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THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
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THE GREAT T OF THE BIBLE
EDITED BY THE REV.
BDITI
JAMES 'Hastings, d.d.
EDITOR OF "THE EXPOSITORY TIMES" "THE DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE'
"THE DICTIONARY OF CHRIST AND THE GOSPELS" AND
"THE ENCYCLOPiEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS"
PSALM GXIX. to SONG OF SONGS
NEW YORK
CHARLES SGRIBNER'S SONS
EDINBURGH : T. & T. CLARK
1914
CONTENTS
TOPICS.
The Light of God's Word
Thb Opening of God's Word .
Help from beyond the Hills .
Guardianship in Daily Life .
The House of the Lord
Sowing in Tears, Reaping in Joy
The Gifts op Sleep
De Profundis
Unity ....
The Encompassing God .
The Searcher of Hearts
The Good Providence of God .
Tenderness and Power.
The Beginning op "Wisdom
Trust in the Lord
The Two Paths .
The Heart
Wronging the Soul
The Winning of Souls
The Sovereignty op Providence
The Lamp op the Lord .
The Training op Children
The Buying and Selling op the Truth
The Golden Mean
Eternity in the Heart
Do it Well and Do it Now
Giving and Receiving .
After that the Judgment
Timely Remembrance
The Whole Duty of Man
Separated Lovers
Spring-Time
In Praise of Love
FASB
1 17 31 47 63 81 93 111 125 143 155 171 183 195 209 225 239 363 267 279 293 309 325 343 359 377 389 405 419 431 443 457 469
VI
CONTENTS
TEXTS.
Psalms.
CXIX. 106 CXIX. 130 CXXI. 1,2 CXXI. 8 CXXII. 1 CXXVI. 6 CXXVII. 2 CXXX. 1 CXXXIII. 1 CXXXIX. 5 CXXXIX. 23, 24 CXLV. 16 . CXLVII. 3, 4 .
I. 7
III. 5, 6
IV. 18, 19 IV. 23
VIII. 36
XI. 30
XVI. 33
XX. 27
XXII. 6
XXIII. 23
XXX. 8
III. 11 IX. 10 XI. 1 XI. 9 XII. 1 XII. 13
I. 7
II. 11-13 VIII. 6, 7 .
Proverbs.
ECCLESIASTES.
Song of Songs.
PAGB
3
19 33 49 65
83 95 113 127 145 157 173 185
197
211 227 241 255 269 281 295 311 ;527 345
361 379 391 407 421 433
445 459 471
The Light of God's Word.
PS. CXIX.-SONG OF SOL. — I
Literature.
Aglionby (F. K.), The Better Choice, 21.
Armstrong (W.), Five-Minute Sermons to Children, 20, 32.
Beecher (H. W.), Sunday Evening Sermons, 31.
Bevan (S. P.), Talks to Boys and Girls, 75.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, i. 113.
Fleming (A. G.), Silver Wings, 116.
Griffiths (W.), Onward and Upward, 13.
Hamilton (J.), Works, ii. 5.
Hodgson (A. P.), Thoughts for the King's Children, 10.
Lamb (R.), In the Twilight, 76.
Liddon (H. P.), Advent in St. Paul's, 471.
Macmillan (H.), The Spring of the Day, 197.
Norton (J. N.), Old Paths, 18.
Phillips (S.), The Heavenward Way, 39.
Christian World Pulpit, xlix. 312 (F. W. Farrar).
Church of England Pulpit, lii. 38 (J. B. Crozier).
Church Pulpit Year Book, 1913, p. 249.
Churchman's Pulpit : Sermons to the Yoi;ng, xvi. 77 (J. R. Macduff).
Clergyman's Magazine, 3rd Ser., xiv. 331 (W. Burrows).
Eomiletic Review, liii. 377 (H. Anstadt) ; Ix. 237 (Q. H. Ferris).
Preacher's Magazine, iv. 127 (R. Brewin).
Record, Dec. 11, 1908 (E. S. Talbot).
The Light of God's Word.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, And light unto my path.— Ps. cxix. 105.
1. This psalm is a hymn in praise of the Mosaic Law, which, either as God's law, or His statutes, or His commandments, or His testimonies, or His precepts, or His ceremonies, or His truth, or His way, or His righteousness, is referred to in every single verse of it except two. There is not much reason for doubting that it was written quite at the close of the Jewish Captivity in Babylon by some pious Jew who had felt all the unspeakable bitterness of the Exile, the insults and persecution of the heathen, the shame, the loss of heart, the "trouble above measure " which that compulsory sojourn in the centre of debased Eastern heathendom must have meant for him. The writer was a man for whom sorrow did its intended work, by throwing him back upon God, His ways, and His will ; and so in this trouble, when all was dark around, and hope was still dim and distant, and the heathen insolent and oppressive, and the temptations to religious laxity or apostasy neither few nor slight, he still could say, " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and light unto my path."
2. The witness of the captive Jew who wrote the psalm, thinking only of the Mosaic Law, has been echoed again and again by Christians, with reference to the whole Bible — both the Old Testament and the New — and in a deeper sense. They have found this book a lamp unto their feet, and light unto their path. They have found that the two parts of the verse are not differentV ways of saying the same thing. The Word of God is a lamp or lantern to the feet by night ; it is a light, as that of the sun, by day. It makes provision for the whole of life ; it is the secret of life's true sunshine ; it is the guide when all around is dark. It thus throws light on the " path " and the " feet," on the true