Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

LECTURE II.

THE VICTORY OF CHRIST OVER THE
CONFEDERATE NATIONS.

BY THE REV. ALEXANDER DALLAS, M. A.,

RECTOR OF WONSTON, HANTS.

PSALM II. 4—6.

"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."

ONE of the most important preparations of mind for receiving instruction from the pages of Scripture is an abiding recollection, that He who has written them for our learning is the Eternal God himself, who saw the end in the beginning. As we stand in the midst of the events that are unfolded by time, we can see only those which

happen in our day, while we gather up the records of those which took place in the generations past; but He who has made a written revelation to man forecast his view along the course of time; and taking in the great results of his predetermined counsels, he has recorded such events as in his wisdom he has been pleased to reveal,-sometimes with the detail that belongs to the actual sight, and sometimes with the combinedness of view which conveys but a general notion.

But in all God's revelations to man, the subject matter has had reference to the manifestation of His own character, of which unassisted man could know so little; together with an exhibition of fallen nature, of which unassisted man has so false a notion. Hence it results, that whatever may be the particular branch of the subject revealed, there is, in the manner of conveying information, a fitness in each part to adapt itself to the general condition of man in his relation to God; so that those who are the actors in the various scenes of human life may apply numberless passages, only in their general sense to the passing circumstances; and too many sincere readers of the Word of God are satisfied to confine themselves to such a mode of reading,

alarmed lest they might err in venturing to look upon the matters of detail, as with the eye of one present, although the language employed might seem to warrant such a view. By this means the mind is satisfied with the benefit to be derived from the present exhortations of Scripture, without being sufficiently armed against the forthcoming trials; of which we might be warned by a continual remembrance that, in stating the prospective history of his people, the Lord has prophetically revealed facts as facts, not merely as illustrative suggestions in connexion with doctrine. And although the course of history may convey, a thousand times repeated, the shadows of prophetic declarations, yet He who wrote those declarations indicated, in each case, the substance of which the constant operation of the same corrupt principle produced frequent foreshadowings under a similarity of form.

Let us take the second Psalm as a means of observing the distinction now pointed out. It has a general meaning, applicable at all times; but it was written with a special meaning, prophetic of circumstances which are to take place at one particular time. It speaks of the corruption of human nature; and of the triumphant energy of the Divine will, of which multitudes

of instances have characterized the history of the Church. But it tells, also, of the final crisis, when that human nature shall arrive at the climax of its corruption; and when that Divine will shall manifestly obtain the victory, and subdue it, in the maturity of its combined opposition.

In one sense, the heathen have ever been raging, and the people, or nations, have ever been meditating a vain thing, being without God in the world. In their pride of heart and their thirst for dominion, the kings of the earth, its conquerors, and its despots, have constantly set themselves in array, with confederate cunning, against the unseen God of gods, and in opposition to the manifestation of his will and his wisdom, in the person of his Anointed Onethe Christ. The great object of their counsel has ever been to escape from the restraint of the Divine law, and to refuse submission to those requirements of God which would curtail the exercise of their own supremacy. The whole course of history will show how vain have been the endeavours of men to control the will of the Almighty. Sitting in the highest heavens, he has poured contempt upon the wisest schemes of the most powerful monarchs. The Lord has had them in derision upon unnumbered occa

sions; he has spoken to them in his wrath by his providential dealings, and vexed them with evident tokens of his sore displeasure. The exaltation of the Christ, the Head of the Church, has still proceeded, in spite of the hindrances of tyrants. The Gospel has been published far and wide, by which has been proclaimed the supreme Divinity of Jesus, who has taken the manhood into God. His glorious cause has prospered, while he has exercised his great office of Mediator before the throne; and his Church upon earth have offered the constant incense of their supplications, that Christ's name may be known on earth,-his saving health among all nations. Once and again have the victories of the Gospel been attended with the evident discomfiture of its enemies; and every such occasion has given new impulse to the exhortation, "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."*

But these precious words of God have a defined meaning, over and above that with which * Psalm ii. 10-12.

« НазадПродовжити »