenuity. And there the question stands before us, grim, insoluble, the +despair of all thinkers and often the torture of our own hearts, in the +hours of our personal experience. Is it true that 'God's mercies are +innumerable'? If it be, what is the meaning of all this that makes me +writhe and weep? Nobody has answered that question, and nobody ever +will. + +Only let us beware of the temptation of blinking half of the facts by +reason of the clearness of our confidence or the depth of our feeling of +the other half. That is always our temptation. You must have had a +singularly unruffled life if there has never come to you some moment +when, in the depth of your agony, you have ground your teeth together, +as you said to yourself, 'Is there a God then at all? And does He care +for me at all? And can He help me at all? And if there is, why in the +name of pity does He not?' + +Well, my brother! when such moments come to us, and they come to us all +sooner or later--and I was going to add a parenthesis, which you will +think strange, and say that they come to us all sooner or later, blessed +be God!--when such moments come to us, do not let the black mass hide +the light one from you, but copy this Psalmist, and in the energy of +your faith, even though it be the extremity of your pain, grasp and grip +them both; and though you have to say and to wail: 'Innumerable evils +have compassed me about,' be sure that you do not let that prevent you +from saying, 'Many, O Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works which are to +us-ward. They are more than can be numbered.' + +I do not enter upon this as a mere matter of philosophical speculation. +It is far too serious and important a matter to be so dealt with, in a +pulpit at any rate, but I would also add in one sentence that the mere +thinker, who looks at the question solely from an intellectual point of +view, has need to take the lesson of my two texts, and to be sure that +he keeps clear before him both halves of the facts--though they seem to +be as unlike each other as the eclipsed and the uneclipsed silver half +of the moon--with which he has to deal. + +Remember, the one does not contradict the other; but let us ask +ourselves if the one does not _explain_ the other. If it be that these +mercies are so innumerable as my first text says, may it not be that +they go deep down beneath, and include in their number, the experience +that seems most opposite to them, even the sorrow that afflicts our +lives? Must it not be, that the innumerable sum of God's mercies has not +to have subtracted from it, but has to have added to it, the sum which +also at intervals appears to us innumerable, of our sorrows and our +burdens? Perhaps the explanation does not go to the bottom of the +bottomless, but it goes a long way down towards it. 'Whom the Lord +loveth, He chasteneth' makes a bridge across the gulf which seems to +part the opposing cliffs, these two sets effect, and turn the darker +into a form in which the brighter reveals itself. 'All things work +together for good.' And God's innumerable mercies include the whole sum +total of my sorrows. + +II. So, again, notice how the blending of these two thoughts together +heightens the impression of each. + +All artists, and all other people know the power of contrast. White +never looks so white as when it is relieved against black; black never +so intense as when it is relieved against white. A white flower in the +twilight gleams out in spectral distinctness, paler and fairer than it +looked in the blazing sunshine. So, if we take and put these two things +together--the dark mass of man's miseries and the radiant brightness of +God's mercies, each heightens the colour of the other. + +Only, let me observe, as I have already suggested that, in the second of +my two texts, whilst the Psalmist starts from the 'innumerable evils' +that have compassed him about, he passes from these to the earlier evils +which he had done. It is pain that says, 'Innumerable evils have +compassed me about.' It is conscience that says, 'Mine iniquities have +taken hold upon me.' His wrong-doing has come back to him like the +boomerang that the Australian savage throws, which may strike its aim +but returns to the hand that flung it. It has come back in the shape of +a sorrow. And so 'Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me' is the +deepening of the earliest word of my text. Therefore, I am not reading a +double meaning into it, but the double meaning is in it when I see here +a reference both to a man's manifold sorrows and to a man's multiplied +transgressions. Taking the latter into consideration, the contrast +between these two heightens both of them. + +God's mercies never seem so fair, so wonderful, as when they are looked +at in conjunction with man's sin. Man's sin never seems so foul and +hideous as when it is looked at close against God's mercies. You cannot +estimate the conduct of one of two parties to a transaction unless you +have the conduct of the other before you. You cannot understand a +father's love unless you take into account the prodigal son's sullen +unthankfulness, or his unthankfulness without remembering his father's +love. You cannot estimate the clemency of a patient monarch unless you +know the blackness and persistency of the treason of his rebellious +subjects, nor their treason, except when seen in connection with his +clemency. You cannot estimate the long-suffering of a friend unless you +know the crimes against friendship of which his friend has been guilty, +nor the blackness of his treachery without the knowledge of the other's +loyalty to him. So we do not see the radiant brightness of God's +loving-kindness to us until we look at it from the depth of the darkness +of our own sin. The stars are seen from the bottom of the well. The +loving-kindness of God becomes wonderful when we think of the sort of +people on whom it has been lavished. And my evil is never apprehended in +its true hideousness until I have set it black and ugly, but searched +through and through, and revealed in every deformed outline, and in +every hideous lineament, by the light against which I see it. You must +take both in order to understand either. + +And not only so, but actually these two opposites, which are ever +warring with one another in a duel, most merciful, patient, and +long-suffering on His part--these two elements do intensify one another, +not only in our estimation but in reality. For it is man's sin that has +drawn out the deepest and most wonderful tenderness of the divine heart; +and it is God's love partly recognised and rejected, which leads men to +the darkest evil. Man's sin has heightened God's love to this climax and +consummation of all tenderness, that He has sent us His Son. And God's +love thus heightened has darkened and deepened man's sin. God's chiefest +gift is His Son. Man's darkest sin is the rejection of Christ. The +clearest light makes the blackest shadow, the tenderer the love, the +more criminal the apathy and selfishness which oppose it. + +My brother! let us put these two great things together, and learn how +the sin heightens the love, and how the love aggravates the sin. + +III. That leads me to another point, that the keeping of these two +thoughts together should lead us all to conscious penitence. + +The Psalmist's words are not the mere complaint of a soul in affliction, +they are also the acknowledgment of a conscience repenting. The +contemplation of these two numberless series should affect us all in a +like manner. + +Now there is a superficial kind of popular religion which has a great +deal to say about the first of these texts; and very little or next to +nothing about the second. It is a very defective kind of religion that +says:--'Many, O Lord my God! are Thy thoughts which are to us-ward,' but +has never been down on its knees with the confession 'Mine iniquities +have taken hold upon me.' But defective as it is, it is all the religion +which many people have, and I doubt not, some of my hearers have no +more. I would press on you all this truth, that there is no deep +personal religion without a deep consciousness of personal +transgression. Have you got that, my brother? Have you ever had it? Have +you ever known what it is so to look at God's love that it smites you +into tears of repentance when you think of the way you have requited +Him? If you have not, I do not think the sense of God's love has gone +very deeply into you, notwithstanding all that you say; and sure I am +that you have never got to the point where you can understand it most +clearly and most deeply. The sense of sin, the consciousness of personal +demerit, the feeling that I have gone against Him and His loving +law,--that is as important and as essential an element in all deep +personal religion as the clear and thankful apprehension of the love of +God. Nay, more; there never has been and there never will be in a man's +heart, a worthy adequate apprehension of, and response to, the wonderful +love of God, except it be accompanied with a sense of sin. I, therefore, +urge this upon you that, for the vigour of your own personal religion, +you must keep these two things well together. Beware of such a shallow, +easy-going, matter-of-course, taking for granted God's infinite love, +that it makes you think very little of your own sins against that love. + +And remember, on the other hand, that the only way, or at least by far +the surest way, to learn the depth and the darkness of my own +transgression is by bringing my heart under the influence of that great +love of God in Jesus Christ. It is not preaching hell that will break a +man's heart down into true repentance. It is not thundering over him +with the terrors of law and trying to prick his conscience that will +bring him to a deep real knowledge of his sin. These may be subordinate +and auxiliary, but the real power that convinces of sin is the love of +God. The one light which illuminates the dark recesses of one's own +heart, and makes us feel how dark they are, and how full of creeping +unclean things, is the light of the love of God that shines in Jesus +Christ, the light that shines from the Cross of Calvary. Oh, dear +friends! if we are ever to know the greatness of God's love we must feel +our personal sin which that great love has forgiven and purged away, and +if we are ever to know the depth of our own evil, we must measure it by +His wonderful tenderness. We must set our 'sins in the light of His +countenance,' and contrast that supreme sacrifice with our own selfish +loveless lives, that the contrast may subdue us to penitence and melt us +to tears. + +IV. Lastly, looking at these two numberless series together will bring +into the deepest penitence a joyful confidence. + +There are regions of experience the very opposite of that error of which +I have just been speaking. There are some of us, perhaps, who have so +profound a sense of their own shortcomings and sins that the mists +rising from these have blurred the sky to us and shut out the sun. Some +of you, perhaps, may be saying to yourselves that you cannot get hold of +God's love because your sin seems to you to be so great, or may be +saying to yourselves that it is impossible that you should ever get the +victory over this evil of yours, because it has laid hold upon you with +so tight a grasp. If there be in any heart listening to me now any +inclination to doubt the infinite love of God, or the infinite +possibility of cleansing from all sin, let me come with the simple word, +Bind these two texts together, and never so look at your own evil as to +lose sight of the infinite mercy of God. It is safe to say--ay! it is +blessed to say--'Mine iniquities are more than the hairs of mine head,' +when we can also say, 'Thy thoughts to me are more than can be +numbered.' + +There are not two innumerable series, there is only one. There is a +limit and a number to my sins and to yours, but God's mercies are +properly numberless. They overlap all our sins, they stretch beyond our +sins in all dimensions. They go beneath them, they encompass them, and +they will thin them away and cause them to disappear. My sins may be +many, God's mercies are more. My sins may be inveterate, God's mercy is +from everlasting. My sins may be strong, God's mercy is omnipotent. My +sins may seem to 'have laid upon me,' God can rescue me from their grip. +They are a film on the surface of the deep ocean of His love. My sins +may be as the sand which is by the seashore, innumerable, the love of +God in Jesus Christ is like the great sea which rolls over the sands and +buries them. My sins may rise mountains high, but His mercies are a +great deep which will cover the mountains to their very summit. Ah! my +sin is enormous, God's mercy is inexhaustible. 'With Thee is plenteous +redemption, and He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.' + + + + +THIRSTING FOR GOD + + + 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.'--PSALM xiii. 2. + +This whole psalm reads like the sob of a wounded heart. The writer of it +is shut out from the Temple of his God, from the holy soil of his native +land. One can see him sitting solitary yonder in the lonely wilderness +(for the geographical details that occur in one part of the psalm point +to his situation as being on the other side of the Jordan, in the +mountains of Moab)--can see him sitting there with long wistful gaze +yearning across the narrow valley and the rushing stream that lay +between him and the land of God's chosen people, and his eye resting +perhaps on the mountaintop that looked down upon Jerusalem. He felt shut +out from the presence of God. We need not suppose that he believed all +the rest of the world to be profane and God-forsaken, except only the +Temple. Nor need we wonder, on the other hand, that his faith did cling +to form, and that he thought the sparrows beneath the eaves of the +Temple blessed birds! He was depressed, because he was shut out from the +tokens of God's presence; and because he _was_ depressed, he shut +himself out from the reality of the presence. And so he cried with a cry +which never is in vain, 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God!' + +Taken, then, in its original sense, the words of our text apply only to +that strange phenomenon which we call religious depression. But I have +ventured to take them in a wider sense than that. It is not only +Christian men who are cast down, whose souls 'thirst for God.' It is not +only men upon earth whose souls thirst for God. All men, everywhere, may +take this text for theirs. Every human heart may breathe it out, if it +understands itself. The longing for 'the living God' belongs to all men. +Thwarted, stifled, it still survives. Unconscious, it is our deepest +misery. Recognised, yielded to, accepted, it is the foundation of our +highest blessings. Filled to the full, it still survives unsatiated and +expectant. For all men upon earth, Christian or not Christian, for +Christians here below, whether in times of depression or in times of +gladness, and for the blessed and calm spirits that in ecstasy of +longing, full of fruition, stand around God's throne--it is equally true +that their souls 'thirst for God, for the living God.' Only with this +difference, that to some the desire is misery and death, and to some the +desire is life and perfect blessedness. So that the first thought I +would suggest to you now is, that there is an unconscious and +unsatisfied longing after God, which is what we call the state of +nature; secondly, that there is an imperfect longing after God, fully +satisfied, which is what we call the state of grace; and lastly, that +there is a perfect longing, perfectly satisfied, which is what we call +the state of glory. Nature; religion upon earth; blessedness in +heaven--my text is the expression, in divers senses, of them all. + +I. In the first place, then, there is in every man an unconscious and +unsatisfied longing after God, and that is the state of nature. + +Experience is the test of that assertion. And the most superficial +examination of the facts of daily life, as well as the questioning of +our own souls, will tell us that _this_ is the leading feature of +them--a state of unrest. What is it that one of those deistic poets of +our own land says, about 'Man never _is_, but always _to be_ blest'? +What is the meaning of the fact that all round about us, and we +partaking of it, there is ceaseless, gigantic activity going on? The +very fact that men work, the very fact of activity in the mind and life, +noble as it is, and root of all that is good, and beautiful as it is, is +still the testimony of nature to this fact that I by myself am full of +passionate longings, of earnest desires, of unsupplied wants. 'I +thirst,' is the voice of the whole world. + +No man is made to be satisfied from himself. For the stilling of our own +hearts, for the satisfying of our own nature, for the strengthening and +joy of our being, we need to go beyond ourselves, and to fix upon +something external to ourselves. We are not independent. None of us can +stand by himself. No man carries within him the fountain from which he +can draw. If a heart is to be blessed, it must go out of the narrow +circle of its own individuality; and if a man's life is to be strong and +happy, he must get the foundation of his strength somewhere else than in +his own soul. And, my friends! especially you young men, all that modern +doctrine of self-reliance, though it has a true side to it, has also a +frightfully false side. Though it may he quite true that a man ought to +be, in one sense, sufficient for himself, and that there is no real +blessedness of which the root does not lie within the nature and heart +of the man; though all that be quite true, yet, if the doctrine means +(as on the lips of many a modern eloquent and powerful teacher of it, it +does mean) that we can do without God, that we may be self-reliant and +self-sufficient, and proudly neglectful of all the divine forces that +come down into life to brighten and gladden it, it is a lie, false and +fatal; and of all the falsehoods that are going about this world at +present, I know not one that is varnished over with more apparent truth, +that is smeared over with more of the honey that catches young, ardent, +ingenuous hearts, than that half-truth, and therefore most deceptive +error, which preaches independence, and self-reliance, and which +_means_--a man's soul does not 'thirst for the living God.' Take care of +it! We are made _not_ to be independent. + +We are made, next, to need, not _things_, but _living beings_. 'My soul +thirsteth'--for what? An abstraction, a possession, riches, a thing? No! +'my soul thirsteth for God, for _the living God_.' Yes, hearts want +hearts. The converse of Christ's saying is equally true; He said, 'God +is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit'; man +has a spirit, and man must have Spirit to worship, to lean upon, to live +by, or all will be inefficient and unsatisfactory. Oh, lay this to +heart, my brother!--no _things_ can satisfy a living soul. No +accumulation of dead matter can become the life of an immortal being. +The two classes are separated by the whole diameter of the +universe--matter and spirit, thing and person; and _you_ cannot feed +yourself upon the dead husks that lie there round about you--wealth, +position, honour. Books, thoughts, though they are nobler than these +other, are still inefficient. Principles, 'causes,' emotions springing +from truth, these are not enough. I want more than that, I want +something to love, something to lay a hand upon, that shall return the +grasp of the hand. A living man must have a living God, or his soul will +perish in the midst of earthly plenty, and will thirst and die whilst +the water of earthly delights is running all around him. We are made to +need _persons_, not _things_. + +Then again, we need _one_ Being who shall be all-sufficient. There is no +greater misery than that which may ensue from the attempt to satisfy our +souls by the accumulation of objects, each of them imperfect and finite, +which yet we fancy, woven together, will make an adequate whole. When a +heart is diverted from its one central purpose, when a life is split up +in a hundred different directions and into a hundred different emotions, +it is like a beam of light passed through some broken surface where it +is all refracted and shivered into fragments; there is no clear vision, +there is no perfect light. If a man is to be blessed, he must have one +source to which he can go. The merchantman that seeks for many goodly +pearls, may find the many; but until he has bartered them all for the +one, there is something lacking. Not only does the understanding require +to pass through the manifold, up and up in ever higher generalisations, +till it reaches the One from whom all things come; but the heart +requires to soar, if it would be at rest, through all the diverse +regions where its love may legitimately tarry for a while, until it +reaches the sole and central throne of the universe, and there it may +cease its flight, and fold its weary wings, and sleep like a bird within +its nest. We want a _Being_, and we want _one Being_ in whom shall be +sphered all perfection, in whom shall abide all power and blessedness; +beyond whom thought cannot pass, out of whose infinite circumference +love does not need to wander; besides whose boundless treasures no other +riches can be required; who is light for the understanding, power for +the will, authority for the practical life, purpose for the efforts, +motive for the doings, end and object for the feelings, home of the +affections, light of our seeing, life of our life, the love of our +heart, the one living God, infinite in wisdom, power, holiness, justice, +goodness and truth; who is all in all, and without whom everything else +is misery. 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God.' + +Brother! let me ask you the question, before I pass on--the question for +the sake of which I am preaching this sermon: Do _you_ know that Father? +I know this much, that every heart here now answers an 'Amen' (if it +will be honest) to what I have been saying. Unrest; panting, desperate +thirst, deceiving itself as to where it should go; slaking itself 'at +the gilded puddles that the beasts would cough at,' instead of coming to +the water of life!--that is the state of man without God. That is +nature. That is irreligion. The condition in which every man is that is +not trusting in Jesus Christ, is this--thirsting for God, and not +knowing _whom_ he is thirsting for, and so not getting the supply that +he wants. + +II. There is a conscious longing, imperfect, but answered; and that is +the state of grace--the beginning of religion in a man's soul. + +If it be true that there are, as part of the universal human experience, +however overlaid and stifled, these necessities of which I have been +speaking, the very existence of the necessities affords a presumption, +before all evidence, that, somehow and somewhere, they shall be +supplied. There can be no deeper truth--none, I think, that ought to +have more power in shaping some parts of our Christian creed, than this, +that God is a faithful Creator; and where He makes men with longings, it +is a prophecy that those longings are going to be supplied. The same +ground which avails to defend doctrines that cannot be so well defended +by any other argument--the same ground on which we say that there is an +immortality, because men long for it and believe in it; that there is a +God because men cannot get rid of the instinctive conviction that there +is; that there is a retribution, because men's consciences do ask for +it, and cry out for it--the very same process which may be applied to +the buttressing and defending of all the grandest truths of the Gospel, +applies also in this practical matter. If I, made by God who knew what +He was doing when He made me, am formed with these deep necessities, +with these passionate longings--then it cannot but be that it is +intended that they should be to me a means of leading me to Him, and +that there they should be satisfied. For He is 'the faithful Creator,' +and He remembers the conditions under which His making of us has placed +us. 'He knoweth our frame,' and He remembereth what He has implanted +within us. And the presumption is, of course, turned into an actual +certainty when we let in the light of the Gospel upon the thing. Then we +can say to every man that thus is yearning after a goodness dimly +perceived, and does not know what it is that he wants, and we say to you +now, Brother! betake yourself to the cross of Christ go with those wants +of yours to 'the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world': He +will interpret them to you. He will explain to you, as you do not now +know, what they mean; and, better than that, He will supply them all. +Your souls are thirsting; and you look about, here and there, and +everywhere, for springs of water. _There_ is the fountain--go to Christ. +Your souls are thirsting for God. The unfathomed ocean of the Godhead +lies far beyond my lip; but here is the channel through which there +flows that river of water of life. Here is the manifested God, here is +the granted God, here is the Godhead coming into connection and union +with man, his wants and his sins--the 'living God' and His living Son, +His everlasting Word. 'He that believeth upon Him shall never hunger, +and he that cometh unto Him shall never thirst.' God is the divine and +unfathomable ocean; Christ the Son is the stream that brings salvation +to every man's lips. All wants are supplied there. Take it as a piece of +the simplest prose, with no rhetorical exaggeration about it, that +Christ is _everything_, everything that a man can want. We are made to +require, and to be restless until we possess, perfect truth--there it +is! We are made to want, and to be restless until we get, perfect, +infinite unchangeable love--there it is! We must have, or the burden of +our own self-will will be a misery to us, a hand laid upon the springs +of our conduct, authoritative and purifying, and have the blessedness of +some voice to say to us, 'I bid thee, and that is enough'--there it is! +We must have rest, purity, hope, gladness, life in our souls--there they +all are! Whatever form of human nature and character be yours, my +brother!--whatever exigencies of life you may be lying under the +pressure of--man or woman, adult or child, father or son, man of +business or man of thought, struggling with difficulties or bright with +joy--Oh! believe us, the perfecting of your character may be got in the +Lamb of God, and without Him it never can be possessed. Christ is +everything, and 'out of His fulness all we receive grace for grace.' + +Not only in Christ is there the perfect supply of all these necessities, +but also that fulness _becomes ours_ on the simple condition of desiring +it. The thirst for the living God in a man who has faith in Christ +Jesus, is not a thirst which amounts to pain, or arises from a sense of +non-possession. But in this divine region the principle of the giving is +this--to desire is to have; to long for is to possess. There is no wide +interval between the sense of thirst and the trickling of the stream +over the parched lip; but ever it is flowing, flowing past us, and the +desire is but the opening of the lips to receive the limpid and +life-giving waters. No one ever desired the grace of God, really and +truly desired it; but just in proportion as he desired it, he got +it--just in proportion as he thirsted, he was satisfied. Therefore we +have to preach that grand gospel that faith, simple, conscious longing, +turned to Christ, avails to bring down the full and perfect supply. + +But some Christian people here may reply, 'Ah! I wish it were so: what +was that you were saying at the beginning of your sermon, about men +having religious depression, about Christians longing and not +possessing?' Well, I have only this to say about that matter. Wherever +in a heart that really believes on God in Christ, there is a thirst that +amounts to pain, and that has with it a sense of non-possession, that is +not because Christ's fulness has become shrunken; that is not because +there is a change in God's law, that the measure of the desire is the +measure of the reception; but it is only because, for some reason or +other that belongs to the man alone, the desire is not deep, genuine, +simple, but is troubled and darkened. What we ask, we get. If I am a +Christian, however feeble I may be, the feebleness of my faith and the +feebleness of my desire may make my supplies of grace feeble; but if I +am a Christian, there is no such thing as an earnest longing +unsatisfied, no such thing as a thirst accompanied with a pain and sense +of want, except in consequence of my own transgression. + +And thus there _is_ a longing imperfect in this life, but fully supplied +according to the measure of its intensity, a longing after 'the living +God'; and that is the state of a Christian man. And O my friend! that is +a widely different desire from the other that I have been speaking +about. It is blessed thus to say, 'My soul thirsteth for God.' It is +blessed to feel the passionate wish for more light, more grace, more +peace, more wisdom, more of God. That _is_ joy, that _is_ peace! Is that +_your_ experience in this present life? + +III. Lastly, there is a perfect longing perfectly satisfied; and that is +heaven. + +We shall not there be independent, of course, of constant supplies from +the great central Fulness, any more than we are here. One may see in one +aspect, that just as the Christian life here on earth is in a very true +sense a state of never thirsting any more, because we have Christ, and +yet in another sense is a state of continual longing and desire--so the +Christian and glorified life in heaven, in one view of it, is the +removal of all that thirst which marked the condition of man upon earth, +and in another is the perfecting of all those aspirations and desires. +Thirst, as longing, is eternal; thirst, as aspiration after God, is the +glory of heaven; thirst, as desire for more of Him, is the very +condition of the celestial world, and the element of all its +blessedness. + +That future life gives us two elements, an infinite God, and an +indefinitely expansible human spirit: an infinite God to fill, and a +soul to be filled, the measure and the capacity of which has no limit +set to it that we can see. What will be the consequence of the contact +of these two? Why this, for the first thing, that always, at every +moment of that blessed life, there shall be a perpetual fruition, a +perpetual satisfaction, a deep and full fountain filling the whole soul +with the refreshment of its waves and the music of its flow. And yet, +and yet--though at every moment in heaven we shall be satisfied, filled +full of God, full to overflowing in all our powers--yet the very fact +that the God who dwells in us, and fills our whole natures with +unsullied and perfect blessedness, is an infinite God; and that we in +whom the infinite Father dwells, are men with souls that can grow, and +can grow for ever--will result in this, that at every moment our +capacities will expand; that at every moment, therefore, the desire will +grow and spring afresh; that at every moment God will be seen unveiling +undreamed-of beauties, and revealing hitherto unknown heights of +blessedness before us; and that the sight of that transcendent, +unapproached, unapproachable, and yet attracting and transforming glory, +will draw us onward as by an impulse from above, and the possession of +some portion of it will bear us upward as by a power from within; and +so, nearer, nearer, ever nearer to the throne of light, the centre of +blessedness, the growing, and glorifying, and greatening souls of the +perfectly and increasingly blessed shall 'mount up with wings as +eagles.' Heaven _is_ endless longing, accompanied with an endless +fruition--a longing which is blessedness, a longing which is life! + +My brother! let me put two sayings of Scripture side by side, 'My soul +thirsteth for God, for the living God,'--'Father Abraham! send Lazarus, +that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue.' +There be two thirsts, one, the longing for God, which, satisfied, is +heaven; one, the longing for quenching of self-lit fires, and for one +drop of the lost delights of earth to cool the thirsty throat, which, +unsatisfied, is hell. Then hearken to the final vision on the page of +Scripture, 'He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as +crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.' To us it +is showed, and to us the whole revelation of God converges to that last +mighty call, 'Let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him +take the water of life freely!' + + + + +THE PSALMIST'S REMONSTRANCE WITH HIS SOUL + + + 'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted + within me? Hope in God: for I shall yet praise Him, the health of my + countenance, and my God.'--PSALM xliii. 5. + +This verse, which closes this psalm, occurs twice in the previous one. +It is a kind of refrain. Obviously this little psalm, of which my text +is a part, was originally united with the preceding one. That the two +made one is clear to anybody that will read them, by reason of +structure, and tone, and similarity of the singer's situation, and the +recurrence of many phrases, and especially of these significant words of +my text. + +The Psalmist is in circumstances of trouble and sorrow. We need not +enter upon them particularly, but the thing that I desire to point out +is that three times does the Psalmist take himself to task and question +himself as to the reasonableness of the emotions that are surging in his +soul, and checks these by higher considerations. Thrice he does it; +twice in vain, for the trouble and anxiety come rolling back upon him in +spite of the moment's respite, but the third time he triumphs. + +I. We note, then, first, that moods and emotions should be examined and +governed by a higher self. + +In the Psalmist's case, his gloom and despondency, which could plead +good reasons for their existence, had everything their own way at first, +and swept over his soul like the first rush of waters which have burst +their bounds. But, presently, the ruling part of his nature wakes, and +brings the feebler lower soul to its tribunal, and says, in effect, +'Now! now that I am here, what hast thou to say about these sorrows that +thou hast been complaining about? _Why_ art thou cast down, O my soul? +Why art thou disquieted? ... Hope in God!' + +I shall have a word or two to say presently about the details of this +remonstrance, but the main point that I make, to begin with, is just +this, that however strong and reasonably occasioned by circumstances a +man's emotions and feelings, either of the bright or the dark kind, may +be, they are not to be indulged, unless they have passed muster and +examination by that higher and better self. It is necessary to keep a +very tight hand upon _all_ our feelings, whether they be the natural +desires of the sensuous part of our nature, or whether they be the +sentiments of sadness, or doubt, or anxiety, or perplexity, which are +the natural results of outward circumstances of trial; or whether, on +the contrary, they be the bright and buoyant ones which come, like +angels, along with prosperous hours. But that necessity, commonplace as +it is of all morals and all religion, is yet a thing which, day by day, +we so forget that we need to be ever and anon reminded of it. + +There are hosts of people who, making profession of being Christians, do +not habitually put the brake on their moods and tempers, and who seem to +think that it is a sufficient vindication of gloom and sadness to say +that things are going badly with them in the outer world, and who act as +if they supposed that no joy can be too exuberant and no elation too +lofty if, on the other hand, things are going rightly. It is a miserable +travesty of the Christian faith to suppose that its prime purpose is +anything else than to put into our hands the power of ruling ourselves +because we let Christ rule us. + +And so, dear brethren! though it be the A B C of Christian teaching, +suffer this word of exhortation. It is only 'milk for babes,' but it is +milk that the babes are very unwilling to take. Learn from this verse +before us the solemn duty of rigid control, by the higher self, of the +tremulous, emotional lower self which responds so completely to every +change of temperature or circumstances in the world without. And +remember that there should be a central heat which keeps the temperature +substantially the same, whatever be the weather outside. As the +wheel-house, and the steering gear, and the rudder of the ship proclaim +their purpose of guidance and direction, so eloquently and unmistakably +does the make of our inward selves tell us that emotions and moods and +tempers are meant to be governed, often to be crushed, always to be +moderated, by sovereign will and reason. In the Psalmist's language, 'My +soul' has to give account of its tremors and flutterings to 'Me,' the +ruling Self, who should be Lord of temperament, and control the +fluctuations of feeling. + +II. Note that there are two ways of looking at causes of dejection and +disquiet. + +The whole preceding parts of both the psalms, before this refrain, are +an answer to the question which my text puts. 'Why art thou cast down, O +my soul?' 'My soul' has been talking two whole psalms, to explain why it +is cast down. And after all the eloquent torrent of words to vindicate +and explain its reasons for sadness--separation from the sanctuary, +bitter remembrances of bright days, which the poet tells us are 'a +sorrow's crown of sorrow,' taunts of enemies and the like--after all +these have been said over and over again, the Psalmist says to himself: +'Come now, let us hear it all once more. _Why_ art thou cast down? Why +art thou disquieted within me? Thou hast been telling the reasons +abundantly. Speak them once again, and let us have a look at them.' + +There is a court of appeal in each man, which tests and tries his +reasons for his moods; and these, which look very sufficient to the +flesh, turn out to be very insufficient when investigated and tested by +the higher spirit or self. We should 'appeal from Philip drunk to Philip +sober.' And if a man will be honest with himself, and tell himself why +he is in such a pucker of terror, or why he is in such a rapture of joy, +nine times out of ten the attempt to tell the reasons will be the +condemnation of the mood which they are supposed to justify. If men +would only bring the causes or occasions of the tempers and feelings +which they allow to direct them, to the bar of common sense, to say +nothing of religious faith, half the furious boilings in their hearts +would stop their ebullition. It would be like pouring cold water into a +kettle on the fire. It would end its bubbling. Everything has two +handles. The aspect of any event depends largely on the beholder's point +of view. 'There's nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.' +'Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within +me?' The answer is often very hard to give; the question is always very +salutary to ask. + +III. Note that no reasons for being cast down are so strong as those for +elation and calm hope. + +'Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my +countenance and my God.' I need not deal here with the fact that the +first of the three occurrences of this refrain is, in our Bible, a +little different from the other two. That is probably a mistake in the +text. In all three cases the words ought to stand the same. + +Try to realise what God is to yourselves--'My God' and 'the health of my +countenance.' That will stimulate sluggish feeling; that will calm +disturbed emotion. He that can say 'My God!' and in that possession can +repose, will not be easily moved, by the trivialities and +transitorinesses of this life, to excessive disquiet, whether of the +exuberant or of the woful sort. There is a wonderful calming power in +realising our possession of God as our portion--not stagnating, but +quieting. I am quite sure that the troubles of our lives, and the +gladnesses of our lives, which often distract, would be far less +operative in disturbing, if we felt more that God was ours and that we +were God's. + +Brethren! 'there is no joy but calm.' To be at rest is better than +rapture. And there is no way of getting and keeping a fixed temper of +still tranquillity unless we go into that deep and hidden chamber, in +the secret place of the Most High, where we cannot 'hear the loud winds +when they call,' but dwell in security, whatever storms harass the land. +'Why art thou cast down,' or lifted 'up,' and, in either case, +'disquieted'? 'Hope in God,' and be at rest. + +IV. Note that the effort to lay hold on the truth which calms is to be +repeated in spite of failures. + +The words of our text are thrice repeated in these two psalms. In the +two former instances they are followed by a fresh burst of pained +feeling. A moment of tranquillity interrupts the agitation of the +Psalmist's soul, but is soon followed by the recurrence of 'the horrible +storm' that 'begins afresh.' A tiny island of blue appears in his sky, +and then the pale, ugly, grey rack drives across it once more. But the +guiding self keeps the hand firm on the tiller, notwithstanding the wash +of the water and the rolling of the ship, and the dominant will conquers +at last, and at the third time the yielding soul obeys and is quiet, +because the Psalmist's will resolved that it should be quiet, and it +hopes in God because He, by a dead lift of effort, lifts it up to hope. + +No effort at tranquillising our hearts is wholly lost; and no attempt to +lay hold upon God is wholly in vain. Men build a dam to keep out the +sea, and the winter storms make a breach in it, but it is not washed +away altogether, and next season they will not need to begin to build +from quite so low down; but there will be a bit of the former left, to +put the new structure upon, and so by degrees it will rise above the +tide, and at last will keep it out. + +Did you ever see a child upon a swing, or a gymnast upon a trapeze? Each +oscillation goes a little higher; each starts from the same lowest +point, but the elevation on either side increases with each renewed +effort, until at last the destined height is reached and the daring +athlete leaps on to a solid platform. So we may, if I might say so, by +degrees, by reiterated efforts, swing ourselves up to that steadfast +floor on which we may stand high above all that breeds agitation and +gloom. It is possible, in the midst of change and circumstances that +excite sad emotions, anxieties, and fears--it is possible to have this +calmness of hope in God. The rainbow that spans the cataract rises +steadfast above the white, tortured water beneath, and persists whilst +all is hurrying change below, and there are flowers on the grim black +rocks by the side of the fall, whose verdure is made greener and whose +brightness is made brighter, by the freshening of the spray of the +waterfall. So we may be 'as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing,' and may +bid dejected and disquieted souls to hope in God and be still. + + + + +THE KING IN HIS BEAUTY + + + 'Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into Thy + lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee forever. 3. Gird Thy sword + upon Thy thigh, O mighty one, Thy glory and Thy majesty. 4. And in + Thy majesty ride on prosperously, because of truth and meekness and + righteousness: and Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things. + 5. Thine arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under Thee; they are in + the heart of the King's enemies. 6. Thy throne, O God, is for ever + and ever: a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. 7. Thou + hast loved righteousness, and hated wickedness: therefore God, Thy + God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows.' + --PSALM xlv. 2-7 (R.V.). + +There is no doubt that this psalm was originally the marriage hymn of +some Jewish king. All attempts to settle who that was have failed, for +the very obvious reason that neither the history nor the character of +any of them correspond to the psalm. Its language is a world too wide +for the diminutive stature and stained virtues of the greatest and best +of them, and it is almost ludicrous to attempt to fit its glowing +sentences even to a Solomon. They all look like little David in Saul's +armour. So, then, we must admit one of two things. Either we have here a +piece of poetical exaggeration far beyond the limits of poetic license, +or 'a greater than Solomon is here.' Every Jewish king, by virtue of his +descent and of his office, was a living prophecy of the greatest of the +sons of David, the future King of Israel. And the Psalmist sees the +ideal Person who, as he knew, was one day to be real, shining through +the shadowy form of the earthly king, whose very limitations and +defects, no less than his excellences and his glories, forced the devout +Israelite to think of the coming King in whom 'the sure mercies' +promised to David should be facts at last. In plainer words, the psalm +celebrates Christ, not only although, but because, it had its origin and +partial application in a forgotten festival at the marriage of some +unknown king. It sees Him in the light of the Messianic hope, and so it +prophesies of Christ. My object is to study the features of this +portrait of the King, partly in order that we may better understand the +psalm, and partly in order that we may with the more reverence crown Him +as Lord of all. + +I. The Person of the King. + +The old-world ideal of a monarch put special emphasis upon two +things--personal beauty and courtesy of address and speech. The psalm +ascribes both of these to the King of Israel, and from both of them +draws the conclusion that one so richly endowed with the most eminent of +royal graces is the object of the special favour of God. 'Thou art +fairer than the children of men, grace is poured into Thy lips: +therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever.' + +Here, at the very outset, we have the keynote struck of superhuman +excellence; and though the reference is, on the surface, only to +physical perfection, yet beneath that there lies the deeper reference to +a character which spoke through the eloquent frame, and in which all +possible beauties and sovereign graces were united in fullest +development, in most harmonious co-operation and unstained purity. + +'Thou art fairer than the children of men.' Put side by side with that, +words which possibly refer to, and seem to contradict it. A later +prophet, speaking of the same Person, said: 'His visage was so marred, +more than any man, and His form than the sons of men.... There is no +form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that +we should desire Him.' We have to think, not of the outward form, +howsoever lovely with the loveliness of meekness and transfigured with +the refining patience of suffering it may have been, but of the beauty +of a soul that was all radiant with a lustre of loveliness that shames +the fragmentary and marred virtues of the best of us, and stands before +the world for ever as the supreme type and high-water mark of the grace +that is possible to a human spirit. God has lodged in men's nature the +apprehension of Himself, and of all that flows from Him, as true, as +good, as beautiful; and to these three there correspond wisdom, +morality, and art. The latter, divorced from the other two, becomes +earthly and devilish. This generation needs the lesson that beauty +wrenched from truth and goodness, and pursued for its own sake, by +artist or by poet or by _dilettante_, leads by a straight descent to +ugliness and to evil, and that the only true satisfying of the deep +longing for 'whatsoever things are lovely' is to be found when we turn +to Christ and find in Him, not only wisdom that enlightens the +understanding, and righteousness that fills the conscience, but beauty +that satisfies the heart. He is 'altogether lovely.' Nor let us forget +that once on earth 'the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His +raiment did shine as the light,' as indicative of the possibilities that +lay slumbering in His lowly Manhood, and as prophetic of that to which +we believe that the ascended Christ hath now attained--viz. the body of +His glory, wherein He reigns, filled with light and undecaying +loveliness on the Throne of the Heaven. Thus He is fairer in external +reality now, as He is, by the confession of an admiring, though not +always believing, world, fairer in inward character than the children of +men. + +Another personal characteristic is 'Grace is poured into Thy lips.' +Kingly courtesy, and kingly graciousness of word, must be the +characteristic of the Sovereign of men. The abundance of that bestowment +is expressed by that word, 'poured.' We need only remember, 'All +wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth,' or how +even the rough instruments of authority were touched and diverted from +their appointed purpose, and came back and said, 'Never man spake like +this Man.' To the music of Christ's words all other eloquence is harsh, +poor, shallow--like the piping of a shepherd boy upon some wretched +oaten straw as compared with the full thunder of the organ. Words of +unmingled graciousness came from His lips. That fountain never sent +forth 'sweet waters and bitter.' He satisfies the canon of St. James: +'If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.' Words of +wisdom, of love, of pity, of gentleness, of pardon, of bestowment, and +only such, came from Him. 'Daughter! be of good cheer.' 'Son! thy sins +be forgiven thee.' 'Come unto Me all ye that labour and are +heavy-laden.' + +'Grace is poured into Thy lips'; and, withal, it is the grace of a King. +For His language is authoritative even when it is most tender, and regal +when it is most gentle. His lips, sweet as honey and the honeycomb, are +the lips of an Autocrat. 'He speaks, and it is done: He commands, and it +stands fast.' He says to the tempest, 'Be still!' and it is quiet; and +to the demons, 'Come out of him!' and they disappear; and to the dead, +'Come forth!' and he stumbles from the tomb. + +Another personal characteristic is--'God hath blessed Thee for ever.' By +which we are to understand, not that the two preceding graces are the +reasons for the divine benediction, but that the divine benediction is +the cause of them; and therefore they are the signs of it. It is not +that because He is lovely and gracious therefore God hath blessed Him; +but it is that we may know that God has blessed Him, since He is lovely +and gracious. These endowments are the results, not the causes; the +signs or the proofs, not the reasons of the divine benediction. That is +to say, the humanity so fair and unique shows by its beauty that it is +the result of the continual and unique operation and benediction of a +present God. We understand Him when we say, 'On Him rests the Spirit of +God without measure or interruption.' The explanation of the perfect +humanity is the abiding Divinity. + +II. We pass from the person of the King, in the next place, to His +warfare. + +The Psalmist breaks out in a burst of invocation, calling upon the King +to array Himself in His weapons of warfare, and then in broken clauses +vividly pictures the conflict. The Invocation runs thus: 'Gird on thy +sword upon thy thigh, O mighty hero! gird on thy glory and thy majesty, +and ride on prosperously on behalf (or, in the cause) of truth and +meekness and righteousness.' The King, then, is the perfection of +warrior strength as well as of beauty and gentleness--a combination of +qualities that speaks of old days when kings _were_ kings, and reminds +us of many a figure in ancient song, as well as of a Saul and a David in +Jewish history. + +The singer calls upon Him to bind on His side His glittering sword, and +to put on, as His armour, 'glory and majesty.' These two words, in the +usage of the psalms, belong to Divinity, and they are applied to the +monarch here as being the earthly representative of the divine +supremacy, on whom there falls some reflection of the glory and the +majesty of which He is the vice-regent and representative. Thus arrayed, +with His weapon by His side and glittering armour on His limbs, He is +called upon to mount His chariot or His warhorse and ride forth. + +But for what? 'On behalf of truth, meekness, righteousness.' If He be a +warrior, these are the purposes for which the true King of men must draw +His sword, and these only. No vulgar ambition or cruel lust of conquest, +earth-hunger, or 'glory' actuates Him. Nothing but the spread through +the world of the gracious beauties which are His own can be the end of +the King's warfare. He fights for truth; He fights--strange paradox--for +meekness; He fights for righteousness. And He not only fights _for_ them, +but _with_ them, for they are His own, and by _reason_ of them He 'rides +prosperously,' as well as 'rides prosperously' in order to establish +them. + +In two or three swift touches the Psalmist next paints the tumult and +hurry of the fight. 'Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things.' +There are no armies or allies, none to stand beside Him. The one mighty +figure of the Kingly Warrior stands forth, as in the Assyrian sculptures +of conquerors, erect and solitary in His chariot, crashing through the +ranks of the enemy, and owing victory to His own strong arm alone. + +Then follow three short, abrupt clauses, which, in their hurry and +fragmentary character, reflect the confusion and swiftness of battle. +'Thine arrows are sharp.... The people fall under Thee.' ... 'In the +heart of the King's enemies.' The Psalmist sees the bright arrow on the +string; it flies; he looks--the plain is strewed with prostrate forms, +the King's arrow in the heart of each. + +Put side by side with that this picture:--A rocky road; a great city +shining in the morning sunlight across a narrow valley; a crowd of +shouting peasants waving palm branches in their rustic hands; in the +centre the meek carpenter's Son, sitting upon the poor robes which alone +draped the ass's colt, the tears upon His cheeks, and His lamenting +heard above the Hosannahs, as He looked across the glen and said, 'If +thou hadst known the things that belong to thy peace!' That is the +fulfilment, or part of the fulfilment, of this prophecy. The +slow-pacing, peaceful beast and the meek, weeping Christ are the reality +of the vision which, in such strangely contrasted and yet true form, +floated before the prophetic eye of this ancient singer, for Christ's +humiliation is His majesty, and His sharpest weapon is His +all-penetrating love, and His cross is His chariot of victory and throne +of dominion. + +But not only in His earthly life of meek suffering does Christ fight as +a King, but all through the ages the world-wide conflict for truth and +meekness and righteousness is His conflict; and wherever that is being +waged, the power which wages it is His, and the help which is done upon +earth He doeth it all Himself. True, He has His army, willing in the day +of His power, and clad in priestly purity and armour of light, but all +their strength, courage, and victory are from Him; and when they fight +and conquer, it is not they, but He in them who struggles and overcomes. +We have a better hope than that built on 'a stream of tendency that +makes for righteousness.' We know a Christ crucified and crowned, who +fights for it, and what He fights for will hold the field. + +This prophecy of our psalm is not exhausted yet. I have set side by side +with it one picture--the Christ on the ass's colt. Put side by side with +it this other. 'I beheld the heaven opened; and lo! a white horse. And +He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness +He doth judge and make war.' The psalm waits for its completion still, +and shall be fulfilled on that day of the true marriage supper of the +Lamb, when the festivities of the marriage chamber shall be preceded by +the last battle and crowning victory of the King of kings, the Conqueror +of the world. + +III. Lastly, we have the royalty of the King. + +'Thy throne, O God! is for ever and ever.' This is not the place nor +time to enter on the discussion of the difficulties of these words. I +must run the risk of appearing to state confident opinions without +assigning reasons, when I venture to say that the translation in the +Authorised Version is the natural one. I do not say that others have +been adopted by reason of doctrinal prepossessions; I know nothing about +that; but I do say that they are not by any means so natural a +translation as that which stands before us. What it may mean is another +matter; but the plain rendering of the words, I venture to assert, is +what our English Bible makes it--'Thy throne, O God! is for ever and +ever.' + +Then it is to be remembered that, throughout the Old Testament, we have +occasional instances of the use of that great and solemn designation in +reference to persons in such place and authority as that they are +representatives of God. So kings and judges and lawyers and the like are +spoken of more than once. Therefore there is not, in the language, +translated as in our English Bible, necessarily the implication of the +unique divinity of the persons so addressed. But I take it that this is +an instance in which the prophet was 'wiser than he knew,' and in which +you and I understand him better than he understood himself, and know +what God, who spoke through him, meant, whatsoever the prophet, through +whom He spoke, did mean. That is to say, I take the words before us as +directly referring to Jesus Christ, and as directly declaring the +divinity of His person, and therefore the eternity of His kingdom. + +We live in days when that perpetual sovereignty is being questioned. In +a revolutionary time like this it is well for Christian people, seeing +so many venerable things going, to tighten their grasp upon the +conviction that, whatever goes, Christ's kingdom will not go; and that, +whatever may be shaken by any storms, the foundation of His Throne +stands fast. For our personal lives, and for the great hopes of the +future beyond the grave, it is all-important that we should grasp, as an +elementary conviction of our faith, the belief in the perpetual rule of +that Saviour whose rule is life and peace. In the great mosque of +Damascus, which was a Christian church once, there may still be read, +deeply cut in the stone, high above the pavement where now Mohammedans +bow, these words, 'Thy kingdom, O Christ! is an everlasting kingdom.' It +is true, and it shall yet be known that He is for ever and ever the +Monarch of the world. + +Then, again, this royalty is a royalty of righteousness. 'The sceptre of +Thy kingdom is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness and hatest +wickedness.' His rule is no arbitrary sway, His rod is no rod of iron +and tyrannical oppression, His own personal character is righteousness. +Righteousness is the very life-blood and animating principle of His +rule. He loves righteousness, and, therefore, puts His broad shield of +protection over all who love it and seek after it. He hates wickedness, +and therefore He wars against it wherever it is, and seeks to draw men +out of it. And thus His kingdom is the hope of the world. + +And, lastly, this dominion of perennial righteousness is the dominion of +unparalleled gladness. 'Therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee +with the oil of joy above Thy fellows.' Set side by side with that the +other words, 'A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' And remember +how, near the very darkest hour of the Lord's earthly experiences, He +said:--'These things have I spoken unto you that My joy may remain in +you, and that your joy may be full.' Christ's gladness flowed from +Christ's righteousness. Because His pure humanity was ever in touch with +God, and in conscious obedience to Him, therefore, though darkness was +around, there was light within. He was 'sorrowful, yet always +rejoicing,' and the saddest of men was likewise the gladdest, and +possessed 'the oil of joy above His fellows.' + +Brother! that kingdom is offered to us; participation in that joy of our +Lord may belong to each of us. He rules that He may make us like +Himself, lovers of righteousness, and so, like Himself, possessors of +unfading joy. Make Him your King, let His arrow reach your heart, bow in +submission to His power, take for your very life His words of +graciousness, lovingly gaze upon His beauty till some reflection of it +shall shine from you, fight by His side with strength drawn from Him +alone, own and adore Him as the enthroned God-man, Jesus Christ, the Son +of God. Crown Him with the many crowns of supreme trust, heart-whole +love, and glad obedience. So shall you be honoured to share in His +warfare and triumph. So shall you have a throne close to His and eternal +as it. So shall His sceptre be graciously stretched out to you to give +you access with boldness to the presence-chamber of the King. So shall +He give you too, 'the oil of joy for mourning,' even in the 'valley of +weeping,' and the fulness of His gladness for evermore, when He sets you +at His right hand. + + + + +THE PORTRAIT OF THE BRIDE + + 'Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget + also thine own people, and thy father's house; 11. So shall the King + desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him. 12. And + the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among + the people shall entreat thy favour. 13. The King's daughter within + the palace is all glorious: her clothing is inwrought with gold. 14. + She shall be led unto the King in broidered work: the virgins, her + companions, that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 15. With + gladness and rejoicing shall they be led; they shall enter into the + King's palace.'--PSALM xlv. 10-15 (R.V.). + +The relation between God and Israel is constantly represented in the Old +Testament under the emblem of a marriage. The tenderest promises of +protection and the sharpest rebukes of unfaithfulness are based upon +this foundation. 'Thy Maker is thy Husband'; or, 'I am married unto +thee, saith the Lord.' The emblem is transferred in the New Testament to +Christ and His Church. Beginning with John the Baptist's designation of +Him as the Bridegroom, it reappears in many of our Lord's sayings and +parables, is frequent in the writings of the Apostle Paul, and reaches +its height of poetic splendour and terror in that magnificent +description in Revelation of 'the Bride, the Lamb's wife,' and 'the +marriage supper of the Lamb.' + +Seeing, then, the continual occurrence of this metaphor, it is unnatural +and almost impossible to deny its presence in this psalm. In a former +sermon I have directed attention to the earlier portion of it, which +presents us, in its portraiture of the King, a shadowy and prophetic +outline of Jesus Christ. I desire, in a similar fashion, to deal now +with the latter portion, which, in its portrait of the bride, presents +us with truths having their real fulfilment in the Church collectively +and in the individual soul. + +Of course, inasmuch as the consort of a Jewish monarch was not an +incarnate prophecy as her husband was, the transference of the +historical features of this wedding-song to a spiritual purpose is not +so satisfactory, or easy, in the latter part as in the former. There is +a thicker rind of prose fact, as it were, to cut through, and certain of +the features cannot be applied to the relation between Christ and His +Church without undue violence. But, whilst we admit that, it is also +clear that the main, broad outlines of this picture do require as well +as permit its higher application. Therefore I turn to them to try to +bring out what they teach us so eloquently and vividly of Christ's gifts +to, and requirements from, the souls that are wedded to Him. + +I. Now the first point is this--the all-surrendering Love that must mark +the Bride. + +The language of the tenth verse is the voice of prophecy or inspiration; +speaking words of fatherly counsel to the princess--'Forget also thine +own people and thy father's house.' Historically I suppose it points to +the foreign birth of the queen, who is called upon to abandon all old +ties, and to give herself with wholehearted consecration to her new +duties and relations. + +In all real wedded life, as those who have tasted it know, there comes, +by sweet necessity, the subordination, in the presence of a purer and +more absorbing love, brought close by a will itself ablaze with the +sacred glow. + +Therefore, while giving all due honour to other forms of Christian +opposition to the prevailing unbelief, I urge the cultivation of a +quickened spiritual life as by far the most potent. Does not history +bear me out in that view? What, for instance, was it that finished the +infidelity of the eighteenth century? Whether had Butler's _Analogy_ or +Charles Wesley's hymns, Paley's _Evidences_ or Whitefield's sermons, +most to do with it? A languid Church breeds unbelief as surely as a +decaying oak does fungus. In a condition of depressed vitality, the +seeds of disease, which a full vigour would shake off, are fatal. Raise +the temperature, and you kill the insect germs. A warmer tone of +spiritual life would change the atmosphere which unbelief needs for its +growth. It belongs to the fauna of the glacial epoch, and when the +rigours of that wintry time begin to melt, and warmer days to set in, +the creatures of the ice have to retreat to arctic wildernesses, and +leave a land no longer suited for their life. A diffused unbelief, such +as we see around us to-day, does not really arise from the logical basis +on which it seems to repose. It comes from something much deeper,--a +certain habit and set of mind which gives these arguments their force. +For want of a better name, we call it the spirit of the age. It is the +result of very subtle and complicated forces, which I do not pretend to +analyse. It spreads through society, and forms the congenial soil in +which these seeds of evil, as we believe them to be, take root. Does +anybody suppose that the growth of popular unbelief is owing to the +logical force of certain arguments? It is in the air; a wave of it is +passing over us. We are in a condition in which it becomes shall drop +the toys of earth as easily and naturally as a child will some trinket +or plaything, when it stretches out its little hand to get a better gift +from its loving mother. Love will sweep the heart clean of its +antagonists; and there is no real union between Jesus Christ and us +except in the measure in which we joyfully, and not as a reluctant +giving up of things that we would much rather keep if we durst, 'count +all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus +our Lord.' + +Have the terms of wedded life changed since my psalm was written? Is +there less need now than there used to be that, if we are to possess a +heart, we should give a whole heart? And have the terms of Christian +living altered since the old days, when He said, 'Whosoever he be of you +that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple'? Ah! I +fear me that it is no uncharitable judgment to say that the bulk of +so-called Christians are playing at being Christians, and have never +penetrated into the depths either of the sweet all-sufficiency of the +love which they say that they possess, or the constraining necessity +that is in it for the surrender of all besides. Many happy husbands and +wives, if they would only treat Jesus Christ as they treat one another, +would find out a power and a blessedness in the Christian life that they +know nothing about at present. 'Daughter! forget thine own people and +thy father's house!' + +II. Again, the second point here is that which directly follows--the +King's love and the Bride's reverence. 'So shall the King greatly desire +thy beauty: for He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.' + +The King is drawn, in the outgoings of His affection, by the sweet trust +and perfect love which has surrendered everything for him and happily +followed him from the far-off land. And then, in accordance with +Oriental ideas, and with His royal rank, the bride is exhorted, in the +midst of the utter trust and equality born of love, to remember, 'He is +thy Lord, and reverence thou Him.' So, then, here are two thoughts that +go, as I take it, very deep into the realities of the Christian life. +The first is that, in simple literal fact, Jesus Christ is affected, in +His relation to us, by the completeness of our dependence upon Him, and +surrender of all else for Him. We do not believe that half vividly +enough. We have surrounded Jesus Christ with a halo of mystery and of +remoteness which neither lets us think of Him as being really man or +really God. And I press on you this as a plain fact, no piece of pulpit +rhetoric, that His relation to us as Christians hinges upon our +surrender to Him. Of course, there is a love with which He pours Himself +out over the unworthy and the sinful--blessed be His name!--and the more +sinful and the more unworthy, the deeper the tenderness and the more +yearning the pity and pathos of invitation which He lavishes upon us. +But that is a different thing from this other, which is that He is +pleased or displeased, actually drawn to or repelled from us, in the +measure of the completeness and gladness of our surrender of ourselves +to Him. That is what Paul means when he says that he labours that +'whether present or absent he may be pleasing to Christ.' And this is +the highest and strongest motive that I know for all holy and noble +living, that we shall bring a smile into our Master's face and draw Him +nearer to ourselves thereby. '_So_ shall the King greatly desire thy +beauty.' + +Again, in the measure in which we live out our Christianity, in +whole-hearted and thorough surrender, in that measure shall we be +_conscious_ of His nearness and feel His love. + +There are many Christian people that have only religion enough to make +them uncomfortable, only enough to make religion to them a system of +regulations, negative and positive, the reasonableness and sweetness of +which they but partially apprehend. They must not do _this_ because it +is forbidden; they ought to do _that_ because it is commanded. They +would much rather do the forbidden thing, and they have no wish to do +the commanded thing, and so they live in twilight, and when they come +beside a man who really has been walking in the light of Christ's face, +the language of his experience, though it be but a transcript of facts, +sounds to them all unreal and fanatical. They miss the blessing that is +waiting for them, just because they have not really given up themselves. +If by resolute and continual opening of our hearts to Christ's real love +and presence, and by consequent casting off of our false and foolish +self-dependence, we were to blow away the clouds that come between us +and Him, we should feel the sunshine. But as it is, a miserable +multitude of professing Christians 'walk in the darkness, and have no +light,' or, at the most, but some wintry sunshine that struggles through +the thick mist, and does little more than reveal the barrenness that +lies around. Brethren! if you want to be happy Christians, be +out-and-out ones; and if you would have your hands and your hearts +filled with Christ, empty them of the trash that they grip so closely +now. + +Then, on the other side, there is the reminder and exhortation: 'He is +thy Lord, worship thou Him.' The beggar-maid that, in the old ballad, +married the king, in all her love was filled with reverence; and the +ragged, filthy souls, whom Jesus Christ stoops to love, and wash, and +make His own, are never to forget, in the highest rapture of their joy, +their lowly adoration, nor in the glad familiarity of their loving +approach to Him, cease to remember that the test of love is, 'Keep My +commandments.' + +There are types of emotional and sentimental religion that have a great +deal more to say about love than about obedience; that are full of half +wholesome apostrophes to a 'dear Lord,' and almost forget the '_Lord_' +in the emphasis which they put on the '_dear_.' And I want you to +remember this, as by no means an unnecessary caution, and of especial +value in some quarters to-day, that the test of the reality of Christian +love is its lowliness, and that all that which indulges in heated +emotion, and forgets practical service, is rotten and spurious. Though +the King desire her beauty, still, when He stretches out the golden +sceptre, Esther must come to Him with lowly guise and a reverent heart. +'He is thy Lord, worship thou Him.' + +III. The next point in this portraiture is the reflected honour and +influence of the bride. + +There are difficulties about the translation of the 12th verse of our +psalm with which I do not need to trouble you. We may take it for our +purpose as it stands before us. 'The daughter of Tyre' (representing the +wealthy, outside nations) 'shall be there with a gift; even the rich +among the people shall entreat thy favour.' + +The bride being thus beloved by the King, thus standing by His side, +those around recognise her dignity and honour, and draw near to secure +her intercession. Translate that out of the emblem into plain words, and +it comes to this--if Christian people, and communities of such, are to +have influence in the world, they must be thorough-going Christians. If +they are, they will get hatred sometimes; but men know honest people and +religious people when they see them, and such Christians will win +respect and be a power in the world. If Christian men and Christian +communities are despised by outsiders, they very generally earn the +contempt and deserve it, both from men and from heaven. The true +evangelist is Christian character. They that manifestly live with the +sunshine of the Lord's love on their faces, and whose hands are plainly +clear from worldly and selfish graspings, will have the world +recognising the fact and honouring them accordingly. 'The sons of them +that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that +despised thee shall bow themselves down to the soles of thy feet.' When +the Church has cast the world out of its heart, it will conquer the +world--and not till then. + +IV. The next point in this picture is the fair adornment of the bride. +The language is in part ambiguous; and if this were the place for +commenting would require a good deal of comment. But we take it as it +stands in our Bible, 'The King's daughter is all glorious within'--not +within her nature, but within the innermost recesses of the palace--'her +clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in +raiment of needlework.' + +It is an easy and well-worn metaphor to talk about people's character as +their dress. We speak about the 'habits' of a man, and we use that word +to express both his customary manners and his costume. Custom and +costume, again, are the same word. So here, without any departure from +the well-trodden path of Scriptural emblem, we cannot but see in the +glorious apparel the figure of the pure character with which the bride +is clothed. The Book of the Revelation dresses her in the fine linen +clean and white, which symbolises the lustrous radiance and snowy purity +of righteousness. The psalm describes her dress as partly consisting in +garments gleaming with gold, which suggests splendour and glory, and +partly in robes of careful and many-coloured embroidery, which suggests +the patience with which the slow needle has been worked through the +stuff, and the variegated and manifold graces and beauties with which +she is adorned. + +So, putting all the metaphors together, the true Christian character, +which will be ours if we really are the subjects of that divine love, +will be lustrous and snowy as the snows on Hermon, or as was the garment +whose whiteness outshone the neighbouring snows when He was +'transfigured before them.' Our characters will be splendid with a +splendour far above the tawdry beauties and vulgar conspicuousness of +the 'heroic' and worldly ideals, and will be endowed with a purity and +harmony of colouring in richly various graces, such as no earthly looms +can ever weave. + +We are not told here how the garment is attained. It is no part of the +purpose of the psalm to tell us that, but it is part of its purpose to +insist that there is no marriage between Christ and the soul except that +soul be pure, none except it be robed in the beauty of righteousness and +the splendour of consecration, and the various gifts of an all-giving +Spirit. The man that came into the wedding-feast, with his dirty, +every-day clothes on, was turned out as a rude insulter. But what of the +queen that should come foully dressed? There would be no place for her +amidst its solemnities. You will never stand at the right hand of +Christ, unless jour souls here are clothed in the fine linen clean and +white, and over it the flashing wealth and the harmonised splendour of +the gold and embroidery of Christlike graces. We know how to get the +garment. Faith strips the rags and puts the best robe on us; and effort +based upon faith enables us day by day to put off the old man with his +deeds and to put on the new man. The bride 'made _herself_ ready,' and +'to her was _granted_ that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean +and white.' + +V. Lastly, we have the picture of the homecoming of the bride. 'She +shall be brought unto the King.... with gladness and rejoicing shall +they be brought; they shall enter into the King's palace.' + +The presence of virgin companions waiting on the bride is no more +difficult to understand here than it is in Christ's parable of the Ten +Virgins. It is a characteristic of all parabolical representation to be +elastic, and sometimes to duplicate its emblems for the same thing; and +that is the case here. But the main point to be insisted upon is this, +that, according to the perspective of Scripture, the life of the +Christian Church here on earth is, if I may so say, a betrothal in +righteousness and loving-kindness; and that the betrothal waits for its +consummation in that great future when the bride shall pass into the +presence of the King. The whole collective body of sinful souls redeemed +by His blood, and who know the sweetness of His partially received love, +shall be drawn within the curtains of that upper house, and enter into a +union with Christ Jesus ineffable, incomprehensible till experienced; +and of which the closest union of loving souls on earth is but a dim +shadow. 'He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit'; and the reality +of our union with Him rises above the emblem of a marriage, as high as +spirit rises above flesh. + +The psalm stops at the palace-gate. 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, +neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath +prepared for them that love Him.' But there is a solemn prelude to that +completed union and its deep rapture. Before it there comes the last +campaign of the conquering King on the white horse, who wars in +righteousness. Dear friends! you must choose now whether you will be of +the company of the Bride or of the company of the enemy. 'They that were +ready went in with Him unto the marriage, and the door was shut.' + +Which side of the door do _you_ mean to be on? + + + + +THE CITY AND RIVER OF GOD + + + 'There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of + God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5. God is + in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and + that right early. 6. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He + uttered His voice, the earth melted. 7. The Lord of hosts is with + us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.'--PSALM xlvi 4-7. + +There are two remarkable events in the history of Israel, one or other +of which most probably supplied the historical basis upon which this +psalm rests. One is that wonderful deliverance of the armies of +Jehoshaphat from the attacking forces of the bordering nations, which is +recorded in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Chronicles. There you +will find that, by a singular arrangement, the sons of Korah, members of +the priestly order, were not only in the van of the battle, but +celebrated the victory by hymns of gladness. It is possible that this +may be one of those hymns; but I think rather that the more ordinary +reference is the correct one, which sees in this psalm and in the two +succeeding ones, echoes of that supernatural deliverance of Israel in +the time of Hezekiah, when + + 'The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,' + +and Sennacherib and all his army were, by the blast of the breath of His +nostrils, swept into swift destruction. + +The reasons for that historical reference may be briefly stated. We +find, for instance, a number of remarkable correspondences between these +three psalms and portions of the Book of the prophet Isaiah, who, as we +know, lived in the period of that deliverance. The comparison, for +example, which is here drawn with such lofty, poetic force between the +quiet river which 'makes glad the city of God,' and the tumultuous +billows of the troubled sea, which shakes the mountain and moves the +earth, is drawn by Isaiah in regard to the Assyrian invasion, when he +speaks of Israel refusing 'the waters of Shiloah, which go softly,' and, +therefore, having brought upon them the waters of the river--the power +of Assyria--'which shall fill the breadth of Thy land, O Immanuel!' +Notice, too, that the very same consolation which was given to Isaiah, +by the revelation of that significant appellation, 'Immanuel, God with +us,' appears in this psalm as a kind of refrain, and is the foundation +of all its confident gladness, 'The Lord of Hosts is with us.' Besides +these obvious parallelisms, there are others to which I need not refer, +which, taken together, seem to render it at least probable that we have +in this psalm the devotional echo of the great deliverance of Israel +from Assyria in the time of Hezekiah. + +Now, these verses are the cardinal central portion of the song. We may +call them The Hymn of the Defence and Deliverance of the City of God. We +cannot expect to find in poetry the same kind of logical accuracy in the +process of thought which we require in treatises; but the lofty emotion +of devout song obeys laws of its own: and it is well to surrender +ourselves to the flow, and to try to see with the Psalmist's eyes for a +moment his sources of consolation and strength. + +I take the four points which seem to be the main turning-points of these +verses--first, the gladdening river; second, the indwelling Helper; +third, the conquering voice; and fourth, the alliance of ourselves by +faith with the safe dwellers in the city of God. + +I. First, we have the gladdening river--an emblem of many great and +joyous truths. + +The figure is occasioned by, or at all events derives much of its +significance from, a geographical peculiarity of Jerusalem. Alone among +the great cities and historical centres of the world, it stood upon no +broad river. One little perennial stream, or rather rill of living +water, was all which it had; but Siloam was mightier and more blessed +for the dwellers in the rocky fortress of the Jebusites than the +Euphrates, Nile, or Tiber for the historical cities which stood upon +their banks. One can see the Psalmist looking over the plain eastward, +and beholding in vision the mighty forces which came against them, +symbolised and expressed by the breadth and depth and swiftness of the +great river upon which Nineveh sat as a queen, and then thinking upon +the little tiny thread of living water that flowed past the base of the +rock upon which the temple was perched. It seems small and +unconspicuous--nothing compared to the dash of the waves and the rise of +the floods of those mighty secular empires, still, 'There is a river the +streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.' Its waters shall never +fail, and thirst shall flee whithersoever this river comes. + +It is also to be remembered that the psalm is running in the track of a +certain constant symbolism that pervades all Scripture. From the first +book of Genesis down to the last chapter of Revelation, you can hear the +dashing of the waters of the river. 'It went out from the garden and +parted into four heads.' 'Thou makest them drink of the river of Thy +pleasures.' 'Behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the +house eastward,' and 'everything shall live whithersoever the river +cometh.' 'He that believeth on me, out of His belly shall flow rivers of +living water.' 'And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as +crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.' Isaiah, +who has already afforded some remarkable parallels to the words of our +psalm, gives another very striking one to the image now under +consideration, when he says, 'The glorious Lord will be unto us a place +of broad rivers and streams, wherein shall go no galley with oars.' The +picture in that metaphor is of a stream lying round Jerusalem, like the +moated rivers which girdle some of the cities in the plains of Italy, +and are the defence of those who dwell enclosed in their flashing links. + +Guided, then, by the physical peculiarity of situation which I have +referred to, and by the constant meaning of Scriptural symbolism, I +think we must conclude that this river, 'the streams whereof make glad +the city of God,' is God Himself in the outflow and self-communication +of His own grace to the soul. The stream is the fountain in flow. The +gift of God, which is living water, is God Himself, considered as the +ever-imparting Source of all refreshment, of all strength, of all +blessedness. 'This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe +should receive.' + +We must dwell for a moment or two still further upon these words, and +mark how this metaphor, in a most simple and natural way, sets forth +very grand and blessed spiritual truths with regard to this +communication of God's grace to them that love Him and trust Him. First, +I think we may see here a very beautiful suggestion of the manner, and +then of the variety, and then of the effects of that communication of +the divine love and grace. + +We have only to read the previous verses to see what I mean. 'God is our +refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not +we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be +carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be +troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.' There +you can hear the wild waves dashing round the base of the firm hills, +sapping their strength, and toppling their crests down in the bubbling, +yeasty foam. Remember how, not only in Scripture but in all poetry, the +sea has been the emblem of endless unrest. Its waters, those barren, +wandering fields of foam, going moaning round the world with +unprofitable labour, how they have been the emblem of unbridled power, +of tumult and strife, and anarchy and rebellion! Then mark how our text +brings into sharpest contrast with all that hurly-burly of the tempest, +and the dash and roar of the troubled waters, the gentle, quiet flow of +the river, 'the streams whereof make glad the city of God'; the +translucent little ripples purling along beds of golden pebbles, and the +enamelled meadows drinking the pure stream as it steals by them. Thus, +says our psalm, not with noise, not with tumult, not with conspicuous +and destructive energy, but in silent, secret underground communication, +God's grace, God's love, His peace, His power, His almighty and gentle +Self flow into men's souls. Quietness and confidence on our sides +correspond to the quietness and serenity with which He glides into the +heart. Instead of all the noise of the sea you have within the quiet +impartations of the voice that is still and small, wherein God dwells. +The extremest power is silent. The mightiest force in all the universe +is the force which has neither speech nor language. The parent of all +physical force, as astronomers seem to be more and more teaching us, is +the great central sun which moveth all things, which operates all +physical changes, whose beams are all but omnipotent, and yet fall so +quietly that they do not disturb the motes that dance in their path. +Thunder and lightning are child's play compared with the energy that +goes to make the falling dews and quiet rains. The power of the sunshine +is the root power of all force which works in material things. And so we +turn, with the symbol in our hands, to the throne of God, and when He +says, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,' we are aware of an +energy, the signature of whose might is its quietness, which is +omnipotent because it is gentle and silent. The seas may roar and be +troubled, the tiny thread of the river is mightier than them all. + +And then, still further, in this first part of our text there is also +set forth very distinctly the number and the variety of the gifts of +God. 'The streams whereof,' literally, 'the divisions whereof,'--that is +to say, going back to Eastern ideas, the broad river is broken up into +canals that are led off into every man's little bit of garden ground; +coming down to modern ideas, the water is carried by pipes into every +man's household and chamber. The stream has its divisions; listen to +words that are a commentary upon the meaning of this verse, 'All these +worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing unto every man +severally as He will'--an infinite variety, an endless diversity, +according to all the petty wants of each that is supplied thereby. As +you can divide water all but infinitely, and it will take the shape of +every containing vessel, so into every soul according to its capacities, +according to its shape, according to its needs, this great gift, this +blessed presence of the God of our strength, will come. The varieties of +His gifts are as much the mark of His omnipotence as the gentleness and +stillness of them. + +And then I need only touch upon the last thought, the effects of this +communicated God. 'The streams make glad'--with the gladness which comes +from refreshment, with the gladness which comes from the satisfying of +all thirsty desires, with the gladness which comes from the contact of +the spirit with absolute completeness; of the will, with perfect +authority; of the heart, with changeless love; of the understanding, +with pure incarnate truth; of the conscience, with infinite peace; of +the child, with the Father; of my emptiness, with His fulness; of my +changeableness, with His immutability; of my incompleteness, with His +perfectness. They to whom this stream passes shall know no thirst; they +who possess it from them it shall come. Out of him 'shall flow rivers of +living water.' That all-sufficient Spirit not only becomes to its +possessor the source of individual refreshment, and slakes his own +thirst, but flows out from him for the gladdening of others. + + 'The least flower with a brimming cup may stand, + And share its dew-drop with another near.' + +The city thus supplied may laugh at besieging hosts. With the deep +reservoir in its central fortress, the foe may do as they list to all +surface streams, its water shall be sure, and no raging thirst shall +ever drive it to surrender. The river breaks from the threshold of the +Temple, within its walls, and when all beyond that safe enclosure is +cracked and parched in the fierce heat, and no green thing can be seen +in the dry and thirsty land, that stream shall 'make glad the city of +our God,' and 'everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh.' +'Thou shalt be as a well-watered garden, and as a river whose streams +fail not.' + +II. Then notice, secondly, substantially the same general thought, but +modified and put in plain words--the indwelling Helper. + +'God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved: God shall help her, +_and that_ right early,' or, as the latter clause had better be +translated, as it is given in the margin of some of our Bibles, 'God +shall help her at the appearance of the morning.' There are two promises +here: first of all, the constant presence; and second, help at the right +time. Whether there be actual help or no, there is always with us the +potential help of God, and it flashes into energy at the moment that He +knows to be the right one. The 'appearing of the morning' He determines; +not you or I. Therefore, we may be confident that we have God ever by +our sides. Not that that Presence is meant to avert outward or inward +trouble and trial, and painfulness and weariness; but in the midst of +these, and while they last, here is the assurance, 'She shall not be +moved'; and that it will not always last, here is the ground of the +confidence, 'God shall help her when the morning dawns.' + +I need not point out to you the contrast here between the tranquillity +of the city which has for its central Inhabitant and Governor the +omnipotent God, and the tumult of all that turbulent earth. The waves of +the troubled waters break everywhere,--they run over the flat plains and +sweep over the mountains of secular strength and outward might, and +worldly kingdoms, and human polities and earthly institutions, acting on +them all either by slow corrosive action at the base, or by the tossing +floods swirling against them, until they shall be lost in the ocean of +time. For 'the history of the world is the judgment of the world.' When +He wills the plains are covered and mountains disappear, but one rock +stands fast--'The mountain of the Lord's house is exalted above the top +of the mountains'; and when everything is rocking and swaying in the +tempests, here is fixity and tranquillity. 'She shall not be moved.' +Why? Because of her citizens? No. Because of her guards and gates? No! +Because of her polity? No! Because of her orthodoxy? No! But because God +is in her, and she is safe, and where He dwells no evil can come. 'Thou +carriest Caesar and his fortunes.' The ship of Christ carries the Lord +and His fortunes; and, therefore, whatsoever becomes of the other little +ships in the wild dash of the tempest, this with the Lord on board +arrives at its desired haven--'God is in the midst of her, she shall not +be moved.' + +Then, still further, that Presence which is always the pledge of +stability, and unmoved calm, even while causes of agitation are storming +around, will, as I said, flash into energy, and be a Helper and a +Deliverer at the right moment. And when will that right moment be? At +the appearing of the morning. 'And when they arose early in the morning, +they were all dead corpses'; in the hour of greatest extremity, but ere +the foe has executed his purposes; not too soon for fear and faith, not +too late for hope and help; when the morning dawns, when the appointed +hour of deliverance, which He alone determines, has struck. 'It is not +for you to know the times and seasons'; but this we may know, that He +who is the Lord of time will ever save at the best possible moment. He +will not come so quickly as to prevent us from feeling our need; He will +not tarry so long as to make us sick with hope deferred, or so long as +to let the enemy fulfil his purposes of destruction. 'Lord, behold! he +whom Thou lovest is sick. Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and +Lazarus. When He had heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days +still in the same place where He was.... Lord, if Thou hadst been here, +my brother had not died. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise +again.... And he that was dead came forth.' + +The Lord may seem to sleep on His hard wooden pillow in the stern of the +little fishing boat, and even while the frail craft begins to fill may +show no sign of help. But ere the waves have rolled over her, the cry of +fear that yet trusts, and of trust that yet fears, wakes Him who knew +the need, even while He seemed to slumber, and one mighty word, as of a +master to some petulant slave, 'Peace! be still,' hushes the confusion, +and rebukes the fear, and rewards the faith. + +'The Lord is in the midst of her'--that is the perennial fact. 'The Lord +shall help her, and that right early'--that is the 'grace for seasonable +help.' + +III. The psalm having set forth these broad grounds of confidence, goes +on to tell the story of actual deliverance which confirms them, and of +which they are indeed but the generalised expression. + +The condensed narrative moves to its end by a series of short crashing +sentences like the ring of the destructive axe at the roots of trees. We +see the whole sequence of events as by lightning flashes, which give +brief glimpses and are quenched. The grand graphic words seem to pant +with haste, as they record Israel's deliverance. That deliverance comes +from the Conquering Voice. 'The heathen raged' (the same word, we may +note, as is found a verse or two back, 'Though the waters thereof +_roar_'), 'the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth +melted.' With what vigour these hurried sentences describe, first, the +wild wrath and formidable movements of the foe, and then the One +Sovereign Word which quells them all, as well as the instantaneous +weakness that dissolves the seeming solid substance when the breath of +His lips smites it! + +And where will you find a grander or loftier thought than this, that the +simple word--the utterance of the pure will of God conquers all +opposition, and tells at once in the sphere of material things? He +speaks, and it is done. At the sound of that thunder-voice, hushed +stillness and a pause of dread fall upon all the wide earth, deeper and +more awe-struck than the silence of the woods with their huddling +leaves, when the feebler peals roll through the sky. 'The depths are +congealed in the heart of the sea'--as if you were to lay hold of +Niagara in its wildest plunge, and were with a word to freeze all its +descending waters and stiffen them into immovableness in fetters of +eternal ice. So He utters His voice, and all meaner noises are hushed. +'The lion hath roared, who shall not fear?' + +He speaks--no weapon, no material vehicle is needed. The point of +contact between the pure divine will and the material creatures which +obey its behests is ever wrapped in darkness, whether these be the +settled ordinances which men call nature, or the less common which the +Bible calls miracle. In all alike there is, to every believer in a God +at all, an incomprehensible action of the spiritual upon the material, +which allows of no explanations to bridge over the gulf recognised in +the broken utterances of our psalm, 'He uttered His voice: the earth +melted.' + +How grandly, too, these last words give the impression of immediate and +utter dissolution of all opposition! All the Titanic brute forces are, +at His voice, disintegrated, and lose their organisation and solidity. +'The hills melted like wax'; 'The mountains flowed down at Thy +presence.' The hardness and obstinacy is all liquefied and enfeebled, +and parts with its consistency and is lost in a fluid mass. As two +carbon points when the electric stream is poured upon them are gnawed to +nothingness by the fierce heat, and you can see them wasting before your +eyes, so the concentrated ardour of His breath falls upon the hostile +evil, and lo! it is not. + +The Psalmist is generalising the historical fact of the sudden and utter +destruction of Sennacherib's host into a universal law. And it _is_ a +universal law--true for us as for Hezekiah and the sons of Korah, true +for all generations. Martin Luther might well make this psalm the battle +cry of the Reformation, and we may well make our own the rugged music +and dauntless hope of his rendering of these words:-- + + And let the Prince of Ill + Look grim as e'er he will, + He harms us not a whit. + For why? His doom is writ. + A word shall quickly slay him.' + +IV. Then note, finally, how the psalm shows us the act by which we enter +the City of God. + +'The Lord of Hosts is with _us_; the God of Jacob is _our_ refuge.' It +is not enough to lay down general truths, however true and however +blessed, about the safe and sacred city of God--not enough to be +theoretically convinced of the truth of the supreme governance and +ever-present aid of God. We must take a further step that will lead us +far beyond the regions of barren intellectual apprehension of the great +truths of God's love and care. These truths are nothing to us, brethren! +unless, like the Psalmist here, we make them our own, and losing the +burden of self in the very act of grasping them by faith, unite +ourselves with the great multitude who are joined together in Him, and +say, 'He is _my_ God: He is _our_ refuge.' That living act of +'appropriating faith' presupposes, indeed, the presence of these truths +in our understandings, but in the very act they are changed into powers +in our lives. They pass into the affections and the will. They are no +more empty generalities. Bread nourishes, not when it is looked at, but +when it is eaten. 'He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me.' We feed +on Christ when we make Him ours by faith, and each of us is sustained +and blessed by Him when we can say, 'My Lord and my God!' + +Mark, too, how there is here set forth the twofold ground for our +calmest confidence in these two mighty names of God. + +'The Lord of Hosts is with us.' That majestic name includes all the +deepest and most blessed thoughts of God which the earlier revelation +imparted. That name of 'Jehovah' proclaims at once His Eternal Being and +His covenant relation--manifesting Him by its mysterious meaning as He +who dwells above time, the tideless sea of absolute unchanging +existence, from whom all the stream of creatural life flows forth +many-coloured and transient, to whom it all returns, who, Himself +unchanging, changeth all things, and declaring Him, by the historical +associations connected with it, as having unveiled His purposes in firm +words, to which men may trust, and as having entered into that solemn +league with Israel which underlay their whole national life. He is _the +Lord_ the Eternal,--the covenant name. + +He is the Lord of Hosts, the 'Imperator,' absolute Master and Commander, +Captain and King of all the combined forces of the universe, whether +they be personal or impersonal, spiritual or material, who, in serried +ranks, wait on Him, and move harmonious, obedient to His will. And this +Eternal Master of the legions of the universe is with us, weak and poor, +and troubled and sinful as we are. Therefore, we will not fear: what can +man do unto us? + +Again, when we say, 'The God of Jacob is our refuge,' we reach back into +the past, and lay hold of the mercies promised to, and received by, the +long vanished generations who trusted in Him and were lightened. As, by +the one name, we appeal to His own Being and uttered pledge, so, by the +other, we appeal to His ancient deeds--past as we call them, but present +with Him, who lives and loves in the undivided eternity above the low +fences of time. All that He has been, He is; all that He has done, He is +doing. We on whom the ends of the earth are come have the same Helper, +the same Friend that 'the world's grey fathers' had. They that go before +do not prevent them that come after. The river is full still. The van of +the pilgrim host did, indeed, long, long ago drink and were satisfied, +but the bright waters are still as pellucid, still as near, still as +refreshing, still as abundant as they ever were. Nay, rather, they are +fuller and more accessible to us than to patriarch and Psalmist, 'God +having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should +not be made perfect.' + +For we, brethren! have a fuller revelation of that mighty name, and a +more wondrous and closer divine presence by our sides. The psalm +rejoices in that 'The Lord of Hosts is with us'; and the choral answer +of the Gospel swells into loftier music, as it tells of the fulfilment +of psalmists' hopes and prophets' visions in Him who is called +'Immanuel,' which is, being interpreted, 'God with us.' The psalm is +confident in that God dwelt in Zion, and our confidence has the more +wondrous fact to lay hold of, that even now the Word who dwelt among us +makes His abode in every believing heart, and gathers them all together +at last in that great city, round whose flashing foundations no tumult +of ocean beats, whose gates of pearl need not be closed against any +foes, with whose happy citizens 'God will dwell, and they shall be His +people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.' + + + + +THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE GOD OF JACOB + + + 'The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge.' + --PSALM xlvi. 11. + +Some great deliverance, the details of which we do not know, had been +wrought for Israel, and this psalmist comes forth, like Miriam with her +choir of maidens, to hymn the victory. The psalm throbs with exultation, +but no human victor's name degrades the singer's lips. There is only one +Conqueror whom he celebrates. The deliverance has been 'the work of the +Lord'; the 'desolations' that have been made on the 'earth' 'He has +made.' This great refrain of the song, which I have chosen for my text, +takes the experience of deliverance as a proof in act of an astounding +truth, and as a hope for the future. 'The Lord of hosts is with us; the +God of Jacob is our Refuge.' + +There is in these words a significant duplication of idea, both in +regard to the names which are given to God, and to that which He is +conceived as being to us; and I desire now simply to try to bring out +the force of the consolation and strength which lie in these two +epithets of His, and in the double wonder of His relation to us men. + +I. First, then, I ask you to look at the twin thoughts of God that are +here. 