_Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord?_ A THEOLOGICAL DIFFICULTY, A HAUGHTY IMPIETY, AN EARNEST PRAYER I. A theological difficulty. “Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord?” Some great enormity was now under the eyes of David. We know not what. He had witnessed many such scenes. They have a tendency to... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God._ THE WICKED, FROM PRIDE, REFUSE TO SEEK GOD In this Psalm we have a full-length portrait of a careless, unawakened sinner, drawn by the unerring pencil of truth. Two of the features which compose this portrait are delineat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy judgments are far above, out of his sight._ MAN’S JUDGMENT AT VARIANCE WITH GOD’S There is an obtuseness and impenetrability that attach to the mind of man respecting the character of moral obligation that prove absolutely invincible to all his powers of meditation and research. This inability... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wicked hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved._ GODLESS CONFIDENCE--ITS MAD ARROGANCE The wicked man 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 impo... [ Continue Reading ]
_His mouth is full of cursing._ BLACK ARTS A missionary from Polynesia brought home a “soul trap.” It was a series of rings twisted in cocoanut fibre. If a native should commit a great offence, or offend a sorcerer, he proceeds to make a new ring in his chain, so as to form a trap to catch the poo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore do the wicked contemn God?_ ON THE UNPRINCIPLED CONTEMPT OF RELIGION How astonishing that any should be guilty of this. Excellence and station and authority shield men from contempt. But yet the wicked contemn God. Notwithstanding He is unspeakably glorious and great, the blessed and on... [ Continue Reading ]
_The heathen are perished out of His land._ AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAYER Does this sentence point back to the great instance of exterminating justice in the destruction of the Canaanite? It may do so, but it is rather to be taken as referring to the victories celebrated in the previous and companion... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast hoard the desire of the humble._ THE DESIRE OF THE HUMBLE ENCOURAGED I. The characters here spoken of. Though there be great difference between man and man with regard to natural character, yet the truly humble before God are those only whom He has humbled. The humble are those whom God... [ Continue Reading ]