Bible Heaven/Bible Heaven.iso/spurgeon/ps9.11

Text File | 1993-03-19 | 6KB | 113 lines

                           EXPOSITION.

        Being full of gratitude himself, our inspired author is
eager to excite others to join the strain, and praise God in the
same manner as he had himself vowed to do in the first and second
verses. The heavenly spirit of praise is gloriously contagious,
and he that hath it is never content unless he can excite all who
surround him to unite in his sweet employ. Singing and preaching,
as means of glorifying God, are here joined together, and it is
remarkable that, connected with all revivals of gospel ministry,
there has been a sudden outburst of the spirit of song. Luther's
Psalms and Hymns were in all men's mouths, and in the modern
revival under Wesley and Whitfield, the strains of Charles
Wesley, Cennick, Berridge, Toplady, Hart, Newton, and many
others, were the outgrowth of restored piety. The singing of the
birds of praise fitly accompanies the return of the gracious
spring of divine visitation through the proclamation of the
truth. Sing on brethren, and preach on, and these shall both be a
token that the Lord still dwelleth in Zion. It will be well for
us when coming up to Zion, to remember that the Lord dwells among
his saints, and is to be had in peculiar reverence of all those
that are about him.

        When an inquest is held concerning the blood of the
oppressed, the martyred saints will have the first remembrance;
he will avenge his own elect. Those saints who are living shall
also be heard; they shall be exonerated from blame, and kept from
destruction, even when the Lord's most terrible work is going on;
the man with the inkhorn by his side shall mark them all for
safety, before the slaughtermen are permitted to smite the Lord's
enemies. The humble cry of the poorest saints shall neither be
drowned by the voice of thundering justice nor by the shrieks of
the condemned.

              EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS.

        Verse 12.--"_When he maketh inquisition for blood he
remembereth them_." There is a time when God will make
inquisition for innocent blood. The Hebrew word _doresh_, from
_dârash_ <01875>, that is here rendered inquisition, signifies
not barely to seek, to search, but to seek, search, and enquire
with all diligence and care imaginable. Oh, there is a time
a-coming when the Lord will make a very diligent and careful
search and enquiry after all the innocent blood of his afflicted
and persecuted people, which persecutors and tyrants have spilt
as water upon the ground; and woe to persecutors when God shall
make a more strict, critical, and careful enquiry after the blood
of his people than ever was made in the inquisition of Spain,
where all things are carried with the greatest diligence,
subtlety, secrecy, and severity. O persecutors, there is a time
a-coming, when God will make a strict enquiry after the blood of
Hooper, Bradford, Latimer, Taylor, Ridley, etc. There is a time
a-coming, wherein God will enquire who silenced and suspended
such-and-such ministers, and who stopped the mouths of
such-and-such, and who imprisoned, confined, and banished
such-and-such, who were once burning and shining lights, and who
were willing to spend and be spent that sinners might be saved,
and that Christ might be glorified. There is a time when the Lord
will make a very narrow enquiry into all the actions and
practices of ecclesiastical courts, high commissions, committees,
assizes, etc, and deal with persecutors as they have dealt with
his people.--^Thomas Brooks.

        Verse 12. "_When he maketh inquisition for blood, he
remembereth them_." There is _vox sanguinis_, a voice of blood;
and "he that planted the ear, shall he not hear?" It covered the
old world with waters. The earth is filled with cruelty; it was
_vox sanguinis_ that cried, and the heavens heard the earth, and
the windows of heaven opened to let fall judgment and vengeance
upon it.--^Edward Marbury, 1649.

        Verse 12.--"_When he maketh inquisition for blood_," etc.
Though God may seem to wink for a time at the cruelty of violent
men, yet will call them at last to a strict account for all the
innocent blood they have shed, and for their unjust and
unmerciful usuage of meek and humble persons; whose cry he never
forgets (though he doth not presently answer it), but takes a fit
time to be avenged of their oppressors.--^Symon Patrick, D.D.,
1626-1707.

        Verse 12.--"_He maketh inquisition for blood_." He is so
stirred at this sin, that he will up, search out the authors,
contrivers, and commissioners of this scarlet sin, he will avenge
for blood.--^William Greenhill.

        Verse 12.--"_He forgeteth not the cry of the humble_."
Prayer is a haven to the shipwrecked man, an anchor to them that
are sinking in the waves, a staff to the limbs that totter, a
mine of jewels to the poor, a healer of diseases, and a guardian
of health. Prayer at once secures the continuance of our
blessings, and dissipates the clouds of our calamities. O blessed
prayer! thou art the unwearied conqueror of human woes, the firm
foundation of human happiness, the source of ever-enduring joy,
the mother of philosophy. The man who can pray truly, though
languishing in extremest indigence, is richer than all beside,
whilst the wretch who never bowed the knee, though proudly
sitting as monarch of all nations, is of all men most
destitute.--^Chrysostom.

                       HINTS TO PREACHERS.

        Verse 11.--I. Zion, what is it? II. Her glorious
inhabitant, what doth he? III. The twofold occupation of her
sons--"sing praises," "declare among the people his doings." IV.
Arguments from the first part of the subject to encourage us in
the double duty.

        Verse 12.--I. God on awful business. II. Remembers his
people; to spare, honour, bless, and avenge them. III. Fulfills
their cries, in their own salvation, and overthrow of enemies. A
consolatory sermon for times of war or pestilence.