'The Lord of hosts ... The God of Jacob.' + +Now, with regard to the former of these grand names, it may be observed +that it does not occur in the earliest stages of Revelation as recorded +in the Old Testament. The first instance in which we find it is in the +song of Hannah in the beginning of the first Book of Samuel; and it +re-appears in the Davidic psalms and in psalms and prophecies of later +date. + +What 'hosts' are they of which God is the Lord? Is that great title a +mere synonym for the half-heathenish idea of the 'God of battles'? By no +means. True! He is the Lord of the armies of Israel, but the hosts which +the Psalmist sees ranged in embattled array, and obedient to the command +of the great Captain, are far other and grander than any earthly armies. +If we would understand the whole depth and magnificent sweep of the idea +enshrined in this name, we cannot do better than recall one or two other +Scripture phrases. For instance, the account of the Creation in the Book +of Genesis is ended by, 'Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, +and all the host of them.' Then, remember that, throughout the Old +Testament, we meet constantly with the idea of the celestial bodies as +being 'the hosts of heaven.' And, still further, remember how, in one of +the psalms, we hear the invocation to 'all ye His hosts, ye ministers of +His that do His pleasure,' 'the angels that excel in strength,' to +praise and bless Him. If we take account of all these and a number of +similar passages, I think we shall come to this conclusion, that by that +title, 'the Lord of hosts,' the prophets and psalmists meant to express +the universal dominion of God over the whole universe in all its +battalions and sections, which they conceived of as one ranked army, +obedient to the voice of the great General and Ruler of them all. + +So the idea contained in the name is precisely parallel with that to +which the heathen centurion in the Gospels had come, by reflecting upon +the teaching of the legion in which he himself commanded, when he said, +'I am a man under authority, having servants under me; and I say to this +one, Go, and he goeth; to another, Come, and he cometh; to another, Do +this, and he doeth it--speak Thou the word!' To him Jesus Christ was +Captain of the Lord's hosts, and Ruler of all the ordered forces of the +universe. The Old Testament name enshrines the same idea. The universe +is an ordered whole. Science tells us that. Modern thought emphasises +it. But how cruel, relentless, crushing, that conception may be unless +we grasp the further thought which is presented in this great Name, and +see, behind all the play of phenomena, the one Will which is the only +power in the universe, and sways and orders all besides! The armies of +heaven and every creature in the great _Cosmos_ are the servants of this +Lord. Then we can stand before the dreadful mysteries and the all but +infinite complications of this mighty Whole, and say, 'These are His +soldiers, and He is their Captain, the Lord of hosts.' + +Next we turn, by one quick bound, from the wide sweep of that mighty +Name to the other, 'The God of Jacob.' The one carries us out among the +glories of the universe, and shows us, behind them all, the personal +Will of which they are the servants, and the Character of which they are +the expressions. The other brings us down to the tent of the solitary +wanderer, and shows us that that mighty Commander and Emperor enters +into close, living, tender, personal relations with one poor soul, and +binds Himself by that great covenant, which is rooted in His love alone, +to be the God who cares for and keeps and blesses the man in all his +wanderings. Neither does the command of the mighty Whole hinder the +closest relation to the individual, nor does the care of the individual +interfere with the direction of the Whole. The single soul stands out +clear and isolated, as if there were none in the universe but God and +himself; and the whole fulness of the divine power, and all the +tenderness of the God-heart, are lavished upon the individual, even +though the armies of the skies wait upon His nod. + +So, if we put the two names together, we get the completion of the great +idea; and whilst the one speaks to us of infinite power, of absolute +supremacy, of universal rule, and so delivers us from the fear of +nature, and from the blindness which sees only the material operations +and not the working Hand that underlies them, the other speaks to us of +gentle and loving and specific care, and holds out the hope that, +between man and God, there may be a bond of friendship and of mutual +possession so sweet and sacred that nothing else can compare with it. +The God of Jacob is the Lord of hosts. More wondrous still, the Lord of +hosts is the God of Jacob. + +II. Note, secondly, the double wonder of our relation to this great God. + +There is almost a tone of glad surprise, as well as of triumphant +confidence, in this refrain of our psalm, which comes twice in it, and +possibly ought to have come three times--at the end of each of its +sections. The emphasis is to be laid on the 'us' and the 'our,' as if +that was the miracle, and the fact which startled the Psalmist into the +highest rapture of astonished thankfulness. + +'The Lord of hosts is with _us_.' What does that say? It proclaims that +wondrous truth that no gulf between the mighty Ruler of all and us, the +insignificant little creatures that creep upon the face of this tiny +planet, has any power of separating us from Him. It is always hard to +believe that. It is harder to-day than it was when our Psalmist's heart +beat high at the thought. It is hard by reason of our sense-bound +blindness, by reason of our superficial way of looking at things, which +only shows us the nearest, and veils with their insignificances the +magnitude of the furthest. Jupiter is blazing in our skies every night +now; he is not one-thousandth part as great or bright as any one of the +little needle-points of light, the fixed stars, that are so much further +away; but he is nearer, and the intrusive brightness of the planet hides +the modest glories of the distant and shrouded suns. Just so it is hard +for us ever to realise, and to walk in the light of the realisation of, +the fact that the Lord of hosts, the Emperor of all things, is of a +truth with each of us. + +It is harder to-day than ever it was; for we have learned to think +rightly--or at least more rightly and approximately rightly--of the +position and age of man upon this earth. The Psalmist's ancient question +of devout thankfulness is too often travestied to-day into a question of +scoffing or of melancholy unbelief: 'When I consider the heavens, the +work of Thy hands; what is man? Art Thou mindful of him?' This psalm +comes to answer that. 'The Lord of hosts is with us.' True, we are but +of yesterday, and know nothing. True, earth is but a pin-point amidst +the universe's glories. True, we are crushed down by sorrow and by care; +and in some moods it seems supremely incredible that we should be of +such worth in the scale of Creation as that the Lord of all things +should, in a deeper sense than the Psalmist knew, have dwelt with us and +be with us still. But bigness is not greatness, and there is nothing +incredible in the belief that men, lower than the angels, and needing +God more because of their sin, do receive His visitations in an +altogether special sense, and that, passing by the lofty and the great +that may inhabit His universe, His chariot wheels stoop to us, and that, +because we are sinners, God is with us. + +Let me remind you, dear brethren! of how this great thought of my text +is heightened and transcended by the New Testament teaching. We believe +in One whose name is 'Immanuel, _God with us_.' Jesus Christ has come to +be with men, not only during the brief years of His earthly ministry, in +corporeal reality, but to be with all who love Him and trust Him, in a +far closer, more real, more deep, more precious, more operative Presence +than when He dwelt here. Through all the ages Christ Himself is with +every soul that loves Him; and He will dwell beside _us_ and bless _us_ +and keep _us_. God's presence means God's sympathy, God's knowledge, +God's actual help, and these are ours if we will. Instead of staggering +at the apparent improbability that so transcendent and mighty a Being +should stoop from His throne, where He lords it over the universe, and +enter into the narrow room of our hearts, let us rather try to rise to +the rapture of the astonished Psalmist when, looking upon the +deliverance that had been wrought, this was the leading conviction that +was written in flame upon his heart, 'The Lord of hosts is with _us_.' + +And then the second of the wonders that are here set forth in regard to +our relations to Him is, 'the God of Jacob is _our_ Refuge.' + +That carries for us the great truth that, just as the distance between +us and God makes no separation, and the gulf is one that is bridged over +by His love, so distance in time leads to no exhaustion of the divine +faithfulness and care, nor any diminution of the resources of His grace. +'The God of Jacob is _our_ Refuge.' The story of the past is the +prophecy of the future. What God has been to any man He will be to every +man, if the man will let Him. There is nothing in any of these grand +narratives of ancient days which is not capable of being reproduced in +our lives. God drew near to Jacob when he was lying on the stony ground, +and showed him the ladder set upon earth, with its top in the heavens, +and the bright-winged soldiers and messengers of His will ascending and +descending upon it, and His own face at the top. God shows you and me +that vision to-day. It was no vanishing splendour, no transient +illumination, no hallucination of the man's own thoughts seeking after a +helper, and the wish being father to the vision. But it was the +unveiling for a moment, in supernatural fashion, of the abiding reality. +'The God of Jacob is _our_ Refuge'; and whatever He was to His servant +of old He is to-day to you and me. + +We say that miracle has ceased. Yes. But that which the miracle effected +has not ceased; and that from which the miracle came has not ceased. The +realities of a divine protection, of a divine supply, of a divine +guidance, of a divine deliverance, of a divine discipline, and of a +divine reward at the last, are as real to-day as when they were mediated +by signs and wonders, by an open heaven and by an outstretched hand. +They who went before have not emptied the treasures of the Father's +house, nor eaten all the bread that He spreads upon the table. God has +no stepchildren, and no favourite and spoiled ones. All that the elder +brethren have had, we, on whom the ends of the dispensation are come, +may have just as really; and whatever God has been to the patriarch He +is to us to-day. + +Remember the experience of the man of whom our text speaks. The God of +Jacob manifested Himself to him as being a God who would draw near to, +and care for, and help, a very unworthy and poor creature. Jacob was no +saint at the beginning. Selfishness and cunning and many a vice clung +very close to his character; but for all that, God drew near to him and +cared for him and guided him, and promised that He would not leave him +till He had done that which He had spoken to him of. And He will do the +same for us--blessed be His name!--with all our faults and weaknesses +and craftiness and worldliness and sins. If He cared for that +huckstering Jew, as He did, even in his earlier days, He will not put us +away because He finds faults in us. 'The God of Jacob,' the supplanter, +the trickster, 'is our Refuge.' + +But remember how the divine Presence with that man had to be, because of +his faults, a Presence that wrought him sorrows and forced him to +undergo discipline. So it will be with us. He will not suffer sin upon +us; He will pass us through the fire and the water; and do anything with +us short of destroying us, in order to destroy the sin that is in us. He +does not spare His rod for His child's crying, but smites with judgment, +and sends us sorrows 'for our profit, that we should be partakers of His +holiness.' We may write this as the explanation over most of our +griefs--'the God of Jacob is our Refuge,' and He is disciplining us as +He did him. + +And remember what the end of the man was. 'Thy name shall no more be +called Jacob, but Israel; for as a prince thou hast power with God, and +hast prevailed.' So if we have God, who out of such a sow's ear made a +silk purse, out of such a stone raised up a servant for Himself, we may +be sure that His purpose in all discipline will be effected on us +submissive, and we shall end where His ancient servant ended, and shall +be in our turn princes with God. + +Let me recall to you also the meaning which Jesus Christ found in this +name. He quoted 'the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob' as being +the great guarantee and proof to us of immortality. 'The God of Jacob is +our Refuge.' If so, what can the grim and ghastly phantom of death do to +us? He may smite upon the gate, but he cannot enter the fortress. The +man who has knit himself to God by saying to God, 'Lo! I am Thine, and +Thou art mine,' in that communion has a proof and a pledge that nothing +shall ever break it, and that death is powerless. The fact of +religion--true, heartfelt religion, with its communion, its prayer, its +consciousness of possessing and of being possessed, makes the idea that +death ends a man's conscious existence an absurdity and an +impossibility. + +'The God of Jacob is our Refuge,' and so we may say to the storms of +life, and after them to the last howling tornado of death--Blow winds +and crack your cheeks, and do your worst, you cannot touch me in the +fortress where I dwell. The wind will hurtle around the stronghold, but +within there shall be calm. + +Dear brethren! make sure that you are in the refuge. Make sure that you +have fled for 'Refuge to the hope set before you in the Gospel.' The +Lord of hosts is with us,' but you may be parted from Him. He is our +Refuge, but you may be standing outside the sanctuary, and so be exposed +to all the storms. Flee thither, cast yourselves on Him, trust in that +great Saviour who has given Himself for us, and who says to us, 'Lo! I +am with you always.' Take Christ for your hiding-place by simple faith +in Him and loving obedience born of faith, and then the experience of +our Psalmist will be yours. Your life will not want for deliverances +which will thrill your heart with thankfulness, and turn the truth of +faith into a truth of experience. So you may set to your seals the great +saying of our psalm, which is fresh to-day, though centuries have passed +since it came glowing fiery from the lips of the ancient seer, and may +take up as yours the great words in which Luther has translated it for +our times, the 'Marseillaise' of the Reformation-- + + 'A safe stronghold our God is still; + A trusty shield and weapon; + He'll help us clear from all the ill + That hath us now o'ertaken.' + + + + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE + + + 'Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our + God, in the mountain of His holiness. 2. Beautiful for situation, + the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the + north, the city of the great King. 3. God is known in her palaces + for a refuge. 4. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by + together. 5. They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, + and hasted away. 6. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of + a woman in travail. 7. Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an + east wind. 8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the + Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for + ever. 9. We have thought of Thy loving-kindness, O God, in the midst + of Thy temple. 10. According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise + unto the ends of the earth: Thy right hand is full of righteousness. + 11. Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, + because of Thy judgments. 12. Walk about Zion, and go round about + her: tell the towers thereof. 13. Mark ye well her bulwarks, + consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation + following. 14. For this God is our God for ever and ever: He will be + our guide even unto death.'--PSALM xlviii. 1-14. + +The enthusiastic triumph which throbs in this psalm, and the specific +details of a great act of deliverance from a great peril which it +contains, sufficiently indicate that it must have had some historical +event as its basis. Can we identify the fact which is here embalmed? + +The psalm gives these points--a formidable muster before Jerusalem of +hostile people under confederate kings, with the purpose of laying siege +to the city; some mysterious check which arrests them before a sword is +drawn, as if some panic fear had shot from its towers and shaken their +hearts; and a flight in wild confusion from the impregnable +dwelling-place of the Lord of hosts. The occasion of the terror is +vaguely hinted at, as if some solemn mystery brooded over it. All that +is clear about it is that it was purely the work of the divine +hand--'Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind'; and that +in this deliverance, in their own time, the Levite minstrels recognised +the working of the same protecting grace which, from of old, had +'commanded deliverances for Jacob.' + +Now there is one event, and only one, in Jewish history, which +corresponds, point for point, to these details--the crushing destruction +of the Assyrian army under Sennacherib. There, there was the same +mustering of various nations, compelled by the conqueror to march in his +train, and headed by their tributary kings. There, there was the same +arrest before an arrow had been shot, or a mound raised against the +city. There, there was the same purely divine agency coming in to +destroy the invading army. + +I think, then, that from the correspondence of the history with the +requirements of the psalm, as well as from several similarities of +expression and allusion between the latter and the prophecies of Isaiah, +who has recorded that destruction of the invader, we may, with +considerable probability, regard this psalm as the hymn of triumph over +the baffled Assyrian, and the marvellous deliverance of Israel by the +arm of God. + +Whatever may be thought, however, of that allocation of it to a place in +the history, the great truths that it contains depend upon no such +identification. They are truths for all time; gladness and consolation +for all generations. Let us read it over together now, if, perchance, +some echo of the confidence and praise that is found in it may be called +forth from our hearts! If you will look at your Bibles you will find +that it falls into three portions. There is the glory of Zion, the +deliverance of Zion, and the consequent grateful praise and glad trust +of Zion. + +I. There is the glory of Zion. + +Hearken with what triumph the Psalmist breaks out: 'Great is the Lord, +and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His +holiness. Beautiful for situation (or rather elevation), the joy of the +whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the +great King.' Now these words are something more than mere patriotic +feeling. The Jew's glory in Jerusalem was a different thing altogether +from the Roman's pride in Rome. To the devout men amongst them, of whom +the writer of this psalm was one, there was one thing, and one only, +that made Zion glorious. It was beautiful indeed in its elevation, +lifted high upon its rocky mountain. It was safe indeed, isolated from +the invader by the precipitous ravines which enclosed and guarded the +angle of the mountain plateau on which it stood; but _the one_ thing +that gave it glory was that in _it_ God abode. The name even of that +earthly Zion was 'Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord is there.' And the emphasis +of these words is entirely pointed in that direction. What they +celebrate concerning _Him_ is not merely the general thought that the +Lord is great, but that the Lord is _great in Zion_. What they celebrate +concerning _it_ is that it is His city, the mountain of His holiness, +where He dwells, where He manifests Himself. Because there is His +self-manifestation, therefore He is there greatly to be praised. And +because the clear voice of His praise rings out from Zion, therefore is +she 'the joy of the whole earth.' The glory of Zion, then, is that it is +the dwelling-place of God. + +Now, remember, that when the Old Testament Scripture speaks about God +abiding in Jerusalem, it means no heathenish or material localising of +the Deity, nor does it imply any depriving of the rest of the earth of +the sanctity of His presence. The very psalm which most distinctly +embodies the thought of God's abode protests against that narrowness, +for it begins, 'The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof: the +world and they that dwell therein.' The very ark which was the symbol of +His presence, protests by its name against all such localising, for the +name of it was 'the ark of the covenant of the God of the whole earth.' +When the Bible speaks of Zion as the dwelling-place of God, it is but +the expression of the fact that there, between the cherubim, was the +visible sign of His presence--that there, in the Temple, as from the +centre of the whole land, He ruled, and 'out of Zion, the perfection of +beauty, God shone.' + +We are, then, not 'spiritualising,' or forcing a New Testament meaning +into these words, when we see in them an Eternal Truth. We are but +following in the steps of history and prophecy, and of Christ and His +Apostles, and of that last vision of the Apocalypse. We are but +distinguishing between an idea and the fact which more or less perfectly +embodies it. An idea may have many garments, may transmigrate into many +different material forms. The idea of the dwelling of God with men had +its less perfect embodiment, has its more perfect embodiment, will have +its absolutely perfect embodiment. It had its less perfect in that +ancient time. It has its real but partial embodiment in this present +time, when, in the midst of the whole community of believing and loving +souls, which stretches wider than any society that calls itself a +Church, the living God abides and energises by His Spirit and by His Son +in the souls of them that believe upon Him. 'Ye are come unto Mount Zion +and unto the city of the living God.' And we wait for the time when, +filling all the air with its light, there shall come down from God a +perfect and permanent form of that dwelling; and that great city, the +New Jerusalem, 'having the glory of God,' shall appear, and He will +dwell with men and be their God. + +But in all these stages of the embodiment of that great truth the glory +of Zion rests in this, that in it God abides, that from it He flames in +the greatness of His manifestations, which are 'His praise in all the +earth.' It is that presence which makes her fair, as it is that presence +which keeps her safe. It is that light shining within her palaces--not +their own opaque darkness, which streams out far into the waste night +with ruddy glow of hospitable invitation. It is God in her, not anything +of her own, that constitutes her 'the joy of the whole earth.' 'Thy +beauty was perfect, through My comeliness, which I had put upon thee, +saith the Lord.' Zion is where hearts love and trust and follow Christ. +The 'city of the great King' is a permanent reality in a partial form +upon earth--and that partial form is itself a prophecy of the perfection +of the heavens. + +II. Still further, there is a second portion of this psalm which, +passing beyond these introductory thoughts of the glory of Zion, +recounts with wonderful power and vigour the process of the deliverance +of Zion. + +It extends from the fourth to the eighth verses. Mark the dramatic +vigour of the description of the deliverance. There is, first, the +mustering of the armies--'The kings were assembled.' Some light is +thrown upon that phrase by the proud boast which the prophet Isaiah puts +into the lips of the Assyrian invader, 'Are not my princes altogether +kings?' The subject-monarchs of the subdued nationalities that were +gathered round the tyrant's standard were used, with the wicked craft of +conquerors in all ages, to bring still other lands under the same iron +dominion. 'The kings were assembled'--we see them gathering their +far-reaching and motley army, mustered from all corners of that gigantic +empire. They advance together against the rocky fortress that towers +above its girdling valleys. 'They saw it, they marvelled'--in wonder, +perhaps, at its beauty, as they first catch sight of its glittering +whiteness from some hill crest on their march; or, perhaps, stricken by +some strange amazement, as if, basilisk-like, its beauty were deadly, +and a beam from the Shechinah had shot a nameless awe into their +souls--'they were troubled, they hasted away.' + +I need not dilate on the power of this description, nor do more than +notice how the abruptness of the language, huddled together, as it were, +without connecting particles, conveys the impression of hurry and +confusion, culminating in the rush of fugitives fleeing under the +influence of panic-terror. They are like the well-known words, 'I came, +I saw, I conquered,' only that here we have to do with swift +defeat--they came, they saw, they were conquered. They are, in regard to +vivid picturesqueness, arising from the broken construction, singularly +like other words which refer to the same event in the forty-sixth psalm, +'The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the +earth melted.' In their scornful emphasis of triumph they remind us of +Isaiah's description of the end of the same invasion--'So Sennacherib, +king of Assyria, departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh.' + +Mark, still further, the eloquent silence as to the cause of the panic +and the flight. There is no appearance of armed resistance. This is no +'battle of the warrior with garments rolled in blood,' and the shock of +contending hosts. But an unseen Hand smites once--'and when the morning +dawned they were all dead corpses.' The impression of terror produced by +such a blow is increased by the veiled allusion to it here. The silence +magnifies the deliverance. If we might apply the grand words of Milton +to that night of fear-- + + 'The trumpet spake not to the armed throng, + But kings sat still, with awful eye, + As if they surely knew their sovereign Lord was by.' + +The process of the deliverance is not told here, as there was no need it +should be in a hymn which is not history, but the lyrical echo of what +is told in history; one image explains it all--'Thou breakest the ships +of Tarshish with an east wind.' The metaphor--one that does not need +expansion here--is that of a ship like a great unwieldy galleon, caught +in a tempest. However strong for fight, it is not fit for sailing. It is +like some of those turret ships of ours, if they venture out from the +coast and get into a storm, their very strength is their destruction, +their armour wherein they trusted ensures that they shall sink. And so, +this huge assailant of Israel, this great 'galley with oars,' washing +about there in the trough of the sea, as it were--God broke it in two +with the tempest, which is His breath. You remember how on the medal +that commemorated the destruction of the Spanish Armada--our English +deliverance--there were written the words of Scripture: 'God blew upon +them and they were scattered.' What was there true, literally, is here +true in figure. The Psalmist is not thinking of any actual scattering of +hostile fleets--from which Jerusalem was never in danger; but is using +the shipwreck of 'the ship of Tarshish' as a picture of the utter, +swift, God-inflicted destruction which ground that invading army to +pieces, as the savage rocks and wild seas will do the strongest craft +that is mangled between them. + +And then, mark how from this dramatic description there rises a loftier +thought still. The deliverance thus described links the present with the +past. 'As we have heard so have we seen in the city of the Lord of +hosts, in the city of our God.' Yes, brethren! God's merciful +manifestation for ourselves, as for those Israelitish people of old, has +this blessed effect, that it changes hearsay and tradition into living +experience;--this blessed effect, that it teaches us, or ought to teach +us, the inexhaustibleness of the divine power, the constant repetition +in every age of the same works of love. Taught by it, we learn that all +these old narratives of His grace and help are ever new, not past and +gone, but ready to be reproduced in their essential characteristics in +our lives too. 'We have heard with our ears, O Lord, our fathers have +told us what work Thou didst in their days.' But is the record only a +melancholy contrast with our own experience? Nay, truly. 'As we have +heard so have we seen.' We are ever tempted to think of the present as +commonplace. The sky right above our heads is always farthest from +earth. It is at the horizon behind and the horizon in front, where earth +and heaven seem to blend. We think of miracles in the past, we think of +a manifest presence of God in the future, but the present ever seems to +our sense-bound understandings as beggared and empty of Him, devoid of +His light. But this verse suggests to us how, if we mark the daily +dealings of that loving Hand with us, we have every occasion to say, Thy +loving-kindness of old lives still. Still, as of old, the hosts of the +Lord encamp round about them that fear Him to deliver them. Still, as of +old, the voice of guidance comes from between the cherubim. Still, as of +old, the pillar of cloud and fire moves before us. Still, as of old, +angels walk with men. Still, as of old, His hand is stretched forth, to +bless, to feed, to guard. Nothing in the past of God's dealings with men +has passed away. The eternal present embraces what we call the past, +present, and future. They that went before do not prevent us on whom the +ends of the ages are come. The table that was spread for them is as +fully furnished for the latest guests. The light, which was so magical +and lustrous in the morning beauty, for us has not faded away into the +light of common day. The river which flowed in these past ages has not +been drunk up by the thirsty sands. The fire that once blazed so clear +has not died down into grey ashes. 'The God of _Jacob_ is _our_ refuge.' +'As we have heard so have we seen.' + +And then, still further, the deliverance here is suggested as not only +linking most blessedly the present with the past, but also linking it +for our confidence with all the _future_. 'God will establish it for +ever.' + + 'Old experience doth attain + To something of prophetic strain.' + +In the strength of what that moment had taught of God and His power, the +singer looks onward, and whatever may be the future he knows that the +divine arm will be outstretched. God will establish Zion; or, as the +word might be translated, God will hold it erect, as if with a strong +hand grasping some pole or banner-staff that else would totter and +fall--He will keep it up, standing there firm and steadfast. + +It would lead us too far to discuss the bearing of such a prophecy upon +the future history and restoration of Israel, but the bearing of it upon +the security and perpetuity of the Church is unquestionable. The city is +immortal because God dwells in it. For the individual and for the +community, for the great society and for each of the single souls that +make it up, the history of the past may seal the pledge which He gives +for the future. If it had been possible to destroy the Church of the +living God, it had been gone long, long ago. Its own weakness and sin, +the ever-new corruptions of its belief and paring of its creed, the +imperfections of its life and the worldliness of its heart, the +abounding evils that lie around it and the actual hostility of many that +look upon it and say, Raze it, even to the ground, would have smitten it +to the dust long since. It lives, it has lived in spite of all, and +therefore it shall live. 'God will establish it for ever.' + +In almost every land there is some fortress or other, which the pride of +the inhabitants calls 'the maiden fortress,' and whereof the legend is, +that it has never been taken, and is inexpugnable by any foe. It is true +about the tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion. +The grand words of Isaiah about this very Assyrian invader are our +answer to all fears within and foes without: 'Say unto him, the virgin, +the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the +daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.... I will defend +this city to save it for My own sake, and for My servant David's sake.' +'God will establish it for ever,' and the pledges of that eternal +stability are the deliverances of the past and of the present. + +III. Then, finally, there is still another section of this psalm to be +looked at for a moment, which deals with the consequent grateful praise +and glad trust of Zion. + +I must condense what few things I have to say about these closing +verses. The deliverance, first of all, deepens the glad meditation on +God's favour and defence. 'We have thought,' say the ransomed people, as +with a sigh of rejoicing, 'we have thought of Thy loving-kindness in the +midst of Thy temple.' The scene of the manifestation of His power is the +scene of their thankfulness, and the first issue of His mercy is His +servants' praise. + +Then, the deliverance spreads His fame throughout the world. 'According +to Thy name, O God! so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth. Thy +right hand is full of righteousness.' The name of God is God's own +making known of His character, and the thought of these words is double. +They most beautifully express the profoundest trust in that blessed name +that it only needs to be known in order to be loved. There is nothing +wanted but His manifestation of Himself for His praise and glory to +spread. Why is the Psalmist so sure that according to the revelation of +His character will be the revenue of His praise? Because the Psalmist is +so sure that that character is purely, perfectly, simply good--nothing +else but good and blessing--and that He cannot act but in such a way as +to magnify Himself. That great sea will cast up nothing on the shores of +the world but pearls and precious things. He is all 'light, and in Him +is no darkness at all.' There needs but the shining forth in order that +the light of His character shall bring gladness and joy, and the song of +birds, and opening flowers wheresoever it falls. + +Still further, there is the other truth in the words, that we +misapprehend the purpose of our own deliverances, and the purpose of +God's mercy to Zion, if we confine these to any personal objects or lose +sight of the loftier end of them all--that men may learn to know and +love Him. Brethren! we neither rightly thank Him for His gifts to us nor +rightly apprehend the meaning of His dealings, unless the sweetest +thought to us, even in the midst of our own personal joy for +deliverance, is not 'we are saved,' but 'God is exalted.' + +And then, beyond that, the deliverance produces in Zion, the mother city +and her daughter villages, a triumph of rapture and gladness. 'Let mount +Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad because of Thy +judgments.' Yes, even though an hundred and four score and five thousand +dead men lay there, they were to be glad. Solemn and awful as is the +baring of His righteous sword, it is an occasion for praise. It is right +to be glad when men and systems that hinder and fight against God are +swept away as with the besom of destruction. 'When the wicked perish +there is shouting,' and the fitting epitaph for the oppressors to whom +the surges of the Red Sea are shroud and gravestone is, 'Sing ye to the +Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously.' + +The last verses set forth, more fully than even the preceding ones, the +height and perfectness of the confidence which the manifold mercies of +God ought to produce in men's hearts. The citizens who have been cooped +up during the invasion, and who, in the temple, as we have seen, have +been rendering the tribute of their meditation and thankful gratitude to +God for His loving-kindness, are now called upon to come forth from the +enclosure of the besieged city, and free from all fear of the invading +army, to 'walk about Zion, and go round about her and tell the towers,' +and 'mark her bulwarks and palaces.' + +They look first at the defences, on which no trace of assault appears, +and then at the palaces guarded by them, that stand shining and +unharmed. The deliverance has been so complete that there is not a sign +of the peril or the danger left. It is not like a city besieged, and the +siege raised when the thing over which contending hosts have been +quarrelling has become a ruin, but not one stone has been smitten from +the walls, nor one agate chipped in the windows of the palaces. It is +unharmed as well as uncaptured. + +Thus, we may say, no matter what tempests assail us, the wind will but +sweep the rotten branches out of the tree. Though war should arise, +nothing will be touched that belongs to Thee. We have a city which +cannot be moved; and the removal of the things which can be shaken but +makes more manifest its impregnable security, its inexpugnable peace. As +in war they will clear away the houses and the flower gardens that have +been allowed to come and cluster about the walls and fill up the moat, +yet the walls will stand; so in all the conflicts that befall God's +church and God's truth, the calming thought ought to be ours that if +anything perishes it is a sign that it is not His, but man's excrescence +on His building. Whatever is His will stand for ever. + +And then, with wonderful tenderness and beauty, the psalm in its last +words drops, as one might say, in one aspect, and in another, _rises_ +from its contemplations of the immortal city and the community to the +thought of the individuals that make it up: 'For this God is our God for +ever and ever; He will be our guide _even_ unto death.' Prosaic +commentators have often said that these last two words are an +interpolation, that they do not fit into the strain of the psalm, and +have troubled themselves to find out what meaning to attach to them, +because it seemed to them so unlikely that, in a hymn that had only to +do with the community, we should find this expression of individual +confidence in anticipation of that most purely personal of all evils. +That seems to me the very reason for holding fast by the words as being +a genuine part of the psalm, because they express a truth, without which +the confident hope of the psalm, grand as it is, is but poor consolation +for each heart. It is not enough for passing, perishing men to say, +'Never mind your own individual fate: the society, the community, will +stand fast and firm.' + +I want something more than to know that God will establish Zion for +ever. What about _me_, my own individual self? And these last words +answer that question. Not merely the city abides, but 'He will be our +guide even unto death.' And surely, if so--if His loving hand will lead +the citizens of His eternal kingdom even to the edge of that great +darkness--He will not lose them even in its gloom. Surely there is here +the veiled hope that if the city be eternal and the gates of the grave +cannot prevail against _it_, the community cannot be eternal unless the +individuals be immortal. + +Such a hope is vindicated by the blessed words of a newer revelation: +'God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for +them a city.' + +Dear brethren! remember the last words, or all but the last words of +Scripture which, in their true text and reading, tell us how, instead of +aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, we may become fellow-citizens +with the saints. 'Blessed are they that wash their robes that they may +have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gate into +the city!' + + + + +TWO SHEPHERDS AND TWO FLOCKS + + + 'Like sheep they are laid in the grave; Death shall feed on them.' + --PSALM xlix. 14. + + 'The Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them.' + --REV. vii. 17. + +These two verses have a much closer parallelism in expression than +appears in our Authorised Version. If you turn to the Revised Version +you will find that it rightly renders the former of my texts, 'Death +shall be their shepherd,' and the latter, 'The Lamb which is in the +midst of the throne shall be their Shepherd.' The Old Testament Psalmist +and the New Testament Seer have fallen upon the same image to describe +death and the future, but with how different a use! The one paints a +grim picture, all sunless and full of shadow; the other dips his pencil +in brilliant colours, and suffuses his canvas with a glow as of molten +sunlight. The difference between the two is partly due to the progress +of revelation and the light cast on life and immortality by Christ +through the Gospel. But it is much more due to the fact that the two +writers have different classes in view. The one is speaking of men whose +portion is in this life, the other of men who have washed their robes +and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And it is the characters +of the persons concerned, much more than the degree of enlightenment +possessed by the writers, that makes the difference between these two +pictures. Life and death and the future are what each man makes of them +for himself. We shall best deal with these two pictures if we take them +separately, and let the gloom of the one enhance the glory of the other. +They hang side by side, like a Rembrandt beside a Claude or a Turner, +each intensifying by contrast the characteristics of the other. So let +us look at the two--first, the grim picture drawn by the Psalmist; +second, the sunny one drawn by the Seer. Now, with regard to the former, + +I. The grim picture drawn by the Psalmist. + +We too often forget that a psalmist is a poet, and misunderstand his +spirit by treating his words as matter-of-fact prose. His imagination is +at work, and our sympathetic imagination must be at work too, if we +would enter into his meaning. Death a shepherd--what a grim and bold +inversion of a familiar metaphor! If this psalm is, as is probable, of a +comparatively late date, then its author was familiar with many sweet +and tender strains of early singers, in which the blessed relation +between a loving God and an obedient people was set forth under that +metaphor. 'The Lord is _my_ Shepherd' may have been ringing in his ears +when he said, 'Death is _their_ shepherd.' He lays hold of the familiar +metaphor, and if I may so speak, turns it upside down, stripping it of +all that is beautiful, tender, and gracious, and draping it in all that +is harsh and terrible. And the very contrast between the sweet relation +which it was originally used to express, and the opposite kind of one +which he uses it to set forth, gives its tremendous force to the daring +metaphor. + +'Death is their shepherd.' Yes, but what manner of shepherd? Not one +that gently leads his flock, but one that stalks behind the huddled +sheep, and drives them fiercely, club in hand, on a path on which they +would not willingly go. The unwelcome necessity, by which men that have +their portion in this world are hounded and herded out of all their +sunny pastures and abundant feeding, is the thought that underlies the +image. It is accentuated, if we notice that in the former clause, 'like +sheep they are laid in the grave,' the word rendered in the Authorised +Version 'laid,' and in the Revised Version 'appointed,' is perhaps more +properly read by many, 'like sheep they are _thrust down_.' There you +have the picture--the shepherd stalking behind the helpless creatures, +and coercing them on an unwelcome path. + +Now that is the first thought that I suggest, that to one type of man, +Death is an unwelcome necessity. It is, indeed, a necessity to us all, +but necessities accepted cease to be painful; and necessities +resisted--what do they become? Here is a man being swept down a river, +the sound of the falls is in his ears, and he grasps at anything on the +bank to hold by, but in vain. That is how some of us feel when we face +the thought, and will feel more when we front the reality, of that awful +'must.' 'Death shall be their shepherd,' and coerce them into darkness. +Ask yourself the question, Is the course of my life such as that the end +of it cannot but be a grim necessity which I would do anything to avoid? + +This first text suggests not only a shepherd but a fold: 'Like sheep +they are thrust down to the grave.' Now I am not going to enter upon +what would be quite out of place here: a critical discussion of the Old +Testament conception of a future life. That conception varies, and is +not the same in all parts of the book. But I may, just in a word, say +that 'the grave' is by no means the adequate rendering of the thought of +the Psalmist, and that 'Hell' is a still more inadequate rendering of +it. He does not mean either the place where the body is deposited, or a +place where there is punitive retribution for the wicked, but he means a +dim region, or, if I might so say, a localised condition, in which all +that have passed through this life are gathered, where personality and +consciousness continue, but where life is faint, stripped of all that +characterises it here, shadowy, unsubstantial, and where there is +inactivity, absolute cessation of all the occupations to which men were +accustomed. But there may be restlessness along with inactivity; may +there not? And there is no such restlessness as the restlessness of +compulsory idleness. That is the main idea that is in the Psalmist's +mind. He knows little about retribution, he knows still less about +transmutation into a glorious likeness to that which is most glorious +and divine. But he conceives a great, dim, lonely land, wherein are +prisoned and penned all the lives that have been foamed away vainly on +earth, and are now settled into a dreary monotony and a restless +idleness. As one of the other books of the Old Testament puts it, it is +a 'land of the shadow of death, without order, and in which the light is +as darkness.' + +I know, of course, that all that is but the imperfect presentation of +partially apprehended, and partially revealed, and partially revealable +truth. But what I desire to fix upon is that one dreary thought of this +fold, into which the grim shepherd has driven his flock, and where they +lie cribbed and huddled together in utter inactivity. Carry that with +you as a true, though incomplete thought. + +Let me remind you, in the next place, with regard to this part of my +subject, of the kind of men whom the grim shepherd drives into that grim +fold. The psalm tells us that plainly enough. It is speaking of men who +have their portion in this life, who 'trust in their wealth, and boast +themselves in the multitude of their riches ... whose inward thought is +that their house shall continue for ever ... who call their lands after +their own names.' Of every such man it says: 'when he dieth he shall +carry nothing away'--none of the possessions, none of the forms of +activity which were familiar to him here on earth. He will go into a +state where he finds nothing which interests him, and nothing for him to +do. + +Must it not be so? If we let ourselves be absorbed and entangled by the +affairs of this life, and permit our whole spirits to be bent in the +direction of these transient things, what is to become of us when the +things that must pass have passed, and when we come into a region where +there are none of them to occupy us any more? What would some Manchester +men do if they were in a condition of life where they could not go on +'Change on Tuesdays and Fridays? What would some of us do if the +professions and forms of mental activity in which we have been occupied +as students and scholars were swept away? 'Whether there be knowledge it +shall cease; whether there be tongues they shall vanish away,' and what +are you going to do then, you men that have only lived for intellectual +pursuits connected with this transient state? We are going to a world +where there are no books, no pens nor ink, no trade, no dress, no +fashion, no amusements; where there is nothing but things in which some +of us have no interest, and a God who 'is not in all our thoughts.' +Surely we shall be 'fish out of water' there. Surely we shall feel that +we have been banned and banished from everything that we care about. +Surely men that boasted themselves in their riches, and in the multitude +of their wealth, will be necessarily condemned to inactivity. Life is +continuous, and all on one plane. Surely if a man knows that he must +some day, and may any day, be summoned to the other side of the world, +he would be a wise man if he got his outfit ready, and made some effort +to acquire the customs and the arts of the land to which he was going. +Surely life here is mainly given to us that we may develop powers which +will find their field of exercise yonder, and acquire characters which +shall be in conformity with the conditions of that future life. Surely +there can be no more tragic folly than the folly of letting myself be so +absorbed and entangled by this present world, as that when the transient +has passed, I shall feel homeless and desolate, and have nothing that I +can do or care about amidst the activities of Eternity. Dear friend, +should _you_ feel homeless if you were taken, as you will be taken, into +that world? + +Turn now to + +II. The sunny landscape drawn by the Seer. + +Note the contrast presented by the shepherds. 'Death shall be their +shepherd.' 'The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their +Shepherd.' I need not occupy your time in trying to show, what has +sometimes been doubted, that the radiant picture of the Apocalyptic Seer +is dealing with nothing in the present, but with the future condition of +certain men. I would just remind you that the words in which it is +couched are to a large extent a quotation from ancient prophecy, a +description of the divine watchfulness over the pilgrim's return from +captivity to the Land of Promise. But the quotation is wonderfully +elevated and spiritualised in the New Testament vision; for instead of +reading, as the Original does: 'He that hath mercy on them shall lead +them,' we have here, 'the Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall +be their Shepherd,' and instead of their being led merely to 'the +springs of water,' here we read that He 'leads them to the fountains of +the water of life.' + +We have to think, first, of that most striking, most significant and +profound modification of the Old Testament words, which presents the +Lamb as 'the Shepherd.' All Christ's shepherding on earth and in heaven +depends, as do all our hopes for heaven and earth, upon the fact of His +sacrificial death. It is only because He is the 'Lamb that was slain' +that He is either the 'Lamb in the midst of the Throne,' or the Shepherd +of the flock. And we must make acquaintance with Him first in the +character of 'the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world,' +before we can either follow in His footsteps as our Guide, or be +compassed by His protection as our Shepherd. + +He is the Lamb, and He is the Shepherd--that suggests not only that the +sacrificial work of Jesus Christ is the basis of all His work for us on +earth and in heaven, but the very incongruity of making One, who bears +the same nature as the flock to be the Shepherd of the flock, is part of +the beauty of the metaphor. It is His humanity that is our guide. It is +His continual manhood, all through eternity and its glories, that makes +Him the Shepherd of perfected souls. They follow Him because He is one +of themselves, and He could not be the Shepherd unless he were the Lamb. + +But then this Shepherd is not only gracious, sympathetic, kin to us by +participation in a common nature, and fit to be our Guide because He has +been our Sacrifice and the propitiation of our sins, but He is the Lamb +'in the midst of the throne,' wielding therefore all divine power, and +standing--not as the rendering in our Bible leads an English reader to +suppose, on the throne, but--in the middle point between it and the ring +of worshippers, and so the Communicator to the outer circumference of +all the blessings that dwell in the divine centre. He shall be their +Shepherd, not coercing, not driving by violence, but leading to the +fountains of the waters of life, gently and graciously. It is not +compulsory energy which He exercises upon us, either on earth or in +heaven, but it is the drawing of a divine attraction, sweet to put forth +and sweet to yield to. + +There is still another contrast. Death huddled and herded his reluctant +sheep into a fold where they lay inactive but struggling and restless. +Christ leads His flock into a pasture. He shall guide them 'to the +fountains of waters of life.' I need not dwell at any length on the +blessed particulars of that future, set forth here and in the context. +But let me suggest them briefly. There is joyous activity. There is +constant progression. He goeth before; they follow. The perfection of +heaven begins at entrance into it, but it is a perfection which can be +perfected, and is being perfected, through the ages of Eternity, and the +picture of the Shepherd in front and the flock behind, is the true +conception of all the progress of that future life. 'They shall follow +the Lamb whithersoever He goeth'--a sweet guidance, a glad following, a +progressive conformity! 'In the long years liker must they grow.' + +Further, there is the communication of life more and more abundantly. +Therefore there is the satisfaction of all desire, so that 'they shall +hunger no more, neither thirst any more.' The pain of desire ceases +because desire is no sooner felt than it is satisfied, the joy of desire +continues, because its satisfaction enables us to desire more, and so, +appetite and eating, desire and fruition, alternate in ceaseless +reciprocity. To us, being every moment capable of more, more will be +given; and 'to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.' + +There is one point more in regard to that pasture into which the Lamb +leads the happy flock, and that is, the cessation of all pains and +sorrows. Not only shall they 'hunger no more, neither thirst any more'; +but 'the sun shall not smite them, nor any heat, and God shall wipe away +all tears from their eyes.' Here the Shepherd carried rod and staff, and +sometimes had to strike the wandering sheep hard: there these are needed +no more. Here He had sometimes to move them out of green pastures, and +away from still waters, into valleys of the shadow of death; but +'there,' as one of the prophets has it: 'they shall lie in a good fold, +and in a fat pasture shall they feed.' + +But now, we must note, finally, the other kind of men whom this other +Shepherd leads into His pastures, 'They have washed their robes and made +them white in the blood of the Lamb.' Aye! that is it. That is why He +can lead them where He does lead them. Strange alchemy which out of two +crimsons, the crimson of our sins and the crimson of His blood, makes +one white! But it is so, and the only way by which we can ever be +cleansed, either with the initial cleansing of forgiveness, or with the +daily cleansing of continual purifying and approximation to the divine +holiness, is by our bringing the foul garment of our stained personality +and character into contact with the blood which, 'shed for many,' takes +away their sins, and infused into their veins, cleanses them from all +sin. + +You have yourselves to bring about that contact. '_They_ have washed +their robes.' And how did they do it? By faith in the Sacrifice first, +by following the Example next. For it is not merely a forgiveness for +the past, but a perfecting, progressive and gradual, for the future, +that lies in that thought of washing their robes and making them white +in the blood of the Lamb. + +Dear brethren, life here and life hereafter are continuous. They are +homogeneous, on one plane though an ascending one. The differences there +are great--I was going to say, and it would be true, that the +resemblances are greater. As we have been, we shall be. If we take +Christ for our Shepherd here, and follow Him, though from afar and with +faltering steps, amidst all the struggles and windings and rough ways of +life, then and only then, will He be our Shepherd, to go with us through +the darkness of death, to make it no reluctant expulsion from a place in +which we would fain continue to be, but a tranquil and willing following +of Him by the road which He has consecrated for ever, and deprived for +ever of its solitude, because Himself has trod it. + +Those two possibilities are before each of us. Either of them may be +yours. One of them must be. Look on this picture and on this; and +choose--God help you to choose aright--which of the two will describe +your experience. Will you have Christ for your Shepherd, or will you +have Death for your shepherd? The answer to that question lies in the +answer to the other--have you washed your robes, and made them white in +the blood of the Lamb; and are you following Him? You can settle the +question which lot is to be yours, and only you can settle it. See that +you settle it aright, and that you settle it soon. + +END OF VOL. I. + + + + + +VOLUME II: PSALMS _LI to CXLV_ + + +CONTENTS + + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PARDON (Psalm li. 1, 2) + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PURITY (Psalm li. 10-12) + +FEAR AND FAITH (Psalm lvi. 3, 4) + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE (Psalm lvi. 13, R.V.) + +THE FIXED HEART (Psalm lvii. 7) + +WAITING AND SINGING (Psalm lix. 9, 17) + +SILENCE TO GOD (Psalm lxii, 1-5) + +THIRST AND SATISFACTION (Psalm lxiii. 1, 5, 8) + +SIN OVERCOMING AND OVERCOME (Psalm lxv. 8) + +THE BURDEN-BEARING GOD (Psalm lxviii. 19, A.V. and R.V.) + +REASONABLE RAPTURE (Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26) + +NEARNESS TO GOD THE KEY TO LIFE'S PUZZLE (Psalm lxxiii. 28) + +MEMORY, HOPE, AND EFFORT (Psalm lxxviii. 7) + +SPARROWS AND ALTARS (Psalm lxxxiv. 3) + +HAPPY PILGRIMS (Psalm lxxxiv. 5-7) + +BLESSED TRUST (Psalm lxxxiv. 12) + +'THE BRIDAL OF THE EARTH AND SKY' (Psalm lxxxv. 10-13) + +A SHEAF OF PRAYER ARROWS (Psalm lxxxvi. 1-5) + +CONTINUAL SUNSHINE (Psalm lxxxix. 15) + +THE CRY OF THE MORTAL TO THE UNDYING (Psalm xc. 17) + +THE SHELTERING WING (Psalm xci. 4) + +THE HABITATION OF THE SOUL (Psalm xci. 9, 10) + +THE ANSWER TO TRUST (Psalm xci. 14) + +WHAT GOD WILL DO FOR US (Psalm xci. 15, 16) + +FORGIVENESS AND RETRIBUTION (Psalm xcix. 8) + +INVIOLABLE MESSIAHS AND PROPHETS (Psalm cv. 14, 15) + +GOD'S PROMISES TESTS (Psalm cv. 19) + +SOLDIER PRIESTS (Psalm cx. 3) + +GOD AND THE GODLY (Psalms cxi. 3; cxii. 3) + +EXPERIENCE, RESOLVE, AND HOPE (Psalm cxvi. 8, 9) + +REQUITING GOD (Psalm cxvi. 12, 13) + +A CLEANSED WAY (Psalm cxix. 9) + +LIFE HID AND NOT HID (Psalm cxix. 11; xl. 10) + +A STRANGER IN THE EARTH (Psalm cxix. 19, 64) + +'TIME FOR THEE TO WORK' (Psalm cxix. 126-128) + +SUBMISSION AND PEACE (Psalm cxix. 165) + +LOOKING TO THE HILLS (Psalm cxxi. 1, 2) + +MOUNTAINS ROUND MOUNT ZION (Psalm cxxv. 1, 2) + +THE CHARGE OF THE WATCHERS IN THE TEMPLE (Psalm cxxxiv. 1-3) + +GOD'S SCRUTINY LONGED FOR (Psalm cxxxix. 23, 24) + +THE INCENSE OF PRAYER (Psalm cxli. 2) + +THE PRAYER OF PRAYERS (Psalm cxliii. 10) + +THE SATISFIER OF ALL DESIRES (Psalm cxlv. 16, 19) + + + + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PARDON + + + '... Blot out my transgressions. 2. Wash me throughly from mine + iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.'--PSALM li. 1, 2. + +A whole year had elapsed between David's crime and David's penitence. It +had been a year of guilty satisfaction not worth the having; of sullen +hardening of heart against God and all His appeals. The thirty-second +Psalm tells us how _happy_ David had been during that twelvemonth, of +which he says, 'My bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. +For day and night Thy hand was heavy on me.' Then came Nathan with his +apologue, and with that dark threatening that 'the sword should never +depart from his house,' the fulfilment of which became a well-head of +sorrow to the king for the rest of his days, and gave a yet deeper +poignancy of anguish to the crime of his spoiled favourite Absalom. The +stern words had their effect. The frost that had bound his soul melted +all away, and he confessed his sin, and was forgiven then and there. 'I +have sinned against the Lord' is the confession as recorded in the +historical books; and, says Nathan, 'The Lord hath made to pass from +thee the iniquity of thy sin.' Immediately, as would appear from the +narrative, that very same day, the child of Bathsheba and David was +smitten with fatal disease, and died in a week. And it is _after_ all +these events--the threatening, the penitence, the pardon, the +punishment--that he comes to God, who had so freely forgiven, and +likewise so sorely smitten him, and wails out these prayers: 'Blot out +my transgressions, wash me from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin.' + +One almost shrinks from taking as the text of a sermon words like these, +in which a broken and contrite spirit groans for deliverance, and which +are, besides, hallowed by the thought of the thousands who have since +found them the best expression of their sacredest emotions. But I would +fain try not to lose the feeling that breathes through the words, while +seeking for the thoughts which are in them, and hope that the light +which they throw upon the solemn subjects of guilt and forgiveness may +not be for any of us a mere cold light. + +I. Looking then at this triad of petitions, they teach us first how +David thought of his sin. + +You will observe the reiteration of the same earnest cry in all these +clauses, and if you glance over the remainder of this psalm, you will +find that he asks for the gifts of God's Spirit, with a similar +threefold repetition. Now this characteristic of the whole psalm is +worth notice in the outset. It is not a mere piece of Hebrew +parallelism. The requirements of poetical form but partially explain it. +It is much more the earnestness of a soul that cannot be content with +once asking for the blessings and then passing on, but dwells upon them +with repeated supplication, not because it thinks that it shall be heard +for its 'much speaking,' but because it longs for them so eagerly. + +And besides that, though the three clauses do express the same general +idea, they express it under various modifications, and must be all taken +together before we get the whole of the Psalmist's thought of sin. + +Notice again that he speaks of his evil as 'transgressions' and as +'sin,' first using the plural and then the singular. He regards it first +as being broken up into a multitude of isolated acts, and then as being +all gathered together into one knot, as it were, so that it is one +thing. In one aspect it is 'my transgressions'--'that thing that I did +about Uriah, that thing that I did about Bathsheba, those other things +that these dragged after them.' One by one the acts of wrongdoing pass +before him. But he does not stop there. They are not merely a number of +deeds, but they have, deep down below, a common root from which they all +came--a centre in which they all inhere. And so he says, not only 'Blot +out my _transgressions_,' but 'Wash me from mine _iniquity_.' He does +not merely generalise, but he sees and he feels what you and I have to +feel, if we judge rightly of our evil actions, that we cannot take them +only in their plurality as so many separate deeds, but that we must +recognise them as coming from a common source, and we must lament before +God not only our 'sins' but our 'sin'--not only the outward acts of +transgression, but that alienation of heart from which they all come; +not only sin in its manifold manifestations as it comes out in the life, +but in its inward roots as it coils round our hearts. You are not to +confess acts alone, but let your contrition embrace the principle from +which they come. + +Further, in all the petitions we see that the idea of his own single +responsibility for the whole thing is uppermost in David's mind. It is +_my_ transgression, it is _mine_ iniquity, and _my_ sin. He has not +learned to say with Adam of old, and with some so-called wise thinkers +to-day: 'I was tempted, and I could not help it.' He does not talk about +'circumstances,' and say that they share the blame with him. He takes it +all to himself. 'It was _I_ did it. True, I was tempted, but it was my +soul that made the occasion a temptation. True, the circumstances led me +astray, but they would not have led me astray if I had been right, and +_where_ as well as _what_ I ought to be.' It is a solemn moment when +that thought first rises in its revealing power to throw light into the +dark places of our souls. But it is likewise a blessed moment, and +without it we are scarcely aware of ourselves. Conscience quickens +consciousness. The sense of transgression is the first thing that gives +to many a man the full sense of his own individuality. There is nothing +that makes us feel how awful and incommunicable is that mysterious +personality by which every one of us lives alone after all +companionship, so much as the contemplation of our relations to God's +law. 'Every man shall bear his own burden.' 'Circumstances,' yes; +'bodily organisation,' yes; 'temperament,' yes; 'the maxims of society,' +'the conventionalities of the time,' yes,--all these things have +something to do with shaping our single deeds and with influencing our +character; but after we have made all allowances for these influences +which affect _me_, let us ask the philosophers who bring them forward as +diminishing or perhaps annihilating responsibility, 'And what about that +_me_ which these things influence?' After all, let me remember that the +deed is _mine_, and that every one of us shall, as Paul puts it, give +account of _himself_ unto God. + +Passing from that, let me point for one moment to another set of ideas +that are involved in these petitions. The three words which the Psalmist +employs for sin give prominence to different aspects of it. +'Transgression' is not the same as 'iniquity,' and 'iniquity' is not the +same as 'sin.' They are not aimless, useless synonyms, but they have +each a separate thought in them. The word rendered 'transgression' +literally means rebellion, a breaking away from and setting oneself +against lawful authority. That translated 'iniquity' literally means +that which is twisted, bent. The word in the original for 'sin' +literally means missing a mark, an aim. And this threefold view of sin +is no discovery of David's, but is the lesson which the whole Old +Testament system had laboured to print deep on the national +consciousness. That lesson, taught by law and ceremonial, by +denunciation and remonstrance, by chastisement and deliverance, the +penitent king has learned. To all men's wrongdoings these descriptions +apply, but most of all to his. Sin is ever, and his sin especially is, +rebellion, the deflection of the life from the straight line which God's +law draws so clearly and firmly, and hence a missing the aim. + +Think how profound and living is the consciousness of sin which lies in +calling it _rebellion_. It is not merely, then, that we go against some +abstract propriety, or break some impersonal law of nature when we do +wrong, but that we rebel against a rightful Sovereign. In a special +sense this was true of the Jew, whose nation stood under the government +of a divine king, so that sin was treason, and breaches of the law acts +of rebellion against God. But it is as true of us all. Our theory of +morals will be miserably defective, and our practice will be still more +defective, unless we have learned that morality is but the garment of +religion, that the definition of virtue is obedience to God, and that +the true sin in sin is not the yielding to impulses that belong to our +nature, but the assertion in the act of yielding, of our independence of +God and of our opposition to His will. And all this has application to +David's sin. He was God's viceroy and representative, and he sets to his +people the example of revolt, and lifts the standard of rebellion. It is +as if the ruler of a province declared war against the central authority +of which he was the creature, and used against it the very magazines and +weapons with which it had intrusted him. He had rebelled, and in an +eminent degree, as Nathan said to him, given to the enemies of God +occasion to blaspheme. + +Not less profound and suggestive is that other name for sin, that which +is twisted, or bent, mine 'iniquity.' It is the same metaphor which lies +in our own word 'wrong,' that which is wrung or warped from the straight +line of right. To that line, drawn by God's law, our lives should run +parallel, bending neither to the right hand nor to the left. But instead +of the firm directness of such a line, our lives show wavering +deformity, and are like the tremulous strokes in a child's copy-book. +David had the pattern before him, and by its side his unsteady purpose, +his passionate lust, had traced this wretched scrawl. The path on which +he should have trodden was a straight course to God, unbending like one +of these conquering Roman roads, that will turn aside for neither +mountain nor ravine, nor stream nor bog. If it had been thus straight, +it would have reached its goal. Journeying on that way of holiness, he +would have found, and we shall find, that on it no ravenous beast shall +meet us, but with songs and everlasting joy upon their lips the happy +pilgrims draw ever nearer to God, obtaining joy and gladness in all the +march, until at last 'sorrow and sighing shall flee away.' But instead +of this he had made for himself a crooked path, and had lost his road +and his peace in the mazes of wandering ways. 'The labour of the foolish +wearieth every one of them, because he knoweth not how to come to the +city.' + +Another very solemn and terrible thought of what sin is, lies in that +final word for it, which means 'missing an aim.' How strikingly that +puts a truth which siren voices are constantly trying to sing us out of +believing! Every sin is a blunder as well as a crime. And that for two +reasons, because, first, God has made us for Himself, and to take +anything besides for our life's end or our heart's portion is to divert +ourselves from our true destiny; and because, second, that being so, +every attempt to win satisfaction or delight by such a course is and +must be a failure. Sin misses the aim if we think of our proper +destination. Sin misses its own aim of happiness. A man never gets what +he hoped for by doing wrong, or, if he seem to do so, he gets something +more that spoils it all. He pursues after the fleeing form that seems so +fair, and when he reaches her side, and lifts her veil, eager to embrace +the tempter, a hideous skeleton grins and gibbers at him. The siren +voices sing to you from the smiling island, and their white arms and +golden harps and the flowery grass draw you from the wet boat and the +weary oar; but when a man lands he sees the fair form end in a slimy +fish, and she slays him and gnaws his bones. 'He knows not that the dead +are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.' Yes! every +sin is a mistake, and the epitaph for the sinner is 'Thou fool!' + +II. These petitions also show us, in the second place, How David thinks +of forgiveness. + +As the words for sin expressed a threefold view of the burden from which +the Psalmist seeks deliverance, so the triple prayer, in like manner, +sets forth that blessing under three aspects. It is not merely pardon +for which he asks. He is making no sharp dogmatic distinction between +forgiveness and cleansing. + +The two things run into each other in his prayer, as they do, thank God! +in our own experience, the one being inseparable, in fact, from the +other. It is absolute deliverance from the power of sin, in all forms of +that power, whether as guilt or as habit, for which he cries so +piteously; and his accumulative petitions are so exhaustive, not because +he is coldly examining his sin, but because he is intensely feeling the +manifold burden of his great evil. + +That first petition conceives of the divine dealing with sin as being +the erasure of a writing, perhaps of an indictment. There is a special +significance in the use of the word here, because it is also employed in +the description of the Levitical ceremonial of the ordeal, where a curse +was written on a scroll and blotted out by the priest. But apart from +that the metaphor is a natural and suggestive one. Our sin stands +written against us. The long gloomy indictment has been penned by our +own hands. Our past is a blurred manuscript, full of false things and +bad things. We have to spread the writing before God, and ask Him to +remove the stained characters from its surface, that once was fair and +unsoiled. + +Ah, brethren! some people tell us that the past is irrevocable, that the +thing once done can never be undone, that the life's diary written by +our own hands can never be cancelled. The melancholy theory of some +thinkers and teachers is summed up in the words, infinitely sad and +despairing when so used, 'What I have written I have written.' Thank +God! we know better than that. We know who blots out the handwriting +'that is against us, nailing it to His Cross.' We know that of God's +great mercy our future may 'copy fair our past,' and the past may be all +obliterated and removed. And as sometimes you will find in an old +monkish library the fair vellum that once bore lascivious stories of +ancient heathens and pagan deities turned into the manuscript in which a +saint has penned his Contemplations, an Augustine his Confessions, or a +Jerome his Translations, so our souls may become palimpsests. The old +wicked heathen characters that we have traced there may be blotted out, +and covered over by the writing of that divine Spirit who has said, 'I +will put My laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts.' As +you run your pen through the finished pages of your last year's diaries, +as you seal them up and pack them away, and begin a new page in a clean +book on the first of January, so it is possible for every one of us to +do with our lives. Notwithstanding all the influence of habit, +notwithstanding all the obstinacy of long-indulged modes of thought and +action, notwithstanding all the depressing effect of frequent attempts +and frequent failures, we may break ourselves off from all that is +sinful in our past lives, and begin afresh, saying, 'God helping me! I +will write another sort of biography for myself for the days that are to +come.' + +We cannot erase these sad records from our past. The ink is indelible; +and besides all that we have visibly written in these terrible +autobiographies of ours, there is much that has sunk into the page, +there is many a 'secret fault,' the record of which will need the fire +of that last day to make it legible, Alas for those who learn the black +story of their own lives for the first time then! Learn it now, my +brother! and learn likewise that Christ can wipe it all clean off the +page, clean out of your nature, clean out of God's book. Cry to Him, +with the Psalmist, 'Blot out my transgressions!' and He will calm and +bless you with the ancient answer, 'I have blotted out as a thick cloud +thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins.' + +Then there is another idea in the second of these prayers for +forgiveness: '_Wash me throughly_ from mine iniquity.' That phrase does +not need any explanation, except that the word expresses the antique way +of cleansing garments by treading and beating. David, then, here uses +the familiar symbol of a robe, to express the 'habit' of the soul, or, +as we say, the character. That robe is all splashed and stained. He +cries to God to make it a robe of righteousness and a garment of purity. + +And mark that he thinks the method by which this will be accomplished is +a protracted and probably a painful one. He is not praying for a mere +declaration of pardon, he is not asking only for the one complete, +instantaneous act of forgiveness, but he is asking for a process of +purifying which will be long and hard. 'I am ready,' says he, in effect, +'to submit to any sort of discipline, if only I may be clean. Wash me, +beat me, tread me down, hammer me with mallets, dash me against stones, +rub me with smarting soap and caustic nitre--do anything, anything with +me, if only those foul spots melt away from the texture of my soul!' A +solemn prayer, my brethren! if we pray it aright, which will be answered +by many a sharp application of God's Spirit, by many a sorrow, by much +very painful work, both within our own souls and in our outward lives, +but which will be fulfilled at last in our being clothed like our Lord, +in garments which shine as the light. + +We know, dear brethren! who has said, 'I counsel thee to buy of Me white +raiment, that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear.' And we know +well who were the great company before the throne of God, that had +'washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.' +'Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though +they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.' 'Wash me throughly +from mine iniquity.' + +The deliverance from sin is still further expressed by that third +supplication, 'Cleanse me from my sin.' That is the technical word for +the priestly act of declaring ceremonial cleanness--the cessation of +ceremonial pollution, and for the other priestly act of making, as well +as declaring, clean from the stains of leprosy. And with allusion to +both of these uses, the Psalmist employs it here. That is to say, he +thinks of his guilt not only as a blotted past record which he has +written, not only as a garment spotted by the flesh which his spirit +wears, but he thinks of it too as inhering in himself, as a leprosy and +disease of his own personal nature. He thinks of it as being, like that, +incurable, fatal, twin sister to and precursor of death; and he thinks +of it as capable of being cleansed only by a sacerdotal act, only by the +great High Priest and by His finger being laid upon it. And we know who +it was that--when the leper, whom no man in Israel was allowed to touch +on pain of uncleanness, came to His feet--put out His hand in triumphant +consciousness of power, and touched him, and said, 'I _will_! be thou +clean.' Let this be thy prayer, 'Cleanse me from my sin'; and Christ +will answer, 'Thy leprosy hath departed from thee.' + +III. These petitions likewise show us whence the Psalmist draws his +confidence for such a prayer. + +'According to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my +transgressions.' His whole hope rests upon God's own character, as +revealed in the endless continuance of His acts of love. He knows the +number and the greatness of his sins, and the very depth of his +consciousness of sin helps him to a corresponding greatness in his +apprehension of God's mercy. As he says in another of his psalms, +'Innumerable evils have compassed me about; they are more than the hairs +of my head.... Many, O Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works.... They are +more than can be numbered.' This is the blessedness of all true +penitence, that the more profoundly it feels its own sore need and great +sinfulness, in that very proportion does it recognise the yet greater +mercy and all-sufficient grace of our loving God, and from the lowest +depths beholds the stars in the sky, which they who dwell amid the +surface-brightness of the noonday cannot discern. + +God's own revealed character, His faithfulness and persistency, +notwithstanding all our sins, in that mode of dealing with men which has +blessed all generations with His tender mercies--these were David's +pleas. And for us who have the perfect love of God perfectly expressed +in His Son, that same plea is incalculably strengthened, for we can say, +'According to Thy tender mercy in Thy dear Son, for the sake of Christ, +blot out my transgressions.' Is the depth of our desire, and is the +firmness of our confidence, proportioned to the increased clearness of +our knowledge of the love of our God? Does the Cross of Christ lead us +to as trustful a penitence as David had, to whom meditation on God's +providences and the shadows of the ancient covenant were chiefest +teachers of the multitude of His tender mercies? + +Remember further that a comparison of the narrative in the historical +books seems to show, as I said, that this psalm followed Nathan's +declaration of the divine forgiveness, and that therefore these +petitions of our text are the echo and response to that declaration. + +Thus we see that the revelation of God's love precedes, and is the cause +of, the truest penitence; that our prayer for forgiveness is properly +the appropriating, or the effort to appropriate, the divine promise of +forgiveness; and that the assurance of pardon, so far from making a man +think lightly of his sin, is the thing that drives it home to his +conscience, and first of all teaches him what it really is. As long as +you are tortured with thoughts of a possible hell because of guilt, as +long as you are troubled by the contemplation of consequences affecting +your happiness as ensuing upon your wrongdoing, so long there is a +foreign and disturbing element in even your deepest and truest +penitence. But when you know that God has forgiven--when you come to see +the 'multitude of Thy tender mercies,' when the fear of punishment has +passed out of your apprehension, then you are left with a heart at +leisure from dread, to look the fact and not the consequences in the +face, and to think of the moral nature, and not of the personal results, +of your sin. And so one of the old prophets, with profound truth, says, +'Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth any more +because of thy sin, when I am pacified towards thee for all thou hast +done.' + +Dear friends! the wheels of God's great mill may grind us small, without +our coming to know or to hate our sin. About His chastisements, about +the revelation of His wrath, that old saying is true to a great extent: +'If you bray a fool in a mortar, his folly will not depart from him.' +You may smite a man down, crush him, make his bones to creep with the +preaching of vengeance and of hell, and the result of it will often be, +if it be anything at all, what it was in the case of that poor wretched +Judas, who, because he only saw wrath, flung _himself_ into despair, and +was lost, not because he had betrayed Christ, but because he believed +that there was no forgiveness for the man that had betrayed. + +But Love comes, and 'Love is Lord of all.' God's assurance, 'I have +forgiven,' the assurance that we do not need to plead with Him, to bribe +Him, to buy pardon by tears and amendment, but that it is already +provided for us--the blessed vision of an all-mighty love treasured in a +dying Saviour, the proclamation 'God was in Christ, reconciling the +world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them'--Oh! these +are the powers that break, or rather that melt, our hearts; these are +the keen weapons that wound to heal our hearts; these are the teachers +that teach a 'godly sorrow that needeth not to be repented of.' Think of +all the patient, pitying mercy of our Father, with which He has lingered +about our lives, and softly knocked at the door of our hearts! Think of +that unspeakable gift in which are wrapped up all His tender +mercies--the gift of Christ who died for us all! Let it smite upon your +heart with a rebuke mightier than all the thunders of law or terrors of +judgment. Let it unveil for you not only the depths of the love of God, +but the darkness of your own selfish rebellion from Him. Measure your +crooked lives by the perfect rightness of Christ's. Learn how you have +missed the aim which He reached, who could say, 'I delight to do Thy +will, O my God!' And let that same infinite love that teaches sin +announce frank forgiveness and prophesy perfect purity. Then, with heart +fixed upon Christ's Cross, let your cry for pardon be the echo of the +most sure promise of pardon which sounds from His dying lips; and as you +gaze on Him who died that we might be freed from all iniquity, ask Him +to blot out your transgressions, to wash you throughly from your +iniquity, and to cleanse you from your sins. Ask, for you cannot ask in +vain; ask earnestly, for you need it sorely; ask confidently, for He has +promised before you ask; but ask, for unless you do, you will not +receive. Ask, and the answer is sent already--'The blood of Jesus Christ +cleanseth from all sin.' + + + + +DAVID'S CRY FOR PURITY + + + '... Renew a right spirit within me. 11. ... And take not Thy Holy + Spirit from me. 12. ... And uphold me with Thy free Spirit.' + --PSALM li. 10-12. + +We ought to be very thankful that the Bible never conceals the faults of +its noblest men. David stands high among the highest of these. His words +have been for ages the chosen expression for the devotions of the +holiest souls; and whoever has wished to speak longings after purity, +lowly trust in God, the aspirations of love, or the raptures of +devotion, has found no words of his own more natural than those of the +poet-king of Israel. And this man sins, black, grievous sin. +Self-indulgent, he stays at home while his army is in the field. His +moral nature, relaxed by this shrinking from duty, is tempted, and +easily conquered. The sensitive poet nature, to which all delights of +eye and sense appeal so strongly, is for a time too strong for the +devout soul. One sin drags on another. As self-indulgence opened the +door for lust, so lust, which dwells hard by hate, draws after it +murder. The king is a traitor to his subjects, the soldier untrue to the +chivalry of arms, the friend the betrayer of the friend. Nothing can be +blacker than the whole story, and the Bible tells the shameful history +in all its naked ugliness. + +Many a precious lesson is contained in it. For instance, It is not +innocence which makes men good. 'This is your man after God's own heart, +is it?' runs the common, shallow sneer. Yes; not that God thought little +of his foul sin, nor that 'saints' make up for adultery and murder by +making or singing psalms; not that 'righteousness' as a standard of +conduct is lower than 'morality'; but that, having fallen, he learned to +abhor his sin, and with deepened trust in God's mercy, and many tears, +struggled out of the mire, and with unconquered resolve and strength +drawn from a divine source, sought still to press towards the mark. It +is not the attainment of purity, not the absence of sin, but the +presence and operation, though it be partial, of an energy which is at +war with all impurity, that makes a man righteous. That is a lesson +worth learning. + +Again, David was not a hypocrite because of this fall of his. All sin is +inconsistent with a religious character. But it is not for us to say +what sin is incompatible with a religious character. + +Again, the worst sin is not some outburst of gross transgression, +forming an exception to the ordinary tenor of a life, bad and dismal as +such a sin is; but the worst and most fatal are the small continuous +vices, which root underground and honeycomb the soul. Many a man who +thinks himself a Christian, is in more danger from the daily commission, +for example, of small pieces of sharp practice in his business, than +ever was David at his worst. White ants pick a carcase clean sooner than +a lion will. + +Most precious of all is the lesson as to the possibility of all sin +being effaced, and of the high hopes which even a man sunk in +transgression has a right to cherish, as to the purity and beauty of +character to which he may come. What a prayer these clauses contain to +be offered by one who has so sinned! What a marvellous faith in God's +pardoning love, and what a boldness of hope in his own future, they +disclose! They set forth a profound ideal of a noble character; they +make of that ideal a prayer; they are the prayer of a great +transgressor, who is also a true penitent. In all these aspects they are +very remarkable, and lead to valuable lessons. Let us look at them from +these points of view successively. + +I. Observe that here is a remarkable outline of a holy character. + +It is to be observed that of these three gifts--a right spirit, Thy Holy +Spirit, a free spirit--the central one alone is in the original spoken +of as God's; the 'Thy' of the last clause of the English Bible being an +unnecessary supplement. And I suppose that this central petition stands +in the middle, because the gift which it asks is the essential and +fundamental one, from which there flow, and as it were, diverge on the +right hand and on the left, the other two. God's Holy Spirit given to a +man makes the human spirit holy, and then makes it 'right' and 'free.' +Look then at the petitions, not in the order in which they stand in the +text, but in the order which the text indicates as the natural one. + +Now as to that fundamental petition, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me,' +one thing to notice is that David regards himself as possessing that +Spirit. We are not to read into this psalm the fully developed New +Testament teaching of a personal Paraclete, the Spirit whom Christ +reveals and sends. To do that would be a gross anachronism. But we are +to remember that it is an anointed king who speaks, on whose head there +has been poured the oil that designated him to his office, and in its +gentle flow and sweet fragrance, symbolised from of old the inspiration +of a divine influence that accompanied every divine call. We are to +remember, too, how it had fared with David's predecessor. Saul had been +chosen by God; had been for a while guided and upheld by God. But he +fell into sin, and--not because he fell into it, but because he +continued in it; not because he did wrong, but because he did not +repent--the solemn words are recorded concerning him, that 'the Spirit +of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord +troubled him.' The divine influence which came on the towering head of +the son of Kish, through the anointing oil that Samuel poured upon his +raven hair, left him, and he stood God-forsaken because he stood +God-forsaking. And so David looks back from the 'horrible pit and miry +clay' into which he had fallen, where, stained with blood and lust, he +lies, to that sad gigantic figure, remembered so well and loved by him +so truly--the great king who sinned away his soul, and bled out his life +on the heights of Gilboa. He sees in that blasted pine-tree, towering +above the forest but dead at the top, and barked and scathed all down +the sides by the lightning scars of passion, the picture of what he +himself will come to, if the blessing that was laid upon his ruddy locks +and his young head by the aged Samuel's anointing should pass from him +too as it had done from his predecessor. God had departed from Saul, +because Saul had refused His counsel and departed from Him; and Saul's +successor, trembling as he remembers the fate of the founder of the +monarchy, and of his vanished dynasty, prays with peculiar emphasis of +meaning, 'Take not Thy Holy Spirit from _me_!' + +That Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, had descended upon him when he was +anointed king, but it was no mere official consecration which he had +thereby received. He had been fitted for regal functions by personal +cleansing and spiritual gifts. And it is the man as well as the king, +the sinful man much rather than the faulty king, that here wrestles with +God, and stays the heavenly Visitant whom his sin has made to seem as if +He would depart. What he desires most earnestly, next to that pardon +which he has already sought and found, is that his spirit should be made +holy by God's Spirit. That is, as I have said, the central petition of +his threefold prayer, from which the others come as natural +consequences. + +And what is this 'holiness' which David so earnestly desires? Without +attempting any lengthened analysis of the various shades of meaning in +the word, our purpose will be served if I point out that in all +probability the primary idea in it is that of separation. God is +holy--that is, separated by all the glory of His perfect nature from His +creatures. Things are holy--that is, separated from common uses, and +appropriated to God's service. Whatever He laid His hand on and claimed +in any especial manner for His, became thereby holy, whether it were a +ceremony, or a place, or a tool. Men are holy when they are set apart +for God's service, whether they be officially consecrated for certain +offices, or have yielded themselves by an inward devotion based on love +to be His. + +The ethical signification which is predominant in our use of the word +and has made it little more than a synonym for moral purity is certainly +not the original meaning, as is sufficiently clear from the fact that +the word is applied to material things which could have no moral +qualities, and sometimes to persons who were not pure, but who were in +some sense or other set apart for God's service. But gradually that +meaning becomes more and more completely attached to the word, and +'holiness' is not only separation for God, but separation from sin. That +is what David longs for in this prayer; and the connection of these two +meanings of the word is worth pointing out in a sermon, for the sake of +the great truth which it suggests, that the basis of all rightness and +righteousness in a human spirit is its conscious and glad devotion to +God's service and uses. A reference to God must underlie all that is +good in men, and on the other hand, that consecration to God is a +delusion or a deception which does not issue in separation from evil. + +'Holiness' is a loftier and a truer word than 'morality,' 'virtue,' or +the like; it differs from these in that it proclaims that surrender to +God is the very essence of all good, while they seek to construct a +standard for human conduct, and to lay a foundation for human goodness, +without regard to Him. Hence, irreligious moralists dislike the very +word, and fall back upon pale, colourless phrases rather than employ it. +But these are inadequate for the purpose. Man's duties can never be +summed up in any expression which omits man's relation to God. How do I +stand to Him? Do I belong to Him by joyous yielding of myself to be His +instrument? That, my friends! is the question, the answer to which +determines everything about me. Rightly answered, there will come all +fruits of grace and beauty in the character as a natural consequence; +'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report,' every virtue and +every praise grow from the root of consecration to God. Wrongly +answered, there will come only fruits of selfishness and evil, which may +simulate virtue, but the blossom shall go up in dust, and the root in +stubble. Do you seek purity, nobleness, strength, and beauty of soul? +Learn that all these inhere in and flow from the one act of giving up +yourself to God, and in their truest perfection are found only in the +spirit that is His. Holiness considered as moral excellence is the +result of holiness considered as devotion to God. And learn too that +holiness in both aspects comes from the operation and indwelling in our +spirits of a divine Spirit, who draws away our love from self to fix it +on Him, which changes our blindness into sight, and makes us by degrees +like Himself, 'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.' The +Spirit of the Lord is the energy which produces all righteousness and +purity in human spirits. + +Therefore, all our desires after what is good and true should shape +themselves into the desire for that Spirit. Our prayer should be, 'Make +me separate from evil, and that I may be so, claim and keep me for Thine +own. As Thou hast done with the Sabbath amongst the days, with the bare +summit of the hill of the Lord's house among the mountains, with Israel +amidst the nations, so do with me; lay Thine hand upon me for Thine own. +Let my spirit, O God! know its destination for Thee, its union with +Thee. Then being Thine, it will be clean. Dwell in me, that I may know +myself Thine. Seal me with that gracious influence which is the proof +that Thou possessest me, and the pledge that I possess Thee. "Take not +Thy Holy Spirit from me."' + +So much for the chief of these petitions, which gives the ideal +character in its deepest relations. There follow two other elements in +the character, which on either side flow from the central source. The +_holy_ spirit in a man will be a _right_ spirit and a _free_ spirit. +Consider these further thoughts in turn. + +'A right spirit.' You will observe that our translators have given an +alternative rendering in the margin, and as is not seldom the case, it +is a better one than that adopted in the text. 'A constant or firm +spirit' is the Psalmist's meaning. He sees that a spirit which is +conscious of its relation to God, and set free from the perturbations of +sin, will be a spirit firm and settled, established and immovable in its +obedience and its faith. For Him, the root of all steadfastness is in +consecration to God. + +And so this collocation of ideas opens the way for us to important +considerations bearing upon the practical ordering of our natures and of +our lives. For instance, there is no stability and settled persistency +of righteous purpose possible for us, unless we are made strong because +we lay hold on God's strength, and stand firm because we are rooted in +Him. Without that hold-fast, we shall be swept away by storms of +calamity or by gusts of passion. Without that to steady us, our own +boiling lusts and desires will make every fibre of our being quiver and +tremble. Without that armour, there will not be solidity enough in our +character to bear without breaking the steady pressure of the world's +weight, still less the fierce hammering of special temptation. To stand +erect, and in that sense to have a right spirit--one that is upright and +unbent--we must have sure footing in God, and have His energy infused +into our shrinking limbs. If we are to be stable amidst earthquakes and +storms, we must be built on the rock, and build rock-like upon it. Build +thy strength upon God. Let His Holy Spirit be the foundation of thy +life, and then thy tremulous and vagrant soul will be braced and fixed. +The building will become like the foundation, and will grow into 'a +tower of strength that stands four-square to every wind.' Rooted in God, +thou shalt be unmoved by 'the loud winds when they call'; or if still +the tremulous leaves are huddled together before the blast, and the +swaying branches creak and groan, the bole will stand firm and the +gnarled roots will not part from their anchorage, though the storm-giant +drag at them with a hundred hands. The spirit of holiness will be a firm +spirit. + +But there is another phase of connection between these two points of the +ideal character--if my spirit is to be holy and to preserve its +holiness, it must be firm. That is to say, you can only get and keep +purity by resistance. A man who has not learned to say 'No!'--who is not +resolved that he _will_ take God's way in spite of every dog that can +bay or bark at him, in spite of every silvery voice that woos him +aside--will be a weak and a wretched man till he dies. In such a world +as this, with such hearts as ours, weakness _is_ wickedness in the long +run. Whoever lets himself be shaped and guided by anything lower than an +inflexible will, fixed in obedience to God, will in the end be shaped +into a deformity and guided to wreck and ruin. Dreams however rapturous, +contemplations however devout, emotions however deep and sacred, make no +man pure and good without hard effort, and that to a large extent in the +direction of resistance. Righteousness is not a mere negative idea, and +Scripture morality is something much deeper than prohibitions. But there +is no law for us without prohibitions, and no righteousness without +casting out evil that is strong in us, and fighting against evil that is +attractive around us. Therefore we need firmness to guard holiness, to +be the hard shell in which the rich fruit matures. We need a wholesome +obstinacy in the right that will neither be bribed nor coaxed nor +bullied, nor anyhow persuaded out of the road in which we know that we +should walk. 'Add to your faith manly vigour.' Learn that an +indispensable requisite of holiness is prescribed in that command, 'Whom +resist, steadfast in the faith.' And remember that the ground of all +successful resistance and the need for it are alike taught in that +series of petitions, which makes a holy spirit the foundation of a +constant spirit, and a constant spirit the guard of a holy spirit. + +Then consider, for a moment, the third element in the character which +David longs to possess--a _free_ spirit. He who is holy because full of +God's Spirit, and constant in his holiness, will likewise be 'free.' +That is the same word which is in other places translated 'willing'--and +the scope of the Psalmist's desire is, 'Let my spirit be emancipated +from sin by _willing_ obedience.' This goes very deep into the heart of +all true godliness. The only obedience which God accepts is that which +gladly, and almost as by an instinctive inward impulse, harmonises the +human will with the divine. 