“This psalm seems to have been placed first in the collection, because, from its general character and subject, it formed a suitable introduction to the rest. It treats of the blessedness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked—topics which constantly recur in the psalms, but it treats of them as if all experience pointed only in one direction. The moral problem which in other psalms troubles the ancient poets of Israel, when they see the avil prospering and the good oppressed, has here no place. The poet rests calmly in the truth that it is well with the righteous. He is not vexed with those passionate questionings of heart which meet us in such psalms as the 37th and 73d. Hence we may probably conclude that his lot was cast in happier and more peaceful times.”—Perowne.THE BLESSED LIFE(Psalms 1:1-3.) Consider: I. The secret of the blessed life. “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,” &c. (Psalms 1:1.) Wherever blessedness is to be found, it is not in these directions. What a direct contradiction is this first verse to the world’s philosophy! To keep the law may be safe, but it is to walk in the common light of day; to follow one’s own counsels is to dwell in the purple light of pleasure. So argues the natural man; and here the Psalmist gives a flat denial to his argument. The world is wrong; the Psalmist is right. Blessed is the man who abstains from ungodly policy, iniquitous action, scornful use of things divine and holy. According to a custom which is generally recognised in Central Africa, whenever a caravan mistakes its way, and is obliged to retrace its steps and return to a road from which it has deviated, a bough is thrown across the wrong path, and a furrow is scratched in the ground by means of the feet, so that no succeeding caravan may fall into the same error. Thus the generations which have gone astray have declared that the ways of ungodliness and sin are ways of bitterness and disappointment, and they have left their emphatic and sorrowful testimonies as boughs and furrows across these false ways, to admonish us to seek another and a truer path. But a merely negative goodness will not ensure us true blessedness, therefore the Psalmist proceeds to lay down the grand secret of blessedness in profound spiritual words. “But his delight is in the law of the Lord.” How truly profound! How superior to the superficial theories of happiness which human moralists have from time to time put forth! Whichcote truly says: “Duty and happiness are vital acts, and must be put forth from vital principles.” The vital principle is here declared. “The philosophers’ discourses of this subject are but learned dotages. David saith more to the point in this short psalm than any or all of them put together; they did but beat the bush. God hath put the bird into our hands.”—Trapp. The secret of bliss is the right attitude of the soul to the truth of God. 1. A right relation of the will to the law of God. “But his will is in the law of the Lord.”—Luther. The bias of the will is toward Divine truth. The “ungodly” are self-willed, and walk after their own “counsel;” the “blessed” man consults the Divine will, and is ever longing for the path of God’s commandments. “The ‘will’ which is here signified is that delight of heart, and that certain pleasure, in the law, which does not look at what the law promises, nor at what it threatens, but at this only, that ‘the law is holy, and just, and good.’ Hence it is not only a love of the law, but that loving delight in the law which no prosperity, nor adversity, nor the world, nor the prince of it, can either take away or destroy; for it victoriously bursts its way through poverty, evil report, the cross, death, and hell, and in the midst of adversities shines the brightest.”—Luther, quoted by Spurgeon. 2. A right relation of the affections to the law of God. “His delight.” “The law is more than a mere rule, after which the man is to frame his outward life.”—Perowne. It fills with admiration and delight. But can the law of God thus excite the affections and rejoice the heart? Yes; for, as Festus sings— “Law is love defined.”The godly man beholds in the spiritual law the declaration of the Divine nature, which is essential love, and he delights in that law after the inner man. 3. A right relation of the intelligence to the law of God. “He meditates on the law day and night.” We must know the law if we are to perceive its beauty and appreciate its worth, and the more we know of it, the greater shall be our joy in it. Many skim the Bible as a novel, when they should ponder it, and master it, line by line, like a grammar. He who is ignorant of the Divine law, or misconceives it, cannot know true freedom and blessedness; but he whose eyes are opened to the deep things of the law, walks at liberty, and knows peace unspeakable. Let us not seek bliss in things of time and sense, but let us labour to know the will of God, and to have our hearts harmonised with that will, and we shall find rest to our souls. Consider: II. The picture of the blessed life. “He shall be like a tree planted,” &c. (Psalms 1:3.) 1. The security of this blessedness. “Planted by the rivers of water.” “Planted” means firmly planted. “Rivers,” indicate unfailing refreshment of spirit; the streams of Divine truth and influence. Carnal joys flourish and wither with changing circumstances, but his joy abides whose life is rooted in God. “His soul, watered by the streams of Paradise, knows not the parched season of the sunburnt heath.”—Sutcliffe. “By the side of the streams in the East may be seen trees, at all seasons covered with luxurious verdure, blossoms, or fruit; whilst at a distance, where no water is, may be seen dwarfish and unhealthy trees, with scarcely a leaf to shake in the winds of heaven.”—Roberts. Thus, drinking supplies from the living streams of God’s truth, our life is ever strong and blessed, whilst we faint and fade where no such water is. 2. The manifestation of this blessedness. The godly man is known by the beneficence of his life. “Bringeth forth his fruit in his season.” The truly blessed life is a life of beneficence; and if we delight in God’s law, it shall perfect our individual character, fit us for the sphere and season in which we live, and make us a blessing to our generation. “As with a palm-tree, all that is in it is profitable—leaves, wood, and fruit—so also with the Christian, all that he does is to redound to the honour of the Divine name and the benefit of his neighbour.”—Starke. The godly man is known by the beauty of his character. “His leaf also shall not wither.” As the foliage of the tree is its beauty and glory, so shall delight in the law of the Lord give grace and majesty to the character. In inner rectitude is the secret of all true and high visible excellence; out of a heart right with God spring all the poetry and utilities of life. 3. The perpetuity of this blessedness. The tree by the watercourses abides in bloom and fruition, and the joy and glory which spring in the heart and life of the lover of God’s Word are perennial and permanent. Our scientific gardeners enthusiastically anticipate the day when, through special culture, all our roses will have evergreen foliage, brilliant and fragrant flowers, and the habit of blooming for a greater part of the year. He whose life is grounded in the Divine truth and goodness, who draws daily vitality from the river of God’s pleasure, is an evergreen, and blooms all the year long, all life long, and death itself cannot blight his glory, or destroy his joy. 4. The universality of this blessedness. “And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” “He shall prosper in whatsoever he doeth.”—Wordsworth. Deference to the law of God secures universal prosperity. God’s blessing is on all the handiwork of the godly, and directs it to blessed and prosperous issues. “Oh! the blessednesses” of the man who delights in the law of the Lord. As we long for the beatitudes, let us put ourselves in God’s hands. “Planted by the river.” “This is properly used of a transplanted tree. He is not left to the efforts of nature, but taken beneath the gardener’s care, and placed in a favourable soil.”—Kay. “Man is righteous, not by birth or nature, or through his own power, skill, or activity, but by the Divine agency, through the means of grace which Divine mercy has established for us, as a tree planted by an abundant and flowing brook, if he, like the tree, take up into his own life, from the means afforded him by God, that which is necessary to his life and growth.”—Moll. May God take us from the wilds of nature, graft us into Christ, nourish us by the influence of the Holy Spirit, and thus shall we bear our fruit unto holiness, and in the end everlasting life. THE OF EVILPsa_1:1“A climax is to be noted here in the choice of expressions. Thus we have, first, three degrees of habit, in the verbs ‘walked,’ ‘stood,’ ‘sat;’ next, three degrees of evil in the character, the ‘wicked,’ the ‘sinners,’ and the ‘mockers;’ lastly, three degrees of openness in the evil-doing, ‘counsel,’ ‘way,’ ‘seat.’ ”—Perowne.We see here: I. The evil life in its inception. “Walketh in the counsel of the ungodly.” The word used in the original for “ungodly” signifies the “loose man, the man loose from God.”—Delitzsch. We see here that ungodliness is the source of all evil; “becoming loose to God,” is the point of departure to positive and universal unrighteousness. This great truth is often forgotten; and where actual sin would be denounced, ungodliness is often regarded with in dulgence. Indeed, that temper of mind which is loose from God is by many considered the most philosophic and desirable condition of the mind; the morality loose from God, the truest morality; the science loose from God, the wisest science; the character loose from God, the most sound and noble character. The Psalmist in this place indicates the profound error of such reasoning. Looseness from God, ungodliness, is the original and fertile source of all transgression. Enmity with God is enmity with righteousness. The Psalmist teaches this same doctrine of the connection of atheism with transgression in Psalms 14:1 : “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” Beware of ungodly thoughts! Beware of a morality not built upon theology! Beware of an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God! And this ungodliness seeks to justify itself. “The counsel of the ungodly.” Men are anxious that their opinions and conduct should have the sanction of reason, and so they seek to justify their ungodliness to their understanding. “No one sins without making some excuse to himself for sinning. He is obliged to do so: man is not like the brute beasts; he has a Divine gift within him which we call reason, and which constrains him to give an account to it for what he does. He cannot act at random; however he acts, he must act by some kind of rule or some sort of principle, else he is vexed and dissatisfied with himself. Not that he is very particular whether he finds a good reason or a bad, when he is very much straitened for a reason, but a reason of some sort he must have.”—Newman. Reason is never used in a more unnatural, ignoble, hopeless task, than when it is pressed into the service of atheism and irreligion: but it is pressed into such service, tortured and perverted, until the godless theory of life is “sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,” and looks a very clever and plausible thing. The maxims which are used to justify a godless science and a godless life are essentially stupid and false, yet how frequently they wear a most philosophic air! Here, then, is the beginning of evil—an irreligious, ungodly way of thinking. II. The evil life in its development. 1. “Standeth in the way of sinners.” By “sinners” are intended those “who pass their lives in sin, especially coarse and manifest sin.”—Delitzsch. “Open and avowed offenders, habitual transgressors.”—Kay. Here sinful thought has passed into conduct, action, life. We cannot hold unbelieving theories with impunity. Ideas rule men, ideas rule the world, and ideas fundamentally false, as are those of atheism, must soon work disaster, both in individual and national life. He who in thought lingers on the forbidden ground of scepticism, next takes his place with actual offenders against the law. Nothing is more evident than that loose thinking and loose living go together. 2. “Sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” “The scornful are the men who deride the thought of religious obligation.”—Kay. They delight in the company of those who scoff at religion. This state, and it is soon reached, argues the most desperate wickedness. There is something so exalted in reverence, that some commentators have expressed a sentiment of respect for Jacob, who buried his false gods with tenderness; but how utterly dead to every noble quality is the man who can blaspheme the true God and His Word! Here the poison-seed of unbelief has opened into the full-blown flower of wickedness. “The beginnings of sin are modest, the issues of it are impudent.”—Whichcote. III. The evil life in its consummation. The man is blessed who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly; it follows that he is cursed who does follow ungodly counsels and conduct. “Cursed in his counsels, cursed in his actions, cursed in his end.”—Clarke. The further he goes, the further he is from blessedness. We are reminded in this verse: 1. Of the insinuating nature of sin. It glides stealthily into the heart—stealthily into the life. 2. Of the prolific nature of sin. One sin leads to another sin; one sin leads to a darker sin; one sin leads to many sins. It is a traveller’s tale which tells that the Indian spiders weave webs so strong that men are sometimes imprisoned by them; but it is no fable that from the gossamer threads of ungodly thoughts, and slender transgressions, come at length dark convictions and habits which hold men in most cruel bondage. 3. Of the accursed nature of sin. It fills with misery; it ends in death. What God curses withers away. Let us pray, then, that we enter not into the path of the wicked. RESULTS(Psalms 1:4-6.) I. The destinies of men are various. The godly flourish evermore: “The ungodly are not so.” The pious and the wicked are together in this world, but the text indicates that a separation will be effected. “They are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.” “This allusion describes the instability of the principles of the ungodly, rather than of their fortunes. Their want of principle is opposed to the good man’s steady meditation of Jehovah’s law, which is the foundation of his prosperity. On the other hand, because the ungodly want this principle, therefore they shall not stand in the judgment.”—Horsley. The ungodly have instability of principle, and therefore instability of fortune. “Their glory shall not descend after them.” II. The destinies of men are decided by their moral character and conduct. “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.” “Because they are like chaff, without root below, without fruit above, without spiritual vitality; therefore, on account of their inner worthlessness and instability, they do not stand.”—Delitzsch. “Although the ungodly are in similar circumstances with the righteous, yet they derive no profit from this favourable circumstance. They are spiritually dead and withered. That which has matured in them has faded prematurely; for they have not appropriated to themselves the nourishment of life, and they have not formed in themselves the faculty for this appropriation. Without root and without sap, they have not attained any vigour, nor brought forth any fruit (Matthew 21:19). Thus they have ripened only for destruction; unsubstantial and worthless as chaff, the sport of the wind until scattered by the storm, they go to destruction, and leave no trace behind.”—Moll. And the righteous stand because they are righteous. Not chance, not social rank, not birth, not intellectual culture, not religious profession, not Divine decrees, shall determine our destiny, but our spirit and course of life. III. The destinies of men are as widely contrasted as their character. The righteous bloom for ever in the paradise of God; the wicked are driven away as chaff in the whirlwind of the Divine anger. “Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12). And this teaching of the Scriptures commends itself to reason. “Nothing is more credible than that men’s states shall differ as much as their spirits and tempers do differ.”—Whichcote. Blessed is the man whose will and life are thoroughly identified with the Divine law; for the law shall stand for ever, and none shall suffer loss who enjoy its shelter! “It is quite impossible now to say what the event was which occasioned this poem. The older interpreters referred it to David, and the attacks made upon him by the Philistines (2 Samuel 5). But though the poem was occasioned by some national event, we must not confine its application to that event, nor need we even suppose that the singer himself did not feel that his words went beyond their first occasion. He begins to speak of an earthly king, and his wars with the nations of the earth, but his words are too great to have all their meaning exhausted in David, or Solomon, or Ahaz, or any Jewish monarch. Or ever he is aware, the local and the temporal are swallowed up in the universal and the eternal. The king who sits on David’s throne has become glorified and transfigured in the light of the promise. The picture is half ideal, half actual. It concerns itself with the present, but with that only so far as it is typical of greater things to come. The true King, who to the Prophet’s mind is to fulfil all his largest hopes, has taken the place of the visible and earthly king. The nations are not merely those who are now mustering for the battle, but whatsoever opposeth and exalteth itself against Jehovah and His Anointed.”—Perowne.THE HOLY WARWhilst we ought to be careful, and not fall into the mistake of the mystical interpreters, who see the prefiguration of the Messiah in almost every psalm, we must not fall into the far greater error of the rationalistic critics, who cannot find predictions of the Messiah in any. In nature, types are always thrown off before the archetype appears; outline sketches are given long before the ideal is realised. And we are perfectly justified in finding in the character and history of David the rough outline and prefiguration of the glorious ideal King, whose reign is a reign of righteousness, and whose kingdom cannot be moved. In this psalm we have a vivid picture of The revolt against Messiah. Consider: I. The extent of the revolt. “Nations.” “Peoples.” “Kings.” “Rulers” (Psalms 2:1-2). The reign and kingdom of Christ has always encountered violent opposition. The decree is, “Rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies;” and Christ has ever had to contend with opposition to His generous aims. He has encountered this opposition— (1.) In all nations—Jew, Roman, Greek. (2.) In all ranks. “Kings,” “peoples;” monarchs, and mobs have resisted the Christian faith, and joined to crush it. (3.) In all generations. Christ was rejected by His own age (Acts 4:27); and the pages of Church history are crowded with the records of a warfare that has never slept since the Church was founded; and, unless we misread the Apocalypse, fierce and bloody days are yet before the Church of Christ. II. The determination by which this revolt is characterised. It is (1.) Deliberate. “They take counsel.” They “imagine,” i.e., devise. They ponder in their heart, and bring forth their strongest reasons and most subtle schemes. (2.) Combined. “They take counsel together.” Strange combinations have been, and still are being, formed against Christ. (3.) Resolute. “Set themselves.” “Stand up against.”—Prayer-Book. “The word used here is the word used of Goliath taking up his station to defy Israel.”—Kay. A most resolute and defiant attitude. “One would have expected that so great a blessing to this world should have been universally welcomed and embraced, and that every sheaf should immediately have bowed to that of the Messiah, and all the crowns and sceptres on earth should have been laid at His feet; but it proves quite contrary. Never were the notions of any sect of philosophers, though never so absurd, nor the power of any prince or state, though never so tyrannical, opposed with so much violence as the doctrine and government of Christ.”—M. Henry. “We will not have this man to reign over us” (Luke 19:14). III. The secret cause of this revolt. “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Psalms 2:3). They rebel against the law of God in Christ. The law of God, as declared in Christ, is a law requiring great denials and sacrifices to men, the foundations of whose nature are out of course; and for this reason it is distasteful to us, and we reject it. “Doctrines would be readily believed if they involved in them no precepts; and the Church may be tolerated by the world if she will only give up her discipline.”—Horne. The yoke of Christ is easy, and His burden light to the penitent and enlightened heart; but to the blind and self-willed the law of Christ is as the “bands” and “cords” which the yoked oxen are eager to cast off. Men may give a score reasons for their hostility to Christ, such as the incredibility of miracles, the faults of Christians, &c., but the final reason for His rejection is to be found in those laws of truth and love and purity which regulate His kingdom, and which are bright as gold and soft as silk to the righteous, but which are to the disobedient and lawless hateful as the hangman’s noose. IV. The vanity of this opposition to Christ. 1. The unreasonableness of it. It is vain in the sense of being unreasonable. “Why do the heathen rage?” This is a question to which no satisfactory answer can be given. Christ is the most blessed King, and wherever He reigns blessings abound. Why reject Him? It is a vain, foolish act. To all His enemies we ask, “What evil hath He done?” Statesmen are against Him, and yet they cannot shut their eyes to the fact that His religion makes grand nations; philosophers are against Him, and yet they cannot deny but that He has lit up the intellectual sphere with a most precious and benign light; moralists are against Him, and yet they confess His character to be unique and unapproachable in its sublime beauty and goodness. All sinners are against Him; and yet in their deepest heart they know Him to be love, His law to be right, His kingdom to be the kingdom of heaven. To oppose Christ is madness, blind passion, suicidal folly, for He is the sinner’s friend, the Desire of the nations. 2. The uselessness of it. It is “vain” in the sense of being useless. The physical man might sooner hope to free himself from the law of gravitation, than the man moral expect to shake himself loose from the law and dominion of Christ. It is God’s declared will that Christ shall reign, and that all things shall be put under His feet (Psalms 2:7-8). “The day of Christ’s coronation was the day of His resurrection.”—Perowne. (Psalms 2:7.) By virtue of His atoning work He has become the King of kings, and He shall reign for ever and ever (Daniel 7:9-14). God holds in contempt the enemies of His Son (Psalms 2:4). “With the rage and exertion of His enemies the poet sets in beautiful contrast the laughing quiet of his God, who can with one word bring these proceedings to naught.”—De Wette. And all the rage of the unbelieving fails to destroy Messiah’s kingdom. “The ungodly storm and rage against the pious, excite all their counsels against them. But all this is as the stormy, swollen waves of the sea, which rush along as if they would break down the shore, but before they reach the shore they quiet down again, vanish in themselves, or break up with a little foam upon the shore.”—Luther. “The Church is oppressed but not suppressed.”—Moll. And God shall at length cover all Christ’s enemies with confusion and ruin (Psalms 2:9). “He shall break them,” &c. Is not the Jewish nation a signal illustration of this? Nations and men who set themselves against Christ perish. We see here then the utter vanity of all attempts to injure the throne of God’s Anointed King,—Messiah. The Psalmist concludes: 1. With an admonition. “Be wise now,” &c. (Psalms 2:10.) “Be wise.” Let the princes exalt Christ in their kingdoms, in their hearts; let all know the folly and fruitlessness of resisting Him. One of the Roman philosophers remarked to the Emperor Adrian, “I never dispute with a prince who has twenty-four legions in his service.” “All power is given unto Christ,” and this power is based on love and righteousness, and woe unto those who resist the Saviour-King. When His wrath blazes forth they “perish from the way” (Psalms 2:12). “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44). “It shall grind him to powder,” meant a destruction utter, and hopeless, and everlasting, and without remedy. Ground—ground to powder! Any life left in that? any gathering up of that, and making a man of it again? All the humanity battered out of it, and the life clean gone from it? Does not that sound very much like everlasting destruction “from the presence of God and from the glory of His power”! Christ, silent now, will begin to speak; passive now, will begin to act. The stone comes down, and the fall of it will be awful! “I remember, away up in a lonely Highland valley, where, beneath a tall black cliff, all weatherworn, and cracked, and seamed, there lies at the foot, resting on the green-award that creeps round its base, a huge rock that has fallen from the face of the precipice. A shepherd was passing beneath it; and suddenly, when the finger of God’s will touched it, and rent it from its ancient bed in the everlasting rock, it came down, leaping and bounding from pinnacle to pinnacle—and it fell; and the man that was beneath it is there now! ‘Ground to powder.’ Ah, my brethren! that is not my illustration—that is Christ’s. Therefore I say to you, since all that stand against Him shall become as ‘the chaff of the summer threshing-floor,’ and be swept utterly away, make Him the foundation on which you build; and when the storm sweeps away every ‘refuge of lies,’ you will be safe and serene, builded upon the Rock of Ages.”—Maclaren. “Be wise now.” Fools do that at last which wise men do at first. 2. With a direction. “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalms 2:11). With fear, because of His greatness and holiness; with joy, because His law is love, and His service freedom. 3. With a persuasion. “Kiss the Son,” &c. (Psalms 2:12.) “Do Him homage.” His wrath may kindle suddenly, and if it does, we “perish from the right way.”—Prayer-Book. “The power of Christ will be manifested in all, by the destruction either of sin or the sinner.”—Horne. “Blessed are all they,” &c. “Only those who reject the breath of love, feel the iron of justice.”—Moll. Let Him break the law of sin with a rod of iron, let Him dash to pieces our had heart as a potter’s vessel, but let us put our trust in Him, and He shall save our souls alive. THE REIGN OF CHRIST(Psalms 2:6-12.) We have here a description of Christ’s mediatorial reign. Observe: I. Its sovereignty. Psalms 2:6. Christ is here exalted above all kings and nations. His throne is set above all earthly thrones; on His head are many crowns. The supreme power is in the hands of the Messiah. II. Its authority. Psalms 2:7. “I will declare what God has decreed.”—Horsley. “The kings of Israel derived their authority from God; they were appointed to execute His laws; and being God’s vicegerents, they were in their official capacity styled gods, or sons of God.”—Phillips. So is Christ’s administration of Divine authority, but in a peculiar and pre-eminent sense. He is not a son of God, but the Son of God. And Christ was not made the Son of God in the incarnation or in the resurrection, but He was in those great events manifested as such. “He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3-4). Christ is of Divine nature; His redeeming work was Divine work; and His mediatorial reign is of Divine authority and force. III. Its universality. Psalms 2:8. “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and aims to restore all. IV. Its irresistibility. Psalms 2:9. “The enemies of Christ suppose that His sceptre is still a reed, as in the time of His sufferings; but they will be obliged to experience, some day, to their greatest shame, the iron sceptre in His hand.”—Moll. V. Its graciousness. Psalms 2:10, &c. Its grand design is to save and bless. FORCES(Psalms 2:11.) “Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” The scientist tells us that the laws of nature are arranged on the principle of antagonistic forces; and it is somewhat thus with the laws of the Christian life. I. We describe the two states of feeling to which the text refers. 1. “Serve the Lord with fear.” There are two kinds of fear—servile and filial. The latter is indicated here. A noble sensitiveness, an anxious conscientiousness, a salutary apprehensiveness. “With trembling.” “With diffidence. The thing meant is that sort of fear which arises from a man’s diffidence of his own strength and power.”—Horsley. 2. “And rejoice.” Be glad in the Lord, and in His service. “Take satisfaction, joy, and glory to yourselves in becoming His servants. But let it be a holy, temperate joy, fearful of offence, not heedless and presumptuous, verging on the licentious kind.”—Horsley. We observe: II. These two states of feeling are not incompatible. Fear and joy are only apparently contradictory. We often see in nature how apparently contradictory materials and forces blend. Oxygen and nitrogen may be spoken of as contradictory gases, but they are really complementary, and, combined in due proportions, make the sweet and vital atmosphere. Attraction and repulsion seem to be contradictory forces, but are really complementary, and their combined action preserves the universe in harmonic movement. Forces, laws, phenomena, which appear contradictory are really complementary, and from their combined action spring the glories and melodies of creation. Thus is it in Christian experience. States of feeling which are apparently contradictory are really correlative. Joy and sorrow, weakness and strength, fear and comfort; these different states of feeling are often co-existent in the Christian heart. III. These two states of feeling are essential to the security and development of the Christian life. They not only may, but they ought to exist together. We ought to fear. Some Christians are distressed because they feel this emotion. They need not. “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” The brighter the star the more it trembles. As the needle trembles to the pole, so should our soul tremble to its God We ought to rejoice. Pliny tells us of some strange tribes who dwelt in caves because they were afraid of the sunshine; we have known Christians similarly afraid of sunshine. Be not afraid of joy. Let Him lead you into green pastures. “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say rejoice.” “There must ever be a holy fear mixed with the Christian’s joy. This is a sacred compound, yielding a sweet smell; and we must see to it that we burn no other upon the altar. Fear without joy is torment; and joy without holy fear would be presumption.”—Spurgeon. There must be the two states of feeling, and they must be duly balanced. If we give too much place to fear, it destroys the freedom, nobility, and joyfulness of the soul; if we give too much place to joy, it renders the soul relaxed and light. And these two states of feeling, completing and balancing each other, secure the true development and perfection of the soul. The laws of nature are arranged on the principle of antagonistic forces, and the constant struggle to maintain the equilibrium fills creation with motion, life, music, beauty, and fruitfulness. So weakness and strength, joy and sorrow, solicitude and comfort, hope and fear, are the antagonistic forces of the soul, and in the constant struggle to secure the equilibrium, the moral nature is being exercised, enlarged, and perfected. AND Introduction“The preceding psalm had set before us the utter vanity of all attempts to injure the throne of God’s anointed King—Messiah. The present psalm relates to that incident in David’s life which stands as the typical instance of rebellion against God’s kingdom;—as the type, therefore, of the working of Antichrist.”—Kay.I. The majority without God. 1. The greatness of the majority. “How are they increased.” “Many are they” (Psalms 3:1). “Many there be” (Psalms 3:2). “Ten thousands of people, that have set themselves” (Psalms 3:6). Nearly all Israel had deserted the king (2 Samuel 15:12). How often has goodness to find itself outvoted! How often has the man of God to feel a sense of solitude and desolation! Thus Christ. Thus the Church has often been outnumbered by its enemies, again and again. A few holy men have had to struggle against the weight of governments, the influence of the press, the omnipotence of wealth, the organisation of parties, the fury of mobs, and sometimes the power of the pulpit. And the believer feels the air is full of foes: his adversaries are “legion.” He feels that he is alone contending with dark hosts of sins, doubts, fears, and sorrows. “They set themselves round about.” They swarm on every hand, and fix themselves in battle array. The odds were overwhelmingly against the Psalmist; so are the odds overwhelmingly against the Church of Christ, and against the souls which trust in Christ. 2. The bitterness of the majority. “Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God” (Psalms 3:2). “He has offended God: and God, who was his strength, has forsaken him. God will no longer save him. He is a reprobate.”—Kay. “God as well as man is against him; his destruction is certain; prayer itself will be of no avail.”—Perowne (2 Samuel 16:8). His enemies breathe out cruelty. “The words of the adversaries pronounce a judgment upon his inmost life, or upon his personal relationship to God.”—Delitzsch. ‘God,’ they cried, ‘has deserted him.’ And the Psalmist knew that their reproach was not without seeming justification. He knew that his own sin lay at the bottom of this insurrection. “David had plunged himself into the deepest abyss of wretchedness by his adultery with Bathsheba. The rebellion of Absalom belonged to the series of dire calamities which began to come upon him from that time. Plausible reasons were not wanting for such words as these which gave up his cause as lost.”—Delitzsch. Thus his enemies, as well as his disconcerted friends, remember his sin, and regard him as one cast away. And this was the weak point of David in dealing with the hosts of the enemy. And it is with us. A sense of moral blamelessness would enable us to confront boldly with the seraph Abdiel a myriad enemies; but “conscience makes cowards of us all,” and we tremble in the presence of numbers. Thus our spiritual adversaries reproach us; there it no salvation for him in God; and the consciousness of our faithlessness gives a power and sting to their words which penetrate our soul with bitterness, and which might well drive us to despair. II. The minority with God. The Psalmist felt himself to be in a minority of one, but with God. Mark: 1. His consciousness of safety (Psalms 3:3). “A shield about me, or around me, covering the whole body; not merely a part of it, as ordinary shields do.”—Alexander. Alone with God the believer feels profoundly safe. “If God be for us,” &c. 2. His refuge in prayer (Psalms 3:4). The Lord heard his cry of penitence and supplication. It was in this cry that the guilty, lonely man put himself right with God. He is away from the sanctuary, away from the ark; but the voice of the solitary and sorrowful reaches God anywhere. Alone with God, this is the secret of the martyr’s strength. If the world forsakes yon, if men and demons mock you, knock at Heaven’s gate with cries, and groans, and tears, and God shall receive and shelter you. His sublime peacefulness (Psalms 3:5-6). “I laid me down and slept,” &c. Many lie down who cannot sleep, but he could lie down on a rough bed and sleep. God’s hand was his pillow, and his sleep was sweet. The peace of God passeth understanding, and the wildest storms of temptation and persecution cannot disturb it. The Atlantic Ocean is swept by fearful storms, and mountainous billows traverse its surface, but scientific men say it is so quiet down in the depths that if you could stretch a rope of sand from one side of the ocean to the other, there is not disturbance enough to dissolve it. So amid the direst storms of life the believer’s heart is kept in perfect peace, a peace which the world gives net, and which the world does not take away. 4. His assurance of victory (Psalms 3:7). He looks upon victory as certain, as indeed already accomplished. He sees his enemy “as a wild beast whose jaw is broken, and which is unable to devour its prey.”—Kay. He feels assured that God will rebuke the wrath of Shimei, confound the counsel of Ahithophel, frustrate the usurpation of Absalom, and bring to nought the uprising of Israel. So, having put ourselves right with God, although our enemies rage as the waves of the sea, we may confidently anticipate victory. 5. His generous temper (Psalms 3:8). He does not ask for vengeance, but blessing. This verse “casts a bright light into the very depths of his noble soul.”—Ewald. He has been wronged; but as God has forgiven him, so he forgives those who have injured him. Too often when minorities become majorities they exact and tyrannise; but when God exalts us in the gate, our spirit should be forgiving and tender. Lessons: 1. Do not always trust in the verdicts of majorities. “The longest sword, the strongest lungs, the most voices, are false measures of truth.”—Whichcote. 2. Do not confide in majorities. David was at one time most popular; but how soon the people deserted him. “Mortality is but the stage of mutability.”—Trapp. 3. Do not fear to be in a minority with God. “Everybody,” said Talleyrand, “is cleverer than anybody.” This is fine worldly wisdom no doubt, but God is wiser, stronger than all, and he who is in a minority with God need not fear. “He that is in you is greater than he that is in the world.” 4. Remember that the majority will be against you when God is. When the people thought that God had forsaken the king, they forsook him too. Men often sell their conscience for a majority, but know when God forsakes you, the universe forsakes you. 5. The way to conquer majorities is through penitence and prayer. Thus, in great social and religious reforms, Luther, Wilberforce. So in our spiritual life; “One shall chase a thousand,” &c. And thus shall the majority against the Christian Church be changed into a minority. (Psalms 3:2-3.) In the second verse you have the verdict of sense touching the Psalmist’s character; in the third verse you have the judgment of faith. I. The verdict of sense. Psalms 3:2. The verdict of sense was that the king was deserted of God. And observe: 1. This verdict was popular. “Many there be,” &c. It appeared thus to his enemies, and it would seem as if many of his friends shared the same opinion. It was the verdict of the multitude. 2. It was plausible. It regarded the king’s sin. The devil’s advocates would not fail to keep the dark crime of the fallen king before the eyes of the nation. Would not God forsake such a sinner? And then there were the circumstances of the king. He appears fallen and discrowned. Driven away from his palace, and accompanied in exile by a few trembling friends. ‘Surely God had deserted the royal sinner,’ they said. 3. It was confident. “There is no help,” &c. They felt sure that his cause was utterly hopeless: God had cut him off altogether. II. The judgment of faith. Psalms 3:3. The voice of the people was not the voice of God. The Psalmist puts his personal consciousness over against the anathemas of the people. He knows God to be his shield, his glory, and the restorer of his fortunes. How often has this fact been repeated! The verdict of men passed upon their brother is one of capital condemnation, and yet the condemned one has hope in God. How often does the world speak thus:—‘The chief of sinners amongst men,’ ‘the woman that is a sinner.’ How soon society regards these as lost, hopeless! How often has a corrupt Church spoken thus! The Catholics kindled the stake, and consigned the souls of glorious saints to the devil. Nay, is not the true Church of Christ sometimes in danger of falling into this mistake? Are we not ready to give up some cases, some classes, perhaps, as impracticable? How is it that we fall into this great mistake? 1. We take circumstances as the sign of a man’s spiritual status and relationship. The people did in Jerusalem; we do, and it is a great error. A man may be poor, friendless, afflicted, reduced to saddest straits, and yet not be forsaken of God. 2. We ignore the power of penitence. Psalms 3:4. The Psalmist “cried unto the Lord,” &c. The world knows a man’s sins, when it does not know his deep sorrow and burning tears. 3. We limit the mercy and grace of God. God’s pity is greater than ours, and the blood of Jesus makes the foulest clean. “No help for him in God.” Some sinners are so obtuse, defiant, brutal, their wickedness so profound, and chronic, and desperate, that we practically despair of their salvation. Yet, have not our brightest saints been raised out of most abandoned and desperate sinners? The natural historian tells us that the rich olive was once dry and offensive, the luscious peach bitter, the apple-tree full of thorns, the aromatic rose a mere thorn, and the fields of wavy gold but wild grasses. But far more surprising transformations have been wrought in the Church of God. “Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor unchaste, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). We forget the greatness of redeeming mercy and power. Lessons: 1. Human judgments are not infallible. 2. Despair not of the worst of men. 3. Despair not of yourselves in life’s darkest moments. NIGHT Introduction“The Psalmist prays God to deliver him from present as from past distresses (Psalms 4:2). 1. He assures the haters of his regal dignity that God bestowed it, and will certainly protect it (Psalms 4:3-4). 2, 3. He exhorts them to quiet submission, righteousness, and trust in God (Psalms 4:5-6). 4, 5. He contrasts his own satisfaction, springing from such trust, with the hopeless disquietude of others, even in the midst of their enjoyments (Psalms 4:7-8). 6, 7. He closes with an exquisite proof of his tranquillity by falling asleep, as it were, before us, under the Divine protection (Psalms 4:8). 8. The third psalm may be described as a morning and this fourth as an evening psalm.”—Alexander.MAN TO GOD(Psalms 4:1.) In the midst of trials and perils the Psalmist seeketh audience with God. Observe: He first appeals to God. He does not go to God when all human inventions have been tried and failed, but his first cry is to Heaven. It is a good thing to take life’s questions to Him “straightway.” Before you go to the doctor, go to God; before you go to the lawyer, go to God; before you go to your friend, to your minister, go to God. Go directly from your trouble, with your trouble, to God. We often suffer loss by keeping back our burdens. Consult Heaven at first, and you will feel after that that you have little to ask from human counsellors and comforters. I. He appeals to the Divine righteousness. “O God of my righteousness.” He recognises the fact of God’s righteousness. Man is unjust, the world often seems to be full of injustice; but David recognises the justice of the Divine character and government. And not only so, but he recognises his personal relation to the righteous God. “O God of my righteousness.” “O God! who art righteous Thyself, and art the patron of my righteousness, of my righteous cause, and of my righteous life.”—Leighton. The Psalmist claims to be righteous, but acknowledges God as the author of his righteousness. “A celebrated heathen said, ‘I wrap myself up in my own virtue.’ A true believer has something infinitely better to wrap himself in. When Satan says, Thou hast yielded to my suggestions; when Conscience says, Thou hast turned a deaf ear to my admonitions; when the Law of God says, Thou has broken me; when the Gospel says, Thou hast neglected me; when Justice says, Thou hast insulted me; when Mercy says, Thou hast slighted me; Faith can say, All this is too true! but I wrap myself up in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.”—Toplady. God cannot hear our appeal except we recognise His righteousness, and except through His grace we are righteous ourselves. II. He appeals to the Divine faithfulness. “Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress.” The Psalmist had truly a good memory. He did not forget God’s help and mercies in days past; his memory was full of sun-pictures; and with faultless logic he inferred that still God would deliver him. Our memory is often bad, and we forget God’s mercies; our reasoning is often bad, and we argue from past deliverances to future desertions and disasters. May God mend our memories and our logic! In the day of trouble and persecution, remember how God has ever stood by His people, and remember that His faithfulness faileth not. III. He appeals to the Divine mercy. “Have mercy upon me.” However just we way feel our cause to be, we have always need to feel how much there is about us which needs to be forgiven, and that we must crave help on the ground of mercy, not demand it in the name of justice. Observe: 1. The blessedness of appealing to God. How grand it is thus to open the heart to God in dark and trying days! “The life of man upon earth is a war fare; and it is much better, in the midst of enemies and dangers, to be acquainted with one fortress than with many inns. He that knows how to pray may be pressed, but cannot be overwhelmed.”—Leighton. “Hear me when I call.” In the very hour and article of trouble. The other day there was a great storm, and the electric wires were all broken, and messages could not be transmitted; but the direst storms interrupt not our intercourse with Heaven; nay, then the lines of communication act best, and we no sooner cry than He answers. Observe: 2. The conditions of appealing to God. It is the prerogative only of the just and believing man. We must remember the rectitude of God’s nature and rule. “David asks nothing inconsistent with God’s holiness, and the same rule should govern all our prayers.”—Alexander. And we must live in a right relation to the just and gracious God. “Righteousness and grace are not opposed to one another in God, but man must not forget that he must enter into positive and active relations with reference to both of these attributes of God, if he would obtain and retain righteousness, peace, and joy.”—Moll. (Psalms 4:2-6.) The Psalmist here addresses his enemies. I. He reminds them of the vanity of their opposition to himself. Psalms 4:2. “How long will ye turn my glory into shame?”—i.e., my personal and official honour and character. “How long will ye utter slanders against me, and trail my honour in the dust?”—Delitzsch. The Psalmist declares their conduct to be vain, their hostility to be fruitless. (1.) Because he was Divinely elected. Psalms 4:3. “How long will ye deem lightly of my Divine election, which is the sole cause of my occupying so high a dignity.”—Kay. He felt that God had chosen him, and had not rejected him. (2.) Because he was Divinely protected. “The Lord will hear when I call unto Him” (Psalms 4:3). He is still my glory and refuge. 1. There is warning here for the enemies of Christ. David was a type of the Messiah; and Horne well observes: “If the Israelitish monarch conceived he had just cause to expostulate with his enemies for despising the royal majesty with which Jehovah had invested His anointed, of how much severer reproof shall they be thought worthy who blaspheme the essential ‘glory’ of King Messiah, which shines forth by his Gospel in the Church? Thou, O Christ, art everlasting truth; all is ‘vanity and falsehood,’ transient and fallacious, but the love of Thee!” God hath set forth Jesus Christ; He hears Him always; and he who contends against the Lord Jesus fights against God. How vain such a rebellion! 2. There is comfort here for the disciples of Christ. The “word here used, ‘godly,’ commonly denotes one who loves God.”—Kay. And there is great comfort here for the lovers of God. “The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for Himself.” God knows those who fear Him; He prizes them; He watches over them with loving jealousy. “What rare persons the godly are! ‘The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour’ (Proverbs 12:26). As the flower of the sun, as the wine of Lebanon, as the sparkling upon Aaron’s breastplate, such is the orient splendour of a person embellished with godliness.… The godly are precious, therefore they are set apart for God. We set apart things that are precious; the godly are set apart as God’s peculiar treasure (Psalms 135:4); as His garden of delight (Son 4:12); as His royal diadem (Isaiah 43:3); the godly are the excellent of the earth (Psalms 16:3); comparable to fine gold (Lamentations 4:2); double refined (Zechariah 13:9). They are the glory of the creation (Isaiah 46:13). Origen compares the saints to sapphires and crystals. God calls them jewels (Malachi 3:17).”—Thomas Watson, quoted by Spurgeon. And God will preserve His jewels. We often read now-a-days of great ‘jewel-robberies;’ but if we will be faithful to God, “none shall pluck us out of His hand.” In the second place the Psalmist. II. Exhorts his enemies to repentance and amity. Psalms 4:4-5. Here the Psalmist rises to a great height. He has forgotten himself and his apparent peril, and is solicitous only about his enemies. He is anxious, but it is on their account; they are in the greatest danger who are found fighting against God. Sublimely self-forgetful, he admonishes his adversaries. “He passes on to wise and loving counsels.”—Perowne. 1. He exhorts them to solemn reflection. Psalms 4:4. “In your secret chambers.” “Let the still hours of the night bring calmer and wiser thoughts with them.”—Perowne. It is a good thing to talk with ourselves in the silence of the soul, in the secrecy of our chambers. “Unless a man takes himself sometimes out of the world by retirement and self-reflection, he will be in danger of losing himself in the world.”—Whichcote. And as Trapp quaintly says: “As it is a sign that there are great distempers in that family where husband and wife go divers days together and speak not the one to the other, so in that soul that flieth from itself, and can go long without self-examination.” 2. He exhorts them to practical piety. Psalms 4:5. “Sacrifices accompanied by uprightness of intention and innocency of life.”—Kay. “Fruits meet for repentance.” All sacrifices wanting in sincerity and righteousness are but provocations of God. It is the duty of all Christian people thus to expostulate earnestly and affectionately with the enemies of Christ. Oh! that the enemies of the Church of God would listen to His heralds, improve the truce of God, and lay down the weapons of rebellion. THE CHIEF GOOD(Psalms 4:6-8.) I. The grand question. “Who shall show us any good?” (Psalms 4:6). 1. It is the universal question. “There be many that say,” &c. Men of all ranks, gifts, ages, are thus crying. There is within them a strange void, a great discontent; they want something which they have not. 2. It is a passionate, imperative question. “Who shall?” Who can? With what restless avidity men seek to find the grand remedy for their profound discontent! 3. Is it not a despairing question? “Who shall?” as if in mockery. There is no such thing, seems to be implied. “Arts, superstition, arms, philosophy.Have each in turn possessed, betrayed, and mocked us;”and men lose faith in the chief good, and cynically ask, Who shall declare it? As in Noel Paton’s great picture, the vast multitude is pursuing a shadowy shape, which seems to promise them ineffable satisfaction, but which ever eludes their eager grasp. II. The true answer. “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us” (Psalms 4:6). There is a true answer to this question, and here we have it. The smile of God is the essential good. Mark: 1. The spirituality of the supreme blessing. Here the world errs in imagining the chief good to be natural, sensible. “Who shall show us any good?” “Through all their life, with an unstable pace, they catch at flying forms of good; and after all their falls and their bruises, they cry out again and again, Who will show us any good? And when they behold any new species or shadow of it, they immediately run to it.”—Leighton. In opposition to this, the Psalmist avers that the supreme blessing is the light of God’s countenance. Observe: (1.) Natural things will not atone for the absence of God. Nothing will take the place of God. Chemistry alleges that it has discovered a means of producing artificial sunlight. From natural elements a flame is to be evolved which shall equal in quality and intensity the light emitted from the sun. Wonderful things, no doubt, have come from the brains of chemists, but it will be a long time, nevertheless, before they make us independent of the sun. It will be a long time before “artificial sunshine” melts the snows of winter, paints the flowers of summer, ripens the fruits of autumn, shoots life through the swelling year. So we may try to find in natural things substitutes for the light of God’s face, but they must all prove in vain. Oh! cease your vain attempts to create light and joy out of merely worldly elements; look up, and in the light of God’s countenance find the vital sunshine of the soul. “Mark what is good in the creatures you behold, in the song of birds, in the beauty of flowers, in the wealth of metals, in the sweetness of meats; these are but rills proceeding from God, the abounding Fount; all these utter the things which are in God; for all creatures are but voices manifesting Him. Yet we must not rest in them. It has happened that painters have pictured fruit with such accuracy, that birds have come out of the sky, thinking them real, in order to feed upon them; but finding them to be painted, and that there is no food in them, they fly away to seek their true sustenance. The Divine painter has traced with His brush in His creatures the beauties which live in Himself, and in them they seem to live. Yet are they but figures, not verities, for the fashion of this world passeth away. Would you know how to act, knowing that these are but pictures and not realities? Act as the bird, which, finding no food in the painting, seeks its real meat elsewhere. Mark this, you will find in creation no true food, no satiety, no repose; mark this and fly away to your God. He is very good, He is true food, in Him alone is repose.”—John Osorius, 1558. (2.) The blessing of God is the sweetness of all natural things. So far from natural things atoning for the absence of God, they have no power to satisfy except by virtue of the Divine blessing. “As with manna there fell a dew, so to a good soul, together with corn and wine there is a secret influence of God, which the carnal heart is not acquainted with.”—Trapp. (3.) The blessing of God is enough in the absence of all natural gifts and ecclesiastical privileges. Without natural gifts. He can satisfy the soul directly without the corn and wine at all. “He is enough without the creature, but the creature is not anything without Him. It is, therefore, better to enjoy Him without anything else, than to enjoy everything else without Him. It is better to be a wooden vessel filled with wine than a golden one filled with water.”—Secker, quoted by Spurgeon. Without ecclesiastical agencies. David was at a distance from the tabernacle, and he had sent back the ark to Jerusalem, but he felt that God put joy into his heart all the same. He and his friends rejoice, although cut off from the Tabernacle, to feel God near and precious. “We cannot now, it is true, offer the sacrifices of victims before the ark at Jerusalem, but we may offer the sacrifice of the spirit. We have not access to the Urim and Thummim, on the high priest’s breastplate in the sanctuary; but God will lift up the light of His countenance upon us. That is the true Urim and Thummim. We cannot now receive the benediction of the priests, ‘The Lord bless thee, and keep thee;’ but the Lord Himself is ever present with us to bless us, and He lifts up the light of His countenance upon us. There is our true good. There is our genuine gladness.”—Wordsworth. So, if God take away from us material good and deprive us, or permit us to be deprived, of ecclesiastical ceremonies and services, He can come into our soul and fill it with sublime delights. Ah! God sometimes takes away proprieties and ceremonies that we may realise more richly and fully the spiritual blessedness which those agents sometimes veil and limit. 2. The sufficiency of the supreme blessing. “More than in the time,” &c. (Psalms 4:7). “David’s enemies have at their command all earthly means of support and enjoyment. He finds it difficult to collect supplies for himself and his army, yet God has given him a better joy than that of harvest or vintage.”—Perowne. “The joy of godliness is infinitely greater than that of worldliness. There is as much difference between heavenly comforts and earthly, as between a banquet that is eaten and one that is painted on the wall.”—Watson, quoted by Spurgeon. The delight of the saint is— “What nothing earthly gives or can destroy,The soul’s calm sunshine and the heart-felt joy.”—POPE.3. The fruits of this blessing: (1.) The consciousness of peace. “I will both lay me down and sleep” (Psalms 4:8). “At once, as soon as I lie down, I sleep, not harassed by disturbing and anxious thoughts.”—Phillips. In the drama the sleepless king wonders that sleep— “Upon the high and giddy mastSeals up the ship-boy’s eyes, and rocks his brainsIn cradle of the rude imperious surge;And in the visitation of the winds,Who take the ruffian billows by the top,Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging themWith deaf’ning clamours in the slippery clouds,That, with the hurly, death itself awakes.Canst thou, O partial sleep! give thy reposeTo the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude?”But in those storms of life which are stronger, wilder than fiercest sea-storm, “God giveth His beloved sleep.” (2.) The consciousness of safety. To “dwell in safety.” “He needs no guards, for he is guarded round about by Jehovah, and kept in safety.”—Delitzsch. “A morning prayer of David, appealing to God as his king, against whose sovereignty his own enemies were really in rebellion.”—Kay. “This psalm must have been composed at Jerusalem, since David had access to the house of God (see Psalms 5:7); probably a short time before the open revolt of Absalom, when the king was aware of the machinations of conspirators under a bloodthirsty and treacherous chief (Psalms 5:6). Like Psalms 3, it is a morning song (Psalms 5:6).”—Speaker’s Commentary.MORNING PRAYER(Psalms 5:1-4.) We are taught here some great truths concerning prayer. I. True prayer is personal“My words,” “My meditation,” “My cry,” “My King,” “My God.” David was a king, yet was he his own chaplain. We must pray for ourselves. A parent’s prayer, a minister’s prayer, will not do for us. No one can become deputy for us before the throne of grace. And in prayer we must realise our personal relation to God. He is “My Father,” “My King,” “My God.” II. True prayer is profound and passionate. 1. It begins with words. “Give ear to my words.” Many have an idea that words are not necessary to prayer, that the finest prayer does without words. When Curran asked Grattan if he ever prayed; “No,” said Grattan, “but I have aspirations all the day long.” There is a subtle danger here. True prayer cannot indeed fully express itself, but it will labour to do so. If our sense of need is real and intense, we shall speak out in broken, burning words. Robert Hall, in his private devotions prayed aloud, lest his prayers should become vapid and wandering. If there is no audible, verbal prayer, the “aspirations” will become ever more shadowy and vague. “None of God’s children are possessed with a dumb devil.”—Spurgeon. 2. True prayer deepens into sighs. “O Lord, consider my sighs.” “Understand my sighing.”—Horsley. “Meditation—moanings of that half-uttered form to which deep feeling gives rise—groanings,” as Romans 8:26-27.—Jamieson. If language could express all we feel, ours could hardly be a true prayer; language breaks off into groanings. 3. True prayer rises into cries. “Hearken unto the voice of my cry.” It rises into a cry, and a cry has a voice which pierces heaven. Prevailing prayer comes from the profound of the bosom and is heard in the high places of the firmament. III. True prayer is resolute. “For unto Thee will I pray.” “There is a holy boldness here. God, as the King of His people, could not deny them His protection, and they asked no other. For to Thee, and Thee only, will I pray. As if he had said, it is in this capacity that I invoke Thee, and I therefore must be heard.”—Alexander. IV. True prayer is obedient. Psalms 5:3. “In the morning will I set in order for Thee, and will look out.”—Kay. David speaks of himself, figuratively, as a ministering priest, setting in order the altar wood and the morning sacrifice. Now the Levite acted according to the law of God in presenting the sacrifices, and they were accepted only as they were so offered. In prayer we must recognise the word and will of God. Prayer is not, as some suppose, a wild, arbitrary, lawless overriding of Divine law; but, on the contrary, it profoundly consults the mind of God; it regulates its petitions by the revealed will of God, and seeks to conform all life to the purpose and plan of God. V. True prayer is expectant. “And will look up,” or look out. “Look out expectantly for the thing prayed for.”—Kay. Alexander says: “The image presented is that of one looking from a wall or tower in anxious expectation of approaching succour.” Horsley says: “I will watch for Thee—i.e., watch for some usual signal of God’s favour, some appearance in the flame of the sacrifice, or a ray of the Shekinah issuing from the sanctuary.” Let us look for answers to our prayers. When a man has lodged his prayers with God he may look up, he ought to look up, and God will not disappoint him. Let us then each morning thus draw nigh unto God. We cannot tell what a day shall bring forth, but if we greet the morning sun with prayer, we shall see the setting sun with praise. THE OF GOD TO THE WICKED(Psalms 5:4-6.) It is a relationship of direct and passionate antagonism. Observe the gradations of the text. I. God has no pleasure in wickedness. Psalms 5:4. The Psalmist seems to say, There are such gods in other nations, gods delighting in blood and lust; but Thou dost not delight in iniquity. The gods of Greece and Rome found pleasure in licentiousness; but, however Christianity may be a ‘civilised heathenism,’ it sets before us Deity in another light than that. More: II. God does not tolerate wickedness. “Neither shall evil dwell with Thee.” Many would teach us that God does tolerate evil—that He employs it to perfect man, to develop the universe. No; He cannot dwell with it, cannot tolerate it. Remember this in the Church. History relates that Redwald, King of East Anglia, built a church, at one end of which was an altar for the sacrifice of the mass, and at the other end an altar for sacrifice to the old British idols. How frequently the Church is in danger of making analogous compromises, allowing certain evils to exist within its borders for the sake of gold, or popularity, or peace. It must not be, or God will not dwell with us. And we must remember this in our personal life. “Rest assured, Christ will not live in the parlour of our hearts if we entertain the devil in the cellar of our thoughts.”—Spurgeon. God does not tolerate wickedness. It is no part of His pleasure, no part of His policy, that evil should be found in the human heart or in the world. III. God hates wickedness. “Thou hatest all the workers of iniquity” (Psalms 5:5-6). “The Lord abhors the wicked.” He “will destroy them.” It is unspeakably repugnant to Him. “God perfectly hateth wickedness and wicked persons. God hateth sin worse than He doth the devil; for He hateth the devil for sin’s sake, and not sin for the devil’s sake.”—Trapp. We see here the condemnation of whatever speaks lightly or tolerantly of sin. Of the philosophy which does—the philosophy which pleads for evil as necessary to effect God’s purposes; as one of our poets speaks of the devil— “Existing for some good,By us not understood.”Of the morality which does—the morality which regards sin as an inconvenience or impolicy, rather than as damnable in its essence. Of the Christianity which does—Antinomianism; Roman Catholicism, with its division of sin into venial and mortal; and that general Christian experience which has no burning hatred to evil. In our personal life, in the Church, in all departments of worldly action, we must look upon foulness with horror, or with horror God will look upon us “Ye that love the Lord hate evil.” THE OF GOD TO THE SAINTS(Psalms 5:7-12.) “Throughout the psalm there breathes a strong feeling that God is pledged by His very character as a righteous God to defend and bless the righteous.”—Perowne. I. God is their Shepherd. “Lead me, O Lord,” &c. As a shepherd leads his flock. “Make Thy way straight,” &c. “Do not let me choose my own way, but Thine; and do Thou make Thy way level and manifest before me.”—Wordsworth. Is God your Shepherd? Are you following obediently in His way? Then you need fear no pit or wolf. II. God is their Shield. In the 12th verse the Psalmist recognises that God is a shield. In the 9th and 10th verses we see the greatness of the Psalmist’s peril. His enemies are profoundly depraved. “Their inward part is an abyss.” They are altogether corrupt. And yet his enemies are most plausible. “They flatter with their tongue.” “I have my doubts whether ‘flattery’ be the thing meant by the Hebrew words. Is it not rather that the persons in question, by plausible arguments and an ensnaring eloquence, contrived to set a fair appearance upon mischievous maxims and pernicious practices? Libertines, in all ages, have not wanted excuses for their riot and debaucheries. The idolaters of antiquity contrived to give an air of mysterious sanctity to the idlest fables and the foulest rites; and the philosophical atheists of modern times throw an air of wisdom over the most absurd doctrines and the most wicked principles. Thus the words of the wicked are fair while their practices are abominable, and they promise well with the worst intentions.”—Horsley. The enemies of the Psalmist were vicious and guileful, and he felt the need and blessedness of God’s shield. So the opposition which the saints have to overcome is similar to that encountered by David. Corrupt and plausible—such is the world, such the devil, such the flesh. God is our Shield, let us press close to its shelter! III. God is their Song. Psalms 5:11-12. Enemies throng, but the saints can sing. 1. It is the privilege of the saint to rejoice. “Rejoice.” “Shout for joy.” “Be joyful in Thee.” 2. It is the privilege of all saints thus to rejoice. “Let all those who trust in Thee rejoice.” 3. It is their blessed privilege always to rejoice. “Let them ever shout for joy.” “The first of the seven Penitential Psalms. It has been said that there is much of grief in it, but nothing of penitence. This, however, is an error. The tears shed by David over Absalom (2 Samuel 18:33) came, we are sure, from the fountain of a penitent heart. He knew well that Absalom’s rebellion was permitted by God as a penal consequence of his sin.”—Kay.(The whole Psalm.) Observe: I. The twofold character of the Divine chastisements. Psalms 6:1. “Only in love, not in wrath.”—Kay. There is the chastisement of anger, and the chastisement of grace; the punitive and the loving chastisement. “There is a chastisement which proceeds from God’s love to the man as being pardoned, and which is designed to purify or to prove him; and a chastisement which proceeds from God’s wrath against the man, as striving obstinately against, or as fallen away from, favour, and which satisfies Divine justice.”—Delitzsch. 1. The one is measured, the other overwhelming. 2. The one destroys, the other perfects. 3. The one is temporal, the other eternal. Consider: II. The grounds of appeal to the Divine clemency. On what grounds can we entreat for the milder chastisement? The Psalmist 1. Recognises the justice of the sufferings under which he bows. He sees his sin, and feels it just that that sin should be punished. “David does not pray for the removal of the chastisement, but of the chastisement in wrath, or, what is the same thing, of the judgment proceeding from wrath.”—Delitzsch. “I indeed confess that I deserve nothing but destruction; but because I could not endure the severity of Thy judgment, deal not with me after my deserts; yea, rather forgive the sins whereby I have provoked Thine anger against me.”—Calvin. God’s hand can only cease when we are brought to acknowledge the justice of the stroke. 2. He is utterly broken down by his sufferings. All his ideas of pride and power are gone, and he is broken down in body and soul. (1.) In body. “Have pity on me, O Lord, for I am withered away. Drooping as a blighted plant.”—Kay. “My bones are vexed.” “The Hindoos, in extreme grief or joy, declare: ‘Our bones are melted;’ that is, like boiling lead, they are completely dissolved.”—Roberts. (2.) In soul. “My soul is also sore vexed” (Psalms 6:3). “His soul is still more shaken than his body. The affliction is therefore not a merely bodily ailment, in which only a timorous man loses heart. God’s love is hidden from him. God’s wrath seems as though it would wear him completely away. It is an affliction beyond all other afflictions.”—Delitzsch. “To the man of God the bitterest drop in the cup of trouble is the sense of the wrath of God which he experiences in the chastisement of God.”—Tholuck. “Soul-trouble is the very soul of trouble.”—Spurgeon. If we despise the chastisements of the Lord—that is, if we resent them, and rise up defiantly against them—they must continue punitive and destructive; but if our strength, pride, self-will, are utterly broken down, and we lie emptied of self at God’s feet, then we may look for the punitive chastisements of the just God to change into the loving chastisements of the Merciful One. A “broken and contrite heart,” &c. 3. He appeals to the mercy of God (Psalms 6:4). “Oh, save me for Thy mercies’ sake.” He does not look upon himself as an ill-used man, but knowing himself as a great sinner, he casts himself on the sovereign mercy of Heaven. 4. He desires to live to glorify God (Psalms 6:5). “Men who sink down to the grave unforgiven, unredeemed, they cannot celebrate the glories of Thy mercy.”—Kay. In the midst of his sin and sorrow a sincere and passionate desire awakens in his soul for the honour and praise of God. He passes beyond mere selfishness into sympathy with the Divine rights and glory. “The petition has as its motive the fact that the Divine interest itself is concerned in the deliverance of the man who can render thanks well-pleasing to God, only as living, and not as one lost in death and swallowed up in Hades. Yet this is only one side of the thought. The other side is likewise brought into view, namely, that the petitioner has at heart to render thanks and praise to the glory of God. The relation is therefore in no respect a selfish one, in which the interests of selfishness prevail, but a moral and religious one.”—Moll. 5. He is overwhelmed with sorrow on account of his sin (Psalms 6:6-7). “My eye is eaten away with grief; eaten away, as by a moth fretting a garment.”—Phillips. The great deeps of his nature were broken up, and he would have been drowned in overmuch sorrow had it not been that hope bore him up God-ward, as the ark rose with the flood. There is power indeed in true tears. “As music upon the waters soundeth farther and more harmoniously than upon the land, so do prayers joined with tears.”—Trapp. “Even when the gates of prayer are shut in heaven, those of tears are open.”—Hebrew proverb. It is when we plead as the Psalmist here pleads, that God’s anger is softened, and the chastisement of wrath is changed into the discipline of grace. “Let us pray, with our whole hearts, for mercy; and if the answer to our prayers be tardy, because we have deeply transgressed, let us knock; for to him that knocketh it shall be opened when prayers, groans, and tears beat at the door.”—St. Cyprian. III. The Divine response to the prayer of penitence. Psalms 6:8-9. “They that sow in tears,” &c. “The Psalmist always contends with the Lord before he dares to contend with his foes.”—Sutcliffe. But having contended with the Lord, and found forgiveness, he boldly challenges, gloriously triumphs over, all his enemies. When God has delivered him from his sins, he feels that God will deliver him from his enemies. So if God pardon our sin, we need fear neither men nor devils. They have power over us only as long as our sins have hold of us, but when God pardons our sins they must fly. SORROW FOR SIN(Psalms 6:6-7.) I. The necessity for such sorrow. Some speak slightingly of repentance and sorrow for sin, but such sorrow is required from saints and sinners. It is natural and evangelical. “In respect to the Penitential Psalms, it is recorded of St. Augustine that in his last sickness he ordered these psalms to be inscribed in a visible place on a wall of his chamber, where he might fix his eyes and heart upon them, and make their words his own in the breathing out of his soul to God.”—Wordsworth. II. Mistakes concerning this sorrow. Many true penitents perplex themselves touching this matter of sorrow for sin. They think that they do not feel enough, feel long enough, &c., &c. Let us be concerned: 1. About the quality of our sorrow, not its quantity. “Showers be better than dews, yet it is sufficient if God at least hath bedewed our hearts, and hath given us some sign of a penitent heart. If we have not rivers of water to pour forth with David, neither fountains flowing with Mary Magdalene, nor as Jeremiah desire to have a fountain in our head to weep day and night, nor with Peter weep bitterly; yet if we lament that we cannot lament, and mourn that we cannot mourn: yea, if we have the smallest sobs of sorrow and tears of compunction, if they be true and not counterfeit, they will make us acceptable to God; for as the woman with the bloody issue that touched the hem of Christ’s garment was no less welcome to Christ than Thomas who put his fingers in the print of the nails, so God looketh not at the quantity, but the sincerity of our repentance.”—Symson, quoted by Spurgeon. 2. About the reality, not the manifestation of our sorrow. “Some may say, ‘My constitution is such that I cannot weep; I may as well go to squeeze a rock as think to get a tear.’ But if thou canst not weep for sin, canst thou grieve? Intellectual mourning is best; there may be sorrow where there are no tears; the vessel may be full though it wants vent; it is not so much the weeping eye God respects as the broken heart.”—Watson, quoted by Spurgeon. 3. About the sincerity of our sorrow, not its duration. Some mourn long on account of sin, but let us not doubt forgiveness because it comes the sooner to us. III. The efficacy of this sorrow. There is a “sorrow of the world which worketh death,” and there is a “godly sorrow,” which is unto life and salvation. “Sin draws after it punishment, and the judgment of an angry God is terrible; but only the impenitent sinner is lost, not the penitent. It is true, in bitter, heartfelt grief over his sins he experiences a sorrow, which not only grieves the soul, but also withers the body; but he feels at the same time that he is mightily drawn towards God by this godly sorrow. He confesses his guilt and the justice of the punishment with which the holy God visits him, and makes known that he is well aware how richly he deserves the disfavour and wrath of God, and how he has forfeited his life with his sins. But he perceives in this very punishment that God is still interested in him, and he himself has still a longing after God. He can still believe in grace, and therefore pray for life; and in this consists the saving change which takes place in his condition.”—Moll. There is a Mohammedan legend respecting David, which says that after the treachery of which he had been guilty towards Uriah, the king was seized with the bitterest remorse. For forty days and forty nights he lay in the dust and wept; two rivulets gushed from his eyes, and the weeping willow and the incense-tree sprang up upon the spot. Is there not a great truth veiled in this wild fable? Whilst the weeping willow stands as a sign of that sorrow which bowed David’s spirit to the earth, does not the incense-tree symbolise that faith and love of his which trembled up to heaven? When our sorrow for sin bows us down, let us still look up, and offering God the incense of a penitent, worshipping spirit, He shall not turn away our prayer. THE NIGHT OF (The whole Psalm.) Night is about the Psalmist, and the night about him is an emblem of the night within him. He cannot sleep; all the night he waters his couch with his tears. The fact is, his sins have found him out, and he walks in darkness and in the shadow of death—the night of repentance. Let us observe: I. Its darkness. There is darkness in the Psalmist’s soul, the felt absence of God. “Return, O Lord” (Psalms 6:4). God is away, the sun of the soul. (1.) Darkness means misery. How great the sorrow here pictured! “Weak.” “Bones vexed.” “Soul also sore vexed” Sinner, be sure some day or other sin will make your soul weep and bleed. (2.) Darkness means guilt and fear (Psalms 6:1). Here the Psalmist feels his guilt, and dreads the unknown terrors of God’s wrath. (3.) Darkness means death. The Psalmist here dreads lest he should sink lower than the grave (Psalms 6:5). He feels that his sin has brought him to the verge of everlasting destruction. This is what sin brings us to. It robs the soul of light, of life. It leaves the sinner trembling within the shadows of hell. II. Its duration. “O Lord, how long?” (Psalms 6:3). How swiftly time goes when we are living joyfully! How long the hours, the months of suffering and unhappiness! Seven years are not long to a man with health, innocence, and freedom; but think of that period spent in a jail upon a treadmill! So to a man who lives in the love of God, the hours pass with “down upon their feet;” but how dreary and leaden-footed are the hours to a guilty soul! Sin takes all the glory and joy out of life, and makes us “curse the day that we were born.” “The pleasures of sin are but for a season;” the pangs and penalties of sin embitter many days. III. Its spectres. “All mine enemies” (Psalms 6:7). The Psalmist felt circumvented by enemies, and in his enemies he saw his sins. Men commit sins, and pass on as if they were to know those sins no more, but the day comes when they all live again. “God requireth that which is past,” and conscience throws open the doors of memory, and out rushes a crowd of spectres. Little sins; old sins; quiet sins; forgotten sins; white-washed sins; all come from their graves. Ghosts of falsehoods; guilty recollections of envyings and hatreds; soiled apparitions of dead lusts; all return to accuse and condemn. Be sure that some day or other your sin will find you out; and a thousand spectres will people the darkness, and fill you with agony and fear. IV. Its stars. “Oh, save me for Thy mercies’ sake” (Psalms 6:4). The Psalmist seizes upon the idea of the Divine mercy, and out of this grand truth springs the bright constellations which cheer the penitent in his night of sorrow. The penitent remembers; (1.) The mercifulness of the Divine nature. There is that grand star which arose out of the blackness of Sinai (Numbers 34:6-7). He “is plenteous in mercy.” “He delighteth in mercy.” “His tender mercy.” “Rich in mercy.” “Abundant mercy.” “His mercy endureth for ever.” Here are stars of light for the weeping eyes of penitence. (2.) The promises of the Divine mercy. These are “more than the sands of the sea-shore.” Grand promises on every page of the Book! (3.) The acts of the Divine mercy. God forgave David, Noah, Saul, &c., &c. Which of them did He not forgive? “Millions of transgressors poor,Thou hast for Jesus’ sake forgiven;Made them of Thy favour sure,And snatched from hell to heaven.”The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the Gospel of mercy. When the sinner is harassed by ghost and ghoul, he looks towards the Gospel, and beholds great stripes of stars, which, in the sinner’s ear, utter forth a glorious voice of consolation and hope. “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” V. Its sunrise. Psalms 6:8-9. “Mark the sudden change, as of sunrise upon night. Already the prayer and the weeping have been heard. Already faith has triumphed.”—Perowne “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Sinner, watch for God more than they that watch for the morning, and He shall rise upon you with healing in His wings, and there shall be to you “no more night.” “From the matter of this psalm it appears that it was composed with reference to some calumny on the character of David; but commentators are not agreed as to when and by whom this injury was inflicted. Perhaps the conduct of Doeg might give occasion to this poem, inasmuch as this man had grossly misrepresented David to Saul, and insinuated that he was conspiring against the life of his king; whereas the very reverse of this statement was the truth.”—Phillips.THE AND ASYLUM OF THE SAINTS(Psalms 7:1-2.) There can be but little doubt that this psalm was uttered by David when he was slandered by the courtiers of Saul, and when he was pursued by that deluded monarch. The situation of David is a picture of the situation in which all saints often find themselves. Consider: I. Their extremity. The Psalmist was like a partridge on the mountains, “like a roe or gazelle chased by the lions.”—Perowne. So are God’s people frequently tempted, tried, borne down by various agents, and shapes of evil. (1.) The enemies of the righteous are multiplied. “All them that persecute me” (Psalms 7:1). Some one has said, “If we have an enemy we meet him everywhere.” This is very true of our great enemy the devil; we meet him everywhere. “His name is legion.” “There is a devil in every berry of the grape,” said Mahomet. Yes; and a devil in everything else with which we have to do. The diabolical creeps into everything, and the righteous man is ever menaced and endangered. In the flesh, in the world, in things necessary, things beautiful, things sacred, are ambushed enemies, bending the bow, and shooting privily at the righteous. (2.) These enemies are malign. “Lest he tear my soul like a lion rending it in pieces” (Psalms 7:2). As a wild beast would tear to pieces a lamb, so would the devil afflict the soul. How bitterly the devil hates the children of God! How bitterly the world often persecutes the saints! (3.) Those enemies are resistless. “While there is none to deliver” (Psalms 7:2). He could not deliver himself, and he had no helper among men. His enemies felt that they reigned supreme and would crush him when they pleased. So with our spiritual foes. Policy, reason, pledges, &c., what are these but hirelings which flee in the hour of trial, and the wolf catcheth the sheep. A man measures himself in vain with the powers of darkness; these powers soon vanquish flesh and blood. No matter how strong the iron-clads of human building, the devil’s artillery soon sinks them. II. Their refuge. “O Lord, my God, in Thee do I put my trust” (Psalms 7:1). “With Thee have I taken shelter.”—Horsley. (1.) The security of this shelter. The Almighty God. Better than walls of granite, than gates of brass, than lines of steel: “Sufficient is Thine arm alone,And our defence is sure.”“God’s assistance is the strongest, quickest, and surest help.”—Moll. (2.) The condition of its enjoyment, (a) A personal relationship to God. “My God.” (b) A constant faith in God. “In Thee do I trust.” “The door is closed to prayer unless it is opened with the key of trust.”—Calvin. NOT GUILTY(Psalms 7:3-10.) The Psalmist, who so constantly acknowledges and bitterly deplores his sin, here puts in another plea. “He protests passionately his innocence, his soul surging with emotion as he thinks how unjustly he has been assailed.”—Perowne. Concerning this plea, let us observe: I. We may plead “not guilty” of some particular sin when we cannot plead freedom from sin. “If I have done this” (Psalms 7:3). We cannot plead freedom from sin (1 John 1:8), but we may plead freedom from particular faults with which we may be charged (Job 31:16). Let us glorify the grace which has preserved us from so many sins to which we are prone. II. We may plead “not guilty” before men when we cannot thus plead before God. Job vindicated himself before his friends, but in the presence of God abased himself, and repented in sackcloth and ashes. We may often most properly assert our integrity before men, but “concerning the law of our God,” it is another thing. III. We may plead “not guilty” before God when we have rested in the merits of Christ. “The righteousness of faith before God must be distinguished from righteousness and innocence of life before man; yet a true Christian must be able to console himself with both.”—Starke. “There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” One of our legal writers says: “So completely does a pardon of treason or felony extinguish the crime, that when granted to a man, even after conviction or attainder, it will enable him to have an action of slander against another for calling him traitor or felon; because the pardon makes him as it were a new man, and gives him a new capacity and credit. In the eye of the law, the offender is as innocent as if he had never committed the offence.” So completely does the blood and righteousness of Christ absolve us from sin. “Bold shall I stand in that great day,For who aught to my charge shall lay!Fully absolved through these I am,From sin and fear, from guilt and shame.”IV. When we can justly plead “not guilty” before God or man, we may rely on a triumphal acquittal. Psalms 7:6-10. “Hitherto the Psalmist has protested his innocence; now, in the full consciousness of that innocence, he comes before the very judgment-seat of God, and demands the fullest and most public vindication. Then he sees as it were in a vision the judgment set: ‘Thou hast commanded judgment.’ Next, that sentence may be pronounced with due solemnity, he calls upon God to gather the nations round Him, and to seat Himself upon His judgment-throne. Lastly, he prays God, as the Judge of all nations, to judge himself.”—Perowne. We see here that God is the Judge of all. The whole “congregation;” all nations. God can judge righteously. Psalms 7:9. “The reins are the seat of the emotions, just as the heart is the seat of the thoughts and feelings. Reins and heart lie naked before God.”—Delitzsch. God will judge righteously. He will condemn the guilty; He will establish the just. Has our reputation been slandered? David feels bitterly the perfidious sayings of his foes, the injustice of their accusations. The French proverb says, “The tongue cuts deeper than the lance;” and David felt it to be so. Some men are said to labour under a strange necessity, that whenever they see a beautiful dress, they must throw vitriol on it; and so wicked men feel, and yield to, the devilish impulse of aspersing noble characters and noble names. Have we suffered from the tongues of such? Or have our rights been invaded? Have men unjustly touched our position, our freedom, our property? Nay, is our life taken away by violent or unjust men? Let us look confidently to the great assize. God will vindicate the just, and tread the proud oppressor in the dust. There is a famous picture entitled “Waiting for the Verdict.” You may write that over all graveyards—“Waiting for the verdict.” We play our part, and go our way, but for all God shall bring us into judgment; the silent nations underground wait the peal which shall call them to receive the final verdict, and the Judge of all the earth shall do right. Observe: 1. The sense of innocence makes us hopeful towards God. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence towards God” (1 John 3:21). 2. The sense of innocence makes us gentle towards men (Psalms 7:9). “His prayer is not directed against the individual as such, but against the wickedness that is in them. This psalm is the key to all psalms which contain prayers against one’s enemies.”—Delitzsch. GOD AS A MAN OF WAR(Psalms 7:11-13.) In these verses, God’s dealing with the unrighteous is vividly portrayed. We see God troubled by sin, and rising up to take vengeance upon it; and these verses are an epitome of the entire action of God with sinners. He is angry with them, and proceeds to bring them to reason. Mark: I. The Divine admonition. “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalms 7:11). Barnes says on this passage: “Continually, constantly, always. This is designed to qualify the previous expression, ‘angry.’ It is not excitement. It is not temporary passion, such as we see in men. It is not sudden emotion, soon to be succeeded by a different feeling when the passion passes off. It is the steady and uniform attribute of His unchanging nature to be always opposed to the wicked—to all forms of sin; and in Him, in this respect, there will be no change. The wicked will find Him no more favourable to their character and course of life tomorrow than He is to-day—no more beyond the grave than this side of the tomb. What He is to-day, He will be tomorrow and every day.” This is no doubt true, but it is scarcely the truth taught in the text. Many of the great commentators agree that the sense of these words is—God is patient with sinners, and gives them daily warning of His displeasure, and of the gathering storm of His wrath. “If God will in the end let His wrath break forth, He will not do it without having previously given threatenings thereof every day, viz., to the ungodly (cf. Isaiah 66:14; Malachi 1:4). He makes these feel His anger beforehand in order to strike a wholesome terror into them.”—Delitzsch. “God is not a Judge who punishes daily, but who threatens daily; for if God should punish us always, and as often as we deserve it, the world would no longer endure; therefore thou shouldst know that God’s long-suffering invites thee to repentance.”—Moll. “Although He is not angry every day—i.e., His anger is not breaking forth upon every occasion—yet the season of judgment will surely come.”—Horsley. Thus God is constantly warning the sinner. One of our philosophers speaks of “the premonitory symptoms of Nature’s displeasure.” So in the moral world are there premonitory symptoms of the Divine displeasure. Every day, in the sinner’s conscience or body, intellect or estate, does God make signs of His gathering anger, so that the wicked may forsake their wickedness and escape the wrath to come. Notice: II. The Divine amnesty. “If he turn” (Psalms 7:12). “If he turn,” there is forgiveness and life. Oh, most important “if”! If he turn, all is well; if he turn not, all is lost. Blessed opportunity! the sinner may turn. And all sinners have the ability to turn, for God commands them all to turn, and God does not command impossibilities. God’s commands are promises; and when He invites all to return to Him, He strengthens all that they may do it. “Do not think God has done anything concerning thee before thou camest into being whereby thou art determined either to sin or misery. This is a falsehood, and they that entertain such thoughts live in a lie.”—Whichcote. O sinner! improve this truce of God. III. The Divine arsenal. Psalms 7:12-13. “He will whet His sword,” &c. God is a man of war, and here we get a glimpse into His armoury, and behold the artillery with which He wars on obstinate sinners. 1. Mark the variety of His weapons. God’s armoury is full of weapons. “Sword,” “bow,” “arrows.” Storms, diseases, plagues, famines, wars, earth-quakes, terrors of conscience, secrets of the prison-house we know not. God’s armoury is full of awful weapons—weapons which can destroy both body and soul. 2. The readiness of His weapons. “He hath bent His bow and made it ready” (Psalms 7:12). “He ordaineth His arrows” (Psalms 7:13). Or, “He will put His arrows in action.”—Horsley. “The wrath of God may be slow, but it is always sure. In thoughtless security man wantons and whiles away the precious hours; he knows not that every transgression sets a fresh edge on the sword, which is there continually whetting for his destruction; nor considers that he is the mark of an archer who never errs, and who, at this very instant, perhaps, has fitted to the string that arrow which is to pierce his soul with everlasting anguish.”—Horne. “The sword of Heaven is not in haste to smite, nor doth it linger.” Observe, finally: 3. The deadly efficacy of His weapons. “Instruments of death.” “He ordaineth His arrows,” or, as some translate it, “His arrows He maketh fiery.” “Arrows wrapped round with some inflammable material, which become ignited in their passage through the air, and set on fire whatever they light upon.”—Perowne. “The whetting of the sword is but to give a keener edge, that it may cut the deeper. God is silent as long as the sinner will let Him, but when the sword is whet it is to cut, and when the bow is bent it is to kill; and woe be to that man who is the butt.”—Lecker, quoted by Spurgeon. “ ‘If I whet My glittering sword, and Mine hand take hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to Mine enemies’ (Deuteronomy 32:41). And where will God whet His glittering sword? Where are blades usually whetted? Let us look. Surely on a whirling, circular stone. And on what stone will God whet His sword? I reply, On that stony heart of the sinner which is ever revolving, never at rest. Watch the grindstone a little while. See how it plunges down into a trough of turbid, foul, and muddy water. O stone, stone! why rush down into this filth? Rise up! rise up from this uncleanness. I put my hand to it, I set the stone in motion. How easily is it made to revolve! It moves—it leaves that sink of filth—it mounts upwards. In vain! It whirls round, and with a rush seeks again its bed of pollution. Heart of sinner, hard and stony! why dost thou not emerge from the corruption in which thou wallowest? ‘I will emerge,’ thou repliest. Why dost thou not leave thy enmities, thy passions, thy shameful uncleanness? ‘I will leave them,’ is the answer. And yet nothing comes of these fine promises. Always on the move like the grindstone, you never remove from the trough of slime; always leaving sin, that with fresh relish you may plunge into it again. Know, you sinners who are so full of good resolutions which come to nought; so full of promises of amendment which end in relapse, that it is on whirling grindstones such as you that the glittering sword of Divine vengeance is whetted. ‘If I whet My glittering sword, I will render vengeance to Mine enemies.’ ”—Joseph de Barzia, 1600. THE SELF- NATURE OF SIN(Psalms 7:14-17.) A somewhat different view of retribution is here given to that given in Psalms 7:12-13. There God is represented as using against the sinner His own peculiar weapons; here He is represented as beating and punishing His enemies with their own weapons. “Evil shall slay the wicked.” I. All sin is the digging of a pit. Sin does not seek to rise by the stepping stones of lawful and noble endeavour; it knows of no eminence but by lowering others. Ambition, with its throne-building, is yet a pit-digging. It seeks to raise itself on the trampled rights, and pleasures, and lives of others. Lying is a pit-sinking for others. Lust serves itself by ensnaring and debasing others. Envying sickens at another’s joy, and seeks to secure itself by giving others a fall. Covetousness is always grave-digging, that it may inherit others’ wealth. Sin would sink the throne of God. Sin knows not how to shine but by darkening others, knows not how to exalt itself but by depressing others, knows not how to feast itself but by starving others, knows not how to enrich itself but by spoiling others, knows not how to save itself but by damning others. Pit-digging is hard work. The image of a travailing woman, in the 14th verse, reminds us that the development of evil is attended with severest labour and keenest sorrows. It is infinitely harder work to rise by violence, fraud, spoliation, than by virtuous paths. It may be hard to climb the steep where Fame’s proud temple shines afar; but the bitterest toil is theirs who seek to rise by sinking. Pit-digging is humiliating work; it is a perpetual stoop. It kills all the nobility of a man; it is full of shame. II. All sin sinks into the pit which it digs. The workman rises with his work, and the workman sinks with his work. He who digs a pit for another digs a grave for himself. How often has the truth of these verses, 15 and 16, been seen by us! 1. Nature guarantees that it shall be so. The sinning member suffers; the sinner suffers on the same lines as he transgresses. 2. History teems with illustrations of this truth. In sacred and profane history we find a thousand examples of men falling into the pits they digged for others. 3. The Scriptures assure us that this will be so to the bitter end. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap.” ALPHA AND OMEGA(FIRST verse and the LAST.) The contrast between the opening and the closing verse of this psalm is instructive. It reminds us— I. That God’s equity may be obscured in the beginning, but it shall be vindicated in the end. In the first verse, God’s righteousness is hidden; the wicked triumph. But in the last verse of the psalm all is clear, and the Lord is praised “according to His righteousness.” Wait! II. That the sinner’s beginning may be grand, but his end shall be disaster. In the opening of the psalm the sinner is a lion, strong, proud, dominant; but in the end of the psalm the lion is howling in a pit. Wait! III. That the saints may have beginnings of sorrow, but the end shall be triumphant. With the commencement of the psalm David weeps and laments, but he ends with a song. Wait! “This is a psalm of thanksgiving to God for the exaltation of man above all terrestrial creatures. It is quoted by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews with reference to Christ; but whether it is to be considered a prophecy, or whether it is quoted simply because it describes by way of accommodation the character of our Lord, does not appear certain. The most sober commentators have adopted the latter view, considering that the author of the psalm intended simply to celebrate the glory of Jehovah, and the power and dignity He has conferred on the human race. It is, however, they say, appropriately applied to our Lord by way of illustration; for this power and dignity did not obtain their full consummation till He became invested with our nature, and was exalted ‘above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come,’ ”—Phillips.THE GOSPEL OF THE STARS(Psalms 8:1.) We are led to consider: I. Creation as deriving its glory from God. The Psalmist here looks upon creation, not as God, not as independent of God, but as a glass reflecting the glory of God. “Thy heavens.” “Who hast set Thy glory” above or upon the heavens. “It here implies that the glory belonging to the frame of nature is not inherent, but derivative.”—Alexander. “The sense of God’s presence, of which the Psalmist is so profoundly conscious in his own spiritual life, is that which gives its glory and its meaning to the natural world. There is a vivid realisation of that presence as of a presence which fills the world. Nature is full of God; nature is the theatre of His glory. All admiration of nature in a rightly-tuned heart is a confession of that glory. To such a heart there can be no praise of nature apart from the praise of God. All things are ‘of Him, and through Him, and to Him.’ Apart from Him, the unwise is void and waste; He gives it its life and meaning.”—Perowne. “God is the principle of beauty, both as author of the physical world, and as father of the intellectual and moral world. He is the life, the light, the movement, the ineffable grace of visible and finite nature.”—Cousin. Let us remember that the glory of creation is but the reflected glory of Him who sits above it. This as against atheism, pantheism, naturalism. Consider: II. Creation as revealing the glory of God. The glory of God as seen in nature is: 1. Unspeakable. “How excellent!” No poet, no saint, can adequately speak of it. It fills us with a wonder and joy too deep for words. 2. Gracious. “How excellent!” The earth, so far as its primitive and essential arrangements are concerned, declares the loving God. The glory of God is His goodness. 3. Universal. “In all the earth.” Everywhere, under the whole heavens, we see the glory of God. “Known through the earth by thousand signs,By thousands through the skies.”“He whose eyes are open cannot want an instructor, unless he wants a heart.”—Charnock, quoted by Spurgeon. Consider: III. Creation as awakening admiration and love in the children of God. “O Lord, our Lord!” Unbelieving men make nature to hide God, to put Him far away; but nature rejoices the saint as he beholds in it the workmanship of his Father. The sceptical philosopher is reminded by nature of the Eternal, the Infinite, the Absolute; but the saint responds— “This glorious God is ours,Our Father, and our Friend.”THE OF (Psalms 8:2.) David speaks literally of children; and so our Lord Himself applies the words (Matthew 21:16). “Even the faith of a little child is bulwark enough against the folly of men of corrupt heart and perverted intellect. The stars above, and the lips of the infants below, show forth His praise.”—Perowne. The Psalmist has been looking at the magnificence of the firmament, and he passes at once to children, little children. But there is really no shock in this, for children are, as they have been justly and beautifully designated, “little majesties.” Observe: I. The religious capacity of childhood. This is indicated here. The young children with their first breath ask for God, and recognise Him in the glory of the universe. The spirituality of childhood is frequently recognised in the Old Testament; and in the New Testament Christ distinctly recognises the spirituality of the child-nature. The poet recognises in the child natural innocence and grace; the painter, physical beauty; the parent exalts the child from a sentiment of natural affection; but Christ gave children a conspicuous place in His teaching and system, on the ground of their spiritual faculty. The children recognised Christ when the patriarchs of the nation failed to do so; they welcomed Him when their fathers were cold and blind. Christianity is peculiarly, as no other religion has ever been, the religion of the children. Let them have it. Give them “the truth as it is in Jesus;” do not be sceptical about their conversion. Observe: II. The religious service of childhood. “That Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” “The instinctive admiration of Thy works, even by the youngest children, is a strong defence against those who would question Thy being or obscure Thy glory. The effect, or rather the legitimate tendency of this spontaneous testimony, is to silence enemy and avenger, i.e., to stop the mouths of all malignant railers against God, whose cavils and sophisms are put to shame by the instinctive recognition of God’s being and His glory by the youngest children.”—Alexander. How often the simple speech of a little child cleaves to the heart of a great subject, and silences the gainsayer! “Have we never seen how a child, simple and near to God, cuts asunder a web of sophistry with a single direct question? How, before its steady look and simple argument, some fashionable utterer of a conventional falsehood has been abashed?”—Robertson. And it is remarkable how at great crises the children have become defenders of Christ and His cause. Notably, Matthew 21:16; and again in the Reformation. When Melancthon was greatly depressed about the fortunes of the Reformation, one day he passed a house in which he found some young people praying for the Protestant cause. Coming to Luther, he exclaimed triumphantly, “We are saved: the children are praying for us.” And again, in the great revival of religion under Wesley and Whitfield. When Whitfield was preaching in New England, a certain lady became a subject of grace and a praying Christian. But she could influence none to pray with her but her little daughter, about ten years of age. This child was daily in her closet as a witness of her cries and tears, and soon became the subject of Divine grace. The child, in a transport peculiar to such blessed experience, said, “O mother! if all the world knew this! I wish I could tell everybody! Pray, mother, let me tell all the neighbours, that they may be happy, and love my Saviour too!” “Ah! my dear child,” said the mother, “it would be useless; if you were to tell your experience, they would call it a delusion.” “O mother! I think they would believe me. I must go at once to the shoemaker, and tell him; he will believe me.” She ran over, and found him at work in his shop. She began telling him that he must die; that he and she were sinners; but that Christ had heard her mother’s prayers, and forgiven all her sins, and that now she was very happy. The shoemaker was struck; his tears flowed down like rain; he threw aside his work, and so earnestly cried for mercy as to alarm the neighbourhood; and in a few months from that time, about fifty people were brought to the saving knowledge of Christ. Whitfield, adverting to his preaching in Moorfields, says, “I cannot help adding, that several little boys and girls who were fond of sitting round me on the pulpit while I preached, and handed to me people’s notes—though they were often pelted with eggs, dirt, &c., thrown at me—never once gave way; but, on the contrary, every time I was struck, turned up their little weeping eyes, and seemed to wish they could receive the blows for me. God make them, in their growing years, great and living martyrs for Him who, out of the mouth of babes and sucklings, perfects praise!” There is a feast celebrated at Naumburg called the “Feast of Cherries,” in which troops of children parade the streets with green boughs ornamented with cherries, to commemorate a triumph obtained in the following manner:—In 1432, the Hussites threatened the city of Naumburg with immediate destruction, when one of the citizens proposed that all the children in the city should be clad in mourning, and sent as supplicants to the enemy. Procopius Nasus, chief of the Hussites, was so touched with this spectacle, that he received the young supplicants, regaled them with fruits, and promised them to spare the city. The children returned crowned with leaves, holding cherries, and crying “Victory!” Thus the children are often ambassadors for God, and their words, prayers, tears, often confound or melt “the enemy and the avenger.” Every house that has a child in it has a chaplain. Let us in the Christian Church believe more in the spiritual faculty of the children; let us teach them spiritual truth; let us believe in their conversion; let us economise their evangelic power. The smaller magnets have proportionately much the greater power; and the children have a remarkable spiritual force which the Church must not ignore. THE DIGNITY OF HUMAN NATURE(Psalms 8:3-9.) We observe: I. The apparent weakness of human nature. “What is man?” “It describes man from the side of his impotence, frailty, and mortality.”—Delitzsch. “Man. The Hebrew word denotes man in his weakness and frailty, as in the next member, Son of man (son of Adam), refers also to his earthly nature as formed out of the ground”—Perowne. “What is man? The first feeling is an overpowering sense of man’s insignificance in presence of the vastness and splendour, the mysterious depth, and the exceeding glory of the heavens, as seen at night.”—Perowne. Compare the vastness of creation with the littleness of man; the power of creation with the feebleness of man; the duration of creation with the fugitiveness of man. “One generation goeth, and another cometh, but the earth abideth for ever.” II. The essential greatness of human nature. Psalms 8:5-9. “Although man appears so insignificant, yet, through God’s marvellous condescension, how great is man, little less than Divine in nature, and lord of all creation.”—Perowne. This greatness is found: 1. In the quality of his being. He is a partaker of the Divine nature. A “little lower than the angels.” It is generally acknowledged that the A. V. does not give the full sense of the original of these words. “ ‘Thou madest him only a little lower than Elohim;’ so the original; and Elohim is by some rendered, as A. V., angels; but modern interpreters, however, generally are in favour of translating the words thus:—‘Thou madest him little less than God.’ ”—Wordsworth. “Thou hast made him to want but little (or, to come short but little) of God.”—Perowne. “And hast made him a little less than divine.”—Delitzsch. “And madest him lack but little of God.”—Kay. Man only appears insignificant. His rounded brow speaks more than the arched sky, his eyes shine out deeper things than stars, and in his lips there is a music beyond that of wind or wave. Less bright than the sun, less bulky than the planet, less abiding than the stars, he is greater than them all! “Noble in reason, infinite in faculty, in action like an angel, in apprehension like a god.”—Shakespeare. The day was when the Church had to insist upon the depravity and degradation of human nature in opposition to the philosophy which descanted on the purity and dignity of human nature; now, perhaps, it is the duty of the Church to insist on the dignity of human nature in opposition to the dishonouring theories of modern science. The greatness of man is seen: 2. In the extent of his dominion (Psalms 8:6-8). “Man is a king, and not a king without territory; the world around, with the works of creative wisdom which fill it, is his kingdom.”—Delitzsch. “All, everything, hast Thou put under his feet, i.e., subjected to his power.”—Alexander. Earth, sea, sky (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 1:28; Genesis 9:2). Man is God’s vicegerent, and through man God seeks to govern all things. We ought to seek to exercise our regal glory in the right spirit and to the right end. “ ‘All things under his feet’ teaches us: (1.) To trample upon earthly things as base and bootiess, not to dote upon them with our hearts, nor grasp them greedily with our hands. (2.) By this posture of all things under man’s foot God would teach him to use them as a stirrup, for the raising of his heart to those things above. A sanctified fancy can make every creature a ladder to heaven.”—Trapp. III. The source of the greatness of human nature. It is because God “is mindful of him.” All his glory and empire is derived from God, and only continues whilst God blesses him. God puts the crown on our head; let us, in the spirit of Psa 8:9, lay that crown at His feet. “Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,” &c. (Jeremiah 9:23-24). HUMAN NATURE IN THE LIGHT OF This psalm is frequently quoted in the New Testament, and may be considered as an eminently Christian psalm. It is often objected to Christianity that it deals harshly with human nature, that it ignores the dignity of our nature, &c. We submit, on the contrary, that the Christian estimate of human nature commends itself to the common conscience in the sight of God. I. Christianity recognises the intrinsic grandeur of human nature. It asserts the spirituality, the infinity, the immortality of man. He is made in the image of God’s spirituality, infinity, immortality. And Christianity gives the crowning illustration of man’s mysterious greatness. The Psalmist, in the 4th verse, affirms that the glory of man springs from the condescension and visitations of God; but do we not find the supreme illustration of this verse in the fact that Deity, in Christ, took upon itself our human nature? Whilst scepticism is degrading human nature, talking of its origin in the ape, and its destination in the dust, Christianity crowns man with honour and glory by declaring that God took upon Himself our nature, and lived on the earth as man with man. The incarnation stands out as the crowning demonstration of the mysterious grandeur of human nature, and as a lofty protest against all those theories of sceptical science which would drag man down to the level of the beasts which perish. II. Christianity restores the lost grandeur of human nature. The Gospel denies that man, as we find him to be, dishonoured and discrowned, is as he ought to be; it says he ought to be far otherwise, and it seeks to put the lost sceptre into his hand, to restore the fallen diadem to his brow. It aims to restore: 1. The glory of his character. (1.) Christ becomes the pattern of life. He shows us what we may be, what we ought to be. How truly kingly is Christ! How glorious is the human character as seen in Him, arrayed in all the gold and purple of sublimest graces! (2.) Christ becomes the perfecter of life. He is the power to make us as glorious as Himself. “We all, with open face,” &c. The Gospel aims to restore us faultless before the throne of God. It aims to restore: 2. The fulness of his dominion. This has been lost. A mere scrap of man’s sovereignty is left to him in his fallen estate. Instead of ruling, man is ruled; instead of being a monarch, he is a slave. He is the sport of elements he was born to rule. But Christianity recognises man’s right to rule, and seeks to fit him once more to exercise that rule. (1.) In this world. Whilst many of our scientific men are denying that the chief end of the earth is for man, Christianity insists that it is so. “The world is yours.” As the Gospel prevails, the earth becomes more subjected to man. With the prevalence of Christianity you have the advancement of civilisation, of science, of art, and thus the earth is more and more made the property of the human race, and subordinated to the utility, and in a great measure to the command of man. As man acquires his kingly character in Christ, the world returns to its allegiance to him. (2.) In the spiritual and eternal world. “The centre of the New Testament consciousness is Jesus, the restorer of that which is lost. The dominion of the world lost to fallen man, and only retained by him in a ruined condition, is allotted to mankind, when redeemed by Him, in fuller and more perfect reality. This dominion is not yet in the actual possession of mankind, but in the person of Jesus it now sits enthroned at the right hand of God. Everything is really put under Him with just as little limitation as is expressed in this psalm: not merely the animal kingdom, not merely the world itself, but the universe with all the ruling powers in it, whether they be in subjection or in hostility to God, yea, even the power of death (1 Corinthians 15:27; cf. Ephesians 1:22).”—Delitzsch. And Christ is thus exalted on our behalf, to make us sharers of His power and empire. Only in Christ can man’s magnificent destiny be realised. “Man’s destiny as depicted in this psalm is not, and cannot be, accomplished out of Christ. He is the true Lord of all. In Him man reigns, in Him man shall yet be restored to his rightful lordship, and shall really and completely be in the new world of redemption what now he is but very imperfectly, God’s vicegerent, ruling a subject creation in peace, and harmony, and love.”—Perowne. “A psalm of thanksgiving (Psalms 9:1-2) after a victory (Psalms 9:3) over the heathen wrought by Divine judgment (Psalms 9:4-6), expressing confidence in His constant protection of the oppressed (Psalms 9:7-10); therefore the pious have to thank God (Psalms 9:11-12), and pray to Him in every time of need (Psalms 9:13-14). The judicial government of God causes the enemies finally to perish, and saves the sufferers (Psalms 9:15-18); therefore the prayer (Psalms 9:19-20), which shows the dangerous position of the Psalmist and his people.”—Moll.PRAISE(Psalms 9:1-3.) In the foregoing psalms we have had much prayer, but here we have a sublime burst of praise. The Psalmist’s soul is filled with admiration and joy in view of the Divine character and government, and in glorious language he gives utterance to the ecstasy of his soul. There is something exceedingly sublime in praise; when we bless God, with the angels we take our part. One of our old poets has some quaint, but fine lines, “On Praise.” “Praise is devotion fit for mightie minds!The diff’ring world’s agreeing sacrifice,Where heav’n divided faiths united finds,But pray’r in various discord upward flies.“For pray’r the ocean is, where diverslyMen steer their course, each to a sev’ral coast;Where all our int’rests so discordant be,That half beg winds by which the rest are lost.“By Penitence, when we ourselves forsake,’Tis but in wise design on piteous heav’n;In praise we nobly give, what God may take,And are, without a beggar’s blush, forgiv’n.“Its utmost force, like powder’s, is unknown!And though weak kings excess of praise may fear,Yet when ’tis here, like powder, dang’rous grown,Heav’n’s vault receives, what would the palace tear.”—SIR WILLIAM .Let us notice, then, the thanksgiving of the text: I. The minstrel. “I will praise Thee” (Psalms 9:1). “I will show forth Thy works.” All God’s works praise Him, but man is to be the leading singer in the great choir. The Esthonians have a beautiful legend to explain the origin of Song. The god of song descended on the Domberg, on which stands a sacred wood, and there played and sang. All creatures were invited to listen, and they each learnt some fragment of the celestial sound; the listening wood learnt its rustling, the stream its roar; the wind caught and learnt to re-echo the shrillest tones, and the birds the prelude of the song. Man only grasped it all, and therefore his song pierces into the depths of the heart, and upwards to the dwellings of the gods. As this legend pictures, man’s song is the fullest and the deepest; and whilst creation with her thousand voices praises God, from man comes the music which is sweetest to the throne of God. And each of us ought to find a tongue to bless God. “I will praise Thee.” “I will be glad.” “I will sing praise.” We must not leave the organist and chorister to praise God for us, and ourselves stand dumb images in the pews. No proxy here. He has blessed me, and I will glorify Him. Gratitude ought to make musicians of us all. Notice: II. The harp. “With my whole heart.” The heart is the lyre wherewith to worship God. No instrument of music is so wonderful as this one—full of cunning pipes and exquisite strings; and this is the true harp to take into the closet, into the sanctuary. Not lips merely. “The heart is the instrument of praise, the mouth only its organ.”—Hengstenberg. True praise is an overflow of feeling; we thank God for His goodness, and, as the French say, “There is a tear in our voice.” “Making melody in our heart unto the Lord.” “With my whole heart.” The harp has many strings—some longer, others shorter, some of one tone and colour, whilst the other chords are differently tuned and coloured; and so there are many strings in that living harp with which we should praise God, and every chord should be smitten in His honour. Some of the cathedrals on the Continent contain several organs; and so in our breast are reason, will, imagination, sensibility, and we should summon every faculty to glorify God. Let us call upon all that is within us to bless the holy name. Notice: III. The song. 1. The theme of it; or rather, perhaps, we should say themes. “I will show forth all Thy marvellous works.” I will praise Him for all His grace, gifts, deliverances, consolations, promises. “If we be willing to talk of His deeds, He will give us enough to talk about.”—Power. They are “marvellous works.” “All the benefits received from God are real wonders to the humble soul, for it is an inconceivable grace that God the Lord should show so much mercy, bodily and spiritual, with wonderful wisdom and faithfulness to those who are in the highest degree unworthy.”—Starke. “We take the blessing from above,And wonder at the boundless love.”And it is our duty to show these forth. Tell what God has done for you. “Songs without words,” the unspoken and unspeakable joy and worship of the heart, are acceptable before God; but we must utter the memory of His great goodness that the world may know and believe. As one has said, “Christian experience will save the world.” 2. The joyfulness of it. “I will be glad.” The knowledge of God’s love thrills the soul. When the devil played on our heart he brought out the dismal wailing of a perpetual “Dead March;” but if we yield our heart to God, it shall utter forth an endless “Hallelujah Chorus” of gladsomeness and triumph. 3. The object of it. “I will praise Thee.” “I will rejoice in Thee” “I will joy and triumph in Thee, not merely in Thy presence, or because of Thee, i.e., because of what Thou hast done, but in communion with Thee, and because of my personal interest in Thee.”—Alexander. In prayer there is a remembrance of ourselves, but in praise God fills our eye and our heart. As the harp-string passes out of sight trembling with music, so self is forgotten when we joy in God. 4. The occasion of it (Psalms 9:3). “Because my enemies are turned back, because they stumble and perish before Thy countenance.”—Speaker’s Com. “The Romans in their triumphs presented a palm to Jupiter.”—Trapp. So in each blessing, victory, joy, let us afresh tune our harps, and glorify the great source of all blessings. More than this, in the dark days let us take our harp from the willow and glorify God. The legend says that Orpheus was drowned, and it is because his lyre is in the flood that the waters make such sweet music. Certainly the harp of David is never sweeter than when it sounds from a flood of tears. “We glory in tribulation also. That is truly a new kind of men, that live among the dead, and are glad among the suffering.”—Luther. THE DIVINE IN ITS TO THE NATIONS(Psalms 9:4-9.) I. The Divine government is characterised by equity. Psalms 9:4. “Thou satest in the throne judging right.” “He shall judge the world in righteousness” (Psalms 9:8). It sometimes seems as if God acted towards nations and men with a strange partiality, but it is really not so; deep down is the law of truth and righteousness, and all God’s ways are equal. In the 4th verse the Psalmist says, “Thou hast passed sentence for me and done me right.”—Horsley. And thus it shall be with each nation, each individual. The Scriptures assure us of this. Conscience testifies to this. Although we see the saint wronged, and the sinner triumphant a thousand times, yet conscience persistently testifies that justice will be done. II. The Divine government is vindicated with severity. Psalms 9:5-6. “And cities, Thou, O God, hast rooted out; their memorial, even theirs is perished. What God destroys cannot be restored, and their cities are desolate for ever.”—Wordsworth. “They are perpetual ruins.”—Perowne. “The Psalmist appears to be speaking of the entire destruction of the cities of the enemy, and he seems to state in this clause that they should be completely desolated, so as to prevent any re-establishment of them at a future time; or so as to make it impossible for the work of desolation to be carried any further. The memory of them has perished.”—Phillips. 1. Observe, God’s government will vindicate itself. Some one has said, “That the Spanish laws are the best in the world, but they are never acted upon.” God’s laws are the best laws, and, be sure, He will insist upon every one of them. 2. God’s government vindicates itself now. “God does not postpone judgment and salvation till the end of the world, although times of trouble come for the pious, and days of apparent victory for their enemies. He already judges in history individuals and nations, so that all traces of them are blotted out from the earth, and their name is forgotten.”—Moll. Thrones founded in unrighteousness fall, fortunes are shipwrecked, cities perish, empires and armies melt. Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, Roman, Jewish—all are illustrations. 3. God’s government vindicates itself with awful severity. God blots out the impenitent nation or person. The nations before Him are as the drop of a bucket, and, as such, are dried up in the hot light of His wrath, when once He is angry. III. The Divine government survives all opposition. Psalms 9:7. “The enemy has been utterly annihilated, whilst Jehovah remains King for ever.”—Perowne. “The serene majesty of the eternal Judge is contrasted with the struggles and overthrow of evil men.”—Speaker’s Com. We are reminded (Isaiah 6:1.), “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple.” Kings die, and their kingdoms perish, but God sitteth a King for ever, and of His government there shall be no end. The kingdom of Christ will survive all hostilities—political, ecclesiastical, philosophical, personal. IV. The Divine government comprehends all nations, and shall bring them all into judgment. Psalms 9:8. “And He shall judge the world in righteousness, He shall minister judgment to the peoples in uprightness.” He will apply to us in modern times the same severe tests which He applied to the peoples of the past; and if, when weighed in the balances, we are found wanting, He shall blot out our name from under the heavens. Let us honour God in our age and nation, for if we rule, and legislate, and serve in His fear, our throne shall be established; and the way for God to dwell in a nation is for every one to see that God dwells in his heart. GOD THE AND AVENGER OF THE (Psalms 9:9-13.) God has His eye on the strong and unjust, and He will not fail to punish them; He has His eye on the weak and faithful, and will vindicate their cause. What a record of injustice is history! How the true, good, noble, in every age, have been wronged! Thousands are still being similarly wronged. What is the relation of God to these? I. He is their Protector. Mark: 1. The strength of this protection (Psalms 9:9). “The Lord will be a refuge.” “Properly, as in the margin, a high place, a fort on the summit of an inaccessible rock, such as often afforded a refuge to David in early days of exile.”—Speaker’s Com. What a power there is in the grace of God to lift a man above his trouble! The blessing of God comes down on His tried and persecuted people, and they feel at once they are sweetly lodged in an inaccessible Rock. Violence cannot overturn it; Sorrow cannot get a foothold in it; Fear cannot scale it; the devil can find no secret winding in it by which he may reach the saints. It is a rock of strength and safety, and blessed are all those who claim, its shelter. “How happy are the little flock,Who, safe beneath their guardian-rock,In all commotions rest!‘When war’s and tumult’s waves run high,Unmoved above the storm they lie;They lodge in Jesus’ breast.”2. The seasonableness of it (Psalms 9:9). “A refuge in times of trouble, i.e., steeped in trouble.”—Kay. If it were a physical presence, we might sometimes justly say, “Lord, if thou hadst been here,” this and that disaster would not have occurred; but the spiritual presence is ever with us. He is a help in the time of trouble; a present help, a very present help. In South-Eastern India there is a wild race which believes that all the evil in the world is done whilst God is sleeping; if He were not obliged to sleep there would be no sickness, no sorrow, no death. What a comfort to feel that God’s eyes neither slumber nor sleep, and that He is never far from any one of us. God is the nearest to us when we want Him the most. 3. The immutability of it. “Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee” (Psalms 9:10). “Hast never failed them that seek Thee.”—P. B. Version. And He never will. II. He is their Avenger. Psalms 9:12. “Like the Goël, the next of kin, who was bound to avenge the murder of his kinsman, so God calls the murderer to account, requires satisfaction at his hand.”—Perowne. Let us learn: 1. Not to oppress. It is a fearful thing in anywise to wrong our brother. The cry of the oppressed reaches God, and God cannot rest on His throne until that cry is avenged. Let us not do anything against our brother’s rights, freedom, property, conscience, happiness, life, character. He “has no friend, kick him.” But the weak man at your feet has a Friend; don’t kick him, help him on his feet, and God shall bless you. 2. In oppression trust in God. “They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee” (Psalms 9:10). “Those knowing Thy name, i.e., those who are acquainted with Thy power.”—Phillips. Such will trust God. “They can do no otherwise that savingly know God’s sweet attributes and noble acts for His people.”—Trapp. THE OF GENERAL TRUTHS(Psalms 9:13-14.) The Psalmist has been dealing with great principles, and regarding these in their application to great nations and long periods of time, when he interrupts the general reflection by this personal cry. These two verses are considered to break the unity of the psalm. “They disturb the unity of the psalm, and interfere awkwardly with its general strain of triumph.”—Delitzsch. But we must remember that the Psalmist writes as a man, not as an artist, and we have here the instinctive, irrepressible cry of his heart. He recognises: I. His personal fault. “Have mercy upon me, O Lord” (Psalms 9:13). Is there not here a recognition of his own unworthiness, as well as his own suffering? He asks for help, but it is on the ground of mercy. So should we ever in acknowledging the corruption of human nature remember the corruption of our own; and in deploring the sin of the world take care to deplore our own sin. How often we forget this! The woman of Samaria was versed in theological lore, and acknowledged with freedom various great religious principles, but how strangely she forgot her own personal situation! In the presence of Sinai, of Calvary, of an imperfect and guilty race, let us cry before Heaven, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” II. His personal need. “Consider my trouble” (Psalms 9:13). Whilst the Psalmist thought of the general sorrow, he recalled before God his own. Every heart knows its own bitterness, and it is our privilege to make our case known to God. Every one of us may go to God and cry, “Consider my trouble” We cannot go with every little ailment to the doctor, nor with every little perplexity to the lawyer, nor with every little trouble to a friend; but we may go to God with all our distresses, and He will give us audience and relief. He appeals to God as. III. His personal Helper. “Thou that liftest me up” (Psalms 9:13). He has seen in God the world’s Judge and Redeemer, and he now recognises God as his God. Let us not stay short of this personal relationship and plea. Let us not lose ourselves in a crowd. Let us be able to say, “O Lord, Thou art my Lord, and my God, and my Helper.” Finally, the Psalmist vows: IV. His personal consecration. Psalms 9:14. “That I may show forth,” &c. In “the gates,” as the most public place of concourse. It ought not only to be, “All the earth praises Thee,” but also, “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Our voice, profession, gifts, service are needed. I must praise God, acknowledge Him, love Him, and seek to build up His kingdom. THE OF THE SAINTS(Psalms 9:13-14.) Observe: I. The depth of their distress. “Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death” (Psalms 9:13). “From desperate and deadly dangers, such as threaten present destruction, and show a man the grave even gaping for him. David was oft at this pass; and God delivered Paul from so great a death (2 Corinthians 1:10). He commonly reserveth His hand for a dead-lift, and rescueth those who were even talking of their graves.”—Trapp. Believers are often brought “very low.” Constitutional infirmity; bodily sickness; worldly trouble; spiritual conflicts; persecution; these often depress and bewilder the saints, and they are at their “wits’ end.” II. The fulness of their deliverance. “In the gates of Jerusalem” (Psalms 9:14). He brings His people from the gates of hell to the gates of glory. “There is a beautiful contrast between ‘the gates of death,’ in the preceding verse, and ‘the gates of the daughter of Sion,’ or the heavenly Jerusalem, in this—the one leads down to the pit, the other up to the Mount of God; the one opens into perpetual darkness, the other into light eternal; from the one proceeds nothing but what is evil, from the other nothing but what is good; infernal spirits watch at the one, the other are unbarred by the hands of angels. What a blessing, then, is it to be snatched from the former, and transported to the latter.”—Horne. 1. God has thus lifted up His people in their conversion. They were “snatched as brands from the burning,” and placed in safety in the Church, which is the “gate of heaven.” 2. God does thus lift up His people in their experience. When our sins, our sorrows, our sufferings, our persecutors have brought us very low, how God interferes on our behalf, and turns the shadow of death into the morning! 3. God will thus lift up His people from death and the grave. He will transfigure their crown of thorns into amaranth; change their corruptible into incorruption; raise them from the dust and worms to stars and angels! “Millions of transgressors poorThou hast for Jesus’ sake forgiven;Made them of Thy favour sure,And snatched from hell to heaven.”III. The expression of their gratitude. “That I may show forth all Thy praise,” &c. (Psalms 9:14). “That I may recount all Thy praise.” “This is one important end for which he asks to be delivered, namely, that God may have the praise of his deliverance.”—Alexander. We will praise Him on earth, and surely no song in heaven shall be louder and sweeter than ours. “My soul, through my Redeemer’s care,Saved from the second death I feel,My eyes from tears of dark despair,My feet from falling into hell.“Wherefore to Him my feet shall run,My eyes on His perfections gaze;My soul shall live for God alone;And all within me shout His praise.”Lessons: 1. In the darkest hours do not despair. In the darkest hours of life, of death, do not despair. At the gates of death, believe, hope! “There is nothing desperate in the state of good men where there is a right principle within them, and God’s superintendency over them.”—Whichcote. “When the axe already touches thy neck, still hope in God’s saving grace.”—Talmud. From the deepest pit we see the stars. 2. In the darkest hours remember that the depth of the shade prophesies the fulness of the glory which is to be revealed. As much as you are brought low, so much shall you be lifted up. From gates of death you spring to beautiful gates of lofty Christian life and worship; to pearly gates, golden gates of heavenly rest and victory. Men measure mountains by their shadows; and so from the sorrows of to-day we may argue somewhat to the grandeurs which await us. But even then we must remember that “the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Psalms 9:15-20.) We are taught here: I. That the pit of human misery and ruin is digged by man, not by God. “The pit that they made” (Psalms 9:15). Yes; all the pits into which man falls are self-digged. That is true of all the pits on earth. God’s laws were all made for man’s good and joy, but we create misery for ourselves. What scenes of misery there are on the earth—jails, madhouses, penitentiaries, &c., &c.; but God did not design these places. In the original arrangement of things our perfection and pleasure alone were designed; but pride, appetite, folly, covetousness, have dug the horrible pits from whence come up evermore sighs of misery and despair. This is true of the pit of hell. God made Eden for us, the beautiful earth, heaven beyond; but we make hell for ourselves. We build its prisons, kindle its fires, forge its fetters, originate its woe. As Dr. Griffin says, “God is right, and man is wrong.” II. That sin may be cleverly devised and executed, but its frustration is certain. “The pit that they made, the net which they hid.” How subtlely the thing has been conceived and wrought! Sin is often an attempt to overmatch man; to take advantage of his ignorance, or weakness, or unwariness. It is always an attempt to overmatch God. It is dexterously done, so to break the laws of God as to escape the threatened penalty. But it does not succeed. The sinner falls into the pit, is taken in the snare. We think of cheating man, devil, God; but we shall only cheat ourselves. III. That sin may long remain unpunished, but its punishment is certain. “The Lord is known by the judgment which He executeth” (Psalms 9:16). “Known is Jehovah, or has made Himself known. Justice has He done, or judgment has He executed. God has revealed Himself as present and attentive, notwithstanding His apparent oblivion and inaction, by doing justice on His enemies, or rather by making them do justice on themselves.”—Alexander. God will arise to punish sinners; and the punishment shall be all the more terrible for the delay. V. Hugo says concerning the sea: “Beware of the gale that has been long delayed. It was Angot who said that ‘the sea pays well old debts.’ ” Sinner, beware of the wrath long delayed; justice pays well old debts. IV. That the final punishment of sin is overwhelming. Psalms 9:17. “Not the heathen, as such, but all (of whatever race) who wilfully forget and put away from them that knowledge of Himself which God has inscribed on men’s consciences.”—Kay. “God’s righteousness shall be seen in cutting off the wicked by a sudden and premature end.”—Perowne. Lessons: 1. The saints must trust in God (Psalms 9:18). “The patient abiding of the meek” shall not be in vain.—P. B. Version. 2. The ungodly must tremble at the judgments of God (Psalms 9:20). They are “but men,” however proud and defiant they may be. “Crowns leave their wearers, but men, degrees of eminent learning, make their owners not more than men; valour and conquest cannot elevate beyond the dead level of ‘but men;’ and all the wealth of Crœsus, the wisdom of Solon, the power of Alexander, the eloquence of Demosthenes, if added together, would leave the possessor but a man.”—Spurgeon. And what can man do when God awakes to judgment? “This psalm seems to belong to the time of the Captivity, or the return of the captives. It was probably made in reference to Sanballat, and the other enemies of the Jews. There is a great similarity between this and the 12th, the 14th, the 35th, and the 53d. In these, as Calmet remarks, we find the same complaints, the same sentiments, and almost the same expressions.”—Dr. A. Clarke.SOUL (Psalms 10:1-2.) I. The problem. “Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord?” &c., i.e., “like an idle, passive spectator, unconcerned at the misery which he sees, but refuses to relieve.”—Perowne. “The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor.” “Through the proud dealings of the wicked, their victims are placed in the fire or furnace of affliction.”—Perowne. “Through the pride of the wicked the afflicted man burns.”—Moll. The soul is sorely puzzled with this painful problem, and asks earnestly, Why is it thus? Let it be observed, this is not— (1.) A presumptuous question. “The meaning is not that of searching for the reason.”—Moll. There is no disposition to know the secret things which belong unto the Lord. (2.) Not a murmuring question. “In the anguish of external trouble and internal affliction, the pious may, with propriety, urge God to hasten to their relief; but although the voice of their lamentation may resound, yet it must not contain a complaint against God, as if He improperly delayed, or as if He left the afflicted in continual danger without reason, or as if He had purposely shut His eyes and ears against their need and prayers. In the realisation of their weakness, they must give themselves and their cause entirely into the hands of God.”—Moll. Neither is it, (3.) A despairing question. “The good soul knows that God waiteth to be gracious; and as He seldom cometh at our time, so at His own (which is ever the best) time, He never faileth.”—Trapp. It is a lover’s question; it is the cry of a righteous man, impatient that justice should be done; but it is a question nevertheless which bespeaks the deep sorrow and perplexity of the religious soul. A little child cried in the night, and the parent came to correct it; said the little thing, “Whip me, but don’t leave me.” Thus, the bitterest trial of the saints is the consciousness of God’s absence. II. The solution. The explanation of the problem may be found: 1. Partly in regard to our personal discipline. (1.) It rebukes our faults In these hours of sorrow, we remember our faults. (2.) It reminds us of our personal helplessness. We never know the preciousness of our friends until we have lost them; and it seems necessary that our greatest Friend should withdraw His presence sometimes, so that we may realise His preciousness more fully, and know how helpless we are without Him. (3.) It drives us nearer to God. 2. Partly in respect to the salvation of the wicked. God delays to do justice that the wicked may have space for repentance. It may be that the wicked abuse these delays, put upon them a wrong interpretation, but God grants the longer delay, that the sinner may turn and live. Thus, if the righteous suffer because Heaven delays its judgments, let them not complain. Let them regard their sufferings on this account as vicarious suffering, as identifying them with their thorn-crowned Master, who was bruised for our iniquities, and by whose stripes we are healed. God is sublimely patient, bearing with sinners, and suffering whilst He bears; let us imitate His long-suffering, and not complain at the delays of justice, because such delays are in the interests of mercy and salvation. 3. Certainly, in regard to the glory of God. God will not dishonour Himself by hiding Himself; when all things are seen clearly, the Divine attributes will shine all the brighter for these obscurations. Each explained mystery will be a crown on God’s head; not one of them a blot on God’s throne. The throne at last will be “A great white throne” (Revelation 15:3-4). ATHEISM(Psalms 10:3-14.) We have here a full-length portrait of the practical atheist. The Psalmist is not speaking of the theoretical atheist, not of the man who ignores God with his lips, but who ignores Him in his life. Let us mark: I. The nature of this atheism. 1. The atheism here spoken of ignores God in actual life (Psalms 10:4). “God is not in all his thoughts.” “THERE IS NO GOD: not that he is literally an atheist, but that the whole of his conduct, all his purposes and schemes, are carried on as if there were no God—in a practical denial of His existence.”—Perowne. “David does not speak of the words, but of the innermost thoughts, of the wicked—their practical, it may be half-conscious atheism.”—Speaker’s Com. How much of this secret atheism there is in the world! How often in the bed-chamber of the heart do men curse the King! How continually do men acknowledge God, and yet in their conduct deny Him! The Chinese acknowledge no God in their creed, and yet their houses and shops and streets are full of idols. The reverse of this is seen in Christendom; our creed is full of God, and then we shut Him out from our shops, homes, hearts. 2. The atheism here spoken of excludes God from systems of thought. “No God, is the whole of his philosophy” (Psalms 10:4).—Horsley. Such are intended as those who (1.) Acknowledge that God is, but that He cannot be known, putting God at a vast and inaccessible distance; (2.) Those who contend that we cannot affirm or deny God’s existence, (3.) Those who deny a personal God. “To deny the existence of a living, acting, all-punishing (in one word, a personal) God, is equivalent to denying the existence of any real and true God whatever.”—Ewald. Psalms 10:11. “The thought of a personal God would disturb the ungodly in his doings, he therefore prefers to deny His existence, and thinks there is only fate, and fate is blind, only an absolute, and it has no eyes, only a notion, and that cannot interfere in the affairs of men.”—Delitzsch. We notice: II. The history of this atheism. This atheism is here shown to spring from the pride and corruption of the heart. 1. In the second verse the atheist is shown to be personally corrupt. 2. Next, he glories in his corruption. “For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire” (Psalms 10:3). “He giveth praise to his heart’s desire.”—Perowne. “To his soul’s lust.”—Kay. “He blesses and idolises himself; he sings hallelujahs to himself, and forgets God.”—Wordsworth. “This seems to be a description of the last stage of corruption, in which men openly defend or applaud their own vices.”—Alexander. 3. The wicked man not only glories in his own shame, but has pleasure in those who do such things. “He blesseth the covetous.” Out of this rampant wickedness comes— (1.) The hatred of God. “He abhorreth the Lord.” When we have wronged any one, the next thing is we hate them. (2.) The ignoring of God (Psalms 10:4). “He is so wrapped up in his rapacious propensities that he forsakes and altogether despises God.”—Phillips. Here we have the devil’s chain. Each several link is manifest of that awful fetter with which the devil binds his victims ere he casts them into hell. Many of our sceptics give atheism a very proud lineage; its ancestors are thought, logic, love, and righteousness; God’s Word declares atheism to be the monstrous child of corruption. Yes; atheism springs not from a clear head, but a disordered heart; it is not the characteristic of a pure and simple age, but of a civilisation debauched with luxuries, and mad with pride. III. The characteristics of it. 1. Pride (Psalms 10:4). “Through the pride of his countenance.” “The wicked in the height of his scorn.”—Speaker’s Com. Psalms 10:5. “His ways are always victorious.”—Ewald. Job 12:6. His ways always prosper, and he is full of pride. “They judgments,’ &c. God’s judgments, His punishments for sin, are so far out of the sight of the wicked that he acts as if they could never reach him.”—Perowne. “As for all his enemies,” &c. He cares as little for man as he does for God. 2. Presumption (Psalms 10:6). “In his unbounded carnal security he lets his wicked tongue have free course.”—Delitzsch. “The idea of the wicked is that they and their families would continue to be prosperous, that a permanent foundation was laid for honour and success, and for transmitting accumulated wealth and honours down to far-distant times.”—Barnes. For ever and ever they shall flourish. 3. Practical and outrageous wickedness. Blasphemy, falsehood, injustice, cruelty, murder. When you have ignored God, and denied His intervention in the affairs of men, you have opened the flood-gates of iniquity. IV. The doom of it. Psalms 10:12, &c. God marks and punishes this atheism, and what springs out of it. In the 11th verse the wicked say: “God hath forgotten,” &c. But, says the Psalmist in the 14th verse: “Thou hast seen it, to requite it.” “There is a time coming, he feels assured, when all this disorder will be set right. God is not the passive spectator of human affairs which these men deem Him. He ‘considers’ (i.e., regards with interest and sympathy) what is going on. The helpless, therefore, may leave all to God.”—Perowne. And woe unto the godless (Psalms 10:15-16). “Let the wicked and his wickedness disappear, so that even when sought for it cannot be found.”—Perowne. BLACK ARTS(Psalms 10:7-18.) A missionary who recently returned from Polynesia brought home with him a curious object called a soul-trap. This consisted simply of a series of rings twisted in cocoa-nut fibre. If a native should commit a great offence, or have the misfortune to offend a sorcerer, the latter immediately proceeds to make a new ring in his chain, so as to form a trap to catch the poor man’s spirit. Soon a bird or butterfly alights on the ring, and the sorcerer asserts that the soul of the culprit assuming this form has passed into the trap. It is immediately known throughout the tribe that a certain man has lost his soul. As a matter of fact, it invariably happens that the soulless man shortly afterwards dies, of course through sheer mental distress at having had his soul thus entrapped. We smile at such traps, but we are all familiar with soul-traps of a far more subtle and dangerous character. In the verses before us the Psalmist vividly pictures the crafty schemes of the wicked in order to entrap their victims. They seek by most subtle arts to entangle and destroy. I. It is thus that selfish men set traps for the young and inexperienced. With lies and enticements the covetous seek to entrap and destroy the young. Soul-traps for the young! How numerous they are! How cleverly contrived! The utmost artifice and plausibility. How successful they are (Psalms 10:10). “Crouching down as low as possible, he lies on the watch, and the feeble and defenceless fall into his strong ones, i.e., claws.”—Delitzsch. How many thus fall! Our cities are full of fallen young men and women. We have thousands of heartless men in society answering to the vile robber pictured in these verses. For the sake of gain and lust, they set traps in which the health, honour, happiness, and hope of the youthful perish. The whole civilised world was shocked the other day by the discovery that, by means of an infernal machine, a villain sent ships and their crews to the bottom of the sea for the sake of the insurance money; but thousands of atheistical, covetous men, for the sake of gain, are ingeniously seeking to sink the souls of the people in the gulf of hell. May God save our young people from their cruel schemes! II. It is thus that the world contrives traps for the godly. The world does not like the godly, and in various subtle methods it seeks to worst them. It has traps for their reputation. “His mouth is full of perjury and deceit.” He sets a net of cunningly-devised speech, that he may be able to bring their good name into discredit. It has traps for their fortune. It will “privily seek” to damage their circumstances. It will adroitly circulate reports, frame laws, to bring them into financial trouble. It has traps for their character. They know the natural weaknesses of a Christian, and they bait their hook, set their net, accordingly. He is short-tempered, and they contrive to put in his way occasions of anger; he is given to levity, and they provoke his mirth; he has strong appetites, and they put drink to his lips; he is feeble in faith, and they press him with scepticisms. The world hates the righteous, and when it cannot injure them openly, it will secretly. The devil is a wily destroyer, and his children imitate his tactics, and seek “to murder the innocent.” III. It is thus that Satan sets traps for us all. He is the great bandit pictured in the text; he is the great sorcerer whose soul-traps beset us at every turn. What a clever fowler is he! what a politic huntsman! what a subtle angler! The devil hides himself, he disguises his movements, and in an evil hour men are drawn “into the net.” Here he betrays by pleasure. Bates tells us of a spider in South America which looks like a blossom, and insects alighting on it for sweetness find death. So the great foe, under the aspect of pleasure, betrays thousands. Here he betrays by honour. One of the Roman Emperors used to fish with a net of purple and gold; the devil has used this net largely, and taken great prey. And by many other devices does he destroy the unwary. Beware! That was a clumsy soul-trap in Polynesia, but the sorcerer of hell has traps of strange power—of damning efficacy. Beware of those soul-traps made of flowers called pleasure; of those purple-lined ones called greatness; of those gay-painted ones called fashion; of those scientific ones called philosophy; of those jewelled ones called honour; of those golden ones called wealth. “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” The devil will lie, fawn, flatter, and do this patiently for years to ruin us. 1. Let the innocent put their trust in God. “The afflicted committeth himself unto Thee; Thou art the helper of the fatherless” (Psalms 10:14). Alas! for us if we attempt to stand in our own strength, and take our defence into our own hands. “He that takes himself out of God’s hands into his own, by and by will not know what to do with himself.”—Whichcote. And in our darkest hours of temptation and trial, we may have the fullest assurance that God has not forgotten us. The wicked say: “God will never see it” (Psalms 10:11). But the Psalmist replies: “Thou hast seen it; for Thou beholdeth mischief and spite to requite it with Thy hand” (Psalms 10:14). “The Psalmist means to say, so far from the assertion of the wicked man being true, that God is forgetful of the poor; He is, on the contrary, observant of their trouble and vexation; and in order not to forget their calamities, He places a memorial of them on His hands (see Isaiah 49:26). I have engraven thee on the palms of My hands; which would be done for the purpose of assisting the memory.”—Phillips. God has not forgotten His tried ones who look to Him; He will not forget them. “The Lord preserveth the simple.” “As far from danger as from fear,Whilst Love, Almighty Love, is near.”2. Let the innocent walk circumspectly. “Lurking places,” “secret places,” “eyes privily set,” “lieth in wait secretly.” “He croucheth.” “The image is that of a beast of prey, a fox or a wolf, lying upon the watch about the farm-yard in the evening.”—Horsley. This great enemy is ever on the watch for us in the world. Ambushed often where least expected. And in the Church. The wolf prowls about Christ’s fold. Let us (1.) Live in the spirit of watchfulness. (2.) Let us be specially on our guard against what promises unusual gain, or liberty, or pleasure. The angler makes his artificial fly as big, and fat, and dazzling as he can, and the devil acts thus with the bait which he dangles before human souls. (3.) Let us keep as far from danger as we possibly can. They try sometimes how near they can swim to the Niagara falls without going over—it is not wise. God will keep us, if we strive thus to keep ourselves. 3. Let any who are in the snare of the devil look up to the Deliverer. It is best to keep out of Satan’s claws, but Christ can deliver us from the paw of the lion and the mouth of the bear. In the devil’s trap, held by the iron teeth of evil, stained with blood and tears, look up, and Mercy’s hand shall liberate you, and you shall sing: “My soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and I have escaped.” 4. Let the wicked be assured that God’s eye is upon them, and that justice must overtake them (Psalms 10:15). “Because the Lord continues to spare them, therefore they go on to provoke Him. As He adds to their lives, so they add to their lusts. Because justice seems to wink, men suppose her blind; because she delays punishment, they imagine she denies to punish them; because she does not always reprove them for their sins, they suppose she always approves of their sins. But let such know that the silent arrow can destroy as well as the roaring cannon. Though the patience of God be lasting, yet it is not everlasting.”—Spurgeon. “The friends of David advise him in this psalm to flee unto the mountainous parts of the land of Judah, in order to avoid the danger which was threatening him, should he remain in the place where he was then residing. The psalm is written in the form of a dialogue, of which the first three verses contain the advice of David’s friends, and the remaining portion his reply, wherein he declares his unshaken confidence in God, and his conviction that the wicked will be punished, and himself duly protected.”—Phillips.MORAL COURAGE(Psalms 11:1-7.) We have in this psalm a striking illustration of Christian heroism. The Psalmist is found in circumstances of great moral perplexity and personal danger, but he stands his ground trusting in God. We notice: I. The severity of the trial. David’s timid counsellors bring before him several pressing reasons why he should despair of his cause, and retire from the scene of conflict. They urge— 1. The desperate designs of his enemies. “They bend their bow, and make ready their arrow upon the string” (Psalms 11:2). They will take his life; their thoughts are thoughts of blood. 2. Their perfidious policy. “That they may privily shoot at the upright in heart” (Psalms 11:2). They were prepared to resort to the basest stratagems to compass his death. 3. Their successful action (Psalms 11:3). “What hath the righteous done?”—P. B. Version. “The question in the last clause of this verse implies that the righteous have effected nothing in opposition to the prevalent iniquity.”—Alexander. “If Saul, who is the vicegerent of God, has cast aside his fear, and now regards neither truth nor justice, a righteous man has no security for his life. This is at present thy case, therefore flee; they have utterly destroyed the foundations of truth and equity; what can righteousness now effect?”—Clarke. The position here is, then, that righteousness has been unsuccessful, and the inference is that righteousness will be unsuccessful. “Thus wickedness seemed to be getting the upper hand to such a degree that the godly remnant (Isaiah 1:9) felt themselves tempted to flee, as Lot was bidden to flee, from the city to the mountain.”—Kay. “All is hopeless disorder and confusion.”—Perowne. The representatives of moral ideas were false, the practice of righteousness ceased, the very principles of law and order were subverted, and there seemed no hope. II. The constancy of the tried. “In the Lord put I my trust” (Psalms 11:1). “My feet are on the true rock, why should I look elsewhere for safety?”—Perowne. “How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain? How can ye say?”—Phillips. Dark as the hour was, the Psalmist’s resolution was unshaken. What were the sources of this sublime courage? 1. The presence of God. “The Lord is in His holy temple” (Psalms 11:4). God may seem to have deserted the earth, but He has not. 2. The majesty of God. “The Lord’s throne is in heaven” (Psalms 11:4). Far above all human or devilish energy. The supreme power is moral. 3. The knowledge of God. “His eyes behold,” &c. (Psalms 11:4). “His is a fixed and penetrating look that sees into a thing to the foundation of its inmost nature. The mention of the eyelids is intentional. When we observe a thing closely of ponder over it, we draw the eyelids together, in order that our vision may be more concentrated and direct, and become, as it were, one ray piercing through the object. Thus are men open to the all-seeing eyes, the all-searching looks of Jahve, the just and the unjust alike.”—Delitzsch. One of the Greeks said: “He is the best general who knows the most of the affairs of the enemy.” God knows His enemies, and the enemies of His people—all their secrets, subtleties, stratagems, and in due time He shall confound them. 4. The righteousness of God. God hates wickedness (Psalms 11:5). “A cordial hatred.”—Alexander. “He hates the wicked with all the energy of His perfectly and essentially holy nature.”—Delitzsch. Here the Psalmist rested; here we may rest. Truth may fail in the Church, righteousness in the State; the magistrate may cease to be just, the priest to be good, the king to be honourable; but God liveth, the Wise, the Just, the Good, and in Him we may rest. III. The certainty of the triumph. The wicked shall be destroyed with awful terrors (Psalms 11:6), but the righteous shall triumph (Psalms 11:7). “The upright shall behold His face.” “His unveiled countenance, no longer hidden behind deeds of strange providential discipline (Psalms 13:1), no longer making itself felt in a few straggling rays; but like ‘the sun in a morning without clouds.’ ”—Kay. 1. All God’s people may expect to be thus tried. At one time or other our faith, principle, hope, will be thus severely tested. We must all be tried by fire. 2. Let us in such days beware of the temporising policy of faint-hearted men. “Flee like a bird to the mountain.” “The advice here given, and which he repels, is that of timid and desponding friends, who would persuade him that all is lost, and that the highest wisdom is to yield to circumstances, and to seek safety, not in resistance, but in flight. But in fact the voice which thus speaks is the voice of the natural heart, of the selfish, and therefore shortsighted and cowardly instinct, which always asks first, not what is right, but what is safe. The advice may be well meant, but it is unworthy. This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. But it is often a sorer trial for faith to have to withstand the pleadings of well-meaning friends than to arm itself against open enemies.”—Perowne. 3. Let us trust confidently in God, and He shall make us to triumph. Torstensohn, the great commander to whom Gustavus Adolphus transmitted the prosecution of the Thirty Years’ War, was a man so shattered by disease that he had to be carried at the head of his forces in a litter. Yet no commander of his age was so resistless and terrible in his onset and so invariably victorious Schiller has expressed his leading maxim in these words: he never counted his enemies. Let us not count our enemies, but trust our God, and we shall be more than conquerors. “Flee as sparrows to your mountain.”—Phillips. But, trusting in God, the sparrow becomes an eagle, mounting above the storm, and delighting itself in the eternal sunshine of the Father’s face. FORLORN HOPES(Psalms 11:1-7.) I. The hopes of the saint often appear forlorn hopes. The Psalmist trusted in God, but to the timid and distrustful ones his hope was a wild, forlorn hope. A hoping against hope. Thus the hopes of the Christian often seem absurd in the eye of sense and the count of reason. 1. It is thus sometimes in the troubles of life. There are Egyptians behind, the sea before, and the believer’s expectations of deliverance seem most Utopian. 2. Amid abounding and triumphant wickedness. As in this psalm. “ ‘For the foundations are being overthrown,’ say the alarmed and timid ones. ‘He is as much in a minority now as he ever was. Had he not better leave the field of battle? Why struggle against (what men call) the inevitable course of events?’ ”—Kay. 3. As to the entire sanctification of character. How impossible it seems that we should become entirely holy, and love God with all our heart! Will not the sky always recede as we approach it? 4. At the grave. How utterly improbable the grand hopes of the saint! II. Hopes which appear forlorn hopes to the world have nevertheless strong foundations. The timid felt that the foundations were being destroyed, all on which a rational confidence could be founded was giving way, and yet, as we see, the Psalmist’s hope had a basis strong and deep. The foundations were gone. “It is not said, if the roof be ruinous, or if the side walls be shattered, but if the foundations.”—Fuller, quoted by Spurgeon. Nothing for sense or reason was left. But there are foundations under foundations, the eternal granite, and on this David built (Psalms 11:4-5). The power of God, the truth of God, the grace of God, the unchangeableness of God; here was the everlasting rock on which David rested his hopes. When the expectations of the saints seem most wild, yet do they rest more securely than the pillared firmament. III. The forlorn hopes of the saints are destined to glorious realisation. “Which hope maketh not ashamed.” In deepest trouble He will deliver us, opening in the valley of Achor a door of salvation. Amid triumphant wickedness He vindicates the just, shattering the proud pottery with a rod of iron. He makes us without spot or wrinkle. He raises from the sepulchre to immortal glory and honour. THE TACTICS OF THE TEMPTED(Psalms 11:1.) In this psalm we see David stand firm; he will not accept the counsel of his advisers to flee, but at another time he seems to have followed this advice. Observe: I. There are times when we ought to stand firm in the scenes of trial. Such times are when— 1. Such trials come in our providential path. 2. When our testimony for God is specially needed. 3. When the cause of God imperatively demands our presence, &c., &c. II. There are times when we may lawfully withdraw from such scenes. 1. When they do not seem to lie on our providential path. 2. When our testimony has been, faithfully given. 3. When God’s cause would seem to be best served by our retirement, &c., &c. III. The standards by which our conduct should be regulated in the changing scenes of life. Consult: 1. The finger of God in Providence. 2. The Word of God. 3. The Spirit of God. “Oh, wouldst Thou, Lord, Thy servant guard,Gainst every known or secret foe;A mind for all assaults prepared,A sober, vigilant mind bestow,Ever apprised of danger nigh,And when to fight, and when to fly.” “This, according to the title, is one of David’s psalms, but there is nothing in the circumstances, so far as we know them, of his history which can lead us to associate the psalm with any particular period. Tholuck thinks it is aimed at persons by whom David was surrounded in the court of Saul. But it is not one or two prominent individuals whose conduct forms the burden of the Psalmist’s complaint. He is evidently smarting from the falseness and the hypocrisy of the time. The defection which he deplores is a national defection. Like Elijah in the desert, he feels himself alone. A taint has spread through society. Falsehood is everywhere, truth nowhere.”—Perowne.DARK AGES(Psalms 12:1-8.) We observe: I. The golden age of a country may be a “dark age” in the estimate of the saint. “The time of David, incomparably the best age in the history of Israel, and yet, viewed in the light of the spirit of holiness, an age so radically corrupt.”—Delitzsch. The age of David was in many respects the “golden age” of Israel, then it was great in literature, commerce, statesmanship, music, architecture, and arms. And yet David bemoans it, and sighs amid all its splendour. The true glory of a country is moral, and where the moral element is wanting, all other glories are dim. David felt that whilst palaces, people, chariots, gems, and gold, were on the increase, pious, honest, true-hearted men were on the decrease; nay, they seemed in danger of disappearing altogether, and he felt the gravity of the situation. David lamented over Jerusalem in the supreme hour of its material and political greatness; Paul overlooked the museums, pictures, statues, palaces of Athens, and “his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry;” and when we survey the magnificence of our country, we must weep to think of the atheism, the sin, the folly of the people. Philosophers, poets, commanders, artists, orators, statesmen, millionaires, do not make “a golden age,” but the presence of many virtuous and godly men, and where these are wanting, colours, marbles, jewels, domes, and plumes, are but dust and ashes. The age that we call “golden,” Heaven may call “dark;” the age that is written down in human histories as supremely august may be an age which angels record in Heaven’s “Book of Lamentations.” We observe: II. The faults with which a splendid civilisation may be chargeable. Dr. John Brown says, “In observing the advances of commerce, we shall find that in its first stages it supplies mutual necessities, prevents mutual wants, extends mutual knowledge, eradicates mutual prejudice, and spreads mutual humanity. In its middle and more advanced period, it provides conveniences, increases numbers, gives birth to arts and science, creates equal laws, diffuses general plenty and general happiness. If we view it in its third and highest stage, we shall see it change its nature and effects. It brings in superfluity and vast wealth, begets avarice, gross luxury, or effeminate refinement among the higher ranks, together with general loss of principle.” The Jewish nation seemed to have entered on this latest stage. David charges his age— 1. With the lack of faithfulness. “The faithful fail” (Psalms 12:1). Honest and true-hearted men were not to be found. Is there not a counterpart to this in our day? The immorality of trade is constantly deplored, and the strange lack of conscientiousness in all classes of the community. 2. With untruthfulness (Psalms 12:2). Insincerity and falsehood. “That which the writer especially laments is the prevailing untruthfulness.”—Delitzsch. Is not this a feature of our times? 3. Pride. “The tongue that speaketh proud things” (Psalms 12:3). “Talking big.”—Horsley. When did the tongue speak prouder things than now? 4. Boasting (Psalms 12:4). “They declare themselves to be absolutely free, and exalted above all authority.”—Delitzsch. Is not this pride, arrogance, defiance, a characteristic of our day? “The idea of the whole verse is, by our own lips and our tongues we can accomplish what we will.”—Alexander. And is not this the idea of this generation? “Our puissance is our own: our own right hand shall teach us highest deeds, by proof to try who is our equal.”—Paradise Lost. 5. And the fifth verse seems to suggest that goodness is treated with contempt. Psalms 12:5-8 “signify that at that time wickedness was the way to preferment, and that good men were the objects of persecution.”—Clarke. “It is the fault of all high civilisations to think lightly of sin.”—Arnold. And out of this scepticism, pride, and sensuality, come crimes of darkest complexion and largest proportion, peculiar to advanced civilisations. According to the height of the mountain is the depth of the valley; according to the intensity of the light is the depth of the shade; and according to the wealth, freedom, learning, splendour of a nation, are its crimes exaggerated and its vices crimson. III. Duty of the Christian patriot. 1. To cry mightily to God against the prevailing wickedness. “Help, Lord!” (Psalms 12:1). The effectual fervent prayer, &c. 2. To protest by word and act against this iniquity, as David did (Psalms 12:3). 3. To rest in days of triumphant wickedness in the word and power of God (Psalms 12:5-6). 4. To claim God’s promise, and keep himself unspotted from the world (Psalms 12:7). THE OF A DIVINE (Psalms 12:6.) We are taught here: I. The grand characteristic of a Divine revelation. “The words of the Lord are pure words” (Psalms 12:6). The words of men, as the Psalmist has just been showing, are mixed and impure, but God’s words are free from all base elements. Ignorance, prejudice, falsehood, passion, insincerity, impurity, debase the words of men, but not God’s words. “Every word of God is pure.” “His words are true and righteous altogether.” The words of men are the smoky fires of earth; “the words of God” are the starry lights of heaven, pure and cloudless, and “which never lead astray.” We remark: II. That the Scriptures which profess to be the words of the Lord have been tested, and their divinity established. Where is this pure light? This Book claims to contain the words of God; its pretensions have been tried, and it comes forth as pure silver from the crucible. 1. It has been tried by criticism, its contents discussed and analysed, the genuineness, authenticity, canonicity, inspiration, of the various books discussed again and again. What is the result? Scores of critics—men most sincere, acute, learned, honest—have tried these pages, and approved them as the handwriting of God. And if you go to the different schools of sceptical criticism, each school will give you back some portion of the Book as authentic and Divine, and amongst them all you get back pretty nearly the whole Book. 2. It has been tried by science. Says one of our great scientists: “Science has established no results hostile to the evidences of Revelation.” Neither the stars nor the stones fight against it. Buckland, Sedgwick, Hugh Miller, the greatest of modern geologists; Brewster, the most famous of modern astronomers; Faraday, the most illustrious of modern chemists; these splendid names were Christian; these master-spirits of the scientific world loved this book, found no fault with it, died resting upon it their immortal hopes. There is not much the matter with Revelation where it touches Nature, or these masters would have found it out. 3. It has been tried by experience. Do the Scriptures accomplish what they promise in respect to man’s condition and necessities? Christ said to the Jews, “If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.” So we may say of the Scriptures. (1.) They have been tried in relation to man’s social necessities. According to the sceptic, the Bible is false in fact, false in philosophy, false in morals, and it ought to make society selfish, anarchical, barbaric. But it does not. It does the very opposite. Our civilisation has its roots in the Bible; and if you take the Bible to a pagan land, it changes everything into purer and milder forms. It creates everywhere the highest intelligence, the largest liberty, the purest morality, the truest progress. (2.) They have been tried in relation to man’s moral and spiritual necessities. It is just what we need. It gives us that light, pardon, liberty, purity, joy, for which we sigh. The Scriptures appeal to the multitudes whom it has saved from sin and misery, and exclaims, as Christ did, “The works that I do, they bear witness of Me.” The Scriptures have been tried by suffering men, guilty men, dying men, unsophisticated men, men of loftiest gifts, and they have found it just what they needed, all that they needed. “By its fruits we know it.” Know it to be no poison tree to destroy; no barren tree to mock hungering men with leaves and blossoms; but a tree of life, whose fruits satisfy the longing soul, and whose very leaves are for the healing of the nations. We observe finally: III. The consequent preciousness of the Sacred Scriptures. Precious as purified silver. Precious in life, in death. We value what is tried. In sickness, a tried medicine; in trouble, a tried friend; in had weather, a tried ship, a tried captain, a tried anchor. Thank God! we have a tried religion. The Bible never failed our glorious religious ancestry, and it will never fail us. “In this psalm we see a servant of God, long and sorely tried by the persecutions of unrelenting enemies, and, as it seems to himself, forgotten and forsaken of God, pouring out the agony of his soul in prayer. It is a long and weary struggle, it is a daily and hourly martyrdom; and wrestling with his despair, he can but cry (like the souls under the altar, Revelation 6:10), ‘How long!’ And then calmer words of prayer rise to his lips (Psalms 13:3-4); and at last Faith asserts her perfect victory (Psalms 13:5). The rapid transition of feeling, from a depth of misery bordering on despair, to hope, and even joy, is very remarkable.”—Perowne.SOUL (Psalms 13:1-6.) We assert: I. The nature of such eclipses. Psalms 13:1-2. Rylands, commenting on this psalm, regards it as exclusively applicable to the Redeemer. “In addition to the sufferings which human nature is exposed to, Messiah, during His sojourn on earth, experienced a peculiar calamity in the hiding of God’s face from Him.” Then he goes on to say, “God never hides His face from the redeemed;” and speaks of “The ill effect of the doctrine that God hides His face from His people.” Now, it is quite true that God never ceases to love His children, but still the people of God are sensible of eclipses of the soul, such as the Psalmist describes in this psalm. God has not really deserted His children, but it often seems as if He had. “It is true that God does not forget any one, yet it may be that, to the human spirit, it appears as if he were forgotten by God, and that the Holy One had veiled His countenance from him. Then he feels at once that he is forsaken by God, and that he is weak with reference to his enemies.”—Moll. And whilst the Psalmist deplores the withdrawal of the Divine face, he yet recognises, in the same moment, that it is only a seeming withdrawal. Phillips renders the passage, “How long wilt thou be apparently forgetful of my troubles, and withhold from me Thy assistance?” And Delitzsch explains: “The dejected heart thinks, God has forgotten me for ever; but the Spirit, which thrusts away this thought, changes it into a question which sets upon it the mark of a mere appearance, not a reality: How long shall it seem as though Thou forgettest me for ever? Faith holds fast the love that is behind, the wrath; it sees in the display of anger only a self-masking of the loving countenance of the God of love, and longs for the time when this loving countenance shall be again unveiled to it.” Thus, although God never really forsakes or neglects His people, it often seems as if He had done so. In providential matters, they fail to recognise His hand; His consolations cease in their spirit; and they are full of darkness and bitterness. And yet, as at midnight we know that the sun still lives, and will soon again shine on the earth; so in the saint’s deepest darkness, his faith penetrates through the gloom, and awaits the shining of God’s face. Observe: II. The cause of these eclipses. 1. Why does God thus appear to desert His people at all? Why does He veil His hand and His face? The end of God’s discipline with all His people is to make them feel their absolute dependence upon Himself. The aim of an earthly parent is to render the child independent, to teach it to live upon its own resources, to go by itself, to be sufficient in itself. God’s aim is the opposite of this, to teach us that we are nothing, and can do nothing in ourselves, and that our sufficiency is of Himself. These eclipses teach us: (1.) That God is the source of happiness (Psalms 13:1). How deep the sorrow of the Psalmist’s soul! When God hides His face, we feel that the fountain of life is stopped. No matter what may be left, “sorrow is in our heart daily.” There is a flower which fades immediately a screen is interposed between it and the sun; and let God’s face be hidden from us, and the soul sickens as a drooping flower. (2.) That God is the source of wisdom. “How long shall I take counsel in my soul?” “David represents himself as meditating plan after plan.”—Speaker’s Com. “He appears to be devising many plans in vain, like an unsuccessful general in an army.”—Wordsworth. “This strikingly describes the helpless embarrassment of the sufferer.”—Perowne. When God hides His face, we know not what to do, how to act. We soon feel that He is the great Counsellor, and that we are painfully perplexed without His light. (3.) That God is the source of strength. “How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?” (Psalms 13:2). David felt weak, and altogether at the mercy of his enemies. When the Spaniards had beaten the Mexicans in a great battle, the latter called in the assistance of their priests. The priests, after some consultation, said that the Spaniards were children of the sun; that they derived their strength from that luminary, and when his beams were withdrawn, their powers would also fail. They recommended a night attack, therefore, as one which afforded the best chance of success. As these Spaniards were supposed to draw their strength from the orb of day, so really does the saint draw his conquering strength from God; and when he is deprived of the light of God’s face his “enemies prevail against him.” (4.) God is the source of life (Psalms 13:3). “Sleep an eternal sleep.”—Speaker’s Com. Without God we feel that we perish. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Great lessons are taught us in life’s dark hours. During eclipses, astronomers learn secrets of the heavens which they cannot penetrate in days of sunshine; and it is necessary sometimes that God should hide His face, so that we may see more clearly, and feel more deeply, these great truths and principles. “I know that, as night and shadows are good for flowers, and moonlight and dews are better than a continual sun, so is Christ’s absence of special use, and that it hath some nourishing virtue in it, and giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and furnisheth a fair field to faith to put forth itself, and to exercise its fingers in gripping it seeth not what.”—Rutherford, quoted by Spurgeon. 2. Why does God hide His face so long? “How long,” four times repeated. Is not the true answer, because we are so slow to learn the great truths which He designs to teach? We think that we have learned truths when they are not half-learned, and so God has to protract the eclipse. Tholuck well says: “That the length of trouble is harder to bear than the strength of it;” but it is only when long protracted that it leaves behind it the greater treasures. III. The duty of the saints in these hours of darkness. Not discontent; not despair. 1. Wait in faith. “O Lord my God” (Psalms 13:3). And there is faith throughout. He is in perplexity and trouble, but not in despair. In the dark he holds to God. 2. Wait in prayer. Mark how the Psalmist pleads (Psalms 13:3). “It is well for those who, although in the greatest anxiety, are driven by the feeling that they are abandoned by God to seek the grace of God.”—Moll. “Resolve never to be dumb while God is deaf.” 3. Wait in hope (Psalms 13:5-6). Coleridge said of himself, that he was an inveterate hoper. So should it be with all the people of God. Hope in God’s mercy, and tune your harp for a song. Believer, despair not; for if God seems to have forsaken you, He is still strengthening you. “As when the sun is eclipsed, though the earth wants the light thereof, yet not the influence thereof; so God’s supporting grace is ever with His deserted.”—Trapp. And when the trial is over, your soul shall be deeper, brighter, more fruitful. “You have been wretched; yetThe silver shower, whose reckless burden weighsToo heavily upon the lily’s head,oft leaves a saving moisture at its root.”—.THE LIFE(Psalms 13:1-6.) What changes we witness in the Psalmist’s life and experience! This psalm reflects as a mirror the changing conditions of his soul and history. In this little psalm David is seen as a fugitive and a conqueror, as despairing and triumphing, as weeping and singing. And it is largely thus with all the people of God. Mark: I. The vicissitudes of the outer life. What contrasts of fortune you have in the life of David! A shepherd, a king; a king, a fugitive; and strange alternations of fortune throughout. Few lives present such marked contrasts as that of the Hebrew king, yet most lives know analogous variations. Our lives play up and down the scale between health and sickness, plenty and poverty, popularity and neglect, activity and solitude, fortune and disappointment. II. The vicissitudes of the inner life. In this psalm the writer passes from despair to exultation, from doubt to assurance, from lamentation to praise; and so might as easily pass back again, as indeed we see him do in other psalms. How constant the changes of the mood of the soul! We are ever changing from bright to dark, from low to high, from sweet to bitter, or the reverse. How extreme these changes of thought and feeling! We are conquerors, captives; kings, worms; strong as Samson, reeds shaken with the wind; singing at heaven’s gate, weeping on ruin’s brink. How rapid these changes! The Christian soul is a microcosm, in which you may see in an hour hope, fear, joy, sorrow. In Iceland, we are told, contradictory elements and phenomena are strangely blended. Snow is often blackened with ashes, ashes are white washed with snow; water flows under the lava, and there freezes and forms subterraneous glaciers. As in this strange land fire and frost are thus fantastically mingled, so in the Christian soul do day and night, summer and winter, snow and harvest, strangely mix in perpetual flux. III. The aim of this discipline. To purify and perfect us. “Emptied from vessel to vessel,” with each transition some of the dregs are to be removed, so that at length the wine of our life may run clear. The sharp and sudden contrasts are necessary to perfect us in the deep places of our nature. The Arabs say of the palm-tree that it must have “its feet in the water and its head in the fire.” And so the soul needs strong contrasts of experience to ripen it in the things of God. The continual variation of experience is necessary to touch and perfect us on every side of our manifold nature. As with a thousand changes of sky, and wind, and atmosphere God ripens the fruit of the orchard, so with countless variations of thought and emotion does God ripen the Christian heart in His love and likeness. JEALOUS FOR GOD(Psalms 13:3-4.) The doctrine is taught here that God’s honour is bound up with the deliverance of His people. David deprecated failure in himself because God’s honour and cause would suffer through it (Psalms 13:4). “Moved from my steadfastness or firmness, when I am overcome. Hitherto he had been able to hold out against them, now be began to despair, and to fear that they would accomplish their object by overcoming and subduing him. His ground of apprehension and of appeal was, that by his being vanquished the cause in which he was engaged would suffer, and that the enemies of religion would triumph.”—Barnes. We learn here, then: That God’s honour is bound up with the conduct of His people. This should teach: 1. The necessity of circumspection in the saints. If we are moved, God’s cause is injured and His name profaned. “And certainly it should be a powerful motive to restrain us from transgression, when we consider that as the conversion of a sinner brings glory to God, and causes joy among the angels of heaven, so the fall of a believer disgraces the Gospel of Jesus, opens the mouths of the adversaries, and would produce joy, if such a thing could be, in hell itself.”—Horne. “Oh, what desolation is made by the fall of a righteous soul! Itself covered with darkness and desolation, infidels filled with scoffing, the Church clad in mourning, the Spirit of God grieved, and Jesus crucified afresh, and put to an open shame! O God! save the pious reader from such wreck and ruin!”—Clarke. 2. The strong ground of a believer’s confidence. God will not permit us to be moved if we are faithful, for this would dishonour Himself and His kingdom. What a plea in prayer! “Ah! suffer not my foe to boastHis victory o’er a child of Thine,Nor let the proud Philistines’ hostIn Satan’s hellish triumph join.“Will they not charge my fall on Thee!Will they not dare my God to blame?My God, forbid the blasphemy!Be jealous for Thy glorious name!”—WESLEY.3. A warning to persecutors. Persecuting saints, they aim a blow at God. “As unskilful hunters shooting at wild beasts do sometimes kill a man, so persecutors, shooting at saints, his Christ, reproach Him.”—Trapp. “It does not appear upon what occasion David composed this psalm. The revolt of Israel in Absalom’s rebellion is by most writers pitched upon as the subject of it. But be this as it may, the expressions are general, and evidently designed to extend beyond a private interpretation. And accordingly, the apostle (Romans 3:10, &c.) produces some passages from it to evince the apostasy of both Jews and Gentiles from their King and their God, and to prove them to be all under sin. In this light, therefore, we are to consider it, as characterising the principles and practices of those who oppose the Gospel of Christ in all ages.”—Horns.THE OF ATHEISM(Psalms 14:1-3.) I. It is immoral in its principle. It is the denial of the existence, an ignoring of the rights, of the Absolute and Eternal King. Sceptics often talk of the rights of man; but they end with the essential immorality of denying the crown rights of God. He made us; He made the world, and all that is in it; and to deny His existence and to ignore His government is profoundest immorality. “Sin, if unchecked, would go to the extinction of all being, and of God Himself. There is no doubt that all sin designs deicide. All sin is directed against universal being. It is primarily against God, inferentially against all being. All transgression is ambitious, and, if it could succeed, it would scale the universe and dethrone its Monarch.”—Duncan. Atheism is the essence of ingratitude, injustice, lying, pride, hatred, and selfishness. II. It is immoral in its origin. “They are corrupt.” It does not spring from a pure and honest intellect, which finds itself perplexed by a problem too great for it, but from a proud and corrupt heart. “Passion, not reason, generates atheism. Sin suggests a dislike of Providence, and reason is then marshalled to drive Him out of our view.”—Rylands. “Their foolish heart was darkened” (Romans 1:21). The child recognises God, but, giving place for long years to worldliness and sin, the man sinks into practical atheism. He lives so long without God in the world, that at last he ventures to think that there is no God. And so a nation as it increases in wealth, and luxury, and power, becomes self-sufficient; and the outcome of this is a general prevalence of speculative and practical atheism. We wrong God, and then we forget Him; we forget Him, and then we deny Him. III. It is immoral in its consequences. Sin leads to scepticism, and scepticism to sin. With the denial of God we lose the principle of moral life and beauty. 1. Personally we become “corrupt.” Belief in God is the salt of human nature, and when that has gone the whole man rapidly corrupts. 2. And our works become “abominable.” He who has smothered in his heart the knowledge of God, has lost the vital principle of health, beauty, life, and usefulness. “The fool, is a term in Scripture signifying a wicked man; the word signifies the extinction of life in men, animals, and plants; so the word is taken Isaiah 40:7, ‘The flower fadeth;’ a plant that hath lost all that juice that made it lovely and useful. So a fool is one that hath lost his wisdom and right notion of God and divine things, which were communicated to man by creation; one dead in sin.”—Charnock. Atheism cannot create a noble manhood. It creates a fool. Religion and right reason gone, natural principles extinct, what can you have but a distorted and ignoble humanity? Atheism cannot create a noble nation. Without God, man rots; without God, society rots. Atheism is the greatest immorality. “Folly is a term employed in Hebrew to signify the greatest possible degree of guilt.”—French. “The Psalmist makes this prominent as the very extreme and depth of human depravity, that there can be among men those who deny the existence of a God.”—Delitzsch. It is the source of all immoralities; and God will punish it with great retribution (Psalms 14:5). THE BANE AND THE (Psalms 14:1-7.) Observe: I. The corruption of the race. Mark: 1. This corruption is universal (Psalms 14:2). God is represented, in the history of the Flood, as looking down from the windows of heaven upon mankind to see if there were any who sought Him. And what is the result of this search? We have it in the 3d verse. “Every one hath turned away; or, more emphatically, the whole universe hath turned away.”—Phillips. “The universality of corruption is expressed in as strong terms as possible; what the Psalmist says applies primarily to Israel, his immediate neighbours, but at the same time to the heathen, as is self-evident. What is lamented is neither the pseudo-Israelitish corruption in particular, nor that of the heathen, but the universal corruption of man, which prevails not less in Israel than in the heathen world.”—Delitzsch. “Total and universal corruption could not be more clearly expressed than by this accumulation of the strongest terms, in which, as Luther well observes, the Psalmist, not content with saying all, adds together, and then negatively, no not one. It is plain that he had no limitation or exception in his mind, but intended to describe the natural condition of all men, in the widest and most unrestricted sense. The whole, not merely all the individuals as such, but the entire race as a totality or ideal person.”—Alexander. It is true that in the 5th verse the Psalmist speaks of “the generation of the righteous,” but this is not to be regarded as any limitation of his dark judgment of the condition of man. “The recognition of a righteous generation on earth does not contradict the statement of the total corruption of the children of Adam, embracing all without exception. For the righteous generation consists not of a little band of men who have remained exempt from sin and its corruption, whom God has somehow overlooked, when He looked about, because they stood in a corner, or because they are not brought into consideration on account of their small number in comparison with the awful corruption of the masses. To this class belong rather those men in the midst of the generation of the children of Adam who have been born again as children of God of incorruptible seed, who by this change of their inborn nature form a peculiar class in the midst of the generation of men, and afford the seed of regeneration for the entire people.”—Moll. The Psalmist pictures all men everywhere as corrupt, and thus the apostle interprets him (Romans 3:10-12). Mark: 2. This corruption is thorough. Not only are all corrupt, but all are entirely so. “They are altogether filthy.” The nature is depraved. “They are corrupt.” The “heart,” the inmost personality, is corrupt, and thus all the powers and faculties of the man are defiled. “The source of all his movements, the affections and heart, are polluted; the waters are poisoned at the spring.”—Rylands. The life is depraved. (1.) Many have done “abominable works.” “When men begin with renouncing the Most High God, who shall tell where they will end? Observe the state of the world before the Flood, as portrayed in Genesis 6:12, and remember that human nature is unchanged. He who would see a terrible photograph of the world without God must read that most painful of all inspired Scriptures, the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. Things loathsome to God and man are sweet to some palates.”—Spurgeon. (2.) And if men have not done “abominable works,” there is “none that doeth good.” “Do any object that, beyond the circle of the righteous, there is much virtue to be found, much civil righteousness, much beautiful natural affection? The natural virtues that still adorn the world and claim the admiration of men are vitated before God by this, that there is no regard in them to His will.”—Binnie. They “come short of the glory of God.” 3. This corruption is profound. It is not a taint, but a deep disease. It is deeply “corrupted,” i.e., become putrid. It is a deep malignity of nature. In Psalms 8, we have the picture of the ideal man, the original man, the possible man; here, alas! we have a sorrowful picture of the actual man. The Bible recognises our intrinsic grandeur, it recognises our deep degradation. Observe: II. The Deliverer of the race. Psalms 14:7. “The prayer is, in a subordinate sense, that God would raise up a reformer. But the true and ultimate spirit of the prayer is for the speedy advent of Christ (Isaiah 59:20; Romans 11:26; Jeremiah 14:8). To whom could, the prophets appeal in the time of trouble but to the only Hope of Zion? (Psalms 53.).”—Sutcliffe. 1. The world cannot be renewed by philosophy. “Philosophy may adorn, but it is impotent to regenerate human nature.”—Lecky. 2. Nor by education. The fault is in the heart, not the head; it is moral, not intellectual. “The word chosen by David in the 1st verse, nabal, fool, means imbecile, a vapid, worn-out fool, one whose heart and understanding are degraded, incapable of seeing truth. It is a word never used of mere natural obtuseness, but of spiritual corruption.”—Speaker’s Com. 3. Nor by institutions. No change of external relations will bring true deliverance. Politics, commerce, manners, whatever springs from man, is itself imperfect and tainted; and to attempt to make a perfect man by human institutions is like a man attempting to clean his face with a dirty duster. 4. Nor is there any restorative principle in human nature. “At last man will be healed, for human nature has the power to recover from its wounds by means of a certain inward power.”—Goethe. This is not true: there is no such power. The hope of the world is in the Church of Christ. Out of Zion comes the Deliverer; out of the Christian Church come those blessings which shall make society pure and free. And oh! what joy shall there be everywhere when Christ breaks the tyranny of sin, and gives to the world the freedom and pleasures of righteousness! (Psalms 14:4-6.) We have here: I. Conscience informed. “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?” (Psalms 14:4). “Have they no conscience.”—Delitzsch. “Have they no experience.”—Moll. Now it is quite true that the workers of iniquity seem like brute beasts, as if they had no common sense, no conscience; but they had these gifts, and it is this fact which renders their conduct so dark. I. We sin against understanding. Our reason protests against sin. 2. We sin against conscience. Our moral sense echoes the words and thunders of Sinai, and protests against transgression. 3. We sin against experience. Our history shows how all that is desirable and honourable lies in the path of obedience, and how paths of transgression are paths of misery and shame. This constitutes the enormity of sin: we know our duty to God and man. We have moral ideas and sensibilities. Sin is not a mistake, not a misfortune, but a crime. II. Conscience asleep. 1. Asleep as to men. “Who eat up My people as they eat bread” (Psalms 14:4). That is, they commit the greatest excesses and injustice without the smallest compunction. In wronging the weak, the good, the poor, “they think that they are not doing anything more sinful,—indeed, rather what is justifiable, irreproachable, and lawful to them,—than when they are eating bread.”—Hengstenberg. “The light that is in them is darkness.” 2. Asleep as to God. “And call not upon the Lord” (Psalms 14:4). They have forgotten God. Practically they say, “There is no God.” Thus men stifle their moral sense and live neither fearing God nor regarding man. III. Conscience aroused (Psalms 14:5). “When Jehovah thus bursts forth in scorn, His word, which never fails in its working, smites down these brutish men, who are without knowledge and conscience.”—Delitzsch. “When God’s long-suffering changes into wrath, terror at His judgment seizes them, and they tremble through and through.”—Delitzsch. “Suddenly, while they were in complete security (Psalms 53:6), terror lays hold on them.”—Kay. As Psalms 14:6 intimates, the sceptical worldlings had laughed at the piety of the meek. “You pour contempt on the poor man’s resolve, because the Lord is his refuge, you must needs deride this as arrant folly,—to trust in an unseen God!”—Kay. But they awake to find that “God is in the generation of the righteous;” all is true that the righteous held, and the angry God is ready to avenge Himself on the proud sinner. Let us fly to the great Deliverer of Zion. He can give the guilty conscience peace, and wash away its stains. “This psalm teaches the necessity of moral purity as a condition of the Divine protection. It first propounds the question who shall be admitted to God’s household, and the privileges of its inmates (Psalms 15:1). This is answered positively (Psalms 15:2), and negatively (Psalms 15:3); then positively again (Psalms 15:4), and negatively (Psalms 15:5). The last clause of the last verse winds up by declaring, that the character just described shall experience the protection tacitly referred to in the first verse.”—Alexander.THE PSALM OF LIFE We observe: I. The question which the Psalmist proposes. “Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle?” &c. (Psalms 15:1). “Who may hope for acceptance as a worshipper of Jehovah!”—French. “Tabernacle and hill together signify the earthly residence of God. It is a figure for intimate communion with Jehovah, and participation of His favour.”—Alexander. Who shall enjoy Thy communion, Thy friendship, Thy protection? Who shall commune with Thee on earth? Who shall dwell with Thee in heaven? This is the grand question of life. Who shall enjoy the Divine favour and protection, now and for ever? surely this is the question of first and supreme importance! It is a question which should be urged before God with a personal interest and anxiety. Not “are there many that be saved?” but, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” We notice: II. The comprehensive answer which is given to the great question. Psalms 15:2-5. Admission to the Divine presence and eternal joy does not turn: (1.) On what is national. It is not the privilege of Jew or Gentile, as such. (2.) On what is physical. We do not enter heaven on the ground of affliction. Those before the throne came out of great tribulation, but that was not the reason of their glorification. (3.) On what is social. Dives is not rejected because he is rich; Lazarus is not accepted because he is poor. (4.) On what is educational. Some of our philosophers have lately ventured on the theory, that if men achieve a certain mental development, they will become immortal; but lacking this culture, they are doomed to extinction at death. The grand test is not educational. (5.) On what is ecclesiastical. The whole point of this psalm is directed against this idea. Horsley heads the psalm: “True godliness described as distinct from the ritual.” “With regard to that part of the hierarchical theory which makes membership in the visible Church identical, for all practical purposes, with membership in the Church invisible, it is tacitly refuted in places without number. The true citizen of Zion is “the man that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully; he shall receive the blessing from the Lord. This is the generation of them that seek Him.” There is an all-important distinction between the visible and invisible Church; the true Church and the professing Church, although they are so closely connected that the eye of man cannot draw a line of separation between them, are by no means coincident. “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Romans 2:28-29).”—Binnie. But (6.) The whole question of our acceptance with God, and heirship of immortality, turns on character. Holiness is the grand requirement. “In the foregoing psalm David had lifted up his eyes to Zion, the hill of God, where the ark of His presence was. He was mindful of the holiness required of all who are admitted to its neighbourhood. How much more is this true of the heavenly Zion, to which David raises his eyes and heart from the earthly citadel.”—Wordsworth. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” The righteousness required by God is— 1. Perfect. “He that walketh uprightly.” i.e., perfectly (Psalms 15:2). “One who walks uprightness, i.e., one who makes uprightness his way, his mode of action.”—Delitzsch. The law of God requires perfection of spirit and life. God says to us all, as to Abram, “Walk thou before me, and be thou perfect.” 2. Practical. “Worketh righteousness.” “The piety delineated in the Psalter, although it soars to heaven and its life is hid in God, never omits the assiduous cultivation of the lowly duties of everyday morality. The Church has always been infested with a sort of people whose religion is all expended on the first table of the laws; who, along with a great show of contrition, and faith; and spiritual joy, and delight in God’s worship, are ill-natured in the domestic circle, censorious and unfriendly neighbours, unsafe men to deal with in business. The psalms do full justice to the perfect law of God in this matter. Whatever may be the quarter whence the antinomian perversion of the Gospel may derive its aliment, certainly it is not from the songs of Zion. What a fine portrait this 15th Psalm, for example, draws of the godly man! He loves God’s tabernacle and holy hill;—his heart is there. And when he goes out into the world, he does not leave his religion behind. He shows the influence of the fear of God in all he does. His tongue utters no malice. He is a man of his word. He will not make gain of his neighbour’s necessity; nor will he, for any consideration, oppose the cause of one whom he knows to be innocent. These are the true fruits of faith unfeigned. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.”—Binnie. “Thus, in heart, in tongue, in actions, in his conduct as a member of society, he is alike free from reproach. Such is the figure of stainless honour drawn by the pen of a Jewish poet. Christian chivalry has not dreamed of a brighter. We have need often and seriously to ponder it. For it shows us that faith in God and spotless integrity may not be sundered; that religion does not veil or excuse petty dishonesties; that love to God is only then worthy the name when it is the life and bond of every social virtue. Each line is, as it were, a touchstone to which we should bring ourselves. To speak truth in the heart—to take up no reproach against a neighbour—would not the Christian man be perfect of whom this could be said?”—Perowne. 3. Spiritual, “Speaketh the truth in his heart” (Psalms 15:2). “The characterising of the outward walk and action is followed in Psalms 15:2, by the characterising of the inward nature.”—Delitzsch. “This speaking truth qualifies not merely what precedes, but the whole description, as of one who sincerely and internally, as well as outwardly, leads a blameless life by doing right and speaking truth.”—Alexander. Out of a true and spiritual heart spring these practical graces. It will not do to be merely moral, or only professedly religious. “God only admitteth such as are righteously religious, and religiously righteous.”—Trapp. We must show our faith by our works, and our works must be spiritualised by our faith. “Walk in the heaven of the promise, but in the earth of the law; that in respect of believing, this of obeying.”—Luther. How impossible it is to realise this righteousness, so perfect, so profound, so universal, except by virtue of the grace and strength of Jesus Christ! (Psalms 15:1-5.) I. Its comprehensiveness (Psalms 15:2). “Walking,” the habitual course of life must be right. “Working,” all the action must be right. “Speaking,” all the conversation must be truth and uprightness. The true Christian seeks to be free from evil habits, evil acts, evil words. He is required here to be free from insincerity, censoriousness, pride, untruthfulness, covetousness, injustice. In Psalms 15:2, he is required to be blameless personally. In Psalms 15:3, he must be a good neighbour. In Psalms 15:4, a true friend. Standing faithfully to the meritorious. In Psalms 15:4-5, an honest merchant; he “that sweareth,” &c. A man of his word. A just merchant. “Usury.” Not taking advantage of any man. In Psalms 15:5, an upright magistrate. “Nor taketh reward,” &c. Christian morality covers the whole ground of character and life. Feet, hands, heart, tongue, eyes, influence, money, social rank and power, all are required by this psalm to be consecrated and pure. II. Its loftiness. Coarse, gross sins are not referred to here. It is assumed that they must be laid aside. No fornicator, thief, drunkard, liar, murderer, shall enter the kingdom of God. This is taken as so evident, that such offences are not named. But the standard is a very exalted one. These various crimes in more subtle forms are seized upon and forbidden. We must not only be free from gross sins, but walk perfectly; not only abstain from falsehood, but speak the truth in our heart; not only abstain from calumny, but from repeating reflective reports; not only abstain from perjury, but cherish a high sensitiveness as to our promise; not only abstain from tyranny and pride, but cherish a deep humility; not only not injure others, but esteem them better than ourselves; not only not steal, but not take advantage of any one in the way of trade; not only not murder, but love our brother. All this, and much more than this, is taught in the various words and phrases of this psalm. Thus, in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 13.), the apostle does not speak of Christian love as preserving from gross vices, but, far beyond this, producing clusters of graces, rare, lofty, delicate, divine. How much superior is the morality of the Gospel to mere good manners, to a mere natural amiability, to a commercial utilitarian morality! III. Its inspiration (Psalms 15:1). “Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?” The recognition of God is its source and strength. In God we find the grand example of this holiness: from Him comes the strength by which we attain supernal goodness. A comprehensive, lofty morality, like that insisted upon in this psalm, is altogether beyond the reach of nature. It is only as we admire and love God, and thirst to be like Him, and seek a fitness for His eternal kingdom, that we are able to reach the full, deep, transcendant morality pictured in this psalm. IV. Its recompense (Psalms 15:5). “He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” “He stands fast, being upheld by Jehovah, hidden in His fellowship; nothing from without, no misfortune, can cause his overthrow.”—Delitzsch. THE LAW OF THE LIP(Psalms 15:3.) I. The nature of slander. 1. The origination of an evil report concerning our neighbours. “He that backbiteth with his tongue.” 2. The circulation of an evil report invented by others. “Nor taketh up a reproach.” The “calumniator takes up the lie, and circulates it.”—Speaker’s Com. “The verb seems strictly to denote the act of busy or officious tale-bearing.”—Alexander. 3. The listening to such a report. Giving it the sanction of our ear. The original may be translated “endureth;” implying that it is a sin to endure or tolerate tale-bearers. “The tale-bearer carrieth the devil in his tongue; the tale-bearer in his ear.”—Trapp. We are not “to do evil to our neighbour” in any wise. II. The evil of slander. What mighty unhappiness it causeth! 1. It demoralises the slanderer. 2. It demoralises the person to whom the slander is related. 3. It wrongs the party slandered. “ ‘Show that man out!’ we should say of a drunkard; yet it is very questionable if his unmannerly behaviour will do us so much mischief as the tale-bearer’s insinuating story. ‘Call for a policeman!’ we say if we see a thief at his business; ought we to feel no indignation when we hear a gossip at her work? Mad dog! mad dog!! is a terrible hue and cry, but there are few curs whose bite is so dangerous as a busybody’s tongue. Fire! fire!! is an alarming note, but the tale-bearer’s tongue is set on fire of hell, and those who indulge it had better mend their manners, or they may find that there is fire in hell for unbridled tongues.”—Spurgeon. III. The cure for slander. It is a most difficult thing to rule the tongue, and refrain from evil-speaking. There is a story told of an illiterate old monk named Pambos. Being unable to read, he came to some one to be taught a psalm. Having learnt the single verse, “I said I will take heed to my ways, that I offend not with my tongue,” he went away, saying that was enough if it were practically acquired. When asked six months and again many years after, why he did not come to learn another verse, he answered that he had never been able truly to master this. What is the grand cure for all sins of the lip? He “speaketh the truth in his heart.” “It is not falsehood and deceit that he thinks and plans inwardly, but truth.”—Delitzsch. “Whose heart-converse is truthful;—who in that hidden council-chamber of the soul holds no parley with what is false.”—Kay. The heart must be changed, enlightened, exalted. Out of a pure fountain flows a pure stream. “What! never speak one evil word,Or rash, or idle, or unkind!Oh, how shall I, most gracious Lord,This mark of true perfection find!“Forgive, and make my nature whole;My inbred malady remove;To perfect health restore my soul,—To perfect holiness and love.” “The first clause contains in germ the thought of the entire psalm, namely, that the pious man has always protection with God against all his enemies. From this assurance arises the cry of prayer (Psalms 16:1), whose form shows the experience of pressing danger, but immediately passes over into the confession of the way in which the Psalmist proposes to act in consequence of his relation to God (Psalms 16:2) and to His people (Psalms 16:3). In Psalms 16:4 the Psalmist maintains himself against the worshippers of idols. In Psalms 16:5-6 we have a description of the good chosen in God, and of the happiness allotted on account of this. It then turns, praising Jehovah (Psalms 16:7), to testify of the position of the Psalmist established in Him (Psalms 16:8), and rises from the assurance of this communion with God, not only to a jubilant declaration of present Divine protection (Psalms 16:9), but in prophetic inspiration to a prophetic promise of the everlasting enjoyment of salvation (Psalms 16:10-11).”—Moll. “The psalm is appropriate to the whole class of pious sufferers, of which Christ is the most illustrious representative. It is only in Him, therefore, that some parts of it can be said to have received their highest and complete fulfilment.”—Alexander.FAITH IN GOD(Psalms 16:1-2.) The Psalmist in a time of trial thus expresses his confidence in God. This faith in God is: I. Personal. “Preserve me, O God” (Psalms 16:1). “Thou art my Lord” (Psalms 16:2). It was an individualising faith. Just as Adam sought to hide himself amid the trees of the garden, so do we imagine our selves hidden in the multitude. Let us seek to realise our needful personality in the sight of God. 1. Let us realise Him as my Creator. Not as creating merely all worlds and all nations, but as specially forming me, and giving to me a singular and independent spirit. Think not only of the ocean of humanity as flowing from His creative hand; but remember that the dewdrop, I, Me, was the distinct creation of His almighty power and love. 2. As my Ruler. Philosophy has an utter contempt for individuals—it concerns itself with masses, multitudes, ages—God rules the universe. It must contemplate all on the sublime scale. We are often told that the danger of society in these days is in centralisation; certainly the danger in our philosophy is in aggregation. We are, in opposition to this, to believe in God, as my Ruler and my King. 3. As my Saviour. We are not to look on the Gospel message as a public proclamation on the street wall, but as an autograph letter from our clement King, addressed with our name, and left by the postman at our door. This faith in God is: II. Absolute. “In Thee do I trust” (Psalms 16:1). 1. He trusts in God only. In the 2d verse, he acknowledges God as His sovereign Lord. “Thou art my Lord,” “My supreme Lord;—who hast an absolute right to all my services.”—Kay. And in the 4th verse, he repudiates all other gods. He rests his whole weight on God, placing no expectations elsewhere. “God is recognised as the only source of individual enjoyment.”—Alexander. 2. He trusts in God for all. “My goodness extendeth not to thee” (Psalms 16:2). “I have no good beyond thee.” “This is the one grand thought which stamps the psalm, ‘Thou, O Lord, art my portion, my help, my joy, my all in all.’ ”—Perowne. What the pagans vainly sought for in many gods, the Psalmist found in One; what the worldling vainly seeks for in many objects, the believer exults to find in the favour of God. This faith is: III. Habitual. “Do I put my trust.” Or, “For I have trusted in Thee.” “This is no new or sudden act, but one performed already. He not only trusts in God at present, but has trusted Him before. The recognition of God was not a mere momentary act, but a habitual affection of the mind.”—Alexander. There is such a thing as crying to God in a moment of trouble or danger, and neglecting Him in days of peace. A true faith is a constant faith. “I have set the Lord always before me” (Psalms 16:8). 1. God will honour faith like this in the hour of danger. During the negro rebellion Mr. Francis Gardiner was travelling from one town to another, in Jamaica, in a gig. Some advised him to take firearms to protect himself, and he assented. He went a little way with the firearms, but soon returned, saying, “I am not comfortable with them:” and once more went on his journey without them. Soon he fell among a party of negroes, who stopped his horse. One said, “He is a missionary;” but the others said, “No, he is a Government spy.” Then they said, “If he be a Government spy he will have firearms; if a missionary, he will have no arms.” He was searched, and no firearms being found upon him, the negroes, instead of murdering him, led him safely on his journey. We generally have too much policy and too little faith. 2. Such faith will be honoured in the hour of trial. The world’s refuges fail just when they are most needed, but they who hide themselves in God shall not be confounded. Dr. Livingstone tells us of an African tree. “The Mopané-tree is pretty to look at in the bright sunshine of early morning, but the leaves hang perpendicularly as the sun rises high, and afford little or no shade through the day.” True image of worldly shelters and helpers! They look promising enough in the bright sunshine of the morning, in health, wealth, popularity; but, alas! when the burning heat of trial and trouble come, they fail, and the hot beams beat on our naked head! The Psalmist here takes God for his hiding-place, and he is safe and singing. 3. Such faith will be honoured in the hour of death. Jordan is deeper or shallower “according to our faith in the King of the place.” David has trusted in God, and, in presence of death and the grave, he shouts like a conqueror (Psalms 16:9-11). If we emulate his faith, we shall know his triumph. THE PEERAGE OF HEAVEN(Psalms 16:3.) Alexander translates this verse: “As to the saints who are in the land, they are the nobles in whom is all my delight.” Thus the people of God are designated as peers, a divine aristocracy. We observe: I. Their patent of nobility. By what right are they called “nobles”? They are the children of the King. They have been begotten again to a Divine and immortal inheritance. And this fact they reveal— 1. By the dignity of their character. They show their lofty birth by their purity and sublimity of character and conduct. Their glory is not in purple, stars, and coronets, but in splendid moral qualities. “The excellent, properly the outwardly illustrious; the root-meaning is that of glitter, splendour, &c. It contains the idea of a moral as well as of a merely outward glory.”—Perowne. 2. By the elevation of their life. In all things they seek to act from great motives, by great principles, to great ends. One of our earls was derided because, when he was made knight of the garter, he put the garter on all his shovels, wheelbarrows, and pickaxes. But the moral noble puts the sign of his estate on all that he has, on all that he does, down to the commonest and most trifling things. In “that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord; and the pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 14:20-21). Thus are they real nobles, “men of whom the world is not worthy.” “Some think rich men to be excellent, some think learned men to be excellent, some count men in authority so to be; but here we are taught that those men are excellent who are sanctified by God’s graces.”—Greenham. “The title of ‘His Excellency’ more properly belongs to the meanest saint than to the greatest governor. The true aristocracy are believers in Jesus. They are the only Right Honourables. Stars and garters are poor distinctions compared with the graces of the Spirit.”—Spurgeon. Observe: II. Their oath of fealty. “O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord” (Psalms 16:2). He recalls his covenant with God. As the new-made peer swears fidelity to his king, so have the saints vowed to be the Lord’s. Let us remember this: 1. In the hour of danger to our comfort. We are God’s sworn ones, and shall He not ever shelter and save us? 2. In the hour of temptation to our caution. When allurements are held out to us to worldliness and sin, remember, “O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord;” “The vows of God are upon us.” In the clearest, loftiest, most solemn moments of life, again and again have we pledged ourselves to God; let us not in a moment of excitement or weakness forget the glorious oath. The righteous man “sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not;” surely we shall change not wherein we have sworn to our eternal advantage. “High Heaven, that heard the solemn vow,That vow renewed shall daily hear,Till in life’s latest hour I bow,And bless in death a bond so dear.”Observe: III. Their bond of unity. What is the esprit de corps? (Psalms 16:3). “The meaning of this verse is, that the Psalmist’s recognition of Jehovah as the Lord, and as the only source of happiness, is not peculiar to himself, but common to the whole body of the saints or holy ones, in whose society he delighted”—Alexander. What is expressed here “is love to God and love to His saints.”—Delitzsch. This is the spirit, the bond of union. 1. Love to God. This is the grand basis of their oneness, trust in God, love to God. “Where any two souls cry out simultaneously, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner,’ the portion wall is broken down, and they are bound together more firmly by a sigh than by the loftiest formulas. They but hinder real union prevailing among us who are always haggling about words and isolated expressions.”—Büchsel. A common faith in God is the innermost evangelical alliance. 2. Love to God’s people. “In whom is all my delight” (Psalms 16:3). “In God’s land there are others who, like David, cleave to God, and with these he claims fellowship.”—Perowne. Where there is a true love to God, there will be a living delight in His people. IV. Their uncompromising loyalty (Psalms 16:4). Their sorrows shall be multiplied, “who wed themselves to another god.”—Kay. “Not idols merely, but any created object of supreme affection.”—Alexander. The Psalmist declares that he will not join in their impious services, nor even name the names of their divinities. He will have no complicity with such whatever. “It was a great consolation that, during his exile, being much with heathens, he had remained true to his God. He had not lifted up his hand to Dagon while protected in Philistia. He had not pronounced the name of an idol, which Moses had forbidden the Jews to do, nor had he attended the bloody altar of Moloch. Come then to this school, all ye lukewarm, ye degenerate souls, who trim between the world and the Church. It is of small moment to you to protract the hour of returning from market, or with whom you take the cheerful glass. Take care what you do: you may go a step too far.”—Sutcliffe. Observe: V. Their grand Inheritance (Psalms 16:5-6). “The idea is, that in the Lord the Psalmist has all that he can wish or hope for.”—Alexander. And it is a secure and everlasting portion. The old saying declares, “Carry great ensigns and you shall be great.” The believer carries “great ensigns”—a great name, a great service, a great king, a great future. May “all that name the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” THE OF THE SAINTS(Psalms 16:5-6.) I. Their inheritance is Divine. 1. God Himself. “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup” (Psalms 16:5). “There is an allusion, probably, to the division of the land of Canaan among the tribes, no part of which was assigned to the tribe of Levi, because, as was expressly declared, Jehovah would be their portion or share (Numbers 18:20), and the gifts consecrated to Jehovah the provision for their support. That which was true nationally of Levi was true in its deepest spiritual import of every believing Israelite. ‘What must not he possess,’ says Savonarola, ‘who possesses the Possessor of all?’—Perowne. “In the text all Israel is viewed as a ‘spiritual priesthood;’ who, wholly devoted to God, had Him for their everlasting reward.”—Kay. 2. And God alone is the portion of His people. They ask for nothing beyond Him. Moll renders the 2d verse of this Psalm; “My happiness is not added to Thee. Nothing that must be added to Thee makes me happy, but Thou alone, giving exclusive and full satisfaction. Compare the analogous thought and expression, Psalms 73:25.” Yet, 3. The saints have everything in God. “The heritage or portion thus described is God Himself, but considered as including all desirable possessions.”—Alexander. We have all gifts in the Giver. The “lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.” The blessing of God makes all places bright and happy; or, as some translate, in pleasant things. “It signifies both pleasant circumstances, and a pleasant locality.”—Delitzsch. The blessing of God imparts a profound charm and significance to all our possessions, relationships, circumstances. And finally the blessing of God makes all seasons bright. In the 7th verse, the night seasons are full of holy and happy communings. God’s smile makes all seasons bright, even the darkest. “If I say, The darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light about me.” All places, all things, all seasons, “all are yours.” This inheritance: II. Is secure. “Thou maintainest my lot” (Psalms 16:5). “Nor is this comparison unnecessary,” says Calvin, “for if often happens that the rightful owners are thrust out from their own possession, because there is none to defend them. But God hath given Himself to us as our inheritance in such wise that by His aid we are ever maintained in the enjoyment thereof.” David knew that his earthly power and glory might be torn away from him, but in God he had a kingdom which could not be moved. Thus in the 8th verse, “I shall never be moved.” “The gates of hell shall never prevail; Christ, our Samson, hath flung them off their hinges.”—Trapp. It is: III. Joyful (Psalms 16:6). “I have a goodly heritage.” “Yea, my inheritance is acceptable unto me. What had come to him as his inheritance, he embraced with the full approval of his judgment and his affections.”—Kay. It was just what he wanted. Men of the world toil for wealth, splendour, power, notoriety, and having attained the object of their ambition, grieve over it, as the disappointed child grieves over the fingered butterfly. But in the knowledge, love, and service of God we realise a treasure and joy congenial and satisfying to our deepest nature. It is: IV. Permanent (Psalms 16:9-11). Here the Psalmist exults in a glorious hope, full of immortality. “David’s hope rests on this conclusion: it is impossible for the man who, in appropriating faith and actual experience, calls God his own, to fall into the hands of death.”—Delitzsch. His life is hid with Christ in God, and so far from death spoiling him in any sense, it will but give him fuller possession of his glorious inheritance. How perishable all merely human good! There is a wild Indian story which tells of a girl falling in love with a handsome young warrior, who was however, really, but an image of snow. Immediately after their marriage they took a journey, and as the sun appeared in the horizon the bridegroom melted away. Man, falling in love with earthly things, is wasting his affections upon an image of snow: “The fashion of this world passeth away.” But rich and happy in the blessing of God, we are rich and happy for evermore. “A house we call our ownWhich cannot be o’erthrown:In the general ruin sure,Storms and earthquakes it defles;Built immovably secure,Built eternal in the skies.”BEULAH(Psalms 16:9-11.) The Psalmist is here on the mountain top. He gains a bright view of the glorious future, and is filled with rapture. He is assured of life, resurrection, immortality. Observe: I. The grandeur of his hope. 1. In the 10th verse, he exults to believe that he shall be altogether saved from the power of death and the grave. He believes that neither his nobler part, his glory, nor yet his body, shall suffer loss. God’s holy ones, God’s favourites, shall not be forsaken; their bodies not abandoned to the tomb, their souls not abandoned to the invisible world. But, 2. The Psalmist not only exults in being delivered from the power of death, he anticipates unknown glories (Psalms 16:11). Passing out of the shadow of death, he will pass into the glorious light of God’s unveiled face. There is a path of life winding through the valley and shadow of death, leading through the churchyard, and leading right into the golden goal. “The glory to be revealed” is here indicated. (1.) Its fulness. “Fulness of joy.” “Satiety, or rather satisfaction, in its strangest sense.”—Alexander. (2.) Its variety. “Pleasures” “The plural, joys, denotes not only richness, but variety.”—Alexander. Our manifold nature will find all it needs when it thus drinks at the rivers of His pleasure. (3.) Its perpetuity. “For evermore.” II. The ground of his hope. A certain writer has defined commentators as, “The worthy folks that too often write on books as men with diamonds write on glass, obscuring light with scratches.” But on this passage before us we have the benefit of two inspired commentators, St. Peter and St. Paul, who quote this psalm in the 2d, 3d, and 13th chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. They show that the Psalmist had the Messiah in his illuminated eye when he uttered these soaring words. These words were true of David only in a very limited sense; they found their full realisation only in Him who was David’ Lord. We may regard David as exulting in these lofty prospects on the ground of his faith in the Messiah. Because Christ should thus triumph, he knew his triumph assured in Christ. “The hope of his own immortality was based upon, and bound up in, the life of Him who was at once his Son and his Lord. What was true of David in the lower sense, was true in the fullest and highest sense of Christ; was only true of David, because it was true of Christ; and is only true of any of us in and through Him, according to His own words, ‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’ ”—Perowne. “The path of life,” is the work of Christ. “Thou wilt show me the path of life.” The Guide is the presence of Christ. The true Beulah is Calvary; from the shadow of the Cross we gain a clear and confident vision of the glory of the skies. “Yea, though I walk through the valley and the shadow of death,” &c. “David pours forth to God in this psalm an earnest prayer for deliverance from his inveterate enemies, who were bent on taking away his life. We find in it his opinion of the character of his oppressors, who were obviously persons of consideration and influence, and who were disposed to exercise all the power which their station enabled them to command, to gratify their hatred and malice against him. He affirms his own innocence, and expresses his full conviction that the time would come when the relative conditions of himself and his opponents would be changed. Many persons think, and with some reason, that the psalm was written on the occasion when Saul and his men pursued David in the wilderness of Engedi.”—Phillips.SAFE STEPS ON PATHS(Psalms 17:4-5.) We are reminded here: I. Of our need of the Divine succour. “Hold up my goings in Thy paths” (Psalms 17:5). This is the language of one who felt that he could not hold himself up. Some in the pride of their heart imagine that they can, in their own wit and strength, face life and its difficulties. Let us look at the path of life, the path which leads to heaven, and we shall see our need of a Divine Helper. In our way through this world to a better we must often encounter: 1. Steep paths. How pure, perfect, high are the statutes of God! We are born in the depths of sin and shame. All that is truly great and truly good lies far above us, as those white mountains of Switzerland lie above the traveller, their tops touching heaven. Now, who can ascend the holy hill? Can we, in our own strength, get so much above ourselves, so much beyond ourselves? Surely not. Without superhuman help we should soon grow faint and weary in scaling these sublime heights, and glide down, or fall down, into sense and sin. 2. Rough paths. Life has its paths of suffering, the paths that have to be traversed with bleeding feet. Here human nature often faints and falls. Men strike against sick-beds, bereavements, losses, persecutions, and lose all energy, peace, hope. Our heart is often “discouraged because of the way,” and unless we have Divine strength, comfort, guidance, we must perish. 3. Dark paths. We are often in most perplexing circumstances, and it is very easy for us to get wrong. “Ye have not passed this way heretofore.” Our path is often untried, strange, and dangerous. We speak of taking a leap in the dark. We are constantly doing this, compelled to do it; life is a series of leaps in the dark. If a Heavenly Hand does not aid us, we must stumble and fall. 4. Slippery paths. Days of youth, when the blood is hot, and life free and full; days of temptation, when a strange illusive light brightens into beauty things of death and darkness; days of comfort, when there is nothing to stir the soul, but everything to lull it; days of prosperity, when riches and honours increase: these are the times when we stand on slippery paths, on enchanted ground; and unless God help us, we are soon, as an old writer says, “on all fours.” Alpine climbers say that the icy peaks which sometimes they attempt to climb are like “the neck of a bottle,” and it is hard work to keep from sliding into the abyss. Life has paths similarly slippery, and unless a Divine guide uphold us, our steps will slide. “In Psalms 16:11 we read, ‘Thou wilt show me the path of life;’ here the psalm speaks of the paths of the destroyer. The path of life is oue; but there are many paths of the destroyer.”—Wordsworth. And Satan is perpetually seeking to drive or to draw us from the King’s highway into his destructive paths. “The path of life is like the vale of Siddim, slimy and slippery, full of lime-pits and pit-falls, springs and stumbling-blocks.”—Trapp. “Hold up my goings”—as a careful driver holds up his horse when going down hill. We have all sorts of paces, both fast and slow, and the road is never long of one sort, but with God to hold up our goings, nothing in the pace or in the road can cast down.”—Spurgeon. “Lord, hold me up, that I may hold out.”—Watson. We are reminded: II. Of the sufficiency of the Divine succour. The Psalmist has no doubt of his safety if only God will save him. Thus, in another place: “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe” (Psalms 119:117). There is no royal road to heaven, but there is a royal Helper, and none can perish who cling to Him. “God is able to make you stand” (Romans 14:4). There is a Catholic story which relates that once a holy painter was painting on the lofty ceiling of a church the image of one of the apostles. Absorbed in his work the artist stepped back to contemplate it, and stepped beyond the edge of the scaffolding; in a moment the figure that he was painting started into life, caught the falling artist, and set him down safely by the altar. If we live in the Church, and seek to glorify God, whenever we take a dangerous step, or stand in perilous slight, a Hand stronger than that of Peter’s, stronger than Gabriel’s, shall preserve us, and keep us in safety. “On every side He stands,And for His Israel cares;And safe in His Almighty hands,Their souls for ever bears.”Learn: 1. That we are safe only whilst we rest in God. All other securities for good living are valid only whilst God gives them efficacy. Promises, vows, pledges, all are unreliable, except as God gives them fixity and force. God’s help is the key-stone of all prudential measures. We must all try to take the dying minister’ advice: “Stand up for Christ, stand up in Christ.” 2. That it is the privilege of the believer to be held up. Not only to be picked up when we have fallen, but to be held up, so that we may not fall. The old poet sings— “That which makes us have no needOf physic, that’s physic indeed.”Preventing grace is the best physic. 3. That we are preserved from falling by holding to God’s Word” (Psalms 17:4). “Whatever men in general may do or say, I have but one guide and rule of action, viz., Thy Word.”—Perowne. And Kay renders (Psalms 17:5). “Because my treadings held firm to Thy paths, my steps have been unmoved.” “By holding fast my goings in Thy paths, or rather, tracks, ruts of wheels, my footsteps have not been moved. I owe my safety to the care which I take to tread in Thy footsteps.” Wordsworth. If we hold firmly by God’s Word, that Word will preserve us. It shows us which are the false paths. “By the words of thy lips I have marked the paths of the transgressor.”—Wordsworth. It strengthens us to walk in true paths. Its examples, its promises, the grace which is ever given in the reading of it, energise us to walk in the path of life which it indicates. 4. That the text gives no sanction to carelessness and sloth. If God hold us up we have something to do, we have to hold to Him. To hold God’s hand day by day is the supremest effort of the soul, it means unceasing thought, prayer, endeavour. God only saves those who daily cling to Him in sighs, and prayers, and tears. SPECIAL NEED, SPECIAL HELP(Psalms 17:7-14.) I. Special Need. “Show Thy marvellous lovingkindness” (Psalms 17:7). “Make Thy grace wonderful.”—Moll. “Exhibit Thy special mercies, Thou who savest them that flee for refuge.”—Kay. “It has particular reference to extraordinary favours, implying an unusual necessity.”—Alexander. The Psalmist was in a position of peculiar distress and peril. Mark his trying position as here depicted by himself. 1. The number of his enemies (Psalms 17:9). They compassed him about. He felt that he was hemmed in by them on every side. 2. The character of his enemies. They were deadly enemies (Psalms 17:9). As the 10th verse particularises, they were proud, arrogant, unfeeling. “Their heart is not a pulsating human heart, but a lump of fat”—Moll. Insensible, obdurate, cruel. 3. The strategy of his enemies (Psalms 17:11-12). “They had fixed their eyes intently on the Psalmist, with a purpose to prostrate him to the ground, or completely overwhelm him.”—Moll. A greedy lion lurking in secret places, expresses at once, their ferocious disposition and crafty action. It was then with the Psalmist a time of special need. All God’s people know such times. They are often in deep waters, but sometimes deep calleth unto deep; their sky is often clouded, but sometimes it is eclipsed; they often pass through the fire, but sometimes the furnace is heated seven times hotter than it is wont to be heated. Their trouble is sore, their trial fiery. Their tribulation seems to go beyond that of Christians in general; it certainly goes beyond any which they have experienced in the past. They have need of extraordinary help, marvellous lovingkindnesses, special mercies. II. Special Help. “Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of Thy wings” (Psalms 17:8). How truly sublime these conceptions! In the seasons of deepest distress we have the brightest visions of God’s love and power to save. In times of deepest trial we are: 1. The dearest to God. “Keep me as the apple of the eye.” This is a symbol of that which is dearest to us. How precious is the eye, how carefully guarded by us! So we are never dearer to God than when we want Him most. The most suffering child in a family is the best beloved; and so it is in God’s family (Zechariah 2:8). 2. The nearest to God. “Hide me under the shadow of Thy wings.” How near, how safe! “The wings of a hen cover her brood so that they cannot be seen by birds of prey; she covers them against rain and storms; she warms them and strengthens them when they are cold and weak; so likewise does the Divine grace with His children.”—Moll. Thus in times of persecution and temptation; of suffering and trouble; of weakness and fear, God draws us all the closer to Himself, and under those wings, whose golden feathers are wisdom and power and love, we hide in safety. 3. The happiest in God. The eaglet hiding under the wing of the parent bird is a figure of comfort as well as safety. It is only as we realise deeper experience of pain, and loss, and peril, that we realise the deeper joys of the Divine life. “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5). The brighter rainbow decks the darker cloud; in mid-winter’s gloom the stars burn brightest. God’s wing is as soft as it is strong, and the sorrow that drives us to the closer communion ensures us a deeper peace, a keener bliss. “When my sorrows most increase,Let Thy strongest joys be given!Jesus, come with my distress,And agony is heaven!” TRIAL(Psalms 17:7-15.) In these verses we have an illustration of the purifying and ennobling influences of sanctified trouble. We see that unsanctified prosperity degrades those who enjoy it, whilst sanctified adversity lifts up those who suffer it I. Sanctified sorrow drives us nearer God. In the 7th and 8th verses this is very apparent. “The hard usage of his enemies drove David into God’s blessed bosom; as children misused abroad run home to their parents.”—Trapp. Wronged by the world, buffeted by the messengers of Satan, overtaken by the storms of adversity, in closer fellowship with God we find balm to our soul. One day an aide-de-camp of the late Emperor Nicholas of Russia threw himself at the monarch’s feet, and begged from his sovereign permission to fight a duel. The Emperor, who was a staunch opponent of duelling, immediately and emphatically refused. “But, sire, I am dishonoured; I must fight,” cried the disconsolate aide. The Czar frowned, and asked him what he meant. “I have been struck in the face,” was the ready reply. “Well,” said the Emperor, “for all that, thou shalt not fight; but come—come with me.” And, taking him by the arm, the Emperor led him into the presence of his court which was assembled in an adjoining saloon. Then, in view of the flower of his realm, the Emperor kissed the cheek of the aide-de-camp which had received the blow. “Go now,” he exclaimed, “and be at peace; thy affront has been effaced.” Thus, when we are wronged by men or devils, we fly to our God, and the kiss of the King of the universe more than atones for the injury and dishonour that may have been done us. The King’s love and favour fill the wounded soul with strength and gladness. II. Sanctified sorrow conducts to a higher spiritual life. We see this specially in the 14th verse. The Psalmist has been led to feel how much superior is the Divine life to a worldly life. He is led to a new and deeper appreciation of a godly nature, and of all the treasures it inherits. In the midst of persecution and sorrow he realises a more intense spirituality. A naturalist, speaking of the swarms of insects which torment cattle in tropical lands, shows that the sufferings of the cattle issue in their safety. “Observe,” says this writer, “that the furious eagerness of the winged insects, which seem to be the agents of death, is frequently a cause of life. By an incessant persecution of the sick flocks, enfeebled by hot damp airs, they ensure their safety. Otherwise they would remain stupidly resigned, and hour after hour grow less capable of motion, gloomier and more morbid in the bonds of fever, until they could rise no more. The inexorable spur knows, however, the secret of putting them on their legs; though, with trembling limbs, they take to flight, the insect never quits them; presses them, urges them, and conducts them, bleeding, to the wholesome regions of the dry lands and the living waters, where their furious guide abandons them, and returns to the pestilent vapours, to its realm of death.” Thus David’s enemies, like a swarm of winged insects, drove him to loftier heights of life. If he had been left to a level life of care and prosperity he might have fallen a victim to its relaxing influences, but persecutions and tribulations drove him to the higher walks of thought, and feeling, and life. Is it not often thus with God’s people? They are stung by many losses and sorrows; but these afflictions secure their salvation. With trembling limbs, and bleeding hearts, they take their flight from the miasmatic plains of the carnal life, to the tablelands of which God Himself is sun and moon. III. Sanctified sorrow awakens longings for the heavenly and eternal life (Psalms 17:15). Here we see the Psalmist loosened from earth by his troubles, and looking forward to the heavenly and immortal for the satisfaction of all his longings. Such is the beauty of Damascus that we are told Mahomet feared, if he entered it, his heart would be captivated by its loveliness, and he would be unfitted for the celestial, so he turned away from the gates of the Syrian paradise. Amid scenes of affluence and pleasure we may easily forget our great inheritance; but in disappointment and affliction our heart goes out after that Divine and heavenly inheritance which fadeth not away. MEN OF THE WORLD“Men of the World” (Psalms 17:14) We will first consider: I. The characters thus described. “Men of the world” observe: 1. Their portion. “Which have their portion in this life.” “The word here used for ‘world’ denotes the transitory nature of the world as a thing of time. Men of the world are those who have made it their home, and who, together with the world and the lust thereof, are passing away. Being thus worldly-minded, they have their portion in life, i.e. in the brief years of their existence upon earth.”—Perowne. “Life is by some understood to mean a life of ease or pleasure; but this is far less natural than the obvious sense of this life, this present state as distinguished from futurity.”—Alexander. (1.) They live to the visible. The “world.” Their pain and pleasure, hope and fear, loss or gain, all have to do with the senses and the worldly life. (2.) They live to the present. Their disposition is gross—their highest good and happiness is in the purely natural life. “Worldliness consists in these three things:—Attachment to the Outward; attachment to the Transitory; attachment to the Unreal: in opposition to love for the Inward, the Eternal, the True.”—Robertson. A man may not be an atheist, and yet be a man of the world; a man may not be vicious, and yet be a man of the world; nay, a man may be moral, amiable, kind, and yet be a man of the world. They love not God: “The friendship of the world is enmity with God.” They love the near and the low, not the distant and the high—they are deaf to the injunction, “Set not your affections upon things of the earth.” They look at the things which are temporal. How many there are with many good qualities, but who at their best are never more than men of the world! 2. Their prosperity. (1.) They have enough for themselves. “Whose belly thou fillest with Thy hid treasure.” “To the eye of sense God seems sometimes to have reserved His choicest gifts for the ungodly.”—Alexander. “They have more than heart could wish, their eyes stand out with fatness” (Job 21:7-15). (2.) They have enough for their children. “They are full of children,” &c. Margin, their children are full. “The obvious signification is, that they have enough for themselves and for their children.”—Barnes. They found large and flourishing houses. The prosperity of the wicked need not excite any particular surprise. (1.) They set their whole heart on such prosperity. (2.) They bend their whole strength to compass their aim. (3.) They have no moral scruples to stand in the way of their progress. They live to the world, and get it. Its wreaths theirs, its gold, its purple, its dainties. Observe: II. The disadvantages of their lot. The Psalmist in this place is not envying “the men of this world;” but, on the contrary, pities them. 1. The hand of God is against them. “From the wicked by Thy sword: from men by Thy hand” (Psalms 17:13-14). Many take worldly prosperity as a sign of God’s favour, but it is no such sign. God’s hand is against men of the world. His sword is lifted against them, and must smite erelong if they repent not. 2. They have a profound discontent. A carnal content they have, but does not the Psalmist intimate in the 15th verse, that “true” satisfaction comes only through righteousness? Yes, the men of the world are full of precious things—pleasures, honours, gold, and silver—but their spirit is desolate and unsatisfied. “Their portion is a lean and hungry one at the best—one that may fill the hand, but cannot fill the soul.”—Binnie. 3. They soon part with their inheritance for ever. “This world.” “This life.” Whatever this world gives us it soon takes back again, just as the hungry ocean-waves suck back again the glittering shells with which they first strewed the shore. And then? “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:16-17). (Psalms 17:15.) Satisfaction! What a magical word! Oh! What is it? Where is it to be found? Who shall teach us to realise it? In this verse we have suggested to us, I. The nature of true satisfaction. 1. It is spiritual. The Psalmist shows here that it is not external and physical, but internal and spiritual. The sensual men in the 14th verse, are not satisfied men are not men seeking satisfaction in a right direction. Not in mere sensuality shall we ever find content. You cannot satisfy the body with thoughts, neither can you satisfy the soul with meats. Not in social rank and glory shall we prove satisfaction. The ancient star-worshippers affixed mirrors to their breasts to bring near to them the orbs they worshipped, but the orbs themselves were far away in the heavens, nevertheless; and titles, purple, coronets, golden fortunes, crowns of fame, are but mirrors also in which you have the reflections of high and glorious things—reflections, and nothing more. Not in mere intellectuality shall we find content,—art, science, philosophy. St. Augustine complains to God of his friends offering him the books of the philosophers;—“And these were the dishes in which they brought to me, being hungry, the sun and the moon instead of Thee.” True satisfaction is not in the sphere of the senses, but of the spirit. 2. It is complete. The satisfaction of the sensual in the 14th verse, is one-sided, only regarding one section of the complex nature. The Psalmist’s satisfaction was all pervasive—the gratification of his whole being—appetite, sensibility, imagination, spirit. “Their’s, partial, defective, such as would but gratify their bestial part; his, adequate, complete, a happiness of proportion, such as should satisfy the man.”—John Howe. 3. It is full, “satisfied, fed to the full.”—French. The whole nature blessed, and fully blessed. “They hunger no more, neither do they thirst any more.” 4. It is everlasting. The Psalmist looks forward here to the great future, and anticipates endless blessedness. The perpetuity of the inheritance of the worldly man referred to in Psalms 17:14, is quite a mock immortality—he dies, and his estate is soon dissipated; but the joy of a spiritualised and perfected nature flows for evermore. II. The source of true satisfaction. 1. The vision of God. “As for me—in righteousness let me behold Thy face.”—Perowne. The knowledge of God—the perception of His goodness, wisdom, beauty. The secret of all our discontents is our misapprehension of the Divine nature, law, government, purpose. If we could see the Throne, and Him that sits thereupon, with unclouded face—for really the cloud is on our face, not on God’s—our soul would be filled with ecstasy. To know that God is all beauty, and His law all love, and His government all wise, and His kingdom and eternity all joy—to know this, is overflowing and everlasting gladness. To have a clear, full vision of Jesus, Who is the brightness of the Father’s glory, is the secret of satisfaction. Observe, it is through righteousness that we gain this vision. “In righteousness let me behold Thy face.” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” 2. The likeness of God. “When I awake with Thy likeness.” “When Thy likeness is awakened.”—Horsley. As we become pure we get the clearer vision of God, and as we get the clearer vision of God, the Divine image is inwrought once more in our deepest nature. “We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,” &c. (2 Corinthians 3:18). “Unlike my God I cannot rest,For sin is perfect misery:But stamp Thine image on my breast,Conform my hallowed soul to Thee.“Partaker of Thine utmost grace,My soul would then be satisfied;As Moses, when he saw Thy face,And sank into Thine arms and died.”(1.) This satisfaction may be largely attained in this life. It is a grave error to place this satisfaction wholly in the future. In this life we may, through the grace of Jesus, attain power over sin, fix our heart singly upon God, and attain thus to the vision of God, the likeness of God, and all the joy of which God is the fountain. Let us seek a pure heart. (2.) This satisfaction is fully attained in the life to come. “They shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.” Here we begin to awake in the likeness of God, and as His image shines more clear in our soul, our satisfaction becomes more profound; in heaven, that likeness shall be complete—we shall see Him as He is, and our joy shall be full. “This magnificent triumphal hymn was composed by David in celebration of his deliverance from his enemies. But the sublimity of the figures used in it, and the consent of ancient commentators, even Jewish as well as Christian, but, above all, the citations, made from it in the New Testament, evince that the kingdom of Messiah is here pointed at under that of David. It may thus be divided into five parts.Part I. Consisting of the first three verses, is the proem of the song.Part II. Celebrates miraculous deliverances from a state of affliction and distress.Part III. Thanksgiving; five verses, from the twentieth to the twenty-fourth.Part IV. Celebrates success in war; eighteen verses, from the twenty-fifth to the forty-second.Part V. The establishment of Messiah’s kingdom; eight verses, from the forty-third to the fiftieth.”—Bishop Mant.TRUE LOVE(Psalms 18:1.) This verse gives a picture of the human heart in its sublimest mood. It is an eloquent expression of the loftiest affection. The love of the Psalmist was “true,” because, I. The object of it was right. “I will love Thee.” Not, nature. Some expend the whole fund of their admiration and delight on the works of God. They admire creation, idealise it, idolise it. They give a fanciful life to sun and moon and stars, to the firmament, to the earth, and then worship them. This love inspires our naturalistic, pantheistic poetry—a poetry sadly popular. Not, humanity. We see many lavish their affection on their friends, and a certain philosophy tells us that the noblest object of love is the human race. We see J. S. Mill in England, and Comte in France, denying the love of God, and then adoring in the most extravagant fashion a couple of women. We may easily fall into the same mistake—loving the creature more than the Creator. There is, indeed, no sin in loving, in fervently loving, such of our fellows as may appear in our eyes to be beautiful or noble; but that our love should be confined to these is the fault of faults. Not, self. How common is self-idolatry! To be wholly occupied with our own interests—ever burning incense to our own greatness! How many are their own divinities, living to glorify, to serve, to worship themselves! Not, the world. The Apostle says that the love of the world is enmity with God. What is this love of the world which is opposed to the love of the Father? The setting of our affections on the gifts of God—wealth, rank, honours, learning. There are many such. They are lovers of pleasure, fortune, fame, more than lovers of God. They forget, or almost forget, the Giver in the gift. God is true object of love. 1. He should be the first object. The Psalmist begins with extolling God. The first verse of every chapter in our life should be: “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.” 2. He is the worthy object. To love creation, or its gifts, is to love what is dead. Love is only worthily placed on a living person. To love the creatures, is to love what is imperfect: when we love any person, we love not so much the actual person, but rather an ideal person. Their merits, their charms, exist to a large extent in our imagination. But God is the all-perfect One; all perfections exist actually and absolutely in Him. 3. He is the chief object. “Thee” only Thee; all other creatures or things in Thee. “Nothing must we love above God, or so much as God, much less against God.”—Trapp. II. The measure of it was right. 1. It was a boundless love. The just measure of love to God is a measureless love. “I will love Thee.” “The word signifies to love with the greatest intensity.”—Phillips. “Affectionately do I love Thee.”—Moll. “Fervently do I love Thee, O Jehovah, my strength.”—Perowne. The Psalmist loved God from the depths of his heart; loved Him with a burning, boundless affection. As one has said: “Every river does the most good whilst it keeps within its banks, except the Nile, and that does the most good when it overflows its banks; so each human passion is best kept within bounds; except love to God, and that is best when it overflows, when it is shed abroad.” 2. It was an everlasting love. It overflowed both space and time. “The future form, I will love, represents it as a permanent affection, and expresses a fixed purpose. “I not only love Thee now, but am resolved to do so for ever.”—Alexander. “Nothing shall separate me from the love of God,” &c. “What though my flesh and heart decay,Thee shall I love in endless day!”III. The inspiration of it was right. “O Lord, my strength.” The Psalmist’s heart was touched by the love of God. “The simple form of the verb is here used to denote the reciprocal affection of the inferior party.”—Alexander. He had felt God’s love to himself, and in return He loved God. “We love Him because He first loved us.” A true love to God is something more than a mere intellectual admiration, something more than a moral appreciation; it is the offspring of a consciously, indebted, and deeply-moved heart. The idea of the mystics, that we must love God simply for His own sake, is not scriptural. We love much because much has been forgiven us; because great gifts have been imparted to us; because great deliverances have been wrought out for us. Remember—the love of God is the secret of strength and victory. The love of God gives us the victory over all inward foes. Great is the purifying power of this sublime affection. “Faith which worketh by love, and purifies the heart.” “The love of God gives us the victory over all outward foes” (Romans 8:35-39). “So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord; but let them that love Him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might” (Judges 5:31). DIVINE (Psalms 18:2-3.) We observe: I. The Psalmist’s confession (Psalms 18:2). He acknowledges, 1. That God was his deliverer. “Jehovah is my stronghold,” &c. “My God is my strength,” &c. The Psalmist does not impute his deliverance from Saul and his other enemies, to his own prowess, or to secondary causes; God was his help. There was a power of supernatural faith in David lifting him above the temptation to idealise and deify aspects of nature. The rocks and fortresses and strongholds of the country, where many of David’s exploits were performed, might have led a less devout mind to forget God, and ascribe its triumphs to its own prowess, combined with geographical advantages. Not so with David. His faith penetrated secondary causes, and visible helps and agencies only became the symbols of the invisible. “Jehovah is my stronghold,” &c. Let us give the glory of our deliverances to God—not to self, or nature, or chance. Let us give all the glory to God. Not a word here about geographical help, or human help, or self-help. If we thus honour God, God shall honour our faith, and save us in all natural and spiritual perils. 2. God was his perfect deliverer. Seven is the number of perfection; and here we have according to the reading of Perowne seven metaphors crowded together setting forth the perfection of God as the Saviour of His people. “Jehovah (is) my stronghold and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God is my rock wherein I find refuge, my shield and horn of my salvation, my high tower.” God is a perfect Saviour. “Rock;” “shield;” “horn;” indicate various forms of defence and shelter, of immunity and deliverance. (1.) God preserves His people in the day of evil. He is a garrison to them in the time of trial and temptation. Talk of the seven wonders of the world! what are they but imperfect images of the magnificent bulwarks which God raises about His people? “On every aide He stands,And for His Israel cares;And safe in His Almighty handsTheir souls for ever bears.”(2.) God delivers His people from the power of evil. He is more than a defender, He is a deliverer. He causes our foes to raise the siege, and leave us unharassed and unharmed. (3.) God causes His people to triumph over the enemies by whom they have been menaced. “The horn of my salvation.” As the “shield” stands for a weapon of defence, so the “horn” stands for a weapon of offence. “The horn is a symbol of strength in attack.”—Perowne. God not only shelters and delivers His people, but He enables them to carry the war into the enemies’, camp, and to reap glorious spoils in the battle. God not only saves His people, but “Satan is bruised under their feet; He not only delivers His Church from the wrath of men and devils, but strengthens it to overthrow the kingdom of darkness. 3. God was his personal deliverer. “My” rock, “my” fortress, “my” deliverer. The tried saint feels that he has a personal and peculiar interest in God. God’s manifestations of help and power are so rich and multiform in their character that they carry a separate secret for every separate heart. Just as there were rocks and strongholds about Bethlehem and Engedi that David’s eye had marked for many a year, and that his own foot only knew how to climb; so there are forms of Divine help and blessing, as many and as varied as God’s relations to individual souls, and the secret paths to the attainment of which lie within our individual faith. Let us not be afraid of tribulation, for it unites us all the more intensely with God. Peril deepens experience and individualises the relations in which we stand to God. But for the years of danger in which his youth had been spent, the Psalmist would never have been able to realise all that power of intense, believing, personal appropriation, signified by the use of the possessive pronoun, “My strength:” “My fortress:” “My God.” We observe: II. The Psalmist’s resolution (Psalms 18:3). “I will call upon the Lord,” &c. Having shown that the Lord is worthy to be praised and trusted, how natural it is that this resolution should follow! And yet, how often is it the case that we acknowledge the glorious perfections of our God in our lips, and yet do not follow up the acknowledgment with a hearty practical confidence! Call upon the Lord for help, and you praise Him in so doing; call upon the Lord, so shall you be saved from your enemies. Some say that children, weak in every other respect, have such strong voices that they may be able to cry aloud, and thus secure help in times of danger; the children of God, weak and helpless amid foes and perils, have a cry to pierce the heavens and bring down help. Cry! cry aloud! and God shall save. DE (Psalms 18:4-19.) Consider: I. The Psalmist’s peril (Psalms 18:4-5). “The sorrows of death” (Psalms 18:4). “According to the reading of 2 Samuel 22:5, ‘the breakers of death.’ The metaphor is taken from those dangerous waves which our mariners cull whitebreakers.”—Horsley. “The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.”—Perowne. “The reference is here to wicked men, whose number and violence are indicated by the figure of torrents and overflowing streams.”—Alexander. “The sorrows of hell,” &c. (Psalms 18:5). The bands of the grave, the snares of death. “By bands we are probably to understand the cordage of a net, such as fowlers spread for birds.”—Alexander. “Death is represented as a hunter with a cord and net.”—Delitzsch. Whichever way the Psalmist turns there is dreadful danger. Thus are we found in our sinful estate. We are in the power of evil. Sin as a torrent carries us away; the devil has entangled us in the meshes of his net; there seems no way of escape from the second death. When our eyes are opened to our true situation we are overwhelmed with horror. Thus do we sometimes find ourselves in days of trouble and persecution. We are compassed about with sorrow and darkness. There seems to be no way of escape. II. The Psalmist’s prayer (Psalms 18:6). 1. Its fervency. “Called.” “Cried.” 2. Its singleness. “I called upon Jehovah; i.e., when I am in trouble I call on Jehovah only, and make my supplication to no other deliverer.”—Phillips. 3. Its efficacy. “He heard my voice out of His temple,” &c. “Not the temple, or tabernacle, on Mount Zion, but the temple in heaven, where in God especially manifests His glory, and where He is worshipped by the heavenly hosts—a place which is both temple and palace.”—Perowne. What wonderful tenderness and oversight are suggested by the answer that met the Psalmist’s cry! The temple full of music, but the cry of distress carries as far as the angelic symphonies, and reaches an all-sensitive ear; the temple full of radiance and glory and beauty, but away amidst the gloom of the under-world a Divine eye sees the prostrate and struggling form of a servant of God; God hears the cry out of His very temple, and leaves the very temple, as described in the subsequent verses, for the help and deliverance of His servant. The celestial world is a world full of glory, music, and joy; and yet, it is quick to sympathise with a world of want and sorrow. Do not restrain prayer because of heaven’s distance; not because of its magnificence; not because of its sanctity, for it is a “temple,” a place of mercy and reconciliation. III. The Psalmist’s preservation (Psalms 18:7-19). “It is true we find no express record of any incident in David’s life of the kind recorded in 1 Samuel 7:10, but it must be some real experience, which David here idealises.”—Delitzsch. Observe: 1. The power of the Divine Helper (Psalms 18:7-9). “The earth shook and trembled,” &c. Whilst God was a rock and refuge to David, He was a power that rocked the very mountains, to say nothing of the frail fortresses of the Psalmist’s foes. God is a wall of fire to His people, but a consuming fire to His enemies. 2. The swiftness of the Divine Helper (Psalms 18:10). “He rode upon a cherub, and did fly,” &c. “He is a present help in the time of trouble.” “Ere we can offer our complaints,Behold him present with his aid.”3. The mystery of the methods of the Divine aid (Psalms 18:11). “He made darkness His veil.”—Moll. “The word rendered secret place—means properly a hiding.”—Barnes. In strange ways God saves His people. Be patient and believing. “God moves in a mysterious way,His wonders to perform,” &c.As the 12th verse intimates, it is not all obscurity. “At the brightness that was before Him the thick clouds were scattered.” There were out-gleams. So if we keep our eye on the Divine government we shall often get glimpses of the light and love by which it is pervaded. 4. The efficacy of the Divine aid (Psalms 18:13-18). God’s power utterly discomfited the foes of His people. In the 7th verse “the earth shook and trembled, the foundations also of the hills moved;” in the 13th verse the “heavens” shake, and pour down hailstones and fire. No wonder that the wicked were “scattered” in dire confusion. Let us not forget that this glorious power is pledged to the weakest saint. Our enemies may be too strong for us, but they are not too strong for Him. 5. The fulness of the Divine deliverance (Psalms 18:19). God’s help never stops at the mere point of deliverance. God’s power never comes down to help us out of our perils only; it comes to bring us to better things than we had known heretofore. NATURE AND THE (Psalms 18:7-19.) The Psalmist does something more here than “idealise” nature, we think that he suggests some important thoughts concerning the relation of nature to the supernatural. Dr. Farrar in his “Chapters on Language” observes: “What Mr. Ruskin has called ‘the pathetic fallacy,’ is the indomitable desire to see in nature, or at least to attribute to her, a sympathy in our joys and sorrows, hopes and fears. Hence, to the imagination of the Psalmist and prophet, ‘the hills clap their hands;’ ‘the valleys sing;’ ‘the morning stars shout for joy;’ ‘the fir-trees howl,’ &c., &c. In modern poets the same fancy recurs with constant intensity, so that there is hardly a single aspect of nature which has not been made to express or to interpret the thoughts and passions of mankind, and hardly a single modern poem which does not illustrate this imaginative power,” p. 214. But there is something far deeper than this in the relation of God’s people to nature; they not only see their experience mirrored in nature, but have the assurance that nature sympathises with them, and ministers to them in a far more profound sense. In that portion of the psalm which is now before us, we see: I. Nature as obedient to supernatural power. We see God moving heaven and earth. All forces doing His bidding—the wind, the clouds, the lightning, the thunder, the mountains, the sea. The Psalmist in this song may have “idealised” some of his experiences, but his idealisation assumes the obedience of nature to the will of God. The Scriptures constantly teach this. The Old Testament is full of it, and the New. Reason sanctions it. It is so natural to think of the world being plastic to the will of God, that when men cease to believe in God being able to modify nature they soon cease to believe in Him at all. Experience confirms it. There are few good men but who are firmly persuaded that God has interfered with the natural order on their behalf. Science can prove nothing to the contrary. Science not only tells us of the invariability of law, but she tells us with equal emphasis of the modificability of law; and if the human will can modify natural law, who shall set the limits of the Divine interference with the natural order! We see: II. Nature as the executant of a supernatural will. We see in this psalm nature as an executant of the Divine anger. How all the forces of nature are here arrayed against the wicked! Nature is God’s minister to execute wrath upon them that do evil. It seems sometimes as if nature were against God, and for sin and sinners; but if we look further down we shall see that nature is on the side of God and righteousness. Let the wicked remember that the visible universe is God’s vast arsenal, and when once He is angry He can turn all the bright and beautiful things of nature into the swift ministers of death and ruin. We see nature also as an executant of the Divine grace. There is a dark side of nature for the enemies of God—there is a bright side for the friends of God. All this storm and earthquake was in mercy to David. Child of God, know nature to be thy friend! We are too apt to look upon nature as rigid and inexorable, and in no way sensitive to the generous will of Heaven. In our fear and suffering we look out upon nature and think how reckless she is of our sorrowful moods; we aggravate our sufferings by deeming nature unsympathetic, as we should aggravate them by encountering the face of a foe. Remember, if your purposes and life are only in perfect accord with God, God is always with you to aid, and the colossal and apparently immobile forces of nature are fluttering like threads of gossamer in delicate sympathy with all His manifestations of care and help and succour for you. We see: III. Nature ministering to supernatural purpose. Not to material, but to moral and spiritual ends. Remember the higher ministry of nature. Nature is really but a mass of means which God uses for the salvation and sanctification of His creatures. Heathen fables tell us of nature being affected by great military and political events, but God’s Word shows us nature ministering to great moral and religious ends, and this is well worthy of credence. The inferior universe serves the higher universe. We may well believe that the sun was darkened at man’s redemption; that natural law and phenomena are controlled with a view to man’s moral education; that ordinary laws and processes are disturbed to secure man’s immortal salvation. THE BOW IN THE CLOUD(Psalms 18:16-20.) The Psalmist in the preceding verses has shown us the earth rent by earthquakes and the heavens blackened by thunder-clouds, here we see the rainbow span the horrible tempest—God’s pity and aid to His afflicted servant. The rainbow has various colours, and there are several aspects of God’s government towards His afflicted people shining out brightly in this paragraph. Notice: I. The supremacy of God’s government. “He sent from above” (Psalms 18:16). All was shaken on the earth, all eclipsed in the sky, but above the firmament God sits in perfect repose. Above all the storms and revolutions of earth God reigns, and reigns with undisturbed sovereignty. It is a mighty comfort to the believer to be able to cry, amid wars and tumults and eclipses: “Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” Oh! that the people of God would look in dark days in the right direction! “He sent from above.” We look to society, or to self; to history, to posterity; to earth beneath us, to the world around us; we look anywhere instead of looking up. Await salvation “from above.” In our dark days the door of hope is a door which opens into heaven; let us knock at that door, and wait the help which is never denied. “God being enthroned on high, and dwelling in the heavens, does not separate Him from His servants on earth; it merely exhibits Him in His exaltation above all the powers of the world and the abyss; it no more prevents Him from hearing the sighs and supplications of the oppressed, than from making known His presence, to help in gracious condescension to the needs of men.”—Moll. II. The discriminativeness of God’s action. “He took me, He drew me out of many waters” (Psalms 18:16). The frightful storm which has just been pictured sweeping the world seems as if it would involve the guilty and the innocent in one common ruin, but we are reminded that it is not so. In the midst of these appalling displays the Psalmist was safe. The Hand that was hurling lightnings and hailstones and coals of fire, was outstretched in the gentle task of helping the imperilled good. When human authority seeks to punish, it is frequently undistinguishing, and strikes the innocent with the guilty. And it often seems as if the Divine authority were equally undistinguishing. The great laws which govern nature, society, and human life, seem blind and indiscriminating; but let us be sure that it is not so. “The Lord knoweth them that are His,” Fear God, and serve Him with all your heart, and you shall know that there is a law which discerns between the evil and the good. “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee” (Psalms 91:5-8). III. The tenderness of God’s methods. “He drew me out of many waters.” “There is peculiar beauty in the word translated draw, which is the root of the name Moses, and occurs, besides the place before us, only in the explanation of that name recorded by Himself” (Exodus 2:10).—Alexander. In this psalm God is seen surrounded by awful terrors, but yet He deals with His servant in great gentleness. He has thunder, lightning, hailstones, for His foes—music, sunbeams, dewdrops, for His people. “He drew me.” Softly, tenderly, does God withdraw His servants from scenes of peril. IV. The effectiveness of God’s aid (Psalms 18:17-18). The Psalmist was no match for his foes. They were strong, and they took advantage of his weakness. “They fell upon me in the day of my calamity.”—Moll. And in his various wars David repeatedly sustained partial defeats. But the Lord was his stay. “They prevented me in the day of my calamity; i.e., came on me suddenly, unawares, when I was unprovided and helpless, and must have destroyed me had not God upheld and supported me when I was in danger of perishing. God was to the Psalmist for a staff to support him. What the staff is to one that is ready to fall, the means of recovering and preserving him; that was God to David in the time of his extremity.”—Dr. Chandler quo. by Spurgeon. Our enemies may easily be too much for us, but they cannot prevail against God. Believer! rest in God. Extremity of help will come in extremity of need; and when you are the weakest, God shall glorify Himself the most by working out your uttermost salvation. V. The bountifulness of God’s grace (Psalms 18:19). “He brought me forth to a wide place.”—Phillips. If we are faithful to God, our temptations and sorrows are ever working out for us a more perfect liberty, a higher being, a greater weight of glory. THE GREAT (Psalms 18:16.) There can be little doubt but that David in this place is idealising some of his own experiences; but that eye is very dim which cannot perceive in the Psalmist’s language something far beyond a description of his own immediate temporal danger and rescue. We have not exhausted the meaning of this magnificent hymn until we have seen in it a foreshadowing of the world’s redemption in Jesus Christ. Behold: I. A great danger. What is that danger? A world of Sinners on the brink of hell. The Psalmist pictures himself surrounded by death and hell, and altogether helpless in their grasp. It is a picture of the world, considered apart from the truth and mercy of God in Jesus Christ. The race had fallen under the power of sin, and the whole earth was filled with wickedness and wretchedness. Man could not help himself, could not deliver himself from the tyranny of the devil. And each individual sinner feels that his sins have brought him to the brink of the pit. Floods of ungodliness are sweeping him onward to the ocean of wrath. We are perishing sinners. Behold: II. A Divine deliverer. “He sent from above.” Down in a gulf of dark despair we wretched sinners lay, when God’s eye pitied us, and His right arm brought salvation. There was no help in us. Man has no resource within himself to cope with the great tide of sin and wrath. No help around us. Society cannot save us. No man can redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him. There was no human helper, no angelic helper, and so God Himself becomes our helper. Guilty man was like a broken ship in a storm, no haven in view, no friendly sail bearing down to his relief, no lighthouse star to cheer, no life-boat on the wave, when God marked his signals of distress, and out of the opened heaven sent him a Saviour, even Christ the Lord. “He tent from above.” He sent His Word. The oracles of God. He sent His Son. May we not say, “He came from above”! He sent His Spirit. God has come down to the scene of woe, and invites us to make Him our deliverer. Mark , 1. the strength of this Saviour. “He took me.” This expresses the strength of His grasp. His right hand doeth valiantly. If our soul is in His hand, who shall tear us out of it? Mark , 2. the tenderness of this Saviour. “He drew me.” As humane men bend over one who has been rescued from the river, and apply warmth to the chilly limbs, and chafe the livid hands, and pour cordials into the lips, and keep on hour after hour with their tender ministries, until the closed eyes open, and the pallid cheek is tinged with crimson, and the silent lips break into the music of speech; so Christ bends lovingly over sinners plucked from black depths, and by his longsuffering and tenderness arouses and perfects in them a Divine and immortal life. Behold: III. A complete redemption. “He drew me out of many waters.” He gives us redemption from sin, sorrow, fear, death, hell. Christ is an ark to save the world, and to save us all from many sorrows. Noah’s ark floats on the waters, but its door was shut. A thousand eager eyes of drowning men might behold it, a thousand cries might be addressed to it, but it gave no response. For a while, men, women, children might cling to it, only, however, to be washed into the awful gulf. But Christ is an ark, the door of which is wide open, and every sinking despairing soul may enter in and be saved. And as the ark brought Noah in safety to the new earth; so Christ shall bring His people in safety “into a large place.” He shall land them in heaven. REASONS(Psalms 18:19.) “He delivered me, because He delighted in me.” We inquire: I. Why God delivers and honours men? “Because He delighted in me.” God’s regard to man does not spring, 1. From the fact that He could not do without us. He could do without us. We are not necessary to Him. “What shall a man profit God?” 2. Neither is this regard explained by any claim we might have on God, arising from the fact that He is our Creator. By a thousand wilful transgressions we have forfeited any such claim. One of our writers insists: “If a created being has no rights which his Creator is bound to respect, there is an end to all moral relations between them.” But who does not feel that through his sin and folly he has lost all “rights,” and must cast himself upon the mercy of God? 3. Neither does God esteem any man on the ground of any physical or intellectual quality that he may possess. The creature’s skill or force, the piercing wit, the active limb, these are all too mean delights for God. Apart from moral excellences they have no charms in His eyes. 4. Neither can this regard be explained on the ground of any arbitrary election. We are not to imagine that God, for some inscrutable reasons, delights in some and rejects others. On what grounds, then, does God delight in men? (1.) On the ground of faith. This was the position of the Psalmist. “In Thee have I trusted.” If we honour God with our confidence, He will honour us with His protection. As we trust in God, we make ourselves dear to God; as we trust in Him, we have claims upon Him. (2.) On the ground of moral character. In Psalms 18:20-27 the Psalmist shows why God delighted in him. According to our moral sincerity and circumspection will God delight in us and bless us. “God deals with men according as He sees their hearts to be towards Him. Those who walk before Him in simplicity and uprightness of heart may expect His succour.”—Perowne. There is nothing arbitrary or partial in God; He will delight in us all, and enrich us with the uttermost salvation, if we trust Him; and prove the sincerity of our faith by our obedience. We observe several II. Practical lessons suggested by this truth. 1. Let us not perplex ourselves by imagining any favouritism in God. Acceptance with God is on broad grounds, equally open to us all. 2. Let us remember that we cannot recommend ourselves to God on any grounds of nature. We are defaulters, and have lost that moral beauty in which alone God can delight. 3. It is only by believing in God’s grace that we can enjoy that grace. 4. It is only by moral sincerity and earnestness that we can retain that grace GOOD THINGS FOR GOOD PEOPLE(Psalms 18:20-27.) In these verses the Psalmist shows that the love of God for His people is not a blind and unrighteous predilection, but that the just and righteous God loves righteousness. Observe here two great canons of the Divine rule. First: I. God deals with us as we deal with Him. (Psalms 18:20-25.) “The truth, which is here enunciated is, that God’s conduct to man is the reflection of the relation in which man has placed himself to God.”—Delitzsch. David does not mean in these protestations to lay claim to perfection and sinlessness, but he asserts the sincerity of his desire to please God, and the uprightness of his conduct before God. “David here, as in the last psalm, asserts not his freedom from sin, but the consciousness of his own integrity.”—Perowne. And because he thus sought to recognise God, and glorify Him—God watched over him, and blessed him. The destiny which God prepares for a man is a reflection of the man’s personal character. As shadows and echoes represent their originating substances and sounds; so in the discriminating character of God’s judgments there is a complete response to personal character. He who honours God, is honoured by God. 1. Let us remember that we cannot expect God’s help except so far as we are pure in purpose and life. 2. Let us observe the loftiness of the standard of conduct which we must observe if we are to claim Divine patronage. “All His judgments were before me” (Psalms 18:22). And they were constantly before Him. “And I did not put away His statutes from me” (Psalms 18:22). We must not pick and choose the statutes, but must observe them all, even those which try as the most; and observe them always, even unto the end. Learn: II. God deals with us as we deal with one another. (Psalms 18:26.) “The Psalmist, in this and following verses, intimates that the plan of God’s providential conduct to men, is to act towards them as they act towards each other. This is an undoubted principle of His moral government, and ought to constitute a strong motive for the exercise of all Christian virtues in the social relations of life.”—Phillips. Throughout the Word of God this truth is insisted upon. It is recognised in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” If we are harsh to our brother, God shall exact from us; if we deceive our brother, God shall permit us to be blinded by strong delusions; if we defraud our brother, God shall spoil us; if we will not forgive our brother, neither shall our heavenly Father forgive us. God stands behind society, and marks our integrity or faithlessness in all the social relations of life, and deals with us accordingly. Whatsoever a man sows, and wheresoever he sows, that shall he reap. Let us, by the grace of God, keep clean hands, and sow golden seeds, and blessed shall the harvest be. Lessons: 1. There can be no salvation except through righteousness. On this ground alone will God bless us on earth; on this ground only admit us to heaven (Romans 2:6-9). 2. There can be no righteousness except through grace. David does not formally recognise here this fact, but elsewhere he recognises it fully, and here he assumes it. God’s grace originates the lofty righteousness here spoken of. It is a Divine righteousness. God’s grace preserves this righteousness. It keeps us “from our iniquity.” God’s grace crowns this righteousness. Giving to it vast rewards. SINS(Psalms 18:23.) “I kept myself from mine iniquity.” David certainly means here some particular sin to which he was most prone. Observe: I. We are all the subjects of special weaknesses and temptations. 1. Each nation has its besetting sin. Scientific observers tell us that different races of men have different kinds of weeds following in their wake, so that a careful observer can, in travelling, see at once, by merely noticing the prevailing weeds, whether Europeans or Asiatics, Negroes or Indians, have dwelt at certain places. So each nation has its peculiar sin. 2. Each age has its besetting sin. In the history of morals we find bow various vices have prevailed at various times. Now an age of cruelty; now of intemperance; now of superstition; now of scepticism. Has not our own age its besetting sin? 3. Each individual has his besetting sin. John Hunter held that two general diseases cannot co-exist in the same individual. It is somewhat thus with man morally. Usually a man will be under the influence of some one particular passion or temptation. All sins are in us seminally, potentially, sympathetically, but in some one direction we are specially in danger. This may arise from our constitution. “As in the natural man, though there be all the faculties, yet some faculties are in some more lively and vigorous than in others, some are more witty, some are more strong, some quick of sight, some have a ready ear, and others a nimble tongue, &c. So it is in the old man also; there is all the power of sin in an unregenerate man, but in some more dexterous one way than another.”—Strong quo. by Spurgeon. Or it may arise from our situation. “There are more temptations to some sins than others, from the different professions or courses of life men take upon themselves. If they follow the court, I need not tell you what temptations and snares there are to divers sins, and what danger there is of falling into them. If they be listed in the camp, that tempts them to rapine and violence, neglect of God’s worship, and profaneness. If they exercise trading and merchandise, they meet with greater enticements to lying and cozening, over-reaching and unjust dealing; and the mystery of some trades, as had men manage them, is a downright ‘mystery of iniquity.’ If husbandry, to anxiety about the things of the world, a distrust of God’s providence, or murmuring against it. Nay, I could wish in the most sacred profession of all there might be an exception made in this particular; but Paul tells us that even in his days ‘some preached Christ even of envy and strife,’ some for filthy lucre only, as well as some of good will.”—Dove quo. by Spurgeon. We proceed: II. To make several observations touching this particular class of sins. 1. These besetting sins are to be conquered. We are sometimes ready to apologise for these sins. We are ready to regard them as hereditary, incurable. The Scriptures do not regard any taint of blood as ineradicable, any passion as invincible, any temptation as insurmountable. The Old Testament says, “I kept myself from mine iniquity.” The New Testament says, “Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets you.” To say that religion will not strengthen us to master the easily besetting sin, is to say that it fails where, and when, we need salvation most 2. In the subduing of our besetting sin lies the great struggle of life. Our love to God, our allegiance to Him, is tested, not by ten commandments, but rather by one or two of them. The question of our moral character is fought out on some one question. If we conquer here, we conquer along the whole line; if we fail here, guilty in one point we are guilty in all. The great battle with the Philistine host is decided by single combat. Smiting this single sin the day is ours, we put to flight the army of the aliens. This sin beneath our feet, and the crown is on our head. 3. We must estimate our character according to our relation to the besetting sin. We sometimes flatteringly estimate our character by reckoning up the sins to which we have no inclination. This is a fatal miscalculation. Is it not a maxim in mechanics, that a thing is no stronger than its weakest part? This is as true in morals as in mechanics. When we seek to estimate our character let us ask, how do we stand in regard to our weak points? Are we gaining, or losing ground there? Never mind the strong points. If we perpetually fail in one point let us remember that that is the true index to our character, and that a score of untried virtues will not atone for the one virtue which fails whenever it is put into the fire. Observe finally: The discipline by which the easily besetting sin is to be subdued. 1. We must seek the grace of God. It is impossible for us to cast aside these sins in our own strength. We must “look unto Jesus.” We are to be made perfect by looking at Him, the perfection of beauty, and ever claiming His power and grace. 2. We must exert ourselves. “I kept myself from mine iniquity.” “God, indeed, in our first conversion works upon us as He did upon the earth, or Adam’s body in paradise, before He breathed a soul into it and made it a living creature; such a power as Christ put forth on Lazarus in his grave, for we are ‘dead in trespasses and sins;’ but yet being living he must walk and act of himself, the Lord will have us to co-operate together with Him, for we are built upon Christ, not as dead, but as ‘living stones.’ ”—Strong quo. by Spurgeon. THE LIGHT OF LIFE(Psalms 18:28.) Here the Psalmist recognizes God as, I. The source of his Light. “For Thou givest light to my lamp; Jehovah, my God, maketh my darkness to be bright.”—Perowne. In 2 Samuel 22:29, “Thou, O Jehovah, art my lamp.” In days of deep perplexity, in the presence of painful problems, God was his counsellor. Blessed are those who seek light in God! Take your candles to Him, and He shall light them with a shining lustre. Take your understanding to Him, and He shall make it to shed pure illuminations; take your heart to Him, and He shall make it burn with heavenly brightness. Light your candles at the radiant luminary of the Spirit, the Word, the Throne. II. The source of his joy. “Light is often in Scripture expressive of joy or comfort,” for “truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun” (Ecclesiastes 11:7; Psalms 97:11; Psalms 92:4). By a natural opposition, as light is expressive of joy and comfort; so is darkness, of sorrow and misery. The Psalmist, however, speaks in this place of artificial light, a “candle” or “lamp;” which has been supposed to be illustrated by the custom prevailing in Egypt, of never suffering their houses to be without lights, but burning lamps even through the night, so that the poorest people would rather retrench part of their food than neglect it.”—Bishop Mant. “The lamps lighted in the house is the image at once of prosperity and continuance of life and happiness.”—Perowne. Amid the darkness which everywhere presses upon us, God is the lamp of His people, the source of their comfort and gladness.” A lamp or candle in the house is a common Hebrew figure for prosperity, and its extinction for distress. See Job 18:5-6; Job 21:17; Proverbs 24:20.”—Alexander. And when God deserts a man, all the light of life is gone. III. The source of his glory. David himself was called the lamp of Israel (1 Kings 11:36, &c.) He was its light and its glory. And God was David’s light and glory. “David’s life and dominion, as the covenant king, is the lamp which God’s favour has lighted for the well-being of Israel, and His power will not allow this lamp (2 Samuel 21:17) to be quenched.”—Delitzsch. Blessed are all those who find in God their life and glory. They want nothing more. He fills them with joy; He crowns them with beauty and glory. 1. God is a full Light. All other lights are partial and dim. He is a Sun; He giveth grace and glory, &c. Fulness of light, felicity, honour, in fellowship with Him. He is everything. “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory” (Isaiah 60:19). 2. God is a true Light. Nothing but the pure white light. “God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” The light He imparts never leads astray; the joy He gives has no sorrow added to it; the honour and glory He gives to His children has no abatement or stain, they are altogether kings. 3. God is a safe Light. Nothing can extinguish the central orb. And if we put our trust in God, if we draw the supplies of life from Him, nothing can extinguish our joy and hope. We see how David’s life and joy and glory were often threatened with total extinction, but the hand of God preserved him, the very darkness of death was lit again into day. 4. God is an everlasting light. “Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended” (Isaiah 60:20). FULL (Psalms 18:29-34.) In these verses we have the Psalmist exulting as “more than a conqueror.” Observe: I. The fulness of his victory (Psalms 18:29). 1. He has vanquished a host of enemies. A “troop.” 2. He has utterly vanquished them. “Through a troop.” Divided them, broken them up, scattered them. 3. He has done it easily. “I have run through a troop.” I “leaped over a wall.” He did not secretly undermine it, or painfully batter it, or just succeed in scaling it, he leaped over it. All enemies, all obstructions, have been triumphantly vanquished. II. The source of his victory (Psalms 18:29-34). “By thee” (Psalms 18:29). “In thee, and in my God, i.e., in intimate union with Him and possession of Him, a much stronger sense than that of mere assistance (by thee), which, however, is included.”—Alexander. 1. The Psalmist trusted in God. He identified himself with God (Psalms 18:30). He entertained a lofty sense of God’s truth, and faithfulness, and power. 2. The Psalmist trusted in God alone (Psalms 18:31). God is a rock, a ground of confidence that cannot be shaken, and God alone is such a rock. And 3. God gave him the victory. God does all (Psalms 18:32). “Perfect, i.e., absolutely smooth, free from stumblings and errors, leading straight forward to a divine goal.”—Delitzsch. Strength in both its beginning and continuance is of God. He “girds” with strength at the outset and maketh the whole “way perfect” (Psalms 18:33). God establishes his feet. Enables him to stand where it seemed impossible to find footing; to scale heights which seemed utterly impracticable (Psalms 18:34). God gave him wisdom and prowess to defeat his foes. “It is not the bow of brass which has been David’s protection, but Jehovah’s shield covered him; Jehovah’s right hand held him up; Jehovah’s wonderful condescension made him great; Jehovah made room for him to stand, and subdue those that rose up against him.”—Perowne. Lessons: 1. We shall gain the victory of life by allying ourselves with God. All life is a warfare to us, as it was to David; and we shall achieve the victory only in Divine strength. In the natural world we see how feeble men are whilst they use only their own strength, their own eyes, hands, feet. It is when they learn how to avail themselves of God’s power that they accomplish marvels. The human hand is feeble, but it uses God’s power, and the dynamite rends asunder the rocks, the steam drives the mighty ship or thundering wheels of mills, the electric spark tells our wishes on the other side of the world. We are slow, feeble, local, considered in ourselves; but when science has taught us to avail ourselves of God’s power, we dare winds and seas and mountains. So in the moral world. We are feeble indeed in ourselves, we cannot do the things that we would; but when we listen to revelation, and by thought, and faith, and prayer, lay hold of God’s strength, we can do all things. 2. If we ally ourselves with God’s strength, the victory of life shall be most complete and brilliant. We shall more than prevail. The “high places” of Christian experience shall be reached; the “high places” of the world, the most difficult undertakings of Christian zeal, shall be proudly compassed; the “high places” of Christian hope shall be climbed, and we shall shout the song of victory on those tablelands, of which God Himself is sun and moon. GOD’S SHIELD(Psalms 18:35.) “Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation.” This “shield” indicates: I. The availableness of God’s help. The fortress can only shelter within its precincts, but the shield is with the warrior wherever he may go. Whatever may be our lot, however singular and exposed, God is with us to uphold and save. You may have to leave the fortress of a sweet pure home, and go into the midst of gay and worldly society, the “shield” goes with you; you may have to leave the fortress of a moral neighbourhood, to dwell amid the tents of wickedness, the shield goes with you; you are compelled to leave the fortress of a Christian Church and dwell where you are cut off from Christian privileges and fellowship, the shield goes with you; you are compelled to leave the fortress of a Christian country to dwell in heathenish lauds, the shield goes with you. In all places you may realise God’s aid. Your shield is ever with you. This shield indicates: II. The many-sidedness of God’s protecting love. The great round shield preserves the warrior from top to toe. So the loving hand of God shelters our whole personality, and all our interests. Be sure that Satan would seek to wound us in the eye, to darken our understanding; in the heart, to make us faint; in the knee, to injure our devoutness; but God’s protecting love shelters us altogether. Our happiness, character, circumstances; in life, in death, in eternity. The shield indicates: III. The invincibility of God’s strength. It is the shield of “salvation.” Whoever places himself in the hands of God is safe. If we meet evil in our own strength we shall be overcome, but confide in this Divine armour, and you come out of life’s battle without a scratch. Does Satan tempt you to error? Confront him as the Saviour did, with God’s Word; let “His truth be thy shield and buckler.” Are you tempted to sin? Be strong in the truth, and love, and righteousness of God, inwrought by the Holy Spirit into your soul. This shield quenches every fiery dart. Lessons: 1. Let the believer who has triumphed in life’s battles give glory to his Shield. David had escaped the insidious temptation to self-glory, and all his own strength and prowess he humbly ascribed to God. Let us remember that God helps us, not only outwardly by His providence, but inwardly also by a thousand untracked influences, therefore all the praise is His. 2. Let the believer ever hold fast that Shield. Never be without it. Ever living in close communion with God. Never have it to look for. 3. Let those who have been worsted in life’s conflicts learn to put their trust in God. Baffled, wounded, humbled, turn from your poor broken self to the immortal love and strength of a Divine Saviour. “O send me not away! for I would drink,E’en I, the weakest, at the fount of life;Chide not my steps, that venture near the brink,Weary and fainting from the deadly strife.“Went I not forth undaunted and alone,Strong in the majesty of human might?Lo! I return, all wounded and forlorn,My dream of glory lost in shades of night.“Was I not guided for the battle-field?Bore! not helm of pride and glittering sword!Behold the fragments of my broken shield,And lend to me thy heavenly armour, Lord!”DIVINE (Psalms 18:35.) “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” Notice: I. The greatness of the good. “Hath made me great.” David was great politically, intellectually, but this greatness must be understood as moral. The Psalmist humbly, but exultingly, recognises the fact that the grace of God had ennobled his nature, crowned him with spiritual glory and honour. The end of religion is to make men great. And moral greatness is true greatness. It alone excites true admiration; makes its possessor happy; it alone abides. Notice: II. The gracious discipline through which this greatness is realised. “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” We are discrowned kings, and through gentleness God seeks to put the diadem on our head again. Many believe only in force and terror as restorative factors, but if we look around we see on every side the triumphs of gentleness. It is so in nature. Power, amazing power is on every hand, yet acting most softly; and because it acts so softly filling the landscapes with beauty and fruitfulness. Thus it is in art. Gentleness is everything. And this it is in society. In the physician, the parent, the tutor, you see the grand results of gentleness. God, the most powerful Being in the universe, is also the most gentle, and through gentleness seeks to raise his fallen children to true and lasting greatness. Mark this first: 1. In God’s dealing with us in our sinful state. The aspect of God to a guilty world is altogether kind and inviting. The aspect of the Divine Providence. “He maketh his sun,” &c. Of the Divine Truth. Great and gracious promises to sinners are on every page of God’s Word. Of the Divine Spirit. The spirit of God is ever acting in the dark heart of sinners—seeking to inspire, to soften, to save. Infinite love struggles with human perversity, and so we see our way back again to the skies. 2. God’s dealings with us in our penitential state. Our first approaches to God are usually full of imperfection, and the best penitent needs large indulgence. Our motives imperfect; our methods faulty; our faith feeble. Our tears are not pure; our sackcloth equivocal. God grants us this indulgence. We are often rough with penitents; but at a thousand imperfections God winks, and through this gentleness cheers on the penitent to greater things. “A bruised reed,” &c. 3. God’s dealings with us in our accepted state. We see this (1.) In what He accepts from us. Every Christian man has the full and clear conviction that he is never all that he ought to be—his actual life is painfully below his ideal life. And yet we have the conviction equally full and clear, that although we, and our works, are far from perfection, yet God accepts us and them; and it is this truth which ever encourages us onwards to loftier attainments and experiences. (2.) In what He does with us. There is gentleness in all the discipline of life. “He does not permit us to be tried above what we are able to bear.” Our afflictions may often seem severe, but they are the expression of the Divine pitifulness. Indeed many commentators translate the text: “Thy afflictions have made me great,” “Thy humbling, thy chastening, thy disciplining.”—Phillips. “Even Thine afflicting hand tendeth to make me great.”—French. “Thy loving correction.”—Prayer Book. 4. God’s dealing with us in our backsliding states. How the Redeemer brought back backsliding Peter to repentance and life! (Isaiah 54:7-8.) Sinner, do not despise this gentleness. You will not be driven to heaven—will you be drawn? Believer, economise all the fine influences of life. “I will guide thee with mine eye.” “I will be as the dew unto Israel.” Improve all the delicate impulses and attractions of the Divine world which lies about you, and ever acts upon you. Let us pray for greater sensitiveness to the love of God; and just as the silver moon, with its soft charm, draws the ocean waters round the globe, until they have glassed the stars of every sky, and sung their anthems on every shore; so shall the good Spirit of God master the wild elements of our nature, and lead us on, and lead us out, until we have seen all God’s glory, and shown forth all His praise. THE OF PRAYER(Psalms 18:41.) I. Prayer must be offered in a right cause. Prayer offered in a wrong cause can never be availing. In the preceding verses we see Providence helping a righteous cause. The Psalmist’s relation to God was not a selfish contract for help, as between the heathen and his idol—the Psalmist sympathised with God’s rights and designs. God scatters many prayers in the air, because they are offered in a purely selfish cause. Many prayers also are rejected because offered in a wicked cause. “Prayer is so notable a weapon that even the wicked will take to it in their fits of desperation. Bad men have appealed to God against God’s own servants, but all in vain; the kingdom of heaven is not divided, and God never succours his foes at the expense of his friends. There are prayers to God which are no better than blasphemy, which bring no comfortable reply, but rather provoke the Lord to greater wrath.”—Spurgeon. II. Prayer must be offered in a right spirit. 1. The spirit of penitence. Sorrow for past sins—but there was none of that in these heathen. The spirit of repentance is necessary to availing prayer, and if that spirit is wanting, our prayers are abomination. “When ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well.” (Isaiah 1:15-16.) 2. The spirit of righteousness. “The cry extorted in terror, and not coming from an upright heart (Psalms 18:24, &c.), is not heard. See opposite, Psalms 18:6.”—Perowne. We must live in the love and practice of goodness. “The prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” “Lifting up holy hands.” Remember the morality of prayer, and remember it in your daily doings. You are either building up, or cutting the sinews of your future prayers, by your present conduct. Righteousness is necessary to prayer—not as a channel of merit for our prayers up to God, but as a plane of moral possibility in our lives down which God’s answer can come back to us. Let us be severe in the purity of our thought and life, or we shall soon have to utter the lament of the poet: “God sends me back my prayers, as a fatherReturns unop’ed the letters of a sonWho hath dishonoured him.”3. The spirit of confidence. The spirit of these heathen was that of terror and despair. “As nature prompteth men in an extremity to look up for help; but because it is but the prayer of the flesh for ease, and not of the spirit for grace, and a good use of calamities, and not but in extreme despair of help elsewhere, therefore God hears them not. In Samuel it is, ‘They looked, but there was none to save them;’ q.d. If they could have made any other shift, God should never have heard of them.”—Trapp. Prayer must be the language of confidence. III. Prayer must be offered at a right time. They cried first to their own gods, and when there was none to answer, then they cried to Israel’s God. They prayed too late. Men often do. There is an accepted time in which God will hear prayer, and it is our duty not to let that time pass. (Proverbs 1:24-33; John 8:21; Luke 16:24; Revelation 6:16.) VICTORY FOR CHRIST AND VICTORY IN CHRIST(Psalms 18:37-50.) We have here a picture, I. Of Christ’s victory over His foes. “This Psalm looks beyond David. David and David’s rule over the nations are but a type and image of Christ, and of that spiritual kingdom which He came to establish.”—Perowne. We have suggested here, 1. The completeness of Christ’s victory (Psalms 18:37-42). All Christ’s enemies are to be “put under His feet.” And all of them completely under His feet. Many teachers, systems, institutions, which are proud enough now in their opposition to Christ, will be very low before Christ has done with them. The victories of the Church are perpetually stopping at certain points, and complete and permanent triumph seems scarcely ever attained. But let us not be discouraged; Christ shall ride on till the last foe has fallen. 2. The rapidity of Christ’s march. Up to a certain point David had to fight with varying fortune, but a time came when fighting was no longer necessary; a panic seized the hearts of the foe, and they melted away. Subsequent victories were won by the moral influence of the first victories. May it not be thus with the progress of Messiah’s kingdom? Slowly has that kingdom seemed to prevail up to now; but, these preliminary struggles won, may not the triumphs of the Gospel be far more multiplied and swift? Satan shall “fall as lightning.” 3. The universality of Christ’s reign (Psalms 18:43; Psalms 18:49). David ruling over Israel and over the heathen tribes, was a foreshadowing of Christ exalted over all the lands. Blessed are all those who submit to Christ. His conquest means freedom and life and glory to all who accept it. Alas! for those who will not have this man to rule over them. Man or multitude, king or kingdom, whatever sets itself against the truth as it is in Jesus, must be broken. Observe: II. The saint’s victory in Christ. We may well see in David’s triumph over his foes a picture of that spiritual triumph which Christ ensures to all his people. 1. Do not be content until all your sins are overcome. 2. Until all your sins are utterly vanquished. “Beat them small as the dust before the wind.” 3. Until you have destroyed them for ever. Fight, until God crown you king to all eternity. (1.) Fight in Christ. Be sure of that. See that He girds you, leads you, saves you. (2.) Put forth all personal effort. David did not leave invisible powers to fight for him, but threw himself also into the fight. (3.) Give God the glory of every victory (Psalms 18:49-50). “This psalm instructs its readers in the glory and goodness of God; first, by directing their contemplation to the structure of the heavens, to the course of the sun, and to the kindly influences of its light and heat upon the earth; secondly, by inviting their attention to the revealed law, which is more especially adapted to impress them with a sense of God’s superintending care, and to increase their understanding and knowledge of the Divine power and will. The psalm, therefore, divides itself into two parts; the first, extending to the 8th verse; and the second, comprising the remainder.”—Phillips.NATURAL (Psalms 19:1-7.) The Psalmist here represents the universe as a grand cathedral in which the sun is the great preacher, ever declaring the glory of the Creator. We notice: I. The subject of the revelation. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” “The contemplation of the glory of nature must not lead to the deification of nature; it should lead up beyond the entire world, and beyond all the heavens, to the knowledge of the glory of God mirrored therein, and excite to the adoration of the Almighty Creator declaring Himself therein. The expanse of the heavens which cannot at all be surveyed by man, has yet received its limits from Him who is alone Infinite and Almighty. Even the sun, which is worshipped by so many nations as the king of heaven, receives the measure of its motion, and the revolution of its course from the same hand, whose government and work disclose themselves in all things as by the hand of a Master, whom all His works praise.”—Moll. We must not stop with nature, but see in her forces and glories the signs of a Divine existence and love. We must not survey the heavens, as some do, in a coarse utilitarian spirit. The heavens reflect the Divine glory in their own glory. The colours in the heavens bear no discoverable relation to the utilitarian ends of light, they are a testimony to God’s own love of beauty; incidental colours dashed into the creation without any direct bearing upon the known functions fulfilled by light; dashed in to tell us that God loves beauty, that He is full of it, and that these things are His own dim reflections. Nature declares the wisdom, power, love, and faithfulness of God. Some unbelieving men have dared to find fault with the works of God. One of these recently and blasphemously spoke of creation as a “blundering contrivance.” But how poor are the grandest works of man when compared with the works of God! When the disturbed fairies left the palace they were building incomplete, the legend tells us that no architects or painters could be found to complete the edifice, such was the wondrous beauty of spiritual workmanship; but if God had left any portion of the universe incomplete, which of our critics would have finished it? Ah! we cannot rival the magnificent proportions, the exquisite balancings, the splendid hues, the perennial freshness and glory of creation. II. The characteristics of the revelation. Mark 1. Its fulness. “Uttereth speech.” “Pours forth speech.”—Kay. It streams forth as from an overflowing spring, is the sense of the original. There are abundant evidences of God’s power and glory. 2. Its constancy and perpetuity. The heavens are declaring—always declaring. “Day unto day,” &c. “The idea of perpetuity is here. The words of this discourse of praise are carried forward in an uninterrupted line of transmission.”—Delitzsch. 3. Its variety. Day and night, with their various phenomena. 4. Its silence. (Psalms 19:3.) Mark the unobtrusiveness of nature’s deeper teachings. “Their ‘voice is not heard,’ lit. ‘is inaudible.’ They have a language, but not one that can be classed with any of the dialects of earth. They have a voice, but one that speaks not to the ear, but to the devout and understanding heart.”—Perowne. “The sense of the whole passage is this: that although the heavens are not endued with the power of human speech, yet the instruction which they convey is not less definite; the lessons which they teach are not, on that account, less clear and distinct to the intelligent and pious student of nature. The number and stupendous magnitude of the heavenly bodies; the sun which governs the day; the moon and stars, which render to man such important service by night; the clouds gathering water, which descends and refreshes the earth; the thunder and lightning, and the elements; all these preach to us as intelligibly as if they addressed us in our own language; and not only to us, but to all nations; the greatness and wisdom, the mercy and loving-kindness of Jehovah.”—Phillips. “The heavens articulately shine,And speak their Architect Divine.”If we will know God in nature, we must have a seeing eye, and a hearing ear. “Holy silence itself is a speech, provided there be the ear to hear it.”—Tholuck. 5. Its universality (Psalms 19:4-7). “Their line,” &c. Their measuring line extends to the confines of the earth. The glorious sun declares the glory of God all over the earth. III. The importance of this revelation. Some Christians speak depreciatingly of nature, but it is a mistake. The Psalmist in this place declares the harmony of creation with the moral law. “The object of the psalm is not to contrast the moral and material revelations, but rather to identify their author and their subject. The doctrinal sum of the whole composition is, that the same God who reared the frame of nature is the giver of a law, and that this law is in all respects worthy of its author.”—Alexander. The first part of the psalm treats of God in visible nature, the second, of God in moral law; and these two great ideas are ever needed to balance each other. If we think of God in nature only, and forget God as revealed in moral law, we glide into pantheism. The most perfectly organised and commanding form of pantheism the world has ever seen (that of India), was growing up at the very moment David wrote, from this one-sidedness of view: the lights, the clouds, the winds of heaven, all manifestations of God, were being substituted for the moral essence of God itself, and becoming separate gods. On the other hand, contemplation of God as revealed in moral law, and forgetfulness of Him as revealed in nature, is apt to produce a narrow, cramped, and degenerate type of religion such as the Jews presented in their darkest and most exclusive moods. The two ideas will always be needed, the one to counterpoise the other; and David ever expresses the wisest and most far-reaching instincts of inspiration in putting them side by side. IV. The limitation of this revelation. As Lord Bacon says: “The heavens indeed tell of the glory of God, but not of His will, according to which the poet prays to be pardoned and sanctified.”—Delitzsch. Lord Bacon’s “Prayer:” “I have delighted in the brightness of Thy temple. Thy creatures have been my books; but Thy Scriptures much more. I have sought Thee in the courts, fields, and gardens; I have found thee in Thy temples.” Fallen man needs the truth of God bringing home to him, with a clearness that nature cannot accomplish. And we need many truths of which nature knows nothing. “There is this great difference between God’s book of nature and His book of grace. The one, splendid and glorious as its Almighty Maker, was formed for man in innocency, and is imperfectly adapted to a fallen state; the other is suited to a corrupt nature, and, telling of mercy, addresses itself to its wants, and speaks with a Divine power which refuses to be silenced or passed by.”—Ryland. Lessons: 1. We need never fear that the true religion of nature will lead us away from God. 2. The believer in God alone apprehends the highest glory and significance of nature. “None save a believer can rightly meditate on the works of God. Worldly men may, and do, understand and admire the wonderful works of God; the lover of science can truly estimate the wisdom and the beauty which pervade all nature; who else, indeed, can so well do it? But unassisted, man rests there; his thoughts go no further. It is ‘by faith that we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear;’ and thus the mind is led from nature up to nature’s God.”—Ryland. 3. The believer finding deep joy in the workmanship of God, finds full satisfaction only in turning to that moral law which is the revelation of God’s nature. THE SOUL- POWER OF LAW(Psalms 19:7.) “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” “The same Almighty Hand which had given the sun his light-giving, life-sustaining power in the physical world, had provided life and light also for the spiritual world.”—Kay. Mark: I. The attribute of the law. It is “perfect.” The law of God, the moral law, as given in the whole of the Scriptures, is perfect, i.e., free from all defect or blemish. It is spotless. 1. It is the perfect transcript of the glory of God. It is the exact expression of God’s moral nature. The earth is a reflection of God’s metaphysical glory—it tells us of His eternal power and Godhead; but the revelation of God’s will in moral law is the revelation of His highest nature and glory. As such a revelation it is “perfect.” It is not mixed and marred like the words of men; it is a stainless mirror reflecting the sublime holiness of the deity. It is the picture of God drawn by His own hand. It is “light, and in it is no darkness at all.” 2. It is the perfect theory of the good of man. “The divine law is called ‘perfect,’ i.e., spotless and harmless, as being absolutely well-meaning, and altogether directed towards the wellbeing of man.”—Delitzsch. Through the disorder of our nature we regard moral law as our great enemy, as that which stands in the way of our freedom and our joy, but really it presents us with the grand secret of living and immortal good. II. The effect of the law. “Converting the soul.” Paul tells us in the Romans how the law condemns, how it threatens, how it kills. And this is the effect of the law as considered in itself. But we must remember that when the Psalmist is speaking here of the law, he comprehends in it the promises of God, and regards it in connection with the great system of sacrifices. The evangelical idea is included in the views of law which he gives us in this psalm. “If the law is separated from the hope of forgiveness and the Spirit of Christ, it is so far from the sweetness of honey, that it rather kills poor souls by its bitterness.”—Calvin. Thus understood, the law “revives the soul.” 1. It brings back the soul to God. “It calls it back from its wanderings by reminding it of its ingratitude, by setting before it its high destiny, by bringing it to its true Shepherd and Guardian.”—Perowne. Having restored the soul to God, 2. The law strengthens and perfects it. The law harmonises, vivifies, strengthens, rejoices, the whole moral man. “It gives the same support to the mind that food does to the body when exhausted (Lamentations 1:11. See also Psalms 23:3; Proverbs 25:13).”—French. “The word here translated ‘restoring’ is used of restoring from disorder and decay (Psalms 80:19), from sorrow and affliction (Rth 4:15), from death (1 Kings 17:21-22).”—Kay. The perfect law makes those who receive it faultless. THE LIGHT-GIVING POWER OF THE LAW(Psalms 19:7.) “The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” Observe: I. The infallibility of the law. “The testimony of the Lord is sure.” “Testimony, i.e. revealed will. Probably the two tables of the testimony, containing the decalogue, are here especially referred to.”—French. But we must understand the moral law as a whole. This law is sure, or, true. It is true, therefore, sure. “It is raised above all doubt in its declarations, and verifying itself in its threatenings and promises.”—Delitzsch. We want a doctrine that is infallible; speculative and unverified teaching we feel to be untrustworthy and powerless. 1. We cannot believe in the infallibility of the Church. One Pope contradicts another; the same Pope is inconsistent with himself. Neither, 2. In the infallibility of philosophers. The faith of one generation of thinkers is laughed at by the next. Neither, 3. In the infallibility of ourselves, of our personal opinions and convictions arrived at outside revelation. There is no infallible guide but the moral law declared on Sinai and developed in Holy Writ. We must not live according to the maxims of men, neither must we make intuitions and inward impressions our rule of action, but prayerfully seek light on the holy oracles, and God will not permit us to wander into false ways. II. The subjects of its illumination. “Making wise the simple.” “The simple, lit. ‘the open,’ not here ‘the foolish’ as often in Proverbs, but he who is ready to become a fool, that he may be wise, who has the true childlike spirit (Matthew 11:25; 1 Corinthians 1:27), which best fits him to become a disciple in the school of God.”—Perowne. 1. We must feel our need of guidance. 2. We must be sincere and open in our search for instruction. 3. We must be fully prepared to obey the light as it is given. THE JOY-GIVING POWER OF THE LAW(Psalms 19:8.) “The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.” If our moral life attain to completeness, we shall observe in it three stages in relation to the law of God. I. The period of rebellion against the law. In our original, natural state, we fret against God’s commandments. There is a twofold reason for this. 1. We rebel against the law because it denies us certain gratifications which we covet. Our irregular desires lead us to covet what the law denies. But, 2. We rebel against the law chiefly because it is the law. We dislike the law because it is the will of another asserting itself above our will. We resent the law not only because it sometimes comes between our passion and its gratification, but because of its dogmatism. Our will shall be supreme; we will be our own law. The “carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can be.” This is life’s first stage. Law is a tyranny we resent. Next comes, II. The period of submission to the law. We come to the conviction that it is better to submit than to rebel; we cease to be God’s enemies, and become His servants. We painfully keep the law, but cannot be said to love it. There is a constant friction. Then comes, III. The period of joy in the law. In ancient times laws were put into verse, and there comes a period, if we live rightly, when God’s laws become poetry to us,—the statute becomes a song. Holiness becomes beauty to the eye, sweetness to the taste, music to the ear. God’s law, the grand expression of God’s nature, becomes the great object of our love and desire! “I delight to do Thy will, O God.” Philosophers rejoice in natural law,—they are never weary of celebrating the glorious reign of law, and to discover law and extol it, is considered the highest intellectual triumph. But to admire the moral law, the law which denies so much that we like, and enjoins so much that we do not like, this is, indeed, the triumph of life. If the statutes of the Lord are to rejoice our heart, (1.) We must know them better. The more clearly we perceive the nature of the Divine law, the more we approve of it. “Open Thou mine eyes that I may see wonderful things out of Thy law.” (2.) We must grow in love. A growing love turns law into music. What is painful to dry reason, the heart makes light. (3.) We must be obedient. Every act of obedience makes the next act more easy, until at last what was forced and painful becomes instinctive and delightful. Lessons: 1. In keeping the law of God, we find true delight. “The statutes of the Lord are right.” How fatal such a severe, inexorable, unyielding law to happiness! No; to keep the law of God, which is given in all its fulness in Jesus Christ, is the secret of sublime content. Let believers not rest until they realise this high condition. We praise God because He is good; but not enough because He is righteous. We obey the law because it is safe; but do not sufficiently find liberty and joy in it. 2. There is no real satisfaction except in keeping the statutes of God. THE POWER OF THE LAW(Psalms 19:8.) “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The idea here is that the spotless law imparts to us its Divine quality, and thus fills the soul with vision and joy. Inquire. I. How the law makes us pure? It does this— 1. By setting before us a pure ideal. It brings all heaven before our eyes, and there is something impulsive in the very spectacle of perfection. 2. By awakening in our soul passionate desires for purity. 3. By strengthening us to reach the highest planes of life. Show, II. How this purity is the source of spiritual strength, joy, and vision. 1. Strength. “There is an allusion here to the dimness of the eyes produced by extreme weakness and approaching death, recovery from which is figuratively” represented as an enlightening of the eyes.”—Alexander. Sin and corruption mean weakness, but the truth of God in Christ brings to the soul newness of life. Purity is another word for power. 2. Joy. Dimness of eyes means sorrow; enlightening the eyes means the return of gladness. Impurity means disorder and misery; purity means harmony and brightness. 3. Vision. Our bewilderments spring from our passions. Purity is vision. “The pure in heart shall see God.” THE OF THE LAW(Psalms 19:9-11.) Consider: I. The incomparable excellence of the law as considered in itself (Psalms 19:9). 1. The purity of the law. “The fear of the Lord is clean.” The commandments which teach the fear of the Lord are without any admixture of error or unrighteousness. “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” (1.) The moral law as contained in the Scriptures contains no false principle of conduct or action. (2.) The moral law as given in the Scriptures is no lower form of morality for an imperfect civilisation, but the absolute law for the highest creatures and the highest worlds. (3.) The moral law is not merely correct in the main, but all and every of its special requirements are just and righteous. 2. The stability of the law. “Enduring for ever.” It is changeless and everlasting. The moral law continues. The ceremonial law was abrogated—it served its purpose, and ceased to be; civil law is susceptible to continual modifications; natural law will be changed, for the sun and sky and planets shall be dissolved in fire; but moral law abides firm as the throne of God. “Not one jot or tittle of it shall perish.” II. The incomparable excellence of the law considered in its relation to those who keep it. 1. Intellectually considered it is of supreme excellence. “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold.” This seems to point to the mental appreciation of the truth. More than gold, than fine gold, than much fine gold. They will do that for us which gold cannot do. 2. Emotionally it is. “Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” Experimentally it is unutterably grateful, filling the soul with sweetness. Sweeter than honey and the droppings of the comb. More grateful than all the pleasures of sense. “What wonder is it that this converting, instructing, exhilarating, enlightening, eternal, true, and righteous Word should be declared preferable to the riches of eastern kings, and sweeter to the soul of the pious believer than the sweetest thing we know of is to the bodily taste! How ready we are to acknowledge all this! Yet the next hour, perhaps, we part with the true riches to obtain the earthly mammon, and barter away the joys of the spirit for the gratification of sense! Lord, give us affections towards Thy Word in some measure proportionate to its excellence; for we can never love too much what we can never admire enough.”—Horne. Dr. Duncan said a little before his death: “I wish I had a little more personal faith. I think with the Psalmist that these things are more precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold; but I cannot go so well with him in that, ‘they are sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.’ I stick at that; that has often been a plague with me; the precious things were more as casketed jewels than as meat and drink. They delight the intellect; but, oh! I wish I had a loving heart! I go mourning all the day for want of it.” 3. Practically it is (Psalms 19:11). The twofold province of revealed law. It is to preserve. It admonishes, points out peril, and saves. A miner’s safety-lamp was brought out some time ago, which, besides serving the purpose of an ordinary safety-lamp, sounds a note of warning to the workmen the moment the air around becomes so charged with fire-damp as to be dangerous or explosive. Thus the Word, which is a lamp unto our feet, gives a timely note of warning lest we fall into temptation and sin. And in the keeping of it there is great reward. It is true that in the end it will bring us great recompense. “The Hebrew word signifies the last, the end of a thing; and thence it may signify reward, as the consequence or result of an action.”—Phillips. But this is hardly the truth intended here. “In the act of keeping them—not merely as the consequence of doing so.”—Kay. “Not only for keeping, but in keeping of them. As every flower hath its sweet smell, so every good action hath its sweet reflection upon the soul.”