The speaker then refers to some elements of that promise,
and his first quotation is taken from the first psalm, which



THE SECOND PSALM. 87

is reckoned the second in our notation "Thou art my Son;
this day have I begotten Thee." The words have been
variously understood, both in their dogmatic and historical
reference. Not a few regard them as distinctly pointing to
the resurrection, giving the verb the sense of " raised up
again," and verifying the interpretation by what Paul else-
where says " Declared to be the son of God ... by
the resurrection from the dead." But we apprehend that
the apostle comes not to any argument about the resurrec-
tion of Jesus till the following verse. He appears in this
verse to look upon the quotation as proving His sonship,
by showing Christ's exaltation to universal sovereignty.

Let us revert to the second psalm, and contemplate for a
moment its occasion and scope. The point of view which
the inspired bard assumes, is the period of the crucifixion
when the city of Jerusalem is in uproar, and foreigners and
natives are seen to be in unnatural league against Messiah.
The poet's eye surveys the tumult in which Jew and
heathen so strangely unite, and he exclaims in wonder

" Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing ;
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
Against Jehovah and against His Messiah."

At an early period in the history of the church those
words were thus interpreted "Of a truth, against Thy
Holy child Jesus both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the
Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together."
The description is thus literally correct ; the " heathen " or
Koman power; "the people" or Jews; "kings "and "rulers"
or Herod and Pilate were combined against the Son of



88 PAUL AT ANTiOCH IN PISIDIA.

God, and resolved to triumph over Him. And the watch-
cry of the conspirators is

" Let us break His bands asunder, and cast away His cords from us."

But their -machinations are so utterly futile, that Jehovah
only smiles at them, for they are but as the child's hand
spread out to stem the rising tide :

" He that sits in heaven shall laugh,
Jehovah shall have them in scorn."

And the reason is, that the Messiah's government is
founded by Jehovah, and therefore cannot be shaken :

" I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion."

And He who has been enthroned beyond the reach of
revolution, avouches His confidence thus :

" I will declare the decree : Jehovah hath said to me,
Thou art My Son, this day 1 have begotten Thee."

In spite of every opposition He has been enthroned on
the holy hill of God, and in that inauguration an earlier
decree has been fulfilled, as some think ; while in their opinion
the term "to-day" does not specify the time when the
decree is now declared, but when it was first promulgated j
that it does not mean that the birth and the investiture
of royalty are in any sense contemporary events, or that
the Messiah was begotten on the day He was crowned;,
but that the sonship is eternal. The meaning, however,
seems to be that the Father owned Jesus for His Son, and
that this sonship was openly and publicly evinced when
He rose to the throne. It was true at the incarnation,



GOD'S SON UPON HIS THRONE. 89

when the infant lay in the manger ; but its reality was not
fully and finally manifested till God made Him His King
over His holy hill of Zion. Solomon's sonship was always
a fact, but it was formally avowed when David set him
apart as his royal successor. The incarnate Jesus is the
Son of God, and that sonship is solemnly proclaimed in His
exaltation by the Father to His own right hand. Accord-
ing to a common Hebrew usage, to do a thing is to declare
it to be done. Thus in Peter's vision it is said, What
God has cleansed, that do not thou pollute ; that is, do
not call or reckon it unclean. Thou art my Son, to-day
have I declared Thee begotten of Me evinced Thy son-
ship by raising Thee to the kingdom, co-enthroned with
Myself.

The relation of the Messiah to God is that of Son, " first-
born," and "only-begotten." As Son He always recognized
His Father again and again referred to Him under that
appellation. " My Father worketh hitherto ;" " the Father
loveth the Son ;" " I am in the Father;" " I came forth
from the Father ; " "I leave the world and go to the
Father;" "I speak that which I have seen with My
Father;" "I and My Father are one;" "0, Father^
glorify thou Me with Thine own self;" "I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth;" "no man knoweth
the Father but the Son;" "even so, Father;" " Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;" "Father,
glorify thy name ;" " Father, forgive them ; " and " Father,
into thy hands I commend My spirit;" In the words
spoken, deeds done, prayers offered, and sufferings endured
by Him, he ever recognized his relation to the Father as