'Lo! I come: in the volume of the book it is +written of me, I delight to do Thy will, and Thy law is within my +heart.' That is a blessed thought, that we may come to do Him service +not because we must, but because we like; not as serfs, but as sons; not +thinking of His law as a slave-driver that cracks his whip over our +heads, but as a friend that lets us know how we may please Him whom it +is our delight to obey. And so the Psalmist prays, 'Let my obedience be +so willing that I had rather do what Thou wilt than anything besides.' + +'_Then_,' he thinks, 'I shall be free.' Of course--for the correlative +of freedom is lawful authority, and the definition of freedom is willing +submission. If for us duty is joy, and all our soul's desires flow with +an equable motion parallel to the will of God, then there is no sense of +restraint in keeping within the limits beyond which we do not seek to +go. The willing spirit sets us free, free from the 'ancient solitary +reign' of the despot Self, free from the mob rule of passions and +appetites, free from the incubus of evil habits, free from the authority +of men's voices and examples. Obedience is freedom to them that have +learned to love the lips that command. We are set free that we may +serve: 'O Lord! truly I am Thy servant; Thou hast loosed my bonds.' We +are set free in serving: 'I will walk at liberty, for I keep Thy +precepts.' Let a willing, free spirit uphold me. + +II. Observe, too, that desires for holiness should become prayers. + +David does not merely long for certain spiritual excellences; he goes to +God for them. And his reasons for doing so are plain. If you will look +at the former verses of this psalm, you will see that he had found out +two things about his sin, both of which make him sure that he can only +be what he should be by God's help. He had learned what his crimes were +in relation to God, and he had further learned what they indicated about +himself. The teaching of his bitter experience as to the former of these +two matters lies in that saying which some people have thought strange. +'Against _Thee only_ have I sinned.' What! Had he not committed a crime +against human law? had he not harmed Uriah and Bathsheba? were not his +deeds an offence to his whole kingdom? Yes, he knew all that; but he +felt that over and above all that was black in his deed, considered in +its bearing upon men, it was still blacker when it was referred to God; +and a sadder word than 'crime' or 'fault' had to be used about it. I +have done wrong as against my fellows, but worse than that, I have +_sinned_ against God. The notion of _sin_ implies the notion of God. Sin +is wilful transgression of the law of _God_. An atheist can have no +conception of sin. But bring God into human affairs, and men's faults +immediately assume the darker tint, and become men's sins. Therefore the +need of prayer if these evils are to be blotted out. If I had done crime +against man only, I should not need to ask God for pardon or cleansing; +but I have sinned against Him, and done this evil in His sight, +therefore my desires for deliverance address themselves to Him, and my +longings for purity must needs break into the cry of entreaty to that +God with whom are forgiveness and redemption from all iniquity. + +And still further, looking at the one deed, he sees in it something more +than an isolated act. It leads him down to its motive; that motive +carries him to the state of mind in which it could have power; that +state of mind, in which the motive could have power, carries him still +deeper to the bias of his nature as he had received it from his parents. +And thinking of how he had fallen, how upon his terraced palace roof +there the eye had inflamed the heart, and the heart had yielded so +quickly to the temptations of the eye, he finds no profounder +explanation of the disastrous eclipse of goodness than this: 'Behold! I +was shapen in iniquity.' + +Is that a confession or a palliation, do you think? Is he trying to +shuffle off guilt from his own shoulders? By no means, for these words +are the motive for the prayer, 'Purge me, and I shall be clean.' That is +to say, he has learned that isolated acts of sin inhere in a common +root, and that root a disposition inherited from generation to +generation to which evil is familiar and easy, to which good, alas! is +but too alien and unwelcome. None the less is the evil done _his_ deed. +None the less has he to wail in full consciousness of his individual +responsibility: 'Against Thee have _I_ sinned.' But the effect of this +second discovery, that sin has become so intertwisted with his being +that he cannot shake off the venomous beast into the fire and feel no +harm, is the same as that of the former--to drive him to God, who alone +can heal the nature and separate the poison from his blood. + +Dear friends! there are some of you who are wasting your lives in +paroxysms of fierce struggle with the evil that you have partially +discovered in yourselves, alternating with long languor, fits of +collapse and apathy, and who make no solid advance, just because you +will not lay to heart these two convictions--your sin has to do with +God, and your sins come from a sinful nature. Because of the one fact, +you must go to God for pardon; because of the other, you must go to God +for cleansing. There, in your heart, like some black well-head in a +dismal bog, is the source of all the swampy corruption that fills your +life. You cannot stanch it, you cannot drain it, you cannot sweeten it. +Ask Him, who is above your nature and without it, to change it by His +own new life infused into your spirit. He will heal the bitter waters. +He alone can. Sin is against God; sin comes from an evil heart; +therefore, if your longings for that ideal perfectness are ever to be +fulfilled, you must make prayers of them, and cry to Him who hears, +'Create in me a clean heart, O God! take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.' + +III. Finally, observe that prayers for perfect cleansing are permitted +to the lips of the greatest sinners. + +Such longings as these might seem audacious, when the atrocity of the +crime is remembered, and by man's standard they are so. Let the criminal +be thankful for escape, and go hide himself, say men's pardons. But here +is a man, with the evil savour of his debauchery still tainting him, +daring to ask for no mere impunity, but for God's choicest gifts. Think +of his crime, think of its aggravations from God's mercies to him, from +his official position, from his past devotion. Remember that this cruel +voluptuary is the sweet singer of Israel, who had taught men songs of +purer piety and subtler emotion than the ruder harps of older singers +had ever flung from their wires. And this man, so placed, so gifted, set +up on high to be the guiding light of the nation, has plunged into the +filth of these sins, and quenched all his light there. When he comes +back penitent, what will he dare to ask? Everything that God can give to +bless and gladden a soul. He asks for God's Spirit, for His presence, +for the joy of His salvation; to be made once again, as he had been, the +instrument that shall show forth His praise, and teach transgressors +God's ways. Ought he to have had more humble desires? Does this great +boldness show that he is leaping very lightly over his sin? Is he +presumptuous in such prayers? God be thanked--no! But, knowing all his +guilt, and broken and contrite in heart (crushed and ground to powder, +as the words mean), utterly loathing himself, aware of all the darkness +of his deserts, he yet cherishes unconquerable confidence in the pitying +love of God, and believes that in spite of all his sin, he may yet be +pure as the angels of heaven--ay, even holy as God is holy. + +Thank God we have such an example for our heartening! Lay it to heart, +brethren! You cannot believe too much in God's mercy. You cannot expect +too much at His hands. He is 'able to do exceeding abundantly above all +that we ask or think.' No sin is so great but that, coming straight from +it, a repentant sinner may hope and believe that all God's love will be +lavished upon him, and the richest of God's gifts be granted to his +desires. Even if our transgression is aggravated by a previous life of +godliness, and have given the enemies great occasion to blaspheme, as +David's did, yet David's penitence may in our souls lead on to David's +hope, and the answer will not fail us. Let no sin, however dark, however +repeated, drive us to despair of ourselves, because it hides from us our +loving Saviour. Though beaten back again and again by the surge of our +passions and sins, like some poor shipwrecked sailor sucked back with +every retreating wave and tossed about in the angry surf, yet keep your +face towards the beach, where there is safety, and you will struggle +through it all, and though it were but on some floating boards and +broken pieces of the ship, will come safe to land. He will uphold you +with His Spirit, and take away the weight of sin that would sink you, by +His forgiving mercy, and bring you out of all the weltering waste of +waters to the solid shore. + +So whatever thy evil behaviour, come with it all, and cast thyself +before Him, with whom is plenteous redemption. Embrace in one act the +two truths, of thine own sin and of God's infinite mercy in Jesus +Christ. Let not the one blind you to the other; let not the one lead you +to a morbid despondency, which is blind to Christ, nor the other to a +superficial estimate of the deadliness of sin, which is blind to thine +own self. Let the Cross teach thee what sin is, and let the dark +background of thy sin bring into clear prominence the Cross that +bringeth salvation. Know that thou art utterly black and sinful. Believe +that God is eternally, utterly, inconceivably, merciful. Learn both, in +Him who is the Standard by which we can estimate our sin, and the Proof +and Medium of God's mercy. Trust thyself and all thy foulness to Jesus +Christ; and, so doing, look up from whatsoever horrible pit and miry +clay thou mayest have fallen into, with this prayer, 'Create in me a +clean heart, O God! and renew a right spirit within me, take not Thy +Holy Spirit from me, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.' Then the +answer shall come to you from Him who ever puts the best robe upon His +returning prodigals, and gives His highest gifts to sinners who repent. +'From all your filthiness will I cleanse you, a new heart also will I +give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will put My +Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes.' + + + + +FEAR AND FAITH + + + 'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. 4. ... In God I have + put my trust: I will not fear.'--PSALM lvi. 3, 4. + +It is not given to many men to add new words to the vocabulary of +religious emotion. But so far as an examination of the Old Testament +avails, I find that David was the first that ever employed the word that +is here translated, _I will trust_, with a religious meaning. It is +found occasionally in earlier books of the Bible in different +connections, never in regard to man's relations to God, until the +Poet-Psalmist laid his hand upon it, and consecrated it for all +generations to express one of the deepest relations of man to his Father +in heaven. And it is a favourite word of his. I find it occurs +constantly in his psalms; twice as often, or nearly so, in the psalms +attributed to David as in all the rest of the Psalter put together; and +as I shall have occasion to show you in a moment, it is in itself a most +significant and poetic word. + +But, first of all, I ask you to notice how beautifully there comes out +here the _occasion_ of trust. 'What time I am afraid, I will put my +trust in Thee.' + +This psalm is one of those belonging to the Sauline persecution. If we +adopt the allocation in the superscription, it was written at one of the +very lowest points of David's fortunes. And there seem to be one or two +of its phrases which acquire new force, if we regard the psalm as drawn +forth by the perils of his wandering, hunted life. For instance--'Thou +tellest my wanderings,' is no mere expression of the feelings with which +he regarded the changes of this early pilgrimage, but is the confidence +of the fugitive that in the doublings and windings of his flight God's +eye marked him. 'Put thou my tears into Thy _bottle_'--one of the few +indispensable articles which he had to carry with him, the water-skin +which hung beside him, perhaps, as he meditated. So read in the light of +his probable circumstances, how pathetic and eloquent does that saying +become--'What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.' That goes deep +down into the realities of life. It is when we are 'afraid' that we +trust in God; not in easy times, when things are going smoothly with us. +Not when the sun shines, but when the tempest blows and the wind howls +about his ears, a man gathers his cloak round him, and cleaves fast to +his supporter. The midnight sea lies all black; but when it is cut into +by the oar, or divided and churned by the paddle, it flashes up into +phosphorescence, and so it is from the tumults and agitation of man's +spirit that there is struck out the light of man's faith. There is the +bit of flint and the steel that comes hammering against it; and it is +the contact of these two that brings out the spark. The man never knew +confidence who does not know how the occasion that evoked and preceded +it was terror and need. 'What time I am _afraid_, I will trust.' That is +no trust which is only fair weather trust. This principle--first fear, +and only then, faith--applies all round the circle of our necessities, +weaknesses, sorrows, and sins. + +There must, first of all, be the deep sense of need, of exposedness to +danger, of weakness, of sorrow, and only then will there come the +calmness of confidence. A victorious faith will + + 'rise large and slow + From out the fluctuations of our souls, + As from the dim and tumbling sea + Starts the completed moon.' + +And then, if so, notice how there is involved in that the other +consideration, that a man's confidence is not the product of outward +circumstances, but of his own fixed resolves. 'I _will_ put my trust in +Thee.' Nature says, 'Be afraid!' and the recoil from that natural fear, +which comes from a discernment of threatening evil, is only possible by +a strong effort of the will. Foolish confidence opposes to natural fear +a groundless resolve not to be afraid, as if heedlessness were security, +or facts could be altered by resolving not to think about them. True +faith, by a mighty effort of the will, fixes its gaze on the divine +Helper, and there finds it possible and wise to lose its fears. It is +madness to say, 'I will not to be afraid!' it is wisdom and peace to +say, 'I will trust, and not be afraid.' But it is no easy matter to fix +the eye on God when threatening enemies within arm's-length compel our +gaze; and there must be a fixed resolve, not indeed to coerce our +emotions or to ignore our perils, but to set the Lord before us, that we +may not be moved. When war desolates a land, the peasants fly from their +undefended huts to the shelter of the castle on the hilltop, but they +cannot reach the safety of the strong walls without climbing the steep +road. So when calamity darkens round us, or our sense of sin and sorrow +shakes our hearts, we need effort to resolve and to carry into practice +the resolution, 'I flee unto Thee to hide me.' Fear, then, is the +occasion of faith, and faith is fear transformed by the act of our own +will, calling to mind the strength of God, and betaking ourselves +thereto. Therefore, do not wonder if the two things lie in your hearts +together, and do not say, 'I have no faith because I have some fear,' +but rather feel that if there be the least spark of the former it will +turn all the rest into its own bright substance. Here is the stifling +smoke, coming up from some newly-lighted fire of green wood, black and +choking, and solid in its coils; but as the fire burns up, all the +smoke-wreaths will be turned into one flaming spire, full of light and +warmth. Do you turn your smoke into fire, your fear into faith. Do not +be down-hearted if it takes a while to convert the whole of the lower +and baser into the nobler and higher. Faith and fear do blend, thank +God! They are as oil and water in a man's soul, and the oil will float +above, and quiet the waves. 'What time I am afraid'--there speak nature +and the heart; 'I will trust in Thee'--there speaks the better man +within, lifting himself above nature and circumstances, and casting +himself into the extended arms of God, who catches him and keeps him +safe. + +Then, still further, these words, or rather one portion of them, give us +a bright light and a beautiful thought as to the _essence_ and inmost +centre of this faith or trust. Scholars tell us that the word here +translated 'trust' has a graphic, pictorial meaning for its root idea. +It signifies literally to cling to or hold fast anything, expressing +thus both the notion of a good tight grip and of intimate union. Now, is +not that metaphor vivid and full of teaching as well as of impulse? 'I +will trust in Thee.' 'And he exhorted them all, that with purpose of +heart they should _cleave_ unto the Lord.' We may follow out the +metaphor of the word in many illustrations. For instance, here is a +strong prop, and here is the trailing, lithe feebleness of the vine. +Gather up the leaves that are creeping all along the ground, and coil +them around that support, and up they go straight towards the heavens. +Here is a limpet in some pond or other, left by the tide, and it has +relaxed its grasp a little. Touch it with your finger and it grips fast +to the rock, and you will want a hammer before you can dislodge it. +There is a traveller groping along some narrow broken path, where the +chamois would tread cautiously, his guide in front of him. His head +reels, and his limbs tremble, and he is all but over, but he grasps the +strong hand of the man in front of him, or lashes himself to him by the +rope, and he can walk steadily. Or, take that story in the Acts of the +Apostles, about the lame man healed by Peter and John. All his life long +he had been lame, and when at last healing comes, one can fancy with +what a tight grasp 'the lame man held Peter and John.' The timidity and +helplessness of a lifetime made him hold fast, even while, walking and +leaping, he tried how the unaccustomed 'feet and ankle bones' could do +their work. How he would clutch the arms of his two supporters, and feel +himself firm and safe only as long as he grasped them! That is faith, +cleaving to Christ, twining round Him with all the tendrils of our +heart, as the vine does round its pole; holding to Him by His hand, as a +tottering man does by the strong hand that upholds. + +And there is one more application of the metaphor, which perhaps may be +best brought out by referring to a passage of Scripture. We find this +same expression used in that wonderfully dramatic scene in the Book of +Kings, where the supercilious messengers from the king of Assyria came +up and taunted the king and his people on the wall. 'What confidence is +this wherein thou trustest? Now, on whom dost thou trust, that thou +rebellest against me? Now, behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this +bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which, if a man lean, it will go into +his hand and pierce it: so is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, unto all that +trust on him,' The word of our text is employed there, and as the phrase +shows, with a distinct trace of its primary sense. Hezekiah was leaning +upon that poor paper reed on the Nile banks, that has no substance, or +strength, or pith in it. A man leans upon it, and it runs into the palm +of his hand, and makes an ugly festering wound. Such rotten stays are +all our earthly confidences. The act of trust, and the miserable issues +of placing it on man, are excellently described there. The act is the +same when directed to God, but how different the issues. Lean all your +weight on God as on some strong staff, and depend upon it that your +support will never yield nor crack and no splinters will run into your +palms from it. + +If I am to cling with my hand I must first empty my hand. Fancy a man +saying, 'I cannot stand unless you hold me up; but I have to hold my +bank book, and this thing, and that thing, and the other thing; I cannot +put them down, so I have not a hand free to lay hold with, you must do +the holding.' That is what some of us are saying in effect. Now the +prayer, 'Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe,' is a right one; but not +from a man who will not put his possessions out of his hands that he may +lay hold of the God who lays hold of him. + + 'Nothing in my hand I bring.' + +Then, of course, and only then, when we are empty-handed, shall we be +free to grip and lay hold; and only then shall we be able to go on with +the grand words-- + + 'Simply to Thy Cross I cling,' + +as some half-drowned, shipwrecked sailor, flung up on the beach, clasps +a point of rock, and is safe from the power of the waves that beat +around him. + +And then one word more. These two clauses that I have put together give +us not only the occasion of faith in fear, and the essence of faith in +this clinging, but they also give us very beautifully the _victory_ of +faith. You see with what poetic art--if we may use such words about the +breathings of such a soul--he repeats the two main words of the former +verse in the latter, only in inverted order--'What time I am afraid, I +will trust in Thee.' He is possessed by the lower emotion, and resolves +to escape from its sway into the light and liberty of faith. And then +the next words still keep up the contrast of faith and fear, only that +now he is possessed by the more blessed mood, and determines that he +will not fall back into the bondage and darkness of the baser. 'In God I +have put my trust; I will not fear.' He has confidence, and in the +strength of that he resolves that he will not yield to fear. If we put +that thought into a more abstract form it comes to this: that the one +true antagonist and triumphant rival of all fear is faith, and faith +alone. There is no reason why any man should be emancipated from his +fears either about this world or about the next, except in proportion as +he has faith. Nay, rather it is far away more rational to be afraid than +not to be afraid, unless I have this faith in Christ. There are plenty +of reasons for dread in the dark possibilities and not less dark +certainties of life. Disasters, losses, partings, disappointments, +sicknesses, death, may any of them come at any moment, and some of them +will certainly come sooner or later. Temptations lurk around us like +serpents in the grass, they beset us in open ferocity like lions in our +path. Is it not wise to fear unless our faith has hold of that great +promise, 'Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; there shall no evil +befall thee'? But if we have a firm hold of God, then it is wise not to +be afraid, and terror is folly and sin. For trust brings not only +tranquillity, but security, and so takes away fear by taking away +danger. + +That double operation of faith in quieting and in defending is very +strikingly set forth by an Old Testament word, formed from the verb here +employed, which means properly _confidence_, and then in one form comes +to signify both _in security_ and _in safety_, secure as being free from +anxiety, safe as being sheltered from peril. So, for instance, the +people of that secluded little town of Laish, whose peaceful existence +amidst warlike neighbours is described with such singular beauty in the +Book of Judges, are said to 'dwell _careless_, quiet, and _secure_.' The +former phrase is literally 'in trust,' and the latter is 'trusting.' The +idea sought to be conveyed by both seems to be that double one of quiet +freedom from fear and from danger. So again, in Moses' blessing, 'The +beloved of the Lord shall dwell _in safety_ by Him,' we have the same +phrase to express the same twofold benediction of shelter, by dwelling +in God, from all alarm and from all attack: + + 'As far from danger as from fear, + While love, Almighty love is near.' + +This thought of the victory of faith over fear is very forcibly set +forth in a verse from the Book of Proverbs, which in our version runs +'The righteous is bold as a lion.' The word rendered 'is bold' is that +of our text, and would literally be 'trusts,' but obviously the metaphor +requires such a translation as that of the English Bible. The word that +properly describes the act of faith has come to mean the courage which +is the consequence of the act, just as our own word _confidence_ +properly signifies trust, but has come to mean the boldness which is +born of trust. So, then, the true way to become brave is to lean on God. +That, and that alone, delivers from otherwise reasonable fear, and Faith +bears in her one hand the gift of outward safety, and in her other that +of inward peace. + +Peter is sinking in the water; the tempest runs high. He looks upon the +waves, and is ready to fancy that he is going to be swallowed up +immediately. His fear is reasonable if he has only the tempest and +himself to draw his conclusions from. His helplessness and the scowling +storm together strike out a little spark of faith, which the wind cannot +blow out, nor the floods quench. Like our Psalmist here, when Peter is +afraid, he trusts. 'Save, Lord! or I perish.' Immediately the +outstretched hand of his Lord grasps his, and brings him safety, while +the gentle rebuke, 'O thou of little faith! wherefore didst thou doubt?' +infuses courage into his beating heart. The storm runs as high as ever, +and the waves beat about his limbs, and the spray blinds his eyes. If he +leaves his hold for one moment down he will go. But, as long as he +clasps Christ's hand, he is as safe on that heaving floor as if his feet +were on a rock; and as long as he looks in Christ's face and leans upon +His upholding arm, he does _not_ 'see the waves boisterous,' nor tremble +at all as they break around him. His fear and his danger are both gone, +because he holds Christ and is upheld by Him. In this sense, too, as in +many others, 'this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our +faith.' + + + + +A SONG OF DELIVERANCE + + + 'For Thou hast delivered my soul from death: hast Thou not delivered + my feet from falling? that I may walk before God in the light of the + living.'--PSALM lvi. 13 (R.V.). + +According to the ancient Jewish tradition preserved in the +superscription of this psalm, it was written at the lowest ebb of +David's fortunes, 'when the Philistines took him in Gath,' and as you +may remember, he saved himself by adding the fox's hide to the lion's +skin, and by pretending to be an idiot, degraded as well as delivered +himself. Yet immediately after, if we accept the date given by the +superscription, the triumphant confidence and devout hope of this psalm +animated his mind. How unlike the true man was to what he appeared to be +to Achish and his Philistines! It is strange that the inside and the +outside should correspond so badly; but yet, thank God! it is possible. +We note, + +I. The deliverance realised by faith before it is accomplished in fact. + +You will observe that I have made a slight alteration in the translation +of the words. In our Authorised Version they stand thus: 'Thou hast +delivered my soul from death; _wilt_ Thou not deliver my feet from +falling?' as if some prior deliverance was the basis upon which the +Psalmist rested his expectation of that which was still to come. But +there is no authority in the original for that variation of tenses, and +both clauses obviously refer to the same period and the same +deliverance. Therefore we must read: 'Thou hast delivered my soul from +death: _hast_ Thou not delivered,' etc.; the question being equivalent +to a strong affirmation, 'Yea, Thou hast delivered my feet from +falling.' This reference of both clauses to the same period and the same +delivering act, is confirmed by the quotation of these words in a very +much later psalm, the 116th, where we read, with an addition, 'Thou hast +delivered my soul from death, _mine eyes from tears_, and my feet from +falling.' + +So, then, the Psalmist is so sure of the deliverance that is coming that +he sings of it as past. He is still in the very thick of the trouble and +the fight, and yet he says, 'It is as good as over. Thou _hast_ +delivered.' + +How does he come to that confidence? Simply because his future is God; +and whoever has God for his future can turn else uncertain hopes into +certain confidences, and make sure of this, that however Achish and his +giant Philistines of Gath, wielding Goliath's arms, spears like a +weaver's beam, and brazen armour, may compass him about, in the name of +the Lord he will destroy them. They are all as good as dead, though they +are alive and hostile at this moment. In the midst of trouble we can +fling ourselves into the future, or rather draw the future into the +present, and say, 'Thou _hast_ delivered my soul from death.' It is safe +to reckon on to-morrow when we reckon on God. We to-day have the same +reasons for the same confidence; and if we will go the right way about +it, we, too, may bring June's sun into November's fogs, and bask in the +warmth of certain deliverance even when the chill mists of trouble +enfold us. + +But then note, too, here, the substance of this future intervention +which, to the Psalmist's quiet faith, is present:--'My soul from death,' +and after that he says, 'My feet from falling,' which looks very like an +anticlimax and bathos. But yet, just because to deliver the feet from +falling is so much smaller a thing than delivering a life from death, it +comes here to be a climax and something greater. The storm passes over +the man. What then? After the storm has passed, he is not only alive, +but he is standing upright. It has not killed him. No, it has not even +shaken him. His feet are as firm as ever they were, and just because +that is a smaller thing, it is a greater thing for the deliverance to +have accomplished than the other. God does not deliver by halves; He +does not leave the delivered man maimed, or thrown down, though living. + +Remember, too, the expansion of the text in the psalm to which I have +already referred, one of a much later date, which by quoting these words +really comments upon them. The later Psalmist adds a clause. 'Mine eyes +from tears,' and we may follow on in the same direction, and note the +three spheres in which the later poet hymns the delivering hand of God +as spiritualising for us all our deeper Christian experience. 'Thou hast +delivered my soul from death,' in that great redemption by which the Son +has died that we may never know either the intensest bitterness of +physical death, or the true death of which it is the shadow and the +emblem. 'Thou hast delivered mine eyes from tears'; God wipes away tears +here, even before we come to the time when He wipes away all tears from +off all faces, and no eyes are delivered from tears, except eyes that +have looked through tears to God. 'And my feet from falling'--redeeming +grace which saves the soul; comforting grace which lightens sorrow; +upholding grace which keeps us from sins--these are the elements of what +God has done for us all, if our poor feeble trust has rested on Him. + +How did David get to this confidence? Why, he prayed himself into it. If +you will read the psalm, you will see very clearly the process by which +a man comes to that serene, triumphant trust that the battle is won even +whilst it is raging around him. The previous portion of the psalm falls +into two parts, on which I need only make this one remark, that in both +we have first of all an obvious disquieting fact, and then a flash of +victorious confidence. Let me just read a word or two to you. The +Psalmist begins in a very minor key. 'Be merciful unto me, O God! for +man would swallow me up'--that is Achish and his Philistines. 'He +fighting daily oppresseth me; mine enemies daily would swallow me up.' +He reiterates the same thought with the dreary monotony of sorrow, 'for +there be many that fight against me, O Thou most High!' But swiftly his +note changes into 'What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. In God I +will praise His word'; that is to say, His promise of deliverance, 'in +God I have put my trust.' He has climbed to the height, but only for a +moment, for down he drops again, and begins anew the old miserable +complaint. The sorrow is too clinging to be cast off at one struggle. It +has been dammed out for the moment, but the flood rushes too heavily, +and away goes the dam, and back pours the black water. 'Every day they +wrest my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.' And he goes +on longer on his depressing key this second time than he did the first, +but he rises above it once more in the same fashion, and the refrain +with which he had closed the first part of the psalm closes the second. +'In God will I praise His word; in the Lord will I praise His word.' Now +he has won the height and keeps it, and breaks into a paean of victory in +words of the text. + +That is to say, pray yourselves into confidence, and if it does not come +at first, pray again. If the consolation seems to glide away, even +whilst you are laying hold of it, grasp it once more, and close your +fingers more tightly on it. Do not be afraid of going down into the +depths a second time, but be sure that you try to rise out of them at +the same point as before, by grasping the assurance that in God, in His +strength, and by His grace, you will be able to set your seal to the +truth of His great promise. Thus will you rise to this confidence which +calleth things that are not as though they were, and brings the +to-morrow that is sure to dawn with all its brightness and serenity into +the turbulent, tempestuous, and clouded atmosphere of to-day. We shall +one day escape from all that burdens, and tries, and tasks us; and until +then this blessed assurance, the fruit of prayer, is like the food that +the ravens brought to the prophet in the ravine, or the bread and water +that the angel awoke him to partake of when he was faint in the +wilderness. The true answer to David's prayer was the immediate access +of confidence unshaken, though the outward answer was a long time in +coming, and years lay between him and the cessation of his persecutions +and troubles. So we may have brooks by the way, in quiet confidence of +deliverance ere yet the deliverance comes. Then note, + +II. The impulse to service which deliverance brings. + +'That I may walk before God in the light of the living'; that is God's +purpose in all His deliverances, that we may thereby be impelled to +trustful and grateful service. And David makes that purpose into a vow, +for the words might almost as well be translated, 'I _will_ walk before +Him.' Let us see to it that God's purpose is our resolve, and that we do +not lose the good of any of the troubles or discipline through which He +passes us; for the worst of all sorrows is a wasted sorrow. + +'Thou hast delivered my feet that I may walk.' What are feet for? +Walking. Further, notice the precise force of that phrase, 'that I may +walk _before God_.' It is not altogether the same as the cognate one +which is used about Enoch, that 'he walked _with_ God.' That expresses +communion as with a friend; this, the ordering of one's life before His +eye, and in the consciousness of His presence as Judge and as +Taskmaster. So you find the expression used in almost the only other +occasion where it occurs in the Old Testament, where God says to +Abraham, 'Walk before Me, and'--because thou dost order thy life in the +consciousness that I am looking at thee--'be thou perfect.' So, to walk +before God is to live even in all the distracting activities of daily +life, with the clear realisation, and the continued thought burning in +our minds that we are doing them all in His presence. Think of what a +regiment of soldiers on parade does as each file passes in front of the +saluting point where the commanding officer is standing. How each man +dresses up, and they pull themselves together, keeping step, sloping +their rifles rightly. We are not on parade, but about business a great +deal more serious than that. We are doing our fighting with the Captain +looking at us, and that should be a stimulus, a joy and not a terror. +Realise God's eye watching you, and sin, and meanness, and negligence, +and selfishness, and sensuality, and lust, and passion, and all the +other devils that are in you will vanish like ghosts at cockcrow. 'Walk +before Me,' and if you feel that I am beside you, you cannot sin. 'Walk +before Me, and be thou perfect.' Notice, + +III. The region in which that observance of the divine eye is to be +carried on. + +'In the light of the living,' says the Psalmist. That seems to +correspond to the first clause of his hope; just as the previous word +that I have been commenting upon, 'walking before Him,' corresponds to +the second, where he speaks about his feet. 'Thou hast delivered my soul +from death.... I will walk before Thee in the light of the +living'--where Thou dost still permit my delivered soul to be. And the +phrase seems to mean the sunshine of human life contrasted with the +darkness of _Sheol_. + +The expression is varied in the 116th Psalm, which reads 'the land of +the living.' The really living are they who live in Jesus, and the real +light of the living is the sunshine that streams on those who thus live, +because they live in Him who not only pours His light upon their hearts, +but, by pouring it, turns themselves into 'light in the Lord.' We, too, +may have the brightness of His face irradiating our faces and +illuminating our paths, as with the beneficence of a better sunshine. +The Psalmist points us the way thus to walk in light. He vows that, +because his heart is full of the great mercies of his delivering God, he +will order all his active life as under the consciousness of God's eye +upon him, and then it will all be lightened as by a burst of sunshine. +Our brightest light is the radiance from the face of God whom we try to +love and serve, and the Psalmist's confidence is that a life of +observance of His commandments in which gratitude for deliverance is the +impelling motive to continual realisation of His presence, and an +accordant life, will be a bright and sunny career. You will live in the +sunshine if you live before His face, and however wintry the world may +be, it will be like a clear frosty day. There is no frost in the sky, it +does not go above the atmosphere, and high above, in serene and wondrous +blue, is the blaze of the sunshine. Such a life will be a guided life. +There will still remain many occasions for doubt in the region of +belief, and for perplexity as to duty. There will often be need for +patient and earnest thought as to both, and there will be no lack of +calls for strenuous effort of our best faculties in order to apprehend +what our Guide means us to do, and where He would have us go, but +through it all there will be the guiding hand. As the Master, with +perhaps a glance backwards to these words, said, 'He that followeth Me +shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.' If He is +in the light let us walk in the light, and to us it will be purity and +knowledge and joy. + + + + +THE FIXED HEART + + + 'My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give + praise.'--PSALM lvii. 7. + +It is easy to say such things when life goes smoothly with us. But this +Psalmist, whether David or another, says this, and means it, when all +things are dark and frowning around him. The superscription attributes +the words to David himself, fleeing from Saul, and hiding in the cave. +Whether that be so or no, the circumstances under which the Psalmist +sings are obviously those of very great difficulty and oppression. But +he sings himself into confidence and good cheer. In the dark he believes +in the light. There are some flowers that give their perfumes after +sunset and are sweetest when the night dews are falling. The true +religious life is like these. A heart really based upon God, and at rest +in Him, never breathes forth such fragrant and strong perfume as in the +darkness of sorrow. The repetition of 'My heart is fixed' adds emphasis +to the expression of unalterable determination. The fixed heart is +resolved to 'sing and give praise' in spite of everything that might +make sobs and tears choke the song. + +I. Note the fixed heart. + +The Hebrew uses the metaphor of the 'heart' to cover a great deal more +of the inward self than we are accustomed to do. We mainly mean thereby +that in us which loves. But the Old Testament speaks of the 'thoughts +and intents' as well as the 'affections' of the heart. And so to this +Psalmist his 'heart' was not only that in him which loved, but that +which purposed and which thought. When he says 'My heart is fixed' he +does not merely mean that he is conscious of a steadfast love, but also +and rather of a fixed and settled determination, and of an abiding +communion of thought between himself and God. And he not only makes this +declaration as the expression of his experience for the moment, but he +mortgages the future, and in so far as any man dare, he ventures to say +that this temper of entire consecration, of complete communion, of fixed +resolve to cleave to God, which is his present mood, will be his future +whatever may wait his outward life then. The lesson from that resolve is +that our religion, if it is worth anything, must be a continuous and +uniformly acting force throughout our whole lives, and not merely +sporadic and spasmodic, by fits and starts. The lines that a child's +unsteady and untrained hand draws in its copy-book are too good a +picture of the 'crooked, wandering ways in which we live,' in so far as +our religion is concerned. The line should be firm and straight, uniform +in breadth, unvarying in direction, like a sunbeam, homogeneous and +equally tenacious like an iron rod. Unless it be thus strong and +uniform, it will scarcely sustain the weights that it must bear, or +resist the blows that it must encounter. + +For a fixed heart I must have a fixed determination, and not a mere +fluctuating and soon broken intention. I must have a steadfast +affection, and not merely a fluttering love, that, like some butterfly, +lights now on this, now on that, sweet flower, but which has a flight +straight as a carrier pigeon to its cot, which shall bear me direct to +God. And I must have a continuous realisation of my dependence upon God, +and of God's sweet sufficiency, going with me all through the dusty day. +A firm determination, a steadfast love, a constant thought, these at +least are inculcated in the words of my text. 'My heart is fixed, O God! +my heart is fixed.' + +Ah, brethren! how unlike the broken, interrupted, divergent lines that +we draw! Our religious moments are not knit together, and touching one +upon the other, but they are like the pools in the bed of a half dried +up Australian stream--a pond here, and a stretch of white, blistering +pebbles there, and then a little drop of water, and then another reach +of dryness. They should all be knit together by one continuous flow of a +fixed love, desire, and thought. Is our average Christianity fairly +represented by such words as these of my text? Do they not rather make +us burn with shame when we think that a man who lived in the twilight of +God's revelation, and was weighed upon by distresses such as wrung this +psalm out of him, should have poured out this resolve, which we who live +in the sunlight and are flooded with blessings find it hard to echo with +sincerity and truth? Fixed hearts are rare amongst the Christians of +this day. + +II. Notice the manifold hindrances to such a uniformity of our religious +life. + +They are formidable enough, God knows, we all know it, and I do not need +to dwell upon them. There is, for example, the tendency to fluctuation +which besets all our feelings, and especially our religious emotions. +What would happen to a steam-engine if the stoker now piled on coals and +then fell asleep by the furnace door? One moment the boiler would be +ready to burst; at another moment there would be no steam to drive +anything. That is the sort of alternation that goes on amongst hosts of +Christians to-day. Their springtime and summer are followed certainly by +an autumn and a bitter winter. Every moment of elevation has a +corresponding moment of depression. They never catch a glimpse of God +and of His love brighter and more sweet than ordinary without its being +followed by long weariness and depression and darkness. That is the kind +of life that many of you are contented to live as Christian people. + +But is there any necessity for such alternations? Some degree of +fluctuation there will always be. The very exercise of emotion tends to +its extinction. Varying conditions of health and other externals will +affect the buoyancy and clear-sightedness and vivacity of the spiritual +life. Only a barometer that is out of order will always stand at set +fair. The vane which never points but to south is rusty and means +nothing. + +But while there cannot be absolute uniformity, there might and should be +a far nearer approach to an equable temperature of a much higher range +than the readings of most professing Christians give. There is, indeed, +a dismally uniform arctic temperature in many of them. Their hearts are +fixed, truly, but fixed on earth. Their frost is broken by no thaw, +their tepid formalism interrupted by no disturbing enthusiasm. We do not +now speak of these, but of those who have moments of illumination, of +communion, of submission of will, which fade all too soon. To such we +would earnestly say that these moments may be prolonged and made more +continuous. We need not be at the mercy of our own unregulated +feelings. We can control our hearts, and keep them fixed, even if they +should wish to wander. If we would possess the blessing of an +approximately uniform religious life, we must assert the control of +ourselves and use both bridle and spur. A great many religious people +seem to think that 'good times' come and go, and that they can do +nothing to bring or keep or banish them. But that is not so. If the fire +is burning low, there is such a thing on the hearth as a poker, and +coals are at hand. If we feel our faith falling asleep, are we powerless +to rouse it? Cannot we say 'I _will_ trust'? Let us learn that the +variations in our religious emotions are largely subject to our own +control, and may, if we will govern ourselves, be brought far nearer to +uniformity than they ordinarily are. + +Besides the fluctuations due to our own changes of mood, there are also +the distracting influences of even the duties which God lays upon us. It +is hard for a man with the material task of the moment that takes all +his powers, to keep a little corner of his heart clear, and to feel that +God is there. It is difficult in the clatter of the mill or in the +crowds on 'Change, to do our work as for and in remembrance of Christ. +It _is_ difficult; but it is possible. Distractions are made +distractions by our own folly and weakness. There is nothing that it is +our duty to do which an honest attempt to do from the right motive could +not convert into a positive help to getting nearer God. It is for us to +determine whether the tasks of life, and this intrusive external and +material world, shall veil Him from us, or shall reveal Him to us. It is +for us to determine whether we shall make our secular avocation and its +trials, little and great, a means to get nearer to God, or a means to +shut Him out from us, and us from Him. There is nothing but sin +incompatible with the fixed heart, the resolved will, the continual +communion, nothing incompatible though there may be much that makes it +difficult to realise and preserve these. + +And then, of course, the trials and sorrows which strike us all make +this fixed heart hard to keep. It is easy, as I said, to vow, 'I will +sing and give praise,' when flesh is comfortable and prosperity is +spreading its bright sky over our heads. It is harder to say it when +disappointment and bitterness are in the heart, and an empty place there +that aches and will never be filled. It is harder for a man to say it +when, like this Psalmist, his soul is 'amongst lions' and he 'lies +amongst them that are set on fire.' But still, rightly taken, sorrow is +the best ladder to God; and there is no such praise as comes from the +lips that, if they did not praise, must sob, and that praise because +they are beginning to learn that evil, as the world calls it, is the +stepping-stone to the highest good. 'My heart is fixed. I will sing and +give praise' may be the voice of the mourner as well as of the +prosperous and happy. + +III. Lastly, let me say just a word as to the means by which such a +uniform character may be impressed upon our religious experience. + +There is another psalm where this same phrase is employed with a very +important and illuminating addition, in which we read, 'His heart is +fixed, trusting in the Lord.' That is the secret of a fixed +heart--continuous faith rooted and grounded in Him. This fluttering, +changeful, unreliable, emotional nature of mine will be made calm and +steadfast by faith, and duties done in the faith of God will bind me to +Him; and sorrows borne and joys accepted in the faith of God will be +links in the chain that knits Him to me. + +But then the question comes, how to get this continuous faith? Brethren! +I know no answer except the simple one, by continually making efforts +after it, and adopting the means which Christ enjoins to secure it. A +man climbing a hill, though he has to look to his feet when in the +slippery places, and all his energies are expended in hoisting himself +upwards by every projection and crag, will do all the better if he lifts +his eye often to the summit that gleams above him. So we, in our upward +course, shall make the best progress when we consciously and honestly +try to look beyond the things seen and temporal, even whilst we are +working in the midst of them, and to keep clear before us the summit to +which our faith tends. If we lived in the endeavour to realise that +great white throne, and Him that sits upon it, we should find it easier +to say, 'My heart is fixed, O God! my heart is fixed.' + +But be sure of this, there will be no such uniformity of religious +experience throughout our lives unless there be frequent times in them +in which we go into our chambers and shut our doors about us, and hold +communion with our Father in secret. Everything noble and great in the +Christian life is fed by solitude, and everything poor and mean and +hypocritical and low-toned is nourished by continual absence from the +secret place of the Most High. There must be moments of solitary +communion, if there are to be hours of strenuous service and a life of +continual consecration. + +We need not ask ourselves the question whether the realisation of the +ideal of this fixedness in its perfect completeness is possible for us +here on earth or not. You and I are a long way on this side of that +realisation yet, and we need not trouble ourselves about the final +stages until we have got on a stage or two more. + +What would you think of a boy if, when he had just been taught to draw +with a pencil, he said to his master, 'Do you think I shall ever be able +to draw as well as Raphael?' His teacher would say to him, 'Whether you +will or not, you will be able to draw a good deal better than now, if +you try.' We need not trouble ourselves with the questions that disturb +some people until we are very much nearer to perfection than any of us +yet are. At any rate, we can approach indefinitely to that ideal, and +whether it is possible for us in this life ever to have hearts so +continuously fixed as that no attraction shall draw the needle aside one +point from the pole or not, it is possible for us all to have them a +great deal steadier than in that wavering, fluctuating vacillation which +now rules them. + +So let us pray the prayer, 'Unite my heart to fear Thy name,' make the +resolve, 'My heart is fixed,' and listen obediently to the command, 'He +exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the +Lord.' + + + + +WAITING AND SINGING + + + 'Because of his strength will I wait upon Thee: for God is my + defence.... 17. Unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my + defence, and the God of my mercy.'--PSALM lix. 9, 17. + +There is an obvious correspondence between these two verses even as they +stand in our translation, and still more obviously in the Hebrew. You +observe that in the former verse the words 'because of' are a supplement +inserted by our translators, because they did not exactly know what to +make of the bare words as they stood. 'His strength, I will wait upon +Thee,' is, of course, nonsense; but a very slight alteration of a single +letter, which has the sanction of several good authorities, both in +manuscripts and translations, gives an appropriate and beautiful +meaning, and brings the two verses into complete verbal correspondence. +Suppose we read, 'My strength,' instead of 'His strength.' The change is +only making the limb of one letter a little shorter, and as you will +perceive, we thereby get the same expressions in both verses. + +We may then read our two texts thus: 'Upon Thee, O my Strength! I will +wait.... Unto Thee, O my Strength, I will sing!' They are, word for +word, parallel, with the significant difference that the waiting in the +one passes into song, in the other, the silent expectation breaks into +music of praise. And these two words--_wait_ and _sing_--are in the +Hebrew the same in every letter but one, thus strengthening the +impression of likeness as well as emphasising, with poetic art, that of +difference. The parallel, too, obviously extends to the second half of +each verse, where the reason for both the waiting and the praise is the +same--'For God is my defence'--with the further eloquent variation that +the song is built not only on the thought that 'God is my defence,' but +also on this, that He is 'the God of my mercy.' + +These two parallel verses, then, are a kind of refrain, coming in at the +close of each division of the psalm; and if you examine its structure +and general course of thought, you will see that the first stands at the +end of a picture of the Psalmist's trouble and danger, and makes the +transition to the second part, which is mainly a prayer for deliverance, +and finishes with the refrain altered and enlarged, as I have pointed +out. + +The heading of the psalm tells us that its date is the very beginning of +Saul's persecution, when 'they watched the house to kill' David, and he +fled by night from the city. There is a certain correspondence between +the circumstances and some part of the picture of his foes here which +makes the date probable. If so, this is one of David's oldest psalms, +and is interesting as showing his faith and courage, even in the first +burst of danger. But whether that be so or not, we have here, at any +rate, the voice of a devout soul in sore sorrow, and we may well learn +the lesson of its twofold utterance. The man, overwhelmed by calamity, +betakes himself to God. 'Upon Thee, O my Strength! will I wait, for God +is my defence.' Then, by dint of _waiting_, although the outward +circumstances keep just the same, his temper and feelings change. He +began with, 'Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord! for they lie in wait +for my soul.' He passes through 'My Strength! I will wait upon Thee,' +and so ends with 'My Strength! I will sing unto Thee.' We may then throw +our remarks into two groups, and deal for a few moments with these two +points--the waiting on God, and the change of waiting into praise. + +Now, with regard to the first of these--the waiting on God--I must +notice that the expression here, 'I will _wait_,' is a somewhat +remarkable one. It means accurately, 'I will watch Thee,' and it is the +word that is generally employed, not about our looking up to Him, but +about His looking down to us. It would describe the action of a shepherd +guarding his flock; of a sentry keeping a city; of the watchers that +watch for the morning, and the like. By using it, the Psalmist seems as +if he would say--There are two kinds of watching. There is God's +watching over me, and there is my watching for God. I look up to Him +that He may bless; He looks down upon me that He may take care of me. As +He guards me, so I stand expectant before Him, as one in a besieged +town, upon the ramparts there, looks eagerly out across the plain to see +the coming of the long-expected succours. God 'waits to be +gracious'--wonderful words, painting for us His watchfulness of fitting +times and ways to bless us, and His patient attendance on our unwilling, +careless spirits. We may well take a lesson from His attitude in +bestowing, and on our parts, wait on Him to be helped. For these two +things--vigilance and patience--are the main elements in the scriptural +idea of waiting on God. Let me enforce each of them in a word or two. + +There is no waiting on God for help, and there is no help from God, +without watchful expectation on our parts. If ever we fail to receive +strength and defence from Him, it is because we are not on the outlook +for it. Many a proffered succour from heaven goes past us, because we +are not standing on our watch-tower to catch the far-off indications of +its approach, and to fling open the gates of our heart for its entrance. +He who expects no help will get none; he whose expectation does not lead +him to be on the alert for its coming will get but little. How the +beleaguered garrison, that knows a relieving force is on the march, +strain their eyes to catch the first glint of the sunshine on their +spears as they top the pass! But how unlike such tension of watchfulness +is the languid anticipation and fitful look, with more of distrust than +hope in it, which we turn to heaven in our need! No wonder we have so +little living experience that God is our 'strength' and our 'defence,' +when we so partially believe that He is, and so little expect that He +will be either. The homely old proverb says, 'They that watch for +providences will never want a providence to watch for,' and you may turn +it the other way and say, 'They that do _not_ watch for providence will +never _have_ a providence to watch for.' Unless you put out your +water-jars when it rains you will catch no water; if you do not watch +for God coming to help you, God's watching to be gracious will be of no +good at all to you. His waiting is not a substitute for ours, but +because He watches therefore we should watch. We say, we expect Him to +comfort and help us--well, are we standing, as it were, on tiptoe, with +empty hands upraised to bring them a little nearer the gifts we look +for? Are our 'eyes ever towards the Lord'? Do we pore over His gifts, +scrutinising them as eagerly as a gold-seeker does the quartz in his +pan, to detect every shining speck of the precious metal? Do we go to +our work and our daily battle with the confident expectation that He +will surely come when our need is the sorest and scatter our enemies? Is +there any clear outlook kept by us for the help which we know must come, +lest it should pass us unobserved, and like the dove from the ark, +finding no footing in our hearts drowned in a flood of troubles, be fain +to return to the calm refuge from which it came on its vain errand? +Alas, how many gentle messengers of God flutter homeless about our +hearts, unrecognised and unwelcomed, because we have not been watching +for them! Of what avail is it that a strong hand from the beach should +fling the safety-line with true aim to the wreck, if no eye on the deck +is watching for it? It hangs there, useless and unseen, and then it +drops into the sea, and every soul on board is drowned. It is our own +fault--and very largely the fault of our want of watchfulness for the +coming of God's help--if we are ever overwhelmed by the tasks, or +difficulties, or sorrows of life. We wonder that we are left to fight +out the battle ourselves. But are we? Is it not rather, that while God's +succours are hastening to our side we will not open our eyes to see, nor +our hearts to receive them? If we go through the world with our hands +hanging listlessly down instead of lifted to heaven, or full of the +trifles and toys of this present, as so many of us do, what wonder is it +if heavenly gifts of strength do not come into our grasp? + +That attitude of watchful expectation is vividly described for us in the +graphic words of another psalm, 'My soul waiteth for the Lord more than +they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for +the morning.' What a picture that is! Think of a wakeful, sick man, +tossing restless all the night on his tumbled bed, racked with pain made +harder to bear by the darkness. How often his heavy eye is lifted to the +window-pane, to see if the dawn has not yet begun to tint it with a grey +glimmer! How he groans, 'Would God it were morning!' Or think of some +unarmed and solitary man, benighted in the forest, and hearing the wild +beasts growl and scream and bark all round, while his fire dies down, +and he knows that his life depends on the morning breaking soon. With +yet more eager expectation are we to look for God, whose coming is a +better morning for our sick and defenceless spirits. If we are not so +looking for His help, we need never be surprised that we do not get it. +There is no promise and no probability that it will come to men in their +sleep, who neither desire it nor wait for it. And such vigilant +expectation will be accompanied with patience. There is no impatience in +it, but the very opposite. 'If we hope for that we see not, then do we +with patience wait for it.' If we know that He will surely come, then if +He tarry we can wait for Him. The measure of our confidence is ever the +measure of our patience. Being sure that He is always 'in the midst of' +Zion, we may be sure that at the right time He will flame out into +delivering might, helping her, and that right early. So waiting means +watchfulness and patience, both of which have their roots in trust. + +Further, we have here set forth not only the nature, but also the object +of this waiting. 'Upon Thee, O _my Strength_! will I wait, for God is +_my Defence_.' + +The object to which faith is directed, and the ground on which it is +based, are both set forth in these two names here applied to God. The +name of the Lord is Strength, therefore I wait on Him in the confident +expectation of receiving of His power. The Lord is 'my Defence,' +therefore I wait on Him in the confident expectation of safety. The one +name has respect to our condition of feebleness and inadequacy for our +tasks, and points to God as infusing strength into us. The other points +to our exposedness to danger and to enemies, and points to God as +casting His shelter around us. The word translated 'defence' is +literally 'a high fortress,' and is the same as closes the rapturous +accumulation of the names of his delivering God, which the Psalmist +gives us when he vows to love Jehovah, who has been his Rock, and +Fortress, and Deliverer; his God in whom he will trust, his Buckler, and +the Horn of his salvation, and his _High Tower_. The first name speaks +of God dwelling in us, and His strength made perfect in our weakness; +the second speaks of our dwelling in God, and our defencelessness +sheltered in Him. 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous +runneth into it, and is safe.' As some outnumbered army, unable to make +head against its enemies in the open, flees to the shelter of some hill +fortress, perched upon a crag, and taking up the drawbridge, cannot be +reached by anything that has not wings, so this man, hard pressed by his +foes, flees into God to hide him, and feels secure behind these strong +walls. + +That is the God on whom we wait. The recognition of His character as +thus mighty and ready to help is the only thing that will evoke our +expectant confidence, and His character thus discerned is the only +object which our confidence can grasp aright. Trust Him as what He is, +and trust Him because of what He is, and see to it that your faith lays +hold on the living God Himself, and on nothing beside. + +But waiting on God is not only the recognition of His character as +revealed, but it involves, too, the act of laying hold on all the power +and blessing of that character for myself. '_My_ strength, _my_ +defence,' says the Psalmist. Think of what He is, and believe that He is +that for _you_, else there is no true waiting on Him. Make God thy very +own by claiming thine own portion in His might, by betaking thyself to +that strong habitation. We cannot wait on God in crowds, but one by one, +must say, '_My_ strength and _my_ defence.' + +And now turn to the second verse of our two texts: 'Unto Thee, O my +Strength! will I sing, for God is my defence and the God of my mercy.' + +Here we catch, as it were, waiting expectation and watchfulness in the +very act of passing over into possession and praise. For remember the +aspect of things has not changed a bit between the first verse of our +text and the last. The enemies are all round about David just as they +were, 'making a noise like a dog,' as he says, and 'going round about +the city.' The evil that was threatening him and making him sad remains +entirely unlightened. What has altered? He has altered. And how has he +altered? Because his waiting on God has begun to work an inward change, +and he has climbed, as it were, out of the depths of his sorrow up into +the sunlight. And so it ever is, my friends! There is deliverance in +spirit before there is deliverance in outward fact. If our patient +waiting bring, as it certainly will bring, at the right time, an answer +in the removal of danger, and the lightening of sorrow, it will bring +first the better answer, 'the peace of God, which passeth all +understanding,' to keep your hearts and minds. That is the highest +blessing we have to seek for in our waiting on God, and that is the +blessing which we get as soon as we wait on Him. The outward deliverance +may tarry, but ever there come before it, as heralds of its approach, +the sense of a lightened burden and the calmness of a strengthened +heart. It may be long before the morning breaks, but even while the +darkness lasts, a faint air begins to stir among the sleeping leaves, +the promise of the dawn, and the first notes of half-awakened birds +prelude the full chorus that will hail the sunrise. + +It is beautiful, I think, to see how in the compass of this one little +psalm the singer has, as it were, wrought himself clear, and sung +himself out of his fears. The stream of his thought, like some mountain +torrent, turbid at first, has run itself bright and sparkling. How all +the tremor and agitation have gone away, just because he has kept his +mind for a few minutes in the presence of the calm thought of God and +His love. The first courses of his psalm, like those of some great +building, are laid deep down in the darkness, but the shining summit is +away up there in the sunlight, and God's glittering glory is sparklingly +reflected from the highest point. Whoever begins with, 'Deliver me--I +will wait upon Thee,' will pass very quickly, even before the outward +deliverance comes, into--'O my Strength! unto Thee will I sing!' Every +song of true trust, though it may begin with a minor, will end in a +burst of jubilant gladness. No prayer ought ever to deal with +complaints, as we know, without starting with thanksgiving, and, blessed +be God, no prayer need to deal with complaints without ending with +thanksgiving. So, all our cries of sorrow, and all our acknowledgments +of weakness and need, and all our plaintive beseechings, should be +inlaid, as it were, between two layers of brighter and gladder thought, +like dull rock between two veins of gold. The prayer that begins with +thankfulness, and passes on into waiting, even while in sorrow and sore +need, will always end in thankfulness, and triumph, and praise. + +If we regard this second verse of our text as the expression of the +Psalmist's emotion at the moment of its utterance, then we see in it a +beautiful illustration of the effect of faithful waiting to turn +complaining into praise. If we regard it rather as an expression of his +confidence, that 'I shall yet praise Him for the help of His +countenance,' we see in it an illustration of the power of patient +waiting to brighten the sure hope of deliverance, and to bring summer +into the heart of winter. As resolve, or as prophecy, it is equally a +witness of the large reward of quiet waiting for the salvation of the +Lord. + +In either application of the words their almost precise correspondence +with those of the previous verse is far more than a mere poetic +ornament, or part of the artistic form of the psalm. It teaches us this +happy lesson--that the song of accomplished deliverance, whether on +earth, or in the final joy of heaven, will be but a sweeter, fuller +repetition of the cry that went up in trouble from our waiting hearts. +The object to which we shall turn with our thankfulness is He to whom we +betook ourselves with our prayers. There will be the same turning of the +soul to Him; only instead of wistful waiting in the longing look, joy +will light her lamps in our eyes, and thankfulness beam in our faces as +we turn to His light. We shall look to Him as of old, and name Him what +we used to name Him when we were in weakness and warfare,--our +'Strength' and our 'Defence.' But how different the feelings with which +the delivered soul calls Him so, from those with which the sorrowful +heart tried to grasp the comfort of the names. Then their reality was a +matter of faith, often hard to hold fast. Now it is a matter of memory +and experience. 'I called Thee my strength when I was full of weakness; +I tried to believe Thou wast my defence when I was full of fear; I +thought of Thee as my fortress when I was ringed about with foes; I know +Thee now for that which I then trusted that Thou wast. As I waited upon +Thee that Thou mightest be gracious, I praise Thee now that Thou hast +been more gracious than my hopes.' Blessed are they whose loftiest +expectations were less than their grateful memories and their rich +experience, and who can take up in their song of praise the names by +which they called on God, and feel that they knew not half their depth, +their sweetness, or their power! + +But the praise is not merely the waiting transformed. Experience has not +only deepened the conception of the meaning of God's name; it has added +a new name. The cry of the suppliant was to God, his strength and +defence; the song of the saved is to the God who is also the God of his +mercy. The experiences of life have brought out more fully the love and +tender pity of God. While the troubles lasted it was hard to believe +that God was strong enough to brace us against them, and to keep us safe +in them; it was harder still to think of them as coming from Him at all; +it was hardest to feel that they came from His love. But when they are +past, and their meaning is plainer, and we possess their results in the +weight of glory which they have wrought out for us, we shall be able to +look back on them all as the mercies of the God of our mercy, even as +when a man looks down from the mountain-top upon the mists and the +clouds through which he passed, and sees them all smitten by the +sunshine that gleams upon them from above. That which was thick and damp +as he was struggling through it, is irradiated into rosy beauty; the +retrospective and downward glance confirms and surpasses all that faith +dimly discerned, and found it hard to believe. Whilst we are fighting +here, brethren! let us say, 'I will wait for Thee,' and then yonder we +shall, with deeper knowledge of the love that was in all our sorrows, +sing unto Him who was our strength in earth's weakness, our defence in +earth's dangers, and is for ever more the 'God of our mercy,' amidst the +large and undeserved favours of heaven. + + + + +SILENCE TO GOD + + + 'Truly my soul waiteth upon God.... 5. My soul, wait thou only upon + God.' + PSALM lxii. 1, 5. + +We have here two corresponding clauses, each beginning a section of the +psalm. They resemble each other even more closely than appears from the +English version, for the 'truly' of the first, and the 'only' of the +second clause, are the same word; and in each case it stands in the same +place, namely, at the beginning. So, word for word, the two answer to +each other. The difference is, that the one expresses the Psalmist's +patient stillness of submission, and the other is his self-encouragement +to that very attitude and disposition which he has just professed to be +his. In the one he speaks of, in the other to, his soul. He stirs +himself up to renew and continue the faith and resignation which he has, +and so he sets before us both the temper which we should have, and the +effort which we should make to prolong and deepen it, if it be ours. Let +us look at these two points then--the expression of waiting, and the +self-exhortation to waiting. + +'Truly my soul waiteth upon God.' It is difficult to say whether the +opening word is better rendered 'truly,' as here, or 'only,' as in the +other clause. Either meaning is allowable and appropriate. If, with our +version, we adopt the former, we may compare with this text the opening +of another psalm (lxxiii.), 'Truly God is good to Israel,' and there, as +here, we may see in that vehement affirmation a trace of the struggle +through which it had been won. The Psalmist bursts into song with a +word, which tells us plainly enough how much had to be quieted in him +before he came to that quiet waiting, just as in the other psalm he +pours out first the glad, firm certainty which he had reached, and then +recounts the weary seas of doubt and bewilderment through which he had +waded to reach it. That one word is the record of conflict and the +trophy of victory, the sign of the blessed effect of effort and struggle +in a truth more firmly held, and in a submission more perfectly +practised. It is as if he had said, 'Yes! in spite of all its +waywardness and fears, and self-willed struggles, my soul waits upon +God. I have overcome these, and now there is peace within.' + +It is to be further observed that literally the words run, 'My soul is +silence unto God.' That forcible form of expression describes the +completeness of the Psalmist's unmurmuring submission and quiet faith. +His whole being is one great stillness, broken by no clamorous passions, +by no loud-voiced desires, by no remonstrating reluctance. There is a +similar phrase in another psalm (cix. 4), which may help to illustrate +this: 'For my love they are my adversaries, but I am prayer'--his soul +is all one supplication. The enemies' wrath awakens no flush of passion +on his cheek, or ripple of vengeance in his heart. He meets it all with +prayer. Wrapped in devotion and heedless of their rage, he is like +Stephen, when he kneeled down among his yelling murderers, and cried +with a loud voice, 'Lord! lay not this sin to their charge.' So here we +have the strongest expression of the perfect consent of the whole inward +nature in submission and quietness of confidence before God. + +That silence is first a silence of the will. The plain meaning of this +phrase is resignation; and resignation is just a silent will. Before the +throne of the Great King, His servants are to stand like those long rows +of attendants we see on the walls of Eastern temples, silent, with +folded arms, straining their ears to hear, and bracing their muscles to +execute his whispered commands, or even his gesture and his glance. A +man's will should be an echo, not a voice; the echo of God, not the +voice of self. It should be silent, as some sweet instrument is silent +till the owner's hand touches the keys. Like the boy-prophet in the hush +of the sanctuary, below the quivering light of the dying lamps, we +should wait till the awful voice calls, and then answer, 'Speak, Lord! +for Thy servant heareth.' Do not let the loud utterances of your own +wills anticipate, nor drown, the still, small voice in which God speaks. +Bridle impatience till He does. If you cannot hear His whisper, wait +till you do. Take care of running before you are sent. Keep your wills +in equipoise till God's hand gives the impulse and direction. + +Such a silent will is a strong will. It is no feeble passiveness, no +dead indifference, no impossible abnegation that God requires, when He +requires us to put our wills in accord with His. They are not slain, but +vivified, by such surrender; and the true secret of strength lies in +submission. The secret of blessedness is there, too, for our sorrows +come because there is discord between our circumstances and our wills, +and the measure in which these are in harmony with God is the measure in +which we shall feel that all things are blessings to be received with +thanksgiving. But if we will take our own way, and let our own wills +speak before God speaks, or otherwise than God speaks, nothing can come +of that but what always has come of it--blunders, sins, misery, and +manifold ruin. + +We must keep our _hearts_ silent too. The sweet voices of pleading +affections, the loud cry of desires and instincts that roar for their +food like beasts of prey, the querulous complaints of disappointed +hopes, the groans and sobs of black-robed sorrows, the loud hubbub and +Babel, like the noise of a great city, that every man carries within, +must be stifled and coerced into silence. We have to take the animal in +us by the throat, and sternly say, 'Lie down there and be quiet.' We +have to silence tastes and inclinations. We have to stop our ears to the +noises around, however sweet the songs, and to close many an avenue +through which the world's music might steal in. He cannot say, 'My soul +is silent unto God,' whose whole being is buzzing with vanities and +noisy with the din of the market-place. Unless we have something, at +least, of that great stillness, our hearts will have no peace, and our +religion no reality. + +There must be the silence of the _mind_, as well as of the heart and +will. We must not have our thoughts ever occupied with other things, but +must cultivate the habit of detaching them from earth, and keeping our +minds still before God, that He may pour His light into them. Surely if +ever any generation needed the preaching--'Be still and let God +speak'--we need it. Even religious men are so busy with spreading or +defending Christianity, that they have little time, and many of them +less inclination, for quiet meditation and still communion with God. +Newspapers, and books, and practical philanthropy, and Christian effort, +and business, and amusement, so crowd into our lives now, that it needs +some resolution and some planning to get a clear space where we can be +quiet, and look at God. + +But the old law for a noble and devout life is not altered by reason of +any new circumstances. It still remains true that a mind silently +waiting before God is the condition without which such a life is +impossible. As the flowers follow the sun, and silently hold up their +petals to be tinted and enlarged by his shining, so must we, if we would +know the joy of God, hold our souls, wills, hearts, and minds still +before Him, whose voice commands, whose love warms, whose truth makes +fair, our whole being. God speaks for the most part in such silence +only. If the soul be full of tumult and jangling noises, His voice is +little likely to be heard. As in some kinds of deafness, a perpetual +noise in the head prevents hearing any other sounds, the rush of our own +fevered blood, and the throbbing of our own nerves, hinder our catching +His tones. It is the calm lake which mirrors the sun, the least catspaw +wrinkling the surface wipes out all the reflected glories of the +heavens. If we would mirror God our souls must be calm. If we would hear +God our souls must be silence. + +Alas, how far from this is our daily life! Who among us dare to take +these words as the expression of our own experience? Is not the troubled +sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt, a truer +emblem of our restless, labouring souls than the calm lake? Put your own +selves by the side of this Psalmist, and honestly measure the contrast. +It is like the difference between some crowded market-place all full of +noisy traffickers, ringing with shouts, blazing in sunshine, and the +interior of the quiet cathedral that looks down on it all, where are +coolness and subdued light, and silence and solitude. 'Come, My people! +enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee.' 'Commune +with your own heart and be still.' 'In quietness and confidence shall be +your strength.' + +This man's profession of utter resignation is perhaps too high for us; +but we can make his _self-exhortation_ our own. 'My soul! wait thou only +upon God.' Perfect as he ventures to declare his silence towards God, he +yet feels that he has to stir himself up to the effort which is needed +to preserve it in its purity. Just because he can say, 'My soul waits,' +therefore he bids his soul wait. + +I need not dwell upon that self-stimulating as involving the great +mystery of our personality, whereby a man exalts himself above himself, +and controls, and guides, and speaks to his soul. But a few words may be +given to that thought illustrated here, of the necessity for conscious +effort and self-encouragement, in order to the preservation of the +highest religious emotion. + +We are sometimes apt to forget that no holy thoughts or feelings are in +their own nature permanent, and the illusion that they are so, often +tends to accelerate their fading. It is no wonder if we in our selectest +hours of 'high communion with the living God' should feel as if that +lofty experience would last by virtue of its own sweetness, and need no +effort of ours to retain it. But it is not so. All emotion tends to +exhaustion, as surely as a pendulum to rest, or as an Eastern torrent to +dry up. All our flames burn to their extinction. There is but one fire +that blazes and is not consumed. Action is the destruction of tissue. +Life reaches its term in death. Joy and sorrow, and hope and fear, +cannot be continuous. They must needs wear themselves out and fade into +a grey uniformity like mountain summits when the sun has left them. + +Our religious experience too will have its tides, and even those high +and pure emotions and dispositions that bind us to God can only be +preserved by continual effort. Their existence is no guarantee of their +permanence, rather is it a guarantee of their transitoriness, unless we +earnestly stir up ourselves to their renewal. Like the emotions kindled +by lower objects, they perish while they glow, and there must be a +continual recurrence to the one Source of light and heat if the +brilliancy is to be preserved. + +Nor is it only from within that their continuance is menaced. Outward +forces are sure to tell upon them The constant wash of the sea of life +undermines the cliffs and wastes the coasts. The tear and wear of +external occupations is ever acting upon our religious life. Travellers +tell us that the constant friction of the sand on Egyptian hieroglyphs +removes every trace of colour, and even effaces the deep-cut characters +from basalt rocks. So the unceasing attrition of multitudinous trifles +will take all the bloom off your religion, and efface the name of the +King cut on the tables of your hearts, if you do not counteract them by +constant earnest effort. Our devotion, our faith, our love are only +preserved by being constantly renewed. + +That vigorous effort is expressed here by the very form of the phrase. +The same word which began the first clause begins the second also. As in +the former it represented for us, with an emphatic 'Truly,' the struggle +through which the Psalmist had reached the height of his blessed +experience, so here it represents in like manner the earnestness of the +self-exhortation which he addresses to himself. He calls forth all his +powers to the conflict, which is needed even by the man who has attained +to that height of communion, if he would remain where he has climbed. +And for us, brethren! who shrink from taking these former words upon our +lips, how much greater the need to use our most strenuous efforts to +quiet our souls. If the summit reached can only be held by earnest +endeavour, how much more is needed to struggle up to it from the valleys +below! + +The silence of the soul before God is no mere passiveness. It requires +the intensest energy of all our being to keep all our being still and +waiting upon Him. So put all your strength into the task, and be sure +that your soul is never so intensely alive as when in deepest abnegation +it waits hushed before God. + +Trust no past emotions. Do not wonder if they should fade even when they +are brightest. Do not let their evanescence tempt you to doubt their +reality. But always when our hearts are fullest of His love, and our +spirits stilled with the sweetest sense of His solemn presence, stir +yourselves up to keep firm hold of the else passing gleam, and in your +consciousness let these two words live in perpetual alternation: 'Truly +my soul waiteth upon God. My soul! wait thou only upon God.' + + + + +THIRST AND SATISFACTION + + + 'My soul thirsteth for Thee.... 5. My soul shall be satisfied.... 8. + My soul followeth hard after Thee.'--PSALM lxiii. 1, 5, 8. + +It is a wise advice which bids us regard rather what is said than who +says it, and there are few regions in which the counsel is more salutary +than at present in the study of the Old Testament, and especially the +Psalms. This authorship has become a burning question which is only too +apt to shut out far more important things. Whoever poured out this sweet +meditation in the psalm before us, his tender longings for, and his +jubilant possession of, God remain the same. It is either the work of a +king in exile, or is written by some one who tries to cast himself into +the mental attitude of such a person, and to reproduce his longing and +his trust. It may be a question of literary interest, but it is of no +sort of spiritual or religious importance whether the author is David or +a singer of later date endeavouring to reproduce his emotions under +certain circumstances. + +The three clauses which I have read, and which are so strikingly +identical in form, constitute the three pivots on which the psalm +revolves, the three bends in the stream of its thought and emotion. 'My +soul thirsts; my soul is satisfied; my soul follows hard after Thee.' +The three phases of emotion follow one another so swiftly that they are +all wrapped up in the brief compass of this little song. Unless they in +some degree express our experiences and emotions, there is little +likelihood that our lives will be blessed or noble, and we have little +right to call ourselves Christians. Let us follow the windings of the +stream, and ask ourselves if we can see our own faces in its shining +surface. + +I. The soul that knows its own needs will thirst after God. + +The Psalmist draws the picture of himself as a thirsty man in a +waterless land. That may be a literally true reproduction of his +condition, if indeed the old idea is correct, that this is a work of +David's; for there is no more appalling desert than that in which he +wandered as an exile. It is a land of arid mountains without a blade of +verdure, blazing in their ghastly whiteness under the fierce sunshine, +and with gaunt ravines in which there are no pools or streams, and +therefore no sweet sound of running waters, no shadow, no songs of +birds, but all is hot, dusty, glaring, pitiless; and men and beasts +faint, and loll out their tongues, and die for want of water. And, says +the Psalmist, such is life, if due regard be had to the deepest wants of +a soul, notwithstanding all the abundant supplies which are spread in +such rich and loving luxuriance around us--we are thirsty men in a +waterless land. I need not remind you how true it is that a man is but a +bundle of appetites, desires, often tyrannous, often painful, always +active. But the misery of it is--the reason why man's misery is great +upon him is--mainly, I suppose, that he does not know what it is that he +wants; that he thirsts, but does not understand what the thirst means, +nor what it is that will slake it. His animal appetites make no +mistakes; he and the beasts know that when they are thirsty they have to +drink, and when they are hungry they have to eat, and when they are +drowsy they have to sleep. But the poor instinct of the animal that +teaches it what to choose and what to avoid fails us in the higher +reaches; and we are conscious of a craving, and do not find that the +craving reveals to us the source from whence its satisfaction can be +derived. Therefore 'broken cisterns that can hold no water' are at a +premium, and 'the fountain of living waters' is turned away from, though +it could slake so many thirsts. Like ignorant explorers in an enemy's +country, we see a stream, and we do not stop to ask whether there is +poison in it or not before we glue our thirsty lips to it. There is a +great old promise in one of the prophets which puts this notion of the +misinterpretation of our thirsts, and the mistakes as to the sources +from which they can be slaked, into one beautiful metaphor which is +obscured in our English version. The prophet Isaiah says, according to +our reading, 'the parched land shall become a pool.' The word which he +uses is that almost technical one which describes the phenomenon known +only in Eastern lands, or at least known in them only in its superlative +degree; the mirage, where the dancing currents of ascending air simulate +the likeness of a cool lake, with palm-trees around it. And, says he, +'the mirage shall become a pool,' the romance shall turn into a reality, +the mistakes shall be rectified, and men shall know what it is that they +want, and shall get it when they know. Brethren! unless we have listened +to the teaching from above, unless we have consulted far more wisely and +far more profoundly than many of us have ever done the meaning of our +own hearts when they cry out, we too shall only be able to take for ours +the plaintive cry of the half of this first utterance of the Psalmist, +and say despairingly, 'My soul thirsteth.' Blessed are they who know +where the fountain is, who know the meaning of the highest unrests in +their own souls, and can go on to say with clear and true +self-revelation, 'My soul thirsteth for God!' + +That is religion. There is a great deal more in Christianity than +longing, but there is no Christianity worth the name without it. There +is moral stimulus to activity, a pattern for conduct, and so on, in our +religion, and if our religion is only this longing--well then, it is +worth very little; and I fancy it is worth a good deal less if there is +none of this felt need for God, and for more of God, in us. + +And so I come to two classes of my hearers; and to the first of them I +say, Dear friends! do not mistake what it is that you 'need,' and see to +it that you turn the current of your longings from earth to God; and to +the second of them I say, Dear friends! if you have found out that God +is your supreme good, see to it that you live in the good, see to it +that you live in the constant attitude of longing for more of that good +which alone will slake your appetite. + + 'The thirst that from the soul doth rise + Doth ask a drink divine,' + +and unless we know what it is to be drawn outwards and upwards, in +strong aspirations after something--'afar from the sphere of our +sorrow,' I know not why we should call ourselves Christians at all. + +But, dear friends! let us not forget that these higher aspirations after +the uncreated and personal good which is God have to be cultivated very +sedulously and with great persistence, throughout all our changing +lives, or they will soon die out, and leave us. There has to be the +clear recognition, habitual to us, of what is our good. There has to be +a continual meditation, if I may so say, upon the all-sufficiency of +that divine Lord and Lover of our souls, and there has to be a vigilant +and a continual suppression, and often excision and ejection, of other +desires after transient and partial satisfactions. A man who lets all +his longings go unchecked and untamed after earthly good has none left +towards heaven. If you break up a river into a multitude of channels, +and lead off much of it to irrigate many little gardens, there will be +no force in its current, its bed will become dry, and it will never +reach the great ocean where it loses its individuality and becomes part +of a mightier whole. So, if we fritter away and divide up our desires +among all the clamant and partial blessings of earth, then we shall but +feebly long, and feebly longing, shall but faintly enjoy, the cool, +clear, exhaustless gush from the fountain of life--'My soul thirsteth +for God!'--in the measure in which that is true of us, and not one +hairsbreadth beyond it, in spite of orthodoxy, and professions, and +activities, are we Christian people. + +II. The soul that thirsts after God is satisfied. + +The Psalmist, by the magic might of his desire, changes, as in a sudden +transformation scene in a theatre, all the dreariness about him. One +moment it is a 'dry and barren land where no water is'; the next moment +a flash of verdure has come over the yellow sand, and the ghastly +silence is broken by the song of merry birds. The one moment he is +hungering there in the desert; the next, he sees spread before him a +table in the wilderness, and his soul is 'satisfied as with marrow and +with fatness,' and his mouth praises God, whom he possesses, who has +come unto him swift, immediate, in full response to his cry. Now, all +that is but a picturesque way of putting a very plain truth, which we +should all be the happier and better if we believed and lived by, that +we can have as much of God as we desire, and that what we have of Him +will be enough. + +We can have as much of God as we desire. There is a quest which finds +its object with absolute certainty, and which finds its object +simultaneously with the quest. And these two things, the certainty and +the immediateness with which the thirst of the soul after God passes +into a satisfied fruition of the soul in God, are what are taught us +here in our text; and what you and I, if we comply with the conditions, +may have as our own blessed experience. There is one search about which +it is true that it never fails to find. The certainty that the soul +thirsting after God shall be satisfied with God results at once from His +nearness to us, and His infinite willingness to give Himself, which He +is only prevented from carrying into act by our obstinate refusal to +open our hearts by desire. It takes all a man's indifference to keep God +out of his heart, 'for in Him we live, and move, and have our being,' +and that divine love, which Christianity teaches us to see on the throne +of the universe, is but infinite longing for self-communication. That is +the definition of true love always, and they fearfully mistake its +essence, and take the lower and spurious forms of it for the higher and +nobler, who think of love as being what, alas! it often is, in our +imperfect lives, a fierce desire to have for our very own the thing or +person beloved. But that is a second-rate kind of love. God's love is an +infinite desire to give Himself. If only we open our hearts--and nothing +opens them so wide as longing--He will pour in, as surely as the +atmosphere streams in through every chink and cranny, as surely as if +some great black rock that stands on the margin of the sea is blasted +away, the waters will flood over the sands behind it. So unless we keep +God out, by not wishing Him in, in He will come. + +The certitude that we possess Him when we desire Him is as absolute. As +swift as Marconi's wireless message across the Atlantic and its answer; +so immediate is the response from Heaven to the desire from earth. What +a contrast that is to all our experiences! Is there anything else about +which we can say 'I am quite sure that if I want it I shall have it. I +am quite sure that when I want it I have it'? Nothing! There may be +wells to which a man has to go, as the Bedouin in the desert has to go, +with empty water-skins, many a day's journey, and it comes to be a fight +between the physical endurance of the man and the weary distance between +him and the spring. Many a man's bones, and many a camel's, lie on the +track to the wells, who lay down gasping and black-lipped, and died +before they reached them. We all know what it is to have longing desires +which have cost us many an effort, and efforts and desires have both +been in vain. Is it not blessed to be sure that there is One whom to +long for is immediately to possess? + +Then there is the other thought here, too, that when we have God we have +enough. That is not true about anything else. God forbid that one should +depreciate the wise adaptation of earthly goods to human needs which +runs all through every life! but all that recognised, still we come back +to this, that there is nothing here, nothing except God Himself, that +will fill all the corners of a human heart. There is always something +lacking in all other satisfactions. They address themselves to sides, +and angles, and facets of our complex nature; they leave all the others +unsatisfied. The table that is spread in the world, at which, if I might +use so violent a figure, our various longings and capacities seat +themselves as guests, always fails to provide for some of them, and +whilst some, and those especially of the lower type, are feasting full, +there sits by their side another guest, who finds nothing on the table +to satisfy his hunger. But if my soul thirsts for God, my soul will be +satisfied when I get Him. The prophet Isaiah modifies this figure in the +great word of invitation which pealed out from him, where he says, 'Ho! +everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.' But that figure is not +enough for him, that metaphor, blessed as it is, does not exhaust the +facts; and so he goes on, 'yea, come, buy wine'--and that is not enough +for him, that does not exhaust the facts, therefore he adds, 'and milk.' +Water, wine, and milk; all forms of the draughts that slake the thirsts +of humanity, are found in God Himself, and he who has Him needs seek +nowhere besides. + +Lastly-- + +III. The soul that is satisfied with God immediately renews its quest. + +'My soul followeth hard after Thee.' The two things come together, +longing and fruition, as I have said. Fruition begets longing, and there +is swift and blessed alternation, or rather co-existence of the two. +Joyful consciousness of possession and eager anticipation of larger +bestowments are blended still more closely, if we adhere to the original +meaning of the words of this last clause, than they are in our +translation, for the psalm really reads, 'My soul cleaveth after Thee.' +In the one word 'cleaveth,' is expressed adhesion, like that of the +limpet to the rock, conscious union, blessed possession; and in the +other word 'after Thee' is expressed the pressing onwards for more and +yet more. But now contrast that with the issue of all other methods of +satisfying human appetites, be they lower or be they higher. They result +either in satiety or in a tyrannical, diseased appetite which increases +faster than the power of satisfying it increases. The man who follows +after other good than God, has at the end to say, 'I am sick, tired of +it, and it has lost all power to draw me,' or he has to say, 'I +ravenously long for more of it, and I cannot get any more.' 'He that +loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth +abundance with increase.' You have to increase the dose of the narcotic, +and as you increase the dose, it loses its power, and the less you can +do without it the less it does for you. But to drink into the one God +slakes all thirsts, and because He is infinite, and our capacity for +receiving Him may be indefinitely expanded; therefore, + + 'Age cannot wither, nor custom stale + His infinite variety'; + +but the more we have of God, the more we long for Him, and the more we +long for Him the more we possess Him. + +Brethren! these are the possibilities of the Christian life; being its +possibilities they are our obligations. The Psalmist's words may well be +turned by us into self-examining interrogations and we may--God grant +that we do!--all ask ourselves; 'Do I thus thirst after God?' 'Have I +learned that, notwithstanding all supplies, this world without Him is a +waterless desert? Have I experienced that whilst I call He answers, and +that the water flows in as soon as I open my heart? And do I know the +happy birth of fresh longings out of every fruition, and how to go +further and further into the blessed land, and into my elastic heart +receive more and more of the ever blessed God?' + +These texts of mine not only set forth the ideal for the Christian life +here, but they carry in themselves the foreshadowing of the life +hereafter. For surely such a merely physical accident as death cannot be +supposed to break this golden sequence which runs through life. Surely +this partial and progressive possession of an infinite good, by a nature +capable of indefinitely increasing appropriation of, and approximation +to it is the prophecy of its own eternal continuance. So long as the +fountain springs, the thirsty lips will drink. God's servants will live +till God dies. The Christian life will go on, here and hereafter, till +it has reached the limits of its own capacity of expansion, and has +exhausted God. 'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well +of water, springing up into everlasting life.' + + + + + +SIN OVERCOMING AND OVERCOME + + + 'Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, Thou + shalt purge them away.'--PSALM. lxv. 3. + +There is an intended contrast in these two clauses more pointed and +emphatic in the original than in our Bible, between man's impotence and +God's power in the face of the fact of sin. The words of the first +clause might be translated, with perhaps a little increase of vividness, +'iniquities are too strong for me'; and the 'Thou' of the next clause is +emphatically expressed in the original, 'as for our transgressions' +(which we cannot touch), '_Thou_ shalt purge them away.' Despair of self +is the mother of confidence in God; and no man has learned the +blessedness and the sweetness of God's power to cleanse, who has not +learned the impotence of his own feeble attempts to overcome his +transgression. The very heart of Christianity is redemption. There are a +great many ways of looking at Christ's mission and Christ's work, but I +venture to say that they are all inadequate unless they start with this +as the fundamental thought, and that only he who has learned by serious +reflection and bitter personal experience the gravity and the +hopelessness of the fact of the bondage of sin, rightly understands the +meaning and the brightness of the Gospel of Christ. The angel voice that +told us His name, and based His name upon His characteristic work, went +deeper into the 'philosophy' of Christianity than many a modern thinker, +when it said, 'Thou shalt call His name Jesus, because He shall save His +people from their sins.' So here we have the hopelessness and misery of +man's vain struggles, and side by side with these the joyful confidence +in the divine victory. We have the problem and the solution, the barrier +and the overleaping of it; man's impotence and the omnipotence of God's +mercy. My iniquities are too strong for me, but Thou art too strong for +them. As for our transgressions, of which I cannot purge the stain, with +all my tears and with all my work, 'Thou shalt purge them away.' Note, +then, these two--first, the cry of despair; second, the ringing note of +confidence. + +I. The cry of despair. + +'Too strong for me,' and yet they _are_ me. Me, and _not_ me; mine, and +yet, somehow or other, my enemies, although my children--too strong for +me, yet I give them their strength by my own cowardly and feeble +compliance with their temptations; too strong for me and overmastering +me, though I pride myself often on my freedom and spirit when I am +yielding to them. Mine iniquities are mine, and yet they are not mine; +me and yet, blessed be God! they can be separated from me. + +The picture suggested by the words is that of some usurping power that +has mastered a man, and laid its grip upon him so that all efforts to +get away from the grasp are hopeless. Now, I dare say, that some of you +are half consciously thinking that this is a piece of ordinary pulpit +exaggeration, and has no kind of application to the respectable and +decent lives that most of you live, and that you are ready to say, with +as much promptitude and as much falsehood as the old Jews did, even +whilst the Roman eagles, lifted above the walls of the castle, were +giving them the lie: 'We were never in bondage to any man.' You do not +know or feel that anything has got hold of you which is stronger than +you. Well, let us see. + +Consider for a moment. You are powerless to master your evil, considered +as habits. You do not know the tyranny of the usurper until a rebellion +is got up against him. As long as you are gliding with the stream you +have no notion of its force. Turn your boat and try to pull against it, +and when the sweat-drops come on your brow, and you are sliding +backwards, in spite of all your effort, you will begin to find out what +a tremendous down-sucking energy there is in that quiet, silent flow. So +the ready compliance of the worst part of my nature masks for me the +tremendous force with which my evil tyrannises over me, and it is only +when I face round and try to go the other way, that I find out what a +power there is in its invisible grasp. + +Did you ever try to cure some trivial bad habit, some trick of your +fingers, for instance? You know what infinite pains and patience and +time it took you to do that, and do you think that you would find it +easier if you once set yourself to cure that lust, say, or that +petulance, pride, passion, dishonesty, or whatsoever form of selfish +living in forgetfulness of God may be your besetting sin? If you will +try to pull the poison fang up, you will find how deep its roots are. It +is like the yellow charlock in a field, which seems only to spread in +consequence of attempts to get rid of it--as the rough rhyme says; 'One +year's seeding, seven years' weeding'--and more at the end of the time +than at the beginning. Any honest attempt at mending character drives a +man to this--'My iniquities are too strong for me.' + +I do not for a moment deny that there may be, and occasionally is, a +magnificent force of will and persistency of purpose in efforts at +self-improvement on the part of perfectly irreligious men. But, if by +the occasional success of such effort, a man conquers one form of evil, +that does not deliver him from evil. You have the usurping dominion deep +in your nature, and what does it matter in essence which part of your +being is most conspicuously under its control? It may be some animal +passion, and you may conquer that. A man, for instance, when he is +young, lives in the sphere of sensuous excitement; and when he gets old +he turns a miser, and laughs at the pleasures that he used to get from +the flesh, and thinks himself ever so much wiser. Is he any better? He +has changed, so to speak, the kind of sin. That is all. The devil has +put a new viceroy in authority, but it is the old government, though +with fresh officials. The house which is cleared of the seven devils +without getting into it the all-filling and sanctifying grace of God and +love of Jesus Christ will stand empty. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so +does Satan, and the empty house invites the seven ill-tenants, and back +they come in their diabolical completeness. + +So, dear friends! though you may do a great deal--thank God!