A Psalm by David. [2105] And these without all controversy we take to be humble. "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." iii. 1, 2. David praises God for the truth of his word4. For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. 23, 24). iii. So that whenever we are on the point of doing or saying anything cowardly, or mean, or false, or impure, or proud, or conceited, or unkind, the remembrance that God is looking on shall instantly flash across us and help us to beat down our enemy. xlix. You may say, It is the promise. The former are made and fulfilled by its glorious Originator; the latter are enjoined and obligatory on man. Being rich he becomes richer; being already high born, of still nobler lineage; being illustrious, he gains greater renown; and--what is more than all--once a sinner he is now a saint. How priceless the blood of Calvary, in which the saints have "washed their robes and made them white"! The self-knowledge, remember, must come in the one way or the other. Chapter i. S. Augustine, Of the City of God, xix. We become unconscious of everything by long use. Those who are always hearing pure and high principles set forth as the guides of life learn to value and to know them even faster than they can learn to live by them. OMNIPOTENCE IN THE CREATION OF MAN (vers. The separate, personal thinking of God toward every one of us.(1)Innumerable.(2)Constant.II. iii. In my trouble I will call upon the Lord, and complain unto my God; so shall He hear my voice out of His holy temple, and my complaint shall come before Him; it shall enter even into His ears.--Ps. To Dominicus, Bishop. It is the speech of the soul face to face with God. Like the air we breathe, like the light we see, it involves a mystery that no man has ever solved. Justice, in this reference, is out of the question. That He had made the waters, but had not divided them from the land, or said to the sea, "Hitherto shalt thou go, but no farther"? And lest the presence of God should be too much for us, Christ has taken human nature on Him, and has provided that He will be always with us as long as the world shall last. The faith of that Centurion He on this account chiefly praised, and said St. "Jehovah will perfect that which concerneth me: Thy lovingkindness, O Jehovah, [endureth] for ever; Forsake not the works of thine own hands." "Come, and let us return to the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us. For he who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to exhibit the highest things. able characteristics of a rational being is the power of self-inspection. Men only see what a man says and does; God sees all that a man is. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one St. If that Being has gone down into these depths of human depravity, and seen it with a more abhorring glance than could ever shoot from a finite eye, and yet has returned with a cordial offer to forgive it all, and a hearty proffer to cleanse it all away, then we can lift up the eye in adoration and in hope. And though we thought that we had suffered loss from the tardiness of their coming, yet we find gain from their more abundant charity; seeing that from this delay in point Saint Gregory the Greatthe Epistles of Saint Gregory the GreatThe Coming Revival"Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?"--PS. Before the Searcher of hearts all mankind must appeal to mere and sovereign mercy. Letter Xliii a Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey. GOD.1. the regular habit of reading the Bible at a fixed time, the occasional reminders of ourselves that God is looking on, these are our chief means of learning to remember His presence. Nay, more, this process of self-inspection may go on indefinitely, and the man grow more and more thoughtful, and obtain an everlastingly augmenting knowledge of what he is and what he does, so that it shall seem to him that he is penetrating so deeply into those dim and shadowy regions of consciousness where the external life takes its very first start, and then he may be sure that God understands the thought that is afar off, and deep down, and that at this lowest range and plane in his experience he besets him behind and before.II. Then , 1. AugustineOf Holy Virginity. He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. St. Hilary of Poitiers is one of the greatest, yet least studied, of the Fathers of the Western Church. GOD ACCURATELY AND EXHAUSTIVELY KNOWS ALL THAT MAN MIGHT, BUT DOES NOT, KNOW OF HIMSELF. Our hearts will put us in mind of God's eye being upon us every now and then involuntarily. iii. Nor does such a feeling indicate malevolence. --The Life and Writings of St. Hilary of Poitiers. We will be engaging in this for 21 days. The answer is the same. The proposals of that Covenant include its promises and its duties. 19 III. Today, the LORD will perfect that which concerns me and my family. Being rich he becomes richer; being already high born, of still nobler lineage; being illustrious, he gains greater renown; and--what is more than all--once a sinner he is now a saint. "O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years."--HAB. You are listening to the voice of Bill Johnson from a sermon given some years ago, and Johnson is poisoning his flock with the heretical doctrine of kenosis. lvii. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage [1454] . Though the transgressor is ignorant of much of his sin, because, at the time of its commission, he sins blindly as well as wilfully, and unreflectingly as well as freely; and though the transgressor has forgotten much of that small amount of sin, of which he was conscious, and by which he was pained, at the time of its perpetration; though, on the side of man, the powers of self-inspection and memory have accomplished so little towards this preservation of man's sin, yet God knows it all, and remembers it all. 2. The promise is not the foundation. 19-24). 7. 1, 2. 