Declare His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all peoples. Sermons
I. THE SPIRIT OF SONG IS IN HARMONY WITH MISSIONARY SERVICE. For think of what this service is. It is: 1. To preach. Not to amuse by gaudy ceremonial. Men are not so won to Christ. And not to conjure as by mystic sacramental grace. But to preach. This is what Christ commanded, what the text bids, what such as Paul gloried in, what God ever blesses. And it is a joyful service. True preachers own this as they feel that those to whom they speak are moved and touched, and are conscious in their own souls of the inspiration of their theme - a theme with which none other can compare. For: 2. It is to preach God's salvation. That which the text calls "his glory," "his wonders." Now, we know how pleasant it is to be the bearer of happy tidings - say, to a distressed household, a heart trembling with fear. And such is the work of the preacher of the salvation of God. He goes to the consciously guilty, and tells them of free forgiveness in Christ; to the sin enslaved, and tells them of complete deliverance from the accursed tyranny under which they groan; to the Sorrow-stricken, and tells them of him who shall wipe away all tears; to the dying, and tells them of him who, when he had overcome the sharpness of death, opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Such is the missionary's joyous task. 3. And to preach this to all. None are to be left out. One who had been the means of rescuing many from a watery grave through the breaking of a sheet of ice on which they had been joyously skating, tells how all his joy was marred by the fact that he had been compelled to leave many unsaved. So if we were limited, and not suffered to go to all with the glad tidings of God's salvation, we should feel our joy marred indeed. But because it is for all, therefore is our joy great. 4. Thus he is a coworker with Christ. In fellowship with him. This is an enhancement of the gladness of the work. A regiment is honoured by distinction won by one of its soldiers; a whole family, if one member wins high place. How much more the missionary when Christ is coworker with him! And: 5. It is a work which has not been in vain. What glorious results have been achieved! what trophies won! Therefore we say this service is in harmony with glad song. II. AND THIS SPIRIT OF GLAD SONG IS NEEDED FOR SUCH SERVICE. For: 1. Men will not care for that which, so far as they can see, does you little or no good. But when they see that the faith of Christ is the sunshine of our lives, then they will more ready to believe. Do we let men see this? And: 2. It alone is strong enough for the work. Let me tell you a parable. There was a tyrant who sought to oppress the inhabitants of a certain land. The better to do this he built a strong castle, built it deep and high, and placed it at the entrance of a valley which led to the land he sought to oppress. A little stream ran along that valley near the foundation of his fortress; but he heeded not that, sure it could do no harm. Many who loved that land felt very sad as they saw the oppressor's power; but yet they hoped that somehow his power would be overthrown. And so it came to pass. The summer went on and the autumn rains came, and the little rivulet became a rapid stream, and began to gnaw away at the foundations of that grim castle; but it could not do much harm. But the winter storms came, and the stream swelled into a strong river, and began to be dangerous to the tyrant's fortress, so that he, at length, did feel fear. But matters grew worse; the winter was over, and the snow high up on the mountains which shut in the valley began to melt, and the river went on increasing in its might till, one wild night, the great reservoirs of waters that had been gathering all the winter through suddenly burst, and with a rush and a roar raged all down the valley, the waters bearing with them a vast mass of timber, stones, trees, earth, and all kinds of material; and they came down upon the tyrant's castle and overwhelmed it, sapping its foundations and tearing down its walls till it had perished out of sight. Such the parable. The interpretation is not far to seek. Heathendom is that fortress, and the prince of darkness he who built it. The rill, the stream, the river, the torrent, represent respectively the force of the motives which assail the strength of heathendom. The sense of fear, of duty, of pity, of glad joy in God. It is this last which alone avails; the others do but little, though some much more than the rest. "The joy of the Lord is our strength." III. THE SPIRIT OF SONG SHALL BE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO ENGAGE IN THIS SERVICE. For joy comes in the service of the Lord - true joy. Be not content until you know this joy, for not till then will you effectually serve. - S.C.
Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord. I. THE LESSONS FROM THE CHARACTERISTICS COMMON TO ALL TREES.1. This is the first thing we learn from the trees of the wood: life, growth, effort after perfection, suggesting to us what we are here for. 2. Productiveness, fruitfulness, manifestation and justification of the profession of life by fruit; that great characteristic of all trees whereby they produce the bud, the blossom, the fruit, without which they have not accomplished the end for which they exist; without which, at the right time, all professions of life are vain. 3. Beauty, gracefulness, symmetry of parts, proportion. There are Christian men and women not a few whose lives can only best be characterized when we call them lovely; so full of harmony they are, so free in obedience to highest law. We are drawn to them by an instinct we cannot resist; in them and upon them we see the beauty of the Lord. These are the trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord by which He is glorified. II. THE LESSONS FROM THE CHARACTERISTICS PECULIAR TO SOME TREES. 1. This one to begin with, for example, that every tree has its own peculiar quality, in virtue of which it differs from every other: that every individual Christian, every man, has his own peculiar quality in virtue of which he differs, is meant to differ, from every other. If we have been endowed with special gifts and graces it is that these may come out in special work; if we have what nobody else has, it is that we may do what nobody else can. Generally true as it is that trees in the mass are of great use in the economy of nature; in the modification of climate, for example, or in their effect upon animal existence: it is also specially true that individual trees have their own peculiar ways of producing these results. A very special quality of the pine tree is to send its roots not downwards as others that require depth of earth, but obliquely, where if it but get a hold it will live. But in this special quality there is the special work: to be a covert, a protection to the rich harvests that are to be reaped behind their friendly shade. And so in the forest of God there is special work for special gifts. Some are more fitted for the maintenance and defence of moral purity and sound doctrine, others for the more private comforting and building up of weak or wavering seekers after God, and others still for the promotion of true piety among the young. Each has his gift; each his work. 3. The lesson of true worship, — the homage of the creature to the great Creator of all. To the Hebrew the stars rayed forth the glory of the Lord, and the everlasting hills bowed themselves down before the God of the whole earth; the voice of the Lord was upon the waters, His way in the deep, and His path in the mighty waters; the trees of the field rejoiced before Him! And why all this, and for what spiritual end in the upward progress of man? Surely to attune his heart and mind to that spirit of worship, that reverential homage, that glad rejoicing before the Lord for which he, of all the creatures He has made, is most fitted. (Peter Rutherford.) For He No insinuation is more unfair than this — which is not seldom thrown against the Jews of old — that their conception of Jehovah was that of a local God, who concerned Himself with the affairs of Palestine, but was indifferent to those of the world at large. On the contrary, the marvel is that a people dwelling like the Jews in an obscure corner of the globe, and planted in a district about as large as three or four English counties, should have had such magnificent conceptions of their destiny, and so deep-rooted a conviction of the destined universality of their faith. Not only, however, was it given to Israel of old to see in the truest spirit of prophecy that the earth should be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, the God of Israel, as the waters cover the sea, but with a foresight no less marvellous, and a wisdom very far in advance of the age, it was given to that nation, and to that alone, to perceive that there was an aspect of the Divine judgment in which it would become the object of exulting and triumphant joy. Minos and Rhadamanthus and their attendant horrors were the dream of heathen Greece. The glory of the Divine light which fell upon the hills of Palestine had revealed a more joyous prospect: it was that of all nature singing aloud and clapping her hands for joy at the advent of the Lord of hosts as the recognized judge of all the earth. What a glorious thought it is! Whose heart does not leap up within him when he sees the fields rejoicing in their waving crops as they sway to and fro in the summer breeze? What prospect is more glorious than that of the distant wood, gay with the delicate foliage of returning spring, and glimmering in