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THE PSALMS,

ΤΟ

ΠΝΕΥΜΑ-ΠΟΔΟ-ΜΕΤΡΟΝ

OF OUR WALK.

PSALM 1. 1.

1. BLESSED is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

TEXT.

MEDITATION.

TEXT.

"AND you,

EVEN a heathen could say, None doth suddenly become the most vile. But we must that were somelet the Word of GOD search deeper into time alienated the heart, if we would be made wiser than and enemies in such teachers. Life and death are now set your mind by before us. David's experience of happiness wicked works, and misery can only profit us as we look yet now hath on Jesus, the Anointed One, and, as we he reconciled in look, find an increasing desire to have the body of his more of that mind which was in Him flesh through breathed into our spirit. death, to pre

The Creator hath, as it were, placed sent you holy Himself in the hands of his creatures, and & unblameable we have done unto him whatsoever we and unreprove

his

"By faith listed. Again, He hath ascended up on able in Moses, when he high, leading captivity captive, having sight.”—Col. i. was come to obtained precious gifts for the children of 21. years, refused men. He now calls on us to judge for to be called the ourselves betwixt the blessings He hath son of Phara- purchased for us, and the things the world oh's daughter; hath to offer in their stead. Bearing in choosing rather mind, however, that to judge of them is to suffer afflic-one thing, and to make the choice another. tion with the The contrast of these two gifts is not here people of God, set before us in their continuance, but in than to enjoy their inherent nature. So long as we are in the pleasure of the flesh, the natural man will give his vote sin for a sea- in favour of sin; but man's choice cannot son; esteeming alter the nature of things-God's grace

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

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Man's apos

the reproach of can alter the nature of man.
Christ greater tacy cannot quench the love of the Crea-
riches than the tor towards the Beings He hath formed
treasures in after His own image. True it is, "that
Egypt: for he by the fear of the Lord men depart from
had respect un- evil," but is it not equally true and com-
to the recomfortable also "that by mercy and truth
pence of the re- iniquity is purged?" For, when the
Heb. scales drop off from the eyes of the under-
standing, the light of God's Word maketh
us to see the things which were once

ward." xi. 24.

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TEXT.

"That at that

of

"But now in

ye

Christ Jesus who sometimes were far off are

of

"For ye looked upon as our gain; now to be our time ye were were sometimes loss; and the only token of God's favour without Christ, darkness, but which can now satisfy us, is, that we may being aliens now are ye light be found of Him in Christ. The joy of from the comin the Lord: one who is thus found of Christ is, that monwealth of Iswalk as chil- in Him he hath found GOD,-the fear-lest rael, and strandren of light." by any means he lose Him. That there is gers from the -Eph. viii. 5. pleasure in sin is not denied; the only covenants "For the drawback to its full enjoyment-the con- promise, havtime past of our sciousness that its nature is opposed to ing no hope, & life may suffice the love of God. He who hath lost this without God in us to have consciousness hath lost caste in the scale of the world: wrought the will his being. Is it nothing to believe that we of the Gentiles, are under the tuition of our Maker? Have when we walk- we forgotten His patience, His forbearance? ed in lascivious- Have we dealt with our children in their ness, lusts, ex-lunes and rebellions, as He hath borne made nigh by cess of wine, with us in ours towards Himself, the maker the blood revellings, ban- of heaven and earth? Have we never in our Christ.”—Eph. quettings, and hearts called Him a hard taskmaster? ii. 12, 13. abominable ido-strewing pleasures in our path which He latries: where- forbad our looking upon, much less to touch, in they think it and be blameless? Have we not envied strange that ye the prosperity of the wicked? run not with not put on their indifference? them to the Lord pardon His servant in these so great same excess of sins. He that in all sincerity and thankspeaking fulness can say, "I know that in very faithfulness Thou hast afflicted me," will also of His grace be enabled to offer the sacrifice of praise in that He left him not to perish on the Lord Jenor to prosper in his sins. Let us be sus Christ, and honest with ourselves, and in this spirit make not prosay before the searcher of hearts and vision for the trier of the reins, Lord, if thy servant sub-flesh to fulfil

riot,

evil of you."1 Pet. iv. 3, 5.

Have we
The good

"Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting & drunkenness, not in chambering & wantonness, not in strife and envying.

"But put ye

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

TEXT.

:

"They would none of my counsel they despised all my reproof." Prov. i. 30.

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mit not to the guidance of Thine eye, the lust thereleave him not without bit and bridle.

of."-Rom. xiii.

13, 14.

