Man's voice is hushed. We o.re called into the very presence of God, like Israel at the foot of Sinai. It is God's voice that summons us to judgrnent, and sets our sins in order before our eyes. Yet it is the voice of merciful warning. "Consider I " (Isa. i. 18). The sin here rebuked isforgeifulness of God. I. IT IS NOT DIFFICULT TO FORGET GoD. God might have made it impossible. He might have surrounded us with symbolM of his presence which the dullest could not mistake. Voices from the sky might thunder his Name in our ears. An inward irre- sistible consciousness of his being and presence might have been an inseparable part of our nature. But no I A mysterious veil hangs between our soul and our Creator. We have no direct knowledge of God. He has left us at liberty, if we please, to forget him. We can bury oursel v~s in things around us, and forget him in whom we "Ii ve and :nove and have our being." II. It seems wonderful that it is possible, and not difficult; but more wonderful still that FORGETFULNESS oF GoD 1s COMMON. Who are they who are here charged with forgetting God? Not idolaters. Not atheists. Not the openly profane and irreligious. Those (ver. 16) who "declare God's statutes, and take his covenant in their mouth." Of such St. Paul speaks (Rom. ii. 17-23), and our Saviour (Matt. vii. 21-23). They forget God. It is the description (alas I) of the daily life of thousands of habitual attendants on public worship. Hearers, but not doers; forgetful hearers (Jas. i. 22-25). III. FORGETFULNESS OF GoD Ill A HUGE INGRATITUDE j A DEADLY BIN. How can you account for it? Men may dislike the Scripture doctrine of the sinfulness of human nature. They may deny it. But this fact stares us in the face-prevailing forgetfulness of God. How explain it, except as the Scriptures explain it ?-men do not like to retain God iu their knowledge (Rom. i. 28; viii. 7). IV. FORGETFULNESS OF GOD MUST NEEDS DE VERY DANGEROUS j IF PERSISTED IN, FATAL. Your forgetfulness does not affect the reality of things. It banishes God from your thought and affection; not from his universe. He cannot forget. He must deal with you, and deal justly. He must take account of your forgetting him. "Consider I" Consider the folly, ingratitude, sin, danger, of forgetting God. His mercies are new every morning. "He will ever be mindful of his covenant;" "He is faithful and just to forgive sins;" and promises (Isa. xliii. 25) to "remember them no more." Can there be forgetfulness in the infinite mind? Can God cease to be omni- scient? Not literally; but by this intensely strong figure the Bible sets forth the generous and loving completeness of Divine forgiveness. It is an act of oblivion. "Consider I" We have forgotten God, but he bas not forgotten us. He "remembered us in our low estate ; for hie mercy endureth for evor" (Ps. cxxxvi. 23). He beseeches 11ou to be reconciled I • •
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-23.-The Judge, the judged, and the eternal judgment. A psalm-writer whom we have not met before, appears to have penned this psalm-As!Lph. But whether it was by him or for his choir is somewh!Lt uncertain. "Asaph w!Ls the leader and superintendent of the Levitic choirs appointed by David (1 Chron. xvi. 4:, 6 ; cf. 2 Cbron. xxix. 30). He and his sons presided over four out of the twenty-four groups, consisting each of twelve Levites, who conducted, in turn, the musical services of the temple." 1 "It is remarkable," says Hengstenberg, "that the voice against the false estimate of the external worship of God proceeded from the quarter which W!LS expressly charged with its administl'ation. Asapb, according to 1 Uhron. vi. 24, was of the tribe of Levi." 9 But let tbo human penman have been whosoever he may, there is in this psalm so much of the sublime grandeur of a stern and inflexible righteousness, that we have therein, manifestly, the writing of ono who was borne along by the J:loly Ghost to utter words for God that should be suited for all Churches and all the ages throughout all time; so that it behoves us to listen to them as to 1 Introduction to Ps. I. in 'Speaker's Commentary.' 2 Dr. Binnie bas an exceedingly interesting pnssagc on "Tho Psnlms of As!Lph the Seer," pp. 73-76. 390 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. CPS. L, 1-23,