Psalm 142:4 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. : — I. A WRONG social state. Each taken up with himself, and none concerned for his neighbours, is manifestly wrong. 1. It is unnatural. The constitution of our nature, — endowed as we are with social longings and sympathies, and with faculties suited to render service one to another, — proves the unnaturalness of social indifference. What is morally abnormal is morally wrong. 2. It is unrelational. We are all the offspring of the same common Father, all united by the bonds of consanguinity. Indifference, therefore, is manifestly wrong. 3. It is un-Christian. Christ lived and died for our race, and His apostles exhorted us to care for others rather than ourselves. II. A MISERABLE social state. Though there may be much in a man's temperament, character, and procedure to alienate him from others, — he may be unsocial, irascible, and grossly immoral, — all this does not justify his fellows for utterly disregarding him. In truth it forms a strong reason why they should be interested in him. (David Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. |
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