the sunlight, or dashed with a thousand hues that may vie in brilliancy with those of the garden in her splendour, and which have no counterpart in the autumn tints of England, golden and glorious as they are? These are all sights and sounds more or less familiar to all of us, and the associations they awaken are in the highest degree pleasurable; but whoever associates these images, as the Hebrew poet did, with the thought of the Lord of the whole earth coming to judge the world which He made so fair? And yet why not? Are these sights and sounds of nature out of harmony with God or produced in obedience to His will? If we are strictly in harmony with nature, shall we be in harmony with God, or the reverse? We want the triumph of justice, and truth, and right: nothing less will give free scope to the repressed and stifled voices of praise which this sin-burdened, but otherwise beautiful and glorious earth, longs to raise. We want the abolition of crime and poverty, oppression and ignorance. We want the extinction of selfishness, and of selfish, thoughtless, sinful, God-forgetting luxury. This, and much more than this, is what we want, but we cannot gain or recover it for ourselves. It is not in the power of society at large to give to itself what every separate member of society in his degree feels the want of. There is something wrong here, and that which is wrong here cannot be rectified by the combined efforts of others, not one of whom is free from the same radical defect. What is wanted is for the Lord to come to judgment. When the truth of Christ has free course and is glorified in the heart of man, it is the advent of Christ to judgment. He casts down the proud and lofty, He lifts up the low and humble, He makes the crooked straight, and the rough places plain; He casts out what is base and trivial, and brings in what is pure, and true, and noble. There can be no joy like that which arises in the heart, when for the first time and in truth every thought has been brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, when He, and He alone, is recognized as the Judge and Lord of all. That is, indeed, the foretaste and the earnest of a greater advent to come, an advent which cannot be delayed, and which can alone be hastened by each individual heart being subdued to Christ. But whatever may be the apparent prospects of this future advent — of the coming of this mighty One, whose advent shall be the signal for the bursting forth of the manifold chorus of universal nature — there can be no question as to its ultimate destiny (Isaiah 40:5). Be it ours, then, to set forward and promote the advent of this great and glorious time, each in his sphere, vocation, and duty. That is the mission of the Christian, to exhibit in himself the operation of a law which is destined to universal recognition, which is even now recognized in a greater or less degree wherever truth, justice, and equity are accepted as the guiding principles of life, and the recognition of which, when it is commensurate with human society and the limits of the human race, will be the mark of the accomplishment of the Divine purposes in the regeneration of the world.(Stanley Leathes, D.D.). The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice. Homilist. I. THE REIGN OF GOD OVER THE WORLD (ver. 1).1. His laws are righteous. 2. His purpose is benevolent. II. THE PROVIDENTIAL PROCEDURE OF GOD IN THE WORLD. 1. If is inscrutable. "Clouds and darkness." 2. It is righteous. 3. It is terrible (vers. 3, 4). III. THE MORAL TRIUMPHS OF GOD IN THE WORLD (vers. 6-11). 1. The false are confounded (ver. 7). Idolatry is crushed. 2. The true are blessed (ver. 8). Why glad? (1) (2) (3) (Homilist.) (J. H. Jowett, M.A.) II. GOD RULES OVER ALL SPIRITUAL POWERS. It was at first the belief of the Hebrews that there were "gods many and lords many." They would have been no more tempted to worship them, if they had been convinced that they had no real existence, than we should be tempted to worship Juggernaut. The Assyrians thought Asshur the most powerful god, who alone could give victory in battle; hence they worshipped him. Croesus sent to the oracles of all the gods to inquire what he should be doing on a certain day; and he worshipped the god whose oracle declared most accurately the future. Israel worshipped Jehovah, not only because He possessed power and foreknowledge, but most of all for His character. He was exalted above the other gods by His righteousness. III. THE CONSIDERATION OF THESE FACTS A CAUSE OF JOY TO THE BELIEVER. It is the conviction that a wise and loving power is at the back of all we see around us, and working through all history to accomplish gracious purposes, which made Israel the greatest of all the ancient peoples — great, not in having the best soldiers and lawgivers, like the Romans, or the wisest philosophers, like the Greeks, but the noblest, truest, and best men. That faith which made the nation immortal will also make the individual immortal. God is on the side of our holiest aspirations and deepest yearnings, and against that which is base and miserable and sinful. Every desire must be brought into subjection, and God be all in all. (R. C. Ford, M.A.) II. CERTAIN CHARACTERS WHICH MARK HIS ADMINISTRATION. 