Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons Psalm 63:8 My soul follows hard after you: your right hand upholds me. I. DESCRIBE THIS STATE OF EXPERIENCE. It implies — 1. A renunciation of the world. This results from a conviction of its vanity. 2. A deliberate choice of God, as the only adequate good of the soul. 3. A vehement and intense desire after Him. 4. The exercises of faith and hope. II. INVESTIGATE THE REASONS WHY IT IS SO RARE. It is obvious few Christians enjoy this experience. The principal causes of their languor are — 1. Inattention to the state of their own hearts. They are not recollected; thy do not examine themselves closely. Hence they are ignorant of their real condition, and do not keenly feel their wants. 2. Permitting the objects of sense to make too deep impressions. These naturally tend to blunt the edge of holy desire, and to divide and weaken the soul. 3. Neglect of the instituted means. 4. The indulgence of wrong dispositions, etc. Unbelief, pride, vain curiosity, levity, censoriousness, uncharitable or useless conversation, etc.; all these, like cold water, tend to damp and weaken, if not wholly to extinguish, the desire for God. III. REPRESENT IT AS THE MOST DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE. 1. It is the best security against the allurements and troubles of the world. A heart earnestly pursuing God has no leisure to gaze on the seductive charms of temporal good, and no disposition to pierce itself with the thorns of worldly solicitude. 2. It renders every duty delightful. In this state nothing is done through custom, formality, or any other inferior motive — but every duty is performed with the highest views. 3. It prepares us for the largest communication. We always receive from God what we earnestly and faithfully seek from Him (Luke 2:9, 10). By this holy fervour the soul throws itself open to receive all the fulness of God — the shoreless, fathomless ocean of good. 4. It advances our sanctification, and consequently qualifies us for glory. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.) Parallel Verses KJV: My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.WEB: My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up. |
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