—Trapp. “The work of righteousness is peace:The great reward’s already given;And all Thy servants, Lord, confessObedient love is present heaven.”SECRET FAULTS(Psalms 19:12.) Let us consider what these secret faults are, and our duty in the recollection of them: I. The sins known to ourselves, but not known to the world. There is a certain portion of our life which is sheltered from the popular gaze. There is a certain privacy left us, so that God may put us to the test as to how far we are good because the world looks at us, and how far we are good because He looks at us. How have we acted here? How acted when free from the criticisms of society? Is it not true that we are often more pure before men than before God? We put the best side of everything to the world: but this is more true of our characters than it is of anything else. How carefully we veil our faults from our neighbour! our schemes of pride! our unspoken anger! our fits of envy! our greed of gold! our stained imaginations! And thus it comes to pass that good men think worse of themselves than society does. When, on a certain festive occasion, Pestalozzi, the German philanthropist, was presented with a wreath, he put it gently away, saying, “Crowns are not for me, but for the innocent.” The best of men have ever had the feeling that if the world knew them better it would praise them less. II. The sins known to the world, but not to us. We see sins that the world cannot see; they see sins we do not see. How often men are egregiously mistaken concerning themselves and their doings! And this applies, perhaps, more to character than it does to anything else. Individuals move amongst us, in whose countenance, in whose eye, we behold the evidence of a fatal disease, and yet they see it not; and thus we often see in those with whom we have to do evidences of moral disorder and imperfection which they apprehend not, or apprehend very imperfectly. We may be very sure that our friends see similar faults in us. The portrait our friends paint of us is very different from that rose-coloured picture we draw of ourselves. III. The sins neither known to us, nor to the world, but which are known to God. There are deeps of evil in us with which we have but the slightest acquaintance. As Alexander Smith says, “What strangers we are to ourselves. In every man’s nature there is an interior unexplored as that of Africa, and over that region what wild beasts may roam.” “The perfection and spirituality of God’s law render it almost impossible for a fallen son of Adam ever to know all the innumerable instances of his transgressing it. Add to which, that false principles and inveterate prejudices make us regard many things as innocent, and some things as laudable, which, in the eye of heaven, are far otherwise. Self-examination is a duty which few practise as they ought to do: and he who practises it best will always have reason to conclude his particular confessions with this genial petition, ‘Cleanse Thou me from secret faults.’ ”—Horne. To society we wear a mask, to ourselves a veil, but to God’s eye neither mask nor veil, for our iniquities are set before Him, our secret sins in the light of His countenance. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Learn, 1. To recognise the reality and guilt of our secret sinfulness. These secret sins are real sins. “These faults are of daily and hourly incursion, involuntary and unavoidable infirmities, yet are they sins properly so called; and we must be cleansed from them by the merit and Spirit of Christ.”—Trapp. “No one is to plead as an excuse, or to justify themselves by the secrecy and delicacy of many sins, the unfathomableness of the human heart, the impossibility of a complete knowledge of self and sin.”—Moll. Our secret faults make us weak. They rob our character of beauty, as a flower fades when a worm is at the root. They are likely to become manifest faults. As Bishop Hopkins says: “The least sin, if let alone in the heart, will, like a small speck in fruit, spread to a total rottenness.” Our secret faults will confront us at the bar of God. “He shall bring every thought into judgment, with every secret thing.” 2. To seek forgiveness and cleansing from this secret sinfulness. “Clear thou me from hidden faults.” “The word translated clear is borrowed from the law, and means not so much to cleanse by renovation of the heart, as to acquit by a judicial sentence. (See Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18.) Such an acquittal, in the case of sinners against God, involves the idea of a free forgiveness.”—Alexander. Let us seek this forgiveness, but let us seek also the cleansing grace. Psalms 19:14. “But who can all his errors tell,Or count the thoughts by which he fell?Omniscient God, to Thee aloneMy sin’s infinity is known!Do Thou my secret faults efface,And show forth all Thy cleansing grace.Law goes further than our power of introspection, and the cleansing power must go deeper than our own insight. SINS(Psalms 19:13.) Let us inquire: I. What these sins are? Deliberate, wilful, and high-handed sins. “Wilful, insolent ones.”—Kay. “Divines have distinguished sin into three kinds; called sins of ignorance, sins of infirmity, and sins of presumption. The will is supposed to concur more or less in all, otherwise they could not be sins; but they have their names from what is most prevailing and predominant in each. If there be more of ignorance than wilfulness in it, it is a sin of ignorance; if there be more of infirmity than wilfulness in it, it is a sin of infirmity; but if there be more of wilfulness than of either, or both the former, it is then a wilful sin; and that is what the text calls presumptuous sin.”—Waterland. These are sins of scarlet dye—sins evidently against reason, conscience, society. II. Out of what they arise? The order observed by the Psalmist is most instructive—first secret faults, then presumptuous sins. The latter arise out of the former. We ignore our secret sins, and they are uncared for, unrepented of, unstriven against, and they develop into bold and outrageous sin. Let us watch the first strayings of our heart from God and righteousness. Not all at once do men become open and high-handed sinners. We observe: III. The dark tyranny they exercise. “Let them not have dominion over me.” Dr. Phillips translates this: “From the proud, i.e., from tyrannical or haughty governors. This is much better than to render it by presumptuous sins.” But this translation has not the sanction of the great commentators. Alexander says: “The Hebrew word properly denotes proud men, but seems to be here applied to sins by a strong personification.” “Keep thy servant from presumptuous, or wilful sin; literally, from proud, presumptuous, insolent ones, the tyrants of the soul (Numbers 15:17-31); let them not have dominion over me.”—Wordsworth. When sin comes to this pass it is hard to be repented of. It is hard to renounce. The soul is at the mercy of sin. Like tyrannical governors oppressing a captured city, so does sin triumph and grind down the soul. It is comparatively easy to shake off faults whilst yet incipient, private, and occasional; but they have become tyrants whose yoke it is well nigh impossible to shake off when they have developed into habitual, open, shameless sins. The sinner, then, is the slave of imperious lusts. Observe: IV. The absolute sin in which they culminate. “Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.” “The great apostasy.” The idea is, that wilful sins extinguish God’s Spirit within us. The unpardonable sin. Secret sins lead to open sin; and open sin indulged in, persevered in, leads to the great transgression—the quenching of the Spirit, and final apostasy from God. 1. Let us beware of secret faults. 2. Let us beware of presumptuous sins. There are no sins so dark and awful but we are capable of them. Let us watch and tremble lest we should fall into those insolent, defiant sins which provoke the mighty and glorious Being who has set His glory above the heavens. 3. Let us live in dependence upon Divine aid. “Keep back thy servant.” Cry mightily to God for preventing grace. 4. Let us seek for entire sanctification of spirit (Psalms 19:14). It were vain, indeed, for a man to seek to purify his own heart, but David sees in God his Strength and Deliverer. Christ delivers from sin; His Spirit purifies the heart; and that Spirit preserves us with garments unspotted from the world. “This is evidently a liturgical psalm, and was intended originally, it would seem, to be sung on behalf of a king who was about to go forth to war against his enemies. As the king stands within the sanctuary offering his sacrifice, the whole assembled crowd of worshippers in the spacious courts lift up their voices in the prayer, that Jehovah would graciously accept those sacrifices, and send him help and victory in the battle. The psalm has no doubt a prophetical aspect, from the fact that the Jewish king was, by virtue of his office, a type of Christ. Calvin is right in saying that inasmuch as this kingdom differed from all other kingdoms, because God had determined to govern and defend His people by the hand of David and of his seed, therefore we ought to recognise, under the type of the temporal kingdom, that better rule on which the joy and happiness of the Church depend.”—Perowne.THE NAME OF JEHOVAH(Psalms 20:1; Psalms 20:5; Psalms 20:7.) I. The name of Jehovah a consolation in trouble. “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee” (Psalms 20:1). No character or rank is exempt from the ills of life. The highest dignity cannot guard off troubles; and crowns especially are often lined with thorns. The history of David records many a dark day and sorrowful night. It was a day of distress with Jacob when he fled from his brother Esau, and arrived at Bethel a distracted wanderer (Genesis 35:3). Few plants, says an old writer, have both the morning and the evening sun; and an older than he has said—Man is born to trouble. But in the deepest, darkest, wildest distress Jehovah is the refuge of His people; and His name soothes the keenest anguish, and lifts up the most despairing. “Thy mighty name salvation is,And keeps my happy soul above;Comfort it brings, and power, and peace,And joy, and everlasting love.”II. The name of Jehovah an inspiring battle-cry. “In the name of our God we will set up our banners” (Psalms 20:5). Banners are a part of military equipage, borne in times of war to assemble, direct, distinguish, and inspirit, the soldiers. They have been often used in religious ceremonies. It is the practice of some people to erect a banner in honour of their deity. In a certain part of Thibet it is customary for a priest to ascend a hill every month, to set up a white flag, and perform some religious ceremonies to conciliate the favour of a dewta, or invisible being, who is the presiding genius of the place. The Hindoos describe Siva the Supreme as having a banner in the celestial world. Every nation has its own expressive battle-cry. “For hearth and home” was the cry that found a deep and warm response in the breast of the ancient Roman; and, in modern times, the Germans roused the enthusiasm and bravery of every soldier by the cry of “Fatherland!” But the militant Church goes to war with the name of the Lord of Hosts on her banners—a battle-cry which inspires every heart with holy courage, and binds it with the cincture of a firm, unalterable purpose. It was this that nerved the youthful David with a giant’s prowess in his victorious combat with Goliath (1 Samuel 17:45). III. The name of Jehovah the strength of the Militant Church. “We will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalms 20:7). The world trusts in the material—in rifles, mitraileuse, turret-ships, and torpedoes; but the Church is taught to trust in the spiritual—the mysterious, invisible, but almighty power of Jehovah. The material fails; but the spiritual never. Many a formidable and rarely-equipped army has “Melted like snow in the glance of the Lord,”while the feeble and despised champions of the Church have stood forth in all the honour and lustre of victory. When the saint relies fully on Jehovah, and is absorbed in His holy cause, he is surrounded with an impenetrable defence. Numa, being told that his enemies were coming upon him as he was offering sacrifice, thought it was sufficient for his safety that he could say, I am about the service of my God; and yet how slow men are to put their trust in that Name where alone all true comfort, the holiest courage, and the mightiest strength are found! It is easy, says Arnot, to persuade papists to lean on priests and saints, on old rags and painted pictures, on any idol; but it is hard to get a Protestant to trust in the living God. PRAYER A FOR (Psalms 20:1-5; Psalms 20:9.) I. Prayer should have reference to future emergencies. “The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble” (Psalms 20:1). War is a time of trouble, both to king and people; and considering the vicissitudes and sufferings of the battlefield, it is wise to implore the aid of Heaven for seasons when earthly resources may be exhausted. Prayer has a prevenient power. To-day’s prayers can help tomorrow’s; the congregation’s present prayers, the king’s future prayers. Prayer may bring present power that shall put the man’s heart right, and keep it right, so that when the hour of need shall come, the prayer of his heart may be right prayer, and be both heard and answered. “Troubles roar like thunder; but the believer’s voice will be heard above the storm.” II. Prayer invokes the invincible protection of Jehovah. “The name of the God of Jacob defend thee” (Psalms 20:1). By the name is signified the whole revealed character of Jehovah. He is called the God of Jacob, because He manifested Himself as such, in a fulness of deeds, to Jacob and to his posterity. A heavenlier light is needed to explain all the mystery and glory of the Divine name. There is power in the historical associations of the name to help faith, as the pleading soul recalls the scenes of Bethel, Peniel, Padan-aram, Shechem, and Egypt. The name of Jehovah is an inviolable protection. “Defend thee”—exalt thee—“to be upraised to a high and fortified place, made safe.”—Bythner. “Set thee up on high,” i.e., “as in a fortress where no enemy can do thee harm, or on a rock at the foot of which the waves fret and dash themselves in impotent fury.”—Perowne. The name of God is a more secure retreat than the spot defended by parks of artillery. III. Prayer should be accompanied with sacrifice. “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” (Psalms 20:3). It was customary in ancient times for warriors to offer sacrifice before going into battle; and this was often done with most imposing ceremony, and with lavish liberality. “Thy burnt sacrifice”—thy holocaust, “a sacrifice of quadrupeds and birds, which are raised altogether upon the altar and burned: the Greek hecatomb seems borrowed from this.”—Bythner. “Accept”—graciously accept—literally, make fat; in a declarative sense “regard as fat,” and so “receive as fat,” i.e., “as worthy to be offered, the fattest of the flock being chosen for sacrifice.”—Perowne. “At the present day others as well as David may use this psalm in prayer, for as the person, the circumstances, the time and place, are all different in the new law, so likewise is the sacrifice; but one faith and one spirit abide through all ages, and amid all diversities of places, works, persons. The external varies, the internal remains ever the same.”—Luther. The individual relation to God is recognised by personal offerings. The separate application of the one sacrifice answers to the separate sacrifices of old. The one sacrifice must have its separate acceptance for the separate individual. Prayer to be efficacious must ever be offered in the spirit of sacrifice. IV. Prayer is urgent to secure a specific answer to its petitions. 1. As they relate to special blessings. “Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions” (Psalms 20:4-5). Prayer is offered for protection in time of danger, for wisdom to adopt and execute the best measures in the emergencies of war, and for victory over the enemy. Our desires and counsels are completely dependent upon God for their attainment, and ought to be prayers. The more clearly we see our peril, and the more pungently we feel our need, the more fervently do we wrestle for an answer to our petitions. “Sometimes God doth not only grant a man’s prayer, but fulfilleth his counsel; that is, in that very way, by that very means, which his judgment pitched upon his thoughts.”—Trapp. 2. As they relate to their immediate subject. “Save, Lord; let the king hear us when we call” (Psalms 20:9). Rendered by the LXX., “O Lord, save the king, and hear us when we call upon Thee.” The king is the subject of prayer, that he may be blessed with victory, and that he may be a blessing to others. The ninth verse is a summary of the whole psalm. The wellbeing of a people is suspended on the character and doings of the monarch. Prayer should be offered for him continually that he may be guarded from evil, that he may be wise, equitable, and prosperous. Prayer must not be intermitted even when confidence of Divine help has been inspired. Prayer will still be necessary to sustain that confidence in its trials, for the very confidence is a contingent virtue, and, perhaps, the more subject to risks of deterioration, because it is an inspired thing and not a thing of earth. V. Answer to prayer is found wherever the presence of Jehovah is manifested. “Send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion” (Psalms 20:2). The Jews, whose weakness found it so difficult a task to look up to the Invisible God, were favoured with a visible sanctuary on Zion; thither the devout Israelite directed his prayer; thence he expected help in the day of trouble. Christ is now the sanctuary of His people; and in their worshipping assemblies He is wont to manifest His presence and power. The greatest distress is experienced when God is absent. His return banishes our fears, and nerves us with superhuman bravery. “Men of the world despise sanctuary help; but our hearts have learned to prize it beyond all material aid. They seek help out of the armoury, or the treasury, or the buttery; but we turn to the sanctuary. Certain advertisers recommend a strengthening plaster; but nothing can give such strength to the loins of a saint as waiting upon God in the assemblies of His people.”—Spurgeon. God always puts honour upon His appointed services. His help, when it comes, will come by the way of the sanctuary and out of Zion. The faith to which that help is a response, wherever exercised, was first begotten amid the holy things of the sanctuary. The help has the same stamp as the faith that commands it, the stamp of the sanctuary. IN JEHOVAH THE PLEDGE OF VICTORY(Psalms 20:5-8.) I. Confidence in Jehovah fills the heart with gladness. “We will rejoice in Thy salvation” (Psalms 20:5). The people are so assured of the help of God as to break out in a song of anticipatory triumph. Praise raises the moral tone of an army, and it is on this that its success largely depends. Jehoshaphat, before entering into battle with the vast armies of the Moabites and Ammonites, appointed singers to praise the Lord. He obtained an easy victory (2 Chronicles 20:20-22). When Louis XIII. of France had invested with his army a city of the Huguenots, the besieged assembled one evening on the city wall and sang, with great sweetness and solemnity, one of their favourite psalms. The king was so impressed with the whole scene and with the spirit of the singers, that he turned to Mazarin, his favourite general, who was by his side, and quietly observed, “We can do nothing with this people.” The siege was raised; and the persecuted Huguenots triumphed in their Lord. God ought to be remembered in our triumph as well as in our need. We are sometimes so much elated by the triumph as to forget the help by which it has come. II. Confidence in Jehovah inspires with courage for the conflict. “In the name of our God will we set up”—wave—”our banners” (Psalms 20:5). When the army has confidence in its General it unfurls its standard with resolute defiance, enters upon the contest with a stout, brave heart, and already anticipates the shouts of victory and the triumphant procession, with banners displayed. “Great certainly is the faith which hath such courage by remembering the name of the Lord. Soldiers in our day are wont, when they go into battle, to recall to mind the brave exploits of their fathers, or former victories, and the like, wherewith to warm and stir their hearts. But let our princes remember the name of God, wherein all salvation and victory do stand.”—Luther. “Confession of Christ, as the only name whereby we can be saved, is the banner which distinguishes His faithful people. Oh, that this confession were more distinct, more pure, more zealous, then would His followers be more united, more bold, more successful—terrible as an army with banners.”—W. Wilson. III. Confidence in Jehovah secures the exercise of His Almighty power. “Now know I that the Lord saveth His anointed: He will hear him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand” (Psalms 20:6). Prayer ought never to stop before it has brought a present sense of help. It is possible to have an inspoken answer to our prayers before the outward crisis to which we are looking has come. “The hope suddenly changes into certainty. Now know I that Jehovah hath saved, hath given the victory. The singer speaks in the full assurance of faith that the prayer is heard, and as if he already saw the victory gained. The prayer had been that God would hear and send help from the earthly sanctuary or Zion. Now, the answer is to come from His holy heaven. For if God then condescended to dwell in visible glory among men, yet He would teach His people that He is not limited by the bounds of time and space. He is not like the gods of the heathen, the god of one city or country. He sends help out of Zion, but the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. Calvin sees expressed in the earthly sanctuary made by hands, the grace and condescension of God to His people; in the heavenly, His infinite power, greatness, and majesty.”—Perowne. Faith, says Quesnel, seems to put the Almighty power of God into the hands of man; whereas unbelief seems to tie up even the hands of the Almighty. IV. Confidence in Jehovah exposes the inadequacy of the best human contrivances. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God” (Psalms 20:7). The remark of a great warrior, that Providence is always on the side of the strongest battalion, may be applauded as an evidence of military penetration, but the sceptical sneer is none the less apparent in the sentiment. According to the law, Israel was forbidden to maintain a standing army. They were taught to trust in God, both for defence and victory (Deuteronomy 20:2-4; Deuteronomy 32:30). Some of the conquests of the chosen people were gained by means which contradicted and defied the ordinary rules of warfare, and seemed absurd to the believer in military skill and prowess. Moral power was pitted against the material, and won the day, as it ever will. When the Israelites depended more upon their armies than their God, they suffered the most humiliating defeats. “The most dreaded war-engine of David’s day was the war-chariot, armed with scythes which mowed men down like grass: this was the boast and glory of the neighbouring nations; but the saints considered the name of Jehovah to be a far better defence.” V. Confidence in Jehovah turns apparent defeat into victory. “They are brought down and fallen; but we are risen and stand upright” (Psalms 20:8). The prophetic vision of faith already sees the issue of the conflict. The ranks of those who trust in chariots and horses, who rely on material aid, seem firm, impenetrable, defiant, and the onset irresistible. But the people of God, whose trust is in the unseen, and who seem overwhelmed and put to the worse, rise up triumphant, while their enemies are brought down and crushed—the instruments of war in which they trusted helping to make their ruin more complete. Faith has surer wheels than pride; and prayer will carry us where power must fall. “Faith alone, which commits itself to God, can sing the song of triumph before the victory, and raise the shout of joy before help has been obtained; for to faith all is permitted. It trusts in God, and so really has what it believes, because faith deceives not; as it believes, so is it done.”—Luther. “The prayer which the Church offers up at the conclusion of the preceding psalm now issues in a hymn of praise, the result of a believing view of the glory which is to follow, when Messiah’s sufferings are ended. This is one of the beautiful songs of which we find many in Scripture, prepared by the Holy Spirit to awaken and enliven the hopes and expectations of the Church while she waits for the Lord, and to give utterance to her joy at the time of His arrival. The theme is Messiah’s exaltation and glory, and the time chosen for its delivery it just the moment when darkness covered the earth, and all nature seemed about to die with its expiring Lord. Scripture deals largely in contrasts. It seems to be suitable to the human mind to turn from one extreme to another. Man can endure any change, however violent and contradictory, but a long continuance, a sameness either of joy or sorrow, has a debilitating and depressing effect.”—Ryland.THE JOY OF THE KING(Psalms 21:1-7.) I. This joy arose from a consciousness of newly achieved victory. “In Thy salvation how greatly shall He rejoice” (Psalms 21:1). 1. This victory was achieved by supernatural power. “In Thy strength, O Lord” (Psalms 21:1). The Man of sorrows, as He entered into the stern conflict with evil, knew full well the victory could not be gained by the ordinary tactics of military genius, or by the prowess of a human arm. He relied on the strength of Jehovah, and not in vain: He emerged from the dark, fierce contest, an exultant conqueror. How often do we fail in the great battle of life by being too self-reliant; and in proportion to our blind confidence in an arm of flesh is the humiliation and misery of our defeat! “Our weakness unstrings our harps, but His strength tunes them anew. If we cannot sing a note in honour of our own strength, we can at any rate rejoice in our omnipotent God.” The salvation of humanity is a Divine work, and will be to myriads the source of ceaseless and ever-increasing joy. 2. This victory was granted in answer to earnest prayer. “Thou hast given Him His heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of His lips” (Psalms 21:2). On the lonely shore, among the silent hills or under the shadows of the solitary garden, the Messiah poured out His soul in earnest prayer for strength to suffer and to prevail on behalf of His people; and He was heard and marvellously answered. “What is in the well of the heart is sure to come up in the bucket of the lips; and those are the only true prayers where the heart’s desire is first, and the lips’ request follows after. The requests of the Saviour were not withheld. He was and still is a prevailing pleader. Our Advocate on high returns not empty from the throne of grace.”—Spurgeon. The agony of wrestling prayer is often turned into the rapture of success. The last psalm, says Perowne, was a litany before the king went forth to battle. This is apparently a Te Deum on his return. II. This joy was accelerated by possessing an affluence of Divine Blessing. 1. He was surrounded with evidences of the Divine Beneficence. “Thou preventest Him with the blessings of goodness.” To prevent signifies to anticipate, to go before. “Thou goest before Him with the blessings of Thy goodness as a pioneer, to make crooked ways straight and rough places smooth; or as one who strews flowers in the path of another, to render the way beautiful to the eye and pleasant to the tread. God’s gifts are God’s love embodied and expressed. And this greatly enhances the value of our blessings—that they are cups as full of God and of God’s kindness as of happiness and blessedness.”—S. Martin. 2. He was invested with the most illustrious dignity. “Thou settest a crown of pure gold on His head. His glory is great in Thy salvation: honour and majesty hast Thou laid upon Him” (Psalms 21:3; Psalms 21:5). Jesus wore the thorn-crown, but now wears the glory-crown. It is a crown, indicating royal nature, imperial power, deserved honour, glorious conquest, and Divine government. The crown of pure gold has respect to His exaltation at the right hand of God, where He is crowned with glory and honour; and this crown being of pure gold denotes the purity, glory, solidity, and perpetuity of His kingdom. The diadems of earthly monarchs are liable to be suddenly displaced; but this crown is set upon the head of the Redeemer so firmly that no power can remove it. “Honour and majesty”—as Parkhurst reads—splendour and beauty—“hast Thou laid upon Him.” As the wood of the tabernacle was overlaid with pure gold, so is Jesus covered with honour and glory.—Spurgeon, in loco. “Were there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these highest heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them, till angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a seat to fix the princely throne of that Lord Jesus above them all.”—Rutherford. 3. He enjoyed the consciousness of an imperishable life (Psalms 21:4). “Even length of days for ever and ever.” The lavish endowments of God often exceed our greatest petitions and loftiest hopes. Jesus, as man, asked for life, and He was heard in that He feared. He was raised from the dead, to die no more. The power of God and all His moral attributes secure the perpetuity of the life of the risen and exalted Saviour. He was endowed with length of days for ever and ever—“the prolonged ages of this world which the Church was to have, and after them an eternity, world without end.” 4. He became the source of endless blessing to others. “For Thou hast made Him most blessed for ever” (Psalms 21:6). Messiah is the source whence all blessings for time and for eternity shall be derived. He is an overflowing well-spring of blessing to others, a sun filling the universe with light. In and through Him all nations of the earth are blessed. True blessedness is found, not in accumulating riches, not in the weary, treadmill circle of philosophic research, not in travel and commune with Nature in her varying moods: it is found only in Christ. And yet men, in seeking for the streams of bliss, wander from its source. 5. He exults in the Divine favour. “Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance” (Psalms 21:6). “Though this be metaphorically used for favour, yet is the speech not all metaphor, and that well-experienced Christians will tell you. The countenance of God makes the Prince of Heaven glad: how ought we to seek it, and how careful should we be lest we should provoke Him by our sins to hide His face from us! Our anticipations may cheerfully fly forward to the hour when the joy of our Lord shall be shed abroad on all the saints, and the countenance of Jehovah shine on all the blood-bought.”—Spurgeon. III. This joy was intensified by the assurance of the unshakeable permanency of is government. 1. The permanency of Messiah’s throne is secured by the Divine mercy. “Through the mercy of the Most High He shall not be moved” (Psalms 21:7). He who is Most High in every sense, engages all His infinite perfections to maintain the throne of grace upon which our King in Zion reigns. He was not moved from His purpose, nor in His sufferings, nor by His enemies, nor shall He be moved from the completion of His designs. It is an encouraging evidence of the Divine mercy that the throne of the Great Redeemer still exists among men. If human malice and Satanic rage had not been restrained by the Divine mercy, that throne would have been overthrown long ago. 2. The assurance of this permanency is strengthened by Messiah’s confidence in God. “For the king trusteth in the Lord” (Psalms 21:7). He did not depend on worldly armies or human skill and stratagem; but wholly in Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts. “A holy confidence in God is the true mother of victories.” The joy and confidence of Christ our King, is the ground of all our joy and confidence, and the pledge of final conquest over all our foes. CHRIST AS THE SOURCE OF TO THE RACE(Psalms 21:6.) I. Is exalted to the highest dignity. He who was despised and rejected of men, and who Himself despised and rejected the affluence and honours of the world, was lifted up on high and clothed with majesty and glory. The cross was exchanged for a throne, the cast-off garment for a robe of peerless lustre, comparative obscurity for undying fame, suffering for felicity, the ribaldry of the mob for angelical applause. The most forbidding and unlikely appearances may disguise great resources. The dry, knotty, leafless, sapless vine seems past all recovery; but erelong it flourishes in verdant beauty, and bends under the weight of abundant fruitfulness. Christ was as a root out of a dry ground—lowly and unattractive in the beginning of His earthly life; and it seemed very improbable that anything great could ever come out of such humble and miserable surroundings. But He is now exalted to the highest dignity, and has become the benefactor to the race: before His glory all earthly splendour fades, and on His bounty the life of all depends. II. Is endowed with all power. Whatever can minister to the happiness and prestige of His people, Christ has unlimited ability to bestow. “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” All the forces of the universe are under His control. All created intelligences are obedient to His will. He can transmute the instruments of evil into agencies of good. He can cripple and destroy the most formidable opposition. He can deliver in the latest emergency; and turn despair into victory. The soul that relies on Him can never be confounded. III. Is inexhaustible in supply. “Thou hast made Him most blessed for ever.” At all times, in all circumstances, His aid is suitable and sufficient. The river that has flowed for ages and borne afar its treasured argosies, is not more certain in the perpetual supply of its liquid current, than is the vast stream of the Divine beneficence that flows perennially from the heavenly hills, burdened with the wealth of blessing to every needy soul. The fruit of the vintage may fail and the gathering time may not come, the earth may be shut up in hopeless barrenness, all human resources may be cut off, but the fountain of Divine blessing is never sealed, and its supplies continually abound. “Of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.” IV. Rejoices to communicate. It was the saying of a certain generous Spanish captain, “There is no way of enjoying one’s property like giving it away.” It is a joy, a luxury to give. The generosity of God knows no stint. When a certain English monarch once threw open his park and gardens to the public, the royal gardener, finding it troublesome, complained to his Majesty that the visitors plucked the flowers. “What,” said the kind-hearted king, “are my people fond of flowers? Then plant some more!” So our heavenly King, with lavish hand, scatters on our daily pathway the flowers of blessing, and, as fast as we can gather them, spite of the grudging, churlish world, more are supplied. “Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” The greater our need, and the more urgent our cry for help, the greater the rapture of our Divine benefactor in supplying that need. “The Lord rejoiced over you to do you good” (Deuteronomy 28:63). THE AND OF SIN(Psalms 21:8-9.) I. That the exposure of sin is inevitable. “Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies.” Iniquity delights in cunning, and is itself a masterpiece of cunning. It may succeed in deluding its victims, and for a time escape detection. But there is One to whom every detail of the plot is fully known; and He grieves to see the toilsome ingenuity of the wicked, and smiles at its utter impotency. Sin is often its own detective. An unguarded word, a suspicious sign, an unconscious oversight, will unmask the most carefully disguised plans, and lead to exposure and misery. It is the theme of many a ballad, how the cranes aided in the discovery of the assassins of Ibycus, the poet. Recently, the house of the Caliph of the Ben Oreazen in Algeria, was entered by a band of robbers, and a box containing 25,000 francs stolen. In their haste to escape, the thieves left behind them an Arab cake bearing a particular mark, which one of the bakers of the town recognised as the sign used by Ben Xerafas, it being the custom for each family in sending their bread to the oven to mark it so as to distinguish the loaves. The police acted on the information, and, descending on a certain hut, caught the robbers asleep, with a portion of the plunder still in their possession. A simple Arab cake was the insignificant agent of discovery and exposure! If the sinner does not betray himself, the hand of God, which has power to tear away every covering, will sooner or later find him out. II. That the exposure of sin will extend to the inmost feelings of the heart. “Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee.” That sin is not always the worst which is most apparent. The bland, submissive countenance may cover the most vile and malignant feelings of the heart. The secret haters of God only want the opportunity and the power; and they would outrival the most notoriously wicked. The wilful and obstinate sinner would, if it were possible, bury Christ again within the rock of his hardened heart, and seal the stone that He might never rise. An electric log has recently been constructed, which thrown overboard will register the speed of the vessel through the water. By a simple contrivance, the captain, while sitting in his cabin, can detect the dial movements of the log in the depths of the sea, and ascertain his rate of sailing every quarter of an hour. If it were possible, by any method, to watch the operations of a sinful heart, what a depth and rush of wickedness would be discovered there! And yet the day is coming when the strong hand of God shall turn aside all disguise and reveal iniquity in all its loathsomeness and deformity. He “shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” III. That the punishment of sin will be terrible and complete. 1. It will be terrible. “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger”—Thy angry look. Since the king is in the presence of Jehovah (Psalms 21:6), when He directs His face upon His enemies, it exerts that destructive power which is usually ascribed to the angry look of Jehovah. “However coldly God now seems to look upon the enemies of Christ, the more will His anger burn against them in the future. God has His limited time as well for His wrath as for His grace.”—Lange. The sins of the impenitent wicked will supply fuel to the fire of their sufferings, and perhaps be used as the means of punishing others—one class of sinners tormenting another class. “Who can abide in the fierceness of His anger?” (Nahum 1:6). 2. It will be complete. “The Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them.” The certainty of punishment for wrong-doing is evident, not only from the declarations of Scripture, but also from the history of mankind. Nations are an example—the Antediluvians, the Sodomites, the Jews. Individuals are an example—Korah, Dathan, Abiram, Saul, and Judas. The hearts that will not glow with holy gratitude and praise shall burn with shame and infinite remorse, and the awful sentence, “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,” shall be but the echo of their own self-abhorring consciences. THE UTTER OF THE ENEMIES OF CHRIST(Psalms 21:8-13.) As God had already granted victory and gone so far beyond the expectations and hopes of those who had gone forth to battle, the idea evidently suggested by these verses is, that there will be ultimately a complete victory over all the foes of Messiah and of His people. Note: I. That the enemies of Christ are full of malignity. 1. They are skilful in plotting mischief. “For they intended evil against Thee: they imagined a mischievous device” (Psalms 21:11). They extended, or stretched out evil—an idea derived from stretching out or laying snares for the purpose of entrapping wild beasts or birds. The brain of the evil-doer is continually racked, either in devising new plans of mischief, or in counter-acting the plans of others that threaten to interfere with his own. It is hard work to be wicked; it involves anxious thought, incessant activity, and sleepless vigilance. The fair goddess who lured to the first transgression and threw around it an irresistible charm, is now transformed to a demon, and tyrannises over its victim, forcing him to do as a necessity what he began to do as a pleasure. All wrong-doing begins in the intention: there the most malignant venom is secreted. 2. They are impotent in carrying out their wicked designs. “Which they are not able to perform” (Psalms 21:11). The power of evil is limited, else virtue would soon cease to exist, and the throne of righteousness be overturned. But sinners are not permitted to do all that is in their power; much less are they able to accomplish all they intend. There is all the virulence of malice aforethought, all the barefaced evidence of guilty intention; but there is the lack of that which can alone give efficiency and success to their villany—the lack of power. They are not able to perform. “The serpent may hiss, but his head is broken; the lion may worry, but he cannot devour; the tempest may thunder, but cannot strike.” II. That the enemies of Christ will be certainly detected and exposed. “Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies: Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee” (Psalms 21:8). Not only are the eyes of the Lord upon the wicked, but His hand is in search of them; and as sure as His eyes see, so certainly will His hand grasp all the workers of iniquity. None can hide from His gaze; none can escape from the terrible grip of His right hand. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God—the offended and avenging God! Rocks and mountains will be no better shelter at last, than fig-leaves were at first. The finding out, says Spurgeon, relates not only to the discovery of the hiding-places of the haters of God, but to the touching of them in their tenderest part, so-as to cause the severest suffering. When He appears to judge the world hard hearts will be subdued into terror and proud spirits humbled into shame. He who has the key of human nature can touch all its springs at His will, and find out the means of bringing the utmost confusion and terror upon those who aforetime boastfully expressed their hatred of Him. III. That the enemies of Christ will be stricken with dismay. “Therefore shalt Thou make them turn their back when Thou shalt make ready Thine arrows upon Thy strings against the face of them” (Psalms 21:12). “Thou shalt cause them to turn their backs and fly as if a volley of arrows had been discharged in their faces. God can in a moment strike the most powerful and numerous army, even in the moment of victory, with panic; and then even the lame, the army which they had nearly routed, shall take the prey and divide the spoil.”—A. Clarke. The idea is that the Almighty has set up His enemies as a butt. (Comp. Job 7:20; Job 16:12; Lamentations 3:12-13). “The judgments of God are called His arrows, being sharp, swift, sure, and deadly. What a dreadful situation, to be set as a mark and butt at which these arrows are directed! View Jerusalem encompassed by the Roman armies without, and torn to pieces by the animosity of desperate and bloody factions within! No further commentary is requisite upon this verse.” G. Horne. IV. That the enemies of Christ will be utterly overthrown. 1. Their overthrow will entail severe suffering. “Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger: the Lord shall swallow them up in His wrath, and the fire shall devour them” (Psalms 21:9). The wicked shall be consumed with the fire of Divine wrath, like wood put into a furnace. The wrath of God is often represented under the image of fire. (See Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalms 18:8; Matthew 13:42; Matthew 18:8; Matthew 25:41; Mark 9:44; 2 Thessalonians 1:8.) The enemies of Christ shall not only be cast into the furnace of fire; but the Lord shall make them themselves as a fiery oven: they will be their own tormentors. “Our pleasant vices are made the whips to scourge us.” It is said that a frown of Queen Elizabeth killed Sir Christopher Hatton, the Lord Chancellor of England. Who then can stand before the frown and fierce anger of the insulted Majesty of Heaven? 2. The overthrow will be complete. “Their fruit shalt Thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men” (Psalms 21:10). That which they prize the most, and which has cost a life of toil and anxiety to acquire, will perish. The ambitious dream, the hoarded treasure, the coveted honour, shall vanish as a fractured bubble. Even their posterity—the children who have imbibed their acrimony and trod in their footsteps—shall pass away, so that the race shall come to an end, and their memory be forgotten. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance; but the name of the wicked shall rot. The possessions of the haters of Christ are a heritage of woe. V. That the overthrow of the enemies of Christ will illustrate the supreme power of Jehovah. 1. The supreme power of Jehovah is self-sustained. “Be Thou exalted Lord, in Thine own strength” (Psalms 21:13). Exalt Thyself, O Lord—Thy creatures cannot exalt Thee. Lift Thyself up and discomfit Thy foes by Thine own strength! God’s right hand has often given the victory to His followers, though they struck not one blow in their own defence. How little can the strength of man avail when the Lord raiseth up Himself to the battle. The end of all conflict with evil will be the eternal, unchallengeable exaltation of Jehovah. While He watches over and ensures the best interests of His people, He preserves inviolate His own honour and majesty. 2. The supremacy of Jehovah should be Joyfully celebrated. “So will we sing and praise Thy power” (Psalms 21:13). “God is to receive praise in reference to that attribute which He has exhibited most in the defence or salvation of His followers. One feels himself lost, condemned, on the brink of hell; he calls for mercy, is heard and saved: mercy therefore will be the chief subject of his praise, and the burden of his song. Another feels himself beset with powerful adversaries, with the weakest of whom he is not able to cope; he cries to the Almighty for strength; he is heard and strengthened with strength in his soul. He therefore will naturally magnify the all-conquering power of the Lord.”—A. Clarke. Joy should always flow in the channel of praise. The leading thought in the whole psalm is, that God will ultimately triumph over all His enemies, and that this triumph will be followed by universal rejoicing and praise. Haste, O haste, the happy eza! “The subject of this psalm is the deliverance of a righteous sufferer from his enemies, and the effect of this deliverance on others. It is so framed as to be applied without violence to any case belonging to the class described, yet so that it was fully verified only in Christ, the Head and Representative of the class in question. The immediate speaker in the psalm is an ideal person, the righteous servant of Jehovah, but his words may, to a certain extent, be appropriated by any suffering believer and by the whole suffering Church, as they have been in all ages.”—Alexander.(Psalms 22:1-2.) I. Forsaken and Suffering. “Why hast Thou forsaken me? Why art Thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring?” Suffering is one of the mysteries of our complicated human life. None are exempt. The voice of anguish rises towards heaven in a ceaseless wail. As there are ecstasies of joy when the soul is exalted into a state of inexpressible rapture, so there are corresponding depressions when the soul is plunged into a gulf of darkness and despair. The bitterest element in all suffering is the sense of desertion, when the lonely victim is drifting helplessly before the black, pelting storm, without a hand to help, a voice to cheer, or a light to guide! Who can fathom the feelings of the solitary sufferer of Golgotha indicated in that thrilling and mysterious cry—“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me!” It was “not the why of impatience or despair, not the sinful questioning of one whose heart rebels against his chastening, but rather the cry of a lost child who cannot understand why his father has left him, and who longs to see his father’s face again. What these words were in the lips of the Holy One of God, heart of man may not conceive. For a moment in that last agony the Perfect Man was alone with the sin of the world.”—Perowne. II. Forsaken but not prayerless. “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not, and in the night season and am not silent” (Psalms 22:2). “It is as if he said, I cannot understand this darkness. It is not that I have forgotten Thee. Day and night I cry, to me there is no silence.”—Perowne. Prayer is the great resource of the troubled soul; and though deliverance does not come immediately, prayer is not abandoned. The more continuous the misery the more intense and vocal the prayer. Though the door refuse to open for weeks and months, the earnest suppliant knows he is before the right door, that there is no other to which he can go, and that erelong it must open. “The greatest pain to the troubled soul is not to be sure of the hearing of his prayers. Whoever does not give up God, even when his trouble of body and pain of soul has advanced to the highest point, soon has the experience that God has not forsaken him.”—Lange. The solitude is not so oppressive whose silence is broken by the voice of prayer. Delay increases the soul’s importunity, and importunity will succeed (Luke 11:8). III. Forsaken but trusting. Dense as may be the darkness and acute as may be the anguish, the sufferer does not lose his hold on God. It is still, “My God, my God.” The great test and triumph of faith is witnessed in the continuance of confidence, not only in one who is absent, but in one whom we are conscious has deserted us. 1. This trust was encouraged by contemplating the holiness of the Divine character. “But Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (Psalms 22:3). Throned above the myriad praises of the congregation which thank fully celebrate the many acts of Divine deliverance and redemption. The holiness of God is but another aspect of His faithfulness and mercy. The more vivid and extensive our conception of sin, the more exalted and impressive will be our view of the Divine holiness. The Redeemer of the world drew His mightiest consolation from a recollection of the holiness of God, when, in His hour of darkness and sorrow, He was brought into close and lonely contact with the enormity of human sin. “While the holiness of God is in the highest degree acknowledged and adored, the afflicted speaker in this verse seems to marvel how the holy God could forsake him, and be silent to his cries. The argument is, Thou art holy, oh! why is it Thou dost disregard Thy holy One in His hour of sharpest anguish? We may not question the holiness of God, but we may argue from it, and use it as a plea in our petitions.”—Spurgeon. “The expression, ‘Thou art holy,’ is a corroding element which must by and by entirely consume the other, ‘Thou hast forsaken me.”—Hengstenberg. 2. This trust was encouraged by recollecting the experience of God’s people in times of trouble. “Our fathers trusted in Thee,” &c. (Psalms 22:4-5). Thrice “they trusted,” and only once “they cried.” It was not that God could not deliver those who trusted in Him: He had done it for those of old time. He who could deliver the sinful when they cried to Him in faith, could much more deliver the Sinless One who came to Him in innocence. A genuine trust is always succeeded by a signal deliverance. Man is often disappointed and confounded when trusting to human policy and power; but never when trusting in God. LESSONS:— 1. The lowest level of suffering is reached when the soul is consciously forsaken of God. 2. Prayer is the most suitable exercise of the soul in the most trying moments. 3. When the soul can do nothing else it can trust in God. THE OF (Psalms 22:6-18.) I. Oppresses the soul with a sense of personal unworthiness (Psalms 22:6-8). 1. This unworthiness is humbly acknowledged. “I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men and despised of the people” (Psalms 22:6). The first step in a downward career is to sink in the estimation of others; the next and more fatal one is to sink in our own estimation. Pungent and continued suffering depresses the mind, and fills it with gloomy and but half-comprehended thoughts, and the sufferer is tempted to depreciate himself and all his doings. “Man is compared to a worm in Job 25:6 on account of the nothingness of his existence. The worm in the passage before us, as in Isaiah 41:13, serves to designate nothingness within nothingness. The reproach and the contempt are brought under our notice, not so much in themselves, as in reference to the ground on which they rest—the deep misery of the sufferer, whose condition is such that it is reckoned by all men as altogether desperate.”—Hengstenberg. 2. This sense of unworthiness renders the soul more keenly sensitive to insult and scorn. “All they that see me laugh me to scorn,” &c. (Psalms 22:7-8). It is painful to endure the scornful ridicule of our enemies when we are in health and vigour, and able to repel and answer it. But when all our powers are prostrate by affliction, and we are too helpless to reply, the torture is overwhelming. Still more cruel and unbearable is it when the sufferer’s God is maligned (Psalms 22:8). “This is the most lacerating kind of contempt. Because he loves God more than himself, he would rather encounter floods of derision himself, than that one drop should fall on the name of his God. The shaking of the head and the opened mouth denote mocking delight.”—Tholuck. Oh! how inexpressibly keen must have been the sufferings of the Sinless One as He listened to the revilings of those who gloated over His crucifixion! How often is it that man despises what God holds in highest esteem! If we would be true followers of Christ we must be content to bear His reproach. II. Throws the mind back upon the thought of the Divine Care from the earliest period of life (Psalms 22:9-10). He who protected and sustained us in the helplessness and perils of infancy, will not leave us to perish in the darkest and loneliest extremity. Too little do we think of the goodness of God which brought us into being, provided for every want, brightened the happy period of youth, and led us to trust Him in every emergency of life. Comfort may be found in the hour of trial by reflecting on the past mercies of God. The more conscious we become of our own impotency, the more tenaciously do we cling to the Divine arm and the more highly do we prize the smallest acts of kindness and sympathy. “I began to rail against Providence,” wrote the imprisoned Armand Charratt with the blood he had pricked from his arm, “when a messenger of mercy came to me in the form of an escaped canary-bird down a chimney of the Bastille. I kept the canary-bird, and for three years I was no longer solitary.” “God begins His care over us from the earliest hour. We are dandled upon the knee of mercy and cherished in the lap of goodness; our cradle is canopied by Divine love, and our first totterings are guided by His care. He who was our God when we left our mother, will be with us till we return to mother-earth, and will keep us from perishing in the belly of hell Faith finds weapons everywhere.”—Spurgeon. III. Is embittered by the violence and cruelty of relentless enemies. 1. They are violent. “Many bulls have compassed me; strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion” (Psalms 22:12-13). The lonely sufferer is terrified by the fierce opposition of his enemies, who, like strong and ravenous beasts, threaten him with horrible mutilation and destruction. The wild, ferocious outbreaks of the wicked are ever a source of distress to the holy soul. One of the bitterest elements in the sufferings of the world’s Redeemer was, that He had to endure the contradiction of sinners against Himself. The sorrows of the good are met with the taunting, malicious revelry of the wicked. 2. They are cruel. “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (Psalms 22:16). The enemies are still compared to savage animals, but the figure is somewhat different: “dogs” not only as fierce, but as unclean. We must remember that these dogs are the savage wild dogs of the East (1 Kings 14:11; Psalms 59:6; Psalms 59:14-15).—Perowne. Jews and heathens enclosed the solitary Sufferer of Calvary, as dogs in their madness and fury close in upon the hunted stag. They pierced His hands with nails, that our souls might not be pierced with judgments. Sin is the most terrific instrument of cruelty. IV. Intensifies the sense of utter helplessness and agony (Psalms 22:11; Psalms 22:14-15; Psalms 22:17-18). It is impossible to find words that will depict more graphically a condition of complete exhaustion, distress, and despair, than those contained in these verses. The lonely sufferer, after referring to the cruelty of his tormentors, passes on to speak of the effects of their savage treatment upon himself. He felt absolutely friendless and alone:—“There is none to help.” As poured-out water dissolves on the ground, so his strength is dissolved: he is utterly spent. “I am poured out like water.” His bones, the support of the physical frame, are sundered and displaced, involving unutterable agony. “All my bones are out of joint. I may tell all my bones, they look and stare upon me.” His courage fails him; the brave heart can hold up no longer, but sinks in despair. “My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.” The sap of life is dried up like the moisture out of a burnt-out potsherd: his misery and fevered pain exhausted his endurance and strength, as a vessel of clay is dried and burnt within a furnace. “My strength is dried up like a potsherd.” In consequence of excessive thirst and anguish, his tongue is sealed to his jaws; and he feels as one who has already entered the grave. “My tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and Thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” As a last act of indignity, as though he were already dead, his very clothes are stripped from him and raffled as plunder among his unpitying enemies. “They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psalms 22:18). How all these particulars were fulfilled in the sufferings of the Son of God, is narrated in the gospels with touching simplicity and realistic power. The heaviest stroke in all suffering is that which we must bear alone. No loneliness is more oppressive, more distressing, more insupportable than the loneliness of suffering. Learn:— 1. The weakness and vanity of man. 2. The terrible consequences of sin. 3. The only source of help in extremity is Divine. A CRY FOR HELP(Psalms 22:19-21.) I. That God is the unfailing source of help in time of trouble. “Be not Thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste Thee to help me” (Psalms 22:19). Trouble is a blessing when it drives us nearer to God. The fainting victim turns away from his fierce persecutors and from his own sufferings, and fixes his eyes on God. All earthly help has its limits, but Divine help never fails. If God be distant, the darkness deepens and the sorrow too. But when the strength of Israel hastens to the rescue, the light of hope breaks in and the anguish is assuaged. From the lowest depths God hears the piteous cry of the helpless. “Prayer is the weapon with which the bars of the gates of heaven are burst open.” II. That deliverance is implored from imminent peril (Psalms 22:20-21). 1. From threatened death. “Deliver my soul from the sword: my darling”—my only one. “From the parallelism = my soul, my life. The life is so called, either because man has but one life, or because it is the most precious of all things.”—Perowne. This life was exposed to destruction by the sword; for “the sword is an individualising designation of whatever is an instrument of death.” The Lord can blunt the point of the sharpest weapon; and, at the last moment, restore the stricken one who cries to Him. 2. From the ferocity of the most pitiless tormentors. “Save me—from the power of the dog—from the lion’s mouth—from the horns of the unicorns.” Luther observes—“The rage of the furious devil is so great, that the prophet does not consider it enough to have represented it by a sharp sword, but introduces further, for the same purpose, the tearings of raging, furious dogs, the mouth of the greedy and hungry lion, which stands already open, and is ready to devour, and the dreadfully fierce wrath of the raging, terrible unicorn.” The word unicorn is from a Hebrew verb which signifies to elevate, and refers to an animal “having a high horn in its nose or front, an untameable beast, which may be slain, but cannot be taken alive. It is spoken of in Scripture in respect to its strength in Numbers 22, its untameable ferocity Job 39:9, its height of horn Psalms 92:11.”—Bythner. The fury of the most violent and dreaded enemy is under the control of the sufferer’s God. He who holds the winds in His fists, whose whisper stills the angriest storm, whose look smites the most formidable hosts with paralysis, can dissipate, like foam before the breeze, the violent anger of our persecuting adversaries. III. That the cry for help is emboldened by the recollection of past deliverances. “For Thou hast heard me” (Psalms 22:21). None are so poor in blessings, but there are some periods in their past history in which they were specially impressed with the saving interposition of heaven, in answer to prayer. The soul in its deepest distress falls back upon such a well-tested experience, and gathers confidence. From this point we observe a marked change in the condition of the sufferer. From a state of abject wretchedness and despair, he rises into the apparently sudden enjoyment of a radiant hope, and calm, restful assurance. Faith, however feeble its grasp, if persevering, is certain to triumph. The past is an inspiration for the present, and a guide for the future. A SONG OF (Psalms 22:22-31.) At this point we detect a marked change in the tone and spirit of the psalm. Light breaks in upon the forlorn sufferer. Despair gives place to hope; and the prospect of speedy and certain deliverance animates the soul with gratitude and joy. Observe: I. That this deliverance was celebrated by grateful praise. 1. The theme of praise is the Name of the Great Deliverer. “I will declare THY NAME unto my brethren.” The Name of Jehovah is inclusive of all the Divine perfections; but that perfection which is more immediately exercised in effecting for us a great deliverance will naturally be most prominent in our song. The deliverance of the world’s Redeemer from His unutterable sufferings, and the consequent deliverance of humanity from the power of sin, called into play all the energies and perfections of the Divine Nature. The Divine Name, therefore, in all its depth and expanse of meaning, is the subject of highest adoration. To declare the name of the Lord is to make known what He has done. 2. The praise is offered publicly. “Unto my brethren—in the midst of the congregation—in the great congregation—before them that fear Him” (Psalms 22:22; Psalms 22:25). Instead of the anxious cry, which, in contrast with the praises of Israel, previously sounded from the month of the innocent and horribly tortured victim, the song of praise of the delivered, is in future to resound in the assembly of his brothers, and the whole congregation is to hear, to their own edification, the declaration of the great and wonderful things that God has done to this one who was so afflicted and utterly lost. The sufferings of the righteous are according to the Divine purpose not only to be of advantage to the present congregation but likewise to the heathen throughout the entire world.—Lange. 3. The praise is general. “All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify Him” (Psalms 22:23). All the true worshippers of Jehovah are called upon to praise Him. True praise is characterised by profound reverence. “Ye that fear the Lord.” “Humble awe of God is so necessary a preparation for praising Him that none are fit to sing to His honour but such as reverence His word. Holy fear should always keep the key of the singing pew. Where Jesus leads the tune none but holy lips may dare to sing.”—Spurgeon. True praise is ac companied with substantial thank offerings, “I will pay my vows before them that fear Him” (Psalms 22:25). The faithful promiser, who, when in trouble had vowed to offer certain sacrifices, was accustomed, after deliverance, to invite the widow, the orphan, and the poor to participate with him in the sacrificial meal (Deuteronomy 12:18; Deuteronomy 16:11) The grateful heart will praise God with a full-handed generosity, and delights to share its bounty and joy with others. The salvation of one adds to the happiness of many (Luke 15:10). 4. The praise recognises the special character of the deliverance (Psalms 22:24) God esteems what others despise. The abject sufferer who sinks below the notice and help of man is never beyond the reach and sympathy of God. The recollection of the horrors from which we have been snatched, will give a colouring to the expression of our gratitude. The affliction of the afflicted, “The same word is used with Messianic reference Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:7; Zechariah 9:9. When he cried He heard. What a contrast to Psalms 22:1-2! Very remarkable is this confident acknowledgment of God’s goodness in hearing prayer.”—Perowne. 5. The praise will bring satisfaction to the most needy. “The meek shall eat and be satisfied,” &c (Psalms 22:26). The gratitude of the delivered sufferer and the joy it occasions to others, are represented under the figure of a feast in which the poorest participate. The grateful and extended proclamation of the merciful works of God, especially as exhibited in the salvation of the human race, will supply the spiritual banquet for which millions crave, and for lack of which they perish. II. That this deliverance will be the means of conferring blessing on all mankind. 1. All nations will acknowledge the supremacy of Jehovah. “All the ends of the world shall remember,” &c. (Psalms 22:27-28). The heathen may have forgotten God, but they are not forgotten by Him: they may have ignored the Divine rule, but they cannot destroy it—“He is the governor among the nations.” The heathen who share in the great salvation wrought out by the suffering Messiah will gladly submit to His lordship. “It is well to mark the order of conversion as here set forth:—They shall remember—this is reflection, like the prodigal who came unto himself: and turn unto Jehovah—this is repentance, like Manasseh who left his idols; and shall worship—this is holy service as Paul adored the Christ whom once he abhorred.”—Spurgeon. 2. All ranks of men shall find happiness in the worship of Jehovah (Psalms 22:29). Here the image of the banquet is resumed, the feast is provided for all, irrespective of national or personal distinctions. “All they that be fat upon the earth”—the rich and mighty; “all they that go down to the dust”—those who are so miserably starved and poor that they are ready to perish, and “cannot keep alive their own soul”—all shall sit down together at the same divinely-furnished banquet. Here all guests are poor, and God is rich for all. The Gospel shall win the homage of all nations and all classes of men. III. That this deliverance will vindicate the Divine Righteousness to future ages (Psalms 22:30-31). “His Righteousness not only as manifested in the deliverance of His righteous servant, but as manifested in all His great work of salvation, both in the suffering and in the exaltation of Christ, and also in providing the feast for all who will partake thereof. This hope of the conversion of other nations to the faith of God’s elect, was in an especial manner characteristic of the period of the return from the Babylonish captivity. The prophecies of Zechariah are full of it, and so are many of the Psalms which probably date from that period.”—Perowne. The divine conduct in the great work of Redemption will be continually celebrated. Posterity will perpetuate the worship of Jehovah; each succeeding generation will preserve and disseminate the knowledge committed to it by the generation preceding. The seed of the righteous is indestructible and ever fruitful. The true Church of God can never perish. It is said that the Baobab-tree—the largest known tree in the world—though stripped of its bark outside and hollowed to a large cavity within its trunk, has the singular power of exuding from its substance a perfectly new bark, which lines both the inner and outer surfaces of the tree. So is it with the Church of God. Though pierced and peeled and wounded by the gleaming axes of malicious enemies, it still lives and grows in irresistible productiveness, affording shelter to millions, and stretching its life-giving and healing foliage over all nations. LESSONS: 1. Deliverance from peril should be gratefully acknowledged. 2. The world it most indebted to those who have suffered most for its benefit. 3. The influence of a good work never dies. “The king who had been the shepherd-boy, and had been taken from the quiet sheepcotes to rule over Israel, sings this little psalm of Him who is the true Shepherd and King of men. We do not know at what period of David’s life it was written, but it sounds as if it were the work of his later years. There is a fulness of experience about it, and a tone of subdued, quiet confidence which speaks of a heart mellowed by years, and of a faith made sober by many a trial. A young man would not write so calmly, and a life which was just opening would not afford material for such a record of God’s guardianship in all changing circumstances. If we think of the psalm as the work of David’s later years, is it not very beautiful to see the old king looking back with such vivid and loving remembrance to his childhood’s occupation, and bringing up again to memory in his palace the green valleys, the gentle streams, the dark glens where he had led his flocks in the old days; very beautiful to see him traversing all the stormy years of warfare and rebellion, of crime and sorrow, which lay between, and finding in all God’s guardian presence and gracious guidance? There is nothing difficult of understanding in the psalm. The train of thought is clear and obvious. The experiences which it details are common, the emotions it expresses simple and familiar. The tears that have been dried, the fears that have been dissipated, by this old song; the love and thankfulness which have found in them their best expression, prove the worth of its simple words. It lives in most our memories. The psalm falls into two halves, in both of which the same general thought of God’s guardian care is presented, though under different illustrations, and with some variety of detail. The first half sets Him forth as a Shepherd, and us as the sheep of His pasture; the second gives Him as the Host, and us as the guests at His table and the dwellers in His house.”—A. Maclaren.THE DIVINE AND HIS FLOCK(Psalms 23:1-4.) I. The Divine Shepherd supplies every want. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalms 23:1). The shepherd is, literally, one who feeds. It is an image that would be specially suggestive to a nation of shepherds. Most beautifully does it symbolise the character of Jehovah as the provider, protector, guide, and unfailing companion of His people. To appreciate the force of the image, it is necessary to understand the difference between the modern shepherd and the Oriental shepherd of olden times. “Beneath the burning skies and the clear starry night of Palestine,” says Robertson, “there grows up between the shepherd and his flock a union of attachment and tenderness. It is the country where, at any moment, sheep are liable to be swept away by some mountain torrent, or carried off by hill-robbers, or torn by wolves. At any moment their protector may have to save them by personal hazard. Alone in those vast solitudes, with no human being near, the shepherd and the sheep feel a life in common Differences disappear, the vast interval between the man and the brute: the single point of union is felt strongly. One is the love of the protector, the other the love of the grateful life; and so between lives so distant, there is woven by night and day, by summer suns and winter frosts, a living network of sympathy.” Between the Good Shepherd and His people there exist the tenderest relations—on the one side of unfathomable affection, on the other of calm unlimited confidence. “I shall not want”—I want nothing. With Jehovah for my shepherd and guardian, whose hand rests on all the sources of supply, I can lack no temporal or spiritual good. When the holy John Fletcher, of Madeley, was asked by George III. if he would accept preferment in the Church as an acknowledgment for an able and timely paper he had written on American affairs, he returned the respectful but characteristic reply—“Sire, I want nothing, but more grace.” II. The Divine Shepherd affords tranquillising rest to the weary. “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and leadeth me beside the still-waters,” or, waters of rest (Psalms 23:2). “It is the hot noon-tide, and the desert lies baking in the awful glare, and every stone on the hills of Judea burns the foot that touches it. But in that panting breathless hour, here is a little green glen, with a quiet brooklet, and a moist lush herbage all along its course, and great stones that fling a black shadow over the dewy grass at their base; and there would the shepherd lead his flock, while the ‘sunbeams, like swords,’ are piercing everything beyond that hidden covert. Sweet silence broods there. The sheep feed and drink, and couch in cool lairs till he calls them forth again. So God leads His children.”—Maclaren. With all the haste and worry and toil of life, there is much of quiet, pleasant restfulness. Seasons of repose are necessary to recover and fit the jaded worker for the ever-pressing and imperative duties of active life. The soul must rest peacefully in God’s favour and in placid, hallowed communion with Him, in order to satisfy its keenest hunger and slake its fiercest thirst. III. The Divine Shepherd prepares the soul for the loftiest service. “He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalms 23:3.) The designed result of rest and refreshment is the accession of new vigour to both mind and body. The weeks spent in purposeless loitering on the shining sands of the summer sea, or in rambling among the huge, silent hills, or on the banks of the brawling trout stream, with its tree-shaded nooks, its rustling sedges and glittering weirs, tend to refresh and invigorate the whole man, and prepare for the stern, tugging warfare of life and for nobler enterprise. So is it in the spiritual life. He restoreth my soul. “When the soul grows sorrowful, He revives it: when it is sinful, He sanctifies it: when it is weak, He strengthens it:” when it wanders, He brings it back. God blesses not simply to impart happiness; but to fit the soul for holier service and more extensive usefulness. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. “Life is not a fold for the sheep to lie down in, but a road for them to walk on. We get blessings, not to let them pass away like waste steam puffed into empty air, but that we may use them to drive the wheels of life. The waters of happiness are not for a luxurious bath where a man may lie, till, like flax steeped too long, the very fibre be rotted out of him; a quick plunge will brace him, and he will come out refreshed for work. Rest is to fit for work, work is to sweeten rest. There is nothing more evanescent in its nature than a mere emotion, even though it be that of joy in God, unless it be turned into a spring of action for God. Such emotions, like photographs, vanish from the heart unless they be fixed. Work for God is the way to fix them”—Maclaren. IV. The Divine Shepherd provides protection and consolation in the darkest peril “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me” (Psalms 23:4). The soul fears not to enter the “sunless gulfs” of sorrow when assured of the supporting presence and protecting care of the Good Shepherd. The darkness of death is but a shadow after all. The trusting soul enters the gloomy gorge only to emerge into the brighter day of immortality. “Some evils may come; some will probably come,—one at least is sure to come. However bright may be the path, somewhere on it, perhaps just round that turning, ‘sits the shadow feared of man.’ But to the Christian heart there is the conviction that the hand which guides us into the dark valley, will guide us through it and up out of it. Yes, strange as it may sound, the presence of Him who sends the sorrow is the best help to bear it. The assurance that the hand which strikes is the hand which binds up, makes the stroke a blessing,—sucks the poison out of the wound of sorrow, and turns the rod which smites into the staff to lean on.” When Dr. Guthrie, the celebrated and eloquent Divine, felt himself treading the deep, dark valley, he exclaimed. “Death is mining away here, slowly but surely, in the dark. Blessed Jesus! what would I do now but for Thee?” LESSONS: 1. The sheep of Jehovah are saved from poverty. 2. From wandering. 3. From uselessness. 4. From fear. 5. From sorrow. A ROYAL BANQUET(Psalms 23:5-6.) The image is changed, but we have substantially the same ideas as those given in the earlier portion of the psalm. There are, as before, the food, the guardianship, the peril, the journey. Jehovah is here regarded as a Bountiful Host and His people as guests at His banqueting table. The verses illustrate certain striking features in the Royal Banquet. I. This banquet is provided in the midst of conflict. “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies” (Psalms 23:5). Life not only involves work, but also conflict. Our enemies are numerous, powerful and cruel. The fight is fierce, prolonged and exhausting. Yet, spread by invisible hands is the table in the wilderness, in the presence of our grim-visaged enemies who, while looking on, are restrained by some irresistible spell from harming. Unlike the soldier on the battle-field, who, if he eats at all, snatches a hasty meal and, wearied and but half refreshed, hurries again to the fight, the Christian warrior pauses to rest and feast. There is no hurry, no confusion, no fear, though the eyes of his enemies flash upon him with vindictive glare, the presence of the Divine host is an impenetrable shield about him. So is it ever in the progress of spiritual life. There is always the conflict, always the foe; always the guardian, always the banquet. II. This banquet is promotive of abundant joy. “Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over” (Psalms 23:5). The allusion is to the custom in the East of anointing with oil on festal occasions as a means of refreshment, and as indicating prosperity and rejoicing. The words also point out the lavish outflow of the Divine beneficence, and the limitation of the human capacity which trembles with joy under the overflowing current. My cup runneth over. “He had not only a fulness of abundance, but of redundance. Those that have this happiness must carry their cup upright, aud see that it overflows into their poor brethren’s emptier vessels.”—Trapp. “Drink the cup of gladness as men do when their foe is at their side, looking askance over the rim, and with one hand on the sword, ready, aye ready, against treachery and surprise. But the presence of the danger should make the feast more enjoyable too, by the moderation it enforces and by the contrast it affords—as to sailors on shore or soldiers in a truce. Joy may grow on the very face of danger, as a slender rose-bush flings its bright sprays and fragrant blossoms over the lip of a cataract.”—Maclaren. III. This banquet will satisfy all the wants of a lifetime. “Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” (Psalms 23:6). Goodness and mercy are the staple viands of the feast, and give a flavour and virtue to all the rest. Man needs goodness to supply all his wants, and mercy to cancel all his sins. The words are expressive of simple and unbounded confidence in God as to every event in our earthly future. “Shall follow me all the days of my life.” Through all its changes, its shade and sunshine, its perils and deliverances, its sorrows and joys, to its close. “His enemies had pursued him even to the presence of his host, henceforth grace and joy will pursue him and load him with blessings.” New tokens of His pity and love shall shine upon us, before us, and behind us, on our right hand and on our left, throughout the whole of our earthly pilgrimage. The most indigent are rich indeed when encompassed with the Divine loving-kindness. “What, all this, and Jesus, too!” said a poor cottager, as she broke a piece of bread and filled a glass with cold water. IV. This banquet is the type and pledge of the everlasting feast in the heavenly banqueting hall. “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever” (Psalms 23:6). Suggestive of the closest intimacy with God and the ceaseless enjoyment of His favour. I will dwell there, “where, without a veil, irradiation from the Eternal Three shall dart unutterable joys into my glorified spirit, transformed into the image of the God whom I behold; and near His throne, high and lifted up, where bright angelic hosts, His train, fill the vast temple with His glory. His love my all-sufficient portion, and my happy labour, everlasting praise.” In these words, as if reluctant to dismiss the thought, the psalmist returns to the image of the Good Shepherd, who, at length, conducts His flock to a place of safety and undisturbed repose. “The sheep are led by many a way, sometimes through sweet meadows, sometimes limping along sharp-flinted, dusty highways, sometimes high up over rough, rocky mountain-passes, sometimes down through deep gorges, with no sunshine in their gloom; but they are ever being led to one place, and when the hot day is over, they are gathered into one fold, and the sinking sun sees them safe, where no wolf can come, nor any robber climb up any more, but all shall rest for ever under the shepherd’s eye.”—Maclaren. Very quaint but expressive is the paraphrase on these two verses by an old Elizabethan poet. (Francis Davison)— “Thou my board with messes largeDost surcharge;My bowles full of wine Thou pow’rest,And before myne enemies’Envious eiesBalme upon my head Thou show’rest.Neither dures Thy bounteous graceFor a space;But it knowes nor bound nor measure.So my daies to my life’s endI shall spendIn Thy courtes with heavenly pleasure.” “This grand choral hymn was in all probability composed and sung on the occasion of the removal of the ark from the house of Obed-Edom to the city of David, on Mount Zion (2 Samuel 6). It was a day of solemn gladness and triumph. No long period had elapsed since David had wrested the stronghold of Zion from the last remnant of the hill-tribes of the Canaanites which lingered in Palestine. Henceforth this mountain-city, deemed by its ancient inhabitants impregnable, was selected by the conqueror as the seat of the royal residence and the centre of religious worship; and thither, after having subdued his enemies, he determined to bring the ark which, for nearly fifty years, had been left neglected at Kirjath-Jearim. It is difficult for us to conceive the feelings, at once of the most exalted and fervent patriotism, and of the deepest religious enthusiasm, which would be awakened in the hearts of the people by such an event. The king, and priests, and people, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands (1 Chronicles 15:2), in solemn procession, and with all the accompaniments of music and song, conducted the ark to its resting-place on the holy mountain. It was then that this majestic anthem rose to heaven, ‘Jehovah’s is the earth, and the fulness thereof;’ and the gates of that grey old fortress were bid to lift themselves up, as being too narrow to admit the King of glory. The psalm consists of two principal divisions: I. The preparation for the entry of Jehovah into His holy mountain (Psalms 24:1-6). II. The entry itself (Psalms 24:2-10).”—Perowne.THE DIVINE OF THE WORLD(Psalms 24:1-2.) I. The Divine proprietorship of the world is absolute and all-inclusive (Psalms 24:1). The world belongs to God— 1. As to its matter. “The earth is the Lord’s.” With all its forms of beauty and magnificence, with all its ponderous forces and mystic laws, with all its wealth of mineral and hidden treasures of earth, air, and ocean. Man has conquered the earth by the power of the sword, and claimed the right to dispose of it in petty states and kingdoms; but the earth does not belong to man. “He is but a tenant at will,—a leaseholder upon most precarious tenure, liable to instantaneous ejectment. The great Landowner and true Proprietor holds His court above the clouds, and laughs at the title-deeds of worms of the dust. The fee-simple is not with the lord of the manor, nor the freeholder, but with the Creator.”—Spurgeon. 2. As to its productiveness. “And the fulness thereof.” It is God who makes the soil fruitful, the air vital and sustaining, and the water in the great ocean-basin maintain its just proportion to the land. Notwithstanding that population follows so closely on the heels of production, there is always enough for man and beast. God fills the earth with plenty, and keeps it full. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof,” are words inscribed on the front of the Royal Exchange, London, and on similar institutions throughout the country. It is fitting that the great centres of the world’s commerce should acknowledge the Divine source and ownership of the world’s wealth. 3. As to its inhabitants. “The world, and they that dwell therein.” The Jews claimed to be the sole and peculiar possession of Jehovah, and yet they were accustomed to sing words like these! They are not the only people whose sentiments and conduct have been beneath the nobler teachings of their creed. Christianity has done brave work in breaking down the exclusiveness of nations. Not one specially favoured nation, but all nations belong to the Lord. The rights and freedom of manhood belong to every individual member of the human family, whatever his country, colour, or surroundings. All living beings—the denizens of earth, air, and sea—are the property of Jehovah. The Supreme Owner of all deserves the obedience and homage of all. The devout mind sees all things in God, and God-in all things. II. The Divine proprietorship of the world is based an the act of creation. “For He hath founded it upon the seas” (Psalms 24:2). “The reference is no doubt to the account of creation in Genesis, the dry land having emerged from the water, and seeming to rest upon it (Compare Psalms 136:6; Proverbs 8:29). It would, however, be quite out of place to suppose that in such language we have the expression of any theory, whether popular or scientific, as to the structure of the earth’s surface.”—Perowne. The human mind has wearied itself in spinning theories about the origin of the world, and in the historic development of these theories, from time to time, different schools of pseudo-religious philosophy have prevailed—modern thought being but a reproduction, in a new setting, of the ideas of the ancient philosophers. Deism, representing one school of thinkers, suffers a God to exist, but plunges Him into a state of apathetic repose. Pantheism confounds Him with the world. Materialism utterly denies Him, while, all along the line of these theorists, we see the world, the spirit of the world, the life of the world, and the matter of the world, are exalted and adored in succession. Proud, vain, puny man! He is like a fly discussing the mechanism of an elephant, or a wriggling annelid discoursing on the vastness and glory of the ocean. Augustine, in a splendid passage of his “Confessions,” describes the true origin of creation as the work of God: “I asked the earth; it said, I am not He; and all that therein is made the same acknowledgment. I asked the sea and the depths, and all that move and live therein, and they answered, We are not thy God; seek higher. I asked the winds, but the air with all its inhabitants answered, I am not thy God. I asked the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, and they answered, Neither are we the God whom thou seekest. And I said to all things that surrounded me, Ye have told me concerning my God, that ye are not He; speak then to me of Him. And they all cried with loud voices, He made us!” III. The Divine proprietorship of the world is confirmed by the fact of its preservation. “And established it upon the floods,” or, upon the streams doth He make it fast. The preservation of the world is a perpetual miracle. It requires the exercise of the same power of God as that which first called it into being. The area of the sea is three times greater than that of the land. But for the preserving care of God, the waters of the ocean would inundate and submerge the earth, and destroy all its inhabitants. As much water is contributed to the ocean by the rivers as would make a new ocean every year, and yet the sea is not augmented. The preserving power of God has put into operation the law of evaporation, by which the sea loses every day as much moisture as it receives from tributary streams. How insecure are the foundations of the earth—resting on treacherous and unstable water! If God were to withdraw His hand for a moment, the elemental forces of nature would annihilate the world and they that dwell therein. He who preserves the world has an undisputed right to possess it. LEARN: 1. The folly of loving the present world. 2. The audacity of Satan in claiming all the kingdoms of the world. 3. The duty and privilege of rendering joyful worship to the great Proprietor of all. THE MORAL FITNESS OF THE TRUE (Psalms 24:3-6.) I. That it is the privilege of the true worshipper to approach near to God (Psalms 24:3). He “ascends into the hill of the Lord,” and “stands in His holy place.” “His holy place is no less than the very place and seat of glory. And being such, you cannot imagine it but hard to come by; the very petty glories of the world are so. This is a hill of glory, hard to climb, difficult to ascend, craggy to pass up, steep to clamber, no plain campagnia to it; the broad easy way leads some whither else (Matthew 7:13); the way to this is narrow,—it is rough and troublesome. But not only to ascend but stand there; to continue at so high a pitch, to be constant in truth and piety, that will be hard indeed, and bring more difficulties to contest with.”—Mark Frank. The devout and sincere worshipper is admitted into the arena of the heavenly temple, his spiritual vision is intensified, he becomes familiar with the deeper truths of God, he catches glimpses of unearthly glories, he is filled with the ecstasy of unutterable emotions. II. That the true worshipper must possess a moral fitness (Psalms 24:4). There must be— 1. Rectitude of conduct. “He that hath clean hands.” The ceremonially unclean were not allowed to touch the sacred things of the Temple, and certainly the morally impure, whose hands are defiled with wrong-doing, cannot enter into hallowed fellowship with God. The conscience that is not upright in the practical common-place duties of life cannot be sincere and blameless in the solemn worship of God. 2. Purity of heart. “And a pure heart.” It is not enough for the outward life to be consistent, the inward experience must be holy. The inner life is everything to us; if we are wrong there, we are wrong everywhere and in everything. There is a moral sympathy between the worshipper and the worshipped, and the tendency is to become increasingly like the object of our adoration. The holy God can accept nothing but what is the offering of a holy heart. Hence the perpetual need of the sanctifying merits of the great Mediator: without His aid, the best effort of the worshipper is imperfect and impure. 3. Truthfulness of thought and speech. “Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.” “Unto vanity, i.e., either (1.) the perishing things of earth (Job 15:31); or, (2.) falsehood (Job 31:5), which signification passes over into a wider one of moral evil in general (Psalms 119:37); or, (3.) false gods, idols (Psalms 31:6). It may be taken here in the widest sense of all that the human heart puts in the place of God.”—Perowne. Truthfulness in heart and lip is demanded. “God will have nothing to do with liars except to cast them into the lake of fire. Every liar is a child of the devil, and will be sent home to his father. A false declaration, a fraudulent statement, a cooked account, a slander, a lie,—all these may suit the assembly of the ungodly, but are detested among true saints: how could they have fellowship with the God of truth, if they did not hate every false way.”—Spurgeon. III. That the true worshipper is assured of the Divine benediction. “He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of His salvation” (Psalms 24:5). “Righteousness, not in the New Testament sense of justification but in the Old Testament acceptation of inward and outward holiness; but still even this regarded as a gift from the God of his salvation.” The blessing of God rested on the family of Obed-Edom while the ark remained in the vicinity of his dwelling. Blessings cluster around the sanctuary, and the eager and earnest worshipper gathers them there to his everlasting enrichment. Many leave the sanctuary in a poorer condition than when they came, because of their moral inability to appreciate and take in the offered good. “He filleth the hungry with good things, but the rich He hath sent empty away.” IV. That the true worshipper is the representative of a distinctive and privileged class. “This is the generation of them that seek Him, that seek Thy face, O Jacob” (Psalms 24:6). In all ages there have been seekers after God; and all seekers who have possessed the moral qualities enumerated in these verses are recognised as true worshippers. “He who longs to see his friend when he passes takes care to clear the mist from the window, lest by any means his friend should go by unobserved.” Men spend years of study in seeking the solution to a mathematical problem, in perfecting a mechanical instrument, or in verifying a scientific discovery. A whole lifetime cannot be better spent than in seeking after God. Such seekers make the grandest discoveries, and confer the greatest blessings on the world. It is said that JOHN WELSH, of Scotland, often leaped out of his bed at midnight, wrapped a plaid around him, and wrestled with the Lord till the breaking of day. His preaching was irresistible when he came to his pulpit from these Penuels of pleading with his God. LESSONS: 1. Divine help is necessary to worship God acceptably. 2. Acceptable worship is productive of the greatest blessings. 3. The outward life should be in harmony with the deepest experiences of the heart. THE ENTRY OF THE KING(Psalms 24:7-10.) “The festal procession has now reached the gates of the city of Zion. The singers go before, the minstrels follow after, and in the midst of these is the ark, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubim (2 Samuel 6:2); so that the entry of the ark is the entry of Jehovah Himself into Zion (Numbers 10:35). By a sublime figure the poet bids ‘the everlasting gates’ of that grey old fortress be lifted up; for the greatest and most glorious of all Kings is He who now enters in, to claim it for Himself.”—Perowne. But we cannot overlook the prophetical and typical reference of this magnificent psalm, as pointing to that period when Christ as the King of glory, after having gained access to all hearts, in all nations, shall enter His heavenly palace and take His seat on that throne before which all the ransomed will bow and render everlasting homage. The triumphal entry of the glorious King. I. Will be into a palace of enduring splendour. “Ye everlasting doors” (Psalms 24:7; Psalms 24:9). “Doors were often taken from their hinges when Easterns would show welcome to a guest, and some doors were drawn up and down like a portcullis, and may possibly have protruded from the top: thus literally lifting up their heads.” But the imagery is highly poetical, and describes the vast, expansive, and generous welcome with which the conquering monarch is greeted when entering His heavenly home. The most gorgeous and strongly-built palace of earth is doomed to crumble and perish; it may become the prison and the grave of those who entered it flushed with conquest and elate with joy. But the heavenly temple knows no decay,—its beauties are unfading, its doors are ever open, its freedom untrammelled. “The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there” (Revelation 21:25). “Heaven’s gates are called everlasting, because they shall endure for ever, or because they be the doors unto the life which is everlasting.”—John Boys. II. Will be in the character of a mighty conqueror. “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” (Psalms 24:8). He has fought the grim, fierce conflict with evil and all the powers of hell, and won a signal and complete victory. And now He is welcomed as a warrior, strong as God Himself,—as one who was wounded, but whose scars are healed; as one who was dead, but is alive again,—whose soul was once exceeding sorrowful even unto death, while the sun was darkened and the rocks were rent as if in sympathy with their struggling and suffering Lord, but who has conquered sorrow, and sin, and the grave, and is entering into the coveted joy He has so bravely won. III. Will be attended by a brilliant throng of celestial hosts. “The Lord of hosts; He is the King of glory” (Psalms 24:10). Of all the triumphal processions of antiquity, perhaps none exceeded in pride and magnificence that of Aurelian, in the city of Rome. The pomp was opened by twenty elephants, four royal tigers, and above two hundred of the most curious animals from every climate of the North, the East, and the South. The ambassadors from the most remote parts of the earth, all remarkable by their rich or singular dresses, displayed the fame and power of the Roman Emperor. The victories of Aurelian were attested by a long train of captives who reluctantly attended his triumph, among whom was the beauteous figure of Zenobia, the Syrian Queen, confined by fetters of gold, and almost fainting under the intolerable weight of jewels. (Vide Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall.”) But infinitely, beyond all earthly comparison will be the grand triumphal entry of the heavenly King into the everlasting city! The hour is coming when, in loud and rapturous strains, the gates of heaven shall be bidden to enlarge themselves, and the portals of eternity to unfold; and angels, principalities, and powers, with the innumerable multitude of the redeemed, shall attend the Divine conqueror in His exultant entrance into His rightful possession. Neither He nor His ransomed ones shall struggle more. The King of saints has conquered, and they in Him: they shall now share in His victory, His kingdom, His glory, and in His eternity. IV. Will be the occasion of inexpressible joy to the universe. Earth is too narrow to hold the gladness; heaven is invoked to share it. “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.” The inquiry of heaven, trembling with a rapture, which it strives in vain to suppress, as if the anticipated response would be a too great excess of joy, “Who is this King of glory?” is answered by the thundering plaudits of innumerable voices, every tone ringing with transport, “The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!” It is said that the battle between the Romans and Carthaginians at Thrasymene was fought amid such terrific noise and fury created by the combatants, that “An earthquake reeled unheedingly away!”So the shout of joy that shall greet the triumphant Monarch of the skies, shall drown all other sounds, even the loudest convulsions of nature, and shall fill the heavenly welkin with everlasting echoes. “Throw wide your portals, Oh ye heavenly gates,And let His ransomed train exulting pass!Come forth! O Conqueror, in Thy royal robes,For Thou aloneHast triumphed o’er Thy foes; and vow Thou bear’stUpon Thy vesture and Thy thigh the nameOf King of kings. Come, then, and take Thy throne,For Thine it is by right, too long usurped.Thine is the kingdom, all the power is ThineFor ever; and to Thee—alone to Thee shall endless praiseAnd everlasting glory be ascribed!”LESSONS: 1. Evil will not always dominate. 2. Strive, by conquering the evil within thee, to gain a moral fitness to participate in the triumph of the glorious King. 3. Accept, believingly, the help of the Divine conqueror. “David is pictured in this psalm as in a faithful miniature. His holy trust, his many conflicts, his great transgression, his bitter repentance, and his deep distresses are all here; so that we see the very heart of ‘the man after God’s own heart.’ It is evidently a composition of David’s later days, for he mentions the sins of his youth, and, from its painful references to the craft and cruelty of his many foes, it will not be too speculative a theory to refer it to the period when Absalom was heading the great rebellion against him. This has been styled the second of the seven penitential psalms. It is the mark of a true saint that his sorrows remind him of his sins, and his sorrow for sin drives him to his God.”—Spurgeon. “The psalm hardly admits of formal division. It is a prayer for instruction and forgiveness. Its prevailing thought is that God is the teacher of the afflicted and the guide of the erring: and this is constantly repeated, either in the way of statement or of prayer.”—Perowne. TOPICS FOR PRAYER(Psalms 25:1-7.) I. That all prayer should be addressed to Jehovah. “Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul” Psalms 25:1. Do I bear my soul. The bearing of the soul to the Lord signifies the longing of the heart after Him. When in distress, the psalmist does not, like the ungodly, draw his soul at one time in this direction, and at another time in that; does not seek to catch now at this, now at that ignis fatuus of human help; but goes straight with all his desire to God, and rests in His protection.”—Hengstenberg. The call to devotion in the early church was sursum corda, up with your hearts. Some lift up their hearts to vanity, and idolise a creation of man, or the soulless and unresponsive forces of Nature, or an assumptious sacerdotal subordinate. But the only legitimate object of worship, to whom prayer can be acceptably offered, is God. “A carnal man can as little lift up his heart in prayer as a mole can fly. A David finds it a hard task, since the best heart is lumpish, and naturally beareth downwards, as the poise of a clock, as the lead of a net. Let us therefore ‘lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and pray to God to draw us up to Himself, as the loadstone doth the iron,”—Trapp. II. That prayer should be offered that our enemies may have no ground to taunt us with the failure of our trust in God. “O my God, I trust in Thee; let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me” (Psalms 25:2). The enemies of religion cannot understand the principle of faith, which fastens on the unseen, and confidently looks for the promised good. They have faith in nothing but the demonstrable, and frequently taunt the believer with fanaticism, and prophesy the utter failure of his expectations from God. In a sensitive mind this is hard to bear, and the more so, that the slightest suspicion is cast on the veracity and faithfulness of God. The best of men have enemies: the determination to do the right is quite enough to rouse the opposition of some men; and the discomforture of God’s people would occasion them the most malicious joy. 1. The sincere believer will not suffer failure. “None that wait on Thee shall be ashamed” (Psalms 25:3). The words emphatically express an eternal and unchanging truth. When by prayer we come near to God, by faith we rest upon Him: and to him who prays and believes all things are possible. He can never be put to confusion who humbly seeks Divine guidance; and the faith whose grapnels are firmly fixed in the Divine Righteousness can never be overturned. Trouble widens our sympathies. Though the psalmist had burden enough of his own, he felt for others in similar circumstances, and rejoiced in the assurance of their triumph. 2. Failure is the fate of the perfidious. “Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause” (Psalms 25:3). They shall be ashamed who are faithless without cause. He who transgresses without cause is one who acts treacherously towards God and man. All who trust in their own craftiness and act with wilful dishonesty and perfidiousness shall be disappointed of what they grasped at, and be covered with everlasting shame. Shame shall recoil upon the shameless perpetrator of sin—the disloyal and faithless transgressor. III. That prayer should be offered for Divine guidance. 1. In the ways of God. “Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths.” The ways of God are often dark, mysterious, circuitous, and painful to walk in, but they are safe and lead to peace and happiness. The pride and presumption of man often impel him to shape out a way for himself; and it often terminates in disaster and ruin. (Proverbs 14:12.) The ways of God are always better than our own: it should be our continual anxiety to become acquainted with, and walk in, them. “The ways and stairs of God are known to no creature so well as to Himself; therefore He can give us the best instruction in them. It is not enough to be taught of men; we must go to school to God—that is, resign ourselves obediently to the guidance and training of His Holy Spirit”—Starke. 2. In the truth of God. “Lead me in Thy truth and teach me; for Thou art the God of my salvation” (Psalms 25:5). The truth specially desired is that which reveals salvation. The whole plan of redemption, from its first dim promise to its fullest development in later times, is an imposing manifestation of the truthfulness of Jehovah. The way to know truth is to feel it: experience is a test impossible to ignore. All moral precepts are based on Divine truths. To be well versed in the truth of God, and to experience its power in the government of life, will save us from the fate of the faithless ones who are put to shame. 3. Prayer must be persistent. “On Thee do I wait all the day.” The more we realise our dependence and need, the more tenaciously do we cling to God. Many rich blessings have been lost for want of perseverance in prayer. Not to persevere in prayer is to risk the loss of all we ever gained. Patience is an important element of success. “To patient faith the prize is sure.” IV. That prayer should be offered for Divine mercy. 1. Divine mercy is unfailing. “Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old” (Psalms 25:6). They are from eternity. Mercy has ever been an attribute of Jehovah; and He cannot be unlike Himself: He cannot deny His character. If He were at any time to cease revealing Himself to man as a God of mercy, it would be tantamount to His proving untrue to Himself. The mercies and love of God are indeed infinite and everlasting; but it needs infinite mercy and everlasting love to pardon our uncounted sins. The greatest blessings of life are, like mercy, very ancient—as light, air, water, and earth fruits. “Divine love is an eternal fountain that never leaves off running while a vessel is empty or capable of holding more. It stands open to all comers: therefore come; and if you have not sufficient of your own, go and borrow vessels, empty vessels not a few; pay your debts out of it, and live on the rest (2 Kings 4:7) to eternity.”—Elisha Coles (1678). 2. Divine mercy is invoked for the pardon of sin, “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; according to Thy mercy remember Thou me, for Thy goodness’ sake, O Lord” (Psalms 25:7). How many would like to return to the happy time of youth! There is an exquisite pathos in those lines of Goethe:— “Give me, oh! give me back the days of youth,Poor, yet how rich!—my glad inheritance,The inextinguishable love of truth,While life’s realities were all romance.Give me, oh! give youth’s passions unconfined,The rush of joy that felt almost like pain,Its hate, its love, its own tumultuous mind;Give me my youth again!”But it may not, it cannot be. We are young but once. And oh! how much of that past youth-time would we like to live over again! How many of its wild, mad, sinful actions could we wish undone! How many are there of the sins of our younger days we can ourselves remember; and, alas! how many more which are now unknown to ourselves, and forgotten by all but God! “The world winks at the sins of young men; and yet they are none so little after all: the bones of our youthful feastings at Satan’s table will stick painfully in our throats when we are old men. He who presumes upon his youth is poisoning his old age. How large a tear may wet this page as some of us reflect upon the past!”—Spurgeon. The recollection of our transgressions shows the need of mercy, and prompts the prayer for it. If we forget our sins, we shall never appreciate the grace which provides for their removal. The cry of the penitent should be—O Lord, remember not my sins, but remember me! LESSONS:— 1. A sinful soul is never in want of a topic for prayer. 2. The soul finds its true safety by trusting in God. 3. To hear and answer prayer are both acts of Divine mercy. THE HIDDEN WAYS OF GOD MADE PLAIN(Psalms 25:8-15.) I. That the character of God is a guarantee of infallible direction. “Good and upright is the Lord. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth” (Psalms 25:8; Psalms 25:10). Because God is good, therefore He will give His children His Spirit for their direction; and because He is upright, it must of necessity be a good and most certain one.—Diodati. We value promises of help according to the character of the person who makes them. All the promises of God are based on His infinite perfections. There can never be any real disagreement between the nature and the actions of Jehovah: His paths, like Himself, are mercy and truth. “Paths signify the tracks or ruts made by the wheels of waggons by often passing over the same ground. Mercy and truth are the paths in which God constantly walks in reference to the children of men; and so frequently does He show them mercy, and so frequently does He fulfil His truth, that His paths are easily discerned. How frequent, how deeply indented, and how multiplied are those tracks to every family and individual! Wherever we go, we see that God’s mercy and truth have been there by the deep tracks they have left behind them.”—Clarke. “These paths—the ways in which He leads His people—are mercy (loving-kindness), for the salvation of men is the end thereof; and truth, for they give proof at every step of the certainty of His promises. Grace is their Alpha and truth their Omega.”—Delitzsch. As coals feed the fire, so the remembrance of the truths of our faith should keep alive the flame of our prayers. II. The ways of God are made known to the morally needy. These are alluded to under varied phases of character. 1. Sinners. “Therefore will He teach sinners in the way” (Psalms 25:8)—those who have erred and strayed from the way—those whose sins have assumed gigantic proportions. “Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great” (Psalms 25:11). Nothing is so blinding and misleading as sin, and it is never so dangerously deceptive as when it wears the semblance of virtue. Naturalists tell us that certain birds and insects have the curious faculty of assuming a likeness to the vegetation among which they sport themselves—that the South American heron can assume a perpendicular position, so as to look exactly like the reeds of its native district, that the leaf-butterfly of Sumatra is readily mistaken for one of the leaves among which it alights, and that the walking-stick insect of New Zealand can closely resemble an upright twig. So sin has the dangerous power of assuming a tone and attitude of certain virtues. But the Divine eye detects the fallacy, and the Divine hand graciously guides into the right way. 2. The humble. “The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way” (Psalms 25:9). Those who are afflicted and distressed about sin, who desire to be delivered from it and led in the right way. The proud despise instruction, and are left to the hardness of their hearts. “Pride and auger have no place in the school of Christ. The Master Himself is ‘meek and lowly in heart;’ much more, surely, ought the scholars to be so. He who hath no sense of his ignorance can have no desire or capability of knowledge, human or Divine.”—G. Horne. 3. The perplexed. “For He shall pluck my feet out of the net” (Psalms 25:15). A time comes in the mental history of most when the mind is harassed with doubts, and is like a restless, fluttering bird caught in the snare of the fowler. Or, it may be, we are suddenly overtaken with calamity and plunged into the darkness of despair. At these times God comes to our rescue, allays our fears, and lifts us out of our entanglements. The greatest distresses of life are only temporary. “I stoopInto a dark tremendous sea of cloud.It is but for a time: I press God’s lampClose to my breast: its splendours, soon or late,Will pierce the gloom: I shall emerge ere long.”—.III. That the deeper revelations of God are reserved for the morally good. 1. For the obedient. “Unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies” (Psalms 25:10). Obedience is the organ of spiritual enlightenment (John 7:17). The ways and commandments of God cannot be fairly and accurately judged as simply apprehended by the understanding. To see their Godlike beauty and feel their holiest force, they must be obeyed. “Keepers of the covenant shall be kept by the covenant; those who follow the Lord’s commands shall find the Lord’s mercy following them.” 2. For the God-fearing. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant” (Psalms 25:14). The great secret of all truth is hid in God. He is Himself the embodiment and ultimate end of truth, and He alone can impart it, and He will impart it only to them who fear Him. “What man is he that feareth the Lord? him shall He teach in the way that he shall choose” (Psalms 25:12). The God-fearing are lowered in the depths of the heavenly mysteries, and discover the unsearchable. “Saints have the key of heaven’s hieroglyphics; they can unriddle celestial enigmas; they are initiated into the fellowship of the skies; they have heard words which it is not possible for them to repeat to their fellows. He who does not know the meaning of this verse (Psalms 25:14), will never learn it from a commentary: let him look to the cross, for the secret lies there.”—Spurgeon. 3. For the earnest and persevering inquirer. “Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord” (Psalms 25:15). The eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth, wandering over a thousand different objects, but fastening on none, and learning nothing. But the humble and patient inquirer carefully investigates the minutest phenomena that promises to lead to the interpretation of truth, and conduct the mind up to the great source of truth. There are some things that need no inquiry about; they are vile on the face of them; and every year of our lives we grow more convinced that it is wisest and best to fix our attention on the beautiful and the good, and dwell as little as possible on the evil and the false. The eye that turns its inquiring gaze towards God will make the grandest discoveries and see the most entrancing visions. The true attitude of humble and reverential confidence consists in directing the eyes of the soul “ever toward the Lord.” IV. That the revelation of the hidden ways of God is morally satisfying. “His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the earth” (Psalms 25:13). The soul of the pious shall pitch her tent and lodge in goodness as in a fruitful land,—shall reach her home and possess it for ever. Moses made the promise “to possess the land” (to inherit the earth) in a literal sense to his people (Deuteronomy 4:22; Deuteronomy 40:5, Deuteronomy 36:6; Deuteronomy 36:18); but since his days it has been used to denote perfect peace, as is apparent from Proverbs 2:21; Psalms 37:8-9.—Tholuck. The posterity of the good are blessed, though the inheritance they possess as the result of many prayers is often abused. Parents should not only pray for but with their children; and it will be strange indeed if those prayers do not bear gracious fruit in the future career of their offspring. There is nothing so satisfying to the soul as a sight of God. LESSONS:— 1. Trust in God when life is involved in darkness and mystery. 2. God only can reveal the secret of happiness. 3. A moral fitness is necessary to understand the hidden ways of God. TROUBLE AND THE WAY OUT OF IT(Psalms 25:16-22.) I. That sin is the prolific source of all trouble. 1. A sense of personal sin is an intensified form of trouble (Psalms 25:16-18). The language of these three verses is pathetically expressive of conscious sin. “Have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged: look upon mine affliction and my pain.” What words can more graphically depict the sorrow, the loneliness, the anguish, the utter wretchedness of a soul pressed down under the burden of its sins! There is an inseparable connection between sin and sorrow; and yet how slow men are to see it. Only the soul smitten with a genuine penitence understands the true nature of sin, and the enormous evils of which it is the cause. Often when the spirit is most deeply troubled, when the pain is sharpest, when our self-reproach is bitterest,—then God is nearest to strengthen and deliver. Our greatest blessings have sprung out of the vortex of our greatest troubles. 2. Trouble is increased by the number and ferocity of our enemies. “Consider mine enemies, for they are many; and they hate me with a cruel hatred” (Psalms 25:19). The enemies of a good man multiply with his misfortunes, and the more helpless he is, the more furiously they assail him. “No hate so cruel as that which is unreasonable and unjust. A man can forgive one who has injured him, but one whom he has injured he hates implacably.” The madness of cruelty raves the more violently when it feels its impotency to inflict all the injury it designs. II. That trouble shall not be permitted to overwhelm the good. “Oh, keep my soul and deliver me: let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in Thee. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait on Thee” (Psalms 25:20-21). In this world of contradictions and suffering, the best of men are not free from trouble; but they have the assurance of help which shall render them invincible and exultant in the fiercest trial. Their God-given virtues form an impassable cordon around them, and their faith in the unseen Protector constitutes an all-encompassing shield. The presence of Christ in trouble banishes fear. Alone, Dante feared to enter the dismal Inferno; but with Virgil, the great and good, to guide his steps and support his hand, he descended fearlessly into the abode of woe. So, relying on our own strength, we enter the valley of darkness, and, beset with fears, we find it the valley of sorrow and of death. But, trusting the Almighty arm, our dismay vanishes; we see it to be only the valley of the shadow, and even the shadow He has turned for us into the morning. Our trust is founded on the certainty of God’s righteousness; and though encompassed with floods and beaten with storms, it stands, for it is founded on a rock. There is ever a shelter for us in God, and our souls are safe in His hands. III. That prayer to God is the infallible method of deliverance from the greatest trouble (Psalms 25:22). Personal trouble deepens and widens our sympathy for others. Observe, the cry is not simply, “Oh, keep my soul, and deliver me” (Psalms 25:20); but the prayer takes a more generous and comprehensive sweep, “Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles” (Psalms 25:22). “If Thou wilt not pity and help me, yet spare Thy people who suffer for my sake and in my sufferings.”—M.Pool. They who have thus struggled with their own doubts and sins, and by God’s grace have conquered them, must ever feel they have an interest in the conflicts of the church militant. They who pray for themselves are taught to pray for others: they, again and again, commend their suffering brethren of the true Israel to that Almighty Father and all-gracious God who has deigned to deliver them from all their troubles. True prayer is the precursor and lever of redeeming power. LESSONS:— 1. The cure of sin is the cure of trouble. 2. The potency of prayer is never so thoroughly tested and triumphantly vindicated as in time of trouble. The date of this psalm is uncertain. It is supposed by some to refer to the assassination of Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 4:5-12); and by others to the rebellion of Absalom (2 Samuel 15:18); but it is more probable that it was composed, like many others, in the dark time of Saul’s persecution (1 Samuel 18:24.). “It has some points of resemblance, both in thought and expression, to the last. Both open with the same declaration of trust in God (Psalms 25:2; Psalms 26:1); in both there is the same prayer that God would redeem (Psalms 25:22, Psalms 26:11), and be gracious (Psalms 25:16, Psalms 26:11) to His servants. Other points of contact may be found in Psalms 25:21, Psalms 26:11 and Psalms 25:5, Psalms 26:3. There is, however, this marked difference between the two, that there are wanting in this psalm those touching confessions of sinfulness and pleadings for forgiveness which in the other are thrice repeated. Here is only the avowal of conscious uprightness,—an avowal made as in the sight of the searcher of hearts, and deriving, no doubt, much of its intensity and almost impassioned force from the desire on the part of the singer to declare his entire separation from and aversion to the vain and evil men by whom he was surrounded.”—Perowne.THE UPRIGHT MAN FOR JUSTICE IN THE COURT OF HEAVEN(Psalms 26:1-12.) Calumny has been common in all ages. Jesus Christ Himself was defamed, and His disciples are warned to expect similar treatment from their enemies (John 15:20; Matthew 5:11). For such as suffer thus, the example of David is rich in counsel and comfort in time of trouble, he turns to God for redress and refuge. He appeals from a world where “the foundations are out of course” to a world where all is righteousness and peace. He appeals from man, whose judgments are false, to God, who judgeth righteously. In considering David’s appeal, mark— I. That it was made to the rigth Judge (Psalms 26:1). “Judge me, O Lord.” He had been wronged. His enemies had suspected and denounced him. Even the very king, anointed to do justly and to defend the oppressed, had turned against him, and madly sought his life (1 Samuel 24:11). But, though perplexed, he is not in despair; though persecuted, he is not forsaken. He appeals to God. “Judge me, O Lord.” Take up my cause, vindicate my character, deliver me from the machinations and malice of my foes. This is just like what he said to Saul at Engedi (1 Samuel 24:12), “The Lord judge between me and thee” (1 Samuel 24:15), “The Lord be judge, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.” It is a solemn thing to stand before an earthly judge, but it is a far more solemn thing to come before the judgment-seat of God. This is the court of last resort. Here the Judge is personally acquainted with all the facts and circumstances of the case, and His judgments are absolutely just and final (1 Samuel 2:3). II. It was presented in a proper spirit. 1. Deep seriousness. He feels that he is in the presence of the great Searcher of hearts. His very life is at stake; but there are two things which sustain him: (1.) Conscious integrity. “For I have walked in mine integrity.” This is very bold. It startles us to hear such words from a sinful man. We are almost ready to say, “Surely this is to err, and to fall into pride and self-righteousness.” But the words are no boast. They have the ring of sincerity and truth. David does not claim moral perfection, but uprightness of heart. He felt that he had been true. In spite of sore provocations, he had not returned evil for evil; though coming short in many things, he had honestly endeavoured to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. “Walked:” this implied earnestness and definiteness of purpose, steadfast and delightsome progress in the right. “Integrity” was the air in which he had lived and moved. “Innocency itself is no fence to the name, though it is to the bosom, against the darts of calumny.”—M. Henry. (2.) Confidence in God. “I have trusted also in the Lord: therefore I shall not slide.” There was everything in God to inspire trust. He was infinitely just and good. In His laws and government He was wholly and eternally opposed to all evil. However it might be amongst men, the Judge of all the earth could not but do right. David had trusted in Him in the past, and he would trust in Him for ever. Had he been conscious of insincerity, he could not have acted thus. Guile puts a bar between the soul and God; whereas, when there is no guile, there can be frank and confiding approach, and unwavering confidence. What a comforting thought that there is a God in heaven who judgeth righteously! Happy are those who trust in Him. “True dignity abides with him aloneWho, in the silent hour of inward thought,Can still suspect and still revere himselfIn lowliness of heart.”—.2. Readiness to submit to the most thorough investigation (Psalms 26:2). “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me.” The reference here is to the methods by which metals were tested (Psalms 12:6; Psalms 66:10). As gold and silver were tried in the furnace, as Israel had been tried in Egypt and the wilderness, so he was ready to be tried (Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 8:2). “Try my reins and my heart.” The “reins” may refer to the lower, and the “heart” to the higher passions of the soul. He thus craves that not only the outward but the inner man should be tested. He would hide nothing. He desires to be perfectly open, and to have all laid bare and sifted to the very core of his being. Whatever the Lord saw to be just, let Him do. The deepest desire of his heart was to be right. Let all dross of self-deception and sin be purged away in the fire of the Great Refiner, and let the true and the good remain. “The fining-pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts” (Proverbs 17:3). “What lives by life that is not Thine,I yield it to Thy righteous doom;What yet resists Thy law Divine,O may Thy fire of love consume.”3. Humble acquiescence in the result (Psalms 26:3). “For Thy loving-kindness is before mine eyes, and I have walked in Thy truth.” This implies that God’s love was the life of his heart. He understood and appreciated His “loving-kindness.” It was “before his eyes” (cf. Deuteronomy 6:8). It was the object of his constant meditation and delight. When he thought thereon, he could not but give thanks and take courage. “Perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). God’s will was the law of his life. That he might know and keep God’s commandments was his continual prayer. “I have walked in Thy truth.” This had been his habit. It was upon this principle that his life had been regulated. Hence he felt no fear. Whatever was brought to light, whether to his praise or to his blame, could not but be for his good. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart” (Psalms 97:11). “Every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved; but he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God” (John 3:20-21). Blessed are they whose hearts are right with God. Let trials come, let them be subjected to sore discipline and heavy judgments, still they have peace within. “Whate’er my God ordains is right,—My light, my life is He.He cannot will me aught but good—I trust Him utterly;For well I know,In joy or woe,We yet shall see as sunlight clear,How faithful was our Guardian here.”III. Supported by ample evidence 1. Negative (Psalms 26:4-5). The wicked are here characterised as “vain persons,” “dissemblers,” “evil-doers.” These terms are terribly significant. They are revelations of the heart. They are proofs of a state of society utterly alien and hostile to the life of God. David, in vindication of himself, declares his entire separation from all such people. He expresses his repugnance to their society. A man is known by the company he keeps. There is a power, for good or for evil, in the society we love. To be allied with the good is a blessing and an honour, but to be confederate with the had is to be doomed to infamy. David could appeal to his past life. He had no relish for the society of the bad. “I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.” He expresses his hatred of their character. His language is very strong: “I have hated the congregation of evil-doers.” It was not that he hated them as men, but that he hated their spirit and conduct—their character. “To hate the person, the existence, of any man, is wrong; it is to hate the workmanship of God. But to hate the character of a bad man is right, and even obligatory. God made the person, man made the character; and a bad character is an offence to the Almighty, and an injury to the universe: therefore it is holy to hate it.”—Dr. D. Thomas. 2. Positive (Psalms 26:6-8). “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass Thine altar, O Lord; that I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all Thy wondrous works. Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth.” David here declares his love for God’s house and worship. Instead of consorting with the wicked, his delight was with the people of God. Mark his earnest preparation (Psalms 26:6), “I will wash,” &c. The expression is figurative (cf. Genesis 20:5; Deuteronomy 21:6; Matthew 27:24). It is taken from Exodus 30:17-21, where Aaron and his sons are commanded to wash their hands and their feet before going into the tabernacle. “David, willing to express his coming with a pure heart to pray to God, doth it by this similitude of a priest, that as a priest washes his hands, and then offers oblation, so had he constantly joined purity and devotion together.”—Hammond. Mark his devout attendance upon ordinances (Psalms 26:6-7). “So will I compass,” &c. “The meaning is, that he will go round and round the altar, looking at it, looking at the blood on its base, and the blood on each of the four horns, towards north, south, east, and west, and beholding the smoke of the fire, and thinking of the sacrificial victim that has died there,—all in the way of joyful thanks for salvation provided for men.”—A. A. Bonar. Mark his great delight in the public worship of God (Psalms 26:8). “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house,” &c. It was the place where God’s glory dwelt, where God made Himself known as a just God and a Saviour. God’s presence is the attraction and life of all true worship. We should attend upon Divine ordinances with diligence, preparation, and prayer. If you come to church fresh from the company of the gay and the thoughtless, and with no real seriousness of spirit, it is no wonder if you are not benefited. But come with humility, come with sincere love of truth, come with hope in the boundless mercy of God and the grace of Christ, and you will not come in vain. Instructed and refreshed, your grateful song will be, “This is none other but the house of God, this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:17). IV. Enforced by strong and impassioned arguments (Psalms 26:9-11). “Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men: in whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.” He here prays that God would judge him (Psalms 26:1), i.e., declare what he is by separating him from the wicked. But, in fact, his prayer is an argument, intensely earnest and powerful. That he should be condemned with the wicked was— 1. Contrary to the spirit of his past life. “Sinners,” “bloody men,” men whose evil designs led to violence and crime, and whose hands were “full of bribes” to corrupt and to betray, surrounded him. But though he could not altogether avoid them, he had always regarded them with aversion. Their character was hateful to him, and he abhorred their company as hell. 2. Revolting to his holiest aspirations and hopes. He was unchanged in his purpose. Truth was truth, and right was right, whatever men said or did. He was resolved to die as he had lived. His heart was fixed. But he shrank with horror from the doom of the wicked. 3. Inconsistent with his faith in God’s justice and mercy. “Redeem me, and be merciful unto me.” He is far from pride and presumption. He does not demand, but supplicates. His exclusive dependence is upon God. There was a moral impossibility in his being forsaken. “As there is a gathering time for the fruits of the earth, so there is a gathering-time for men. Death is the reaper. With his scythe he mows down the generations, and Justice gathers whom he mows,—some to misery, some to bliss. Who would be gathered with the sinners in the great world of retribution?”—Dr. D. Thomas. V. Concludes with the expression of the most undoubting assurance (Psalms 26:12). “My foot standeth in an even place; in the congregations will I bless the Lord.” “His prayer has been heard. He is safe. He stands on the open tableland, where he has room to move, and where his enemies cannot hem him in, and therefore he fulfils the resolve made before (Psalms 26:7), and publicly pours out his thanksgivings to God.”—Perowne. But the words of the Psalmist may be understood as looking further than this earth. They not only imply present sure standing in the love of God, but they breathe the spirit of holy joy, in view of the serene and blissful heights of heaven, where there shall be no possibility of danger or of falling any more. A PICTURE(Psalms 26:3.) I. The subject. “Thy loving-kindness.” Creation, providence, redemption. What subject could be more noble and attractive? II. The position. “Before mine eyes.” Much depends on the placing of a picture. The most excellent should have the most honourable place. “Before mine eyes.” Before the mind, the conscience, the heart. To be studied with adoring love and delight. III. The effect upon the beholders. 1. Quickening. 2. Illuminating. 3. Transforming. Soothes, strengthens, ennobles. “Beholding as In a glass the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image.” What interest has this picture for us? With what feelings do we regard it? “We needs must love the highest when we see it.”—Tennyson. SURVEY OF WORK(Psalms 26:6-7.) I. IT IS A WORK. II. IT IS A WORK. III. IT IS AN WORK. IV. IT IS A GOD- WORK. LOVE OF GOD’S HOUSE(Psalms 26:8.) What the Tabernacle and the Temple were to the pious Jew, the house where we worship God should be to us. It should be dear because— I. Hallowed by the Divine presence (2 Chronicles 6:18; Acts 7:49; Exodus 25:21-22; Matthew 18:20). II. Consecrated to the holiest fellowship. “The congregation.” More; though physically shut in by the walls, in spirit we enter into fellowship with all God’s saints. III. Devoted to the cause of righteousness and love. Not sectarianism, but “the truth as in Jesus.” “We preach Christ crucified.” Our ceaseless prayer is “Thy kingdom come.” IV. Endeared by the most sacred associations. Here our fathers worshipped. Here our hearts have often been revived by the word of truth, and regaled by the bread of life sent down from heaven (Psalms 87:2-5). V. Suggestive of the noblest hopes and inspirations (Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 12:22-29; and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). (Psalms 26:9.) I. The good man is chiefly concerned about his soul. Many anxious as to health, earthly comforts, the security of their goods, &c. But the cry of the godly is “my soul.” Not in selfishness. 1. The soul is the man. 2. The salvation of the soul is necessary for the glory of God and the true ends of our being. 3. The soul is in desperate peril, and none but Christ can save. II. The good man knows that the destiny of the soul is settled at death. “Gather not my soul,” &c. Death comes to all. “Gather” (cf. Genesis 25:8; Genesis 35:29; Genesis 49:29-33; Numbers 20:24; Numbers 27:13. “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Judgment. Inferred by reason. Foreboded by conscience. Revealed by Scripture (Hebrews 9:27; Acts 17:31; 2 Corinthians 5:10). III. The good man recoils with horror from being associated in destiny with the wicked. Why? 1. Because he abhors their character. 2. Their society. 3. Their doom. Evil without restraint. Misery without relief. Eternity without hope. Would we shrink from the society of the false, the impure, the revengeful, the slaves of lust and selfishness, how much more should we recoil from eternal fellowship with these and such as these! Psalms 26:9-10. Social degeneracy. A corrupt people makes a corrupt magistracy. Psalms 26:12. The connection between private and public worship. Psalms 26:12. Rectitude is an “even place,” as contrasted with the crooked paths of the false, the hard way of transgressors, the slippery places of the world. “Certainly, it is heaven upon earth to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.”—Bacon. NOT ENOUGH(Psalms 26:1.) It is a false and mistaken liberality to say, “If a man be sincere, he is all right” Sincerity is necessary. Unless a man is sincere, he cannot be truly religious. But sincerity is not enough. A man may be sincere in his opinions, and yet be grievously in error. So it was with Eli (1 Samuel 1:14) when he called Hannah drunken. A man may be sincere in his religious beliefs, even to zealotism, and yet be far off from true godliness. So it was with Saul when he made havoc of the Church, and did things which he afterwards bitterly repented (Acts 26:9-10). Sincerity implies being true to conscience; but conscience is no safe guide by itself. It needs to be cultivated and controlled by the Spirit of God. This psalm has been referred by some to the period of David’s waiting for the kingdom; by others, to the time of Absalom’s rebellion. Hengstenberg says: “All attempts to find out any occasion to which the psalm especially referred have failed, and from this failure; we may infer either that David originally uttered the psalm from the soul of the oppressed righteous man, or that, if he wrote it in reference to a particular occasion, he generalised his own experience.”THE OF THE GOOD(Psalms 27:1-3.) I. Springs from personal faith in God. “The Lord.” This name inspires hope. Six times it is recited in the first, and seven times in the second part of the psalm. Jehovah is ever the object of true faith. 1. Intelligent. The cry of the earnest soul is, “Light.” To this God responds. He reveals Himself in Christ. He gives His word to quicken and enlighten the soul, and to illumine its pathway up to the gates of heaven (2 Corinthians 4:6; John 8:12; Psalms 18:28; Psalms 36:9; Psalms 84:11). David was called the “Light of Israel” (2 Samuel 21:17), but he himself gives God the glory: “The Lord is my light.” In this word he anticipates the great saying of the New Testament, “God is light” (1 John 1:5). 2. Appropriating. “My” is a little word, but of great significance. Only a person can say, “My.” “My home,” “My wife,” “My child.” Faith is personal. It implies recognition of the glory and preciousness of Jesus, and the receiving and resting upon Him alone for salvation. This faith is contrasted with the faith of devils (James 2:19; 1 John 5:10-12). So also it differs vitally from mere belief in historical Christianity. It is one thing to say, “God is light,” and another to say, “God is my light” It is one thing to cry, “The Lord He is God” (1 Kings 18:39), and an altogether different thing to take hold of Christ for ourselves, saying, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Luther says the marrow of the Gospels is in the pronouns “my” and “our.” Let us not be content till we can say, “The Lord is my light.” Such faith fills the heart with courage and joy (Psalms 18:1-2; Psalms 118:28; Son 6:3). 3. Soul-saving. “Salvation” implies all that we need for our safety and good. God not merely gives salvation, but He is salvation. He that by faith has laid hold of God has all covenant blessings made sure to him. “The strength of my life:” God is the stronghold in which the believer’s life is safe (Proverbs 18:10; 2 Corinthians 12:2). “My light,” “My salvation,” “The strength of my life.” Here is combined all that the soul requires,—here, as from behind a triple shield, she can “fight the good fight,”—here, as in an impregnable fortress, she can hoist the banner of the cross and bid defiance to every foe. II. Strengthened by the remembrance of past deliverances. Memory can recall and re-live the past. When rightly used, it is a helper to faith. (Psalms 27:2) Here is danger recalled. David in imagination goes back to some time of great peril. His enemies pressed him sore. Strong and fierce as wild beasts, they thirsted for his blood (Job 19:22; Zephaniah 3:3). So believers can recall times when they were in straits. God’s enemies are our enemies. “It is a hopeful sign for us when the wicked hate us: if our foes were godly men, it would be a sore sorrow; but as for the wicked, their hatred is better than their love.”—Spurgeon. Here is deliverance recorded. David’s enemies came up with haughty confidence. They counted him their sure prey; but discomfiture, strange and unexpected, befell them. “They stumbled and fell.’ These things rise up before him with the freshness of yesterday. It was the doing of the Lord, and the thought strengthens his heart.—So it was in the encounter with Goliath (1 Samuel 17:37). So it was at Ziklag and at other times (1 Samuel 30:6; Psalms 77:10-11). Here is a lesson for us. Confidence comes of experience. The remedy we have proved we readily try again. The friend we have found faithful we trust to death. The commander under whom we have conquered we follow bravely to other fields. So should we act as to God. “The Christian is rich in experiences, which he wears as bracelets and keeps as his richest jewels. He calls one Ebenezer, ‘Hitherto God hath helped;’ another, Naphtali, ‘I have wrestled with God and prevailed;’ another, Gershom, ‘I was a stranger;’ another, Joseph, ‘God will yet add more;’ another, Peniel, ‘I have seen the face of God’s (1 Samuel 7:12; Genesis 30:8; Exodus 2:22; Genesis 30:24; Genesis 32:30). I have been delivered from the lion, therefore from the bear,—from the lion and the bear, therefore from the Philistine,—from the Philistine, therefore from Saul,—from Saul, therefore God will deliver me from every evil work, and preserve me blameless to His heavenly kingdom.”—J. Sheffield. III. Sufficient for the greatest emergencies. Imagination is a great painter. Here David conjures up a terrible scene (Psalms 27:3). We see the mustering of the forces, we see the proud array of the army with tents and banners, we see the shock and terrors of the battle, and the strife, as if for a kingdom. And all this pictures the danger of his soul. Yet, in such extremity, his eye flinches not and his heart knows no fear. What sustains him? Faith in God. “In this will I be confident” (cf. Psalms 3:6-7). So with the saints. If enemies oppose, they can say with Peter, “We must obey God” (cf. Luther at Worms). If dangers thicken, they can cry with Paul, “None of these things move me.” What terror had Ahab for Micaiah, the man who had seen God? (1 Kings 22:19). What cared Elisha for “the horses and chariots” at Dothan, whose eyes beheld the angels of God ranged in his defence? (2 Kings 6:15). So, what are the hosts of darkness and all the powers of the enemy to the Christian who can say, “The Lord is my light and my salvation?” “Whom shall I fear?” The law? It is satisfied. Satan? He is conquered. Afflictions? They are sanctified. Death? It is overcome. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). THE SAINT’S REFUGE(Psalms 27:4-6.) “In time of trouble.” It may be a storm of conscience or of providence. It may be perils from temptation or from the malice of evil men. The soul flies to God and finds shelter. I. Earnestly sought (Psalms 27:4). What? “That I may dwell in the house of the Lord.” Like the priests, he wished to be wholly devoted to God. Like the children of the family, he desired to dwell constantly in his Father’s house. Communion with God was the life of his heart. Such free, affectionate, confiding intercourse with God is greatly to be coveted, and should be sought not as the privilege of special seasons, but as a daily blessing; not as the pleasure of an hour, but as a joy for ever. 2. Why? “To behold the beauty of the Lord.” Luther interprets this of the services of the sanctuary. But it cannot be thus limited. “Beauty” is loveliness. “Beauty of the Lord” is the loveliness of the Lord, all that makes Him an object of admiration and delight. To sinners, the “Beauty of the Lord” is “His glory as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ” “To inquire in His temple.” The deepest instincts of the soul prompt to inquiry. Truth is not born with us, nor can it be obtained irrespective of our own efforts. It must be sought for its own sake. It must be wooed and won, from love, before it can be enjoyed. All right investigation, whether of God’s works or God’s Word, should be conducted as under the eye of God. His temple is wide as the universe. 3. How? With concentration of heart. “One thing.” With constancy of endeavour. “That will I seek after.” When David fled from Absalom, he left behind him his house, his treasures, and all the glory of his crown; but these things were as nothing compared with the worship of God (Psalms 63; 2 Samuel 15:25). It is only when we make God our Alpha and Omega, the supreme object of our delight and study, that we can hope that He will reveal Himself to us. In our day, there are manifold objects to distract our attention. The claims of the world are constant and oppressive. There is the more need, therefore, for watchfulness and prayer. “Unite my heart to fear Thy name.” II. Graciously enjoyed (Psalms 27:5). Here there is the best shelter in the worst danger. “Pavilion,” “tent,” “rock,” (Leviticus 23:42; 2 Samuel 6:17; Psalms 60:12). This may express sovereign love. It is all of God’s grace. Righteous defence. The sinner does not hide furtively, but is led by the hand of the Prince. The deliverance is not the mere act of power, but is wrought in righteousness. God is a just God, and a Saviour. The sinner flees to Christ, not to hide from God, but to hide with God (Genesis 3:10; Psalms 143:9). Inviolable security. “Immutability, eternity, and infinite power here come to the aid of sovereignty and sacrifice. How blessed is the standing of the man whom God Himself sets on high above his foes upon an impregnable rock, which never can be stormed!”—Spurgeon. “He shall set me up upon a rock.” There may be a reminiscence here of the hour when, from the top of the rock, David reproached Abner for his remissness in guarding Saul (1 Samuel 26:5-16). Rock Rimmon was but a poor retreat. The fugitive may take hold of the horns of the altar, and yet perish (1 Kings 2:29). The manslayer might reach the city of refuge, and after all be condemned. But he that trusts in the Lord shall never be moved. The attributes of God, that were once arrayed against the sinner, are now converted into a canopy for his defence. III. Exultingly acknowledged (Psalms 27:6). Here is a burst of delight, like the trumpets of jubilee (Numbers 10:10; Numbers 29:1). “Sacrifices of shouting,” a stronger form of expression than the usual “sacrifices of thanksgiving,” and equivalent to “sacrifices accompanied with the loud and glad expression of thankfulness.”—Perowne. Implies: 1. Manly confidence. “And now shall my head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me.” “Two things make the head hang down—fear and shame. Hope easeth the Christian’s heart of both these, and so forbids him to give any sign of a desponding mind by a dejected countenance.”—W. Gurnall (cf. Psalms 110:7; Luke 21:28). 2. Devout gratitude. “Therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of joy.” This indicates the peace-offering, which was expressive of fellowship with God (Leviticus 3; Leviticus 7). Since the peril was past, since the joy of salvation was restored, he would praise God. 3. Exulting joy. “I will sing; yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.” “Sing and celebrate.” The latter verb intimates the accompaniment of instrumental music in the worship of God. David does not speak of jubilations in his palace or feastings in his banqueting-hall, but of songs of praise in the house of God. PRAYER FOR A TIME OF NEED(Psalms 27:7-12.) There are lights and shadows in the Christian life. We see this here. “The triumphant strain of confidence now gives way to one of sad and earnest entreaty. Is it (as Calvin) that the Psalmist sought in the former part of the psalm to comfort himself with the review of God’s unfailing strength and protection, that he might with the more reason utter his prayer for help? Or is it not rather, that even while he is thus strengthening himself in his God, a sudden blast of temptation sweeps over his soul, freezing the current of his life,—some fear lest he should be forsaken, some thought of the craft and malice of his enemies,—till now the danger which threatens him is as prominent an object as the salvation and defence were before?”—Perowne. This prayer is characterised by— I. Deep humility and earnestness (Psalms 27:7). Here there is utter self-abandonment. The Psalmist casts himself, sinner as he is, upon the mercy of God. His “cry” finds vent by the “voice.” This gives the more reality and force to the prayer. The craving to be heard is intense. How eagerly do we wait for the reply from a friend to an important letter! So should we watch for God’s answer to our prayers. “Mercy” is the hope of sinners and the joy of saints. II. Christ-like trust in God’s word (Psalms 27:8). “The words, SEEK YE MY FACE, are the words of God, which the servant of God here, as it were, takes from His mouth, that so laying them before God, he may make his appeal the more irresistible. Thou hast said, Seek ye My face. My heart makes these words its own, and builds upon them its resolve. It takes them up and repeats them, ‘Seek ye my face.’ It first claims thus thine own gracious words, O Lord, and then its echo to those words is, ‘Thy face, Lord, I will seek.’ Such is the soul’s dialogue with itself when it would comfort itself in God.”—Perowne. True obedience is prompt, hearty, and unreserved. Not truer is the answer of chord to chord, not readier is the response of the echo to the voice, than the reply of the heart to the call of God. III. Grateful recognition of God’s favour (Psalms 27:9). The face of God means His favour (Psalms 31:16; Psalms 119:58). To hide the face indicates disapproval and estrangement (Psalms 55:1; Isaiah 53:3; Isaiah 54:2; Jeremiah 33:5). To put away a servant in wrath expresses the highest dissatisfaction and displeasure. David felt that to be thus treated by God would be the most terrible calamity. Hence his earnest prayer. He was God’s servant, and he could not live without the sunshine of His love. The remembrance of past joys and favours made him the more bold. “Thou hast been my help.” One act of mercy engages God to do another. Urgent pleading rises to full confidence. “Leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.” God’s people may learn here to deprecate desertion, plead experience, expect deliverance. IV. Steadfast reliance upon God’s faithfulness amidst the failure of earthly comforts (Psalms 27:10). During the persecution of Saul, David committed his parents to the care of the king of Moab (1 Samuel 22:3-4). We do not hear of them again. Sooner or later, children and parents must be separated. As there is no greater earthly comfort than the love of father and mother, so there is no greater earthly calamity than their loss. (Moses, Exodus 2:6-9; Ishmael, Genesis 21; Ps. 88:8, 19.) But in such a crisis, God will not fail (Isaiah 49:15). We may rely upon God in the greatest extremities (Psalms 143:12; 1 Timothy 4:10). Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, “I will not leave you orphans” (John 14:18). V. Practical submission to God’s will is the truest safety (Psalms 27:11-12). From weakness within and trials without, we are in constant danger of going astray (Jeremiah 10:23). In dealing with Absalom, David felt that he might err on the side of mildness or of severity. So at other times. God’s way is always the best way. Here it is described, commanded, and sought after. It is right. “Thy way.” It is pleasant. “Plain path.” It is safe. Here it is not the will of the ungodly, but the holy, loving will of God that is regnant (Psalms 27:12). VI. Encouraging self admonition to hope in God for ever (Psalms 27:13-14) The psalmist communes with himself. The words are the broken utterance of deep feeling (cf. Genesis 31:42; Exodus 32:32). Here we see the weakness of the soul. “I had fainted.” Whenever we lose sight of “the goodness of the Lord,” we grow weak. Faith, hope, and love, are ready to fail. The strength of the soul. “Unless I had believed,”—”a cordial made up of three sovereign ingredients—a hope to see, and to see the goodness of God; and the goodness of God in the land of the living.”—Sir R. Baker. “Look unto me and be ye saved.” Inspired with new courage, the believer consecrates himself afresh to God. “There is no more dignified species of worship to be found than that of exemplifying our faith in the omnipotence and wisdom of God, by humble and joyous perseverance under the greatest difficulties.”—Tholuck The great lesson of the psalm comes out at the close, “Wait, I say, on the Lord.” “Devote yourself to God, and you will findGod fights the battles of a will resigned;Love Jesus! love will no base fear endure,Love Jesus! and of conquest rest secure.”—BISHOP KEER. Hitsig and others have assigned this psalm to Jeremiah, but there does not seem to be thy sufficient reason for questioning the traditional title which gives it to David. It may have been composed before he became king in Jerusalem, or at the time of Absalom’s rebellion. It consists of two divisions. After earnestly entreating audience (Psalms 28:1-2), the psalmist prays that he may not be confounded with the wicked in their just punishment (Psalms 28:3-5). He then gives thanks for anticipated deliverance, and ends with a catholic prayer for the blessing of God upon all His people (Psalms 28:6-9). There are points of resemblance between this psalm and the two preceding.THE OF THE HEARTThis psalm may be held to express the deepest feelings of the heart. I. The sense of dependence upon God (Psalms 28:1). This “cry” is common. It expresses dependence. It is founded on the relation of the soul to God. The creature cries to the Creator, the subject cries to the sovereign, the sinner cries to the Saviour. In want and peril; when burdened with sorrow, and when bowed to the dust under the sense of sin and the fear of death, the soul instinctively, turns to God for relief. “My Rock” (cf. Psalms 18:2; Psalms 31:2; Psalms 42:9). There is everything in God to meet the needs of His people. If they are weak, with Him is everlasting strength. If all things “under the sun” are liable to change, He is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” How sweet it is to say unto God “my Rock.” This gives confidence in life and in death. Said a dying saint (the Rev. John Rees), “Christ in His person, Christ in the love of His heart, and Christ in the power of His arm, is the rock on which I rest; and now” (reclining his head gently on the pillow), “Death, strike.” II. Craving for fellowship with God. The more we love a friend, the more strongly we seek his presence, and the more deeply do we deplore his estrangement and silence. Here, 1. God’s silence is deprecated as the greatest evil. Many feel no concern whether their prayers are heard or not. Mere formalists. Not so the psalmist. For God to be silent to him, was terrible. It left him without resource and hope; it seemed the closing in upon him of the “blackness of darkness,” of the grave or of hell. He shrinks from such a doom, as an unspeakable horror. Hence his passionate cry, “Be not silent to me,” &c. (“the pit” cf. Psalms 22:29; Psalms 30:3; Isaiah 14:19, Ezekiel 26:20). 2. God’s fellowship sought as the greatest good (Psalms 28:2). Humbly. The lifting up of the hands is the symbolism of prayer (Exodus 9:29, 1 Kings 8:22). It expresses the desire of the humble, the reaching forth of the heart to God. Earnestly. “The earnestness of the cry is to be measured, not only by the greatness of the peril which is threatened, but by the faith which cleaves to God, knowing that in Him only is there help.”—Perowne. “When I cry,” that is now, at once, while I am speaking. Importunately. It is a matter of life and death. “Supplications.” This word, being in the plural, shows the persistence and constancy of the good in prayer. Through faith in the mercy of God. “Holy Oracle,” “This is the Holy of Holies, where the mercy seat stood;” for the “Oracle” is, in Hebrew, the spot where Jehovah spoke to men, referring probably to His promise in Exodus 25:22, “There will I meet thee, and commune with thee.”—Bonar. “To this, as the depositary of the ark and the earthly residence of God, the ancient saints looked, as we look now to Christ, in whom the idea of the Mosaic sanctuary has been realised.”—Alexander. “We stretch out empty hands, for we are beggars; we lift them up, for we seek heavenly supplies; we lift them towards the mercy-seat of Jesus, for there our expectation dwells.”—Spurgeon. God’s fellowship is the life and joy of the soul. We want, not so much what He gives, as Himself. III. Confidence in the eternal justice of God. This world is not left to chance, or blind fate, or mere arbitrary will. It is governed by a power that maketh for righteousness. This has been the faith of the good in all ages. “If this fail,The pillared firmament is rottenness,And earth’s base built on stubble.”—Milton.Hence, there is room for prayer (Psalms 28:3-5). First, deliverance is sought from the doom of the wicked. “Draw me not away,” i.e., to destruction with them (Exodus 32:20; Job 24:22; Psalms 26:9). “The wicked, the workers of iniquity, and the deceivers, are three terms for the unrighteous, referring to the heart, the hand, and the tongue.”—Murphy. The good man shrinks from such company. He appeals confidently to God, not to confound the just with the unjust. Next, Retribution is craved (Psalms 28:4). This implies their obstinate impenitency. Reason, conscience, and revelation proclaim that for such there can be no escape. There may be delay, there may be seeming inequality and failure, but retribution must come in the end, to the uttermost. The faith of the psalmist rises to prophetic certainty. There is nothing of mere human passion and animosity. “The reason why God’s judgments should overtake the wicked, is not their malice against the psalmist, but their disregard of the Most High.”—Perowne. IV. Gratitude for the Goodness of God. Prayer leads to praise. The full heart bursts into song. “Blessed be the Lord!” For answered prayers (Psalms 28:6). Perhaps the very thing asked was granted, or something better given instead. Answered prayers demand acknowledgment. For assistance in time of need (Psalms 28:7). “My strength,” internal. “My shield,” external. The former includes all needful grace to enlighten, renew, and sanctify. The latter implies help and defence against every foe. How complete is the security of the people of God! For assurance of hope. “The certainty that prayer is heard anticipates visible fulfilment.”—Perowne. “My heart trusteth in Him.” This flows from the “strength,” and wins the “shield.” Twice over he says “my heart,” not only showing the sincerity, but the strength and intensity of his gratitude. “With (lit. ‘out of’) my song,” the song being, as it were, the source and the occasion of his praise (Psalms 22:25). “He who enjoys aught without thanksgiving, is as though he robbed God.”—Talmud. V. Exulting Joy in the Saving Strength of God (Psalms 28:8). Every believer is, like Paul, “a pattern.” What God does for one, He is able to do for all. The attention is fixed upon Him as an Almighty and All-Merciful Saviour. “The Lord is their strength,” i.e., of yonder ones, of such as possess the character already described (cf. Psalms 119:9-11; Isaiah 33:2). “He is the saving strength of His anointed.” “First the people, then Himself their monarch, but not David the man, but David the king as anointed of God, and chosen to feed His people.”—Perowne. Strength that is rightly used, to help and not to oppress, to save and not to destroy, commands admiration. Here is the glory of the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. Christ came not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.” VI. Trust in the ultimate triumph and blessedness of God’s people (Psalms 28:9). “It is impossible not to see, in these tender loving words, ‘feed them, and bear them,’ the heart of the Shepherd-King. Feed them, O Thou true Shepherd of Israel (Psalms 80:1); bear them, carry them in Thine arms (Isaiah 63:9; Isaiah 40:11). Perhaps the reference may be to Deuteronomy 1:31; Deuteronomy 32:11.”—Perowne. Mark, as to the good. 1. Their character. “Thy people.” 2. Their privilege. “Thine inheritance” (Deuteronomy 4:20; Ephesians 1:16). 3. Their destiny. “Save” from sin. “Bless” with the fruits of righteousness. “Feed” with the bread of life. “Lift” with the arm of the Lord to the dignity and blessedness of heaven. This prayer breathes throughout the most Catholic spirit. It is akin to that of Paul (Ephesians 3:14-19). This prayer expresses also the most delightful confidence. It looks to the future with hope. It sees a good time coming, and is glad, with foretaste of the joy. What an inspiration to all who pray and work. “Ah! when shall all men’s goodBe each man’s rule, and universal peaceLie like a shaft of light across the land,And like a lane of beams athwart the sea,Thro’ all the circle of the golden year.”—Tennyson. [1] Note.—Thunder is extremely rare in Palestine during summer. Hence the miracle wrought by Samuel at the time of wheat-harvest must have made the greater impression on the people (1 Samuel 12:17-18). Thunder is called “the voice of God” (cf. Job 37:2; Job 40:9, Psalms 38:13, Isaiah 30:31). It is the symbol of the Divine power and vengeance (1 Samuel 2:10; 1 Samuel 7:10; 2 Samuel 22:14; Exodus 9:28). On occasions when God has specially intimated His presence, there have been accompaniments of thunder (cf. Sinai, Exodus 19:16, and Hebrews 12:18-24, also John 12:29, and Revelation 4:5; Revelation 8:5, &c). The poets of all lands make frequent reference to the thunder. There is a magnificent description of a thunder-storm in Job 36:27 to Job 37:5, which may be compared with that in this psalm, Æschylus, Virgil, and Lucretius (book vi.) among the ancients, and Milton, Klopstock, and others among the moderns, have passages of great sublimity and beauty, describing thunderstorms. The following extracts are from Æschylus and Milton: “I feel in very deed The firm earth rock; the thunder’s deepening roar Rolls with redoubled rage; the bickering flames Flash thick; the eddying sands are whirl’d on high; In dreadful opposition, the wild winds Rend the vexed air; the boisterous billows rise, Confounding earth and sky, the impetuous storm Rolls all its terrible fury.”—Trans, by Potter. “Either tropic now ‘Gan thunder, and both ends of heaven, the clouds From many a horrid rift abortive pour’d Fierce rain, with lightning mix’d, water with fire, In ruin reconcil’d; nor slept the winds Within their stony caves, but rush’d abroad From the four hinges of the world, and fell On the vex’d wilderness, whose tallest pines, Though rooted deep as high, and sturdiest oaks, Bow’d their stiff necks, laden with stormy blasts, Or torn up sheer.” —Paradise Regained, book iv. “This psalm is a magnificent description of a thunder-storm. Its mighty march from north to south, the desolation and terror which it causes, the peal of thunder, the flash of the lightning, even the gathering fury and lull of the elements, are vividly depicted. The psalm consists of five parts: a prelude, the body of the poem in three divisions, and a conclusion. The structure (‘first fully explained by Ewald’) of the whole is highly artificial, and elaborated with a symmetry of which no more perfect specimen exists in Hebrew. But this evidently artificial mode of composition is no check to the force and fire of the poet’s genius, which kindles and glows, and sweeps along with all the freedom and majesty of the storm; the whole psalm being one continued strain of triumphant exultation. I. In the prelude, the singer lifts our thoughts at once from earth to heaven, by calling on the angels, who stand around the throne of God, to praise Him who manifests His glory in the thunder and lightning which He sends upon the earth (Psalms 29:1-2). II. Then follows the description of the storm in the three strophes which constitute the main body of the poem. These are so constructed, that too first (Psalms 29:3-4) gives us the beginning of the storm, the low, faint muttering thunder in the distant heavens; the next (Psalms 29:5-7) describes the storm at its height, when it crashes the cedars and shakes the mountains; the last (Psalms 29:8-9) tells how it passes on over the plain-country to the forest of Kadesh, where it dies away. III. The conclusion consists, like the prelude, of two verses, each of two members. And here we are beautifully reminded that Jehovah, whom the angels praise, and who both rules and stills the elements in their wildest uproar, is the Jehovah who gives strength and peace to His people” (Psalms 29:10-11).—Preowne.(Psalms 29:1-11.) If Psalms 8. should be read at night, when the sky is bright with stars, and Psalms 19 by day, when the sun is high in the heavens, this ought to be studied during the gloom of the tempest, when the thunder rolls, and the lightnings flash, and the terrors of the Lord are on every side. It is then we can best realise its grandeur and beauty, and feel its power to bring us nearer God (Psalms 29:1-2). First, the psalmist would raise us to the true stand-point, that side by side with the angels, “the godlike ones,” “the sons of the mighty,” and inspired like them with holy love and joy, we may sing Jehovah’s praise: “Give unto the Lord, ye sons of the mighty,Give unto the Lord glory and strength;Give unto the Lord the glory of His name,Bow down to the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”“In the beauty of holiness.” This is rendered in the margin of our Bibles, “In His glorious sanctuary,” others translate, “in holy attire,” “in the vestments of the sanctuary,” “in the beautiful robes of the priesthood.” True holiness is of the soul. All things outwardly beautiful are but types of the beautiful in soul. The meaning seems to be that as in heaven, so on earth, God should be worshipped in the beauty of holiness. Standing with the psalmist, as it were, on the heights of Zion, let us watch the tempest, and let our hearts answer as he calls us. I. To hear the voice of God in the thunder-storm (Psalms 29:3). “The voice of the Lord.” This was heard in the garden (Genesis 3:8) calling Adam; or Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 4:12; Deuteronomy 5:22) proclaiming the ten commandments; by the prophets (Isaiah 6:8; Jeremiah 26:13) announcing the invitations and warnings of the gospel; and in the thunderings with which the mountains tremble (1 Samuel 7:10). The inspired writers see a unity in things, and discern the voice of God in the sounds of inanimate nature, as well as in the articulate words of human speech. In the present passage, the voice of the thunder is mentioned seven times (Revelation 10:3), which points to its sacred nature, and heavenly source.”—Murphy. Reason and revelation agree in their teachings. The cold scientist may see nothing in the thunder-storm but law and force, and the trembling savage may behold only a dreadful power which he cannot comprehend; but the Hebrew poet teaches us to recognise the presence and working of Jehovah. What is law, but His will; what is force, but His strength; what are all the phenomena of nature, but manifestations of His glory. A voice implies a speaker, and interprets to us his thought. Nature is to us the voice of God, and interprets to us His thoughts. We should think of Him as present not only representatively or influentially, but personally, and speaking to us, as truly by His works, as by His Word. II. To adore the glory of God in the thunder-storm (Psalms 29:3-9). Realising the presence of God, we are called to behold His strength and glory as reflected in the tempest. The description, though artificial, is in the highest degree vivid and powerful. “i. In the first strophe, we hear the first yet distant sound of the thunder in the words, ‘The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters.’ In the next two clauses, ‘The God of glory thundereth: Jehovah is upon many waters,’ the long, loud peal grows more distinct; whilst in Psalms 29:4., again, it is pitched in a lower key, as if telling us of a pause in the storm. “ii. In the next strophe, we have again (a) first, the renewed fury of the tempest, as coming nearer yet, it falls on the glory of Lebanon, and breaks her cedars in its might. ‘The voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars,’ &c. (b) Next, gathering, with a wilder intensity of wrath, it bursts upon the mountain peaks, roaring amid their rocks, and shattering them; and making the everlasting hills themselves to tremble as if with the throes of an earthquake, so that ‘Lebanon and Sirion skip like young buffaloes.’ (c) Lastly, we hear it sinking down in the line which describes the flashing of the forked lightning: ‘The voice of Jehovah cleaveth the flames of fire’ (Psalms 29:5-7). “iii. Again, the same structure is observable. One long peal after another has rolled and reverberated along the sky, and now the storm, in its jubilant strength, sweeps the whole land from north to south. (a) Again, it is up in its majesty: ‘The voice of Jehovah maketh the wilderness to tremble.’ (b) Again, its last fury is poured out upon the wilderness of Kadesh. The very hinds bow themselves in travail pangs, and the forest is torn open and laid bare, as the hurricane drives through it in its path. (c) And again, the tempest is stilled, but this time its voice is hushed and lost for ever in the music and songs of the heavenly host. ‘In His temple, all that are therein cry Glory’ (Psalms 29:8-9).”—Perowne. III. To confide in God as the Almighty ruler of the thunder-storm (Psalms 29:10-11). The tempest has fulfilled its mission. The air seems purer, and the sun shines with a more chastened radiance. In the sweet tranquillity of the scene, the psalmist speaks words of instruction and comfort. He would strengthen our faith and hope in God. 1. We are taught to confide in God as an Almighty King. “Sitteth” in the tranquillity of an upright and Almighty Judge. “Upon the flood,” that overwhelmed the old world, and rises and surges for the final overthrow of the wicked in a deluge, not of water, but of fire (2 Peter 3:7-10). “Sitteth King,” to defend the right and defeat the wrong. “For ever!” The dominion that “has no beginning, knows no end.”—Murphy. 2. As blessing His people with strength and peace. “These are the two great blessings of salvation. ‘His people,’ who are born of God, receive from Him the inheritance of sons, and are for ever distinguished from that wicked world that rejects the offers of His grace, and reaps the vengeance of everlasting destruction.”—Murphy. “Very beautiful is the conclusion of the psalm. If, in His heavenly temple above, all that are therein ascribe ‘glory’ to God, upon earth, too, He has manifested His glory. He sat as king when He sent the flood of water to destroy the earth. He sits now, and for ever will sit, as king. As then He saved the righteous man from death, so now He watches over His people, for Jehovah is the God of Israel. It was He who, when the storm waxed strong, gave it its strength; it was He who, when it was hushed, spread over earth, and sea, and sky, the sweet Sabbath stillness of peace. And He whose almighty power was seen in the march of the tempest, whose voice was heard in its wildest uproar, and whose word stilled its fiercest war, shall He not give both strength and peace? Yea Jehovah, who is strong and mighty, will give His own strength to His people. And He who is the Prince of Peace, will bless His people with peace. Thus the psalm begins, as Delitzch says, with a gloria in excelsis, and ends with a pax in torris.”—Perowne. NATURE GOD’S TEMPLEI. Built by His hand (Psalms 29:9). “I asked the earth, and it said, ‘I am not He,’ and all that is upon it made the same confession. I asked the sun, and the depths, and the creeping things that have life, and they answered, ‘We are not thy God; look thou above us.’ I asked the breezes and the gales; and the whole air with its inhabitants said to me, ‘Anaximenes is in error, I am not God.’ I asked the heaven, the sun, the moon, the stars, ‘We too,’ said they, ‘are not the God whom thou seekest.’ And I said to all the creatures that surround the doors of my fleshly senses, ‘Ye have said to me, of my God, that ye are not He; tell me somewhat of Him.” And with a great voice, they exclaimed, ‘He made us.’ ”—Augustine (Conf. 10, 6). “Every house is builded by some man, but he that built all things is God” (Hebrews 3:4). II. Hallowed by His presence. Nature is not an empty framework—a house without an inhabitant—a temple without a God. “I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.”—Bacon. God is everywhere, and to the eye of faith He is ever revealing more and more of His glory. “How precious are Thy thoughts to me, O Lord” (Psalms 139:17). He who cannot find God in His works, is likely to miss Him in His Word. He who does not regard earth as sacred, is in danger of treating heaven as profane. “The men,Whom nature’s works can charm, with God HimselfHold converse; grow familiar day by dayWith his conceptions; act upon His plan,And form to His, the relish of their souls.”III. Consecrated to His worship (Psalms 29:9). This implies worshippers. Though nature reveals God, what boots it, if there were none to “speak of His glory.” The devout soul turns to nature as to a temple. “To that cathedral, boundless as our wonder,Whose quenchless lamps, the sun and moon supply;Its choir the winds and waves, its organ thunder,Its dome, the sky.There amid solitude and shade I wanderThrough the green aisles; and stretched upon the sod,Awed by the silence, reverently ponderThe ways of God,”LEARN: 1. The sanctity of nature. 2. The holy uses of nature. 3. The subordination of nature to Christ “Read nature, nature is a friend to truth,Nature is Christian, preaches to mankind,And bids dead matter aid us in our Creed.”—Young. “This psalm was composed after recovery from a sickness which had very nearly proved fatal. The singer begins with an inscription of praise to God for His great goodness, and calls upon all who, like himself, had known the loving-kindness of Jehovah, to join him in his thanksgiving. Thence he passes (Psalms 30:6.) to a recital of his own experience, his pleading with God in his affliction, and God’s answer to his prayer. According to the inscription, the psalm was composed “at the dedication of the house.” But what house? Some would understand the dedication of the spot on which the Temple afterwards stood, and which David purchased of Araunah (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). Others conjecture that by “the dedication of the house,” is meant a purification and reconsecration of David’s palace which Absalom had defiled (2 Samuel 20:3). But, perhaps, if the inscription be trustworthy, it refers to the house which David built in his new city of Zion, and the building of which he seems to have regarded as a pledge of the security and prosperity of his kingdom (2 Samuel 5:11-12). We must, however, still suppose that he had suffered just before from a sickness, about which the history is silent.”—Perowne. ON FROM . God’s hand in sending sickness (Psalms 30:1-5). Sickness is common. No house is exempt, no age safe from its ravages. Sooner or later it comes to all. But we err, if we think it a chance, or the result of mere second causes. The psalmist saw in it the hand of God. “Thou hast lifted me up” (as a bucket from a well, Exodus 2:16; Exodus 2:19). How changed is sickness, when we recognise that it is sent of God. He does not act from caprice or passion. There is a “need be” (1 Peter 1:6). It is in love, and for our good, that He afflicts. As Jesus took the blind man whom He was about to heal “aside from the multitude” (Mark 7:33), so He takes His people, in sickness, aside from the din and bustle of the world, that in quietness and in solitude, He may speak to their hearts. II. God’s mercy in alleviating sickness (Psalms 30:1). David felt that his case might have been far worse. As we learn from 1 Chronicles 21:12, he was offered his choice of three evils,—war, famine, or pestilence. He shrank from the first. His brave heart could not bear the shame of being driven before his foes. In his strait he left the decision with God. “Let me fall now into the hands of the Lord, for very great are His mercies.” Nor was he disappointed. Though cast down, he was not cast off; though visited with sore affliction, “God had not made his enemies to rejoice over him.” There are alleviations in every sickness. In wrath God remembers mercy. There is restraining mercy. “He stayeth His rough wind in the day of His east wind” (Isaiah 27:8; cf. Ezra 9:13; Malachi 3:17.) There is upholding mercy. Not only is life spared, and the grave deprived of its prey, but inward strength is given. Faith is confirmed; foes who watched for falls and prophesied evil are disappointed. There is comforting mercy. Books are a great help; the love of friends is a great solace. How different to be watched by the kind eyes, and to be ministered to by the gentle hands of those who love us, than to pine in solitude, or to be waited upon by strangers and hirelings! But, above all, there are the comforts of religion. Baxter said, “I have pain, there is no use arguing against sense; but I have peace, I have peace!” Samuel Rutherford said of Jesus, “His sweet presence eateth out the bitterness of sorrow.” III. God’s loving kindness in restoring from sickness. There are many who have no sense of God’s mercies. They may have stirrings of heart and relentings so long as sickness lasts, but when it is over they go back to their old ways; they are little, if at all, altered for the better by what they have gone through. God is not in all their thoughts. But it is different with true believers. Their grateful cry is, “Thou hast healed me” (Psalms 30:2-3). Here recovery from sickness is represented— 1. As granted in answer to prayer. Mark the earnestness and faith of the supplicant. He cries to God as a child to his father. He takes hold of God’s strength, and pleads with Him as his covenant God. “O Lord my God.” Happy sickness that drives the soul to Jesus 1 2. As effected by sovereign love (Psalms 30:3). It was the Lord’s doing. Thrice does David say, “Thou hast.” And it was all of grace, and not for any deserving on his part. This thought awakens the liveliest gratitude (Psalms 116:1). 3. As designed for the holiest ends (Psalms 30:4; Psalms 30:6). If he had been brought back, as from the brink of the grave, and his strength restored, it was that he might consecrate himself anew to God, and serve Him with greater love and steadfastness (Psalms 119:67): “Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy word” (cf. Isaiah 38:17-19; Hebrews 12:7-11; 1 Peter 5:10). Jeremy Taylor says that “God who in mercy and wisdom governs the world, would never have suffered so many sadnesses, and have sent them especially to the most virtuous and the wisest men, but that He intends they should be the seminary of thought, the nursery of virtue, the exercise of wisdom, the trial of patience, the venturing for a crown, and the gate of glory.” A SONG TO THE LORD(Psalms 30:4-5.) I. The Singers. “Ye saints of His.” “Beloved,” more literally, “who have obtained mercy of Him.”—Perowne. “His gracious ones.”—Alexander. “His pious ones.”—Murphy. “David would not fill his choir with reprobates, but with sanctified persons who could sing from their hearts. He calls to you, ye people of God, because ye are saints; and if sinners are wickedly silent, let your holiness constrain you to sing. You are His saints, chosen, blood-bought, called, and set apart for God, sanctified on purpose that you should offer the daily sacrifice of praise.”—Spurgeon. II The Song. Consider:— 1. The Theme (Psalms 30:4). “His holiness.” “His holy name,” literally, “His holy memorial,” with reference, no doubt, to the passage in Exodus 3:15 : “This is My name for ever, and this is My memorial to all generations.” “God’s name is His revelation of Himself in all His various attributes of love, wisdom, power, holiness, truth, and righteousness. God’s memorial is that great history of redemption which was, so to speak, the setting up of a monument to His glory, on which all these attributes were inscribed.”—Perowne. 2. The Spirit. Devoutness. “Unto the Lord.” Sociality. “Ye saints.” Gratitude. “Give thanks.” Gratitude is a free and joyous affection. It has been well called the memory of the heart. “ ‘Holy, holy, holy!’ is the song of seraphim and cherubim; let us join it, not dolefully, as though we trembled at the holiness of God, but cheerfully, as humbly rejoicing in it.”—Spurgeon. 3. The occasion (Psalms 30:5., cf. 1 Chronicles 21:15). The plague that followed the sin of numbering the people had brought David very low, but the voice that said “It is enough,” lifted him and his up again. The night of death, like that of Egypt, had filled the land with weeping, but the morning of mercy ushered in a day of gratitude and joy for the forgiven king and his people (Psalms 30:5). “A reason why God’s saints should praise Him, because He manifests Himself to them in love, not in wrath, or if in wrath, but for a moment. Love rules over all. The literal rendering of the verse is: ‘For, in His anger is (but) a moment, in His favour a life; in the evening, weeping may come in to pass the night; but with the morning (there is) a shout of joy.’ The parallelism is carefully preserved in each member, ‘anger, favour;’ ‘a moment, a life;’ ‘evening, morning;’ ‘weeping, joy.’ We must not repeat the verb ‘pass the night’ with the second clause. Weeping is described in the first under the image of a wayfarer who comes in at evening to lodge for the night. The suddenness and surprise of gladness, on the other hand, in the morning, are beautifully represented by the simple μַ ?αּ ?χָ ?ψγִ ?τָ ?δ ‘at dawn, a shout of joy,’ without a verb. Just as the sun in Eastern lands, without any long prelude of twilight to announce his coming, leaps in, as it were, in a moment, above the horizon, so does the light of God’s love dispel in a moment the long night and darkness of sorrow. See the beautiful parallel (Isaiah 54:7-8)”.—Perowne. LINKS IN THE CHAIN OF LIFE(Psalms 30:6-12.) I. Prosperity and presumption (Psalms 30:6). The pronoun is emphatic. “And as for me.” “There is a tacit opposition between the psalmist’s present and his former experience. Now he had learnt through the lesson of suffering to trust in God. Before that suffering came, he had begun to trust in himself. ‘I seemed so strong, so secure, I began to think within myself, I shall never be moved.’ ”—Perowne. “Prosperity,—the Hebrew word includes the idea of prosperity, and of that self-confidence which it produces.”—Alexander (cf. Deuteronomy 8:11-18; Deuteronomy 32:15; Hosea 13:6; 2 Chronicles 32:25). In itself “prosperity” is not evil but good. It is promised to the righteous (Psalms 1:3). It is a token of God’s favour (Genesis 26:12-13). But it needs much faith and humility to prevent its becoming a snare. It often leads to pride, self-indulgence, and forgetfulness of God. Thus what is good is perverted to bad uses. “In prosperity conscience is a pope that gives dispensations to the heart.”—Samuel Rutherford. “When men are made spiritually faint by dealing in and with the world, Satan sets on them, as Amalek did on the faint and weak of the people that came out of Egypt.”—Owen. “Little knowsAny, but God alone, to value rightThe good before him, but perverts best thingsTo worst alone, or to their meanest use.”—Milton.II. Presumption and chastisement (Psalms 30:7). God’s love is shown in divers ways. He treats His children according to their special requirements, but His ends are ever the same. Prosperity, when it leads to presumption, is a sore evil. It needs sharp treatment. Speaking is not enough (Jeremiah 22:2). Another method must be adopted. “Thou didst hide Thy face.” There is no greater affliction than this. The loss of health and prosperity is bad, the estrangement of friends is worse, but the withdrawal of God, as if in anger, is worst of all. The light of God’s face is salvation (Psalms 44:3). Zion’s strength was nothing, all the glory of Israel was gone if God departed. No wonder the psalmist says “I was troubled,” “ ‘agitated,’ ‘terrified,’ ‘perplexed.’ ”—Alexander. Let us thank God for chastisement. It is for our good. We presume upon our health, and God sends sickness. We presume upon our friends, and God takes them from us. We presume upon our reputation and worldly goods, and God lets us be put to shame. We presume upon our frames and feelings in religion, and God suffers us to be tried with doubts and to walk in darkness. So in many ways, God teaches us humility, and shuts us up to Himself as the supreme and abiding good. “Certainly virtue is like precious odours, most fragrant when they are incensed or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.”—Bacon. III. Chastisement and prayer (Psalms 30:8-10). “Is any among you afflicted, let him pray.” The two things are naturally connected. Consider David’s prayer. 1. It is earnest (Psalms 30:8). “I cried unto the Lord.” His whole soul went out in a cry (cf. 1 Chronicles 21:16-17). 2. It is argumentative (Psalms 30:9). Like Job, he reasons with the Almighty (Job 23:4; cf. Isaiah 33:18-19). “What profit is in my blood;” in my death. “Shall the dust praise Thee?” “To thank God for His mercy, and to show the truth of His grace, form the chief end for which He leaves His people here for a season. The dust cannot do this, and the spirit is not here.”—Murphy. 3. It is disinterested. He does not seek prolonged life for his own sake, but in order to serve and praise God. He felt that his life would be more useful than his death (cf. Philippians 1:23-25). It is a blessed thing when Enastisement thus leads the soul to cast itself on God, and to acquiesce in His will. “Nearer my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee,E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me.”IV. Prayer and deliverance (Psalms 30:11). His prayer has been answered. Here he acknowledges the greatness of his deliverance. 1. It was the Lord’s doing. “Thou hast,” &c. “Turned” (cf. John 16:20), not “exchanged for,” but “turned into.” 2. It was complete. “Beating the breast was a token of mourning. Dancing was an expression of pious joy (2 Samuel 6:14). So sackcloth was the garb of mourning (1 Chronicles 21:16). ‘Girded me with gladness.’ New garments are the wonted symbol of salvation” (Isaiah 61:3).—Murphy. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me” (Psalms 1:5). V. Deliverance and praise (Psalms 30:12). “The sackcloth of his humiliation God had taken away off him, and had clothed him with the garment of praise. How should he do otherwise than praise God for ever for His goodness.”—Perowne. “To the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee.” The soul is the noblest part, the glory of man, and God’s deliverances are worthy of the highest efforts of the soul, in gratitude and praise. How often have God’s saints realised the truth of all these things in their experience (Psalms 103:3; Psalms 116:1). When we bow our hearts to God as our Father in Heaven, and say Thy will be done, we can confidently end with the triumphant song “Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever.” A psalm, in which the psalmist rises by prayer, from trouble, to lively faith and hope in God. The older interpreters founding on the use of the same word in Psalms 31:2-3 (Heb.), and 1 Samuel 23:25, for the most part, refer the psalm to the time when David fled from Saul into the wilderness of Maon. Ewald, Hitzig, and others attribute it to Jeremiah, chiefly because of its plaintive character, and from the fact that certain expressions found in this psalm are also found in Jeremiah (cf. Psalms 31:14. and Jeremiah 20:10, and the recurrence of the phrase “Fear on every side,” Jeremiah 6:25; Jeremiah 20:3; Jeremiah 46:5; Jeremiah 49:29; Lamentations 2:22). As to this, Tholuck says, “That the prophets used the psalms, and not the psalmist the prophets, may be inferred from the fondness of Jeremiah to weave the sayings of the ancients into his compositions (cf. Psalms 1:3; Psalms 33:7). Perowne says, “On other grounds there is no reason why the psalm should not be David’s. It breathes throughout his rare tenderness of spirit, as well as his faith and courage. The figures of the stronghold and the rock so often repeated (Psalms 31:2-4), are most suitable in his mouth (cf. Psalms 18), and so are the expressions in Psalms 31:8 and in Psalms 31:21.”PRAYER THE OF THE GODLY IN (Psalms 31:1-8.) This prayer: I. Springs from trust in God (Psalms 31:1-3). 1. The Almighty Father. This is the character in which God has revealed Himself. He is infinitely just, and holy, and merciful. His people are His children. All of them are dear to Him, but the weak and the sorrowful are the special objects of His care. As a father watches his sick child, and bends to listen to his feeblest cry, so “our Father in heaven” bows down in pitying mercy to His people when they are in trouble. 2. The everlasting refuge (Psalms 31:1). “In Thee have I found refuge.”—Perowne. Various figures are employed to set forth the strength and impregnableness of this refuge (Psalms 31:2), “Strong Rock,” “House of Defence” (Psalms 31:3). “My rock and my fortress” (cf. Psalms 18:2). The fitness and force of these images must have been deeply felt by David, who had so often found safety from his enemies in the caves and fastnesses of the rocks. “The psalmist grounds his prayer on the fact that the Lord is in reality his rock and his fortress, because he knew Him as such by the faith which God never puts to shame.”—Hengstenberg. “The psalmist prays ‘Be thou to me,’ or rather, ‘Become to me, prove Thyself to be my rock and house of defence; for I know that Thou, and Thou only, art my refuge.’ This is the logic of the heart, if not of the intellect; the logic, it may be added, of every prayer of faith.”—Perowne. II. Implores the highest blessings. 1. Vindication of his hope (Psalms 31:1). “ ‘Shamed,’ i.e., utterly confounded, disappointed and frustrated in his hopes” (Psalms 6:10; Psalms 22:5; Psalms 25:2; Psalms 20).—Alexander. Such a fate would be terrible. It would be dishonourable to God, as well as to His servant. But God will never suffer those who trust in Him to be put to confusion. 2. Deliverance in righteousness (Psalms 31:2). “In Thy righteousness set me at liberty.”—Perowne. He longed for freedom; but he would not seek even such a boon, save in a way that was for the glory of God. “God is a just God and a Saviour.” 3. Guidance in the way of holiness (Psalms 31:3. cf. Psalms 23:2-3). “The double word indicates an urgent need—we require double direction, for we are fools, and the way is rough. Lead me as a soldier, guide me as a traveller! Lead me as a babe, guide me as a man; lead me by Thy hand, guide me by Thy Word. The argument used is one which is fetched from the armoury of free grace; not for my own sake, but for Thy name’s sake, guide me.”—C. H. Spurgeon. 4. Protection to the end of life (Psalms 31:4-5). The “net” refers to the craft and malice of enemies. There are dangers known and unknown, there are foes who face us openly, and there are foes who plot and work in secret. Our daily prayers should be, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” III. Characterised by the noblest emotions. 1. Humility. “Bow down.” 2. Earnestness. “Speedily.” 3. Aspiration. “Be Thou my strong rock.” 4. Zeal for God’s glory. “For Thy name’s sake.” 5. Self-surrender. “Into Thy hand I commend my spirit.” “My spirit (ruach) more than my soul or life (Nephesh). It is not only from sickness and death, but from sin and all ghostly enemies, that the man of God should be kept, and therefore he commends to God, not his body or his bodily life alone, but the life of his spirit, which is more precious” (cf. Isaiah 38:16).—Perowne. 6. Unbounded trust. “Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” Past deliverances are strong supports of faith. What the Lord was, He is; what He has done, He is able to do again, yea, and much more, exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think. He is the mighty one who is ever true to Himself and to His word. The gods of the heathen are “lying vanities,” but Jehovah is worthy of the highest trust. IV. Followed by the grandest deliverance (cf. 1 Samuel 23:1-11). The psalmist exults (Psalms 31:7-8) in the wondrous redemption wrought out by God. 1. Sovereign mercy. “I will be glad and rejoice in Thy mercy.” 2. Tender sympathy. “Thou hast considered my trouble.” There are different forms of consideration (cf. Job 1:8; Psalms 31:7; Psalms 41:1) 3. Benign interposition (Psalms 31:8). 4. Delightful freedom (Psalms 31:8, cf. Psalms 4:1). “Though the mariner sees not the polestar, yet the needle of the compass which points to it tells him which way he sails. Thus the heart that is touched with the loadstone of divine love, trembling with godly fear, and yet still looking towards God by fixed believing, interprets the fear by the love in the fear, and tells the soul that its course is heavenward—towards the haven of eternal rest.”—Leighton. THE GREAT DEPOSIT(Psalms 31:5.) “With these words, our Lord breathed out His life (Luke 23:46), as He had before used words from another psalm in His agony on the cross. The first words were from a psalm (22) which, typically at least, foreshadowed His sufferings; whereas this is not in the same way predictive. But the Holy One of God, in that last hour of mortal agony, chose these words of one of His servants to express the solemn surrender of His life. And, in so doing, He gave them a new interpretation. The Jewish singer only meant by them that he put himself and all his hopes into the hand of God. Jesus meant by them, that by His own act, of His own free will, He gave up His spirit, and therefore His life, to the Father. And they who have died with their Lord, have died with the same words on their lips. These were the last words of Polycarp, of Bernard, of Huss, of Jerome of Prague, of Luther, Melancthon, and many others. ‘Blessed are they,’ says Luther, ‘who die not only for the Lord, as martyrs,—not only in the Lord, as all believers,—but likewise with the Lord, as breathing forth their lives in these words, “Into Thy hand I commend my spirit” ’ ”—Perowne. I. The soul survives the shock of death. II. The care of the soul is the supreme concern in death. III. The well-being of the soul, in life and in death, consists in its dedication to Christ. THE STORY OF A (Psalms 31:9-18.) I. Mark the divine listener. “O Lord” (Jehovah). Ten times does David use this name of hope. Who is like God, so kind, so patient, so sympathising? He has infinitely more pity than the most loving father (Psalms 103:13), infinitely more tenderness than the most faithful mother (Isaiah 66:13; Isaiah 49:15). The sorrows of countless millions are being poured into His ear, but He is never weary. He listens to the tale of the humblest child, as if he were the only object of His care. “To Thee alone my sorrows shall appeal,Hath earth a wound too hard for heaven to heal.”—Quarles.II. Ponder the sad complaint. Like Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:4), the psalmist pours out his heart before the Lord. We seem to hear his sobs and cries. 1. Consumed by grief (Psalms 31:9-10). “Eye, soul, belly, the seats and means of intelligence, will, and power.”—Murphy. Body and mind were alike exhausted. 2. Depressed by conscious tin (Psalms 31:10). His eye turned within as well as without. His real trouble was in his sin “Mine iniquity.” It was his, his very own, for which he and he only was responsible. So it is; others may have tempted or taken part in the transgression, but so far as it is our act, it is our property. What a burden is sin! What a terrible plague is the plague of a sinful heart “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?” 3. Wounded by the cruel treatment of his contemporaries. The reproach of foes was bad, the distrust of acquaintances was worse, but the alienation of friends was worst of all. He complains of the “slander of many.” The tongues of not only Doeg, Nabal, and the Ziphites, but of many more, were let loose against him. “Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow,Thou shalt not escape calumny.”“Its edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath rides on the posting winds; and doth belie all corners of the world.”—Shakespeare. 4. Disheartened by the unrelenting malice of his enemies (Psalms 31:13). “Fear was on every side.” Wherever he turned he met a foe. One fell purpose inspired them all. They were like the conspirators against Paul, “who bound themselves with an oath that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed him” (Acts 23:21). Jeremiah, who was also a “man of sorrows,” complains in the same words: “Fear was on every side” (Jeremiah 20:10); and once and again he uses similar terms (Jeremiah 6:25; Jeremiah 20:3-4; Jeremiah 46:5; Jeremiah 49:29; Lamentations 2:22). 5. Utterly self-desponding. The brightness of life was gone—his reputation and usefulness were ruined. He seemed good for nothing. Forsaken and forlorn, he was as a “dead man out of mind.” But for his trust in God, all hope would be lost (cf. Psalms 43). III. Rejoice with the relieved sufferer (Psalms 31:14-18). 1. Filial trust in God (Psalms 31:14). “Mighty strength of faith when a man conscious of his own sinfulness (Psalms 31:10), and with a world in arms against him, yea, forsaken of his own friends (Psalms 31:11), can still turn to God and say, ‘Thou art my God.’ ”—Perowne. 2. Humble acquiescence in the Divine will (Psalms 31:15). “MY TIMES, i.e., all my life, with its ‘sundry and manifold changes,’ its joys and sorrows, its hopes and conflicts, are not the sport of chance, or the creatures of a blind fate, but are in Thy hand, ‘O Thou living, personal Redeemer.’ ”—Perowne. Thus, to have faith in God’s will and rule, is to enter into rest. “Providence is a soft pillow for anxious heads, an anodyne for care, a grave for despair.” 3. Confident hope of a happy issue to all his troubles (Psalms 31:16-18). His faith rises to certainty. He anticipates the time when the lips of lying should be struck dumb, when his enemies should be put to shame, or lie silent in the grave, and when he himself should rejoice in the sunshine of Jehovah’s love (Numbers 6:25). “Oh! there is never sorrow of heartThat shall lack a timely end,If but to God we turn, and askOf Him to be our friend.”—Wordsworth.BURIED ALIVE(Psalms 31:12.) Now and again accidents happen, such as the falling of earth and the closing up of mines, by which people are buried alive. There are also horrible tales of persons who, of design, have suffered this cruel fate. David speaks here of a sort of moral counterpart. Driven into exile, and cut off from the society of friends and the business of life, he soon came to be as if forgotten. He whose exploits had but lately been the theme of song, and whose name was on every lip, was now “as a dead man, out of mind.” This has been the experience of many since, though the form of the calamity has varied. People may be buried alive— I. By the malice of enemies. There may be such a persistent covering of their names, with lies and slander, that at last they are, like David, given up to “contemptuous oblivion.” “Public envy is an ostracism.”—Bacon. II. By the neglect of contemporaries. “Out of sight, out of mind.” After Butler had preached his famous sermons at the Rolls Chapel, he accepted a country charge, where he lived in great retirement. Years passed and he was forgotten. A friend spoke to the Queen about him, and she answered that she thought he was dead, and appealed to Archbishop Blackburne if it were not so. His reply was, “No, madam, he is not dead, but he is buried.” This is the way in which the world has treated many of its greatest men. III. By the lack of opportunities for distinction. While every one has his chance, so to speak, some have better chances than others. Two persons may have equal merits, but one rises high, while the other remains to the last in the same humble position. There are latent talents that are never called forth,—minds of high power that are never developed. Gray sings of this in his “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”:— “Perhaps in this neglected spot is laidSome heart once pregnant with celestial fire;Hands that the rod of empire might have sway’d,Or wak’d to ecstasy the living lyre:But knowledge to their eyes her ample page,Rich with the spoils of time, did ne’er unroll;Chill penury repress’d their noble rage,And frose the genial current of the soul.”IV. By the failure of capacity for usefulness. Changes take place. Popularity may fade. Broken health or misfortune may necessitate retirement. Men who once bulked large in the public eye are lost sight of and forgotten. Hence, when their death is published, it comes as a surprise. It is said, We thought they had been dead long ago. They had been virtually buried alive years before their death. All these things prophesy of a hereafter. If we serve God truly, it matters little whether we have praise of men or not. Our record is on high. In heaven there will be a balm for every wound, and redress for every wrong, and many who are first shall be last, and who are last shall be first. THE OF THE LORD(Psalms 31:19-24.) His well-grounded hope now brings triumphant certainty, and this breaks forth in glad acknowledgment of God’s goodness to the righteous, and an exhortation to all to wait on Him in unshaken confidence of heart. “Oh! how great is Thy goodness.” David’s exclamation leads us to consider the goodness of God— I. As a spectacle of surpassing beauty. “How great!” Creation, providence, redemption, reveal God’s goodness. More and more, in the course of the ages, it is unfolded, and calls forth wonder, love, and praise. “My heart is awed within me, when I thinkOf the great miracle that still goes onIn silence round me—the perpetual workOf Thy creation, finish’d, yet renew’dFor ever.”—Bryant.“His are the mountains, and the valleys his,And the resplendent rivers,—his t’ enjoyWith a propriety that none can feel;But who with filial confidence, inspired,Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye,And smiling say, My Father made them all!Are they not his by a peculiar right,And by an emphasis of interest his,Whose eyes they filled with tears of holy joy,Whose heart with praises, and whose exalted mindWith worthy thoughts of that unwearied loveThat plann’d, and built, and still upholds a worldSo clothed with beauty for rebellious man.”—Cowper.II. As a treasury of inexhaustible wealth. “Thou hast laid up,” lit. “hidden” (cf. Psalms 17:4, and “the hidden manna,” Revelation 2:17). “This is the love of God manifested to the soul in secret.”—Perowne. “Layest up.” “This Intimates that much of the Divine goodness was yet in store for him. This is true of all God’s saints, if we include the unending future.”—Murphy. God’s goodness is partly seen, and partly unseen. What is seen, may, as it were, be measured; but what is unseen, is boundless. What is a river to the ocean! What is the landscape, that the eye can reach, to the vast unseen realms of the earth. What are the thousand stars that crowd the winter sky, to the millions upon millions that are hid in the depths of space! So with the goodness of God. The sons of Jacob carried away their “ass loads” of the finest of the wheat, but what were these to the stores laid up in Egypt’s granaries. The Queen of Sheba’s heart fainted when she saw the treasures of Solomon, for the half had not been told her of his wisdom and his wealth; but a greater than Solomon is here, whose riches are unsearchable, and whose wisdom is past finding out. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” III. As a work of infinite beneficence. “Oh! how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast wrought for them that trust in Thee, before the sons of men.” This refers to the open manifestation of goodness. “Goodness is laid up in the promise, wrought in the performance, and that goodness which is laid up, is wrought for them that trust in God; and thus, as God’s faithfulness engageth us to believe, so our faith, as it were, engageth God’s faithfulness to perform the promise.”—N. Hardy. Scripture, observation, and memory, supply countless proofs of God’s kindness. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” What God hath wrought is set forth in two divisions. 1. General (Psalms 31:20). “Thou protectest them in the hiding-place of Thy presence from the factions of men.”—Delitzch. “The hiding-place of Thy presence, or ‘of Thy countenance;’ elsewhere of God’s tabernacle (Psalms 27:5); or of His wings (Psalms 61:5); or of His shadow (Psalms 91:1). But this is the most striking figure of all: to be hidden in the light of God’s face, hidden in that splendour where His power is hidden (Habakkuk 3:4). What an image at once of safety and blessedness!”—Perowne. 2. Particular (Psalms 31:21). David here speaks of himself. Probably the reference is to God’s signal interposition in his behalf at Ziklag (Delitzch). (Psalms 31:22). “In my haste.” “David and his people wept, till they had no more power to weep, for the burning of Ziklag and the capture of their wives and children (1 Samuel 27). ‘I am cut off.’ This was a fatal blow, apparently indicating the deep displeasure of God, and His final departure from him. ‘Yet Thou heardest.’ David at length encouraged himself in the Lord his God, who heard his cry, and restored to him all that he had lost.”—Murphy. “Through every period of my life,Thy goodness I’ll proclaim;And after death, in distant worlds,Resume the glorious theme.”TWO OF WISDOMPsa_31:23-24. David speaks here to all to whom God has been gracious. I. Love the Lord. This is the first and great commandment, and finds an echo in every true heart. Reason says “Love the Lord.” Who is worthy of the heart but the Supremely Good? “We needs must love the highest, when we see it.”—Tennyson. Gratitude says “Love the Lord.” Consider not only what God is in Himself, but what He has done for His people. “His saints.” They are His favoured ones, loved, redeemed, and sanctified. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Experience says “Love the Lord.” This is the voice that comes down from the pious of every land and age, back to the days of paradise. Nothing but good comes from loving God. The more we love Him, the higher we rise in dignity and strength. The more we love Him, the fitter we become for the duties and trials of earth, and the meeter for the inheritance of the saints in heaven. “Faith-keeping is Jehovah,” alike as to His promises and His threatenings, alike in His retributive providence towards His people who trust in Him, and towards the proud and the evil-doers, who reject His counsel and His love. “In His favour is life.” II. Be of good courage (Psalms 31:24). There are differences as to courage. There is the courage of the flesh. This is common to us with the lower animals. See what Job says of the war-horse (Job 39:19), and Solomon of the lion (Proverbs 30:30). Most men when their blood is up will do what are called brave deeds. There is the courage of the mind. This is higher. It implies resolution, firmness, a capacity to gird one’s self for deeds of daring and difficulty. But noblest of all, is the courage of the soul. This implies a heart that is right with God, and hence a heart that is loyal to truth and to duty, a heart that is continually being recruited with new strength, and that is ready for any fate. “Be of good courage,” i.e., be brave, firmly reliant on God, “and He will strengthen your heart.” “Be strong in purpose and desire, and He will make you strong in fact.”—Alexander. “All ye that hope in the Lord.” “The psalm ends as Psalms 27. Hope and waiting are marks peculiarly of the Old Testament dispensation. It is true, even in the New, one apostle writes, ‘we are saved by hope.’ And another says, ‘It doth not yet appear what we shall be,’ but he adds what no believer in the days of types and shadows could have said, ‘We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.’ Wonderful is the hopeful trust of the saints of old in God, when we remember that they did not know Him as God manifest in the flesh.”—Perowne. “Love the Lord,” “Be of good courage.” These two counsels are intimately connected. Love and courage go together. What will not the mother dare for love of her child, and the patriot for the love of his country! “This is the second of the seven penitential psalms, as they are called, which, says Selnecker, ‘St. Augustine used often to read with weeping heart and eyes, and which before his death he had written on the wall over against his sick-bed, that he might exercise himself therein, and find comfort therein in his sickness.’ St. Augustine’s own words, ‘Intelligentia prima, est ut te noris peccatorem,’ might stand as its motto. There can be little doubt that this psalm was composed after Nathan came to David. Psalms 51 was the confession of his sin and the prayer for forgiveness. This psalm is the record of the confession made and the forgiveness obtained, and the conscious blessedness of his position as a son restored to his Father’s house. There was a shelter for him there now,—‘Thou art my hiding-place.’ There was joy and gladness on his return,—‘Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.’ And here he carries out the resolve of Psalms 51. ‘Then will I teach transgressors Thy way, and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.’ The instruction of the psalm may be summed up in the words of Pro 28:18, or in those of 1 John 1:8-9.”—Perowne.THE OF THE (Psalms 32:1-7.) I. Declared as a doctrine (Psalms 32:1-2). We are taught here— 1. That sin is the real cause of all unhappiness. As Milton grandly sings: “Disproportioned sinJarred against nature’s chime, and with harsh dinBroke the fair music that all creatures madeTo their great God.”2. That the removal of sin is the gracious act of God (Exodus 34:7; Isaiah 43:25; 1 John 1:8-9). Psalms 32:1. Manton says that it is here as in law, when “many words of like import and significance are heaped up and put together to make the deed and legal instrument more complete and perfect.” The group of words is the same as in Exodus 34:7 and Psalms 51:5-6. Though dark, they show the better the brightness of God’s love (Romans 3:20-21). First, sin is branded as “transgression,” i.e. revolt, open and daring defection from God’s covenant (Isaiah 1:2; Isaiah 42:25; Jeremiah 52:13; Amos 4:4; cf. 1 Kings 12:19). In this form sin is said to be forgiven, lit. “taken away.” Like a burden, it is lifted off the soul. Like the sins laid on the scape-goat, it is carried away into the wilderness (cf. Leviticus 16:21; John 1:29). Next, sin is described as “a coming short of the mark.” Righteousness is the true end of man, and sin is the missing of that end. This is not from mere weakness, but is the result of moral obliquity and wilfulness. In this form, sin is said to be “covered.” It is put out of sight, as by the blood sprinkled over the mercy-seat (Exodus 25:21; Leviticus 8:14-15); and the sinner is treated as if he had not sinned (Psalms 85:2; Isaiah 38:17; Isaiah 44:22; 1 John 1:7). Lastly, sin is regarded as “iniquity,” a twisting and perversion of the will from the right way,—wrong-doing which not only includes guilt but punishment. In this aspect sin is said not to be reckoned. The best comment here is in the words of St. Paul (Romans 4:6):“Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness, without works, saying, ‘Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.’ ” 3. That the removal of sin is wrought by God in such a way as to secure the highest blessedness of man. “Oh! the blessings, oh! the happiness of the man!” Not only is guilt removed, but the heart is renewed. “No guile,” no falseness, either to himself or to God. “The man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is hidden—God having cast it as a millstone into the depths of the sea,—whose iniquity and perversion is not reckoned to his account, and whose guile—the deceitful and desperately wicked heart—is annihilated, being emptied of sin, and filled with righteousness, is necessarily a happy man.”—Adam Clarke. “What can be heavy to that man who is eased of the intolerable burden of sin? How animated was that saying of Luther, ‘Smite, Lord, smite, for Thou hast absolved me from my sins!’ ”—Leighton. II. Illustrated as a fact (Psalms 32:3-5). David here speaks of himself. “He had long struggled with the sense of his sin, had long been crushed to the earth with his burden, because he would not humble himself before God; but God had given him again the heart of a child. He had gone to his Father with the penitent confession, ‘I have sinned;’ and, as in the parable, the Father’s heart moved towards his prodigal son when he was yet a long way off, so David found that his Father was ready to forgive. ‘I said, I will confess,’ and ‘Thou tookest away the guilt of my sin.’ ”—Perowne. 1. First picture. The misery of the man who criminally delays confession (Psalms 32:3-4). These striking words show that the misery was great. Body and soul suffered. The pain was exhausting, and compelled loud and passionate complaints. Constant. It lasted as long as he kept silence. The struggle with conscience was fearful. Neither day nor night was there relief. It was as if the fires of hell were already kindled, consuming his strength, and drying up the springs of his being. Irremediable. There was no remedy, for the misery was caused by his own sin, and continued by his obstinate alienation from God. Every effort that he made to better himself, so long as he refused to humble his heart before God by confession, only aggravated his pain. The wrath of God abideth on the sinner till he flies to Christ. “Thy hand was heavy upon me.” “That hand which when pressing is so heavy, when raising is so sweet and powerful (Psalms 37:24), and when scattering its blessings so full and so ample (Psalms 104:28; Psalms 145:16). He would not at first be humbled by the confession of his iniquity, and therefore he is humbled by the weight of the hand of God. Oh! powerful hand! beyond all comparison more grievous than any other hand to press down, and more powerful to raise up. He who suppresses his sins without confessing them, ‘Conceals an inward wound, and burns with secret fire.’Under the appearance of sparing, he is indeed cruel to himself. It may perhaps occasion more present pain to draw out the point of the weapon that sticks in the flesh, but to neglect it will occasion greater danger and more future torment.”—Leighton. 2. Second picture. The blessedness of the man who frankly confesses his sins to God (Psalms 32:5). Here is the end of the struggle—confession, and so forgiveness and peace. Confession must be made to God. “Unto Thee.” The sin is against Him. To Him we must answer. He only can forgive. We need neither priest nor angel to mediate. God Himself “receiveth sinners.” Confession must be frank and full. “I acknowledge my sin.” It is honourable to God and good for us that there should be a complete unburdening of the heart. There has been too much of extenuating, excusing, and hiding. Now, nothing should be kept back. Sin is before the soul as it is before God. The hard, sullen “keeping silence” is at end. There is now frank, open, ingenious confession. What a blessed change! It is like passing from darkness to open day. It is like coming out from the concealment and foulness of a dungeon to the presence of a merciful judge. And the response is immediate (Psalms 32:5). The confession and the taking away are simultaneous. “Oh! admirable clemency. It requires nothing but that the offender should plead guilty, and this, not that it may more freely punish, but more liberally forgive. He requires that we should condemn ourselves, that so He may absolve us.”—Leighton. “Thou forgavest.” “But that should not end the matter. Because of the Lord’s mercy, nay, rather all the more on that very account, our sins should be still remembered. So it was with David. So it was with Paul, who, long after he had obtained mercy, continued to be exercised deeply about his sin, which was ever before him. So let it be with you, Oh, poor sinner! I call upon you, whatever and whosoever you are, to see your sin now, to embrace your Saviour now. You have sin enough upon your conscience now. Confess now. Believe now. But I call upon you, believing now, not lightly or hastily to dismiss the matter from your thoughts. Ponder your sin. Consider it in all its bearings. Be seeking ever, as it is ever before you, to get deeper, more searching, more humbling views of its exceeding sinfulness. For it is thus, and only thus, that by God’s grace, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, you will be getting more and more of an insight into God’s marvellous grace and love, and proving more and more thoroughly the blessedness of a full as well as a free forgiveness, of complete reconciliation, of perfect peace.”—Dr. Candlish. III. Confirmed by the experience of the godly of all ages (Psalms 32:6). These words suggest— 1. The force of God’s forgiving love. It holds out hope to the chief of sinners. It inspires boldness in coming to the throne of grace. If God forgives our sin freely, what is there we may not ask? (Romans 2:4; John 12:32). 2. The power of recorded examples of forgiven sinners. Every forgiven sinner is a witness for Christ. What others preach as a doctrine, he proclaims as a fact. Bartimeus could say, “I was blind, but now I see.” How much more powerful this testimony than the mere report, “He giveth the blind their sight.” So, what multitudes have been won to Christ by the stories of the thief on the cross, Zaccheus, and Saul of Tarsus. 3. The security and peace of the godly who have made Jehovah their refuge (Psalms 32:6). They have sought mercy in an accepted time. There is a day of grace. There is a time wherein God may be found (Isaiah 55:6-7; Hebrews 3.) Every pang of conscience, every sorrow of heart, every premonition of judgment, calls for instant action. Delay may be fatal. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power.” They have found a refuge adequate for every emergency (Psalms 32:7). When God’s judgments are let loose as a flood they are safe. They are like Noah in the ark, Israel in Goshen. The emphasis may be laid on “him.” God’s love is a personal love; He cares for individuals. When trials come they may touch the things without, but not those within. They may reach to the spoiling of goods and the filching of reputation, and even to the killing of the body, but they cannot touch the immortal spirit. When the tyrant Nicocreon ordered Anaxarchus to be beaten to death in a mortar, the brave answer was, “Beat and bray as thou wilt, Anaxarchus thou canst not touch.” If a heathen could speak thus how much more a Christian! They have secured delights which shall surround them all their days (Psalms 32:7). “Compass me about,” i.e., give me abundant cause, turn where I may, to praise Thee. Can this be the same man who, erewhile, was so wretched? What a wondrous change! Then the burden of sin, now pardon; then the grief of estrangement, now the joy of reconciliation; then the misery of a heart torn by conflicting passions and full of unrest, now the peace of God which passeth angels and the love of God for ever all understanding; then the terrors of “Selah.” Fitly, indeed, may we be judgment and of hell, now the songs of called to pause and ponder. (Psalms 32:8-10.) Mulishness is a hard, sullen, untractable spirit. It is held an offence among men, how much more heinous must it be when manifested towards God. Yet even good men have erred in this way. David speaks here from experience. He recalls with shame the time when he had in his pride “kept silence,” and hardened his heart against the Lord; and speaks words of warning for others. Perhaps he had Solomon specially in view, but his words have a wider reference, and are fraught with instruction (“maskil”) for all ages. We may understand him as speaking in the name of the Lord. I. Mulishness thwarts the Divine plan. God has a will concerning us. He would have us to walk— 1. In the right way. 2. From conviction and choice. Not of constraint, but willingly, as the result of understanding. 3. Under His is own fatherly guidance and protection. “I will watch over thee with mine eye.” “The guidance with the eye is a gentle guidance. A look is enough, as opposed to that bit and bridle, which the mulish nature requires.”—Perowne. It is not only “I will instruct thee,” i.e., make thee to understand, and “Teach thee in the way,” i.e., to find and keep the right way, but also “I will guide thee with mine eye.” “He will consider and consult upon us, He will not leave us to contingencies; no, nor to His general providence, by which all creatures are in His administration, but He will ponder us, consider us, study us; and that with His eye, which is the most sensible organ and instrument, soonest feels if anything be amiss, and so inclines Him quickly to rectify us.” This implies “the constancy and perseverance of God’s goodness towards us; to the end and in the end He will guide us. Except the eye of God can be put out, we cannot be put out of His sight and his care.”—John Donne. II. Mulishness debases the powers of the soul. “The mule is among various nations a proverbial type of stubborn persistency in evil, and we find analogous allusions to the horse in Jeremiah 5:8; Jeremiah 8:6. The reason for using a comparison with brutes, is intimated in the second clause, to wit, that the debased irrationality of sin might be distinctly brought into view. The analogy is carried out, with no small subtilty, by representing that what seems to be the trappings or mere decoration of these brutes, is really intended to coerce them, just as that in which men pride themselves may be, and if necessary will be, used by God for their restraint and subjugation. The common version of the last clause—‘lest they come near unto thee,’—would be suitable enough in speaking of a wild beast, but in reference to a mule or horse, the words can only mean, because they will not follow or obey thee of their own accord, they must be constantly coerced in the way both of compulsion and constraint.”—Alexander. Degrading to—]. Reason. 2. Conscience. 3. Affections. The man who stubbornly refuses God’s instruction necessarily sinks. He “loses the Divine property of his first being.” He becomes like the brutes with “lower pleasures, lower pains.” Instead of being guided from within, he is governed from without. Instead of being ruled by reason and through his affections, he is controlled and compelled as by force. “God never goes about to rule any by fear, but those who have first trampled upon love, and are no longer subjects but rebels.” III. Mulishness imperils the highest interests of being. To such as act in this way—peace, true progress, fellowship with God, the hope of a blessed immortality are impossible. Then, “Be ye not as the horse or as the mule.” Be warned,—this temper is not only unamiable, but bad. It is contrary to reason, contradicted by experience, condemned by revelation. Remember Cain, Balaam, Saul, Jonah. We should strive to rise instead of sink, we should aspire to be like the noblest and the best, who served God from love and not from fear. “We may consider mercies as the beamings of the Almighty’s eye, when the light of His countenance is lifted upon us; and that man as guided by the eye, whom mercies attract and attach to his Maker. But oh! let us refuse to be guided by the eye, and it will become needful that we be curbed by the hand. If we abuse our mercies, if we forget their Author, and yield Him not gratefully the homage of our affections, we do but oblige Him, by His love for our souls, to apportion to us disaster and trouble. Complain not, then, that there is so much of sorrow in your lot; but consider rather how much of it you may have wilfully brought upon yourselves. Ah! if you would account for many mercies that have departed, if you would insure permanence to those that are yet left, examine how deficient you may hitherto have been, and strive to be more diligent for the future, in obeying an admonition which implies that we should be guided by the soft lustres of the eye, if our obduracy did not render indispensable the harsh constraints of the rein.”—Henry Melville. SORROW AND MERCY JUSTLY . The Sorrows of the wicked (Psalms 32:10). 1. Many. 2. Self caused. 3. Inevitable. “Wicked.” This is their character, and their lot corresponds. They refuse instruction. In pride and obstinacy they persist in their own evil thoughts and evil ways, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. And though God has provided a way of pardon they reject it. This is their damning sin. A rejected Saviour is hell. “He endures—What does he not! From lusts opposing in vain,And self reproaching conscience. He foreseesThe fatal issue to his health, fame, peace,Fortune, and dignity; the loss of allThat can ennoble man, and make frail life,Short as it is, supportable. Still worse—Far worse than all the plagues with which his sinsInfect his happiest moments, he forebodesAges of hopeless misery.”—COWPER.II. The mercy promised to the righteous. Mark their— 1. Character. “Trusteth in the Lord.” 2. Their blessedness. “Mercy shall compass him about.” “He shall be surrounded with mercy, as one is by the air, or by the sunlight.”—Barnes. “Mercy” for soul and body. “Mercy” on every side and at every turn. “Mercy” amid all the varied trials of life. “Mercy” at death and judgment, and for ever and ever. “Mark that text,” said Richard Atkins to his grandson who was reading to him this psalm. “I read it in my youth and believed it, and now I read it in my old age, and thank God, I know it to be true. Oh! it is a blessed thing in the midst of the joys and sorrows of the world to trust in the Lord.” Think of the light thrown upon both of these truths by the Word of God, the experience of men, and especially by the Cross of Christ. Let the sufferings and death of Jesus show the evil of sin, and the certain ruin of the ungodly. Let the example and life of Jesus show the blessedness of obedience, and the eternal joy of all who trust in the Lord. JOY IN THE LORD CHRIST(Psalms 32:11.) I. Because of the beauty of His that is perfect. He is supremely lovely character. Everything meets in Him and lovesome. “Intellectual culture may make indefinite progress, the natural sciences may push forth their limits and gain in profundity and extent, the human mind may expand as it will, but it will never surpass the moral culture of Christianity as seen in the Gospels.”—Goethe. “Only one life there is without a stain,Accomplishing the Father’s perfect will,With highest aim, yet never aimed in vain,Attempting nought which must be tried again:Even all the thoughts of God it did fulfil.“Perfect the sinless beauty of His ways,Perfect the wisdom of His faithful love;Perfect the trust that walked with God always,—Perfect in suffering, perfect in the praiseWhich still like incense rose to Heaven above.“Oh! fairer thou than sons of men! and yetNot terrible Thy beauty. In sweet accordAll tender graces in Thy being met,And of their fulness all Thy people get,Still growing to the fulness of their Lord.”—WALTER SMITH.II. Because of the splendour of His achievements. His victories are moral. He has vanquished sin and death. He still goes forth “conquering and to conquer.” Wherever truth prevails, and righteousness is established, and immortal souls are rescued from sin and woe, and brought back to love and holiness, there we behold the works of the Son of God. III. Because of the blessedness of His reign. The call to “rejoice” finds a response in every true heart. It is obeyed, not from constraint, but willingly; not so much as a duty as a delight. It is the irrepressible impulse of admiration, gratitude, and love. When the poet Carpani asked his friend Haydn how it happened that his church music was so cheerful, the beautiful answer was, “I cannot make it otherwise; I write according to the thoughts I feel. When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen; and since God has given me a cheerful heart, it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful spirit.”—Whitecross Anecdotes. “Beyond the sea was a noble lady, on whose house alway the sun shone on the day, and on the night the moon. Of this many men marvelled. At the last, the fame of this came to the Bishop, a worthy man, and he went for to see her, hoping that she was of great penance in clothing, or in meat, or in other things. And when he came he saw her alway merry and glad. The Bishop said,’ Dame, what eat ye?’ She answered, and said, ‘Divers meats, and delicate.’ Then he asked if she used the hair (the haircloths). She said, Nay. After this the Bishop marvelled. And when he had taken his leave of the lady, and was gone his way, he thought he would ask her more of another thing, and went again to her, and said, ‘Love ye not mickle Jesus Christ?’ She said, ‘Yes, I love Him, for He is all my love; for when I think of His sweetness I may not withhold myself for gladness and mirth.’ “—Quoted by Lord Lyndsay from “Gesta Romanorum.” “This psalm is a fit companion, but by no means the second half, of the preceding one, being distinct from it both in matter and form. It indicates a more tranquil frame of mind, such as flows from the calm assurance of pence with God. There is nothing against its being of the time and from the pen of David. It consists of twenty-two verses, like the alphabetic psalms. It celebrates the praise of the God of providence and grace. It falls into two halves of eleven verses each. Between three verses of adoration at the beginning, and three of devotion at the end, stand eight verses on the creative, and eight on the saving Word of God,”—Murphy.THE OF TRUE WORSHIP(Psalms 33:1-3.) I. The worship of God is the chief joy of the good. “Ye righteous,” ye who have the new heart, and so have accepted the mercy of God, and are accepted by Him.”—Murphy. “Rejoice,” i.e., exult, shout for joy. “The Hebrew verb, according to etymologists, originally means to dance for joy, and is therefore a very strong expression for the liveliest exultation.”—Alexander. Joy is the soul of worship. II. The worship of God is the highest duty of the good. 1. It is agreeable to their character. “The upright.” “Praise in the mouth of a sinner is like an oracle in the lips of a fool: how uncomely is it for him to praise God whose whole life is a dishonour to God! The godly are only fit to be choristers in God’s praise.”—Thomas Watson. 2. It is agreeable to their obligations. “Those who have received from God a right spirit and the forgiveness of sins, have a twofold obligation to praise Him.”—Murphy. 3. It is agreeable to their circumstances. Placed in the midst of God’s works, and daily receiving fresh proofs of His loving-kindness in providence and grace, the upright are always in fitting circumstances for praise. III. The worship of God is the noblest employment of the good. “Praise the Lord with harp.” This is the first time musical instruments are referred to in the psalms. It is impossible now to ascertain the precise form of the “harp,” and the “psaltery,” and the “lute of ten strings.” The chief thing to notice is, that they were used as accompaniments and supports to the voice, as if the voice were too weak by itself to utter the Divine praises. Instruments of varied power and sweetness were employed, so as to secure the grandest effects. Psalms 33:3 : “ ‘Sing ur to Him a new song,’ not here one which has new marvels of God’s power and grace for its theme, as in Psalms 40:3, Psalms 98:1 (cf. Revelation 14:3), but rather one which springs freshly from a thankful and rejoicing heart,—one which seeks to put an old theme to a new light.”—Perowne. “Play skilfully.” Do your best in playing. “With a loud noise.” Music should not only be correct in execution, but joyous in spirit. The whole heart should be thrown into it. The worship of God in song combines— 1. Unity and variety. While there may be both vocal and instrumental music, there should be but one spirit. 2. Sameness and freshness. The same old psalms and hymns and spiritual songs may be sung, and yet there may be the freshness of ever-new wonder, love, and praise, while “new songs” may evermore spring from the heart of the revived Church. 3. Devotion and art. There is scope for the highest efforts of genius in the service of song. Music should be cultivated. Religion and science should go together. We should give our very best to God. 4. Fellowship and individuality. While the service is that of the congregation, every separate heart should take part. THE OF WORSHIP(Psalms 33:4-22.) “For” introduces the reasons for praising God. The order of the thought is sufficiently marked to admit of the subject being treated under the heads of creation, providence, and redemption. God is to be worshipped, because— I. He is the God of creation. We are called to notice— 1. The moral character of God (Psalms 33:4-5). Words and works are the exponents of character. The “word” is the idea, and the “work” is the fact. The “word” is the promise, and the “work” is the performance. It is by His words and works that God reveals Himself. They are the expression and embodiment of His eternal purpose. And the great attributes which are seen in beautiful harmony in all God’s words and works are Righteousness and Goodness. “He loveth righteousness,” i.e., it is His habit and delight. “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord,” as conspicuously as the heaven with stars, as completely as the sea with waters. “Righteousness and goodness” are, as it were, incarnated in God’s words and works, to be the study and delight of His people forever. 2. The glory of creation. “From the present proofs of God’s love in the earth, the thoughts of the sacred poet naturally goes back to the creation of all things, and as He had before declared what the ‘word’ and the ‘work’ of Jehovah are in their essential characters (Psalms 33:4), so now He describes further the operation of that word, and the work which results therefrom.”—Perowne. Psalms 33:6. There is allusion here to the history of Creation in Genesis. First the mode, and then the extent, of the Divine working are described. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.” “The word,” “the creative mandate” (Genesis 1:1). “All the host,” the universe of things in their perfect order. This verse has special reference to the work of the second day. “Gathereth the waters.” The primary allusion here is to the work of the third day. The verse, however, expresses not a finished act, but a continued process, displaying its variations in the dividing of the Red Sea and the Jordan. Psalms 33:8-9. The consequent obligation to worship God, “Let all the earth fear the Lord.” This carries on the thought to the second act of the third day, by which the dry land was clothed with vegetation, and the way prepared for the creation of animals and of man. The parallel of all the earth is all the inhabitants of the habitable globe.—Murphy. “The heavens and the sea are mentioned as the theatre of God’s almighty power, as the earth before, of His loving-kindness; and thus the universe is summed up.”—Perowne. The argument is that Jehovah is the omnipotent Creator, and that we who are all His creatures, should worship Him with Holy reverence. II. He is the God of providence. “After speaking of God’s power in creation, the psalmist goes on to speak of His providence as ordering the world.”—Perowne. The providence of God is characterised as— 1. All Wise (Psalms 33:10). He who created and sustains the universe, can overrule or frustrate the designs of man, whether as individuals or nations, according as He deems right. We have a signal example of this in the history of Babel. There is a contrast here between “the counsels” of men and the “counsel” of the Lord. Men come and go, and their thoughts are like the changing clouds, but God moves on in His ordained path, like the sun in the heavens, with unswerving fidelity. The counsels of men are like the edicts of arbitrary kings, which come to nought; but Jehovah’s counsels are His eternal and benign purpose, which He works out by His almighty power, from generation to generation. This holds true, not only with regard to God’s providence in general, but also with regard to His providence in its special bearing on His people. Hence the glad burst of praise (Psalms 33:12), “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance.” 2. All Seeing (Psalms 33:13-15). “He not only observes men’s doings, but knows their hearts, as having created them.”—Perowne. “From the place of His dwelling” (Psalms 33:14). This is a coincidence with the Song of Moses (Exodus 15:17). This is His dwelling-place above, of which earth is an adumbration. “Fashioneth their hearts alike” (Psalms 33:15). “The principle of reason in one heart is the identical with that in every other. Hence the capacity of mutual understanding and the certainty of human knowledge, as far as the moral reason retains its balance. ‘He considereth,’ not only understands, but observes with attention the conduct of His responsible creatures. There is a philosophy of human nature here.”—Murphy. 3. All Mighty (Psalms 33:16-17). “The weakness and insufficiency of ail human power, however great, as before of all human intellect. ‘King and mighty man and horse’ (i.e., war-horse, as elsewhere, ‘chariot and horse’) are selected as types of earthly power in all its greatness.”——Perowne. “People of God, he means to say, let not the world persuade you that the throne, on which your king is seated, is an idle easy chair; no, He is seated on a throne, on a judgment-seat, from the lofty eminence of which proceed the destinies of the world. People of God, he means to say, firmly believe that all things are either openly or in a hidden manner subject to the influence of His might; not only the works of men, which are evidently so, since the issue never rests with them, but also the secret movings of their hearts, which God can strike with blindness, and can make foolish the understanding of the prudent, and wise the heart of babes. People of God, believe not in appearances according to which kings conquer by their might and warriors triumph in battle by the strength of their horses; it is appearance only, for, as all earthly power is borrowed from the Governor of the world, He may withdraw it at any time, and give it to whomsoever He pleases; so that all the victories on earth are won by His strength.”—Tholuck. III. The God of redemption (Psalms 33:18-22). While mortal strength is vain for defence and security, they who fear the Lord and hope in His mercy shall be safe under Jehovah’s eye, and kept by His almighty “power, through faith unto salvation.” God is the only true deliverer. His deliverance reaches to the soul, and transcends all the perils of time and all the powers of evil. “While such omnipotence terrifies those who love not the Lord, it is rich in consolation to those who hope in His mercy. The whole people commit themselves to the Lord, rejoicing in Him and trusting in His name.”—Tholuck “Antigonus, king of Syria, being ready to give battle near the Isle of Andreos, sent out a squadron to watch the motions of his enemies, and to descry their strength; return was made that they had more ships, and better manned, than he had. ‘How,’ says Antigonus, ‘that cannot be, for how many dost thou reckon me,’ intimating that the dignity of a general weighed down many others, especially when poised with valour and experience. And where is valour, where is experience to be found, if not in God! He is the Lord of Hosts; with Him alone is strength and power to deliver Israel out of all her troubles. He may do it, He can do it, He will do it. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength, besides Him there is no Saviour, no Deliverer. He is a shield to the righteous, strength to the weak, a refuge to the oppressed.”—John Spencer. “Dear dying Lamb! Thy precious bloodShall never lose its power,Till all the ransomed Church of GodBe saved, to sin no more.E’er since, by faith, I saw the streamThy flowing wounds supply;Redeeming love has been my theme,And shall be till I die.Then in a nobler, sweeter song,I’ll sing Thy power to save;When this poor lisping stammering tongueLies silent in the grave.”—Cowper.THREE ASPECTS OF PIETY(Psalms 33:20-22.) I. Piety waiting on the Lord. “Our soul waiteth for the Lord.” Waiting is an attitude of soul. It is holding one’s self still till the accomplishment of some expected event. It is, therefore, patience and expectation united. “We wait” for the day, that we may work. We wait for the spring to sow and the harvest to reap. But waiting is consistent with action. It is not only testing and disciplinary, but it implies right use of means and opportunities, working while it is day, and sowing and reaping as the seasons of God come round. True waiting implies faith in God’s love. Heedfulness of His will (Psalms 123:3). Intense desire for His blessing (Psalms 130:6). Diligent use of all the means of grace. And what encouragement we have here to wait upon Him. “For He is our help and shield.” II. Piety rejoicing in God. “Our heart shall rejoice in Him.” This is not merely rejoicing in God’s Word and works, but rejoicing in Himself. This is the highest attainment of piety. But this joy is one of the fruits of faith. “Because we have trusted in His holy name.” The more we know of God’s grace in Christ, the more shall our hearts exult in Him. III. Piety praying to God. “Let Thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in Thee.” This prayer is marked by humility. “Mercy” is sought, mercy for the sinner, the mercy of the Lord which bringeth salvation. This prayer is also marked by faith. It implies confidence in God’s grace and in His promises, and in the reality of His Spirit’s work in the heart The hope He begets He will not put to shame (Matthew 9:29). “This psalm is assigned by the superscription to the occasion when David, persecuted by Saul, fled to the Philistines, and being brought before Achish was driven away by him as a madman (1 Samuel 21:12, see Psalms 7). There is no sufficient reason for rejecting the historical validity of this statement. The psalms generally rise above the level of the particular occasion, and dwell on general principles, and so it is here. This psalm is eucharistic and didactic. It is full of thankfulness to the Almighty Deliverer, who defends the penitent against the ungodly. It is a lesson from experience for those who are tempted and afflicted. It is the second of the alphabetic psalms (Psalms 25), the letter vau being omitted, and a second pe added at the end.”—Murphy. “This psalm was selected by the ancient Church to be a communion song (Cyrill. Catech. Myst. 5:17); and from the expression, ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good,’ and from its evangelical strain, it was well adapted for this purpose.”—Murphy.A SONG OF PRAISE(Psalms 34:1-7.) “Every day of a pious man’s life is marked with the monuments and tokens of the mercy of God, so that he has every day to sing a new song. But each separate experience of that kind should fill our heart to such a degree, as to furnish the theme of gratitude and praise for the entire period of our lives. With a feeling of this kind we see David celebrate the deliverance he has just experienced.”—Tholuck. We should praise God— I. For what He is in Himself. “The Lord ‘Jehovah.’ ” “This is the only name of God in the psalm. The self-existent Creator is the great watchword of the intelligent creation.”—Murphy. Contemplation of God’s character calls forth praise. This praise is, 1. Free. “I will.” It is from the heart It is a life, not form; a delight not a burden. 2. Constant. “At all times;” circumstances alter, but God changes not. In adversity and in prosperity, in the dark hour of sorrow as in the bright moments of joy, God claims our praise. “Continually,” the lamps, the shew-bread, the daily sacrifice, the priests ministering in the tabernacle continually, were witnesses to the perpetuity of spiritual worship (Exodus 25:30; Exodus 27:20; Exodus 29:42). 3. Exulting. “Boast,” “glory,” i.e., “to exult in the possession and enjoyment of some admired and beloved object.”—Alexander. Many glory in their strength, in their riches, in their learning, in their religion. God is the true object of glory. He alone can satisfy and bless the soul for ever (Jeremiah 9:23-24). 4. Influential. “The humble, i.e., the poor and needy, or the meek who bow their hearts to God. The boastings of the worldly are an offence. They have the bad odour of selfishness. But the extolling of the Lord is pleasant to the ear of His people, and strikes a chord of sympathy in their inmost hearts. As one touch of nature makes the whole world kin, so one touch of grace makes the whole Church kin. As one songster in the morning wakens the music of the grove, so one soul hymning the praise of Jehovah calls forth the voices of other kindred souls, till the Church resounds with songs of praise (Psalms 34:3). 6. Social. “O magnify the Lord with me.” It is not that we can add to God’s glory, He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable. Nothing we do can increase or diminish His glory. But His name may be said to grow in glory as it is made known; and His character to stand higher in the sight of men, as He becomes more and more the supreme object of trust and love. “Let us exalt His name together.” Here is the place for union and concert; social worship is the craving of the new heart, and the outgrowth of the new life. In heaven it finds its highest expression, and earth is the likest heaven, where it most abounds. II. For what He does for His people (Psalms 34:4-7). 1. Personal deliverances (Psalms 34:4). This may refer to God’s rescue of David in the land of the Philistines. He was then in great peril. There were fears on every side. His own conscience was not free, for in his selfish care to save his life he had sinned against truth and against God. But in his straits he sought the Lord. Sin should not deter us from prayer. Rather should the sense of sin make us pray the more earnestly. We have an Advocate with God the Father. There are gifts even for the rebellious. Where sin abounded grace hath much more abounded. “He delivered me from all my fears.” “To have delivered me from all my troubles had been a great favour, but a far greater to deliver me from all my fears; for where that would have but freed me from present evil, this secures me from evil to come, that now I enjoy not only tranquillity, but security—a privilege only of the godly. The wicked may be free from trouble, but can they be free from fear? No; God knows, though they be not in trouble like other men, yet they live in more fear than other men.”—Baker. 2. Brighter days for the afflicted. “They looked,” viz., the afflicted mentioned in Psalms 34:2; or it may only mean generally, “men looked;” others, i.e., besides myself, have in like manner experienced God’s lovingkindness. “Were lightened,” i.e.,” were bright with gladness because He heard them, reflecting, as it were, the light of His countenance” (cf. Psalms 4:6).—Perowne. Here is the look of the soul to God, and the quick response of God, as when the Israelites looked to the serpent of brass and were healed (Numbers 21:9), and sinners look on Him whom they pierced (Zechariah 12:11), and their hearts are melted to penitential sorrow. “Lightened.” “This is the precise answer to a look. The light of the truth, the promise, and the countenance of God, fill and illuminate the eyes of the soul.”—Murphy. How often is this fulfilled. Remember Gideon. Hence, instead of the blush of shame, there is the brightness of joy; instead of the shudder of fear, there is the song of victory. Each one, as he remembers what God has done, speaks as for himself. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard.” 3. Divine guardianship for the godly to the end. “The angel of the Lord.” This remarkable phrase occurs only twice in the psalms, here, and in the next psalm. It denotes one who is at the same time the angel of Jehovah and Jehovah Himself (Genesis 16:7; Exodus 23:20). “He is God manifest to man, and mediating for man.”—Murphy. “Encampeth.” There may be reference here to what Jacob said when the angels met him (Genesis 32:1-2). “This is God’s host, and he called the name of that place Mahanaim” (two camps). The angel host is under the headship of Christ, and charged with the care of His people. “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation!” THREE VIEWS OF (Psalms 34:8-10.) I. What religion is. Plainly it is something belonging to the soul, not a ritual, but a life. It is also something personal, as between the soul and God, and not any service which can be rendered for us by priest or proxy. It is suggested here that religion consists in— 1. Personal faith that God is good. 2. Personal devotedness to God as good. 3. Personal communion with God as good. “Religion in the understanding is the knowledge of God (Hosea 4:1); of His will and commandments; it is the knowledge of His ‘mystery’ or secret counsel revealed in Christ (Ephesians 1:17). When the Jewish law had been given, religion was practically a ‘walking in the law of the Lord’s (Psalms 119:1; cf. Luke 1:6); when the Christian revelation has been made it is an ‘acknowledgment of the truth which is after godliness’ (Titus 1:1). But in this truth, in that law, it seeks a Person; it is fundamentally the maintenance of a real relation with the Personal God, or with a Divine Person, really incarnate in Jesus Christ. Accordingly religion, both Jewish and Christian, is described as a covenant; it is a bond or understanding between the nature, or the soul, and God, or still more, from the point of view of a faith which worketh by love, it is personal communion with God (1 John 1:3). Thus religious life is more than feeling, than knowledge, than obedience to a moral code. It is the sacred bond freely accepted, generously, enthusiastically, persistently welcomed, whereby the soul engages to make a continuous expenditure of its highest powers in attaching itself to the personal source and Object of its being.”—Canon Liddon. II. What religion does. It is thoroughly practical. It is God’s power in the soul, and worketh in every one to bring us nearer and nearer to Himself. 1. Establishes right relations between the soul and God. Right relations are of great importance. It is so among men; much more with God. If the relations of the soul to God are wrong, all is wrong. If the relations of the soul to God are right, all will be right Now, in religion, “the heart is made right with God.” There is “trust” (Psalms 34:8). There is reverential “fear” (Psalms 34:9). There is holy aspiration and endeavour, the continual seeking of God (Psalms 34:10). 2. Effects a moral transformation of character (Psalms 34:9). “Fear the Lord, ye His saints.’ “This is the moral consequence of becoming acquainted with God and His goodness.”—Murphy. Those who are in a right relation to God, and who love and trust Him, are not only “His saints” in respect to consecration, but they become more and more “His saints” as regards character. 3. Ensures the highest blessedness of being (Psalms 34:10). “The young lions are here the representatives of those who glory in their own strength and resources.”—Murphy. The meaning is, “that while the most powerful and least scrupulous of men may be reduced to want, the people of God shall be abundantly and constantly provided for.”—Alexander. (cf. Job 4:10-11; Psalms 57:4; Nahum 2:12-13; Ezekiel 19:2; Ezekiel 38:13; Isaiah 40:30-31). “They shall not want any good.” III. What Religion deserves (Psalms 34:10). This is the language of experience. It breathes faith, and hope, and love. It is an appeal to the deepest feelings of the heart It implies that if men would only make trial of religion for themselves, they could not fail to be convinced of its supreme excellence. Religion deserves— 1. Earnest study. We are bound to investigate. That only is truth to us which commends itself to our own conscience. Our faith should stand, not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. “Search the Scriptures.” Remember how the Boreans were praised for their independent and earnest examination of the truth (Acts 17:11). Surely that which is the most wondrous thing in the world, and which concerns us all so nearly, should be personally and profoundly studied. 2. Personal Trial. “Taste and see.” Nothing is so convincing as experience. Only by trial can we truly realise what religion is and what it does. It is one thing to hear honey called sweet, and another thing to know that honey is sweet, because we have tasted it for ourselves. “He that believeth hath the witness in himself” (cf. 1 John 5:10). 3. Hearty commendation. It is the duty of every godly man to commend religion to others. Loyalty to God and love to our brethren alike bind us to this. We should be careful to give a just representation, such as will attract instead of repel. By our humility, our patience, our love, our trust in God, and our purity in the sight of men, we should be true witnesses for our holy religion, true preachers of Christ. “O taste and see that God is good.” This voice comes to us from nature, sounds throughout the Scriptures, and is echoed by the godly of all generations. Let us take it up for ourselves. “The inquiry of truth, which is the wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoyment of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.”—Bacon. AN ADULLAM SERMON(Psalms 34:11-14.) We may imagine that these words formed the substance of an address on some quiet Sabbath in the Cave of Adullam. Consider I. The CongregationWe learn from 1 Samuel 22:1-2, that David fled from Achish to Adullam in Judah. And “every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men.” What a strange gathering! What diversities in age, and conduct, and experience! But they had much in common. They were involved in the same cruel fate, and animated with the same resolve, to stand by each other, and to struggle to the uttermost for life and liberty under their chosen leader. II. The Preacher. David was a man singularly fitted to address such an audience. His manly presence, his chivalrous nature, his romantic history, his fame as a soldier and poet, his identification with the poor and the oppressed, and with all that was noblest in his country’s history, and above all, his simple faith, must have given him an extraordinary position and power. While his men felt that he was truly one of themselves, they must have also felt that he was raised above them, with a higher character and destiny. He seemed to them born to be a king of men. With what rapt attention and eager hopes would they hang upon his lips. “Children.” The word expresses both authority and tenderness. As Venema, in substance expounds, he might have called them children, “because he was about to be their teacher, and they his disciples; and again, because they were young men, in the flower of their age, and as sons, would be the builders up of his house; and still more, because as their leader, to whose discipline and command they were subject, he had a right to address them as his children.”—C. H. S.III. The Sermon. 1. The subject was supremely important. “The fear of the Lord.” They had common trials, attachments, and hopes, but beyond these, they needed religion—the fear of Jehovah—to unite their hearts in the truest sense, and to make them strong. 2. The treatment was singularly appropriate and effective.He invites their attention. “Hearken unto me.” He addresses their understanding and conscience. “I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” He appeals to their affections and hopes. “What man is he that desireth life and loveth many days, that he may see good?” He demands the obedience of their hearts and lives (Psalms 34:13-14). The tongue must be kept from evil, and the lips from guile. This could not be done without the renewal of the heart, and earnest personal effort. They had many temptations, wrongs to exasperate them, the prosperity of their enemies to make them envious and revengeful, and the hard struggle for existence to make their life bitter. Some might say, they could only succeed by fraud and violence, by returning evil for evil But not so. Let them trust in God and do the right Let them keep themselves pure, and be followers of peace. Only thus could they enjoy the favour of God. “Life is happiness; good days are happy days. Happiness consists in enjoying God’s favour. His favour is life, His loving-kindness is better than life. To have His eye resting complacently on us, to be the objects of His love and care, to have His ear open to our prayers, to have Him, infinitely powerful, wise, and good, always ready to listen to our petitions, and supply our need; this is life, this is happiness. While, on the other hand, to have His face set against us, to have His countenance covered with frowns, to have Him looking out at us as He did, out of the pillar of cloud, on the Egyptians struggling with the billows, this is misery.”—Dr. J. Brown on 1st Peter. GOD AND HIS PEOPLE(Psalms 34:15-22.) In the sight of God society is divided into two classes. The principle of classification is not rank, wealth, learning, or worldly power, but character. On the one side are the righteous, and on the other the wicked. The difference between them is vital. They are utterly opposed in their principles and conduct, and God recognises this in His treatment of them. It is the old, old story, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” God’s people are— I. The objects of His Fatherly regard (Psalms 34:15). “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.” The eyes and the ears are the great sources of intelligence. The terms as applied to God may imply— 1. Perfect knowledge. 2. Abiding sympathy. 3. Gracious interposition. As a father watches his child, and is ever ready to act for its good, so our heavenly Father deals with His people. They are individually the objects of His unceasing care. The awful contrast is depicted in the condition of the wicked (Psalms 34:16). God is against them, and they are doomed to destruction. II. The subjects of His holy discipline (Psalms 34:17-21). They have trials as well as joys. This world is to them often a scene of suffering. But they are not forsaken. God is with them. They have the sense of His love to cheer them. They have the promises of His Word to comfort them. They have the ministers of His providence and Spirit to chasten and to profit them. And evermore the throne of grace is open to them, to which they may com boldly in the name of Jesus, “that they may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” The whole of God’s dealings with His people are disciplinary. They are weak and sinful, and God dealeth with them as with children. He is training them through suffering for glory. Affliction leads to prayer, prayer leads to increased faith, and increased faith to more of love, and patience, and humility, to wider sympathies, and nobler aims, and holier joys. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” What a comforting word! The Lord is nigh in all His tenderness and pity, in all His power and grace. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth them out of them all.” Mark, again, the terrible contrast. “Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.” Afflictions are to them calamities instead of chastisements. Under them they grow worse instead of better. Whatever seemed to be good in them is destroyed, and in the end they are left alone and hopeless in their misery and guilt. III. The recipients of His redeeming grace (Psalms 34:22). From first to last God’s purpose is to do them good. And all is of grace. The righteous did not of themselves merit God’s love and His deliverances. What He has done for them in providence and in grace has been done for them in and through Christ, and unto the praise of the glory of His name for ever and ever. “This psalm, If It be as the inscription tells us a psalm of David, must have been composed either during his persecution by Saul or during the revolt of Absalom. It is usual to connect it with his words in 1 Samuel 24:15. Its peculiar feature is, that the enemies on whom the poet imprecates the righteous judgments of God are men who had formerly been his friends, men for whom he had prayed in their sorrow’ with a brother’s heart,’ and who now requited his love with ungrateful hatred. Such an enemy Saul may have been; but we never find any trace of bitterness in David’s feelings towards Saul. The generous enemy whose heart smote him because he had cut off Saul’s skirt, and who always recognised in Saul the Lord’s anointed, would never have called down the judgments of God upon his head. It seems to me, therefore, more probable, that the aiders and abettors of Absalom’s conspiracy, men like Ahithophel and his associates, are aimed at in the poet’s burning words. But all this, and even the authorship itself, must be matter of conjecture. The psalm falls into three principal divisions, each of which closes with a thanksgiving.”—Perowne. WHOLE PSALM The views taken of the spirit and purpose of this psalm vary greatly. Some interpreters hold that there is reference throughout to the Messiah. Thus, A. A. Bonar writes, “This is an awful psalm. Let us read it as the words of the Lord Jesus, and what do we find? We find Him praying to the Father for help, and then consenting to the doom of His relentless, impenitent foes; yea, rather pronouncing the doom with His own lips, even as when He shall say to the barren fig-tree, ‘Cut it down,’ and to those on the left hand, ‘Depart.’ It is in that spirit He says, ‘Let them be confounded’ (Psalms 35:4-6). This is their sentence uttered by the lips of the Judge. It is not the wish of one who is revengeful; it is the utterance of justice compelled by the state of parties to speak in stern severity. Our Lord Himself quotes Psalms 35:19, ‘They hated me without a cause,’ in John 15:25, on the last evening He spent with His disciples before He suffered. For then He found Himself in the very situation so strikingly described in Psalms 35:11-12,—false witnesses rising up—men rewarding His whole career of kindness by spoiling His soul.” Other interpreters strongly oppose this opinion. Thus, Dr. David Thomas calls the supposition that the psalm is prophetical of the Messiah, “simple blasphemy.” He says, “There is nothing of the spirit of Christ in the psalm; it is eternally antagonistic to the teachings of His Sermon on the Mount, and to the tenor of His whole life. This poem burns with vengeance from beginning to end,” As an exponent of the more general opinion, Perowne may be quoted. “But how are we to account for such prayers for vengeance at all? Are these the mere outbursts of passionate and unsanctified feeling, or are they the legitimate expression of a righteous indignation? Are they to be excused as being animated by’ the spirit of Elias,’ a spirit not unholy, indeed, but far removed from the meekness and gentleness of Christ? or are they stereotyped forms in which the spirit of Christian devotion may utter itself? Are they Jewish only, or may they be Christian also? An uninstructed fastidiousness, it is well known, has made many persons recoil from reading these psalms at all. Many have found their lips falter when they have been called to join in using them in the congregation, and have either uttered them with bated breath and doubting heart, or have interpreted them in a sense widely at variance with the letter. Some have tried to reconcile them with a more enlightened conscience by regarding such words, not as the expression of a wish, but as the utterance of a prediction; but the Hebrew optative, which is distinct enough from the simple future, absolutely forbids this expedient. Others, again, would see in them expressions which may lawfully be used in the soul’s wrestling against spiritual enemies. And, finally, some would defend them as utterances of righteous zeal for God’s honour, and remind us that if we do not sympathise with such zeal, it may be, not because our religion is more pure, but because our hearts are colder. Now, the real source of the difficulty lies in our not observing and bearing in mind the essential difference between the Old Testament and the New. The older dispensation was in every sense a sterner one than the new. The spirit of Elias, though not an evil spirit, was not the spirit of Christ (Luke 9:55). And through Him His disciples are made partakers of the same spirit. But this was not the spirit of the older economy. The Jewish nation had been trained in a sterner school. It had been steeled and hardened by the discipline which had pledged it to a war of extermination with idoloters, and however necessary such a discipline might be, it would not tend to foster the gentler virtues. It is conceivable how even a righteous man under it, feeling it to be his bounden duty to root out evil wherever he saw it, and identifying, as he did, his own enemies, with the enemies of Jehovah, might use language which to us appears unnecessarily vindictive. To men so trained and taught, what we call “religious toleration” was a thing not only wrong, but absolutely inconceivable. It may be quite true that we find revenge forbidden as directly in the Old Testament as in the New, as, for instance, in Leviticus 19:18. And it may be no less true that we find instances of imprecation in the New (cf. 2 Tim. iv. 14; Acts 23:3; and 1 Corinthians 16:23). But even these expressions are very different from the varied, deliberate, carefully constructed, detailed anathemas of the psalms. And our Lord’s denunciations, to which Hengstenberg refers, are in no way parallel. They are not curses upon individuals, but, in fact, solemn utterances of the great truth: “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” But, after all, whatever may be said of particular passages, the general tone which runs through the two covenants is unquestionably different. To deny this is not to honour Moses, but to dishonour Christ (Matthew 5:43; Matthew 19:8). On the other hand, we must not forget that these imprecations are not the passionate longing for personal revenge. The singer undoubtedly sees in his enemies the enemies of God and His Church. They that are not with Him are against God. And because the zeal of God’s house ever consumes him, he prays that all the doers of iniquity may be rooted out. The indignation, therefore, is righteous, though it may appear to us wrongly directed, or excessive in its utterance. Once more, the very fact that a dark cloud hid God’s judgments in the world to come from the view of the Old Testament saints, may be alleged in excuse of this their desire to see Him take vengeance on His enemies here. How deeply the problem of God’s righteousness exercised their minds is abundantly evident from numerous places in the psalms. They longed to see that righteousness manifested. It could be manifested, they thought, only in the evident exaltation of the righteous, and the evident destruction of the wicked, here. Hence, with their eye always fixed on temporal recompense, they could even wish and pray for the destruction of the ungodly. The awful things of the world to come were to a great extent hid from their eyes. Could they have seen them, then, surely, their prayer would have been, not “Let the angel of the Lord persecute them,” but rather, with Him who hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” I AM THY (Psalms 35:1-10.) Revenge was alien to the spirit of David, both as a man and as a prophet of the Lord (1 Samuel 24:9, Psalms 7:3-5). It seems just, therefore, as it certainly is more pleasant, to regard him as speaking here, not from personal animosity, but from a holy indignation against evil and evil-doers. At first sight, we might imagine that he had particular individuals in view; whether he had or not, we cannot tell. It is sufficient for us to take his vehement cries for Divine judgment, as applicable more to principles than persons. This interpretation seems in accordance with Paul’s use of Psa 5:9, in his argument for the corruption of human nature (Romans 3:13). It is also agreeable to our circumstances, as under the dispensation of the gospel (Matthew 5:43-45, Romans 12:19-21). Psalms 35:1-10. The key-note of this passage is found in Psalms 35:3. “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” This is confirmed by the form of the thanksgiving in Psalms 35:9. “And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord, it shall rejoice in His salvation.” Outward deliverances are but types of inward deliverances. The salvation of God cannot be held as consummated short of the eternal redemption of the soul. I. Salvation is from God (Psalms 35:1-3). “O Lord.” “The name Jehovah, the self-existent Creator, occurs eight times; Adonai, the rightful governor, three times; and Elohim, the everlasting Almighty, twice in this psalm. These names are in keeping with the tenor of the psalm, as it speaks of mercy and of judgment.”—Murphy. “The manifestation of God’s saving and protecting power is described in Scripture, under various figures corresponding to the form of the particular suffering or danger. Against injustice He appears as an advocate or Judge (Psalms 35:23), against violence as a warrior (Deuteronomy 32:41-42). In this character the psalmist here entreats Him to appear, and for that end to seize, grasp, or lay hold of his weapons.”—Alexander. “Such figurative representations of God tend to give us a more vivid apprehension of His powerful help.”—Tholuck. “Plead, O Lord, with them that strive with me.” This means, “Oppose my opposers, devour my devourers, strive with my strivers.” “Shield and buckler” were weapons of defence. They may represent “the greater and the lesser protections of providence.” “Draw out the spear,” i.e., for attack. “Stop the way,” i.e., encounter and thwart the persecutor. “Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” This appeal expresses the faith and hope of the believer. Nothing is so fitted to give courage as the sense of Jehovah’s presence and love. The cause of His people is His cause. He identifies Himself with them. II. Salvation implies death to evil, and life to good (Psalms 35:4-8). “The psalmist regards all men simply as they stand with God, and therefore divides them into those who accept His mercy, and those who are at enmity with Him. And his own enemies he regards solely as the enemies of God; so long as they continue in this frame of mind, he has no prayers for them, but that they may be disappointed in their ungodly designs. Such a result is the only one likely to bring them to a better mind. Plainly he views them as incorrigible offenders, who will never come to themselves but by the rough handling of adversity, if even by that. If they know anything of God, and still defy Him, it is obvious that nothing but the actual experience that He cannot be defied will bring them to repentance. And if that will not do it, he looks upon them as reprobates.”—Murphy. Carrying out the figure of Jehovah as a Man of War, the psalmist depicts with terrific force the discomfiture of His enemies. 1. Shameful defeat (Psalms 35:4). They are not only arrested, but driven back in confusion. All their malicious efforts are frustrated. Their faces are covered with shame. So it was in a gracious sense with Saul of Tarsus, but, alas! it is seldom that defeat implies repentance. 2. Headlong rout (Psalms 35:5). “Chaff” is the emblem of vanity (Psalms 1:4), as “the Wind” is the emblem of judgment. In the previous psalm (Psalms 34:7), the angel of the Lord is represented as the angel of mercy, here as the angel of judgment, presiding over the storm that sweeps away God’s enemies. There is a similar contrast in the story of Peter’s deliverance and Herod’s doom (Acts 12:7). 3. Over-whelming ruin (Psalms 35:6-8). The image seems that of an army broken and driven back in horrid rout, and confusion worse confounded. With such terrible scenes David as a soldier was not unfamiliar. “Let their way be dark and slippery.” Let it be dark, so that they cannot see, and slippery, so that they cannot find safe footing. How terrible the fate of God’s enemies, with no way of escape before, and the avenger pressing hard behind. Psalms 35:7. “For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit.” The reference is to the artifices used for taking birds and beasts of prey. “Without cause,” “wantonly, gratuitously, unprovoked, and therefore prompted by mere malice.”—Alexander. This is their condemnation. Psalms 35:8 indicates how the ruin of the wicked is self caused, and will come upon them at last sudden and awful, as the crash of a falling house. III. Salvation demands everlasting gratitude and praise (Psalms 35:9-10). “Neither revenge nor any other form of selfishness is the source of the soul’s joy, but only the Lord and His salvation. ‘All my bones.’ This is the vehement figure employed by a healthy and hearty gratitude. ‘Lord, who is like Thee.’ This verse amplifies the thought of the preceding one. ‘Delivering the humble.’ There is a union of justice and benevolence, which exhibits at the same time the strength and the charm of the moral government of God. The very same act delivers the oppressed, and defeats the oppressor.”—Murphy. “He would not be worthy of the name of man who should look calmly on the tyrant, the swindler, or the murderer, building up his fortunes on the misery and ruin of his fellowmen, and thwarting with cold, determined malignity every effort of the righteous and the benevolent to improve their condition. As little would he be worthy of the name of Christian, who could survey unmoved the efforts of unprincipled men, to hold the souls of their fellows in eternal darkness, and drag them back into the gulf of destruction, when others were helping them to glory, honour, and immortality. The first wish of the Christian for such persons is, that their hearts may be changed. He would fain save the persons, and in the spirit of his forgiving Master, he would welcome them to the mercy and the blessedness he himself has found. But come what may of themselves, the only wish he can have respecting their cause is, that it may utterly perish. And if they cling to the pernicious cause, in spite of every effort to show them its wickedness; and to impress them with its doom, if the cause, and the persons upholding it, become so indissolubly blended that the one cannot be destroyed without the other; why, then, in spite of sickly sentimentalism, it is the manly duty of God’s servant to call for the destruction of both; and it is with a holy satisfaction he is enabled to anticipate the fulfilment of his desire. No soft sympathy for doomed individuals who, in their determined wickedness, have scorned every warning, and resisted every appeal, shall hinder the servant of God from rejoicing when by their overthrow, millions are freed from fetters, and are enabled to set forward on a glorious career of light, liberty, and joy.”—W. G. Blaikie. God’s rescues not only call forth gratitude of His people on earth, but awaken the songs of heaven. As there is joy amongst the angels over one sinner that repenteth, so there are exulting alleluias over the overthrow of God’s enemies, and the final triumph of His kingdom (Revelation 19:1-3). EVIL FOR GOOD(Psalms 35:11-18.) I. Innocence calumniated (Psalms 35:11). “Unjust witnesses.”—Delitzch. “Unscrupulous witnesses.”—Perowne. These were men accustomed to violence and deceit. They wished to ruin David, and as they could not accuse him truly, they had no scruple in accusing him falsely. They even endeavoured to wring from him a confession of crimes, which he had not only not committed, but of which he had no knowledge. “To please Saul, there were always men to be found mean enough to impeach David.”—Spurgeon. Such things are still done. II. Goodwill repaid with bereavement (Psalms 35:12). There was nothing but kindness on David’s part, but his enemies returned evil for good (cf. Saul, 1 Samuel 24:17). They had no pity. Their conduct wounded him deeply. “Spoiling of soul,” i.e., bereaving my soul. “David sent his parents to the king of Moab for safety; he was severed from Michal his wife and from Jonathan his friend, and he was estranged not only from Saul, but from all his court.”—Murphy. “Very touching are the words, ‘My soul is bereaved,’ I am alone in the world; I who have ever sought to help the friendless and comfort the afflicted, and who prayed so earnestly for others, am forsaken of all.”—Perowne. III. Brotherly kindness requited with hatred (Psalms 35:13-14). “The general idea is, that he displayed the deepest sympathy with their distresses. This idea is expressed by figures borrowed from the oriental mourning usages. Sackcloth, fasting, and prayer, are particularly mentioned.”—Alexander. “Yet I,” emphatic in contrast with their selfishness. “Sackcloth,” the raiment of sympathy and sorrow. “Fasting,” the idea of overpowering compassion. “My prayer returned,” “was again and again repeated on their behalf. ‘In my bosom,’ in the silent aspirations of my heart.”—Murphy “As one that mourneth for his mother, I went softly about in mourning attire.” Delitzch. The loss of a mother is held in the East as the saddest of all bereavements. “How few professors in these days have such bowels of compassion; and yet under the Gospel there should be far more tender love than under the law. Had we more hearty love to mankind, and care for its innumerable ills, we might be far more useful; certainly we should be infinitely more Christlike. ‘He prayeth best, who loveth best.’ “—Spurgeon. IV. Misfortune met with derision (Psalms 35:15). “But in mine adversity.” Whether his affliction was in body or outward condition, it was made the occasion of scorn instead of comfort, and that by the most abject. “At my halting, when I leaned to one side from the upright posture of prosperity. When they saw the first change in the countenance of Saul towards him, their envy was gratified.”—Murphy. “When I limped, cripples mocked at me, i.e., those who were themselves contemptible treated me with contempt. ‘I did not know it.’ It was done behind my back, and while I was entirely unsuspicious. ‘They rent or tore me’ by their slanders.”—Alexander. V. Piety made the subject of ribaldry and scorn (Psalms 35:16). The language here is obscure. Perowne translates “with them that are profane in their outlandish mockings.” Delitzch, “after the manner of common parasites.” Alexander, “with worthless mockers for bread.” The reference seems to be to hangers on at the tables of the rich (lit. “cake-mockers”), who were wont for hire or a “bit of bread,” to play the buffoon, and to make entertainment for the guests. Piety would be a common subject for their mockery. Thus it has been often in the world. There have been historians who have sneered at things sacred. There have been novelists who have ridiculed evangelical religion. There have been poets who have prostituted their genius to make piety the sport of fools. Even to this day there are men so base, that to gratify their patrons, in a word, “for a bit of bread” they will sell the truth, mock at purity, and cast contempt on all that is holy and God-like. “Very forcibly might our Lord have used the words of these verses! Let us not forget to see the despised and rejected of men here painted to the life. Calvary and the ribald crew around the cross seem brought before our eyes.”—Spurgeon. Psalms 35:17-18. “The sufferer’s appeal to the Lord.” “Lord.” Adonai, the governor who is bound to administer justice. “How long” (Psalms 6:3-10). This is the expostulation of the sufferer under persecution. How often has it been uttered! “From their destructions,” their destructive intents and endeavours. “My only one” (Psalms 22:20). “Young lions” (Psalms 34:10), in human shape. Psalms 35:18. “I will thank.” Confess Thy name, especially Thy goodness. “A mighty people.” Mighty for their numbers, and their communion with God.—Murphy. THE HATES(Psalms 35:19-28.) I. His character (Psalms 35:19-22). He is described as false, “false enemies;” as spiteful, “my haters without cause,” i.e., “out of sheer spite.”—Alexander. (Psalms 7:4; Psalms 25:3; cf. John 15:25), As turbulent. “For they speak not peace, but they devise words of deceit against the quiet in the laud,” i.e., “the land of promise, considered as the home of God’s chosen people, who, as its rightful proprietors, are characteristically peaceful, and averse to all strife and disorder.”—Alexander. He is further described as adding insult to injury (Psalms 35:21). “The gaping mouth, insulting laugh, and glaring eye, are the rude indications of malice.”—Murphy. Thus his enemies hated Daniel (Daniel 6:4), thus Haman hated Mordecai (Esther 3:5-6), thus the ten brethren hated Joseph. Every conscious malicious effort strengthens the unholy passion. “Whom we have injured we are sure to hate.” There is a fiendish joy in the discovery of any fault which may afford some excuse for the conduct pursued (Micah 7:8). In having without a cause, they may be said not merely to hate truth and goodness, but to hate God Himself. It is the spirit of hell (cf. John 15:18-25; 1 John 2:9; 1 John 3:15; 1 John 4:20). II. His righteous doom (Psalms 35:22-26). There is here a twofold and earnest appeal to God for judgment. He is regarded— 1. As a silent witness. “Thou hast looked on, O Lord, be not silent.” Mine enemies “are not the only witnesses of my distress, for Thou, Lord, likewise seest, and hast long seen it. Seeing it, therefore, be no longer silent.”—Alexander. 2. As an almighty friend. “O Lord, be not far from me.” Be my shield and helper. The sense of God’s nearness gives comfort and courage. 3. As a righteous judge (Psalms 35:23-24). “Do me justice, clear me from aspersion, grant an attestation of my innocence, in the exercise and exhibition of Thine own essential rectitude, and in accordance with that covenant relation which exists between us; and thus in the most effectual manner take away from my malignant enemies all pretext and occasion for exulting in my overthrow, or otherwise triumphing at my expense.”—Alexander. Psalms 35:25-26. The appeal to God is renewed, showing the necessary result of judgment in the confusion and disgrace of the wicked, and the exaltation of the righteous. “Here is the eternal result of all the laborious and crafty devices of the Lord’s enemies. God will make little of them, though they magnified themselves. He will shame them for shaming His people, bring them into confusion for making confusion, pull off their fine apparel, and give them a beggarly suit of dishonour, and turn all their rejoicing into weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Truly the saints can afford to wait.”—Spurgeon. Psalms 35:27-28. “The psalmist is assured of a favourable answer to his appeal, and therefore betakes himself to thanksgiving. ‘Let them shout and be glad that delight in my righteousness,’ i.e., that desires to see justice done to me. He calls upon his friends, as well as himself, to praise the Lord for the justice of His government”.—Murphy. THE RETURN OF PRAYERPsa_35:13. This word is obscure. Some understand it of posture (1 Kings 18:42); others of inward prayer; others of repeated prayer, and others of ineffectual prayer. Perowne says, “I prefer rendering, ‘And my prayer, may it return into mine own bosom.’ The prayer I offered for them is a prayer I might have offered for myself. So true a prayer was it, so full of love, that I could wish nothing more than that the blessings I asked for them, should be vouchsafed to me” (cf. Matthew 10:13; Luke 10:6). Prayer may return in different ways. I. Unheard. The priests of Baal cried in vain, so with the hypocrite and the formalist; so with the man who prays from hate and not from love. “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below,Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”—Shakespeare.II. Unanswered. Not that God does not hear, or hearing does not care, or caring cannot help, but that for reasons known to Himself. He withholds what is asked. Perhaps the time is not come or the petitioner is not fit to receive the blessing, or it may be better to refuse than to grant the request. God gave Israel a king when they wanted one, but it was in His wrath (1. Sam. Psalms 8:7-9); Hosea 13:11). God refused to relieve Paul from the thorn in the flesh, though he besought Him thrice, but it was in love. He gave him better than he asked (2 Corinthians 12:9). III. Bringing benedictions. Others, and ourselves also, are benefited (Job 42:10). Intercessions not only binds us more to God, but brings us nearer our brethren. It is an antidote to selfishness and hate. It fills the heart with love. “For what are men better than sheep or goats,That nourish a blind life within the brain;If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer,Both for themselves, and those who call them friend!For so the whole round earth is every wayBound by gold chains about the feet of God.”—Tennyson. AS A FRIENDPsa_35:14. This implies— I. Kind consideration. There are differences. All depends on the spirit (cf. Satan, Job 1:8, and God Pa Psalms 31:7). Mark the Priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan (Luke 10:30-36). II. Generous sympathy. Observation without sympathy is torture. But how sweet is true sympathy. It is like cold water to a thirsty soul. It is like balm to a bleeding heart. It is the man who sympathises that can help. Others may be dull, but he is quick to see. Others may stand by silent and powerless, but he knows, as if by intuition, how to speak a word in season. His very presence is an inspiration (cf. Job 6:14; 1 Samuel 23:16). III. Self-denying service. Love is the essence of friendship. Sacrifice is the highest form of love (cf. John 15:13; 1 John 3:18; Romans 5:8). A Moravian missionary sold himself to slavery, that he might win the love and trust of the slaves. The appeals of others they might scorn, but their hearts were opened to the man who had thus proved himself their friend. IV. Constancy in love and devotion (Proverbs 17:17; Proverbs 27:6; Psalms 141:5). “Love is not loveWhich alters when it alteration finds;Or bends with the remover to remove.Oh no! it is au ever fixèd mark,That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;It is the star of every wandering bark,Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.”—Shakespeare.“The noblest friendship ever shown,The Saviour of the world makes known.”—Cowper. This psalm was written by David. From Psalms 36:1-4 he describes the rebellious; Psalms 36:5-9 he extols the various attributes of the Lord; and in Psalms 36:10-11 he add see the Lord in prayer.THE OF A WICKED LIFE(Psalms 36:1-4.) We have in these verses a graphic delineation of a wicked life, in every way true, yet abhorrent. The picture of an ungodly man ought to be enough to save others from an imitation of his profane conduct. I. A wicked life is characterised by practical atheism. “There is no fear of God before his eyes.” Wicked men are virtually atheistic. They do not in reality recognise the existence of the Supreme Being, and this is evident from the feeling of their inner nature, from their speech, and from their methods of activity. They are without God in the world. They may recognise Him in the form of a creed, but He has no real influence over them; they are entirely led by the impulse of the moment, by the speculation of the hour, or by the passion of the lower nature. They are not influenced by considerations that have reference to God and His government of the universe. Prayer forms no part of their lives. A wicked life is not consistent with a true belief in the Divine existence. II. A wicked life is characterised by self-adulation. “For he flattereth himself in his own eyes.” Wicked men are generally guilty of self-flattery, and in this way they endeavour to appease their conscience, and approve their plans. Their lives are sinful, and hence they have to cover them with artificial flowers, and with unreal decorations. They dare not admit the facts and experiences of their own heart even to themselves. Self-flattery is easy. It is common. It sometimes has to serve instead of flattery from others. A wicked life has no cause for self-flattery; it may pride itself upon its cunning, or upon its success, but that will not alter its guilt, or avert the unerring sentence of infinite Justice. III. A wicked life is characterised by verbal profanity. “The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit.” Wicked men are recognised by their perverse and profane speech. They hallow not the great name of God, nor do they reverently allude to the solemn realities of the moral life of the race. But their language is not only profane, it is also deceitful. It is characterised by duplicity. It often gives a misrepresentation of moral character, of events and circumstances, and of the ordinary things of life. Speech is a good index to the soul. IV. A wicked life is characterised by un-wisdom. “He hath left off to be wise and to do good.” Wicked men are often gifted as far as secular knowledge and wisdom are concerned. But true wisdom cometh down from above, and of this they are sadly deficient. Hence they lack the wisdom that truly makes men wise. Sin is always evidence of the greatest ignorance and folly. The un-wisdom of a wicked life is seen in the pleasure it seeks, in the study it pursues, in the destiny it selects, and in its hatred of philanthropy. V. A wicked life is characterised by cunning artifices. “He deviseth mischief upon his bed.” The wicked man deliberately plans mischief. His late and early thoughts, which ought to be concentrated on God and His mercy, are fixed on schemes of fraud and cunning. Wicked men are generally cunning. For this they educate their faculties, and thus they hope to enrich themselves, to malign their neighbours, and to defeat the purposes of the good. Thus it is not difficult to know the ungodly man when we meet him. LESSONS:— 1. That a wicked life is hateful to God. 2. That a wicked life is despicable to men. 3. That a wicked life is injurious to society. 4. That a wicked life may be reformed by grace. A WELCOME OF THE OF GOD(Psalms 36:5-12.) The psalm commences with a description of the character of the wicked man, and, by way of sublime contrast, gives a glad revelation of the character of God. There are grand contrasts in nature; equally so in the inspired volume. Here we have a striking one:— I. The Divine Being is unspeakable in mercy. “Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens.” Mercy is a distinguishing attribute of God. He delighteth in mercy, and has ever proved this in His dealings with the human race. This is evident in the temporal gifts He bestows, in the spiritual good He communicates, and in the grand redemption He has provided for the soul, whereby it can be made free and pure. Nature speaks the mercy of God, as with a thousand tongues, and the Bible lends additional emphasis to her already loud voice. The greatest sinner may experience the mercy of God if he will only seek it prayerfully. II. The Divine Being is immutable in rectitude. “Thy righteousness is like the great mountains.” And thus, while mercy is an attribute of God, rectitude may also be predicted of Him. The Divine mercy proceeds upon the principle of Divine equity. The mountains are immutable, they are firm, they are majestic, they are imposing and beautiful; and so is the rectitude of God. It is ever the same towards rich and poor; it is worthy the admiration of the intelligent universe, and under its shade men may safely repose. The Divine rectitude should be consoling to the good, and a terror to those who await the unknown tribunal of the future. III. That the Divine Being invites the confidence of the soul. “Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings.” The mercy and rectitude of God, as seen in the principle of His government and in the preservation of the material universe, awaken men to confidence in Him. And God protects those who put their trust in Him. The figure of this verse is very beautiful and attractive. The soul of man can rest in God by trusting in Him. Faith is moral repose. IV. That the Divine Being is the source of all life. “For with Thee is the fountain of life.” God is the source of all life. The angels derive their existence from Him. Man lives in Him. All mental, moral, and spiritual life is the gift of the Eternal. Earth has no life to bestow; it is a grave. Life, full and free, is the gift of the Infinite Being. We should measure the gift by the Giver. V. That the Divine Being is the protection of the good from the artifices of the wicked. “And let not the hand of the wicked remove me.” The wicked often seek to injure the good by cunning artifice and sheer strength: at such a time God is their only protection and refuge. Hence we have here a very glad and welcome representation of the Divine character: full of mercy, firm in justice, inviting the confidence of the soul, the source of life, and the protection of the good. What more can we require? LESSONS:— 1. We ought to be grateful that God has given such a condescending revelation of Himself. 2. We ought to be consoled and strengthened by the thought that such a revelation is true to human experience. 3. Learn a lesson of trust in the Eternal God. This psalm was probably written by David in his old age, and contains his experience in reference to the providential dealings of God with men. It acknowledges the transient prosperity of the wicked, but places in sublime contrast therewith the confidence and destiny of the good, and proves clearly that the latter have little cause to envy the former. It is folly to envy a man because be is clothed in the garb of a king; he may, after all, be only a pauper in disguise.THE OF THE WICKED THE ENVY OF THE GOOD(Psalms 37:1-2.) I. That there is apparently much in the prosperity of the wicked to excite the fretful envy of the good. It cannot be denied that wicked men are often in great prosperity even while the pious are poor and despised. They are eminent in social position and fortunate in commercial speculation; hence they are surrounded by all that heart could wish. This is a matter of history. It is also a matter of everyday experience. In this life the wicked are prosperous. They live for this life alone, they are often cunning and selfish; hence it is not to be wondered at that they succeed in it. And they always take good care to display their grandeur, so that it may be universally seen and admired. Hence they are the occasion of perplexity to the good, and often of desponding thoughts and envious feelings. It is hard to understand how it is that so many good things should fall to the lot of characters so unworthy of them, while the children of God are in comparative need. At such a sight it is difficult to realise that Heaven is just in its providential dealings with men. But this thought will come with devotion (Psalms 73:16-17). II. That it is foolish to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it is only of temporary duration. It is impossible not to regard the temporary prosperity of the wicked; the good cannot be indifferent to it; it is thrust upon their attention. But the good are not obliged to envy it, or to be ill-tempered at it. Their envy will do no good. It will not alter things, or make them better. This social condition is permitted by Heaven. It must, therefore, be accepted by the devout mind as appropriate, as a token of the beneficence of God in that He will permit such distinguished mercy to attend a wicked life. But the prosperity of the wicked will only be transient, as the beauty of the grass, or as the momentary bloom of the flower. And, therefore, it is not worthy of envy, as it is prosperity of the lowest kind, and will soon wither in the grave; whereas, though the good may endure a long period of want, yet it will only be as a prelude to the eternal wealth and enjoyment of heaven. Surely, then, they have no need to envy the temporal prosperity of the wicked. III. That it is sinful to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it is contrary to the command of God. The Bible clearly reveals the fact that envy is a sinful passion, and that it is the outcome of an impure heart. A good man cannot indulge envy, or he will soon be little better in moral character than those whose prosperity he may contemplate. Envy is forbidden by God. It is an unhallowed flame within the soul. It hinders prayer. It leads to oppression. It is contrary to the example of Christ. Hence if good men would keep their souls in harmony with the law of God; if they would be contented in spirit and happy in life, they must not yield to the dire sentiment of envy. IV. That it is injurious to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it awakens the lower sentiments of the soul. There is no lower passion of which man is capable than that of envy. It is a mean and unhappy companion. It looks askance at every one it meets. In its light a friend may be turned into an enemy. And for a good man to give himself up to it, would indeed be to allow the lower feelings of his soul to gain the mastery over all that is true and magnanimous within him. A pure soul cannot indulge envy. V. That it is presumptuous to envy the prosperity of the wicked, because it is rebellion against the providence of God. God has a certain method of providence in the universe, and it ill becomes good men to rebel against it. It is just. It is disciplinary. It will ultimately be adjusted to all the moral requirements of the universe. The good should therefore be patient, not fretful. They can afford to wait. They have moral prosperity, they need not therefore envy secular pride. They must fall in with the providence of God, even though at times it may be of difficult interpretation. LESSONS:— 1. Not to cultivate an envious outlook upon the social conditions of men. 2. To trust in God during the enigmas of the present, and wait the final adjustment of all things. THE AND OF THE GOOD(Psalms 37:3-11.) In the opening verses of this psalm we are told of the dispositions which should and should not characterise a pious soul It should not be fretful or envious. It should be trustful. It should be joyous. It should be meek. These dispositions win the benediction of Heaven The blessings of the soul are intimately allied to its moral dispositions. Men find the world what they make it by their own inner spirit. I. The dispositions that should characterise a godly life. 1. Trust. “Trust in the Lord.” If men would avoid a fretful spirit, they should trust in the Lord. Faith is the noblest disposition of the soul, and is an antidote for envy. It has an elevating influence upon the moral character of those who exercise it. The Lord is worthy of the confidence of men. He is omnipotent, and cannot fail. He is faithful, and will never forsake. The good may therefore confide their life, temporal circumstances, their reputation, and the government of the universe to Him, knowing that He will order all for their ultimate spiritual welfare. Trust not in man, not even in yourself. Trust in God must also be followed by appropriate effort; only they who “do good” have any right to expect Divine help. 2. Joy. “Delight thyself also in the Lord.” Hence the joy of the good is not carnal and sinful, but spiritual and pure. It is delight in the Supreme Being, in His character and perfections, in the noblest love, and in the highest wisdom; hence it is eminently real and secure. In what better object can the soul delight? In uncertain riches? In fleeting pleasure? In dying friendship? The joy of the Lord is our strength both in sorrow and in service. God delights in the good, and what more reasonable than that they should rejoice in Him. The life of the Christian is one of holy delight in the Eternal. Faith inspires delight. 3. Devotion. “Commit thy way unto the Lord.” The good are not to take the sole guidance and responsibility of their own life. They are to commit their way, their sorrow, their moral imperfections, their mental perplexities, their domestic cares, and their temporal circumstances, entirely into the hands of the Lord. They are to do this by prayer, with faith, in delight In this consists true piety. Though the great God has the vast concerns of the universe to watch over, He is willing to direct the individual life committed to His care. Some men commit their way unto reason; some to impulse; and some to passion. But God is the only true guardian of the way of an immortal soul. 4. Rest. “Rest in the Lord.” This is the duty and privilege of the good. This is not a world for much repose; men are anxious and active; they make haste to be rich; they pursue pleasure ardently; they are tormented by care: they are unrestful. But religion gives moral quietude. It calms the soul. It silences the voice of complaint. God is the only true resting-place of the soul; but what a sweet rest is found in Him! See, then, the accompaniments of faith, joy, devotion, rest Faith bears blessed fruit. 5. Patience. “Wait patiently.” The good must be patient in suffering, in service—under adverse circumstances, when their reputation is maligned, and when the mystery of life presses heavily upon them. God is worth waiting for. His time is the best. Men tarry for the king. Time should not be considered in waiting for the King of heaven. The splendour of His advent will more than compensate for the delay. 6. Meekness. “But the meek shall inherit the earth.” The good should be meek and contented with their lot, not haughty, defiant, or restless. Hence we see the dispositions which should characterise a pious soul, and the benedictions they attain, and the admiration they win. II. The benedictions that are bestowed upon a godly life. 1. That a godly life is watched over by the beneficent providence of God. “Thou shalt dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” The Divine providence enables the good to feel at home in this world, even though they do not regard it as their home. They dwell in the land because it is the property of their Father in heaven, and He gives them the right to reside in it. Thus their temporal and moral requirements will be met. They will be fed with the bread that perisheth, as also with the bread that cometh down from heaven. Truth is the sustenance of the soul, and it shall never be lacking to the good. 2. That a godly life is privileged by the gratification of its best desires. “He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” The desires of the good are the outcome of their trust and delight in the Lord, and therefore may safely be granted. Man is a creature of desire. He often longs for that he can never attain. His aspirations are often ambitious, and, if realised, would prove injurious. But the inclinations of the good are pure and spiritual, they are in harmony with the will of God and the welfare of the soul. Religion alone can give true satisfaction to human desire. 3. That a godly life shall be vindicated from the slander and calumny of men. “And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light.” The good are often maligned in this world by those who envy the beauty of their characters and the glory of their reputation. Sometimes this is the outcome of sheer malice, and occasionally of wanton mischief. But from the darkness of calumny God will bring the good into the light of day, when men shall see the untarnished beauty of their characters, the injury that has been done them, and the tender solicitude of Heaven for the public vindication of the pure. 4. That a godly life is enriched by a true ownership of the earth. “But the meek shall inherit the earth.” The world is not inherited by the busy or by those who are given to speculation, but by the meek. They inherit it by their contented spirit, and because they enjoy it. It is the gift of their Father to them, and they possess its title-deeds in Christ. The meek are the true and permanent inheritors of the soil; they will inherit the new heaven and the new earth. 5. That a godly life shall experience a sweet and affluent peace. “And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” A godly life is generally characterised by peacefulness. It is at peace with self, with God, and with the universe. Its peace is affluent; it is a delight; it is divinely given to the pure. “My peace I give unto you.” Weak men are agitated by the storms of earth, while good men know the peace of God which passeth all understanding, and anticipate a destiny of peace which shall never be broken by sorrow or sin. LESSONS:— 1. To cultivate the dispositions of soul commended by God. 2. To expect the benedictions of Heaven promised to a trustful soul. THE OF THE WICKED AGAINST THE GOOD(Psalms 37:12-15.) That the wicked plot against the just is matter of history, and also of everyday experience. They envy the moral character of the good, with the respect it wins and the influence it wields. They cannot interpret its inner meaning or understand the secret of its modest power. They are also rebuked by the quiet dignity of the Christian character, and hence, through sheer hatred, seek to persecute and remove it out of their sight. To this end they employ their best genius and cunning, and await the result with the utmost complacency, little thinking that Heaven holds them and their schemes in derision. I. The plottings of the wicked against the good are wrathful. “And gnasheth upon him with his teeth.” The wicked show by their gestures the rage they indulge against, and injury they would inflict upon, the good if it were in their power. They gnash with their teeth, thus indicating their angry but curbed rage. They have not the ability or the opportunity to accomplish the mischief their violent passion would devise. Sinners are held in check by the restraining providence of God, by legal penalties, and often by the sheer force of public opinion, which favours the welfare of the good. But if the wicked cannot always execute their plottings against the just, they do not disguise their anger; they little think how morally impotent and vulgar their puny gnashing makes them appear. They show that they are the creatures of a passion they cannot vent. II. The plottings of the wicked against the good are cruel. “The wicked have drawn out the sword.” They have drawn the weapon out of the sheath and await the time to use it. They do not seek to overcome the just by Scripture truth, by logical argument, or by cultured means, but by the cruel and deadly instrument of war. They employ no half measures, as they vainly imagine. They repose more confidence in the physical and material agency than in the intellectual and the moral. In seeking the injury of the good, they would prefer a sword to any other instrumentality. They shrink not from murder if their rage can only achieve its malicious design. They are of the lowest type of mind. III. The plottings of the wicked against the good are determined. “And have bent their bow.” They not merely carry a sword, but also a bow; nor would they refuse any other instrument likely to accomplish their mischievous design upon the good. They bend the bow with all the determination of will they can possibly summon. They take steady aim that they may wound a vital part. And thus the wicked, in their plottings against the just, make use of all the instrumentalities they can command, exercise all the talents they possess, and are strong in their determination to achieve the end they contemplate. IV. The plottings of the wicked against the good are cowardly. “To cast down the poor and needy.” The wicked do not seek to engage in conflict with the strong amongst the good, who would be competent to expose and vanquish their plottings, but with the poor and needy. They attack the feeble who are too meek in spirit to suspect their mischief, or to defend themselves from it; they attack the poor who have not wherewith to protect themselves from the assaults of their imperious enemies. Wicked men are generally cowardly. They have not the courage of their rage, or the valour of their determination. V. The plottings of the wicked against the good are self-destructive. “Their sword shall enter into their own heart.” The very weapon intended for the destruction of the good, under the mysterious but retributive arrangements of Divine Providence, shall be employed in the defeat of the wicked. The wicked are often hung upon gallows built by themselves. Their plottings are self-destructive; they are vain; they are useless; their bows are broken; their agencies are cut off; their plans are defeated; they outwit themselves; they invite the derision and retribution of heaven. LESSONS:— 1. That it is foolish for the wicked to plot against the good. 2. Such plottings are intelligible to the good, being explained by the enmity of the world to Christ. 3. Such plottings are not to be feared, but are to be outlived by trust in God. THE AND HIS LITTLE BETTER THAN THE WICKED WITH HIS MUCH(Psalms 37:16.) It is a fact of everyday observation that the righteous often have little, while the ungodly have much. The little may be better than the much. This is the arithmetic of Heaven, not of the world. Why is the little better? I. Because it is honestly gained. The little that a righteous man hath is sure to be honestly gained. It will be either the product of healthy labour, of commendable skill, or of lawful inheritance. This cannot always be said of the riches of the wicked; they are often got by fraud, by cunning, from the orphan, and the widow. The way in which wealth is obtained has much to do with its real value. II. Because it may be safely retained. The little that a righteous man bath is far more likely to be safely retained than are the riches of the wicked. The former are careful in the use, prayerful in the investment, and unselfish in the gift of their little; while the latter are spendthrift, godless, and selfish in the use of their much. Prayer and benevolence are a great preservative to wealth. III. Because it may be truly enjoyed. The little of the righteous is rightfully earned, and, therefore, may be truly enjoyed; whereas the much of the wicked is often unjustly gained, and is, therefore, associated with unhappy deeds, with unwelcome memories, with self-accusation, and with a fear of retribution. It cannot be truly enjoyed. IV. Because it will be carefully spent. It is just possible that the little of the righteous will go farther than the great riches of the wicked. The righteous are careful but not miserly; they gather up the fragments that nothing may be lost. The wicked are often speculative, and lose more than they win. They are spendthrift; they make a boast of their prodigality; they are well bled by flatterers and by sinful accomplices. V. Because it will be benevolently used. The little of the righteous will be given to the Lord; to His cause on the earth; to His poor; and to institutions worthy of help. Men lose nothing by giving to the prophet of the Lord (1 Kings 17:14; Proverbs 11:24). The righteous gain by giving. The wicked lose by withdrawing. A running stream inherits the most territory. VI. Because it will be divinely blessed. The righteous can justly expect the blessing of God upon their little, because it is honestly gained and it is benevolently used. The wicked have no right to anticipate the benediction of Heaven upon their riches. No man is rich without the blessing of God. LESSONS:— 1. To be satisfied with little. 2. To make little sufficient. 3. To use little well. (Psalms 37:16-28.) We have in these verses a fine contrast between the wicked and the righteous. It is drawn by unerring skill, after minute observation, and is in keeping with the general experience of mankind. The wicked and the good:— I. They are contrasted in their possessions. “A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.” The wicked often have greater property and wealth than the good, but they are not content therewith; yea, they are even unrestful in its possession. Whereas the righteous have little, but, by the quietude of their soul, their little becomes much, and is a true enjoyment to them. Wicked men are troubled by their much (Luke 12:16). Good men are grateful for their little (Psalms 103:2). II. They are contrasted in their strength. “For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.” The arms are a token of power and strength, and the arms of the wicked shall be broken. They shall be broken by the retributive providence of God, and by the failure of their own schemes. What a pitiable sight they present! Revengeful, yet armless. Like Samson shorn of his strength. The strength of the good man does not consist in his arms, hence there is no reference to them, but in the inspiring energy of God. He is upheld by the Lord, hence his superior power and safety. III. They are contrasted in their perpetuity. “The Lord knoweth the days of the upright; and their inheritance shall be for ever.” “But the wicked shall perish.” The good are known by God. He knows their present estate and their future glory. He sees their trials, and also the weight of glory in reserve for them. He beholds the sword unsheathed, and the bow bent against them, but no weapon formed against them can prosper. The times of the good are in the hand of the Lord, hence He will deliver them from special calamities, and will feed them when famine is prevalent. But the wicked shall perish,—they have no defence against their enemies, they have no granary in Egypt to which they can flee in the days of famine. They will perish ignobly, irreparably, and eternally. This will be the end of their hatred, cunning, and wealth. IV. They are contrasted in their integrity. “The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth.” Though the wicked have great wealth, they are often under the necessity of borrowing money, because they are prodigal. They borrow to meet the demands of extravagant habits, of sinful pleasures, and of accomplices in vices. Sin is very expensive. It involves in hopeless debt, and oftentimes to those against whom the sword has been unsheathed. The wicked pay not again. They are not willing to reform their extravagant habits, they are not willing to work, and they are dishonest at heart, and so they pay not their debts, even though they violate their most sacred bonds. The righteous lend to the wicked, they are merciful and generous in spirit. Their wealth was lent to them, and they are willing to lend it again, and to receive their usury from Him who ever rewards a beneficent deed. The plottings of the wicked do not interrupt the benevolent dispositions of the good. It is better to lend than to borrow. V. They are contrasted in their posterity. “Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. But the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” David had not seen the seed of the righteous begging bread. He was a king, and would not be likely to meet with such poverty. Yet his experience was wide in the matter, and he was competent to pass an opinion. The children of good men are seen begging; but very seldom. This is the exception, the rule is in harmony with the statement of this verse. The children of the wicked are cut off, they inherit from their parents the seeds of destruction (Proverbs 3:33). LESSONS:— 1. Which character is the more inviting, the more prosperous, the more enduring? 2. Which will you cultivate?THE (Psalms 37:29-34.) The psalmist found congenial employment in writing about good men, and their relation to God, to His government, and to the world at large. He delighted to show the Divine care for the good, their excellencies of character, the protection they enjoyed, and the future they anticipated. The righteous: I. The land he inherits. “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” The righteous inherit the earth, the world in which they now are, they inherit it as the sons of God through Christ, and, standing on Calvary, all that they can see from that hill is theirs. They will dwell eternally in this world by the work they do, by the influences they exert, by the inspiration they impart, and by the silent testimony they leave behind (Hebrews 11:4). II. The wisdom he speaks. “The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.” Good men are known by their speech, they talk on good subjects, and talk on them wisely. He converses about moral questions, his tongue talketh of judgment. He speaks not about the follies of the age, he has no interest in the gossip of the weak,—he prefers the deeper and more solemn themes of life and destiny. III. The law he keeps. “The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.” This is the secret of his wise speech. Men who know God, and who search His law, are furnished with themes for noble conversation, and are imbued with a true spirit of wisdom. If men would read the Bible more, they would talk more wisely. The good man not merely reads the law, he not merely knows it, but it is resident within him as a vital and transformative principle (Psalms 119:11). Obedience to this law is elevating, preserving, safe, and sanctifying. It is the highest law, and obedience to it is the most influential and worthy. IV. The safety he enjoys. “The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The Lord will not leave him in his hand.” The righteous are watched by deceptive and cruel men, they are often unconscious of this peril. But they have another watcher, even the Lord who is their Sun and Shield. The Divine Guardian is greater and more vigilant than the human foe. Jesus was watched by His enemies. V. The condemnation he escapes. “Nor condemn him when he is judged.” In this world the righteous are often condemned, by secret slander, by cruel hatred, by violent plots, by public opinion, and even by the legal tribunals of the land. But there comes a day when their condemnation will be reversed, their shame will be removed, their characters will be cleared, and infinite justice will receive them into its eternal protection. The good can afford to wait this time, and no doubt many long for it to turn their darkness into light, their sadness into joy. A false sentence is now passed on moral goodness; the future will reveal its injustice. The pure life only can escape condemnation. What a joy to escape the condemnation of God, not through our own merit, but through the cross of Jesus. VI. The exaltation he expects. “Wait on the Lord and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land.” The good are to wait on the Lord, because He may be long in coming to them, because He is worth waiting for, and because at His coming they will realise all their long-cherished hopes. The early watchers on the mountain wait for the rising of the sun, and the multitudes wait for the coming of the king. So let the Christian wait for the Lord. The good must not only wait on the Lord, but also keep His way. There must be keeping as well as waiting, and then there will be inheriting. Canaan is the inheritance and the exaltation of the pure. LESSONS:— 1. Talk wisely. 2. Obey diligently. 3. Walk carefully. 4. Anticipate joyfully. THE OF THE WICKED AS WITH THE DESTINY OF THE GOOD(Psalms 37:35-37.) The first verse contains the pith of the entire psalm. “Fret not thyself because of evil-doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.” The following reasons are given as a preventative of an envious spirit: The glory of the wicked is of brief duration (Psalms 37:2); the moral rectitude of the good will be finally manifested (Psalms 37:6); the good are divinely protected from the attacks of evil men (Psalms 37:12-15); they are divinely guided (Psalms 37:23); they are the true inheritors of the soil (Psalms 37:29); their destiny is peaceful. Hence the good have no need to envy the wicked in their bright but transient prosperity, especially when they consider the future. Perhaps, when David wrote this psalm, the image of Saul was floating before his vision. Truly, in reference to that monarch, he could say, “I have seen the wicked,” &c. I. That wicked men are often in the possession of great power. “I have seen the wicked in great power.” 1. They often have social distinction. It very often happens that the wicked are rich; they have a productive farm, or a good business, which places at their command the luxuries of life. Hence they are surrounded by men of like fortunes, and are largely courted by the multitude beneath them. It is customary in these times to make wealth rather than character the test of companionship; hence rich men are suns in the firmament of our social life, they are surrounded by attendant planets, and stars, hoping to catch the rays of their favour. They keep up appearances, they give grand entertainments, they aid philanthropic institutions, and so gain social popularity. Such men are dangerous. They are, to those who circle near them, as the bright light to the moth: they occasion moral ruin. 2. They often have national distinction. They have gained influence in the local circle in which they move, hence they are elevated to a seat in the legislature; or, it may be, that they are clever as they are wicked, and thus, by sheer intellect, gain the pre-eminence of their fellows. They make an invention, they write a book, they win a battle, and society, not being in an ideal state, is in danger of elevating genius rather than goodness. Again, if they are not clever, they are cunning, and we all know the power of fraud to out-do honesty for a time. They flatter the great men of the age, and so win their help to fame. For even great men are wonderfully open to flattery. But, sometimes their plots are so deeply laid, that even the good are duped by them. 3. The supremacy of the wicked is a matter of history and experience. “I have seen,” &c. History is a record of the wicked who have been in great power. Human society exhibits the same fact. Men of the highest genius, whose names are household words, and whose works will be read to the end of time, are illustrations of this statement. We think of Byron; and also of many kings who have ascended our throne. This outlook upon history and society may be perplexing, but the problem will one day be solved, when it will appear that saints were the true kings of the world, and that ambitious sinners were its paupers. 4. In this supremacy the wicked appear strong and arrogant. “Spreading himself,” &c. They imagine that their foundation is secure, that the effects of their wealth and genius upon the popular mind will never die away; that their smile will win, that their frown will subdue their enemies. Their demeanour is imperious. Their tones of voice are emphatic. They forget that modesty and humility would best serve their end. They are like the swollen stream, which spreads itself throughout the land, to show off its expansiveness, but certainly not its depth. II. That wicked men often experience unexpected reverses. 1. Severe and complete. “Yet he passed away.” Sometimes these men pass from the highest pinnacle of wealth to abject poverty, through speculation or panic; their true characters are unveiled, and society discards them. No vestige is left of their power. 2. Unlikely and unexpected. Such reverses are not often anticipated. We expect that wealth will protect from them. The wicked are like the rider through the desert, unexpectedly plundered by some stern robber. At the roots of the richest flower there may be an insect eating away its life unseen. The calm often breaks suddenly into storm. The wicked aristocrat may soon become the wicked pauper. 3. Minutely observed. “I sought him.” Men of wealth are talked about by everybody; their houses, clothes, habits, are the staple theme of the neighbourhood. “I sought him.” Men come to the ruin to mock; to search to see if there was anything left they could plunder, and, no doubt, to weep. Some would pity his fall. The world soon hears of the destruction of its powerful ones. III. That while the wicked experience these reverses, the good are happy in their life, and peaceful in their futurity. “The end of that man is peace.” 1. The good are a great contrast to the wicked just contemplated. The character of the one is impure, that of the other is holy; the circumstances of the one are affluent, those of the other may be needy; the destiny of the one is ignominious, while that of the other is happy. The contrast is not only great, but happy. It is pleasant to turn from the one to the other. Good men are the charm of history and of life. They are welcome as the shady nook during the hot summer day. The contrast is solemn. To think of the wicked in their power and ruin, and then of the good in their peace and hope, must certainly evoke a feeling of regret that one life should lack the beauty and safety of the other. 2. The good are worthy of careful note and imitation. “Mark the perfect man.” He is worthy of note. A perfect man! Are you astonished? Have you never seen one? True, they are not often to be met with,—you should therefore note him the more when you do see him. If you go into a picture gallery, and find a beautiful work of art, you study it from every point of view, its every feature and tint. So with the flower in your garden. But here is not a lifeless picture, a withering flower, but an immortality,—therefore let your study be deeper and truer. Mark his moral bearing, his strict integrity, his untiring zeal, his gentle spirit, his effort for the good of others. But do not look at him merely to admire, but to imitate; not merely that the natural instincts of your soul may be pleased, but that your manhood may catch the glory of his. Men always become like the object they study. Moral character is the highest kind of study If you mark the perfect man you will see that life does not always go easily with him; sometimes the night is dark and rough, but he always has one star to cheer and guide him on his journey. 3. The lift of the good will ultimately come to an end. “The end of that man.” What a pity! We should like their beautiful light to shine on in our midst for ever. Good men are the world’s jewels; they are patterns of life; they are prayers; they are inspirations. We cannot spare them. But death is rude, and takes them from us; they gladly step into heaven. And thus are plucked earth’s choicest flowers, to be removed to the Eden above. 4. The departure of the good will be peaceful in its issue. There may be the pain of disease, but that only touches the surface of the man. In the depths of his soul there is celestial calm. Peace, the end of life! How welcome after the storm. “Come at last, has it?” exclaims the dying saint. “Peace!” “My spirit has found its rest in the home of the Eternal.” We are told that Stephen fell asleep; God turned the angry cries of the murderous mob into the lullabies of a saintly repose. WHICH WILL YOU HAVE? 1. Wickedness and power; or, 2. Piety and peace. This is a psalm of David to call to remembrance his past life, and, no doubt, has especial reference to his sin with Bathsheba. It calls up to the view of his memory the sins of the past, the afflictions of the past, the enemies of the past, and the mercies of the past. It is well to have times of remembrance in life, like milestones on the road, to remind of the journey we have travelled, and to inspire us onward to the future. The past is not entirely to be forgotten; it is to be called up as evidence of our own depravity, of the Divine faithfulness, and as a profitable moral reflection for the soul.A BY A SENSE OF THE DIVINE (Psalms 38:1-22.) I. That the Divine chastisement is greatly afflictive to men. This is evident throughout the entire psalm; in fact, it would appear as though the writer were unable to find similitude by which to liken, or language in which to express, his moral pain occasioned by the Divine chastisement. 1. The Divine chastisement makes men apprehensive of the wrath of God (Psalms 38:1). David, no doubt, felt that he justly merited the Divine rebuke in its mood of strong displeasure. He had sinned, and sin always leads men to regard God as offended. It changes the Divine favour into disapprobation. The soul is certain to view God through its own moral experiences, and hence, according to its consciousness of innocence or guilt, He appears as a Father or as a Judge. The Divine anger is the bitterest element in the sorrow of the good. 2. The Divine chastisement is keen in its penetration into the soul of man (Psalms 38:2). The Divine chastisements are keen, swift, and penetrating as barbed arrows. They are shot unseen; they come unexpected; they make little noise; they are abiding in their injury. Thus it is with those who are convinced of sin. The arrow of the Holy Spirit penetrates to their innermost soul, and causes terrible pain of conscience. God’s arrows always his their mark, and are intended to remind of the bitterness of sin. 3. The Divine chastisement makes men morally loathsome to themselves (Psalms 38:3; Psalms 38:5). Here we see the view which an awakened conscience takes of its moral condition. When the soul is wounded by sin it becomes offensive to its own inner gaze. The sinner, when under conviction by the Spirit of God, sees all his life as one festering sore, and loathes it with penitential grief. 4. The Divine chastisement leads men to an overwhelming consciousness of sin (Psalms 38:4). A man, when under the rebuke of God, feels himself to be overwhelmed in the sea of his sins. There is no human refuge for him. No light reaches him. The number of man’s sins are an index to the woe of the Divine chastisements. If the sins were not deep the rebuke would not be so loud. Sin is a heavy burden, and if not cast upon the Lord, will sink the sinner into perdition. 5. The Divine chastisement leads men into grievous unrest (Psalms 38:3-8). The Divine chastisement penetrates to the inner being of man, even to the bones, and causes unrest. The good in this condition are like a ship in the storm. There can be no quietude of soul where there is sin. An awakened conscience can only obtain peace in Christ, who is the Prince of peace. 6. The Divine chastisement divests life of all human joy (Psalms 38:10). II. That the Divine chastisement often tests the sincerity and worth of human friendship. “My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off (Psalms 38:11). 1. The Divine chastisement tests the sincerity of human friendship. Friends, who are thick as eagles on a carcase while the feast lasts, are scarce in that neighbourhood when the repast is over. When the devil divested Job of his property, he also relieved him of his imagined friends. When men are undergoing the Divine chastisement they are generally left in loneliness. Then companions fear lest they should share the woe of their afflicted comrade. They stand aghast at the reversed condition of things. At such times relatives are false to the natural affection they ought to bear toward their brother in adversity. Our Lord was forsaken by His disciples. Only true friendship survives the test of adversity. 2. The Divine chastisement generally stimulates the cunning policy of the wicked (Psalms 38:12). And thus it often happens that in the hour of Divine chastisement inward grief of soul is combined with outward exigencies. When wicked men see the good in trouble then they consider it a favourable time for executing their hellish schemes. They are unmerciful; they are cowardly; their strength is in stealth; they are malicious; they are ever active; they promote slander; they delight in lies. God only can defeat their cunning devices. 3. The Divine chastisement leads men to examine the moral tendency of their lives (Psalms 38:17-18). Here the Psalmist acknowledges the moral weakness of his life, in that he is ready to halt in despair. He also confesses his sin without reservation of thought or language. Thus the Divine chastisement revealed him to himself in no pleasing light. David reviews his life in its inner meaning and in its public bearing, and intimates that his enemies accuse him falsely. Sorrow makes men review all their social and moral relationships. III. The Divine chastisements call into requisition the self-restraint of the good. “But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth” (Psalms 38:13-14). David was silent, notwithstanding the strong provocations of his enemies. He probably knew that it would be but little use to contend with them by words, and that if he did, he would only arouse them to fiercer anger. Hence he manifests the wisdom of silence. It is generally wise to treat angry and slanderous men with silence. Silence is the language of dignified innocence. It is a token of noble self-control. Man has the ability to subdue his natural feelings when they are unduly excited by cruel enemies. Christ answered his accusers not a word. It is the token of a strong soul that it can bear slander and persecution in silence, only seeking the Divine vindication and protection. IV. That the Divine chastisements awaken the repentant soul to importunate prayer. “Forsake me not, O Lord. O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation” (Psalms 38:21-22). Thus, if David was silent toward men, he was not silent toward God, and in trouble it is far better to pray to God than to talk to men. Prayer enables men to be self-contained. David said that, if Heaven forsook him, he would indeed be friendless. The Divine Companionship is the protection of the good from all the plottings of wicked men. Adverse circumstances awaken men to earnest prayer—to prayer which is soon triumphant in its experience of the salvation of God. LESSONS:— 1. How many are afflicted by the chastisements of Heaven. 