SERMON, DELIVERED BEFORE THE AMERICAN BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR FOREIGN MISSIONS, AT THEIR ANNUAL MEETING IN SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, SEPTEMBER 10, 1821. BY REV. JEDIDIAH MORSE, D. D. UBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE BOARD. BOSTON: FRENTED FOR THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS, BY GEORGE CLARK THE expected Preacher on this Anniversary, was the Rev. Dr PROUDFIT, of Salem N. Y. who was prevented from performing on this occasion by indisposition. The following discourse was prepared by the Author, who was his second, or very short notice, and in a very feeble state of bodily health. With these facts, he commits it to the candor of its readers, in hope, that if it be less worthy their perusal, than he could have wished, it may yet contribute something toward cherishing and extending the spirit of Missions, and thus promote, in a humble degree, the honor of the Redeemer, and the good of mankind. A SERMON, &c. PSALM II. 8. ASK OF ME, AND I SHALL GIVE THEE THE HEATHEN FOR THINE INHER· ITANCE, AND THE UTTERMOST PARTS OF THE EARTH FOR THY THE Psalm, from which this passage is selected, is a Psalm of David, prophetic in its character, and highly elevated and figurative in its style. It was apparently composed, primarily, as an an inaugural hymn, to be used on the occasion, when JEHOVAH, after giving him triumphant victories over his enemies, "set him king on the holy hill of Zion.'t But a greater than David is here. The Psalm is a prophesy concerning the Kingdom of CHRIST, declaring, that in defiance of all the formidable opposition which should rise against it, it shall be established and exalted, and its power and influence ultimately extended over the whole world. To the correctness of this application of the Psalm, we have the united testimony of the Apostles,* "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, (quoting *Acts iv. 25 to 29. my Son, this day have the words of this Psalm,) Why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? The Kings of the earth stood up,and the rulers were gathered together against the LORD, and against his CHRIST." Again,* "We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up JESUS again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art begotten thee." And again;t "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son ?" So full and explicit is the evidence in the New Testament, that this Psalm is prophetic; that David was its Author; that it refers to CHRIST, and can be applied to no other being, than to him; and that to him the promise in the text must, in due time, be fulfilled. Cold and cheerless, indeed, must be the interpretation given to this Psalm, and to others of the like character, by those biblical critics, who do not find CHRIST in them; who apply them exclusively to the personages who lived at the period when they were written, and to the current events of that period.‡ Some modern Commentators of celebrity, each taking it for granted that there is no reference to CHRIST in this Psalm, who deny its prophetic character, contend, some that David, others that Solomon, is here celebrated. Of the latter opinion is the learned and popular ROSENMULLER, who considers that Nathan, and not David, was the author of this Psalm, though the contrary is expressly asserted, and its application to CHRIST explicitly declared, by the Apostles in the passages quoted. |