Now there are many reasons which induce a truly converted man to labour for the spiritual benefit of others. First, there is the dishonour which men, in an unconverted state, cast upon God. This feeling operated on the mind of the psalmist, when he exclaimed (Ps. cxix. 53), "Horror hath taken hold of me, because of the wicked who forsake thy law." For when men forsake God's law, they declare that they are little impressed with a sense of the divine majesty and infinite goodness of the Almighty; that they are not anxious to know his will; that his threatenings alarm them not; that his promises in no way affect their hearts; that, in fact, they are not desirous of that favour which rests upon those only who walk in the path of his commandments. The psalmist's zeal and jealousy for the glory of God were fully manifested by his anxiety to erect a house, in some respects suitable for the divine worship; by his earnest expressions, that the divine glory should be made known throughout the world, as when he exclaims "Tell it out among the heathen, that the Lord reigneth;" and this holy desire rendered every action, by which there was the most slight appearance of dishonour being cast upon Jehovah, abominable in his sight. When he reflected on his own departure from the law of his God, on those acts which had caused the enemies of the truth to blaspheme, he was indeed filled with horror. The language uttered, when from the depths he supplicated the divine forgiveness, powerfully demonstrates the agony of his soul--convinces us that his repentance was sincere, and that he was anxious that in every action of his life he might for the future glorify that Being whose gracious hand had conducted him through his earthly pilgrimage--whose favour had raised him to the throne of Israel--the light of whose countenance had cheered him in many a dark and dreary hour--and whose comforts had refreshed his soul, when in the multitude of the thoughts within him he became dispirited and perplexed. The first and great commandment is, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart." The psalmist loved God, and on this account he was desirous that he should be had in reverence of all his intelligent creatures. He loved God; he was seized with horror when he beheld myriads uninfluenced by this principle, living in disobedience to this first commandment.