2. How many are left companionless by the sorrows of life. 3. How many are driven to devotion by anguish of heart. 4. How the mischief of the wicked may be turned by God to the good of the prayerful. Superscription.—“To the chief musician, to Jeduthun, a psalm of David.” Jeduthun was one of the leaders of the sacred music in the time of David (1 Chronicles 16:41-42; 1 Chronicles 25:6; 2 Chronicles 35:15). Jeduthun is also the title of one of the twenty-four musical choirs left by David. As the psalm is addressed to the chief musician, it was obviously intended for use in the public worship of the tabernacle. David is said to be the author of the psalm. The particular occasion to which it refers is unknown. But from the psalm itself, it is clear that it was written in a time of doubt and trouble, when the psalmist’s thoughts were of such a character that he could not express them without injury to others and to the cause of God. We have no means of determining what the particular trouble was from which David was suffering. Matthew Henry suggests that “perhaps it was the death of some dear friend or relation that was the trial of his patience, and that suggested to him these meditations of mortality; and at the same time, it should seem too, he himself was weak and ill, and under some prevailing distemper.” Hengstenberg thinks that the psalm was written “when in hot persecucution and violent conflict.” It is clear that the Psalmist was in affliction and trouble, and his mind seems to have been sorely exercised as to the Divine dealings. He could not see the wisdom, the benevolence, or the justice of some of the Divine arrangements. He had dark and painful thoughts on the matter, which he dare not utter. And at length he is compelled to seek relief in prayer. Homiletically we divide the psalm thus,—Silence in Trouble (Psalms 39:1-3; Speech in Trouble (Psalms 39:4-6); Supplication in Trouble (Psalms 39:7-13).SILENCE IN TROUBLE(Psalms 39:1-3.) We have here presented to our consideration:— I. Silence maintained in trouble. “I said I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue,” &c. (Psalms 39:1-2). 1. God’s providential dealings, as seen by us, sometimes occasion doubt and trouble to good men. The Psalmist appears greatly perplexed as to the Divine administration of human affairs. He saw so much grief and pain in life, apparently proceeding from the hand of God, he was himself being consumed by the blow of God’s hand, and life itself was so short and vain, that he could not see the benevolence of the dealings of God with him. The providence of God has occasioned much perplexity and doubt in the minds of good met Asaph was sorely tried at one time by some of its problems (Psalms 73). We all have passed through experiences which at the time seemed utterly irreconcilable with the wisdom and love of God, and unbelieving and painful thoughts and feelings have filled our mind and heart. At such times we shall do well to remember that we see only a very small portion of His ways, and that small portion we see but dimly. Moreover, bitter experiences often lead to richest blessings. 2. The expression of such doubt and trouble in the presence of the wicked is to be avoided as evil. By the utterance of the sceptical and hard thoughts of God which filled his mind, the Psalmist would probably have confirmed the wicked in their unbelief, and encouraged them in their rebellion against God. Asaph felt that if he spake of his mental difficulties, and announced the dark conclusions which suggested themselves to him, he should thereby injure the true children of God. “If I say I will speak thus; behold, I should offend the generation of Thy children.” We are not at liberty to express our doubts, if, by so doing, we should give the wicked an occasion to blaspheme the Holy One, or if we should unsettle the faith of any sincere believer in God. 3. The good man guards against this evil by maintaining silence. “I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue,” &c. A soul resolutely maintaining silence, lest by speech another should be injured, is surely a brave and beautiful sight. “What a strange power,” says Emerson, “there is in silence! How many resolutions are formed, how many sublime conquests effected, during that pause when the lips are closed, and the soul secretly feels the eye of her Maker upon her! When some of those cutting, sharp, blighting words have been spoken which send the hot indignant blood to the face and head, if those to whom they are addressed keep silence, look on with awe, for a mighty work is going on within them, and the spirit of evil, or their guardian angel, is very near to them in that hour. During that pause they have made a step toward heaven or toward hell, and an item has been scored in the book which the day of judgment shall see opened. They are the strong ones of the earth, the mighty food for good or evil, those who know how to keep silence when it is a pain and a grief to them; those who give time to their own souls to wax strong against temptation, or to the powers of wrath to stamp upon them their withering passage.” The good man is ready to speak, when by his speech he can help the faith of others. He says, “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” He is “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh him a reason of the hope that is in him with meekness and fear.” But if by his speech he should incur the risk of imperilling the faith or peace of a believing soul, or of hardening the wicked in his wickedness, then he resolutely keeps silent. The silence of the Psalmist required effort. He put a muzzle upon his mouth. It is a pity that some of the weaklings, who so glibly prate about their doubts, and parade their so-called religious difficulties, would not try to imitate the Psalmist in this respect. But the Psalmist was a strong man, while the majority of those who exhibit their mental and religious difficulties as a sign of a superior order of mind, are the very reverse. The soul that has agonised with real doubts on the most vital and momentous questions will be silent concerning such doubts, or speak of them in such a manner and to such auditors only as will at least derive no harm from his speech. II. Silence increasing trouble. We adopt Hengstenberg’s rendering of the second verse. “I grew dumb and was still; I was silent, not for good, and my pain was stirred.” He explains it thus, “The Psalmist says he had indeed executed his purpose, declared in the preceding verse, but that ill had thereby accrued. The obstinate and constrained silence, so far from producing good, had rather made his pain rise to a frightful magnitude.” All great emotions require expression. They must have utterance, or the over-taxed brain will reel into madness, and the over-charged heart will burst. Sometimes great emotions find utterance in poetry. We have many instances of this in these Psalms. Prose is all too hard and cold for the expression of intense emotions. The grief-stricken spirit pours out its sorrows in plaintive minor strains, and the jubilant soul hymns its gladness in some triumphant “Gloria in excelsis,” or Jubilate. Yet words the most intensely poetical in significance and arrangement not unfrequently fail to express the soul’s emotion. Very often great emotions find utterance in tears. When words fail to express our deep grief or thrilling joy, tears often come to our relief. “They are the safety-valves of the heart, when too much pressure is laid on.” “They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and of unspeakable love.” “Sweet tears! the awful language eloquentOf infinite affection, far too bigFor words.”—POLLOK.Thus tears relieve the soul when surcharged with sorrow or o’erburdened by some great joy. But great emotions may always find relief in prayer. No sorrow is too great or too sacred for us to utter it to the ear of God. We may speak our highest, holiest, joy to Him. And the dark and agonising doubt, which we dare not utter to any of our fellow-men, we may tell to Him. He understands our tears, interprets our sighs, and knows the mysteries of our awful souls; and His ear is ever open to us. At His throne of grace we may ever find relief in trouble, and grace to help in time of need. For a time, the Psalmist seems to have reserved his trouble not only from man but from God also. The emotions which distressed him found no utterance whatever, and so they became more intense and painful. Had he taken his grief to God, it would have been far otherwise with him. III. Silence growing insupportable in trouble. “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing,” &c. The Psalmist mused upon his own afflictions and the prosperity of the wicked, and the seeming contradictions in God’s government of the world. By meditation, he realised these things more fully and intensely, until at length further silence was an impossibility. The time had come when he must speak. Upon one occasion, Jeremiah said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But it was in mine heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and could not do it.” Such was the state of the Psalmist at this time. :— 1. Let us be careful in speaking our doubts and dark thoughts to men. We are bound to see to it that we neither shake the faith of the believer, nor afford the wicked any cause to blaspheme the Holy One. 2. Let us communicate all our mental conflicts and troubles to God. By so doing we shall be relieved; and He will help us by His grace and Spirit. A (Psalms 39:1.) “I said I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue.” We have here— I. A great danger. We are in great danger of sinning with our tongue. There are several kinds of sinful speech of which we are in danger. 1. Sceptical or irreligious speech. The expression even of honest doubt should be suppressed if it is likely to offend any believer, or to harden the ungodly in wickedness. 2. Careless speech. To talk in a trifling spirit of sacred things, or to speak lightly of matters which concern the reputation and honour of another, is to sin. 3. Untruthful speech. There is much false speech without a directly uttered lie. By keeping back part of the truth, by colouring a narrative, &c., much evil is done. “A lie has no legs, and cannot stand; but it has wings, and can fly far and wide.” 4. Angry, passionate speech. When we have lost our self-control, we are not in a fit state to speak at all. In moments of passion men utter unjust and bitter words, which rankle in the hearts of those to whom they are addressed for years, perhaps for ever. Remember, “words once spoken can never be recalled.” 5. Malicious speech. Let us see to it that we never open our lips with the deliberate intention of injuring any one. Tale-bearers and slanderers are amongst the most guilty of men, and the greatest pests of society. “Slander;Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongueOutvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breathRides on the posting winds, and doth belieAll corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,Maids, matrons,—nay, the secrets of the grave,This viperous slander enters.”—.The danger of uttering sinful speeches arises from (1.) The facility of speech. No organ of the body moves with greater ease than the tongue. (2.) The fact that under provocation it is an outlet for pent-up feeling. (3.) The many temptations to speech. Loquacity is a weakness of the age. With so much talking there must be much that is positively evil, and yet more that is worthless. “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin.” II. A wise precaution. “I will take heed to my ways,” &c. The Psalmist resolves to guard against this evil. We need to exercise care as to— 1. What we speak. Let us speak only the pure, the true, the kindly, the faith-inspiring, &c. “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” 2. When we speak. “A word spoken in due season, how good is it!” 3. How we speak. Let us use those words which most correctly and clearly express our meaning. In our tones and manner of speech let us avoid the objectionable and evil. :—Let us not only avoid the evil, but let us also cultivate the excellent in speech. “Apt words have power to ’suageThe tumults of a troubled mind,And are as balm to festered wounds.”—MILTON.SPEECH IN TROUBLE(Psalms 39:4-6.) The Psalmist in his speech reveals his— I. Desire to know the duration of his life. “Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.” Professor Alexander and De Wette translate the last clause: “When I shall cease.” And Hengstenberg: “I wish to know when I may cease.” The Psalmist believed that— 1. His days were determined by God. Man’s “days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee; Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.” “Is there not an apppointed time to man upon earth?” “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” So the Psalmist believed that the measure of his life was fixed, and the number of his days determined by the Lord. 2. He seeks to know when they will come to an end. “Make me to know mine end,” &c. At this time, the life of David was one of trouble; apparently it was full of sorrow, and he was anxious to know when his suffering life would terminate. But, whatever may be the prevailing tone of our life, it is not a wise thing to seek to know the times and seasons of our future days. 3. He desires the termination of his days. David seems to have longed in this verse for his life to be brought to a close. In his present troubled state it seems to him that the end of his sufferings will come only with the end of his life, and he is impatient for that end. Job, in his sufferings, gives expression repeatedly to the same feeling: “Oh, that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me,” &c. (Job 6:8-11). The Psalmist evidently knew that this impatience and this want of submission to the Divine arrangements were evil. Hence, for a time, and before men, he had curbed their expression; but now he pours them out before God. Blessed is he who, whether in suffering or in rest, calmly leaves his life to God. “My times are in Thy hand.” II. Impression of the brevity of his life. “Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee.” The Psalmist gives a double expression to his sense of the brevity of his life. His days were “as an handbreadth.” “The word is used to denote anything very short or brief. It is one of smallest natural measures, as distinguished from the foot, i.e., the length of the foot; and from the cubit, i.e., the length of the arm to the elbow.” And, as compared with God’s, his life shrunk, as it were, into nothingness. “My life is as non-existence before Thee.” How brief is life even at its longest! “Our days are few and short indeed, compared with the eternity to which they are conducting us—compared with the work we have to do, for ourselves, for our families, for our generation, for God—compared with the talents committed to our trust, and the improvement of those talents required at our hands—compared with the innumerable obligations that press upon us, from our station in life, our relations in life, our opportunities of usefulness, and the means which we have both of getting and of doing good.” But, compared with the eternal existence of God, our life vanishes. As Matthew Henry says: “All time is nothing to God’s eternity, much less our share of time.” Knowing that life is so brief, yet so important, let us prize it, improve its opportunities,—make the most of it. III. Impression of the vanity of life. 1. The vanity of human anxieties. “Surely they are disquieted in vain.” The restless strivings and exertions of men seemed to the Psalmist to result in no worthy issue. “Our disquietudes,” says Matthew Henry, “are often groundless (we vex ourselves without any just cause, and the occasions of our trouble are often the creatures of our own fancy and imagination), and they are always fruitless; we disquiet ourselves in vain, for we cannot, with all our disquietment, alter the nature of things or the counsel of God; things will be as they are when we have disquieted ourselves ever so much about them.” 2. The vanity of human acquisitions. “He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather them.” The word riches is supplied by the translators. Hengstenberg: “He gathers and knows not who will enjoy it.” The idea is that it is vain to amass treasures knowing not what will become of them when our brief tenure of life is at an end. Many are the illustrations of this truth which might be adduced. Here is one: “M. Foscue, the French millionaire miser, in order to make sure of his treasures, dug a cave in his wine-cellar, so large and deep that he could go down with a ladder. At the entrance was a door with a spring lock, which, on shutting, would fasten of itself. After a time, he was missing. Search was made for him, but to no purpose. At last, his house was sold. The purchaser, beginning to rebuild it, discovered a door in this cellar, and, going down, found him lying dead on the ground, with a candlestick near him; and, on searching farther, discovered the vast wealth which he had amassed. He went into the cave; and the door, by some accident, shutting after him, he perished for want of food. He had eaten the candle, and gnawed the flesh off both his arms. Thus died this avaricious wretch in the midst of the treasures he had heaped together.”—Dictionary of Illus. 3. The vanity of man himself. “Every man at his best estate is altogether vanity.” This rendering is not correct Hengstenberg translates: “Only for utter vanity was every man ordained.” P.-B.—“Verily, every man living is altogether vanity.” Two ideas are expressed, (1.) that every man is vanity; (2.) that this is so because of the Divine ordination. God has constituted every man vanity. The Psalmist employs another figure to set forth the vanity of man: “Surely every man walketh in a vain show.” Hengstenberg: “Only as an image walks man.” To the poet man seemed an image rather than a reality,—a mere walking phantom, a thing having no power, no life in itself, but only a mere shadow of life and strength. Such was the gloomy and one-sided view of life which filled the Psalmist’s mind in this time of trouble. IV. Impatience of life. This is not so much uttered in any word, or number of words, as it breathes in the spirit of all the words of our text. The Psalmist was impatient of life by reason of its shortness, its vanity, and its sufferings. The same feeling finds outspoken and strong utterance in the Book of Job: “My soul chooseth strangling and death rather than my life. I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone, for my days are vanity.” Such impatience of life, if found in us in this Christian age, would be both unwise and sinful. It would be unwise, because of its tendency to unfit us for bearing life’s burden and performing life’s work. It would be unwise, also, because it takes into consideration only a small fragment of our life. This is but “the bud of being, the dim dawn, the twilight of our day.” The hereafter must be taken into account. It would be sinful, because of the want of faith in God which it involves, &c. But David, and the men of his age, must be judged by the light which they had, and not by that which we have, much of which they had not. V. Want of clear and assured knowledge of any life beyond the present. Had he possessed such knowledge, he could not have spoken so strongly as to the utter vanity of man, not only of his anxieties, and pursuits, and acquisitions, but of man himself. In the view of the Psalmist, at the time when he penned this psalm, “When deathHas quenched this finer flame that moves the heart,Beyond is all oblivion, as waste nightThat knows no following dawn, where we shall beAs we had never been: the present, then,Is only ours.”—MALLET.“It is not to be overlooked,” says Hengstenberg, “that the psalm possesses in part an Old Testament character. While still there was no clear insight into a future state of being, a long-continued state of suffering must have sunk very deep into the heart. ‘When a man dies, will he live again?’ says Job; ‘all the days of my war-service will I wait, till my discharge come.’ With every day of his short and miserable existence was the space narrowing for the display of the retributive justice and grace of God; and when the powers of body and of soul began to fail, then the disconsolate thought would press upon him, that he would never come to partake of the blessing which God had promised to His people—it would scarcely be possible to avoid sinking into perplexity and despair. But this special Old Testament character of the psalm, far from depriving the psalm of its edifying signification for us, rather serves the purpose of enhancing it. The declaration: ‘My hope stands in Thee,’ which the Psalmist uttered in circumstances when it was against all reason to hope, may well put us to shame, who are easily brought into despair by light and temporal afflictions, while we have the prospect of an exceeding weight of glory; and the more that he hoped, while there was the less to hope for, so much the more readily should our hope be kindled by the light of his.” Considering how dim their revelation was, as compared with ours, their faith in God is a rebuke to us, because our faith is not greater. If immortality had beer clearly revealed to the Psalmist, the tone of this psalm would have been very different. : 1. Learn the great value of “The Book of Psalms.” In these ancient poems we have true records of the life of godly souls. We see the sins and sorrows, the doubts and fears, the conflicts, temporary defeats, and glorious triumphs of these saints of old; and we are warned, encouraged, &c. Thank God for such a record of the experience of godly men. 2. Learn the great value of Christianity. How different does life appear since Jesus Christ has lived, died, and risen! He “hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” 3. By the help of God let us endeavour to live well and earnestly. “Think of living!” says Thomas Carlyle. “Thy life, wert thou the ‘pitifulest of all the sons of earth,’ is no idle dream, but a solemn reality. It is thy own; it is all thou hast to front eternity with. Work, then, even as He has done, and does, ‘like a star, unhasting, yet unresisting.’ ” MAN, A WALKING SHADOW(Psalms 39:6.) “Surely, every man walketh in a vain show.” These words suggest two main ideas: I. Life is a journey. “Every man walketh.” This figure implies— 1. Motion. Life is never stationary. Its wheels know no pause. We remain not a day in the same position. The traveller moves onward to fresh scenes, &c. So in life, the events and circumstances of yesterday are behind us to-day, and those of to-day will be in the past to-morrow. Life’s motion is incessant. The traveller, in his journey, may pause to rest or to admire the scenery through which he is passing, but it is not so in the journey of life. In this there is no pausing, not even for a minute. Asleep or awake, active or indolent, living wisely or living as a fool, every man moves forward without any pause, as though urged by a resistless hand. Life’s motion is incessantly onward. The traveller, in his journey, may retrace his steps; but, in the journey of life, we cannot turn back a single step. Every day, we are “going the way whence we shall never return.” A solemn consideration this. The wise man will note it. 2. Destiny, and approach to it. The traveller journeys with an end in view. And life’s journey has an end. As regards the body, we are travelling to the grave; as regards the soul, to the solemn retributions of eternity,—either to heaven or to hell. And how rapidly we advance to the solemn beurne of our pilgrimage! The eagle hastening to its prey, the arrow speeding to its mark, the clouds driving before the strong wind, move not so swiftly as man’s life. How solemn, then, is life! how important its every moment and every action! II. Life is a journey prosecuted falsely. “Every man walketh in a vain show.” Hengstenberg: “Only as an image man walks.” What does this mean? It does not mean that life is not real. Life is not a vain show, not phantasmal, but a most solemn reality. Nor does it mean that man himself is unreal, a vain show, an image. Man himself is a greater reality than the solid earth or lustrous heavens. What, then, does it mean? It means that man is not true to himself; that he is false to the reality of his own being, false to the reality of life also. Man shuns himself, and lives amid unreality, amid vain shows. Practically, he ignores his own true being and lives in the realm of fiction. This implies that man is not in his normal condition. He was not made for shams, but for truth. But he half-consciously realises the fact that he has lost the blessedness of his being, and by his false modes of seeking to regain it he shows the derangement of his being and powers. He seeks it in vain shows, in excitement, pleasure, wealth, fame, knowledge. “What shadows we are, and what shadows do we pursue,” said the great Edmund Burke. Man sometimes pursues these vain shows until he himself becomes a mere image,—a living, acting, gaudy simulacrum. Can we discover the reason of this? Partly, at least, we may thus account for it. Man feels the greatness of his own being, and cannot interpret it; and he becomes perplexed, burdened. He has impulses which urge him to activity. He has also an instinctive consciousness that his well-being is to be found only in repose; and, prompted by these, he forms confused designs for obtaining satisfaction, by overcoming difficulties and thus gaining repose. But he does not reach the desired goal, because his course is false, and false are his aims. He is ever seeking, never finding. And deep at the root of all this falsity, and disappointment, and unrest, is the sad fact that his own being is not in harmony. The cause of the disquiet, and falsity, and vanity, is within him. Upon all the unrest, and gaudy show, and baffled hopes of men we may write, “Every man walketh in a vain show.” And upon the men themselves we may write, “Only as an image man walks.” Only in God can man be true and blessed; and only through Christ can man rise into union with God. Restored to God, man is restored to himself, and is able to live true to himself, to live not as “an image,” but as a reality. He then finds that true rest is found in the harmonious activity of the powers of his being in accordance with the will of God. Living for God, and in God, “life is real, life is earnest.” What is the character of your life-journey? IN TROUBLE(Psalms 39:7-13.) In this instance, we use the word supplication not in the signification of petition or entreaty merely, but in its broad signification as including request, acknowledgment of dependence, thanksgiving, prayer. So using it, the teaching of this section may fitly be grouped under the heading, “Supplication in Trouble.” Consider: I. The confidence avowed. “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee.” 1. Man’s need of hope. Low as the Psalmist was sunk in misery, he had not lost hope. “The miserable hath no other medicine,” says Shakespeare, “but only hope.” “He that loses hope may part with anything.”—Congreve. But he that retains hope may rise from great depths of misery to calm heights of joy. When that star is quenched in the firmament of the soul, the darkness is unrelieved and total Judas lost hope, and was undone. “We are saved by hope.” 2. Man’s only sufficient hope. “My hope is in Thee.” The Psalmist has already bewailed the vanity of man, and of his pursuits. Man is an image pursuing shadows. There is no trust to be reposed in him: to hope in him is to invite disappointment. So the Psalmist turns from human pursuits and possessions, and from man himself, and fixes his hope in God. Although he regarded his troubles as coming from the hand of God, and cried bitterly and complainingly to Him, yet it was to Him that he looked,—in Him that he trusted. God may appear severe, and His ways mysterious and painful, yet there is no one beside Him to whom we can look for help, and in whom we can place our trust in the great trials of life. And He is all-sufficient in all things. II. The submission expressed. “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it.” 1. The submission. “I am dumb, I open not my mouth.” The silence which is spoken of here is very different from that spoken of in Psalms 39:2. Then he was silent lest by his murmurings against the government of God he should cause the wicked to blaspheme; now he is silent because he acquiesces in the arrangements of that government. That was the silence of rebellion, or at least of bitter dissatisfaction and complaint; this is the silence of trustful submission to the will and ways of God. He submits himself to God, feeling no desire now to complain of His providence. 2. The reason. “Because Thou didst it.” The Psalmist looked upon his afflictions and sorrows as produced by God, and in that he found reasons for patient acquiescence. How much more should we! Knowing how wise and loving, how tender and strong He is, let us immediately check any rising complaint with the consideration, “It must be well, for Thou hast done it.” “It is Thy hand, my God;My sorrow comes from Thee:I bow beneath Thy chastening rod,’Tis love that bruises me.”—DARBY.III. The petitions presented. 1. For the forgiveness of sin. “Deliver me from all my transgressions; make me not the reproach of the foolish.” These two clauses have a close relation. That relation, as we understand it, may be expressed thus:—The afflictions of the Psalmist were regarded by men as a proof that he was wicked: on this account his enemies reproached him; if his sins were forgiven, his afflictions would cease, so he thought; and in this way the reproaches of the wicked would be brought to an end. David seems to have viewed his sins as the cause of his sufferings and troubles. He seeks forgiveness of sin before he asks for removal of suffering. This is well and wise. Would that all efforts for the amelioration of human condition proceeded in this order! When moral evil is no more, “natural evil” (so called) will soon cease to be. When sin is not, suffering will not long continue. When the fountain is dry, the stream will speedily cease to run. 2. For the removal of affliction. “Remove Thy stroke away from me; I am consumed by the blow of Thine hand,” &c. (Psalms 39:10-11). He regarded (1.) His afflictions as Divine correction, “Thy stroke, … the blow of Thine hand.… When Thou with rebukes dost correct,” &c. The sufferings of the people of God are frequently God’s chastisement by reason of their sins. When He corrects us, it is because of our iniquity, and in love to us. “My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,” &c. (Hebrews 12:5-11). (2.) His affliction was severe. “I am consumed by the blow of Thine hand.… Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth.” Margin: “That which is to be desired in him to melt away.” Hengstenberg: “Thou dost consume, as by a moth, what he loves.” As the moth consumes the most beautiful woollen garment or the finest sable, so the Psalmist says he was being consumed away by the afflictions which had come upon him,—his strength and vigour, his cheerfulness, and courage, and beauty, were passing away before the expressions of the displeasure of God. Yet, severe as these corrections were, God could remove them. Low as he was reduced by suffering, God could raise him up again. For this he prays. He turns for healing to the hand that wounded him; for lifting up to Him who had brought him low. 3. For invigoration before death. “O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go hence, and be no more.” Hengstenberg: “Leave off from me, that I may be revived, before I go away and be no more.” The first member, literally: Look away from me, that I may brighten up; q.d. turn away from me Thy angry look, so that my sorrowful one may be made cheerful. “The idea,” says Barnes, “is that of being cheered up; of being strengthened and invigorated before he should pass away.” He desired to be invigorated and comforted before he passed away from this world for ever. IV. The pleas urged. “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears,” &c. (Psalms 39:12). The Psalmist pleads— 1. His sorrow. “Hold not Thy peace at my tears.” “Weeping, if unmurmuring,” says Barnes, “is of the nature of prayer, for God regards the sorrows of the soul as He sees them. The weeping penitent, the weeping sufferer, is one on whom we may suppose God looks with compassion, even though the sorrows of the soul do not find words to give utterance to them.” And, says John Arnd, “This is the effect of tears, when one sees or hears any one weeping sadly, one cannot well remain silent, as the Lord Jesus said to the woman at Nain, ‘Weep not;’ and to Mary Magdalene, ‘Woman, why weepest Thou?’ This nature teaches us. Now, if a man can scarcely be silent to a person’s tears, how much less the Lord God! Therefore, it is said in Psalms 56 that God numbers the tears of believers, and in Isaiah 25 that He will wipe away all tears from our eyes.” In thus pleading his sorrow, the Psalmist appeals to the compassion of God. “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” 2. His dependence. “For I am a stranger with Thee,—a sojourner, as all my fathers.” “A stranger and pilgrim has nothing of his own, he is quite dependent upon the goodness of those with whom he lives, is everywhere on the footing of a beggar.” By thus pleading his dependence, the Psalmist appeals to the faithfulness of God. Such-appeals are ever met by a full and gracious response. :—There is still much vanity, and gloom, and sorrow, in life. There are times when our “burden seems greater than our strength can bear,” and we are ready to cry out in impatient complaint to God. But let us take our burdens to Him. He will interpret their meaning, and give us strength to bear them. He is the unfailing support in life’s troubles of all who trust in Him. “Lord, my hope is in Thee.” GOD , AND MAN (Psalms 39:9.) “I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it.” I. God afflicting man. “Thou didst it.” This will apply— 1. To many temporal losses, e.g., those occasioned by floods, storms, earthquakes, &c. 2. To many bodily afflictions. 3. To the bereavements of death. “I saw this verse engraved with great appropriateness on a beautiful marble monument that had been erected over a grave where lay three children that had been suddenly cut down by the scarlet fever. What could be more suitable in such a trial than such a text? What could more strikingly express the true feelings of Christian piety—the calm submission of redeemed souls—than the disposition of parents, thus bereaved, to record such a sentiment over the grave of their children?”—Barnes. II. Man submitting to God. “I am dumb, I open not my month, because Thou didst it.” Submission to God may be enforced by the following considerations: 1. The folly of rebelling against Him. 2. The perfection of His character. He is perfect in wisdom, goodness, faithfulness. In accordance with these glorious attributes, He governs the world. 3. The uses of suffering. Great are the benefits of sanctified affliction. “Thou didst it,” we say now in submission. “He hath done all things well,” we shall soon exclaim in rapture. Superscription: “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David.”The psalm is addressed to “the Chief Musician,” that he might set it to music for use in public worship. We have no means of determining on what occasion the psalm was written. It does not come within our province to enter into the disputed question of the Messianic character of the psalm. The different opinions which are held on this question are stated by Barnes in loco, and by Professor Stuart in his “Commentary on Hebrews” (Excursus xx.). Both these writers advocate their own view at considerable length. See also Hengstenberg’s Introduction to this psalm. One thing, perhaps, we ought to say, viz., that on the theory adopted by Barnes, “that the psalm had an original and exclusive reference to the Messiah,” it seems to us impossible legitimately and satisfactorily to interpret it.Homiletically, we shall view the psalm thus:—The Lord’s doings for His servant (Psalms 40:1-6); The servant’s offering to his Lord (Psalms 40:6-10); and, The servant’s prayer to his Lord (Psalms 40:11-17).THE LORD’S DOINGS FOR HIS SERVANT(Psalms 40:1-5.) In these verses, we have— I. A sad situation. The Psalmist represents himself as having been in “an horrible pit,” and in “miry clay.” The situation was one of 1. Darkness. αּ ?εֹ ?ψ = a pit, a prison, a dungeon, a grave, a deep well. It implies darkness. The sun may be flooding the world with his beams, but in the pit all is midnight darkness. The figure may be used to set forth a state of sin or a state of deep sorrow. Both these states are frequently represented in Scripture by “darkness.” “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light,” &c. “When I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” To open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light,” &c “The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.” Et al.2. Distress. “An horrible pit.” “The word rendered horrible, ωָׁ ?ΰεֹ ?ο means properly noise, uproar, tumult, as of waters: of a crowd of men; of war. De Wette understands it here of a pit, a cavern, or an abyss that roars and is tumultuous; that is, that is impassable. Perhaps this is the idea,—a cavern, deep and dark, where the waters roar, and which seems to be filled with horrors.”—Barnes. Hengstenberg takes it to mean, “a deep of raging waters,” “a roaring deep.” In any case, the figure indicates distress. The poet was not only in darkness, but in misery also. Sin is wretchedness. Sin is hell. 3. Helplessness. The Psalmist was in the “miry clay,” the “slimy mud,” where there was no firm footing. He was totally unable to do anything to effect his own deliverance, for he was “sinking in deep mire, and could not stand.” The unrenewed sinner Is helpless in effecting his own deliverance from sin and its consequences. If some strong arm do not come to his rescue, he must continue to sink in the miry clay until he is hopelessly lost. Such is the sad situation of the sinner; his state is one of darkness, distress, helplessness. II. A great salvation. “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry,” &c. Of this salvation the poet points out that— 1. It was granted in answer to prayer. The Psalmist prayed. “He heard my cry.” In his darkness, wretchedness, and helplessness, David betook himself to prayer; and though the pit was deep—“a roaring deep”—yet the Lord heard his cry. From the deepest depth the faintest whisper of true prayer will reach to the throne of God, and receive audience of Him. The Psalmist waited. “I waited patiently for the Lord.” Margin: “In waiting I waited.” He continued to wait for the interposition of God. Many prayers are not answered because the suppliant does not wait for the answer—does not expect an answer. David persevered in prayer; he waited expecting the succour and salvation of God. That salvation did not come quickly; but he patiently waited, believing, hoping, praying, expecting its coming. 2. It was complete. “He brought me up also out of,” &c. We have here— (1) Deliverance. The Psalmist was rescued from his wretched and perilous state. God delivers both from sin and misery all who sincerely seek Him. (2) Elevation. “Set my feet upon a rock,” far above the waters of the roaring deep. God raises souls from darkness into light, from deep despair into exalted hope, &c. (3) Establishment. “Set my feet upon a rock,” where I may find firm footing. “Established my goings.” Made my steps firm. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the rock on which the sinner may securely stand. On Him we may build our character, our hopes, &c. (4) Invigoration. “Established my goings.” The Divine life is not stationary, but progressive. God delivers man from sin, and starts him on the road to holiness and heaven, and invigorates him to tread that road. “They go from strength to strength.” “We follow on to know the Lord.” God bids us “Go forward,” and gives us strength to do so, 3. It was joy-inspiring. “He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.” The Lord had given a new occasion for praise, and by filling the Psalmist’s heart with grateful gladness, had given him the disposition to offer fresh praises unto Him. Salvation is a joyous, a blessed thing. It tunes a man’s life to music. It fills his heart with music, and the world with beauty and song. 4. It was influential. “Many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” (1) God’s doings on behalf of His people are manifest. “Many shall see.” When a man is converted the change is visible in his life. (2) God’s doings on behalf of His people command reverence. “And fear.” The fear is reverential. Not dread, but veneration. (3) God’s doings on behalf of His people encourage others to trust in Him. “And shall trust in the Lord.” As men mark the doings of God on behalf of His people, they have such exhibitions of His faithfulness and goodness and power as lead them in faith to seek His salvation. They see the workings of His grace in their lives, and are led to seek that grace for themselves. “They glorified God in me.” Do our lives testify to the power of Divine grace so that men through us are led to trust in Him? III. A hearty celebration. The Psalmist celebrates— 1. The blessedness of the man who trusts in the Lord. (1) He rejects every other object of confidence. “He respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.” Literally: “he looks not to the proud,” he does not expect help or blessing from them. Man, however strong and proud, is not an adequate object of confidence for any creature. He is liable to err, and may be deceived, and may be deceitful himself, and is therefore not sufficient as an object of trust. Neither as regards faithfulness and truth, nor as regards ability and strength, is man an adequate object of trust. (2) He places his sole confidence in God. “Maketh the Lord his trust.” The Lord is ever mighty to save, and is faithful amid all changes. We may safely trust in Him. Trust in Him is blessed. He who trusts in Him shall never be put to shame, shall realise the most blessed security, shall find his highest expectations more than fulfilled, &c. 2. The wonderful doings of God for man (Psalms 40:5). Matthew Henry’s notes on this verse are excellent “Many, Lord my God! are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done both for me and others; this is but one of many. Many are the benefits with which we are daily loaded, both by the providence and by the grace of God. (1) They are His works, not only the gifts of His bounty, but the operations of His power. He works for us, He works in us, and thus He favours us with matter, not only for thanks, but for praise. (2) They are His wonderful works, the contrivance of them admirable, His condescension to us in bestowing them upon us admirable; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them. (3) All His wonderful works are the product of His thoughts to us-ward. He does all according to the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:11), the purposes of His grace which He purposed in Himself (Ephesians 3:11). They are the projects of infinite wisdom, the designs of everlasting love (1 Corinthians 2:7; Jeremiah 31:3), thoughts of good, and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11). His gifts and callings will therefore be without repentance, because they are not sudden resolves, but the result of His thoughts, His many thoughts, to us-ward. (4) They are innumerable; they cannot be methodised, or ‘reckoned up in order.’ There is an order in all God’s works, but there are so many that present themselves to our view at once that we know not where to begin nor which to name next; the order of them and their natural references and dependencies, and how the links of the golden chain are joined, are a mystery to us, and what we shall not be able to account for till the veil be rent and the mystery of God finished. Nor can they be counted, not the very heads of them. When we have said the most we can of the wonders of Divine love to us, we must conclude with an et c�tera—and such like, and adore the depth, despairing to find the bottom.” .— 1. To those who have experienced this great salvation. Praise God in a new song, celebrate His glorious deeds, trust Him unfalteringly and fully, and let your life show forth His praise, that “many may see, and fear, and trust in the Lord.” 2. To those who are in the sad state of unrenewed sinners. Your condition is indeed deplorable and dangerous, Do you realise it as such? The Lord waits to rescue you from it. Cry unto Him, wait patiently for Him, and He will incline His ear and save you. HOPE IN THE SADDEST (Psalms 40:1-3.) If some parts of this psalm are more applicable to the Messiah, other parts, undoubtedly, are more applicable to David. Of himself the Psalmist seems here more immediately to be speaking. Observe— I. The situation he was in. This was sad indeed. 1. He was fallen low—in a “pit.” How sunk in guilt and corruption is man by nature! 2. He was besmeared, having stuck fast in mire or clay. Sin renders our whole persons the very reverse of comeliness and beauty in the sight of God. 3. He was an outcast—in a “pit,” without communion with society. Thus, too, are all naturally far off from God, separated from His favour and protection. 4. He was miserable—in “an horrible pit.” Oh! what horrors our iniquities bring upon us.” 5. He was in great danger. In a “pit” he could devise no way of escape, so that, to human appearance, his case was hopeless. And no less dangerous is our condition. Ah! what dismal forebodings we have. II. The devout exercise of his mind. Distressing as the condition of David was, it will be instructive to us if we consider how he acted. 1. He betook himself to prayer. This was a certain mean of succeeding. It is the mean which God expects every weary and heavy-laden sinner to use. Nor can the wisdom of such an appointment be doubted, as constituting a test of our humility and of our obedience. 2. He hoped in His mercy. The Lord, not immediately vouchsafing him an answer, he became more and more urgent, trusting ultimately to find acceptance. He waited for the Lord patiently. Thus, then, it is good to wait, without murmuring, for answers of peace, on carrying our troubles to a throne of grace. III. The deliverance he obtained. God inclined His ear to Him and heard his cry, and his deliverance was— 1. Elevating. Though before in a pit, in the miry clay of which he found himself sinking yet further, he is now brought up out of it; and not only so, but his feet are set upon a rock. And all who stand upon the Rock Christ Jesus are exalted far above this world, and are brought already to the confines of glory. 2. Establishing. “Established my goings.” Oh! the stability we have by trusting in Christ. We may then defy all the powers of darkness (Matthew 16:18). 3. Joyous. “He hath put a new song in my mouth,” &c. This is surely applicable to the believer, who, in fact, has not only cause to rejoice, but a disposition likewise to do so. 4. Encouraging. “Many shall see, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.” Yes, all may expect the same mercy as David in a diligent use of the same means. For this glorious example is intended by God to give us hope, however low our state may be, He being always able and always near to deliver us (Jonah 2:2-6, et al.)—W. Sleigh.THE SERVANT’S TO HIS LORD(Psalms 40:6-10.) In this section we pass from the great and gracious doings of God on behalf of the Psalmist to the Psalmist’s expression of his gratitude to God. What offering will he present to his Lord? In what way will he express his gratitude to Him? I. By obedience to God (Psalms 40:6-8). 1. He will not sacrifice material sacrifices instead of obedience. “Sacrifice and offering Thou didst not desire; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required.” “The four words employed in this verse—sacrifice, offering, burnt-offering, sin-offering—embrace all the species of sacrifice and offerings known among the Hebrews.”—Barnes. “In what respect it is said here, that God did not wish sacrifices, since He had expressly commanded them, appears from the contrast. Obedience, the willing performance of the Divine command, is set over against presentation of offerings. Offerings, therefore, are rejected in so far as they form a compensation for that, in so far as they would in a manner satisfy, put off God.”—Hengstenberg. Our outward services, offerings of prayer, praise, and material gifts, are of no value in the sight of God, unless they are the expression of the homage of the heart, and are accompanied by obedience of life. (Comp. 1 Samuel 15:22, and Psalms 51:16-17) on the letter passage Dr. Parker says: “We have been led to believe that God does desire sacrifice; that sacrifice is the basis of all atonement, and that without sacrifice approach to God is an impossibility. Were we to pause at this verse (16), however, and to accept the words in their literal signification, we should come to the conclusion that sacrifice was entirely unnecessary as a condition of communion with the Most High on the part of sinful man. The next verse explains the Psalmist’s meaning. He says, ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.’ This shows that all sacrifice is worthless which is not vitalised by the moral element Where the sacrifice represents a broken spirit, where it sets forth the operations of a contrite heart, it becomes acceptable to God, and useful as a basis of negotiation with Heaven. Where the moral element is present, the physical element will not be forgotten; this is beautifully brought out in the last expression in the psalm. ‘Then shalt Thou be’ ” pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,’ &c. From this it is clear that though sacrifice in itself, without the presence of spiritual feeling, is absolutely worthless in the sight of God, yet where the moral element is present in the form of a broken spirit and a contrite heart, sacrifice will be presented even in its material forms. Thereby the penitent man expresses his love, and fosters his faith, and testifies his gratitude. Blessed be God, in our case it is unnecessary that we provide bullock or burnt-offering. The one final sacrifice has been offered in the person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2. He will render the obedience which God requires. “Then I said: Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is prescribed to me. To do Thy will, my God, I delight, and Thy law is in my inner part.”—(Hengstenberg’s trans.) “The volume or roll-book, is the Pentateuch, which from the first was written on parchment. In the time of David, when no other sacred book existed, every one would at once understand what was meant by the roll-book.” As confirming this interpretation comp. Joshua 1:7; 1 Kings 2:3; and 2 Kings 22:13. David was left in no uncertainty as to what the will of God was. In the Pentateuch God had made known His will, and clearly unfolded His requirements; and the Psalmist resolves that he will obey that will. 3. He will render that obedience heartily. “I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.” On the law of God in the heart of His people comp. Deuteronomy 6:6; Psalms 37:31; Proverbs 7:1-3; and Isaiah 51:7. “Where matters are as they should be, there the law is not merely prescribed, but inscribed.” “When the law of God is written in our hearts, our duty will be our delight” 4. God had disposed him to render that obedience. Such we take to be the meaning of the words translated, “Mine ears hast Thou opened.” Margin: “digged.” Hengstenberg: “Ears hast Thou dug through for me.” “An indisposition to obey the will of God is often expressed by the fact that the ears are stopped: Zechariah 7:11; Psalms 58:4-5; Proverbs 21:13. The essential idea is, that this truth has been communicated to him—that God preferred obedience to sacrifice; and that he had been made attentive to that truth, as if he had been before deaf, and his ears had been opened.”—Barnes. Hengstenberg paraphrases the clause: “Thou hast made me hearing, obedient” He says, “The LXX. have rendered the words by σῶμαδὲκατηρτίσωμοι, but a body hast Thou prepared for me; and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews has adopted them, because the thought is not altered by this translation. The contrast there also is the presentation of thanks through the whole life and conduct, in opposition to single and merely external offerings: Thou hast given me a body, so that I willingly serve Thee in the execution of Thy will.” If we render hearty obedience to the will of God, if obedience be pleasurable to us, it is because He has “inclined our heart unto His testimonies.” This hearty, grateful obedience the servant offers to his Lord. II. By publication of the perfections of God. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation,” &c., (Psalms 40:9-10). Notice— 1. What it is that he announces. (1) Righteousness. “I have preached righteousness in the great congregation,” i.e., the righteousness which God prescribes for man, and requires from him. “I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart,” i.e., the righteousness which God displays in His dealings with man. “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” (2) Faithfulness. “I have declared Thy faithfulness; I have not concealed Thy truth.” Amid all the mutations of His universe, He changes not. What He hath promised He will perform. He is worthy of the supreme confidence of all His creatures. (3) Lovingkindness. “I have not concealed Thy lovingkindness.” He had announced God’s mercy towards sinners, His pity towards the wretched, His goodness to all. (4) Salvation. “I have declared Thy salvation.” He related the deliverances which God had wrought on behalf of His people. He told of His gracious doings on his own behalf. 2. Where he makes his announcement. “In the great congregation.” Barnes objects: “It would be difficult to see how this could be applied to David himself, or on what occasion of his life this could be said of him.” But the word translated “preach” is not to be understood in the limited sense in which that word is now used. Fuerst, in his Lexicon, gives as its meaning in this place—“to announce, to relate, to tell of.” Now David is conspicuous above all the men of his age for having announced in these immortal Psalms the perfections of the character, and the greatness and glory of the works of God. And many of these Psalms, as the superscriptions show, were intended for use “in the great congregation.” So David “preached,” i.e., announced, “righteousness in the great congregation,” &c He made known the glory of the Divine Being, and of His works and ways, in the most public manner, and to the largest audience that he could secure. .—What a worthy offering was this which David presented to the Lord! The excellence of this method of expressing his gratitude is seen in this, that: 1. It reveals his appreciation of the Giver as well as of the Gift. He rejoiced not only in the greatness of the benefits he had received, but also in the goodness of the Benefactor. He celebrated not only the gracious dealings of God with him, but also the glory of God in His own character and perfections. 2. It was calculated to confer great benefits on men. He who imparts to man true ideas of the Divine Being is rendering the highest service to his race. David did this in two ways: by celebrating the character and doings of God in sacred song, and by expressing the will of God in a life heartily conformed thereto. The manifestation of God in the life of a good man is of unspeakable value to our world. For us also the Lord hath done great things. What offering shall we make Him in return? We cannot do better than imitate the Psalmist in this respect NOTE.—For an exposition of Psa 40:6-10 as applied to the Messiah, see Barnes or Matthew Henry in loco. The exposition of the latter is well arranged and suggestive homiletically. HE THAT KNOWS GOD WILL CONFESS HIM(Psalms 40:10.) I propose to speak of— The necessary openness of a holy experience; or, in other words, the impossibility that the inward revelation of God in the soul could be shut up in it, and remain hid or unacknowledged. I shall have in view especially two classes of hearers that are widely distinguished one from the other: first, the class who hide the grace of God in their heart undesignedly, or by reason of some undue modesty; and, secondly, the class who, pretending to have it, or consciously having it not, take a pleasure in throwing discredit on all the appropriate expressions of it, such as are made by the open testimony and formal profession of Christ before men. Where there is a true grace of experience in the heart, it ought to be, must, and will be manifest. 1. A true inward experience or discovery of God in the heart is itself an impulse also of self-manifestation, as all love and gratitude are, wants to speak and declare itself, and will as naturally do it, when it is born, as a child will utter its first cry. 2. The change implied in a true Christian experience, or the revelation of God in the heart, is in its very nature the soul and root of an outward change that is correspondent. It is the righteousness of God revealed within, to be henceforth the actuating spring and power of a righteous and devoted life. 3. If any one purposes beforehand, in his religious endeavours, or in seeking after God, to come into a secret experience and keep it a secret, his endeavour is plainly one that falsifies the very notion of Christian piety, and if he succeeds, or seems to succeed, he only practises a fraud in which he imposes on himself. 4. The grace of God in the heart, unmanifested or kept secret, as many propose that it shall be, even for their whole life, will be certainly stifled and extinguished. Nothing can live that is not permitted to show the signs of life. “If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” 5. This is the express teaching of the gospel, which everywhere and in every possible way calls out the souls renewed in Christ to live an open life of sacrifice and duty, and so to witness a good confession (Matthew 19:21; Luke 9:23; Luke 9:26; John 15:16; John 15:19-20). 6. There is no shade of encouragement given to this notion of salvation by a secret piety in any of the Scripture examples or teachings. The nearest approach to such encouragement anywhere given is that which is afforded by the case of the two senators, Joseph and Nicodemus (John 3:1-21; John 19:38). They were good as disciples to bury Jesus, but not to save His life or serve Him while living. The most fragrant spices are those that honour one’s life, and not the posthumous odours that embalm His body (Matthew 5:14-16). .—Notice: 1. The very absurd pretence of those who congratulate themselves on having so much of secret merit, which they even count the more meritorious because they keep it secret. It is not the righteousness of God which they have hidden so carefully, but it is their own—which, after all, is not hid. They do not break out and confess the Lord, simply because He is not in them. 2. The significance of the profession of Christ, when and why, and with what views it should be made. It should be made, because where there is anything to be professed it cannot but be made.… There is no option here, save as all duties are optional, and eternity hangs on the option we make. 3. What value there may be in the discoveries of Christian experience, and the legitimate use they may have in Christian society. Some of the best and holiest impulses ever given to the cause of God in men’s hearts are given by testimonies of Christian experience (Malachi 3:16). 4. The true wisdom, in all these matters of holy experience, is to act naturally. If you seem to yourself to have really passed from death unto life, and to have come into God’s peace, interpose no affectations of modesty, no restrictions of mock-prudence, but in true natural modesty and a sound natural discretion testify the grace you have received (Matthew 10:32-33).—H. Bushnell, D.D., from” The New Life,” abridged. THE SERVANT’S PRAYER TO HIS LORD(Psalms 40:11-17.) This prayer of the poet suggests the following observations— I. The most assured confidence in God is not regarded by His servant as a substitute for prayer. In the previous portion of the psalm, David has expressed unshaken and unlimited confidence in God, yet here we find him confessing his sins, complaining of his troubles, and seeking relief from God. Thankfulness and trust are foundations for prayer. Hengstenberg points out that the relation of the” withhold not Thou Thy tender mercies” to the “I have not refrained,” in Psalms 40:9, suggests “the doctrine that the measure of the further salvation proceeds according to the measure of thankfulness for the earlier.” And “the words ‘Let Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth continually preserve me’ point back to ‘I will not conceal Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth,’ with which the Psalmist had closed his promise of thanksgiving. That we will not conceal God’s lovingkindness and truth, is the sure means, but also the indispensable condition of its further manifestation in our experience.” Thankfulness and trust, so far from precluding the necessity of prayer, are incentives and encouragements to its exercise. The man of assured faith will be a man of frequent prayer. II. A true servant of God may fall into many sins. “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me,” &c. There is great force in the expressions used by the Psalmist in this verse. He seems to have had a deep and painful impression of his sins. He makes mention of 1. Their number. “They are more than the hairs of mine head. “When we think of sins of infirmity and imperfection, and sins of omission, and secret sins of thought and feeling, to the awakened conscience they appear altogether innumerable. 2. Their grasp. “Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me”. His sins had seized him, arrested him, “as the bailiff does the poor debtor.” Sin with its dark memories and in its dire consequences frequently holds a man as with an iron grip. 3. Their effect. “I am not able to look up, … my heart faileth me.” “The idea here is not that he was unable to look up, but that the calamities which came upon him were so heavy and severe as to make his sight dim or deprive him of vision.”—Barnes. Luther: “My sight gives way under great sorrow.” Hengstenberg: “The heart is here not exactly the feeling, spirit, but is rather considered as the seat of the powers of life. ‘My strength faileth me,’ in Psalms 38:10, is parallel.” If this confession of sin and its results seem exaggerated, let it be remembered that an awakened and sensitive conscience detects and grieves for sins when the hardened conscience would not discover any sin at all. “That the Psalmist speaks here of his numerous offences, and treats of his suffering as the righteous punishment of these, forms an irrefragable proof against the direct Messianic exposition.”—Hengstenberg. III. If a true servant of God fall into sin, the penalty of his sin will surely come upon him. “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” God’s laws, with the penalties annexed to every breach of them, are universal in their operation. They are not respecters of persons. In the case of no one is this more conspicuous than in the life of David. His sin with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, in their consequences, never ceased to darken and trouble his life even to its very close. “Whoso” (saint or sinner) “breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” IV. A servant of God suffering the penalty of his sin may seek deliverance from God. “Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me.” An essential condition of deliverance is that he who seeks it shall have come to feel the heinousness of the sin for which suffers. Where the sinfulness of the sin is deeply realised, the penalty has in great part, at least, accomplished its end. But when any one seeks to be rid of the suffering without loathing the sin, it is clear that in him suffering has not yet accomplished its end. But in what way does God deliver His people from the evils of their sins? 1. By removing the guilt and the consciousness of it. That we have grieved a holy and generous Father is the sorest part of our suffering. God takes that away by the assurance of forgiveness. 2. By removing the penalty. Sometimes in answer to prayer God sees fit to remove or to mitigate the sufferings which have come upon his people as the result of their sins. 3. By imparting grace and patience to bear the penalty. If He remove not the penalty, He will take the bitterness out of it, and give us strength to bear it. It is a great thing to be able to go to Him and seek relief and deliverance. The approach to Him in itself is helpful And He will certainly grant to us an answer,—wise, gracious, and satisfactory. The Psalmist’s prayer for help is marked by great urgency. “O Lord, make haste to help me.” “Make no tarrying, O my God.” Great suffering and a deep sense of need make us earnest and urgent in prayer. They do not utter themselves in long, rhetorical petitions, but in brief, expressive, heaven-reaching cries. V. In his prayer the servant of God has reference not to himself alone, but to others also. 1. Here is a reference to his enemies. “Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it,” &c. (Psalms 40:14; Psalms 40:16). The enemies of the Psalmist seem to have been many, and to have manifested their animosity in different ways. Here are— (1) The actively hostile; “them that seek after my soul to destroy it.” (2) The evil disposed; “them that wish me evil.” (3) The mockers; “them that say unto me, Aha, Aha.” He prays for the discomfiture of all these. “There is no sin in the wish that the wicked may not be successful in their plans, and may not be suffered to injure us.”—Barnes. 2. Here is a reference to the godly. “Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee; let such as love Thy salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified.” There is a beautiful connection between the character indicated and the blessing sought. They that seek the Lord shall find Him, and finding Him shall rejoice and be glad in Him. For the seeker the joy of becoming the finder. They that love His salvation shall realise it so fully as to be filled with praise and to cry, “The Lord be magnified.” May they so continuously realise His saving grace as to have cause for continually exalting and glorifying God. VI. The servant of God in his deepest distress confides in the Lord God. “I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me,” &c. (For an exposition of this verse see the homiletic sketch on it given below.) .—Amid both the sins and the sufferings of life, let the servants of God have recourse to Him in prayer. THE HOLD OF SIN(Psalms 40:12.) A course of sin is a course of lawlessness. Certain liberty may be enjoyed, but penal consequences are sure to follow. “Innumerable evils have compassed me about.” Sin takes hold upon the sinner by violence and force. Justice arrests and brings him before the tribunal. Sin takes hold upon men— I. By its power. It overcomes them, subdues them by habits, and keeps them bound in captivity and degradation. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” II. By an accusing conscience. All men have a conscience, speaking in stillness, or thundering in power—watching and weighing all they do,—a monitor in their bosom—a witness for God. “The candle of the Lord searching all their inward parts.” III. By its evil consequences. Fear, shame, and liability to punishment—the curse and condemnation of a broken law. The sinner carries within his bosom a prediction, a foretaste of the judgment to come. The terrors of hell get hold upon him, and there is no deliverance but in Christ. “He Himself bare our sins in his own body on the tree—redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” He can save from sin and its consequences.—J. W. in “The Study.” MAN’S NEED AND GOD’S THOUGHT(Psalms 40:17.) “I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.” We regard these words as the expression of a humble, trustful heart under a sense of need. We have here, I. An acknowledgment of human need. “I am poor and needy.” In the world there is much physical poverty and need. That is bad. Much mental poverty: that is worse. Much spiritual poverty: that is worst of all. Better to be Lazarus at the gate than the rich man in the palace. Some who are spiritually impoverished are quite unconscious of it They are paupers, yet they imagine themselves millionaires. They say that they are “rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” Most deplorable! 1. This need is an evidence of sin. A loving Creator, having “unsearchable riches,” would not make His creatures poor and needy. Some disarrangement of His order must have taken place. Spiritual bankruptcy cannot be a result of the plans of the Infinite and all-generous Spirit. 2. The consciousness of this need is a condition of its removal. When men fall asleep in the frost and snow by reason of cold, and become insensible unto the cold, they sleep the sleep of death. While they feel the cold they will strive to preserve vital heat, and so repel the cold. The sense of this poverty is the first step to its removal. Until we feel our hunger we shall never seek the living bread. 3. The confession of this need is well-pleasing to God. It indicates a true estimate of ourselves, and humility before God. When we think of our low attainments, and those to which we are called, how poor are we! When we consider our mean acquisitions, and the “unsearchable riches,” how poor are we! II. An expression of confidence in God. “The Lord thinketh upon me. “There is something very cheering and strengthening in this. I am lonely and sad and weary; but I think of some loving one, perhaps hundreds of miles away, who is thinking kindly of me, and I am refreshed, comforted, strengthened. God thinks of me, of all men, of every man. We think and speak of the particular and the general, of the individual and the collective body. We cannot at once think of many particulars, or of many individuals, as such; so we think of persons collectively, and of particulars as classified. But the Infinite Mind has no such limitations. Amid the millions of creatures that depend upon His care and are the recipients of His bounty, not one escapes His notice. Superintending the universe, He also numbers the very hairs of the head of every one of His people. “The Lord thinketh upon me.” He cares for every individual; for thee, as though in all His universe He had no other to care for. “Ah! that may be true,” say you, “of David, a king, and sacred poet, and man highly favoured of God; but does He so think of me, a poor, low, unworthy one?” To doubt it is to “limit the Holy One of Israel.” “The Lord thinketh upon me;” then, He knows my need. He sees our exact circumstances and condition, and consequent need. He knows the precise character of my poverty, and will remove it by communicating the precise treasures which I lack. “The Lord thinketh upon me;” then, He will supply my need. His thought is neither purposeless nor resultless. His thoughts receive embodiment. His thought of us indicates care for us, and results in provision for us. Wherever the sense of poverty and need is, there may the assurance of the Divine thought and care also be. If we are hungering after Him, most assuredly He is thinking of us individually. Examples of His care for individuals abound. Daniel in the lions’ den, Joseph in prison, Peter in prison, and our own experience. In this thought of God of us and for us we have:— 1. What a solace in loneliness! 2. What a comfort in the day of sorrow! 3. What an inspiration for Christian work! 4. What an assurance of victory in death! This psalm, like the preceding one, is from the pen of David, and is addressed “to the chief musician,” for use in public religious services. It seems to have been composed with reference to a period when the Psalmist was suffering from bodily sickness, and from the malice of his enemies and the faithlessness and ingratitude of friends. “The kernel of our psalm,” says Hengstenberg, “is contained in Psalms 35:13-14. The fundamental idea is this, that he who is compassionate will receive compassion, that he who has the consciousness of having wept with the weeping, may console himself with the assurance that his own weeping shall be turned by God into laughing.” Homiletically we shall consider the psalm as setting forth—The blessedness of the compassionate (Psalms 41:1-3); the complaint, prayer, and confidence of the compassionate (Psalms 41:4-12); and the doxology (Psalms 41:13).THE OF THE (Psalms 41:1-3.) The blessings mentioned in these verses are for the man “that considereth the poor.” By “the poor” in this place we must understand the weak and feeble, those who are in a depressed condition, and need the sympathy and aid of others. The word may be used in reference to those who are in a low condition by reason of poverty, bodily affliction, or sorrow. The consideration of which the Psalmist speaks is a thoughtful sympathy and help, “the manifestations of a tender fellow-feeling.” And the man who extends this thoughtful sympathy and help to the poor, the Psalmist pronounces “blessed.” He is blessed with— I. Divine deliverance. “The Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.” Margin: “in the day of evil.” Hengstenberg: “in the day of distress.” “The day of evil” is a period with which all men are more or less acquainted. The present state is characterised by affliction and trial, pain and sorrow, disease and death. But “if any be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger,” the compassionate shall. The Lord will keep them in the day of distress, and will deliver them. II. Divine preservation. “The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive.” “This,” says Barnes, “refers to a general, not a universal rule in the Divine administration, that acts of piety will be partially rewarded on the earth; or that the Divine favour will be shown to those who deal kindly with others.” When the shafts of death fly quickly around them, they shall be shielded by God. He who manifests kindness and care for the afflicted and sorrowful may expect, when he is placed in similar circumstances, that God will interpose for his preservation. III. Divine blessing. “He shall be blessed upon the earth.” Hengstenberg: “in the land.” “This is in accordance with the doctrine noticed above, and so often referred to in the psalms and elsewhere, that the effect of religion will be to promote happiness and prosperity in this life.”—Barnes. “If it may be for God’s glory, and the man’s good. this temporal life shall be preserved, and evidences of God’s blessing shall be seen upon him.”—Dickson. IV. Divine reservation. “Thou wilt not deliver him to the will of his enemies.” When attacked by foes the Lord will defend the compassionate man, so that they shall neither ensnare him by their wiles, nor overpower him by their might. “The most potent enemy we have can have no power against us but what is given him from above. The good-will of a God that loves us is sufficient to secure us from the ill-will of all that hate us, men and devils; and that good-will we may promise ourselves au interest in, if we have considered the poor and helped to relieve and rescue them.”—M. Henry. V. Divine support in affliction. “The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; Thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” God has not promised His people “that they shall never be sick, nor that they shall not lie languishing, nor that their sickness shall not be unto death; but He has promised to enable them to bear their affliction with patience, and cheerfully to wait the issue. The soul by His grace shall be made to dwell at ease when the body lies in pain.”—M. Henry. On the second clause, Hengstenberg says, “ ‘All his couch dost Thou change in his sickness.’ The couch stands here for the state of the sick; God changes his couch of pain and sickness into one of convalescence and joy, and that entirely.” And M. Henry, “That bed must needs be well made which God Himself has the making of.” When we are in affliction it is no small comfort to remember that we have kindly ministered to others in like circumstances. And God Himself will relieve and comfort those who have so done in all their sufferings. :— 1. Heed well the principle which underlies our text, that God will deal with us as we do with others. “With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful,” &c. (Psalms 18:25-27. “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.” “With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again.” 2. Cultivate a kind and considerate spirit toward the poor, the sorrowful, the afflicted. By so doing, we tread in the footsteps of our Lord and become sharers in His joy. THE , PRAYER, AND OF THE (Psalms 41:4-12.) The relation of this section to the preceding, as we understand it, is thus stated by Hengstenberg: “The Psalmist, who, with perfect right, could appropriate to himself the words, ‘Blessed is he who acts wisely towards the poor,’ goes on to mention, in two strophes, that now it was the day of distress for him, now the rage of his enemies was boiling against him, now he was prostrated with pain, so that it was time for him to receive the fulfilment of the promise, He will deliver him,” &c. I. The complaint of the compassionate. David had shown himself compassionate to the poor and needy, yet now that the day of his distress has come he has to complain bitterly of the treatment he received from men. Here is his complaint concerning. 1. His enemies. He complains of (1.) Their malignity. “Mine enemies speak evil of me, When shall he die, and his name perish?” It is scarcely possible to imagine malignity more intense than this. The malignity that desires the death of another is terrible; that which desires not only another’s death, but also the blotting out of his memory from amongst men is more terrible; whilst that which desires these things concerning a good man is most terrible. Yet such was the malignity of the enemies of the Psalmist. (2.) Their deceit. “If he come to see me, he speaketh vanity; his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.” Here is the most cruel hypocrisy. These enemies visited the poet in his affliction under the pretence of friendship and kindly interest in his welfare, uttering empty and hypocritical assurances of love and sympathy. Their real object was to gather materials for slandering him, to discover something in his temper, or speech, or condition, which they might pervert to their own base ends. And then they went abroad and published their base and dastardly perversions. “There is no fence against those whose malice thus gathers iniquity.” (3.) Their confederacy. “All that hate me whisper together against me; against me do they devise my hurt.” Here are combination and consultation with a view to the injury of the poet. His enemies were many, and they conspired to effect his overthrow. “Whisperers and backbiters are put together among the worst of sinners (Romans 1:29-30). They whispered that their plot against him might not be discovered and so defeated; there is seldom whispering (we say) but there is lying or some mischief on foot.”—M. Henry. (4.) Their fiendish exultation. “An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him, and now that he lieth, he shall rise up no more.” The first clause of this verse is not easily interpreted. Our translation is incorrect. Margin, as in the Hebrew: “A thing,” or word, “of Belial.” Professor Alexander: “A word of Belial is poured upon him.” Hengstenberg says: “The first member, literally: a matter of mischief is poured upon him.” We take it that “the matter of mischief,” or “word of Belial,” is the diabolical plan which the enemies of the Psalmist had framed for effecting his ruin; and in the anticipated success of which they fiendishly exulted. It was not without reason that David complained of his enemies. 2. Those whom he had regarded as his friends. “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.” “Mine own familiar friend,” or “the man of my peace,” indicates one who was associated with David in the most peaceful and amicable relations. “In whom I trusted,” points to “one who lived on a footing of confidence with the Psalmist.” “Who eats my bread,” does not refer to one who had been entertained as an occasional guest by the Psalmist, but to one who was supported by him as a member of his family. “The participle points to something continued.” Such an one, the Psalmist complains, had “lifted up his heel against” him, like a horse that turns and kicks a kind master. Matthew Henry, Hengstenberg, et al., think that the reference here is to Ahithophel (2 Samuel 15:12; 2 Samuel 15:31). Well may David complain in bitterness of soul of such treatment. La Fontaine said: “Rare is true love; true friendship is still rarer.” “In trust,” said Queen Elizabeth, “I have found treason.” “Friends!” said Socrates, “there is no friend.” Our Lord applied part of this verse to Judas, the betrayer, John 13:8. But it is significant that He omitted the words, “Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted.” The omission is (1.) “An evidence against the direct Messianic interpretation” of the psalm. (2.) It seems to show that Christ had never regarded Judas as an intimate and trusted friend. II. The prayer of the compassionate. The Psalmist here prays that the blessing promised to those who consider the poor may be granted unto him. He prays— 1. For mercy. In both the fourth and the tenth verses he cries, “O Lord, be merciful unto me.” The request for mercy implies a consciousness of unworthiness. It is also an appeal to the disposition of God to pity the miserable, and succour the distressed. 2. For restoration. “Heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee; … and raise me up.” The Psalmist recognises the intimate connection between sin and suffering. He regarded his afflictions as a consequence of his sins. “Sin,” says Matthew Henry, “is the sickness of the soul; pardoning mercy heals it; renewing grace heals it; and this spiritual healing we should be more earnest for than for bodily health.” The request, “and raise me up,” looks back to the cruel boast of his enemies, “and now that he lieth down he shall rise up no more.” It is a prayer that God would restore him to health and prosperity, and so baffle the wicked designs of his foes. The latter part of the tenth verse is not, “in order that I may requite them,” but, “so will I requite them.” The words do not necessarily involve a desire for individual revenge on his enemies. They may mean simply a desire for the vindication of right and truth. III. The confidence of the compassionate. The Psalmist expresses his assurance of,— 1. The Divine favour. “By this I know that Thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.” The possession of the Divine favour, and the defeat of his enemies, are in his mind inseparably associated, and he expresses a confident assurance of both. “When we can discern the favour of God in any mercy, personal or public, that doubles it and sweetens it.” 2. The Divine support. “And as for me, Thou upholdest me,” &c. The remarks of Matthew Henry on this verse are excellent. “ (1.) When at any time we suffer in our reputation, our chief concern should be about our integrity, and then we may cheerfully leave it to God to secure our reputation. David knows that, if he can but persevere in his integrity, he need not fear his enemies’ triumphs over him. (2.) The best man in the world holds his integrity no longer than God upholds him in it; for by His grace we are what we are; if we be left to ourselves, we shall not only fall, but fall away. (3.) It is a great comfort to us that, however weak we are, God is able to uphold us in our integrity, and will do it if we commit the keeping of it to Him. (4.) If the grace of God did not take a constant care of us, we should not be upheld in our integrity; His eye is always upon us, else we should soon start aside from Him. (5.) Those whom God now upholds in their integrity. He will set before His face for ever, and make happy in the vision and fruition of Himself. He that endures to the end shall be saved.” .—Let us cultivate and pray for strong confidence in God. Then shall we be victorious over the infirmities of the flesh, the weakness or falseness of professed friends, and the scheming malignity of enemies. (Psalms 41:13.) This verse of praise marks the close of the first book of the psalms. I. Blessing is ascribed to God as a God holding relations with His people. “The Lord God of Israel.” In the past He has conferred many blessings upon them. In the present they trust Him; and He upholds and saves them. He has promised to bless them with eternal glory. “The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel.” “Blessed,” i.e., praised, honoured, “be the Lord God.” 1. God is supremely blessed in Himself. “The ever blessed God.” 2. God is blessed in His works. “All Thy works shall praise Thee, O God.” 3. God is blessed by all His intelligent and loyal creatures. By angels, and by the redeemed both in heaven and on earth. II. Blessing is ascribed to God eternally. “From everlasting and to everlasting.” From the unbeginning past to the unending future. What an existence is that of God! III. Blessing is ascribed to Him fervently. “Amen, and Amen.” The repetition of the “Amen” shows that the ascription of blessing is the intense wish of the mind and heart. Many and forcible are the reasons which urge all intelligent creatures thus to ascribe blessing to God. We, whom He has redeemed from sin and hell, are under special obligation to praise and glorify Him. “What shall I render unto the Lord?” &c. “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” &c. Superscription: “To the Chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah.” Maschil, an instruction, a didactic poem.“The sons of Korah,” descendants of Korah, were an important company of singers (1 Chronicles 6:33; 2 Chronicles 20:19). Opinions differ as to whether this and ten or eleven other psalms bearing the name of “the sons of Korah” were composed by them or for them. The title may mean “for the sons of Korah,” “to the sons of Korah,” or “of the sons of Korah.” Winer, Origen, Rosenmüller, Hensler, Eichorn, De Wette, Olshausen, Hengstenberg, et al., hold that the sons of Korah were the authors of these psalms. Hengstenberg regards the 42 and 43 psalms as the composition of one of the sons of Korah concerning the experience of David; the former is the author and the latter is the object of the psalm: “one of the sons of Korah sang this psalm as from the soul of David.” The psalms which bear this title are remarkable for beauty, sublimity, and intense feeling. “As, however, the language of several of these psalms—as the 42 and 48, &c.—is manifestly meant to apply to David, it seems much simpler to explain the title ‘for the sons of Korah,’ to mean that they were given to them to sing in the temple services. If their style of music, vocal and instrumental, was of a more sublime and lyric character than that of the sons of Merari or Gershon, and Heman had more fire in his execution than Asaph and Jeduthun, it is perfectly natural that David should have given his more poetic and elevated strains to Heman and his choir, and the simpler and quieter psalms to the other choirs.”The occasion of the composition was probably the time of the rebellion of Absalom, when David was forced into exile from his home and from the tabernacle of God. This and the following psalm stand in very close relation to each other, and were probably composed on the same occasion.Homiletically, the psalm sets before us, A godly soul under a sense of absence from God (Psalms 42:1-5); and the deep depression and strong consolation of a godly soul (Psalms 42:6-11).A GODLY SOUL UNDER A SENSE OF ABSENCE FROM GOD(Psalms 42:1-5.) I. The sorrow of a godly soul. “My tears have been my meat day and night,” &c. David here sets forth— 1. The cause of his sorrow. The Psalmist was driven into exile, away from home and from the tabernacle of God. And in his trials he seems to have temporarily lost the sense of the Divine presence and favour. It was probably the weight and bitterness of the trials of the Psalmist at this time which led to his inability to realise the gracious presence of God. Under severe afflictions, the soul is apt to feel itself forsaken by God. This was the cause of David’s sorrow. He felt himself deserted by God. “Sometimes God teaches us effectually to know the work of mercies by the want of them, and whets our appetite for the means of grace by cutting us short in those means.” 2. The aggravation of his sorrow. David’s sorrow was made all the keener by (1.) The reproaches of his enemies. “They continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” His enemies seem to have reproached him with being forsaken by God; that, being exiled from the tabernacle of God, he was exiled also from God Himself; that his miseries were an evidence that he was abandoned by God. “This,” says Robertson, “is ever the way in religious perplexity: the unsympathising world taunts or misunderstands. In spiritual grief they ask, Why is he not like others? In bereavement, they call your deep sorrow unbelief. In misfortune, they comfort you like Job’s friends by calling it a visitation. Or, like the barbarians at Melita, when the viper fastened on Paul’s hand, no doubt they call you an infidel, though your soul be crying after God. Specially in that dark and awful hour, when HE called on God, ‘Eloi, Eloi,’ they said, ‘Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save Him.’ Now, this is sharp to bear. It is easy to say Christian fortitude should be superior to it. But in darkness to have no sympathy,—when the soul gropes for God, to have the hand of man relax its grasp!” (2.) The recollection of past joys. “When I remember these, I pour out my soul in me,” &c. (Psalms 42:4.) Here is worship. David was a devout man. His delight was in the worship of God. “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth.” Here is social worship. “I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God.” His enjoyment of religious ordinances was increased by uniting in them with others. Here is joyous social worship. “With the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holy-day.” Their religious assemblies were characterised by devout gladness. Now, “the pain of the Psalmist is increased, when he brings into view his earlier blessedness, and places it beside his present misery.” His experience is like that described by Tennyson, “A sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.”3. The continuousness of his sorrow, “My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually,” &c. His grief was with him as a constant companion. His sorrow knew no intermission. And the reproaches of his enemies were ever ringing in his ears and agonising his heart. This tearstained page from the autobiography of David, represents the sorrows of many a godly soul to-day. II. The desire of a godly soul. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God” (Psalms 42:1-2). Notice— 1. The object of his desire. “God, … the living God.” David’s great longing was not for restoration to his palace and throne, or even to the tabernacle; it was for realisation of the presence of God. It is quite true that “lamenting after God is as sure an evidence that we love Him as rejoicing in God.” But the soul thus mourning His absence fails to realise this, or, realising it, derives little or no help from it. We are so constituted that, we cannot rest out of God. Now, consider the God the Psalmist longed for. His God was a Person, “Thee, O God.” He was a living Person. “The living God.” How different from the heartless God which science and philosophy offer to men! a God which is but another name for “law” and “order.” How different also from the God of metaphysical creeds and rigid theological systems! In these, the Divine Being is too often represented as cold, hard, far remote from men, and having little or no interest in the affairs of His creatures. The God for whom the Psalmist longed is very different. He is a living Person who takes deep interest in His creatures, who loves them and seeks their love, who listens to their prayers, and works for their salvation. This is the God that anxious and burdened men cry out for,—the God for whom the Psalmist thirsted and whom the Saviour revealed. To realise the presence and favour of this living God was the great object of desire to David. 2. The intensity of his desire. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth,” &c. The word translated “hart” is a common noun, but, inasmuch as it is here joined with a feminine verb, it must be taken as denoting the hind or female deer. “The Psalmist chose the hind,” says Hengstenberg,” “chiefly because the hind rather than the hart is suitable as compared with the feminine soul, which is like it in its weakness.” And Barnes: “There is an idea of tenderness in the reference to the word hart here—female deer, gazelle—which would not strike us if the reference had been to any other animal. These are so timid, so gentle, so delicate in their structure, so much the natural objects of love and compassion, that our feelings are drawn towards them as to all other animals in similar circumstances.” We are not to think of the hunted hind, exhausted, parched, and alarmed by pursuit, but of the hind in time of prevailing drought (compare Psalms 63:1). “My soul thirsteth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is.” The word translated “panteth”—margin, “brayeth”—denotes eager desire. So the Psalmist intensely longed for the presence and fellowship of God. His desire “is very importunate: it is his soul that pants, his soul that thirsts, which denotes not only the sincerity, but the strength of his desire.” III. The hope of a godly soul. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” &c. (Psalms 42:5). Calvin says: “David represents himself here to us as divided into two parts. In so far as he rests through faith in God’s promises, he raises himself, equipped with the spirit of an invincible valour, against the feelings of the flesh, and at the same time blames his weakness.” Hengstenberg: “It is the spirit mighty in God which here meets the trembling soul.” Consider— 1. Whom he hoped in. “Hope thou in God.” He turned the eye of his soul away from his painful circumstances, from the ingratitude and treachery of men, from its own troubled mood, to God. He is always the same, always gracious, always strong to save. Hope in Him. 2. What he hoped for. “The help of His countenance.” “The salvation of His countenance.” “Cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.” “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.” “In His favour is life.” The Psalmist hoped for complete deliverance and restoration by the favour of God. This he designates, “the salvation of His countenance.” 3. Whereon he grounded his hope. “For I shall yet praise Him,” &c. “The ground of his hope is his believing confidence that the Lord, who is always his God, will by his deliverance give him occasion for thanks.”—Hengstenberg. .—Here we have a remedy for despondency. Look up and hope in God. Away from thine unhappy circumstances, away from thy cheerless prospects, away from thine own troubled condition, look up and hope in God; and thy moan shall be changed into a grateful song. MAN TO HIS SOUL(Psalms 42:5.) We have in these words— I. Self-remonstrance. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me?” “It is the spirit mighty in God, which here meets the trembling soul.” It is faith interrogating feeling. We all have had some experience of this duality in unity in our own being. We know what it is for the human soul to shrink and tremble and suffer, while the spirit, nerved by faith, is calm, fearless, and heroic. These interrogations imply— 1. Great suffering of soul. “Cast down,” bowed down, deeply dejected. “Disquieted,” anxious, agitated, troubled. Godly souls sometimes pass through deep waters. 2. Groundless suffering of soul. “Why art thou cast down?” &c. The interrogation implies that there was no sufficient reason for this depression and anxiety. The man who can call the Lord his God can never have sufficient reason to be so deeply troubled as David was. II. Self-exhortation. “Hope thou in God.” “In God,” as contradistinguished, 1. From man. Man is not always willing to aid us in the day of distress. Even when he is willing, his power to do so is very limited. Man is sometimes unreliable, false. Supposing this psalm to have been written during the rebellion of Absalom, or to refer to it, David was having painful experiences of the ingratitude and treachery of men, notably in the cases of Absalom and Ahithophel. “In God;” not in man. 2. From circumstances. The circumstances and prospects of the poet were very dark. Circumstances are sometimes as variable as April weather. They are not to be relied on. “In God;” not in circumstances. 3. From ourselves. We are foolish, weak, changeable. The moods of our soul are influenced by almost countless circumstances. To-day we are on Hermon; to-morrow we must enter Gethsemane. “In God;” not in ourselves. “In God;” for He is (1) Ever gracious. (2) All-sufficient. (3) Unchangeable. III. Self-encouragement. “For I shall yet praise Him,” &c. 1. The facts concerning salvation which are here suggested. (1) That it is the result of the favour of God. “The salvation of His countenance.” (See preceding exposition of these words.) (2) That it inspires the praise of man. “For I shall yet praise Him.” The salvation of God gives both matter for praise and the disposition to praise. 2. The assurance of salvation. There is no faltering or hesitation in the declaration of the Psalmist. The spirit is triumphant in faith, though the soul is dejected by suffering. 3. The ground of this assurance. The Psalmist’s faith rests in the relation of God to him. This is brought out in the eleventh verse, which is an almost exact repetition of this one. “My God.” He who can so speak of God may well be confident of full and glorious salvation. THE DEEP AND STRONG OF A GODLY SOUL(Psalms 42:6-11.) The Psalmist has addressed himself to his own soul, but has not obtained the victory over his troubles. Now he turns to God and addresses Him on the matter. I. The deep depression of a godly soul “O my God, my soul is cast down within me.” He sets before us— 1. The greatness of his troubles. He expresses this variously. (1) He declares his great dejection of soul. “My soul is cast down within me.” It was sinking under the weight of its trials. (2) He compares his troubles to an angry flood. “Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts,” &c. Hengstenberg says: “The floods are the roaring sea-billows of suffering and pain. Flood calls to flood, one invites, as it were, another to pour itself forth on the Psalmist.” The waves of anguish were beating pitilessly upon the poet’ soul. (3) He compares his troubles to the slaughter of his soul. “As with a sword in my bones,” &c. Margin: “As with a killing,” &c. Hengstenberg: “It is as a murder in my bones,” &c” The murder here is used figuratively for designating a deadly anguish of soul: the reproaches are to the soul of the Psalmist what murder is to the body. (Comp. Luke 2:35.) ‘A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also.’ That the murder is represented as having its seat in the bones of the Psalmist, is designed to mark the pain as going through the marrow and bones wounding the heart.” 2. The causes of his trouble. Of these he mentions two:— (1) His forced exile from his home and from the tabernacle of the Lord. He was now far away from home, in “the land of Jordan and the Hermonites, and the hill Mizar.” Jordan was the eastern boundary of Canaan. Hermon, a mountain on the north eastern border of Palestine, having three summits, for which reason probably it is spoken of here as “the Hermonites” or Hermons. “Mizar” is probably the name of a small mountain; but what mountain is now unknown. But the point for us to seize is this, the Psalmist “was now driven to the utmost borders of the land of Canaan, to shelter himself there from the rage of his persecutors.” He is far from home, far from the tabernacle and worship of His God. (2) The reproaches of his enemies. “Mine enemies reproach me,” &c. (See notes on Psalms 42:3.) 3. The relation of his trouble to God. “Thy waterspouts, all Thy waves and Thy billows.” He regarded his troubles as in some sense coming from God. God is either the originator or permitter of all our troubles. “Whatever waves and billows of affliction go over us at any time we must call them God’s waves and His billows, that we may humble ourselves under His mighty hand, and may encourage ourselves to hope that though we be threatened we shall not be ruined; for the waves and billows are under a Divine check.”—M. Henry. When we consider these things we wonder not that the Psalmist was deeply depressed. II. The strong consolation of a godly soul. 1. In the remembrance of God. “O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore will I remember Thee.” He recollected the great goodness and the mighty acts of God, and was comforted. “The way to forget the sense of our miseries is to remember the God of our mercies.” 2. In the assurance of God’s constant mercy. “The Lord will command His loving-kindness in the day-time,” &c The loving-kindness of God consists, says Hengstenberg, “in the inward consolations which are granted to the Psalmist in the midst of his outward misery. In and along with the favour the song is also at the same time given. For the person who is comforted through God’s favour, is enabled to sing praise to Him. Upon the song and out of it follows the prayer.” “Believing expectation of mercy must not supersede, but quicken, our prayers for it.” “Daytime” and “night” we understand, as in Psalms 42:3, as indicating continuance. The assurance of the Psalmist is that God would always show him His mercy. Even in our greatest troubles there is Divine mercy. “The Psalmist called the Lord the God of his life, because He preserved and supported it, and must awaken him out of the death to which he seemed now appointed.” 3. In confident access to God in prayer “I will say unto God my rock, Why hast Thou forgotten me?” &c. Notice, (1) His characterisation of God. “God, my Rock;” implying that God was his strength, his defence, firm and immovable. (2) His expostulation with God. “Why hast Thou forgotten me?” &c. To his suffering soul it seemed as though God had forgotten him. But his spirit, strong in faith, knew otherwise. The inquiry, “Why,” &c., implies the conviction that God could not possibly even in appearance forget him much longer, that soon his mourning must be changed into rejoicing. Thus to have access to God is no small consolation to His people when they are tried. 4. In the assured anticipation of deliverance from trouble. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” &c. (See notes and homiletic sketch on Psalms 42:5.) This verse is a repetition of Psa 42:5, with this difference, instead of “His countenance” we have “my countenance,” and the words “and my God” are added at the close. The idea is that when David found salvation in God’s countenance or favour, the clouds would pass away from his own countenance, and it would become radiant with gratitude and gladness. “And my God” is a note of triumph in response to the enemies who had mockingly challenged him, “Where is thy God?” So the psalm closes with notes of assured and complete victory. .— 1. Here is instruction for the depressed believer. In your deep dejection remember God, pray unto Him, trust Him. In the land of the Hermons He is as near to save thee as in the sacred worship of the sanctuary. 2. Here is encouragement for the depressed believer. “Hope in God; for thou shalt yet praise Him,” &c. This psalm was composed by the same author as the preceding one, and has reference to the same occasion. It is fitted to impart help and encouragement to the afflicted and desponding in their troubles. The pious spirit of the author is clearly seen in the psalm.DEVOUT The poet pours out his heart to God in petitions, expostulations, and promises; but the prevailing tone of the psalm is that of intense desire. He longs I. For vindication and deliverance. “Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; O deliver me” (Psalms 43:1-2). Notice— 1. The character of his enemies. “An ungodly nation, … the deceitful and unjust man.” The word which is translated “ungodly” is in the margin more correctly rendered “unmerciful.” Hengstenberg renders it “unloving.” It is a word which may most fitly be applied to the conduct of the Jewish nation at the time of the rebellion of Absalom, to which time the psalm most probably refers. In the conduct of an immense number of the people towards David, there was no love, no mercy; but base ingratitude, injustice, and cruelty. “The deceitful and unjust man” may have been said of many at the time to which we suppose the psalm to refer, and pre-eminently of Absalom and Ahithophel (Comp. 2 Samuel 15; 2 Samuel 16; 2 Samuel 17.) The Psalmist was contending against men who were cruel, treacherous, and unjust. 2. The dejection of his spirit. “Why dost Thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” The entire tone of the psalm forbids us to think that David felt himself rejected of God. But his circumstances at the time seemed inconsistent with the guardianship of God; and he, therefore, appeals to Him on the matter. See notes on Psalms 42:9. 3. The nature of his petition. “Judge me, O God, and plead my cause.” The enemies of the poet were many and virulent. They persecuted him and reproached him as a man forsaken by God. And here he appeals to God for vindication. He could honestly and fearlessly appeal to the Lord to judge between him and his enemies. He had given no occasion to them for the treatment he received from them. And if God grant him deliverance from them, that will be an unmistakable evidence of the Divine judgment, a clear vindication of the persecuted and much-suffering poet. So he prays that God would interpose and deliver him and thus vindicate him. For this he longs. 4. The strength of his plea. “For Thou art the God of my strength.” Hengstenberg: “For Thou art my guardian-God.” The Psalmist pleads that he was looking to God for strength and protection; that he was trusting in the Lord. This plea is never urged sincerely and earnestly but what it avails with God. II. For restoration to the tabernacle of God. “O send out Thy light and Thy truth; let them lead me,” &c. (Psalms 43:3-4). Notice— 1. He longs chiefly for restoration to the tabernacle of God. His great desire is to be brought again unto God’s “holy hill and tabernacles.” “The centre of all the Psalmist” wishes is his return to the sanctuary, because the exclusion from that was, of all the marks of the Divine displeasure under which he suffered, the most palpable. In his return to the sanctuary, he would find a matter-of-fact justification, a pledge of the return of God’s grace.—Hengstenberg. “His heart is set,” says Matthew Henry, “upon the holy hill and the tabernacles, not upon his family comforts, his court preferments, or his diversions; he could bear the want of these, but he is impatient to see God’s tabernacles again; nothing so amiable in his eyes as those,—thither he would gladly be brought back.” 2. He looks for the realisation of his longings through the favour and faithfulness of God. “O send out Thy light and Thy truth.” God’s light here is equivalent to His favour or mercy, and His truth to His faithfulness. And the Psalmist prays that through these he may be led back to the enjoyment of the privileges and blessings from which he was at present so cruelly exiled. Blessed is that man who, like David, sets his hope firmly in the favour and faithfulness of God. His hope shall attain unto splendid fruition. 3. He promises to avail himself of the opportunities of worship when he is restored to the tabernacles of God. “Then will I go unto the altar of God,” &c. He will worship (1) With sacrifice. “I will go unto the altar of God,” with sacrifices for sin and offerings of gratitude. (2) With delight. “Unto God my exceeding joy.” (See the sketch on this verse.) (3) With praise. “Yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God, my God.” Instrumental music was largely used by the Hebrews in their worship. “David excelled at the harp (1 Samuel 16:16-18), and with that in which he excelled he would praise God; for God is to be praised with the best we have; it is fit He should be, for He is the best.”—M. Henry. 4. He encourages his soul to expect the realisation of his longings. “Why art Thou cast down, O my soul?” &c. (Psalms 43:5). (See homiletic sketch on Psalms 43:5, and notes on Psalms 43:5 and Psalms 42:11 of the preceding psalm.) .—In this psalm the poet appears to us as a glorious example of a man whose hope is steadily fixed in God. Heroic was he in his trust in the Lord. In the first verse, we see him calmly trusting in the righteous judgment of God; in the second, he rests in God as his strength; in the third, he looks expectantly to God for restoration to his dearest privileges; in the fourth, he resolves to adore Him as his exceeding joy and his most treasured possession; in the fifth, he exults in confident anticipation of the enjoyment of all that he most deeply longed for; and all this at a time when circumstances seemed all against him, and when to the eye of sense his prospects were of the darkest. Brave, trustful poet, we cannot but admire thee! Let us also imitate him in this respect. THE ALTAR OF GOD(Psalms 43:4.) “Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.” The text opens to us two important views. I. The peculiar nature of that worship which God has authorised. It is going to the altar of our God. By the altar only can God be approached. Behold, then, the true character of acceptable worship. 1. There is in it a recognition of our sin. There was no altar in Paradise. When John beheld a vision of heaven, he “saw no temple therein.” But in the present state, in approaching God, we go to His altar. The sacrifice of Christ is made particularly prominent in the Christian scheme to remind us that we are sinful men, and cannot draw near to God in our own name. 2. An acknowledgment of our just liability to punishment. Worship is not a claim of right, but a plea for mercy. Sentence of death is denounced against every transgressor of the law of God, and in such a prayer as that of the publican its justice is acknowledged. The ancient offerer of sacrifice acknowledged this, and we do the same when we flee to Christ’s atonement. 3. The true worship of God recognises Him as propitious through an atonement appointed by Himself. It was not an altar of human device to which the Psalmist resolved to go, but to the altar of his God. The cross is “the altar of God,” His Son is the victim; the precious blood of Christ is the accepted atonement; and coming to Him in faith, our sin is purged and our persons are accepted. 4. Our worship being an approach to the altar of God, we are assured of constant access to Him. The priests had their courses, that there might be no intermission in the service. The fire of the altar was never extinct. The altar was always there to receive the sacrifice, and the altar of incense was an emblem of the acceptance of perpetual prayer. The sacrifice of Christ needs never to be repeated. It was offered “once for all,” for “by one offering He hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified.” Our High Priest never dies, but “hath obtained an unchangeable priesthood.” Access to the throne of grace is ever given, and our prayers are always accepted. II. The emphatic description which is given us of the joy which results from it. “To God my exceeding joy.” “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest,” &c. “How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” Contemplate the sources of this joy, that you may aspire after it. 1. We are placed in the presence of a Being of infinite glory and perfection. The joy in question supposes reconciliation with God, and when that is effected all our intercourse with Him may be adoring gratitude. We cannot approach the sublime of nature, we cannot be brought into the presence of an elevated character, without a deeply interested and joyous impression; but here God reveals Himself to man. Infinite beauty, glory, purity, and perfection says, “Come up to me in the holy mount;” and in answer to our prayer, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory,” He makes all His goodness pass before us. David anticipated this joy (Psalms 63:1-2). 2. True worship enables us to appropriate this display of glory to ourselves. There is an inexpressible emphasis in the words “My God.” All His glory is ours. Is He the everlasting God? Then, because He lives, I shall live also. Is His fulness infinite? Then my supplies are secure. “All my springs are in Thee.” Is He omnipotent? Then, “if God be for us, who can be against us?” And whatever other perfections He has are mine. Mine is His wisdom, His mercy, and His love. 3. It is the joy of confidence. The very reason why we seek God is the want of confidence in everything beside, and in Him we may confide absolutely. God in Christ assures us of this. The philosopher tells me to span the heavens. I am an atom, a nothing. I look upon God incarnate, and all my chilling calculations fly. I am not unnoticed among His works. He came to this world, minify it as you may, to seek and to save that which was lost. When I go “to the altar of my God,” I see that He is love. He that so loved me can never be indifferent to me, and can never forget me. 4. The joy of renewed assurances of His favour to us. Doubts and fears may oppress and chill, till we steadfastly behold His beauty in the sanctuary, and by renewed acts of faith obtain richer manifestations of His love, when our peace flows like a river. Comp. Psalms 73:16-17; Psalms 73:28. 5. There is the joy of hope. The tabernacle was an emblem of heaven.—Richard Watson, abridged. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil.” See introduction to Psalms 42.We have no means of determining who was the author of the psalm. Nor are we able to ascertain with certainty upon what occasion it was composed. The various speculations and conjectures on the subject are not amongst the most satisfactory things with which we are acquainted. Looking at the psalm from the homiletic standpoint, we have: a well-founded assurance (Psalms 44:1-8); a painful experience (Psalms 44:9-16); and an earnest appeal and prayer (Psalms 44:17-26).A WELL-FOUNDED (Psalms 44:1-8.) In the consideration of the Psalmist’s confidence in God, founded upon His former doings on behalf of His chosen people, many points will arise which, without any forced interpretation, will illustrate His work for and in the soul of the Christian believer, and which are fitted to encourage our confidence in Him. We have here— I. A commemoration of God’s former and glorious doings. 1. The nature of these doings. “Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and plantedst them; Thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.” The Psalmist here sets forth (1) The expulsion of the Canaanites and the establishment of the Israelites in their land. By the Divine power the original inhabitants of Canaan were driven from that country, and the chosen people planted therein. The figure of planting a nation or a people is frequent in both literature and conversation. We meet with it in Exodus 15:17 and Psalms 80:8. The figure-suggests the ideas of life, growth, and fruitfulness. It is with a view to these that we plant trees. (2) The affliction of the Canaanites, and the growth of the Israelites. “Thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.” Upon the heathens the Lord brought calamities, while He blessed His own people with increase in the land. The words “cast them out,” or “spread them abroad,” refer not to the Canaanites, but to the Israelites. God had extended them like the branches of a tree. We meet with the same idea in Psalms 80:11. “It sent out its boughs to the sea, and its branches to the river.” Barnes says that “the parallelism here clearly demands” this interpretation. This view is adopted by Alexander, Hengstenberg, Luther, De Wette, Tholuck, et al. Now, whether we view this work in relation to the nation expelled or to the nation planted and increased, it is a great work; and illustrates His work in us. It is He that casts out our spiritual foes, our inbred sins; that plants us in the kingdom of His grace; and that enables us to grow in grace. The beginning and the progress of spiritual life are with Him: 2. The Author of these doings. “Work Thou didst,” &c. (1) Negatively. “They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them.” It was by neither their might nor their courage that they dispossessed the Canaanites and took their land. (2) Positively. “But Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance.” He favoured them and fought for them, or they would have fought in vain. How true is this in spiritual life! The foes of our soul-life laugh to scorn our unaided efforts to conquer them. God alone has the power to quicken us into spiritual life, enable us to grow, and vanquish our foes. 3. The reason of these doings. “Because Thou hadst a favour unto them.” The Israelites did not merit the glorious doings of God on their behalf. We discover little merit in them, but much demerit. They owed all to God’s free and sovereign favour. “Not for thy righteousness,” said Moses, “or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that He may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Understand, therefore, that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.” God’s work in us, for our salvation, is entirely due to His own free, unmerited, sovereign favour. “By grace are ye saved.” 4. The obligation of every generation to transmit to posterity an account of the doings of God in their day. “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us,” &c. Generation after generation had been thrilled with the narration of God’s glorious deeds of former times. “Those that went before us told us what God did in their days, we are bound to tell those that come after us what He has done in our days, and let them do the like justice to those that shall succeed them; thus shall one generation praise His works to another, the fathers to the children shall make known His truth.” 5. The obligation of every generation to profit by the experiences of those who have gone before. We are the “heirs of all the ages,” and ought to be wiser, braver, holier than those who have gone before us. History is charged with (1) Admonition as to the evil of sin, &c. (2) Encouragement to trust in God, to serve humanity for Him, &c. Are we heeding its teachings? II. A declaration of confidence in God. (Psalms 44:4-8). This confidence is set forth, and is worthy of imitation in several respects. 1. In the ground on which their faith rested. It rests on what He had done for their fathers and for them in former times. Out of what He has done, their faith in what He will do grows. There is implied here belief in His unchangeableness and faithfulness. He had fulfilled His promises to their fathers; will He not fulfil them to them also? He had done glorious things for their fathers; will He not do glorious things for them also? Is He not The Immutable? God’s past doings in and for us should encourage us to put strong confidence in Him. We are “confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” 2. In the relationship which He sustained to them. “Thou art my King, O God.” “They had taken God for their sovereign Lord, had sworn allegiance to Him, and put themselves under His protection.” He who as the King of their fathers did put forth His power and glory on their behalf, is appealed to by the Psalmist and people as their King in expectation of protection and victory for them. As Hengstenberg puts it, “As certainly as God is the King of Israel—this His past deeds plainly testify—so certainly must these deeds again revive, must He also at the present time dispense salvation to His people.” If God is our King, we may look for protection from Him. 3. In the petition which they present to Him. “Command deliverances for Jacob.” Notice here (1) The extent of their desires. “Deliverances.” Not one; but as many as are needed for their complete salvation. (2) The greatness of their faith. “Command.” Michaelis says: “Because he had named God his King, he makes use of a word which points to kingly authority and irresistible power.” He has but to command it, and their salvation shall be accomplished. He speaks, and it is done. We are reminded of the centurion and our Lord. “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Let us honour God by a like faith in His power to save. 4. In the renunciation of other objects of trust. “I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me.” In Psalms 44:3 the Psalmist declares that it was not their power or weapons that had saved them, but God alone, and in this verse he announces their abandonment of all confidence except that which is fixed in God. In the spiritual life our faith must be fixed in Christ alone for all things, for pardon, power, purity, victory, glory. From first to last we have no Saviour but Jesus, and He is all-sufficient. 5. In their assurance of victory. “Through Thee will we push down our enemies; through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.… Thou savest us from our enemies, and dost put to shame them that hate us.” The idea of the 5th verse is that of a conqueror with his foes completely vanquished, and prostrated and powerless before him. And the 7th verse should be translated and interpreted not in reference to their past but present foes; not to what God had done for them, but what He would do for them. They were confident of complete victory through Him. In the Christian life and conflict we may confidently anticipate victory through our Lord. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” 6. In their praise of God. “In God we boast all the day long, and praise Thy name for ever.” “Boast” is not a good rendering. Praise would express the meaning. Or as Hengstenberg translates: “God we extol continually, and Thy name we praise for ever.” They extolled Him as their God, their King, in whom they confidently trusted for salvation. They resolve to praise Him, (1) Continually. “All the day long.” (2) Perpetually. “For ever.” . Surely this well-founded assurance in God, rising out of the recollection and celebration of His glorious doings for His people in former days, and exercised in the midst of such dark and distressing circumstances, is a thing to be emulated by us. Let every Christian believer seek to tread the path of life, perform its duties, bear its trials, and fight its battles, singing,— “This God is the God we adore,Our faithful, unchangeable Friend;Whose love is as great as His power,And knows neither measure nor end.’Tis Jesus, the First and the Last,Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home;We’ll praise Him for all that is past,And trust Him for all that’s to come.”—Hart.A PAINFUL (Psalms 44:9-16.) We here come at once upon a complete change of sentiment. In this and the preceding section of the psalm we have a double contrast. Here is a contrast between the exultant confidence in God expressed by the poet as the mouthpiece of the people in the former section and the sorrowful complaint of their miseries in this section. Here also is a contrast between what God had done for them and for their fathers in time past and what He was doing for them now. Consider,— I. The miseries of which they complain. Of these there are several 1. Their rejection by God. “But Thou hast cast off, and put us to shame, and goest not forth with our armies.” The word translated “cast off” means rejected, forsaken. We are not to suppose that the Psalmist believed that God had utterly abandoned them. With the previous section of the psalm in our mind such a supposition is impossible. But judging from their outward and visible circumstances they seemed forsaken by God. The usual tokens of His favour and presence with them were altogether wanting. One of these tokens is here mentioned, “Thou goest not forth with our armies.” In former times they went forth to war confident of His presence with them, and returned victorious. Now they go forth not realising His presence, and return defeated and “put to shame.” (We will not attempt to decide what battles and other events in Jewish history are here referred to. Such attempts as have been made in this direction are of little worth.) 2. Their defeat in battle and its consequent evils. “Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy.” They had no courage. They did not fight like brave men. They acted as mere mercenaries of war and cowards. “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies?” Defeat was followed by— (1) Slaughter. “Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat.” Hengstenberg: “Like sheep for slaughter.” Margin: “As sheep of meat.” M. Henry: “They make no more scruple of killing an Israelite than of killing a sheep; nay, like the butcher, they make a trade of it, they take a pleasure in it as a hungry man in his meat.” (2) Spoiling. “They which hate us spoil us for themselves.” “The enemies had plundered according to their heart’s desire, and without any effective restraint.” (3) Captivity or Slavery. “Thou hast scattered us among the heathen. Thon sellest Thy people for nought, and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price.” We do not affirm that the people had been literally taken captive into other lands, or sold into slavery. But some of the results of their defeat in battle had been such that they may fitly be so described. On Psalms 44:12 Hengstenberg says—“The sense is: Thou hast given Thy people into the power of their enemies without trouble, without causing the victory even to be dearly bought, as one who parts with a good for any price, which he despises and hates, desiring merely to get rid of it; so that there is an abbreviated comparison. Parallel is Jeremiah 15:13, ‘thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price.’ ” 3. The reproaches of their enemies. “Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours,” &c., Psalms 44:13-14. According to Psalms 44:13, the surrounding nations treated them with contempt, as a people forsaken by God, and powerless to defend themselves against their foes. îָ ?ùָׁ ?ì, here translated “byword,” properly signifies a similitude. So Hengstenberg translates it here, and explains it thus: “The misery of Israel is so great, that people would figuratively call a miserable man a Jew, just as liars were called Cretans, wretched slaves, Sardians. So far are the people from being now ‘the blessed of the Lord,’ in whom, according to the promise, all the heathen are to be blessed.” The “shaking of the head” means that their enemies shook their heads at them in scorn and derision. 4. Their own shame. “My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,” &c., Psalms 44:15-16. Notice here— (1) The reason of this shame. “For the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth; by reason of the enemy and avenger.” The people were slandered, God was blasphemed, and their enemies were about to wreak their vengeance upon them; therefore were they ashamed. (2) The greatness of this shame. “The shame of my face hath covered me.” “The shaming is ascribed to the countenance, because it always betrays itself, especially there.” So great was the shame of the Psalmist, who speaks in the name of the people, that he represents himself as “covered” with blushes. (3) The incessancy of this shame. “My confusion is continually before me.” There was no intermission from the sense of disgrace which they felt. Such are the deep miseries of which they complain to God. II. The author of their miseries. “Thou hast cast me off,” &c. Six times in as many verses they attribute all their suffering and shame to God. He has done it all. Now a statement of this kind needs to be weighed, and its exact meaning ascertained before it is accepted. We know that “He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.” His great aim is to promote the well-being of His creatures. To this end all His plans and workings tend. That He should forsake His people who trust in Him is inconceivable, impossible. How, then, can He be said to be the Author of their miseries? In this way we understand it: “the meritorious cause” must have been in the people. God never forsakes His people unless they first forsake Him. There must have been some important defection on their part in their relation to God ere He would have allowed these miseries to come upon them. This being the case we can understand how the inflicting of the calamities was of the Lord. Their enemies were but the instruments by which their troubles were effected; and they could have had no power against them unless, at the least, it had been permitted them from above. And that power would not have been permitted them had there not been some defection on the part of the chosen people in their relation to God. This, then, we take to be the meaning of the Psalmist,—Thou hast done it by withdrawing the light of Thy presence and the shield of Thy protection. III. The instruction which their miseries are fitted to afford. Three lessons, at least, stand out prominently here to which we shall do well to give heed. 1. That God, in perfect consistency with His faithfulness and love to His people, may under certain circumstances withdraw from them the signs of His presence and favour, and for a time apparently abandon them to their enemies. He may do so (1) As a chastisement for their sins. “It his children forsake My law, and walk not in My judgments, if they break My statutes, and keep not My commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.” (2) For the perfecting and showing forth of their character. The case of Job is an example of this. 2. That when the professed people of God lose the signs of His presence and favour, they are held in contempt by the world. Of this the Psalmist complains. When Samson had proved unfaithful, and forfeited the Divine favour, he became an object of scoffing and ridicule to those who had formerly trembled at the mere mention of his name. “If the salt have lost his savour, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Here is solemn warning for us. 3. That the people of God when bereft of His presence and help, and suffering at the hand of their enemies, do well to carry their complaints to God Himself. (1) Because the effort to draw near to Him is good and helpful. It relieves the troubled heart, lessens the conscious distance between Him and their soul, &c. (2) Because He only is able to restore the strength and joy which they have lost. “Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us; in the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight.” AN EARNEST APPEAL AND PRAYER(Psalms 44:17-26.) I. An earnest appeal. Psalms 44:17-22. This appeal of the people to God is based on the ground that they had not apostatised from Him. In it there are several prominent points. They assert that they have— 1. Not broken His covenant. “We have not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.” By this we understand the Psalmist to mean, that there had been in the history of the people no marked forgetfulness of God, nor had there been any conspicuous or prevalent departure from the covenant which He made with their fathers. 2. Not lapsed into idolatry. They assert that they have not “forgotten the name of their God, or stretched out their hands to a strange God.” The stretching out of the hands is significant of worship or prayer. The force of this verse is, that they have not apostatised either by worshipping a strange god, or forgetting the God of their fathers. 3. Not backslidden from God either in heart or in life. “Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from Thy way.” They had not departed from Him in their heart. They were still loyal to Him in their affections. And in their goings they followed the path which He had prescribed for them. 4. They appeal to the Omniscience of God in proof of this. “Shall not God search this out? for He knoweth the secrets of the heart.” The “this” denotes the apostacy of which they had protested that they were not guilty. The force of the verse is, that if as a nation there had been any considerable departure from God, if in their hearts they had apostatised from Him unto idols, He would have known it, for He knoweth all things, even the secrets of the heart. Thus the verse is a very solemn declaration that they had not forsaken God. 5. As additional proof that their miseries had not come upon them because of their departure from God, the Psalmist says that they were suffering severely and constantly because of their attachment to Him. “For Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” The most conclusive proof that they have not fallen away from God is, “that they are persecuted for the very sake of God.” That which perplexed the Psalmist was, that they should suffer so severely although there had not been any prevalent departure from God. Can we reconcile this protestation of their faithfulness with their miseries? Our statement on “the author of their miseries” in the preceding homily appears irreconcileable with the statements made by the poet in this appeal. Can we explain this? and how? Matthew Henry says: “Though we cannot deny but that we have dealt foolishly, yet we have not dealt falsely in Thy covenant, so as to cast Thee off and take to other gods.” “Tholuck accuses the Psalmist of a superficial view of sin (comp. on the other hand the impressive reference to the heart, Psalms 44:18-21), whereby he was led to charge God with breach of fidelity, instead of seeking the blame in the Church. The following remarks, it is hoped, will remove the difficulty:— (1) When the Church here maintains that she had not broken God’s covenant, this manifestly refers only to fidelity in the main, as to the chief matter, and manifold smaller infidelities and weaknesses are not thereby excluded. These smaller deviations justify the chastisements of God, faithfulness in the main excludes a total rejection. (2) When the Church regards the suffering that had come upon her as an anomaly, she does so only in so far as this appears to carry the aspect of continuance,—comp. the words: ‘Cast us not off for ever,’ in Psalms 44:23. The whole of the last strophe shows, that the temptation will be at an end the moment God has, in point of fact, removed this appearance. But this would not have been the case if the suffering had formed in itself a stone of stumbling for the Church. (3) It is not to be overlooked, that we have here before us a didactic psalm. What is declared in the form of history, forms at the same time indirectly an impressive admonition. (4) We must not expect that every psalm shall fully exhibit all particular points of truth, and so render all misapprehension impossible. They rather, on the contrary, require somewhat to be supplied.”—Hengstenberg. II. An Earnest Prayer (Psalms 44:23-26). We have here— 1. Believing expostulations. “Awake, why sleepest Thou, O Lord?” “Why” seems to imply the impossibility of any reason being assigned for His sleep, and the assurance that He will speedily awake. “Faith,” says David Dickson, “doth not allow nor subscribe unto carnal sense, but in presenting the objections thereof unto God, really refuteth them, by avowing that such misregarding of His own cause and servants, as sense and temptation vented, is inconsistent with His nature, covenant, promises, and practices towards His people; for, ‘why sleepest Thou,’ is as much as, it is not possible that Thou sleepest; and ‘why’ here is not a word of quarreling, but a word of denying, that any reason can be given for such a thought, as God sleepeth.” “Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our affliction and oppression?” Sense says, God is asleep and hath cast off His people for ever. Faith replies, If so, “why” is it so? Sense says, God hath forgotten the affliction of His people. Faith replies with a persistent “Wherefore?” 2. Urgent entreaties. “Awake, arise, cast us not off for ever. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.” This is a prayer that God, who had seemed to take no interest in them, would speedily evince an interest in them and arise and save them. In Psalms 44:12 they had complained that God had sold them; in Psalms 44:26 they entreat Him to redeem them. “If He sell us, it is not any one else that can redeem us.” 3. Effective pleas. (1) Their misery. “For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly cleaveth unto the earth.” The expression of the former clause denotes great grief and fear, and the figure of the latter clause extreme prostration and affliction and inability to assist themselves. (2) God’s mercy. “Redeem us for Thy mercies’ sake,” i.e., in maintenance and illustration of His character as a God of mercy. Or, as the word is plural, “mercies,” may it not mean for the sake of the long line of mercies He had bestowed upon them and their fathers? Let not the long series of Thy mercies to Thy people fail, and let them not perish by reason thereof. In any case, it is an appeal to God on the ground of His unmerited grace to save His afflicted people. .—There are here some practical points of great importance, which we shall do well to ponder in their relation to our own life. 1. The completeness of the Divine scrutiny of human life. There is no province of our life which escapes His examination. There is no flaw or sin, however cleverly disguised, that will escape detection when He searches us (Psalms 44:21). 2. The great support afforded by a clear conscience in the time of affliction. It was no small thing for the people that in this the day of their distress they were able to appeal to God as they did (Psalms 44:17-22). In his unparalleled afflictions, Job received immeasurable support and comfort from the possession of “a conscience void of offence toward God and men” (Job 13:15). And Shakespeare represents Wolsey as thus sustained in the depth of his misfortunes, and as saying of himself that he was “Never so truly happy.…I know myself now; and I feel within meA peace above all earthly dignities,A still and quiet conscience.”3. A grand inspiration and consolation in the difficulties and disappointments of Christian life and work. “For Thy sake.” What is there that we cannot dare, or do, or suffer for the sake of our Lord, when we love Him supremely? 4. In the whole of this section of the Psalm we have a splendid example of Faith fighting. Here it is attacking doubt, repudiating the conclusions of sense, scrutinising life and conduct, expostulating and pleading with God. Such faith must come out of conflict victorious. Such faith may be ours Let us seek it. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil. A song of loves.”“To the chief musician.” See notes on the title to Psalms 39. “Upon Shoshannim” “is a musical direction to the leader of the Temple choir, and moat probably indicates the melody ‘after’ or ‘in the manner of’ (ςμ, al., A. V. ‘upon’) which the Psalms were to be sung. As ‘Shoshannim’ literally signifies ‘lilies,’ it has been suggested that the word denotes lily-shaped instruments of music, perhaps cymbals, and this view appears to be adopted by De Wette (Die Psalmen, p. 34). Hengstenberg gives to it an enigmatical interpretation, as indicating ‘the subject or subjects treated, as lilies figuratively for bride in Psalms 45; the delightful consolations and deliverances experienced in Psalms 69, &c., which Dr. Davidson very truly characterises as ‘a most improbable fancy.’ The 70 and Vulgate have in both psalms ὑπὲρτῶνἀλλοιωθησομένων, and pro iis qui immutabuntur respectively, reading apparently ςַ ?μξְ ?ωֻׁ ?πִּ ?ιν for ςַ ?μωֹׁ ?ωׁ ?πִּ ?ιν. Ben Zeb regards it as an instrument of psalmody, and Junius and Tremellius, after Kimchi, render it ‘hexachorda,’ an instrument with six strings, referring it to the root shesh, ‘six,’ and this is approved by Eichorn in his edition of Simonis.”—W. Aldis Wright, in Smith’s Diet, of the Bible.Fuerst in his Lexicon says on “ωׁ ?εֹ ?ωַׁ ?πִּ ?ιν, the name of a musical choir, Psalms 45; Psalms 69; Psalms 80, identical with ωׁ ?εּ ?ωַׁ ?ο, Psalms 60, (which see).” On the latter word he says, ςֵ ?γεּ ?ϊωׁ ?εּ ?ωַׁ ?ο (Psalms 60, for which Psalms 80 has ςֵ ?γεּ ?ϊωׁ ?εֹ ?ωַׁ ?πִּ ?ιν, and also ωׁ ?εֹ ?ωַׁ ?πִּ ?ιν alone) proper name of one of the twenty-four music choirs (1 Chronicles 25) left by David (ϊּ ?εֹ ?γϊ, Nehemiah 12:31), Psalms 60, so called from a master ωׁ ?εּ ?ωַׁ ?ο (comp. the proper name ωֵּׁ ?ωָׁ ?ο 1 Chronicles 2:31). which musical guild may have been stationed in ςְ ?γִ ?ιϊַ ?ιִ ?ν=ςֵ ?γεּ ?ϊ (Joshua 15:36).“For the sons of Korah.” See notes on the title to Pa. 42.“Maschil,” a didactic poem.“A song of loves,” says Barnes, “would properly denote a song devoted to love, or in celebration of love; that is, in which love would be the main idea.”The author of the psalm, and the occasion on which it was written, are both unknown.The reader who desires to acquaint himself with the various opinions as to whom the psalm refers or is applicable, we would refer to the “Introductions” to the psalm in the commentaries of Barnes, Hengstenberg, et al. For ourselves, we believe in its Messianic application. “The forty-fifth psalm,” says Canon Liddon, “is a picture of the peaceful and glorious union of the King Messiah with His mystical bride, the Church of redeemed humanity. Messiah is introduced as a Divine King reigning among men. His form is of more than human beauty; His lips overflow with grace; God has blessed Him for ever, and has anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows. But Messiah is also directly addressed as God; He is seated upon an everlasting throne.” This psalm cannot “be adapted without exegetical violence to the circumstances of Solomon, or of any other king of ancient Israel; and the New Testament interprets the picture of the Royal Epithalamium of the one true King Messiah.”THE PRAISE OF THE MESSIAH-KING(Psalms 45:1-2.) I. The reasons why He is praised. 1. Because of the beauty of His character. “Thou art fairer than the children of men.” The Hebrew word translated, “Thou art fairer,” is a very unusual expression. This word, ιָ ?τֽ ?ιָ ?τִ ?ιϊָ, according to Fuerst, is the 2d person masculine of ιָ ?τְ ?ιָ ?τָ ?δ=“to be very beautifully formed, with ξִ ?ο (more than) Pa. Psalms 45:3” (2 A. V.) “The irregularity of this reduplicated form merely consists in this, that it stands for ιָ ?τְ ?ιְ ?τָ ?δ, the second Yod not being the first radical repeated, but arising out of the third (δ); and ιָ ?τִ ?ιϊָ being put by the punctuators after the analogy of Kal.” Hengstenberg gives the force of the word as, “Thou art beautifulness, for, Thou art perfectly beautiful. The beauty here, since it is described in what follows, as the ground of the Divine blessing, cannot be simply outward beauty, but only the expression and image of spiritual perfection.” The beauty of Christ’s character when studied as it is presented to us by the four evangelists is an exhaustless theme. We can only indicate certain points and leave them. Consider (1) His righteousness as attested by unbelievers. When He demanded of His enemies, “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” they were speechless. Pilate said,” I find no fault in this man.” The Roman centurion said, “Certainly this was a righteous man.” (2) His association with sinners without contracting the slightest impurity. (3) His treatment of personal enemies. He prayed for those who crucified Him, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (4) His everburning hatred of tin, and His quenchless love for sinners. (5) His unreserved and hearty devotion to the Supreme Will. (6) His Divine self-sacrifice. We can only mention these points out of many others. But, if the reader desires to see the singular and superhuman beauty of Christ’s character most thoughtfully and eloquently set forth, we refer him to the chapter on “The Character of Jesus forbids His possible Classification with Men,” in “Nature and the Supernatural,” by H. Bushnell, D.D. Read the chapter, and with deeper conviction and intenser fervour, you will exclaim, “Thou art fairer than the children of men!” 2. Because of the excellency of His speech. “Grace is poured into thy lips.” “The grace which is here specially ascribed to the lips is manifestly but a reflection of the loveliness of the speech which streams from the lips.” See this when he was a child talking with the doctors in the temple: “All that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.” And afterwards, when He taught in the synagogue, the people “were astonished and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom?” When certain officers had been sent by the chief priests and Pharisees to seize Him, they returned saying, “Never man spake like this man.” When He spake in the synagogue at Nazareth, “all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.” Recall His words to the penitent, to the doubting, to the anxious, to the bereaved, &c. Think of His words concerning the Father, &c. Truly, “Grace is poured into Thy lips.” 3. Because of His constant enjoyment of the Divine favour. “Therefore, God hath blessed Thee for ever.” Mysterious is the union between the Father and the Son. But we know it affords unspeakable delight to the Father. “Mine elect in whom My soul delighteth.” “My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Here, then, are the highest reasons for praising the Messiah-King. II. The manner in which He is praised. 1. Heartily. “My heart is inditing a good matter.” Margin: “My heart boileth, or bubbleth up.” Hengstenberg: “My heart boils with good words.” He speaks not the coolly calculated praise of the intellect, nor is he about to produce some beautiful work of poetic art merely, but to utter the irrepressible emotions of admiration and love. His heart is about to relieve itself in praise. Hearty praise is the only praise which God accepts. 2. Readily. “My tongue is as the pen of a ready writer.” The heart of the poet is so filled with his theme “that he has no need to seek for words; but they flow in upon him of themselves and flow out again.” In the case of the Psalmist, a full heart made a fluent tongue. III. The excellence of this praise. “A good matter.” It is good— 1. Because of the excellence of the person praised. It is fitting and right that goodness should be reverenced, that beauty should be admired, &c He is “the chiefest among ten thousand, … yea, He is altogether lovely.” 2. Because of the reflex influence of the exercise upon the person offering praise. By sincerely praising God we become like Him in those features for which we praise Him. The exercise is transforming. As we dwell with devout admiration on His beauty we ourselves become beautiful. The praise of the supremely good is an important condition of the true development of our nature, and one of the chief elements of human joy. In heaven the praise is ceaseless. THE MESSIAH AS A (Psalms 45:3-5.) The Messiah is here represented as a Hero going forth to battle. He whose character is so beautiful, whose words are so gracious, is also a man of war. “The royal bridegroom,” says Matthew Henry, “is a man of war, and His nuptials do not excuse Him from the field of battle; nay, they bring Him to the field of battle, for He is to rescue His spouse by dint of sword out of her captivity, to conquer her, and to conquer for her, and then to marry her.” It is important to bear in mind that “the imperatives have prophetic import. The Psalmist calls upon the king to do that, which He shall surely perform.” I. The enterprise which He has undertaken. He is here represented as going forth to subdue His enemies in the world. Here are two points— 1. Christ has enemies in the world. “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” The unrenewed man in his heart and by his deeds, if not in words, says, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” 2. Christ is engaged in the conquest of His enemies in the world. He conquers them by converting them into His friends. He destroys rebels by making them His loyal subjects. His great work is the conversion and salvation of souls. II. The manner in which He goes forth to this enterprise. “Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Hero, with Thy glory and Thy majesty.” The “sword” of the Hero is the Word of God. “The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God.” “The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,” &c. “By the promises of that Word, and the grace contained in those promises, souls are made willing to submit to Jesus Christ and become His loyal subjects; by the threatenings of that Word, and the judgments executed according to them, those that stand out against Christ will in due time be brought down and ruined.” (Comp. Revelation 19:15.) The Hero goes forth also in His “glory and majesty.” “He has a threefold glory. His glory, as God, consists in a display of the infinite perfections and excellencies of His nature. This glory He possessed with the Father before the world was. His glory, as man, consists in the perfect holiness of His heart and life. His glory, as God and man united in one Person, the Mediator, consists in His perfect fitness to perform all those works which the office of Mediator requires of Him. This is the glory in which Christ appears, when He goes forth to subdue sinners to Himself; and this, therefore, is the glory which is meant in our text.” … He possesses “everything which is necessary, either to satisfy the justice and honour of God, or to excite and justify the utmost love, admiration, and confidence of man.… He wished Him also to appear in His majesty. The difference between majesty and glory consists in this: Glory is something which belongs to either the person or the character of a being; but majesty is more properly an attribute of office, especially of the regal office. This office Christ sustains. He is exalted to be a Prince as well as a Saviour; He is King of kings and Lord of lords; and it is principally in His character of a king, that He subdues His enemies, and dispenses pardon. The Psalmist, therefore, wished Him to appear in this character, arrayed in all His awful majesty, that while His glory excited admiration, and delight, and love, His majesty might produce reverential awe, and lead sinners to submission and obedience.”—Payson. III. The Reasons for which He goes forth to this enterprise. “Because of truth and meekness and righteousness.” “Truth” as opposed to all lying or fraud; “meekness” as opposed to pride and arrogance; and “righteousness” as opposed to all injustice. The King rides forth to war in the cause of the truthful, the meek, and the righteous. He wages relentless war against falsehood, violence, and injustice. His kingdom is founded and extended neither by deceit, nor arrogance, nor mere irresistible force. His reign is the reign of truth, gentleness, and equity. IV. The success which He achieves in this enterprise. The Messiah is represented as “riding prosperously” on in His career. He advances successfully, victoriously. “Thy right hand shall teach Thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies; whereby the people fall under Thee.” With His right hand the Hero achieves deeds which strike the world with amazement and fear. On Psalms 45:5 Barnes says: “Literally, Thine arrows are sharp—the people under Thee shall fall—in the heart of the enemies of the King. The process of thought in the verse seems to be this: First, The arrows are seen as sharp or penetrating. Second, The people are seen falling as those arrows are shot forth. Third, It is seen that those who fall are the enemies of the King, and that the arrows have pierced the heart.… The reference here is to the truth, and to the power of that truth in penetrating the hearts of men.” The arrows pierce some hearts with conviction, and conversion follows. But the incorrigibly impenitent will be pierced with the sharp arrows of His wrath. .—The ultimate success of the Messiah’s enterprise is certain. 1. The nature of His government secures it. Truth is stronger than error; love than hatred; righteousness than injustice, &c. 2. The march of events shows it. Christ’s ideas, principles, &c., are conquering the world. 3. God guarantees it. “I shall give Thee the heathen for thine inheritance,” &c. “He must reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet.” Are we with Him or against Him? Sinners, will you bow to the sceptre of His grace, or resist Him until you are smitten down by his terrible right hand? Choose ye. THE MESSIAH’S REIGN AND JOY(Psalms 45:6-9.) We pass from the contemplation of the Messiah as a Hero to regard Him as a King. Psalms 45:6-7 are quoted by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews in proof of the fact that the Christ is exalted by God above the angels. He certainly regards the words in the Psalm as applying originally to Christ. So that we have excellent authority for regarding the Psalm as Messianic. I. The reign of the Messiah. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,” &c. The Psalmist here announces— 1. The righteousness of His reign. “The sceptre of Thy kingdom is a right sceptre.” “A sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom” (Hebrews 1:8). Hengstenberg: “A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of Thy kingdom.” The laws and administration of the Messiah’s empire are just. (1) His rule over man as an individual is right. All His requirements are in harmony with and tend to promote our wellbeing. In keeping His commandments “there is great reward.” (2) His rule over man in his social relations is right. What could be more equitable or more wise than the great rule laid down by our Lord for the regulation of our conduct towards each other, “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets”? (3) His rule over man in his relations to God is right. He requires us to obey, reverence, and love God. Is it not reasonable and equitable that the most excellent and gracious Being should be loved; that the most holy and glorious Being should be reverenced; that our Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign should be obeyed? “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.” His reign is not only equitable, but benevolent. Moreover, the Psalmist represents the righteous administration of the Messiah’s kingdom as proceeding from His own habitual righteousness and love thereunto. “Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity.” 2. The perpetuity of His reign. “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” The righteousness of His dominion and its perpetuity are closely related to each other. It is eternal because it is equitable. “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.” Earthly monarchs have to yield up crown and sceptre at the bidding of death; but the Messiah-King ever lives. Earthly dynasties pass away; but His empire is ever increasing, and shall for ever endure. II. The joy of the Messiah. “Therefore, O God, Thy God hath anointed Thee,” &c. 1. His joy, which is here expressed by the anointing of the Father. Alford says: “We must distinguish this anointing from the ἔχρισεναὐτὸνὁθεὸςποεύματιἁγίῳκ. δυνάμει of Acts 10:38, and the ἔχρισενμε of Isaiah 61:1· For it is a consequent upon the righteous course of the Son of God in His humanity, and therefore belongs to His triumph, in which He is exalted above His μέτοχοι. Again, ‘the oil of gladness’ seems rather to point to a festive and triumphant than to an inaugurative unction. We should therefore rather take the allusion to be, as in Psalms 23:5; Psalms 92:10, to the custom of anointing guests at feasts; so that as the King in the Psalm is anointed with the oil of rejoicing above His fellows, because of His having loved righteousness and hated iniquity, so Christ in the jubilant celebration of His finished course at His exaltation in heaven is anointed with the festive oil, παρὰτοὺςμετόχουςαὐτοῦ … ‘Oil of rejoicing’ (oil indicative of joy, as it is of superabundance: cf. Isaiah 61:3) beyond thy fellows (i.e., in the Psalm, other kings) … We must, I think, take μετόχους (Hebrews 1:9) as representing other heavenly beings, partakers in the same glorious and sin less state with Himself, though not in the strict sense His ‘fellows’.… Thus only can the figure of anointing at a triumphant festival be carried out consistently—that triumph having taken place on the exaltation of the Redeemer to the Father’s right hand and throne when the whole of the heavenly company, His μίτοχοι in glory and joy, being anointed with the oil of gladness, His share and dignity was so much greater than theirs.” 2. His joy, in His bride—the Church “Upon Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.” The Church is here and elsewhere in Scripture represented as the Bride of Christ. Concerning the Church, two things are here indicated by the Psalmist. (1) Her honourable position, “upon Thy right hand.” “The place on the right hand is the place of honour.” In the affections of the Messiah the Church has the place which the bride has in the affections of her husband. “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it,” &c. (Ephesians 5:25-27). (2) Her glorious dress. “The queen in gold of Ophir.” The gold of Ophir was proverbial for its fineness. The dress of the Church consists of the graces of character exemplified by her members. These are marked by two prominent features. Purity. Christians are “arrayed in fine linen clean and white; for the fine linen is the righteousnesss of saints.” Preciousness. We owe our redemption and all our graces to “the precious blood of Christ.” More precious than “gold of Ophir” are the virtues and graces of a Christ-like soul. 3. His joy in the handmaids of Himself and His bride. “Whereby they have made Thee glad. King’s daughters are among Thy honourable women.” The King was made glad by the distinguished persons who attended upon Him and His consort. “The numbering of kings’ daughters among His honourable women, or maids of honour, intimates that the kings whose daughters they were, should be tributaries to Him, and dependents on Him, and would therefore think it a preferment to their daughters to attend Him.” May we not discover here a prophecy that everything which is distinguished, exalted, and beautiful shall become a handmaid to the religion of Christ? Science shall bring her discoveries and lay them at the feet of Jesus, to be used for the promotion of His cause. Architecture shall put forth her noblest efforts in His service. And poetry and music, painting and sculpture, shall consecrate themselves to Him. To a great extent this is already true. One day it shall be completely and universally true. 4. The greatness and diffusiveness of His joy. “All Thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces.” Palaces whose chambers were adorned and probably inlaid with ivory seem to have been common amongst princes and wealthy men. Comp. 1 Kings 22:39; Son 7:4; Amos 3:15; Amos 6:4. From such palaces, the maids of honour and the consort are represented as coming, to the great joy of the King. The garments smelling of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, seem to us to refer to the anointing, which was so generous that His garments were impregnated with the odours and diffused the choice perfumes around. .—We have two most inspiring facts— 1. The Messiah reigneth, reigneth in righteousness, and shall reign for ever. 2. The Messiah rejoiceth, in the Father’s delight in Him, in the Church which He loves, and in the distinguished handmaids who wait upon His cause. One day His joy will be complete. He “shall be satisfied.” Be it ours, however feebly, to the utmost of our powers to extend His reign and enhance His joy. THE CHURCH AND HER LORD(Psalms 45:10-17.) In these verses we have— I. Exhortation to the Church. “Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear,” &c. (Psalms 45:10-11). This is the language of the Psalmist addressed to the Church, and the Bride of the Messiah. She is exhorted— 1. To devote herself unreservedly to Him. “Forget thine own people and thy father’s house.” “The idea here is that which we find so often enforced in the New Testament, that they who become the followers of the Saviour must be willing to forsake all for Him, and to identify themselves with Him and His cause. The strongest earthly ties are to be made subservient to a higher and stronger tie, if we would become true followers of the Saviour.”—Barnes. “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” Christ requires our supreme affection. 2. To reverence Him. “He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him.” “Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.” “Let the wife see that she reverence her husband.” “Christ is the Head of the Church. The Church is subject unto Christ.” The Church must pay Divine honours to her Lord; must submit to His authority, and worship Him as God. II. Encouragement to the Church. The Church is encouraged by the Psalmist to expect, if she thus reverences and devotes herself to her Lord, that— 1. The King shall delight in her. “So shall the King greatly desire thy beauty.” The more we renounce all sinful and selfish inclinations, that we may please the Lord Christ, the more acceptable shall we be found in His sight. And not simply acceptable, but pleasureable. “The Lord taketh pleasure in His people.” By supreme devotion to Him we may gratify the heart of Christ,—give Him joy. 2. Distinguished peoples shall honour her. “And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.” “In the time of the Psalmist, Tyre was probably the most wealthy and luxurious commercial town then existing; and it is referred to here as meaning that persons of highest rank, and of the greatest riches, and those who were surrounded most by affluence and luxury, would honour” the Church when faithful to her Lord. Hengstenberg translates: “So will the daughter Tyre implore thee with gifts, the rich among the people.” He says: “The object of the earnest entreaty is reception into the community of the people of God (comp. Isaiah 44:5; Psalms 47:9).… Only when the Church of God really occupies the position of the Church of God, can prayer be directed to her for reception into her society. The Church exercises a drawing power toward those that are without, in exact proportion to her own internal connection with the Lord. Her surrender to the Lord forms the ground of the heathen’s surrender to her.” When the Church is thoroughly devoted to her Lord, the world will honour her by seeking union with her. A devoted Church would speedily result in a converted world. III. The glory of the Church. “The King’s daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of wrought gold.” The “within” is to be understood in a local sense. The bride was glorious within her father’s palace. The Church of Christ is glorious when fully consecrated to Him. The glory of holiness adorns her splendidly as a garment of fine gold. Christ has given her His own glory. “The glory which Thou gavest me I have given them.” “The beauty of the Lord our God is upon” her. The glory of the Church is in her faith, hope, love, patience, righteousness, holy zeal, &c. As these are expressed in her life, she honours God and is honoured by man. IV. The marriage celebration of the Church. “She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework,” &c. (Psalms 45:14-15). The figure is that of an Oriental marriage. These verses speak of the procession of the bride from the house of her father to that of her husband. The figure probably points to the reception of the redeemed Church into heaven to be for “ever with the Lord.” This reception is spoken of in Revelation 19:7-8. Concerning this celebration, the poet brings into view two features— 1. Its splendour. The glory of the bride, her clothing of wrought gold, her raiment of needlework, and her bridesmaids are all indicative of this. “Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” 2. Its joyousness. “With gladness and rejoicing,” &c. Great will be the joy when the redeemed are received into the full glories of heaven. How great the joy of the bride! of the Bridegroom! of the angels! of the Eternal Father! V. The assurances given to the Lord of the Church. “Instead of Thy fathers shall be Thy children,” &c. (Psalms 45:16-17). The Messiah-King is here assured of— 1. A numerous offspring. The 16th “verse rests upon the custom of wishing to the married pair a numerous and mighty offspring” (comp. Genesis 24:60; Rth 4:11-12). Christ shall bring “many sons unto glory.” “Many shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” “Lo, a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations,” &c. 2. A distinguished offspring. “Whom Thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” “The image here is derived, undoubtedly, from the custom prevailing among kings of assigning portions of an empire as provinces to their sons” (comp. 2 Samuel 8:18; 2 Chronicles 11:23). All who become subjects of the Messiah are invested with sovereign authority. They are “made kings and priests unto God and His Father.” 3. Perpetual praise. “I will make Thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the people praise Thee for ever and ever.” “God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name,” &c. The praise of the Messiah-King will be eternal, and ever-increasing in fervour and depth and fulness. .—What is thy relation to this glorious Being? Trust Him, love Him, loyally serve Him, and great and endless will be thy blessedness. WORSHIP(Psalms 45:11.) “For He is thy Lord; and worship thou Him.” In the institution of worship we have the encouraging declaration that God may be sought, that God may be found. Consider the nature, the reason, and the importance of religious worship. I. Its nature. 1. Its internal principles. There must be reverence; … not, indeed, terror, but sacred awe. And as we are sinful creatures, there must be that deep humiliation which implies self-displacence and abhorrence.… The very thought of God, the recollection that we are in His immediate presence, will prostrate and humble us, if we worship Him aright. Another principle of worship for fallen man must be trust in atonement. Whatsoever things we ask in prayer must be in the name of Christ, believing in Him. There must be submission. For a rebel to worship is only mockery. Another principle is love. Gratitude for past mercies, … supreme affection, … delight in Divine goodness, &c. 2. Its external manifestations. And here we have Acts. As prayer,—thanksgiving,—commemoration, &c. Places. The closet,—the family,—the church,—the great assembly. II. The ground and reason of worship. “For He is thy Lord.” 1. This declares to us the Divine greatness; for the Lord of the Church is Lord of all; and, if so, the highest views are presented of His grandeur and glory.… Sum up all the particulars of creature-glory; collect it into one mass; it is all from Him; and He who could impart so much, has yet more in Himself.… If worship implies reverence and sacred awe, surely this is He to whom worship belongs. 2. As He is our Lord, He stands to us in the relation of an absolute dominion. We ourselves, our family, our country, our world, are all under His sway. Our life is given, supported, terminated by Him. If worship implies prayer, we see the reason for it in His boundless dominion, His absolute lordship. 3. He is our Lord legislatively. As He is holy and good, His will must refer to a holy and felicitous course of action. And in proportion to the wisdom, holiness, and goodness of this, must He be bound, by the perfection of His own character, to guard His law, the expression of His will, from violation. This He has done. The law is sanctioned by the penalty of eternal death. Now we have sinned against Him, and thus, do we stand in relation to His law and Himself, as guilty and condemned sinners. If, then, we have offended our sovereign Lord; and if worship implies penitence and confession, here is another reason why we should worship. 4. But to the Church may it be specially said, “He is thy Lord.” The true Church is a society arising from the fact of actual reconciliation to God by Christ Jesus. To this He stands in the special relation of a gracious Sovereign. And here we find another ground of the worship of the Church. There is praise to Him for His goodness,—trust in His everlasting mercy,—the thankful recognition of all His mighty and marvellous interpositions, &c. III. The importance of worship. 1. Wherever there is true worship, there the great fundamental truths of religion are proclaimed before the world. The true God is proclaimed. Faith tells of the altar of the perfect Sacrifice, and the smoke of His atonement fills her courts. Her services proclaim Christ to be the true God, and eternal life, &c. 2. True Christian worship secures the constant publication of the Word of God. Does any one neglect that Word at home? It is here sounded in his ears. Or does he read without understanding it? It is here explained and enforced, &c. 3. In the public assemblies of the Church, there is the special presence of God. “I have seen Thee,” says Lord Bacon, “in Thy works, and sought Thee in Thy providences, but I have found Thee in Thy temples.” Wherever two or three meet together in the name of Christ He is present with them. 4. Public worship both presents to us the most perfect type of heaven on earth and furnishes an efficient preparation for it. .— 1. Let us feel it our duty to uphold His worship. 2. Let us know and feel the evil of a careless, formal service. “God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” 3. Let us be ourselves increasingly spiritual in worship, preserving the spirit of devotion amidst all the engagements and trials of life; so shall we never be denied the blessed privilege of access to the throne of the heavenly grace; and in the manifested love of God, we shall enjoy a heaven upon earth.—Richard Watson. Abridged. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician for the sons of Korah.” See Introduction to Psalms 42. “A song upon Alamoth.” Great uncertainty attaches to the meaning of “Alamoth.” Some are of opinion that it is the name of a musical instrument. Others that it is the name of a melody. While Fuerst says it is the “proper name of a musical choir, dwelling perhaps in ςַ ?μֶּ ?ξֶ ?ϊ, over whom was placed a ξְ ?πφֵּ ?ηַ (director) Psalms 46.” The word occurs in 1 Chronicles 15:20, last clause, which, says Fuerst, “is to be understood with harps over the corps Alamoth (to direct it); μְ ?πַ ?φֵּ ?ηַ be applied as it stands in 1 Chronicles 15:21.”It is impossible to determine who the author of the psalm is. Nor are we able to say with certainty upon what occasion it was composed. We think it very probable that it refers to the threatened invasion of Jerusalem by Sennacherib, and the destruction of his army in the night by the angel of the Lord. See 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 36, 37. Barnes points out that “all the circumstances in that invasion—the tumultuous hosts summoned for the war (Isaiah 36:2); the overthrow of numerous nations by their armies (Isaiah 36:18-21); the siege of Jerusalem itself (Isaiah 36:2); the confidence of Hezekiah and his people in God when the city was besieged (Isaiah 37:14-20); and the final overthrow of the Assyrian host by the angel of the Lord (Isaiah 37:36) agree well with all the statements in the psalm.”A WORLD AND A CHURCH(Psalms 46:1-7.) We have here— I. A tumultuous World. The poet sets before us a scene of wild commotion. Kingdoms were shaking; peoples were roaring, the earth itself seemed unstable, the sea was rolling in trouble and breaking in thunder, and the firm and lofty mountains seemed to tremble with breaking of the billows upon their base. This would very fitly describe the state of affairs at the time of the invasions of Sennacherib. That monarch has already taken “all the cities of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin by force.” Hezekiah has made considerable preparations for the defence of Jerusalem. He has “strengthened the walls, added to the fortifications, laid in great store of arrows and other ammunition, deepened the trenches, and cut off all the waters which might have supplied the besieging army.” In order to avert the storm, Hezekiah submitted to Sennacherib, and paid to him an enormous tribute, for which he was obliged to strip the gold from the walls and pillars of the Temple, Sennacherib having promised that, if this tribute were paid, he would depart in a friendly manner. And then, although he departed to the conquest of Egypt, he perfidiously left behind him a large force which marched upon Jerusalem and demanded its unconditional surrender. Thus Sennacherib, with his immense and apparently irresistible army, was spreading commotion and terror among the nations. The tumult described by the Psalmist is a picture of the commotions of the world to-day. At this moment in Europe we have the tumult of war, and the unrest and anxiety of statesmen and nations as to “the balance of power.” In politics at home there are the strife and contention of parties. In the commercial world there are countless anxieties and fierce competitions. Even the religious world is not free from the noise of controversy and the din of party strife. In every realm of life there are unrest and tumult to a greater or less extent. All things here are in commotion. “What nations have passed away, like tracts of earth carried into the midst of the sea! What mighty empires, like mountains, have sunk into the abyss! What an emblem of earthly change and disquiet is the ocean! restless when most at rest; and affording no security, under its most placid aspects, against the rushing storm and the heaving surge. How much is swept away already! and there are still mountains of worldly pomp and power which at this moment ‘shake with the swelling thereof.’ ” 1. The tumult of the world is an evidence of the sin of the world. In some instances it is a direct expression of sin. In all cases it is a sign of sin. The world is tumultuous because of the guilt, the selfish ambitions, the evil passions, &c., of men. 2.The tumult of the world will one day be removed. The great mission of Christ is to put away sin. In that mission He will certainly succeed. When sin is put away all strife and tumult will cease. There is a calm and peaceful realm where strife and commotion are unknown, because sin is unknown there. II. A tranquil Church. The poet sketches a scene of most delightful quiet. He shows us “a valley over which the winds sweep, and are not felt; along which the river flows and is not troubled, in which stands the city of God.” We have here— 1. An assurance of security. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear,” &c. “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.” (1) The ground of this assurance. (a) The presence of God. “God is in the midst of her.” “The Lord of hosts is with us.” God in the visible symbol of His presence dwelt between the cherubim in the holy of holies. The holy city was His chosen abode, and He would defend it. The Jews under Hezekiah were His people, and He would protect them. The city or people which is kept by God is inviolably secure. The Church can never suffer real loss or harm while she is able truthfully to say, “The Lord of hosts is with us. God is in the midst of us.” (b) The seasonable help of God. “God shall help her, and that right early.” Margin: “When the morning appeareth.” Hengstenberg: “God helps her at the break of morning.” “Distress with the Lord’s people can have only, as it were, a night’s quarters. Whenever the morning breaks, the Lord drives it from its resting-place, and sends another, an abiding guest, salvation. There is probably an allusion to the overthrow of the Assyrians. Then, in reality, did there stand but one night between the highest pitch of distress and the most complete deliverance, comp. Isaiah 17:14 : ‘And behold at evening-tide trouble, before the morning comes, it is no more’ (Psalms 37:36); ‘And they arose in the morning, and lo! they were all dead corpses.’ ” (2) The vindication of this assurance. (a) In the character and resources of God. Character. He is “the God of Jacob,”—a God in covenant with His people, a faithful God; therefore it is wise to trust Him. Resources. He is “the Lord of hosts.” He rules the hosts of the stars. The armies of heaven—the angels—loyally follow His command. And He has sovereign right and power over all the hosts of men. “Hosts may be against us, but we need not fear them if the Lord of hosts be with us.” “Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” (b) In the mighty doings of God. “He uttered His voice, the earth melted.” Barnes says: “The very earth seemed to melt or dissolve before Him. Everything became still. The danger passed away at His command, and the raging world became calm.” Mark the ease with which it is done. “It shall not cost the Lord any business to despatch the enemies of His people; let Him show Himself a little, let Him but say the word, and they are gone; as snow before the sun, or fat cast into the fire, so are they consumed; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.”—Dickson. Remarkably this is illustrated in the destruction of the Assyrians. “For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed!And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill,And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still.”In the morning one hundred and eighty-five thousand warriors lay dead upon the plain. God had spoken; and Assyria was utterly crushed, and Jerusalem was delivered. So will it be with all the enemies of the Church when God ariseth. 2. An assurance of Refreshment. “There is a river the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” This figure was probably suggested by the arrangements made by Hezekiah for cutting off the water-supply from the invading army and securing the same to Jerusalem. The refreshment and gladness afforded by the Divine provisions are set forth under the image of this river. “How fit an emblem is this of the supplies with which God blesses His Church! See it in the rich supply of truth and grace. Here flows the stream of heavenly truth, bright and pure. It has widened as it has flowed; and it now sweeps with all the fulness of the last and perfect revelation from God. Grace to apply that revelation to practical purposes is equally free. ‘If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.’ See here the rich supply of grace and blessing. Here the penitent guilty are freely forgiven; here the corrupt and degenerate heart is made new, &c. Life, love, and holiness, all are given. Life, supernatural vigour, love, which connects our affections with God and heaven; and holiness, leading to present fellowship with God, and fitting us for a blissful immortality.”—Watson. Here in the Church the “river” of Divine grace flows deep and full, and from it “streams” of blessing go forth diffusing life and joy. .—Let us seek this trustful and conquering spirit, which, in the midst of dangers and when confronted by powerful foes, confidently sings,—“God is our refuge and strength,” &c. Now, in the midst of the strife and storm, let us be glad and rejoice in the Lord. In due season victory and calm rest shall be ours. OF THE DOINGS OF GOD(Psalms 46:8-11.) The Psalmist here calls upon the people to behold the marvellous doings of God, which laid so firm a foundation for confidence in His protection and help. I. The object contemplated. The Poet calls to the contemplation of “the works of the Lord,” and indicates what works he particularly refers to. He speaks of the “desolations He hath made in the earth.” Hengstenberg says: “The desolation must have for its object those who had raised themselves against the people of God, and threatened to swallow them up.” And Matthew Henry: “The destruction they designed to bring upon the Church has been turned upon themselves. War is a tragedy which commonly destroys the stage it is acted on.” What desolations were brought upon the Assyrians when the angel of the Lord smote in their camp one hundred and eighty-five thousand men! “He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” “The means by which God silences war to the end of the earth,” says Hengstenberg, “is the overthrow of the wild conquerors and tyrranical lords.” Barnes points out that “the overthrow of the Assyrian army would probably put an end to all the wars then raging in the world. The Assyrian empire was then the most mighty on the globe; it was engaged in wide schemes of conquest; it had already overrun many of the smaller kingdoms of the world (Isaiah 37:18-20); and it hoped to complete its conquests, and to secure the ascendancy over the entire earth, by the subjugation of India and Egypt. When the vast army of that empire, engaged in such a purpose, was overthrown, the consequence would be, that the nations would be at rest, or that there would be universal peace.” “He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder.” The enemies of the Church were “rendered as incapable of prosecuting their devastations, or even of preserving what they had won, as if their implements of war were destroyed.” “He burneth the chariot in the fire.” There may be a reference here “to a custom of collecting the spoils of war into a heap and setting them on fire. This was particularly done when the victors were unable to remove them, or so to secure them as to preclude all danger of their being taken again and used against themselves. This custom is alluded to by Virgil, Ζn. viii. 561, 562. ‘Qualis eram, cum primam aciem Prζneste sub ipsa,Stravi, scutorumque incendi victor acervos.’The idea here is, that God had wholly overthrown the foe, and had prevented all danger of his returning again for purposes of conquest.”—Barnes. This termination of war and inauguration of universal peace is an earnest of what He will one day do finally and for ever. “They shall beat their swords into plough-shares,” &c. (Isaiah 2:4, and Micah 4:3). The Lord speed the day when the war drum shall throb no longer, and the battle flags be for ever furled. II. The design of the contemplation. There is some wise and worthy end aimed at in thus calling upon men to contemplate the doings of the Lord. What is that end? 1. The warning of the enemies of the Church. Let them behold these desolations, and learn that if they oppose God and His cause, however mighty they may be, they will be broken “in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. 2. The encouragement of the Church. Let the people of God look on His doings on their behalf and sing with increased force and fervour,—“The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (See remarks on Psalms 46:7.) Let them not fear the wrath and power of any enemy; for the Lord hath said, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” In this way history is an ever-growing aid to faith. 3. The instruction of all. The Lord speaks: “Be still, and know that I am God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Let the world listen and cease from war against the people of God, “which, as the foregoing fact shows, is a contest of feebleness against omnipotence, ruinous to those who undertake it.” Tumultuous world, “be still, and know that,” &c. Let the Church listen and cease to fear, for God will assuredly maintain His own cause and honour. “Be still, anxiety and fear! ‘I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.’ Be still, apprehension! The whole world around may be disquieted; but I am God, and I rule the whole. Be still, impatience! I am God; and the times and seasons are in my power.” With such an assurance as this from God Himself, we may well unite in chanting, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble: therefore, will not we fear,” &c. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, a psalm for the sons of Korah.” See Introduction to Psalms 42.The author of the psalm, and the occasion on which it was composed, are alike unknown. It is a psalm of triumph, and presents indications of having been composed on the occasion of some signal victory. Professor Alexander and Hengstenberg suggest that it was composed to celebrate the victory of Jehoshaphat over the combined forces of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites (2 Chronicles 20). The suggestion seems to us very reasonable. Reasons such as these are offered in support of it:— 1. The manifestation of the hand of God in the victory, as it was obtained without any fighting on the part of the chosen people. 2. Special mention of the Kohathites as having been present in the army (2 Chronicles 20:19). 3. A service of praise to God was held in the valley before the departure of Jehoshaphat and his people (2 Chronicles 20:26), which probably suggested Psalms 47:5 of the psalm. “From that valley God made, as it were. His ascent to heaven, after having achieved redemption for His people.” TO PRAISE GOD, BECAUSE OF HIS OF THE WORLDWe have in the psalm— I. Reasons why we should praise God. The one great general reason upon which the Psalmist bases his appeal to men to praise God is that of His reign over the earth. But he brings forward particular reasons. 1. Because of His majesty and power. “For the Lord most High is terrible.” He is exalted infinitely above the noblest created being. He is “Most High” over all, and should be reverenced by all. He had shown Himself “terrible” in the destruction of the enemies of His people; therefore, let all who are not loyally subject unto Him stand in awe of Him. The justice and power of God are “terrible” to the enemies of His Church. 2. Because of the universality of His rule. “A great King over all the earth.… God reigneth over the heathen.” He reigns over all kings and princes. He “bringeth the princes to nothing, He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.” Over the affairs of the whole universe God is supreme. The darkness and evil He permits and curbs; the light and goodness He enjoins and originates. He has abandoned no part of the earth. He “hath established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom ruleth over all.” All things are being ordered and controlled and overruled by Him for the accomplishment of His own wise and blessed purposes. Even the hostility of sin and sinners, and of the devil, He restrains and overrules for the good of His universe. Satan is but a vassal in the great empire of the Lord our King. Therefore let us praise Him. 3. Because under His government the interests of His loyal subjects are specially secured. We see this (1) In the subjugation of their enemies. “He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.” The people of God had just witnessed a striking proof of this. Their foes had been utterly defeated, and they had neither discharged an arrow nor struck a blow; nothing was left for them to do but to gather the spoil. The words in which the Psalmist sets forth the subjugation by God of the enemies of His people suggest two ideas. (a) The ease with which it is accomplished. “He shall subdue.” The word which is here translated “subdue” (γָּ ?αָ ?ψ) signifies to speak, to command, to decree, &c. God has but to utter His commands, and His enemies are discomfited. (b) The completeness with which it is accomplished. “Under us, … under our feet.” What an illustration we have of this in the battle which this psalm is supposed to celebrate! “When Judah came toward the watch-tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.” (2) In the excellence of their own portion. “He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom He loved.” God had given to them the holy land as their portion. He selected it for them. He enabled them to take possession of it. He enabled them to guard that possession; or, as in this victory, He guarded it for them without any effort on their part. The poet speaks of this land as “the excellency of Jacob,”—literally, “the pride of Jacob.” It was a land of which he would have been proud, and in the possession of which he might well have gloried. It was “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills,” &c. (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). God in His government still has special regard to the interests of His loyal subjects. “No weapon that is formed against them shall prosper.” “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” In this aspect of His government we have a most powerful reason for praising God and His reign. 4. Because of the holiness of His government. “God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness.” God’s government is (1) Holy in its authority. He has a right to reign. He is the greatest, the most mighty, the best Being in the universe. He created and sustains all creatures; He is the Father of all His intelligent creatures. On these grounds the righteousness of His authority is indefeasible. (2) Holy in its aim. All its laws are true and just, and are both designed and fitted to abolish all falsehood, error, and evil, and to establish righteousness and truth in all places firmly and for ever. The end of all God’s dealings with our race has been to bless us in turning us from darkness unto light, and from sin unto holiness. (3) Holy in its results. In proportion as men yield loyal obedience to the commands of God, holiness, peace, and joy are diffused in our world. Let all men everywhere yield hearty obedience to the Lord our King, and holiness shall be universal, and the blessedness of the race complete. Here, then, we have an urgent incentive to praise God because of His government. 5. Because of the success of His government. “The princes of the people are gathered together unto the people of the God of Abraham; for the shields of the earth belong unto God; He is greatly exalted.” We understand this as a voluntary gathering of heathen princes, that they may be received among the people of the Lord. “All kings shall fall down before Him; all nations shall serve Him.” “He shall speak peace unto the heathen; and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.” The government of the Lord shall not fail, but succeed gloriously. He is the rightful Sovereign of all the mighty ones. That right shall be completely established. All powers shall own His supremacy. He shall be greatly exalted. That which to the eye of the poet was present as he closed this psalm shall one day be fully and splendidly realised. Here, then, we have another reason for praising God for His government. It shall succeed, and all men shall enjoy its blessings. Some would limit the “all ye people” of the first verse to the Jewish people. There is no need to do that, for the time is hastening on when all the people from all lands will gladly respond to the exhortation of the Psalmist, and praise God for His government of the world. II. Directions how we should praise God. 1. Enthusiastically. “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises,” &c. In the fifth verse the poet represents God as having come down to earth to aid His people in the war, and having wrought salvation for them, returning to heaven amid the enthusiastic rejoicings of the people. There is perhaps a reference to the thanksgiving on the field of battle, and the joy with which Jehoshaphat and his people returned to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 20:26-28). Certainly this poetical statement, and the exhortations of the Psalmist, urge us to enthusiasm in the praise of our King and God. The clapping of the hands for joy, the shout of triumph, the blast of the trumpet, and the voice of song, are all called for by the poet in this celebration. Let not our praise of our Redeemer and King be measured, cold, and heartless, but hearty, warm, and enthusiastic. If we are rightly sensible of what He has done for us, we shall feel that even “Eternity’s too shortTo utter all His praise.”2. Intelligently. “Sing ye praises with understanding.” Margin: “Every one that hath understanding.” But neither the textual nor the marginal rendering expresses the meaning of the Hebrew. The word is ξַ ?ωְׂ ?λִּ ?ιμ, maschil. “Sing a maschil.” Hengstenberg: “Sing a song with edification.” Their praise of the King was to be intelligent and instructive. “Every song in praise of God, on account of His glorious deeds, contains a rich treasure of instruction and improvement. Here the instruction which should be drawn out of the foregoing deeds is expressly declared. It is this, that God is King over the whole earth, that He reigns over the heathen, that these shall also some time own His sovereignty.” St. Paul in like manner exhorts Christians to pray and “sing with the spirit, and with the understanding also,” that the Church might be edified. If others are to be edified by them, our praises must be intelligent. .—Are we praising or rebelling against this government? Consider, sinner, the wickedness of thy rebellion. This government is perfectly holy, and is exercised to bless men. Rebellion against it is sin against all that is true and right and good in the universe. Consider the madness of thy rebellion. “He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who hath hardened himself against Him and hath prospered?” “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” You must yield to be saved by His grace, or be crushed by His power and wrath. “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,” &c. Cease your rebellion; accept the mercy of the King; serve Him as a loyal subject; and unite in praising Him because of His glorious government of the world. THE CHOICE OF OUR (Psalms 47:4.) This verse presents to us three matters for consideration. I. Distrust of self. We would not choose our own inheritance because of, 1. Our ignorance. (1) We are to a great extent ignorant of ourselves. Possibilities of both good and evil are latent within us which God only knows. If the choice of our lot were with us, we might choose such an one as would tend to crush the true and good in us, and to quicken the evil into awful and ruinous development. God alone thoroughly understands our heart. (2) We are ignorant of the future. We know not what a day or an hour may bring forth. The choice which amid the circumstances of to-day seems wise and good, amid those of to-morrow may seem evil and painful. God alone thoroughly knows what is before us in the future. 2. Our proneness to self-indulgence. We are apt to choose the pleasant rather than the painful, the bright rather than the dark, &c. And yet the dark and painful may be good for us, and quite essential to our wellbeing. We dare not choose our own inheritance. II. Trust in God. “He shall choose our inheritance for us.” Committing freely the choice to Him implies confidence,— 1. In His wisdom. “His understanding is infinite.” “The only wise God.” He cannot err. 2. In His goodness. Unless assured of this we could not thus commit the choice of our inheritance to Him. “The Lord is gracious,” &c. (Psalms 145:8-9). 3. In His interest in us individually. Before we can heartily trust God as to the appointments of our life and lot we must have a persuasion of His knowledge of us and interest in us individually. We have this. “He calleth His own sheep by name.” No act of kindness rendered even “unto one of the least of the brethren” of our Lord is overlooked by Him. He never loses sight of the particular in the general, or of the individual in the community. So we trust in Him. “He shall choose,” &c. III. Trust in God rewarded. “The excellency of Jacob whom He loved.” He chooses an inheritance for us such as Jacob might have been proud of and rejoiced in. And He who chooses also bestows the inheritance. What a precious spiritual heritage is ours in the present! pardon, purity, peace, sustaining and sanctifying grace! &c. And for temporal and material things we have the assurance that “no good will He withhold from” us. What a glorious heritage awaits us in the future! He hath chosen for us “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,” &c. And He will bestow it upon us. Thankfully and gladly let us accept in all things His wise and gracious ordering of our life and affairs. Superscription. “A Song and Psalm.” “It is not easy,” says Barnes, “to account for this double appellation, or to distinguish between the meaning of these words, though probably the real distinction is that the word Psalm refers to that to which it is applied, considered merely as a poem or composition; Song is applied with reference to its being sung in public worship.” “It embraced what was usually understood by the word Psalm, and it was intended also specifically to be sung.”“For the sons of Korah.” See Introduction to Psalms 42. The author of the psalm is unknown. Professor Alexander, Hengstenberg, and others suppose that this psalm has reference to the same event as the previous one, a supposition which seems to us very probable. They suggest that that was sung on the field of battle (2 Chronicles 20:26), and this on the triumphant return to Jerusalem and to the temple (2 Chronicles 20:28). Homiletically we regard the psalm as presenting, A Striking Illustration of the Glory of the Church (Psalms 48:1-7); and an Instructive Illustration of the Glory of the Church (Psalms 48:8-14). Or we may express the subjects thus, The Glory of the Church as manifested by God’s doings on her behalf; and, The Improvement to be made by the Church of God’s doings on her behalf.A OF THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH(Psalms 48:1-7.) The remarkable victory wrought on behalf of Jehoshaphat and his people leads the poet to celebrate the praises of God and of the holy city which He had protected. That holy city represents the Church of God. The poet sets forth the glory of the Church in three main aspects— I. As the city of God. “The city of our God; … the city of the great King.” Two characteristics are brought forward to distinguish it as “the city of God.” 1. God manifests His greatness and glory there. “Great is the Lord, and exceedingly glorious in the city of our God.” His greatness He had displayed in overthrowing the mighty and combined enemies of His people; and His glory was manifested in the temple with its solemn and stately services, its multitudes of devout worshippers, its revelation of Himself in the law and in the sacrifices, and especially in the mysterious and ever-radiant Shekinah. “The Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation,” &c. So, in this Christian dispensation, it is in the Church that the glory of God is most clearly and brightly manifested. I see much of His glory in nature. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” &c. But I see more in the conversion of sinners, in the spiritual education of Christian believers, in the holy lives and self-sacrificing labours of the followers of Christ, &c. Christ is the highest and fullest revelation of God; and He specially dwells in the Church. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name,” &c. 2. It is hallowed by His presence. “The mountain of His holiness.” P. B. V.: “Upon His holy hill.” Hengstenberg: “Upon the holy mountain.” Mount Zion was regarded as holy because the temple of God was built upon it. It was hallowed by its sacred uses and associations. The Church of Christ is described by St. Paul as “an holy temple” (Ephesians 2:21). Again, he writes, “The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.” The glory of the Church is in the realisation of the presence of God in the hearts, and its manifestation in the lives of its members. The only glorious Church is the God-inspired, Christ-like Church. II. As exalted before men. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion,” &c. (Psalms 48:2). “What is there,” says Dr. Thomson, “or was there about Zion to justify the high eulogium of the Psalmist? The situation is, indeed, eminently adapted to be the platform of a magnificent citadel. Rising high above the deep valley of Gihon and Hinnom on the west and south, and the scarcely less deep one of the Cheesemongers on the east, it could only be assailed from the north-west; and then, ‘on the sides of the north,’ it was magnificently beautiful, and fortified by walls, towers, and bulwarks, the wonder and terror of the nations.” And Dean Stanley says: “As in Judah no rival city ever rose till the time of the Herods, the whole splendour of the southern monarchy was concentrated in Jerusalem, and contributed to that magnificence which has before been described as probably excelling any sight of the kind within the Holy Land.” “The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion.” “From the time of Constantine to the present day, this name has been applied to the western hill, on which the city of Jerusalem now stands, and in fact always stood. Notwithstanding this, it seems equally certain that, up to the time of the destruction of the city by Titus, the name was applied exclusively to the eastern hill, or that on which the temple stood.”—Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, art. Jerus. But we must not fix our attention solely or even chiefly on the material situation. As Hengsten berg says: “The key for the exposition of Psa 48:2 is found in the remark that the Psalmist describes not the external but the internal glory of Jerusalem, views it not with fleshly eyes but with the eye of faith,—speaks not as a geographer but as a divine.” By “the whole earth,” the Psalmist probably meant the whole land of Palestine. By its celebrations of the worship of God, by the great assemblies of the people at the great religious feasts, and by the recent victory over the foes of Judah, Jerusalem was conspicuously exalted before men. The Church of Christ, when animated by the Spirit of her Lord, and arrayed in the beauties of holiness, is distinguished and honoured before men. “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” When the Church reveals God to the world, the whole earth has reason to rejoice because of her. III. As victorious over enemies. “For, lo, the kings were assembled,” &c. (Psalms 48:4-7). Notice— 1. The gathering of the foes. The kings which gathered themselves together against Jehoshaphat were those of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, and perhaps others who are not specified. They “were gathered together against Jerusalem. They came into the immediate neighbourhood of the city, into the wilderness of Tekoa, which is certainly not further than a journey of three hours from Jerusalem, which commands an extensive prospect, and in particular of the environs of Jerusalem.” What foes are gathered against the Church of Christ to-day? Superstition, in Roman Catholicism, Sacramentarianism, Ritualism, &c. Scepticism, which is to a great extent the product of superstition. Worldliness, the insatiable craving for increase of material wealth, the slavish obedience to custom and fashion as though they were of supreme authority, &c. Sensuous self-indulgence. These and other foes are gathered together against the Christian Church of our day. 2. The dispersion of the foes. “They passed by together. They saw, so they marveled,” &c. Consider (1) The manner in which the dispersion was effected. It was marked by (a) Suddenness. “They passed by together.” Hengstenberg: “They vanished altogether.” They “hasted away.” Their overthrow was so sudden that they, as it were, vanished from sight. (b) Alarm. “Fear took bold upon them there.” Hengstenberg: “They saw, so they were astonished, were frightened, fled away; Trembling took hold on them there.” They came within sight of the city; but, before they could strike a blow, terror seized upon them, they were filled with consternation. (c) Distress. “Pain as of a woman in travail.” This comparison is used here, as elsewhere in Scripture, to denote the severest kind of pain. Julius Cæsar announced to the senate his victory over Pharnaces in the following brief despatch.—“Veni, vidi, vici.” But the general of the forces that had gathered together against Jerusalem might well have summed up the history of their expedition thus.—“Veni, vidi, victus sum.” (2) The agent by whom the dispersion was effected. “God is known in her palaces for a refuge.… Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.” God had scattered the forces that had gathered together against Jerusalem. Jehoshaphat and his army struck not a single blow in the warfare (2 Chronicles 20:22-24). The breaking of the ships of Tarshish is mentioned here as an illustration of the almighty power of God. “The occasion,” says Hengstenberg, “that gave rise to this comparison is recorded in 1 Kings 22:48; 2 Chronicles 20:36-37. Jehoshaphat had united with Ahaziah in getting ships of merchandise, but the ships were wrecked. The internal connection between the two events was the greater, as in that annihilation of the ships of Tarshish, there was discerned, according to 2 Chron., a judgment of God.” So as regards the enemies of His Church God Himself will scatter them. The more God is realised “in her palaces for a refuge,” the more completely and gloriously victorious will the Church be over all her enemies. Superstition and scepticism shall be conquered by the truth of God. Worldliness and self-indulgence shall be vanquished by the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. Herein, then, is the true glory of the Church. Not in her splendid edifices, or social prestige, or immense endowments, or gorgeous ritual, or eloquent ministry. But in the manifest presence of God in her midst,—manifest in holy living, and self-denying working, in the sublime victories of faith and love over her foes, and in unfaltering loyalty to her king and God. AN OF THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH(Psalms 48:8-14.) In these verses the Psalmist points out the use and improvement which the Church should make of the doings of God on her behalf. Those doings not only displayed the glory of the Church, but were rich in instruction for the Church. The Psalmist exhibits them,— I. As a confirmation of faith. “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever.” The event which they had witnessed had vindicated their former trust in God, and encouraged them to trust Him for the future. But as for Jerusalem, her towers have long since fallen to the ground, her bulwarks have been overthrown, her palaces have crumbled to dust, her holy and beautiful temple has been utterly demolished. But these things are only an apparent contradiction of the assurance, “God will establish it for ever.” “The Jerusalem that has been laid in ruins is not that which the Psalmist means; it is only its lifeless corpse.” The Church of Christ is founded upon the rock, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Every additional illustration that we have of the faithfulness of God, whether to us individually or to the Church, should encourage us to continued and increased confidence in Him. II. As an incentive to meditation on the grace of God. “We have thought of Thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple.” We have here— 1. An excellent theme for meditation. “Thy loving-kindness.” It had been very fully manifested in the victory which He had achieved for Judah. But to us God has given still brighter displays thereof. God’s loving-kindness is the source of all our blessings. 2. A suitable place for meditation. “In the midst of Thy temple.” “It is evident that the psalm was sung as a song of thanks in the temple.” “When we enjoy the benefit of public ordinances undisturbed, when we meet in His temple and there is none to make us afraid, we should take occasion thence to think of His loving-kindness.”—M. Henry. I is both our interest and our duty to meditate upon God’s gracious dealings with us. Gratitude urges us to ponder every fresh proof of His goodness to us. And as it is necessary to digest our food for it to nourish and strengthen our bodies, so God’s mercies must be spiritually digested by means of meditation, if they are to prove helpful to the spiritual life. By meditation we realise their greatness and their significance; we feel our obligation to God, and are encouraged to trust Him by reason of them. III. As a stimulus to praise God. 1. In the Church. “Let Mount Zion rejoice,” &c. (Psalms 48:11). This is a call to all the cities of Judah to joyous praise. The manifestation of the favour of God should always rejoice the hearts of His people. 2. Beyond the Church. “According to Thy name, O God, so is Thy praise unto the ends of the earth. “The idea of the Psalmist seems to be that whereever the doings they were celebrating were known, men would be so impressed with the “name” or character of God that they would praise Him. The best commentary on the words of the Psalmist is the result on the nations of the victory achieved on behalf of Jehoshaphat. “The fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest round about” (2 Chronicles 20:29-30). It is noteworthy that in the praise of God, both in the Church and beyond the Church, the righteousness of His doings is recognised. The chosen people were “glad because of His judgments.” And in His praise among the nations it is observed that His “right hand is full of righteousness.” Just and true are all His ways. All His doings are in complete accord with eternal and immutable righteousness. IV. As a reason for considering the security and beauty of the Church. “Walk about Zion, and go round about her,” &c. (Psalms 48:12-13). 1. The survey to which the Psalmist exhorts the people. The “towers” were for observation and defence; the “bulwarks” were the outermost circumference of the city, and in this place they are in contrast to the palaces in the interior. The exhortation of the Psalmist is to a thorough survey of the city, that the people may see how entirely free from injury it was, and how capable of resisting the attacks of foes. 2. The design of the survey. “That ye may tell it to the generation following.” “One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts.” By this means the generation following may be encouraged to put their trust in the Lord. In this way one generation may render valuable service to another. So the testimony to the goodness and faithfulness of God grows more voluminous and convincing with every generation. Let us survey the Church of Christ, and mark its beauty and security. “What precious ordinances are its palaces, what precious promises are its bulwarks” and towers! Its foundations are immovably and eternally secure. It is guarded by the incessant vigilance and almighty power of God, and need not fear the gates of hell. Let us tell to the generation following our impressions and experiences of the Church of Christ, that they may be led heartily to seek citizenship therein. V. As an encouragement to triumph in God. “This God is our God for ever and ever; He will be our guide even unto death.” Here are two reasons for triumph in God. 1. His relations to us personally. “Our God, … our guide.” He guides us (a) by the counsels of His word; (b) by the influences of His Spirit; (c) by His providential interpositions; (d) by special help in special trials; (e) by shedding light upon our path when in perplexity and doubt; and (f) by support and direction when we tread that dark and, to us, unknown way which conducts to the grave.”—Barnes. 2 His relations to us permanently. “For ever and ever; … unto death.” His love to us and care for us are constant and unchangeable. He will guide and protect us even to the last. .— 1. Let the citizens of Zion rejoice in their privileges. 2. Let her enemies submit themselves to her King. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, a psalm for the sons of Korah.” See Introduction to Psalms 42. Both the author of the psalm, and the occasion on which it was composed, are unknown. “This psalm,” says Matthew Henry, “is a sermon, and so is the next. In most of the psalms we have the penman praying or praising; in these we have him preaching; and it is our duty, in singing psalms, to teach and admonish ourselves and one another.” The psalm meets the temptation, which arises to the righteous from the prosperity of the wicked (whose persecution it sets forth), with the very consolation which is presented for it throughout the Old Testament, viz., that the issue divides between the righteous and the wicked, that the glory and ascendancy of the latter are only temporary, that they end in terrors, while the righteous is delivered by God.”—Hengstenberg.THE OF WISDOM(Psalms 49:1-4.) The Psalmist appears as a preacher discoursing of wisdom, and in these verses, which are introductory to the main theme, he calls the attention of all men to what he is about to say. It was not of wisdom in general, but of wisdom in estimating the value of worldly wealth and honour, that he was about to speak. I. The preacher of wisdom addresses himself to all peoples. “Hear this, all people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.” This summoning all men to attention implies— 1. The great importance of the subject. It is common in Scripture when important announcements are made to call the whole world to listen (Deuteronomy 32:2; Psalms 1:1; Micah 1:2). How important is the message of the Gospel Preacher! 2. The universal applicability of the subject. The statements he was about to make pertained not to one nation or race only, but to all mankind. The gospel of Christ pertains to the whole race of man. All men need the gospel. The gospel is sent to all men. “Go ye into all the world,” &c. II. The preacher of wisdom addresses himself to all classes. “Both low and high, rich and poor together.” “What the Psalmist has delivered, serves to the rich for warning, to the poor for consolation.” The poor are in danger from the inordinate desire of wealth, and the rich from an inordinate delight in it. Let the poor neither fear nor envy the rich; let the rich neither trust nor boast in their riches. The message of the Christian preacher is to all classes. The gospel is addressed to man as man, without regard to any distinctions of wealth or rank. III. The preacher of wisdom duly considers his subject. “The meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.” “The idea is,” says Barnes, “that he had meditated on the subject, and that he would now give utterance to the result of his meditations.” And Matthew Henry: “It was what he had himself well digested. What his mouth spoke was ‘the meditation of his heart;’ it was what God put into his mind, what he had himself seriously considered, and was fully apprised of the meaning of and convinced of the truth of.” “I will incline mine ear to a parable,” saith the Psalmist, implying clearly that the wisdom he was about to “communicate is no self-sprung possession, but one that has been acquired by him.” ξָ ?ωָׁ ?μ = similitude, parable, proverb. Hengstenberg translates it here, “similitude.” And Fuerst; a “sententious poem.” “The Psalmist will incline his ear to it. This intimates— 1. That he was taught it by the Spirit of God and did not speak of himself. Those that undertake to teach others must first learn themselves. 2. That he thought himself nearly concerned in it, and was resolved not to venture his own soul upon that bottom which he dissuaded others from venturing theirs upon. 3. That he would not expect others should attend to that which he himself did not attend to as a matter of the greatest importance. When God gives the tongue of the learned He first wakens the ear to hear as the learned.”—M. Henry. An unthoughtful ministry is a great curse. Meditation, patient and earnest thought, should ever precede the speech of the preacher. IV. The preacher of wisdom deals With difficult questions. “Dark sayings.” “ηִ ?ιγָ ?δ= entwined, hence, (a) cunning, trickery (Daniel 8:23), i.e. dissimulation. (b) enigmas, riddles (Judges 14:12). (c) pointed, enigmatical speech that surprises, a proverb (Proverbs 1:6); a parable (Ezekiel 17:2); poesy (Psalms 49:5); oracle” (Numbers 12:8).—Fuerst’s Lexicon. It seems to us to mean in this place something which was obscure, or only imperfectly understood. Hengstenberg explains it thus: “riddle, a discourse of difficult comprehension, of deep sense.” There are “dark sayings,” difficult questions, in—. 1. The Scriptures, in which there are “things hard to be understood,” not a few. 2. The Providence of God. “Thy way is in the sea,” &c. “Clouds and darkness are round about Him.” 3. Every human life. “Man’s soul is written all over with dark sayings.” The preacher deals with these “dark sayings;” looks into them, exhibits their uses, explains their significance, endeavours to make them clear and luminous. V. The preacher of wisdom deals with difficult questions poetically, musically. “I will open my dark saying upon the harp.” He would speak them in poetry, and attune them to music. “The most sorrowful people have known most and felt most the soul of music. The expression of the sorrows and aspirations of the soul in music ministers to our reserve, while it also flows forth in a stream, sad in itself perhaps, yet productive of a divine cheerfulness. There is a mystery and a meaning in music we can never either expound or explore; and it is felt that those natures, which are the greatest burden and mystery to themselves, find most the solace of song in the combinations of all great sounds; we have known this, it is not always that in joyfulness of heart we sing. The girl oppressed by some great trial or loss, as she bends over her needle, or goes about her house-work, will sing; and while she singe, finds unconsciously that her song has been her medicine, and has given to her relief. I have known a woman, disappointed and forsaken, flying to her piano; her fingers rushing over the keys have given liberation to her spirit, and the chords opened the sealed well of tears, and the rains descended, and the floods came. And something like this is a very general experience. Hence we have poetry for all cultured people, and hymns for holy people; and do we not know what it is to become happy while we sing? Good it is sometimes to utter the dark saying to the harp rather than to others; it composes, allays, and tranquillises the mind while we utter it.”—E. P. Hood. . Let us learn how to deal with our dark sayings. Seek light and help in worship. Devotion will illuminate the mind. Intellectual difficulties will vanish before the religious fervour of a grateful and reverent heart. THE FOOLISH WAY OF WEALTHY (Psalms 49:5-15.) I. The characteristics of their way. Their way is marked by— 1. “Trust in their wealth.” They place confidence in their riches as the source of all good to them, and the means by which all their wants may be supplied and all their desires gratified. “How hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God.” “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” 2. Boasting in their wealth. “Boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.” They pride themselves in the extent of their possessions. “Many years ago Judge B. resided in New Jersey. His family was considered the most aristocratic in the town; and not unfrequently some of its members would give their acquaintances to understand that this was their opinion also. On a certain occasion a fishing-party was made up among the ladies. Mrs. Judge B. was one of the number. While fishing, the subject of losing property was discussed. Mrs. B. paused a little, and slipped a splendid gold ring from her finger, and dropped it into the lake, remarking as she did so, that it was ‘as impossible for them to become poor as it was for her to recover that ring.’ The party returned to their homes, and Mrs. B. gave her fish to the servants. Not long after, the cook came into the sitting-room and showed to Mrs. B. a gold ring that she had taken from one of the fish. The ring dropped into the lake was recovered. Mrs. B., who was so confident that she could never become poor, died a pauper in Elizabethtown, Nova Scotia; and her husband, the judge, died a pauper also in an adjoining town.”—Dict. of Illus. 3. Fancied power to retain wealth. “Their inward thought is that their houses shall continue for ever,” &c. (Psalms 49:11). They calculated that they should retain their possessions until death, and then transmit them to their children. There are few wealthy persons who realise the uncertain tenure by which they hold their possessions. The great majority seem to regard themselves, not as stewards, but as proprietors of their possessions, and as able to retain or dispose of them as they please. II. The folly of their way. “This their way is their folly.” Their folly is seen in— 1. Their inability to retain their wealth. All men must die, “and leave their wealth to others.” “ (1) They cannot continue with it, nor will it serve to procure them a reprieve. (2) They cannot carry it with them, but must leave it behind them. (3) They cannot foresee who will enjoy it when they have left it; they must leave it to others, but to whom they know not, perhaps to a fool (Ecclesiastes 2:19), perhaps to an enemy.”—M. Henry. “Riches,” says Gataker, “though they have great eagles’ wings, to fly away from us while we are here in this world, yet have not so much as little sparrows’ wings to fly after us and follow us when we go hence. We brought nothing into this world, neither shall we carry anything hence.” Even before the rich man passes away from this world, his riches may pass away from him. A storm at sea, a spark of fire, a flood, &c., may transform him into a beggar. How foolish, then, to trust and glory in wealth! 2. The limitation of the power of wealth. The wealthiest man has no power (1) to turn aside the stroke of death even from his dearest friend. “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” The wealthiest of men is unable to prolong by an hour the life that is most dear to him. “ ‘Redeeming, he cannot redeem;’ that is, according to Hebrew usage, he cannot possibly do it; it cannot be done.” “What folly is it to trust to that, and boast of that, which will not enable us so much as for one hour to respite the execution of the sentence of death upon a parent, a child, or a friend that is to us as our own soul!” The wealthiest man has no power (2) to turn aside the stroke of death from himself. “Wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person.” “No matter what may be the character of the man of wealth, whether wise or foolish, he must certainly die. His wealth cannot save him from the grave.” It is said that a queen of England, knowing that her death was at hand, cried, “A million of money for a moment of time,” and cried in vain. (3) Wealth has no power to favourably affect the condition of its possessors after death. “Like sheep they are laid in the grave,” &c. (Psalms 49:14). When death comes to them, all their possessions and honours must be relinquished finally and for ever. Then the superiority of the portion of the upright will be apparent. All the strength and beauty of wealthy worldlings shall be consumed; but “the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” He who, when upon earth, was “clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day,” could not obtain so much as a drop of cold water in hell. How great, then, is the folly of putting our trust in and making our boast of our wealth! And yet, notice how continuous this folly is. “This their way is their folly; yet their posterity approve their sayings.” In this folly there is a sad successiveness. The children tread in the footsteps of their fathers. “They adopt their principles, and act on their maxims; and, attaching the same importance to wealth which they did, seek, as they sought, to perpetuate their names upon the earth.” And now turning our attention from the wealthy worldling to “the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which He hath promised to them that love Him,” two remarks are justified. First: The godly man has no reasonable cause to fear the power of the wealthy worldling. “Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?” It is difficult to get any reasonable meaning out of the last clause as it is rendered in our version. We take it that the word here rendered “heels”—ςָ ?χֵ ?α is from the verb ςָ ?χα, and signifies a persecutor or lier-in-wait; and so we should translate, “When the iniquity of liers-in-wait compass me about.” See Fuerst’s Lexicon. The Psalmist was exposed to danger by reason of the crafty designs of his wealthy enemies; but why should he fear them? With all their wealth, how powerless were they! What could they do to him, they who were weak mortals like himself? They were leaning on a broken reed, and boasting in a shadow. He had no reason to fear them; for his trust was in the Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength. Second: The portion of the godly man is far superior to that of the wealthy worldling. “The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.… God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me.” The superiority of the portion of the upright consists in this— 1. They shall not be held in Sheol. God will rescue them from the power of the grave. They shall arise to a life of blessedness. 2. They shall be received by God. God will receive His people into glory, both soul and body, at the resurrection. So shall they ever be with the Lord. This superiority will soon be made manifest. “In the morning,” i.e. in a little time. The night will speedily pass away, and “in the morning” the vanity of the portion of wealthy worldlings and the excellence of the portion of the godly will be clearly manifested. .— 1. My rich brother, “trust not in uncertain riches;” but use thy wealth wisely, and it shall prove a blessing to thyself and to others. 2. My poor brother, do thou neither envy nor fear the power of wealthy worldlings; but rejoice in thine own inalienable and blessed portion. (Psalms 49:8.) I. The subject of redemption. To acquire right views of the importance of redemption as to its subject, we may glance at the powers, the affections, and the duration of the soul. 1. Its powers. (1) It is endowed with the faculty of knowledge. Paul tells us that knowledge is a feature of the image of God. The object of redemption is not mere matter, but an intelligent being, the only being on this earth capable of apprehending the discoveries which God has made of Himself. (2) It is endued with the power of choice. Man is a moral agent; he acts under the influence of moral motives; he is not the creature of chance; he is not willingly the prey of accident; he has the power, to a certain extent, of controlling his circumstances. He is, further, capable of knowing and of loving God, and of becoming like God. 2. Its affections. The soul has lost the image of God. The temple is in ruins, and the Great Inhabitant gone. It is utterly corrupt, polluted, debased, at enmity against God. It is the prey of every bad passion, of every polluting affection; consequently its tendency is to misery; and unless it be redeemed, it will be miserable for ever. 3. Its duration. The soul of man will live for ever, and through the eternity of its existence, it must either be a happy spirit before the throne of God, or a hopeless outcast from His heaven. II. The price of its redemption. How vast the price paid for the redemption of the soul! The precious blood of Christ. Had the whole creation been consumed in one mighty conflagration as the price of redemption, it would have been as nothing compared with this. How precious the price of redemption! The Deity became “enshrined in man—not changed into a man, but most mysteriously united to a man; the price of redemption was His blood. This price was given (1 John 3:16; 1 Peter 1:18-19). III. The period of its accomplishment is limited. “It ceaseth for ever.” How infinitely precious is time! It is in time only that the redemption of the soul can be ensured. The value of one opportunity of hearing the Gospel is unspeakably great.—M. A., from Sketches of Sermons. MEN OF THE WORLD WHO HAVE THEIR PORTION IN THIS LIFE(Psalms 49:16-20.) I. Men who have their portion in this life must resign it at death. We have here— 1. Man possessing wealth and honour. “One is made rich, the glory of his house is increased.” By means of wealth man is able to surround himself with all the luxuries and ornaments produced by nature and by man. “The rich have many friends,” who fawn upon and flatter them, and extol their state and their doings. In these days many men speedily, from small beginnings, grow rich and pompous, and fond of display. 2. Man rejoicing in wealth and honour. “In his life he blessed His soul.” He is like the rich man described by our Lord, who said to his soul, “Soul, thou hast much good laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool,” &c. Oh, the awful degradation of manhood when a man calls upon his soul to find its chief good in material possessions! In answer to the inquiry, “Who will show us any good?” such men are so far from saying, “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us,” that they point you to their well-filled barns or their vast estates. Yet it is true that “He aims too low who aims beneath the skies.” 3. Man praised because of his wealth and honour. “Man will praise thee when thou doest well to thyself.” “This is the sentiment of all the children of this world, that those do best for themselves that do most for their bodies, by heaping up riches, though, at the same time, nothing is done for the soul, nothing for eternity.” Low-natured people abound who court and fawn upon the man of wealth. Mean sycophants are ever ready obsequiously to flatter the “men of the world, who have their portion in this life.” 4. Man compelled to relinquish his wealth and honour. “When he dieth he shall carry nothing away; his glory shall not descend after him” “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.” To the man who elects to have his portion in this life it may be said in the future state, “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things.” “What disarrays like death? It defaces the fascination of the beautiful. It withers the strength of the mighty. It snatches the store of the rich. Kings are stripped of trapping, trophy, treasure: ‘Their glory shall not descend after them.’ ”—R. W. Hamilton. II. Men who have their portion in this life when they depart hence are gathered to their moral ancestors. “He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.” They depart to their own place and their own company. “Under the generation of the fathers,” says Hengstenberg, “are here to be understood, not so much the corporeal ancestors of the ungodly, as his predecessors in wickedness.” And M. Henry: “His worldly wicked fathers, whose sayings he approved, and whose steps he trod in.” They dwell in a dark and melancholy realm “They shall never see light”—i.e., they shall never have the least glimpse of any joy or comfort. They are banished into the outer darkness. III. Men who have their portion in this life degrade their being. “Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.” How unspeakable is the degradation of a spiritual and immortal being, created in God’s image and redeemed by Christ’s blood, when he lives for this life only, the life of the senses merely! “Many there are,” says Barnes, “in exalted stations, who are surrounded by all that wealth can give, yet who no more admit the thought of a future world into their hopes and plans than if they had no other endowment than the camel or the ox, and whose conduct in this respect would not be changed if all the higher endowments which constitute the nature of man were withdrawn, and they were at once reduced to the condition of a brute.” M. Henry: “It is better to be a beast than to be a man that makes himself like a beast.” : 1. To those who have wealth, but not godliness. “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” 2. To those who have godliness, but not wealth. “It is a temptation,” says Dickson, “which shaketh the faith of the godly sometimes, when they see the flourishing prosperity of the wicked and their own daily affliction; but this should not move the godly, nor make them suspect themselves to be in a wrong course and the ungodly in a better way: ‘be not thou afraid when one is made rich.’ ” Your portion is incomparably superior to that of the most wealthy and distinguished of those who have their portion in this life. “The end of the wicked shall be cut off. But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him.” Superscription. “A Psalm of Asaph.” Asaph was “a Levite, son of Berachiah, one of the leaders of David’s choir (1 Chronicles 6:39). Psalms 50, 73-83 are attributed to him, but probably all these, except 50, 73, and 77, are of later origin. He was in after times celebrated as a Seer as well as a musical composer, and was put on a par with David (2 Chronicles 29:30; Nehemiah 12:46). The office appears to have remained hereditary in his family, unless he was the founder of a school of poets and musical composers, who were called after him ‘the sons of Asaph’ ” (1 Chronicles 25:1; 2 Chronicles 20:14; Ezra 2:41).—Smith’s Dict. of the Bible.The occasion on which the psalm was composed is unknown. “The object of the psalm,” says Barnes, “seems to be to set forth the value and importance of spiritual religion as compared with a mere religion of forms.”A SCENE OF (Psalms 50:1-6.) In these verses we have a poetical representation of the appearance of the Most High to judge His people as to their conduct in respect to His worship. Though the judgment spoken of in this psalm is a particular one, yet most of the features of this scene are elsewhere represented as characterising the general and final judgment. We have here set before us— I. The Judge. “The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken.… God is Judge Himself.” Professor Alexander translates: “The Almighty, God, Jehovah, speaks;” and he points out that El is not an adjective agreeing with Elohim, but a substantive in apposition with it. Hengstenberg takes the same view, and says: “The heaping up of names must fill the hypocrites with terror, as these bring before their eyes the majesty of Him whose judgment they underlie. In the relation of these designations there is a gradation. Elohim is more than El, to which its singular Eloah is equivalent. The plural marks the fulness and the richness of the Divine nature. Jehovah is the highest name according to its derivation—it marks God as the only real Being—and, according to the usage also, which ascribes to Jehovah the most glorious manifestations of God to and in behalf of His people.” He who summons the world to judgment has the right to do so, and the power to enforce His right. As Judge God is perfect. Two things are essential to a just judgment. 1. Competent knowledge of the case to be tried. In this respect God is perfect as the Judge of man. He is fully acquainted with (1) all spoken words and overt actions; (2) all unuttered thoughts and unwrought purposes; (3) all motives by which we have been actuated; and (4) all the circumstances and influences, both good and evil, by which we have been affected (Psalms 139:1-16). 2. Perfect justice in trying the case. “Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? God forbid: for how then shall God judge the world?” “A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.” His judgment-throne is “a great white throne,” i.e., a throne whose judgments are characterised by perfect purity and righteousness. God is the Judge; and He is perfect in all things. II. The principles upon which judgment will be administered. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.” On “Zion, the perfection of beauty,” see remarks on Psalms 48:2. “The meaning here is, that the great principles which are to determine the destiny of mankind in the final judgment are those which proceed from Zion; or those which are taught in the religion of Zion; they are those which are inculcated through the Church of God. God has there made known His law; He has stated the principles on which He governs, and on which He will judge the world.”—Barnes. To the Church God has clearly revealed His will, and made known the principles upon which He will administer the final judgment. (See Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 25:14-46. Acts 17:31; Romans 14:10; Romans 14:12.; et al.) III. The certainty of the judgment. “God shall come,” &c. Here is no peradventure, but an unmistakable affirmation. Evidence is not wanting of the certainty of future judgment. 1. Conscience foreshadows it. “The consciousness of obligation,” says R. W. Hamilton,” would lead us to believe that God would bring us into judgment with Him. “ 2. Moral government requires it. “Even-handed justice” is not administered here and now. As Dr. R. W. Dale points out, “the physical penalties of certain forms of sin torture and destroy an inhabitant of Fiji; while they are alleviated and almost wholly averted by the resources which science and wealth place at the disposal of a European; one merchant who is guilty of gross fraud escapes detection, while another who is guilty of precisely the same crime is accidentally discovered, and expiates his offence by long years of disgrace and misery; a lad who has no friends is ruined for life by a single act of folly and sin, while another, who may have been his confederate in wrong-doing, is rescued by the energy and constancy of human affection, recovers his reputation, and after long years of prosperity and honour leaves behind him a name which his children are proud to bear.” Many other inequalities of retribution as administered in this life might be pointed out. These demand a “judgment to come.” 3. The word of God affirms it. (See passages cited above, et al.) That last great Assize is certain as the throne of God. IV. The terrible majesty of the judge at His appearing. “A fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him.” There is doubtless a reference here to the sublime and terror-inspiring phenomena which accompanied the giving of the law on Sinai (Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:18). In the last judgment Christ the Judge will come in “the clouds of heaven” and with “flaming fire,” and attended by “mighty angels” (Mark 13:26; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 1:7). Such descriptions are not designed simply to represent God as clothed with appropriate majesty when appearing to judge the world. The flaming fire, the stormy tempest, the cloudy gloom, the flashings of His glory, are emblematical of the purity and the power and the consuming wrath of the Judge. And they are in keeping with the vast and important transactions and results of the solemn occasion, and the Divine dignity of the Judge. Such an appearance should fill the hearts of saints with holy fear, and sinners with unutterable terror. V. The persons to be judged. “Judge His people.… My saints, … those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” The people of God are here represented as having entered into a solemn covenant-relation to Him. They have taken God to be their God, and given themselves up to Him and to His service, and the Jews in doing this presented solemn sacrifices to Him. The Christian covenants with God through Christ the great sacrifice, through whom alone we come to God. The Jews were the professed people of God,—His covenanted people (Exodus 19:3-9). But how often and how sadly did they break the covenant! “It is at first sight strange, that those, whom the Lord will judge as transgressors of His covenant, should be described as His saints. But the allusion to the height of their standing and destiny is particularly fitted to cause shame, on account of their present actual condition.” Let not the professed people of God deceive themselves by imagining that if they sin God will not judge them for it; for He certainly will do so. The greater the privileges and profession of any people, the more deserving of punishment will they be found if they dishonour God and walk not in His statutes. But at the last judgment all men, without any exception whatever, must appear and be judged (Romans 14:10; Romans 14:12; 2 Corinthians 5:10; et al.) VI. The witnesses of the judgment. “He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people.” The universe is called upon to be present as witness to the solemn transactions of the judgment. Such appeals to the heaven and earth to witness, in Scripture, always indicate the importance and solemnity of the scenes and transactions to which they are called. Thus Moses warned the children of Israel of the danger of provoking God to anger,—“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish,” &c. (Deuteronomy 4:26; see also Micah 6:2.) “All His holy angels” will attend the Judge, and witness the proceedings, and testify to their righteousness. VII. The righteousness of the judgment. “And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is Judge Himself.” The perfections of God, especially His holiness and knowledge, guarantee the righteousness of His judgment. (See previous remarks on the perfection of God as a Judge.) The angelic witnesses of the judgment will declare its justice, saying, “True and righteous are His judgments.” The redeemed will praise the generosity of His dealings with them. The consciences even of the condemned will acknowledge the righteousness of their doom. The whole universe will subscribe to the justice of His judgments. .— 1. Here is solemn warning to the people of God. If you depart from Him, He will summon you to meet Him for judgment. 2. Here is a solemn inquiry for all. How shall we meet Him in judgment? Only through Christ Jesus can we do so (see Romans 8:1; Romans 8:33). THE FORMAL AND THE IN DIVINE SERVICE(Psalms 50:7-15.) The poet represents the judgment of the chosen people as commencing with God’s address to them: “Hear, O My people, and I will speak,” &c. He testifies against them because of the formality of their services; and calls upon them to offer to Him spiritual sacrifices. I. The worthlessness of merely formal and material sacrifices in the Divine service. “I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt-offerings continually before Me. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds.” Such sacrifices are shown to be worthless. 1. Because of the infinite resources of God. “For every beast of the forest is mine,” &c. (Psalms 50:10-12). He is the absolute proprietor of all things. We are but stewards of our possessions. We hold them under Him and for Him. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive” from Him? The devout and godly soul recognises this fact, and blesses God, as David did, because He has given to us wherewith we may offer to Him. “Blessed be Thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness,” &c. (1 Chronicles 29:10-16). Only of His own can we give unto Him. This is true of the man of temporal wealth, the man of genius, the man of piety and spiritual power, &c. Utterly worthless, therefore, are all our offerings in His sight, unless they are spiritually and heartily given (Acts 17:25). 2. Because of the spirituality of God. “Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” Did they suppose that the Infinite Spirit needed meat and drink for His support as our bodies do? Being a spirit, the mere outward sacrifices could afford no satisfaction to Him. “Among the heathen the opinion prevailed that the gods ate and drank what was offered to them in sacrifice; whereas the truth was, that these things were consumed by the priests who attended on heathen altars, and conducted the devotions of heathen temples, and who found that it contributed much to their own support, and did much to secure the liberality of the people, to keep up the impression that what was thus offered was consumed by the gods.” The Divine appeal implies that they to whom it was addressed knew better. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Therefore, in His sight the mere material offering was worthless. But let us not suppose that God rejects all outward offerings and sacrifices. He rather requires them. It is quite clear from the eighth verse, “that if the outward sacrifices had not been offered, this also would have been a ground of complaint.” But when they are offered as substitutes for the loving reverence of the heart, and the loyal obedience of the life, He rejects them as abominations. When they are the expressions of the soul’s prayerful penitence or thankful praise, He accepts them with delight. (See the remarks on Psalms 40:6.) II. The worth of spiritual sacrifices in the Divine service. “Offer,” or sacrifice, “unto God thanksgiving,” &c. (Psalms 50:14-15). The worth of spiritual offerings is shown here in several respects: 1. They are enjoined by God. He commands us to present them unto Him. Notice (1) The ground of this requirement. “Hear, O My people, and I will speak: I am God, thy God.” “On the one side, my people and Israel, the people of God and of the covenant; on the other side God, the God of heaven and of earth, thy God, who has bound Israel to Himself by so many benefits, has purchased his obedience so dearly.”—Hengstenberg. He demands the spiritual worship of His people on the twofold ground of His own Divine perfections and sovereignty, and His covenant relation to them. (2) The inclusiveness of this requirement. These spiritual offerings include praise, payment of vows, and prayer. “The giving of thanks,” says John Arnd, “comprehends many virtues in itself,—acknowledgment of God as the fountain of all good; fear of God, namely, the childlike fear which receives all benefits from God as the child from the father: humility, confessing that we have nothing of ourselves, but obtain all from God,” &c. Hengstenberg translates: “Offer to God praise, and THUS pay to the Highest thy vows.” He explains: “He only who has rendered the substance of this thank-offering, thanks, has truly paid his vow.” Lives of penitence, prayer, gratitude, praise, affection, obedience, and trust, constitute the acceptable sacrifices. 2. They secure His blessing. “The whole fifteenth verse is of a promissory nature. It announces the reward which is appointed for the spiritual worship of God. Whoever thanks God in the right manner for deliverance obtained, may console himself in the time of distress with the assured hope of a new deliverance.”—Hengstenberg. 3. They are a means by which we glorify God. “Thou shalt glorify Me.” God is glorified not by our outward professions or material offerings, but by grateful and trustful hearts expressed in holy and earnest lives. .—Are we thus honouring Him? Our material offerings and formal services He will not accept unless we give Him our heart and life. Be it ours, through the atonement of Christ Jesus, and in imitation of His example, to devote ourselves unreservedly and for ever to God. AND COMFORT IN TROUBLE(Psalms 50:15.) Notice— I. The period described. “The day of trouble.” We are often called to pass through trouble in the present world. We sometimes are troubled with opposition from the world (2 Timothy 3:12), sometimes with painful family discord (Proverbs 17:1), sometimes with great bodily infirmities (Isaiah 38:14-15), sometimes with inward conflicts (Romans 7:22-24), sometimes with perplexities in business, sometimes with worldly disappointments, sometimes with the unfaithfulness of friends (2 Timothy 4:10; 2 Timothy 4:16), sometimes with the weight of declining years, sometimes with slanderous reports (Psalms 41:5-8), sometimes with pecuniary losses, sometimes with afflictive bereavements (Psalms 88:18), and sometimes with tormenting fears (2 Corinthians 7:5). II. The direction given. “Call upon Me.” We should do this—in the language of deprecation (Psalms 143:2); in the language of petition (Psalms 69:14); in the language of confession (Psalms 51:2, 1 John 1:9); in the language of humility (Genesis 18:27; Genesis 32:10); and in the language of submission (Matthew 26:42). III. The consolation introduced. “I will deliver thee.” This He will do at the fittest time, by the fittest instruments, through the fittest mediums, and in the fittest manner. IV. The consequence anticipated. “Thou shalt glorify Me.” In the memory, by lively recollections of My kindness; in the conscience, by fearing to prove ungrateful; in the affections, by loving Me supremely; in the life, by devotedness to My service.—W. Sleigh. GOD’S TO (Psalms 50:16-23.) We have here— I. Religious hypocrites proclaiming God’s law. “What hast thou to do to declare My statutes, or that thou shouldest take My covenant in thy mouth?” It is a great evil when private professors of religion are untrue to their profession. In them hypocrisy is an evil and pernicious thing. But for hypocrites to declare and teach God’s law to others, and set it at nought themselves, is an outrageous evil. He who preaches the law to others should endeavour to keep the law himself. A man who is not himself sincerely religious has no Divine authority to preach the Word of God to others. Neither has he the ability to do so aright. To represent the power and beauty of truth and grace faithfully, we must know their beauty and power for ourselves. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” (See Romans 2:17-24.) II. Religious hypocrites despising God’s Word. “Thou hatest instruction, and castest My words behind thee.” A teacher of others, yet unwilling to learn himself. A preacher of the Word of God to others, yet contemptuously disregarding that Word himself. It is to be feared that there are still teachers of religion who themselves refuse to be taught of God; and who, by neglecting its study or disobeying its precepts, despise the Word of God. Such persons occupy and profane the sacred position of religious teachers for the gratification of their ambition, or for the emoluments of the office, &c. But whatever may be their motive, their sin is most heinous and mischievous. III. Religious hypocrites breaking God’s laws. “When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him,” &c. (Psalms 50:18-20). These teachers of the law are here charged by God with breaking its seventh, eighth, and ninth commandments. He accuses them of adultery, theft, and false witness. They approved the practices of thieves and shared in their plunder. Adultery was “very common among the Jews, for even the Talmud accuses some of the most celebrated Rabbis of this vice.”—M. Stuart. The charge of evil speaking is very strong. It was not an occasional thing with them; they were addicted to it. Mouth and tongue were devoted to wickedness and deceit. “The expression in Psalms 50:20, ‘thou sittest,’ is a delineation to the life of babbling companies.” In the enjoyment of social intercourse they employed themselves in backbiting and slandering. Even the nearest relations were not exempt from their venomous tongues. Their “brother,” their “own mother’s son,” they would assail. “It is to be remembered that where polygamy prevailed there would be many children in the same family who had the same father, but not the same mother. The nearest relationship, therefore, was where there was the same mother as well as the same father. To speak of a brother, in the strictest sense, and as implying the nearest relationship, it would be natural to speak of one as having the same mother.”—Barnes. Now these sine—slander, even of the nearest relations, adultery, and complicity with thieves—are charged against not merely professors of religion, but teachers of the law. The effect of such sins in persons holding such a position and making such a profession is most baneful. These effects are— 1. Ruin to the hypocrites themselves. (See 2 Peter 2.) 2. Paralysis and corruption to the Church. 3. Stumbling to the world. (Romans 2:24; 2 Peter 2:2.) IV. Religious hypocrites deceiving themselves as to the Divine character and conduct. “These things thou hast done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” God had borne long with them in their evil ways. His forbearance and long suffering were exercised with a view to their repentance. But they misinterpreted His non-interference as an indication that He regarded sin even as they did. Sinners take God’s silence for consent, and His patience with them as palliation of their sins, and are thus encouraged in evil. But great is their mistake in this. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Yet it surely will be executed. V. Religious hypocrites interrogated by God. “What hast thou to do to declare My statutes?” &c. (Psalms 50:16). Thus God challenges their right and title to proclaim His statutes. What right had they to speak of His covenant when they were constantly and flagrantly violating it? This challenge implies— 1. The inconsistency of their conduct. 2. The enormity of their conduct. They were profaning the most sacred realities; endangering the most precious interests of human souls; dishonouring God. 3. The rejection by God of their professional duties. He rejects with utter abhorrence the professional services in His cause of those whose hearts and lives are profane and impure. VI. Religions hypocrites convicted of their sins. “I will reprove thee, and set them in order before Mine eyes.” The word translated “reprove” means to demonstrate against, reprove, rebuke, chastise. We take it to mean here that God would thoroughly convince them of the charges which He brings against them, by setting their sins in order before their eyes. He would summon their sins from the graves of the past to rise and confront them, and so convince them. “He declares,” says Calvin, “that they will soon be drawn into open light, that they shall be compelled to see with their eyes the shameful deeds which they had imagined they could conceal from the eyes of God. For so I understand the setting in order, that God will lay before them in exact order a full catalogue of their misdeeds, which they must read and own, whether they will or not.” Unless our sins are blotted out by the blood of Christ, we must confront them all again to our utter confusion. VII. Religious hypocrites warned by God. “Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces,” &c. “It is the doom of hypocrites to be cat asunder (Matthew 24:51). Note,— 1. Forgetfulness of God is at the bottom of all the wickedness of the wicked. Those that know God, and yet do not obey Him, do certainly forget Him. 2. Those that forget God forget themselves, and it will never be right with them till they consider, and so recover themselves. Consideration is the first step towards conversion. 3. Those that will not consider the warnings of God’s Word will certainly be torn in pieces by the execution of His wrath. 4. When God comes to tear sinners in pieces, there is no delivering them out of His hand. They cannot deliver themselves, nor can any friend they have in the world deliver them.”—M. Henry. VIII. All men instructed by God. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me,” &c. (Psalms 50:23): The first clause of this verse is a compend of Psa 50:14-15. On the second, Matthew Henry remarks: “ 1. It is not enough for us to offer praise, but we must withal order our conversation aright. Thanksgiving is good, but thanksliving is better. 2. Those that would have their conversation right must take care and pains to order it, to dispose it according to rule, to understand their way and to direct it. 3. Those that take care of their conversation make sure their salvation. The right ordering of the conversation is the only way, and it is a sure way, to obtain the great salvation.” .—Let professors of religion, and especially ministers thereof, examine themselves. To each of us who are ministers or teachers our Lord by His apostle says,—“Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” Brethren, are we such an example? If there be any hypocrisy, any insincerity in us, let us take warning, and repent, and be saved while yet we may. And let the sincere Christian, who sacrifices unto God thanksgiving, and orders his conversation aright, be encouraged, for his salvation is of the Lord, and faileth not. AN AWFUL FALLACYPsa_50:21. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself.” There are certain features in which we are like God. “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” There are certain features of that likeness which sin has not destroyed. Our reason remains. Our moral sense, though injured, is not destroyed, &c. If we were not in some respects like God, we could receive no revelation of Him. But it is a sinful fallacy to suppose that God is altogether like us. Let us exhibit the fallaciousness and evil of such a supposition. I. Men are able to hide their sins from each other, and the wicked act as though they could hide them from God. Wicked men do impose upon their fellow-men by means of religious professions and practices. The Jews addressed in this psalm imagined that their ritualistic observances would hide from God the enormity of their moral conduct. They thought that they could impose upon God by their religious forms. This is what men are doing now. If men realised the impossibility of hiding anything from God, sin would become an exceptional thing. And yet, how preposterous it is to think to hide anything from the All-Seeing! He has “set our secret sins in the light of His countenance.” II. Men are apt to lose all concern for the insignificant when occupied with the important, and the wicked act as though this were the case with God. The statesman dealing with national problems and influencing the destinies of mighty empires may overlook the beggar-child that stands at his gate. The wicked argue, “God is great and occupied with concerns of unlimited extent and unspeakable importance; He upholds the entire universe; do you think He leaves these vast concerns to notice the sins of one man? I can understand His punishing the sins of a host of angels, or of a multitude of men, or of a nation; but the failings of one imperfect man He does not concern Himself about.” How foolish! Great and small are only the relative terms of imperfect beings. To God nothing is unimportant, &c. III. Men become unmindful of an offence in course of time, and the wicked think that in this God is altogether as they are. We are indifferent now to an offence which we bitterly resented some years ago when it was offered to us. Time has wonderfully toned down our feeling. But God never forgets or becomes indifferent to any sin. He knows the dark history of every sin, sees all its awful relations and bearings, and so He never becomes indifferent as we do. Moreover, He knows that sin must either be pardoned or punished, and, therefore, His solicitude for the sinner’s good keeps the sin ever before Him. We may grow indifferent to a wrong, but God never can. IV. Men regard sin with great leniency, and the wicked imagine that God does so. “Fools make a mock at sin.” Society says of the profligate that he is “somewhat gay,” or “a trifle fast.” Philosophers speak of sin as “misdirection,” or as a result of deficient education, or unfavourable circumstances and surroundings. These tolerant and false views of sin men are prone to transfer to God. But with Him sin is the “abominable thing which He hates.” He has proclaimed His hatred of it in the punishment of the angels who sinned, in the destruction of the ungodly world by the flood, in the overthrow of the cities of the plain, &c. The sufferings and death of Jesus His Son to put away sin are God’s great protest against evil. He is completely, unchangeably, eternally opposed to it. V. Men treat sin and sinners in a very changeable manner, and the wicked think that God will do so. Man burns with anger against an offender, and threatens stern punishment; but the anger cools and the punishment is never inflicted. Or man threatens a punishment which he cannot inflict. Men are prone to think that God is as they are in this respect. “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily,” &c. His threatenings, they think, are designed to deter men from evil; but if it is committed, He will not arise to punish for it. But this is a fatal mistake. He will fulfil His threatenings against the impenitent. Judgment is delayed, because in His mercy God waits for the wicked to turn penitently to Him. But if His forbearance do not result in their penitence, His judgment will be the more terrible. He will set their sins before them in all their multiplicity and enormity, and the sight will extinguish their hope, and call upon Despair henceforth to be their attendant angel. Sin must be either cast behind God’s back, or it will cast the sinner into hell. There is forgiveness with God. He delighteth in mercy. He abundantly pardons. “The Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins.” Seek Him while He may be found. Let us not imagine that God is altogether like unto us in His estimate of evil and evil-doers; but let us seek to view sin as He does, with implacable hatred, and to resist it with relentless vigour. Others, imagining God to be like themselves, conclude that He regards sin with feelings of stormy passion and sinful revenge. They do greatly err. And others that He is partial in His redemptive purposes and sectarian in His sympathies. They also err. His love is far greater than the best of our conceptions of it. Let us not think that God is altogether like unto us, but endeavour, through Jesus Christ, to become altogether like unto Him. THE superscription informs us both as to the author of the psalm, and the occasion of its composition. “To the Chief Musician, a Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.” The contents of the psalm accord with the superscription on both points. For the history of the painful circumstances, see 2 Samuel 11 and 2 Samuel 12:1-14.That the psalm is addressed “To the Chief Musician” shows that it was not merely a private confession of the poet’s guilt to God, but a public expression of his penitence. Hengstenberg, quoting the Marburg Bible, says: “ ‘David wrote this psalm not for himself alone to be used as a prayer, but for those also who had charge of the temple music, that he might again edify, by his repentance, the people of God, whom he had offended by his sin; and till then he had no rest in his bosom, as he confesses in Psalms 32:2.’ This publicity in the confession of the sin was quite as great a work of God’s grace in David, as the depth of his knowledge in regard to it. Nature must have struggled hard against it. But the design of the publicity he gives us in Psalms 51:13. He would, through his repentance, lead others to the same.”THE ’S PSALM “This psalm,” says Robertson, “written three thousand years ago, might have been written yesterday: it describes the vicissitudes of spiritual life in an Englishman as truly as of a Jew. ‘Not of an age, but for all time.’ ” We have here— I. The Penitent’s Confession. Confession is not a single act. It comprehends, at least, three things: (α.) A right estimate of sin. The true penitent regards sin not as mere misdirection, or the result of imperfect development, but as the guilty violation of a holy law. (β.) A right feeling in relation to sin. The sincere penitent loathes sin, and “grieves for having grieved his God.” (γ.) Right conduct in relation to sin. He endeavours to forsake sin, and to follow after holiness. The Psalmist in his confession— 1. Recognises the evil of sin. He regards it (1). As an unrighteous thing. “Mine iniquity.” Sin is a reversal of true moral relations and order. (2.) As a breach of moral law. “My transgressions.” By his sins he had violated the holy laws of the supreme and gracious Sovereign. (3.) As a defiling thing. He felt himself utterly polluted by his sins, and asks again and again for cleansing. Thus David recognises the essential evil of sin, and its injurious influence upon human life and character. He does not attempt to palliate its wickedness; but exhibits unmistakably its blackness, and deformity, and blasting power. 2. Recognises the sin as his own. “My transgressions … mine iniquity … my sin.” We are prone to try to shift the responsibility of our sins from ourselves to others. We blame the circumstances in which we were placed, or the temptations by which we were assailed, or the tendencies which we have inherited, or the training which we have received. But of this we find nothing in this penitential psalm. David feels that the sin and guilt of his crimes were his, and his only. “I acknowledge my transgression,” &c. “I have sinned,” &c. His sins appeared so aggravated to him, that he could only express his feeling in this respect by saying that he was born in sin. As Robertson says, “He lays on himself the blame of a tainted nature, instead of that of a single fault: not a murder only, but of a murderous nature. ‘Conceived in sin.’ From his first moments up till then, he saw sin—sin—sin: nothing but sin.” Sin and guilt cannot be transferred from one to another. If I do evil, the guilt is my own. “Every man shall bear his own burden.” The Divinely-awakened conscience ever feels this—confesses this—says, “I acknowledge my transgressions.” 3. Regards sin as hostile to God. “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned,” &c. The Most High has no complicity with evil. Sin is ever to Him the “abominable thing which He hates.” He brings good out of evil, overrules evil for the accomplishment of His glorious purposes. Yet He is not the author of evil, but its sworn and uncompromising antagonist. His laws in both the material and spiritual realms are against it; His administration is against it; His great redemption is against it; His essential nature is utterly opposed to it. True penitence feels this, and says, “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.” David had sinned grievously against human society; but it was the fact that his offences were wrongs against his God that chiefly impressed and distressed him. All sins against man are sins against God also. You cannot harm your fellow-man without wronging God. “Every blow struck against humanity is a blow struck against God.” A fact this pregnant with solemn suggestions. Thus the confession of this royal penitent expresses the judgments and emotions of the penitent heart to day. II. The penitent’s prayer. The Psalmist prays for,— 1. Forgiveness of his sins. “Have mercy upon me, O God,” &c. (Psalms 51:1). “Hide Thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.” Confession and forgiveness are inseparably connected (Psalms 32:5; Luke 17:3-4; 1 John 1:9). Confession is not the efficient cause of forgiveness, but it is its indispensable condition. It is “a necessary basis of forgiveness.” The figures here used to denote forgiveness give clearness and prominence to the idea of its completeness. “Blot out my transgressions, … blot out all mine iniquities:” as the account of a debt is wiped away or cancelled by the creditor, or as a cloud is dispelled by the beams of the sun. “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.” “Hide Thy face from my sins;” do not regard them; “cast all my sins behind Thy back;” remember them against me no more for ever. 2. Cleansing and renewal of his spirit. “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” “Mark the thoroughness of this desire. Not only must sin be blotted out, but the sinner himself must be washed and cleansed. There must not be merely a change of state, but a change of nature. Not only must the debt be forgiven, but all disposition to contract further debt must be eradicated. All true and lasting change must be made in the nature. The heart is the seat of all wrong. Hence no prayer will avail that does not come from the heart, and express the deepest and holiest aspirations of the soul. Such was David’s prayer.”—Parker. 3. Restoration of the joy of salvation. “Make me to hear joy and gladness. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.” Here are three ideas (1.) The experience of the salvation of God is joyous. The joy of assured forgiveness, of the Divine favour, of exalted hopes, &c. (2.) By indulgence in sin man forfeits this joy. David did so. (3.) By sincere penitence and prayer those who have lost this joy may regain it. 4. Preservation from sin and ruin. “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy Spirit from me. Uphold me with Thy free Spirit.” David’s great fear was that God might abandon him, might leave him to himself. To the penitent soul exile from God would be the deepest misery. And feeling his weakness and proneness to fall into sin, the Psalmist entreats God to uphold and keep him. Such are the main points in this penitent’s prayer. We shall do well to heed one feature of it to which Robertson gives clear and forcible expression. This prayer “is not the trembling of a craven spirit in anticipation of torture, but the agonies of a noble one in the horror of being evil.… Do you fancy that men like David, shuddering in sight of evil, dreaded a material hell? I venture to say, into true penitence the idea of punishment never enters. If it did, it would be almost a relief: but, oh! those moments in which a selfish act has appeared more hideous than any pain which the fancy of a Dante could devise! when the idea of the strife of self-will in battle with the loving will of God prolonged for ever, has painted itself to the imagination as the real Infinite Hell! when self-concentration and the extinction of love in the soul has been felt as the real damnation of the Devil-nature!” III. The penitent’s resolution. David resolves that, when the joy of salvation is restored to him— 1. He will seek the conversion of sinners. “Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways.” The forgiven penitent will seek to lead others to the source whence he has derived his blessing, that they also may partake of it. The ways of God which David would teach transgressors are (1) The way which He would have sinners pursue,—the way of penitence. And (2) The way which He pursues towards sinners,—the way of rich and free forgiving mercy. Now the converted man is fitted to teach transgressors these ways. He knows them; for he has trodden the one and experienced the other. He alone is fitted to teach these ways. It is essential that he who would teach others the way of salvation knows that way experimentally himself. He is also impelled to teach transgressors these ways. Gratitude urges him to do so, forbids him to be silent. He must tell others of the blessings he has received, and urge them to seek them for themselves. “We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” “Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me,” &c. 2. He will worship God. “My tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.… My mouth shall show forth Thy praise. For Thou desirest not sacrifice,” &c. (See “The Hom. Com.” on Psalms 40:6-8; Psalms 50:7-15.) (1.) The one great sacrifice for sin has been offered and accepted, and is gloriously perfect (Hebrews 10:1-18). (2.) Our sacrifice of praise, our thank-offerings of gifts to the cause of God, are worthless in His sight unless they proceed from feelings of sincere devotion and gratitude. (3.) When the heart is moved by penitence, and gratitude, and reverence, it will offer itself in praise to God, and in service in His cause. When the heart is truly sacrificed to God, all other possessions will be freely offered to Him. On this point, the testimony of Psa 51:19 is conclusive. David would not content himself with offering the sacrifices prescribed by the ceremonial law, but would offer himself to God in humblest penitence and heartiest praise. This self-sacrifice is the very soul of all acceptable sacrifices. David anticipates, as a result of his restoration, that— 3. The whole Church would praise God (Psalms 51:18-19). He feared lest, by reason of his sins, the Divine judgments should fall upon the city and kingdom, or the Divine favour be withdrawn from them. No man stands alone. The sin of one man may lead to the injury or even to the ruin of many others. David, therefore, implores the manifestation of the Divine favour in granting them security and prosperity. And he promises that then acceptable sacrifices—the costliest sacrifices offered by sincere worshippers—shall be presented unto Him. NOTE—The exposition of this psalm might be suitably divided into three discourses,—one, on The Confession; another, on The Petitions; and the third, on The Resolutions of the Penitent. AN PRAYER FOR EVERY ONE(Psalms 51:2. “Cleanse me from my sin.”) Consider— I. The need you have to offer this prayer. 1. You cannot cleanse yourselves from sin. The guilt of your sin you cannot blot out. The pollution of your sin you are equally unable to take away. 2. You cannot live happily without you are cleansed from sin. Surely, as the shadow follows the substance, sorrow follows sin, and joy holiness. 3. You cannot die peacefully unless you are cleansed from sin. “The sting of death is sin.” 4. You cannot be acquitted at the Divine tribunal except you are cleansed from sin. “We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ,” &c. 5. You cannot be admitted into heaven without you are cleansed from your sin. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” “There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth,” &c. 6. You cannot escape hell unless you are cleansed from your sin. There is no world between heaven and hell. “The wicked shall be turned into hell,” &c. II. The requisites you must possess to present this prayer successfully. 1. You must be alive to your sin. Men must be convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, before they will be anxious to be saved. Where guilt is not felt, pardon will not be desired. 2. You must see that your sin has been committed against God. Every evil deed perpetrated is done against the Almighty. This David felt. 3. You must take the blame of your sin to yourselves. The common practice is to attribute it to the tempter. Adam laid it on his wife, and Eve cast it on the serpent. Like them we seek to exculpate ourselves. But there must be the impression that we are utterly inexcusable, &c. 4. You must be desirous to part with your sin. Unwilling as men are to forsake their vicious course, they would fain be quit of its dire consequences. But he who will have his sin must have its evils. The cause must be removed before its effects can. 5. You must be sorry for your sin. There is a fitness between contrition and pardon; but there is none between impenitence and remission. The penitent are in a proper state to be forgiven; the impenitent are not. 6. You must have faith in the cleansing efficacy of Christ’s blood. Requisite as are the foregoing to your being in a proper condition to ask or to have the blessings spoken of, they cannot, if relied on, secure it, as there is not the slightest merit in them. The only merit on the ground of which we can be redeemed from all iniquity is in Christ, and in Him alone. For Him to be your redemption you must have faith in His blood. In conclusion, have you prevailingly urged this petition?—JOHN SMITH. Abridged from “The Congregational Pulpit.” THE CHIEF EVIL OF SINPsa_51:4. “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.” Since the crimes of the Psalmist were of that class which are most directly against society, and since he appears at the time to have regarded them in that very relation, what is the import of the phrase, “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned”? The following is the only possible solution. Notwithstanding the deep sense of his crime, as viewed in its social relation, he had such an overwhelming sense of its enormity as committed against God, that it threw into comparative obscurity the injury to man. This language, therefore, dictated by the Divine Spirit, must afford ample authority for the following doctrine:— The evil of sin consists chiefly in its being committed against God. This doctrine does not, in the least degree, invalidate the obligations of mortals to each other; or diminish the guilt of crimes viewed merely in their social relation. The man who considers the chief evil of sin to consist in a violation of Divine obligations, has as strong a view of social obligations, as he who overlooks all duty to God, and makes human injury the only criterion of guilt. That sin is an evil, so far as it infringes on the rights and happiness of fellow-mortals, is admitted by all. But the Word of God compels us to believe, that the same transgressions are an immensely greater evil considered as offences against God. Should any one ask, “Why is it a thousand-fold worse for me to murder my neighbour than if God had not forbidden it?” I answer,— 1. Because God is your Maker. We who are parents claim the right to command our children; and, when they disobey, we place the main point of their offending in simple disobedience. And what is the aggravation of violating a parent’s authority, compared with that of rebellion against the Eternal Father of our spirits? 2. God sustains us. From the dawn of our existence to this hour, He has been mindful of us, with more than a parent’s tender care. Amid countless dangers, He has cast His shield about us. 3. He has encompassed us with countless blessings. For us the rivers flow, the oceans roll, the clouds distil, and the seasons keep their appointed times. His sun is made to light us by day—His moon and stars by night. To shield us from cold, He has provided raiment—from heat, a shade—from storms, a shelter. 4. He has prepared a heaven for our eternal home. It is the abode of His own infinite blessedness, the palace of His glory, and the home of holy angels. 5. When we had forfeited this bright heaven, and plunged ourselves in guilt and woe, God gave His own dear Son to redeem us. To achieve this work, it was needful that the Saviour take upon Himself the form of a servant, be made under the law, pass a life of suffering and scorn, and, finally, be crucified by wicked hands. Yet to all this He submitted, not by constraint, but willingly——nay, joyfully. 6. God has given us a revelation comprising the knowledge and motives requisite for the attainment of this great salvation. And how is this sacred volume filled with entreaties to sinful man to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on the hope set before him! 7. He bears long with us, as a race of guilty beings, and as individuals. Each spared sinner is a perfect demonstration of the infinite goodness of God. And the aged impenitent is as great a monument of the Divine forbearance as he is of guilt. Reflect, then, that against this same God you have committed every sin that has polluted your life. Under this conviction, if your conscience be not dead, you cannot but exclaim with the Psalmist, “Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned,” &c. From the foregoing we may draw the following inferences:— 1. The punishment denounced against the wicked is manifestly just. 2. There is not so great a difference as men often imagine between different kinds of sin. I would not deny that “some sins in themselves are more heinous in the sight of God than others.” Nor would I at all intimate an equality of guilt among transgressors possessing different degrees of light, or actuated by different degrees of malignity.… But we have seen that the chief evil of sin consists in its violation of Divine obligation. Let no one, then, speak of small sins—little offences—and assign as his reason that he injures no one but himself,—that he does not infringe on the rights of his fellow-men. It is idle and delusive and impious to indulge in thus comparing and extenuating our crimes of rebellion against the infinite Sovereign. Each sin, thus viewed, is of magnitude sufficient to sink a world. 3. The most upright man is a great sinner. Suppose him perfectly honest—exculpate him from falsehood—and say that he never injured the character or feelings of any mortal. A human tribunal would then acquit him. But has he kept all God’s commandments? &c. 4. We are taught by this doctrine our need of Christ’s atonement. And the glorious work is accomplished, and a ready pardon offered, &c. 5. We see the nature of true conviction. It consists in seeing and feeling the evil of sin as committed against God. Fear of punishment is often mistaken for conviction; but it is really not even a necessary part of it. Real conviction does not cease at conversion, but increases with our growth in grace and knowledge of God. David, Isaiah, and Paul appeared to feel it with increasing emotion, and to loathe and abhor themselves, and repent in dust and ashes.—Ralph Emerson, A.M. Abridged from “The Preacher’s Treasury.” DAVID’S PRAYER(Psalms 51:7.) A sermon useful when it goes with a man to his closet, as well as affects him for the present. Nathan’s to David. Hyssop—alluding to the cleansing the leper (Leviticus 14:1-7). Or to the waters of separation (Numbers 19) Observe:— I. When God leads us to reflect on our sins, we feel ourselves awfully polluted. David in the text. (Job 42:1-6; Psalms 38:4; Isaiah 6:1-5; Isaiah 64:6; Ezekiel 20:43; Luke 15:17-19; Luke 18:13; Acts 2:36-37; Titus 3:3.) O my soul! O my hearers! reflect II. The blood of Jesus Christ is even more than a remedy for the foulest iniquities. “Whiter than snow” (Romans 5:20-21). How? 1. As it makes the penitent more acceptable to God, and more secure in His favour than Adam in Paradise. (Luke 15:7; Luke 15:22; Luke 15:32; Romans 8:1, &c.; Ephesians 1:6; Ephesians 5:27; Colossians 3:3-4.) 2. As it excites them to obey God in resisting temptation more than Adam. (Genesis 3:11-13, compared with Ephesians 6:11-17; Revelation 12:10-11.) 3. As God will be more glorified in recovering a fallen sinner, than in making man upright. As Redeemer than as Creator. As the God of grace in the Gospel than as Law-Giver. (Isaiah 44:22-23; Luke 2:10-14; 2 Corinthians 3:7-11; 1 Peter 1:11-12.) 4. As the happiness of the penitent will be ultimately greater than that of Adam in Paradise. (Revelation 7:9, &c.) III. This remedy becomes effectual by an application to our own case. See text. As food—physic—clothing, &c. Noah’s ark. The brazen serpent. The cities of refuge. IV. The application of this remedy to ourselves is to be sought in prayer. See text. (Psalms 106:4-5; Psalms 130:1-6; Luke 18:13.) V. Though God has pardoned the penitent he can scarcely believe it, and will be applying for pardon again and again. Thus David in this psalm, though Nathan had told him of God’s forgiveness (2 Samuel 12:13). USES.— 1. Alarm to sinners impenitent and unpardoned in their sins. 2. Caution to the self-righteous. 3. Bless God for the cleansing blood of Jesus, and use it to God’s glory,—to your own salvation.—F———r. DAVID’S PRAYER AND VOW(Psalms 51:10-13.) There is an essential difference between the prayers offered up under the influence of habit merely, and those which are induced by a deep sense of guilt, dependence, and want. When David uttered the words before us, he felt that he needed the grace and mercy of his Maker,—consequently his requests were simple, important, and earnest. Perhaps there is no one here that has fallen into sin such as that which the Psalmist had committed—still, there Is no one but may offer up his prayer with the greatest propriety. I. Let us glance at the petitions. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” The Psalmist felt that his heart was Defiled—that it was not in his power to cleanse it—he therefore prayed that God would perform the work renew a right spirit within me.” These words refer to the temper of the mind. The Psalmist knew that his was wrong; and, consequently prayed that God would renew a right spirit within him. “If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” “Cast me not away from Thy presence.” In the presence of God is “fulness of joy:” therefore, to be cast away from His presence is to be deprived of happiness. “Take not Thy holy spirit from me.” The Spirit of God “helpeth our infirmities:” therefore, to be deprived of the Spirit is to be deprived of help. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter: therefore, to be deprived of the Spirit is to be deprived of comfort. “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.” The knowledge of salvation produces joy,—this joy the Psalmist had experienced,—it was not his portion when he uttered these words,—he therefore desired its restoration. “Uphold me with Thy free spirit.” Having experienced the sad consequences of falling into sin, the Psalmist here prays that when restored he might be upheld, and prevented from falling again. II. Notice the predicated results of a gracious answer; or the connection between piety and usefulness. “Then will I teach transgressors Thy way; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.” He that enjoys the blessings of salvation, can speak on religious subjects with more feeling, and, consequently, with more effect than others. This may remind Christians, and especially Christian ministers, that eminent piety is exceedingly desirable, not only on their own account, but also that they may be qualified for extensive usefulness.—“The Young Minister’s Companion.” THE JOYS OF (Psalms 51:12.) “The joy of Thy salvation.”It is God’s salvation. It is no dreamy following of the upward instincts and aspirations of the nature; no trying to be just, pure, and good, and then, if we fail, and become selfish, sensual, and devilish, forgetting the failure and trying again, always trying, always hoping, with a vague belief that though sin always gets the better of us, there is some good thing in us which, after all, cannot be lost. Neither is it a vague reliance on God’s goodness and mercy, a feeling that He is a Father, and cannot, therefore, doom His children to despair and death. These dreams and hopes are the salvations which men provide for themselves: but they are not, nor are they like, God’s salvation. God’s salvation rests upon the knowledge of God’s Himself, as He has revealed Himself—His name—His word—His promises—His work; whereby, not by our own dreams or hopes, but by His declaration, “We have strong consolation,” &c. It is one thing to feel that He is a Father, and must be full of love to His children; it is another thing to hear Him say, “I am a Father; I love as no human father can love, &c. (John 3:16-17). It is one thing to trust vaguely to God’s goodness for pardon; it is another thing to hear Him say, “Come now, and let us reason together,” &c.; and to follow His guiding finger till we behold “the Lamb of God,” &c. It is one thing to have our hopes and instincts looking on towards immortality, &c.; it is another thing to see “life and immortality brought to light by the Gospel,” to stand by the unsealed tomb of Lazarus and hear such awful words as these, “I am the resurrection, and the life:” &c. (John 11:25-44; John 14:1-5; John 20:17). The man who has received these truths from God, these gifts of God, and knows why and “whom he has believed,” is the man in whom the joys of God’s salvation abound. He has God’s salvation; his ground is the everlasting rock, the Word of God. What are its joys? I. The joy of a sufficient and final answer to the self-upbraidings of a guilty soul. The sense of guilt, the dread of doom, must be disposed of, before there can be any freedom, any upright, manly activity, any pure and lasting joy. The man who wakes up to comprehend the breadth and the depth of God’s law, stands self-condemned. All refuges of lies have vanished, the naked realities appear, and his sin clouds over utterly the heaven of God’s love. The sense of guilt torments him. “O miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” This question of the purging of guilt is the fundamental question of all the religions of heathendom—of all simple, untutored souls (Micah 6:6-8). To this questioning there is but one joyful answer: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord,” &c. (Romans 7:25; Romans 8:1-4; Romans 8:33-39). The burden falls off; the darkness is chased by dawn. II. The joy of a portion which satisfies the heart’s largest conceptions and desires. “My soul panteth for God, for the living God.” There is that in man which the knowledge of the living God only can satisfy, which, having God, has all things in Him. We know what it is to love the creature—to feel that the love and communion of some fond, fair idol would make the bliss of earth, the bliss of eternity. He has the joys of God’s salvation who has done with idols—who loves only that which has eternal beauty and fairness in the creature, and finds that he has the very substance of all that may be loved in the Lord. The commerce between the believing soul and Christ is the ravishing sweetness of the present—the hope of unclouded vision, of unbounded communion, is the glorious treasure of the future. III. The joy of an answer to all the difficulties and perplexities which beset the spirit and the intellect in their progress. I do not say that the believer, in full communion with Christ and with the joys of His salvation, is freed from the mental and the moral cares which beset the path of a soul’s progress. That joy—the joy of knowing that doubt, darkness, and the anguish of mental and moral conflict, are done with for ever—we shall realise when we can take up the song, “For I am now ready to be offered,” &c. (2 Timothy 4:6-8). We must win our creed by mental conflict, we must win our crown by moral conflict; hut the joy of God’s salvation is tasted by those who feel that the great central truths, at any rate, are sure. “I know whom I have believed.” I have found the centre; to explore the circumference may be matter of danger, difficulty, suffering, but hope lights the way, the sorrow can never darken into despair. One thing is clear to me, let what will be dark, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” … There is hope of his knowing all things that is good to know, who has already the mind of Christ. IV. The joy of having the key to all the mysterious ways of Providence in the world. God writes the record of His Providential government in ciphers. We know the cipher; it is a blank to others. To those who know God it is plain and clear. To the soul well grounded in the conviction, “He doeth all things well,” there is no mystery. This or that thing may be difficult to understand; but to him who believes, the mystery, at any rate, is dissipated—the full understanding will come in time. How deadly is the difficulty to those who have not found the key in the love of God in Christ, let these passages show: Job 23:1-9; Job 11:5-10; Isaiah 38:9-19. But “we know that all things work together for good,” &c. And we believe that God forsaketh not the world in all its agonies and perils, for which the Lord Jesus died. We can even take these sorrows, and make them into joys (Romans 5:3; 1 Peter 1:7). V. The joy of victory over death. It is an awful thing to look upon the face of the dead. Where is the spirit which a moment since? &c. The most dread moment of our experience is before us—every one of us. We may have mastered many agonies; we have yet to wrestle with the agony of death. Then the dearest must leave you; alone you must then face your destiny. As the dear forms of earth grow dim, a grander, more beautiful, more glorious form will come shining through the gloom (Psalms 23:4; 1 Corinthians 15:55-58). “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” VI. The joy of living union with God with Christ, with all living and blessed beings, eternally. What is that world? What its speech, its habit, the forms of its life? We know not. The veil hangs over all these (1 John 3:2-3). “We know;” for He is there—the God-man glorified; and the Godman glorified, through trial, suffering, and death, is the key to the life of eternity. This “we know,” for we see Jesus. We can wait to know more till we see Him unveiled in heaven (1 Corinthians 15:9.). These are the joys of His salvation, and now they are freely offered to you by the Gospel—“Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.” Take in your hand NOW the riches that add no sorrow, the joy that leaves no aftertaste of pain; and let “the joy of the Lord be your strength”—strength for duty, strength for making known to others the joys of salvation God has given you as your portion.—J. Baldwin Brown, B.A. Abridged from “Aids to the Development of the Divine Life.” DAVID’S PRAYER(Psalms 51:14.) Notice— I. To whom David goes when conviction of sin is brought home to his conscience by the Holy Spirit through the ministry of Nathan. 1. Man shuns and avoids his accuser. It was God who had accused David of his sin. Yet to God he goes with confession of guilt and prayer for forgiveness. When God convinces of sin, turn not away from Him, but, &c. 2. Man shuns and avoids his judge. It was God who had condemned David to suffer in his own family for unholy inroad made on sacred family ties of another. Yet to God he goes. When God lays His hand upon us, let us not turn away from Him who corrects (Hebrews 12:10). II. The spirit and frame of mind in which he approaches God. 1. As regards himself—with self-abasement. “Deliver me from blood-guiltiness.” Is he not too hard upon himself? Had he actually slain Uriah? He had slain him by sword of children of Ammon (2 Samuel 12:9). True penitent feels he cannot be too hard upon himself. Confesses sin in all its heinousness. 2. As regards God—with hope in His mercy. “Deliver me … O od, Thou God of my salvation.” Were not God the “God of my salvation,” access with favour would be for ever denied. But He is “the God of whom cometh salvation.” And the God of my salvation when I approach Him through Jesus Christ. III. The prayer of David. “Deliver me,” &c. All of us must make this prayer our own. The blood-guiltiness of David was on account of murder of Uriah. Blood-guiltiness may be ours in one or other of three ways? 1. If condition not by grace changed, miserable in blood-guiltiness, because crucified Son of God. 2. If any of us stand condemned before God at last, miserable in blood-guiltiness, because condemned suicides. Salvation offered will have been despised. The Spirit resisted—Christ rejected. 3. At the last day shall have to answer for others (Genesis 4:9; Proverbs 24:11-12). Is there not need that we say, with David, “Deliver me,” &c.? In last clause of text, pious resolve for the future. Delivered from blood-guiltiness, cannot we take up language of Psalmist and say, “And my mouth shall sing,” &c.? Not our own, but His. The answer of peace comes to us in way of righteousness. Our theme of praise and thanksgiving on earth. And in heaven (Revelation 5:12). What shall I render unto the Lord? (Romans 12:1).—R. C. Billing, B.A. Abridged from “The Homiletic Quarterly.” THE OF ZION SOUGHT(Psalms 51:18.) “Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion.” Consider— I. The importance of the object sought. David prays for the prosperity of Zion. 1. The Church is exposed to many dangers, and needs to be protected by an almighty arm. David probably feared that by his own sin he had brought danger upon Zion; that God might justly manifest His displeasure by giving her into the hand of her enemies, or by withdrawing His favour from her. The Church of Christ needs preservation (1) from sectarian or denominational strife; (2) from disunion and discord in individual churches; (3) from formality; (4) from prevalent errors. Hence the importance of the prayer. 2. The Church is imperfect, and its prosperity consists in its improvement. “Do good in Thy,” &c. “Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants,” &c. (Psalms 90:16-17). The prosperity of the Church is promoted— (1) When there is an increasing adherence to those truths on which primitive Christianity was established. (2) When under the influence of these truths, the citizens of Zion are persevering in holiness. “The path of the just is as the shining light,” &c. II. The grounds of encouragement we have in seeking this object. We might refer to some particulars suggested by the words, “Thy good pleasure:” e.g., (α) that God is the Founder of His Church; (β) He established it at the greatest expense. Christ died to redeem it. (γ) In doing good to His Church He is glorifying His Son, who is “Head over all things to the Church;” (δ) The purposes and promises of God to the Church. But— 1. To pray for Zion is a duty enjoined by Divine authority. “Pray,” said Christ, “hallowed be Thy name,” &c. The security, improvement, and success of the Church depend upon prayer. 2. God is the hearer of prayer. III. The manner in which we should reek this object. We may lose blessings through not seeking them aright. “Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss.” 1. We should ourselves be identified with the Church. 2. We should feel a deep interest in its welfare. 3. We should be constant in prayer for its prosperity; should seek it in our closets, in our families, &c. 4. We should unite in prayer for this object. 5. We should present our prayers in faith. 6. We should be importunate and fervent in prayer for this object. Conclude by endeavouring to enforce this duty upon Christians.—Abridged from an unpublished MS. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, Maschil, a Psalm of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech.”“To the Chief Musician,” see on the title to Psalms 39.“Maschil,” an instruction, a didactic poem. “The didactic character of this Psalm,” says Moll, “which is brought into prominence by the title, and its devotional aim, are especially noticeable, from the fact that, with respect to its form, the invocation of God, which is peculiar to prayers, lamentations, and hymns, is entirely absent; with respect to its contents, the mighty man, who, according to Psalms 52:7, is proud of his riches, is upbraided for his impudence, wickedness, and falseness (Psalms 52:1-4), the punishment of God, which will destroy him, is proclaimed (Psalms 52:5), the action of the righteous, which will be called forth thereby, is contrasted with it (Psalms 52:6-7), and the lot and conduct of the pious Psalmist, corresponding with his trust in God’s grace, is pronounced. It is advisable to abide by the statements of the title, and refer to the informing of Doeg, the overseer of the royal asses (1 Samuel 22:9, sqq.), in consequence of which eighty-five priests were slaughtered, whilst David retained his courage, and expressed it to Abiathar, who escaped to David from that blood-bath, the son of Ahimelech, that priest of Nob, who had thoughtlessly given David, as the king’s son-in-law, the shew-bread, and the sword of Goliath, which was hung up behind the ephod in the sanctuary, and this had excited the suspicion and vengeance of Saul, who now made Doeg, the informer of that act, likewise the executioner of his bloody sentence.”Homiletically, the Psalm sets before us an impressive beacon (Psalms 52:1-5), and the effect upon the righteous of the judgment of God upon the wicked (Psalms 52:6-9).AN BEACON(Psalms 52:1-5.) We have here— I. The moral portrait of a wicked man. In this delineation of the moral features of Doeg the Edomite, we see,— 1. Inventiveness in evil. “Thy tongue deviseth mischief.” The tongue uttered the mischiefs which the heart devised. He invented malicious speeches, and framed skilfully evil designs. Baron Huddlestone, on April 23, 1877, in sentencing a prisoner to fifteen years’ penal servitude, remarked, “That he was a man of great talent, and, if he had employed it in a proper manner, he might have obtained a position of the highest honour and respectability; but instead of this, he appeared to have devoted his mental strength against mankind.” Like him of whom the judge spake, and like Doeg, there are many who are subtle and inventive in evil doing. Such deliberation in wickedness involves the greatest guilt. 2. Rooted mendacity. “Thou workest deceit … thou lovest lying … O deceitful tongue.” M. Henry: “It may refer to the information which he gave in against Ahimelech; for the matter of fact was, in substance, true, yet it was misrepresented, and false colours were put upon it, and, therefore, he might well be said to love lying, and to have a deceitful tongue. He told the truth, but not all the truth, as a witness ought to do; had he told that David made Ahimelech believe he was then going upon Saul’s errand, the kindness he showed him would have appeared to be not only not traitorous against Saul, but respectful to him. It will not save us from the guilt of lying to be able to say, ‘There was some truth in what we said,’ if we pervert it, and make it appear otherwise than what it was.” Beecher: “A lie always needs a truth for a handle to it, else the hand would cut itself which sought to drive it home upon another. The worst lies, therefore, are those whose blade is false, but whose handle is true.” 3. Cruel malignity. “Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs like a sharp razor. Thou lovest all devouring words.” Perowne: lit. “Words of swallowing up.” His words were wounding as a sharp razor, and ruinous, as if they engulfed those against whom they were directed. “An untrue man is a moral murderer, his tongue the deadly weapon, and his neighbour the victim.” 4. Utter and terrible perversion of character. “Thou lovest evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness.” Moll: “The accused not only loves evil more than good, but he prefers evil to good, so that he loves it instead of that which he should love.” What terrible moral perversion does this involve! He “boasted himself in mischief;” he triumphed in that which was his ignominy; he exulted in falsehood and cruelty. When sin is characterised by so much deliberation and malignity, when men love it, and make their boast in it, who can estimate its criminality? In this moral portrait of a wicked man, have we not an impressive beacon warning us away from sin? Look upon it, and beware of falsehood, and all evil speaking. “Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt.” Look upon it, and, as you mark its unrelieved and utter blackness, beware of the beginnings of evil, &c. II. Remonstrance with a wicked man. “Why boastest Thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man?” &c. This inquiry implies— 1. That his boasting was vain. The folly of his boast appears from (1) the nature of his deeds. “O mighty man,” or, “O hero!” “can only be sarcastic,” says Moll. In what he had done he had exhibited no courage, no fortitude. A veritable hero art thou, Doeg! for thou didst first slander a noble man and a priest, and then thou didst courageously slay eighty-five unarmed priests, and then, O paragon of heroism! thou didst slay “women, children, and sucklings!” O valiant Doeg! Boast on, thou mighty man. The folly of his boast appears from (2) the result of his deeds. In his calculation of results Doeg had not taken account of GOD. “The goodness of God endureth continually.” That is a guarantee of the ultimate security and well-being of the righteous, and of the destruction of the wicked. M. Henry: “Thou thinkest with the mischief which thou boastest of (so artfully contrived, and so successfully carried on), to run down and ruin the people of God; but thou wilt find thyself mistaken: the goodness of God endures continually for their preservation, and then they need not fear what man can do unto them. The enemies in vain boast in their mischief while we have God’s mercy to boast in.” They who now boast in their iniquities shall, ere long, be covered with reproach and confusion of face. 2. That his boasting was wicked. He was glorying in his shame. The deeds he had done had heavily weighted him with guilt; and, by glorying in them, he was increasing the burden of his criminality. To do evil is wrong; but to boast of having done it is far more wrong. Let us heed this beacon. Sin is folly; but to boast of sin is the most egregious folly, and indicates the most deplorable moral depravity. Be rational, be wise, and shun sin. III. The doom of a wicked man. “God shall likewise destroy thee for ever,” &c. Doeg is here threatened with utter destruction, with irretrievable ruin. 1. The ruin is complete and irretrievable. He will destroy thee for ever,” as walls are torn down to the ground, never more to be rebuilt. He will forcibly remove “thee from thy dwelling-place” for ever; and as a tree is torn up from the roots and so destroyed, so will He cut thee off out of the land of the living. A terrible destruction awaits the persistent workers of iniquity—the destruction of all that makes life worth having. 2. The ruin is retributive. “God shall likewise destroy thee,” &c. “Likewise introduces the corresponding behaviour of another.” “Destroyers shall be destroyed.” “With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Judges 1:6-7; Isaiah 3:10-11). Mark well, then, this impressive beacon. See the enormity to which wickedness may grow, and avoid the beginnings of evil; the irrationality of wickedness, and walk in the ways of wisdom; the dread consummation to which wickedness tends, and “abstain from all appearance of evil.” “As righteousness tendeth to life; so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” Jesus Christ is the Almighty Saviour from sin. Trust Him; obey Him; and live. THE EFFECT UPON THE OF THE OF GOD UPON THE WICKED(Psalms 52:6-9.) I. The righteous behold the judgment of God upon the wicked. “The righteous also shall see.” The Psalmist expresses his confidence that the righteous would live to see the ruin of the wicked; that they who saw their sin, should also see God’s judgment on them because of their sin. This idea is more fully expressed by David in Psalms 37:34-36. The godly man shall live to see that a life of sin, however prosperous it may seem to be, leads to the destruction of those who pursue it. “When the wicked are cut off thou shalt see.” Even in the present state we may see that the issue of an upright life is blessed, and that of a sinful life is ruinous. II. They are awed by the judgments of God upon the wicked. “The righteous also shall see, and fear.” This fear is not slavish, but reverent. The godly stand in holy awe in the presence of the divine judgments, and fear lest they should transgress the law of God, and so expose themselves to their stroke. The most hardened sinner cannot stand before the judgments of the Almighty. And, inasmuch as every man by sin has merited His displeasure, we all have need to humble ourselves at the footstool of the Divine mercy. When the righteous see the judgments of God, the effect upon them is most salutary: they fear Him, they shun sin, &c. III. They approve the judgment of God upon the wicked. “The righteous shall laugh at him.” There is a laughter because of the fall of the wicked which is sinful (Job 31:29; Proverbs 24:17-18). There is also a laughter because of the Divine judgments upon them which is lawful and right, viz., the laughter of joy, because of the triumph of the Divine government. Moll: “If they laugh, it is not a laughing in the joy of injuring, in scorn and reproaching, but the bringing into view the absurd inconsistency in which the ungodly have become involved by their abandonment of God.” Barnes: “The idea here is not exultation in the sufferings of others, or joy that calamity has come upon them, or the gratification of selfish and revengeful feeling that an enemy is deservedly punished; it is that of approbation that punishment has come upon those who deserve it, and joy that wickedness is not allowed to triumph. This may be entirely free from any malignant or any revengeful feeling. It may even be connected with the deepest pity, and with the purest benevolence towards the sufferers themselves.” “Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of nations.” IV. They are instructed by the judgment of God upon the wicked. “Behold the man that maketh not God his strength,” &c. Perowne: “The words in which the righteous express their triumph, pointing, as it were, to the fallen oppressor, and the lesson to be learnt from his overthrow.” Here are three lessons— 1. That to trust in wealth is folly. “Behold the man that trusted in the abundance of his riches.” It would appear from this verse that Doeg was a rich man, and had great faith in the power of his wealth. Barnes: “He had that spirit of arrogance and self-confidence which springs from the conscious possession of property where there is no fear of God; and into all that he did he carried the sense of his own importance as derived from riches.” Comp. Psalms 49:6; Proverbs 10:15; Proverbs 18:11. 2. That the strength of wickedness is weakness. He “strengthened himself in wickedness.” By subtle and evil devices he endeavoured to establish himself, and fancied himself secure therein. No deeds which he deemed would increase his power, ever gave him pause because of their wickedness. He who builds his hopes upon wicked devices, even though they be framed with the utmost skill, builds upon sand. Utter ruin is the destiny of the fabric which he rears. Wickedness is weakness. Lies must perish. Truth and righteousness alone are abiding and strong. 3. That God is the only adequate support of human life. “The man made not God his strength,” and his end was destruction. A consideration of His almighty power, infinite wisdom, unchanging faithfulness, and essential kindness, is calculated to inspire strong confidence in the all-sufficiency of God as the support of human life. And there is no other adequate support. Wealth, wisdom, rank, power, friendship, &c., are insufficient. He who leans upon any or upon all of them is doomed to bitter disappointment and a grievous fall. Such are the lessons which the poet learned from the judgment of God upon the wicked. V. They flourish in the midst of the judgment of God upon the wicked. “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God,” &c. Consider— 1. The nature of this happy state. The state of the Psalmist was characterised by (1) Divine security. Barnes: “A tree planted in the very courts of the sanctuary would be regarded as sacred, and would be safe as long as the tabernacle itself was safe, for it would be, as it were, directly under the Divine protection. So David had been, notwithstanding all the efforts of his enemies to destroy him.” The righteous are inviolably secure from any real harm, for the Lord is their keeper (Psalms 125:1-2; Romans 8:31; Romans 8:37). (2) Religious privileges. David looked forward with confidence and gladness to the termination of his exile and his return to the sanctuary. To him the tabernacle and the ordinances of worship were precious and hallowed things. The people of God find strength and joy in the means of grace, while the wicked are overthrown by their own wickedness. (3) Spiritual prosperity. In the Scriptures a green tree is the emblem of prosperity (Psalms 1:3; Psalms 92:12; Jeremiah 11:16). M. Henry: “Those that by faith and love dwell in the house of God shall be like green olive-trees there; the wicked are said to flourish like a green bay-tree (Psalms 37:35), which bears no useful fruit, though it has abundance of large leaves; but the righteous flourish like a green olive-tree, which is fat as well as flourishing (Psalms 92:14), and with its fatness honours God and man (Judges 9:9), deriving its root and fatness from the good olive (Romans 11:17).” Notwithstanding the bitter opposition of the wicked, the people of God shall grow in grace, and bring forth the fruits of holy living and useful working. “When wrath the wicked shall destroy,They shall abide in peace and joyWho love Thy righteous laws.”2. The condition of this happy state. “I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.” The Psalmist was well assured of the constancy, the unchangeableness, and the perpetuity of the mercy of God, and in that he trusted. Faith in God is the condition of spiritual safety and prosperity. VI. They worship God because of His judgment upon the wicked. “I will praise Thee for ever because,” &c. The judgments of God as viewed by the righteous— 1. Incite to praise. “I will praise Thee,” &c. They reveal the righteousness of His administration; His regard for His people, &c.; and so enkindle gratitude, reverence, &c. 2. Inspire confidence. “And will wait on Thy name.” Barnes: “There are two ideas essentially in the language. (1) The expression of a sense of dependence on God, as if the only ground of trust was in Him. (2) A willingness to await His interposition at all times; a belief that, however long such interposition might be delayed, God would interfere at the proper time to bring deliverance; and a purpose calmly and patiently to look to Him until the time of deliverance should come” (Psalms 27:14; Psalms 37:7; Psalms 37:9; Psalms 37:34; Isaiah 40:31). .— 1. What is our relation to the Divine judgments? 2. What is the ground of our confidence? Is it wealth? or the power of cunning and unscrupulous wickedness? or the Lord God? 3. What is the spirit and what the condition of our life?THE FOLLY OF IN RICHES(Psalms 52:7.) “Behold the man that trusted in the abundance of his riches.” We have here— I. A great mistake. To trust in riches is to err greatly: 1. Because of the uncertainty of the tenure of riches. “Labour not to be rich: for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven” (1 Timothy 6:17). At the farthest we must relinquish them at death (Psalms 49:17; Ecclesiastes 5:15). 2. Because of the limited power of riches. Wealth can do much, but there are many things which it cannot do. It can buy books, but not intellectual power; paintings, but not appreciative taste; service and sycophancy, but not esteem and affection, &c. It cannot buy pardon, peace, purity, &c. It cannot bribe death, &c. 3. Because of the utter inability of riches to satisfy those who possess them. He who has much wealth would fain have more. The cravings of the soul of man, created for truth, immortality, and God, cannot be satisfied with the bribes which wealth can offer. How mistaken then is he who trusts in wealth! II. A common mistake. The great race of the age is for the acquisition of wealth. If you ask what a man is worth, people tell you how much money he possesses. Manhood is sacrificed for money. Riches are the deity of thousands in Christian England. III. A ruinous mistake if persisted in. “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” “Thy money perish with thee.” (Comp. Luke 12:15-21.) According to the superscription this Psalm was composed by David and dedicated “To the Chief Musician;” to be used in public worship under his direction. The term “upon Mahalath” is variously interpreted. In the Geneva version it is rendered, “To him that excelleth on Mahalath;” which is explained in the margin to be “an instrument or kind of note.” “This expresses the opinions of most commentators. Aben Ezra understands by it the name of a melody to which the Psalm was sung. Calvin and J. H. Michaelis, among others, regarded it as an instrument of music, or the commencement of a melody. Fuerst explains Mahalath as the name of a musical corps dwelling at Abel-Meholah, just as by Gittith he understands the band of Levite minstrels at Gath Rimmon. On the other hand, the opinion that Mahalath contains an enigmatical indication of the subject of the Psalm is adopted by Hengstenberg to the exclusion of every other. He translates ‘on Mahalath’ by ‘on sickness, referring to the spiritual malady of the sons of men. A third theory is that of Delitzsch, who considers Mahalath as indicating to the choir the manner in which the Psalm was to be sung, and compares the modern terms mesto, andante mesto” (Smith’s Dict. of the Bible). The term “Maschil” shows that the Psalm was designed to afford instruction.This Psalm is almost exactly similar to Psalms 14. The only difference which requires notice here is between Psalms 53:5-6 of Psalms 14. and Psalms 53:5 of this one.“There were they in great fear; for God is in the generation of the righteous. Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge” (Psalms 14:5-6.)“There were they in great fear, where no fear was; for God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee: thou hast put them to shame, because God hath despised them.”For the chief exposition we refer the reader to “The Hom. Com.” on Psalms 14. We add, as supplementary to that, a few Homiletic suggestions.GOD MAN(Psalms 53:2.) “The original word here—ùָׁ ?÷ַ ?ó,” says Barnes, “conveys the idea of bending forward, and hence of an intense and anxious looking, as we bend forward when we wish to examine anything with attention, or when we look out for one who is expected to come. The idea is, that God looked intently, or so as to secure a close examination, upon the children of men, for the express purpose of ascertaining whether there were any that were good. He looked at all men; He examined all their pretensions to goodness, and He saw none who could be regarded as exempt from the charge of depravity.” The text suggests— I. God’s profound interest in humanity. He bows Himself forward, and, with zeal and concern, examines man’s moral state. Such is the form in which important truths are represented—this amongst others, that the Most High is deeply interested in man’s moral condition? Why is He so? 1. Because of the dignity of man’s nature. To God nothing is unimportant—nothing mean. But man is the noblest of His creations in this world. “God created man in His own image.” 2. Because of the peculiarity of man’s moral condition. By disobedience man entered into the dread knowledge of evil. Unfallen angels are entirely holy. Fallen angels are utterly depraved. In human nature the battle between good and evil is being waged. 3. Because of the capabilities of man’s nature. Man is capable of rising to the highest or sinking to the lowest position in the universe of God. It would be passing strange if God were not deeply interested in man. Nothing that concerns thee, my brother, is unimportant in the Divine estimation. II. God’s searching scrutiny of humanity. The poet represents him as earnestly examining “the children of men.” His is the scrutiny of— 1. An all-seeing Being. Nothing can be hidden from His all-searching eye (Psalms 139:11-16; Ezekiel 11:5; Hebrews 4:13). 2. An infinitely holy Being. He hates sin with awful and unappeasable hatred. His dwelling, His ways, His works, His essential nature, are all holy (Isaiah 57:15; Habakkuk 1:12-13; 1 John 1:5; Revelation 4:8). 3. An infinitely merciful Being. “A God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.” If there be in us any sincere efforts after truth and righteousness, He sees and approves them. In His judgment of His creatures He makes allowance for their weakness, for the force of temptation, &c. He is not harsh, &c. His holiness which leads Him to hate sin leads Him also to seek the salvation of the sinner. Such is the Being who is ever earnestly observing man, examining man. How solemn and sacred should our life be, since it is ever under His inspection! What an inspiration and encouragement does this inspection afford to the godly! What a restraint it should prove to the workers of iniquity! “For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” III. The supreme concern of humanity. Why does God so earnestly examine man? “To see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.” As these are the things which God desires to discover in man, man’s great concern should be to have and to exercise them. We should seek— 1. Moral intelligence. “Understand,” or act prudently—the antithesis of the fool in Psalms 53:1. Not intellectual attainment, but practical wisdom. “Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one,Have ofttimes no connection. Knowledge dwellsIn heads replete with thoughts of other men;Wisdom in minds attentive to their own.Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass,The mere materials with which wisdom builds,Till smooth’d, and squared, and fitted to its place,Does but encumber whom it seems t’enrich.Knowledge is proud that he has learn’d so much;Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.”—Cowper.“The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way.” 2. Divine aspiration. “Seek God.” Hengstenberg: “To seek God, designates the desire of the heart after Him, the longing directed towards Him.” Where there is any true wisdom, or any spiritual life, it will manifest itself in seeking fellowship and union with God. Only through the mediation of Jesus Christ can this union be obtained. Our well-being is impossible apart from Him. .— 1. He who now scrutinises will one day judge man. 2. His judgment of man is infallible. He deliberately, patiently, and thoroughly examines into every case before pronouncing judgment. 3. He is also the merciful Saviour of men. 4. Our supreme interest is to seek to know Him as our Saviour. THE OF THE CHURCH AND THE OF HER ENEMIES(Psalms 53:5-6.) The poet here represents the destruction of the wicked— I. As utter and irreversible. “God hath scattered the bones of thy besiegers.” The figure points to the most complete and terrible destruction of the enemies of the Church. Not only is their power broken and their forces dispersed, but they are slain, and their bones, unburied, are scattered upon the earth. Moll: “It was the greatest disgrace that the bones which had not been gathered and buried should be scattered to become the prey of wild beasts, or manure of the field” (Psalms 141:7; Jeremiah 8:2; Jeremiah 9:22; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 25:33; Ezekiel 6:5). The wicked must either submit themselves unto God, or suffer irretrievable overthrow. If any one will resist Him to the uttermost, by so doing he will bring upon himself utter destruction (Job 9:4; Job 40:9). II. As effected by God. “God hath scattered,” &c. Doubtless there is an historical allusion here. Most probably the allusion is to the destruction of the vast and mighty host of Sennacherib before Jerusalem. In one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians were slain by “the angel of the Lord.” “I will defend this city to save it,” said the Lord, “for Mine own sake, and for My servant David’s sake.” There was no battle. He needed no assistance. With the breath of his nostrils he slew them. How insane for any creature to battle against Him! He can crush the mightiest with a word, or wither the most vigorous with one glance of His eye! III. As overtaking them when they regarded themselves as quite secure. “There were they in great fear where no fear was.” It is incorrect to interpret this as groundless alarm or unnecessary fear. The meaning is, that when the enemies of the Israelites saw no reason to be terrified, and felt themselves entirely safe, suddenly and utterly contrary to their expectation, destruction overtook them. “A sound of terrors is in his ears; in prosperity,” &c. (Job 15:21). “When they shall say, Peace and safety,” &c. (1 Thessalonians 5:3). In opposition to God there can be no safety, under any circumstances. In alliance with Him there can be no real peril, however threatening the aspect of affairs may be. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 20:1-30.) IV. As inflicted because of their hostility to the people of God. The enemy was utterly overthrown because he was besieging the chosen people. No one can attempt to injure even the least of the people of God without calling forth His interposition. 1. He is in covenant relation with His people, and is pledged to help them. He is ever true to His covenant engagements. “He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” 2. He is profoundly and tenderly interested in His people (Isaiah 49:14-16; Matthew 18:5-6; Matthew 25:40; Matthew 25:45; Acts 9:4). From these portions of Scripture it is quite clear that He identifies Himself with them: what is done against them He regards as done against Him; what is done for them, as done for Him. In this we have— (1) An inspiring and strengthening consideration for the people of God. (2) Motive and encouragement to those who would aid them. (3) Warning to those who would injure them. V. The destruction of the wicked in former times as an encouragement to the good to expect salvation from present dangers. This we take to be the connecting link between Psalms 53:5-6. “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion,” &c. Notice— 1. The poetic view of salvation. It is here represented as deliverance from captivity. Captivity is a figure to represent restraint, misery, &c. “Turning the captivity” is a figure for the turning of an unhappy condition into a restoration to former prosperity. A state of sin is a state of bondage and misery. The Lord Jesus introduces man to freedom and joy. 2. The grand source of salvation. “Out of Zion,” &c., because there the Lord was enthroned in the sanctuary as in His habitation. The salvation of man from the sins and sorrows of life can come only from God. It is His to “proclaim liberty to the captives,” &c. 3. The earnest desire of salvation. “Oh that the salvation of Israel,” &c. Our fervent desires are our true prayers. Through all ages the prayers of true hearts have been offered for the redemption of the world from sin and misery. 4. The anticipated result of salvation. “Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.” To the individual the realisation of salvation is a joyous experience. And when its blessings shall be enjoyed by all mankind, the exultation will be universal in its extent, and enthusiastic and reverent in its character. And unto God shall all the glory be ascribed. 5. The encouragement to expect salvation. Past deliverances inspire the poet with confident hope of salvation from present difficulties and dangers. God is unchangeable. What He has done in the past He is able to do in the present. He is faithful. What He has promised that will He perform. Every new deliverance is an additional reason for trusting Him. “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” “His love in time pastForbids me to thinkHe’ll leave me at lastIn trouble to sink:Each sweet EbenezerI have in review,Confirms His good pleasureTo help me quite through.”—Newton. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician on Neginoth.” There is very little doubt that “Neginoth” is “the general term denoting all stringed instruments whatsoever, whether played with the hand, like the harp and guitar, or with a plectrum. ‘The chief musician on Neginoth’ was therefore the conductor of that portion of the Temple-choir, who played upon the stringed instruments.”—Smith’s Dict. of the Bible.“Maschil,” an instruction. Berleb. Bible—“We should learn from the example of David that even in the greatest danger we should resort to no forbidden means, nor grow faint, but should call upon the name of God, and commit to Him all our concerns as to the Supreme Judge.”“A Psalm of David, when the Ziphims,” &c. The psalm was composed by David when the Ziphites informed Saul that David concealed himself in their country. This occurred on two occasions, 1 Samuel 23:19; 1 Samuel 26:1. Probably the first of these is referred to here, as the words of the superscription literally agree with the words of the Ziphites, as reported in 1 Samuel 23:19. The psalm, says Moll, “is plain and simple in form and contents. It expresses at first a prayer to God for deliverance in a just cause from dreaded ungodly enemies (Psalms 54:1-3). It then expresses, in a lively manner, confidence in the Divine help and the punishment of His enemies (Psalms 54:4-5); finally it concludes with the vow of thanksgiving for such acts of God in confirmation of His name.”Homiletically we regard the psalm as presenting to view The troubled life of a good man Psalms 54:1-3; and, The triumphant life of a good man, Psalms 54:4-7.A GLIMPSE OF A LIFE(Psalms 54:1-3.) Consider— I. The cause of the trouble. “For strangers are risen up against me,” &c. His distress arose from his enemies, whom he here represents as— 1. Unnatural. “Strangers are risen up against me.” The expression is not to be taken literally as denoting foreigners, “since the inhabitants of Ziph, a town situated in the mountain wilderness of Judah, a few miles south-east of Hebron, were of the same race as David.” His own countrymen had become as foreigners to him, had treated him as an enemy. The Psalmist, like St. Paul in an after age, was in “perils among false brethren.” Dickson: “No strangers are more strange than they who cast off the bands of civility and nature, whereby they were bound: false countrymen, false brethren, false friends, false alliance, are those of whom men may expect least in their need, for David findeth such men to be his greatest enemies.” 2. Cruel. “Oppressors seek after my soul.” As a cruel tyrant, Saul was seeking to compass the death of David. Nothing less than the precious life itself would satisfy the jealous and malignant monarch. 3. Practically atheistic. “They have not set God before them.” Arnd.: “Not to have God before the eyes, means to speak and act without dread, whatever one pleases—nay, what is contrary to God and His holy Word, as if God did not see and hear it; nor to be afraid of God’s anger, or of His judgment, and to have no remembrance of God in the heart.” When men thus ignore the Divine Being, can we wonder that they trample under foot all ideas of humanity and justice in their treatment of their fellow-men? So we have a glimpse of this troubled life. Externally the poet knew no safety or peace; he was hunted from place to place with unrelenting cruelty, &c. We, too, know the meaning of trouble, and are not unacquainted with false brethren and fierce enemies, &c. II. The comfort in the trouble. The Psalmist found relief and help in prayer to God. 1. The object of his prayer. He prayed for audience and acceptance. “Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.” But the grand object of his prayer was deliverance from his dangers, salvation from his troubles. “Save me, O God, by Thy name,” &c. David seems to have been aware that the Ziphites had informed Saul of his whereabout; he felt how perilous his position was; and he appealed to God for protection and deliverance. 2. The encouragement of his prayer. This he drew from two sources. (1) The Being to whom he prayed. (á) His power to save. “Judge me by Thy strength.” He will “show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him.” “Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, high is Thy right hand.” (â) The perfections of His nature. “Save me, O God, by Thy name.” Barnes: “The word ‘name’ here may include the perfections or attributes properly implied in the name.” It implies all the benevolence, faithfulness, and power that were needed to warrant the most sanguine hope of salvation from Him. (2) The righteousness of his cause. “Judge me.” These words indicate that David was conscious of the righteousness of his cause. If he obtained his rights in the case, he would be triumphantly delivered. Arnd.: “From these words we learn, if we would pray rightly, and indeed would make a strong, powerful prayer, we must have a good cause, so that our conscience may not condemn us, and render our prayer impotent.” .—Learn 1. What the good may not expect in this life: exemption from trouble. 2. What the good may expect in this life: support and comfort in trouble. Let us seek it in prayer, as David did. A GLIMPSE OF A LIFE(Psalms 54:4-7.) The outward life of the Psalmist at this time was characterised by constant peril and trial; but his inward life was marked by peace and triumph. Consider— I. The nature of the triumphant life. The poet brings into notice two prominent features of this life— 1. Faith. Faith is the soul of all heroisms, whether of patient endurance, or brave, persistent performance. David believed in (1) God. To him God was not a myth or the mere article of a creed to which he had assented; but the grand Reality of being. His faith was living and realising in its character. He felt the presence of God with him, &c. (2) The righteousness of God’s government. “He shall reward evil unto mine enemies.” Notwithstanding his present distresses, David was fully persuaded of the righteousness of the Divine laws and administration. Ultimately the apparent inequalities in God’s government of the world will all be removed. Men will be retributed according to their character and conduct. (3) God’s interest in the individual life of those who trust Him. “Behold, God is mine Helper,” &c. God is personally interested in every one whose confidence is reposed in Him. In his distressing wanderings, David never passed beyond the Divine care. In his extremest danger he was covered by the shield of the Divine protection. It was his faith in these things that enabled him to live a triumphant life, even in the midst of incessant persecutions and perils. It is true of all men and in all ages that LIFE CAN BECOME ONLY THROUGH FAITH. Faith enlarging the horizon of life, realising the future and invisible, feeling the presence of God, and resting in His promises, transforms common men into heroes (Hebrews 11:32-40). 