--in +subduing evil habits and inclinations, you cannot touch, so as to +master, the central fact of sin unless you get God to help you to do it, +and you have to go down on your knees before you can do that work. +'Iniquities are too strong for me.' + +Then, again, consider our utter impotence in dealing with our own evil +regarded as guilt. When we do wrong, the judge within, which we call +conscience, says to us two things, or perhaps three. It says first, +'That is wrong'; it says secondly, 'You have got to answer for it'; and +I think it says thirdly, 'And you will be punished for it.' That is to +say, there is a sense of demerit that goes side by side with our evil, +as certainly as the shadow travels with the substance. And though, +sometimes, when the sun goes behind a cloud, there is no shadow, and +sometimes, when the light within us is darkened, conscience does not +cast the black shade of demerit across the mind; yet conscience is +there, though silent. When it does speak it says, 'You have done wrong, +and you are answerable.' Answerable to whom? To it? No! To society? No! +To law? No! You can only be answerable to a person, and that is God. +Against Him we have sinned. We do wrong; and if wrong were all that we +had to charge ourselves with, it would be because there was nothing but +law that we were answerable to. We do unkind things, and if unkindness +and inhumanity were all that we had to charge ourselves with, it would +be because we were only answerable to one another. We do suicidal +things, and if self-inflicted injury were all our definition of evil, it +would be because we were only answerable to our conscience and +ourselves. But we _sin_, and that means that every wrong thing, big or +little, which we do, whether we think about God in the doing of it or +no, is, in its deepest essence, an offence against Him. + +The judgment of conscience carries with it the solemn looking for of +future judgment. It says, 'I am only a herald: _He_ is coming.' No man +feels the burden of guilt without an anticipation of judgment. What are +you going to do with these two feelings? Do you think that _you_ can +deal with them? It is no use saying, 'I am not responsible for what I +did; I inherited such-and-such tendencies; circumstances are so-and-so. +I could not help it; environment, and evolution, and all the rest of it +diminish, if they do not destroy, responsibility.' Be it so! And yet, +after all, this is left--the certainty in my own convictions that I had +the power to do or not to do. That is a fundamental part of a man's +consciousness. If it is a delusion, what is to be trusted, and how can +we be sure of anything? So that we are responsible for our action, and +can no more elude the guilt that follows sin than we can jump off our +own shadow. And I want you to consider what you are going to do about +your guilt. + +One thing you cannot do--you cannot remove it. Men have tried to do so +by sacrifices, and false religions. They have swung in the air by means +of hooks fastened into their bodies, and I do not know what besides, and +they have not managed it. You can no more get rid of your guilt by being +sorry for your sin than you could bring a dead man to life again by +being sorry for his murder. What is done is done. 'What I have written I +have written!' Nothing will ever 'wash that little lily hand white +again,' as the magnificent murderess in Shakespeare's great creation +found out. You can forget your guilt; you can ignore it. You can adopt +some of the easily-learned-by-rote and fashionable theories that will +enable you to minimise it, and to laugh at us old-fashioned believers in +guilt and punishment. You do not take away the rock because you blow out +the lamps of the lighthouse, and you do not alter an ugly fact by +ignoring it. I beseech you, as reasonable men and women, to open your +eyes to these plain facts about yourselves, that you have an element of +demerit and of liability to consequent evil and suffering which you are +perfectly powerless to touch or to lighten in the slightest degree. + +Consider, again, our utter impotence in regard to our evil, looked upon +as a barrier between us and God. That is the force of the context here. +The Psalmist has just been saying, 'O Thou that hearest prayer! unto +Thee shall all flesh come.' And then he bethinks himself how flesh +compassed with infirmities can come. And he staggers back bewildered. +There can be no question but that the plain dictate of common sense is, +'We know that God heareth not sinners.' My evil not only lies like a +great black weight of guilt and of habit on my consciousness and on my +activity, but it actually stands like a frowning cliff, barring my path +and making a barrier between me and God. 'Your hands are full of blood; +I hate your vain oblations,' says the solemn Voice through the prophet. +And this stands for ever true--'The prayer of the wicked is an +abomination.' There frowns the barrier. Thank God! mercies come through +it, howsoever close-knit and impenetrable it may seem. Thank God! no sin +can shut Him out from us, but it can shut us out from Him. And though we +cannot separate God from ourselves, and He is nearer us than our +consciousness and the very basis of our being, yet by a mysterious power +we can separate ourselves from Him. We may build up, of the black blocks +of our sins flung up from the inner fires, and cemented with the +bituminous mortar of our lusts and passions, a black wall between us and +our Father. You and I have done it. We can build it--we cannot throw it +down; we can rear it--we cannot tunnel it. Our iniquities are too strong +for us. + +Now notice that this great cry of despair in my text is the cry of a +single soul. This is the only place in the psalm in which the singular +person is used. 'Iniquities are too strong for us,' is not sufficient. +Each man must take guilt to himself. The recognition and confession of +evil must be an intensely personal and individual act. My question to +you, dear friend! is, Did you ever know it by experience? Going apart by +yourself, away from everybody else, with no companions or confederates +to lighten the load of your felt evil, forgetting tempters and +associates and all other people, did you ever stand, you and God, +face to face, with nobody to listen to the conference? And did you +ever feel in that awful presence that whether the world was full of +men, or deserted and you the only survivor, would make no difference +to the personal responsibility and weight and guilt of your individual +sin? Have you ever felt, 'Against Thee, Thee only, have I'--solitary-- +'sinned,' and confessed that iniquities are 'too strong for me'? + +II. Now, let me say a word or two about the second clause of this great +verse, the ringing cry of confident hope. + +The confidence is, as I said, the child of despair. You will never go +into that large place of assured trust in God's effacing finger passed +over all your evil until you have come through the narrow pass, where +the black rocks all but bar the traveller's foot, of conscious impotence +to deal with your sin. You must, first of all, dear friends! go down +into the depths, and learn to have no trust in yourselves before you can +rise to the heights, and rejoice in the hope of the glory and of the +mercy of God. Begin with 'too strong for me,' and the impotent 'me' +leads on to the almighty 'Thou.' + +Then, do not forget that what was confidence on the Psalmist's part is +knowledge on ours. 'As for our transgressions, Thou wilt purge them +away.' You and I know why, and know how. Jesus Christ in His great work +for us has vindicated the Psalmist's confidence, and has laid bare for +the world's faith the grounds upon which that divine power proceeds in +its cleansing mercy. 'Thou wilt purge them away,' said he. 'Christ hath +borne our sins in His own body on the tree,' says the New Testament. I +have spoken about our impotence in regard to our own evil, considered +under three aspects. I meant to have said more about Christ's work upon +our sins, considered under the same three aspects. But let me just, very +briefly, touch upon them. + +Jesus Christ, when trusted, will do for sin, as habit, what cannot be +done without Him. He will give the motive to resist, which is lacking +in the majority of cases. He will give the power to resist, which is +lacking in all cases. He will put a new life and spirit into our nature +which will strengthen and transform our feeble wills, will elevate and +glorify our earthward trailing affections, will make us love that which +He loves, and aspire to that which He is, until we become, in the change +from glory to glory, reflections of the image of the Lord. As habit and +as dominant power within us, nothing will cast out the evil that we have +entertained in our hearts except the power of the life of Christ Jesus, +in His Spirit dwelling within us and making us clean. When 'a strong man +keeps his house, his goods are in peace, but when a stronger than he +cometh he taketh from him all his implements in which he trusteth, and +divideth his spoil.' And so Christ has bound the strong man, in that one +great sacrifice on the Cross. And now He comes to each of us, if we will +trust Him, and gives motives, power, pattern, hopes, which enable us to +cast out the tyrant that has held dominion over us. 'If the Son make you +free, ye shall be free indeed.' + +And I tell all of you, especially you young men and women, who +presumably have noble aspirations and desires, that the only way to +conquer the world, the flesh, and the devil, is to let Christ clothe you +with His armour; and let Him lay His hand on your feeble hands whilst +you aim the arrows and draw the bow, as the prophet did in the old +story, and then you will shoot, and not miss. Christ, and Christ alone, +within us will make us powerful to cast out the evil. + +In like manner, He, and He only, deals with sin, considered as guilt. +Here is the living secret and centre of all Christ's preciousness and +power--that He died on the Cross; and in His spirit, which knew the +drear desolation of being forsaken by God, and in His flesh, which bore +the outward consequences of sin, in death as a sinful world knows it, +'bare our sins and carried our sorrows,' so that 'by His stripes we are +healed.' + +If you will trust yourselves to the mighty Sacrifice, and with no +reservation, as if you could do anything, will cast your whole weight +and burden upon Him, then the guilt will pass away, and the power of sin +will be broken. Transgressions will be buried--'covered,' as the +original of my text has it--as with a great mound piled upon them, so +that they shall never offend or smell rank to heaven any more, but be +lost to sight for ever. + +Christ can take away the barrier reared by sin between God and the human +spirit. Solid and black as it stands, His blood dropped upon it melts +away. Then it disappears like the black bastions of the aerial +structures in the clouds before the sunshine. He hath opened for us a +new and living way, that we might 'have access and confidence,' and, +sinners as we are, that we might dwell for ever more at the side of our +Lord. + +So, dear brother! whilst humanity cries--and I pray that all of us may +cry like the Apostle, 'Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me +from the body of this death?'--Faith lifts up, swift and clear, her +ringing note of triumph, which I pray God or rather, which I beseech you +that you will make your own, 'I thank God! I through Jesus Christ our +Lord.' + + + + +THE BURDEN-BEARING GOD + + + 'Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.'--(A.V.). + + 'Blessed be the Lord, who daily beareth our burden.' + --PSALM lxviii. 19 (R.V.). + +The difference between these two renderings seems to be remarkable, and +a person ignorant of any language but our own might find it hard to +understand how any one sentence was susceptible of both. But the +explanation is extremely simple. The important words in the Authorised +Version, 'with benefits,' are a supplement, having nothing to represent +them in the original. The word translated '_loadeth_' in the one +rendering and '_beareth_' in the other admits of both these meanings +with equal ease, and is, in fact, employed in both of them in other +places in Scripture. It is clear, I think, that, in this case, at all +events, the Revision is an improvement. For the great objection to the +rendering which has become familiar to us all, 'Who daily loadeth us +_with benefits_,' is that these essential words are not in the original, +and need to be supplied in order to make out the sense. Whereas, on the +other hand, if we adopt the suggested emendation, 'Who daily beareth our +burdens,' we get a still more beautiful meaning, which requires no +forced addition in order to bring it out. So, then, I accept that varied +form of our text as the one on which I desire to say a few words now. + +I. The first thing that strikes me in looking at it is the remarkable +and eloquent blending of majesty and condescension. + +It is not without significance that the Psalmist employs that name for +God in this clause, which most strongly expresses the idea of supremacy +and dominion. Rule and dignity are the predominant ideas in the word +'Lord,' as, indeed, the English reader feels in hearing it; and then, +side by side with that, there lies this thought, that the Highest, the +Ruler of all, whose absolute authority stretches over all mankind, +stoops to this low and servile office, and becomes the burden-bearer for +all the pilgrims who will put their trust in Him. This blending together +of the two ideas of dignity and condescension to lowly offices of help +and furtherance is made even more emphatic if we glance back at the +context of the psalm. For there is no place in Scripture in which there +is flashed before the mind of the singer a grander picture of the +magnificence and the glory of God, than that which glitters and flames +in the previous verses. We read in them of God 'riding through the +heavens by His name Jehovah'; of Him as marching at the head of the +people, through the wilderness, and of the earth quivering at His tread, +and the heavens dropping at His presence. We read of Zion itself being +moved at the presence of the Lord. We read of His word going forth so +mightily as to scatter armies and their kings. We read of the chariots +of God as 'twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.' All is gathered +together in the great verse, 'Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led +captivity captive.' And then, before he has taken breath almost, the +Psalmist turns, with most striking and dramatic abruptness, from the +contemplation, awe-struck and yet jubilant, of all that tremendous, +magnificent, and earth-shaking power to this wonderful thought, 'Blessed +be the Lord! who daily beareth our burdens.' Not only does He march at +the head of the congregation through the wilderness, but He comes, if I +might so say, behind the caravan, amongst the carriers and the porters, +and will bear anything that any of the weary pilgrims intrusts to His +care. + +Oh, dear brethren! if familiarity did not dull the glory of it, what a +thought that is--a God that carries men's loads! People talk much +rubbish about the 'stern Old Testament Deity'; is there anything +sweeter, greater, more heart-compelling and heart-softening, than such a +thought as this? How all the majesty bows itself, and declares itself to +be enlisted on our side, when we think that 'He that sitteth on the +circle of the heavens, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers' +is the God that 'daily beareth our burdens'! + +And that is the tone of the Old Testament throughout, for you will +always find braided together in the closest vital unity the +representation of these two aspects of the divine nature; and if ever we +hear set forth a more than ordinarily magnificent conception of His +power and majesty be sure that, if you look, you will find side by side +with it a more than ordinarily tender representation of His gentleness +and His grace. And if we look deeper, this is not a case of contrast, it +is not that there are sharply opposed to each other these two things, +the gentleness and the greatness, the condescension and the +magnificence, but that the former is the direct result of the latter; +and it is just because He is Lord, and has dominion over all, that, +therefore, He bears the burdens of all. For the responsibilities of the +Creator are in proportion to His greatness, and He that has made man has +thereby made it necessary that He should, if they will let Him, be their +Burden-bearer and their Servant. The highest must be the lowest, and +just because God is high over all, blessed for ever, therefore is He the +Supporter and Sustainer of all. So we may learn the true meaning of +elevation of all sorts, and from the example of loftiest, may draw the +lesson for our more insignificant varieties of height, that the higher +we are, the more we are bound to stoop, and that men are then likest +God, when their elevation suggests to them responsibility, and when he +that is chiefest becomes the servant. + +II. So, then, notice next the deep insight into the heart and ways of +God here. + +'He daily beareth our burdens.' If there is any meaning in this word at +all, it means that He so knits Himself with us as that all which touches +us touches Him, that He takes a share in all our pressing duties, and +feels the reflection from all our sorrows and pains. We have no +impassive God in the heavens, careless of mankind, nor is His settled +and changeless and unshaded blessedness of such a sort as that there +cannot pass across it--if I may not say a shadow, I may at least say--a +ripple from men's pangs and troubles and cares. Love is the +identification of oneself with the beloved object. We call it sympathy, +when we are speaking about the fellow feeling between man and man that +is kindled of love. But there is something deeper than sympathy in that +great Heart, which gathers into itself all hearts, and in that great +Being, whose being underlies all our beings, and is the root from which +we all live and grow. God, in all our afflictions, is afflicted; and in +simple though profound verity, has that which is most truly represented +to men, by calling it a fellow feeling with our infirmities and our +sorrows. + + + 'Think not thou canst sigh a sigh, + And thy Maker is not nigh; + Think not thou canst weep a tear, + And thy Maker is not near.' + +For want of a better word, we speak of the sympathy of God: but we need +something far more intimate and unwearied than we understand by that +word, to express the community of feeling between all who trust Him and +His own infinite heart. If this bearing of our burden means anything, it +gives us a deep insight, too, into His workings, as well as into His +heart. For it covers over this great truth that He Himself comes to us, +and by the communication of His own power to us, makes us able to bear +the burdens which we roll upon Him. The meaning of His 'lifting our +load,' in so far as that expression refers to the divine act rather than +the divine heart, is that He breathes into us the strength by which we +can carry the heavy task of duties, and can endure the crushing pressure +of our sorrows. All the endurance of the saints is God in them bearing +their burdens. + +Notice, too, '_daily_ beareth,' or, as the Hebrew has it yet more +emphatically because more simply, 'day by day beareth.' He travels with +us, in the greatness of His might and the long-suffering of His +unwearied patience, through all our tribulation, and as He has 'borne +and carried' His people 'all the days of old,' so, at each new +recurrence of new weights, He is with us still. Like some river that +runs by the wayside and ever cheers the traveller on the dusty path with +its music, and offers its waters to cool his thirsty lips, so, day by +day, in the slow iteration of our lingering sorrows, and in the +monotonous recurrence of our habitual duties, there is with us the +ever-present help of the Ancient of Days, who measures out daily +strength for the daily load, and never sends the one without proffering +the other. + +III. So, again, notice here the remarkable anticipation of the very +heart of the Gospel. + +'The God who daily beareth our burdens,' says the Psalmist. He spoke +deeper things than he knew, and was wiser than he understood. For the +hope that gleams in these words comes to fulfilment, in Him of whom it +was written in prophetic anticipation, so clear and definite that it +reads like historical narrative--'He bare our grief and carried our +sorrows. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. The Lord hath laid +on Him the iniquity of us all.' + +Ah! it were of small avail to know a God that bore the burden of our +sorrows and the load of our duties, if we did not know a God who bore +the weight of our sins. For that is the real crushing weight that breaks +men's hearts and bows them to the earth. So the New Testament, with its +message of a Christ on whom is laid the whole pressure of the world's +sin, is the deepest fulfilment of the great words of my text. + +IV. Note, lastly, what we should therefore do with our burdens. + +First, we should cast them on God, and _let_ Him carry them. He cannot +unless we do. One sometimes sees a petulant and self-confident little +child staggering along with some heavy burden by the parent's side, but +pushing away the hand that is put out to help it to carry its load. And +that is what too many of us do when God says to us, 'Here, My child! let +Me help you, I will take the heavy end of it, and do you take the light +one.' 'Cast thy burden upon the Lord'--and do it by faith, by simple +trust in Him, by making real to yourselves the fact of His divine +sympathy, and His sure presence, to aid and to sustain. + +Having thus let Him carry the weight, do not you try to carry it too. As +our good old hymn has it-- + + 'Why should I the burden bear?' + +It is a great deal more God's affair than yours. We have, indeed, in a +sense, to carry it. 'Every man shall bear his own burden.' The weight of +duty is not to be indolently shoved off our shoulders on to His, saying, +'Let Him do the work.' We have indeed to carry the weight of sorrow. +There is no use in trying to deny its bitterness and its burden, and it +would not be well for us that it should be less bitter and less heavy. +In many lands the habit prevails, especially amongst the women, of +carrying heavy loads on their heads; and all travellers tell us that the +practice gives a dignity and a grace to the carriage, and a freedom and +a swing to the gait, which nothing else will do. Depend upon it, that so +much of our burdens of work and weariness as is left to us, after we +have cast them upon Him, is intended to strengthen and ennoble us. But +do not let there be the gnawings of anxiety. Do not let there be the +self-torment of aimless prognostications of evil. Do not let there be +the chewing of the bitter morsel of irrevocable sorrows; but fling all +upon God. And remember what the Master has said, and His servant has +repeated: 'Take no anxious care ... for your heavenly Father knoweth'; +'Cast your anxiety upon Him, for He careth for you.' + +And the last advice that comes from my text is, to see that your tongues +are not silent in that great hymn of praise which ought to go up to 'the +Lord that daily beareth our burdens.' He wants only our trust and our +thanks, and is best paid by the praise of our love, and of our heaping +still more upon His ever strong and ready arm. Bless the Lord! who +beareth our burdens, and see that you give Him yours to bear. Listen to +Him who hath said, 'Come unto Me all ye that ... are heavy laden, and I +will give you rest.' + + + + +REASONABLE RAPTURE + + + 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I + desire besides Thee. 26. My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is + the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.' + --PSALM lxxiii. 25, 26. + +We have in this psalm the record of the Psalmist's struggle with the +great standing difficulty of how to reconcile the unequal distribution +of worldly prosperity with the wisdom and providence of God. That +difficulty pressed more acutely upon men of the Old Dispensation than +even upon us, because the very promise of that stage of revelation was +that Godliness brought with it outward well-being. Our Psalmist reaches +a solution, not exactly by the same path by which the writers of the +Books of Job and Ecclesiastes find an answer to the problem. This man +gives up the endeavour to solve the question by reflection and thought, +and as he says, 'goes into the sanctuary of God,' gets into communion +with his Father in heaven, and by reason of that communion reaches a +conclusion which is, at all events, an approximate solution of his +difficulty, viz. the belief of a future life, 'Then understood I their +end.' The solemn vision of a life beyond the present, which should be +the outcome and retribution of this, rises before him from out of his +agitated thoughts, like the moon, pale and phantom-like, from a stormy +sea. That truth, if revealed at all to the Psalmist's contemporaries, +certainly did not occupy the same position of clearness or of prominence +as it does in our religious beliefs. But here we see a soul led up by +its wrestlings to apprehend it, and as was said of a statesman, 'calling +a new world into existence to redress the balance of the old.' So we get +here a soul taught by God, and filled with Him by communion, therefore +lifted to the height of a faith in a future life, and so made able to +look out upon all the perplexities and staggering mysteries of earth's +mingled ill and good, if not with distinct understanding, at least with +patient faith. + +The words of my text indicate for us the very high-water mark of +religious experience, the very apex and climax of what some people would +call mystical religion to which this man has climbed, because he fought +with his doubts, and by God's grace was able to lay them. To him the +world's uncertain ill or good becomes infinitely insignificant, because +for the future he has a clear vision of a continued life with God, and +because for the present he knows that to have God in his heart is all +that he really needs. + +I. We have here, first, a necessity which, misdirected, is the source of +man's misery. + +'Whom have I in heaven but Thee? there is none upon earth that I desire +besides Thee.' If men would interpret the deepest voices of their own +souls that is what they would all say, because, from the very make of +our human nature there is not one of us, howsoever weak and sinful and +small, but is great enough to be too great to be filled with anything +smaller than God. Our thoughts, even the thoughts of the least +enlightened amongst us, go wandering through eternity; and as the writer +of the Book of Ecclesiastes says:--'He hath set eternity in men's +hearts.' We all of us need, though, alas! so few of us know that we +need, a living possession of a living perfect Person, for mind, for +heart, for will. Nothing short of the 'fulness of God' is enough for the +smallest amongst us. So, because we do not believe this, because +hundreds of you do not know what it is for which your souls are crying +out, 'the misery of man is great upon him.' You try to fill that deep +and aching void in your hearts, which is a sign of your possible +nobleness, and a pledge of your possible blessedness, with all manner of +minute rubbish, which can never fill up the gap that is there. Cartload +after cartload may be tilted into the bottomless bog, and there is no +more solid ground on the surface than there was at the beginning. Oh, my +brother! consult thine own deepest need; listen to that voice, often +stifled, often neglected, and by some of you always misunderstood, which +speaks in your wills, minds, consciences, hopes, desires, hearts; and is +it not this: 'My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God'? + +There is none in the heaven, with all its stars and angels, enough for +thee but Him. There is none upon earth, with all its flowers, and +treasures, and loves, that will calm and still thy soul but only God. +The words of my text spring from a necessity felt by every man, +misdirected by a tragical majority of men, and therefore the source of +restlessness and misery. + +II. Secondly, we see here the longing which, rightly directed and +cherished, is the very spirit of religion. + +He, and only he, is the religious man, who can take these words of my +text for the inmost words of his conscious effort and life. Only in the +measure in which you and I recognise that God is our sole and +all-sufficient good, in that measure have we any business to call +ourselves devout or Christian people. That is a sharp test, is it not? +Is it not a valid and an accurate one? Is that not what really makes a +religious man, namely, the supreme admiration of, and aspiration after, +and possession of God, and God alone? What a contrast that forms to our +ordinary notions of what religion is! High above all creeds which are +valuable as leading up to this enthusiasm of longing and rapture of +possession, high above all preliminaries and preparations in the way of +outward services and ceremonial or united acts of worship, which are +only helps to this inward possession, rises such a thought of religion +as this. You are not a Christian because you believe a creed. The very +death of Jesus Christ is a means to this end. In order that we might +come into personal, rapturous, and hallowing possession of God, His very +Self in our hearts and spirits, Jesus Christ died and rose again. Do not +mistake the staircase for the presence-chamber. Do not fancy that you +are Christian people because you hold certain opinions or beliefs in +regard of certain doctrines. Do not fancy that religion consists in +either the mere outward practice of, or abstinence from, certain forms +of conduct. Such things are the means to, or the outcome of, this inward +devotion, but the true essence of our religion is that we recognise God +as our only good, and that in Him we find absolute rest and perfect +sufficiency. + +Is that your religion, my brother? What a contrast these words of my +text present not only to our notions of what constitutes religion, but +to our practice! What is the thing that you and I crave most to have? +What is the thing that we lament most of all when we lose? Where do our +desires go when we take the guiding hand off them, and let them run as +they will? For some of us there are dearer hearts on earth than His, +Perhaps for some of us there are more dearly loved faces in heaven than +His. Taking the two extreme possible cases, and supposing at the one end +of the scale a man that had everything but God, and at the other end a +man that had nothing but God, do we live as if we believed that the man +that had everything _minus_ God is a pauper; and the other who has God +_minus_ everything is 'rich to all the intents of bliss'? Let us shape +our desires, aspirations, efforts, according to that certain truth. + +I do not need to remind you that this lofty height of conscious longing, +not unblest with contemporaneous fruition, is above the height to which +we habitually rise. But what I would now insist upon is only this, that +whilst there will be variations, whilst there will be ups and downs, the +periods in our lives when we do not consciously recognise Him as our +supreme and single good are the periods that drop below duty and +blessedness. Acknowledge the imperfections, but Oh, my friends! you +Christian men and women, who know that these hours of high communion +with a loving God are not diffused through your whole life, do not sit +down contented, and say that it must be so; but confess them as being +imperfections which are your own fault, and remember that just as much, +and not one hairsbreadth more than, we can take these words of my text +for ours, so much and no more, have we a right to call ourselves +religious men and women. + +III. Again, we have here the blessed possession, which deadens earthly +desires. + +That clause, 'There is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee,' +might, I think, be rendered more accurately 'With Thee'--that is to say, +'possessing Thee,'--I desire none 'upon earth.' If we thus have been +longing after God, and fuller possession of Him, and if in some measure, +in answer to the desire, as is always the case, we have received into +mind and heart and will more of His preciousness and sweetness, then +that will kill the desires that otherwise would conflict with it. Our +great poet, speaking about a supreme earthly love, says-- + + 'That rich golden shaft + Hath killed the flock of all affections else, + That lived in her.' + +And the same thing is true about this higher life. This new affection +will deaden, and in some sense destroy, the desires that turn to lower +and to earthly things. The sun when it rises quenches the brightest +stars that can but fade in his light and die. And so when, in answer to +our longing, God lifts the light of His countenance--a better +sunrise--upon us, that new affection dims and quenches the brightness of +these little, though they be lustrous points, that shed a fragmentary +and manifold twinkling over the darkness of our former night. 'Walk in +the light,' and your heaven will be naked of all competing brightness. + +Only remember that this supreme, and in some sense exclusive, love and +longing does not destroy the sweetness of lower possessions and +blessings. A new deep love in a man or a woman's heart does not make +their former affections less, but more, sweet and noble and strong. And +so when we get to love God best, and to love all other persons and +things in Him, and Him in them, then they become sources of dignity and +nobleness, of sweetness and strength, in our lives, which they otherwise +never would be. If you want to make all your family affections, for +instance, more permanent, more lofty, and more blessed, let them be all +in God: + + 'I trust he lives in God, and there + I find him worthier to be loved,' + +says the poet about one that had been carried into the other life. It is +true about us in our relations to one another, even whilst we remain +here. Let God be first, and the second rises higher in the scale than +when we thought it first. The more our hearts are knit to Him and all +other desires are subordinated to Him, the more do they become precious, +and powers for good in our lives. + +IV. And so, lastly, we have here the possession which is the pledge of +perpetuity. + +The Psalmist, in the last verse of my text, supposes an extreme, and in +some sense, an impossible case. 'My flesh'--my bodily frame--'and my +heart'--some portion of my immaterial being--'faileth.' The clause +should probably be taken as hypothetical. 'Even supposing that it has +come to this,' says he, 'that I had been separated from my body, and +that along with the body there had also been "consumed" (as is the +meaning of the original word) some portion of my spiritual being, even +then, though there were only a thin thread of personality left, enough +to call "me" and no more, so to speak, I should cling with that to God, +and I know that then I should have enough, for "God is the Rock of my +heart, and my Portion for ever."' + +These two last words are obviously here to be taken in their widest +extension. The whole context requires us to suppose that the Psalmist's +eye is looking across the black gorge of death to the shining table-land +beyond. So here we are admitted to see faith in the future life in the +very act of growth. The singer soars to that sunlit height of confidence +in the endless blessedness of union with God, just because he feels so +deeply the sacredness and the blessedness of his present communion with +God. + +Next to the resurrection of Jesus Christ the best proof of immortality +lies in the present experience of communion with God. Anything is more +reasonable than to believe that a soul which can grasp God for its good, +which can turn itself to, and be united with, an infinite Being; and +itself is capable of indefinite approximation towards that Being, should +have its course and career cut short by such a surface thing as death. +If there be a God at all, anything is more reasonable than to believe +that the union, formed between Him and me by faith here, can ever come +to an end until I have exhausted Him, and drawn all His fulness into +myself. This communion, by its 'very sweetness yieldeth proof that it +was born for immortality.' And the Psalmist here, just because to-day +God is the Rock of his heart, is sure that that relation must last on, +through life, through death, ay! and for ever, 'when all that seems +shall suffer shock.' + +So, my brethren! here is the choice and alternative presented before us. +And I ask you which is the wise man, he who clutches at external +possessions which cannot abide, or he who hungers for that indwelling +God, who sinks into the very substance of his soul, and is more +inseparable from him than his very body? Which is the wise man, he of +whom it shall one day be said, 'This night thy soul shall be required of +thee,' and 'His glory shall not descend after him,' or the man who knows +for what his heart hungers, and knowing it turns to God in Christ, by +simple faith and lowly aspiration, as his enduring Treasure; and then, +and therefore, can look out with a calm smile of security over all the +tumbling sea of change, and beyond the dark horizon there where sight +fails; and can say, 'I am persuaded that neither things present, nor +things to come, nor life, nor death, nor any other creature, shall be +able to separate me from the God who is my Treasure, and the Life of my +very self'? + + + + +NEARNESS TO GOD THE KEY TO LIFE'S PUZZLE + + + 'It is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the + Lord God, that I may declare all Thy works.'--PSALM lxxiii. 28. + +The old perplexity as to how it comes, if God is good and wise and +strong, that bad men should prosper and good men should suffer, has been +making the Psalmist's faith reel. He does not answer the question +exactly as the New Testament would have done, but he does find a +solution sufficient for himself in two thoughts, the transiency of that +outward prosperity, and the eternal sufficiency of God. 'It was too +painful for me until I went into the Sanctuary, then understood I their +end'; and on the other hand: 'Thou art the Strength of my life, and my +Portion for ever.' So he climbs at last to the calm height where he +learns that, whatever be a man's outward prosperity, if he is separated +from God he ceases to be. As the context says: 'They that are far from +Thee shall perish.' 'Thou hast destroyed'--already, before they +die--'all them that go a-whoring from Thee.' And on the other hand, +whatever be the outward condition, God is enough. 'It is good for me,' +rich or poor harassed or at rest, afflicted or prosperous, in health or +sickness, solitary or compassed about with loving friends, 'it is good +for me to draw near to God'; and nothing else is good. Thus the river +that has had to fight its way through rocks, and has been chafed in the +conflict, and has twisted its path through many a deep, dark, sunless +gorge, comes out at last into the open, and flows with a broad sunlit +breast, peaceable and full, into the great ocean--'It is good for me to +draw near to God.' + +But that is not all. The Psalmist goes on to tell how we are to draw +near to God: 'I have put my trust in Him.' And that is not all, for he +further goes on to tell how, drawing near to God through faith, all +these puzzles and mysteries about men's condition cease to perplex, and +a beam of light falls upon the whole of them. 'I have put my trust in +God, that I may declare all Thy works.' There are no knots in the thread +now. + +I. So here we have, first the truth of experience that nearness to God +is the one good. + +Of course, it is so in the Psalmist's view, since he believes, as we +profess to believe, that, to quote the words of another Psalmist, 'With +Thee is the fountain of life'; and therefore that to 'draw near to Thee' +is to carry our little empty pitchers to that great spring that is +always flowing with waters ever sweet and clear. Union with God is life, +in all senses of the word, according as the creature is capable of union +with Him. Why! there is no life in a plant except God's power is +vitalising it. 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow' because +God makes them grow. There is no bodily life in a man, unless He +continually breathes into the nostrils the breath of life. If you stop +the flow of the fountain, then all the pools are dry. There is no life +intellectual in a man, except by the 'inspiration of the Almighty,' from +whom 'all just thoughts do proceed.' Above all these forms of life the +real life of a spirit is the life derived from the union with God +Himself, whereby He pours Himself into it, and in the deepest sense of +the words it is true: 'Because I live ye shall live also.' 'It is good +for me to draw near to God,' because, unless I do, and if I am separated +from Him, my true self is dead, even whilst I seem to live. All that are +parted from Him perish; all that are joined to Him, and only they, do +live what is worth calling life. Cut off the sunbeam from the sun, and +what becomes of it? It vanishes. Separate a soul from God, and it is +dead. What is all the good of the world to you if your true self is +dead? And what an absurdity it is to deck a corpse with riches and pomp +of various kinds! That is what the men of the world are doing, who have +chained themselves to earth, and cut themselves off from God. 'For me it +is good to draw near to God.' Do you draw near? Because if you do not, +no matter what prosperity you have, you do not know anything about the +true life and real good for heart and spirit. + +I suppose I need scarcely go on pointing out other aspects of this +supreme--or more truly, this solitary--good. For instance, nothing is +really good to me unless I have it within me, so as that it can never be +wrenched away from me. The blessings that we cannot incorporate with the +very substance of our being are only partial blessings after all; and +all these things round us that do minister to our necessities, tastes, +affections, and sometimes to our weaknesses, these good things fail just +in this, that they stand outside us, and there is no real union between +us and them. So, changes come, and we have to unclasp hands, and the +footsteps that used to be planted by the side of ours cease, and our +track across the sands is lonely; and losses come, and death comes, and +all the glory and the good that were only externally possessed by us we +leave behind us. As this psalm says: 'I considered their end ... how +they are brought into desolation, as in a moment!' What is the good of a +good that is not incorporated into any being? What is the good of a good +about which I cannot say, with a smile of confidence, 'I know that +where-ever I may go, and whatever may befall me, that can never pass +from me'? There is but one good of that sort. 'I am persuaded that ... +neither life nor death ... nor any other creature, shall separate us +from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 'It is good +for me,' amidst the morasses and quicksands and bogs of life's uncertain +and shifting ill and good, to set my feet upon the rock, and to say: +'Here I stand, and my footing will never give way.' Do you, brother! +possess a changeless, imperishable, inwrought good like that? You may if +you like. + +But remember, too, that in regard to this Christian good, it is not only +the possession of it, but the aspiration after it, that is blessed. The +Psalmist does not only say, 'It is good for me to be near to God,' but +he says, 'It is good for me to draw near.' There is one kind of life in +which the seeking is all but as blessed as the finding. There is one +kind of life in which to desire is all but as full of peace, and power, +and joy as to possess. Therefore, another psalm, which begins by +celebrating the blessedness of the men that dwell in God's house, and +are 'still praising Thee,' goes on to speak of the blessedness, not less +blessed, of the men 'in whose heart are the ways.' They who have reached +the Temple are at rest, and blessed in their repose. They who are +journeying towards it are in action, and blessed in their activity. 'It +is good to draw near'; and the seeking after God is as far above the +possession of all other good as heaven is above earth. + +But then, notice further, how our Psalmist comes down to very plain, +practical teaching. He seems to feel that he must explain what he means +by drawing near to God. And here is his explanation. 'I have put my +trust in the Lord.' + +II. The way to nearness to God is twofold. + +On the one hand the true path is Jesus Christ, on the other hand the +means by which we walk upon that path is our faith. The Apostle puts it +all in a nutshell when he says that his prayer for the Ephesian Church +is that 'Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,' and then, by a +linked chain which we have not now to consider, leads up to the final +issues of that faith in that indwelling Christ--'that ye may be filled +with all the fulness of God.' So to draw near and to possess that good, +that only good which is God, all that is needed is--and it is +needed--that we should turn with the surrender of our hearts, with the +submission of our wills, with the outgoing of our affections, and with +the conformity of our practical life, to Jesus. Seeing Him, we see the +Father, and having Him near us, we feel the touch of the divine hand, +and being joined to the Lord, we are separated from the vanities of +life, and united to the Supreme Good. + +Dear brethren! this Psalmist shows us how hard it is for us to keep up +that continual attitude of faith, how many difficulties there are in +daily life, in the way of our continually being true to our deepest +convictions, and seeking after Him amidst all the distracting whirl and +perplexities of our daily lives. But he shows us, too, how possible it +is, even for men constituted as we are, moment by moment, day by day, +task by task, to keep vivid the consciousness of our dependence upon +Him, and the blessed consciousness of our being beside Him, and how, if +we do, strength will come to us for everything. The secret of a joyous +walk lies in this, 'I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is +at my right hand I shall not be moved.' We draw near to God when we +clutch Christ in faith. Our faith manifests itself, not merely by a lazy +reliance upon what He once did, long ago, on the Cross for us; but by +daily, effortful revivifying of our consciousness of His presence, of +our consciousness of our dependence upon Him, and by the continual +reference of thoughts, desires, plans, and actions to Himself. + +Keep God beside you so, and then there will follow what this Psalmist +reached at last, a peaceful insight into what else are full of +perplexity and difficulty, the ways of God in the world. + +To myself, to my dear ones, to the nation, to the Church, to the world, +there come many perplexing riddles as to God's dealings, that cannot be +solved except by getting close to Him. Just as a little child nestling +on its mother's bosom, with its mother's arm around it, looks out with +peaceful eye and a bright smile, upon everything beyond the safe nest, +so they who are near to God can bear to look at difficulties and +perplexities, and the mysteries of their own sorrows and of the world's +miseries, and say, 'All things work together for good'; 'I have put my +trust in the Lord, that I may declare _all_ Thy works.' Stand in the +sun, and all the planets move around it manifestly in order. Take your +place anywhere else, and there is confusion. Get beside God, and look +out on the world, and you will see it as He saw it when, 'Behold! it was +very good.' + +Now, dear friends! my text in its first part may become the description +of our death. One man holds on to the world as it is slipping away from +him. I remember a story about a coast-guardsman that was flung over the +cliffs once, and when they picked up his dead body, all under the nails +was full of chalk that he had scraped off the cliffs in his desperate +attempts to clutch at something to hold by. That is like one kind of +death. But another kind may be: 'It is good for me to draw near to God.' +And when we reach His side, and see all the past from the centre, and in +the light of the Eternal Present, to which it has led, we shall be able +to declare all His works, and to give thanks 'for all the way by which +the Lord our God hath led us' and the world 'these many years in the +wilderness.' + + + + +MEMORY, HOPE, AND EFFORT + + + 'That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of + God, but keep His commandments.'--PSALM lxxviii. 7. + +In its original application this verse is simply a statement of God's +purpose in giving to Israel the Law, and such a history of deliverance. +The intention was that all future generations might remember what He had +done, and be encouraged by the remembrance to hope in Him for the +future; and by both memory and hope, be impelled to the discharge of +present duty. + +So, then, the words may permissibly bear the application which I purpose +to make of them in this sermon, re-echoing only (and aspiring to nothing +more) the thoughts which the season has already, I suppose, more or +less, suggested to most of us. Smooth motion is imperceptible; it is the +jolts that tell us that we are advancing. Though every day be a New +Year's Day, still the alteration in our dates and our calendars should +set us all thinking of that continual lapse of the mysterious thing--the +creature of our own minds--which we call time, and which is bearing us +all so steadily and silently onwards. + +My text tells us how past, present, and future--memory, hope, and effort +may be ennobled and blessed. In brief, it is by associating them all +with God. It is as the field of His working that our past is best +remembered. It is on Him that our hopes may most wisely be set. It is +keeping His commandments which is the consecration of the present. Let +us, then, take the three thoughts of our text and cast them into New +Year's recommendations. + +I. First, then, let us associate God with memory by thankful +remembrance. + +Now I suppose that there are very few of the faculties of our nature +which we more seldom try to regulate by Christian principles than that +great power which we have of looking backwards. Did you ever reflect +that you are responsible for what you remember, and for how you remember +it, and that you are bound to train and educate your memory, not merely +in the sense of cultivating it as a means of carrying intellectual +treasures, but for a religious purpose? The one thing that all parts of +our nature need is God, and that is as true about our power of +remembrance as it is about any other part of our being. The past is then +hallowed, noble, and yields its highest results and most blessed fruits +for us when we link it closely with Him, and see in it not only, nor so +much, the play of our own faculties, whether we blame or approve +ourselves, as rather see in it the great field in which God has brought +Himself near to our experience, and has been regulating and shaping all +that has befallen us. The one thing which will consecrate memory, +deliver it from its errors and abuses, raise it to its highest and +noblest power, is that it should be in touch with God, and that the past +should be regarded by each of us as it is, in deed and in truth, one +long record of what God has done for us. + +We can see His presence more clearly when we look back over a +long-connected stretch of days, and when the excitement of feeling the +agony or rapture have passed, than we could whilst they were hot, and +life was all hurry and bustle. The men on the deck of a ship see the +beauty of the city that they have left behind, better than when they +were pressing through its narrow streets. And though the view of the +receding houses from the far-off waters may be an illusion, our view of +the past, if we see God brooding over it all, and working in it all, is +no illusion. The meannesses are hidden, the narrow places are invisible, +all the pain and suffering is quieted, and we are able to behold more +truly than when we were in the midst of them, the bearing, the purpose, +and the blessedness alike of our sorrows and of our joys. + +Not a few of us are old enough to have had a great many mysteries of our +early days cleared up. We have seen at least the beginnings of the +harvest which the ploughshare of sorrow and the winter winds were +preparing for us, and for the rest we can trust. Brethren! remember your +mercies; remember your losses; and 'for all the way by which the Lord +our God has led us these many years in the wilderness,' let us try to be +thankful, including in our praises the darkness and the storm as well as +the light and the calm. Some of us are like people who, when they get +better of their sicknesses, grudge the doctor's bill. We forget the +mercies as soon as they are past, because we only enjoyed the sensuous +sweetness of them whilst it tickled our palate, and did not think, in +the enjoyment of them, whose love it was that they spoke of to us. +Sorrows and joys, bring them all in your thanksgivings, and 'forget not +the works of God.' + +Such a habit of cultivating the remembrance of God's hand as moving in +all our past, will not, in the slightest degree, interfere with lower +and yet precious exercises of that same faculty. We shall still be able +to look back, and learn our limitations, mark our weaknesses, gather +counsels of prudence from our failures, tame our ambitions by +remembering where we broke down. And such an exercise of grateful +God-recognising remembrance will deliver us from the abuses of that +great power, by which so many of us turn our memories into a cause of +weakness, if not of sin. There are people, and we are all tempted to be +of the number, who look back upon the past and see nothing there but +themselves, their own cleverness, their own success; 'burning incense to +their own net, and sacrificing to their own drag.' Another mood leads us +to look back into the past dolefully and disappointedly, to say, 'I have +broken down so often; my resolutions have all gone to water so quickly; +I have tried and failed over and over again. I may as well give it all +up, and accept the inevitable, and grope on as well as I can without +hope of self-advancement or of victory.' Never! If only we will look +back to God we shall be able to look forward to a perfect self. +To-morrow need never be determined by the failures that have been. We +may still conquer where we have often been defeated. There is no worse +use of the power of remembrance than when we use it to bind upon +ourselves, as the permanent limitations of our progress, the failures +and faults of the past. 'Forget the things that are behind.' Your old +fragmentary goodness, your old foiled aspirations, your old frequent +failures--cast them all behind you! + +And there are others to whom remembrance is mainly a gloating over old +sins, and a doing again of these--ruminating upon them; bringing up the +chewed food once more to be masticated. Some of us gather only poisonous +weeds, and carry them about in the _hortus siccus_ of our memories. +Alas! for the man whose memory is but the paler portraiture of past +sins. Some of us, I am sure, have our former evils holding us so tight +in their cords that when we look back memory is defiled by the things +which defiled the unforgettable past. Brethren! you may find a refuge +from that curse of remembrance in remembering God. + +And some of us, unwisely and ungratefully, live in the light of departed +blessings, so as to have no hearts either for present mercies or for +present duties. There is no more weakening and foolish misdirection of +that great gift of remembrance than when we employ it to tear down the +tender greenery with which healing time has draped the ruins; or to turn +again in the wound which is beginning to heal the sharp and poisoned +point of the sorrow which once pierced it. For all these abuses--the +memory that gloats upon sin; the memory that is proud of success; the +memory that is despondent because of failures; the memory that is +tearful and broken-hearted over losses--for all these the remedy is that +we should not forget the works of God, but see Him everywhere filling +the past. + +II. Again, let us live in the future by hope in Him. + +Our remembrances and our hopes are closely connected; one might almost +even say that the power by which we look backwards and that by which we +look forwards are one and the same. At all events, Hope owes to Memory +the pigments with which it paints, the canvas on which it paints, and +the objects which it portrays there. But in all our earthly hopes there +is a feeling of uncertainty which brings alarm as well as expectation, +and he whose forward vision runs only along the low levels of earth, and +is fed only by experience and remembrance, will never be able to say, 'I +hope with certitude, and I know that my hope shall be fulfilled.' For +him 'hopes, and fears that kindle hopes,' will be 'an indistinguishable +throng'; and there will be as much of pain as of pleasure in his forward +glance. + +But if, according to my text, we set our hopes on God, then we shall +have a certainty absolute. What a blessing it is to be able to look +forward to a future as fixed and sure, as solid and as real, as much our +possession, as the irrevocable past! The Christian man's hope, if it be +set on God, is not a 'may be,' but a 'will be'; and he can be as sure of +to-morrow as he is of yesterday. + +They whose hopes are set on God have a certain hope, a sufficient one, +and one that fills all the future. All other expectations are fulfilled, +or disappointed, as the case may be, but are left behind and outgrown. +This one only never palls, and is never accomplished, and yet is never +disappointed. So if we set our hopes on Him, we can face very quietly +the darkness that lies ahead of us. Earthly hopes are only the mirrors +in which the past reflects itself, as in some king's palace you will +find a lighted chamber, with a great sheet of glass at each end, which +perpetuates in shining rows the lights behind the spectator. A curtain +veils the future, and earthly hope can only put a mirror in front of it +that reflects what has been. But the hope that is set on God draws back +the curtain, and lets us see enough of a fixed, eternal future to make +our lives bright and our hearts calm. The darkness remains; what of +that, if + + 'I only know I cannot drift + Beyond His love and care'? + +Set your hopes on God, and they will not be ashamed. + +III. Lastly, let us live in the present by strenuous obedience. + +After all, memory and hope are meant to fit us for work in the flying +moment. Both should impel us to this keeping of the commandments of God; +for both yield motives which should incline us thereto. A past full of +blessing demands the sacrifice of loving hearts and of earnest hands. A +future so fair, so far, so certain, so sovereign, and a hope that grasps +it, and brings some of its sweet fragrance into the else scentless air +of the poor present, ought to impel to service, vigorous and continual. +Both should yield motives which make such service a delight. + +If my memory weakens me for present work, either because it depresses my +hope of success, or because it saddens me with the remembrance of +departed blessings, then it is a curse and not a good. And if I dream +myself away in any future, and forget the exigencies of the imperative +and swiftly-passing moment, then the faculty of hope, too, is a curse +and a weakening. But both are delivered from their possible abuses, if +both are made into means of helping us to fill the present with loving +obedience. These two faculties are like the two wings that may lift us +to God, like the two paddles, one on either side of the ship, that may +drive us steadily forward, through all the surges and the tempest. They +find their highest field in fitting us for the grinding tasks and the +heavy burdens that the moment lays upon us. + +So, dear friends! we are very different in our circumstances and +positions. For some of us Hope's basket is nearly empty, and Memory's +sack is very full. For us older men the past is long, the earthly future +is short. For you younger people the converse is the case. It is Hope +whose hands are laden with treasures for you, Memory carries but a +little store. Your past is brief; your future is probably long. The +grains of sand in some of our hour-glasses are very heaped and high in +the lower half, and running very low in the upper. But whichever +category we stand in, one thing remains the same for us all, and that is +duty, keeping God's commandments. That is permanent, and that is the one +thing worth living for. 'Whether we live we live unto the Lord; or +whether we die we die unto the Lord.' + +So let us front this New Year, with all its hidden possibilities, with +quiet, brave hearts, resolved on present duty, as those ought who have +such a past to remember and such a future to hope for. It will probably +be the last on earth for some of us. It will probably contain great +sorrows for some of us, and great joys for others. It will probably be +comparatively uneventful for others. It may make great outward changes +for us, or it may leave us much as it found us. But, at all events, God +will be in it, and work for Him should be in it. Well for us if, when +its hours have slidden away into the grey past, they continue to witness +to us of His love, even as, while they were wrapped in the mists of the +future, they called on us to hope in Him! Well for us if we fill the +passing moment with deeds of loving obedience! Then a present of keeping +His commandments will glide into a past to be thankfully remembered, and +will bring us nearer to a future in which hope shall not be put to +shame. To him who sees God in all the divisions and particles of his +days, and makes Him the object of memory, hope, and effort, past, +present, and future are but successive calm ripples of that mighty river +of Time which bears him on the great ocean of Eternity, from which the +drops that make its waters rose, and to which its ceaseless flow +returns. + + + + +SPARROWS AND ALTARS + + + 'Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for + herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine altars, O Lord of + Hosts, my King, and my God.'--PSALM lxxxiv. 3. + +The well-known saying of the saintly Rutherford, when he was silenced +and exiled from his parish, echoes and expounds these words. 'When I +think,' said he, 'upon the sparrows and swallows that build their nests +in the kirk of Anwoth, and of my dumb Sabbaths, my sorrowful, bleared +eyes look asquint upon Christ, and present Him as angry.' So sighed the +Presbyterian minister in his compelled idleness in a prosaic +seventeenth-century Scotch town, answering his heart's-brother away back +in the far-off time, and in such different circumstances. The Psalmist +was probably a member of the Levitical family of the Sons of Korah, who +were 'doorkeepers in the house of the Lord.' He knew what he was saying +when he preferred his humble office to all honours among the godless. He +was shut out by some unknown circumstances from external participation +in the Temple rites, and longs to be even as one of the swallows or +sparrows that twitter and flit round the sacred courts. No doubt to him +faith was much more inseparably attached to form than it should be for +us. No doubt place and ritual were more to him than they can permissibly +be to those who have heard and understood the great charter of spiritual +worship spoken first to an outcast Samaritan of questionable character: +'Neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall men worship the +Father.' But equally it is true that what he wanted was what the outward +worship brought him, rather than the worship itself. And the psalm, +which begins with 'longing' and 'fainting' for the courts of the Lord, +and pronouncing benedictions on 'those that dwell in Thy house,' works +itself clear, if I might so say, and ends with 'O Lord of Hosts! Blessed +is the man that trusteth in Thee'--for he shall 'dwell in Thy house,' +wherever he is. So this flight of imagination in the words of my text +may suggest to us two or three lessons. + +I. I take it first as pointing a bitter and significant contrast. + +'The sparrow hath found a house, and the swallow a nest for herself,' +while I! We do not know what the Psalmist's circumstances were, but if +we accept the conjecture that he may have accompanied David in his +flight during Absalom's rebellion, we may fancy him as wandering on the +uplands across Jordan, and sharing the agitations, fears, and sorrows of +those dark hours, and in the midst of all, as the little company hurried +hither and thither for safety, thinking, with a touch of bitter envy, of +the calm restfulness and serene services of the peaceful Temple. + +But, pathetic as is the complaint, when regarded as the sigh of a +minister of the sanctuary exiled from the shrine which was as his home, +and from the worship which was his occupation and delight, it sounds a +deeper note and one which awakens echoes in our hearts, when we hear in +it, as we may, the complaint of humanity contrasting its unrest with the +happier lot of lower creatures. Do you remember who it was that +said--and on what occasion He said it--'Foxes have holes, and birds of +the air have roosting-places, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay +His head'? That saying, like our text, has a narrower and a wider +application. In the former it pathetically paints the homeless Christ, a +wanderer in a land peculiarly 'His own,' and warns His enthusiastic +would-be follower of the lot which he was so light-heartedly undertaking +to share. But when Jesus calls Himself 'Son of Man,' He claims to be the +realised ideal of humanity, and when, as in that saying, He contrasts +the condition of 'the Son of Man' with that of the animal creation, we +can scarcely avoid giving to the words their wider application to the +same contrast between man's homelessness and the creatures' repose which +we have found in the Psalmist's sigh. + +Yes! There is only one being in this world that does not fit the world +that he is in, and that is man, chief and foremost of all. Other beings +perfectly correspond to what we now call their 'environment.' Just as +the soft mollusc fits every convolution of its shell, and the hard shell +fits every curve of the soft mollusc, so every living thing corresponds +to its place and its place to it, and with them all things go smoothly. +But man, the crown of creation, is an exception to this else universal +complete adaptation. 'The earth, O Lord! is full of Thy mercy,' but the +only creature who sees and says that is the only one who has further to +say, 'I am a stranger on the earth.' He and he alone is stung with +restlessness and conscious of longings and needs which find no +satisfaction here. That sense of homelessness may be an agony or a joy, +a curse or a blessing, according to our interpretation of its meaning, +and our way of stilling it. It is not a sign of inferiority, but of a +higher destiny, that we alone should bear in our spirits the 'blank +misgivings' of those who, amid unsatisfying surroundings, have blind +feelings after 'worlds not realised,' which elude our grasp. It is no +advantage over us that every fly dancing in the treacherous gleams of an +April sun, and every other creature on the earth except ourselves, on +whom the crown is set, is perfectly proportioned to its place, and has +desire and possessions absolutely conterminous. + +'The son of man hath not where to lay his head.' Why must he alone +wander homeless on the bleak moorland, whilst the sparrows and the +swallows have their nests and their houses? Why? Because they _are_ +sparrows and swallows, and he is man, and 'better than many sparrows.' +So let us lay to heart the sure promises, the blessed hopes, the +stimulating exhortations, which come from that which, at first sight, +seems to be a mystery and half an arraignment of the divine wisdom, in +the contrast between the restlessness of humanity and the reposeful +contentment of those whom we call the lower creatures. Be true to the +unrest, brother! and do not mistake its meaning, nor seek to still it, +until it drives you to God. + +II. These words bring to us a plea which we may use, and a pledge on +which we may rest. + +'Thine altars, O Lord of hosts! my King and my God.' The Psalmist pleads +with God, and lays hold for his own confidence upon the fact that +creatures which do not understand what the altar means, may build beside +it, and those which have no notion of who the God is to whom the house +is sacred, are yet cared for by Him. And he thinks to himself, 'If I can +say "_My_ King and _my_ God," surely He that takes care of them will not +leave me uncared for.' The unrest of the soul that is capable of +appropriating God is an unrest which has in it, if we understand it +aright, the assurance that it shall be stilled and satisfied. He that is +capable of entering into the close personal relationship with God which +is expressed by that eloquent little pronoun and its reduplication with +the two words, 'King' and 'God'--such a creature cannot cry for rest in +vain, nor in vain grope, as a homeless wanderer, for the door of the +Father's house. + +'Doth God care for oxen; or saith He it altogether for our sakes?' +'Consider the fowls of the air; your heavenly Father feedeth them.' And +the same argument which the Apostle used in the one of these sayings, +and our Lord in the other, is valid and full of encouragement when +applied to this matter. He that 'satisfies the desires of every living +thing,' and fills full the maw of the lowest creature; and puts the +worms into the gaping beak of the young ravens when they cry, is not the +King to turn a deaf ear, or the back of His hand, to the man who can +appeal to Him with this word on his lips, 'My King and my God!' We grasp +God when we say that; and all that we see of provident recognition and +supply of wants in dealings with these lower creatures should encourage +us to cherish calm unshakable confidence that every true desire of our +souls after Him is as certain to be satisfied. + +And so the glancing swallows around the eaves of the Temple and the +twittering sparrows on its pinnacles may proclaim to us, not only a +contrast which is bitter, but a confidence which is sweet. We may be +sure that we shall not be left uncared for amongst the many pensioners +at His table, and that the deeper our wants the surer we are of their +supply. Our bodies may hunger in vain--bodily hunger has no tendency to +bring meat; but our spirits cannot hunger in vain if they hunger after +God; for that hunger is the sure precursor and infallible prophet of the +coming satisfaction. + +These words not only may hearten us with confidence that our desires +will be satisfied if they are set upon Him, but they point us to the one +way by which they are so. Say 'My King and my God!' in the deepest +recesses of a spirit conscious of His presence, of a will submitting to +His authority, of emptiness expectant of His fulness; say that, and you +are in the house of the Lord. For it is not a question of place, it is a +question of disposition and desire. This Psalmist, though, when he began +his song, he was far away from the Temple, and though he finished it +sitting on the same hillside on which he began it, when he had ended it +was within the curtains of the sanctuary and wrapt about with the +presence of his God. He had regained as he sang what for a moment he had +lost the consciousness of when he began--viz. the presence of God with +him on the lone, dreary expanse of alien soil as truly as amidst the +sanctities of what was called His House. + +So, brethren! if we want rest, let us clasp God as ours; if we desire a +home warm, safe, sheltered from every wind that blows, and inaccessible +to enemies, let us, like the swallows, nestle under the eaves of the +Temple. Let us take God for our Hope. They that hold communion with +Him--and we can all do that wherever we are and whatever we may be +doing--these, and only these, 'dwell in the house of the Lord all the +days of their lives.' Therefore, with deepest simplicity of expression, +our psalm goes on to describe, as equally recipients of blessedness, +'those that dwell in the house of the Lord,' and those in 'whose heart +are the ways' that lead to it, and to explain at last, as I have already +pointed out, that both the dwellers in, and the pilgrims towards, that +intimacy of abiding with God are included in the benediction showered on +those who cling to Him, 'Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee!' + +III. Lastly, we may take this picture of the Psalmist's as a warning. + +Sparrows and swallows have very small brains. They build their nests, +and they do not know whose altars they are flitting around. They pursue +the insects on the wing, and they twitter their little songs; and they +do not understand how all their busy, glancing, brief, trivial life is +being lived beneath the shadow of the cherubim, and all but in the +presence of the veiled God of the Shekinah. + +There are too many people who live like that. We are all tempted to +build our nests where we may lay our young, or dispose of ourselves or +our treasures in the very sanctuary of God, with blind, crass +indifference to the Presence in which we move. The Father's house has +many mansions, and wherever we go we are in God's Temple. Alas! some of +us have no more sense of the sanctities around us, and no more +consciousness of the divine Eye that looks down upon us, than if we were +so many feathered sparrows flitting about the altar. + +Let us take care, brethren! that we give our hearts to be influenced, +and awed, and ennobled, and tranquillised by the sense of ever more +being in the house of the Lord. Let us see to it that we keep in that +house by continual aspiration, cherishing in our hearts the ways that +lead to it; and so making all life worship, and every place what the +pilgrim found the stone of Bethel to be, a house of God and a gate of +heaven. For everywhere, to the eye that sees the things that are, and +not only the things that seem--and to the heart that feels the unseen +presence of the One Reality, God Himself--all places are temples, and +all work may be beholding His beauty and inquiring in His sanctuary; and +everywhere, though our heads rest upon a stone, and there be night and +solitude around us, and doubt and darkness in front of us, and danger +and terror behind us, and weakness within us, as was the case with +Jacob, there will be the ladder with its foot at our side and its top in +the heavens; and above the top of it His face, which when we see it look +down upon us, makes all places and circumstances good and sweet. + + + + +HAPPY PILGRIMS + + + 'Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; in whose heart are + the highways to Zion. 6. Passing through the valley of Weeping they + make it a place of springs; yea, the early rain covereth it with + blessings. 7. They go from strength to strength, every one of them + appeareth before God in Zion.'--PSALM lxxxiv. 5-7. + +Rightly rendered, the first words of these verses are not a calm, +prosaic statement, but an emotional exclamation. The Psalmist's tone +would be more truly represented if we read, 'How blessed is the man,' or +'Oh, the blessednesses!' for that is the literal rendering of the Hebrew +words, 'of the man whose strength is Thee.' + +There are three such exclamations in this psalm, the consideration of +which leads us far into the understanding of its deepest meaning. The +first of them is this, 'How blessed are they that dwell in Thy house!' +Of course the direct allusion is to actual presence in the actual Temple +at Jerusalem. But these old psalmists, though they attached more +importance to external forms than we do, were not so bound by them, even +at their stage of development of the religious life, as that they +conceived that no communion with God was possible apart from the form, +or that the form itself was communion with God. We can see gleaming +through all their words, though only gleaming through them, the same +truth which Jesus Christ couched in the immortal phrase--the charter of +the Church's emancipation from all externalisms--'neither in this +mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, shall men worship the Father.' To 'dwell +in the house of the Lord' is not only to be present in bodily form in +the Temple--the Psalmist did not think that it was _only_ that--but to +possess communion with Him, of which the external presence is but the +symbol, the shadow, and the means. + +But there is another blessing. To be there is blessing, to wish to be +there is no less so.--'Blessed are the men in whose heart are the ways.' +The joyous company that went up from every corner of the land to the +feasts in Jerusalem made the paths ring with their songs as they +travelled, and as the prophet says about another matter, 'they went up +to Zion with songs and joy upon their heads,' and so the search after is +only a shade less blessed--if it be even that--than the possession of +communion with God. + +But there is a third blessedness in our psalm. 'Oh! the blessedness of +the man that trusteth in Thee.' That includes and explains both the +others. It confirms what I have said, that we do great injustice to the +beauty and the spirituality of the Old Testament religion, if we +conceive of it as slavishly tied to external forms. And it suggests the +thought that in trust there lie both the previous elements, for he that +trusts possesses, and he that trustingly possesses is thereby impelled +as trustingly to seek for, larger gifts. + +So, then, I turn to this outline sketch of the happy pilgrims on the +road, and desire to gather from it, as simply as may be, the stimulating +thoughts which it suggests to us. + +I. Let me ask you, then, following the words which I have read to you, +to look with me, first at the blessedness of the pilgrims' spirit. + +'Blessed are the men in whose heart are the ways.' A singular +expression, and yet a very eloquent and significant one! 'The ways' are, +of course, the various roads which, from every corner of the land, lead +to the Temple, and the thought suggested is that the men whom the +Psalmist pronounces blessed, and in whose blessednesses his longing +heart desires to share, are the men who are restless till they are on +the path, whose eyes are ever travelling to the goal, who have a 'divine +discontent' with distance from God, and who know the impulse and the +sting that sends them ever travelling on the path that leads to Him. + +On any lower level it is perfectly true that the very salt of life is +aspiration after an unattained ideal; that there is nothing that so +keeps a man young, strong, buoyant, and fits him for nobilities of +action, as that there shall be gleaming for ever before him in the +beckoning distance a horizon that moves ever as he moves. When we cease +to be the slaves of unattained ideals in any department, it is time for +us to die; indeed, we are dead already. There are men in every civilised +country, with the gipsy strain in their blood, who never can be at rest +until they are in motion, to whom a settled abode is irksome, and to +whom the notion of blessedness is that they shall be out in the free +plains. '_Amplius_,' the dying Xavier's word, '_further afield_,' is the +motto of all noble life--scientist, scholar, artist, man of letters, man +of affairs; all come under the same law, that unless there is something +before them which has dominated their hearts, and draws their whole +being towards it, their lives want salt, want nobility, want freshness, +and a green scum comes over the pool. We all know that. To live is to +aspire; to cease to aspire is to die. + +Well then, looking all round our horizon there stands out one path for +aspiration which is clearly blessed to tread--one path, and one path +alone. For, oh brethren! there are needs in all our hearts, deep +longings, terrible wounds, dreary solitudes, which can only be appeased +and healed and companioned when we are pressing nearer and nearer God, +that infinite and divine Source of all blessedness, of all peace and +good. To possess God is life; to feel after God is life, too. For that +aim is sure, as we shall see, to be satisfied. That aim gives, and it is +the only one which does give, adequate occupation for every power of a +man's soul; that aim brings, simultaneously with its being entertained, +its being satisfied; for, as I have already said, in the one act of +faith there lie both these elements of blessedness--the possession of, +and the seeking after, God. The religious life is distinguished from all +others in two respects; one is the contemporaneousness and co-existence +of desire and fruition, and the other is the impossibility that fruition +shall ever be so complete and perfect as that desire shall die. And +because thus all my nature may reach out its yearnings to Him, and in +reaching out may find that after which it feels, and yet, finding it, +must feel after it all the more; therefore, high above all other +delights of search, high above all other blessednesses of pilgrimage, +high above all the buoyancy and concentration of aim and contempt of +hindrances which pour into a soul, before which the unattained ideal +burns beckoning and inviting, there stands the blessedness of the man +'in whose heart are the ways' which lead to God in Zion. + +II. And now notice the blessedness of the pilgrims' experience. + +If you use the Revised Version you will see the changes upon the +Authorised which it makes, following the stream of modern critics and +commentators, and which may thus be reproduced: 'Passing through the +Valley of Weeping, they make it a _place of springs_, the rain also +_covereth it with blessings_.' No doubt the poet is referring here to +the actual facts of the pilgrimage to Zion, No doubt, on some one of the +roads, there lay a gloomy gorge, the name of which was the Valley of +Weeping; either because it dimly commemorated some half-forgotten +tragedy long ago, or, more probably, because it was arid and frowning +and full of difficulty for the travellers on the march. The Psalmist +uses that name with a lofty imaginative freedom, which itself confirms +the view that I have taken, that there is something deeper in the psalm +than the mere external circumstances of the pilgrimages to the Holy +City. For, he says, 'passing through the Valley of Weeping, they make it +a place of springs.' They, as it were, pour their tears into the wells, +and they become sources of refreshment and fertility. + +But there are other kinds of moisture than tears and fountains. And so +he goes on: 'the rain also' from above 'covereth it with blessings'; the +blessings being, I suppose, the waving crops which the poet's +imagination conceives of as springing up all over the else arid ground. +Irrigated thus by the pilgrims' labour, and rained upon thus by God's +gift from heaven, 'the wilderness rejoices and blossoms as the rose.' + +Now, translate that--it scarcely needs translation, I suppose, to +anybody who will read the psalm with the least touch of a poetic +imagination--translate that, and it just comes to this. If we have in +our hearts, as our chief aim, the desire to get closer to God, then our +sorrows and our tears will become sources of refreshment and fertility. +Ah! how different all our troubles, large and little, look when we take +as our great aim in life what is God's great purpose in giving us +life--viz. that we should be moulded into His likeness and enriched by +the possession of Himself. That takes the sting out of sorrow, and +although it leaves us in no morbid condition of insensibility, it yet +makes it possible for us to gather our tears into reservoirs which shall +be to us the sources of many a blessing, and many a thankfulness. _He_ +puts them into His bottle; we have to put them into our wells. And be +sure of this, that if we understood better the meaning of life, that it +was all intended to be our road to God, and if we judged of things more +from that point of view, we should less frequently be brought to stand +by what we call the mysteries of Providence and more able to wring out +of them all the rich honey which is stored in them all for us. Not the +least of the blessednesses of the pilgrim heart is its power of +transmitting the pilgrim's tears into the pilgrim's wells. Brothers! do +you bring such thoughts to bear on the disappointments, anxieties, +sorrows, losses that befall you, be they great or small? If you do, you +will have learned, better than I can say it, how strangely grief changes +its aspect when it is looked upon as the helper and servant to our +progress towards God. + +But that is not all. If, with the pilgrims' hearts, we rightly use our +sorrows, we shall not be left to find refreshment and fertilising power +only in ourselves, but the benediction of the rain from heaven will come +down, and the great Spirit of God will fall upon our hearts, not in a +flood that drowns, but broken up into a beneficent mist that falls +quietly upon us, and brings with itself the assurance of fertility. And +so the secret of turning the desert into abundance, and tears into +blessings, lies in having the pilgrim's heart. + +III. Notice the blessedness of the pilgrims' advance. + +'They go from strength to strength.' I do not know whether the Psalmist +means to use that word 'strength' in the significance which it also has +in old English, of a fortified place, so that the metaphor would be that +from one camp of security, one fortress to another, they journey safe +always, because of their protection; or whether he means to use it +rather in its plain and simple sense, according to which the +significance would be that these happy pilgrims do not get worn out on +the journey, as is the wont of men that set out, for instance, from some +far corner of India to Mecca, and come in battered and travel-stained, +and half dead with their privations, but that the further they go the +stronger they become; and on the road gain more vigour than they could +ever have gained by ease and indulgence in their homes. But, whichever +of these two meanings we may be disposed to adopt, the great thought +that comes out of both of them is identical--viz. that this is one of +the distinguishing joys of a Christian career of pressing forward to +closer communion and conformity with our Lord and Master, in whom God is +manifested--viz. that we grow day by day in strength, and that effort +does not weaken, but invigorates. + +And now I have to put a very plain question. Is that growing strength +anything like the general characteristic of us professing Christians? I +wonder how many people there are listening to me now that have been +members of Christian churches for half a century almost, but are not a +bit better than they were away back in the years that they have almost +forgotten? I wonder in how many of our cases there has been an arrested +development, like that which you will sometimes see in deformed people, +the lower limbs all but atrophied? I wonder how many of us are babes of +forty years old, and from how many of our minds the very conception of +continual growth, as an essential of Christian life, has altogether +vanished? Brother! are you any further than you were ten years ago? + +I remember once, long ago, when I was on board a sailing ship, that we +had baffling winds as we tried to run up the coast; and morning after +morning for a week we used to come up on deck, and _there_ were the same +windmill, and the same church-tower that we had seen last night, and the +night before and the night before that. That is the sort of voyage that +a great many of you Christian people are making. There may be motion; +there is no progress. Round and round and round you go. That is not the +way to get to Zion. 'They go from strength to strength,' and unless you +are doing that, you know little about the blessedness of the pilgrim +heart. + +IV. Lastly, note the blessedness of the pilgrims' arrival. + +'Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.' Then there is one road +on which whosoever travels is sure to reach his goal. On all others +caravans get lost, overwhelmed in a sandstorm, or slain by robbers; and +the bleached bones of men and camels lie there on the sand for +centuries. This caravan always arrives. For no man ever wanted God who +did not possess Him, and the measure of our desire is the prophecy of +our possession. Surely it is worth while, even from the point of view of +self-interest, to forsake all these lower aims in which success is +absolutely problematical, or, while pursuing them as far as duty and +necessity require, in and through them, as well as above and beyond +them, to press towards the one aim in which failure is impossible. You +cannot say about say other course--'Blessed is the man that enters on +it, for he is sure to reach what he desires.' Other goals are elusive; +the golden circlet may never drop upon your locks. But there is one path +on which all that you seek you shall have, and you are on it if 'in your +hearts are the _ways_.' + +I need not say a word about the ultimate fulfilment of this great +promise of our text; how that there is not only in our psalm, gleaming +through it, a reference to the communion of earth rather than to the +external Presence in the sanctuary, but there is also hinted, though +less consciously, to the Psalmist himself, yet necessarily from the +nature of the case the perfecting of that earthly communion in the +higher house of the Lord in the heavenly Zion. Are all these desires, +these longings, these efforts after God which make the nobleness and the +blessedness of a life on earth, and which are always satisfied, and yet +never satiated, to be crushed into nothingness by the accident of bodily +dissolution? Then, then, the darkest of all clouds is drawn over the +face of God, and we are brought into a state of absolute intellectual +bewilderment as to what life, futile and frail, has been for at all. No, +brother! God never gives mouths but He sends meat to fill them; and He +has not suffered His children to long after Him, to press after Him, +only in order that the partial fulfilment of their desires and yearnings +which is possible upon earth should be all their experience. + + 'He thinks he was not made to die, + And Thou hast made him; Thou art just.' + +Be sure that 'every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.' + +So, brethren! let us take the pilgrim scrip and staff; and be sure of +this, that the old blessed word will be fulfilled, that we shall not +be lost in the wilderness, where there is no way, nor grope and +search after elusive and fleeting good; but that 'the ransomed of the +Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy +shall be upon their heads.' + + + + +BLESSED TRUST + + + 'O Lord of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.' + --PSALM lxxxiv. 12. + +In my last sermon from the central portion of this psalm I pointed out +that the Psalmist thrice celebrates the blessedness of certain types of +character, and that these threefold benedictions constitute, as it were, +the keynotes of the portions of the psalm in which they respectively +occur. They are these: 'Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house'; +'Blessed is the man in whose heart are the ways'; and this final one, +'Blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.' + +Now, this last benediction includes, as I then remarked, both of the +others; both the blessedness belonging to dwelling in, and that realised +by journeying towards, the House of the Lord. For trust is both fruition +and longing; both aspiration and possession. But it not only includes +the other two: it explains and surpasses them. For they bear, deeply +stamped upon them, the impression of the imperfect stage of revelation +to which the psalm belongs, and are tied to form in a manner which we +ought not to be. But here the Psalmist gets behind all the externals of +ceremonial worship, and goes straight to the heart of spiritual religion +when, for dwelling in, and journeying towards, any house of the Lord, he +substitutes that plain expression, 'the man that trusteth in Thee.' + +Now, the other two benedictions of which I have spoken do respectively +form the centre of the first and second portions of this psalm; in each +case the remainder of the section being an explanation of that central +utterance. And here the case is the same; for the verses which precede +this final exclamation are various phases of the experience of a man who +trusts in God, and are the ground upon which his faith is pronounced +'blessed.' + +So I desire now to view these three preceding verses together, as being +illustrations of the various blessednesses of the life of trust in God. +They are not exhaustive. There are other tints and flashes of glory +sleeping in the jewel which need the rays of light to impinge upon it at +other angles, in order to wake them into scintillation and lustre. But +there is enough in the context to warrant the Psalmist's outburst into +this final rapturous exclamation, and ought to be enough to make us seek +to possess that life as our own. + +I. First, then, note here how the heart of religion always has been, and +is, trust in God. + +This Psalmist, nourished amidst the externalisms of an elaborate +ceremonial, and compelled, by the stage of revelation at which he stood, +to localise worship in an external Temple, in a fashion that we need not +do, had yet attained to the conviction that, in the desert or in the +Temple, God was near; that no weary pilgrimage was needed to reach His +house, but that with one movement of a trusting heart the man clasped +God wherever he was. And that is the living centre of all religion. I do +not mean merely that our way to be sure of God is not through the +understanding only, but through the outgoing of confidence in Him--but I +mean that the kernel of a devout life is trust in God. The bond that +underlies all the blessedness of human society, the thing that makes the +sweetness of the sweetest ties that can knit men together, the secret of +all the happy loves of husband and wife, friend and friend, parent and +child, is simple confidence. And the more utter the confidence the more +tranquilly blessed is the union and the life that flow from it. Transfer +this, then--which is the bond of perfectness between man and man--to our +relation to God, and you get to the very heart of the mystery. Not by +externalisms of any kind, not by the clear dry light of the +understanding, but by the outgoing of the heart's confidence to God, do +we come within the clasp of His arms and become recipients of His grace. +Trust knits to the unseen, and trust alone. + +That has always been the way. This Psalmist is no exception to the +devout souls of his time. For though, as I have said, externalisms and +ritualisms filled a place then, that it is an anachronism and a +retrogression that they should be supposed to fill now, still beneath +all these there lay this one ancient, permanent relation, the relation +of trust. From the day in which the 'father of the faithful' as he is +significantly called Abraham, 'believed God, and it was counted to him +for righteousness,' down all through the ages of that ancient Church, +every man who laid a real hold upon God clasped Him by the outstretched +hand of faith. So the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews was fully +warranted in claiming all these ancient heroes, sages, and saints, as +having lived by faith, and as being the foremost files in the same army +in which the Christians of his day marched. The prophets who cried, +'Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting +strength,' were saying the very same thing as the Apostles who preached +'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.' The +contents of the faith were expanded; the faith itself was identical. +Like some of those old Roman roads, where to-day the wains of commerce +and the chariots of ease and the toiling pedestrians pass over the lava +blocks that have been worn by the tramp of legions and rutted by the +wheels of their chariots, the way to God that we travel is the way on +which all the saints from the beginning of time have passed in their +pilgrimage. Trust is, always has been, always will be, the bond that +knits men with God. + +And trust is blessed, because the very attitude of confident dependence +takes the strain off a man. To feel that I am leaning hard upon a firm +prop, to devolve responsibility, to put the reins into another's hand, +to give the helm into another steersman's grasp, whilst I may lie down +and rest, that is blessedness, though there be a storm. In the story of +frontier warfare we read how, day by day, the battalion that had been in +the post of danger, and therefore of honour, was withdrawn into the +centre; and another one was placed in the position that it had occupied. +So, when we trust we put Him in the front, and we march more quietly, +more blessedly, when we are in the centre, and He has to bear the brunt +of the assailing foe. + +Christian people! have you got as far past the outsides of religion as +this Psalmist had? Do you recognise as clearly as he did that all this +outward worship, and a great deal of our theology, is but the +scaffolding; and that the real building lies inside of that; and that it +is of value only as being a means to an end? Church membership is all +very well; coming to church and chapel is all right; the outsides of +worship will be necessary as long as our souls have outsides--their +bodies. But you do not get into the house of the Lord unless you go in +through 'the door of faith,' which is opened to us all. The heart of the +religious life, which makes it blessed, is trust in God. + +II. And now, secondly, a life of faith is a blessed life, because it +talks with God. + +I have already said that my text is expanded in the preceding verses. +And I now turn to them to catch the various flashes of the diversely +coloured blessedness of this life. The first of them is that which I +have just mentioned. The Psalmist has described for us the happy +pilgrims passing from strength to strength, and in imagination has +landed them in the Temple. And then he goes on to tell us what they did +and found there. + +The first thing that they did was to speak to Him who was in the Temple. +'Behold! O God our Shield! and look upon the face of Thine anointed.' +They had, as he has just said, 'Every one of them appeared before God in +Zion.' As they looked up to Him they asked Him to look down upon them. +'Behold! O God our Shield!' 'Shield' here is the designation of God +Himself, and is an exclamation addressed to Him--'Thou who art our God +and Shield, look down upon us!' And then comes a singular clause, about +which much might be said if time permitted: 'Look upon the face of Thine +anointed.' The use of that word 'anointed' seems to suggest that the +psalm is either the outpouring of a king, or that it is spoken by some +one in the train of a king, who feels that the favour bestowed upon the +king will be participated in by his followers. But whilst that, if it be +the explanation, might carry with it a hint as to the great truth of the +mediation of Jesus Christ, our true King, I pass that by altogether, and +fix upon the thought that here one element of the blessedness of the +life of faith lies in the desire that God should look upon us. For that +look means love, and that look secures protection and wise distribution +of gifts. And it is life to have His eye fixed upon me, and to be +conscious that He is looking at me. Dear brethren! if we want a lustre +to be diffused through all our days, depend upon it, the surest and the +only way to secure it is that that Face shall be felt to be turned +toward us, 'as the sun shineth in his strength'; and then all the +landscape will rejoice, and the birds will sing and the waters will +flash. 'Look upon me, and let me sun myself beneath Thine eye'--to have +that desire is blessed; and to feel that the desire is accomplished is +more blessed still. + +Dear friends! it seems to me that the ordinary Christian life of this +day is terribly wanting in this experience of frank, free talk with God, +and that that is one reason why so many of us professing Christians know +so little of the blessedness of the man that trusts in God. You have +religion enough to keep you from doing certain gross acts of sin; you +have religion enough to make you uncomfortable in neglected duty. You +have religion enough to impel you to certain acts that you suppose to be +obligatory upon you. But do you know anything about the elasticity and +spring of spirit in getting near God, and pouring out all your hearts to +Him? The life of faith is not blessed unless it is a life of frank +speaking with God. + +III. The life of faith is blessed, because it has fixed its desires on +the true good. + +The Psalmist goes on--'A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand; I +had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the +tents of wickedness.' 'A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.' +We all know how strangely elastic time is, and have sometimes been +amazed when we remembered what an infinity of joy or sorrow we had lived +through in one tick of the pendulum. When men are dreaming, they pass +through a long series of events in a moment's space. When we are truly +awake, we live long in a short time, for life is measured, not by the +length of its moments, but by the depth of its experiences. And when +some new truth is flashed upon us, or some new emotion has shaken us as +with an earthquake, or when some new blessing has burst into our lives, +then we know how 'one day' with men may be as it is with God, in a +deeper sense, 'as a thousand years,' so great is the change that it +works upon us. There is nothing that will so fill life to the utmost +bounds of its elastic capacity as strong trust in Him. There is nothing +that will make our lives so blessed. This Psalmist, speaking with the +voice of all them that trust in the Lord, here declares his clear +consciousness that the true good for the human soul is fellowship with +God. + +But the clearest knowledge of that fact is not enough to bring the +blessedness. There must be the next step--'I had rather be a doorkeeper +in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness'--the +definite resolve that I, for my part, will act according to my +conviction, and believing that the best thing in life is to have God in +life, and that that will make life, as it were, an eternity of +blessedness even while it is made up of fleeting days, will put my foot +down and make my choice, and having made it, will stick to it. It is all +very well to say that 'A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand': +have I _chosen_ to dwell in the courts; and do I, not only in estimate +but in feeling and practice, set communion with God high above +everything besides? + +This psalm, according to the superscription attached to it, is one 'for +the sons of Korah.' These sons of Korah were a branch of the Levitical +priesthood, to whose charge was committed the keeping of the gates of +the Temple, and hence this phrase is especially appropriate on their +lips. But passing that, let me just ask you to lay to heart, dear +friends! this one plain thought, that the effect of a real life of faith +will be to make us perfectly sure that the true good is in God, and +fixedly determined to pursue that. And you have no right to claim the +name of a believing Christian, unless your faith has purged your eyes, +so that you can see the hollowness of all besides, and has stiffened +your will so that you can determine that, for your part, 'the Lord is +the Strength of your heart, and your Portion for ever.' The secret of +blessedness lies here. 'Seek ye the Kingdom of God and all these things +shall be added unto you.' + +IV. Lastly, a life of faith is a life of blessedness, because it draws +from God all necessary good. + +I must not dwell, as I had hoped to do, upon the last words preceding my +text, 'The Lord God is a Sun and Shield'--brightness and defence--'the +Lord will give grace and glory': 'grace,' the loving gifts which will +make a man gracious and graceful; 'glory,' not any future lustre of the +transfigured soul and glorified body, but the glory which belongs to the +life of faith here on earth. Link that thought with the preceding one. +'The Lord is a Sun ... the Lord will give glory'; like a little bit of +broken glass lying in the furrows of a ploughed field, when the sun +smites down upon it, it flashes, outshining many a diamond. If a man is +walking upon a road with the sun behind him, his face is dark. He wheels +himself round, and it is suffused with light, as Moses' face shone. 'We +all, with unveiled faces beholding, are changed from glory to glory.' If +we walk in the sunshine we shall shine too. If we 'walk in the light' we +shall be 'light in the Lord.' + +'No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.' Trust is +inward, and the outside of trust is an upright walk; and if a man has +these two, which, inasmuch as one is the root and the other is the +fruit, are but one in reality, nothing that is good will be withheld +from Him. For how can the sun but pour its rays upon everything that +lives? 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh +down from the Father of lights.' So the life is blessed that talks with +God; that has fixed its desires on Him as its Supreme Good; that is +irradiated by His light, glorified by the reflection of His brightness, +and ministered to with all necessary appliances by His loving +self-communication. + +We come back to the old word, dear friends! 'Trust in the Lord, and do +good, and verily thou shalt be fed.' We come back to the old message +that nothing knits a man to God but faith with its child, righteousness. +If trusting we love, and loving we obey, then in converse with Him, in +fixed desires after Him, in daily and hourly reception from Him of +Himself and His gifts, the life of earth will be full of a blessedness +more real, more deep, more satisfying, more permanent, than can be found +anywhere besides. + +Who was it that said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man +cometh to the Father but by Me'? Tread that path, and you will come into +the house of the Lord, and will dwell there all the days of your life. +'Believe in God, believe also in Me.' + + + + +'THE BRIDAL OF THE EARTH AND SKY' + + + 'Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have + kissed each other. 11. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and + righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12. Yea, the Lord shall + give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. 13. + Righteousness shall go before Him, and shall set us in the way of + His steps.'--PSALM lxxxv. 