Homilist Psalm 119:99-100 I have more understanding than all my teachers: for your testimonies are my meditation. I. MEDITATION ON THE DIVINE. It is by meditation alone that men become philosophers and artists; by it they penetrate the veil of phenomena, descry and grasp the eternal principles that govern the universe. By it alone we can get mental nourishment. From the impressions that are made upon us, the observations we make, and the thoughts that flash through us from the works we read. It is the digestive faculty of the soul. As the best food taken into the stomach is not only useless, but injurious to the system if not digested, so the richest information rather encumbers than strengthens the soul if not reflected upon. But the subject of meditation must be Divine in order to reach the highest wisdom. "Thy testimonies." Meditations upon human history, speculation, or enterprise, will conduct to a certain kind of wisdom, but not to the highest wisdom — the wisdom that cometh from on high. II. PRACTISING the Divine. "I keep Thy precepts." it is only as a man translates his ideas into actions that they become part of himself. The greatest ideas of God are comparatively worthless unless embodied in life. In temporal matters the highest philosophy helps on the world just as its theories are reduced to practice. "Genuine work alone," says Carlyle, "what thou workest faithfully, that is eternal as the Almighty Founder and World Builder Himself." (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.WEB: I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. |
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