Psalm 119:53 Horror has taken hold on me because of the wicked that forsake your law. "The wicked that forsake Thy law." Men are like four-year-old children, that, going down to the sea-shore, and finding there a boat with its various appliances, think they will try their hand at navigation. It has been the custom of their elders to have, as a means of navigating boats, sails and oars and a tiller, with a rudder attached; but these children say, "Let us not be bound to our fathers' notions." And so with might and main they heave the mast and sails overboard, cast away the oars, and, unfastening the boat, they climb into it. And then, laughing and saying, "Now for S voyage of the newest fashion," they push off, and when once the boat is set free the tide takes her, and as there is nothing to steer her she goes whirling round and round, or drifting in this direction or that, at the mercy of the waves. And when they are far from the land, and night is coming on, and the sea begins to get turbulent, then, without sails, without oars, without rudder, and without the capacity to manage the boat, with their little palms they try, over the side, to paddle her back. But what can these children do towards paddling that masterly boat with the wind and tide against them, and with no power but that of their little palms? And yet they are mighty to manage that boat, compared to men who unharness faith and throw off its spars, its oars, its ordinary means of navigation, and say, "Now, having got rid of these superstitions, we will paddle our new views and systems in our own way." (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.WEB: Indignation has taken hold on me, because of the wicked who forsake your law. |
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