2. Worship. “I will freely sacrifice unto Thee,” &c. Here we have (1) The forms of worship. “Sacrifice, … praise.” Forms are indispensable to us. They express, and, by expressing, often increase, religious feeling. (2) The spirit of worship. “Freely.” This is not to be interpreted as signifying either (á) Spiritual as opposed to ceremonial offerings; or (â) Voluntary sacrifices as contrasted to those offered in fulfilment of vows; but (ã) Offerings brought with a willing mind and a glad heart. Sacrifice and praise, gifts and songs, are acceptable unto God and helpful to man only in the measure of their spontaneousness and heartiness. Here is another thing which contributed to the triumph of the Psalmist,—he delighted in worship. Worship calms, emboldens, strengthens man. Faith and worship are of the essential nature of a victorious life. II. The conquering power of the triumphant life. 1. It gives assurance of victory. “Behold, God is mine helper,” &c., Psalms 54:4-5. The believer in Christ has an unfailing assurance that, through Him, he will vanquish all his enemies. 2. It enables its possessor to realise the deliverance, and to triumph even in the midst of the trouble and conflict. “He hath delivered me out of all trouble,” &c. The victorious spirit enables David, even in the midst of his anxieties and perils, to realise (1) Complete deliverance from trouble; and (2) Complete triumph over his enemies. “Mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.” Wordsworth: “The words ‘his desire’ are not in the original, and would be better omitted. What David says is, that his eyes look calmly on his enemies: he views them without alarm; for he feels that the shield of God’s power and love is cast over him to protect him.” .—Let us thankfully rejoice in the victorious life. Even now, while beset by troubles and confronted by enemies, we triumph in and through Jesus our Lord. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace,” &c. (John 16:33). “We glory in tribulations also,” &c. (Romans 5:3-5). “In all these things we are more than conquerors,” &c. (Romans 8:31-39). “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ.” GOD OUR HELPER(Psalms 54:4.) “Behold, God is mine helper.” Man often stands in need of Divine help. It is good and pleasant to enjoy the help of our fellow-saints; but their help is limited, uncertain, and often valueless. Not so God—He is possessed of every qualification, so there never can be failure with him. Notice— I. When God is the helper of His people. 1. In the great crisis of their conversion. He raiseth from the pit, delivers, saves, &c. 2. In the troubles and afflictions of life. These are many, varied, sometimes severe, &c. Job, the Apostles (2 Corinthians 1:8-10). 3. In the perils and conflicts of their warfare (Psalms 37:14-15; Psalms 60:11-12; Psalms 146:5). 4. In their labours and toils in His kingdom (Psalms 121:1-2). 5. In weakness, sickness, and death (Psalms 23:4; Psalms 116:1-9). II. What kind of a Helper is God. 1. Always near at hand. 2. Always efficient and sufficient. 3. Perpetual and everlasting. III. The conclusions to which the subject should lead us. 1. Personal knowledge and reliance on God. 2. Unwavering faith and hope. 3. Constant prayer and supplication. He will be sought and inquired of. 4. Acknowledgment and praise. “Bless the Lord at all times,” &c.—Jabes Burns, D. D. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician on Neginoth.” See introduction to Psalms 54 “Maschil,” an instruction. Hengstenberg: “The Psalmist wishes to show how, in such a situation of excitement, a person should conduct himself; how he should carry up what has occasioned it to God, and compose himself to rest again through the consideration of God’s love and righteousness.”Occasion.—We have no doubt that the psalm has an historical reference; but to what occasion it refers cannot now be determined with certainty. Barnes: “Of all the known events in the life of David, the supposition which regards the psalm as composed during the rebellion of Absalom, and at the special time when he learned that the man whom he trusted—Ahithophel—was among the traitors, is the most probable. All the circumstances in the psalm agree with his condition at that time, and the occasion was one in which the persecuted and much-afflicted king would be likely to pour out the desires of his heart before God” (2 Samuel 15:10-31).A CRY FROM A SOUL IN (Psalms 55:1-8.) This cry of the troubled Psalmist reveals— I. The cause of his distress. This was the conduct of his enemies as set forth in Psalms 55:3 : 1. Their evil speeches. “Because of the voice of the enemy.” At this time David was assailed with reproaches, slanders, and threats (2 Samuel 15:3-4). (See “The Hom. Com.,” on Psalms 41:5-9; Psalms 42:2.) 2. Their wicked deeds. “Because of the oppression of the wicked; for they cast iniquity upon me.” Hengstenberg renders the last clause thus: “for they bend mischief over me.” And Conant: “For they cause mischief to impend over me.” Absalom and Ahithophel and their followers were doing their utmost to take away both the kingdom and the life of the poet-king. Their evil doings were an intolerable burden to him, beneath which his heart fainted and his strength failed. 3. Their deadly hatred. “In wrath they hate me.” Hengstenberg: “In wrath they persecute me.” Conant: “In anger they lay a snare for me.” They had nursed their ambitious and wicked schemes until their hearts were full of deep and deadly hatred against him who stood in the way and prevented their attainment. “There was in their enmity both the heat and violence of anger, or sudden passion, and the implacableness of hatred and rooted malice.” II. The description of his distress. The Psalmist represents himself as suffering— 1. Great mental anxiety. This seems to be the idea of the second clause of Psa 55:2. “I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.” Moll: “I reel to and fro in my complaint and must groan.” Conant: “I am restless in my complaining and disquieted.” Perowne: “ΰָ ?ψִ ?ιγ from a verb, ψִ ?ιγ, which occurs in three other passages, Genesis 27:40; Jeremiah 2:31; Hosea 12:1. Properly it signifies to wander restlessly, especially as homeless, without fixed abode, &c. Here it is used of the restless tossing to and fro of the mind, filled with cares and anxieties.” The mind of David was at this time exercised by the most anxious thought as to the measures he should adopt, and the course he should pursue for his own safety and the good of his distracted realm. 2. Deep pain of heart. “My heart is sore pained within me.” Moll: “ ‘My heart writhes within me.’ The trouble is not merely an external one, it affects his bowels, his vitals, his inmost soul.” David was deeply wounded in the innermost and most sensitive part of his nature. His own son whom he loved was the head and origin of the rebellion. “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” And his bosom friend whom he trusted, Ahithophel, was chief counsellor of the rebels. Well may his “heart writhe within” him. 3. Overwhelming and unspeakable dread. “The terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.” Hengstenberg: “The terrors of death seize the Psalmist, because the enemies threaten his life.” Barnes: “ ‘Horror hath overwhelmed me.’ Marg., as in Heb., ‘covered me.’ That is, it had come upon him so as to cover or envelop him entirely. The shades of horror and despair spread all around and above him, and all things were filled with gloom. The word rendered horror occurs only in three other places; Ezekiel 7:18, rendered (as here, horror; Job 21:6, rendered trembling; and Isaiah 21:4, rendered fearfulness. It refers to that state when we are deeply agitated with fear.” If we think of the scenes and circumstances through which David was passing, we shall see that they were likely to occasion feelings so deep and painful and dreadful, that even the strong language here used does not adequately express them. “The ingratitude and rebellion of a son,—the fact of being driven away from his throne,—the number of his enemies,—the unexpected news that Ahithophel was among them,—and the entire uncertainty of the result, justified the use of this strong language.” III. His desire in his distress. “And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove,” &c. He desires to escape quickly from the wrath and strife of men to the peace and safety of Nature’s retirements,—to get away from the falsity and cruelty of human society into the solitudes of true and kindly Nature. Jeremiah: “Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.” “Oh for a lodge in some vast wilderness,Some boundless contiguity of shade,Where rumour of oppression and deceit,Of unsuccessful or successful war,Might never reach me more. My ear is pain’d,My soul is sick with every day’s reportOf wrong and outrage with which earth is fill’d.”—Cowper.The Psalmist desired to depart (1) quickly. “Wings like a dove” is a figure of rapid flight. “I would hasten my escape.” (2) Completely. “I would wander far off.” “I would make the distance far by wandering.” He would completely separate himself from the strife and tumult of the city and human society. (3) Permanently. “I would flee away, and abide.” “This is more literal, and more in accordance with the parallelism than the translation, ‘be at rest,’ of the A. V.;” and is adopted by Delitzsch, Hengstenberg, Hupfield, Moll, et al. 1. This desire was natural. There was no feeling of revenge in it. He did not sigh for the wings of a hawk to fly upon the prey, but for those of the innocent dove, to escape from the birds of prey. Suffering as he was from men whom he had loved and trusted, it was natural that David should long to escape from man to nature, and to have done with the faithless and ungrateful. 2. This desire was mistaken. If he had obtained his wish, the issue would probably have been disappointing. Our well-being and joy depend on our inner condition, not on our outward circumstances. If the brain and heart be unquiet themselves, neither society nor solitude can give them rest. If the peace of God be in the soul, the world’s most tumultuous and trying scenes cannot deprive us of it. 3. This desire was significant. To us it clearly suggests that there is for man a place as well as a state of rest. The longing of the heart for rest is prophetic of a realm where peaceful souls dwell amid peaceful circumstances. There is a world into which sin and sorrow and strife never enter; but it is not here. Our rest, our home, is not here. “Arise ye and depart; for this is not your rest,” &c. IV. His prayer in his distress. “Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not Thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me, and hear me.” These petitions involve a large measure of faith in God. 1. In His accessibleness. David believed in the possibility and privilege of man speaking unto his Maker. He regarded God as the hearer of prayer. 2. In His intreatibleness. “Hide no Thyself,” &c. Arnd: “In great straits, it seems as if God hides Himself from us, as the prophet Jeremiah speaks in chap. 3 of his Lamentations: ‘Thou hast covered Thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.’ But our gracious God cannot hide Himself from our prayer; the prayer does still press through the clouds and find Him. God’s fatherly heart does not permit Him to hear us cry and beg, without turning to us, as a father when he bears his children cry.” David regarded God as the answerer of prayer. 3. In His sufficiency. The Psalmist was convinced that if God graciously received his prayer and entertained his case, it would be well with him notwithstanding the malice and might and multitude of his foes. “He is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c. .—Learn: 1. That the best of men in this world are exposed to severest trials. 2. That religion does not make men insensible to pain and grief. 3. That religion provides for men an all-sufficient resource in trial. Prayer to a gracious, all-wise, and almighty Friend. 4. That religion faithfully promises full and blessed satisfaction to man’s craving for rest. (1) Here the rest of faith, satisfied affections, &c.—rest amidst trial, peace in conflict. (2) Hereafter, in addition to this rest of soul, complete rest from conflict, trial, suffering, and sin. “There shall no tempests blow,No scorching noontide heat;There shall be no more snow,No weary wand’ring feet;So we lift our trusting eyesFrom the hills our fathers trod.To the quiet of the skiesTo the Sabbath of our God.”—Hemans.SAD SCENES AND PAINFUL (Psalms 55:9-15.) “The tone of sadness and melancholy now gives way to one of hot and passionate indignation;” and the poet sketches the sad scenes which he had witnessed in the city, and the painful experiences through which he had passed. I. Sore evils in the city. “I have seen violence and strife in the city,” &c., Psalms 55:9-11. 1. The evils were manifold in form. Here we have:— (1) Rebellion against the civil power. “Violence and strife in the city.” (2) Extortion and fraud in commerce. “Deceit and guile depart not from her streets.” Hengstenberg: “There depart not from its market oppression and deceit.” Conant: “From her market-place depart not extortion and deceit.” The word which is rendered “streets” and “markets” denotes “the large open spaces at the gates of the oriental cities, where were the markets, the courts of justice, and general places of public concourse.” Every phase of life seems to have become depraved. “Wickedness was in the midst” of the city. 2. The evils were universal in extent. They were “in the city” and going “about it upon the walls;” they were “in the midst thereof” and in the open spaces before the gates. “The city was wholly and utterly filled with wickedness.” 3. The evils were continuous in their activities. “Day and night they go about,” &c. They “depart not,” &c. Wickedness was unwearied and incessant in its doings. 4. The evils were painful in their results. “Mischief and sorrow are in the midst of it.” Conant: “Trouble and sorrow are within her.” The whole city in all its parts and at all times was full of wickedness; and the result was distress and grief. Where wickedness abounds, misery will not be wanting. Sin is the fruitful parent of sorrow. It is well that trouble does follow transgression. We wonder not that David’s heart was stirred with grief and indignation as he beheld the city so filled with untiring wickedness and sore anguish. No person of enlightened piety can contemplate the sins and sorrows of a great city without emotions of deep grief and earnest solicitude. The poet also sketches some of his own painful experiences. II. Base treachery in friendship. “For it was not an enemy that reproached me,” &c., Psalms 55:12-14. We see here:— 1. Friendship enjoyed. The Psalmist dwells upon this point with touching minuteness. He shows us a friendship: (1) Of great intimacy and trust. “A man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.” “Mine equal.” “Friendship, according to the rule, ‘binds only equals,’ and these, wherever it actually obtains, with peculiarly intimate bonds.” “My guide.” “ΰַ ?μּ ?εּ ?σ is here not guide, but companion, associate, one joined in intimate communion.” Barnes: “The phrase ‘mine acquaintance’ is a feeble expression, and does not convey the full force of the original, which denotes a more intimate friend than would be suggested by the word ‘acquaintance.’ It is language applied to one whom we thoroughly know, and who knows us; and this exists only in the case of very intimate friends.” David had regarded Ahithophel as such a friend. (2) In holiest engagements. “We walked unto the house of God in company.” More correctly: “We walked into the house of God in the festal crowd.” They united as dear friends in acts of sacred worship to the one God. “The fellowship of devotion entwines the hearts of men with the most tender cords.” Such friendships should triumph over death itself. (3) Affording great pleasure. “We took sweet counsel together.” Literally: “We sweetened counsel together.” Their familiar converse was mutually delightful. In public and in private, in religion and in politics, their friendship had been most intimate and confiding and pleasurable. 2. Friendship violated. (1) By slander. “It was not an enemy that reproached me.” This trusted friend had taken part with his detractors and calumniators (2 Samuel 15:31). (2) By base and cruel opposition. “Magnify himself against me.” Conant: “Hath acted proudly against me.” The treacherous man was seeking to accomplish the downfall and ruin of David, that he might thereby rise to greater distinction and power. So the tender and holy bonds of friendship, which should ever be softer than gossamer, yet stronger than cable, were utterly outraged. 3. Friendship injured and complaining. David felt that he had been bitterly wronged, and very pathetically he complains of the wrong. His complaint suggests that the hostility of those we counted friends, is— (1) More painful than that of enemies. “It was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it.” Berleb. Bible: “For from such one would expect nothing better, and might still find consolation respecting it from one’s friends.” The treachery of those whom we have taken into our innermost confidence is one of the most bitter of life’s experiences. (2) More perilous than that of enemies. “Then I would have hid myself from him.” We can guard against the injuries of an open, or of a suspected enemy; but who can guard against the injuries of a secret, treacherous foe, whom we regard and trust as a friend? (3) More criminal than that of enemies. Such hostility outrages the tenderest and holiest feelings, and violates the most sacred obligations. Such were some of the painful experiences of the poet at this time. Alas, that thousands have drank of the same bitter cup! “Where you are liberal of your loves and counselBe sure you be not loose; for those you make friends,And give your hearts to, when they once perceiveThe least rub in your fortunes, fall awayLike water from ye, never found again,But where they mean to sink ye.”—Shakespeare.“And what is friendship but a name,A charm that lulls to sleep!A shade that follows wealth or fame,And leaves the wretch to weep!”—Goldsmith.See “The Hom. Com.,” on Psalms 41:9. III. Earnest prayer in suffering. David prays for— 1. The defeat of his enemies’ plans by the division of their counsels. “O Lord, divide their tongues.” Alexander: “Confound their speech, or make it unintelligible, and, as a necessary consequence, confound their counsels. There is obvious reference to the confusion of tongues at Babel (Genesis 11:7-9), as a great historical example of the way in which God is accustomed and determined to defeat the purposes of wicked men and execute His own.” 2. The sudden destruction of his enemies. “Destroy, O Lord.” Hengstenberg: “Devour, Lord.” The word properly signifies, swallow up. “Let death seize upon them, let them go down quick into hell.” Conant’s translation is more accurate: “Desolations are upon them; they shall go down alive to the under world.” There is a reference here to the destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16:33). David prays that a similar destruction may befall his enemies. And the reason upon which his prayer is based is that “wickedness is in their dwellings, among them.” Let them perish because of their wickedness. .— 1. Be careful in the selection of friends and the formation of friendships. 2. Prize true friends. “The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel.”—Shakespeare.“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly,” &c. 3. Yet confide not too fully in any human friend; for even the truest may fail us in life’s great needs for lack of power to aid, &c. 4. God alone is supremely trust-worthy. He cannot fail either in faithfulness or in power, &c. A (Psalms 55:16-23.) In this portion of the Psalm the poet expresses his assured hope of deliverance from all his enemies and dangers. Consider— I. The nature of his confidence. “As for me, I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me,” &c. 1. His confidence was comprehensive. He trusted that (1) God would destroy his enemies. “God shall hear and afflict them.” Hengstenberg: “God shall hear and answer them.” He would hear the angry voices of the wicked, and in judgment He would give them a sharp answer. “Thou, O God, shalt bring them down to the pit of destruction,” &c. “The pit of destruction” is Sheol. The idea is, that God would cut them off even as the Psalmist had already prayed Him to do. (2) God would save him. He regards this salvation as including (α) Support and preservation during his trials and dangers. “He shall sustain thee, He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” (β) Deliverance from his trials and dangers. “The Lord shall save me … He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me.” He was quite confident that God would deliver him in safety from those who were making war against him. This confidence had brought peace to him in the midst of danger, and he had an assured hope of the restoration of outward peace. This is a confidence which every believer in the Lord may cherish as regards his salvation from inward and from outward enemies. If our trust is in the Lord Jesus Christ our complete triumph and our full salvation are gloriously certain. 2. His confidence was strong. There is no trace of hesitation or doubt in the declaration of the Psalmist. He speaks with the clear accent of assured conviction. He is so certain of his deliverance that he speaks of it as already accomplished. “He hath redeemed my soul in peace,” &c. He is as sure of the victory as if it were already won. Such confidence (1) honours God, (2) imparts courage and strength, and (3) insures a rich reward. 3. His confidence was intelligent. It was neither ignorant nor presumptuous, but intelligent and reverent. He does not helplessly and unreasonably look to God to save him by miracle; but recognises the fact that salvation is given to us in the use of the means. He mentions as means to his deliverance— (1) Prayer. “As for me, I will call upon God,” &c. He resolves to pray frequently. “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray.” Moll: “The three principal parts of the day, usually observed as the special times of prayer among the Orientals. Or it may, perhaps, be a practical expression for the whole day, equivalent to, at all times, without ceasing.” He resolves to pray fervently. “I will pray and cry aloud.” Hengstenberg: “I will meditate and cry aloud.” Conant: “I will lament and sigh.” Moll: “Complain and groan.” The idea seems to be that his feelings were deep and strong, and that he would give to them appropriate expression in prayer to God. Deep emotions cannot be restrained in their utterance within the limits of formal and ordinary expressions. Such were the emotions of the Psalmist. (2) Trust. He regarded the continuance of his confidence as essential to his salvation. Hence he exhorts himself—“Cast thy burden upon the Lord;” and he resolves, “I will trust in Thee.” The continued exercise of faith is an essential condition of calmness and strength and conquest. And we know from the history that, in grappling with the rebellion of Absalom and the treachery of Ahithophel, David not only prayed and trusted, but planned and laboured also. To faith and prayer he added thought and effort (2 Samuel 15-18.). In all this the poet is an example to us. Our confidence in God should be intelligent. The faith which is inculcated and encouraged in the Bible, and which God has promised to reward, is sublimely reasonable. It is a discerning, strong, victorious thing. And God has promised to crown the exercise of it with His blessing. II. The grounds of his confidence. The Psalmist shows to us that his faith was based on— 1. The number of his enemies. “For there were many with me.” Moll: “The translation of the A. V. ‘with me’ is literal, but conveys a wrong meaning. The Heb. preposition, like the English with, has a double use, mutual action may be co-operative or antagonistic. Thus we say: fight with = against, to be angry with = against. The meaning here as determined by the context is clearly against.” The rebel army that was waging war against David was a numerous one (2 Samuel 15:12; 2 Samuel 17:11; 2 Samuel 18:7). David took encouragement from this fact to expect the interposition of God for his salvation. When our enemies are many and strong, then God will interpose for us, if our cause be righteous, and our trust reposed in Him (2 Kings 6:13-18; 2 Chronicles 20:12; 2 Chronicles 20:23-25). 2. The character of his enemies. They were— (1) Irreligious. “They fear not God.” They lived in open disregard of God. (2) Persistent in evil. “They have no changes.” The word ηֲ ?μִ ?ιτεֹ ?ϊ, translated “changes,” is used in Job 10:17; Job 14:14, in a military sense, signifying discharges, relief-troops. Accordingly Hengstenberg translates: “To whom there is no discharge,” and interprets it as signifying “they who incessantly and constantly serve sin and fear not God.” Or it may mean that there was no change in their conduct. They were not occasional, but persistent, evil doers. Thus in the latter part of Psa 55:19 we have a compendium of Psa 55:9-11. (3) Treacherous. “He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.” The use of the singular points to some one who was pre-eminent in treachery, e.g., Ahithophel. These verses are a compendium of Psa 55:12-14. (4) Cruel. The Psalmist speaks of them as “bloody and deceitful men.” Violent and cruel were they in heart and in action. The wickedness of his enemies is to David a ground of assurance that God will deliver him from their base designs and doings. While God is God He must be hostile to men of such character. He must oppose and thwart their designs. He must deliver His servants from them. 3. The ancient sovereignty of God. “He that abideth of old.” Hengstenberg: “He who is throned of old.” Moll: “He that sitteth on the throne of old.” (Comp. Psalms 74:12; Habakkuk 1:12.) The deeds by which the Lord had manifested His righteous sovereignty in past ages encouraged the Psalmist to expect His interposition for his deliverance from present perils. M. Henry: “Mortal men, though ever so high and strong, will easily be crushed by an eternal God, and are a very unequal match for Him.” Arndt “It is a great consolation when one is in trouble and persecution to think how God still lives, and has always proved Himself to be a gracious God towards those who fear Him.” Such, then, was the sure basis upon which the triumphant confidence of the distressed and imperilled poet-king rested. .—See the conquering power of faith in God, and exercise it. See it in David. In Paul (2 Corinthians 4:8-18). “This is the victory that over-cometh the world, even our faith.” MAN’S BURDEN AND Psa_55:22. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord; and He shall sustain thee.” This verse is variously translated. Margin: “Cast thy gift upon the Lord,” &c. Hengstenberg: “Cast upon the Lord thy salvation, and He shall take care of thee,” &c. Gesenius: “Cast upon Jehovah what He hath given (or laid upon) thee; that is, thy lot.” Fuerst: “Leave to God the lot, intrust God with it. According to another meaning of ιָ ?δַ ?α (to give up, to impose) ιְ ?δָ ?α may signify a burden.” Moll: “That which is laid upon thee.” Conant: “Cast thy burden on Jehovah,” &c. I. Man is burdened. This fact is too painfully obvious to require proof. Physically many are burdened by severe labours and sufferings. Mentally many are burdened by anxieties, perplexities, over-tasked brain, &c. Our social relations, which are frequently of much benefit and blessing to us, are seldom free from cares, sorrows, and distresses. Even the religious life has its burdens for man. Religion itself is not a burden; but, by becoming religious, a man becomes sensible of burdens that he did not feel before. The mysteries of the Divine administration of human affairs, the imperfection of our individual life, the seeming abortiveness of much of our effort for the good of ourselves and others, seasons of spiritual darkness, &c.—these are burdens. The fact that we are burdened is significant. 1. It indicates that man is not in unison with the Divine order. God did not create man with a load, did not make him to be burdened, &c. 2. It indicates also the greatness of human nature. We feel the burden, we struggle against it, we bear up under it, we strive to be rid of it. In this we have a reminiscence of a free and blessed past, and a pledge of a free and glorious future. Our sense of the burden is an augury of approaching release from it. II. Man is exhorted to cast his burden upon the Lord. We have a strong tendency to strive to bear our own burden “even when we are almost sinking beneath it. In itself this tendency is good. It is the principle of self-reliance leading us to attempt self-help. But this tendency has become corrupted by association with pride and a false independence. Hence, when man is being crushed by it, in imagined self-sufficiency, he refuses to take his burden to the Lord. Spiritual weakness is ever boastful, while spiritual strength is ever humble. We mistake weakness for strength when we refuse to cast our burden upon the Lord. There are some who do not take their burden to the Lord because their ideas of Him are false, arising from a heart alienated from Him. They say—“God does not care for man; we may suffer, we may perish; but He does not care. He is indifferent, even if He be not cruel to us.” Estrangement from God explains this. David exhorts his soul to cast its burden upon the Lord, &c. “The strong part of the soul speaks to the weak.” Or he speaks as one of the suffering righteous, and in their name. So let the troubled children of God do now. But how can we cast our burden upon the Lord? By believing prayer. Lay all at the foot of God’s throne: tell Him all your troubles, even as a child tells all its sorrows to its mother. You know how the heart is relieved by unfolding its burdens to a dear friend. We can tell all to God—nothing is too secret, nothing too sacred. III. Man is encouraged to cast his burden upon the Lord by the assurance of his support. “He shall sustain thee.” How? 1. By removing the burden. The poverty that crushes, the mystery that bewilders, the suffering that distresses, in answer to prayer He sometimes removes. 2. By disclosing the design of the burden. When we know the reason of our troubles, in many instances their chief painfulness is gone, and we bow reverently to the will of God. 3. By increasing our strength, so that we shall not be crushed by its load. This is, perhaps, His most frequent method of relief. This the text distinctly promises, “He shall sustain thee.” “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 4. By unfolding to us a bright future. The toil and burden will not continue long: then rest and joy, &c. .—The character of God, the promises of His Word, and the experience of His people in all ages, unite in encouraging us to trust the assurance, and comply with the precept of the text. PRECEPT AND PROMISE(Psalms 55:22.) I. The duty enjoined. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord.” A person’s burden is his trouble, his care, or whatever disturbs the peace of his mind. There is no trouble in heaven; there was none in Eden; and believers in Christ will be delivered from trouble when they shall be delivered from sin (Isaiah 35:10). To have a refuge in trouble is a great privilege.… God has made Himself to be as a refuge through the mediation of Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Ephesians 2:18), … God is a suitable refuge: He can sustain; He can deliver; He is all-sufficient, &c.… By precept, by promise, by the example of others, and the deliverances which they have experienced, we are encouraged to “cast our burden upon the Lord.” We should do so— 1. When oppressed with a sense of sin and guilt. 2. In times of temptation. 3. In times of trouble. There are personal troubles, family troubles, troubles from providential changes, e.g., Job’s, and troubles from the wickedness of our fellow-men, and the treachery of professed friends. 4. In seasons of affliction. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord.” Go to Him as you would to your best friend, and pour out your wants before Him. II. The promises with which this precept is enforced. 1. “He shall sustain thee.” This implies that, if we make God our refuge, (1) He will save us from despondency. He will sustain us with hope. (2) He will impart to us spiritual strength. “As thy days so shall thy strength be.” (3) He will overrule all our trials and afflictions for our good. 2. “He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” This promise applies to those who make God their refuge, and in all their trials pursue a course of holy obedience. It implies— (1) That they shall not be drawn aside by their trials from the path of obedience. (2) That they shall not be moved from the source of their comfort. (3) Some read the words, they shall not be moved for ever, implying that they shall not be utterly cast down. .— 1. Learn the importance of faith in the Divine promises. 2. In making God our refuge in our troubles we must be in the path of duty. 3. The miserable condition of those who have not God for their refuge. 4. The privilege of having God for our refuge shows the value and the importance of religion. 5. How awful will be the end of those who never make God their refuge!—Abridged from an unpublished MS. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician upon Jonath-Elem-Rechokim.” The phrase “Jonath-Elem-Rechokim” occurs nowhere else in the Bible; and Biblical critics are by no means agreed as to its meaning. Gesenius renders it, “The silent dove among strangers.” W. A. Wright, in Smith’s Dict of the Bale: “A dumb dove of (in) distant places.” De Wette, “Dove of the distant terebinths.” Aben Ezra regards it as merely indicating the modulation or the rhythm of the Psalm,—“after the melody of the air which begins Jonath-Elem-Rechokim.” Fuerst regards it as referring to “an old poem, after which the 56th Psalm was sung.” “In the Biour to Mendelsshon’s version of the Psalms, Jonath-Elem-Rechokim is mentioned as a musical instrument which produced dull, mournful sounds.” Hengstenberg, Alexander, et al., interpret the phrase as describing the unhappy condition of David during his exile from the land of Israel, as an innocent and uncomplaining sufferer among strangers. “Michtam of David.” Margin: “A golden Psalm of David,” which is interpreted as signifying that “the Psalm was to David precious as fine gold.” Luther: “A golden jewel.” Gesenius, De Wette, et al.: “Writing.” Hengstenberg: “A secret of David.” He explains it as “a song with a deep import.” W. A. Wright in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, says,—“Beyond the general probability that it is a musical term, the origin of which is uncertain and the application lost, nothing is known.”The superscription also gives us the occasion of the composition of the Psalm. “When the Philistines took him in Gath.” The history is contained in 1 Samuel 21:10, seq. Psalms 34. refers to the same occasion.The leading idea of the Psalm is that of confidence in God in time of danger, which finds expression in the refrain, Psalms 56:4; Psalms 56:10-11.THE GODLY MAN AND HIS ENEMIES(Psalms 56:1-7.) These verses may suitably be regarded as illustrating the life of a good man in this world in relation to his enemies. Consider— I. The enemies of the godly man. They are here represented as— 1. Eager. This seems to be the idea of the clause which is incorrectly rendered, “man would swallow me up.” Moll renders it: “Mortal man snorts against me.” Hengstenberg: “Man snuffs after me.” The meaning is either that his enemies panted after him as animals greedy of their prey, or snorted against him as animals enraged. The foes of the Psalmist were hot and eager in their hostility against him. The enemies of the godly now are active and zealous. Satan and his numerous allies amongst men display an earnestness and enthusiasm worthy of a good cause. 2. Numerous. “They be many that fight against me.” David had many enemies—Saul and his followers, and Achish, the king of Gath, and his servants. The godly soul has many foes,—the world, the flesh, and the devil—enemies within his own breast, and enemies without, in society, &c. 3. Constant. “Mine enemies would daily,” &c. “Every day they wrest,” &c. The enemies of the Poet were incessant in their efforts to effect his overthrow. Every day their hostility was renewed. The enemies of the godly manifest great unweariedness of effort. Evil never rests. Its dread activities are untiring. 4. Dishonest. “They wrest my words.” They twisted, perverted, tortured his words, so as to get from them a meaning which he never intended, and by which they might injure him. Good men are exposed to the misrepresentations and slanders of their foes. 5. Confederate. “They gather themselves together.” The enemies of David combined against him. It seems sometimes in the history of the godly soul as though the forces of evil were united against it. All evil is one in this, that it is directed against God and the interests of His kingdom and people. 6. Secret. “They hide themselves,” &c. They were like foes lying in ambush. The designs of evil are crafty and cunning. The people of God have to guard “against the wiles of the devil.” “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” Hence the peril, and the necessity for watchfulness. 7. Cruel. “They wait for my soul.” The enemies of David sought to take his life. Our spiritual enemies seek not to deprive us of physical life, but to ensnare and ruin our soul. “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (á.) How foolish it is to make light of our spiritual enemies! and it may be ruinous! (Ephesians 6:12). (â.) How great is the importance of guardedness of spirit! (Ephesians 6:13-18). (ã.) How needful is the Divine protection! (Psalms 125:2). II. The prayer of the godly man in the midst of his enemies. This contains— 1. A comprehensive petition. “Be merciful unto me, O God” If the Psalmist secured the exercise of the Divine mercy on his behalf, he would need nothing more. The active exercise of the mercy of God toward us is a guarantee of all needful good,—protection, guidance, support, ultimate victory. 2. A powerful plea is implied in this petition. In asking for mercy the Psalmist renounces all idea of merit in himself, and looks to the riches of Divine grace as the source and the reason of blessing. We do well to plead the unspeakable generosity of the Divine disposition. “He delighteth in mercy.” 3. An earnest appeal to the Divine justice. “Shall they escape by iniquity?” &c. We have here— (1) An expectation involving extreme wickedness. The enemies of the Psalmist were so depraved that they cherished the hope that they should escape the just consequences of their transgressions by their own cunning and violence, lawlessness, and treachery. (2) An assurance of the rectitude of the Divine government. The inquiry of the Psalmist implies his firm belief that his foes would not escape the Divine judgment by their wickedness. “The sin of sinners will never be their security.” “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished.” (3) A desire for the exercise of the Divine judgment. “In anger cast down the people, O God.” David prays that God in judgment would defeat the plans and destroy the power of his enemies, who wickedly sought his life. We do well to pray for the overthrow of evil and the exercise of the righteous judgment of God. III. The confidence of the godly man in the midst of his enemies. 1. It was reposed in the grandest object. “In God I have put my trust.” Psalms 32:10; Psalms 37:39-40; Psalms 125:1; Isaiah 26:3-4; Jeremiah 17:7-8. 2. It was exercised in the most trying season. “What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.” Calvin: “It seems, indeed, as if fear and hope were feelings too contrary the one to the other to dwell in the same heart; but experience shows that hope there in fact really reigns where some portion of the heart is possessed by fear. For when the mind is calm and tranquil, hope is not exercised, yea rather is, as it were, hushed to sleep; but then, and not till then does she put forth all her strength, when the mind has been cast down by cares and she lifts it up, when it has been saddened and disturbed and she calms it, when it has been smitten with fear and she sustains and props it.” 3. It produced the sublimest results. (1) It raised him above the fear of man. “I will not fear; what can flesh do unto me?” Arnd: “He sets against each other the mighty God, and impotent flesh, which is as grass and as the flower of the field.” (2) It inspired him with the praise of God. “In God I will praise His word.” The Psalmist extols God because of His gracious word and its precious promises. Thus by faith the godly man may triumph in the midst of his enemies, and is sure of complete victory over them ultimately. TIMES OF FEAR, AND TRUST IN GOD(Psalms 56:3.) Consider,— I. What is implied and included in trusting in God. 1. A knowledge of God as accessible through a Mediator. We have sinned, and there is only one way in which the guilty can approach the Most High, and their prayer can be accepted by Him. The blood of the great sacrifice is the medium, and faith in Christ is the only method (John 14:6). 2. A full surrender of the soul to God to be governed by His holy laws. God claims the first place in our heart. His requirements are binding, and His authority must be regarded. It is vain to say we are trusting in God if we refuse subjection to His rightful dominion. 3. Acquiescence in the arrangements of providence, and submission to His will. Habitual discontent and murmuring is incompatible with a life of confidence in God. Losses, afflictions, and bereavements are painful, but confidence in God will lead us to bear them with submission, and to say, “It is the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good.” II. The circumstances in which this confidence is most needful and important. “What time I am afraid,” &c. There are seasons in which fear will be awakened; in such seasons we should trust in God. Fear may be excited— 1. By a sense of guilt. When the sinner is convinced of the evil and danger of sin he feels himself under the curse of a broken law, and in danger of everlasting misery. A sense of guilt may be experienced after conversion. When the conscience is wounded by remorse nothing can give it rest but the application of the blood of Christ, and the enjoyment of the mercy of God. “What time I am afraid,” &c. 2. In seasons of temptation. The believer may be walking in darkness, and may have no light, he may be lamenting the hardness and carnality of his own heart, he may be fearing apostacy, &c. In such seasons our best refuge is God. 3. In seasons of domestic trials. Troubles to parents through the perverseness of children, as Jacob and David had. Or trials by reason of affliction. 4. Under bereaving providences. These are some of the heaviest trials which are experienced. Unless we go to the right refuge we shall be in danger of sinking into darkness. 5. Under personal afflictions. To the people of God these are not judgments, but fatherly chastisements. The hand that wounds can heal, &c. 6. In the prospect of death. Death is an event the most serious and important, and the prospect of it has a tendency to awaken fear. But “What time,” &c. III. The advantages which attend a life of confidence in God. 1. It will be an evidence of religion. 2. It will bring with it peace and satisfaction. 3. It will lead to support under the trials of life. “My grace is sufficient for thee,” &c. 4. It will lead to deliverance from troubles. Through all his troubles the believer shall be brought in safety, and he shall stand and look back upon life and view them all left behind him for ever. 5. It will lead us to account all our troubles as blessings. “E’en crosses from His sovereign handAre blessings in disguise.”“All things work together for good,” &c. 6. It will lead to an eternity of happiness. “There remaineth a rest for the people of God.” .—Learn the importance of trusting in God. It is essential to our salvation.—Abridged from an unpublished MS. THE EXILE(Psalms 56:8-13.) In these verses David, an exile and wanderer, bitterly persecuted, appears as glad and triumphant by faith in God. He rejoices— I. In the minuteness of the Divine knowledge and the tenderness of the Divine regard. 1. The perfection of the Divine knowledge. “Thou tellest” (or numberest) “my wanderings.” David was at this time an exile and wanderer, fleeing from place to place because of the ceaseless and malicious persecutions of Saul. Barnes (in loco) cites eight of these wanderings; Rudinger counts fourteen. All of them were counted by God. Not one was omitted. Nor would any one of them be forgotten; for like his tears, they were recorded in His book, Malachi 3:16. 2. The tenderness of the Divine regard. “Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle.” The persecutions which drove David into exile and wandering caused him to weep, but he was comforted by the thought that God cared for him as a friend who would gather and preserve his tears. “It seems probable that there is an allusion here to the custom of collecting tears shed in a time of calamity and sorrow, and preserving them in a small bottle or lachrymatory, as a memorial of the grief. The Romans had a custom, that in a time of mourning—on a funeral occasion—a friend went to one in sorrow, and wiped away the tears from the eyes with a piece of cloth, and squeezed the tears into a small bottle, which was carefully preserved as a memorial of friendship and sorrow.” Perowne: “He knows that each day of his wandering, each nook in which he found shelter, each step that he had taken, every artifice by which he had baffled his foes,—all have been numbered by his Heavenly Keeper, tea, no tear that he has shed, when his eye has been raised to heaven in prayer, has fallen to the ground. God he prays to gather them all in His bottle, and trusts that He will note them in His book.” This confidence strengthened, cheered, rejoiced the Poet. So also Job: “But He knoweth the way that I take,” &c. To the sincere believer in God there is a rich fund of consolation and encouragement in the Divine knowledge of us and regard for us. II. In his assurance of deliverance from his enemies. “When I cry, then shall mine enemies turn back,” &c. 1. The condition of deliverance. “When I cry.” Believing prayer is a condition of the Divine interposition for us. “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” 2. The promptitude of deliverance. “When I cry, then shall,” &c. “It shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Comp. Daniel 9:20-23.) Spurgeon: “What irresistible artillery is this which wins the battle as soon as its report is heard!” 3. The assurance of deliverance. “This I know.” Mark (1) the strength of this assurance. He does not speak with a perhaps or a peradventure, but confidently says, “I know.” (2) The ground of this assurance, “For God is for me.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” “The Lord is for me; I will not fear; what can man do unto me?” III. In his triumphant confidence in God. “In God will I praise His word,” &c. (Psalms 56:10-11). See our notes on Psalms 56:4. IV. In his delightful obligations to God. “Thy vows are upon me, O God,” &c. (Psalms 56:12-13). It is worthy of distinct and careful observation that to the Psalmist obligation to God was a privilege and pleasure—a thing to be celebrated in glad song. 1. The nature of this obligation. “Thy vows are upon me, O God; I will render praises unto Thee.” Hengstenberg: “The vows consist of offerings. To the kind, the vows, the Psalmist, however, adds the species, thank-offerings.” David had vowed thank-offerings to God, and he looks forward with pleasure to the fulfilment of his vows. Tholuck: “David thinks of songs of praise whilst he still sings lamentations, of vows of thanksgiving whilst yet praying.” 2. The reason of this obligation. (1) What God had done for him. “For Thou hast delivered my soul from death.” The Lord had delivered the Psalmist from imminent danger and from death again and again. The shield of the Almighty Protector had covered him, and the deadly darts of his enemies were unable to injure him. (2) What God would yet do for him. “Wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling!” The Psalmist was confident that God would continue to defend and sustain him. What He has done may be safely taken as an assurance of what He will do. (3) The design of God’s doings for him. “That I may walk before God in the light of the living.” “The light of life” is in contrast with the darkness of the realm of death. To walk before the face of God is to live in the enjoyment of His favour and protection. For these reasons David felt under binding and blessed obligations to praise God. And by all these things his heart was gladdened though his outward circumstances were so depressing and painful. .—If our trust is reposed in God we may and ought to apply this exposition to ourselves. Let us be strengthened and encouraged, however many and sore our trials, because— 1. God’s knowledge of us is minute and perfect. 2. His regard for us is tender and unceasing. 3. He has assured us of final and full salvation. 4. His past deliverances also warrant our present confidence. 5. Faith in Him should enable us to triumph even in the most trying circumstances (Romans 5:3-5; Romans 8:31-39). THE OF GOD A COMFORT TO HIS PEOPLE(Psalms 56:8.) The Psalmist refers to his removals from place to place for safety—“Thou tellest my wanderings.” He desired that God would pity him under his sorrows—“Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle.” An allusion here to a custom of the ancients. I. That the pilgrimage of the righteous and the changes of life are numbered and written in the book of God’s remembrance. “Thou tellest my wanderings,” &c. 1. The life of the righteous is a spiritual pilgrimage. It begins at conversion; it has its “wanderings;” some of them sinful; all of them known to God. 2. The changes in the life of the righteous are numbered by the Lord, and are in the book of His remembrance. (1) Many pass through changes in the place of their residence. They are led in a way that they know not and in paths that they have not known. The Lord telleth all these wanderings. (2) Many are the changes of circumstances; e.g., Job; David from his wanderings to the throne. II. The sorrows of the righteous are known to God, and David desired Him to keep them in His mind. “Put Thou my tears into Thy bottle,” &c. 1. The tears of penitents are put into His bottle. God looks with compassion upon the wanderer returning home, &c. 2. The tears of the righteous shed over the remains of sin. 3. The tears of the righteous in their spiritual conflicts, occasioned by sinful dispositions, hardness of heart, &c. 4. The tears caused by the trials of life. “Like as a father pitieth his children,” &c. All the afflictions and sorrows of life are known unto God. “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” III. God’s knowledge of His people is a source of comfort to them. 1. That He knows the course they take in their sorrows is a comfort to them (Job 23:10). This comfort may be taken (1) By the penitent at the foot of the cross. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;” &c. (2) By the Christian whose daily prayer is that he may be found in Christ. (3) By the believer seeking the aid of the Holy Spirit in the conflicts of life. (4) And by the godly in all the changes and trials of their pilgrimage. 2. Their views of God afford them consolation in their sorrows. (1) The Lord is their God, their Father, and their friend. (2) The conduct of God is governed by infinite wisdom and goodness. (3) Many trials come from the hand of God. “The Lord trieth the righteous.” (4) The purposes of God afford his people comfort. The discipline may be painful, but its design is their perfection. (5) They have access to the throne of grace in all their sorrows. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.” (6) The promises of God inspire them with confidence and hope (2 Peter 1:4; 2 Corinthians 1:20; Isaiah 35:10). LEARN IN .— 1. That sorrows are a part of our present portion. “In the world ye have tribulation.” 2. All our sorrows are known unto God. 3. In all our sorrows we should trust in God (Nahum 1:7). 4. We should keep on such terms with God as will enable us to derive comfort from His infinite knowledge. 5. If God manifests such regard to His people in the changing scenes of life, how important is it to enjoy the privilege! and to enjoy it we must be the subjects of true religion.—Abridged from an unpublished MS. THE STATE OF THE GODLY IN THIS WORLD(Psalms 56:13.) We shall regard these words of the Psalmist’s as setting forth the present state of Christian believers. It is— I. A Divinely delivered state. “Thou hast delivered my soul from death.” The unrenewed soul is spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1-5; Ephesians 4:18). Man is delivered from death— 1. Through the mediation of Jesus. 2. By the instrumentality of redemptive truth. 3. By the agency of the Holy Spirit. 4. On condition of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:36; John 5:24). II. A Divinely sustained state. “Wilt not Thou deliver my feet from falling?” Notice: 1. The danger implied. The renewed soul is in danger of falling. Three things show this— (1) The fact of temptation. (2) Our susceptibility to temptation. (3) Some of the best men have fallen. 2. The confidence involved. That God is “able to keep us from falling” (Jude 1:24). 3. The encouragement afforded. “Thou hast delivered.… Wilt Thou not,” &c. What He has done is an earnest of what He will yet do (Philippians 1:6). III. A Divinely approved state. “That I may walk before God in the light of the living.” This includes— 1. Life governed by God. Living as in His sight. His will our rule of action. 2. Life well-pleasing to God. “To walk before the face of God” is to live in the enjoyment of His favour (Psalms 4:6; Psalms 21:6; Psalms 89:15). Such a life naturally tends to fulness of joy in His immediate presence (Psalms 16:11). Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” The chief musician was the director of the music in public worship. And the Psalms which were addressed to him were intended for use in the Temple services. “Al-taschith” = “destroy not.” According to some expositors, the expression denotes the melody to which the Psalm was to be sung. The Psalm was to be sung to the same tune as the song known as, “Destroy not.” According to others it is a musical expression, probably denoting the key in which the Psalm was to be sung. And, “according to others, it must be a maxim, which the Psalmist at that time continually revolved in his heart, and must indicate the quintessence of the Psalm.” “Michtam of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 56. “When he fled from Saul in the cave.” Moll: “We cannot decide whether the cave is the one mentioned in 1 Samuel 21 as the cave of Adullam, or that situated by the sheepcotes upon the Alpine heights of Engedi (1 Samuel 24). These caves are numerous in the limestone and chalk mountains, and are often of great extent, and are still the hiding-places of fugitives.”A SAFE REFUGE IN SORE PERIL(Psalms 57:1-6.) Let us consider— I. The extreme perils in a good man’s life. David mentions three things as causes of danger and trial to him at this time. 1. The bitter reproaches of his enemies. “The reproach of him that would swallow me up.” The rendering of Hengstenberg and Moll presents what we regard as the true idea of this clause. “He reproaches that snuffs after me.” “He reproacheth who snorts at me.” It is not that God would reproach the enemies, but that the enemies reproached the Psalmist. Calumny and slander were freely plied by Saul and his party at this time against David. 2. The fierce cruelty of his enemies. “My soul is among lions,” &c. “The enemies are lions, greedy of their prey, but the teeth of these men-lions are spears and arrows, and the tongues of these men-lions are a sharp sword. As the lion uses his teeth and tongue, these children of men use their spears, arrows, and swords to destroy their prey, having the same greedy, lickerish natures as the wild beasts.”—(C. A. Briggs.) Their eagerness for the destruction of the Poet is brought into prominence. They snorted at him as enraged wild beasts, or as wild beasts greedy for their prey. We know how eagerly and ferociously Saul and his companions at this time sought to kill David. 3. The subtle schemes of his enemies. “They have prepared a net for my steps,” &c. Not content with open and fierce pursuit, they concocted deep plans, hoping, by means of them, to ensnare the Poet. They used fraud as well as force against him. They left no means unemployed by which they thought they might effect his overthrow. Such were the trials from which the Psalmist was suffering, and the perils to which he was exposed. The enemies had so far succeeded that, in some measure, the spirit of the Psalmist drooped. “They have bowed down my soul.” He was not insensible to trial. He felt the pressure of their persecutions. He was aware of the dangers with which they surrounded him. II. The secure refuge from the perils of a good man’s life. “In the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge.” The figure is very beautiful and expressive. Perowne: “This exceedingly striking image may have been suggested by Deuteronomy 32:11. (See Psalms 17:8.) Still more tender is the New Testament figure (Matthew 23:37). Perhaps there is nothing more remarkable in the Psalms than this ever-recurring expression of a tender personal affection on the part of the sacred poets to God. There is no parallel to this in the whole range of heathen literature.” Delitzsch: “The soft shading of God’s wings is the protection of His soft, sweet love, and the shadow of His wings is the refreshing, trusting comfort connected with this protection. In this shadow the Poet takes his refuge until the ruinous danger which threatens him passes by.” The image is suggestive of affection, rest, shade, safety. The Psalmist indicates— 1. The ground of his trust in God. (1) His supremacy. “I will cry unto God Most High.” However great the power and the multitude of our enemies, they cannot injure us if we have made the Most High our Refuge. “Now that he takes in view the Most High, the giants of the earth become changed into pitiful dwarfs.” Franke: “When it is clearly manifested to the heart of man that God is the Most High, he fears nothing, not even the devil and his hosts of hell, but is confident and unterrified.” (2) His continuous activity on his behalf. “God that performeth all things for me.” Or, “God who accomplisheth for me.” “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” “He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Hengstenberg: “With God the beginning furnishes a pledge for the finishing, the word for the deed.” (3) His kindness toward him. “God shall send forth His mercy.” David confided in the infinite and free favour of God. (4) His fidelity. “And His truth.” The Psalmist had an unshaken reliance on the faithfulness of God. He knew that He would fulfil His promises, and save those who trusted in Him. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” Surely here we have most firm and ample ground for trusting in God. He in whom all these perfections inhere must be worthy of the fullest confidence as a secure Refuge in the trials of life. 2. The expression of his trust in God. “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me.… I will cry unto God Most High.” The trust expresses itself here in prayer. Calvin: “He makes the calling upon to follow the confiding, for it cannot fail, but that those who trust in God should direct their prayer to Him,” In this brief prayer there are three points worthy of notice. (1) It reveals a just estimate of the poet’s own moral condition. He pleads no merit of his own; he does not urge his innocence, but asks for mercy. (2) It honours God. By appealing to the Divine mercy, David manifests an exalted estimate of the kindness and faithfulness of God;—he honours Him by his faith, &c. (3) It is fervent. The urgency of need and desire is indicated by the repetition of the cry. 3. The greatness of his trust in God. This is seen— (1) In his sense of his own perfect security. “I lie among them that are set on fire,” &c. In the midst of his enemies he lay down to rest calmly as on a soft couch in perfect safety. Moll: “It expresses not a complaint of his dangerous situation, but the resolution of trust in God, with which he will lie down to sleep in the midst of dangerous circumstances.” Faith is triumphant over fear. (2) In his supreme desire for the universal honour of God. “Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, Thy glory above all the earth.” The grand wish of the Psalmist, to which all other feelings were subordinated, was that God might be supremely and universally glorified. The Psalmist loses sight of his own peril, or rises quite superior to it, in his fervent desire for the exaltation of God. (3) In his assurance that the wicked designs and doings of his enemies would issue in their own ruin. “They have digged a pit before me, into the midst whereof they are fallen themselves.” “In the cave, when Saul thought David should fall into his hands, he fell into the hands of David, and lay at his mercy.” “God beats the enemies of His servants with their own weapons.” (See “The Hom. Com.” on Psalms 7:14-16.) .—The application is obvious. 1. To all, life is more or less a scene of trial. 2. Trial involves danger. 3. In trial, every man needs a refuge. 4. Various are the refuges resorted to by men in trial. 5. Only one Refuge it adequate and trustworthy. 6. To that One all may have access. 7. “Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him; God is a Refuge for us.” A LIFE OF IN GOD(Psalms 57:1.) Consider— I. The grounds on which a life of confidence in God is encouraged. His holy Word affords the greatest encouragement unto His people to put their trust in Him. The whole life of a believer consists in trusting in God. The very first exercise of religion is an act of confidence in the mercy of God, &c. The believer may take encouragement to trust in God, from— 1. The relation which the Divine Being sustains to him. He is his Father. “Like as a father pitieth,” &c. A child trusts, &c. He is his God. All His Divine perfections are engaged on behalf of His people. 2. The efficiency of the mediation of Jesus Christ. The atonement for sin which He has made, and the intercession which He offers on our behalf are perfect, and should encourage our trust (Hebrews 4:14-16). 3. The promises of God. These are suited to all our circumstances, &c. 4. The deliverances which He has wrought for His people. II. The nature of trust in God, and the circumstances in which we should trust Him. 1. The nature of trust in God. It consists in relying upon the declarations and promises of God, in believing the truth of God, and in acting accordingly. (1.) Trust in God can be exercised only in connection with a proper regard to the precepts of His Word; without this, reliance upon His promises would be presumption, not the confidence of faith. (2) To rely upon the Divine promises whilst regarding the Divine precepts is the proper exercise of confidence in God. 2. The circumstances in which we should trust in God. We should trust in Him at all times and in all circumstances, but especially— (1) When oppressed with guilt. (2) In seasons of temptation. (3) In seasons of persecution (2 Timothy 3:12.) (4) Under all the trials of life (Psalms 50:15). III. The advantages of a life of confidence in God. Trust in God is a duty enjoined by many precepts, and enforced by many examples. It is also a privilege of the greatest value (Psalms 146:5.) A life of confidence in God will be attended with— 1. Peace (Isaiah 26:3). 2. Security. The arm of Omnipotence is engaged for the defence of those who trust in God. 3. Support under trial. 4. Deliverance from troubles. 5. The sanctification of trials to our good. .— 1. It is manifestly our wisdom to trust in God. 2. A life of confidence in God is one of the best evidences of true religion. If we would know whether we are the subjects of religion, let us inquire whither we go for refuge, &c. 3. The believer has the prospect of everlasting rest in God, &c. “There remaineth a rest for the people of God.”—Abridged from an unpublished M.S.THE OF GOD A MOTIVE TO PRAYER(Psalms 57:2.) The Psalmist felt himself and all his affairs in the hands of Providence. He knew that God performed all things for him. From this view of providence he took encouragement to make Him his refuge. “I will cry unto God,” &c. These words suggest the interesting and important truth that the providence of God presents us with a powerful motive to prayer. I. Endeavour to illustrate this truth. 1. The providence of God is closely connected with His existence. If we believe in His existence we cannot consistently deny His providence. 2. The Sacred Volume teaches the doctrine— (1) It represents all the affairs of the universe as under the government of God (Psalms 31:15; Psalms 103:19; et al.) (2) Its precepts which enforce the duty of putting our trust in Him imply that His providence is universal, and extends to all our concerns (Proverbs 3:5-6; Matthew 6:31-34; et al.) (3) The history of the Church and of individual believers, which it records, testifies to the exercise of the Divine providence—Jewish Church, Jacob, Joseph, Job, David, Daniel. 3. The conduct of providence is governed by the infinite perfections of God. Wisdom, goodness, faithfulness, power. 4. We are at all times, and under all circumstances, under the care of the Divine providence. In infancy, youth, &c. In prosperity, adversity, &c. 5. It is important to realise the universality of the Divine providence. Such realisation will lead us to commit our ways unto Him, will afford peace, &c. II. The circumstances in which it is important to realise this truth, and to make God a refuge by prayer. It is important to realise it continually; but especially— 1. In difficulties. These arise from various causes. 2. In troubles from enemies. David at this time. 3. In painful trials. 4. Prayer ought to be esteemed a privilege. III. The advantages of a life of faith and prayer are many and great. 1. We realise that some wise end is to be answered by trials. 2. Our trials are accounted as for our good. 3. Support under trial and deliverance from it are granted in answer to prayer. 4. A review of the conduct of providence may be profitable under peculiar trials. David found it so. Every man may study Divine providence to his profit. .— 1. Bring all troubles to the throne of grace. 2. Every deliverance in answer to prayer should be acknowledged by praise. 3. Past providences afford encouragement to trust God for the future. 4. The mysteries of providence will be explained in a better state.—Abridged from an unpublished MS. PRAISE(Psalms 57:7-11.) The Psalmist’s praise of God expressed in these verses is worthy of imitation in each and all of its main features. I. In its Theme. “I will sing and give praise. For Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and Thy truth unto the clouds.” Mercy and truth are the Divine perfections which are most prominent in God’s covenant relations with His people. His mercy is the source of all blessings to sinful men. And His truth is an assurance that He will fulfil His word, that He will perform His promises. The poet represents these perfections as infinite. Such is the meaning of the figures which he employs. “Great unto the heavens,” &c. From the infinity of God’s mercy and truth we infer— 1. That the blessings which flow from them reach unto all men. 2. That they are worthy of the unreserved confidence of all men. II. In the spirit of its Offerer. The poet manifests— 1. Strong confidence in God. “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed.” Perowne: “My heart is steadfast.” Moll: “My heart is confident.” His confidence in God was firm and abiding. It enabled him to rise above all fear of danger. 2. Fervent gratitude and reverent admiration towards God. “I will sing and give praise.” His confidence was religious. He was sensible of his obligations to God, and gratefully praised Him. He recognised the perfections of God, and reverently adored Him. This is the true spirit in which praise should be offered to the Most High. III. In its enthusiasm. This is clearly seen in his resolution to praise God— 1. With the noblest powers of his being. “Awake up, my glory.” His “glory” is his soul, with all its wondrous faculties and capacities, as created in the image of God. David summons his noblest powers to the worship of God. Soulless praise is worthless, and even offensive in the sight of God. 2. With choice instrumental accompaniment. “Awake, psaltery and harp.” David would use the sweetest and most musical aids in this hallowed exercise. He seeks to give worthy expression to the feelings of his soul in praise of so glorious a Being. 3. With affectionate zeal. “I myself will awake early.” More correctly: “I will awake the morning-dawn.” He resolves to anticipate the morning-dawn with his songs of praise, so great were his zeal and love for the hallowed exercise. To him the praise of God was the purest pleasure. Surely this enthusiasm in the worship of God is worthy the imitation of all. IV. In its sphere. “I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people; I will sing unto Thee among the nations.” He would celebrate the praise of God to the widest possible extent. Delitzsch: “His song of praise is not to sound in a narrow space where it can scarcely be heard; he will appear, as an evangelist of his deliverance and his Deliverer, among the nations of the world; his calling extends beyond Israel; the experiences of his person are for the benefit of humanity.” The praise of God should be universal, as “His mercy and truth” are. V. In the sense of its imperfection. The Psalmist was conscious that his song fell far below the merit and glory of his theme; and he, therefore, prays, “Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, Thy glory above all the earth.” Our most reverent and most enthusiastic praise is inadequate to so sublime and glorious a theme. “Weak is the effort of my heart,And cold my warmest thought;But when I see Thee as Thou art,I’ll praise Thee as I ought.”—Newton..— 1. Let us “not make that narrow which God’s love has made wide—wide as the heavens” (Psalms 57:10). 2. Let us, like the Psalmist, anticipate the promised deliverances of God with our praises. 3. Let us strive to make our praise of God commensurate with His mercy and truth. In this we shall never succeed; yet the effort will be pleasing to Him and beneficial to us. “The glory of the Lord should be praised early and late, near and far, in heaven and on earth,” and yet it would immeasurably surpass our praise. DECIDED PIETY(Psalms 57:7.) Consider— I. The properties of a pious or godly life. 1. True piety has its seat in the heart. “My heart is fixed.” 2. True piety springs from just views of truth. The heart will not be fixed until the great facts which lie at the foundation of religion are known, &c. 3. Decided piety may be traced to just views of redemption and the greatness of its blessings. 4. Relief from the burden of guilt, through the great sacrifice for sin, tends to fix the heart, &c. 5. Piety is strengthened by religious exercises. 6. Divine deliverances strengthen piety. Answers to prayer promote firmness of purpose to trust in God. 7. Progress in religion strengthens piety. II. The advantages of a life of decided piety. Decided piety— 1. Is attended with security. Religious principles in the heart are a safeguard, &c. 2. Recommends religion (Matthew 5:16). 3. It attended with happiness. Deliverance from guilt, fear, &c. Experience of the joy of salvation, &c. 4. Inspires confidence in God. 5. Strengthens hope in God. 6. Inspires praise to God. “I will sing and give praise.” .—Learn— 1. The importance of the heart being right with God. 2. The importance of a correct acquaintance with the principles of religion. 3. The importance of religious decision. Indecision is dangerous (Matt. 12, 30).—Abridged from an unpublished MS. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, Al-taschith.” see introduction to Psalms 57. “Michtam of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 56. Moll: “This complaint respecting domestic administrations of justice gushes forth from the Psalmist in a threatening language, which is almost obscure owing to bold and mingled figures of speech. It is like a torrent which plunges over every hindrance, foaming and raging. We may certainly credit this original poet with a richness of figures and changes in their use, as well as in the turns of language and of thought, in accordance with particular circumstances and feeling. Yet we lack sufficient evidence to show whether the composition occurred in the time of Saul, who was at the same time David’s judge and persecutor, who endeavoured to hide the persecution under the appearance of a righteous judgment; or in the time of Absalom, who made the administration of justice a means of stealing from David the hearts of the people, whilst he pretended to be impartial.”It seems to us probable that this Psalm, like Psalms 56, 57, , 59, relates to the Sauline persecutions. The similarity in the superscriptions and the character of the contents support this view.THE HISTORY OF HUMAN In dealing with these wicked judges, whom he addresses in the early portion of the Psalm, David gives us a general description of the origin, progress, and destiny of human wickedness. I. Wickedness in its root. “The wicked are estranged from the womb,” &c. An innate estrangement of the heart from God is the root from which the wickedness of men springs. The doctrine of original sin rests on an awful fact. Moral qualities are transmissible. We enter upon life with tendencies to evil. In some natures these tendencies are terrible in their activity and strength. In this light David regards his enemies. “The most lovely infant that is ushered into being,” says Dr. Cumming, “has within it by nature the germs of those elements which feed the flames of bell, and leaven its forlorn inmates with their direst misery. It has in its own heart the embryo of that Upas tree, which distils upon humanity on earth, and on humanity in hell, its death-drops; and so living are the seeds, and so congenial is the soil, that, unless overborne by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the appliances of the Gospel, they will inevitably spring up and flourish.” II. Wickedness in its manifestation. 1. In the mal-administration of justice (Psalms 58:1-2). The exact meaning of these verses is somewhat obscure. The rendering of the first clause of the first verse in the A. V. is certainly incorrect. Alexander translates: “Are ye, indeed, dumb, when ye should speak righteousness!” Conant: “ ‘Do ye, of a truth, in silence, speak righteousness?’ A bitter sarcasm. Is it with silence that ye perform the office of speech, dumb when ye ought to speak, and declare the right?” Perowne, on the latter clause of Psa 58:2, remarks, “This is said sarcastically. Ye pretend, indeed, to hold the balance of justice, and nicely to weigh out to each his just award, but violence is the weight with which ye adjust the scales.” Moll: “It is very bad when those persons and magistrates, who are appointed to administer justice, instead of pronouncing judgment, are silent, and are dumb to the prayers of their subordinates and the earnest entreaties of their frends, not less than to the demands of the law, honour, and conscience. They then not only misuse the scales of justice intrusted to them in an irresponsible manner, to the injury of their fellow-men, but they are likewise hypocrites and liars, since they violate justice at the very time that they pretend to exercise it, and in this manifest their serpent-like nature.” Here, then, are three counts in the indictment against these judges. (1) They were silent when they ought to have declared for righteousness. (2) Their hearts were bent on wickedness. (3) Under the pretence of justice they did evil. Thus in the place of judgment there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there was iniquity. 2. In falsehood. “Speaking lies.” This is a manifestation of wickedness from which David suffered much, and which, in various forms, has been widely prevalent in the whole history of human wickedness. 3. In malice. “Their poison is like the poison of a serpent.” Their spirit was malignant, and their utterances were spiteful, cruel, and deadly. III. Wickedness in its full development. “Like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.” It is not the adder which stoppeth the ear, but the wicked. What is already deaf by nature has no need to stop its ear. We may read the clause, “As a deaf adder, he stoppeth his ear.” By means of stopping their ears the wicked make themselves like the deaf adder. (On serpent charming, see “The Land and the Book,” by Dr. Thomson, p. 154, and Barnes and Lange, in loco.) As there are serpents which cannot be charmed, so there are men who will yield to no good influence. They harden themselves against the grace of God, and close their ears against His Word, and strengthen themselves in wickedness, and so prepare themselves for a terrible and inevitable ruin. It is not simply that the tendency to evil with which they were born has developed itself, but it has developed itself unchecked, and without any obstruction, and the influences which have been brought to bear upon them to lead them to resist that development they have resisted, and the aids which have been offered to them to enable them to do so, they have rejected. “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost.” In this way that which at first was merely a tendency to evil becomes an irresistible despot. “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil.” We see this stopping of the ears and hardening of the heart in the disregard of those who eagerly pursue wickedness— 1. To the remonstrances and entreaties of men, even of their best friends. 2. To the invitations of Divine mercy, and the warnings of Divine judgment. 3. To the Divine influence working in and through their own conscience. All these they disregard. Saul is a conspicuous and terrible example of this. Men wilfully close their eyes against the light, and blindness supervenes; they wilfully stop their ears against Divine voices, and deafness results. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” IV. Wickedness in its consummation. “Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth,” &c. (Psalms 58:6-9). “There is,” says Perowne, “an abrupt change in the image employed. As these men are incorrigible in their wickedness, as they cannot be tamed, the Psalmist prays to God to destroy their power for mischief; but instead of continuing the figure of the serpent charmer, who robs the serpent of his poison, he suddenly represents them as young lions, whose teeth he would see broken that they may no longer devour.” In this portion of the Psalm we see the destination of wickedness. 1. The power of the wicked shall be destroyed. “Break their teeth,” &c. “The young lions” are not the whelps, but those who are youthful in vigour and strength. God will break the power of wickedness. “The arms of the wicked shall be broken.” 2. The plans of the wicked shall be defeated. “When he bendeth,” &c. The Hebrew here is difficult. Hengstenberg translates: “He takes aim with his arrows, as if they were cut in pieces.” Conant: “He will fit his arrows, they shall be as if severed.” The idea, doubtless, is, that the arrows of the wicked would be without effect as though they had their points cut off. “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought,” &c. 3. The end of the wicked shall be failure and ruin. (1) Here are the ideas of wasting and failure as the end of the wicked. “Let them melt away as waters which run continually. As a snail which melteth,” &c. (On the metaphor of the snail, see Tristram’s “Natural History of the Bible,” p. 295, quoted in Lange.) Wickedness tends to failure. Sin is truly a missing of the mark. The life of the wicked shall pass away like an abortion (Psalms 37:35-36). (2) Here is the idea of dread ruin as the end of the wicked. “Before your pots,” &c. Another difficult verse. A more correct translation would be, “Before your pots feel the thorn, whether fresh or burning; He will sweep it away as with a tempest.” “Whether fresh or burning” we take as applying to the thorns. Perowne: “The general sense of this difficult verse seems to be this: As a sudden whirlwind in the desert sweeps away the thorns which have been gathered for cooking almost as soon as they have been set on fire, and before the cauldron has grown hot, so shall the wicked, and all their yet incomplete designs, be swept away by the wrath of God.” The ruin of the wicked is here represented as (á) sudden (1 Thessalonians 5:3). (â) Irresistible, “as with a whirlwind” (Proverbs 14:32). Such is the dread consummation to which wickedness tends. V. Wickedness as viewed in its ultimate aspects. The consummation of wickedness affords— 1. Satisfaction to the righteous. “The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance,” &c. Alexander: “To bathe his steps in the blood of others is to walk where their blood is flowing, to tread the battlefield where they have fallen, to gain a sanguinary triumph over them, or rather, to partake in the triumph of another.” The righteous rejoice that wickedness does not triumph, but is defeated, destroyed. “The Lord reigneth.” 2. Conviction to men in general. “And men will say, Verily, there is fruit for the righteous,” &c. When the ultimate aspects of wickedness are seen men will be convinced that the moral government of the world is in the hands of a righteous God. Even in the present state of affairs events are frequently conducted to such issues that men cannot resist the conclusion that “there is a God that judgeth in the earth.” .— 1. Learn the danger of following the bias of our nature apart from the grace of God. “When we follow our inborn nature we ruin ourselves and others.” 2. Rejoice that the bias of our nature to evil may be changed. By the grace of God we may “be renewed in the spirit of our mind,” &c. (Ephesians 4:23-24). 3. Let those who are pursuing evil turn from it to Jesus Christ and to life ere it reaches its dread consummation (Isaiah 55:6-7; Ezekiel 33:11). 4. Learn to take a comprehensive view of the divine dealings with men. By so doing we shall be likely correctly to understand the ways of God. 5. Cultivate a strong and constant faith in the exercise and rectitude of the Divine administration in human affairs. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician, Al-taschith.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “Michtam of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 56. “When Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.” The history here referred to is contained in 1 Samuel 19:11-18. Moll: “The contents and form of this Psalm do not lead us to limit that dangerous situation in Gibeah to the one night before the flight which was rendered possible by Michal. It is particularly the recurring verses (Psalms 59:6; Psalms 59:14), which describe repeated hostile waylaying, which began with the evening.”Both the nature of the contents and the style of the composition of the Psalm confirm the statement of the superscription as to its authorship and occasion.THE HUNTED LIFE AND ITS DIVINE (Psalms 59:1-10.) In this, as in several preceding Psalms, complaint, prayer, and confidence are the chief feelings which find expression. Notice— I. The character and conduct of the persecutors. 1. They were wicked. “Workers of iniquity.” The expression denotes great activity in wickedness, and is justly applied to Saul and his base agents. 2. They were cruel. “Bloody men.” They sought the life of the Psalmist though he had done them no wrong. “They make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.” “He compares his enemies to those half-wild dogs, which are the scavengers of the cities of the East. They prowl about the streets at night hunting for offal, and hesitate not to prey upon the dead, and even the feeble and helpless.” So fierce and cruel were they. No figure is too strong to represent the fierce cruelty of Saul towards David. 3. They were secret. “They lie in wait for my soul.” They were subtle and politic in their designs, and, as it were, lay in ambush that they might destroy his life (1 Samuel 19:11). 4. They were strong. “The mighty are gathered against me.” “It is not mere strength,” says Barnes, “that is here referred to, but that kind of strength or courage which can be employed in a desperate enterprise, and which is fitted to accomplish any scheme of wickedness, however daring or difficult.” Unscrupulous, bold, and strong were the men whom Saul employed against David at this time. 5. They were resolute and impetuous. “They run and prepare themselves.” Hengstenberg translates: “They run and plant themselves firmly.” The terms and the metaphor are military. David compares his enemies to an attacking host, which, having obtained a firm footing on the walls of a beleaguered city, is ready to rush over them, or through the breaches made in them, into the city. They were settled in purpose, and were eager to execute that purpose. “Their feet were swift to shed blood.” 6. They were slanderous. “Behold, they belch out with their mouth, swords are in their lips.” Alexander: “The first verb is expressive of a constant flow or gush. What it is that they thus pour out, although not expressed, may be readily gathered from the context, namely, slanders and reproaches. The swords in their lips are significant of sharp and cutting speeches. (See Psalms 55:21, and comp. Psalms 52:2). Arndt: “Just as a naked sword inflicts wounds, so do lies and calumnies cut in pieces innocent hearts.” 7. They were practically atheistic. “For who, say they, doth hear?” They were wholly destitute of the fear of God. They acted as though there were no God. (Comp. Psalms 10:11.) Such were the foes by which the poet was assailed on this occasion. They were calculated to strike terror into a brave heart. II. The Prayer of the persecuted. “Deliver me from mine enemies,” &c. Notice— 1. The requests presented. David entreats God— (1) For defence. “Defend me from them that rise up against me.” Margin: “Set me on high,” &c. He seeks to be raised far above the reach of his enemies, and above all fear of them. The man who trusts in God “shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks.” (2) For deliverance. “Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity” &c. The foes were many, the danger was great; but the Psalmist knew that God could thwart their designs, and deliver him from their hands. (3) For judgment on his enemies. “Thou, therefore, O Lord God of hosts,” &c. (Psalms 59:5). On “all the heathen.” Perowne says, “The nations, to an Israelite, would be the embodiment of all that opposed itself to God; and in appealing to God to punish them, he would, in fact, be appealing to Him to punish all evil wherever manifested. The special judgment would follow from the universal, and be an instance of it.… To the true Israelite, the whole outer heathen world was a world lying under the heavy wrath of God, and to him the greater part of Israel itself seemed corrupt and apostate.” The Psalmist entreats God to visit them in judgment. The persecutors of the servants of God and the enemies of His cause will certainly meet with the punishment which they deserve, unless they penitently turn from their evil ways. When He arises for the help of His people He will smite their foes in His anger. 2. The pleas by which these requests are urged. He pleads— (1) The might and malice of his foes. In this he found a powerful reason why God should help him. The greatness of our danger and our need are strong arguments with Him. (2) His own innocence. “Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Lord. Without my fault,” &c. David had not in any way injured Saul, or any of his enemies. So clear was he in this respect, that he could appeal to the great Searcher of hearts that he had, neither in heart nor in action, wronged Saul, or merited this treatment from him. “There are two kinds of innocence, one before God, the other before men.” David was quite conscious of the latter kind of innocence. However great a sinner he was against God, he knew he had not injured Saul even in thought. When seeking deliverance from God from such dangers this is a powerful plea. (3). The might and majesty of God. “Thou therefore, O Lord God of hosts,” &c. These names are not empty formulas or poetical figures. As “Lord God of hosts” all forces bow to His command. He cannot be overmatched. The names and titles add force to the argument. (4). His personal relation to God. “Oh, my God … the God of Israel.” Blessed are they who, in their trials and perils, can plead their personal relation to Him, &c. III. The confidence of the persecuted. The Psalmist was not dismayed by reason of his enemies, but confident in the all-sufficiency of his God. 1. In God as infinitely superior to his enemies. “Thou, O Lord, shalt laugh at them,” &c. It is for God a light matter to confound their designs, &c. (Comp. Psalms 2:4). 2. In God as his sure defence. “Because of His strength will I wait upon Thee; for God is my defence.” Conant: “My strength, I will wait on Thee; for God is my defence.” God is our high place. In Him we are inviolably secure—far above the reach of the utmost effort of our enemies. 3. In God as a gracious and timely Deliverer. “The God of my mercy shall prevent me,” &c. Conant: “God with His loving-kindness will anticipate me.” Moll: “My God will come to meet me with His grace.” Spurgeon: “How frequently have we met with preventing mercy—the supply prepared before the need occurred—the refuge built before the danger arose. Far ahead into the future the foreseeing grace of heaven has projected itself, and forestalled every difficulty.” So David rose triumphant over his trials and fears, &c. .—What message has this chapter from the history of the pious Psalmist for us in our life to-day? 1. The godly are still subject to sore trials, sometimes to bitter persecutions, &c. 2. Happy are they who, in their trials, are conscious of their innocence. Suffering is far more severe and intolerable when it is the direct result of sin, and is accompanied with a sense of guilt, than when we are sustained by the consciousness of our integrity. 3. More happy are they who, in their trials and perils, can look to God for defence and deliverance as a God in covenant relations with themselves. “Oh, my God … The God of Israel.” In Him they have all-sufficiency. “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.” “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” THE DIVERSE OF MEN THE REIGN OF GOD(Psalms 59:11-17.) The Psalmist here prays for, or, as some say, predicts, the infliction of the judgment of God upon the wicked who were persecuting him, and announces his determination to celebrate the praise of his protecting and delivering God. I. The destiny of the enemies of the good. Their destiny is here set forth in two aspects. 1. Life protracted in misery. “Slay them not,” &c. Here are three elements of misery. (1). Fruitless wanderings. “Scatter them by Thy power.” Hengstenberg: “Make them wander up and down through Thy power.” It is a prayer that God would lead them astray, so that they might fail of their object. This verb is used of Cain (Genesis 4:12), and of Israel in the wilderness (Numbers 32:13). The wicked do miss the mark in life. They achieve no great purposes. And, even when they are able to carry their plans to a successful issue, they find no satisfaction in the result. (2). Heavy afflictions. “Bring them down, O Lord our shield.” God will certainly humble and abase the enemies of His people. Calvin: “He wills that they should be thrown down from their honourable position, be cast, as it were, before one’s feet, so that they may afford in their misery and disgrace a standing spectacle of the Divine indignation.” (3). Want of satisfaction. “And at evening let them return,” &c., Psalms 59:14-15. Psalms 59:14 is a repetition of Psa 59:6. The idea is, Let them come, and prowl and howl in vain, and meet with the mortifying disappointment which they deserve. The marginal rendering of Psa 59:15 is correct. “As for them, they shall wander up and down for food, if they be not satisfied, then they will stay all night.” They shall wander in search of food and find none, and shall pass the night full of disgust and pain from unsatisfied cravings. “It is the image of a wretched existence in hunger and pain.” Wickedness does not satisfy its agents. The evil heart is not restful. It is a stranger to satisfaction and peace. “The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest,” &c. The Psalmist prays that this disappointment and wretchedness may befall his enemies, that they may thus become monuments of the righteousness of the Divine rule. 2. Life ending in ruin. “Consume them in wrath,” &c. Perowne: “This does not contradict the previous imprecation. He would have his enemies destroyed at last, but only after they had been, by a protracted, miserable existence, a warning to men of God’s righteous severity.” The idea and desire of the Poet was, that God would visit them with one judgment after another, and ultimately bring them to utter ruin. Wickedness, if persisted in, must terminate in destruction. “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” Let it be distinctly noted that the destiny of the wicked is directly connected with their sin. “For the sin of their mouth,” &c. On the sin of their mouth we have remarked on Psalms 59:7. The destruction of the wicked is viewed as the just consequence of their sin. The slander, pride, and cruelty of the enemies of David drew down upon them the righteous judgments of heaven. Men meeten themselves by wickedness for ruin before God dooms them to it. A man’s hell grows out of his own character and conduct. II. The destiny of the suffering good. In the midst of his persecutions and trials the Psalmist confidently anticipates a life of devout and hearty praise. Notice— 1. The object of his praise. “Unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing.” God was the source of the strength of the Psalmist. In Him he found all that he needed, and to Him his praise was offered. 2. The reason of his praise. “For Thou hast been my defence and refuse in the day of my trouble. For God is my defence, the God of my mercy.” The rich grace of God toward us, and His sure protection of us, are a most sufficient reason for heartiest and grate-fullest praise. 3. The theme of his praise. “I will sing of Thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy.” M. Henry: “Power, without mercy, is to be dreaded: mercy, without power, is not what a man can expect much benefit from; but God’s power by which He is able to help us, and His mercy by which He is inclined to help us, will justly be the everlasting praise of all the saints.” 4. The manner of his praise. (1) He would “sing.” Devout song is a natural and becoming expression of gratitude and joy. (2.) He would “sing aloud.” In this way he would make his boast in the Lord, and seek to enkindle the spirit of worship in others. (3.) He would “sing aloud in the morning.” The morning is the emblem of deliverance from trial, of prosperity and of joy. Morning is the beautiful symbol of the destiny of the righteous. God will turn the darkness of their night of suffering into the beautiful light of the morning of gladness. (Comp. 2 Samuel 23:4; Job 11:17; Psalms 90:14; Psalms 92:2). The wicked are advancing to the thick darkness of a dread night: the righteous to the unwaning light of a joyous day. III. The reign of God manifested in these diverse destinies. The dark destiny of the wicked, and the joyous one of the good, are regarded by the Psalmist as supplying evidence of the righteous government of God. “Let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth.” David desired that it might be known among the nations that God ruled over His people—not the cruel and wicked Saul, but the holy God. His feeling was similar to that to which he gave expression as he encountered Goliath, “That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.” The design of God’s judgments is to convince men that the Lord reigneth. They aim not merely at the punishment of the impenitent, but at the warning of the wicked, the confirmation of the faith of believers, and the instruction of all men. .— 1. If there be revenge found in the desire of the Psalmist concerning his enemies, in that he is not an example to us. In him revenge cannot be commendable. In us, in this Christian dispensation, it would be exceedingly sinful. 2. Yet wickedness brings misery and leads to ruin. It is well that it does. It would be evil and unspeakably calamitous were it otherwise. Every right-minded and true-hearted man must approve this,—rejoice in this. 3. So righteousness tendeth to life and peace and joy. He who by faith is interested in the Divine power and mercy may triumph even in the midst of his enemies. “Light is sown for the righteous,” &c. 4. Though appearances sometimes seem inconsistent with the supremacy of the righteous government of God, yet he ever ruleth, and in the end His government shall be universally acknowledged. AND PRAISE(Psalms 59:16-17.) Consider— I. The subject of the Psalmist’s meditation. 1. He meditated upon the Divine mercy. All the perfections of the Divine nature are glorious and furnish matter for delightful meditation. But it is from His mercy that we draw our chief consolation, encouragement, and hope. Every good man has an experimental knowledge of the mercy of God. In every age God has exercised his mercy to men; but the gift of Christ is its grandest expression. To seek an interest in the mercy of God is of the first importance. 2. He contemplated God as his refuge in trouble. “Thou hast been my defence and refuge,” &c. To have a refuge in time of trouble is desirable. “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” We have every encouragement to put our trust in God. He is represented as a “rock,” a “fortress,” a “high tower,” a “shield,” and a “buckler.” God as a refuge— (1.) Is near,—always at hand. (2.) Affords the greatest security. (3.) Is suitable. Our troubles differ, but He is a suitable refuge in every trouble. (4.) David proved God as his refuge. Saul had laid plots to destroy him, but the Lord had delivered him. We also have obtained support and relief by trusting in God. 3. He contemplated God as his strength and confided in His power. “I will sing of thy power. Unto Thee, O my strength, will I sing.” In what respects are we to consider God as the strength of His people? (1.) He defends them from danger by His power. (2.) He assists and strengthens them for duty by His grace. II. The influence of the Psalmist’s meditation. It led him to praise God. “I will sing,” &c. 1. Praising God is most reasonable. 2. Is a pleasant and delightful exercise. 3. Should be a part of every day’s employment. Divine goodness is daily manifested and should be daily acknowledged. 4. Will tend to prepare us to meet the trials which may yet be before us. 5. Will tend to meeten us for the enjoyment of heaven. 6. Requires a suitable frame of mind. True praise springs from gratitude; and is promoted by a consideration of what God is, what He has done for us, and what he has promised to do for us. .— 1. How great are the privileges of the people of God! 2. How important seriously to consider whether we are interested in these privileges. 3. Learn the importance of continuing to make God our refuge in trouble.—Abridged from an unpublished M.S. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “Upon Shushaneduth,” is probably a musical direction to the leader of the choir. In the superscription to Psalms 45, 69, , 80, we have Shoahannim, the plural of Shushan. See Introduction to Psalms 45. “Shushan-eduth” signifies “the lily of testimony,” and, possibly, contains the first words of some psalm to the melody of which this psalm was to be sung. “Michtam of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 56. “To teach.” Moll: “As for the expression ‘to teach,’ there is nothing to decide whether it designates the psalm as designed for the instruction of posterity, or whether it refers particularly to the design of bringing the unmanageable tribes to recognise the Divine choice of David by teaching them that his government was pleasing to God, or whether it states directly its purpose of being committed to memory by the people on account of its national significance, as Deuteronomy 31:19, or whether it is to be explained by 2 Samuel 1:18, and, accordingly, is to be regarded as a song of military exercise, which was to be sung in connection with shooting with the bow.” “When he strove with Aram-naharaim,” &c. “Aram-naharaim,” or Aram of the two rivers, is a name sometimes applied to Syria or Mesopotamia. “Aram-Zobah” is the name of a portion of Syria, which at this time formed a separate kingdom. Its exact position and limits cannot now he determined. “The valley of salt,” says Robinson, “can be nothing else than the district adjoining the Salt-Mountain, to the south of the Dead Sea, which, in reality, formed the boundary between the ancient territories of Judah and Edom.” The events referred to in the superscription are recorded in 2 Samuel 8, and 1 Chronicles 18. This victory is here said to have been achieved by Joab; but in 2 Samuel 8:13, it is attributed to David; and, in 2 Chronicles 18:12, Abishai is mentioned as the conqueror. The explanation of Michaelis is admirable: “David, as king, Joab, as commander-in-chief, and Abishai, as sent by his brother on this particular expedition, defeated the enemy.” There is a difference in the number mentioned as slain. Here, it is said to be twelve thousand; but in 2 Samuel 8:13, and 1 Chronicles 18:12, it is said to be eighteen thousand. The discrepancy may indicate that both numbers are mere estimates, or it may have arisen from a mistake of a copyist, or, as seems to us most probable, it is accounted for in this way, that here the reference is to one engagement, while the history refers to the entire campaign., PRAYER, AND (Psalms 60:1-4.) It is probable that the, lamentation and petitions of Psa 60:1-3 are a record of past experiences, not the utterance of present feelings, because the psalm refers to a time when a considerable measure of prosperity had been granted to Israel. The Poet speaks in the psalm not as an individual, but as the mouthpiece of the whole people. In this first strophe we have three homiletic points— I. Complaint. (Psalms 60:1-3). 1. Great calamities are here complained of. “Thou hast broken us; Thou hast made the earth to tremble; Thou hast broken it; It shaketh; Thou hast showed Thy people hard things; Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.” The reference is to the severe injuries and “losses which Israel had formerly sustained in the war against the Syrians, and especially through the irruption of the Edomites.” The figures employed by the Psalmist—the trembling and rent land, the people broken, and prostrate as though drunk with strong wine—indicate the greatness of the calamities, and the deep sense of them realised by the people. The Church of God upon earth is sometimes visited with sore trials, and is called to pass through fiery persecutions, which cause bitter lamentation, &c. 2. These calamities are regarded as signs of the Divine displeasure. “O God, Thou hast cast us off, Thou hast been displeased.” It seemed to them in their distresses that God treated them as though they were loathsome and offensive to Him, and as though He were angry with them. Their miseries and calamities are viewed as coming from Him. When His people grievously sin against Him, God withdraws from them the shield of His protection, and allows their enemies to triumph over them. 3. The Divine displeasure is always the result of human sin. Perowne: “When men will drink presumptuously of the cup of their wickedness, God forces it, as it were, into their hands, till they have drained the very dregs as the cup of His wrath.” He never casts off man until man has first cast off Him. Never forsakes a church until that church has first forsaken Him. II. Prayer. The Psalmist prays— 1. For the restoration of the Divine favour. “O turn Thyself to us again;” i.e., be gracious to us again, restore to us the signs of Thy favour and friendship. When the favour of God is restored to His people, their prosperity and triumph will not be long delayed. “In Thy favour our horn shall be exalted.” 2. For the repair of their calamities. “Heal the breaches thereof.” Repair the disasters which have befallen Thy people. Grant unto them their former prosperity and power. Such is the meaning of the petition. Moll: “Wars are for nations what earthquakes are for their lands; God sometimes visits men with both, and then likewise strikes the congregation with hard blows and shakes them; but He heals again the breaches and rents which arise thereby.” The Church, in times of distress, should always seek God in prayer. Prayer imparts patience under trial, power to grapple with difficulty, deliverance from distress and calamity. III. Encouragement. “Thou hast given a banner,” &c. From an examination of the context, we conclude that the “banner” is the promise of salvation which God has given to Israel, and “the truth” is the faithfulness and trustworthiness of the promise. The following are the chief points in this verse as related to the main scope of the Psalm. 1. God has given to His people most glorious promises. What rich and splendid promises He gave to ancient Israel! Victory over their enemies, salvation from calamities, undisturbed possession of Canaan, &c. What “exceeding great and precious promises” He has given to His spiritual Israel! 2. These promises are thoroughly reliable. “Displayed because of the truth.” “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” 3. Being so glorious and so reliable, these promises should be conspicuously exhibited, that men may trust in them. The banner must “be displayed.” These promises of salvation are compared “to a highly exalted banner, which serves as a signal to one lying prostrate in his misery, to rise up.” To the people of God in depression and distress, let us exhibit the promises which He has given to them. 4. The precious and faithful promises of God should inspire His people with hope and courage in the time of trial. This we take to be the chief idea in this verse. The promises encouraged Israel in their distresses and calamities. And in the present, to the people of God in time of trial, they should impart hope, and, in their prayers for relief, they should strengthen their faith. .— 1. Let the people of God beware of sin, for it is the parent of darkness, distress, &c. 2. Let the distressed seek Him in penitence and prayer, &c. 3. Let them be encouraged in doing so by the exceeding great and precious promises which He has given to them. THE (Psalms 60:4.) We have given above what we regard as the meaning of this verse in its relation to the context. We purpose regarding it at present, as setting forth certain features of the great conflict with evil in which the people of God are engaged. Notice— I. The object of the conflict. Many wars have been waged for mean, selfish, ambitious, wicked objects. But here is a banner given for a most worthy object, “that it might be displayed because of the truth.” The people of God fight for the banishment of ignorance and the promotion of knowledge; for the overthrow of error and the enthronement of truth; for the destruction of evil and the diffusion of goodness; for the utter defeat of the father of lies, and the complete, universal, and perpetual triumph of the King of truth. Here is a holy war—a war against all injustice, falsehood, error, oppression, evil; and in favour of righteousness, truth, kindness, holiness. II. The character of the soldiers. “Them that fear Thee.” They reverence God; they obey Him, &c. Notice— 1. The expulsive power of this fear. It expels all other fear. He who fears God much will fear neither men nor devils at all. 2. The impulsive power of this fear. It inspires enthusiasm in the holy cause—imparts courage in the conflict, &c. Cromwell’s Ironsides were men who feared God, and acted as ever in His presence. Their time before going to battle was spent in prayer, and they went into the fight singing psalms. Their wathchword was, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” They were never defeated. The men to do the work and fight the battles of the Lord must be godly men—men who fear Him. III. The authority of the Commander. “Thou hast given a banner.” God has given to His people the standard as of an army, that they might go forth and fight His battles. He has commissioned His people for this war, and He commands them in it. In this we have a guarantee of— 1. The rectitude of the conflict. He would not send us forth in an unrighteous cause, or with unrighteous weapons, or in an unworthy manner. The object, the weapons, and the methods of this war are all righteous and honourable. 2. Support in the conflict. To every soldier fighting beneath His banner, He says, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” He supports the workman in the vineyard, and the warrior on the battle-plain. 3. Victory in the conflict. The battle may be long and arduous, but the issue is certain victory to those who fight in the cause of God. He who has given us our banner will also give us the palm of the victor. .— 1. Under whose banner are you fighting? “Who is on the Lord’s side?” 2. Who will enlist under the banner of the Cross? Christ, our Leader, will receive loyal recruits. 3. Courage, ye soldiers of Christ, for you shall gain the victory. Teacher, preacher, &c., go on; for you shall surely win the well-fought day. HUMAN (Psalms 60:5-12.) In these verses David rejoices in the victories already achieved by Israel, and in the possession of the promised land so far as they had attained it, and relying on the promises of God, he looks forward to complete victory and possession of the entire land. The promises made to ancient Israel illustrate the promises given to the Christian believer. Canaan is a type of the spiritual inheritance of the Christian. In this way we see here an illustration of human perfection. I. The nature of human perfection. Here are three aspects of it. 1. Salvation from troubles. “That Thy beloved may be delivered, save with Thy right hand, and hear me.… Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man.” The troubles of human life upon earth are many and sometimes severe. But God saves His people from them. He does so sometimes— (1) By removing the cause of the trouble. Or (2) By giving grace to bear the trouble (2 Corinthians 12:9). Or (3) By revealing the meaning and uses of trouble (2 Corinthians 4:10-18). (4) By sanctifying trouble to promote the well-being of the troubled (Romans 8:28). By the grace of God, the Christian rises superior to trouble, makes it minister to his spiritual advancement, and shall soon pass away from it for ever. 2. Victory over enemies. Israel had to contend with Philistia, Moab, and Edom; but, in His holiness, God had promised them complete victory over every enemy. The Christian has to fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil—against evil in himself, and in society; but he has the promise of more than victory (Romans 8:37; Romans 16:20; Ephesians 6:10-13). 3. Possession of promised privileges. God had promised to Israel the complete and peaceful possession of Canaan. The Psalmist looked forward to the realisation of that promise. Glorious are the blessings promised to the Christian—pardon, peace, holiness, fellowship with God, heaven. Here are some of the promised privileges (Ezekiel 36:25-27; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Peter 1:4; 1 John 1:3; 1 John 3:2. Surely in these promises we have the perfection of being. To have God’s Spirit within us, and to walk in His statutes; to be changed into the image of the glory of the Lord; to be partakers of the Divine nature; to have fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ; to be the sons of God, and to look forward to the vision of God and likeness to Him—this is human perfection. II. The attainment of human perfection. This is here set before us as— 1. Promised by God. “God hath spoken in His holiness.” Moll: “It is most appropriate to understand this promise, which refers to the duration of the possession of the promised land, and the supremacy over neighbouring nations, not of a special oracle given through the Urim and Thummim of the high-priest, or the answer just sought, nor to limit it to the promise given to David (2 Samuel 7:9 sq.), and, as a figurative reproduction of the same, but to regard it as a free summary of the ancient prophecies, especially those contained in the Pentateuch.” God has premised clearly and repeatedly to the believer the perfection of being and blessedness. He “hath spoken in His holiness.” He has promised as a holy God, One who is infinitely superior to deceit and change, One who is true, and who ever fulfils His word. The Christian’s hope of perfection rests upon that promise. 2. Promoted by prayer. The Psalmist prays for the fulfilment of the promise. In so doing— (1), he appeals to the Divine strength. “Save with Thy right hand.” With the right hand man wields the sword, hurls the spear, effects his tasks, &c. God has power to achieve His purposes and fulfil His promises. He is “mighty to save.” “He “is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c. (2). The Psalmist pleads the Divine relationship. “Thy beloved.” God’s people are dear to Him as the apple of His eye. He has loved them with an everlasting love. This love is one of the most effective pleas which they can urge in their prayers to Him. (3). The Psalmist pleads the vanity of human help. “Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man.” Man is unreliable because of the limitation of his power, and because of his mutability. In God is our hope. To Him we direct our prayer. Prayer is a condition of blessing. 3. Guaranteed by past triumphs and present possessions. “I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem,” &c. (Psalms 60:6-10). Shechem on the west of Jordan, and Succoth on the east; Gilead (including the territory occupied by the tribes of Gad and Reuben) and Manasseh on the east, and Ephraim and Judah on the west, are mentioned as representing the whole land of Canaan. The powerful tribe of Ephraim is spoken of as the strength of the head, i.e., the great protector of the most vital interests of the nation in time of war. Judah is named as the lawgiver, probably in reference to the ancient prediction, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,” &c. (Genesis 49:10). Ephraim was the helmet, and Judah the sceptre of the chosen people. All the land of Canaan east and west of the Jordan, which the Poet thus brings into view, was subdued. Moab also was conquered. “Moab is my washpot,” is a phrase denoting that the Moabites were completely reduced to servitude to Israel (2 Samuel 8:2). But the victory of Israel was not complete. Edom remained unsubdued. But its subjugation is anticipated. “Upon Edom will I cast my shoe.” Moab, in the preceding clause, is described as a mean vessel, in which the feet are washed, and now Edom is spoken of as a servant of the lowest grade, to whom the sandals are thrown, to be removed and cleaned. Or the figure of casting the shoe may signify the placing of the foot upon Edom in token of its complete subjection. There is no doubt that the idea is, that Edom should be completely vanquished by and subjected to Israel. Philistia is also described as conquered. During the period of the Judges the Philistines had severely oppressed Israel; but David completely conquered them (2 Samuel 8:1). “The strong city” was the rock-built and fortified city of Petra, the capital of Idumea or Edom, From the victories already achieved, David was encouraged to believe that God would lead him into Petra, and to complete victory over the Idumeans. So in our spiritual history, our past triumphs and present attainments contribute to our assurance of the full realisation of the privileges which God has promised. They do so in two ways. (1). Our past achievements tend both to encourage and to qualify us for further achievements in the future. (2). God’s goodness and faithfulness in the past are an assurance of His blessing in the future. Thus every temptation conquered is a prophecy of the full and final victory. Every privilege enjoyed is a pledge of the complete possession of the “inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,” &c. 4. Demanding strenuous effort. “Through God we shall do valiantly.” We must “do valiantly” if we would attain perfection. If we would gain the victory we must fight manfully in the battle. If we would wear the crown we must patiently bear the cross. If we would win the prize we must run the race that is set before us diligently even to the end (Luke 12:24; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Hebrews 12:1-2). 5. Ascribed to God. “Through God we shall do valiantly; for He shall tread down our enemies.” He gives us courage in battle, patience in trial, strength in labour. Our salvation was begun by Him, and He alone can perfect it. To Him be all the praise. “Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory,” &c. God in Christ is the beginning and the end, the commencement and the crown, of human perfection. “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power.” Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “Upon Neginah.” Hebrew: Neginath. “The LXX. and Vulg., evidently read Neginoth in the plural, which occurs in the title of five psalms, and is perhaps the true reading. Whether the word be singular or plural, it is the general term by which all stringed instruments are described.” “Of David.” The contents of the psalm confirm the title as to its Davidic authorship. The psalm was probably composed by David When he was in exile in consequence of the rebellion of Absalom (2 Samuel 15-18, especially 2 Samuel 17:22).THE CRY OF A HEART(Psalms 61:1-4.) We have here— I. A painful experience. “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed.” The experience of David included— 1. Distressing exile. “From the end of the earth” is an expression denoting a painful sense of removal to a great distance from the dwelling-place of God. The country to the east of Jordan, into which David had been compelled to retreat, was not accounted the Lord’s land properly. (Comp. Numbers 32:29; Joshua 22:19). In this country the Psalmist felt himself as it were banished to the extremity of the earth, far from the face of God. He was far from the city that he loved most, from his home, from his throne, and from the tabernacle of his God. To the godly soul separation from the ordinances of worship is a sore trial. 2. Overwhelming sorrow. “When my heart is overwhelmed.” Moll: “In the covering of my heart.” The idea is that his heart was enveloped with trouble. Anxiety and grief wrapped his soul as a garment. Terribly bitter and painful were the experiences of the Psalmist at this time. Our souls, too, have known the bitterness and desolation of great sorrows and severe trials. Like David, there are times when we are in anguish because of the feeling of absence from God, and the rebellion of our own children, and the ingratitude and treachery of those we esteemed our friends, &c. II. A fervent prayer. “Hear my cry, O God,” &c. 1. The object of the prayer. The Psalmist seeks Divine audience. “Hear my cry, O God.” And Divine consideration. “Attend unto my prayer.” But the chief object of his prayer was Divine protection. “Lead me to the rock that is higher than L” More correctly: “Lead me to a rock that is too high for me;” i.e., a rock so high that he could not ascend it by his own power, and which his enemies would not be able to ascend. His own resources were inadequate to secure his safety; so he seeks the protection of God. The high rock is a frequent figure for security. He who stands upon it is far above the reach of his enemies. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the true Rock for human souls. 2. The self-distrust involved in this prayer. “Lead me” is the cry of the man who feels incompetent to direct his own steps, or choose his own path. “To a rock that is too high for me,” indicates a sense of insufficiency and the abandonment of self-dependence. If we are to be secure and blessed, we must be led to ONE who is far above us in wisdom, power, &c. 3. The personality of this prayer. “Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer,” &c. “Though all men pray,” says Dr. Parker, “yet each man has his own prayer. The heart has its own way of telling its own tales, and cannot be satisfied with paraphrase or generalisation. It must tell all its sins, and set forth in order its troubles, its plagues, and its high desires; with brokenness of speech, which is often the most perfect of eloquence, it must recite the number of its failures, and tell of all its groping and stumbling along the path of life. No man will it accept as a hired advocate; no voice could do it justice; it must utter my cry and my prayer, and where it cannot find words it will heave the sigh or the groan which asks God to be His own interpreter. We may have great helps in prayer, the spirit may accept the choicely wise and tender words of other men; yet there is a point at which the heart breaks away to hold secret intercourse with the Father and Saviour of men.” This is indeed a fervent prayer—a pathetic, urgent, earnest cry of the human heart to God. III. A cheering recollection. “Thou hast been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy.” In former times God had been to the Psalmist a sure refuge, had preserved him safely amid many and great dangers, &c. To the thoughtful and devout heart life abounds with memorials of the Divine goodness and faithfulness. “It is inexpressibly important to keep the mind up to a full realisation of all that God has done in one’s personal history. When a man’s own history goes for nothing with him, he may be regarded as having sunk below the level of a man; but if he will watch how God has developed his life, how wondrously He has turned it, how gently He has withdrawn it into ‘shelter’ when the storm was coming, how graciously He has placed it in the ‘strong tower’ when sounds of war shook the air, he will be moved from thankfulness to eloquence, and will say to those who doubtfully look on—‘In God is my salvation and my glory;’ ” &c. Recollections such as this of David’s should be cherished; because— 1. They impress us with our obligations to God. 2. They inspire us with hope in time of trial, and courage in time of danger. IV. An exemplary resolution. “I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever;” &c. The Psalmist’s recollection of past mercies inspired him with confidence in his present dangers. “Few of us would be doubtful of the future if we would make a right use of the past.” “Experience is the nurse of faith.” Trusting in God, the Psalmist looks forward to a life of— 1. Perpetual worship. “I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever.” He has a firm assurance that he will be restored to his home and to the public worship of God. It may be, perhaps, that he looked forward to a home in heaven with God for ever. A life of worship is ennobling and blessed. 2. Hearty confidence. “I will trust in the covert of Thy wings.” A very tender and assuring figure, suggestive of affection, security, rest. Such was the full and hearty trust of the Psalmist in God. .—Let us aspire and strive after a life of confidence and worship. Such a life will raise us above the dread of dangers, will bring to us rest and comfort in the midst of sore trials, and will lead us to the tabernacle of God as our eternal home. THE ROCK(Psalms 61:2.) I. The season referred to. “When my heart is overwhelmed.” There are seasons in which the soul of the Christian is overwhelmed:— 1. From a sense of the Divine claims on our obedience (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). 2. From the pressure of heavy trials (Psalms 55:12-14). 3. From the keenness of temptation. The very best of men are subject to temptation. Moses and David, Daniel and Job. Yea, Christ Himself. 4. From the anticipations of future evils. II. Whither the Psalmist desires to be led. “To the rock that is higher than I.” The rock gives the idea— 1. Of strength (Psalms 62:2; Psalms 62:6; Psalms 62:8). 2. Durability. “I am the Lord, I change not.” “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” III. The grounds of the Psalmist’s plea. “From the ends of the earth,” &c. 1. This prayer is prompted by a consciousness of need. 2. In this prayer we have the true source of ability addressed. 3. In this prayer we see the encouragement he derives from past experience. “For Thou hast been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy.”—GEO. , in “The Pulpit Analyst.” THE OF A HEART(Psalms 61:5-8.) We have here— I. Confidence of safety and stability in God. “Thou wilt prolong the king’s life; his years as many generations. He shall abide before God for ever.” These expressions of confidence are variously interpreted. They are interpreted of (ɑ ?) David himself—that God would deliver him out of the danger in which he was placed, would grant him long life, and restore him to the throne and the tabernacle without danger of being driven into exile again. (â) Of the dynasty of David. Hengstenberg: “David speaks designedly of the days of the king instead of his own days for the purpose of showing that he considered the promise of eternal dominion as relating not to himself personally, but to his family—the royal family of David.” (ã) Of the Messiah. “David, realising that he is the anointed of the Lord, does not always distinguish between himself and the Messianic dynasty, so that the latter thought fills up as it were the background of his consciousness.” We certainly have here an expression of his assurance of his own safety and stability. His occupancy of the throne was imperilled. Absalom and the rebel army sought to take even his life. But he was confident that God would preserve his life, and restore him to his throne. “He shall abide before God for ever,” may signify more than a constant abode at Jerusalem in the enjoyment of the ordinances of worship. Barnes: “His restoration to his home, to his throne, and to the privileges of the sanctuary, he may have regarded as an emblem of his ultimate reception into a peaceful heaven, and his mind may have glanced rapidly from the one to the other. On earth, after his restoration, he would have no fear that he would be banished again; in heaven, of which such a restoration might be regarded as an emblem, there would be no change, no exile.” Notwithstanding the subtlety and malice and power of his enemies, the spiritual interests of the godly man are perfectly secured by Divine grace (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:31-39; 2 Timothy 1:12). Every faithful disciple of the Lord Jesus may through Him triumph in the assurance of “a crown of glory that fadeth not away,” and of “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,” &c. II. Confidence arising out of past experiences. “Thou, O God, hast heard my vows; Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy name.” 1. David had proved the efficacy of prayer. His vows included petitions. They were prayers accompanied with solemn promises. Prayer was not a mere theory or form with David, not a spiritual gymnastic either. He knew its reality and power and preciousness by experience. 2. He had received the heritage of the godly. “Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy name.” Perowne: “Primarily this would be the land of Canaan, and then it would include all blessings, temporal and spiritual, which were in fact implied and comprised in the possession of the land.” Glorious is the heritage of those who fear God now (Romans 8:16-17). It is clear, from both the experience of the Psalmist and the statement of the apostle, that the heritage of the godly may include severe trials. It is a point of great practical importance. These past experiences were an encouragement to the Psalmist to trust God in his present dangers and trials. “History is rightly used when it becomes the guide of hope. Yesterday enriches to-day. All the historic triumphs of the Divine arm stimulate us in the present battle.” What God has been and done is an earnest of what He will yet be and do. “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” III. Confidence expressing itself in prayer. “Oh, prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him.” 1. He looks for preservation to God as the covenant God. “Mercy and truth,” loving-kindness and faithfulness, are the attributes which the Psalmist is accustomed to mention when he looks to God as a Being in covenant relations with His people. In His “mercy” God has entered into gracious engagements with His people; and in His “truth” He will fulfil those engagements. 2. His confidence does not supersede, but stimulate prayer. Presumption may lead to neglect of prayer; but faith quickens it. The attitude of true confidence is that of the bent knee and the uplifted eye. IV. Confidence issuing in constant praise. “So will I sing praise unto Thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows.” As the result of his trial and prayer and assurance the Psalmist looked forward to— 1. The ascription of praise to God. “His praising God was itself the performance of his vows.” He felt and acknowledged the binding force of the vows which he had made to God. And their fulfilment he regarded not as a duty merely, but as a joyous privilege. 2. The ascription of praise to God constantly. “Praise for ever, … daily perform my vows.” Praise to God should not be an occasional exercise, but a permanent element in the spirit of our entire life. Gratitude, reverence, and trust should characterise us at all times and under all circumstances. .—In the trials of life let the Psalmist, in this-exercise of strong and devout confidence in God in the time of his great trial, be to us both an example and an encouragement. Be encouraged to exercise trust in God, and imitate the character of this trust. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” See introduction to Psalms 57. “To Jeduthun.” See introduction to Psalms 39. “A Psalm of David.” “There are no historical statements or decisive references to known events in the life of David,” says Moll; “yet the relationships with Psalms 39. on the one side, and with Psalms 4. on the other, point to the time of his persecution by Absalom. This relation with Psalms 39. makes it desirable to translate the characteristic àַ ?êְ which is repeated (Psalms 62:1-2; Psalms 62:4-6; Psalms 62:9) not by, yea, surely; but by, only.… In order to allow the designed repetition of the same word to be clearly manifest in the translation, it is better to retain the translation only as this is appropriate throughout. For the assertion, that only with God is the soul entirely quieted (Psalms 62:1), because God only is the rock (Psalms 62:2), upon which, when the singer is established, he can designate as vain (Psalms 62:3) the attacks of those who only desire to cast him down from his high place (Psalms 62:4);—this assertion is at once the foundation for the exhortation of his soul, to turn to God alone in confident submission (Psalms 62:5), because God only is the reliable helper (Psalms 62:6). This repetition forms not only the transition to the renewal of the appropriate personal confession (Psalms 62:7), but likewise to the exhortation of the people to constant trust in God (Psalms 62:8), because men are only breath one and all (Psalms 62:9), the trust in temporal possessions, whether goods or powers, is vain (Psalms 62:10); but God has spoken the word, which has been frequently heard, and is valid once for all, that the power is His (Psalms 62:11). Therefore the petitioner, moved by the assurance of the government of God, which recompenses justly, turns to the grace of God which is equally essential with His power (Psalms 62:12).” The psalm is divided into three strophes, each of four verses. Amyraldus calls attention to a peculiar characteristic of this psalm, viz., that it does not contain any expression of “fear or dejection, and there is also no prayer in it, although on other occasions, when in danger, he never omits to pray.” Thus the psalm is the utterance of “the full assurance and perfection of faith.”Homiletically we shall view the psalm as setting forth, The Trial, Triumph, and Exhortation of faith.THE TRIAL AND TRIUMPH OF FAITH(Psalms 62:1-7.) I. The trial of the good man’s faith. The trials of which the Poet speaks in this psalm arose from the assaults of his enemies. Notice— 1. Their design. They aimed at the overthrow of the Psalmist. “They only consult to cast him down from his excellency.” Conant: “They only consult to thrust him from his elevation.” The “excellency,” or “elevation,” points to the high station of David, and it is noteworthy that the word to “cast down,” or “thrust from,” is used in 2 Samuel 15:14, by David with reference to Absalom. The enemies were envious of David’s dignity, and sought to defame his reputation and to thrust him from his throne. The enemies of the godly seek to drag them down from their spiritual elevation, to overthrow them, by engaging them in sinful practices or pursuits. 2. Their method. They endeavoured to carry out their atrocious design— (1). By violence. “How long will ye imagine mischief against a man?” &c. We incline to the translation of Conant: “How long will ye rush upon a man, will break him down, all of you, as a wall inclined, as a fence that is thrust down?” Hengstenberg and Hupfield translate øָ ?öַ ?ç, murder. But Ewald, Delitzsch, Moll, Perowne, et al., translate: to break down. The enemies of the Psalmist were violent They assaulted him by force. They rose in arms against him to effect his overthrow and to destroy him. There have been times in the history of the Christian Church when bonds and imprisonments, fire and sword, have been used against its members. (2). By deliberation. “They consult.” They employed subtlety as well as strength to effect their wicked designs. “Craft and power,” says Starke, “are the weapons of the ungodly; if the one is not enough, they seize the other, and not unfrequently make their attacks with both at once.” (3). By falsehood. “They delight in lies; they bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.” These words are literally true of Absalom. By means of fair speeches, when his heart was false and black, he “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.” In falsehood they took delight. “A chief weapon which the world has always employed in its bitter contest with the Church, has been that of lies.” The great leader of the forces of wickedness is the great liar. (John 8:44.) Force, subtlety, falsehood are all employed to promote the triumph of evil. 3. Their cowardice in all this. “How long will ye rush upon a man, will break him down, all of you?” Mark the contrast—“all” opposed to “a man.” All against one! Such was the trial of the Psalmist. Will his faith in God bear the strain, and enable him to rise superior to his troubles? Will he issue from the trial victor, or vanquished? retaining his hold on God, or drifting from Him? The trial of his faith is an illustration of the trial of the faith of the godly now, both in its design and in its method. II. The triumph of the good man’s faith. The victory of the Psalmist is manifest,— 1. In his intense realisation of the all-sufficiency of God (Psalms 62:2; Psalms 62:5-7). He trusted in God as the rock of his strength, his salvation, his defence, his refuge. Here are the ideas of abiding and unchanging strength, a “rock;” secure shelter and protection, a “refuge;” elevation above danger, a “defence,” or “high-place;” and complete deliverance from trials and perils, “my salvation.” Calvin: “The reason why he heaps together so many names of God is, that he may meet and throw back the assaults of Satan, by, as it were, so many shields.” Again: “The epithets which David applies to God, in reference to His power to uphold, are like so many pillars, by which he supports his steadfastness.” Moll: “God can screen believers against their enemies with as many shields as He has names.” 2. In his reliance upon God alone. The only, which is the characteristic mark of the psalm, is used not less than four times of the Psalmist’s trust in God (Psalms 62:1-2; Psalms 62:5-6). Spurgeon: “We cannot too often hear the toll of that great bell only; let it ring the death-knell of all carnal reliances, and lead us to cast ourselves on the bare arm of God.” In himself alone God is more than sufficient to meet all the needs of His people. 3. In his assurance of safety and stability. In Psalms 62:2, he says, “I shall not be greatly moved.” He might be shaken; but would not be overthrown. He might be troubled; but would not be distressed—he might be perplexed; but would not be left in despair, &c. And in Psalms 62:6 he exclaims, “I shall not be moved.” His confidence increased as he sang this psalm of faith. “The more faith is acted the more active it is. It grows by being exercised.” How triumphant was the assurance of St. Paul as to the security of believers in Christ Jesus! (Romans 8:31-39.) 4. In his rest in God. “My soul waiteth only upon God.” Margin: “My soul is silent,” &c. Conant: “Only in God is my soul quieted.” Hengstenberg: “Only to God is my soul silent.” The silence “denotes the opposite of that state of tumultuous agitation which prevails in the soul as long as it looks anywhere else for help, when in great trouble, than to God.” (Comp. Psalms 42:5; Psalms 22:2.) Barnes:—“The feeling is that which exists when we have entrusted all to God; when, having entire confidence in His power, His goodness, His wisdom, His mercy, we commit the whole case to Him as if it were no longer our own. Such is the calmness—the peace—the quiet—the silence of the soul—when all is left with God.” See on this point the beautiful hymn in “The Child’s Christian Year.” “O Lord, now happy should we beIf we could cast our care on Thee,” &c.Here then we have faith triumphantly resting in God. Such triumph may be the portion of every godly soul. (Comp. 1 Peter 1:3-9.) THE OF FAITH(Psalms 62:8-12.) The Psalmist having expressed his own unfaltering confidence in God, proceeds in these verses to exhort all men to exercise a similar trust in God. In this exhortation let us consider— I. The trust prohibited. (Psalms 62:9-10.) The objects of trust which the Psalmist prohibits are— 1. Man. “Only vanity are men of low degree,” &c. David regards both common men and men of distinction as alike unworthy of confidence:— (1.) Because of their inability. “Only vanity are men of low degree.” They are empty, unsubstantial creatures—a mere breath—utterly incapable of aiding any one in the great needs of life. In the ordinary and everyday trials of life men can be sympathetic and helpful to each other; but in its great and deep and solemn experiences how powerless are they to help each other! (2). Because of their unfaithfulness. “Men of high degree are a lie.” Men of exalted rank are not to be regarded as the objects of the soul’s trust. As an object of confidence man may fail by reason of his want of constancy as well as by his want of power. Test men in this respect, and you will find them either feeble, or false, or both. “To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.” Arndt: “If there were any one among men, immortal, not liable to sin, or to change, whom it were impossible for any one to overcome, but who was strong as an angel, such a one might be something, but inasmuch as every one is a man, a sinner, mortal, weak, liable to sickness and death, exposed to pain and terror, like Pharaoh, even from the most insignificant animals, and liable to so many miseries, that it is impossible to count them, the conclusion must be a valid one: ‘man is nothing.’ ” “Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,” &c. (Jeremiah 17:5-6) 2. Oppression. “Trust not in oppression.” Let no man hope to render himself safe and strong by oppressing others. The victories of the conqueror may be reversed. The arm of the tyrant may be broken. And then the oppressed may arise and crush the oppressor. He who thinks to “strengthen himself in wickedness” will, sooner or later, find that in so doing he has made an utter mistake. (Comp. Psalms 52:7.) 3. Unlawfully acquired wealth. “Become not vain in robbery.” There are, we fear, thousands in this nominally Christian land who are trusting in wealth which has been unrighteously obtained. Men who have made their fortunes by robbing their employes of their fair wages, by adulterating their goods or otherwise defrauding in business, by “sharp practice” in trade and speculation, by deceptive advertisements, &c.;—let not these men pride themselves on their wealth. “Treasures of wickedness profit nothing.” “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you;” &c. (James 5:1-4.) 4. Lawfully acquired wealth. “If riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” The word “increase,” or “spring up,” is used as the antithesis of “robbery,” to denote wealth obtained by lawful means. Even such wealth is not to be trusted in. See an outline on The folly of Trusting in Riches (Psalms 52:7). None of these things constitute a true ground of trust for man. Neither any one of them nor all of them combined can meet his deepest needs—the needs of his awful soul. He who trusts in them is doomed to disappointment, to misery, and to ruin. II. The trust prescribed. (Psalms 62:8; Psalms 62:11-12.) 1. Its nature. The Psalmist represents this trust as comprising (1) Abiding confidence in God. “Trust in Him at all times.” “We must have an actual confidence in God,” says Matthew Henry, “upon all occasions, trust in Him upon every emergency, to guide us when we are in doubt, to protect us when we are in danger, to supply us when we are in want, to strengthen us for every good word and work.” “At all times,” even in the severest affliction, the extremest danger, &c. (2) Unreserved communication with God. “Pour out your heart before Him.” Tell Him all its griefs and fears, all its sins and sorrows, all its hopes and desires. We can thus pour out our heart unto God. We cannot unto man; not even to the most trusted amongst men. “Not e’en the tenderest heart, and next our own,Known half the reasons why we smile and sigh.”But unto God we can unfold our most “secret throbbings.” He is wise, considerate, merciful, &c. We may thus pour out our heart unto Him. He will not repulse us; but will kindly and patiently listen to us. We should thus pour out our heart unto Him. It is our duty as well as our privilege to fully unburden the heart to God. (3) This trust is represented as an exercise for all “people.” Not simply the people of Israel are meant by “ye people,” but all mankind. “All shall be welcome to trust in God, for He is the confidence of all the ends of the earth.” 2. Its ground. “God is a refuge for us.… God hath spoken once,” &c. (1) God is the Almighty refuge of those who trust in Him. “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this, that power belongeth unto God.” The power of God is a guarantee of His ability to protect and save those who trust in Him. This truth God had deeply impressed upon the mind and heart of the Psalmist. “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this,” &c. As he had marked God’s works in creation David had heard this testimony—“Power is God’s.” He found the same great truth in the written Word; and had witnessed confirmations of it in Providence. He “is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c. (2) God is the gracious refuge of those who trust in Him. Mere strength is not sufficient to inspire confidence. It may awaken apprehension and alarm. But God is as kind as He is strong. “Also unto Thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy.” Perowne: “Power without love is brutality, and love without power is weakness. Power is the strong foundation of love, and love is the beauty and the crown of power.” (3) God is the righteous refuge of those who trust in Him. “Thou renderest to every man according to his works.” He never does wrong to any of His creatures. He is the vindicator of the oppressed and injured. Here then we have a broad, immovable, and eternal ground for confidence in God. .—How unspeakably important is the object of the soul’s trust! “We may make unsuccessful speculations in business, we may venture all we have on some ruinous enterprise, we may even put our lives in jeopardy and lose them; still all may not be lost:—the soul may be safe. But if we trust the soul to something that will fail us at the day of judgment, then the loss will be tremendous and irreparable.” “Trust in HIM at all times, ye people.” Psalms 125:1-2; Jeremiah 18:7-8. “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” In what, or in whom, are we trusting? GOD A REFUGE(Psalms 62:8.) “God is a Refuge for us.” I. Illustrate the interesting fact here declared. Consider— 1. The medium through which God is the refuge of His people. The godly among the Israelites believed in the promised Messiah, and to them God was a refuge. It is through the work of Christ and by faith in Him that God is our refuge. Sin had created a breach between God and us. That breach is healed by the work of the Messiah. Through His mediation we have access to God. 2. The perfections of His nature which qualify God to be the refuge of his people. The power of God is engaged on their behalf. To have an Almighty friend for our refuge is an inestimable privilege. Divine wisdom. All our dangers and difficulties, all our enemies and their designs, are known unto God; and He is able to guard us from every danger, to lead us through every difficulty, and to frustrate the designs of all our foes. Infinite goodness. God is ready to afford His aid. Nahum 1:7. Faithfulness. On His promises and engagements we may safely rely. Accessibility. God is with us. He is a refuge ever near to us. Immutability. Creatures may be fickle and changeable, but God is unchangeable. Self-existence and independence. Our best earthly friends may die, &c.; but God is an ever-living friend. (Deuteronomy 33:27.) 3. This interesting truth it confirmed by historical facts. In all ages God has been the refuge of His people. The preservation of the Church is an illustration of this truth. It has been like a bush burning with fire, yet not consumed. II. Consider the uses to which the subject may be applied. 1. As connected with the events of Providence. A wise and good and righteous God governs human affairs. 2. As a source of consolation and joy to the Church. The aspect of things may in many respects be such as to awaken our fears; but “God is a refuge for us.” 3. As a comfort to individual believers. In losses, family trials, bereavements, &c., “God is a refuge for us.” LEARN— 1. The importance of trusting in God. In troubles, difficulties, temptations, afflictions, and in death, trust in Him as your refuge. 2. The importance of religion. If you neglect religion you will have no refuge. But if you believe the Gospel, God will be your refuge. He will guide you by His counsel, and afterward receive you to glory.—Abridged from an unpublished MS. THE POWER OF GOD(Psalms 62:11.) Though the truth of God’s power is one of the most simple and elementary, though it is one taught by reason and nature as well as by revelation, it is one which is thoroughly learnt only after much Divine teaching and often many painful experiences. I. Produce some proofs that men to not generally believe in the power of God. 1. In the fact of sin. By his every sin the sinner proclaims his disbelief of God’s power. He regards all His declarations of it as so many vainglorious boastings. He cannot fulfil His threatenings, &c. Vain imaginations these. 2. In open and avowed infidelity. Miracles are impossible; and as the Gospel is full of miracles it must be rejected. Though God may have power, He has not omnipotent power. 3. In the trust which is reposed in means altogether apart from God. Is it not still true that oppression and robbery and increased riches are regarded as means which will be all-sufficient for the attainment of desired ends? When success comes we worship the instrument; and when distress visits us the last place which we think of, when we are seeking help and deliverance, is Jehovah’s footstool. 4. Distrust is another proof of disbelief in God’s power. All distrust implies not only a doubt of His faithfulness, or a questioning of His omniscience, but also a want of faith in His power. Behold the Israelites, &c., (Numbers 11:4; Psalms 78:19; Numbers 14:1-4). 5. In the fear of man (Isaiah 51:12-13). Faith in God’s power would overshadow the fear of man. 6. One more proof is furnished by despair. If despair relates to temporal things, the conclusion to which it has come is, that things have gone too far; &c. Or, if it relates to heavenly hopes, it reasons on similar grounds. These sins are too great for God to pardon; this torrent of corruption is too strong for God to stem.… He may be mighty to save, but not omnipotent to save. II. Offer some helps to faith in God’s power. 1. That by which David encourages his faith in Psalms 121. “My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth.” Is not He who made heaven and earth sufficient unto you? 2. In the resurrection of Christ. His tombstone was pressed down by the law, sin, death, and hell. Of all the tasks which His power ever had to overtake, this was assuredly the greatest; and if He failed not here, where elsewhere is it possible for Him to fail? Now we may proclaim Him omnipotent to save. 3. The abiding of His grace in the heart of man is a proof of the mighty power of God. 4. And the continued existence of the Church of Christ is one continued miracle, one living, present, impressive proof of the mighty power of God. .—Believe in God’s power— (1) for the pardon of your sins. (2) For grace to help in time of need. His strength will be made perfect in your weakness.—A. F. Douglas (Abridged from The Christian World.) Superscription.—“A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.” Hengstenberg: “The wilderness of Judah is the whole wilderness towards the east of the tribe of Judah, bounded on the north by the tribe of Benjamin, stretching, southward to the south-west end of the Dead Sea, eastward to the Dead Sea and the Jordan, and westward to the mountains of Judah. This wilderness is not unfrequently designated simply The wilderness. In this wilderness David was often found when flying from Saul. In the same wilderness also he took refuge during the rebellion of Absalom. That he did so is self-evident, inasmuch as the road from Jerusalem to the Jordan leads through it: it is, moreover, expressly asserted in more than one passage in the Books of Samuel (2 Samuel 15:23; 2 Samuel 15:28; 2 Samuel 16:2; 2 Samuel 16:14; 2 Samuel 17:16). We cannot refer our psalm to the time of Saul, because mention is expressly made of a king in Psalms 63:11. On the other hand, in favour of the time of Absalom; besides this reason we have a very marked reference in Psalms 63:1, ‘in a dry land, and is weary (ςָ ?ιֵ ?σ) without water,’ to 2 Samuel 16:14, ‘And the king and all the people that were with him came weary (ςֲ ?ιֵ ?τִ ?ιν), and he rested there.’ Comp. Psalms 16:2, according to which Ziba brought out, in the way, wine, ‘that such as were faint in the wilderness might drink,’ with the word ιָ ?πֵ ?ςַ in Psalms 17:2.”M. Henry: “As the sweetest of Paul’, epistles were those that bore date out of a prison, so some of the sweetest of David’s Psalms were those that were penned, as this was, in a wilderness.” Donne: “The spirit and soul of the whole Book of Psalms is contracted into this psalm.” Perowne: “This is unquestionably one of the most beautiful and touching psalms is the whole Psalter.”Homiletically, we see in this psalm, the thirst, the satisfaction, and the anticipation of the godly soul.THE THIRST OF THE GODLY SOUL(Psalms 63:1-4.) Consider— I. The nature of this thirst. 1. It is a thirst for God. “I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee,” &c. In the second verse mention is made of God’s “power and glory” as things which the Psalmist desired to see. In the A. V. the clauses of this verse are needlessly transposed. The Hebrew is: “Thus have I beheld Thee in the sanctuary, to see Thy power and Thy glory.” The power and the glory are not the external pomp and splendour of public worship; but the communications of Divine grace, as manifested in the experience of the devout soul. The Psalmist longs for such communion with God as he had formerly enjoyed in the sanctuary. The thirst is not merely for the ordinances of religion, or for teaching concerning God, or even for His “power and glory;” but for God Himself. The thirst of the soul of man needs for its satisfaction that the soul shall be brought into vital and sympathetic relations with (1) A Person. Creeds and ordinances cannot satisfy the soul. (2) A living Person. Not one whose work and life and love are things of the past; but One who “is able to save, because He ever liveth,” &c. (3) A Divine Person. One who is able satisfactorily to respond to its deepest yearnings, to help it to realise its loftiest aspirations, &c. One who ever liveth, who changeth not, &c. Only in God can the thirst of man’s soul find satisfaction. (See on Psalms 42:1-2). 2. It is an intense thirst. “I seek Thee earnestly” (not “early,” as in the A. V. The verb ωָׁ ?ηַ ?γ is not to be referred to the noun ωַׁ ?ηַ ?ψ = the dawn. It means to “seek zealously,” a “solicitous seeking”); “my soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh longeth” (Hengstenberg: “fainteth;” Moll: “languisheth”) “for Thee.” Each of the verbs indicates intense desire. 3. It is a thirst of the entire man “My soul thirsteth, my flesh pineth for Thee.” Soul and flesh are used to denote the whole man by his two principal parts. His whole being went out after God in fervent desire. II. The occasion of this thirst. “In a dry and thirsty land where no water is.” 1. These words are true literally. The wilderness of Judah where David was at this time, even in the neighbourhood of the Jordan, was a desert country (2 Samuel 16:2; 2 Samuel 16:14). 2. These words are true figuratively. The desert was a picture of his condition. An exile from his throne and home, and from the sanctuary of the Lord. His own son and his most trusted counsellor, with a great host of his subjects, in armed rebellion against him. The circumstances in which he was placed led him to seek the Lord the more earnestly. Sorrow and trial often drive us the more closely to God. “When my blood flows like wine,” says Beecher, “when all is ease and prosperity, when the sky is blue, and birds sing, and flowers blossom, and my life is an anthem moving in time and tune, then this world’s joy and affection suffice. But when a change comes, when I am weary and disappointed, when the skies lower into a sombre night, when there is no song of bird, and the perfume of flowers is but their dying breath, when all is sun-setting and autumn, then I yearn for Him who sits with the summer of love in His soul, and feel that all earthly affection is but a glow-worm light, compared to that which blazes with such effulgence in the heart of God.” “Trials make the promise sweet.Trials give new life to prayer.”III. The reason of this thirst. Why did David thus yearn for God? Two reasons are suggested— 1. Because of his personal relation to God. “Thou art my God.” Jehovah was the God of the Poet, not only by creation, but by covenant; not only by virtue of His claims, but also by the Poet’s choice and consecration. There was a recognised and sacred relation between them, because of which it was right and appropriate that the Psalmist should seek God. Blessed are we if, “when the woes of life o’ertake” us, we can address ourselves to Him, saying, “O God, Thou art my God.” 2. Because of his exalted estimation of God. David says that he longs for God, “Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life.” We regard “life” here as signifying more than mere existence; for the statement of the Psalmist implies that life is good; and that mere existence is not a boon is clear from Matthew 26:24, and Revelation 9:6. The Psalmist regarded the lovingkindness of God as better than a life of prosperity and pleasure. Having God’s lovingkindness in his troubled life in the wilderness of Judah, David would esteem himself more blessed than in a life of pleasure in his palace at Jerusalem without it. “Better than life itself, Thy love,Dearer than all beside to me;For whom have I in heaven above,Or what on earth compared with Thee?”IV. The relation of this thirst to the praise of God. “My lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless Thee while I live; I will lift up my hands in Thy name.” The lifting up of the hands was the attitude of worship, and symbolised the lifting up of the heart. 1. In his sorrowful exile while thirsting for God, the Psalmist praises Him because of what He is in Himself, what He is to him, what He has done for him, and what He has promised to do for him. In the bitterest experiences of life the devout heart will find matter and motive for praising God. 2. In the delightful realisation of His presence, which he now seeks and anticipates, he will praise Him yet more. The prospects of the godly soul should inspire the most joyous songs. 3. In his whole life he will praise Him. “I will bless Thee while I live.” The entire life of the godly man should be grateful, reverent, and songful. “My days of praise shall ne’er be past,While life and thought and being last, Or immortality endures.”.—How are you endeavouring to quench the thirst of your soul? Avoid the delusive promises of satisfaction held out by the world. At no earthly stream can you find the refreshing draught which you seek (Jeremiah 2:13). “Jesus cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto ME and drink,” &c. SEEKING GOD(Psalms 63:1.) I. How should we seek God?1. Intelligently. 2. Earnestly. 3. Constantly. 4. Hopefully. II. Where should we seek Him?1. In the closet. 2. In His Word. 3. In the ordinances. III. When should we seek Him?1. Early in life. 2. In advance of temporal things. IV. Why should we seek Him?1. He is the soul’s life—“God.” 2. His nature is communicative—“MY God.”—W. W. Wythe. GOD’S POWER AND GLORY IN THE (Psalms 63:2.) In nothing is genuine piety more strikingly manifested than in the esteem for Divine ordinances. In the proper use of the public means of grace, communion with God is enjoyed, spirituality of mind is promoted, &c. By the “glory” of God as displayed in the sanctuary we understand the glory of His character as developed in the principles of His moral government and in the method of redemption. The natural perfections of God are manifested in the works of nature; His moral attributes are made known in His Word. By the “power” of God as manifested in the sanctuary, we understand the spiritual energy which renders His Word effectual. Consider— I. How God has manifested His glory in the sanctuary. 1. In the sanctuary He has made known the moral excellences of His character—His holiness, mercy, wisdom, faithfulness. 2. In the sanctuary His people are favoured with communion with Him. This privilege is enjoyed in meditation, praise, and prayer. II. How God has manifested His power in the sanctuary. The means designed for the conversion of sinners and the edification of saints are admirably adapted to the end for which they are designed; yet, through the depravity of mankind, they are inefficient unless accompanied with Divine influence. Thus the power of God is seen in the sanctuary— 1. When sinners are converted. 2. When believers are edified. III. The pleasure which the Divine manifestations have afforded the people of God. In contemplating the Divine character, in communing with Him, and in witnessing displays of the Divine power, great has been the pleasure which they have enjoyed (Psalms 26:8, and Psalms 84). IV. The desirableness of being favoured with the constant manifestations of the Divine power and glory. “My soul thirsteth for Thee,” &c. If these things are so desirable, how may we attain them? 1. Esteem Divine ordinances, attend with delight upon them, and pray that the blessing of God may attend them. 2. Pray fervently for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. His agency is indispensable, &c. .— 1. How great is the criminality of those who neglect Divine ordinances. 2. Those who neglect them need not wonder if they are not converted. 3. How great is the privilege of having a place in the sanctuary of God. 4. What will it be to behold His power and glory in heaven!—(Abridged from an unpublished MS.)THE OF GOD BETTER THAN THE LIFE OF MAN(Psalms 63:3.) “Thy lovingkindness is better than life.” These words imply— I. That life is good. This could not be said of mere existence. Existence may be an evil— (1.) Because of its miserableness. In his great sufferings, Job felt his existence to be a curse (Job 3. Comp. Matthew 26:24; Revelation 9:6). (2.) Because of its perniciousness. From the holy Word we learn that there are certain beings in the universe whose characters are utterly depraved, whose aim in life is utterly destructive, and whose influence is only and continually malignant (John 8:44; 1 Peter 5:8). Their existence is good neither for themselves nor for others. It is a bane and blight in the universe. According to the tone and teaching of the Scriptures a life of misery or a life of sin is not to be accounted life at all, but only a form of death. David thought of a life of peace at home, in secure possession of the throne, and in the enjoyment of Divine ordinances; and he affirmed that the lovingkindness of God was better than such a life, and his statement clearly implies that life itself when it is not blighted by sin or sorrow is a good thing. It is so— 1. Because of its great faculties. How remarkable are the powers of recollection, reflection, anticipation, ratiocination, imagination, affection, with which human life is endowed! How great its power of usefulness! 2. Because of its great capacities. How immense is man’s capacity for enjoyment! The streams of delight from which he drinks are countless and inexhaustible. The whole endless future is before him for the satisfaction and development of his capacities. He was created in the image of the ever-blessed God, and, therefore, capable of participating in His peace, joy, &c. 3. Because of its conditions and circumstances. The world in which at present we spend our life is full of interest, instruction, utility, beauty; It is a great treasury, exhibition, school, temple. Heaven, to which we look forward as the scene of our life in the future, is of unspeakable glory, &c. Truly life is good. But the Psalmist states— II. That the lovingkindness of God is better than life even at its best. “Thy lovingkindness is better than life.” It is so— 1. Because all that is good in life flows from the lovingkindness of God. The powers and capacities of human life, and all that is pleasing and precious in its circumstances and conditions, are streams from the fountain of the Divine lovingkindness. “All my springs are in Thee.” “With Thee is the fountain of life.” All that is true, useful, good, and beautiful in the universe springs from the infinite grace of God. 2. Because while much that is good and pleasant in life is transient and intermittent, the lovingkindness of God is constant and abiding. In life joyous hours are succeeded by sorrowful ones. Like David, we pass from peace and home and the sanctuary of God into the exile and weariness of “the wilderness of Judah.” Fairest prospects soon fade. But the lovingkindness of God is eternal, unchangeable, &c. It is “that good part which shall not be taken away from” the man who trusts in God. 3. The lovingkindness of God sanctifies even the pains and trials of life, so that by means of them life is enriched and blest (Romans 5:3-5; Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18; James 1:2-3; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:6-9). 4. The lovingkindness of God is the crown and glory of life. The enjoyment of it makes life’s fairest scenes more divinely beautiful; its most precious experiences more precious. It ennobles the pleasures of life, it consecrates its friendships, it sanctifies its successes, &c. It is the heaven of the soul. .— 1. What is the character of your life?2. What is your estimate of the Divine lovingkindness?THE OF THE GODLY SOUL(Psalms 63:5-8.) The Psalmist passes from thirst to the assurance of satisfaction in God. And in these verses we see the nature of this satisfaction. He found satisfaction— I. In the provisions of God. “My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness.” The provisions of God for the spiritual needs of men are frequently represented in the Scriptures as a sumptuous feast. David looked forward confidently to the realisation of spiritual satisfaction and delight. 1. The Divine provisions are spiritual. “My soul shall be satisfied.” Satisfied with delightful experiences, exalted and blessed fellowship, ennobling occupations, enrapturing prospects, &c. Pardon, communion with God, work for God, hope of holiness and heaven, &c. 2. The Divine provisions are rich. “Marrow and fatness.” The provisions of the Gospel are like a “feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” Its blessings are not only useful but delightful; not only healthful, but pleasant. 3. The Divine provisions are abundant. The Psalmist was assured of satisfaction. “My soul shall be satisfied.” Whatever God gives He gives abundantly. Pardon (Psalms 136:5; Psalms 136:15; Psalms 103:8; Isaiah 55:7); Redemption (Psalms 130:7). Grace (2 Corinthians 9:8). II. In meditation on God. “I remember Thee upon my bed, and meditate on Thee in the night watches.” 1. The nature of this exercise. “Remember, … meditate.” Recollection presented the doings and sayings of God, and then the mind meditated upon them, and upon Him. Meditation is not mere reverie, but musing, or fixed and continuous thought One of the most important mental exercises, especially in relation to spiritual life and progress. And we fear that it is also a most neglected exercise. 2. The subject of this exercise. “Remember Thee, … meditate on Thee.” The grandest, most glorious subject that is possible. Meditation on God is (1) humbling, inasmuch as it reveals our feebleness, insignificance, sinfulness. (2) Spiritualising, inasmuch as it withdraws us from the material and worldly into association with the spiritual and Divine. (3) Transforming, inasmuch as we become like unto those with whom in thought and feeling we dwell (2 Corinthians 3:18). 3. The season of this exercise. “On my bed, in the night watches.” Night is favourable to meditation on God and spiritual things, (1) Because of its darkness. Material things are then hidden from our view and spiritual things appear with reality and vividness. (2) Because of its stillness. The noise and tumult of the day ill accord with meditation on spiritual and Divine themes. The quiet of the night harmonises with and aids such meditation. Great are the advantages of meditation like this. III. In the protection of God. “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” 1. This protection is well assured. It is guaranteed both by God’s promise and by man’s experience. “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore,” &c. 2. This protection is perfect. “In the shadow of Thy wings.” (See the Hom. Com. on Psalms 57:1.) 3. This protection is joy-inspiring. “Will I rejoice.” (See the outline below on this verse.) IV. In the sustentation of God. “My soul followeth hard after Thee, Thy right hand upholdeth me.” In the support of the godly soul two important things are here brought into clear view: 1. Man’s trust. “My soul followeth hard after Thee.” More correctly: “ ‘My soul cleaveth to Thee.’ Hengstenberg: “ ‘My soul depends on Thee.’ In Psalms 63:8, there are the mutual relations between the believing soul and the Lord: it depends on Him, and cleaves to Him, like a bur to a coat, and He takes hold of it, and holds it up with His powerful right hand, so that it does not sink into the abyss of destruction and despair.” Our business is to depend upon God, by faith to cleave to Him with the utmost tenacity. 2. God’s power. “Thy right hand upholdeth me.” The right hand is the instrument of skill and strength. With infinite wisdom and almighty power God sustains the souls that trust in Him. This “representation of the mutual affection and reciprocal relation of God and His servant” is both beautiful and encouraging. V. In the celebration of the praise of God. “My mouth shall praise Thee with joyful lips.” The satisfaction of his soul the godly man seeks to express in praise to God. David resolves to praise God— 1. Vocally. “My month shall praise.” By so doing he would express the praise of his own heart, and excite the hearts and voices of others to praise God. 2. Joyfully. “With joyful lips.” To David, praising God was pleasurable employment. He viewed it not as a duty, but as a delightful privilege. .—Here then is satisfaction for the thirsting soul. In the protection, provision, and support of God, and by our meditation and trust and praise of Him, our spiritual anxieties may be calmed, our wants supplied, our joy inspired, &c. Turn thee, thou thirsting soul, from the shallow and muddy streams of earth to the clear and deep river of heavenly grace; and drink, and be for ever blessed (John 4:13-14). THE OF (Psalms 63:7.) These words speak alike of sorrow and joy. We need help. We can experience joy. Thus read, the text is true to life. In commencing fresh eras in life the Christian feels that there will be nothing really new. The forms and dresses of things will alter; but the pensive features of sorrow and the open face of joy will be there too. The servant of God has an experience. God has been his “refuge and strength.” What words, then, can I select as the basis of an argument from experience more appropriate than these—“Because Thou hast been mine help,” &c. I. The rejoicing is reasonable.—“Because.” It is not founded on promise alone (though if that be God’s, never will it be broken), but upon past experience. And upon this experience, as it divides itself into thousandfold circumstances. Oh, what seasons there have been! &c. II. The rejoicing is personal.—“My help.” That does not exclude others. Every soldier in the army lifts up his answering Amen. Who can explain that strange mystery of individuality? At the heart of each of us there are unspoken mysteries of solitude. Even a child lives in a tiny world of its own.… “My help.” “I am not alone. God is my help.” III. The rejoicing is real. There is joy. Something more than rest or quiescent peace. The soul was made for delight as well as for discipline and duty. Nay, rather shall I not say, for gladness in discipline and duty? In Christ there is a fountain of blessedness springing up unto everlasting life. For us all to-day there may be joy in the Saviour, the joy of forgiveness through the redeeming sacrifice of the cross, the joy of a new life which sanctifies suffering and sweetens toil, the joy of immortal life through the resurrection. IV. The rejoicing is restful. Therefore under the shadow of Thy wings. “This is beautiful. You and I can make no such protection by machine-made covering for our beds, as a bird makes for its young. No! Rain and snow cannot pierce those shadowing wings! How roof-like their setting! How softly the inner covering makes all complete; resistance in the feathers without, down in the wings within. Can anything better represent the idea of security than this? of rest than this? of comfort than this? for it is the bird’s beating heart that is the warm glow of the nest; and it is God’s great heart of love in Christ that is near to us—so very near, taking our manhood up into God, clothing Himself in our nature, that He might succour and help us in temptation as well as in grief.… .… The Psalmist had been meditating. Quiet hours bring quiet memories. He reminds us of the still night, in which the memory is set free, and unfolding its wings in the silence, broods over the pilgrim way. Yes, there—and there—and there, the word of the Lord was tried, and the promise of the Lord was tested, and the deliverance of the Lord was vouchsafed, and lo, there are memorial stones all along the way! “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me,” &c. “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good,” &c. V. The rejoicing is prophetic. “Will I rejoice.” So we anticipate life’s future with entire and holy confidence. What can that future bring with it that our gracious Saviour cannot prepare us for, and order for our good? (Romans 8:31-39). This, then, is to be written on our banners, “In the shadow of Thy wings I will rejoice.” Change and trouble must come to us all. But God’s right hand will uphold us all. “Because Thou hast been mine help,” &c.—W.M. STATHAM (Abridged from The Christian World Pulpit.) THE OF THE GODLY SOUL(Psalms 63:9-11.) The Poet here looks forward confidently to the defeat and destruction of is enemies, and to his own exaltation because of his deliverance. The verses present to us a triple contrast. I. A contrast of character. 1. The malignant and mendacious. The rebels were animated by a most cruel and malicious feeling against the king. They were as false as they were malicious. They spake lies. They delighted in lies. (See on Psalms 62:3-4.) 2. The religious and truthful. “Every one that sweareth by Him.” M. Henry: “That is, by the blessed name of God, and not by any idol (Deuteronomy 6:13), and then it means all good people, that make a sincere and open profession of God’s name.” Swearing by Him indicates truthfulness also. They appeal to Him as the true God, the God who delights in truth. This great contrast of character still exists amongst men in this world. The false and the true, the good and the evil are still here. II. A contrast of pursuit. 1. The rebels sought the life of the king. “They seek my soul.” Though the words “to destroy it” must be applied to the rebels; still it is true that they sought to take the life of David. The objects for which they were striving were utterly cruel and base. 2. The king sought his own salvation and God’s glory. They thirsted for the life of another; he thirsted for God. They looked forward to seizing his throne and kingdom; he to grateful, joyful, lifelong worship of God. Of what character are our pursuits? Will they bear the searching scrutiny of truth and honesty? III. A contrast of destiny. 1. The mendacious shall be silenced, and the truthful exalted.—“Every one that sweareth by Him shall glory; but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.” Hypocrisies, shams, false-hoods, may live long, as life appears to us; but they must perish; and they who utter them will come to silence and shame. Truth cannot perish, but must grow and advance to splendid triumph. The truth-seeker and the truth-speaker will have abundant reason for exultation. 2. The malignant shall be utterly and ignominiously destroyed, and the religious shall have cause for rejoicing, “And they to (their) destruction will they seek my soul; they shall go into the depths of the earth. They shall be given over to the power of the sword; a portion for jackals shall they be.” The jackals are the scavengers of the East. They prey on dead bodies; and assemble in troops on battle-fields to feast on the slain. What a terrible fulfilment the words of the Poet had in the case of Absalom, Ahithophel, and twenty thousand of the rebels! In seeking the life of the king they brought upon themselves dread destruction. A fearful doom awaits all persistent workers of iniquity. “Sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.” “The wicked shall be turned into hell.” “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness.” They “shall be punished with everlasting destruction,” &c. “But the king shall rejoice in God.” The destruction of the rebels was the salvation of the king. And his rejoicing by reason thereof was religious—“in God.” Those who truly trust in God shall come forth from the trials and conflicts of life “more than conquerors” through Him. .—How unspeakably important is individual character! Our character expresses itself in our pursuits, and determines our destiny. “As righteousness tendeth to life; so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” Only through Christ can man attain righteousness of character. What is your character? Superscription. “To the chief Musician:” see Introduction to Psalms 57. “A Psalm of David,” The structure and character of the psalm confirm the title as to its Davidic authorship. The allusions in the psalm are so general that they might have been used by the poet on many occasions in his life; so that we are unable to determine the particular occasion of its composition. Homiletically we see in the psalm—THE PRAYER AND OF THE GOOD MAN HIS WICKED ENEMIESWe have here— I. Prayer for preservation from wicked enemies (Psalms 64:1-6). Consider— 1. The description of the enemies. This the poet has given at some length. (1.) Their character. “The wicked, … the workers of iniquity.” The words indicate positive and unmistakable wickedness of character, and terrible constancy and activity in evil doing. (2.) Their object. It is clearly implied in Psalms 64:1 that they aimed at the life of David. “Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.” They sought to kill him. This was true of Saul and those who aided him in his persecutions of David. It was true also of Absalom and the rebels. (3.) Their weapons. “Who whet their tongue like a sword,” &c. Conant: “Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword, have fitted their arrow—bitter speech, to shoot,” &c. Slander is the weapon of which David makes mention here. It was not by any means the only weapon used against him, but it was one which evidently caused him acute suffering. The figures here used to set it forth we have met with before. (See on Psalms 52:2; Psalms 57:4; Psalms 59:7; and, for that of the fixed arrows Psalms 58:7.) (4.) Their method. This included (a.) Conspiracy. “The secret counsel of the wicked, … they commune of laying snares privily, … both the inward thought of every one, and the heart is deep.” In confidential council they formed their secret plans by which they hoped to effect their wicked designs. They were deliberate, secret, methodical. (b.) Tumultuousness. “The insurrection of the workers of iniquity.” Or, “The tumultuous throng of evil doers.” The secret counsel led to the exciting of the passions of evil men against the Psalmist. (c.) Secret and sudden attack. “They shoot in secret at the perfect” (or, upright); “suddenly they shoot at him and fear not.” The Psalmist had not to meet manly foes in fair encounter. His enemies were like robbers or murderers who waylay the defenceless traveller in a secret place, and suddenly, when he deems himself secure, make their attack upon him. And in doing this they were fearless. They were unseen of men; and they regarded not God. They had no fear of God, no dread of His judgment, (d.) Persistent effort. “They encourage themselves in an evil matter,” &c. Hengstenberg: “They strengthen for themselves an evil plan.” Perowne: “They take every means to secure their object, follow it up resolutely.” (e.) Inventiveness. “They search out iniquities,” &c. Conant: “They search for iniquities; we are ready (say they); a device searched out!” They invented or contrived iniquitous plans; and when they succeeded in so doing, they made their boast of it. This description of the enemies of the Psalmist impresses us with two things: First: The terrible perversion and depravation of their nature. How fearful the misuse of the powers of thought, invention, action, persistence! Second: The alarming criminality of their character and conduct. How tremendous is their guilt! 2. The prayer of the Psalmist “Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer,” &c. (1.) Its object. “Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked,” &c. The Psalmist was conscious of his exposedness to danger, and of his inability to protect or deliver himself; and he seeks the protection of the Most High. He asks for preservation not simply from peril, but from alarm or terror. God can preserve in the midst of the greatest dangers, and inspire the soul with the most exultant confidence. (2.) Its confidence. “Thou wilt hide me from the secret counsel,” &c. Barnes: “There is both an implied prayer that this might be done, and a confident belief that it would be done.” The prayer was not the cry of despair, but the expression of trustful desire. In the foregoing we have an illustration of the foes, and the resource of the godly soul in danger. We have spiritual enemies—the world, the flesh, and the devil. They are aiming at the ruin of our souls. They seek to accomplish this by various means—by subtlety and by strength, by persistent efforts and by sharp and sudden attacks, &c. We have neither the skill nor the strength successfully to cope with them. Our need of Divine preservation and help is great and constant. Our safety is in believing prayer to God. II. Prediction of the destruction of wicked enemies (Psalms 64:7-10). The Psalmist titters his confident expectation that God would destroy his foes. In so doing he mentions— 1. The Author of their destruction. “God shall shoot at them,” &c. Let us not misunderstand or misuse the word “author” here. The meritorious cause of their destruction is in themselves. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself.” But in the administration of His righteous government God visits them with the judgments which their sins have deserved. He smites them justly with the punishment they have merited. 2. Its instruments. “With an arrow: suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves.” “The arrow of God here corresponds to the arrow of the wicked in Psalms 64:3-4” And their tongue by which they sought to injure others shall prove the instrument of their own destruction. God destroys the wicked with their own weapons. (Comp. Psalms 7:15-16; Psalms 9:15-16.) 3. Its manner. “Suddenly shall they be wounded.” When they think that they are about to succeed in their evil plans, on what they deem the very eve of their triumph, the Divine judgment bursts upon them. (Comp. 1 Thessalonians 5:3.) 4. Its effect. (1.) Upon the companions of the wicked. “All that see them shall flee away,” so that they may not be involved in their ruin (Numbers 16:34). (2.) Upon men in general. (a.) It would lead to some knowledge of the Divine government. “They shall wisely consider of His doing.” Both Hengstenberg and Moll render this: “And understand His work.” They shall see that the judgment is not the result of chance or human agency; but the work of a just and Holy God. (b.) It would inspire awe. “All men shall fear.” Barnes: “Judgments, punishments, wrath are adapted and designed to make a deep impression on mankind. On this principle, the final punishment of the wicked will make a deep and salutary impression on the universe for ever.” (c.) It would incite to a declaration of the hand of God. “Men shall declare the work of God.” “A man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth.” (3.) Upon the upright. “The righteous shall be glad in the Lord,” &c. (a.) It inspires their joy.” “Glad in the Lord;” because of the vindication of the government of God, and the certainty of their own safety. (b.) It increases their confidence. “Shall trust in Him;” because His doings furnish additional grounds and encouragements to confidence. (c.) It enkindles their triumph. “All the upright in heart shall glory.” Their soul shall make its boast in the Lord. And their joy and trust and triumph are all religious—not vindictive, or revengeful, or self-conceited; but religious—“in the Lord.” .— 1. Let the wicked take warning. 2. Let the godly take encouragement. Be not dismayed in the struggles of the spiritual life. However many or mighty, however subtle or skilful our enemies may be, we shall triumph over them. “Through God we shall do valiantly; for He shall tread down our enemies.” IGNORED(Psalms 64:5. “They say, who shall see them?”) I. This notion has great influence upon the conduct of man. It is worthy of consideration, as indicating the nature of evil, that it finds such a notion convenient and necessary. Offenders against man retire to the dark when they mean to perpetrate their evil deeds. The murderer, the thief, &c. Concealment is the helpmeet of wrong. Because they sometimes, perhaps often, escape the most watchful human eyes, they fancy it possible to escape the eye of God. They would have no interest whatever in reaching this conclusion if they never wished to do anything wrong. The sinner persuades himself of two or three things: he has gained his end; he has escaped observation; he has avoided the punishment. It is not necessary that all this be formulated. It is sufficient if the mind accustoms itself to question whether God sees. The sinner will take advantage of a doubt. II. This notion is utterly untruthful and delusive. Whether our sinful deeds are seen by man or not, there is One to whom they are open as the day. If there is a God at all, this must be so. If you persuade yourself that God does not see, you persuade yourself that God is not. That part of the universe which God does not know, has no God. He who does not know everything is limited: therefore he is not God. But you cannot see Him. When you cannot see a man you infer that he is not present. Because you cannot see God you infer that He is not present. Thus you require that which would argue Him nothing more than a man after all. The spirituality of the Divine nature makes it possible for Him to be everywhere and see everything. III. God has often in human experiences, shown the delusiveness of this notion, and the time is fixed for the complete demonstration of its delusiveness. 1. Character is often seen through by man. We may be deceived as to individual acts. But our view of a man’s general character is usually correct. 2. Retribution often follows man’s deeds in the present world. It followed and overtook Joseph’s brethren, Achan and Saul. 3. The future state will show that God saw. At the judgment day the books will be opened. What is written there will prove that sin was seen. Hell will be an everlasting proof. .—Sinner, God sees you: has seen you all along. Be warned! Christian, 1. Be encouraged and comforted by the thought that God sees. He sees the good and their goodness. 2. Be more constantly influenced by this thought. (1.) Let it restrain from sin. (2.) Let it stimulate to holy obedience and earnest work.—J. R., in The Pulpit Analyst. THE AND OF THE GODLY(Psalms 64:10.) We have here— I. A description of character. “The righteous, … the upright in heart.” 1. Righteousness of character. Not merely correctness of external conduct, but uprightness of heart—moral excellence of principle and disposition and tendency. But how is this to be attained? “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Man is prone to sin, his heart is prone to crooked ways, &c. In the sight of God, “all have sinned.” But the sinful may be made righteous by faith in the righteousness and love of God manifested in Jesus Christ—or, more correctly, by faith in Jesus Christ as the Revealer of God and Saviour of men. The godly in pre-Christian ages attained unto righteousness through faith. And for us to-day righteousness of character is attainable only by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 3:20-28.) 2. Righteousness of conduct. “The upright in heart” will be the upright in action. “Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him.… Let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous.” But how shall we acquire the strength to do this? We have it not in ourselves. “To will is present with me, but to perform that which is good is not.” In the work, and death, and life of our Lord we have not simply an atonement, but an inspiration also. Through Him we obtain both pardon and power, both forgiveness and “grace to help in time of need.” “When I am weak, then am I strong.” “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” II. A declaration of privilege. “The righteous shall be glad,” &c. Here are three privileges— 1. Joy. “Shall be glad in the Lord.” Notice concerning this joy, (1.) Its cause. (a.) Because of the vindication of the government of God. This was a reason of the gladness spoken of by the Psalmist. “The Lord reigneth.” The world is neither anarchic, nor governed by the strongest temporal power, nor by chance, nor by Satan; but by God. (b.) Because under His government the interests of the righteous are secure. Those of the Psalmist had seemed extremely imperilled; but God had overthrown the wicked, &c. God governs the world so as to secure the safety and blessedness of His loyal subjects. He is on their side. (Romans 8:31; 1 Peter 3:13). (2.) Its character. “Glad in the Lord.” The rejoicing of the righteous is religious. It is not vindictive, or revengeful, or self-confident. It proceeds from God as its source, and it flows to Him as its end. It originated in His doings; it expresses itself in His praise. “In the Lord” how abundant are the reasons and how wide the scope for joy? 2. Trust. “And shall trust in Him.” In the case of the Psalmist, God’s judgment upon the wicked (1.) supplied additional evidence of His trustworthiness; and (2.) was especially fitted to encourage trust in Him in time of darkness, trial, and peril. He had watched the progress of the wicked enemies of the Psalmist, and at the moment when they seemed about to leap into triumph, He had interposed. His interposition carried irresistible ruin to them, and complete salvation to His people. What He had done He would in like circumstances and conditions do again. How great are our encouragements to trust Him! His goodness and wisdom and power, His purposes, promises and performances, all are charged with incitements to confidence in Him!3. Triumph. “Shall glory.” Every man has some object in which he glories or boasts. One glories in his wisdom, another in his might, another in his riches, another in his honours. All these are mistaken, &c. (Jeremiah 9:23-24). “He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” “My soul shall make her boast in the Lord.” He whose confidence is reposed in God has the most excellent reasons for exultation. He is the greatest Being, the best Being. He has pledged Himself to defend and save those who trust in Him. He cannot fail. .— 1. The portion of the righteous at its worst is immeasurably superior to that of the wicked at its best. 2. By prayer and faith, by consecration and effort, let us seek to make that portion ours. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “A Psalm and song of David.” Or, “A Psalm of David, a song.” See Introduction to Psalms 48. In the Psalm itself there are evidences, which Hengstenberg points out, that it is the production of David. The Psalm was probably composed as a psalm of thanksgiving for the blessings of the harvest; in anticipation of an approaching harvest, at Hengstenberg suggests, or on the completion of harvest, as Hitzig suggests.Homiletically the Psalmist sets forth, Aspects of Divine worship (Psalms 65:1-4); Manifestations of Divine power (Psalms 65:5-8); and The Beneficent activity of God in Nature (Psalms 65:9-13).ASPECTS OF DIVINE WORSHIP(Psalms 65:1-4.) We see here— I. Worship in its source. “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to approach,” &c. God is the Author of all true worship. 1 He grants the opportunity of worship. The revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ, the institution of religious ordinances and of Christian ministries, the fixing our lot in a land and age of Christian privileges—these are all from Him. 2. He inspires the disposition to worship. All reverent feeling, holy desire, and devout aspiration in us, are the result of the gracious influences of his Holy Spirit. The cause—the efficient reason—why any man worships his Maker at all, is to be found in God Himself. Whatever there is of good in us, and whatever of good belongs to us, proceeds from Him. “All my springs are in Thee.” “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” &c. The source of all true worship is God Himself. II. Worship in its object. “Praise waiteth for Thee, O God,” &C. As God is the Author of all true worship, so He is also its End. Worship is offered to Him here— 1. As the Hearer of prayer. “O Thou that hearest prayer.” How sublime and beautiful and true is this appellation as addressed to God! His ear is ever open to the cries of the sinful, the suffering, the sorrowful, the dying. (See an outline on Psalms 65:2, below.) 2. As the Pardoner of sin. “Iniquities prevail against me; our transgressions, Thou shalt purge them away.” God is praised here because of His goodness in the forgiveness of sin. There are two points here. (1) The greatness of human sin. The iniquities of the Psalmist are represented as overpowering him with a superior hostile force. Man cannot contend with his sins. He cannot answer for them, or atone for them. “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.” (2) The greatness of Divine forgiveness. “Thou shalt purge them away.” God pardons the most heinous transgressions (Isaiah 1:18);—the most numerous transgressions (Psalms 103:3; Psalms 130:7; Isaiah 55:7); and He pardons them completely Psalms 103:12; Isaiah 38:17; Micah 7:19). 3. As the Satisfier of the soul. “We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple.” Man has great needs. In addition to forgiveness he requires cleansing, support, guidance, love, hope, &c. God alone can supply these needs. The goodness of His house all flows from Him. Religious ministries and ordinances are worthless apart from His blessing. “With Thee is the fountain of life,” &c. In God the soul finds complete satisfaction and blessedness. To God as the Hearer of prayer, the Forgiver of sins, the Satisfier of souls, human worship should be addressed. III. Worship in its nature. It is here represented as consisting in— 1. Submission to the will of God. “Praise waiteth for Thee, O God,” is not a correct rendering. Conant translates: “To Thee belong submission, praise, O God.” Hengstenberg: “Thou art praised in the silence, O God.” Margin: “Praise is silent for Thee, O God.” Moll: “To Thee is silence (resignation), praise, O God.” Resignation to the Divine will, the silence of the heart before God, is a duty which we owe to Him, and is worship of the very highest character. To trust Him in darkness and mystery, to bow loyally to His will when its dispensations to us are painful, to exclaim in the supreme agony of life, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,”—surely this is the very highest worship that we can render to Him. 2. Celebration of the praise of God. The Poet represents praise as belonging to God; and it constitutes one of the chief elements of worship. God is praised by His people because of what He has done and is ever doing for them, because of what He is to them, and because of what He is in Himself. 3. The fulfilment of our vows to God. “Unto Thee shall the vow be performed.” There seems to be two ideas here: (1) Gratitude for benefits received. God had blessed His people by gracious doings for them and generous gifts to them, and they thankfully remember these things, and recognise their own obligation by reason of them. (2) Faithfulness in keeping promises which they had made. Formerly they had uttered their vows, and now they resolve to perform them. These, then, are some of the elements of worship—hearty submission to God’s will, celebration of His praise, and performance of our vows to Him. IV. Worship in its locality. “In Zion, … in Thy courts, … Thy house, … Thy holy temple.” Zion was the scene of special Divine manifestation. It was authoritatively appointed the chief place for the worship of Jehovah. “The Lord hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His habitation.” Our Lord Jesus Christ is now the true Zion. Every one who worships God, believing in Christ as the Divine Mediator, will find acceptance and blessing in so doing. Through Him the devout heart may worship God anywhere (John 4:21-24). V. Worship in its extent. “Unto Thee shall all flesh come.” Here is a declaration that— 1. The needy shall worship the All-sufficient. The use of the word “flesh” here to denote man, indicates his weakness and need. Man is an entirely dependent creature—frail, feeble, and needy. God is the inexhaustible Fountain of life, strength, and blessing: to Him needy man shall come for supply. 2. All the needy shall worship the All-sufficient. “Unto Thee shall all flesh come.” Hengstenberg: “God is rich not only for a few, but for all: all to whom the name of man belongs come to Him, in order to draw from His inexhaustible fountain.” (See the Outline on Psalms 65:2, below.) VI. Worship in its influence. “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest,” &c. They are blessed inasmuch as their prayers are heard, their sins are pardoned, and their souls are satisfied in God. All the spiritual joys and blessings of Divine grace are theirs. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.” The worship of God spiritualises and ennobles the worshipper—transforms him into the Divine image. Worship is heaven. A GREAT FACT, , AND (Psalms 65:2.) We have in this versa— I. A glorious fact. God hears prayer. This fact may be proved— 1. From the nature of God. A Being of infinite intelligence must hear every request that is made to Him. A Being of infinite kindness must hear with regard—with consideration and favour. A Being, in whom infinite resources are joined to infinite kindness, must answer. 2. From the teachings of Scripture. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee,” &c. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; for,” &c. “Men ought always to pray and not to faint.” “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” “The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” 3. From the experiences of believers, Moses (Exodus 32:11-14; Exodus 32:31-35; Numbers 11:1-3); Elijah (1 Kings 17:17-24; 1 Kings 18:42-45); Elisha (2 Kings 4:28-36); the Psalmist’s (Psalms 116:1-2; et al.); Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:1-8); Daniel (Daniel 9:20-23); the early Christians praying for Peter (Acts 12:1-17); innumcrable instances since; and thousands of persons to-day. II. A precious privilege. We may come unto God in prayer. 1. It is a great privilege to be permitted to unburden our heart to a Being of perfect wisdom and goodness and sympathy. The heart’s highest, holiest joy, and its most secret and sacred sorrow, we may tell with confidence to Him. And the mere telling of such experiences to such a Being will afford relief. 2. How much greater is the privilege when that Being has power to aid and bless. Such power has God. In perplexity, in want, in sorrow, in affliction, in spiritual distress, &c., we may come to the all-kind and all-sufficient Friend. “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” III. An inspiring prospect. “Unto Thee shall all flesh come.” 1. The weak and needy shall approach unto the infinite Source of strength and blessing. Man’s frailty and need are indicated by the word “flesh.” Man is weak and poor; God is almighty and unsearchable in riches; to Him shall man come, and be strengthened, blessed, &c. 2. All the weak and needy shall come unto the infinite Source of strength and blessing. “Unto Thee shall all flesh come.” All the helpless and poor shall come to God with prayers and thanksgivings. He is “the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea.” Our faith in the approach of all men to God in prayer rests upon considerations such as these: (1) There is a correlation between God’s resources and man’s needs; between man’s dependence and God’s all-sufficiency. (2) Divinely-appointed means are in operation for bringing needy men to the wealthy God. The ministries of nature, providence, and the Gospel are all designed and fitted to lead men to the all-sufficiency of God. (3) The Word of God announces the approach of all men to the Hearer of prayer (Psalms 72:8-17; Isaiah 45:23-24; Romans 14:11). .— 1. Appreciate this privilege. 2. Seek to extend it to others. Announce it to others. Persuade them to avail themselves of it. THE OF WITH GOD(Psalms 65:4.) I. Make a few explanatory remarks on the several particulars implied and expressed in the text. 1. The words imply that the public means of grace ought to be viewed as a distinguished privilege. “Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest,” &c. 2. In the public means of grace communion with God may be enjoyed. “And causest to approach unto Thee,” &c. To approach unto God is to enjoy communion with Him. We may approach unto God: (1) by prayer through the mediation of Jesus Christ; (2) with sentiments of thanksgiving and praise; (3) in receiving instruction from His Word; and (4) under the most endearing and interesting relations in the ordinances which He has appointed—as Father, &c. Do we know by experience the blessedness of thus approaching unto God? 3. The house of God is here represented as the habitation of His people. “That he may dwell in Thy courts.” The good man is not an occasional visitor of the house of God, but a resident. The godly are diligent in their attendance there; they embrace every opportunity, &c. 4. Special advantages which afford rich pleasure and solid satisfaction are experienced by those who dwell in the house of the Lord and enjoy communion with Him. “We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple.” The satisfaction and pleasure arise (1) from its being the dwelling-place of God. He dwells there as a king in his courts—as God in His temple. (2) From the communications of the Divine favour. They are satisfied with His goodness in the pardon of sins, in the bestowment of eternal life, &c. II. Improve the subject with a few reflections. 1. How great is the value of religious privileges. 2. How important is it to improve our privileges. 3. How great are the advantages which attend the improvement of the means of grace. 4. How great is the sin of those who slight the means of grace. 5. How important it is that those who have slighted the means of grace should repent and reform.—Abridged from an unpublished MS. OF DIVINE POWER(Psalms 65:5-8.) Notice— I. The sphere of the manifestations of the Divine power. It is represented by the Psalmist as manifested— 1. In nature (Psalms 65:6-7). We have it here (1) Establishing the most stable things. “Who by His strength setteth fast the mountains, girded with power.” The mountains are the most secure, abiding, and unchangeable things in nature. Generations come and go, but the mountains remain. Cities arise and flourish, decay, and pass away; but the mountains continue, and apparently change not. Empires are founded and fortified, assaulted and overthrown; but the ancient and firm-set mountains move not and change not. The Almighty, as a master workman girded with power, firmly founded and securely keeps them. Their stability is an abiding and impressive witness to His omnipotence. (2) Controlling the most restless and tumultuous things. “Who stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves.” How restless is the seal How fierce and furious and terrible when it is agitated by storm! But His voice can curb it even in its wildest moods, can reduce its mountainous billows to gentle undulations, can hush its roaring thunders into soft rippling cadences. (Comp. Psalms 107:29; Matthew 8:26.) Thus nature is ever witnessing to the almighty power of God. 2. In human society. “Who stilleth the tumult of the peoples.” Perowne: “The sea and nations are mentioned together, the one being so often used as an image of the other.” Luther: “Like as He stilled Pharaoh with all his people, when he stormed and raged against Israel, as if he would have devoured them. In like manner as He stilled the king of Assyria, when he roared and raged against Jerusalem.” Barnes: “This is perhaps a more striking and wonderful exhibition of the power of God than that of calming down the waves of the ocean. In the one case, it is the exertion of mere power on nature, acting through its established laws, and where there is no resistance of will; in the other, it is power exerted over the will; power over agents, conscious that they are free, and where the worst passions meet and mingle and rage.” The Psalmist indicates the continuousness of these manifestations of the Divine power. “Who setteth, … Who stilleth.” God is ever present and active both in nature and in human society. He is the Author and Superintendent of all laws of nature, the Force of all forces, &c. II. The significance of the manifestations of the Divine power. “Thy tokens.” These manifestations of the power of God are regarded as indications of His presence and activity. They are signs and pledges of something more than and beyond themselves; they are indications of the character and ability of the mighty Worker. Thus the doings of God in nature are significant of His existence and presence, His power and unchangeableness. His control of tumultuous peoples witnesses to His might and majesty, His righteous sovereignty, &c. Both nature and history, to the thoughtful and reverent observer, are most fruitful of wise suggestion as to the works and ways of God. III. The influence of the manifestations of the Divine power. 1. They inspire awe. “They are afraid at Thy tokens.” The exhibitions of the power and glory of God are fitted to impress the mind and heart of men, to awaken reverence and fear of One who is so great in power, &c. 2. They inspire confidence. (Psalms 65:5.) We have here, (1) Confidence for a great blessing. “By terrible things in righteousness wilt Thou answer us.” The word translated terrible contains the idea of the wonderful and the sublime. Reference is made in it to such events as took place in Egypt previous to the emancipation of Israel from bondage—events fitted to impress men with a deep sense of the power and greatness and majesty of God. The Psalmist is confident that by such events God would answer the prayers of His people. To be assured of sufficient answers to our prayers is confidence for a great blessing. Such assurance would not be possible except in a being of great power. Thus God’s might is a basis of trust for man. (2) Confidence in the highest Being. Trust is here reposed in God as a Being whose power is always exercised righteously, and for the salvation of those who trust in Him. “In righteousness Thou wilt answer us, O God of our salvation.” Mere power, however great, is inadequate to inspire confidence. It may excite alarm. But the power of God is ever righteous in aim, and beneficent in operation. (3) Confidence in the widest extent. “The confidence of all the ends of the earth and of the sea afar off,” denotes the dwellers on the most distant coasts and islands, and the navigators of the most distant seas. The blessings of God are coextensive with the wants of man. There is no other being in the whole universe in whom man may safely confide. The true and only ground of trust for man is the great and gracious God. 3. They inspire joy. “Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.” Moll: “The outgoings of the morning and evening mean the east and west as practical parallels of the ends of the earth.” The manifestations of the righteous and beneficent power of God are calculated to inspire joy amongst all peoples everywhere. .—We are living amid the manifestations of the Divine power. Do we heed their significance? Do we hear and ponder their message? Are the phenomena of the material world revealing to us the realities of the spiritual universe? Are they aiding us to know God? to reverence, trust, and rejoice in Him? THE OF GOD IN NATURE(Psalms 65:9-13.) The Psalmist’s view of nature is not that of the Atheist. He regards nature as having been created, and as being constantly sustained by God. Nor that of the Positivist. He discovered in nature not only law, and order, and force, but the presence and activity of a Divine Person—God. Nor that of the Pantheist. He offers praise to God as a Person having an existence distinct from and independent of nature. He saw in the world around him the personal presence and the beneficent activity of the Supreme. And the beneficent activity of God in nature he represents as being— I. Incessant. (Psalms 65:9-11.) The activity of God in His works is ceaseless. This is manifest— 1. From the operations which are ascribed to Him. He is said to prepare the earth for the corn, and the corn for man; to bless the springing of the corn, and to carry it onward in its progress to maturity, until, in the abundance and ripeness of autumn, the year is crowned with His goodness. 2. From the forms of the verbs which are used to describe those operations. “Thou visitest, … waterest, … enrichest, … preparest, … blessest, … crownest,” &c. “The present tenses are employed here to express that this God does not in one year only, but every year.” His operations in nature are characterised by continuity. In all ages and in all seasons He is at work amidst His creations. He is ever active. This is well expressed by Thomson in his Hymn on the Seasons— “These, as they change, Almighty Father, theseAre but the varied God. The rolling yearIs full of Thee. Forth in the pleasing SpringThy beauty walks, Thy tenderness and love.Wide flush the fields; the softening air is balm;Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles,And every sense and every heart is joy.Then comes Thy glory in the Summer mouths.With light and heat refulgent. Then Thy sunShoots full perfection through the swelling year:And oft Thy voice in dreadful thunder speaks;And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve,By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales.Thy bounty shines in Autumn unconfined,And spreads a common feast for all that lives.In Winter awful Thou! with clouds and stormsAround Thee thrown, tempest o’er tempest rolled,Majestic darkness! On the whirlwind’s wingRiding sublime, Thou bid’st the world adore,And humblest nature with Thy northern blast.”II. Omnipresent. The “furrows” and the “ridges” of the earth He waters abundantly. He gives fertility and beauty to “the pastures of the wilderness;” He girds “the little hills” with joy, and He enrobes the fruitful valleys with corn or covers them with flocks. There is no part of His universe in which He is not present in His beneficent activities. On mountain summits, which are accessible to the gaze only of the strong-winged eagles and the sublime stars, He causes beauty to spring forth. And in dense forests, into which even the most adventurous of men have not penetrated, He is at work producing luxuriant and beautiful forms of vegetation and life. The omnipresence of His beneficent activities may be used— 1. As a restraint from sin. 2. As an encouragement to constant trust in Him. 3. As an incentive to reverence Him at all times and in all places. III. Abundant. “Thou visitest the earth and waterest it; Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water; Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly; Thy paths drop fatness.” Thus with fulness of expression the Psalmist represents the abundance of the Divine beneficence in nature. The psalm was probably written upon the occasion of a bounteous harvest, or after a copious and much-needed rain. But it is true at all times that the beneficent activities of God are on the largest and most generous scale. We may see this in the great fertility of the earth when wisely and diligently cultivated. How rich is the reward of such cultivation! Scenes of fertility, plenty, and beauty, like that sketched by the Poet, are to be found in vast numbers in our own land to-day. Both in nature and in grace God bestows His gifts with infinite munificence. IV. Joy-inspiring. “The little hills rejoice on every side. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.” Nature is here represented as singing for joy in its prosperity. The idea is both natural and poetical. And to man the beneficent activities of God in the material creation should ever be a source of grateful and reverent joy. The abundant provision which He thus makes for our needs should awaken our gratitude. The wide-spread diffusion of beauty should enkindle our admiration. And in all we should see and praise Him. .—Let us learn— 1. To recognise the presence and power of God in nature. 2. To praise the goodness of God in nature. 3. To worship God as seen in nature. Let us tread the earth as a temple alive with the presence and radiant with the glory of God. 4. To trust God as the God of nature. We have His promise—“While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, shall not cease.” He will not fail to fulfil His promise. 5. To regard His beneficence in nature as an illustration of the more precious blessings of salvation. A MAY HOMILY(Psalms 65:10. “Thou blessest the springing thereof.”) Nature in all her moods and phases is always ministerial, if we will have it. One may speak, for instance, of the opening of the spring, as a kind of annual Divine Sacrament, by attending upon which with wise and meek surrender, the better man in us may be awakened and stimulated.… As Christ Instituted the bread and wine, to be a means of aiding His followers in their remembrance of Him and their communion with Him; so does the holy Father give us every year the marvels and minstrelsies of spring, to aid us in growing fine and rising higher. He blesses the general flushing and budding. It is consecrated for us, to be an advantage to us spiritually, if we will allow it. We speak of our Sundays, our religious services, our daily tasks and difficulties as means of grace; and the vernal advent and encompassment is no less really a means of grace, to be utilised to profit, or neglected to loss and condemnation. I. Who is there who has not felt and acknowledged the softening, expanding, genialising influence of the spring; its sweetening effect upon the mental mood and temper?.… Only look at the people’s faces, as they meet one another by the way, some fine morning in the first burst of spring! How full of good-humour they are, how warmly they salute, how disposed they seem to be more generous and charitable than usual!.… You may explain it physiologically, I am quite aware; but then, it is not less God coming to you, in and through physiological laws and processes, with an opportunity of improvement, with a tide to bear and lift you, if taken at the flood, toward a permanently better, a permanently sweeter and more gracious spirit. It is a Divine means of grace. What you have to do is, just to seize the vernal feeling that has risen in you, and cherish and go forth with it: namely, by starting from the height of it, under the impulse of it, with new resolves and endeavours to cultivate the genial and generous temper; and by seeking to put it at once, before it fades, into some corresponding deed. Now, while it is upon you, go and give something to somebody’s need; go and do something for somebody’s good. II. Does not the present season tend to excite in us, at times, strange, vague, mysteriousyeanrings—yearnings amounting often to pain?.… I recall vividly a sketch I once saw—a slight but very striking sketch—a lone evening shore, with the sun slowly sinking into the sea, and a woman sitting gazing at it from the beach, her hands clasped round her knees, a far-off, weary, wistful look in her eyes, her face as the face of one who listens for something that is unheard, and longs for more than is seen. It was as though the dying sun were drawing her to himself; as though presently she must arise and seek him through the waves, aching to find with him—she knew not what—but the larger, the brighter, the happier that seemed to be calling her. Now that is an illustration of what I mean; when nature lays her hand upon us, and sets us dreamily yearning, as she is especially apt to do in her annual springing.… You feel pensive. There are strange stirrings and pinings in your breast that you hardly understand. The life in which hitherto you have been content and happy, seems poor and insipid and unsatisfying. The money you have made, the secular successes you have won, seem less worth than they were; and you reach home rather low-spirited, oppressed with a vague sense of want, a vague longing. What does it mean? The grace of the season has somehow swept the diviner depths in you, and caused a sudden blind motion and flutter there.… Turn the feeling before it dies into a prayer—a prayer to be filled and satisfied from the Lord; a prayer to be made willing to seek and do in harmony with His will.… It is an accepted time, a day of salvation; do not lose it. III. Has not the loveliness of spring, and the beautiful order which it expresses and reveals, brought home to us now and again, by the force of contrast, the uglinesses and disorders that abound in man’s world, and constrained us to ponder and bewail them afresh?.… Whenever the spring leads you to lament thus, what is it but a fresh Divine call to you to philanthropic labour and effort; a fresh Divine impression upon you of humanity’s sore needs and woes; that you may be awakened to increased sympathy with them, and urged to attempt more towards their relief? Seek, then, to waken and urge yourselves with it. Do not allow the feeling to evaporate in mere melancholy musings or pensive poetry; but let it bear you forth to heartier and more earnest ministry; make it a means of stimulating your benevolent activity. Go, with the tears for the miseries and evils of man’s world which the musical groves and the fine order of nature may have started in your eyes, to weep helpfully with them that weep, and to stream with renewed endeavour against the works of the devil. So shall the springing which the Lord blesses be blessed indeed.—S. A. Tipple. Abridged from The Day of Rest. THE FIRST SABBATH IN THE NEW-YEAR(Psalms 65:11. “Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness.”) Let us, though it be generally and rapidly, mark that goodness which has crowned the year— I. As to our country. I love the pious patriotism of the ancient Jews, whose hearts hovered over Zion even in her desolations and pronounced their blessing upon all the lovers of Jerusalem. Nor does justice, less than piety, demand this recognition of our national mercies, since there is not one of them which is not, in some of its results, a blessing to ourselves.… Ours is a country to which God has given one of the mightiest empires ever swayed by man;—a country where, amidst much of darkness, a brighter light of evangelical truth is shining; where, in the midst of awful vice, there is a higher degree of public and private virtue than in any other; a country whose civil and religious institutions are, at once, the light and admiration of a great part of the world, &c. That such a state of things has been continued, by the good providence of God, through another year, is matter of devout thanksgiving, &c. II. As to our families. I love to mark the blessed effects of Christianity upon families connected by blood, and, as it were, identified in the same joys, and sorrows, and interests of life.… Such was the family at Bethany which Jesus loved; and many such are found, I trust, among you. Remember your family mercies. As to most of you, how exempt have you been from any but those ordinary cares and transient visitations to which all are subject! The circle of your family hearth is unbroken, &c. III. As to our personal experience. I lose sight of your preservations from bodily danger and death, &c. Subjects these not to be forgotten by you, and never to be remembered without grateful devotion. But I merge them now in the higher considerations suggested by the spiritual blessings which have been granted to you.… When considering spiritual blessings as the portion of any man, we cannot but mount up to that boundless, that mysterious goodness which humbled the eternal Word to humanity, and spared Him not from the sorrows of the cross, in order, so to speak, to free itself from the restraints of Divine justice, that it might recover and bless mankind.… What affecting instances of goodness spring from this! &c. Some during the past year have been, for the first time, made the subjects of the renewing grace of God; on you I call this day for special acknowledgment. From what a depth of misery and danger have you been plucked! &c. I address others of you who have longer known this grace in truth, and to whom the experience of the past year has been comforting and advancing. And this you owe to the special goodness of God.… Your light is light from Him; your strength, strength from Him. “By the grace of God I am what I am.” “Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness.” But do I awaken in any heart the painful remembrance of religious barrenness and declension? God has not dealt with you according to your unfaithful dealings with Him, &c. Let this recollection of the goodness of God come to you, giving greater tenderness to your sorrows, strength to your desires, and new life to your hopes. “Return, ye backsliding children,” &c. IV. As to the universal Church. True piety identifies us with the universal Church. How gladdened should be our hearts if she has been, through the grace of God, faithful to her high calling, and has prospered in her work! — 1. By addressing those to whom it has been a year of special affliction. You have had afflictions, but you have likewise had mercies. Nor has God visited you with all the suffering that you have deserved, and which, therefore, He might have inflicted. And what have been many of your troubles but blessings in disguise?.… The chastening was not joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, it has yielded to you the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Can you number no mercies among the wants of the past year? Thank God, then, and take courage. 2. I beseech you, brethren, by all these mercies, that you present yourselves a living sacrifice unto God. Renounce every other authority, and submit to Him (Psalms 118:27; Psalms 116:8-9). Every renewed mercy increases our obligations to love and serve Him; and happy is that man, who, under the full power of joyous and grateful feeling, so surrenders himself to God, as to live for no other purpose than that of glorifying Him.—Richard Watson. Abridged. Superscription.—“To the chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “A Psalm or Song. See Introduction to Psalms 48.Both the author and the occasion of the psalm are unknown.Hengstenberg: “The psalm is a song of thanksgiving of the Church of God, after a protracted and severe trial. It is divided into three great parts. In the first, God is praised (1–7), on account of what He does to Israel at all times, in the second (8–12), on account of what He had just now done, and in the third (13–20), the Church vows her gratitude.”Homiletically we have in the psalm the following themes for meditation, Praise to God for His mighty works (Psalms 66:1-7); Praise for His great kindness in affliction (Psalms 66:8-12); and The declaration of a grateful soul (Psalms 66:18-20). GOD FOR HIS MIGHTY WORKS(Psalms 66:1-7.) Consider— I. The reason of this praise. The Psalmist calls upon all lands to praise God because of His mighty and majestic doings. And in so doing he sets forth— 1. The nature of His works. With mighty power God is ever engaged in governing the nations of the world. “He ruleth by His power for ever,” &c. Three features of His government are here indicated by the poet. (1.) Its perfect knowledge. “His eyes behold the nations.” Moll: “His eyes keep watch upon the nations.” The plans of the enemies of Himself and of His people are all known unto Him. They can conceal nothing from Him; and His people in all their circumstances and all their needs are ever before Him. He has a clear and full view of all things. (2.) Its subjugation of enemies. In the second verse it is said, “How terrible art Thou in Thy works! through the greatness of Thy power shall Thine enemies submit themselves unto Thee;” i.e., yield a feigned submission unto Him. By His great power they would be compelled to make a hollow and unwilling profession of loyalty to Him. And in the sixth verse there is a reference to the overthrow of Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red Sea. There are to-day those who submit to God in loving loyalty, and those who submit only outwardly and from slavish fear. And if men will resist Him to the utmost, then, like the tyrannical monarch of Egypt, they will be crushed by His power. (3.) Its salvation of His people. “He turned the sea into dry land; they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in Him.” His power is exerted for the defence and deliverance of those who put their trust in Him; as was seen in the crossing of the Red Sea, and the passage of the Jordan. In His government the interests of His loyal subjects are specially cared for. He is “mighty to save” all who confide in Him, and to crush incorrigible rebels, however numerous or powerful they may be. 2. The constancy of His works. “He ruleth by His power for ever.” Hengstenberg: “The Psalmist refers to the passage through the Red Sea and the Jordan, but not as to transactions which took place and were concluded at a given period of time, but as happening really in every age. God’s guidance of His people is a constant drying up of the sea and of the Jordan, and the joy over His mighty deeds is always receiving new materials.” The exhortation, “Come and see the works of God,” implies that these works are actually present. His rule is continuous and everlasting. Though He no longer manifests His power in miraculous deeds, that power is ever working for the overthrow of evil, the salvation of His people, and the extension of His kingdom. 3. The influence of His works. The mighty deeds of the Most High are calculated, (1.) To excite awe. “How terrible art Thou in Thy works!… He is terrible in His doing toward the children of men!” His deeds reveal His tremendous majesty, and are fitted to inspire the mind with reverent fear. (2.) To check rebellion against Him. “Let not the rebellious exalt themselves.” What is the strength of the mightiest when measured against His? The sinner is battling against Omnipotence. “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him?” “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish,” &c. (3.) To inspire confidence in Him. The Psalmist represents the mighty deeds of God as a reason for praise, an incitement to universal worship, and a cause for rejoicing in Him. These things imply trust in Him. His majestic works quickened the souls of His people into the exercise of a lively confidence in Him. When we mark how righteously and beneficently His almightiness is exercised, we see that it is well fitted to quicken and strengthen our faith in Him. 4. The necessity of observing His works. “Come and see the works of God.” It is only as the glorious deeds of God are thoughtfully and reverently regarded by us, that they will beneficially affect our mind and heart. But when they are attentively and devoutly considered, they will inspire trust and gratitude, admiration and praise in us, even as they did in the poet. Do we thus consider the doings of God in His government of the world to-day? Do these doings enkindle our hearts into resolute trust and holy song? Surely they are well fitted to do so, unless we are in arms against Him. II. The enthusiasm of this praise. “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands. Sing forth the honour of His name; make His praise glorious.” The praise for which the poet calls is to be offered— 1. Heartily. “Make a joyful noise unto God.” “Shout for joy to God.” The mere “shout” is worthless in the sight of God. But when the shout is the natural expression of the heart’s zeal and fervour, it is acceptable to Him. Languid praises are utterly inadequate to celebrate His doings, and are repugnant to Him. 2. Joyfully. “Make a joyful noise unto God.” “Shout for joy.” To be acceptable to God praise must be offered not as a duty, but as a privilege. To the devout heart praise is pleasure, worship is delight. 3. Openly. “Shout for joy unto God; … sing forth the honour of His name,” &c. We must celebrate the praise of God openly, that men may see that we are not ashamed of doing so, and that they may be encouraged to unite with us in the holy and joyous exercise. When we think of what God is ever doing for us, how enthusiastic should our praise to Him be! When we think of Jesus Christ and the blessings of redemption, how fervent and rapturous and ceaseless should be our songs! III. The universality of this praise. “Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands, … All the earth shall worship Thee, and shall sing unto Thee; they shall sing to Thy name.” The poet was confident that the heathen world would be won from their idolatries and atheism to the worship of the living and true God. His prophetic announcement is not yet fully accomplished. But we are confident that it will be— 1. Because of the character and perfections of God. He is good to all men, and His goodness is calculated to awaken the gratitude of all. His character is fitted to inspire the admiration and adoration of all men. “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like unto Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” 2. Because of the history of His worship amongst men. The worship of many heathen deities has passed away. Men are casting their “idols which they made to worship to the moles and to the bats.” But the number of His worshippers is ever increasing. His empire over human souls grows constantly and rapidly. Its past history is prophetic of its full and final triumph. 3. Because of the predictions of His Word. The Holy Book is clear and triumphant in its declarations on this point. (See Psalms 22:27; Psalms 72:8-19; Isaiah 45:23; Malachi 1:11; Luke 13:29; Romans 14:11; et al.) .—Let this glorious prospect— 1. Incite us to toil for its realisation. 2. Encourage us to pray for its realisation. 3. Stimulate us to praise Him who has promised its realisation. GOD FOR HIS GREAT IN (Psalms 66:8-12.) The Psalmist in these verses sets before us— I. A great affliction. This affliction is— 1. Variously represented. The poet uses a number of expressive figures to set forth the distress through which the people had passed. These figures represent it as, (1.) Imprisoning. “Thon broughtest us into the net.” Moll: “Thou hast brought us into the enclosure.” The idea is that of straitness, confinement. The soul sometimes seems surrounded with trouble, from which there is no escape. (2.) Oppressing. “Thou laidst affliction upon our loins.” Moll: “Hast laid an oppressive burden on our loins.” Barnes: “The loins are mentioned as the seat of strength (comp. Deuteronomy 33:11; 1 Kings 12:10; Job 40:16); and the idea here is, that He had put their strength to the test: He had tried them to see how much they could bear; He had made the test effectual by applying it to the part which was able to bear most. He had tried them to the utmost.” (3.) Degrading. “Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads.” Hengstenberg: “Thou didst let men ride upon our head.” The head is mentioned as the noblest part. And the idea is that the sufferers had been not only vanquished, but treated by their conquerors with the utmost indignity and tyranny. Their enemies had insulted them, scorned them, degraded them. (4.) Consuming. “We went through fire.” The passing through fire indicates trial which involves extreme danger. The severest trials we speak of as “fiery trials.” (5.) Overwhelming. “We went through water.” Barnes: “It was as if they had been made to pass through burning flames and raging floods (comp. Isaiah 43:2). Instead of passing through the seas and rivers when the waters had been turned back, and when a dry and safe path was made for them, as was the case with their fathers (Psalms 66:6), they had been compelled to breast the flood itself.” This representation of the affliction of the people shows that their distresses were numerous, various, and severe. From trials of one kind they passed, and then had to encounter trials of another kind. And some of these trials threatened to destroy their very existence. Their experience in this respect is an illustration of the experience of some of the people of God in all ages. This severe affliction was— 2. Permitted by God. “Thou broughtest us into the net; Thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused,” &c. They recognised the hand of God in their distresses. The strongest and most daring enemy of the people of God has no power but what is given him from above. These afflictions could not have befallen them without the Divine permission. All sufferings are either sent by God, or permitted by Him. The realisation of this by the unbeliever is an aggravation of suffering; by the believer, a blessing in suffering. “It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good.” (See on Psalms 39:9.) II. Great kindness in great affliction. The kindness of God as celebrated by the Psalmist was manifest— 1. In preserving the afflicted. “Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.” He had protected them amid the dangers which threatened their life; and He had not left their feet to totter or stumble so as to cause them to fall. Their enemies failed to crush them, and the fire to consume them, and the flood to overwhelm them; because God defended them. 2. In the design of the affliction. “Thou, O God, hast proved us; Thou hast tried us as silver is tried.” The design of their affliction was, (1.) The testing of character. “As silver is tried” in the fire, so God had tested the reality of their faith, and hope, and patience. “When God doth afflict you,” says Caryl, “then He doth bring you to the touchstone to see whether you are good metal or no; He doth bring you then to the furnace, to try whether you be dross or gold, or what you are. Affliction is the great discoverer that unmasks us.… Some will hold on with God as long as the sun shineth, as long as it is fair weather; but if the storm arise, if troubles come, whether personal or public, then they pull in their heads, then they deny and forsake God, then they draw back from Him, and betray His truth; what they, such and such men! Trouble makes the greatest trial; bring professors to the fire, and then they show their metal.” So He tried Abraham and Job, et al. (2.) The improving of character. Silver is put into the smelting furnace in order to remove its dross. Afflictions are designed to purify and perfect the character. (Comp. Isaiah 1:25; Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:3; James 1:2-3; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7.) 3. In the issue of the affliction. “Thou broughtest me out into a wealthy place.” Margin: “Moist.” Hengstenberg: “Thou didst lead us out to affluence.” Conant: “Thou hast brought us out to overflowing plenty.” Moll: “Thou hast brought us out into abundance.” Calvin: “The sum is, although God at times may chastise severely His own people, yet He always gives them a happy and joyful issue.” M. Henry: “God brings His people into trouble that their comforts afterwards may be the sweeter, and that their affliction may thus yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness, which will make the poorest place in the world a wealthy place.” The troubles of the people of God will be brought by Him to the most blessed and glorious issue. III. Praise for great kindness in great affliction. “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard.” Three points are here suggested— 1. Praise for general mercies does not supersede the obligation of special praise for special mercies. The poet in the former strophe had called for enthusiastic praise to God for His regular and constant activity for the benefit of His people; now he calls again for praise for the special deliverance and blessing which he commemorates. 2. Praise for the great kindness of God is all the more fervent and delightful when we are assured of our personal interest in Him. “O bless our God!” Blessed indeed are they who can thus regard Him. His mercies to them will be doubly precious. And their praise of Him will be specially hearty and confiding and pleasurable. 3. The heart that is fervent in His praises will seek to engage others therein. “O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of His praise to be heard.” The grateful and fervent heart would enlist multitudes in this service, and sound His praise abroad on all sides. .— 1. Let the afflicted wait upon God in patience and hope. 2. Let those delivered from affliction praise Him with gratitude and gladness. THE OF A SOUL(Psalms 66:13-20.) “We have now,” says Perowne, “the personal acknowledgment of God’s mercy, first, in the announcement on the part of the Psalmist of the offerings which he is about to bring, and which he had vowed in his trouble; and then, in the record of God’s dealings with his soul, which had called forth his thankfulness.” We have here— I. Help in trouble implored by man. The poet is speaking of the time “when he was in trouble,” and he says, “I cried unto Him with my mouth,” &c. From his statements we learn that— 1. His prayer was presented in uprightness of heart. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” The Psalmist was sincere in his approaches to God. He did not cherish sin in his heart while seeking the help of God. The man who loves sin will not obtain favourable answers to his prayers. On this point the Sacred Scriptures are most explicit. (Job 27:8-9; Proverbs 15:29; Proverbs 28:9; Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 59:1-2; John 9:31; 1 John 3:21-22.) 2. His prayer was offered with solemn promises. The Psalmist says, “I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble.” Under the pressure of great suffering he had uttered solemn promises to God. It is a very common occurrence when men are suffering some great affliction to make vows of reformation of life, or, in the case of the godly, of more thorough consecration to God, if He will remove the affliction. 3. His prayer was offered in confident anticipation of a gracious answer. “I cried unto Him with my mouth, and He was extolled with my tongue.” Hengstenberg: “A song of praise was under my tongue.” The meaning seems to be that the poet was so confident of a favourable response to his prayer that he had in readiness a hymn of praise, which he would sing as soon as the help sought was obtained. He was “enabled by faith and hope to give glory to Him when he was seeking for mercy and grace from Him, and to praise Him for mercy in prospect though not yet in possession.” II. Help in trouble granted by God. “Verily God hath heard me; He hath attended to the voice of my prayer.” The Psalmist had received from God a favourable answer to his prayer. The help which he had sought God granted unto him. The answer to his prayer may be regarded— 1. As a proof of the uprightness of his heart. A fundamental condition of acceptable prayer is that the soul shall be sincere and free from secretly-cherished sin. “As it is a settled and universal principle that God does not hear prayer when there is in the heart a cherished love and purpose of iniquity, so it follows that, if there is evidence that He has heard our prayers, it is proof that He has seen that our hearts are sincere, and that we truly desire to forsake all forms of sin.” 2. As a result of his confidence in God. God always graciously hears and answers the prayer of faith. If we honour God by confidently anticipating His blessing, He will reward us by abundantly bestowing that blessing. In our dealings with Him trustful anticipation of His grace will ever lead to joyous celebration of His praise. III. Help in trouble recounted to men. “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” Notice— 1. The invitation. “Come and hear, and I will declare.” It is natural for the heart rejoicing in some great deliverance granted, or some great blessing bestowed, to tell to others its glad experience. Because (1) All great emotions seek expression. Thus the forgiven sinner longs to declare his gratitude and gladness, and thus to honour God. (2) All godly souls seek to lead others into the possession of the privileges and joys which they have received. The genius of true religion is broad, liberal, generous. 2. The audience. “All ye that fear God.” Barnes: “All who are true worshippers of God—the idea of fear or reverence being put for worship in general. The call is on all who truly loved God to hear what He had done, in order that He might be suitably honoured, and that due praise might be given Him.” The godly man’s experience of the Divine mercy should be recounted to a fitting audience. Many of the experiences of the spiritual life are too tender and sacred to be communicated to any save sympathetic hearers. 3. The testimony. “What He hath done for my soul.” Much that is called “religious experience” and “personal testimony” is repulsively egotistic and conceited—the narrative of the feelings and doings of small and selfish souls, too much given to morbid self-introspection. The world would be much the better if it were rid of such stuff completely and for ever. The Psalmist wishes to recount not what he has done, but what God has done for him. Here is a kind of testimony worth listening to. “When you tell others of the guidances of God respecting your soul, take care lest some hypocrisy or self-love creep in, and that the glory of God be your only aim.” IV. Help in trouble acknowledged to God. “I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings,” &c. (Psalms 66:13-15; Psalms 66:20). This acknowledgment was characterised by— 1. Faithfulness. “I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered,” &c. Note: (1) The frequency with which vows are made in time of trouble. (2) The frequency with which they are forgotten when the trouble is removed. (3) The solemn obligation to fulfil them. God does not forget them, but waits their fulfilment. Both gratitude for the removal of the affliction, and faithfulness to the promise made, bind us to their fulfilment. The vows which he made in the night of adversity the Psalmist fulfils in the day of prosperity. 2. Comprehensiveness. “I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings; I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks, with goats. Blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer, nor His mercy from me.” He resolves to offer fat lambs and bullocks with rams and goats, and to offer them as burnt sacrifices to be wholly consumed to the honour of God. He will “present sacrifices in all the forms required in worship; in all the forms that will express gratitude to God, or that will be an acknowledgment of dependence and guilt; in all that would properly express homage to the Deity.” And He presents the offering of praise as well as of gifts. Both material and spiritual sacrifices he presented unto God. 3. Heartiness. Hengstenberg: “The full enumeration of the animals to be offered in sacrifice, shows the zeal with which the thanks and the offerings are given.” Renschel: “A noble thanksgiving is due to a great benefit.” Great mercies should be acknowledged in fervent and hearty praise. “King of glory, King of peace,I will love Thee:And that love may never cease,I will move Thee.Thou hast granted my request,Thou hast heard me:Thou didst note my working breast,Thou hast spared me.Wherefore with my utmost artI will sing Thee,And the cream of all my heartI will bring Thee.Though my sins against me cried,Thou didst clear me;And alone, when they replied,Thou didst hear me.Sev’n whole days, not one in seven,I will praise Thee.In my heart, though not in heaven,I can raise Thee.Small it is, in this poor sortTo enroll Thee:Ev’n eternity is too shortTo extol Thee.”—Gea. Herbert.THE OF A GODLY MAN(Psalms 66:16-20.) I. The godly man is anxious to impart his experience to others. “Come and hear.” 1. His confession is volunteered, not enforced. There is nothing here to justify that spiritual inquisition which some have sought to establish in the Romish confessional, or its Anglican imitations. 2. Spiritual experiences should be told at suitable times. “Come and hear.” It is wrong to parade soul matters at unseasonable times. Many have brought religion into disrepute by preaching when they ought to have simply and unostentatiously practised its precepts. 3. Spiritual experience should be addressed to congenial hearers. “All ye that fear God.” We should remember that spiritual things can be comprehended only by the spiritually-minded. 4. Spiritual experiences should be strictly personal. “What He hath done for my soul.” In this matter we may properly talk about ourselves without egotism. Much that has obtained currency for “experience,” has been either fiction, or religious scandal. II. The godly man’s experience includes both penitence and praise. 1. He has to tell of sin mourned over. “I cried unto Him.” This is just the language that would describe the outburst of a penitent soul. 2. He has to tell of trouble endured. The trouble has been greater than he could bear; it has been more than he could fight against; hence he has cried to One higher than he. 3. He has to tell of mercies received. “He was extolled with my tongue.” This He has done for my soul: I sinned, and He forgave me; I was in trouble, and He helped me. “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard,” &c. III. The godly man’s logic. “If I regard iniquity,” &c. The purport of the Christian’s story is—not that he has not sinned; but that God has forgiven the iniquity of his sin, and has given him grace to overcome sin. “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” The Christian’s argument is this: If I cherish sin in my heart, God will not hear my prayer. But God has heard me. Therefore it is clear that His grace has been effective in my heart in subduing the power of sin. The answered prayer is the proof that I have been enabled by grace to overcome sin. IV. The godly man’s experience always culminates in a song of praise. Even when he has most plainly established his innocence, he ascribes the glory to God, whose mercy has not been withdrawn, and who still hears and answers prayer. This closing song implies three things— 1. That God’s mercy is continuous; else iniquity would prevail, and be cherished in the heart. 2. That God hears prayer unweariedly. 3. That the disposition to pray is also God’s gift.—“The Homiletic Quarterly.” Superscription. “To the chief Musician:” see Introduction to Psalms 57. “On Neginoth:” see Introduction to Psalms 54. “A Song or Psalm:” see Introduction to Psalms 48.Neither the author of the psalm nor the occasion of its composition are known unto us.The chief feature of the psalm is the intense desire of the Psalmist (who wrote the psalm for the Temple service) for the universal worship of God. This is quite clear from the repetition of Psa 67:3. Twice in this brief poem he exclaims, “Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee.”Homiletically, we regard the psalm as setting forth—THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCHConsider— I. The great object of the missionary prayer of the Church. In this psalm, the Church seeks, 1. That God may be known by all men. (1.) As to His way. “That Thy way may be known upon earth.” The way of God is His procedure towards mankind; “the principles and methods of the Divine administration; the way in which God rules mankind, and in which He bestows His blessings on men.” It seems to us that to understand this way aright we must view it as comprising two aspects: the way of the Divine requirement, or what He demands from men; and the way of the Divine treatment, or what He does for men. (2.) As to His salvation. “Thy saving health among all nations.” Instead of “saving health,” we should read, salvation. The Church prays that the Divine salvation may be known by all peoples—that all peoples may experience it. The heart that knows the blessedness of personal religion will seek to extend that experience to others. There is a vital connection between these two branches of knowledge. “If God make known His way to us, and we walk in it, He will show us His saving health.” In the way of Divine requirement and the way of Divine treatment, in God’s grace and his own obedience to God, man finds salvation. 2. That God may be worshipped by all men. “Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy.” We have here (1.) Worship in its object. “Let the people praise Thee, O God.” It is natural and right that the kindest Being should be regarded with gratitude, the best Being with reverence. Both on account of what He is and of what He does, God should be praised. He is the only true object of worship. (2.) Worship in its character. “O let the nations be glad and sing for joy.” The worship of God should be joyous. Its fitting expressions are songs, not groans; declarations of confidence, not the murmurs of discontent. (3.) Worship in its extent. “Let all the people praise Thee. O let the nations,” &c. It is a prayer that all the Gentiles may be brought to know and worship the Lord God. (See on Psalms 66:4.) Let us clearly and firmly apprehend the universality of the aim of this prayer. How grand this aim! A saved world joyously worshipping the one living and true God! II. The means by which the attainment of this object is sought. These means are various; but that which is brought into prominence here is Prayer for the gracious presence of God with His Church. “God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us.” Margin: “With us.” Moll: “ ‘Among us.’ The expression among or with us does not indicate the nearness of the help but the accompanying, or better, the guiding presence of God.” There is a manifest reference to the benediction of the High Priest (Numbers 6:24-26). To cause the face to shine upon any one is to look upon him with favour. It is a beautiful representation of the Divine approval and blessing. This blessing is sought as a favour, not demanded as a right. The Divine mercy, and not their own merit, is the ground on which their petition is urged. “God be merciful unto us.” How profound is the philosophy of this prayer! Superficially the idea is: Bless us with guidance, with prosperity, with outward and visible tokens of Thy blessing, so that the heathen, in the hope of sharing in these favours, may be led to acknowledge Thee. But there is a deeper and more spiritual idea here: when the Church is richly filled with the presence and blessing of her Divine Lord, men will numerously and eagerly seek to know the way and salvation of God. A living, active, holy Church would speedily result in the conversion of the world to God. What the Church most pressingly needs for the accomplishment of her great work is not more numerous agencies, not new methods of evangelisation, not increase of material wealth, but a deeper and more abiding realisation of the presence and blessing of God in her midst. Our successes in missionary enterprise, both at home and abroad, are comparatively few and small because we are spiritually feeble; we are spiritually feeble because our realisation of the presence of God with us is so fluctuating and faint; and our realisation of the presence of God with us is faint and fluctuating because we have not sought it with earnest purpose and strong faith. “These,” says Guenther, “are the true prophets and teachers, upon whose countenance the glance of the Divine light still remains.” When that light shines clearly upon the countenances of the members of the Christian Church, the day will not be far distant when “all the people” shall praise God. III. The confidence in which this prayer is offered. Here are two things— 1. The confidence expressed. “God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.” The poet expresses the assurance that the object prayed for would be granted; that God would bless His own people, and that so the world would be won to Him in joyous worship. 2. The basis of this confidence. This is twofold. (1) The relation of God to men, and His work for men. “Thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.” God appears here as the righteous Sovereign of men. The great principles of the Divine government as seen in the history of the world are so righteous and gracious that the heathen will joyously give Him their allegiance. He also appears here as the gracious Leader of men. Margin: “And lead the nations” Hengstenberg: “And guidest.” Perowne: “The verb is the same as in Psalms 23:3, God being the great Shepherd of all nations.” He guides in paths of safety, prosperity, peace, and life. His government and guidance are powerful incentives to trust and worship Him. (2) The blessing bestowed upon the Church. The Hebrew verb in the first clause of Psa 67:6 is in the past tense. Conant: “The earth hath yielded her increase.” Hengstenberg: “The land gave its increase.” There is an obvious reference to a recent harvest. Calvin expresses what we hold as the meaning and bearing of the clause: “As often as God adorned that ancient people with His benefits, He, at the same time, shone upon the whole world with a burning torch, so as to allure the heathen to seek Him.” His blessings to His Church encourage and strengthen faith in the progress, and ultimately the complete triumph of His cause and kingdom. (For additional grounds of confidence see on Psalms 66:4.) .—The subject presents to us a word of— 1. Encouragement. How glorious is the prospect! 2. Instruction. How wise are the means for realising it! 3. Exhortation. Let us diligently use these means. “God be merciful unto us,” &c. GOD BY HIS PEOPLE(Psalms 67:6.) “Our own God shall bless us.” The heathen nations had their numerous gods,—gods for every phase of nature, for all seasons, and for all events. But these gods were senseless idols, puerile, contemptible, and valueless; so also were all those who trusted in them. (See Psalms 115.) But Jehovah was the God of Israel, and as such the object of their faith and hope. In Him they trusted, to Him gave homage, and in Him exulted, as in the text. Observe— I. The Divine Being, in the text—“GOD.” This Being was unknown to the heathen, but He revealed Himself to the holy patriarchs, and especially to Abraham and Moses. Our God, 1. Is a Spirit, not material. Angels are in a secondary sense spirits; but it is obvious that they have ethereal vestments, and can manifest themselves, and be seen by men; but not so God (John 4:24; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 11:27). 2. Self-existent. He, the Creator, has no maker; from Himself and in Himself,—absolutely underived; before all things (Deuteronomy 4:35; Isaiah 44:6). 3. Eternal. From eternity to eternity,—God. No beginning, nor capable of any end of His existence (Isaiah 57:15; Romans 1:20). 4. Unchangeable; or, He would not be absolutely perfect. “The same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” So in His essence, attributes, and purposes; of one eternal, unalterable mind (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17). 5. Omnipotent,—of unlimited energy. Able to do all things worthy of His effectuating (Genesis 17:1; Revelation 19:6). 6. Omniscient,—knowing all things accurately, distinctly, infallibly. And, with these His natural attributes, possessing every moral perfection—wisdom, holiness, goodness, truth, mercy, love. Such is the Divine Being exhibited in the text. II. His relationship to us. “Our own God.” Not merely the God of the universe, the only God, the God of the seraphim and the holy angels, but “our God.” The God— 1. Of our being. Our Maker, Father, source of existence (Genesis 2:7; Job 33:4; Psalms 139:14; Isaiah 57:6). 2. Our good Benefactor. Fountain of all goodness, the Giver of every good and perfect gift (Exodus 34:6; 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalms 33:5). 3. Our Divine Lord and Ruler. To whom we are subject, and owe all loyal obedience, and worship, and love (2 Kings 19:15; 2 Chronicles 20:6; Psalms 95:3). 4. Our covenant God, who remembered us in our low estate, and in infinite condescension and mercy entered into gracious covenant relationship with His Son for our redemption and restoration to holiness and eternal life (2 Samuel 23:5; Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:8). 5. Our gracious God, who has called us and adopted us into His Divine and heavenly family. 6. The God of our profession and worship. Ours by obedience to His call, and faith in His name, and avowal of delight in His service. 7. Our God for ever and ever,—in close, unbroken fellowship, and eternal oneness and joy. God is ours consciously by the indwelling of His Spirit, and by our union with His only begotten Son Jesus Christ. III. The blessed assurance of this relationship,—“shall bless us.” 1. With all the good we need. 2. With the evident tokens of His favour. His Spirit, His presence, communion, &c. 3. With the rich treasures of His grace. 4. With eternal life and glory. A few words in conclusion— 1. These blessings are of His sovereign bestowment. 2. Are laid up for us in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom all fulness dwells. 3. Are realised by us as we ask and believe. 4. Are absolutely certain, as based on His own immutable word, ratified by His solemn oath and sealed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus. 5. And are experienced by all His saints in the dispensation of His grace and love. Yes; “God, our own God will bless us.” Grateful acknowledgment and entire consecration are His right and due. To our God be glory evermore.—Jabes Burns, D.D. Superscription.—“To the Chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “A Psalm or Song of David.” See Introduction to Psalms 48.The Superscription does not mention the occasion on which the psalm was composed. On this point various opinions have been held and advocated. Most of the older expositors, and Steir and Barnes amongst the moderns, are of opinion that it was composed for the removal of the Ark from the house of Obed-edom to Mount Zion (2 Samuel 6). The view of others is that it was composed to celebrate the victorious termination of some war, when the Ark was brought back to Zion. Throughout the psalm God is praised as the Lord of battle and of victory. Can we ascertain what victory is here celebrated! For our guidance in this inquiry we have two data. “First, the psalm must have been composed at a time when the sanctuary of the Lord was on Mount Zion (Psalms 68:15-16; Psalms 68:29; Psalms 68:35). The choice is thus very much narrowed. There remain only two great victories, the Syrian-Edomite, and the Ammonitic-Syrian. Second, in the war referred to in this psalm, the Ark of the Covenant must have been in the field, according to Psalms 68:1; Psalms 68:24. It is evident from 2 Samuel 11:11, that this was the case in the Ammonitic war. We may therefore with great probability conclude, that the psalm was composed after the capture of Rabbah (2 Samuel 12:26-31), which terminated that war, the most dangerous with which David had to do. It was quite in accordance with David’s usual manner to celebrate a great religious festival at the close of such a war.”—(Hengstenberg). Alexander, Moll, Tholuck, et al., also take this view. The weight of evidence seems to us certainly in favour of it.“The fundamental thought is clear,” says Moll, “namely: The celebration of an entrance of God into His sanctuary on Zion after a victory, and His rule over the world extending itself from thence.” The development of this thought we shall endeavour to indicate as we proceed with our homiletical treatment of the psalm.THE MARCH OF THE GOOD(Psalms 68:1-10.) The Psalm opens with a reference to the watchword which was used at the setting forward of the Ark of the Covenant in the journeyings of the Israelites (Numbers 10:35). God is entreated to arise for the overthrow of His enemies and the salvation of His people. The people are exhorted to praise God as the glorious Leader of a victorious march through the desert—One who protects and provides for, who saves and enriches His people. There follows, in Psalms 68:7-10, an illustration of the gracious and glorious guidance of God, as seen in the history of Israel in the wilderness. We regard this section of the psalm as an illustration of The victorious march of the good. I. The march of the good is opposed by enemies. The enemies whom God is invoked to arise against are the enemies of Israel. The people of God in all ages have been a militant people. To day their enemies are numerous and subtle and strong. They have to contend against unbelief and superstition, against carnality and worldliness, against temptations from without, and evil tendencies from within. Conflict is an essential condition of spiritual life and growth in our present state of being. Our advancement in the Christian course is disputed and opposed at every step by our foes. Concerning these enemies the Psalmist makes two things to stand prominently forth— 1. They are depraved in character. He speaks of them as “the wicked.” How terrible is the wickedness of any one who would deliberately tempt another to evil, or seek to corrupt a pure mind, or oppose the progress of a godly soul! 2. They are hostile to the Most High. They are “His enemies,” they “hate Him.” Think of the appalling iniquity and guilt of having that Being who is supremely righteous and kind and beautiful! What a terrible perversion of character such hatred indicates! They who oppose the people of God are accounted by Him as His enemies. II. The march of the good is marked by trials. The character of this journey is indicated in general here as a march through a desert. Thus in Psalms 68:4, instead of “Extol Him that rideth upon the heavens,” we should have, “Make a way for Him who rideth forward in the deserts,” or, “Cast up a way for Him that rides through the deserts.” And in Psalms 68:7, “O God, when Thou didst march through the wilderness,” or, “through the desert.” There is much in the circumstances and experiences of the good in this world which is truly illustrated by a pilgrimage in the desert. But this general idea is expanded by the Psalmist in Psalms 68:5-6. We have here— 1. The helpless and sorrowful. “The fatherless … the widows.” These expressions must not be restricted to their literal meaning. They are used to set forth those who have lost their protector and helper, and whose hearts are sorrowful and sore. 2. The forsaken and lonely. “The solitary” is intended to represent those who are forsaken, and are destitute of human friendship and help. 3. The enslaved. “Those which are bound with chains,” represents not simply those who are literally imprisoned or enslaved, but those who are bound by evil habits or associations, the slaves of superstition and sin, the thralls of fear, who cannot rise to the joy of holy assurance in God. These classes represent some of the pilgrims in the march of the good in our own day. Even amongst true and godly souls there are weary feet and sad and sorrowful hearts. “Faint, yet pursuing” is a true description of the condition of thousands of travellers on the heavenly road. From our pilgrim state trial is inseparable. We are in the desert with its consuming heat, and sandy wastes, and vast trackless expanses, and prowling enemies. III. The march of the good is led on victoriously. Mark the glorious Leader. “Let God arise.… Him who rideth forward through the deserts.… Thou didst march through the wilderness.” There is a reference to the Ark of the Covenant, which victoriously preceded the hosts of Israel. The Ark, with the pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night resting upon it, was the sign of the Divine presence. It was also a type of Christ. He is the great and glorious Leader of His people; and He leads them on from victory to victory. Under His guidance they are— 1. Victorious over enemies. “Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered,” &c. Their victory is (1) Irresistible. Their foes are driven before them as smoke before the wind. As wax has no power to resist heat, but melts away under its influence, so the enemies of the hosts of God are unable to stand before Him. When He leads His people to battle their enemies flee powerless and panic-stricken. “Let God arise, as the sun when he goes forth in his strength; and the children of darkness shall be scattered, as the shadows of the evening flee before the rising sun.” (2) Complete. “As smoke is driven away,” &c. Who can recover the smoke-cloud which the wind has scattered far and wide? “Let the wicked perish at the presence of God.” The omnipotence of God guarantees the destruction of His enemies, and the triumph of His people. The good have to contend with foes, but “in all things they are more than conquerors through Him that loved” and leads them. 2. Victorious over difficulties and trials. Are they marching through a desert? Then God makes the desert as a fruitful field with His own gifts from heaven. “Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain.” Alexander: “A rain of free gifts.” Hengstenberg: “A rain of gifts.” There is a reference “to the provision made by God for His people, in temporal matters, during their marchings through the wilderness—the manna, the quails, the water out of the rock,” &c. In this we have an illustration of the all-sufficiency and freeness and abundance of the provision which God has made for His people. In things temporal He will withhold no good from them. In things spiritual He has provided for them “a feast of fat things.” The provisions of Christianity are abundant, free, rich, satisfying, and pleasant. Are they helpless and sorrowful? Then God, their Leader, is their mighty Helper and their gracious Comforter. “A Father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.” God has ever manifested great regard for the widow and fatherless (Exodus 22:22-24; Deuteronomy 10:18; Psalms 146:7-9; Hosea 14:3). He interposes for those who have no helper; He comforts the mourner. It is His greatest glory that He is merciful to the penitent transgressor, and compassionate to the miserable. Are they faint and weary? Then God refreshes them. “Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance when it was weary.” Hengstenberg: “Thine heritage, the weary one, Thou didst strengthen it.” Conant: “When fainting, Thou Thyself hast raised it up.” When the Israelites were worn out with fatigue by reason of their journeyings in the wilderness, He refreshed and strengthened them. He sustains and cheers His people in the most exhausting and trying circumstances of their pilgrimage. “He giveth power to the faint,” &c. (Isaiah 40:29-31). Are they enslaved? He gives to them joyous liberty. “He bringeth out those which are bound with chains.” He delivers from the slavery of evil habits, from the tyranny of sin and Satan, from the bondage of fear, &c. Under this glorious Leader difficulties are vanquished and made to contribute to the success of the pilgrim host, trials are bravely borne, and ultimately transformed into blessings, and foes are utterly vanquished. Triumphantly the great Captain of the good leads forward His hosts. IV. The march of the good is led on to a glorious termination. The journey of the Israelites ended at Canaan. There “God made the solitary to dwell at home.” In giving them possession of that land; and in protecting them therein against their enemies, He manifested His kindness to them. “Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: Thou, O God, hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor.” “Therein” refers to the land of promise. Though that land has not been expressly mentioned in the preceding verses, yet it was prominently in the mind of the Psalmist. The possession of it was the grand end of the journey through the wilderness. There they found rest, refreshment, provisions in abundance, &c. How glorious is the end of the pilgrimage of the good! Rest from wanderings, from fears, from conflicts. The possession of purity, peace, joy, &c. Under the guidance of our Lord our march will end at home—our Father’s home. .— 1. This lead should be earnestly sought. “Let God arise,” &c. Without it we shall “dwell in a dry land.” Without it life will be vain, fruitless, and will end in failure. But under His guidance life will grow in purity, power, and usefulness, and will end in triumph and glory. “Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,” &c.2. This lead should be heartily rejoiced in. “Let the righteous be glad,” &c. This rejoicing should be fervent. “Let them exceedingly rejoice,” or, “exult for gladness.” Great blessings should enkindle great joys. It should be religious. “Let them rejoice before God.” Grateful and reverent should be our gladness that we have such a Leader. It should be uttered. “Sing unto God,” &c. Sing, and so relieve the full heart; sing, and so excite others to do so also. THE BARREN LOT OF THE WICKED(Psalms 68:6.) The rebellious dwell in a dry land.” Religion has been misrepresented as a cheerless, gloomy, harsh thing. Our text reverses this. It teaches that irreligion is unsatisfying, that a life of sin is a life of want and disappointment. The children of Israel were being led through the desert unto a land of corn and wine, of milk and honey, &c. But the rebellious are said to dwell in the desert. The former pass through it to a glorious inheritance; the latter dwell in it—their lot is barren, dreary, disappointing, &c. A life of rebellion against God is without satisfaction; it is cheerless, disappointed, wretched. We see this: I. In relation to the ordinary events of this life. Health and sickness, gain and loss, triumph and defeat, pleasure and sorrow, are found more or less in the life of every man. What is the meaning of these things? What are their uses? &c. The man who trusts in God is in a condition for ascertaining these things, and for making the best use of life’s varying experiences. But the opposite is true of “the rebellious.” The good man sees in his successes, and in his health, &c. the blessing of a gracious God. He is grateful for that blessing; and is thus twice blessed. He is blessed in his circumstances and in his soul, in his hand and in his heart. But “the rebellious” discover no trace of the goodness of God in the successes and pleasures of life. To them no spiritual blessing accrues from these things. The highest ministry of these things they entirely, lose. The good man derives profit from the dark and trying experiences of life. He believes that trial may be a blessing in disguise, that temporal loss may result in spiritual enrichment, &c. So, by the blessing of God, his greatest losses and crosses lead to his greatest gains and joys. But it is far otherwise with “the rebellious.” To them trials and sorrows and losses are unmixed evils. They rebel against trials, and trials become more severe. Temporal losses lead to bitterness of spirit. They kick against the goads, and so injure themselves. So far as their spiritual relation to the circum: stances of this life is concerned, “the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” II. In relation to the great needs of the soul. Whether man recognises and acknowledges it or not, it is true that every man has great spiritual needs. We need pardon, help in life’s toils and trials, hope as to life’s future, &c. Our being craves rest. And to obtain rest we need truth for the intellect, righteousness for the conscience, love for the heart. The godly man finds rest in the truth, righteousness, and love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. The only way to rest for man is through Christ (Matthew 11:28-30; John 14:6; Romans 5:1). But how do “the rebellious” fare in this respect? Let the Scriptures answer (Isaiah 57:20-21; Jeremiah 2:13; Luke 15:14-17). Let human experience answer. When Alexander the Great had subdued all the nations of the earth, so far was he from being satisfied with the conquest of a world, that he wept because he had not another world to conquer. The world did not satisfy his soul’s cravings: nor has it satisfied the needs of any soul. All who have chosen the world for their portion, and have had it, have experienced the most bitter disappointment. They have “dwelt in a dry land.” III. In relation to the great future. “If a man die, shall he live again?” “Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Is he anywhere? The multitudes who once were upon this earth, are they in being now? Whither and to what are we hastening? The believer in Christ has a great and well-grounded hope as to the future. “Our Saviour Jesus Christ hath abolished death,” &c. “I am the resurrection and the life,” &c. To the Christian the future is radiant, beautiful, inviting. But what is it to “the rebellious”? Ah! what? It is shrouded in sable gloom, as of a moonless, starless midnight. The darkness is unbroken, or broken only by dread flashes of lurid light. For “the rebellious” there is “a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation,” &c. Let “the rebellious” sue for pardon. Let them loyally bow to the authority of God, &c. “Ye worldlings, who wander joylessly through a godless world, with weary feet and withered hearts, seeking rest and finding none, come to Jesus, and He will give you rest.” THE TRIUMPH OF THE CHURCH(Psalms 68:11-14.) To Interpret Psalms 68:13-14 is confessedly a very difficult task. On Psalms 68:13, Barnes says, “I confess that none of these explanations of the passage seem to me to be satisfactory, and that I cannot understand it.” And Moll, at the end of a long note on Psalms 68:14, says, “Since, however, there is no historical statement here, but rather a prophetical declaration, we are rather led to a figurative mode of expression, whose sense, however, is as obscure as its foundation and occasion are unknown.” And in Smith’s Dict. of the Bible, art. Salmon, we read, “It is usually supposed that this hill is mentioned in a verse of perhaps the most difficult of all the Psalms; and this is probable though the passage is peculiarly difficult, and the precise allusion intended by the poet seems hopelessly lost.… Unless the passage is given up as corrupt, it seems more in accordance with reason to admit that there was some allusion present to the poet’s mind, the key to which is now lost; and this ought not to surprise any scholar who reflects how many allusions there are in Greek poets—in Pindar, for example, and in Aristophanes—which would be wholly unintelligible to us now were it not for the notes of Greek scholiasts. To these notes there is nothing exactly analogous in Hebrew literature; and in the absence of some such assistance, it is unavoidable that there should be several passages, in the Old Testament respecting the meaning of which we must be content to remain ignorant” We are quite unable to grapple successfully with this difficulty. For the various renderings and interpretations of Psa 68:13-14, let the reader see the Commentaries of Barnes and Moll. We suggest that this strophe may be used to illustrate the triumph of the Church over her enemies. I. In its source. “The Lord gave the word.” The word is not simply the announcement of the victory, but the word of authority and power. 1. He gives the word of command. The war against evil is Divinely authorised. God Himself bids us do battle with ignorance and vice, with unbelief and superstition, with sin and suffering. The crusade against evil is a holy one. 2. He gives the word of promise. He has granted unto us the assurance of His constant presence and help in the warfare, and of ultimate victory. His word removes all doubt as to the issue of the conflict (See Psalms 2:8; Psalms 72; Isaiah 11:9; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 8:10-11.) The triumph of the Church is Divinely guaranteed. 3. He gives the word of power. “The Almighty scattered kings.” He inspires the heart of His soldiers with courage, and nerves their arm with power (Psalms 144:1-2). The Church will conquer evil through the might of her Saviour and Lord. “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” II. In its completeness. Graphically the poet represents this. He shows it— 1. In the utter rout of the foes. “Kings of armies did flee apace;” or, “The kings of the hosts fled, they fled.” There have been times in the history of the Christian Church when the powers of evil have fled in dismay before her faith and effort. These past victories are foreshadowings of grander triumphs yet to come. Darkness and evil are destined to flee before the light and love of God in His Church. 2. In the greatness of the spoil. “She that tarried at home divided the spoil.” M. Henry: “Not only the men, the soldiers that abode by the stuff, who were, by a statute of distributions, to share the prey (1 Samuel 30:24), but even the women that tarried at home had a share, which intimates the abundance of spoil that should be taken.” Hengstenberg: “The victory and the spoil, which the Lord imparted to His people, in the season of their childhood, was a type of a far more glorious victory and a more precious spoil. Arnd.: ‘Is it not a valuable spoil that so many thousands of men have been converted from heathenism, among whom have been so many glorious teachers and lights of the Church, such as Justin, Augustine, Ambrose, not to speak of the innumerable martyrs, who were all brought out of heathenism, and were put to death because of their attachment to the Christian faith.’ ” All the wealth of the world—its silver and gold, its power and beauty, its genius and eloquence—shall one day be laid at the feet of the Lord in joyful homage. 3. In the subsequent prosperity. “Though ye have lien among the pots, yet ye shall be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.” Hengstenberg: “When ye rest between the boundaries, ye are like the wings of doves covered with silver, and their feathers with the gleam of gold. When the Almighty scatters kings in it, it snows on Salmon.” He says, “The ωָׁ ?λַ ?α implies peaceful rest, as at Numbers 24:9.… The ωְׁ ?τַ ?ϊָּ ?ιִ ?ν signifies either sheepfolds or boundaries.… At all events the term denotes a state of peaceful rest. In this condition the Israelites, to whom the address is directed, are, taken figuratively, wings of the doves, &c., or they are like doves, whose wings glitter with silver and gold. The allusion is to the play of colours on the wings of the dove in sunshine. The real import is the peaceful and, at the same time, splendid condition enjoyed by Israel in the lap of peace.… The ‘snow’ is mentioned here because it has the colour of purest light (comp. Psalms 51:7; Isaiah 1:18; Mark 9:3; Matthew 17:2; Matthew 28:3; Revelation 1:14). Salmon is ‘a hill mentioned in Judges 9:48, which was covered over with great thick wood (even according to that passage), so that it might be called a dark forest, the black or dark mountain.’—Luther. There is no need for supplying any mark of comparison before Salmon: it is rather to be considered as used in a figurative sense for the land, just as snow is a figurative expression for the clear brightness of prosperity.” According to this exposition these obscure verses give us two ideas: (1) Rest. The triumph of the Church will be so complete that it will be followed by perfect and endless rest. (2) Prosperity. The age of warfare ended, the Church will enter upon the everlasting age of progress and beauty and glory. III. In its celebration. “Great was the company of those that published it.” Conant: “The women that publish the glad tidings are a mighty host. Hengstenberg: “Of the female messengers of victory there are a great host.” Amongst the Israelites when the army was ordered to war the women cheered the soldiers onward with their songs. And, when they returned victorious, with songs and dances they celebrated the victory. (See Exodus 15:20-21; 1 Samuel 18:6-7; et al.) And the triumph of the Church of Christ shall not fail of celebration. Those who have fought and suffered, those who have watched and prayed, a countless host of faithful souls, shall join in the exultant songs and festivities of the final triumph. Glimpses of this celebration we have in the Holy Word. But the celebration itself, in its extent and enthusiasm, in its rapture and splendour, shall far surpass our utmost expectation and imagination. And to Jesus—Leader, Saviour, and Sovereign—shall be ascribed “glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH(Psalms 68:15-18.) We regard these verses as illustrating the glory of the Church of God. I. It consists in its being the dwelling-place of God. Zion is here spoken of as “the hill which God desireth to dwell in.” The Most High dwells in the Church as He does not in the world (Matthew 18:20; John 14:22-23). In the Church He reveals His will, puts forth His saving power, manifests the glory of His grace, &c. (see notes on Psalms 48:1-3). 1. He dwells there of His own sovereign choice. He “has chosen to dwell” in Zion. “The Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.” Moll: “Sinai and Zion are mountains of God, as Israel is the people of God, not on account of natural advantages, but the Divine election of grace.” God dwells in His Church because of His own gracious and sovereign choice. 2. He dwells there permanently. “Yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever.” The ark and the temple have long since passed from Zion; but in the Christian Church, the spiritual Zion, God still dwells, and will do so for ever. In this promise we have a guarantee of the permanence of the Church. “It is impossible,” says Renschel, “that the Christian Church should perish; for God is not only a guest in it, but He dwells therein for ever as the host.” Not in wealthy endowments, or worldly power, or imposing edifices, or gorgeous ritual, or eloquent ministers, does the glory of the Church consist; but in the gracious presence of God in her midst. II. It transcends the utmost glory of the world. “The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan, an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever.” Bashan “extended from the ‘border of Gilead’ on the south to Mount Hermon on the north (Deuteronomy 3:3; Deuteronomy 3:10; Deuteronomy 3:14; Joshua 12:5; 1 Chronicles 5:23), and from the Arabah or Jordan valley on the west to Salchah (Sulkhad) and the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites on the east (Joshua 12:3-5; Deuteronomy 3:10). This important district was bestowed on the half tribe of Manasseh (Joshua 13:29-31) together with ‘half Gilead.’ ” It was famous for the oaks of its forests (Ezekiel 27:6), the wild cattle of its pastures (Psalms 22:12), and the fertility and beauty of its high downs and wide sweeping plains (Jeremiah 1:19; Amos 4:1; Micah 7:14). “The hill of Bashan is the high snow-summit of Anti-Lebanon or Hermon, the extreme limit of Bashan, yet really belonging to it.” The mountain of Hermon rises to a height of fully 10,000 feet. For conspicuousness and elevation Mount Zion cannot be compared with it. Hermon, the mountain of Bashan, is used here as an emblem of the powerful kingdoms of this world. The hills of Bashan were inhabited for the most part by heathen peoples who were hostile to Israel, as is implied in the inquiry, “Why leap ye, ye high hills?” Conant: “Why watch ye jealously, ye mountain peaks?” Moll: “Why do ye look with envy, ye many-peaked mountains?” “The reference is to lurking, and so crafty and hostile, or envious and jealous looking over at them.” The mighty powers of the neighbouring heathen world looked with contempt and lurking hostility upon Israel. And the poet challenges them for the reason of this, and boldly claims for Zion superior dignity and glory than anything of which they could boast, inasmuch as it was selected as the dwelling-place of God. The greatest temporal advantages are poor when compared with spiritual privileges such as those which Israel enjoyed on Zion. Because it is the dwelling-place of the Most High the humble hill of Zion is exalted far above all the mighty and majestic mountains of earth. “It is much more honourable to be holy to God than to be high and great in the world.” By reason of its spiritual privileges the Church of God outshines the most glorious kingdoms of the world. III. It is seen in its security. “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands of angels: the Lord is among them.” In the Hebrew there is no mention of angels. Hengstenberg translates: “The chariots of God are two myriads, many thousands, the Lord is among them.” And Conant: “The chariots of God are myriadfold, thousands upon thousands.” Notice— 1. The poetic representation of the security of the Church. War chariots were much used for attack and defence by the most powerful nations. “The main strength of the hostile armies, particularly the Syrian, in the war which had just been brought to a termination (comp. 2 Samuel 8:4; 2 Samuel 10:18), lay in war chariots.” So Mount Zion is represented as surrounded by a countless host of these chariots. So Elisha, when the king of Syria had “sent horses and chariots and a great host” for to take him, was protected; for “the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about” him. What are the powers of worldly kingdoms to the powers which do the Divine bidding? “Thousand thousands minister unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before Him.” The agents which He employs to guard His Church are countless in number and invincible in power. 2. The secret of the security of the Church. “The Lord is among them.” His presence in their midst makes the defending host fearless and triumphant. The security of the Church is not in its members, or wealth, or organisation, or hosts of angelic defenders; but in the Lord Himself. “Yea, the Lord will dwell in it for ever.… The Lord is among them,” is a guarantee of the complete safety of His Church against all the hostile designs and doings of evil powers. “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.” IV. It is seen in its sanctity. “As in Sinai, in the holy place.” Or, leaving out the words supplied by the translators: “Sinai, in the holy.” Hengstenberg: “Sinai is in the sanctuary.” Moll: “ ‘A Sinai in sanctity.’ Zion affords a sight as Sinai afforded it when God in His appearance surrounded it with holiness.” On Zion as on Sinai God reveals the majesty of His glory; and His presence consecrates and hallows it. The glory of the Church is manifested when she realises the presence of the Lord in her midst, and reflects His glory in the character and conduct of her members. When Christians shine in the beauty of holiness, the glory of the Church will be seen by all. V. It has been strikingly illustrated. “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.” Barnes: “The idea is, that God had descended or come down from His dwelling-place in the case referred to in the psalm, and that having secured a victory by vanquishing His foes, and having given deliverance to His people, He had now returned, or reascended to his seat.” We have in the verse— 1. A great victory. This is clearly implied in the words, “Thou hast led captivity captive.” Primarily, this means that God had achieved a complete victory in the war, and had captured the captives of the enemies, and led them away in triumph. As applied to the Redeemer, it signifies that He triumphed over His enemies, and rescued those whom they had made captive, and bound them to Himself as trophies of His conquest. The Lord Jesus has vanquished the hosts of hell, rescued myriads from the bondage of sin and Satan, and bound them to Himself by the chains of loving loyalty. 2. Precious spoils. “Thou hast received gifts for men,” &c. Expositors differ in the interpretation of this clause, and that chiefly with reference to αָּ ?ΰָ ?γָ ?ν, which the A. V. renders: “for men.” Margin: “in the man.” Moll: “of men.” Alford, Barnes, Conant, Hengstenberg, Olshausen, et al: “among men.” “Thou hast received gifts among men, yea, among the rebellious.” The Most High is represented by the Psalmist as having taken precious spoils from the enemy, and returning home to distribute them amongst his victorious hosts and people. Even the most refractory were compelled to pay tribute to this all-conquering Foe. The Lord Jesus Christ having vanquished sin, Satan, and death, bestows the richest gifts upon all who submit themselves to Him. 3. A glorious ascension. “Thou hast ascended on high.” Hengstenberg: “The ascending of God presupposes His descending (comp. Ephesians 4:9). It denotes His ascent to heaven, after He had made Himself known on earth in deeds of omnipotence and love, that He may there manage the affairs of His people (comp. at Psalms 47:5).” This ascension was symbolised by the entrance of the Ark into Zion. So our Lord, when He had completed His work on earth, ascended to “the right hand of the Majesty on high,” to conduct the cause of His people there. 4. The grand object. “That the Lord God might dwell among them.” Or, “That Jah God might dwell.” The grand end of the victory of God on behalf of His people was that He might dwell amongst them as their heavenly King. And the grand end of the redemptive work and warfare of the Lord Jesus is that He might dwell amongst men as the gracious Sovereign of their being. .— 1. Let the Church learn in what its true glory consists. 2. Let it estimate truly the mean and transient glory of the world. 3. Let it trust in God and triumph in its security. 4. Let it seek to realise His presence more fully, and spread His triumphs more widely. THE OF CHRIST(Psalms 68:18.) This passage is applied by the Apostle Paul to the Lord Jesus Christ; we may therefore use it in the way of illustration of some things connected with the exaltation of our Redeemer. Let us notice— I. The fact of His ascension. 1. He ascended in human nature. He assumed that nature as our representative, and as our representative He has entered into heavenly places. He took our nature in its state of degradation, but He has exalted it, and by His exaltation He has given us the pledge of raising our nature from its state of degradation. 2. He ascended to heaven. The place of glory—of God, the Father of glory—of angels—and of the spirits of just men made perfect. 3. The circumstances of His ascension. He ascended visibly; while He was in the act of blessing; having led out His disciples as far as Bethany, He lifted up His hands to bestow the parting benediction, and then with uplifted hands, and the word of blessing yet on His lips, He was parted from them. He ascended in glory; a procession of “twenty thousand chariots, even thousands of angels,” accompanied Him in His upward course, and as they drew near to the heavenly city, the anthem, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates,” burst forth from the attendant multitude, and amidst the rejoicing of the glorious throng He entered and sat down in the glory of His Father. II. The triumphs with which it was attended. “He led captivity captive,” that is, He led a multitude of captives captive, who had formerly been remarkable for leading others captive. This supposes— 1. Our Lord’s conflict with His foes. To conquer them He must first encounter them. Satan, sin, and death, were the foes He had thus to encounter. 2. His conquest of them. He engaged in the deadly conflict, and did not yield till, “It is finished,” showed how it had terminated. That was the shout of triumph of Him who having trod the winepress alone, had stained all His raiment with the blood of His enemies. 3. His triumph over them. “Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly;” proclaiming, as He passed from the land of His enemies, His conquest and victory. “I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” III. The inestimable benefits supplied by it. Let us look at them— 1. In their nature. Soon after His ascension Christ bestowed various gifts on the world. The gift of His Spirit—to enlighten, to strengthen, to seal, and perfect. 2. In their objects. “For the rebellious.” For the human race, rebellious in mind, in profession, in life—for those who might justly have expected the thunders of heaven’s wrath to burst upon them. 3. In their design. “That the Lord God might dwell among them.” The Lord dwells among men by mercy, by His manifold grace, in His eternal glory.—H. in Sketches of Sermons. GOD OUR (Psalms 68:19-20.) The Psalmist here celebrates the praise of God, on the ground that He is the salvation of His people. He is our salvation— I. In relation to life’s burdens. 1. Man is burdened. This fact is recognised in the nineteenth verse Omitting the words which have been supplied by the translators, it reads, “Blessed be the Lord, daily loadeth us, the God of our salvation.” Moll translates: Blessed be the Lord day by day! Are we burdened—He, God, is our Help.” And Hengstenberg: “Praised be the Lord every day, they lay burdens on us, the Lord is our salvation.” We are burdened with temporal anxieties, with family solicitudes, with spiritual trials and sorrows, and with the mysteries and responsibilities of life. 2. God strengthens man to bear his burdens. He is “the God of our salvation.” “He, God, is our help.” He helps us by His sympathy. He is burdened in feeling with us. “In all their affliction He was afflicted,” &c. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” He helps us by instruction as to the meaning and design of our burdens. He helps us by inspiration. He inspires the soul with patience—increases its faith—imparts to it more grace, so that the burden shall not prove distressing. II. In relation to life’s perils. “Our God is the God of salvation.” Hengstenberg: “God is to us a God of deliverances.” The reference is to deliverance from great dangers and troubles. 1. The life of every man is characterised more or less by perils. There are visible and known dangers, and dangers invisible and unknown to us; dangers to our physical and temporal interests, and to our spiritual and eternal interests. 2. God delivers His people from these perils. He does this (1.) By removing the dangers, or rescuing His people from them; e.g., Peter from prison (Acts 12:2-20). Or, (2.) by keeping them safely in the midst of the dangers; e.g., Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in the lions’ den, the three Hebrew youths in the furnace of fire. Or, (3.) by giving them the victory over the dangers; e.g., Stephen (Acts 7:59-60; and Paul (2 Timothy 4:6-8). III. In relation to death. “Unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.” Conant: “And to Jehovah the Lord belong ways of escape from death.” “The reference here,” says Moll, “is to ways of deliverance by which we may go forth free with respect to death, or at the expense of death.” But how does He thus deliver from death? 1. By rescuing from imminent death. When death is threatening and drawing near He can arrest him in his progress, or turn aside his stroke. 2. By delivering from the fear of death. A great end of His incarnation was “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” 3. By giving complete victory over death. For all who believe in Him, He takes away the sting from death; makes death to them the messenger and minister of life and blessedness; and will complete His glorious triumph by the resurrection of the body. He has “the keys of death and of Hades.” “O death, where is thy sting?” &c. .—“Blessed be the Lord day by day.” The God of so great salvation should receive the heartiest praise. Such great deliverances bestowed upon us call for great gratitude from us. Such constant deliverances should call forth constant praise—“day by day.” The highest praise which we can offer for past and present mercies is to reverently trust Him for salvation in the future. A AND DESTINY(Psalms 68:21-23.) The connection of this strophe with the preceding is thus stated by Calvin: “Because the Church, attacked on all sides by strong and raging enemies, can obtain nothing otherwise except by a strong and powerful defence, the Psalmist brings in God armed with terrible power, for the destruction of all the ungodly. It is to be observed that all who annoy the pious are called enemies of God, so that we need not doubt that He will interpose for our defence.” We have in the text— I. A terrible character. “God shall wound the head of His enemies,” &c. Here is— 1. Great enormity of wickedness. “His enemies.” How fearful are the depravity and guilt involved in being an enemy of God! It is to be an enemy of a Being of perfect holiness, of infinite kindness; to be an enemy of our best Friend; to trample under foot the most tender and sacred and binding obligations. He who persecutes the people of God is held by Him as an enemy to Himself. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?” 2. Great persistence in wickedness. “One as goeth on still in his trespasses.” Hengstenberg: “Him that walks on in his iniquities.” If a sinner turn in penitence unto God, he will meet with a gracious reception. God will pardon his transgressions, &c. But here awful perseverance in iniquity, dread progress in sin, are indicated. Such persistence in evil must lead to an appalling doom. II. A terrible destiny. God will bring fearful destruction upon those of His enemies who walk on in their iniquities. 1. This destruction is complete. “God shall wound the head of His enemies.” Barnes: “The idea is that of complete destruction—as, if the head is crushed, life becomes extinct.” (See Genesis 3:15; comp. Psalms 110:6.) This Idea of utter and dread destruction is expressed in the 23d verse also, by the figure of a fearful slaughter. Persistent wickedness must issue in overwhelming ruin. 2. This destruction is unavoidable. (1.) No one shall escape from it by might. “God shall wound the hairy scalp,” &c. “The hairy scalp,” says Moll, “is best understood of a head with luxuriant growth of hair, the sign of the bloom of youth and power.” If man persists in wickedness, his utmost might shall be as utter weakness when God ariseth in judgment. “Who may stand in Thy sight when once Thou art angry?” (2.) No one can escape from it by flight. “The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring again from the depths of the sea.” Improperly, as it seems to us, the translators of the A. V. have supplied “my people” in this verse. The reference is not to Israel, but to the enemies of Israel. The idea is that none of them shall escape; that they shall find no refuge from the judgment of God. If they have hidden themselves in the mountain forests of Bashan, God will bring them forth and destroy them. Even if they could take refuge in the abysses of the sea, God would bring them out from thence. The same idea is expressed at greater length by Amos the prophet: “He that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down,” &c. (Psalms 9:1-3). If the wicked will not repent, but will persist in wickedness, there is no possibility of escape from the retributions of the Divine judgment. With dread certainty penalty follows transgression; punishment succeeds sin; irresistible wrath shall seize and crush the incorrigible workers of iniquity. 3. This destruction is solemnly declared. “The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan,” &c. “God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” The statements of Scripture concerning the punishment of the wicked are not rashly uttered threats, but the calm declarations of the holy and unchangeable God. Let the wicked take warning, and turn from his evil way. Let him seek for mercy through Jesus Christ. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” A (Psalms 68:24-35.) In setting forth this celebration of the triumph of God and His people, and the results arising therefrom, the words of the Psalmist reach beyond the historical occasion which gave rise to them; and to us they seem to throb with the great hope of the conversion of all the heathen world to the God of Israel. There is a clear prophetic ring in some of the declarations of the poet. They unfold to us a glorious prospect. Here is the picture of a time— I. When the Divine triumphs will be extensively witnessed. “They have seen Thy goings, O God,” &c. Moll: “They have seen Thy processions, O God, the processions of my God, of my King in holiness.” The reference is to the triumphal procession in celebration of victory. Men shall see the triumphs of the Divine arm; and shall observe in them two things. 1. That they are holy. They have all been achieved “in holiness.” We adopt the same translation of αַ ?χֹ ?γָ ?ωׁ as we did in Psalms 68:17. As the ages pass it will become increasingly manifest that all the doings of God, the achievements of His providential government of the world, and the victories of His grace in human souls, are wrought in righteousness and truth and love. His triumphs are those of truth over error, of light over darkness, of justice over oppression, of generosity over selfishness. 2. That they are the triumphs of the God of the Church. “The processions of my God, of my King.” On the occasion for which the psalm was first composed, it would be seen that the God of Israel possessed Divine power and used it on behalf of His people, that Jehovah was God. And as the victories of the Christ are multiplied, it will become more and more clearly apparent that they are the triumphs of the God of the Church. He who is conquering the world in truth and righteousness and love is the God and King of the Christian Church. The humblest believer may look up to Him, saying, “My God, my King.” In a different form we have a similar idea in Psalms 68:29 : “Because of Thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto Thee.” Men will mark His glorious appearances as the God of Israel, and will bow in homage to Him. The day is coming when the triumphs of the King of grace and God of the Church shall be more widely and clearly seen and more carefully observed than ever hitherto. II. When the Divine triumphs will be joyously celebrated by His people (Psalms 68:25-27.) This celebration will be— 1. Exultant. “The singers went before, the players on instruments after, in the midst were the damsels playing with timbrels.” Men and maidens, with voices and instruments of music, and souls and bodies, shall unite to express the enthusiasm of joy. When the predicted triumphs of the kingdom of the Christ are accomplished the rejoicing of men and of angels will be rapturous. 2. Comprehensive. “Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, ye of the fountain of Israel,” is an exhortation to all the descendants of Israel to unite in celebrating the praise of God. And in the following verse certain tribes and peoples are specially mentioned. “There is little Benjamin,” &c. But why are these tribes selected from the others for special mention? Geographical considerations probably had something to do with the selection; for Benjamin and Judah were in the south, and Zebulon and Naphtali in the north. But a more important consideration is, that these tribes had distinguished themselves in warfare and otherwise. “The first judges belonged to the tribes mentioned, Othniel to Judah, Ehud to Benjamin:” the first kings also, for Saul was from Benjamin, and David from Judah. And the bravery of Zebulon and Naphtali was celebrated in the song of Deborah and Barak (Judges 5:18). Benjamin is spoken of as “little” because it was among “the smallest of the tribes of Israel” (1 Samuel 9:21). Benjamin is also spoken of as “their ruler,” or “conqueror;” i.e., we think, the conqueror of the enemies mentioned previously, with reference to the victories achieved by the Benjamites under Saul (1 Samuel 14:47-48). The Psalmist further speaks of “the princes of Judah and their council” as present in the festal procession. Instead of “their council” the margin has, “their company.” “The word is ψִ ?βְ ?ξָ ?δ (with suffix ψִ ?πְ ?ξָ ?ϊָ ?ν, from ψָ ?βַ ?ν = to heap together, to collect, as stones), which signifies here a throng or multitude. It is suitably applied to the tribe of Judah as one of the most numerous of the tribes of Israel. So we have here the idea of an immense and comprehensive assembly at this exultant celebration. Princes and people, high and low, persons of all grades and classes, from all the tribes of Israel, join in this triumphant procession. An illustration this of the countless and comprehensive multitude which shall unite to celebrate the approaching triumph of Christ our King. Persons “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” and stations, and ages, shall unite in celebrating His conquests and glories. 3. Religious. The spirit manifested by the Psalmist is not proud, self-sufficient, or vain-glorious; but humble, grateful, and trustful (1.) Past successes are attributed to God. “Thy God hath commanded thy strength.” The words are addressed to Israel, so that the people may trace their triumphs to their true source.” The God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people.” (2.) Future progress is besought from God. “Strengthen, O God, that which Thou hast wrought for us.” The people of God are incapable of accomplishing success in spiritual labour, or triumph in spiritual conflict of themselves. Apart from their Lord the Christ, they can do nothing. And when the great triumph to which the Church looks forward is achieved, all the wisdom, and power, and honour, and glory of that triumph shall be ascribed unto Him. III. When heathen nations shall submit themselves unto God (Psalms 68:29-31). Two or three expressions here require explanation. “Rebuke the company of spearmen.” Margin: “Rebuke the beasts of the reeds.” Conant, Hengstenberg, et al.: “Rebuke the beast of the reeds.” Most likely the hippopotamus is here referred to, as the symbol of Egypt, whose emblem is the reed (Job 40:21; Isaiah 36:6). “The multitude of the bulls,” or, “the herd of the strong ones,” is a figure used to represent powerful kings or princes. By “the calves of the people” we understand the subjects of these powerful princes. Universal submission shall be made to God. All peoples shall come, bringing tribute unto Him. Egypt and Ethiopia are mentioned not as the only nations that submit unto Him, but as representatives of the great heathen world. All classes shall give in their loyal allegiance unto Him—kings and their subjects, princes and peasants, nobles and plebeians. And when all are subject unto Him, the lovers and instigators of war shall be utterly dispersed. “He scattereth the people that delight in war.” Under the reign of “the Prince of Peace” war shall be completely and for ever abolished. “He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,” &c. (Isaiah 2:4). This the Psalmist foresaw and prophetically announced. There were times when heathen peoples brought presents to the kings of the chosen people in acknowledgment of the power and glory of God (2 Chronicles 32:23). Many nations of the world have now given their allegiance to the one living and true God. His kingdom is ever growing in extent and power. And ultimately the widest and brightest visions of inspired Psalmists and Prophets shall be fully and splendidly realized. IV. When God shall be universally praised. In Psalms 68:32-35, the Psalmist summons all the kingdoms of the earth to sing praises unto God, on the grounds of— 1. His sovereignty. “To Him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens of old.” His sovereignty is universal. He rideth in the highest heavens, supreme over all the kingdoms of the world. “Jehovah hath established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all.” His sovereignty is ancient. “Of old.” “God is my King of old.” Therefore, let all men praise Him. 2. His omnipotence. “Lo, Hedoth send out His voice, a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God; His excellency is over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds.” Delitzsch: “Give back to Him in acknowledgment and praise the omnipotence which He has and proves. His glory rules over Israel as its defence and confidence. His power, however, embraces all created things, not only the earth, but also the highest region of the heaven. The kingdom of grace reveals the majesty and glory of His redemptive work (Ephesians 1:6), the kingdom of nature His all-prevalent omnipotence.” 3. His majesty. “His excellency is over Israel.… O God, Thou art terrible out of Thy holy places.” His majesty and glory are over His people for their guidance and protection. And His manifestations of His holiness and power are fitted to inspire all men with awe. “Wheresoever God showeth His presence, whether in heaven, or in His Church, in any place of the earth, there and from thence He showeth Himself a dreadful God to such as fear Him not.” Therefore, let all the kingdoms of the earth sing praises unto Him. .— 1. This subject reminds us of our duty. It is the duty and the interest of rebels against God to submit themselves to Him. It is the duty and privilege of the people of God to spread abroad His kingdom and glory wherever they Song of Solomon 2. This subject affords us encouragement. How glorious is the prospect! and how certain of realisation! God’s Word, and wisdom, and power, all guarantee it “Blessed be God!” Superscription.—“To the chief musician upon Shoshannim, a Psalm of David.”“To the chief musician.” See the introduction to Psalms 57. “Upon Shoshannim. See the introduction to Psalms 45. “A Psalm of David.” The Davidic authorship of this Psalm is strongly supported by its close resemblance to other Psalms which are ascribed to David. Both in thought and language it is nearly related to Psalms 6, 22, 31, 35, 38, 40, 109. Ewald: “Our Psalm manifests such a strong similarity, not in the least proceeding from imitation, to Psalms 35, 38, , 40, that it must have been composed by the same author.” And Hitzig: “The author of the 40th Psalm, whoever he was, must be identically the same with the author of the 69th.” And again: “The similarity between Psalms 69:32 and Psalms 22:26, can only be explained by the assumption, that they have been the product of the same mind.”We are unable to determine on what occasion in the life of David the Psalm was composed. Probably it belongs to the time of the rebellion of Absalom. With the exception of the 22d, there is no Psalm which is so frequently quoted and applied to Jesus Christ in the New Testament as this one. But the quotations are not of such a character as to require us to adopt a direct Messianic interpretation. They are, as Barnes points out, “of so general a character that they do not seem to have been designed to refer exclusively to the Messiah, or even to have had any original reference to Him. The language is such that it would accurately describe the events to which it is applied; and the fact that the language is quoted in this manner in the New Testament history does not prove that the Psalm had any original reference to the Messiah.” A most formidable ojection against the direct Messianic exposition is found in the confession of folly and guilt in Psalms 69:5. Hengstenberg interprets the Psalm as referring not to any individual sufferer, but to the ideal person of the suffering righteous man.Homiletically we view the psalm as presenting to us, The cry of the righteous in extreme suffering, Psalms 69:1-21; The imperfection of the righteous in extreme suffering, Psalms 69:22-28; and The hope of the righteous in extreme suffering, Psalms 69:29-36.THE CRY OF THE IN EXTREME (Psalms 69:1-21.) The burden of this cry is twofold. We have— I. A cry of suffering. In this wail of the Psalmist we discover— 1. The nature of his sufferings. He represents them as arising from (1) The persecution of his enemies. “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.” We see here (α) Their multitude. “They are more than the hairs of mine head.” His foes were an innumerable host. Countless are the enemies of the good. (β) Their malice. “They hate me; they would destroy me.” They hated him so fiercely that they sought his utter destruction. “The devil was a murderer from the beginning.” (γ) Their might. “Mine enemies are mighty.” The foes of David were great in authority and power. The righteous have to contend “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (δ) Their injustice. They hated him “without a cause;” they were his “enemies wrongfully.” The Psalmist had done nothing to provoke them to anger. They compelled him to give up his own possessions as though he had no right to them, or had gotten them by fraud or violence. Malice is always unjust. It is better to suffer the worst from unjust enemies than by wrong-doing to give to any one reason to be to us an enemy. Such were the enemies who persecuted the Psalmist. And the form of persecution of which he complains most is slander. “I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.… I became a proverb” (byword) “to them. They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.… Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour.… Reproach hath broken my heart.” David suffered much from the wicked aspersions and calumnies of his enemies. (See “The Hom. Com.” on Psalms 41:5-9; Psalms 42:2; Psalms 42:10, &c) To an honourable man nothing is more bitter and painful than reproach and slander. At this time the Psalmist was smarting severely beneath it. It seemed to assail him in every form and from every quarter. The men of business and the magistrates, who assembled in the gates, spake evil of him. And the drunkard in his degrading revels sang in derision of him. Reproach, shame, dishonour covered and crushed him. And still the good are exposed to the assaults of the slanderer. “Virtue itself ’scapes not calumnious strokes.” “Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow,Thou shalt not escape calumny.”—Shakespeare.And still slander assumes many forms, and has many methods; and of these the most subtle are the most perilous. “The hint malevolent, the look oblique,The obvious satire, or implied dislike,The sneer equivocal, the harsh reply,And all the cruel language of the eye;The artful injury, whose venomed dartScarce wounds the hearing, while it stabs the heart;The guarded phrase whose meaning kills, yet told,The list’ner wonders how you thought it cold.”—Hannah More.Such are some of the forms and methods of slander. But the sufferings of the Psalmist arose also from (2) The desertion of his nearest relatives. “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.” The expression, “my mother’s children,” denotes the most intimate relationship. Barnes: “In families where a man had many wives, as was common among the Hebrews, the nearest relationship would be denoted by being of the same mother rather than of the same father. The idea of the Psalmist here, therefore, is, that his nearest relatives treated him as if he were a stranger and a foreigner.” (Com. Job 19:13-19.) It is probable that in the time of Saul David passed through this painful experience. (Comp. 1 Samuel 17:28; Psalms 27:10; and Psalms 38:11.) And still a man may be forsaken by the nearest relatives and friends because he follows truth and righteousness; or he may have to forsake them that he might cleave to Christ. (See Matthew 10:34-39.) The Psalmist was suffering also because of (3) The failure of human sympathy. “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” Hengstenberg: “I wait for sympathy, and there is none.” “The word sympathy,” says Perowne, “has nowhere been employed by our translators, but it exactly conveys the force of the Hebrew word, inasmuch as it is used of sympathy in joy as well as in sorrow.” (See Job 42:11; Jeremiah 15:5; Jeremiah 16:5; Jeremiah 48:17.) No heart was moved with compassion for the suffering poet. He felt himself to be utterly forsaken by mankind. Terrible was his sense of desolation. Worse even than this did men treat him. When he was hungry and thirsty they mocked him by giving him for food a bitter and poisonous herb, and for drink vinegar. By this figure the Psalmist expresses the addition and intensification of his already severe sufferings. The inhumanity of men towards him aggravates his misery. The words of Psa 69:20-21 might have been used by “the Messiah upon the cross, who bore the shame of an ignominious death, the reproaches of violating the law, and the slanders of wicked enemies, who died broken-hearted, with no one to pity, alone in His shame and woe,” and to whom upon the cross was given sour wine with an infusion of myrrh, and afterwards vinegar, when He had cried, “I thirst.” Let no one place much dependence upon human sympathy or support, or bitter will be his disappointment. But “there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” “I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Let us trust Him always and fully. 2. The severity of his sufferings. This is seen in at least four things— (1) The various figures by which they are expressed. “The waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.” (For remarks on the figures here employed see “The Hom. Com.” on Psalms 40:2; and Psalms 42:7.) In this psalm the Poet represents the waters as “having come even to his soul,” thereby placing his very life in imminent peril. Trouble was not only without him, but within him. His soul was suffering. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” The Psalmist also speaks of himself as heart-broken. “Reproach hath broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness.” Barnes: “Distress may become so great that life may sink under it, for many die of what is called ‘a broken heart.’ Undeserved reproaches will be as likely to produce this result on a sensitive heart as any form of suffering; and there are thousands who are crushed to the earth by such reproaches.” (2) The extremity of his peril. The waters having come even to his soul, his rapid sinking in the mire of the depth, the floods which are overwhelming him, and his broken heart, all indicate the extremity of peril and need. If God do not speedily interpose for him, his sufferings will utterly crush him. If the Divine help come not quickly, it will come too late. (3) The long-continued duration of his sufferings. “I am weary of my crying; my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.” He had called upon God so long and earnestly that his strength was exhausted and his throat was parched. He had waited and watched for God so long that his eyes were worn out and dim. Hengstenberg: “The eyes fail: lose their power of vision, when a person keeps them long on the stretch, fixed upon a distant object, in hope of its coming nearer, till the outlines become better defined.” M. Henry: “His throat is dried, but his heart is not; his eyes fail, but his faith does not.” (4) The connection of his sufferings with his religion. “Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach,” &c., Psalms 69:7-12. He was reproached for his fidelity to truth and to God. His interest in the cause of God was deep and ardent. “The seal of Thine house hath eaten me up.” The house of God is not the mere temple; but “the temple, as the centre of the whole Israelitish religion.” “The true and godly zeal,” says Bishop Jewell, “eateth and devoureth up the heart, even as the thing that is eaten is turned into the substance of him that eateth it; and as iron, while it is burning hot, is turned into the nature of the fire, so great and so just is the grief that they which have this zeal conceive when they see God’s house spoiled, or His holy name dishonoured.” Such was David’s zeal for the cause and kingdom of God; and because of it he was ridiculed by the drunkards, reviled by his enemies, and forsaken by his nearest friends and relatives. When he penitently mourned with fasting and sackcloth on account of sin, he was assailed with more bitter reproaches and scorn and satire. All this greatly aggravated his sufferings. Moll: “It is better to suffer for God’s cause than to be punished for sins, but it is not easier.” Such were the sufferings that called forth this sharp and bitter cry from David. Let not the good man think it strange if he is called to experience severe suffering because of his attachment to Christ and His cause. In such sufferings we join the highest fellowship, and receive the most tender and strong support (See 1 Peter 4:12-16.) II. A cry of supplication. In the prayer of the Psalmist we have— 1. A confession. “O God, Thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from Thee.” Moll: “How is it consistent that one should be persecuted as innocent and yet punished as a sinner?” Hengstenberg: “The words are to be taken in their obvious sense, as an acknowledgment of guilt on the part of the Psalmist, which, according to the just judgment of God, had brought upon him the unjust persecution of his enemies.” Barnes: “Though conscious of innocence in this case—though he felt that his enemies hated him without cause, yet he was not insensible to the fact that he was a sinner, and he was not unwilling to confess before God, that, however conscious of uprightness he might be in his dealings towards men, yet towards God he was a sinful man. From Him he deserved all that had come upon him.… Trial never comes to us from any quarter except as founded on the fact that we are sinners; and even where there is entire innocence towards our fellow-men, God may make use of their passions to rebuke and discipline us for our sins towards Himself.” 2. Petitions. Of these there are several, but the great object of them all is expressed in the first line of the Psalm—“Save me, O God.” He supplicates— (1.) Complete deliverance. “Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.” Thus he seeks deliverance from all the perils and miseries of which he had previously complained. (2.) Speedy deliverance. “Hear me speedily.” Margin: “Make haste to hear me.” Conant: “Make haste to answer me.” The peril of his situation was extreme. His need of salvation was urgent. If the Divine interposition were delayed, he felt that he should perish. There are times when such urgency of entreaty is not only admissible, but natural and commendable. (3.) Representative deliverance. “Let none that wait on Thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake; let not those that seek Thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.” Hengstenberg: “Comp. on Psalms 25:3, ‘Those who wait on Thee shall not be ashamed, those shall be put to shame who act perfidiously without a cause.’ This position would be annihilated were the sufferer to be destroyed. For in him as their representative, or in his case, through his fate, all who wait on God would at the same time be put to shame.” Moll: “He may hope in God’s favour and help the more confidently as many of the pious look upon him and his fate as typical and instructive.… All the pious are interested in what concerns one of them.” If he were left to perish the faith of the godly would receive a terrible shock; but if he were delivered it would be confirmed and invigorated. 3. Encouragements. The Psalmist encourages himself in his prayer by several inspiring considerations. (1.) The knowledge of God. “Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour; mine adversaries are all before Thee.” (a.) He knew the Psalmist—his distress, helplessness, extremity, need. Blessed be His name, suffering and persecution can never drive us beyond the region of His perfect knowledge. (b.) He knew the adversaries of the Psalmist—their multitude, might, malice, machinations. In circumstances like those of the Psalmist reflection on the omniscience of God is most comforting and faith-inspiring to the godly. (2.) The power of God. “Lord God of hosts.” The title indicates His omnipotence. He is the sovereign of countless and invincible armies. “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (3.) The fidelity of God in His relation to His people. “O God of Israel.” He has engaged in solemn covenant to succour and save His own people. So David pleads, “Hear me in the truth of Thy salvation.” The promises of salvation which He has made to those who wait upon Him are charged with encouragement to His people in time of trial. (4.) The mercy of God. His kindness is abundantly calculated to quicken and strengthen confidence in Him. The Psalmist makes mention of (a.) Its excellence. “Thy loving-kindness is good.” Perowne: “ ‘Good,’ i.e., either sweet, comforting, as in Psalms 63:3, or gracious, χρηστός (comp. Psalms 119:21).” His kindnesses are loving kindnesses; His mercies are tender mercies. “How excellent is Thy loving-kindness, O God!” (b.) Its abundance. Twice the poet pleads “the multitude of God’s mercies. His mercy is rich and plenteous and free. M. Henry: “There is mercy in God, a multitude of mercies, all kinds of mercy, inexhaustible mercy, mercy enough for all, enough for each; and hence we must take our encouragement in praying.” Moll: “He who relies in prayer upon the mercy and truth of God, has the surest foundation for his salvation, and the best pledges of the hearing of his prayer.” THE OBJECT, SEASON, AND HOPE OF PRAYER(Psalms 69:13.) The godly man is not turned aside from his prayers because of the reproaches and scoffs of men. Men reviled and ridiculed David because of his religious exercises; but be was not driven from them. “But as for me,” he says, “my prayer is unto Thee, O Lord,” &c. “Though we may be jeered for well-doing, we must never be jeered out of it.” By reason of the scoffings of his enemies, the Psalmist is impelled to seek help in prayer the more persistently and earnestly. As persecution and trials increase, the frequency and fervour of our prayers should also increase. Our text brings before us, I. The one true object of prayer. “My prayer is unto Thee, O Lord.” It is essential that the true object of the prayers of men should be— 1. Infinite in intelligence. He must be able to hear the whispers and perceive the desires of all men everywhere. Such intelligence has the Lord God. (See Psalms 139:1-5; Ezekiel 11:5, et al.) He hears prayer. 2. Approachable. Not far removed from His creatures; but accessible to every one of them. Not repulsive, but attractive. Such is God as revealed in Jesus Christ. (See John 14:6; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12.) 3. Entreatable. Man needs not only to be heard, but to be answered also. God can and does answer prayer. Prayer has a real place and function in the Divine economy. “I have a sphere in which,” says Dr. Robert Vaughan, “I can use natural law so that good shall come out of it. By an act of my will, giving command to my muscular skill and force, I can wrest a dagger from the hand of an assassin, or can save a drowning man from his apparent doom. The things of this sort which I can do are numberless; and am I thus free to act in relation to these laws, and has the Almighty no freedom to act in His relation to them? Has He so constructed this great system that it has become His tomb, in which He sleeps the sleep of death, while man lays his living hand upon law everywhere, and makes it do his bidding? The instinct of man through all lands and all time is on the side of prayer, and that instinct cannot be a falsehood—it must embody a truth.” Prayer and answers to prayer are great facts in the experience of godly men. (See Psalms 34:17; Proverbs 15:29; Isaiah 65:24; Micah 7:7; Matthew 7:7-11; 1 John 5:14-15.) II. The season of prayer. “An acceptable time.” Conant: “A time of acceptance.” Moll: “A time of good pleasure.” Hengstenberg: “A time of grace.” He presented his prayer to God at a favourable season. 1. When we suffer wrongfully is such a season. The Psalmist felt this at this time. No time for prayer can be more acceptable to God, than when we are suffering persecution for righteousness’ sake. 2. When our need is great and greatly felt. M. Henry: “God will not drive us from Him, though it is need that drives us to Him; nay, it is the more acceptable, because the misery and distress of God’s people make them so much the more the objects of His pity: it is seasonable for Him to help them when all other helps fail, and they are undone, and feel that they are undone, if He do not help them.” 3. When our desire for spiritual blessings is intense. At such seasons God is very near to us to enrich us with the treasures of His grace. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.” 4. While the overtures of Divine grace are made to us. The time of acceptance is that in which God makes His grace known in the offer of His salvation. “Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee.” “To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” &c. “Behold, now is the accepted time,” &c. The time of acceptance may pass away, and be succeeded by the time of rejection. “Then they shall call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.” Therefore, “seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” III. The great encouragements in prayer. “O God, in the multitude of Thy mercy, hear me, in the truth of Thy salvation.” The Psalmist here pleads— 1. The abounding mercy of God. Our hope is in God’s mercy. (1.) Because we have no merit which we can plead in prayer. (2.) Because of the essential nature of mercy. Mercy is that in God which disposes Him to save the sinful and succour the suffering. “Mercy hath but its name from misery and is no other thing than to lay another’s misery to heart.” And (3.) Because of the fulness of the mercy of God. It is inexhaustible, infinite. He “is rich in mercy.” 2. The saving truth of God. “Hear me, in the truth of Thy salvation.” He has promised salvation to all who trust in Him. He is unchangeable. He will fulfil His promises. In our prayers to God let us hopefully plead His rich mercy and firm truth, and gracious answers shall be ours. THE OF THE IN EXTREME (Psalms 69:22-28.) Let us hear what others have to say concerning the terrible utterances of this section of the psalm. Professor Alexander says: “The imprecations in this verse (22), and those following it, are revolting only when considered as the expression of malignant selfishness. If uttered by God they shock no reader’s sensibilities, nor should they when considered as the language of an ideal person, representing the whole class of righteous sufferers, and particularly Him, who though He prayed for His murderers while dying (Luke 23:34), had before applied the words of this very passage to the unbelieving Jews (Matthew 23:38), as Paul did afterwards (Romans 11:9-10). The general doctrine of providential retribution, far from being confined to the Old Testament, is distinctly taught in many of our Saviour’s parables. (See Matthew 21:41; Matthew 22:7; Matthew 24:51).” And Professor Stuart; “Great difficulty is found in such passages by many minds, inasmuch as they seem to be so opposed to the tenor of those passages in the New Testament, which require us ‘to love our enemies, to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us.’ If indeed these passages in the Psalms are to be viewed as the mere utterance of private and personal wishes and feelings, it would be utterly impossible to reconcile them with the spirit of the gospel. But is this so? Is David, for example, when he utters such things, to be viewed as doing it merely in the way of giving utterance to his own private personal wishes? It seems to me not; but David, as king and magistrate, might wish the punishment of the seditious and rebellious; nay, it would be an imperious duty for him to punish them. Now, was it lawful for him to pray that the same thing might be done, which it was his duty to do? Could he not express desires of this nature without the spirit of revenge? Cannot we wish the robber and the assassin to be apprehended and punished, yea, with capital punishment, and this without being actuated by a spirit of vengeance and a thirst for blood? I trust such wishes are not only consistent with benevolence, but prompted by it. If so, then it may be true that David and other Psalmists had the like views and feelings. And if this may be so, is it not probable that it was so? is not the general character and spirit of their writings a pledge for this?” We do not regard these statements as satisfactory. They certainly fail to remove the difficulties which many reverent and earnest students of the Sacred Scriptures find in these dread imprecations. Much more helpful, in our opinion, is the statement of Canon Perowne quoted on pp. 163 and 164 of this work. Let us briefly consider— I. The imprecations urged. We say imprecations, not predictions; because, as Perowne points out, “the Hebrew optative, which is distinct enough from the simple future, absolutely forbids” our regarding them as predictions. 1. That the pleasures of life may become a curse to them. “Let their table become a snare to them; and that which should have been for their welfare, a trap.” Conant: “And to the secure for a trap.” Hengstenberg: “And their peace, their fall.” They had given to the Psalmist gall for his meat, and in his thirst vinegar for his drink; and he now prays that their season of refreshment, when they feel secure and look for pleasure, may be made a snare and a curse to them—” that the blessings of life may become fraught with death to” them. 2. That they may be deprived of understanding and strength. “Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.” Perowne: “The darkening of the eyes denotes weakness and perplexity, as the enlightening of the eyes (see Psalms 19:8) denotes renewed vigour and strength. Similarly the shaking of the loins is expressive of terror and dismay and feebleness (Nahum 2:10; Daniel 5:6). Or the first may mean the depriving of reason and understanding; the second, the taking away of all strength for action.” 3. That they and theirs should be rooted out of the land. “Let their habitation be desolate; let none dwell in their tents.” Let them and theirs perish from the earth. 