90 PAUL AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA.

His Son, His only-begotten Son, so loved by Him as to
be the Son of His bosom, and so like Him that he could say
" He who hath seen Me hath seen the Father." His
work being over, having done His Father's will, he enjoyed
His reward. The Father "raised him up from the dead
and gave Him glory ; " and as the Son of that Father He sits
upon the throne. The Son of God incarnate and suffering,
the Son of God exalted and reigning in token of God's
approval of His work, are the doctrine of this quotation.
The promise given to the fathers had been fulfilled to the
children in the life and royalty of Christ Jesus. Infinite
truth has kept its pledge ; the Son of His bosom is now
His Kegent ; Christ is Governor, because He has been
Saviour.

The orator now proceeds formally to the resurrection
not to prove it, since he had done that already in-the thirty-
first verse, but to demonstrate from it Christ's superiority
to death ; for He was " no more to return to corruption "-
to be entombed. Christ died once, but He shall not die
again. He lay in the grave once, but shall no more descend
to it. When the apostle uses the words "no more to return
to corruption," he speaks popularly, and does not mean that
Christ had already been in corruption 5 for he proceeds to
affirm that He did not see corruption. The meaning is,
that Jesus will never again be in a place where corruption
might be anticipated of Him, or where He might be exposed
to it. The point of the argument here is not that He rose,
but that He rose never again to die. The son of the widow
of Nam might die, and again be carried by mourners to his
long home, and Lazarus might be a second time interred ;



SURE MERCIES OF DAVID. 91

but Christ, being once raised from the dead, " dieth no
more : death hath no more dominion over Him." He 1*3
endowed with " an endless life." His work on earth being
over, He rose to immortal reward. And, to prove this
truth, the apostle reverts to quotation " I will give you
the sure mercies of David;" literally, sure holy things;
that is, holy promises of perfect security. The adjective
rendered "mercies" signifies rather things sacred from their
connection with God. The promise made to David was
sure, trusty, or inviolable ; it was sacred, as being divine
in origin, and relating to a divine person. What, then,
is the meaning of the quotation, and what the proof it
affords of the apostle's statement ?

The quotation, with only as much variation as serves
to introduce it, is taken from Isaiah Iv. 3 ; and the phrase
" sure mercies" is narrowed to a personal reference in
the next verse " Behold, I have given Him for a witness
to the people." The sure and sacred pledge is connected
with the gift and appointment of Messiah, or is identical
with it ; and it is the " sure mercies of David," because it
was solemnly promised to him, and realized in connec-
tion with his family his " house and lineage." Isaiah's
allusion is to the oracle of Nathan, as recorded in 2 Sam.
vii. 13 16 : " He shall build an house for my name; and
I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will
be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit
iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and
with the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy
shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul,
whom I put away before thee. And thine house and thy



92 PAUL AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA.

kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy
throne shall be established for ever."

The spirit of this prediction is, that David's dynasty shall
continue that his throne shall be filled, and filled for ever,
by the last and most illustrious of his sons. The eye of
the seer did not regard David's seed only for a few genera-
tions, or as ending with Zedekiah whom Nebuchadnezzar
carried captive to Babylon ; but it comprised in one vast
perspective all his sons, till the line was seen to end in
Jesus, to whom " the Lord God shall give the throne of
His father David, and He shall reign over the house of
Jacob for ever." The throne so filled is never to be vacated,
but to be established for ever. The 89th psalm is a poem
on this old covenant: "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord
for ever ; with my mouth will I make known thy faithful-
ness to all generations. For I have said, Mercy shall be
built up for ever ; thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in
the very heavens. I have made a covenant with my
chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant Thy seed
will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all
generations. Selah. And the heavens shall praise thy
wonders, Lord thy faithfulness also in the congregation
of the saints." Such, then, are "the sure mercies of David "
the promise of an unfailing line, which terminates in his
Son and Lord, who shall occupy the throne without pause
and without successor. Christ on the throne, and for ever
on the throne, of His father David, constitutes the sure and
sacred promise of David. But if death were to strike one
so exalted if there were to be any interregnum if the head
wearing David's diadem were to be discrowned, and again