66

'My son, if

entice

consent

through a window, & saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord;

He who can unreservedly confess that he hath tasted of the good word of GOD, and of the powers of the world to come, sinners will as unequivocally declare that for him thee, to return to the world and follow its ways thou not." were death, his own deliberate choice. Prov. i. 10. "And when The power to choose becometh a very "And as the the woman saw secondary consideration with one whose ark of the Lord that the tree eyes have been opened to see the danger came into the was good for he hath escaped; whose nostrils have been city of David, food, & that it filled with the choking stench of hell's Michal Saul's was pleasant to sulphurous flame; whose flesh hath been daughter looked the eyes, and a made to creep at the very thought of the tree to be de-worm which dieth not; and to know that sired to make whilst he thus was standing on the edge of one wise, she the bottomless pit a hand was put forth to took of the fruit save!!! Say, O my soul, whose hand thereof, and did was this? Whose face didst thou behold and she deseat, and gave when turning round to see? I saw Jesus pised him in also unto her the mediator between GoD and man, and her heart."-2 husband with I heard Him say, Why wilt thou die? Sam. vi. 16. her; and he did Turn, turn from the evil of thy ways, and eat." -Genesis drink of the waters of life freely, that thou iii. 6. mayest have life in ME, and live henceforth for me, and so be with me for evermore. Amen." Men encourage each other in sin, and at first they require this encouragement, though ultimately they themselves may be found amongst those who hound their victims on to perdition.

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He who is enabled to say, "I can no longer keep company with you, 0 ye sons of Belial," may hear the scoffer's laugh grate upon the ear as he turneth his back upon his thoughtless companions: nevertheless his words may have pierced some hearts: who can tell! The effort in uttering them and in acting up to them is great, but the effect more, when the Lord useth them as arrows from His own quiver.

At a certain meeting of those who laugh at the woes and the sorrows-who glory in the contentions, babblings, and wounds, without cause, of such as tarry long at

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

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the wine, whose redness of eyes is not
from weeping,-At such a meeting, the
name of a certain nobleman was men-
tioned, and his desertion from their ranks
was spoken of with sorrow, for, said they,
"He was a right good fellow." One of
the party rejoined, saying, "But, after all,
what if he be right?" A silence ensued.
"He who spoke thus," (thought another of
the company,) "will not long continue of
us. Both he who spoke (a nobleman
also), and he who thus thought, were
snatched as brands from the burning. He
who lamented the loss of their former
companion was the oldest of the party.

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We

When once we have seated ourselves
amongst the scoffers, we are in a fearful
position. The actual cautery must be
used; then, if this fail, we become as the
clod which the fire hardeneth, but never
can melt. Were it not for the actual
misery we see-the positive evil that is
continually witnessing against a world's
lost state the pain, sorrow, privations,
which so many are called on to endure-
the physical and moral ills which appear
to be co-ordinate with our nature, and
which is indeed the common lot of our
humanity, we might join with our poet
in saying, "All the world's a stage, and
men and women merely players."
might treat the history of the Fall as a
myth, and those who brought death into
the world as mythological personages.
But a fable will not quiet a conscience
ill at ease, nor will the stoic's lesson teach
his disciple to walk the porch, with mea-
sured pace and slow, upon a gouty limb;
when the burnt bone exudes its marrow
from the kiln-dried joints, calcined into
chalk by inward fires kindled at the altars
of Epicurus or what sardonic grin or
ribald jest (even though it glare in the
lurid blaze of wit, such as disgraces a
Rabelais or a Sterne,) can change the
emerods of lust into jewels fit for the

TEXT.

1. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

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Temple of the living GOD? Fools may now
make a mock at sin, nevertheless sin is
a dread reality. The sin-loving sinner
may now deem it his advantage to be
far-yea, he may even wish to be sepa-
rated, from a sin-hating GOD; but when
He calleth to judgment, what tongue can
tell the anguish of that soul on hearing
the command, "Depart from Me?" That
same voice was once heard in the temple,
saying, "Let us go hence;" but that is as
nothing to this. The sad reality of the
difference betwixt "Then," and "Now,"
will at that day be known, be seen, be
felt. Therefore, let " now "be sought as
the accepted time, whilst yet the Word is
nigh.

But even in the present day the Chris-
tian hath the advantage. If in this world
he hath tribulation, the scoffer cannot rob
him of his joy. The patient Job could
feel that he was suffering in the flesh
much, but in his spirit more, from the
cold reasoning of his friends, and from
their covert judging of a brother in afflic-
tion; nevertheless, they could not shake
his confidence in his covenant GOD and
Saviour.

TEXT.

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