10-13. + +This is a lovely and highly imaginative picture of the reconciliation +and reunion of God and man, 'the bridal of the earth and sky.' + +The Poet-Psalmist, who seems to have belonged to the times immediately +after the return from the Exile, in strong faith sees before him a +vision of a perfectly harmonious co-operation and relation between God +and man. He is not prophesying directly of Messianic times. The vision +hangs before him, with no definite note of time upon it. He hopes it may +be fulfilled in his own day; he is sure it will, if only, as he says, +his countrymen 'turn not again to folly.' At all events, it will be +fulfilled in that far-off time to which the heart of every prophet +turned with longing. But, more than that, there is no reason why it +should not be fulfilled with every man, at any moment. It is the ideal, +to use modern language, of the relations between heaven and earth. Only +that the Psalmist believed that, as sure as there was a God in heaven, +who is likewise a God working in the midst of the earth, the ideal might +become, and would become, a reality. + +So, then, I take it, these four verses all set forth substantially the +same thought, but with slightly different modifications and +applications. They are a four-fold picture of how heaven and earth ought +to blend and harmonise. This four-fold representation of the one thought +is what I purpose to consider now. + +I. To begin with, then, take the first verse:--'Mercy and Truth are met +together, Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.' We have here +_the heavenly twin-sisters, and the earthly pair that correspond_. + +'Mercy and Truth are met together'--that is one personification; +'Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other' is another. It is +difficult to say whether these four great qualities are here regarded as +all belonging to God, or as all belonging to man, or as all common both +to God and man. The first explanation is the most familiar one, but I +confess that, looking at the context, where we find throughout an +interpenetration and play of reciprocal action as between earth and +heaven, I am disposed to think of the first pair as sisters from the +heavens, and the second pair as the earthly sisters that correspond to +them. Mercy and Truth--two radiant angels, like virgins in some solemn +choric dance, linked hand in hand, issue from the sanctuary and move +amongst the dim haunts of men making 'a sunshine in a shady place,' and +to them there come forth, linked in a sweet embrace, another pair, +Righteousness and Peace, whose lives depend on the lives of their elder +and heavenly sisters. And so these four, the pair of heavenly origin, +and the answering pair that have sprung into being at their coming upon +earth;--these four, banded in perfect accord, move together, blessing +and light-giving, amongst the sons of men. Mercy and Truth are the +divine--Righteousness and Peace the earthly. + +Let me dwell upon these two couples briefly. 'Mercy and Truth are met +together' means this, that these two qualities are found braided and +linked inseparably in all that God does with mankind; that these two +springs are the double fountains from which the great stream of the +'river of the water of life,' the forthcoming and the manifestation of +God, takes its rise. + +'Mercy and Truth.' What are the meanings of the two words? Mercy is love +that stoops, love that departs from the strict lines of desert and +retribution. Mercy is Love that is kind when Justice might make it +otherwise. Mercy is Love that condescends to that which is far beneath. +Thus the 'Mercy' of the Old Testament covers almost the same ground as +the 'Grace' of the New Testament. And Truth blends with Mercy; that is +to say--Truth in a somewhat narrower than its widest sense, meaning +mainly God's fidelity to every obligation under which He has come, God's +faithfulness to promise, God's fidelity to His past, God's fidelity, in +His actions, to His own character, which is meant by that great word, +'He sware by _Himself_!' + +Thus the sentiment of mercy, the tender grace and gentleness of that +condescending love, has impressed upon it the seal of permanence when we +say: 'Grace and Truth, Mercy and Faithfulness, are met together.' No +longer is love mere sentiment, which may be capricious and may be +transient. We can reckon on it, we know the law of its being. The love +is lifted up above the suspicion of being arbitrary, or of ever changing +or fluctuating. We do not know all the limits of the orbit, but we know +enough to calculate it for all practical purposes. God has committed +Himself to us, He has limited Himself by the obligations of His own +past. We have a right to turn to Him, and say; 'Be what Thou art, and +continue to be to us what Thou hast been unto past ages,' and He +responds to the appeal. For Mercy and Truth, tender, gracious, stooping, +forgiving love, and inviolable faithfulness that can never be otherwise, +these blend in all His works, 'that by two immutable things, wherein it +was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.' + +Again, dear brethren! let me remind you that these two are the ideal +two, which as far as God's will and wish are concerned, are the only two +that would mark any of His dealings with men. When He is, if I may so +say, left free to do as He would, and is not forced to His 'strange act' +of punishment by my sin and yours, these, and these only, are the +characteristics of His dealings. Nor let us forget--'We beheld His +glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, _full of grace +and truth_.' The Psalmist's vision was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, in +whom these sweet twin characteristics, that are linked inseparably in +all the works of God, are welded together into one in the living +personality of Him who is all the Father's grace embodied; and is 'the +Way and the Truth and the Life.' + +Turn now to the other side of the first aspect of the union of God and +man, 'Mercy and Truth are met together'; these are the heavenly twins. +'Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other'--these are the earthly +sisters who sprang into being to meet them. + +Of course I know that these words are very often applied, by way of +illustration, to the great work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross, which is +supposed to have reconciled, if not contradictory, at least divergently +working sides of the divine character and government. And we all know +how beautifully the phrase has often been employed by eloquent +preachers, and how beautifully it has been often illustrated by devout +painters. + +But beautiful as the adaptation is, I think it is an adaptation, and not +the real meaning of the words, for this reason, if for no other, that +Righteousness and Peace are not in the Old Testament regarded as +opposites, but as harmonious and inseparable. And so I take it that here +we have distinctly the picture of what happens upon earth when Mercy and +Truth that come down from Heaven are accepted and recognised--then +Righteousness and Peace kiss each other. + +Or, to put away the metaphor, here are two thoughts, first that in men's +experience and life Righteousness and Peace cannot be rent apart. The +only secret of tranquillity is to be good. He who is, first of all, +'King of Righteousness' is 'after that also King of Salem, which is King +of Peace.' 'The effect of righteousness shall be peace,' as Isaiah, the +brother in spirit of this Psalmist, says; and on the other hand, as the +same prophet says, 'The wicked is like a troubled sea that cannot rest, +whose waters cast up mire and dirt; there is no peace, saith my God, to +the wicked,' but where affections are pure, and the life is worthy, +where goodness is loved in the heart, and followed even imperfectly in +the daily practice, there the ocean is quiet, and 'birds of peace sit +brooding on the charmed wave.' The one secret of tranquillity is first +to trust in the Lord and then to do good. Righteousness and Peace kiss +each other. + +The other thought here is that Righteousness and her twin sister, Peace, +only come in the measure in which the mercy and the truth of God are +received into thankful hearts. My brother! have you taken that Mercy and +that Truth into your soul, and are you trying to reach peace in the only +way by which any human being can ever reach it--through the path of +righteousness, self-suppression, and consecration to Him? + +II. Now, take the next phase of this union and cooperation of earth and +heaven, which is given here in the 11th verse--'Truth shall spring out +of the earth, and Righteousness shall look down from heaven.' That is, +to put it into other words--God responding to man's truth. + +Notice that in this verse one member from each of the two pairs that +have been spoken about in the previous verse is detached from its +companion, and they are joined so as to form for a moment a new pair. +Truth is taken from the first couple; Righteousness from the second, and +a third couple is thus formed. + +And notice, further, that each takes the place that had belonged to the +other. The heavenly Truth becomes a child of earth; and the earthly +Righteousness ascends 'to look down from heaven.' The process of the +previous verse in effect is reversed. 'Truth shall spring out of the +earth, Righteousness shall look down from heaven'; that is to say--man's +Truth shall begin to grow and blossom in answer, as it were, to God's +Truth that came down upon it. Which being translated into other words is +this: where a man's heart has welcomed the Mercy and the Truth of God +there will spring up in that heart, not only the Righteousness and +Peace, of which the previous verse is speaking, but specifically a +faithfulness not all unlike the faithfulness which it grasps. If we have +a God immutable and unchangeable to build upon, let us build upon Him +immutability and unchangeableness. If we have a Rock on which to build +our confidence, let us see that the confidence which we build upon it is +rocklike too. If we have a God that cannot lie, let us grasp His +faithful word with an affiance that cannot falter. If we have a Truth in +the heavens, absolute and immutable, on which to anchor our hopes, let +us see to it that our hopes, anchored thereon, are sure and steadfast. +What a shame it would be that we should bring the vacillations and +fluctuations of our own insincerities and changeableness to the solemn, +fixed unalterableness of that divine Word! We ought to be faithful, for +we build upon a faithful God. + +And then the other side of this second picture is 'Righteousness shall +look down from heaven,' not in its judicial aspect merely, but as the +perfect moral purity that belongs to the divine Nature, which shall bend +down a loving eye upon the men beneath, and mark the springings of any +imperfect good and thankfulness in our hearts; joyous as the husbandman +beholds the springing of his crops in the fields that he has sown. + +God delights when He sees the first faint flush of green which marks the +springing of the good seed in the else barren hearts of men. No good, no +beauty of character, no meek rapture of faith, no aspiration Godwards is +ever wasted and lost, for His eye rests upon it. As heaven, with its +myriad stars, bends over the lowly earth, and in the midnight when no +human eye beholds, sees all, so God sees the hidden confidence, the +unseen 'Truth' that springs to meet His faithful Word. The flowers that +grow in the pastures of the wilderness, or away upon the wild prairies, +or that hide in the clefts of the inaccessible mountains, do not 'waste +their sweetness on the desert air,' for God sees them. + +It may be an encouragement and quickening to us to remember that +wherever the tiniest little bit of Truth springs upon the earth, the +loving eye--not the eye of a great Taskmaster--but the eye of the +Brother, Christ, which is the eye of God, looks down. 'Wherefore we +labour, that whether present or absent, we may be well-pleasing unto +Him.' + +III. And then the third aspect of this ideal relation between earth and +heaven, the converse of the one we have just now been speaking of, is +set forth in the next verse: 'Yea, the Lord shall give that which is +good and our land shall yield her increase.' That is to say, Man is here +responding to God's gift. + +You see that the order of things is reversed in this verse, and that it +recurs to the order with which we originally started. 'The Lord shall +give that which is good.' In the figure that refers to all the skyey +influence of dew, rain, sunshine, passing breezes, and still ripening +autumn days; in the reality it refers to all the motives, powers, +impulses, helps, furtherances by which He makes it possible for us to +serve Him and love Him, and bring forth fruits of righteousness. + +And so the thought which has already been hinted at is here more fully +developed and dwelt upon, this great truth that earthly fruitfulness is +possible only by the reception of heavenly gifts. As sure as every leaf +that grows is mainly water that the plant has got from the clouds, and +carbon that it has got out of the atmosphere, so surely will all our +good be mainly drawn from heaven and heaven's gifts. As certainly as +every lump of coal that you put upon your fire contains in itself +sunbeams that have been locked up for all these millenniums that have +passed since it waved green in the forest, so certainly does every good +deed embody in itself gifts from above. No man is pure except by +impartation; and every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from the +Father of Lights. + +So let us learn the lesson of absolute dependence for all purity, +virtue, and righteousness on His bestowment, and come to Him and ask Him +ever more to fill our emptiness with His own gracious fulness and to +lead us to be what He commands and would have us to be. + +And then there is the other lesson out of this phase of the ideal +relation between earth and heaven, the lesson of what we ought to do +with our gifts. 'The earth yields her increase,' by laying hold of the +good which the Lord gives, and by means of that received good quickening +all the germs. Ah, dear brethren! wasted opportunities, neglected +moments, uncultivated talents, gifts that are not stirred up, rain and +dew and sunshine, all poured upon us and no increase--is not that the +story of much of all our lives, and of the whole of some lives? Are we +like Eastern lands where the trees have been felled, and the great +irrigation works and tanks have been allowed to fall into disrepair, and +so when the bountiful treasure of the rains comes, all that it does is +to swell for half a day the discoloured stream that carries away some +more of the arable land; and when the sunshine comes, with its swift, +warm powers, all that it does is to bleach the stones and scorch the +barren sand? 'The earth which _drinketh in the rain_ that cometh oft +upon it, and yieldeth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, +receiveth the blessing of God.' Is it true about you that the earth +yieldeth her increase, as it is certainly true that 'the Lord giveth +that which is good'? + +IV. And now the last thing which is here, the last phase of the fourfold +representation of the ideal relation between earth and heaven is, +'Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set us in the way of His +steps.' That is to say, God teaches man to walk in His footsteps. + +There is some difficulty about the meaning of the last clause of this +verse, but I think that having regard to the whole context and to that +idea of the interpenetration of the heavenly with the human which we +have seen running through it, the reading in our English Bible gives +substantially, though somewhat freely, the meaning. The clause might +literally be rendered 'make His footsteps for a way,' which comes to +substantially the same thing as is expressed in our English Bible. +Righteousness, God's moral perfectness, is set forth here in a twofold +phase. First it is a herald going before Him and preparing His path. The +Psalmist in these words draws tighter than ever the bond between God and +man. It is not only that God sends His messengers to the world, nor only +that His loving eye looks down upon it, nor only 'that He gives that +which is good'; but it is that the whole heaven, as it were, lowers +itself to touch earth, that God comes down to dwell and walk among men. +The Psalmist's mind is filled with the thought of a present God who +moves amongst mankind, and has His 'footsteps' on earth. This herald +Righteousness prepares God's path, which is just to say that all His +dealings with mankind--which, as we have seen, have Mercy and +Faithfulness for their signature and stamp--are rooted and based in +perfect Rectitude. + +The second phase of the operation of Righteousness is that that majestic +herald, the divine purity which moves before Him, and 'prepares in the +desert a highway for the Lord,'--that that very same Righteousness comes +and takes my feeble hand, and will lead my tottering footsteps into +God's path, and teach me to walk, planting my little foot where He +planted His. The highest of all thoughts of the ideal relation between +earth and heaven, that of likeness between God and man, is trembling on +the Psalmist's lips. Men may walk in God's ways--not only in ways that +please Him, but in ways that are like His. 'Be ye therefore perfect, +even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.' + +And the likeness can only be a likeness in moral qualities--a likeness +in goodness, a likeness in purity, a likeness in aversion from evil, for +His other attributes and characteristics are His peculiar property; and +no human brow can wear the crown that He wears. But though His mercy can +but, from afar off, be copied by us, the righteousness that moves before +Him, and engineers God's path through the wilderness of the world, will +come behind Him and nurselike lay hold of our feeble arms and teach us +to go in the way God would have us to walk. + +Ah, brethren! that is the crown and climax of the harmony between God +and man, that His mercy and His truth, His gifts and His grace have all +led us up to this: that we take His righteousness as our pattern, and +try in our poor lives to reproduce its wondrous beauty. Do not forget +that a great deal more than the Psalmist dreamed of, you Christian men +and women possess, in the Christ 'who of God is made unto us +Righteousness,' in whom heaven and earth are joined for ever, in whom +man and God are knit in strictest bonds of indissoluble friendship; and +who, having prepared a path for God in His mighty mission and by His +sacrifice on the Cross, comes to us, and as the Incarnate Righteousness, +will lead us in the paths of God, leaving us an Example, that 'we should +follow in His steps.' + + + + +A SHEAF OF PRAYER ARROWS + + + 'Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. 2. + Preserve my soul, for I am holy: O Thou my God, save Thy servant + that trusteth in Thee. 3. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry + unto Thee daily. 4. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee, + O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5. For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready + to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon + Thee.'--PSALM lxxxvi. 1-5. + +We have here a sheaf of arrows out of a good man's quiver, shot into +heaven. This series of supplications is remarkable in more than one +respect. They all mean substantially the same thing, but the Psalmist +turns the one blessing round in all sorts of ways, so great does it seem +to him, and so earnest is his desire to possess it. They are almost all +quotations from earlier psalms, just as our prayers are often words of +Scripture, hallowed by many associations, and uniting us with the men of +old who cried unto God and were answered. + +The structure of the petitions is remarkably uniform. In each there are +a prayer and a plea, and in most of them a direct invocation of God. So +I have thought that, if we put them all together now, we may get some +lessons as to the invocations, the petitions, and the pleas of true +prayer; or, in other words, we may be taught how to lay hold of God, +what to ask from Him, and how to be sure of an answer. + +I. First, the lesson as to how to lay hold upon God. + +The divine names in this psalm are very frequent and significant, and +the order in which they are used is evidently intentional. We have the +great covenant name of Jehovah set in the very first verse, and in the +last verse; as if to bind the whole together with a golden circlet. And +then, in addition, it appears once in each of the other two sections of +the psalm, with which we have nothing to do at present. Then we have, +further, the name of _God_ employed in each of the sections; and +further, the name of _Lord_, which is not the same as _Jehovah_, but +implies the simple idea of superiority and authority. In each portion of +the psalm, then, we see the writer laying his hand, as it were, upon +these three names--'Jehovah,' 'my God,' 'Lord'--and in all of them +finding grounds for his confidence and reasons for his cry. + +Nothing in our prayers is often more hollow and unreal than the formal +repetitions of the syllables of that divine name, often but to fill a +pause in our thoughts. But to 'call upon the Name of the Lord' means, +first and foremost, to bring before our minds the aspects of His great +and infinite character, which are gathered together into the Name by +which we address Him. So when we say 'Jehovah!' 'Lord!' what we ought to +mean is this, that we are gazing upon that majestic, glorious thought of +Being, self-derived, self-motived, self-ruled, the being of Him whose +Name can only be, 'I am that I am.' Of all other creatures the name is, +'I am that I have been made,' or 'I am that I became,' but of Him the +Name is, 'I am that I am.' Nowhere outside of Himself is the reason for +His being, nor the law that shapes it, nor the aim to which it tends. +And this infinite, changeless Rock is laid for our confidence, Jehovah +the Eternal, the Self-subsisting, Self-sufficing One. + +There is more than that thought in this wondrous Name, for it not only +expresses the timeless, unlimited, and changeless being of God, but also +the truth that He has entered into what He deigns to call a Covenant +with us men. The name Jehovah is the seal of that ancient Covenant, of +which, though the form has vanished, the essence abides for ever, and +God has thereby bound Himself to us by promises that cannot be +abrogated. So that when we say, 'O Lord!' we summon up before ourselves, +and grasp as the grounds of our confidence, and we humbly present before +Him as the motives, if we may so call them, for His action, His own +infinite being and His covenanted grace. + +Then, further, our psalm invokes '_my_ God.' That names implies in +itself, simply, the notion of power to be reverenced. But when we add to +it that little word '_my_,' we rise to the wonderful thought that the +creature can claim an individual relation to Him, and in some profound +sense a possession there. The tiny mica flake claims kindred with the +Alpine peak from which it fell. The poor, puny hand, that can grasp so +little of the material and temporal, can grasp all of God that it needs. + +Then, there is the other name, 'Lord,' which simply expresses +illimitable sovereignty, power over all circumstances, creatures, orders +of being, worlds, and cycles of ages. Wherever He is He rules, and +therefore my prayer can be answered by Him. When a child cries 'Mother!' +it is more than all other petitions. A dear name may be a caress when it +comes from loving lips. If we are the kind of Christians that we ought +to be, there will be nothing sweeter to us than to whisper to ourselves, +and to say to Him, 'Abba! Father!' See to it that your calling on the +Name of the Lord is not formal, but the true apprehension, by a +believing mind and a loving heart, of the ineffable and manifold +sweetnesses which are hived in His manifold names. + +II. Now, secondly, we have here a lesson as to what we should ask. + +The petitions of our text, of course, only cover a part of the whole +field of prayer. The Psalmist is praying in the midst of some unknown +trouble, and his petitions are manifold in form, though in substance, as +I have said, they may all be reduced to one. Let me run over them very +briefly. 'Bow down Thine ear and hear me.' That is not simply the +invocation of the omniscience of a God, but an appeal for loving, +attentive regard to the desires of His poor servant. The hearing is not +merely the perception in the divine mind of what the creature desires, +but it is the answer in fact, or the granting of the petition. The best +illustration of what the Psalmist desires here may be found in another +psalm, where another Psalmist tells us his experience and says, 'My cry +came unto His ears, and the earth shook and trembled.' You put a +spoonful of water into a hydraulic press at the one end, and you get a +force that squeezes tons together at the other. Here there is a poor, +thin stream of the voice of a sorrowful man at the one end, and there is +an earthquake at the other. That is what 'hearing' and 'bowing down the +ear' means. + +Then the prayers go on to three petitions, which may be all regarded as +diverse acts of deliverance or of help. 'Preserve my soul.' The word +expresses the guardianship with which a garrison keeps a fortress. It is +the Hebrew equivalent of the word employed by Paul--'The peace of God +shall _keep_ your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.' The thought is that +of a defenceless man or thing round which some strong protection is +cast. And the desire expressed by it is that in the midst of sorrow, +whatever it is, the soul may be guarded from evil. Then, the next +petition--'Save Thy servant'--goes a step further, and not only asks to +be kept safe in the midst of sorrows, but to be delivered out of them. +And then the next petition--'Be merciful unto me, O Lord!'--craves that +the favour which comes down to inferiors, and is bestowed upon those who +might deserve something far otherwise, may manifest itself, in such acts +of strengthening, or help, or deliverance, as divine wisdom may see fit. +And then the last petition is--'Rejoice the soul of Thy servant.' The +series begins with 'hearing,' passes through 'preserving,' 'saving,' +showing 'mercy,' and comes at last to 'rejoice the soul' that has been +so harassed and troubled. Gladness is God's purpose for us all; joy we +all have a right to claim from Him. It is the intended issue of every +sorrow, and it can only be had when we cleave to Him, and pass through +the troubles of life with continual dependence on and aspiration towards +Himself. + +So these are the petitions massed together, and out of them let me take +two or three lessons. First, then, let us learn to make all wishes and +annoyances material of prayer. This man was harassed by some trouble, +the nature of which we do not know; and although the latter portion of +his psalm rises into loftier regions of spiritual desire, here, in the +first part of it, he is wrestling with his afflicting circumstances, +whatever they were, and he has no hesitation in spreading them all out +before God and asking for His delivering help. Wishes that are not +turned into prayers irritate, disturb, unsettle. Wishes that are turned +into prayers are calmed and made blessed. Stanley and his men lived for +weeks upon a poisonous root, which, if eaten crude, brought all manner +of diseases, but, steeped in running water, had all the acrid juices +washed out of it, and became wholesome food. If you steep your wishes in +the stream of prayer the poison will pass out of them. Some of them will +be suppressed, all of them will be hallowed, and all of them will be +calmed. Troubles, great or small, should be turned into prayers. Breath +spent in sighs is wasted; turned into prayers it will swell our sails. +If a man does not pray 'without ceasing,' there is room for doubt +whether he ever prays at all. What would you think of a traveller who +had a valuable cordial of which he only tasted a drop in the morning and +another in the evening; or who had a sure staff on which to lean which +he only employed at distant intervals on the weary march, and that only +for a short time? Let us turn all that we want into petitions, and all +that annoys us let us spread before God. + +Learn, further, that earnest reiteration is not vain repetition. 'Use +not vain repetitions as the heathen do, for they think they shall be +heard for their much speaking,' said the Master. But the same Master +'went away from them and prayed the third time, using the same words.' +As long as we have not consciously received the blessing, it is no vain +reiteration if we renew our prayers that it may come upon our heads. The +man who asks for a thing once, and then gets up from his knees and goes +away, and does not notice whether he gets the answer or not, does not +pray. The man who truly desires anything from God cannot be satisfied +with one languid request for it. But as the heart contracts with a sense +of need, and expands with a faith in God's sufficiency, it will drive +the same blood of prayer over and over again through the same veins; and +life will be wholesome and strong. + +Then learn, further, to limit wishes and petitions within the bounds of +God's promises. The most of these supplications of our text may be found +in other parts of Scripture, as promises from God. Only so far as an +articulate divine word carries my faith has my faith the right to go. In +the crooked alleys of Venice there is a thin thread of red stone, inlaid +in the pavement or wall, which guides through all the devious turnings +to the Piazza, in the centre, where the great church stands. As long as +we have the red line of promise on our path, faith may follow it and +will come to the Temple. Where the line stops it is presumption, and not +faith, that takes up the running. God's promises are sunbeams flung down +upon us. True prayer catches them on its mirror, and signals them back +to God. We are emboldened to say, 'Bow down Thine ear!' because He has +said, 'I will hear.' We are encouraged to cry, 'Be merciful!' because we +have our foot upon the promise that He will be; and all that we can ask +of Him is, 'Do for us what Thou hast said; be to us what Thou art.' + +The final lesson is, Leave God to settle how He answers your prayer. The +Psalmist prayed for preservation, for safety, for joy; but he did not +venture to prescribe to God _how_ these blessings were to be ministered +to him. He does not ask that the trouble may be taken away. That is as +it may be; it may be better that it shall be left. But he asks that in +it he shall not be allowed to sink, and that, however the waves may run +high, they shall not be allowed to swamp his poor little cockle-shell of +a boat. This is the true inmost essence of prayer--not that we should +prescribe to Him how to answer our desires, but that we should leave all +that in His hands. The Apostle Paul said, in his last letter, with +triumphant confidence, that he knew that God would 'deliver him and save +him into His everlasting kingdom.' And he knew, at the same time, that +his course was ended, and that there was nothing for him now but the +crown. How was he 'saved into the kingdom' and 'delivered from the mouth +of the lion'? The sword that struck off the wearied head that had +thought so long for God's Church was the instrument of the deliverance +and the means of the salvation. For us it may be that a sharper sorrow +may be the answer to the prayer, 'Preserve Thy servant.' It may be that +God's 'bowing down His ear' and answering us when we cry shall be to +pass us through a mill that has finer rollers, to crush still more the +bruised corn. But the end and the meaning of it all will be to 'rejoice +the soul of the servant' with a deeper joy at last. + +III. Finally, mark the lesson which we have here as to the pleas that +are to be urged, or the conditions on which prayer is answered. + +'I am poor and needy,' or, as perhaps the words more accurately mean, +'afflicted and poor.' The first condition is the sense of need. God's +highest blessings cannot be given except to the men who know they want +them. The self-righteous man cannot receive the righteousness of Christ. +The man who has little or no consciousness of sin is not capable of +receiving pardon. God cannot put His fulness into our emptiness if we +conceit ourselves to be filled and in need of nothing. We must know +ourselves to be 'poor and naked and blind and miserable' ere He can make +us rich, and clothe us, and enlighten our eyes, and flood our souls with +His own gladness. Our needs are dumb appeals to Him; and in regard to +all outward and lower things, they bind Him to supply us, because they +themselves have been created by Him. He that hears the raven's croak +satisfies the necessities that He has ordained in man and beast. But, +for all the best blessings of His providence and of His love, the first +steps towards receiving them are the knowledge that we need them and the +desire that we should possess them. + +Then the Psalmist goes on to put another class of pleas derived from his +relation to God. These are mainly two--'I am holy,' and 'Thy servant +that trusteth in Thee.' Now, with regard to that first word 'holy,' +according to our modern understanding of the expression it by no means +sets forth the Psalmist's idea. It has an unpleasant smack of +self-righteousness, too, which is by no means to be found in the +original. But the word employed is a very remarkable and pregnant one. +It really carries with it, in germ, the great teaching of the Apostle +John. 'We love Him because He first loved us.' It means one who, being +loved and favoured by God, answers the divine love with his own love. +And the Psalmist is not pleading any righteousness of his own, but +declaring that he, touched by the divine love, answers that love, and +looks up; not as if thereby he deserved the response that he seeks, but +as knowing that it is impossible but that the waiting heart should thus +be blessed. They who love God are sure that the answer to their desires +will come fluttering down upon their heads, and fold its white wings and +nestle in their hearts. Christian people are a great deal too much +afraid of saying, 'I love God.' They rob themselves of much peace and +power thereby. We should be less chary of so saying if we thought more +about God's love to us, and poked less into our own conduct. + +Again, the Psalmist brings this plea--'Thy servant that trusteth in +Thee.' He does not say, 'I deserve to be answered because I trust,' but +'because I trust I am sure that I shall be answered'; for it is absurd +to suppose that God will look down from heaven on a soul that is +depending upon Him, and will let that soul's confidence be put to shame. +Dear friend! if your heart is resting upon God, be sure of this, that +anything is possible rather than that you should not get from Him the +blessings that you need. + +The Psalmist gathers together all his pleas which refer to himself into +two final clauses--'I cry unto Thee daily,' 'I lift up my soul unto +Thee'--which, taken together, express the constant effort of a devout +heart after communion with God. To withdraw my heart from the low levels +of earth, and to bear it up into communion with God, is the sure way to +get what I desire, because then God Himself will be my chief desire, and +'they who seek the Lord shall not want any good.' + +But the true and prevailing plea is not in our needs, desires, or +dispositions, but in God's own character, as revealed by His words and +acts, and grasped by our faith. Therefore the Psalmist ends by passing +from thoughts of self to thoughts of God, and builds at last on the sure +foundation which underlies all his other 'fors' and gives them all their +force--'For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in +mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.' + +Brethren! turn all your wishes and all your annoyances into prayers. If +a wish is not fit to be prayed about, it is not fit to be cherished. If +a care is too small to be made a prayer, it is too small to be made a +burden. Be frank with God as God is frank with you, and go to His +throne, keeping back nothing of your desires or of your troubles. To +carry them there will take the poison and the pain out of wasps' stings, +and out of else fatal wounds. We have a Name to trust to, tenderer and +deeper than those which evoked the Psalmist's triumphant confidence. Let +us see to it that, as the basis of our faith is firmer, our faith be +stronger than his. We have a plea to urge, more persuasive and mighty +than those which he pressed on God and gathered to his own heart. 'For +Christ's sake' includes all that he pled, and stretches beyond it. If we +come to God through Him who declares His name to us, we shall not draw +near to the Throne with self-willed desires, nor leave it with empty +hands. 'If ye ask anything in My Name, I will do it.' + + + + +CONTINUAL SUNSHINE + + + 'Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, + O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.'--PSALM lxxxix. 15. + +The Psalmist has just been setting forth, in sublime language, the +glories of the divine character--God's strength, His universal sway, the +justice and judgment which are the foundation of His Throne, the mercy +and truth which go as heralds before His face. A heathen singing of any +of his gods would have gone on to describe the form and features of the +god or goddess who came behind the heralds, but the Psalmist remembers +'Thou shalt not make unto thyself any ... likeness of God.' A sacred +reverence checks his song. He veils his face in his mantle while He whom +no man can see and live passes by. Then he breaks into rapturous +exclamations which are very prosaically and poorly represented by our +version. For the text is not a mere statement, as it is made to be by +reading 'Blessed is the people,' but it is a burst of adoring wonder, +and should be read, 'Oh! the blessedness of the people that know the +joyful sound.' + +Now, the force of this exclamation is increased if we observe that the +word that is rendered 'joyful sound' is the technical word for the +trumpet blast at Jewish feasts. The purpose of these blasts, like those +of the heralds at the coronation of a king, was to proclaim the presence +of God, the King of Israel, in the festival, as well as to express the +gladness of the worshippers. Thus the Psalmist, when he says, 'Blessed +is the people that know the joyful sound,' has no reference, as we +ordinarily take him to have, to the preaching of the Gospel, but to the +trumpet-blasts that proclaimed the present God and throbbed with the +gladness of the waiting worshippers. So that this exclamation is +equivalent to 'Oh! how blessed are the people who are sure that they +have God with them!' and who, being sure, bow before Him in loving +worship. It is to be further noticed that the subsequent words of the +text state the first element which it indicates of that blessedness of a +devout life, 'They shall walk, O Lord! in the light of Thy countenance.' + +I. We deal first with the meaning of this phrase. + +Of course, 'the light of Thy countenance' is a very obvious and natural +symbol for favour, complacency, goodwill on the part of Him that is +conceived of as looking on any one. We read, for instance, in reference +to a much lower subject in the Book of Proverbs, 'In the light of the +king's countenance is life, and his favour is as a cloud of the latter +rain.' Again we have, in the Levitical benediction, the phrase +accompanied in the parallel clauses by what is really an explanation of +it, 'The Lord cause His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto +thee.' So that the simple and obvious meaning of the words, 'the light +of Thy countenance,' is the favour and lovingkindness of God manifested +in that gracious Face which He turns to His servants. As for the other +chief word in the clause, 'to walk' is the equivalent throughout +Scripture for the conduct of the active life and daily conversation of a +man, and to walk in the light is simply to have the consciousness of the +divine Presence and the experience of the divine lovingkindness and +friendship as a road on which we travel our life's journey, or an +atmosphere round us in which all our activities are done and in which we +ever remain, as a diver in his bell, to keep evil and sin from us. + +There is only one more remark in the nature of explanation which I make, +and that is that the expression here for walking is cast in the original +into a form which grammarians call intensive, strengthening the simple +idea expressed by the word. We may express its force if we read, 'They +walk continually in the light of Thy countenance.' + +Is not that just a definition of the Christian life as an unbroken +realisation of the divine Presence, and an unbroken experience of the +lovingkindness and favour of God? Is not that religion in its truest, +simplest essence, in its purest expression? The people who are sure that +they have their King in their midst, and who feel that He is looking +down upon them with tender pity, with loving care, with nothing but +friendship and sweetness in His heart, these people, says the Psalmist, +are blessed. So much, then, for the meaning of the word. + +II. Consider the possibility of such a condition being ours. + +Can such a thing be? Is it possible for a man to go through life +carrying this atmosphere constantly with him? Can the continuity which, +as I remarked, is expressed by the original accurately rendered, be kept +up through an ordinary life that has all manner of work to do, or are we +only to 'hear the joyful sound,' now and then, at rare intervals, on set +occasions, answering to these ancient feasts? Which of the two is it to +be, dear brethren? There is no need whatever why any amount of hard +work, or outward occupations of the most secular character, or any +amount of distractions, should break for us the continuity of that +consciousness and of that experience. We may carry God with us wherever +we go, if only we remember that where we cannot carry Him with us we +ought not to go. We may carry Him with us into all the dusty roads of +life; we may always walk on the sunny side of the street if we like. We +may always bear our own sunshine with us. And although we are bound to +be diligent in business, and some of us have had to take a heavy lift of +a great deal of hard work, and much of it apparently standing in no sort +of relation to our religious life, yet for all that it is possible to +bend all to this one direction, and to make everything a means of +bringing us nearer to God and fuller of the conscious enjoyment of His +presence. And if we have not learned to do that with our daily work, +then our daily work is a curse to us. If we have allowed it to become so +absorbing or distracting as that it dims and darkens our sense of the +divine Presence, then it is time for us to see what is wrong in the +method or in the amount of work which is thus darkening our consciences. +I know it is hard, I know that an absolute attainment of such an ideal +is perhaps beyond us, but I know that we can approach--I was going to +say infinitely, but a better word is indefinitely--nearer it than any of +us have ever yet done. As the psalm goes on to say in the next clause, +it is possible for us to 'rejoice in His Name all the day.' Ay, even at +your tasks, and at your counters, and in your kitchens, and in my study, +it is possible for us; and if our hearts are what and where they ought +to be, the possibility will be realised. Earthly duty has no necessary +effect of veiling the consciousness of God. + +Nor is there any reason why our troubles, sorrows, losses, solitude +should darken that sunshine. I know that that is hard, too, perhaps +harder than the other. It is more difficult to have a sense of the +sunshine of the divine Presence shining through the clouds of disaster +and sorrow than even it is to have it shining through the dust that is +raised by traffic and secular occupation. But it _is_ possible. There is +nothing in all the sky so grand as clouds smitten by sunshine, and the +light is never so glorious as when it is flashed back from them and dyes +their piled bosoms with all celestial colours. There is no experience of +God's Presence so blessed as that of a man who, in the midst of sorrow, +has yet with him the assurance of the Father's friendship and favour and +love, and so can say 'as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.' This sunshine +shines in the foulest corners, and the most thunder-laden clouds only +flash back its glories in new forms. + +There is only one thing that breaks the continuity of that blessedness, +and that is our own sin. We carry our own weather with us, whether we +will or no, and we can bring winter into the middle of summer by +flinging God away from us, and summer into the midst of winter by +grappling Him to our hearts. There is only one thing that necessarily +breaks our sense of His Presence, and that is that our hearts should +turn away from His face. A man can work hard and yet feel that God is +with him. A man can be weighed upon by many distresses and yet feel that +God is with him and loves him; but a man cannot commit the least tiny +sin and love it, and feel at the same time that God is with him. The +heart is like a sensitive photographic plate, it registers the +variations in the sunshine; and the one hindrance that makes it +impossible for God's light to fall upon my soul with the assurance of +friendship and the sense of sweetness, is that I should be hugging some +evil to my heart. It is not the dusty highway of life nor the dark vales +of weeping and of the shadow of death through which we sometimes have to +pass that make it impossible for this sunlight to pour down upon us, but +it is our gathering round ourselves of the poisonous mists of sin +through which that light cannot pierce; or if it pierce, pierces +transformed and robbed of all its beauty. + +III. Let me note next the blessedness which draws out the Psalmist's +rapturous exclamation. + +The same phrase is employed in one of the other psalms, which, I think, +bears in its contents the confirmation of the attribution of it to +David. When he was fleeing before his rebellious son, at the very lowest +ebb of his fortunes, away on the uplands of Moab, a discrowned king, a +fugitive in danger of death at every moment, he sang a psalm in which +these words occur: 'There be many that say, Who will show us any good?' +'Lord, lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us'; and then follows, +'Thou hast put gladness into my heart more than when their corn and wine +abound.' The speech of the many, 'Who will show us any good?' is +contrasted with the prayer of the one, 'Lord, lift Thou up the light of +Thy countenance upon us.' That is blessedness. It is the only thing that +makes the heart to be at rest. It is the only thing that makes life +truly worth living, the only thing that brings sweetness which has no +after taint of bitterness and breeds no fear of its passing away. To +have that unsetting sunshine streaming down upon my open heart, and to +carry about with me whithersoever I go, like some melody from hidden +singers sounding in my ears, the Name and the Love of my Father +God--that and that only, brother, is true rest and abiding blessedness. +There are many other joys far more turbulent, more poignant, but they +all pass. Many of them leave a nauseous taste in the mouth when they are +swallowed; all of them leave us the poorer for having had them and +having them no more. For one who is not a Christian I do not know that +it _is_ + + 'Better to have loved and lost + Than never to have loved at all.' + +But for those to whom God's Face is as a Sun, life in all its +possibilities is blessed; and there is no blessedness besides. So let us +keep near Him, 'walking in the light,' in our changeful days, 'as He is +in the light' in His essential and unalterable being; and that light +will be to us all which it is taken in Scripture to symbolise--knowledge +and joy and purity; and in us, too, there will be 'no darkness at all.' + +But there is one last word that I must say, and that is that a possible +terror is intertwined with this blessedness. The next psalm to this +says, with a kind of tremulous awe in the Psalmist's voice: 'Thou hast +set our iniquities before Thee, our secret sins in the light of Thy +countenance.' In that sense all of us, good and bad, lovers of God and +those that are careless about Him, walk all the day long in the light of +His face, and He sees and marks all our else hidden evil. It needs +something more than any of us can do to make the thought that we do +stand in the full glaring of that great searchlight, not turned +occasionally but focussed steadily on us individually, a joy and a +blessing to us. And what we need is offered us when we read, 'His +countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, and I fell at His +feet as dead. And He laid His hand upon me and said, Fear not! I am He +that liveth and was dead; and behold! I am alive for ever more.' If we +put our poor trust in the Eternal Light that was manifest in Christ, +then we shall walk in the sunshine of His face on earth, and that lamp +will burn for us in the darkness of the grave and lead us at last into +the ever-blazing centre of the Sun itself. + + + + +THE CRY OF THE MORTAL TO THE UNDYING + + + 'Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish Thou + the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish + Thou it.--PSALM xc. 17. + +If any reliance is to be placed upon the superscription of this psalm, +it is one of the oldest, as it certainly is of the grandest, pieces of +religious poetry in the world. It is said to be 'A prayer of Moses, the +man of God,' and whether that be historically true or no, the tone of +the psalm naturally suggests the great lawgiver, whose special task it +was to write deep upon the conscience of the Jewish people the thought +of the wages of sin as being death. + +Hence the sombre magnificence and sad music of the psalm, which +contemplates a thousand generations in succession as sliding away into +the dreadful past, and sinking as beneath a flood. This thought of the +fleeting years, dashed and troubled by many a sin, and by the righteous +retribution of God, sent the Psalmist to his knees, and he found the +only refuge from it in these prayers. These two petitions of our text, +the closing words of the psalm, are the cry forced from a heart that has +dared to look Death in the eyes, and has discovered that the world after +all is a place of graves. + +'Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish Thou the +work of our hands upon us.' There are two thoughts there--the cry of the +mortal for the beauty of the Eternal; and the cry of the worker in a +perishable world for the perpetuity of his work. Look at these two +thoughts briefly. + +I. We have here, first, the yearning and longing cry of the mortal for +the beauty of the Eternal. + +The word translated 'beauty' in my text is, like the Greek equivalent in +the New Testament, and like the English word 'grace,' which corresponds +to them both susceptible of a double meaning. 'Grace' means both +_kindness_ and _loveliness_, or, as we might distinguish both +graciousness and gracefulness. And that double idea is inherent in the +word, as it is inherent in the attribute of God to which it refers. For +that twofold meaning of the one word suggests the truth that God's +lovingkindness and communicating mercy _is_ His beauty, and that the +fairest thing about Him, notwithstanding the splendours that surround +His character, and the flashing lights that come from His many-sided +glory, is that He loves and pities and gives Himself. God is all fair, +but the central and substantial beauty of the divine nature is that it +is a stooping nature, which bows to weak and unworthy souls, and on them +pours out the full abundance of its manifold gifts. So the 'beauty of +the Lord' means, by no quibble or quirk, but by reason of the essential +loveliness of His lovingkindness, both God's loveliness and God's +goodness; God's graciousness and God's gracefulness (if I may use such a +word). + +The prayer of the Psalmist that this beauty may be _upon_ us conceives +of it as given to us from above and as coming floating down from heaven, +like that white Dove that fell upon Christ's head, fair and meek, gentle +and lovely, and resting on our anointed heads, like a diadem and an +aureole of glory. + +Now that communicating graciousness, with its large gifts and its +resulting beauty, is the one thing that we need in view of mortality and +sorrow and change and trouble. The psalm speaks about 'all our years' +being 'passed away in Thy wrath,' about the very inmost recesses of our +secret unworthiness being turned inside out, and made to look blacker +than ever when the bright sunshine of His face falls upon them. From +that thought of God's wrath and omniscience the poet turns, as we must +turn, to the other thought of His gentle longsuffering, of His +forbearing love, of His infinite pity, of His communicating mercy. As a +support in view both of our dreary and yet short years, and our certain +mortality, and in the contemplation of the evils within and suffering +from without, that harass us all, there is but one thing for us to +do--namely, to fling ourselves into the arms of God, and in the spirit +of this great petition, to ask that upon us there may fall the dewy +benediction of His gentle beauty. + +That longing is meant to be kindled in our hearts by all the discipline +of life. Life is not worth living unless it does that for us; and there +is no value nor meaning either in our joys or in our sorrows, unless +both the one and the other send us to Him. Our gladness and our +disappointments, our hopes fulfilled and our hopes dissipated and +unanswered are but, as it were, the two wings by which, on either side, +our spirits are to be lifted to God. The solemn pathos of the earlier +portion of this psalm--the funeral march of generations--leads up to the +prayerful confidence of these closing petitions, in which the sadness of +the minor key in which it began has passed into a brighter strain. The +thought of the fleeting years swept away as with a flood, and of the +generations that blossom for a day and are mown down and wither when +their swift night falls, is saddening and paralysing unless it suggests +by contrast the thought of Him who, Himself unmoved, moves the rolling +years, and is the dwelling-place of each succeeding generation. Such +contemplations are wholesome and religious only when they drive us to +the eternal God, that in Him we may find the stable foundation which +imparts its own perpetuity to every life built upon it. We have +experienced so many things in vain, and we are of the 'fools' that, +being 'brayed in a mortar,' are only brayed fools after all, unless +life, with its sorrows and its changes, has blown us, as with a +hurricane, right into the centre of rest, and unless its sorrows and +changes have taught us this as the one aspiration of our souls: 'Let the +beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,' and then, let what may come, +come, let what can pass, pass, we shall have all that we need for life +and peace. + +And then, note further, that this gracious gentleness and +long-suffering, giving mercy of God, when it comes down upon a man, +makes him, too, beautiful with a reflected beauty. If the beauty of the +Lord our God be upon us, it will cover over our foulness and deformity. +For whosoever possesses in any real fashion God's great mercy will have +his spirit moulded into the likeness of that mercy. We cannot have it +without reflecting it, we cannot possess it without being assimilated to +it. Therefore, to have the grace of God makes us both gracious and +graceful. And the true refining influence for a character is that into +it there shall come the gift of that endless pity and patient love, +which will transfigure us into some faint likeness of itself, so that we +shall walk among men, able, in some poor measure, after the manner of +our Master, to say, 'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' He said +it in a sense and in a measure which we cannot reach, but the +assimilation to and reflection of the divine character is our aim, or +ought to be, if we are Christians. 'Let the beauty of the Lord our God +be upon us,' and 'change us into the same image from glory to glory.' + +II. We have here the cry of the worker in a fleeting world for the +perpetuity of his work. + +'Establish,' or make firm, 'the work of our hands upon us, yea the work +of our hands establish Thou it.' The thought that everything is passing +away so swiftly and inevitably, as the earlier part of the psalm +suggests, might lead a man to say, 'What is the use of my doing +anything? I may just as well sit down here, and let things slide, if +they are all going to be swallowed up in the black bottomless gulf of +forgetfulness.' The contemplation has actually produced two opposite +effects, 'Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die,' is quite as fair +an inference from the fact as is 'Awake to righteousness and sin not,' +if the fact itself only be taken into account. There is nothing +religious in the clearest conviction of mortality, if it stands alone. +It may be the ally of profligate and cynical sensuality quite as easily +as it may be the preacher of asceticism. It may make men inactive, from +their sense of the insignificant and fleeting nature of all human works, +or it may stimulate to intensest effort, from the thought, 'I must work +the works of Him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh.' All +depends on whether we link the conviction of mortality with that of +eternity, and think of our perishable selves as in relationship with the +unchanging God. + +This prayer expresses a deep longing, natural to all men, and which yet +seems incompatible with the stern facts of mortality and decay. We +should all like to have our work exempted from the common lot. What +pathetically futile attempts to secure this are pyramids, and +rock-inscriptions, and storied tombs, and posthumous memoirs, and rich +men's wills! Why should any of us expect that the laws of nature should +be suspended for our benefit, and our work made lasting while everything +beside changes like the shadows of the clouds? Is there any way by which +such exceptional permanence can be secured for our poor deeds? Yes, +certainly. Let us commit them to God, praying this prayer, 'Establish +Thou the work of our hands upon us.' + +Our work will be established if it is His work. This prayer in our text +follows another prayer (verse 16)--namely, 'Let _Thy_ work appear unto +Thy servants.' That is to say, My work will be perpetual when the work +of my hands is God's work done through me. When you bring your wills +into harmony with God's will, and so all your effort, even about the +little things of daily life, is in consonance with His will, and in the +line of His purpose, then your work will stand. If otherwise, it will be +like some slow-moving and frail carriage going in the one direction and +meeting an express train thundering in the other. When the crash comes, +the opposing motion of the weaker will be stopped, reversed, and the +frail thing will be smashed to atoms. So, all work which is man's and +not God's will sooner or later be reduced to impotence and either +annihilated or reversed, and made to run in the opposite direction. But +if our work runs parallel with God's, then the rushing impetus of His +work will catch up our little deeds into the swiftness of its own +motion, and will carry them along with itself, as a railway train will +lift straws and bits of paper that are lying by the rails, and give them +motion for a while. If my will runs in the line of His, and if the work +of my hands is 'Thy work,' it is not in vain that we shall cry +'Establish it upon us,' for it will last as long as He does. + +In like manner, all work will be perpetual that is done with 'the beauty +of the Lord our God' upon the doers of it. Whosoever has that grace in +his heart, whosoever is in contact with the communicating mercy of God, +and has had his character in some measure refined and ennobled and +beautified by possession thereof, will do work that has in it the +element of perpetuity. + +And our work will stand if we quietly leave it in His hands. Quietly do +it to Him, never mind about results, but look after motives. You cannot +influence results, let God look after them; you can influence motives. +Be sure that they are right, and if they are, the work will be eternal. + +'Eternal? What do you mean by eternal? how can a man's work be that?' +Part of the answer is that it may be made permanent in its issues by +being taken up into the great whole of God's working through His +servants, which results at last in the establishment of His eternal +kingdom. Just as a drop of water that falls upon the moor finds its way +into the brook, and goes down the glen and on into the river, and then +into the sea, and is there, though undistinguishable, so in the great +summing up of everything at the end, the tiniest deed that was done for +God, though it was done far away up amongst the mountain solitudes where +no eye saw, shall live and be represented, in its effects on others and +in its glad issues to the doer. + +In the highest fashion the Psalmist's cry for the perpetuity of the +fleeting deeds of dying generations will be answered in that region in +which his dimmer eye saw little but the sullen flood that swept away +youth and strength and wisdom, but in which we can see the solid land +beyond the river, and the happy company who rejoice with the joy of +harvest, and bear with them the sheaves, whereof the seed was sown on +this bank, in tears and fears. 'Blessed are the dead that die in the +Lord. Their works do follow them.' 'The world passeth away, and the +fashion thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' + + + + +THE SHELTERING WING + + + 'He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt + thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.' + --PSALM xci. 4. + +We remember the magnificent image in Moses' song, of God's protection +and guidance as that of the eagle who stirred up his nest, and hovered +over the young with his wings, and bore them on his pinions. That +passage may possibly have touched the imagination of this psalmist, when +he here employs the same general metaphor, but with a distinct and +significant difference in its application. In the former image the main +idea is that of training and sustaining. Here the main idea is that of +protection and fostering. _On_ the wing and _under_ the wing suggest +entirely different notions, and both need to be taken into account in +order to get the many-sided beauties and promises of these great +sayings. Now there seems to me here to be a very distinct triad of +thoughts. There is the covering wing; there is the flight to its +protection; and there is the warrant for that flight. 'He shall cover +thee with His pinions'; that is the divine act. 'Under His wings shalt +thou trust'; that is the human condition. 'His truth shall be thy shield +and buckler'; that is the divine manifestation which makes the human +condition possible. + +I. A word then, first, about the covering wing. + +Now, the main idea in this image is, as I have suggested, that of the +expanded pinion, beneath the shelter of which the callow young lie, and +are guarded. Whatever kites may be in the sky, whatever stoats and +weasels may be in the hedges, the brood are safe there. The image +suggests not only the thought of protection but those of fostering, +downy warmth, peaceful proximity to a heart that throbs with parental +love, and a multitude of other happy privileges realised by those who +nestle beneath that wing. But while these subsidiary ideas are not to be +lost sight of, the promise of protection is to be kept prominent, as +that chiefly intended by the Psalmist. + +This psalm rings throughout with the truth that a man who dwells 'in the +secret place of the Most High' has absolute immunity from all sorts of +evil; and there are two regions in which that immunity, secured by being +under the shadow of the Almighty, is exemplified here. The one is that +of outward dangers, the other is that of temptation to sin and of what +we may call spiritual foes. Now, these two regions and departments in +which the Christian man does realise, in the measure of his faith, the +divine protection, exhibit that protection as secured in two entirely +different ways. + +The triumphant assurances of this psalm, 'There shall no evil befall +thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling,'--'the pestilence +shall smite thousands and ten thousands beside thee, but not come nigh +thee,'--seem to be entirely contradicted by experience which testifies +that 'there is one event to the evil and the good,' and that, in +epidemics or other widespread disasters, we all, the good and the bad, +God-fearers and God-blasphemers, do fare alike, and that the conditions +of exemption from physical evil are physical and not spiritual. It is of +no use trying to persuade ourselves that that is not so. We shall +understand God's dealings with us, and get to the very throbbing heart +of such promises as these in this psalm far better, if we start from the +certainty that whatever it means it does _not_ mean that, with regard to +external calamities and disasters, we are going to be God's petted +children, or to be saved from the things that fall upon other people. +No! no! we have to go a great deal deeper than that. If we have felt a +difficulty, as I suppose we all have sometimes, and are ready to say +with the half-despondent Psalmist, 'My feet were almost gone, and my +steps had well-nigh slipped,' when we see what we think the complicated +mysteries of divine providence in this world, we have to come to the +belief that the evil that is in the evil will never come near a man +sheltered beneath God's wing. The physical external event may be +entirely the same to him as to another who is not covered with His +feathers. Here are two partners in a business, the one a Christian man, +and the other is not. A common disaster overwhelms them. They become +bankrupts. Is insolvency the same to the one as it is to the other? Here +are two men on board a ship, the one putting his trust in God, the other +thinking it all nonsense to trust anything but himself. They are both +drowned. Is drowning the same to the two? As their corpses lie side by +side among the ooze, with the weeds over them, and the shell-fish at +them, you may say of the one, but only of the one, 'There shall no evil +befall thee, neither any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' + +For the protection that is granted to faith is only to be understood by +faith. It is deliverance from the evil in the evil which vindicates as +no exaggeration, nor as merely an experience and a promise peculiar to +the old theocracy of Israel, but not now realised, the grand sayings of +this text. The poison is all wiped off the arrow by that divine +protection. It may still wound but it does not putrefy the flesh. The +sewage water comes down, but it passes into the filtering bed, and is +disinfected and cleansed before it is permitted to flow over our fields. + +And so, brethren! if any of you are finding that the psalm is not +outwardly true, and that through the covering wing the storm of hail has +come and beaten you down, do not suppose that that in the slightest +degree impinges upon the reality and truthfulness of this great promise, +'He shall cover thee with His feathers.' Anything that has come through +_them_ is manifestly not an 'evil.' 'Who is he that will harm you if ye +be followers of that which is good?' 'If God be for us who can be +against us?' Not what the world calls, and our wrung hearts feel that it +rightly calls, 'sorrows' and 'afflictions,'--these all work for our +good, and protection consists, not in averting the blows, but in +changing their character. + +Then, there is another region far higher, in which this promise of my +text is absolutely true--that is, in the region of spiritual defence. +For no man who lies under the shadow of God, and has his heart filled +with the continual consciousness of that Presence, is likely to fall +before the assaults of evil that tempt him away from God; and the +defence which He gives in that region is yet more magnificently +impregnable than the defence which He gives against external evils. For, +as the New Testament teaches us, we are kept from sin, not by any +outward breastplate or armour, nor even by the divine wing lying above +us to cover us, but by the indwelling Christ in our hearts. His Spirit +within us makes us 'free from the law of sin and death,' and conquerors +over all temptations. + +I say not a word about all the other beautiful and pathetic associations +which are connected with this emblem of the covering wing, sweet and +inexhaustible as it is, but I simply leave with you the two thoughts +that I have dwelt upon, of the twofold manner of that divine protection. + +II. And now a word, in the second place, about the flight of the +shelterless to the shelter. + +The word which is rendered in our Authorised Version, 'shalt thou +trust,' is, like all Hebrew words for mental and spiritual emotions and +actions, strongly metaphorical. It might have been better to retain its +literal meaning here instead of substituting the abstract word 'trust.' +That is to say, it would have been an improvement if we had read with +the Revised Version, not, 'under His wings shalt thou trust,' but 'under +His wings shalt thou take refuge.' For that is the idea which is really +conveyed; and in many of the psalms, if you will remember, the same +metaphor is employed. 'Hide me beneath the shadow of Thy wings'; +'Beneath Thy wings will I take refuge until calamities are overpast'; +and the like. Many such passages will, no doubt, occur to your memories. + +But what I wish to signalise is just this, that in this emblem of flying +into a refuge from impending perils we get a far more vivid conception, +and a far more useful one, as it seems to me, of what Christian faith +really is than we derive from many learned volumes and much theological +hair-splitting. 'Under His wings shalt thou flee for refuge.' Is not +that a vivid, intense, picturesque, but most illuminative way of telling +us what is the very essence, and what is the urgency, and what is the +worth, of what we call faith? The Old Testament is full of the +teaching--which is masked to ordinary readers, but is the same teaching +as the New Testament is confessedly full of--of the necessity of faith +as the one bond that binds men to God. If only our translators had +wisely determined upon a uniform rendering in Old and New Testament of +words that are synonymous, the reader would have seen what is often now +reserved for the student, that all these sayings in the Old Testament +about 'trusting in God' run on all fours with 'Believe on the Lord Jesus +Christ and thou shalt be saved.' + +But just mark what comes out of that metaphor; that 'trust,' the faith +which unites with God, and brings a man beneath the shadow of His wings, +is nothing more or less than the flying into the refuge that is provided +for us. Does that not speak to us of the urgency of the case? Does that +not speak to us eloquently of the perils which environ us? Does it not +speak to us of the necessity of swift flight, with all the powers of our +will? Is the faith which is a flying into a refuge fairly described as +an intellectual act of believing in a testimony? Surely it is something +a great deal more than that. A man out in the plain, with the avenger of +blood, hot-breathed and bloody-minded, behind him might believe, as much +as he liked, that there would be safety within the walls of the City of +Refuge, but unless he took to his heels without loss of time, the spear +would be in his back before he knew where he was. There are many men who +know all about the security of the refuge, and believe it utterly, but +never run for it; and so never get into it. Faith is the gathering up of +the whole powers of my nature to fling myself into the asylum, to cast +myself into God's arms, to take shelter beneath the shadow of His wings. +And unless a man does that, and swiftly, he is exposed to every bird of +prey in the sky, and to every beast of prey lurking in wait for him. + +The metaphor tells us, too, what are the limits and the worth of faith. +A man is not saved because he believes that he is saved, but because by +believing he lays hold of the salvation. It is not the flight that is +impregnable, and makes those behind its strong bulwarks secure. Not my +outstretched hand, but the Hand that my hand grasps, is what holds me +up. The power of faith is but that it brings me into contact with God, +and sets me behind the seven-fold bastions of the Almighty protection. + +So, brethren! another consideration comes out of this clause: 'Under His +wings shalt thou trust.' If you do not flee for refuge to that wing, it +is of no use to you, however expanded it is, however soft and downy its +underside, however sure its protection. You remember the passage where +our Lord uses the same venerable figure with modifications, and says: +'How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen +doth gather her brood under her wings, _and ye would not_.' So our +'would not' thwarts Christ's 'would.' Flight to the refuge is the +condition of being saved. How can a man get shelter by any other way +than by running to the shelter? The wing is expanded; it is for us to +say whether we will 'flee for refuge to the hope set before us.' + +III. Now, lastly, the warrant for this flight. + +'His truth shall be thy shield.' Now, 'truth' here does not mean the +body of revealed words, which are often called God's truth, but it +describes a certain characteristic of the divine nature. And if, instead +of 'truth,' we read the good old English word 'troth,' we should be a +great deal nearer understanding what the Psalmist meant. Or if 'troth' +is archaic, and conveys little meaning to us; suppose we substitute a +somewhat longer word, of the same meaning, and say, 'His faithfulness +shall be thy shield.' You cannot trust a God that has not given you an +inkling of His character or disposition, but if He has spoken, then you +'know where to have him.' That is just what the Psalmist means. How can +a man be encouraged to fly into a refuge, unless he is absolutely sure +that there is an entrance for him into it, and that, entering, he is +safe? And that security is provided in the great thought of God's troth. +'Thy faithfulness is like the great mountains.' 'Who is like unto Thee, +O Lord! or to Thy faithfulness round about Thee?' That faithfulness +shall be our 'shield,' not a tiny targe that a man could bear upon his +left arm; but the word means the large shield, planted in the ground in +front of the soldier, covering him, however hot the fight, and circling +him around, like a wall of iron. + +God is 'faithful' to all the obligations under which He has come by +making us. That is what one of the New Testament writers tells us, when +he speaks of Him as 'a faithful Creator.' Then, if He has put desires +into our hearts, be sure that somewhere there is their satisfaction; and +if He has given us needs, be sure that in Him there is the supply; and +if He has lodged in us aspirations which make us restless, be sure that +if we will turn them to Him, they will be satisfied and we shall be at +rest. 'God never sends mouths but He sends meat to fill them.' 'He +remembers our frame,' and measures His dealings accordingly. When He +made me, He bound Himself to make it possible that I should be blessed +for ever; and He has done it. + +God is faithful to His word, according to that great saying in the +Epistle to the Hebrews, where the writer tells us that by 'God's +counsel,' and 'God's oath,' 'two immutable things,' we might have +'strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope +set before us.' God is faithful to His own past. The more He has done +the more He will do. 'Thou hast been my Help; leave me not, neither +forsake me.' Therein we present a plea which God Himself will honour. +And He is faithful to His own past in a yet wider sense. For all the +revelations of His love and of His grace in times that are gone, though +they might be miraculous in their form, are permanent in their essence. +So one of the Psalmists, hundreds of years after the time that Israel +was led through the wilderness, sang: 'There did _we_'--of this present +generation--'rejoice in Him.' What has been, is, and will be, for Thou +art 'the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.' We have not a God +that lurks in darkness, but one that has come into the light. We have to +run, not into a Refuge that is built upon a 'perhaps,' but upon 'Verily, +verily! I say unto thee.' Let us build rock upon Rock, and let our faith +correspond to the faithfulness of Him that has promised. + + + + +THE HABITATION OF THE SOUL + + + 'Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most + High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall + any plague come nigh thy dwelling.'--PSALM xci. 9, 10. + +It requires a good deal of piecing to make out from the Hebrew the +translation of our Authorised Version here. The simple, literal +rendering of the first words of these verses is, 'Surely, Thou, O Lord! +art my Refuge'; and I do not suppose that any of the expedients which +have been adopted to modify that translation would have been adopted, +but that these words seem to cut in two the long series of rich promises +and blessings which occupy the rest of the psalm. But it is precisely +this interruption of the flow of the promises which puts us on the right +track for understanding the words in question, because it leads us to +take them as the voice of the devout man, to whom the promises are +addressed, responding to them by the expression of his own faith. + +The Revised Version is much better here than our Authorised Version, for +it has recognised this breach of continuity of sequence in the promises, +and translated as I have suggested; making the first words of my text, +'Thou, O Lord! art my Refuge,' the voice of one singer, and 'Because +thou hast made the Most High thy habitation, there shall no evil befall +thee, neither shall any evil come nigh thy dwelling,' the voice of +another. + +Whether or no it be that in the Liturgical service of the Temple this +psalm was sung by two choirs which answered one another, does not matter +for our purpose. Whether or no we regard the first clause as the voice +of the Psalmist speaking to God, and the other as the same man speaking +to himself, does not matter. The point is that, first, there is an +exclamation of personal faith, and that then that is followed and +answered, as it were, by the further promise of continual blessings. One +voice says, 'Thou, Lord! art my Refuge,' and then another voice--not +God's, because that speaks in majesty at the end of the psalm--replies +to that burst of confidence, 'Thou hast made the Lord thy habitation' +(as thou hast done by this confession of faith), 'there shall no evil +come nigh thy dwelling.' + +I. We have here the cry of the devout soul. + +I observed that it seems to cut in two the stream of promised blessings, +and that fact is significant. The psalm begins with the deep truth that +'He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under +the shadow of the Almighty.' Then a single voice speaks, 'I will say of +the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God, in Him will I trust.' +Then that voice, which thus responds to the general statement of the +first verse, is answered by a stream of promises. The first part of our +text comes in as the second speech of the same voice, repeating +substantially the same thing as it said at first. + +Now, notice that this cry of the soul, recognising God as its Asylum and +Home, comes in response to a revelation of God's blessing, and to large +words of promise. There is no true refuge nor any peace and rest for a +man unless in grasping the articulate word of God, and building his +assurance upon that. Anything else is not confidence, but folly; +anything else is building upon sand, and not upon the Rock. If I trust +my own or my brother's conception of the divine nature, if I build upon +any thoughts of my own, I am building upon what will yield and give. For +all peaceful casting of my soul into the arms of God there must be, +first, a plain stretching out of the hands of God to catch me when I +drop. So the words of my text, 'Thou art my Refuge,' are the best answer +of the devout soul to the plain words of divine promise. How abundant +these are we all know, how full of manifold insight and adaptation to +our circumstances and our nature we may all experience, if we care to +prove them. + +But let us be sure that we _are_ hearkening to the voice with which He +speaks through our daily circumstances as well as by the unmistakable +revelation of His will and heart in Jesus Christ. And then let us be +sure that no word of His, that comes fluttering down from the heavens, +meaning a benediction and enclosing a promise, falls at our feet +ungathered and unregarded, or is trodden into the dust by our careless +heels. The manna lies all about us; let us see that we gather it. 'When +Thou saidst, Seek ye My Face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy Face, Lord, +will I seek.' When Thou saidst, 'I will be thy Strength and thy +Righteousness,' have I said, 'Surely, O Jehovah! Thou art my Refuge'? +Turn His promises into your creed, and whatever He has declared in the +sweet thunder of His voice, loud as the voice of many waters, and +melodious as 'harpers harping with their harps,' do you take for your +profession of faith in the faithful promises of your God. + +Still further, this cry of the devout soul suggests to me that our +response ought to be the establishment of a close personal relation +between us and God. 'Thou, O Lord! art my Refuge.' The Psalmist did not +content himself with saying 'Lord! Thou hast been _our_ Dwelling-place +in all generations,' or as one of the other psalmists has it, 'God is +_our_ Refuge and _our_ Strength.' That thought was blessed, but it was +not enough for the Psalmist's present need, and it is never enough for +the deepest necessities of any soul. We must isolate ourselves and +stand, God and we, alone together--at heart-grips--we grasping His hand, +and He giving Himself to us--if the promises which are sent down into +the world for all who will make them theirs can become ours. They are +made payable to your order; you must put your name on the back before +you get the proceeds. There must be what our good old Puritan +forefathers used to call, in somewhat hard language, 'the appropriating +act of faith,' in order that God's richest blessings may be of any use +to us. Put out your hand to grasp them, and say, 'Mine,' not 'Ours.' The +thought of others as sharing in them will come afterwards, for he who +has once realised the absolute isolation of the soul and has been alone +with God, and in solitude has taken God's gifts as his very own, is he +who will feel fellowship and brotherhood with all who are partakers of +like precious faith and blessings. The 'ours' will come; but you must +begin with the 'mine'--'_my_ Lord and _my_ God.' 'He loved _me_, and +gave Himself for _me_.' + +Just as when the Israelites gathered on the banks of the Red Sea, and +Miriam and the maidens came out with songs and timbrels, though their +hearts throbbed with joy, and music rang from their lips for national +deliverance, their hymn made the whole deliverance the property of each, +and each of the chorus sang, 'The Lord is my Strength and my Song, He +also is become my Salvation,' so we must individualise the common +blessing. Every poor soul has a right to the whole of God, and unless a +man claims all the divine nature as his, he has little chance of +possessing the promised blessings. The response of the individual to the +worldwide promises and revelations of the Father is, 'Thou, O Lord! art +my Refuge.' + +Further, note how this cry of the devout soul recognises God as He to +whom we must go because we need a refuge. The word 'refuge' here gives +the picture of some stronghold, or fortified place, in which men may +find security from all sorts of dangers, invasions by surrounding foes, +storm and tempest, rising flood, or anything else that threatens. Only +he who knows himself to be in danger bethinks himself of a refuge. It is +only when we know our danger and defencelessness that God, as the Refuge +of our souls, becomes precious to us. So, underlying, and an essential +part of, all our confidence in God, is the clear recognition of our own +necessity. The sense of our own emptiness must precede our grasp of His +fulness. The conviction of our own insufficiency and sinfulness must +precede our casting ourselves on His mercy and righteousness. In all +regions the consciousness of human want must go before the recognition +of the divine supply. + +II. Now, note the still more abundant answer which that cry evokes. + +I said that the words on which I have been commenting thus far, seem to +break in two the continuity of the stream of blessings and promises. But +there may be observed a certain distinction of tone between those +promises which precede and those which follow the cry. Those that follow +have a certain elevation and depth, completeness and fulness, beyond +those that precede. This enhancing of the promises, following on the +faithful grasp of previous promises, suggests the thought that, when God +is giving, and His servant thankfully accepts and garners up His gifts, +He opens His hand wider and gives more. When He pours His rain upon the +unthankful and the evil, and they let the precious, fertilising drops +run to waste, there comes after a while a diminution of the blessing; +but they who store in patient and thankful hearts the faithful promises +of God, have taken a sure way to make His gifts still larger and His +promises still sweeter, and their fulfilment more faithful and precious. + +But now notice the remarkable language in which this answer is couched. +'Thou hast made the Most High thy Habitation, there shall no evil befall +thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' + +Did you ever notice that there are two dwelling-places spoken of in this +verse? 'Thou hast made the Most High thy Habitation'; 'There shall no +plague come nigh thy dwelling.' The reference of the latter word to the +former one is even more striking if you observe that, literally +translated, as in the Revised Version, it means a particular kind of +abode--namely, a tent. 'Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation.' +The same word is employed in the 90th Psalm: 'Lord, Thou hast been our +Dwelling-place in all generations.' Beside that venerable and ancient +abode, that has stood fresh, strong, incorruptible, and unaffected by +the lapse of millenniums, there stands the little transitory canvas tent +in which our earthly lives are spent. We have two dwelling-places. By +the body we are brought into connection with this frail, evanescent, +illusory outer world, and we try to make our homes out of shifting +cloud-wrack, and dream that we can compel mutability to become +immutable, that we may dwell secure. But fate is too strong for us, and +although we say that we will make our nest in the rocks, and shall never +be moved, the home that is visible and linked with the material passes +and melts as a cloud. We need a better dwelling-place than earth and +that which holds to earth. We have God Himself for our true Home. Never +mind what becomes of the tent, as long as the mansion stands firm. Do +not let us be saddened, though we know that it is canvas, and that the +walls will soon rot and must some day be folded up and borne away, if we +have the Rock of Ages for our dwelling-place. + +Let us abide in the Eternal God by the devotion of our hearts, by the +affiance of our faith, by the submission of our wills, by the aspiration +of our yearnings, by the conformity of our conduct to His will. Let us +abide in the Eternal God, that 'when the earthly house of this +tabernacle is dissolved,' we may enter into two buildings 'eternal in +the heavens'--the one the spiritual body which knows no corruption, and +the other the bosom of the Eternal God Himself. 'Because thou hast made +Him thy Habitation,' that Dwelling shall suffer no evil to come near it +or its tenant. + +Still further, notice the scope of this great promise. I suppose there +is some reference in the form of it to the old story of Israel's +exemption from the Egyptian plagues, and a hint that that might be taken +as a parable and prophetic picture of what will be true about every man +who puts his trust in God. But the wide scope and the paradoxical +completeness of the promise itself, instead of being a difficulty, point +the way to its true interpretation. 'There shall no plague come nigh thy +dwelling'--and yet we are smitten down by all the woes that afflict +humanity. 'No evil shall befall thee'--and yet 'all the ills that flesh +is heir to' are dealt out sometimes with a more liberal hand to them who +abide in God than to them who dwell only in the tent upon earth. What +then? Is God true, or is He not? Did this psalmist mean to promise the +very questionable blessing of escape from all the good of the discipline +of sorrow? Is it true, in the unconditional sense in which it is often +asserted, that 'prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament, and +adversity of the New'? I think not, and I am sure that this psalmist, +when he said, 'there shall no evil befall thee, nor any plague come nigh +thy dwelling,' was thinking exactly the same thing which Paul had in his +mind when he said, 'All things work together for good to them that love +God, to them that are called according to His purpose.' If I make God my +Refuge, I shall get something a great deal better than escape from +outward sorrow--namely, an amulet which will turn the outward sorrow +into joy. The bitter water will still be given me to drink, but it will +be filtered water, out of which God will strain all the poison, though +He leaves plenty of the bitterness in it; for bitterness is a tonic. The +evil that is in the evil will be taken out of it, in the measure in +which we make God our Refuge, and 'all will be right that seems most +wrong' when we recognise it to be 'His sweet will.' + +Dear brother! the secret of exemption from every evil lies in no +peculiar Providence, ordering in some special manner our outward +circumstances, but in the submission of our wills to that which the good +hand of the Lord our God sends us for our good; and in cleaving close to +Him as our Refuge. Nothing can be 'evil' which knits me more closely to +God; and whatever tempest drives me to His breast, though all the four +winds of the heavens strive on the surface of the sea, it will be better +for me than calm weather that entices me to stray farther away from Him. + +We shall know that some day. Let us be sure of it now, and explain by it +our earthly experience, even as we shall know it when we get up yonder +and 'see all the way by which the Lord our God has led us.' + + + + +THE ANSWER TO TRUST + + + 'Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: + I will set him on high, because he hath known My name.' + --PSALM xci. 14. + +There are two voices speaking in the earlier part of this psalm: one +that of a saint who professes his reliance upon the Lord, his Fortress; +and another which answers the former speaker, and declares that he shall +be preserved by God. In this verse, which is the first of the final +portion of the psalm, we have a third voice--the voice of God Himself, +which comes in to seal and confirm, to heighten and transcend, all the +promises that have been made in His name. The first voice said of +himself, '_I_ will trust'; the second voice addresses that speaker, and +says, '_Thou_ shalt not be afraid'; the third voice speaks of him, and +not to him, and says, 'Because _he_ hath set his love upon Me, therefore +will I deliver him.' + +Why does this divine voice speak thus indirectly of this blessing of His +servant? I think partly because it heightens the majesty of the +utterance, as if God spake to the whole universe about what He meant to +do for His friend who trusts Him; and partly because, in that general +form of speech, there is really couched an 'whosoever'; and it applies +to us all. If God had said, 'Because thou hast set thy love upon Me, I +will deliver thee,' it had not been so easy for us to put ourselves in +the place of the man concerning whom this great divine voice spoke; but +when He says, 'Because _he_ hath set _his_ love upon Me,' in the 'he' +there lies 'everybody'; and the promise spoken before the universe as to +His servants is spoken universally to His servants. + +So, then, these words seem to me to carry two thoughts: the first, what +God delights to find in a man; and the second, what God delights to give +to the man in whom He finds it. + +I. Note, first, what God delights to find in man. + +There is, if we may reverently say so, a tone of satisfaction in the +words, 'Because he hath set his love upon Me,' and 'because he hath +known My name.' Thus, then, there are two things that the great Father's +heart seeks, and wheresoever it finds them, in however imperfect a +degree, He is glad, and lavishes upon such a one the most precious +things in His possession. + +What are these two things? Let us look at each of them. Now the word +rendered 'set his love' includes more than is suggested by that +rendering, beautiful as it is. It implies the binding or knitting +oneself to anything. Now, though love be the true cement by which men +are bound to God, as it is the only real bond which binds men to one +another, yet the word itself covers a somewhat wider area than is +covered by the notion of love. It is not my love only that I am to +fasten upon God, but my whole self that I am to bind to Him. God +delights in us when we cling to Him. There is a threefold kind of +clinging, which I would urge upon you and upon myself. + +Let us cling to Him in our thoughts, hour by hour, moment by moment, +amidst all the distractions of daily life. Whilst there are other things +that must legitimately occupy our minds, let us see to it that, ever and +anon, we turn ourselves away from these, and betake ourselves, with a +conscious gathering in of our souls, to Him, and calm and occupy our +hearts and minds with the bright and peaceful thoughts of a present God +ever near us, and ever gracious to us. Life is but a dreary stretch of +wilderness, unless all through it there be dotted, like a chain of ponds +in a desert, these moments in which the mind fixes itself upon God, and +loses sorrows and sins and weakness and all other sadnesses in the calm +and blessed contemplation of His sweetness and sufficiency. The very +heavens are bare and lacking in highest beauty, unless there stretch +across them the long lines of rosy-tinted clouds. And so across our +skies let us cast a continuous chain of thoughts of God, and as we go +about our daily work, let us try to have our minds ever recurring to +Him, like the linked pools that mirror heaven in the midst of the barren +desert, and bring a reflection of life into the midst of its death. +Cleave and cling to God, brother! by frequent thoughts of Him, diffused +throughout the whole continuity of the busy day. + +Then again, we might say, let us cleave to Him by our love, which is the +one bond of union, as I said, between man and God, as it is the one bond +of union between man and man. 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all +thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all +thy strength,' was from the beginning the Alpha, and until the end will +be the Omega, of all true religion; and within the sphere of that +commandment lie all duty, all Christianity, all blessedness, and all +life. The heart that is divided is wretched; the heart that is +consecrated is at rest. The love that is partial is nought; the love +that is worth calling so is total and continuous. Let us cling to Him +with our thoughts; let us cling to Him with the tendrils of our hearts. + +Let us cleave to Him, still further, by the obedient contact of our +wills with His, taking no commandments from men, and no overpowering +impressions from circumstances, and no orders from our own fancies and +inclinations and tastes and lusts, but receiving all our instructions +from our Father in heaven. There is no real contact between us and God, +no real cleaving to Him, howsoever the thought of God may be in our +minds, and some kind of imperfect love to Him may be supposed to be in +our hearts, unless there be the absolute submission of our wills to His +authority; and only in the measure in which we are able to say, What He +commands I do, and what He sends I accept, and my will is in His hands +to be moulded, do we really get close and keep close to our Father in +the heavens. He that hath brought himself into loving touch with God, +and clings to Him in that threefold fashion, by thought, love, and +submission, he, and only he, is so joined to the Lord as to be one +Spirit. + +Now that is not a state to be won and kept without much vigorous, +conscious effort. The nuts in a machine work loose; the knots in a rope +'come untied,' as the children say. The hand that clasps anything, by +slow and imperceptible degrees, loses muscular contraction, and the grip +of the fingers becomes slacker. Our minds and affections and wills have +that same tendency to slacken their hold of what they grasp. Unless we +tighten up the machine it will work loose; and unless we make conscious +efforts to keep ourselves in touch with God, His hand will slip out of +ours before we know that it is gone, and we shall fancy that we feel the +impression of the fingers long after they have been taken away from our +negligent palms. + +Besides our own vagrancies, and the waywardness and wanderings of our +poor, unreliable natures, there come in, of course, as hindrances, all +the interruptions and distractions of outside things, which work in the +same direction of loosening our hold on God. If the shipwrecked sailor +is not to be washed off the raft he must tie himself on to it, and must +see that the lashings are reliable and the knots tight; and if we do not +mean to be drifted away from God without knowing it, we must make very +sure work of anchor and cable, and of our own hold on both. Effort is +needed, continuous and conscious, lest at any time we should slide away +from Him. And this is what God delights to find: a mind and will that +bind themselves to Him. + +There is another thing in the text which, as I take it, is a consequence +of that close union between man in his whole nature and God: 'I will set +him on high because he hath known My name.' Notice that the knowledge of +the name comes after, and not before, the setting of the love or the +fixing of the nature upon God. God's 'name' is the same thing as His +self-revelation or His manifested character. Then, does not every one to +whom that revelation is made know His name? Certainly not. The word +'know' is here used in the same deep sense in which it is employed all +but uniformly in the New Testament--the same sense in which it is used +in the writings of the Apostle John. It describes a knowledge which is a +great deal more than a mere intellectual acquaintance with the facts of +divine revelation. Or, to put the thought into other words, this is a +knowledge which comes after we have set our love upon God, a knowledge +which is the child of love. We forget sometimes that it is a Person, and +not a system of truth, whom the Bible tells us we are to know. And how +do you know people? Only by familiar acquaintance with them. You might +read a description of a man, perfectly accurate, sufficiently full, but +you would not therefore say you knew him. You might know about him, or +fancy you did, but if you knew him, it would be because you had summered +and wintered with him, and lived beside him, and were on terms of +familiar acquaintance with him. As long as it is God and not theology, +the knowledge of whom makes religion, so long it will not be the head, +but the heart or spirit, that is the medium or organ by which we know +Him. You have to become acquainted with Him and be very familiar with +Him--that is to say, to fix your whole self upon Him--before you 'know' +Him; and it is only the knowledge which is born of love and familiarity +that is worth calling knowledge at all. Just as with our earthly +relationships and acquaintances, only they who love a man or a woman +know such a one right down to the very depth of their being, so the one +way to know God's name is to bind myself to Him with mind and heart and +will, as friends cleave to one another. Then I shall know Him and be +known of Him. + +Still further, this knowledge which God delights to find in us men, is a +knowledge which is experience. There is all the difference between +reading about a foreign country and going to see it with your own eyes. +The man that has been there knows it; the man that has not knows about +it. And only he knows God to whom the commonplaces of religion have +turned into facts which he verifies by his own experiences. + +It is a knowledge, too, which influences life. Obviously the words of my +text look back to what the saint was represented as saying in an earlier +portion of the psalm. Why does God declare that the man has set his love +upon Him, and knows His name? Because the saint professed this, 'I will +say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress.' These are His name. +The man knows it; he has it not only upon his lips, but in his heart, +and feels that it is true, and acts accordingly. 'He is my Refuge and my +Fortress; my God, in Him will I trust.' The knowledge which God regards +as knowledge of Him is one based upon experience and upon familiar +acquaintance, and issuing in joyful recognition of my possession of Him +as mine, and the outgoing of my confidence to Him. These are the things +that God desires and delights to find in men. + +II. Note, secondly, what God gives to the man in whom He finds such +things. + +'I will deliver him'; 'I will set him on high.' These two clauses are +substantially parallel, and yet there is a difference between them, as +is the nature of the parallelism of Hebrew poetry, where the same ideas +are repeated with a shade of modification, and the second of them +somewhat surpassing the first. 'I will deliver him,' says the promise. +That confirms the view that the promise in the previous verse, 'There +shall no plague come nigh thy dwelling,' does not mean exemption from +sorrow and trial because, if so, there would be no relevancy or +blessedness in the promise of deliverance. He who needs 'deliverance' is +the man who is surrounded by evils, and God's promise is not that no +evil shall come to the man who trusts Him, but that he shall be +delivered out of the evil that does come, and that it will not be truly +evil. + +And why is he to be delivered? 'Because he has bound himself to Me,' +says God, 'therefore will I deliver him.' Of course, if I am fastened to +God, nothing that does not hurt Him can hurt me. If I am knit to Him as +closely as this psalm contemplates, it is impossible but that out of His +fulness my emptiness shall be filled, and with His rejoicing strength my +weakness will be made strong. It is just the same idea as is given to us +in the picture of Peter upon the water, when the cold waves are up to +his knees, and the coward heart says, 'I am ready to sink,' but yet, +with the faith that comes with the fear, he puts out his hand and grasps +Christ's hand, and as soon as he does, and the two are united, he is +buoyant, and rises again, and the water is beneath the soles of his +feet. 'He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.' +Whoever is joined to God is lifted above all evil, and the evil that +continues to eddy about him will change its character, and bear him +onwards to his haven. For he who is thus knit to God in the living, +pulsating bond of thought and affection and submission, will be +delivered from sin. + +When a boy first learns to skate, he needs some one to go behind him and +hold him up whilst he uses his unaccustomed limbs; and so, when we are +upon the smooth, treacherous ice of this wicked world, it is by leaning +on God that we are kept upright. 'He hath set himself close to Me, I +will deliver him,' says God. 'Yea! he shall not fall, for the Lord is +able to make him stand.' + +Still further, we have another great promise, which is the explanation +and extension of the former, 'I will set him on high, because he hath +known My name.' That is more than lifting a man up above the reach of +the storms of life by means of any external deliverance. There is a +better thing than that--namely, that our whole inward life be lived +loftily. If it is true of us that we know His name, then our lives are +'hid with Christ in God,' and far below our feet will be all the riot of +earth and its noise and tumult and change. We shall live serene and +uplifted lives on the mount, if we know His name and have bound +ourselves to Him, and the troubles and cares and changes and duties and +joys of this present will be away down below us, like the lowly cottages +in some poor village, seen from the mountain top, the squalor out of +sight, the magnitude diminished, the noise and tumult dimmed to a mere +murmur that interrupts not the sacred silence of the lofty peak where we +dwell with God. 'I will set him on high because he knows My name.' + +Then, perhaps, there is a hint in the words, as there is in subsequent +words of the verse, of an elevation even higher than that, when, life +ended and earth done, He shall receive into His glory those whom He hath +guided by His counsel. 