1. It is sovereign and uncontrolled. 2. It does not interfere with human liberty. 3. Is in the hands of a Mediator. Jesus governs the world with reference to the interests of His religion. III. PROOFS OF THE DOCTRINE OF THE TEXT which late occurrences have furnished. 1. The great evils of bigotry and opposition to the rights of conscience have been permitted to display themselves. Also — 2. Infidelity has shown its full character for the warning and instruction of mankind. 3. See what God has done. He has preserved our country from invasion, punished persecuting and wicked nations: France and Napoleon especially have been overthrown, and God has made us the principal agent in accomplishing this. (R. Watson.) 1. The sacred singer here speaks of a God who exercises a personal agency in the universe. The Lord "reigneth." That implies power. All energy that has play anywhere is in a true sense His. Gravitation, electricity, heat, what are these but names which we have given to the operations of the everywhere-present Deity? Even that force of will, and nerve, .and muscle which we and other creatures exert is from Him "in whom we live, and move, and have our being." 2. This personal agency of God is carried on in a regular and orderly way. The history of the universe is the development of His plan. He sits at the great loom, and, while the shuttles that carry the threads move, so to speak, consciously and of purpose, it is God who weaves the broad result, fabric and design being His. He reigns over beings who have not respect for His will, but are opposed to it, by working out, in His superior wisdom, His plans by means of their very opposition. II. ITS MYSTERY AND AWFULNESS (ver. 2). The symbol here expresses three ideas. 1. The majesty of the Divine government. Great clouds and darkness are ever suggestive of the sublime. And God's is a lofty and glorious rule. When we try, by the aid of astronomy, to realize the extent in space of God's material universe, and by the aid of geology to conceive of its past duration; when we think of the different generations of the human race which have existed, and of all the higher intelligences; and when we try by imagination to explore the eternal future, with its ever-opening vistas of life and crowding events which are to form history as real as that of the days that are gone by, we feel a necessity of adoration to relieve our hearts of the burden of their awe. 2. The incomprehensibility of the Divine government. God is within the "cloud and darkness." We do not see Him at all. His rule in every department is to us a thing of faith. Philosophers cannot tell what is the connection between cause and effect in the material world. And how, in the moral world, God works out His purposes by means of the free action of His rational creatures, and makes "His people willing in the day of His power," while their wills are still theirs, we cannot comprehend. But such are the facts. God does rule in these ways, as the uufoldings of history show. 3. There is the idea of the Divine government being characterized by judgments. Out of the "clouds and darkness" proceed "hailstones and coals of fire." "A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about." I, for my part, could not understand God's dealings with the world if I did not recognize the fact of there being sin in it, which leads to the expression of the Divine displeasure, and also to the use of the means of discipline. III. ITS MORAL EXCELLENCE (ver. 2). This "King" can "do no wrong." It is impossible from His very nature. That nature gloriously necessitates the working of righteousness. To a properly constituted mind there is no sight more sad than that of an unjust judge, an unrighteous government. The world has not been, and unhappily is not now, free from the baleful presence of such miscalled governments. But it is consolation, in view of them, that "justice and judgment are the habitation of God's throne." (W. Morrison, D.D.) I. WHAT IS GOVERNMENT? It is the exerting or putting forth of that power which any one is justly clothed with, for the ordering and directing of persons and things to their right and proper ends. 1. In all government there is an end fixed and aimed at; which end is either supreme and ultimate, or inferior and subordinate.(1) The supreme and ultimate end is, and ought and deserves to be, the glory of God, the exalting of His name, the preserving, securing, and enlarging of His interest, the maintaining and promoting of religion and godliness.