18 " Ep., cxxx. We actually need to go a step further by speaking to ourselves, by letting the elements of heaven, the mountains before us, the forces and powers of darkness, all hear the Word of God and submit to that Word. ad probam IV. AugustineOn the Good of MarriagePrayer Out of the Deep. So that whenever we are on the point of doing or saying anything cowardly, or mean, or false, or impure, or proud, or conceited, or unkind, the remembrance that God is looking on shall instantly flash across us and help us to beat down our enemy. vi. Hence Paul Leo the GreatWritings of Leo the GreatSense in Which, and End for which all Things were Delivered to the Incarnate Son. Nor did God create these each by himself, and join them together as alien by birth: but He created the one, Hear my prayer, O God; and hide not Thyself from my petition. [2105] And these without all controversy we take to be humble. From the just we learn justice; from the charitable we catch an infection of charity; from the generous we receive the instinct of generosity. That of a prayerful seeking of the Divine guidance (ver. Rejoice, ye saints of God, that you have a great High Priest who is passed into the heavens, who now appears in the presence of God for you. Mercy must be the theme of our song here; and mercy enduring for ever must be the subject of the sonnets of paradise. lvii. GOD ACCURATELY AND EXHAUSTIVELY KNOWS ALL THAT MAN MIGHT, BUT DOES NOT, KNOW OF HIMSELF. And here let us look upon the bright as well as the dark side of this subject. The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him; He also will hear their cry, and will help them.--Psalm cxlv. For those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord. "Come, and let us return to the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us. No, the first day of creation was a guarantee of the five which followed it and of the grand rest day which crowned the week. If we had such a window we should pray for shutters, and should keep them closed.God omniscientWeekly Pulpit. That of siding with Him against evil (vers. 18 " Ep., cxxx. In my trouble I will call upon the Lord, and complain unto my God; so shall He hear my voice out of His holy temple, and my complaint shall come before Him; it shall enter even into His ears.--Ps. And this will generally be just when we are tempted to do wrong, or perhaps just when we are actually beginning to do it: some secret sin of which no one knows or dreams perhaps, some self-indulgence, which we dare not deny that God condemns. (1)He knows our actions, ways, words, thoughts. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." Lectionary texts. But in almost every case the dazzling rays of a searchlight frustrated the attempt, and the fugitives' vessel was captured by the Americans. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage [1454] . Our lives would be radiant with joy, and our lips filled with praise; the joy of the Lord would be our strength. 17, 18).2. Into providence. Carelessness? Now, in this condition of things, God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. 2. GOD ACCURATELY AND EXHAUSTIVELY KNOWS ALL THAT MAN KNOWS OF HIMSELF. v. 14), the earth was cursed, Hades was opened, Paradise shut, Heaven offended, man, lastly, corrupted and brutalised (cf. 3. GOD ACCURATELY AND EXHAUSTIVELY KNOWS ALL THAT MAN MIGHT, BUT DOES NOT, KNOW OF HIMSELF. "Where are you going?" "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me: Thy right hand shall save me."--PS. For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer's heart, which the speaker's life Leo the GreatWritings of Leo the GreatHow those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished. But if that knowledge whereby man knows himself is mysterious, then certainly that whereby God knows him is far more so. The Lord Will Perfect All That Concerns Me Is a Declaration of Faith. But yet there is another, not less powerful than any, which deserves special mention. Self-consciousness has been the problem of the philosophic mind in all ages; and the mystery is not yet unravelled. He must be prepared for the Kingdom that has been prepared for him Saint Bernard of ClairvauxSome Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of ClairvauxThat the Ruler Should be Always Chief in Action. The Lord Will Perfect All That Concerns Me Is a Declaration of Faith When David said the Lord will perfect that which concerns me, he was making a declaration of faith. Our hearts will put us in mind of God's eye being upon us every now and then involuntarily. Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts? 15. And, without doubt, it is only as we are confident in the Lord that we render effective service and become channels of blessing to others: which God grant we may! He has suffered thus, partly from a certain obscurity in his style of writing, partly from the difficulty of the thoughts which he attempted to convey. 23, 24). People Listen In Different Wayscan You Reach All Of Them? 24).(W. AugustineOn the Good of MarriagePrayer Out of the Deep. vi. David praises God for the truth of his word4. He bringing me home, Timothy, and I'm going to see his face. Is the Contemplative Life wholly confined to the Intellect, or does the Will enter into it? The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. That of a prayerful seeking of the Divine guidance (ver. Does the Contemplative Life comprise many Acts? There is no reason to mourn a son as lost who is a religious, still less to fear for his delicacy of constitution. 19 III. Justice, in this reference, is out of the question. Said Milton, speaking of his travels abroad when a young man: "I again take God to witness that in all places where so many things are considered lawful, I lived sound and untouched from all profligacy and vice, having this thought perpetually with me, that though I might escape the eyes of men, I certainly could not the eyes of God."4. Our text for todays message is Psalm 138:8 which says The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands. A Consolatory Letter to the Parents of Geoffrey. The word, "me," in the text, cannot be appropriated by any man, unless he, in some respects, resembles the character of David, who penned this psalm.
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