We cannot more profitably improve this subject, than by inquiring,
1. What blessings have we received from Christ ?
[If we be indeed subjects of his kingdom, it cannot fail but that we must have received many blessings at his hands. Has he then " blessed us " with the pardon of our sins ? Has he filled us with joy and peace in believing? Has he endued
1 Isai. xlv. 24, 25.
™ Eph. i. 3 — 13. where it is repeated at least eight times. Strange that any should overlook this truth.
n Rev. xi. 15. 0 ver. 10, 11. P Zech. xiv. 9, 20, 21.
<i Jer. xxxi. 34. r Rom. xiv. 11. ^ ygr. 19.
t Rev. v. 11, 12. and vii. 9, 10.
us with grace and strength to subdue our spu'itual enemies ? and transformed us into his own image in righteousness and true hoHness ? This is the criterion whereby we must judge of our interest in him : for he cannot be a Saviour to us, unless he save us from the dominion, as well as from the guilt, of all our sins.]
2. What is the disposition of our minds towards
him ?
[Can we possibly be partakers of his benefits, and feel no disposition to " bless his name ? " Surely a grateful sense of his goodness must characterise those Avho are so greatly indebted to him. To those who believe, he is, and must be, precious ]
Ps. Ixxii. 18, 19. Blessed he the Lord God, the God of Israel, ivho only doeth ivondrous tilings : and blessed he His glorious name for ever : and let the tvhole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen.
RELIGION, as experienced by the generality, is selfish and superficial : it consists almost entirely in a desire to obtain mercy through the Lord Jesus Christ, and an endeavour, through faith in him, and a surrender of the soul to him, to flee from the wrath to come. The religion of the more eminent saints is of a more diffusive and ingenuous cast : it interests the soul in all that relates to God and to the world : it delights in heavenly contemplations : it surveys with wonder and gratitude all that God has done for a ruined world ; and looks forward with holy joy to those richer manifestations of his glory, which, by all his holy Prophets and Apostles, he has taught us to expect. Of this kind was the piety of David, whose Psalms display a noble, generous mind, occupied with the honour of his God and Saviour, and deeply intent on the welfare of the whole human race. The psalm before us was written, primarily, to describe the king- dom of Israel, as it should exist under the govern- ment of his son Solomon. But, beyond all doubt, a