A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech,
and nigh unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it;
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever;
the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold;
sweeter also than the honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned;
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me;
then I shall be upright,
and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer.
JW: The book of the creatures shews us the power and Godhead of the Creator, ver. 1-6; the book of the scriptures shews us his will, the excellency thereof, ver. 7-11; a prayer against sin, ver. 12-14.
1: 'Heavens' - They are as a legible book, wherein he that runs may read it. 'The glory' - His eternal power and Godhead, his infinite wisdom and goodness.
3: 'Heard' - or understood...the heavens are such an universal teacher that they can speak to all people and be clearly understood by all.
4: 'Line' - This expression is very proper, because the heavens do not teach men audibly or by speaking to their ears, but visibly by propounding things to their eyes, which is done in lines or writings.
5: 'Bridegroom' - gloriously adorned with light as with a beautiful garment, and smiling upon the world with a pleasant countenance. 'Chamber' - in which he is poetically supposed to have rested all night, and thence to break forth as it were on a sudden.
6: 'The ends' - His course is constant from east to west, and thence to the east again. So that there is no part of the earth which doth not one time or other feel the benefit of his light and heat.
7: 'The law' - The doctrine delivered to his church, whether by Moses, or by other prophets. Having discoursed hitherto of the glory of God shining forth in the visible heavens, he now proceeds to another demonstration of God's glory, which he compares with and prefers before the former. 'Perfect' - completely discovering both the nature and will of God, and the whole duty of man, what he is to believe and practice, and whatsoever is necessary to his present and eternal happiness. Whereas the creation, although it did declare so much of God as left all men without excuse, yet did not fully manifest the will of God, nor bring men to eternal salvation. 'Converting' - from sin to God, from whom all men are naturally revolted. 'Testimony' - His law, so called because it is a witness between God and man, what God requires of man, and what upon the performance of that condition, he will do for man.
8: 'Rejoicing' - By the discoveries of God's love to sinful men, in offers and promises of mercy... 'The eyes' - of the mind, with a complete manifestation of God's will and man's duty, both of which the works of nature and all the writings of men discover but darkly and imperfectly.
12: 'Who' - Thy law, O Lord, is holy and just and good. But I fall infinitely short of it. 'Cleanse' - Both by justification, through the blood of thy Son, and by sanctification thro' thy Holy Spirit. Though the first may seem to be principally intended, because he speaks of his past sins. 'Secret' - from the guilt of such sins as were secret either: from others, such as none knows but God and my own conscience; or from myself, such as I never observed, or did not discern the evil of. Pardon my unknown sins, of which I never repented particularly, as I should have done.
13: 'Presumptuous' - from known and evident sins, such as are committed against knowledge, against the checks of conscience, and the motions of God's spirit. 'Dominion' - If I be at any time tempted to such sins, Lord let them not prevail over me, and if I do fall into them, let me speedily rise again.
14: 'Let' - Having prayed that God would keep him from sinful actions, he now prays that God would govern and sanctify his words and thoughts; and this was necessary to preserve him from presumptuous sins, which have their first rise in the thoughts. 'Redeemer' - this expression seems to be added emphatically, and with special reference to Christ, to whom alone this word (Goel) can properly belong.
This post has been lengthy enough, so I'm not going to add anything of significance. I thought it was worth posting each of the thoughts above by Wesley. I like especially how he couches his overview of the Psalm in terms of the "book" of creation and the "book" of Scripture. We would do well to realize that these two "books" are not in contrast with one another. All truth, including what is discovered through nature, is God's truth. So if something is discovered that seems contradictory to Scripture, then we need to assess our approach to interpreting both. We shouldn't force the Bible to say something that it is not. But the same also goes for study of the creation.
(Nerd alert: theological take - In reference to the question of whether or not Wesley has a stance on 'natural theology,' I think his interaction with this Psalm has an implicit understanding of prevenient grace. The way he describes the sun, in terms of everyone benefitting from its light and heat, sounds very much congruent with his understanding of prevenient grace, which he sees at work in John 1.9: 'the light which enlightens every man...' This note comes nowhere near to answering the question of 'natural theology' and Wesley, but this just stood out to me.)
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