Religious Individualism
Homilist
Psalm 66:13-15
I will go into your house with burnt offerings: I will pay you my vows,…


Here is a deep conscious selfhood; the speaker is concerned with his own feelings and his own obligations to God. It is all "I." Men can never feel too deeply their religious selfhood, feel that they stand alone in relation to God, detached from all, occupying a position which no other can take. Here is a personal resolution to worship and to worship publicly, faithfully, and heartily.

I. PUBLICLY. "I will go into Thy house." Public worship is no arbitrary institution; it is founded in the reason of things, it grows out of the religious nature of man. There are two instincts that urge to it.

1. That of self-satisfaction. We are so formed that strong emotions urge expression. The sublimest satisfaction of a man is to tell to his fellow-men what a glorious thing personal religion is. The other instinct that urges to public worship is —

2. That of social love. The principle of social sympathy is implanted in every man; in some by nature it is stronger than others, in some by sin it is transmuted even into antipathy. Still the principle is there. Religion quickens it, strengthens and develops it. As sunbeams go forth to bless the world, the happiest sentiments in man yearn to pour themselves into other souls.

II. FAITHFULLY. "I will pay Thee my vows," etc.

1. Great trouble has a tendency to excite men to make religious vows.

2. The godly man will ever be faithful to these vows.

III. HEARTILY. "I will offer unto Thee," etc. Nothing is a better test of a person's love for you than the sacrifices he is prepared to make on your behalf. The love that cannot give the best things it has to its object, is of little worth.

(Homilist.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,

WEB: I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you,




The Victory of Patience
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