Ps. cxix. 76. Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.
THE peculiar construction of this psalm forbids us to look for much connexion between its several parts. It is composed of short detached sentences, committed to writing at different times as they oc- curred to the mind of the Royal penman, and after-
707.1 TIIE LOVING-KINDNESS OF GOD. 3i5
wards reduced to a certain kind of order; eight of them beginning with the same letter through all the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. If however we take the words of our text as connected with the preceding verse, we must understand it as a prayer that a sense of God's loving-kindness might be given him to comfort him under his afflictions. This sense we shall not exclude ; though we shall not entirely limit it to this : for, if we take the words by themselves, they contain some peculiarly important hints, which we are desirous to impress upon your minds.
In elucidating them, we propose to shew, I. What the Scriptures speak respecting the loving- kindness of God —
They are full of this glorious subject: they declare,
1. That it is the one source of all the benefits we enjoy—
[Survey the lustre and use of the heavenly bodies, the rich fecundity of the earth, the structure of the human body, or the faculties of the soul ; Whence do they proceed ? Who is their author; and by what motive was he actuated in bestowing them upon us ? Can they be traced to any other source than the kindness of our God? Behold the gift, the stupendous gift of God's only dear Son, and of salvation by him ! Can this be traced to any other source a ]
2. That it is our chief support under all trials — [We will grant something to philosophy ; and acknowledge
that it can fortify the mind in some degree: but it is not to be compared with religion in point of efficacy. That may silence murmurs, and produce a reluctant submission; but this will turn trials into an occasion of joy and glorying b.]
3. That a comfortable sense of it is the privilege of
all the Lord's people —
[God promises " his Holy Spirit unto all them that ask him." That Spirit shall be in them " a spirit of adoption," a witness, an earnest, a seal, a Comforter. From the days of Abel to the present hour, God has delighted to rejoice the souls of his servants by the testimonies of his love.]
But, if the loving-kindness of God be thus mani- fested to his people, it may be asked,
a See John iii. 16. Tit. iii. 4, 5. Eph. ii. 7. b Rom. v. 1 — 3. Acts v. 41. and xvi, 25.