(2) The inferior and subordinate end is the good of the communities, the happiness and welfare of the whole country, the peace, comfort, and prosperity of all the people, over whom governors are set. 2. In all government there is supposed a power sufficient for the ordering of things unto these ends. Not only natural power, but also moral authority, lawfully come by; for, without that, there can be no just, right, and good government. 3. In government this power is reduced into act: there is a prudent, seasonable exerting and putting forth of the power in order to the attaining of these ends. II. PROVE THAT GOD GOVERNS THE WORLD. 1. The light of nature has discovered this. Even some among the heathen call God "the Rector and Keeper of the world," "the Soul arid Spirit of the world," and do expressly compare Him to the soul in the body, and to the master in a ship, who doth command, rule, direct, steer, and turn it what way and to what port He Himself thinks good. 2. Scripture is full of testimony to this effect (Job 5:9-13; Isaiah 14:5-7; Psalm 34:16, 17; Ephesians 1:11; Daniel 4:34, 35; Matthew 10:29; Psalm 103:19). 3. God has a most unquestionable right to order and govern the world. 4. For God to govern the world is no dishonour to Him. Is it possible that His doing so should render Him cheap to the children of men? Nay, is it not enough to commend Him to all wise and thinking persons, that He is so great a God as that He can extend His care to so many millions of objects, and so graciously condescending as to look after the lowest of the works of His hands? 5. God is abundant in mercy and goodness. He built this huge and stately fabric, and He furnished it with all its inhabitants, from the highest and most glorious angel to the meanest and most contemptible insect. And how can we possibly think otherwise, but that the pity and love which He hath for the works of His own hands will draw out His wisdom and power and care for the ruling and directing of them? III. HOW OUR BELIEF OF GOD'S GOVERNING THE WORLD MAY SUPPORT US IN ALL WORLDLY DISTRACTIONS. 1. God is most fit and accomplished for this great work. Men have unruly passions; they interfere in their several interests, and, while they are carrying them on, quarrel and jostle one another: and who but God can order all, and direct them to most noble and excellent ends? Who but God can take these several scattered shreds, and unite them together in one curious and amiable piece of workmanship? Who but God can take these jarring discords, and turn them into an admirable and delightful harmony? 2. Consider the extent of God's governing providence. It reaches to — (1) (2) (3) 3. The properties of God's government. He governs the world — (1) (2) (3) (4) (S. Slater, M.A.) 1. It is a righteous dominion, and it is founded upon unquestionable right. Sovereignty alone, without these virtues, is often the greatest curse. God's government is regulated by His moral perfections: these blend to form an administration absolutely perfect. Justice regulates it (ver. 2). Holiness (Psalm 145:17). Faithfulness (Psalm 36:5). Mercy (Psalm 145:9). 2. The Divine government is universal. The extent surpasses our conceptions. The earth is but a fraction. Our system is but a speck. 3. The Divine government is directed to the greatest ends. The dominion of such a Being must be adapted to the worthiest purposes. (1) (2) II. THE VARIOUS RESPONSIBILITIES WHICH DEVOLVE UPON US IN CONSEQUENCE OF THIS CHARACTER OF THE DIVINE GOVERNMENT. 1. Joyful praise. 2. Cheerful obedience. 3. Unlimited confidence. Personal, national. 4. Look forward to the day of account. (Evangelical Preacher.) I. UPON A THRONE OF LEGISLATION. "Let the earth rejoice" — 1. That God has clearly revealed His will to us, and not left us in inextricable perplexities about our duty to Him and mankind. 2. That God's laws are suitably enforced with proper sanctions, such as become a God of infinite wisdom, almighty power, inexorable justice, untainted holiness, and unbounded goodness and grace, and such as are agreeable be the nature of reasonable creatures formed for an immortal duration. How happy is it to live under a government where virtue and religion, which in their own nature tend to our happiness, are enforced with such resistless arguments! On the other band, the penalty annexed by the Divine Lawgiver to disobedience is proportionably dreadful. 3. That the Divine laws reach the inner man, and have power upon the hearts and consciences of men. II. BY HIS PROVIDENCE. 1. Over the kingdoms of the earth. 2. Over the Church. 3. Over all contingencies that can befall individuals. 