wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil that makes his face to shine, and bread that sustains his heart. Sermons
The psalmist dwells most lovingly on the various wonders of God's ways with the water; and nothing more readily influences us than masses of waters, or falling waters, or gentle streams, or pouring rains. Poetically, man is very sensitive to the manifold forms in which God arranges this one simple thing - water. And nothing brings to man such a sense of irresistible power as loosened waters. I. THE LEVELLING OF THE WATERS. (Vers. 5-8.) Evidently the poet is conceiving the original condition of the earth, when God dealt with it to make it the abode of man. Then it is conceived as a solid mass, surrounded by an envelope of watery mist, which rose higher than the tops of the mountains. The ancients did not apprehend the circular form of the earth, and so mists rising above the mountains presented to them no difficulty. The poet sees this mist dispelled by the command of God, and any one who has seen the mists roll away, in a mountain district, will fully appreciate his figures. They do seem to "go up by the mountains and down by the valleys." But in the Divine leading, the issue is that the waters gather into their various appointed places, and the dry land appears. What intangible, fickle things these mists seem to be! Then how glorious must he be at whose bidding they move! II. THE CONTROLLING OF THE WATERS. (Ver. 9.) This impression is best associated with the sea. Sometimes, when it is driven high by wind and tide, its destructive possibilities seem overwhelming. Yet even then we calmly take our place on the tide line, and feel sure God's bound of silver sand will be an effective defence. When he is pleased to loosen his control, the world is flooded again, as in Noah's days. What must he be who holds in restraint the great wide sea? III. THE EMPLOYING OF THE WATERS. Even more wonderful than the restraining of the sea in bounds is the storing of the waters in the thousandfold cisterns of the hills, whence they come forth in perennial springs to supply the creatures of God. More wonderful is the continuous uplifting of the great sea into the sky, where it may form the banks of clouds, which, at fit times and seasons, burst over the earth, and, falling in chemically enriched drops, fertilize the earth, and make it bring forth food for beast and man. What must be the glory of him who is the God of the springs, and the God of the rain, to whom the waters are but an ever-obedient ministry? - R.T. He causeth the grass to grow. I. GRASS IS IN ITSELF INSTRUCTIVE. 1. As the symbol of our mortality. The whole history of man may be seen in the meadow. He springs up green and tender, subject to the frosts of infancy, which imperil his young life; he grows, he comes to maturity, he puts on beauty even as the grass is adorned with flowers; but after a while his strength departs and his beauty is wrinkled, even as the grass withers and is followed by a fresh generation, which withers in its turn. 2. As an emblem of the wicked. As the Eastern husbandman gathers up the green herb, and, despite its former beauty, casts it into the furnace, such must be your lot, O vainglorious sinners! 3. As a picture of the elect of God. How like the grass are God's people for this reason, that they are absolutely dependent upon the influences of heaven! Our fields are parched if vernal showers and gentle dews are witheld, and what are our souls without the gracious visitations of the Spirit? Sometimes through severe trials our wounded hearts are like the mown grass, and then we have the promise, "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth." Thank God for that old saying, which is a gracious doctrine as well as a true proverb, "Each blade of grass has its own drop of dew." 4. As comparable to the food wherewith the Lord supplies the necessities of His chosen ones (Psalm 23). II. GOD IS SEEN IN THE GROWING OF THE GRASS. 1. As a Worker. The simple production of grass is not the result of natural law apart from the actual work of God; mere law would be inoperative unless the great Master Himself sent a thrill of power through the matter which is regulated by the law — unless, like the steam-engine, which puts force into all the spinning-jennies and wheels of a cotton-mill, God Himself were the motive power to make every wheel revolve. How I could fall down, and find rest on the grass as on a royal couch, now that I know that my God is there at work for His creatures! 2. As a great Caretaker. He gives grass to the cattle, and He will give grace to you. III. GOD'S WORKING IN THE GRASS FOR THE CATTLE GIVES US ILLUSTRATIONS CONCERNING GRACE. 1. Preventing grace may here be seen in a symbol. Grass grew before cattle were made. And what a mercy that covenant supplies, for God's people were prepared before they were born. Long before sin came into the world the everlasting mercy of God foresaw the ruin of sin, and provided a refuge for every elect soul. 2. Then I perceive an illustration of free grace, for wherever the ox comes into the field, he brings no money with him. There is the food ready for him, but he brings nothing with which to purchase it. So I, poor needy sinner, having nothing, come, and receive Christ without money and without price. 