The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-03-14


other religions even The wisdom or Coo
-.ed up that men may admire Him. But VIII
| you tell me where outside the Bible, or the
| books that have borrowed from the Bible
| you can find the '-gentleness of God? And
| this text does not stand alone-the psalter
a Is fg Of this thought 5o Thy mercy mercy EN- m
Grey" Thy long suffering" Thy gem
| tleness: Thy mercy" Thy patience.
! These the qualities the psalmist at
tributes TO Jehovah. who rides upon the
storm who rules the nations. who comes
to Judge the world with equity and the peo-
pies with His truth. This is more Christian
than great deal OF Christian theology Is
and has been; great deal more Christian
than most medieval theology; than not
little OF Puritan theology than considera-
bic modern theology. And because He Is
gentle. and merciful and patient. this God
OF the Hebrew psalter is forgiving God.
| really do not know where within the COW
ers OF the Bible you will find a clearer and
more compact statement of the foreS1ye-
ness of God than may be found in the He
brew psalter. / do not think you will find
il in Isaiah / do not think you will find it
in Paul. The gospel according 10 the He
giveness as fully. as richly, as completely
as IL is to be found anywhere, even in the
Bible itself:
Bless the Lord o my soul;
And all that IL within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, my soul.
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities
Who healeth all thy diseases;
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction;
Who satisfied thy mouth with good things;
30 that tEy youth IS renewed like the eagle.
"All thine iniquities'-the sins of Peter
and Judas are not too abominable to be
forgiven. "All thy diseaseS'-no pride, no
seated to be cured ..Redeemeth thy life
from destruction that though thou
wouldst destroy myself. He with His gen.
Thy head crowned not only with kindness,
but with loving kindness, not-only with
rmerGies' but with tender' that Is tending:
Testament will you find a cOmpleter. more
compact definition of the gospel than in
the opening verses of Psalm Gill; This
mercy of Cod this gentleness of God this
patience and long suffering. This love of
God, is not more fully stated even in the
parable of the prodigal son, for the para
bic OF the prodigal son Is built on single
phrase of the psalter-"Like as u father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear Him." How doth a father
pity his child? That is what Christ tells
us in the parable of the prodigal son. He
piuckS the bud from the old tree and holds
bud breaks into the blossom of a parable.
Because God is Il father. because He pites,
because lie loves, therefore He forgives-
Modern theology might well go back TO
this Hebrew psalter to learn some lessons
of God. No one to pay debt. no one to
no one 10 satisfy law. The Sacrifices of
God are contrite and a broken heart. A
l.,
wilt not despise." Why does He forgive?
Purge away our sins for Thy names
sake" According to Thy loving kind
ness, according to the multitude of Thy
tender merices blot out my transgressions.'
What is this bit saying with Paul: For
His great love wherewith He loved US
Thou forgivest mine iniquity,' cries the
psalmist Why? Because 1t is small, be-
cause L can bring excuses for 1t? Because
'iquity because it is great 1t would re-
quire good deal OF audacity even now for
a Christian minister TO say in Christian
was reason why God should forgive him.
A CONSTANT COMPANION.
This universal presence in all nature and
in all nations. this individual friend. this
patient and forgiving friend, is the constant
companion of the soul that walks with
Him. To be separated from Him is the
greatest calamity the psalmist can think
Of To have sinned is to have snned
againt Him. And when David Off he wrote
the Fifty-first Psalm az / believe he did,
becomes conscious of his sin, though he
has sinned against the nation, though he
has sinned against his own soul, though he
has sinned against Uriah, though he has
sinned against Bathsheba, he cries out,
Against thee only, thee only have / sim
ned and done this evil in thy sight'-for
the thought of God absorbs all thoughts,
and the of having wronged God-so
loving so patient, so just, so friendly, so
fatherly, overbalanceS all other thoughts,
even of his transgression. No taunt that
can be leyeled against the psalmist Is ike
a jeer at his faith: men may insult him.
and he cares not; but when they insult his
God. then his choer rises; when they cry
out to him, Where, now, is thy God, of
what use is He what good can He do for
your then the blood NANTES his brow and
he does not restrain his anger Jehovah
Is his refuge. He seeks to dwell in the
secret place of this Mosc High; he seeks
to abide under His shadow. You remember
that Christ, weeping over Jerusalem said
How often would have gathered you as a
hen gathers the chickens under its wings,
and We would not?" He borrowed His
figure from the Hebrew psalter Under
thy pinionS will [ trust" Bring me the
tenderest, the deepest, the most mystical
experience of the love of God and the joy
Christian experience of any saint in this
nineteenth century, and i Will lind an ex-
preston for it in this old Hebrew psalter.
There is one thing the Hebrew psalmist
does not know-for Christ has not yet
brought life and immortality to lght-he
does not know of the future He has
hope in God. and on that hope he builds
great expectations. but they are for the
race. for his nation and on this planet.
He does not know how, he does not know
when, but he is sure that Jehovah in whom
he trusts will at last come for the redemp-
ton of Israel. will at last accomplish
Israers deliverance. OF this hope what are
called the Messianic poems are full:
Give the kig Thy Judgments o God
And Thy righteousness unto the kings son.
He shall Judge thy people with righteousness,
And Thy poor with Judgment.
The mountains shall bring peace to the people,
And the hills in righteousness
He shall judge the poor of the people,
He shall save the children of the needy,
And shall break in pieces the oppressor.
| They shall fear Thee while the sun endureth.
And so long as the moon, throughout all genera
lions.
He shall come down like rain upon the mown
| As showers that water the earth.
This Messiah will bring grace to all the
| earth as well as to Israel:
| The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall
bring presents:
Yea an kings shall fall down before Him.
All nations shall serve Him,
| For He shall deliver the needy when He crieth
| And the poor that hath no helper
| He shall have pity the poor and needy,
And the souls OF the needy He shall save.
| His name shall endure forever;
His name shall be continued as long as the SUM-
And men shall be blessed In Him:
| All nations shall call Him happy.
| 1t would be strange If one man had
| wrought all this out i'm his own expert
| ence but il is still stranger If. looking
| back across the intervening centuries into
! n barbaric age and upon a barbaric nation.
! we find i'm eight centuries and a half of
| song. at least suggested. all the ripened
| fruit of Christian experience except the as
surance of Immortality. "A God who is a
| universal presence: a God who is in all
nature and with the nations of the earth;
| Il God who cares for the children of men ::
| a God who cares for the beasts of the for
| est a God who is gentle, patient, plying,
| rendering an unbought mercy out or his
| own free love, forgiving iniquities because
| they are great and man cannot deliver him