4. Over evil spirits. He keeps the infernal lions in chains, and restrains their rage. He sees all their subtle plots and machinations against tits feeble sheep, and baffles them all. III. UPON A THRONE OF GRACE. This is a kind of government peculiar to the human race; the upright angels do not need it, and the fallen angels are not favoured with it. This is invested in the person of immanuel (Ephesians 1:22; Matthew 11:27; Matthew 28:18). This is the kingdom described in such august language in Daniel 2:44, 45; Daniel 7:14; Luke 1:32, 33). To His throne of grace He invites all to come, and offers them the richest blessings. From thence He publishes peace on earth, and good will towards men. From thence He offers pardon to all that will submit to His government, and renounce their sins, those weapons of rebellion. From thence He distributes the influences of His Spirit to subdue obstinate hearts into cheerful submission, to support His subjects under every burden, and furnish them with strength for the spiritual warfare. IV. The Lord will reign ere long UPON A THRONE OF UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT, conspicuous to the assembled universe. 1. In that day the present unequal distributions of Providence will be for ever adjusted, and regulated according to the strictest justice. 2. In that day the righteous shall be completely delivered from all sin and sorrow, and advanced to the perfection of heavenly happiness. (S. Davies, M.A.) 1. God's right to govern the world must be original and inalienable. 2. God alone can uphold creatures in being. 3. The government of God is universal. 4. All second causes are under His direction and control. II. THE CAUSES OF REJOICING WHICH THIS AFFORDS. 1. The benevolence of its design. When we consider the character of the God of love as opened in His Word, we are sure that His conduct is governed by an ultimate regard to the highest felicity and glory of His moral kingdom; whether He pardon transgressors, or make them feel His wrath in the present world, or exclude them from happiness in the next. 2. The certainty of its accomplishment. It is promoted by all events in providence; and will fill its enemies with confusion, and its friends with joy, in the day when all creatures shall appear at the bar of God, and His righteous judgment shall be revealed before the assembled worlds. (C. Backus, M.A.) II. THE FACT CONCERNING WHICH THE PSALMIST UTTERS HIS CONVICTION — THAT GOD REIGNS. God is overhead counteracting the shortsighted selfishness of the wicked. In the psalmist's day, men looked on the idols of the heathen as wicked spirits, less powerful than the righteous Jehovah. We are too advanced to believe in the gods of other people. We can scarce believe in a devil, though that would be less awful than to be in the grasp of nature. It would have been "some comfort could I have fancied myself tormented of the Devil," said Carlyle once. Those who think the universe a vast machine find it terrible to contemplate a fall amidst its ponderous wheels. Better a devil than a blind force. But Jehovah is a living God, and not hostile to us. Righteousness and judgment are the base of His throne. And He is a God of love. III. THE OCCASION HEREIN FOR JOY. It was this thought that inspired Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus." "Hallelujah! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth... King of kings, and Lord of lords. Hallelujah!" And it is a glorious conviction to reach. Those who hold it may rejoice in the midst of injustice. Or while patiently doing deeds of unappreciated lovingkindness, they may, like the Saviour, have respect unto the recompense of reward. In the storms of life they may say, as did the happy child to the anxious passengers: "My father is at the helm." And when Death knocks his dire summons at the door, since God reigns, they may remember that he is but a messenger from the courts of heaven. And when the Lord comes to judgment, and the wicked call upon the rocks and hills to hide them, the saints may shout for joy, since this God is their God for ever and ever. (G. M. Mackie, M. A.) II. IN THE POLITICAL WORLD. We judge of events from the low standpoint of expediency or of self-interest. When we sum up the results of the war we borrow the language of diplomacy, and tell of an indemnity at so much, and certain boundaries altered. But God cares not for these. They are but as trifles, motes in His vast heavens, so small they do not cast a shadow. We want to get up — up where God is; up where Infinite Wisdom looks down! Then shall we discern the harmony, and learn that in the grand march of nations the music is set to two keys only — God's promises and God's purposes! III. IN THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE. Even those lives that run contrary to His will He checks and controls, and makes them subserve His own purposes; nor is there one life, however dissipated, however wild, but some time or other it gets into one of God's sluices, and