“Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright:  For the end of that man is peace.” *

* Preached at the funeral of Asa Witter, Esq.  Oct. 9th, 1792.

The subject of this psalm is the way and end of the righteous and the wicked.  It is designed to calm the minds of good people when tried with adversity, and to reconcile them to the divine administration in the unequal distributions of Providence, and the apparent disregard of character, in those distributions.  With these views, the writer, after glancing at the lives of saints and sinners, calls our attention to their end, noting the manner of their exit out of life.

The text relates to the righteous.  In discoursing upon it, We shall consider the excellence of their characters, and their peaceful end; and add a few reflections.

I. We are to consider the excellence of their characters.  Mark the perfect man and behold the upright.—­

The perfect man.—­This may seem a strange representation of an imperfect creature—­a creature which viewed in the glass of the divine law appears deformed, and tried by the perfect rule must be condemned —­a creature whose best services can find acceptance with God, only on the plan of grace!  For such is man since the apostasy—­such the saints feel and confess themselves.  But however strange the representation, it is drawn by the pen of inspiration, and applied tothe saints.

Perfection is sometimes attributed to particular saints.  “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generation.”  Similar is the description given of Job.  “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job:  And that man was perfect and upright.”

In the text, the term perfect, hath not a particular reference, but refers generally, to those who have been renewed by divine grace.  But when applied to a fallen creature it must be understood with limitation.  We have seen it applied to Job:  Hear him then speaking of himself—­“If I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me.  If I say I am perfect it shall prove me perverse.”

St. John held a high rank among the faithful; yet speaking of the saints, and including himself, he observes—­“If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us—­If We confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins”. * St. Paul had before declared that “there is none righteous, and that the Scripture hath concluded all under sin.”

* 1 John i. 8-10.

In what sense then are the saints perfect?  And wherein consists the excellence of their character?

1.  The saints are perfect in Christ.  “In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”  His righteousness is made theirs.  “They are complete in him.  He is made of God unto them wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption.”  In this view every good man is a perfect man.