4. That they may be confirmed in sin. “Add iniquity unto their iniquity; and let them not come into Thy righteousness.” Perowne: “Let it all stand against them in Thy book, one sin after another, as committed, not being blotted out, but only swelling the fearful reckoning.” (Comp. Jeremiah 18:23.) 5. That they may be excluded from the kingdom and people of God. “Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.” Moll: “The reference is to the book of God (Exodus 32:32), in which God Himself registers every one (Psalms 87:4-6), who is appointed to life (Isaiah 4:3), and in this book (Daniel 12:1), as the citizens of Israel in the genealogical tables” (Jeremiah 22:30; Ezekiel 13:9; comp. Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 21:27). 6. That God would pour upon them His severest wrath. “Pour out Thine indignation upon them, and let Thy wrathful anger take hold of them.” Such are the things that God is entreated to do to the wicked enemies of the Psalmist. II. The reason assigned. “For they persecute him whom Thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom Thou hast wounded.” Perowne: “The reason of the imprecation is given, because of the unpitying cruelty which delighted in adding to the pain and affliction of one whom God had already brought low—they tell as if they counted one by one every blow that fell upon him, every cry that he had uttered, only to turn it into mocking” (comp. Psalms 59:12; Psalms 64:5). They persecuted when they should have pitied. Somewhat similar conduct greatly aggravated the sufferings of Job. “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me; O ye, my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?” This section of the Psalm impresses us with, First—The imperfection of the best men. David was unquestionably one of the best of men; but his life has some foul stains upon it. And this Psalm shows that he was not a perfect man; for he here, as Moll says, “gets into such a carnal excitement, that while he does not contend with God or murmur against Him, but on the contrary, relies upon God, and calls upon Him, yet in hungry zeal he calls down the power of God to the judgment and ruin of those enemies who ignore it. This belongs to that folly and guilt, of which the Psalmist is conscious, and is neither to be extenuated nor recommended. For there is a very great difference between obligatory proclamation of the Divine judgment, morally justifiable assent to the unavoidable consequences of this judgment and holy joy in the victory of righteousness on the one side, and passionate imprecation, revengeful cursing, and an evilly disposed supplication for Divine judgment in order to the temporal ruin and everlasting destruction of certain persons, on the other side. In the latter case, man does not give over retribution to the all-wise and holy God, but of his own will and power interferes with the course of the just government of God, yes, really anticipates the final judgment. For this reason it is at least a zeal for God without knowledge, even when no revengeful motives come into play, and no personal interests are involved, but when the reference is to such men as put themselves in hostility to God and His word, sacraments, house, glory, and congregation. Even Jesus has not anticipated for individual cases the condemnatory decisions of the final judgment, but has merely proclaimed it as future, and indeed with the pain of love, and in connection with the purpose of His coming not to destroy the souls of men, but to save them. Accordingly, He censured His disciples for wishing to call down fire from heaven upon those who refused to receive Him (Luke 9:53-55).… We have reason to examine ourselves earnestly, whether, in our zeal for God, there is more wrath against our enemies, than love to His person and care for the glory of His house.” In estimating these imprecatory utterances of David, we are bound to remember the age in which they were penned. But when every allowance has been made it seems to us only too painfully clear, that the spirit which breathes in them is not good, but evil; not commendable, but reprehensible. In these terrible cursings of his enemies the Psalmist stands before us not as a pattern, but as a beacon; his example in this is not to be imitated, but shunned by us. Second—The gradualness of the education of mankind. God has revealed His will and ways to men slowly, as they have been able to receive the revelation. It took long ages of teaching and experience before men were able to understand such precepts as, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,” &c. In the time of David men were by no means prepared to receive such teaching. In more than one way “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.” Legislation such as this—“life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, strife for strife,” had an important place and work in educating humanity for higher things. The Mosaic legislation helped to prepare man for the Sermon on the Mount. The Jewish Temple was indispensable as a preparation for the Christian Church. Third—The truth of the Sacred Scriptures. The fact that we find utterances like these imprecations in the Bible, so far from militating against its inspiration, is to our mind rather an evidence of such inspiration. Both in historic record and religious poem it faithfully sets forth the sayings and doings of men. When Abraham, “the friend of God,” manifests a strange want of faith in Him, and is not strictly truthful, such failures are impartially recorded. When David, “the man after God’s own heart,” commits both adultery and murder, the perpetration of these crimes is set down against him, without any attempt to extenuate his guilt. And when the Hebrew religious poets manifest improper feelings and utter improper sentiments; when they give expression to unworthy doubts and fears, or to sinful anger and passionate revenge, such passages are not pruned off the poems, nor are the poems themselves excluded from the volume. This appears to us an evidence of the truth and trustworthiness of the Bible. And so in these ancient Psalms we have the real utterances of holy men, setting forth their joys and sorrows, their doubts and confidences, their triumphs and temporary defeats, their sinful passions and holy aspirations. Such a book meets a great need of the heart and life of the religious man. And as a fact, this Book of Psalms, giving utterance to these various feelings of the religious heart, has been for long ages and still is one of the choicest and most helpful treasures of all godly souls. THE HOPE OF THE IS EXTREME (Psalms 69:29-36.) The Psalmist passes from terrible imprecations to triumphant anticipations, from passionate revenge to pious hope. Notice— I. The object of this hope, or what it was that he hoped for. 1. As regards himself. “But I am poor and sorrowful; let Thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.” He looks in confidence to God for deliverance from his afflicted and mournful condition, and for exaltation to a condition of safety above the reach of his enemies, and the fury of the floods of trial. All righteous sufferers shall certainly in due time be delivered from all their sorrows, &c. 2. As regards the Church. “For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of His servants shall inherit it; and they that love His name shall dwell therein.” We regard Zion as an illustration of the Church of God. In his great and assured hope, the Psalmist announces (1) Its preservation. “God will save Zion.” The Church may be threatened and opposed, but it shall not be overcome; “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (2) Its progress. “And will build the cities of Judah.” David looked forward to the success and prosperity of the chosen people. The Church of God has a glorious future—a future of prosperity and increase in purity, possessions, power, &c. Its past history, its present position, and the Divine promises unite to assure the Church of increasing progress, and of complete triumph ultimately. (3) Its perpetuity. “That they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also,” &c. God will protect His people from generation to generation. Empires once powerful have passed away; heathen religions which once inspired the reverence or awakened the dread of countless multitudes of souls, have perished from amongst men; scientific and philosophical systems which for a long time appeared to be indisputable and permanent, have departed for ever. But the Church of God shall never pass away; for its life of truth and righteousness and love is by its very nature imperishable and immortal. II. The ground of this hope. The Psalmist rests his assured expectation of salvation on the fact that “the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.” “The poor” are those who are in circumstances of distress and want. The “prisoners” are either those whom He has visited with severe suffering, as in Psalms 69:26, or those who are suffering for His sake, as in Psalms 69:7. David doubtless includes himself as at this time amongst the needy and the prisoners. God regards such sufferers with pity, and sends them help when they cry unto Him. A hope of salvation which is based, as this is, on the gracious regard of God for His afflicted people shall surely be fulfilled in the case of every righteous sufferer. III. The influence of this hope. 1. It enables him to anticipate his own salvation. In the midst of his suffering he looks forward to it with assured and joyous confidence; and resolves, as though it were already enjoyed, “I will praise the name of God with a song,” &c. Very great and blessed is the power of such a hope. “We are saved by hope.” 2. It impels him to summon the universe to praise God. “Let the heaven and earth praise Him, the seas, and everything that moveth therein.” The Psalmist feels his own utter insufficiency worthily to set forth the praise of God, and, therefore, he calls upon all things everywhere, animate and inanimate, to unite in the celebration. IV. The anticipated result of the fulfilment of this hope. This is twofold— 1. The Psalmist will worship God, Psalms 69:30-31. (1) With spiritual offerings. “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” Barnes: “As the result of my deliverance, I will compose a song or a psalm especially adapted to the occasion, and fitted to express and perpetuate my feelings. It was in such circumstances that a large part of the psalms were composed; and since others besides the Psalmist are often in such circumstances, the Book of Psalms becomes permanently useful in the Church.” The worship resolved upon by the Psalmist is (α) Joyful—“praise.… with a song.” (β) Grateful—“with thanksgiving.” (2) Such worship is more acceptable to God than the most costly material sacrifices. “This also shall please the Lord better than ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.” Perowne: “The epithets are not merely otiose. The first is mentioned in order to mark that the animal was not under three years old, and therefore of the proper age according to the law; the last as intimating that it belonged to the class of clean four-footed animals, parting the hoof (Leviticus 11); and the meaning is, that the most perfect and valuable of the sacrifices ordained by the law was not to be compared to the sacrifice of a grateful heart.” (See “The Hom. Com.” on Psalms 40:6-8; Psalms 50:7-15; Psalms 51:15-17.) 2. The pious will be encouraged. “The humble shall see this, and be glad; and your heart shall live that seek God.” The exhibition of the power and faithfulness and goodness of God in delivering His suffering servant, would strengthen the faith, revive the courage, and promote the joy of all godly souls. The deliverance of one is an earnest of the full salvation of all. Let the suffering righteous seek for and exercise a hope like this of the Psalmist. Superscription.—“To the chief musician, a psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.” “To the chief musician.” (See introduction to Psalms 57). “To bring to remembrance.” Barnes: “The Hebrew term used—μְ ?δַ ?ζְ ?λִּ ?ιψ, lehazkir—means limply for bringing to remembrance, or for reminding. The meaning is, that it is a record for the purpose of reminding; that is, of keeping up the remembrance of something which had occurred in his own experience, and which might be useful to himself or to others; the record of some valuable lessons which had been learned from what he had experienced in the trials referred to.” Some are of opinion that the expression indicates that the Psalm was used to remind the Psalmist and others of the wants and circumstances to which it was applied. Others that, inasmuch as God seemed to have forgotten them, the Psalm was intended to bring the Psalmist and people to His remembrance.The Psalm is almost exactly similar to Psalms 40:13-17 of Psalms 40. It seems as though it had been taken from that Psalm and slightly altered to adapt it to some new occasion. “We do not know what the occasion in either case was, but it would seem that in this instance the Psalmist found, in the closing verses of the 40th Psalm, language which very nearly expressed what he felt on some particular occasion, and which might, by a slight change, be applied to the use for which it was then desired.”Hengstenberg regards this and the following Psalm as forming “one pair, the 70th being like an introduction to the 71st.”PRAYER IN We regard this Psalm as the prayer of a good man suffering from persecution. Consider— I. The circumstances and condition of the suppliant. Of these he sets before us three main features— 1. Persecution (Psalms 70:2-3). Here are three forms of persecution. (1) Active and deadly hostility. “Them that seek after my soul.” There were those who were seeking to destroy the life of the Psalmist. So implacable was their enmity that nothing less than his destruction could satisfy them. (2) Delight in injury. “Them that desire my hurt.” When loss or trouble, affliction or calamity, came upon the Psalmist, there were those who were glad because of it. If they did not smite him themselves, they rejoiced when others did so. If they did not do him evil, they heartily wished it him. (3) Scoffing. “Them that say, Aha, aha!” This is the language of reproach and scorn. It also expresses exultation over another, and gratification at the calamities or troubles that befall him. “The damage of the godly is the delight of the wicked; and an enemy to the godly is he that laughs and scorns at the misery of the godly.” Christians have to meet with persecution in our own day. The forms of persecution change, but the persecuting spirit remains unchanged from the time of the Psalmist even until now. “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” 2. Affliction. “I am poor and needy.” Conant: “I am afflicted and needy.” It is the cry of one who was in distress or suffering, and felt himself destitute of all help and resource except in God. 3. Need. This is consequent upon the persecution and affliction. The peril arising from his persecutions he needed deliverance from. The stress and strain of his affliction were so severe that he needed help to enable him to endure them. “Poverty and necessity are very good pleas in prayer to a God of infinite mercy, who despises not the sighing of a contrite heart, who has pronounced a blessing upon the poor in spirit, and who fills the hungry with good things.” II. The prayer of the suppliant. 1. The Being to whom it is addressed. “O God, … Jehovah, … my help and my deliverer.” The Psalmist directs his prayer to the Almighty and self-existent One, who is swift to hear and strong to save those who call upon Him. He mentions his personal interest in this great Being. “My help and my deliverer.” This confidence was based upon, (1) The promises of God to His people, (2) The former experiences of the Psalmist. Again and again he had found God to be “a very present help in trouble.” 2. The objects which it seeks to attain. The Psalmist seeks (1) His own deliverance. “Make haste, O God, to deliver me; make haste to help me, O Lord.” Conant: “O God—to my rescue, O Jehovah—to my help, make haste.” That which he seeks for himself all men require. Ultimate deliverance from all trials and afflictions, and “grace to help in time of need,” are blessings which each and all men should seek for themselves. (2) The discomfiture of his enemies. “Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul, let them be turned backward and put to confusion that desire my hurt. Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha!” These expressions are of frequent occurrence in the Psalms. They are used to set forth the frustration and failure of the hopes and projects of the wicked. The number and variety of expressions—“ashamed, … confounded, … turned backward, … put to confusion”—are intended to give intensity and force to the idea. It is not only lawful but commendable to pray that the designs and hopes of wicked men might be frustrated. (3) The prosperity of the godly. “Let all those that seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee; and let such as love Thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.” The blessedness of the true seeker after God is to find Him, and in finding Him to realize fulness of joy. The blessedness of the lover of the salvation of God is to enjoy it, and enjoying it to give God glory. David prays for the frustration of the hopes of the wicked, and for the fruition of the hopes of the good. 3. The urgency with which it is presented. “Make haste to help me, O Lord, … make haste unto me, O God; … O Lord, make no tarrying.” The Psalmist was so deeply conscious of his own affliction and peril and helplessness, and of his entire dependence upon the help of God, that he prays with almost passionate urgency for the immediate interposition of God on his behalf. He would constrain God to appear for him at once. “He who cannot wait for the help of God, will never gain it; but he must pray for it and may urge his circumstances in prayer.” Urgency of need will be followed by urgency of entreaty, and urgency of entreaty by speedy help. “Though death, or danger of it, were never so near, God can come quickly and prevent it; and prayer is a swift messenger, which in the twinkling of an eye can go and return with an answer from heaven.” URGENCY IN PRAYER(Psalms 70:1; Psalms 70:5.) “Make haste to help me, O Lord.… Make haste unto me, O God;.… O Lord, make no tarrying.” The urgency of the Psalmist implies— I. A deep sense of present and immediate need. This was awakened in him by— 1. The extremity of the danger to which he was exposed. His foes were many and were eagerly seeking to destroy his life. His afflictions were severe. He felt that if he were not speedily relieved he must perish. 2. The limitation of the resources at his command. Personally he was not able to cope with his enemies, or to bear up under his distresses. He felt that any help which he could expect from man would prove insufficient for his great and pressing requirements. 3. The conviction that adequate help could be found only in God. The Psalmist evidently felt that the help of God was the one thing that he required for his support and salvation. If that help were speedily given, all would be well with him; but if it were withheld, the issue world be his utter overthrow or his destruction—hence the urgency of his prayer. II. Apparent delay in answering his prayer. There is never any real delay in answering prayer; but at times God seems to us to disregard our cries to Him. We cry with David, “How long wilt Thou forget me, O Lord! for ever?” &c. (Psalms 13:1-4). Or, with Habakkuk, “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and Thou wilt not hear?” 1. During what seems delay to us God may be answering our prayer. He does not always answer our prayers by granting our requests. During the apparent delay we are kept from sinking, our enemies do not completely triumph over us, we are graciously sustained. In such cases the divine answer to our prayers is not deliverance from trouble, but support in trouble; not the removal of the thorn from the flesh, but, “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). 2. The seeming delay may be productive of richest blessing. (1.) It may teach us the most important lessons. How eminently fitted to teach us the true nature of prayer! Its grand aim is not to induce God to do our will, but to lead us to cheerfully acquiesce in His will; not the gratification of our desires, but the perfection of our being. (2.) It may develop the noblest attributes of character. It may intensify our desires. “Sometimes God seems to delay helping His own people, that He may excite such earnest desires as these” which are expressed in this psalm. Delay may promote patience; may teach and train us to wait calmly and resolutely upon God. “Prayer,” says Dr. Reynolds, “however importunate, constant, and fervent, must have its hours of rest, and of the waiting for answer and fulfilment. Like Elijah, we must look from the height of Carmel over the great sea for the little cloud which shall arise and cover the sky, in answer to our prayer. We must open our every faculty to receive the Holy Ghost; we must wait with earnest though patient expectation; we must listen for the gentle knocking of the mighty Stranger at the door of our heart; we must wait amid the discords of the world and the swoop of the storm through the wilderness, and when the strong wind rends the mountains, and the earthquake and the fire follow in wild succession—for the still small voice—we must ‘rest in the Lord, and still wait patiently for Him.’ ” Moreover, delay may develop trust, may train us to confide in God in times of imminent peril and deep distress. The seeming delay may in many ways be far better for us than a manifest and immediate answer to our prayers. Huntington: “One of our hardest lessons is to find out the wisdom of our hindrances; how we are to be put forward and upward by being put back and put down; encouraged by being rebuked; prospered by being baffled.… It needs wakeful watchers, spiritual eyesight, to read that riddle of life, how defeat helps progress; how a compulsory standing still speeds us on; how humiliation exalts;” and how what seems to us the continued silence of God may be the wise and gracious answer to our prayers. III. Strong faith in the entreatableness of God. It is abundantly clear that the Psalmist did not regard God as imprisoned and bound by the laws and order of the universe which He created. Nor did he regard Him as a Being who cannot be moved by any urgency of supplication. A great faith in God as the hearer and answerer of prayer throbs in these impassioned cries for His speedy help. The instinct which finds utterrance in such cries points to the reality of prayer—to the fact that it has a real place and function in the universe of God. “This Psalm,” says Barnes, “is without a title. It is impossible to determine on what occasion it was composed. There is some plausibility in the supposition that Psalms 70 might have been placed before it, or in connection with it, as a kind of introduction, or as indicating the character of the Psalms among which it is found; but nothing of certainty can be ascertained on this point. It evidently belongs to the class of Psalms which refer to the trials of the righteous; but it was rather in view of past troubles than of those which were then existing. There is no certain evidence that the Psalm was composed by David. If so, it was when he was advanced in life. There is, indeed, much in the Psalm which would be appropriate to David—much which he might have written; but there is no way now of ascertaining with certainty who was the author.… All that is known respecting the occasion on which the Psalm was composed, whoever was the author, is, that it was composed when old age was drawing near, and in view of the trials and blessings of life, as considered from the contemplation of its approaching close.“It is a Psalm of great value, as describing the feelings of a good man when he is growing old, and is an illustration of what there has been occasion so often to remark in this exposition of the Book of Psalms, that the Bible is adapted to all the conditions of human life. In a book professing to be a revelation from God, and in a world where old age, with its trials, its infirmities, its recollections, and its hopes, must be so prominent in the actual state of things existing, it would have been unaccountable if there had been nothing to illustrate the feelings of those in advancing or advanced years—nothing to suggest the kind of reflections appropriate to that period of life—nothing to cheer the heart of the aged man, and to inspire him with hope—nothing to prompt him to recall the lessons of the past, and to make use of those lessons to prepare him for the future; even as, in a world so full of trial, it would have been strange if there had been nothing to comfort the mind in affliction, and to enable men to derive proper lessons from the experiences of life. This Psalm, therefore, is one of the most valuable portions of the Bible to a certain class of mankind, and may be to any of the living, as suggesting the proper reflections of a good man as the infirmities of age draw on, and as he reviews the mercies and the trials of the past.”Homiletically we view the Psalm as presenting—Trust and prayer, Psalms 71:1-3; The precious recollections, present trials, and glorious resource of an aged saint, Psalms 71:4-13; and The triumphant faith of an aged saint, Psalms 71:14-24.TRUST AND PRAYER(Psalms 71:1-3.) These verses, which form the introduction to the Psalm, are borrowed, with slight changes, from Psalms 31:1-3; and as they have been expounded in that place, our remarks on them will be brief. We have here— I. The good man’s trust. “In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.” He confides— 1. In a Divine Person. “In Thee, O Lord,” &c. Not in mere law, or order, or fate, or force. The things which these terms set forth satisfy neither the demands of the intellect nor the cravings of the heart. They are cold, heartless abstractions. We cannot confide in them. But the Psalmist trusts in the personal God—a Being of infinite power, wisdom, righteousness, love, &c. In Him both the intellect and the heart may repose. 2. In a Divine Person sustaining personal relations to His creatures. “Thou art my rock and my fortress.” The Most High is not far removed from His creatures, or indifferent to their needs and interests. He guards their interests, supplies their needs, and graciously cares for them individually. He encourages every man to claim a personal interest in Him, and in His protection and provision. Without presumption we may say, “Thou art my rock,” &c. 3. In a Divine Person who has given gracious assurances of salvation to His people. “Thou has given commandment to save me.” Hengstenberg: “Who hast ordained to help me.” God has given many gracious and faithful promises of salvation to all those who trust in Him. Such, then, is the object of the good man’s trust as presented to us by the Psalmist. II. The good man’s prayer. “Let me never be put to confusion,” &c. He supplicates—- 1. Divine audience. “Incline Thine ear unto me.” It is a request that God would bestow upon him His gracious attention. The lisping prayer of the little child, the broken sob of the penitent, the sigh of the sorely burdened spirit, and the faint whisper of the dying, each and all are heard by Him. No uprising of holy desire or utterance of need escapes His notice, or fails to secure His regard. 2. Divine deliverance. “Deliver me in Thy righteousness, and cause me to escape, … and save me.” He was in great danger by reason of the malicious schemes and enterprises of his enemies. They were seeking his life. He looks to God for deliverance from their subtlety and strength, feeling that He was too righteous a Being to fail in delivering one who trusted Him so fully, seeing that He had promised salvation to all who confide in Him. When trusting in God we may plead His righteousness for salvation. 3. Divine protection. “Be Thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort.” Hengstenberg: “Be to me a rock of salvation, to which I may come continually.” This seems to us a very comprehensive petition. He asks that he may find in God (1) His home. “My habitation.” God Himself is the true home of the soul. “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” (2) His secure home. “My strong habitation.” “A rock of habitation.” A rock against which the tumultuous waves of persecution shall spend themselves in vain. He that dwells in God has omnipotence for his defence. (3) His secure home always accessible. “Whereunto I may continually resort.” At all times and in all circumstances we may take refuge in God, feeling assured of protection and welcome. 4. Divine vindication. “Let me never be put to confusion.” It is a prayer that God would vindicate the confidence which he had reposed in Him. If the Psalmist failed to find salvation in God, his highest hopes would be wrecked, his most sacred and precious interests would be lost; he would be covered with confusion and shame. If it be reposed in God, our confidence will never become our confusion. “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” .—Mark the relation between trust and prayer. There can be no true prayer without faith. Prayer is not the cry of despair, but the aspiration or entreaty of hope. And wherever there is genuine trust in God it will find expression in prayer to him. THE , PRESENT TRIALS, AND OF AN AGED SAINT(Psalms 71:4-13.) In this section of the Psalm three things require notice: I. The precious recollections of an aged saint. 1. Of a life of trust in God. “Thou art my trust from my youth.” From his earliest years God had been the object of his hope. The Psalmist does not boast of this. He “does not in the least praise his own faith, hut the grace of God, which he had experienced from his childhood.” We know that in early life David exercised strong confidence in God. Blessed are they whose old age is soothed and brightened by memories of early trust in God, and consecration to Him. 2. Of a life sustained by God. “By Thee have I been holden up from the womb; Thou art He that took me out of my mother’s bowels.” On πִ ?ρְ ?ξַ ?κְ (Niph. of ρָ ?ξַ ?κְ, to support, to lean) Perowne says: “This is an expression wonderfully descriptive of what faith is, and of what God is to those who trust in Him. He is a father who bears them in His arms and carries them in His bosom; they are as children who lean all their weight upon Him, and find their sweetest rest in His supporting hand. This is the very idea of faith, according to its Hebrew signification. When it is said in Genesis 15:6, that ‘Abraham believed God,’ it means literally, ‘he leaned upon God.’ ” Looking back upon his life the Psalmist could say, “Thy mercy heard my infant prayer,Thy love, with all a mother’s care,Sustained my childish days:Thy goodness watched my ripening youth,And formed my heart to love Thy truth,And filled my lips with praise.”—Grant.David had recollections of the gentle and strong hand of God supporting him through all his life. His age was sustained and cheered by memories of the rich and constant goodness of God to him. The stream of the Divine blessing had never ceased to flow for his refreshment and support. Whatever or whosoever had disappointed him, God had never failed him. Blessed are they who in old age have a retrospect like unto this. II. The present trials of an aged saint. Even the old age of the good is not always exempt from trial. We are never beyond the reach of the storm while we are in this world. The old age of David was darkened by trouble by reason of the great sins which stain and mar one period of his life. See 2 Samuel 12:10-11. In his old age he “was tried by great and sore troubles, by debility of body (1 Kings 1:1-4), and by the rebellion of Adonijah, his son usurping his throne and endeavouring to supplant Solomon (1 Kings 1:5-10), and by the treachery of Abiathar and Joab” (1 Kings 1:18-19). The trials which he mentions in this Psalm arose from his enemies. He sets before us— 1. Their character. “The wicked, the unrighteous and cruel man.” His foes were unjust, malignant, and violent men. Against foes of such a character he might well appeal unto God. 2. Their aim. “They lay wait for my soul.” They watched and waited to take away his life; they sought to destroy him. An illustration of the spiritual foes of the good. 3. Their method. This comprised (1) Slander. “Mine enemies speak against me; … saying, God hath forsaken him.” “The tongue of slander is never tired. In one way or another it manages to keep itself in constant employment. Sometimes it drops honey and sometimes gall. It is bitter now, and then sweet. It insinuates or assails directly according to the circumstances. It will hide a curse under a smooth word, and administer poison in the phrase of love. Like death it ‘loves a shining mark.’ And it is never so voluble and eloquent as when it can blight the hopes of the noble, soil the reputation of the pure, and break down the character of the brave and strong. And how much of this vile work is done in one way and another in society!… It is done to the hurt and agony of many a soul. It is done by a look sometimes, by the curl of a lip, by the wink of an eye, by an insinuation, a phrase of suspicion, by the dexterous and malicious handling of a rumour—in a thousand ways are men and women stung by the poisoned arrow shot from the devil’s tongue of slander.” David suffered most acutely and often from the calumnies of his enemies. See our remarks on Psalms 41:5-8; Psalms 42:3. (2) Subtlety. “They take counsel together.” They were combined and designing; and endeavoured to form such plans and adopt such methods as would enable them with the greatest certainty to accomplish their cruel and malicious designs. They were crafty as well as calumnious. (3) Violence. “Persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him.” They imagined that the Psalmist was abandoned by God, that his defence was withdrawn, and that they might, therefore, pursue and seize him. They employed force against him, as well as subtlety and slander. The good have their enemies now. These enemies are malicious, cunning, and strong. They aim at their spiritual destruction. “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary,” &c. III. The glorious resource of an aged saint. The aged Psalmist, in his trials, turned to the Lord God. 1. His confidence. “Thou art my hope, O Lord God; Thou art my trust from my youth.… Thou art my strong refuge.” His confidence was (1) Of long continuance. From his youth he had reposed his trust in God. His faith amid the trials of old age was sustained by a long, diversified, and rich experience. Present confidence was encouraged and strengthened by past experience of great fulness and preciousness. His confidence was (2) Exultant. “My praise is continually of Thee.… Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise and with thy honour all the day.” His trust in God enabled him to triumph over his enemies. Faith made him songful even in the midst of his trials. 2. His prayer. (1) As regards his enemies. “Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul, let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.” Musculus: “His desire is, that they may be confounded and fail, that they may be covered with disgrace and shame. He seeks nothing beyond the frustration of their attempts, that they may begin to be ashamed, and have no cause for boasting that they came off victorious.” Caryl: “Shame ariseth from utter disappointments. If hope deferred causeth shame, then much more hope destroyed. When a man sees his hopes quite cut off, so that he can no way reach the thing he looked for, shame takes hold of him strongly.” Spurgeon: “How confounded must Pharaoh have been when Israel multiplied, despite his endeavours to exterminate the race; and how consumed with rage must the scribes and Pharisees have become when they saw the Gospel spreading from land to land by the very means which they used for its destruction.” Satan and all the enemies of the good shall be thus confounded. Their designs shall be utterly defeated, &c. (2) As regards himself. He seeks for (α) Deliverance from his enemies. “Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.” He prays to be rescued from the strong grip of his wicked foes. (β) The continued presence and help of God. “Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.… O God, be not far from me; O my God, make haste for my help.” The kindness and faithfulness of God to the Psalmist in youth and maturity encourage him to seek His presence and aid in the time of old age and failing strength. “He is a Master that is not wont to cast off old servants.” David feels that if God be near unto him all will be well with him. “Nearness to God is our conscious security. A child in the dark is comforted by grasping its father’s hand.” .— 1. Let the young learn the importance of early piety. It is the best preparation for the trials of declining years. 2. Let the aged, with failing faculties and growing infirmities, seek help and comfort in God. “Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all ye the remnant of the house of Israel; ye that have been borne by Me from the birth, that have been carried from the womb: And even to your old age, I am the same; and even to grey hairs, I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry, and will deliver you.” THE AGED SAINT AND HIS GOD(Psalms 71:7.) Consider— I. What the Psalmist said of himself. “I am as a wonder unto many.” He was led to say this from the review which he had taken of his own history. The history of David was singular. He had been raised from being a shepherd to be the king of Israel. The deliverances which had been wrought for him showed that the hand of God had been with him. And in his old age, having reigned over the people for many years, in reviewing his life, he said, “I am as a wonder unto many.” 1. It is proper to review past experiences. (1) As to the methods of grace. Every good man is the subject of grace, and has been preserved in his course by supplies of grace; and it is proper for him to review what God has done for him. (2) As to the conduct of Providence. This is proper in every stage of life, but especially in old age. Reflect upon the many blessings which a kind Providence has bestowed, the many deliverances which you have experienced, &c. 2. It is profitable to review past experiences. (1) It produces humility, because of the little improvement we have made, &c. (2) It inspires gratitude, because of many mercies, many kind interpositions of Providence, &c. See Genesis 32:10; 2 Samuel 7:18. (3) It encourages us to trust in God. Reflecting upon the past had this effect upon David, as we see in this Psalm (Psalms 71:1; Psalms 71:14-24). II. What the Psalmist said of his God. “Thou art my strong refuge.” 1. The manner in which David speaks of God. “Thou art my strong refuge.” (1) If we think of the perfections of God we shall see that we may view Him as a “strong refuge.” His power is almighty; His wisdom is infinite, to guide, &c. He is always present, faithful, unchangeable, &c. (2) His people in all ages have found him to be their “strong refuge.” 2. In all circumstances His people may make Him their refuge. (1) In troubles. These are different in their kind with different persons. Some have poverty, others losses, others family trials, others bereavements, others unfaithful friends, &c. But there is no trouble but the believer may bring it to his God. (2) In spiritual trials, e.g., wounded conscience, Satanic temptations, painful conflicts, &c. (3) In old age. The increasing infirmities of old age, the loss of many friends who cheered and strengthened us in former years, the certainty that the days of labour and usefulness are drawing to a close, render it of the greatest importance to have God for our refuge. (4) In death itself. When the powers of nature fail, when the last enemy comes, God will be the refuge of His people. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” .— 1. How important to live so as to enjoy the privilege of having God for a refuge! If we are walking in the way of holiness we shall enjoy this privilege. 2. To enjoy this privilege we must exercise faith. In the trials of life the promises of God are a source of encouragement and comfort, but we can enjoy the consolation which they afford only by faith. 3. How great is the importance of true religion! If we neglect religion we shall have our trials, but we shall have no adequate refuge. Seek an interest in Christ, and the Lord will be your God.—Abridged from an unpublished MS. THE CRY OF THE AGED(Psalms 71:9.) This is the cry of trembling, tottering age to man, as well as to God. Among the very saddest of human experiences is the decay which is the harbinger of death. Decay is the first bitterness of death. I believe that, at last, in the act of dying the bitterness of death is already past. There is a great physical preparation for dying, when the moment has at length come. The worn-out body, weary with its long struggle, sinks at last into the arms of death without a tremor; it is tired, it longs to be at rest. It is the long struggle of the vital power, while its vigour is still capable of the effort, which is so hard to endure, so sad to behold. The strong man worsted, but yielding slowly, and fighting every inch against the sure, inevitable progress of decay. The eye daily a little dimmer, the limbs a little feebler, &c.… It is a dark, sad theme, the sufferings and miseries of the long decline. That God should suffer it must have deep reasons.… Consider— I. The phenomena of human decay. “The outer man decayeth.” At both ends of life man is the most helpless and the weakest of the creatures. For nearly one-third of his pilgrimage, law and fact hold man to be an infant, dependent on elders, that is, cast upon the care and guidance of his fellows; and if he lives out his span, and fulfils the natural course, he is certain of years of the same dependence before his death. With this grand difference, that the great moving ing principle of the one ministry is memory, the inspiration of the other is hope. The aged have memory chiefly to look to, the young have hope. Among the finer spirits, the men and women of high culture and Christian feeling, there is a beautiful sacredness about the hoary head which wins for it abundant care and honour; but alas! for the old and weary among the great mass of mankind.… Take infirmity in its best condition, where it is regarded most reverently and handled, most tenderly, and there is a very sad side to it. How much more when the surroundings are hard and selfish, and the poor worn-out pilgrim is made to see very plainly that his life is a burden to those for whose nurture the strength of it was spent; and that declining strength will be but the signal for new hardships, insults, and wrongs. When circumstance is all that is happy, the thing remains—the most painful of spectacles, the most bitter of experiences—the strong frame grown weak as an infant’s, and dropping piecemeal to dust. The brain that was once regal in power wandering wearily after lost thoughts, and failing to grasp them, looking forth from perplexed and bewildered eyes with that look which is so hard to meet without tears—the look of a mind conscious that it is losing the power to hold its own. The lips babbling idle, incoherent words, the hands groping vaguely after familiar objects, the limbs bending beneath the weight of the shrivelled form whose lusty manhood they bore so joyously about its work. The eyes growing dim, as though a thick veil were dropped over the creation; the cheerful and courageous spirit querulous and suspicious; all the noble moral qualities, the self-denial, the wisdom, the tenderness, the courage, the hope, that rendered in their prime such noble ministry to others, seeming to share the body’s decay, and passing slowly under utter eclipse. The mind, the soul, to the eye dying with the body, becoming puling, feeble, fretful as a child’s. It is “a sair sight” to those who have to watch it, a bitter experience to those who have to pass through it. II. The reasons of this law of physical decay as far as we can explore it. Why should such a law reign in a world which is under the wise rule of a merciful and loving God? 1. To drive home the lessons which God is ever seeking to teach us about sin. Death as it reigns on earth is not translation—the calm passage of a spirit from an inferior to a superior sphere. Nor is it intended to look like translation. It is a curse which sin has inflicted on the world. It is the devil’s work, not God’s. Death, as we know it now, though it is God’s judgment, is the cursed work of evil. And God intends that it shall look like it. There is no hiding of any of its black features. Sin is corruption of the spirit, paralysis of every faculty of the being. God shows us the corruption, the paralysis of force, in the phenomena of bodily decay. It is God’s solemn sermon upon sin. What you see the devil do for a body, that believe the devil is doing for a soul. 2. To develop the noblest qualities of the human spirit by the ministries which sickness, suffering, and decay call forth. Abolish suffering and decay God will not. He maintains it while this sinful world endures, as His strong witness against sin. But he seeks to make it the occasion of a higher, richer blessing than would be found even in its abolition. The stern law grows beautiful as it calls forth tender and unselfish ministry. There is something higher and more blessed than not to suffer. It is to suffer surrounded by exquisite ministries of love.… God has made us so weak in birth and in death, because we have men and women and not beasts around us. And it is in caring for the helpless, nursing the weak, tending the sick, and bearing the burdens of the sad, that men and women are to grow like God. 3. That He may strengthen faith and hope in immortality. Death is terrible that life may be beautiful. The destroyer is suffered to ravage that the deliverer may be welcomed and blessed. God’s judgment is not unto death, but unto life. But it is always through the judgment, and not by escaping it or turning it aside, that He saves. So through death the great Captain of deliverance destroyed death.… The long weary decay of age, the declining strength of which the Psalmist speaks so touchingly, has but one alleviation, the tender, devoted ministry of our loved ones; it has but one consolation, the hope of immortality. As we watch it, as we suffer it, that hope becomes the soul’s sheet anchor. When death wears his ghastliest dress of terror, we cling but the more closely to Him who has taught us to triumph—yea, to exult over death. Don’t moan like a trembling dove when death has his grip on you, after Hezekiah’s fashion. Lift up your voice and sing a pζan like Paul inspired by Christ. “For which cause we faint not; but though our natural man perish,” &c. (2 Corinthians 4:16 to 2 Corinthians 5:4.) III. The duties which spring out of the facts and considerations on which we have dwelt. 1. The tender care of the old and grey-headed. God commits them to our ministry. He makes us responsible for their charge. If we will not joyfully bear that burden, it is His counsel, His charge, His gift which we despise.… There is nothing so noble, nothing so beautiful, as the ministry of vigour to weakness, health to sickness, growth to decay, youth to age. There is nothing that God marks more earnestly, nothing that will bear richer fruit in heaven. Let the plea of grey hairs be all-powerful. Bear brightly the mistrust, the fretfulness, the dulness. Let the whisper of the aged lips, and the sign of the aged hand, be like royal commands to you. 2. Let us press home on the hearts of the aged with double earnestness the Gospel which brings to light life and immortality. Blot out that Gospel, and it is all pure agony and misery. Life is a curse, death is a curse, all is a curse; and there is no hope. “But now is Christ risen from the dead,” &c. (1 Corinthians 15:20-22; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57; 2 Corinthians 4:17).—J. Baldwin Brown, B.A. Abridged from “The Christian World Pulpit.” THE FAITH OF AN AGED SAINT(Psalms 71:14-24) The tone of the Psalm changes remarkably. For despondency and fear we have cheerfulness and hope; and the hymn closes with an outburst of exultant praise. Consider— I. The prayer of faith. (Psalms 71:17-18.) Notice— 1. The blessing sought in the prayer. “Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not.” Margin—“Unto old age and grey hairs.” A correct rendering is—“And even to old age and grey hairs, O God, forsake me not.” The Psalmist seeks that the gracious and helpful presence of God should be continued unto him, to the very close of a long life. 2. The ground from which the prayer rises. “O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth; and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works.” In his prayer the Psalmist is encouraged by (1) God’s doings for him in the past. From his youth God had instructed and guided him. (2) His celebration of those doings. He had made known to others the wondrous doings of God on his behalf. 3. The reason by which the prayer is urged. “Forsake me not, until I have showed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power to every one that is to come.” Margin—“Thine arm.” “The arm of the Lord is the symbol of His executive power and works. (Comp. Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 53:1; Ezekiel 4:7.) The generation that has come up in the place of his own generation, which is passing away, first comes before his mind, and then his vision deepens and widens, taking in all the coming generations to whom he would publish the mighty deeds of God.” He sought for the continuance of the Divine presence and help that he might still be able to edify his fellow-men and honour his God. (See these verses more fully treated in two sketches given below.) II. The anticipation of faith. The Psalmist confidently looks forward to— 1. Complete deliverance from severe trials. “Thou which hast showed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” Conant: “Thou, who hast made us see troubles great and sore, wilt again revive us, and from the abysses of the earth wilt bring us up again.” Notice— (1) The best of men may suffer severest trials. The Psalmist represents himself and others as dead and buried, or sinking in the deep abysses of the earth. Their troubles seemed overwhelming and ruinous. (2) Good men in their trials must recognise the hand of God. He had caused them to see those great and sore trials. No trial can befal us without His permission. (3) Good men in their trials may cherish an assurance of deliverance. He is able to bring even the dead to life, and to raise from the deepest and most dreadful abyss all who call upon Him. He will not forsake those who trust in Him. The trouble of the good shall pass away like clouds, and leave their heavens serene and beautiful. 2. The realisation of the Divine exaltation and comfort. “Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.” Hengstenberg: “And shalt turn Thyself and comfort me.” This is more than complete deliverance from trial. It is the assurance that through trial the people of God rise to greater elevation and joy. “Sometimes God makes His people’s troubles contribute to the increase of their greatness, and their sun shines the brighter for having been under a cloud.” Through much tribulation lies the path of the good to greatness and glory. We must bear the bitter suffering and fight the stern battle; and, by the blessing of God, the struggle and pain shall contribute to our strength and joy. God will “make us glad according to the days wherein He has afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.” Such was the confident anticipation of the Psalmist. III. The resolution of faith. David declares His purpose— 1. To continually hope in God. “But I will hope continually.” “Hope,” says Dr. Punshon, “is a marvellous inspiration, which every heart confesses in some season of extremest peril. It can put nerve into the languid, and fleetness into the feet of exhaustion. Let the slim and feathery palm-grove be dimly descried, though ever so remotely, and the caravan will on, spite of the fatigue of the traveller and the simoom’s blinding, to where, by the fringy rootlets, the desert waters flow. Let there glimmer one star through the murky waste of night, and though the spars be shattered, and the sails be riven, and the hurricane howls for its prey, the brave sailor will be lashed to the helm, and see already, through the tempest’s breaking, calm waters and a spotless sky. Oh! who is there, however hapless his lot or forlorn his surroundings, who is beyond the influence of this choicest of earth’s comforters—this faithful friend which survives the flight of riches, and the wreck of reputation, and break of health, and even the loss of dear and cherished friends?” The Psalmist resolved that, however painful his circumstances and condition, and whatever the number and power and malice of his enemies, he would hope in God. While God lives, His people have every encouragement to hope in Him. 2. To continually praise God. Notice— (1) The object of the Psalmist’s praise. “I will praise Thee, O my God—Thou Holy One of Israel.” Here are four points—(α) The personality of God. “Thee, O my God.” (β) The unity of God. “One.” “The Lord our God is one Lord.” (γ) The perfection of God. “Thou holy One.” Holiness in man has been well defined as “the symmetry of the soul;” and by holiness as attributed to God we understand the summation of His perfections. (δ) The relation of God to His people. “O my God, Thou Holy One of Israel.” He is in covenant relations with His people. All who trust in Him are interested in Him and related to Him. (2) The subjects of His praise. These are (α) The mighty deeds of God. “I will go in the strength of the Lord God.” Conant: “I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jehovah.” Hengstenberg: “I will come with the deeds of the Lord.” Alexander: “The common version—‘I will go in the strength of the Lord God,’ is at variance with the usage both of the verb and noun, as the former does not mean to go absolutely, but either to enter or to come to a particular place, expressed or understood. The ellipsis here may be supplied from Psalms 5:7; Psalms 66:13, in both which places the same verb denotes the act of coming to God’s house for the purpose of solemn praise, and in the second passage cited is followed by the same preposition, ‘I will come into Thy house with burnt offerings,’ i.e., I will bring them thither. This sense agrees with the vow to praise God in the two preceding verses, and with the promise of commemoration in the other clause of the verse. It also enables us to give the noun its usual sense of God’s exploits or mighty deeds” (see Psalms 106:2, and Deuteronomy 3:24). God had done great things for the poet and the people, he was confidently anticipating that He would still achieve mighty and glorious deeds for them, and he resolves to publicly and thankfully celebrate these exploits. (β) The righteousness of God. “My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness.… I will make mention of Thy righteousness, of Thine only.” He speaks of the righteousness of God’s doings. His deeds were as just as they were mighty, as equitable as they were wonderful. The Psalmist resolves to praise the righteousness only of God: not his own righteousness, or strength, or skill, but the perfect righteousness of the Lord his God. (γ) The salvation of God. “My mouth shall show forth Thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers.” God’s great might is exerted for the salvation of His people. His saving acts are innumerable. (Comp. Psalms 40:5.) “God’s righteousness and His salvation are here joined together; let no man think to put them asunder, or expect salvation without righteousness.” This is an inexhaustible theme of praise to the godly man. (δ) The faithfulness of God. “I will praise Thee, even Thy truth, O my God.” By the “truth” we understand especially the truth of the Divine promises. “He is faithful that promised.” Such are the high and fruitful topics which the poet resolved to celebrate. (3) The reason of his praise. This is to a great extent contained in the object and subjects of his praise. He who is mighty, righteous, faithful, and holy, and who works for the salvation and exaltation and joy of his people, is worthy of all praise. But the Psalmist praises God because He delivers him from sore distresses, and from the enemies who sought to kill him. Faith enables him to realise his salvation as though it were already wrought out for him. “For they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.” To the poet this is so certain that he speaks of it as a thing already accomplished. He praises God for it. His praise is the expression of his gratitude. (4) The manner of his praise. He resolves to praise God. (α) Publicly (Psalms 71:16). “I will come” into Thy house “with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jehovah; I will make mention,” &c. In the public congregation the Psalmist would thankfully recount the glorious deeds of God, and celebrate His praise. (β) Songfully. “Unto Thee will I sing.” (See remarks on Psalms 59:16.) (γ) With instrumental accompaniment. “I will praise Thee with the psaltery; unto Thee will I sing with the harp.” (See remarks on Psalms 57:8.) (5) The spirit of his praise. “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto Thee; and my soul, which Thou hast redeemed.” His praise was not formal and cold, but warm and hearty; not merely with his “lips,” but also with his “soul.” His spirit was exultant. To him worship was an inspiration and joy. (6) The continuousness of his praise. “My month shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day.… My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long.” True praise is not an occasional act, but an abiding habitude; not the service of the lips, but the spirit of the life. He worships God truly who worships Him constantly. .—How wonderful and divine is the power of true godliness! It enables man to triumph over the infirmities of declining years, the sharp sorrows of life, and the bitter persecutions of mighty and malignant foes. It makes man victorious in the very midst of his enemies. It lifts him in spirit above the storm and the clouds into serene and sunny regions. The true Christian surveying the most adverse circumstances and the most hostile forces can shout in triumph, “in all these things we are more than conquerors.” Is this spirit—this trustful, victorious, Divine spirit—ours! AN OLD MAN’S (Psalms 71:17-18.) I. The Psalmist’s scholarship. David was an instructed believer, and more of the kind are needed. Converted people should be learners. Some seem to jump into salvation on a sudden; but they who have not first learned should have the sense not to teach. Ritualism and scepticism would not have spread had there been a wider diffusion of knowledge, for error and ignorance go hand in hand. David went to school from his youth; he was mighty in the Scriptures as they then existed. Let us, then, read our Bibles. In the old days, there was nothing the Romanists so much dreaded as the Catechism. Then let the experienced be teachers of others. As regarded David, the Lord taught him; he was taught by the prophets, and also by Providence. He learned lessons in the camp and in the world. It is a blessed thing when God is our teacher, and His school-room is large enough for all. Further, David began early. It is necessary to be taught early; for the sooner we come to Christ, the less we have to unlearn. We grow like early planted trees, and have none of those horrid remembrances which are a cross to many who are reclaimed late in life. Hence the young promote their own happiness by entering the Church early to grow up in it. If they would preserve a bright eye and an elastic step, they must cleave to Christ in youth. II. The Believer’s occupation. David’s occupation was to declare God’s works. This was the kernel; all else was but the shell. Some appear scarcely to think of this—the duty of acquainting others with the blessings they themselves have found. Is there such a thing as a secret Christian? Who knows of one? “I do!” you say. Well, the fact that you know him is a proof that he is not a secret Christian. Are such deserters, or are they merely persons of retiring habits? That soldier was of retiring habits who ran away from the field on the day of battle. David, however, proclaimed God’s works. Let us have a theology full of God and not of man. This is the grandest theme one can take up, and it was the Psalmist’s theme. Let them keep to the atonement and all the blessed doctrines of grace. Bring out the old, well-tried guns now that such enemies as Ritualism and Popery confronted them. Note, further, that David’s style was commendable. He spoke positively, and his object was to win sinners. What are we doing? All should do something; no man should keep his gift to himself; we must not play at being Christians. It is a poor, miserable thing to be half-and-half. Some can sit in a pew-corner, and when they have heard a good sermon they say, “Bless the Lord!” or they are passengers in the gospel coach who can do no more than find fault with the horses, coachman, guard, and all about them. III. David’s prayer. “Forsake me not.” Is it not remarkable that so many of the people mentioned in the Bible as having fallen into sin are old people? Experienced coachmen tell us that the homes are more likely to fall at the bottom of a hill than anywhere else. Old age may be over-confident, or it may be harassed by many fears. They have need of sustaining grace to the last; and, on the other hand, God never forsakes His old servants. IV. David’s wish. He desired to bear one more testimony to his God. The aged and the weak show forth God’s strength, and they are often the best “evidences” of the truth of religion.—C. H. Spurgeon. From Twelve Realistic Sketches. OF THE ’S OLD AGE(Psalms 71:18.) “Now also when I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not.” Though sin is often anticipated with pleasure, it is never remembered but with self-reproach. Though duty is often looked forward to with trembling, it is never looked back upon as performed but with emotions of gladness. The memory of a life spent in wickedness is a garner of evil, ever pouring out its hoard of bitterness on the soul, and yet ever full; while that of a life devoted to the service of God is a treasure of bliss, as abundant as the wants of the soul, and as enduring as its immortality. If this be true— I. The aged Christian must be happy in the contemplation of his past conduct and influence. While there is here and there a page of sorrow in his history, it is contemplated, as a whole, with gladness. It contains the record of long years of allegiance and service, rendered in the spirit of obedience and love to his ever loved and glorious Master; of many an earnest conflict with temptation, and of many a victory won, through grace, over its utmost power. It contains the record of many a purpose which had its origin in a love that embraced both God and man; of many a scheme of usefulness, &c. Happy the man who, from amid the feebleness of declining years, may look back over the pathway of such a history, and recognise it as his own! II. He is happy in the contemplation of the blessings which have marked his history. The kindness of his Heavenly Father has not only strewn his path with rich gifts of grace and providence, but so constituted him, that every present blessing sends forward its light and joy to the end of his being. If a peculiar bliss is mine to-day, it is mine not to-day alone, but so long as the memory of to-day shall endure. The thoughts of the Christian in his old age are often sent back over the pathway of his life, and made to mark the points at which Heaven’s gifts were most abundant and rich.… How striking, when contrasted with the experience of the aged sinner, appears the blessedness of the Christian, as, from amid the infirmities of his old age, he looks back upon the blessings included in his experience of the past! III. He is happy in the contemplation of his life’s history, because of the lessons it has served to teach. Life is a school, and experience a teacher. The Christian whose presence in this school has been continued during a long course of years, cannot but be indebted to its teacher for rich stores of truth and wisdom. IV. The aged disciple is happy in the continued possession of his life’s chief good. Not so is it with the man whom the grey hairs and the tottering steps of age find still in his sins. He has outlived even the meagre enjoyments embraced in the experience of the worldling.… The aged disciple of Jesus has not thus survived his life’s chief good. That which was years ago chosen as the chief portion of his soul is still the light and joy of his being. Though his hold on earthly pleasures was long ago relinquished, those connected with the smiles of a Saviour’s countenance, and the experience of a Saviour’s love, are his in the fullest measure. Who, then, would not desire the old age of the Christian? V. The aged disciple is happy in the near prospect of realising his life’s brightest hopes. In this respect also his experience is very different from that of the aged transgressor. He who has pursued the pathway of sin until he stands with the white locks, wrinkled features, and bowed form of an old man on the brink of the grave, has survived the death of all his hopes.… Turn your thoughts now to the aged follower of the Lamb. The present, instead of being the darkest and saddest period in his history, is the brightest and happiest. He is weary with his long journeying, but happy in the thought that the next tottering step may introduce him to a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Verily the old age of the Christian, marked by infirmity and weakness though it be, is a bright and happy period in his history. “When I am old and grey-headed, O God, forsake me not.” Aged disciple of Jesus! you have reason for the profoundest gratitude that yours is the old age of the Christian!—Jesse Guernsey. Abridged from The Preacher’s Treasury. Superscription.—“A Psalm for Solomon.” Margin: “Of Solomon.” Hengstenberg: “Solomon is named in the title as the author of the Psalm. Attempts have been made, to no purpose, to interpret μִ ?ωְׁ ?μξֹ ?δ here, as in Psalms 127, in another sense. The μ, when it occurs as in the titles, without anything to limit its application, always indicates, as here, the author. In favour of the announcement in the title, we have first the remarkably objective character of the Psalm, common to it with the other writings of Solomon, and in striking contrast to that flow of feeling which forms such a marked feature in the Psalms of David. And, in the second place, there is also the fact that it is the circumstances of Solomon’s time that form the groundwork of the Psalm.”We have in the Psalm a picture of the character and extent of the sovereignty of the Messiah. “Solomon, when at the height of his own power,” says Canon Liddon, “sketches a Superhuman King, ruling an empire which in its character and in its compass altogether transcends his own. The extremest boundaries of the Kingdom of Israel melt away before the gaze of the Psalmist. The new kingdom reaches ‘from sea to sea, and from the flood unto the world’s end’ (Psalms 72:8). It reaches from each frontier of the Promised Land to the remotest regions of the known world in the opposite quarter. From the Mediterranean it extends to the ocean that washes the shores of Eastern Asia; from the Euphrates to the utmost West. At the feet of its mighty Monarch, all who are most inaccessible to the arms or the influence of Israel hasten to tender their voluntary submission. The wild sons of the desert (Psalms 72:9), the merchants of Tarshish in the then distant Spain, the islanders of the Mediterranean, the Arab chiefs, the wealthy Nubians (Psalms 72:10), are foremost in proffering their homage and fealty. But all kings are at last to fall down in submission before the Ruler of the new kingdom; all nations are to do Him service (Psalms 72:11). His empire is to be co-extensive with the world: it is also to be co-enduring with time (Psalms 72:17). His empire is to be spiritual; it is to confer peace on the world, but by righteousness (Psalms 72:3). The King will Himself secure righteou judgment (Psalms 72:2; Psalms 72:4), salvation (Psalms 72:4; Psalms 72:13), deliverance (Psalms 72:12), redemption (Psalms 72:14), to His subjects. The needy, the afflicted, the friendless, will be the especial objects of His tender care (Psalms 72:12-13). His appearance in the world will be like the descent of ‘the rain upon the mown grass’ (Psalms 72:6); the true life of man seems to have been killed out, but it is yet capable of being restored by Him. He himself, it is hinted, will be out of sight; but His Name will endure for ever; His Name will ‘propagate’; and men shall be blessed in Him to the end of time (Psalms 72:17). This King is immortal; He is also all-knowing and all-mighty. ‘Omniscience alone can hear the cry of every human heart; Omnipotence alone can bring deliverance to every human sufferer.’ ”Looking at the Psalm homiletically we see in it A Prayer for Kings (Psalms 72:1), The Glorious Reign of the Messiah (Psalms 72:2; Psalms 72:17), and the Doxology.A PRAYER FOR KINGS(Psalms 72:1.) This brief prayer for the king suggests— I. The character of a true king. It is clearly implied that he should be righteous. “Give Thy righteousness unto the king’s son.” Kings should be righteous in heart, in aims, in actions. They are bound to this,— 1. By obligations which are common to all men. Kings as much as their subjects are required “to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” The eternal and immutable laws of God for moral beings are as binding upon the mightiest sovereign as upon the meanest subject. 2. By obligations which are special to men of high position. Their example is incomparably more influential than that of those who occupy less conspicuous, or obscure positions. “The people are fashioned,” says Claudian, “according to the example of their king; and edicts are of less power than the model which his life exhibits.” “A sovereign’s great example forms a people;The public breast is noble, or is vile,As he inspires it.”—Mallet.Hence kings are under special obligations to “wear the white flower of a blameless life.” “King-becoming gracesAre justice, verity, temperance, stableness,Bounty, perseverance, mercy, lowliness,Devotion, patience, courage, fortitude.”—Shakespeare.“He’s a king,A true right king, who dares do aught, save wrong;Fears nothing mortal, but to be unjust;Who is not blown up with the flatt’ring puffsOf spongy sycophants; who stands unmoved,Despite the jostling of opinion;Who can enjoy himself, maugre the throngThat strive to press the quiet out of him;Who sits upon Jove’s footstool as I do,Adorning, not affecting, majesty;Whose brow is wreathed with the silver crownOf clear content.”—Marston.“He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” II. The function of a true king. It is implied that his business is to administer justice. “Give the king Thy judgments, O God.” The “judgments” are the legal decisions, or sentences. The judgments of God are contrasted with those which the king gives independently. “The essence of all justice lies in the conformity of the decisions of the earthly judge to the decisions of the heavenly Lord of Justice.” Barnes: “It is one of the primary ideas of the character of a king that he is the fountain of justice; the maker of the laws; the dispenser of right to all his subjects. The officers of the law administer justice under him; the last appeal is to him.” The true administrators of justice are “persuaded that justice is God’s own work, and themselves His agents in this business,—the sentence, of right, God’s own verdict, and themselves His priests to deliver it.” (Comp. Deuteronomy 1:17; 2 Chronicles 19:6; Proverbs 8:15.) “A monarch should beHeaven’s true vicegerent, whose superior soulRaised high above the tyrant’s selfish poorness,Pants but for power of doing good, rejectsAll power of doing ill; who makes no warBut to revenge his people’s wrongs; no peaceBut what secures their safety; courts no fameBut from their happiness: a parent he,The public parent—they not slaves, but sons.”—Mallet.Or, as Tennyson portrays him— “Who reverenced his conscience as his king;Whose glory was, redressing human wrong;Who spake no slander, no, nor listen’d to it;Who loved one only, and who clave to her.”“The king that faithfully judgeth the poor, his throne shall be established for ever.” The kingdom whose rulers are not characterised by righteousness, and whose judges are not just, must hasten to its overthrow. III. The need of a true king. It is implied in the text that he needs— 1. Divine guidance. “Give the king Thy judgments, O God.” If kings are to exercise the functions of their high office truly and wisely, they must be instructed and strengthened from above. When “the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” rests upon kings, their rule shall be righteous, their throne secure, and their subjects happy. (Comp. Isaiah 11:2-5.) 2. Divine grace. “Give Thy righteousness unto the king’s son.” Righteousness is not innate in kings. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Righteousness must come to them as the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and must be sought and obtained by faith, &c. Very great is the need of kings of the constant help of God. Their temptations are many and very powerful; they stand in slippery places; their exaltation has a tendency to unsettle their moral equilibrium, &c. They need the guidance and support of the Divine hand. IV. The duty of subjects. We may make this our prayer for our rulers:—“Give the king Thy judgments, O God,” &c. Every subject ought to pray for the blessing of God upon his sovereign. M. Henry: “Those who would live quiet and peaceable lives must pray for kings and all in authority, that God would give them His judgments and righteousness.” Let us pray God with His favour to behold all the rulers of men, and so replenish them with the grace of His Holy Spirit, that they may alway incline to His will and walk in His way. THE REIGN OF THE MESSIAH(Psalms 72:2-17.) That these splendid utterances cannot be applied merely to the kingdom of Solomon, or of any of his successors, must be obvious even to the most superficial reader. That they are prophetic of the kingdom of the Messiah will also be obvious, we think, to every one who thoughtfully regards them. Consider— I. The blessings of His reign. Several of these are here specified. 1. The administration of justice. “He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment. He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.” (See remarks in the preceding sketch on the function of a true king.) Eloquently has Isaiah portrayed the character of the Messianic administration (Psalms 11:1-5). 2. The enjoyment of peace. “The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness.” Mountains and hills are characteristic features of Palestine. In ancient times these were terraced and cultivated as far up as possible. In the representation of this peace by the Psalmist we have three ideas. (1) Prevalence. The mountains and hills by reason of their number and prominence are well fitted to express the idea that the land everywhere shall be full of peace. There shall be “abundance of peace.” The war drum shall no longer throb, and the battle flag shall be for ever furled. Men “shall beat their swords into ploughshares,” &c. Strife and bitterness between different classes of society shall be no more. Peace in man’s own being. Peace between man and man. Peace between God and man. (2) Reality. “Peace by righteousness.” The peace which is not rooted in righteousness is spurious and deceptive. True peace is the product and consequence of righteousness. It is so in the individual. “Being justified by faith we have peace with God,” &c. It is so also in society and in nations. Christ is “the Prince of Peace,” because He “reigns in righteousness.” (3) Permanence. The spurious peace which is not rooted in righteousness is of short duration. The true peace, which is “by righteousness,” shall last. Like its Author, it is abiding, everlasting. What an unspeakably precious boon is this Divine peace! 3. The progress of religion (Psalms 72:5-7). We have three conspicuous features of true religion. (1) Reverence towards God. “They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.” One of the blessed effects of the glorious reign of the Messiah is that God will be regarded by man with the deepest reverence. And this reverence shall be perpetual. Generations of men come and go— “Like the snowfall in the river,A moment white—then melts for ever.”But the sun and moon remain and shine through all generations while they remain, God shall be reverenced by man. And when they are no more, even for ever, shall He be feared. (2) Refreshment from God. “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth.” A beautiful illustration of Divine influences— “As rain on meadows newly mown,So shall He send His influence down;His grace on fainting souls distils,Like heavenly dew on thirsty hills.”—Watts.The showers that water the earth tend to produce life, beauty, and fruit. In this they symbolise the gracious influences of the reign of Jesus Christ. (3) Growth towards God. “In His days shall the righteous flourish.” As the mown grass springs into vigorous and beauteous growth after genial showers, so the righteous in His day shall grow and prosper; they shall bring forth “fruit unto holiness.” If they have been depressed, by His blessing they shall be revived and strengthened. Their faith and love and obedience, their consecration and zeal and sanctity, their truth and tenderness and power, all shall increase. What an inspiring and glorious prospect this is! Evil shall not always lord it over good, &c. 4. Beneficent government. We have already made some remarks on the righteousness of His administration, but we return to it, because the Psalmist gives special prominence to His treatment of the poor and the oppressed. Three characteristics at least of that treatment he sets before us. (1) He regards the cry of the needy and helpless. “He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.” Not even the most obscure or despised of men shall cry to Him in vain. (2) He champions their cause. “He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence.” He will befriend the friendless, will be the Helper of the helpless, and the Protector of the defenceless. “His administration will have special respect to those who are commonly overlooked, and who are exposed to oppression and wrong.” (3) He prizes their life. “And precious shall their blood be in His sight.” In His sight men are precious not in proportion to their rank or wealth or power, but according to their character. “The Lord knoweth them that are His,” and holds them dear to Him. He guards His subjects well because He loves them well. “Christ is the poor man’s King.” 5. Abundant prosperity. “There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains, the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the field.” The word—τִּ ?ρָּ ?δ—translated “handful,” is rendered abundance by Conant, Gesenius, Hengstenberg, Moll, et al. Fuerst gives as its meaning, superabundance. Abundance of corn is the sign of abundant prosperity. As the mountains are prominent and picturesque, so the signs of the prosperity would be conspicuous and beautiful. The cities also shall be populous and prosperous. Beauty, plenty, and joy, shall be universally diffused throughout the dominions of the Messiah. An historical basis of the ideas of prosperity presented in this verse is found in the time of Solomon, and recorded in 1 Kings 4:20. (For further treatment of Psa 72:16, see below.) Such, in brief, are some of the more prominent blessings of the reign of the Christ. Consider— II. The universality of His reign (Psalms 72:8-11). 1. He shall reign over all classes. The wanderers of the desert and the kings of wealthy and famous cities shall bow to the sway of the Lord Jesus. Rich and poor, learned and illiterate, distinguished and obscure, great and small, men of all ranks and conditions, shall loyally call Jesus Lord. 2. He shall reign in all places. “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” For an historical basis of the statements in Psalms 72:8-10, see 1 Kings 4:21. Applying the words of Psa 72:8, to the kingdom of the Messiah we are not, it seems to us, to fix upon any particular sea or river. M. Henry: “No sea, no river, is named, that it might, by these proverbial expressions, intimate the universal monarchy of the Lord Jesus.” Hengstenberg: “The dominion of this king extends from any one sea to any other sea, and from any river even to the ends of the earth—it is a kingdom of boundless extent.” “All nations shall serve Him.” (Comp. Revelation 11:15.) And His dominion shall be as secure as it is wide, as real as it is extensive All His foes shall be completely subdued unto Him. “His enemies shall lick the dust,” in token of reverence and submission to Him. Mark the reason of this universal and complete sovereignty. The Psalmist gives it in Psalms 72:12-14. Perowne: “The reason is given why all kings and nations should thus do homage to Him who sits on David’s throne. He has merited such submission by the exercise of every royal virtue, by the justice and the mercy of His sway, by His deep sympathy with, and compassion for, the poor, by the protection which He extends to them against the ministers of fraud and violence. It is not that He merely covers with the shadow of His throne all neighbouring nations, and is acknowledged as their political head, but that the bright example which He sets, the majesty of righteousness enthroned in His person, compels all to bow before Him.” III. The perpetuity of His reign. “They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.… His name shall endure for ever; His name shall be continued as long as the sun.” Margin: “Shall be as a son to continue his father’s name for ever.” Conant: “As long as the sun shall His name flourish.” Moll: “Before the sun let His name sprout.” The idea seems to be that the name of the king would be always acquiring fresh renown by His new deeds on behalf of His subjects. Through all the coming generations of men new glories shall break forth for His name, in which all nations may bless themselves. The reign of Jesus will be perpetual. “His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is from generation to generation.” The perpetuity of His reign is guaranteed by— 1. The declarations of God’s Word (Psalms 45:6; Psalms 89:36; Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 4:3; Revelation 11:15). 2. The character of His sovereignty. He rules in the hearts of His subjects, by the force of truth, righteousness, and love. The loyalty and service which they render to Him are voluntary and joyous. IV. The praise of His reign. The Psalmist represents this as presented to the king in various forms. It is expressed by— 1. Rendering homage to Him. “They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before Him, and His enemies shall lick the dust. Yea, all kings shall fall down before Him.” 2. Rendering service to Him. “All nations shall serve Him.” His subjects will praise Him not only by forms and expressions of homage, but by loyal obedience also. Their hearty submission to Him will be manifest in their devoted service. 3. Paying tribute to Him. “The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. To Him shall be given of the gold of Sheba.” The day is surely coming when men everywhere shall gladly lay their best and most treasured possessions at His feet. Genius, eloquence, power, riches, shall all be heartily rendered to Him. 4. Ascribing blessing to Him. “Prayer also shall be made for Him continually, and daily shall He be praised. And men shall be blessed in Him: all nations shall call Him blessed.” The prayer is made “not for Him personally, but for the success of His reign—for the extension of His kingdom. Prayer made for that is made for Him, for He is identified with that.” Instead of “men shall be blessed in Him,” many render: “Shall bless themselves in Him;” and interpret it as the expression of admiration of His blessedness, and desire to be blessed as He is. Daily men praise Him. And the time approaches when men of every nation shall constantly ascribe to Him all power, and dominion, and glory, and blessing; their lives shall become grateful, adoring, and songful; from all peoples, and from all places, praise shall ascend to the Saviour-King. .— 1. Let the enemies of Christ submit themselves cheerfully to Him as their King. Manifestly it is both their duty and their interest to do so. 2. Let His loyal subjects take encouragement from the sure and glorious prospect of His reign. The sin and strife and sorrow of the race will have an end. The kingdom of holiness, peace, and joy will be universal and perpetual. Here is encouragement to work and wait, to pray and hope. “O’er every foe victorious,He on His throne shall rest:From age to age more glorious,All blessing and all bless’d.“The tide of time shall neverHis covenant remove:His name shall stand for ever!That name to us is—LOVE.”—Montgomery.PEACE BY POWER(Psalms 72:3.) “The mountains shall bring peace.” The writer of this Hebrew ode finds the peaceful in the grand—rest in greatness. Our doctrine is, that the quiet of the human soul is to be honestly found, not in descending to its lower or lessforcible states, but in the freedom of its highest qualities, and through its stronger exercises: or, that Christian peace is an attainment of the spiritual energies, and not a mere acquiescence in inferiority. When the Saviour speaks of the ultimate result of His religion in the single heart or in the world, He calls it Peace; “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give unto you.” But as soon as you look into the spirit and relations of His words, you see that in this peace there is something quite peculiar. He says, “My peace.” It is a peace obtained by the drops of blood and the cross; Gethsemane and Calvary; by a life in which there was no place to lay the head. It is not a mere constitutional, negative, nor any superficial peace: it is not what we call pleasure, nor a happy temperament, nor gratified sensibilities, nor satiated appetites. It is something deeper and stronger. It is an attainment; it is a victory; it is tribulation overcome. It is the mightiest powers of our nature balanced, reconciled, and harmonised at last, though we know not by what struggles and sufferings, till, by the perfect sway of one supreme principle of faith, there are the equipoise and serenity that pass all understanding. The three obvious attributes of mountains are elevation, magnitude, and permanency. Out of these three several characters comes an influence of peace. In just such attributes of strength, human character, also, is to find its moral balance, its real peace, viz., in its aspiration, its largeness, its constancy. Man is high with his devotional affections, his prayers; wide with his practical principles; and steadfast with his convictions. Or, he is high with his spirit, wide with his will, and steadfast with his reason. With these three properly adjusted, you will have a general effect of serenity; because such a man will live in a certain equipoise within himself, centred and completed according to the grand designs of his Creator, as a creature belonging both to the world and heaven. He reaches up into the infinite mystery that broods like a sea of conscious life about him. He reaches out, in all liberal fellowships, to mankind, with a love that cannot narrow into hatred, nor be fretted into war; and he rests firmly on eternal foundations. And thus, on all sides—God-ward, and man-ward, and self-ward—so far as man can, he resides in the securities of a well-defended peace. Spiritual serenity, then, is spiritual strength. It comes in by no softness of sentiment, but by thorough work. It comes by a faith that emboldens and energises the whole soul, a penitence that searches and strains it, and often a secret fight of afflictions. Christianity is a robust religion. It was planted in the world by a race of heroes.… Take any one of these three traits just mentioned away, and, besides what other ruin you make, you most disastrously disturb the peace.… On whichever side you enfeeble man, you unbalance and torture him. Proceed to some examples, in other regions of life, how peace depends on power. In literary expression, the effect of pathos is finest in thinkers habitually severe. What saves sentiment from sentimentality is the feeling of a firm intellectual fibre through the emotion. Persons who have been in the strain and peril of some moral or civil revolution, wounded with real weapons, and compacted by times of terror, if they have benignant qualities, impress us in that way far more than is possible for men of softer discipline. Tenderness is doubly tender when we know a rugged and aggressive temper has been subdued to it by that rule over the spirit which is mightier than the taking of cities. It is familiar how bereavements, which are the storms of the soul, prepare the way for religious tranquility. Crosses bring calmness.… In the solemn portrait-galleries of history, the serenest faces are the saddest—where peace has not been inherited, but conquered. We have this union of power and tenderness eminently in such as Luther; … Again, in the great pacifications of empires, the same rule prevails. It takes the strongest heads to bring peace. Diplomacy has to summon her stoutest, clearest-sighted, and farthest-sighted ministers. The most intrepid are most pacific. Magnanimity makes no quarrels. Hence we come to discover in what order of persons we are to look for the noblest charity and the real consolation. We want our consolers to be, not only the subjects of pain, but its conquerors through their suffering. The more masculine your pity, the more it moves and melts. And when we speak of comfort, we are directed up to the Comforter.… What is the whole doctrine of that Spirit, in the New Testament, and in Paul? They represent Him as not only Comforter, but also and first, Rebuker, Renewer, and Sanctifier. All our peace is in God, who is not only the strongest, but Almighty. “The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.” Personal applications. 1. Learn never to be afraid of rugged and even painful experiences. “Great souls snatch vigour from the stormy air,While weaker natures Suffer and despair,Grief not the languor but the action brings,And spreads the horison but to nerve the wings.”2. A rule for “strengthening the brethren.” As we would comfort one another, we must try, with the apostle’s earnestness, to “endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ.” 3. Of how sterling worth is a form of religious belief which holds fast the stringent as well as the soothing doctrine of Christ’s evangelical teaching. The order of the universe is poised between justice and mercy; and it is not kindness, but the bitterest cruelty, which would unsettle that order, by giving us a Deity too doting to punish, and too fond too judge. 4. Learn the way of making our own eternal life secure. The New Testament speaks continually to us of salvation. By salvation Christ means such safety as lies in a sturdy and athletic power of character, will, heart, conscience, and intellect, got by daring to attempt great virtues and by incessant intrepidity. He holds up no lower standard than to be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect. He wins confidence by the very immensity of His demands. 5. We disturb the true spiritual order and invert God’s plan for us, whenever we go in search of peace first, and not holiness. “First pure, then peaceable:” that is the clearly-pronounced order and everlasting law of a disciple’s way.—F. D. Huntington, D.D. Abridged from Christian Believing and Living. THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD(Psalms 72:16.) Such figurative language as that of the text is frequently employed to describe the Gospel as a mere system of means, unlikely to accomplish the purpose contemplated, and yet as certain of ultimate success. Considering this language as referring to the Gospel, let us notice— I. The insignificance of its commencement. In Ezekiel’s vision of the waters issuing from the sanctuary, it is but “a little rill,” which takes its rise at the south side of the altar, just where the blood of the sacrifices overflow. In the vision of Nebuchadnezzar it is “a little stone,” cut out of the mountain without hands. And in the New Testament we find our Saviour comparing it to “a grain of mustard seed;” and to “a little leaven” hid in meal. In our text it is compared to “a handful of corn.” 1. Look at its commencement in the world. It was heralded by one who had not his abode in cities, who was not of the honourable of the earth, either as to wealth or learning; but one of stern and forbidding aspect, &c. Look at its Author; a poor carpenter’s son, belonging to the despised city of Nazareth; and to Him, He associates twelve of the poorest class of society. Yet to these twelve was committed the task of evangelising the world. 2. Look at the fewness of its doctrines. The first preachers of the Gospel went forth to proclaim a fact—that Jesus Christ had died for sinners—and from that fact they drew various inferences, and urged various duties upon men, and with these, as all that was necessary to accomplish their purpose, they went forth. 3. Look at its commencement in the heart. How insignificant are some of the means made use of. Perhaps it is a single word dropped from the lips of a preacher; sometimes it is the sight of a word in the Bible; sometimes even a look is enough; sometimes many are awakened by merely seeing others in concern, as in the great revival at Kilsyth, a century ago. II. Its unlikelihood of success. “An handful of corn in the earth on the top of the mountains.” How unlikely, how impossible, for it to yield a crop there. Yet such is the figure employed to represent the Gospel in the world. This language may point out— 1. The feebleness of its instrumentality. Soil found on the tops of mountains, both from its poverty and scarcity, would be a very unlikely instrument for yielding a crop of corn. So they who have been employed by God in diffusing the Gospel have not been such instruments as were likely in human estimation to accomplish its purposes. “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty.” He hath put the “treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God.” The first preachers of the cross were a few fishermen. 2. The difficulties it has to surmount. Corn sown on the top of a mountain would not be likely to yield a crop, on account of the adverse influences it would have to encounter. There would not only be the unfitness and scarcity of the soil itself; there would be the want of solar heat, its exposed situation, open to every current of air and to all the storms of the sky; and as mountains are the first to attract the clouds, the teeming rain would likely wash down both seed and soil to the base beneath. The Gospel, in its first promulgation among men, had to encounter many obstacles. (1) It had to contend with long-established forms of error, … to encounter systems of superstition, which possessed a mighty influence over the minds of their votaries, because they had the argument of antiquity in their favour, and because they were the religious systems of their fathers. (2) It had to encounter those errors in an age of great refinement. This was the Augustan age of literature. It was at this time that some of the greatest minds that ever adorned our planet were shedding the light of learning, philosophy, and poetry around them, much of which is resplendent to the present day. How unlikely was the Gospel to make progress in such an age as this. Yet this was the period chosen. (3) The enmity of man’s nature is another obstacle which would then as now be presented to the progress of the Gospel. There is nothing in the doctrines or duties of the Gospel which is at all congenial to man’s fallen nature. Its truths are foolishness to him. Its purity excites his enmity. (4) There is against the Gospel the combined powerful agency of the mighty and malicious prince of darkness and his numerous followers. This is a subject of frequent allusion to the early promoters of Christianity. III. Its glorious results. “The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon,” &c. These results are placed before us— 1. In the fertility that attends it. Wherever the waters of the Gospel flow, it turns the wilderness into a fruitful field, and makes the desert as “the garden of the Lord.” “Lovely tempers, fruits of grace,” everywhere attend the proclamation of the Gospel of peace. 2. In the beauty that adorns it. “Shake like Lebanon.” How beautiful the change which the Gospel has effected in every place in which it has been introduced. It has been alike successful in demolishing callous systems of philosophy and sanguinary superstition. What are those buildings which rear their fronts where once Druid temples were erected? They are asylums for the wretched, the sick, the destitute, and the dying. And to what do we owe the change? To the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Witness its triumphs also in the islands of the South Sea, in Africa, &c. 3. In the triumphs which it is destined universally to accomplish. “They of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.” Count the numbers of the blades of grass which are spread over the surface of this earth of ours: ou cannot! Neither can you count the numbers of the future converts of Zion. This language may also point out its rapid progress in the latter day. Grass is proverbially speedy in its growth. The triumphs of the Gospel will very soon be equally rapid. “The earth shall be made to bring forth in one day, and a nation be born at once.”—Abridged from One Hundred Sketches of Sermons. HOPE OPENED TO THE WORLD(Psalms 72:17.) “Men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed.” Hope, with respect to the world, affords some comfort to us, when viewing its affecting condition since the fall; and this spring of consolation we have opened to us in God’s word of promise. What a glorious time is the Psalmist looking forward to here! Observe— I. The objects regarded. “Men.” Not angels. While we have abundant cause to admire the grace of God in this; it must obviously be looked upon as bearing a striking impress of sovereignty. Men participated with devils in their guilt; yet not one of the latter is ever to be blessed (Hebrews 2:16; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6). II. The number included. “All nations.” How many nations are there in the world that never heard of Christ? How many, that have been deprived of the Gospel during a long series of ages? But this distinction among nations with respect to the means of salvation was never intended in the Divine mind to continue always (Matthew 24:14; Matthew 26:13; Mark 14:9; Mark 16:15). If little has been hitherto done for distant countries, it must be ascribed to the selfishness of men (Philippians 2:21). III. The exercise mentioned. “Call Him blessed.” The worth of Christ shall be universally sung; none shall be afraid to confess Him before men, or dare to offer any vain excuse for not yielding allegiance to Him; but from every tribe under heaven soldiers shall hasten to His standard and proclaim His honours. IV. The certainty expressed. “All nations shall call Him blessed.” This certainty may be argued from prophetic representation—from the dominion given to the Saviour—from the facilities afforded in the present day to missionary exertions—from the desires and expectations of the saints—and from the Divine threatenings against the powers of darkness.—W. Sleigh. (Psalms 72:18-20.) “Verses 18 and 19 do not belong to the Psalm, but contain the doxology which forms the conclusion of the second book.” This doxology is fuller than that which is appended to Psalms 41, at the close of the first book. The historical remark which constitutes Psalms 72:20 is no part either of the Psalm or of the doxology. It seems to have been attached to a collection of the Psalms of David, as distinguished from separate Psalms of his. Hengstenberg: “All the Psalms of David in the last two books are inserted as component parts into the later cycles. The subscription at the end of the second book must have been designed to separate the free and the bound, the scattered and the serial Psalms of David, from each other. Analogous in some measure is the subscription—‘At an end are the speeches of Job,’ in Job 31:40, which is not contradicted by the fact that Job appears again speaking, in chaps. 40 and 42; it should rather be regarded as serving to give us a light understanding of that formal conclusion.” In this doxology there are four leading homiletic points— I. The comprehensiveness of the praise. God is praised because— 1. Of what He is in Himself. “Blessed be the Lord God, and blessed be His glorious name.” Note the ideas conveyed by these terms. “Jehovah”—“the existing, i.e., He who has come into existence by nothing outside Himself, the continuing, permanent, everlasting; its antithesis or opposite being the non-real, the transitory, the nought.”—Fuerst. “God,” Elohim, the Almighty. “His glorious name,” perhaps referring particularly to Jehovah. “Still the prayer would be, that all the names by which He is known, all by which He has revealed Himself, might be regarded with veneration always and everywhere.” 2. Of what He is to His people. “The God of Israel.” He had entered into covenant relation with them. (See p. 205.) 3. Of what He does. “Who only doeth wondrous things.” (α) In creation. (β) In providence, (γ) In redemption. His wondrous redemptive work transcends even angelic intelligence. “Which things the angels desire to look into.” “The first-born sons of lightDesire in vain its depths to see;They cannot reach the mystery,The length and breadth and height.”His works are wondrous (1) In their power. (2) In their wisdom. (3) In their kindness. “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (4) In their significance. “No man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” Therefore, “Blessed be the Lord God,” &c. II. The perpetuity of the praise. “For ever.” “My days of praise shall ne’er be past,While life and thought and being last,Or immortality endures.”He is “the author of eternal salvation;” He calls us “to His eternal glory;” He promises an “eternal inheritance;” therefore, let His praise be eternal. “But O! eternity’s too shortTo utter all His praise.”III. The universality of the praise. “Let the whole earth be filled with His glory.” (Comp. Numbers 14:21.) This brief prayer involves two things— 1. That the whole earth may be filled with His blessing. “It is not a little favoured spot that the Psalmist regards; it is not an insulated portion of the globe that he would have fructified and converted into a paradise. It is not on his own garden or fields that he wishes the refreshing showers only to fall; but with a noble, expansive, and generous mind, he prays that the whole earth may be filled with God’s glory.” 2. That the whole earth may be filled with His praise. “Let every heart, and every mouth, and every assembly be filled with the high praises of God.” (See Malachi 1:11.) IV. The intensity of the praise. “Amen and Amen.” (See p. 205.) “May kindness, truth,Wisdom, and knowledge, liberty, and power,Virtue, and holiness o’erspread all orbs;the world be bliss and love;And heaven above be all things; till at lastThe music from all souls redeemed shall rise,Like a perpetual fountain of pure sound,Upspringing, sparkling in the silvery blue;From round creation to Thy feet, O God!”—P. J. Bailey. Superscription.—“A Psalm of Asaph,” or, as in the margin, “for Asaph.” See introduction to Psalms 50.Subject.—The mental difficulties arising from the contemplation of the temporal prosperity of the wicked and the adversity of the righteous under the government of God. “The Psalm is very nearly related to the 37 and 49, as far as its contents are concerned. Amyraldus took quite a correct view as to what distinguishes it from these Psalms, and forms its individual physiognomy. ‘In Psalms 37 the prophet merely shows how believers ought to conduct themselves when they perceive the prosperity of the ungodly: he himself did not stumble at it. But here Asaph, though a great and pious man, acknowledges that the providence of God in this respect did sometimes appear to him mysterious, and that he felt great difficulty in justifying it. Yea, from the beginning of this Psalm we see how he merged out of the deep thoughts into which his spirit, agitated and vexed by doubts, had sunk, until, in the end, better views obtained the ascendancy.… He has adopted this method in order that believers might contemplate, as in a picture, the conflict to which at times they are exposed, and might see what weapons they have to seise against the assaults of the flesh.’ ”—Hengstenberg.THE GOOD MAN’S OF GOD’S TO HIS PEOPLE(Psalms 73:1.) I. He indicates the character of God’s people. “Israel, … such as are of a clean heart.” The Psalmist held that “they were not all Israel which were of Israel; neither because they were the seed of Abraham were they all children.” He speaks not of those who were Israelites merely according to the flesh, but of those who in spirit and principle and conduct were “Israelites indeed.” The true Israelite was clean not only ceremonially, but also spiritually. So now the people of God are not those who merely claim to be “the elect” of God, or those who merely “profess and call themselves Christians,” or those who merely say unto Jesus Christ, “Lord, Lord;” but those who “do the will of the Father which is in heaven.” God requires of His people “truth in the inward parts.” 1. Man’s heart by nature it impure. 2. God has provided means for the purification of man’s heart. (Isaiah 1:18; Zechariah 13:1; 1 John 1:7-9.) 3. God requires man to avail himself of these means. (Isaiah 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Hebrews 12:14.) 4. The true people of God are complying with this requirement. II. He asserts God’s special goodness to His people. “God is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works;” but He is especially good to His own people. This may be seen in that,— 1. He over-rules all circumstances and events for their well-being. “Mercies and afflictions shall turn to their good; the most poisonous drugs shall be medicinal; the most cross providence shall carry on the design of their salvation.” “All things work together for good to them that love God.” 2. He guides and sustains them in this life (Psalms 73:23-24). “In the cloudy and dark day” He leads them wisely and safely, and when life’s “burden seems greater than their strength can bear,” He makes His grace to abound unto them. 3. He Himself is their everlasting portion and joy (Psalms 73:25-26). His presence breathes peace within them even amidst outward agitation and conflict, fills their heart with supernal music even amidst the most hoarse and tumultuous voices of the world, and so enriches their being that they feel that they have all things in Him. 4. He will receive them into ever-increasing glory (Psalms 73:24). The fulness of life and treasure, of joy and blessedness, which is reserved in heaven for them, is unspeakably great. “Truly God is good to Israel.” This Asaph had once doubted, sadly and painfully doubted. Now he doubts it no longer, but asserts it with the clear accent of deep conviction. He is confident that God is thus good to Israel,— 1. Notwithstanding all appearances tending to an opposite conclusion (Psalms 73:3-14.) 2. Notwithstanding his own dark doubts (Psalms 73:3; Psalms 73:11; Psalms 73:13). 3. As may be proved satisfactorily to men of sincere heart by many considerations, e.g., (α) Our ignorance (Psalms 73:22). We see only a small part of His ways. (β) The brevity of the prosperity of the wicked (Psalms 73:18-19). (γ) The vast superiority of the portion of the good man (Psalms 73:23-26). It is superior in its nature, duration, &c. THE OF THE WICKED(Psalms 73:2-14.) I. The temporal prosperity of the wicked is sometimes clearly manifest. 1. In their exemption from trouble. “They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.” It is not unfrequently the case that men who are living selfish and sinful lives appear enjoy to complete immunity from the sufferings and trials to which the great majority of men are subjected. It almost seems as though there had been some special interposition of Providence in their favour, warding away from them “the ills that flesh is heir to.” They are the most ill-deserving, yet they have the best portion. To unaided human reason this is an inexplicable anomaly; but to the meek believer “there ariseth light in the darkness.” There are stones which are so common that no lapidary will attempt to cut or polish them into brilliance and beauty. There are others which they manipulate with fond care and patient enthusiasm. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,” &c. 2. In the gratification of their desires. “Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish.” Their luxury and self-indulgence are so great that they are manifest in their countenance, and especially in their eyes. The face, that index of the soul, proclaims to all observers the nature of their portion and its plenteousness. They “fare sumptuously every day.” The crumbs which fall from their table would be a feast in the eyes of many a poor saint. “Their wishes are gratified, and more; their very greediness is exceeded; they call for water, and the world gives them milk; they ask for hundreds, and thousands are lavished at their feet.” 3. In the increase of their possessions. They “prosper in the world; they increase in riches.” They are like the rich man whose grounds brought forth so plentifully that he had not where to bestow his fruits and goods. Their harvests are not injured by blight or mildew or storm; their vessels are not wrecked at sea; their business is not ruined by losses or the failures of other men. Swiftly and surely “they increase in riches.” Such was the temporal prosperity of the wicked which met the eye, and arrested the attention, and troubled the soul of the Psalmist. It was unmistakably great and manifest. II. The temporal prosperity of the wicked is sometimes continued even to the very end of life. It might have been thought that as they drew near to the end of life their peace and pleasure would have been exchanged for anxiety and pain; and that their death would be marked by remorse and dread. But “there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm,” Their prosperity apparently endures to the very last moment of their life in this world. They have lived in pleasure, and they die in peace. Their spiritual sensibilities are so blunted that death and eternity make no impression upon them. Or their hearts have become “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Or they delude themselves with false hopes, and “believe a lie.” III. The temporal prosperity of the wicked has an injurious effect upon their character. 1. It generates pride. “Pride compasseth them about as a chain; … they speak loftily.” Their temporal prosperity awoke in them no feeling of gratitude, no humble sense of want of desert; but a conceited notion and feeling that they were incomparably superior to other men. When prosperity humbles us with the feeling of our unworthiness it is truly a blessing; when it leads us to ask, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits to me?” it is enriching our souls. But when by reason of it we are inflated with presumption and pride it becomes to us a great curse. How vain and mistaken is pride of wealth even in the man of greatest possessions! 2. It generates tyranny and violence. “Violence covereth them as a garment; … they speak wickedly concerning oppression.” Their own prosperity, which should have made them generous and kind to the unfortunate, made them violent and tyrannical. Violence was their habit; they wore it as a garment. They oppressed the poor, and, so far from feeling ashamed of themselves for so doing, or having any misgivings as to their conduct, they boasted of it, they gloried in it. They were tyrannical, and paraded their tyranny. They were cruel, and exulted in their cruelty. Such conduct reveals the meanness and cowardice of their nature, and stamps them as belonging to the basest and blackest of the race of evil-doers. 3. It generates blasphemy. “They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.” So far are they from acknowledging God as the Author of their prosperity that they speak against Him. They are so puffed up that they imagine themselves independent of God and masters of the world; and they blaspheme His name. Surely such sinners—proud, oppressive, violent, blasphemous sinners—are ripening for destruction. Sure as there is justice in the universe, sooner or later it must smite them, unless they turn from their evil way. They are “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath.” The temporal prosperity of these men is not to blame for their wickedness. In the nature of prosperity itself there is nothing fitted to deprave human character. On the other hand, it has often been the means of great spiritual blessing. Nor in granting such prosperity does God design the corruption or hardening of human hearts. All His designs aim at human blessedness. It is the depraved heart of man that perverts the blessing of temporal prosperity and educes so much evil from it. Sinful man can pervert the bread of life into rankest poison, and even “turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.” IV. The temporal prosperity of the wicked is a great trial to the people of God. 1. It generates painful doubts concerning Him. As they reflect upon the prosperity of these wicked men they say, “How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?” Can it be that God sees all this prosperity and all this wickedness, and yet allows it? If He knew these apparently great anomalies which perplex and distress His people, would He not prevent them? It is difficult at times for a thoughtful mind to believe in the omniscience of an Almighty and righteous and good God. And the contemplation of good men suffering, and outrageously wicked men triumphing, frequently occasions such doubt. 2. It generates doubts as to the value of religion. Asaph felt that he had “cleansed his heart” in vain, and “washed his hands in innocency” in vain. It seemed to him that it was of no use that he had striven after purity in his inner and outer life. 3. Occasions great sorrow to them. “His people return hither, and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.” They returned again and again to the contemplation of this subject, and as often as they returned they would drink deep draughts of sorrow. The mysteries of Providence are sometimes painful to believers; and when faith is sorely tried in any matter that pertains to God, great is the grief of His people. Asaph was frequently and greatly afflicted. “All the day long he was plagued, and chastened every morning;” while the proud rebels were exulting in their prosperity. 4. Imperils their spiritual safety. The Psalmist felt that his “feet were almost gone, his steps had well-nigh slipped.” His faith almost failed him in his great trial; unbelief was almost victorious. .— 1. Let those who are prospering temporally learn to grasp their blessings with a grateful hand, and to dispense them with a generous hand, lest they become a curse to them. 2. Let the proud sinner humble himself penitently before God and sue for mercy ere it is too late. 3. Let the perplexed saint learn with patience to wait till God explains the mysteries of His government. “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” CRISES IN THE LIFE(Psalms 73:2.) Considering these crises as illustrated by this of Asaph’s, we remark— I. That they are sometimes occasioned by the providence of God. It was so in the case before us. Nearly every thoughtful person has felt the difficulty which perplexed the Psalmist. So also when useful and valued lives are cut off in the midst of their days, while hoary-headed sinners are left cumbering the ground, or afflicted saints who long for release are left to linger here in pain;—or when generous and diligently prosecuted plans of usefulness end in apparent failure, while selfish and evil projects succeed, our faith in the government of God is sorely shaken. Ah! there are times when the working out of the arrangements of Providence leads us to cry out, “How doth God know?” &c. At such times nothing seems real, everything eludes our grasp, we can obtain no sure footing, &c. These crises of the inner life are sometimes occasioned by temptations in business, or in society, or in solitude; the temptation is real, has great influence over us, we are on the point of yielding, our “feet are almost gone,” &c. II. That they are painful to the soul. Asaph tried to overcome his doubts and fears, but his speculations were all baffled, his reason was overmatched, and his heart was pained. His greatest suffering was in this, that he was “perplexed in reference to his God.” To a true man doubt as to God’s character and government is ever a distressing thing. Only fools glory in doubting, criticising, and denying the great truths which are the stay of human hearts. He who parades his doubts has never experienced true faith, and his doubts are unreal or he could not parade them. Such sham doubts never cause any spiritual crises. The doubts of a living soul are faith in conflict with difficulties, faith fighting against such aspects and interpretations of life, and against such arguments that threaten her life. Such struggles of faith are always painful. To the sincere soul to doubt God’s wisdom, righteousness, and love, is unspeakable anguish. III. That they are surmounted in communion with God. In drawing near to God the Psalmist received such revelations as strengthened his faith and hope, and such inspirations as gave calmness and joy to his heart (Psalms 73:17). In fellowship with God mental difficulties vanish, temptations lose their power, spiritual perils cease. “The meek will He guide in judgment,” &c. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him,” &c. “Such as are of a clean heart” will surely pass victoriously from the darkness and pain of doubt into the light and joy of assured confidence. “Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds,At last he beats his music out.”Take your doubts to God, tell Him of your temptations, hide yourself in Him in the time of danger, and you will come out of every trial and crisis of your inner life more than conqueror. Our subject urges the importance of— 1. Watchfulness, lest we fall. 2. Maintaining purity of heart and righteousness of life. Integrity, truthfulness, love, are ever right and beautiful. In the densest mental darkness cleave to these things. “If any man will do His will he shall know of the doctrine,” &c. 3. Seeking fellowship with the best and highest, especially with God Himself. If trouble, and doubt, and pain send us “into the sanctuary of God” to seek help, they will prove blessings in disguise. If the great trials of our spiritual life are the means of bringing us nearer to the heart of God, they will turn out to be our greatest blessings. THE VALUE OF DYING (Psalms 73:4.) The calm deaths of the wicked perplexed the Psalmist. They not only lived in pleasure; they also died with ease. Let us consider The Value of Dying Experiences— I. The calm death of the wicked is no proof of Divine support. Such calmness may arise from— 1. Unconcern. Their spiritual susceptibilities may be so blunted, and their spiritual faculties so enervated, that they have no lively apprehensions of the spiritual and eternal state though they are so near to it. “Conscience may be cold and dead, so that when the man comes to die he is utterly callous to the unseen things of God’s other world, and his friends say that he died like a lamb.” “Like brutes they live, like brutes they die.” Such a death may be quiet, but it is unspeakably terrible. Such unconcern is more deplorable than wild alarm. Think of the man when the unconcern is broken! 2. Hardihood. “Careless persons become case-hardened, and continue presumptuously secure even to the last.” There have been persons so hardened in profanity and crime that they have determined, to quote their own words, “to die game.” Lord Byron asked, “ ‘Shall I sue for mercy?’ After a long pause he added, ‘Come, come, no weakness, let’s be a man to the last’ ” 3. False and presumptuous hopes in Divine mercy. We have known persons who have neglected God and His service all their life, and who, when remonstrated with have said, “God is merciful; if when we come to die we ask Him to save us, He will do so.” And in such a state they have died. But theirs was not Christian faith or hope, but sinful presumption. And they encouraged the presumption until they accepted the delusion as reality, and believed the lie to be true (Proverbs 11:7). II. Shrinking and fear on the part of the righteous as they approach death are no proof that the divine support is withdrawn. In the last hours, pain and a sense of the solemnity of the great change may be a sore trial to the child of God. Our Lord Himself as He drew near to death cried out in mysterious and awful anguish of spirit. We need not then be surprised if His humble followers cry out as they draw near to the awful bourn.—This point is admirably illustrated in Christian and Hopeful passing through the river of death, in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. III. The most precious religious testimonies of the dying are poor compared with the testimony of a useful and godly life. I would not in the least undervalue the testimonies of dying men to the truth of Christianity, or to the faithfulness of God, or to the preciousness of Christ. To loving friends and relatives such testimonies are unspeakably precious. Some of these testimonies are held as a sacred possession by the Christian Church at large. (See an excellent collection of them in The Dict. of Illus. Prose, Dickinson.) But we hold that they are not to be compared with the testimony of the life. What are a few dying words, however beautiful and precious, to years of holy living and useful working? Moreover, the mental state of the dying is often affected by the nature of the disease, or by the medicines administered. 1. Learn to estimate truly the worth of death-bed scenes and testimonies. A quiet death is no more a proof of God’s favour than a life of temporal prosperity. 2. Learn to live devoutly and righteously, because so to live is the will of God. A GREAT OF ALL MEN AND A GREAT MISTAKE OF SOME MEN(Psalms 73:13.) I. A great necessity of all men. Purity of heart and life. “My heart,” my inner life “my hands”, my outer life. Heart and hands represent spirit and conduct. Asaph had sincerely striven after purity in both. His words imply— 1. Consciousness of impurity in heart and life. 2. Knowledge of a cleansing element or influence (Isaiah 1:18; Zechariah 13:1; Hebrews 9:13-14; 1 John 1:7; 1 John 1:9). 3. Personal application of this element or influence. (Isaiah 1:16; Revelation 7:14.) II. A great mistake of some men. “In vain.” In this Asaph was mistaken; for, 1. In itself purity is better than impurity. 2. The desire and effort to attain purity enrich and strengthen the soul. 3. The reward of purity is spiritual, not material, and is largely realised in the present. 4. The reward of purity is to a great extent in the future. THE OF A SOUL FROM TO VICTORY(Psalms 73:15-17.) The passage of the Poet from doubt to confidence as here set before us was marked by— I. Thoughtful consideration of others. Asaph felt that, if he published his inward doubts, and made known the dark suggestions which occurred to him, and the painful experiences through which he passed, he would be acting wrongly towards God’s people. All his trouble he kept to himself, lest by making it known he should injure the children of God. Doubtless there are times when we may and even ought to speak of our mental perplexities. We may speak of them with a view of obtaining help to overcome them. To those who, by reason of large spiritual experience, or patient and devout study, or eminent piety, are able to assist us in solving the enigmas which perplex us, we may advantageously speak of our difficulties and doubts. We may speak of them with the view of affording help to others who may be engaged in the conflict. If we have overcome our difficulties and have entered into rest, the story of our battle and victory may nerve the heart of some brother who is fighting a similar battle. If we know such an one let us tell him of the trial of our faith, and how we overcame, and “what God hath done for our soul.” But we may not speak of them to those who are strangers to such questionings. Untold mischief may be the result if we do. We have no right to infect others with the doubts which distress us. And without this kindly consideration of others, which the Psalmist exercised, we shall not be likely to attain the victory over our own doubts. Let us be ever ready to speak wise and helpful words, which may tend to increase men’s faith and hope; but let us bear our own pain in silence rather than obtain relief by communicating our doubts to those who are strangers to such experiences, and thereby injuring them perhaps irremediably. “O thou that after toil and stormMayst seem to have reach’d a purer air,Whose faith has centre everywhere,Nor cares to fix itself to form;“Leave thou thy sister when she prays,Her early Heaven, her happy views;Nor thou with shadow’d hint confuseA life that leads melodious days.”—Tennyson.II. Personal effort for himself. According to Psalms 73:16, the Psalmist made earnest efforts to overcome his mental difficulties, but without success. He looked at the subject in many aspects, he approached it from various directions, he considered carefully the respective portions of it, he reasoned with himself concerning it; but he could not overcome his doubts. His perplexities remained in full force. The enigma still confronted him, sphinx-like and distressing. Human reason is unable to fully understand the workings of Divine Providence. Its mysteries and seeming anomalies arouse many inquiries to which we are utterly unable to give any satisfactory response. We think to know this, but it is too painful for us. Nor is this surprising, when we consider— 1. Our proneness to error. We are liable to err in judgment Our moral imperfections prevent us from obtaining clear views of spiritual truth. At times bodily suffering and mental distress lead us to meditate almost exclusively upon the pain and travail of life; we close our eyes to its brightness and beauty and joy. In all ages mankind has exhibited an extraordinary willingness to “follow cunningly-devised fables;” and even sincere truth-seekers have often wandered into strange districts of error and untruth. 2. The vast disparity between the student and the subject of investigation. We strive to comprehend “eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to man;” and “we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon the earth are as a shadow.” The great plan of God’s government is so vast and complicated, it has already been in operation so long, it is destined to continue to operate so long, and the span of its operations is so wide that we can only see a very small portion of its working. In our endeavour to interpret His way and work we are speedily baffled and bewildered, while He calmly carries forward the development of His great plans and purposes, leaving us to work and wait with patience the unfolding of their significance. We see “parts of His ways; but how little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can understand?” “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare if thou hast understanding.” “O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” 3. The Divine reserve. Many things are intentionally hidden from us by God. “Secret things belong unto the Lord our God.” “Clouds and darkness are round about Him.” “His way is in the sea, and His path in the great waters, and His footsteps are not known.” Mystery is educational. It excites to inquiry and investigation. It promotes humility and reverence. Mystery is merciful. If the secret things were revealed to us the knowledge may be overwhelming. “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” III. Approach unto God. “The Psalmist goes here with the feet of his heart into the sanctuary, draws near to God, and gets from this clear fountain the insight which natural reason could not give him.” He sought fellowship with God, and in that fellowship he obtained the help which he needed. He entered the holy place of Divine communion, and there received such intelligence and inspiration as brought confidence and peace to his soul. 1. Light was imparted to him. The sinner’s portion and the saint’s heritage appeared to him in new and different aspects. He saw the perils which surround the wicked, and the fearful end which awaits them. He saw also the strong “right hand” that upholds, the infallible “counsel” that guides, and the exceeding “glory” that awaits the good; and he felt the vast superiority of the saint’s portion. God’s revelation in providence should be studied in the light which proceeds from His revelation in His Word. 2. His faith was increased. In communion with God Asaph saw clearly his own insufficiency and God’s all-sufficiency, and his faith grew strong. As he contemplated the revelations of the future which he received in the sanctuary of God his confidence waxed strong and triumphant. Communion with God imparts assurance and peace to the soul. In His presence doubt expires. 3. His heart was strengthened. He felt no longer pained and powerless, but strong and joyful. His troubled and almost-despairing wail has given place to a hymn of rest and gladness; for “God is the Rock of his heart, and his portion for ever.” .— 1. Let those who boast themselves in the strength of their reason learn how insufficient it is to comprehend the ways of God. 2. Let the perplexed and troubled child of God learn to seek help in communion with his Father—God. 3. Let us all cultivate a large and loyal trust in the providence of God. He doeth all things well. “I’m apt to think, the manThat could surround the sum of things, and spyThe heart of God and secrets of His empire,Would speak but love; with him the bright resultWould change the hue of intermediate scenes,And make one thing of all theology.”—Gambold.THE PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE WICKED AS SEEN BY THE MAN(Psalms 73:18-20.) I. Their present position is perilous. “Surely Thou didst set them in slippery places.” The prosperity of the wicked is not a stable, abiding thing. Riches frequently “make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.” All temporal prosperity and wealth must be laid down at death. When the rich man “dieth he shall carry nothing away.” In the grave all are equal. The poor wretch who died homeless and penniless is no poorer there than “kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves, or princes that had gold and filled their houses with silver.” And even while their wealth and pleasure continue, wicked men stand in slippery places; no solid rock supports them; they have no firm footing; their very wealth may prove the occasion of their overthrow; their self-indulgence and luxury may lead to their utter and painful ruin. Surely their position is not an enviable one. Better far is it to travel our life-journey upon a rugged and thorny road so that it be safe and lead to a blessed destiny, than to walk as on velvet lawns amid the odours of sweetest flowers, in constant peril, and with certain and fearful destruction awaiting us in the end. II. Their future prospects are terrible. Destruction lies before them as their portion in the next world. In this life prosperity, in the next perdition. In this life purple and fine linen and sumptuous fare; in the next the robe of flame, and not even a drop of water to allay their burning thirst. 1. Their destruction will be complete. “Thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.” Notwithstanding their wealth, and pomp, and power, justice smites them sternly and ruinously. They are “punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power.” 2. Their destruction will be sudden. “In a moment.” “When they shall say, peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape.” In the midst of their prosperity, when their cup of pleasure is fullest, and their power greatest, and their sense of security most confirmed, they are smitten down into destruction and cast into hell. “They fall as falls the oak—At once, and blasted by the thunder stroke.”3. Their destruction is effected by God. “Thou castedst them down into destruction.” Not by chance does their ruin come upon them, but “as a destruction from the Almighty.” God comes forth in judgment against them to punish them for their corruption and pride, their oppression and violence, their presumption and blasphemy. There is justice in the universe; under God’s government evildoers are punished. Though the execution of the sentence may be long delayed, it will take place in due time. Sinners must either be saved by God in His mercy, or be destroyed by Him in His justice. 4. Their destruction will make manifest the unreality of their former prosperity. Ungodly men who have their portion in this life are asleep and dreaming as regards the realities of the great spiritual world. To them truth, righteousness, love, their own souls, and the great God, are very unreal and shadowy. Their temporal possessions, pleasures, and powers, they regard as realities grand and precious. But their dreams will come to an end. A great awakening is at hand for them. When awakened by God their estimate of things will be completely reversed. What were once their realities will have passed away from them as shadows; while the grand verities which once they set aside as myths and fables will be clear to them in all their reality and importance. They will “awake to shame and everlasting contempt.” “As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, in the awaking, Thou shalt despise their image.” Who can fathom the abyss of sin and degradation which he has sounded whom God despises? To be despised by God—how unutterably dreadful! .— 1. Let the wicked take warning and turn from their evil way. The “Lord is good, and ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon” Him. 2. Let the child of God never more envy the wicked their temporal prosperity. THE LIFE OF UNGODLY MEN A DREAM(Psalms 73:20.) Human life on the earth has been compared to a Pilgrimage (Genesis 47:9).—To a Race (1 Corinthians 9:24).—To a Battle (1 Timothy 6:12).—To a Stewardship (Matthew 25:14-30)—and to a Dream, as in our text. There is much in the present life of every good man that is very dreamlike. “We are such stuff as dreams are made of,And our little life is rounded by a sleep.”In relation to spiritual and eternal verities the impressions of earnest godly men are but dim and dreamy as compared with the verities themselves. But our text represents the life of ungodly men as a dream. Let us notice some points of analogy between the two— I. Unreality. In dreams the mind is in a world of illusions, a world of fiction. Such is the life of the wicked, who have their portion in this world. See this in their ideas of pleasure, wealth, and usefulness. How false! See it especially in the things upon which their heart was set, as mentioned by Asaph, viz., temporal prosperity and worldly possessions. 1. They are evanescent. Wealth, rank, power, are often lost. They must all be laid down at death. 2. By their very nature they are not permanent things. Worldly power is essentially a shifting thing; worldly rank an adventitious thing; material wealth an unstable transitory thing. 3. The only permanent realities to spiritual beings must be spiritual. Truth, righteousness, love, the human soul, God, are real and abiding. But men call the shadows realities, &c. II. Brevity. Dreams are very short. In our dreams we seem to live for hours, days, weeks, even in a few minutes. And, at the longest, how brief is this life of ours here! 1. When viewed with respect to the work to be done by us in it. Think of the work to be done by us in ourselves and for ourselves, and of the work we have to do for others. Unspeakably momentous issues depend upon our life in this world. 2. When contrasted with eternity. This present life is a mere “twinkling of an eye” when placed by the side of eternity. Yet men live as though it would last for ever. Surely they are dreaming; their life is a dream. III. Termination. Dreaming is not a permanent state. Every dream has its ending. So is it with the dream of an ungodly life. There are two awakenings, one or other of which must arouse every sinful dreamer to realities. 1. Some awake in response to the call of Divine love. God says to them, “Awake thou that sleepest,” &c. They hear and obey, and are as it were in a new world. “Old things have passed away; all things have become new.” To them now “life is real, life is earnest.” They are converted. They have awoke to reality and blessedness. 2. Some awake only when aroused by the thunder peals of judgment. There is no refusing to listen to that call. They awake to— (α.) Disappointment. Their realities have vanished; their hope expires; their trust becomes their confusion. (β.) Destitution. The things in which they rested all fail them now. Their fancied wealth is all gone. Now they know themselves to be “wretched, and miserable, and poor,” &c. (γ.) Shame and Distress. “Thou shalt despise their image.” Think of “their end.… Thou castedst them down into,” &c. Are you awake? Or are you asleep and dreaming? God calls to you, “Awake thou that sleepest,” &c. “Awake to righteousness,” &c. Listen and obey. AWAKE NOW. THE OF A SOUL(Psalms 73:21-28.) Having considered the severe spiritual conflict of the Psalmist, and the transition from conflict to victory, and his estimate of the portion of the wicked after he had been spiritually enlightened, we now proceed to notice the attitude of his soul in victory. This was marked by two main features. I. Deep self-abasement. Having completely mastered his difficulties and come out of the battle more than conqueror, we listen to his voice, and hear no tone of self-applause, no sound of boasting, but rather a humble confession of his folly and ignorance. “So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast for thee.” He felt deeply his own ignorance and folly, especially in this that he had considered human life in relation to the Providence of God as a beast might have done, and that in the presence of God. He looked only at the things which are seen and temporal, at the things of sense, like the beasts that perish. The things which are unseen and eternal, the spiritual things, the things which relate to a future state, he took no account of. In the light which he has received he sees how grievous was his mistake, and humbles himself before God on account thereof. Pride and spiritual enlightenment are incompatible. They cannot co-exist. When we are at a distance from God, and walking in darkness, we may conceitedly criticise His ways, and rashly pronounce judgment upon His doings. But let a man enter into the sanctuary of God and there commune with Him, and his soul will be humbled, his pride and presumption perish, and in self-abasement he will bow before God. Criticism now gives place to worship. Presumption is changed into adoration. “The more Thy glories strike mine eyesThe humbler I shall lie.”The victorious soul is profoundly humble, and cries, “Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory.” It is the revelation of the abounding grace of God that produces the deepest humility in us, and the manifestation of His glory that prostrates us in lowliest self-abasement. II. Sublime Confidence in God. The Psalmist had a glorious assurance of— 1. The constant presence of God. “I am continually with Thee.” He says this not as an assertion of His faithfulness to God, but of God’s faithfulness to him, notwithstanding his ignorance, and folly, and unbelief. Evermore God besets us behind and before, and lays His hand upon us for good. We may wander from Him, but He does not abandon us. In our sorrow and blinded by our tears we may see in Him nothing more than an unsympathetic “gardener,” but it is He Himself continually with us, and waiting to bless us. Our unworthiness does not drive Him away from us. Through all the dark wanderings of our doubting and perplexed souls He accompanies us. And when we seek for Him, lo! He is at hand to help us, and to “compass us about with songs of deliverance.” 2. The unfailing support of God. “Thou hast holden me by my right hand.” As for the Psalmist, his “feet were almost gone, his steps had well-nigh slipped,” and he would have fallen had not God upheld him. In the trying journey when the little, weak hand of the child can no longer retain its hold upon the father, the father feels the relaxing grasp, and with his strong hand holds the little, weak one, and so leads and supports the dear child in safety. And so the heavenly Father supports us, His weak and erring children. Blessed be His name! “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with,” &c. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,” &c. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” The promises of His Holy Word, and the experience of His people, and especially His own character, give to us most encouraging assurance of His unfailing support. He will never forsake even the most imperfect of His people. 3. The infallible guidance of God. Asaph had tried his own counsel, and found it folly. He had made experiment of his own knowledge, and discovered it to be ignorance as of a beast. Now, with unfaltering confidence, He turns to the Divine counsel for guidance. He is willing that God should determine His destiny, that He should choose the path by which that destiny shall be reached, and he is confident that the destiny will be a glorious one. He who is guided through life by God— (1) Will never go astray. He cannot err. “His understanding is infinite.” He is perfectly acquainted with the traveller, and knows well every step of the road. (2) Will enjoy the highest companionship. “He Himself shall be with them, walking in the way, and the foolish shall not err therein.” Our hearts burn within us while He walks with us by the way, and opens to us the Scriptures. This companionship is—(α) Enlightening. (β) Strengthening. (γ) Transforming. “We are changed into the same image.” (3) Will be conducted to Divine honours. “Afterward receive me to glory.” Oh, that “afterwards”! What surprises of joy and blessedness God has for us in the endless “afterwards”! 4. The all-sufficiency of God. Asaph cannot sufficiently exalt the Lord his God. He regards Him as— (1) Superior to every other good that he possessed or desired. “Whom have I in heaven, but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.” In heaven, with all its high and holy, its wise and strong intelligences, he had no helper and saviour but God. And upon earth he had found no one who could satisfy the necessities and longings of the soul like God. Deep within each one of us there is the consciousness of guilt, we long for pardon. He alone has authority to say unto us, “Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace.” There are times when we are oppressed with the consciousness of moral weakness, we feel unable to live holily and labour usefully, we long for help. He alone can say, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” We feel our mortality, yet shrink from death, we long deeply and intensely for immortal and blessed lift. He alone can say, “He that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die.” Our hearts are made to love and to be loved, we long for the love of some perfect being who will accept our affection and reciprocate it, in whom we realise the fulfilment of our highest ideal of excellence, and who will abide with us for ever. He, and He alone, can satisfy this longing. He loves us with an infinite love, He craves our love. He is the supremely Beautiful, the All-perfect One, and He is eternal. “Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” &c. (2) Adequate to the soul’s needs when all other resources fail. “My flesh and my heart faileth; but God is the strength,” &c. He looks onward to the time of his dissolution, feels by anticipation the exhaustion of his physical powers, and his heart, the seat of vitality, failing him, and all human aids of no avail, and he is confident that even then he would find in his God all that he needed. “When other helpers fail and comforts flee,” and our heart faints and fails, He will be “the Rock of our heart and our portion for ever.” His resources are adequate to all our needs. In all the unknown possibilities of our future no want can occur to us which He will not be able to supply. And His love is as great as His resources. Both are infinite. 5. The righteousness of the government of God (Psalms 73:27-28). Of this he has not now the shadow of a doubt. Those who depart from God depart from life, and light, and blessedness. They “shall perish.” God will “destroy them.” Those who draw near to God shall find it good so to do. In His presence and fellowship there are life and “fulness of joy.” Of all this he is confident. He speaks with the clear accent of strong conviction. He is so assured that all God’s ways and works are just and right that he will declare them to others. Draw near to God, my brother, and His smile will banish all your darkness, and brighten and beautify your life. Heartily trust Him, and you will have occasion joyously to praise Him. .— 1. How gloriously victorious are they whose confidence in God is strong. 2. How blessed are they who have God for their portion. THE GOOD MAN’S PRESENT, PAST, AND FUTURE(Psalms 73:23-24.) What the Psalmist says of himself in these words merits much consideration. Observe— I. His present experience. “I am continually with Thee.” Every good man is with his God—in a way of communion, in a way of affection, in a way of delight, in a way of desire, and in a way of service. II. His retrospective testimony. “Thou hast holden me by my right hand.” His experience has been realised by God’s people in every age; from them, therefore, his acknowledgment is due, and by them it will be readily made. III. His prospective consolation. This is twofold, and respects what God secures to him in this life. How necessary is guidance considering our various difficulties and dangers. And it is proper always, from a consciousness that God alone can guide us, to ask of Him the guidance of His Word, of His Spirit, and of His Providence. What God secures to him in the life to come. Glory is that to which we may look forward, as the consummation of our bliss; and in the expectation of this, we may rejoice, even as if we were already in possession of it Let us, then, be stirred up to humble inquiry, and to devout adoration.—W. Sleigh. FROM GOD(Psalms 73:27.) Distance from God. I. What it is. “Go a whoring from Thee.” Alienation from Him— 1. Of fidelity. 2. Of affection. 3. Of worship. II. What it leads to. Ruin, destruction. 1. Certain. “Thou hast destroyed.” 2. Complete. “Perish, … destroyed.” DRAWING NIGH TO GOD(Psalms 73:28.) “It is good for me to draw near to God.” God is not far from any one of us. He is everywhere present. But to draw near to Him is to endeavour to realise His presence with us, to feel Him near, to commune with Him. I. How may we draw near to God. 1. By devoutly reading His Word. 2. By meditation on Him. 3. By prayer to Him. 4. By praise of Him. 5. By imitating Him in life and work. II. When should we draw near to God. We should at all times live near to Him. But there are times when we should specially seek His helpful Presence. 1. In time of painful doubt. 2. In time of suffering. 3. In time of gladness we should draw near to Him with our gratitude. 4. When entering upon and toiling in difficult enterprises. III. The advantages of drawing near to God. By so doing, 1. Faith is increased. 2. Suffering is removed, or more grace is given to the sufferer, and the suffering is sanctified. 3. Gladness is hallowed and increased. 4. Wisdom and strength are imparted for difficult duties. THE GOOD MAN’S ACCESS, TRUST, AND (Psalms 73:28.) I. The blessedness of the good man’s access to God. II. The strength of the good man’s trust in God. III. The clearness of the good man’s testimony for God. All doubt is gone. With confident, glad, and grateful heart, he longs to “declare all His works.” Superscription.—“A Maschil of Asaph,” i.e., an Instruction of Asaph, a Didactic Song by Asaph. See introduction to Psalms 1.“But here we cannot have the least idea of the authorship belonging to David’s time. We must not, however, on this account convict the title of a mistake: for just in proportion as the contents are decidedly and manifestly inconsistent with David’s age, was it unlikely that the title would announce that the Psalm was composed at that time. Asaph was the founder of a family of singers, who went by the name of the sons of Asaph, even in the time of Isaiah (Comp. 2 Chronicles 35:15), yea, even in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ez. 2:41; Ezra 3:10; Nehemiah 7:44; Nehemiah 11:22). That the Holy Ghost, who inspired the founder, continued to exert His influence upon the members of this family from age to age, is manifest from the example of Jehaziel, one of the sons of Asaph in Jehoshaphat’s time, on whom the spirit of the Lord came down in the midst of the assembly (2 Chronicles 20:14). All the sacred compositions of the members of this family were designated songs of Asaph, just as in the title of the 62. Psalm, Jeduthun stands for the Jeduthunic choir. If the family had not possessed a founder so very famous in this department, these Psalms, like those which bear the name of the sons of Korah, would have had inscribed on their titles ‘the sons of Asaph.’ ”—Hengstenberg.Occasion.—On this expositors are not agreed. Some think that it was written by Asaph, in David’s time, with a prophetical reference to the destruction by the Chaldeans. Others look upon it as historical, and having reference to the destructions wrought at the time of the Maccabees. Others, who regard it as historical, consider that it refers to the Chaldean destruction. The occasion cannot be determined certainly; but the last-named opinion seems to us most likely to be the correct one. It was written at a time of great misery, the temple was desolated and destroyed, the land was ravaged, the enemies of the Church triumphed, and God seemed to have forgotten or cast away His people. The Psalmist bewails their sad condition and prays for deliverance.THE CHURCH POURING OUT ITS UNTO GOD(Psalms 74:1-11.) I. The description of the Church. “The sheep of Thy pasture; Thy congregation which Thou hast purchased,” &c. The Church is here represented as— 1. Shepherded by God. We use the word “shepherded,” because we do not know of any other which expresses the various duties of the shepherd to his flock. That Jehovah is the Shepherd of His people is an idea of frequent occurrence in the Scriptures. (Psalms 80:1; Psalms 95:7; Psalms 100:3; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:11-16.) The relationship involves His Guidance. With infallible knowledge and tender care He goeth before His people through all their journeyings. By the mystic and majestic pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night He led His people in their forty years’ journey through the wilderness. And still He leads His people, though by different means. He guides us now by the indications of Providence, by influencing our convictions, and by the teaching of His Word. The relationship involves Protection. The shepherd had to guard his flock against the attacks of robbers and beasts of prey; and frequently displayed great faithfulness and courage in so doing. In this way David, while a mere stripling, slew a lion and a bear (1 Samuel 17:34-36). So Jehovah guards His people. “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people,” &c. The relationship involves Provision. It was the duty of the shepherd to provide for his sheep, and when one pasture was bare to lead them to another, or when the herbage was deficient to cut down the tender shoots of trees for them to eat, and to see that they had water to drink. In thus providing for them the shepherd frequently underwent long and severe labour. Jehovah thus provides for “His people, and the sheep of His pasture.” “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” His provisions are varied, abundant, exhaustless. 2. Redeemed by God. The Church is spoken of as “purchased of old” by God, and as an inheritance “redeemed” by Him. From Egyptian bondage He redeemed them at an immense cost. The Church is an ancient possession of the Lord’s. He has the most indefeasible right to it as His inheritance. It is His because He called it into being. It owes its origin to Him. He has preserved it in being, watching over it in all the vicissitudes of its fortune. Much of its history resembles the burning bush—“the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed,” and the secret of its mysterious preservation must be traced to Him. He has redeemed it. His ancient people He frequently redeemed out of the hand of their enemies. And the Church to-day He has redeemed with a nobler, Diviner redemption. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold; but with the precious blood of Christ.” He “gave Himself for us.” What a SELF to give! And how freely was He given by both His Father and Himself! How unspeakably precious is this redemption! How complete and indisputable God’s title to an inheritance so redeemed! 3. Inhabited by God. “Mount Zion wherein Thou hast dwelt.” The mysterious Shekinah, the symbol of God’s special presence, dwelt in the holy of holies. In the Psalms God is represented as both dwelling in His people, and the dwelling-place of His people. “God is in the midst of her.” “In Salem is His tabernacle, and His dwelling-place in Zion.” So in the Christian Church God is specially present. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” He dwells in His Church to hear and answer prayer, to reveal His will, to bestow His grace, to make known His salvation, and to manifest His glory. He dwells in every humble and believing heart as in His temple by the Holy Ghost. Reflect how the consideration of these aspects of the Church in relation to God would affect His people. They were “the sheep of His pasture,” yet they were in captivity, and oppressed by their enemies, and far away from Zion. How could they reconcile these things with the guidance, protection, and provision of their Shepherd? They were redeemed by Him at a great cost, yet now they were once more in bondage. Had He ceased to value the inheritance which He had “purchased of old”? They were inhabited by God, but now the glory of His presence has departed. Had He then cast them off for ever? Thus there have often been times when the position and sufferings of the Church have seemed utterly irreconcilable with their most fundamental relations to God. II. The distress of the Church. 1. Their enemies triumphed over them and spread ruin around them. They had destroyed everything in the sanctuary, had broken down the carved work, had burnt it with fire, and desecrated it to the ground. The Jews gloried in their temple. They spoke of it as a “holy and beautiful house.” It was a costly and magnificent edifice. Around it were gathered many precious and sacred memories. Its associations were most interesting and treasured. To see it ruthlessly destroyed and profaned must have been a great distress to them. The Church in all ages has had its enemies who have sought its destruction. With captious and destructive criticism men seek to destroy the Church, by endeavouring to overthrow the faith of her members in many precious truths in which they have rested. The Church has had foes who have persecuted her by fire and sword, bonds and imprisonments, pains and penalties. Different are the weapons which are used to-day. The theories and arguments of cold intellectual men—men often of large heads, but infinitesimally small hearts; whose knowledge has “grown from more to more,” but in whom no reverence dwells—are the weapons by which it is now sought to overthrow the Church. She has spiritual foes also. “The gates of hell” are arrayed against her. And many in this world by word and deed are foes to the cause of God. 2. Their enemies blasphemed the name of God. Where God had been reverently worshipped by devout hearts they madly shouted their war cry, in the temple they had set up their military standards, and they had reproached and blasphemed the name of God. This was a great grief to the people of God. And to those of them who were faithful and pious the grief would be most deep and acute. The godly heart is most deeply pained in its tenderest part when anything is done by which God is dishonoured. And this blasphemy had been long continued, adding amazement to the grief of the Psalmist, and causing him to inquire, “O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme Thy name for ever?” (1) Man is free to reproach and blaspheme God if he will. We may praise and adore Him, or revile and curse Him if we will. God has made us thus morally free. He allows us the exercise of this freedom. (2) God has long patience even with the profanest and most outrageous sinners. For a long season He tolerates even blasphemers, giving them time for repentance. He waits to show mercy even to the chief of sinners. He wills not that any should perish. (3) God’s patience with blasphemers causes sore amazement to His people. They cannot understand why He does not pluck His hand out of His bosom and smite them. They cry, “O God, how long?” Assuredly, not for ever. If the wicked “turn not, He will whet His sword; He hath bent His bow, and made it ready.” But while judgment lingers, and men continue to blaspheme, the people of God are distressed by the blasphemy, and amazed at the delay of judgment. 3. The prophetic voice was silent. The prophetical office of Jeremiah terminated with the destruction of the temple. “It was assuredly the cessation of his office that more immediately gave occasion to the painful cry: there is no longer any prophet. This standing ruin of the prophetical class proclaimed, even in louder accents than the non-appearance of other prophets, that God was no longer Israel’s King. It was necessary that along with the other signs of the dominion of God, this one also should cease for a long period of time, that the people might be taught how they had treated it, wherein they had offended, and might, at the same time, be led with tears of repentance to seek its return.”—Hengstenberg. The cry of the Psalmist reminds me of the words of Saul to the apparition of Samuel, “I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams.” Well may he be distressed! Man cut off from God—severed from the great central Life and Light of the universe—appealing to heaven, and being answered only by stony-hearted silence! How appalling! God had threatened, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land,” &c. (Amos 8:11-12; Comp. Ezekiel 7:26.) That time had come. “Her prophets found no vision from the Lord.” Distress had come upon the people; and no prophet’s voice was heard, either in merciful encouragement, or faithful rebuke, or stern threatening. They have treated the prophetic message with scornful indifference at times, and at times they have cruelly persecuted the Heaven-sent messenger; and now they cry for some word from heaven, some communication from the Divine, and the only answer they receive is inexorable silence. Surely there is warning for us here. How do we treat the great and precious privileges which are granted unto us? The Word of God, do we prize it? The opportunities of worship, are they dear to us? The influence of the Holy Spirit, do we value it? do we profit by it? If we fail to appreciate our spiritual privileges, and practically despise them, God may withdraw them from us, and we may awake to a sense of their value too late. “Like birds whose beauties languish, half-conceal’dTill mounted on the wing, their glossy plumesExpanded shine with azure, green, and gold;How blessings brighten as they take their flight.”—Young.Let us prize the gifts of God while we have them, lest God should remove them from us for ever. 4. God in anger had cast them off. So they thought; and it was true that their miseries came upon them in consequence of their sins. God was visiting them with the rod of chastisement because of their idolatry, their spiritual apostasy, and rebellion. Their Babylonian enemies were unwittingly the agents of God to punish them. But God had not cast them off for ever. When they turned unto Him in true repentance, He turned unto them and had mercy upon them. Yet at this time they could see no sign of His favour. His anger seemed to smoke against them. Such were some of the distresses of the ancient Church. Their foes were triumphant and were spreading ruin on every side, even destroying their best treasures; the name of God was blasphemed, the prophetic voice was silent, and God seemed to have abandoned them. Their distresses are a picture and parable of sufferings which have befallen the Church in other ages. Their distresses were on account of their sins. So also in subsequent times, in some instances, the Church has been tried and chastened by reason of error, or unfaithfulness, or lukewarmness. In every time of suffering let the Church seek to ascertain the cause and meaning of her suffering; and if it be God’s expostulation with her for her sins, let her repent and do her first works, or He will remove her candlestick out of its place. III. The prayers of the distressed Church. 1. That God would remember them. God seemed to have forgotten them. They seemed to have passed away from His mind. He bestows no attention upon them. They entreat Him to remember them, thinking that, if He turned His attention to them and saw their miseries, He would surely deliver and save them. 2. That God would interpose for them. “Lift up thy footsteps unto the eternal ruins.” “The Psalmist speaks of eternal ruins, because the complete destruction had cut off all human hope of a restoration.” Man could not deliver them. Their only hope was in God. They pray Him to hasten His approach to them. In the day of their distress they have to seek help from Him whom they neglected in their prosperity, for He alone can help them. 3. That God would interpose for them speedily. God’s help seemed to them long delayed. They were weary of waiting for His appearing. “O God, how long shall the adversary approach? shall the enemy blaspheme Thy name for ever?” They longed to hear the sound of the chariot wheels of their Deliverer. They knew not that the waiting for His coming was itself a blessing. Their sufferings made the time seem long. Their anxiety made them impatient. But God delays His salvation until the captivity has fulfilled its mission to them, and suffering has done its work in them, and waiting itself has blessed them. There is something very touching and effective in the form of expression adopted by the Psalmist in addressing the Lord. “The sheep of Thy pasture. Remember Thy congregation, which Thou hast purchased of old; Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion in which Thou hast dwelt.” He thus brings before Him His interpositions for them in former times, His ancient loving-kindness for them, His relation to them, and His having dwelt in Zion. Thus he pleads not their own misery only, but His mercy also; not their need only, but His fulness and power also, and their relation to Him. Surely He will listen to such pleadings. He will not leave His sheep to perish, or lose His ancient purchase, or suffer His inheritance to be entirely desolated, or leave His glorious dwelling-place a ruin for ever. .— 1. Let the enemies of the Church of God take warning. Let them not interpret His silence as nonexistence, or construe His patience into powerlessness. He lives, and His arm has lost none of its ancient strength. 2. Let those who are richly blessed with spiritual privileges remember that they involve corresponding responsibilities. Be wise, prize them, improve them, lest they be the occasion of greater condemnation to you. 3. Let the favoured Church be warned. Be faithful, or God may write “Ichabod” upon your temples and altars. 4. Let the suffering Church take encouragement from her relationship to God, and from His past interpositions on her behalf, and learn how to plead them at His throne. THE AND THE (Psalms 74:5-6.) Destruction is sometimes a wise and good employment. It is wise and good to destroy disease, error, evil. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” But destruction is inferior to construction. I. The constructive is greater and more difficult than the destructive. An idiot might destroy St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; but it needed the genius of Sir C. Wren to design it. A child might destroy a young oak sapling; but the mightiest man cannot create a daisy. A fool might unsettle a man’s faith and destroy his character; but the wisest and holiest of men cannot of himself establish a man’s faith and build up his character. II. In the kingdom of the truth it is wiser and nobler to aim at building up the true than destroying the false. 1. It is wiser; for you may destroy one error only to make room for another. One evil spirit is expelled, but “other spirits more wicked than himself” enter in his place. But he who builds up the true is effectually destroying old errors and guarding against the entrance of new ones. 2. It is nobler. In destroying even the false and bad, men are often actuated by mean and base motives and feelings, but in aiming at edification in the true and good the motives and feelings are noble. III. How terrible is it to destroy the true and good! To destroy a noble building, a magnificent city; to destroy life, virtue, truth, beauty, how heinous is this! IV. God is the great constructor of the good. He is ever engaged in overcoming error and evil by building up souls in truth and grace. Let us imitate Him in this. THE CHURCH THE DOINGS OF GOD IN THE PAST AS AN FOR HIS HELP IN THE PRESENT(Psalms 74:12-17.) The poet, in calling to mind and celebrating the interpositions of God on behalf of His people in former times, brings into prominence the Divine Sovereignty. From that Sovereignty, as it had been manifested in past deliverances and blessings, he drew encouragement for himself and the people in their present distresses. I. The history of God’s dealings with His people reveals His universal sovereignty. 1. He is sovereign over His people. “God is my King.” The people of God loyally and heartily recognise His sovereignty over them. He is sovereign over all men; but His sovereignty is not acknowledged by all men. There are those who disown it and rebel against it; there are others who meanly and slavishly submit to it from base motives. But His own people recognise its righteousness, and wisdom, and goodness, and cordially own Him as their King. To them His “law is holy, and His commandment holy, and just, and good.” He occupies the throne of their affections. In the hearts of His people He is supreme. They serve Him with willing minds. They bow to His authority with loyalty, and love, and reverence. 2. He is sovereign over His enemies. Expositors are pretty generally agreed that by “the dragons” and the “leviathan” whose heads were broken in the waters, the poet intended to set forth the Egyptians and their Pharaoh who were destroyed in the Red Sea. God manifested His sovereignty over them by destroying them for their rebellion against Him, and for their oppression of His people. They would not submit themselves to His authority, so He crushed them by His power. God is sovereign over all men, whether they acknowledge Him or not. The rebellion of the wicked in no way diminishes His right to reign, or His power to do all His pleasure. He is King. “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” 3. He is sovereign over nature. The Psalmist speaks of Him as dividing the sea, cleaving the fountain and flood, drying up mighty rivers, preparing the light and the sun, setting all the borders of the earth, making summer and winter. God is not only the great Creator of the universe, but its Sustainer also. We discover in nature not only wise and beneficent laws, but a Lawgiver also. We are acquainted with great forces, and are persuaded that there must be some intelligent and almighty Being who originated and sustains them. We mark a beautiful order and arrangement in nature, and regard them as signs of a Divine presence and power. He is but a superficial student of nature who never pursues his investigations beyond the discovery of mere laws and forces. To the devout and earnest listener nature is eloquent of God. God is the sovereign of nature. He controls her forces. He regulates her operations. He presides over all her processes. He is supreme in all. There is no province of His universe from which He is excluded. His sovereignty is complete and universal. He rules over all nature and all life. The life of the ephemera sporting its little hour in the rays of the summer sun, and the life of the archangel standing in His own presence, are both subject to Him. II. The History of God’s dealings with His people reveals the beneficence of His sovereignty. God is a “King working salvation in the midst of the earth.” God is actively engaged in every department of His universe. He is the supreme Worker. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” In the operations of nature He ceaselessly works. In the events of history He works, aiding His servants, restraining the wrath of His foes, directing and controlling all things, so that in the end truth and righteousness and love may be triumphant everywhere. And He works in human souls, delivering them from sin, and educating them into holy living and useful working. The Psalmist recognised the work of God in the past history of His people. He had brought them forth from Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm. He had smitten their enemies with destruction. He had led them through the sea as on dry land. He had wrought for their salvation. It is of the very nature of His sovereignty to work beneficently. And the salvation which He works is gloriously complete. This the Psalmist indicates by the words, “Working salvation in the midst of the earth.” “The words denote the comprehensive nature of the salvation: whoever has obtained possession of the interior of a country has got the ascendency over the whole boundaries,—whatever is done there extends to the whole circumference” (Exodus 8:22; Isaiah 10:23). What God undertakes He carries to completion. His salvation is “unto the uttermost.” He is “mighty to save.” Let us rejoice in God’s sovereignty. “The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad.” Man has sadly misrepresented His sovereignty. We have contemplated with horror representations of a Being of unlimited and arbitrary power, which power is often used to crush and curse his creatures, a power which, except in the case of a favourite few, works destruction in the midst of the land. Such is not the sovereignty of God. His rule is a thing of infinite wisdom, and goodness, and beauty. He doeth all things well. Under His sovereignty the race is advancing not to darkness and night, but to the glad and beautiful morning of eternal day. The beneficence of the work of God is seen by the Psalmist when he looks at it through the intervening years. While it is yet in process we cannot discover the significance or beauty of His work. While events are in progress they often seem chaotic, and sometimes even maleficent. Wait until the work has advanced to a period, and then the design of the great Worker will be before you a thing of joy and beauty. III. The history of God’s dealings with His people is full of encouragement to them. The poet recounts the doings of Israel’s King to encourage their hearts in their time of distress. His past interpositions are so many reasons for our placing our trust in Him in every time of need. God is unchangeable and eternal,—“the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.” He is unchangeable in power: what He has done already He can do again. He is unchangeable in purpose. The design and tendency of His government is to “work salvation.” “He is not a man that He should lie, or the son of man that He should repent.” He is unchangeable in goodness: what He willed to do in the past He will do again. “He abideth faithful.” So past deliverances and blessings encourage us to plead with Him, and to trust Him for help in present distresses. “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” .— 1. Let us rejoice in the beneficence and universality of the Divine Sovereignty. God—the Supremely Good—is King. He rules in righteousness, wisdom, and love. 2. Let the troubled heart take encouragement from God’s relationship to him, and past dealings with him. He who has led you hitherto will never fail you or forsake you. THE OF GOD(Psalms 74:12.) In the time of trouble to which this Psalm refers the Psalmist took encouragement from the consideration of God’s sovereignty. His kingship implies authority. As a Sovereign He proclaims His laws for the government of His subjects. And these laws involve penalties for those who violate them, and rewards for those who obey and honour them. God’s kingship implies the protection of His people. It is the duty of kings to protect their subjects in the enjoyment of their rights. God is our shield. God’s sovereignty is moral. He rules by reason, not by force. The laws which He prescribes are in harmony with the laws of our own nature. Thus, He has made us morally free, and His sovereignty never invades our freedom. He never coerces man into obedience. In the text His sovereignty is presented in several aspects. I. As loyally acknowledged. “My King.” The sovereignty of God is universal in its extent, but is only partially acknowledged. There are those who utterly deny it, and are avowed rebels against His government. There are others who acknowledge it as slaves. If they obey His rule at all, it is because they feel compelled to do so by dread of the lash. There are others who acknowledge it as hirelings. They avoid transgression lest they should incur severe penalties; they obey that they might receive the reward of obedience. But there is no spontaneity or heartiness in their obedience. There are others who acknowledge it heartily as loyal subjects. They recognise and admire the justice and benevolence of His laws, and the wisdom of their administration; they cordially acknowledge His right to reign; they venerate Him as their King and God. What is our relation to this government? Are we rebels? slaves? hirelings? or loyal subjects? II. As of ancient date. “Of old.” God’s sovereignty has existed from everlasting as regards Himself. His fitness for rule, His right to rule, His purpose to rule, are all eternal as Himself. In the solitude of the awful eternity He was supreme. As to His sovereignty over the Jews, by the term “of old” the Psalmist referred to the days when God brought His people out of Egypt with signs, and wonders, and great power. His sovereignty over them may be traced back to the call of Abram. His sovereignty over us began with the beginning of our being, and is coextensive with our being. Earthly monarchs pride themselves upon the antiquity of their dynasties. Here is a dynasty which no beginning knew. “Thy kingdom is established of old; Thou art from everlasting.” III. As beneficent in operation. “Working salvation.” God’s sovereignty is,— 1. Operative. God works. “He is not sitting down in what men call everlasting repose, calmly or indifferently marking the operations of the universe, and luxuriating in a peace which no storm can invade. That is not the kind of God which guilty, weary, broken-hearted man requires.” He works in nature, in history, in redemption. 2. Operates beneficently. The King works salvation. God’s sovereignty has been grievously misinterpreted. Human notions of favouritism have been set down to God’s sovereignty. Men have formulated a doctrine of reprobation, and have had the audacity to call it God’s sovereignty. Most firmly do we believe in His sovereignty, but we believe in it as “working salvation.” Of the King it was predicted, “He is just and having salvation.” God rules to bless. He works to save men, not to destroy them. But is it really so? Does God’s government work beneficently? At this time, as the Psalm indicates, His people were in a most desolate and afflicted state. Was the King working for their salvation? Their misery arose from their sin, from their rebellion against His government. At present darkness, suffering, and sorrow are here; but they are here because sin is here. God rules to bless. IV. As a plea for His help. So the Psalmist uses it on this occasion. He mentions what God had done for them in olden time, and pleads that as their King He would interpose for them again. As their King,— 1. He would possess sovereign authority. None could stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest Thou? He could smite down their foes, and set them free and prosper them. 2. He would be faithful to His sovereign obligations. He would keep His promises and “respect the covenant,” as they entreated Him to do (Psalms 74:20). 3. He was immutable. He was the same when this Psalm was written as when He divided the Red Sea. He changes not. And still He has sovereign power to save, and is faithful and unchangeable; and still we may urge His sovereignty as a reason why He should help us. A powerful reason it is. It appeals to His honour, acknowledges His beneficence, &c. This plea may be used by us,— (1) As communities forming part of His Church. When any portion of His Church languishes, or is afflicted, or is in difficulty, it may plead with the King for help. (2) As individuals on our own behalf. In our times of perplexity and distress let us go to our King, and plead with Him for guidance and deliverance. GOD IN NATURE(Psalms 74:16-17.) The poet was neither, 1. An atheist. He believed in God. Nor, 2. A pantheist. He believed in God as distinct from nature. Nor, 3. A mere naturalist, seeing nothing in nature higher than order, and law, and development. He recognised God in nature. He regards God as— I. The Creator of nature. “Thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth. Thou hast made summer and winter.” God being the Creator of nature, nature is a revelation of God, and as such should be studied by us. He is a superficial or partial student who has not advanced beyond the discovery of laws. Nature reveals the Divine, 1. Power in her stupendous forces. 2. Unchangeableness in the regularity and order of her revolutions. 3. Wisdom in her marvellous and beautiful adaptations of means to ends. 4. Goodness in her ample provisions for the needs of both man and beast 5. Delight in beauty in the countless forms of loveliness, sublimity, and grandeur in earth and sea and sky. “These are Thy glorious works, Parent of good,Almighty, Thine this universal frame,Thus wondrous fair; Thyself how wondrous then!Unspeakable, who sitt’st above these heavensTo us invisible, or dimly seenIn these Thy lowest works; yet these declareThy goodness beyond thought, and power Divine,”—Milton.II. The Proprietor of nature. “The day is Thine, the night also is Thine.” He who created has the most indubitable right to His own creations. God being Proprietor of nature, it follows: 1. That we are but stewards. The wealthiest man cannot call an acre absolutely his own. 2. Large possessions involve large responsibilities. We hold our possessions in trust for Him. He who holds most has most accountability. 3. God will call all men to give an account of their stewardship. III. The Sustainer of nature. The boundaries of the earth remain. Day and night, summer and winter, still alternate as of old. God’s sustenance of nature should inspire man to trust in Him. THE CHURCH THE AND HONOUR OF GOD AS AN FOR HIS (Psalms 74:18-23.) The sorrowful complaint of the suffering people of God passed into a rehearsal of His former glorious doings on their behalf, which was eminently adapted to inspire and strengthen their faith. And now that rehearsal passes into earnest pleading with God, such pleading that has “power with God and prevails.” The Psalmist pleads— I. The attitude of their enemies to Him. The enemies of Israel were arrayed in avowed hostility to God, they blasphemed His name daily, they rose tumultuously against Him, therefore His people call upon Him to plead His own cause and subdue His foes and theirs. 1. Their enemies blasphemed Him. “Remember this, the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and the foolish people have blasphemed Thy name: remember how the foolish man reproacheth Thee daily.” What was done against the people of God may in an important sense be said to be a reproach offered to Him. But more than that is meant here. These cruel persecutors were also profane and daring blasphemers. By oppressing and reviling His people they offered insult and hurled reproach to Him. They had also directly and scandalously blasphemed Him. Yet God forbore to smite them. No lightnings strike them. No thunders alarm them. And His people were amazed at this. These blasphemers were foolish people. “The foolish people have blasphemed Thy name, … the foolish man reproacheth Thee daily.” Wickedness is essential folly. The sinner is a great fool. He is so because (1) He is wilfully pursuing a course which is incompatible with his true well-being. The conditions upon which alone the noblest capacities and faculties of his being can be developed he rejects with scorn. The highest and divinest joys of life he is a stranger to. (2) He is educating himself for a dark and miserable hereafter. He is qualifying himself for hell—the hell of sinful habits, evil and furious passions, accusing and tormenting memories, and black and threatening prospects. (3) He is contending against irresistible forces. Truth, righteousness, love are against him, and they are eternal and must conquer. God is against him. The sinner is a worm fighting against Almightiness. The enemies of God, unless they submit to Him, must be crushed. No sinners are greater fools than those who ridicule religion and reproach the religious. If religion be true, then the folly of those who ridicule it is utter, egregious, and ruinous. If religion be false, then it becomes the duty of those who have made the discovery to lead the religious to truth and reality, and not to treat them with reproach. 2. Their enemies loudly opposed Him. “Forget not the voice of Thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually.” The wicked were clamorous in their fury against Him, and for the destruction of His people. They were making war against Him with loud and defiant cries, like the shouts of battle. They were challenging God to combat. 3. All this is urged by the inspired poet as a reason why God should arise in defence of His own cause and that of His people. These enemies were doing their utmost to tarnish and sully the glory of His name; would He submit to that? They were openly aspersing His honour; would He not appear in self-vindication? Fools were loudly bidding Him defiance; would He not smite them with perpetual dumbness? If He did not care for the sufferings of His people, was He not jealous of His own glory? If He was indifferent as to their cause, was He also indifferent as to His own? “Arise, O God, plead Thine own cause,” and so send us deliverance from our enemies, for they are Thy foes. It is well when the suffering Church can plead for deliverance on the ground that her enemies are also the enemies of God, and that His interests and hers are identical. It is also well when the suffering Church, in strong assurance of the identity of her interests and God’s, can wait with confident expectation and calm patience for His interposition. II. Their own relation to Him. 1. They were His turtle-dove. “O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the multitude.” By comparing themselves to a turtle-dove they plead (1) Their helplessness. They were weak and utterly defenceless against the fierce host of their foes, if His protection were withdrawn. This is a plea which moves the heart of God. “When I am weak, then am I strong.” (2) The plaintiveness and incessancy of their cry to Him. “The turtle pours forth from every garden, grove, and wooded hill its melancholy yet soothing ditty, unceasingly from early dawn till sunset. It is from its plaintive note, doubtless, that the Psalmist, in pouring forth his lament to God, compares himself to a turtle-dove.”—Smith’s Bible Dict. The cry of God’s defenceless people was rising constantly and mournfully to Him for His help. Could He close His ear to such appeals? (3) Their constancy to Him in the future. “From its habit of pairing for life, and its fidelity for its mate, the turtle was a symbol of purity” and faithfulness of affection. The suffering people could not plead their faithfulness to Him in the past. They had wandered far from Him, and often. “The turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the judgment of the Lord.” But henceforth, as His turtle-dove, they will be constant in their love to Him. “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?” Let Him have mercy upon them, and they would never forsake Him again. 2. They were the congregation of His poor. God had manifested frequently a special interest in the poor. Those who were specially needy were the objects of His special care. He was pre-eminently the Friend of the fatherless and widow, the afflicted and broken in heart. He had issued particular commands for the treatment of the poor. “I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” Some of the sternest denunciations of the prophets were directed against those who oppressed the poor. “God has chosen the poor of this world.” They plead that they were His poor, yet they were sorely distressed, and He seemed as though He had forgotten them. Would He forget them for ever? They were HIS poor, they were HIS turtle-dove; would He not appear on behalf of His own? Was their night of oppression to last for ever? Oh, when would He cause their day to dawn by coming to their help? 3. They were His covenanted people. “Have respect unto Thy covenant.” This is the sublimest and most effectual plea of all. Circumstances such as they were now placed in had been described by God through His servant Moses, and He had said, “If then their hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity; then will I remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land” (Leviticus 26:33-45). “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said it, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?” “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips (Psalms 89:30-34). The appeal is made to the truth and faithfulness of God. “If we believe not, He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” How much more will He abide faithful if His people, even in darkness and distress, do believe, and plead His promises, and urge Him to fulfil them! Certainly, if their punishment has done its work in them, if they are truly and sufficiently humbled and penitent, He will respect His covenant by delivering them from their distresses. But, if their sufferings have not led them to genuine and thorough repentance of their sins, He will respect His covenant by withholding His help until they turn to Him with all their heart. He cannot forget His covenant. His faithfulness cannot fail. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but His words shall not pass away.” .—Here are, at least, three lessons for suffering Christians or churches in their pleadings with God. 1. Let us urge His mercy towards us rather than the claims of our miseries upon Him. Perhaps our miseries are all deserved. 2. Let us trust His promises rather than the force or fervour of our petitions. The heartiest prayer does not merit any blessing. 3. If we have broken our share of the covenant, let us be thankful that He abideth faithful, and that in His covenant provision is made for the pardon and restoration of transgressors. “Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto Him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.… I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.” THE CHURCH A TURTLE-DOVE(Psalms 74:19.) I. The church of God is like a turtle-dove. 1. In innocence and inoffensiveness. 2. In defencelessness. We have no defence, but God. Left to ourselves, we are helpless. 3. In purity. “Purifying your hearts by faith.” 4. In fidelity of affection. (See Smith’s Bible Dict., Art. Turtle-Dove.) II. The church of God is exposed to enemies. III. The church of God can suffer no real harm unless God should deliver her to her enemies. IV. The church of God is dear to Him, therefore He will not abandon her. “Thy turtle-dove.” HINTS FOR A SERMON(Psalms 74:20.) I. The state of the heathen world. 1. Darkness. Not without the light of nature, reason, or conscience; but without the light of Revelation 2. Cruelty. Missionary records, and the narratives of explorers afford sadly numerous and painful illustrations of this. II. The covenant of God in relation to the heathen world. That the heathen are included in it is manifest from both prophecies and promises of the Word (Psalms 2:8; Psalms 72:8-17; Isaiah 11:9, et al.) III. The duty of the church in relation to the heathen world. 1. To plead God’s covenant on its behalf. 2. To carry out the command of God for the fulfilment of the covenant. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Superscription.—“To the chief Musician, Altaschith:” see introduction to Psalms 57. “A Pslam—a song of Asaph:” see introduction to Psalms 74.“There are,” says Perowne, “no clearly marked historical allusions in the Psalm. It seems, however, not improbable, as has been conjectured by many commentators, that it may refer to the time of the Assyrian invasion, either as celebrating, or immediately anticipating the defeat of Sennacherib. Like Psalms 46, it bears some resemblance to the prophecies of Isaiah uttered at that time.” It seems to us that in this Psalm we have the “thank-prayer” of the people in confident anticipation of victory over the Assyrians; and, in the following Psalm, we have their exultant and grateful praise for the accomplishment of that victory.ISRAEL’S PRAISE FOR THE HELP OF GOD(Psalms 75:1-3.) In the first verse, the Psalmist speaks as the mouth-piece of the people of Israel; in the second and third verses, he represents Jehovah as addressing them. In these verses we have— I. Heroic anticipation of victory. The people are threatened by Sennacherib. His army is near them even while they chant this prayer-psalm. Yet they are confident of ultimate victory. Around them all was darkness, and to the carnal eye no helper was near, but to the faith-enlightened eye all around them was luminous with the near presence and help of God. They seem to have attained this brave anticipation of victory somewhat in this way. 1. By contemplating the wondrous works of God. In former times He had done great and wondrous things for them. He had repeatedly caused their foes to flee before them, utterly discomfited, in battle. He had done wondrous things in nature on their behalf. And now in the day of their distress the great things which He had done for them pass before them clearly and impressively, and their troubled hearts grow calm and strong. 2. By connecting the wondrous works which He had done for them with promises of wondrous works which He would yet do for them. He had made to them declarations of the stability of the throne of His servant David. He had promised them victory over their foes. Wondrous things He had said He would do for them. They received and interpreted His promises in the light of His former doings for them, and their hearts grew calm and strong, and buoyant with hope. 3. By regarding these wondrous works as signs of the Divine presence. As the threatened Jews contemplated God’s wondrous works, they appear to have felt Him near to them, and, thus realising His presence, they confidently anticipated their release from danger, and their restoration to peace and security. Mark the strength of their assurance. The Assyrians have come against them into their own land; there are no outward and visible signs of deliverance, yet so confident are they of the help of God that they pour out their hearts in this thanksgiving Psalm. Their anticipation was so vivid and eager as to make their deliverance appear to them almost an accomplished thing. It reminds us of our Lord’s sublime assurance of victory as He entered into the darkness and anguish of His last and fiercest strife. He has forewarned His disciples of the trials and persecutions which await them. And now He would encourage them, and He says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” There is much of temptation and grief and terrible battling immediately awaiting Him, yet He regards the victory as so infallibly sure that it seems His already. The faith is grand, heroic, which so trusts God’s promise as to anticipate the victory, as the poet does in this Psalm. II. Firm ground of confidence. In the second and third verses we understand the poet as representing God as the speaker. The translation of the second verse given in the margin, appears to give the correct idea, “When I shall take a set time I will judge uprightly;” or, “For I shall fix a time when I shall judge righteously.” Upon the promise of God to interpose for them, they base their faith and hope as upon a sure foundation. 1. In times of the greatest distress He is all-sufficient. Such a time is indicated in the third verse. “The earth, in consequence of the succees of the conqueror of the world, is, as it were, dissolved, sunk back into its ancient chaotic state; but the same omnipotence which at that time brought its dissolution to an end, shall aid it now.” In the greatest calamities, such an a dissolution of the earth, God is calm and unmoved in His own conscious sufficiency and sovereignty. When the earth seems to be reeling into ruin He calms His people with the assurance, “I have adjusted the pillars of it;” and they know that they are secure. Can we conceive any distress which He is unable to cope with and overcome? Is it possible that any evil or misery can be so complicated as to baffle infinite wisdom? Can there be a calamity so appalling and utter as to triumphantly defy omnipotence to remove or relieve it? 2. When He interposes He will judge righteously. He will manifest no unfair partiality or favouritism. He sitteth upon the throne judging in righteousness. This was an encouragement to His menaced and imperilled people. They thought upon it, and lifted up their heads, believing that their redemption drew nigh. Let the oppressed people of God take heart at the remembrance of His upright government. The Lord reigneth to smite down the oppressor and vindicate the oppressed. He will deliver the righteous out of all their troubles, and bring them out into a wealthy place. Let the enemies of God take warning. God is supreme. He is also righteous. You are opposing omnipotence, and must be crushed unless you desist from your insane conduct. “Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke, and a great ransom cannot deliver thee.” 3. He will interpose in due season. “When I shall take a set time I will judge uprightly.” “Our God, who governs the world by His omnipotence and wisdom, has appointed to all things a boundary, and has also fixed a time and an hour for His judgment, and when this comes, He reveals His judgments, and no man can hinder them. God withholds His punishments for a very long time, but at last it comes with certainty, and makes no delay.” Let the much-tried child of God learn to wait patiently and hopefully for His appearing. In infinite wisdom and love He has fixed the time when the night of your mourning shall be ended by the rising of the Sun of Righteousness, with healing in His wings. He will not come a moment too soon. He will not tarry one moment after the due season. At the best time He will come and judge uprightly. Surely there is here the firmest ground for the strong confidence which the Psalmist expresses for the people. God is more than sufficient even to their great needs, when He interposes He will judge righteously, and He will interpose in due season. III. Devout utterance of praise. “Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks, do we give thanks.” The thanksgiving of the people was hearty. The Psalm opens with praise, and before it closes it breaks forth into praise again. The praise was emphasised, repeated—“We give thanks, we give thanks.” Praise such as this, for a promised blessing, in a special manner honours God by the calm, strong trust in His word which it implies. It rises as an acceptable offering unto Him. Such praise as this also blesses those who offer it. It is indeed a means of grace unto them. By means of it their faith is yet more increased. Their soul is calmed, enriched, and exalted into communion with God. “When gratitude o’erflows the swelling heart,And breathes in free and uncorrupted praiseFor benefits received: propitious HeavenTakes such acknowledgment as fragrant incense,And doubles all its blessings.”—George Lillo..— 1. In times of the greatest calamity let us trust in the Lord, and not be afraid. He has adjusted the pillars of the earth. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear,” &c. 2. Let us learn to recognise God in His works, both in nature and in grace. Let us pray that our eyes may be opened to see Him, and our ears to catch the inspiring accents of His voice. 3. Let us cultivate a grateful spirit. “Nothing more detestable,” said Ausonius, “does the earth produce than an ungrateful man.” “I hate ingratitude more in a manThan lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,Or any taint of vice, whose strong corruptionInhabits our frail blood.”—Shakespeare.Gratitude is well pleasing to God. It also enriches man. The ungrateful man has his blessings in his hand only; the grateful man has them in his heart and hand. He is thus “twice blessed.” Let our gratitude rise to God in psalms of praise, and express itself amongst men in kindly deeds. GOD’S TO HIS PEOPLE A REASON FOR HIM(Psalms 75:1.) I. There are times when God specially manifests Himself to His people. “Thy name” = Thyself. God’s wondrous works led the Psalmist to feel that God Himself was near. God specially manifests Himself to His people— 1. In deliverances wrought for them. Cite examples. 2. In judgments inflicted upon them. Cite examples. It is our shame that we sometimes fail to see God in the blessings which He bestows upon us. He must needs visit us in judgment ere we feel Him near. 3. In revivals of His work. What quickening of spiritual life! What increase of spiritual activities! What gracious conversions! What restorations of backsliders! “Thy noblest wonders here we view,In souls renewed and sins forgiven.”God is near to many objectively, yet not subjectively. He is near to them, yet they do not feel Him near. Let His wondrous works in nature, in providence, and in the human soul be to us a sign, an indication, of His own presence. II. These manifestations should awaken the praise of His people. “Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks, do we give,” &c. Our thanksgiving, like that of the people in this Psalm, should be,— 1. Repeated. “We give thanks, we give thanks.” “Stinted gratitude is ingratitude. For infinite goodness there should be measureless thanks.” 2. Hearty. God accepts our praise only as it proceeds from the heart. 3. Practical. The people by the poet express their resolve to oppose evil, and favour righteousness. We should praise God “not only with our lips, but in our lives; by giving up ourselves to His service and by walking before Him in holiness and righteousness all our days.” Let us cultivate fervent gratitude to God. Gratitude is the duty of every one. Let us esteem it a privilege. “What shall I render unto the Lord?” &c. “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” &c. “While I live will I praise the Lord,” &c. “We’ll praise Him for all that is past,And trust Him for all that’s to come.”ASPECTS OF THE DIVINE (Psalms 75:4-8.) In these verses the Poet speaks as the mouth-piece of the people. “According to some expositors, the address of God is still continued in this verse; according to others in verse fifth; and according to others even in verse sixth. But verse seventh, where God is spoken of in the third person, hangs together with verse sixth by ‘for,’ and this verse again with verse five by ‘for,’ and verses four and five cannot be disjoined from each other.” Moreover, “the Selah stands at the end of the preceding verse, and the expression, ‘I say,’ at the beginning of this one, indicates a change of speaker.”—Hengstenberg. The Divine government is here regarded— I. As a rebuke to wicked oppressors. 1. The wicked are admonished of the folly of sin. “I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly.” Sin is folly, and he who acts wickedly “deals foolishly.” Sin is irrational. All sound reasoning is opposed to moral evil. Conscience condemns it as wrong. Reason pronounces it to be folly. The laws of God in nature all antagonise it. The law of God as revealed in His Word exhibits it as moral insanity. Sin is self-injury. The evil-doer is working his own ruin; he is destroying himself. In this world he is foregoing the most exquisite and exalting joys for the unsatisfying pleasures of sin. In the world to come there is for him “a fearful looking for.” “He that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” Sinner, “Do thyself no harm,” … “deal not foolishly.” 2. The proud are counselled to shun insolence. “I said unto the wicked, Lift not up the horn. Lift not up,” &c. The horn was a symbol of power. And the foes of Israel are here exhorted not to boast insolently of their power. Pride of power is a most absurd thing. In some respects, how insignificant is the greatest of men! how weak the most powerful of men! God is supreme. With what infinite ease can He baffle the most cunningly devised schemes of man! And the strength of the mightiest is utter weakness before Him. Haughtiness and arrogance ill-become any creature. To boast of power is a sure sign of weakness, and usually heralds a great fall. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” It was pride that led to the expulsion of Lucifer from heaven. Pride ruined King Saul. Pride brought Haman to the gallows. Pride, “lifting up of the horn, and speaking with a stiff neck,” brought Nebuchadnezzar from his throne, expelled him from his palace, drove him from human society, and sent him to herd with the beasts of the field. The fact of the supremacy of the Divine government should silence all proud boasters. II. As an encouragement to the righteous. “For lifting up,” i.e., deliverance from trouble, safety, victory, “cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south,” &c. 1. There are times of need when all human aids are unavailing. Israel was experiencing such a time. They looked eastward, westward, southward, and could see no signs of deliverance. From the north their adversary approached. There was no help for them in man. If they must look to an arm of flesh for support, then their case seems hopeless. Reliance upon any human assistance is utterly vain. Their case is too extreme to be met by any efforts of their own, or by any alliances which they might form. Their case is surely a picture of what sometimes happens to the good man. From one quarter the trouble comes, and from all other quarters of the earth no help can reach him. The experience of each man will afford examples of such times—times when human helpers all fail, when human resources are utterly inadequate to our need, when we look around us for encouragement or hope, but look in vain. May it not be that such seasons of helplessness, and extreme need, and human inability are of Divine arrangement? They certainly have the divinest uses. They tend to teach us our own helplessness, and the vanity of all human beings as objects of trust, and to lead us to place our hope in God. 2. At such times consideration of the Divine government inspires the soul to hope in God. “God is the judge: He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” He ordereth human affairs. “Kingdoms shift about like clouds, obedient to His breath.” And He is ever on the side of truth and righteousness. So the threatened people of Israel turned confidently to Him when all other helpers failed, and all other resources were inadequate to their need. He could put down their foes, as He had done in past times. He could lift them up into safety and triumph. He could defend their cause, and carry it to glorious victory. And, therefore, they lifted up their hearts and voices in glad thanksgivings to Him. He is ever the hope of His people. He “turneth the shadow of death into the morning.” In our extremity, when our strength is all spent, and “the collied night” surrounds us, and the storm is loud and strong, and progress is impossible to us, He cometh to us walking on the boisterous and threatening waves, hushes the thunderous clamours into peace, quells our craven fears, and brings us to the desired haven. Courage, servant of God! “The Lord reigneth.” III. As an assurance of the punishment of the wicked. “For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture,” &c. 1. The punishment of the wicked is from God. The cup is in His hand. There is a grave tendency in our time to a dangerous sentimentalism which represents God as pitiful, compassionate, and forgiving, and ignores His holiness and justice. God is merciful; He is also righteous. He pardons the penitent; He also punishes the persistently impenitent. There is wrath in God—not a stormy, passionate, revengeful feeling, as it too often is in man; but a calm, holy, fixed determination to punish those who scorn His reproofs, trample under foot His laws, and reject His salvation. God must wage incessant war against evil. His love burns with unquenchable fire against sin. His laws are all arrayed against it in stern antagonism. Wisely and benevolently He has so ordered His universe that penalty shall ever follow transgression. And if men persist in iniquity, then iniquity will be their ruin. 2. The punishment of the wicked is severe. The cup is “full of mixture,” an allusion to the custom of mixing roots and spices with the wine to increase its intoxicating power. What a cup is that which is being prepared for the wicked! What blighted hopes, what lost opportunities, what ever-accusing memories, what bitter self-reproaches, what unutterable anguish! Oh! the unfathomable depths of misery involved in the words—“Hell fire: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” They shall drain this cup to the very “dregs.” The bitter draught cannot be evaded. No part of it may be left undrank. There is no escape from the misery; for the misery is within the guilty breast. “Me miserable! which way shall I flee?Where’er I am is hell; myself am hell!”3. The punishment of the wicked is without exception. “All the wicked.” “There is no respect of persons with God.” He is just in His dealings with all men. Favouritism or partiality is unknown to Him. The finally impenitent, the irreclaimably wicked, of all lands and of all ages, “shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” “God will render to every man according to his deeds: … unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.” .— 1. Warning to the wicked. “If man will contend with God, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him, and hath prospered?” 2. Counsel to the wicked. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” 3. Admonition to those in high stations. Realise your dependence. “The most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.” 4. Encouragement for the oppressed righteous. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me.” A MODEL OF DEVOUT PRAISE(Psalms 75:9-10.) The Poet still speaks as the mouthpiece of all the people of Israel. And, feeling confident of deliverance, declares their resolution to praise God for ever, to suppress the wicked, and to exalt the righteous. The praise resolved upon here is worthy of our imitation, inasmuch as it— I. Loses sight of self in devout admiration of the character and doings of God. 1. He will praise God for His doings. He resolves to declare for ever the wondrous works of God. God had done great things for them, they were confident that He would again do great things for them, and were determined to “praise the Lord, declare His doings among the people, and make mention that His name is exalted.” God has done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Shall not we praise Him for His mighty acts? “Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul.” “He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay,” &c. Considering what God has done for us, especially in giving to us Christ and His salvation, if we were not to praise Him, surely the very stones would cry out. The great things He has done for us were (1) Undeserved by us. “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (2) Unsought by us. We did not seek God, but He sought us by Jesus Christ. (3) Freely and heartily given by God out of His own sovereign love. “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” 2. He will praise God for His faithfulness. “I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.” God had entered into covenant with Jacob, and that covenant He had kept. Through all the vicissitudes of their history, from the time of their father Jacob until the time when this Psalm was sung, God had never abandoned them. They had had their seasons of darkness and trial, but the Lord was their Friend and God in those seasons, though they saw Him not. They praise the God of their fathers, for His faithfulness. “For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance.” We, too, have found Him a covenant-keeping God. We have proved that His promises are reliable, that He ever abideth faithful. With Him there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Shall we not praise Him as we recollect that we have never trusted Him in vain? and that He is the unfailing rock of our heart? 3. He will praise God “for ever.” Not simply while His gracious interpositions are recent, but for ever. Constant mercies should awaken constant gratitude, and constant gratitude will seek to express itself constantly in some form of praise. In some of the old monasteries it was a rule that the chanting of praise should never be interrupted, and that one choir of monks should relieve another in the sacred service. Let us learn a lesson from this. “Let not thy praises be transient—a fit of music, and then the instrument hung by the wall till another gaudy day of some remarkable providence makes thee take it down. God comes not guest-wise to His saints’ house, but to dwell with them. David took this up for a life-work: ‘As long as I live, I will praise Thee.’ ” II. Evinces its reality by resolving to imitate Him. Anticipating their “lifting up” the people resolve, through the grace of God and in the strength which He grants them, to cut off all the horns of the wicked, and to exalt the horns of the righteous. When they were restored to peace and security they would use their power in putting down wickedness, and upholding and honouring the righteous. These are the very things which, by anticipation, they have beheld God doing, and in this Psalm have praised Him for doing. They resolve that they will imitate Him in these things. It has been well said that, “Imitation is the sincerest praise.” This praise they here offer to God. Do we know by personal experience this praise? Our praise of the excellences of others is a very hollow affair unless we also cultivate those excellences. We praise God for His “unspeakable Gift;” are we imitating His pure generosity? We praise Jesus Christ for His great self-sacrifice for us; are we denying ourselves in His spirit that others might be benefited? We bless God for the Gospel; are we exemplifying the spirit of the Gospel? A certain Dr. Whitaker, on reading the fifth chapter of Matthew, brake out, saying, “Either this is not the Gospel, or we are not of the Gospel.” And is it not to be feared that the spirit of the Gospel for which men praise God, and the spirit of their lives, are often widely different? Let us evince the sincerity of our praise to God by imitating Him in our spirit and life. Let us admire Him, commune with Him, adore Him, until we are transformed into the same image. Let us, like the Psalmist, cultivate such thoroughness and fervency of praise that we shall lose sight of everything but God and His glory. May God so fill the horizon of the soul that we may be filled with admiration and praise of Him. “God! God! God!Thou fill’st our eyesAs were the skiesOne burning, boundless sun;While creature mind,In path confined,Passeth a spot thereon.God! God! God!”—P. J. Bailey. Superscription.—“To the chief Musician on Neginoth.” See Introduction to Psalms 54.A Psalm—a Song of Asaph. (See notes on the authorship of Psalms 74) The superscription may be thus paraphrased—A Psalm, a Song of Asaph, to be delivered to the director of music, that he may arrange for its performance with the accompaniment of stringed instruments.Occasion.—There appear to us very good reasons for regarding the Psalm as a celebration of Israel’s victory over the Assyrians. The preceding Psalm sang the heroic anticipation of triumph, this one the uxultant realisation of triumph.GOD THE OF THE GOODThe victorious army of Sennacherib is encamped before Jerusalem threatening to besiege it unless Hezekiah will submit to them, and admit them into the city. The invading army was very numerous and powerful, and was emboldened by many and signal victories. In his extremity Hezekiah is strengthened by the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Isaiah the prophet, and he refuses to surrender to the generals of Sennacherib. Isaiah declared, that “the virgin, the daughter of Zion, despised and laughed to scorn” the invaders. According to His promise, God interposed on behalf of His people, “and on the first night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their captains and generals, were destroyed.” (Vide 2 Chronicles 32; Isaiah 37; Josephus Antiq. x. 1.) We may profitably regard this chapter of ancient history as an illustration of God’s Championship of His people. It is common to speak of human life upon earth as a battle. To every man who is in any degree acquainted with the meaning and importance of life there are difficulties and struggles to be encountered. There is disorder to be attacked, subdued, made orderly and rhythmic. There are ignorance, stupidity, brutality, to be encountered and vanquished by intelligence, wisdom, and manliness. The truly good man, he who, in the strength of God, is trying to live holily, usefully, and bravely, especially finds life a battle. To him there are not only the manifest enemies of ignorance, vice, and crime, but subtle, spiritual foes within him and around him. His own soul is beleaguered by enemies. The cause of God in the world, too, is attacked by foes, as was Jerusalem by the Assyrian hosts. We are inadequate to contend with forces so numerous and powerful. Yet “there be more with us than with him: with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles.” I. The enemies of the good are many and mighty. The Assyrian army was vast and powerful, and had been very victorious. The Psalmist speaks of them as “the stouthearted,” … “the men of might.” They illustrate the enemies of the people of God. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God,” &c. (Ephesians 6:10-13). Good men have to contend with Satan. He is the great leader of the antagonism against God and goodness. He strives for his own diabolical mastery, for the sovereignty of darkness and evil. In our day the great adversary of God and man seeks to compass his diabolic ends not so much by force as by fraud. The time was when the good had to dread the “roaring lion, going about seeking whom he may devour.” At present, he is far more dangerous when he “is transformed into an angel of light.” He works with a shrewd cunning, a subtle diplomacy, and by means of politic disguises. He can assume the self-possession of a man of the world, or the manners of a gentleman. He can speak the language of accomplished scholarship, or of deep and patient thought. Or, he can assume the garb of religion, and speak the language of piety. Indirectly and by means of artful disguises he seeks to accomplish his fiendish purpose, the utter depravation and ruin of souls. In all scenes and at all times he steadily works to accomplish his object. By many and varied means he is suggesting evil to the soul, and stimulating and impelling the soul under false pretences to follow that evil. A man is lured to drunkenness under the pretence of sociality and good companionship. Another is snared into the most miserable avarice under the guise of making provision for future emergencies, or of practising a proper economy. In this indirectness and subtlety of method lie the great strength of the devil; and by reason of these his attacks are fraught with great peril to men. Moreover, in his great warfare against the good, Satan has many allies. From the revelations of the Bible, it is clear to us that there are many angelic helpers of the good, and that there are many fallen angels who, under their great leader, oppose the good. There are ranks and orders of these fallen angels—“principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual hosts of wickedness.” These beings exert much influence in suggesting evil to the mind and heart, and in impelling the mind and heart to evil. He is but a shallow thinker that ridicules the idea of malign spiritual influences acting upon us; and has studied with but little effect either the experiences of his own heart or the phenomena of mind in general. Assuredly “There are more things in heaven and earthThan are dreamt of in his philosophy.”Satan has allies also in human society. The good have to contend against “the world” as well as against the devil, or against the devil as he works by human agency. There are men of splendid but impure imagination who are corrupting souls by sensuous literature. There are others of education and mental power who are producing works which tend to unsettle men’s faith not only in human creeds, but in Divine revelation, and even in the reality of truth, and righteousness, and love. Music, and many of the so-called refinements and arts of life are, to a great extent, made to minister to the senses rather than to the soul, to the appetites rather than to the aspirations of man’s nature. And the souls of many seem steeped in worldliness. At the shrine of Mammon immense multitudes are ever bowing. Men are sacrificing all mental culture and progress for gold, sacrificing principle for gold, sometimes sacrificing their soul for gold. Parents are willing to immolate their children upon the altar of Mammon, and sacrifice their daughters for gold. It is not without reason that we pray for deliverance from the snares and seductions of “the world;” for they are full of peril, and they beset all classes and conditions of men. The good have also to contend against enemies within themselves. There are tendencies to evil in our own nature. The completeness of our moral power is broken. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit.” Passion is frequently arrayed against principle. Inclination and conscience are often at variance. “To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.” There is that in us which responds to temptation, and gives to temptation its power; that in us which is attracted by evil in certain of its forms as steel is drawn by the magnet. Thus some of the severest struggles are fought in the arena of human souls. Here, then, are the enemies against which we have to battle, “the world, the flesh, and the devil;” evil within us, and evil around us; ignorance, superstition, oppression, bigotry, unbelief, vice, crime, pain, disease, misery, and death. “O our God, we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do; but our eyes are upon Thee.” II. The Champion of the good is greater than all their enemies. The Psalmist represents God as completely vanquishing the foes of Israel. In one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrian army were slain. “When God arose to judgment to save” His people, the enemy was speedily and utterly discomfited. 1. He issues forth to battle from Zion, Zion is represented as the dwelling-place of God. “In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel: in Salem also is His tabernacle, and His dwelling-place in Zion.” “The Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His habitation. This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.” Sennacherib had virtually challenged Jehovah to combat. He sent to the Jews, saying, “No god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers; how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand?” The contest was “between the gods as well as the military forces of the two kingdoms.” The presumptuous monarch begins to besiege the holy city. He will capture the very dwelling-place of the Lord God of Sabaoth. God accepts the challenge, and in the silence of the night. He calmly goes forth, and with the breath of His nostrils He slays His foes. “The stout-hearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep; and none of the men of might have found their hands.” And the proud boaster hastily retreats, to meet with a speedy and ignominious death. Not in any local Zion does God now manifest His glory. Jesus Christ is the true Shekinah, “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.” God goes forth in Him to combat His foes. The great controversies of Christendom are concerning Him. The opposition to religion is to a great extent directed against Him. His spirit and principles, His authority to legislate for human society, His right to reign over men, His claim of God-hood, these are combated by men to-day. All the opposition to which His disciples are subjected He regards as directed against Himself. Their foes He holds to be His foes. He is the great antagonist of all evil. By His Spirit and His Church He wages war against sin, suffering, and death. In proportion as His people are animated by His Spirit and live in His life are they victorious in conflict. God in Christ shall conquer all our foes. The sublime wisdom of His teaching, the Divine beauty of His life, the heart-moving, Godlike power of His death shall subdue the world unto Him. “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,” &c. 2. He issues forth to complete victory. When God entered the lists the vast and valiant hosts of Sennacherib were swept into the silent sleep of death in a moment. “There brake He the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle,” &c. “Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,That host with their banners at sunset were seen:Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,That host on the morrow lay wither’d and strown.”God not only got to Himself a complete victory, but His glory was increased amongst His people and amongst the heathen by reason of the wrath of His enemies. He made the wrath of man to praise Him. The proud boasting of Sennacherib and the attack of his mighty hosts called forth a conspicuous display of the power and majesty of God. His people saw it, and celebrated His praises. The heathen saw it, and “brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah: so that He was magnified in the sight of all nations.” Thus the Lord got Him honour upon Sennacherib. This is an illustration of the victory which He will achieve over all His foes. There are times when we stand dismayed before our enemies. The evils of our own hearts are more than a match for us. And, when we think of the foes that are in the world, and of the vast influence of the great leader of the evil forces, we feel how utterly inadequate we are to cope with such tremendous powers. But the Captain of our salvation is more than sufficient for us. He will turn the counsel of the enemies of His people to their own confusion. He will give us the victory over our foes. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under thy feet shortly.” “We are more than conquerors through Him that hath loved us.” He will enable us to draw from our conflicts a strength and courage, a hatred of evil, and an enthusiasm for goodness which we could not otherwise have obtained. He will continue the conflict until He is victorious over every foe. He will even overrule the dark and malicious designs and workings of Satan and his allies for the promotion of His glory. After all the devil is but the vassal of the Lord our God. Unwittingly he is being used to promote the enthronement of the true and good. “Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.” 3. He achieves complete victory with the utmost ease. Whatever the “angel,” messenger, which the Lord sent against the Assyrian host was, it is clear that the victory was achieved with the utmost ease. “Who can stand in Thy sight when once Thou art angry?” “For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast,And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;And the eyes of the sleepers wax’d deadly and chill.And their hearts but once heav’d, and for ever grew still.”God rebukes His foes, and they are vanquished. So in the end He will subdue His foes with the most consummate ease. The foes of the good exist and are active, not because He is unable to subdue them, but because for wise and benevolent purposes He sees fit to allow them to resist Him and oppose His cause. But when He arises to judgment they will “melt like snow in His glance.” Wherefore let the people of God take courage and exult in their Champion. III. The Champion of the good should be duly honoured. 1. His people should pay their vows to Him, “Vow, and pay unto the Lord your God all ye who are round about Him.” The latter clause makes it clear that this refers to His people. The twelve tribes used to pitch round about the tabernacle. And Jehovah was said to dwell in the midst of them. The vows which they had made to Him in the time of their danger and fear, they are exhorted to pay to Him now that deliverance has been wrought for them. In the conflicts of life men frequently vow that if deliverance from trouble, or extrication from difficulty, or victory over enemies be granted to them, they will consecrate themselves or their possessions more fully to God. But these vows are frequently forgotten when the peril is past. Thy vows are registered in heaven by the faithful God. Pay them. With shameful ingratitude thou hast far too long left them unpaid, pay them at once. 2. Offerings of devotion should be made to Him. “Bring presents unto Him that ought to be feared.” After the defeat of Sennacherib “many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem,” and “He was magnified in the sight of all nations.” God is worthy to receive the homage of all peoples. The day is coming when men shall esteem it a high privilege and pleasure to bring their richest treasures as an offering to Him. Let us bring presents to Him who fighteth for us in all our battles. Man of wealth, dedicate thy possessions to Him. Man of genius, lay thy genius on the altar of Divine consecration. Let us each give to Him of our best and richest treasures. 3. The glory of victory should be ascribed to Him alone. In the case of the Assyrian hosts He alone encountered and vanquished them. “O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvellous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory.” And the praise and honour were all ascribed to Him. In all the victories of His people He is the real Conqueror. If we come out of temptation victorious, it is because of the help of His grace. If in any measure we have been successful in our conflict with ignorance and sin and misery, we have been so by the power of His might. “Blessed be the Lord my rock, who teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” “He makes the glorious victory mine,And His shall be the praise.”.— 1. Let the Church of God remember its obligation. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might,” &c. (Ephesians 6:10-18). 2. Let the Church of God remember its Champion. “Through God we shall do valiantly; for He shall tread down our enemies.” GOD THE SAVIOUR OF THE MEEK(Psalms 76:9.) Consider— I. The character of the people of God. “The meek.” “A pious, patient one.”—Fuerst’s Lex. 1. Meekness is not mere easiness of disposition, or apathy. Absence of sensibility, whether physical, mental, or moral, is neither virtuous nor blessed. 2. Meekness is not cowardice or weakness. The truly meek man is as brave as he is calm, as courageous as he is patient. 3. Meekness has a God-ward and a man-ward aspect. (1) Its attitude towards God is that of cheerful acquiescence in the appointments of His will and the arrangements of His providence. It does not criticise, or complain, or murmur because of His doings, but is humble and quiet before Him. (2) Towards man, meekness manifests itself in patiently bearing with the defects and weaknesses of others, in willingness to endure insult and injury rather than do wrong, and in charitably adopting the most favourable construction on the action or course of conduct of any one, when two constructions are admissible. Meekness is “not overcome of evil, but overcomes evil with good.” II. The peril of the people of God. They need some one “to save” them. 1. They have enemies. 2. These enemies are many and strong. 3. They art inadequate to cope with these enemies. III. The Deliverer of the people of God. God is their vindicator and Saviour. 1. He punishes the proud oppressor. 2. He saves the oppressed meek. “For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord.” GOD THROUGH MAN’S WRATH(Psalms 76:10.) Our text gives a special aspect of Divine Providence. Amid the confusion and suffering and sin of the present God reigns, so that the issue is His highest glory. The world has not been deserted by its Maker, although the mode of His continuous presence and working is inexplicable. But how wonderful that man’s freedom and responsibility should be inviolate, while his resistance is overcome, the fierce and swelling tide of his passions controlled, and the character of God illustrated and glorified. God’s spiritual Providence is an organ for bringing forth the largest possible amount of happiness and good, and for filling the universe with pure and lasting glory. From the first the world has been afflicted with sufferings and tumults, and the crimes which war against private and public good. There are times of social and political earthquake, when the abyss opens at our feet. But for the Divine Providence these phenomena must have been more distressing and terrific. Through God’s continuous and universal presence and acting, the misery springing from the sin and crime of men is immeasurably lessened. With this conviction, we gratefully say, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee,” &c. I. The wrath of man not unfrequently defeats its own aims and accomplishes the Divine purpose. The cruel envy of Joseph’ brothers, Pharaoh’s crafty policy of imposing heavier and more grievous burdens on the Israelites, Haman’s ambition and his enmity against Mordecai, illustrate this. Opposite and conflicting interests, as it seems to us, are so balanced, violence is so checked, “vaulting ambition” so “overleaps itself,” that man’s wrath brings into greater clearness and glory the Divine power and wisdom and goodness. II. The wrath of man is sometimes the instrument of the Divine will. Generally our sins become our scourge. Our “own wickedness corrects” us, &c. But specially. The sole object of the Babylonian monarch was the gratification of his ambition by conquest and spoil, yet he was “the rod” of God (Isaiah 10:5-7). This is frequently exemplified in the conduct of the first Napoleon—in our Chinese wars, indefensible, yet introducing the Gospel—in the Russian war, so unnecessary and so barren in anticipated results, yet abolishing serfdom, and preparing for the emancipation of religion from a bigotry as narrow and fierce as that of Rome—in the Indian Mutiny, which roused the Church to acknowledge India’s claim on her prayers and efforts—in the terrible conflict that raged in America, issuing in the freedom of the slave, and, despite appearances, in a higher and purer public opinion and morality—in the recent Franco-German war, tending to widen civil and religious liberty, as it limits and weakens the priestly power, everywhere and always the enemy of popular rights and of a free Gospel. With no fear of God, in the simple pursuit of their own ends, men are the instruments of the Divine Providence. III. Man in his wrath accomplishes the Divine will when setting himself to resist and frustrate it. The design of God is fulfilled by direct attempts to defeat it (Acts 4:27-28, with Acts 4:10-11.) Persecution defeats itself. “Noble lives crowned by heroic deaths” are the best arguments and defences of any church. The assaults of infidelity result in the more triumphant vindication of the faith. Hume prophesied that Christianity could not survive the nineteenth century. Voltaire impiously said that one wise man would undo what twelve fools had accomplished. Julian will exterminate the faith; but he and all exclaim—“O Galilean! Thou hast conquered.” “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee.” God rules in wisdom, righteousness, and love. The end of His rule, the triumph of purity and truth. The way to the end is not traceable by us; but the fact, the end is sure. Courage, then. We are not the sport of fortune. It is not a great drama of chance which is now acted. A hand unseen is turning all to a great end, and blessed as great—the glory of God in the triumph of truth and holiness and love, and thus the complete and everlasting blessedness of man. For God is not a despot, careless at what cost His purposes are realised, if only He triumph. He is a wise and beneficent Ruler; or rather a holy and wise and loving Father, employing His resources for the good of all His children, patient though they are rebellious and foolish, and only at last, if at last, banishing from the home they have forsaken and despised the obstinately perverse. Because God is so wise and holy and gracious, and withal so mighty, how hazardous to resist His will or despise His grace!—W. Y., B. A. VOWS MADE IN TROUBLE(Psalms 76:11.) “Vow and pay unto the Lord your God, all ye who are round about Him.” “Round about Him. A description of His people, as the twelve tribes pitched round about the tabernacle, and the four and twenty elders were round about God’s throne.”—Ainsworth. I. The great tendency of man to make religious vows in times of danger and trouble. The Jews did so when the Assyrians were before Jerusalem. Men are very prone to do so. 1. This is sometimes evil, because it indicates a disposition to bargain with God. To vow that we will serve God on condition that He will deliver or help as is wrong. He has an absolute claim upon our possessions and upon ourselves. See the meanness and selfishness of Jacob as manifested in his vow at Bethel (Genesis 28:20-22). 2. This is sometimes good. When trouble awakens thought, and thought leads to repentance, and the humble spirit vows to honour and serve God, such vows are excellent. II. The great tendency of man to forget these vows when the trouble and danger are past. This is proverbial— “When the devil was sick, the devil a monk would be;When the devil was well, the devil a monk was he.”“Thus we say, The river past, and God forgotten, to express with how mournful a frequency He whose assistance was invoked, it may have been earnestly, in the moment of peril, is remembered no more, so soon as by His help the danger has been surmounted.”—Archbishop Trench. 1. Vows begotten of fear are not likely to be kept when the cause of fear is removed. 2. Vows begotten of penitence or gratitude will be piously remembered and fulfilled. III. The great sin of forgetting or failing to fulfil these vows. 1. There is ingratitude. Having received the benefit we ignore our obligation to the Benefactor. 2. There is unfaithfulness. Having promised we fail to perform that which we have promised. We lie unto the faithful God. Brother, thy vows are registered in heaven. Pay them. Pay them fully, heartily, at once. Superscription.—“To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, a Psalm of Asaph.” Jeduthun was one of the leaders of sacred music in David’s time (1 Chronicles 16:41-42; 2 Chronicles 5:12). One of the twenty-four musical choirs left by David bore the honorary title Jeduthun or Jedithun, perhaps from him, as its founder (1 Chronicles 25)A Psalm of Asaph. See Introduction to Psalms 74.Occasion.—It is not known, nor have we any means of determining upon what occasion the Psalm was written. But, Perowne has well said concerning it, “Whenever, and by whomsoever, the Psalm may have been written, it clearly is individual, not national. It utterly destroys all the beauty, all the tenderness and depth of feeling in the opening portion, if we suppose that the people are introduced speaking in the first person. The allusions to the national history may indeed show that the season was a season of national distress, and that the sweet singer was himself bowed down by the burden of the time, and oppressed by woes which he had no power to alleviate; but it is his own sorrow, not the sorrow of others, under which he sighs, and of which he has left the pathetic record.” The Psalm is eminently fitted to teach us how we may obtain comfort and peace even in the severest distresses.Homiletically the Psalm sets before us, First: The good man’s trouble and Deliverer, Psalms 77:1-3. Second: The thoughts and inquiries of a godly soul in distress, Psalms 77:4-9. Third: The godly soul rising superior to trouble by the devout contemplation of the works and ways of God, Psalms 77:10-20.THE GOOD MAN’S TROUBLE AND (Psalms 77:1-3.) I. The Good man’s trouble. All men have some measure of acquaintance with trouble. It is not given to us to travel through life under unclouded skies, favoured by refreshing breezes, amid enchanting scenery, with delightful companionships, and upon a pleasant and easy road. There are times when we have to walk in loneliness and sorrow, with weary limbs, and bleeding feet, and aching heart, beneath darkened skies, and amid pelting storms. The good man has no exemption from life’s sorrows and trials. He is exposed to physical trials. Bodily pains and diseases visit and try “the true-born child of God” as well as the wicked. He suffers from social trials also. He has disappointments and losses in business, he is pained by the inconstancy and duplicity of those whom he regarded as true, he suffers by reason of the afflictions and sorrows of those who are dear to him, and he is sometimes stricken with anguish by the invasions of death into the home or social circle. He also experiences religious trials. His own imperfections and sins are a source of grief to him. The contrast between the ideal and the actual in his own life is great and painful. He has seasons of dark doubt, and sad misgiving, and distressful hiding of the face of God from him. Of such experiences the poet sings in this Psalm. The compassions and favours, the mercies and faithfulnesses of God seemed to be all cut off from him. God himself seemed to have forsaken him, cast him off. The intensity of his trouble is seen in that— 1. It was continuous. In the day he sought the Lord by reason of it, and at night his hand was unweariedly outstretched in prayers for deliverance. His grief knew no intermission. His soul obtained no rest either by night or by day. 2. His soul accepted no consolation,—“refused to be comforted.” Some consolations seemed inadequate to his need. Others seemed too precious for one who was so unworthy in his own sight. And so the wounded heart refused the balm which would have healed it. 3. The remembrance of God was painful. We do not wonder that the remembrance of God is painful to the wicked. But that the godly man should find it painful to direct his thoughts to God is indeed strange. Meditation on God should fill the soul of the good man with holiest music. Very sore must have been the trial of the Psalmist when he was troubled at the recollection of God. 4. Meditation increased grief. “I meditated and my spirit was overwhelmed.” Reflection brought no relief to his soul, but seemed to sink him deeper in the abyss of trouble. A very sad state he was in. He is in deep waters, the waves and billows go over him, and he is unable to obtain relief or rest. “All things have rest: why should we toil alone?We only toil, who are the first of things,And make perpetual moan;Still from one sorrow to another thrown:Nor ever fold our wings,And cease from wanderings,Nor steep our brows in slumber’s holy balm.”—Tennyson.These sore trials of godly men by the grace of God are often the means of richest blessings to the soul. As the darkness of night brings out the glory of the starry heavens, so in affliction and trouble some most precious truths shine forth with the greatest brilliance. “Thou canst not tellHow rich a dowry sorrow gives the soul,How firm a faith and eagle-sight of God.”—Alford.II. The Good man’s Deliverer. In his trouble the Psalmist betook himself to the throne of grace, he had recourse to God. When trouble drives us nearer to God it is already a blessing to us. 1. His application to God involved faith. (1) In the accessibility of God. The Psalmist felt that he could approach unto God, and speak to Him in prayer. Trouble cannot drive us into any region where He is not. From the deepest abyss of distress the moan of suffering, the cry of penitence, or the prayer for help, will reach the ear and touch the heart of God. (2) In the sufficiency of God to help those who seek unto Him. The Psalmist would not have cried to God had he not believed in His power to help him. Our God is all-sufficient. There are no sorrows that defy His consolations. There are no wounds which the balm of Gilead cannot heal. (3) In the goodness of God. Notwithstanding his declaration that he “remembered God and was troubled,” the Psalmist must have believed in God’s kindness and willingness to help him, or he would not have carried his burden to His throne. Though He seems to hide His face from us, yet He is ever gracious and kind. His name and nature are love. When trouble thus leads us to draw closer to God, and to cast out burden upon Him, it has not visited us in vain. 2. His application to God was persevering and earnest. “I cried unto God with my voice, unto God with my voice; and He gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my hand is stretched out at night unwearied.” The repetition of the first verse is emphatic, presenting the idea of earnest and fervent supplication. The “hand stretched out at night unwearied” in prayer, indicates how importunate and persevering were his supplications. Hearty, fervent, importunate prayers are acceptable to God. Cold, heartless, formal prayers He does not regard. Let the Psalmist’s example be imitated by troubled hearts. 3. His application to God did not lead to immediate relief. He says that God “gave ear unto” him; but he seems to have obtained no immediate respite from his troubles. The Divine answer to our supplications is sometimes the continuance of those very trials or afflictions from which we have prayed to be delivered. The answer to the apostle Paul’s prayer was not the removal of the thorn from the flesh quivering with agony, but, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” The withholding or delaying of that for which we have so importunately pleaded may be the true and gracious answer to our prayers. The blessing may be delayed that our faith and patience may thereby be increased, and that when it comes to us it may come richer and fuller. Or that for which we have asked may be withheld, because Infinite Wisdom sees that to us it would not be a blessing. Thus it is that the earnest, importunate prayers of good men are not always answered at once, and sometimes are not answered at all by granting the thing desired. Yet they are always helpful to the soul, and bring down blessings into the soul from God. .— 1. Learn the sacred uses of trouble. “These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, work,” &c. “Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience,” &c. “The tears we shed are not in vain;Nor worthless is the heavy strife;If, like the buried seed of grain,They rise to renovated life.It is through tears our spirits grow;’Tis in the tempest souls expand,If it but teaches us to goTo Him who holds it in His hand.Oh, welcome, then, the stormy blast!Oh, welcome, then, the ocean’s roar!Ye only drive more sure and fastOur trembling bark to Heaven’s bright shore.”—T.C. Upham.2. Learn the grand resource in trouble. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” á. He is all-sufficient. â. He is ever available. ã. He is ever gracious. “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” PRAYER IN TROUBLE(Psalms 77:1-2.) We have here— I. Something common to all men. “The day of trouble.” “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” With so much of sin in the world sorrow and trouble are inevitable. II. A commendable example for all men. “I cried unto God, … I sought the Lord.” 1. Earnestly. “I cried with my voice, unto God with my voice.” 2. Perseveringly. “My hand is stretched out at night unwearied.” “In the day” and “in the night” he sought the Lord. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee,” &c. III. A Divine auditor of all men. “He gave ear unto me.” Into the ear of God the cries of humanity are ever entering. Graciously He attends to the feeblest whisper of His people. IV. A great mistake of some men. “My soul refused to be comforted.” Surely the Psalmist erred in this. God has graciously arranged our life and circumstances so that healing may come to the wounded spirit in many ways. Through the aspects and voices of nature, through the contemplation of His Providence, through His holy Word. To refuse His consolation is, 1. Ungrateful to Him. 2. Injurious to ourselves. V. An experience which may happen to all men. To pray earnestly and importunately without any immediate reply was the lot of the poet, and may be the lot of all men. Let us learn the lessons of such an experience. 1. Calmly trust Him. 2. Perseveringly pray to Him. 3. Patiently wait for Him. OF GOD PAINFUL TO THE WICKED(Psalms 77:3.) “I remembered God and was troubled.” Why is the remembrance of God pleasant to some of us and painful to others? Why is it sometimes pleasant, and at other times painful, to the same individual? I. Briefly state what we mean by remembering God. We certainly mean something more than a transient recollection of the word God, or of any other name by which He is known. By remembering God, the Psalmist meant recollecting those ideas which the term God is used by the inspired writers to signify. An eternal, self-existent, infinitely wise, just, and good Being, &c. II. Inquire why the recollection of such a being should ever be painful; or, why any of God’s creatures should be troubled at the remembrance of Him. There is nothing in the Divine character and government which necessarily renders the remembrance of God productive of painful emotions. The remembrance of God is always delightful to holy angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. The constant presence of God constitutes their heaven. The recollection, also, of His existence, character, and government, is usually, though not always, highly pleasing to all good men. If any are troubled by the remembrance of God, the cause must exist solely in themselves. Nothing but sin can ever render the remembrance of God painful to any of His creatures. If our hearts or consciences condemn us, it is impossible to remember Him without being troubled. It will then be painful to remember that He is our Creator and Benefactor; for the remembrance will be attended with a consciousness of base ingratitude. Painful to think of Him as Lawgiver; for such thoughts will remind us that we have broken His law. So also as to His holiness, omniscience, omnipresence, power, &c. Nor is this all. Every sinner loves sin. The only happiness with which he is acquainted, consists in gratifying either the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eye, or the pride of life. But all these are contrary to the will of God. He forbids the sinner to pursue them; He commands him to deny himself, &c. He threatens all who do not comply with everlasting punishment. The more clearly the wicked perceive God’s character and their own, the more light is thrown into their consciences, the more mercies, privileges, and opportunities they have enjoyed and abused, so much the more they will be troubled by a remembrance of God. .— 1. This subject affords a rule by which we may try ourselves, and which will assist us much in discovering our real characters; for the moral character of every intelligent creature corresponds with his habitual views and feelings respecting God. 2. How wretched is the situation of impenitent sinners; of those, who cannot remember God without being troubled. They cannot enjoy real happiness in this life, for the world cannot afford it, and they dare not look up for it to heaven. How much more wretched must their situation be at death and in eternity! 3. How great are our obligations to God for the gospel of Christ! Were it not for this, the remembrance, and still more the presence of God, would have occasioned nothing but pure, unmingled wretchedness to any human being. 4. Is sin alone the cause which renders the remembrance of God painful? Then let all who have embraced the terms of reconciliation offered by the gospel, all who desire to remember God without being troubled, beware of sin. Swear an eternal war with sin; not only swear, but maintain it.—Edward Payson, D.D., abridged. THE AND OF A GODLY SOUL IN TROUBLE(Psalms 77:4-9) In our previous section we had to do with the Psalmist’s trouble and his application to God by reason thereof. We have now to do with his mental condition as affected by his troubles. I. The thoughts of a godly soul in trouble. In the mental exercises of the Psalmist we notice— 1. Reflection on the past doings of God. “I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient tisme.” In his distress the Psalmist considered the former dealings of God with mankind, with a view of obtaining relief from his present troubles and light in his present perplexities. To us it seems that a study of the Divine working in human history is calculated to inspire the student with confidence in God, in the wisdom, righteousness, and goodness of His rule. Yet the Psalmist seems to have obtained no help from his consideration of the ancient doings of God. The state of his own soul spread a black pall over everything. 2. Recollection of times of trouble in his own life, which were also times of song. “I call to remembrance my song in the night.” In the Bible “night” is frequently used figuratively, to represent ignorance, sin, suffering, distress, death. Here it is used as the emblem of distress and trouble. “Where is God, my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?” The poet calls to mind former seasons of affliction and sorrow, in which he realised Divine comforts, and was enabled to sing in the darkness. Yet he seems to find no comfort for his present sorrow. He can discover no star to relieve his present darkness. From the recollection of experiences so precious and helpful as God’s mercies to him in former troubles he is unable to draw any consolation. A godly man’s condition is deplorable indeed when such experiences afford no help and hope. 3. Communion with his own heart. “I communed with mine own heart, and my spirit made diligent search.” He had recalled past experiences of his own, he had reflected and reasoned upon the work of God in human history, now he will consult his own heart. He has tried to get help by the exercise of his intellect, and has failed to do so, now he will seek help by the exercise of his better feelings. “The secret, silent teachings of the heart are often our best and safest guide.” The heart is “the centre of the spiritual, thinking, and conceptional life” (Fuerst’s Lex.); and man can commune with his heart, can contemplate his own spiritual nature and faculties, can examine his own spiritual condition, can speak to his soul and be spoken to by his soul. Thus the poet communes with his own heart. But no help does he receive. The trouble seems to have obtained the complete mastery of his entire nature. Intellect and heart are alike subdued by it. Human history and his own experience are alike darkened by it. The soul which is swayed by grief sees all things shrouded in gloom and sadness. To each of us nature wears the colour of our spirit. This truth is finely expressed in Hamlet. “I have of late lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercise: and, indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o’er-hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me, than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours. What a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me, nor woman neither.” In a somewhat similar plight was the Psalmist. Trouble had so completely mastered him that he could find neither comfort, help, nor hope anywhere. II. The inquiries of a godly soul in trouble. The Psalmist makes several inquiries, which may be classified thus. He inquires— 1. As to God’s mindfulness of His people. “Will the Lord cast off for ever?” &c. “Hath God forgotten to be gracious?” &c. God seemed to have “forgotten to be gracious” in His dealings with His servant, and to have so far overlooked him as to lead to the inquiry, “Will the Lord cast off for ever?” It is a sore aggravation of a believer’s trials when the Lord seems to be unmindful of him in his time of need. How severe was the smart of the sisters of Bethany, when several days passed, and their Friend and Lord came not near to them, although they had sent to tell Him of their trouble! 2. As to God’s unchangeableness. In past times He had been to His people a God of mercy and grace, supporting and defending them. Has He changed in this respect? Is it possible that God can change? The thought is “too painful for” us. What misery and desolation would supervene if God, the supremely Good, could change! were to change, and be other than He is! The Psalmist seems to have tasted of this misery as he urged his pain-inspired inquiries. 3. As to God’s faithfulness. “Doth His promise fail for evermore?” Shall the promise which was made to, and good for, one generation, fail to the next generation? Is not the word of Jehovah reliable? The troubled soul seems to find repose nowhere. To him nothing appears firm and true, but sin, labour, and suffering. The shadows presented themselves as the only realities. These inquiries of the troubled Psalmist reveal the depth and intensity of his sufferings. It is extremely painful to doubt one’s own salvation; but who shall depict the anguish of doubt as to the truth and faithfulness, the righteousness and goodness of God? These inquiries present a hopeful symptom of the spiritual condition of the Psalmist. “It is a wise thing thus to put unbelief through the catechism. Each one of the questions is a dart aimed at the very heart of despair.” III. Let us offer a few Suggestions to a godly soul in trouble. In his thoughts and inquiries the troubled poet seems much amazed and bewildered. Certain facts were painfully real to him which sorely tried his faith in God, and in His relation to His people. Good men are often tried in like manner. But let us remember— 1. That there is something radically abnormal in the present state of human society. It is not natural that under the government of an almighty, wise, and good Being, there should be so much of suffering, and that sometimes the best of men should be the greatest of sufferers. Suffering is here because sin is here. Find suffering and you find sin, either literally or consequentially. Sin is the unnatural, the abnormal thing. “God made man upright” He is not responsible for sin. He is rather the great Antagonist of all evil. 2. That even godly men need discipline. An educational process is going forward in this life. This world is a great moral school, man is the learner, and suffering is one of the teachers. In the case of the good man suffering is not punitive, but disciplinary, educational. While there are defect and imperfection in us, we need the discipline of the Divine school. 3. That suffering is often the occasion of richest blessing. To a true-hearted man doubt as to any of the great spiritual verities is a painful thing. But such a man doubt almost (if not quite) always conducts to a calmer faith. “Time tells his tale by shadows, and by cloudsThe wind records its progress, by dark doubtsThe spirit swiftening on its heavenward course.”—Bailey.Tennyson has described such a doubter. “He fought his doubts and gathered strength.He would not make his judgment blind;He faced the spectres of the mind,And laid them: thus he came at lengthTo find a stronger faith his own;And Power was with him in the night,Which makes the darkness and the light,And dwells not in the light alone.”The Captain of our salvation was made “perfect through suffering.” And those of His followers in this world who are most like Him are able to say, “We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,” &c. “ ‘Glory to God,—to God,’ he saith;‘Knowledge by suff’ring entereth,And life is perfected by death.’ ”THE GODLY SOUL RISING TO TROUBLE BY THE DEVOUT OF THE WORKS AND WAYS OF GOD(Psalms 77:10-20.) The mind and heart of the poet are growing calm. His agitation and distress are yielding to the exercise of reason and the power of faith. He is able to reflect to some purpose now. I. The troubled soul’s consideration of the works and ways of God. “I will remember the works of the Lord,” &c. 1. Recollection of the works and ways of God. How wonderful is the faculty of memory! How great is its conservative power! Memory has been defined as “the treasure house of the mind, wherein the monuments thereof are kept and preserved.” Cicero spoke of it as the “thesaurus omnium rerum. “By means of it nothing in life is lost. “What wealth in memory’s firm record,Which, should it perish, could this world recall,In colours fresh—originally bright—From the dark shadows of o’erwhelming years.”—Young.Memory makes the fleeting present abiding and everlasting. How wonderful is its reproductive power! A very small circumstance will unlock and throw wide open its chamber doors; and words and deeds, scenes and circumstances, unthought of for many years, appear with startling vividness before us. “Slight withal may be the things which bringBack on the heart the weight which it would flingAside for ever; it may be a sound—A tone of music—summer’s eve—or spring—A flower—the wind—the ocean—which shall wound,Striking th’ electric chain wherewith we’re darkly bound;And how and why we know not, nor can traceHome to its cloud this lightning of the mind,But feel the shock renew’d, nor can effaceThe blight and blackening which it leaves behind.”—Byron.The Psalmist calls into exercise this wondrous power, for the relief of his troubled soul. He summons forth from the treasury of memory some of the ancient doings of God. The marvellous works which He had wrought on behalf of His people in former days he makes to live before him. Probably he also called to mind former deeds and ways of God in relation to his own individual life. 2. Reflection on the works and ways of God. “I will meditate also of all Thy work.” Recollection would not have profited the Psalmist unless he had meditated upon the things which he recollected. Thought, meditation, enables us to realise the facts of history, science, philosophy, and theology, and to appropriate to ourselves their lessons. “If I should be asked,” said Dr. Bates, “what I think are the best means and ways to advance the faculties, to make the ordinances fruitful, to increase grace, to enlarge our comfort, and produce holiness, I should answer, meditation, meditation, meditation.” The Psalmist acted wisely in following up his recollection by meditation. 3. Speech concerning the works and ways of God. “Talk of Thy doings.” With the Psalmist recollection and reflection preceded speech. Much of our talk is utterly worthless, because the talkers are not thinkers. It is especially important in relation to religious subjects that meditation should precede speech. The Psalmist did not reserve to himself the results of his meditation, but declared them to others. Others were benefited by reason of his recollection and reflection. II. The troubled soul’s conclusions on the works and ways of God. Placing them in the order in which we find them, the conclusions of the Psalmist on the works and ways of God are, that they are characterised by holiness (Psalms 77:13), strength (Psalms 77:14), beneficence (Psalms 77:15; Psalms 77:20), majesty (Psalms 77:16-18), and mystery (Psalms 77:19). Let us consider them, slightly altering their order. 1. God’s works and ways reveal His strength. “Thou art the God that doest wonders; Thou hast declared Thy strength among the people.” God had made known His great power in crushing the enemies of His people, and delivering them from all their afflictions. No one can meditate upon the works of God in nature, or upon His ways in Providence, without being impressed with His Almightiness. “Thou hast a mighty arm; strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand.” The Almightiness of God should be a warning to evildoers. “Hast thou an arm like God?” The Almightiness of God should be an encouragement to His people. His strong arm is pledged to succour and defend you. He is “mighty to save.” 2. God’s works and ways reveal His majesty. In Psalms 77:16-18 the Psalmist mentions some of the mighty works of God in a very poetical manner. The imagery is both sublime and effective; and gives a deep impression, not only of the might of God in these transactions, but also of His majesty. If the majesty of God is so impressive that the earth and the sea are represented as greatly moved thereat, shall man remain unmoved at the contemplation thereof! Is there nothing in the wondrous works and ways of God to awaken the admiration and reverence of men? 3. God’s works and ways reveal His holiness. “O God, in holiness is Thy way.” His way is often mysterious; and can never be comprehended by us, yet is it ever right and pure. The troubled Psalmist when he calmly considered the dealings of God with men, not in the present, in which only a very small fragment is visible, but in ancient time, was convinced that they were all in holiness. Trembling and troubled heart, and sorely perplexed with insoluble enigmas, look away and look calmly to His glorious deeds of ancient date, and thou, too, shalt conclude, “Thy way, O God, is in holiness.” 4. God’s works and ways reveal His beneficence. The manifestation of power and majesty is not sufficient to awaken trust and hope in us, or to afford any encouragement to the despondent and sorrowing heart. Being conscious of sin and ill-desert it is calculated to awaken anxiety and even dread. We fear lest the glorious majesty should consume us, and the great might should smite and destroy us. The revelation of the Divine holiness tends to make manifest the awful contrast between us and God in this respect, by showing the exceeding sinfulness of our hearts and lives. The troubled heart needs to know more of God than this before it can obtain comfort or rest. The Psalmist saw the Divine power and majesty working beneficently. The “mighty arm” of God was displayed in smiting down the wicked oppressor, and delivering the oppressed people. “Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.” He saw Omnipotence gently and patiently leading His people through the wilderness. God is as great in mercy as He is in majesty. He is infinite in pity as well as in power. He is gracious as He is great. He is as tender as He is terrible. Here, then, may the troubled heart find peace. 5. God’s works and ways are mysterious. The Psalmist had ascertained and declared certain characteristics of the works and ways of God. Might, majesty, holiness, and beneficence he had discovered therein. Yet there was much that remained obscure and mysterious. “Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known.” There are certain topics upon which the Most High maintains an inviolable reserve. There are certain regions into which the eye of the most earnest inquirer has never penetrated. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God.” Moreover, God’s way is so vast that we are able to perceive only a very small portion of it. His purposes and methods are so comprehensive and profound that we can understand them only very partially. But this mystery was by no means painful to the Psalmist. He speaks of it calmly and trustfully; and then speaks of God’s gracious guidance of His people through the wilderness. So also to us mysteries should not be an occasion of unbelief or sorrow, but of patient trust and hope. They should also teach us lessons of humility and reverence. Our own ignorance and inability to comprehend the ways of God should humble us. “We are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.” While the reserve of a Being of such holiness and benevolence should be regarded by us with reverence. “Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.” “Mysteries! what are they but worlds at night time speeding on with swift wing to the all-revealing brightness of morning!” (Psalms 77:10.) “I said, This is my infirmity.” When a good man is made sensible of any evil in his heart or life, he is ready to acknowledge it, and take shame to himself on account of it. “I said, This is my infirmity.” No doubt but the Psalmist had often said it to himself: and such soliloquies are very becoming and may be very useful. He said it also to God, in a way of humble confession. “I acknowledge my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid,” &c. Probably he might say it to his intimate friends, whose piety and sympathy he had often witnessed; for we are commanded to confess our faults one to another, and to pray one for another. I. Inquire into the nature of that infirmity. By considering the context we may conclude that it consisted in something like the following— 1. A proneness to live too much on frames and feelings. This is common among Christians, and hinders their establishment and growth in grace. Those who live on spiritual frames will be like Reuben; unstable as water, they shall not excel. At one time they are raised to a full assurance of faith, saying, “My mountain stands strong, I shall never be moved;” and at another they are sinking into the depths of despondency, and saying, “Will the Lord cast off for ever, and will He be favourable no more?” 2. Forgetfulness of past mercies is another evil to which good men are subject, and the natural consequence of this is unthankfulness. 3. Distrust with respect to future appearances. When faith was in exercise David could say, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” &c. (Psalms 27:1-3). But here the Psalmist speaks as one that was utterly forsaken. “Will the Lord cast off for ever?” &c. (Psalms 77:7-9). 4. Refusing to be comforted in time of distress (Psalms 77:2). Moses told the children of Israel that the Lord would bring them out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and give them the land which He had promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; but they hearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. 5. Giving vent to distrustful thoughts in unbecoming language too frequently accompanies despondency. II. The reasons why God suffers such infirmities to attend His people in this life. 1. To promote humility and self-abasement. As creatures, our insignificance should make us humble; but as sinners we have reason to be still more so. 2. To excite watchfulness. Those who are liable to so many miscarriages ought certainly to be upon their guard. If nothing else will preserve the Christian from carnal security, yet the danger to which he is exposed should have that effect. “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” 3. To increase our sympathy and compassion towards others. We are made to know the heart of a stranger by being strangers ourselves. If others are overcome by temptation, we may be so too. “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,” &c. (Galatians 6:1-2). 4. To show the necessity of a frequent application to Christ, our spiritual Physician. If we had no infirmities, we should not want healing. “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.” The value of the remedy is known by them that feel the disease, and the need of a Saviour by those who see themselves to be lost. “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 5. To render heaven the more desirable. The Psalmist is now free from all his infirmities, and so will every saint be when he gets to glory. The conflicts we now have with the enemy, and the evils of our own hearts, will give a delightful relish to our happiness hereafter, and heighten the triumphs of the final victory (Psalms 17:15; 2 Corinthians 5:1-4). III. Conclude with a few observations. 1. The best of saints have their infirmities. 2. There is some particular infirmity which every man may call his own. “I kept myself,” said David, “from mine iniquity;” that is, from the sin which most easily beset him. 3. It becomes us well to know our particular infirmity, that we may guard against it; for to be without defence is the way to be overcome without resistance. 4. Having discovered what is our easily besetting sin, let us bewail it before God, and seek for help against it.—B … e. , , AND (Psalms 77:11-12.) The Psalmist in his trouble seeks relief by recollecting the wondrous works of God, and reflecting and speaking thereon. I. Recollection. “I will remember,” &c. The powers of memory are twofold. They are the power of retention, and the power of reproduction. By virtue of the former, memory is the storehouse of past scenes, circumstances, events, words, deeds. By virtue of the latter we are enabled to reproduce and relive the past. Memory may be regarded in several aspects. 1. As a source of pain. Tennyson has beautifully and truthfully said,— “A sorrow’s crown of sorrow is remembering happier things.”“Remembrance wakes with all her busy train,Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain.”—Goldsmith“Will no remorse, will no decay,O Memory! soothe thee into peace!When life is ebbing fast away,Will not thy hungry vultures cease!Ah, no! as weeds from fading free,Noxious and rank, yet verdantlyTwine round a ruin’d tower;So to the heart, untamed, will clingThe memory of an evil thing,In life’s departing hour:Green is the weed when grey the wallAnd thistles rise while turrets fall.”—Heraud.2. As a source of pleasure. “A memory without blot or contamination,” said Charlotte Brontë, “must be an exquisite treasure,—an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment.” “The joys I have possess’d are ever mine;Out of thy reach, behind eternity,Hid in the sacred treasure of the past,But bless’d remembrance brings them hourly back.”—Dryden.3. As an aid to faith. So the Psalmist uses it in this case. Observe, (1) God’s works are wonders. What marvellous things He is ever accomplishing in the material world! What wonders He wrought on behalf of His ancient people! How wonderful are His doings now in the experience of His people,—in their conversion, spiritual education, sanctification, and glorification! Truly, “the bright glories of His grace, beyond His other wonders shine.” (2) God’s wondrous works should be remembered. Not to remember them would indicate great insensateness of mind. He who does not remember them overlooks the most glorious of records; and cannot be held guiltless of ingratitude. (3) God’s wondrous works remembered are calculated to inspire confidence. They reveal a Being who is supremely trustworthy. II. Reflection. “I will meditate,” &c. By means of reflection we are enabled to realise the facts recalled by memory, to perceive their significance and applications; and the emotions which naturally spring from the facts remembered are excited by reflection. Recollection is of little worth comparatively, unless accompanied and followed by meditation. It was by the exercise of both these faculties that the troubled heart of the poet grew calm and victorious. III. Declaration. “I will talk of Thy doings.” A good man, having passed through experiences similar to those of the Psalmist, should talk of God’s doings. After his trouble, recollection, and meditation, his talk would be— 1. Intelligent. He would not utter crude or rash statements concerning God. 2. Trust-inspiring. His own faith would grow stronger as he recounted to others, &c. The faith of those who heard him would also grow as they thought of his conflict, and how he won the victory. .—Here is an example well worthy our imitation. Recollect, meditate, and then speak. THE WAYS OF GOD(Psalms 77:19.) I. God’s ways are vast in their extent. “In the sea.” His ways are related— 1. To all ages—past, present, future. 2. To all worlds. 3. To all events. II. God’s ways are profound in their meaning. “In the great waters.” Not in streams or rivers, but in the immeasurable, unfathomable ocean. His ways are “too deep to sound with mortal lines.” III. God’s ways are mysterious in their aspect. “Thy footsteps are not known,” cannot be always traced. “They are not always known; or they are not known in all things; yea, they are not altogether known in anything.” “The acknowledgment of mystery,” says Dr. Huntington, “the frank confession that our being is folded all about with the unknowable, our light fringed on every side with darkness, our little globe swimming in an ocean of unfathomable designs, but God guiding it on and caring for every passenger soul—this is an end of the trying of our faith.” GOD LEADING HIS PEOPLE(Psalms 77:20.) I. The Leader of the good. “Thou.” The Leader possesses— 1. Unlimited power, for the protection and support of His people. 2. Perfect intelligence. He knows His people individually and thoroughly. He is perfectly acquainted with the way along which they travel to their destination. 3. Solicitous regard for each member of the flock. He tenderly cares for every one, and for all. II. The instruments by which they are led. “By the hand of Moses and Aaron.” He still guides instrumentally. How? 1. By His Providence, pointing out our way by the indications of circumstances and current events. 2. By His Word, with its “Thou shalt,” and “Thou shalt not.” 3. By His Spirit influencing our spirits. 4. By the counsel of His servants. The wise and good are here to direct us. III. The manner in which they are led. “Like a flock. “We have here three ideas. 1. Particularity. The Eastern shepherds have a particular knowledge of each sheep, of its peculiarities, &c. And a name for each sheep. (See illus. in “The Land and the Book,” by Dr. Thomson.) “He calleth his own sheep by name.” “I am the good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine.” 2. Unity. Though the distinctness and individuality of each one is preserved, yet they are not separated. They constitute a “flock.” “One flock” under “one Shepherd.” 3. Leading as contradistinguished from driving. The Eastern shepherd goes before his flock, and so leads them. “And when He putteth forth His own sheep, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him; for they know His voice.” Dr. Bushnell briefly, yet clearly and suggestively, states the idea—“He does not drive them on before as a herd of unwilling disciples, but goes before Himself, leading them into paths that He has trod, and dangers He has met, and sacrifices He has borne Himself, calling them after Him, and to be only followers.” “Jesus still lead onTill our rest be won;And although the way be cheerless.We will follow, calm and fearless:Guide us by Thy handTo our Fatherland.”—Zinsendorf. Superscription,—“Maschil of Asaph,” i.e., an instruction of Asaph, a didactic song by Asaph. The Psalm was probably written by the celebrated Asaph in the time of David.Occasion.—The Psalm seems to have been occasioned by the jealousy of the tribe of Ephraim, by reason of the position which the tribe of Judah held under David. For many years the haughty and powerful tribe of Ephraim was pre-eminent amongst the tribes. The sanctuary was placed in Shiloh, which is in this tribe. When David selected Jerusalem as the home of the sanctuary and the capital of the nation, “that haughty spirit which could brook no equal or superior chafed against the growing dominion of Judah” (Stanley). In this Psalm they are taught that what they regarded as a usurpation was in fact a Divine judgment; and the ten tribes are warned not to rebel against the Divine arrangements.MAN’S TO THE LAW AND OF GOD(Psalms 78:1-8.) The Psalm opens with a summons of the people to attention. The Poet speaks as one who has a right to be heard with respectful attention, and who is about to make statements which were worthy of their particular regard. From the second verse it seems as though the Psalmist regarded the historical facts mentioned in the subsequent part of the Psalm as illustrations of spiritual facts and relationships. The history of the Israelites sets forth in clear light many aspects of human life and Divine providence. Amongst other things it strikingly illustrates— 1. The great goodness of God, in His care of His people, in His guidance of them, &c. 2. The abiding faithfulness of God, in fulfilling His promises and threatenings. 3. The sad tendency of human nature to ingratitude and departure from God. In this respect this history is a very painful one. 4. The inviolable connection between sin and suffering. These and other facts and tendencies of human life and the Divine government are set forth in striking and impressive aspects in this history. The section now before us is introductory to the history recorded in the Psalm, and presents us with some important views of Man’s relation to the law and testimony of God. I. Man has received a knowledge of the will and works of God. The Hebrews were acquainted with the laws, moral and ceremonial, which God had given unto them. They also had ordinances of Divine institution which were abiding testimonies of the character and will of God, and of their relation to Him. They were also acquainted with the wonderful facts of their own national history. They had the Scriptures. Hengstenberg holds that “by the testimony and the law in Psalms 78:5 are meant the whole contents of the Pentateuch, the direct commandments contained in it, and the deeds of the Lord which are to be considered as indirect commandments.” This Pentateuch, with its marvellous history, its Divine legislation, and its revelations of God and His will, they possessed. They had much knowledge which they had received by tradition. As children, their souls had been thrilled as they listened with rapt attention to the narratives of the wondrous and glorious works of God on behalf of their ancestors. Their memories were richly stored with these glorious deeds, and Divine revelations. What a noble and precious heritage is ours in this respect! We have the holy Word. Not simply the Pentateuch; but the inspired hymns of the ancient poets, the wise instruction of men moved by the Holy Ghost, &c. “The holy Scriptures, which are able to make men wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” What a rich and blessed possession we have in the Bible! “Most wondrous book! bright candle of the Lord!Star of eternity! The only starBy which the bark of man can navigateThe sea of life, and gain the coast of blissSecurely; only star, which rose on time,And, on its dark and troubled billows, stillAs generation, drifting swiftly by,Succeeded generation, threw a rayOf heaven’s own light, and to the hills of God—The everlasting hills—pointed the sinner’s eye.”—Pollock.We have also religious instruction. Much of the intellectual and spiritual wealth of the true and good of past ages has been handed down to us in books. The best utterances of the mind and heart of wise and holy men of this age are given to us in books. Who can estimate his indebtedness to literature! In our early days the earnest and loving teaching of Christian parents and Sunday school teachers was ours. And now we have the instruction, exhortation, and counsel of the Christian ministry. We have received a great and precious knowledge of the Divine will and way. The way of salvation is clearly made known unto us. “We see Jesus,” and in Him God has revealed Himself to us. “He that hath seen Me,” said Christ, “hath seen the Father.” II. Man should impart a knowledge of the will and works of God to others. The Israelites were distinctly and repeatedly commanded to impart religious knowledge to their children. (Vide Deuteronomy 4:9; Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Deuteronomy 9:19.) It was a binding religious duty. To this the Psalmist refers in the fifth verse. The Psalmist’s resolve to communicate this knowledge to posterity has two points worthy of notice. He resolves, 1. To communicate a knowledge of His wondrous works. “Showing to the generation to come His strength, and the wonderful works that He hath done.” Their history was peculiarly rich in marvellous and glorious deeds which He had done on their behalf, and in judgments with which He had visited them by reason of their numerous and heinous sins. It was plenteously stored with wise teaching, and helpful encouragement to faithfulness, and grave warning against evil. He will impart to the children a knowledge of this remarkable history. He resolves, 2. To communicate a knowledge of His wondrous works that the generation to come might praise the Lord. He will narrate God’s glorious deeds of ancient date, not that national pride might be promoted thereby, but that God might be glorified. His was the power, and His shall be the praise. He will show to the children “the praises of the Lord.” We, too, are bound to transmit to posterity the religious knowledge and the spiritual privileges that we enjoy. Our Lord lays down the principle with transparent clearness—“Freely ye have received, freely give.” “Heav’n doth with us as we with torches do,Not light them for themselves,For if our virtues do not go forth of us’Twere all alike as if we had them not.”—Shakespeare.The coming generations will need the knowledge of God that we possess. Our systems of philosophy and theology they may do without, our human creeds and religious formulæ they may in many things outgrow. But our knowledge of God, especially as revealed in Jesus Christ and His redemption, the generations that are to come will need. Nay, without it they will be undone. III. Man should impart a knowledge of the will and works of God to others with a noble aim. The object of the impartation of this knowledge is thus stated by the Psalmist—“That the generation to come might know them, the children which should be born, who should arise and declare them to their children,” &c. (Psalms 78:6-8). The object then aimed at was— 1. That the knowledge might be continued to the race. We have received from our fathers great treasures of information and experience, of knowledge and wisdom, and every generous emotion and every conviction of duty strongly urge us to hand them down to coming ages. If it is not in our power to make much addition to the treasures of the past, we can at least with scrupulous fidelity do our share to transmit those treasures undiminished to the coming generations. 2. That the coming generations might avoid the errors and sins of their ancestors. “That they might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that prepared not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.” The history of the Israelites abounds with painful illustrations of the statements of this verse. With sad frequency throughout their journeyings in the wilderness they manifested a murmuring, stubborn, and rebellious spirit. Again and again they forsook the Lord God, and worshipped the idols of the idolatrous nations around them. Their history was to be made known that their posterity might take warning and shun their errors. Let us point out to the generations to come the sins of past ages with their consequences, that they may avoid them. 3. That the coming generations might be righteous. “That they might keep His commandments.” Let us so teach the law of God to the uprising generation that they shall regard it as “holy, just, and good,” a Divinely wise and benevolent thing, and shall loyally and heartily seek to comply with its requirements. 4. That the coming generations might be religious. “That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God.” Two things are aimed at in this. (1) A recognition of the Divine presence and activity. “Not forget the works of God.” God is ever working in the universe, in history, in redemption. History should be studied with reverence as well as with inquisitiveness, for God has been working in it. Our life should be lived holily, for God is ever active within us and around us. In imparting instruction let us aim at the recognition of the Divine presence and agency by the generations to come—that the history, science, and philosophy of the future might not be materialistic, atheistic, but intelligent, humble, reverent. (2) A calm trust in the Divine Being. “Set their hope in God,” i.e., “place their trust in God.” Let us endeavour to represent God to our children truthfully, in His Divine beauty, in His all-sufficiency, in His perfect reliableness, that so they might be attracted to Him, and be led to repose in Him with supreme and unfaltering trust. Here, then, we have a grand end in imparting a knowledge of the will and works and ways of God—the continuation and increase of knowledge, the avoidance of error and sin, the promotion of Divine righteousness and religiousness amongst men—in a word, the furtherance of human progress in its path towards perfection. The race advances, the world makes progress. Christianity is spreading and diffusing widely its blessings. Each generation grows richer in the highest knowledge and wisdom than its predecessor was. The time comes on apace when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Are we each doing what we can to usher in that time?FOR A SABBATH-SCHOOL (Psalms 78:2-8.) The text is the preface or introduction to the whole Psalm. It shows the design of Asaph in its composition. Its design was the instruction of children. Its style—parabolic and enigmatical. Spiritual truths hidden under narration of facts. I. The interesting objects of our solicitude mentioned. Consider— 1. The love which welcomes them. The love of mother, father, friends. 2. The evils which surround them. A sinful nature within. Evil example without; public house, theatre, &c. 3. The possibilities which await them. Greatness in good or in evil. II. The sacred duties which we owe to them. First: They are weak; we must protect them. Jacob’s children, and Esau. (Genesis 32) Second: They are helpless; we must provide for them. Third: They are ignorant; we must instruct them. 1. The nature of this duty. What must we teach? (1) The praises of the Lord. “Out of the mouth,” &c. (Psalms 8:2). (2) The strength of the Lord. (3) The wonderful works of the Lord. In nature, providence, grace. 2. The importance of this duty. The docility and impressibility of children. 3. The way to perform this duty. Parents, Christians, example, precept. III. The object which we hope shall be realised. 1. The knowledge of truth shall be perpetuated. 2. Our children will put their hope in God. 3. They shall be better than their fathers. —B. D. from The Study. OUR TO OUR AND (Psalms 78:3-4.) Consider— I. Our great obligations to our ancestors. 1. For the Bible. 2. For a glorious literature. How vast the number of books which are characterised by high and deep thinking, and pure and reverent feeling! 3. For holy and heroic examples. Martyrs, reformers, and a great multitude of obscure yet faithful and noble lives. 4. For religious teaching. We are immeasurably indebted to those who in the home, the school, and the church, have instructed us. II. Our great duty to our successors. 1. To hand down to them intact the heritage of religious intelligence and privilege which we possess. 2. To seek to increase that heritage. The stream of blessing should grow broader and deeper. 3. To endeavour to lead them to prize and improve their heritage. That they may not only know His will, but do it; not only know His wondrous works, but praise and trust Him. Be it ours to contribute something to the promotion of the progress of our race in all that is true, wise, and good. MORAL AND ITS CAUSES(Psalms 78:9-11.) The term “the children of Ephraim” is not used here in contradistinction to the rest of Israel, but as representing the whole, because of the prominent position of that tribe. “For more than four hundred years Ephraim, with its two dependent tribes of Manasseh and Benjamin, exercised undisputed preeminence. Joshua the first conqueror; Gideon the greatest of the judges, whose brothers were ‘as the children of kings,’ and whose children all but established hereditary monarchy in their own line; Saul, the first king—belong to one or other of these three tribes.” The haughty spirit of the tribe “could brook no equal or superior, and chafed against the rise even of the kindred tribe of Manasseh in the persons of Gideon and Jephthah, and yet more against the growing dominion of Judah in David and Solomon, till it threw off the yoke altogether, and established an independent kingdom.”—(Stanley). It seems clear to us that the Psalm does not refer to the disruption of the kingdom; but that our text refers to an event or series of events during the period of the Judges. We propose to regard the text as an illustration of Moral Cowardice and its Causes. Let us consider— I. The illustration of moral cowardice. “The children of Ephraim, armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.” Whether this refers to one specific battle, or to several battles, or whether “the Ephraimites are merely compared to cowardly bowmen,” we need not attempt to decide. In either case they are charged with cowardice. The greatness of this cowardice is apparent from three facts. 1. They were men of might. Ephraim was a warlike tribe, famed for valiant men. Joshua was of this tribe. Perhaps they are specially named here because of their proud, domineering, boastful spirit. 2. They were fully armed. They were not surprised and attacked at a disadvantage. They were “armed and carrying bows.” Proud, boastful, powerful, and well armed, yet— 3. They refused to fight “Turned back in the day of battle.” A brave English drummer boy was taken captive in some battle by the French. He was ordered to beat several military signals, and obeyed. But, being commanded to beat a retreat, he pertinaciously refused. He had never beaten a retreat, and he never would do so. Unlike this heroic lad, the Israelites, with the strong and warlike tribe of Ephraim, turned their back to their foes and fled. A picture of what has often been the case in our spiritual history. We have been bold and courageous in speech, we have been supplied with weapons from the Divine armoury, yet we have fled before our foes, have weakly yielded to temptation, and dishonoured our uniform and our colours. II. The causes of moral cowardice. “They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law,” &c. 1. They lacked the support of conscience. If conscience is with us in arduous and perilous enterprises, it will nerve the heart with courage and fill the arm with energy. “What stronger breastplate than a heart untainted?Thrice is he arm’d that hath his quarrel just;And he but naked, though lock’d up in steel,Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted.”—Shakespeare.But this “heart untainted” the men of Ephraim had not. “They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law.” Conscience in them was an accusing voice. And the consciousness of guilt “makes cowards of us all.” “The wicked flee when no man pursueth,” &c. “Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;The thief doth fear each bush an officer.”—Shakespeare.If in our moral battles we would stand before our enemies, we need a clear self-approving conscience. Without it “every noise appals” us; with it we may be as “bold as a lion.” 2. They lacked the inspiration to be drawn from the recollection of past interpositions of God on their behalf. “They forgat His works, and His wonders that He had showed them.” When David did battle with Goliath of Gath, he was inspired and fortified by the recollection of what God had done for him and by him in former times. “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” In this spirit he met the foe, and speedily the proud, gigantic champion of Philistia fell before the shepherd boy, who trusted in the God who had aided him in the past. But the glorious doings of God on behalf of Israel were shamefully forgotten by them, and, when they went forth to battle, the inspiration, which they would have had if they had remembered His works, was missing, and they cowardly turned back. If we would meet the foes of the future hopefully and courageously we need to remember the victories of the past devoutly and thankfully. 3. They lacked the help of God. They did not seek Him whose covenant they had violated, and whose law they had disregarded. They could not trust Him whose wondrous works on their behalf they had basely allowed to sink into forgetfulness. And so they went up to battle without the Lord, and returned from battle dishonoured. “O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turneth their backs upon their enemies? And the Lord said, Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them; therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies.” As we contemplate this picture, let us learn the lessons which it has for us. We, too, have enemies which are both subtle and powerful—Satanic temptation, evil in society, proneness to sin in ourselves. We must battle with courage and fortitude against these foes, or they will vanquish us, and that means ruin. Complete and splendid armour, both offensive and defensive, is provided for us (Ephesians 6:11-18). Let us gird it on. And in this holy war let us go forth in the strength of God, and we shall return victorious. It has been well said that, “Courage consists not in blindly overlooking danger, but in seeing it, and conquering it.” We need moral courage; and for that we must have an approving conscience, the memory of past victories won by the help of God, and an unfaltering trust in Him. Without these, as cowards we shall turn our back to the foes. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” SCENES FROM A HISTORY(Psalms 78:12-20.) In these verses we have a brief record of some of God’s wonderful and gracious dealings with His people, and of their great sin against Him. On the one side, the portion of history here referred to is luminous with the great and beneficent works of the Lord; on the other side, it is dark with the basest ingratitude, unbelief, and perversity of man. We have here— I. A people divinely emancipated. By great signs and wonders wrought on their behalf Jehovah had delivered them from the cruel oppression of the Egyptians. His hand was clearly manifest— 1. In their deliverance out of Egypt. “Marvellous things did He in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.” It was because of His blessing that, notwithstanding their oppressions, they increased and multiplied and gathered power in Egypt. It was because of the wonders wrought by Him on their behalf, the stroke after stroke of judgment, each one severer than its predecessors, with which He smote their tyrannical lords, that they were at length permitted to go forth from the land of bondage. 2. In their deliverance from their pursuers at the Red Sea. Narrate the circumstances of the departure from Egypt, the encampment by the sea, the pursuit of the Egyptians after them, the apparently desperate situation in which they were placed, their alarm, murmurings, &c.; the prayer of Moses, the answer of Jehovah, &c. “He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and He made the waters to stand as an heap.” “On a sudden,” writes the late Dean Milman, “Moses advances towards the sea, extends his rod, and a violent wind from the east begins to blow. The waters recede on both sides, a way appears; at nightfall, probably about eight o’clock, the caravan begins to defile along this awful pass. The wind continued in the same quarter all the night, but immediately they had passed over, and while the Egyptians, madly plunging after them, were in the middle of the passage, the wind as suddenly fell, the waters rushed back into their bed, the heavy chariot-wheels of the pursuers sank into the sand, broke and overthrew the chariots, and in this state of confusion the sea swept over the whole host, and overwhelmed the king and all the flower of the Egyptian army.” We have in this a triple wonder:— (1.) The division of the sea. This was no ordinary phenomenon of nature, but an extraordinary manifestation of the presence and power of God. (2.) The preparation of the road. When the waters were divided, the bed of the sea would not have been in a fit state for the great multitude to pass over, had not Jehovah prepared it for their passage. (3.) The encouraging of the people to pass through the opening made for them. Such an unbelieving and craven-hearted crowd of serfs needed an infusion of courage ere they would have attempted to make such a passage. The Lord “caused them to pass through.” If ever any people were emancipated by God, the Israelites were when they came forth from the land of Egypt. His hand was manifestly outstretched to subdue the pride of the oppressors, and to rescue the oppressed from thraldom. II. A people divinely led. “In the daytime also He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.” “The fiery, cloudy pillar” went before them in all their journeyings. 1. They were led constantly. In the day the cloud led them onward, and at night the pillar of fire moved mysteriously and majestically before them. 2. They were led divinely. The guiding pillar was not merely a sign to indicate their way, but a visible symbol of the presence of God. He Himself guided them. Rightly understood, the cloud and the fire were an assurance that God was with them to lead them, to protect them, to provide for them. What a proof of the goodness of God to them we have in this!III. A people divinely provisioned. “He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths,” &c. Upon two occasions, at the command of God, Moses had smitten a rock, and water had flowed forth in abundance. (Vide Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11.) But it was not simply water that God provided for them, but food and raiment also. “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” “I have led you,” said Moses, “forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.” 1. Their supplies were abundant. “As out of the great depths; … caused waters to run down like rivers.” Whatever God gives, He gives abundantly. His hand is free and bounteous. And if at any time the Israelites suffered from hunger or thirst it was by reason of their unbelief, or to humble them and impress them with their dependence upon God. 2. Their supplies were divine. An unriven rock was a most unlikely object from which to obtain water. Rocks are “not capable of receiving it either from the clouds above or the springs beneath.” Yet, when smitten by Moses, water copiously flowed from them. Moses was but the instrument of Jehovah in this matter. Moses smote the rocks, but God clave them and brought forth streams from them. 3. Their supplies are illustrative of ours. Ours are divine. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” &c. Ours are abundant. “God giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” IV. A people basely perverse and wicked. “And they sinned yet more against Him, by provoking the Most High in the wilderness,” &c. (Psalms 78:17-20). Notice here,— 1. Divine signs leading to profane curiosity. The miracles which God had wrought on their behalf should have impressed the Israelites with a deep sense of the presence and power of God; and should have been to them signs of His almightiness, His hatred of tyranny and oppression, and His interest in the oppressed and afflicted. But, with amazing and saddening perversity, they regarded God with little more of reverence than the Egyptians did their magicians and sorcerers. They had seen the divine wonders, but failed to recognise in them divine signs. Having witnessed marvellous displays of His power, sinful curiosity is awakened within them, and they ask, “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? can He give bread also?” &c. They should have been humble, reverent, trustful; they were curious, profane, presumptuous. 2. Divine providence leading to a desire for the indulgence of appetite. The provision which God made for them seems to have awakened in them neither gratitude, contentment, nor faith; but a desire for the gratification of their animal appetite by a greater variety in their diet. And, with awful audacity and presumption, they tempted God by their questions as to His power, and by their demands upon Him. They “demanded meat for their lust” (ðֶ ?ôֶ ?ùׁ ?= here, the animal soul). It was not a desire for what was necessary, but a craving for variety. And this craving was expressed, not as a humble request, but as an insolent demand, accompanied by profane questions as to the limit of the Divine power. This sin took its rise in the heart. There the evil desire sprang up and was fostered into strength. Then it expressed itself in speech. “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” 3. Divine goodness responded to by human distrust and ingratitude. No song of thankfulness arises from them as they call to mind the great goodness of God to them, but an impious challenge to Him to supply them with flesh. They utter no holy declaration of confidence in Him as they recall His wondrous works, but distrustful, irreverent inquiries. As we look upon this picture of extreme wickedness, let us remember that it was an utter perversion of the dealings of God with them. God’s emancipation, guidance, and provisioning of them were both adapted and intended to awaken within them contentment, trust in Him, gratitude, and reverence to Him. But their own sinful hearts wickedly perverted the Divine relation to them and dealings with them in the way we have indicated. We have a power by which we may make evil the occasion of good. We may gather patience out of suffering. By means of defeat we may learn how to conquer. Through trial we may grow in strength and grace. But by the abuse of this power we may pervert a means of grace into an occasion of evil, out of the Divine longsuffering may educe arguments in favour of impenitence and presumption, may so treat God’s richest blessings that they shall become to us a dire curse. .— 1. See the terrible effects of slavery. These Israelites would not have been so utterly base, irreligious, and despicable had not their manhood been eaten out of them by slavery. Physical oppression had left them mere serfs in spirit. 2. See the depravity of human nature. In the midst of the richest goodness and the divinest signs, it remains ungrateful, unbelieving, impious. 3. See our need of Divine preservation. “Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe.” DIVINE (Psalms 78:15-16.) I. Divine blessings from unlikely sources. Water from solid rocks. Emancipation of the Hebrews by means of the shepherd Moses. Redemption out of Nazareth. The Light of the World from a carpenter’s shop. Jesus Christ was “a root out of dry ground.” Most of the apostles were “unlearned and ignorant men.” Tenderness, trust, triumph out of suffering. Spiritual wealth out of temporal loss. II. Divine blessings in rich abundance. “As out of the great depths, … like rivers.” All pure blessings God gives abundantly. Light, air, dew, beauty, &c. He gives abundantly. “Abundantly pardon.” “Plentuous redemption.” “Peace as a river, righteousness as the waves of the sea.” “Make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things,” &c. III. A type of the supreme blessing. 1 Corinthians 10:3-4. “That Rock was Christ.” Analogy— 1. In the blessings. Christ gives “the water of life.” 2. In the mode of obtaining them. The rock was smitten and cleft. Christ “was wounded,” &c. 3. In the conditions of bestowal. “Freely.” “Without money and without price.” The river of life flows freely by, we have but to stoop down and drink. HUMAN SIN AND DIVINE (Psalms 78:21-31.) In these verses we see how God regarded the conduct described in the preceding paragraph, and how He responded to the insolent demands of the Hebrews. The main teaching of this portion of the Psalm may be developed under two main topics. I. Human Sin. We have here the Divine view of the sin of the perverse Israelites. 1. The nature of their sin. Unbelief. “They believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation.” They doubted either the power or the goodness of God, or both. He had given to them signal displays of His might and majesty, yet they perversely questioned His ability to provide for them. He had also given to them gracious assurances that He would guide, guard, and supply them, yet they seem to have doubted these assurances. Herein was their great sin in the sight of God. Unbelief is a sin which directly dishonours the Divine being and character. Amongst men of honour it is a great insult to discredit the word of another. But what shall we say of the sin of discrediting the word of God? It is an impeachment of His faithfulness. Or a tacit declaration that we doubt His ability to fulfil His promise. But whether we doubt His willingness or His ability to keep His promises, His goodness or His power, we dishonour Him. To this sin the Hebrews in the wilderness were very prone. It is lamentably prevalent in the present day. There are many sincere Christians who are often guilty in this respect. They fail to believe God’s promises, &c. In this Christian dispensation unbelief towards Christ is the damning sin. “He that believeth not shall be damned.” 2. The aggravation of their sin. “Though He had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors,” &c. (Psalms 78:22-25). The aggravation of their sin in distrusting God in the matter of provision is seen in that, (1) He had hitherto supplied them with food. Though journeying in a wilderness, yet they had not suffered from the lack of anything. God had provided for their wants. He had supplied them with water (Exodus 15:25; Exodus 17:6), and quails (Exodus 16:13), and with a regular supply of manna (Exodus 16:14-26). (2) He had supplied them with choice food. “The corn of heaven. Man did eat angels’ food.” The word translated “angels” has been variously rendered. But whatever rendering be adopted, the idea of rare, choice food is presented. The Hebrews in the wilderness were not supplied with coarse, common fare. Their food was delicate in its nature and rich in quality, such as is found on the tables of nobles or princes. Or it was so delicious and rare that, coming down as it did from heaven, the poet naturally speaks of it as “angels’ food.” (3) He had supplied them with choice food in abundance. “He sent them meat to the full.” There was no lack of provisions. The supply was as abundant in quantity as it was rich in quality. (4) He had supplied them with choice food supernaturally. The water was drawn from the rock miraculously. Concerning the manna, Dr. C. E. Stowe, writing in Smith’s “Bible Dict.,” says, “The manna of Scripture we regard as wholly miraculous, and not in any respect a product of nature.” The people had not to put forth any effort to procure this provision, except the mere gathering of it. It was manifestly the special provision of God for them. Yet “they believed not in God, and trusted not in His salvation.” On this very question of their food supply they had distrusted God, and insolently called into question His power. While subsisting upon provisions miraculously supplied by God, and which clearly manifested His abounding goodness, they basely distrust Him and impiously propose to submit His power to tests of their invention. Much of the unbelief of this age is painfully aggravated in its character. When men do not trust Christ as their Saviour, is not their guilt the greater because His qualifications as such are so ample and convincing—in His teaching, miracles, life, resurrection, and in the witness of a great and ever-increasing multitude who have trusted Him and proved Him all-sufficient? When men distrust the providence of God in their lives, is not their sin aggravated by the abundant evidence of the universality, wisdom, and beneficence of that providence? When Christian men distrust the power, or faithfulness, or goodness of God, does not His gift of Christ to us make the sin of such distrust much greater? “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” The sin of the Israelites in its essential principle is deplorably common to day. II. Divine judgment. “Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel. He caused,” &c. (Psalms 78:26-31). This judgment against Israel,— 1. Reveals God’s observation of man’s life. “The Lord heard.” All human speech is audible to the Divine ear. During a dark period in the history of the ancient church, the few faithful and godly men “spake often one to another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard,” &c. He hears the voice of prayer and of praise. Words of murmuring, complaint, and unbelief are heard and registered in heaven. The hard speeches and awful blasphemies of the wicked find their way to the ear of God. God is the great Auditor of human utterances. No sound escapes His ear. 2. Reveals God as affected by man’s life. He not only hears, but feels also. “The Lord heard, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel.” God is affected by man’s life. Our trust and praise of Him are gratifying to Him. Our distrust of Him and our murmuring against Him are grievous to Him. Men cannot tempt Him, or impiously challenge Him to display His power, as did the Hebrews in the wilderness, without provoking Him to anger. Let no one deceive himself in this matter. There is in God a principle of anger which burns with unquenchable fire against evil. While God is God His wrath must burn against sin. Being good and righteous He must punish evil doers unless they turn and repent. 3. Reveals the punishment as growing out of man’s sin. (1) In the granting of their own demands. “They demanded meat for their lust.” Theirs was not an urgent prayer, which submits even the most eager desires to His will; but an impious demand that God would give them meat for the gratification of their animal appetite. God complied with their demand, and that which they had so eagerly coveted proved a great curse to them. The flesh which they had demanded occasioned their death. Let us beware of urging selfish desires in prayer to God. In every petition that we present to the throne of grace let us copy the example of Him who in His most impassioned prayer said, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Who has not become acquainted with instances in which God has granted the passionate demand that has been made to Him, and the demander has lived to rue the day when the demand was made and granted? What seems to us unquestionably desirable and good, may really be a thing of great peril and evil to us. The well-watered plain of Sodom nearly led to the ruin of Lot. That sick child over whom fond parents bend in anguish, and whose life they demand God to spare, may perchance grow up, and bring down their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. “Not my will, but Thine be done.” (2) In their gluttony. When they had eaten of the quails which God sent into the camp, “and were well filled; they were not estranged from their lust.” They had eaten as much, or even more, than their physical nature required and could appropriate, yet they would have more. The drunkard and the glutton are never satisfied. And by the gluttony with which they devoured the flesh that they had demanded, “the wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the young of Israel.” “Heaven is most just, and of our pleasant vicesMakes instruments to scourge us.”—Shakespeare.“Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.” In the judgments of God against sin there is nothing arbitrary. A sinner’s punishment is the natural fruit of His sin. The hell of every sinner is developed out of his own corrupt heart. Let the wicked be warned. They are “treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” 4. Reveals the punishment as being brought about by the forces of nature. “He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens; and by His power He brought in the south wind.” By means of a south-east wind, God brought immense quantities of quails into the camp of Israel. This wind is so spoken of as to lead us to conclude that it was miraculous. By His direct agency, He caused it to blow from that particular quarter. All the powers of nature are under His command. He can employ them as He pleases. The winds are His couriers, carrying messages of judgment or of mercy to men. Again, let the wicked be warned. You are not only preparing your own punishment, but God may command nature’s forces to aid in carrying out His judgment upon you. You are gathering the materials for your own hell-fire, and God may despatch the lightning-flash which shall kindle them into a blaze. .—Let us especially ponder,— 1. The great evil of unbelief. It is a reflection cast upon God; it grieves Him, &c. 2. The peril of unsubmissiveness in prayer. “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” 3. The terribleness of the Divine anger. “The wrath of the Lamb; the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” 4. The certainty of Divine retribution. The only way by which we may escape hell is by getting rid of a sinful character. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” MAN’S OF GOD, AND GOD’S WITH MAN(Psalms 78:32-41.) I. Man’s provocation of God. “They sinned still, and believed not for His wondrous works.” In the verses before us the Psalmist mentions two chief features of their provocation of God. 1. Their persistence in evil. They persevered in their unbelief. All the wondrous works which they had witnessed failed to quicken faith in them. Notwithstanding the many miracles which God had wrought in their sight, they still doubted His power. Notwithstanding His great and constant kindness to them, they still doubted His goodness. It was thus that they “limited the Holy One of Israel.” They regarded His willingness and ability to aid them as bounded. Man’s unbelief ever limits and dishonours God. They also persevered in their murmuring and rebellious spirit. “How often did they rebel in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert?” When any inconvenience met them, or any difficulty or privation confronted them, they at once fell to murmuring against Moses and against the Lord. Their mean and ungrateful spirits were constantly turning to thoughts and feelings of rebellion against God. And this, notwithstanding all God’s efforts to effect their moral reformation. His mercies awoke no feeling of humility, gratitude, or trust in them; but were followed by exhibitions of selfishness and unreasonable exaction. His judgments produced no lasting improvement in their character; for, as soon as they were removed, the people returned to their old courses. “For all this they sinned still.” What a correct representation is this of many sinners to-day! God has enriched them with countless blessings, but His goodness has not led them to repentance. He has smitten them with the rod of affliction, but they have not turned in penitence to Him. He has stripped them of temporal prosperity, He has taken from them the desire of their eyes at a stroke, He has shut them up in loneliness and sorrow of heart, yet have they not turned unto Him. He seems to have used every means for their salvation; yet “for all this they sinned still.” 2. Their spurious repentance. When God’s severe judgments were upon Israel they sought Him in apparent humility and penitence. But their penitence was neither deep nor sincere. (1.) The confessions and promises which they made to God were untrue. “They did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied unto Him with their tongues. They could not deceive Him. Yet their repentance was false. Their prayers and professions made in affliction were not hearty, but were extorted by suffering. And the promises they made to God were not kept, but forgotten when the pain and peril were removed. (2.) Their heart was not really turned to God. “Their heart was not right with Him.” In true repentance the soul turns from sin with loathing and abhorrence, and seeks God with humility, and faith, and prayer. It was not the sin that they shrank from, but the penalties of the sin. (3.) Their life remained unchanged. “Neither were they stedfast in His covenant.” The promises made in affliction were speedily broken. Addison says that repentance is “the relinquishment of any practice, from the conviction that it has offended God. Sorrow, fear, and anxiety are properly not parts, but adjuncts of repentance; yet they are too closely connected with it to be easily separated.” Shakspeare defines it thus: “Repentance is heart’s sorrow, and a clear life ensuing.” But the Israelites did not relinquish their sinful practices. A “clear life” did not follow their pretended repentance. “He who seeks repentance for the past, should woo the angel virtue for the future.” But they provoked God by their frequent rebellions. His heart was grieved, and pained by their many and heinous sins against Him. II. God’s patience with man. This was manifested in— 1. His judgments upon them. “Their days did He consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. He slew them.” His judgments were severe, but not so severe as they had deserved. They were not sufficiently severe to restrain the people from returning to their evil ways. And when they cried unto him, or Moses entreated Him for them, He withdrew His stroke away from them. And as for their bootless wanderings in the wilderness—were such craven-hearted creatures the men to go up against the Canaanites and conquer them? Retaining, as they did, the spirit of slaves, were they fit to be intrusted with freedom and independence in a land of their own? In His very judgments God manifested His patience and mercy, or, instead of leaving them to live out their life in the wilderness, He would have consumed them in His anger when they had provoked Him by their unbelief, and murmurings, and rebellion. 2. His mercies to them. “He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath.” In their base rebellions He did not destroy them. Though they had provoked Him many times, yet many times He turned His anger away from them. And when He did visit them in judgment, He did not pour the full flood of His fury upon them. “He did not deal with them after their sins, nor reward them according to their iniquities.” “He forgave their iniquity.” He not only removed the dark and threatening clouds of His wrath, but He lifted upon them the light of His forgiving and favouring countenance. How graciously and completely God forgives! “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” “Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” “Thou hast cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” “He will abundantly pardon.” Thus graciously and patiently God has dealt with us. 3. His remembrance of them. “He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.” He remembered their frailty and corruption. “They were flesh,” and liable to suffering and pain. “They were flesh,” and exposed to temptation, and prone to evil; and, therefore, He had long patience with them. He spared them when He would otherwise have destroyed them. He had compassion on them. He remembered their evanescence. “A wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.” “Life is a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” “How short is human life! the very breathWhich frames my words, accelerates my death.”—H. More.The Lord remembered this, and spared them when their sins loudly called for their destruction. This subject urges its— 1. Warning to all who have long persisted in evil. This generation so patiently borne with, so mercifully dealt with, at last found their graves in the wilderness. Beware lest through further persistence in evil your life ends in utter failure as regards all that is true and good. 2. Encouragement even to the most sinful to seek the Lord. His long patience with you proclaims His willingness to pardon and save you. Turn unto Him heartily in true repentance (Isaiah 55:6-7). 3. Counsel to all. Let us not frustrate God’s gracious dealings with us. By judgments and by mercies He seeks to save us. Let us trust Him, and earnestly enter into His gracious designs concerning us. MAN UNDER DIVINE (Psalms 78:34-37.) I. Man under Divine chastisement sorely smitten. “When He slew them.” See the case before us in this Psalm, Psalms 78:30-31. Examples are frequently transpiring. There are some who, like this generation of Israelites, seem to need stroke upon stroke of the rod of God. (Comp. Isaiah 1:4-5.) II. Man under Divine chastisement remembering God. “They remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High,” &c. “Reflection followed infliction.” They remembered God— 1. As their Rock. Three ideas here: (1.) Security. “He shall dwell on high: His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks.” (2.) Stability. “A stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” (3.) Shelter. “The shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” 2. As their Redeemer. He had redeemed them from the bondage of Egypt; therefore He was able to save them, and worthy of their trust. III. Man under Divine chastisement seeking God. “Then they sought Him; and they returned and inquired,” &c. 1. “They returned,” implying that they had departed from God. Here we have the reason of the chastisement. 2. “They inquired early after God.” In their prosperity they had forgotten God, in their affliction they promptly inquired after Him. 3. “They sought Him.” Aforetime they had neglected and forsaken Him; now they search for Him by prayers and sacrifices. How inexpressibly mean. “Like whipped curs, they licked their Master’s feet.” IV. Man under Divine chastisement offering to God unreal repentance. “Nevertheless they did flatter Him,” &c., Psalms 78:36-37. Repentance begotten of terror or suffering dies when the terror or suffering is removed. Their penitence was pretence. “Under the pressure of heavy judgments, the loss of property, the loss of friends, or the failure of health, men become serious, and resolve to give attention to religion. It is rarely that such purposes are founded in sincerity, and that the conversions apparently resulting from them are true conversions.” “The devil cannot be whipped out of human nature, though another devil, namely hypocrisy, may be whipped into it.” “Good resolutions called at their hearts as men do at inns; they tarried awhile, and then took their leave.” Two main features of true repentance were wanting to them. 1. Change of heart. “Their heart was not right with Him.” In true repentance sin is regarded as the “abominable thing,” and the sinner turns from it to God. But “they would fain be rid of their sufferings, but did not care to be rid of their sins.” 2. Reformation of life. “Neither were they steadfast in His covenant.” The truly penitent turn “from evil and do good.” They “make haste and delay not to keep God’s commandments.” But the Israelites “sinned still.” How awful to offer to God a mockery and a sham! .— 1. Remember the fate of this generation of the Israelites, and take warning. 2. Consider the mercy that sought to save them both by favours and by judgments, believe in it, accept it, and be saved. THE OF THE DIVINE MEROY(Psalms 78:38-39.) I. In holding back deserved punishment. “He destroyed them not,” &c. Notice— 1. Their sins against God were very heinous. Ingratitude, though His goodness to them was very great. Unbelief, though they had much to quicken and strengthen faith. Rebellion, though God’s rule over them had been marked by so much patience and generosity. 2. Their sins against God were very numerous. “How oft did they provoke Him in the wilderness, and grieve Him in the desert.” Many a time turned He His anger away.” God’s forbearing mercy was manifested— (1.) In not inflicting the judgments threatened (Deuteronomy 9:13-20; Numbers 14:11-21). (2.) In only partially inflicting the judgments threatened. As in the case of the judgment of the fiery flying serpents, and the healing of the diseased and dying by means of the brazen serpent. And others. How frequently when we have sinned has God graciously turned His anger away from us. II. In forgiving great iniquities. How frequently God forgives. “Not until seven times; but until seventy times seven.” “He aboundeth in forgiveness.” How completely God forgives. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “I, I am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” He not only removes His condemnation from us, but lifts upon us the light of His countenance. III. In compassionating human frailties. “He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind,” &c. He remembered— 1. Man’s tendency to sin. “Flesh.” Our carnal appetites are depraved. By means of the flesh the soul is frequently tempted to evil. 2. Man’s exposure to suffering. “Flesh.” The body is subject to weariness, infirmity, disease, pain, death. 3. Man’s brief tenure of life. “A wind that,” &c. (1.) Unsubstantial. (2.) Ever-moving. (3.) Never returning. .—In the great mercy of God to us, behold— 1. The grand support of frail humanity. (Psalms 103:13-18.) 2. The grand hope of sinful humanity, Psalms 78:38. (Psalms 103:3-4; Psalms 103:8-12.) MAN’S LIFE UPON EARTH(Psalms 78:39.) “He remembered that they were but flesh,” &c. I. The weakness of human life. “He remembered that they were but flesh.” Man is here regarded— 1. As having a tendency to evil. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit.” Animal appetites are often opposed to spiritual aspirations. Animal passions to moral principles. 2. As being subject to weakness, affliction, and pain. There is much of physical suffering in human life upon earth, and the mystery and pain of death at the close. II. The unsubstantiality of human life. “Wind.” “Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.”—Shakespeare.Of the work of the most gifted and laborious of men how little result remains! Man himself passes away, leaving few traces behind him. III. The impermanence of human life. “Passeth away. This is true of— 1. Individuals. “It is appointed unto men once to die.” 2. Generations. “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh.” “Fast to the driving winds the marshalled cloudsSweep discontinuous o’er the ethereal plain!Another still upon another crowds,All hastening downwards to their native main.Thus passes o’er through varied life’s careerMan’s fleeting age; the seasons as they flySnatch from us in their course, year after year,Some sweet connection, some endearing tie.The parent, ever honoured, ever dear,Claims from the filial breast the pious sigh;A brother’s urn demands the kindred tear,And gentle sorrowsgush from friendship’s eye.To-day we frolic in the rosy bloomOf jocund youth—the morrow knells us to the tomb.”3. The race in this world. The human race will not remain on this earth for ever. The earth as it now is will not continue for ever. The great drama shall be played out, and the theatre shall then be taken down. IV. The irretrievableness of human life. “Cometh not again.” “When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.” Man passes hence to “the undiscovered country, from whose bourn no traveller returns.” What an argument have we here for the prompt and faithful discharge of duty! “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with thy might; for there is no,” &c. “I must work the works of Him that sent me while,” &c. There is no coming back to correct errors or to discharge neglected duties, &c. V. The grand distinction of human life. It is remembered by God. He is interested in it. 1. He remembers our frailties and sufferings, and pities us. 2. Our weakness, and succours us. 3. Our capabilities, and saves us. Here is the glory of human life. God is concerned in it. He is working in it and for it. Through Him man shall “Re-rise from ruin,High, holy, happy, stainless as a star,Imperishable as eternity.”THE AND METHODS OF THE DIVINE (Psalms 78:42-53.) In this paragraph the Psalmist speaks of the plagues with which God visited Egypt, and by means of which Pharaoh and his people were humbled, and the Israelites were delivered from bondage. He does not mention all the plagues, and those which he does mention are not named in the order of their occurrence. The subject is introduced here as affording another illustration of the great sinfulness of the unbelief and rebelliousness of the Hebrews. I. The instruments by which Divine judgments are inflicted. 1. He uses their famous river as an instrument of His judgments. With them the river was the great means of life, and a thing in which they boasted themselves; but God turned all its waters into blood. When purified from slime, those waters were most delicious drink; but now they are most loathsome even to look upon. In this case, the great glory of a people was turned by God into their great curse. He can make our choicest treasures His instruments to scourge us for our sins. 2. He uses some most despicable creatures as instruments of His judgments. “Flies, frogs, caterpillars, locusts.” The great Pharaoh, with his princes and nobles, were greatly afflicted and tormented by these insignificant creatures. God can make use of the weakest and meanest creatures to bring down the pride of the loftiest princes. What they are deficient in strength, He makes up by increasing their numbers. Terrible plagues they were. No armour could ward off the flies. The frogs came in such shoals as to defy all repressive measures. While caterpillars and locusts came in dense clouds, devouring every green thing. 3. He uses the elements of nature as instruments of His judgments. “Hail, frost, lightnings.” The laws and forces of nature bow loyally to the Lord. The God of providence is the God of nature also, and when He pleases He can use nature’s elements and forces for the carrying out of His plans. In this case, He sends forth the hail as his scourge. The frost is the minister of His wrath. The lightnings are the executioners of His judgments. 