'I will set him on high, because he hath known My +name,' says the Jehovah of the Old Covenant. 'To him that overcometh +will I grant to sit with Me on My throne,' says the Jesus of the New, +who is the Jehovah of the Old. + + + + +WHAT GOD WILL DO FOR US + + + 'He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in + trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. 16. With long life will + I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.'--PSALM xci. 15, 16. + +When considering the previous verses of this psalm, I pointed out that +at its close we have God's own voice coming in to confirm and expand the +promises which, in the earlier portion of it, have been made in His name +to the devout heart. The words which we have now to consider cover the +whole range of human life and need, and may be regarded as being a +picture of the sure and blessed consequences of keeping our hearts fixed +upon our Father, God. He Himself speaks them, and His word is true. + +The verses of the text fall into three portions. There are promises for +the suppliant, promises for the troubled, promises for mortals. 'He +shall call upon Me and I will answer him'; that is for the suppliant. 'I +will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him'; that is +for the distressed. 'With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My +salvation'; that is for the mortal. Now let us look at these three. + +I. The promise to the suppliant. + +'He will call upon Me and I will answer.' We may almost regard the first +of these two clauses as part of the promise. It is not merely a Hebrew +way of putting a supposition, 'If he calls upon Me, then I will answer +him,' nor merely a virtual commandment, 'Call, if you expect an answer,' +but itself is a part of the blessing and privilege of the devout and +faithful heart. 'He shall call upon Me'; the King opens the door of His +chamber and beckons us within. + +In these great words we may see set forth both the instinct, as I may +call it, of prayer, and the privilege of access to God. If a man's heart +is set upon God, his very life-breath will be a cry to His Father. He +will experience a need which is not degraded by being likened to an +instinct, for it acts as certainly as do the instincts of the lower +creatures, which guide them by the straightest possible road to the +surest supply of their need. Any man who has learned in any measure to +love God and trust Him will, in the measure in which he has so learned, +live in the exercise and habit of prayer; and it will be as much his +instinct to cry to God in all changing circumstances as it is for the +swallows to seek the sunny south when the winter comes, or the cold +north when the sunny south becomes torrid and barren. So, then, 'He +shall call upon Me' is the characteristic of the truly God-knowing and +God-loving heart, which was described in the previous verse. 'Because he +has clung to Me in love, therefore will I deliver him; because he has +known My name, therefore will I set him on high,' and because he has +clung and known therefore it is certain that He will 'call upon Me.' + +My friend! do you know anything of that instinctive appeal to God? Does +it come to your heart and to your lips without your setting yourself to +pray, just as the thought of dear ones on earth comes stealing into our +minds a hundred times a day, when we do not intend it nor know exactly +how it has come? Does God suggest Himself to you in that fashion, and is +the instinct of your hearts to call upon Him? + +Again, we see here not only the unveiling of the very deepest and most +characteristic attribute of the devout soul, but also the assurance of +the privilege of access. God lets us speak to Him. And there is, +further, a wonderful glimpse into the very essence of true prayer. 'He +shall call upon Me.' What for? No particular object is specified as +sought. It is God whom we want, and not merely any things that even He +can give. If asking for these only or mainly is our conception of what +prayer is, we know little about it. True prayer is the cry of the soul +for the living God, in whom is all that it needs, and out of whom is +nothing that will do it good. 'He shall call upon Me,' that is prayer. + +'I will answer him.' Yes! Of course the instinct is not all on one side. +If the devout heart yearns for God, God longs for the devout heart. If I +might use such a metaphor, just as the ewe on one side of the hedge +hears and answers the bleating of its lamb on the other, so, if my heart +cries out for the living God, anything is more credible than that such a +cry should not be answered. You may not get this, that, or the other +blessing which you ask, for perhaps they are not blessings. You may not +get what you fancy you need. We are not always good at translating our +needs into words, and it is a mercy that there is Some One that +understands what we do want a great deal better than we do ourselves. +But if below the specific petition there lies the cry of a heart that +calls for the living God, then whether the specific petition be answered +or dispersed into empty air will matter comparatively little. 'He shall +call upon Me,' and that part of his prayer 'I will answer' and come to +him and be in him. Is that our experience of what it is to pray, and our +notion of what it is to be answered? + +II. Further, here we have a promise for suppliants. + +I take the next three clauses of the text as being all closely +connected. 'I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honour +him'--in trouble, His presence; from trouble, His deliverance; after +trouble, glorifying and refining. There are the whole theory and process +of the discipline of the devout man's life. + +'I will be with him in trouble.' The promise is not only that, when +trials of any kind, larger or smaller, more grave or more slight, fall +upon us, we shall become more conscious, if we take them rightly, of +God's presence, but that all which is meant by God's presence shall +really be more fully ours, and that He is, if I may say so, actually +nearer us. Though, of course, all words about being near or far have +only a very imperfect application to our relation to Him, still the +gifts that are meant by His presence--that is to say, His sympathy, His +help, His love--are more fully given to a man who in the darkness is +groping for his Father's hand, and yet not so much groping for as +grasping it. He _is_ nearer us as well as _felt_ to be nearer us, if we +take our sorrows rightly. The effect of sorrow devoutly borne, in +bringing God closer to us, belongs to it, whether it be great or small; +whether it be, according to the metaphor of an earlier portion of this +psalm, 'a lion or an adder'; or whether it be a buzzing wasp or a +mosquito. As long as anything troubles me, I may make it a means of +bringing God closer to myself. + +Therefore, there is no need for any sorrowful heart ever to say, 'I am +solitary as well as sad.' He will always come and sit down by us, and if +it be that, like poor Job upon his dunghill, we are not able to bear the +word of consolation, yet He will wait there till we are ready to take +it. He is there all the same, though silent, and will be near all of us, +if only we do not drive Him away. 'He will call upon Me and I will +answer him'; and the beginning of the answer is the real presence of God +with every troubled heart. + +Then there follows the next stage, deliverance from trouble; 'I will +_deliver_ him.' That is not the same word as is employed in the previous +verse, though it is translated in the same way in our Bibles. The word +here means lifting up out of a pit, or dragging up out of the midst of +anything that surrounds a man, and so setting him in some place of +safety. Is this promise always true, about people who in sorrow of any +kind cast themselves upon God? Do they always get deliverance from Him? +There are some sorrows from the pressure of which we shall never escape. +Some of us have to carry such. Has this promise no application to the +people for whom outward life can never bring an end of the sorrows and +burdens that they carry? Not so. He will deliver us not only by taking +the burden off our backs, but by making us strong to carry it, and the +sorrow, which has changed from wild and passionate weeping into calm +submission, is sorrow from which we have been delivered. The serpent may +still wound our heel, but if God be with us He will give us strength to +press the wounded heel on the malignant head, and we can squeeze all the +poison out of it. The bitterness remains; be it so, but let us be quite +sure of this, that though sorrow be lifelong, that does not in the least +contradict the great and faithful promise, 'I will be with him in +trouble and deliver him,' for where He is _there_ is deliverance. + +Lastly, there is the third of these promises for the troubled. 'I will +honour him.' The word translated 'honour' is more correctly rendered +'glorify.' Is not that the end of a trouble which has been borne in +company with Him; and from which, because it has been so borne, a devout +heart is delivered even whilst it lasts? Does not all such sorrow +hallow, ennoble, refine, purify the sufferer, and make him liker his +God? 'He for our profit, that we should be partakers of His holiness.' +Is not that God's way of glorifying us before heaven's glory? When a +blunt knife is ground upon a wheel, the sparks fly fast from the edge +held down upon the swiftly-revolving emery disc, but that is the only +way to sharpen the dull blade. Friction, often very severe friction, and +heat are indispensable to polish the shaft and turn the steel into a +mirror that will flash back the sunshine. So when God holds us to His +grindstone, it is to get a polish on the surface. 'I will deliver him +and I will glorify him.' + +III. Last of all, we have the promise for mortals. + +'With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.' I do not +know whether by that first clause the Psalmist meant, as people who +sometimes like to make the Psalmist mean as little as possible tell us +that he did mean, simply 'length of days.' For my own part I do not +believe that he did. He meant that, no doubt, for longevity was part of +the Old Testament promises for this life. But 'length of days' does not +'satisfy' all old people who attain to it, and that 'satisfaction' +necessarily implies something more than the prolongation of the physical +life to old age. The idea contained in this promise may be illustrated +by the expression which is used in reference to a select few of the Old +Testament saints, of whom it is recorded that they died 'full of days.' +That does not merely mean that they had many days, but that, whatever +the number, they had as many as they wished, and departed unreluctantly, +having had enough of life. They looked back, and saw that all the past +had been very good, and that goodness and mercy had determined and +accompanied all their days, and so they did not wish to linger longer +here, but closed their eyes in peace, with no hungry, vain cravings for +prolonged life. They had got all out of the world which it could give, +and were contented to have done with it all. + +So this promise assures us that, if we are of those who, in the midst of +fleeting days, lay hold on the 'Ancient of Days' and live by Him, we +shall find a table spread in the wilderness, and like travellers in an +inn, having eaten enough, shall willingly obey the call to leave the +meal provided on the road, and pass into the Father's house, and sit at +the bountiful feast there. + +The heart that lives near God, whether its years be few or many, will +find in life all that life is capable of giving, and when the end comes +will not be unwilling that it should come, nor hold on desperately to +the last fag-end and fragment of life that it can keep within its +clutches, but will be satisfied to have lived and be contented to die. + +Nor is this all, for says the Psalmist, 'I will show him My salvation.' +That sight comes after he is satisfied with length of days here. And so +I think the fair interpretation of the words, in their place in this +psalm, is, that however dimly, yet certainly, here the Psalmist saw +something beyond. It was not a black curtain which dropped at death. He +believed that, yonder, the man who here had been living near God, +calling to Him, realising His presence, and satisfied with the fatness +of His house upon earth, would see something that would satisfy him +more. 'I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness.' That is +satisfaction indeed, and the vision, which is possession, of that +perfected salvation is the vision that makes the blessedness of heaven. + +So, dear friends! we, if we will, may have access to God's chamber at +every moment, and may have His presence, which will make it impossible +that we should ever be alone. We may have Him to deliver us from all the +evil that is in evil, and to turn it into good. We may have Him to +purge, and cleanse, and uplift, and change us into His likeness, even by +the ministry of our trials. We may get out of life the last drop of the +sweetness that He has put in it; and when it comes to a close, may say, +'It is enough! Let Thy servant depart in peace; for mine eyes have seen +Thy salvation,' and then we may go to see it better in that world where +we shall all, if we attain thither, be 'satisfied' when we 'awake in His +likeness.' + + + + +FORGIVENESS AND RETRIBUTION + + + 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance + of their inventions.'--PSALM xcix. 8. + +When the prophet Isaiah saw the great vision which called him to +service, he heard from the lips of the seraphim around the Throne the +threefold ascription of praise: 'Holy! holy! holy! Lord God of hosts.' +This psalm seems to be an echo of that heavenly chorus, for it is +divided into three sections, each of which closes with the refrain, 'He +is holy,' and each of which sets forth some one aspect or outcome of +that divine holiness. In the first part the holiness of His universal +dominion is celebrated; in the second, the holiness of His revelations +and providences to Israel, His inheritance; in the third, the holiness +of His dealings with them that call upon His name, both when He forgives +their sins and when He scourges for the sins that He has forgiven. + +Two remarks of an expository character will prepare the way for what I +have further to say. The first is that the word 'though' in my text, +which holds together the two statements that it contains, is commentary +rather than translation. For the original has the simple 'and,' and the +difference between the two renderings is this, that 'though' implies +some real or apparent contrariety between forgiveness and taking +vengeance, which makes their co-existence remarkable, whereas 'and' lays +the two things down side by side. The Psalmist simply declares that they +are both there, and puts in no such fine distinction as is represented +by the words 'though,' or 'but,' or 'yet.' To me it seems a great deal +more eloquent in its simplicity and reticence that he should say, 'Thou +forgavest them and tookest vengeance,' than that he should say 'Thou +forgavest them though Thou tookest vengeance.' + +Then there is another point to be noted, viz. we must not import into +that word 'vengeance,' when it is applied to divine actions, the notions +which cluster round it when it is applied to ours. For in its ordinary +use it means retaliation, inflicted at the bidding of personal enmity or +passion. But there are no turbid elements of that sort in God. His +retribution is a great deal more analogous to the unimpassioned, +impersonal action of public law than it is to the 'wild justice of +revenge.' When we speak of His 'vengeance' we simply mean--unless we +have dropped into a degrading superstition--the just recompense of +reward which divinely dogs all sin. There is one saying in Scripture +which puts the whole matter in its true light, 'Vengeance is Mine; I +will repay,' saith the Lord; the last clause of which interprets the +first. So, then, with these elucidations, we may perhaps see a little +more clearly the sequence of the Psalmist's thought here--God's +forgiveness, and co-existing with that, God's scourging of the sin which +He forgives; and both His forgiveness and the scourging, the efflux and +the manifestation of the divine holiness. Now just let us look at these +thoughts. Here we have-- + +I. The adoring contemplation of the divine forgiveness. + +I suppose that is almost exclusively a thought due to the historical +revelation, through the ages, to Israel, crowned, as well as deepened, +by the culmination and perfecting of the eternal revelation of God in +Jesus Christ our Lord. I suppose the conception of a forgiving God is +the product of the Old and of the New Testament. But familiar as the +word is to us, and although the thing that it means is embodied in the +creed of Christendom, 'I believe ... in the forgiveness of sins,' I +think that a great many of us would be somewhat put to it, if we were +called upon to tell definitely and clearly what we mean when we speak of +the forgiveness of sins. Many of us, prior to thinking about the matter, +would answer 'the non-infliction or remission of penalty.' And I am far +from denying that that is an element in forgiveness, although it is the +lowest and the most external, in both the Old Testament and the New +Testament conception of it. But we must rise a great deal higher than +that. We are entitled, by our Lord's teaching, to parallel God's +forgiveness and man's forgiveness; and so perhaps the best way to +understand the perfect type of forgiveness is to look at the imperfect +types which we see round us. What, then, do we mean by human +forgiveness? It is seen in multitudes of cases where there is no +question at all of penalty. Two men get alienated from one another. One +of them does something which the other thinks is a sin against +friendship or loyalty, and he who is sinned against says, 'I forgive +you.' That does not mean that he does not inflict a penalty, because +there is no penalty in question. Forgiveness is not a matter of conduct, +then, primarily, but it is a matter of disposition, of attitude, or, to +put it into a shorter word, it is a matter of the heart; and even on the +lower level of the human type, we see that remission of penalty may be a +part, sometimes is and sometimes is not, but is always the smallest part +of it, and a derivative and secondary result of something that went +before. An unconscious recognition of this attitude of mind and heart, +as being the essential thing in forgiveness, brings about an instance of +the process by which two words that originally mean substantially the +same thing come to acquire each its special shade of meaning. What I +refer to is this--when a judicial sentence on a criminal is remitted, we +never hear any one speak about the criminal being 'forgiven.' We keep +the word 'pardon,' in our daily conventional intercourse, for slight +offences or for the judicial remission of a sentence. The king pardons a +criminal; you never hear about the king 'forgiving' a criminal. And +that, as I take it, is just because people have been groping after the +thought that I am trying to bring out, viz. that the remission of +penalty is one thing, and purging the heart of all alienation and hatred +is another; and that the latter is forgiveness, whilst the former has to +be content with being pardon. + +The highest type of forgiveness is the paternal. Every one of us who +remembers our childhood, and every one of us who has had children of his +own, knows what paternal forgiveness is. It is not when you put away the +rod that the little face brightens again and the tears cease to flow, +but it is when _your_ face clears, and the child knows that there is no +cloud between it and the father, or still more the mother, that +forgiveness is realised. The immediate effect of our transgressions is +that we, as it were, thereby drop a great, black rock into the stream of +the divine love, and the channel is barred by our action; and God's +forgiveness is when, as was the case in another fashion in the Deluge, +the floods rise above the tops of the highest hills; and as the good old +hymn that has gone out of fashion nowadays, says, over sins: + + 'Like the mountains for their size, + The seas of sovereign grace arise.' + +When the love of God flows over the black rock, as the incoming tide +does over some jagged reef, then, and not merely when the rod is put on +the shelf, is forgiveness bestowed and received. + +But, as I have said, the remission of penalty _is_ an element in +forgiveness. Some people say: 'It is a very dangerous thing, in the +interests of Christian truth, to treat that relation of a loving Father +as if it expressed all that God is to men.' Quite so; God is King as +well as Father. There are analogies, both in paternal and regal +government, which help us to understand the divine dealings with us; +though, of course, in regard to both we must always remember that the +analogies are remote and not to be pressed too far. But even in +recognising the fact that an integral part of forgiveness is remission +of penalty, we come back, by another path, to the same point, that the +essence of forgiveness is the uninterrupted flow of love. Remission of +penalty;--yes, by all means. But then the question comes, what _is_ the +penalty of sin? And I suppose that the deepest answer to that is, +separation from God. But if the true New Testament conception of the +penalty of sin is the eternal death which is the result of the rending +of a man away from the Source of life, then the remission of the penalty +is precisely identical with the uninterrupted flow of the divine love. +The mists of autumnal mornings drape the sky in gloom, and turn the +blessed sun itself into a lurid ball of fire. Sweep away the mists, and +its rays again pour out beneficence. The man who sins, piles up, as it +were, a cloud-bank between himself and God, and forgiveness, which is +the remission of the penalty, is the sweeping away of the cloud-bank, +and the pouring out of sunshine upon a darkened heart. So, brethren! the +essence of forgiveness is that God shall love me all the same, though I +sin against Him. + +But now turn, in the next place, to + +II. God's scourging of the sin which He forgives. + +Look at the instances in our psalm, 'Moses and Aaron among His +priests.... They called upon the Lord and He answered them. Thou wast a +God that forgavest them, and Thou tookest vengeance of their doings.' +Moses dies on Pisgah, Aaron is stripped of his priestly robes by his +brother's hand and left alone amongst the clouds and the eagles, on the +solitary summit of the mountain, and yet Moses and Aaron knew themselves +forgiven the sins for which they died those lonely deaths. And these are +but instances of what is universally true, that the sin which is +pardoned is also 'avenged' in the sense of having retribution dealt out +to it. + +I need not dwell upon this at any length, but let me just remind you how +there are two provinces of human experience in which this is abundantly +true: one, that of outward consequences, and another that of inward +consequences. Take, for instance, two men, boon companions, who together +have wasted their substance in riotous living. One of them is converted, +as we call it, becomes a Christian, knows himself forgiven. The other +one is not. Is the one less certain to have a corrugated liver than the +other? Will the disease, the pauperism, the ruined position in life, the +loss of reputation be any different in the cases of him who is pardoned +and of him who is not? No; the two will suffer in a similar fashion, and +the different attitude that the one has to the divine love from that +which the other has, will not make a hair of difference as to the +results that follow. The consequences are none the less divine +retribution because they are the result of natural laws, and none the +less penal because they are automatically inflicted. + +There is another department in which we see the same law working, and +that is the inward consequences. A man does change his attitude to his +former sins, when he knows that he is pardoned; but the results of these +sins will follow all the same, whether he is forgiven or not. Memory +will be tarnished, habits will be formed and chain a man, capacities +will be forfeited, weaknesses will ensue. The wounds may be healed, but +the scars will remain, and when we consider how certainly, and as I +said, divinely, such issues dog all manner of transgression, we can +understand what the Psalmist meant when, not thinking about a future +retribution, but about the present life's experiences, he said, 'Thou +wast a God that forgavest them, and Thou tookest vengeance of their +inventions.' 'The sluggard will not plough by reason of the cold, +therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing,' and that will be +his case whether he is forgiven, or not forgiven, by the divine love. + +So, dear friends! do not let us confound the two things which are so +widely separated, the flow of the divine love to us irrespective of our +sins, which is the true forgiveness, and the remission of the penalty, +the infliction of which may itself be a part of forgiveness. 'Whatsoever +a man soweth that shall he also reap,' and he will reap it whether he +has sown darnel and tares and poisonous seeds, of which he is now +ashamed, and for which he has received forgiveness, or whether he has +not asked nor received it. + +Only remember that if we humbly realise the great fact that God has +forgiven us, we can, as they say, 'take our punishment' in an altogether +different spirit and temper, and it comes to be, not judicial penalty, +but paternal chastisement, the token of love, and of which we can say +that 'We are judged of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with +the world.' + +Lastly, my text leads us to think of-- + +III. Forgiveness and scourging as both issues of holy love. + +Some people, in their narrow and altogether superficial view of +Christianity, would divide between the two, and say forgiveness comes +from God's love, and scourging comes from His holiness. But this psalm +puts the two together, just as we must put together as inseparable from +each other the two conceptions of holiness and of love. Now our modern +notions of what is meant by the love of God are a great deal too +sentimental and gushing and limp. Love is degraded unless there be +holiness in it. It becomes immoral good nature, much more than anything +that deserves the name of love. A God who is all love, so much so that +it makes no difference to Him whether a man is a saint or a sinner, is +not a God to be worshipped, and scarcely a God to be admired. He is +lower than we, not higher. But His holy love is like a sea of glass +mingled with fire; the love being shot all through, as it were, with +streams of flame. + +This holy love underlies the forgiveness of sins. To forgive may +sometimes be profoundly right; it may sometimes be profoundly immoral. A +general gaol delivery simply sets the scoundrels free; a universal +amnesty is a failure of justice, and a very doubtful benefit. But the +forgiveness, which is the issue of holy love, is a means to an end, and +the end which it has in view is that, drawn by answering love to a +pardoning God, we may be drawn from the sins which alienate us from Him. +There is no such sure way of making a man forsake his sins as to give +him the assurance that God has forgiven them. 'Thou shalt be ashamed and +confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy sins, +when'--I smite? no--'I am pacified towards thee for all that thou hast +done.' 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them,' and in the very act of +forgiving, didst draw them from their sins. + +That holy love, in like manner, underlies retribution. I have been +speaking of retribution mainly as it is seen in the working of natural +law. It is none the less God's act, because it is the operation of the +laws which He impressed upon His creation at the beginning. You have +weaving machines in your mills that whenever a thread breaks, stop dead. +Is it the machine or the maker that is to get the credit of that? God +has set us in an order of things wherein, and has given us a nature +whereby, automatically, every sin, as it were, stops the loom, and +'every transgression and disobedience receives its just recompense of +reward.' But men sometimes say 'that is Nature; that is not God.' God +lies at the back of Nature, and works through Nature. Although Nature is +not God, God is Nature. Therefore it is 'Thou' that 'takest vengeance of +their inventions.' Let us, then, remember that retribution is a token of +love, meant to drive us from our sins, just as forgiveness is meant to +draw us from them. Our Psalmist had come the length of putting these two +things together, forgiveness and retribution. We have reached further, +and here is the New Testament enlargement and deepening and explanation +of the Old Testament thought: 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful +and just to forgive us our sins,' and in the very act, 'to cleanse us +from all unrighteousness.' 'If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the +Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.' + + + + +INVIOLABLE MESSIAHS AND PROPHETS + + + 'He reproved kings for their sakes; 15. Saying, Touch not Mine + anointed, and do My prophets no harm.'--PSALM cv. 14, 15. + +The original reference of these words is to the fathers of the Jewish +people--the three wandering shepherds, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The +Psalmist transfers to them the great titles which properly belong to a +later period of Jewish history. None of the three were ever in the +literal sense of the word 'anointed,' but all the three had what +anointing symbolised. None of them were in the literal or narrow sense +of the word 'prophets'--that is to say, predicters of future events--but +one of them was called a 'prophet' even in his lifetime. And they all +possessed that intimacy of communion with God which imparted the power +of _forth-speaking for_ Him. Insignificant as they were, they were +bigger than the Pharaohs and Abimelechs and the other kinglets that +strutted their little day beside them. Astonished as the monarch of +Egypt would have been, or the king of the Philistines either, if he had +been told that the wandering shepherd was of far more importance for the +world than he was, it was true. 'He suffered no man to do them wrong: +yea, He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not Mine anointed, +and do My prophets no harm.' + +Further, as Judaism, with its anointings and prophecies was a narrower +system following upon a wider one, so a wider one has succeeded it; and +we step into the position occupied by these patriarchs--on whose heads +no anointing oil had been poured, and into whose lips no supernatural +gifts of prediction had been infused. It is no arrogance, but the +simplest recognition of the essential facts of the case, if we take +these words of the Psalmist's and transfer them bodily to the whole mass +of Christian people, and to each individual atom that makes up the mass. +All are anointed; all are prophets; of all it is true that God suffers +no man nor thing to do them wrong. And kings and dynasties and the +politics of the world are all in the hands of One whose supreme purpose +is that through men there may be made known to all mankind the +significant tidings of His love. Therefore, His Church is founded upon a +rock, and earth is the servant of the servants of God. + +I. Every Christian is a 'messiah.' + +You know that the word 'anointed' is a translation of the Hebrew word +'Messiah,' or of the Greek word 'Christ.' The meaning of the symbolic +'anointing' was simply consecration to office by the divine will, and +endowment with the capacity for that office by the divine gift. In the +ancient system it was mainly employed--though not, perhaps, +exclusively--as a means of designating, and when received in humble +dependence on God, of fitting, a man for the two great offices of king +and priest. + +Oil was an appropriate symbol. Its gentle flow, its soothing, suppling +effect, and in another aspect, its value as a means of invigoration and +sustenance, and in yet another, as a source of light, peculiarly adapted +it to be an emblem of the bestowment on a patient and trustful and +submissive heart that was saying, 'Lord, take me, and use me as Thou +wilt,' of that divine Spirit by whose silent, sweet, soft-flowing, +strong influences men were prepared for God's service. + +Jesus was the Christ, the Messias, because that Divine Spirit dwelt in +Him without measure. If we are Christians in the real sense of the word, +then, however imperfectly, yet really, and by God's grace increasingly, +there is such a union between us and our Saviour as that into us there +does flow the anointing of His Spirit. There being a community of life +derived from the Source of Life, it is no presumption to say that every +Christian man is a Christ. + +The word has been used of late with unwise significations, but the truth +that has been inadequately expressed by such uses is the great truth of +Scripture; 'He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit,' and there does +flow the anointing oil from the head of the High Priest to the skirts of +the garments. Every man and woman who has any hold of Jesus Christ at +all, in the measure of his or her hold, is drawing from Him this +'unction of the Holy One.' So, brethren, rise to the solemnity, the +awfulness, the joyfulness of your true position, and understand that +you, too, are anointed, though not for the same purposes (and in humbler +and derived fashion), for which the Spirit dwelt without measure upon +'the First-born among many brethren.' + +Kings were anointed; and when that divine gift comes into a man's heart, +it, and as I believe, only it, makes him lord of himself, of +circumstances, of time, and of the world. 'All things are yours, and ye +are Christ's.' There is one real royalty--the royalty of the man who +rules because he submits. Every Christian soul may be described as +Gideon's brethren were described, 'As thou art, so were they: each one +resembled the children of a king,' for if Christ's Spirit is in the +Christian's spirit, the disciple will grow like his Master, and it will +be growingly true of us, that 'as He is, so are we in this world.' + +Priests were anointed. And we, if we are Christian people, have the +prerogative of direct access to the Divine Presence, and need neither +Church nor sacraments to intervene or mediate between us and Him. The +true democracy of Christianity lies in that word 'Mine anointed.' + +II. Further, every Christian man is a prophet. + +I have already said that there is no historical warrant for supposing +that the gift of prophecy, in its narrower sense, was ever bestowed upon +any of these patriarchs. But prediction is only one corner of the +prophetic office. The word is connected with a root which means 'to +boil, or bubble like a fountain,' and it expresses, not so much the +theme of the utterance as its nature. The welling up, from a full heart, +of God's thoughts and God's truth, that is prophecy. The patriarchs were +prophets, not in the sense that they had the gift of beholding and +foretelling visions of the future, and all the wonder that should be, +but in the higher sense--for it is the higher as well as broader--of +being bearers of a divine word, breathed into them by that anointing +Spirit, that it might be uttered forth by them. That sort of prophetic +inspiration belongs to all Christians. It is the result of the +relationship between Christ and Christians of which we have been +speaking. Every one who has been anointed will be thus gifted. + +God's 'messiahs' will be God's prophets. If we are in touch with God, +and have our hearts and whole spiritual natures drawn and kept so near +Him as that we are ever receiving from Him of His transcendent and +mysterious life, then silence will be impossible. The lips will not be +able to contain themselves, but will speak forth that of which the heart +is full. And thus every Christian man, in the measure of his true +Christianity, will be a prophet of the most High. + +I do not need to point the lesson. A silent Christian is an anomaly, a +contradiction in terms, as much as black light, or dark stars. If Christ +is in you He will come out of you. If your hearts are full the crystal +treasure will flow over the brim. It is easy to be dumb when you have +nothing to say, and that is the condition of hundreds of people who +fancy themselves to be, and are called by others, 'Christians.' 'Mine +anointed' cannot help being 'My prophets.' If you are not prophets, if +there never is any bubbling up of the fountain demanding utterance, ask +yourselves whether there is any fountain there at all. + +III. And so, lastly, every Christian man, in his double capacity of +anointed and prophet, is watched over by God. + +One is tempted to diverge into wider considerations, and speak of the +relative importance of things secular and sacred (to adopt a doubtful +distinction) in the history of the world, and how the former are for the +sake of the latter. But I do not yield to the temptation. Let me rather +take the thought here as it applies to our own little lives. + +Abraham more than once in his lifetime, though sometimes by his own +fault, was brought into very perilous places. There are one or two +incidents which are familiar to most of us, I dare say, in his life +which are evidently referred to in the phrase 'He reproved kings for +their sakes.' The principle remains in full force to-day, and God says +to every thing and person, Death included, 'Do My prophets no harm.' +They may slay; they cannot harm. If I might use a very homely metaphor, +sportsmen train retriever dogs to bring their game without ruffling a +feather. God trains evils and sorrows to lay hold of us, and bring us +to, and lay us down at, His feet untouched. + +There is no real harm in so-called evil. That is the interpretation that +Christianity gives to such words as this of my text, not because it is +forced to weaken them by the obstinate facts of life, but because it has +learned to strengthen them by the understanding of what is harm and what +is good; what is gain and what is loss. Peter shall be delivered out of +prison by the skin of his teeth when they are hammering at the scaffold +on the other side of the wall, and the dawn is just beginning to show +itself in the sky; whilst James shall have his head cut off. Was that +because God loved Peter better than James? Was one harmed and the other +not? Ah! Peter's turn came all in good time. Peter and his brother Paul +had both to bow their necks to the headsman's sword one day, although +one of them said, 'Who shall harm you if ye be followers of that which +is good?' and the other said, when within sight of his death, 'He shall +deliver me from every evil work.' Were they disappointed? Let us hear +how Paul ends the same verse: 'and shall save me into His heavenly +kingdom.' Ay! and he _was_ 'saved into the heavenly kingdom' when +outside the walls of Rome; where a gaudy church stands now, he died for +his Master. No harm came to him. God said to Death, 'Do My prophet no +harm!' and Death docilely did him good, and brought him to his Lord. + +Only, dear friends! let us remember that the inviolableness of the +ambassador depends on his function, and not on his person; and that if +we want to be kept from all evil, we must do the work for which we have +been sent here. So let us understand the meaning of our difficulties and +sorrows. Let us set ourselves to our tasks, live up to the level of the +high names which we have a right to claim, and be sure that there is no +harm in the harm that befalls us; and that all evil things 'work +together for good to them that love God.' + + + + +GOD'S PROMISES TESTS + + + 'Until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him.' + --PSALM cv. 19. + +I do not think I shall be mistaken if I affirm that these words do not +convey any very clear idea to most readers. They were spoken with +reference to Joseph, during the period of his imprisonment. For the +understanding of them I think we must observe that there is a contrast +drawn between two 'words,' 'his' (_i.e._ Joseph's) and God's. If we lay +firm hold of that clue, I think it will lead us into clear daylight, and +it will be obvious that Joseph's word, which delayed its coming, or +fulfilment, was either his boyish narrative of the dreams that +foreshadowed his exaltation, or less probably, his words to his +fellow-prisoners in the interpretation of their dreams. In either case, +the _terminus ad quem_, the point to which our attention is directed, is +the period when that word came to be fulfilled, and what my text says is +that during that long season of unfulfilled hope, the 'word of God,' +which was revealed in Joseph's dream, and was the ground on which his +own 'word' rested--did what? Encouraged, heartened, strengthened him? +No, that unfulfilled promise might encourage or discourage him; but the +Psalmist fixes our thoughts on another effect which, whether it +encouraged or discouraged, it certainly had, namely, that it tested him, +and found out what stuff he was made of, and whether there was staying +power enough in him to hold on, in unconquerable faith, to a promise +made long since, communicated by no more reliable method than a dream, +and of the fulfilment of which not the faintest sign had, for all these +weary years, appeared. His circumstances, judged by appearances, +shattered his early visions, and bade him believe them to be no more +than the boyish aspirations which grown men dismiss or find melt away of +themselves when life's realities wake the dreamer. We might either say +that the non-fulfilment of the promise tested Joseph, or that the +promise, by its non-fulfilment, tested him. The Psalmist chooses the +latter more forcible and half paradoxical mode of speech. It proved the +depth and vitality of his faith, and his ability to see things that are +not as though they were. Will this man be able continually through years +of poverty and imprisonment to keep his eye on the light beyond, to see +his star through clouds? Will he despise the 'light affliction,' in the +potent and immovable belief that it is 'but for a moment?' + +Thus, for all these years the great blessed word, or the hope that was +built upon it, tested Joseph in the very depths of his soul. And is not +that just what our anticipations, built upon God's assurances, whether +they are in regard to earthly matters that seem long in coming, or +whether they, as they ought to do, travel beyond the bounds of the +material, to grasp _the_ hope which is _the_ promise, 'the hope of +eternal life,' ought to do for us, test us and find out what sort of +people we are? And they do! + +Let us go back to the man in our text. According to some commentators, +he was imprisoned for something like ten years. We do not know how long +his Egyptian bondage had lasted, nor how long before that his endurance +of the active ill-will of his surly brothers had gone on. But at all +events his chrysalis stage was very long, and one would not have +wondered if he had said to himself, down in that desert pit or in that +Egyptian dungeon, 'Ah, yes! they _were_ dreams, and _only_ dreams,' or +if he had, as so many of us do, turned his back on his youthful visions, +and gained the sad power of being able to smile at his old hopes and +ambitions. Brethren! especially you young men and women, cherish your +youthful dreams. They are often the prophecies of capacities and +possibilities, signs of what God means you to make yourselves. But that +is apart from my subject. Suppose we had clear before us, with +unwavering confidence in its reality, the great promise which God has +given us, do you not think that its presence would purify our souls, and +give power and dignity to our lives? + +The promise was a test, says my text. The word which it employs to +designate the manner of testing or trying, is one drawn from the +smelting operations of the goldsmith, by which, heat being applied, the +mass is made fluid and the dross is run off, and as the result of the +trial, there flows out gold refined by fire. + +'Having these promises, dearly beloved! let us cleanse ourselves from +all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.' 'Every man who hath this hope +in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.' The result of the great +promise of eternal life and of the hope that it kindles is meant to be +that it shall purge our spirits from meanness, from sense, from undue +dependence upon the miserable trivialities of to-day, that it shall +emancipate us from slavery to the moment, and lead us into the liberty +of the eternities, 'while we look not at the things that are seen, but +at the things which are not seen.' Oh! if we would only see clearly and +habitually before us--for we could if we would--what God's heart +inclines Him to do for us, and what He certainly will do for us, in the +far-off future, if we will only let Him, do you not think that these +trifles that put us off our equanimity this morning would have been +borne with a little more composure? Do you not think that the things +that looked so huge when we were down abreast of them would, by the laws +of perspective, diminish in their proportions as we rose steadily above +them, until all the hubbub in the valley was unheard on the mountain +peak, and the great trees that waved their giant branches below and shut +out the sky from our eyes while we were among them would dwindle to a +green smear on the plain, and all the foes 'show scarce so gross as +beetles,' from the height from which we look down upon them? Get up +beside God's promise, if you would take the true dimensions of cares and +tasks, and burdens and sorrows. Then, brother! you will learn the truth +of the paradox, 'light ... but for a moment'; though often they all but +crush the burden-bearing shoulder and seem to last through slow years. + +'The word of the Lord tried him,' and because it tried him, it purified +him. If we give credence, as we ought to, to that word, it will purify +_us_, and it will test of what contexture our faith is. The further away +the object of any hope is, the more noble the cherishing of it makes a +life. The trivial, short-lived anticipations which do not look beyond +the end of next week are far less operative in making strong and noble +characters than are those, of whatever kind they may be otherwise, which +look far ahead and need years for their realisation. It is a blessing to +have the mark far, far away, because that means that the arm that pulls +the bow must draw more strongly, and the eye that sees the goal must +gaze more intently. Be thankful for the promise that cannot be fulfilled +in this world because it lifts us above the low levels, and already +makes us feel as if we were endowed with immortality. + +The word will test our patience, and it will test our willingness, +though we be heirs of the kingdom, to do humble tasks. Christian men in +this world are sons of a King, and look forward to a royal inheritance, +but in the meantime they have, as it were, to keep a little huckster's +shop in a back alley. But if we adequately realised the promise of our +inheritance, the meanness of our surroundings and the triviality of our +occupations would not make us mean or trivial, but our souls would be +'like stars' and 'dwell apart' while we travelled 'on life's common way +in cheerful godliness,' and did small duties in such a manner as to make +them great. + +Because Joseph was sure that God's long-lingering word would be +fulfilled, he did not mind though he had to be the lackey of his +brothers, the Midianites' chattel, Potiphar's slave, Pharaoh's prisoner, +and a servant of servants in his dungeon. So with us, the measure of our +willing acceptance of our present tasks, burdens, humiliations, and +limitations is the measure of our firm faith in the promise that +tarries. + +'If we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it,' +says the Apostle, though most of us would have said exactly the +opposite. We generally suppose that the more ardent the hope, the more +is it impatient of delay. Paul had learned better. The more certain the +assurance, the better we can tolerate the procrastination of its +fulfilment. + +So, brethren! God's greatest gift to us, like all His other gifts, has +in it the quality of testing us; and we can come to a pretty fair +approximation to an estimate of what sort of Christian people we are, by +observing how we deal with God's promises of help according to our need +here and of heaven hereafter. How do we deal with them? Why, a sadly +large number of us never think about them at all; and a large proportion +of the others would a great deal rather stay working in the huckster's +shop in the back alley, than go home to the King. I am quite sure that +if the inmost sentiments of the bulk of professing Christians about a +future life were dragged into light, these would be a revelation of a +faith all honeycombed with insincerity. God tests us, and it is a sharp +test if we submit ourselves to it; He tests us by His promises. 'Child, +wilt thou believe?' is the first testing question put to us by these. +'Wilt thou keep them hid in thy heart?' is the next. 'Wilt thou go out +towards them in desire?' is the next. 'Wilt thou live worthy of them?' +is the last. 'The word of the Lord tried him.' + +So let us be thankful for the delays of love, for the wide gap between +promise and realisation. It was for Joseph's sake that the slow years +were multiplied between the first gleam of his future and the full +sunshine of his exaltation. And it is for our sakes that God in like +manner protracts the period of anticipation and non-fulfilment. 'If the +vision tarry, wait for it.' 'Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus +their brother' very dearly. 'When He heard, therefore, that he was sick, +He abode still two days'--to give time for Lazarus to die--'in the same +place where He was.' Ay, and when each sister came to Him with her most +natural and yet most faithless 'Lord! if Thou hadst been here my brother +had not died,' He only said, 'If thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see +the glory of God.' Was not Lazarus dearer, restored from the grave, than +he would have been, raised from his sickbed? Is not the delaying of the +blessing a means of increase of the blessing? And shall not we be sure +that however long 'He that shall come' may seem to tarry ere He comes, +when He _has_ come they who have waited for His coming more than they +that watch for the morning and have sometimes been ready to cry out: +'Hath the Lord forgotten? Doth His promise fail for ever more?' will be +ashamed of their impatient moments and will humbly and thankfully +exclaim: 'He came at the very right time and did _not_ tarry.' 'Until +the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him,' and the +coming of that word was all the more blessed for every heavy-laden hour +of hope deferred, which, by God's grace, did not make the heart sick, +but prepared it for fuller possession of the blessings enhanced by the +delays of love. + + + + +SOLDIER PRIESTS + + + 'Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the + beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew + of thy youth.'--PSALM cx. 3. + +It is no part of my present purpose to establish the reference of this +psalm to our Lord. We have Christ's own authority for that. + +It does not seem to be typical--that is to say, it does not appear to +have had a lower application to a king of Israel who was a shadow of the +true monarch, but rather to refer only to the coming Sovereign, whom +David was helped to discern, indeed, by his own regal office, but whose +office and character, as here set forth, far surpass anything belonging +to him or to his dynasty. The attributes of the King, the union in His +case of the royal and priestly dignities, His seat at the right hand of +God, His acknowledged supremacy over the greatest Jewish ruler, who here +calls him 'my Lord,' His eternal dominion, His conquest of many nations, +and His lifting up of His head in triumphant rule that knows no end--all +these characteristics seem to forbid the possibility of a double +reference, and to demand the acknowledgment of a distinct and exclusive +prophecy of Christ. + +Taking that for granted without more words, it strikes one as remarkable +that this description of the subjects of the Priest-King should be thus +imbedded in the very heart of the grand portraiture of the monarch +Himself. It is the anticipation of the profound New Testament thought of +the unity of Christ and His Church. By simple faith a union is brought +about so close and intimate that all His is theirs, and the picture of +His glory is incomplete without the vision of 'the Church, which is His +body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.' Therefore, between +the word of God which elevates Him to His right hand, and the oath of +God which consecrates Him a priest for ever, is this description of the +army of the King. + +The full force of the words will, I hope, appear as we advance. For the +present it will be enough to say that there are really in our text three +co-ordinate clauses, all descriptive of the subjects of the monarch, +regarded as a band of warriors--and that the main ideas are these:--the +subjects are willing soldiers; the soldiers are priests; the +priest-soldiers are as dew upon the earth. Or, in other words, we have +here the very heart of the Christian character set forth as being +willing consecration; then we have the work which Christian men have to +do, and the spirit in which they are to do it, expressed in that +metaphor of their priestly attire; and then we have their refreshing and +quickening influence upon the world. + +I. The subjects of the Priest-King are willing soldiers. + +In accordance with the warlike tone of the whole psalm, our text +describes the subjects as an army. That military metaphor comes out more +clearly when we attach the true meaning to the words, 'in the day of Thy +power.' The word rendered, and rightly rendered, 'power,' has the same +ambiguity which that word has in the English of the date of our +translation, and for a century later, as you may find in Shakespeare and +Milton, who both used it in the sense of 'army.' Singularly enough we do +not employ 'powers' in that meaning, but we do another word which means +the same thing--and talk of 'forces,' meaning thereby 'troops.' By the +way, what a melancholy sign it is of the predominance of that infernal +military spirit, that it should have so leavened language, that the +'forces' of a nation means its soldiers, its embattled energies turned +to the work of destruction. But the phrase is so used here. 'The day of +Thy power' is not a mere synonym for 'the time of Thy might,' but means +specifically 'the day of Thine army,' that is, 'the day when Thou dost +muster Thy forces and set them in array for the war.' + +The King is going forth to conquest. But He goes not alone. Behind Him +come His faithful followers, all pressing on with willing hearts and +high courage. Then, to begin with, the warfare which He wages is one not +confined to Him. Alone He offers the sacrifice by which He atones; but, +as we shall see, we too are priests. He rules, and His servants rule +with Him. But ere that time comes, they are to be joined with Him in the +great warfare by which He wins the earth for Himself. 'As Captain of the +Lord's host am I now come.' He wins no conquests for Himself; and now +that He is exalted at God's right hand, He wins none by Himself. We have +to do His work, we have to fight His battles as good soldiers of Jesus +Christ. By power derived from Him, but wielded by ourselves; with +courage inspired by Him, but filling our hearts; not as though He needed +us, but inasmuch as He is pleased to use us, we have to wage warfare for +and to please Him who hath chosen us to be soldiers. The Captain of our +salvation sits at the right hand of God, expecting till His enemies be +made His footstool. He has bidden us to keep the field and fight the +fight. From His height He watches the conflict--nay, He is with us while +we wage it. So long as we strike for Him, so long is it His power that +teaches our hands to war. Our King's flag is committed to our care; but +we are not left to defend it alone. In indissoluble unity, the King and +the subjects, the Chief and His vassals, the Captain and His soldiers, +are knit together--and wheresoever His people are, in all the danger and +hardships of the long struggle, there is He, to keep their heads in the +day of battle, and make them more than conquerors. + +Then, again, that warfare is shared in by all the subjects. It is a levy +_en masse_--an armed nation. The whole of the people are embodied for +the battle. It is not the work of a select few, but of every one who +calls Christ 'Lord,' to be His faithful servant and soldier. Whatever +varieties of occupation may be set us by Him, one purpose is to be kept +in view and one end to be effected by them all. Every Christian man is +bound to strive for the reduction of all human hearts under Christ's +dominion. The tasks may be different, but the result should be one. Some +of us have to toil in the trenches, some of us to guard the camp, some +to lead the assault, some to stay by the stuff and keep the +communications open. Be it so. We are all soldiers, and He alone has to +determine our work. We are responsible for the spirit of it, He for its +success. + +Again, there are no _mercenaries_ in these ranks, no pressed men. The +soldiers are all volunteers. 'Thy people shall be willing.' Pause for a +moment upon that thought. + +Dear brethren! there are two kinds of submission and service. There is +submission because you cannot help it, and there is submission because +you like it. There is a sullen bowing down beneath the weight of a hand +which you are too feeble to resist, and there is a glad surrender to a +love which it would be a pain not to obey. Some of us feel that we are +shut in by immense and sovereign power which we cannot oppose. And yet, +like some raging rebel in a dungeon, or some fluttering bird in a cage, +we beat ourselves, all bruised and bloody, against the bars in vain +attempts at liberty, alternating with fits of cowed apathy as we slink +into a corner of our cell. Some of us, thank God! feel that we are +enclosed on every side by that mighty Hand which none can resist, and +from which we would not stray if we could, and we joyfully hide beneath +its shelter, and gladly obey when it points. Constrained obedience is no +obedience. Unless there be the glad surrender of the will and heart, +there is no surrender at all. God does not want compulsory submission. +He does not care to rule over people who are only crushed down by +greater power. He does not count that those serve who sullenly acquiesce +because they dare not oppose. Christ seeks for no pressed men in His +ranks. Whosoever does not enlist joyfully is not reckoned as His. And +the question comes to us, brethren!--What is my relation to that loving +Lord, to that Redeemer King? Do I submit because His love has won my +heart, and it would be a pang not to serve Him; or do I submit because I +know Him strong, and am afraid to refuse? If the former, all is well; He +calls us 'not servants but friends.' If the latter, all is wrong; we are +not subjects, but enemies. + +There is another idea involved in this description. The soldiers are not +only marked by glad obedience, but that obedience rests upon the +sacrifice of themselves. The word here rendered 'willing' is employed +throughout the Levitical law for 'freewill offerings.' And if we may +venture to bring that reference in here, it carries us a step farther in +this characterisation of the army. This glad submission comes from +self-consecration and surrender. It is in that host as it was in the +army whose heroic self-devotion was chaunted by Deborah under her +palm-tree, 'The people willingly offered themselves.' Hence came +courage, devotion, victory. With their lives in their hands they flung +themselves on the foe, and nothing could stand against the onset of men +who recked not of themselves. There is one grand thing even about the +devilry of war--the transcendent self-abnegation with which, however +poor and unworthy may be the cause, a man casts himself away, 'what time +the foeman's line is broke.' The poorest, vulgarest, most animal natures +rise for a moment into something like nobility, as the surge of the +strong emotion lifts them to that height of heroism. Life is then most +glorious when it is given away for a great cause. That sacrifice is the +one noble and chivalrous element which gives interest to war--the one +thing that can be disentangled from its hideous associations, and can be +transferred to higher regions of life. That spirit of lofty consecration +and utter self-forgetfulness must be ours, if we would be Christ's +soldiers. Our obedience will then be glad when we feel the force of, and +yield to, that gentle, persuasive entreaty, 'I beseech you, brethren! by +the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.' +There is 'one Sacrifice for sin for ever'--which never can be repeated, +nor exhausted, nor copied. And the loving, faithful acceptance of that +sacrifice of propitiation leads our hearts to the response of +thank-offering, the sacrifice and surrender of ourselves to Him who has +given Himself not only to, but for us. It cannot be recompensed, but it +may be acknowledged. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for He has died +for us. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for only in such surrender do +we truly find ourselves. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for such a +sacrifice makes all life fair and noble, and that altar sanctifies the +gift. Let us give ourselves to Christ, for without such sacrifice we +have no place in the host whom He leads to victory. 'Thy people shall be +willing offerings in the day of Thy power.' + +Still further, another remarkable idea may be connected with this word. +By a natural transition, of which illustrations may be found in other +languages, it comes to mean '_free_,' and also '_noble_.' As, for +instance, it is used in the fifty-first Psalm, 'Uphold me with Thy +_free_ Spirit'--and in the forty-seventh, 'The _princes_ of the people +are gathered together.' And does not this shading of significations-- +willing sacrifices, free, princely--remind us of another distinctly +evangelical principle, that the willing service which rests upon glad +consecration raises him who renders it to true freedom and dominion? +Every man enlisted in His body-guard is noble. The Prince's servants +are every other person's master. The King's livery exempts from all +other submission. As in the old Saxon monarchies, the monarch's +domestics were nobles, the men of Christ's household are ennobled +by their service. They who obey Him are free from every yoke of +bondage--'free indeed.' All things serve the soul that serves Christ. +'He hath made us kings unto God.' + +II. The soldiers are priests. + +That expression, 'in the beauties of holiness,' is usually read as if it +belonged either to the words immediately preceding, or to those +immediately following. But in either case the connection is somewhat +difficult and obscure. It seems better regarded as a distinct and +separate clause, adding a fresh trait to the description of the army, +and what that is we need not find any difficulty in ascertaining. 'The +beauties of holiness' is a frequent phrase for the sacerdotal garments, +the holy festal attire of the priests of the Lord. So considered, how +beautifully it comes in here! The conquering King whom the psalm hymns +is a Priest for ever; and He is followed by an army of priests. The +soldiers are gathered in the day of the muster, with high courage and +willing devotion, ready to fling away their lives; but they are clad not +in mail, but in priestly robes--like those who wait before the altar +rather than like those who plunge into the fight--like those who +compassed Jericho with the ark for their standard, and the trumpets for +all their weapons. We can scarcely fail to remember the words which echo +these and interpret them: 'The armies which were in heaven followed Him +on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean'--a strange +armour against sword-cut and spear-thrust. + +The main purpose, then, of this part of our text seems to be to bring +out the priestly character of the Christian soldier--a thought which +carries with it many important considerations, on which I can barely +touch. + +Mark, then, how the warfare which we have to wage is the same as the +priestly service which we have to render. The conflict is with our own +sin and evil; the sacrifice we have to offer is ourselves. As soldiers, +we have to fight against our selfish desires and manifold imperfections; +as priests, we have to lay our whole selves on His altar. The task is +the same under either emblem. We have a conflict to wage in the world, +and in the world we have a priestly work to do, and these are the same. +We have to be God's representatives in the world, bringing Him nearer to +men's apprehensions and hearts by word and work. We have to bring men to +God by entreaty, and by showing the path which leads to Him. That +priestly service for men is in effect identical with the merciful +warfare which we have to wage in the world. The Church militant is an +army of priests. Its warfare is its sacerdotal function. It fights for +Christ when it opposes the message of His grace and the power of His +blood to its own and the world's sins--and when it intercedes in the +secret place for the coming of His kingdom. + +Does not this metaphor teach us also, what is to be our defence and our +weapon in this warfare? Not with garments rolled in blood, nor with +brazen armour do they go forth, who follow Him that conquered by dying. +Their uniform is the beauties of holiness, 'the fine linen clean and +white, which is the righteousness of saints.' Many great thoughts lie in +such words, which I must pass over. But this one thing is obvious--that +the great power which we Christian men are to wield in our loving +warfare is--_character_. Purity of heart and life, transparent simple +goodness, manifest in men's sight--these will arm us against dangers, +and these will bring our brethren glad captives to our Lord. We serve +Him best, and advance His kingdom most, when the habit of our souls is +that righteousness with which He invests our nakedness. Be like your +Lord, and as His soldiers you will conquer, and as His priests you will +win some to His love and fear. Nothing else will avail without that. +Without that dress no man finds a place in the ranks. + +The image suggests, too, the spirit in which our priestly warfare is to +be waged. The one metaphor brings with it thoughts of strenuous effort, +of discipline, of sworn consecration to a cause. The other brings with +it thoughts of gentleness and sympathy and tenderness, of still waiting +at the shrine, of communion with Him who dwells between the Cherubim. +Whilst our work demands all the courage and tension of every power which +the one image presents, it is to be sedulously guarded from any tinge of +wrath or heat of passion, such as mingles with conflict, and is to be +prosecuted with all the pity and patience, the brotherly meekness of a +true priest. 'The wrath of men worketh not the righteousness of God.' If +we forget the one character in the other, we shall bring weakness into +our warfare, and pollution into our sacrifice. 'The servant of the Lord +must not strive.' We must not be animated by mere pugnacious desire to +advance our principles, nor let the heat of human eagerness give a false +fervour to our words and work. We cannot scold nor dragoon men to love +Jesus Christ. We cannot drive them into the fold with dogs and sticks. +We are to be gentle, long-suffering, not doing our work with passion and +self-will, but remembering that gentleness is mightiest, and that we +shall best 'adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour' when we go among men +with the light caught in the inner sanctuary still irradiating our +faces, and our hands full of blessings to bestow on our brethren. We are +to be soldier-priests, strong and gentle, like the ideal of those +knights of old who were both, and bore the cross on shield and helmet +and sword-hilt. + +He, our Lord, is our pattern for both; and from Him we derive the +strength for each. He is the Captain of our salvation, and we fight +beneath His banner, and by His strength. He is a merciful and faithful +High Priest, and He consecrates His brethren to the service of the +sanctuary. To Him look for your example of heroism, of fortitude, of +self-forgetfulness. To Him look for your example of gentle patience and +dewy pity. Learn in Christ how possible it is to be strong and mild, to +blend in fullest harmony the perfection of all that is noble, lofty, +generous in the soldier's ardour of heroic devotion; and of all that is +calm, still, compassionate, tender in the priest's waiting before God +and mediation among men. And remember, that by faith only do we gain the +power of copying that blessed example, to be like which is to be +perfect--not to be like which is to fail wholly, and to prove that we +have no part in His sacrifice, nor any share in His victory. + +III. The final point in this description must now engage us for a few +moments. The soldier-priests are as dew upon the earth. + +'From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth.' These +words are often misunderstood, and taken to be a description of the +fresh, youthful energy attributed by the psalm to the Priest-King of +this nation of soldier-priests. The misunderstanding, I suppose, has led +to the common phrase, 'The dew of one's youth.' But the reference of the +expression is to the army, not to its leader. 'Youth' here is a +collective noun, equivalent to 'young men.' The host of His +soldier-subjects is described as a band of young warriors whom He leads, +in their fresh strength and countless numbers and gleaming beauty, like +the dew of the morning. + +There are two points in this last clause which may occupy us for a few +moments--that picture of the army as a band of youthful warriors; and +that lovely emblem of the dew as applied to Christ's servants. + +As to the former--there are many other words of Scripture which carry +the same thought, that he who has fellowship with God, and lives in the +constant reception of the supernatural life and grace which come from +Jesus Christ, possesses the secret of perpetual youth. The world ages +us, time and physical changes tell on us all, and the strength which +belongs to the life of nature ebbs away, but the life eternal is subject +to no laws of decay and owes nothing to the external world. So we may be +ever young in heart and spirit. It is possible for a man to carry the +freshness, the buoyancy, the elastic cheerfulness, the joyful hope of +his earliest days, right on through the monotony of middle-aged +maturity, and even into old age, unshadowed by the lonely reflection of +the tombs which the setting sun casts over the path. It is possible for +us to get younger as we get older, because we drink more full draughts +of the fountain of life: and so to have to say at the last, 'Thou hast +kept the good wine until now.' 'Even the youths shall faint and be +weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the +Lord shall renew their strength.' If we live near Christ, and draw our +life from Him, then we may blend the hopes of youth with the experience +and memory of age; be at once calm and joyous, wise and strong, +preserving the blessedness of each stage of life into that which +follows, and thus at last possessing the sweetness and the good of all +at once. We may not only bear fruit in old age, but have blossoms, +fruit, and flowers--the varying product and adornment of every stage of +life, united in our characters. + +Then, with regard to the other point in this final clause--that emblem +of the dew leads to many considerations upon which I can but +inadequately touch. + +It comes into view here, I suppose, mainly for the sake of its effect +upon the earth. It is as a symbol of the refreshing which a weary world +will receive from the conquests and presence of the King and His host, +that the latter are likened to the glittering morning dew. Another +prophetic Scripture gives us the same emblem when it speaks of Israel +being 'in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord.' Such ought +to be the effect of our presence. We are meant to gladden, to adorn, to +refresh, this parched, prosaic world, with a freshness brought from the +chambers of the sunrise. + +It is worth while to notice how we may discern a sequence of thought in +these successive features of description in our text. It began with that +inmost spirit and motive of the Christian life, the submission of will +and consecration of self to Christ. It advanced to the function and +character of His servants in the world. And now it deals finally with +the influence which they are to exert by this their soldier-like +obedience and priestly ministration. + +There is progress of thought, too, in another way. We began with a +symbol that had in it something almost harsh and stern. We advanced to +one in which there was a predominance of gentle and gracious thoughts +and images. And now all that was severe, and all that reminded either of +opposition or of effort, has melted away into this sweet emblem. Instead +of the 'confused noise' of the battle of the warrior, we have the +silence of the dawn, and the noiseless falling of the dew amid the +solitudes of the wildernesses, or the recesses of the mountains. So the +highest thought of our Christian influence, is that it comes with silent +footfall and refreshes men's souls, like His, who will come down as +'rain upon the mown grass,' who will not strive nor cry, but in gentle +omnipotence and meek persistence of love, 'will not fail nor be +discouraged till He have set judgment in the earth.' + +Remember other symbols by which the same general thought of Christian +influence upon the world is set forth with very remarkable variation. +'Ye are the light of the world.'--'Ye are the salt of the earth.' The +light guides and gladdens; the salt preserves and purifies; the dew +freshens and fertilises; the light, conspicuous; the salt, working +concealed; and the dew, visible like the former, but yet unobtrusive and +operating silently like the latter. Some of us had rather be light than +salt; prefer to be conspicuous rather than to diffuse a wholesome silent +influence around us. But these three types must all be blended, both in +regard to the manner of working, and in regard to the effects produced. +We shall refresh and beautify the world only in proportion as we save it +from its rottenness and corruption, and we shall do either only in +proportion as we bear abroad the name of Christ, in whom is 'life; and +the life is the light of men.' + +Nor need we omit allusions to other associations connected with this +figure. The dew, formed in the silence of the darkness while men sleep, +falling as willingly on a bit of dead wood as anywhere, hanging its +pearls on every poor spike of grass, and dressing everything on which it +lies with strange beauty, each separate globule tiny and evanescent, but +each flashing back the light, and each a perfect sphere, feeble one by +one, but united, mighty to make the pastures of the wilderness +rejoice--so, created in silence by an unseen influence, weak when taken +singly, but strong in their myriads, glad to occupy the lowliest place, +and each 'bright with something of celestial light,' Christian men and +women are to be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord. + +Brethren! that characteristic, like all else which is good, belongs to +us in proportion as we keep near to Christ Jesus, and are filled with +His fulness. All these emblems which have been occupying us now, +originally belonged to Him, and we receive from Him the grace that makes +us as He is in the world. He Himself is the Warrior King, the Captain of +the Lord's host, the true Joshua, whose last word ere His Cross was a +shout of victory, 'I have overcome the world'--whose promises from the +throne seven times crown the conqueror who overcomes as He overcame. He +makes us His soldiers and strengthens us for the war, if we live by +faith in Him. He Himself is the Priest--the only Eternal Priest of the +world--who wears on His head the mitre and the diadem, and bears in His +hand the sceptre and the censer; and He makes us priests, if faith in +His only sacrifice and all-prevalent intercession be in our souls. He is +the dew unto Israel--and only by intercourse with Him shall we be made +gentle and refreshing, silent blessings to all the weary and the parched +souls in the wilderness of the world. + +Everything worth being or doing comes from Jesus Christ. Heroic courage; +then hold His hand, and He will strengthen your heart. Glad surrender; +then think of His sacrifice for us until ours to Him be our answering +gift. Priestly power; then let Him bring us nigh by His blood, that we +too may be able to have compassion on the ignorant and to draw them to +God. Dewy purity and freshness; then open your hearts for the reception +of His grace, for all the invigoration that we can impart to the world +is but the communication of that refreshing wherewith we ourselves are +refreshed of Christ. In every aspect of our relations to the world, we +draw all our fitness for all our offices from that Lord, who is and +gives everything that we can be or do. Then let us seek by humble faith +and habitual contact with Him and His truth, to have our emptiness +filled by His fulness, and our unfitness made ready for all service by +His all-sufficiency. + +And let me close by reiterating what I have said already. There is a +twofold manner of subjection--the spurious and the real. The involuntary +is nought; the glad and cheerful surrender alone is counted submission. +This psalm shows us Christ surrounded by His friends who are glad to +obey. But it also shows us Christ ruling in the midst of His enemies. +They cannot help obeying; His dominion is established over them, but +they do not wish to have Him to reign over them, and therefore they are +enemies--even though they be subjects. Which is it with you, my brother? +Do you serve because you love--and love because He died for you? or do +you serve because you must? Then, remember, constrained service is no +service; and subjects without loyalty are rebel traitors. Our psalm +shows us Christ gathering His army in array. He is calling each of us to +a place there, in this day of His power, and day of His grace. Take heed +lest the day of His power should for you darken into that other day of +which this psalm speaks--the day of His wrath, when He strikes through +kings, and bruises the head over many countries. Put your trust in that +Saviour, my friend! cleave to that Sacrifice, then you will not be +amongst those whom He treads down in His march to victory, but one of +that happy band of priestly warriors who follow Him as He goes forth +'conquering and to conquer.' + + + + +GOD AND THE GODLY + + + 'His righteousness endureth for ever.'--PSALMS cxi. 3; cxii. 3. + +These two psalms are obviously intended as a pair. They are identical in +number of verses and in structure, both being acrostic, that is to say, +the first clause of each commences with the first letter of the Hebrew +alphabet, the second clause with the second, and so on. The general idea +that runs through them is the likeness of the godly man to God. That +resemblance comes very markedly to the surface at several points in the +psalms, and pervades them traceably even where it is less conspicuous. +The two corresponding clauses which I have read as my text are the first +salient instances of it. But I propose to deal not only with them, but +with a couple of others which occur in the course of the psalms, and +will appear as I proceed. + +The general underlying thought is a noteworthy one. The worshipper is to +be like his God. So it is in idolatry; so it should be with us. Worship +is, or should be, adoration of and yearning after the highest +conceivable good. Such an attitude must necessarily lead to imitation, +and be crowned by resemblance. Love makes like, and they who worship God +are bound to, and certainly will, in proportion to the ardour and +sincerity of their devotion, grow like Him whom they adore. So I desire +to look with you at the instances of this resemblance or parallelism +which the Psalmist emphasises. + +I. The first of them is that in the clauses which I have read as our +starting-point, viz. God and the godly are alike in enduring +righteousness. + +That seems a bold thing to say, especially when we remember how lofty +and transcendent were the Old Testament conceptions of the righteousness +of God. But, lofty as these were, this Psalmist lifts an unpresumptuous +eye to the heavens, and having said of Him who dwells there, 'His +righteousness endureth for ever,' is not afraid to turn to the humble +worshipper on this low earth, and declare the same thing of him. Our +finite, frail, feeble lives may be really conformed to the image of the +heavenly. The dewdrop with its little rainbow has a miniature of the +great arch that spans the earth and rises into the high heavens. And so, +though there are differences, deep and impassable, between anything that +can be called creatural righteousness, and that which bears the same +name in the heavens, the fact that it does bear the same name is a +guarantee to us that there is an essential resemblance between the +righteousness of God in its lustrous perfectness, and the righteousness +of His child in its imperfect effort. + +But how can we venture to run any kind of parallelism between the +eternity of the one and that of the other? God's righteousness we can +understand as enduring for ever, because it is inseparable from His very +being; because it is manifested unbrokenly in all the works that for +ever pour out from that central Source, and because it and its doings +stand fast and unshaken amidst the passage of ages, and the 'wreck of +matter and the crash of worlds.' But may there not be, if not an +eternity, yet a perpetuity, in our reflection of the divine +righteousness which shall serve to vindicate the application of the same +mighty word to both? Is it not possible that, unbroken amidst the stress +of temptation, and running on without interruptions, there may be in our +hearts and in our lives conformity to the divine will? And is it not +possible that the transiencies of our earthly doings may be sublimed +into perpetuity if there is in them the preserving salt of +righteousness? + + 'The actions of the just + Smell sweet, and blossom in the dust.' + +And may it not be, too, that though this Psalmist may have had no clear +articulate doctrine of eternal life beyond, he may have felt, and +rightly felt, that there were things that were too fair to die, and that +it was inconceivable that a soul which had been, in some measure, tinged +with the righteousness of God could ever be altogether a prey to the law +of transiency and decay which seizes upon things material and corporeal? +That which is righteous is eternal, be it manifested in the acts of the +unchanging God or in the acts of a dying man, and when all else has +passed away, and the elements have melted with fervent heat, 'he that +doeth the will of God,' and the deeds which did it, 'shall abide for +ever.' 'His righteousness endureth for ever.' + +Now, brethren! there are two ways in which we may look at this +parallelism of our text: the one is as containing a stringent +requirement; the other as holding forth a mighty hope. It contains a +stringent requirement. Our religion does not consist in assenting to any +creed. Our religion is not wholly to consist of devout emotions and +loving and joyous acts of communion and friendship with God. There must +be more than these; these things there must be. For if a man is to be +guided mainly by reason, there must, first of all, be creed; then there +must be corresponding emotions. But creed and emotions are both meant to +be forces which shall drive the wheels of life, and conduct is, after +all, the crown of religion and the test of godliness. They that hold +communion with God are bound to mould their lives into the likeness of +His. 'Little children, let no man deceive you,' and let not your own +hearts deceive you. You are not a Christian because you believe the +truths of the Gospel. You are not such a Christian as you ought to be, +if your religion is more manifest in loving trust than in practical +obedience which comes from trust. 'He that doeth righteousness is +righteous,' and he is to be righteous 'even as He is righteous.' If you +are God's, you will be like God. Apply the touchstone to your lives, and +test your Christianity by this simple and most stringent test. + +But again, we may look at the thought as holding forth a great hope. I +do not wish to force upon Old Testament writers New Testament truth. It +would be an anachronism and an absurdity to make this Psalmist +responsible for anything like a clear evangelistic statement of the way +by which a man may be made righteous. That waited for coming days, and +eminently for Jesus Christ. But it would be quite as great a mistake to +eviscerate the words of their plain implications. And when they put side +by side the light and the reflection, God and the godly, it seems to me +to be doing violence to their meaning for the sake of trying to make +them mean less than they do, if we refuse to recognise that they have at +any rate an inkling of the thought that the Original and Pattern of +human righteousness was likewise the Source of it. This at least is +plain, that the Psalmist thought that 'the fear of the Lord' was not +only, as he calls it at the close of the former of the two psalms, 'the +beginning of wisdom,' but also the basis of goodness, for he begins his +description of the godly with it. + +I believe that he felt, what is assuredly true, that no man, by his own +unaided effort, can ever work out for himself a righteousness which will +satisfy his own conscience, and that he must, first of all, be in touch +with God, in order to receive from Him that which he cannot create. Ah, +brethren! the 'fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness +of saints,' is woven in no earthly looms; and the lustrous light with +which it glistens is such as 'no fuller on earth can white' men's +characters into. Another Psalmist has sung of the man who can stand in +the holy place, 'He shall _receive_ the blessing from the Lord, even +righteousness from the God of his salvation,' and our psalms hint, if +they do not articulately declare, how that reception is possible for us, +when they set forth waiting upon God as the condition of being made like +Him. We translate the Psalmist's feeling after the higher truth which we +know, when we desire 'that we may be found in Him, not having our own +righteousness which is of the law, but that which is of God by faith.' +So much, then, for the first point of correspondence in these two +psalms. + +II. God and the godly are alike in gracious compassion. + +If you will turn to the two psalms for a moment, and look at the last +clauses of the two fourth verses, you will see how that thought is +brought out. In the former psalm we read, 'The Lord is gracious and full +of compassion': in the latter we find, 'he' (the upright man) 'is +gracious and full of compassion, and righteous.' + +I need not trouble you with any remarks about certain difficulties that +lie in the rendering of that latter verse. Suffice it to say that they +are such as to make more emphatic the intentional resemblance between +the godly as there described, and God as described in the previous one. +Of both it is said 'gracious and full of compassion.' + +Now that great truth of which I have been speaking, the divine +righteousness, is like white Alpine snow, sublime, but cold, awful and +repellent, when taken by itself. Our hearts need something more than a +righteous God if we are ever to worship and draw near. Just as the white +snow on the high peak needs to be flushed with the roseate hue of the +morning before it can become tender, and create longings, so the +righteousness of the great white Throne has to be tinged with the ruddy +heart-hue of gracious compassion if men are to be moved to adore and to +love. Each enhances the other. 'What God hath joined together,' in +Himself, 'let not man put asunder'; nor talk about the stern Deity of +the Old Testament, and pit Him against the compassionate Father of the +New. He is righteous, but the proclaimers of His righteousness in old +days never forgot to blend with the righteousness the mercy; and the +combination heightens the lustre of both attributes. + +The same combination is absolutely needful in the copy, as is +emphatically set forth in our text by the addition of 'and righteous,' +in the case of the man. For whilst with God the tyro attributes do lie, +side by side, in perfect harmony, in us men there is always danger that +the one shall trench upon the territory of the other, and that he who +has cultivated the habit of looking upon sorrows and sins with +compassion and tenderness shall somewhat lose the power of looking at +them with righteousness. So our text, in regard to man, proclaims more +emphatically than it needs to do in regard to the perfect God, that ever +his highest beauty of compassion must be wedded to righteousness, and +ever his truest strength of righteousness must be softened with +compassion. + +But beyond that, note how, wherever there is the loving and childlike +contemplation of God, there will be an analogy in our compassion, to His +perfectness. We are transformed by beholding. The sun strikes a poor +little pane of glass in a cottage miles away, and it flashes with some +likeness of the sun and casts a light across the plain. The man whose +face is turned Godwards will have beauty pass into his face, and all +that look upon him will see 'as it had been the countenance of an +angel.' + +If we have, in any real and deep measure, received mercy we shall +reflect mercy. Remember the parable of the unmerciful debtor. The +servant that cast himself at his lord's feet, and got the acquittal of +his debt, and went out and gripped his fellow-servant by the throat, +leaving the marks of his fingernails on his windpipe, with his 'Pay me +that thou owest!' had all the pardon cancelled, and all the debt laid +upon his shoulders again. If we owe all our hope and peace to a +forgiving God, how can we make anything else the law of our lives than +that, having received mercy, we should show mercy? The test of your +being a forgiven man is your forgivingness. There is no getting away +from that plain principle, which modifies the declaration of the freedom +of God's full pardon. + +But I would have you notice, further, as a very remarkable illustration +of this correspondence between the gracious and compassionate Lord and +His servant, that in the verses which follow respectively the two about +which I am now speaking, the same idea is wrought out in another shape. +In the psalm dealing with the divine character and works we read, +immediately after the declaration that He is 'gracious and full of +compassion,' this--'He hath given meat to them that fear Him'; and the +corresponding clause in the second of our psalms is followed by this--to +translate accurately--'It is well with the man who showeth favour and +lendeth.' So man's open-handedness in regard to money is put down side +by side with God's open-handedness in regard to giving meat unto them +that fear Him. And again, in the ninth verse of each psalm, we have the +same thought set forth in another fashion. 'He sent redemption unto His +people,' says the one; 'He hath dispersed, He hath given to the poor,' +says the other. That is to say, our paltry giving may be paralleled with +the unspeakable gifts which God has bestowed, if they come from a love +which is like His. It does not matter though they are so small and His +are so great; there is a resemblance. The tiniest crystal may be like +the hugest. God gives to us the possession of things in order that we +may enjoy the luxury, which is one of the elements in the blessedness of +the blessed God, who is blessed because He is the giving God, the luxury +of giving. Poor though our bestowments must be, they are not unlike His. +The little burn amongst the heather carves its tiny bed, and impels its +baby ripples by the same laws which roll the waters of the Amazon, and +every fall that it makes over a shelf of rock a foot high is a miniature +Niagara. + +III. So, lastly, we have still another point, not so much of resemblance +as of correspondence, in the firmness of God's utterances and of the +godly heart. + +In the first of our two psalms we read, in the seventh verse, 'All His +commandments are _sure_.' In the second we read, in the corresponding +verse, 'his heart is _fixed_, trusting in the Lord.' The former psalm +goes on, 'His commandments _stand fast_ for ever and ever; and the next +psalm, in the corresponding verse, says 'his heart is _established_,' +the original employing the same word in both cases, which in our version +is rendered, in the one place, 'stand fast,' and in the other +'established.' So that the Psalmist is thinking of a correspondence +between the stability of God's utterances and the stability of the heart +that clasps them in faith. + +His commandments are not only precepts which enjoin duty. All which God +says is law, whether it be directly in the nature of guiding precept, or +whether it be in the nature of revealing truth, or whether it be in the +nature of promise. It is sure, reliable, utterly trustworthy. We may be +certain that it will direct us aright, that it will reveal to us +absolute truth, that it will hold forth no flattering and false +promises. And it is 'established.' The one fixed point amidst the whirl +of things is the uttered will of God. + +Therefore, the heart that builds there builds safely. And there should +be a correspondence, whether there is or no, between the faithfulness of +the Speaker and the faith of the hearer. A man who is doubtful about the +solidity of the parapet which keeps him from toppling over into the +abyss will lean gingerly upon it, until he has found out that it is +firm. The man that knows how strong is the stay on which he rests ought +to lean hard upon it. Lean hard upon God, put all your weight upon Him. +You cannot put too much, you cannot lean too hard. The harder the +better; the better He is pleased, and the more He breathes support and +strength into us. And, brethren! if thus we build an established faith +on that sure foundation, and match the unchangeableness of God in Christ +with the constancy of our faith in Him, then, 'He that believeth shall +never make haste,' and as my psalm says, 'He shall not be afraid of evil +tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.' + +The upshot of the whole matter is--we cannot work out for ourselves a +righteousness that will satisfy our own consciences, nor secure for +ourselves a strength that will give peace to our hearts, and stability +to our lives, by any other means than by cleaving fast to God revealed +in Jesus Christ. + +We have borne the image of the earthly long enough; let us open our +hearts to God in Christ. Let us yield ourselves to Him; let us gaze upon +Him with fixed eyes of love, and labour to make our own what He bestows +upon us. Thus living near Him, we shall be bathed in His light, and show +forth something of His beauty. Godliness is God-likeness. It is of no +use to say that we are God's children if we have none of the family +likeness. 'If ye were Abraham's sons ye would do the works of Abraham,' +said Christ to the Jews. If we are God's sons we shall do the works of +God. 'Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect;' be +ye merciful as your Father is merciful. And if thus we here, dwelling +with Christ, are being conformed to the image of His Son, we shall one +day 'be satisfied' when we 'awake in His likeness.' + + + + +EXPERIENCE, RESOLVE, AND HOPE + + + 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and + my feet from falling. 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of + the living.'--PSALM cxvi. 8, 9. + +This is a quotation from an earlier psalm, with variations which are +interesting, whether we suppose that the Psalmist was quoting from +memory and made them unconsciously, or whether, as is more probable, he +did so, deliberately and for a purpose. The variations are these. The +words in the original psalm (lvi.) according to the Revised Version, +read, 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death; hast Thou not delivered +my feet from falling?' The writer of this psalm felt that that did not +say all, so he put in another clause: 'Thou hast delivered my soul from +death, _mine eyes from tears_, and my feet from falling.' It is not +enough to keep a man alive and upright. God will wipe away his tears; +and will often keep him from shedding them. + +Then the original psalm goes on: 'Thou hast delivered ... my feet from +falling, that I may walk before God,' but the later Psalmist goes a step +further than his original. The first singer had seen what it is always a +blessing to see--what God meant by all the varieties of His providences, +viz. that the recipient might walk as in His presence; but the later +poet not only discerns, but accords with, God's purpose, yields himself +to the divine intention, and instead of simply saying 'That was what God +meant,' he says, 'That is what I am going to do--I will walk before the +Lord.' There is still another variation which, however, does not alter +the sense. The original psalm says, 'in the light of the living'; the +other uses another word, a little more intelligible, perhaps, to an +ordinary reader, and says, 'in the land of the living.' + +Now, noting these significant variations, I would draw attention to this +expression of the Psalmist's acceptance of the divine purpose, and the +vision that it gave him of his future. It is hard to say whether he +means 'I will walk' or 'I shall walk'; whether he is expressing a hope +or giving utterance to a fixed resolve. I think there is an element of +both in the words. At all events, I find in them three things: a sure +anticipation, a firm resolve, and a far-reaching hope. + +I. A sure anticipation. + +'Thou hast'--'I will.' The past is for this Psalmist a mirror in which +he sees reflected the approaching form of the veiled future. God's past +is the guarantee of God's future. Godless people, who get wearied of the +monotony of life, begin to say before they have gone far in it, 'Oh! +there is nothing new. That which is to be hath already been. It is just +one continual repetition of the same sort of thing.' But that is only +partially true. There is only one man in the world who can truly and +certainly say, 'To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant'; +and that is the man who says; 'He delivered my soul from death, mine +eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.' For the continuance of +things here is not guaranteed to us by the fact that they have lasted +for so long. Why, nobody knows whether the sun will rise to-morrow or +not--whether there will be a to-morrow or not. There will come one day +when the sun sets for the last time. What people call the 'uniformity of +nature' affords no ground on which to build certainty as to the future. +We all do it, but we have no right to do it. But when we bring God into +the future, that makes all the difference. His past is the guarantee and +the revelation of His future, and every person that grasps Him in faith +has the right to pray with assurance, 'Thou hast been my Helper; leave +me not, neither forsake me,' and to declare triumphantly, 'The Lord will +perfect that which concerneth me.' + +So, brethren! all the past, as it is recorded for us in Scripture, lives +and throbs with faithful promises for us to-day. Though the methods of +the manifestation may alter, the essence of it remains the same. As one +of the Apostles says, 'Whatsoever things were written aforetime were +written for our advantage, that we, through the encouragement ministered +by the Scriptures, might have hope'; and looking forward into all the +future, might discern its wastes unknown, all lighted up by the one glad +certainty that He that is 'the same yesterday and to-day and for ever' +will be there, and we shall be beside Him. What God has done, He will +keep on doing. 'The Lord hath delivered mine eyes from tears, and my +feet from falling,' and therefore 'I shall walk before the Lord in the +land of the living.' + +Our experience yields fuel for our faith. We have been near death many a +time; we have never fallen into it. Our eyes have been wet many a time; +God has dried them. Our feet have been ready to fall many a time, and if +at the moment when we were tottering on the edge of the precipice, we +have cried to Him and said, 'My feet have well-nigh slipped,' a strong +Hand has been held out to us. 'The Lord upholdeth them that are in the +act of falling,' as the old psalm, rightly rendered, has it, and if we +have pushed aside His hand, and gone down, then the next clause of the +same verse applies, for He 'raiseth up those that have fallen,' and are +lying prostrate. + +As it has been, so it will be. 'Thou hast been with me in six troubles,' +therefore 'in the seventh Thou wilt not forsake me.' We can wear out +men; and we cannot argue that because a man has had long patience with +some unworthy recipient of his goodness, his patience will never give +out. But it is safe to argue thus about God. 'I say not unto thee, until +seven times, but until seventy times seven'--the two perfect numbers +multiplied into each other, and the product again multiplied by one of +them, to give the measureless measure of the exhaustless divine love, +and the sure guarantee that to His servant 'to-morrow shall be as this +day, and much more abundant.' + +Then, again, if we put a little different meaning into the Psalmist's +words (and as I said, I think both meanings lie in them), they suggest +that he did not look forward into the future only with expectation, but +that along with expectation there was resolve. So we have here + +II. A firm resolve. + +'I will walk before the Lord.' What does 'walking before the Lord' mean? +There are two or three expressions very like each other, yet entirely +different from each other, in the Old and in the New Testament, about +this matter. We read of 'walking with God,' and of 'walking before God,' +and of 'walking after God.' And whilst there is much that is common to +all the expressions, they look at the same idea from different angles. +'Walking with God,' communion, fellowship, and companionship are implied +there. 'Walking after God,' guidance, direction, and example, and our +poor imitation and obedience, are most conspicuous there. And 'walking +before God' means, I suppose, mainly, feeling always that we are in His +presence, and have the light of His face, and the glance of His +all-seeing eye, falling upon us. 'If I take the wings of the morning, +and fly into the uttermost parts of the sea, Thou art there.' 