PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Psalms
Alexander Maclaren, 1826-1910 · 244,462 words · 343 reading sections
The Bitterness And Blessedness Of The Brevity Of Life
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 thoug…
980 wordsSECTION 122The Bitterness And Blessedness Of The Brevity Of Life
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, 'On…
691 wordsSECTION 123The Bitterness And Blessedness Of The Brevity Of Life
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. Sh…
689 wordsSECTION 124The Bitterness And Blessedness Of The Brevity Of Life
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, …
713 wordsSECTION 125The Bitterness And Blessedness Of The Brevity Of Life
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 day…
820 wordsSECTION 126Two Innumerable Series
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…
665 wordsSECTION 127Two Innumerable Series
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 al…
657 wordsSECTION 128Two Innumerable Series
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 twili…
679 wordsSECTION 129Two Innumerable Series
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 so…
667 wordsSECTION 130Two Innumerable Series
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 …
420 wordsSECTION 131Thirsting 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 oc…
705 wordsSECTION 132Thirsting For God
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 with…
921 wordsSECTION 133Thirsting For 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 whe…
879 wordsSECTION 134Thirsting For God
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 …
947 wordsSECTION 135The Psalmist'S Remonstrance With His Soul
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 …
752 wordsSECTION 136The Psalmist'S Remonstrance With His Soul
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 …
651 wordsSECTION 137The Psalmist'S Remonstrance With His Soul
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 disqui…
661 wordsSECTION 138The 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 Th…
959 wordsSECTION 139The King In His Beauty
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 o…
673 wordsSECTION 140The King In His Beauty
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 beauti…
662 wordsSECTION 141The King In His Beauty
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 th…
709 wordsSECTION 142The Portrait Of The Bride
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 …
661 wordsSECTION 143The Portrait Of The Bride
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 o…
696 wordsSECTION 144The Portrait Of The Bride
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…
658 wordsSECTION 145The Portrait Of The Bride
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 th…
736 wordsSECTION 146The Portrait Of The Bride
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…
656 wordsSECTION 147The City And River Of God
Which side of the door do _you_ mean to be on? '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: H…
829 wordsSECTION 148The City And River Of God
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 make…
867 wordsSECTION 149The City And River Of God
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 ma…
694 wordsSECTION 150The City And River Of God
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 s…
656 wordsSECTION 151The City And River Of God
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 d…
849 wordsSECTION 152The City And River Of 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…
601 wordsSECTION 153The 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…
775 wordsSECTION 154The Lord Of Hosts, The God Of Jacob
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 …
835 wordsSECTION 155The Lord Of Hosts, The God Of Jacob
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 wi…
767 wordsSECTION 156The Lord Of Hosts, The God Of Jacob
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 t…
643 wordsSECTION 157A 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…
685 wordsSECTION 158A Song Of Deliverance
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 g…
689 wordsSECTION 159A Song Of Deliverance
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 …
899 wordsSECTION 160A Song Of Deliverance
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 Isra…
787 wordsSECTION 161A Song Of Deliverance
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 …
687 wordsSECTION 162A Song Of Deliverance
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…
659 wordsSECTION 163Two Shepherds And Two Flocks
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 commonwe…
777 wordsSECTION 164Two Shepherds And Two Flocks
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…
1,058 wordsSECTION 165Two Shepherds And Two Flocks
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 …
736 wordsSECTION 166Two Shepherds And Two Flocks
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 en…
685 wordsSECTION 167Contents
VOLUME II: PSALMS _LI to CXLV_ 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 SATISFAC…
333 wordsSECTION 168David'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. Th…
821 wordsSECTION 169David'S Cry For Pardon
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 h…
792 wordsSECTION 170David'S Cry For Pardon
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…
682 wordsSECTION 171David'S Cry For Pardon
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 blott…
672 wordsSECTION 172David'S Cry For Pardon
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 …
672 wordsSECTION 173David'S Cry For Pardon
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 s…
912 wordsSECTION 174David'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 c…
659 wordsSECTION 175David'S Cry For Purity
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 …
661 wordsSECTION 176David'S Cry For Purity
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 p…
650 wordsSECTION 177David'S Cry For Purity
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 ho…
928 wordsSECTION 178David'S Cry For Purity
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 i…
718 wordsSECTION 179David'S Cry For Purity
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 ha…
821 wordsSECTION 180David'S Cry For Purity
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 …
526 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.