dwells in them, and is, as it were, the very life of their souls". However distressed then we be, we should regard him as "the health of our countenance, and our God." What a foundation of hope did the remembrance of God's paternal relation to them afford to the Church of olda! And what a sweet assurance does God himself teach us also to derive from the same source"! If we unfeignedly desire to be his, we have good reason to believe that we are his: and if we be his, he will never suffer any to pluck us out of his hand. Hold fast this therefore, as an anchor of the soul; and it shall keep you steadfast amidst all the storms and tempests that can possibly assail you.] ADDRESS 1. Those who are in a drooping desponding frame [We cannot give you better counsel than that suggested by the example of David. Inquire, first, into the reasons of your disquietude. If it proceed from temporal afflictions, recollect, that they are rather tokens of God's love, than of his hatred; for "whom he loveth he chasteneth." If it arise from the temptations of Satan, take not all the blame to yourselves; but cast a good measure of it at least on him from whom they proceed. If you are troubled about the hidings of God's face, entreat him to return, and to lift up upon you once more the light of his countenance. And if, as is most probable, your own sins have hid his face from you," humble yourself for them, and implore his grace that you may be enabled henceforth to mortify and subdue them. At all events, having once searched out the cause, you will know the better how to apply a remedy. 66 But, in the next place, it will be proper to check these desponding fears. The text is not a mere inquiry, but an expostulation; and such an expostulation as you should address to your own souls. For, what benefit can accrue from such a frame? It only weakens your hands, and discourages your heart, and dishonours your God. We do not say that there are not just occasions for disquietude: but this we say, that instead of continuing in a dejected state, you should return instantly to God, who would "give you beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness"." But, above all," encourage yourself in God." This is what David did in the text, and on another most memorable occasion. And while there is an all-sufficient God on whom to y 2 Cor. vi. 16. b Isai. xlix. 14-16. e Isai. lxi. 3. z Col. iii. 4. a Isai. lxiii. 15, 16. d Heb. xii. 6. rely, you need not fear though earth and hell should be combined against you.] 2. Those who are entire strangers to disquietude and dejection [We are far from congratulating you on your exemption from such feelings as these. On the contrary, we would propose to you, in reference to that exemption, the very same things as we recommended to others in reference to their distresses. First, inquire into the reason of your never having experienced such feelings. "Why art thou NOT cast down, O my soul? and why art thou NOT disquieted within me?" Does it not proceed from an ignorance of your own state, and from an unconcern about that account which you must soon give of yourself at the judgment-seat of Christ ?- Next, expostulate with yourself; "O my soul, why art thou thus callous and insensible? Will not thy contempt of God's judgments issue in thy ruin ?— - It must not, it shall not be: thou hast neglected thine eternal interests long enough: thou shalt, God helping thee, bend thine attention to them from this time for if thou be summoned before thy God in thy present state, it had been better for me that I had never been born." But you also, no less than the disconsolate, must found your hopes on God. All your expectation must be from Him, "with whom there is mercy and plenteous redemption." If you will but turn to him in earnest, you have nothing to fear: for his word to you is, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."] g Ps. xi. 1, 4. and xxvii. 1, 3. and cxxv. 1. DLXXV THE REIGN OF CHRIST DESIRED. Ps xlv. 3-5. Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee. THIS psalm is called "a song of loves" and it is supposed to have been written on occasion of Solomon's marriage with Pharaoh's daughter. But, beyond all doubt, a greater than Solomon is here. Solomon was altogether a man of peace: but the King here spoken of was "a man of war;" and all the address which is here made to him has reference to him under that character. It may seem strange that this view of him should be introduced on the occasion of a nuptial solemnity; but it must be remembered, that as the Jews were wont, by God's special permission, to connect themselves in marriage with females whom they had taken captive in war, allowing them a month to forget their former relatives, so the Messiah first takes captive those with whom he afterwards unites himself in the nuptial bonds. This is particularly marked in the address to the spouse herself: "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty"." Hence, even whilst contemplating the Lord Jesus under the idea of an husband, we see why we should be anxious to behold his conquests extended over the face of the whole earth. That we may attain the spirit which David breathed, let us consider, I. The frame of his mind In reading the Holy Scriptures, we should not be content with noticing the mere sense of any particular passage, (though that is doubtless in the first place, and with the greatest diligence, to be examined;) but we should mark the peculiar spirit of it, the spirit which the passage itself breathes, the spirit