These short meditations are an endeavor to draw forth from the Psalms both of these, the experiences of the soul, and the events from whence they have arisen. But they are only sketches or outlines. And such would we rather have them; for we are not to think for others. Our communion as saints is not that of the blind leading the blind, nor is it that of the seeing leading the blind, but it is children of light walking together under the common grace of the one blessed Lord and Author of light; and the mind of one brother is to give occasion to others to exercise themselves in the truth, in dependence on the Holy Ghost in them; owning, withal, the gift or grace in some to teach, or to exhort; as it is written, “He that teacheth (let him wait) on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation.”
But some are urgent after knowledge. They are ever schooling the mind. Their way calls for a continual effort, and acts as a constant pressure. But the Apostle had another method. He would have the teacher as little as possible act the teacher. He could call himself the teacher of the Gentiles (1 Tim. 2), but he speaks rather as a loving companion or brother. “I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me” (Rom. 1:11-1211For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. (Romans 1:11‑12)). “I speak as unto my children,” was his word also.
And this style of the Apostle was but a distant expression of that of the Great Master Himself. As he intimates when he says (2 Cor. 10), “I beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.” For this lets us know the Lord’s style, so to speak, as a teacher. And it is blessed to know that this was the style of the Son of God in the midst of us. He wanted to invest the heart of His disciples with a sense of nearness to Him. He did not deal with them as a patron or benefactor, as man deals with man (Luke 22:2525And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. (Luke 22:25)). Man will be ready enough to confer benefits if he may occupy the place of acknowledged superiority. But the Lord Jesus brings His dependent one near to Him. He sat at the well’s mouth beside the sinner whose spirit He sought to fill. Was this patronage after the manner of men? Was this the condescension of a benefactor?
I believe it is something of heaven to apprehend this mind or style in Christ. But we have to be admonished as well as comforted. If we have this way in the Great Master to notice, we have our way as His disciples to consider and order.
It has been said—and it is much for the observation of our souls—that “we should take care how we traffic with unfelt truth.”
A time of peace is a time in which the mind may indulge itself, and handle knowledge at leisure or speculatively. But knowledge is not divinely attained, truth is not spiritually learned, if the mind have it as a speculation, or as propositions, which the intellect digests and traffics with.
There is danger, now-a-days, of making the Bible “easy.” The clear and full character of revelation in our dispensation is one of its great distinctions. That is true, and very blessedly true. “Blessed are your eyes, for they see,” said the Lord. But still the facility with which divine knowledge may be now attained has its snare and its danger. We may get pleased with the attainment itself, without being stirred up, as we ought to be, to walk in those richer affections and in that deeper moral power, which is alone consistent with our enlarged measure of light and understanding.
The Church at Corinth abounded in knowledge (1 Cor. 1:55That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; (1 Corinthians 1:5)), but their walk was so unspiritual that the Apostle would not treat them as though they had knowledge (1 Cor. 3:11And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:1)). And this shows us how the Lord abhors the trafficking in unfelt truth. In heaven there may be ignorance or want of knowledge, but no such thing as the possession of unfelt truth. The angels are heavenly creatures, but they confess their ignorance by their desire to know (1 Peter 1:1212Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:12)). Ignorant of certain truths they are, but not uninterested about them. So, righteous men and prophets have been ignorant, but not uninterested. (Matt. 13:1717For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. (Matthew 13:17); Luke 10:2424For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. (Luke 10:24); 1 Peter 1:1010Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: (1 Peter 1:10).) And in the person of the patriarch Abraham, we see how some of old, in dispensations of less light and communicated knowledge, had such right affections, that the Spirit carried them beyond the measure of the stature of their age.
Speaking of Abraham, the Lord says, he “rejoiced to see my day; he saw it, and was glad” (John 8:5656Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (John 8:56)). His “rejoicing” was the early or previous condition of his soul. It tells us, that he took an interest in the notices which had been afforded him of Christ. They were comparatively few and faint; but they captivated his soul. The glimpses were powerful. And the Lord honored such an affection, and gave His servant a fuller vision. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; he saw it.” And then, as we further read, “he was glad.” He used the knowledge he attained aright, as he had sought it aright. His affections were engaged in the search, and they were not cooled or deadened when he had found.
Here was knowledge sought and used in the due order. O how the heart can say, O for more of this within and among us!
A little knowledge, with personal exercise of spirit over it, is better than much knowledge without it. As the proverb says, “There is much food in the tillage of the poor.” For the poor make the most of their little. They use the spade, the hoe, and the mattock; they weed, and they dress, and turn up their little garden of herbs. And their diligence gets much food out of it. And we are to be these “poor ones,” ever to use divine Scripture, as they carry on their tillage, and make the most of our little. It may be but milk we feed on, but if we use our diligence to lay aside malice, and hypocrisies, and envies, and the like, we shall be really feeding and growing (1 Peter 2). And because of this much more savor of Christ do we often find in those who have less knowledge, for theirs is this “tillage of the poor” (Prov. 13:2323Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment. (Proverbs 13:23)).