4. He uses angels as instruments of His judgments. By the term “evil angels” we are to understand not that the angels spoken of were themselves wicked, but angels who were used by God for bringing evil or calamity upon the wicked. The reference is to the angel, or angels, who smote with death all the first-born of the Egyptians. All holy angels come and go at God’s command. “Angels that excel in strength, do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” He sends them forth to succour and deliver the righteous, or to smite and destroy the wicked, and they hasten to do His bidding. Thus we see that God can use any and all of His creatures as instruments to carry out His judgments, if He please to do so. He can arm all nature,—air, earth, fire, water—to fight against those who refuse to submit to Him. He can employ all ranks of creatures, from the tiny insect of an hour to the august “angel standing in the sun,” as messengers of His wrath. He can arm the universe to fight against the wicked. II. The method according to which Divine judgments are inflicted. Two features of the Divine method of administering judgment stand prominently forth here. 1. Gradualness in the severity of the judgments. Pharaoh must suffer, but God will spare him as much as possible. The sternest judgments are reserved to the last, so that if the proud monarch will obey the commands of God he may escape their infliction. Mark the gradation in the severity of these judgments. First, they suffer privation and annoyance by reason of the water being turned into blood, and the plague of frogs. Then they suffer the irritation and the severe pain of body arising from the plague of flies and that of boils. Then they suffer the loss and disappointment of seeing the fruit of their labours consumed by caterpillars and locusts. They also saw the trees of their fields and vineyards destroyed by hail, and their flocks and herds first afflicted with a grievous murrain, and afterwards destroyed by hail and lightning. But still God has heavier and more terrible judgments in store. After every plague there is a pause in the storm of the Divine anger to ascertain if Pharaoh will repent and obey God. God has no pleasure in smiting him. But when the former plagues have failed to produce any lasting and salutary impression upon the king, God prepares to inflict the severest stroke of all, to “cast upon them the fierceness of His anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending” His angels to destroy all the first-born of the land of Egypt. And in one dread night all the first-born of the land were slain, “from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.” The gradualness with which God inflicts His judgments is a proof that even in wrath He remembers mercy. It should also act as a warning to the impenitent not to provoke God to do His worst. He has sharper swords in His armoury than He has as yet drawn against you. 2. The exemption of the Israelites from the judgments. When the Egyptians suffered the Lord separated the Israelites from them. From the common sufferings and trials of life the people of God are not exempted; but from the judgments of God they are exempted. When the world was destroyed by the flood, Noah and his family were saved. Before the fiery deluge consumed the cities of the plain, Lot was rescued from them. In the terrible siege and destruction of Jerusalem it is not known that any Christian perished. So will it be in the final judgment. III. The object for which the Divine judgments are inflicted. The object of the judgments inflicted on Egypt was, at least, threefold— 1. The humbling of the proud Pharaoh and his advisers. 2. The emancipation of Israel from their captivity, &c. 3. The carrying out of His own great plan. The great plan of God, a small portion of which was developed by means of these judgments, stretches far beyond the Egyptians and the Israelites. It embraces all ages and all peoples. The Hebrews occupy a most important position in that plan. “Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came.” God makes all events contribute to the development of His own wise, benevolent, and glorious purposes. .— 1. Let the manifold instruments of Divine judgments lead the stout-hearted sinner to pause and consider. “If He will contend with him, he cannot answer Him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him and hath prospered?” 2. Let the method of Divine judgments, as here exhibited, strengthen our confidence in the righteousness and mercy of God. He is merciful to tyrants such as Pharaoh. He is righteous and will not in judgment “destroy the righteous with the wicked.” 3. Let us mark well the assurance which this subject gives us of the certainty of the accomplishment of the Divine purposes. He has engines of judgment wherewith to crush incorrigible rebels. He controls all events for the furtherance of his own vast and sublime designs. In the end evil shall be engulfed as in ocean’s depths, and the exultant praise of the good shall resound throughout the universe. THE OF THE DIVINE (Psalms 78:54-64.) In this portion of the Psalm, as in the previous portions, we have brought before us the sad sins of the Hebrews, and the great goodness of God in His dealings with them both of mercy and of judgment. We may profitably group the teachings of the paragraph round Psalms 78:60-61, as a centre, and take as our subject, The withdrawal of the Divine presence. When the Israelites had entered upon the possession of Canaan, they set up the tabernacle at Shiloh, where it remained during the period of the Judges. During the administration of Eli, who was at once high priest and judge, the moral condition of Israel grew extremely evil. His two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were notorious for their wickedness. “The war between the Philistines and Israelites broke out anew. A bloody battle was fought at Aphek, in which the Israelites were totally defeated. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/phc/ Superscription.—“A Psalm of Asaph. “See Introduction to Psalms 74. Occasion.—This Psalm is closely related to the 74th, and both most probably refer to the devastation and desecration wrought by the Chaldeans.A , AN EARNEST PRAYER, AND A DEVOUT . A sorrowful complaint. The Psalmist complains— 1. Of the devastation of Jerusalem, and especially of the desecration of the temple. “O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance; Thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.” The reference is to the havoc wrought by Nebuchadnezzar and his army. The strongholds of the city were cast down; the palace of Solomon, the temple of God, with all its courts, its roofs of cedar and of gold, were levelled to the earth, or committed to the flames; the sacred vessels, the ark of the covenant itself, with the cherubim, were pillaged by profane hands. (See 2 Chronicles 36:18-19.) Great, indeed, must have been the distress of those Jews who were religious and patriotic. Their distress must have been the more keen by reason of their knowledge that the heathen could never have laid Jerusalem in ruins and desecrated the temple of God, had not the chosen people themselves first desecrated that holy place. (See 2 Chronicles 36:14-21.) Their continued pursuit of evil, notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of God by His prophets, led Him to abandon them for a time to their foes. 2. Of the cruelties inflicted upon the people of God. “The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of the earth. Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.” Here is a picture of wide-spread slaughter and misery. The words of the poet are a graphic commentary on the brief statement of the inspired chronicler. (See 2 Chronicles 36:17.) The bloodshed was great and terrible. Men were slain without compunction, and their conquerors hastened away with their captives, leaving the dead bodies to be devoured by wild beasts and birds of prey. 3. Of the reproaches cast upon the people of God. “We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.” They were treated by surrounding peoples as unworthy of respect, and were derided by them as a people vanquished by their foes and forsaken by their God. They were conquered, were made captives, and in their subjection were despised and reproached. They had great reason for sorrowful complaint. Their sorest grief must have sprung from their knowledge of the fact that their own sins caused their sufferings. The intense sorrow of the pious and patriotic amongst them may be known by considering the plaintive mournings of the prophet Jeremiah. “Never did city suffer a more miserable fate, never was ruined city lamented in language so exquisitely pathetic.” Vide The Lamentations. II. An earnest prayer. The Psalmist in his prayer— 1. Manifests a consciousness of the sins of the people. The inquiries, “Wilt Thou be angry for ever? Shall Thy jealousy burn like fire?” imply on the part of the inquirer the consciousness that there had been human provocations, that there had been a cause for God’s anger and jealousy. In the Scriptures, idolatry, of which they had been greatly guilty, is represented as spiritual adultery. God was not jealous without reason. And their manifold sins had aroused His anger against them. The Psalmist is right, God was angry with them on account of their sins, and their conquered and captive and suffering state was a sign of His anger. 2. Petitions God for various favours for His people. Here is a prayer for pardon. “O remember not against us the iniquities of them that were before us: and purge away our sins.” The effects of sin frequently descend from one generation to another. God declared Himself a “jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate” Him. As a matter of fact men do suffer in many ways from the sins of their ancestors. Prayer is here offered that God would remove from them the judgment of the sins of them that had gone before them; that they might not suffer by reason of them any more. Prayer is offered for the forgiveness of their own sins. “Purge away our sins.” Cleanse us from our transgressions, and from all impurity of soul. It is well when the soul in trouble cries out not for the removal of the suffering alone, but for the removal of the sin also. To those who sincerely seek Him, God is ever ready to grant pardon and purity. Here is a prayer for speedy help and deliverance. “Let Thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low. Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy name; and deliver us for Thy name’s sake.” As sinners their hope is in the mercy of God. There is great beauty and force in the phrase, “tender mercies”. It comes from the religious heart, and appeals to the heart. To the tender mercy of the Lord His unworthy and afflicted people look for help. The captive Jews were beyond the aid of human resources. In man they could find no adequate assistance. So they directed their prayer to Him who is equal to the utmost need of His people, and who if He pleased could help them, and deliver them from their enemies. They prayed God to come quickly to their aid; that His “tender mercies” might “speedily prevent” them. Prevent does not signify hinder, but anticipate. “God’s mercy must anticipate, ‘come to meet,’ man’s necessity.” They felt that if God did not speedily interpose for them their utter ruin must be the result. Their salvation depended upon Him, and upon His prompt interposition on their behalf. Here is a prayer on behalf of the captive and the dying. “Let the sighing of the prisoner come before Thee; according to the greatness of Thy power preserve Thou those that are appointed to die.” Whether the whole of the people are thus spoken of, or the terms “prisoner” and “appointed to die” are to be taken literally, cannot, we think, be determined. In either case there is an appeal made to the Divine compassion; that God would graciously regard “the sighing of those that are bound.” And to the Divine strength; that He would by the greatness of His energy save from death those who were appointed thereunto. Here is a prayer for judgment. “Pour out Thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known Thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon Thy name. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? Let Him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of Thy servants which is shed. And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom, wherewith They have reproached Thee, O Lord.” We are by no means sure that the spirit expressed in these petitions is a commendable one. The verses certainly require a great deal of explanation when viewed in the light of the teachings, life, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Perhaps, however, it is illogical and unfair to view them in that light. If the petitions in the text are simply a prayer for justice, then are they right, and such as may fitly be presented at the throne of grace. If the strong desire was that God would assert His own presence and power and glory before the heathen who said, “Where is their God?” then the desire is commendable. The time came when He did interpose in judgment. “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.” 3. Urges his petition with powerful pleas. On two grounds the Psalmist urges his prayer. He pleads the greatness and urgency of the people’s need. “We are brought very low.” Their affliction and helplessness was an appeal to His pity. Their numbers were diminished, their condition was deplorable; if He did not quickly come to their aid they would be utterly undone. He pleads the glory of the Divine name. “For the glory of Thy name; … for Thy name’s sake.” The idea is, that as they were His redeemed people, His professed people, His honour was involved in the question of their salvation or their destruction. There is no plea so mighty with God as that of His own honour, when it is sincerely urged. If He left them to perish, the heathen would say that He could not or would not save them. If He delivered them, the mockers would be silenced, and His name would be feared. In ancient time God had proclaimed His name to Moses, and there is in this plea, probably, an allusion to that proclamation. If so, there is an appeal to His faithfulness, that He would maintain that name. III. A devout resolution. “So we Thy people and sheep of Thy pasture will give Thee thanks for ever: we will show forth Thy praise to all generations.” This is the language of— 1. Confidence. With assured faith they looked forward to the salvation of God. They anticipated deliverance and blessing. 2. Gratitude. With thankful hearts they would ascribe unto Him the praise and glory of their redemption. And they would transmit the story of His wondrous doings on their behalf to coming generations, that they also might praise Him. 3. Service. It is implied here that they would no more turn aside to idols or decline from His ways, but would serve Him with glad and grateful hearts. .— 1. Blessed are they who, having tasted that He is gracious, have not by sin exiled themselves from God’s favour and fellowship. Brethren, prize your blessedness. “Walk in the light, as He is in the light,” so shall your path be cheered by His presence and conduct you to His throne. 2. Let those who have departed from God return unto Him with earnest prayer and devout resolution. Your hope is in the tender mercy of the Lord. (See Jeremiah 3:12; Jeremiah 3:22.) PROFANE IN SACRED PLACES(Psalms 79:1.) “The holy land, the holy house, and the holy city were all polluted by the uncircumcised.” We have in this an illustration of what is taking place in this day— I. In Christian churches. The Church is God’s “inheritance.” “The Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood.” The Church is the abode of God, His “temple.” He dwells in it by His Spirit. Desecrating intruders have entered into it. 1. Ritualism. Forms, ceremonies, genuflexions, pictures, symbols, instead of the worship of God “in spirit and in truth.” Superstition instead of faith. Sacraments instead of the living, personal Saviour. 2. Rationalism. Human philosophies instead of the Gospel of Christ. Theories of self-culture instead of the regenerating and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. 3. Selfish religionism. The church is desecrated by men who are religious that they might escape a coarse, materialistic hell, and gain an inglorious and vulgar heaven. Their spiritual state is the very opposite of that expressed in Xavier’s beautiful hymn— “My God, I love Thee, not becauseI hope for heaven thereby;” &c.But the spirit which should animate our churches is not that “of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” The Christian spirit is not self-seeking, but self-sacrificing. II. In human spirits. The human spirit is the “inheritance” of God, which He has redeemed. “Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a price.” The human spirit is also the “temple” of God. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you?” What intruders have defiled and desecrated this temple? Worldliness, carnality, selfishness, hatred, impurity, have defiled God’s holy temple. The human soul has too often resembled a “whited sepulchre” or “a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” rather than the dwelling place of God. Even amongst religious men there are some in whose soul a human formula or creed has usurped the place of God; they are theologians, not Christians. There are others in whose soul some ecclesiastical system has usurped the place of God; they are more devoted to “the church,” or to “our denomination,” or to “our body,” than to the Lord of all. These desecrating intruders must be expelled from the Church, or they will lay it in ruins. These unholy spirits that have entered the human soul must be cast out, or that “temple of God” will become a “synagogue of Satan.” On the contrast exhibited in this verse and Psalms 78:55 of the preceding Psalm a useful discourse might be made. Subject,—What God does for man, and what man does for God. I. God casts out the heathen for His people, His people by their sins admit the heathen to destroy His city. II. God gave to His people an inheritance, His people suffer His inheritance to be invaded by foes. III. God provided dwelling-places for His people, His people defiled His dwelling-place, and allowed others to defile it also, &c. Or the contrast might be exhibited thus,— I. God’s faithfulness, man’s unfaithfulness. II. God’s goodness, man’s ingratitude. III. God’s conquering power, man’s cowardly weakness, &c. A MODEL PRAYER(Psalms 79:9.) I. The Person addressed. “O God of our salvation.” “Our God, even when He is most severely angry, is not the God of destruction, but of salvation.” 1. God was their only Saviour. They were brought so very low as to be beyond the help of all others. 2. God was their sufficient Saviour. He who delivered their fathers from the Egyptians could deliver them from the Chaldeans. II. The Prayer offered. Three requests they make to God. 1. For Pardon. “Purge away our sins.” 2. For Deliverance. “Deliver us” from our afflictions, from our enemies. 3. For Assistance. “Help us” to bear our troubles, to serve Thee in our lives. III. The plea urged. “For the glory of Thy name, … for Thy name’s sake.” The honour of His name would be affected by His treatment of their prayer. If He did not deliver them, the heathen would say that He could not or would not help them. If He delivered them, the display of His mercy would excite admiration, the exhibition of His power would beget awe. His name would be feared. “The choicest mercies God’s people have are for His name’s sake: they have pardon of sin for His name’s sake” (Psalms 25:11; 1 John 2:12); “purging of sin for His name’s sake; leading in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psalms 23:3); “quickening of their dead and dull hearts for His name’s sake” (Psalms 143:11). “Though His people offend Him, yet He forsakes them not, for His great name’s sake.” Let us ask for spiritual blessings of God, urging in faith this plea, and we shall receive, and our joy will be full. THE OF MAN AND THE HELP OF GOD(Psalms 79:11.) The prisoners are those of the Hebrews who were in bondage and suffering. “Those that are appointed to die might apply to those who were condemned to death; or to those who were sick and in danger of death; or to those who were prisoners and captives, and who were, by their sufferings, exposed to death.” I. The afflictions of man. “The prisoner, … those that are appointed to die.” To be a prisoner is to be deprived of light, of liberty, &c. How many and varied are the afflictions of man. The sighs and cries of the suffering are ever arising from our world. “Each new mornNew widows howl; new orphans cry; new sorrowsStrike heaven on the face, that it resoundsLike syllable of dolour.”—Shakespeare.II. The help of God. It is His “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” As a helper He is— 1. Quick to hear. The sigh of a prisoner in the dungeon reaches His ear in an instant. 2. Strong to save. “The greatness of Thy power.” His energy is more than equal to the extremest human need. And His tenderness is as great as His strength. III. The connecting link between the two. Prayer is the means whereby suffering man obtains the help of God. Prayer implies in the suppliant felt need and faith in God. To the ear of God a sigh may be a devout and earnest prayer. Let distressed and dying men direct their sighs to God and obtain relief. Superscription.—“To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth.” On “Shoshannim” see Introduction to Psalms 45. Probably “Shoshannim—Eduth” denotes “the melody or air ‘after’ or ‘in the manner of’ which the Psalm was to be sung. As the words now stand they signify ‘lilies, a testimony,’ and the two are separated by a large distinctive accent. In themselves they have no meaning in the present text, and must therefore be regarded as probably a fragment of the beginning of an older Psalm with which the choir were familiar.”—Smith’s Dict. of the Bible.“A Psalm of Asaph”. See Introduction to Psalms 74. Perowne: “As in the case of most of the historical Psalms, so in the case of this, it is impossible to say with certainty at what period it was written. The allusions are never sufficiently definite to lead to any positive conclusion.… All that is certain is, that the time was a time of great disaster, that tea nation was trampled down under the foot of foreign invaders. The poet turns to God with the earnest and repeated prayer for deliverance, and bases his appeal on the past.”THE DIVINE FAVOUR (Psalms 80:1-7.) In these verses the poet complains of the sorrowful condition of the people, and prays for salvation from God. Their sad condition he regards as the result of the withdrawal of the favour of God, and he prays for their salvation by the renewal of that favour. The Psalmist represents the people as— I. Sorely needing God’s favour. The sad condition of the people appears from— 1. The reproaches of their neighbours. “Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours; and our enemies laugh among themselves.” “The neighbours are always the petty tribes in the immediate neighbourhood of Israel, who continually availed themselves of those occasions when Israel was oppressed by more powerful nations, to give vent to their hatred.” These neighbours strove among themselves as to who should obtain most of the spoils of Israel, and who should be bitterest in their reproaches against them. When a people who have occupied a position of eminence and power are derided by petty neighbours they must have fallen very low, and great must be their sorrow as they realise the painful contrast between their present and their past. They who “laugh among themselves” over a fallen and suffering foe must have sunk very low in the scale of humanity. Yet their jeers may torment the sufferers to whom they are directed, may make their bitter drink more bitter, and their heavy burden more heavy. 2. The rejection of their prayer. “O Lord God of hosts, how long wilt Thou be angry against the prayer of Thy people?” The marginal reading gives a literal translation, “How long wilt Thou smoke against the prayer of Thy people?” The smoke of incense was a symbol of prayer amongst the Hebrews, “Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” According to the teaching of their Scriptures the smoke of the incense in prayer would propitiate God, and cause the smoke of His anger to cease. But instead of this the smoke of His anger opposes the smoke of the incense of their prayers. Such seems to be the poetic dress of the idea. The idea itself is that God rejected their prayer. If such were really the case there must have been something wrong in their prayers, or in the spirit in which they presented them. They must have “asked amiss.” (1.) There might have been a lack of fervour and earnestness in their prayers. God does not regard cold, half-hearted petitions. (2.) Or they might have supplicated Him from an impure or unworthy motive. (3.) Or, while they sought Him in prayer, they might have cherished sin in their hearts. “If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not bear me.” (4.) Or, probably, God only appeared as though He rejected their prayer. He delayed His response in order to increase His blessing. By making them wait He would test and increase their faith, and the fervour of their desires, and the earnestness of their prayers. But to them He seemed as though He rejected their prayers; and it was a sore trial to them. Men reproached them, and God rejected their entreaties. Earth greeted them with cruel persecution or scornful laughter, and heaven with stony-hearted indifference or stern rejection. 3. The greatness of their sorrow. “Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.” God dealt out sorrows to them as though they were their food and drink. Their grief was intense and constant. Tears were their daily portion. All their trials and sorrows they regarded as proceeding from God. “Thou feedest them with the bread of tears.” “Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours,” &c. In this they were certainly right thus far, that God had allowed these miseries to befall them. If He had not directly brought them upon them as a chastisement for their sins, He had withdrawn the shield of His protection from them because of their sin. He had hidden His face from them, and they were troubled. He had withdrawn His favour, and innumerable evils had compassed them about. Truly His favour was sorely needed by them. II. Earnestly imploring God’s favour. In the prayer here recorded we have— 1. An implied confession of sin. “Turn us again, O God.” They are conscious of having turned aside into sinful ways. In them there had been an evil heart of unbelief, and they had departed from God, and were now feeling the bitter result. They had withdrawn their loyalty from Him before He withdrew His favour from them. And they humbly and repeatedly pray, “Turn us again, O God.” When sin is mourned over and confessed to God, and restoration to fidelity and righteousness is sought from Him, the return of His favour will not tarry long. 2. A recognition of the gracious relation of God to them. (1.) God is addressed as their Shepherd. This relation is one of great intimacy and tenderness. It involves His guidance, protection, and provision. (See Hom. Com. on Psalms 74:1.) (2.) God is addressed as dwelling between the cherubim. The allusion is to the Shecinah, the visible symbol of the Divine presence, which was above the mercy-seat and between the cherubim. From the mercy-seat He communed with man and dispensed His favour. There He had manifested Himself to the Hebrews as He had to no other people. In this address to Him they remind Him of this special favour shown to them, and seek to encourage themselves thereby. Jesus Christ is the true Shecinah. He is “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person.” 3. An earnest entreaty for His salvation. “Give ear, shine forth, stir up Thy strength, and come and save us. Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” (1.) They pray that God would attend to them. “Give ear.” He had seemed to disregard their cries to Him, and even to reject their prayers in His anger; and they entreat Him to lend an attentive ear to the voice of their supplications. (2.) They pray that God would arouse His strength for their salvation. For a time it seemed as though His mighty saving arm had slumbered. They knew how mightily that arm had wrought salvation for their fathers in ancient days, and they cried, “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord.” (3.) They pray that God would manifest His favour to them and so save them. “Cause Thy face to shine” is a poetical expression of, Show Thy favour. They felt that in His favour was their salvation. At the rebuke of His countenance they perished; in the shining of His countenance they lived and rejoiced. The idea is poetical and beautiful, and profoundly true. “In His favour is life.” Only as our being is illumined and warmed by the beams of His love do we live. His favour is the life-giving breath of souls. In conclusion, Is this favour ours? Are we living in the smile of God? Then, let us never cause Him to avert His face from us. Let us yield to the mighty attraction of His love, and be transformed into His ineffable beauty. But if any have no consciousness of His favour, no saving acquaintance with Him, let them at once pray, “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.” “Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Rise through faith in Him into the conscious realisation of the favour of God, and so into the possession of a life spiritual, everlasting, blessed, and Divine. THE OF ISRAELPsa_80:1. “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest,” &c. To the great majority of devout souls, next to the revelation of God in Christ Jesus, the revelation of Him in His various offices and relationships is the most precious. Here He is set forth as the Shepherd of His people. I. The relation which He sustains to His people. “Shepherd.” Certain relationships He sustains to all men. Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign, Judge. Certain other relationships He sustains only to those who confide in Him, relationships which involve trust and sympathy. Such is that of Shepherd. “Shepherd of Israel,” not of Philistia or Assyria. He is the Shepherd now of those who know Him, trust Him, follow Him. Very intimate and tender is the relation between Eastern shepherds and their flocks. 1. Each sheep is individually known. “He calleth His own sheep by name.” 2. Each sheep it individually cared for. “He shall gather the lambs with his arm,” &c. 3. Each sheep is individually protected. “The good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep.” 4. Each sheep is individually provisioned. “The Lord will give grace and glory: no good will He withhold,” &c. And, in conjunction with this personal knowledge and care of the Shepherd for each individual member of His flock, there is unity of the whole. They constitute a flock. II. The service which He renders to His people. “Leadest Joseph like a flock.” This is only a development of the previous clause The Eastern shepherd goes before his flock, and the sheep follow him. The Lord leads His people. By the exercise of their reason and conscience; by the openings and closings of His providence; by the teachings of His holy Word; and by the action of His holy Spirit upon the heart, He now leads all who trust in Him. Ponder what is involved in this. 1. That man is not competent to arrange his own course of life. “It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” “Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” 2. That man is not compelled to yield to the Divine direction. The good Shepherd does not drive men before Him as unwilling disciples, but He goes before them, leads them, leaving them to follow Him or forsake Him as they choose. 3. That the Divine direction of human life is exercised in the most gracious manner. “I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight.” The Shepherd first encounters every difficulty or danger, then the sheep follow Him. This Divine guidance is a fact to-day, a blessed reality which we may each prove by committing our way unto the Lord. III. The manifestation of Himself to His people. “Thou that dwellest between the cherubim.” “Thou who sittest enthroned upon the cherubim.” It has been thought that the prayer for help in the first part of the verse rests upon the shepherd care of God, and in this part on the omnipotence of Him who is enthroned upon the cherubim, and rulest over all. What the symbol of the Divine presence was to the Jews, the Lord Jesus Christ is to us. He is the Divine Representative, the Revealer of God. In Him we meet with God, and read His character, and see His mercy, and learn His grace. “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Through Him God dispenses His favours. “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name He will give it you.” IV. The great Desire of His people from Him. “Shine forth.” “Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” “Their own arm did not save them, but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy countenance.” “Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.” The idea is that in the manifestation of God’s favour, salvation and blessing are to be found. So is it now and for us. Our great need is that God in Christ would shine forth unto us. To see God in Christ Jesus is a saving, spiritually transforming sight. IN GOD’S SMILE(Psalms 80:3.) The thrice-uttered prayer, “Turn us again, O God,” seems to show that the Hebrews were sensible of departure from God, and desirous of being turned penitently to Him as a means of regaining His favour. There is, we fear, much backsliding of heart in the Church at this time. What we mean by backsliding. The loss of the intense consciousness of peace and joy which followed conversion, and of the burning enthusiasm and zeal, which things were then irregular and spasmodic, is not always to be regretted. If our consciousness of peace and joy have grown profounder and calmer, though less intense; if our enthusiasm and zeal have grown into a habit of regular, steady, and self-denying work for God, there is no matter for regret. We do not mourn the loss of the sapling in the oak, or of the little child in the man or woman. Such loss is really development and gain. But there are many signs of real spiritual decline in many persons in the great Church of Christ. Absorption in business has benumbed the zeal of many. Marriage and the cares of domestic life have taken the lofty aspiration out of many others, and ended their usefulness. Worldly prosperity has injured others. There are thousands in the Church the promise of whose early discipleship remains unfulfilled. They are members of the Church; but the zeal, enthusiasm, usefulness, consecration, and joy of their early Christian life—where are they? Ah, where? To such persons God very often sends trouble, in some form or other, as His messenger to recall them from their backslidings. Is He so sending to any of you? Or has He so sent to you? Then, be thankful that He is still seeking you; and make the prayer of the text your own. “Turn us again, O God, and cause Thy face to shine,” &c. The Poet’s idea of salvation and its attainment is, that it is a something which springs out of the shining of God’s countenance, and which is to be sought by prayer. “Cause Thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.… They perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance.” “In His favour is life.” Probably he was thinking of the shining of the sun. It gives life, light, warmth, exhilaration. Its absence means death; its presence, life and gladness. Taking this analogy, the view of salvation here set forth is that it consists in the life and growth of the soul under the favour of God. It is not mere deliverance from wrath or hell, as commonly understood. The poet’s idea of hell is given here—“The rebuke of Thy countenance.” He seeks salvation by seeking the blessing which is exactly antithetic to that evil, “The light of Thy countenance.” All spirits must sustain some relation to God. Spiritual existence in total separation from Him is an impossibility. But spirits are found in various and different relations to Him. Some are avowedly hostile to Him. Devils are of this class. They are sustained by Him, but they are bitterly antagonistic to Him. Many men too are “alienated and enemies in their mind by wicked works.” Hostile to Him actually, though not avowedly. In this state all true spiritual growth is impossible. Others are indifferent to Him, practically “without God in the world,” and have no desire to be otherwise. Such indifference involves indifference to their own spirit. There can be no true spiritual growth in such a state. Others have some sort of belief in His existence, but despair of obtaining His favour. They cannot grow spiritually, for hope is essential to growth. Others are trusting and loving Him. They regard Him as merciful and gracious, wise and beneficent, strong and kind; and so they trust Him and enjoy His favour. The position of the Psalmist I take to be this, that all in this state, or sustaining this attitude towards God, are being saved, and that by the growth of their souls under the influence of God’s favour. Under this influence, in what would souls grow? 1. In thoughtfulness. God is infinitely thoughtful. He frequently calls upon men to “consider,” “reason,” be “wise,” &c. Every soul that is fully open to His influence He quickens into holy thoughtfulness. 2. In holy principles. Living in the light of God’s countenance, the principles of the Divine administration and conduct become ours. 3. In spiritual strength to will and do and suffer. The sense of His loving presence makes the will imperial in the right, the hands strong for holy doing, and the heart calm and patient in suffering. 4. In reverence. “I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (See also Isaiah 6:1-5.) 5. In spiritual beauty. “The beauty of the Lord our God upon us.” In one word, under God’s smile the soul grows into His image. According to our interpretation of the text, that is salvation. How philosophic! How true! How exalted! We may secure His favour by earnest, persistent prayer (see Psalms 80:3; Psalms 80:7; Psalms 80:19). Mark the cumulation of names. Such prayer is the approach of the soul to God. Apply the subject— 1. To backsliders. 2. To the unconverted. “The Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” FROM THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH, WITH THEIR LESSONS TO THE MODERN CHURCH(Psalms 80:8-19.) Israel is here compared to a vine, and under this figure some experiences of her history are referred to. A devout and thoughtful study of these verses will not fail in discovering teachings which are applicable to us to-day, without resorting to any fanciful or irreverent handling of the Book of God. The verses bring before us— I. The Divine planting of the ancient Church. In respect to the ancient Jewish Church the Lord is represented here as— 1. Bringing them out of Egypt. “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt.” Israel in Egypt was like a vine in an unfavourable situation, with an unsuitable soil and an ungenial clime. If it grew and bore fruit there, it was not by the aid of its circumstances, but in despite of them. So the Lord God of hosts brought forth His people from their uncongenial circumstances and surroundings, like a vine from an unfriendly soil and an inclement air. 2. Expelling the heathen from the promised land. He had chosen that land for His own people, and promised it to their fathers, and He fulfils His promise. He had long purposed to plant His vine in that goodly land. And, in order to the accomplishment of His purpose, He “cast out the heathen.” Seven nations were rooted out to make room for this vine which the Lord had chosen. 3. Firmly planting His people in a goodly situation. Having prepared room for it by the expulsion of the heathen, He “planted it, and caused it to take deep root.” In fertile soil, refreshed by “brooks of water, fountains, and depths that spring out of valleys and hills,” beneath translucent skies and amid genial airs, He planted His vine, and caused it firmly to strike its roots. Thus the ancient Jewish Church was emancipated from the bondage of Egypt, enabled to conquer the Canaanites, and to take secure possession of the land which God had promised to their fathers, entirely by means of His power. So much so that, with the strictest truth, He may be said to have delivered them from Egypt, vanquished their enemies, and planted them in Canaan. So now the Lord calls men out of the moral Egypt, with its bondage of evil habits, its degrading fleshly lusts, its oppressive burdens of guilt, and its cruel task-masters of lordly passions. At His girdle hangs the key which unlocks the doors of the prison in which the captives of sin are immured. He breaks the power of the oppressor. “The Lord looseth the prisoners.” He is the great Emancipator from the guilt and sovereignty of evil. All who listen to His call and accept His deliverance, He makes to rejoice in glad liberty. He not only calls men out of Egypt, but also plants in His own vineyard all those who obey His call. In what favourable circumstances the Lord has planted us! How many culturing agencies He is causing to operate upon us! What innumerable aids to growth and development, strength and maturity, fruitfulness and beauty, He is ever bestowing upon us! The Church of God in Britain to-day is “exalted to heaven” with privileges. II. The great progress of the ancient Church. “It filled the land. The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the goodly cedars with its boughs. She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.” The hills or mountains which were shadowed by this vine were probably those in the extreme south of Canaan. And as the vine when planted in fertile soil runs up the trees and covers them, so the poet pictures this vine as running up and covering the great cedars of Lebanon. “The sea” is the Mediterranean, which bounded the Promised Land on one side; “the river” is the Euphrates, which bounded the land on the other side. The whole is a beautiful picture of the prosperity of the Hebrews in their best days. During the latter portion of the reign of David, and through almost the whole of that of Solomon, they occupied a proud position amongst neighbouring nations; their power was recognised and respected; their prosperity was great; their wealth also was great. So the Christian Church has spread, and is still spreading. Its institutions and literature are spreading and growing in almost every part of the known world. Rank and fashion, wealth and power, education and genius, are to be found in large proportions within her fold. Her financial resources for carrying on her work are greater than they ever were, and are still increasing. The greatest institutions are overshadowed by her. Her roots seem to be ever striking deeper; and her branches are spreading and growing in every direction. III. The ruinous failure of the ancient Church. This vine rose to a great height, spread abroad its branches to a great extent, was well covered with foliage, so that it cast a great and deep shadow; but not a word is said of its fruit. It bore no fruit. It failed in its chief end. Of what use is a vine unless it bring forth fruit? If it fail in that it fails in the main thing. And it was in the main thing that the Hebrews failed. Israel was a fruitless vine. As their material prosperity increased, their religious faithfulness and zeal decreased. In the Holy Land idolatry was permitted by Solomon. He even allowed a part of one of the hills overlooking Jerusalem, and almost fronting the temple of God, to be consecrated to obscene and barbarous deities. Can we wonder that “clouds on all sides gathered about his declining day”? Is it surprising that he should “bequeath to his heir an insecure throne, a discontented people, formidable enemies on the frontiers,” and the probability of a contested succession? Let the Church of Christ to-day take warning from the ancient Jewish Church. God demands fruit of us, the fruit of personal holiness and social usefulness. Is the Church meeting that demand? Is she holy in herself? Is she abolishing the dishonesties of trade? Is her face set against human oppression? Is she striving to purify the land of the scandalous social corruptions? Is she waging war against drunkenness and gluttony? Is she leading the lost to the Saviour? O Church of Christ, examine thyself! IV. The mournful devastation of the ancient Church. “Why hast Thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they that pass by the way do pluck her! The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.… It is burned with fire, it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance.” We cannot determine what particular calamities are referred to in these verses. But notice— 1. God withdrew His defence from them. He “broke down her hedges.” They had lost their defence by reason of their sin. They had forsaken their Protector, and so exposed themselves to their foes. They had provoked God to anger, and He had left them like a vineyard with its fences demolished, open to the foot of every intruder. 2. Their enemies ravaged them. The picture of the havoc and ruin wrought is striking and powerful. Their enemies are represented as various, fierce, and strong. “They which pass by the way, the boar out of the wood, and the wild beast of the field.” They would waste the vineyard in different ways, and what one failed to destroy would speedily be ruined by the others. The devastation is represented as very great. They are being “plucked, wasted, devoured, burned,” and are “perishing.” Alas, poor vineyard! Desolation itself could scarce be more desolate; or ruin more ruinous. Their misery is represented as the result of the displeasure of God. “They perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance.” Conscience speaks here, and speaks truly. They were powerless and defenceless before their enemies, because they were conscious of having forsaken their Almighty Friend. The consciousness of sin led them to see a frowning God, and emptied their spirit of courage and their arm of strength. 3. They failed to understand fully the reason of their miseries. “Why hast Thou broken?” &c. One would have thought that they would not have needed to ask “why.” Did they think that, having shown so much favour to this vine, and bestowed upon it so much care, it was strange that He should leave it exposed to destroyers? But that very favour and that care only made its worthlessness the more manifest in bearing no fruit. God’s great mercies to the Jews made their sin and rebellion against Him the more heinous and aggravated. Instead of asking God why He had left them defenceless, they would have done well to have looked into their own life and conduct, and turned to Him in sincere penitence. Let the Christian Church heed the warning. V. The earnest prayer of the ancient Church. The poet prays— 1. For the Divine presence and favour. “Return, we beseech Thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine.” That God would see and consider their sad case, that He would look upon them with favour, that He would visit them in mercy, is their appropriate desire. 2. For the Divine protection. “Guard what Thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that Thou madest strong for Thyself.” This is a prayer for the defence of God that they may not be utterly and entirely destroyed. The petition refers to His ancient kindness in their planting and increase, and pleads their relation to Him. The vine was planted by Him and for Him, and in its misery and desolation the poet commits it to Him. 3. For the Divine blessing on their leaders. “Let Thy hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, upon the son of man whom Thou madest strong for Thyself.” The expositors differ in their interpretations of this verse. Some see with clearness, and assert with confidence, that there is “an outlook to the Messiah here;” while others are unable to see anything of the kind. “The man of Thy right hand” is the man who holds the place of honour. “The son of man,” we regard as a poetical variation from the term “man” in the first clause of the verse. “Whom Thou hast made strong for Thyself,” i.e., whom Thou hast raised to power for the carrying out of Thy purposes. So we regard it as a prayer on behalf of some leader or leaders of the people, that God’s hand may be upon him, or upon them, for good; and that through him, or them, He would bless the afflicted people. 4. For the Divine restoration or revival. “Quicken us.” Restore to us as a people vitality and power; our languishing and dying cause do Thou revive and strengthen. Such is the prayer of the ancient Church in its distress. And if any portion of the Lord’s vineyard today is lying desolate and distressed, Christians will do well to carry the case to God in prayer, and seek His interposition and salvation. VI. The devout promise of the ancient Church. The poet on behalf of the people engages that if God granted their requests, their conduct towards Him should be marked by— 1. Perseverance. “So will not we go back from Thee.” They had backslidden from His ways many times; but now they vow that, if God will deliver them from their distresses, they will cleave with constancy to Him. 2. Praise. “We will call upon Thy name.” We will worship Thee faithfully. Such is their promise made in affliction. And we know with how deplorable a frequency such promises are forgotten when the affliction is removed. Such was the case repeatedly in the history of the Jews. .— 1. Let individual Christians and Christian churches take heed to this beacon. As individuals, “have we our fruit unto holiness”? In the ancient Jewish Church, we have a striking analogue of the planting, privileges, and progress of the Christian Church. Let us see to it that the analogy does not become true as regards fruitlessness; for, if it should, our defence will be gone, and we shall be wasted and destroyed by our enemies. 2. If any have backslidden from the ways of the Lord, let them seek Him at once in penitence and by prayer. “Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause Thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.” Superscription.—“To the chief Musician upon Gittith.” Gittith is explained in several ways. One interpretation is that it was a musical instrument invented in Gath, or common among the Gittites. Or it may have been the name of a tune to which the Psalm is to be sung, and which originated from Gath. Others have derived the word from πַּ ?ϊּ = a wine press, and concluded that it denotes an instrument which was used by those accustomed to tread the wine-vat, and intended to accompany the songs of the vintage. Fuerst in his Lexicon says it is the “proper name of a musical body of Levites, who had their chief seat in the Levitical city βַּ ?ϊγִ ?ξּ ?εֹ ?ο.” “A Psalm of Asaph”. This Psalm appears to have been composed by Asaph, who was the contemporary of David.Occasion.—The Psalm seems to have been composed for the celebration of the Passover. “It is well remarked by De Wette that as the Hebrews were required to make known to their children the design of the ordinance of the Passover (see Exodus 12:26-27), nothing would be more natural than that the sacred poets should take occasion from the return of that festival to enforce the truths pertaining to it in songs composed for the celebration. Such seems to have been the design of this Psalm,—reminding the people of the goodness of God in the past, and recalling them from their sins by a remembrance of His mercies, and by a view of what would be the consequences of fully obeying His law.”—Barnes. WORSHIP(Psalms 81:1-7.) In these verses we have an exhortation to worship God. By nature man is a worshipper. There is that within him which impels him to render homage to some thing, or being. If this tendency of our nature be misdirected, its exercise will be most baneful in its influence upon us. But if it be rightly directed, its exercise will influence us most blessedly. Religious worship is set before us here,— I. In its Object. “God”—the Supremely Good. The object is— 1. A Person. Not an abstraction of the intellect, or a mental concept, a mere idea. Nor yet an impersonal influence or force. Nor yet the absolute substantia underlying all phenomena. But a Divine Person. 2. A Person related to us. The Psalmist does not represent God as enthroned in solitary and awful grandeur, having no interest in His creatures, and being inaccessible to them. He is “God our strength,” “the God of Jacob,” who regards the cry of His troubled people, and delivers them. He is deeply concerned in the welfare of His creatures and is ever actively engaged in promoting it. 3. A Person of supreme excellence. “GOD,” THE GOOD. He is essentially and infinitely perfect. He is worthy of the homage of the noblest spirits. There are in Him those properties which meet our deepest and holiest cravings. The intellect craves truth; and in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The conscience cries out for rectitude; and in His character and administration He presents to us the example of immutable and perfect righteousness, and by the salvation of Jesus Christ makes us partakers thereof. The heart longs for perfect goodness, for some one to love who meets its ideal of excellence, who abideth faithful, and abideth evermore; and the longing is met by God in Christ. In Him the heart finds rest. The spirit yearns for some supernal and unfading beauty and glory, which it may admire and adore; and God answers the yearning by revealing Himself to “the pure in heart.” Here is the one sublime Object of true worship. “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about Him.” “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.” II. In its character. Several characteristics of true religious praise are here indicated. 1. It is hearty. “Sing aloud, … make a joyful noise.” It is not mere loudness and noise that are desired, but a loud noise as the natural expression of a full heart. The Lord delights in the hearty worship of His people. The psalmody of merely professional choirs, however perfect artistically it may be, is obnoxious to Him who will be worshipped “in spirit and in truth.” If there must be deficiency in our psalmody, it is better far that it should be in the musical execution than in the spiritual feeling. 2. It is joyous. “Make a joyful noise.” There are seasons in life when we feel that “Notes of sadnessBest befit our state forlorn.”But, when we recall the benefits which we have received from God, and the great things which He has done for us, songs of gladness should be the true expression of our feelings. We should praise God not with funeral dirges, but with grateful anthems; not with plaintive cries, but with cheerful hearts and joyous songs. 3. It is variously expressed. “Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp, with the psaltery,” &c. The use of both vocal and instrumental music is here enjoined. It is an ignorant prejudice which would exclude all instrumental music from religious worship, a prejudice which is directly opposed to much of the teaching of the inspired Word concerning worship. When instrumental music is an aid to vocal, and when it stimulates or expresses religious emotions, it is not only lawful, but eminently desirable. III. In its obligation. “This was a statute for Israel,” &c. Religious worship is here represented as a binding duty. On what ground does this obligation rest? Why does God require us to worship Him? 1. Because it is right. The obligation to praise God is based upon— (1.) What He is in relation to us. He is our Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign. (2.) What He is in Himself. He is a Being of infinite perfection. We are so constituted that we ought to reverence that which is holy, to love that which is kind and good, to admire that which is beautiful, to trust that which is truthful. God is infinitely truthful, beautiful, good, and holy, therefore we ought to trust, admire, love, and adore Him—we ought to worship Him. Or we may argue the obligation to worship God,— 2. Because it is needful. That necessity shapes itself to our mind in this way. (1.) Man must worship. If he worship not the true God, he will exalt some creature into a god, or make an idol of wealth, pleasure, fame, &c. (2.) That which man worships exercises the mightiest influence upon him. Worship is a transforming thing. We become like unto the object of our worship. Let a man make power his idol, and he will grow into a cruel tyrant. Let any one worship pleasure, and his sensuous and animal nature will be developed at the expense of his moral and religious nature. Let another make wealth his god, and he will shrivel into a wretched miser. Let a man worship any fellow-creature, and he will come to resemble him, and it is very probable that the resemblance will be most complete in eccentricities and imperfections. (3.) The worship of God is the only one which is conducive to human well-being. Worshipping God our whole nature receives harmonious and happy development. Adoring Him in Christ we “are being transfigured into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.” Our highest blessedness is in the worship of Him “who is God over all, blessed for ever.” Therefore the Lord commands us to worship Him. IV. In its incentives. “I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots,” &c. The Psalmist in Psalms 81:6-7 represents Jehovah as addressing them, and reminding them of His goodness in delivering them from Egypt, with its oppressions and distresses. He does this as an incentive to them to worship God. God’s goodness to us should awaken our gratitude to Him, and gratitude is one of the chief elements of worship. The remembrance of God’s former mercies should awaken us to praise Him in thankful songs; while the blessings that we are constantly receiving should lead us to live lives of grateful praise. A correct estimate of God’s goodness to us and its due impression upon our heart would prove an abiding incitement, and ever-increasing in power, to move us to worship Him. .— 1. See these characteristics of true worship. It must have God for its Object; it should be hearty, joyous, and reverent, and it may be variously expressed. 2. Remember that such worship is a duty which we owe to God. Reason, conscience, gratitude, aspiration, and the holy Word all urge the command, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.” 3. Let us esteem it a privilege rather than a duty. If through Christ we are atoned unto God, and are walking with Him, then religious worship will be the heaven of our soul. 4. Let us cultivate worship as the very spirit of our life. Let gratitude, trust, adoration, be an abiding spiritual state with us. Let us seek to be of those “With whom the melodies abideOf th’ everlasting chime;Who carry music in their heartThrough dusky lane and wrangling mart,Plying their daily task with busier feet,Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat.”—Keble.THE OF GOD FOR THE WELL-BEING OF MAN(Psalms 81:8-16.) We shall endeavour to expound this section of the Psalm from the 13th verse, as from a centre. In that verse the Psalmist, speaking as the month-piece of the Lord, expresses an intense wish that Israel had followed the Divine counsel and kept the Divine law. We regard it as an utterance of God’s solicitude for man’s well-being. I. The solicitude of God for the well-being of man is very deep. “Oh, that My people had hearkened unto Me, and Israel had walked in My ways!” God in His great love here expresses His regret because of the sin and punishment of His people. He is not an unfeeling, cold, heartless Ruler. He is profoundly interested in those over whom He reigns. Their holiness and happiness are a great pleasure to Him. Their sin and suffering cause Him sorrow and pain. This is not the only passage in which He laments the disobedience and punishment of Israel. (See Isaiah 48:18; Hosea 11:8.) So also our Lord mourned, with intense feeling, over the guilty and doomed people of Jerusalem. (See Matthew 23:37.) With all the unfathomable love of His nature God mourns over our sins and sorrows. He is not willing that any of His creatures, created in His image, should perish. The depth of His solicitude for the good of man is manifested by the gift of His only-begotten Son for human salvation. “He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all.” II. The solicitude of God for the well-being of man has respect to his various needs. The Divine arrangements concerning Israel were of such a nature that, if they had kept the commands of the Lord, their peace would have been secured, their wants abundantly and choicely supplied, and their prosperity continued. God would have— 1. Subdued their enemies. “I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves unto Him.” He would have fought their battles and vanquished their foes; for they were His foes also. If they had been obedient to the Lord, He would have conquered their enemies quickly. “Soon,” in a little time, He would have defeated them. They would not have been long harassed by them. He would have conquered their enemies completely. So utterly would He have broken their power, that even those whose hearts were still hostile to them and to Him, would come and acknowledge His supremacy, feeling themselves powerless to stand against Him. Let Christians learn a lesson from this. Our spiritual enemies are many, subtle, and powerful. We are not able to subdue them. But if we walk in the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, He will speedily vanquish them for us. Our foes cannot harm us if we are in the way of His commandments. “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” If they had been obedient, God would have— 2. Supplied their wants. “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.… He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.” The provisions here indicated are most choice. “The fat of the wheat,” the very best food of the land. And even in the hard and barren rocks the bees should have stored the finest honey for them. The provisions here indicated are most abundant. They were to open the mouth wide, and God promises to fill it. He promises to “satisfy” them. How rich and abundant are the blessings which God has provided for us! Very appropriately has Christianity been compared to a great feast. Its blessings are various and choice—“Wine and milk;” pardon, peace, joy in the Holy Ghost, the favour of God, the hope of heaven, &c. Its blessings are abundant and free. “Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” “Buy wine and milk without money and without price.” The riches of Christ are “unsearchable riches.” The treasures of His grace are inexhaustible, infinite. 3. Continued their power and prosperity. “Their time should have endured for ever.” Had they remained faithful to God, their possession of Canaan would have been undisturbed, their peace and prosperity would have been perpetuated. It was their unbelief and disobedience towards God that brought upon them all their sufferings and sorrows. Even so it has ever been, and in all cases. “Righteousness exalteth a nation.” Persistence in evil will overthrow the most ancient thrones, and ruin the most magnificent kingdoms. Sin is the deadly enemy of the peace, prosperity, and power of both individuals and nations. “The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” III. The solicitude of God for the well-being of man recognises the great conditions of that well-being. Two great conditions of the well-being of man are mentioned here— 1. Receiving communications from God. “Oh, that My people had hearkened unto Me.” There can be no true growth, peace, or joy for man, except in communication with God. While priests and prophets spake to the Jews, and they gave heed to them, it was well with the nation. But when the “people would not hearken to” the voice of the Lord, dark clouds began to gather on the firmament, and speedily heavy storms fell upon them. The true well-being of man can never be secured except his mind and heart are in a condition to receive the light and truth of God. 2. Rendering obedience to God. “O that Israel had walked in My ways,” &c. Human blessedness is ever dependent upon obedience to Divine law. “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good;” and it is only as man walks in the way of the commandments that he can be virtuous, useful, or blessed. The Jews had disregarded the divinely-prescribed way; and, as a result, their peace and prosperity had forsaken them. Even the unfathomable solicitude of God for our well-being cannot secure that well-being except we render to Him loyal obedience. (See Psalms 19:7-8; Psalms 19:11.) Wouldst thou know the secret of the true blessedness of being? Learn it in true-hearted obedience to God. “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies; that seek Him with the whole heart.” IV. The solicitude of God for the well-being of man is exercised in harmony with man’s moral freedom. He commands, exhorts, entreats Israel to that obedience upon which their happiness depended. He endeavoured to allure them to righteousness and faithfulness by His promises. He sought to deter them from evil by His threatenings. By both goodness and severity He tried to save them from sin and ruin. When all means failed to bless and save them, He pathetically bewails their obstinacy in sin, and its consequences. But He never attempts to compel them to yield obedience to Him. He respects man’s moral freedom. 1. Notwithstanding the solicitude of God for their well-being, Israel would not obey Him. He had commanded them not to worship idols, but to worship Him alone. And as an incentive to obedience He reminded them of the wonderful display of His power when He brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and of their obligations to Him by reason of what He had done for them. But they would not obey Him. God saves men with the consent of their will, not against their will. 2. Notwithstanding the solicitude of God for their well-being, He left them to themselves. When Israel proved incorrigibly depraved, He “gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust; and they walked in their own counsels.” They would not be governed by Him, so He allowed them to attempt self-government. They would not listen to His voice, so He ceased to speak to them. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” “Ephraim is joined to his idols; let him alone.” “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.” “Quench not the Spirit.” No punishment is more severe than that of being given up by God, and none is more just. Man first abandons God, utterly turns his back upon Him, persistently disregards His voice, and sets at nought His will, and then God leaves him to take his own course. “My people would not hearken to My voice; and Israel would none of Me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust.” He will not coerce the will of man. .— 1. Let the solicitude of God for our salvation encourage us to trust in Him. 2. Let the solicitude of God for our salvation arouse the careless to solicitude for themselves. If God is so anxiously concerned for your well-being, it surely behoves you to consider your own state. 3. Let us beware lest, notwithstanding the solicitude of God for our salvation, we destroy ourselves by our self-will. Our moral freedom is a most glorious endowment. Let us not pervert it into a crushing curse. “Our wills are ours, we know not how;Our wills are ours, to make them Thine.”—Tennyson., PROMISE, AND (Psalms 81:10.) Illustrations of this metaphor are often met with. Oriental rulers have been known to put jewels into the mouth of a favourite. God’s blessings are better than these. He pays well. There is another illustration. At an Eastern feast the master will take a piece of the fattest part of the meat, dip it in the liquid fat, and, by way of compliment, will put it in the mouth of a favoured guest. There is yet another illustration. Last year I discovered suddenly a nest of young birds. Unable to fly, the little creatures at once mistook the intruder for their mother, or their father, and opened their mouths, until each seemed to be all mouth. The text contains— I. An exhortation. “Open thy mouth wide.” What does it mean? 1. Labour after a sense of need. The birds feel a lack by instinct. Prayer with Christ’s people should be an instinct also. We need all things, and in ourselves have nothing. Let us become conscious of weakness. We have not attained to a high degree of grace, if we think we have done so. A sense of spiritual wealth is a token of poverty. We must count ourselves nothing. 2. Open the mouth wide and increase the vehemence of desire, so that “no” cannot be taken for an answer. Prayers speed best which are vehement, not those which “besiege” the throne of the Almighty, and make one’s flesh creep by their irreverence. Still, if we would have great things, we must want them terribly, must “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” 3. The way of opening the mouth—pray for capacity. In the bird’s nest where goes the biggest piece? Into the widest mouth. It is so with us; we have different capacities. We are not straitened in God, but in ourselves. A bushel cannot be put into a peck. May we become more capacious. Let us seek after greater things. God can do more than we ask. He that craves spiritual good will have it—God will be sure to give it. It is in His way to give great things. We should not ask trifles, nor be satisfied with being little Christians. Then we must attempt great things. William Huntingdon prayed for a pair of leather breeches, and he got them. William Carey prayed for India. The one was a little thing, soon done with; the other is still being answered. II. A promise. “I will fill it.” It is a great God who says it. God has a way of filling our mouths so that they are never empty. What does He fill us with? With prayer, with arguments, a sense of want, of desire. He will give all kinds of spiritual blessing. III. An encouragement. It is Jehovah who speaks. He says, “I am God.” With men ask little, and expect less; with God ask much, and expect more. We cannot with our need surpass His benevolence. In prayer we ask our own, because we are Christ’s. The Lord has brought us from Egypt. He cannot do for us again so much as He has already done. Life in the soul is the master blessing. What cannot God do who brought the plagues on the enemies of Israel? Who would not ask great things of such a God? He makes a path for His people. And we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.—C. H. Spurgeon, from a report in The Christian World. Superscription.—“A Psalm of Asaph.” (See Introduction to Psalms 74.) Occasion.—We are unable to determine upon what occasion the Psalm was written. It is clear, however, that it is addressed to wicked magistrates or judges. It has been called “the Judges’ Psalm, wherein is taught the duty of judges and rulers.” The question has arisen whether the Psalm is directed against wicked judges amongst the Jews, or whether we are to regard the Jews as the poor and afflicted, and their heathen enemies as the unjust judges. The former appears to be the correct opinion. All that is here said of corrupt magistrates may frequently have been said of the judges of the Hebrews. (Comp. Isaiah 1:17; Isaiah 1:23; Isaiah 1:26.) And there are in the Psalm itself convincing evidences that it was intended to apply to the Israelitish rulers.ASPECTS OF In this Psalm Asaph sets magistrates and judges before us in several aspects. I. As occupying a distinguished position. He speaks of them as “gods” and “sons of the Most High.” The word Elohim, “gods,” is one of the names applied to the Supreme Being. It is not like Jehovah, a name indicating essence, but a name of office. The word Elohim occurs in several places, where it is translated “judges” (Exodus 21:6; Exodus 22:8-9; Exodus 22:28). This name was given to the judges as representing God in the theocracy, and as judging in His name and by His authority. In charging the judges, Moses distinctly asserted that “the judgment is God’s.” And in seeking judgment from them the people are said to seek it from Elohim. The office of magistrate is Divine. God by His servants applies to them one of His own names. They are appointed to administer judgment for Him. They represent Him in His judicial relation to men. They are to be honoured because of their office. And, under the theocracy, any insult which was offered to them was regarded as offered to God Himself. St. Paul says, “The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” The office of magistrate and judge is one of the most responsible and honourable of all offices, and should be filled by men of keen and comprehensive intelligence and of unimpeachable uprightness. It is an office, too, which should ever be regarded with respect and honour. II. As observed by God. “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods.” Perowne: “God standeth in the congregation of God.” “The congregation of God” is the congregation of Israel, the people of God, among whom the judges were called to exercise their functions, and among whom He can suffer no injustice. The idea seems to be that the exercise of magistracy among His people was carried on beneath His inspection. 1. He is the observer of all magisterial acts. He stands in the congregation of His people, mindful of their interests, taking cognisance of their affairs, noting their oppressions, and watching how they fared at the seat of judgment. In all courts of justice He is present, seeing whether righteousness is enthroned there. 2. He is the judge of all magisterial acts. “He judgeth among the gods.” At His bar those who have judged others must stand and be judged themselves. It is a solemn consideration for all magistrates and judges that they must appear at the judgment seat of Christ, and render an account for every administration of the law which they have exercised. Let them ponder it, and strive to discharge their important duties uprightly and faithfully. Let the oppressed remember it and rejoice. God judgeth in the earth. He will ultimately correct all false judgments, and judge righteously amongst all men. III. As called to the highest duties. Judges are exhorted by the poet to “judge the poor and fatherless, do justice to the afflicted and needy; deliver the poor and needy, rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” (Comp. Isaiah 1:17.) The idea seems to be that judges were to take up the causes of those who were unable to urge them themselves, whether by reason of orphanhood, poverty, or any other disability. Not that they should pronounce verdicts in their favour because they were orphans or poor, but that their poverty or orphanhood should not be any barrier in the way of obtaining their rights. The Supreme Judge has ever warmly espoused the cause of the widow, the fatherless, the poor, and the oppressed. Hear His Word on this subject. (See Exodus 22:22-24; Deuteronomy 10:17-18; Deuteronomy 27:19; Psalms 68:5; Psalms 146:9.) Let magistrates remember that God is the helper of the helpless, the champion of the cause of the fatherless, the widow, and the needy: and let them see to it that they attentively regard and justly deal with the causes which God has espoused. “If a poor man has an honest cause, his poverty must be no prejudice to his cause, how great and powerful soever those are that contend with him.” “Suffer not the afflicted to be further afflicted by enduring injustice, and let not the needy long stand in need of an equitable hearing.” IV. As exhibiting the worst perversity. The judges and magistrates are charged with the gravest perversion of their high office. The Psalmist accuses them of— 1. Ignorance. “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness.” They were ignorant probably in two respects— (1.) As regards the law. They had not striven to make themselves thoroughly acquainted with the law which they were appointed to administer. (2.) As regards the facts of the causes which were brought before them. They did not patiently and thoroughly investigate the causes on which they were called to adjudicate. Their ignorance was wilful. They did not care to know the law or the facts. Their high office had lost for them its sacredness. The ruling motive of their conduct was selfishness rather than the desire to discharge their duties intelligently and conscientiously. They love bribes rather than truth and righteousness. They have left “the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,” and now “they walk on in darkness.” How can such men discharge the holy duties of their office aright? The Psalmist accuses them of— 2. Injustice. “How long will ye judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked?” The injustice with which the judges are charged is that of partiality or favouritism. They did not deal with and decide cases according to their facts and circumstances, according to their merits, but according to the wealth, or rank, or influence of the persons concerned. They not simply showed favour to the rich, the exalted in rank, and the powerful. That would have been evil. Partiality is ever wrong in a judge. But they accepted the persons of the wicked. They showed favour to them in their wickedness. A greater perversion of judgment is almost, if not quite, inconceivable As we have seen, the office of magistrate or judge is one of the highest and most important, but when it is perverted, the perversion is most sinful, and the result most terrible. The office itself is Divine; the conduct of the men who filled it was diabolic. And the result of this maladministration of justice was extreme social disorder. “All the foundations of the earth are out of course.” The whole fabric of society was shaken, and seemed to be tottering into ruin. Its very foundation principles were dislocated. These corrupt judges, instead of promoting order and harmony, were bringing all things into a state of anarchy and misery. V. As tending to a great change. “Ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” Here we have— 1. Something which is common to all men. These judges had been spoken of as “gods,” but they must submit to death like the poorest wretch who had ever stood at their unrighteous judgment bar. Death comes equally to us all, and makes all equal when it comes. In that respect, the peer has no advantage over the peasant, or the prince over the pauper. “He bringeth the princes to nothing; He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.” “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.” Death is the great leveller. 2. Something peculiar to men of exalted position. “Fall like one of the princes.” Some interpret this that death would be more painful to them amid their worldly power and material luxuries than to the poor amid their poverty and hardship. Their elevated position would render their fall the more distressing. But the true interpretation seems to be that they should die a violent death, and be cut off in the midst of their days. “The expression, ‘as one of the princes,’ reminds them of the numerous examples in early times of similar dignitaries who were removed by the judgment of God. The connection shows that it is fallen princes that are meant.” Men holding high and responsible positions who abuse their privileges and powers, are frequently cut down by violence. “Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.” How vain, then, is it for men to pride themselves upon their eminent positions or sounding titles! The conduct of magistrates and judges is here set forth— VI. As leading man to cry for the inauguration of the direct magistracy of God. “Arise, O God, judge the earth: for Thou shalt inherit all nations.” 1. This cry springs from man’s longing for judgment. In all ages the wronged and oppressed have lifted up their hands to heaven, and implored the interposition of God. Justice being denied them here, they have turned their imploring eyes to God and cried, “Arise, O God, judge the earth.” 2. This cry implies the inadequacy of human judgments. Man has failed to rectify the wrongs under which the race has groaned for ages. The administration of justice has often been maladministration, a disgrace and a curse. And, even at its best, human magistracy is not able to rectify the disorders, and adjust the inequalities of this world. 3. This cry implies confidence in the judgment of God. The Psalmist trusted the justice of God. From the partiality and corruption of human judges he confidently carried his appeal to “the Judge of all the earth.” “Heaven is above all, yet; there sits a JudgeThat no king can corrupt.”—Shakespeare.The Psalmist trusted the sovereignty of God. He knew that all nations belonged to Him. The administration of the affairs of the whole world pertained to Him. And so the Psalmist appealed to Him, in strong assurance that He would hear and respond to his appeal. The grand hope of the world is in the interposition of Him whose justice is unimpeachable, and whose sovereignty is universal. .— 1. Let us be thankful that in this land and in this age, as a rule, justice is administered with great intelligence and strict impartiality. 2. Let unjust magistrates and judges, and all who seek to gain or promote an unrighteous cause, be warned. “He judgeth among the gods.” “In the corrupted currents of this world,Offence’s gilded hand may shove by justice:And oft ’tis seen, the wicked prize itselfBuys out the law. But ’tis not so above:There is no shuffling, there the action liesIn its true nature; and we ourselves compell’d,E’en to the teeth and forehead of our faults,To give in evidence.”—Shakespeare.3. Let the oppressed behold their hope. “He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.” “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for Thou shalt inherit all nations.” THE OF THE WICKED(Psalms 82:5.) “They walk on in darkness.” The life of all men upon earth is a pilgrimage, a journey. 1. A journey constantly prosecuted. Asleep or awake, frivolous or earnest, sinful or holy, we are ever advancing on this journey. 2. A journey rapidly prosecuted. “My days are swifter than a post; they flee away, they see no good. They are passed away as the swift ships; as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.” 3. A journey irretraceably prosecuted. In the walk of life there is no going back to our yesterdays. We pass along the way but once. 4. A journey of great importance. There is an end to our earthly pilgrimage, and the nature of the end is determined by our conduct on the journey. We are preparing our future heaven or hell as we tread the path of daily life. In this journey the wicked “walk on in darkness.” Their pilgrimage is characterised by— I. Privation. Night hides the beauties and sublimities of the landscape. They are there even as in the daytime, but the darkness veils them. When the darkness is very great even the stars, the peculiar glory of the night, are obscured. The sinner sees not the morally sublime and beautiful. The glory of God surrounds him, but he is in darkness, and beholds it not. The truth of God is revealed, but he sees it not, for he walks on in darkness. The spiritual privations of the wicked are many and great; e.g., pardon, peace, &c. II. Folly. The wicked condemn themselves to these privations. “They walk on in darkness,” because they will so to do. Light is in the world, but they elect to prosecute their journey in the dark. They may walk in the day if they will, but they prefer to walk at night. The sinner excludes himself from all the true brightness and joy of life. Sin is arrant folly. III. Peril. “If a man walk in the night, be stumbleth.” Obstacles may overthrow him, he may step over a precipice and be shattered into fragments, hostile powers may approach unobserved and kill him. Faint images these of the moral perils which beset the sinner in his darkened walk. IV. Criminality. To walk on in moral darkness when we may walk in the light of truth is sinful. “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” V. Ruinousness. If men persist in walking in darkness they will, sooner or later, stumble into hell. Sinners, turn from your dangerous course. While yet you may, turn from darkness to light, from sin to the Saviour, from hell to heaven. This is the last of the Psalms of Asaph. If the Psalm refers to the times of Jehoshaphat, the author was probably “Jahaziel, a Levite of the sons of Asaph,” upon whom “came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation” (2 Chronicles 20:14). In the 19th verse we read that “The Levites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.” Probably this was the Psalm which they sung.Occasion.—Hengstenberg says, “There is no room for doubt as to the historical occasion of the Psalm. It refers to the war of Jehoshaphat against the allied Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, and other nations, and forms the earliest as to subject of a series of cognate Psalms. While it makes mention of the help of God in the midst of danger, the 47th Psalm was sung, after the discomfiture of the enemy, on the field of battle, and the 48th, at the thanksgiving service in the temple. This view has been taken by all commentators, except those who have been prevented from arriving at the truth by some prejudice, such as that all the Psalms of Asaph were composed in David’s time, or that the narrative at 2 Chronicles 20 is not historically correct.” Alexander, Perowne, and Spurgeon held the above view.THE PERIL AND PRAYER OF THE CHURCHAmyraldus writes,—“The Psalm may be applied now to the enemies of the Christian Church, of which Israel was the type. The most important and formidable of these are assuredly sin and Satan, from whom we most especially long to be delivered.” Regarding the Psalm thus, in the peril of Israel we have an illustration of the peril of the Church of Christ, and in the prayer of Israel an illustration (in some respects) of the prayer of the Church of Christ. I. The peril of the Church. The peril of Israel at this time arose from her enemies, who had banded themselves together to make war against her and destroy her power. Several things in the disposition and conduct of the confederate forces are here mentioned which would make their hostility formidable. 1. Their hostility was violent. “For, Io, Thine enemies make a tumult.” They were loud and clamorous in their opposition to Israel, and were rushing on tumultuously to accomplish the destruction of the people of God. There have been times in the history of the Church of Christ when violent opposition has been directed against her. In the apostolic age how tumultuous were her foes! And how they raged in the time of the Roman emperors! Such enemies as Voltaire and Tom Paine have been loud in their opposition to Christianity. 2. Their hostility was confident. “They that hate Thee have lifted up the head.” In dismay or penitence the head is bowed down; in courage and confidence it is lifted up. The enemies of Israel proudly lifted up their heads, feeling assured of success. Their vast numbers, and compact unity, and great power, seemed to them to place their triumph far beyond question. And so men have felt confident that they could destroy the Church of Christ, and have published abroad their intention and power to do so, and to do so speedily—with what results the existence, position, and power of the Church to-day declare. 3. Their hostility was crafty. “They have taken crafty counsel against Thy people, and consulted against Thy hidden ones.” They were not only strong in power, but subtle in strategy also. Their plans were matured with much care and cunning. And Satan and his emissaries, in seeking to destroy the Church of our Lord, put forth all their skill in the formation of their schemes of operation. The Church has to contend against Satanic cunning as well as against Satanic power. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” “That old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 4. Their hostility aimed at the utter ruin of Israel. “They said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.” They did not merely aim at arresting the progress or crippling the power of Israel. Nothing would satisfy them but the utter destruction of the chosen people. They seek to cut off both root and branch from the face of the earth, leaving of them not even a memorial. Such is the aim of Satan and his allies against the Christian Church. They would banish all true religion from the world. Every Christian temple they would pervert into a “synagogue of Satan;” every godly man they would cut off; all religious literature they would destroy. This has been attempted by means of persecution. But persecution purified and strengthened the Church. The foes of the Church are now seeking her overthrow by corruption and error working within. Ritualism and Rationalism are doing their part towards the destruction of the Church. The rash and hasty conclusions of scientists, and the conceited dogmatism of the professors of “the higher criticism,” are arrayed against the Book. But the Book and the Church are unconquerable, indestructible. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against” the Church of Christ. 5. Their hostility was united. “They have consulted together with one consent; they are confederate against Thee.” There was unanimity in their counsels. Their mutual hostilities they laid in abeyance, that they might unite in one irresistible and all-conquering army. They solemnly covenanted together to seek the destruction of the Hebrews. And there is unity amongst the enemies of the Church in the matter of opposing her and seeking her overthrow. The Jews and Romans, hostile in other respects, united against Christ. The Sanhedrim, Pilate, Herod, and the people all united in opposition to Him. “Of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together.” This is an illustration of the opposition of the world and the devil to the Church in our own day. Opposed in other things, the unchristian world is united in this. 6. Their hostility was powerful. No less than ten nations were joined in this confederacy against Israel. “Edom, the Ishmaelites, Moab, the Hagarenes, Gebal, Amon, Amalek, the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre, Assur also.” All the nations bordering on Palestine had joined the confederacy, so that the chosen people were quite surrounded by enemies. And some of these enemies were very powerful, so that they felt confident of complete triumph. And Israel turned to God in prayer for help as to their only resource. The enemies of the Christian Church are many and mighty. Satan is strong, subtle, and numerously supported. Sin is strong. Many forms of evil are united against the Church. The lusts of the flesh, drunkenness, gluttony, uncleanness, the greed of gold, the ruinous absorption of mind and heart in temporal and material things, the frivolities of fashionable life, the vices of fast life, the assaults of dishonest scepticism, the miserable negations of atheism, and the corruptions within the Church itself, all tend to its overthrow. Yet the Church, loyally trusting in God, is stronger than all her foes. They may assault her, but their assaults will be like those of the tumultuous waves which furiously dash against a rock-bound coast to be hurled back as if in calm contempt. It is noteworthy that in this statement of their trouble and danger the poet represents the enemies of Israel as the enemies of God, the confederacy against Israel as a confederacy against God, and the people of Israel as the people of God. Thus they identify their cause and interest with God’s. Their foes hated the laws and religion of God; and in striking at His people, they were striking at His kingdom in this world. The strength of the Church is in her oneness with God. When she is loyal to Him, He saith to her persecutors, “Why persecutest thou Me?” No weapon that is formed against her shall prosper. II. The prayer of the Church. “Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God.… Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin,” &c. The people here pray— 1. For the interposition of God. “Keep not Thou silence, O God: hold not Thy peace, and be not still, O God.” There are times when God seems as though He did not observe the circumstances and needs of His people, or as though He were not concerned for their prosperity or safety. He stands as it were aside, taking no part in their affairs. His people here pray that He would not thus treat them on this occasion, but that He would speak in mighty deeds, and arouse Himself for their help and defence. The prayer of this verse is clearly an urgent one. The brevity and rapidity and repetition of the request, all indicate the imminence of the need and the earnestness of the desire. It is well when the Church in her dangers betakes herself to the throne of grace to implore the help of God. Not in the wealth of her material resources, not in the wisdom and eloquence of her leaders, not in the patronage of parliaments and princes, but in the presence and power of God in her midst, is the Church’s true and sure defence against her foes. 2. For the utter destruction of their foes. “Do unto them as unto the Midianites, as to Sisera, as to Jabin,” &c. (Psalms 83:9-15). These petitions are evidently for their utter destruction. The confederate foes of Israel had agreed to seek her utter ruin, and now in her turn Israel pleads with God that He would terrify, trouble, and completely destroy them. (On the imprecations (Psalms 83:9-17) see our remarks on Psalms 69:22-28; and the quotation from Perowne on pp. 163, 164.) The Church of Christ should both pray and work for the destruction of her enemies. We would destroy the wicked by destroying their wickedness. We would that all sinners were exterminated by their being regenerated into saints. We would that all the enemies of the Lord were destroyed by becoming loyal to Him. 3. For the confusion of their foes. It seems strange to pray for the confusion of their foes after having prayed for their complete destruction. Yet this is done in the Psalm. “Fill their faces with shame: let them be confounded and troubled for ever.” The prayer is that the schemes of the enemies may be thwarted, their purposes defeated, their designs baffled, their plans all overturned; and that with shame and trouble their confederacy may be broken up for ever. This is a very fitting prayer for the Christian Church. It is both wise and right, our duty and interest, to pray that the counsels of the wicked may be frustrated, the designs of hell baffled, and all the politics of the enemies of the Church confounded. 4. For the submission of their foes to God. “That they may seek Thy name, O Lord.” The context will not allow us to interpret this as a seeking of the friendship and favour of God. It means simply, that they may seek Thee in forced submission, being able to hold out no longer. But we who have learned of Christ may urge this petition with a much higher and diviner meaning. It is ours to pray that the plans of the enemies of God and of His Church may be baffled, that so they might be led to know and trust Him. May their wicked plans be brought to confusion that they might be brought to conversion. 5. For the glory of the Divine name. “That men may know that Thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the Most High over all the earth.” The context compels us to regard the knowledge and acknowledgment as not voluntary, but forced. The prayer is that God would so display His power against the foes of Israel that men would be compelled to acknowledge His supremacy in the earth. So, but with a fuller and higher meaning, let the Christian Church pray for the universal diffusion of the knowledge of the glory of God. The subject preaches its own conclusion. We are surrounded by a host of foes; “we have no might against the great company that cometh against us.” But the Lord of Hosts is with us. Through Him we shall do valiantly. Onward, Christian soldiers, in God’s name; and ye shall be “more than conquerors through Him.” Superscription.—“To the chief Musician upon Gittith.” (See Introduction to Psalms 81) “A Psalm for the sons of Korah.” (See Introduction to Psalms 42)Occasion.—The Psalm was evidently composed when the writer was exiled from the sanctuary. It was probably written by David when he was compelled to flee from Jerusalem by reason of the rebellion of Absalom. He laments this chiefly because it separated him from “the courts of the Lord.” Homiletically, the Psalm sets forth, The exile’s longing for the house of God, Psalms 84:1-4; Religious progress, Psalms 84:5-7; and The exile’s prayer, Psalms 84:8-12.THE EXILE’S LONGING FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD(Psalms 84:1-4.) The Psalmist was banished from his capital and from the tabernacle of the Most High by the wicked rebellion of his son Absalom. This exile must have been one of the most painful experiences in the life of the royal bard. When he left the holy city he did not conceal his sorrow, but “went up by the ascent of Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.” A sadly pathetic sight this—the noble king in his old age driven forth by the rebellion of his own son from the city which he had founded or ornamented, the abode, for many years, of all his power, his glory, and his happiness, perhaps never more to return to it. But his great and pious soul was great and pious then as ever. And in his exile his greatest grief arose from the fact that he was sundered from the worship of the tabernacle of God, and his most ardent desire for himself was to return to an enjoyment of its privileges. The exile’s longing for the house of God—I. Arose from his love for the house of God. “How beloved are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!” “Amiable” or lovely does not express the meaning of the word used by the Psalmist; but dear, beloved. The plural, “tabernacles,” is used in reference to the divisions of the sanctuary, each part being regarded by the poet as the abode of God. The tabernacle was dear to David. “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth.” Every godly soul loves the house of God, and delights in His worship. The Psalmist doubtless had excellent reasons for his love to the house of God. And so have we. We love it because— 1. It is the place of holy fellowship. In its sacred engagements the holiest and bravest souls unite. The communion of saints in divine and blessed exercises and experiences—in penitence, prayer, praise, aspiration, adoration—is enjoyed in the sanctuary. 2. It is the place of social prayer and praise. There the glad and grateful heart pours out its joy and thankfulness to Him in hymns of praise consecrated by a thousand precious memories. And sincere, humble, devout praise is a foretaste of heaven. And there the anxious, troubled spirit can cast its burden in prayer upon the heart of the loving Father, or its sin upon the Saviour, and find rest. 3. It is the place of instruction and exhortation. The teachings of the living and abiding Word of God are here set forth. The teachings of a godly and enlightened ministry cannot be too highly estimated. And its warnings and exhortations are often of unspeakable importance and value. 4. It is the place of Divine communion. “There,” said the Lord, “I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat.” To the godly soul the presence of God is the great attraction in the sanctuary. When His presence is blessedly realised, the grand object of worship is attained. But if His presence is not realised, no matter whosoever or whatsoever else may be present, the one essential thing is lacking. “In His presence is fulness of joy.” Adoration, in the consciousness of His presence and approval, is the heaven of the soul. For all these reasons the godly soul loves the house of God. II. Was a longing for conscious fellowship with God. “My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” It was not so much the courts of the Lord’s house that he longed for as the living God Himself. Religious ordinances are lifeless, useless things, mere formalities, if they do not help us consciously to realise the presence of the living God. The soul which is alive and healthful cannot bear the sense of distance from God. He is its life, its health, its inspiration, its joy, its crown, its supreme and essential good; and in His absence it languishes and is cast down. Moreover, the Psalmist addresses God as One in whom he confided and with whom he was accustomed to hold converse—“My King and my God.” Though exiled from His courts he still loves the King. Though far from the tabernacle he still claims God as his portion. The repeated “my” is precious and suggestive. It shows his holy intimacy with, and strong confidence in, and deep affection for, God. God is all in all to the godly soul. III. Was the longing of his entire being. “My soul longeth, … my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” The Psalmist was not conscious of any thought or feeling opposed to this strong desire. His whole being concurred in it. He says that his “flesh” even, which we so frequently find lusting against the spirit, cried out for God. All the desires and aspirations of his nature were for communion with God. The whole man, with every faculty and affection, thirsted for the sacred engagements and Divine communion of the tabernacles of the Lord. The Psalmist seems to have attained that state for which the apostle, ages after, prayed on behalf of the Thessalonians. “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.” Brethren, blessed will it be for us when our whole being is thus athirst for God. In response to such desires God will give fullest and divinest satisfactions. IV. Was a longing of great intensity. “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.” The word translated “longeth” by itself denotes an intense desire, a pining after a thing. “It means literally,” says Perowne, “ ‘hath grown pale,’ as with the intensity of the feeling.” Then there are the other words. “Fainteth” is spent, faileth of strength, is exhausted. “Crieth out” in earnest importance desire. It would be difficult to express in intensity of desire more strongly than it is here expressed. It was, in its intensity, that kind of longing which God never denies, when it seeks for that which is in accordance with His will. In our day the evidence of such ardent desire for the means of grace is conspicuous chiefly by its absence. In religious services to a painful extent the outward show and glitter of ritualistic ornament, or the fine musical performances of professional choirs, or the gifts of some popular preacher, are the things desired rather than the presence and fellowship of God. Oh, for more of the holy longing of David! V. Led him to extol the blessedness of those who were constantly engaged in God’s house. To David the lot of the little birds who had their nests in the vicinity of the tabernacle seemed enviable as compared with his own. They in perfect safety could place their dearest possession, their young, in their nests about the tabernacles; but he was an exile far away from the tabernacle, and exposed to constant and great perils. And as he thought of the priests and levites who ministered in the sanctuary, and who were entirely devoted to its sacred services, and had their dwelling near to it, he said, “Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house: they will be still praising Thee.” So David desired to live all his life in conscious and blessed fellowship with God, to walk with God every day and in all things, and never to be separated from the opportunities of social worship. He esteemed the life of those who ministered in the sanctuary a life of praise. And it is certain that a holy life, a life of communion with God, is a life of praise. Whatever may be its occupations, whatever its circumstances and outward conditions, praise will be its spiritual mood. They who have attained the blessedness of the “Father’s house” above, have reached the fulness of that the foretaste of which David here speaks of. They “dwell” in God’s house. They are made “pillars in the temple of God, and go no more out.” In that high world every place is consecrated by the presence and smile of God. There all service is blessedness; activity is ecstasy; work is worship. .—True social worship is indeed a precious and blessed thing. It is now essentially a spiritual thing, and is independent of any special locality. “From every place below the skies,The grateful song, the fervent prayer,The incense of the heart, may riseTo heaven, and find acceptance there.”Let us seek to live a life of communion with God and praise to Him. Let our life be worship. “My will be swallowed up in Thee;Light in Thy light still may I see,Beholding Thee with open face;Call’d the full power of faith to prove,Let all my hallow’d heart be love,And all my spotless life be praise.”—C. Wesley. (Psalms 84:5-7.) Religions progress is here represented— I. As deriving its support from God. “Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee.” Spiritual life flows from God. He starts the soul in its upward course. All true religious progress may be traced back to Him. All spiritual vitality and strength come to men by reason of their connection with Him. The explanation of this is not difficult. Well-grounded faith is a strengthening thing. “All things are possible to him that believeth.” Columbus with invincible faith is mightier than mutinous crews, conqueror of coward fears, and, despite his frail vessels and opposing winds and waves, he accomplishes what the world had pronounced impossible. In the spiritual life faith brings over the all-sufficiency of God to replenish the exhausted moral powers of our being. God is the only true ground and object of faith. “He that believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” Well-centred affection is a strengthening thing. There are no difficulties which love will not encounter, no labours which it cannot endure, no perils which it cannot brave. Supreme love to God fills the soul with invincible energy. Only as our love is fixed on Him shall we find complete satisfaction and full spiritual power. Well assured hope is a strengthening thing. It has been well said that “Hope is the companion of power, and the mother of success; for whoso hopes strongly has within him the gift of miracles.” While a man retains hope, however adverse his circumstances may be, he may yet conquer. Hope imparts one of the most powerful of inspirations. But in the spiritual life God is the only object or person in whom we can safely place our hope. In every way the strength of the godly man is in God. II. As advancing in conformity with God’s law. Hengstenberg’s rendering and interpretation of the last clause of the fifth verse appears to us to be correct. “In whose hearts are ways. The second condition of salvation is, that a man has ways, made roads, in his heart. By this is designated zealous, moral effort, blamelessness, and righteousness. The heart of man, in its natural condition, appears like a pathless wilderness, full of cliffs and precipices; and repentance is a levelling of the roads. The following passages are parallel: Psalms 1:6, ‘whoever prepares a way, to him will I show the salvation of God;’ Proverbs 16:7; and Isaiah 40:3-4.” Matthew Henry, in applying the words, also uses them in this sense. “If we make God’s promise our strength, we must make God’s Word our rule, and walk by it.” There can be no true religious progress except God’s will is our law of life and conduct. It is in vain that we talk of “higher life” except we are growing in hearty recognition of, and loyal obedience to, that will. The soul that is really progressing utters itself in strains like these: “Make me to understand the way of Thy precepts. I will run the way of Thy commandments, when Thou shalt enlarge my heart. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Thy Word. Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” True religious progress is progress in holiness of heart and life. III. As making unfavourable circumstances conduce to its own ends. “Who passing through the Valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.” “The Valley of Baca” is the valley of tears or of weeping. We are by no means certain that the Psalmist by the phrase referred to any particular locality. And if he did it is impossible now to determine where that valley was. The idea is that, “As the valley of weeping is an image of misery, the fountain is an image of salvation.” By their faith in God and fellowship with Him they transformed the gloomy and inhospitable valley into a valley of refreshment and joy. By the grace of God the godly soul can compel the unfavourable circumstances of his pilgrimage to help him onward in his career. In the desert of affliction the grace of God opens up a fountain of consolation and peace, and so the affliction becomes the occasion of blessing. Tennyson sings of one, “Who breaks his birth’s invidious bar,And grasps the skirts of happy chance,And breasts the blows of circumstance,And grapples with his evil star;”and so forces his way to great eminence and influence. In like manner, by the blessing of God, the good man by resisting temptation acquires moral strength, by means of tribulation he grows patient, by means of suffering he attains unto spiritual purity, and tenderness, and beauty. “We glory in tribulations also; knowing that,” &c. IV. As steadily advancing. “They go from strength to strength.” Progress is a great law of life. “Where there is life there is growth. The law is seen in all creation—in the tiny moss upon the wall and the lordly oak of the forest, in the insect of an hour, and the beast of the field. And the Christian is enjoined to grow in grace, not in wealth, or in power; but in that appropriation of the revealed will of God to the heart that results in satisfying, not some one faculty or passion of the soul, but the whole man.” God calls us to move onward and upward. “Leaving the principles of the doctrines of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.” “Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” “I count not myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,” &c. “Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance,” &c. Let us seek to advance from strength to strength, from strength of patience to strength of hope; from strength of hope to strength of faith; from strength of faith to strength of vision. Let us aim at expressing our inner life in the activities of growth and usefulness. In our career there must be no pause. The goal of yesterday must be the starting point of to-day. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles,” &c. V. As gloriously terminating. “Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.” Those who set forth in the various companies on their way to Jerusalem shall arrive there in safety, and join in the holy festivities. None shall perish on the way. None shall turn back without having attained the object in view. The godly soul moves onward to a glorious end. “The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads;” &c. “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” Our progress leads onward right to the palace and throne and presence of the King. Our pilgrimage ends at home, our “Father’s home.” We have spoken of our progress as gloriously terminating at the heavenly Zion; but it terminates only to begin again under higher and more blessed conditions and circumstances. The progress of the godly soul is a never-ending progress. When millenniums of growth and glory have been realised by the ransomed of the Lord, they aspire to yet higher and diviner things, crying, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” .— 1. Have we entered upon this career of progress? Have we started, and started truly and well, in the religious life? Know we the blessedness of “the man whose strength is in God”? 2. Christian pilgrims, are you advancing? “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin,” &c. THE EXILE’S PRAYER(Psalms 84:8-12.) I. The address which is presented. “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob. Behold, O God our shield.” In this address the Psalmist reminds God of— 1. His sovereign power. “Lord God of hosts.” “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, what doest Thou?” 2. His covenant relation to His people. “God of Jacob.” “I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me, in vain.” He has pledged His faithfulness and mercy to them when they call upon Him. 3. His protecting care of His people. “God our shield.” “Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield.” David could not hide himself at this time in the secret of God’s tabernacle, but he could hide himself in God Himself. II. The object which is sought. “Behold, and look upon the face of Thine anointed.” The “anointed” is David himself, who was anointed, or set apart, to the office of king. He presents no petition except this, that God would look upon him, which is a way of asking Him to grant His favour. David’s great desire was to return to the joys and fellowships of the sanctuary, there his heart was fixed, thither his face was directed; and, having expressed his ardent affection for it, he needed not to specify his desires any further than he does here. “Hear my prayer: look upon the face of Thine anointed.” Show me Thy favour and grant me the desire of my heart. III. The pleas which are urged. “For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather,” &c. (Psalms 84:10-11). The Psalmist urges in these words three pleas why God should restore him to the privileges of the sanctuary— 1. His great affection for the house of God. In his estimation— (1.) A little time there was preferable to a long season elsewhere. “A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand” elsewhere. (2.) The lowest station there was preferable to the highest elsewhere. “I would rather sit at the threshold in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” Would not God hear his prayer, and restore him to the place he loved so well and dearly? 2. The relations which God sustains to His people. (1.) He is a “sun.” From Him His people derive their light, and strength, and joy. (2.) He is a “shield.” From Him His people derive protection in time of peril. As a “shield,” would He not guard His servant from the dangers to which he was at this time exposed? As a “sun,” would He not grant to His servant the light and joy of His presence in His tabernacle? 3. The gifts which God bestows upon His people. (1.) He gives “grace.” In every time of need we may hear His voice saying unto us, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things,” &c. (2.) He gives “glory.” “The glory which Thou gavest Me,” said Christ, “I have given them.” The glory of moral conquest, of spiritual purity, and of unfading hope. In a word, the glory of moral resemblance to Christ. Glory in its dim beginning here, in its splendid fulness hereafter. (3.) He withholds no good. Nothing that will really contribute to our well-being will He withhold from us if we “walk uprightly.” Surely the God who confers such gifts upon His people would grant unto David, His anointed, the desire of his heart, in bringing him back again to the courts and tabernacles of the Lord. IV. The sublime conclusion of the whole. “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.” This blessedness the Psalmist possessed. In the depths of his soul there was a peace which no rebellion in his kingdom, no sin and sorrow in his family, no banishment from the sanctuary, could shake, for it depended upon God alone. If God granted to him the desire of his heart, great would be his delight; but if He should not do so, still was he blessed, for be trusted in God,—God was his portion. .— 1. In the trials of life what is it we feel most? David’s greatest trial was the loss of his religious privileges. How different, alas! is the case of many others! 2. Is our trust reposed in the Lord of hosts? Then, whatever our circumstances may be, we are blessed. THE LORD GOD A SUN AND SHIELD(Psalms 84:11.) We propose to glance at the figures, the facts, and the persons which the text presents to our attention. I. The figures. “The Lord God is a sun and shield.” 1. The sun dispenses light. “God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.” The moon, which is the lesser light here referred to, derives her light from the greater; and consequently the sun may properly be represented as the source of light, so far at least as we are concerned. If this glorious orb were blotted out of existence, everything around us would be involved in obscurity. And what would be the state of the human mind, especially in relation to religious subjects, if it were not for the illuminations of “the Sun of Righteousness”? Alas! all would be gloom and uncertainty. 2. The sun imparts life. During the months of winter, an immense number of creatures either cease to exist, or remain in a state of torpidity. But in the spring of the year, when the orb of day begins to exert an increasing influence, what a remarkable change takes place! Animals and vegetables are alike the subject of a revival; and the whole face of nature is renewed. Equally remarkable, and much more important, are the effects of that Sun by the warmth and energy of whose beams life is imparted to those who were dead in sin. 3. The sun produces fruitfulness. When, during a part of the year, we are favoured with but little of his presence, barrenness and sterility are observable on every hand. But the season of promise returns at the appointed time. The sun gradually rises higher, and continues longer above the horizon. The happy results are immediately perceptible; and it is not long before we are favoured with the appointed weeks of harvest. The heart of man may, with great propriety, be compared to a soil; but, alas! it is naturally hard, and dry, and barren,—so far, at least, as spiritual things are concerned. The good seed of the kingdom may be sown thereon with a liberal hand, but until the Sun of Righteousness shines upon it in all His glory and effulgence, no signs of fruitfulness will gladden the eye. The Psalmist tells us Jehovah “is a shield.” The shield is a piece of defensive armour used by warriors, and attached to the left arm, as a protection against the injuries to which they are exposed from the enemy. We are, therefore, reminded that the people of God are surrounded by foes, with whom it is their duty to contend; and that in the time of conflict, they may look to Him whose cause they espouse for succour and protection. In all ages, Jehovah has been the defence of His people; consequently, none of the weapons formed against them have prospered. II. The facts. “The Lord will give grace and glory,” &c. 1. “The Lord will withhold no good from them that walk uprightly.” It is probable that the reference here is principally to temporal things; the comforts and conveniences of life. They are secured to the believer, so far as is conducive to his good, in the covenant of grace. There may also be a reference to afflictions. He, who knows us better than we know ourselves, may see that they will be good for us; and if so, they will not be withheld. 2. “The Lord will give grace.” Whatever afflictions we have to endure while upon earth, all will be well if this promise be fulfilled in our experience. The grace of God will sanctify both us and our afflictions,—us as vessels fitted for the Master’s use, and them to the advancement of our best interests. It will sustain us in the time of trial, and enable us quietly to submit to the Lord’s will. It will strengthen us in running the race that is set before us. It will give us the victory over every adversary; and at length hold out the crown of righteousness, which fadeth not away. 3. “The Lord will give glory.” This is the consummation of grace, and is reserved for the world to come. If religion afforded its professors no enjoyment whilst on earth, the glories of heaven would prove an ample reward. III. The persons. “Them that walk uprightly.” Those walk uprightly who walk with God. And who are they that walk with God? 1. That man does so, who, in all his engagements, recognises the Divine authority, consults the Divine will, and seeks the Divine blessing. 2. That woman walks with God, who, like Mary, has chosen the good part which can never be taken from her; and delights to sit at the Saviour’s feet, to hear His words,—who, like Martha, is found diligently attending to household duties,—and, at the same time, like Dorcas, is “full of good works and alms-deeds.” 3. That child walks with God, who, like Samuel, is desirous to hear the words of Divine wisdom; and, like Timothy, has acquired a knowledge of those Scriptures which are able to make him “wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.” .— 1. If the Lord God be a sun, let my hearers pray that they may be enlightened, quickened, and qualified to bring forth fruit unto holiness, that the end may be everlasting life. 2. If He be a shield, let His protection be sought in every season of conflict and danger. 3. If He will withhold no temporal good from His people, let them rely on His paternal regards. 4. If He will give grace, let it be expected in every time of need. 5. If He will give glory, let it be prepared for and anticipated. 6. If those only who walk uprightly have a right to expect this blessedness, let unceasing solicitude be manifested that the character may be formed by grace Divine, so that it may be viewed with approbation by Him who will render to every man according to his works.—The Young Minister’s Companion. Superscription.—“To the chief Musician.” See Introduction to Psalms 57. “A Psalm for the sons of Korah. “See Introduction to Psalms 42.“There seems,” says Perowne, “every reason to conclude that this Psalm was written after the return of the exiles from the Babylonish captivity. It opens with an acknowledgment of God’s goodness and mercy in the national restoration, in terms which could hardly apply to any other event. But it passes immediately to earnest entreaty for deliverance from the pressure of existing evils, in language which almost contradicts the previous acknowledgment. First, we hear the grateful confession, ‘Thou hast turned the captivity of Jacob;’ and then we have the prayer, ‘Turn us, O God of our salvation.’ If the third verse contains the joyful announcement, ‘Thou hast withdrawn all Thy wrath,’ &c., the fifth pleads as if no such assurance had been given: ‘Wilt Thou for ever be angry with us?’ &c. The most probable way of explaining this conflict of opposing feelings is by referring the Psalm to the circumstances mentioned by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:8).… The 126th Psalm is conceived in a some-what similar strain.”A (Psalms 85:1-3.) I. Of national deliverance. “Lord, Thou hast been favourable unto Thy land; Thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.” Thus the Psalmist acknowledges the goodness of God in the restoration of His people from the Babylonish captivity. At the very beginning of the Psalm the poet expresses the identity of God’s interest and theirs. “Thy land.” God had chosen this land to be the dwelling-place of His people. He had driven out the heathen from it, and established His worship in it. This intimacy of relation to it is named evidently with a view of obtaining further manifestations of His favour towards it. It is well when we can realise and plead in our prayers the identity of God’s interest and ours. When we are devoted to His work, and seek the accomplishment of His purposes, and aim at His glory, when we live for Him, we may plead with Him in our distresses that His favour shown to us will promote His own cause. The Psalmist traces their deliverance to the favour of God. All their happiness and prosperity flowed to them from His goodness. We may regard their distress as illustrating the troubles into which we are brought by reason of our unfaithfulness to God. Our backslidings of heart have been many, and our consequent spiritual darkness and distress great, yet God in His favour has restored to us the light and help of His countenance. It was a happy and helpful thing for the Jews in their present troubles, that they were so wealthy in recollections of great blessings from God in past times. Such recollections would— 1. Inspire them with hope. 2. Encourage them in prayer. 3. Incite them to effort. II. Of the removal of the Divine anger. “Thou hast taken away all Thy wrath; Thou hast turned Thyself from the fierceness of Thine anger.” The captivity was regarded as a sign of the Divine wrath; and their restoration as a sign that that wrath no longer burned against them. God is angry with His people when they sin against Him. His wrath ever burns against sin. He longs to save sinners from their sin. Sin is the “abominable thing which He hates.” The Psalmist gratefully recollects past seasons in which God had turned away His anger from them. The recollection of those seasons would encourage the Hebrews in pleading with Him to remove His displeasure from them. What He had formerly done He would probably do again. III. Of the bestowal of forgiveness. “Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of Thy people; Thou hast covered all their sin.” Not only had He removed His anger from them, but had forgiven the sin which caused His anger, and restored unto them His favour. The forgiven soul has the assurance that God will not charge his sins against him. The Bible is rich in declarations of the readiness of God to pardon all who penitently seek Him. (See Psalms 130:4; Isaiah 55:7; Jeremiah 33:8; 1 John 1:9.) The expressions used by the Psalmist indicate the completeness of God’s forgiveness. “Thou hast forgiven,” borne away, “the sins of Thy people.” There is doubtless a reference to the scape-goat which was sent out into the wilderness bearing the sins of the people, and never more returned. “Thou hast covered all their sin.” It is all hidden away. It is all completely hidden away. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.” “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” “Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” The recollection of God’s former forgivenesses encouraged the Psalmist to pray for His forgiving mercy at this time. He is unchangeable. What He has done for His penitent people in times past, He will do for them again if they approach Him in penitence. .—We have grateful memories like these of the Psalmist. Let them have their due and proper effect upon us. They should inspire us with— 1. Humility. “He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” What if He had? What, but utter ruin? 2. Gratitude. “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me?” 3. Confidence. “This God is our God for ever and ever: He will be our guide unto death.” AN EARNEST (Psalms 85:4-7.) The prayer presented to God in these verses is for His deliverance of His people from the affliction or distress from which they were suffering at this time. The deliverance which is implored is represented in several aspects; but let us notice— I. That with a view to their salvation the people pray for repentance. “Turn us, O God of our salvation.” This petition indicates a right understanding of the state of the case, and augurs well for the success of their prayer. They had turned themselves to folly and sin, and now they pray that God would turn them from their sin, and grant them true repentance. The first and chief thing for the erring tribes of Israel was that they might be turned from sin unto God. It would have been in vain if they had prayed for the removal of the Divine anger apart from this change in themselves. The beginning of their distresses was in themselves, and in order to their complete restoration there must be a change in themselves. This is true as regards the salvation of the soul. If there is no conversion, no turning of the soul from sin unto God, there is no salvation. The Psalmist, speaking for the people, asks God to turn them. It needs the power of Divine grace to convert a soul. Salvation both in its origin and completion is the work of God. Yet when a soul turns to God in prayer, and prays for repentance, it is a sign that its salvation has already begun. The deliverance which is implored is represented— II. As a cessation of God’s anger. “Cause Thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt Thou be angry with us for ever!” &c. They rightly regarded their distresses as a sign of the Divine anger because of their sins. And they plead with God that He would remove that anger from them. Mark with what force they plead. “Wilt Thou be angry with us for ever?”. Is there no boundary to Thy wrath? Is the flame of Thy fury unquenchable? His anger had continued so long that it almost seemed to them as though it would never cease. “Wilt Thou be angry with us for ever?” It is true that we have sinned against Thee, and merited Thy displeasure; yet we are Thy people, and the sheep of Thy pasture. Thus they appeal to His compassion towards His own, as an argument for the removal of His wrath. “Wilt Thou be angry with us for ever?” God had made Himself known to them as “The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin;” and could He be angry with them for ever? The idea seems opposed to His own revelation of Himself. And, blessed be His name! His anger ceases as soon as any person or any people turn from their evil ways in penitence to Him. “I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man; the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.” III. As a manifestation of His mercy. “Show us Thy mercy, O Lord.” They sought salvation from their troubles or calamities as a favour from the hand of God. They felt that they did not deserve it, could not ask for it on any ground of merit, so they seek it as a mercy from God. Mercy is the disposition whereby God is inclined to succour those who are in misery, and to pardon those who have offended. It is to the mercy of our God that we look for salvation. It is to His mercy that we are indebted for the countless blessings of life. Archbishop Tillotson has well said: “Consider how many evils and miseries that every day we are exposed to, by His preventing mercy are hindered, or, when they were coming upon us, stopped or turned another way. How oft our punishment has He deferred by His forbearing mercy; or, when it was necessary for our chastisement, mitigated and made light! How oft we have been supported in our afflictions by His comforting mercy, and visited with the light of His countenance, in the exigencies of our soul and the gloominess of despair! How oft we have been supplied by His relieving mercy in our wants; and, when there was no hand to succour, and no soul to pity us, His arm has been stretched out to lift us from the mire and clay, and, by a providential train of events, brought about our sustenance and support! And, above all, how daily, how hourly, how minutely we offend against Him; and yet, by the power of His pardoning mercy, we are still alive! For, considering the multitude and heinousness of our provocation, ‘it is of His mercy alone that we are not consumed, and because His compassions fail not. Whoso is wise will ponder these things, and he will understand the loving kindness of the Lord.’ ” IV. As a quickening. “Wilt Thou not revive us again?” Their condition was like that of our world in winter The earth is cold, the winds are bleak, the trees are bare and show no signs of life, the flowers are all withered and gone, the fruits of field and garden are all gathered; death seems to reign on all hands. But how the scene changes with the advent of spring. All things seem to burst into a new life of wondrous wealth and beauty. The people pray that they in like manner may be quickened from their state of desolation into a state of life and prosperity. “Revive us with comforts spoken to us, revive us with deliverances wrought for us.” This prayer for revival is one which we, both as individuals and as churches, need to present frequently to God. The petition implies— 1. The presence of life. Where there is utter death it is folly to talk of revival. 2. The decline of life. The healthfulness and vigour have departed. Life’s pulse beats feebly. 3. The desire for the renewal of the freshness and power of life. Where this desire is strong, decline will soon be superseded by growth, and barrenness be changed to fruitfulness. 4. The conviction that God only can impart such renewal. A true revival cannot be “got up” by any man, or any number of men. “O Lord, revive Thy work.” V. As a means to their joy in God. “That Thy people may rejoice in Thee.” 1. Their revival would be a joy to them. The removal of their distress and the return of prosperity would make glad their hearts. 2. Their joy would be in God. “When God changeth the cheer of His people, their joy should not be in the gift, but in the Giver.” “If God be the fountain of all our mercies, He must be the centre of all our joys.” 3. God willed their joy. Of this they were persuaded, or they would not have pleaded for deliverance on this ground, that it would give them joy. God takes pleasure in the joy of His people. “Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” He is eternally and infinitely blessed, and He delights in the blessedness of His people. Our songs of gladness are more pleasing to His ear than any sighs of sadness can possibly be. (a) “There is always joy in a revival of religion. Nothing is so much fitted to make a people happy; nothing diffuses so much joy (comp. Acts 8:8). (ß) This is particularly joy in God. It is because He comes near; because He manifests His mercy; because He shows His power and His grace.”—BarnesSuch, then, are the aspects in which their salvation is viewed in this prayer to God. .—Our subject addresses itself to individuals and churches in which vitality has declined, and depression exists. 1. Here is encouragement for you. Our God is the “God of our salvation.” His mercy is infinite. His salvation is “unto the uttermost.” He is both able and willing to raise you from your low estate into health and prosperity. 2. Here is example for you. In earnest supplication take your case unto Him. First seek to be made right yourselves, and then to be made happy. First pray, “Turn us, O God of our salvation,” and then, “Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?” And His salvation will not tarry, and His joy will not be withheld. THE REVIVAL OF (Psalms 85:6.) Many Christians have come to have a distaste for the word “revival” when used with reference to religious work. There has been so much exaggeration, so much fanatical excitement, and so much transient profession, that I cannot wonder at the revulsion which many sober-minded Christians feel when they hear the very word “revival.” All “got-up” revivals are bad. You cannot organise a true revival; you cannot treat spiritual influences as fixed quantities. As a matter of fact, there have been extraordinary visitations of Divine influence; there have been seasons when the Holy Ghost has made the earthquake, the fire, the rending wind, and the stormy tempest His ministers, and when men have been shaken with a wholesome fear, not knowing the way, yet feeling the nearness of the Lord. There have been great birthdays in the Church, when prodigals have come back to sonship, when shepherds have returned with recovered flocks, and the dead have risen to immortal life. There have, too, been times when the people have realised with special vividness the personality and life-giving power of the Holy Ghost; when they have had the keys of interpretation wherewith to unlock the boundless treasures of the Divine Word; when prayer was as the speech of love that never wearies; when the Sabbath shed its sacred glory over all the days of the week; when God’s house shone with heavenly lustre, and all life throbbed in joyful harmony with the purposes of God. Cannot such delights be more permanently secured? At the same time, we are not constituted for constant rapture; we have to contend with the deceitfulness of the flesh; we have to fight and suffer upon the earth, &c. Still there is danger that we may be content with low attainments. There is a steady and penetrating glow of piety, there is a fervour of love, there is an animated intelligence, a zealous affection, a godly yearning for personal progress and social evangelisation, which, when found together, make up a life of delight in God, and blessed service for men. To promote this realisation I ask your attention to a few suggestions. I. As individual Christians, and as churches of Jesus Christ, we need to be very clear in our doctrinal foundations. Let us get a distinct idea of the principal points in the Christian faith. Beginning with the doctrine of sin, let us strive after God’s view of it. To Him sin is infinitely hateful; He cannot tolerate it with the least degree of allowance; it troubles His otherwise perfect and happy universe; it despoils human nature; it is the cause of death and the source of hell. To under-estimate the heinousness of sin is to put ourselves out of the line of God’s view; to understand sin is to understand redemption. Sin interprets the cross; sin shows what is meant by God’s love. Have we, as individuals and churches, lost the true notion of sin? Is it no longer infinitely abominable to us? Is it toned down to something almost indistinguishable? We cannot be right in our relation to Jesus Christ until we regard sin with unutterable repugnance. Out of a true knowledge of sin will come a true appreciation of Jesus Christ as the Saviour. I could sum up my creed in a sentence, yet that sentence contains more than all the libraries in the world: I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD! My heart hungers for Him, my sin cries out for His mercy, my sorrow yearns for His coming; and when He does come He speaks just the word that my soul needs; He understands me; He knows me altogether; He can get down into the low, dark pit into which sin has thrown me; He draws me to His cross; He hides my sins in His sacrifice; He shows me how God can be honoured, yet the sinner forgiven; He destroys the devil, and puts within me the Holy Ghost; He so fills me with life that death has no longer any terror with which to affright me. If we lay firmly hold of these two points, viz., the sinfulness of sin and the work of Jesus Christ, we shall come to know what is meant by what I have ventured to call the glow of piety. Only the liberated slave can know the joy of freedom—only the recovered leper can appreciate fully the blessing of health.… Do we know sin in its essential, unchangeable loathsomeness? Do we love Jesus Christ as the only, the Almighty, and the ever-blessed Saviour? Then, out of this should come an intense fervour of piety. We should have strength here. II. We must have a public ministry which it faithful to the spirit and demands of Jesus Christ. All Christian ministers are called to be faithful to Jesus Christ in seeking the salvation of men.… We must not throw off the old words—Repentance, Faith, Salvation—and the things that they signify must be the very life-blood of our ministry. In any genuine revival of interest in Christianity there must be a revived interest in a preached Gospel. The sanctuary will be thronged, and the thronging listeners will be justly impatient of everything that does not bear immediately and intensely upon the salvation of men.… Then must we be made to feel that the doctrines of the Gospel are humbling doctrines; that they smite down our natural pride and self-trustfulness; that they kill before they make alive; that out of our utter impoverishment and nothingness they bring all that is distinctive and enduring in Christian manhood.… I am confirmed in the opinion that we should devote ourselves with increasing earnestness to seeking the salvation of men when I look at the character of our general congregations. We address the public, not a select few; we speak to men whose whole time is engrossed in worldly engagements; we speak to the poor, the unlearned, the sorrowing; we address the young, the careless, the worldly; and to such there is nothing that can be preached that will so instantly touch the heart as the glorious Gospel of the blessed God.… Whilst there will be this full and bold proclamation of evangelical doctrine in the pulpit, there will be a system of teaching proceeding more privately. Some men have a peculiar gift in biblical teaching, and those men should be encouraged to pursue their laborious but most necessary vocation. The preacher and teacher should be fellow-labourers. The preacher should collect men into great companies, arrest their attention by earnest and convincing statements of Christian truth, and then pass them on, so to speak, to the critical and patient teacher. Thus the man of God will become thoroughly furnished; having received deep instruction, he will be able to give a reason for the faith and hope that are in him, and he will be strong to resist the importunities of those who are driven about by every wind of doctrine. III. There is one feature in our public Christian life which I should like to see more fully brought out—I mean the bearing of individual testimony on behalf of Jesus Christ. By no means seek to supplant what is known as the regular ministry, but supplement it; and at all costs destroy the impression that nobody has a good word to say for Christianity except its paid teachers.… Why should not the banker, the great merchant, and the eminent lawyer say publicly what God has done for their souls?—Dr. Parker. Abridged from The City Temple. AN (Psalms 85:8-13.) The Psalmist, as the representative of the people, having reviewed God’s former mercies to them, and urged their prayer for salvation from their present distresses, resolves to listen for the Divine response to their supplication. “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.” He becomes silent, that he may hear the voice of God. His anxiety and fervour of prayer are stilled, and he seeks to attain that state of spiritual attention that shall catch the first whisper of the Divine voice, and of spiritual receptiveness that shall secure the first instalment of the Divine blessing. Having spoken to God, it becomes us to listen for His reply. The Psalmist expected an answer from God, and therefore he waited and listened for it. In this he is at once a rebuke and an example to us. A rebuke, inasmuch as we have so frequently offered our prayer without any real thought of its being answered. We have not waited God’s reply, because we did not expect Him to reply. An example. When we pray let our prayer be real; let us honour God by our confidence, and then, like the Psalmist, we shall expect and listen for His voice in reply to us. The Psalmist is confident that God will grant a favourable answer to their prayer. “He will speak peace unto His people.” Thus, in general, does he speak of the response which he expected from God. God’s reply would be such as would impart to them outward peace in deliverance from their troubles, and inward peace in the communications of His grace. And now the Psalmist, with some particularity, sets forth his anticipations as to God’s answer to their prayers. Consider— I. The blessing anticipated. Several particulars are mentioned by the poet. 1. Deliverance from their distresses. “His salvation is nigh them that fear Him.” His hand was “nigh” to help them; and their deliverance would be effected speedily. Such was the confident anticipation of the distressed people. And surely every tried and oppressed child of God now may feel equally confident that, in answer to prayer, He will speedily appear bringing salvation with Him. 2. Exaltation to honour. “That glory may dwell in our land.” The glory of the Divine presence and worship. God’s presence would be manifested in their salvation; and, being delivered from the evils under which they groaned, they would render to Him a more hearty and more constant worship. The glory of national prosperity. “Our land shall yield her increase.” Husbandry should be diligently prosecuted, and God’s blessing would come down upon the land in sun and shower; and fruitful seasons and abundant harvests would be the result. There should be an increase of worship and of spiritual prosperity, and an increase of work and of material prosperity. And in their spiritual peace and temporal happiness, their glory as the people of God would be manifest, and His glory as the God of His people would be manifest also. 3. Prevalence of moral excellence. “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” “This may be understood,” says Matthew Henry, and we think correctly, “of the reformation of the people and of the government, in the administration of which all those graces should be conspicuous and commanding. The rulers and ruled shall all be merciful and true, righteous and peaceable. When there is no truth or mercy all goes to ruin (Isaiah 59:14-15; Hosea 4:1); but when these meet in the management of all affairs, when these give aim, when these give law, when there is such plenty of truth that it sprouts up like the grass of the earth, and of righteousness that it is showered down like rain from heaven, then things go well. When in every congress mercy and truth meet, in every embrace righteousness and peace kiss, and common honesty is indeed common, then glory dwells in a land, as the sin of reigning dishonesty is a reproach to any people.” In support of this interpretation of these verses we remark— (1.) The absence of these moral qualities had often led to disastrous results in the history of Israel. (2.) The prevalence of these moral qualities would follow the fulfilment of their petition, “Turn us, O God of our salvation.” (3.) The prevalence of these moral qualities is conducive in a great degree to social and commercial prosperity. (4.) The prevalence of these moral qualities is the securest bulwark and the brightest glory of any nation. This was indeed a bright and cheering anticipation of the poet and the people. II. The character of those for whom the blessing is anticipated. Certain marked features in the character of the people who should receive this blessing are indicated. 1. Consecration to God. “His people, His saints.” They were a people called of God, and consecrated to God. They were subject to His will, and sanctified by His grace. 2. Veneration of God. “Them that fear Him.” “Salvation is far from the wicked,” but it is “nigh them that” regard God with sincere and becoming reverence. 3. Obedience to God. “Righteousness shall go before Him, and shall set us in the way of His steps.” The idea of the last clause appears to be that the effect of the coming of the Lord for their salvation would be to dispose men to tread in His footsteps, to be imitators and followers of Him in respect of righteousness. The blessings of salvation are for the obedient. “The new salvation rests throughout upon the foundation of the new obedience.” Hence the warning, “Let them not turn again to folly;” for if they did, their prosperity would vanish, and their distresses would return again. The same is true of the blessings of the Gospel. Our Lord saves His people “from their sins,” not in their sins. We must walk “in the way of His steps,” if we would share His blessedness. .—What is the salvation for which we are looking? Is it deliverance from a hell of material torment, and the enjoyment of a heaven of self-indulgence? Then the ideas of the ancient Jews were more advanced and spiritual than ours. The salvation of a state is not in its great armaments, or its vast wealth; but in the prevalence of “mercy and truth, righteousness and peace.” The salvation of individuals is in their conformity with the will of God, in reverencing Him, in consecration to Him. If these things are realised in us, great will be our blessedness. THE SPEAKER, THE , THE PEACE(Psalms 85:8.) Let us meditate on this verse under the following heads:— I. The listener. “I will hear,” says the writer of this Psalm. He speaks as a listener, as one whose ears are open. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” This is our true attitude into which we come at conversion. God said, “Hear, and your soul shall live;” He “opened our ears to hear as the learned,” i.e., as “one who is under teaching.” So we began to listen; and, in listening, found life. Such is to be our life; a life of listening; not to man, nor self, nor the world, but to God. As creatures, listening is our proper attitude, much more as sinners. Let the willing ear be ours. How much we lose by the closed ear! II. The Speaker. “God the Lord;” God, even Jehovah. Other speakers may win the ear of the multitude, but it is to God the Lord that the saint listens. His voice is powerful. Its tones are penetrating; its words attractive. God speaks as one entitled to be heard, expecting to be heard. He speaks with authority, waiting for our obedience to the heavenly voice. To less than such a speaker we do not feel constrained to listen, but to Him we must. He speaks, we cannot but hear. III. The message. “He will speak peace to His people.” He is the God of peace; “He maketh peace in His high places.” Peace is the substance of the message that has all along been carried to us; peace to him that is afar off, and to him that is nigh; peace in heaven; peace on earth; peace between man and God; the peace of pardon, the peace of reconciliation; the peace that passeth all understanding—peace through the blood of the cross, through Him who is our peace. It might have been wrath, nay, ought to have been wrath; but it is not wrath, only peace; for He is long-suffering and slow to wrath; nay, God is love! IV. The confidence. The Psalmist knows what He is to expect from such a God. Before the peace comes, he knows that it is coming; for he knows the God to whom he is called upon to listen. This is the confidence which he has in Him. He does not listen uncertainly, as not knowing what will come forth. He has heard of this God before—of what He does and speaks—and he opens his ear in happy confidence. He is sure that no wrath will come, only love, only peace. This God is the God of salvation—the God who gave His Son. Shall He not then speak peace? V. The issue. “Let them not return to folly;” or, and “they shall not return to folly.” He does not say, Let them not turn to folly, and then He will speak peace to them; but He will speak peace first, and then they shall not return to folly. This is God’s order; the true and Divine order; the reverse of man’s. It is not first holiness and then peace, but first peace and then holiness. The root of all holiness is peace with God. Till the clouds are rolled away and the sun shines out, we cannot be warmed and enlightened. Till the frost is gone, and the ice dissolved, the river cannot flow on and water the fields. Christ did not say, Go, and sin no more, and I will not condemn thee; but, “Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more.” … The first step to a holy life is being at peace with God.… This great point between us and God once settled, we are free to devote our undivided energies to the work of progress; not till then. A saint, then, is one who has listened to God; who has heard the words of peace from His lips; who has believed them; who has been reconciled; and who knows that he is so. Therefore he seeks to be holy. He hates his former folly. He does not return to it. He does not make his free pardon a reason for returning to it. Brethren, be consistent. Show that the peace you have received is a holy peace.—H. Bonar, D.D. Abridged from Light and Truth. Superscription.—“A Prayer of David.” Although this Psalm is not placed with the great body of David’s Psalms (1–70), there is no sufficient ground for disputing his authorship of it.Occasion.—Barnes says, “The occasion on which it was composed is unknown, but it has been commonly supposed that it was written in the time of the persecution under Saul.” But the opinion of Hengstenberg, that it was written during the dangers to which David was exposed by reason of the rebellion of Absalom, seems to us better supported by the evidence which the Psalm itself affords. Amid the dangers to which he is now exposed, the Psalmist calls to mind for his encouragement a remarkable deliverance which God had formerly granted to him (Psalms 86:13). May it not have been that the former deliverance was from Saul, and his present danger from Absalom! Still we cannot with certainty determine the occasion of its composition.THE OF GOD AN TO SEEK HIM(Psalms 86:1-5.) The “Prayer of David” runs through the whole Psalm, but as the Psalm is too long and suggestive for treatment in one homily, we purpose dividing it by the grounds on which for his encouragement the Psalmist bases his prayer. Let us consider— I. The petitions of the suppliant. The Psalmist prays— 1. For audience. “Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me.” The petition seems to include— (1.) Divine condescension. Being sensible of his unworthiness of the regard of God, he prays Him to “bow down” His ear to his prayer. (2.) Divine attention. “Hear me.” It is not a petition that God would simply hear the prayer of the Psalmist, but that He would hear him favourably, that He would hear and bless him. 2. For protection. “Preserve my soul, … save Thy servant.” David was at this time exposed to danger, his very life was in peril; he prays that God would protect his life, and deliver him from his enemies. If God protect us we are invulnerable. Saul could not harm David, though he sought by every means in his power to do so, because the Lord was his shield. And Absalom and his rebel army were equally powerless against him, because God defended him. All the hosts of hell with their allies upon earth, even when led by their subtle and mighty prince, cannot really harm the child of God who has sought the protection of his Father. 3. For mercy. “Be merciful unto me, O Lord.” Implied in this petition is the conscious unworthiness of the suppliant. David seeks the protection and deliverance of God, not as a right, but as a favour. He presented to God not a claim, but a humble supplication. He addressed himself not to the Divine justice, but to the Divine mercy. “Be gracious unto me, O God.” In all our need it is to the mercy of the Lord we must look. 4. For joy. “Rejoice the soul of Thy servant.” If God should deliver His servant from danger his heart would greatly rejoice. And such were the circumstances of the Psalmist at this time that God only could deliver him from his foes and fill him with gladness. Salvation is a joyous thing. It is the Christian’s privilege to “rejoice in the Lord alway.” II. The pleas of the suppliant. The Psalmist pleads— 1. His necessity. “For I am poor and needy.” Oppression and poverty are the principal meanings of the words used by the Psalmist in this plea. David pleads that he was bowed down by trouble, as he asks God to “bow down” and hear him, and that he was necessitous, as he asks God to help him. Or we may regard his plea in this way, he was “poor,” i.e., without supply, he was “needy,” i.e., full of wants; therefore he must look away from himself, above himself for satisfaction. Man’s necessity does not give him any claim upon God’s bounty. But human misery always moves Divine mercy. And when we humbly and sincerely plead our poverty with God, He will enrich us with the treasures of His grace. “When I am weak, then am I strong.” 2. His consecration. “For I am holy.” Margin: “one whom Thou favourest.” Hengstenberg: “for I am pious.” Calvin: “for I am meek.” Perowne: “one whom Thou lovest.” He was pious, not profane. He was the “servant” of God. Twice he pleads that fact; and as we are sure that he would not plead “for I am holy” in any boastful or self-righteous spirit, we conclude that his consecration to God is one of his pleas. He was the servant of God, and therefore in asking God to save him, he was asking Him to save His own. If we in the strength of grace have consecrated ourselves to God, we may plead that fact with Him in our prayers. He has never forsaken His faithful servants. 3. His confidence. “Thy servant that trusteth in Thee.” He has pledged Himself to save those who put their trust in Him. By trusting Him we really place our salvation in His hands. Can He fail? Is His power inadequate? His workings in nature, in human history, and in the conversion of souls proclaim it as great and wonderful as ever. Is His willingness diminished? “The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.” Our trust in God is a mighty plea in our prayers to Him. 4. His importunity. “I cry unto Thee daily.” Margin: “all the day,”—continually. His prayer was importunate. “Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.” These words show that his prayer was earnest, hearty, sincere. He did not merely lift up his hands unto God, but he lifted up his heart also. Prayers which are characterised like this by heartiness, importunity, and faith, when presented by God’s devoted but needy servants, are certain to result in gracious replies from heaven. III. The encouragement of the suppliant. “For Thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy to all them that call upon Thee.” Here are— 1. Goodness for man as a dependent and needy creature. “Thou, Lord, art good.” In Himself “God is good.” He is perfect in holiness and in grace. He is also “good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” He delights in His works, and in dealing bountifully with His creatures. He, the infinitely and ever blessed God, hath assured us that “it is more blessed to give than to receive;” and He is the infinite Giver. Being and well-being, life and joy, He gives abundantly. Here then is encouragement to seek Him in prayer in every time of need. 2. Mercy for man as a sinful creature. “Ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy.” “Goodness is the disposition to communicate happiness. Mercy is a modification of goodness. Goodness is the genus, mercy the species. The fruits of goodness are enjoyed by holy and happy creatures. The fruits of mercy, by the guilty and miserable. Mercy with relation to an offender is a disposition to forgive. Mercy in reference to a sufferer is a disposition to relieve.” Here then is our encouragement We are sinful and ill-deserving, but He is merciful and pardons. We are wretched, but He is merciful and succours. 3. Mercy in great abundance and dispensed freely. He is “ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon Him.” “With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.” “He delighteth in mercy.” Like Himself His mercy is inexhaustible, infinite. And it is bestowed freely “unto all them that call upon Him.” “Ask, and ye shall receive.” Unless we are prepared to receive the mercy of God as a free gift, we cannot receive it at all. Here then is encouragement to seek God in our times of need. His mercy is unspeakably greater than our sin and misery, and He waits “ready” to bestow it freely “unto all them that call upon Him.” .—In the great goodness and mercy of our God there is encouragement for each and for all of us to seek Him in time of need. We are poor and needy, but the riches of His grace are unsearchable and free. We are sinful and sorrowful, but He is plenteous in mercy and ready to forgive. His love is infinite. In Him let us trust and rejoice. THE OF GOD AN TO SEEK HIM(Psalms 86:6-10.) In that portion of the Psalm which we have already considered the Psalmist encouraged himself by the willingness of God to help him; in this he encourages himself by the ability of God to help him. In that the goodness and mercy of God were the ground of his prayer for deliverance; in this the power and glory of God constitute that ground. Let us consider— I. The supremacy of God. The Psalmist sets forth two aspects of this supremacy. He represents God as supreme— 1. In Himself. “Among the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord. Thou art God alone.” The Psalmist refers to the false deities worshipped by the heathen, and he says that none of them are like Jehovah in power and goodness. In might and majesty, in grace and glory, God is supreme. He only is God. It has been well said by Bishop Wilkins, “If God be an infinitely-perfect Being, it is impossible to imagine two such beings at the same time, because they must have several perfections, or the same. If the former, neither of them can be God, because neither of them has all possible perfections. If they have both equal perfections, neither of them can be absolutely perfect, because it is not so great to have the same equal perfections in common with another, as to be superior to all others.” There can be but one Supreme Being. 2. In His doings. “There are no works like unto Thy works. Thou art great and doest wondrous things.” God’s works in creation are wonderful in the wisdom and power which they manifest. And in His providence there had often been remarkable displays of His skill in making the designs of the enemies of His people promote their interests, and of His power in overthrowing His foes and saving them that trust in Him. All His works praise Him and proclaim His sole supremacy. But the doing of God which most encouraged the Psalmist was His hearing of prayer. “Thou wilt answer me.” It is the great glory of God that He who created the heavens and bringeth out their host by number, also regardeth the faint breathings of penitence and the softest whispers of prayer. He hears and attends to all the prayers that rise to Him. He is “the proper object of worship everywhere alike, and at all times. This is a thought,” says Dr. Wardlaw, “not less pregnant with interest than it is with wonder. When you are desirous to present a petition in person to a fellow-creature, you require to leave your place, and to find your way to the nearer or more distant spot where he is. But whatever request you have to present to God, you need not move from the spot you occupy. Never. Wherever you chance to be He is there. This is true, not of you alone, but of all alike. He listens to the prayers and the praises of His people that are poured into His ear at the same instant, in every place and every language. And, at the same instant, too, He is listening to the songs of the ‘ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands’ which arise to Him around His seraph-circled throne in the heavens; and to the addresses which are offered to Him from all the worlds with which the fields of immensity are replenished. And to all these He bends His ear, with the most perfect discrimination, and at the same time with the most perfect ease, without the slightest approach to anything like difficulty or effort. And there is no mixing up of one thing with another; of any of the particulars of one case with those of another. Each case, in all its details, is as distinctly heard and recorded as if there had been no other to which to attend.” In this we have a marvellous exhibition of the supremacy of God. II. The effects of that supremacy. Two are mentioned— 1. All nations shall worship God. “All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy name.” The nations of the earth are represented as created by God. He “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” All nations have a common origin. God is the Creator-Father of all men. Human brotherhood is a great fact, however man may disregard it. The king and the beggar have a common origin. The oppression of one man by another, or one class of men by another, is a crime in the sight of the common Maker of us all. The nations shall all come and worship God. “All kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him.… All nations shall call Him blessed.” It is thought by some that the prediction of the text was partially fulfilled in the great number of proselytes to the Jewish religion during the reigns of David and Solomon. But its complete fulfilment is certainly yet in the future. The triumphs of Christianity are spreading. A bright future is before our world and race. God is supreme over all, and the time is coming on apace when His supremacy shall be loyally and enthusiastically acknowledged by all nations. 2. The troubled soul shall trust in Him. The supremacy of God encouraged the distressed Psalmist to seek Him. Such will ever be the effect of that supremacy when it is rightly understood. God is supremely good, supremely beneficent, and, while enthroned high over all things, He stoops to listen to the feeblest prayer. He is both able and willing to succour the distressed, and help the needy, and comfort the sorrowful. “His love is as great as His power,And knows neither measure nor end.”There is every encouragement presented to the suppliant soul in drawing near to God. Oh, ye impoverished ones, come and be enriched out of His fulness. Burdened and anxious ones, come and cast yourselves with your weight of cares upon Him who careth for you. Sinful and sorrowing ones, come in faith to God, and He will forgive your sins, and soothe or sanctify all your sorrows. .— 1. Seeing that God is supreme, let us reverence Him, serve Him. “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” 2. Seeing that He is so compassionate to the troubled, let them seek His help and comfort. From the highest throne in glory He will listen to your cry and hasten to your help. “Casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.” “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.” 3. Seeing that there is so sure a prospect of His universal worship, let us rejoice in spirit, and hopefully pray and work for its realisation. “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” “The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever.” THE DAY OF TROUBLE(Psalms 86:7.) We have here— I. A period with which all men are acquainted. “The day of trouble.” Trouble is a common experience amongst men in this world. We are troubled by physical infirmities, pains, and diseases; by perplexities, cares, and losses in business; by the unfaithfulness of professed friends; by the bereavements of death; by spiritual distresses and conflicts. 1. The individual character of trouble. “My trouble.” Our troubles often arise partly from peculiarities in our circumstances and temperament and disposition. The same events very differently affect different persons. The sorrows of no two persons are exactly alike. “The heart knoweth his own bitterness.” “Every man must bear his own burden.” 2. The limited duration of trouble. “The day of my trouble.” Through the mercy of God our troubles are short-lived. There is more of gladness than of gloom in the world. In the case of the great majority of persons suffering is the exception, not the rule of life. Courage, troubled heart, the day of thy trouble will soon be over, and happy months of peace shall be thine. Even if the whole of this earthly life were dark and sad it is but as a day when contrasted with the glad, and bright, and endless ruture. II. A resolve which all men should make. “I will call upon Thee.” The Psalmist did not stoically endure his distresses. He was keenly sensible of their painfulness. Nor did he impiously rebel against God by reason of them. That, not to mention its sinfulness, would only have made the matter worse. But by prayer he took his trouble to God. We should do the same with ours. And we should do so humbly. It may be that our trouble is a consequence of some sin or sins of ours. Sin is the fruitful parent of suffering. Therefore we should call upon God with humble and penitent hearts. We should call upon Him submissively. While our object in seeking Him is to obtain relief from trouble, let us leave it to Him to impart that relief as He may choose. He may relieve us by removing the trouble. He may continue the trouble, but relieve us by imparting more grace to us that we may bear it. “Not my will, but Thine be done.” III. A result which all men may anticipate. “Thou wilt answer me.” The Psalmist was confident that God would hear and answer his prayer. “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” “Thou wilt answer me”— 1. Because Thou hast promised to do so. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee.” “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive,” &c. “Ask, and ye shall receive,” &c. 2. Because Thou hast done so. Jacob prayed, and God answered and blessed him (Genesis 32) Isaiah and Hezekiah prayed, and the Lord answered and cut off 185,000 Assyrians in one night (1 Kings 19; 1 Chronicles 29) “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly,” &c. (James 5:17-18). The early Christians prayed instantly and earnestly, and the Lord answered, and by an angel delivered Peter out of prison (Acts 12 et al). What He has done, He will do again. 3. Because of what Thou art. Thou art omniscient, and therefore knowest our need; omnipotent, and therefore canst help us; “good, and plenteous in mercy,” and therefore wilt take pleasure in relieving us, &c. Trembling and troubled hearts seek the Lord in believing prayer; and He will calm and cheer, soothe and strengthen you. THE FORMER MERCIES OF GOD AN TO SEEK HIM(Psalms 86:11-17.) In this division of the Psalm we have— I. A grateful recollection of former mercies. “Great is Thy mercy toward me; and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.” The word translated “hell” is “sheol,” in the Greek “Hades.” “Thou hast delivered my soul,” or life, “out of deep sheol,” is a poetical way of saying that God had delivered the Psalmist out of extreme dangers or deep distresses. The allusion is very probably to the repeated and remarkable deliverances vouchsafed to David in the time when Saul persecuted him and sought his life. During that persecution there were times when David despaired of his life, feeling that it was vain to hope to escape from the cunning and strength that were put forth against him. Yet God had graciously and marvellously preserved him safely. He regarded this deliverance as a Divine “mercy.” He knew that he had no claim upon the protection of God. He felt that he had not deserved the great favours which God had bestowed upon him. The Christian may use these words in a spiritual sense. “Great is Thy mercy toward me; and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.” When God in mercy saves a soul He saves it from sin, death, and hell. This recollection of past mercy was an encouragement to the Psalmist in his present distress. It would keep before his mind— 1. God’s ability to deliver him. He had saved him in former times, therefore He, the unchangeable One, could save him now. 2. God’s willingness to save him. “His love in time pastForbids me to think,” &c.Memories like this of the Psalmist’s are amongst the most helpful and precious of all our possessions. II. An earnest prayer for deliverance from present danger. The great object of the prayer was that the Psalmist might be delivered from the enemies that were aiming at his life. “O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul, and have not set Thee before them.… Save the son of Thine handmaid.” The foes from whom he sought deliverance were “proud.” They were men of haughty spirit and daring ambition, who would despise the welfare or the right of others if they stood in the way of the accomplishment of their projects. They were “violent. “They wrought out their plans by force. They were fierce and cruel, caring not what violence they used in accomplishing their ambitious designs. They were united. Hengstenberg translates—“The band of the violent.” And Barnes says—“The word assembly here means merely that they were banded together; what was done was the result of a conspiracy or combination.” They were irreligious. They had not set God before them. They did not fear Him, or respect His law. His threatenings they despised; His presence and observation they disregarded. What evils might not be expected from enemies such as these? From such enemies David prays for deliverance. “Save the son of Thine handmaid.” In his prayer be sets forth the desired deliverance— 1. As a mercy. “O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me.” He asks that God would favourably regard him, pity him, and relieve him. 2. As a communication of Divine power. “Give Thy strength unto Thy servant.” He regarded his case as requiring nothing less than the strength of God to meet it. And he asks that he may be enabled to act as if he were nerved with the very power of God. 3. As found in obedience to the Divine will. “Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth; unite my heart to fear Thy name.” The Psalmist felt that if deliverance were to come to him, he must be found in the way of the Divine precepts, walking with God, and serving Him with undivided heart. It cannot be too earnestly insisted upon, that, if we would be saved, we must be found walking in the way which God prescribes for us. “Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life.” Nor can we insist too earnestly upon the necessity of whole-heartedness in the service of God. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” In the Christian life and work we need fixedness of purpose and concentration of effort if we would succeed. “Unite my heart to fear Thy name.” “This one thing I do,” &c. 4. As calculated to produce a favourable impression. To the Psalmist himself his deliverance would be a “token for good,” a clear and unmistakable sign of the favour of God. To the enemies of the Psalmist his deliverance would be a rebuke. By it their purposes would be defeated, their schemes frustrated, and themselves humbled and shamed. Thus David prays to God for deliverance, and encourages himself in so doing, by thinking of the goodness and faithfulness of God. Having mentioned the haughtiness and violence, the unity and irreligiousness of his foes, he says, “But Thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.” The Psalmist felt that he had nothing but evil to expect from his enemies. And from so gracious a God, he, though unworthy, could expect nothing but good. (We have already looked at “The goodness of God as an encouragement to seek Him”—Psalms 86:1-5.) III. A devout resolution to serve God. The Psalmist resolves to serve God— 1. By obedience. “I will walk in Thy truth;” i.e., I will conform my life to Thy will. The truth of God should not only be held by us as sentiment, or doctrine, or fact; but should also be practised by us. We should translate our creed into our conduct. We should seek not only to hold the truth, but also to live the truth; not only to know the will of God, but also to do His will. The “doer of the work shall be blessed in his doing.” 2. By worship. “I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify Thy name for evermore.” The poet resolves to worship God heartily. “With all my heart.” When God united his heart he would pour it all out in worship to Him. His undivided affection and adoration he would give to God. Such hearty worship is acceptable unto God. He would worship God eternally—“for evermore.” While he had any being he would praise God. In time and through eternity he would glorify Him. .— 1. Learn the value of sacred memories. How greatly David was encouraged by his recollections of past mercies! Such memories should be monitors, reminding us of our weakness, &c. Such memories should be inspirers, telling us of Divine strength, goodness, &c. He who does not use wisely the memories of the past is not living as he ought in the present, and is ill-furnished for the changes and trials of the future. 2. The obligations imposed by Divine mercies. Goodness calls for gratitude. New favours demand new songs. Our obligations to God are ever increasing. “I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify Thy name for evermore.” THE DIVINE WAY FOR MAN(Psalms 86:11.) I. The Divine way for man indicated by God. “Teach me Thy way, O Lord.” 1. There is a Divine way in which man should walk. “Thy way.” The way prescribed by Him in His holy Word. The way of obedience to His precepts. The way which our Lord Jesus Christ trod. 2. God must indicate that way to man. “Teach me.” “The original meaning of the Hebrew word is to point out, or mark the way.” The way is clearly revealed in the sacred Scriptures; but man’s moral perceptions are not clear, his moral judgment is warped by sin; hence his need of the direction of God. He must indicate to man the true way of human life. II. The Divine way for man trod by man. “I will walk in Thy truth.” It is the way of Divine truth which God points out, and which the Psalmist resolves to walk in. To walk in God’s truth implies— 1. Harmony with the truth. “To walk in the truth of God signifies to be always mindful of it.” “Walking, in the Scripture, takes in the whole of our conversation or conduct.” The whole life in accord with the Divine mind and will. 2. Progress in the truth. The Psalmist resolves to walk, not to stand, in God’s truth. Walking implies advancement. The godly soul “follows on to know the Lord.” We must advance in two things: in knowledge of the truth, and in practice of the truth: III. The need of integrity of heart to tread the Divine way for man. “Unite my heart to fear Thy name.” We use the word integrity in its literal meaning. 1. There is a great tendency in human nature to division of heart. There are many rival claimants for our affections; and the heart itself has lost its true centre. 2. Integrity of heart is essential to enable us to tread the Divine way. “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Unless we are whole-hearted we shall speedily wander from the way, or faint by the way. God demands our undivided affection and our complete devotion. Only by hearty and concentrated effort can we secure the prize. “One thing I do, forgetting,” &c. 3. God alone can impart to us integrity of heart in the Divine way. The bias of the unrenewed heart is averse from Divine things. None but God can harmonise our powers and affections in His service. He will thus unite the hearts of all who sincerely seek Him. “Let earth no more my heart divide;With Christ may I be crucified,To Thee with my whole soul aspire;Dead to the world and all its toys,Its idle pomp and fading joys,Be Thou alone my one desire.”—C. Wesley. Superscription.—“A Psalm of Song for the sons of Korah.” It so far combines the properties of a religious Psalm and a patriotic song that either of the names may with propriety be applied to it. “For the sons of Korah,” see Introduction to Psalms 42. The Psalm was either composed by them, or given to them to sing in the Temple service.Occasion.—Hengstenberg argues very forcibly, if not quite conclusively, that the occasion of its composition was the joyful events under Hesekiah,—the destruction by the angel of the Lord of one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians of the army of Sennacherib, which was before Jerusalem, and the consequent deliverance of Jerusalem from the siege and capture threatened by Sennacherib (2 Kings 19; 2 Chronicles 32:1-28).THE GLORY OF THE CHURCH OF GODIn this brief and joyous Psalm, the poet celebrates the praise of the Church of the Most High. In so doing, he shows us some of the things in which her glory consisted. The Church of God is— I. Glorious in her sanctity. “His foundation is in the holy mountains.” The sanctity of Mount Zion consisted in its being chosen by God as the abode of His Church; and the “mountains” (plural) are said to be “holy” because Zion is part of a mountain range. Zion was holy as being the dwelling-place of God. The Church of God upon earth is glorious in so far as she is holy, and she is holy in so far as God dwells in her. “A glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish.” God hath chosen the members of His Church “that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” “Holiness is inward glory. Glory is conspicuous holiness.” The Church is called to be separate from the world. Its members are called to be saints. Christ our great exemplar is perfectly holy. And His redemption is from sin to holiness. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” “Being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” II. Glorious in her security. “His foundation is in the holy mountains.… The Highest Himself shall establish her.” Jerusalem was “a mountain city, … enthroned as compared with Jericho or Damascus, Gaza or Tyre, on a mountain fastness. In this respect, it concentrated in itself the character of the whole country of which it was to be the capital,—the ‘mountain throne,’ the ‘mountain sanctuary’ of God. ‘They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which may not be removed, but standeth fast for ever.’ ‘God is in the midst of her, therefore shall she not be removed.’ It was emphatically the lair of the lion of Judah, of ‘Ariel,’ the Lion of God. ‘In Judah is God known; His name is great in Israel. In Salem is His leafy covert, and His rocky den in Zion.’ … ‘Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of the robbers.’ And this wild and fastness-like character of Jerusalem was concentrated yet again in the fortress, the ‘stronghold’ of Zion. That point, the highest in the city, the height which most readily catches the eye from every quarter, is emphatically the ‘hill fort,’ the ‘rocky hold’ of Jerusalem—the refuge where first the Jebusite and then the Lion of God stood at bay against the hunters.”—Stanley. The foundations of the holy city were high and firm, and on nearly every side it was guarded by the ancient mountains. So the Church of God is secure. The city of Zion has gone. The Temple at Jerusalem is no more; but the Church of God, which the Highest has established, remains and prospers. The Church is founded upon the rock of Divine truth, and all the raging storms of earth and hell cannot shake her. The Church is guarded by God Himself, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Can infinite wisdom be baffled? Can Almightiness be overcome? Can the word of the Unchangeable fail? Then the Church of God is inviolably secure. III. Glorious in being beloved by God. “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” When Sennacherib and his host were encamped before the city, the Lord suffered them not to pass the gates though “all the rest of the country was subject to their sway,” and while the gates remained safe, the whole city was safe. God loved Jacob much, but He loved Zion more. He loves the worship of His people in their homes much, but He loves their worship in His sanctuary more. “A father is glad to see any one of his children, and makes him welcome when he visits him, but much more when they come together; the greatest feast is when they all meet at his house. The public praises of the Church are the emblem of heaven itself, where all the angels make but one concert.” This love of God for His Church should lead every believer— 1. To seek union with the Church. 2. To esteem the worship of the Church a solemn duty and precious privilege. 3. To unite in that worship with deep humility, profound reverence, and great delight. He who “loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” is present in His Church, and is well pleased to accept the spiritual worship of sincere worshippers. IV. Glorious in her exalted reputation. “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.” Many glorious things were spoken of Mount Zion as to its situation. “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion,” &c. As being inhabited by God. “God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” “The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” As to the diffusion of religion from it (Isaiah 2:3). The city and temple passed away, but true religion has spread widely, and is still doing so. The Church of God has an exalted reputation— 1. As possessing the highest intelligence. The revealed mind and will of God on the most important of all questions, as contained in the Sacred Writings, is given into her keeping. “We have the mind of Christ.” 2. As animated by the Divinest spirit. The true Church of God is composed only of those who “have the spirit of Christ.” He came “not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give His life a ransom.” The spirit of self-surrendering love actuates every member of the Church of God. 3. As engaged in the most useful and glorious work. Its members, in their measure, go forth to seek and to save the lost. They labour to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus,” to abolish sin and suffering, to establish holiness and joy, and to make the moral wastes break forth into beauty and fragrance and fruitfulness. V. Glorious in her increase. This increase is— 1. Variously composed. “I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this was born there.” Some regard these as the words of God Himself, and translate, “I announce Rahab and Babylon as those that know Me,” &c. But with either rendering the idea is, that converts to the Church of God would be added from those nations. Hengstenberg expresses what we regard as the true idea: “At the time when these hopes were expressed, the number of the members of the Church of God had been very much melted down. The ten tribes had already been led away into captivity, and Judah remained alone in the land. In these circumstances, the longing after the fulfilment of the old promises of a posterity to Abraham as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, must have been awakened with peculiar power, and must have seised with especial ardour upon everything, such as the above-mentioned events in the time of Hezekiah, which furnished a foundation on which such a hope could rest, and brought into view a compensation for the loss of Israel in the coming in of the heathen.” These foreign nations are here set forth as actually incorporated by a new birth into the Church of God. Even the worst enemies of the Jews, Egypt and Babylon, are regarded as citizens of Zion. God Himself acknowledges and registers them as such. The grand fulfilment of this splendid hope is found in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Many shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” They are coming from all nations into His kingdom, and they shall continue to come until all the nations of the earth loyally submit to Him. 2. Distinguished in character. “This and that man was born in her.” The word translated man is ΰִ ?ιωׁ ?=ἀνήρ=vir, a man of eminence. Men of distinguished ability and excellence shall be born in the Church. The most illustrious names in the annals of the world are those of men who have been members of the spiritual Zion. The Church of God has been, and still is, the abode of the men most renowned for knowledge and wisdom, for patience and courage, for tenderness and truth, for piety and usefulness, for independence and reverence. 3. Registered by God. “The Lord shall count when He writeth up the people, that this man was born there.” In the great census the Lord will clearly distinguish those who were born in Zion. The Divine registration is infallible. There are no mistakes in it. None but the true citizens of Zion will be found “written in the Lamb’s book of life.” And the name of no true citizen will be omitted. VI. Glorious in the joy which her supplies produce. “As well the singers as the players on instruments: all my springs are in thee.” This verse is generally acknowledged to be a very difficult one. Various interpretations of it have been propounded. The idea seems to us to be that the citizens of Zion rejoice with music and song in the fountains of refreshment and blessing which are found in Zion. The streams which make glad the city of God are found there. How abundant and rich and free are the provisions which God has given to us in His Church! We have there the helpful communion of saints, the dispensation of the treasures of the truth of God by the Christian ministry, the exalting and sanctifying and blessed exercise of worship, and the participation in the Divine sacraments. In the work and worship of the Church of God “with joy we draw water out of the wells of salvation.” .— 1. Are we born into the Church of God? Are we citizens of the spiritual Zion? Are our names in the heavenly register? Registration in the records of the Church on earth will avail us nothing, unless our names “are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” 2. If we are citizens of Zion, let us rejoice in the honour and privilege; for, at such, we are members of the most glorious society. PUBLIC WORSHIP MORE TO GOD THAN PRIVATE (Psalms 87:1-2.) Man has the capacity to worship God, and as God reveals Himself man is under obligation to worship Him. To be acceptable to God, this worship must be the tribute of free and sincere affection. Wherever such an offering is made, whether in the secret chamber, at the family altar, or in the public sanctuary, it is “a spiritual sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.” It also sends back into the heart of the worshipper that joy and peace which are unspeakable and full of glory. But public worship is more lovely in the sight of God than private worship. I. Adduce some facts in the Divine administration indicative of God’s-higher estimate of public worship. 1. The facts of the Divine institution of public worship. The Sabbath is favourable for all religious worship. But, when God gave special ordinances to His ancient people, conspicuous amongst them all was this solemn institution of public worship. Three periods in the year were assigned as seasons of holy convocation, &c. In addition to these more conspicuous solemnities, there were the public services for the new moons, the year of rest, and the year of jubilee. Moreover, each day at the Temple was the morning and evening sacrifice offered, &c.… In the fact that God thus instituted public worship, we read His higher appreciation of it. 2. The fact that on special occasions public homage to God has been specially demanded, indicates His high pleasure in it. Many instances occur in the history of God’s dealings with His people when some special interposition was followed by as special a requisition for the public acknowledgment of His supremacy and authority as their Lord and Sovereign.… On occasions like these the elders were commanded to “proclaim a fast, to call a solemn assembly,” &c. So also when there had been a special deliverance from pestilence, or famine, or, &c.; or when there had been remarkable providential bounties, the whole nation was called to public thanksgiving, &c. 3. The fact that the ordinance of public worship is perpetuated under the Christian dispensation. The example of inspired apostles and primitive saints is left on record, in relation to their frequent “coming together in one place” and “with one accord;” and the solemn injunction given as applicable to all ages “not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together,” &c. These facts abundantly indicate God’s higher regard for it. II. State some reasons why, in the nature of the case, God should prefer public to private worship. 1. Public worship is attended with greater sacrifices. That piety is best which will make the greatest sacrifices. That faith or love is the strongest which will bear the greatest strain. In pro portion as the sacrifice of public exceeds that of private worship is the service of the former more acceptable to God than the latter. It is a higher expression of your piety. It is a brighter test of your faith and love. 2. It exerts a more powerful and extensive moral influence. The influence of regular secret prayer upon the heart and life of a Christian is very great. So also is the influence of morning and evening family worship. But, in the public courts of the Lord, there are many influences flowing in upon the soul, and many emotions are there awakened, which can never spring out of the devotions of the closet or the family. The sanctuary is emphatically “the house of God and the gate of heaven.” The Christian’s graces kindle anew in Christian communion, as the coals glow with increasing light and heat when brought into contact. 3. It stands connected with the most signal displays of the power of Divine truth. Nowhere upon earth has this two-fold work of the Spirit, in comforting the saint and convincing the sinner, been so signally effected as in connection with the solemnities of public worship. It is in the house of God, when the quick and searching words of Divine truth have been applied with wise discrimination, and urged upon the conscience with faithful and affectionate importunity, that the sinner has been the most thoroughly arrested in his course, and made the most to feel himself alone with his God, and most vividly to anticipate the coming scenes of the judgment and the awful issues of the final sentence. Yes, and here also the voice of mercy has fallen upon the ear of penitential sorrow, with the most melting, soothing tenderness, and filled the contrite bosom with new joys and peace, unknown in any other place but heaven. 4. It is the grand instrumentality for perpetuating and extending the Church. The light of this day of Christian activity and benevolence would go out in darkness, ere our generation had passed, were the sanctuary to be deserted, and all manifestations of devotion to be shut up within the family and the closet. How direct is the tendency to all that is good in the ordinances of public worship! Keep up this agency in its purity and strength, and civil and social and religious blessings abound; but, as you abolish this agency, religion droops and virtue fails, the dark passions of the depraved heart rage unchecked till the judgments of heaven cut short the rebellion and impiety in hopeless desolation. 5. It is most like heaven. The worship of heaven is pure and perfect, and also united and public, devotion. The place on earth the most like to heaven, is the house of God on the Christian Sabbath, filled with sincere and humble worshippers. Nowhere shall you come so near heaven in all its glory as when you enter the sacred courts of the Lord, and mingle your prayers and praises with His children, while He bows His ear to hearken. .— 1. All the arrangements for public worship should be amply and cheerfully provided. 2. A regular attendance upon public worship is demanded. 3. Yield to the influence and instructions here imparted.—Rev. L. P. Hickok, D.D. Abridged from “The Preachers’ Treasury.” THINGS SPOKEN OF THE CHURCH(Psalms 87:3.) Here we have an expressive testimony in favour of the Church. Let us illustrate and improve the subject. I. Let us illustrate it. What glorious things are spoken of her? She is commended— 1. As having Jehovah Himself for her founder. She became a city through His love, mercy, wisdom, and grace. 2. As having the ark of His presence dwelling in her. To the saints He vouchsafes most delightful displays of His excellency and brightness; most captivating views of His glory. 3. As having the solemnities of His worship performed there. In this city, God is worshipped in spirit and in truth; worshipped in the beauty of holiness. 4. As having His laws to govern her. The laws of God are holy, just, and good; and all are found in the written revelation He has given us. 5. As having constant supplies from Him. The community is a great one; but they are richly clothed, well fed, and kindly nourished. 6. As having His immediate and constant protection. She is surrounded on every side by Him; and, guarding her night and day, “the gates of hell shall not prevail against her.” II. Let us improve it. We may learn— 1. In what light we ought to regard the Church. On account of the poverty of her members, and the fewness of their number, her glory is scarcely at all seen, but, notwithstanding her visible aspect, she is yet most beautiful, most glorious (Psalms 50:2; Isaiah 60:18). 2. What reason for thankfulness we have if we are enrolled her citizens. In comparison of this all else should be esteemed by us as “dung and dross.” 3. How much we should exert ourselves to advance her interests. In reference to her, a glorious period is predicted (Isaiah 60:1-14); and this we should long for and help forward by all means within our power to adopt (Isaiah 62:1; Isaiah 62:6-7).—W. Sleigh. (Psalms 87:6.) From these words we may derive some instructive and useful remarks. Let us attend to the following— I. It is highly important to every man to be regenerated. This will appear by considering the language of our Lord respecting it (John 3:5-7) the degeneracy of our nature (Ephesians 2:1); the nature and design of the Gospel dispensation; the relation of the present to another world; the capacity of the soul for enjoyment or suffering; and the unsuitableness of the character of an unregenerate person for future happiness (Luke 16:24-25). II. The present is the only state in which this momentous change can be accomplished. Death makes no change of a moral kind in man;—his probation terminates on his leaving the present world (2 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 22:11), and all beyond is awarded according to character (Matthew 16:27; Revelation 22:12). III. Regeneration is not a fancy or dream, but a reality. Its existence is evinced in the phraseology by which it is described (1 John 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:17); in the accounts given of the first Christians of their having actually undergone a spiritual birth (Romans 6:11-13; Ephesians 2:4-6); and in the present experience of all believers, who are themselves living witnesses to the truth of this doctrine (2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:1). IV. The Holy Spirit is the agent in the regeneration of men. Our own state and character before the change takes place, the images used to describe it, and the positive declarations of Scripture if duly considered will convince us of this (John 1:12; John 3:4; Ephesians 2:8-10; 1 John 3:9). V. Though the Spirit can do this immediately, yet He generally does it in the use of the means. Those means are chiefly His written Word (Psalms 119:93; James 1:18; the ministry of the Gospel (2 Corinthians 5:18-20; 1 Thessalonians 1:5); and prayer (Isaiah 45:19; Ezekiel 36:37). VI. It is not every one that thinks he is regenerated that is really so. We are not spiritually born merely because we have been baptized, nor because we have correct views of religion, nor because we observe certain rites, nor yet because our lives are reformed. Regeneration is widely different from these things, and those who rest satisfied with these are mistaking the shadow for the substance. VII. Zion, or the Church, is honoured as the birthplace of the saints. This is that to which our attention is called in the words of our text. It is because of this, amongst the many things spoken of her, that she stands so high in the estimation of God and man (Psalms 132:13-14; Psalms 137:5-6). VIII. The work of regeneration is made apparent by its effects and evidences. Such are—deliverance from sin (1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:18); victory over the world (Romans 12:2; 1 John 5:4-5); spirituality of mind (John 3:6; Romans 8:5; Romans 8:14); love to the saints (1 John 4:7); submission to Christ (John 6:45; 1 John 5:1); true obedience (1 John 2:29); and hope (1 Peter 1:3; 1 John 3:2-3). And now, am I myself the subject of this change? Have I already experienced it? Am I born of God? Am I decidedly a new creature? If my best interests be deemed worthy of my attention, these questions cannot be improper; nor can I too seriously apply them to myself.—W. Sleigh. THE FOUNT OF (Psalms 87:7.) “All my springs are in Thee.” Consider— I. What is meant by the pronoun “Thee.” The Psalmist meant Zion. All his springs were in Zion. From the time of Constantine to the present the name Zion has been applied to the western hill on which the city of Jerusalem stands. But anciently, and down to the time of the destruction of the city by Titus, the name Zion was applied exclusively to the eastern hill on which the Temple stood. So it was in Zion as being the place on which the Temple stood that the Psalmist found his springs. In this light, the significance of the Psalm is at once manifest. To the devout Jew Zion was the abode of joy and blessing, the place of special Divine manifestation, and of special communion with God, who is represented as dwelling there (Psalms 81:1; Psalms 132:13-14). In this Christian age, there is not one sacred place, for all places are sacred. Not one local mercy-seat, for Christ is the universal mercy-seat,—the meeting-place between God and man. The Jew found all his springs in the Temple, because by means of its ordinances he realised the presence and obtained the blessing of God. To us, “Christ is the true temple; all our springs are in Him, and from Him all our streams flow.” But Christ is Himself the gift of God to us. So God is the primal fount of blessing. And through Christ we rise to God, commune with God, &c. So all our springs are in GOD. We trace all our blessings to the heavenly Father. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” &c. II. The number and variety of the springs from which we are drawing. How numerous are they! The sun, the atmosphere, the earth, &c.; society, books, &c.; many spiritual ministries, the communion of saints, religious worship, the comfort, and guidance and sanctification of the Spirit, the example and sympathy and sacrifice of the Saviour, and the great love of our Father, which is the fountain from which all other blessings flow. How various also are they! Varied to suit the many needs of our complex nature in all our various circumstances and moods. When the heart overruns with joy, the joyousness of the ever-blessed God is adapted to our need, and so we delight to approach Him. When the heart is crushed with grief, the tenderness and compassion of Him who pitieth as a father and comforteth as a mother are the balm that heals us. The number and variety of our needs are evidence of the greatness of our nature. Only great natures have great requirements. God has made us for Himself, and nothing less than Himself can satisfy the cravings of our soul. III. The blessedness of having all our springs in God. “All my springs are in Thee;” then, they are all-sufficient. They will meet every variety of need. For the perplexed student, conscious of ignorance, and crying for light, there is an inexhaustible spring of knowledge and guidance. For the worn and wearied sufferer, sighing for rest and comfort, there are springs of patience and solace, and even joy. For the Christian, conscious of weakness and imperfection, there are springs of power and inspiration and hope. For the penitent sinner, sorrowing over a dark past, mourning his sin, there are springs of pardon and peace and purity. These springs are inexhaustible. They are as full and as fresh now as ever they were. Exhaust the solar fires, exhaust the ocean, &c. But you cannot exhaust the Infinite. Our springs are all in God, so they cannot fail; in God, then, they will meet all our thirst for evermore. Our springs being in God, we may draw from them liberally and joyfully because God is infinitely generous. “He giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.” His generosity is as great as His resources: both are infinite as Himself. He delights in imparting joy and blessing to man. I rejoice that all my springs are in God. Let us learn to practise more fully than hitherto these two things— 1. Adoring gratitude to God. 2. Joyous trust in God. Come what may, our resources cannot fail. O God, the fount of blessing,Our springs are all in Thee:And though life’s cares are pressing,Weakness our soul possessing,Our prayers to Thee addressing,And looking for Thy blessing,We find our springs in Thee.The Preacher’s Complete HomileticC THE BOOK OFPsalmsVOLUME II Psalms 88-109By the REV. WILLIAM JONES, D.D. Author of Commentaries on Numbers and EzraPsalms 110-120By the REV. J. W. BURN Psalms 121-130By the REV. GEORGE BARLOW Author of the Commentaries on Kings, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and PhilemonPsalms 131-150By the REV. WILLIAM JONES, D.D. New YorkFUNK &COMPANY LONDON AND TORONTO 1892 THE ’ N THE BOOKS OF THE AND NOTES, INDEXES, ETC., BY VARIOUS AUTHORS THE PSALMS Superscription.—“A Song or Psalm,” i.e., combining the properties of both a Psalm and a song. “For the sons of Korah,” see Introduction to Psalms 42. “The expression, ‘To the Chief Musician,’ amounts to a notice that we have before us a proper Church song.” “Upon Mahalath Leannoth.” On “Mahalath,” see Introduction to Psalms 53. “ ‘Leannoth’ is variously rendered, according as it is derived from ςָ ?πָ ?δ, to suffer, be afflicted, or from ςָ ?πָ ?δ, to chant, sing. Gesenius, De Wette, Dr. Davies, and others take the latter view; while Mudge, Hengstenberg, Alexander, and others take the former. Mudge translates, to create dejection; Alexander renders, mahalath leannoth, concerning afflictive sickness; Hengstenberg reads, upon the distress of oppression. The Septuagint (ἀποκριθήναι) and the Vulgate (respondendum) indicate a responsive song, and Houbigant translates the words in question, for the choirs that they may answer. Many etymologists consider the primary idea of ςָ ?πָ ?δ, to sing, that of answering. The tone of the Psalm in question, however, being decidedly that of sadness and dejection, it appears more probable that leannoth denotes the strictly elegiac character of the performance, and the whole title may read therefore, ‘A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief musician upon the flutes (or the hollow instruments) to afflict (or cause dejection) a didactic Psalm of Heman, the Ezrahite.’ ”—(F. G. Hibbard.) “Maschil,” an instruction, a didactic Psalm. “Of Heman the Ezrahite.” It is generally held that tins Heman is the son of Joel, and grandson of Samuel the prophet, a Kohathite, one of the famous musicians of the time of David, who is several times spoken of in connection with Asaph and Ethan or Jeduthun, 1 Chronicles 6:33; 1 Chronicles 15:17-19; 1 Chronicles 25:1; 1 Chronicles 25:3. “Ethan is the same as Jeduthun,” says Hengstenberg. But Lord A. C. Hervey in Smith’s Diet, of the Bible says, “Whether or no this Heman (i.e., the above-mentioned) is the person to whom the 88th Psalm is ascribed, is doubtful. The chief reason for supposing him to be the same is, that as other Psalms are ascribed to Asaph and Jeduthun, so it is likely that this one should be to Heman the singer. But on the other hand he is there called ‘the Ezrahite;’ and the 89th Psalm is ascribed to ‘Ethan the Ezrahite.’ But since Heman and Ethan are described in 1 Chronicles 2:6, as ‘sons of Zerah,’ it is in the highest degree probable that Ezrahite means ‘of the family of Zerah,’ and consequently that Heman of the 88th Psalm is different from Heman, the singer, the Kohathite. In 1 Kings 4:31, again we have mention, as of the wisest of mankind, of Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol, a list corresponding with the names of the sons of Zerah, in 1 Chronicles 2:6. The inference from which is, that there was a Heman, different from Heman the singer, of the family of Zerah the son of Judah, and that he is distinguished from Heman the singer, the Levite, by being called the Ezrahite.… If Heman the Kohathite, or his, father, had married an heiress of the house of Zerah, as the sons of Hakkoz did of the house of Barzillai, and was so reckoned in the genealogy of Zerah, then all the notices of Heman might point to the same person, and the musical skill of David’s chief musician, and the wisdom of David’s seer, and the genius of the author of the 88th Psalm, concurring in the same individual, would make him fit to be joined with those other worthies whose wisdom was only exceeded by that of Solomon. But it is impossible to assert that this was the case.”There is nothing in the Psalm which marks clearly the time and occasion of its composition. The Psalm is very mournful and desponding in its character. There are other Psalms which are the utterance of the troubled heart, but they have in them some rays of light, some gleam of hope. But in this the darkness is unrelieved. It is, says Stier, “The most mournful of all the plaintive Psalms, yea, so wholly plaintive, without any ground of hope, that nothing like it is found in the whole Scriptures.”PRAYER FROM THE DEPTH OF MISERY(Psalms 88:1-9) I. A great depth of affliction. In a very expressive manner the Psalmist sets forth his distresses. 1 His troubles were spiritual. “My soul is full of troubles.” The Psalmist was probably suffering from some severe and painful physical disease. He was certainly suffering in spirit. There is no trouble so sore and hard to bear as trouble in the soul. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” The poet’s mind was troubled, his heart was sorrowful, he seems almost in despair. The severest anguish is not that of the body, but that of the spirit. When cherished hopes are blighted, and fond and worthy ambitions are destroyed, and those we trusted prove untrue, and those we love are summoned away leaving us to tread life’s pilgrimage without them, and our sins arise against us so many in number, so enormous in guilt, and God seems to have forsaken us, or to be smiting us in His wrath,—who shall describe the anguish of such experiences? Yet good men sometimes pass through them. 2. His troubles were many. “My soul is full of troubles.” He enumerates some of the many troubles with which his soul was full. His acquaintances were removed from him, he was afflicted and ready to die, and God was pursuing him as with the breakers of an angry sea. He was satiated with sorrows. The utmost limit of his endurance he seemed to have reached. The cup of his distresses would not contain one drop more. 3. His troubles were bringing him speedily to death. He uses various expressions setting forth this idea. “My life draweth nigh unto the grave,” unto Sheol, the abode of the dead. He felt that unless he obtained speedy relief he must die. “I am counted with them that go down unto the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength.” He was so near death, his case seemed so hopeless, that men reckoned him among the dead. And his strength had departed from him. “Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom Thou rememberest no more.” There is a passage in Job (Job 3:17-19) which will help us to elucidate the first clause. “There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest; there the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor; the small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.” The dead are emancipated from the cares and sorrows, the toils and burdens of life. “The comparison with the dead is followed by that with the slain, because the Psalmist was threatened with violent deprivation of life. ‘To be cut off from the hand of God,’ His helping and protecting hand is to be made away with in a violent manner.” … The idea which lies at the foundation of the whole verse is this, “that the dead are no longer the objects of the loving care of God.” Life and immortality were not brought to light in the days of the Psalmist as they are in the Gospel. Men shuddered at, and shrank from, that “land of darkness as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death without any order, and where the light is darkness.” “Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.” “The lowest pit” is Sheol, deep under the earth. All these expressions are intended to set forth the idea that the Psalmist was on the very verge of the grave, that he was already as one dead, and that hope had almost or altogether forsaken him. Or, if it be held that the language is to be figuratively understood, then we have before us a good man in the most appalling trouble; the darkness which envelops his spirit is like that of the grave itself, his anguish is unsupportable, his griefs are overwhelming, and he is brought to the last extremity. 4. His troubles isolated him from human society. “Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; Thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.” In time of suffering and sorrow the presence and sympathy of a friend are very precious and helpful. But the poet in his great affliction was forsaken by his friends. Such desertions are among the sharpest sorrows of life. It would seem as though the Psalmist was either suffering from some infectious or defiling disease, or from the attacks of slander. Men shrank from him with loathing. In the Hebrew the word which is translated “abomination” is in the plural. Men regarded him as though he were an assemblage of abominations, or one great mass of abominations. Hengstenberg interprets “I am shut up, and I cannot come forth,” as “shut up by public reproach, which keeps me in the house like a prisoner, I do not go out, I stir not from the door.” Slander has been truly called “the foulest whelp of sin.” And “the worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as we usually find that to be the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at.” Human friendships, or the things which so often degrade the high and holy name, are most unreliable and unsatisfactory things. True friendships are as rare as they are precious. Prosperity attracts to us a large number of so-called friends, but adversity tests them, and sometimes all fail in the trial, as did those of the Psalmist. His acquaintance all forsook him, and regarded him with abhorrence or loathing. 5. His trouble was from the hand of God. It seemed to the Psalmist that all his distresses came to him from the hand of God. “Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit,” &c. “Thou hast afflicted,” &c. “Thou hast put away,” &c. When faith is in lively exercise it is a relief in trouble to know that the trouble comes from God. Then the tried saint softly sings, “It is Thy hand, my God;My sorrow comes from Thee:I bow beneath Thy chastening rod,Tis love that bruises me.My God, Thy name is love,A Father’s hand is Thine;With tearful eyes I look above,And cry,—Thy will be mine II know Thy will is right,Though it may seem severe;Thy path is still unsullied light,Though dark it may appear.”—Darby.But not thus did the matter present itself to the mind of the Psalmist. That his troubles were from the hand of God seemed to him a sore aggravation of those troubles. Evil from so good a hand appeared quite intolerable to him. So deep was his depression, that while feeling acutely the adversity, he could not perceive any of its “sweet uses.” The bitterness of his draught he realised completely; its medicinal properties he entirely lost sight of. Everything seemed to aggravate his misery. 6. His trouble was an expression of the wrath of God. “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves.” So far was the Psalmist from regarding his distresses as coming from the chastening hand of a Father, that he looked upon them as punishments from the hand of an angry God. Like a huge and insupportable burden, God’s wrath was crushing him to the earth; and as the breakers of the stormy ocean dash in thunder and fury upon the shore, so God in anger seemed to be afflicting the Psalmist. We have, indeed, a great depth of affliction here. The deep darkness of this picture of distress has not often been equalled in the history of suffering humanity. Before leaving this part of our subject we shall do well to lay to heart two facts. (1) That the best of men in this life are exposed to severe sufferings and trials. Suffering is not necessarily a sign of the Divine displeasure. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,” &c. (2) That the best of men in this life are liable to misinterpret the meaning of suffering. Under the burden of severe distresses “even the children of God’s love may sometimes apprehend themselves children of wrath, and no outward trouble can lie so hard upon them as that apprehension.” II. A great urgency of prayer. “O Lord God of my salvation, I hare cried,” &c. His prayer was— 1. Directed to God. “I have cried day and night before Thee: let my prayer come before Thee,” &c. With steady aim he directed his complaints and petitions to God. His appeal was intended to reach the ear, and move the heart, of God. The notice or approbation of men the Psalmist neither sought nor wanted; but his heart was set on obtaining the regard of God. He is the Hearer and Answerer of prayer. “He is, and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Moreover, the Psalmist sought the Lord as the God of his salvation. There is a tone of confidence in the address. Bad as things are with him, he is not without hope. He looks for salvation, and he looks for it to God. This is the only cheerful beam which shines in the Psalm. 2. Earnest. “I have cried,” &c. “I have stretched out my hands unto Thee.” The Psalmist’s application to God was not a half-hearted, listless thing. He uttered an earnest “cry” for help, and “stretched out his hands” in fervent prayer. Jeremy Taylor says: “When, in order to your hopes of obtaining a great blessing, you reckon up your prayers with which you have solicited your suit in the court of heaven, you must reckon, not by the number of the collects, but by your sighs and passions, by the vehemence of your desires and the fervour of your spirit, the apprehension of your need and the consequent prosecution of your supply.” 3. Unceasing. “I have cried day and night before Thee. I have called daily upon Thee.” Without intermission he sought the Lord in prayer. His afflictions prevented him from resting, and in his unrest he constantly sought God in supplication. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” “Praying always with all prayer,” &c. “Pray without ceasing.” Such importunity, as the expression of earnest desire, is well-pleasing to God. Yet the author of this Psalm was like the Psalmist David in this respect, that for a time there seemed to be “neither voice nor any to answer, nor any that regarded;” and he might have adopted his words, “O my God, I cry in the day time, and Thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” For a time no answer came to his earnest and unceasing cry. Yet God will speedily “avenge His own elect, who cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them.” . Let the distressed child of God be encouraged to persevere in prayer. In His own wise and good time the Lord will appear for thee, and “turn the shadow of death into morning,” and change thy mournful complaint into a joyful Psalm. FROM THE DEPTH OF MISERY(Psalms 88:10-18) From complaint and prayer the Psalmist proceeds to very forcible expostulation with the Lord God. And in this expostulation he reveals— I. His extreme distress. He speaks of himself as, 1. Cast off by God. “Lord, why castest Thou off my soul? Why hidest Thou Thy face from me?” Through suffering and sorrow he was unable to see the face of God. The tears of his distress had for the time blinded his eyes, so that he was unable to recognise the gracious presence of God. But He had not cast off his soul. “For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance.” The mists and clouds which obscure the sun, and give to us dark and cheerless November days arise from the earth. The sun shines ever. And the hiding of God’s face from His people is by reason of their sins, and sorrows, and sufferings. His faithfulness and love are unchangeable. Nevertheless, when His people feel abandoned by Him, unspeakably sore is their suffering. 2. Almost deprived of reason. “I am distracted.” Pain and sorrow, doubt and fear, had so wrought upon him that he was unable to think or reason calmly. His suffering and anxiety and grief seemed to have disturbed the balance of his mind. Calmness he could not command. He was trembling on the brink of madness. As we know, there have been instances in which extreme suffering has led to insanity, and great spiritual depression and anxieties have issued in mental derangement. The Psalmist felt himself to be in danger of this. 3. Terrified by the wrath of God. “I suffer Thy terrors,” &c. The idea that God was pursuing him in wrath with His plagues is a deep conviction with him. That wrath seems to burn fiercely against him, and he cannot escape from it. Or, like an angry sea, it surrounds him, and its wild billows course over and beat upon him. Alas! for the child of God passing through experiences like unto these! Yet the Psalmist is not the only one who has travelled through this dark, distressing, dangerous valley. We rejoice, however, to know that One, whose “form is like the Son of God,” walketh with them, though they see Him not. While He is with them no real evil shall befall them. II. His misconception of God. “Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; Thy terrors have cut me off.” What he regarded as the “fierce wrath” of God, was the loving though severe discipline of a wise and kind Father. When he thought that God had cast off his soul, God was educating and enriching his soul by means of suffering. When to him all things appeared sadly and sternly against him, God was causing all things to work together for his good. A sense of sin, and much and severe suffering, led him to misconceive the character and dealings of God. He spake hastily and unadvisedly as to God’s “fierce wrath.” God does not pour forth His fury upon His people. If He chasten us sorely, it is not in anger, but in love that He does so. It is the consciousness of sin and unscriptural theological notions that lead us in suffering to behold an angry God. III. His nearness to death. “Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise Thee?” &c. “I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up.” In these verses, the Psalmist speaks of himself as almost dead, as on the very brink of the grave, as swiftly passing into the land of darkness and forgetfulness. He does this as a reason why God should speedily appear for his help. If deliverance came not quickly, he would be beyond the reach of it. (On his nearness to death, see our remarks in the preceding sketch.) IV. His belief that there are duties and privileges, the discharge and enjoyment of which are limited to the present life. “Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead?” &c. (Psalms 88:10-12). These verses have a despondent if not a despairing accent. Yet it would be rash to affirm that the Poet had no faith in a future life, or that he regarded death as the extinction of being. But to him Sheol was a dark and gloomy realm, where God’s wonders were not made known, where His praise was not celebrated, where remembrance had ceased, and where destruction seemed supreme. Such seem to have been the ideas which he then entertained of the state of the dead. In that day life and immortality were not revealed as they now are in the Gospel. The great truth for us to seize is this, that there are duties to be done now which cannot be done beyond this life, and privileges to be enjoyed now which probably cannot be enjoyed when we have passed hence and are no more seen. This is true, 1. Of our own salvation. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” There is nothing in the Scriptures to warrant the belief that God will show the wonders of His saving power to the dead— “There are no acts of pardon pastIn the cold grave to which we haste;”wherefore, “seek ye the Lord while He may be found,” &c. 2. Of many ministries to others. It is our privilege now to lead the lost to the Saviour, to reclaim the wanderer, and raise the fallen, to comfort the sorrowful, and succour the distressed. Such Christ-like ministries are probably confined to this present world and life. Wherefore, “whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for,” &c. V. His faith in God. This is manifest— 1. In His expostulations, and especially in that of the fourteenth verse, “Lord, why castest Thou off my soul? why hidest Thou Thy face from me?” In these and in his other inquiries the Psalmist manifests his faith in (1) the faithfulness, and (2) the righteousness of God. Was He not a covenant-keeping God? Was He not righteous in all His ways? “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” 2. In his prayers. The Psalmist would not have cried to God in prayer, and resolved to have anticipated Him in the morning with his supplications, if he had not believed in— (1) The accessibility of God. Though on the brink of the grave, he knew that he could draw near to the mercy-seat of God. (2) The power of God to save him. Extreme as his case was, he knew that the God of his salvation was able to meet and master it. He is “mighty to save.” He saves “unto the uttermost.” (3) The mercy of God. Though it seemed that His fierce wrath was going over him, yet he knew that there was mercy in the Divine heart, or he would not have cried unto Him. Sad as was the case of the Psalmist, it might have been worse; for his faith had not utterly failed him. He still turned in prayer to the Lord as the God of his salvation. .—Let great sufferers and despondent souls take encouragement even from this most pensive of all the pensive Psalms. It teaches us that in the deepest distress and the greatest extremity— 1. The Lord is still the God of our salvation. 2. The way is still open to the throne of grace. 3. While faith and prayer are not utterly extinguished our case may be extreme, but it is not desperate. From above, the Lord saith, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” Superscription.—“Maschil,” an instruction, a didactic poem. “Of Ethan the Ezrahite,” “one of the four sons of Mahol, whose wisdom was excelled by Solomon (1 Kings 4:31). There is little doubt that this is the same person who, in 1 Chronicles 2:6, is mentioned—with the same brothers as before—as a son of Zerah, the son of Judah.” See on “Heman the Ezrahite” in the Introduction to Psalms 88. “There can be little doubt,” says Perowne, “that this Psalm was written in the latter days of the Jewish monarchy, when the throne of David had fallen or was already tottering to its fall, and when the prospect for the future was so dark that it seemed as if God had forgotten His covenant and His promise.… The Psalm opens by a reference to the Promise given to David (2 Samuel 7:8, &c). This Promise, and the attributes of God on which the Promise rests, and which are the great pledge of its fulfilment, form the subject of the Poet’s grateful acknowledgment, before he passes to the mournful contrast presented by the “ruin of the house of David, and the blighting of his people’s hopes. He turns to the glorious past, that by its aid he may rise out of the grief and discouragement of the present. He takes the Promise, and turns it into a song. He dwells upon it, and lingers over it. He dwells on that which is the ground and pillar of the Promise—the faithfulness of God—and then he first lifts his loud lament over the disasters which have befallen his king and people, speaking out his disappointment, till his words sound like a reproach; and next pleads earnestly with God that He would not suffer his enemies to triumph.”A NOBLE OF THE AND MERCY OF THE LORD(Psalms 89:1-4) In this paragraph the Psalmist announces his determination to praise God eternally because of His mercy and faithfulness, which were promised to David and to his seed for ever. Looking at this announcement as indicating, in brief, the praise itself, we take as our subject, A noble celebration of the faithfulness and mercy of the Lord. The nobility of this celebration appears, I. In the view of these attributes which is presented. Two prominent features are set forth by the Poet. 1. Perpetuity. “Mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy faithfulness shalt Thou establish in the very heavens.” The mercy and faithfulness of God are thus presented to us as abiding things. Look at the heavens and the heavenly bodies,—how stable and enduring, how orderly and regular they are! The sun with unvarying regularity and absolutely perfect punctuality sets forth on his course and runs his race; from the creation to the present hour the moon has held on her appointed way and performed her appointed rounds without a shadow of turning, and with the most perfect accuracy; the stars pursue their appointed orbits with undeviating precision, and with the utmost exactness keep their appointed seasons. The heavens and the heavenly hosts appear now as they did in the beginning of the world; they present no signs of weariness or decay or change; they are a fit emblem of the eternal and unchangeable. The Psalmist pictures the faithfulness of God as a part of the very heavens in order graphically to set forth its perpetuity and perfection. But God’s faithfulness shall outlast the heavens themselves “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” “God is not a man, that He should lie,” &c. (Numbers 23:19). In reference to His covenant with David, the Lord said, by Jeremiah, “If ye can break My covenant of the day,” &c. (Jeremiah 33:20-21). God’s faithfulness is perfect and eternal. “With Him is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” “The word of our God shall stand for ever.” His mercy also is perpetual. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting,” &c. 2. Increase, or growth. “Mercy shall be built up for ever.” “Mercy appears here,” says Hengstenberg, “under the figure of a building in continual progression, in opposition to one which, when still unfinished, falls into ruins.” And John Howe well says: “Former mercies are fundamental to later ones. The mercies that we enjoy this day are founded on the mercies of former days, such as we ought joyfully and thankfully to recount with delight and praise; remembering the years of the right hand of the Most High.” And we may carry the idea further. The mercies that we enjoy this day will become the foundation for the mercies of future days, and so onward in endless progression. The purposes of God concerning our race are advancing to perfect and splendid completion. The edifice which was founded in mercy shall in mercy be gloriously finished. Thus “the multitude of His mercies” is ever growing more multitudinous. Every hour, ay, every minute, new mercies are being added to the unspeakable and countless mercies of former days. II. In the way in which they are celebrated. 1. Confidently. “I have said.” By these words he indicates that the statement he is about to make is his clear and fixed opinion. He believes; and therefore speaks. There is the unmistakable accent of conviction in his utterance. 2. Publicly. Not in his heart merely does he celebrate the mercy and faithfulness of God, but “with his mouth” he “sings” them. He will sing to others and for others; in words which others may use as their own. He cannot speak their praise; for prose is all too hard and cold for such a theme. He will “sing” them; and even poetry and music seem poor for this rich and glorious theme. 3. Perpetually. “To all generations.” When his voice was silent in death he would still celebrate the Divine mercy and faithfulness. He would make a record of his praise; he would write his Psalm, so that the Church should continue the strain through all ages. Surely this is a worthy spirit in which to celebrate the Divine praises. There is a heartiness, a confidence, and an enthusiasm in the utterance of the Psalmist which are well worthy of admiration and imitation. III. In the basis on which the celebration rests. The praise of the Psalmist springs from his faith in the covenant of God. The faithfulness of God is both the ground and the object of his praise. His faith is rooted in that faithfulness, and his praise celebrates it. His praise rests on the word of God as its basis. The Lord is the speaker in Psalms 89:3-4. Consider: 1. The covenant itself. “I have made a covenant,” &c. This covenant is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:10-17. Its grand feature was the perpetuation of David’s family and kingdom. “Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.” The family, the kingdom, the throne should be established eternally. The throne would be built up, i.e., the sovereignty would be stable and increasing to all generations. We know that this covenant did not receive a material and temporal fulfilment. The material crown has long passed from the house of David; the temporal kingdom has long ceased to be. Yet the covenant abides, and is being splendidly fulfilled. “Jesus Christ, our Lord, was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh.” “Of this man’s seed hath God, according to promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus.” He is at once “the Root and the Offspring of David;” David’s Son, and David’s Lord. In Him and in His kingdom the promise is being accomplished, the covenant is being fulfilled. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end.” His kingdom is ever extending and increasing. His spiritual seed ever grows more numerous. 2. The origin of the covenant. It originated in the sovereign favour of God. David was His “chosen.” How completely was David’s elevation to the throne a thing of Divine sovereignty! David was the youngest son of Jesse; and Jesse’s was not the senior house of the tribe of Judah (Rth 4:18-22; 1 Chronicles 2:5-12), and Judah was not the eldest son of Jacob; yet God chose the king from the tribe of Judah, from the house of Jesse, and the youngest son of that house. “He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds,” &c. (Psalms 78:70-71). In like manner our Lord is spoken of as the chosen Servant of God. “Behold, my Servant, whom I uphold; Mine Elect, in whom My soul delighteth.” The gift of Christ to our race was entirely of the sovereign mercy of God. We may well praise God for His spiritual covenant, for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ to save and reign over men, for the promise to Him of universal dominion, and for the way in which that promise is being fulfilled. IV. In the circumstances under which the celebration is made. When the poet chanted this Psalm one might have thought, judging from its first and greater portion, that the kingdom was prosperous, the throne firm and unmenaced, the royal house numerous and united, the future bright and full of promise. But widely different was the case, as we may see by reading Psalms 89:38-45. The covenant seemed to be on the very verge of failure; the country was invaded, their armies were beaten in battle, the crown was profaned, the throne was cast down to the ground, ruin was imminent. Yet at such a time the Poet sang this bright, confident, triumphant celebration of the faithfulness and mercy of the Lord. Brave, trustful Poet! Let us catch his spirit, and imitate his example. When sense is silent in consternation, let faith be songful in the Lord. To the believing soul, “God gives songs in the night.” Even the mourner’s heart when turned to Him He tunes to music. When all things appear to deny the faithfulness and mercy of God, let us still believe them, and, believing them, let us sing them. Let us walk by faith, and we shall find matter for praise, and a heart to praise even in the midst of outward trouble. “As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” Conclusion. Let the character and covenant of God inspire us with confidence, even in the most trying circumstances. Believe in Him, praise Him. Trust and sing. THE OF GOD(Psalms 89:5-7) Hengstenberg heads these verses thus: “The omnipotence and faithfulness of God are devoutly praised even by the angels, His heavenly congregation.” The incomparableness of God manifested by the relation of the heavenly hosts to Him. We shall endeavour to set forth the ideas of the Poet on this subject in the following manner:— I. Heavenly beings are mighty. “The sons of the mighty.” In another Psalm we read, “Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength.” The angels are always represented in the Scriptures as “far superior to us, as possessing powers to which, as it regards their extent, we can make no pretensions, and as able to perform operations which may well fill us with astonishment, and which are far above the reach of our ability.” For illustrations of the great power of angelic beings, see Exodus 33:2, where God promises to send an angel before the Israelites to drive out the seven nations of Canaan; 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21, where an angel is represented as smiting to death by means of pestilence seventy thousand men, and as having power to destroy Jerusalem; 2 Kings 19:35, where an angel is said to have destroyed an hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians in one night. (See also Psalms 34:7; Daniel 6:22; Acts 5:19; Acts 12:7-10; Revelation 18:1; and Revelation 22:8.) “They are said to ‘excel in strength;’ and it is evident that the Psalmist has in view chiefly intellectual and moral strength, which qualifies them for the service of God; for ‘they do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word;’ though it does not exclude what is equivalent to physical energy, or power over matter, to mould, and influence, and render it subservient to their will. They are also denominated “mighty angels,” 2 Thessalonians 1:7, where the Apostle has in view an occasion on which their might will be put in requisition and manifested in the most striking manner; for the great probability is, that they will be employed to effect many of the changes that will take place, and to exhibit many of the wonderful scenes that will be manifested at the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ; and we are assured that, at the end of the world, ‘The reapers are the angels,’ and that, ‘the angels shall come forth, and shall sever the wicked from among the just’ (Matthew 13:39; Matthew 13:49). And it is evident from all the accounts which are given us of them in the Bible, that they excel in wisdom as much as in strength; or, rather that their strength is principally the power of wisdom and knowledge; and that in these they are far superior to men is plainly implied in the language of the Saviour (Matthew 24:36). The same fact is evident from Psalms 104:4, and Hebrews 1:7.”—Walter Scott. II. Heavenly beings are holy. They are here spoken of as “saints.” They are designated by way of eminence “holy angels” (Matthew 25:31). They are entirely free from sin, have never known sin. All their thoughts are true, all their sympathies are pure, all their principles are righteous, all their activities are blessed, all their services are sacred, all their being is God’s. “We are sure that their moral purity must be complete, without the least imperfection or stain, for they dwell in the immediate blissful presence of God, they are the constant inhabitants of those glorious regions into which nothing that defileth can possibly enter. Some of them may have been for millions of ages employed in contemplating the glories of God, and in realising intellectual improvement; and still eternity is before them.” “The dignity, the powers, of these celestial beings are also plainly implied in the names and epithets which are given to them in the Scriptures. They are denominated not only angels, or messengers, by way of eminence, but also cherubim and seraphim, thrones, authorities, dominions, principalities, and powers.” Yet great and glorious, mighty and holy as they are, these III. Heavenly beings worship God. “The heavens shall praise Thy wonders, O Lord,” &c. These holy angels— 1. Stand in awe of God “God is greatly feared” by them. Hengstenberg: “God is very terrible in the confidence of the holy ones.” And he gives, what we regard as the true explanation of the clause: “ ‘The confidence of the holy ones’ denotes the confidential community to whom God vouchsafes to entrust His secrets (Job 1:6; Job 2:1); though not His deepest ones (1 Peter 1:12). Notwith standing this, there always remains an infinite distance between Him and them (comp. Job 4:18; Job 15:15). God does not cease to be even to His holy ones the object of fear.” Any one who approaches God thoughtfully must be awed in so doing. We cannot rightly contemplate Him without very solemn thought. The expressions of familiarity and endearment which some men use in their approaches to God in worship stand condemned by the reverence of the Holy angels. The seraphim worship with veiled faces, crying, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory.” “God is very terrible in the confidence of the holy ones, and dreadful for all who are round about Him.” If such are the regards which are paid to Him by these high and holy beings, surely unholy men should regard Him with humble awe and solemn reverence! These holy angels— 2. Praise God. “The heavens praise Thy wonders, O Lord; Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.” (1) They praise Him for the wonders of His power. They are deeply interested in His mighty works. They sang the anthem which celebrated the creation of the world. “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” They are represented in Scripture as being deeply interested in God’s work in Providence, and as taking part in carrying out its great scheme. They are devoutly and admiringly interested in God’s great work in human redemption. At the time of the Saviour’s advent, there appeared “a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,” &c. After the conflict between the Saviour and the seducer of men in the wilderness, angels ministered to the triumphant Saviour. During the agony in Gethsemane, “there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him.” Angels are represented as taking part in the resurrection of our Lord. They are represented by St. Peter as “desiring to look into” the things of human salvation. Our Lord Himself says, “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Yes, angels praise God for His wondrous works. They are acquainted with His mighty and glorious deeds, they admire them, they celebrate them in the worship which they pay to Him. (2) They praise Him for the truth of His Word. “Thy faithfulness also,” &c. The idea of the Psalmist is that the angels would praise God for the fulfilment of His promises made unto David. Doubtless, by the heavenly host God is constantly and heartily praised for His truth and faithfulness. There are times when it seems to us as though God’s faithfulness were about to fail; but even at its best our vision is dim, while the angels see clearly; our range of vision is extremely small, while that of the angels is so vast as to admit of no comparison with ours; and they, with their clear vision and wide range, praise God for His faithfulness. “He keepeth covenant and mercy with His servants.” “He keepeth truth for ever.” .— 1. How great is God! The most ancient and most mighty of angels cannot be brought into comparison with Him. Angels are great, holy, glorious, yet “the first-born sons of light” pay to Him profoundest homage, worship Him with deepest humility. 2. How reverently should we regard Him. All our thought of Him should be humble and reverent. We should never speak of Him except with profound veneration. We should worship Him with holy awe. “The more THY glories strike mine eyesThe humbler I shall lie.”GOD (Psalms 89:6) “Who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord?” Mark— I. The doctrine to which these words point. God incomparable; and He is so— 1. In the glory He possesses. There is in Him a glory of wisdom (Ephesians 3:10), power (Genesis 17:1), love (Romans 5:8), majesty (Psalms 104:1), and grace (2 Corinthians 9:8; 2 Corinthians 9:11), before which every created glory sinks into obscurity. 2. In the dominion He exercises. Created beings have only a limited and confined sway, but God’s kingdom ruleth over all, and extends itself over the most distant places as well as the most exalted personages. 3. In the blessings He bestows. The obedient believer has a peace that passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7), his faith is accompanied with joy unspeakable (1 Peter 1:8), he abounds in hope (Romans 15:13), and the glory reserved for him is unrevealed (1 John 3:2). II. The sentiments it should excite in us. If God be incomparable, so that none is like Him, a holy reverential fear becomes us in His presence (Psalms 89:7). With this reverential fear we should also feel in our hearts, and express in every possible way, a fervent attachment to Him (Psalms 18:1). Trust, too, must be confidently reposed in Him, whatever difficulties we have to encounter, and though the dangers which encompass us are great and imminent (Psalms 46:1-7).—W. Sleigh. THE HIGHEST WORSHIP(Psalms 89:7) “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly,” &c. I. The highest worship is offered to God. Not unto saints, or angels, or the Virgin Mary, but unto God. He is Supreme. “There is one God.” II. The highest worship is offered by saints. Angels are called saints in the text. The redeemed in heaven are also called saints (1 Thessalonians 3:13). The term is frequently applied to the people of God upon earth. When so applied it indicates those who are, 1. Spiritually regenerated. 2. Consecrated to God. 3. Imitators of Christ. III. The highest worship is reverent in spirit. “God is greatly to be feared, … and to be had in reverence.” This reverence is opposed, 1. To all thoughtlessness in worship (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2). 2. To all formality in worship (John 4:23-24). 3. To all unbecoming familiarity in worship. In the prayers and praises which are recorded in the Holy Book we find no trace of that irreverent and gushing manner of addressing God, which is so prevalent with some sentimental religionists of to-day. IV. In the highest worship the presence of God is consciously realised. The worshippers feel that they are “about Him.” They realise the fact that God is present to accept the worship and bless the worshippers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. 1. God is present everywhere. 2. His presense is realised only by those who are spiritual and reverent. 3. He is specially present, and His presence is specially realised in the gatherings of saints for worship (Exodus 20:24; Matthew 18:20). THE OF GOD AN TO HIS PEOPLE TO TRUST IN HIM(Psalms 89:8-14) The Psalmist does not in these verses lose sight of the faithfulness or truth of God in respect to His covenant; but he gives the greater prominence to the might of God. He is not only a God of truth, but also a God of power. He is able as well as willing to keep His covenant. The text teaches us that,— I. The Strength of God is manifested in His complete control over nature. “Thou rules the raging,” &c. 1. God rules over the sea. There are times when the sea seems utterly beyond control. Yet when it foams and thunders in anger, when its waves, mountains high, chase each other with awful rapidity and fury, and destroy everything that is at their mercy, when it breaks with terrific violence upon the shore, and when it seems to mock at and spurn all control; God can subdue its angry ragings into calmness and repose at once. Our Lord when He stilled the tempest gave to us an illustration of the Divine sovereignty over the sea. “He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” The Psalmist seems to have regarded the tempestuous sea as a symbol of the powerful foes who were arrayed against them. David in one of his Psalms speaks of “the floods of ungodly men.” God has complete control over the most proud and angry people. He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He restrains. To the mightiest and most furious of peoples or nations God can impose limits, saying, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” 2. God rules over the heavens and the earth. “The heavens are Thine, the earth also is Thine,” &c. God is here set forth as the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth. “All things were made by Him.” “By Him all things subsist.” Therefore the heavens and the earth are His. Creatorship gives the most indefeasible right to possession. If any person can create anything, it is of all things preeminently his own property. “The highest conception of property is that which is derived from creation.” The idea in the mind of the Psalmist seems to be that as the Creator, Sustainer, and Proprietor of all things, God has the power and the right to control all things. “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth: and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” And therefore He was able to keep His covenant which He made with David and his seed. Notice the completeness of God’s rule over nature. The Psalmist mentions “the sea, the heavens, the earth, the world.” Then he mentions “the north and the south, Tabor and Hermon.” Tabor lying on the western side of Jordan, and Hermon on the eastern, are representative of east and west. God rules over all nature in heaven above and on the earth beneath, from east to west, and from north to south. There is no province of nature which is not under His control. God’s sovereignty over nature is frequently asserted in the Bible. He is at work in all its departments. He is the Force of all its forces. (See Psalms 65:8-11; Psalms 104:1-30; Isaiah 40:26.) The doctrine of God’s sovereignty over and agency in nature is philosophic. It is unsatisfactory to explain the changes in the phenomena of nature by “laws of nature,” “nature’s forces,” “attraction,” “gravitation.” Such explanations do not satisfy my reason. A law of nature is simply a “generalisation of phenomena.” When such a generalisation has been made and named we have frequently gained little more than a resting-place for ignorance rather than a large increase of knowledge. What are “nature’s forces”? What is the secret of her forces? By naming a process or a phenomenon you do not remove the mystery of the thing, even though the name applied be ever so polysyllabic and obscure. But when I am told that the changing phenomena of nature are the result of the agency of the omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of nature, working through the wondrous arrangements and means which He has ordained, my reason accepts the statement as intelligent and satisfactory. Moreover, this recognition of God’s agency in and sovereignty over nature is religious. The intelligent and devout man sees the signs of the Divine presence and working in every department and object of nature. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” &c. II. The strength of God is manifested in His subjugation of His foes. “Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain; Thou hast scattered Thine enemies with Thy strong arm.” The name Rahab is used to set forth Egypt the ancient foe of Israel. The reference is to the emancipation of Israel from bondage, and the plaguing and destruction of their oppressors. On that occasion, God’s sovereignty of the sea was employed to secure the safety of His people and the destruction of their foes. When God makes bare His arm, the proudest and mightiest nations fall before Him. The remembrance of what He had done to Egypt on behalf of His people would be especially encouraging to the poet and the people at this time. His arm had lost none of its ancient might. He was able at this time to break their enemies in pieces as one that is slain, or to scatter them, and so destroy their power. God is supreme over the proudest and mightiest nations. “His kingdom ruleth over all.” III. The strength of God is ever exercised in harmony with righteousness, mercy, and truth. “Justice and judgment are the habitation of Thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before Thy face.” Justice and judgment are the ground on which the throne of God stands. The Divine government is founded on righteousness. As its basis, it rests neither on force nor on fraud, but on truth and on right. “Even omnipotent power could not maintain permanently a throne founded on injustice and wrong. Such an administration would sooner or later make its own destruction sure.” But God’s power is never employed for unrighteous ends. His justice is as great as His strength. The exercise of God’s great power is also in keeping with His “mercy.” Even when it is employed in destroying violent oppressors such as Rahab, it is employed in mercy. Such destructions are a kindness not simply to the oppressed who are set free, but to mankind at large, who are thereby delivered from a tyrant and a curse. God’s great power is acting beneficially, mercifully. It is also exercised in harmony with His “truth.” What His Word promises His power performs. He is strong to execute His threatenings, and to make good His promises. God’s power and righteousness, mercy and faithfulness, are all exercised in beautiful harmony and beneficence, so that an afflicted people looking to Him for help may take encouragement from them. IV. The strength of God thus exercised is an encouragement to trust Him. So the Psalmist evidently thought as he celebrated its praise in connection with the faithfulness of God. We cannot intelligently trust in God without including His “power as a concurrent foundation with His truth. It is the mainground of trust, and so set forth in the prophet (Isaiah 26:4): ‘Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.’ … How could His mercy succour us without His arm, or His wisdom guide us without His hand, or His truth perform promises to us without His strength?… Though we value the kindness men may express to us in our distresses, yet we make them not the objects of our confidence, unless they have an ability to act what they express. There can be no trust in God without an eye to His power.” So said Charnock in one of his great discourses; and so the Psalmist seems to have thought as he penned this portion of the Psalm; and as he called to mind God’s great power in ruling the raging of the sea and subduing the foes of His people, he must have felt confident that He had power to keep His covenant with His people. .— 1. Let the ungodly take warning. You may resist His grace and the order of His laws; but when He makes bare His arm for judgment, you will find that you cannot resist His power. “Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” 2. Let the anxious Christian be encouraged. Our evils can never be so great to distress us, as His power is great to deliver us. He is able to perform all the great and gracious things which He has promised. 3. Let all men fear God. As Charnock says: “How should we adore that power which can preserve us, when devils and men conspire to destroy us! How should we stand in awe of that power which can destroy us, though angels and men should combine to preserve us!” THE OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD(Psalms 89:15-18) In the preceding portion of the Psalm the Poet has celebrated the faithfulness, almightiness, and righteousness of the Lord. And now he celebrates the blessedness of the people who had such a God; for He would surely deliver and save them. He sets forth the blessedness of the people of God as found in their relations to Him, and mentions several of these relations. He speaks of them— I. As worshippers of God. “Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound.” We believe that by “the joyful sound” we are to understand the call to the religious festivals. In celebrating the great festivals trumpets were joyously blown, and there was great rejoicing (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 10:10; Numbers 29:1). To know the joyful sound is to know and esteem the worship of God. So the meaning of this clause appears to us to be—“Happy is that people whose God is the Lord.” They who are the worshippers of the only living and true God are indeed blessed. 1. Their confidence in Him shall be honoured and rewarded. A man’s god is that in which his supreme affection and trust are reposed. Idolatry is really rife amongst us to-day. Men worship possessions and property, position and power, honour and fame, relatives and friends. Now any of these or all of them must inevitably fail those who trust in them. They are insecure and transient: they are inadequate to meet the needs of the soul. There is but one Being in whom we may safely place unbounded confidence. “He that believeth in Him shall not be confounded.” “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.” He will make good His every promise. He is sufficient to help us in all the needs of life. In Him the soul may find satisfaction for its deepest longings and its highest aspirations. Trust in Him will be amply rewarded. 2. Their worship of Him is in itself blessed. Much of the worship of heathen deities was debasing and corrupting. Many of the idolatries of our own age are degrading the noblest powers of our nature, dwarfing our manhood, ruining souls. But the worship of God is the worship of supreme and infinite Perfection. His worship is joyous. We do not approach Him with terror, but with humble confidence; not with mourning and dirges, but with gladness and psalms. “Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving,” &c. His worship is transforming. As we worship Him in spirit and in truth we become like Him, we “are changed into the same image from glory to glory as by the Lord the Spirit.” Blessed indeed are they whose God is the Lord. II. As conscious of His favour. “They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.” They possess the favour of God, and they know it, and rejoice in it. The lovingkindness of God they realise as their portion. The figure is a beautiful one. Who does not know the joy of looking into the face of one whom we love when no cloud of anxiety or sorrow or anger darkens it, but when it beams with affection for us? So the people of God live in His smile. “In His favour is life.” His “lovingkindness is better than life.” They who walk in the light of His countenance enjoy His favour; their life is crowned with His lovingkindness. Their life is marked by activity and progress. The consciousness of His favour does not produce indolence, but it leads to exertion; it does not lull the soul into slothful security, but stimulates it to diligent activity. “They shall walk, O Lord,” &c. Walking is progressive motion from place to place. So the godly soul advances in the Divine life. “They go from strength to strength,” from conquest to conquest, from grace to grace, from glory to glory. They “press toward the mark,” &c. III. As rejoicing in Him. “In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day.” 1. Their joy is religious. They rejoice in God’s name, i.e., in Himself as made known to them. The good man has ample reason for joy in the being and perfections of God and His relation to him. When we reflect upon His wisdom, and goodness, and power, and holiness, and truth, and love, and upon the fact that they are “all engaged to make us blessed,”—have we not reason for joy? When we call to mind our privileges in the present, and our prospects for the future, have we not cause for rejoicing? “Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be,” &c. Let no one regard a godly life as gloomy and sad. Men may be gloomy for want of religion, but not because of it. A truly godly life is a bright and joyous thing. 2. Their joy is constant. “All the day.” There is no reason why the people of God may not rejoice continually in God. Circumstances may be changeful, trial may overtake us, sorrow may be our portion, and happiness may abandon us; but even then we may have a deep and holy joy in God. He is unchangeable. His promises cannot fail. Having Him for our portion it is both our privilege and our duty to rejoice in Him always. “Rejoice in the Lord alway again I say, Rejoice.” IV. As exalted by Him. “In Thy righteousness shall they be exalted.” “The righteousness of God,” says Hengstenberg, “is here that property by which He gives to every one his own, salvation to His people.” We regard the clause as intended by the Poet to set forth the idea that under the righteous government of God they would find salvation and honour. He would deliver them from their enemies and their dangers. He would exalt them to honour. It certainly is true that the people of God are exalted by Him. They are exalted now in their character and relations. “Now are we the sons of God.” They are like God in character. They will be exalted hereafter to heavenly glory and dignity. “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne,” &c. “Before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.” “Kings and priests unto God.” V. As strengthened by Him. “Thou art the glory of their strength: and in Thy favour our horn shall be exalted.” The glory of the strength of the people of God is here set forth as consisting in the fact that it is derived from God. The “horn” is a symbol of power. To exalt the horn is to display the power. The meaning of the verse is, that they derived all their strength from God. 1. The strength of God is all-sufficient. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” It is sufficient to support us under the heaviest trial; and to empower us for the most arduous duty. 2. The strength of God is always available. Whenever we ask for it sincerely and believingly it will be given to us. 3. The strength of God is our only sufficient support. No one else is adequate to sustain us in life’s trials, and strengthen us for life’s duties. The wise, the great, the powerful, the loving amongst men are not sufficient to our need. “Apart from me,” said Christ, “ye can do nothing.” If we draw our strength from Him, we shall not fail in life’s duties, or faint beneath its burdens. “As thy days so shall thy strength be.” VI. As governed and protected by God. “For the Lord is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our King.” The marginal reading is, “For our shield is of the Lord, and our King is of the Holy One of Israel.” “The true construction of this verse,” says Barnes, “is, ‘For to Jehovah (belongs) our shield, and to the Holy One of Israel our King.’ That is, all that they had, and all that they relied on as a defence, belonged to God, or was of God; in other words, their very protectors were themselves protected by Jehovah.” Undoubtedly, the main idea of the verse is, that they were protected by God. He was their shield and defender. He was their sovereign, and would therefore guard their interests. We have three ideas involved here— 1. The people of God are exposed to danger. Their “adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” They are also in danger from “fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” And by reason of temptation from the world. 2. The people of God are not able to protect themselves from danger. They are not, of themselves, wise enough to baffle the deep designs of their enemies; neither are they strong enough to successfully resist their power. 3. The people of God are securely protected by Him from all danger. (See Psalms 91; Psalms 121; Psalms 125:1-2; 1 Peter 1:5.) They are inviolably and eternally secure. .— 1. How great, then, is the blessedness of the people of God! “There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun,” &c. (Deuteronomy 33:26-29). 2. How important that we should be found among them! Are we of the people of God? If so, let us rejoice in our privileges. If not, in the strength of Divine grace “first give your own selves to the Lord,” and thus seek union with His people. OF KNOWING THE JOYFUL SOUND(Psalms 89:15-16) “Blessed are the people, &c. Whatever these words in their literal sense refer to, they have undoubtedly an ultimate reference to the gospel; and there are three particulars for our consideration respecting it. I. What it is. It is a joyful sound. And why is it so? Because it proclaims— 1. Pardon to the condemned. And this pardon is complete, reaching to all past offences, however aggravated or multiplied they may be. It is free—free of all obligation to and of all price from the creature. 2. Freedom to the enslaved. Man by nature is in a state of vassalage; he is far removed from his original condition; bound with the chains of his sins, and yields to the requirements of Satan (2 Timothy 2:26). In this state he was born; but the sound of liberty has not ceased to be heard since it first saluted the ears of Adam and Eve. 3. Victory to the oppressed. The sorrows of man are many; but the gospel offers to rescue him, bringing to him a full and sufficient remedy for them, so that he may have peace within; the reality, and not the shadow merely. II. What it demands. We must “know the joyful sound.” What is implied in this? It includes three things— 1. A proper apprehension of it. Many content themselves with hearing it; but its import must be understood. 2. A sense of being personally interested in it. We know it not aright, if we do not know it experimentally and savingly. 3. A life and conversation suited to it. Before we conclude too confidently that we know the joyful sound, we should ask ourselves: how our knowledge operates? To possess knowledge will be of little avail unless it produce a practical effect (1 John 1:6-7). III. What it ensures. Blessedness. The Psalmist’s testimony respecting this is delightful, and shows how peculiar and distinguished the felicity of such people as know the gospel is. 1. They possess tranquillity of mind. In their journey heavenward, they have the light of God’s countenance to encourage them in their distresses and difficulties. 2. They have continual joy. “In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day.” His name comprehends those infinite perfections by which He has revealed Himself to us in His works, and in His Word. These being all theirs, on their side, united for their advantages, cannot but afford them unspeakable enjoyment. 3. They are greatly dignified. “In Thy righteousness shall they be exalted.” By relying on the atonement, made by the death of God’s only Son, they are arrayed in His righteousness, and are consequently justified and accepted. Have we a saving knowledge of the Gospel? If so, how exalted is our privilege. But those who are strangers to the heavenly message, whether they be more or less wicked in respect of gross sins, are in a truly awful state.—W. Sleigh. GOD’S WITH DAVID(Psalms 89:19-28) “There follows,” says Hengstenberg, “in prosecution of the subject entered on in Psalms 89:3-4, a more full development in two sections, of the glorious promise made to the anointed, and in him to the people (Psalms 89:19-38). First (in Psalms 89:19-28), it is represented that God had promised perpetual deliverance to the people in him, perpetual victory over its enemies,” and “perpetual dominion.” The covenant undoubtedly looks beyond David to the Anointed Saviour and King of men, as will be seen as we proceed with our exposition. The leading teachings of the paragraph may be indicated under two main “heads.” I. The Election of David. The word “then” with which the paragraph begins connects it with Psalms 89:3-4. In those verses the covenant is mentioned; in this paragraph it is more fully stated. We prefer the reading, “Thy holy ones” in Psalms 89:19 to “Thy holy one.” “All the old translators, many MSS. and editions,” have “thy holy ones.” “The singular,” says Hengstenberg, “owes its existence, as in Psalms 16:10, to an exegetical incapacity. It was felt to be impossible to reconcile the plural with the application to David or Nathan; and to one or other of these, all interpreters, without exception, down even to modern times, have applied the expression, without observing that in the following part of the Psalm it is the people that complain that God does not appear to be keeping His promise, and that it is the people that pray that He would fulfil His promise.… The address cannot be made to David, for he is never addressed throughout the remaining portion of the Psalm.” And it is incorrect to say that Nathan is referred to as the “holy one,” for historically the address was not directed to him, but to David through him. The promises, though originally directed to David, are intended for all the people of Israel. They are the “holy ones.” But respecting the election of David we are taught— 1. That he was elected from the people. “Chosen out of the people.” David had not descended from great kings or heroic warriors; he was not of exalted rank; he had grown up in humble life among the people, and had lived in lowliness and obscurity. Our Lord Jesus Christ also was “chosen out of the people.” He was “in all things made like unto His brethren.” He, too, was born into humble circumstances, and so far as this world is concerned He lived a lowly life of labour. He was bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. He had true human sympathies. He endured most really severe human sufferings. He was and is a true man. 2. That he was elected to sovereignty. “I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant,” &c. David was thrice anointed king. Once by Samuel in his father’s house at Bethlehem; once at Hebron as king over Judah; and once again, after seven years, as king over all Israel. God called him from the sheepfolds to the throne. Our Lord is called to universal sovereignty. He is “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” “On His head are many crowns.” “He made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,” &c. (Philippians 2:7-11). 3. That he was elected to service. “I have laid help upon one that is mighty.” David was chosen by God for a great work. God had invested him with power that he might deliver Israel out of the hand of her enemies. Hengstenberg translates, “I have laid help upon a man of war.” And Alexander says that the word “chosen” has “allusion to its specific use as signifying a young warrior.” David was elected of God as the champion of Israel to lead her armies to battle and to victory. We know how successful he was in this respect. At the beginning of his career the people cried, “Saul hath slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.” And at the close of his career Israel was victorious over all her enemies, and was at peace. So Jesus Christ was elected by God to save mankind. He is the mighty One upon whom our help is laid. He is “mighty to save.” “He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.” 4. That he was elected by God. “I have laid help, … I have exalted, … I have found, … I have anointed.” In the fullest and strictest sense David was chosen by God for his high position and his great work. This accounts for his pre-eminent fitness for his place and mission. God knew his great qualifications, his courage, strength, wisdom, faith, piety; and chose him to fill the throne and subdue the foes of Israel. David was indeed “king by the grace of God.” Our Lord was chosen by God for His great work. “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.” He is the Anointed, the Christ of God. II. The promises made to David. Here is a promise of 1. Constant support. “With whom My hand shall be established: Mine arm also shall strengthen him.” De Wette translates the first clause, “With him My hand shall be continually.” The idea of the verse is that God would grant unto David constant support. His hand would be ever present to aid him, and His strong arm would be ever outstretched to strengthen him. This promise was remarkably fulfilled in the case of David. Many were the trials of his life, yet in all of them he was supported by God. Many and arduous were his undertakings, yet he was enabled to bring them to a successful issue. The people now plead this promise for themselves. In their prostrate and perilous condition they plead for a fulfilment of this promise of the covenant. The promise was also fulfilled in the Saviour. He was ever upheld by God. The Father was ever with Him in fellowship, and ever with Him to aid Him. He overcame all His difficulties, He meekly and triumphantly bore all His trials, because God was ever present with Him. The great want of the Christian Church to-day is spiritual power. Here we have the covenant promise of the constant help of God. Let us plead it in faith, and the life and power that we need shall be given unto us. 2. Victory over His foes. This promise is twofold. (1) His foes should be restrained. “The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him.” The allusion, in the first clause, is to a harsh and unjust creditor, who, regardless of the ability of his debtor, exacts not only the just debt, but an exaggerated demand. The second clause is taken literally from the words of the covenant as recorded in 2 Samuel 7:10. For some time David suffered much from the persecutions of Saul. Notwithstanding his oftrepeated manifestations of affection and loyalty, Saul was never satisfied. But those persecutions came to an end, those exactions all ceased. For many years after the making of the covenant, the enemies of Israel did not dare attempt to oppress or exact upon them in any way. (2) His foes should be vanquished. “I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.” Here is complete victory from the hand of God promised to David and to the people. We know how it was fulfilled. The reign of David closed in peace, and that of Solomon was peaceful. These promises were fulfilled in our Lord. The malice and power of men and devils against Him were curbed by God. Satan could only bruise the heel of the Saviour, while his head was bruised by the Saviour. What Christ said to Pilate was true of all His enemies, “Thou couldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above.” All the enemies of our Lord shall be destroyed. Ignorance, sin, suffering, death, and the grave, shall all be destroyed. His victory will be complete and glorious. Every child of God may claim these promises as his own. Our foes are restrained. God ever imposes upon Satan His, “Thus far shalt thou go, but no further.” (See Job 1:12; Job 2:6.) And He will vanquish all our foes for us. Through faith in Him we shall come out of life’s battle “more than conquerors.” Here is a promise of— 3. Conspicuous power through the faithfulness and mercy of God. “My faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him, and in My name shall his horn be exalted.” In the commencement of the Psalm the poet celebrated the mercy and faithfulness of God, and here he recurs again to them. They were clearly displayed in the covenant, and now that the covenant seems about to fail, the hope of the Psalmist and the people is in them. Mercy and faithfulness were granted to David, and to his seed; and though, by reason of their sin, the temporal sovereignty passed away and the kingdom was destroyed, yet the line of David continued in un-broken succession until Christ came, and the spiritual and eternal kingdom was established in Him. Through God’s blessing the power of the kingdom was conspicuous in the time of David, and it was especially so in the time of Solomon. But the power of the kingdom of our Lord is growing more and more conspicuous daily. “The stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands” is fast filling the whole earth. Here is a promise of— 4. Enlarged dominion. “I will set His hand also in the sea, and His right hand in the rivers.” The sea which is here mentioned is the Mediterranean, and the rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates. These were the boundaries of the promised land as stated to Abram (Genesis 15:18). The kingdom of David was of this extent. The promise made to Abram was fulfilled in his time and in the time of Solomon. But “David’s greater Son” “shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” His kingdom is ever increasing, and ever shall increase, until the whole world bows to His sway. Here is a promise of— 5. Intimate and exalted relationship. “He shall cry unto Me, Thou art my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also I will make Him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.” David looked to God as “the rock of his salvation,” but we have no evidence to show that he regarded God as a “Father.” Mr. Molyneux justly inquires, “When did David call God his Father? It is striking that we do not find anywhere in the Old Testament that the patriarchs or prophets called God their Father. They did not know Him as such. This verse is unintelligible in reference to David, but in regard to the True David it is exactly what He did say—‘My Father, and your Father; my God, and your God.’ Never until Christ uttered these words, never until He appeared on earth in humanity as the Son of God, did any man or any child of humanity address God in this endearing character.” The 27th verse was partly fulfilled in David, but only in a very small degree. It is true that he is pre-eminent among kings “alike in his own personal character and his reign; in his relation to God; and in the fact that he was the ancestor of the Messiah.” Yet it was only a feeble type of the fulfilment of this promise that was witnessed in David. Our Lord Jesus Christ is “the firstborn of every creature.” He is “appointed heir of all things.” “All kings shall fall down before Him: all nations shall serve Him.” He “is on the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.” But it is the privilege of every member of the seed of Christ to address God as “My Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.” If by faith “we are made partakers of Christ,” then is God our Father, and we may with confidence draw near to Him, and rest in Him. 6. Perpetual establishment of the covenant. “My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him.” This promise also looks onward to the Christ. In Him the covenant is sure and lasting. But in what way can God be said to keep His mercy for Christ for evermore? Excellently Matthew Henry elucidates the point. “My mercy will I keep for Him, to be disposed of by Him, for evermore; in the channel of Christ’s mediation all the streams of Divine goodness will for ever run. Therefore it is the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ which we look for unto eternal life. And as the mercy of God flows to us through Him, so the promise of God is, through Him, firm to us: My covenant shall stand fast with Him, both the covenant of redemption made with Him, and the covenant of grace made with us in Him.” His covenant made with Christ and His seed cannot fail. His word abideth for ever. The treasures of His grace are inexhaustible. He will fulfil His promises to Christ. And His mercy and grace toward us shall be more richly imparted and more conspicuously displayed to all eternity. .— 1. Let all who by faith in Christ are interested in this covenant rejoice in the rich blessings it secures unto them. “All things are ours, and we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” 2. Let all who are not by faith savingly interested in this covenant believe in Christ, and so share its blessings. “Incline your ear, and come unto Me,” saith the Lord; “hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.” THE MIGHTY HELPER OF MAN(Psalms 89:19) This assurance points first to David, afterwards to Jesus Christ. In Him on whom God hath “laid help” for the restoration of humanity it receives its complete fulfilment. The text expresses this truth, that man’s great need as a sinner is met by Christ’s great power as a Saviour. Consider, I. Man’s Great Need as a Sinner. The text teaches by implication that none but a mighty Saviour was equal to the work of human redemption; that man had fallen so low and sunk so deeply in sin and misery that no arm but that of the mighty One was able to raise him. That we may obtain a clear and correct impression of the greatness of man’s necessity as a fallen being, let us consider— 1. The greatness of the being that fell. Much has been written and spoken of the physical majesty of man when contrasted with other animals. There is much of both truth and beauty in the well-known words of our greatest dramatist: “What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action, how like an angel! in apprehension, how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!” And a more ancient poet exclaimed, “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” But the physical is not the man, it is but the “earthly house,” the costume of the spiritual. “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” This spirit is the man; and as the inhabitant is greater than the house, as the jewel is more precious than the casket, so the soul is incomparably greater and more precious than the body.… Think of the greatness of man’s mind, as seen in its astonishing achievements. Mention briefly the wondrous triumphs of the human mind.… Now if man has done all this, and much more than this, in his fallen degenerate state, what could he not have done had he not fallen? What could he not have done had his arm never been paralysed by sin, his mental vision never been beclouded, and his constant access to the Great Source of wisdom and power never been interrupted? Moreover, if man has done all this when he is but in his infancy, in the mere “bud of being,” what will he not be capable of accomplishing when he is freed entirely from the impediments of sin and in the unfolding of powers much more mature? The exceeding majesty of the human mind in heaven far surpasses our conceptions. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” When we think of man as an immortal intelligence, we are struck into amazement at his greatness. He is capable of companionship with angels and communion with the Father of spirits, and is destined for perpetual growth in all that is true, holy, and beautiful. 2. The greatness of the Fall. Man’s greatness made his fall the more disastrous and terrible. The fall of man was not as the wreck of some small boat which is quickly destroyed and lost sight of, but as the wreck of a great and majestic vessel,—so great that even now the vast ocean is strewed with its shattered fragments. A once glorious angel fell from his high position, and with him multitudes of high and holy ones rebelled, and lost their purity, their happiness, their God; and now the world is led captive at his will. Man, who was made only “a little lower than the angels,” fell from his God-given sphere, and with him fell all the race, and the power which should have been exercised for the true and good is arrayed in antagonism against them. And, when all the powers of man’s being are thus exercised for evil, who can measure the extent and enormity of their evildoing? St. Paul has graphically depicted the enormities wrought by the mighty but sadly perverted powers of man (Romans 3:13-18). Man’s greatness has aggravated the terrible character of his fall. His mind is mighty to devise evil, and his arm to execute it. And this state of things is not partial but race-wide (Romans 3:10-12). This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/phc/ Superscription.—“A prayer of Moses the man of God.” “The Psalm is described in the title,” says Hengstenberg, “as a prayer. This description shows, as Amyraldus saw, that the kernel of the Psalm is the second part, and that the design of the first is to prepare the way for the second, and lay down a basis on which it may rest. For ϊְּ ?τִ ?μָּ ?δ denotes only prayer in the proper sense, supplicatory prayer.” On ϊְּ ?τּ ?μָּ ?δ as used hero Fuerst says: “ϊְ ?τִ ?μָּ ?δ is a peculiar kind of song in the Psalter.” Its primary meaning he gives as prayer. And on its use in Psalms 72:20, he says: “The first two books of the Psalter are termed in the subscription ϊְּ ?τִ ?μִּ ?εֹ ?ϊ probably because they contain supplications for the most part.” Certainly the word prayer better represents the character of this Psalm than the word Psalm, or hymn.“Of Moses.” “The correctness of the title which ascribes the Psalm to Moses,” says Professor Alexander, “is confirmed by its unique simplicity and grandeur; its appropriateness to his trials and circumstances; its resemblance to the law in urging the connection between sin and death; its similarity of diction to the poetical portions of the Pentateuch, without the slightest trace of imitation or quotation; its marked unlikeness to the Psalms of David, and still more to those of later date; and finally, the proved impossibility of plausibly assigning it to any other age or author.” And Amyraldus says: “But as this ode is most ancient. so it bears strong marks of the genius and character of antiquity. It is grave, full of majesty and authority, adorned with various comparisons, splendid with figures, but these rare and little used, and for the understanding of which there is needed extraordinary attention of mind.” The late Dr. James Hamilton points out that “it is one of the oldest poems in the world. Compared with it Homer and Pindar are, so to speak, modern, and even King David is of recent date. That is to say, compared with this ancient hymn the other Psalms are as much more modern as Tennyson and Longfellow are more modern than Chaucer. In either case there are nearly five centuries between.”“The man of God.” Moses is thus described also in Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6; and Ezra 3:2. The term is very appropriately applied to him because of his singularly noble character, his distinguished rank, and the great part which he played in carrying out the purposes of God concerning our race. “Moses was faithful in all his house, as a servant.” Luther points out that the words “the man of God” give additional weight to the Psalm. He says: “As one who has such a duty assigned to him by God, so that we should believe in him and in his instructions no less than in God Himself.”Occasion. It is impossible to decide upon what occasion the Psalm was composed; but the probability is, that it was written towards the close of the forty years wandering in the wilderness. “It was written,” says F. W. Robertson, “evidently in the wilderness, after years of apparently fruitless wandering; its tone is that of deep sadness—retrospective; its images are borrowed from the circumstances of the pilgrimage—the mountain flood, the grass, the night watch of an army on the march.”Divisions. The Psalm consists of a Meditation (Psalms 90:1-11), and a Prayer (Psalms 90:12-17).HUMAN FRAILTY AND DIVINE (Psalms 90:1-6) In these verses, the Psalmist brings before us— I. The greatness of God. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even front everlasting to everlasting Thou art God.” 1. He existed before the world. The word “earth” is used by the Psalmist to denote our world as distinguished from the heavens; and the word “world” signifies an inhabited fruitful land, or a land fitted for habitation. The “mountains” are mentioned first, because of all created things they appear most ancient, stable, and enduring. Upon all the generations that have ever trod this planet, with all their anxieties and cares, all their strifes and commotions, the old hills have cast their calm and silent shadows. They seem as though they had ever been where they are and as they are, and that they would for ever continue so. They are most impressive symbols of the unchangeable and the eternal. In the poetic diction of the Bible they are spoken of as eternal. Jacob spake of “the everlasting hills.” And Moses, “of the ancient mountains, and of the lasting hills.” And Habakkuk, of “the everlasting mountains, and the perpetual hills.” Yet they had a beginning. There was a time when they were not. However ancient the earth may be, it has not been from everlasting. The world is not eternal. God existed before the mountains were brought forth, before the world was created. 2. He created the world. He is said by the Psalmist to have “formed the earth and the world.” As God’s existence before the world proclaims the fact that it is not eternal, so His creation of the world proclaims the fact that it is not the product of chance. The sublime mountains were not upreared, the smiling valleys were not laid by any “fortuitous concourse of atoms.” “God created the heaven and the earth.” “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” 3. He is eternal. “From everlasting to everlasting Thou art, O God.” To understand eternity is difficult; to explain it is more difficult; to comprehend it is impossible to all except the Eternal. We are acquainted with creatures which have a beginning, live for a few hours, or days, or months, or years, and then cease to be. We are also acquainted with creatures who have been called into existence and will never pass out of existence. Such are we, and probably such are the angels. A little while ago, and we were not. Now we are called into being, and shall continue to be for ever. Our bodies shall change and pass away, our memory shall cease from amongst men upon the earth. But we shall never cease to be. To everlasting Thou art, O man! But God has never had a beginning, and will never have an end. (1) He is without beginning. “From everlasting.” “Time,” says Charnock, “began with the foundation of the world; but God, being before time, could have no beginning in time. Before the beginning of the creation and the beginning of time there could be nothing but eternity; nothing but what was uncreated,—that is, nothing but what was without beginning. To be in time is to have a beginning; to be before all time is never to have a beginning, but always to be; for, as between the Creator and creatures there is no medium, so between time and eternity there is no medium. It is as easily deduced that He that was before all creatures is eternal, as He that made all creatures is God. If He had a beginning, He must have it from another, or from Himself; if from another, that from whom He received His being would be better than He,—so more a God than He. He cannot be God that is not supreme; he cannot be supreme that owes his being to the power of another. He would not be said only to have immortality as He is (1 Timothy 6:16), if He had it dependent upon another; nor could He have a beginning from Himself; if He had given beginning to Himself, then He was once nothing; there was a time when He was not. If He was not, how could He be the cause of Himself?” He is without beginning of days. He is “from everlasting.” (2) He is without end. “To everlasting.” “The reason that anything decays is either its own native weakness, or a superior power of something contrary to it. There is no weakness in the nature of God that can introduce any corruption, because He is infinitely simple without any mixture, nor can He be overpowered by anything else. A weaker cannot hurt Him, and a stronger than He there cannot be; nor can He be outwitted or circumvented, because of His infinite wisdom. As He received His being from none, so He cannot be deprived of it by any: as He doth necessarily exist, so He doth necessarily always exist.” He is the SELF-—the “I AM.” “The Father,” said Christ, “hath life in Himself.” The idea of omnipotence is associated with His eternity in the mind of the Psalmist,—His omnipotence to guard His people. Luther says, “If we look at it” (His eternity) “in a right way, it includes all the properties of the Godhead. For, inasmuch as He is eternal, it follows that He is immortal, omnipotent, blessed, and wise.” And Schleiermacher: “The eternity of God is to be understood only as the omnipotent eternity, as that in God which conditionates time itself, as well as all that is temporal.” How incomprehensibly great is God! When imagination has done her utmost to picture His eternity, it has failed in the attempt. We may add ages to ages, and multiply them by the leaves of the forest in “the leafy month of June,” and multiply them again by the blades of grass upon the face of the earth, and again by the grains of sand upon the seashore, and again by the particles of dust on the earth, and we shall be as far as ever from the measurement of the ages of eternity. “Great God, how infinite art Thou!” II. The frailty of man. In the verses in which the Psalmist sets this forth there are three things which call for notice— 1. The extreme brevity of man’s life upon earth. This is variously represented. How short is human life in the sight of God! “A thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” A day when it is past and gone appears to us but a very short time. To God a thousand years are as brief as one past day is to us. Nay, to Him a thousand years are as brief as a watch in the night is to us. The Jews divided the night into watches, each watch representing the time during which a sentinel remained on duty. Among the ancient Hebrews there were three such watches; the first, or “the beginning of the watches” (Lamentations 2:19); the second, or “the middle watch” (Judges 7:19); and the third, or “the morning watch” (Exodus 14:24). These would last respectively from sunset to 10 p.m., from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and from 2 a.m. to sunrise. A thousand years appear to God as brief as a night watch to the Israelites. Man lives not a thousand years: “The days of our years are threescore years and ten.” How short, then, must man’s life upon earth appear to God! To man a life of seventy years, especially when it is in prospect, appears very long. To God, who sees all things clearly and truly, man’s life, even if it should stretch to a thousand years, would appear brief as a night watch does to us. The Psalmist also speaks of human life as “carried away as with a flood.” We have seen the river swollen with heavy rain rushing rapidly and irresistibly onward to the ocean. So the human family is carried away. Generation after generation is hurried from time into the vast ocean of eternity as by an impetuous and roaring torrent. “The man of God” goes on to say that human life is like “a sleep in the morning.” Barnes suggests that the words “in the morning” should be attached to the middle clause of the verse, and expounds the clause thus—“They are as sleep appears to us in the morning, when we wake from it—rapid, unreal, full of empty dreams.” Martin Luther says: “We know that sleep is such a thing that it ceases ere we can perceive it or mark it; for, before we are aware that we have slept, sleep is gone and ended. Wherefore truly our life is nothing else than a sleep and a dream, for before we are rightly conscious of being alive, we cease to live.” There is much of unreality in human life upon earth. “We are such stuff as dreams are made of,And our little life is rounded by a sleep.”Moses also compares our life to the “grass.” The last clause in the fifth verse is rendered in the margin—“like grass which is changed.” Hengstenberg translates, “It vanishes like grass.” Barnes—“Like grass, it passeth away.” The sixth verse Hengstenberg renders—“In the morning he blooms and—perishes; in the evening he is cut down and withers.” The idea is clear: like the grass or flower which in the morning is green or blossoming in beauty, and in the evening is cut down and withered by the sun, is man’s life upon earth. “As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field so he flourisheth; for the wind passeth over it and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.” How frail is human life, and how uncertain! Every day many go forth in the morning in apparent health and vigour, and before night they are cut down by disease or accident. And even at its longest our life cannot be compared to the cedar or even to the oak, but to the frail grass of the field. 2. The mournful end of man’s life upon earth. “Thou turnest man to destruction, and sayest, Return, ye children of men.” Perowne: “Thou turnest frail man to dust.” There is without doubt a reference here to the curse pronounced upon our race, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” The human body must return to dust, however noble or beautiful it may be. Kings and the meanest of their subjects, millionaires and paupers, the learned and the ignorant, the beautiful and the deformed, the saint and the sinner, must all alike, as regards their bodies, return to the earth. Let the remembrance of the fact humble us. Let those who are proud of their stateliness or beauty remember that in a little time they will have no pre-eminence over the most deformed and repulsive-looking of their fellow-mortals. Let the rich, who look down with contempt and scorn upon the poor, remember that, though after death their bodies may be carried with pomp and laid in some splendid mausoleum, yet in this respect they have no advantage over those who are buried in a parish coffin and a pauper’s grave—the bodies of all alike must return to dust. 3. The great sovereign of man’s life upon earth. The Psalmist regards human life as entirely under the control of God. “THOU turnest man to destruction,” &c. “THOU carriest them away,” &c. It is not disease or chance that removes men from this world. Man returns to the dust not because of the decree of fate, or the operation of some inevitable or irresistible law, but because God wills it. He has the keys of death and hades. Man’s “days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee, Thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.” “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” In the Lord’s “hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” “Thou changest man’s countenance and sendest him away.” The time, the place, and the circumstances of our death are all determined by God. He is the great sovereign of our life upon earth. III. The relation between the great God and frail man. “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.” When Moses penned this Psalm the Israelites were homeless wanderers. Indeed, up to this time they never could be said to have had any settled home. Their father Abraham after his call from his own country lived a wandering life, a stranger in a strange land. Isaac and Jacob also had no settled dwelling-place, but dwelt in tents, and confessed that they were “strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Then the people “went down into Egypt to sojourn there,” and it was not long before their lives were made miserable by the oppressions of the Egyptians. And after their emancipation from Egypt there followed their long, tedious, homeless, and apparently fruitless wandering in the wilderness. It was probably this unsettled, homeless condition that led them to estimate highly the worth of a habitation, and which suggested the employment of the figure in the first verse. In their defenceless, homeless state God Himself had been their home and defence. By His providence He had preserved them in existence as a people, had supplied their wants, and protected them from harm. Homeless wanderers they were, yet they found their home in God. “Here we have no continuing city.” By many and earnest voices God is calling to us—“Arise ye and depart, for this is not your rest.” We crave a dwelling-place, a lasting home, a permanent rest for the soul; but we cannot find it here. Here fairest things soonest fade, brightest prospects soon are lost in darkness, the most exquisite pleasures are speedily succeeded by the most painful trials. The home of the soul is not here. The heart seeks rest and home in the love of dear relatives and friends; but these may fail us in our time of need, or may be summoned from us by death. The best and truest of relatives or friends cannot meet all the soul’s cravings for protection, and rest, and home. The home of the soul is not in the creature. The home of the soul is in God. 1. We are weak, and rest in His omnipotence. The difficulties and dangers which we encounter on our pilgrimage overmatch us, but by the strength of the Lord we are enabled to surmount them. The soul that finds its home in Him is inviolably secure. 2. We are short-lived and rest in His eternity. “We are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days on the earth are as a shadow.” “Like clouds that rake the mountain summits,Or waves that own no curbing hand;”so generation follows generation “into the land of the great departed.” We are hastening after the great multitude who have passed from earth for ever. Nothing rests here. Here nothing abides. Change, decay, death are stamped upon all earthly things. Yet we crave the permanent and the immutable. Oh, for some rock amid this surging sea! Oh, for some thing or being in which these restless, craving hearts may find satisfaction and repose! God is that Being. “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations,” &c. He lives through all generations. He is the Sovereign of all generations. He is the same through all generations. Here we find rest. Our permanent home is in Him. He is supremely, unchangeably, eternally great and good. In Him let us confide. The generations that have passed away have gone at His bidding. He is the God of our life. Our age, our time of residence here, our departure from here, are all regulated by Him. And when we pass hence He is still our home, our refuge, and our rest. Then we need not mourn the brevity of life or the changes of time. We rest in the eternal and unchangeable God. THE HOME OF THE SOUL(Psalms 90:1) I. The soul of man needs a home. I argue this from— 1. Our sense of weariness and longing for rest. The heart often aches in loneliness, droops by reason of exhaustion, and yearns unspeakably for repose. Like worn and weary pilgrims we long for rest. 2. Our sense of peril and longing for protection. Like Israel in the wilderness we are exposed to danger, and need some strong defence. We crave the shelter and the security of a home. 3. Our shrinking from death and longing for immortality. The soul recoils from the idea of going forth from this life unclothed and alone into the unknown. What is there beyond the mystery which we call death? Is there anything? If there is, what is it that is there? The mere thought of ceasing to be is painful. We long deeply for immortality. In the awful loneliness and dread mystery of death where shall we find a refuge and a home? II. The soul of man may find a home in God. He has been the dwelling-place of His people in all generations. 1. In Him alone can the soul find the rest it craves. We want rest from the accusations of conscience and the burden of guilt. He alone can pardon. The rest of satisfied affections; the rest of harmony and progress of being; rest from the dread of death;—He alone can impart this full and blessed rest. 2. In Him alone can the soul find the security it craves. He is our only sure defence against spiritual perils; and in the sorrows and trials of life He is the only adequate support. Storms are sure to fall; He only can shelter us from their fury. He can even bring strength and joy to us out of our griefs and trials. His power, wisdom, and love are the pledge of our security. 3. In Him alone can the soul find the permanence it craves. “He only hath immortality.” The continuance in being and blessedness for which we long He, and He alone, can impart. “A perpetuity of bliss is bliss.” He gives “eternal life.” At His “right hand there are pleasures for ever more.” “So shall we ever be with the Lord.” We enter this home through Christ. By Him we rise into fellowship and union with God. “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” GOD’S CONTROL OVER MAN’S LIFE(Psalms 90:3) We pass away at the command of God. Not chance, not disease, not accident, not war, but “Thou turnest man to destruction!” “Thou carriest them away as with a flood!” We are a family whose members are separated and summoned away only by the word and hand of the great Lord of the house. We regard this great power of God over us as— I. A reason for acknowledging Him. As His power over us is irresistible and righteous, we should bow to His will. It is madness to resist Him. “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like Him?” “He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him, and prospered?” His rule is a fact. He is moving onward to the most complete and universal supremacy. Let us loyally acknowledge Him as our King and our God. Let us move in the line of His purposes. II. A reason for seeking His favour. His power over us being so absolute it is surely our interest to seek friendship with Him. He is condescending and gracious, He is kind and merciful; we may obtain His favour. He calls us to friendship with Himself. Through Christ we may attain unto assured confidence in His favour and friendship,—may know Him not simply as the absolute Sovereign of our life, but also as our supreme Friend. III. A consolation in bereavement. It is consolatory to know that our loved ones who have passed from us were not the victims of chance. Their departure was in all respects ordered by a God of infinite wisdom and kindness. They left us by the appointment of His will, which is ever good. He doeth all things well. IV. An encouragement to labour. Do not fear to attempt great things in life. Let not the dread of death unnerve your spirit and paralyse your arm. You are immortal till your work is done. Until your education in these sublunary scenes is completed, your life is invulnerable against the shafts of death. V. An antidote against the fear of death. If through Christ we are brought into friendship with God, when the body returns to dust, the spirit will pass into the immediate presence of God. To the good man death is the voice of the Father summoning His child home to Himself. Why should we fear such a voice or such a summons? . Let us be thankful that our times are in His hand. Let us tread the path of life with trustful and fearless hearts, for we are safe in the hands of the eternal God. HUMAN FRAILTY THE RESULT OF HUMAN SIN(Psalms 90:7-11) In this section of the Psalm Moses represents the brevity of the life of the Israelites in the wilderness as the result of the Divine anger with them by reason of their sin. Their apparently fruitless lives and their death in the wilderness were the punishment of their sin. By reason of some heinous or aggravated offence many were suddenly cut off by God. See Numbers 11:31-35; Numbers 16:41-50; Numbers 21:4-6. Moreover all those, from twenty years old and upward, who went forth from Egypt were cut down in the wilderness because of their unbelieving hearts and murmuring tongues, save Caleb and Joshua. There they were doomed to wander till the unbelieving generation had passed away. Little or nothing is recorded of them from the second year of their departure from Egypt until the fortieth year. The only end of their wanderings during those years seems to have been the consumption of the faithless generation. Well does Mr. Spurgeon say: “Moses saw men dying all around him; he lived among funerals, and was overwhelmed at the terrible results of the Divine displeasure.” The Psalm has “a solemn and affecting interest, as a penitential confession of the sins which had entailed such melancholy consequences on the Hebrew nation; and as a humble deprecation of God’s wrath; and as a funeral dirge upon those whose death had been pre-announced by the awful voice of God.” So far all is clear. Concerning those of whom Moses wrote it is literally true that their frailty was the result of their sin. They perished in the wilderness because of their unbelief and ingratitude and rebellion. But is it true of mankind as a whole that human frailty is the result of human sin? Is death the penalty of sin? Some passages of the Holy Word say, Yes. The evidence of geology and other sciences says, No. We firmly believe that both are correct. In what way, then, and to what extent, is death the penalty of sin? This is the subject suggested by this portion of the Psalm, and upon which we shall offer some suggestions. “What is death?” “Death,” says one, “is simply another name for discontinuance.” “Death,” says another, “is the dissolution of the body.” But the word is used to express quite distinct and different things. In the Bible the word has at least three uses; indeed it has more, but let us look at these. It is used to denote physical dissolution. (See Genesis 21:16; Genesis 27:7; Genesis 27:10; Deuteronomy 33:1; and many others.) It is used to denote the moral condition of unrenewed men. (See John 5:24; Ephesians 2:1; 1 John 3:14; et al.) It is also used to denote the future punishment of the wicked. (See Revelation 2:11; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8.) No one will dispute that many of the passages which speak of death as the penalty of sin speak of spiritual death, not of physical dissolution. Thus: “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” cannot fairly be applied to our first parents in regard to corporeal death; for, according to the record in Genesis, Adam lived for centuries after his disobedience, and “begat sons and daughters.” And if the words of St. Paul to the Romans, “The wages of sin is death,” be applied to physical dissolution, then saint and sinner pay the penalty alike, nay, in some cases, the physical dissolution of the saint may be more painful than that of thousands of most hardened and corrupt sinners. Still there are passages of scripture in which corporeal death seems to be represented as the result of sin. In the punishment pronounced upon Adam for his disobedience, it is said, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” St. Paul, in writing to the Romans, says, “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” But here we may not limit the meaning of death to physical dissolution. It signifies, says Alford, “primarily, but not only, physical death: as ἁμαρτία, so θάνατος, is general, including the lesser in the greater, i.e., spiritual and eternal death.” (See also Stuart’s commentary in loco.) In no instance, we believe, where the word death is used to express the penalty of sin should its meaning be limited to the dissolution of the body. For the dissolution of the body is natural, and would have taken place even if man had not sinned. We conclude thus— 1. Because of the testimony of geology. “We are confronted,” says Mr. Froude, “with evidence that death has reigned through all creation from the earliest period, of which the stratified rocks preserve the record.” The world had been familiar with death for ages before the creation of man. 2. Because of the nature of the physical constitution of man. “Birth, growth, and arriving at maturity, as completely imply decay and death as the source of a river implies the termination of it, or as spring and summer imply corn-fields and reaping. Hence, whatever the vigour and the powers of repair that may pertain to any given structure, whatever resistance it may offer to the shocks of ages, Time, sooner or later, dissolves it; careful, however, to renew whatever it takes away, and to convert, invariably, every end into a new beginning. There is not a grave in the whole circuit of nature that is not at the same moment a cradle.” 3. Because of the limited accommodation which the world affords as a home for man. “The command given both to animals and man, to ‘be fruitful and multiply,’ implies the removal of successive races by death; otherwise the world would long since have been overstocked; plants, for their part, are described as created ‘yielding seed,’ which carries with it the same inevitable consequence. The produce of so minute a creature as a fly would, if unchecked, soon darken the air, and render whole regions desolate; the number of seeds ripened by a single poppy, were they all to grow and be fruitful in their turn, would in a few years suffice to clothe a continent.” 4. Because the material body is a hindrance to man’s complete spiritual freedom and perfection. The human body as it is in this world seems to us to imprison and impede the soul’s action and growth. We have faculties which cannot be fully developed here and under our present conditions. “We that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened,” &c. (See 2 Corinthians 5:1-4.) For these and other reasons which may be adduced, we hold that in itself the dissolution of the body is not the result of sin. How, then, are we to regard death as the penalty of sin? In what way is human frailty the result of human sin? We reply: in the sufferings with which death is associated. I. Death is associated with physical sufferings, and these are the result of sin. It is true that there are some who die without any physical suffering. But in the great majority of instances the death of man is a thing of strange and severe suffering. The diseases of which men die are most of them very painful, and death itself is a mysterious and probably a painful thing. But the sufferings are the result of sin. If man had not sinned, death would probably have resembled sinking into an easy and gentle slumber, and have been as sweet as sleep is to the weary; it would have been that euthanasia to all men which Augustus Cζsar used so passionately to desire, and which is predicated of the Christian in a well-known and beautiful hymn— “How blest the righteous when he dies!When sinks a weary soul to rest,How mildly beam the closing eyes,How gently heaves the expiring breast!So fades a summer cloud away,So sinks the gale when storms are o’er,So gently shuts the eye of day,So dies a wave along the shore!”—Barbauld.Had it not been for sin, the probability is that no one would have died from disease; dissolution would have been entirely freed from physical sufferings, and would have been as “a gentle wafting to immortal life.” II. Death is associated with mental sufferings, and these are the result of sin. These sufferings arise from— 1. The dread of death. In the Epistle to the Hebrews Christ is represented as dying to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” We are travellers in “the valley of the shadow of death.” That shadow projects itself over life’s fairest scenes. And the dread of death seizes us sometimes even in our brightest hours. (1) This dread arises partly from the mystery of death. Who knows what strange anguish of body there may be in death? What mental sufferings utterly unknown to us may await us in dying? In the separation of the soul from the body may there not be an awful sorrow? Millions have passed through this experience; but not one has returned to tell us of the mysteries through which they passed. And those that were raised from death by our Lord uttered no word as to its nature. They removed none of the mystery. Each man must solve the mystery for himself. This mystery is distressing. But had it not been for sin it would probably not have existed. Man would probably have had a clear knowledge of the nature and meaning of the transition. And even if the mystery had existed it would certainly not have been distressing, for man would have had such firm and large faith in God as would have enabled him to rise above anxiety and fear. (2) This dread is partly the dread of non-existence. Man shrinks from extinction. The thought of passing into utter nothingness, of not being, is full of pain to him. But is there life after death? Is not death the end of man? What is there but darkness, oblivion, nothingness, beyond this present and manifest life? Who has not sympathised with the afflicted patriarch in his meditations and questionings? “There is hope of a tree if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,” &c. (Job 14:7-14). Is there anything after death but “a long, unconscious, never-ending sleep”? “When shall spring visit the mouldering urn?Oh, when shall it dawn on the night of the grave?”But this dread of non-existence is one of the results of sin. Had man not sinned he would have known that death was but transition; nay, that it was the birth of his spirit into a higher state of being. (3) This dread is partly the dread of a miserable existence. The consciousness of guilt leads man to dread a future of misery and endless woe. The guilty conscience arrays God in aspects of terror, and pictures a future of terrible suffering as the punishment of sin. But had man not sinned, the future would have been to him bright, beautiful, and inviting, rich in enjoyment and rich in promise. 2. The sorrows of bereavement. In the case of those who are called to die, the greatest anguish which they suffer frequently arises from having to leave those whom they love as their own soul. Inconceivable must be the anguish of the loving mother when summoned away from her tender, helpless babe. And who can conceive the deep and silent grief of the kind husband and father who is leaving his wife and children, widowed and orphaned, to fight life’s battle without the aid of his strong arm, or wise head, or loving heart? The sorrow of the bereaved is also very great. Tennyson has given utterance to the feeling of thousands of bereaved mourners: “For this alone on Death I wreakThe wrath that garners in my heart;He put our lives so far apart,We cannot hear each other speak.”Oh, the hearts that are almost breaking in loneliness and unutterable distress because of the bereavements of death! But all this distress is the result of sin. If man had not sinned the dying mother would confidently leave her cherished babe, and the dying husband and father his wife and children, to the wise and loving and all-sufficient care of the Heavenly Father. If man had not sinned we should not mourn the departure of our loved ones. With clear perceptions of the spiritual universe, we should see that the separation was more apparent than real, we should know that they are in the enjoyment of a higher, fuller life, a life of blessedness, and that we should soon join them in their high spheres and Divine services. Oh, it is sin that makes bereavement painful! “The sting of death is sin.” Take away sin, and though death remain, its repulsiveness and painfulness would be entirely gone. Sin has made dissolution physically painful; sin has shortened men’s lives by diseases and crimes; sin has robed death in mystery; sin has made man to shrink from death lest it should lead to non-existence or miserable existence; sin has caused all the anguish of bereavements, all and everything that is painful in death is the result of sin. . 1. Brothers, let us hate sin. Let us have nothing to do with sin except to resist it, oppose it, save men from it. 2. Let us be thankful for the Gospel. Christ is the conqueror of death. He has taken away its sting. He is the Saviour from sin. Those who believe on Him shall become holy and heavenly. To them death is no longer a foe, but the kind messenger of the loving Father. SIN BY THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN(Psalms 90:8) The appearance of objects, and the ideas which we form of them, are very much affected by the situation in which they are placed with respect to us, and by the light in which they are seen.… No two persons will form precisely the same idea of any object, unless they view it in the same light, or are placed with respect to it in the same situation.… God sees all objects just as they are; but we see them through a deceitful medium, which ignorance, prejudice, and self-love place between them and us. Apply these remarks to the case before us. “Thou hast set our iniquities,” &c. That is, our iniquities or open transgressions, and our secret sins, the sins of our hearts, are placed, as it were, full before God’s face; and He sees them in the pure, clear, all-disclosing light of His own holiness and glory. Now, if we would see our sins as they appear to Him, that is, as they really are; if we would see their number, blackness, and criminality, and the malignity and desert of every sin, we must place ourselves as nearly as possible in His situation, and look at sin as it were through His eyes. Recollect, that the God in whose presence you are, is the Being who forbids sin, the Being, of whose eternal law sin is the transgression, and against whom every sin is committed. Keeping this in mind, let us— 1. Bring forward what the Psalmist, in our text, calls our iniquities, that is, our more gross and open sins, and see how they appear in the light of God’s countenance. Have any of you been guilty of impious, profane, passionate, or indecent, corrupting language? How does such language sound in heaven? in the ears of angels, in the ears of that God, who gave us our tongues for noble purposes?… Is this fit language for God to hear? Let every one inquire whether he has ever violated the third commandment, by using the name of God in a profane or irreverent manner. If he has, let him bring forward his transgressions of this kind, and see how they appear in the light of God’s presence.… Have any of you been guilty of uttering what is untrue? If so, bring forward all the falsehoods, all the deceitful expressions, which you have ever uttered, and see how they appear in the presence of the God of truth; of that God, who has declared, that He abhors a lying tongue, and that all liars shall have their portion in the burning lake. Oh, what is it to stand convicted of falsehood before such a God as this! After the above manner treat the sins of perjury, Sabbath-breaking, adultery, fraud, injustice or dishonesty, and intemperance. While attending to the preceding remarks, probably many of my hearers may have felt as if they were not personally concerned in them, as if they were guilty of none of those gross iniquities. I would indeed hope that of some of them, at least, none of you are guilty. But these are by no means the only iniquities of which God takes notice; for our text further informs us, that He has set our secret sins, the sins of our hearts, in the light of His countenance. Let us then— II. Bring our hearts into heaven, and there, laying them open to view, see how they will appear in that world of unclouded light and unsullied purity. What a disclosure is made, when, with the dissecting knife of a spiritual anatomist, we lay open the human heart, with all its dark recesses and intricate windings, and expose the lurking abominations, which it conceals, not to the light of day, but to the light of heaven! Even in this sinful world, the spectacle which such a disclosure would exhibit could not be borne. The man whose heart should thus be laid open to public view would be banished from society; nay, he would himself fly from it, overwhelmed with shame and confusion. Of this every man is sensible, and therefore conceals his heart from all eyes with jealous care.… And if the heart laid open to view would appear thus black in this dark, sinful world, who can describe, or conceive of the blackness which it must exhibit, when surrounded by the dazzling whiteness of heaven, and seen in the light of God’s presence, the light of His holiness and love? How do proud, self-exalting thoughts appear, when viewed in the presence of Him, before whom all the nations of the earth are less than nothing, and vanity? Speak of self-will, impatience, discontent; angry, envious, revengeful feelings; and wanton, impure thoughts. If all the evil thoughts and wrong feelings which have passed in countless numbers through either of our hearts were poured out in heaven, angels would stand aghast at the sight, &c. To the omniscient God alone would the sight not be surprising. He alone knows what is in the heart of man; and what He knows of it He has described in brief but terribly expressive terms. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” &c. III. Let us take a similar view of our sins of omission. Our sins of omission are by far the most numerous, and by no means the least criminal offences of which we are guilty. Speak of God’s perfections, His glory, His goodness to us, and of our obligations to Him. Does He not deserve to be loved, and feared, and served with all the heart, and soul, and mind, and strength? Yet from Him we have all withheld our affections and services. Our whole lives present one unbroken series of duties neglected, of favours not acknowledged. And, oh, how do they appear when we review them in the light of God’s countenance!… While God’s law requires us to love Him with all the heart, it also requires us to love our neighbour as ourselves. And this general command virtually includes a great number of subordinate precepts, precepts which prescribe the duties of the various relations that subsist between us and our fellow creatures. How far have we obeyed these precepts?… Oh, how much more might we have done, than we actually have done, to promote the temporal and eternal happiness of all with whom we are connected! Nor do our sins of omission end here. There is another Being whom we are under infinite obligations to love, and praise, and serve with supreme affection. This Being is the Lord Jesus Christ, considered as our Redeemer and Saviour, who has bought us with His blood. We are required to feel that we are not our own, but His; to prefer Him to every earthly object, to rely upon Him with implicit confidence, to live, not to ourselves, but to Him, and to honour Him even as we honour the Father. Every moment, then, in which we neglected to obey these commands, we were guilty of a new sin of omission.… How grossly have we failed in performing this part of our duty! How must the manner in which we have treated the beloved Son appear in the sight of God! A day is approaching in which you will be constrained to see your sins as they appear in the light of God’s countenance. When that day arrives, His eternal Son, the appointed Judge, will be seen coming in the clouds of heaven, &c.… Be persuaded now to come to the light, that your deeds may be reproved, and set in order before you; exercise such feelings respecting them, and so judge yourselves, that you may not be condemned of the Lord on that day.—E. Payson, D.D. Abridged. LIFE AN (Psalms 90:9) “We spend our years as a tale that is told.” The word translated “tale” occurs twice: in Job 37:2, “Hear attentively the noise of His voice, and the sound that goeth out of His mouth;” and Ezekiel 2:10, “And there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.” In the first passage the reference is to the thunder, which is the voice, the utterance, the grand soliloquy of God. In the second passage the word describes the broken accents of grief, the abrupt and incomplete exclamation of deep and overwhelming sorrow. So when life is described in the text, the meaning is that it is a brief and broken exclamation, a hurried voice, a short and startling sound which is soon lost in the silence of eternity. I. The main idea of the text is the transientness of life: it has the brevity of a cry. And does not this accord with fact? The utterances may be of different lengths, but life is always short. Some lives have only one word, some several, yet is each an exclamation. Some have the completeness of finished sentences; some fail in the midst; some have only a beginning, rather intimate that there is something to be said than say it. Then is life short, indeed, when man dies, not because he has exhausted a force so much as because he has met with an obstruction. And yet how often is this the case! The days are “cut off:” “the sun goes down while it is yet day:” “the flower fadeth.” Why did they live at all? What was the reason of their being? And then, also, is life short when, though its voice fails not at the commencement of its utterance, it is broken off in the midst, and gives no complete expression to the deep meaning with which it is charged. And yet how often is it as an unfinished cry! How often do men pass away before they have half revealed the significance of their being! But the brevity assigned to life in the text belongs to all life, and not to any lives in particular. It is brevity which marks it as a whole, marks it in its longest term.… Things are long and short in comparison. The sense of duration is not absolute. The insect that lives but a day has, or might have, the feelings with which we regard seventy years.… And what those transient creatures are to us, that should we be to others proportionably longer-lived than we. Suppose a being to live two millions of years, he would look down on our existence of seventy years with the same feelings as those with which we regard the creature of a day. It is only eternity that is really long—absolutely long. Compared with that, all time is short. Whatever can cease is as nothing to that which never ceases; it is simply impossible to compare them.… Life may seem long while it is going on, &c. But what is life when put against interminable years! We may appropriate both terms, the transient and the endless. We may connect together the life that is but as a broken exclamation, and the life that is as an everlasting voice. I said we may connect them together, but the solemn truth is, that they are connected together independently of our act or thought. That besides which life is vanity will take its character from life. Eternity makes life nothing, and yet everything; sinks it to utter insignificance, and yet invests it with inconceivable importance. Consider the two as contrasted, and life vanishes in the presence of eternity. Consider the two as related, and life partakes of the augustness and awfulness of eternity. II. If life is transient as a cry, it is a cry full of meaning. The importance of utterances does not depend on their length; it is not how long it takes to express a thing, but the nature of the thing expressed, which decides the greatness of the expression. A few words may reveal a world of meaning.… It is the fulness of the heart which seeks relief in cries, and that which makes them short makes them significant. Then do fewest words suffice when many words are felt to be too few. Life is a cry, but what does it not reveal? The broken speech of our earthly days is the voice of souls. It shows what we are as souls; our principles, habits, &c.… And, showing what we are, it shows also what we shall be, what we shall be for ever. And it does more than show what we shall be, it helps to make us it. This is the view of life I wish you to take.… Regarded alone, we may despise it; we may be angry with it; we may say, “Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die;” we may give way to despondency and depression; but, regarded along with what it indicates and prepares for, it will excite us to holy diligence, gird up our loins for hope and service. Thus regarded, its very vanity will only make it more precious, and we shall tremble to neglect the brief period which is the seedtime of eternity … I ask you, whose life is so evanescent, yet so significant, what are you saying? what is the meaning of that living word which issues forth, consciously or unconsciously, from your hearts? Many different cries proceed from our common nature. Life in some is a cry of wonder, an expression of amazement at this mysterious universe, and their own mysterious being. Life in some is a cry of pain, … grief from physical suffering, grief from adversities of lot, grief from social pressure on the heart’s affections. Life in some is a cry of joy, the rapid, incoherent speech of ecstatic feeling. I do not ask which of these your life is, nor does it much signify in relation to the most important of all matters. Be it the expression of wonder, pain, or joy, it may be sad or glorious; it may be the wonder of a believing or a sceptical spirit; it may be the pain of a patient or angry spirit; it may be the joy of a spirit whose portion is the world, or whose portion is the Lord. But I do ask you, what is the temper and the form of your life? With many, it is but an oath; a revelation of enmity against God and godliness; a forgetfulness of all that should be remembered, a neglect of all that should be cared for, a dislike of all that should be loved, a disobedience of all that should be submitted to. But there are many with whom life is a prayer; its exclamations are like ejaculatory supplications; the pouring out of the heart in adoration, petition, praise; the expression of dependence, desire, devotion, &c. Let me ask you, what are you and what are you likely to be in that eternity which is so speedily to succeed the days which are as a shadow?… Life must be sinful if your heart be not renewed by the Holy Ghost; must be wretched if you be not reconciled to God by the death of His Son. Time, which is so short, is the season for conversion, salvation; and without these, when it is passed, you will find yourselves in an eternity for which no preparation has been made. Everlasting life dates from regeneration, not from death; we cannot have the life immortal if we be not born again. Dying in sin, your destiny must be destruction; without God now, you will be without God for ever. Oh! if you have not yet yielded your soul to the Gospel, … let me entreat you to awaken to the transient nature of this probationary period. This evanescent life is big with the fortunes of eternity, and you are deciding what they shall be. Be wise, repent, accept the atonement, go in the way of life, &c.—A. J. Morris. Abridged. HUMAN FRAILTY AN TO SEEK THE DIVINE (Psalms 90:12-17) The Psalmist passes from meditation to supplication. Having meditated upon the eternity of God and the transientness and misery of man’s life upon earth, and traced man’s sufferings to his sins, he here proceeds to implore the blessings of the eternal and unchangeable God upon His frail creature—man. He asks from God— I. Help in forming a correct estimate of life. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” It would have been reasonable to have concluded, that since man’s life is so short and sad he would form a true estimate of it. Yet this he does not. “All men count all men mortal but themselves.” Though life is so uncertain, yet every man acts as though he had a certain future guaranteed unto him. Though life is so brief, yet each man acts as though he had a long earthly future before him. A correct estimate of life must include two things— 1. That it is brief. “Behold, Thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before Thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity.” (See remarks on “the extreme brevity of man’s life upon earth,” Psalms 90:1-6.) 2. That it is preparatory. This world is a great school, and our life in it is educational. We are here to prepare characters for eternity; primarily and pre-eminently, but not exclusively, our own; and to help others in the formation and development of noble characters. What a vast and important work of preparation for eternity has to be done in this brief life! How much have we to do in and for ourselves! In us there are angry passions to be quelled, evil habits whose power must be broken, besetting sins to be conquered. And we have so much to acquire: our deficiencies and imperfections are so numerous, our moral power is so feeble, our spiritual aspirations are so irregular and weak. Verily, our preparation for eternity is advanced only a little way. We have much to do before our spiritual education will be anything like complete. Then we have much to do for others. The parent has many plans which he wants to see carried out concerning his children. The Christian minister feels that in the exposition and application of Divine truth, and in the oversight of the souls committed to his charge, he has a vast and unspeakably important work yet to do. Every man who takes an interest in his fellow-man must feel that he has much to do in helping to remove the ignorance and sin and suffering of men, by helping them to acquire knowledge, and by leading them to the Saviour from sin and the Healer of suffering. When life is thus estimated men will “apply their hearts unto wisdom.” “’Tis not for man to trifle! Life is brief,And sin is here.Our age is but the falling of a leaf,A dropping tear.We have no time to sport away the hours,All must be earnest in a world like ours.“Not many lives, but only one have we—One, only one;How sacred should that one life ever be—That narrow span!Day after day filled up with blessed toil,Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil.”