'Thou art +acquainted with all my ways, search me, O God!' That is walking before +God. To put it into colder words, it means the habitual--I do not say +unbroken, but habitual--effort to feel in our conscious hearts that we +are in His sight; not only that we are with Him, but that we are 'naked +and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.' And that is to be +the result, says our psalm, as it is the intention, of all that God has +been doing with us in His merciful providence, in His quickening, +sustaining, and comforting influences in the past. He sent all these +varying conditions, kept the psalmist alive, kept him from weeping, or +dried his tears, kept him from falling, with the intention that he +should be continually blessed in the continuous sunshine of God's +presence, and should open out his heart in it and for it, like a flower +when the sunbeams strike it. Oh! how different life would look if we +habitually took hold of all its incidents by that handle, and thought +about them, not as we are accustomed to do, according to whether they +tended to make us glad or sorry, to disappoint or fulfil our hopes and +purposes, but looked upon them all as stages in our education, and as +intended, if I might so say, to force us, when the tempests blow, close +up against God; and when the sunshine came, to woo us to His side. Would +not all life change its aspect if we carried that thought right into it, +and did not only keep it for Sundays, or for the crises of our lives, +but looked at all the trifles as so many magnets brought into action by +Him to attract us to Himself? Dear brother, it is not enough to +recognise God's purpose, we must fall in with it, accept the intention, +and co-operate with God in fulfilling it. It is a matter of purity and +of piety, to say, 'Thou hast delivered my soul from death, that I may +walk before Thee.' + +But there has to be something more. There have to be a firm resolve, and +effort without which the firmest resolve will all come to nothing, and +be one more paving-stone for the road that is 'paved with good +intentions.' That firm resolve finds utterance in the not vain vow, 'I +will'--in spite of all opposition and difficulties--'I will walk before +the Lord,' and keep ever bright in my mind the thought, 'Thou God seest +me.' + +Ay! and just in the measure in which we do so shall we have joy. In some +of those inhuman prisons where they go in for solitary confinement, +there is a little hole somewhere in the wall--the prisoner does not know +where--at which at any moment in the four-and-twenty hours the eye of +the gaoler may be, and they say that the thought of that unseen eye, +glaring in upon the felons, drives some of them half mad. The thought +that poor Hagar found to be her only comfort in the wilderness--and so +christened the well after it--'Thou God seest me,' must be the source of +our purest joy; or it must be a ghastly dread. When He comes at last, +some men will lift up their faces to the sunshine and have their faces +irradiated by the light; and some will call on the rocks and the hills +to cover them from His face, and prefer rather to be crushed than to be +blasted by the brightness of His countenance. If we are right with God, +then the gladdest of thoughts is, 'Thou knowest me altogether, and Thou +hast beset me behind and before.' If we are right with God, 'Thou hast +laid Thine hand upon me' will mean for us support and blessing. If we +are wrong, it will mean a weight that crushes to the earth. + +And if we are right with Him, that same thought brings with it security +and companionship. Ah! we do not need ever to say 'I am alone' if we are +walking before God. It brings with it, of course, an armour against +temptation. What mean, lustful, worldly seduction has any power when a +man falls back on the thought, 'God sees me, and God is with me'? Do you +remember the very first instance in Scripture of the use of this phrase? +The Lord said unto Abraham, 'Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.' That +was not only a commandment, but it was a promise, and we might as truly, +for the sense of the passage, read, 'Walk before Me, and thou shalt be +perfect.' That thought of the present God draws the teeth of all raging +lions, and takes the stings out of all serpents, and paralyses and +reduces to absolute nothingness every temptation. Clasp God's hand, and +you will not fall. + +III. There is lastly here, a far-reaching hope. + +I do not know whether the Psalmist had any notion of any land of the +living except the land of Earth, where men pass their natural lives. I +almost think that both he and his brother, whose words he was imitating, +had some glimpse of a future life of closer union, when eyes should no +more weep nor feet fall. At any rate, you and I cannot help reading that +hope into his words. When we read, 'I will walk before the Lord in the +land of the living,' we cannot but think of the true and perfect +deliverance, when it shall be said, with a depth and a fulness of +meaning with which it is never said here, 'Thou hast delivered my soul +from death,' and the black dread that towered so high, and closed the +vista of all human expectation of the future, is now away back in the +past, hull-down on the horizon as they say about ships scarcely visible, +and no more to be feared. We cannot but think of the perfect deliverance +of 'mine eyes from tears,' when 'God shall wipe away the tears from off +all faces, and the rebuke of His people from off all the earth.' We +cannot but think of the perfect deliverance of 'my feet from falling' +when the redeemed of the Lord shall stand firm, and walk at liberty on +the golden pavements, and no more dread the stumbling-blocks of earth. +We cannot but think of the perfect presence of God, the perfect +consciousness that we are near Him, when He shall 'present us faultless +before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.' We cannot but +think of the perfect activity of that future state when we 'shall walk +with Him in white,' and 'follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth.' And +one guarantee for all that far-reaching hope is in the tiny experiences +of the present; for He who hath delivered our souls from death, our eyes +from tears, and our feet from falling, is not going to expose Himself to +the scoff, 'This "God" began to build, and was not able to finish.' But +He will complete that which He has begun, and will not stay His hand +until all His children are perfectly redeemed and perfectly conscious of +His perfect Presence. + + + + +REQUITING GOD + + + 'What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? + 13. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the + Lord.'--PSALM cxvi. 12, 13. + +There may possibly be a reference here to a part of the Passover ritual. +It seems to have become the custom in later times to lift high the wine +cup at that feast and drink it with solemn invocation and glad +thanksgiving. So we find our Lord taking the cup--the 'cup of blessing' +as Paul calls it--and giving thanks. But as there is no record of the +introduction of that addition to the original Paschal celebration, we do +not know but that it was later than the date of this psalm. Nor is there +any need to suppose such an allusion in order either to explain or to +give picturesque force to the words. It is a most natural thing, as all +languages show, to talk of a man's lot, either of sorrow or joy, as the +cup which he has to drink; and there are numerous instances of the +metaphor in the Psalms, such as 'Thou art the Portion of mine +inheritance and of my cup, Thou maintainest my lot.' 'My cup runneth +over.' That familiar emblem is all that is wanted here. + +Then one other point in reference to the mere words of the text may be +noticed. 'Salvation' can scarcely be taken in its highest meaning here, +both because the whole tone of the psalm fixes its reference to lower +blessings, and because it is in the plural in the Hebrew. 'The cup of +salvation' expresses, by that plural form, the fulness and variety of +the manifold and multiform deliverances which God had wrought and was +working for the Psalmist. His whole lot in life appears to him as a cup +full of tender goodness, loving faithfulness, delivering grace. It runs +over with divine acts of help and sustenance. As his grateful heart +thinks of all God's benefits to him, he feels at once the impulse to +requite and the impossibility of doing so. With a kind of glad despair +he asks the question that ever springs to thankful lips, and having +nothing to give, recognises the only possible return to God to be the +acceptance of the brimming chalice which His goodness commends to his +thirst. + +The great thought, then, which lies here is that we best requite God by +thankfully taking what He gives. + +Now I note to begin with--how deep that thought goes into the heart of +God. + +Why is it that we honour God most by taking, not by giving? The first +answer that occurs to you, no doubt, is--because of His all-sufficiency +and our emptiness. Man receives all. God needs nothing. We have all to +say, after all our service, 'Of Thine own have we given Thee.' No doubt +that is quite true; and rightly understood that is a strengthening and a +glad truth. But is that all which can be said in explanation of this +principle? Surely not. 'If I were hungry I would not tell thee; for the +world is mine and the fulness thereof,' is a grand word, but it does not +give all the truth. When Paul stood on Mars Hill, and, within sight of +the fair images of the Parthenon, shattered the intellectual basis of +idolatry, by proclaiming a God 'not worshipped with men's hands as +though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all men all things,' that +truth, mighty as it is, is not all. We requite God by taking rather than +by giving, not merely because He needs nothing, and we have nothing +which is not His. If that were all, it might be as true of an almighty +tyrant, and might be so used as to forbid all worship before the gloomy +presence, to give reverence and love to whom were as impertinent as the +grossest offerings of savage idolaters. But the motive of His giving to +us is the deepest reason why our best recompense to Him is our thankful +reception of His mercies. The principle of our text reposes at last on +'God is love and wishes our hearts,' and not merely on 'God has all and +does not need our gifts.' + +Take the illustration from our own love and gifts. Do we not feel that +all the beauty and bloom of a gift is gone if the giver hopes to receive +as much again? Do we not feel that it is all gone if the receiver thinks +of repaying it in any coin but that of the heart? Love gives because it +delights in giving. It gives that it may express itself and may bless +the recipient. If there be any thought of return it is only the return +of love. And that is how God gives. As James puts it, He is 'the giving +God,--who gives,' not as our version inadequately renders, 'liberally,' +but 'simply'--that is, I suppose, with a single eye, without any +ulterior view to personal advantage, from the impulse of love alone, and +having no end but our good. Therefore it is, because of that pure, +perfect love, that He delights in no recompense, but only in the payment +of a heart won to His love and melted by His mercies. Therefore it is +that His hand is outstretched, 'hoping for nothing again.' His Almighty +all-sufficiency needs nought from us, and to all heathen notions of +worship and tribute puts the question: 'Do ye requite the Lord, O +foolish people and unwise?' But His deep heart of love desires and +delights in the echo of its own tones that is evoked among the rocky +hardnesses of our hearts, and is glad when we take the full cup of His +blessings and, as we raise it to our lips, call on the name of the Lord. +Is not that a great and a gracious thought of our God and of His great +purpose in His mercies? + +But now let us look for a moment at the elements which make up this +requital of God in which He delights. And, first I put a very simple and +obvious one, let us be sure that we recognise the real contents of our +cup. It _is_ a cup of salvations, however hard it is sometimes to +believe it. Of how much blessing and happiness we all rob ourselves by +our slowness to feel that! Some of us by reason of natural temperament; +some of us by reason of the pressure of anxieties, and the aching of +sorrows, and the bleeding of wounds; some of us by reason of mere +blindness to the true character of our present, have little joyous sense +of the real brightness of our days. It seems as if joys must have passed +and be seen in the transfiguring light of memory, before we can discern +their fairness; and then, when their place is empty, we know that we +were entertaining angels unawares. Many men and women live in the gloom +of a lifelong regret for the loss of some gift which, when they had it, +seemed nothing very extraordinary, and could not keep them from +annoyance with trifles. Common sense and reasonable regard for our own +happiness and religious duty unite, as they always do, in bidding us +take care that we know our blessings. Do not let custom blind you to +them. Do not let tears so fill your eyes that you cannot see the +goodness of the Lord. Do not let thunderclouds, however heavy their +lurid piles, shut out from you the blue that is in your sky. Do not let +the empty cup be your first teacher of the blessings you had when it was +full. Do not let a hard place here and there in the bed destroy your +rest. Seek, as a plain duty, to cultivate a buoyant, joyous sense of the +crowded kindnesses of God in your daily life. Take full account of all +the pains, all the bitter ingredients, remembering that for us weak and +sinful men the bitter is needful. If still the cup seem charged with +distasteful draught, remember whose lip has touched its rim, leaving its +sacred kiss there, and whose hand holds it out to you while He says, 'Do +this in remembrance of Me.' The cup which my Saviour giveth me, can it +be anything but a cup of salvations? + +Then, again, another of the elements of this requital of God is--be sure +that you take what God gives. + +There can be no greater slight and dishonour to a giver than to have his +gifts neglected. You give something that has, perhaps, cost you much, or +which at any rate has your heart in it, to your child, or other dear +one; would it not wound you if a day or two after you found it tossing +about among a heap of unregarded trifles? Suppose that some of those +Rajahs who received presents on a royal visit to India had gone out from +the durbar and flung them into the kennel, that would have been insult +and disaffection, would it not? But these illustrations are trivial by +the side of our treatment of the 'giving God.' Surely of all the follies +and crimes of our foolish and criminal race, there is none to match +this--that we will not take and make our own the things that are freely +given to us of God. This is the height of all madness; this is the +lowest depth of all sin. He spares not His own Son, the Son spares not +Himself, the Father gives up His Son for us all because He loves, the +Son loves us, and gives Himself to us and for us, and we stand with our +hands folded on our breasts, will not condescend so much as to stretch +them out, or hold our blessings with so slack a grasp that at any time +we may let them slip through our careless fingers. He prays us with much +entreaty to receive the gift, and neglect and stolid indifference are +His requital. Is there anything worse than that? Surely Scripture is +right when it makes the sin of sins that unbelief, which is at bottom +nothing else than a refusal to take the cup of salvation. Surely no +sharper grief can be inflicted on the Spirit of God than when we leave +His gifts neglected and unappropriated. + +In the highest region of all, how many of these there are which we treat +so! A Saviour and His pardoning blood; a Spirit and His quickening +energies; that eternal life which might spring in our souls a fountain +of living waters--all these are ours. Are we as strong as we might be if +we used the strength which we have? How comes it that with the fulness +of God at our sides we are empty; that with the word of God in our hands +we know so little; that with the Spirit of God in our hearts we are so +fleshly; that with the joy of our God for our portion we are so +troubled; that with the heart of God for our hiding-place we are so +defenceless? 'We have all and abound,' and yet we are poor and needy, +like some infatuated beggar, in rags and wretchedness, to whom wealth +had been given which he would not use. + +In the lower region of daily life and common mercies the same strange +slowness to take what we have is found. There are very few men who +really make the best of their circumstances. Most of us are far less +happy than we might be, if we had learned the divine art of wringing the +last drop of good out of everything. After our rude attempts at smelting +there is a great deal of valuable metal left in the dross, which a wiser +system would extract. One wonders when one gets a glimpse of how much of +the raw material of happiness goes to waste in the manufacture in all +our lives. There is so little to spare, and yet so much is flung away. +It needs a great deal of practical wisdom, and a great deal of strong, +manly Christian principle, to make the most of what God gives us. +Watchfulness, self-restraint, the power of suppressing anxieties and +taking no thought for the morrow, and most of all, the habitual temper +of fellowship with God, which is the most potent agent in the chemistry +that extracts its healing virtue from everything--all these are wanted. +The lesson is worth learning, lest we should wound that most tender +Love, and lest we should impoverish and hurt ourselves. Do not complain +of your thirsty lips till you are sure that you have emptied the cup of +salvation which God gives. + +One more element of this requital of God has still to be named, the +thankful recognition of Him in all our feasting--'call on the name of +the Lord.' Without this the preceding precept would be a piece of pure +selfish Epicureanism--and without this it would be impossible. Only he +who enjoys life in God enjoys it worthily. Only he who enjoys life in +God enjoys it at all. This is the true infusion which gives sweetness to +whatever of bitter, and more of sweetness to whatever of sweet, the cup +may contain, when the name of the Lord is pronounced above it. The +Jewish father at the Passover feast solemnly lifted the wine cup above +his head, and drank with thanksgiving. The meal became a sacrament. So +here the word rendered 'take' might be translated 'raise,' and we may be +intended to have the picture as emblematical of our consecration to all +our blessings by a like offering of them before God and a like invoking +of the Giver. + +Christ gave us not only the ritual of an ordinance, but the pattern for +our lives, when He 'took the cup and gave thanks.' So common joys become +sacraments, enjoyment becomes worship, and the cup which holds the +bitter or the sweet skilfully mingled for our lives becomes the cup of +blessing and salvation drank in remembrance of Him. If we carried that +spirit with us into all our small duties, sorrows, and gladnesses, how +different they would all seem! We should then drink for strength, not +for drunkenness. We should not then find that God's gifts hid Him from +us. We should neither leave any of them unused nor so greedily grasp +them that we let His hand go. Nothing would be too great for us to +attempt, nothing too small for us to put our strength into. There would +be no discord between earthly gladness and heavenly desires, nor any +repugnance at what He held to our lips. We should drink of the cup of +His benefits, and all would be sweet--until we drew nearer and slaked +our thirst at the river of His pleasures and the Fountain-head itself. + +One more word. There is an old legend of an enchanted cup filled with +poison, and put treacherously into a king's hand. He signed the sign of +the Cross and named the name of God over it, and it shivered in his +grasp. Do you take that name of the Lord as a test. Name Him over many a +cup of which you are eager to drink, and the glittering fragments will +lie at your feet, and the poison be spilled on the ground. What you +cannot lift before His pure eyes and think of Him while you enjoy is not +for you. Friendships, schemes, plans, ambitions, amusements, +speculations, studies, loves, businesses--can you call on the name of +the Lord while you put these cups to your lips? If not, fling them +behind you--for they are full of poison which, for all its sugared +sweetness, at the last will 'bite like a serpent and sting like an +adder.' + + + + +A CLEANSED WAY + + + 'Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed + thereto according to Thy word.'--PSALM cxix. 9. + +There are many questions about the future with which it is natural for +you young people to occupy yourselves; but I am afraid that the most of +you ask more anxiously 'How shall I _make_ my way?' than 'How shall I +_cleanse_ it?' It is needful carefully to ponder the questions: 'How +shall I get on in the world--be happy, fortunate?' and the like, and I +suppose that that is the consideration which presses with special force +upon a great many of you. Now I want you to think of another question: +'How shall I _cleanse_ my way?' For purity is the best thing; and to be +good is a wiser as well as a nobler object of ambition than any other. +So my object is just to try and urge upon my dear young friends before +me the serious consideration for a while of this grave question of my +text, and the answers which are given to it. + +If I can get you once to be smitten with a passion for purity, all but +everything is gained. But I shall not be content if even that is the +issue of my pleading with you now, for I want to have you all +Christians. And that is why I have asked you to listen to what I have to +say to you on this occasion. + +I. So, first, we have here the great practical problem for life: +'Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?' Or, in other words, +'How may I live a pure and a noble life?' + +It is a question, of course, for everybody: it is _the_ question for +everybody, but it is more especially one for you young people. And I +wish to urge it upon you for two or three reasons, which I very briefly +specify. + +First, I desire to press upon you this question, because, as I have +said, you are under special temptations not to ask it. There are so many +other points in your future unresolved, that you are only too apt to put +aside the consideration of this one in favour of those which seem to be +of more pressing and immediate importance. And you have the other +temptation, common to us all, but especially attending you as young +people, of living without any plan of life at all. The sin and the +misery of half the world are that they live from hand to mouth, knowing +why they do each single action at the moment, but never looking a dozen +inches beyond their noses to see where all the actions taken together +tend; and so being just like weathercocks, whirled round by every wind +of temptation that comes to them. If they are good or pure they are so +by accident, by impulse, or because they have never been tempted. They +have no definite plan or theory of life which they could put into words +if anybody asked them on what principles, and for what end, and towards +what objects they were living. And as everybody is tempted into such an +unreflecting way of life, so you especially are tempted to it, because +at your age judgment and experience are not so strong as inclination and +passion; and everything has got the fresh gloss of novelty upon it, and +it seems to be sometimes sufficient delight to live and get hold of the +new joys that are flooding in upon you. And therefore I want you to stop +and for a moment think whether you have any plan of life that bears +being put into words, whether you can tell God and your own consciences +what you are living for. + +And I urge this question upon you for another reason--because it is +worth while for _you_ to ask it. For you have still the prerogative that +some of us have lost, of determining the shape that your life's course +is to take. The path that you are going to tread lies all unmarked out +across the plain of life. You may be pretty nearly what you like. Life +is before you, with great blessed possibilities; it is behind some of +us. All the long years which you may probably have are all plastic in +your hands yet; they are moulded into a rigid shape for men like me. We +have made our beds, and we must lie on them. You have your life in your +own hands; therefore, I beseech you, while you have not to ask this +question with the bitter meaning with which old men that have made their +paths, and made them filthy, have to ask it--'How shall an _old_ man +cleanse his way, and get rid of the filth?'--consider how you may secure +that your way in the untrodden future shall be clean, and do not rest +till you get an answer. + +And I press it upon you for another reason, because you have special +temptations to make your ways unclean. It is a fearful ordeal that every +young man and woman has to face, as he or she steps across the dividing +boundary between childhood and youth, when parental authority is +weakened, and the leading-strings are loosened, and the young swimmer is +as it were cut away from the buoys, and has to battle with the waves +alone. There are hundreds of young men in Manchester, there are many of +them here now, who have come up into this great city from quiet country +homes where they were shielded by the safeguards of a father's and a +mother's love and care, and have been flung into this place, with its +every street swarming with temptation, and companions on the benches of +the university, at the desks, in the warehouses, and the workshops, +leading them away into evil and teaching them the devil's +alphabet--young men with their evenings vacant and with no home. Am I +speaking to any such standing in slippery places? Oh, my young friend! +there is nothing in all these temptations, the fascinations of which you +are beginning to find out, there is nothing in them all worth soiling +your fingers for; there is nothing in them all that will pay you for the +loss of your innocence. There is nothing in them all except a fair +outside with poison at the core. You see the 'primrose path'; you do not +see, to use Shakespeare's solemn words, 'the everlasting burnings' to +which it leads. And so I plead with you all, young men and women, to lay +this question to heart; and I beseech you to credit me when I say to you +that you have not yet touched the gravest and the most pressing problem +of life unless you have asked yourselves in a serious mood of deep +reflection, 'Wherewithal shall I cleanse my way?' + +II. So much for the first point to which I ask your attention. Now, +secondly, look at this answer, which tells us that we can only make our +way clean on condition of constant watchfulness. 'By taking heed +thereto.' + +That seems a very plain, simple, common-sense answer. The best made road +wants looking after if it is to be kept in repair. What would become of +a railway that had no surfacemen and platelayers going along the line +and noticing whether anything was amiss? I remember once seeing a bit of +an old Roman road; the lava blocks were there, but for want of care, +here a young sapling had grown up between two of them and had driven +them apart; there they were split by the frost, here was a great ugly +gap full of mud; and the whole thing ended in a jungle. How shall a man +keep his road in repair? 'By taking heed thereto.' Things that are left +to go anyhow in this world have a strange knack of going one how. You do +not need anything else than negligence to ensure that things will come +to grief. + +And so, at first sight, my text simply seems to preach the plain truth: +if you want to keep your road right, look after it. But if you look at +your Bibles, you will see that the word 'thereto' is a supplement, and +that all that the Psalmist really says is 'by taking heed.' And perhaps +it is to himself rather than to his 'way' that a man is exhorted to +'take heed.' 'Take heed to thyself' is the only condition of a pure and +noble life. + +That such a condition is necessary, will appear very plain from two +considerations. First, it is clear that there must be constant +watchfulness, if we consider what sort of a world this is that we have +got into And it is also plain, if we consider what sort of creatures we +are that have got into it. + +First, it is plain if we consider what sort of a world this is that we +have got into. It is a world a great deal fuller of inducements to do +wrong than of inducements to do right; a world in which there are a +great many bad things that have a deceptive appearance of pleasure; a +great many circumstances in which it seems far easier to follow the +worse than to follow the better course. And so, unless a man has learned +the great art of saying 'No!' 'So did not I because of the fear of the +Lord'; he will come to rack and ruin without a doubt. There are more +things round about you that will tempt you downwards than will draw you +upwards, and your only security is constant watchfulness. As George +Herbert says:-- + + 'Who keeps no guard upon himself is slack, + And rots to nothing at the next great thaw.' + +And that is what will happen to you, as sure as you are living, in spite +of all your good resolutions, unless you back up those resolutions with +perpetual jealous watchfulness over yourselves. 'Keep thy heart with all +diligence.' + +And the same lesson is pealed out to us if we consider what sort of +creatures we are that have got into this world all full of wickedness. +We are creatures evidently made for self-government. Our whole nature is +like a monarchy. There are things in each of us that are never meant to +rule, but to be kept well down under control, such as strong passions, +desires rooted in the flesh which are not meant to get the mastery of a +man, and there are parts of our nature which are as obviously intended +to be supreme and sovereign: the reason, the conscience, the will. + +There is a deal of pestilent talk which one sometimes hears, amongst +young men especially, about 'following nature.' Yes! I say, 'Follow +nature!' and nature says, 'Let the man govern the animal!' and 'Do not +set beggars on horseback,' nor allow your passions to guide you, but +keep a tight hand on them, suppress them, scourge them, rule them by +your reason, by your conscience, and by your will. + +Suppose a man were to say about a steamship, 'The structure of this +vessel shows that it is meant that we should get a roaring fire up in +the furnaces, and set the engines going at full speed, and let her go as +she will.' Would he not have left out of account that there was a +steering apparatus, which was as plainly meant to guide as are the +engines to drive? What are the rudder and the wheel for?--do they not +imply a pilot? and is not the make of our souls as plainly suggestive of +subordination and control? Doth not nature itself teach you that you do +not follow, but outrage, nature, when you let your passions rule, and +that you only then follow nature when you bow the whole man under the +dominion of the conscience, and when conscience stands waiting for the +voice of God? + + 'Unless above himself he can erect + Himself, how mean a thing is man!' + +You are called upon by the very world that you have come into, and by +the very sort of person that you yourself are, to exercise that +perpetual watchfulness which is the only condition of cleansing your +way. There must be a strong guard on the frontier, which shall examine +all the thoughts and purposes and desires that would pass out, and all +the temptations and seductions that would pass in; and take care that +none shall pass which cannot bring the King's warrant, 'Keep thy heart +with diligence.' 'Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By +taking heed thereto.' + +III. This constant watchfulness, to be of any use, must be regulated by +God's Word. 'Taking heed thereto, according to Thy word.' + +The guard on the frontier who is to keep the path must have instructions +from headquarters, and not choose and decide according to their own +phantasy, but according to the King's orders. Or to use another +metaphor, it is no use having a guard unless the guard has a lantern, +and the lantern and light is the Word of God. + +That brings me to say, and only in a word or two, how inadequate for the +task of regulating our own lives our own watchfulness is. Conscience is +the captain of the guard, and there is only one judgment in which +conscience is always and infallibly right, and that is when it says, 'It +is right to do right; and it is wrong to do wrong.' But when you begin +to ask conscience, 'And, pray, what _is_ right and what _is_ wrong?' it +is by no means invariably to be trusted; for you can educate conscience +up or down to almost anything; and you can warp conscience, and you can +bribe conscience, and you can stifle conscience. And so it is not enough +that we should exercise the most watchful care over our course, and +decide upon the right and the wrong of it by our own judgments; we may +be fearfully wrong notwithstanding it all. It is not enough for a man to +have a good watch in his pocket unless now and then he can get Greenwich +time by which he can set it, and unless that has been secured by taking +an observation of the sun. And so you cannot trust to anything in +yourselves for the guidance of your own way or for the determination of +your duty, but you must look to that higher Wisdom that has condescended +to speak to us, and give us in this Book the revelation of its will. Men +rebel against the moral law of the Bible, and speak of it as if it were +a restraint and a sharp taskmaster. Ah, no! It is one of the greatest +tokens of God's infinite love to us that He has not left us to grope our +way amidst the illusions of our own judgments, and the questionable +shapes of human conceptions of right and wrong, but that He has declared +to us His own character for the standard of all perfection, and given us +in the human life of the Son of His love the all-sufficient pattern for +every life. + +So I need not dwell at any length upon the thought that in that word of +God, in its whole sweep, and eminently and especially in Christ, who is +the Incarnate Word, we have an all-sufficient Guide. A guide of conduct +must be plain--and whatever doubts and difficulties there may be about +the doctrines of Christianity there is none about its morality. A guide +of conduct must be decisive--and there is no faltering in the utterance +of the Book as to right and wrong. A guide of conduct must be capable of +application to the wide diversities of character, age, circumstance--and +the morality of the New Testament especially, and of the Old in a +measure, secures that, because it does not trouble itself about minute +details, but deals with large principles. The morality of the Gospel, if +I may so say, is a morality of centres, not of circumferences; of +germinal principles, not of special prescriptions. A guide for morals +must be far in advance of the followers, and it has taken generations +and centuries to work into men's consciences, and to work out in men's +practice, _a portion_ of the morality of that Book. People tell us that +Christianity is worn out. Ah! it will not be worn out until all its +moral teaching has become part of the practice of the world, and that +will not be for a year or two! The men that care least about Christian +doctrines are foremost to admit that the Sermon on the Mount is the +noblest code of morality that has ever been promulgated. If the world +kept the commandments of the New Testament, the world would be in the +Millennium; and all the sin and crime, and ninety-nine-hundredths of all +the sorrow, of earth would have vanished like an ugly dream. Here is the +guide for you, and if you take it you will not err. + +My dear young friend! did you ever try to measure one day's actions by +the standard of this Book? Let me press upon you this: Cultivate the +habit--the habit of bringing all that you do side by side with this +light; as a scholar in some school of art will take his feeble copy, and +hold it by the side of the masterpiece, and compare line for line, and +tint for tint. Take your life, and put it by the side of the Great Life, +and you will begin to find out how 'according to Thy word' is the only +standard by which to set your lives. + +IV. And now I have one last thing to say. All this can only be done +effectually if you are a Christian. My psalm does not go to the bottom; +it goes as far as the measure of revelation granted to its author +admitted; but if a person had no more to say than that, it would be a +weary business. It is no use to tell a man, 'Guard yourself, guard +yourself,' nor even to tell him, 'Guard yourself according to God's +word,' if God's word is only a _law_. + +The fatal defect of all attempts at keeping my heart by my own +watchfulness is that keeper and kept are one and the same, and so there +may be mutiny in the garrison, and the very forces that ought to subdue +the rebellion may have gone over to the rebels. You want a power outside +of you to steady you. The only way to haul a boat up the rapids is to +have some fixed point on the shore to which a man may fasten a rope and +pull at that. You get that eternal guard and fixed point by which to +hold in Jesus Christ, the dear Son of God's love, who has died for you. + +You want another motive to be brought to bear upon your conduct, and +upon your convictions and your will mightier than any that now influence +them; and you get that if you will yield yourself to the love that has +come down from heaven to save you, and says to you, 'If you love Me, +keep My commandments.' You want for keeping yourself and cleansing your +way reinforcements to your own inward vigour, and you will get these if +you will trust to Jesus Christ, who will breathe into you the Spirit of +His own life, which will make you 'free from the law of sin and death.' + +You want, if your path is to be cleansed--the youngest of you, the most +tenderly nurtured, the purest, the most innocent wants--forgiveness for +a past path, which is in some measure stained and foul, as well as +strength for the future, to deliver you from the dreadful influence of +the habit of evil. And you get all these, dear friends! in the blood of +Jesus Christ that cleanses from all sin. + +So, standing as you do in the place where two ways meet, and with your +choice yet in your power, I beseech you, turn away from the broad, easy +road that slopes pleasantly downwards, and choose the narrow, steep path +that climbs. Better rocks than mud, better the painful life of +self-restraint and self-denial than the life of pleasing self. + +Oh! choose the better portion, choose Christ for your Leader, your Law, +your Lord! Trust yourselves to that great sacrifice which He made on the +Cross, that all the past for you may be cleansed, and the future may be +swept clear; and, so trusting, be sure He will be with you, to keep you +and to guide you into the path which His own hand has raised above the +filth of the world; the path of holiness, along which you may walk with +feet and garments unstained till you come to Zion, 'with songs and +everlasting joy upon your heads,' and bless Him there for all the way by +which He led you home. + + + + +LIFE HID AND NOT HID + + + 'Thy word have I hid in my heart.'--PSALM cxix. 11. + + 'I have not hid Thy righteousness in my heart.'--PSALM xl. 10. + +Then there are two kinds of hiding--one right and one wrong: one +essential to the life of the Christian, one inconsistent with it. He is +a shallow Christian who has no secret depths in his religion. He is a +cowardly or a lazy one, at all events an unworthy one, who does not +exhibit, to the utmost of his power, his religion. It is bad to have all +the goods in the shop window; it is just as bad to have them all in the +cellar. There are two aspects of the Christian life--one between God and +myself, with which no stranger intermeddles; one patent to all the +world. My two texts touch these two. + +I. 'I have hid Thy word within my heart.' There we have the word hidden, +or the secret religion of the heart. + +Now, I have often had occasion to remind you that the Old Testament use +of the word 'heart' is much wider than our modern one, which limits it +to being the seat and organ of love, affection, or emotion; whereas in +the Old Testament the 'heart' is the very vital centre of the personal +self. As the Book of Proverbs has it, 'out of it are the issues of +life,' all the outgoings of activity of every kind, both that which we +ascribe to the head, and that which we ascribe to the heart. These come, +according to the Old Testament idea, from this central self. And so, +when the Psalmist says, 'I have hid Thy word within my heart,' he means +'I have buried it deep in the very midst of my being, and put it down at +the very roots of myself, and there incorporated it with the very +substance of my soul.' + +Now, I venture to take that expression, 'Thy word,' in a somewhat wider +sense than the Psalmist employed it. There are three ideas conveyed by +that expression in Scripture; and two of them are distinctly found in +this psalm. + +First, there is the plain, obvious one, which means by 'the word,' +written revelation. The Bible of the Psalmist was a very small volume +compared with ours. The Pentateuch, and perhaps some of the historical +books, possibly also one or two of the prophets--and these were about +all. Yet this fragmentary word he 'hid in his heart.' Now, dear +brethren! I wish to say a very practical thing or two, and I begin with +this. If you want to be strong Christian people, hide the Bible in your +heart. When I was a boy the practice of good Christian folk was to read +a daily chapter. I wonder if that is kept up. I gravely suspect it is +not. There are, no doubt, a great many causes contributing to the +comparative decay amongst professing Christians, of Bible reading and +Bible study. There is modern 'higher criticism,' which has a great deal +to say about how and when the books were made, especially the books that +composed this Psalmist's Bible. But I want to insist that no theories, +were they ever so well established--as I take leave to say they are +not--no theories about these secondary questions touch the value of +Scripture as a factor in the development of the Christian life. Whatever +a man may think about these, he will be none the less alive, if he is +wise, to the importance of the daily devotional study of Scripture. + +Then there is another set of reasons for the neglect of Scripture, in +the multiplication of other forms of literature. People have so many +other books to read now, that they have not much time for reading their +Bibles, or if they have, they think they have not. No literature will +ever take the place of the old Book. Why, even looked at as a mere +literary product there is nothing in the world like it! And no religious +literature, sermons, treatises, still less magazines and periodicals, +will do for Christian men what the Bible will do for them. You make a +tremendous mistake, for your own souls' sake, if your religious reading +consists in what people have said and thought about Scripture, more than +in the Scripture itself. Why should you dip your pitchers into the +reservoir, when you can take them up to where the spring comes gushing +out of the hillside, pure and limpid and living? + +Then there is the drive of our modern life which crowds out the word. +Get up a quarter of an hour earlier and you will have time to read your +Bible. It will be well worth the sacrifice, if it is a sacrifice. I do +not mean by reading the Bible what, I am afraid, is far too common, +reading a scrap of Scripture as if it were a kind of charm. But I would +most earnestly press upon you that muscle and fibre will distinctly +atrophy and become enfeebled, if Christian people neglect the first +plain way of hiding the word in their heart, which is to make the +utterances of Scripture as if incorporated with their very being, and +part of their very selves. + +But there is another use of the expression, 'Thy word,' which is not +without example in this great psalm of praise of the word. In one place +in it we read, 'For ever, O Lord! Thy word is settled in heaven'; that +is not the Bible. 'Thy faithfulness is unto all generations. They +continue this day according to Thy ordinances'; these are not the +Bible--'for all are Thy servants.' 'Unless Thy law had been my delight, +I should have perished in my afflictions'; I think that is not the Bible +either, but it is the utterance of God's will, as expressed in the +Psalmist's affliction. God's word comes to us in His providences and in +many other ways. It is the declaration of His character and purposes, +however they are declared, and the expression of His will and command, +however expressed. In that wider sense of the phrase, I would say, 'Hide +that manifested will of God in your hearts.' Let us cultivate the habit +of bringing all 'the issues of life'--the streams that bubble up from +that fountain in the centre of our being--into close relation to what we +know to be God's will concerning us. Let the thought of the will of God +sit sovereign arbiter, enthroned in the very centre of our personality, +ruling our will, bending it and making it yielding and conformed to His, +governing our affections, regulating our passions, restraining our +desires, stimulating our slothfulness, quickening our aspirations, +lifting heavenwards our hopes, and bringing the whole of the activities +that well up from our hearts into touch with the will of God. Cast the +healing branch into the very eye of the fountain, and then all the +streams will partake of the cleansing. Let that known will of God be as +the leaven hid in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened. A +fanciful interpretation of that emblem makes the three measures to mean +the triple constituents of humanity, body, soul, and spirit. We may +smile at the fantastic exposition, but let us take heed to obey the +exhortation. When God's will is deeply planted within, it will work +quickening change on the heavy dough of our sluggish natures. It is when +we bring the springs of our actions--namely, our motives, which are our +true selves--into touch with His uttered will, that our deeds become +conformed to it. Look after the motives, and the deeds will look after +themselves. 'I have hid Thy word within my heart.' + +And now I venture upon a further application of this phrase, of which +the Psalmist had no notion, but which, in God's great mercy, in the +progress of revelation, we can make. There is a better word of God than +the Bible; there is a better word of God than any will uttered in His +providences and the like. There is the Incarnate Word of God, who 'was +from the beginning with God, and was God,' and is manifested in these +last times unto us. I am keeping well within the analogy of Scripture +teaching when I see the perfecting of revelation by the spoken Word as +reached in the revelation by the personal word; and when, in addition to +the exhortation, to hide the Scripture in your hearts, and to hide the +uttered will of God, however uttered, in your hearts, I add, let us hide +Christ in our hearts. For He will 'dwell in our hearts by faith,' and if +He is shrined within the curtains of the secret place within us, which +is 'the secret place of the Most High,' then, in the courts of the +sanctuary, there will be a pure sacrifice and a priest clad 'in the +beauties of holiness.' + +II. The word not hidden, or the religion of the outward life. + +Our second text brings into view the outer side of the devout life, that +which is turned to the world. The word is to be hidden in the heart, for +this very end of being then revealed in the life. For what other purpose +is it to be set in the centre of our being and applied to the springs of +action, than to mould action, and so to be displayed in conduct? It is +not to be hid like some forgotten and unused treasure in a castle vault, +but to be buried deep in a living person, that it may affect all that +person's character and acts. 'There is nothing hidden, but that it +should come abroad.' The deepest, sacredest, most secret Christian +experiences are to be operative on the outward life. A man may be caught +up into the third heavens and there hear words which mortal speech +cannot utter, but the incommunicable vision should tell on his patience +and fortitude, and influence his Christian work. Nor is our +manifestation of the springs of our action to be confined to conduct. +However eloquent it is, it will be all the more intelligible for the +commentary supplied by confession with the mouth. Speech for Christ is a +Christian obligation. 'What ye hear in the ear, that proclaim ye on the +housetops.' True, there is a legitimate reticence as to the depths of +personal religion, which needs very strong reasons to warrant its being +broken through. Peter told Mark nothing of the interview which he had +with Christ on the Resurrection morning, but he must have told the fact. +We shall do well to be silent as to what passes between Jesus and us in +secret; but we shall not do well if, coming from our private communion +with Him, we do not 'find' some to whom we can say, 'We have found the +Messiah,' and so bring them to Jesus. + +The word, if hid in the heart, will certainly be manifest in the life. +For not only is it impossible for a man who deeply and continually +realises God's will, and lives in touch with Jesus Christ, to prevent +these experiences from visibly affecting His life and conduct, but also +in the measure in which we have that conscious inward possession of the +divine word and the divine Christ we shall be impelled to manifest them +to our fellows by every means in our power. What, then, is the inference +to be drawn from the fact that there are thousands of professing +Christian people in Manchester, who never felt the slightest touch of a +necessity to make known the Master whom they say they serve? They must +be very shallow Christians, having no depth of experience, or that +experience would insist on coming out. True Christian emotion is like a +fire smouldering within some substance, that never rests till it burns +its way to the outside. As one of the prophets puts it, 'I said I will +speak no more in Thy name'; he goes on to tell how his resolve of +silence gave way under the pressure of the unuttered speech--'Thy word +shut up in my bones was like a fire, and I was weary of forbearing and I +could not stay.' So it will always be. Every genuine conviction demands +utterance. A full heart needs the relief of speech. If you feel no need +to show your allegiance and love to Christ by speech as well as by life, +I shrewdly suspect you have little love or allegiance to hide. + +Further, the more we show it, the more need there is for us to cultivate +the hidden element in our religion. If I were talking to ministers I +should have a great deal to say about that. There are preachers who +preach away their own religion. The two attitudes of mind in imparting +and in receiving are wholly different; and if one is allowed to encroach +upon the other, nothing but harm can come. 'As thy servant was busy here +and there, he was gone,'--that is the short account of the decay of +personal religion in many a life outwardly diligent in Christian work. +If there is a proportionate cultivation of the hidden self, then the act +of manifesting will tend to strengthen it. It is meant that our +Christian convictions and affections should grow in strength and in +transforming power upon ourselves, by reason of utterance; just as when +you let air in, the fire burns brighter. But it is quite possible that +we may dissipate and scatter our feeble religion by talking about it; +and some of us may be in danger of that. The loftier you mean to build +your tower, the deeper must be the foundation that you dig. The more any +of us are trying to do for Jesus Christ, the more need there is that we +increase our secret communion with Jesus Christ. + +We may wrongly hide our religion so that it evaporates. Too many +professing Christians put away their religion as careless housewives +might do some precious perfume, and when they go to take it out, they +find nothing but a rotten cork, a faint odour, and an empty flask. Take +care of burying your religion so deep, as dogs do bones, that you cannot +find it again, or if you do discover, when you open the coffin, that it +holds only a handful of dry dust. The heart has two actions. In one it +opens its portals and expands to receive the inflowing blood which is +the life. In the other it contracts to drive the life through the veins. +For health there must be both motions; the receptiveness, in the secret +'hiding of the word in the heart'; the expulsive energy in the 'not +hiding Thy righteousness in my heart.' + + + + +A STRANGER IN THE EARTH + + + 'I am a stranger in the earth: hide not Thy commandments from me.... + 64. The earth, O Lord, is full of Thy mercy: teach me Thy statutes.' + --PSALM cxix. 19, 64. + +There is something very remarkable in the variety-in-monotony of this, +the longest of the psalms. Though it be the longest it is in one sense +the simplest, inasmuch as there is but one thought in it, beaten out +into all manner of forms and based upon all various considerations. It +reminds one of the great violinist who out of one string managed to +bring such music and melody. + +The one thought is the infinite preciousness of God's law, by which, of +course, is not meant the written record of that law which lies in +Scripture, but the utterances of God's law in any form, by which men may +receive it. You will find that that wider signification of the word +'law,' 'commandment,' 'statute,' is essential to the understanding of +every portion of this psalm. + +And now these two petitions which I have put together base the prayer, +which they both offer, in slightly varied form ('Teach me Thy statutes,' +or 'Hide not Thy commandments from me,') upon two diverse +considerations, which, taken in conjunction, are extremely interesting. + +The two facts on which the one petition rests, are like two great piers +on two opposite sides of a river, each of which holds one end of the +arch. 'The earth is full of Thy mercy'; ay! but 'I am a stranger upon +the earth.' These two things are both true, and from each of them, and +still more from both of them taken together, rises up this petition. Let +us look then at the facts, and then at the prayer that is built upon +them. + +Take first that thought of the rejoicing earth, full of God's mercy as +some cup is full of rich wine, or as the flowers in the morning are +filled with dew. The Bible does not look at the external world, the +material universe, from a scientific point of view, nor does it look at +it from a poetical point of view, but from a simply religious one. +Nothing that modern science has taught us to say about the world in the +least affects this principle which the Psalmist lays down, that it is +all full of God's mercy. The thought is intended to exclude man and +man's ways and all connected with him, as we shall see presently, but +the Psalmist looks out upon the earth and all the rest of its +inhabitants, and he is sure of two things: one, that God's direct act is +at work in it all, so as that every creature that lives, and everything +that is, lives and is because God is there, and working there; and next, +that everything about us is the object of loving thoughts of God's; and +has, as it were, some reflection of God's smile cast across it like the +light of flowers upon the grass. Spring days with life 're-orient out of +dust,' and the annual miracle beginning again all round, with the birds +in the trees, that even dwellers in towns can hear singing as if their +hearts would burst for very mirth and hopefulness, the blossoms +beginning to push above the frosty ground, and the life breaking out of +the branches that were stiff and dry all through the winter, proclaim +the same truth as the Psalmist was contemplating when he spoke thus. He +looks all round, and everywhere sees the signature of a loving divine +Hand. + +The earth is full to brimming of Thy mercy. It takes faith to see that; +it takes a deeper and a firmer hold of the thought of a present God than +most men have, to feel that. For the most of us, the world has got to be +very empty of God now. We hear rather the creaking of the wheels of a +great machine, or see the workings of a blind, impersonal force. But I +believe that all that is precious and good in the growth of knowledge +since the old days when this Psalmist wrote may be joyfully accepted by +us, and deep down below all we may see the deeper, larger truth of the +living purpose and will of God Himself. And I know no reason why +twentieth-century men, full to the fingertips of modern scientific +thought, may not say as heartily as the old Psalmist said, 'The earth, O +Lord! is full of Thy mercy.' + +But then there is another side to all this. Amidst all this sunny play +of gladness, and apocalypse of blessing, there stands one exception. +Hearken to the other word of my texts, 'I am a stranger upon the earth.' +Man is out of joint with the great whole, out of harmony with the music, +the only hungry one at the feast. All other creatures are admirably +adapted for the place they fill, and the place they fill is sufficient +for them. But I stand here, knowing that I do not belong to this goodly +fellowship, feeling that I am an exception to the rule. As Colonel +Gardiner said, 'I looked at the dog, and I wished that _I_ was a dog.' +Ah! many another man has felt, Why is it that whilst every creature, the +motes that dance in the sunbeam, and the minutest living things, however +insignificant, are all filled to the very brim of their capacity--why is +it that I, the roof and crown of things, stand here, a sad and solitary +stranger, having made acquaintance with grief; having learned what they +know not, the burden of toil and care, cursed with forecast and +anticipation, saddened by memory, torn by desires? 'We look before and +after, and pine for what is not.' All other beings fit their place, and +their place fits them like a glove upon a fair hand, but I stand here 'a +stranger upon the earth.' And the more I feel, or at least the more I am +convinced that it is full of God's mercy, the more I feel that there is +something else which I need to make me, in my fashion, as really and as +completely blessed as the lowest of His creatures. + +The Psalmist tells us what that something more is: 'I am a stranger upon +the earth; hide not Thy commandments from me.' That is my food, that is +what I need; that is the one thing that will make our souls feel at +rest, that we shall have not merely a Bible in our hands, but the will +of God, the knowledge and the love of the will of God, in our hearts. +When we can say 'I delight to do Thy will, and my whole being seeks to +lay itself beneath the mould of Thine impressing purpose, and to be +shaped accordingly'; Oh! then, then the care and the toil and the sorrow +and the restlessness and the sense of transiency, all change. Some of +them pass away altogether; those of them that survive are transfigured +from darkness to glory. Just as some gloomy cliff, impending over the +plain, when the rising sun smites upon it, is changed into a rosy and +golden glory, so the frowning peaks that look down upon us, are all +transmuted and glorified, when once the light of God's recognised will +falls upon them. + + 'All is right that seems most wrong, + If it be His sweet will.' + +And when He has not hidden His commandments from us, but we have them in +our hearts, for the joy and the strength of our lives, then, then it +does not matter, though we have to say, 'foxes have holes, and birds of +the air have their roosting-places,' and I only, in creation, have 'not +where to lay my head.' If we have His will in our hearts, and are humbly +and yet lovingly trying to do it, then toil becomes easy, and work +becomes blessedness. If we have His will in our hearts, and are seeking +to cleave to it, then and only then, do we cease to feel that it is sad +that we should be strangers upon the earth, because then and then only +can we say 'we seek for a better country, that is, a heavenly.' + +Oh, dear friends! we shall be cursed with restlessness and 'weighed upon +with sore distress'; and a fleeting world will, by its very +fleetingness, be a misery to us, until we have learned to yield our +wills to God, and to drink in His law as the joy and the rejoicing of +our hearts. A stranger upon the earth needs the statutes of the Lord, he +needs no more, and then they will be as the Psalmist says in another +place, 'his song in the house of his pilgrimage.' + +But the first of our two texts suggests further to us the certainty that +this petition shall not be in vain. If the thought, 'I am a stranger in +the earth,' teaches us our need of God's commandments, the thought, 'the +earth is full of Thy mercies,' assures us that we shall get what we +need. + +Surely it is not going to be the case that we only are to be left hungry +when all other creatures sit at His table and feast there. Surely He who +knows what each living thing requires, and opens His hand, and satisfies +their desires, is not going to leave the nobler famishing of an immortal +soul uncared for. + +Surely if all through the universe besides, we see that the measure of a +creature's capacity is the measure of God's gift to it, there is not +going to be, there need not be, any disproportion between what we +require and what we possess. Surely if His ear can hear and translate, +and His loving hand can open to satisfy, the croaking of the young raven +when it cries, He will neither mistake nor neglect the voice of a man's +heart, when it is asking what is so in accordance with His will as that +He should let him know and love His statutes. + +It is not meant to be the case that we lie in the middle of His +creation, the one exception to the universal law, like Gideon's fleece, +dry and dusty, while every poor bit of bush and grass round about is +soaked with His dew. If 'the earth is full of Thy mercy,' Thou thereby +hast pledged Thyself that my heart shall be full of Thy law and Thy +grace, if I desire it. + +And so, dear brethren! whilst the one of these twin considerations +should send us to our knees, the other should hearten and wing our +prayers. And if, on the one hand, we feel that to bring us up to the +level of the poorest of His creatures, we need a firm grasp and a hearty +love of His law deep in our spirits, on the other hand, the fact that +the feeblest and the poorest of His creatures is saturated and soaked +with as much of God's goodness as it can suck in, may make us quite sure +that our souls will not vainly pant after Him in a 'dry and thirsty land +where no water is.' 'The earth, O Lord! is full of Thy mercy.' Am I to +be empty of the highest mercy, the knowledge of Thy will? Never! never! + +And so, 'Say not, Who shall ascend up into the heavens? say not, Who +shall pass over the sea to bring Thy law near, that we may hear and do +it? Behold! the word is very nigh thee.' The law, the will of God, and +the power to perform it are braided together, in inextricable union, in +Jesus Christ Himself; and the prayer of my psalm most deeply understood, +turns itself all into this:--Give me Christ, more of the knowledge of +Him who is my law and Thine uttered will; more of the love of Him whom +to love is to be at home everywhere, and to be filled with Thy mercy; +more of the likeness to Him whom to imitate is holiness; whom to +resemble is perfection. 'The earth is full of Thy mercy.' 'The Word was +made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, full of grace +and truth.' And of that fulness can all we receive. Then will we be +strangers here no longer; and our hearts will be replenished with a +better mercy than all the universe beside is capable of containing. + + + + +'TIME FOR THEE TO WORK' + + + 'It is time for Thee, Lord, to work; for they have made void Thy + Law. 127. Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold, yea, above + fine gold. 128. Therefore I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all + things to be right; and I hate every false way.' + --PSALM cxix. 126-128. + +If much that we hear be true, a society to circulate Bibles is a most +irrational and wasteful expenditure of energy and money. We cannot +ignore the extent and severity of the opposition to the very idea of +revelation, even if we would; we should not if we could. We are told +with some exaggeration--the wish being father to the thought--that the +educated mind of the country has broken with Christianity, a statement +which is equally remarkable for its accuracy and for its modesty. But it +has a basis of truth in the widespread disbelief diffused through the +literary and so-called cultivated classes. There is no need to spend +time in referring at length to facts which are only too familiar to most +of us. Every sphere of knowledge, every form of literature, is enlisted +in the crusade. Periodicals that lie on all our tables, works of +imagination that your daughters read, newspapers that go everywhere, are +full of it. Poetry, forgetting her lineage and her sweetness, strains +_her_ voice in rhapsodies of hostility. Science, leaping the hedge +beyond which _she_ at all events is a trespasser,--or in finer language, +'prolonging its gaze backwards beyond the boundary of experimental +evidence,' or in still plainer terms, _guessing_, affirms that she +discerns in matter the promise and potency of every form of life; or +presently, in a devouter mood, looking on the budding glories of the +spring, declines to _profess_ the creed of Atheism. Learned criticism +demonstrates the impossibility of supernatural religion. The leader of +an influential school leaves behind him a voice hollow and sad, as from +the great darkness, in which we seem to hear the echoes of a life +baffled in the attempt to harmonise the logical and the spiritual +elements of a large soul: 'There may be a God. The evidence is +insufficient for proof. It only amounts to one of the lower degrees of +probability. He may have given a revelation of His will. There are +grounds sufficient to remove all antecedent improbability. The question +is wholly one of evidence; but the evidence required has not been, and +cannot be, forthcoming. There is room to hope for a future life, but +there is no assurance whatever. Therefore cultivate in the region of the +imagination merely those hopes which can never become certainties, for +they are infinitely precious to mankind.' + +Ah, brethren! do we not hear in these dreary words the cry of the +immortal hunger of the soul for God, for the living God? The concessions +they make to Christian apologists are noteworthy, but that unconscious +confession of need is the most noteworthy. Surely, as the eye prophesies +light, so the longing of the soul and the capacity for forming such +ideals are the token that He is for whom heart and flesh do thus yearn. +And how blessed is it to set over against these dreary ghosts that call +themselves hopes, and that pathetic vain attempt to find refuge in the +green fields of the imagination from the choking dust of the logical +arena, the old faithful words: 'This is the record, that God hath given +to us eternal life, and that this life is in His Son'! + +But my object in referring to these forms of opinion was merely to +prepare the way for my subsequent observations; I have no intention of +dealing with any of them by way of criticism or refutation. This is not +the place nor the audience, nor am I the person, for that task. But I +have thought that it might not be inappropriate to this occasion if I +were to ask you to consider with me, from these words, the attitude of +mind and heart to God's word which becomes the Christian in times of +opposition. + +The Psalmist was surrounded, as would appear, by widespread defection +from God's law. But instead of trembling as if the sun were about to +expire, he turns himself to God, and in fellowship with Him sees in all +the antagonism but the premonition that He is about to act for the +vindication of His own work. That confidence finds expression in the +sublime invocation of our text. Then with another movement of thought, +the contemplation of the departures makes him tighten his own hold on +the law of the Lord, and the contempt of the gainsayers quickens his +love: '_Therefore_ I love,' etc. And as must needs be the case, that +love is the measure of his abhorrence of the opposite; and because God's +commandments are so dear to him, therefore he recoils with healthy +hatred from false ways. So, I think, we have a fourfold representation +here of our true attitude in the face of existing antagonism--calm +confidence in God's work for His law; earnest prayer, which secures the +forthputting of the divine energy; an increased intensity of cleaving to +the word; and a decisive opposition to the ways which make it void. + +I ask your attention to some remarks on each of these in their order. +So, then, we have-- + +I. Calm confidence that times of antagonism evoke God's work for His +word. + +Now I dare say that some of you feel that is not the first thought that +should be excited by the opposition around us. 'We have no sort of +doubt,' you may say, 'that God will take care of His own word, if there +be such a thing; but the question that presses is, Have we it in this +book? Answer that for us, and we will thank you; but platitudes about +God watching over His truth are naught. The first thing to do is to meet +these arguments and establish the origin of Scripture. Then it will +follow of itself that it will not perish.' + +But I take leave to think we, as Christians, arc not bound to revise the +foundation belief of our lives at the call of every new antagonist. Life +is too short for that. There is too much work waiting, to suspend our +activity till we have answered each denier. We do not hold our faith in +the word of God, as the winners at a match do their cups and belts, on +condition of wrestling for them with any challenger. It is a perfectly +legitimate position to say, We hold a ground of certitude, from which +none of this strife of tongues is able to dislodge us. 'We have heard +Him ourselves, and know that this is the Christ.' The Scriptures which +we have received, not without knowledge of the grounds on which +controversialists defend them, have proved themselves to us by their own +witness. The light is its own proof. We have the experience of Christ +and His law. He has saved our souls, He has changed our lives. We know +in whom we have believed, and we are neither irrational nor obstinate +when we avow that we will not pretend to suspend these convictions on +the issue of any debate. We decline to dig up the piles of the bridge +that carries us over the abyss because voices tell us that it is rotten. +It is shorter and perfectly reasonable to answer, 'Rotten, did you say? +Well, we have tried it, and it bears'; which, being translated into less +simple language, is just the assertion of certitude built on facts and +experience which leaves no place for doubt. All the opposition will be +broken into spray against that rock bulwark: 'Thy words were found, and +I did eat them, and they are the joy and rejoicing of my heart.' + +So I venture to think that, speaking to Christian men and women, I have +a right to speak on the basis of our common belief, and to encourage +them to cherish it notwithstanding gainsayers. I am not counselling +stolid indifference to the course of modern thought, nor desertion of +the duty of defence. We are not to say, 'God will interfere; I need do +nothing.' But the task of controversy is not for all Christians, nor the +duty of following the flow of opinion. There is plenty of more +profitable work than that for most of us. The temper which our text +enjoins _is_ for us all; and this calm confidence, that at the right +time God will work for His word, is its first element. + +This confidence rests upon our belief in a divine providence that +governs the world, and on the observed laws of its working. It is ever +His method to send His succour _after_ the evil has been developed, and +_before_ it has triumphed. Had it come sooner, the priceless benefits of +struggle, the new perceptions won in controversy of the many-sided +meaning and value of His truth, the vigour from conflict, the wholesome +sense of our weakness, had all been lost. Had it come later, it had come +too late. So He times His help, in order that we may derive the greatest +possible benefit from both the trial and the aid. We have all been dealt +with so in our personal histories, whereof the very motto might be, +'When I said my foot slippeth, Thy mercy, O Lord! held me up.' The same +law works on the wider platform. The enemy shall be allowed to pass +through the breadth of the land, to spread dread and sorrow through +village and hamlet, to draw his ranks round Jerusalem, as a man closes +his hand on some insect he would crush. _To-morrow_, and the assault +will be made; but _to-night_ 'the angel of the Lord went forth and smote +the camp; and when they arose in the morning,' expecting to hear the +wild war-cry of the conquerors as they stormed across the undefended +walls, 'they were all dead corpses.' Then, as it would appear, a +psalmist, moved by that mighty victory, cast it into words, which remain +for all generations the law of the divine aid, and imply all that I am +urging now: 'The Lord is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; +the Lord shall help her at the dawning of the morning.' True, we are no +judges of the time. Our impatience is ever outrunning His calm +deliberation. An illusion besets us all that _our_ conflicts with +unbelief are the severest the world has ever seen; and there is a great +deal of exaggeration on both sides at present as to the real extent and +importance of existing antagonism to God's revelation. A widespread +literature provides so many--I would not say empty--spaces for any voice +to reverberate in, that both the shouters and the listeners are apt to +fancy the assailants are an army, when they are only a handful, armed +mainly with trumpets and pitchers. There have been darker days of +antagonism than these. 'He that believeth shall not make haste.' This +confidence in the punctual wisdom of His working involves the other +belief, that if He does not 'work,' it is because the time is not yet +ripe; the negations and contradictions have still an office to fulfil, +and no hurt that cannot be repaired has been done to the faith of the +Church or the power of the word. + +Nor can we forecast the manner of His working. He can call forth from +the solitary sheepfolds the defenders of His word, as has ever been His +wont, raising the man when the hour had come, even as He sent His son in +the fulness of time. He can lead science on to deeper truth; He can +quicken His Church into new life; He can guide the spirit of the age. We +believe that the history of the world is the unfolding of His will, and +the course of opinion guided in its channel by the Voice which the +depths have obeyed from of old. Therefore we wait for His working, +expecting no miracle, prescribing no time, hurried by no impatience, +avoiding no task of defence or confession; but knowing that, unhasting +and unresting He will arise when the storm is loudest, and somehow will +say, 'Peace! be still.' Then they who had not cast away their confidence +for any fashion of unbelief that passeth away will rejoice as they sing, +'Lo! this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us.' + +This confidence is confirmed by the history of all the past assaults on +Scripture. + +The whole history of the origin, collection, preservation, transmission, +diffusion, and present influence of the Bible involves so much that is +surprising and unique, as to amount to at least a strong presumption of +a divine care. Among all the remarkable things about the Book, nothing +is more remarkable than that there it is, after all that has happened. +When we think of the gaps and losses in ancient literature, and the long +stormy centuries that lie between us and its earlier pages, we can +faintly estimate the chances against their preservation. It is strange +that the Jewish race should have so jealously preserved books which +certainly did not flatter national pride, which put a mortifying +explanation on national disasters, which painted them and their fathers +in dark colours, which proclaimed truths they never loved, and breathed +a spirit they never caught. It is stranger still, that in the long years +of dispersion the very vices and limitations of the people subserved the +same end, and that stiff pedantry and laborious trifling--the poorest +form of intellectual activity--should have guarded the letter of the +word, as the coral insects painfully build up their walls round some +fair island of the Southern Sea. When one thinks of the great gulf of +language between the Old and New Testaments, of the variety of authors, +periods, subjects, literary form, the animosities of Christian and Jew, +it _is_ strange that we have the Book here _one_, and that all these +parts should blend into unity, unless the source and theme were one, and +one Hand had shaped each, and cared for the gathering together of all. + +It has been demonstrated over and over again to have no pretensions to +be a divine revelation; and yet here it is, believed by millions, and +rooted so firmly in European language and thought, that no revolution +short of a return to barbarism can abolish it. It has been proved to be +a careless, unauthenticated collection of works of different periods, +styles, and schools of thought, having no unity but what is given by the +bookbinder: and lo! here it is still, not disintegrated, much less +dissolved. Each age brings its own destructive criticism to play on it, +confessing thereby that its predecessors have effected nothing; for as +the Bible says about sacrifices, so we may say about assaults on +Scripture, 'If they had done their work, would they not have ceased to +be offered?' And the effect of the heaviest artillery that can be +brought into position is as transient as the boom of their report and +the puff of their smoke. Why, who knows anything about the world's +wonders of books that a hundred years ago made good men's hearts tremble +for the ark of God? You may find them in dusty rows on the top shelves +of great libraries. But if their names had not occurred in the pages of +Christian apologists, flies in amber, nobody in this generation would +ever have heard of them. And still more conspicuously is it so with +earlier examples of the same kind. Their work is as hopelessly dead as +they. And the Book seems none the worse for all the shot--like the rock +that a ship fired at all night, taking it for an enemy, and could not +provoke to answer nor succeed in sinking. Surely some dim suspicion of +the hopelessness of the attempt might creep into the hearts of men who +know what _has_ been. Surely the signal failure and swift fading away of +all former efforts to dethrone the Bible might lead to the question, +'Does it not lay its deep foundations in the heart of man and the +purpose of God, too deep to be reached by the short tools of mere +criticism, too massive to be overthrown by all the weight of +materialistic science?' It is with the Bible as it was with the Apostle, +on whose hand, as he crouched over the newly-lit flame, the viper +fastened, 'and he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.' +The barbarous people, who changed their minds after they had looked a +great while and saw no harm come to him, were not altogether wrong, and +might teach a lesson to some modern wise men, that, among the other +facts which they deal with, they should try to estimate this fact of the +continued existence and influence of Scripture, and the failure thus far +of all attempts to shake its throne or break the sweet influences of its +bands. + +Brethren! we, at all events, should learn the lesson of historical +experience. The Gospel and the Book which is its record, have met with +eager, eloquent, learned antagonists before to-day, and they have +passed. Little more than a generation has sufficed to sweep them to +oblivion. So it will be again. The forms of opinion, the tendencies of +thought, which now seem to some of its enemies so certain to conquer, +will follow these forgotten precursors into the dim land. May we not see +them--these ancient discrowned kings that ruled over men and rebelled +against Christ, these beliefs that no man now believes--rising from +their shadowy thrones in the underworld to meet the now living and +ruling unbelief, when it, too, shall have gone down to them; 'All they +shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou +become like unto us?' Yes, each in its turn 'becomes but a noise' when +he 'passes the time appointed'--the time when God arises to do His act +and vindicate His word. + +II. We have here, secondly, earnest prayer which brings that divine +energy. + +The confidence that God _will_ work underlies and gives energy to the +prayer that God _would_ work. The belief that a given thing is in the +line of the divine purpose is not a reason for saying, 'We need not +pray; God means to do it,' but is a reason for saying on the contrary, +'God means to do it; let us pray for it.' And this prayer, based upon +the confidence that it is His will, is the best service that any of us +can render to the Gospel in troublous times. + +I shall have a word to say presently on the _sort_ of outflow of the +divine energy which we should principally expect and desire; but let me +first remind you, very briefly, how the prayers of Christian men do +condition--I had almost said regulate--that outflow. + +I need not put this matter on its abstract and metaphysical side. Two +facts are enough for my present purpose--one, a truth of faith, that the +actual power wherewith God works for His word remains ever the same; +one, a truth of observation and experience, that there are variations in +the intensity of its operations and effects in the world. Wherefore? +Surely because of the variations in the human recipients and organs of +the power. Here at one end is the great fountain, ever brimming. Draw +from it ever so much, it sinks not one hair's-breadth in its pure basin. +Here, on the other side, is an intermittent flow, sometimes in scanty +driblets, sometimes in painful drops, sometimes more full and free on +the pastures of the wilderness. Wherefore these jerks and spasms? It +must be something stopping the pipe. Yes, of course. God's might is ever +the same, but our capacity of receiving and transmitting that might +varies, and with it varies the energy with which that unchanging power +is exerted in the world. Our faith, our earnestness of desire, our +ardour and confidence of prayer, our faithfulness of stewardship and +strenuousness of use, measure the amount of the unmeasured grace which +we can receive. So long as our vessels are brought, the golden oil does +not cease to flow. When they are full, it stays. The principle of the +variation in actual manifestation of the unvarying might of God is found +in the Lord's words: 'According to your faith be it unto you.' So, then, +we may expect periods of quickened energy in the forth-putting of the +divine power. And these will correspond to, and be consequent on, the +faithful prayers of Christian men. See to it, brethren! that you keep +the channels clear, that the flow may continue full and increase. Let no +mud and ooze of the world, no big blocks of sin nor subtler +accumulations of small negligences, choke them again. Above all, by +simple, earnest prayer keep your hearts, as it were, wide open to the +Sun, and His light will shine on you, and His grace fructify through +you, and His Spirit will work in you mightily. + +The tenor of these remarks presupposes a point on which I wish to make +one or two observations now, viz. that the manner of the divine working +which we should most earnestly desire in a time of diffused unbelief is +the elevation of Christian souls to a higher spiritual life. + +I do not wish to exclude other things, but I believe that the true +antidote to a widespread scepticism is a quickened Church. We may indeed +desire that in other ways the enemy should be met. We ought to pray that +God would work by sending forth defenders of the truth, by establishing +His Church in the firm faith of disputed verities, and by all the +multitude of ways in which He can sway the thoughts and tendencies of +men. But I honestly confess that I, for my part, attach but secondary +importance to controversial defences of the faith. No doubt they have +their office; they may confirm a waverer, they may establish a believer, +they may show onlookers that the Christian position is tenable; they +may, in some rare cases of transcendent power, prevent a heresy from +spreading and from descending to another generation. But oftenest they +are barren of result, and where they do their work, it is not to be +forgotten that there may remain as true a making void of God's law by an +evil heart of unbelief as by an understanding cased in the mail of +denial. You may hammer ice on an anvil, or bray it in a mortar. What +then? It is pounded ice still, except for the little portion melted by +heat of percussion, and it will soon all congeal again. Melt it in the +sun, and it flows down in sweet water, which mirrors that light which +loosed its bonds of cold. So hammer away at unbelief with your logical +sledge-hammers, and you will change its shape, perhaps; but it is none +the less unbelief because you have ground it to powder. It is a mightier +agent that must melt it--the fire of God's affection, of all lower, +howsoever tender, loves that once filled the whole heart. Such surrender +is not pain but gladness, inasmuch as the deeper well that has been sunk +dries the surface springs, and gathers all their waters into itself. The +new treasure that has filled the heart compels, by glad compulsion, the +surrender or, at least, the subordination, of all former affections to +the constraint of all-mastering love. + +The same thing is true in regard to the union of the soul with Christ. +The description of the bride's abandonment of former duties and ties may +be transferred, without the change of a word, to our relations to Him. +If love to Him has really come into our hearts, it will master all our +yearnings and tendencies and affections, and we shall feel that we +cannot but yield up everything besides, by reason of the sovereign power +of this new affection. Christ demands from us (if I may use the word +'demand' for the beseeching of love), for His sake, and for our sakes, +the entire surrender of ourselves to Him. And that new affection will +deal with the old loves, just as the new buds upon the beech-trees in +the spring deal with the old leaves that still hang withered on some of +the branches. It will push them from their hold, and they will drop. If +a river should be turned into some dark cave where unclean beasts have +herded and littered for years, the bright waters would sweep out on +their bosom all the filth and rottenness. So, when the love of Christ +comes surging and flashing into a heart, it will bear out on its broad +surface all conflicting and subordinate inclinations, with the passions +and lusts that used to rule and befoul the spirit. Christ demands +complete surrender, and, if we are Christians, that absolute abandonment +will not be a pain nor unwelcome. We epidemic. That is a doctrine which +one influential school of modern disbelievers, at all events, cannot but +admit. + +What then? Why this--that to change the opinions you must change the +atmosphere; or, in other words, the true antagonist of a diffused +scepticism is a quickened Christian life. Brethren! if we had been what +we ought, would such an environment have ever been possible as that +which produces this modern unbelief? Even now, depend upon it, we shall +do more for Christ by catching and exhibiting more of His Spirit than by +many arguments--more by words of prayer to God than by words of +reasoning to men. A higher tone of spiritual life would prove that the +Gospel was mighty to mould and ennoble character. If our own souls were +gleaming with the glory of God, men would believe that we had met more +than the shadow of our own personality in the secret place. If the fire +of faith were bright in us, it would communicate itself to others, for +nothing is so contagious as earnestness. If we believed, and therefore +spoke, the accent of conviction in our tones would carry them deep into +some hearts. If we would trust Christ's Cross to stand firm without our +stays, and arguing less about it, would seldomer try to _prop_ it, and +oftener to _point_ to it, it would draw men to itself. When the power +and reality of Scripture as the revelation of God are questioned, the +best answer in the long-run will be a Church which can adduce itself as +the witness, and can say to the gainsayers, 'Why, herein is a marvellous +thing, that ye know not from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine +eyes!' Brethren! do you see to it that your life be thus a witness that +you have heard His voice; and make it your contribution to the warfare +of this day, if you do not bear a weapon, that you lift your hands and +heart to God. Moses on the mount helped the struggling ranks below in +their hand-to-hand combat with Amalek. Hezekiah's prayer, when he spread +the letter of the invader before the Lord, was more to the purpose than +all his munitions of war. Let your voice rise to heaven like a fountain, +and blessings will fall on earth. 'Arise, O Lord! plead Thine own cause. +The tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually.' + +III. We have here, thirdly, as the fitting attitude in times of +widespread unbelief, a love to God's word made more fervid by +antagonism. + +There may be a question what reason for the Psalmist's love is pointed +at in this 'therefore.' We shall hardly be satisfied with the slovenly +and not very reverent explanation, that the word is introduced, without +any particular meaning, because it begins with the initial letter proper +to this section; nor does it seem enough to suppose a mere general +reference to the excellences of the law of the Lord, which are the theme +of the whole psalm. Such an interpretation blunts the sharp edge of the +thought, and has nothing in its favour but the general want of +connection between the separate verses. There are, however, one or two +other instances where a thought is pursued through more than one verse, +and the usual mere juxtaposition gives place to an interlocking, so that +the construction is not unexampled. It is most natural to take the plain +meaning of the words, and to suppose that when the Psalmist said, 'They +have made void Thy law, therefore I love Thy commandments,' he meant, +'The prevailing opposition is the reason why I, for my part, grasp Thy +law more strongly.' The hostility of others evokes my warmer love. The +thought, so understood, is definite, true, and important, and so I +venture to construe it, and enforce it as containing a lesson for the +day. + +And here I would first observe that I desire not to be understood as +urging the substitution of feeling for reason, nor as trying to enlist +passion in a crusade against the opponent's logic. Still less do I +desire to counsel the exaggeration of opinions because they are +denied--that besetting danger of all controversy. + +But surely the emotions have a place and an office, if not indeed in the +search for, and the submission to, the truth of God, yet in the defence +and adherence to that truth when found. The heart may not be the organ +for the investigation and apprehension of truth, though it has a part to +play even there; but the tenacity with which I cleave to truth, when +apprehended, is far more an affair of the will than of the +understanding--it is the heart's love steadying the mind, and holding it +fixed to the rock. And love has also a place in the defence of the +truth. It gives weight to blows, and wings to the arrows. It makes +arguments to be wrought in fire rather than in frost. It lights the +enthusiasm which cannot despair, the diligence that will not weary, the +fervour that often goes farther to sway other minds than the sharpest +dialectics of a passionless understanding. There _are_ causes in which +an unimpassioned advocacy is worse than silence; and this is one of +them. The word of the living God which has saved our souls and brought +to us all that makes our natures rich and strong, and all that peoples +the great darkness with fair hopes solid as certainties, demands and +deserves fervour in its soldiers, and loyal love in its subjects. + +And while it is weakness to over-emphasise our beliefs _merely_ because +they are denied, and one of the saddest issues of controversy, that both +sides are apt to be hurried into exaggerated statements which calmer +thoughts would repudiate; on the other hand, there _is_ a legitimate +prominence which ought to be given to a truth _precisely_ because it is +denied. The time to underline and accentuate strongly our convictions +is, when society is slipping away from them, provided it be done without +petulance, passion, or the falsehood of extremes. + +If ever there was a period when such general considerations as these had +a practical application, this is the time. Would that all such as my +voice now reaches would take these grand words for theirs: 'They make +void Thy law, therefore I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above +fine gold!' + +Such increase of affection because of gainsayers is the natural instinct +of loyal and chivalrous love. If your mother's name were defiled, would +not your heart bound to her defence? When a prince is a dethroned exile, +his throne is fixed deeper in the hearts of his adherents 'though his +back be at the wall' and common souls become heroes because their +devotion has been heightened to sublimity of self-sacrifice by a +nation's rebellion. And when so many voices are proclaiming that God has +never spoken to men, that our thoughts of His Book are dreams, and its +long empire over men's spirits a waning tyranny, does cool indifference +become us? Will not fervour be sobriety, and the glowing emotion of our +whole nature our reasonable service? + +Such increase of affection because of gainsayers is the fitting end and +main blessing of the controversy which is being waged. We never fully +hold our treasures till we have grasped them hard, lest they should be +plucked from us. No truth is established till it has been denied and has +survived. Antagonism to the word of God should have, and will have, to +those who use it rightly, a blessing in its train, in bringing out yet +more of the preciousness and manifoldness, the all-sufficiency and the +universality of the Book. 'The more 'tis shook, the more it shines.' The +fiercer the blast, the firmer our confidence in the inexpugnable +solidity of that tower of strength that stands four square to every wind +that blows. 'The word of the Lord is tried, therefore Thy servant loveth +it.' + +Such increase of attachment to the word of God because of gainsayers, is +the instinct of self-preservation. The sight of so many making void the +law makes a man bethink himself of what his own standing is. We, as +they, are the children of the age. The tendencies to which they have +yielded operate on us too, and our only strength is, 'Hold Thou me up, +and I shall be safe!' The present condition of opinion remands us all to +our foundations, and should teach us that nothing but firm adherence to +God revealed in His word, and to the word which reveals God, will +prevent us, too, from drifting away to shoreless, solitary seas of +doubt, barren as the foam, and changeful as the crumbling, restless +wave. + +Such strength of affection in the presence of diffused doubt is not to +be won without an effort. All our churches afford us but too many +examples of men and women who have lost the warmth of their first love, +if not their love itself, for no better reason than because so many +others have lost it. The effect of popular unbelief stretches far beyond +those who are directly affected by its arguments, or avowedly adopt its +conclusions. It is hard to hold by a creed which so many influential +voices tell you it is a sign of folly and of being behind the age to +believe. The consciousness that Christian truth is denied, makes some of +you falter in its profession, and fancy that it is less certain simply +because it is gainsaid. The mist wraps you in its folds, and it is +difficult to keep warm in it, or to believe that love and sunshine are +above it all the same. 'Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many +shall wax cold.' + +Therefore, brethren! do you consciously endeavour that the tempest shall +make you tighten your hold on Christ and His word. He appeals to us, +too, with that most pathetic question, in which yearning for our love +and sorrow over the departed disciples blend so wondrously, as if He +cast Himself on our loyalty: 'Will ye also go away?' Let us answer, not +with the self-confidence that was so signally put to shame, 'Though all +should forsake Thee, yet will not I'; but with the resolve that draws +its firmness from His fulness and from our knowledge of the power of His +truth, 'Lord! to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.' + +IV. And lastly, we have here, as the final trait in the temper which +becomes such times, healthy opposition to the ways which make void the +word of the Lord. + +That is the Psalmist's last movement of feeling, and you see that it +comes second, not first, in the order of his emotions. It is the +consequence of his love, the recoil of his heart from the practices and +theories which contradicted God's law. + +Now, far be it from me to say a word which should fan the embers of the +_odium theologicum_ into a blaze against either men or opinions. But +there is a truth involved which seems to be in danger of being forgotten +at present, and that to the detriment of large interests as well as of +the forgetters. The correlative of a hearty love for any principle or +belief is--we may as well use the obnoxious word--a healthy hatred for +its denial and contradiction. They are but two aspects of one thing, +like that pillar of old which, in its single substance, was a cloud and +darkness to the foes, and gave light by night to the friends of Him who +dwelt in it. Nay, they are but two names for the very same thing viewed +in the very same motion, which is love as it yearns towards and cleaves +to its treasure; and hatred, as by the identical same act it recoils and +withdraws from the opposite: 'He will hold to the one, and therefore and +therein despise the other.' + +Much popular teaching as to Christian truth seems to me to ignore this +plain principle, and to be working harm, especially among our younger +cultivated men and women, whom it charms by an appearance of liberality, +which in their view, contrasts very favourably with the narrowness of us +sectarians. I am free to admit that in our zeal about small matters (and +in a certain 'provincialism,' so to speak, which characterised the type +of English Christianity till within a recent period) we needed, and +still need, the lesson, and I will thankfully accept the rebuke that +reminds me of what I ever tend to forget, that the golden rod, wherewith +the divine Builder measures from jewel to jewel in the walls of the New +Jerusalem, takes in wider spaces than we have meted with our lines. But +that is a very different matter from the tone which vitiates and weakens +so much modern adherence to Christ's Gospel and Christ's Church. The old +principle, 'in essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty,' made no +attempt to determine what belonged to these two classes, and in practice +their bounds may often have been wrongly set, so as to include many of +the latter among the former; but it at all events recognised the +distinction as the basis of its next clause, 'in all things, charity.' +But nowadays, to listen to some liberal teachers, one would think that +nothing was necessary, except the great sacred principle, that nothing +is necessary; and that charity could not exist, unless that distinction +were effaced. + +I pray you, and if I may venture so far, I would especially pray my +younger hearers, to take note, that however fair this way of looking at +varying forms of Christian opinion may be, it really reposes on a basis +which they will surely think twice before accepting, the denial that +there is such a thing as intellectual certitude in religion which can be +cast into definite propositions. If there be any truth at all, to +confess _it_ is to deny its opposite, to cleave to _this_ is to reject +that, to love the one is to hate the other. I fear--I know--that there +are many minds among us who began with simply catching this tone of +tolerance, and who have been insensibly borne along to an enfeebled +belief that there is such a thing as religious truth at all, and that +the truth lies in the word of God. Dear friends! let me beseech you to +take heed lest, while you are only conscious of your hearts expanding +with the genial glow of liberality, by little and little you lose your +power of discerning between things that differ, your sense of the worth +of the Scripture as the depository of divine truth, and from your slack +hand the hem of the vesture in which its healing should fall away. + +As broad a liberality as you please within the limits that are laid down +by the very nature of the case. 'These things are written that ye might +believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing, ye +might have life through His name.' Wheresoever that record is accepted, +that divine Name confessed, that faith exercised, and that life +possessed, there, with all diversities, own a brother. Wheresover these +things are not, loyalty to your Lord demands that the strength of your +love for His word should be manifested in the strength of your recoil +from that which makes it void. 'I love Thy commandments, and I hate +every false way.' + +I am much mistaken if times are not rapidly coming on us when a decisive +election of his side will be forced on every man. The old antagonists +will be face to face once more. Compromises and hesitations will not +serve. The country between the opposing forces will be stripped of every +spot that might serve as cover for neutrals. On the one side a mighty +host, its right the Pharisees of ecclesiasticism and ritual, with their +banner of authority, making void the law of God by their tradition; its +left, and never far away from their opposites on the right with whom +they are strangely leagued, working into each other's hands, the +Sadducees denying angel and spirit, with their war-cry of unfettered +freedom and scientific evidence; and in the centre, far rolling, +innumerable, the dusky hosts of mere animalism, and worldliness, and +self, making void the law by their sheer godlessness. And on the other +side, 'He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is +called the Word of God, and they that were with Him were called, and +chosen, and faithful.' The issue is certain from of old. Do you see to +it that you are of those who were valiant for the truth upon the earth. + +Let not the contradiction of many move you from your faith; let it lift +your eyes to the hills from whence cometh our help. Let it open your +desires in prayer to Him who keeps His own word, that it may keep His +Church and bless the world. Let it kindle into fervent enthusiasm, which +is calm sobriety, your love for that word. Let it make decisive your +rejection of all that opposes. Driftwood may float with the stream; the +ship that holds to her anchor swings the other way. Send that word far +and wide. It is its own best evidence. It will correct all the +misrepresentation of its foes, and supplement the inadequate defences of +its friends. Amid all the changes of attacks that have their day and +cease to be, amid all the changes of our representations of its endless +fulness, it will live. Schools of thought that assail and defend it +pass, but it abides. Of both enemy and friend it is true, 'The grass +withereth, and the flower thereof passeth away.' How antique and +ineffectual the pages of the past generations of either are, compared +with the ever-fresh youth of the Bible, which, like the angels, is the +youngest and is the oldest of books. The world can never lose it; and +notwithstanding all assaults, we may rest upon _His_ assurance, whose +command is prophecy, when He says, 'Write it before them in a table, and +note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and +ever.' + + + + +SUBMISSION AND PEACE + + + 'Great peace have they which love Thy law; and nothing shall offend + them.' + PSALM cxix. 165. + +The marginal note says 'they shall have no stumbling block.' + +We do great injustice to this psalm--so exuberant in its praises of 'the +law of the Lord'--if we suppose that that expression means nothing more +than the Mosaic or Jewish revelation. It does mean that, of course, but +the psalm itself shows that the writer uses the expression and its +various synonyms as including a great deal more than any one method by +which God's will is made known to man. For he speaks, for instance, in +one part of the psalm of God's 'word,' as being settled for ever in the +heavens, and of the heavens and earth as continuing to this day, +'according to Thine ordinances.' + +So we are warranted in giving to the thought of our text the wider +extension of taking the divine 'law' to include not only that directory +of conduct contained in Scripture, but the expressed will of God, +involving duties for us, in whatever way it is made known. The love of +that uttered will, the Psalmist declares, will always bring peace. Such +an understanding of the text does not exclude the narrower reference, +which is often taken to be the only thought in the Psalmist's mind, nor +does it obliterate the distinction between the written law of God and +the disclosures of His will which we collect by the exercise of our +faculties on events around and facts within us. But it widens the +horizon of our contemplations, and bases the promised peace on its true +foundation, the submission of the human to the divine will. + +Let us then consider how true love to the will of God, however it is +made known to us, either in the Book or in our consciousness, or in +daily providences, or by other people's hints, is the talisman that +brings to us, in all circumstances, and in every part of our nature, a +tranquillity which nothing can disturb. + +Of course, by 'love' here is meant, not only delight in the +expression of, but the submission of the whole being to, God's will; +and we love the law only when, and because, we love the Lawgiver. + +I. Thus loving the law of God, not only with delight in the vehicle of +its expression, but with inward submission to its behests, we shall +have, first of all, the peacefulness of a restful heart. + +Such a heart has found an adequate and worthy object for the outgoings +of its affections. Base things loved always disturb. Noble things loved +always tranquillise. And he to whom his judgment declares that the best +of all things is God's manifested will, and whose affections and +emotions and actions follow the dictate of his judgment, has a love +which grasps whatsoever things are noble and fair and of good report, +and is lifted to a level corresponding with the loftiness of its +objects. For our hearts are like the creatures in some river, of which +they tell us that they change their colour according to the hue of the +bed of the stream in which they float and of the food of which they +partake. The heart that lives on the will of God will be calm and +steadfast, and ennobled into reposeful tranquillity like that which it +grasps and grapples. + +Little boats which are made fast to the sides of a ship rise and fall +with the tide, as does that to which they are attached. And our hearts, +if they be roped to the fleeting, the visible, the creatural, the +finite, partake of the fluctuations, and finally are involved in the +destruction, of that which they have made their supreme good. And +contrariwise, they who love that which is eternal shine with a light +thrown by reflection from the object of their love, and 'he that doeth +the will of God abideth for ever,' like the will which he doeth. 