II.
The General Scope of the Psalm.
"Like unto ships far off at sea,
Outward or homeward bound are we:
Before, behind, and all around
Floats and swings the horizon's bound;
Seems at its outer rims to rise,
And climb the crystal wall of the skies;
And then again to turn and sink,
As if we could slide from its outer brink.
Ah! it is not the sea that sinks and shelves,
But ourselves
That rock and rise
With endless and uneasy motion—
Now touching the very skies,
Now sinking into the depths of ocean."
"The Scriptures have laid a flat opposition between faith and sense. We live by faith and not by sense. They are two buckets—the life of faith and the life of sense; when one goes up, the other goes down."—Bridge, 1637.
"There are twins striving within me; a Jacob and an Esau. I can, through Thy grace, imitate Thy choice, and say with Thee, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Blessed God! make Thou that word of Thine good in me, that the elder shall serve the younger."—Bishop Hall, 1656.