291 Give unto Jehovah, ye sons of the mighty ones, give unto Jehovah glory and strength; 2 Give unto Jehovah the glory of his name; worship Jehovah in holy splendour. 3 The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth,—Jehovah upon great waters. 4 The voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is full of majesty. 5 The voice of Jehovah breaketh cedars; yea, Jehovah breaketh the cedars of Lebanon: 6 And he maketh them to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young buffalo. 7 The voice of Jehovah cleaveth out flames of fire. 8 The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness; Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to calve, and layeth bare the forests; and in his temple doth every one say, Glory! 10 Jehovah sitteth upon the flood; yea, Jehovah sitteth as king for ever. 11 Jehovah will give strength unto his people; Jehovah will bless his people with peace.
301 A Psalm of David: dedication-song of the house. I will extol thee, Jehovah; for thou hast delivered me, and hast not made mine enemies to rejoice over me. 2 Jehovah my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. 3 Jehovah, thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, thou hast quickened me from among those that go down to the pit. 4 Sing psalms unto Jehovah, ye saints of his, and give thanks in remembrance of his holiness. 5 For a moment [is passed] in his anger, a life in his favour; at even weeping cometh for the night, and at morn there is rejoicing.
6 As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. 7 Jehovah, by thy favour thou hadst made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face; I was troubled. 8 I called to thee, Jehovah, and unto the Lord did I make supplication: 9 What profit is there in my blood, in my going down to the pit? shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth? 10 Hear, O Jehovah, and be gracious unto me; Jehovah, be my helper. 11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; 12 That [my] glory may sing psalms of thee, and not be silent. Jehovah my God, I will praise thee for ever.
231 And Paul, fixing his eyes on the council, said, Brethren, I have walked in all good conscience with God unto this day. 2 But the high priest Ananias ordered those standing by him to smite his mouth. 3 Then Paul said to him, God will smite thee, whited wall. And thou, dost thou sit judging me according to the law, and breaking the law commandest me to be smitten? 4 And those that stood by said, Dost thou rail against the high priest of God? 5 And Paul said, I was not conscious, brethren, that he was high priest; for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evilly of the ruler of thy people.
6 But Paul, knowing that the one part [of them] were of the Sadducees and the other of the Pharisees, cried out in the council, Brethren, I am a Pharisee, son of Pharisees: I am judged concerning the hope and resurrection of [the] dead. 7 And when he had spoken this, there was a tumult of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the multitude was divided. 8 For Sadducees say there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but Pharisees confess both of them. 9 And there was a great clamour, and the scribes of the Pharisees' part rising up contended, saying, We find nothing evil in this man; and if a spirit has spoken to him, or an angel ... 10 And a great tumult having arisen, the chiliarch, fearing lest Paul should have been torn in pieces by them, commanded the troop to come down and take him by force from the midst of them, and to bring [him] into the fortress. 11 But the following night the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good courage; for as thou hast testified the things concerning me at Jerusalem, so thou must bear witness at Rome also.
12 And when it was day, the Jews, having banded together, put themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they should kill Paul. 13 And they were more than forty who had joined together in this oath; 14 and they went to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have cursed ourselves with a curse to taste nothing until we kill Paul. 15 Now therefore do ye with the council make a representation to the chiliarch so that he may bring him down to you, as about to determine more precisely what concerns him, and we, before he draws near, are ready to kill him.
(Read Acts 23:1-5)
See here the character of an honest man. He sets God before him, and lives as in his sight. He makes conscience of what he says and does, and, according to the best of his knowledge, he keeps from whatever is evil, and cleaves to what is good. He is conscientious in all his words and conduct. Those who thus live before God, may, like Paul, have confidence both toward God and man. Though the answer of Paul contained a just rebuke and prediction, he seems to have been too angry at the treatment he received in uttering them. Great men may be told of their faults, and public complaints may be made in a proper manner; but the law of God requires respect for those in authority.
(Read Acts 23:6-11)
The Pharisees were correct in the faith of the Jewish church. The Sadducees were no friends to the Scripture or Divine revelation; they denied a future state; they had neither hope of eternal happiness, nor dread of eternal misery. When called in question for his being a Christian, Paul might truly say he was called in question for the hope of the resurrection of the dead. It was justifiable in him, by this profession of his opinion on that disputed point, to draw off the Pharisees from persecuting him, and to lead them to protect him from this unlawful violence. How easily can God defend his own cause! Though the Jews seemed to be perfectly agreed in their conspiracy against religion, yet they were influenced by very different motives. There is no true friendship among the wicked, and in a moment, and with the utmost ease, God can turn their union into open enmity. Divine consolations stood Paul in the most stead; the chief captain rescued him out of the hands of cruel men, but the event he could not tell. Whoever is against us, we need not fear, if the Lord stand by us. It is the will of Christ, that his servants who are faithful, should be always cheerful. He might think he should never see Rome; but God tells him, even in that he should be gratified, since he desired to go there only for the honour of Christ, and to do good.
(Read Acts 23:12-24)
False religious principles, adopted by carnal men, urge on to such wickedness, as human nature would hardly be supposed capable of. Yet the Lord readily disappoints the best concerted schemes of iniquity. Paul knew that the Divine providence acts by reasonable and prudent means; and that, if he neglected to use the means in his power, he could not expect God's providence to work on his behalf. He who will not help himself according to his means and power, has neither reason nor revelation to assure him that he shall receive help from God. Believing in the Lord, we and ours shall be kept from every evil work, and kept to his kingdom. Heavenly Father, give us by thy Holy Spirit, for Christ's sake, this precious faith.