'Great +peace'--the peace of a restful heart--'have they that love Thy law.' + +II. Then again, such love brings the calm of a submitted will. + +Brethren! it is not sorrow that troubles us so much as resistance to +sorrow. It is not pain that lacerates; it cuts, and cuts clean when we +keep ourselves still and let it do its merciful ministry upon us. But it +is the plunging and struggling under the knife that makes the wounds +jagged and hard to heal. The man who bows his will to the Supreme, in +quiet acceptance of that which He sends, is never disturbed. Resistance +distracts and agitates; acquiescence brings a great calm. Submission is +peace. And when we have learned to bend our wills, and let God break +them, if that be His will, in order to bend them, then 'nothing shall by +any means hurt us'; and nothing shall by any means trouble us. + +If you were ever on board a sailing-ship you know the difference between +its motion when it is beating up against the wind and when it is running +before it. In the one case all is agitation and uneasiness, in the other +all is smooth and frictionless and delicious. So, when we go with the +great stream, in not ignoble surrender, then we go quietly. It is God's +great intention, in all that befalls us in this life, to bring our wills +into conformity with His. Blessed is the ministry of sorrow and of pain +and of loss, if it does that for us, and disastrous and accursed is the +ministry of joy and success if it does not. There is no joy but calm, +and there is no calm but in--not the annihilation, but--the intensest +activity of will, in the act of submitting to that higher will, which is +discerned to be 'good,' and is gratefully taken as 'acceptable,' and +will one day be seen to have been 'perfect.' The joy and peace of a +submitted will are the secret of all true tranquillity. + +III. Then again, there comes by such a love the peace of an obedient +life. + +When once we have taken it (and faithfully adhere to the choice) as our +supreme desire to do God's will, we are delivered from almost all the +things that distract and disturb us. Away go all the storms of passion, +and we are no more at the mercy of vagrant inclinations. We are no +longer agitated by having to consult our own desires, and seeking to +find in them compass and guide for our lives--a hopeless attempt! All +these sources of agitation are dried up, and the man who has only this +desire, to do his duty because God has made it such, has an ever +powerful charm, which makes him tranquil whatever befalls. + +And as thus we may be delivered from all the agitations and +cross-currents of conflicting wishes, inclinations, aims, which +otherwise would make a jumble and a chaos of our lives, so, on the other +hand, if for us the supreme desire is to obey God, then we are delivered +from the other great enemy to tranquillity--namely, anxious forecasting +of possible consequences of our actions, which robs so many of us of so +many quiet days. 'I do the little I can do,' said Faber, 'and leave the +rest with Thee,' and that will bring peace. Instead of wondering what is +to come of this step and that, whether our plans will turn out as we +hope, and so being at the mercy of contingencies impossible to be +forecasted, we cast all upon Him and say, 'I have nothing to do with the +far end of my actions. Thou givest them a body as it has pleased Thee. I +have to do with this end of my actions--their motive; and I will make +that right, and then it is Thy business to make the rest right.' And so, +'great peace have they which love Thy law.' + +An obedient life not only delivers us from the distractions of +miscellaneous desires, and from the anxiety of unforeseen results, but +it contributes to tranquillity in another way. The thing that makes us +most uneasy is either sin done or duty neglected. Either of these, +however small it may appear, is like a horse-hair upon the sheets of a +bed, or a little wrinkle in that on which a man lies, disturbing all his +repose. No man is really at rest unless his conscience is clear. 'The +wicked is like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up +mire and dirt.' But if the uttered will of the Lord is our supreme +object, then in this direction, too, tranquillity is ours. + +IV. Lastly, such a love gives the peace of freedom from temptations. + +'Nothing shall offend them.' 'There shall be no stumbling-block to +them.' The higher love casts out the lower. It is well, when, by +reinforcing conscience by considerations of duty, or even sometimes by +the lower thoughts of consequences, a man is able to pass by a +temptation which appeals to him, and conquers the inclination to go +wrong. But it is far better--and it is possible--to be lifted up into +such a region as that the temptation does not appeal to him any more. + +To take a very homely illustration, whether is it better for a man to +steel himself, and walk past the door of a public-house, though the +fumes appeal to his sense, and stir his inclinations; or to go past, and +never know any attraction to enter? Which is best, to overcome our +temptations, or to live away up in the high regions to which the malaria +of the swamps never climbs, and where no disease-germs can ever reach? + +That elevation is possible for us, if only we keep in close touch with +God, and love the law because our hearts are knit to the Law-giver. +'There shall be no occasion of stumbling in him,' as the Apostle John +varies the expression of my text. Within, there will be no traitors to +surrender the camp to the enemy without. So Paul in the letter to the +Philippians attributes to 'the peace of God which passeth understanding' +a military function, and says that it will 'garrison the heart and +mind,' and keep them 'in Christ Jesus,' which is but the Christian way +of saying, 'Great peace have they which love Thy law; and there is no +occasion of stumbling in them.' + + + + +LOOKING TO THE HILLS + + + 'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my + help. 2. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.' + --PSALM cxxi. 1, 2. + +The so-called 'Songs of Degrees,' of which this psalm is one, are +usually, and with great probability, attributed to the times of the +Exile. If that be so, we get an appropriate background and setting for +the expressions and emotions of this psalm. We see the exile, wearied +with the monotony of the long-stretching, flat plains of Babylonia, +summoning up before his mind the distant hills where his home was. We +see him wondering how he will be able ever to reach that place where his +desires are set; and we see him settling down, in hopeful assurance that +his effort is not in vain, since his help comes from the Lord. 'I will +lift up my eyes unto the hills'; away out yonder westwards, across the +sands, lie the lofty summits of my fatherland that draws me to itself. +Then comes a turn of thought, most natural to a mind passionately +yearning after a great hope, the very greatness of which makes it hard +to keep constant. For the second clause of my text cannot possibly be, +as it is translated in our Authorised Version, an affirmation, but must +be taken as the Revised Version correctly gives it, a question: 'I will +lift up mine eyes unto the hills. From whence cometh my help?' How am I +to get there? And then comes the final turn of thought: 'My help cometh +from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.' + +So then, there are three things here--the look of longing, the question +of weakness, the assurance of faith. + +I. The look of longing. + +'I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills'--a resolution, and a +resolution born of intense longing. Now the hills that the Psalmist is +thinking about were visible from no part of that long-extended plain +where he dwelt; and he might have looked till he wore his eyes out, ere +he could have seen them on the horizon of sense. But although they were +unseen, they were visible to the heart that longed for them. He directs +his desires further than the vision of his eyeballs can go. Just as his +possible contemporary, Daniel, when he prayed, opened his window towards +the Jerusalem that was so far away; and just as Mohammedans still, in +every part of the world, when they pray, turn their faces to the +_Kaabah_ at Mecca, the sacred place to which their prayers are directed; +and just as many Jews still, north, east, south or west though they be, +face Jerusalem when they offer their supplications--so this psalmist in +Babylon, wearied and sick of the low levels that stretched endlessly and +monotonously round about him, says, 'I will look at the things that I +cannot see, and lift up my eyes above these lownesses about me, to the +loftinesses that sense cannot behold, but which I know to be lying +serene and solid beyond the narrowing horizon before me.' + +There was the look of longing, and the longing which made non-vision +into a look; and there was the effort to divert his attention from the +things around him to the things afar off; and there was the realisation, +by reason of the effort, of these distant but most certain realities. + +Now this Psalmist's home-sickness, if I may so call it, had nothing at +all religious about it. It was simply that he wanted to get to his own +country--his own, though he had been born in exile; and there was +nothing more devout or spiritual or refining about his longing than +there is about the wish to return to his native country that any +foreigner in a distant land feels. But when we take these words, as we +all ought to do, as the motto of our lives, we must necessarily attach +the loftiest religious meaning to them. And here start up the plain, +simple, but tight-gripping and stimulating questions, 'Do I see the +Unseen? Does that far-off, dim land assume substance and reality to me? +Do I walk in the light of it raying out to me through earth's darkness? +Do I dwell contented with never a glimpse of it?' It comes to be a very +sharp question with us professing Christians, whether the horizon of our +inward being is limited by, and coterminous with, the horizon of our +senses, or whether, far beyond the narrow limits to which these can +reach, our spirits' desire stretches boundless. Are, to us, the things +unseen the solid things, and the things visible the shadows and the +phantoms? The Apocalyptic seer, in his rocky Patmos, was told that he +was to be shown 'the things which _are_'; and what was it that he saw? A +set of what people call unreal and symbolic visions. 'The things which +are,' the world would have said, 'are the rocks that you are standing +on, and the sea that is dashing upon them, and all the solid-seeming +Roman world, and the power that has got you in its grip. These are the +realities, and these things that you think you see, these are the +dreams.' But it is exactly the other way. The world and all that is +about us, Manchester and its hubbub, warehouses crammed with cloth, and +mills full of jennies and throstles--these are the shadows; and the +things that only the believing eye beholds, that are wrapped in the +invisibility of their own greatness, these, and these only, are the +realities. We see with the bodily eyes the shadows on the wall, as it +were, but we have to turn round and see with the eyes of our minds the +light that flings the shadows. 'I will lift up my eyes' from the +mud-flats where I live to the hills that I cannot see, and, seeing them, +I shall be blessed. + +Further, do we know anything of that longing that the Psalmist had? He +was perfectly comfortable in Babylon. There was abundance of everything +that he wanted for his life. The Jews there were materially quite as +well off, and many of them a great deal better off, than ever they had +been in their narrow little strip of mountain land, shut in between the +desert and the sea. But for all that, fat, wealthy Babylon was not +Palestine. So amidst the lush vegetation, the wealth of water and the +fertile plains, the Psalmist longed for the mountains, though the +mountains are often bare of green things. It was that longing that led +to his looking to the hills. Do we know anything of that longing which +makes us 'that are in this tabernacle to groan, being burdened'? 'Absent +from the Lord,' and 'present in the body,' we should not be at ease, nor +at home. Unless our Christianity throws us out of harmony and +contentment with the present, it is worth very little. And unless we +know something of that immortal longing to be nearer to God, and fuller +of Christ, and emancipated from sense, and from the burdens and +trivialities of life, we have yet to learn what the meaning of 'walking +not after the flesh but after the Spirit' really is. + +Further, do we make any effort like that of this Psalmist, who +encourages and stimulates himself by that strong 'I _will_ lift up my +eyes'? You will not do it unless you make a dead lift of effort. It is a +great deal easier for a man to look at what is at his feet than to crane +his neck gazing at the stars. + +And so, unless we take up and persevere in maintaining a habitual +attitude of stirring up and lifting up ourselves, gravitation will be +too much for us, and down will go the head, and down the eyes; and down +will go the desires, and we shall be like men that live in some +mountainous country, who never lift their gaze to the solemn white +summits that travellers come across half Europe to see. Christian men +and women too often walk beneath the very peaks of the mountains of God, +and rarely lift their vision there. They perhaps do so for an hour and a +half on a Sunday morning, or an hour on a Wednesday evening, when there +is no other engagement, or for a minute or two in the morning before +they hurry down to breakfast, or a minute or two at night when they are +dead beat and unfit for anything. For the rest of the time, _there_ are +the mountains and _here_ is the saint, and he seldom or never turns his +head to look at them! Is that the sort of Christianity that is likely to +be a power in the world, or a blessing to its possessor? + +II Further, notice the question of weakness. + +'From whence cometh my help?' The loftier our ideal, the more painful +ought to be our conviction of incapacity to reach it. The Christian +man's one security is in feeling his peril, and the condition of his +strength is his acknowledgment and vivid consciousness always of his +weakness. The exile in Babylon had a dreary desert, peopled by wild Arab +tribes hostile to him, stretching between his present home and that +where he desired to be, and it would be difficult for him to get away +from the dominion that held him captive, unless by consent of the power +of whom he was the vassal. So the more the thought of the mountains of +Israel drew the Psalmist, the more there came into his mind the thought, +'How am I to be made able to reach that blessed soil?' And surely, if +_we_ saw, with anything like a worthy apprehension and vision, the +greatness of that blessedness that lies yonder for Christian souls, we +should feel far more deeply than we do the impossibility, as far as we +are concerned, of our ever reaching it. The sense of our own weakness +and the consciousness of the perils upon the path ought ever to be +present with us all. + +Brethren! if, on the one hand, we have to cultivate, for a healthy, +vital Christianity, a vision of the mountains of God, on the other hand +we have to try to deepen in ourselves the wholesome sense of our own +impotence, and the conviction that the dangers on the road are far too +great for us to deal with. 'Blessed is the man that feareth always.' +'Pride goeth before destruction.' Remember the Franco-German war, and +how the French Prime Minister said that they were going into it 'with a +light heart,' and how some of the troops went out of Paris in railway +carriages labelled 'for Berlin'; and when they reached the frontier they +were doubled up and crushed in a month. Unless we, when we set ourselves +to this warfare, feel the formidableness of the enemy and recognise the +weakness of our own arms, there is nothing but defeat for us. + +III. Finally, notice the assurance of faith. + +The Psalmist asks himself, 'From whence cometh my help?' and then the +better self answers the questioning, timid self: 'My help cometh from +the Lord, which made heaven and earth.' There will be no reception of +the divine help unless there is a sense of the need of the divine help. +God cannot help me before I am brought to despair of any other help. It +is only when a man says, 'There is none other that fighteth for us, but +only Thou, O God!' that God comes to help. + +There is a story in the Book of Chronicles, about one battle in which +Judah engaged, of a very singular kind. The first step in the campaign +was that the king of Judah gathered all his people together, and prayed +to God, and said, 'We know not what we shall do. We have no strength +against this great multitude that cometh against us, but our eyes are +unto Thee.' Then a prophet came and assured him of victory, and next day +they arrayed the battle. It was set in this strange fashion: in the +forefront were put the priests and Levites, with their instruments of +music, and not soldiers with spears and bows, and they marched out to +battle with this song, 'The Lord is gracious and merciful. His mercy +endureth for ever.' Then, without the stroke of sword or thrust of +spear, God fought for them and scattered their foes. + +'Which things are an allegory.' If we recognise our helplessness, God is +our help. If we conceit ourselves to be strong, we are weak; if we know +ourselves to be impotent, Omnipotence pours itself into us. We read once +that Jesus Christ healed 'them that had need of healing.' Why does the +Evangelist not say, without that periphrasis, 'healed the sick'? Because +he would emphasise, I suppose, amongst other things, the thought that +only the sense of need fits for the reception of healing and help. + +If, then, we desire that God should be 'the Strength of our hearts, and +our Portion for ever,' the coming of His help must be wooed and won by +our sense of our own impotence, and only they who say, 'We have no might +against this great multitude that cometh against us,' will ever hear +from Him the blessed assurance, 'The Lord will fight for you.' 'Stand +still, and see the salvation of the Lord!' So, brethren! the assurance +of faith follows the consciousness of weakness, and both together will +lead, and nothing else will lead, to the realisation of the vision of +faith, and bring us at last, weak as we are, to the hills where the +weary and foot-sore flock 'shall lie down in a good fold, and on fat +pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.' + + + + +MOUNTAINS ROUND MOUNT ZION + + + 'They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be + removed, but abideth for ever. 2. As the mountains are round about + Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people from henceforth, + even for ever.'--PSALM cxxv. 1, 2. + +The so-called 'Songs of Degrees,' of which this psalm is one, are +probably a pilgrim's song-book, and possibly date from the period of the +restoration of Israel from the Babylonish captivity. In any case, this +little psalm looks very much like a record of the impression that was +made on the pilgrim, as he first topped the crest of the hill from which +he looked on Jerusalem. Two peculiarities of its topographical position +are both taken here as symbols of spiritual realities, for the +singularity of the situation of the city is that it stands on a mountain +and is girdled by mountains. There is a tongue of land or peninsula cut +off from the surrounding country by deep ravines, on which are perched +the buildings of the city, while across the valley on the eastern side +is Olivet, and, on the south, another hill, the so-called 'Hill of Evil +Counsel'; but upon the west and north sides there are no conspicuous +summits, though the ground rises. Thus, really, though not apparently, +there lie all round the city encircling defences of mountains. +Similarly, says the Psalmist, set and steadfast as on a mountain, and +compassed about by a protection, like the bastions of the everlasting +hills, are they whose trust is in the Lord. Faith, then, gives inward +stability, and faith secures an encircling defence. + +But, more than that, notice that the mountains encompass a mountain. +Faith, in some measure, makes the protected like the Protector. And +then, beyond that, notice the two 'for evers.' Zion cannot be moved, it +'abideth for ever,' and 'the Lord is about His people from henceforth +and for ever.' To trust in God gives the transitory creature a kind of +share in the uncreated eternity of that in which he trusts. Now these +are four thoughts worth carrying away with us. + +I. The simple act of trust in God brings inward stability. + +The word here that is rightly translated 'trust,' like most expressions +in the Old Testament for religious emotion, has a distinctly +metaphorical colouring about it. It literally means to 'hang upon' +something, and so, beautifully, it tells us what faith is--just hanging +upon God. Whoever has laid his tremulous hand on a fixed something, +partakes, in the measure in which he does grasp it, of the fixity of +that on which he lays hold; so 'they that trust in the Lord shall be as +Mount Zion,' that stands there summer and winter, day and night, year +out and year in, with its strong buttresses and its immovable mass, the +very emblem of solidity and stability. + +Ay! and this is true about these tremulous hearts of ours. There is one +way to make them stable, and only one; and that is that they shall be +fastened, as it were, to that which is stable, and so be steadfast +because they hold by what is steadfast. There is no other means by which +any heart can be made immovable, except in so far as it may be moved by +holy impulses and sweet drawings of love and loftinesses of aspiration +towards God; there is no other means by which a heart, with all its +inward perturbations and all its outward sources of agitation, can be +made calm and still, except by living, deep, continual fellowship with +Him who is the Eternal Calm, and from whose stable Being we mutable men +can derive serenity which is a faint likeness of His immutability. 'We +which have believed do enter into rest.' + +How can I still these hot desires of mine, this self-asserting will, all +these various passions and emotions which sweep through my soul, and +which must not be made mute and dead--or else there will come corruption +and stagnation--but must be made so to move as that in their very motion +shall be rest? How can I do that? By one way, and one only. Live in +fellowship with God, and that will quiet perturbations within and +tumults without. The foot of the Master on the midnight stormy sea will +smooth the waves which the moonbeams have not power to still, but only +to reveal their heavings. 'They that trust in the Lord shall be like +Mount Zion, which cannot be moved,' and yet is not torpid in its +immobility, but full of fertility and of beauty wedded to its +steadfastness. + +In like manner, the only way by which not only the inward storms can be +quieted, but the outward assaults of perturbing circumstances, +disasters, changes, difficult duties, and the like, can ever be received +with tranquillity is, that they should be received in quiet faith. And, +in like manner, the only way by which men can be made steadfast and +immovable in brave, pertinacious adherence to the simple law of right, +whatsoever temptations may try to draw them aside, and whatsoever frowns +may gather upon the face of affairs so as to frighten them from the path +of rectitude--the only way by which they can conquer evil, so as not to +be hurried into forbidden paths, is this same making sure of their hold +upon God, and carrying with them day by day, and moment by moment, into +all the little difficulties and small temptations that would lead to +trivial faults, the one solemn thought that bids all these back into +their lairs--God is near me and I am with Him. + +Oh, brethren! if we could live in touch with Him and, as this great word +for 'trust' suggests, be fastened to Him, as a man, swinging from a +cliff over the crawling sea, fathoms below him, clutches the rope that +is his safety--then we should live in tranquillity, and be steadfast, +immovable. + +They say that in the great church of St. Peter there is only one +temperature in summer and winter; that the fiercest heat may be pouring +down in the colonnades, or the sharpest frost may have silenced the +tinkling fall of the fountains in the Piazza; but within the great +portal the thermometer stands the same. Thus, if we live in the Temple, +and keep inside its doors, the thermometer in our hearts will be fixed; +and the anemometer--the measurer of the wind--will point to calm all the +year round. 'They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which +cannot be moved.' + +II. Again, this same attitude of realising the divine Presence, Will, +and Help, will bring around us encircling defences. + +I have already said that one peculiarity of the topography of the sacred +city is that, at first sight, the metaphor of my text seems to break +down, for nobody, looking at the situation of the city with uninstructed +eye, would say that it was compassed all around with mountains. On two +sides it manifestly is; on two sides it apparently is not, though the +land rises on the north and west till it is higher than the tops of the +houses. We may not be fanciful in taking that as a parable. 'As the +mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His +people'--a very real defence, but a defence that it takes an instructed +eye to see; no obvious protection, palpable to the vulgar touch, and +manifest to the sensuous eye, but something a great deal better than +that--a real protection, through which we may be sure that nothing which +is evil can ever pass. + +Whatsoever does get over the encircling mountains, and reaches us, we +may be sure, is not an evil but a very real good. Only we have to +interpret the protection on the principles of faith, and not on those of +sense. When, then, there come down upon us--as there do upon us all, +thank God!--dark days, and sad days, and solitary days, and losses and +bitternesses of a thousand kinds, do not let us falter in the belief +that if we have our hearts set on God, nothing has come to us but what +He has let through. Our sorrows are His angels, though their faces are +dark, and though they bear a sword that flames and turns every way. It +is hard to believe; it is certainly true, and if we could carry the +confidence of it as a continual possession into our ordinary lives, they +would be very different from what they are to-day. + +III. And then, remember the other thing that I said. My text suggests +that-- + +Simple trust in God, in some measure, assimilates the protected to the +Protector. + +The mountains girdle a mountain, and so my trust opens my heart to the +entrance into my heart of something akin to God. As the Apostle Peter, +in his brave way, is not afraid to say, it makes us 'partakers of the +divine nature.' The immovableness of the trustful man is not all unlike +the calmness of the trusted God; and the steadfastness of the one is a +reflex of the unchangeableness of the other. We have not understood the +meaning of faith, nor have we risen to the experience of its best +effects upon ourselves, unless we understand that its great blessing and +fruit, and the purpose for which we are commanded to cherish it, is that +thereby we may become like Him in whom we trust. 'They that make them +are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.' That is the +key to the degradations that inhere in idolatrous worship, and that +principle is true about all worship--as the god so is every one that +trusteth in it. 'As the mountains are round about Mount Zion,' God is +round about the people that are becoming Godlike. + +IV. Mark further the significant repetition of the same expression in +reference to the stability of the man protected and the continuance of +the protection. Both are 'for ever'. That is to say, if it is true that +God is round about me, and that, in some humble measure, my heart has +been opening to be calmed and steadied by the influx of His own life, +then His 'for ever' is my 'for ever,' and it cannot be that He should +live and I should die. The guarantee of the eternal being of the +trustful soul is the experience to-day of the reality of the divine +protection. And thus we may face everything--life, death, whatsoever may +come, assured that nothing touches the continuity and the perpetuity of +the union between the trusting soul and the trusted God. 'The mountains +shall depart and the hills be removed, but My lovingkindness shall not +depart from thee; nor shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith +the Lord.' The earthquake comes. It shatters a continent and changes the +face of nature; makes valleys where there were mountains, and mountains +where there were vales, and open seas where there were fertile plains +and covers everything with ruin and with rubbish. But there emerge from +the cloudy and chaotic confusion the city perched on the hill and its +encompassing heights. 'The world passeth away, and the fashion thereof, +but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.' + + + + +THE CHARGE OF THE WATCHERS IN THE TEMPLE + + + 'Behold, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, which by + night stand in the House of the Lord. 2. Lift up your hands in the + Sanctuary, and bless the Lord. 3. The Lord that made Heaven and + earth bless thee out of Zion.'--PSALM cxxxiv. + +This psalm, the shortest but one in the whole Psalter, will be more +intelligible if we observe that in the first part of it more than one +person is addressed, and in the last verse a single person. It begins +with 'Bless _ye_ the Lord'; and the latter words are, 'The Lord bless +_thee_.' No doubt, when used in the Temple service, the first part was +chanted by one half of the choir, and the other part by the other. Who +are the persons addressed in the first portion? The answer stands plain +in the psalm itself. They are, 'All ye servants of the Lord, which by +night stand in the House of the Lord.' That is to say, the priests or +Levites whose charge it was to patrol the Temple through the hours of +night and darkness, to see that all was safe and right there, and to do +such other priestly and ministerial work as was needful; they are called +upon to 'lift up their hands in'--or rather _towards_--'the Sanctuary, +and to bless the Lord.' + +The charge is given to these watching priests, these nightly warders, by +some single person--we know not whom. Perhaps by the High Priest, +perhaps by the captain of their band. They listen to the exhortation to +praise, and answer, in the last words of this little psalm, by invoking +a blessing on the head of the unnamed speaker who gave the charge. So we +have in this antiphonal choral psalm a little snatch of musical ritual +falling into two parts--the charge to the watchers and the answering +invocation. We may find a good deal of practical teaching in it. Let us +look, then, at this choral charge and the response to it. + +The charge to the watchers. + +We do not know what the office of these watchers was, but in the second +Temple, to the period of which this psalm may possibly belong, their +duties were carefully defined, and Rabbinical literature has preserved a +minute account of the work of the nightly patrol. + +According to the authorities, two hundred and forty priests and Levites +were the nightly guard, distributed over twenty-one stations. The +captain of the guard visited these stations throughout the night with +flaming torches before him, and saluted each with 'Peace be unto thee.' +If he found the sentinel asleep he beat him with his staff, and had +authority to burn his cloak (which the drowsy guard had rolled up for a +pillow). We all remember who warned His disciples to watch, lest coming +suddenly He should find them asleep. We may remember, too, the blessing +pronounced in the Apocalypse on 'Him who watcheth and keepeth his +garments, lest he walk naked.' Shortly before daybreak the captain of +the guard came, as the Talmud says: 'All times were not equal. Sometimes +he came at cockcrow, or near it, before or after it. He went to one of +the posts where the priests were stationed, and opened a wicket which +led into the court. Here the priests, who marched behind him torch in +hand, divided into two companies which went one to the east, and one to +the west, carefully ascertaining that all was well. When they met each +company reported "It is peace." Then the duties of the watch were ended, +and the priests who were to prepare for the daily sacrifice entered on +their tasks.' + +Our psalm may be the chant and answering chant with which the nightly +charge was given over to the watchers, or it may be, as some +commentators suppose, 'the call and counter-call with which the watchers +greeted each other when they met.' + +Figure then, to yourselves, the band of white-robed priests gathered in +the court of the Temple, their flashing torches touching pillar and +angle with strange light, the city sunk in silence and sleep, and ere +they part to their posts the chant rung in their ears:--'Bless ye the +Lord, all ye servants of the Lord which by night stand in the House of +the Lord! Lift up your hands to the Sanctuary, and bless the Lord!' + +Notice, then, that the priests' duty is to praise. It is because they +are the servants of the Lord that, therefore, it is their business to +bless the Lord. It is because they stand in the House of the Lord that +it is theirs to bless the Lord. They who are gathered into His House, +they who hold communion with Him, they who can feel that the gate of the +Father's dwelling, like the gate of the Father's heart, is always open +to them, they who have been called in from their wanderings in a +homeless wilderness, and given a place and a name in His House better +than of sons and daughters, have been so blessed in order that, filled +with thanksgiving for such an entrance into God's dwelling and of such +an adoption into His family, their silent lips may be filled with +thanksgiving and their redeemed hands be uplifted in praise. + +So for us Christians. We are servants of the Lord--His priests. That we +'stand in the House of the Lord' expresses not only the fact of our +great privilege of confiding approach to Him and communion with Him, +whereby we may ever abide in the very Holy of Holies and be in the +secret place of the Most High, even while we are busy in the world, but +it also points to our duty of ministering; for the word 'stand' is +employed to designate the attendance of the priests in their office, and +is almost equivalent to 'serve.' 'To bless the Lord,' then, is the work +to which we are especially called. If we are made a 'royal priesthood,' +it is that we 'should show forth the praises of Him who has called us +out of darkness into His marvellous light.' The purpose of that full +horn of plenty, charged with blessings which God has emptied upon our +heads, is that our dumb lips may be touched into thankfulness, because +our selfish hearts have been wooed and charmed into love and life. + +The Rabbis had a saying that there were two sorts of angels: the angels +that served, and the angels that praised; of which, according to their +teaching, the latter were the higher in degree. It was only a +half-truth, for true service is praise. + +But whatever the form in which praise may come, whether it be in the +form of vocal thanksgiving, or whether it be the glad surrender of the +heart, manifested in the conscious discharge of the most trivial duties, +whether we 'lift up our hands in the Sanctuary, and bless the Lord' with +them, or whether we turn our hands to the tools of our daily occupation +and handle them for His sake, alike we maybe praising Him. And the thing +for us to remember is that the place where we, if we are Christians, +stand, and the character which we, if we are Christians, sustain, bind +us to live blessing and praising Him whilst we live. 'Behold!'--as if He +would point to all the crowded list of God's great mercies--'Bless ye +the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord that ... stand in the house of the +Lord.' + +And then there is another point that comes out of this charge to the +watchers, viz. the necessity of strenuously trying to unite together +service of God and communion with God. These priests might have +said--'When we go our rounds through the empty and echoing corridors of +the dark Temple, we perform the charge which God gave us; and it needs +not that we pray. We are working for Him and doing the work which He +appointed us; and that is better than all external ritual.' But this +unknown speaker who charges them knew better than that. The priests' +service under the Old Covenant was very unspiritual service. Their work +was sometimes very repulsive and always purely external work, which +might be done without one trace of religion or devotion in it. And so +the speaker here warns them, as it were, against the temptation which +besets all men that are concerned in the outward service of the house of +God, to confound the mere outward service with inward devotion. The +charge bids us remember that the more sedulously our hands and thoughts +are employed about the externals of religious duties, the more must we +see to it that our inmost spirits are baptized into fellowship with God. + +It is not enough to patrol the Temple courts unless we 'lift up our +hands to the sanctuary,' and with our hearts 'bless the Lord.' And all +we who in any degree and any department are officially or +semi-officially connected with the work of the Christian Church have +very earnestly and especially to lay this to heart. We ministers, +deacons, Sunday-school teachers, tract distributors, have much need to +take care that we do not confound watching in the courts of the Temple +with lifting up our own hands and hearts to our Father that is in +heaven; and remember that the more outward work we do, the more inward +life we ought to have. The higher the stem of the tree grows and the +broader its branches spread the deeper must strike and the wider must +extend its underground roots, if it is not to be blown over and become a +withered ruin. + +And so all you Christian men and women! will you take the plain lesson +that is here? All ye that stand ready for service, and doing service, +all 'ye that stand in the house of the Lord, behold' your peril and your +duty--and 'bless ye the Lord,' and remember that the more work the more +prayer to keep it from rotting; the more effort the more communion; and +that at the end we shall discover with alarm, and with shame confess 'I +kept others' vineyards and my own vineyard have I not kept'; unless, +like our Master, we prepare for a day of work and toil in the Temple by +a night of quiet communion with our Father on the mountainside. + +And then there is another lesson here which I only touch, and that is +that all times are times for blessing God. 'Ye who _by night_ stand in +the house of the Lord, bless the Lord': so though no sacrifice was +smoking on the altar, and no choral songs went up from the company of +praising priests in the ritual service; and although the nightfall had +silenced the worship and scattered the worshippers, yet some low murmur +of praise would be echoing through the empty halls all the night long, +and the voice of thanksgiving and of blessing would blend with the clank +of the priests' feet on the marble pavements as they went their +patrolling rounds; and their torches would send up a smoke not less +acceptable than the wreathing columns of the incense that had filled the +day. And so as in some convents you will find a monk kneeling on the +steps of the altar at each hour of the four-and-twenty, adoring the +Sacrament exposed upon it, so (but in inmost reality and not in a mere +vulgar outside form that means nothing) in the Christian heart there +should be a perpetual adoration and a continual praise--a prayer without +ceasing. What is it that comes first of all into your minds when you +wake in the middle of the night? Yesterday's business, to-morrow's +vanities, or God's present love and your dependence upon Him? + +In the night of sorrow, too, do our songs go up, and do we hear and obey +the charge which commands not only perpetual adoration, but bids us fill +the night with music and with praise? Well for us if it be, anticipating +the time when 'they rest not day nor night saying, Holy! Holy! Holy!' + +Now, that is the priests' charge. Look for a moment at the answering +blessing: 'The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.' + +'Thee?' Whom? Him who gave the solemn charge. Their obedience to it is +implied in the blessing which the priests invoke on the head of the +unnamed speaker. So they express their joyful consent to his charge, and +their desires for his welfare whose clear voice has summoned them to +their high duty and privilege. They obey, and their first prayer is a +prayer for him. + +May we venture to draw from this interchange of counsel and benediction +a simple lesson as to the best form in which mutual goodwill and +friendship may express itself? It is by the interchange of stimulus to +God's service and praise, and of grateful prayer. He is my best friend +who stirs me up to make my whole life a strong sweet song of +thanksgiving to God for all His numberless mercies to me. Even if the +exhortation becomes rebuke, faithful are such wounds. It is but a +shallow affection which can be eloquent on other subjects of common +interests, but is dumb on this, the deepest of all; which can counsel +wisely and rebuke gently in regard to other matters, but has never a +word to say to its dearest concerning duty to the God of all mercies. + +And the true response to any loving exhortation to bless God, or any +religious impulse which we receive from one another, is to invoke God's +blessing on faithful lips that have given us counsel. + +This is the best recompense to Christian teachers. If any poor words of +ours have come to any of your hearts with power for conviction, or +instruction, or encouragement, let your response be, I beseech you, 'The +Lord that hath made heaven and earth bless _thee_.' We need your +prayers. We are weak, often sad, often discouraged. We are tempted ever +to handle God's truth professionally, instead of living on it for +ourselves. We are tempted to think that our work is in vain, and to lose +heart because we do not see the spiritual results which we would fain +reap. And in many an hour of languor and despondency, when the wheels of +life turn heavily and the sky seems very far away, and our message seems +to have lost its grandeur and certainty to ourselves, and our handling +of it looks as if it had been one long failure, then we need and may be +helped by the voice of cheer coming through the night from those whom we +have tried to counsel: 'The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee.' + +But observe, further, the two kinds of blessing which answer to one +another--God's blessing of man, and man's blessing of God. The one is +communicative, the other receptive and responsive. The one is the great +stream which pours itself over the precipice; the other is the basin +into which it falls and the showers of spray which rise from its +surface, rainbowed in the sunshine, as the cataract of divine mercies +comes down upon it. God blesses us when He gives. We bless God when we +thankfully take, and praise the Giver. God's blessing then, must ever +come first. 'We love Him because He first loved us.' Ours is but the +echo of His, but the acknowledgment of the divine act, which must +precede our recognition of it as the dawn must come in order that the +birds may wake to sing. + +Our highest service is to take the gifts of God, and with glad hearts to +praise the Giver. + +Our blessings are but words. God's blessings are realities. We wish good +to one another when we bless each other. But He does good to men when He +blesses them. Our wishes may be deep and warm, but, alas! how +ineffectual. They flutter round the heads of those whom we would bless, +but how seldom do they actually rest upon their brows. But God's +blessings are powers. They never miss their mark. Whom He blesses are +blessed indeed. + +That experience of the ineffectual emptiness of blessings from the most +loving hearts gives point to the emphatic designation here of 'the Lord +which made heaven and earth,' a formula which is common in this +connection. It brings before the eye of faith the mighty Name, and the +mighty work of Him in whose blessing we shall be rich. He is the Lord, +the Eternal and the Covenant King. He has made heaven and earth. If He +who lives above all limitations of time, the Source of life, who has the +fulness of life in Himself, He who has revealed Himself to Israel and +bound Himself to fulfil His covenant with all who plead it, He whose +sovereign effortless power willed and spake into being the azure deeps +of heaven with all its stars, and the solid earth with its tribes--if +He, with such infinite resources to bestow on us as we need, if He +blesses us, it will be with no vain wishes nor with the invoking of the +goodwill of a higher power, but with the veritable communication of +good, and we shall be blessed indeed. + +Observe, too, the channel through which God's blessings come--'out of +Zion.' For the Jew, the fulness of divine glory dwelt between the +Cherubim, and the richest of the divine blessings were bestowed on the +waiting worshippers there, and no doubt it is still true that God dwells +in Zion, and blesses men from thence. The New Testament analogue to the +Old Testament Temple is no outward building. That would be absurd +confusing of the very nature of type and antitype. A material type must +have a spiritual fulfilment. A rite cannot correspond to a rite, nor a +building to a building. But the correspondence in Christianity to the +Temple where God dwelt, and from which He scattered His blessings is +twofold--one proper and original, the other secondary and derived. In +the true sense, Jesus Christ is the Temple. In Him God dwelt; in Him, +man meets God; in Him was the place of revelation; in Him the place of +sacrifice. 'In this place is one greater than the Temple,' and the +abiding of Jehovah above the mercy-seat was but a material symbol, +shadowing and foretelling the true indwelling of all the fulness of the +Godhead bodily in that true Tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched and +not man. So the great fountain of all possible good and benediction +which was opened for the believing Jew in 'Zion,' is opened for us in +Jesus Christ who stood in the very court of the Temple, and called in +tones of clear, loud invitation: 'If any man thirst let him come unto Me +and drink.' We may each pass through the rent veil into the holiest of +all, and there, laying our hand on Jesus, touch God, and opening our +empty palm extended to Him, can receive from Him all the blessing that +we need. + +There is another application of the Temple symbol in the New +Testament--a derivative and secondary one--to the Church, that is, to +the aggregate of believers. In it God dwells through Christ. Receiving +His Spirit, instinct with His life, it is His Body, and as in His +earthly life 'He spake of the Temple of His "literal" body,' so now that +Church becomes the Temple of God, being builded through the ages. In +that Zion all God's best blessings are possessed and stored, that the +Church may, by faithful service, impart them to the world. Whosoever +desires to possess these blessings must enter thither--not by any +ceremonial act, or outward profession, but by becoming one of those who +put their whole heart's confidence in Jesus Christ. Within that sacred +enclosure we receive whatever divine love and power can give. If we are +knit to Christ by our faith, we share in proportion to our faith in all +the wealth of blessing with which God has blessed Him. We possess Christ +and in Him all. The ancient benediction, which came from the lips of the +priestly watchers, and rang through the empty corridors of the darkened +Temple, asked for much: 'The Lord who made heaven and earth bless thee +out of Zion.' But the Apostolic assurance sounds a yet deeper and more +wonderful note of confidence when it proclaims that already, however to +ourselves we may seem sad and needy, and however little we may have +counted our treasures or made them our own, 'God hath blessed us with +all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.' + + + + +GOD'S SCRUTINY LONGED FOR + + + 'Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; + 24. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way + everlasting.'--PSALM cxxxix. 23, 24. + +This psalm begins with perhaps the grandest contemplation of the divine +Omniscience that was ever put into words. It is easy to pour out +platitudes upon such a subject, but the Psalmist does not content +himself with generalities. He gathers all the rays, as it were, into one +burning point, and focusses them upon himself: 'Oh, Lord! Thou hast +searched _me_, and known _me_.' All the more remarkable, then, is it +that the psalm should end with asking God to do what it began with +declaring that He does. He knows us each, altogether; whether we like it +or not, whether we try to hinder it or not, whether we remember it or +not. Singular, therefore, is it to find this prayer as the very climax +of all the Psalmist's contemplation. It is more than the 'searching' +which was spoken of at the beginning, which is desired at the end. It is +a process which has for its issue the cleansing of all the evil that is +beheld. The prayer of the text is in fact the yearning of the devout +soul for purity. I simply wish to consider the series of petitions here, +in the hope that we may catch something of their spirit, and that some +faint echo of them may sound in our desires. My purpose, then, will be +best accomplished if I follow the words of the text, and look at these +petitions in the order in which they stand. + +I. Note then, first, the longing for the searching of God's eye. + +Now, the word which is here rendered 'search' is a very emphatic and +picturesque one. It means to dig deep. God is prayed, as it were, to +make a cutting into the man, and lay bare his inmost nature, as men do +in a railway cutting, layer after layer, going ever deeper down till the +bed-rock is reached. 'Search me'--dig into me, bring the deep-lying +parts to light--'and know my heart'; the centre of my personality, my +inmost self. That is the prayer, not of fancied fitness to stand +investigation, but of lowly acknowledgment. In other words, it is really +a form of confession. 'Search me. I know Thou wilt find evil, but +still--search me!' It seems to me that there are two main ideas in this +petition, on each of which I touch briefly. + +One is, that it is a glad recognition of a fact which is very terrible +to many hearts. The conception of God as 'knowing me altogether,' down +to the very roots of my being, is either the most blessed or the most +unwelcome thought, according to my conception of what His heart to me +is. If I think of Him, as so many of us do, as simply the 'austere man' +who 'gathers where he did not straw,' and 'reaps where he did not sow'; +if my thought of God is mainly that of an Investigator and a Judge, with +pure eyes and rigid judgment, then I shall be more ignorant of myself, +and more confident in myself, than the most of men are when they bethink +themselves, if I do not feel that I shrink up like a sensitive plant's +leaf when a finger touches it, and would fain curl myself together, and +hide from His eye something that I know lurks and poisons at the centre +of my being. + +The gaoler's eye at the slit in the wall of the solitary prisoner's cell +is a constant terror to the man who knows that it may be upon him at +every moment, and does not know where the eyehole is, or when the +merciless eye may be at it, but if we love one another we do not shrink +from opening out our inward baseness to each other. We can venture to +tell those that are dear to us as our own hearts the things that lie in +our own hearts and make them black and ugly in all eyes but love's; or +if we cannot venture to do it wholly, at all events we do it more fully, +and more willingly, and with more of something that is almost pleasure +in the very act of confession, in proportion as we are bound by the +sacred ties of love to the recipient of the confession. There is a joy, +and a blessedness deeper than joy, in discovering ourselves, even our +unworthy selves, when we know that the eye that looks is a loving eye. + +If, then, we have rightly conceived of our relation to Him, that +infinite Lover of all our hearts, who looks, 'with other eyes than ours, +and makes allowance for us all,' there will be a certain blessedness, +almost like joy, in turning ourselves inside out before Him; and in +feeling that every corner of our hearts lies naked and opened unto the +eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 'Search me, O God!' is the voice of +confident love, which is sure of the love that contemplates the sinner. + +And for us Christian people, to whom all these attributes of Deity are +gathered together and brought very near our hearts and our experiences +in the person of our Brother Christ, the thought of such knowledge of us +becomes still more blessed. Just as the Apostle who was conscious of +many sins, could say to his Master, not in petulance, but in +deeply-moved confidence, 'Thou knowest all things! Why dost Thou ask me +questions? Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest, notwithstanding my +denials, that I love Thee,' so may we turn to Jesus Christ, who knows +what is in men, and who knows each man, and may be sure that the eye +which looks upon our unworthiness pities our sinfulness, and is ready to +bear it all away. There is a deeper gladness in pouring out our hearts +to our loving Lord than in locking them in sullen silence, with the vain +conceit that we thereby hide ourselves from Him. Make a clean breast of +your evil, and you will find that the act has in it a blessedness all +unique and poignant. 'Pour out your hearts before Him, O ye people! God +is a refuge for us.' + +This prayer is also an expression of absolute willingness to submit to +the searching process. God is represented in my text as searching the +secrets of a man's heart, not that God may know, but that the man may +know. By His Spirit He will come into the innermost corners of our +nature, if this prayer is a real expression of our desire, and there the +illumination of His presence will flash light into all the dark places +of our experience and of our natures. We cannot afford to be in +ignorance of these. Pestilence breathes in the unventilated, unlighted, +uncleansed recesses of a neglected nature. It is only on condition of +the light of God's convincing Spirit being cast into every part of our +being that we shall be able to overcome and annihilate the creeping +swarms of microscopic sins that are there, minute but mighty in their +myriads to destroy a man's soul. 'Search me' is the expression of a +penitence that knows itself to be full of evil, that does not know all +the evil of which it is full, that needs enlightenment, that desires +deliverance, that is sure of the love that looks, and that so spreads +itself, as a bleacher spreads some piece of stained cloth in the +gracious sunshine and sprinkles it with the pure water of heaven that +all the stains may melt away. + +It is useless to ask God to search us if we lock our hearts against His +searching. The mere natural exercise, if I may so say, of the divine +attribute of Omniscience we cannot hinder. He knows us thereby +altogether, whether we like it or not; but the 'searching' of my text is +one which He cannot put in force without our consent. We have to confess +our sins unto the Lord ere this kind of divine scrutiny can be brought +to bear. By His natural Omniscience, He knows them altogether, but the +seeing which is preparatory to destroying them depends on our +willingness to submit ourselves to the often painful process by which He +drags our sins to light. Do you want Him to come and search your hearts, +and tell you in your spirits what He has found there? Do you desire to +know your hidden evil? Then keep close to Him, and tell Him what the sin +is which you know to be sin; and ask Him to show you what the sins are +which, as yet, you have not grown up to the height of understanding and +acknowledging. + +II. Next, there follows the longing for the divine testing of our +thoughts. + +Now you will have observed, I suppose, that in the second clause of my +text, 'try me, and know my thoughts' the result of the investigation is +somewhat different from that of the previous clause. The 'searching' +issued in a divine knowledge of the heart; the 'trying,' or testing, +issues in a divine knowledge of the thoughts. The distinction between +these two, in the Biblical use of the expressions, is not precisely the +same as in our modern popular speech. We are accustomed to talk of the +heart as being the seat of emotions, affections, feelings, whereas we +relegate thoughts to the head. But Scripture does not quite take that +metaphorical view. In it the heart is the centre of personal being, and +out of it there come, not only emotions and loves, but 'thoughts and +intents.' The difference, then, between these two, 'heart' and +'thoughts' is this, the one is the workshop and the other is the +product. The heart is the place where the thoughts are elaborated. So +you see the process of the Psalmist's prayer is from the centre a little +outwards, first the inmost self, and then the 'thoughts,' meaning +thereby the whole web of activities, both intellectual and emotional, of +which the heart, in his sense of the word, is the seat and source. In +like manner as the field of investigation is somewhat shifted in the +second petition, so the manner of investigation is correspondingly +different. 'Search' is the divine scrutiny of the inner man by the eye; +'test' is the trial as metals are tried and proved by the fiery furnace. + +So, then, the innermost man is searched by the divine knowledge, and the +thoughts which the innermost man produces are tested by the divine +providence. And our second petition is for a trial by facts, by external +agencies, of the true nature and character of the purposes, desires, +designs, intentions, as well as of the affections and loves and joys. +That is to say, this second prayer submits absolutely to any discipline, +fiery and fierce and bitter, by which the true character of a man's +activities may be made clear to himself. Oh! it is a prayer easily +offered; hard to stand by. It is a prayer often answered in ways that +drive us almost to despair. It means, 'Do anything with me, put me into +any seven-fold heated furnace of sorrow, do anything that will melt my +hardness, and run off my dross, which Thy great ladle will then skim +away, that the surface may be clear, and the substance without alloy.' + +Do you pray that prayer, brother! knowing all that it means, and being +willing to take the answer, in forms that may rack your heart, and +sadden your whole lives? If you are wise, you will. Better to go +crippled into life than, 'having two hands or two feet, to be cast into +hell fire'! Better to be saved though maimed, than to be entire and +lost. + +'Try me.' It is an awful prayer. Let us not offer it lightly, or +unadvisedly; but if we are wise let it be our inmost desire. And when +the answer comes, and sorrows fall, do not let us murmur, do not let us +kick, do not let us wonder, but let us say, 'Thou art a God that hearest +prayer,' and 'I will glorify God in the fires.' Then 'the trial of your +faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be +tried with fire, shall be found unto praise and honour and glory.' + +III. The next petition of my text is a longing for the casting out of +evil. + +'See if there be any wicked way in me.' Now, that _if_ is not the 'if' +of doubt whether any such 'ways' are in the man, but it is the 'if' of +consciousness that there are such, though what they are he may not +clearly discern. And so, it is the 'if' of humility--knowing that he is +not justified because he knows nothing against himself--and not the 'if' +of presumption. + +I have only time to observe here, in a word or two, what would well +deserve more expanded treatment, and that is, the very striking and +significant expression here employed for this evil way that the Psalmist +desires to be detected, that it may be cast out. The word rendered +'wicked'--or more properly, wickedness--is literally 'forced labour,' +which was, in old times, and still is in some countries, laid upon the +inhabitants at the command of authority; and then, because forced labour +is grievous labour, it comes to mean sorrow. So the 'way of wickedness' +that the Psalmist feels is in him is the way of compulsory service, and +the way that leads to sorrow. That is to say, all sin is slavery, and +all sin leads to a bitter and a bad end, and its fruit is death. And so, +because the man feels that his better self is in bondage, and +shudderingly apprehends that the courses which he pursues can only end +in bitterness and misery, he turns to God and asks Him that He would +enlighten him as to what these fatal courses are. 'See if there be any +way of wickedness in me,' because he is quite sure that the evil which +God sees, God will help him to overcome. + +Ah, friends! we all have such ways deeply lodged within us, and we do +not always know that we have; but if we will turn ourselves to Him, He +will prevent our 'condemning ourselves in things that we allow' and +increasing the sensitiveness of our consciences, He will teach us that +many things that we did not know to be wrong are harmful. + +As soon as we learn that they are, He will help us to cast them out. God +has nothing to do with our evil but to fight against it. Be sure of +this, that whatsoever evil in us He thus searches and shows us. He does +so in order to fling it from us. He goes down into the cellars of our +hearts, with the candle of His Spirit in His hand, in order that He may +lay hold of all the explosives there, and having drenched them so that +they shall not catch fire, may cast them clean out so that they may not +blow us to destruction. + +IV. The last petition of my text is for guidance in 'the everlasting +way.' + +The 'ways of wickedness' are in us; the 'way everlasting' we need to be +led into. That is to say, naturally we incline to evil; it must be the +divine hand and the divine Spirit that lead our feet in the paths of +righteousness. When we ask Him to 'guide us in the way everlasting,' we +ask that we may know what is duty, and that we may incline to do it. And +He answers it by the gift of His divine Spirit, by the quickening of our +consciences, by bringing nearer to our hearts the great Example who has +left us His footsteps as a legacy that we may tread in them. + +Whosoever walks in Christ's footsteps is walking in 'the way +everlasting,' for that path is rightly so named which leads to eternal +blessedness. It is everlasting, too, inasmuch as nothing of human effort +or work abides except that which is in conformity with the will of God, +and inasmuch as it, and it alone, is not broken short off by death, but +runs, borne upon one mighty arch that spans the gorge, clean across the +black abyss, and continues straight on in the same course, only with a +swifter upward gradient, through all the ages of eternity. The man who +here has lived for God will live yonder as he has lived here, only more +completely and more joyously for ever. 'A highway shall be there, and a +way, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with +songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads.' + + + + +THE INCENSE OF PRAYER + + + 'Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense, and the lifting + up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.'--PSALM cxli. 2. + +The place which this psalm occupies in the Psalter, very near its end, +makes it probable that it is considerably later in date than the prior +portions of the collection. But the Psalmist, who here penetrates to the +inmost meaning of the symbolic sacrificial worship of the Old Testament, +was not helped to his clear-sightedness by his date, but by his +devotion. For throughout the Old Testament you find side by side these +two trends of thought--a scrupulous carefulness for the observance of +all the requirements of ritual worship, and a clear-eyed recognition +that it was all external and symbolical and prophetic. Who was it that +said 'Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of +rams'? Samuel, away back in the times when many scholars tell us that +the loftier conceptions of worship had not yet emerged. Similar +utterances are scattered throughout the Old Testament, and the +prominence given to the more spiritual side depends not on the speaker's +date but on his disposition and devotion. So here this Psalmist, because +his soul was filled with true longings after God, passes clear through +the externals and says, 'Here am I with no incense, but I have brought +my prayer. I am empty-handed, but because my hands are empty, I lift +them up to Thee; and Thou dost accept them, as if they were--yea, rather +than if they were--filled with the most elaborate and costly +sacrifices.' + +So here are two thoughts suggested, which sound mere commonplace, but if +we realised them, in our religious life, that life would be +revolutionised; first, the incense of prayer; second, the sacrifice of +the empty-handed. Let us look at these two points. + +I. The Incense of Prayer. 'Let my prayer come before Thee as incense.' + +Now, that symbol of incense is thus used in many places in Scripture. I +need only remind you of one or two instances. You remember how, when the +father of John the Baptist went into the Holy Place, as was his priestly +duty at the time of the offering of the evening oblation, the whole +multitude were in the Outer Court praying; he in the Inner Court, +presenting the symbolical worship, and they, without, offering the real. +Then, if we turn to the grand imagery of the Book of the Revelation, +where we find the heavenly temple opened up to our reverent gaze, we +read that the elders, the representatives of redeemed humanity, have +'golden bowls full of odours, which are the prayers of the saints.' So +there is no fancifulness in interpreting the incense of the ancient +ritual as meaning simply the prayers of devout hearts. Of course there +has been a great deal of nonsense talked about the symbolical +signification of these Old Testament rites, and there is need for sober +sense to put the rein upon a vivid imagination in interpreting these; +still clear utterances of Scripture as well as this verse itself remove +all need for hesitation to accept this meaning of the symbol. + +Now, let me remind you of the place which the Altar of Incense occupied. +The Temple was divided into three courts, the Outer Court, the Holy +Place, and the Holiest of All. The Altar of Incense stood in the second +of these, the Holy Place; the Altar of Burnt Offering stood in the court +without. It was not until that Altar, with its expiatory sacrifice, had +been passed, that one could enter into the Holy Place, where the Altar +of Incense stood. There were three pieces of furniture in that Place, +the Altar of Incense, the Golden Candlestick, and the Table of the +Shewbread. Of these three, the Altar of Incense stood in the centre. +Twice a day the incense was kindled upon it by a priest, by means of +live coals brought from the Altar of Burnt Offering in the Outer Court, +and, thus kindled, the wreaths of fragrant smoke ascended on high. All +day long the incense smouldered upon the altar; twice a day it was +kindled into a bright flame. + +Now, if we take these things with us, we can understand a little more of +the depth and beauty of this prayer, and see how much it tells us of +what we, as the priests of the most High God--which we are, if we are +Christian people at all--ought to have in our censers. + +I need not dwell upon the careful and sedulous preparation from pure +spices which went to the making of the incense. So we have to prepare +ourselves by sedulous purity if there is to be any life or power in our +devotions. But I pass from that, and ask you to think of the lovely +picture of true devoutness given in that inflamed incense, wreathing in +coils of fragrance up to the heavens. Prayer is more than petition. It +is the going up of the whole soul towards God. Brother! do you know +anything of that instinctive and spontaneous rising up of desire and +aspiration and faith and love, up and up and up, until they reach Him? +Do you realise that just in the measure in which we set our minds as +well as our affections, and our affections as well as our minds, on the +things which are above, just to that extent, and not one hairsbreadth +further, have we the right to call ourselves Christians at all? I fear +me that for the great mass of Christian professors the great bulk of +their lives creeps along the low levels like the mists in winter, that +hug the marshes instead of rising, swirling up like an incense cloud, +impelled by nothing but the fire in the censer up and up towards God. +Let us each ask the question for himself, Is my prayer '_directed_'--as +is the true meaning of the Hebrew word--'before Thee as incense'? + +Remember, too, that the incense lay dead, unfragrant, and with no +capacity of soaring, till it was kindled; that is to say, unless there +is a flame in my heart there will be no rising of my aspirations to God. +Cold prayers do not go up more than a foot or two above the ground; they +have no power to soar. There must be the inflaming before there can be +the mounting of the aspiration. You cannot get a balloon to go up unless +the gas within it is warmer than the atmosphere round it. It is because +we are habitually such tepid Christians that we are so tongue-tied in +prayer. + +Where was the incense kindled from? From coals brought from the Altar of +Burnt Offering in the outer court; that is to say, light the fire in +your heart with a coal brought from Christ's sacrifice, and then it will +flame; and only then will love well upwards and desires be set on the +things above. The beginning of Christian fervour lies in the habitual +realising as a fact of the great love which 'loved me and gave itself +for me.' There is no patent way of getting a vivid Christian experience +except the old way of clinging close to Jesus Christ the Saviour; and in +order to do that, we have to think about Him, as well as to feel about +Him, a great deal more than I fear the most of us do. + +Further, does not this lovely symbol of my text suggest to us a glorious +thought, the acceptableness even of our poor prayers, if they come from +hearts inflamed with love because of Christ's great redeeming love? The +Psalmist, thinking humbly of himself and of the worth of anything that +he can bring, says, 'Let my prayer come before Thee as incense,' an +'odour of a sweet smell, acceptable to God'; yes, even our prayers will +be sweet to Him if they are prayers of true aspiration and mounting +faith, leaping from a kindled heart, kindled at the great flame of +Christ's love. + +Were you ever in a Roman Catholic cathedral? Did you ever see there the +little boys that carry the censers, swinging them backwards and forwards +every now and then, and by means of the silver chains lifting the +covers? What is that for? Because the incense would go out unless the +air was let into it. So a constant effort is needed in order to keep the +incense of our prayers alight. We have to swing the censer to get rid of +the things that make our hearts cold; we have to stir the fire, and only +so shall we keep up our devotion. Remember the incense burned all day +long on the altar; though perhaps but smouldering, like the banked-up +fires in the furnaces of a steamer that lies at anchor, still the glow +was there; and twice a day there came the priest with his pan full of +fresh glowing coals from the altar in the Outer Court, and kindled it up +into a flame once more. Which things are thus far an allegory that our +devotion is to be diffused throughout our lives in a lambent glow, and +if it is, it will have to be fed by special acts of worship day by day. + +You hear people talk of not caring about times and seasons of prayer, +and of the beauty of making all life a prayer. Amen! I say so too. But +depend upon it that there will never be devotion diffused through life +unless there is devotion concentrated at points in the life. There must +be reservoirs as well as pipes in order to supply the water through the +whole city. So the incense is perpetually to be heaped on the Altar of +Incense, but also it is to be stirred to a fragrant blaze and fed, +morning and evening, by fresh coals from the altar. + +II. Now let me say a word about the other thought here--the sacrifice of +the empty-handed. + +'The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.' In accordance +with the genius of Hebrew poetry the same general idea is repeated in +the second member of the parallelism, but with modifications. What is +implied in likening the uplifted empty hands to the evening sacrifice? +First, it is a confession of impotent emptiness, a lifting up of +expectant hands to be filled with the gift from God. And, says this +Psalmist, 'Because I bring nothing in my hand, Thou dost accept me, as +if I came laden with offerings.' That is just a picturesque way of +putting a familiar, threadbare truth, which, threadbare as it is, needs +to be laid to heart a great deal more by us, that our true worship and +truest honour of God lies not in giving but in taking. 'He is not +worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, seeing that +He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.' That one truth, Paul +felt on Mars Hill, was sure enough to make all the temples and statues +by which he was surrounded crumble into nothingness. But it does not +merely destroy idolatry. It cuts up by the root much of what we call +Christian worship. How many people worship because they think they +ought? How many people talk about Christian worship as being a +duty--'Our duty we have now performed'? How many have never had a +glimpse of this thought, that God wills us to draw near to Him, not +because it pleases Him but because it blesses us, and that we are to +worship, not in order that we may bring anything, either the sacrifices +of bulls and goats, or the more refined ones that we bring nowadays, but +in order that, bringing our emptiness into touch with His infinite +fulness, as much of that fulness as we need to make us full, and as much +of that blessedness as we need to make us blessed, may pass into our +lives. Oh! if we understand 'the giving God,' as James calls Him in his +letter; and if we had learned the old lesson of that fiftieth Psalm, 'If +I were hungry I would not tell thee.... Will I eat the flesh of bulls +and drink the blood of goats? He that offereth praise glorifieth Me, and +to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I show the salvation +of God'--if we had learned that, and laid it to heart, and applied it to +our own worship and our lives, mountains of misconception would be +lifted away from many hearts. In our service we do not need to bring any +merit of our own. This great principle destroys not only the gross +externalities of heathen sacrifice, and the notion that worship is a +duty, but it destroys the other notion of our having to bring anything +to deserve God's gifts. And so it is an encouragement to us when we feel +ourselves to be what we are, and what we should always feel ourselves to +be, empty-handed, coming to Him not only with hearts that aspire like +incense, but with petitions that confess our need, and cast ourselves +upon His grace. See that you desire what God wishes to give; see that +you go to Him for what He does give. See that you give to Him the only +thing that He does wish, or that it lies in your power to give, and that +is yourself. + + Nothing in my hand I bring, + Simply to Thy Cross I cling. + +'Let the lifting of my hands be as the evening sacrifice'; as the +Psalmist has it in another place, 'What shall I render to the Lord for +all His benefits?'--it is not a question of rendering, but 'I will +_take_ the cup of salvation.' Taking is our truest worship, and the +lifting up of empty, expectant hands is, in God's sight, as the evening +sacrifice. + + + + +THE PRAYER OF PRAYERS + + + 'Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God! Thy spirit is good; + lead me into the land of uprightness.'--PSALM cxliii. 10. + +These two clauses mean substantially the same thing. The Psalmist's +longings are expressed in the first of them in plain words, and in the +second in a figure. 'To do God's will' is to be in 'the land of +uprightness.' That phrase, in its literal application, means a stretch +of level country, and hence is naturally employed as an emblem of a +moral or religious condition. A life of obedience to the will of God is +likened to some far stretching plain, easy to traverse, broken by no +barren mountains or frowning cliffs, but basking, peaceful and fruitful, +beneath the smile of God. Into such a garden of the Lord the Psalmist +prays to be led. + +In each case his prayer is based upon a motive or plea. 'Thou art my +God'; his faith apprehends a personal bond between him and God, and +feels that that bond obliges God to teach him His will. If we adopt the +reading in our Bibles of our second clause a still deeper and more +wonderful plea is presented there. 'Thy Spirit is good,' and therefore +the trusting spirit has a right to ask to be made good likewise. The +relation of the believing spirit to God not only obliges God to teach it +His will, but to make it partaker of His own image and conformed to His +own purity. So high on wings of faith and desire soared this man, who, +at the beginning of his psalm, was crushed to the dust by enemies and by +dangers. So high we may rise by like means. + +I. Notice, then, first, the supreme desire of the devout soul. + +We do not know who wrote this psalm. The superscription says that it was +David's, and although its place in the Psalter seems to suggest another +author, the peculiar fervour and closeness of intimacy with God which +breathes through it are like the Davidic psalms, and seem to confirm the +superscription. If so, it will naturally fall into its place with the +others which were pressed from his heart by the rebellion of Absalom. +But be that as it may, whosoever wrote the psalm, was a man in extremest +misery and peril, and as he says of himself, 'persecuted,' +'overwhelmed,' 'desolate.' The tempest blows him to the Throne of God, +and when he is there, what does he ask? Deliverance? Scarcely. In one +clause, and again at the end, as if by a kind of after-thought, he asks +for the removal of the calamities. But the main burden of his prayer is +for a closer knowledge of God, the sound of His lovingkindness in his +inward ear, light to show him the way wherein he should walk, and the +sweet sunshine of God's face upon his heart. There is a better thing to +ask than exemption from sorrows, even grace to bear them rightly. The +supreme desire of the devout soul is practical conformity to the will of +God. For the prayer of our text is not 'Teach me to _know_ Thy will.' +The Psalmist, indeed, has asked _that_ in a previous clause--'Cause me +to know the way wherein I should walk.' But knowledge is not all that we +need, and the gulf between knowledge and practice is so deep that after +we have prayed that we may be caused to know the way, and have received +the answer, there still remains the need for God's help that knowledge +may become life, and that all which we understand we may do. To such +practical conformity to the will of God all other aspects of religion +are meant to be subservient. + +Christianity is a revelation of truth, but to accept it as such is not +enough. Christianity brings to me exemption from punishment, escape from +hell, deliverance from condemnation and guilt, and by some of us, that +is apt to be regarded as the whole Gospel; but pardon is only a means to +an end. Christianity brings to us the possibility of indulgence in sweet +and blessed emotions, and a fervour of feeling which to experience is +the ante-past of heaven, and for some of us, all our religion goes off +in vaporous emotion; but feeling alone is not Christianity. Our religion +brings to us sweet and gracious consolations, but it is a poor affair if +we only use it as an anodyne and a comfort. Our Christianity brings to +us glorious hopes that flash lustre into the darkness, and make the +solitude of the grave companionship, and the end of earth the beginning +of life, but it is a poor affair if the mightiest operation of our +religion be relegated to a future, and flung on to the close. All these +things, the truth which the Gospel brings, the pardon and peace of +conscience which it ensures, the joyful emotion which it sets loose from +the ice of indifference, the sweet consolations with which it pillows +the weary head and bandages the bleeding heart, and the great hopes +which flash light into glazing eyes, and make the end glorious with the +rays of a beginning, and the western heaven bright with the promise of a +new day--all these things are but subservient means to this highest +purpose, that we should do the will of God, and be conformed to His +image. They whose religion has not reached that apex have yet to +understand its highest meaning. The river of the water of life that +proceeds from the Throne of God and the Lamb is not sent merely to +refresh thirsty lips, and to bring music into the silence of a waterless +desert, but it is sent to drive the wheels of life. Action, not thought, +is the end of God's revelation, and the perfecting of man. + +But, then, let us remember that we shall most imperfectly apprehend the +whole sweep and blessedness of this great supreme aim of the devout +soul, if we regard this doing of God's will as merely the external act +of obedience to an external command. Simple doing is not enough; the +deed must be the fruit of love. The aim of the Christian life is not +obedience to a law that is recognised as authoritative, but joyful +moulding of ourselves after a law that is felt to be sweet and loving. +'I delight to do Thy will, yea! Thy law is within my heart.' Only when +thus the will yields itself in loving and glad conformity to the will of +God is true obedience possible for us. Brother! is that your +Christianity? Do you desire, more than anything besides, that what He +wills you should will, and that His law should be stamped upon your +hearts, and all your rebellious desires and purposes should be brought +into a sweet captivity which is freedom, and an obedience to Christ +which is kingship over the universe and yourselves? + +II. Note, secondly, the divine teaching and touch which are required for +this conformity. + +The Psalmist betakes himself to prayer, because he knows that of himself +he cannot bring his will into this attitude of harmonious submission. +And his prayer for 'teaching' is deepened in the second clause of our +text into a petition, which is substantially the same in meaning, but +yet sets the felt need and the coveted help in a still more striking +light, in its cry for the touch of God's good spirit to guide, as by a +hand grasping the Psalmist's hand, into the paths of obedience. + +We may learn from this prayer, then, that practical conformity to God's +will can never be attained by our own efforts. Remember all the +hindrances that rise between us and it; these wild passions of ours, +this obstinate gravitating of tastes and desires towards earth, these +animal necessities, these spiritual perversities, which make up so much +of us all--how can we coerce these into submission? Our better selves +sit within like some prisoned king, surrounded and 'fooled by the rebel +powers' of his revolted subjects; and our best recourse is to send an +embassy to the Over-lord, the Sovereign King, praying Him to come to our +help. We cannot will to will as God wills, but we can turn ourselves to +Him, and ask Him to put the power within us which shall subdue the evil, +conquer the rebels, and make us masters of our own else anarchic and +troubled spirits. For all honest attempts to make the will of God our +wills, the one secret of success is confident and continual appeal to +Him. A man must have gone a very little way, very superficially and +perfunctorily, on the path of seeking to make himself what he ought to +be, unless he has found out that he cannot do it, and unless he has +found out that there is only one way to do it, and that is to go to God +and say, 'O Lord! I am baffled and beaten. I put the reins into Thy +hand; do Thou inspire and direct and sanctify.' + +That practical conformity to the will of God requires divine teaching, +but yet that teaching must be no outward thing. It is not enough that we +should have communicated to us, as from without, the clearest knowledge +of what we ought to be. There must be more than that. Our Psalmist's +prayer was a prophecy. He said, 'Teach me to do Thy will.' And he +thought, no doubt, of an inward teaching which should mould his nature +as well as enlighten it; of the communication of impulses as well as of +conceptions; of something which should make him love the divine will, as +well as of something which should make him know it. + +You and I have Jesus Christ for our Teacher, the answer to the psalm. +His teaching is inward and deep and real, and answers to all the +necessities of the case. We have His example to stand as our perfect +law. If we want to know what is God's will, we have only to turn to that +life; and however different from ours His may have been in its outward +circumstances, and however fragmentary and brief its records in the +Gospels may sometimes seem to us, yet in these little booklets, telling +of the quiet life of the carpenter's Son, there is guidance for every +man and woman in all circumstances, however complicated, and we do not +need anything more to teach us what God's will is than the life of Jesus +Christ. His teaching goes deeper than example. He comes into our hearts, +He moulds our wills. His teaching is by inward impulses and +communications of desire and power to do, as well as of light to know. A +law has been given which can give life. As the modeller will take a +piece of wax into his hand, and by warmth and manipulation make it soft +and pliable, so Jesus Christ, if we let Him, will take our hard hearts +into His hands, and by gentle, loving, subtle touches, will shape them +into the pattern of His own perfect beauty, and will mould all their +vagrant inclinations and aberrant distortions into 'one immortal feature +of loveliness and perfection.' 'The _grace of God_ that bringeth +salvation hath appeared unto all men _teaching_ that, denying +ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,' controlling +ourselves, 'righteously,' fulfilling all our obligations to our +fellows, 'and godly,' referring everything to Him, 'in this present +world.' + +That practical conformity to the divine will requires, still further, +the operation of the divine Spirit as our Guide. 'Thy Spirit is good +lead me into the land of uprightness.' There is only one power that can +draw us out of the far-off land of rebellious disobedience, where the +prodigals and the swine's husks and the famine and the rags are, into +the 'land of uprightness,' and that is, the communicated Spirit of God, +which is given to all them that desire Him, and will lead them in paths +of righteousness for His name's sake. It is He that works in us, the +willing and the doing, according to His own good pleasure. 'He shall +guide you,' said the Master, 'into all truth'--not merely into its +knowledge, but into its performance, not merely into truth of +conception, but into truth of practice, which is righteousness, and the +fulfilling of the Law. + +III. Lastly, note the divine guarantee that this practical conformity +shall be ours. + +The Psalmist pleads with God a double motive--His relation to us and His +own perfectness, 'Thou art my God; therefore teach me.' 'Thy Spirit is +good; therefore lead me into the land of uprightness.' I can but glance +for a moment at these two pleas of the prayer. + +Note, then, first, God's personal relation to the devout soul, as the +guarantee that that soul shall be taught, not merely to know, but also +to do His will. If He be 'my God,' there can be no deeper desire in His +heart, than that His will should be my will. And this He desires, not +from any masterfulness or love of dominion, but only from love to us. If +He be my God, and therefore longing to have me obedient, He will not +withhold what is needed to make me so. God is no hard Taskmaster who +sets us to make bricks without straw. Whatsoever He commands He gives, +and His commandments are always second and His gifts first. He bestows +Himself and then He says, 'For the love's sake, do My will.' Be sure +that the sacred bond which knits us to Him is regarded by Him, the +faithful Creator, as an obligation which He recognises and respects and +will discharge. We have a right to go to Him and to say to Him, 'Thou +art my God; and Thou wilt not be what Thou art, nor do what Thou hast +pledged Thyself to do, unless Thou makest me to know and to do Thy +will.' + +And on the other hand, if we have taken Him for ours, and have the bond +knit from our side as well as from His, then the fact of our faith gives +us a claim on Him which He is sure to honour. The soul that can say, 'I +have taken Thee for mine,' has a hold on God which God is only too glad +to recognise and to vindicate. And whoever, humbly trusting to that +great Father in the heavens, feels that he belongs to God, and that God +belongs to him, is warranted in praying, 'Teach me, and make me, to do +Thy will,' and in being confident of an answer. + +And there is the other plea with Him and guarantee for us, drawn from +God's own moral character and perfectness. The last clause of my text +may either be read as our Bible has it, 'Thy Spirit is good; lead me,' +or 'Let Thy good Spirit lead me.' In either case the goodness of the +divine Spirit is the plea on which the prayer is grounded. The goodness +here referred to is, as I take it, not merely beneficence and +kindliness, but rather goodness in its broader and loftier sense of +perfect moral purity. So that the thought just comes to this--we have +the right to expect that we shall be made participant of the divine +nature for so sweet, so deep, so tender is the tie that knits a devout +soul to God, that nothing short of conformity to the perfect purity of +God can satisfy the aspirations of the creature, or discharge the +obligations of the Creator. + +It is a daring thought. The Psalmist's desire was a prophecy. The New +Testament vindicates and fulfils it when it says 'We shall be like Him, +for we shall see Him as He is.' Since He now dwells in 'the land of +uprightness,' who once dwelt among us in this weary world of confusion +and of sin, then we one day shall be with Him. Christ's heart cannot be +satisfied, Christ's Cross cannot be rewarded, the divine nature cannot +be at rest, the purpose of redemption cannot be accomplished, until all +who have trusted in Christ be partakers of divine purity, and all the +wanderers be led by devious and yet by right paths, by crooked and yet +by straight ways, by places rough and yet smooth, into 'the land of +uprightness.' Where and what He is, there and that shall also His +servants be. + +My brother! if to do the will of God is to dwell in the land of +uprightness, disobedience is to dwell in a dry and thirsty land, barren +and dreary, horrid with frowning rocks and jagged cliffs, where every +stone cuts the feet and every step is a blunder, and all the paths end +at last on the edge of an abyss, and crumble into nothingness beneath +the despairing foot that treads them. Do you see to it that you walk in +ways of righteousness which are paths of peace; and look for all the +help you need, with assured faith, to Him who shall 'guide us by His +counsel and afterwards receive us to His glory.' + + + + +THE SATISFIER OF ALL DESIRES + + + 'Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living + thing ... 19. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him: He + also will hear their cry, and will save them.'--PSALM cxlv. 16, 19. + +You observe the recurrence, in these two verses, of the one emphatic +word 'desire.' Its repetition evidently shows that the Psalmist wishes +to run a parallel between God's dealings in two regions. The same +beneficence works in both. Here is the true extension of natural law to +the spiritual world. It is the same teaching to which our Lord has given +immortal and inimitable utterance, when He says, 'Your heavenly Father +feedeth them.' And so we are entitled to look on all the wonders of +creation, and to find in them buttresses which may support the edifice +of our faith, and to believe that wherever there is a mouth God sends +food to fill it. 'Thou openest Thine hand'--that is all--'and satisfiest +the desire of every living thing.' But to fulfil the desires of them who +are not only 'living things,' but 'who fear' Him, is it such a simple +task? Sometimes more is wanted than an open hand before that can be +accomplished. So, looking not only at the words I have read, but at the +whole of their setting, which is influenced by the thought of this +parallelism, we see here two sets of pensioners, two kinds of wants, two +forms of appeal, two processes of satisfaction. + +I. Two kinds of pensioners. + +'Every living thing--' life makes a claim on God, and whatever desires +arise in the living creature by reason of its life, God would be untrue +to Himself, a cruel Parent, an unnatural Father, if He did not satisfy +them. We do not half enough realise the fact that the condescension of +creation lies not only in the act of creating, but in the willing +acceptance by the Creator of the bonds under which He thereby lays +Himself; obliging Himself to see to the creatures that He has chosen to +make. And so, as one of the New Testament writers puts it, in his simple +way, with a profound truth, 'He is a faithful Creator'; and wherever +there is a creature that He has made to need anything, He has thereby +said, 'As I live, that creature shall have what it needs.' + +Then, take the other class, 'them that fear Him'; or as they are +described in the context--by contrast with 'the wicked who are +destroyed'--'the righteous.' That is to say, whilst, because we are +living things, like the bee and the worm, we have a claim on God +precisely parallel with theirs for what we may need by reason of His +gift, which we never asked for, His gift of life, we shall have a +similar but higher claim on Him if we are 'they that fear Him' with that +loving reverence which has no torment in it, and that love Him with that +reverential affection which has no presumption in it, and whose love and +fear coalesce in making them long to be righteous like the Object of +their love, to be holy like the Object of their fear. And just as the +fact of physical life binds God to care for it, and to give all that is +needed for its health, growth, blessedness, so the fact of man's having +in his heart the faintest tremor of reverential dread, the feeblest +aspiration of outgoing affection, the most faltering desire after purity +of life and conduct, binds God to answer these according to the man's +need. Of all incredibilities in the world, there is nothing more +incredible, because there is nothing more contrary to the very depths of +the divine nature, than that desires, longings, expectations, which are +the direct result of the love and fear of God, and the hunger and thirst +after righteousness, should not be answered. + +Now that is a very wide principle, and I do not believe that it is +trusted enough by many. It comes to this--wherever you find in people a +confidence which grows with their love of God, be sure that there is, +somewhere or other in the universe of things, that which answers it. + +Take a case. If there was not a word in the New Testament about Jesus +Christ's resurrection, the fact that just in proportion as men grow in +devotion, in love of God, in fear of Him, in longing to be good and to +appear like Him, in that same proportion does their conviction that +there must be a life beyond the grave become firm and certain--that +fact would be enough to make any one who believed in God sure that the +hope thus rooted in love to Him, and fed by everything that draws us +nearer to Him, could not be a delusion, nor be destined to be left +unfulfilled. + +And we might go round the whole circle of dim religious aspirations and +desires, and find in all of them illustrations of the principle so +profoundly and so simply put in our psalm, that the same Love which, in +the realm of the physical world, binds itself to satisfy the life which +it imparts, is at work in the higher regions, and will 'fulfil the +desires of them that fear Him.' + +II. Again, there are two sets of needs. + +The first of them is very easily disposed of. 'The eyes of all wait upon +Thee, and Thou givest them their meat.' That is all. Feed the beast, and +give it the other things necessary for its physical existence, and there +is no more to be done. But there is more wanted for the desires of the +men that love and fear God. These are glanced at in the context, 'He +also will hear their cry, and will save them'; 'the Lord preserveth all +them that love Him.' That is to say, there are deeper needs in our +hearts and lives than any that are known amongst the lower creatures. +Evils, dangers inward and outward, sorrows, disappointments, losses of +all sorts shadow our lives, in a fashion which the happy, careless life +of field and forest knows nothing about. Give them their meat, and they +curl themselves up and lie down to sleep, satisfied. Man longs for +something more and needs something more. + +'He will save them.' Now, I do not suppose that 'save' here is employed +in its full New Testament sense, but it approximates to that sense. +And, further, there are other aspects of our needs set forth in the +context, on which I briefly touch. Do not let us vulgarise such a saying +as this of my text, 'He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him,' +as if it only meant that if a man fears God he may set his longing upon +any outward thing, and be sure to get it. There is nothing so poor, so +unworthy as that promised in Scripture. For one thing, it is not true; +for another, it would not be good if it were. The way to spoil children +is not the way to perfect saints; and to give them what they want +because they want it, is the sure way to spoil children of all ages. We +may be quite certain that our heavenly Father is not going to do that. +The promise here means something far nobler and loftier. The fact of +creation binds God to supply all the wants which spring from life. The +fact of our loving and fearing Him binds Him to supply all the wants +which spring from our love and fear. And it is these desires which the +Psalmist is thinking of. + +What is the object of desire to a man who loves God? God. What is the +object of desire to a man who fears Him? God. What is the object of +desire to a righteous man? Righteousness. And these are the desires +which God is sure to fulfil to us. Therefore, there is only one region +in which it is safe and wise to cherish longings, and it is the region +of the spiritual life where God imparts Himself. Everywhere else there +will be disappointments--thank Him for them. Nowhere else is it +absolutely true that He will 'fulfil the desires of them that fear Him.' +But in this region it is. Whatever any of us desire to have of God, we +are sure to get. We open our mouths and He fills them. In the Christian +life desire is the measure of possession, and to long is to have. And +there is nowhere else where it is absolutely, unconditionally, and +universally true that to wish is to possess, and to ask is to have. + +Oh! then, is it not a foolish thing for us to worry and torture and +sweat, in order to win for ourselves for a little while the uncertain +possession of incomplete bliss? Would it not be wiser, instead of +letting the current of our desires dribble itself away through a +thousand channels in the sand and get lost, to gather it all into one +great stream which is sure to find its way to the broad ocean? 'Delight +thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart,' +for these will then be after Himself, and Himself only. + +III. Further, there are here two forms of appeal. + +'The eyes of all wait upon Thee.' That is beautiful! The dumb look of +the unconscious creature, like that of a dog looking up in its master's +face for a crust, makes appeal to God, and He answers that. But a dumb, +unconscious look is not for us. 'He also will hear their cry.' Put your +wish into words if you want it answered; not for His information, but +for your strengthening. 'Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need +of these things before ye ask Him.' What then? Why should I ask Him? +Because the asking will clear your thoughts about your desires. It will +be a very good test of them. There are many things that we all wish, +which I am afraid we should not much like to put into our prayers, not +because of any foolish notion that they are too small to find a place +there, but because of an uncomfortable suspicion that perhaps they are +not the kind of things that we ought to wish. And if we cannot make the +desire into a cry, the sooner we make it dead as well as dumb the better +for ourselves. The cry will serve, too, as a stimulus to the wishes +which are put into words. Silent prayer is well, but there is a +wonderful power on ourselves--it may be due to our weakness, but still +it exists--in the articulate and audible utterance of our petitions to +God. I would fain that all of us were more in the habit of putting into +distinct words that we ourselves can hear, the wishes that we cherish. I +am sure our prayers would be more sincere, less wandering, more earnest +and real, if they were spoken, as well as felt, prayers. + +Let us remember, dear brethren! that the condition of our getting the +higher gifts is not only that we should love and fear, and in the +silence of our own hearts should wish for, but that we should definitely +ask for, them. Not only desire, but 'their cry,' brings the answer. + +IV. And now one last word. Note the two processes of satisfying. + +'Thou openest Thine hand.' That is enough. But God cannot satisfy our +deepest desires by any such short and easy method. There is a great deal +more to be done by Him before the aspirations of love and fear and +longing for righteousness can be fulfilled. He has to breathe Himself +into us. Lower creatures have enough when they have the meat that drops +from His hand. They know and care nothing for the hand that feeds. But +God's best gifts cannot be separated from Himself. They are Himself, and +in order to 'satisfy the desires of them that fear Him' there is no way +possible, even to Him, but the impartation of Himself to the waiting +heart. + +That is a mystery deep and blessed. Oh, that we may all know, by our +own living experience, what it is to have not only the gifts which drop +from His hands, but the gifts which cannot be parted from Him, the +Giver! He has to discipline us for His highest gifts, in order that we +may receive them. And sometimes He has to do that, as I have no doubt He +has done it with many of us, by withholding or withdrawing the +satisfaction of some of our lower desires, and so emptying our hearts +and turning the current of our wishes from earth to heaven. If you are +going to pour precious wine into a chalice, you begin by emptying out +the less valuable liquid that may be in it. So God often empties us, in +order that He may fill us, and takes away the creatures in order that we +may long for the Creator. + +Not only has He to give us Himself, and to discipline us in order to +receive Him, but He has to put all His gifts which meet our deepest +desires into a great storehouse. He does not open His hand and give us +peace and righteousness, and growing knowledge of Himself, and closer +union, and the other blessings of the Christian life, but He gives us +Jesus Christ. We are to find all these blessings in Him, and it depends +upon us whether we find them or not, and how much of them we find. You +will always find as much in Christ as you want, but you may not find +nearly as much in Him as you could; and you will never find as much in +Him as there is. God sends His Son, and in that one gift, like a box +'wherein sweets compacted lie,' are all the gifts that even His hand can +bestow, or our desires require. So be sure that you have what you have, +and that you suck out of the Rose of Sharon all the honey that lies deep +in its calyx. Expand your desires to the width of Christ's great +mercies; for the measure of our wishes is the limit of our possession. +He has laid up the supply of all our need in the storehouse, which is +Christ; and He has given us the key. Let us see to it that we enter in. +'Ye have not because ye ask not.' 'To him that hath shall be given, and +he shall have abundance.' + +END OF VOL. 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