of the person who wrote it, or which it has a tendency to produce in those who read it. Now, when David penned this psalm, His mind was full of zeal for Christ [He had been contemplating the glory and excellency of Christ: "My heart," says he, "is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the King." And so full was his heart of this glorious subject, that "his tongue was as the pen of a ready writer," which yet was scarcely capable of keeping pace with the ardour of his mind, or of giving utterance to the vast conceptions with which his soul laboured. a ver. 10, 11. He beheld the Lord Jesus Christ as possessing in himself an excellency far beyond that of any created being: "Thou art fairer than the children of men.' He saw that, both in the subject and manner of his ministrations, there was a grace which nothing could equal, and which God would honour with the most wonderful success: "Grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever." And anxious to behold the full accomplishment of all that the Messiah had undertaken, he further calls upon him to take to him his great power, and to subdue the whole world unto himself: "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, and let the people of every nation under heaven fall under thee." In all this you will perceive, that, instead of speaking of Christ, as he had intended to do, he is constrained, by the ardour of his own mind, to address himself directly to Christ; and, instead of making his thoughts a subject of communication with man, he is led by them into the exercise of immediate communion with his God. Now,] Such should be the frame of our minds also [We should be in the constant habit of meditating upon Christ; and of so musing upon his glorious excellencies, that a fire should be kindled in our bosoms, and we should speak of him with our tongues. And what other subject is there under heaven to be compared with this? Reflect a moment, who the Saviour is! He He is "the mighty God." Consider what he has done! He has assumed our nature, and become a man, in order that, by substituting himself in our place and stead, he might deliver us out of the hands of our great enemy, and bring us into an everlasting union with himself, as "our Friend and our Beloved." Consider how rich and free and full are all his invitations and promises: and what blessings will attend the progress of his arms, wheresoever men shall be subdued unto him. Should we not long to see his glory advance, and his kingdom established in the world? Should it not be grievous to us to behold so great a part of the world both ignorant of him, and in rebellion against him? Should we not be urgent with him in prayer, to make bare his arm, and to subdue the world unto himself? Surely these are the meditations that become us; and our hearts should be so full of them, that, wherever we go, and whatever we do, He should be present to our minds; and his praise should be, as it were, the constant effusion of our souls.] But in my text we are more particularly led to notice, II. The object of his desire He desires that Christ's kingdom may be esta blished in the world. But, that I may open this to you the more fully, I wish you to mark, 1. Wherein that kingdom consists [It is "in the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness that the Saviour advances to the combat. The whole world is lying in darkness; and he comes to dispel error from their minds. The whole world is full of all manner of abominations: pride stalks through the earth, defying even God himself: Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?" and every species of wickedness is indulged, without either remorse or fear. But the Lord Jesus Christ comes to humble man in the dust before God; and to transform the children of the wicked one into the very image of their God, in righteousness and true holiness. Who must not wish for such a kingdom to be established throughout the whole world? Who must not make it his very first petition from day to day, "Thy kingdom come?" --Truly, wherever that kingdom is, which consists" in righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," there is heaven itself begun in the souls of men.] 2. By what means it is to be erected [The sword of the Messiah is the word of God, which, proceeding from his mouth', subdues the universe before him. That sword is quick and powerful, and pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Nothing can eventually stand before it: weak as it may appear, it is "mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." Look at the primitive ages of the Church: what was it that brought down all the power and policy both of men and devils? It was not human wisdom, or worldly power: it was the simple exhibition of the cross of Christ, and the preaching of Christ crucified. "This word came to the hearts of men in demonstration of the Spirit and of power;" and, to every soul that received it, it was made "the power of God to. his everlasting salvation."] 3. The certainty of its establishment [Very sharp were the arrows which were thus sent forth from the Messiah's bow. Truly "he was a polished shaft in the quiver of Jehovah," and nothing could stand before it'. True, indeed, God has not yet seen fit to accomplish all the purposes of his grace: but the time is quickly coming, when Satan, that great adversary of God and man, shall be bound, b Rev. i. 16. and xix. 15. e Isai. xlix. 2. c Heb. iv. 12. d 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. f Isai. lix. 16-18. |