PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Psalms
Alexander Maclaren, 1826-1910 · 244,462 words · 343 reading sections
Contents
Produced by Charles Franks, Chew-Hung, Lee, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. by ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. VOLUME I: PSALMS _I to XLIX_ 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 TRU…
346 wordsSECTION 2Blessedness 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 …
685 wordsSECTION 3Blessedness And Praise
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…
838 wordsSECTION 4Blessedness And Praise
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 sterne…
759 wordsSECTION 5Blessedness And 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 of…
834 wordsSECTION 6Blessedness And Praise
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 …
740 wordsSECTION 7Blessedness And Praise
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 hav…
775 wordsSECTION 8A 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…
746 wordsSECTION 9A Staircase Of Three Steps
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 wo…
784 wordsSECTION 10A Staircase Of Three Steps
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 …
742 wordsSECTION 11One Saying From Three Men
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 ar…
750 wordsSECTION 12One Saying From Three Men
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 wh…
704 wordsSECTION 13One Saying From Three Men
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…
656 wordsSECTION 14One Saying From Three Men
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…
345 wordsSECTION 15Man'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 …
715 wordsSECTION 16Man'S True Treasure In God
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 pai…
688 wordsSECTION 17Man'S True Treasure In God
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…
777 wordsSECTION 18Man'S True Treasure In God
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 p…
721 wordsSECTION 19Man'S True Treasure In God
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 als…
733 wordsSECTION 20Man'S True Treasure In God
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. Yo…
503 wordsSECTION 21God 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 n…
780 wordsSECTION 22God With Us, And We With God
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 bless…
665 wordsSECTION 23God With Us, And We With 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 t…
821 wordsSECTION 24God With Us, And We With God
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 wher…
469 wordsSECTION 25The 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 …
790 wordsSECTION 26The Two Awakings
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 represe…
660 wordsSECTION 27The Two Awakings
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 …
764 wordsSECTION 28The Two Awakings
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 manifesta…
901 wordsSECTION 29The Two Awakings
'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…
757 wordsSECTION 30The Two Awakings
'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 …
826 wordsSECTION 31Secret Faults
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 los…
676 wordsSECTION 32Secret Faults
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 reme…
667 wordsSECTION 33Secret Faults
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 …
680 wordsSECTION 34Secret Faults
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…
694 wordsSECTION 35Open Sins
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.' '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.'--PSAL…
737 wordsSECTION 36Open Sins
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 be…
686 wordsSECTION 37Open Sins
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 b…
778 wordsSECTION 38Open Sins
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 …
763 wordsSECTION 39Feasting 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 …
737 wordsSECTION 40Feasting On The Sacrifice
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, fir…
842 wordsSECTION 41Feasting On The Sacrifice
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 mak…
664 wordsSECTION 42Feasting On The Sacrifice
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 m…
614 wordsSECTION 43The 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 a…
703 wordsSECTION 44The Shepherd King Of Israel
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 …
683 wordsSECTION 45The Shepherd King Of Israel
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 exercis…
685 wordsSECTION 46The Shepherd King Of Israel
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 sufferi…
747 wordsSECTION 47The Shepherd King Of Israel
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 journ…
538 wordsSECTION 48A 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 Dav…
744 wordsSECTION 49A Great Question And Its Answer
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 Fathe…
652 wordsSECTION 50A Great Question And Its Answer
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 wr…
751 wordsSECTION 51The 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…
771 wordsSECTION 52The God Who Dwells With Men
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 be…
661 wordsSECTION 53The God Who Dwells With Men
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 d…
667 wordsSECTION 54The God Who Dwells With Men
''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 co…
778 wordsSECTION 55The God Who Dwells With Men
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 w…
416 wordsSECTION 56Guidance 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 guid…
849 wordsSECTION 57Guidance In Judgment
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…
655 wordsSECTION 58Guidance In Judgment
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…
785 wordsSECTION 59Guidance In Judgment
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 …
327 wordsSECTION 60A 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 'pre…
696 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.