Psalm 116:14 I will pay my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all his people. I. A VOW IS A DISTINCT AND CONSCIOUS ASSERTION OF OUR RELIGIOUS NATURE. It is made with the most perfect consciousness of personal responsibility, in the presence and under the authority of that august Being to whom all obedience and worship are due. And it is void of all significance and solemnity if the whole religiousness of man's nature does not find expression in it. II. A vow Is THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY, AND A CONFESSION OF GUILT BEFORE GOD. In this vow it is confessed that God holds man responsible for what he does. There is no significance in the vow if it is not based upon the recognition of his individual responsibility before the law. And as this springs from a conscience under the pressure of guilt, it is a confession of judgment identical in character with that which will be made by the sinner at the bar of God in the last day. III. THE VOW IS A VOLUNTARY ACT OF THE WILL, AND IS, THEREFORE, OF THE NATURE OF A COVENANT WITH ALMIGHTY GOD. It cannot be broken, therefore, without the guilt of perjury. IV. EVERY PROPER VOW IS IN THE DIRECTION OF ORIGINAL DUTY, AS WELL AS IN THE DIRECTION OF OFFERED GRACE. A vow is, therefore, doubly binding. It has absorbed into itself an obligation that existed before. It has embodied a duty which was in itself binding, and by its form ratifies, endorses and strengthens that obligation under the sanction of an oath. A voluntary pledge to perform that which is in itself a duty, rivets the obligation upon the conscience, and leaves no loophole for escape. But the vow is also in the direction of offered grace. Being made to Almighty God, with entire reliance upon Divine aid in its fulfilment, it is clearly in the line of the grace which is offered to man. V. THE VOW IS MADE UNDER THE SANCTION OF THE ETERNAL WORLD. For a moment the spiritual eye has been opened to catch a partial glimpse of all that is blessed in heaven, of all that is dreadful in hell, of all that is awful in the judgment-day, of all that is sublime in the vastness of the silent eternity to which we are hastening. How solemn the obligation becomes under the pressure of such a sanction as this! (B. M. Palmer, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.WEB: I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people. |
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