THE SERVICE OP DAVID. 93

be covered with a " napkin" if the occupant of his throne
were to vacate it at the summons of the King of terrors ;
then the sure mercies of David would disappear, and the
promise would be falsified. These sure mercies thus guar-
antee that David's Son, once upon his throne, shall always
sit there ; and if He always sit there, He must be superior
to death, for it empties all thrones but His. He is in
no hazard of that corruption which follows death, and has
received into it in succession every other inheritor of
royalty. The citation, therefore, proved the apostle's posi-
tion ; and such a proof had a charm and power to a Hebrew
mind which it can scarcely have upon ours.

The apostle now rises higher, and affirms that though
Christ died and even was buried, He did not see corruption.
The proof is taken from the 16th psalm : " Thou shalt not
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption " the same epithet
being here applied to Christ as characterizes the promise
made about him to David. The argument is, that the
words have no reference at all to David, but solely and
singly to Christ. They were not and could not be fulfilled
in David; for there happened to him the very change
which, as the quotation vouches, should not take place on
the Holy One. Having mentioned David, the preacher
pronounces a brief eulogy on him. He does not barely
say that he lived or reigned, but that he served did
not simply enjoy the luxuries of royalty, but he minis-
tered for the good of his own generation; and that in a
variety of ways. With his finger on his harp he composed
a psalm ; or sword in hand he gained a victory; or seated
on the tribunal he dispensed justice to the tribes. " His



94 PAUL AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA.

own generation" or his contemporaries were benefited by
him, and through them all ages are under obligation to the
" sweet singer of Israel." David lived a life of usefulness.
His was not mere existence and selfish enjoyment; but,
having got good, he did good. His powers did not lie
fallow; cultivation was cheered by blessing, and followed
by increase. And the "will of God" was his rule. There
were, alas ! many aberrations ; but, when he fell, he prayed
and sobbed and rose again, and God helped him. u So he
fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided
them by the skilfulness of his hands."

The doing of present duty is serving the will of God, and
in acting as it prescribes, you bless your contemporaries.
Blessed yourself, you become a blessing. But service due
to one age is not exhausted in it ; it may descend to other
generations and reach to distant lands. There lived last cen-
tury in England an obscure woman with an only son. When
he was but seven years old she died. But her image and
her prayers for him haunted him by land and by sea in
the ports of Britain, and on the beaches of Africa when
shipping manacled negroes, or carousing on shore with a
seaman's zest. His heart was at length touched, and
that sailor became a minister, renowned for his impressive
conversations and correspondence. His words reached
Claudius Buchanan and sent him to India, where he
preached and translated ; and the recital of his labours so
attracted Judson, that he sailed from the far West for
Burmah, and found it a sphere of eminent usefulness. The
same gift to a mother's asking threw light on the benighted
soul of Thomas Scott, and he became the popular and



THE DEATH OF DAVID. 95

voluminous commentator. It strengthened the feeble and
clouded soul of Cowper, and when the poet cried "O,
magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name
together," the Olney hymns sprang into existence. Wil-
berforce was greatly indebted to the same source ; and his
"Practical View of Christianity" brought truth into the
mind of Legh Kichmond, who wrote that holy, homely tale
the " Dairyman's Daughter." What an interlaced and
unexhausted influence did this pious praying woman pro-
duce ! in sermons, letters, translations, commentary, and
song ; work at home, and work among the heathen among
the polished, and among the rustic in the senate of Eng-
land, and on the lowly hearths of Hindostan. What her
name was, we know not ; where her tomb is, we cannot
tell. She was the mother of John Newton.