3. And why is it that God gives the cattle the grass? The reason is because they belong to Him. "The silver and the gold are mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." How is it that Christ is provided for God's people? Because "the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." () Grass does not merely grow where men take care of it, but up there on the side of the lone Alp, where no traveller has ever passed. Where only the eye of the wild bird has beheld their lonely verdure, moss and grass display their beauty; for God's works are fair to other eyes than those of mortals. And you, solitary child of God, dwelling unknown and obscure, in a remote hamlet, you are not forgotten by the love of Heaven. He maketh the grass to grow all alone, and shall He not make you flourish despite your loneliness? He can bring forth your graces, and educate you for the skies, in solitude and neglect. The grass, you know, is a thing we tread upon, nobody thinks of its being crushed by the foot, and yet God makes it grow. Perhaps you are oppressed and down-trodden, but let not this depress your spirit, for God executeth righteousness for all those that are oppressed: He maketh the grass to grow, and He can make your heart to flourish under all the oppressions and afflictions of life, so that you shall still be happy and holy, though all the world marches over you; still living in the immortal life which God Himself bestows upon you, though hell itself set its heel upon you. Poor and needy one, unknown, unobserved, oppressed and downtrodden, God makes the grass to grow, and He will take care of you. () People PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Bread, Brighter, Cause, Face, Giving, Glad, Gladden, Gladdeneth, Gladdens, Glisten, Heart, Makes, Maketh, Making, Man's, Oil, Rejoiceth, Shine, Shining, Stayeth, Strength, Strengthen, Strengtheneth, Strengthens, Supporteth, Sustains, WineOutline 1. A meditation upon the mighty power
7. And wonderful providence of God
31. God's glory is eternal
33. The prophet vows perpetually to praise God
Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 104:15 4488 oil
4490 ointment
5014 heart, human Psalm 104:1-35 4007 creation, and God
8662 meditation Psalm 104:2-24 5776 achievement Psalm 104:5-26 5302 education Psalm 104:10-17 1305 God, activity of Psalm 104:10-18 1330 God, the provider Psalm 104:14-15 4418 bread
4544 wine Psalm 104:14-16 4060 nature Psalm 104:14-27 4065 orderliness Library The Glory of the Trinity
Eversley, 1868. St Mary's Chester, 1871. Trinity Sunday. Psalm civ. 31, 33. "The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: The Lord shall rejoice in his works. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being." This is Trinity Sunday, on which we think especially of the name of God. A day which, to a wise man, may well be one of the most solemn, and the most humiliating days of the whole year. For is it not humiliating to look stedfastly, …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other SermonsA Whitsun Sermon
PSALM civ. 24, 27-30. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. . . . These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. …
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons Of Good Angels
"Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Heb. 1:14. 1. Many of the ancient Heathens had (probably from tradition) some notion of good and evil angels. They had some conception of a superior order of beings, between men and God, whom the Greeks generally termed demons, (knowing ones,) and the Romans, genii. Some of these they supposed to be kind and benevolent, delighting in doing good; others, to be malicious and cruel, delighting in …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions Lessons from Nature
This prejudice against the beauties of the material universe reminds me of the lingering love to Judaism, which acted like a spell upon Peter of old. When the sheet knit at the four corners descended before him, and the voice said, "Rise, Peter; kill, and eat," he replied that he had not eaten anything that was common or unclean. He needed that the voice should speak to him from heaven again and again before he would fully learn the lesson, "What God hath cleansed that call not thou common." The …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871 Meditation on God
NOTE: This edition of this sermon is taken from an earlier published edition of Spurgeon's 1858 message. The sermon that appears in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 46, was edited and abbreviated somewhat. For edition we have restored the fuller text of the earlier published edition, while retaining a few of the editorial refinements of the Met Tab edition. "My meditation of him shall be sweet."--Psalm 104:34. DAVID, certainly, was not a melancholy man. Eminent as he was for his piety and …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 46: 1900 Seventh Sunday after Trinity. O Lord, How Manifold are Thy Works; in Wisdom Hast Thou Made them All; the Earth is Full of Thy Riches.
