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PRAISE TO GOD FOR REDEMPTION.
BY CHARLES SIMEON
Ps. Ixxii. 18, 19. Blessed he the Lord God, the God of Israel,ivho only doeth ivondrous tilings : and blessed he His gloriousname for ever : and let the tvhole earth be filled with hisglory. Amen and Amen.RELIGION, as experienced by the generality, isselfish and superficial : it consists almost entirely ina desire to obtain mercy through the Lord JesusChrist, and an endeavour, through faith in him, anda surrender of the soul to him, to flee from the wrathto come. The religion of the more eminent saints isof a more diffusive and ingenuous cast : it intereststhe soul in all that relates to God and to the world :it delights in heavenly contemplations : it surveyswith wonder and gratitude all that God has done fora ruined world ; and looks forward with holy joy tothose richer manifestations of his glory, which, by allhis holy Prophets and Apostles, he has taught us toexpect. Of this kind was the piety of David, whosePsalms display a noble, generous mind, occupied withthe honour of his God and Saviour, and deeply intenton the welfare of the whole human race. The psalmbefore us was written, primarily, to describe the king-dom of Israel, as it should exist under the govern-ment of his son Solomon. But, beyond all doubt, a622.1 PRAISE TO GOD FOR REDEMPTION. 545 jrreater than Solomon is here : and it is the Messiah's
 
kingdom to which David ultimately refers, and whichalone fully corresponds with the description heregiven of it.In our further elucidation of this truth, we shallconsider,I. The " wondrous things" here referred to —These are particularly specified throughout thepsalm. We notice,1 . The nature of the Redeemer's kingdom —[It is truly a kingdom of rigliteousness and peace '\ In itno law exists which does not tend to promote the best interestsof him that obeys it, and of all connected with him. Nor arethe laws recorded merely in books that are inaccessible to thegreat mass of the people : they are inscribed on the veryhearts of the people themselves ; to whom a disposition isgiven to love and obey them : so that every subject of theempire is made both holy and happy : and of every obedientsubject the King himself espouses the cause; so that, hownumerous or powerful soever his enemies may be, they shall allbe subdued before Jiim, and the great leader of them all bebruised under his feet ^.]2. The extent of it—[Solomon's kingdom extended over the whole of thatcountry which had originally been promised to Aln-aham : butthe Messiah's shall embrace the whole earth : " All kingsshall fall down before him ; all nations shall serve him '^."" From the rising of the sun to the going down thereof his
 
name shall be great among the Gentiles'': " he shall have "theutmost ends of the earth for his possession ^ ; " and " all thekingdoms of the world become his " undivided empire *^.]3. The means by which it shall be established —[It was by the effusion of blood that David subdued hisenemies, and conquered for his son that vast dominion : but itis not by carnal weapons that the Redeemer extends hisempire. The word of God is that sword whereby he "subduesthe nations to the obedience of faith." The preachers of itgo forth without any human aid, like sowers to sow theirseed: and it is by " an handful of corn cast by them on thetops of the mountains," that the vast field is cultivated : so^ ver. 7. ^ ver. 4. •= ver. 11.•^Mal. i. 11. e Ps. it. 8. fRev. xi. 15.VOL. v. N N546 PSALMS, LXXIL IS, 19. [622.that " the fruit thereof shakes like the woods of Lebanon, andthe converts spring up and flourish like the countless piles of grass upon the earth ^." It is " a stone cut out without hands,that breaks in pieces all other kingdoms, and that fills thewhole earth ^'."]4. The duration of it —[Solomon's kingdom endured but for a little time. His
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