Psalms 119:46

I will speak of Thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.

The moral martyr

Religion is proposed to us in two different points of view, a point of speculation, and a point of practice. Accordingly, there are two sorts of martyrdom; a martyrdom for doctrine, and a martyrdom for morality. It is for the last that the prophet prepares us in the words of the text.

I. The authors, or, as they may be justly denominated, the executioners, who punish men with martyrdom for morality, I understand, then, by the vague term, “kings,” all who have any pre-eminence over the lowest orders of men, and these are they who exercise tyranny and inflict the martyrdom for which the prophet in the text prepares us.

II. The magnanimity of such as expose them-selves to it.

III. The horrors that accompany it.

IV. The obligation of spearing of the testimonies of God before kings. We ground this on the nature of this duty. You have heard, that it consists in urging the rights of God before great men; and, though it be at the hazard of all the comforts and pleasures of life, in professing to respect the moral part of religion. How often have we denied our holy religion? How often, when it hath been jeeringly said to us, “Thou also wast with Jesus,” have we sneakingly replied, “I know not what thou sayest”?

V. The crown of moral martyrdom. A man who can say to God, as our prophet said, finds a rich reward, first in the ideas which a sound reason gives him of shame and glory; secondly, in the testimony of his own conscience; thirdly, in the approbation of good people; and lastly, in the prerogatives of martyrdom. These, if I may so express myself, are four jewels of his crown. (J. Saurin.)

Boldness in religion

There are several reasons to justify this boldness in religion:--

I. It is a Divine system.

1. All the arguments for the Divinity of this book may be ranged under one word--congruity.

(1) The congruity of its contents with collateral history.

(2) The congruity of its Contents with itself. Though written by different men in different ages, in different lands, there is no essential contradiction.

(3) Congruity with our antecedent notions of God.

(4) Congruity with man’s reason, intuitions, wants.

2. What folly to be ashamed of speaking of a book whose author is God Himself.

II. It is a rational system.

1. In saying this we do not say--

(1) That men’s interpretations of it are rational. Nor--

(2) That all it contains can be comprehended by reason.

2. Its incomprehensibles answer two purposes--furnish an argument for its Divinity, and a schooling energy for the student.

3. There are two facts in favour of this rationality.

(1) That its most thoughtful students have ever been impressed with its reasonableness.

(2) That it has ever proved itself the most powerful agent in developing the rationality of mankind. Why, then, should we be ashamed of speaking of a system so rational, a system that can bear the scrutiny of the keenest intellect, the analysis of the severest philosophy?

III. It is a powerful system.

1. Because it is true. All truth is powerful.

2. Because it is moral truth. Truth for the affections and conscience is the most powerful kind of truth.

3. Because it is remedial truth. Truth revealing provisions for recovering sinners.

4. Because it is embodied truth:--Truth, coming, not in mere proposition or precept, but in example, in the example of God Himself. It is, indeed, “the power of God.” Every page in the history of its triumphs demonstrates its almighty power. Then you may well glory in it.

IV. It is a restorative system. It is a power, not to destroy, but to save.

V. It is a universal system. It is not for a class, a sect, a province, a period; it is for universal man. (Homilist.)

Guilty silence

A silent religion, or a speaking religion--which shall it be? David says, “I will speak”;--what do we say? Too often we resolve that we will keep silence. The theme on which David says he will speak is God’s testimonies. Has he chosen a barren topic? Look at the range, the explicitness, and the emphasis of those testimonies, and you will say that never did man choose so fruitful, so abounding a theme. The fact is that there is not a single aspect of life which lies beyond the circumference of the Divine testimonies. God has anticipated everything, provided for everything. David, then, is ready for all occasions, for all men, at all times, and in all places. What, then, is the urgent practical lesson to be deduced from all this affluent provision? If there is one lesson clearer than another suggested by these circumstances, it is that we are left without excuse if we fail to speak of the Divine testimonies. Opportunities occur every day. Circumstances arise under which no words can be so beautiful, so touching, so pithy, so real. There are many curious and startling inconsistencies perpetrated in connection with this matter of not being faithful to the Divine testimonies. We have before the mind’s eye a man who is a large employer of labour. He might have an immense moral influence over those who work in his employment. By a wise word here, and an encouraging word there, he might achieve untold good. That man is a member of the Church, but his own servants are perfectly unaware of his piety until they see his name advertised as a speaker at a religious meeting. Is this right? (J. Parker, D. D.)

Religion acknowledged

There is a splendid tonic in the biography of Hadley Vicars, who, when he was converted, put his Bible on his mess-room table as the best answer to the jeers of his fellow-officers in the British army. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)