David's period of service being over, he was released.
Wearied out with age and with the burdens of government,
he fell on sleep exhausted nature sank into repose. He
was immortal till his work was done. The image of sleep,
so pleasing and tender, suggests the notion of rest and sub-
sequent awakening. " When I awake, I shall be satisfied
with Thy likeness." The king was " laid unto his
fathers," was buried in the city of David the phraseology
being borrowed from the custom, that each family had its
burial-place in its own garden or grounds. The parents of
David were probably buried at Bethlehem with their " rude
forefathers of the hamlet ;" but the phrase is well enough
understood. The royal corpse experienced decay, decom-
posed in its narrow vault, as do other dead bodies ; it " saw
corruption " fell into " dust and ashes ;" so that very soon



96 PAUL AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA.

the form of its skeleton could no longer be distinguished.
But He of whom Psalm xvi. speaks this Jesus of David's
seed was buried, and yet saw no corruption. The ordi-
nary process of decay and putrefaction did not take place
on Him, though His body was mangled and pierced. He
rose on the third day in health and freshness, a victor over
death. In the very place of death, He obtained a triumph
over death. On its field of victory the realm of corrup-
tion, where the dead moulder away, and the dust returns
to the earth as it was did He signally vanquish mortality.
He who won such a victory is surely above death, and
lives for ever. Ours is an immortal Saviour, the first and
the last, and the living One. Our life is secure, for it springs
from His. There was once a dead Christ, but the spectacle
shall be seen no more. He lives, and He gives life ; nay,
He shall open the tombs and summon His people to im-
mortal existence. They see corruption, but " this corrup-
tible shall put on incorruption." The living Jesus shall
do it, and He is coming to do it " Amen, even so, come,
Lord Jesus." The conclusion of the apostle, then, is
that the Saviour, David's Son, was the promised Messiah
the great hope of the nation who had died, indeed, but
was now the immortal Governor. These quotations show
that the Old Testament, though its imagery and costume be
national, is a message of salvation by a coming Redeemer.
Then it was hope, but now it is faith ; then was the age of
prophecy, now is the age of history. There was then &
longing that He should come, but now there is rejoicing
that He has come. What was latent in the prophets, is
now patent in the evangelists and apostles. Christianity



APPLICATION OF THE DISCOURSE. 97

was the core of Judaism ; and, if not go old as the creation,
it is, at least, as ancient as the fall.

One may remark the great similarity between this first
recorded discourse of the apostle Paul, and that delivered
by Peter on the day of Pentecost. Both dwell on the same
theme, and both refer to Ps. xvi. Peter's proof is, This
old ode cannot refer to David ; for David still lies in his
tomb, and " his sepulchre is with us unto this day." Nor
has David ascended into the heavens; therefore, what
he sang in Ps. ex. does not refer to himself, but to the
same Jesus who was crucified, and who is now " Lord and
Christ." These early preachers could scarcely avoid this
track of argument ; and as the Old Testament was common
ground with them and their audience, they allowed the
cross lights of prophecy to play over their addresses. Those
to whom they spoke admitted the truth of such predictions,
and might not quarrel on all points of interpretation, and
therefore they strove to show that their fulfilment in Jesus
was a matter of ocular demonstration. Men saw the living
Jesus in a great variety of situations after He rose, and
affirmed that they did eat and drink with Him affirmed
it without hesitation and at all hazards.

The apostle proceeds to apply his discourse " Be it
therefore known to you, men-brethren, that through this
One (this divine immortal Jesus) to you is forgiveness of
gins proclaimed, and from all things from which ye could
not in the law of Moses be justified, in Him every one who
believes is justified; Beware lest there come upon you
what is spoken of in the prophets c Behold, ye despisers,
and wonder, and be wasted, for I work a work in your

G



98 PAUL AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA.

days, a work which ye would not believe, even though one
should describe it to you.' ' : In this quotation, which is
taken from the Septuagint, there is a remarkable variation
from the Hebrew, which reads " Behold ye among the
heathen." The apostle adopted the ancient Hellenistic
version in a Hellenistic synagogue, though that clause
in the original text specified the geographical position
of his hearers, and would have been a very significant
appeal.