turns one of His thousand wheels. But when the heart is submitted to Him, He does more than control the life, He guides it and shapes it to His will. But how far does this intervention of Providence extend? Does He not leave us to follow our own judgment; and is not that judgment the only cloud we follow? Even granting that it is, still that judgment is influenced by Him, for "The meek will He guide in judgment; the meek will He teach His way." Many a time when we fancy our decisions are merely the result of the exercise of common sense and ordinary prudence, God has been secretly influencing our minds to the choice. But then many of the actions of life are so insignificant, what can God have to do with them? He has worlds to look after, why should the little motes of my life cause Him any concern? We do wrong in thus thinking, in thus banishing God from what we call life's trifles. What is our life made of? Of so many days. And what is each day made of? Of so many moments and so many little deeds. But what is a little action? I put a piece of bread in my mouth. A little thing you call that, you do it frequently. But stay. That crumb may choke me, may end my life, and leave all my plans undone. Is it a little thing now? I set my foot down upon the pavement. Ah, that's a little thing, you do it thousands of times a day. Yes, but I step upon some orange peel and slip. That fall gives me a broken limb, unfits me for some intended pursuit, and completely changes the current of my life. Is it a little thing now? And does not God mark these little events that fill up each day of my life when such vast interests may depend upon them? (H. Burton, B.A.) 1. Necessarily autocratic in its form. 2. Singular in its basis. 3. Universal in its range. 4. Profound in its reach. 5. A present, active, accessible power.God is with us — not locally and geographically merely, but spiritually, sympathetically, practically, actively with us; controlling, cooperating, counteracting; directing, defeating, determining; making effectual or bringing to nothing the designs of the children of men. And we do well to go to Him, not trembling, as Esther to Ahasuerus, but with holy confidence in all times of personal, family, social, national necessities, to ask for His pity, to pray for His delivering power. II. THE CONSOLATION WHICH THE FACT OF GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY GIVES TO THE GOOD. 1. It is a consolation that the Evil One does not reign: that strong as are the forces of evil in this world, they are not supreme; that greater is He that works for righteousness than all they that work for sin and ruin; that our great adversary has himself an Adversary who is mightier than he; that though we may be in danger of being "led captive at his will," he is under the control of the Omnipotent. 2. It is a consolation that mere force does not reign. All the forces that are at work are "under law," and law is under the control of the Divine Law-maker; and He can act upon and control His own laws, touching links out of sight with His skilful hand, changing the aspect and the issue of things at His holy will and in accordance with His far-seeing wisdom, evolving the bright and the blessed out of the dark and the distressing. 3. It is a consolation that man does not reign. There have been times when the destinies of a continent have seemed to be in the hands of a Cyrus, a Caesar, a Napoleon; and now it may seem that very large issues hang on the decision of a few controlling minds in London, St. Petersburg, Berlin. Yet God can and will determine results, and He can overrule all events, either saving from calamity, or compelling disaster itself to yield "peaceable fruits of righteousness." 4. We may all rejoice that we ourselves do not reign over our own lives. "The Lord reigneth" — the loving Lord, who wills the happiness of His children; the holy Lord, who wills their true and pure well-being; the wise Lord, who will not withhold any good thing, but will withhold that which seems to be so but is not; the mighty Lord, who can compel the saddest and strangest events to contribute to our well-being; the faithful Lord, who will make good the kindest of His promises — "The Lord reigneth," and not we ourselves; "let us rejoice and be glad." (W. Clarkson, B.A.) 1100 God, perfection Letter Xlii to the Illustrious Youth, Geoffrey De Perrone, and his Comrades. Therefore Go On, Saints of God, Boys and Girls... A Letter from Origen to Africanus. Period iii. The Dissolution of the Imperial State Church and the Transition to the Middle Ages: from the Beginning of the Sixth Century to the Latter Part of the Eighth Hiram, the Inspired Artificer Ye Also who have not yet Made this Vow... The First Commandment The Prophet Micah. The History of the Psalter Psalms |
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