O Lord, how manifold are Thy works; in wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches. Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud [104]Paul Gerhardt. 1659. trans. by Catherine Winkworth, 1855 Go forth, my heart, and seek delight In all the gifts of God's great might, These pleasant summer hours: Look how the plains for thee and me Have decked themselves most fair to see, All bright and sweet with flowers. The trees stand thick and dark with leaves, And earth o'er all here dust now weaves …
Catherine Winkworth—Lyra Germanica: The Christian Year The Confessions of St. Augustin Index of Subjects
Abraham's bosom, 131 and note, [1]192 (note) Academics Augustin has a leaning towards the philosophy of the, [2]86 they doubted everything, [3]86, [4]88 Academies, the three, [5]86 (note) Actions of the patriarchs, [6]65 Adam averted death by partaking of the tree of life, [7]73 (note) the first and second, [8]162 (note) Adeodatus, Augustin's son helps his father in writing The Master, [9]134 and note he is baptized by Ambrose, [10]134 (note) Adversity the blessing of the New Testament, prosperity …
St. Augustine—The Confessions and Letters of St O Worship the King, all Glorious Above
[978]Hanover: William Croft, 1708 Psalm 104 Robert Grant, 1833 O Worship the King, all glorious above! O gratefully sing his power and his love! Our shield and defender, the Ancient of days, Pavilioned in splendor, and girded with praise. O tell of his might! O sing of his grace! Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space. His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form, And dark is his path on the wings of the storm. The earth, with its store of wonders untold, Almighty, thy power hath founded …
Various—The Hymnal of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA The Knowledge of God Conspicuous in the Creation, and Continual Government of the World.
1. The invisible and incomprehensible essence of God, to a certain extent, made visible in his works. 2. This declared by the first class of works--viz. the admirable motions of the heavens and the earth, the symmetry of the human body, and the connection of its parts; in short, the various objects which are presented to every eye. 3. This more especially manifested in the structure of the human body. 4. The shameful ingratitude of disregarding God, who, in such a variety of ways, is manifested within …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion How to Use the Present Life, and the Comforts of It.
The divisions of this chapter are,--I. The necessity and usefulness of this doctrine. Extremes to be avoided, if we would rightly use the present life and its comforts, sec. 1, 2. II. One of these extremes, viz, the intemperance of the flesh, to be carefully avoided. Four methods of doing so described in order, sec. 3-6. 1. BY such rudiments we are at the same time well instructed by Scripture in the proper use of earthly blessings, a subject which, in forming a scheme of life, is by no mean to be …
Archpriest John Iliytch Sergieff—On the Christian Life The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as Revealed in his Names.
At least twenty-five different names are used in the Old and New Testaments in speaking of the Holy Spirit. There is the deepest significance in these names. By the careful study of them, we find a wonderful revelation of the Person and work of the Holy Spirit. I. The Spirit. The simplest name by which the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the Bible is that which stands at the head of this paragraph--"The Spirit." This name is also used as the basis of other names, so we begin our study with this. …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit The Creaturely Man.
"The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."-- Job xxxiii. 4. The Eternal and Ever-blessed God comes into vital touch with the creature by an act proceeding not from the Father nor from the Son, but from the Holy Spirit. Translated by sovereign grace from death unto life, God's children are conscious of this divine fellowship; they know that it consists not in inward agreement of disposition or inclination, but in the mysterious touch of God upon their spiritual …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit Of Confirmation.
It is surprising that it should have entered any one's mind to make a Sacrament of Confirmation out of that laying on of hands which Christ applied to little children, and by which the apostles bestowed the Holy Spirit, ordained presbyters, and healed the sick; as the Apostle writes to Timothy: "Lay hands suddenly on no man." (1 Tim. v. 22.) Why not also make a confirmation out of the sacrament of bread, because it is written: "And when he had received meat, he was strengthened" (Acts ix. 19); or …
Martin Luther—First Principles of the Reformation The Christian's Peace and the Christian's Consistency
PHILIPPIANS i. 21-30 He will be spared to them--Spiritual wealth of the paragraph--Adolphe Monod's exposition--Charles Simeon's testimony--The equilibrium and its secret--The intermediate bliss--He longs for their full consistency--The "gift" of suffering Ver. 21. +For to me, to live is Christ+; the consciousness and experiences of living, in the body, are so full of Christ, my supreme Interest, that CHRIST sums them all up; +and to die+, the act of dying,[1] +is gain+, for it will usher me in …
Handley C. G. Moule—Philippian Studies The Principle of Life in the Creature.
