Psalm 111:9 He sent redemption to his people: he has commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name. I. WHAT IT IS. We take the term reverence to denote respect; and with this latter term we associate generally a more definite meaning. In the case, indeed, of God, respect must be of the very highest description, to rise to the character of reverence. II. ITS FOUNDATION. Let the mind be informed, not only that God has given a conscience to rebuke, but that God has met the rebuke of conscience, to redeem the party rebuked from despair by holding out His own Son as the vindication of His holiness. The foundation, therefore, you perceive, of Scriptural piety, is the knowledge of the Divine character. III. THE MEANS OF ITS CULTIVATION. Shall we pray that God would enlighten us, while we refuse to come to the means, by which He has Himself told us we are to be enlightened? Shall we seek that He would give us of the Spirit, whilst we neglect the fruits of the inspiration of that Spirit, as those fruits are laid down in the testimony of Divine truth? IV. ITS FRUITS. Piety is not a faculty of the mind; it is an influence, pervading all the faculties. Piety is not some particular mental power; it is an energy, that tells on the whole man. If such be the fruits of Scriptural piety upon the mind itself, what must be its fruits upon society generally? Even the ungodly and unthinking world, when they discover that piety is thus enlightened by the word of truth, and that in the Church of God there is not a greater degree of warmth than there is of light, will be compelled to confess "that God is in us of a truth." (John Burnet) Parallel Verses KJV: He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name. |
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