Psalm 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah. I. THE ADVANTAGES OF MAINTAINING SERIOUSNESS AND DEVOUTNESS OF MIND. The greatest of happiness consists in regulating, with propriety, the various offices of human life. Every department of life is beautiful in its season. There is a time to be cheerful, and a time to be serious: an hour for solitude, and an hour for society. A serious frame of mind is the guardian and the protector Of religion, and it also associates with other virtues which belong to the Christian character. This serious frame of mind cherishes those higher virtues of the soul which are called "the armour of God." In the solemn silence of the mind are formed those great resolutions which decide the fate of men. This temper is no less favourable to the milder virtues of humanity. A serious mind is the companion of a feeling heart. II. THE SUITABLENESS OF THIS TEMPER OF MIND TO OUR PRESENT STATE. 1. It is suited to that dark and uncertain state of being in which we now live. Human life is not formed to answer those high expectations which, in the era of youth and imagination, we are apt to entertain. 2. The propriety of this temper will appear if we consider the scene that soon awaits us, and the awful change of being that we have to undergo. 3. This frame of mind is peculiarly proper for you now, as a preparation for holy communion. (J. Logan, F. R. S. E.) Parallel Verses KJV: Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.WEB: Stand in awe, and don't sin. Search your own heart on your bed, and be still. Selah. |
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