"By His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent."-- Job xxvi. 13. We have seen that the work of the Holy Spirit consists in leading all creation to its destiny, the final purpose of which is the glory of God. However, God's glory in creation appears in various degrees and ways. An insect and a star, the mildew on the wall and the cedar on Lebanon, a common laborer and a man like Augustine, are all the creatures of God; yet how dissimilar they are, and how varied …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit Epistle xvii. To Felix, Bishop of Messana.
To Felix, Bishop of Messana. To our most reverend brother, the Bishop Felix, Gregory, servant of the servants of God [246] . Our Head, which is Christ, to this end has willed us to be His members, that through His large charity and faithfulness He might make us one body in Himself, to whom it befits us so to cling that, since without Him we can do nothing, through Him we may be enabled to be what we are called. From the citadel of the Head let nothing divide us, lest, if we refuse to be His members, …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great The Host of Heaven and of Earth.
"The Spirit of God hath made me."--Job xxxiii. 4. Understanding somewhat the characteristic note of the work of the Holy Spirit, let us see what this work was and is and shall be. The Father brings forth, the Son disposes and arranges, the Holy Spirit perfects. There is one God and Father of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ through whom are all things; but what does the Scripture say of the special work the Holy Spirit did in creation and is still doing? For the sake of order we examine …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit Blessed are the Poor in Spirit
Having spoken of the general notion of blessedness, I come next to consider the subjects of this blessedness, and these our Saviour has deciphered to be the poor in spirit, the mourners, etc. But before I touch upon these, I shall attempt a little preface or paraphrase upon this sermon of the beatitudes. 1 Observe the divinity in this sermon, which goes beyond all philosophy. The philosophers use to say that one contrary expels another; but here one contrary begets another. Poverty is wont to expel …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Material Universe.
There are many who think of the work of the Holy Spirit as limited to man. But God reveals to us in His Word that the Holy Spirit's work has a far wider scope than this. We are taught in the Bible that the Holy Spirit has a threefold work in the material universe. I. The creation of the material universe and of man is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit. We read in Ps. xxxiii. 6, "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." We …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit How those are to be Admonished with whom Everything Succeeds According to their Wish, and those with whom Nothing Does.
(Admonition 27.) Differently to be admonished are those who prosper in what they desire in temporal matters, and those who covet indeed the things that are of this world, but yet are wearied with the labour of adversity. For those who prosper in what they desire in temporal matters are to be admonished, when all things answer to their wishes, lest, through fixing their heart on what is given, they neglect to seek the giver; lest they love their pilgrimage instead of their country; lest they turn …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that the Holy Spirit is a Person. But what sort of a Person is He? Is He a finite person or an infinite person? Is He God? This question also is plainly answered in the Bible. There are in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments five distinct and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. I. Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity, omnipresence, …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit The Wisdom of God
The next attribute is God's wisdom, which is one of the brightest beams of the Godhead. He is wise in heart.' Job 9:9. The heart is the seat of wisdom. Cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro judicio. Pineda. Among the Hebrews, the heart is put for wisdom.' Let men of understanding tell me:' Job 34:44: in the Hebrew, Let men of heart tell me.' God is wise in heart, that is, he is most wise. God only is wise; he solely and wholly possesses all wisdom; therefore he is called, the only wise God.' I Tim 1:17. All …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity On the Symbols of the Essence' and Coessential. '
We must look at the sense not the wording. The offence excited is at the sense; meaning of the Symbols; the question of their not being in Scripture. Those who hesitate only at coessential,' not to be considered Arians. Reasons why coessential' is better than like-in-essence,' yet the latter may be interpreted in a good sense. Explanation of the rejection of coessential' by the Council which condemned the Samosatene; use of the word by Dionysius of Alexandria; parallel variation in the use of Unoriginate; …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting Links Psalm 104:15 NIV
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