In this third and last portion of his address, the apostle
announces the distinctive blessing of the gospel forgive-
ness of sins through this Saviour who had died and risen
again, and was beyond the power of corruption. There-
fore such is the inference, such being His career and
character ; such His relation to prophecy and the Jewish
people ; and such now His exalted position, as the immor-
tal Son of David on His Father's throne : therefore is this
announcement made "Be it known to you" a solemn
preamble, and one also employed by Peter " Be it known
unto you, that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins.' 7 That proclamation reaches the
depths of man's spiritual nature, for it speaks to his
sense of guilt; to that profound agony which ever
haunts him, and has shown itself so often in sacrifices
so costly as that of his first-born for his transgression,
and in pains and tortures, even to suicide. A conscious-
ness of guilt oppresses and stings him, and what are his
altars and victims, but its dark and terrible outlet ? He
struggles for peace with God; and to gain the assurance
that God will regard him with favour, he resorts to



FORGIVENESS. 99

every form and means of propitiation. The apostle
probed the hearts of his audience when he announced
forgiveness uttered the word which every thoughtful
spirit had longed to hear. Did we feel what guilt is, or
what the frequent confession of such guilt implies ; did we
but know what it is to fall into the "hands of an angry
God 5 " could we faintly shadow out the picture of " weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth; " had we any conception
of what is involved in death as the wages of sin then,
how would our heart glow at the mention of forgiveness ;
what an immediate grasp should we lay upon it, and how
we should cherish it as the charter of our freedom and
hopes !

The apostle exclaimed " Through this man to you
forgiveness of sin is proclaimed," laying special emphasis
on the medium " through this one " this one I have
described and proved to be an immortal Saviour. When
had a Jewish synagogue listened to such an announce-
ment? It dealt not with such external blessings as
peace and plenty it amused them not with national
glory or conquest. Neither did it chain them with the
things of sense or time. It spoke not of a leader to break
the yoke of Home, nor of a legislator to give freedom and
security, but of Jesus the Saviour. There was no
promise of the dew of Hermon or the balm of Gilead;
no picture of plenty the olives on Carmel, the vine-
yards of Eschol, the barns of Hebron, or the nets of
Gennesaret. The announcement was meant neither to
equip a camp nor convoke a senate, but to form a church.
It might leave man's civil relations as they were, but it



100 PAUL AT ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA.

gave him a new and blessed relationship to his Maker.
He might remain at Antioch ; but he became a citizen of
the New Jerusalem, the partaker of a circumcision not
made with hands, and the guest at a richer and more
frequent feast than the national passover. He might not
return to his fatherland, but he was enfranchised in a
" better country," and should " come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon his head." The waves of the
Jordan might never meet his vision, but he shall recline on
the bank of the river of " water of life." Forgiveness yes,
forgiveness through this Saviour, is the apostle's message.
This Saviour had died, but had risen again no more to die.
The fact of such immortality is proof that His enterprise
had been completed, and pardon through " this one " is the
news brought by His herald, since it is in consequence of
what He has done and suffered, that the blessing has been
provided, and is now promulgated. According to this brief
report of his address, the apostle does not fully develop the
connection between the death of Christ, and the pardon
secured by it. He alludes to the leading facts, appealing
at once to the experience of his audience, and treating
the subject more as matter of history than doctrine. In
many of his epistles, the apostle gives special prominence
to the forgiveness of sins. And no wonder. It is the first
blessing which a sinner enjoys the curse is taken off
him, and he enjoys peace with God. It comes directly
and at once from the cross of Christ; for He bore 01
guilt, that we might not bear it ourselves. It is coi
nected, too, with every other gift; forgiveness first, an<
all other things shall be added unto us purity, spiril



JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH. 101

strength and progress, all that fits for living and prepares
for dying.

And he does not leave the subject without a farther
illustration and contrast. The contrast gave a vividness to
his meaning, and may have startled his audience " And
by Him, all that believe are justified from all things, from
which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." The
apostle throws his ideas into an antithesis justification
in the law of Moses opposed to justification in Him, for the
words " in Him " belong to the whole clause, and not
simply to the phrase " all who believe." Our common
version reverses entirely the order of the apostle's words,
and so far obscures the sense. In Him, not " by Him,"
is in union with Him; and in the law, is in connection
with it. The apostle's favourite term is now introduced
justified; justified from all things absolved from all