—Bonar.The Psalmist supplicates— II. The mercy of God in life. He prays that God would exercise His mercy towards them— 1. In the removal of His anger. “Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent Thee concerning Thy servants.” The Israelites in the wilderness were visited with some severe expressions of the wrath of God by reason of their sin. Their long, and mournful, and apparently fruitless wanderings in the wilderness were a punishment from God because of sin. For a long time they had been bearing the heavy judgments of the Lord; so they cry unto Him, “How long?” How long shall Thy wrath lie heavily upon us? The petition of this verse is very similar to a petition in a former prayer of Moses: “Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people.” “According to the usual phraseology of Scripture,” says Calvin, “God is said to repent, when, after dissipating sadness, and giving again occasions for joy, He appears as if He had changed.” Yet really there is no change in God. Repentance is impossible to Him. But when man turns to Him in repentance, He turns to man in mercy. When He withdraws His anger it is not because a change has taken place in Him; but because man has changed, and taken a different position in relation to His law and government. So Moses prays that God would turn in mercy to them, and bring His judgments upon them to an end. 2. In the communication of satisfaction to them. “O satisfy us early with Thy mercy.” Literally, “Satisfy us in the morning with Thy mercy.” In the Scripture suffering and distress are frequently set forth by the emblem of night. Morning is an emblem of salvation and joy. (Comp. Job 11:17; Psalms 30:5.) If God in mercy appeared to the Israelites, that appearance would be to them as the dawn of a joyous morning. They pray for satisfaction in the mercy of God. Under the displeasure of God there can be no satisfaction. If any soul is satisfied out of God, that soul is dead. In His favour is life. Only in God can the human soul, with its unutterable yearnings, its quenchless aspirations, and its profound cravings, find satisfaction and repose. 3. In granting gladness to them. In the petitions for gladness three things demand our attention. (1) They seek gladness as a result of mercy. “Satisfy us early with Thy mercy; That we may rejoice and be glad.” The night of their mourning would end, and the day of their joy would dawn, when God satisfied them with His mercy. From the conscious possession of God’s favour the deepest, highest, purest, divinest joy springs. (2) They seek gladness as a life-long experience. “All our days.” Much of sin, gloom, and suffering had been in their past life; they desire that in all their future life there may be the Divine mercy and holy joy. It is the privilege of the child of God “to rejoice evermore.” “Your joy no man taketh from you.” (3) They seek gladness in proportion to their afflictions. “Make us glad according to the days wherein Thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.” It is a principle of God’s providential dealings that light and darkness, happiness and distress, in human life shall bear some proportion to each other. “In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other.” He balances the varying experiences of our lives. The Israelites in the wilderness had many days of His displeasure; they entreat as many days of His favour. They had passed through years of mournful wandering; they pray for a corresponding number of years of peace and joy. The Psalmist entreats— III. The manifestation of God’s power and grace in life. “Let Thy work appear unto Thy servants, and Thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” Here is a prayer— 1. That God would work manifestly on their behalf. “Show to Thy servants Thy doing,” is really a prayer for the interposition of God on their behalf; that He would display His great power in introducing them to prosperity. Moses knew how mighty in working Jehovah is, and so he prays that He would work for them and for their salvation. 2. That God would grant unto them of His grace. “Show Thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” God’s glory consists of His goodness. When Moses prayed, “I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory,” the Lord answered, “I will make all My goodness pass before thee.” He is “glorious in holiness,” glorious in grace. It is probable that they prayed that God’s glory may be manifested to their children, because God had promised to lead their children into the land into which by reason of sin they entered not. That the glory of Divine grace and strength may be displayed to their children, even though themselves may not see it, they earnestly desire. It has been well pointed out “that this prayer was answered. Though the first generation fell in the wilderness, yet the labours of Moses and his companions were blessed to the second. These were the most devoted to God of any generation that Israel ever saw. It was of them that the Lord said, ‘I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after Me in the wilderness, in a laud that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the first fruits of His increase.’ It was then that Balaam could not curse, but, though desirous of the wages of unrighteousness, was compelled to forego them, and his curse was turned into a blessing.” “And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” is also a petition for the favour of God; that the beauty of the Divine character may be revealed in them, and be revealed by them to others. If the grace of God dwell richly in us, it will radiate from us in lives of spiritual beauty and power. The Psalmist prays for— IV. The establishment of human work in life. “Establish Thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish Thou it.” This petition, in its relation to Moses, has a very touching significance. He was to die without seeing the result of the great work of his life. The millions whom he led from Egyptian slavery remained slaves in spirit throughout life; and, because they were slaves and not men, they were not permitted to enter the promised land. Moses himself may see it, but must not enter therein. To a superficial observer his work must have appeared useless, and his life a failure of most magnificent faculties. But his life was no failure; his work was not in vain. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/phc/ There is no title prefixed to this Psalm. We know not who is the author of it. The conjecture, which has been made by some, that it was written by Moses, is very inadequately sustained. Neither do we know the time or occasion of its composition. The Psalm is general in its character, and applies to the whole Church.A remarkable feature of the Psalm is the frequent change of persons, from which some have inferred that it was composed for singing by alternate choirs. The explanation of Hengstenberg seems to us more reasonable: “That the Psalmist speaks at one time from his own person to the soul of the righteous one who is in danger, and revives its courage, while at another time he expresses confidence from the soul of the righteous man; and thus in that pleasant alternation which forms the characteristic peculiarity of the Psalm, he employs at one time the thou in the character of teacher, and at another time the I in the character of scholar.… The call of instruction in Scripture (this is the meaning of the alternation), ought always to be responded to by the acknowledgment of the hearer.”For our homiletical purpose we shall divide the Psalm thus:—The safe hiding-place of the godly (Psalms 91:1-2), The inviolable security of the godly (Psalms 91:3-10), The angelic ministers of the godly (Psalms 91:11-13), The glorious privileges of the godly (Psalms 91:14-16).THE SAFE HIDING-PLACE OF THE GODLY(Psalms 91:1-2) Into these two verses is condensed the contents of the whole Psalm. The statement of the first verse expresses in brief what is afterwards set forth with some particularity,—the safety of him who places his trust in God. And in the second verse the Poet expresses his own firm assurance of his safety in Jehovah his God. We have in the text— I. An implication of danger. That the Psalmist was sensible of danger is clear from the fact that he regarded God as a “refuge” and a “fortress.” The godly are in peril by reason of— 1. The trials of life. Bodily pains, mental perplexities, spiritual sorrows and struggles, involve danger to those who pass through them. The very nature of trial, i.e., testing, involves the idea of possible failure. Bodily pain may result in petulance or bitterness of spirit, mental perplexities may lead to a paralysing unbelief, spiritual conflicts may issue in loss, and even in defeat. The godly soul is in danger and needs a “refuge.” 2. Spiritual adversaries. The good man has to contend with foes. His “adversary the devil as a roaring lion goeth about, seeking whom he may devour.” He is hated by the world. Its spirit and principles, many of its practices, many of its amusements, and much of its literature, are opposed to the interests and even the life of the godly soul. Temptation to evil is a great and sad fact in this world. Moreover, the good man finds that in himself there are “fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” His life is a great moral battle. Numerous and powerful forces are arrayed against him. Seductive influences also are brought to bear upon him to lead him astray. His life is one of peril. He needs a “fortress” from which he may hurl defiance at his foes. II. An assurance of safety. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Notice here: 1. The condition. To realise this safety the godly man must “dwell in the secret place of the Most High.” ñֵ ?úָ ?ø, which is here translated “the secret place,” signifies primarily a veil, a covering, then, what is secret, then, a hiding-place, protection. The latter we take to be the meaning in this place. The godly soul dwells in the hiding-place, i.e., in the protection of the Most High. His trust he reposes in God. He looks to Him for protection from the fiery darts of the wicked, and for support and shelter in the storms of life. To assure his safety the good man must “dwell” in the hiding-place of the Most High. The literal rendering is, “He that sitteth in the,” &c. He dwells in quietude, he finds rest there, he is settled there. “God’s children should not come to God’s secret place as guests to an inn, but as inhabitants to their own dwellings.” Speaking without any figure, the condition of spiritual safety is constant trust in God as our Protector. “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” 2. The promise. “Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The rendering in the margin is “shall lodge”. Hengstenberg translates: “spends the night.” The idea is, that that is his home, the place where he passes his nights. Under the shadow is explained by some by the bird who hides her young ones under her wings for their protection. Others explain it as indicating the great nearness of God to His people, and their consequent safety. We must be and continue very close to a person for his shadow to fall constantly upon us. Thus to abide under His shadow is to realise His constant presence, and to be always secure in His protection. The names of God which are here used set forth the ground upon which this assurance of the godly man is based: “the Most High,” “the Almighty.” What power can harm the man who is protected by the constant presence of the Supreme and Omnipotent Being? In the time of temptation, affliction, and darkness, we shall pass the night under His shadow. And in the toil and battle of the day, with its heat and burden, we shall rest secure beneath the Almighty’s shade. In His nearness to us our safety lies. While we are under His shadow no evil can befall us. Distance from Him means danger. Closeness to Him means entire security. III. An expression of confidence. “I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him will I trust.” Consider here— 1. The aspects in which God is regarded. He is spoken of as a “Refuge.” God is the refuge of His people from the storms of life. In times of suffering and trial they find safety and comfort in Him. He is also a “fortress.” The idea of this word is different from that of a refuge. The refuge was a quiet and secure hiding-place; the fortress is a place of defence against foes, which is strong to resist the attacks of opposing forces. In life’s warfare God is the stronghold of His people; He is their shield. “O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.” Having His protection we are invulnerable. In life’s storms He is the safe and quiet shelter of His people. “My soul trusteth in Thee: yea, in the shadow of Thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” The Psalmist also speaks of the Lord as his “God” the object of His worship; One who is worthy of all obedience and affection, all reverence and confidence, all praise and glory. Jehovah was to the Psalmist all that a man expects in his God. 2. The confidence which is expressed in Him. The Psalmist’s confidence in God is manifest (1) In his resolve to trust Him. “In Him will I trust.” The Psalmist confidently leaves His interests in the hands of God. Believing in His power, goodness, and faithfulness, he trusts Him—confides in Him. (2) In the appropriating nature of his faith. He says, “My refuge, my fortress, my God.” There is little or no strength or encouragement to be drawn from believing in the Lord as a refuge and a fortress unless we realise our interest in Him. But when faith is in vigorous exercise and we claim God as our own, then are we inspirited and strengthened. Can we look to God and say, “My refuge, my fortress, my God”? (3) In the declaration of his confidence. “I will say of the Lord,” &c. He was determined to proclaim his confidence in God. He believes, and, therefore, he speaks. Men are ready enough now-a-days to speak of their doubts. But he is the noble man and the useful man who can intelligently and reverently speak of his faith; who says, “I know whom I have believed,” &c.; and who is “ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh him a reason for the hope that is in him with meekness and fear.” Great was the confidence of the Psalmist in God, and his great confidence he declares unto others. .—We also are exposed to trials and dangers, and need a refuge and a defence. Our safety is in God alone. Having Him for our God we are beyond the reach of any real harm. We secure His protection by trusting in Him. By faith we dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and are ever secure under His shadow. Do not fear or hesitate to trust God fully and for ever. Commit yourself with confidence into His hands, and you shall dwell safely by Him for ever. THE OF THE GODLY(Psalms 91:3-10) In these verses the Poet sets forth with a measure of particularity what he has already expressed briefly and generally. He expresses in joyous song his strong confidence that he is safe from dangers of every kind, because he is protected by God. The inviolable security of the godly is here represented— I. As effected by God. “Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” The Psalmist felt that he had for protector no less a being than God Himself. Two features of the Divine protection are here brought into view. 1. Its tenderness. “He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust.” The young birds under the wing of their mother are tenderly guarded. (See our notes on Psalms 57:1; Psalms 63:7.) Gotthold tells how that during a fire at Delft, in Holland, certain storks, finding it impossible to preserve their brood, placed themselves upon the nest, spread over them their wings, and so perished with them in the flames. “Under these wings,” says Bernard, “four blessings are conferred upon us. For under these wings we are concealed: under these we are protected from the attacks of the hawks and kites, which are the powers of the air: under these a salubrious shade refreshes us, and wards off the overpowering heat of the sun: under these also we are nourished and cherished.” 2. Its effectiveness. Wings and feathers indicate the tender and loving character of the Divine protection. Yet wings and feathers are weak and may be easily broken. But the Divine protection is as strong as it is tender, as efficient as it is gracious. “His truth shall be thy shield and buckler.” God’s word, and His faithfulness to His word, are as armour to His people, preserving them from the onslaughts of their enemies. In such a protector we do well to trust and rejoice. He is wise to baffle the crafty designs of the cunning fowler; tender to shelter us from the storm and tempest; and strong to defend us in the day of battle. II. As gloriously complete. The Psalmist labours to set forth the completeness of the safety of the godly man. He represents him as being— 1. Safe from all perils. It is perhaps impossible to assert with certainty what the Psalmist meant by each of the phrases and figures he employed. “The snare of the fowler” indicates danger arising from the craft and cunning of enemies. The great enemy of God and man is especially signified. The Lord delivers His people from “the wiles of the devil.” “The noisome pestilence.” There is a difference in both the translations and the interpretations of this clause. Perowne translates—“The devouring pestilence.” Barnes—“The fatal pestilence; the pestilence that spreads death in its march.” Hengstenberg—“The pestilence of wickedness.” And Matthew Henry says—“The contagion of sin is the noisome pestilence.” We think the latter view the correct one. The first clause of the verse (Psalms 91:3) we regard as representing the subtle temptations of Satan, and the second the ruinous contagion of sin. God delivers from both all who trust in Him. Hengstenberg, as we think with great probability, interprets Psalms 91:5 as setting forth the safety of the godly from the attacks of men, and Psalms 91:6 as setting forth their safety from sickness. Perowne, on Psalms 91:5, says—“Terror by night (comp. Son 3:8; Proverbs 3:23-26), in allusion, probably, to night attacks like those of Gideon (Judges 7), a favourite artifice of Oriental warfare; or perhaps to a destruction like that of Sennacherib.” And it has been pointed out on Psalms 91:6, that “the diseases of all hot climates, and especially where vegetation is highly luxuriant, and marshes and miry swamps are abundant, proceed from the accumulating vapours of the night, or from the violence of the sun’s rays at mid-day. The beriberi of Ceylon, the spasmodic cholera and jungle-fever of India, and the greater part of the fevers of intertropical climates, especially that called the yellow-fever, chiefly originate from the first of these—‘the pestilence that walketh in darkness;’ while sunstrokes, apoplexies, inflammations of the brain, and liver complaints of most kinds, proceed from the second, ‘the destruction that wasteth at noonday.’ And it is in allusion to this double source of mischief that the Psalmist exclaims most beautifully on another occasion (Psalms 121:6), ‘The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.’ ” The seventh verse seems to refer to warlike relations, and to express the security of the godly in battle. And in Psalms 91:10, where the plague is mentioned as not coming nigh the dwelling of the righteous, there is, perhaps, an allusion to the exemption of the Israelites from the plagues of Egypt. But, leaving the examination of details, let us take hold of the main idea of the Poet, that the godly are safe from perils of all kinds and from all perils. “The variety of figures employed shows that the Psalmist is thinking of peril of every kind, coming from whatever source, and that he paints all dangers and fears vividly to the eye of his mind, in order to express the more joyfully his confidence that none of these things can move him, that over all he is more than conqueror. It is St. Paul’s fervid exclamation, ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ expressed in rich poetry.” From all the assaults of Satan, from the fatal contagion of moral evil, from the attacks of enemies both by night and by day, from hurtful diseases, from every plague, from all evil, the godly man is preserved. 2. Safe at all times. “By night, by day; in darkness,” and “at noonday” the Divine protection is alike exercised. “He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.… The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” The guardianship of God is unremitting, constant, and unchangeable. They who trust in Him are at all times safe in His keeping. 3. Raised above the fear of danger. “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.” A stout heart may well be excused if it were afraid of perils such as these, and especially when they approach us in darkness and at night. In the darkness of night evil is apt to assume an exaggerated character. Imagination increases its terrors. If we could clearly see the perils which threaten us they would lose much of their terror-inspiring power. But the godly man, trusting in the Lord, shall not be afraid of the terrors of the night or the perils of the day. In the midst of dangers he shall walk calmly because of his trust in the all-sufficient protection of God. But is all this true? Is it not a fact that pestilence seizes the saint as well as the sinner? Does not the plague enter the dwelling of the good man as well as that of the evil? It is unquestionable that the godly are not exempt from “the ills that flesh is heir to.” Loss, sickness, suffering, death, fall to their lot even as to others. What, then, does the Psalmist mean in these verses? How are we to understand them? We must bear in mind that we are interpreting poetry, not prose. The sacred poets of the Hebrews, like all other poets, used figurative and rhetorical language. And to interpret their poems in the same way as we interpret an historical document, or a logical treatise, or an apostolic letter, would be utterly misleading. The plain truth expressed in these verses is, that God is the Protector of His people, and that they are secure who put their trust in Him. Nor is it difficult to show that in times of pestilence and peril the position of the godly man is far superior to that of the ungodly. We may mention at least three things in which this is clearly manifest. (1) Faith in God is a great safeguard against disease and danger. Stier states that some years ago a distinguished physician in St. Petersburg recommended this Psalm as the best defence against the cholera. And Tholuck admirably says—“As the general who carries within him the conviction that he is called to a great work, whilst the bullets fall thick as hail about him, stands with calm eye and firm foot, and says: I know that the bullet is not yet cast which can strike me, so stands the man of prophetic faith in the hour of danger, with the conviction that the thunderbolt will turn aside from his head, and the torrent dry up at his feet, and the arrows fall blunted from his breast, because the Lord wills it.” Faith in God is the great condition of calmness and courage in time of danger. (2) The godly man observes the laws of health. Pestilence and disease find their victims chiefly amongst the intemperate and licentious, who by their sinful habits are predisposed to their attacks, and unable to resist their power. But the godly man, by reason of his life of virtue, temperance, and cleanliness, often escapes the most deadly diseases without any attack, or if attacked frequently recovers. (3) Suffering and death wear a different aspect to the godly man from that which they present to the wicked. He knows that suffering is educational; “that tribulation worketh patience;” that out of affliction and conflict the saints often bring great spoil of spiritual treasures; that “these light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are working for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” He has gracious support in all his trials and afflictions; and, being sanctified by God, great blessings accrue to him by means of them. And to the godly men of this Christian age death is not an evil; it signifies not loss, but gain; it is the gate of life; it is birth into a higher and diviner form of life. It is true, then, that no real evil can befall the godly soul who is trusting in the Lord. And if suffering and sorrow and loss should be his portion, God will educe from them blessings of transcendent and perpetual value. “We know that all things work together for good to them that love God.” III. As conditionated by trust in God. The godly man is thus secure because he has made the Lord his refuge, and the Most High his habitation. (See notes on the condition of safety in the preceding homily.) This verse (the 9th) is in substance a repetition of the first verse. If we would secure the protection of God we must trust Him fully and constantly. .— 1. Let the godly ever trust and rejoice in their Protector. 2. Sinner, seek and secure this protection while you may. “Let the wicked forsake his way,” &c. THE REWARD OF THE WICKED(Psalms 91:8) These words suggest— I. That there is a difference between the sufferings of the righteous and the wicked. The same external afflictions and trials may befall them; but to the righteous they are educational, to the wicked they are punitive—“the reward,” &c. II. That the Divine rule in this world is righteous. Under it the godly are protected by God, while the wicked are punished. III. That the righteousness of the Divine rule is not always manifest in this world. If the present were our only state of being, there are many things which we could not reconcile with the fact that God reigns in righteousness. IV. That the righteousness of the Divine rule will ultimately be clearly manifest to all. The godly with their eyes “shall see the reward of the wicked.” There is a state where all the apparent inequalities of the moral government of our world will be clearly rectified. “Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” V. The weak and fearful believer, notwithstanding his fears, shall not perish with the wicked. “Only with his eyes shall he see the reward of the wicked,” while he himself shall enjoy the glorious inheritance of the good. THE ANGELIC OF THE GODLY(Psalms 91:11-13) In pursuance of the main topic the Poet here speaks of angels as charged by God to help and defend His people. Literally the word angel signifies a messenger, and may be used personally or impersonally. It is used in the Scriptures to designate ordinary messengers, prophets, Christian ministers, &c. In this place it denotes superhuman spirits—angels, as the word is commonly understood at present. From the representations of the holy Word it is clear that the angels rank high in the scale of being. They are said to possess great power. “Angels that excel in strength.” “Mighty angels.” And most astonishing achievements of power are attributed to them. They also possess great intelligence. This is plainly implied in the words of the Lord—“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” It is also implied in the statement that they are “full of eyes before and behind,” and “full of eyes within.” The amazing power that they wield is chiefly the power of intelligence and wisdom. They also possess complete moral purity. They are spoken of in the Bible as “saints,” “holy ones,” and “holy angels.” Dwelling in that world where not even the shadow of moral defilement can enter, and standing in the immediate presence of God, they must be entirely free from even the smallest moral stain or imperfection. Their power, intelligence, purity, differ from ours in this, that they are perfect in kind. They differ from those of God in this, that they are imperfect in degree. There is before the angels a career of constant progress, both moral and intellectual, through all eternity. Moreover, they are represented as interested in the affairs of this world, and as actively employed by God in connection with those affairs. “They are represented as being, in the widest sense, agents of God’s providence, natural and supernatural, to the body and to the soul. Thus the operations of nature are spoken of as under angelic guidance fulfilling the will of God.… More particularly, however, angels are spoken of as ministers of what is commonly called the ‘supernatural,’ or perhaps more correctly the ‘spiritual’ Providence of God; as agents in the great scheme of the spiritual redemption and sanctification of man.” “The angel of the Lord” is said to “encamp round about them that fear Him, and to deliver them.” They are represented as watching over Christ’s little ones; as rejoicing over a penitent sinner; as bearing the spirits of the redeemed into Paradise; and as “ministering spirits” for the spiritual guidance and help of the heirs of salvation. And in the text they are said to be charged by God to uphold and aid His people. That they should thus minister to the godly is in the highest degree reasonable. (1) From the interest which they take in man (Luke 15:10; 1 Peter 1:12). (2) Inasmuch as a fallen angel led man to his ruin, and still by malign influences seeks our destruction, does it not seem appropriate and reasonable that holy angels should aid us in every virtuous and worthy effort? (3) It is the law of God’s universe that His creatures should minister to each other. All things and all beings are made for service. The higher order of beings are made to minister to the lower—the strong to help the weak, the enlightened to instruct the ignorant, &c. Our Lord “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” “I am among you,” He said, “as He that serveth.” God is the Great Minister of all His creatures. How reasonable then that angels should minister to men! If we are asked in what way angels minister to men? or, how they serve us? we may with strict fairness decline to reply. We may accept a fact without being able to explain its mode. All men, indeed, do so in many things. So we accept as true the statement that angelic beings aid men, though we are unable to explain by what method they do so. But may it not be that they aid us by suggesting to our mind thoughts, reasons, and motives to action, and by awakening emotions in our souls? &c. Any way, we thankfully accept and rejoice in their ministry as a precious reality. “Oh! th’ exceeding graceOf highest God that loves His creatures so,And all His works with mercy doth embrace,That blessed angels He sends to and fro,To serve to wicked men, to serve His wicked foe.“How oft do they their silver bowers leave,To come to succour us that succour want!How oft do they with golden pinions cleaveThe flitting skies, like flying pursuivant,Against foul fiends to aid us militant!They for us fight, they watch and duly ward,And their bright squadrons round about us plant;And all for love, and nothing for reward.Oh! why should heavenly God to men have such regard!”—Spenser.In the text the angelic ministers of the good are said to be— I. Commissioned by God. “He shall give His angels charge over thee.” 1. They are “His angels.” He called them into being. He sustains them. The most mighty and glorious of their number is dependent upon Him. He is sovereign over them all. Loyally and reverently they acknowledge His sovereign right over them. 2. They are commissioned by Him. He allots to them their respective duties. They “do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” They are “His hosts, ministers of His that do His pleasure.” The “charge “which in the text they are said to receive is more than a mere direction or order; it is a solemn command. All the angelic ministers of the godly obey His behests; they serve under Him,—they are carrying out His purposes. This angelic ministry is— II. Exercised for the godly as individuals. “He shall give His angels charge over thee.” God is profoundly solicitous for the well-being of each one of His people. He does not overlook the individual in the multitude. He cares for every godly soul with a care as complete and constant as though He had no other soul to care for. So in the ministry of His angels unto men He gives them charge not simply of His Church or of the communities which compose it, but of every individual member who trusts in Him. So that every true believer may say, “In my lonely labour, and sorrow, and conflict, when far removed from human help and fellowship, my angelic helpers still have me in their charge, and are still near to help me.” Thus an angel ministered to Elijah (1 Kings 19:4-8); to Daniel (Daniel 6:22); to Peter (Acts 12:7-10). This angelic ministry is— III. Exercised for the godly only when they are in their true path. “To keep thee in all thy ways.” It is significant that when Satan quoted this verse in the temptation of our Lord, he omitted this clause. Had he quoted the whole verse, his temptation would have refuted itself. “The ‘ways’ spoken of in the Psalm are the ‘ways’ of obedience and duty, not the ‘ways ‘of presumption or self-seeking.” In the ways which God has prescribed for us to walk in we shall find safety and support even when the way is roughest and we are feeblest. But if we step out of the way, we forfeit the help of the angel ministers. If we are out of the way, their business is not to help us but to oppose us, if haply their opposition may lead us to retrace our steps and re-enter our true path. So long as we are in our way we are sure of the Divine help and protection, for His angels will not fail in their charge; but if we are out of our way, we are exposed to dangers from every quarter. The path of duty is the path of safety. The angelic ministry is— IV. Exercised for the godly always when they are in their true path. “To keep thee in all thy ways.” God calls men to tread different ways. He also calls the same person to tread different ways at different times. There are the ways of arduous duty, and of severe trial, and of peaceful progress, &c. God’s way for one man is the way of patient endurance, He calls him to suffer; His way for another man is the way of constant and perhaps difficult service, He calls him to work; His way for vast numbers is that of quietly and faithfully discharging “the daily round and common tasks” of life, He calls them to diligence and faithfulness. In all the paths of life which He calls us to tread our angelic ministers are near for our help. When our path lies by the rippling waters of gentle streams, beneath azure skies, amid beauteous scenes and with genial breezes, they keep us in our way. And when we travel the steep and rugged way, beneath heavy clouds and amid furious storms, they bear us up on their hands lest we dash our foot against a stone. In the thronged and dusty way of life’s busy scenes, and in the retired and peaceful paths of quiet service, they keep us. “To keep thee in all thy ways.” V. By means of the exercise of this angelic ministry the godly are enabled to surmount all the hindrances and conquer all the foes that beset their way. “They shall bear thee up on their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot.” “By the ‘lion and adder,’ ” says Perowne, “there is no need to understand exclusively, or chiefly, the powers of darkness, the evil spirits. As by ‘a stone’ all hindrances, so by ‘the lion and dragon’ all hostile powers are denoted.” By means of this angelic ministry the godly are— 1. Preserved from falling. “They shall bear thee up on their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” One great object of the ministry of angels is to guard the good lest they stumble and fall into sin. They aid us to overcome the hindrances of life. “If we cannot have the way smoothed, it answers every purpose if we have angels to bear us up on their hands.” 2. Enabled to conquer the most powerful foes. “The lion” and “the young lion” represent enemies of great strength and violence. Satan is said to go about “as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” The most powerful enemies of the good cannot cope with one of the angels of God. One angel of the Lord in one night smote one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrians. The man who trusts in the Lord, looking upon the most numerous and most powerful enemies, in full assurance of victory may say, “Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.” Our helpers are more numerous and more powerful than our enemies. 3. Enabled to conquer the most cunning foes. “The adder” and “the dragon” represent enemies of great secrecy and cunning. Satan is designated a serpent and a dragon. “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.” St. Paul speaks of the “wiles of the devil.” Many of the foes against which the godly have to contend in society to-day seek to gain their victory not by strength but by subtlety, not by force but by fraud. But our angelic helpers aid us in this respect also. We have assurance of complete victory over both “the roaring lion” and the “old serpent.” Triumphantly we shall tread our foes under our feet. Over both the might of opposition and the cunning of temptation we shall be more than conquerors. . 1. Our subject affords encouragement to trust in God. How numerous and efficient are the agencies He employs to save us! 2. Our subject reveals the dignity of the godly man. Angels, the highest beings in creation, the holy, the glorious, the powerful, are employed by God to serve him. Child of God, realise thy dignity, walk worthily of it. 3. Our subject calls us to the service of others. Angels serve us, Christ serves us now in heaven, the Holy Ghost serves, the Heavenly Father serves, God is the great servant of all. To serve God by ministering to our fellow-creatures is our duty and privilege. Let us secure the blessedness of unselfish and hearty service. THE FOES AND VICTORY OF THE GOOD(Psalms 91:13) I. The foes of the good. These are— 1. Numerous. “The lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon.” “Angels your march oppose,Who still in strength excel,Your secret, sworn, eternal foes,Countless, invisible.”—C. Wesley.The enemies of the good in human society, in commerce, in amusements, in literature, are very many. And to these and the countless evil spirits must be added the “fleshly lusts which war against the soul.” 2. Various. “The lion,” whose strength, courage, and ferocity are proverbial. The word which is translated “adder” signifies “a poisonous snake.” “The young lion” is mentioned as particularly fierce and violent. And the word which is translated “the dragon,” signifies here a “land serpent of a powerful and deadly kind.” Thus varied are the foes of the godly man. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all arrayed against him. He has to battle with the syren enticements of temptation and the fierce attacks of persecution, &c. 3. Terrible. “The lion, adder, young lion, and dragon” are very terrible foes to the traveller. If once they have him in their power, they will destroy him. The foes of the godly soul are to be dreaded for their malignity, subtlety, and power. He is a fool who thinks lightly of the forces of evil which are working and fighting in this world. II. The victory of the good. This is— 1. Complete. (1) Over all foes. “The lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon” shall all be vanquished. The world, the flesh, and the devil, persecutions and seductions, inward foes and outward, shall all be overcome by the man who trusts in God. (2) Over all foes completely. “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.” “His meaning is, thou shalt intentionally tread upon them like a conqueror, thou shalt tread upon them to testify thy dominion over them. You shall have power to overcome whatsoever may annoy you.” “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” The Christian will come out of life’s conflicts “more than a conqueror” through Christ. 2. Certain. (1) Because angels aid us against our foes. They are intelligent, powerful, swift, glorious allies. (2) Because God guarantees it. “Thou shalt tread,” &c. Here is no perhaps, but a certain promise from Him who is the truth. Take courage then, brother, in life’s battles. Trust and fight, and a glorious victory will be yours. THE OF THE GODLY(Psalms 91:14; Psalms 91:16) The inspired poet in these verses represents God Himself as declaring the high privileges of His servants. We have here— I. Some features in the character of the godly. 1. Love to God. “Because he hath set his love upon me.” The good man loves God with the love of gratitude—loves Him because of what He has done and is still doing for him. “We love Him because He first loved us.” When we reflect upon the evils from which He delivers us, and the blessings He bestows upon us, and the glory which awaits us in the future, our heart glows with gratitude and affection to Him. The good man loves God with the love of esteem also,—loves Him because of what He is in Himself. The love which springs from gratitude is first in order of time in the spiritual history of most men; but the love which springs from esteem is first in order of excellence. To love Him because of the divine beauty of His character and life, is a far higher thing than to love Him because of the benefits which we have received from Him, or which He has promised to bestow upon us. “My God, I love Thee, not becauseI hope for heaven thereby;Nor because they who love Thee notAre lost eternally.“Not with the hope of gaining aught,Nor seeking a reward,But, as Thyself hast loved me,O ever-loving Lord.“So would I love Thee, blessed Lord,And in Thy praise will sing,Because Thou art my loving God,And my redeeming King.”—Xavier.The expression, “Set His love upon me,” indicates fixedness of affection. God requires from us an intense single-hearted love. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.” Our supreme love must be fixed upon God. There is encouragement for us in this verse. “It is not because of perfect love that God will deliver. It is to the will to love and serve—it is to the setting the heart that the promise is made—to the full purpose of heart, that is set to cleave unto the Lord.” Do we love God supremely? 2. Knowledge of God. “He hath known my name.” Knowledge of God and love to God are closely connected. We must have some knowledge of God before we can love Him. A true knowledge of God leads to trust in Him. “They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee.” To know God’s name is to know Himself. Proficiency in this knowledge is attainable only to the man who loves God. As we must have some knowledge of God before we can love Him, so we must love Him before we can know much of Him. “Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” We can know the heart of God only as we love Him. Where the keen intellect fails to discover any trace of God, He is clearly and preciously manifest to the pure and loving heart. 3. Prayer to God. “He shall call upon Me.” The godly soul cannot live without prayer. In times of need he calls upon God for grace to help him. In the enjoyment of blessing He calls upon God in grateful praise. At all times he acknowledges his dependence upon God. And there are seasons when prayer grows into holy and blessed communion, in which there are no petitions, but an intense and blessed realisation of the presence of God, and adoration of Him, which humbles and purifies and strengthens the spirit. II. Some of the glorious privileges of the godly. 1. Deliverance from danger. The assurance is twice given, “I will deliver him.” The good man has enemies to contend with, but God will deliver him out of their hands, and give him the victory over them. The good man is exposed to dangers, but God delivers him safely out of them all. 2. Exaltation and consequent safety. “I will set him on high.” I will place him out of the reach of danger. God raises those who trust Him above the stormy sea of this life, places them on an immovable rock, where the threatening and thundering waves cannot reach them. “He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks.” God thus exalts His people above the perils of life, because they know His name and confide in Him. 3. Answers to prayer. “I will answer him.” The answer to prayer is not necessarily the granting of our requests. “It may be a refusal, an explanation, a promise, a conditional grant.” Excellently says Matthew Henry, “I will answer by promises (Psalms 85:8), answer by providences, bringing in seasonable relief, and answer by graces, strengthening them with strength in their souls; thus He answered Paul with grace sufficient.” True prayer is always answered by God, and answered in infinite wisdom and love. 4. The presence of God in trouble. “I will be with him in trouble.” The good man is not exempted from trouble, but supported in the midst of trouble. The celebrated William Dawson says, “At other times God will leave them in the hands of angels: ‘He shall give His angels charge over thee to keep thee,’ &c. But when they are in trouble, I will say to the angels, ‘Stand aside, I will take care of them Myself. I will be with them in trouble.” So He speaks to His people: ‘When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,’ &c. When languishing in sickness, He will make His bed and his pillow; when travelling through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord will be with him, and enable him to sing, ‘I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me,’ &c. Thus He is with them as their physician and nurse, in pain and sickness; as their strength in weakness; as their guide in difficulty; their ease in pain; and their life in death.” 5. The conference of distinguished honour. “I will honour him.” God honours His people in this life by delivering them from danger and trial, by sustaining them in suffering and sorrow, and by raising them into the most exalted relationships. “Now are we the sons of God.” In the life that is to come God will honour them by raising them to the highest dignities, the most delightful fellowships, the most glorious service, and to His own immediate presence. “To him that overcometh I will give to sit with Me in My throne,” &c. “We know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him,” &c. 6. Satisfaction with the duration of their life upon earth. “With long life will I satisfy him.” “The special promise of long life at the close,” says Perowne, “as a temporal blessing, is in accordance with the general character of the Old Testament. Still it is possible that men like the Psalmist, full of faith in God, attached a deeper and more spiritual meaning to promises and hopes like these, than was attached to them by the majority of their countrymen.” Matthew Henry’s exposition seems to us admirable. “ (1) They shall live long enough; they shall be continued in this world till they have done the work they were sent into this world for, and are ready for heaven, and that is long enough. Who would wish to live a day longer than God has some work to do, either by him or upon him? (2) They shall think it long enough; for God by His grace shall wean them from the world and make them willing to leave it. A man may die young, and yet die full of days, satur dierum—satisfied with living. A wicked worldly man is not satisfied, no, not with long life; he still cries, Give, give. But he that has his treasure and heart in another world has soon enough of this; he would not live always.” The good man’s life upon earth is a completed thing, whether he die young or live to become a centenarian. He knows that his life is ordered by infinite Wisdom, and whenever it ends he is satisfied. 7. Full salvation. “And show him My salvation.” When the good man’s life upon earth is ended, God will admit him to the enjoyment of His complete, glorious, and everlasting salvation in heaven. Here we catch glimpses of His salvation; there we shall see it fully and clearly revealed. Here we know its power and blessedness in part; hereafter we shall know them in their completeness. Here we conquer and have to battle again; there the warfare is all over, and the victory is glorious and endless. Here we partake of His salvation in the kingdom of grace; there in the kingdom of glory. . 1. Have we these distinguishing characteristics of the godly? Do we love, know, and pray to God? 2. Do you who have them, value and rejoice in your exalted privileges? 3. And you who do not bear the marks of the godly man, what is your hope? Through Jesus Christ every man may attain to this supreme love to God, this blessed knowledge of Him, and this hallowed communion with Him. LONG LIFE(Psalms 91:16) “With long life will I satisfy him.” The present life is not a vain thing, but a thing of solemn reality; not a trifling thing, but a thing of stupendous importance; it ought not to be a mean thing, but a thing of sublimity and honour. I. Long life is desirable. 1. Because of the obedience which, we may render to God. In this world we obey God in the face of many difficulties and much temptation. In heaven all influences combine to aid its inhabitants in their joyous obedience and service. But here, alas! it is very different. Yet obedience in a state like the present develops some of the noblest elements of character, and is specially well-pleasing to God. 2. Because of the service we may render to our race. In heaven holiness is universal and supreme. In hell evil holds undisputed sway. Upon earth good and evil are present, and in conflict. Here we may labour for the cause of righteousness and truth as we cannot in any other state of being. “Awake, my zeal; awake, my love,To serve my Saviour here below,In works which perfect saints above,And holy angels cannot do.Awake, my charity, to feedThe hungry soul, and clothe the poor;In heaven are found no sons of need;There all these duties are no more.”—Watts.3. Because of the reward which we may obtain. Obedience and service rendered in this life will be appropriately and proportionately rewarded in the life to come. Therefore it is natural and right to desire to live long that we may obey long, and serve long, and reap a rich reward. II. The tendency of true religion is to promote long life. “Keep My commandments; for length of days, and long life, and peace shall they add to thee. Length of days is in her (Wisdom’s) right hand.” The truly religious man lives virtuously, temperately, cultivates cleanliness, and avoids all violent passions, and such a life contributes incalculably to the prolongation of life. III. A true estimate of the length of life is not formed by simply numbering its months and years. “They only,” said Sheridan, “have lived long who have lived virtuously.” “He lives long,” said Fuller, “that lives well; and time misspent is not lived, but lost.” “We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;In feelings, not in figures on a dial.We should count time by heart-throbs. He most livesWho thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.”—Bailey.“He liveth long who liveth well!All other life is short and vain;He liveth longest who can tellOf living most for heavenly gain.“He liveth long who liveth well!All else is being flung away;He liveth longest who can tellOf true things truly done each day.”—Bonar.IV. A truly godly man at the close of life will be satisfied with its length as determined by God, whatever that length may be. “My times are in Thy hand.” Our days are determined, the number of our months is with Him; and He orders all things well. “In short measures life may perfect be.” Conclusion.—Let us see to it that, by the help of God, we live well and earnestly; and thankfully leave the length of our life with Him. Superscription.—“A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day.” It so far combines the properties of both a psalm and a song that either name may be applied to it. This psalm was appointed for use in the temple service on the Sabbath-day. By reason of its contents it is well adapted for use in the public worship of God. “It celebrates,” says Perowne, “in joyful strain the greatness of God’s works, and especially His righteous government of the world, as manifested in the overthrow of the wicked, and the prosperity and final triumph of the righteous. The apparent success of the ungodly for a time is admitted, but this is a mystery which worldly men, whose understanding has become darkened, cannot penetrate (Psalms 92:6).The Psalm, therefore, touches upon the same great principles of the Divine government which are laid down in such Psalms as the first, the thirty-seventh, the forty-ninth, and the seventy-third. But here there is no struggle with doubt and perplexity, as in the seventy-third; the Poet is, beyond all doubt, above all perplexity; he has not fallen down to the low level of the brutish man (comp. Psalms 73:22 with Psalms 92:6 of this Psalm); he is rejoicing in the full and perfect conviction of the righteousness of God.”Both the author of the Psalm and the occasion of its composition are unknown.For our Homiletical purpose we shall divide the psalm thus:—The good man’s celebration of the praise of God, Psalms 92:1-7; and, The rejoicing of the good man in the government of God, Psalms 92:8-15.THE GOOD MAN’S OF THE PRAISE OF GOD(Psalms 92:1-7) In these verses the Poet brings before us the celebration of the praise of God, and presents for our consideration several of the principal features of this celebration. We have— I. The ground of this exercise. “For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy works: I will triumph in the works of Thy hands. O Lord, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep.” The works of which the Psalmist is speaking are not God’s works in creation, but His moral government of the world; those doings by which He brought salvation to His people, and destroyed His and their foes. God’s works in creation are great, and His thoughts which are embodied therein are very deep; but these are not the works of which the Psalmist here speaks. “What kind of works and thoughts the Psalmist means,” says Hengstenberg, “is particularly intimated in Psalms 92:7, which should be distinguished from Psalms 92:5-6 as by inverted commas. It is the works and counsels of God for the deliverance of His people, a deliverance which is secured by the destruction of the wicked, their enemies.” Now concerning these works the Psalmist says that they are— 1. Great in themselves. “O Lord, how great are Thy works!” The Psalmist, as he contemplated God’s doings in the moral government of the world, was overwhelmed with a sense of their vastness, and greatness, and depth of significance. The greatness of the works of God in providence appears from considerations such as these: (1) The extent of the sphere in which He works. His operations are not limited to any country or countries, or to any particular race or class of men. His moral government of our world extends over the whole world and the entire human race. (2) The duration of the time through which He works. He began this work with the beginning of time, He has continued it through all the ages and through all the vicissitudes of human history, and He will continue it for ever. To us, who “are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days upon earth are as a shadow,” how incomprehensibly great are works which are wrought in so extensive a sphere and through so vast a period! (3) The grandeur of the objects for which He works. His aim is the eradication of evil, the extinction of sin and suffering, the universal reign of truth, righteousness, and love. Glorious object! (4) The wonderful methods He employs in His works. Out of evil he educes good. He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him. He overrules the evil designs and doings of rebellious angels and men for the accomplishment of His own gracious and sublime purposes. By means of suffering and sacrifice He enriches the race with divine and inestimably precious blessings. He saves mankind by means of the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we consider God’s moral government of the world in the way we have so very briefly indicated, we speedily receive overwhelming impressions of its greatness; we grow lost in wonder; we can but exclaim: How vast and wonderful and Divine are Thy works! The Psalmist represents these works as— 2. Embodiments of profound thoughts. “Thy thoughts are very deep.” God governs the world by a wise and benevolent design. All His works existed first as thoughts in His own infinite mind. Creation, with its innumerable wonders, and its glory and grandeur, is an embodiment of ideas of the Divine mind. And the moral government of the world is an expression of the thoughts of His mind and the determinations of His will. “God’s counsels as much exceed the contrivances of our wisdom as His works do the efforts of our power.” “There is no sea so deep as these thoughts of God.” He “is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.” “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” &c. Our puny minds are speedily baffled in the attempt to comprehend the thoughts of God. God’s works are regarded by the Psalmist as— 3. An expression of His loving-kindness and faithfulness. “To show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness every night.” These attributes of the Divine Being are conspicuously displayed in His moral government of the world. He manifests His loving-kindness in delivering His people from oppression and danger, in leading them during their earthly pilgrimage, in making all things work together for their good, and in crowning their life with His love. His mercy is manifest also in His treatment of the wicked, in His expostulations with them, in His great patience with them, in His provision for their salvation, and in His desire to save them. He manifests His truth or faithfulness in fulfilling His engagements, in keeping His promises. This He does in the government of the world. There have been times when, to the limited view of man, His promises seemed to fail, but in His own wise time He has made good His word. We cannot take a comprehensive survey of His work without discovering abundant illustrations of both His mercy and His truth. And it is fitting that we should make mention of them in our praises. The Poet represents God’s works as— 4. Not understood by the wicked. “A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.” The term “brutish man” (literally, a man-brute) indicates a terrible degradation of human nature. A man, as having been created in God’s image; a brutish man, because he has debased himself to brutehood. Man must either soar or sink. Possibilities of unutterable degradation and possibilities of unspeakable glory are within each one of us. As man degrades himself into brutality, his power of recognising the Divine becomes ever less and less, until he is utterly incapable of understanding the ways and works of God. The wicked man is spoken of here as “a fool.” Sin is folly. Neither the “brutish man” nor the “fool” can understand the moral government of God. “Were God’s thoughts less deep and glorious, did He repay the wicked at every particular transgression immediately with His punishment, and did He bestow salvation immediately upon the righteous according to the canon which Job’s friends with their limited views lay down, the government of the world would become plain even to the dark eye of ungodliness. But its depth makes it a secret, the understanding of which very often in times of conflict is withheld even from the pious, as is manifest from the example of Job and the author of the seventy-third Psalm, and in which there is always much that may be learned.” The Psalmist speaks of God’s works as— 5. A source of gladness to the good. “Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work; I will triumph in the works of Thy hands.” The godly man rejoices in the moral government of God. It appears to him in aspects of righteousness and benevolence and wisdom, which the brutish man and the fool are totally unable to perceive. Many a glorious chapter in the history of God’s providential dealings with our race fills the heart of His people with gladness; and they exult in his sovereignty, and in His mighty and gracious deeds. II. The manner of this exercise. “To give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High … upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.” The Most High was praised in holy song with accompaniment of instrumental music. There are persons who are so prejudiced (as it appears to us) that they would exclude all instrumental music from the public worship of God. They allege that it is mechanical, not spiritual; and, therefore, is not to be used in the worship of Him who is a Spirit, and who requires spiritual worship. But may not the mechanical assist the spiritual? To us it seems that instrumental music, when it does not supersede, but supplements vocal music; when it is not a substitute for spiritual worship, but a minister to it, is of great service. It is certain that in the temple-service of the Jews, the details of which were of Divine appointment, instrumental music was used. And in the prophetic and symbolic descriptions of the worship of heaven contained in the Apocalypse, instrumental music is introduced. Instrumental music unquestionably aids us in our attempts to give vocal musical utterance to our praise; and there is no reason whatever, in the nature of things, why it should in the smallest degree diminish the spirituality of our praise. III. The seasons for this exercise. 1. The Lord’s Day. This Psalm is entitled “a Psalm or Song for the Sabbath-day.” The day of rest is a season eminently suited to meditation upon the great and glorious works of God in providence, and to praise Him because of them. In its quiet, in our freedom from the demands and duties of business, in its high and holy associations and enjoyments, in these and other characteristics of the day, we see how eminently suited it is for the celebration of the praise of God. 2. The morning. “To show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning.” There is no season more favourable to worship than the morning. The air is fresh and invigorating, and the spirit is refreshed by the repose and sleep of the night. Praise should be the natural expression of the heart every morning, because of God’s loving-kindness. We read of our Lord that “in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.” 3. The evening. “To show forth Thy faithfulness in the evening.” As we praise Him in the morning for the mercies of the night, so in the evening we should praise Him for His faithfulness during the day. When the work of the day is done, and we have retired from life’s strain and toil, it is fitting that we should recollect the mercy and truth of God to us, and praise Him for them. Evening, with its quiet and repose, is well suited for meditation, and meditation should lead to grateful praise. IV. The excellence of this exercise. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,” &c. 1. Because it is right. Our praise is due to God. He has a right to our worship. He is supremely great, and therefore we should reverence Him; supremely gracious, and therefore we should be grateful to Him; supremely excellent, therefore we should love Him; supremely glorious, therefore we should adore Him. Not to praise Him indicates the basest ingratitude on our part, and defrauds Him of His right. 2. Because it tends to lessen life’s cares and sorrows. The man who is mindful of the mercies he receives in life, and notes thankfully the truth of God to him, will ever find matter for praise. In every life, not excepting the most tried and sorrowful, there are many things to be thankful for. This will be obvious in the case of the healthful and prosperous. But look at the case of the afflicted and sorrowful, and even here there are matters for thankfulness,—in the recollection of seasons of health and joy, in the hope of that state in which pain and grief are unknown, in the presence of friends and the support of God in affliction, and in the blessings of salvation. To remember these things with gratitude and praise, will lighten life’s burdens and soothe life’s sorrows. 3. Because it elevates the spirit of the worshipper. Gratitude is strengthened by expressing it. If our praise of the mercy and truth of God be sincere, by the expression of it we ourselves shall in a measure become like Him in these respects. Worship is transforming. We become like the object or being whom we truly worship. Thus by the worship of God we are being changed into His image. “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord,” for it purifies, enriches, and exalts our being. 4. Because it is acceptable unto God. When our praise is sincere and spiritual, the Lord takes pleasure in it. He loves to be worshipped by His intelligent creatures; not from any delight in self-aggrandisement, nor for any other selfish reason, but because such worship calls into exercise the noblest faculties of His creatures, and exalts and blesses them. In this way our worship gratifies the Divine Being. The Most High is pleased to accept the praise of thankful hearts. .—Is God’s moral government of the world to us a ground of praise? There are many who, in their short-sightedness and unbelief, perceive little but inequalities and anomalies in it, and criticise and complain of its administration. They forget the vastness of the sphere in which it operates, and the long ages through which it operates, and their own incompetence to comprehend the work of the great God; and so when “the workers of iniquity do flourish” they are offended, or at least sorely tried and perplexed. But to the devout believer this government presents a very different aspect. The flourishing of the wicked he perceives to be only brief, very brief, and to be followed by destruction. God’s works are so great, and His thoughts so profound, as to fill him with humble and reverent wonder; and His mercy and truth are so conspicuous as to enkindle his gratitude and praise. Is this the case with us? He doeth all things well. Let us trust Him, praise Him. TO HOLY SONG(Psalms 92:1) “It is a good thing to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High.” I. Singing is the music of nature. Isaiah 44:23; Psalms 65:13; 1 Chronicles 16:33. The air is the bird’s music-room, where they chant their musical notes. II. Singing is the music of ordinances. The Rabbis tell us that the Jews, after the feast of the passover was celebrated, sang Psalms 140 and the five following Psalms; and our Saviour and His apostles “sang an hymn” immediately after the blessed Supper (Matthew 26:30). III. Singing is the music of saints. 1. They have performed this duty in their greatest numbers (Psalms 149:1). 2. In their greatest straits (Isaiah 26:19). 3. In their greatest flight (Isaiah 42:10-11). 4. In their greatest deliverances (Isaiah 65:14). 5. In their greatest plenties. In all these changes singing hath been their stated duty and delight. IV. Singing is the music of angels. (Job 38:7; Luke 2:13; Revelation 5:11-12). V. Singing is the music of heaven. (Revelation 15:3). Here the saints laboured with drowsy hearts and faltering tongues; but in glory these impediments are removed, and nothing is left to jar their joyous celebration.—JOHN WELLS, abridged from The Treasury of David. THE AND SEASONS OF PRAISE(Psalms 92:2) The Poet here sets before us,— I. The subjects of praise. 1. The “loving-kindness” of God. The loving-kindness or mercy of God to man is manifest in His forbearance with sinners, in His forgiveness of sinners, in His compassion towards the sorrowful, and in the rich provision He has made for us in nature, providence, and redemption. 2. The “faithfulness” of God. The faithfulness or truth of God is seen in His performing the promises which He has made, in keeping His covenant with His people. We may observe its manifestations in the operations of nature, in the administration of His moral government, and in the salvation of souls. These subjects of praise are inexhaustible. The loving-kindness and truth of God are infinite. We are ever receiving additional illustrations and expressions of them. These subjects of praise are elevating in their influence upon us. We cannot sincerely praise God for His loving-kindness and truth without growing ourselves in truthfulness and love. II. The seasons of praise. 1. “In the morning.” Because (1) The state of the mind is favourable. By the mercy of God we have been preserved through the night, and should therefore be grateful to Him. The mind has been refreshed by the sleep of the night, and is therefore fitted to praise God with freshness and spirit. (2) The time of the day is suitable. There is a freshness in the morning air which stimulates us to worship. In the morning, before we are immersed in the business of the day, we can praise God with freedom from interruption. (3) It is needful as a preparation for the engagements of the day. We may have difficulties to encounter, temptations to battle with, disappointments to endure, and we need the calmness and strength which accrue from worship to enable us to meet these things. 2. In the evening. “Every night.” Because (1) It is helpful to the mind and heart after the toils and trials of the day. (2) Because the time is favourable. Evening, with its shade, and stillness, and rest, is a favourable season for reflection. (3) The blessings of the day and the needs of the night incite to it. There is much in every day which ought to be recollected at night with gratitude; and such recollection will help us to rest calmly in the protection of God. And this we should do “every night.” New illustrations of faithfulness should be followed by new songs of praise. “As thou wouldst have God prosper thy labour in the day and sweeten thy rest in the night, clasp them both together with thy morning and evening devotions. He that takes no care to set forth God’s portion of time in the morning, doth not only rob God of His due, but is a thief to himself all the day after, by losing the blessing which a faithful prayer might bring from heaven on his undertakings. And he that closeth his eyes at night without prayer, lies down before his bed is made.” There are some who interpret the “morning” as signifying prosperity and joy, and the “night,” adversity and grief. And we shall do well in the brightness of prosperity gratefully to recognise and praise the loving-kindness of God; and in the night of adversity the thankful recollection of the faithfulness of God will encourage and strengthen us. “Praise ye the Lord; for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.” (Psalms 92:4) I. Gladness as the gift of God. “Thou, Lord, hast made me glad.” All true joy proceeds from the ever blessed God. The gladness which comes not from Him is illusory, short-lived, and often leaves dissatisfaction and pain. II. Gladness as arising from the contemplation of God’s works. “Through Thy work.” God’s work is eminently calculated to inspire gladness by reason of the power, wisdom, goodness, and delight in beauty which it reveals. This is true of creation, providence, redemption. III. Gladness finding expression in devout song. “I will triumph in the works of Thy hands.” “I will sing for joy, because,” &c. Perowne: “I will rejoice in giving praise, for,” &c. If God has given us joy, it is meet that we should give Him praise. THE OF THE WICKED(Psalms 92:7) I. Temporal prosperity is not a criterion of character. Rich man and Lazarus the beggar. The prosperous “fool.” II. Temporal prosperity is not an evidence of the Divine favour. III. Temporal prosperity is of uncertain duration. “Spring as the grass,” which speedily perishes. IV. The temporal prosperity of the wicked is followed by eternal ruin. “That they shall be destroyed for ever.” “The prosperity of fools shall destroy them.” THE OF THE GOOD MAN IN THE OF GOD(Psalms 92:8-15) The Poet, having celebrated the praise of God because of His doings in the moral government of the world, proceeds to show what these doings are in relation to the righteous and the wicked. In His just rule God destroys the wicked and blesses the righteous, and this to the Psalmist affords matter for rejoicing. There are two leading ideas here: I. God is the Supreme Ruler. “But Thou, Lord, art Most High for evermore.” Perowne: “And Thou, O Jehovah, art (throned) on high for evermore.” “This verse, consisting of but one line, expresses the great central fact on which all the doctrine of the Psalm rests. This is the great pillar of the universe and of our faith.” God is supreme, because— 1. He is the greatest Being. How unspeakably great is God! We have no words or symbols adequate to set forth His greatness and glory. The prophet Isaiah, in language of wondrous sublimity, endeavours to set it forth (Isaiah 40:12-31). 2. He is the best Being. He is not only supremely great, but supremely good. In every moral attribute He is perfect. “God is good.” “God is light.” “God is love.” 3. He is the Creator and Sustainer. “It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves.” And He who created still sustains His creations. “By Him were all things created; and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Here, then, we have the reason of His supremacy. It is real, a thing of being and character and doing. He is the Supreme Ruler because He is supremely great and good, and because as Creator and Sustainer He has the most absolute right over His creatures. “His kingdom ruleth over all.” II. God’s supreme rule is unchangeably righteous. To the Psalmist this was a deep conviction. “The Lord is upright; my Rock in whom there is no unrighteousness.” His rule is righteous. Though for a while the wicked may flourish and the righteous be in adversity, yet God’s great plan of government and its administration are true and righteous altogether. “A God of truth, without iniquity, just and right is He.” His rule is unchangeably righteous. The Psalmist says, He is “my rock.” As a rock He is firm, abiding, immutable. “God can no more be moved or removed from doing righteously than a rock can be removed out of its place.” This unchanging righteousness of God’s moral government the Psalmist exhibits as manifest in— 1. The destruction of the wicked. “For, lo, Thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, Thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.” Matthew Henry very properly points out concerning the eleventh verse that “in the Hebrew it is no more than this, My eye shall look on my enemies, and my ears shall hear of the wicked. He does not say what he shall see, or what he shall hear, but he shall see and hear that in which God will be glorified, and in which he will therefore be satisfied.” Concerning the wicked and their destruction let us note— (1) The enormity of their character. They are “enemies” of God and “workers of iniquity.” To be an enemy of God is to be hostile to truth, righteousness, love; to oppose our highest Benefactor. It implies extreme moral depravity. The term “workers of iniquity” implies terrible activity in evil. (2) The unity of their efforts. It is implied that the wicked have banded themselves together in their hostility to the Lord. So Milton represents fallen angels— “Devil with devil damned firm concord holds.”And the Psalmist says, “The rulers take counsel together against the Lord,” &c. (3) The utter dissolution of their unity. “All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.” The cohesion of the wicked in the pursuit of any object is not of long continuance. When God arises against them they shall be scattered like chaff before the tempest, or like a demoralised and rabble army before a mighty and disciplined host. (4) Their certain destruction. “For, lo, Thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, Thine enemies shall perish.” The repetition of the word “lo” is emphatic, and indicates the certainty of their destruction. Men must either loyally submit themselves to God or be crushed by Him. 2. The salvation of the righteous. The Poet evidently dwells with delight and triumph upon this part of his theme, and gives to us several particulars of the salvation and blessedness of the righteous. (1) Their strength and honour. “My horn shalt Thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn.” The horn is the symbol of power. The righteous are blessed with true strength. They “walk in the strength of the Lord God.” He upholds them and honours them. (2) Their refreshment and comfort. “I shall be anointed with fresh oil.” “Fresh oil,” or green oil, is the best oil. God by His grace will refresh His people when they are weary, and comfort and cheer them when they are depressed and sorrowful. Our Lord gives “the oil of joy for mourning.” The godly may be sorely tried for a time, but in due season they shall be visited by choicest refreshment and joy. (3) Their Divine planting. They are “planted in the house of the Lord.” “To be planted in the house of the Lord is to be fixed and rooted in the grace communicated by the ordinances of Divine worship. Unless we are planted in the house of the Lord we cannot flourish in His courts.” Hengstenberg’s note is excellent: “By the house of the Lord we can only understand the external sanctuary; in it, however, the servants of God dwell spiritually with him, and are cared for by Him with paternal love. There lies at the bottom an abbreviated comparison: these spiritual trees flourish in the house of God as the natural trees when they are planted in a rich soil (Isaiah 5:1), or by rivers of water (Psalms 1:3).” They draw their supplies from God. They live by Him and in Him. (4) Their flourishing growth. “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,” &c. (Psalms 92:12-14). “The date-palm and the cedar are selected as the loveliest images of verdure, fruitfulness, undecaying vigour and perpetuity.” They flourish perennially. “Throughout the year, in the winter’s cold as in the summer’s heat, the palm continues green.” The growth of the godly soul is a continuous thing. “He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” They flourish notwithstanding oppression. “It has been said of the palm tree, Sub pondere crescit—The more it is pressed down the more it grows: so the righteous flourish under their burdens,—the more they are afflicted the more they multiply.” “We glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,” &c. They grow eternally. The growth of the cedar must be counted not by years, but by centuries. The godly soul will continue to grow for ever. God will ever have more of Himself to reveal unto us. And we shall ever continue to grow in likeness to Him. The soul has unlimited capacities for growth. (5) Their continued fruitfulness. “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.” The palm-tree yields about three hundred pounds’ weight of dates annually. It has been known to produce even six hundred pounds’ weight. Age makes other things decay, but the godly soul flourishes and is fruitful in age. “They have their fruit unto holiness.” Their last days are rich in the results of a long experience, and their efforts to do good are wise, and are sustained by a deep faith in God. Both in their life and in their work they are fruitful. .— 1. Let us not waver in our faith in the wise and righteous and beneficent moral government of God. Under it evil men may flourish for a time in temporal prosperity, but God will destroy all workers of iniquity. Good men for a time may be sorely afflicted, but God will sustain them in their afflictions, make their afflictions the occasion of blessing, and crown them with everlasting joy. 2. What is our relation to this government? Are we enemies or loyal subjects? Let those who are enemies submit to Jehovah at once, and let His subjects rejoice in His gracious rule. THE PALM TREE AN OF THE (Psalms 92:12) “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree.” The palm is an analogue of the righteous— I. In its resolute upward growth. It is tall, slender, and erect. Dr. Thomson says that “neither heavy weights which men place upon its head, nor the importunate urgency of the wind, can sway it aside from perfect uprightness.” It seeks to rise as far as possible from earth and as near as possible to heaven. The good man’s affections are set “on things above;” his “citizenship is in heaven.” While He was yet in this world our Lord spake of Himself as “the Son of Man which is in heaven.” And His followers are not of this world even as He was not of the world. “A man on earth devoted to the skies,Like ships on seas, while in, above, the world.”II. In its growth despite of hindrances. It flourishes where other trees would wither and die. “On the northern borders of the Great Desert, at the foot of the Atlas Mountains, the groves of date palms form the great feature of that parched region, and few trees besides can maintain an existence. The excessive dryness of this arid tract, where rain seldom falls, is such that wheat refuses to grow, and even barley, maize, and Caffre corn afford the husbandman only a scanty and uncertain crop. The hot blasts from the south are scarcely supportable even by the native himself, and yet here forests of date palms flourish.” The palm “does not rejoice overmuch in winter’s copious rain, nor does it droop under the drought and the burning sun of summer.” It will grow, and grow upwards, even if heavy weights are placed upon its head. A picture this of the godly soul. The influences that try him and threaten to crush him are powerless to do so. By the grace of God they even promote his growth. He grows rich by loss, strong by trial, patient by tribulation, joyous by suffering. III. In its perennial verdure. It is an evergreen. The godly soul shall grow and flourish without intermission. Progress is the rule of its life. The goal attained to-day will be the starting-point of to-morrow (Psalms 1:3; Jeremiah 17:8). IV. In its fruitfulness. On an average the palm yields from three to four hundred pounds’ weight of dates annually, and has been known to produce six hundred pounds’ weight. The godly soul produces the fruits of obedience, purity, charity, and helpfulness to others. “Fruit unto holiness.” “Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.” “But how to secure the realisation of this promise? 1. Who is the righteous? (1 John 3:7). Righteousness does not consist in profession (Matthew 7:21); nor is righteousness a state of opinion; nor is it a state of feeling. It is a state of character. The righteous man is marked by this, that his settled principles, his customary desire, is to do, not what is pleasant, not what is advantageous to self, but what is right. 2. “But how are we to attain this habit of mind and life? Not inherent righteousness, but the possession of the Holy Ghost indwelling; this puts us into a condition to receive the blessing (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:16). 3. “But how to obtain the possession of this Divine indwelling power of becoming righteous? Is there not an obstacle at the very threshold? What are we to say to our past sin? How can that be removed? It may have been committed long ago; but the guilt of sin remains after the sin has been committed. That guilt can only be removed by free pardon. It is only as ‘freely justified by grace’ that we can enter upon the path of spiritual blessing. So we are brought to the foot of the cross.” THE CEDAR AN OF SOUL GROWTH(Psalms 92:12) “He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” Trees are a precious gift of God to us. How useful! They yield food, shade, fuel, material for furniture, building, &c. How beautiful! What symmetry, sublimity, variety, we see in them! They also present many spiritual analogies. Here the cedar is used as an emblem of the progress of the soul. I. The cedar grows not by repression, but by development. By developing its forces the cedar grows from the little germ. Everything that aids that development aids its growth. So with the soul. We cannot grow by attempting to crush our nature, our desires, affections, &c, but by their right development. Not by self-mortification and fighting against the evil, but by the cultivation of the good. In ourselves we are to “overcome evil with good.” Wisely and harmoniously developing our powers, we grow. II. The cedar grows by the appropriation and subordination of the outward elements. Rain, dew sunlight, gases, minerals, all are appropriated by the cedar, and used to promote its growth: it assimilates them to its own substance. It subordinates the outward elements. Stormy wind and hail and rain and frost all help its growth. The storm that threatened to sweep it away leaves it more firmly rooted and more majestically spread than it found it. The hurricane that tests it promotes its stability and strength. So with the godly soul,—to its own character it assimilates thoughts, impressions, beauties, &c. It makes all things help its progress. Gentle influences help its growth. The ministry of prosperity,—success, friendship, health, joy—promotes its progress. Trying influences also help its growth and strength. The ministry of adversity,—failure, desertion, sickness, grief—promotes its firmness, strength, and heroism. “Tribulation worketh patience,” &c. We may make the most adverse circumstances, by the grace of God, aid us in the true development of our souls. III. The cedar grows slowly. We may form some idea of the slowness of its growth from the fact that it continues to grow for centuries. Many generations come and go, but it grows on. The processes of the Divine economy seem slow to us. The preparation of the world for man; of the race of men for the Saviour; and now of the race for glory, all seem so slow. The greatest and best of things mature very gradually. So with the soul. Proneness to impatience is a mark of imperfection. How impatiently the child awaits the promised pleasure! Much less is the impatience of the man. The wise and good man is truly patient. Patience with thyself, my brother; thy growth is not like that of the gourd, but that of the cedar,—very gradual. “We have not wings, we cannot soar;But we have feet to scale and climb,By slow degrees, by more and more,The cloudy summits of our time.“The heights by great men reached and keptWere not attained by sudden flight;But they, while their companions slept,Were toiling upward in the night.”—Longfellow.IV. The cedar grows by ceaseless activities. The sap, which is the life of the tree, is ever active: from the roots it passes through the trunk and through every branch, leaf, and fibre; then from the leaves it returns through branches and trunk to the roots, bearing nourishment, strength, &c. So with the soul. By earnest thought, devout feeling, divine worship, holy activity, &c., we grow. V. The cedar grows to immense size and magnificence. Very great and grand they are. The soul is destined to grow into great strength and beauty. What great and glorious beings John and Peter and Paul must have grown into! How great and glorious are Isaiah and David and Abraham and Enoch by this time! And yet they have not reached the goal. “It doth not yet appear what they shall be.” “Perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect,”—that is the end of our progress. We shall grow into spiritual might, nobility, beauty, and glory. Cedars are most royal trees: under the smile of God we shall grow into royal beings. VI. The cedar grows during long ages. There are cedars growing now that have been growing while scores of generations of men have come and gone from the earth. While they live they grow. So with the soul. Long as it lives it grows. But the cedars are not everlasting; their life and growth must end. But there is no end to the growth of the soul! We shall live and grow for ever. To advance from grace to grace, from strength to strength, from glory to glory for evermore,—that is our destiny. THE OLD AGE OF PIETY(Psalms 92:14) “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.” The subject to which the text invites us is, the old age of piety, as distinguished from the old age of the worldling. I. The old age of the Christian is the old age of a life of faith and communion with God. Amid the infirmities of decaying nature the good man’s judgment may begin to fail, his active energy for one work and another may fail, but his faith fails not, and the charity—the holy love—which is communion with God, “never faileth.” II. The old age of the Christian, as distinguished from the old age of the ungodly, is characterised by hope. To him, indeed, as to others, old age is the evening of life, its dim light still fading into darkness. But to him faith opens a vista through which the soul looks forth in hope beyond the deepening shadows around him. III. The old age of the Christian is one of cheerfulness. How beautiful is an unrepining, bright, cheerful old age! How doubly beautiful when that calm, bright cheerfulness, lighting up the evening of life, is caught from heaven, and is none other than the cheerfulness of a mind at peace with God, and in communion with His boundless blessedness! IV. The old age of the Christian, as distinguished from that of the ungodly, is characterised by affection. The old man’s sympathies with those around him are less easily awakened than they once were; and, as he grows older, he feels less and less interest in any of his friends, save those who happen to be essential to his comfort. The Christian in his old age is not exempted from this tendency. But in his case there is a counteracting power. His faith and hope, the habitual cheerfulness of his spirit, and the communion of his soul with the infinite love of God, are like a constant cordial to his nature, that keeps his mind elastic and quickens his better sympathies. V. The old age of the Christian is characterised to the last by usefulness. How many ways does God find to make His children, amid the infirmities of declining age, useful to others! They shall bring forth fruit in old age, to show that God is faithful to them that trust in Him. How persuasive is the testimony which they give for God and for godliness out of their long experience! How winning are their words of counsel and invitation! LESSONS.— 1. The consideration of the beauty and happiness of piety in old age is an argument to the young to remember their Creator in the days of their youth. 2. Our subject addresses itself powerfully to those who are old, or are growing old, without piety. What a night is that which is gathering around you! 3. The subject should lead us all to a grateful acknowledgment of the grace of God in the examples which we are permitted to see of aged and venerable piety.—L. Bacon, D.D., Abridged. The author of this Psalm and the occasion on which it was written are unknown.“The sum and substance of this Psalm,” says Perowne, “is contained in the eighth verse of the preceding Psalm. It celebrates the majesty of Jehovah as Ruler of the universe. He is Creator of the world. He has been its King from everlasting: it rests upon Him and is stayed by His might. All the powers of nature obey Him, however lawless they may seem, as all the swelling and rage of men, of which those are but a figure, must obey Him. But His majesty and His glory are seen, not only in controlling the powers of nature and whatsoever exalteth and opposeth itself against Him, but in the faithfulness of His word, and in the holiness of His house.”As to the date of the composition it appears from Psalms 93:5 that it was composed after the building of the Temple, and probably before its destruction by the Chaldeans.JEHOVAH THE KINGThe opening words of the Psalm, as Hengstenberg has pointed out, do not refer to the constant government of God, but to a new and glorious manifestation of His dominion. “The Lord reigneth” is a similar form of expression to that which the Jews used to announce the ascent to the throne of a new sovereign (2 Samuel 15:10; 2 Kings 9:13). It refers to the coming of the Lord in His kingdom; and might have been used with great propriety at the destruction of Babylon and the emancipation of Israel. But when His glory and sovereignty shall be fully displayed and acknowledged, the expression shall be used with an emphasis and fulness of meaning unknown before. (See Revelation 11:15; Revelation 11:17; Revelation 19:6.) The Poet seta before us— I. The majesty of the King. “The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with majesty.” The glory with which Jehovah clothes Himself forms the opposition to the pomp and pride of earthly kings, and is an antidote against the fear of them. The glory of earthly sovereigns is as nothing in comparison with His. His is the majesty of meekness, the glory of grace, the beauty of holiness. He reigns in righteousness and love to bless and save men. Yet He is terrible to His foes. Let not His loyal subjects fear the pomp and glory of their enemies; for He has but to manifest His majesty, and theirs shall vanish. II. The might of the King. “The Lord is clothed with strength,” &c. Perowne: “ ‘Jehovah hath clothed, He hath girded Himself with strength.’ In the second member of the verse, the verb is rythmically repeated, and the noun ‘strength’ really belongs to both verbs.” The strength of the king is manifested— 1. In the stability of the world. “The world also is established that it cannot be moved.” The stability of the world is regarded as the effect of the Divine rule and power. The same power which created the world sustains it in its regularity and stability. The “sure and firm set earth” is an emblem of the moral government of God in its firmness and security. So in the time of peril and opposition the people of God need not fear, for no violence can shake His throne. “That there is any stability, either in the world or in the Church, is the Lord’s doings, and He is to be adored for it.” 2. In the subjugation of His enemies. “The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice,” &c. (Psalms 93:3-4). We have here (1) The tumultuous opposers of His reign. “The floods” are introduced as the symbol of the tumultuous nations and peoples which lift themselves up against the government of God. Like angry waves of the sea men have raged against the anointed King. As the breakers roar in thunder and dash in fury against the shore, so devils and men have hurled defiance at the throne of God. The heathen still rage against the Lord and against His Anointed and against His Church. (2) The calm Sovereign. “The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.” The construction of the fourth verse is not very clear. Perowne has a valuable critical note on it. The translation which he adopts is: “More than the voices of many waters, the glorious breakers of the sea, Jehovah on high is glorious.” Hengstenberg: “Than the voice of many waters, than the glorious waves of the sea, more glorious in the height is the Lord.” However we construe the verse the main idea is the same. As the furious waves dash against the rocky shore and fall back spent, while the shore remains calm and unmoved, so Jehovah is unmoved by all the fierce opposition of all the rebels against His government. He is greater, stronger, more glorious than all the powers arrayed against Him and His Church. The Lord is calm in His assured right to reign. He has no misgivings as to the authority by which He governs. Earthly sovereigns may doubt the validity of their authority, but Jehovah never can do so. The Lord is calm in His assured power to reign. With infinite ease He can control and, if He see fit, entirely quell every storm in His universe. Let not the Church, then, fear the might of the world. High over it all, ruling it as He pleases, is the Lord omnipotent and all-glorious. III. The eternity of the King and of His kingdom. “Thy throne is established of old; Thou art from everlasting.” Margin: “Thy throne is established from then.” Hengstenberg: “The throne of wickedness has no ‘then’; it is of yesterday, like a mushroom sprung out of the earth.” God’s throne is eternal. In earthly kingdoms and empires the throne is frequently shaken to its base. By the death of kings, or of their wise advisers, or because of the attacks of foes, earthly governments and dynasties are sometimes overthrown. But the throne of God is from everlasting to everlasting. The King also is eternal. “Thou art from everlasting.” This eternity includes omnipotence. He who is “from everlasting” is also “to everlasting.” When human crowns and thrones have crumbled into dust He shall reign in glory. (See remark on Psalms 90:2.) IV. The truth of His testimonies. “Thy testimonies are very sure.” Perowne: “The transition is abrupt, from the majesty of God as seen in His dominion in the world of nature, to His revelation of Himself in His Word. At the same time there is a connection between the two, as in Psalms 19. God who rules the world, He whose are the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever, has given His testimonies to His people, a sure and faithful word.” His testimonies in this place are especially His promises of salvation and victory to His people. The promises of so majestic and mighty a Sovereign cannot fail. “The testimony of the Lord is sure.” The truth of His testimonies is. 1. A rebuke to the unbelief of His subjects. 2. An encouragement to their faith. 3. A warning to rebels against His government. V. The purity of His court. “Holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, for ever.” The King has Himself come to dwell among His people, making them and His house holy. The Church of God should be cleansed from all sin and fully consecrated to Him. In His heavenly court the purity is perfect and perpetual; and ultimately the earthly court will be absorbed into the heavenly, which will abide for ever. .— 1. Let the people of God trust and rejoice in their King. He reigns securely, gloriously, eternally, for their salvation. 2. Let His enemies submit themselves to Him. “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,” &c. “There is no superscription to this Psalm. There is no indication of its authorship, of the period at which it was written, or of the circumstances to which it refers. There are many of these anonymous hymns in God’s Book, nameless utterances, voices of the night of weeping, shouts from the mountain tops of thought, prayers unto the God of Life, which belong to no individual, can be fathered on no solitary period, but descend as an heirloom to successive ages, and enrich every generation. As the circumstances, the victories, the shortcomings, and the possibilities of man are continually being repeated, so the religious experiences of the Church do often reappear in its history, and we may receive the inspired utterances of them in one age as almost equally appropriate to the sorrows and joys of another age.”—Dr. H. R. Reynolds.“This Psalm, as may be easily apprehended, is a prayer of all the pious children of God, and of spiritual people, against all their persecutors, so that it may be used by all pious godly people from the beginning till the end of the world.”—Luther.A CRY FOR (Psalms 94:1-7) Consider— I. The complaint of the Church. “Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?” &c. (Psalms 94:3-7). The poet complains to the Lord of the enemies of the Church, and names mention of— 1. Their general character. “The wicked … the workers of iniquity.” They are depraved in character, and diabolic in conduct. “Mark the terrible energy implied in the designation, ‘workers of iniquity.’ Reference is not made to men who make a pastime of iniquity, or who occasionally commit themselves to its service, but to those who toil at it as a business. As the merchant man is industrious in commerce, as the philosopher is assiduous in study, as the artist is indefatigable in elaboration, so those slaves of iniquity toil in their diabolic pursuits with an ardour which the most powerful remonstrance seldom abates. They are always ready to serve their master.”—Parker. 2. Their arrogant triumph (Psalms 94:3-4.) “How long shall the wicked triumph? They belch out, they speak arrogant things; all the workers of iniquity carry themselves proudly.”—Perowne’s trans. In the first line of Psa 94:4, the two verbs have one noun as the object—they pour forth hard, or, proud speeches. The enemies of the people of God were triumphant over them, and were proud and insolent in their triumph. It is not seldom that the wicked in their prosperity and power have arrogantly lorded it over the righteous. Prosperity, apart from Divine grace, engenders presumption, and fancied self-sufficiency, and self-boasting. 3. Their oppression and cruelty (Psalms 94:5-6.) The word which in the A.V. is translated, “they break in pieces,” Perowne and Hengstenberg translate, “they crush.” The wicked oppressed the people and heritage of the Lord. How frequently was this the case in the history of the chosen people! How frequently has it been so in the history of the Christian Church! The Psalmist complains of cruelty as well as oppression. “They slay the widow,” &c. “The widow and the fatherless are mentioned, as often, as particular instances of those whose misery ought to excite compassion, but whose defencelessness makes them the easy prey of the wicked.”—Perowne. This is invariably represented in Scripture as a crime of great enormity, and especially abhorrent to God. See Exodus 22:21-24. 4. Their practical Atheism. “Yet they say the Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” “The Divine names,” says Alexander, “are, as usual, significant. That the self-existent and eternal God should not see, is a palpable absurdity; and scarcely less so, that the God of Israel should suffer His own people to be slaughtered without even observing it.” We need not suppose that they uttered this blasphemy in words, but it was expressed in their conduct. Their atheism was not theoretical, but practical. This practical atheism is very prevalent and pernicious at the present time. Immense numbers utter “the Apostles’ Creed” regularly, who exclude God from almost every province of their life. In the formation of their plans, in the management of their business, in their relations to society, &c. God is not in all their thoughts. II. The appeal of the Church. “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth,” &c., (Psalms 94:1-3). Let it be noted at once and closely that the appeal is for justice, not for revenge. “I do not think that we sufficiently attend to the distinction that exists between revenge and vengeance. ‘Revenge,’ says Dr. Johnson, ‘is an act of passion, vengeance of justice, injuries are revenged, crimes avenged.’ … The call which the Psalmist here makes on God, as a God to whom vengeance belongeth, is no other than if he had said, ‘O God, to whom justice belongeth!’ Vengeance indeed is not for man, because with man’s failings and propensities it would ever degenerate into revenge. ‘I will be even with him,’ says nature; ‘I will be above him,’ says grace!”—Bouchier. 1. Judgment is the prerogative of God alone. “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth.” The two names of the Divine Being which the Psalmist uses, El and Jehovah, recognise God as almighty, self-existent, and alone entitled to take vengeance. Literally it is, “God of vengeances,” the plural indicating that there is in God a fulness of vengeance for His persecuted people; and the repetition of the appeal denotes the earnestness with which it is made. “To Me belongeth vengeance and recompense.” “Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” The vindication of His people and the punishment of their enemies is His sole prerogative. He will render righteous judgment to the wicked. He alone has the right to do so. 2. Judgment is sometimes apparently long delayed. “Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?” The persecution seems to the Psalmist to have been of long continuance. He would fain know when it would end. Our time of suffering and trial always seems long and wearisome. In the night of weeping and waiting, wearily drag the hours, and we cry, “How long?” In due season God will appear, &c. 3. Judgment is earnestly invoked. Here is a cry for the manifestation of God. “Show Thyself.” Margin, as in Heb., “Shine forth.” It is an appeal to God to manifest Himself as a God of righteous retributions. Here is a cry for the judgment of God. “Lift up Thyself, thou judge,” &c. God is conceived as sitting at ease, and entreated to arise and execute judgment, and to give a just recompense to those enemies of His people who, having got the upper hand, exulted proudly over them. Here is a cry for His speedy interposition, “Lord, how long? “&c. .—Deep in the heart of man is the sense of justice, the conviction that there is a judge of all the earth who will do right. Oppressed humanity in all ages and in all lands has cried to heaven for judgment. That cry will certainly, sooner or later, meet with a full response. “The sun of justice may withdraw his beamsA while from earthy ken, and sit concealedIn dark recess, pavilioned round with clouds:Yet let not guilt presumptuous rear her crest,Nor virtue droop despondent: soon these clouds,Seeming eclipse, will brighten into day,And in majestic splendour He will rise,With healing and with terror on His wings.”—G. Bally.THE FOLLY OF ATHEISM(Psalms 94:8-11) The Psalmist addresses not the theoretical, but practical atheists. He speaks to men who acknowledged the existence of God, and His creatorship, and His government of the world; but who thought that He did not see and would not recompense their conduct. This is the atheism which is the most prevalent and perilous in the present day. The folly of such atheists is seen— I. In supposing that God does not observe their conduct. “He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see?” The principle upon which this interrogation is based is this, that an effect cannot be greater than its cause. The picture with the beauty of which we are charmed is not greater than the conceptive and executive power of the artist who produced it. He saw it mentally long before we saw it visually. “This argument,” says R. Watson, “is as easy as it is conclusive, obliging all who acknowledge a first cause, to admit His perfect intelligence, or to take refuge in atheism itself. It fetches not the proof from a distance, but refers us to our bosoms for the constant demonstration that the Lord is a God of knowledge, and that by Him actions are weighed.” And Tillotson: “We find in ourselves such qualities as thought and intelligence, power and freedom, &c., for which we have the evidence of consciousness as much as for our own existence. Indeed, it is only by our consciousness of these, that our existence is known to ourselves. We know, likewise, that these are perfections, and that to have them is better than to be without them. We find also that they have not been in us from eternity. They must, therefore, have had a beginning, and consequently some cause. Now this cause, as it must be superior to its effect, must have those perfections in a superior degree; and if it be the First Cause, it must have them in an infinite or unlimited degree, since bounds or limitations, without a limiter, would be an effect without a cause.” If we see and hear and know, then God does so in a much greater, indeed, in an infinite degree. His knowledge is clear and distinct, ours is dim and confused; His is intimate and thorough, ours is partial and superficial; His is universal and infallible, ours uncertain and limited. “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man.” How foolish, then, to imagine that God does not hear the arrogant speech, or see the oppressive deed, or note the wickedness of men! II. In supposing that God will not recompense their conduct. “He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not He correct?” “There is,” says Perowne, “a change in the argument. Before it was from the physical constitution of man; now it is from the moral government of the world.” The idea seems to be that even the heathen are governed by God. He has revealed to them by means of creation “His eternal power and Godhead;” His law He has “written in their hearts; their conscience also bears witness” for Him. They are subject to His control. He visits them in mercy; and He reproves them with judgment. Is it not folly then to suppose that He will overlook the injuries inflicted upon His own people by those who have a clearer and fuller revelation than the heathen? Every additional illustration of the judgment of God imparts increased force to the already conclusive evidence, that God will correct those who break His law and oppress His people. The Psalmist mentions two things which considerably strengthen his argument. 1. That the evil complained of was of long continuance. “Ye fools, when will ye be wise?” The inquiry implies that their folly had existed for a long period. During that period they had been “treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” If they repent not, that accumulated wrath will surely burst upon them. 2. That God knows not only words and actions, but thoughts and purposes also. “The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.” He has set “our secret sins in the light of His countenance.” The thoughts that He would not see and judge for these sins He knew. All thoughts of arrogance and oppression He knew. Let them not imagine that He did “not see” or “regard” their conduct; for even their hearts were known unto Him. “Thoughts are words to God, and vain thoughts are provocations.” .— 1. Here is warning to practical atheists. You are acting as though God had nothing to do with some departments of your life and conduct. You do things in business, or in politics, or in pleasure, which will not bear His scrutiny. You say in practice, “The Lord shall not see, neither shall God regard it.” But He does see; and “know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.” Your practical atheism is utter folly. 2. Here is encouragement to the oppressed righteous. You cannot pass beyond the region of God’s knowledge. He is acquainted with all your afflictions. His love and power are as great as His knowledge. He will sustain you in all your afflictions; and when He ariseth for judgment He will triumphantly vindicate you. THE OF THE - MAN(Psalms 94:12-15) The Psalmist, having complained of the enemies of the Church and appealed to God for judgment, and having warned the enemies of the folly of their conduct, proceeds in these verses to speak of the blessedness of the people of God, even in the midst of the oppressions to which they were subjected. “Blessed is the man,” &c. The good man is here represented as blessed,— I. Because of the instruction which he receives. “Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest, O Lord, &c.” (Psalms 94:12-13). The word which is here rendered “chastenest” does not mean to afflict or punish; but to instruct, to admonish, &c. Perowne renders it, “instructest;” and Hengstenberg, “admonishest.” He says, “Those who allow themselves to be admonished and taught by the Lord stand in opposition to the foolish among the people, who go to school with the blind ungodly heathen.” 1. The Teacher. “Thou instructest, O Lord.” As a Teacher, the Lord is incomparable, supreme, perfect. (1) In the extent of His attainments. All things are known to Him. His resources are inexhaustible. “His understanding is infinite.” (2) In His method of instruction. His knowledge of each pupil is perfect. He knows the faculties, capacities, attainments, &c., of each one; and adapts His communications and methods of instruction to each one. The Lord is an infallible, perfect Teacher. 2. The Text-book. “Out of Thy law.” By means of His Word, God teaches His people the great principles of His government. “The law appears here,” says Hengstenberg, “as the means which God uses in this instruction, the fountain out of which He draws it, and then satisfies with it by His Spirit the thirsty soul. It comes into notice in connection with its doctrine of recompense, and its rich consolatory promises for the people of the Lord, whose end is always salvation.” The Word of God is the best expositor of His Providence. 3. The end of the instruction. “That Thou mayest give him rest,” &c. Perowne, as we think, expounds truly: “This is the end of God’s teaching, that His servant may wait in patience, unmoved by, safe FROM THE DAYS OF EVIL (comp. Psalms 49:5), seeing the evil all round him lifting itself up, but seeing also the secret, mysterious retribution, slowly but surely accomplishing itself. In this sense the ‘rest’ is the rest of a calm, self-possessed spirit, as Isaiah 7:4; Isaiah 30:15; Isaiah 32:17.” The Divinely-instructed man has such views of the Divine administration as inspire him with confidence and calmness, even when the wicked arrogantly triumph over him. God has taught him out of His law that the pit is being digged, into which, if he repent not, the wicked will fall and perish. So the good man has inward rest in the midst of outward affliction and persecution. He is not the creature, but the conqueror of circumstances. His enemies may oppress him, but they cannot invade his peace, &c. II. Because of the faithfulness of God. “For the Lord will not cast off His people,” &c. The Divinely-instructed man is in covenant relation with God, by virtue of which he is both secure and blessed. He is blessed, for God will never forsake him. “The Lord may perhaps forsake His people for a time (comp. Judges 6:13; Isaiah 2:6), as a righteous punishment for forsaking Him, Deuteronomy 32:15, but not forever.”—Hengstenberg. The righteous are God’s “inheritance,” and He will not give up His title to it, nor suffer it to be wrested from Him. “For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee,” &c., Isaiah 54:7-8. Blessed, indeed, is the man who has the assurance that whatever may befall him, God will not forsake him. Being sure of his interest in God, he will want no good thing. III. Because of the righteousness of His judgments. “But judgment shall return unto righteousness,” &c. There are times when judgment seems turned aside from righteousness, such as, when the wicked triumph and the good are oppressed. But at the proper time these apparent perversions will be seen in their true light, and righteousness will be seen to be supreme. Even in appearance, judgment and justice cannot always fail. It must sooner or later appear in its true character as perfect righteousness. In the judgment of the great day this manifestation of the righteousness of the Divine rule will be on a grand scale. This manifestation of the righteousness of God’s judgments will be viewed with satisfaction by the righteous. “All the upright in heart shall follow it.” They will approve of it, avow their attachment to it. They will rejoice in it. They shall follow it with joyous hearts and triumphant songs. .—Blessed, indeed, is the Divinely-instructed man; for he has rest in the midst of trouble, an everlasting interest in God, and a glorious prospect in the judgment. A OF IN GOD(Psalms 94:16-23) The Psalmist now applies the general doctrine of the Psalm to his own case, and the result is this clear declaration of sublime trust in God. Here is— I. Confidence in the midst of formidable enemies. It is an easy matter to declare a triumphant trust when we are free from trial and danger. But the Poet was threatened and afflicted by unscrupulous and powerful enemies when he uttered these trustful and brave words. 1. His enemies were evil in character. “The evil doers, … the workers of iniquity.” See remarks on Psalms 94:4. 2. His enemies were in positions of authority. They occupied “the throne” or judgment seat. They were “not common assassins or thieves, but tyrants who, under a false pretext of justice, oppressed the Church. The throne of the king, the seat of the judge, which is consecrated to God, they stained or defiled with their crimes.”—Perowne. The people of God have often had wicked kings, and corrupt and cruel judges for their enemies. 3. His enemies acted legally. “Which frameth mischief by a law.” They enacted wicked laws, or propounded wicked interpretations of the law. Iniquity is never so daring as when it is supported by the sanctions of law. A thing may be right legally, yet utterly wrong morally, and right morally, yet wrong legally. We have a notable example of this in the life of Daniel (Daniel 6:7). 4. His enemies were confederate in council and action. “They gather themselves together,” &c. The enemies of Daniel afford an illustration, Daniel 6:6; Daniel 6:11; Daniel 6:15. Surely the enemies of the Psalmist were sufficiently formidable to have aroused his fears. Yet he unfalteringly declares his confidence. II. Confidence in the midst of many and anxious thoughts. The Psalmist speaks of “the multitude of his thoughts within him.” Perowne: “In the multitude of my anxious thoughts within me.” “Anxious thoughts, or ‘perplexities,’ lit. ‘divided or branching thoughts,’ whether doubts or cares.” He was fully alive to the dangers of his position. His thoughts were anxious and perplexed. They were also multitudinous. Luther “He speaks of the many thoughts which one has in such a state of despair, how he could or might come out of it. Then he thinks this way and that way, and visits all holes and corners, but finds none.” Yet faith triumphs over these anxious thoughts. Notwithstanding his deep solicitude, he expresses his firm confidence in God and His Providence. He is anxious, yet victorious. III. Confidence in the Divine support. “Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had soon dwelt in silence,” &c. (Psalms 94:17-18). Notice here— 1. The danger, and the need of help. (1) He was in danger of death. His soul was nearly dwelling in silence. The grave is represented as a place of silence. He was near to “the gates of death.” (2) He was also in danger of falling. He felt his feet slipping. When the soul is painfully exercised as to the Divine administration of human affairs, there is danger of falling into unbelief and rebellion, or of sinking into despair. (3) The danger was imminent. His soul was already near to the land of darkness and silence, and his feet were slipping. 2. The failure of human help. “Unless the Lord had been my help,” &c. There are times when human help fails for want of faithfulness; and times when it fails for want of ability. There are experiences in life in which the truest and most devoted of human helpers are powerless to sympathise with or aid us. 3. The sufficiency of the Divine help. The Lord was the Helper of the Psalmist, and His mercy held him up. The help of the Lord was (1) sufficient. It saved him from falling and from death. (2) Seasonable. It was afforded when he was near “the silent land,” when his feet were slipping. (3) Gracious. It was the expression of His mercy. He saves us in His lovingkindness. So the Psalmist proclaims his confidence in God, &c. IV. Confidence in the Divine protection. “The Lord is my defence; and my God is the Rock of my refuge.” Perowne: “Jehovah hath been a high tower for me.” The Psalmist is confident of— 1. The Security of the Divine Protection. Jehovah was his “high tower.” In Him he would be raised far above the reach of danger. He was “the Rock of his refuge,” in the clefts of which he may safely hide. 2. The Stability of the Divine Protection. “The Rock” is firm, strong, immovable. It stands securely and calmly amid the driving winds, and pelting storms, and surging, thundering seas. The soul that trusts in Jehovah may exult, for she is inviolably and eternally safe. V. Confidence in the Divine retribution. “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with Thee?… He shall bring upon them their own iniquity,” &c. Here is a threefold assurance:— 1. God has no fellowship with the wicked. He will have no alliance with injustice, even when it is sanctioned by human laws. He has no complicity with evil. All His arrangements are utterly hostile to it. 2. God will cut of the persistently wicked. “He shall cut them off in their own wickedness,” &c. A terrible retribution awaits the workers of iniquity. 3. God will cut of the persistently wicked by means of their own wickedness. “He shall bring upon them their own iniquity.” “It is an ill work wicked ones are about; they make fetters for their own feet, and build houses for to fall upon their own heads; so mischievous is the nature of sin that it damnifies and destroys the parents of it.”—Greenhill. “A man cannot be more miserable than his own wickedness will make him if God visit it upon him.”—M. Henry. VI. Confidence in the Lord a source of joy, even in the midst of dangers and anxieties. We have reserved this consideration to the last, because it seems to us the crowning triumph and glory of confidence. Even in the midst of oppression, peril, and multitudinous anxieties, the trust of the Psalmist brought joy to his soul. “Thy comforts delight my soul.” Meditation on the perfections of God, trust in His promises, and the realisation of His presence, are Divine comforts which exceedingly rejoice the soul. “They not only pacify the mind, but they joy it; they do not only satisfy it, but ravish it; they not only quiet, but delight it. They not only take away the present grief, but likewise put in the room and place of it most unspeakable comfort and consolation, as the sun does not only dispel darkness, but likewise brings in a glorious light in the stead of it.”—T. Horton. Thus, by faith in God, the soul is “more than conqueror” over all hostile powers without, and anxious thoughts and fears within. Let us cultivate such faith. For such faith let us pray. “Lord, increase our faith.” THE SUMMONS TO HOLY WORK(Psalms 94:16) We may regard these words as parallel at least to those of the Judges and Lawgivers of Israel, who when the very existence of Israel as a nation was trembling in the balance, and when devotedness and loyalty were demanded by the circumstances of the case, called with trumpet-voice to the brave and true-hearted among them to be “on the Lord’s side,” and “cursed bitterly” those who would not come “to the help of the Lord against the mighty.” I. Let us review a few characteristics of the evildoers. 1. Look at the number of the evildoers. Not more than one-seventh of the human race is even nominally Christian; and among these Christians are reckoned all the populations of Austria, France, Russia, America, and Spain; the Greeks, the Copts, and the Armenians; the priest-ridden inhabitants of Brazil and Mexico, and all the crowds of our English cities; the Sabbath-breakers, the despisers of God’s love, the haters of God’s law, the drunkard, the harlot, the miser, the dotard, and the fool.… Turn to the six-sevenths of this world’s population.… We are passing out of Goshen into Egyptian darkness. 2. The variety of the evildoers. In one place there is subtle speculation, in another gross vice; here utter indifference, there wild fanaticism; in one tribe crushing ignorance, in another daring philosophy and luxuriant imagination.… The regiments of the prince of this world wear various uniforms; the mutineers in God’s army are widespread and bear divers colours: they speak a hundred dialects or tongues, and are scattered over the whole world. 3. They are closely organised. There are subtle links of faith that bind the millions of the East, and move them in vast masses. In China … there is abundant organisation, and much coincidence of action. In India, with all the varieties of faith that prevail, there are great and startling signs of combination against God and His Christ. 4. The depravity of these evildoers. It is not the mere ignorance which heathendom reveals which constitutes their chief danger or our main responsibility, but it is the fearful corruption of man under these various forms of Christless, Godless life. In these lands of which we are speaking there is no public opinion against sins of the foulest, most unmentionable kinds. II. Consider the course which God has taken with these evildoers, and also what is involved in the appeal here uttered. “Who will rise up for Me against the evildoers?” “Who is on the Lord’s side?” By these appeals God seems to tell us that He is not going to crush, or destroy, or convert, or save these evildoers by any fiat of omnipotence, by any touch of His imperial sceptre. His method has always been to teach men by men; to uproot error by truth; to conquer darkness by light; to drive out hatred by love. Nature has unveiled her charms, &c., to men first, and afterwards to nations. God’s greatest acts of revelation have been made through human minds. When He intends to reach the hearts and conquer the wills of men by His love, He calls the sons of men to His help against the mighty. It is not, however, that God is weak and needs our help, but that for infinitely perfect reasons He chooses thus to conquer His enemies, &c. “Who will rise up for Me against the evildoers?” The evildoing is done against Him. III. Examine the response which is made to this appeal. Nature is ready to rise up for God against the evildoers. Tremendous ocean once heaved from his rocky bed, and in the roaring of his billows said, “I will sweep the accursed race of man from the face of the earth.” … And the lust of rule, the spirit of conquest, the demon of war, have come up before Him. And they have said one to another, “We will go and make inroads on these hoary superstitions; we will bring the civilisation of distant tribes together,” &c. … The enemies of the Lord have fought against each other, and the wrath of man has been made to praise Him. But He needs other and nobler service. Led by Death himself, Cholera, Plague, Famine, and Madness have often risen up against the evildoers.… And now a peaceful group come smiling on, confident in their strength, instinct with hope and promise—they are Science and Commerce, Civilisation and Law.… But powers like these cannot reach the root of the evil. In the Gospel of Christ there is the only stay of human corruption, the only rival to the world’s fascinations, the only power which is merciful to the sinner while it is just to his sin. It is God’s method to overwhelm and subdue the heart of man, to change the evildoer, not by His threats, but by His amnesty—not by the thunder of law, but by the sovereign pleading of love. How shall we obey the summons of the text?—A bridged from “Notes of the Christian Life,” by Dr. Reynolds. A COMMON OF THE JOURNEY(Psalms 94:18) “My foot slippeth.” The whole verse is, “When I said, My foot slippeth; Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.” Here we have one of the simplest forms of prayer, the bare statement of danger. The child’s cry, without introduction or finis. The soul in peril can seldom say much, but that which is said is generally expressive. Take, for example, these words: they imply faith in the presence of One able to help—abhorrence of the sin to which he is tempted—and confidence in His willingness to save. This experience is a common one. All of us are, at some time, found in slippery places. They are of various kinds, more or less dangerous. There are many things incident to ourselves which render them the more perilous. And we have the same method for preservation the Psalmist enjoyed. Let us notice each of these points. I. Some slippery places. We are the more exposed to falling when we are brought into circumstances of— 1. Poverty and want. Christ was tempted when He hungered. 2. Of annoyance and vexation. Moses smote the rock in anger. 3. Of dejection and perplexity. Psalms 73:2-3. 4. Of sore bereavement and trial. Job. II. Some things concerning the traveller, rendering these the more perilous. 1. The absence of the staff, or negligence in its use. Learn the promises and use them. 2. The foot ill-shod. 3. Drowsiness. “Watch and pray, that,” &c. 4. Carelessness. 5. The lantern untrimmed or insecure, so that it goes out or burns dimly. III. The sure means for preservation. We have simply to cry to the Deliverer. How absurd would it be for a traveller to wait a moment before he cried for help, or took means to extricate himself from peril! Yet some are content merely to cry, “Lead us not into temptation,” when the Sabbath service is performed. The secret of a secure and blessed life is constant ejaculatory prayer. The moment danger is even anticipated, to ask for timely assistance.—R. A. Griffin. THE OF UNDER EITHER WORLDLY OR TRIALS(Psalms 94:19) Consider— I. Some of the distressing thoughts which are apt to oppress the mind of a good man. They may be considered as relating to— 1. The state of the world. When a good man surveys the general prevalence of irreligion and impiety, when he considers how few there are, comparatively, who seek after God, or are moved by any impression of a serious nature, he cannot but be affected. “I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved,” &c. (Psalms 119:158; Psalms 119:53). When, again, he considers whither such a course must tend, and in what it will possibly issue, the prospect is still more alarming. “Wide is the gate,” &c. (Matthew 7:13). 2. The state of the Church. The palpable inconsistency between the lives of numerous professors of religion, and the real import of that profession, is the subject of much distressing reflection to the sincere follower of Christ. “Many walk of whom I have told you often,” &c. (Philippians 3:18-19). 3. His state as an individual. “The heart knoweth his own bitterness,” &c. We may advert to— (1) Trials of a worldly nature. Under these religion neither demands nor boasts a perfect insensibility. The Psalmist displayed great vicissitude of feeling, arising from this quarter; he mourned under the calumny and oppression of his enemies, and gave utterance to cries and tears under his affliction. Psalms 42:9-10. Job is another example. (2) Trials of a spiritual nature. When we consider our low attainments in religion, compared with our opportunities, our latent corruption, and our frequent miscarriages and failures, we are often tempted to call in question the reality of our religion, and to fear that, after all, we are only “almost Christians.” Under the hidings of God’s countenance how many painful thoughts arise! In the prospect before him; in the contemplation of the dangers and temptations which still await him; while he feels himself nothing but frailty and weakness, how apt is he to apprehend some fatal overthrow! He is ready to cry, “I shall never see the King in His beauty, nor behold the land which is so far off.” II. The consolations of God opposed to these uneasy thoughts. 1. Such as arise from the disordered state of the world. On this subject great consolation springs from the conviction that the Lord reigneth. There sit at the helm infinite power, wisdom, and goodness. They are in perpetual operation; and, in the final result, they will appear with ineffable splendour and beauty. 2. Under painful apprehensions respecting the state of the Church, the comforts of God are neither few nor small. Reflect: it is incomparably more His care than ours. As the Saviour bought it with His blood, He will not fail to guide and govern it in the best manner possible. His interpositions in its favour afford a pledge of what He will still accomplish. Isaiah 43:3-4; Matthew 16:18. Afflictions are designed to purify the Church. 3. Under the distressing thoughts arising from the state of a Christian, as an individual, the Divine comforts are proposed. Affliction and privations are all ordered in infinite wisdom, and proceed from the purest benignity; they will issue in our advantage, and they will be but of short duration. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”—Robert Hall.—Abridged. “This Psalm is one of a series intended for the Temple worship, and possibly composed for some festal occasion. Both the joyfulness of its opening verses, and its general character, in which it resembles the 81st Psalm, would render it suitable for some of the great national feasts.“As to the date of its composition nothing certain can be said. The LXX call it a Psalm of David; and the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in making a quotation from the Psalm, uses the expression ‘in David,’ but this is evidently only equivalent to saying ‘in the Psalms.’ In the Hebrew it has no inscription.“It consists of two very distinct parts:—“I. The first is an invitation to a joyful public acknowledgment of God’s mercies. Psalms 95:1-7.“II. The second (beginning with the last member of Psa 95:7 to the end) is a warning to the people against the unbelief and disobedience through which their fathers had perished in the wilderness.”—Perowne.AN TO WORSHIP(Psalms 95:1-7) The Psalmist, in this invitation to worship, brings before us— I. The method of worship. “O come, let us sing unto the Lord,” &c., Psalms 95:1-2; Psalms 95:6. We are exhorted to worship— 1. Joyfully. “Let us make a joyful noise.” “Spiritual joy is the heart and soul of thankful praise.” In drawing near to God in worship we have many and forcible reasons for rejoicing in Him. By holy delight in His worship we honour Him, and commend His service to others. 2. Readily. “Let us come before His presence.” Margin, as in Heb., “Let us prevent His face.” Hengstenberg: “Let us anticipate His presence.” Perowne: “Let us go to meet His face.” He says, “Such is the proper and strict rendering of the word. ‘Come before’ does not sufficiently express the forwardness, the ready alacrity, which are really denoted by the verb.” The exhortation of the Psalmist presupposes unreadiness to worship, and implies that worship should be offered with pleasure and zeal. 3. Gratefully. “With thanksgiving.” In worship we should gratefully recognise God’s gracious dealings with us. For all the blessings which God in His mercy bestows upon us, He expects and requires to be thanked. He bestows them freely and generously for our good, and He would have us give the glory to Him. Thankfulness of heart is one of the great impulses to worship. 4. Reverently. “Let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” “All the expressions here employed denote a posture of profound reverence in worship, and the passage is a standing rebuke of all irreverent postures in prayer.”—Barnes. Reverence of feeling should be expressed in reverent attitudes. If we are duly sensible of the immeasurable distance between us and God, humility and sacred reverence will fill our hearts and be expressed in our words and attitude in worshipping Him. In the worship of God joy should be wedded to seriousness, gratitude to humility, confidence to reverence, and zeal to holy awe. II. The motives of worship. “For the Lord is a great God,” &c. The Psalmist invites to worship— 1. Because Jehovah is Supreme. “The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all Gods.” The word “gods” is sometimes applied to angels, sometimes to judges, and sometimes to heathen deities. It is used in this place to designate the latter. We are not to suppose that the Psalmist credited these heathen deities with any real existence or power. “For all the gods of the nations are idols.” “He is merely contrasting heathen objects of worship, clothed in the imagination of their worshippers with certain attributes, and the one true supreme Object of worship, who is really all, and more than all, which the heathen think their gods to be.”—Perowne. Probably the surrounding idolatrous nations regarded Jehovah as some small local deity, far inferior to their “gods.” The Psalmist here declares that in His perfections He is exalted far above the highest position ascribed to the gods of the heathen. Let us worship Him because He is supreme over all, the Ruler over all. 2. Because He is the Creator and Proprietor of all things. “In His hand are the deep places of the earth,” &c. The second clause of Psa 95:4 is variously rendered. Alexander says, “The word translated ‘strength’ is plural in Hebrew, and seems properly to mean fatiguing exertions, from which some derive the idea of strength, others that of extreme height, which can only be reached by exhausting effort.” Margin: “The height of the hills are His.” Perowne: “The heights of the mountains are His.” So also Hengstenberg. “The exertions,” or “heights of the mountains” is parallel with “the searchings,” or “deep places of the earth;” and it “is a poetical expression for the highest summits of the mountains, which can be reached only by exertion.” Here are two ideas (1) Jehovah is Creator of all things. Mountain summits and cavern depths, sea and land, all were made by Him. (2) He is the Proprietor and Sovereign of all things. Creatorship affords the highest and most valid claim to Proprietorship and Sovereignty. By indisputable right Jehovah is the absolute Owner and Ruler of all things. “However deep man may penetrate into the depths, or however high he may ascend into the heights, he is still within the dominions of God, and never comes beyond His boundaries.” 3. Because of His relations to His people. (1) He is their Creator. “Jehovah our Maker.” He has made us capable of worship, and to Him alone our worship should be offered. (2) He is the Source of their salvation. “The Rock of our salvation.” “God is called the Rock of salvation as being its unchangeable foundation and faithful author.” Our salvation is entirely owing to Him. Its origin, its outworking, &c., are all due to Him. Therefore gratitude urges us to worship Him. (3) He is in covenant relation with them. “He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture.” God had covenanted with them that they should obey Him, and promised them, saying, “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people.” We who have “made a covenant with Him by sacrifice” are under special obligations to worship Him. We have special manifestations of His presence, special communications of His lovingkindness, &c. We have made promises of consecration and service, &c. (4) He exercises the most watchful care over them. They are “the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.” He is their Shepherd,—a relation involving guidance, government, protection, and provision. (See an outline on Psalms 71:2.) . Worship such as this—spontaneous, joyous, grateful, reverent—is not only our duty, but our precious and exalted privilege. It calls into exercise the noblest faculties of our being; it engages the thoughts and affections upon the most sublime themes; it brings the spirit into the presence of the Supremely Great and Good; and it transforms it into the Divine image. Therefore, “O come, let us worship and bow down,” &c. A WARNING AGAINST (Psalms 95:7 (last clause) to 11) The Psalmist, speaking by the Holy Ghost, here holds up the unbelief and disobedience of the Israelites in the wilderness as a warning to their descendants in his day. Consider— I. The ensample of human sin. “Your fathers tempted Me,” &c. Notice, 1. The sin itself. The root-sin of which Israel was guilty in the wilderness was unbelief. This is distinctly stated by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews. (Hebrews 3:18-19.) Here it is spoken of as (1) Tempting God. Two instances of this are mentioned in Psalms 95:8. “Harden not your heart, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah (trial) in the wilderness.” “Meribah, ‘striving’ or ‘provocation;’ Massah, ‘temptation,’ or ‘trial.’ From Exodus 17:1-7 it would appear that both names were given to the same locality. But according to Numbers 20:1-13, the names were given to two different places on different occasions. Comp. also Deuteronomy 33:8.”—Perowne. (See Alford on Hebrews 3:8.) “Your fathers tempted by way of trial—’tempted (Me) in trying’ or ‘proving (Me.)’ ”—Alford. “Unbelief of every kind and every degree may be said to tempt God. For not to believe on the evidence which He has seen fit to give, is to provoke Him to give more, offering our possible assent if proof were increased as an inducement to Him to go beyond what His wisdom has prescribed. And if in this, and the like sense, God may be tempted, what can be more truly said of the Israelites, than that they tempted God in Massah?”—H. Melville. And Spurgeon: “Not to acquiesce in the will of God is virtually to tempt Him to alter His plans to suit our imperfect views of how the universe should be governed.” “They tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?” (2) Disobedience of God. “They have not known My ways.” God’s ways are the ways which He prescribed for them to walk in. In matters of practical religion, not to know the ways of God implies the not walking in them. The Israelites were guilty not only of disobedience, but of oft-repeated acts of rebellion in the wilderness. Unbelief is the parent of disobedience. 2. Their persistency in sin. “It is a people that do err in their heart.” Heb.: “A people of wanderers in heart.” “I understand καρδία here,” says Stuart, “as used according to the Hebrew idiom (in which it is often pleonastic, at least it seems so to us), so that the phrase imports simply, They always err, i.e., they are continually departing from the right way.” Or, if it be taken to mean that their sins were deep-rooted, not mere errors of judgment, but the utterances of a heart far estranged from God, still their persistency in evil comes into view. Disobedience and rebellious murmurings were not exceptional in their case. Strong, indeed, were their proclivities to evil. Nor are we aware of any improvement, until the adult population that came out of Egypt had passed away by death. 3. The aggravation of their sin. “Saw My work.” They had seen His wonders in Egypt and His marvellous doings for them at the Red Sea. In the miraculous supply of manna, and in the stream from the rock that followed them, they had incontestable proofs of God’s powerful and gracious presence with them, and yet in their unbelief “they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?” The works of the Lord which they had seen should have inspired them with an all-conquering faith. But through their perversity His works aggravated their sin, increased their guilt. (Numbers 14:22-23.) II. The ensample of Divine judgment. The Lord was not unmindful of their sin. He saw and was grieved. “Forty years long was I grieved with this generation.” The word rendered “grieved” is expressive of loathing and disgust. Hengstenberg renders it “disgusted.” For forty years their conduct was such that the Lord could not but regard them with displeasure and aversion. And in His anger He sware that they should not enter into the promised land. In God’s wrath there is nothing revengeful, passionate, or stormy. It is a calm, just, holy anger against sin. Their rebellions had been many and heinous. All the means used for their moral improvement had grievously failed. Warnings and entreaties, the richest mercies and the most startling and solemn judgments, had produced no lasting impression for good. So Jehovah solemnly resolves and declares that they shall not enter into His rest. (Numbers 14:21-23; Numbers 14:28-35; Deuteronomy 1:34-35.) Meditate on this judgment. Think of the wondrous works wrought on their behalf, the design of which they entirely frustrated, so far as that generation was concerned; the years wasted in apparently fruitless wanderings; the expectations which perished; the rest which they forfeited; rest from slavery and from wandering, rest as a free people in a goodly land, &c. III. The improvement to be made of these ensamples. “To-day if ye will hear His voice,” &c. Consider— 1. The import of hearing His voice. It is not mere hearing; but hearing with attention, faith, and obedience. Hearing is of no avail without believing, and faith which is not followed by action in harmony therewith is unreal, dead. Attend to, believe, and obey His voice. The Holy Ghost, by the Psalmist, indicates one sin as particularly incompatible with proper attention to the Divine voice. “Harden not your heart.” In this case, to harden the heart, is to disregard the Divine precepts and warnings, to neglect the Divine voice, and persist in disobedience. “An old man, one day taking a child on his knee, entreated him to seek God now—to pray to Him, and to love Him; when the child, looking up at him, asked, ‘But why do not you seek God?’ The old man, deeply affected, answered, ‘I would, child; but my heart is hard—my heart is hard.’ ”—Arvine. “The pirate Gibbs, whose name for many years was a terror to commerce, was finally captured, and executed in the city of New York. He acknowledged before his death, that, when he committed the first murder, his conscience made a hell within his bosom; but, after he had sailed for years under the black flag, his conscience became so blunted, he could rob a vessel, murder all its crew, and then lie down as peacefully to rest as an infant in its cradle.”—Dict. of Illus. 2. The time for hearing His voice. “To-day.” Now. This day of grace, which may be lost. “If we put off repentance another day, we have a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in.”—Mason. “He that hath promised pardon on our repentance hath not promised life till we repent.”—Quarles. “You cannot repent too soon, because you know not how soon it may be too late.”—Fuller. 3. The arguments for hearing His voice. (1) Inattention to God’s voice excludes from His rest. A glorious rest is provided for the people of God. Rest from guilt, sin, sorrow, suffering, anxiety, wearisome toil. The rest of holiness, love, delightful activities, satisfied affections, &c. Heaven. Unbelief excludes from this rest. “There can be no rest to an unbelieving heart.” Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 3:18-19. (2) God is deeply solicitous that we should attend to His voice. He says, “To-day, oh that ye would hear His voice!” He knows the worth of the soul, the blessedness and glory of the rest, the loss and sin and woe involved in exclusion from it; and hence His solicitude that we should hear His voice, &c. .— 1. Let the people of God beware that they provoke Him not by their unbelief or ingratitude, &c. 2. Let the unbeliever hear God’s voice, believe, and be saved to-day, now. SINNERS TO HEAR GOD’S VOICEPsa_95:7-8. “To-day, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your heart.” I would press the importance, the necessity, of immediately becoming religious:— I. Because of the shortness and uncertainty of life. You are mortal; it is appointed to all men once to die. You are frail, and may die soon and suddenly. Those who enjoy the most vigorous health are most exposed to many of those diseases which arrest their victims by surprise, and cut short the thread of life as in a moment. See the risk of delay. You stake your soul without any equivalent; for if life should be spared you gain nothing; but should it be cut short, you lose all, you are ruined for eternity. II. Because you cannot properly, or even lawfully, promise to give what is not your own. To-morrow is not yours; and it is yet uncertain whether it ever will be. To-day is the only time which you can properly give to God. III. Because if you defer the commencement of a religious life, though but till to-morrow, you must harden your hearts against the voice of God. God commands and exhorts you to commence a religious life immediately. If you do not comply, you must refuse, for there is no medium. And this act of disobedience to God’s commands tends most powerfully to harden the heart; for after we have once disobeyed, it becomes more easy to repeat the disobedience. If you disobey, you must assign some excuse to justify your disobedience, or your consciences will reproach you and render you uneasy; if no plausible excuse occurs, you will seek one; if none can readily be found, you will invent one.… This tends most powerfully to harden the heart. IV. If you do not commence a religious life to-day, there is great reason to fear that you will never commence it. The very causes which induce you to defer its commencement, render it highly improbable that you will ever become religious. You allege, perhaps, that you are not able to become religious, or that you cannot give your minds to it, or you know not how to begin. Now, all these causes will operate with equal force another day.… Every day’s delay will render it more difficult. V. Because, after a time, God ceases to strive with sinners and to afford them the assistance of His grace. He gives them up to a blinded mind, a seared conscience, and a hard heart. Thus He dealt with the old world; the wicked sons of Eli; the Jews in the time of Isaiah (Psalms 6:9-10); and the inhabitants of Jerusalem in our Saviour’s time (Luke 19:41-42). VI. Because you are, while you delay, constantly making work for repentance; you are doing what you mean to be sorry for; you are building up to-day what you mean to throw down to-morrow. How irrational and absurd is this! I will not now hear God’s voice, but I mean to mourn, to be grieved for it hereafter. Could you say this to your fellow-creatures without blushing? VII. Because it is the express command of God. “God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” And the Holy Ghost saith, Obey God’s command, hear His voice to-day, and do not harden your hearts against it. Dare any of you trample on a known command of God? .—What, after all, is there so very irksome, or disagreeable, in a religious life, that you should wish to defer its commencement? If you must begin some time, why not begin today?—Dr. E. Payson.—Abridged. This Psalm has no superscription in the Hebrew. But in the Septuagint and in the Vulgate it has the following, “When the house was built after the captivity. An ode by David.” There is a great similarity between this Psalm and the great festal hymn which “David delivered, to thank the Lord, into the hand of Asaph and his brethren” on the day when the ark was brought into the sanctuary in Zion. It indeed almost exactly corresponds to that portion of the Psalm, on the placing of the ark in Zion, which is contained in 1 Chronicles 16:23-33. It is probable that the original Psalm was composed by David, for use on the occasion mentioned above, and that it is recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:8-36, and that this Psalm was selected from it for use at the dedication of the second temple.We regard the Psalm as setting before us a picture of—THE WORLD’S MOST JOYOUS DAYWe have here a picture of a day of blessing and glory for our world such as never yet has dawned upon it, but most assuredly will dawn in God’s own appointed time. The Poet portrays two grand features of the world’s most joyous day. It will be— I. A day when the relations of the Lord to the world shall be rightly apprehended. What are those relations? 1. He alone is God of the world. This is clear from (1) The nothingness of heathen deities and the reality and power of Jehovah. “All the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.” The heathen deities were nonentities, nothings. They had no real existence. They existed only in the imaginations of their worshippers (Isaiah 41:23-24.) Even when the objects of the worship of the heathen have a real existence, such as the heavenly bodies, yet they have no existence as gods, no existence which renders them fit objects of homage. But the Lord is real and living and powerful. He “made the heavens.” In their creation He has manifested His power and glory to all the world, and given proof that He is the true God and entitled to the worship of His creatures. (2) The greatness of Jehovah. “The Lord is great, and greatly to be praised.” God is great in His thoughts and purposes, in power and action, in glory and dominion. His greatness is so pre-eminent that Masillon well said, “God alone is great.” (3) The glory of Jehovah. “Honour and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.” Wherever He pleases to manifest Himself there true glory is displayed. All that is really mighty and majestic, glorious and beautiful, is found in Him in full perfection, and flows from Him. Holiness and wisdom, truth and love constitute His strength, beauty, and majesty. He has displayed His glory in the heavens which He created; but it shines most brightly “in His sanctuary,” in the Church militant and in the Church triumphant. In the world’s most joyous day the Lord shall be recognised throughout the world as the only true God, incomprehensibly great and glorious. 2. His salvation is for all the world. “Show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people.” In the bright day which is drawing near, His salvation will be published amongst all nations and all peoples. “Salvation” from the night of heathen darkness, from sin and all its terrible consequences. “Salvation” to holiness, love, life immortal, into the image of God, and to the vision of God. “Salvation” for all the world as opposed (1) to the restrictions of Judaism. “Go ye into all the world,” &c. (Mark 16:15-16). “God is no respecter of persons,” &c. (Acts 10:34-35). (2) To the limitations of human creeds. Our narrow systems of theology cannot restrict the fulness of the grace of God. The river of the water of life refuses to be pent in the limited channels which men have scooped out for it. It flows in streams broad and deep, for the life and refreshment of all men. Salvation is free for all men. “Ho, every one that thirsteth,” &c. (Isaiah 55:1-2). “Whosoever believeth,” &c. “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come,” &c. (Revelation 22:17). In the glorious day approaching, the freedom and universality of salvation will be recognised, &c. 3. He is the King of all the world. “Say among the heathen that the Lord reigneth,” &c. “ ‘Jehovah is King,’ lit. ‘hath become King,’ hath taken to Himself His great power and reigned.” “He shall reign from pole to poleWith illimitable sway.”Under His reign the earth will become calm and stable. Agitated and shaken by the sins and strifes of men, it shall become peaceful and orderly under the sway of Jehovah. In the joyous day of which our Poet sings, the reign of the Lord shall be proclaimed in all the world, recognised in all the world, and its blessings enjoyed in all the world. 4. He is the Judge of all the world. “He shall judge the people righteously. He cometh, He cometh to judge the earth,” &c. Judging is probably used here for ruling. Two prominent features of the Divine rule and judgment are here specified— (1) Righteousness. The laws of His kingdom and their administration harmonise with eternal truth and equity. (2) Faithfulness. His administration will accord with the truth of His own character, and the declarations of His will. “It is a judgment which is to issue in salvation.” “It is not a retributive, but a gracious judging, by which controversies are adjusted and prevented, and the law of love is introduced into the lives of the people.” In the world’s most joyous day the Lord will be heartily recognised as the gracious Ruler and Judge of all men. II. A day when the relations of the Lord to the world shall be duly celebrated. In the day portrayed by the Psalmist the gracious relations of Jehovah to all men will not only be understood, but appreciated and praised. 1. He will be universally worshipped. “All the earth” shall sing unto Him. “All flesh shall come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.” “From the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles,” &c. (Malachi 1:11). “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” 2. He will be enthusiastically worshipped. Three times the Poet calls upon the people to “Sing unto the Lord,” and three times to “Give unto the Lord glory,” The repetition indicates urgency and zeal. The whole soul of the Poet is in the exhortation. In the grand coronation day the Lord the King shall be worshipped with entire heartiness, and with intensest enthusiasm. 3. He will be joyously worshipped. “O sing unto the Lord a new song,” &c. The “new song” is “one which shall be the fit expression of all the thoughts and hopes and triumphs of the new and glorious age which is about to dawn. It is the glad welcome given to the King when He enters His kingdom.” So great is the joy of the world that even the inanimate creation is represented as sharing in it. “Let the heavens rejoice,” &c. (Psalms 96:11-12). “With the coming of Jehovah and the setting up of His kingdom, all the broken harmonies of creation shall be restored. Not ‘the sons of God’ only, but the whole creation, is still looking forward to the great consummation (Romans 8:21).”—Perowne. 4. He will be reverently worshipped. “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, fear before Him, all the earth.” “ ‘Bow yourselves before Jehovah in holy pomp, tremble before Him all the earth.’ ‘Pomp,’ or ‘array,’ but the word denotes all that lent solemnity and impressiveness to the service.”—Perowne. In the glorious day which the Psalmist foresaw, the Lord will be worshipped with all that is expressive of admiration and veneration. There will be nothing unbecoming in the worship offered unto Him. All the earth will approach and pay homage to Him in the beauty of pure, loving, adoring spirits. .— 1. Here is a word of Exhortation. For the advent of this most joyous day for the world, let us be untiring both in work and in prayer. 2. Here is a word of Inspiration. This bright day will surely dawn. The world advances not to the darkness of night, but to the splendours of a glorious and unfading noontide. Therefore, take heart, ye faithful watchers, and brave workers, and earnest suppliants. The cause to which you are devoted must triumph. The mountain tops are already bathed in glory; and soon the whole world will be flooded with radiance, and breakforth into the tremendous and exultant shout, “Hallelujah, the Lord reigneth.” THE OBJECT, , AND OF WORSHIP(Psalms 96:8) Consider— I. The grand Object of worship. “The Lord.” He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. “The Lord made the heavens.” He is the true and rightful Proprietor of all things and beings. He has a claim upon our worship. We ought to worship Him. He is supremely great and glorious. His glory consists of His goodness. His worship should be attractive, delightful. He is the only true Object of worship. He alone is perfect. Worshipping any other object our being will not be developed, or will be developed injuriously. His worship is quickening, purifying, exalting, &c. II. The solemn obligation of worship. “The glory due unto His name.” “Due” is supplied by our translators. But, if we omit it and read, “The glory of His name,” the text still sets forth the obligatoriness of worship. Worship is not optional, but binding. 1. It is due to Him because of what He is. He is supremely great, and should, therefore, be reverenced; supremely gracious, and should, therefore, be loved; supremely glorious, and should, therefore, be humbly adored, &c. Think of what He is, and then ask yourself, How much is due unto Him? 2. It is due to Him because of what He does. His is the glory of creation, providence, redemption. How much He has done for us! How much of gratitude, &c., we owe to Him! “On His head are many crowns.” III. The appropriate expression of worship. “Bring an offering,” &c. “ ‘Bring presents.’ ‘Presents’ (the collective sing for the plural), in allusion to the Oriental custom which required gifts to be brought by all who would be admitted to the presence of a king.”—Perowne. Hengstenberg: “The ‘bring offerings’ is used of the bringing of gifts of allegiance to earthly sovereigns.” The derivation and usage of the word minchah—“offering”—point to that idea of sacrifice, which represents it as a Eucharistic gift to God our King. Let us express our worship in offerings of— 1. Grateful praise. “Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.” 2. Generous contributions. (Proverbs 11:24-25; 1 Corinthians 9:6-11.) 3. Devoted service. (Acts 20:24; Philippians 2:30.) The great Sin-Offering has been made. Our obligations to the Lord are immense. Let us heartily bring our thank-offerings to Him. This is another of the series of Psalms which celebrate the advent of Jehovah as King. There are seven in the series, the ninety-third being the first, and the hundredth the last. The ninety-fourth is not one of the series. We know neither the author by whom, nor the occasion on which, this Psalm was composed. The series may “have been composed with reference to the same occasion, and may have been designed to be used together. They are similar in their contents and structure; and they refer to the same thing—the sovereignty or the supremacy of God.” This one may be taken as presenting two themes for Homiletic treatment,—The Features and Effects of the King’s Advent, Psalms 97:1-9; and The Character, Privileges, and Duties of the King’s Subjects, Psalms 97:10-12.THE AND EFFECTS OF THE KING’S ADVENT(Psalms 97:1-9) Let us notice— I. The features of the King’s advent. The description of the coming of the King is full of poetic grandeur. It represents His advent as characterised by— 1. Awful Majesty. “Clouds and darkness are round about Him. A fire goeth before Him,” &c., Psalms 97:2-5. The images in these verses are suggested by the theophany at the giving of the law on Sinai. God is often represented in the Holy Word as coming with clouds and fire, and inspiring the world with awe and dread. Psalms 18:7-15; Psalms 1:1-6; Habakkuk 3:3-16. The object of these representations is to set forth the greatness, and sublimity, and glory of God. Moreover, the awful phenomena which accompanied the giving of the law were designed to deeply impress the people with the august and glorious presence of the Divine Lawgiver and Judge. So the coming of the Lord to reign and judge in the world will be with such majesty and glory, that the most exalted amongst men will be as nothing in His presence, and holy awe or unspeakable fear will fill men’s hearts. 2. Widest conspicuousness. “All the people see His glory.” The glory of the Lord here is the revelation of His being and character through His works of righteousness and grace. “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” 3. Perfect righteousness. “Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of His throne.… The heavens declare His righteousness.” Righteousness is here represented (1) As the basis of His government. It is the “establishment,” or “foundation of His throne.” This affords a guarantee of the stability and permanence of His rule. (See remarks on Psalms 89:14.) (2) As clearly manifested. “The heavens declare” it. “It is as conspicuous and illustrious as the heavens themselves.” (See remarks on Psalms 50:6.) The advent of the King will be in righteousness, with the utmost conspicuousness, and with awful majesty. “The Lord shall come! the earth shall quake;The mountains to their centre shake;And, withering from the vault of night,The stars withdraw their feeble light.The Lord shall come! a glorious form,With wreath of flame and robe of storm,On cherub wings, and wings of wind,Appointed Judge of all mankind.”—Heber.II. The effects of the King’s advent. “The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice,” &c. The effects of the reign of Jehovah differ in different classes of character. 1. It should occasion joy to all. “Let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad.” It should be a source of inexpressible gladness to all men that the world is not anarchic; that it is not ruled by Satan, or by heartless fate, or by blind physical forces and laws, but by the Lord. He rules all things in perfect righteousness and wisdom and goodness. Rejoice; for the Supremely Good is the Supreme King. 2. It does occasion (1) Destruction to His foes. “A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His enemies round about.” When He comes to judge and reign He will destroy all His foes. He will put down all opposition. Men must either bow to His sceptre, or be slain by His sword. (2) Confusion to idolaters. “Confounded be all they that serve graven images,” &c. Perowne and Hengstenberg translate,—“Ashamed.” “It is a shame,” says the former, “arising from the discovery of the utter vanity and nothingness of the objects of their trust.” They boast in nonentities and serve mere images; and when the Lord cometh to judge and reign in the earth, they will discover to their shame and confusion the utter powerlessness and worthlessness of these idols. In that solemn day, many will find their gods—those things on which their hearts are set—to be mere idols, shams, and mockeries. (3) Gladness to His people. “Zion heard, and was glad,” &c. The people of God rejoice, because of the utter abolition of idols, and the supremacy of Jehovah. Some expositors think that “the daughters of Judah” are introduced here, because of “a custom familiar in Judea, of forming choral bands of maidens after a victory or some happy circumstance.” (See Exodus 15:20-21; 1 Samuel 18:6-7.) But the designation seems to us to denote the smaller cities of Judah, that surrounded Jerusalem as the mother city. So that “Zion and the daughters of Judah” represent the whole of Judah. All the people of the Lord rejoice in His coming to reign. Two reasons are assigned for their joy. His judgments. “Rejoiced because of Thy judgments.” (See remarks on Psalms 48:11.) His supremacy. “For Thou, Lord, art high above all the earth,” &c. (See remarks on Psalms 95:3.) .—What to us will be the effect of the coming of the Lord as King and Judge? “When Thou, my righteous Judge, shalt come,To fetch Thy ransomed people home,Shall I among them stand!”THE REIGN OF GODPsa_97:1. “The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice.” The text calls us to consider— I. The subjects of the Divine government. Everything that God has made is subject to His government. The universe of matter; and all the beings, rational and animal, which He has caused to inhabit it.… This great work of sustaining and directing all nature is called His natural government. By virtue of this government the powers of nature are made instruments in the conduct of His moral government, for the reward or punishment of His creatures. The moral government of God is that which is principally contemplated in the text; and by this is meant the direction and control which He exercises over moral agents, over every rational being. The circumstances of trial in which He places them, the assistance He affords them, and the rewards or punishments He assigns them, are all comprehended in this. Angels are under this government.… The earth is the great theatre of their exertions, they are put under Christ, and are employed both in judgment and mercy. Devils are under the moral government of God. They are not finally judged, but suffered to mix with human kind. Heaven and hell struggle for the soul of man. Between these orders of beings is man, to whom the Divine government seems to stand in a special relation; and principally for this reason, that he is the subject of redemption. The earth is the great theatre chosen for the display of the Divine perfections in a course of moral government. Here the grand struggle of adverse powers and principles takes place, &c. The human race, as subject to the Divine government, are to be considered as distributed into nations, and as individuals. Nations are under a peculiar kind of government. They are considered as having a kind of unity as collective bodies. They have their rewards and punishments in this life. The sins of one generation are visited upon another. Yet nations are not governed by a rigid law of works; for Christ is an intercessor for them. The good pray and prevail in behalf of the wicked. Individuals are also under the Divine government. “Every man must give an account of himself to God.” Offers of mercy are made to him. Rules of conduct assigned. Retribution annexed to conduct. (Romans 2:6-11.) Men are under direction and influence, as well as control. II. Certain characters which mark His administration. 1. It is sovereign and uncontrolled. Daniel 4:35; Daniel 5:21. This gives certainty to the Divine government, and makes it the hope and joy of good men. 2. It interferes not with human liberty. We are so free from constraint, that our actions are properly our own. We have the freedom of moral agents. We feel that we are free. 3. It is a mediatorial government. It is in the hands of Jesus, the Mediator between God and man; and it is exercised specially with reference to the great end of His mediatorial office, the redemption of man, and the reconciling of the world to Himself. III. The demand which is made upon our grateful joy. “Let the earth be glad.” 1. As Christians, we shall rejoice with holy joy, not with vain mirth. God will be sanctified in His worshippers. 2. We should rejoice, too, with trembling. Much is given to us, and much is required. 3. If we are individually interested in Him that reigneth, we may well rejoice; for all the perfections of the Godhead art engaged in our behalf.—R. Watson.—Abridged. GOD’S WAYS, THOUGH OFTEN , ARE AND JUST(Psalms 97:2) Two propositions are contained in this text. I. “Clouds and darkness are round about God.” The appearances of God to the saints in old times are the origin of the figure in the text. These appearances were all accompanied with clouds and darkness. Exodus 14:19-20; Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:18; Exodus 19:20; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Matthew 17:5; 2 Peter 1:17. Clouds are emblems of obscurity; darkness of distress. The works of God’s providence are often obscure and productive of distress to mankind, though “righteousness and judgment are,” &c. In the affairs of nations we see the interference of Divine Providence; yet it is surrounded with “clouds and darkness.” So it is also in instances of a smaller kind; it is thus in the removal of the most eminent, holy, and useful characters, that while we acknowledge the hand of God, we say “clouds and darkness are round about Him.” If we look into the book of history we shall perceive much disorder in earthly scenes, much confusion in the affairs of men; and was this to be expected from a God of order and wisdom? Again, look at Christianity. How little has been done by it compared with what might have been anticipated from its Divine principles, the character of its Author, and from the interest it possesses in the heart of God! Paganism yet strikes deep its roots in various lands. Even in Christendom, how little have the known and blessed effects of the Gospel been manifested! Where genuine Christianity is taught, how small, how slow, has been its progress; how few converted to God! &c And persons of real piety give way to prejudice and party zeal, which prevent, in a great measure, the operation and effect of pure Christianity. A great part of the world is no better than if Christ had never come to save mankind, and the Gospel had never been proclaimed. “Clouds and darkness are round about Him.” II. Righteousness and Judgment are the habitation of His throne. Righteousness is an essential perfection of the Divine Being. If there had been no creatures for Him to govern, He would have had an unchangeable and invincible love of rectitude. Judgment is the application of the principle of righteousness in His government of His creatures and their actions; it is a development of His rectitude in the management of the affairs of His great empire. The throne of God is built and stands firm upon these principles; they are the place, the basis, and the foundation of His throne. Though much obscurity must necessarily envelope the government of an infinite mind, yet some considerations may be suggested, which will serve to quell all our anxieties, and afford us repose under all the darkness, beneath His protecting power, His all-directing wisdom, and His paternal goodness. 1. The dispensations of God towards man are regulated by the consideration of his being a fallen and disordered creature. This must be kept in view to account for the severities in the Divine dealings with him. Yet, notwithstanding the severities of God, there are mixtures of mercy which we have reason to admire. 2. The Divine Being was not bound in justice, either to prevent the disordered state of man, or to correct it when it had taken place. From what we know of the nature of God and of man, it may be safely affirmed that it cannot be required of the Divine Governor to secure the obedience of His creatures any further than the law, as a motive, is calculated to have an effect upon rational minds. 3. The whole of those evils that form clouds and darkness round about God, are either the penal or natural effect of moral evil. 4. Those that receive the grace of Jesus Christ are still in such a situation as renders a great part of their trials and miseries necessary. Many of the evils of a depraved nature still remain, and need to be subdued and removed. Besides, the virtues and excellencies must be perfected in the same way in which the Captain of our salvation was perfected: he must be conformed to Christ, and have fellowship with Him in His sufferings. 5. The moral evils of man, and the depravity of human nature, are often, in a great measure, corrected and subdued by the natural evils of life, which thus are made the means of conducting to repentance, reformation, and happiness. “Our light affliction” may work for us “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look,” &c. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). 6. The light of prophecy dispels many of those clouds which would otherwise obscure, for the present, the government and the throne of the Deity.—R. Hall.—Abridged. THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST(Psalms 97:6-9) From the Epistle to the Hebrews we find that this Psalm is a prophetical description of the Messiah; and from that application of it we deduce two important truths concerning the Christ; one, respecting the dignity of His person, “the first begotten;” the other, His glorious exaltation as Messiah. It is to this latter truth that we shall now confine our attention. I. The interesting fact to which the prophecy refers. The Psalm is introduced with a celebration of the government of Jehovah. “The Lord reigneth.” The Psalmist refers to the government of Him who is God manifest in the flesh, and who is received up into glory. His appearing in our world was a veiling of His glory.… His resurrection was a reappearing in glory; in His ascension He exhibited the dignity of His Godhead; and on entering heaven He sat down on the throne of His Father, to administer the affairs of that kingdom which He had now established, the duration of which is to have no end. 1. In the exaltation of Christ we have abundant proof of the acceptance of His sacrifice, and that it answered all the important purposes for which it was designed. His death was sacrificial; that sacrifice was expiatory in its nature, and was accepted by the Father. He is exalted, but it is as a sacrifice—as High Priest—as Mediator—as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sins. 2. Christ by His exaltation is invested with mediatorial power and dominion. In Philippians 2:6-11, you have a proper view of the dominion of Christ. It is mediatorial dominion. All things are put under Him; there is not a creature in the whole range of being who does not yield a willing or an unwilling, a conscious or an unconscious, homage to Him. He employs all things to accomplish the purposes of His mercy. To the salvation of men He subordinates everything, human affairs, opposition of devils, ministry of angels, the whole universe! II. The important events flowing from the accomplishment of this prophecy. 1. The Revelation of Messiah’s righteousness. The heavens literally attested Christ’s righteousness in the voice from heaven at His baptism, and when He appealed to His Father, saying, “Father, glorify Thy Son.” The Gospel, which is from heaven, displays the righteousness of Christ. 2. The manifestation of His glory, mercy and truth here meet together. To Christ belongs the glory of revealing the Father to the world; of opening a new way of access to God; of peopling heaven with new and holy inhabitants. 3. The conversion of idolaters. “Confounded be all they,” &c. This is not a malediction, but a prediction of the overthrow of idolatry by the Gospel. Let this light be diffused, and darkness cannot remain. 4. The presentation of universal homage. “Worship Him all ye gods.” The apostle quotes from the LXX., “Let all the angels of God worship Him.” Christ shall receive the homage of adoring multitudes. Revelation 7:9-12. 5. The joyous exultation of the Church. “Zion heard, and was glad,” &c. The triumphs of Christ are the glory and the joy of the Church. When He shall have subdued the nations, then the whole host of the redeemed, with all the ranks of angels, will burst forth in one loud, prolonged, eternal song: “Hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”—L. Abridged from “Sketches of Sermons.” THE , , AND DUTY OF THE KING’S (Psalms 97:10-12) The Poet here brings into view— I. The Character of the King’s subjects. 1. They are sincere and upright. “The righteous, … the upright in heart.” “There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” “There is none righteous,” The Psalmist clearly means the upright, the sincere and single-hearted. Not the upright in profession, but “the upright in heart.” 2. They are devout. “His saints.” The idea of the word is not holiness, but piety. “The pious, God-worshipping.” The subjects of the Lord add piety to sincerity. They are devout as well as true. 3. They “love the Lord.” Love to God is with them not obedience to a command; but a holy privilege, a deep and divine joy. They are loyal-hearted subjects of Jehovah. They obey the King because they love Him. Are these features of character found in us? II. The privileges of the King’s subjects. 1. Preservation from evil. “He preserveth the souls of His saints.” He guards their lives. They are immortal till their work be done, and His plan in their life be fully developed. He preserves them also from sin, from apostacy, and from despair even under the severest trials. 2. Deliverance from enemies. “He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” The Lord frequently baffles the designs of evil men against His people. He will not allow their enemies to do them any real harm; and ultimately He will triumphantly deliver them out of their power. 3. Bestowal of gladness. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” “Light” is synonymous with joy. “To be ‘sown’ is to be scattered abroad, the point of the comparison being only the richness of the gift.”—Hengstenberg. So Perowne takes “the verb ‘sown’ in the sense of ‘scattered,’ ‘diffused.’ ” And Venema: “Light is said to be scattered when the rising sun spreads his rays in every direction.” “Now morn, her rosy steps in th’ eastern climeAdvancing, sow’d the earth with orient pearl.”—Milton.“Sometimes through secular instruments,” says Beecher, “God makes us joyful, for He employs the whole world to work out His purposes; but sometimes, by simply breathing upon the spirit of His people, He makes them joyful. You cannot tell why you are so musical at times. On some days you are full of music. There are some hours that seem radiant above all other hours, when you are lifted up above the ordinary pattern of joy. And when these appear among God’s people, it is not an unfair thing to infer that they are signs and manifestations of Christ’s presence with them.” Again: “There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousand truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, and then flee away.” Let us open hand and heart for the reception and enjoyment of our privileges. III. The duty of the King’s subjects. 1. To “hate evil.” “Ye that love the Lord, hate evil.” Love to God must be manifested in holiness of life and hatred of evil. Love to God and the love of sin, or even tolerance of sin, are incompatible. Sin is the “abominable thing which He hates.” 2. To thankfully “rejoice in the Lord.” “Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous,” &c. We have here: (1) Rejoicing in the Lord. Not in gaiety, riches, honours, &c.; but in the Lord,—in His grace, in His friendship, in His perfections, in Himself. He is the wisest, the holiest, the most generous of beings. (2) Rejoicing thankfully. “Give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.” Hengstenberg: “Praise His holy memorial.” Perowne: “Give thanks to His holy name.” The holiness of the Divine Being should command our adoring and grateful praise. (3) Rejoicing as a duty. Philippians 3:1; Philippians 4:4. “Joy in the Holy Ghost” is one of the “fruits of the Spirit.” By our rejoicing we honour God, and commend His religion to men. Let us regard this devout rejoicing as both our duty and our privilege. THE AND PORTION OF GOD’S PEOPLE(Psalms 97:10-11) Walk through the Old Testament with the light of the New. This whole Psalm is a prophecy of Christ. The excellency and glory of His kingdom—the character and blessedness of His people. I. The character or description of God’s people. 1. They are “the righteous.” A general term, a righteous God will have a righteous people. Equally true in the sense of perfection and sinlessness, that “there is none righteous, no, not one;” but as contrasted with the wicked, they are righteous, and to be thus distinguished. 2. They are “His saints.” His sanctified ones, set apart, dedicated to Him. A term of reproach in the world, to be “a saint” is to be a hypocrite, in the cant of fashion, but it is “the highest style of man.” “His saints,” His own chosen ones, “loved from the foundation of the world,” called, converted, &c. Made holy, sanctified by the Spirit, &c. “Saint” is a term not peculiar to the servants of God of the Old and New Testament, but a definition of every one who is in a state of salvation. 3. They are “upright in heart.” Christian integrity, how excellent! The world affects it, talks much of honour, virtue, justice, high-mindedness—a shallow blustering spirit;—and one of their own has said, “Every man has his price.” But the Christian is “upright in heart,” in his inner man, simplicity, self-denying integrity, which seek’s not man’s applause, resisting temptation, strong in the grace of God. 4. They “love the Lord.” Love, glowing, tender, pure, as the love of God—whence it springs—casting out fear, terror, and everything that separates from a loving Father, this is the love of believers. (Matthew 22:36-38; Romans 13:10.) They love God, and therefore love His people, His house, His Sabbath, His Word, and all His ordinances. 5. They “hate evil.” This follows of moral necessity, they who love must hate; if they love God they must hate evil, because they cannot serve two masters so different from each other (Matthew 6:24). In proportion as they love the one they will hate the other (Romans 12:9). Sin is the enemy which disturbs their peace, stops their mouth in prayer (Psalms 66:18), separates from God; so they must ever hate it. II. The blessed portion of such people. This is indicated by their very titles. But there are special blessings here. 1. “He preserveth the souls of His saints.” Not to the exclusion of their bodies, which are His care in this world, “the temples of His Spirit,” and in death they sleep in hope of His resurrection and final glory; but, because the soul is the nobler part, “He preserveth them.” This implies danger, many perils here to the soul. It implies that they cannot preserve their own souls with all care, vigilance, prayer, faith, love—the soul is a helpless thing without God. Many precious promises to this effect. (See Psalms 23:3; John 17:11; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:17-18; 1 Peter 1:5.) 2. “He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.” This implies that they are surrounded by the wicked, and as it were in their hands—and so they are. Satan, as a roaring lion, seeks to devour them, desires “to have them and sift them,” or he ensnares them with his “wiles” and “devices,” he puts evil into their hearts, and leads them astray. His people, too, “the children of the wicked one,” do his work on earth by persecuting His people, tempting them to sin, “putting the bottle to them,” and suggesting pollution, and then, if they succeed, they mock them as the devils do! “He delivereth them out of their hands.” That is enough. God looks on, He sees all, He restrains the wrath of the wicked, He makes a way by which His people escape. (See Psalms 124) 3. Their final blessedness: “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” Beautiful figure! this life is often a time of darkness, but it is the seed-time of light. When the believer is sowing dark tears, sighs, sorrows, trials, temptations, all is cheerless; but these are seeds of light. “Light is sown for him,” it will come up, it will shine forth by and by, it may be a long winter, and a backward spring, and even harvest time may be cheerless, but it will come at last! (See Psalms 30:5, and John 16:20-22.) If you would have the believer’s “portion,” you must bear the believer’s “character.” Study these definitions of the people of the Lord, rest not until you can appropriate them, and then “all things are yours.”—F. Close, D. D. “This Psalm is little more than an echo of Psalms 96. Its subject is the last great revelation, the final victory of God, when His salvation and His righteousness, the revelation of which He has promised to the house of Israel, shall be manifested both to His own people, and to all the nations of the earth. The inscription of the Psalm in the Hebrew is only the single word Mizmor, ‘Psalm.’ Both the beginning and end of the Psalm are taken from Psalms 96. The rest of it is drawn chiefly from the latter portion of Isaiah.”—Perowne. “In the first strophe, Psalms 98:1-3, after a short exhortation to praise the Lord, the object of the praise is given—the Lord has redeemed His people in a wonderful manner. The second strophe, Psalms 98:4-6, shows how this praise is to be rendered: all means which, in every place, are within reach, ought to be employed for the purpose. The third stanza says by whom the praise should be given: by the whole earth.”—Hengstenberg.AN HYMNWe have here— I. Exultation for the most excellent reasons. Regarding the Psalm as a prophecy of the Messiah and His glorious salvation, we have here an exhortation to praise Him because— 1. His works are wonderful. “He hath done marvellous things.” The life and work of our Lord upon earth were marked by the most wonderful features. His life was marvellous in its spiritual beauty and power. His character had no flaw in it, it was perfect. His words were marvellous. “Never man spake like this man.” His works were marvellous. Nature in her wildest moods obeyed His word. At the expression of His will diseases fled. At the utterance of His command the dead started into life again. How marvellous were His death, resurrection, and ascension! And the salvation which He has wrought, in its design, in its accomplishment, and in its results, is gloriously wonderful. “His name shall be called Wonderful.” 2. The Lord’s works are benevolent. His works are designed not to surprise and startle men, but to save them. “The Lord hath made known His salvation, His righteousness hath He openly showed in the sight of the heathen.” “ ‘Righteousness’ parallel with ‘salvation,’ as so frequently in the latter portion of Isaiah.”—Perowne. “For the people of the Lord, ‘salvation’ is the expression of ‘His righteousness,’ which gives to every one His own: He has promised them salvation.”—Hengstenberg. The great object of our Lord’s mission was to save men from sin. “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” He imparts pardon to the guilty, peace to the troubled, holiness to the sinful, life to the dead, joy to the miserable. He is the Saviour. He “hath made known His salvation” and “openly showed His righteousness.” Not only has He proclaimed His salvation, but gloriously displayed it. He has proved Himself “mighty to save.” The triumphs of the Gospel are countless in number, gracious in character, surprising in their magnitude, and ever growing in extent. 3. The Lord’s works are accomplished by Himself alone. “His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten Him the victory.” Literally: “Hath wrought salvation for Him.” Hengstenberg: “Have helped Him.” Perowne: “ ‘Hath gotten Him salvation,’ or ‘the victory,’ as in E. V. (Comp. Psalms 44:4; Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 63:5.) I have preferred here the former rendering, because in the next verse the noun occurs from the same root, and there the rendering ‘salvation’ is, I think, preferable to ‘victory.’ ” Christ Jesus our Lord alone accomplished salvation for us. He alone effected the atonement. He alone saves the sinner. In the pursuit of holiness He supplies the motive and imparts the power. From beginning to end salvation is His sole work; and to Him alone be all the praise. 4. The Lord’s works are accomplished in accordance with His covenant. “He hath remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of Israel,” “ ‘Loving-kindness … faithfulness,’ the two attributes expressive of God’s covenant relation to His people.”—Perowne. The salvation wrought by the Lord is in fulfilment of His gracious purposes and promises. His word cannot fail. His promises are gloriously reliable. He promises to save “whosoever believeth,” and He will do so. He has covenanted “to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him,” and He will keep His covenant for ever. 5. The Lord’s works are accomplished for the good of the whole human race. “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” Not for the Jews alone is salvation wrought, but for all peoples. Christ “died for all.” Salvation is suited to the needs of all men; our Lord commissioned His Church to proclaim it to all; and it is free for all. Salvation is for man as man, without distinction of nationality or race, &c. Here, then, we have surely the most excellent reasons for exultation. II. Exultation with the fullest expression. Psalms 98:4-6. The expression should be— 1. Joyful. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, and rejoice.” Salvation is a source of joy, and should be celebrated in glad songs. 2. Hearty. “Make a loud noise.” “The word here used is expressive of irrepressible joy.” Our praise for salvation should be the full-toned utterance of thankful and rejoicing hearts. 3. Religious. “Sing praise, sing unto the Lord … with the voice of a Psalm … before the Lord, the King.” The praise is to God; the exultation is because of His wondrous works; the song is sacred as well as triumphant, reverent as well as loud. 4. With all suitable aids. “With the harp, with trumpets and sound of cornet.” “Trumpets,” Chatzotzeroth, the straight trumpets used by the priests for giving signals (Numbers 10:2-10; 1 Chronicles 15:24-28). “Cornet,” shophar, a loud sounding instrument, made of the horn of a ram or of a chamois (sometimes of an ox), and used by the Jews for announcing the Jubilee (Leviticus 25:9), for proclaiming the new year, for the purposes of war (Jeremiah 4:5-19), and for the sentinels at the watch towers to give notice of the approach of an enemy (Ezekiel 33:4-5). The joy of salvation is so great that words and human voices are inadequate to express it, and so various musical instruments were used as aids in its expression. Our celebration of the great things which the Lord hath done for us should be with such intense and ardent affection that all means will seem inadequate duly to express that affection. III. Exultation in the widest extent. Psalms 98:7-9. In Psalms 98:7-8 the Psalmist calls for universal praise; and in Psalms 98:9 he gives the reason for it. (See remarks on Psalms 96:11-13). “As the whole creation, both animate and inanimate, has groaned beneath the weight of the curse, so shall the whole creation partake of the great deliverance,” and unite in the exultant celebration. “The Psalm,” says Barnes, “calls for universal praise. The very reading of the Psalm, so joyous, so jubilant, so animated, so exalting, is fitted to awaken the mind to praise; to rouse it to thankfulness; to fill it with joy. One cannot read the Psalm without being a happier man; without being lifted above the world; without lofty views of God; without a feeling that He is worthy of this universal praise; without recognising that we are in a world where the mind should be joyful; that we are under the dominion of a God whose reign should fill the mind with gladness.” .— 1. Are we by faith personally interested in the salvation which Christ has wrought? Do we know Him as our Saviour? 2. Are we in His salvation? Salvation should fill our hearts with music and our mouths with Song of Solomon 3. Are we doing all in our power to diffuse throughout the world the knowledge of the Lord Christ and His salvation? Let us never cease from our evangelistic efforts till “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” This Psalm is one of the series of Psalms which celebrate the Kingship of Jehovah. “All these Psalms,” says Perowne, “alike tell of the setting up of a Divine kingdom upon earth. All alike anticipate the event with joy. One universal anthem bursts from the whole wide world to greet the advent of the righteous King. Not Zion only and the daughters of Judah are glad, but the dwellers in far-off islands and the ends of the earth. Even inanimate nature sympathises with the joy; the sea thunders her welcome, the rivers clap their hands, the trees of the wood break forth into singing before the Lord. In all these Psalms alike the joy springs from the same source, from the thought that on this earth, where might has so long triumphed over right, a righteous King shall reign, a kingdom shall be set up which shall be a kingdom of righteousness, and judgment, and truth.“In this Psalm, not only the righteous sway of the King, but His awful holiness, forms the subject of praise, and the true character of His worshippers as consecrated priests, holy, set apart for His service, is illustrated by the examples of holy men of old, like Moses, Aaron, and Samuel.”THE OF THE LORD IN THE CHURCH AND THE STATE(Psalms 99:1-5) The Psalmist celebrates— I. The supremacy of the Lord in the Church. Psalms 99:1-3. 1. The Lord dwells in the Church. “He sitteth throned upon the cherubim.” The sitting implies rest and permanence; that Jehovah is not a transient guest, but an abiding resident there. “The Lord hath chosen Zion, he hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest for ever; here will I dwell, for I have desired it.” In a special manner the Lord dwells in the Church. He specially manifested Himself in the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple. “The Temple was the royal palace, and the Holy of Holies was the presence-chamber.” And in the Christian Church He is specially present. Here He manifests the perfections and glory of His character more fully than elsewhere— (1) In the salvation of sinners. (2) In the communications of His grace which He makes to His people. (See remarks on Psalms 76:2; Psalms 80:1; Psalms 87.) 2. The Lord it Supreme in the Church. “The Lord reigneth; He sitteth throned upon the cherubim; the Lord is great in Zion, and He is high above all the people.” The Lord rules in His Church. He is sovereign there. His will is loyally obeyed there. And He is supreme in the hearts of His people. He has manifested His greatness in the Church,—the greatness of His power, wisdom, righteousness, and grace. And He who rules in Zion rules in all the nations of the earth. He is exalted above all the peoples. The Psalmist speaks of His “great and terrible name,” or, “great and fearful name.” The Lord’s name is equivalent to the Lord himself in His revealed holiness. His name is “terrible” to His enemies, “holy” to His people, “great” to both, and should be held in awe and reverence by all men. Let the Church of this age ask herself two questions. First. Does the Lord dwell in her midst? Are the tokens of His presence manifest? Are sinners converted to Him? Do her members live as members of a society in constant communication with and in the constant presence of the Lord and King? Second. Is the Lord supreme in her? In some Churches Acts of Parliament are supreme, in others rigid creeds and formulæ, in others respectability and fashion, in others sacraments and ceremonies. Oh, for the day when the Lord Jesus Christ, in His spirit and principles, shall be supreme in every community of His professed followers! II. The supremacy of the Lord in the state. Psalms 99:4-5. Two prominent features of this supremacy are mentioned by the Poet— 1. Power. “The King’s strength.” “This verse, as regards construction, is entirely dependent upon the preceding one.”—Hengstenberg. Perowne says: “Others carry on the construction from the last verse, taking the words ‘He (or, it) is holy,’ as parenthetical, thus: ‘They shall praise Thy great and fearful Name (it is holy), and the might of the King who (or, which) loveth righteousness.’ It must be confessed that, but for the words of the refrain, which it is awkward to take thus parenthetically, the sense and the construction are better preserved by this rendering.” Christ is an almighty King both in Himself, and in and for all who believe in Him. 2. Righteousness. This is the great thing. His strength is mentioned, because it is perfectly righteous. His omnipotence expresses itself only in righteousness. We have here— (1) Righteousness in the heart of the King. “Loveth judgment.” “He loveth righteousness and judgment.” “The Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints.” (2) Righteousness in His legislation. “Thou dost establish equity.” He has established rectitude as the great eternal law of His government. “The law is holy.” (3) Righteousness in His administration. “Thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob.” Under the reign of Jehovah the executive is as just as the legislative. All the laws and all the administration tend to the establishment of righteousness. Learn here the Divine idea of religion in the state. The government of a country is religious when the king rules in righteousness, when Parliament strives to abolish all unrighteous laws and to enact righteous ones, when magistrates and judges seek to administer the laws justly, and when venality and corruption are swept from all its departments and offices. There is one feature in the relation of the King both to the Church and to the State which is brought into prominence, viz., His Holiness. “He is holy.” Charnock well says: “As His holiness seems to challenge an excellency above all His other perfections, so it is the glory of all the rest; as it is the glory of the Godhead, so it is the glory of every perfection in the Godhead; as His power is the strength of them, so His holiness is the beauty of them.… As sincerity is the lustre of every grace in a Christian, so is purity the splendour of every attribute in the Godhead. His justice is a holy justice, His wisdom a holy wisdom, His arm of power a ‘holy arm,’ His truth or promise a ‘holy promise.’ ‘Holy and true’ go hand in hand. ‘His name,’ which signifies all His attributes in conjunction, is holy.’ ” III. The holy supremacy of the Lord as a reason for worship. “Let them praise Thy name; for it is holy. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at His footstool; for He is holy.” Holiness is the summation of all moral perfections; therefore we should worship the Lord. He is supreme not only in position, but in character; therefore we should adore Him. We should exalt Him— 1. With reverent fear. “Let the people tremble; let the earth be moved.” Amyraldus points out that the fear which proceeds from simple reverence, as well as that which arises from apprehension of evil, produces trembling. So the first verse may apply to the Church as well as to the world. With awe approach THE HOLY ONE. 2. With profound humility. “Worship at His footstool.” As weak and dependent creatures, and especially as sinful creatures, it behoveth us to draw near to Him with deep self-abasement. OF THE HOLY OF GOD AND THE WORSHIP OF HIS PEOPLE(Psalms 99:6-9) The connection of these verses with the foregoing is not very clear. It is not easy to trace with certainty the continuity or the relation of thought. The relation suggested by Perowne seems to us the most probable with which we are acquainted. “The great subject of the Psalmist’s praise is the holiness of God. It is a holy God whom he calls upon all men to worship. It is ‘a holy foot-stool,’ ‘a holy mountain,’ before which they bow down; it is therefore a holy worship which they must render. Such was the worship of His saints of old: and then likewise Jehovah manifested His holiness both in ‘forgiving’ and in ‘taking vengeance.’ ” Consider— I. The examples of the becoming worship of man. “Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel,” &c. Of these Aaron only was a priest in the usual acceptation of the term. But Moses discharged the priestly duties before Aaron entered upon his office (Exodus 40:22-27), and he consecrated Aaron and his sons. Samuel also exercised priestly functions (1 Samuel 9:12-13; and 1 Samuel 7:9). But the feature of the priestly office which is here brought into view is intercession, calling upon God. “Among them that call upon His name,” is an explanation of “among His priests.” Examples of this calling upon God in intercession by Moses are recorded in Exodus 17:11-12; Exodus 32:30-32; Psalms 106:23; and by Samuel, 1 Samuel 7:8-9; 1 Samuel 12:16-19; 1 Samuel 12:23. And a signal example of the efficacy of Aaron’s intercession is recorded in Numbers 16:47-48. These distinguished saints worshipped God— 1. In earnest prayer. Intercessions and pleadings such as theirs—so bold, yet so reverent; so confident, yet so humble—greatly honour the Lord. Their living faith in Himself and their sincere and deep trust in His mercy were well-pleasing to Him. “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” 2. In holy lives. “They kept His testimonies and the ordinances that He gave them.” They gave to God the praise not only of the lip, but of the life. “Thanksgiving is good, but thanks-living is better.” A holy life is the true expression of a reverent heart. The worship of a holy life excels the purest and most reverent worship of prayer and praise; because (1) it is constant, and (2) it is more influential. Let us imitate these high examples of worship. II. The examples of the holy sovereignty of God. “He answered them. He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar. Thou answeredst them, O Lord our God,” &c. The Lord’s holy sovereignty was manifest in His answers to the prayers of His servants. He answered them— 1. By His communications unto them. “He spake unto them in the cloudy pillar.” These words are strictly applicable only to Moses and Aaron. But the cloudy pillar may be taken as a figurative expression denoting Divine revelation generally, taken from one of its original forms. The Lord frequently communicated with Moses (Exodus 16:10-12; Exodus 24:15-18, et al); and with Aaron (Numbers 12:5-8). Moreover the Lord often spoke to Samuel. Even in childhood the voice of the Lord was addressed to him; and He continued to communicate with him through a long life. In thus responding to the worship of His servants the Lord manifested His gracious condescension, &c. 2. By granting the forgiveness for which they pleaded. “Thou wast a God that forgavest them.” These ancient saints interceded with the Lord on behalf of the sinful people, when His wrath was kindled against them (Exodus 32:11-14; Exodus 32:31-32; Numbers 16:47-48; 1 Samuel 7:9), and in answer to their prayers He forgave the sins of the people. In their own personal history there are no remarkable examples of the forgiving mercy of the Lord; but there are in their intercessions for the people. The Divine supremacy is merciful and gracious. The King has “no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” 3. By inflicting judgment on their evil doings. “Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions,” or “doings.” There is perhaps an allusion here to the punishment of the whole adult population of Israel for their murmurings and rebellions. In that portion of their history we see the intercession (Numbers 14:13-19), the forgiveness (20, 21), and the judgment (22, 23). Thus God manifested His grace in hearing prayer, His mercy to the offenders, His anger against sin, and His holiness in all. .— 1. How holy are all the doings of God! Holiness has been defined “the symmetry of the soul;” and all the attributes and operations of God are gloriously symmetrical, they harmonise; the harmony is holiness. 2. How great is the power of prayer! “Prayer is the slender nerve that moveth the muscles of Omnipotence.” PARDON WITH (Psalms 99:8) “Thou wast a God that forgavest them, though Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.” A very great and grave mistake about the whole relations of forgiveness and retribution, and about the whole character of that Divine nature from which they both flow, is implied and concentrated, as it were, in that little word “though.” It is no part of the original Psalm, and the rendering is a case of interpretation, rather than of translation. What the Psalm says is this: “Thou wast a God that forgavest them, and Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.” There is no apparent antagonism here even hinted at between pardon, forgiveness, and punishment, but they are both regarded as parts of one great whole, and as flowing from the holy love of God, which the whole Psalm celebrates. “Vengeance”! The modern notion attached to revenge is by no means to be found in the word which is here employed. What the Old Testament meant by vengeance is precisely that public justice to which the modern notion of revenge is diametrically opposed. Notice,— I. That forgiveness is, at bottom, the undisturbed communication of the love of God to sinful man. We are far too apt to think that God pardons men in the fashion in which the sovereign pardons a culprit who has been sentenced to be hanged. Such pardon implies nothing as to the feelings of either the criminal or the monarch. There need neither be pity on the one side nor penitence on the other. The true idea of forgiveness is to be found not in the region of law only, but in the region of love and Fatherhood. The forgiveness of God is over and over again set forth in Scripture as being—a father’s forgive-ness. “Your heavenly Father will forgive you your trespasses.” Let us remember our own childhood, our children, and how we do with them … Not putting up the rod, but taking your child to your heart, is your forgiveness. The blessing of forgiveness is not fully comprehended when it is thought of as shutting up some outward hell, or the quenching of its flames. It goes much deeper than this, and means the untroubled communion of love and delight between the reconciled father and the repentant child. The slave may dread the rod, but the child dreads the father’s closed heart. And pardon is the open heart of God, full of love, unaverted by any consequences of my sin, unclosed by any of my departures from Him. II. That such pardon does necessarily sweep away the one true penalty of sin. I have been maintaining that the proper notion of pardon is not the removal of penalty, and that is absolutely true if you think of penalty only as being external and arbitrarily inflicted. But it is not true when we come into the spiritual region. What is the penalty of sin? “The wages of sin is death.” What is “death”? The wrenching away of a dependent soul from God. How is that penalty ended? When the soul is united to God in the threefold bond of trust, love, and obedience. The communication of the love is the barring of the hell. The one true penalty of sin is to be torn asunder from God by our own evil desires, and therefore the outflow of His love to us sinners is really the cancelling of the sorest penalty and true wages of unrighteousness. The real penalty passes away where the love is welcomed and received. III. That the pardoning mercy of God leaves many penalties unremoved. “Thou forgavest them, and Thou tookest vengeance of their inventions.” Forgiveness and punishment are both parts of one process, they both come from one source, the One heart which is all holiness and all love. Let me remind you of historical illustrations that may help to bring this idea out a little more clearly. Aaron, see ‘Numbers 20:24; Moses, see Deuteronomy 32:48-51; David, see 2 Samuel 12:7-14. The old statement, “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap,” is absolutely true, universally true. God loves us too well, not to punish His children when they sin, and He loves us too well to annihilate, were it possible, the secondary consequences of our transgressions. The two sides of the one truth must both be recognised—that the deepest and the primary penalties of our evil, which are separation from God, and the painful consciousness of guilt, are swept away—and, also, that other results are allowed to remain, which, being allowed, may be blessed and salutary for the transgressors. If you waste your youth, no repentance will send the shadow back upon the dial, or recover the ground lost by idleness, or restore the constitution shattered by dissipation, or give again the resources wasted upon vice, or bring back the fleeting opportunities. IV. That pardoning love so modifies the punishment that it becomes an occasion for solemn thankfulness. Whatever painful consequences of past sin may still linger about our lives, or haunt our hearts, we may be sure of two things about them all—that they come from Forgiving Mercy, that they come for our profit. It is no harsh,—no, nor even only a righteous Judge who deals with us. We are chastened by a Father’s hand. “When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned.” The stroke of condemnation will never fall upon our pardoned hearts. That it may not, the loving strokes of His discipline must needs accompany the embrace of His forgiveness. And so the pains change their character, and become things to be desired, to be humbly welcomed, to be patiently borne and used, and even to be woven into our hymns of praise. Brethren! you know where and how the pardon is to be found. In Christ is all the Divine forgiveness treasured. Trust in Him, and there is no condemnation for you. You have before you an alternative—either you will be separated from your sins by God’s pardon in Christ and God’s chastisement of love; or, clutching your sins, refusing to let Him cast them all away, you will be separated by them utterly from God, and so fall into the death which is the wages and punishment of sin.—A. Maclaren, D.D. This Psalm completes the series of Royal Psalms, and “may be regarded as the Doxology which closes the strain. We find lingering in it notes of the same great harmony. It breathes the same gladness; it is filled with the same hope, that all nations shall bow down before Jehovah, and confess that He is God.”—Perowne.Of all the Psalms in the collection this rises to the highest pitch of gladness; it breathes the broadest spirit of charity, and expresses the highest mood of devout joy. On the ground of our common humanity as the children of the one Creator-Father, all men are summoned to the exultant worship of the Lord.The superscription to the Psalm is ξִ ?ζְ ?ξεֹ ?ψμְ ?ϊεֹ ?γָ ?δ, “A Psalm of praise.” Luther: ‘A Psalm of thanksgiving.” Perowne: “A Psalm for the thank-offering.” … “To denote that the Psalm was to be sung during the offering of thank-offerings.”A PSALM OF PRAISEWe have here— I. The reasone of praise to the Lord. These are of two classes— 1. Because of what He is in Himself. “The Lord He is God,” is the grand reason. The gods of the nations were idols, vanities, nonentities. Jehovah is God, supremely great, supremely good; the self-existent, the fountain of being and well-being, the infinitely perfect and ever-blessed God. Therefore He should be praised. It is right and seemly that mental and moral greatness should be reverenced, that goodness should be loved, &c. But the Poet states some particulars of His character. (1.) He is good. “The Lord is good.” “He is benevolent.”—Barnes. “Gracious, kind.”—Perowne. “The word never means kind; and this sense is expressly excluded here by the circumstance that it is not only the mercy of the Lord; but also His faithfulness towards those who have received His promises, that appears here as the expression of His goodness. For the last two propositions are merely the development of the first.”—Hengstenberg. Fuerst gives the primary meaning of θεֹ ?α, as καλός, pulcher, beautiful. It seems to us that the Poet intends to include in this word “good” all the meanings given above. The Lord is gracious and righteous, just and merciful, faithful and almighty. Infinite perfection and beauty are His. “To say that God is in Himself a compacted universe of sweetnesses, beauties, and splendours, is to speak very unworthily, for endless universes lie hidden in the bosom of the Infinite nature. The heavens must improve, and the creatures must mature, in wisdom and holiness, yet for ages of ages, before they will be capable of reflecting the higher, not to say the highest, beauties of ‘the Father of lights.’ Beauty is the robe of holiness: the more holiness the more beauty. To all eternity we can imagine the first and loveliest of all God’s creatures praying: ‘Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.’ ” A being of such spiritual excellence should receive the heartiest, holiest praise of all creatures. (2.) He is merciful. “His mercy is everlasting.” This is included in His goodness. God’s goodness in forgiving offenders and relieving sufferers we denominate His mercy. God’s mercy is His goodness in relation to sinners. This mercy is everlasting. The glorious results of it will be enjoyed for ever. Being sinners we should praise Him for His mercy. (3.) He is faithful. “His truth endureth to all generations.” He is true in Himself. “A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is He.” He is true in His dealings with others. He fulfils all His promises. And He will be true for ever. No changes, however great, can produce any change in Him. Here then we have another reason for praise. 2. Because of what He is in relation to others. “He hath made us, and not we ourselves,” &c. (1) He made us His people. He is our Creator. He called us into being. But the Psalmist means more than that, as will be seen if we read the verse without the words interpolated by the translators: “He hath made us, and not we ourselves, His people.” Not merely has He created us, but He has made us what we are, viz., His people. “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” (2) He shepherds us as His people. “The sheep of His pasture.” “The Lord is my shepherd.” As a shepherd He rules, guides, protects, and provides for His people. It is theirs to trust, follow, and obey Him. (See outlines on Psalms 77:20; Psalms 80:1.) Here we have most sufficient reasons for praise. He has made us what we are; and He will not forget the work of His own hands, or forsake His people. He knows us intimately, and cares for us, and provides for us, as the shepherd for his sheep. And He is supremely good, and merciful, and true; and He is so through all ages and through all changes. Surely then it becomes us to praise Him with glad and grateful hearts. II. The extent of praise to the Lord. “All ye lands.” Literally, as in the margin: “All the earth.” Not simply the Jew, but all people. The Lord is the Creator and Sustainer of all men; the bountiful Benefactor of all men; therefore all should praise Him. He is the Redeemer of all men. “He died for all;” therefore by all should His praise be celebrated. The glorious day draws near when. “Earth, with her ten thousand tongues,Shall fill His courts with sounding praise.”III. The character of praise to the Lord. It should be— 1. Joyous. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord.” Hengstenberg: “Shout for joy to the Lord.” Perowne: “ ‘Shout aloud unto Jehovah:’ used of the welcome given to a king who enters his capital, or takes possession of the throne, as in Psalms 98:4-6; Psalms 66:1.” “Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing.” Our worship of the Lord should be cheerful and songful, the utterance of rejoicing hearts. He is honoured by our joyous praise. “Cheerfulness credits religion.” 2. Grateful. “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” The previous verse contains abundant reasons for grateful praise. And in this verse all nations are invited to share in those glorious privileges. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and forget not all His benefits.” 3. Practical. “Serve the Lord with gladness.” “By serving Him here we are not to understand merely the worship of God.” We serve Him by loyally obeying His commands, &c. Such service we should render spontaneously, heartily, joyously. “Thy statutes have been my song,” &c. .—“The great lesson of the Psalm is this,” says Mr. S. Cox, “Be unselfish and catholic towards man, trustful and reverent towards God, and pure, deep, religious joy will be yours.” THE SIN AND FOLLY OF BEING UNHAPPY(Psalms 100:2) “Serve the Lord with gladness.” Let us consider the sin and folly of being unhappy, especially of rendering unhappy service to God. His yoke is easy, and His burden light. I. God is happy. He is the blessed God, in whom are the fountains of all gladness. Hence that expression, “the joy of God,” is one denoting the joy that is in God, even more than the joy He gives. Christ was a man of sorrows during His earthly life, because He was bearing our sins. But He sorrowed that we might not sorrow, but rejoice. He served the Father in sorrow, that we might serve Him with gladness. II. The angels are happy. They are the blessed angels. They only know what sorrow is by seeing it in us when they come to minister to us. They drink always of the rivers of pleasures, which are at the right hand of God. Sometimes their joy rises higher, as when they shouted for joy over the new-made world, or as when they are called on to join in the joy of God over one sinner that repenteth. They serve the Lord with gladness. III. Forgiven men are happy. This is David’s testimony: “Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven.” These are a twofold class— (1) those who have departed and are with Christ; (2) those who are still here. Of that latter section of redeemed men we say they are happy, though imperfect, because they are forgiven. They are in an evil world, and have much evil within them—many trials, sore warfare, great feebleness,—yet they are happy. Why? Because forgiven. The favour of God rests on them. They know it, and find that in His favour is life. Being forgiven, and knowing this, they serve the Lord with gladness. It would appear, then, not only that there is happiness in heaven with God and the holy angels, but that there is happiness here on earth, and that we may be partakers of it. The basis and the beginning of that happiness must be the forgiveness of sins and the favour of God. These are attainable; they are presented, to us as free gifts; we are besought to accept them; we cannot reject them without sinning. Let me notice then— I. We can only be unhappy by refusing pardon. The pardon is provided, and it is preached to the sons of men— (1) It is a free pardon; (2) a righteous pardon; (3) a present pardon; (4) a comprehensive pardon, covering all sin; (5) it is to be had in what God has told us about the propitiation of His Son.… Then must not the absence of this pardon be the fruit of our own rejection of it; and not God’s sovereignty or unwillingness? We are unhappy, not simply because we are sinful and foolish, but because we are resolutely indulging in the sin and folly of rejecting God’s gift, and so of refusing to be happy. II. We can only be unhappy by refusing Christ. It is not Christ refusing us (He never did so), but it is our refusing Christ, that Keeps us unhappy. He is God’s free gift to us; a gift which we are not merely at liberty to accept, but which we refuse at our peril. Persistence in the rejection of Christ is the true cause of all the unhappiness of earth. III. We can only be unhappy by determining not to turn. God says, “Turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die?” turn and live. It is vain for us to throw the blame off ourselves, and say, “I want to turn, but I cannot, and God will not help me.” This is not true. “I am most willing to be converted, but God will not convert me,” is just as if the drunkard were to say, “I am most willing to give up drinking, but God will not help me to be sober;” or the swearer, “I am most anxious to cease swearing, but I cannot, and God will not give me the power.” Whatever, then, the solemn truth of God’s sovereignty may be (and He would not be God were He not Sovereign), it is not that sovereignty that is hindering you from turning, but your own determination not to do so. Your not turning is the cause of your unhappiness; you cannot be happy till you turn. In like manner it is with all of us. We might be always happy, were we always receiving the gifts which Christ presents to us; crediting the Divine testimony as to the sufficiency of the great sacrifice, and the freeness of the great love. Unhappiness thus is wilful. “Ye will not come to Me.” It profiteth nothing. It does not liberate, or strengthen, or sanctify, or comfort. To be unhappy is our folly and our sin. When happy, no toil is irksome, no trouble or annoyance is felt. Be happy then in God, &c.—H. Bonar, D.D.—Abridged from “Light and Truth.”THE ETERNAL TRUTH OF GOD(Psalms 100:5, last clause) I. God is true. He is true in His very nature. There is no deceit, falsehood, nor error in the essential nature of God. Whatever makes men untruthful, nothing of the kind can operate with God. He is true to His nature. We are not always true to ourselves. I have known a generous man who, in a pet, has acted very ungenerously. But the Lord is always true to Himself. He is true in action. He has been true to the making of the eternal covenant. He has been true to all His purposes. Whatever God resolved to do He has done. “Hath He said it, and shall He not do it?” He is true to His promises. There is not a promise which God has made, but what either He has kept it, or else, being dated for the future, He will keep it when the time appointed comes. He is true to all His published Word, which He has made known to us in Holy Scripture. He is true in every relation that He sustains. As a King, a Judge, a Father, a Friend, et al. He is true to every man, to every woman, in the world. II. God is true in all generations. He has been true in the past. The whole of history, sacred and profane, goes to prove that. He is true still—true to-night. He will be true. Since God is true, ye children of God, why do ye mistrust Him? Ye sinners, why do you belie Him by your unbelief?—C. H. Spurgeon.—Abridged. According to the superscription, this Psalm was composed by David. Three different times in his life have been suggested as the occasion to which the Psalm refers. First, when, upon the death of Saul, David began to reign in Hebron over Judah; second, when he began to reign “in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah;” and third, when he brought up the ark of the Lord from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David. It is impossible to determine which, or whether either of these suggestions, is correct. Perowne thinks that the Psalm was written in the early part of David’s reign, whilst the ark was in the house of Obed-edom. The Psalm baa been entitled, “The godly purposes and resolves of a king;” and “Speculum Regis,” a mirror for kings. Matthew Henry calls it “The Householder’s Psalm.” In it David gives us the rules which he laid down for the regulation of his household and court. In this aspect the Psalm has a universal application; for the principles which are good in a palace are good also in a cottage, and the virtues which adorn a peasant’s humble household will increase the lustre of a king’s brilliant court.A PICTURE OF A PIOUS HOMEIn this picture of a pious household the Poet gives prominence to three of its main features. I. Its worship. “I will sing of mercy and judgment,” &c. 1. Praise for the Divine providence. “I will sing of mercy and judgment,” &c. Here are two ideas— (1) God’s providence is varied in its dispensations. He visits us with both mercies and judgments. He makes us acquainted with “the dark and stormy day;” and “He maketh us to lie down in green pastures, and Ieadeth us beside the still waters.” (2) God’s providence is benevolent in its character. Both “mercy and judgment,” rightly understood, are themes for praise. “What,” inquires Stowell, “is judgment itself but mercy with a sterner aspect? And what are the chidings of judgment but the sterner tones of the voice of a Father’s love? For even judgment is one of the ‘all things’ that ‘work together for good to them that love God.’ ” 2. Prayer for the Divine presence. “Oh when wilt Thou come unto me?” David longs for the presence and help of God. “The question bursts forth from the heart, moved and stirred to its inmost centre, as it thinks of all the height and depth of that resolve to ‘walk in a perfect way.’ How shall a frail son of man keep his integrity? The task is too great for his own strength, honest and sincere as the resolution is, and therefore he cries, ‘When wilt Thou come unto me?’—come to be my abiding guest—come not only to dwell in Zion, in Thy tabernacle, but with me Thy servant, in my house and in my heart, giving me the strength and the grace that I need.”—Perowne. Great and blessed is the influence of family worship. Thrice blessed is the home in which the presence of God is graciously realised. II. Its head. The head of the family, as sketched by the Poet, manifests— 1. Circumspectness of conduct. “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.” “And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.” He resolves to exercise “prudence, not sapience; not wise contemplation, but wise action. It is not wise thoughts, or wise speaking, or wise writing, or wise gesture and countenance, will serve the turn, but wise behaviour: the former are graceful, but the other needful.” It behoves heads of families to “walk circumspectly.” 2. Integrity of heart. “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” Literally: “In the perfectness, or integrity, of my heart.” Again he says: “A froward heart shall depart from Me.” ςִ ?χֵּ ?ωׁ ?= perverse, perverted; with μֵ ?αָ ?α (as here) = a corrupt heart.—Fuerst. The heart in this place is the centre of moral life. The Psalmist resolves not to tolerate corruption in his heart; but to walk within his house with an upright heart, “in the blamelessness of his heart.” He who would order his household wisely should cultivate purity in his feelings, intentions, motives. 3. Righteousness of aim. “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes.” Margin: “Thing of Belial.” Perowne: “Vile thing, lit. ‘thing of villany.’ The noun is that which is wrongly rendered in the A. V. of the historical books, ‘Belial,’ as if it were a proper name. It is really a compound noun meaning ‘that which profiteth not.’ ” The head of the pious home will not entertain evil projects, or follow wicked aims, or imitate morally worthless examples. When the aims of the head of a house-hold are righteous and noble, and are worthily followed, his influence in this respect is unspeakably and immeasurably good. 4. Hatred of evil. “I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.” Perowne: “I hate the sin of unfaithfulness.” The idea of the words, and also of, “I will not know a wicked person,” is hatred of evil. Sin he abhors. “Hatred of sin is a good sentinel for the door of virtue.” The Psalmist knew that he might be tempted, but resolved that he would not yield to temptation. Evil might be presented to him, but it should not cleave unto him. He refuses to listen to the suggestions of the tempter, and frees himself from his hold. Such are the outlines of the portrait of the head of a pious home. This is how he appears in his own family. “How fares it with your family? Do you sing in the choir and sin in the chamber? Are you a saint abroad and a devil at home? For shame! What we are at home, that we are indeed. He cannot be a true saint whose habitation is a scene of strife, nor he a faithful minister whose household dreads his appearance at the fireside.”—Spurgeon. III. Its servants. Psalms 101:5-7. We have here— 1. The rejected. These comprehend three classes. (1) The Slanderer. “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off.” “In order to constitute slander,” says Robertson, “it is not necessary that the word spoken should be false—half truths are often more calumnious than whole falsehoods. It is not even necessary that a word should be distinctly uttered; a dropped lip, an arched eyebrow, a shrugged shoulder, a significant look, an incredulous expression of countenance, nay, even an emphatic silence, may do the work; and when the light and trifling thing which has done the mischief has fluttered off, the venom is left behind, to work and rankle, to inflame hearts, to fever human existence, and to poison human society at the fountain springs of life.” The wise householder will keep the slanderer out of his family. The cowardice, malice, and terribly pernicious influence of slander are potent reasons for doing so. (2) The proud. “Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.” Literally: “Whoso is wide of heart,” i.e., inflated with pride, haughty, arrogant. A man of overbearing conceit and “vaulting ambition” is foolish; he is ignorant, unreal, blown out with empty pretensions. He is wicked. Pride is sin as well as folly. “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.” He is mischievous. “Only by pride cometh contention.” Therefore the haughty and ambitious are excluded from the pious home. Humility is essential both to piety and to peace. (3) The deceiver. “He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house, he that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.” Hebrew, as in margin: “Shall not be established.” Hengstenberg: “Shall not continue beside me.” “Liars,” says Epictetus, “are the cause of all the sins and crimes in the world.” From the pious home deceivers must be excluded, whether they deceive by telling lies or by acting lies, whether simulators or dissimulators, all insincere persons must be kept without the sacred precincts of the godly family. 2. The accepted. “Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve Me.” The servants of the pious home, as described by David, are characterised by (1) Fidelity. “The faithful of the land;” the true and trustworthy. It is implied here that those who are faithful to God will be faithful to man. David says, “His eyes shall be upon them.” “There is an eye of search, and an eye of favour: the one is for the seeking and finding them out, that they may serve; the other for countenancing of their persons, and rewarding of their service.” (2) Integrity. “He that walketh in a perfect way.” This does not signify a sinless or perfect man, but one who is sincere and upright. There is an obvious reference to the second verse. The Psalmist would have for his servants those who were actuated by the same pure motives, and pursued the same upright course as himself. “A godly servant,” says Gurnall, “is a greater blessing than we think on. He can work, and set God on work also, for his master’s good (Genesis 24:12), ‘O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray Thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master.’ And sure he did his master as much service by his prayer as by his prudence in that journey.” IV. He who is the head of a pious home will do his utmost to banish wickedness from the world. This we may fairly infer from the last verse. Piety begins in the heart, extends to the home, then goes out to bless the world. “I will early destroy,” says the Psalmist, “all the wicked of the land,” &c. Perowne: “Every morning will I destroy,” &c. There is here probably an allusion to the Eastern custom of holding courts of justice in the morning. (2 Samuel 15:2; Jeremiah 21:12; Zephaniah 3:5.) The “every morning” indicates the persistency of the efforts of the Poet-King to uproot evil from society. With unwearied zeal he would seek to purge the land of its iniquities. .—The Psalmist in this Psalm sets us an example we shall do well to imitate. 1. In his intolerance. The Psalm “is full of a stern exclusiveness, of a noble intolerance, not against theological error, not against uncourtly manners, not against political insubordination, but against the proud heart, the high look, the secret slanderer, the deceitful worker, the teller of lies. These are the outlaws from king David’s court; these are the rebels and heretics whom he would not suffer to dwell in his house or tarry in his sight.”—Dean Stanley. Let us copy him in this respect. 2. In his piety. His was piety in the heart, in the home, in the world. His religion was sincere and thorough. Let us imitate him in this, especially in showing piety at home. “To Adam,” says Hare, “paradise was home. To the good among his descendants, home is paradise.” It is impossible to determine on what occasion and by whom this Psalm was composed. Prof. Alexander and Hengstenberg regard it as a composition of David. But from internal evidence, especially in Psalms 102:13-22, we should conclude that it was written during the Babylonian exile, and probably near its close, when the faithful were animated by hopes of returning shortly to their own land. It has been attributed to Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and others of the prophets of the period of the captivity. But attempts to determine the authorship of the Psalm are vain. Perowne points out that the “Psalm is clearly individual, not national, and must have been intended for private rather than liturgical use, as the inscription seems designed to inform us. This inscription is peculiar; it stands quite alone among the titles prefixed to the Psalms, and marks the circumstances under which it should be used. In all other instances the inscriptions are either musical or historical.” In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Psalms 102:25-27 of this Psalm are quoted as addressed to the Messiah.THE OF LIFE AND THE OF THE GODLYThe SuperscriptionThe superscription to this Psalm suggests the following observations,— I. Human life is characterised by great afflictions. The text speaks of “the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed.” We are sometimes sorely distressed— 1. In ourselves, by reason of physical disease and suffering, mental depression and conflict, &c. 2. In our families, by the sinful lives of some of its members, e.g., the prodigal son; by sorely straitened circumstances, by the bereavements of death, &c. 3. In our social circle, by the unfaithfulness of professed friends, &c. 4. In the Church, when its vitality and power seem to decline, &c. 5. In the nation, by reason of national sins, or calamities, or judgments, e.g., the Jews in Babylon. We do not speak of ordinary or trifling afflictions, but of exceptional and severe ones. The Psalmist speaks of himself as “overwhelmed.” He was, as it were, “covered with darkness, affliction, grief. His soul was enshrouded in gloom and sorrow.” From such sufferings the true and good are not exempt. Job, David, Paul, et al., are examples. II. Great afflictions are characterised by great needs. The Psalmist in his sufferings felt a great need of utterance of his trouble. He indicates this by the words: “poureth out his complaint.” His soul was full of affliction, like “vessel overcharged with new wine or strong liquor, that bursts for vent.” Great sorrows must find expression, or the brain would reel into madness, and the heart would break or sink into despair. The prayer of the Poet was the cry of a bursting heart. In great affliction we have need of patience, of trust in God, of sustaining grace, &c. We obtain these by prayer. “My ending is despair,Unless I be relieved by prayer;Which pierces so, that it assaultsMercy itself, and frees all faults.”—Shakespeare.III. In great afflictions the godly man has a great resource. He pours out his complaint before the Lord in prayer. 1. The Lord hears the complaint of His people (Psalms 4:3; Psalms 34:4). 2. The Lord hears the complaint of His people sympathetically. “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” 3. The Lord graciously responds to the complaint of His people. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee,” &c. His ear is ever open; His heart always sympathetic; His grace always all-sufficient. Therefore, “Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him God is a refuge for us.” THE LAMENT OF A PATRIOT(Psalms 102:1-11) In these verses we have the wail of a sadly troubled soul. Let us consider the miseries of the Poet as they are expressed in this bitter cry to the Lord. I. His distress was very great. This appears throughout the whole of the lamentation. Every feature of the distress makes manifest its intensity. The more prominent of these features we shall call attention to. In the superscription he speaks of himself as “overwhelmed” with trouble, and in Psalms 102:9, he says, “I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.” He is smitten down to the ground by the greatness of his grief, or, like Job in his sore afflictions, he prostrates himself in dust and ashes by reason of his great distress, and as an expression of that distress. Persons in great grief are frequently represented as seated or prostrate on the ground. “My grief’s so great,That no supporter but the huge firm earthCan hold it up: here I and sorrow sit.”—Shakespeare.He uses another figure to express the intensity of his misery. So full was his heart of sorrow that his tears fell copiously and constantly, so that they were mingled with his drink. By his posture and his tears he expresses the depth of his distress. II. His distress was absorbing. “I forget to eat my bread.” Many are the recorded instances of persons in great grief being altogether oblivious of mealtime or of hunger. Grief takes away the appetite for food. But that is not the meaning of the Psalmist here. He was so absorbed in grief, his distress so completely engrossed his attention, that everything else was forgotten (1 Samuel 1:7-8; 1 Samuel 20:34; Job 33:20; Psalms 107:18; Daniel 6:18). His “sorrow is so intentive to that it sorrows for, that it cannot intend to think anything else.” Great sorrows are so absorbing as to cause those who are experiencing them to be forgetful even of the needs of life. III. His distress was consuming. The Psalmist expresses this by several figures. “My days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.” Hengstenberg and Perowne: “As a firebrand.” “The point of comparison with the smoke is the fleeing past, the disappearing.” The bones are mentioned as the most substantial part of the body, and they were being consumed as the brand is when placed on the fire. “My heart is smitten and withered like grass.” Adam Clarke: “The metaphor here is taken from grass cut down in the meadow. It is first ‘smitten’ with the scythe, and then ‘withered’ by the sun. Thus the Jews were smitten with the judgments of God; and they are now withered under the fire of the Chaldeans.” “By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones cleave to my skin.” Hengstenberg and Perowne, literally: “My bone cleaveth to my flesh.” The expression describes a state of weakness and relaxation of the bones, brought on by severe pain, in which they lose their force and power of vigorous motion (Job 19:20). The Psalmist uses one other expression to set forth the consuming nature of his distress. “My days are like a shadow that declineth.” His time of life seemed to him like the lengthening shades of evening, which show the near approach of night. The figure beautifully and pathetically suggests the nearness of advancing death. To the Poet it seemed that life was fast passing away under his heavy afflictions. IV. His distress was isolating. “I am like a pelican of the wilderness, I am like an owl of the desert,” &c. (Psalms 102:6-7). The pelican is a bird which dwells in solitude far from the habitations of men; it is most sombre and austere in disposition, and is a most expressive illustration of solitude and melancholy. The “owl of the ruins” is also a striking emblem of desolation. “From yonder ivy-mantled tower,The moping owl does to the moon complainOf such as, wand’ring near her secret bower,Molest her ancient solitary reign.”—Gray.“Sparrow” is not in this place a good rendering of φִ ?τּ ?εֹ ?ψ. The sparrow is not a solitary melancholy bird. Naturalists state that the Blue Thrush is the particular φִ ?τּ ?εֹ ?ψ, which sits alone on the house-top. This bird is of a dark blue colour. More than a pair of them are scarcely ever seen together. It is fond of sitting alone upon the house-top, uttering its note, which to a human ear is monotonous and melancholy. Thus the Poet represents the isolating power of his miseries. Deep-rooted sorrow is naturally reserved. “A small grievance makes us beside ourselves; a great sorrow makes us retire within ourselves.”—Richter. V. His distress occasioned reproaches from his enemies. “Mine enemies reproach me all the day,” &c. On the reproaches of the enemies, see remarks on Psalms 42:3. Perowne: “ ‘Made their oaths by me,’ i.e., when they curse, choose me as an example of misery, and imprecate upon themselves or others my misfortunes—say, ‘God do to me, to thee, as He has done to this man.’ ” And Hengstenberg: “ ‘They swear by me,’ inasmuch as they say, ‘May God let it go with you as it does with that miserable man’ ” (comp. Numbers 5:21-27; Jeremiah 29:22; Isaiah 65:15; Psalms 44:14). The distresses of the godly are greatly aggravated when they are made the occasion of revilings from their foes. VI. His distress was regarded as an expression of the Divine anger. “Because of Thine indignation and Thy wrath; for Thou hast lifted me up and cast me down.” The figure of the second clause is taken from a storm of wind, which seizes and carries upward its object, and then hurls it to the ground. So God in wrath seemed to have seized the Psalmist, borne him aloft, and then dashed him down. In the opinion of the Psalmist, it is sin which has thus provoked the Lord to anger. It is noteworthy, as Delitzsch points out, that the two nouns “indignation” and “wrath” are in the Hebrew the strongest which the language possesses. It is true that the Chaldean captivity was permitted by God, because His people by their heinous and oft-repeated sins had provoked Him to anger. The Chaldeans were unconsciously the instruments by which He effected His purpose to chastise His faithless people. But we are not to suppose that in individual cases the measure of suffering indicates the measure of sin and ill-desert. The bitterest ingredient in the miseries of the Poet arose from his impression that those miseries were the expression of the Divine anger. VII. His distress was not hopeless. He lifted his troubled soul to God in prayer (Psalms 102:1-2). He prays for,— 1. Divine audience. “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto Thee.… Incline Thine ear unto me.” (See remarks on Psalms 88:2). 2. Divine acceptance. “Hide not Thy face from me.” (See remarks on Psalms 27:9; Psalms 69:17.) It is a request that God would look favourably upon him, and regard his supplications. 3. Divine and speedy answer. “In the day when I call answer me speedily.” The Psalmist believed in answers to prayer, and immediate ones too. Such urgency of prayer, when united with humility and patience, is well pleasing to God. The patriotic Poet was sore troubled and distressed; but he was neither destroyed nor despairing. The night was dark, but the stars were not all quenched. VIII. His distress was patriotic. If we understand the Psalm aright, the Psalmist does not lament his own woes merely, but the woes of his people, the desolation of his country, and the ruins of their temple. “Fallen is thy throne, O Israel!Silence is o’er thy plains;Thy dwellings all lie desolate,Thy children weep in chains!Where are the dews that fed theeOn Etham’s barren shore!That fire from heaven which led theeNow lights thy path no more.“Lord! Thou didst love Jerusalem—Once she was all Thy own;Her love Thy fairest heritageHer power Thy glory’s throne,Till evil came and blightedThy long-loved olive-tree;And Salem’s shrines were lightedFor other gods than Thee.”—Moore.These were the woes which distressed the Psalmist. His was no selfish grief; but the sorrow of a patriotic, philanthropic, and godly soul. .—While God continues to hear and answer prayer, we may hope for deliverance even from the deepest distresses. THE HOPE OF A PATRIOT(Psalms 102:12-22) Consider— I. The object of his hope. What is it that the troubled and patriotic Poet hopes for? 1. For the rebuilding of the Temple. “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.” The Temple which had stood upon Zion was now in ruins. To the pious and patriotic Jew, of all places in his Fatherland, Jerusalem was the most highly esteemed, and of all places in Jerusalem the Temple upon Zion was the holiest and dearest. Hence the great longing for the rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of its services. 2. For the emancipation of the captives. “To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed unto death.” By “the prisoner” we understand the whole nation, whose captivity is looked upon as an imprisonment. “Those that are appointed unto death,” or “the sons of death,” “may mean either those who were sentenced to death; those who were sick and ready to die; or those who, in their captivity, were in such a state of privation and suffering that death appeared inevitable.”—Barnes. The verse clearly points out the emancipation of the captives as one of the great objects desired and hoped for. 3. The restoration of the people to their own land and worship. They longed to “declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem,” and to “gather together to serve the Lord.” The pious Jews longed to assemble again in the city of their fathers, and there celebrate the worship of the Lord their God as in former days. To the truly religious man the loss of national independence is great, subjection to foreign rule is a galling yoke; but the loss of religious privileges is felt to be far greater, and the desire for their recovery will be more intense than for the recovery of national independence. II. The ground of his hope. In whom does the troubled and patriotic Poet hope? Has he a good reason for his hope? 1. It is directed to God. Psalms 102:12-13; Psalms 102:16; Psalms 102:19. He hopes that God will interpose on behalf of His captive and afflicted people. For a long time it had seemed as though God regarded them not, but the Psalmist is confident that He is now interested in their welfare. From His holy height He was intently viewing them; and speedily He would arise and have mercy upon them. When our hope in all others fail, we may yet hope in God. 2. It rests in His character and perfections. (1) In His eternal and unchangeable sovereignty. “Thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever; and Thy remembrance unto all generations.” Hengstenberg: “Thou, O Lord, art enthroned for ever, and Thy memorial from generation to generation.” “The sitting,” he says, “is no empty remaining, but a sitting as king, a sitting on a throne” (comp. Psalms 9:7; Psalms 29:10). And Perowne: “Thou, O Jehovah, sittest throned for ever, and Thy memorial is to all generations.” In this thought the Psalmist found his great consolation. His own life might pass away, generations of men might pass away; but the Lord would never pass away. Man and his fortunes may change, and all earthly things may appear unstable; but the Lord changes not, and His throne is stable and permanent. He is eternally and unchangeably supreme, and the covenanted God and helper of His people. (2) In His mercy. “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion; for it is time to favour her.” The hope of deliverance is built upon the grace of God. The misery of their condition would move the mercy of His disposition. (3) In His regard for prayer “He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.” Perowne: “He hath turned to the prayer of the poor-destitute.” He adopts the rendering of the P. B. V., “poor-destitute,” “because the word expresses utter nakedness and destitution.” The Psalmist represents himself and others as entirely destitute of all human means of help, and expresses his confidence that God would graciously attend to the prayer of such suppliants. “Whomsoever God neglects, He will listen to the cry of those who are forsaken and destitute.” He will not only “not despise their prayer,” He will favourably receive and answer it. In all these respects the confident hope of the Psalmist was certainly well founded. He who thus trusts in the Lord shall never be put to shame. III. The strength of his hope. He speaks of the interposition of the Lord on their behalf in accents of steady confidence. The strength of his hope is manifest in— 1. His assured declarations of Divine favour toward them. “Thou shalt arise and have mercy,” &c. He utters no perchance or peradventure. 2. His declaration of the nearness of that favour. “The time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.” There may be a reference here to the seventy years of captivity prophesied by Jeremiah. The Psalmist himself states one reason upon which his conclusion, that the set time for the manifestation of the Divine favour had come, was based, viz., the deep interest manifested by the people in the state of Zion. “Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.” Even the ruins of the Temple were dear to them, and its very dust was sacred. This affectionate interest the Psalmist regarded as a token that the time of deliverance and restoration was at hand. “There are usually some previous intimations or indications of what God is about to do. ‘Coming events cast their shadows before.’ Even the Divine purposes are accomplished usually in connection with human agency, and in the regular course of events; and it is frequently possible to anticipate that God is about to appear for the fulfilment of His promises. So it was in the coming of the Saviour. So it was in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans.”—Barnes. (3.) His declaration of it as even then present. Psalms 102:16-17. “ ‘Shall build,’ ‘shall appear,’ ‘will regard,’ ‘and will not despise.’ These futures, in the original, are all present; ‘buildeth, appeareth, regardeth, and despiseth not.’ The Psalmist, in his confidence of the event, speaks of it as doing.”—Horsley. His confidence is so great as to annihilate time and make the future present to him, and coming events accomplished realities. IV. The results anticipated from the fulfilment of his. hope. 1. Grateful joy to His people. Their reverence and love for the holy city and Temple, manifested by their interest even in its ruins, would be gratified, and they would “declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem.” “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion … our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing … The Lord hath done great things for us; we are glad.” 2. Fear to the nations. “So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Thy glory.” “When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion … then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.” 3. Instruction and encouragement to posterity. “This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord.” The Divine deliverance and blessing should be recorded, and future ages should derive instruction therefrom. The manifestations of the faithfulness and mercy of God in one age are helpful to the faith of all succeeding ages. As the evidence to His truth and grace grows more voluminous and irresistibly conclusive, His praise also should grow in fulness and resonance and heartiness. 4. Glory to God. In the restoration of His people His glory would be manifest to all,—both to His people and to all the nations,—observed by all, respected by all, and celebrated by His people. The restoration of His people and the rebuilding of His Temple would be the glorifying of His name. .— 1. When the Church is in the lowest condition, it may be revived by the Lord. 2. When the Church is in a low condition, the faithful should care for her the more solicitously, and pray for her the more earnestly. Psalms 102:14 to Psalms 17:3. When the faithful are thus solicitous and prayerful, the Lord will speedily arise for the revival of His Church. Psalms 102:13; Psalms 14:4. The revival of the Church will be followed by the most blessed results. A REVIVAL OF THE CHURCH, AND WHICH PRECEDE IT(Psalms 102:13-14) By unanimous consent, Zion is considered a type of the Christian Church, which is a body of Christly men; and if we take these words as the Psalmist’s statement with regard to the revival of the Christian Church, we propose to make two statements. I. There is a favourable time to promote the revival of the Church. The revival of religion, important at all times, is especially so at this period. 1. The source to which the Church must look for a revival. “Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion.” At a suitable time, and in a wonderful manner, God did arise and deliver His people. “The Lord,” said they, “hath done great things for us.” The teachings of the Bible, which relate to this theme, are regular and uninterrupted in setting forth this grand principle, that the Lord alone can revive the Church, and add to her such as shall be saved. (Psalms 80:1-3; Psalms 85:6; Isaiah 51:3; Habakkuk 3:2; Zechariah 4:6). 2. The nature of that revival which the Church may expect. The words “mercy” and “favour” suggest— (1) Deliverance. Though the character of the Church is of such transcendent excellence that it ought to win the admiration of every beholder, yet, alas! such is the depravity of the heart, that opposition, violence, and blood, have marked her progress; but to the present the Almighty hath been her helper. (2) Union. There may be unity of effors with a great variety of name, method, and form. The union of which God is the Author is frequently spoken of in the Bible (Psalms 133; John 13:34-35; John 17:21). (3) Prosperity. The conversion of sinners. That Church is happy which is favoured with deliverance, union, and prosperity. 3. The time when the revival of the Church may be expected. The text speaks of a set or appointed season for the salvation of Zion. “The time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.” The deliverance of the Jews from their captivity was foretold (Isaiah 14:1-2; Jeremiah 25:11-12; Jeremiah 32:36-39). How wonderfully Jehovah brought about the deliverance of His people from Babylon at the set time! He influenced Cyrus and Darius, heathen princes, to forward it. He raised up Ezra and Nehemiah, &c. II. That the revival of the Church is always preceded by certain infallible signs. “For Thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.” 1. Solemn humiliation before God. Before the Jews were delivered from the Babylonish captivity, they were humbled before God on account of their transgressions. The nation was ashamed and cured of its idolatry, and never since then has it bent its knees at an idol’s shrine (Ezra 9:6-7; Ezra 10:1; Daniel 9:7-11). Is there this spirit of humiliation before God in modern churches? 2. Special, importunate, believing prayer. What beautiful instructions and examples we have in the Bible of the value of such prayer (Isaiah 62:1; Ezekiel 36:37; Luke 11:5-10). 3. Affection for the ordinances of God’s House. The principal evidence we have that the Almighty was about to visit His people in Babylon was the deep interest they had in Zion. They loved the very stones, and even the dust of their beloved, though dilapidated Zion (Psalms 137:5-6). So it is in a revival of religion. When God is about to visit His people in mercy, everything in regard to the Church is loved. 4. Activity and self-denying efforts in God’s cause. The Jews showed their love to Jerusalem in a practical manner. (Nehemiah 4:6.) They work despite the scorn of their foes. Let these signs exist in any church, and the fruit will soon appear. She shall increase in purity and influence. “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree,” &c. (Isaiah 55:13).—J. Wileman, in “The Study.” A SUNDAY SCHOOL SERMON—OUR TOWARDS THE YOUNG(Psalms 102:18) “This shall be written for the generations to come.” The antecedent to the word “this” are the truths contained in the verses from 1 to 13. 1. That the Lord will have mercy upon Zion. 2. That the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord. 3. That He will build up Zion. 4. That He will regard the prayer of the destitute. These were the promises that were to be written for the generations to come. Why written? That they might be preserved and handed down. Tradition is uncertain, imperfect, &c. The New Testament declares that these things were written for our instruction. We have the fulfilment of this text to-day. Nearly nine hundred years before the coming of Christ an Assyrian monarch conceived the idea of a national library of books or tablets of burnt clay. Hundreds of years afterward the library was destroyed. Recently a London newspaper, three thousand years after the establishment of the library, and many centuries after its destruction, has explorations made, and many tablets, and fragments of tablets, are recovered and translated, and in them the Book of Genesis has corroboration. That which is written is permanent. Had those past ages known of our paper and ink, what a wonderful preservation of knowledge we would have had! I. What has been written?1. Observe the nature of this knowledge of God which was written. It concerns God’s faithfulness and ability in the performance of all He has promised. We cannot bear testimony to faithfulness until we have tested it. When we have tested God, we can bear testimony. Faithfulness implies obligation. He who makes a promise comes under obligation. In this God differs from man. He was under no obligation to come under obligation; but having promised, He has come under obligation, and Christians everywhere bear testimony to His faithfulness and His ability to perform fully all He has freely promised. 2. What God has promised. The great thing is the salvation worked out through atonement; the establishment of a Church; that this salvation should be made known unto the ends of the world; that the heathen people should come to know Him. Salvation can be wrought out only through this atonement. It is loose thinking that makes men imagine that education, culture, political economy, can lift up the world. The fear of the Lord lifts up man. Christ made little or nothing of the culture of the Pharisee, but much of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. He builds up His Zion even as He has promised. II. Our duty. What shall we, who have received so much, do for the generations to come—for the generation now coming? Fathers, members of Churches, what record are you making for the generation coming? The special work of the Sunday-school is to take care of the children of the nation. 1. Let us be faithful to our own children. They are the jewels of the Church. We draw the children into Sabbath-school, not to render needless the home instruction, but to supplement this instruction, by bringing the weight of the personal influence of others upon your children. 2. We want to take care of the children grown up into youth. The most critical period in the life of man is when he is breaking away from home. How many of the children at this age become vagrants among the churches, wandering here and there, receiving but little benefit and giving none. The class most largely reached are the children of believing parents. 3. We have a great work to do among the children near us, those who are to be our fellow-citizens. There is enough of ignorance and criminality around us. These evils must be restrained by knowledge, by virtue, or social ruin is inevitable. 4. We must do all possible for the children of the entire country. If we would have the nation Christian, we must work and bear the burdens. We have the opportunity. One practical additional word. How many of you who are giving your money, year by year, to the cause of Christ, are giving yourselves, your love, your time? You who are young, I beseech you dedicate the energies of your youth to this service. When you are passing from earth, what then will be of value save what Christ is to you?—John Hall, D.D. A GREAT AND (Psalms 102:23-28) We have in this section of the Psalm— I. A great contrast. On the one hand, we have the weakness and shortness of human life upon earth, and the changefulness and transitoriness of nature itself; and on the other, we have the eternity and immutability of God. First: Let us look at man and nature. And— 1. At man’s life upon earth. It is here represented as— (1) Weak. “He weakened my strength in the way.” In the journey of life the strength even of the most robust in course of time is diminished until it is superseded by weakness. While others by reason of afflictions are speedily brought low. Probably the Psalmist speaks here in the name of the chosen people. God had weakened their strength, had reduced them by afflictions, &c. How frail is human life upon earth! (2) Brief. “He shortened my days.” It seemed to the Poet that God was about to cut off his life speedily. (On the brevity of human life upon earth, see Homily on Psalms 90:1-6.) 2. Let us look at nature. (1) It is changeful. “Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.” The heavens and the earth seem unchangeable and permanent. Sometimes they are so represented in Scripture. “He hath also stablished them for ever.” “The everlasting mountains and the perpetual hills.” Yet from the testimony of geology and astronomy we know that they change. And as compared with the Lord, the most unchangeable and abiding things are changeable and transient. In the future a stupendous change awaits the entire material creation. (2) It is transitory. “They shall perish.” (Comp. 2 Peter 3:10.) “Melted into air, into thin air:And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palacess.The solemn temples, the great globe itself,Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,Leave not a rack behind.”—Shakespeare.Second: Let us look at the Divine Being, 1. He existed before the world. This is clearly implied in Psalms 102:25. 2. He created the world. “Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands.” 3. He is eternal. “Thou shalt endure.” “This” (says Stuart, on Hebrews 1:12) “would be true, if it was spoken merely with reference to the future, and should be construed as having respect only to eternity a parte post, as it is technically called, i.e., eternity to come. But as it stands here, in connection with having created the heavens and the earth κατʼ ? αρχὰς, it can hardly be understood to mean less than absolute eternity, or eternity a parte ante et a parte post.” (On each of these points concerning “the Divine Being,” see Homily on Psalms 90:1-6.) 4. He is unchangeable. “Thou art the same.” From everlasting to everlasting there is no variation in God. His vesture, that in which He manifests Himself, may be changed by Him, but He changes not. “Thou art the same in essence and nature, the same in will and purpose, Thou dost change all other things as Thou pleasest: but Thou art immutable in every respect, and receivest no shadow of change, though never so light and small.”—Charnock. Here, then, is a tremendous contrast— “Great God, how infinite art Thou!What worthless worms are we!”II. A great consolation1. As regards himself. “O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days; Thy years are throughout all generations.” It is the lot of the wicked to be cut off in the midst of their days. “Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.” With such men the Poet desired to have no part either living or dying. He seems also to long to be spared to witness the restoration of his people. And he finds consolation in the eternity of God, which he pleads. That eternity is introduced “here for two reasons: (1) As a ground of consolation, that God was ever the same; that whatever might happen to men, to the Psalmist himself, or to any other man, God was unchanged, and that His great plans would be carried forward and accomplished. (2) As a reason for the prayer. God was eternal. He could not die. He knew in its perfection the blessedness of life—life as such; life continued; life unending. The Psalmist appeals to what God Himself enjoyed as a reason why life—so great a blessing—should be granted to him a little longer. By all that there was of blessedness in the life of God, the Psalmist prays that that which was in itself—even in the case of God—so valuable, might yet a little longer be continued to him.”—Barnes. 2. As regards the Church. “The children of Thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before Thee.” Because God is unchangeable and eternal His purposes cannot be frustrated, and His Church shall abide, the witness and the monument of His love. “From the eternity of the Head we may infer the perpetuity of the body.” The stability and welfare of the Church are guaranteed by the eternity and immutability of the Lord. So the Poet finds strength in his weakness; he rests in the Everlasting Arms. .— 1. To us personally let the greatness of God be both awe-inspiring and trust-inspiring. Let us not only fear, but hope in Him. 2. Let us rejoice in the security of the Church of Christ. “Because I live ye shall live also.” GOD IN NATURE(Psalms 102:25-27) This passage directly opposes two popular errors:— First: That matter is self-originated, “Thou,”—all material forms are traced to a spiritual creative agency. Second: That matter is eternal “They shall perish.” The destruction of the material universe is placed as the antithesis of the Divine duration—“but Thou remainest;” as surely, therefore, as God shall continue to “remain,” the heavens and the earth shall perish. This passage I regard as presenting the Divine Being in four sublime and impressive aspects— I. The Divine Being as intimately acquainted with all portions of the universe. I take the words “foundation” and “heavens” as representative terms. The lowest depth and the loftiest height are signified. There is not a shadow in the caverns of solitude which He has not projected, nor is there a curve in the heavens which owes not its gracefulness to His touch. Not only is God acquainted with places, but with the most subtle laws which operate in the minutest fibres of the stupendous fabric. God’s perfect acquaintance with the universe supplies:— First: A guarantee of the perfect safety of the good. They can never pass beyond the sweep of His beneficent influence. He knows how every change will affect them, and they know that all agencies will be controlled with a view to their final security and happiness. (Psalms 91:5-7.) Second: An unutterable terror to the evil. They can never pass beyond the scrutiny of God’s blazing eye. The great practical deduction of the argument is this, viz.:—The supreme importance of being RIGHT with this dread Spirit. You cannot escape Him. If you are to spend eternity with any being, mutual sympathy is essential to enjoyment. You must spend eternity under the eye of God, &c. II. The Divine Being as the sovereign Proprietor of the universe. He who created has a right to the possession. Four deductions are obvious:— First: That our possession is a mere stewardship. Yours is a representative ownership. Second: That our possession involves corresponding responsibility. Our five talents are bestowed that they may be self-multiplied. Third: That our possession forms no ground of arrogance. “What hast thou that thou hast not received?” Fourth: That our possession should awaken earnest solicitude. “Why hast God trusted me with so much?” should be the rich man’s anxious inquiry. Seeing, therefore, that God is the one Proprietor of all things, we should remember two great facts:— First: That we are only tenants-at-will. We have no lease of life or property. Second: That God may justly remind man of the Divine claim. Can you wonder that the true Proprietor should occasionally assert His right by sending the hail-storm or the lightning to smite the earth? Were the Divine Being never to assert His claim, man might indulge the thought that he was the terminating centre of all things. III. God as the all-transforming Spirit of the universe. “As a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed.” You have marked the spring as it has unfolded its mantle, and hung it gracefully on the shoulders of the hills, and spread its gift of flowers on the lap of the grateful earth; that is a manifestation of God’s all-transforming power! You have marked the blustering winter, as it has torn off that verdant robe, and blown out the floral lights; that, too, is a display of God’s all-changing power. This same Spirit is also the heart-transforming agent. He who garnishes the heavens beautifies the soul.… As no human skill could beautify the earth with the treasures of spring, so no mortal power could have provided the robe of righteousness with which every soul must be clad ere it enter heaven. IV. The Divine Being as the all-surviving Spirit of the universe. “They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end.” From this assurance we may draw two lessons— First: That matter is not a necessary condition of spiritual existence. All we know of spirit now is associated with matter. If we speak of the “divinity stirring within us,” it stirs within a tenement of clay. If we speak of God, it is in connection with the material forms of the outer universe; but the plain meaning of our text is that spirit may exist independent of such expression. Matter is dependent on spirit, but spirit may survive the total annihilation of the heavens and the earth. Second: That the Divine existence is incapable of change. “Thou art the same.” Simple words these, and yet there is only one Being in the universe to whom they are applicable. To GOD alone can we truthfully say, “THOU ART THE SAME!” Other beings are not the same in knowledge; you are continually increasing your information, but to the Divine knowledge no contribution can be added. Other beings are not the same in affection; your affection deepens or withdraws according to the current of circumstances, but the Divine love knows no mutation. Other beings are not the same in enjoyment; your joys are fickle as an April day, but the ever-blessed God can know neither increase nor diminution of felicity. He who made the atonement for human guilt is the Being of whom our text speaks: CHRIST is the all-renewing and all-surviving Spirit! Have I those before me who profess to worship God in nature? Let me assure you that admiration of nature will not atone for the neglect of Christ. God knows those only who have a living faith in the merits of the Saviour’s sacrifice—Joseph Parker, D.D. Abridged from the “Cavendish Pulpit.” This, as appears from the superscription, is one of David’s Psalms. It is a Psalm of great beauty and preciousness, and has been a great favourite of devout souls in all ages. The fulness of the mercy of God in the forgiveness of sins and the enrichment of the soul, and His tender, fatherly pity for His frail and dying children, are here gracefully and gratefully celebrated. It must have been composed at a time when the Poet’s soul was filled with precious and grateful recollections of Divine benefits, and with strong and tender confidence in God.GOD MAN AND MAN GOD(Psalms 103:1-5) I. God blessing man. Psalms 103:3-5. The Psalmist mentions a number of blessings which he has received from God. 1. Forgiveness. “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities.” “Thine iniquities,” says John Pulsford, “are in-equities. There is nothing just or right in thee. Thy very nature is an in-equity, bringing forth nothing but in-equities. In-equities towards thy God, in-equities towards thy neighbour, and in-equities towards thyself, make up the whole of thy life. Thou art a bad tree, and a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit.” Notice the completeness of His forgiveness. Our iniquities are more than can be remembered, and are very heinous, but He forgiveth them all. The continuousness of His forgiveness. “He forgiveth.” Within us are tendencies to sin and around us are temptations. Our life is sadly marred by transgressions and shortcomings, we need repeated forgivenesses, multiplied pardons; and God bestows them. He continues to forgive. 2. Healing. “Who healeth all thy diseases.” The primary reference is to bodily sicknesses. (Comp. Exodus 15:26; Deuteronomy 29:22). But we cannot regard that as the exclusive reference. “Corruption and disease have a spiritual origin. All material corruption was preceded by spiritual corruption. All diseases were, and are, spiritual to begin with. Disease is a state of in-equity in the body, but it is only the in-equity that pre-existed in spirit, fulfilling itself in matter. The Divine art of healing therefore lies in the forgiveness of the soul’s iniquities. Remove the iniquities of the soul, and universal healing comes in. Christ healeth all thy diseases, by forgiving all thy iniquities.”—Pulsford. Bodily diseases are analogues of spiritual disorders and infirmities. He heals all these. 3. Redemption. “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction.” Hengstenberg: “From the grave.” Perowne: “ ‘From the pit,’ including death, the grave, Hades.” David had many marvellous deliverances from danger and death which were worthy of celebration. The Lord redeems the soul from sin, and from the penalty of sin, spiritual and eternal death. He will ransom His people from the power of the grave, and endow them with endless and blessed life. 4. Coronation. “Who crowneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies.” “The love of God not only delivers from sin, disease, and death: He makes His children kings, and weaves their crown out of His own glorious attributes of loving-kindness and tender mercies.”—Perowne. “He heaps upon redeemed sinners untold riches from His full heart; and shows to them the softest ways of His love. Mercies are the softnesses of eternal love, but tender mercies are unutterable endearments from the heart of hearts.”—Pulsford. 5. Satisfaction. “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things.” There is diversity of opinion as to how òְ ?ãִ ?é—which is rendered “mouth” in the A. V. and in the P. B. V.—should be rendered. See Perowne’s critical note, and Barnes in loco. But there is no dispute as to the meaning of the clause. God satisfieth the souls of His servants. He, and He alone, can satisfy the deep needs, and respond to the boundless desires of the soul. Out of God the wants of man’s great and awful soul can never be satisfied. By His presence and grace He fills it with delightful satisfaction. “He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” (Comp. Psalms 63:5; Isaiah 55:1-2; Isaiah 58:11.) 6. Invigoration. “So that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” There is no reference here to the fable of the eagle renewing its youth in old age. There is perhaps an allusion to the moulting of its plumage periodically, whereby its strength and activity are increased. As the Christian derives his life from Christ, that life can never become feeble or old. Living in Christ, he will flourish in immortal youth. His eternal life will be an eternal progression towards the perfection of youthful vigour and beauty. Such are the great and inestimable blessings which the Lord confers upon His servants. It is important that we should notice that these blessings— 1. Are adapted to man’s deepest needs. Forgiveness, satisfaction, redemption. 2. Tend to promote his perfection and blessedness, which can be found only in connection with the loving-kindness and tender mercy of the Lord. II. Man blessing God. (Psalms 103:1-2.) God blesses man with gifts; man blesses God with praise. The Psalmist blesses the Lord— 1. With hit soul. “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Not merely with the tongue or pen, but with the heart and soul. 2. With his entire spiritual being. “And all that is within me, bless His holy name.” David “would enlist every thought, faculty, power, the heart with all its affections, the will, the conscience, the reason, in a word, the whole spiritual being, all in man that is best and highest, in the same heavenly service.”—Perowne. 3. With recollection of His benefits. “Forget not all His benefits.” The Psalmist thoughtfully recalls the blessings he has received from God, and is thereby the more urgently incited to praise Him. We are sadly prone to cherish the memory of injuries, and to neglect the memory of benefits. Let us, like the Psalmist, strive to recollect the blessings we have received of the Lord, that thereby our praise might be more grateful and hearty. 4. With reverent admiration of His character. “Bless His holy name.” God’s holiness consists of all the perfections of His character in harmonious and beautiful union. David praised the Lord not merely because of the benefits he had received from Him, but because of His own glorious perfections. He praised His beneficence, and adored His holiness. .—Let us learn from this subject—. 1. The motives of Divine praise. Why should I bless the Lord? (1) Because of what He does for me—“benefits.” (2) Because of what He is—“holy.” 2. The model of Divine praise. How shall I bless the Lord? (1) Heartily. (2) With all my powers and affections. 3. The means of Divine praise. By what means can I thus bless the Lord? Recall His benefits, and the heart will grow warm with gratitude, &c. 4. The blessedness of Divine praise. It brings holy cheer to the troubled spirit. It is a foretaste of heaven. To the man whose soul is filled with praise this world is a “scene of Divine manifestation, a temple filled with heavenly voices and traces of the feet of God.” MAN’S OF THE LORD’S (Psalms 103:2. “Forget not all His benefits.”) Consider— I. The benefits of God. Who can enumerate them? He gives us physical benefits; e.g., food, raiment, health, &c. Social benefits, e.g., friends, &c. Intellectual benefits, e.g., His own revelation in nature, history, and the Bible, books, &c. Spiritual benefits, e.g., pardon, help, &c. His gifts are innumerable. They are also very rich. He gives not only kindness and mercy, but “loving-kindness and tender mercies.” “The difference between mere kindness and ‘loving-kindness,’ between mere mercy and ‘tender mercy,’ is the difference between a flower without fragrance and a flower that is fragrant.”—Parker. Rightly viewed the benefits of God must call forth our wonder, admiration, gratitude. II. The benefits of God may be forgotten. In what sense? Not absolutely. Memory treasures all things, loses nothing. Like the records made with invisible ink, not seen under ordinary circumstances, invisible perhaps for years, yet when brought under the influence of heat appearing distinctly; so with memory, &c. But we treasure that in our memory in which we are most interested. The miser remembers anything that will assist him in accumulating money. The grateful heart remembers benefits. But in depraved human nature there is a sad tendency to forget benefits. Too frequently injuries are treasured, benefits are forgotten. A thankless heart receives benefits, and does not recognise them as such, acknowledges no obligation, &c. All are prone to fail somewhat in treasuring and keeping in view the Divine benefits. III. The benefits of God should not be forgotten. 1. Because of the gratitude we owe to God for them. Hengstenberg: “He who has been blessed and refuses to bless has sunk from the state of a man to that of a beast.” Has he not sunk lower than some beasts? Every blessing involves the obligation to gratitude and praise. 2. Because of the confidence they are calculated to inspire. Every benefit we receive increases our obligation and encouragement to trust in the Lord. Parker: “The atheism of anticipation should be corrected by the gratitude of retrospection. He who reviews the past thankfully may advance to the future hopefully.” HEALED(Psalms 103:3) I. Why sin is called a disease. 1. As it destroys the moral beauty of the creature. (Genesis 1:31; Genesis 6:5, compared; Job 42:1-6; Psalms 38:3-8.) 2. As it excites pain. (Psalms 51:8; Acts 2:37; 1 Corinthians 15:56.) 3. As it disables from duty. (Isaiah 1:5; Romans 7:19.) To God. To man. 4. As it deprives men of good sound reason. (Isaiah 5:20.) It stupifies the faculties. 5. As it is infectious. 6. As it leads to death. (Romans 5:12; Romans 5:21; Romans 6:16; Romans 6:23.) II. The variety of sinful diseases to which we are subject. “All thine iniquities, all thy diseases.” (Mark 7:21-23; Romans 1:29-31; Galatians 5:19-21.) Almost as many as the bodily diseases mentioned in the bills of mortality. III. The remedy by which God heals these diseases. 1. His pardoning mercy through the redemption of Christ. (See text. Isaiah 53:5; Romans 3:23-26.) 2. The sanctifying influences of grace. (Ezekiel 36:25-27; Hebrews 10:16.) 3. The means of grace. (Ephesians 4:11-13.) 4. The resurrection of the body. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; Philippians 3:10-11.) 5. The case of an ignorant, insensible sinner is very deplorable. 6. The case of a real Christian is very hopeful. His sinful disease is radically healed. The completion of his cure is certain. 7. The glory of Christ, as the physician of souls, is great indeed. (Revelation 1:5-6).—F.… R, in “Skeletons of Sermons.” THE , , AND OBJECTS OF THE DIVINE MERCY(Psalms 103:6-14) The Poet having celebrated the mercy of God to himself, proceeds in these verses to celebrate His mercy to Israel. Consider— I. The Infinity of the Divine mercy. “As the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward them that fear Him.” The Psalmist uses a figure of the greatest extent which the world affords in order to set forth the immensity of the mercy of God. It is, like Himself, infinite. As we imagine nothing higher or vaster than the heavens, so the favour of God exceeds our highest thoughts, and surpasses our most extensive and expressive figures. All the measures of the universe are inadequate to set forth the infinite love of God. (Compare Psalms 36:5; Psalms 57:10). He is “plenteous in mercy.” “Above the mountains of our sins the floods of His mercy rise. All the world tastes of His sparing mercy, those who hear the Gospel partake of His inviting mercy, the saints live by His saving mercy, are preserved by His upholding mercy, are cheered by His consoling mercy, and will enter heaven through His infinite and everlasting mercy.”—Spurgeon. II. The expressions of the Divine mercy. It is manifest— 1. In His vindication of the oppressed. “The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.” We have here (1) The sufferings of the Church. The people of God have often been grievously oppressed and persecuted. (2) The champion of the Church. The Lord defends the cause of His people, interposes for their deliverance. He humbles the pride of the oppressor, and exalts the oppressed into safety and honour. 2. In His general dealings with His people. “He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”—See Homiletic sketch on this verse. 3. In the long delay of His anger. “Slow to anger.” The Lord has long patience even with the most provoking sinners. He restrains His wrath that the wicked may have longer time and more frequent opportunities for repentance. Though His anger ever burns against sin, yet in mercy to the sinner He bears much, and bears long with him, that he might yet be saved. 4. In the transient duration of His anger. “He will not always chide, neither will He keep His anger for ever.” “I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth,” &c. (Isaiah 57:16). “The second clause,” says Hengstenberg, “depends upon Leviticus 19:18, ‘Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people.’ Nahum 1:2 again depends upon the passage before us: ‘The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He keepeth wrath’ (not assuredly for His people, of whom the declaration of the Psalmist holds true, but still) ‘for His enemies.’ ” God will manifest His displeasure towards His people if they sin against Him, and will punish them for their sins; but when chastisement has accomplished its mission, He will again manifest His loving-kindness. His “anger is so slow to rise, so ready to abate.” 5. In the forgiveness of sins. “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.” The great point here is the completeness of the forgiveness of sin by God. On this point see remarks o Psalms 85:2. “When sin is pardoned,” says Char-nock, “it is never charged again; the guilt of it can no more return than east can become west, or west become east.” 6. In His fatherly compassion. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” Matthew Henry well says: “The father pities his children that are weak in knowledge and instructs them, pities them when they are froward and bears with them, pities them when they are sick and comforts them (Isaiah 66:13), pities them when they have fallen and helps them up again, pities them when they have offended, and, upon their submission, forgives them, pities them when they are wronged and gives them redress; thus ‘the Lord pities them that fear Him.’ ” Nay, much more than “thus;” “for He is the ‘Father of all mercies,’ and the Father of all the fatherhoods in heaven and earth.” 7. In His fatherly consideration. “He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.” He is acquainted with “our fashioning;” the manner in which we are formed, and the materials of which we are made; He knows how weak we are, and exercises a kindly consideration towards us. He is not exacting in His demands upon us, but is pitiful to our weakness. 8. In the revelation which He made to His people. “He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel.” This verse refers to Exodus 33:13, where Moses says to the Lord, “I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, show me now Thy way, that I may know Thee, that I may find grace in Thy sight; and consider that this nation is Thy people. And He said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” God made Himself known in the guidance and protection of His people, and in the many mighty acts which He wrought on their behalf. The children of Israel saw His acts, His marvellous doings for them. But Moses saw the principles underlying those acts, and the methods of the Divine administration. This revelation the Psalmist rightly regards as an expression of God’s mercy. Varied and countless are the manifestations of His mercy to us. III. The objects of the Divine mercy. To all men upon earth the mercy of God extends. Holy angels need not the Divine mercy, apostate angels need it, but receive it not. Man both needs and receives it. Of all men upon earth we may say,—“The Lord is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” But in this Psalm the people of God are specially mentioned as the objects of His mercy. Thrice His mercy is said to be upon “them that fear Him.” And the Psalmist in the eighteenth verse gives a further description of them: “To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.” Holy fear is expressed in obedience. Excellently says Perowne on Psalms 103:17 : “For the third time God’s mercy and loving-kindness is said to be upon ‘them that fear Him,’ as if to remind us that there is a love within a love, a love which they only know who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, who fear Him and walk in His ways, as well as a love which ‘maketh the sun to shine, and sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust.’ In the next verse there is the same limitation, ‘To such as keep His covenant,’ and to those who not only know but ‘do’ His will. The blessings of the covenant are no inalienable right; mancipio nulli datur; children’s children can only inherit its blessings by cleaving to it.” .—Are we of those who are thus designated? Do we reverently “fear Him”? Let those who do rejoice in the manifold expressions of His mercy toward them. Let those who do not, accept the offer of pardoning mercy, trust His grace, &c. THE MERCY OF GOD IN THE OF MAN(Psalms 103:10) Consider— I. The views which this declaration presents to us of the Divine covenant. 1. He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve. Do they not deserve banishment from God, the forfeiture of His parental relation to us, the execution of His righteous sentence upon us? When is it that afflictions appear heavy? When sin is felt lightly. When is it that afflictions appear light? When sin is felt to be heavy.… We know the light we have resisted, the convictions we have disregarded, the mercies we have received and forgotten, and the impressions against which we have rebelled.… And then in proportion to our actual knowledge of God, our experience of the Divine mercy, our acquaintance with the Divine goodness, is the aggravation of our guiltiness. 2. He has not dealt with us as He has dealt with others. Look at the conduct of a righteous and holy God towards fallen angels; … the antediluvian world; … the cities of the plain; … the ancient Israelites for their backslidings. Look at others for the purpose of deepening your gratitude and raising your admiration of the Divine mercy towards you. 3. His dealings towards us have always been mingled with mercy even in the severest dispensations. Had He “rewarded us according to our iniquities,” there would have been no mercy and no hope—no termination, no diminution, no alleviation of suffering. When we think of the mercy, mingled with all His judgments and chastenings, have we not reason to adopt the language of the Psalmist in the text? 4. There is mercy in the support we have under affliction. He does not allow us to suffer alone.… What consolation is mingled in the cup of suffering placed in our hands! what promises! what supports! what precious, everlasting consolation and good hope through grace! 5. There is mercy in the removal of affliction. How often do we find the God of grace and of providence wondrously interposing to remove affliction by unexpected means, by unthought-of alleviations, by circumstances of which we had not the least conception, &c. 6. The mercy which is displayed in the results of His dispensations. He intends, by blighting the gourd, to bring us to the shadow of the tree of life—by cutting off the stream, to bring us nearer to the fountain of living waters—by putting the taint of bitterness in our earthly comforts, to bring us to taste that He is gracious. It is the end of His dispensations to make us more humble, more watchful, more spiritual, more holy, more alive to God and eternity. In the school of trial God prepares His children for their inheritance. II. The practical uses we should make of this declaration. 1. It should lead us faithfully to inquire what has been the effect of chastening and trial on us? When the rod is upon you, what is the course you pursue? Where do you get rid of your troubles? Are you brought to God’s throne? Are you brought to humility, to self-abasement, to penitential sorrow? Are you brought to feel there is no mystery in the rod, that all the mystery is in the mercy towards you? 2. It should excite adoring gratitude for the love, the patience, the wisdom, and the faithfulness of our Father in heaven. 3. It should teach us to cherish humble confidence. “All things work together for good to them that love God.” “All His paths are mercy and goodness.” “I will trust in Him, and not be afraid.” 4. It should lead us to exercise unreserved submission. The submission of patience, the submission of obedience, ought to be the result of these views of the Divine character. 5. Let there be practical imitation of the Divine conduct in our temper towards others—in patience, forbearance, forgiveness. “Be ye imitators of God, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us.”—Dr. Fletcher.—Abridged from “The Preacher.” GOD’S MERCY AND MAN’S FRAILTY—A (Psalms 103:15-18) The contrast between man’s frailty and transitoriness and God’s unchangeableness and eternity, which we found in Psalms 90:1-6, is here repeated. The similarity of thought and expression is so great that Hengstenberg says, “That David without doubt drew it from Moses.” As most of the ideas occurring in this passage were considered in our Homily on Psalms 90:1-6, it will be sufficient to present the outline of our subject here, and refer the reader to that homily. The chief points of the contrast seem to be these— I. The frailty of man’s life upon earth, and the mercy of God. How frail is human life here! As the hot and burning east wind destroys the grass and the flower, so sickness, sorrow, suffering speedily cut short man’s career. The flower with its beauty and fragrance soon fades and dies, and man in his glory of corporeal beauty, mental ability, geniality of temper, and holiness of heart and life, soon passes away. But the mercy of the Lord is not a weak, perishable thing. It is great, glorious, abiding. Here is consolation and strength and inspiration for man. He is frail; but he may take refuge in the rich and all-sufficient mercy of God. II. The brevity of man’s life upon earth, and the eternity of the mercy of God. As for the life of man, “the wind passeth over it, and it is gone. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting.” The loving-kindness of the Lord is eternal as His own Being. Man, saddened with the transciency of human strength and beauty and life, here is rest for thee in the eternal mercy of God! Here is what we, as sinners, need; and it is here in inexhaustible and unchangeable fulness and freeness. III. The final departure of man from the earth, and the eternal mercy of God present with him wherever he may be.” “It is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more.” Man goes hence to “The undiscover’d country, from whose bourneNo traveller returns.”It is a saddening and a solemn consideration that at death we leave this world never to return to it. The farm, the shop, the office, the study, the home, the Sunday school, the Church will “know us no more” when we have trod “the way to dusty death.” We shall have gone from earth for ever. But gone where? Ay, where? How shall we fare when we have taken the last, the lonely, the irretraceable journey? These considerations would be insupportably mysterious and painful, but for this fact: Wherever we may be, the loving-kindness of the Lord will be present with us. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.” We do not leave that behind us. We do not travel into any region where it ceases to be present and operative. Having that upon us, all must be well, &c. IV. The final departure of good men from the earth, and the eternal mercy of God resting upon their descendants. Good men pass away for ever, but the loving-kindness of the Lord is continued to their posterity. Church members die, but the Church remains. God’s “righteousness is unto children’s children.” The covenant of mercy extends from generation to generation, provided that they do not violate their interest in it. For here is the limiting condition: “To such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments to do them.” God will not forget or fail in His part of the covenant; let man also remember and keep his; and then he may take to himself the consolation, and inspiration, and strength of the contrast we have been considering. THE REIGN AND PRAISE OF THE LORD(Psalms 103:19-22) I. The glorious reign of the Lord. “The Lord hath prepared His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom ruleth over all.” Here are three ideas— 1. The stability of His reign. “The Lord hath prepared His throne.” Perowne: “Jehovah hath established His throne.” His throne is firm and stable. All the rage and rebellion of earth and hell cannot shake it. “His dominion is an everlasting dominion.” 2. The majesty of His reign. “His throne in the heavens.” The heavens are the most vast and sublime portion of the universe. In them the glory of the Lord is most conspicuously and splendidly displayed. His throne is said to be established there to indicate its loftiness and majesty. 3. The universality of His reign. “His kingdom ruleth over all.” He rules in all places. The heavens, the earth, and the seas are subject to His sway. The regularity and order of the universe proclaim His sovereignty. He rules over all creatures. He is the Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign of all creatures. He rules over all persons. Holy angels delight to do His will. He is supreme in the world of men. And devils cannot sever their connection with His authority. He controls Satan himself. II. The glorious praise of the Lord. The Poet began the Psalm by calling upon His soul to bless the Lord for His benefits; he proceeded to celebrate His goodness to all “them that fear Him”; now he summons the entire universe to unite in ascribing blessing to Him; and he concludes by calling upon his own soul to join in the praise. The praise of the Lord is celebrated by— 1. Holy angels. “Bless the Lord, ye His angels,” &c. (Psalms 103:20-21). In speaking of these angelic beings, the Psalmist brings into view— (1) Their great power. They “excel in strength.” Margin and Perowne: “Mighty in strength.” Hengstenberg: “Strong warriors.” The deeds ascribed to them in Scripture indicate their amazing might. But in our text the strength which is spoken of is clearly intellectual and moral chiefly. They are mighty to do the will of God, and grow stronger by doing it. (2) Their ready obedience. They “do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word.” They wait and listen for the intimations of His will, and then hasten to carry them out. They are prompt in obedience to Him, and eager to “do His pleasure.” (3) Their immense numbers. “All His hosts.” God’s angels are multitudinous. There are vast armies of them. (4) Their Divine service. “Ministers of His, that do His pleasure.” They are His, for He made and sustains them; His, for He employs them in His service; His, for they are reverently and lovingly loyal to Him. These glorious beings bless the Lord by reverently celebrating His perfections and joyfully obeying His behests. They praise Him both by song and by service. 2. The unintelligent creation. “Bless the Lord all His works, in all places of His dominion.” All His works praise Him as they answer the end for which they were created. Sun, moon, and stars by diffusing light and heat, and by unfolding their beauty and glory, praise Him. The earth by its verdure, fruit-fulness, &c., praises Him. All His works throughout the universe unite to bless Him. 3. Redeemed men. “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” The Poet ends the Psalm as he began it by calling upon his own soul to bless the Lord. We who know His redeeming love have the most moving and mighty reasons for celebrating His praise. .—While the universe is songful in praise of the Lord, shall my tongue be silent? While others are glowing with enthusiasm, shall my heart be cold? “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” While others gladly obey and serve Him, shall my service be wanting? Shall I praise Him in words and not in deeds? Rather let my ears be attentive to hear His commands, and my feet swift and my hands dexterous to obey them. Let us all praise Him, both in song and in service, with lips and with lives. “This Psalm,” says Calvin, “differs from the last, in that it neither treats of God’s special mercies bestowed on His Church, nor lifts us to the hope of a heavenly life; but painting for us in the frame of the world, and the order of nature, the living image of God’s wisdom, power, and goodness, exhorts us to praise Him, because in this our frail mortal life He manifests Himself to us as a Father.” In the former Psalm God is praised as the God of grace, in this as the God of nature—the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.“In its main outline the poem follows the story of creation contained in the first chapter of Genesis. There manifestly is the source whence the Psalmist drew. Meditating on that sublime description, itself a poem, he finds in it his subject and his inspiration. And yet the Psalm is not a mere copy of the original. Breathing the same lofty spirit, it has a force and an originality of its own. In some respects the Psalm, even more strikingly than the early record, exhibits the infinite greatness, the order, the life of the universe. But the creation of Genesis is a creation of the past; the creation of the Psalm is a creation of the present. The one portrays the beginning of the eternal order, the other its perpetual, living spectacle. Hence, too, the Ode has far more animation than the Record. The latter is a picture of still life; the former is crowded with figures full of stir and movement.” … In the Psalm “we have a picture which for truth and depth of colouring, for animation, tenderness, and beauty, has never been surpassed.”—Perowne.In the Hebrew the Psalm has no superscription; and there are no means for determining by whom or when the Psalm was composed.THE MAJESTY OF GOD IN (Psalms 104:1-5) The Psalmist expresses his thoughts and feelings in a strain of poetry of unsurpassed sublimity. Underlying the glorious imagery of these verses is the brilliant display in which Eastern princes delighted, in their robes and equipages and attendants. The majesty of the appearance of the Divine King, Jehovah, far exceeds their most gorgeous displays. The Poet sets before us— I. The glorious vesture of the Lord. “Thou coverest Thyself with light as with a garment.” St. Paul represents the Lord as “dwelling in the light.” And Milton— “Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven first-born;Or of th’ Eternal co-eternal beam,May I express thee, unblamed? Since God is light,And never but in unapproached light,Dwelt from eternity, dwelt then in thee,Bright effluence of bright essence increate.”But the reference in the text is not to the unapproachable, the concealing light, but to the revealing light. In the light which daily shines upon us God unfolds to us glimpses of His glory. He apparels Himself with light. There is nothing in the universe so fitted to be the robe of God as light. 1. Light is an emblem of His own nature. “God is light.” “Light unites in itself purity and clearness, and beauty and glory, as no other material object does: it is the condition of all material life, and growth, and joy; and the application to God of such a predicative requires no transference. He is Light, and the Fountain of light material and light ethical. In the one world, darkness is the absence of light; in the other, darkness, untruthfulness, deceit, falsehood, is the absence of God.”—Alford. 2. Light is essential to life and growth. Without it the earth would speedily become one vast sepulchre. 3. Light is pure and purifying. Milton: “Light ethereal, first of things, quintessence pure.” 4. Light is joy-inspiring. “Prime cheerer, light!Of all material beings, first and best!”—Thomson.How fitting, then, for to be the robe of Deity. II. The splendid palace of the Lord. “Thou spreadest out the heavens like a curtain,” &c. (Psalms 104:2-3). The heavens are the expanse or firmament which God has spread to divide the waters which are under it from the waters which are above it. And in the waters which are above it God is represented as laying the beams of His chambers, the floor of His palace. His palace He has built above the expanse in the lofty and glorious heavens. He has fixed His abode in the most exalted and brilliant place in the universe. The most stately and magnificent of earthly palaces is mean in comparison of this. III. The sublime chariot of the Lord. “Who maketh the clouds His chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind.” “The clouds appear as the chariot of God, because He drives them about at His pleasure, as a king his car.”—Hengstenberg. Jehovah came “in a thick cloud” at Sinai. God appeared in “a bright cloud” upon Hermon at the Transfiguration. In the last day He will “come with clouds.” On the sublime aspects of clouds, and their fitness to inspire reverence towards God, see a fine passage in Ruskin’s “Modern Painters” (1 Peter 2 sec. 3, ch. 4 § 35–38). He “walketh upon the wings of the wind,” controlling and directing them as He will, and they obey Him as horses do an earthly king, except that the winds never contest His authority or deviate from His will. IV. The wonderful messengers of the Lord. Verse four is of disputed interpretation. Some of the ablest commentators renders it: “Who maketh the winds His messengers, the flaming fire His ministers.” But in this rendering the order of the words is inverted. Perowne: “The natural order in Hebrew, as in English, is verb, object, predicate, and no instance has as yet been alleged in which the predicate stands after the verb before the object. Unless the grammatical difficulty can be removed, we must render, ‘He maketh His messengers winds, His ministers a flaming fire;’ i.e., ‘He clothes His messengers with the might, the swiftness, the all-pervading subtilty of wind and fire.’ ” Alford advocates this view. See Perowne’s “Critical Note” in loco, and Alford on Hebrews 1:7. The Lord has countless messengers. He can use any of His creatures as His servants; and He can clothe His messengers with the attributes of wind and fire. His attendants are characterised by power and celerity, like the “wind;” by purity, like the “fire;” and by pervasiveness, like both “wind” and “fire.” The most numerous and splendid retinue of earthly princes, or all their retinues combined, are as nothing when compared with the countless and wonderful messengers of the Lord. V. The firm footstool of the Lord. “He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever.” Margin: “He hath founded the earth upon her bases.” “The earth is held as firm by the omnipotence of God, without a foundation, as if it had one; He has given to the earth, which is propped up by nothing, a firm existence, like a building which rests on a solid foundation.”—Hengstenberg. Job: “He hangeth the earth upon nothing.” Milton: “And earth self-balanced from her centre hung.” Ovid: “Ponderibus librata suis,”—poised by its own weight. Yet it is immovably firm and secure. How unsearchable is His wisdom, and how unlimited His power, who thus wonderfully sustains the world! And how glorious is His majesty as manifested in the heavens and the earth! Our text warrants the following remarks:— First: The universe is a Divine creation. It is not eternal, not self-originated, not the product of chance or fate; but it is the creation of the Almighty. Second: The creative energy of the Lord is in continual exercise. The participles denote continued action, and teach us to regard the exercise of the creative energy of the Lord as a present thing. Every morning God, as it were, arrays Himself anew in His robe of light, &c. The Supreme Worker is ever working. Creation is a continuous process. Third: That the Divine creations are effected with consummate ease. With the same ease with which a man spreads out a tent curtain, God spreads the expanse of heaven—nay, with far greater ease: “He spake, and it was done,” &c. Fourth: The universe is invested with profound significance. To the devout student it is a revelation of infinite wisdom, almighty power, Divine beneficence, &c. Fifth: The universe is invested with Divine sanctity. It is the garment of the great God—a scene of Divine manifestation. Rightly understood the earth is a temple, instinct with the presence and resounding with the voice of God. Therefore, “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord, my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.” THE PRAISE OF THE LORD(Psalms 104:1) I. The Lord should be praised with the soul. “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” “The Lord looketh at the heart.” II. The Lord should be praised because of His attributes. “O Lord, my God, Thou art very great.” We should honour Him not only from motives of gratitude, but from motives of esteem. In Himself He is worthy of all homage. III. The Lord should be praised because of His work in creation. This is a great hymn of creation. His works in nature are worthy of praise. We should regard them with admiration and reverence for the Great Worker. We do well to celebrate the glories of redemption, but not to the exclusion of the glories of creation. IV. The Lord should be praised both for what He reveals and what He conceals of Himself. “Thou art clothed with honour and majesty.” Creation is the vesture of Deity. “Nature half reveals and half conceals the SOUL within.” We should be thankful for both the hiding and the disclosing. Both are merciful. V. That man is best qualified for this service “whose God is the Lord.” “O Lord, my God.” He who trusts in and communes with God will find praise a natural and joyous service. A OF THE LORD(Psalms 104:6-18) These verses suggest the following observations:— I. The work of the Lord in creation displays His absolute power. This is manifest— 1. Over the waters. “At Thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of Thy thunder they hasted away,” &c. (Psalms 104:7-10). His control over the waters is seen (1) in setting boundaries for them. The Psalmist represents the earth as completely enveloped in water. “Thou coverest it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.” And Milton— “The earth was formed, but in the womb as yetOf waters, embryon immature involved,Appeared not: over all the face of earthMain ocean flowed.”At the command of God the water finds its appointed place and is confined there. This is very poetically represented as “the effect of the Divine rebuke and thunder: thrown into a state of tumultuous excitement, the waters quickly again ascend the mountains, their high abode, from which the rebuke of God had brought them down; but unable to keep themselves there they go down to the valley’s, until they find themselves in their proper situation, and enter into the place where God designs them to be.”—Hengstenberg. And there God imprisons them. “Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.” Though the waters of the sea are higher than the earth, yet is it confined in its “decreed place” by the command of God. He says, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed.” The Lord’s control over the waters is seen (2) in distributing them. “He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills. God has wisely and wonderfully distributed the waters, and in so doing has provided for the watering of the earth and the creatures that dwell thereon.” The way in which this is done is among the most wonderful and most benevolent in nature,—by that power derived from heat, by which the waters of the ocean, contrary to the natural law of gravitation, are lifted up in small particles—in vapour—and carried by the clouds where they are needed, and let fall upon the earth to water the plants, and to form fountains, rivulets, and streams—and borne thus to the highest mountains, to be filtered through the ground to form springs and streams below.”—Barnes. 2. Over the earth. “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man.” The fruitfulness of the earth is an effect of the Divine power. The earth, with its mountains and valleys, barren rocks and fruitful fields; the seas and lakes, the rivers and streams; and the heavens, with its wind-driven clouds and its glorious orbs, all display the almighty power of the Creator. II. The work of the Lord in creation displays His delight in beauty. In this poem of creation the Psalmist brings into view the mountains and valleys, the seas and rivers, the fountains and streams, the herbs and trees, the beasts and birds; and all these contribute to the beauty of the world. That God delights in the beautiful in form and in colour is clearly manifested in His works. It is possible to conceive a world in which utility alone was aimed at, and beauty entirely ignored. But such a world would form a complete contrast to the creations of God. To take only one feature, think of the wonderful beauty and sublimity of the mountains. “Loveliness of colour, perfectness of form, endlessness of change, wonderfulness of structure, are precious to all undiseased human minds; and the superiority of the mountains in all these things to the lowlands is as measurable as the riches of a painted window matched with a white one, or the wealth of a museum compared with that of a simply furnished chamber. They seem to have been built for the human race, as at once their schools and cathedrals; full of treasures of illuminated manuscript for the scholar, kindly in simple lessons to the worker, quiet in pale cloisters for the thinker, glorious in holiness for the worshipper. These great cathedrals of the earth, with their gates of rock, pavement of cloud, choirs of stream and stone, altars of snow, and vaults of purple, traversed by the continual stars!” (See the whole passage, of which the foregoing is only a fragment, in Ruskin’s “Modern Painters,” IV. pt. V. ch. XX. § 3, 4, 5, 9). The beauty of creation (1) increases our obligations to the Creator; (2) should incite to holiness, which is spiritual beauty. God’s delight in spiritual beauty is greater than His delight in material beauty. III. The work of the Lord in creation displays His great law of service. Everything which He has made has its uses. Everything has relations, is dependent, and is designed to be ministrant. The sea is made to serve man by supplying the air with ozone, man with food, &c. Fountains and streams water the earth, and quench the thirst of men and animals. The earth produces food in abundance for man and beast, and wine for the rejoicing of man’s heart. And birds, trees, mountains, rocks, all have their uses. Usefulness as well as beauty characterises all the creations of the Divine Hand. “Oh! not in vain doth He createAught from His affluent love proceeding;The meanest hath appointed state,If only for the mightiest’s needing.The meteor and the thunder-stoneHave use and mission of their own.”—Punshon.Man is no exception to this rule. We are created by God to serve others. A useless man is a self-perversion of the idea of the Creator. He frustrates the Divine idea of his life. Are we fulfilling our part in the universal law of service? IV. The work of the Lord in creation displays His regard for all His creatures. Psalms 104:11-18. There is no uncared-for creature. The wild asses, the fowls of the heaven, the cattle, the wild goats, the conies, all are provided for by God. The earth produces the endless varieties and the immense quantities of food required for the creatures that dwell upon it. And in trees, rocks, mountains, &c. they find suitable homes. “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not,” &c. (Matthew 6:26.) V. The work of the Lord in creation displays His supreme regard for man. “And wine that maketh glad,” &c. God gives to man not only the necessaries but the luxuries of life. Here is “bread” for his sustenance. Here is “wine” for his enjoyment. “Here is wine,” says Matthew Henry, “that makes glad the heart, refreshes the spirits, and exhilarates them, when it is soberly and moderately used, that we may not only go through our business, but go through it cheerfully. It is a pity that that should be abused to overcharge the heart, and unfit men for their duty, which was given to revive their heart and quicken them in their duty.” Here is “oil” expressive of gladness. On festive occasions they were accustomed to anoint their heads with oil. The face is said to shine because the radiancy of joy is seen there. The face shines not because of the “oil,” but because the heart is glad. God gives to man not only support in life, but joy. He manifests special regard for man’s interests. At the Creation He gave him dominion over the earth with all its tenants and all its productions. In Christ He has displayed His interest in human well-being in a still clearer and more conclusive manner. .—The subject supplies— 1. An argument for humility. We are dependent creatures. We have no resources but such as are in God. 2. An argument for obedience. We are parts of a great and orderly system, having intimate relations and dependencies, and designed for mutual service. Let us not violate the order and harmony; let us fulfil our service, &c. 3. An argument for gratitude. The Divine regards claim suitable and proportionate acknowledgment. 4. An argument for trust. The Lord cares for “the wild asses”; will He not much more care for man who was made in His own image?—for man, redeemed by the precious blood of His Son Jesus Christ? THE USES OF THE SEASONS(Psalms 104:19-23) The Psalmist here refers to the work of creation on the fourth day, as stated in the Mosaic record. The sun and moon were appointed not only to give light, but for the measurement and division of time, and the indication of seasons. Of these, two—night and day—are mentioned, and their uses pointed out. I. The uses of day. 1. The day is the season of work for man. “Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour.” Labour is a Divine institution, and the day is the fitting time for engaging in it. (1) Man is urged to work by his necessities. He needs food, raiment, a dwelling; and to obtain these he must work. He has to encounter difficulties, he requires knowledge and skill; and to acquire these he must work. He needs pardon, moral purity, and power; and for these also he must work. (2.) Man is fitted for work by his faculties. He has arms and hands admirably adapted for labour, brain for mental exertion, and the soul with its wondrous faculties for spiritual effort. (3) Man is commanded to work by his Maker. Unfallen man was placed in a garden “to dress it and to keep it.” “Six days shalt thou labour” is a Divine command. “This we commanded you, that if any man would not work neither should he eat.” God Himself is the Supreme Worker. “MY FATHER worketh hitherto and I work.” “The law of nature is,” says Ruskin, “that a certain quantity of work is necessary to produce a certain quantity of good, of any kind whatever. If you want knowledge, you must toil for it; if food, you must toil for it; and if pleasure, you must toil for it. But men do not acknowledge this law, or strive to evade it, hoping to get their knowledge, and food, and pleasure for nothing; and in this effort they either fail of getting them, and remain ignorant and miserable, or they obtain them by making other men work for their benefit; and then they are tyrants and robbers.” And Carlyle: “All true work is sacred; in all true work, were it but true hand-labour, there is something of divineness. Labour, wide as the earth, has its summit in heaven.” Again—“The modern majesty consists in work. What a man can do is his greatest ornament, and he always consults his dignity by doing it.” The day is the season for work. Our Lord recognised this fact in His pregnant utterance, “I must work the works of Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.” 2. The day is the season of retirement for wild beasts. “The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens.” We see in this (1) An evidence of man’s original sovereignty “over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” The wild beasts still have some dread of him, and hide themselves in their dens during the hours of the day when he is most abroad. (2) An arrangement for man’s safety. The sluggard cannot excuse himself from daily labour by saying, “There is a lion in the way.” II. The uses of night. 1. Night is the season of rest for man. “Labour until the evening.” Man was not fitted for incessant toil. He needs frequent rest. And night is the season marked out by God for this. Its shade is a relief after the brightness, and its cool after the heat of the day. These conduce to sleep; and so man is invigorated for further toil. “Night is the time for rest;How sweet when labours close.To gather round an aching heartThe curtain of repose,Stretch the tired limbs, and lay the headUpon our own delightful bed.”—J. Montgomery.2. Night is the season of activity for wild beasts. “It is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.” Observe: (1) Their dependence upon God. They seek their food from Him. “The roaring of the young lions, like the crying of the young ravens, is interpreted asking their meat of God.” “The natural cries of the distressed creatures are in substance nature’s prayer to its Maker for relief and help.” Here we have a hint on prayer. If God so interprets the cries of the young lions, shall He not much more regard favourably the broken cries of His children? (2) God’s provision for them. He makes the darkness in which they go forth in quest of food, and He provides the food for them; otherwise they would go forth in vain. Here is a hint on Providence. Shall the Lord provide for the beasts of the forest, and shall He not much more supply all the needs of His people who trust in Him? III. The moral uses of the seasons. By them He teaches us— 1. The measurement of time. “He has made the very universe to be the clock of the universe, and admonish every mortal heart of the sure and constant passage of time. We are not left to our inward judgments. Time has its measures without, in the most palpable and impressive visitations of the senses. Every twilight tells us that a day is gone, and that by a sign as impressive as the blotting out of the sun!… One season tells us that another is gone; and, when the whole circle of seasons is completed and returned into itself, the new year tells us that the old is gone. And a certain number of these years, we know, is the utmost bound of life.” 2. The preciousness of time. He appointed the sun and moon for signs and for seasons to “declare to every creature, in every world, the certain flight of time, and signify its sacred value. The gems He has buried in the sands of His rivers; on the gold He has piled His mountains of rock; the pearls He has hid in the depth of the sea; but time,—time is out on the front of all created magnificence.” Thus He silently proclaims to us constantly “that time is the most precious of His gifts.” 3. The fitness of certain times for certain duties. “The tradesman observes the seasons. The husbandman watches them for his life. Whatever we do, must be done in its time. You cannot plant in the winter, nor gather fruit in the spring. God’s times are set, and the seasons of His mercy all ordained from the beginning. There is no time of salvation but the time of God.’ ” [2][2] See a very suggestive and striking Sermon by Dr. Bushnell on “The Great Time-Keeper.” Genesis 1:14THE LORD AND HIS (Psalms 104:24-30) In these verses there is allusion to the work of the fifth day of creation; and an expression of devout admiration of the number of the works of the Lord, and the wisdom displayed therein. The Poet very clearly sets forth certain aspects of the relation of the Lord to the universe. I. The Lord as the Creator of all things. “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!” &c. The Divine creations are here represented as characterised by— 1. Their multitudinousness. “O Lord, how manifold are Thy works!… This great and wide sea wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.” The earth, the air, and the sea all teem with life, in endless variety. The sea with its life is specially mentioned here. In its depths there is abundant life “of things small and great, a life of the coral insect, as well as of the whale, and also a life on its surface, where ‘go the ships’ carrying the thoughts and the passions, the skill and the enterprise of human hearts.” 2. Their wisdom. “In wisdom hast Thou made them all.” Every creature which God has made, in its adaptations to the ends of its existence, presents the most admirable indications of the wisdom of its Creator. How immeasurably great the wisdom represented in the whole of His countless and infinitely varied productions! 3. Their greatness. “This great and wide sea.” To us the earth seems vast, the sea vaster. But when the astronomer discourses to us, we are overwhelmed with the vastness of the heavens, and the earth and sea shrink into comparative littleness and obscurity. 4. Their usefulness. To some persons the sea seems a great waste. It is really far otherwise. It is the great highway of the world, and from its waters man draws a great portion of his food. In all the creations of God there is no useless creature, no useless thing. 5. Their continuity. “Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth.” The miracle of creation is constantly going on in the world. Men die, but man remains. “Generation passeth away, and generation cometh.” Life succeeds death. Out of the grave of winter ariseth the bright and blooming spring. II. The Lord as the Proprietor of all things. “The earth is full of Thy riches”—literally, “Thy possessions.” All things in earth, air, and sea belong unto the Lord. The fact of creatorship establishes the most indefeasible claim to proprietorship. The fact of the Lord’s proprietorship of all things should— 1. Inspire us with gratitude. How bountifully has He enriched us out of His storehouse! 2. Teach us humility. Our utter dependence upon the Divine resources should strip us of every vestige of pride. 3. Encourage our confidence. The resources of the Lord are inexhaustible. Depending upon Him we can never lack support. III. The Lord as the Sustainer of all things. “These wait all upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season.” All creatures are dependent upon His bounty. He supplieth the wants of all creatures. The Divine support of the universe is marked by three things: 1. Regularity. “He gives them their meat in due season.” As want returns the Divine provision is bestowed. 2. Ease. “Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good.” The sustenance of the entire universe imposes not the slightest strain upon His resources. He has but to “open His hand,” and the needy millions are satisfied. 3. Plenteousness. “They are filled with good.” In the dispensation of His gifts the Lord is bounteous. He giveth to all His creatures liberally, and they are satisfied. IV. The Lord is the absolute Sovereign of all things. 1. In His hand are joy and trouble. He opens His hand, and His creatures are satisfied. “In His favour is life,” and joy. He hides His “face, they are troubled.” Let Him avert His face and withdraw the tokens of His favour, and His creatures are terrified; they are filled with consternation, as of one in the presence of inevitable and utter ruin. His smile is the joy and beauty of the universe; His frown would blast and terrify it into death. 2. In His hand are life and death. “Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created.” When God withdraws His support from any of His creatures, death instantly supervenes. He is “the God of the spirits of all flesh.” All life has its origin in Him, and is in His hand. “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” Over the birth and death of individuals, over the coming and going of generations, He presides in infinite wisdom and goodness. .—What is our acquaintance with this great Being? To know Him simply as Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign, is not enough for us. We have violated the order of the Creator, abused the bounty of the Sustainer, and defied the authority of the Sovereign. But blessed be His name, He who is the Creator of all things is also the Saviour of men. Do we know Him as such? Our most urgent necessity and imperative duty is first to approach the Redeemer by faith; and then, without any faltering of the tongue or misgiving of the heart, we may join in this Hymn of Creation. VOICES OF (Psalms 104:24; Psalms 104:27-28) There are three preliminary points—First: That this world is not unfavour able to moral culture. The Psalmist is holy on a planet which has been cursed, and even through the darkness of the Divine frown can see gleamings and blazings of true glory. Second: That all agencies are under the control of an Infinite Intelligence. All forces are under the management of Divine wisdom and paternal love. Our Father knows every tempest that sweeps through the air—notes every dew-drop that quivers on the opening flower—and is acquainted with every breeze that stirs the atmosphere. Third: That the Divine resources are equal to every exigency. The necessities of nature are endless. In all parts of the universe there are mouths opened, eyes upturned, and hands outstretched to a central Being. And what is His reply to this million-tongued appeal? “Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good.” Note the sublime ease which is here indicated. Compare it with the anxiety and fretfulness of man when besieged with numerous appeals. The Divine Benefactor simply “opens His hand,” and the universe is satisfied. The Psalm suggests— I. That the Divine existence is to constitute the central fact in all our contemplations of the universe. GOD was the central fact in the Psalmist’s contemplations. This fact serves three purposes— First: It disproves the speculations of Pantheism. Pantheism teaches the identity of God and nature; but in this Psalm we have more than fifty references, by noun or pronoun, to the existence and attributes of a personal agent. The Psalmist distinctly teaches the existence of a Being who is infinitely above the powers and glories of nature, and for whose pleasure they are and were created. Second: It undermines the materialistic theory. This theory teaches the non-existence of mind. What we call mind, it denominates a refinement of matter. The entire Psalm, however, proclaims and celebrates the presence of Infinite Mind. Third: It invests the universe with a mystic sanctity. Everywhere we behold the Divine handiwork. As the architect embodies his genius in the stupendous temple or noble mansion, so has God materialised His wisdom and power in the physical creation. To me the wind becomes sacred, as I remember that it is written, “HE WALKETH UPON THE WINGS OF THE WIND.” II. That the principle of dependence is everywhere developed in the universe. “These all wait upon Thee,” &c. The Psalmist ignores the presence of “chance,” or “accident;” in his view GOD is enthroned, and the Divine dominion is over all! We infer, then— First: The existence of an absolutely self-dependent power. Finite conception is totally unequal to the comprehension of such an existence. Our want of comprehension, however, does not affect the sublime doctrine of God’s infinite independence. Second: The special mission of each part of the universe. The Psalmist in his wide excursion and minute observation detects nothing that is wanting in purpose. Third: The profound humility by which every intelligence should be characterised. Seeing that we are dependent on God for “life, and breath, and all things,” it becometh us to dwell in the dust of humility. Men of genius! Men of money! What have you that ye have not received? III. That a devout contemplation of the universe is calculated to increase man’s hatred of sin. Having beheld the symmetry, the adaptation, and the unity of the Divine works, the Psalmist directs his gaze to the moral world, and, beholding its hideous deformity and loathsomeness, he exclaims, “Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more;” as though he had said, “There is one foul blot on this glorious picture; one discordant note in this enrapturing anthem. Let this spot be removed, and the picture will be perfect; bring this note into harmony, and the melody will be soul-enthralling” … I would consume the sinner by consuming his wickedness. Christ came to consume the sinner by taking away the sin of the world. .—First: God must be the central fact in your being. Second: What is the highest relationship you sustain to the Creator? You must sustain one relationship to God, viz., that of a dependant. The worm beneath your feet, if gifted with utterance, would say, “I, too, am a dependant.” I call you to be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Third: This beneficent Creator also reveals Himself as man’s Saviour. You revere the God of nature; I ask you to accept Him as the God of salvation. Fourth: The extinction of sin should be the good man’s supreme object. “He who converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save,” &c. “They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever.”—Joseph Parker, D.D.—Abridged from “The Cavendish Pulpit.” THE RENEWAL OF THE FACE OF THE EARTH AN OF THE RENEWAL OF THE SOUL(Psalms 104:30. “Thou renewest the face of the earth.”) The renewal of the face of the earth which takes place every spring speaks to us (1) Of the presence of God. He effects the great and beautiful change. “Thou renewest.” (2) Of the faithfulness of God. (Genesis 8:22.) Every returning spring is an additional witness to the Divine constancy. (3) Of the tenderness of God. How tender are the young leaf, the primrose, and the violet! Faintly, yet truly, they mirror forth the tenderness of God. “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy.” “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” (4) Of the Divine delight in beauty. All the beauty of the season is an outflow of the Divine beauty; it tells us that God loves beauty, that “God is beauty and love itself.” We regard the renewal of the face of the earth as an illustration of the renewal of the soul. I. The renewal of the face of the earth succeeds to the dreary and seemingly dead state of nature in winter. Black, bleak, barren, and lifeless is the aspect of the earth in winter. The unrenewed soul is “dead in trespasses and sins.” Apart from the renewing influence of the Divine Spirit there is no beauty, no love, no life in the human soul. II. The renewal of the face of the earth is marked by life and freshness. Buds, leaves, blossoms, grass, all are fresh and new in spring. The man who has passed from the winter of sin and death into the spring of life and grace is “a new creation, old things have passed away, all things have become new.” He is “created in Christ Jesus unto good works;” he enters upon a new career, having new sympathies, new purposes, new delights, new fellowships, new conduct. III. The renewal of the face of the earth is very gradual. Only by slow degrees does spring vanquish winter, and cover the earth with the proofs of her gracious reign. So is it with the renewal of the soul. Though the soul is quickened into divine life, yet the full beauty and promise of the spiritual spring will not be manifest until many a battle has been waged with the sinful tendencies and habits that formerly ruled in us. The work of God both in nature and in grace is very gradual. IV. The renewal of the face of the earth is irresistible. However reluctant winter may be to relinquish his reign in favour of spring, relinquish it he must. So with the renewed soul. Its progress may be very gradual, but it is certain. If the life of grace is in the soul, it will produce the flowers and fruits of grace. V. The renewal of the face of the earth is initiatory to a glorious season of maturity. Spring prepares the way for the bright and beauteous summer, and the bounteous and beneficent autumn. This is the spring-time of our spiritual life. And God will lead us on into the summer and autumn, into the beauty and perfection of our life. Only we must use the spring-time and its opportunities well. If we would reap bountifully we must sow bountifully. The most glorious of all renewals is yet in the future. The spring-time of the world is not yet, but it comes on apace. (Isaiah 61:11; Psalms 85:11.) The whole world shall be arrayed in the freshness and beauty of spiritual and divine life. THE HARMONY OF (Psalms 104:31-35) The poet brings the Psalm to a close with the expression of the desire that the glory of God may be universal and perpetual. In so doing he presents for our consideration— I. The glory of the Lord in His works. “The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever,” &c. 1. He manifests His great power in His works. “He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.” When the Lord came down upon Sinai “the smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.” So great are His majesty and power that He has, as it were, merely to look upon the earth, and it is awed and fearful before Him; He has but to touch the mountains, and they smoke as with His wrath. By His omnipotence He sustains the universe, and in a moment He could blot it out of existence. 