“We know in part, and we prophesy in part.” We have reason to say one to another, “I speak as unto wise men, judge ye what I say.” And especially, in a little work like this, taking a view of the heart of the Lord Jesus and of His saints, there will necessarily be much that can be entered into only by feeling. Who has not experienced at times vivid emotions, when meditating on the ways of the Lord, which would find a portraiture in a Psalm; while, at other times, we should in vain look for the same features, and, perhaps, wonder how they had once come so bright before us? The soul of one who is in the habit of meditating much on the Lord, would refer one verse of the gospels, it might be, to a whole Psalm; and in doing a certain act, or in suffering a certain unkindness, would find an utterance for his heart to God in a certain portion of this Book. And another, according to the measure of his spiritual apprehension, would refer this to another portion of a different complexion. This could not be with any other part of Scripture. For this Book is not one of doctrine, but of the experiences of the soul.
May nothing in these meditations be allowed to hinder any of its value! For they aim only to be the companion of the meditations of the saints, if haply, through the Spirit, they may help their joy and light in the Lord.
The present is a time, when many are running to and fro to increase knowledge of all kinds. And this must be a caution to our souls; for the saint has always to watch against the spirit of the times. And in these present times of light and knowledge (though it may be knowledge of God), we are still to remember that it is not food merely, but digestion, that nourishes. The clean animal, under the law, chewed the cud. And the Spirit of God, through the wisdom of Solomon, has said, “Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it” (Prov. 25:1616Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it. (Proverbs 25:16)).
And our Lord Himself, I may add, instructs us to know how we should cultivate divine knowledge, or knowledge of Scripture. For, in answering questions, He never appears to be satisfying curiosity, but He entertains inquiries, as one who had His eye on the soul of the enquirer, and not His ear merely open to his question. His words, “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now,” show us, that His purpose was not to convey information, as we speak, but to direct the conscience, and feed the renewed mind according to its growing capacity. And this is divine. All other questioning and gathering of knowledge will be but the vain traffic of mere human or Athenian intellect (Acts 17:2121(For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.) (Acts 17:21)).
But above all, beloved, we would remember that with our knowledge we must seek and cultivate that faith which appropriates what we know, makes it our own, and gives us personal joy and interest in it. This is the point of chief blessing to us. The word preached did not profit them, “not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” Because it is faith which thus appropriates God—makes the Blessed One and His fullness our own, our home. And this is the thing of great price to us. God is a home to us—He is ours. We are said to dwell in Him. A home becomes the very symbol of the due state of our souls when thinking of God. And faith alone gives us this, and this is of chiefest value to us. For who does not feel the charm of home? As we say, “Home is home, be it never so homely.” We instinctively appropriate to ourselves all that is there. The furniture may be mean, but it is our own. That is the thought the heart prizes. All that we see reminds us of our rights, our connections, our enjoyments. And thus “home is home.” And so with our God. Faith makes Him a home to the heart. Knowledge furnishes the house, but faith eyes all, be it more or less, as our own.
O for increase of faith! A scribe may be much instructed; he may look at the house of glory, and speak of its costliness, tell of the trophies of David, and of the curtains of Solomon, which hang there; but all the time he may be but a visitor. He may pass through all this grandeur, without appropriating faith, without his soul carrying the sense that he is at home in this wealthy place. While another may have less faculty to unfold those curtains, and decipher those trophies, or to weigh the gold and silver of the house, but withal he may have that precious faith which blessedly appropriates all that it sees, be it more or less, and thus makes him not a visitor, but a child at home in God’s house.
And seasonable, most seasonable, now-a-days, is the voice of one in other days—“Wouldest thou know that the matters contained in the word of Christ are real things? then never read them for mere knowledge sake. Look for some beams of Christ’s glory and power in every verse. Account nothing knowledge, but as it is seasoned with some revelation of the glorious presence of Christ and His quickening Spirit. Use no discourse about spiritual truths for mere conversation sake, but mind the promoting of edification. And use not duties for mere custom or service sake, but for nearer communion with God.”—Henry Dorney’s contemplations.
This is the grace we may well covet: “Lord, increase our faith.”
And as clay in the divine potter’s hand, may we be! not at the disposal of man, to be what his thoughts, his wisdom, or his religion, would make us; but in the Lord’s hand, lying there, to be fashioned by His truth and Spirit, after His mind, and kept to the end in “the simplicity that is in Christ;” and then in season be removed from the potter’s house, to be set as vessels of His praise in the sanctuary of His glory forever and ever. Even so, Lord Jesus!
“Praise ye the Lord.
“Praise God in His sanctuary: praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His mighty acts: praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet: praise Him with the psaltery and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance: praise Him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise Him upon the loud cymbals: praise Him upon the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.
“Praise ye the Lord.”
“Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
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