Bless The Lord, O My Soul!
Signs of the Times 1881:
“Bless The Lord, O My Soul!”
Unto thee, O God, I look; upon thee I call; thou art the refuge of my soul, and in thee alone my soul makes her boast and trusts. Thou art the strength of my life and my hope, from my youth till my old age; for thou didst have mercy upon me, and pardon all my sins, and reveal thy Son in me as thy salvation unto his people and my Redeemer, my life, my righteousness and my glory. Thou, O God, hast given me to rejoice in his name, and he is become my salvation. Yea, I am complete in him in whom all fullness dwells, and with him thou hast freely given me all things. O, my Father, I bless thy holy name for the unspeakable gift of thy beloved Son, whom saints and angels joyfully praise, and upon whom they ascend and descend. He is the brightness of thy glory, and the express image of thy person, and he is the glory of all thy saints. My rejoicing spirit boasts in Jesus, and glorifies thee, my Father, that thou hast given me to him, and him to me, and that thou art my God and Father in him, and hast made me thy son. O goodly heritage! How infinitely blessed and holy my relation to thee, and glorious my inheritance and estate! The heirs of earth and children of pride are poor and mean in comparison, O my blessed Father. For, “My Beloved is mine, and I am his.” Thy holiness, thy heaven, thy eternity of perfect beauty, glory and bliss, are mine – mine in Jesus, who is thine and mine. Holy father, I come to thee in him, I plead his righteousness as mine; his suffering and death, his rejoicing and life, his love and obedience, are mine, mine in him and with him. All he is in thy holy sight, I am this in him. Thou, my Father, hast made thy blessed and holy Son unto me wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption; therefore, I glory in the Lord Jesus, and glorify thee in him. I love thee with my whole heart in him, and loving thee, I serve thee in him. He is my well of living water, springing up in my heart and adoring spirit into everlasting life. O, I praise and bless thee for him. Because he lives, I shall live also. Yea, my Father, I now live and believe in Jesus, and I shall never die. Dead indeed I am unto sin, but alive unto righteousness through my Lord Jesus Christ, who is my life, and I now live in him. My life is hid with him in thee, O God. Yet a little while, and Christ shall appear unto me in glory, and then I shall appear with him in thy presence and glory, and being conformed to his image in my whole spirit and soul and body, when I shall awake with his likeness, I shall be satisfied. Unto this inheritance of life and immortality, holiness and glory in Christ, thy firstborn from the dead, my resurrection and my life, thou hast predestinated me, my Father and God, who worketh all things after the counsel of thine own will, and for the good of them that love thee; therefore my soul makes her boast in thee, and would joyfully triumph in Christ, saying, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”
Beloved brethren, children of the true and living God, I commit the above adoration of my soul to you as a tribute of praise to our God, so that, when I depart to be with Christ, you may be comforted in the divine assurance of faith and hope and love that through Jesus our God hath given me the victory over the last enemy and every foe, and that you may rejoice in hope and say, “Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord.” Clouds are over the sun this morning, yet the Sun of righteousness shines in my soul, and is my life and light, and I am light in the Lord.
All who have written and spoken against me reproachfully, because of the doctrine of Christ, or for any cause, may God forgive them for Christ’s sake, and bless them, as he has blessed me.
Farewell.
D. Bartley
Crawfordsville, Ind.
David Bartley (1826-?) was an American Primitive Baptist preacher. He served the pastorate of several churches and became a popular itinerate preacher traveling to many parts of the United States. He was a frequent contributor to Gilbert Beebe’s the Signs of the Times and was the author of several books.