2. He realises joy in His works. “The Lord shall rejoice in His works.” When He created the world, He looked upon His works with complacency, and pronounced them “very good.” He still rejoices in the order, beneficence, and beauty of His creations. In His redemptive works also He realises great joy. 3. He is praised by His intelligent and loyal creatures. “I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.” With joy the godly man resolves— “I’ll praise Him while He lends me breath;And when my voice is lost in death,Praise shall employ my nobler powers:My days of praise shall ne’er be past,While life and thought and being last,And immortality endures.”—Watts.4. This glory is perpetual. “The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever.” The glory of man and of his works passeth away, but the glory of the Lord shall continue and increase for ever. II. The joy of the righteous in the Lord. “My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord.” Hengstenberg: “May my meditation be acceptable unto Him.” Perowne: “Let my meditation be sweet unto Him.” The desire of the Psalmist is that his meditation on the works of the Lord may be an acceptable offering unto Him. He rejoiced in the Lord. All his joys centred in the Lord. Such joys are pure. They are one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. (Galatians 5:22.) Strengthening. “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Constant. “That My joy might remain in you, and your joy might be full.” “Your joy no man taketh from you.” Perpetual. “In Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” “This is the truest, highest harmony of creation; God finding pleasure in His creatures, His reasonable creatures finding their joy in Him.” III. The desire of the righteous concerning the wicked. “Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more.” The glorious harmony of creation “has been rudely broken; the sweet notes of the vast instrument of the universe are ‘jangled out of tune.’ Sin is the discord of the world. Sin has changed the order (κόσμος) into disorder. Hence the prophetic hope that sinners shall be consumed, that the wicked shall be no more, that thus the earth shall be purified, the harmony be restored, and God once more, as at the first, pronounce His creation ‘very good.’ ”—Perowne. The eradication of evil should be the earnest desire of every good man. (See the remarks of Dr. Parker on this point in his sermon on “Voices of Creation,” on a preceding page.) . Here is a glorious prospect. The broken harmonies of creation shall be restored. The “Very good” of ancient time shall again be heard; and heard over a world never more to be marred by sin. For the realisation of this prospect let us pray and labour. “This Psalm,” says Perowne, “like the 78th and the 106th, has for its theme the early history of Israel, and God’s wonders wrought on behalf of the nation; but it differs from both those Psalms in the intention with which it pursues this theme. The 78th Psalm is didactic: its object is to teach a lesson; it recalls the past as conveying instruction and warning for the present. The 106th Psalm is a psalm of penitential confession. The history of the past appears in it only as a history of Israel’s sin. In this Psalm, on the other hand, the mighty acts of Jehovah for His people, from the first dawn of their national existence, are recounted as a fitting subject for thankfulness, and as a ground for future obedience. Those interpositions of God are specially dwelt upon which have a reference to the fulfilment of His promise, which exhibit most clearly His faithfulness to His covenant. Hence the series begins with the covenant made with Abraham, tracing all the steps in its fulfilment to the occupation of the promised land.” Neither the author of the Psalm nor the occasion on which it was composed is known.THE WORKS AND WORSHIP OF THE LORD(Psalms 105:1-7) Let us consider— I. The worship of the Divine Being. The Psalmist calls upon Israel to celebrate the worship of Jehovah, in— 1. Thankful praise. “Oh give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him. Glory ye in His holy name.” The reasons for this praise are the Lord’s glorious deeds, afterwards mentioned in the Psalm, and His holiness. God should be thankfully and joyfully praised because of His perfections and works. 2. Trustful prayer. Here is prayer for Divine strength: “Seek the Lord and His strength.” Only as we are strengthened by the Lord are we able to perform the duties and endure the trials of life. For Divine favour: “Seek His face evermore;” i.e., Seek His favour. (See a sketch on Psalms 80:3.) Here is perpetual prayer: “Evermore.” The godly soul will seek the favour of the Lord through all time and all eternity, and will progress in the enjoyment of that favour evermore. Here is prayer with gladness of heart. “Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.” Barnes: “Let their heart rejoice, (a) because they are permitted to seek Him, (b) because they are inclined to seek Him, (c) because they have such a God to come to,—one so mighty, so holy, so good, so gracious.” And, may we not add? because of the encouragement which. His former deeds afford us in seeking Him. II. The character of the Divine works. The deeds to which the Psalmist refers are those wrought on behalf of His people. He represents them as— 1. Marvellous. “His wondrous works, … marvellous works that He hath done.” The deeds mentioned in this Psalm (Psalms 105:27-41) were fitted to excite wonder and admiration. 2. Significant. In Psalms 105:5, Perowne does not translate “His wonders,” as in the A.V., but “His tokens.” The miracles which He wrought were not only surprising but instructive. His doings in the past were a foundation on which to base a joyful hope for the future. They abounded in encouragement and in warning. 3. Judicial. “The judgments of His mouth.” “The wonders of God in Egypt were exactly so many judicial decisions of God in the case of Israel against the Egyptians, or of the Church of God against the world.” III. The treatment of the Divine works. The Poet calls upon the people to— 1. Remember them. “Remember His marvellous works.” The doings of God on behalf of His people, both providential and redemptive, should never be forgotten by them. To forget them would involve (1) base ingratitude to God; (2) foolish disregard of the advantage of remembering them. The recollection of them would tend to strengthen faith, promote obedience, &c. 2. Ponder them. “Talk of all His wondrous works.” Both Hengstenberg and Perowne translate, “Meditate,” &c. Reflection must follow recollection. (See a sketch on Psalms 77:11-12.) 3. Publish them. “Make known His deeds among the people.” Declaration should follow reflection. (See on Psalms 77:11-12.) IV. The people of the Divine choice. “Ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye children of Jacob His chosen. He is the Lord our God.” “His chosen, plural, referring to the people, not to Jacob. It is on this ground, because they are Jacob’s children, heritors of the covenant and the promises, that they are bound beyond all others to ‘remember’ what God had done for them.”—Perowne. As the chosen people of God, they were the heirs of His promises, and so His mighty deeds in the past were pledges of His omnipotent help in the future. Being the people of God, theirs was the privilege of His protection and support and salvation. And theirs was the duty of praising His name, publishing His deeds, and performing His commands. Let the people of God, in this age of Gospel grace, be mindful of both their privileges and their responsibilities. JOYS(Psalms 105:3. “Let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord.”) Here is a generic term for God’s people—“they seek the Lord,”—definite, yet comprehensive; it may be applied to the awakened sinner—he “seeks the Lord,”—to the professing Christian—all his life life is “seeking the Lord,”—and the matured, departing believer can do no more; he dies, “seeking the Lord,” nor will he fully find Him until he sees Him as He is in glory,—“I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness.” To such persons it is that the Psalmist addresses the exhortation of the text: “Let the heart of them rejoice,” &c. Observe— I. That it is God’s will that His people should be happy. We might show that, notwithstanding all the disturbing causes, the goodness of God in desiring His creatures’ happiness appears in the animate world and among men in general, but the text limits it to His own people. 1. Consider what God has done to promote and secure the happiness of His people. He has redeemed them from sin, guilt, and corruption by the death, and passion, and glorification of His dear Son. That Son lives to intercede for them, and supplies them with all grace out of His fulness in glory. To comfort, cheer, animate, as well as to sanctify them, His Holy Spirit dwells in them. “All things are theirs.” They have abounding consolation and Divine joys, and “peace which passeth all understanding.” See Psalms 84:11. 2. The exhortations to joy and peace abound in Holy Scripture. It is a duty, as well as a privilege, for believers to be happy. See Psalms 33:1; John 16:22; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 4:4. II. Still in all ages God’s people have been for the most part a sad and sorrowing people. It is often assumed that their portion in this world is usually a sorrowful one. Large portions of sadness were administered to Jacob, to Joseph, to Moses, to David, Elijah, Jeremiah—to say nothing of Job himself. See Acts 14:22. And of modern Christians it is constantly alleged that they are gloomy and melancholy,—and there is much in them to justify the world’s accusation, as happy and rejoicing believers are rather the exception than the rule among persons of piety. III. How is this to be accounted for? God has made a rich provision for His people’s happiness, but they are not happy,—why is this? May it not be accounted for by their trials, temptations, afflictions? Certainly not! because God sends corresponding help and grace; all persons of experience would attest that the happiest and most rejoicing Christians are to be found among those who are most deeply afflicted. See 2 Corinthians 1:5. Does not God sometimes withhold spiritual consolations from His faithful and consistent people? He does so. See Isaiah 50:10. But such cases are rare, and the time of shadows short, and speedily lead to stronger exercises of faith and surer joys. The absence of religious joy and peace is chiefly to be accounted for— 1. In some instances by the hollowness of religious profession. The heart is not true and right with God,—some secret passion, appetite, lust, desire, is allowed or indulged in. There can be no real happiness in religion while an idol is in the heart. See Matthew 6:24; 1 John 3:21. 2. Where there is not direct heart treachery nor self-deception there may be an unsuccessful conflict with indwelling sin. See Romans 7; 2 Corinthians 5:4; Galatians 5:17. Natural character, impure or sceptical, or vain, passionate, and revengeful—and the workings of these destroy peace of mind. 3. Defective views of God’s all-sufficient grace:—labour as slaves, as hirelings, as legalists—forgetting that He who purchased forgiveness secured grace. See John 15:4; Romans 7:25; 2 Corinthians 12:8-9. 4. Errors as to the ground and source of a believer’s rejoicing. Our joy, peace, comfort, &c., must spring not from our growth in grace, nor from anything in us nor done by us, but in and out of Christ alone—and all our sorrows are intended to drive us to this. (Psalms 5:11-12; Isaiah 12:1-3; Isaiah 61:10-11; Habakkuk 3:18.) So in the New Testament. (Philippians 4:4.) God in Christ is the only abiding source of happiness to His people. 1. Let all sincere Christians believe that a sorrowful experience is a defective and imperfect condition of soul. Better be sad than indifferent, slumbering, &c. But a melancholy, gloomy, downcast, doubting state is not the normal condition of a believer. 2. Let all search and see whether any allowed sin, or inconsistency, or idol, remain in their hearts. There can be no peace, no success, no joy, till this A chan is stoned and burnt. 3. Let no one be satisfied until he is both happy and holy. Both within your reach. Are you afflicted?—no matter from what source, rejoice. “Suffer affliction with people of God,” &c. Consolation withheld? Wait, and watch, and pray—and look for the Spirit, and search for Christ until you find Him. Corruptions? “Nothing too hard for the Lord.” Union with Christ by His Spirit alone subdues them. Confused ideas? perplexed views? doubt? See Isaiah 54:13. Pray for light, &c. Happiness, present now, immediate, in store for you. “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour.”—F. Close, D.D. THE (Psalms 105:8-15) The Poet here sings of the covenant of the Lord with His ancient people, and the early stages of its fulfilment. In doing this he brings out several truths of universal application as to God and His engagements with man, on which we may profitably reflect. I. The Lord’s remembrance of His promises. “He hath remembered His covenant for ever.” God cannot forget anything. All the things which He hath promised He will perform, though tedious ages may intervene between the giving of the promise and its fulfilment. If God were to forget His engagements He would cease to be God. “If God were to forget for one moment,” says Macdonald, “the universe would grow black—vanish—rush out again from the realm of law and order into chaos and night.” His infinite intelligence, His unchangeableness and His past doings afford ample guarantees of the Lord’s unfailing remembrance of His promises. II. The perpetuity of His promises. “The word which He commanded to a thousand generations.” Hengstenberg translates: “The word which He ordained,” &c. Perowne: “The word which He confirmed,” &c. “A thousand generations” means innumerable generations, always. AS the Psalmist says, the covenant is “an everlasting covenant.” “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” The promises of of God are to all generations. This is a glorious truth. Promises of pardon, sufficient grace, eternal and blessed life to every believer in the Lord, are for man in all ages and in all lands. III. The confirmation of His promises. “The covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.” For the confirmation to Isaac, see Genesis 26:3-5; and to Jacob, Genesis 28:13-15; and to Israel, Genesis 35:9-12. In the experience of every generation God confirms the truth of His promises. Every age, as it passes away from this world, leaves behind it an additional volume testifying most conclusively to the faithfulness of God. IV. The recipients of His promises. Concerning these the Psalmist indicates three characteristics. They are— 1. Believers of the Divine Word. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were eminent for faith. (Hebrews 11:8-9; Hebrews 11:17-21.) God required the Israelites to believe His word and obey His commands. The blessings of salvation are promised to those who believe. 2. Consecrated to the Divine service. “Mine anointed.” The patriarchs were not anointed; but the Poet uses the language of his own day to set forth the idea that they were called and consecrated to the service of God. Those who truly believe the word of God, and accept the offers of His grace, devote themselves to His service. To them the promises of protection, sanctification, and the heavenly inheritance are made. 3. Recipients of Divine communications. “My prophets.” “A good instance,” says Perowne, “of the wide signification of this word. It is derived from a root signifying to boil, to bubble up. The prophet is one in whose soul there rises a spring, a rushing stream of Divine inspiration. In the later language he not only receives the Divine word, but he is made the utterer of it, the organ of its communication to others. But in the earlier instances, as in that of Abraham, his official character does not distinctly appear, though doubtless, like Noah, he was ‘a preacher of righteousness,’ and taught his own family (and through them ultimately the whole world) the way of the Lord. See Genesis 18:19. Here the prophet means little more than one to whom God speaks, one with whom He holds converse, whether by word, or vision, or dream, or inner voice. (Comp. Numbers 12:6-8.) We approach nearest to what is meant by styling the patriarchs prophets when we read such passages as Genesis 18:17 : ‘And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?’ or again, the pleading of Abraham for Sodom, in Psalms 105:23-33 of the same chapter. It is, indeed, as pleading with God in intercession that Abraham is termed a prophet in Genesis 20:7. The title is thus very similar to that of the ‘Friend of God’ (Isaiah 41:8; 2 Chronicles 20:7; James 2:23).” The people of God, in whose experience His gracious promises are fulfilled, are in communication with Him. He speaks to them by His Word and by His Spirit. They have fellowship with Him. Such are three of the characteristics of the recipients of the promises of the Lord. V. The fulfilment of His promises. 1. God’s promises will be fulfilled however great the apparent improbability. When God promised the land of Canaan to the patriarchs, the fulfilment of the promise seemed utterly improbable. At that time they were (1) very “few in number.” Was it likely that they would ever be able to take possession of the land? or that their seed would ever be “as the stars of the heaven” for multitude? (2) They were strangers in that land. They did not unite themselves with the people of the land, or acquire property there. (3) They were wanderers. “They went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people.” They had no fixed residence. They were exposed to frequent dangers. How improbable that the land promised to them should ever be theirs! Yet the Lord fulfils His promise, and gives them the land. The things which appear to man improbable, or even impossible, God accomplishes, if He has promised to do so. Apply this to the perfection of individual character, to the future triumphs of Christianity in the world, &c. 2. God’s promises will be fulfilled though their fulfilment may necessitate the control of the greatest powers. “He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved kings for their sakes.” See Genesis 12:10-20; Genesis 20:1-7. The Lord controls the mightiest as well as the meanest powers, for the protection of His people and the fulfilment of His promises. . 1. Warning to the wicked. God will inflict the punishment which He has denounced against sin. 2. Encouragement (1) to the repentant sinner. The promises of forgiveness and grace are gloriously reliable. (2) To the people of God. However improbable, apparently, not one good thing of all that He hath promised shall fail. (Psalms 105:16-24) From the 16th verse to the 38th verse the Psalmist gives an outline of the history of Israel in Egypt, exhibiting in it the fulfilment of the Divine purposes and the working of the Divine power. In the verses under consideration at present we have several surprises of the Divine providence. I. A famine driving the people from the land promised to them, yet contributing to their possession of it. “He called for a famine upon the land; He brake the whole staff of bread.” The famine referred to is that which occurred in the time of Jacob, and which occasioned his migration into Egypt. This famine was no chance occurrence; it came not merely by the operation of material laws; God called for it; He ordered it. By reason of it “Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.” Thus they departed from the promised laud; and so the fulfilment of the promise was rendered apparently more unlikely than ever. Yet in the providence of God their absence from the land of Canaan contributed to their ultimate possession of it. While in Egypt they increased in number, in power, in intelligence, &c. II. A slave becomes the saviour of a country and of the chosen people. Notice here— 1. The sin of man. “Joseph was sold for a servant,” or slave. Joseph’s position as a slave in Egypt was brought about by the envy and jealousy, the hatred and cruelty, of his brethren. 2. The providence of God. “He sent a man before them.” God so ordered events that Joseph was taken into Egypt, and there wondrously enabled to preserve the people of that land from perishing by famine, and to arrange for the reception and support of Israel and his family. Joseph’s position in Egypt was not an accident or a freak of fortune. “Be not grieved, nor angry that ye sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life. Ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” The brethren of Joseph were free in their wickedness in selling him; they were guilty, in the sight of God, of jealousy, hatred, cruelty. God’s overruling of man’s sin does not extenuate his guilt. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee,” &c. In the providence of God, the detested slave became the honoured saviour of nations. III. A prisoner is made the ruler over the land. 1. Imprisonment as the result of the wickedness of another. Joseph was imprisoned despite his own virtue, and by reason of the sins of his master’s wife. (Genesis 39:7-20.) 2. Imprisonment painful to the sufferer. “Whose feet they hurt with fetters; he was laid in iron.” Margin, as in the Heb.: “His soul came into iron.” P. B. V.: “The iron entered into his soul” is a very expressive rendering, but it is incorrect. Perowne points out that in this verse we have a picture of an imprisonment much more severe “than that given in Genesis 39:20-23; Genesis 40:4. But it may refer to the earlier stage of the imprisonment, before he had won the confidence of his gaoler, or it may be tinged with the colouring of poetry.” But even, under the least unfavourable circumstances, imprisonment is painful to an upright man. It is one of the most severe trials to the soul of such a man. Moreover, in the case of Joseph, imprisonment was a trial of his faith. “The word of the Lord tried him.” God had promised to the family of which he was a member the possession of Canaan; and to him, in his dreams, exaltation and honour had been promised. So the saying or promise of God is said to try him, because during the years of his suffering and imprisonment it tested his faith and patience. Would God make good His word and raise him to honour? was an inquiry which often pressed itself upon Joseph. 3. Imprisonment Divinely overruled. Joseph’s imprisonment was overruled by God to promote the accomplishment of purposes the most important and benevolent. The Psalmist mentions (1) The means by which his release was brought about. “Until the time that his word came.” The “word” is the word of Joseph by which he interpreted to the servants of Pharaoh their dreams in the prison. The verification of his interpretation of the dreams and his release from prison are regarded as cause and effect. (2) The wisdom which he displayed. Joseph manifested such wisdom in interpreting the dreams of Pharaoh, and advising him as to the measures to be adopted to provide for the people during the years of famine, that the elders of Egypt were instructed by him. “To teach his senators wisdom,” is not to be interpreted that he literally instructed them in the art of politics. He displayed a wisdom superior to theirs, by which they were instructed. (3) The power with which he was invested. As a result of the wisdom which he manifested, Pharaoh “made him lord of his house and ruler of all his substance,” &c. The administration of the affairs of the kingdom was placed entirely under his control. The most complete authority was given unto him. (Genesis 41:44.) Wonderful are the changes brought about in the providence of God, and wonderful the means by which they are brought about! IV. A subject people growing stronger than a sovereign people. “He increased His people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies.” (Exodus 1:7-9.) This increase in number and power the Poet attributes to God. The virtues of a godly character promote the growth and progress of a people. We have an illustration in the growth of the Christian provinces of Turkey in Europe, while the dominant Mahommedans are decaying. . From these surprises in the outworking of the Divine Providence, let us learn to TRUST GOD amid its mysteries. 1. Let those who are condemned and suffer wrongfully trust Him. In due time He will vindicate them, even as He did Joseph. 2. When the current of events seem opposed to His avowed purposes and promises, let us trust Him. He oft moves in a way that is mysterious to us. But He will accomplish His purposes and fulfil His promises. A CRUEL AND A (Psalms 105:25-38) In these verses the Psalmist gives us a glimpse of— I. Israel persecuted in Egypt. We see here1. The root of the persecution. “He turned their heart to hate His people.” The hostility of the Egyptians to the Israelites is here ascribed to God. Now we know that God is not in any sense the author of moral evil. “God is light.” Hence the statement of the Psalmist has occasioned much difficulty. The difficulty is of the same kind as when it is said that the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. (See Homiletic Commentary, Critical Note, on Exodus 7:3.) We shall do well to bear in mind three facts. (1) Pharaoh and his people were free in what they did to the Israelites. (2) The Lord manifested His disapprobation of their conduct. (3) Yet, “nothing—not even the human will, free as it is—is independent of God; and not even the worst passions of men are outside of His plan, or independent in such a sense that He does not afford the opportunity for their development and display.” God so ordered events that the Egyptians became the enemies of His people, and rendered their removal to another land necessary. The goodness of the Lord to the Israelites exasperated the Egyptians against them. “Though God is not the author of the sins of men, yet He serves His own purposes by them.” The root of the persecution was the hatred of the Egyptians. The growing number and power of the Israelites aroused the jealousy, suspicion, and hatred of the Egyptians. Hatred is incipient murder. 2. The manner of the persecution. “To deal subtilly with his servants.” The word which is here rendered “to deal subtilly,” in Genesis 37:18, is rendered “they conspired against.” There is a reference to Exodus 1:10 : “Come on, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply,” &c. So, with diabolic cunning and cruelty, the male children were ordered to be slain as soon as they were born, and the burdens of the people were grievously increased. “Malice is crafty to destroy: Satan has the serpent’s subtlety with his venom.” II. Israel emancipated from Egypt. God listened to the cries of His oppressed people and delivered them. Their emancipation was effected by the Lord God— 1. By human instruments. He employed Moses and Aaron to accomplish this great work. They were (1) Divinely commissioned. “He sent Moses His servant, Aaron whom He had chosen.” They were not popular agitators, but men of distinguished abilities, called of God to a great work. (2) Divinely authenticated. “They showed His signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.” (Comp. Exodus 4:28; Exodus 4:30; Exodus 10:2; Psalms 78:43.) (3) Obedient to the Divine commission. “They rebelled not against His words.” At first Moses was unwilling to undertake the mission; but afterwards he and Aaron shrank not from the task, but faithfully performed the bidding of the Lord. Unmoved by fear of Pharaoh, or by pity for his people, they did the work which the Lord committed to them. 2. By overcoming the most persistent resistance on the part of Pharaoh. Pharaoh would not obey the Divine command until the Lord had visited him and his people and country with terrible plagues. Psalms 105:28-36. (See Homiletic Commentary on Psalms 78:42-53, and Exodus 7-12.) 3. In circumstances favourable to His people. They were brought out of Egypt with (1) Wealth. “He brought them forth with silver and gold.” In Exodus 12:35 it is said, “They borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of gold.” “Borrowed” is an unhappy rendering, as the word—ùָׁ ?àַ ?ì—signifies to penetrate, to ask pressingly, to require, to request, to beg, &c. (2) Health. “There was not one feeble person among their tribes.” Perowne: “There was none among their tribes that stumbled.” Notwithstanding their afflictions, the people were healthy and hardy when they left Egypt. (3) Respect. “Egypt was glad when they departed; for the fear of them fell upon them.” The Lord had so pleaded their cause that they were regarded by the Egyptians as under the special protection of God. The Egyptians were afraid of them, and realised a great feeling of relief when they had gone out from amongst them. (4) Joy. “He brought forth His people with joy, His chosen with gladness” (Psalms 105:43). God exchanged their cry by reason of their burdens, for glad songs by reason of their deliverance. . Our subject speaks— 1. Encouragement to the oppressed. 2. Warning to the oppressor. 3. Hope for the future of the race. “The Lord reigneth.” DIVINE IN HUMAN (Psalms 105:39-45) In these verses the Psalmist briefly refers to the goodness of God to the Israelites in the wilderness, and their inheritance of Canaan, and states the reason why He had so dealt with them, and His purpose in His dealings with them. This portion of the poem may be used as illustrating the blessings of God in the pilgrimage of human life. These blessings are— I. Adapted to human needs. The needs of Israel in the wilderness represent the needs of human life. The Divine blessings were adapted to those needs. 1. Direction. “He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night.” “In the daytime He led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.” See Exodus 8:21. “The way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” “In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” He does so— (1) by the teachings of His Word; (2) by the influences of His Spirit; (3) by the indications of circumstances. 2. Protection. In the burning wilderness the cloud was a protection to the people against the heat of the sun by day; and by night the fire shielded them from the attacks of wild beasts. God is the sure defence of His people. “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” 3. Provision. “They asked, and He brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.” (On Psalms 105:40, see Homiletic Commentary on Psalms 78:24-29; and on Psalms 105:41, see Homiletic Commentary on Psalms 78:15-16.) God provides for His people all needful things for the body. Of the righteous the Lord says, “Bread shall be given him, his waters shall be sure.” “No good will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Matthew 6:30-32). Spiritually His provisions are adapted to all our needs. “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” 4. Possession. “He gave them the lands of the heathen, and they inherited the labour of the people.” (See Homiletic Commentary on Psalms 78:55.) During the wanderings in the wilderness the Israelites looked forward to the possession of Canaan as the end of their wanderings, their rest and home. A glorious inheritance awaits the good at the end of their pilgrimage,—“an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, is reserved in heaven” for them. This is an inspiration during the pilgrimage, &c. II. Adequate to human needs. “He satisfied them.” “The waters ran in the dry places like a river.” The Divine provision for the Israelites in the wilderness was abundant. No one lacked anything. Having the Lord with them, they had all-sufficiency. So in the pilgrimage of human life the Divine provisions are adequate to every need. “God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” “He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” His wisdom is adequate to our direction; His wisdom and power to our protection; His resources for our provision, &c. III. Guaranteed by Divine faithfulness. “For He remembered His holy promise, and Abraham His servant.” It is said of Israel in Egypt: “And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham,” &c. (Exodus 2:24-25). “Because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand,” &c. They were unworthy and unfaithful, but God did these great things for them because of His word to their fathers. The faithful promises of God guarantee to us the blessings we need during our pilgrimage. Harvest may be blighted; fountains may be dried up; all finite resources may fail. “If this fail,The pillar’d firmament is rottenness,And earth’s base built on stubble.”IV. Bestowed for the most worthy purpose. The end of all God’s dealings with the Israelites was “that they might observe His statutes, and keep His laws.” His design was that Israel should be a holy nation, representing Him in the world, and claiming the world for Him as His own. The final cause of all the blessings He confers upon His people now is their conformity to His will. We are redeemed, called, guided, guarded, sustained, and animated with hopes of heaven, all with a view to our holiness. The blessings of God in the pilgrimage of life— V. Call for devout praise. “Praise ye the Lord.” He has done, and is ever doing, great things for us; and to Him let us ascribe the praise. Hallelujah! “This it the first of a series of Hallelujah Psalms: Psalms of which the word Hallelujah is, as it were, the inscription (106, 111–113, 117, 135, 146–150.). As in the last Psalm, so here the history of Israel is recapitulated. In that it was turned into a thanksgiving; in this it forms the burden of a confession. There God’s mighty acts for His people were celebrated with joy; here His people’s Bin is humbly and sorrowfully acknowledged. Nothing is more remarkable in these great historical Psalms than the utter absence of any word or sentiment tending to feed the national vanity. All the glory of Israel’s history is confessed to be due, not to her heroes, her priests, her prophets, but to God; all the failures which are written upon that history, all discomfitures, losses, reverses, the sword, famine, exile, are recognised as the righteous chastisement which the sin of the nation has provoked. This is the strain of such Psalms as the 78th, the 105th, the 106th. This is invariably the tone assumed by all the divinely-instructed teachers of the people, by the prophets in their great sermons, by the poets in their contributions to the national liturgy.“From Psalms 106:47 it may be fairly inferred that the Psalm is of the date of the Exile, or was written shortly after the return of the first company of exiles.”—Perowne.Hengstenberg: “The situation is described exactly in Psalms 106:46-47;” and “is that towards the end of the captivity.”The author of the Psalm is not known. OF THE BLESSED PEOPLE(Psalms 106:1-5) “The first five verges,” says Perowne, “seem to stand alone, and to have little or no direct connection with the rest of the Psalm.… The first verse, no doubt, is of the nature of a doxological formula, such as we find in some other of these later Psalms. But the second and third verses have an immediate bearing on what follows. What so fitting to introduce the confession of a nation’s sin and ingratitude as the rehearsal of God’s goodness manifested to it, and the acknowledgment of the blessedness of those who, instead of despising that goodness, as Israel had done, walked in the ways of the Lord, keeping judgment and doing righteousness (Psalms 106:3)? Or, again, what more natural than that the sense of the national privilege, the claim of a personal share in that privilege, should spring in the heart and rise to the lips of one who felt most deeply the national sin and ingratitude?” We regard these verses as presenting to us certain characteristics of the blessed people. I. They are a worshipping people. 1. They have exalted views of the Divine greatness and glory. “Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can show forth all His praise?” The acts of the Lord are so many, so great, so marvellous, and so glorious, that man is unable adequately to celebrate them. “The transcendent greatness of the deeds of God ought not to keep us back from praising Him, but contains in it the strongest motive to praise; the farther off the goal is, the more earnestly must we strive.”—Hengstenberg. 2. They appreciate the Divine benefits. “He is good, His mercy endureth for ever.” The goodness here mentioned is not so much the excellence of His own nature, as His gracious dealings with man. The manifestations of His mercy and generosity were so numerous, so constant, so glorious, that the Poet was moved by admiration, and desired to give God the honour of them. 3. They praise the Divine Being. “Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord.” Worship—the adoration of the Divine excellence, and beneficence, and beauty—is an essential element of the highest blessedness. The true worship of the true God is the heaven of the soul. II. They are a righteous people. “Blessed are they that keep judgment, and he that doeth righteousness at all times.” For moral beings there can be no blessedness except that which is based upon righteousness of principle and of practice. Conscience will not admit of blessedness on any other condition. The Psalmist speaks of habitual righteousness. If we would be truly blessed, righteousness must be not an occasional but a constant disposition of heart and rule of conduct. The blessed man is one who “doeth righteousness at all times.” Barnes points out that “the Psalm is designed to illustrate by contrast; that is, by showing, in the conduct of the Hebrew people, the consequences of disobedience, and thus implying what would have been, and what always must be, the consequences of the opposite course” III. They are the Lord’s people. We cannot be truly blessed without a hearty recognition of our true relation to God. When by faith and consecration we are His people, great is our blessedness. Concerning the people of God and their blessedness the Poet indicates— 1. The source of all their blessings. “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour of Thy people.” All our blessings flow from the unmerited and free “favour” of the Lord. 2. The sum of all their blessings. “Oh visit me with Thy salvation.” “Salvation” includes pardon for past sin, “grace to help in time of need,” and eternal and blessed life. 3. The result of all their blessings. (1.) Gladness to man. “That I may rejoice in the gladness of Thy nation.” The favour of God is joy-inspiring. (2.) Glory to God. “That I may glory with Thine inheritance.” The people of God glory not in their wisdom, wealth, or power, but in their relation to Him. In Him they make their boast. To Him they ascribe their praise. .— 1. God has a people who are in a special manner His. 2. To these people He imparts special blessings. 3. Are we of the number of these people?THE FAVOUR OF GOD DESIREDPsa_106:4. “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour of Thy people.” I. That the Lord has a people, who in a different way from others are His. They are so by adopting love, Romans 9:25; by renewing grace, Ephesians 2:10; by voluntary consent, 2 Corinthians 7:5; by public avowal, Isaiah 44:5; by inward testimony, 1 John 5:19, Romans 8:16; by divine appropriation, Zechariah 13:9, and by open evidence, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3. II. That to these He bears a peculiar and distinguished favour. While others are the recipients of common mercies, they have blessings of a peculiar and pre-eminent description, so that the congratulation given by Moses to the Israelites is applicable to the Lord’s people in every age and place. (Deuteronomy 33:29.) III. That to be remembered of God with this favour is infinitely desirable. And why is this the case? Because it sweetens the comforts of life; because it quickens us in the performance of duty; because it yields relief in scenes of sorrow and suffering; and because it is the ground of all our hope. IV. That those who would have the Divine favour must pray for it. “God is ready to bestow His favour upon us (1 John 4:10, Romans 8:32), but application on our part must be made (Ezekiel 36:37); and the reasonableness of the duty leaves without excuse those persons who refuse to comply with it. Let us never despise a favour so freely offered, so greatly needed; a favour which may be obtained on terms so easy.”—W. Sleigh. THE LORD’S AND MAN’S SIN(Psalms 106:6-12) In these verses the Psalmist begins the confession of the sin of the Israelites as manifested in their history. Let us notice— I. Man’s sin notwithstanding the Lord’s goodness. Psalms 106:6-8. We have here—- 1. The sins acknowledged. (1) Thoughtlessness. “Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt.” Perowne: “Our fathers in Egypt considered not,” &c. The marvellous and glorious deeds of the Lord in their behalf they saw but did not consider, and therefore did not understand them. “They thought the plagues of Egypt were intended for their deliverance, whereas they were intended also for their instruction and conviction, not only to force them out of their Egyptian slavery, but to cure them of their inclination to Egyptian idolatry, by evidencing the sovereign power and dominion of the God of Israel above all gods, and His particular concern for them.”—M. Henry. Want of consideration is a sin frequently charged against Israel, and to which men are painfully prone in our own day. We see the Divine wonders, receive the Divine benefits, but do not reflect on their significance, &c. (2) Forgetfulness. ‘ ‘They remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies.” Although the wonders in Egypt were so many and great, yet they made so small an impression upon the people on whose behalf they were wrought that they were speedily forgotten by them. “Eaten bread is soon forgotten.” (3) Rebellion. “But provoked Him at the sea, at the Red Sea. Hengstenberg and Perowne translate: “rebelled at the sea.” (See Exodus 14:10-12.) Not withstanding all the mighty works that had been wrought for their deliverance from Egypt, on the first approach of danger they distrusted the Lord, and, like craven-hearted slaves, they murmured against the servant of the Lord. They distrusted the power, mercy, and faithfulness of God. Observe the gradation and connection of their sins. Want of reflection upon the mercy of God leads to forgetfulness of those mercies, and forgetfulness of His mercies leads to distrust, &c Evil is terribly progressive. 2. The aggravation of their sins. Many were the “wonders” wrought on their behalf, yet they failed to consider them. The Lord bestowed upon them a “multitude of mercies;” it is sinful to forget one of His loving-kindnesses; yet they forgot a “multitude” of them. The sin of their rebellion also was aggravated by the place in which they were guilty of it. It was “at the Red Sea,” directly after their emancipation from Egypt, when the wonders of power and grace which God had wrought for them should have been fresh in their minds, and a powerful inspiration to faith. 3. The confession of their sins. “We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.” Here is (1) A deep sense of great and manifold transgressions. This is impressively indicated by the three verbs. (2) A sad successiveness of sin. “We have sinned with our fathers.” The sins of the fathers had been reproduced in the children, generation after generation; so that the nation as a whole was regarded by the Psalmist as guilty before God. In most of the points which we have touched upon the sins of the Israelites, notwithstanding the goodness of the Lord, represent the sins of the men of our age and country. (Show this, and urge confession). II. The Lord’s goodness notwithstanding man’s sin. Psalms 106:8-12. Though the sins of Israel were so aggravated, yet the Lord continued to manifest His mercy to them. 1. His goodness was displayed in their salvation. The deliverance here referred to was a very remarkable one. It was (1) A deliverance from extreme danger. They were shut in by the mountains, the sea, and the Egyptians. There seemed to be no way of escape. (2) A deliverance marvellously effected. A path was opened through the sea, whose waters stood as guardian-walls on either hand of them. (3) A deliverance effected with the utmost ease. The Poet represents the sea as “dried up” at the “rebuke” of the Lord. Nature is thoroughly loyal to the Divine will. (4) A deliverance gloriously complete. Israel not only crossed over in safety, but “the waters covered their enemies, there was not one of them left.” 2. His goodness was displayed for His own glory. “He saved them for His Name’s sake, that He might make His mighty power to be known.” Notwithstanding their offences He saved them because of what He is in Himself,—a being of unchanging truth and mercy; and that the glory of His power might be manifested. 3. The display of His goodness awoke them to a transient exercise of faith and praise. “Then believed they His words; they sang His praise.” (See Exodus 14:31; Exodus 15:1.) For a time distrust gave place to faith, and murmuring to praise. But it was only for a little time; for “both the faith and the song are mentioned, not in praise of their conduct, but only as still further proof that whatever impressions were produced, whether by God’s judgments or His mercies, were but temporary and on the surface. The goodness of Israel was like the dew, early gone.”—Perowne. .—This scene from Hebrew history presents to us (1) Admonition. Let us not sin against that Being who is ever manifesting so much goodness to us. (2) Encouragement. God does not “deal with us after our sins,” &c. SIN IN ITS ROOT, , AND (Psalms 106:13-23) We now come to the confession of the transgressions of the Israelites in the wilderness; and in the verses now before us three of their offences are mentioned. As the Homiletic suggestions arising out of these sins and their punishments will be brought out in treating of their history as recorded in Exodus and Numbers, we shall simply deal with the points suggested by the Psalmist. I. Sin in its root. “They soon forgat His works … They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; wondrous things in the land of Ham; terrible things by the Red Sea.” (See our remarks on Psalms 106:7, and on Psalms 78:11-12.) The small impression which the greatest mercies and most marvellous deliverances made upon them is astonishing. Bad as men are, it is not often that favours so extraordinary are forgotten so quickly. “They made haste, they forgat His works.” They, as it were, manifested impatience to rid themselves of the recollection of His glorious deeds wrought for them. Even the mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea passed away from them as tales that were told. Had they retained in their mind the great things which God had done for them, they would have had in these things such a revelation of His character as would have precluded the committal of their offences against Him. Forgetfulness of deeds of marvellous mercy and power wrought on their behalf, and of Him who wrought them, was the root from which their base rebellion sprang. II. Sin in its expressions. From the root of forgetfulness of God there sprang up some base and pernicious branches. Here are three heinous sins— 1. Their sin as regards the Divine provision. “They waited not for His counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,” &c. “They were not content,” says Perowne, “to exercise a patient dependence upon God, leaving it to Him to fulfil His own purposes in His own way, but would rather rule Him than submit themselves to His rule.” (See Homiletic Commentary on Psalms 78:17-18.) 2. Their sin as regards the Divinely-appointed leaders. “They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord.” (Numbers 16:1-3.) The reference in this place is rather to the rebellion which resulted from the envy, than to the envy itself. Aaron is denominated “the saint,” or “the holy one of Jehovah,” because of his priestly office. It is an official, not a personal designation. The leaders of the insurrection claimed that the whole congregation was “holy,” that they were all set apart and consecrated, and were therefore on an equality with Moses and Aaron. Rebellion against the Divinely-appointed leaders was equivalent to rebellion against Him who appointed them. 3. Their sin as regards the Divine Person. “They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.” (Exodus 32) “They made—contrary to the prohibition in Exodus 20:4-5—a calf, intended to represent an ox (comp. Psalms 106:20). They would gladly have made an ox, but they were not able to get this length, so contemptible was the whole undertaking. The name ‘calf’ is everywhere used in contempt; the worshippers without doubt called it a bull; according to Philo they made ‘a golden bull.’ ”—Hengstenberg. “Their glory” was the Lord God, and they changed Him for the likeness “of an ox that eateth grass.” (Comp. Romans 1:23.) The intention of the people was to worship God under the symbol of the calf, but as this symbolising was utterly incompatible with the nature of Jehovah, and opposed to His express command, it was regarded by God as bartering Him for the image, the renunciation of Jehovah for the model of a calf. Miserable and terribly sinful absurdity to exchange the Lord of heaven and earth for a calf-like model of a grass-eating ox! The sin which began in forgetfulness of God ended in idolatry. The development of evil is from bad to worse, and is sometimes fearfully rapid. II. Sin in its punishments. We have here— 1. Punishment corresponding with sin. (On the punishment of those who lusted for flesh in the wilderness see Homiletic Commentary on Psalms 78:30-31). “He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul.” The “soul” here means the animal soul, the physical life. The Lord gratified their sinful desire, and in so doing and by the same means punished their sin; for they ate until there came on a wasting sickness which led to alarming mortality. But although the “soul” is here used with its physical meaning, “the figurative sense is equally true, and equally pertinent. The very heart and spirit of a man, when bent only or supremely on the satisfaction of its earthly desires and appetites, is always dried up and withered. It becomes a lean, shrunk, miserable thing, always craving more food, yet drawing thence no nourishment, ‘magnas inter opes inops.’ ”—Perowne. “Heaven is most just, and of our pleasant vicesMakes instruments to scourge us.”—Shakespeare.In the rebellion against Moses and Aaron we note a correspondence between the sin and its punishment. In the rebellion against Moses, who was the ruler in all affairs of state, “Dathan and Abiram, as princes of the tribe of Reuben, Jacob’s eldest son, would claim to be chief magistrates, by the so-much-admired right of primogeniture.” And for rebelling against “the civil authority they were punished by the earth, which opened and swallowed them up, as not fit to go upon God’s ground, because they would not submit to God’s government.”—M. Henry. In the rebellion against Aaron, which took place among the Levites and was headed by Korah, “a fire was kindled in their company, a flame burnt up the wicked.” “These had sinned by fire and were punished by fire like the sons of Aaron” (Leviticus 10:2). (Comp. Numbers 16:1-35.) 2. Punishment averted by intercession. When the people made and worshipped the golden calf, God “said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He should destroy them.” Moses is here compared to a brave soldier who, when a breach has been made in the walls of the fortress which he is defending, plants himself in the breach, and so keeps back the invaders. (Comp. Exodus 32:11-14.) God would have destroyed the people, if Moses had not interposed and interceded for them. See here— 1. The power of prayer. 2. The greatness of the Divine mercy. 3. An illustration of the intercession of Christ for our race. OF THE DIVINE WORKS(Psalms 106:13.—“But they soon forgot His works.”) I. That the works of God are supremely worthy of an attentive review, and a thankful remembrance. 1. What did they forget? His works. Review all their variety—the creation, the appointment of a salvation, the work of redemption, the works of Providence; they are to be considered in their peculiar aspect, whether prosperous or adverse. Review their multitude; they are to be considered in their meaning. Providence is our daily preacher. 2. What sort of recollection should it be? Not a mere notional recollection—a recollection accompanied with suitable emotions—astonishment, gratitude, love, and heartfelt consideration. It must be a devotional and practical recollection. 3. Why are these works to be remembered? Because they are God’s works; because they are all-important; because the least of them is the purchase of infinite price. II. That there is in human nature a strange tendency to forget the works of God. This is no calumny on human nature. It is the express statement of Scripture, and is confirmed by daily experience. It arises from— 1. The injury the memory has sustained by the Fall: it retains what is impure, but not what is holy. 2. The bias of our mind is directed to earthly things. 3. The secret disinclination to contemplate a subject in which God is intimately concerned. III. The sinfulness and danger of thus forgetting the works of God. 1. It arises out of a sinful state of mind, and it is culpable forgetfulness. 2. It is an actual transgression of God’s Word. (Deuteronomy 4:9; 1 Chronicles 16:12.) 3. It involves in it the commission of other sins—inconsideration and ingratitude. 4. They who forget their mercies forfeit them. 5. God has denounced fearful judgments on such. (Psalms 9:17.) IV. What are the best means of preserving in our minds a grateful sense of the Divine goodness?1. Seek that you be renewed and sanctified. 2. Attention will much assist in the recollection of mercies. (Proverbs 4:20.) 3. Meditation cannot be done in a crowd; then seek solitude. 4. Order and arrangement are like cells in which our mercies may be deposited and called out in order. 5. Strive to maintain lively affections towards God; for what we love we do not easily forget. LESSONS: 1. How mistaken are those who suppose that forgetfulness is not a sin! 2. Here a wide field is opened for the exercise of repentance. 3. Reprove those who have a good memory for their calamities and a bad one for their mercies. 4. Address those who will not recollect. God will not forget.—George Clayton.—From “The Homiletic Quarterly.” THE OF SELFISH DESIRES AN INJURY TO THE SOUL(Psalms 106:15) The history of the event referred to is given in Numbers 11. I. Many things which are good in themselves may not be good for us individually. Material wealth is good; but upon attaining it some men have become spiritually bankrupt. (Luke 12:15-21.) Popularity may be a good thing; but, having gained it, many a man has lost his integrity, independence, heroism. How this view of things corrects the prevalent notion of success in life! “Success in life,” says the world, “is getting on in business, making money quickly, living well” (by which is meant eating and drinking luxuriously), “mixing in good society.” How shallow, false, ruinous! These things may not only consist with spiritual poverty, imbecility, and ruin, but very frequently lead to them. II. Many things may be good for us at one time and under certain circumstances which may not be good for us at another time and under other circumstances. The flesh which the Israelites desired would have been good for them when they arrived in Canaan; but in the wilderness, where they should have been satisfied with the Divinely-provided manna, it proved a terrible curse. III. The most fervent prayers are not always most acceptable. The motive and the character of the fervour must be taken into consideration. Fervent prayers are sometimes only the passionate cries of selfish hearts—the determined pursuit of an object of selfish desire. IV. God may grant the passionate desire of a selfish heart with terrible results. He may give the fancied good which is so eagerly demanded, and it may prove to be a direful injury. It was so in the case before us. Instances are numerous in which unsubmissive requests have been granted with most painful results. V. God may refuse to grant the request of even a good man, and the refusal may be a blessing. It was in love that the Lord refused the repeated request of St. Paul for the removal of the “thorn in the flesh.” That torturing thorn was the means of preventing the spiritual pride which might otherwise have effected his overthrow. (1 Corinthians 12:7-9.) “We, ignorant of ourselves,Beg often our own harms, which the wise powersDeny us for our good; so find we profit By losing of our prayers.”—Shakespeare.VI. The wisest, holiest, most acceptable prayer is for conformity with the will of God. “Not my will, but Thine be done,” expresses the true spirit of acceptable prayer. “Covet earnestly the best gifts.” Seek those things which are pure blessings for all persons, at all times and under all circumstances. A SAD PICTURE OF HUMAN (Psalms 106:24-27) The sinful perversity of the Israelites appears here in several mournful aspects. I. Despising the choicest inheritance. “They despised the pleasant land.” Margin: “A land of desire.” Perowne: “They rejected the desirable land.” (Deuteronomy 8:7-9; Deuteronomy 11:9.) The Israelites frequently manifested a desire to return to Egypt. The good land before them had few attractions for them. God calls men to holiness, communion with Himself, heaven. All who do not heartily respond to His call despise the most glorious inheritance. II. Disbelieving the best authenticated word. “They believed not His word.” They had proved the reliableness of the word of God; yet they did not believe it as regards the land which He had promised to them. They preferred to accept the testimony of the unbelieving and cowardly spies. (Numbers 14:1-6; Numbers 14:10.) We have here— 1. Unbelief dishonouring God. 2. Unbelief excluding man from his inheritance. Man’s unbelief has kept him out of many “a good land.” III. Murmuring against the arrangements of the wisest and kindest of beings. They “murmured in their tents.” This they did repeatedly. (Numbers 14:2-3; Numbers 14:27.) “They complained of Moses, of their food, of the hardships of their journey, of God. They did this when ‘in their tents;’ when they had a comfortable home; when safe; when provided for; when under the direct Divine protection and care. So men often complain; perhaps oftener when they have many comforts than when they have few.”—Barnes. IV. Disobeying the commands of the most sovereign authority. “They hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord.” Unbelief of God’s word speedily leads to refusal to listen to His voice and disregard of His commands. They disobeyed their Creator, Sustainer, Sovereign, and generous Benefactor—not only the greatest, but the best being. His will is supremely binding. Yet they disobeyed it. V. Receiving deserved punishment. “Therefore He lifted up His hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness.” The lifting up of the hand is the gesture of swearing. “Ye shall not come into the land which I lifted up My hand to make you dwell therein” (Numbers 14:30). “I lifted up My hand also to them in the wilderness,” &c. (Ezekiel 20:23). “I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.” It is fitting that they who despise their inheritance shall not enter upon it. VI. Entailing misery upon their posterity. “He lifted up His hand to overthrow their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.” “The result of their rebellion and murmuring would not terminate with them. It would extend to their posterity, and the rebellion of the fathers would be remembered in distant generations. The overthrow of the nation, and its captivity in Babylon, was thus one of the remote consequences of their rebellion in the wilderness.”—Barnes. . 1. Shun sin; for by committing it you may hand down to your descendants a heritage of woe. 2. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,” &c. (Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 4:1; Hebrews 4:11). FROM THE HISTORY OF A PEOPLE(Psalms 106:28-33) The heart grows weary and sad as we follow this narrative with its abounding unbelief, ingratitude, meanness, and rebellion. The picture which the Poet draws of Israel is painfully sombre, yet it is true. In no portion of it has he inserted too much shadow. We have in these verses— I. An incorrigibly rebellious people. 1. Here is idolatry. “They joined themselves also unto Baal-Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.” “Baal was the name of an idol; Peor was the name of a mountain in Moab where the idol was worshipped.” “The sacrifices of the dead” are the sacrifices offered to idols, in contradistinction from the living God (Numbers 25:1-3). 2. Here is adultery. The worship of Baal-Peor was connected with licentious rites. Fuerst: “Baal of the shame uncovering, in whose honour virgins yielded up their innocence.” (Numbers 25:1-6.) 3. Here is rebellious murmuring. “They angered Him also at the Waters of Strife” (Numbers 20:1-5; Numbers 20:13). Here in the fortieth year of their wandering they are still an unbelieving, complaining, rebellious people. II. A brave man acting as minister of justice in a critical time. “Then stood up Phinehas and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed” (Numbers 25:5-8). 1. Here is a brave act of justice. Moses had commanded the judges of Israel to stay the idolaters; but they seemed to have been deficient in the strength and courage necessary to enable them to obey the command; they only stand and weep. At this critical moment, with zeal and courage and energy, Phinehas rose up and slew two of the offenders of the first rank. 2. A brave act of justice staying the Divine vengeance. “And the so plague was stayed.” This act of justice was propitiatory; it appeased and turned away the wrath of God. “National justice prevents national judgments.” 3. A brave act of justice recognised and rewarded by God. “And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore” (Numbers 25:10-13). Perowne says: “It was looked upon as a righteous act, and rewarded accordingly.… This verse has given occasion to whole disquisitions on the subject of justification, with which it really has nothing to do, though at least the language is in perfect accordance with that of St. James (James 2:20-26). The reward of this righteousness was the perpetual continuance of the priesthood in the family.” Hereafter the position of Phinehas and his posterity was one of marked distinction and honour. III. A holy man sinning and suffering by reason of the sin of others. “It went ill with Moses for their sakes; because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.” Through the sin of the people Moses lost his self-control, was betrayed into the utterance of unbecoming and rash words, and to undue assumption of power; and in consequence was not permitted to enter the promised land. (Numbers 20:7-12.) 1. Their provocation of Moses agravated the guilt of the rebellious people. 2. Their provocation does not exonerate Moses from guilt. Provocation is not compulsion. 3. God punishes sin even in the best of men, in whom it is a great exception. IV. The great God contending against human sin. 1. By the plague, because of the idolatry and licentiousness of the people. “The plague brake in upon them.” “Those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.” 2. By the exclusion of Moses from the promised land. God is the determined antagonist of moral evil. The arrangements of the material universe, the workings of Providence, and the grand aim of redemption, are all utterly hostile to sin. The voice of God to man concerning sin in all history is, “Oh, do not this abominable thing which I hate!” From the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ He utters this entreaty in a manner that ought to arrest the attention and secure the compliance of all men. Let us listen to His voice, and heartily strive to comply with His entreaty. SIN IN ITS , , AND (Psalms 106:34-43) In these verses we have— I. Sin in its progress. Here is— 1. Disobedience. “They did not destroy the nations concerning whom the Lord commanded them.” (For the command and its reasons see Homiletic Commentary on Exodus 23:27-33; Exodus 34:11-16; Numbers 33:50-56.) Though the command was express, solemn, and repeatedly proclaimed, yet they did not obey it by driving out or destroying the Canaanites. 2. Evil associations. They “were mingled among the heathen and learned their works.” By intermarriage and commerce they became mixed up among the Canaanites, and conformed to their evil customs and practices. Had they not first been guilty of disobedience, they could not have been guilty of entering into these prohibited and evil associations. 3. Idolatry. “They served their idols, which were a snare unto them” (Judges 2:11-13). God had warned them that, if they did not drive out the Canaanites, they would be snared by them and drawn into their idolatrous customs. And this result very speedily appeared. 4. Offering human sacrifices. “Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood,” &c. Hengstenberg: “And offered their sons and their daughters to the lords.” Perowne: “And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods.” Heb. ùֵׁ ?ãִ ?éí = lords; it is here used to designate the gods of the Canaanites. God had strictly prohibited the offering of these sacrifices (Deuteronomy 12:29-32; Deuteronomy 18:10). Yet they offered them, thus adding to their idolatry the most unnatural and horrible murder. Now, mark their progress in evil. “The way of sin,” says Matthew Henry, “is down hill; omissions make way for commissions; when they neglect to destroy the heathen, the next news we hear is, ‘They were mingled among the heathen, made leagues with them, and contracted an intimacy with them, so that they learned their works.’ … The beginning of idolatry and superstition, like that of strife, is as the letting forth of water, and there is no villany which those that venture upon it can be sure they shall stop short of, for God justly gives them up to a reprobate mind.” Avoid the first step in evil courses. These sins are still flourishing in different forms. The professed people of God are still guilty of disobedience in many things, and of conformity to the world in many customs that are questionable, and in some which are unmistakably evil; they are often found bowing at the shrines of mammon and fashion, and still they sacrifice their sons and daughters to idols. “Among us such sacrifices take place by careless bringing up of children, when parents encourage them, for example, in pride and other sins, offer them to the god of the world, carefully inculcate the maxims of the world, and fill them with love of vanity and show.”—Berleb. II. Sin in its pollution. “The land was polluted with blood. Thus were they defiled with their own works, and went a whoring after their own inventions.” The very soil itself is here represented as polluted and accursed by reason of the sin of the people. The religious practices which they had adopted became a source of terrible contamination and corruption to their nature. Their very worship was spiritual whoredom. This corrupting tendency of sin is one of its most fearful characteristics. It effects a terrible deterioration in man’s moral and religious nature. III. Sin in its punishment. Psalms 106:40-43. 1. Their punishment was long delayed. “Many times did He deliver them.” The reference is to the deliverances effected on their behalf during the time of the judges, and afterwards during the time of the kings. Judges 2:11-19 furnishes a clear exposition of Psa 106:43. The Lord was loath to leave them in the hands of their enemies, or to send them into captivity. He is “slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” 2. Their punishment was an expression of Divine anger. “Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against His people, insomuch that He abhorred His own inheritance.” God’s anger burns against sin and against the workers of iniquity. God pities the sinner as a man, and seeks to save him, but as a worker of iniquity He abhors him. Sin persisted in renders the people of God an offence and abomination unto Him. Nothing shows the enormity of sin more than this, that it renders those who were once well-pleasing in His sight loathsome unto Him. 3. Their punishment corresponded with their sin. “He gave them into the hand of the heathen,” &c. (Psalms 106:41-42). This punishment the Lord had threatened them with if they failed to drive out the Canaanites. (Numbers 33:55-56.) And it came to pass according to His word. Their punishment grew out of their sin, and was its natural result. In opposition to the will of God, they intermingled with the heathen and adopted their worst customs; and, after long forbearance and many deliverances, God at length abandoned them to the heathen, who led them into captivity, and tyrannically lorded it over them. They had forsaken the Lord, and given their hearts to heathen customs, and after “long patience” the Lord forsook them, leaving them to the heathens, whose ways they so much admired. “Sinners often see themselves ruined by those by whom they have suffered themselves to be debauched. Satan, who is a tempter, will be a tormentor. The heathen ‘hated them.’ Apostates lose all the love on God’s side, and get none on Satan’s.” Thus a man’s punishment is not a something tacked on to his sin, but ever grows out of his sin. The wicked man collects the fuel for his own hell-fire. . The chief Lessons of our subject are:— (1) Do not enter upon an evil course. (2) If any one find himself already in the way of evil, let him retrace his steps at once. “Let the wicked forsake his way,” &c. (3) The surest means of guarding against evil courses is to walk diligently in the way prescribed by God. He will give us wisdom and strength so to do, if we ask Him. STAGES FROM MISERY TO (Psalms 106:44-47) The Poet now presents to us another aspect of the dealings of the Lord with His people. He visited them in anger, because of their ungodly counsels and iniquitous practices. But He never forgets His loving-kindness and His truth concerning them. Soon as their sufferings led them to cry unto Him, He sent them relief. The Psalmist indicates the stages from misery to exultation. I. Misery leading to a cry for mercy. “He heard their cry.” In their prosperity they had forgotten the Lord, had forsaken Him for idols. In their misery they cried to Him for relief. This is common. Sometimes the cry is the utterance of mere selfishness. In this case, when the suffering is removed, men pursue their old course of ingratitude and rebellion. Sometimes the cry is the utterance of penitence. In this case the sin which caused the suffering is felt more keenly than any outward affliction. Reformation of life is the result. In the former case the cry is worthless and mean; in the latter it indicates that suffering has led to gracious results. II. A cry for mercy securing the Divine regard. “He regarded their affliction when He heard their cry.” 1. God heard their cry. The cry of distress, the sigh of unutterable sorrow, the whispered longing of the heart, the reverent prayer of devout worship, all are heard by God. This is a fact fraught with consolation, inspiration, and strength. 2. God graciously regarded their cry. “He remembered for them His covenant, and repented according to the multitude of His mercies.” Perowne: “And pitied them according to the greatness of His loving-kindness.” “God’s repentance is not a change of His will, but of His work. Repentance with man is the changing of his will; repentance with God is the willing of a change. Mutatio rei, non Dei; effectus, non affectus; facti, non consilii.” In answer to their cry the Lord turned to them in mercy. Man may forget Him, but He never forgets His covenant. Great is the sin of man; but the mercy of God is incomparably greater. The reason of His loving-kindness to the Jews, and to all men, is to be found in the perfections of His own nature. III. The Divine regard securing relief from trouble. “He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captive.” Notice here— 1. The power of God over all men. He made the hearts of the oppressors of His people to relent towards them, so that they treated them with kindness. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will.” Even so can He turn the hearts of all men. 2. The kindness of God to His people. He influenced the hearts of their oppressors in their favour. He employs His power to promote the interests of His Church. IV. Relief from trouble awakening prayer for complete salvation. “Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen,” &c. “The grace of God, already shown to His people,” says Perowne, “leads to the prayer of this verse—a supplication for which the whole Psalm has prepared the way. The language would seem to indicate that the Psalm was written in exile, though the same prayer might also have been uttered by one of those who returned in the first caravan, on behalf of his brethren who were still dispersed.” 1. The beginning of the work of Divine grace is an encouragement to expect and pray for full salvation. 2. The Divine praise should ever be regarded as the grand end of salvation. The glory of redemption is due wholly and solely to God in Christ. (Psalms 106:48) This Doxology marks the close of the fourth book of the Psalms. For its Homiletic suggestions see a Sketch on the Doxology to the first book, Psalms 41:13; on that to the second book, Psalms 72:18-20; and on that to the third book, Psalms 89:52. Many expositors are of opinion that this Psalm was written to celebrate the return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile. This opinion is based chiefly on Psalms 107:2-3. But the Psalm as a whole does not seem to us to favour such a conclusion. Perowne says: “It is obvious that this Psalm is not historical. It describes various incidents of human life, it tells of the perils which befall men, and the goodness of God in delivering them, and calls upon all who have experienced His care and protection gratefully to acknowledge them; and it is perfectly general in its character. The four or five groups, or pictures, are so many samples taken from the broad and varied record of human experience. Such a Psalm would have been admirably adapted to be sung in the Temple-worship, at the offering of the thank-offerings.“But, whatever may have been the circumstances under which the Psalm was written, or the particular occasion for which it was intended, there can be no doubt as to the great lesson which it inculcates. It teaches us not only that God’s Providence watches over men, but that His ear is open to their prayer. It teaches us that prayer may be put up for temporal deliverance, and that such prayer is answered. It teaches us that it is right to acknowledge with thanksgiving such answers to our petitions. This was the simple faith of the Hebrew Poet.”The author of the Psalm is not known. AND THEIR DIVINE HELPER(Psalms 107:1-9) It is probable, as Perowne suggests, that the first three verses are “a liturgical addition, framed with particular reference to the return from Babylon, and prefixed to a poem originally designed to have a wider scope.” The Psalm begins with the same liturgical formula as the preceding; and the Poet proceeds to represent the people of God as— 1. Redeemed by Him. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” The allusion is probably to the deliverance of the Jews from the captivity in Babylon. The people of God now are redeemed from sin by the precious blood of Christ. They have had precious experiences of the goodness of the Lord, and are under special obligations to praise Him. 2. Gathered by Him. “Gathered them out of the lands from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.” The Lord gathered the exiles out of all the lands into which they had been driven in the day of their distress. He gathers men now into His Church. And He is gathering His people to their home in heaven. From all lands they are being assembled in our Father’s home on high. Then the Poet proceeds to represent the people as distressed travellers, relieved by Divine goodness, and calls upon them to praise the Lord. Consider— I. The distressed travellers. “They wandered in the wilderness,” &c. 1. They were travellers through a pathless desert. “They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way.” “A solitary way” is not a correct translation. Perowne: “In a pathless waste.” Hengstenberg: “The pathless desert.” A wilderness is a scene of dreary desolation; and in this case the travellers are represented as having no path along which to travel through this dreary desert. The track is lost, perhaps obliterated by some violent sand-storm. 2. They were travellers through a homeless desert. “They found no city to dwell in.” There were no habitable places in the wilderness through which they journeyed. 3. They were travellers through an inhospitable desert. “Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.” Their life was faint and exhausted by reason of hunger and thirst. We have here a picture of the pilgrimage of life. Apart from Divine guidance, man is a traveller who has lost his way; the track is clean gone; he is perplexed, bewildered. In this world there is no place of settled residence for man. “Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” And unless man look to God for support, he will find in this world nothing to sustain his spiritual nature, nothing to satisfy the hunger and thirst of the soul. II. The all-sufficient Helper. The Lord interposed in their need, and delivered them from all their distresses. 1. The Divine help was granted in answer to prayer. “Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.” Perowne: “So it ever is: only the pressure of a great need forces men to seek God. Prayer is not only the resource of good men, but of all men in trouble. It is a natural instinct even of wicked men to turn to God at such times.” The fact that all men thus cry to God in their distresses implies—Faith (1) in the existence of God; “that He is.” (2) In His power to help His creatures; that He is able to relieve the distressed. (3) In His regard for His creatures; that He is interested in their welfare. (4) In His accessibleness to His creatures; that they may approach Him in prayer; “that He is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Prayer is a great and glorious reality. There is ONE who hears and answers prayer. 2. The Divine help was adequate to their need. They were in a “pathless desert,” and He granted to them direction, guidance. “He led them forth by the right way.” They were in a homeless desert, and He directed them homeward. “He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.” They were fainting in an inhospitable desert, and He gave them abundant provision. “For He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” Both the hunger and the thirst He effectually relieves. And still for all who seek Him there is all-sufficient help in Him. He is the infallible Guide through life. His smile transforms a barren wilderness into a richly provided banqueting house. And he has prepared for us a home, peaceful and permanent, beautiful and blessed. III. The manifest obligation. “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” 1. God’s gracious doings for man are wonderful. “His goodness, and His wonderful works to the children of men.” They are wonderful in themselves, and in their object. “The children of men” are unworthy of the least of His favours. Yet He guides them, sustains them, &c. 2. Men are prone to overlook the gracious doings of God for them. His mercies often “lie Forgotten in unthankfulness,And without praises die.”Men have to be urged to the celebration of the praise of their Divine Benefactor. “Oh that men would,” &c. 3. Men are under the most sacred obligation to celebrate the gracious doings of God for them. God rightly expects that those who receive His mercy will celebrate His praise. He requires this. Gratitude urges to this. Not to thank Him is to manifest extreme baseness. “The stall-fed ox, that is grown fat, will knowHis careless feeder, and acknowledge too;The generous spaniel loves his master’s eye,And licks his fingers though no meat he by;But man, ungrateful man, that’s born and bredBy Heaven’s immediate power; maintained and fedBy His providing hand; observed, attended,By His indulgent grace; preserved, defendedBy His prevailing arm: this man, I say,Is more ungrateful, more obdure than they.Man, O most ungrateful man, can everEnjoy Thy gift, but never mind the Giver;And like the swine, though pampered with enough,His eyes are never higher than the trough!”—F. Quarles.THE WAY OF THE (Psalms 107:7. “He led them forth by the right way.”) I. The way of the redeemed. 1. Long. 2. Difficult. 3. Lonely. 4. A desert way. II. The rectitude of the way. It is the “right way.” Consider— 1. That it is the Divine way. “He led them forth” as a shepherd his flock. 2. To what it leads. “The city of habitation.” Two lessons. 1. Take an enlarged view of the Divine conduct. Think of the goal, as well as of the way which leads to it. The way is painful; but consider why you are called to tread it. Remember the end of it all. 2. Ever seek the Divine guidance. God goes before; follow, trust Him.—W. M., in The Pulpit Analyst. THE AND THEIR (Psalms 107:10-16) We have in these verses— I. The picture of a painful captivity. “Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron.” The Poet represents the captivity as characterised by— 1. Distress. They “sit in darkness.” The dark prison-house is an emblem of misery. To the patriotic and pious Jews the Babylonian Captivity was a source of much trouble and distress. 2. Apprehension. “In the shadow of death.” Death seemed to stand fully disclosed to their view, and to cast his chilling and fearful shadow upon them. The captives, in their distress, were as men constantly menaced by death. 3. Painful restriction. “Bound in affliction and iron.” The captives were not literally bound thus; but their distress seemed to them like that of the man who is held in iron fetters. The most terrible captivity is moral—the bondage of sin. The wicked man is in darkness; the beauties of the spiritual universe—of Oruth, righteousness, love,—he sees not. “The second death” projects its dread shadow over him. He is the slave of sinful appetites, habits, and passions; is “holden with the cords of his sins.” Physical captivity is a calamity; moral captivity is a crime. Death will terminate the former; it has no power to affect the latter. The man who dies in sin enters eternity a manacled slave. II. The reason of this painful captivity. “Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High.” “The words of God” are His commands delivered unto them in His law, and by His servants the prophets. “The counsel of the Most High” is the advice which was given to them by the prophets of the Lord. Their painful captivity was the result of their wilful disobedience. The Poet in this verse exhibits sin in two aspects— 1. Sin in its guilt. It is rebellion against the authority of the greatest and holiest Being—the Supreme Being. 2. Sin in its folly. It is the rejection of the counsel of the wisest and kindest Being. “God will command nothing which He would not advise, and which it would not be wisdom to obey.” III. The design of this painful captivity. “He brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.” Their heart had proudly risen up in rebellion against God and contempt of His counsel, and their captivity was designed by its sufferings to subdue their pride. òָ ?îָ ?ì here rendered “labour,” signifies also affliction, trouble. God sought to humble them for them sins, to show them their own helplessness, and that their strength and succour were in Him alone. Afflictions are teachers. The man who is not altogether foolish, when visited by them, will strive to ascertain and appropriate the lessons which they have to impart. IV. The deliverance from this painful captivity— 1. Was effected in answer to prayer. “Then they cried unto the Lord,” &c (See remarks on Psalms 107:6.) 2. Was effected by the Lord. “HE brought them out,” &c. “HE hath broken the gates,” &c. In the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon, the hand of the Lord was clearly displayed. Our Lord proclaims liberty to the captives of evil, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound by sin. There is no power in the universe, but that of God in Christ Jesus, that can emancipate the slaves of sin. 3. Was gloriously complete. “He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. He hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.” The delivery was as great as the distress. “ ‘The gates of brass’ refer probably to Babylon; and the idea is that their deliverance had been as if the brazen gates of that great city had been broken down to give them free egress from their captivity.” (Comp. Isaiah 45:2.) The Poet mentions three features of their deliverance, which taken together strikingly exhibit its completeness. Their fetters were riven asunder, they were brought out of their cold and gloomy prison, and the city gates were broken down, so that they could go forth entirely from the land of their captivity. 4. Demanded grateful acknowledgment. “Oh, that men would praise the Lord,” &c. (See remarks on Psalms 107:6.) .—This subject has a practical and urgent application to all moral captives, all slaves of sin. Yours is a bondage far more terrible than that of Israel in Babylon. But from bondage such as yours Jesus Christ is the great and glorious Emancipator. From your dark prison-house cry unto Him for deliverance, and you shall speedily walk forth a free man in the bright universe of God. HUMAN AND DIVINE HEALING(Psalms 107:17-22) Consider— I. Human sickness. It is here set forth— 1. In its cause. “Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities are afflicted.” Perowne’s translation is better: “Foolish men, because of the way of their transgression and because of their iniquities, bring affliction upon themselves.” The chief ideas here are two: (1) Wickedness is folly. The transgressor is a “fool.” The foolishness is not intellectual, but moral. The wicked are “fools” because of the moral infatuation of their conduct; they despise counsel; they are heedless of warning; they betray their own interests; they will only be brought to reason by chastisement. (2) Wickedness leads to sickness. The Psalmist expressively indicates that the suffering was selfproduced; the sufferers had brought it upon themselves. Many physical afflictions are the direct result of sin. Gluttony and drunkenness lead to untold sickness and suffering. All suffering results from sin. Abolish moral evil, and physical evil would soon be utterly unknown. 2. In its effect. “Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death.” The Psalmist describes the sufferer as loathing food, turning from it in disgust, and drawing near to death. Sheol, the realm of death, he represents as a city which is entered through gates. And the sufferer is solemnly near to those gates; in a little while, unless relief be imparted to him, he will have passed through them for ever. II. Divine healing. This the Poet exhibits as— 1. Effected in answer to prayer. “Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,” &c. (See remarks on Psalms 107:6.) “Prayer is a salve for every sore.” 2. Effected with supreme ease. “He sent His word and healed them.” Perowne detects here “the first glimmering of St. John’s doctrine of the agency of the personal Word. The Word by which the heavens were made (Psalms 33:6) is seen to be not merely the expression of God’s will, but His messenger mediating between Himself and His creatures.” At the command of the Lord diseases flee. He has but to utter His word, and the result is achieved. Doubtless many have been “lifted up from the gates of death” by God in answer to prayer. And in all cases of restoration from sickness to health, “whatever means may be used, the healing power comes from God, and is under His control.” 3. Demanding grateful acknowledgment. “Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness,” &c. (See remarks on Psalms 107:8.) .—This sketch of human disease and Divine healing may fairly be regarded as a parable of sin and salvation. 1. Sin produces an awful deterioration in human nature, and, “when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” 2. The Lord is the almighty and all-merciful Saviour from sin. 3. Prayer is the condition of deliverance from sin. “Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” “Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near.” SEAMEN AND THE OF THE SEA(Psalms 107:23-32) This “is the most highly finished, the most thoroughly poetical, of each of the four pictures of human peril and deliverance. It is painted as a landsman would paint it, but yet only as one who had him-self been in ‘perils of waters’ could paint the storm—the waves running mountains high, on which the tiny craft seemed a plaything, the helplessness of human skill, the gladness of the calm, the safe refuge in the haven.”—Perowne. Notice— I. God’s sovereignty over the sea. “He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.” Again: “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” The force and fury of the storm are not blind, irresponsible, reckless things. They are not merely the outworking of natural laws. Behind the laws there is the Lawgiver. Behind the force of the winds and waves there is the Force of all forces—the great God. The old Hebrew poets and prophets spake literal truth when they represented the ocean as entirely under the sway of Jehovah. “Who lifts up on highThe ocean’s maddening waves, tremendous sight?Or bids them sleep along the feeble sands!“Tis God alone.”—Pollok.To regard God as the Ruler of the sea It— 1. Philosophic. It is unsatisfactory to tell me that certain laws, or forces of Nature, or certain combinations of her elements, are the cause of storms and calms. But it is thoroughly reasonable to attribute them to the Creator and Lord of Nature, a Being of infinite wisdom and almighty power. 2. Scriptural. The Bible ascribes all the phenomena of Nature to the agency of the Divine Being. 3. Assuring. It is some satisfaction to know that the furious elements are not governed by blind laws or stonyhearted fate, but by the wise and holy God. When the angry ocean engulfs hundreds of human beings, much sorrow and distressing mystery are the result. Yet the sorrow and distress would be far greater if, in the dreadful storm, we beheld only the work of mere laws or relentless fate. But God is wise, and strong, and kind. We know His will is good. We bow reverently before the mystery, and wait for more light. It is assuring to know that our Father rules the winds and waves. II. Man’s impotency when the sea rebels against him. “They mount up to the heaven,” &c. (Psalms 107:26-27). Man has great power over the sea. He employs it in his service. To a great extent he can control it even in its angry moods. In its depths he hides the medium of communication with far distant lands. He can navigate it in almost all weathers. Yet there are limits to man’s power over the sea, and when he attains these limits, his impotence is complete. There is a “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no farther,” and when man has reached that boundary, if he attempt to advance beyond, the sea will whelm him. How great is man! See how he curbs the elements and employs them in his service. How insignificant is man! See how the stormy waves sport with him, buffet him, engulf him. When the ocean speaks in thunder, and surges in might and fury, men’s souls are “melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end.” But even when impotent and defeated by the warring elements, man is greater than they; for he is conscious of his impotence and defeat, while they know not of their triumph. III. Man’s resource when the sea rebels against him. “Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble.” In the storm, when Jonah was fleeing from Joppa to Tarshish, “the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god.” In the storm on the sea of Galilee, when the disciples of Christ thought they were perishing, they cried, “Lord, save us: we perish.” Even the professed atheist ceases the insane boast of atheism and cries to God for mercy in the storm when hope of deliverance by mere human skill is gone. In a heavy storm, when wreck seemed inevitable, the captain of a ship inquired anxiously—“Is there a praying man on board?” But no one responded. He inquired again. And eventually it was found that there was a person on board, who had formerly been a Wesleyan, but who had cast away his confidence. “Can you pray?” said the captain to him. “I could once, sir,” he tremblingly replied, “but I have left off praying.” “Try again,” said the captain. And all the crew bowed down to that Almighty Being “Who rides upon the stormy sky,And calms the roaring seas;”whilst the poor backslider tried to pray, and did pray, fervently, powerfully, and successfully; for the storm subsided and the vessel was preserved. How affecting, in the wreck of the London, to find the people gathering round the Rev. Mr. Draper, and in prayer to God learning how to sink into the deep, not with the wild shriek of despair, or the heartless indifference of stoicism, or the atheistic excitement of epicureanism, but with the calm heroism of Christian faith! Prayer to God is the resource of imperilled mariners. That men thus cry to God in their trouble, as by an instinct of their being, suggests— 1. The absurdity of atheism. Atheism is a contradiction of the consciousness of man as man. 2. The reality of prayer. The existence of the instinct which leads men to cry unto the Lord in their distresses, suggests that there is some One who hears prayer, that the utterance of petition is not in vain. But is it only when you are at your wit’s end that you cry unto God? Do you ignore Him when “the south wind blows softly,” yet cry unto Him when the wild tempest raves? Is such conduct worthy of you? What right have you to expect that He whom you seek only when you are in trouble will answer your selfish cry? IV. God’s answer to man’s cry. “He bringeth them out of their distresses,” &c. Sometimes this is true literally. The heathen mariners on their voyage to Tarshish in the storm, with their dim lights as to religion, cried earnestly to their gods, and the true God directed them as to how they should proceed so as to secure the allaying of the storm. The disciples of the Lord Jesus cried to Him in the tempest, and He hushed it into peace. We could cite numerous instances of modern times, in which earnest prayer in the storm has been followed by a calm. But God does not always literally allay the storm, and save from it those who cry unto Him. He, however, calms the inward tempest, so that the waves of anxiety and terror are still. He did so in those on board the London, who sank in the act of worship. If He does not avert the calamity in answer to the prayer of the imperilled, He nerves them for the calamity, in their case takes away the sting and evil of it, and makes it the occasion of blessing to them. In answer to the cry of “those in peril on the sea,” God does not always bring the ship into the desired haven; but “He bringeth them unto their desired haven,”—that calm haven where no storm raves, but all is peaceful, serene, and blessed. V. Man’s obligation for God’s interposition. “Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness,” &c. (See remarks on Psalms 107:8.) (Psalms 107:33-43) “The character of the Psalm,” says Perowne, “changes at this point. We have no longer distinct pictures as before: the beautiful double refrain is dropped, the language is harsher and more abrupt. Instead of fresh examples of deliverance from peril, and thanksgiving for God’s mercies, we have now instances of God’s providential government of the world exhibited in two series of contrasts. The first of these is contained in Psalms 107:33-39, and expresses a double change—the. fruitful well-watered land smitten, like the rich plain of Sodom, with desolation, and changed into a salt-marsh; and anon, the wilderness crowned with cities, like Tadmor (of which Pliny says, vasto ambitu arenis includit agros), and made fertile to produce corn and wine. The second is contained in Psalms 107:40-41, and expresses the change in the fortunes of man (as the last series did those of countries)—viz., how the poor and the humble are raised, and the rich and the proud overthrown.” Here are three chief points for consideration:— I. Revolutions in countries. Psalms 107:33-39. Here is— 1. A picture of a fertile land reduced to barrenness. “He turneth rivers into a wilderness,” &c. (Psalms 107:33-34). (1) This change was effected by God. “HE turneth,” &c. He can dry up rivers, and make the fruitful plain a salt waste or sandy desert. (2) This change was effected by God by reason of the wickedness of its inhabitants. “For the wickedness of them that dwell therein.” There is an allusion here to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the change of “the plain well watered everywhere, as the garden of the Lord,” into a salt sea and a salt soil on which nothing grows. “If the land be bad, it is because the inhabitants are so.” 2. A picture of a barren land made fertile. (Psalms 107:35-38.) The 35th verse is taken from Isaiah 41:18. The arid wilderness is transformed into a well-watered country, the barren desert into a scene of fruitfulness and beauty; where solitude reigned, a populous city is found; and where no life was, both human and animal life increases and multiplies. This transformation is brought about by— (1) The labour of man. “They prepare a city for habitation; and sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase.” Labour is an eternal and immutable condition of prosperity both for individuals and for communities. (2) The blessing of God. The Divine blessing precedes and prepares for human labour. “He turneth the wilderness into a standing water,” &c. The Divine blessing succeeds and crowns human labour. “He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied,” &c. Some expositors have connected these verses with certain historical events; but, as Perowne points out, “the language employed is far too general to be limited to one event. It describes what frequently has occurred. The histories of Mexico and of Holland might furnish examples of such a contrast.” Matthew Henry says: “The land of Canaan, which was once the glory of all lands for fruitfulness, is said to be at this day a fruitless, useless, worthless spot of ground, as was foretold (Deuteronomy 29:23). This land of ours, which formerly was much of it an uncultivated desert, is now full of all good things.” 3. A reminder that the temporal prosperity of communities is inconstant and uncertain. “Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow.” (1) The most prosperous communities are not exempt from calamities. (2) The most prosperous communities are sometimes brought low by calamities. Barnes: “God so deals with the race as in the best manner to secure the recognition of Himself;—not always sending prosperity, lest men should regard it as a thing of course, and forget that it comes from Him;—and not making the course of life uniformly that of disappointment and sorrow, lest they should feel that there is no God presiding over human affairs. He visits now with prosperity, and now with adversity;—now with success and now with reverses, showing that His agency is constant, and that men are wholly dependent on Him.” Matthew Henry: “Worldly wealth is an uncertain thing, and often those that are filled with it, ere they are aware, grow so secure and sensual with it that, ere they are aware, they lose it again.” II. Revolutions in human life. Here is— 1. The humiliation of the highest. “He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way.” If men of exalted rank do evil and dishonour God He will bring them down from their elevation, make them to be scorned of men, and reduce them to helpless embarrassment. “He bringeth the princes to nothing, He maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.” 2. The exaltation of the lowest. “Yet setteth He the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock.” God exalts the poor above their enemies, and out of the reach of their troubles. He raises them from suffering and adversity into joy and prosperity. He blesses them with large increase in their families,—“maketh families like a flock,” a figure denoting a great multitude. Amongst the Hebrews large families were accounted a blessing. Over all these revolutions God presides. “His kingdom ruleth over all.” “God is to be acknowledged,” says Matthew Henry, “both in setting up families and in building them up. Let not princes be envied, nor the poor despised, for God has ways of changing the condition of both.” III. The salutary impression of such revolutions. The Psalmist represents the result as threefold. 1. To the righteous, joy. “The righteous shall see it and rejoice.” The manifestation of God’s righteous government of the world is a source of gladness to the upright. 2. To the wicked, silence. “All iniquity shall stop her mouth.” “The Divine dealings shall be manifestly so just, and so worthy of universal approval, that even though the wicked are disposed to complain against God, they will be able to find nothing which will justify them in such complaints.”—Barnes. 3. To the thoughtful, increased acquaintance with God. “Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord.” (1) In the revolutions in human history there is a manifestation of the goodness of God. His rule is beneficent. (2) This manifestation of the goodness of God is perceived only by the attentive observer of those revolutions. The significance of God’s works and ways cannot be discovered by a glance, or by the superficial observer. But he who will consider them attentively and reverently, shall find in them sufficient reason for intelligent and hearty confidence in Him. “This Psalm consists of portions of two others, the first half of it being taken from the 57th Psalm, Psalms 108:7-11, and the latter half from the 60th, Psalms 108:5-12. It bears the name of David, because the original passages both occur in psalms ascribed to him as their author But there is no reason for concluding that these fragments were thus united by David himself. Some later poet probably adapted them to circumstances of his own time; possibly wished thus to commemorate some victory over Edom or Philistia.”—Perowne.As the whole of the Psalm has already been expounded in “The Homiletical Commentary” on Psalms 57, 60, it will be sufficient if in this place we suggest a method of developing its main homiletic ideas. The Psalm affords an excellent illustration of—THE TRIUMPH OF THE LIFEThe Christian life is a warfare. Every spiritually-renewed man has to do battle with fleshly lusts and evil tendencies in his own nature, with corrupt opinions and practices in society, and with the temptations of the devil. The renewed man is assured of ultimate victory in this conflict. And this Psalm very suitably represents the spiritual attitude of the Christian warrior, who, although he has gained many conquests, is not yet completely victorious, but in the strength of God is pressing on to the full and final triumph. The complete triumph of the Christian life is— I. Promoted by praise to God. The Poet begins his Psalm with praise to God. Observe the main features of his praise. It is— 1. Praise from a confident heart. “O God, my heart is fixed.” A fixed heart is one which is firm and fearless by reason of its confidence in God. Its praise would be unfaltering and fervent. 2. Praise with the noblest powers. “Even with my glory.” By his “glory” the Poet means his soul, with all the capacities and faculties which belonged to him as an intelligent being, created in the Divine image. The praise of God should engage the noblest powers of our being. Soulless worship is repugnant to Heaven. 3. Praise in the most public manner. “I will praise Thee, O Lord, among the people; and I will sing praises unto Thee among the nations.” The peoples of the whole earth alone constitute a sufficient auditory for the praise which the Psalmist would offer. 4. Praise because of God’s covenant relationship. “For Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.” The mercy and truth of God are the attributes which are celebrated by Hebrew poets and prophets as marking His covenant relationship with His people. These are conspicuous, exalted, vast as the heavens. 5. Praise of universal extent. “Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth.” The heart which is fixed to praise God would exalt Him in the highest degree and widest extent. He is worthy the praise of the highest intelligences of heaven, and of all upon earth. How does this praise promote the complete victory of the Christian life? First: It honours God. “Them that honour Me, I will honour.” If we honour Him with sincere praise He will honour us with courage, strength, triumph. Second: It strengthens faith. As we heartily celebrate the Divine mercy and truth, our faith in them will grow stronger. And in moral conflicts nothing nerves the heart with heroism and the arm with power like faith in God. In the warfare of the spiritual life if we would “wax valiant in fight, and turn to flight the armies of the aliens,” it must be “through faith.” II. Promoted by consideration of the triumphs already achieved. The Poet calls to mind the victories already won. “I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem and mete out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine, Ephraim also is the strength of mine head, Judah is my lawgiver, Moab is my washpot.” Shechem on the west of Jordan, and Succoth on the east; Gilead (including the region occupied by the tribes of Gad and Reuben), and Manasseh on the east, and Ephraim and Judah on the west, are mentioned as representing the whole land of Canaan. The powerful tribe of Ephraim is represented as “the strength of his head,” i.e., the great protection of the most vital interests in battle. Judah is spoken of as the lawgiver, probably in reference to the ancient prediction, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come.” All this land of Canaan was subdued. Moab also was conquered. “Moab is my wash-pot” expresses the reduction of the Moabites to a state of utter servitude. “The Moabites became David’s servants, and brought gifts” (2 Samuel 8:2). But the victory of Israel was not complete. Edom was still unconquered. But its subjugation is anticipated. “Over Edom will I cast my shoe.” In the preceding clause Moab is described as a mean vessel in which the feet are washed, and now Edom is described as a servant of the lowest grade to whom the sandals are thrown to be removed or to be cleaned. Or the figure may mean the placing of the foot upon Edom in token of its complete subjection. The idea undoubtedly is that Edom should be completely vanquished by, and subjected to, Israel. But how would the consideration of past triumphs promote the complete victory? First: Their consideration reveals the fact that many an enemy which seemed too mighty for us has been vanquished by believing effort. The Israelites had conquered the fierce and strong Canaanites. Could they not also conquer the formidable Idumeans? In the Christian life we look back upon many a difficulty overcome, many a temptation successfully resisted, many a foe slain, and are encouraged to hope and contend for the full and final conquest. Past victories are an earnest of future and entire triumph. Second: Their consideration brings into clear and impressive light the faithfulness and sufficiency of God as our Helper. He had made good His promise to Israel in their past triumphs, which they had achieved by virtue of His help; and, as He changes neither in His faithfulness nor in His power to help, would He not enable them to vanquish the Idumeans? In the past of our individual Christian life He has been our unfailing Helper and Supporter. “Having obtained help of God, we continue unto this day.” Our past triumphs are due to His assistance. And as we review them, remembering His unchangeableness, we are encouraged boldly to encounter future difficulties and enemies. John Newton very clearly expresses this thought— “His love in time pastForbids me to think,” &c.III. Assured by God. We discover this assurance in— 1. His interest in His people. David speaks of Israel as His “beloved.” “That Thy beloved may be delivered.” God loves His people; and that love is a guarantee of their ultimate and complete triumph over all their foes. 2. His power to give His people the victory. “Save with Thy right hand.… Through God we shall do valiantly; and He shall tread down our enemies.” “The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.” “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” To those who believingly prosecute this warfare God gives the victory. 3. His promise to give His people the victory. “God hath spoken in His holiness.” The holiness of God is the pledge that He will perform His promises. He has promised to those who believe on Him the victory over all their foes; and what He has promised He will perform, for His word is both almighty and unchangeable. . Here is encouragement for the Christian soldier. Ours is not a doubtful battle. The Lord is on our side; therefore we must conquer. Here is counsel for the Christian soldier. If we would conquer we must be found in the way of duty. Trust and fight, watch and pray, so shall you come off at last more than conqueror through Christ. THE OF GOD’S MERCY(Psalms 108:4.—“Thy mercy is great above the heavens.”) A thing may be radically evil in itself, and yet may by a superior power be made the occasion of good. The entrance of sin into the world was a most evil and painful thing, yet under the glorious government of God it is so overruled as not to prove an unmixed evil. Some of the most glorious representations of the character of God have been occasioned by the sin of mankind. This is true of His mercy. Sin did not originate His mercy, but was the occasion of its display. Mercy is the form which the goodness of God assumes to the sinful and wretched. It is the disposition of God to pardon sinners and to relieve sufferers. Our text sets forth the greatness of the Mercy of God. This is seen— I. In the blessings of daily life. The use of the word “mercy” implies suffering and sin on the part of those to whom it is applied. Man is a sinner: sin deserves misery, death. But there is much enjoyment in the world. Every day we receive innumerable blessings. What a proof of His mercy! Life itself is a gift of God’s mercy. His mercy crowns the life of hell-deserving rebels with joy! It becomes us to receive every comfort and joy as a proof, not only of God’s goodness, but of His mercy. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed,” &c. II. In the grand end for which it is manifested. Why, when sin entered our world, did mercy also appear? Why does God continue our life here? Why does He in countless ways manifest His mercy to men? In order that man may be delivered from sin, and be established in a state of holiness. Salvation, the restoration of man to God, is the grand purpose of Divine mercy. How transcendently great! How Divine! III. In the numerous and glorious means by which it seeks to accomplish this end. These are— 1. The incarnation, life, ministry, sufferings, death, resurrection, and intercession of the Son of God. The great blessing of salvation could not have been obtained apart from Christ. He is the great Gift of mercy, the great Channel of mercy, the great Minister of mercy. This gift transcends that of salvation. That our redemption should be through the blood of Christ is a wonderful display of mercy. Wonderful that mercy should seek our salvation; more wonderful that such means should be employed to secure it. Jesus Christ is the greatest gift of the mercy of God. 2. The agency of the Holy Ghost. He strives, calls, convinces, converts, establishes, sanctifies men—all in mercy, and all with a view to their salvation. In this we have a great display of mercy. He is distinguished, glorious, divine; and He is the gift of God’s mercy to us. 3. The ministry of the Gospel preacher. God hath sent forth ambassadors to beseech men in Christ’s stead to be reconciled unto Him. Every true preacher of the Gospel is a gift of Divine mercy to men. Every Gospel sermon is a proof of God’s mercy to those who hear it. 4. The arrangements of Providence. God’s providence is a great institution of mercy, a vast organisation of mercy in constant operation to secure the salvation of men. All the circumstances, scenes, and events of life are ordered or controlled by mercy for the salvation of men. How various and glorious, then, are the means and agencies which God in His mercy uses to secure the salvation of mankind! These means and agencies are devised by Mercy, bestowed by Mercy, employed by Mercy, for a most merciful end. IV. In the vast multitudes to whom it extends. It extends to all men. God in mercy gave Christ a Saviour for all men. His salvation is adequate to the needs of all, suited to the needs of all, offered to all, and free for all. Like the heavens which encompass all, and pour their light and warmth on all and freely, so God’s mercy embraces all, and freely offers to all her ample provisions. Countless multitudes have been saved by mercy. The trophies of her saving power are ever passing into the realms of the blessed. This great mercy is equal to all the sin and misery of our sinful and suffering race—nay, it transcends the sin and suffering. It meets the needs of the worst sinners. Manasseh, Mary Magdalene, the dying malefactor, Saul the persecutor, found mercy, and through mercy entered heaven. At present it is more than sufficient for the vilest. It is sufficient for all sinners that are now and will yet arise, until its grand end is accomplished, the race restored, and God glorified in man. His mercy is infinite. “He delighteth in mercy.” He “is rich in mercy.” “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever.” This great mercy increases our obligation to God. Accept this mercy; in sin and weakness trust in it; rejoice in it; praise God for it. “This,” says Perowne, “is the last of the Psalms of imprecation, and completes the terrible climax. In the awfulness of its anathemas, the Psalm surpasses everything of the kind in the Old Testament. Who the person was who was thus singled out for execration, it is in vain to conjecture. Those who hold, in accordance with the Inscription, that the Psalm was written by David, suppose that Doeg or Cush, Shimei or Ahithophel, is the object of execration.“In Acts 1:20, St. Peter combines a part of the 8th verse of this Psalm, ‘His office let another take,’ with words slightly altered from the 25th [Heb. 26th] verse of the 69th Psalm, and applies them to Judas Iscariot. Hence the Psalm has been regarded by the majority of expositors, ancient and modern, as a prophetic and Messianic Psalm. The language has been justified not as the language of David, but as the language of Christ, exercising His office of Judge, or, in so far as He had laid aside that office during His earthly life, calling upon His Father to accomplish the curse. It has been alleged that this is the prophetic foreshadowing of the solemn words, ‘Woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed; it were good for that man if he had not been born’ (Matthew 26:24). The curse, in the words of Chrysostom, ‘is a prophecy in form of a curse.’“The strain which such a view compels us to put on much of the language of the Psalm ought to have led long since to its abandonment. Not even the woes denounced by our Lord against the Pharisees can really be compared to the anathemas which are here strung together. Much less is there any pretence for saying that those words, so full of holy sorrow, addressed to the traitor in the Gospels, are merely another expression of the appalling denunciations of the Psalm. But, terrible as these undoubtedly are—to be accounted for by the spirit of the Old Dispensation, not to be defended by that of the New—still let us learn to estimate them aright. This is the natural voice of righteousness persecuted. These are the accents of the martyr, not smarting only with a sense of personal suffering, but feeling acutely, and hating nobly, the triumph of wickedness.”THE , THE , AND THE , IN THE LIFE OF A GODLY MAN(Psalms 109:1-20) I. The pitiable in the troubled life of a godly man. The Psalmist is to be commiserated because of the cruel treatment he received at the hands of unprincipled enemies. He complains of their— 1. Slander. “The mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me; they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.” (See “Hom. Com.” on Psalms 41:5-8; Psalms 101:5.) “No might nor greatness in mortalityCan censure ’scape; back-wounding calumnyThe whitest virtue strikes: what king so strong,Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?”—Shakespeare.Again— “Virtue itself ‘scapes not calumnious strokes.”And again— “Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.”2. Malignity. “They compassed me about also with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause.” Hengstenberg says: “The words of hatred are malignant accusations. The swords with which they fight are their tongues. The language used in the Psalm refers only to false accusations, not to deeds.” Their bitter hostility to the Psalmist was unprovoked. He had given them no cause for it. He had done them no wrong. 3. Ingratitude. He had done them good, and they injured him in return. “For my love they are my enemies. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” This is base and atrocious wickedness, yet David often suffered from such conduct. “At the battle of Alma, in September 1854, a wounded Russian was calling piteously for water. Captain Eddington, whose heart was kind and charitable, ran to him, and, stooping, gave him the much-desired beverage. The wounded man revived. The captain ran forward to join his regiment, when the wretch, who had just been restored by his kindness, fired, and shot him who had been his friend in the time of need.” “Blow, blow, thou winter wind,Thou art not so unkindAs man’s ingratitude;Thy tooth is not so keen,Because thou art not seen,Although thy breath be rude.”—Shakespeare.Kind and godly men are still exposed to the slander, malignity, and base ingratitude of the wicked. When they suffer from these they should be sustained by the sympathy of all true men. A good man smarting under the unmerited assaults of the wicked should be encouraged and defended by all upright men. II. The commendable in the troubled life of a godly man. The troubled Psalmist is to be commended because he committed his cause to the Lord in prayer. Notice— 1. The object of his prayer. He prayed that God would vindicate him from the slanders of his enemies. “Hold not Thy peace.” Hengstenberg and Perowne: “Be not silent.” The desire of the Psalmist was that God would interpose for his help, and so witness for him against his adversaries. 2. The intensity of his prayer. “ ‘But I give myself unto prayer,’ lit. ‘I (am) prayer,’ i.e., one who prays, having recourse to no other means of defence.”—Perowne. Matthew Henry, Barnes, and others are wrong in representing him as praying continually for his enemies. The spirit which breathes through the Psalm is utterly irreconcilable with such a view. In the most terrible manner he prays against his enemies, not for them. He devoted himself entirely to prayer; his supplications were continuous and absorbing. 3. The ground of his prayer. “O God of my praise,” i.e., the God whom I praise. This title contains the ground of the prayer. In former times the Lord had given the Psalmist reason to praise Him, and He will now interpose for him, and so give him fresh reason for praise. Hengstenberg: “The representation of all that the Lord has already done for us, and the appeal to it, form a sure ground of answer, and a mighty quickening of hope. He cannot be unlike Himself.” For thus committing his cause to God in prayer, the Psalmist is to be commended. His example is well worthy our imitation. Let the good man who is slandered and calumniated by the wicked commit his cause to God, and in due time he shall be amply vindicated. III. The reprehensible in the troubled life of godly man. Psalms 109:6-20. Various attempts have been made to free the Psalmist from the charge of revengefulness. Some have said that in these verses he speaks as a prophet, and simply declares what would come upon his enemies, and not what he desired concerning them. Others seek to get rid of the difficulty by regarding the Psalm as Messianic, and Christ as the speaker; others by supposing the words to be merely recorded by him as the words of his enemies. We have met with no satisfactory explanation which seeks to exonerate the Psalmist from blame. To us these laboured and strained attempts to exculpate the Psalmist do not seem very creditable to their authors, or in any way necessary. Religious experiences find utterance in the Psalms which are not commendable. In them the poets express their doubts as well as their confidences, their depressions as well as their exultations. Many things are recorded which are also condemned. The Bible faithfully records the defects and sins of the best men. One of the chief elements of the worth of the Psalms is that in them we have a faithful utterance of the varying religious experiences of imperfect yet unquestionably godly men. But it is essential to bear in mind that it is not just to judge David by the principles and spirit of this Christian dispensation. His utterances must be estimated in the light of the Decalogue, not in that of the Sermon on the Mount. But, after we have made every legitimate allowance tending to mitigate the harshness and bitterness of spirit here manifested, still the Poet appears to us here as a beacon, not as a pattern. His spirit and its expressions are to us things not to be imitated, but to be sedulously avoided. Without entering into a detailed exposition of these verses we would call attention to three considerations which they have suggested to us. 1. To pray for the wrath of God on any one is (to say the least) unbecoming in man. A due sense of our own sin and demerit ought effectually to repress such petitions. “If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” 2. To pray that even a man’s prayer might “become sin” is much worse than unbecoming. “Let his prayer become sin.” Perowne: “His prayer, not addressed to the human judge for mitigation of the sentence, but here, as always, prayer to God. The criminal, looking in vain for pity or justice at the hands of man, turns in his extremity to God; but even there, at the very fount of mercy, let mercy fail him, let his prayer aggravate his guilt. The utterance of such a wish is the most awful part of the imprecation. That prayer may thus draw down not forgiveness but wrath, see Isaiah 1:15; Proverbs 15:8; Proverbs 21:27; Proverbs 28:9. But it is one thing to recognise this as a fact in the Divine government of man, it is another thing to imprecate it.” 3. To pray for such curses as are here invoked on the wife and children of an enemy is to us unspeakably dreadful. We shudder as we read Psalms 109:10; Psalms 109:12, and are reminded of the words of Shakspeare:— “Oh that the slave had forty thousand lives;One is too poor, too weak for my revenge!I would have him nine years a killing.”So unappeasable seems the revenge of the Psalmist. Antoninus well says, “The best sort of revenge is not to be like him who did the injury.” But David resembled his enemies in this, that they “fought against him without a cause,” and he invokes the most dreadful injuries upon those who had done him no wrong, because they were related to one who had. Let good men as they read this portion of the Psalm take warning. The holiest of men in the present state may be tempted into the manifestation of a most unbecoming and sinful spirit. There is a revenge which is noble and God-like. Let us greet our enemies with it. “If thine enemy hunger, feed him,” &c. (Romans 12:20-21). , PRAYER, AND (Psalms 109:21-31) In this portion of the Psalm we have— I. A mournful complaint. The Poet complains of— 1. Mental distress. “I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.” He was miserable and in need of help. His troubles had pierced his heart as with a sword. It is trying to be troubled in our circumstances, or to be afflicted in body, but the sorest trials are those of the heart. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” 2. Physical exhaustion. “My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh faileth of fatness.” “Or it may be rendered, hath fallen away from fat.”—Perowne. The fasting spoken of is probably that of penitence, because of sin; or humiliation, because of suffering. It was a voluntary, not a compulsory fasting. By reason of this the Poet’s strength had failed. The knee joints no longer afforded him firm support, and his body was wasting to mere skin and bones. 3. Approach to death. “I am gone like the shadow when it declineth; I am tossed up and down as the locust.” Henstenberg: “I must go hence like the shadow when it declineth, I am carried away like the locust.” Perowne: “As a shadow, when it lengtheneth, am I gone hence, I have been driven away as the locust.” As the lengthening shadows of evening show the near approach of night, so the afflictions of the Psalmist seemed to indicate his learness to death and the grave. The Poet gives special prominence to the irresistibleness of his approach to death. He says literally, “I am made to go hence.” And as the locusts are seized and carried away by the wind, being powerless against its force, so he was being urged towards the gates of death by a force which he was unable to resist. 4. The reproach of his enemies. “I became also a reproach unto them, they looked upon me, they shaked their heads.” The wicked reviled the Poet as a bad man, and shook their heads in insult and mockery. Or it may be, as Henstenberg says, that they shook the head to express the desperateness of the Poet, saying by the movement, “It is all over with him.” Such is the mournful complaint of the Psalmist. It is sometimes a relief to express our afflictions and griefs to God. It lightens the burden of the heart, &c. This is especially so when complaint is followed by prayer. II. An earnest prayer. Consider here— 1. The objects sought in his prayer. The Psalmist petitions God for (1) Salvation from his afflictions. “Deliver Thou me. Help me, O Lord my God; O save me according to Thy mercy.” He seeks support from God in his trouble, and deliverance from his trouble. The Lord can turn the shadow of the darkest night into the light of joyous day. (2) Vindication from reproach. “That they may know that this is Thy hand, that Thou, Lord, hast done it.” In the view of the Psalmist, if the interposition he sought from God were granted unto him, it would completely silence the reproaches of his enemies. (3) Confusion for his enemies. “When they arise, let them be ashamed, let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion as with a mantle.” Baffle their dark designs, and clothe them with shame from head to foot. 2. The pleas by which he urges his prayer. “Do Thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name’s sake; because Thy mercy is good, deliver Thou me. O save me according to Thy mercy.” The grace of God is the grand plea of the Psalmist. He urges his petition not on the ground of his own merit, but of God’s mercy. This he sets forth (1) As the reason of salvation. “Do Thou for me, for Thy name’s sake; because Thy mercy is good,” &c. The originating cause of salvation is the infinite generosity of God. (2) As the measure of salvation. “Save me according to Thy mercy.” The salvation that is measured by the infinite grace of God will be gloriously complete. The pleas urged by the Psalmist (á) Indicate confidence in God. (â) Honour God. (ã) Are mighty with God. We shall do well to imitate them. III. An encouraging confidence. The Poet expresses— 1. An assurance of salvation from God. “For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.” He shall stand at the right hand of His afflicted people, to plead their cause against those who would unjustly judge them, and to deliver them. Take heart, ye tried and true, ye suffering and godly souls, for your Deliverer is mighty and your salvation sure. 2. A determination to offer praise to God. “I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth, yea, I will praise Him among the multitude.” He resolves that he will offer praise, and that it shall be (1) Hearty. “I will greatly praise the Lord.” (2) Expressed. “With my mouth.” (3) Public. “Among the multitude.” “Awake, my soul! not only passive praiseThou owest! not alone these swelling tears,Mute thanks and secret ecstasy! awake,Voice of sweet song! awake, my heart,awake!”—Coleridge.A PATTERN PRAYER(Psalms 109:21. “But do Thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name’s sake.”) This is a brief yet a model prayer for a good man. I. It is true in its direction. It is addressed to “God the Lord.” There is but One all-sufficient being to whom we can address our prayers. Think what is requisite to be able to answer prayer at all times—infinite intelligence, unlimited goodness, universal sovereignty, &c. The petition of the Psalmist indicates his belief that he was approaching such a being; if he could but secure the help of God, he would leave everything else to Him. He could do so only in approaching a being of whose perfection he had no doubt. Only the Lord God can hear and answer prayer. II. It is personal in its aim. “Do Thou for me.” Man’s first business is to secure the blessing of God for himself. We should not keep the vineyard of another and neglect our own. We should not attempt to lead others unto Jesus Christ until we know Him as our own Saviour. Unless we are assured of the Divine blessing, we should seek it first for ourselves, and then for others. This is not selfish, but benevolent. Show this. III. It is submissive in its spirit. The Psalmist leaves everything to God, only praying that His interposition may be “for” him. He leaves the manner of the interposition to God. God delivers His people by different methods; sometimes by removal of their afflictions, and sometimes by increase of their strength. He blesses His people by different means; sometimes by adversity, and sometimes by prosperity. The wise and good man leaves the means and the manner of the blessing to God. He leaves the time also to God. Now or in the future, early or late, as may seem good unto Him. This submission is both wise and pious. IV. It is powerful in its place. “For Thy name’s sake.” The name represents the character of God. The honour of the Divine name is bound up with His treatment of His people. If any one trusting in God were to perish the glory of His name would be sullied. This is a plea which prevails with God. This prayer is suitable for all occasions; it is brief and comprehensive. And if it is answered in our experience, we shall “have all, and abound.” I. A Messianic prophecy. 1. From internal evidence. 2. From the unanimous consent of Jewish expositors. 3. From the testimony of Christ (Matthew 22:41, &c.; Mark 12:35). 4. From the silence of the Pharisees (Luke 20:41). 5. From the witness of the Apostles (Acts 2:34; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Hebrews 1:13). 6. And the Early Church (Justin Martyr, Tertull., Cyp., Chrys., &c.). II. Its Messianic character denied. 1. Ewald refers it to David. 2. Hitzig, &c., to a Maccabean priest. Without foundation, for (1) Psalms 110:1 can scarcely be applied to a mere man; (2) Psalms 110:4 could certainly not apply to David or any human priesthood. III. Of Davidic authorship. 1. From internal evidence. 2. Almost universal tradition. 3. Our Lord’s testimony.THE OF CHRIST(Psalms 110:1 and last clause of Psa 110:2) Our subject occupies a foremost place in the Old Testament. The first prediction (Genesis 3:15) asserts it; the promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:17) implies it; the destiny of Judah (Genesis 49:10) involves it. It all but commences the Psalms (2), which indeed teem with it (45; 72; 110, &c.). Prophecy proper opens with it (Isaiah 2:1-4), and closes with it (Luke 1:33). Our Lord’s ministry was a proclamation of His Kingdom, but He did not reveal His own sovereignty till at the close. Then His sentiments are those of our text (John 17:2; Matthew 25:31-32; Matthew 28:8). Afterwards the glorious company of the Apostles (Acts 2:33-34; Philippians 2:9; Ephesians 1:22-23), the goodly fellowship of the Prophets (Revelation 19:16), the noble army of Martyrs (Polycarp: “How can I blaspheme my KING”), and the holy Church throughout all the world (Revelation 7:9-12), acknowledge Him to be the King of glory. I. Christ reigns by divine appointment. “The Lord said.” The Psalmist is admitted into the council chamber of the Trinity. There God the Father and God the Son occupy one throne (Eastern thrones are extended benches. “Sit on my throne at my right hand”—Schnurrer), and are in communion. 1. God assigns to Christ coequal authority. “At My right hand” (Psalms 45:9; Mark 16:19; Ephesians 1:20-21). 2. God assigns to Christ coequal honour. “Sit” (Psalms 29:10; 1 Kings 1:46; 1 Kings 2:19). II. Christ reigns by divine right. “My Lord,” ΰַ ?γֹ ?πִ ?ι a divine name. 1. By an inherent divine fitness. His attributes of wisdom, justice, power, and goodness, qualify Him for universal monarchy. 2. By an essential divine prerogative. He has created all, He preserves and sustains all, He has redeemed all, therefore He has a claim on the obedience and fealty of all. III. Christ reigns by a devout acknowledgment. “My Lord.” Christ’s monarchy is not elective, and therefore does not depend on fluctuating human opinions and passions; but, having been divinely established, His authority and fitness to rule have received ample recognition. 1. Kings in the political world have been proud to acknowledge their servitude to Him:—David, Constantine, Alfred, &c. 2. Kings in the world of scholarship and philosophy have submitted their giant intellects to His sway, and laid their conquests at His feet:—Origen, Bacon, &c. 3. Kings in the world of science have employed their genius and implements in widening His domain. Explorers, astronomers, &c.—Livingstone, Newton, Faraday, &c. 4. Kings in the world of morals, who have achieved conquests over human souls, have presented to Him their trophies, Philanthropists, missionaries. 5. Kings in the world of spirits acknowledge His royalty, and crown Him Lord of all. “Angels, principalities, and powers are made subject to Him.” Redeemed and glorified humanity casts its crowns before Him, and sings, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, and wisdom and strength, and honour and glory and blessing.” IV. Christ reigns over a disputed empire. “Rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies.” There are countless multitudes who revel in the enjoyment of their Lord’s bounty, who, alas! deny His crown rights. 1. Christ reigns in the midst of infidel enemies. The Atheist, the Materialist, the Socialist, and the Unitarian all say, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” 2. Christ rules in the midst of a heathenism that is ignorant of or hostile to His claims. All idolatry, whether aesthetic like that of ancient Greece, or absurd and barbarous like the fetish worship of the modern Hottentot, or like the debasing idolatry of self, is an usurpation of His rights. 3. Christ rules in the midst of a devil-ridden and death-stricken world. Nevertheless, the words stand true (Psalms 2:1-6). The usurpation of traitors is a standing witness to the rights of kings. V. Christ reigns by the enforced service of His foes. “Until I make Thy foes Thy footstool.” All in His dominions, whether willingly or unwillingly, are constrained to subserve His interests. 1. Tacitly. (1.) Infidelity serves Him by its inability to satisfy the cravings of the human heart. Man cries out for God. Infidelity says, “No God,” and drives man to Him who said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Man cries out for immortality. Infidelity says, “No hereafter,” and compels man to go to Him who has “the words of eternal life.” Infidelity has no moral guide, and thus sends man to Him who has given “an example that we should do as He has done.” Infidelity has no solace for man’s remorse and sorrow, and thus drives man to Him who alone can give peace through purity. Atheism serves him by trying to repress man’s instincts for God, which effort can only intensify those instincts, and send men to Him who alone can satisfy them. Pantheism serves him by its doctrine of the divine presence in the universe, and sends men to Christ, who alone can reveal that presence, and bring man into its conscious fellowship. Unitarianism serves him by maintaining the Divine Fatherhood and the perfect humanity, and sends men to Christ’s Godhood, which can alone explain the perfection of His humanity, and bring the prodigal back to his Father’s arms. (2.) Idolatry serves Him, inasmuch as it is the parent of ignorance, vice, and superstition, and creates in the human heart a craving after the wisdom, holiness, and moral light and power, which are derived from Him alone. (3.) Selfishness and sin serve Him, because, in spite of their fascinating seductions, men see that underneath them lie debasement, ruin, death. (4.) Yes, even the devil, wary though he is, serves Him. His hard service and his fearful wages drive men to Him whose yoke is easy, and whose burden is light, and who gives a hundredfold in this present world, and in the world to come life everlasting. (5.) And death serves Him, for it carries into His presence His servants, and removes all impediments to their perfect service. 2. Explicitly. Testimonies to Christ’s supremacy, from those least disposed to acknowledge it, show that Christ reigns, and that His enemies have become the support of His feet. (1.) Paganism sends its testimony through Julian, “O Galilean, thou hast conquered.” (2.) Devils. (Mark 1:23-26.) (3.) Atheism. “The most valuable part of the effect on the character which Christianity has produced by holding up, in a divine person, a standard for excellence, and a model for imitation, is available even to the absolute unbeliever, and can never be lost to humanity. It is the God incarnate more than the God of the Jew or of nature, who, being idealised, has taken so great and salutary a hold on the human mind. And whatever else may be taken away from us by rational criticism, Christ is still left, a unique figure.”—J. S. Mill. (4.) Rationalism, Kant says He is “the union between the human and the divine.” Strauss speaks of Him as the “highest object we can possibly imagine with respect to religion, the Being without whose presence in the mind perfect piety is impossible.” Renan exclaims, “Rest now in thy glory, noble initiator; thy work is completed, thy divinity is established; fear no more to see the edifice of thy efforts crumble through a flaw.… For thousands of years the world will extol thee … a thousand times more living, a thousand times more loved, since thy death.… Thou wilt become to such a degree the corner-stone of humanity, that to tear thy name from this world would be to shake it to its foundations. Between thee and God men will no longer distinguish.” Lecky says that Christianity has presented “an ideal character which, through all the changes of eighteen centuries, has inspired the hearts of men with an impassioned love, and has shown itself capable of acting on all nations, ages, temperaments, and conditions … has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the disquisitions of philosophers, and all the exhortations of moralists.” (5.) Pantheism. Spinosa thought Him “the best and truest symbol of heavenly wisdom, or ideal perfection.” (6.) Selfishness. Napoleon: “Alexander, Cζsar, and myself, founded great empires; but upon what? Force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love and to this day millions would die for Him. I know man; Jesus Christ was more than man.” VI. Christ will reign over an un-disputed universe. This is the sense of our text. The prophets, without a dissentient voice, predicted this. Christ Himself foreshadowed it. The souls under the altar groan for it. The Universal Church waits for it. “What successes did the Jews anticipate from their Messiah? The wildest dreams of their rabbis have been far exceeded. Has not Jesus conquered Europe, and changed its name into Christendom? All countries that refuse the Cross wither.… And the time will come when the vast communities and countless myriads of America and Australia, looking upon Europe as Europe now looks upon Greece, and wondering how small a space could have achieved such mighty deeds, will still find music in the songs of Zion, and still seek solace in the parables of Galilee.”—B. Disraeli. THE ROYAL ARMY(Psalms 110:2, clause 1, and Psalms 110:3) This is a vivid sketch of the Church and its prerogatives, inserted in the midst of the king’s coronation hymn. What is this but a foreshadowing of the union between Christ and His people. In Psalms 110:1, Christ is glorified with “the glory which He had with the Father before the world was.” In Psalms 110:2-3, that glory “He gives them.” In Psalms 110:4, He is a priest; in Psalms 110:3, His people are arrayed in sacerdotal robes. The influence of Christ’s character on the world is to quicken and refresh it; so here His people are as the dew. Christ’s years do not fail; so here His people are endowed with perennial youth, and out of their midst the “rod of His strength” goes forth.” I. Church weapons. “The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion.” The King first equips His chosen ones, and then sends them forth to war. The rod of Christ’s strength may be any one or all of those points of Zion’s panoply catalogued in Ephesians 6. The girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandal of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. In vain does the Church go forth when unprovided with them. Notice these weapons are—1, Of divine manufacture; 2, Of tried temper; 3, Of invincible strength; 4, Of irresistible power. II. Church character. Threefold— 1. The Church belongs to Christ. “Thy people.” (1.) By the terms of the everlasting covenant. (2.) By the redemption of the Cross. (3.) By His own declaration, “My Church.” (John 17:6-10.) (4.) By its own free consent. (Romans 14:8.) 2. The Church is of priestly dignity. “In the beauties,” lit. robes, “of holiness.” (2 Chronicles 20:21; Psalms 29:2; Exodus 28:2.) The splendid vestments were symbolical of the majesty, purity, and power of sacerdotal service. The fitness of this character is seen from the fact that the Church follows the royal priest. (Cf. Psalms 110:1; Psalms 110:4.) (1.) The quality of this priesthood is like that of the great high priest, royal. (1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 1:6.) (2.) The functions of this priesthood are—(a.) Sacrificial, not however expiatory, but eucharistic. (Romans 12:1; 1 Peter 2:5); and (b.) Intercessory. (Philippians 4:6, &c.) (3.) The appearance of this priesthood is beautiful. Everything in God’s world is beautiful. It is fitting, therefore, that His people should be so. The Church is a bride adorned with her jewels. She is called to cultivate not only purity but grace. And thus here the gorgeous vesture of the Jewish priest is a fit emblem of his beauty and attractiveness who has “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” 3. The Church is ever youthful. “Youth” here means young men. Christ’s followers possess the secret of perpetual youth. (1.) Individually Time, work, and strife, may age the outer man, but they cannot touch the spirit, that is renewed continually day by day. (Isaiah 40:30-31; 2 Corinthians 4:6.) That continues fresh and vigorous through wrinkles and material decay. (2.) Collectively. The Church was never more mighty in her numbers and in her influence than she is in this the 19th century of her history. Human institutions fail from internal weakness, or for the want of external support, and lose their influence in the lapse of years. Not so with Christ’s people. “They flourish in perpetual youth,” and “go from strength to strength.” III. Church spirit. “My people shall be willing.” It is not without significance that πְ ?γָ ?αָ ?δ willingness, or free-will offerings, is derived from πָ ?γָ ?α prince, or noble one. Hence the Christian esprit de corps Isaiah 1. Unmercenary. Christ’s people are actuated by no sordid motives. The reward before them is splendid if they win, but their all-absorbing aim is to “please Him who called them to be soldiers.” 2. Unconstrained. Christ’s soldiers are volunteers. They are called, but they may disobey. They may enlist, but are at liberty to retire. 3. Free by a glad surrender of the will. “If any man will come after Me, let him take up his cross and follow Me.” 4. Princely; and princely because free. The spirit of willing consecration raises these priests into “kings unto God.” As the servants of kings are noble, and as the suzerainties of emperors are governed by monarchs, so is the follower of the King of kings and Lord of lords a “prince with God.” IV. Church opportunity. “In the day of thy power.” There are two interpretations of this expression. “The day of thine own might;” and “the day when thou dost muster thy forces and set them in battle array.” The text in its present application implies both, for they are both characteristic features of the Gospel dispensation. The spectators of Christ’s miracles were amazed at the mighty power of God. (Luke 9:43.) Christ’s promise was that His Church should receive power then, and when He who is the power of God should “ascend far above all principalities and power and might” (Ephesians 1:21). Then He strengthened His disciples “according to His glorious power,” and made their faith stand “by the power of God.” Thus the Church is made strong “in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” “The kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” What is this but to prove that Church opportunities are ever present. Let her not wait then in indolence for special outpourings of the Spirit, but be faithful to the power she already has. Christ is the same in power “to-day, yesterday, and for ever,” and is with the Church alway; and every day is the Church under marching orders for expeditions against her foes. V. Church influence. “From the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth.” 1. Abundant. It covers the whole earth. Every nation, rank, and order of intelligence have felt its power. 2. Marvellous. The influence of Christianity has never been, and can never be, accounted for by natural hypotheses. Its only explanation is that, like its Divine Author, it “proceeded forth and came from God.” 3. Refreshing. It pours new life into dead humanity, and culture and civilisation follow in its train. The desert under its influence rejoices and blossoms like the rose, and becomes as the garden of the Lord. Contrast the world eighteen hundred years ago with what it is to-day. Fiji fifty years ago. 4. Gentle. Not with the force of arms or pride of learning. Yet before it tyranny, serfdom, and superstition flee. Concerning its influence as a whole, hear the words of an impartial witness: “By the confession of all parties, the Christian religion was designed to be a religion of philanthropy; and love was represented as the distinctive test or characteristic of its members. As a matter of fact, it has probably done more to quicken the affection of mankind, to promote piety, to create a pure and merciful ideal, than any other influence that has ever acted on the world.” (Lecky’s “Rationalism,” vol. i. p. 358.) THE ORDER OF (Psalms 110:4) No character has been more fruitful of speculation than that of Melchizedek. Some have conjectured that he was a theophany of Christ or the Holy Ghost. The Gnostics considered him an �on or a man formed before the creation out of spiritual matter. Origen said he was an angel. Others, Ham, Shem, Arphaxad, or Job. With theories we are not concerned. The fact before us is that Messiah is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, and that His appointment is held from God. I. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. 1. That order was unique. (1.) In its loneliness, Melchizedek stood alone. Other priests sacrificed to idols or the powers of nature; he to the “Most High God.” He was the one true priest before the Mosaic dispensation. Christ is the one true priest after it, and He stands alone. “One mediator.” No other order but His is found in the New Testament, or is now possible, or necessary. (2.) In that it was underived and untransmitted. Melchizedek did not follow, nor was he succeeded by, a priestly line. So Christ’s priesthood is “not after the order of a carnal commandment;” nor does it “pass over to another.” (3.) In its efficacy. The priesthoods contemporaneous with Melchizedek were founded on superstition; his only on divine revelation. So all other priesthoods but that of Christ are now effete or vain. His alone is efficacious. 2. That order was righteous. His very name “King of righteousness” is significant of that. But in a far more real and valuable sense is this so with Christ. (1.) He is absolutely righteous in Himself. He of all the sons of men alone could say, “Which of you convinceth Me of sin?” As such He was predicted (Isaiah 53:11; Jeremiah 23:5). As such He was by the confession of both friends and foes (Luke 23:4; 1 Peter 2:23). (2.) As the King of righteousness, He makes His subjects righteous (Isaiah 53:11). By cleansing away their unrighteousness and imparting his Holy Spirit, and encouraging and directing their holy lives. 3. That order was peaceful. He was “King of Salem which is King of peace.” In this the order was a strong contrast to the order of Baal, and indeed to the warlike sons of Aaron. Not more so does the priesthood of Christ contrast with the arrogant assumptions, worldly ambitions, devilish craft, and cruel persecutions of the orders of paganism and Rome. Christ is (1) absolutely peaceful in Himself. As such He was predicted and acknowledged. “The Prince of peace.” “He shall not cry,” &c. (2) As King of peace Christ gives peace, promotes it, and reigns over peaceful subjects. “My peace I leave with you,” &c. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” &c. “The fruit of the Spirit is … peace.” 4. That order was royal. He was king as well as priest. So is Christ a “priest upon His throne.” These two orders are seldom found united. Once when a king arrogated priestly functions he was smitten with leprosy. Terrible calamities have invariably resulted when political power has been wielded by sacerdotal hands. But in Christ their union is an unmixed blessing. Why? Because Christ’s royalty is based upon the great offering of Himself, whereas other priestly rules have invariably been founded on arrogant assumptions without corresponding service. Christ rules from His Cross: “I, if I be lifted up,” &c. And adoring Christendom says, “Thou art the King of glory, O Christ,” because “when Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death Thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.” 5. That order was superior. (1.) In its antiquity. It was before the authorised priesthood of Aaron. So Christ is “the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.” (2.) In its perpetuity. “For ever.” Christ “continueth ever,” and “ever liveth to make intercession.” (3.) In its universality. Heathen priests sacrificed for their particular tribes; Aaron’s priesthood was for the Jews; but Melchizedek offered for Abraham, and also for the Gentiles among whom he lived. So Christ is “a propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” II. Christ’s appointment to this priesthood is held under Divine authority. “The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent.” Persons occupying important offices must show their credentials; kings, their insignia; ambassadors, their letters patent; Christians, their holy life. So we demand from priestly pretenders their authority. In vain do we seek these warrants from any priest but the Son of God. He holds office, not by a transitory and human commission, but by the perpetual oath of God. And His credentials are “His hands, His feet, His side.” IN . “To-day we need these truths.… And thank God we can believe that for every modern perplexity the blessed old words carry the same strength and consolation. If kings seem to have perished from among men, if authorities are dying out, and there are no names of power that can rally the world—yet there is a Sovereign. If old institutions are crumbling, and must still further decay ere the site for a noble structure be cleared,” Christ’s altar and Christ’s throne remain. “If priest be on some lips a name of superstitious folly, and on others a synonym for all that is despised and effete in religion, yet this Priest abideth for ever, the guide and the hope for the history of humanity and for the individual spirit.”—Maclaren. CHRIST’S TRIUMPH OVER TYRANNY(Psalms 110:5-6) The union between the Father and the Son is still sustained. In Psalms 110:1, the Father gives the Son authority. In 2 and 3, followers. In the verses before us, He helps Him to conquer, and sustains Him in His rule. Notice— I. That all tyranny is the foe of Christ. “Kings.” 1. All political tyranny. Despots of whatever denomination are enemies of Christ, whether their tyranny take the form of oligarchy, monarchy, aristocracy, or mobocracy; wherever freedom is repressed, and wrong perpetuated under the name of law or no law, there is the seat of Christ’s war. 2. All social tyranny. The tyranny exercised by the ascendant caste, whether noble, or middle, or working class. Sometimes the rich oppress the poor; sometimes the poor, the rich. Now it is the squire who tramples on the peasant, now the peasant who sets the squire’s ricks on fire. Fashion tyrannises, and so does institutionalism. But one and all are foes of Christ. 3. All domestic tyranny, whether exercised by parents over children, guardians over wards, yes, and children over parents, which crushes or restrains the free play of domestic virtue or affection or action, is in irreconcileable antagonism to Christ. When the parent forces the child to wrong its conscience or deny its God, or when the child brings its parent’s head with sorrow to the grave, both are calling down upon themselves sure vengeance. When masters oppress their servants, yes, and when servants, getting as they sometimes do the upper-hand, oppress their employers, they proclaim themselves the enemies of Christ. 4. All spiritual tyranny. All priestcraft, ancient or modern, heathen, Romish, or Anglican. All forces, whether they proceed from politics, literature, science, or religion; all inquisitions employed for the purpose of shackling the human mind, or terrorising over the human fears, or violating the sanctities of the human heart, all are the antagonists of Christ. 5. All moral tyranny (2 Timothy 2:26). II. All tyranny is subject to the wrath of Christ. 1. Because of His own inherent righteousness. He, the King of men, does not break the bruised reed, &c., and He will not permit them who wield His delegated authority to do so. 2. Because His government is based upon the freedom of the subject. All His great blessings are free. The great end of His coming was to make men free. The great legacy He bequeathed to man is the “freedom of sons.” His express command is that man should “stand fast in liberty.” Any attempt, therefore, to unsettle or overthrow this foundation principle does and must excite His righteous indignation. 3. Because the well-being of man, the creature whom He loves and has taken into his own brotherhood, can only be maintained by political, social, domestic, and religious liberty. Of what value are national institutions unless man as man is free to enjoy them? Of what use are spiritual blessings if enforced on unwilling minds? Where is the benefit of domestic blessings if doled out or enforced by the iron rule of a despot? The only bond which keeps society together is the liberty of its individual members; and moral tyranny destroys the soul. Despotism is the upas blight which has ruined more institutions and more men than any other evil that has ever issued from hell. And therefore does it excite the anger of Christ. III. All tyranny will be destroyed by Christ. “Shall strike through kings … fill the places with dead bodies. He shall wound the head over many countries.” 1. Christ’s policy in the past, is a promise, of what it will be in all time to come. Every species of despotism has been destroyed by Him. Autocracy in those terrible oriental and western tyrannies which have left behind them but the phantom of a name. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome, have all been destroyed by the “stone cut out of the mountain without hands;” Democratic tyranny in the overthrow of the republics of Greece and Rome, and the bloody rule and bloody end of French socialism; intellectual despotism in the extirpation of an overweening philosophy and a no less overweening priesthood. Domestic tyranny in those nations where women were but chattels and slaves of less account than beasts. Moral slavery in his subjection of “him who has the power of death which is the devil.” All these despotisms seek to revive and propagate themselves today, but let them be assured that, as sure as Christ lives and reigns, their doom is sealed. 2. Christ’s policy is pursued for the benefit of humanity at large. All souls are on an equality before Christ. They have all shared a common creation and a common redemption. Heaven is not imposed upon by coronets and thrones. All mankind have crown rights, and woe to those who injure them. Those who do so must and will be removed. The tyrant must be hurled from his throne before the subject can breathe the free air of liberty. Pharaoh must be engulfed, that Israel may pursue her path of progress. 3. Christ’s policy presents an alternative. Despots may cease to be despots, tyrants may cease to oppress. Those guiltless of the crime will not then inherit the curse. IV. All tyranny will be supplanted by Christ. Tyranny is better than anarchy. But, having destroyed the tyrant, Christ assumes His sceptre and His throne, and reigns over a divinely-liberated people. “He shall judge among the heathen.” “On His head are many crowns.” Christ’s right and fitness to rule may be judged by what that rule when acknowledged has achieved. 1. The Christian Sabbath, the great barrier to the tyranny of toil. 2. The Bible, the grand charter of moral freedom. 3. Liberty for the soul from Satan’s power. 4. Liberty of thought. 5. Liberty, equality, and fraternity for all; for woman, for the child, and for the slave, for “One is your Master; even Christ, and all ye are brethren. Men and brethren—(i.) Prize your freedom, and let no man entangle you again in the yoke of bondage. (ii.) Thank Christ for your freedom. It is He who has made you free. (iii.) Employ that freedom in Christ’s service, that is, in making others free. CHRIST HIMSELF(Psalms 110:7) The picture is that of the conqueror pursuing his foes, and partaking of momentary refreshment at some wayside brook; then in the strength of that refreshment pursuing his joyful and victorious way. The scene is typical of those encouragements which are His support who is contending for rightful and universal empire. I. The Divine refreshment. “He shall drink of the brook in the way.” 1. Christ is encouraged by the sense of His Father’s approval. The kingdom for which He fights is His Father’s gift (Psalms 2:8). In fighting for it He always does the things which please Him. In the hottest conflict He is cheered by the voice from heaven: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased (John 10:17). 2. Christ is encouraged by the justice of His cause and the beneficence of His work. Those engaged in selfish projects have to look away from the work for encouragement. Those who know they are working for the bettering of the world can afford to despise obloquy and persecution. Christ knows that His work through crosses and conflicts will end in the regeneration of the world. He “sees of the travail of His soul and is satisfied.” 3. Christ is encouraged by the enthusiasm of His followers. Around no other name do such affections cluster, and behind no other banner do such earnestness and determination range. “Alexander,” remarked the great Napoleon, “Cζsar, and myself have founded empires. But upon what do we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded His empire upon love; and at this moment millions of men would die for Him. I die before my time, and my body will be given back to the earth to become food for worms. Such is the fate of him who has been called the great Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal kingdom of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, and adored, and which is extended over the whole earth?” 4. Christ is encouraged by the conquests He has already achieved, and by the certain triumphs which yet await Him. Behind is the cross, around is His redeemed and adoring Church, and onward is the millennium. (Hebrews 12:2; Isaiah 42:4.) “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.” All His past victories are prophetic of His success in time to come. Witness the trophies of the Cross in the first three centuries. Witness what it is doing in the realms of infidelity and heathenism to-day. On Himself He builds this Church which “triumphs o’er the gates of hell.” II. The consequence of that refreshment. Invigorated and encouraged the conqueror pursues his path to victory. “Therefore shall He lift up His head.” 1. Christ’s conquests are progressive. He does not complete His work at once. His work in the world is gradual and growing. Having achieved one success, He passes on to another, and will do so till “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is LORD.” 2. Christ’s conquests are permanent. That is to say, no hostile power shall ever win them back again. “They shall never perish.” True, His subjects may revolt. They may say, “We will not have this King to reign over us.” But they resign the fealty to Christ by their own free-will, and not by any power of the adversary. Then they become Christ’s enemies, and, if they will not let Him win them back again, in their destruction He displays His glorious power. 3. Christ’s conquests are glorious. (1.) Christ lifts up His head over redeemed and consecrated souls. To conquer inert matter and to sway blind forces were easy work for Omnipotence. But to convince the intellect, subdue the will, invite the affections and draw out the forces of the life, this is glorious indeed. (2.) Christ lifts up His head over the defeated and destroyed powers whose energies have been inimical to the interests of heaven and earth. The joy which was set before Him, and for which He endured the cross and despised the shame, was victory over the devil, sin, the world, and death. These He has vanquished. Sin has no more dominion over His people. They have the faith He gives, and have overcome the world, and through Him they can now say, “O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?” 4. Christ’s conquests will have an end. The time will come when Christ shall lift up His head over a regenerated universe. When all His enemies shall be subdued under His feet then (1 Corinthians 15:24-28.) Learn (i.) That all the sources of the Saviour’s encouragement are ours. (ii.) That if we are faithful we shall participate in His final triumph and share His throne. 1. Authorship unknown, probably late. 2. One of the ten alphabetical Psalms, the clauses beginning with the letters of the Hebrew alphabet in succession. This is no more artificial than the measure, rhyme, or rhythm of other poetry. 3. One of the ten Psalms which begin with Hallelujah.PRAISE(Psalms 111:1, Clause 1) “Praise ye the Lord.” (Heb. .) Worship is an universal instinct of humanity. In all places where we find men we find religious exercises. Polytheism, Pantheism, and even Positivism testify to the necessity of gratifying the religious instinct by providing objects for worship. “The man who has nothing else above him has self, that ugliest, most obscene of deities: Belial, and Mammon, and Beelzebub in one. Self is the deity of millions, and its worship is as vile, as brutalising, as ever were the rites of Chemosh, or Milcom, or Ashtoreth. In general, even fallen man has something besides himself above him; even where self presides in the worship, it is rather as priest than idol.”—Dr. Vaughan. Our text sets before us— I. The true object of worship. “The Lord.” 1. The only rightful object. (1.) On the grounds of creation and providence. (2.) On the ground of express revelation: “Him only shalt thou serve.” 2. The only satisfying object. (1.) Idols are nothing in the world. (2.) Nature and humanity are only abstractions. (3.) None but God is good, strong, and therefore willing and able to accept our worship. 3. The only ennobling object. All other objects, because of their vanity, inability, or degradation, are unworthy of man’s adoration, and therefore their worship is debasing. But the worship of God (1) Elevates the mind. The imagination and reason are lifted up above the mean or petty considerations of sense and time to the contemplation of the boundless perfections of the infinite and eternal. (2) It elevates the will above the debasements of selfishness, to free consecration to the authority of the noblest being and the execution of the noblest purposes. (3) It lifts the heart above all ignoble objects of affection, and reposes it on inimitable beauty and eternal loveliness. (4) It exalts the whole man intellectually, morally, socially, and even physically, into an atmosphere of holiness and purity. II. The true character of worship. “Praise.” All other elements of worship condense themselves into this. Prayer is a form of praise, because it tacitly acknowledges that God has answered it before, and is worthy of our grateful homage. Communion is a form of praise, inasmuch as it confesses that God is worthy of the time that we snatch from other engagements to consult His will. 1. Praise implies gratitude. It expresses thankfulness for past and present mercies. 2. Praise implies self-forgetfulness. Self is in oblivion when we contemplate and are thankful for those blessings which have made self possible. 3. Praise implies an adoring and strong recognition of God’s claims upon our practical service, who has showered those benefits which are the subject of our thanksgivings. 4. Praise is the result of the combined operation of all our faculties. The mind contributes its thought, the emotions their rapture, the will its volitions, the spirit its fervour, and the body its activities. III. The true spirit of worship. “Ye.” 1. Personal. God is no respecter of proxies. Incense, beads, and other ritualistic paraphernalia, and even men of unquestionable piety and spiritual power, can be no substitute for the personal homage of the soul. 2. Yet not so personal as to exclude all reference to or company with others. God’s blessings are like stones cast into the water. The ripples and influences are felt far and wide. The mercy a parent receives extends more or less to his family, dependants, and connections. Let him, therefore, praise the Lord for those who have felt the influence, and in their company. IV. The true medium of worship: Christ. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” CHURCH AND WORSHIP(Psalms 111:1) I. Distinctions in worship. The expressions, “assembly of the upright” and “congregation,” are not synonymous. They express the modern ideas of public and private; church and congregation. 1. Public worship as against the specious sophistries of Plymouthism, &c., may be defended (1.) On the ground of convenience. No private dwelling can afford the facilities presented by houses set apart exclusively for that purpose. (2.) On the ground of fraternity. “The Church in the house” if the only Church must necessarily be narrow and exclusive, and be confined in most cases to the family dwelling there, in all cases to the nearest neighbours. (3.) On the ground of unrepealed law. Man has not yet outgrown this provision for his spiritual nature provided under the old dispensation, and therefore the laws concerning it are still binding. (4.) On the ground of Christ’s example, in the use of temple and synagogues. (5.) On the ground of apostolic precedent. Paul in the “School of Tyrannus,” &c. (6.) On the ground of universal custom in all ages, from the churches in the Catacombs till now. 2. Private worship, as against formalism or latitudinarianism must be provided for and practised by the Church. (1.) On the ground of convenience. In public a certain amount of restraint is necessary. In private the Church is away from critical eyes and ears, and can unbosom herself without fear of being misunderstood. (2.) On the ground of Christian fraternity. The Church being a family should have opportunities of family worship. (3.) On the ground of universal custom. In all ages the Church within the Church, “The upright,” “Those that fear the Lord,” have had their separate assemblies. The Jews, our Lord and His disciples; the early Church, Reformers, Puritans, Methodists, &c. II. Places of worship. “In the assembly of the upright and in the congregation.” This suggests to us— 1. That the Church and congregation should not be confounded. “The upright” is a designation of God’s covenant people as such. “Congregation,” a general term for all who attend God’s ordinances. Gentiles were admitted within certain precincts of the Temple, but the inner enclosures were for Israel alone. A body of people assembling for worship or adhering to the tenets of a given communion may, for convenience sake, be called a church. But, strictly speaking, that term belongs to the mystical body of Christ. And while all are entitled to the privileges of congregational worship, yet there are certain specific privileges which belong to the Church as such alone. 2. That the Church should strive to make itself conterminous with the congregation. (1.) By a willing fraternity. Let not the member of the Church say directly or by implication to the member of the congregation, “Stand by, for I am holier than thou;” or thank God that he is “not as other men.” (2.) By an earnest and edifying testimony to the grace of God, and energetic evangelism (1 Corinthians 14:24-25). (3.) By generous invitation and genial encouragement. But not (1) By a lax and miscalled charity, cheapening church privileges and bringing them into contempt. (2) By mere desires of numerical increase: or (3) By the resignation of divinely conferred and responsible rights. Churches should demand and obtain moral qualifications for membership. It will be an evil day for the Church when she relaxes her discipline, but a happy day when all congregations are churches in the fulfilment of their duties and the blamelessness of their lives. 3. That Church and congregational duties are alike obligatory. The members of our congregation have much to be thankful for, and are the heirs of many hopes. Let them praise God for what they enjoy. The members of the Church have every cause for gratitude. Let that gratitude be expressed in the presence of the congregation, publicly and emphatically. III. Manner of worship. “I will praise the Lord with my whole heart.” Which suggests— 1. That praise should be earnest. Indifference or perfunctoriness is a gross offence to God. Where warmth, fervour, glow are wanting, the very elements of praise are wanting. 2. That praise should be complete. “Whole heart.” Wandering thoughts must be checked, vagrant affections and interests must be reined in. “Glorify God in your bodies and spirits, which are God’s.” 3. That praise should be spontaneous. It should well up freely and naturally from the thankful heart. IN . (i.) Are you a member of the Church of Christ? If not, why? From indifference? Shrinking from public testimony to the power of God? From the lack of moral qualifications? Brethren, the worship of such must be lacking in many elements desirable in the sight of God. (ii.) Are you a member of the Church of Christ? If so, what are you doing for the community to which you belong? Are you enjoying its privileges without contributing to its strength? Are you at ease in Zion? Remember, worship without work is hypocrisy (1 Peter 2:9). THE WORKS OF GOD, THE SUBJECT OF SOUL- SEARCH(Psalms 111:2) These words, summing up God’s works in general, and describing our proper attitude towards them, and the fruits of their patient study, suggest— I. That God’s works are great. They are great— 1. In the mystery of their origin. Like Him who made them they are past finding out. Even if the statements of modern scientists be true, viz., that all life may be traced back to one primordial germ, yet, as Professor Huxley has said, “The present state of knowledge furnishes us with no link between the living and not living.” 2. In the length of their duration. Astronomy and geology tell us something of the time which must have elapsed since they first came into being, and the Bible does not attempt to limit it. About their future science can say nothing, and about their absolute termination God’s Word gives no hint. 3. In the vastness of their extent. The most moderate computation of the distance between the sun and other planets, and our earth, to say nothing of realms of matter beyond, loses us in wonder and awe. 4. In the wisdom of their arrangement. Subject to unvarying law; exquisitely adapted for their various purposes; regularly serving their appointed ends. 5. In the beneficence of their intention. “All things working together for ‘the general’ good.” II. That God’s works should be the subject of study. The popular religious outcry against science is (1) unreasonable; (2) contrary to God’s Word; (3) condemned by the example of the best spirits in all ages. The psalmists and prophets were profound natural philosophers, and many of their revelations have anticipated the discoveries of modern times. Our Lord revelled in nature, and Paul had a keen eye for its beauties. (4) It is fatal to the interests of truth. But God’s works should be studied— 1. Cautiously. None but facts should be acknowledged. Probable hypotheses should be considered and respected, but conclusions should only be built upon unquestionable certainties. 2. Fearlessly. God cannot deny or contradict Himself. All that He has revealed in nature should be explored; and genuine discoveries, however much they may shock our prejudices or explode our preconceived convictions, should be welcomed and acknowledged. 4. Reverently. Nature is the revelation of “the invisible things of God;” explain many of the truths of God’s Word, and should be made the handmaid of piety. III. That God’s works are promotive of soul satisfaction. “Exquisitely excellent, and fully satisfying all those who delight in them; i.e., excellent, precious, incomparable, in the judgment of those who best understand them—His faithful worshippers” (see Psalms 12:1).—Speaker’s Comm. 1. The believer finds there revelations of his own dignity. Surveying the magnificent expanse above him, he will say, “I am greater than all that; for that gorgeous canopy has no mind.” Contemplating the immense ages which have elapsed since the world came into being, he will say, “All those ages were necessary to fit the world for me.” Watching the operation of inexorable laws, he will say, “I am free.” 2. The believer will find there intimations of his relation to God and his immortality. Man stands alone in the universe. “Communion with nature” is all very well as poetry; but between man’s soul and the material universe there is nothing in common, and therefore there can be no communion. He is thus driven to the Author of nature, and with Him man finds that he has some affinity, and can therefore have communion. Again, man lives in the midst of things that are ever changing and passing away. But when man turns within himself he is conscious of something that will “survive the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.” 3. The believer will there find ample confirmation of all that is revealed in God’s Word respecting his Maker’s wisdom and power and goodness. He will there see the truth of the declarations: “Behold, it was very good;” “Thou hast done all things well.” 4. The believer will there find abundant cause for thankful and adoring gratitude. The more he becomes acquainted with God’s works the more he knows of his Father’s beneficence towards Him, and will concerning him. IN .—(i.) Let nature be the subject of your studious search. (ii.) Let the design of your search be to find harmonies between God’s Word and God’s works. (iii.) Let the result of your search be thankful praise. NATURE’S BEAUTY AND THE OF NATURE’S GOD(Psalms 111:3) The union of the useful and the beautiful in nature is perfect. The two cannot be separated as is the case with the works of man. If you were to deface a Phidian statue, the useful marble would remain. Again, man uses beauty to conceal deformity. Not so nature. Man is the only blot on her fair surface. Nature’s beauty and utility are one and the same. The gorgeous tints which decorate the region of the setting sun are but the result of a certain combination of the laws by which we live. The same lines which make up the beauty of the landscape are the measure of distances and the guide of motion. We shall consider the utility of nature further on. Here observe— I. Nature’s beauty. “Honourable and glorious” δεֹ ?ψΞεְ ?δָ ?γָ ?ψ. Shining and glittering, majestic and splendid. 1. Nature exhibits herself in beautiful positions. The starry heavens, the distant landscape, alternations of mountain and plain, land and water, meadow and garden, forest and plateau. 2. Nature exhibits herself in beautiful forms. This is seen by the naked eye in the graceful foliage, the rippling stream, the foaming cataract, the raging sea; in flowers, fruits, herbs, &c. But the telescope and microscope open up the wondrous splendours of a new world. 3. Nature exhibits herself in beautiful operations. The march of the seasons, progress of the earth, dawn, meridian, sunset, night. 4. Nature teaches beautiful lessons of grace, dignity, generosity, order, dependence on God. 5. Nature is full of beautiful perfumes and beautiful sounds. II. Nature is beautiful, says the Psalmist, but nature’s God is righteous. Is there any break in the thought? No. 1. Nature’s beauty is but a reflection of that eternal moral beauty which we call the divine righteousness. Nature is beautiful, because it is the expression of the established will of heaven. 2. Conversely, nature teaches us that the mind which clothed her in those beautiful forms is beautiful. No effect can be greater than its cause. No water can rise above the level of its source. Order only can produce order, beauty only can evolve beauty. 3. Nature exhibits her harmony with her Maker. This is so complete that certain theologists have identified the two, and have regarded the universe as the splendid robe of deity. “Thus time’s whizzing loom unceasing I ply,And weave the life-garment of deity.”—Goethe.4. Nature exhibits by contrast the causes of the moral deformity of man. Man is out of harmony with the universe, because out of harmony with God. When that harmony is restored man puts on the beautiful garment of holiness, and grows in grace. III. Nature is beautiful, as the expression of the everlasting righteousness of nature’s God. Then beauty is the permanent order of things, for moral beauty is eternal. Some day nature will put off her splendid vestments, but that will only be preparatory to the creation of the new heaven and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Those who exhibit themselves in contrast with her now, being then in harmony with her God, will be in harmony with her. It is not without significance that all the visions vouchsafed to man of the life to come are exquisitely beautiful. Beautiful scenes, forms, sounds, fragrance, food; because all righteous (Revelation 22:1-6). THE PURPOSE OF NATURE, AND THE OF NATURE’S GOD(Psalms 111:4) I. The purpose of nature. “He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered.” 1. Their wonderfulness adapts them to man’s memory. The “Speaker’s Commentary” paraphrases thus: “He has done such wonderful deeds that a remembrance of them abides for ever” (Psalms 78:3-4; Numbers 16:40; Joshua 4:6-7). Those things are most easily remembered which strike upon man’s sense of wonder. Trivial incidents we forget, great things we call memorable. God’s works are wonderfully great, wonderfully mysterious, wonderfully old, wonderfully novel and fresh, wonderfully grand. 2. The memory stands as the result of the operation of all the faculties of the mind. We must study, apprehend, reason, and compare, if we would remember. Memory is but the treasure-house of the things we put into it; and we can only store it with the facts of God’s universe by the exercise of all the intellectual powers. But memory is fickle, hence the necessity of constantly examining it to see if its contents are still there and in their right places. 3. The retention of God’s marvellous works ennobles memory. (1.) By the exercise which it gives. Memories enlarge and grow by exercise. Bad memories, as a rule, are idle and unexercised memories. (2.) By the love which they impart. How debasing are the contents of most memories! Recollection of wasted opportunities gives a tone of remorse. Recollection of sins gives a tone of vice. God’s works are pure and good, and must give a pure and good tone to that which stores them up. (3.) By alien recollections which they expel. A memory that is full of God’s wonderful works must have emptied itself of all base subjects. And as they take hold of the mind they cast out things unworthy of retention. True, this is a process largely dependent on habit. Let then the habit be cultivated, and all base and unworthy memories will gradually fade. II. The purpose of nature is to be remembered: why? That we may have a perpetual evidence of the goodness of nature’s God. 1. God’s works show that He is gracious:— THEM. All nature shows that God is mindful of man and visits him. Creation is no testimony of a creator distant from and indifferent to its operations. It postulates the presence of One who watches the movements of all its laws and processes, and who continually prevents its going wrong. And what for? The whole universe replies, “For man.” All things work together for his good. Natural forces have other ends to serve, but emphatically and pre-eminently they serve him. The sun by day, and the moon and stars by night, afford him light and regulate his time. Birds, beasts, fishes, vegetables, &c., serve him for labour, clothing, or food. All this evidences the fact that God is gracious to man. Above all, there is God’s gracious work of Redemption, the operations of the Holy Ghost, the Church, the Word, the Sacraments. 2. God’s works show that He is “full of compassion:”— THEM. Compassion is the sentiment of a higher and richer to a lower and more needy creature. God’s works contemplate the alleviation of human wants. Man suffers from exhaustion: “God giveth His beloved sleep.” Man suffers from cold: God has laid up for him a treasury of coal. Man suffers from heat: God has provided healthy and refreshing breezes. Man suffers from disease: God’s works are full of healing medicines and curative appliances. Man suffers from sin, and, behold, all heaven is opened and placed at his disposal. THE BOUNTY AND OF GOD(Psalms 111:5) Old and New Testament alike recognise the Fatherhood of God. In that Fatherhood all the divine perfections inhere. As a Father, God is just and holy as well as merciful and kind. Consequently the results of that Fatherhood do not spring from mere spasms of affection, but are based upon eternal principles. Hence our text recognises the provision for our daily wants as the result of God’s fidelity to His covenant engagements. I. God’s bounty. “He has given meat, i.e., prey, contemplating a nomadic life, or Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. 1. God’s gifts are as varied as man’s need. (1.) Man’s material blessings are God’s gifts, not his own earnings. The health, strength, and physical force by which he acquires them are loans from God to enable him to acquire them. (2.) Man’s intellectual blessings are God’s gifts. Information, learning, and all mental wealth necessary for the nourishment and support of the intellect. (3.) Man’s moral blessings are God’s gifts. Man is entirely destitute of the means of making spiritual provision. God gives the power to repent and believe, and on the exercise of these saving instrumentalities depend all God’s mercy by Christ, by the Holy Ghost in regeneration, sanctification, &c. 2. God’s gifts are as plentiful as man’s need. (1.) Wherever man exists he is found to be a needy creature, but everywhere his needs are met. When it is cold, animals are found with skins which afford him suitable clothing and food, which contributes to warm his blood. In hot climates, suitable vegetable and fruits preponderate. In temperate zones both abound as and when he needs them. Political economists borrow from providence their law of supply and demand. (2.) Wherever man is found, he is full of need. Physically, intellectually, and morally, but everywhere the promise holds good: “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” 3. God’s gifts are equal to all the emergencies in which man through need is plunged. Everywhere “man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” Illustrations—Marah, water out of rock, quails, &c. In business perplexities, “If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God.” In family worries, “Casting all your care on Him.” In painful sickness, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” II. God’s bounty is based upon God’s faithfulness. “He will be ever mindful of His covenant,” which covenant binds Him over to care for His people. The Psalmist wrote this with reference to the Sinaitic covenant alone. Christians base their hope in its frequent repetition. (Jeremiah 31; Ezekiel 11; 2 Corinthians 7; Revelation 21:7.) 1. God’s bounty is not capricious. Faithful in opposition to fickle. 2. God’s bounty is not administered by favouritism. Faithful as opposed to unjust. 3. God’s bounty is exactly suited to man’s need. Faithful as opposed to sentimental. 4. Therefore man’s supplies are sure. Is not this contradicted by facts? No. (1.) We must take all the facts into account. The poorest Christian has more than the richest worldling. (2.) We must give God the eternity He demands in which to work out His purposes. “He will ever be mindful of His covenant.” (3.) If God withholds one gift it is only to give a greater. (4.) Men can afford to wait for the “eternal weight of glory.” III. God’s bounty is conditional on man’s piety. “Unto them that fear Him,” so says our Lord; “Seek ye first,” &c. Paul: “Godliness is profitable,” &c. 1. Piety is necessary to secure the WHOLE of God’s bounty—intellectual, material, moral. If a man loves his neighbours better than himself, and promotes their wellbeing to the neglect of that of his family and himself; if, while fervent in spirit, he is slothful in business; if, while devotional and philanthropic, he is neglectful of the laws of health, let not God be charged with the result. 2. Without piety none of God’s blessings will be secured. The semblance or shell may be, but not the substance. To look at riches, luxury, &c., is to take an inadequate view of the case. In themselves they are unsubstantial, transitory, may be a curse, and are only valuable for results which without piety are never obtained. 3. True piety is the sure means of securing God’s blessings. (1.) Love of God. (2.) Proper love of self. (3.) Love of others. Fidelity to these laws is the basis of everlasting prosperity. THE PURPOSE OF THE OF GOD’S POWER(Psalms 111:6) While we study God’s revelations in the Bible, in nature, and in the course of providence, and read of His goodness there, never let us overlook the fact that they contain records of His glorious power. The thought in the Psalmist’s mind was the conquest of Canaan, which (see the narrative) could only have been effected by the miraculous arm of God. Notice— I. That God’s people have acquired the heritage of the heathen. 1. Materially. God did not more give Canaan to Israel than He did the Roman Empire to the early Church, than He has done India, &c., to the modern Church. Witness the progress of those nations who have been true to God—England, Scotland, America. Contrast the decay of the great Oriental powers and superstitions, and Italy and Spain. 2. Intellectually. Christianity wields the sceptre over the world of mind. She has passed whatever precious metal there was in heathen philosophy through her mint. Whatever revolutions there have been in human thought she has impressed them into her service, and it is a remarkable fact that nothing that has not been received by the Church is acknowledged as unquestionable truth. And for many centuries it is the Church that has given to the world its explorers, scientists, and teachers. 3. Morally. The Christian wave moved by the breath of God has swept away many an idolatry, superstition, and vice, and is doing so wherever it rolls. There is much of each form of evil still, but compare the world to-day with the palmiest era of ancient Rome. Contrast the moral deserts with the Christian oases in the midst of them in Africa and Hindostan. What was Fiji a century ago? What is it to-day? II. That this acquisition is the result of divine power. 1. From the extreme unlikeliness of the result. Imagine Nero’s smile if Paul had predicted to him the changes which would take place in his empire within three centuries. Imagine Philips’ incredulity if he had been told of the probable or even possible destruction of the invincible Armada. Who would have looked for such a development of Scotland’s scanty resources, and the progress of the United States? Equally unlikely was it that the sayings and writings of a Nazarene peasant and His disciples should shake the schools of philosophers, and produce such thinkers as Augustine, Aquinas, Bacon, and Newton. Yet the simple preaching of Christ crucified has been the power by which God has changed the face of the world. 2. From its complete success. Wherever Christianity has gone, heathenism has receded, and the idols have been given to the moles and the bats; and it still goes on conquering and to conquer. III. That this acquisition is for the benefit of humanity at large. It is not for the exclusive good of those who make the acquisition in the first instance, but for the good also of those from whom the acquisitions are derived. A good and wise conqueror contemplates the good of the vanquished. And so Christian conquests are achieved that the heathen may also become the children of God. THE OF GOD’S WORKS AND THE OF GOD’S WORD(Psalms 111:7-8) The Bible goes upon the assumption that both nature and itself are the work of the same hand and the revelation of the same being. That being the case there can be no contradictions between them. (See Butler’s “Analogy,” chap. I.) I. The characteristics of God’s works. 1. They are true, “verity.” They are real and genuine, and contrast with many of the works of man. In working out an end God employs the right materials. From the star to the grass-blade every means is adapted to its proper end in the best possible way. 2. They are just, “judgment.” (1.) God uses right materials in the right way. He does not trench on the interests of any of His creatures. Everything is found in its proper and therefore best place, and is working out its best and therefore proper destiny. (2.) God uses right materials to subserve right ends, and seeks the good of all that He has made. 3. Therefore God’s works endure. The second member of Psa 111:7 certainly applies to God’s Word. The application of Psa 111:8 is uncertain. Perhaps this is intentional, that it may apply to both. From the analogy of things we gather that what is good will stand. Man’s works decay, many of them for the want of rectitude and justice. God’s works stand fast for ever; they will be transformed, but not destroyed, because God has made them very good. II. Characteristics of God’s Word. It is “sure” for the same reason as His works. As Matthew Henry says, it is “straight and therefore steady.” It is founded no less upon the justice and truth of God than upon His mercy. “My word shall never pass away.” 1. God’s are sure. There is no repeal for them. “God is not a man that He should repent.” Let the wicked tremble. 2. God’s are sure. They are part of the “everlasting covenant.” Let the righteous rejoice. 3. God’s COUNSEL is sure. “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” Let all men hope. Learn— (1) That the qualities of God’s works and word are the qualities of its Author. Truth, rectitude, immovableness. (2) That these qualities afford an unshakable foundation for faith and hope (Matthew 7:24-25). : ITS SURE AND ITS AWFUL (Psalms 111:9) It is to be feared that the doctrine of redemption is underestimated and undervalued, from an inadequate conception of the majesty of its Author, and of the fulness of its obligation. God’s justice had as much to do with it as His love, and its intent is not only to deliver men from hell, but from sin; and not only to privilege, but to duty. The Israelites were redeemed, not only by the visitation of God’s compassion, but by His covenant; and not only out of Egypt, but to the promised land; and in that land they were to be a holy nation. The Redeemer of man is the “holy one;” and the end of His work is to “separate unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” I. Redemption. The redemption out of Egypt, to which this undoubtedly refers, was very suggestively typical. Egypt representing human bondage in general; the blood sprinkled on the doorpost, the ransom price; and the promised land in every respect the antithesis of the land of serfdom, the duties and privileges of God’s believing people. II. The sure foundations on which this redemption rests are “His covenants.” 1. God undertakes by virtue of this covenant to redeem all who will be redeemed, and confirms that covenant with His oath (Hebrews 7:13-20). 2. Redemption by price is secured for all. Redemption was made possible for all Israel, but it was open to any to reject the privileges it involved. So Christ has died for all, yet the benefit of that death will be secured only to those who believe in Him. 3. Redemption by power is only effected in those who fulfil the covenant conditions. God has fulfilled all the conditions on His side that are possible, and waits to fulfil the rest. Man must fulfil his, and repent, and believe. 4. To those who fulfil the conditions of that covenant, the covenant is made sure for ever. “Unbelief may perhaps tear the copies of the covenant which Christ has given you; but He still keeps the original in heaven with Himself. Your doubts and fears are not part of the covenant; neither can they change Christ.”—Rutherford. 5. The covenant of God is the ground of the expectation of final and perfect redemption. “The strong hope of our fastened anchor is the oath and promise of Him who is eternal verity; our salvation is fastened with God’s own hand and Christ’s own strength to the strong stake of God’s unchangeable nature.”—Rutherford. III. The awful sanctions by which the duties of the redeemed are enforced. “Holy and fearful” is the name of Him who has redeemed us and to whom we owe allegiance. Redemption therefore involves— 1. Our holiness. 2. Our reverence for, as well as our love of God. IN . (i.) Redemption gives God the absolute right to our service. (ii.) Selfishness and sin are sacrilegious thefts. THE NATURE AND OF TRUE PIETY(Psalms 111:10) Both the character and advantages of religion have been sadly misrepresented. This authoritative declaration is therefore appropriate and valuable. 1. Religion has been misrepresented as a thing of the emotions, without vigour or intelligence; as that which is fit only for the Sunday exercise of those who have declined or lost the battle of life. 2. Its advantages have been misrepresented as belonging exclusively to another sphere, and to belong only to the future life; and therefore 3. Secularists and others have condemned it as emasculating the human powers and imposing drawbacks on human progress. In opposition to this the authoritative document on the question declares— I. What true piety really is. 1. It is “the fear of the Lord.” Not slavish terror or alarm, but such respectful reverence as a good son will afford a good parent on his recognition of superior mental and moral qualities. Surely there is nothing degrading in this. On the contrary, it is sublimely elevating inasmuch as it involves (1) The contemplation and love of infinite wisdom and holiness. (2) The careful avoidance of those things which infinite wisdom and holiness have condemned. (3) Such studies and practices which will bring man into harmony with infinite wisdom and holiness, and which will secure the approval of them to whom those attributes belong. 2. It is “to do His commandments.” Is there anything degrading in this? (1) We have nothing to do with those traditions which human folly has elevated to the dignity of divine commands. Nor (2) with the unworthy conduct of so-called Christian men. (3) But we have to do with the moral law of the Old and New Testaments, which the greatest moralists and statesmen have all but unanimously pronounced perfect. II. What the advantages of true piety really are. 1. True piety is “the beginning of wisdom.” Wisdom may be defined as the choice of the best end, and the employment of the best means to secure that end. What is man’s best end? Is it not the complete good of his complete nature, and that of his neighbour? What is the best means of gaining it? How can we know in the first instance and do in the second? (1.) By insight? Insight has never discovered the answer to these questions, as is proved by heathenism. (2.) By learning? Witness the moral degradation which preceded the downfall of the wisest nations of antiquity. (3.) By experience? History shows that man, except under Christian conditions, has never enjoyed such experiences as could help him to come to a right conclusion. (4.) How then? By that temper of mind induced by the fear of God which leads men to “love the Lord their God with all their heart and soul,” &c. 2. True piety, being the beginning of wisdom, grows with its growth and strengthens with its strength. Having the true wisdom all other wisdom follows in its train. Fearing God (1) I shall study His character. That character is infinite. Therefore its study will enlarge my mind, train it for prolonged and patient efforts, for deep and abstruse subjects, secure its balance, safety, and sanctity. (2) I shall study His works. Hence follows all science. I am forbidden to investigate nothing. But my fear of God will prevent me indulging in unprofitable speculations and pushing my researches beyond desirable limits. (3) I shall study His ways. All history is open to me; and by regarding it as a development of God’s providence I shall have a key to unlock its mysteries which merely human wisdom would not afford me. All politics are open to me, all commercial enterprises, all discoveries and explorations. 3. True piety is the harbinger of success. ωֵׂ ?λֶ ?μ would appear to mean the success which the exercise of wisdom implies, and the respect which wisdom commands. (1.) Those who fear God and keep His commandments make the best of both worlds. It implies prudence, as translated (2 Chronicles 2:12), sense (Nehemiah 8:8), knowledge (2 Chronicles 20:22), policy (Daniel 8:25). (2.) They gain respect and esteem; not the hypocrite, but the truly godly. ETERNAL PRAISE(Psalms 111:10, last clause) The occasional glimpses which we get of the service of angelic beings in the past eternity is singularly corroborative of our text. “The morning stars sang together,” &c. “When He brought His first-begotten into the world He saith, Let all the angels of God worship Him.” The ample revelations of the eternity to come confirm the same. The one theme upon the lips of unfallen beings in the past, and unfallen and redeemed beings in the present and future, is the praise of God. Notice— I. The object of praise is eternal. God in His being and perfections is ever the same. II. The subjects for praise are eternal. Man has always been receiving benefits. These will ever be remembered in grateful song. For creation, Revelation 4:11; redemption, Revelation 5:9-10. For benefits that will ever accumulate, Revelation 21, 22. III. The worshippers are endowed with “life eternal” (Revelation 3:2). The mind will be keener than ever for the appreciation of the divine wonders and goodness. The heart will be warmer than ever in its gratitude and affection. The organs of praise will be clearer and more powerful than ever. 1. An alphabetical and hallelujah Psalms 2. Author unknown; ascribed by Vulg. to Haggai and Zachariah after the exile. 3. A hymn on the excellence and reward of piety. 4. The concluding verse of 111 and the first verse of 112 form the point of union. “All human righteousness has its root in the righteousness of God. It is not merely man striving to copy God; it is God’s gift and God’s work. There is a living connection between the righteousness of God and the righteousness of man, and therefore the imperishableness of the one pertains to the other also.”—Perowne.THE AND OF TRUE (Psalms 112:1) This verse may be taken as a text of which the Psalm is an exposition. True religion consists of (1) Love of God’s commandments, (2) Righteousness, (3) Grace, (4) Compassion, (5) Discretion, (6) Firm Trust in God, (7) Benevolence. Its blessedness involves (1) The superiority of the offspring of the religious man; their (2) happiness, (3) temporal prosperity, (4) spiritual establishment, (5) everlasting remembrance, (6) confidence. In contrast with all this is the misery, destruction, and disappointment of the wicked. To restrict ourselves to the text, notice— I. The characteristics of true religion. 1. The “fear of the Lord.” “The Old Testament lays great stress on the fear of God. Everywhere it is the cardinal virtue, the corner-stone of the saintly temple—the root of grace out of which, if it be fully planted in a man’s heart, all the other graces, all the varied fruits of righteousness, will be sure to grow.”—C. Vince. This sentiment is peculiar to the godly; for the wicked have “no fear of God before their eyes.” It is not a dread of consequences, but a dread of sin as alien to God and to man made in the image of God. 2. Great delight in God’s commandments. “All that fear God are well pleased that there is a Bible a revelation of God, of His will, and of the only way to happiness in Him.”—M. Henry. (1.) Those warrant our delight. They are the revelation of His will who is the subject of man’s filial reverence, and are the only means whereby the well-being of man may be secured. (2.) The STUDY of those commandments should be our delight. Their wisdom and suggestiveness expands the intellect; their goodness excites the best feelings; they brace the will by their firm and resolute sanctions, they elevate and give a spiritual tone to all the faculties. (3.) The of those commandments should be our delight. Their yoke is easy; their duties are pleasures; and in the volume of the book it should be written of the servant as well as of his Lord: “I delight to do Thy will, O my God.” 3. Divine praise. “Praise ye the Lord.” Fear and obedience are worthless without this supreme symptom of love. II. The blessedness of true religion. “The word ΰַ ?ωְׂ ?ψֵ ?ι is properly, in the plural form, blessednesses; or may be considered as an exclamation produced by contemplating the state of the man who has taken God for His portion. 1. God made man for happiness. 2. Every man feels a desire to be happy. 3. All human beings abhor misery. 4. Happiness is the grand object of pursuit among all men. 5. But so perverted is the human heart that it seeks happiness where it cannot be found; and in things which are naturally and morally unfit to communicate it. 6. The true way of obtaining it is here laid down.”—A. Clarke. Learn— (1.) That blessedness is God’s gift. (2.) That duty it God’s path to blessedness. (3.) That religion is the truest blessedness, because it involves relationship with God and fulfilment of duty. THE RESULTS OF (Psalms 112:2) A conspicuous feature of the Old dispensation was that the blessings of the righteous were also the inheritance of their children. And those promises which were conferred on the posterity of the righteous Jew have not only never been recalled, but are among the express provisions of the Christian covenant. The second command is still unrepealed. Isaiah 44:3 never received its fulfilment till Pentecost; cf. also Joe 2:28-32; Acts 2:17. Notice— I. What our text presupposes. 1. True piety, which, consisting as it does in true wisdom, fearing God, greatly delighting in His commandments, and praising Him, (1) will, by the cultivation of healthy physical, intellectual, and moral qualities, through the well-known law of heredity, will transmit the same. (2.) Will strive to predispose the child to the choice and reception of piety. A good parent will carefully attend to the circumstances which surround his child, shielding him from temptation, and facilitating his choice of the good, at home, at school, in the selection of a profession, &c. (3.) Will “train up a child in the way he should go,” “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord;” will not neglect things spiritual in favour of things temporal; will strive to implant the fear of God, and the love of God’s commandments, on the plastic character wisely and well; not making religious exercises burdensome but delightful. 2. Firm faith that God will help and crown its efforts with success. (1.) It leans on the divine power. It will pray, therefore, for the continual exercise of that power. (2.) It relies on the divine promises, which makes it hopeful of the result. 3. Patience. (1.) In training. A child has naturally a free and wayward will. To mould that will requires time and perseverance. (2.) In waiting for results. Seeds do not germinate all at once. The good seed may lie dormant for a considerable time, and the wise parent will not hurry it. 4. The possibility of failure in certain cases. “He who would share in the blessings of pious ancestors must follow after their faith.”—Starke. A child may be proof against all piety and care, in which case the divine promises, which are all conditional, will not be fulfilled. II. What our text declares. 1. That “his seed shall be mighty in the earth.” (1.) He will act upon mighty principles. He will “seek first the kingdom of God,” &c., and will exercise his father’s prudence, patience, and piety. (2.) He will overcome mighty difficulties. He has God behind him to help him through all his perplexities, over all his impediments, to guide him by His counsel, and assist him with His arm. (3.) Undaunted, he will achieve mighty successes. Adopting his father’s principles he will win victories on the field of mind; he will rule his own spirit; and be “not slothful in business.” (4.) He will wield a mighty influence. He will excite confidence. His word will be taken, his opinion respected, his patronage courted, his example followed. Knowing the value and responsibility of his principles he will propagate them in his family, society, country; and neglect no opportunity to get the “Will of God done on earth as it is done in heaven.” (5.) He will leave behind him a mighty name. 2. They shall be blessed. All the virtues are theirs,—Temperance, purity; that diligence which makes fat; that prosperity which is conducive to spiritual good. All moral privileges are theirs,—the love of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the indwelling and communion of the Holy Ghost, the means of grace, the hope of glory, and perhaps an early heaven. III. What our text implies. 1. That parents have a control over the destiny of their offspring. If parents do not put these revealed laws concerning their children into operation, let them not blame God or fortune for the sad result. The promises still hold good; let parents plead them, and employ the means of securing their fulfilment. 2. That as the result is in the hands of God, and might and blessedness His gifts, let not parents be anxious about the result. If the conditions have been fulfilled, the bread cast upon the waters will return, though after many days. The great Augustine is a case in point. (See Confessions, Book III., par. 19–21.) 3. That children incur grave responsibilities for the blessing of pious parents. This is one of God’s choicest privileges. Therefore children should yield their parents (1) Love and reverence, (2) Obedience. “Honour thy father and thy mother” is the first commandment with promise. To despise this gift is to forfeit the title to all the rest. AND ITS (Psalms 112:3) It has been said that prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament and adversity of the New. Nothing could be more untrue. The New Testament never elevates poverty into a virtue. Its poverty is that of spirit. With regard to the injunction addressed to the young ruler, notice— (1) Provision for his wants would have been made; (2) by his poverty many would be enriched. Warnings are uttered against the danger of riches. But there are other ways of avoiding danger than fleeing from it. It is dangerous to embark on the ocean in an open boat. So riches without corresponding protection are dangerous. Both testaments promise this protection. (Matthew 6:33; Tim. Psalms 4:8.) I. What is prosperity? This demands a large definition. The miser is not prosperous, nor the man who amasses wealth and does not know what to do with it, or uses it for his own harm. To be prosperous is to have that which will promote the well-being of man’s whole nature and which has that end secured. Material, moral, and intellectual wealth and its results. II. What is calculated to produce it? The Psalmist, our Lord, and St. Paul are at one as to the qualification. “Righteousness.” This also demands a large definition. It is not profession, emotion, or devotional exercises. It is the harmony of a man’s whole nature with the will of God. 1. When that is the case, a man is moderate, temperate, observant of natural laws, and (supposing of course no constitutional ailment) therefore healthy. Thus righteousness affords a physical basis for success. 2. He holds in check the feverish desire to succeed, and thus godliness with contentment becomes great gain. Every day affords instances that making haste to be rich is but making haste to pauperise the health, the intellect, or the soul. 3. He holds those passions in check which cloud the understanding and impair the vision. He avoids all excess, either in self-aggrandisement or self-indulgence; the first of which dries up the sources of prosperity, and the second of which throws them away. Righteousness holds the golden mean. 4. He respects the rights of others. Hence, those whose rights you respect, will respect yours. No one cares for him who cares for nobody. While selfishness is everywhere condemned and scouted, those who are generous and helpful will not fail to find the same qualities in others. 5. He will be frugal of his time, his money, &c., in recognition of God’s claims upon both, and, as God’s steward, will put them out to usury, and strive to be prosperous, that he may advance God’s interests in the world. III. What objections can be urged against all this?1. That the righteous are not better off than others. But (1) Do those who are called righteous answer to the law of righteousness in its entirety? (2) Without controversy it is all true respecting communities. All history proves that they prosper in proportion to their righteousness. Theatres, taverns, houses of ill-fame, never exalted a nation. But that which promotes temperance and industry does, and that is righteousness. (3) It is so by the common consent of the world. How often do we hear the expression that such an one is “worth his weight in gold.” 2. That men prosper who violate the laws of righteousness. But (1) Are these men prosperous? (2) Supposing them to have all that heart could wish, “what shall it profit a man?” &c. (3) Supposing it true of an individual, when was it ever true of a nation? TO —“A man who is in possession of his whole manhood, so that every part is developed and harmonised and carried up into a beautiful symmetry, a perfect man in Christ Jesus; such a man is better adapted to develop prosperity than any other man in a lower sphere can be.… Manhood as contemplated by the Word of God: the Christian character made up of all elements, largeness of soul, wise judgment, reverence for God and His laws, love to man and kindly sympathy, belief in divine providence, hope of immortality, judgment of earthly values by the golden rod of the sanctuary; all these elements form a sure basis for prosperity in the world.”—H. W. Beecher. LIGHT: TO WHOM AND WHEN?(Psalms 112:4) Light and darkness, as symbols of moral conditions, are of frequent use in Holy Scripture. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” The process of conversion is “from darkness into light.” The wicked “love darkness,” &c. The righteous “walk in the light,” &c. These figures have peculiar force in the East, where the light of day is splendid, and the darkness of night intense. These illustrations are generally descriptive. There are breaks in the darkness of the most depraved, or their lot would be hopeless. There are clouds resting on the most pious, or their probation would be at an end. Our text I. Characterises those to whom it applies. Not the perfectly sinless, but the upright. The figure is appropriate. Light descends, and those who stand erect are the most likely to catch its rays. The morally upright are those whose posture is straight, elevated towards God and towards heaven. Their attitude, therefore, is most calculated to catch the beams of the Sun of righteousness. 1. They are upright in heart (Psalms 97:1). Their desires and emotions are pure. 2. They are upright in mind; candid, unprejudiced, welcoming light from all quarters. 3. They are upright in will; inflexible, just. 4. They are upright in life; examples, models, guides. II. Implies that those whom it characterises have their seasons of darkness. 1. The character of this darkness. (1) Religious perplexity. Temptation to doubt God’s providence, promises, and word. The mysteries of life, duty, and destiny will sometimes press upon the mind and dim the clearness of its vision. (2) Domestic trials, bereavements, sicknesses, disaffections, difficulties respecting the education and prospects of children will sometimes cast a gloom upon the heart. (3) Business anxieties, duties, failures, (4) the sense of personal sinfulness, and (5) slander, misrepresentation, and persecution will overcast the soul. 2. The purpose of this darkness. Being abnormal, and yet of divine ordination, there must be some reason for it. (1.) It is merciful. Night is a necessary adjunct to day. The eye cannot bear the unclouded lustre of the sun. (2.) It is disciplinary. The repose of the eyelids during night prepares for the strain of daylight. (3.) It is testing. Darkness is a trial of our faith in God, &c. III. Declares that, to those it characterises, light ariseth in the darkness. 1. Observe, light ariseth IN the darkness. It was so with our Lord, Luke 18:43; St. Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. In neither case was the darkness entirely removed. There was enough light, but not super-abundant. 2. But it is light in the darkness. There is the light of innocence in the darkness of slander; the light of forgiveness in the darkness of sin; the light of divine comfort in the darkness of sorrow, the light of revelation in the darkness of perplexity. “They shall be delivered in due time and perhaps when they least expect it; when the night is darkest the day dawns; nay, at evening time, when night was looked for, it shall be light.”—M. Henry. IN . (i.) The upright have all their darkness here and mitigations even of that, but they travel to a land of perfect light. (ii.) The perverse and crooked have darkness too, but enough illumination to lead them to perfect light, neglecting which, it gradually fades into outer darkness. THE OF THE UPRIGHT(Psalms 112:4, second clause) The upright will be able to bend without breaking. Like true steel, pliant enough to accomplish its purpose without injury to its temper. I. The upright bend, 1. In graciousness. They are not distant, cold, haughty, harsh in their judgments, or critical in their estimates. They are ready to consider all cases of need, and in such a spirit as shall not deprive their benevolence of all value. It will be a bending that does not seem to bend; a stooping of genial familiarity, “seeking not its own.” 2. In compassion. The proud see no misery. The upright stoop that they may see it, and pity as they see. In that position compassion becomes practical and develops into active mercy and benevolent generosity. II. Yet the upright maintain their integrity. They love, but it is the love of dignity and righteousness. Illustration. 1. When the Queen visited the London Hospital, a poor little Irish girl expressed a wish to see her. Her Majesty went and encouraged the child by words, and smiles, and gifts. Did she lose her dignity by so doing? Far from it, majesty there bent in the right direction. 2. When “God so loved the world” did He drag His justice in the dust? Nay, His justice bent to provide justification for the sinner. THE GOLDEN MEAN(Psalms 112:5) The golden mean is much needed in those matters which concern justice on the one hand and generosity on the other. How to do good with money, time, influence, &c., without inflicting an injustice on self and injury on others is often perplexing. The Psalmist shows that it is possible to “show favour and lend,” and yet “guide one’s affairs with discretion.” An alternative translation is, “Happy is the man that showeth favour and lendeth, he maintaineth his cause in the judgment,” showing that the golden mean is the happy medium and the golden rule, and that an upright man will not show such favour, &c., as will bring down upon him the disapprobation of the just. Our text teaches us— I. That such circumstances will arise as to need and justify favour and loans. All are liable to reverses of fortune. The sudden failure of a creditor, the dishonesty of a subordinate, ill health, family bereavement, may put any man in circumstances that require a temporary loan. II. That that man is happy who so guides his affairs as to be able wisely to afford those favours and loans. 1. Happiness will spring from the possession of those things which makes this possible. It presupposes in the lender comfort and affluence, which have been the result of honesty, diligence, and frugality. 2. Happiness will spring from the disposition to show favour and lend. “Mercy is twice blessed,It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.”III. That that man is happy who can so guide his affairs as to do good and no evil by his favours and loans. 1. It is no small source of misery all round when a man through a benevolence has done harm. He is a loser himself, and his self-denial has been used for unworthy ends; and thus good becomes evil spoken of, and charity brought into disrepute. 2. It is no small cause for satisfaction where beneficence secures good and profitable ends. It will secure (1) Individual gratitude; (2) The benediction of heaven; (3) The approbation of the good. LEARN (i.) That generosity should be the outcome of a careful consideration of means. As God hates robbery for burnt-offering, we may be sure that He is displeased with the charitable use of other people’s money. (ii.) That generosity should be the result of a careful study of the merits of the case. To encourage the professional beggar or the vicious person were sorry work indeed. (iii.) That generosity should be exhibited in a discreet and just way. To entrust money to the needy but improvident or careless, is to waste it. Actual need may be relieved by gifts in kind or the proffer of employment. (iv.) But let no man screen himself behind the dictum, “just before generous,” so as to be neither. The good man will seek for opportunities. (v.) Woe unto the man who seeth his brother in need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion against him. THE AND MEMORY OF THE (Psalms 112:6) Only that which is stable is memorable. Monuments which crumble are soon forgotten. Memorials are built of durable materials. So the good man standing firm on unmovable foundations will be had in everlasting remembrance. I. The Stability of the righteous. 1. He rests upon immovable foundations. God and His righteousness, love, and power. 2. On that foundation he maintains a steady course. He is not tossed about. He stands “foursquare to every wind that blows.” 3. From that foundation he hurls with steady aim. He does not sin (αμάρτια), and thus miss the mark of his high calling. II. The memory of the righteous. They shall be in everlasting remembrance, because— 1. They are stable, and therefore endure (Psalms 1:1-3). 2. They are made of enduring materials. Righteousness and goodness, like charity, can “never fail.” 3. They are worth remembering. “The world has no interest in keeping up the memory of bad men, and, as soon as it can be done, hastens to forget them. Wicked men are remembered only when their deeds are enormous, and then their memory is cherished only to admonish and to warn. The world has no interest in keeping up the memory of Benedict Arnold, or Alexander VI., or Cζsar Borgia, except to warn future generations of the guilt and baseness of treason and profligacy. It has an interest in never suffering the names of Howard, Wilberforce, Henry Martyn to die, for these names excite to noble feelings and to noble efforts wherever they are known.”—Barnes. They are held in grateful remembrance; in instructive remembrance, examples, &c.; in celestial remembrance, for in heaven they receive “a crown of glory that shall never fade away.” “But strew his ashes to the wind,Whose sword or voice has served mankind.And is he dead, whose glorious mind lifts thine on high?To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.”, , AND FAITH(Psalms 112:7) Three great and closely allied qualities, always needed and always the heritage of God’s people. The three stand or fall together. Where there is fear there is no fixity; and where there is no fixity there is no faith. But he who has a strong faith in God, will not fear “though mountains be removed,” &c. (Psalms 46:1-5). I. Fearlessness consists— 1. In not being afraid of evil tidings before they come. The fearless man has no carking care, or harassing anxieties. He will wait patiently and courageously till evils arrive before he pronounces them fearful (Matthew 6:34). 2. In not being afraid of evil tidings when they come, but a manful determination to make the best of them. The fearless man will face them, examine them, and conquer them. 3. In not being afraid of evil tidings after they have come. The fearless man does not fear consequences, but carves a new career out of misfortune, and educes good out of evil. II. Fearlessness is impossible without fixedness. Fear is trepidation, wavering, retreat. Fearlessness implies settledness and steadfastness. Fixedness is— 1. A steady preparation to meet possible fears; a concentration and consolidation of forces around weak points that may be attacked, a gathering up of solidity and strength. Our faith may be attacked: let us examine its evidences, and purge its weaknesses, and fortify ourselves with irrefutable arguments. Our virtue: let us surround it with impregnable fortifications. Our intelligence: let us brace it by healthful thought and reading. Our property: let us by prudence and diligence prepare. 2. A strong determination to resist the shock of evil when it comes. “None of these things move me,” said Paul. “A man who has not learned to say ‘no’—who is not resolved that he will take God’s way in spite of every dog that can bay or bark at him, in spite of every silvery voice that woos him aside, will be a weak and a wretched man till he dies.… Whoever lets himself be shaped and guided by anything lower than an inflexible will, fixed in obedience to God, will in the end be shaped into a deformity and guided to wreck and ruin.… We need a wholesome obstinacy in the right, that will be neither bribed, nor coaxed, nor bullied.… ‘Whom resist steadfast in the faith.’ ”—Maclaren. III. No fixedness without faith. “There is no stability and settled persistency of righteous purpose possible for us, unless we are made strong, because we lay hold of God’s strength, and stand firm because we are rooted in Him. Without that hold, we shall be swept away by storms of calamity or gusts of passion. Without that … there will not be solidity enough in our character.… To stand amidst … earthquakes and storms we must be built upon the rock, and build rocklike upon it. Build thy strength upon God.”—Maclaren. This faith is exercised— (1.) In the divine existence, power, goodness, and promise. (2.) In our own God-given strength. (3.) In our ultimate victory (1 John 5:4-5). THE NEED, SUCCOUR, AND TRIUMPH OF THE SOUL(Psalms 112:8) I. The soul in need. 1. The soul needs support in times of weakness. It is like the body, debilitated, when out of health. Physical conditions, circumstances, temptations, sometimes engender spiritual weakness, and make the soul cry out for some support. 2. The soul needs help in times of exhaustion. Its strenuous efforts against its many foes frequently exhaust it. Those foes are strong, relentless, vigilant. The soul must be recruited by forces outside itself, or it will fail. 3. The soul needs protection in time of danger. There are some temptations which we must resist; some against which resistance is unavailing. Our only chance in this latter case is a strong refuge, or a powerful auxiliary. II. The soul succoured. “He shall not be afraid.” Weakness, helplessness, and danger will engender fear. Courage will be stimulated by timely succour. Such succour is afforded by God. 1. God is the secret of the soul’s strength. When in weakness and debility, let the soul flee to Him. He has promised to “heal our sicknesses.” He is the “health of our countenance.” “They that wait upon the Lord,” &c. And with strength will come fearlessness. 2. God is the support of the soul in times of exhaustion. “My flesh and my heart faileth,” &c. “Come unto Me, all ye that are weary,” &c. “God is a very present help in time of trouble.” “Greater is He that is for you,” &c. And, conscious of the upholding of Omnipotence, all fear will flee. 3. God is the refuge of the soul in times of danger. “The Lord God is a … shield.” “The name of the Lord is a strong tower,” &c. III. The soul triumphing. “Until he see his desire upon his enemies.” 1. God has promised not only timely succour, but ultimate victory. He has promised, “grace to help,” that “we shall withstand in the evil day,” that we shall “overcome all,” and to “give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 2. That victory shall be complete. We shall come off “more than conquerors,” and have “an abundant entrance.” Difficulties, doubts, sin, Satan, and death shall be beaten down under our feet.” (Psalms 112:9) There is a great deal of pseudoliberality. Reckless almsgiving, needless charity, and benevolences from an unwilling heart, are not genuine liberality. That must have righteousness for its basis, need for its object, and usefulness for its end. The Christian law is based upon this (2 Corinthians 9:6-15). I. True liberality must have righteousness for its basis, and constant righteousness, i.e., not righteousness and favouritism mixed. 1. It must proceed from a righteous motive—not to secure praise, &c., as the hypocrites. 2. It must be done in the right way, i.e, on a just principle of selection, which implies investigation; by a just method—loans, when loans would be helpful; money, clothes, employment, food, as the case may require. II. True liberality must have need for its object. 1. Not (1) Sloth, (2) Drunkenness, (3) The misery of vice. But 2. Real poverty. (1.) The temporarily distressed. These are frequently the most needy and the most worthy, and require the most righteousness to find out and relieve. (2.) Widows and orphans. (3.) Charitable institutions. (4.) Those depending upon us. To neglect them is worse than infidelity. III. True liberality must have usefulness for its end. “He hath dispersed.” St. Paul (2 Corinthians 9:6-15) applies it in the sense of seed-sowing. Liberality contemplates a harvest of usefulness. 1. God has made us treasurers of His bounty. He has not given, only entrusted to us for special purposes what we have. A “man has made a sovereign honestly; it is his in point of fair service, by what is called right. If he wills it away, or spends it on himself, or keeps it, he violates no law.… Yet he says in effect, ‘The money is mine, but I myself am not my own. I have no property in myself. I am God’s agent. I have given society an equivalent for this sovereign; but the strength and skill by which I gained it are the gifts of God. I will hold what I have as Christ’s. Holding it so, I instantly yield it at His call, saying, “Thine is to right.” ’ ”—Dr. J. Parker. 2. That purpose is useful dispersion. (1.) A timely gift to a poor man will enable him to weather the storm and start afresh. (2.) A seasonable donation to a charitable society will be a means of boundless usefulness. (3.) Ample provision for those depending upon us will enable them to follow out and multiply our own schemes of usefulness. True liberality will plant roses in the desert, and turn the wilderness into the garden of the Lord. Barren wastes will smile with genial harvests, and solitary places will be made glad. IV. True liberality will have success and honour as its reward. All experience shows generosity to be the best policy. Both have been tried. The miser is not only not really enriched, but positively impoverished. “Horn” is the symbol of power and influence. 1. The liberal man will be enriched by the blessing of God. He scatters only to increase. “The very act of scattering breaks up the mastery of selfishness, enlarges the circle of kindly interests, shows that there is something in the world beyond our own personal concerns. It were better therefore for man, better as a discipline, better for his heart, better for every quality that is worth having, that a man should throw some of his money into the river than that he should never give anything away.… Even if a man should get nothing back “he always increases in heart volume, in joy, in love, in peace; his cup of comfort is sweetened, he walks on a greener earth, and looks up to God through a bluer sky. Beneficence is its own compensation. Charity empties the heart of one gift that it may make room for a larger. ‘Give and it shall be given you, good measure, shaken together, and running over.’ ‘The liberal soul shall be made fat,’ &c.”—Dr. J. Parker. 2. His “horn shall be exalted” in the estimation of mankind. Who is it that the world delights to honour? the Bonapartes and the Rothschilds, or the Pea-bodys and the Wilberforces? Learn— (i.) That selfishness is a bad policy. (ii.) That liberality extends not only to money, but to time, life, influence, and work. THE WICKED SPIRIT(Psalms 112:10) Our text is a most admirable exposition of what is termed the “bad” or “wicked” spirit. No tendency meets with more emphatic condemnation than that which sets in the direction of regret and annoyance at the well-being of others. Those who are the subjects of such feelings may well be styled “wicked.” I. The character of the wicked. ψָ ?ωָׁ ?ς would seem to signify one who lies in wait, a mischievous and injurious person, and an oppressor. Hence the main points in his character are craft and cruelty. “Sin” and so the sinner, “like a ravenous beast, as crafty as it is cruel, is crouching outside the door, … only waiting for opportunity to be given to spring in and devour.”—Samuel Cox. (Psalms 37:12.) II. The inspection of the wicked. “Shall see.” ψָ ?ΰָ ?δ, to see critically. 1. The wicked look carefully for everything that is bad. They would if they could be blind to everything that is good. They are keen hunters for slips, discrepancies, and falls. 2. The wicked, however, find everything that is good. They are compelled by their very search for inconsistencies to see the true character of the righteous. When they slander him, plunder him, and do all manner of harm to him, he returns good for evil. These are but so many opportunities for his righteousness, stability, compassion, and trust in God, and so many coals of fire for his enemies heads. III. The disappointment of the wicked. 1. It is twofold. (1.) At not finding what they wish to find. (2.) At finding the exact opposite of what they wish to find. E.g. Balak. 2. It is intense. (1.) It takes the form of vexation. Their machinations have been frustrated, and instead of working evil their worst attempts have worked together for good. (2.) It takes the form of furious but ineffectual wrath. “Gnash their teeth” (Psalms 35:16; Psalms 37:11). IV. The fate of the wicked. “Shall melt away.” Instead of calamity falling on the righteous it falls upon them. The figure is very expressive and is often used. 1. In Psalms 58:7, they are described as melting away as “waters which run continually,” i.e., running to waste in the sand or evaporated by the sun. So the wicked waste away physically, intellectually, morally. 2. In Psalms 58:8, they are like “the snail which melteth away.” (See Tristram’s Natural History, p. 295, for peculiarities of snails in the East.) “The heat often dries them up by a long continued drought, or by the sun’s rays penetrating into their holes.” So all the resources of the wicked shall be dried up. 3. In Psalms 68:2, they are likened to “melting wax;” so they form no real obstacle to the good. (i.) A word of warning. (1.) “Be vigilant,” &c. (2.) Beware lest you give the enemy an occasion for his spirit. (ii.) A word of comfort. “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper,” &c. THE DESIRE OF THE WICKED(Psalms 112:10, last clause) The Bible is full of statements and illustrations of the instability of sin. The righteous stand—are held in everlasting remembrance, while the wicked are tossed about, moved from their foundations, and finally melt away. The text points out the perishable character of the desire of the wicked. That desire perishes— I. Because it is selfish. It breeds so to speak in and in, and thus first vitiates and then destroys production. This is illustrated by the fate of innumerable cravings. The lust for gain, drink, &c., literally dies out, and becomes a morbid habit which is never satisfied. So the soul that is greedy of the reputation of the righteous shall not be satisfied notwithstanding all it may get. II. Because it has nothing to fall back upon in case of disappointment. The righteous, if disappointed in a given end, have always the desire for duty and God’s glory to fall back upon, and thus they have a continual source of satisfaction. On the contrary, the frustration of wicked schemes ends in utter despair. III. Because it has no resources on which to rely. The desire of the righteous is supported by God, conscience, and humanity. That of the wicked only by feeble and unsubstantial self. Their colleagues only afford assistance up to a given point. IV. Because set on unsatisfactory objects. Those objects are sinful, and, as James says, “Desire, when it has conceived, bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” V. Because the frown of God is upon it. Desire can only live under the smile and with the favour of God. This favour rests upon the desire of the good; but turned away from the wicked their “desires perish.” IN (Isaiah 29:8). 1. Another of the Hallelujah Psalms 2. Date and authorship unknown. 3. The first of six Psalms in the Jewish liturgy (113–118) termed Hallel, or the Egyptian Hallel, as distinguished from the great Hallel. “This Psalm continued to be received while the temple stood, and is still recited in Palestine eighteen times a year, apart from its customary, though not legal use, at the new moon. Outside of Palestine it is now yearly recited twenty-one times.… At the family celebration of the Passover Psalms 113, 114. were sung before the meal, and indeed before the emptying of the second cup, and the others after the meal, and after the filling of the fourth cup.”—Moll.A NOBLE PEOPLE AND A NOBLE SERVICE(Psalms 113:1) Nobility consists in those endowments which render the possessors worthy of honour. Nobility of service consists in the consecration of those endowments to the best being, for the best ends. This is nowhere fully the case except in the service of God. I. The servants of God are a noble people. All God’s servants are noblemen. Abraham, Moses, Caleb, Job, Isaiah, Zerubbabel, and the promised Messiah, God speaks of as “My servants.” Christ’s designation of Himself is, “I am among you as one that serveth.” Nebuchadnezzar and Darius saw that Daniel and the three Hebrew youths were “servants of God.” Paul, Peter, Timothy, James, and Jude called themselves servants of God. All Israel was such ideally; all Christians are so actually. 1. God’s servant realises the noblest and most perfect ideal of life. (1.) Some men live for pleasure. (2.) Some for intellectual effort. (3.) Some for moral excellence. (4.) But God’s servants live for Him. And here they have what they can never otherwise have, a powerful motive for virtue, full mental culture, and all legitimate enjoyment, for the education and completion of their whole being, hence God’s service is the noblest ideal of life. 2. God’s servants have the noblest master. It ennobles the proudest peer in the land to be in the service of his sovereign. 3. God’s servants yield to the noblest claims. “I have made thee for Myself.” This was not based upon any merit in us, but upon His free love and mercy. And therefore God’s claims rest— (1.) Upon the right of property. We have rights over the products of our hand and brain. So has God. (2.) Upon the right of sustenance and preservation. The basest ingratitude is that which ignores the right of those to whose generosity we owe our all. (3.) Upon the right of redemption. Note the price by which it was effected, the curse from which it rescues, the dignities to which it elevates. 4. God’s servants have the noblest warrant for their service. (1.) The warrant of reason. Their service is a “reasonable service.” (2.) The warrant of conscience. (3.) The warrant of love. 5. God’s servants are promised and enjoy the noblest rewards. God Himself. “I will be their God.” There are many subordinate rewards, but this comprehends and crowns them all. II. God’s service is a noble service. “Praise the name of the Lord.” This injunction no doubt refers to acts of religious worship as such. But it suggests much more, for all the acts of religious life are worship. “That ye should show forth the praises of Him,” &c. “Glorify God in your bodies and spirits which are His.” 1. It is noble in the dignity of its sphere. It links man with God Himself. Man becomes a “worker together with God,” with Christ, who accomplishes His mighty undertakings by human agency; with the Holy Ghost, who uses man as His mouthpiece for conviction of sin, &c. 2. It is noble in the motive from which it springs. All life is noble or ignoble according as it is actuated by noble or ignoble aims. God’s servants aim at “pleasing God.” This motive animated our Lord, John 8:29; Enoch, Hebrews 11:5; Solomon, 2 Samuel 7:29. 3. It is noble in the instruments by which it is accomplished. All that is morally worthy is pressed into this service; the mind purged from error; the will freed from prejudice; the heart emancipated from irregular passion and sin; the body a temple of the Holy Ghost. 4. It is noble in the freedom of its consecration. It is not pressed service, it is purely voluntary under the “royal law of liberty.” 5. It is noble in the uses which it serves. Doing the “will of God on earth as it is done in heaven.” (Psalms 113:2) Our text suggests— I. That there are grounds for gratitude. We bless God for blessing us. These grounds are universal. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” From Him descends “every good and perfect gift.” 1. Physical. The body with its organs, senses, members, susceptibilities of pleasure, provision for clothing, shelter, food, &c. 2. Mental. Literature, science, art, authors, poets, artists, are gifts from God. 3. Spiritual. The Bible, Gospel, means of grace, &c. 4. Political. Government, liberty. II. That these grounds are often ignored. 1. Men lose sight of their benefactor. This may be (1) Deliberate. Men dislike to be under an obligation. The Emperor Basil was saved when hunting by a courtier, and all Constantinople was speculating about the reward, when, to the astonishment of all, the preserver of his sovereign was ordered out to execution on the ground that the debt could never adequately be repaid. So men owe so much to God that the sense of obligation becomes burdensome, and they therefore endeavour to banish Him from their minds. (2) Careless. Like the conduct of many children towards their parents. The blessings are so very regular that we forget their source. 2. Men make light of their blessings. (1.) Of their physical gifts. Sin prostitutes them, and the attendant misery is charged upon God. (2.) Of their mental gifts. The mind has wandered into unprofitable speculations, and is forthwith made responsible for the doubts and errors into which men fall. And men wish themselves dogs, without the power of thought. (3.) Spiritual gifts, from their fancied sufficiency. (4.) Political gifts, from love of lawlessness. 3. Men deny the utility of thankfulness. “If man serves us we repay him, in kind if he needs it; or by gratitude which gratifies his spirit. But what kind of repayment or gratification can God receive?” True, the divine benefactor is not dependent on man’s gratitude or gifts; but this overlooks the duty of acknowledging a gift whether it advantages its giver or not. III. That these grounds should be acknowledged by present thankfulness. The obligation commences the moment the gift is conferred, and should therefore be acknowledged forthwith. 1. Circumstances should not be allowed to interfere. Those circumstances are God’s gifts, and should not be turned into instruments for robbing Him of His rights. 2. Persons should not be allowed to interfere. The dearest human relative ought not to be so close as God. Debts incurred to man are not to be compared with those we owe to God. 3. Inclination should not be allowed to interfere. They do not interfere with our service to man, nor should they with our duty to God. IV. That these grounds should be acknowledged by perpetual thankfulness. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” “His mercy endureth for ever,” therefore, &c. Learn— (i.) The evils of ingratitude. It narrows the intellect, contracts the heart, restricts the sphere of service, and engenders a cold, hard, barren selfishness. (ii.) The advantages of thankfulness. It secures further blessings from God, enlarges the volume of manhood, and prepares for the service of heaven. WORSHIP(Psalms 113:3) I. God’s name ought to be praised everywhere, because— 1. Everywhere He is worthy of praise. (1.) God’s government is everywhere founded and administered on principles of righteousness. (2.) His beneficent provision for His creatures’ want—His sun, His showers, His fruits, &c.—is made everywhere. (3.) His almighty protection, upholding the universe and protecting His creatures, is afforded everywhere. (4.) His offers of mercy extend, without distinction of race or order, everywhere. His Son died for all, His Spirit strives with all, His Church welcomes all, and His heaven was made for all. 2. Everywhere He is acknowledged to exist. Sometimes this belief has been adulterated with error, but the substratum of the truth everywhere remains, and nothing can eradicate it. In all the great civilisations it has universally obtained. It has been said recently that a few savage tribes are without it, which, if true, is very unfortunate for atheism; for that would prove that unbelief in God is only possible to the most degraded and brutal barbarism. In all ages God has been the trust of mankind. 3. Everywhere, that is the end of God’s providential plan. “All shall know the Lord from the least even unto the greatest.” “All nations shall do Him service.” That is the grand destiny of the human race (Malachi 1:11; Revelation 5:8-14). 4. Everywhere, that is the law of man’s true dignity. The history of the world shows that men are elevated and civilised in proportion to their recognition of the Most High. Everywhere it ennobles and sanctifies. II. God’s name ought to be praised under all circumstances. Under all the various conditions revealed by the progress of the sun, should man render grateful homage. 1. In the business of the day, for He makes it possible. 2. In the family affairs of the day, for He controls them. 3. In the vicissitudes of the day. In prosperity or adversity, for He is the author of both. 4. In the transactions of government, for He is King of kings and Lord of lords. 5. And, since “He giveth His beloved sleep,” in the repose which follows the setting sun. III. God’s name ought to be praised at all times. 1. In the beneficent march of the seasons, for they are led by Him. 2. In the gracious division of day and night, for it was fixed by Him. 3. “Early in the morning,” at noon (Daniel), at night (our Lord on Olivet); for all departments of the day are ordained by Him. THE DIVINE OF NATIONS(Psalms 113:4, clause 1) The figure is that of God seated on His throne as King of kings and Lord of lords. I. The divine government is personal. “The Lord is high.” Human governments are institutional. But, while God usually works through natural laws, &c., He can work without them, and is always superior to them. “He maketh His sun to shine.” “He doeth according to His will,” &c. II. The divine government is exalted “above all nations.” Superior in its basis, aims, methods, to the best human government. It is superior in wisdom, comprehensiveness, sympathy, goodness, and resources, because directly administered by supreme wisdom, goodness, and power. III. The divine government, from its exaltation, is suitable to the circumstances of all nations. 1. It is absolute perfection. Human legislation is made up of caprices, mistakes, changes. The great task of human governors is to alter, modify, or improve on the legislation of their predecessors, and thus it cannot be suited to all the circumstances of mankind. On the contrary, God’s laws are unalterable, because incapable of improvement, and because promulgated by the all-perfect mind. 2. It is founded on the reason of things, and, therefore, is not arbitrary. It does not contemplate classes, &c.; it is perfect equity, and all nations may expect even-handed justice from the hands of God. IV. God’s government is benevolent towards all nations. Many societies are founded on the supposition that men were made for governments, and not governments for men. God rules for the express benefit of nations. They require, and so they receive, His control and care. But is this borne out by facts! Look at the miseries of nations. Answer— 1. Much of this misery is self-inflicted. If men will break God’s laws they must take the consequences. All nations who are faithful to God are blessed. 2. These miseries are insignificant compared with their blessings. Our years of tyranny or depression must be balanced by the years of prosperity and freedom. 3. These miseries subserve benevolent and righteous ends. How often have famines been sent to drive a nation to its God. How often has God used a destructive war to expel a tyrant from his throne. Famine brought free trade. The Marian persecution inaugurated the Elizabethan reformation. The American war abolished slavery. V. The divine government is administered by Christ. “The Father hath committed all judgment into His hands.” (Daniel 7:13-14; Philippians 2:9.) Christ is qualified for this office. 1. By a personal acquaintance with His subjects. (2.) By a personal relation with His subjects. He is a true King, not only the “able” but the “kinsman” of the race, born out of the bosom of humanity. (3.) By an intense sympathy with His subjects. (4.) By His accessibility to His subjects. IN . Let men and nations beware how they rebel against this government. Can they produce a better? They rebel against omnipotent goodness when they throw off their allegiance to God. THE DIVINE OF HEAVEN(Psalms 113:4, clause 2) God rules in heaven; and the difference between His government there and His government here is, that here men break its laws and thwart its beneficent designs; yonder all is harmony and obedience. “The Lord is high above all nations,” but His glory is above the heavens. Here that glory is but faintly illustrated amidst the partial obedience of the best of His creatures and the rebellion of the rest; there fully. This government is based on the same principles, conducted by the same methods, and contemplates the same ends among glorified spirits as among men, and is acknowledged and obeyed;— I. Universally. Revelation 5. II. Reverentially. Isaiah 6:2. “With twain he covered his face.” III. Swiftly. Isaiah 6:2. “With twain he did fly.” IV. Comprehensively. The ends of the divine government are the sole object of their service; they have no personal aims to secure, because in doing God’s will they secure all. V. Continually. “They rest not day nor night.” VI. Willingly. Their wills are in complete harmony with the will of God. Sin does not warp their inclination, and they are under no powerful restraint towards wrong. VII. Perfectly. No sin blears their vision or blights their faculties. They see what is the perfect will of God, and do it with all the completeness of their being. Let all Christians pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” THE (Psalms 113:5) Verses5 and 6 in the original present a parallelism which is not preserved in the English version. As Hebrew poetry they would stand thus:— Who is like unto Jehovah, our God,Who sits throned on high,Who casts looks so low,In the heavens and in the earth?The italics of A. V. are of course supplied by the translators to make what appeared to be the best sense. We propose to treat the second and third lines (with Bunsen, Delitzsch, Hengstenberg, &c.) as a parenthesis. Our subject, therefore, is The Absolute; the incomprehensibleness of Deity. “Who is like unto Jehovah, our God, in the heavens and in the earth?” Notice— I. That the incomprehensibleness of God is generally acknowledged. Observe— 1. How it is presented in the Bible. (Exodus 3:14; Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 4; 1 Samuel 2:2; 1 Kings 8:12-27; Job 5:9; Job 11:7-9; Job 37:5; Job 37:23; Psalms 89:6; Psalms 145:3; Eccl. 16:21; Isaiah 40, 43; Romans 11:33-34.) 2. How it is presented by philosophy. Socrates maintained that “he only knew this, that he knew nothing.” Plato: “The Maker and Father of the worlds, it is difficult to discover, and when found impossible to make him known to all” The Eleatic school held that “we ought not to assert anything concerning the gods, for we have no knowledge of them.” So the Stoics. Modern schools assert the same. Schelling says, “God is that which is in itself and only from itself can be conceived.” So indeed Hamilton, Mansel, Spenser, and Matthew Arnold. “A God all known and comprehended is no God. That which I fully know and understand, is below, not above me, for I have mastered it. I have not to worship it, it must bow down to me. That which towers immeasurably above me, which I cannot scale and cannot fathom, before which I am as nothing, that and that alone, I fall down to and adore—not ignorance, but knowledge is the mother of devotion. Nevertheless, the sense of ignorance in the created mind, of immeasurable ignorance and infirmity, is preliminary and essential to all true adoration.”—Dr. J. Young. 3. How it is presented by heathen, religions. “Seek fellowship with Zeus and Epictetus.” Alas! it was the Zeus that was wanting.… There was a yearning for God, for personal fellowship with God, for personal likeness to God.… ‘But who is the Zeus, the god of whom you talk, that I may believe on Him,’ was the cry which grew more hopeless and agonising generation by generation … to which religion had no answer.”—Baldwin Brown. II. That men have universally striven to solve the mystery, by taking up the challenge of our text. Sir W. Hamilton says, “From Xenophanes to Leibnitz the infinite, the absolute, th unconditioned formed the highest principle of speculation.” And, as the only way in which man can define anything is by a process of more or less adequate comparison and illustration, he has endeavoured to figure God, and thus much of theology in all ages has been but the projected shadow of human thought. 1. Much of natural theology has been constructed in this way. It assumes that God is, and then undertakes to show what God is like. Man is capable of fashioning and combining existing materials, and directing them to the accomplishment of new results. So he thinks of a God like himself, a creator. He is capable of directing his materials to serve a definite and intelligent end. So he ascribes skill and design to the creator, and by his observation of the adaptation of means to ends in the world, that belief is confirmed. He is a father or king ruling by laws which he enforces by rewards and punishments. So his maker is argued to be his governor, who will bless his obedience and punish his sin. 2. Much of both so-called orthodoxy and heterodoxy has been constructed in this way. Arianism arose out of the transfer of human paternity to the divine nature. Calvinism starts with a sovereignty of God built upon the idea of remorseless human despotism. Many other theories, particularly some prevalent in the present day, proceed upon the assumption that God’s thoughts are as our thoughts, and His ways as our ways. 3. The various heathen mythologies have been built up in this way. Very few are disposed to deny that the spiritual unity of God was the primitive belief of mankind. St. Paul shows the process from this to the most debasing forms of idolatry (Romans 1:18-32). Sin darkened man’s understanding and led his reason astray. It is easy to see how the divine attributes might have become dissociated, then made to represent independent divine forces, and then separate divine persons. It is also easy to see how these independent persons could be symbolised by natural powers and objects supposed to be most like them; and it is only a step further to manufacture a permanent symbol; and hence idol worship. Thus the progress of symbolism was first downwards from God, then upwards to Him. Nature worship was the earliest form of idolatry. Then human. The gods of nature were endowed with human attributes and forms, and heroes and ancestors were deified. The process went on till not a natural object, beautiful or monstrous, good or malign, and not a single human quality, good or bad, wise or ridiculous, but had its temple, peculiar, and in many cases consistent, worship, and its symbolical form. The difficulty became to distinguish what was not divine. What an exposition of “Thou thoughtest I was altogether such an one as thyself”! 4. “The fundamental position of rationalism is, that man by his own reason can attain to a right conception of God.” “Fools, to dream that man can escape from himself, that human reason can draw aught but a human portrait of God! They do but substitute a marred and mutilated humanity for one exalted and entire; they add nothing to their conception of God as He is, but only take away a part of their conception of man.”—Mansel. III. That the Bible gives us a revelation of all that may be known of God in a manner suited to our faculties and saving to our soul. “The infinite cannot be grasped within our thoughts, nor within any limits, for on all sides it has no limits. To know God in His infinity is impossible, but to know much respecting the God who is infinite is quite another thing, and may be grandly possible.”—Dr. J. Young. The Biblical representations of God are very bold, but they are carefully guarded; and the difference between the symbolism which is the result of human speculation and that of divine revelation is, that the former degrades the Deity, the latter guides the human mind to transcend itself and lifts it up to the idea of infinite perfection. We may see notably in the mystery of the Incarnation, “the light which was manifested, that He the Eternal Son might reveal to men the Father whom no man hath seen or can see.… Parable after parable led men from earthly relations to those of the kingdom of heaven … the sower, the householder, the bridegroom, the father, the king.… But it was much more in Himself.… It was through His human nature as the Son of Man that men were to approach to a knowledge of the divine mind.… We who believe that the Word was in the beginning with God and was God, became flesh and tabernacled amongst us, … can enter into the meaning of the words, ‘The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father He hath declared Him,’ and listen with awe and adoration to that which, if it were not true, would have been a blasphemy to make us shudder: ‘Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.’ ”—Plumptre. IV. These considerations lead us to the following conclusions. 1. That the question of our text must remain unanswered. God, like every other great truth, is incapable of full definition, whether by words or illustrations. The most perfect painting conveys no adequate idea of the sun. The most perfect model only faintly resembles a flower. The ablest disquisition leaves the mystery of life unsolved. 2. That God has given us similitudes of what is best and holiest within the grasp of man’s feeble intelligence, that every one may be able to form some conception of His character and will. The hem of the garment was enough for the poor woman in the gospels; so our notions of power, wisdom, love, &c., are permitted faintly to illustrate the infinite perfections of God. 3. That God has given us these illustrations to lead us up to Himself. He tells man what He is like, that man may know by spiritual apprehension and indwelling what He is. “One day Martin Luther was catechising some peasants. ‘Say thy creed,’ he said. ‘I believe in God, the Father Almighty.’ ‘What is it to be almighty?’ asked Martin. ‘Indeed, I cannot tell,’ and Luther, with rugged beautiful honesty, said, ‘Neither indeed, friend, can I; and if I were to tell you truly there is not a doctor in all Europe who could tell you what it is to be almighty; but if you will always remember that He is your Father Almighty, high enough to rule you, wise enough to teach you, strong enough to help you, kind enough to love you, it will be well and enough.’ ”—Coley. THE MAJESTY AND OF GOD(Psalms 113:5-6) The two extremes of God’s infinite perfections are exhibited in our text: “Who sits throned on high, who casts looks so low.” He is infinite in majesty, and demands our adoration; yet He is infinite in condescension, thus making our worship possible. The first attribute alone would appal us by its awful grandeur. The second alone would lead us to presume. I. The majesty of God. “Who sits throned on high.” 1. Above the realm of space. There is nothing more sublime than the idea of infinite space. Of this we can understand little amid the contracted landscapes of our own country. We must stand where the mighty hills rear their cloud-capped pinnacles to heaven. But what is the grandest mountain range compared with the world of which it is but an excrescence! And what is the world itself but a speck in the system to which it belongs. And what is that system in comparison with those eighty millions of systems in the vast universe. And “these are part of His ways; but how small a portion is heard of Him.” Draw the line where we will, the immeasurable lies yet beyond, and above that immeasurable God sits throned. 2. Above all duration. Equally with the conception of space is that of time sublime. We cannot fix the mind on a continuous succession of periods without a corresponding elevation. (1.) Look at the history of our own nation. We can trace it back till it is lost in hoar antiquity. But compare it with the history of the neighbouring continent. When Britain emerged from obscurity, Rome after a long and splendid history was approaching its fall. When Rome arose, the fortunes of Assyria were beginning to decline, and the monuments of Egypt were worn by the elemental battles of centuries; and before that comes patriarchal history and the years before the flood. Yet what is all this compared with scientifically recorded time! Millions upon millions of years may have elapsed between the creation of the first man and the beginning in which God created the heavens and the earth. And beyond that, “before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth or the worlds—from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God.” (2.) But this is only half the conception. How much there is of life remaining to us we know not. But beyond the limits of the longest life possible to us there is a vast ocean of time measurable only by the infinite mind; and beyond that is boundless eternity. “Time reaches not to the steps of the eternal throne. No law of succession narrows in His doings. All things are ever before Him. He is the Everlasting now—past, present, future; time and space, these creatures of His hand, are not, in relation to His infinite perfection.”—Bishop Wilberforce. 3. In the sense of exalted spirituality. II. The condescension of God, “who casts looks so low.” God does not dwell in solitary and indifferent grandeur in the high and lofty place. He is the Governor of the universe; its Father and its Friend. 1. God condescends to loot on physical laws and employs them. 2. God condescends to look upon man and visits him. Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, David, the Jewish nation, and at last through His Incarnate Son. 3. God condescends to look upon human governments and employs them. “He doeth according to His will,” &c. “By Him kings reign,” &c.— “He sees with equal eye, as God of all,A hero perish, or a sparrow fall;Atoms and systems into ruin hurled:There a bubble burst, and here a world.”Learn (i.) The danger of antagonism to God; (ii) The blessedness of the Divine condescension. HUMAN (Psalms 113:7-8) 1. Psalms 113:7-9 are almost word for word from the song of Hannah. (Cf. Song of Mary, Luke 1:46-48.) 2. Human exaltation is the result of the Divine benignity. Had God never noticed our lost race it had remained for ever in misery and degradation. But God’s notice was God’s redemption. The sentiment of our text may be illustrated— I. In the various spheres of daily life, the poor have been lifted out of the dust, and have sat with princes. 1. In the scientific sphere,—Sir Wm. Arkwright, the inventor of the spinning jenny, was once a barber’s apprentice. Brindley, the engineer; Hugh Miller, the geologist; John Hunter, the physician, were day labourers. Thos. Edwards, the naturalist, was a shoemaker; Bewick, the engraver, a coalminer; Herschell, a bandsman; Faraday, the son of a poor blacksmith; Sir Isaac Newton, the son of a farmer; Davy, a country apothecary’s assistant 2. In the artistic sphere,—Turner, the painter, was a barber; Chantrey, a journeyman carver; Etty, a journeyman printer; Sir Thomas Lawrence, the son of a tavern-keeper; Inigo Jones, John Gibson, Romney, and Opie were labourers. 3. In the literary sphere,—Shakespeare was the son of a butcher; John Foster, a weaver; Ben Jonson and Allan Cunningham, day labourers; Drew, a shoemaker; Adam Clarke, the son of a poor schoolmaster; Elihu Burritt, a blacksmith; Dr. Lee, the great Hebrew scholar, a carpenter. 4. In the judicial sphere,—Lord Tenterden was once a barber’s boy; Talfourd, the son of a brewer; Baron Pollock, son of a saddler; Lord Eldon, the son of a coal-fitter. 5. In the army and navy,—Bonaparte rose from the ranks; Sir Cloudesley Shovel was a shoemaker, and Warren Hastings was an East India clerk. 6. In the Church,—Adrian IV. was a swineherd; Wolsey, the son of a butcher; Thomas a’ Beckett, of obscure origin, Bunyan a tinker; Whitfield, the son of an innkeeper; Martyn, the son of a miner; and Carey and Morrison were shoemakers. 7. In the field of discovery,—Cook was a day labourer; Baffin, a man before the mast; Livingstone, a weaver; and Layard, a solicitor’s clerk. Many more might be adduced in the political, social, and commercial spheres, but these are sufficient to show that God blesses the diligent use of the powers He has given. Would that they all had been employed for Him. II. In God’s method of Redemption. All men are by sin sunk in moral degradation. They are lost to self, lost to destiny, lost to God. When God looks upon them He raises them from their fall, and by the regenerating power of His Spirit they become God’s heirs, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and are anointed kings and priests unto God, and look forward to a crown, a sceptre, and a throne. III. In the history of the Christian Church. Its beginnings were of the humblest possible character. Its Founder was the reputed son of a carpenter; its first officers peasants or fishermen. For the first century, the “wise and noble” were conspicuous by their absence. Its beginnings everywhere are the same. It aims to seek and to save the lost, and it is the lost and degraded that it welcomes. Its beginnings are humble, but its progress is ever mighty. Philosophers and statesmen are proud to partake of its privileges on a level with the peasant and the slave, and kings receive their crowns from its hands. IV. In the resurrection of the body. (1 Corinthians 15.) IN .—(i.) All true greatness is the gift of God. (ii.) All true greatness commences with the recognition of God. (iii.) All greatness fails if it does not secure the consecration of God. : ITS AND (Psalms 113:9) There is no sweeter name to a child than mother, and no sweeter name to a mother than her child’s. The two greatest curses of mankind are bad mothers and thankless children. Our text suggests— I. That children are the subject of fond and prayerful desire. 1. This desirableness is in certain quarters denied. (1.) By a false political economy. Children beyond a certain number are said to be the fruitful cause of misery and pauperism. So thought the Hindoos, and till recently the waters of the Ganges and the jaws of the alligator were the all-sufficient “check.” So thought the Spartans, and the “check” with them was wholesale infanticide. Not more unnatural and not less vile are the artificial checks of modern civilisation (?). But that civilisation forgets that the miseries of the world proceed not from large families, but from the parental vices which it permits and sanctions. (2.) By a false sentiment. Children are said to be a trouble and expense, and men blasphemously treat the advent of children with humorous resignation, if not with positive chagrin, and feel that society requires that demeanour. What makes children a trouble and expense but the indolence, hardheartedness, or extravagance of parents? 2. This desirableness is recognised by (1) The nature of things. “There is nothing addressing itself to nature to which the response is so quick, so universal, and so joyful as the coming of the young into the world.… There is almost nothing possessing a spark of intelligence which has not this inward preparation for rejoicing at the birth of offspring.… It is a bright day, or should be, in every household, in every neighbourhood, when a child is born, and a member added to society.”—H. W. Beecher. (2) By the barren mother (see 1 Samuel 1, 2). Vain are all well-meant consolations. Tell her that they are but “careful comforts,” that she has her husband, and immunity from family cares, and she will tell you that she is willing to bear every anxiety, if she can only be the joyful mother of children. (3) By a just moral sentiment, and a sound political economy. The object of existence can be but imperfectly attained without children. A family is a great incentive to industry. How many a wife has saved her husband from drunkenness and crime by the light and joy which children bring! (4) By the word of God. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Hannah, Manoah’s wife, &c. 3. This desirableness is ennobling. Because it is (1) in harmony with the will of God (Genesis 1:28). (2) A desire to live for another. (3) An evidence of the paternity of God, and in conformity with it. II. That children are a mother’s joy. This is now happily, thanks to the Bible, passed into a proverb, and children in all healthy circles are now regarded as a necessary element in the happiness of life. There is— 1. The joy of expectation. 2. The joy of new maternity (John 16:21). 3. The joy of giving birth to citizens of the kingdom of heaven. They are the Lord’s heritage under both testaments (Psalms 127:3). 4. The joy of training. 5. The joy of a nature ennobled and enlarged by maternity. 6. The joy of a HOME. III. That children are a mother’s care. “He maketh a barren woman to keep house.” He “not only builds up the family, but thereby finds something for the heads to do.”—M. Henry. That being the case— 1. Value them. “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.” Their value does not lie altogether in their charms, &c., but in the fact that they are rational immortal beings, lent that you may enable them to realise the fact that they are “sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.” 2. Study them. Constant watchfulness, careful discrimination. It is not a virtue, but a vice that you are not guilty of to horses or dogs, to treat them all alike. 3. Provide for them (1 Timothy 5:8) (1) Sufficient maintenance. (2) A good education. (3) A bright prospect. 4. Consecrate them to, and train them up in the nurture and admonition of, the Lord. IV. That children are divine gifts. “He maketh.” Thus are they uniformly regarded in the Bible. IN .—“God is on the side of little children, and He is on the side of parents who wish to bring up their children right … and with some degree of teaching, and some degree of trust in God, you are adequate to lift your children from the plane of animalism, to the plane of social beings, and from that again to the plane of moral and spiritual beings; and when that is accomplished, the next change is to drop the animal altogether, and rise to the realm above, and be as the angels of God”—H. W. Beecher. Date and Authorship unknown; ascribed to the three Hebrew children, Esther and Mordscai.BONDAGE AND (Psalms 114:1) I. The bondage was degrading. “Israel,” “Egypt”. The descendants of the “prince with God” making bricks for Pharaoh. So is the bondage of sin. All men are princes. They have crown rights by virtue of their divine parentage and royal brotherhood. They should occupy thrones. All their faculties are regal. Yet how are they employed? In a bondage that is humiliating because of (1) The master that is served; (2) The nature of the service; (3) The wretchedness of the remuneration. II. The bondage was unnatural. “The house of Jacob.” 1. Once a free and independent tribe, who previously to this had never been in bondage to any man. So man was once independent and free. No evil forces were permitted to exercise dominion over him. (1.) His reason was free. All God’s vast domain was open to its scrutiny. (2.) His will was free. No power was permitted to tamper with it, and no predestination fettered it. (3.) His affections were free. (4.) His soul was free. All this shows that the bondage under which he groans is not natural to man. 2. A family of a long, ancient and honourable lineage. They were not a people of yesterday, yet they were slaves. Man is a member of a household which dates its origin from before the foundation of the world. The eternal God is his father, and Christ his elder brother. With an ancestry compared with which the oldest dynasty on earth is but of yesterday, man is enslaved. Surely this is the climax of unnaturalness. For the heirs of the Mowbrays, the Bourbons, the Guelphs, the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs, to be in bondage were enough to strike the world dumb with astonishment. Man is a child of God, and yet he is a slave. III. The bondage was exasperating. “From a people of strange language.” These are circumstances which mitigate that “execrable sum of all human vilanies”—slavery. These obtained largely among the Jews. Often the slave spoke the same language, was protected by the same laws, and was of the same blood as his master. Not so with the poor Egyptian slave. 1. There was no community of feeling and sentiment. Hence terrible oppression and thankless service. Between man and his oppressors there is nothing naturally in common. Man knows it. Satan knows it. Hence the terrible burden of sin and woe, and the terrible insurrections of reason and moral sense against the tyranny. 2. There was no community of language between the Egyptian and the Jew. Hence misunderstanding and distress. Man does not take altogether naturally to the language of hell. Facility in the understanding and use of that language requires long practice, and that practice never makes perfect. Hence constant misunderstandings. Good is represented by evil; evil by good. Ignorance exchanges places with knowledge, and knowledge with ignorance. Pain is substituted for pleasure, and pleasure for pain. And amidst these conflicting dialects man is bewildered; and it is of that bewilderment that Satan takes advantage. 3. There is no community of law. There is a show of one. Liberal terms are offered. Emoluments, honours, rewards, are promised. But there is nothing to make Satan keep his own terms; and, after years of painful and unremunerative toil, the “wages of sin is death.” All these circumstances combine to make the sinners’ bondage most exasperating. IV. This bondage was followed by a Divine Redemption. 1. That redemption was an historical fact. “When?” Israel looked back upon it as such. So is the redemption of the world by Christ. The Church can be traced back to it without a missing link. Institutions were connected with it, date from it, and are still commemorative of it. In the one case, the Passover, &c., Scripture references and doctrines. In the other, all evangelical preaching commenced with it and refers to it. One day in the year is set apart for its contemplation, and one rite most impressively sets it forth. 2. That redemption was nut an iniquitous proceeding. “Went out.” They were not driven out or stolen out, but went out, through the divinely supported claim of their national rights. Pharaoh had no claim upon them. His service was robbery. Contrast and analogy. (1.) Contrast. Man is subject to the rightful claims of law on his service. Those claims have been deliberately disregarded, and the law imposes a curse and a penalty. Man is redeemed from the law by Christ bearing that curse and suffering that penalty. (2.) Analogy. Satan has no right to man’s service. When that ceases Satan suffers no wrong. When man is released he is not stolen or driven, nor does he flee. He marches forth in honourable triumph, because Satan is overthrown and the law satisfied. (3.) That redemption was the beginning of their national life. “When Israel.… House of Jacob.” Before they were merely a tribe; in Egypt merely a caste; when redeemed, a nation. By Christ’s redemption those who were not a people became the people of God and a holy nation. Before men were disintegrated members of the human race; afterwards brothers, friends, one in life, one in feeling, one in aim. Let political rulers, social agitators, and moral philanthropists note this. The redemption of Jesus Christ has succeeded in social purification and unity where every other scheme has failed. IN .—(i.) If the Son has made us free, we are free indeed. (ii.) Stand fast in that liberty, &c. THE TEMPLE AND THE KINGDOM(Psalms 114:2) God dwells among His people in a twofold character: as an object of worship, and as a monarch to rule. Hence in the sanctuary He secures His people’s reverence and love. On His throne and over His dominion He secures their obedience and homage. Both the sanctuary and the throne are combined (1) in the human heart; (2) the Christian Church; (3) the material universe. I. The Temple. “Judah was His sanctuary.” The name is singularly appropriate. “The praise of Jehovah.” In the sanctuary— 1. God dwells. His presence makes the temple what it is. “Nature” would be no “temple” if God were absent from it. Christ in the midst makes the Christian Church a temple; and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost the human heart. 2. God manifests Himself. In nature (Romans 1:20). In the Church by the means of grace. In the soul (John 14:23). 3. God communicates His will. In nature (Romans 1:19). In the Church, which is the depository of His written word and the organ for its dissemination. In the heart (Hebrews 8:10-11). 4. God must be adored. In nature. “All Thy works praise Thee.” In the Church (1 Corinthians 14:25). “Bless the Lord, O my soul.” II. The Kingdom. “Israel His dominion.” The term again is appropriate. God is not the despotic master of a number of slaves, but King of kings and Lord of lords. His people are “princes with God,” “a royal priesthood.” It is the acknowledgment of His rule that ennobles nature, the Church, and the individual soul. 1. God reigns in His dominion. His presence pervades infinite space, and nature’s orderly movements betoken the indwelling of nature’s King. The Church in its spiritual powers, extension, working out of the divine plans, witnesses to the all-pervading presence of her Lord. The soul, in the provision that is made for its wants, and its power to withstand its foes, bears testimony to the presence of its Master. 2. God reigns over His dominion. The forces of nature emanated from Him, and He guides them to the fulfilment of their various destinies. The Church is under His command. It is “Go ye into all the world,” “Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” The soul is His, and is subject to His authority. 3. God reigns for the good of His subjects. In nature everything serves benevolent ends. Philosophy and legislation have not improved on the laws Christ gave to His Church. Only by keeping God’s laws can the benefit of the soul be secured. 4. God reigns that His dominion may be universally acknowledged. It is so acknowledged in nature. It will be in the moral world by His Church. Christ “shall reign,” &c. God yearns for the homage of each individual heart, and says, “Be ye reconciled to God.” THE REMOVAL OF (Psalms 114:3-4) “The sea (the Red Sea) saw the mighty movement—the marshalled hosts—the moving masses—the cattle—the pursuing enemies—the commotion—the agitation on its usually quiet shores. We are to conceive of the usual calmness of the desert—the waste and lonely solitudes of the Red Sea; and then all this suddenly broken in upon by vast hosts of men, women, children, and cattle, fleeing in consternation, followed by the embattled strength of Egypt,—all rolling on tumultuously to the shore. No wonder the sea is represented as astonished at this unusual spectacle, and so fleeing in dismay.”—Barnes. I. Antagonisms are quelled. “The sea saw it and fled.” Wherever the Church has advanced— 1. Sin and Satan have receded. Where it has not been so the Church is to blame. The promise depends on the proper spirit and the use of proper means. It is only when she loses her spirituality, or fights with carnal weapons, or depends upon the arm of flesh, that she has failed. When clad in her armour, she encountered the vices and follies of Roman civilisation, she was “fair as the moon, bright as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners.” 2. Idolatry has receded. Christianity simply annihilated the classical, Druidical, Saxon, Tartar, and Scandinavian mythologies, the bloody rites of the South Seas, and is now doing the same for the debasing superstitions of Africa and the foul abominations of Hindustan. If not Christianity, what has? Not civilisation: it boasts that religion is out of its sphere. Not philosophy: in its palmiest days it gave itself to its exposition and was glad of its alliance. Not legislation: it has been the aim of human governments to protect it on utilitarian and other grounds. Clearly no other theory will account for it. 3. Infidelity has receded. For all the ancient philosophies she proved an overmatch. From her infancy she has given birth to giant intellects, who have saved the world from intellectual anarchy. She has vanquished the infidelity of the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the elder Deism, and Tom Paine. Socialism and rationalism have been weakened, and scientific materialism is met by an array of learning and acuteness without a parallel, and it will pass away. II. Boundaries axe removed. “Jordan was driven back.” 1. Christianity levels all class distinctions. To all castes, Jewish, Roman, Indian, &c., it is a formidable foe. “In Christ Jesus there is neither bond nor free,” &c., It reduces all mankind to one common level of crying need, for which but one provision has been made. 2. Christianity obliterates all physical barriers. It goes into all the world and preaches the Gospel to every creature. It was not made for home consumption, but is the property of all nations 3. Christianity fills up all intellectual chasms. No greater remove could possibly be than that between the old philosopher and the common people. Christianity appeals to both. Its truths are the food of the scholar and the refreshment of the slave. III. Difficulties are overcome. “The mountains skipped,” &c. 1. All difficulties of nature. Wherever Christianity has appeared “the valleys have been exalted,” &c. Crooked ways have been made straight. No mountain has been too high, no sea too broad, no continent too wide, for the pioneers and missionaries of the faith. 2. All difficulties of human prejudice. Armies have been levied to extirpate it. Fires have been kindled to burn it. Learning has been accumulated to refute it, but in vain. IN .—This history is prophecy. Fulfilled prophecy in some instances. It holds good through the ages. Let the Church in the strength of it redouble her efforts, brighten her hope, perfect her faith, and go on conquering and to conquer. WHY ARE REMOVED(Psalms 114:5-7) I. Because of the omnipotent presence of the Lord. “Nothing is too hard for the Lord” in the physical, intellectual, or moral world. He is the Author of nature, and can either suspend her laws or give His people strength to overcome them. He is the Lord of mind. He can bring to naught the understanding of the proud, or give His servants wisdom to expose their sophistries. He is the Lord of soul. He can subdue its sinfulness, or enable His ministers to bring that moral influence and suasion to bear upon it which shall turn it from darkness to light, &c. He has done, does, and will do so (Isaiah 40; Isaiah 54:14-16). II. Because of the covenant presence of the Lord. “The God of Jacob.” He has pledged His gracious presence with His people to lead them on to victory (Isaiah 54:17; Romans 8). It was by virtue of the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and renewed to them, that Israel overcame their obstacles and inherited the promised land. And by virtue of a new and better covenant, God is on the side of His Church and against her numerous foes, and prepares her rest in heaven when her work is done. III. Because of the merciful presence of the Lord. God rules in mercy as well as in power. It was good for Israel, good for the world then and through all time, that the sea should flee and Jordan should be driven back. The Canaanites were a curse to God’s earth. It was in mercy that they were cut off. God established His people in their place, that through them all the nations of the earth might be blessed. This end has been answered, for of them, “as concerning the flesh, Christ came.” The same applies to the Church. IV. Because of the righteous presence of the Lord. “Tremble, thou earth,” &c. Since God rules in righteousness He holds the power of retribution. The measure of the iniquities of the enemies of His people became full before the judgment fell. Righteousness still characterises God’s rule. And because of that nations fall and are swept away when they disrespect His covenant and disobey His law. TO .—The Lord Omnipotent, covenant, merciful, and just, is with His Church. Let the Church be encouraged, humbled, energised, brave. DIVINE (Psalms 114:7-8) Psalms 114:7 is the point of connection between Psalms 114:3-6 and Psalms 114:8. God’s presence enabled His people to overcome their difficulties, and guaranteed a permanent provision for their need. God employs the Church to accomplish His magnificent designs, and His presence in its midst assures it constant blessing. Divine provisions are— I. The result of the divine presence. God in His works is the source of their continual stability and strength. The fountain of their life and fruitfulness is there, and by His supports they flourish. God in His word is the source of its continual inspiration and suggestiveness, and because He is there, there is ever more “light to break forth from” it. God in His Church is the guarantee that the means of grace shall be efficient, and in consequence of this she grows in strength as she grows in grace. So in the soul. II. Contemplate real need. God does not promise the luxuries or superfluities, but the necessaries of life; not confections or things merely grateful to the palate, but things necessary for refreshment, strength, and life. God does not undertake to pamper His people with worldly grandeur and mere material success; but He does promise that all things necessary for life and godliness shall be secured. Men can dispense with wine, but they cannot dispense with water. And so the Church can dispense with State alliances and popular applause, but cannot dispense with the water of life. III. Come in unexpected forms. Even the faith of Moses would hardly have looked to the hard granite of Horeb, or the basalt of the desert, for refreshing streams. Yet at the command of God the rock was turned into standing water. And so invariably with the operations of providence and grace. Israel was led out of Egypt and to the promised land under the guidance of a shepherd. By a shepherd she was consolidated into a permanent kingdom. The prophets and apostles, as a rule, were drawn from the lowest stratum, and the foolishness of preaching has silenced the rhetoric of the schools. The good things of the world’s redemption came out of Nazareth, and the power that has moved the world emanated from a malefactor’s cross. Gain has come out of loss, life out of death, prosperity out of suffering “at the presence of the Lord.” IV. Flow with abounding fulness—“a fountain of waters.” Wealth and prodigality characterise the divine gifts. Men minimise and contract them, but not God. The air, light, showers, sun, the magnificence of the heavens, the beauty of the landscape, and the grandeur of the mountains and the sea, all witness to the bounty which is at the disposal of needy man. But “these things are an allegory” of “the riches of His grace.” “Ask whatsoever ye will;” “My God shall supply all your need;” &c. “God is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c. God “multiplies to pardon,” gives “plenteous redemption,” and finally vouchsafes “an abundant entrance into His everlasting kingdom.” V. Are constantly permanent. “Fountain.” “Standing water.” As God changes not, His bountiful provisions do not change. Man’s need is abiding, so is God’s gift. Man always needs water—at all times His water is sure. The Church needs a perpetual application of the benefits of Christ’s death. His “eternal redemption” supplies the eternal need. The Spirit abides ever in the soul to confirm its faith, soothe its sorrow, and brighten its hope. FINALLY.—It is to this and other passages (Exodus 17:6-7; Numbers 28:11) that the Apostle (1 Corinthians 10:4) draws his spiritual inferences respecting the support and refreshment Christ gives to His people. In the wilderness Israel (i.) Were supplied without money and without price. So Christ offers the water of life freely. (ii.) Were indebted to the cleaving of the rock at the word of Moses. So Christ, the Rock of ages, was cleft for us, and from His riven side flowed those streams which are for the cleansing and refreshment of the world. (iii.) Now, as then, the blessings are permanent, to stimulate our courage and confirm our faith. 1. Date and authorship uncertain. Has been ascribed to the immediate post exilie psalmists, and to the poets of the time of the Maccabees. 2. Characteristics. Allusion to or quotation of Isaiah. The iterations (Psalms 115:9-13) suggest Temple service. 3. Ewald conjectures that the Psalm was sung while the sacrifice was offered, and that Psalms 115:12-15 were spoken by the priest declaring the acceptance of it; Psalms 115:1-11; Psalms 115:16-18 sung by the congregation.THE SOLE GLORY OF GOD, AND THE OF MAN(Psalms 115:1) The Bible everywhere gives bold prominence to the glory of God. That glory is said to be the end of all the divine works and ways. “The heavens declare the glory of God.” “The whole earth is filled with His glory.” Says the Old Testament Psalmist: “Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds of the people, give unto the Lord glory and strength; give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.” Says the New Testament Apostle: “Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever.” Notice— I. That God’s glory consists in His own supreme and solitary perfection. “Thy name.” ωֵׁ ?ν denoting internal essence, authority, rank, and dignity. When Moses inquired, “What is Thy name?” the reply was, “I AM THAT I AM.” The divine glory consists in God being Himself. There is no glory in imitation. The glory of man consists in his being a man. When he becomes a child or a beast he loses his glory. So God’s glory consists in His being what He is and nothing else; perfect and incapable of improvement in dignity, by time or through the homage of His creatures. II. That God’s glory is expressed in the mercy and truthfulness of His works and ways. These two expressions sum up the divine perfections, and illustrate two sides of the divine character. Their harmony in action—forgiving, yet not so as to violate the law of righteousness; truthful, yet not so as to deprive the guilty of hope—is God’s glory, revealed to and manifested towards His creatures. This receives its full expression only in Christ, who is the “brightness of His glory,” &c. in His ministry and death. III. That God’s glory should he apprehended and acknowledged by man. It must be apprehended before it can be acknowledged. No man can glorify God till he has some sense of His perfections as revealed in Jesus Christ. He must see the King in His beauty before he can admire Him. He must feel, in penitence and faith, that God is “just and the Justifier,” “a just God and a Saviour,” before he can adore Him. Then the honour due unto God’s name will be a thankful and spontaneous tribute, and herein will God “be glorified that we bear much fruit.” IV. That God’s glory is not the object of God’s solicitude, but man’s. 1. God has no need to seek His own glory. That comes in the nature of things. Even evil in some mysterious way subserves this end. 2. When God is spoken of as doing this or that for His name’s sake and for His glory, it means that He is not indifferent to what we think of Him, and that it is only by our right thoughts and actions towards Him that our well-being can be secured. 3. When man it solicitous to promote God’s glory, God’s object is secured. 4. Man’s blessedness. “The glory which thou gavest Me I have given them,” &c. (Revelation 7:9-12.) V. That God’s glory removes all ground of boasting on the part of man. “Not unto us.” Boasting is here for ever excluded.… All the good we do is done by the power of His grace, and all the good we have is the gift of His mercy, and therefore He must have all the praise.… All our songs must be sung to this humble tune.… All our crowns must be cast at the feet of Him that sitteth on the throne.”—M. Henry. A GODLESS INQUIRY AND A GODLY (Psalms 115:2-3) This is an everyday question, asked by various people and on various grounds, and should be met every day with its all-sufficient answer. While a Christian man should not court controversy for its own sake, he should be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in him. I. The question, “Where is now their God?”1. Why is it asked? (1.) Because of the spirituality of God. God is invisible, and beyond the reach of man’s physical sense. (2.) Because of the fancied independence and power of man. Pharaoh in his vain pride asked a similar question. So did Sennacherib. Surrounded by marshalled hosts, or protected by material forces, man sees no need of God; hence this question. (3.) Because of the disinclination of depraved humanity to serve God (Job 21:14-15). Man is a sinner, and feels if there be a God that God must have vengeance on his crimes, and that that God has strong claims upon his gratitude and service. (4.) Because of the folly of the human heart. If the evidences written on the heavens above and in the earth beneath are not enough, the question of our text must be regarded as the outcome of mental incapacity or moral obliquity. (5.) Because of the apparent inequalities of God’s providential rule. (See Asaph’s mournful wail, Psalms 73.) 2. By whom is it asked? By (1) The Atheist who, as the Antetheist, dogmatically denies the divine existence; or, as the Agnostic and Positivist, maintains that God is unknown and unknowable. (2) The Pantheist, who denies the divine personality, and if God be impersonal He must be unintelligent and unconscious, and therefore virtually non-existent. (3) The Deist, who would acknowledge the existence of God as an hypothesis to account for the universe, but would deny his power to interfere with His works or the laws by which they are controlled. As Sir I. Newton remarked: “A God without dominion, providence, and final causes, is nothing but fate and nature.” (4) Unitarian; for the only God we know of is He whom Christ reveals. (5) By the Idolater. All these sections of modern heathenism are asking the question to-day. II. To this question there is an all-sufficient answer (Psalms 115:3). The answer to the taunt of the heathen, who, seeing no image of Jehovah, mocked at His existence, is “ (1) He is heaven, invisible indeed, yet thence ruling the universe; (2) He doeth what He will, in fine contrast to the utter impotence of the idols of the heathen. (3) God’s almighty power and absolute freedom. This, truthfully accepted, does away with all ΰ prioriobjections to miracles.”—Perowne. 1. God exists; as against the non-existence of idols. The world is full of thought and beauty and design which bespeak an intelligent mind and a powerful will. The universe is without a rational explanation on any other theory; and the human heart and mind are vacant without the thought of God. 2. God exists in the heavens. That accounts for His spiritual invisibility. God’s being is too great to be within the comprehension of our poor faculties, and too holy to be perfectly manifested to our sinfulness. It is irrational to question the unseen because it is unseen. 3. God does according to HIS pleasure, not according to MAN’S. This accounts for (1) the fact that men question His existence. He permits it that He may ultimately show its vanity, and confirm His people’s faith. “A grand old Methodist preacher, called John Nelson, was obliged to become a soldier, and as he was arrayed, a mocking, bad woman came to him and said, ‘Nelson, where is now thy God? Thou didst say at Shent’s door that thou hadst no more fear of all His promises failing than thou hadst of falling through the centre of the earth. Where is now thy God?’ Nelson, in whom the Word of God dwelt richly, said, ‘You will find the answer in Micah 7:8-10 : “Rejoice,” ’ &c. I have some reason to believe that the answer was literally fulfilled.”—Dr. J. Parker. (2) For the apparent inequalities of His providential government. God bears with tyrants, hoping that their repentance may avert His vengeance (Luke 17:1, &c). God permits the suffering of His people as the chastisement for their sin, the trial of their faith, or because His just designs for the whole of mankind could not be otherwise fulfilled. “IDOLS AND THE LIVING AND TRUE GOD”(Psalms 115:3-7) The Psalmist having replied to objectors now carries the war into the heart of their camp. Nothing can exceed the contempt which the old Hebrew prophets poured on the various systems of idolatry. (Deuteronomy 4:28; 1 Kings 18:27-29; Isaiah 37:19; Isaiah 40:19-24; Isaiah 44:9-20; Jeremiah 10:3-5, &c.) The irony of Juvenal is very fine: “Dost thou hear, O Jupiter, these things? Nor move thy lips when thou oughtest to speak out, whether thou art of marble or of bronze! Or why do we put the sacred incense on thy altar from the opened paper, and the extracted liver of a calf, and the white caul of a hog? As far as I can discern there is no difference between thy statue and that of Bathyllus.” Bathyllus was a fiddler. I. Idols vary in every age and among various nations. God remains the same. The inhabitants of the old Pantheon grew in number with the years. First the elements, then deceased heroes, then good things, then evil things, and finally everything. Idolatry still lives on. Men worship themselves, their friends, wealth, pleasure, power, &c. But all fluctuate and die. Only God lives on. II. Idols are numerous and conflicting; God is one and in harmony with Himself. Olympus was a house divided against itself. The great Jove was supreme only in name. The suggestions of the patrons of all the virtues were met by the counter suggestions of the patrons of all the vices. The decrees of the goddess of wisdom were neutralised by the passions of the god of war; and so with the idols of modern England. The living and true God, on the other hand, is one, and eternally self-consistent. III. Idols are the work of men’s hands; God is eternal and uncreated. The same power which could make an idol can unmake it. An image can be worshipped one moment, used as a footstool the next, and destroyed the next. The living and true God is untouched by His creatures, and from everlasting to everlasting is God. IV. Idols at best can occupy only “temples made with hands.” “God is in the heavens.” Men may erect their splendid temples and fashion their golden shrines. They may adorn them with the magnificent conceptions of human genius, with breathing canvas and speaking marble, and celebrate their worship with grand and costly ritual. But all is of the earth, earthy. The living God from His high and holy place looks down with pity and contempt on all. V. Idols are senseless (5–7); but God is keenly sensitive of the wants of His creatures, and kindly attentive to their prayers. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” THE MORAL OF (Psalms 115:8) Men read into nature their own imperfect views of the supernatural, and thus their gods were like themselves; with the same bodies, parts, and passions. The gods again found their reflection in the hearts of their devotees. Both gradually grew worse and worse, till no passion was too vile for a god to feel, and no vice too bestial to be in some measure sanctified (Romans 1). And now a man’s character is formed by the god he worships. “Those that make them, and trust in them, are like unto them:”— I. In mental incapacity. It would be hard to conceive the utter blindness of the idolater to the utter blindness of his god if it were not too sadly true. Wealth, personal appearance, pleasure, &c., are worshipped, in spite of the universal fact that they can of themselves do nothing for man; and yet man continues his mad and stupid idolatry. This worship blinds man to the inevitable result. He goes on till some rude shock wakens his mind into activity, and sometimes that shock comes too late. II. In moral insensibility. The miser is as hard against moral impressions as his gold. The Midas fable is only too true. The self-worshipper is hardened in his conceit. The power-worshipper is encased in an ambition which few things can pierce. This insensibility is not of sudden, but gradual growth. The miser may have been tender at one time, but by degrees his love of gold has destroyed it all. Beware lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. III. In deep degradation. All mythologies have deities which are the proper object of execration rather than worship. In the elegant (?) classical mythology the father of the gods was a buffoon and a sensualist, his father devoured his offspring; the god of valour was an example of domestic treason; and the patron of commerce was the special favourite of thieves. The Egyptian and Oriental gods are even worse. Their worship is consistent with their character, and makes their votaries like themselves. What degradation does the worship of Isis, Bacchus, Venus, Vishnu, Baal, and Astarte, &c., reveal. And so with the idols of a mis-called Christian civilisation. Gold and pleasure are hardly less animalising. IV. In malign harmfulness. Idols can of course do nothing of themselves. But the influence of their supposed example can have but one effect. What the effect is heathenism in all ages abundantly shows. Bloody, impure, and implacable deities have produced men who rivalled them in debauchery and crime. And the influence of the lust of power, pleasure, or gain, is to wither the affections, blight the intellect, and blast the soul. V. In spiritual death. Idols having no life cannot nourish or sustain it. The soul goes to them in vain for pardon and purity. The mind finds no base for its operation, no satisfaction for its craving; the life no authoritative rule, no guide in perplexity, no encouragement in duty. Everything upon which this Upas casts its shadow, dies. Learn— (i.) The danger of idolatry. In itself and in the condemnation that rests upon it “Ephraim is joined to his idois, LET HIM ALONE.” (ii.) The missionary duty of the Churches towards heathenism abroad and at home. (Psalms 115:9-11) I. The nature of trust αָּ ?θַ ?η is need in two senses. (1.) To hang upon something, to rely, to trust. (2.) To live secure, careless, and calm. 1. The believer depends fully on the help and protection which God affords, and avails himself of them at all times and everywhere. He feels that there is no other security or strength but in the power and goodness of God. 2. Consequently he abandons all other refuges, and fearlessly casts himself on God’s care, and lives calmly in the midst of all his foes. II. The grounds of trust. “He is their help and their shield.” 1. The divine help is omnipotent, and therefore sufficient; wisely made, and therefore to be depended upon; ever present, and therefore available; willingly vouchsafed, and therefore fearlessly accepted. This help is offered when wanted, and therefore never superfluously; in sin, to pardon it; in perplexity, to remove it; in physical distress, to alleviate it; in trials, to safely conduct us through. 2. The divine protection. This was specially God’s covenant character (Genesis 15:1; Deuteronomy 33:29). (1.) The believer wants provision for his safety in his warfare, and not simply help. The mightiest warrior is at the mercy of his weakest foe without a shield. So while the Christian wields the “sword of the Spirit,” he wears other accoutrements, and “over all” the “shield of faith.” (2.) The believer needs protection in time of exhaustion. The strength of the stoutest warrior must give way in time, and woe to him if the fortified camp or citadel is not within reach. So, for the exhausted believer, “the name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” III. Those who trust. “Israel.” “House of Aaron.” “Ye that fear the Lord.” 1. The whole body of God’s people. Because (1) they are warranted in their trust. (2) It is their duty to trust. (3) Their trust is necessary to their safety. 2. God’s ministers. In whatever sphere, let those who are working for God (1) Trust in the help of God, in the study and proclamation of His word; in their contest with infidelity; in their conflict with sin. (2) Trust in the protection of God against temptations, spiritual monotony, indolence, doubt, and fear. IV. The consequences of trust. 1. The believer is confident. “He knows whom he has believed,” &c. 2. The believer is TRUSTY. He is faithful; full of faith. Fulness of faith means full reliance on God, which guarantees fulness of sufficiency, hence fidelity. IN .—(i.) A warrant. “The Lord God is a sun and shield.” (ii.) A command. “Trust ye in the Lord forever,” &c. (iii.) A promise. “Be thou faithful unto death,” &c. (iv.) A prayer. “Lord, increase our faith.” GOD MINDFUL OF MAN(Psalms 115:12) This is a continuation of the controversy between the believer and the idolater. In answer to the question, “Where is now your God?” the Psalmist replies, “In heaven, where yours is not. Your gods are silver and gold, articles of human manufacture, devoid of both sympathy and sense; but our God has been mindful of us, and will bless us.” This is one of the many proofs that the Hebrew faith was not an abstract monotheism, and that the Incarnation was its logical development. Jehovah was not some grand inaccessible power. He was their Father, brought into familiar contact with them, careful of their wants, and joyful when they were glad. This doctrine is followed by the revelation of Him who is the great expression of the mindfulness of God. I. Why is God mindful of man? Scepticism scoffs at the idea as it did of old. Religious men sometimes wonder at it. The vastness of the universe, the enormity of man’s guilt, the apparent insignificance of his age, size, actions, ever suggest the question, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him,” &c. God is mindful of man— 1. Because He is God. (1.) He is the Father of man, and naturally solicitous of the interests of His children. (2.) He is the ruler of men, and it therefore behoves Him to protect and regulate His subjects. (3.) He is the creator of man, and it is but natural that He should care for that which He was at the trouble to make. 2. Because of man’s dignity. When He created him He pronounced him to be very good. Alas! it is not so now. Nevertheless, compared with the rest of the universe, he is still “crowned with glory and honour.” “There is but one object greater than the soul, and that one is its Creator.”—Augustine. “Man is a feeble reed trembling in the midst of creation.… It does not need the universe to arm for his destruction. A breath of wind, a drop of water, would suffice to kill him. But, though the universe were to fall on man and crush him, he would be greater in his death than the universe in its victory; for he would be conscious of his defeat, and it would not be conscious of its triumph.”—Pascal. 3. Because of man’s sinfulness. Sin is the disturbance of the moral order of the universe. The moral governor cannot be indifferent to this disturbance, and must as such endeavour to restore harmony. 4. Because of man’s needs. Man comes into existence and continues a creature with wants which Omnipotence only can satisfy. II. When and how is God mindful of man?1. In need. This indeed covers the whole of his life. From the moment of his birth to that of his death. God provides for helpless infancy by natural love and paternal strength; for nakedness by the skins of animals, and the flax and cotton of the field; and for his food, drink, habitation, sickness, &c., all creation seems to have reference. 2. In sin. He has come so near to him as to be born of a woman. He has given His Son to be a sacrifice for his guilt; His Spirit to regenerate his heart; and His means of grace to support and strengthen the new spiritual life, so that he may resist sin and triumph over it. 3. In His moral capacity. Man cries out for the living God. God has given a revelation of Himself in His Word. Man needs laws, hopes, guidances, and God’s Word is revealed as a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path. 4. In trouble. God has given him the Comforter and the consolations and promises of His Word. 5. For ever. “O Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place,” &c. “This God is our God for ever and for ever,” &c. III. For what purpose is God mindful of man? That man may be mindful of Him. “I have created thee for Myself.” DIVINE (Psalms 115:12-14) The Psalmist, drawing upon past experience, looks forward into the future and sees it luminous with the presence and blessing of God. So may the believer. God has been mindful of him; he may expect that God will bless him I. The subjects of the blessing. 1. His covenant people as a whole. That is God’s part of the covenant. The Church undertakes to fulfil the divine commands, and God undertakes to crown that fulfilment with success and benediction. 2. His chosen ministers. Those whom He has called to arduous duty. 3. The great among His people. Those distinguished by extraordinary talent may expect that blessing without which all their talents are vain. 4. The small among His people. The weak. The lambs of the flock. II The characteristics of the blessing. I. It is a blessing. The pure, spontaneous gift of God, which can neither be merited, purchased, nor earned. It is a suitable blessing. Given with exact references to need. His ministers may expect blessings which will help them in their work; enlarged views of truth, deep insight into the Word, power and success in its proclamation, strength in weariness, comfort in depression, and the crown of righteousness at the close. His people may expect spiritual enrichment and establishment; power to resist sin, subdue it, and triumph over it. The great among His people may expect special consecration for special talents, and special help in putting them to accent. The small among His flock may expect help in their weakness; and as for the lambs, did He not “take them up in His arms, and bless them”? He does so still. 3. It is an increasing blessing. (1.) It increases those and theirs upon whom it falls. It enlarges every capacity, and widens every sphere of influence and usefulness. (2.) It increases in proportion to the enlargement of their capacity. It is grace upon grace, blessing upon blessing, until the whole nature is filled with the fulness of God. 4. It is a personal blessing. “He will bless.” All mediatory benedictions, except in His name and declaratory of His promise, are an impertinence. The blessings fall direct from God’s hands. 5. It is an hereditary blessing. “Your children.” III. The conditions of the blessing. “Them that fear Him.” The God-fearing man is the God-blessed man, and as long as he fears God, and no longer, is he warranted in expecting the divine blessing. THE CREATOR, THE , AND THE (Psalms 115:15) A leading tenet of Jewish belief was the creatorship of God. This, too, is a foundation article of the Christian creed. All the blessings that man has enjoyed under all the dispensations may be traced to this I. The Creator. “The Lord.” 1. The Creator is One. The dualistic theory is here answered by anticipation. “God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good.” The evil that is in the world has been introduced by the creature, and not by an equal or subordinate deity. 2. The Creator is yet the Divine Trinity. “Lord, Thou art God which hast made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is.” “One Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things.” “The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.” II. The creation. “Which made heaven and earth.” 1. Everything, Himself only excepted (1 Corinthians 15:27; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 3:4; Exodus 31:17, &c). “Whatsoever hath any being is either made or not made; whatsoever is not made is God; whatsoever is not God is made. One independent, uncreated essence, all others depending on, and created by it; one of eternal and necessary existence; all others indifferent either to be or not to be, and that indifferency determined by the free and voluntary act of the first cause.”—Pearson. 2. “The action by which the heaven and the earth were made was the production of their total being, so that whatsoever entity they had when made, had no real existence before they were so made, a manner of production we usually term Creation, as excluding all concurrence of any material cause, and all dependence on any kind of subject, as presupposing no privation, as including no motion, as signifying a production out of nothing.”—Pearson. (Romans 4:17; Hebrews 11:3.) 3. The manner of creation. (1.) Absolute (Genesis 1:1). (2.) The adaptation of existing materials to special ends (Genesis 1:11-12; Genesis 2:7). III. The Creator’s benediction on the creature. “Ye are blessed of the Lord.” God’s end in creation was the enjoyment of the creature. “The earth hath He made for the children of men.” There is no natural gift from which man is debarred, and none but will in some way promote his wellbeing. It is nature’s gifts polluted and perverted that are the cause of misery. “To the Christly man nature becomes a wonderful organ, and the opening of every stop can yield some tone of joy. The beauty of the wild flowers, the stars—‘the forget-me-nots of the angels,’ the loveliness of the butterfly’s wing, the glory of the forest foliage, the music of the bee as it hums, of the birds as they warble, of the wind as it sings among the trees and hills, or of the sea, in ‘the everlasting thunder of the long Atlantic swell,’ will make him feel that all that beauty, all that music, is the gift and revelation of ‘God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;’ and, overborne by emotions utterly unknown to others, he will— “Lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye,And, joyful, say, My Father made them all.”—Thomas.THE DIVINE -PLACE(Psalms 115:16, clause 1) NOTE.—“The heavens (are) heavens (i.e., a dwelling-place) for the Lord” (Acts 17:24). I. The divine dwelling-place is exalted. The exact locality of heaven the Bible has nowhere chosen to reveal. The expressions “high,” “lifted up,” &c., are probably to be interpreted morally. God dwells at an infinite remove from the constant mutations and moral imperfections of the children of men. II. The divine dwelling-place is holy. It is emphatically the “holy place.” Nothing that is defiled can enter there. Those who enter there have either never sinned, or have been purged from sin, and share the holiness of Deity. III. The divine dwelling-place is to be the dwelling-place of man. 1. Now spiritually. “Set your affections on things above,” &c. 2. Hereafter perfectly. “In My Father’s house are many mansions,” &c. “Father, I will that them which Thou hast given Me be where I am,” &c. THE EARTH: GOD’ S GIFT, AND MAN’S (Psalms 115:16, clause 2) The earth is man’s inheritance. No one disputes this. But how and why he came by it has been fiercely contested. He did not have it always, and science seems to prophesy a time when it will be no longer his. Why is earth his more than the heavens! And how? Most property has been either purchased or won by conflict. But how did it become theirs who had neither money, strength, nor arms? The Bible affords the only solution. God made man out of the dust of the earth, and therefore earth, and not heaven, became his sphere. God then gave him that with which he had so much in common, and told him to replenish and subdue it. I. The earth, then, is God’s gift to man. 1. It is an equitable gift. Belonging to God by the right of creation, God could do as He chose with His own. In doing this the right of no other creature was invaded. No other creature had the capacity for this possession. Birds and beasts can enjoy the harvests, but they cannot till the soil or sow the seed. Upon man’s possession of it, therefore, largely depends the good of the inferior creation. 2. It is a magnificent gift. Compared with the largest planet and the universe, the earth may be very small. But with his faculties, it is all that he can enjoy, and God has given him that all. If he cannot enjoy the fruits of other worlds, yet this earth is a platform upon which he can enjoy the warmth and splendour of the sun, the light of the stars, and the influence of the moon, and his mind can be uplifted and enlarged by all that astronomy reveals. But in and of itself it is a magnificent gift. It affords science for his mind, beauty for his taste, trade for his practical instincts, material produce for his a wants; yes, and if he has eyes to see it, religion for his heart. 3. It is a prepared gift. “They were necessary those enormous stretches of time, during which matter was consolidating into worlds; those vast geologic periods of fire and flood, of volcanic fury, of awful convulsion, of slow subsidence, of slow upheaval; those dark mysterious epochs of conflict between the inferior types of life;—in order that at last I might have a clear heaven above my head, a firm earth beneath my feet; that I might have an atmosphere to breathe; that I might have rivers to fish, and fields to plough; that I might have wood and iron for use, and flowers and precious stones for beauty.”—R. W. Dale. 4. It is an universal gift. “To the children of men.” Not to the children of the noble, &c. Nowhere more than in this sphere has man been robbed of his natural rights. Sometimes he has robbed himself, and by a succession of degenerate descendants the wide acres which thrift has gained, have been drunk, gambled, or idled away. Sometimes others have plundered him, or outwitted him. But all the inequalities introduced by sin will be re-adjusted in that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. II. The earth is God’s gift to man for certain definite uses. Man is not the absolute owner of the earth. True, within certain limits, he may do what he likes with it, but he is morally bound to consider the ends for which it was given. It is let to him on lease. That lease expires with life; and then he will have to render an account of his stewardship. 1. The world has been given to promote religious ends. “The invisible things of God are clearly seen,” &c, and thus the soil which man treads is holy ground. 2. The earth has been given for the enlargement and education of his mind. “The Astronomer has learned the thoughts that are written in that starry universe. The Geologist goes down and reads many thoughts in the rocky crust of the earth. The Botanist unveils the structures of flowers, and explains the actions and peculiarities of living plants; but all these things were written before he examined them. So with the Anatomist: he has discovered volumes of thought in this body which is fearfully and wonderfully made; but every thought was there before ever man looked within.… This vast universe exhibits thoughts in every leaf and every grain of sand, in every drop of water, in the mountains and in the heavens. Whence came those thoughts?”—Alex. Stewart. 3. The earth has been given for man’s use and enjoyment. The air for his lungs; food to supply his bones with strength and his veins with blood; occupation for his exercise; stones, metals, wood, for the necessities and elegancies of life, &c. 4. The earth has been given to be evangelised for Christ. Since the original donation man has become marred by sin. But Christ has died for him, and now He says, “Go ye into all the world,” &c. LIFE AS THE SPHERE OF DIVINE SERVICE(Psalms 115:17-18) A part of this text has been quoted to support the opinion that the Old Testament saints were in the dark on the subject of immortality. The whole text goes to prove the very opposite. The Psalmist contemplates man in his material sphere. The earth has been given him; and on that earth it is his duty to serve the only living and true God. That ministry is over when he dies. “Nothing is more impressive than the utter silence of the grave. Not a voice, not a sound is heard there—of bards or men, of SONG or conversation, of the roaring of the sea, the sighing of the breeze, the fury of the storm, the tumult of the battle. Perfect stillness reigns there; the first sound that shall be heard will be the archangel’s trump.”—Barnes. The dead, as such, do not praise God. But who are the dead? The physical organs, limbs &c. These cannot praise God, because they have no object to praise. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” But worship may go in with different organs, and in a different sphere. The Psalmist goes on to say, “But we will praise the Lord from this time forth and for evermore.” ςεֹ ?μָ ?ν is a word of very frequent use and has but one meaning, and that meaning is Eternity. When our Lord said, “I must work,” &c., He did not imply surely that He had no work to do beyond the grave. Notice— I. The characteristic features of divine service. “Praise.” “Bless.” 1. Praise. δָ ?μַ ?μ throws light on the moral character of this service; to be bright, to shine. This splendour is borrowed from Him in whom is no darkness at all. Those who worship “walk in the light as He is in the light,” &c. Hence (again true to the original) the Christian boasts not of his own excellences, but of the divine excellence which illuminates him (2 Corinthians 12:1-21). Through them his soul makes her boast in God: “God forbid that I should glory,” &c. The Piel of our text ιָ ?δַ ?μְ ?μεּ means (1) to diffuse brightness. The beauty of Christian holiness, and the splendour of Christian life and worship, are so that we may be “lights of the world” and “show forth the praises of Him who hath called us,” &c. (2) Hence a large portion of worship consists in the most beautiful art; viz., music, the only art as far as is revealed to us in the upper and better world. 2. Blessing, πְ ?αָ ?ψֵ ?κְ Piel of αָ ?ψַ ?κְ. To bow, to do homage, to utter blessing. (1.) Our blessing must be based upon our homage. Religious rhapsody is often profane. To bless God is a very solemn thing. A benediction on the King of kings and Lord of lords should be pronounced with bared head and on bended knee, and should not degenerate into mere ejaculation. (2.) Our homage should be acknowledged by joyous gratitude. Solemnity is not inconsistent with joy. As we acknowledge God’s sovereignty we may remember that that sovereignty is the basis of all our blessings. II. The sphere of divine service. Life. “The dead praise not the Lord.” With the occupation of their glorified spirits the Psalmist has here nothing to do. His ministry is for living men, and suggests that the sphere of religious activity is— 1. The whole of the man. His living entity. The aim of the Bible is to bring all the faculties of man into subordination to the will of God, and into full consecration to His service (1 Thessalonians 5:23, Mark 12:29, &c.). And what is worship but the harmonious action of all man’s powers. Music is harmony. One note by itself, or clashing with another note, the treble only, or the bass only, is not perfect music. So intellectual, or ethical, or emotional religion exclusively, is not perfect, much less so when the mental belief clashes with the ethical action. “Let Knowledge grow from more to more,But more of reverence in us dwell,That mind and soul, according well,May make one music as before.”—Butvaster.2. The whole of man’s time. Every moment there are reasons and opportunities for service. (1.) “This time.” Here and now God supplies our need; here and now the fact should be acknowledged. (2.) To eternity. III. Exceptions to divine service. (Psalms 115:17.) The exact reference is not to the morally dead, yet the whole Bible is full of the doctrine that spiritual life is necessary to spiritual service. The morally dead are incapable of divine service for ever. Now they lack the motive, the will, and the power. And no new faculties, and no stronger desires, and no brighter opportunities will be vouchsafed beyond the grave. Our text may be used as (i.) a plea for deliverance, (ii.) a call to instant decision, (iii.) an expression of full consecration, (iv.) an expectation of future blessedness. “This Psalm is an evidence of the truth and depth of the religious life in individuals after the return from the Exile.… It reminds us of earlier Psalms, and especially of the Psalms of David. His words must have laid hold in no common degree of the hearts of those who were heirs of his faith, and have sustained them in times of sorrow and suffering; and nothing would be more natural than that later poets would echo his strains, and mingle his words with their own, when they poured forth their prayers and praises before God.”—Perowne.PRAYER: ITS OBJECT AND ITS VALUE(Psalms 116:1) The exact rendering would be, “I love, because the Lord heareth my voice,” &c., and brings before us the proper object and the ethical value of prayer. I. Characteristics of prayer. 1. “My voice.” Prayer should, as far as possible, be vocal. The conditions of prayer are hardly fulfilled when it is merely a current of devotional thought passing through the mind. True, there are circumstances under which sighs, unexpressed desires, are acceptable to God; but expression (1) gives definiteness, prevents the mind from wandering; (2) gives completeness; the sacrifice of the heart is then accompanied by the sacrifice of the lips. 2. “My supplications.” Which teaches us that prayer should be (1) humble. We are simply beggars at the throne of grace, and are absolutely dependent for every gift on God’s free bounty. (2) Full. One supplication is not enough. We must multiply our supplications, as showing our need, and our confidence in God’s infinite resources. We fail because we do not ask enough, or for enough. (3) Earnest. Cold formalities never reach the ear of God. II. The object of prayer. “The Lord heareth.” 1. God can hear prayer. “He that planted the ear shall He not hear?” God made man for communion with Himself, which would be impossible unless God could hear when man prays. 2. God is willing to hear prayer. (1.) His commandments prove it. “Make your requests known unto God.” (2.) His promises prove it. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble,” &c. (3.) Direct revelations to this effect prove it. (Jeremiah 29:11-14., Zechariah 13:9.) 3. God does hear prayer. (Isaiah 45:19.) All the Bible proves it; all Christian experience has proved it. “This poor man cried,” &c. III. The value of prayer. 1. Prayer secures the object for which it asks. “The Lord heareth.” For God to hear is for God to answer, and His all comprehending answer is Himself. 2. In securing this grand object it secures all that it wants. To answer some petitions would be harmful. The promise is, “My God shall supply all your need.” 3. The effect of prayer “is to put the affections in motion. Its object is the uncreated love, the eternal beauty; He of whose beauty all that moves love and admiration here is at best a pale reflection. To be in His presence is to be conscious of an expansion of the heart, and of the pleasure which accompanies it, which we feel in another sense, when speaking to an intimate and loved friend or relative. And this movement of the affections is sustained throughout the act of prayer. It is invigorated by the spiritual sight of God; but it is also the original impulse which leads us to draw near to Him. (Matthew 15:8, 1 John 3:21-22.) In true prayer: ‘Out of the abundance of the heart,” &c.—Liddon. IN .—“How vain and foolish is the talk ‘To love God for His benefits is mercenary, and cannot be pure love!’ Whether pure or impure, no other lore can flow out of the heart of the creature towards its creator. ‘We love Him,’ said Christ’s holiest apostle, ‘because He first loved us;’ and the increase of our love and filial obedience is in proportion to the increased sense of our obligation to Him.”—Dr. A. Clarke. THE MOTIVE FOR PRAYER(Psalms 116:2) There can be no reasonable objection to motives as long as they are pure, and so long as they are adequate for the purpose for which they are employed. The motives in God’s Word are worthy and sufficient. We have a very beautiful one in the text. God has heard the particular request of the Psalmist, and he takes that as a guarantee of His willingness to hear and answer in all time to come. In the strength of this he vows to pray without ceasing. Notice— I. This motive reveals God’s condescension and anxiety to hear. “The Psalmist represents himself as so sick and weak that he could scarcely speak. The Lord is here considered as bowing down His ear to the mouth of the feeble suppliant, that He may catch every word of His prayer.”—Dr. A. Clarke. II. The determination that is based upon this motive, “I will call,” &c. 1. What? “I will call,” implying (1) Resolution: “I will.” Prayer requires effort. “No man is likely to do much good in prayer who does not begin by looking upon it in the light of a work, to be prepared for, and to be persevered in with all the earnestness which we bring to bear upon subjects which are, in our opinion, at once most interesting and most necessary.”—Bishop Hamilton. (2) Confidence. Unless there is an expectation of being heard the voice will falter. (3) Earnestness. Not a feeble whisper, but a loud cry. (4) Publicity. 2. When? “As long as I live.” Heb.: “In my days.” (1.) Whenever opportunities occur. These occur constantly. (2.) As long as life lasts. Not by fits and starts. (3.) In the hour of death. (4.) In eternity. III. The divine intention that is suggested by the ground of this motive, and the warrant for this determination. God answers prayer— 1. That we should believe that He hears and answers it. 2. That we may have “boldness of access with confidence.” 3. That He may surround Himself with a royal priesthood, who shall “show forth the praises of Him who hath called them,” &c. Learn—(i.) For our encouragement that God desires our prayers, and is anxious to hear them. (ii.) For our warning. Unless we call, God will not hear. A prayerless people are a godless people. SPECIAL PRAYER(Psalms 116:3-4) Prayer must be the Christian’s atmosphere. As long as there is necessity for prayer we must pray. But there are special seasons which require special prayer. Our text indicates some of them. I. The time for special prayer. 1. In the pangs of disease, either hopeless or apparently so. Heb.: “The cords of death encircled me.” In the Old Testament death is represented as a hunter with a cord and net. In consumption or any lingering sickness the cord gets tighter and tighter, and the meshes more and more intricate, until all possibility of escape is cut off. One by one hopes fade, and encouraging symptoms disappear. Step by step does the fell malady march to conquest, and then the time comes when there is but a step between man and death. The Psalmist would appear to have been in the death struggle. Whether the affliction was physical disease, overwhelming trouble, or extreme danger, does not appear, but the expression is suggestive of all. 2. In the painful anticipation of the future. Heb.: “The pangs of the underworld discovered me.” “As if they had been searching for me, and had found my hiding-place. Those sorrows ever in pursuit of us will soon find us all. We cannot long escape the pursuit. Death tracks us, and is on our heels”—Barnes. (1.) The pain of leaving those we love. (2.) The pain of unfinished work. (3.) The sorrowful contemplation of sin. (4.) For some, the fearful apprehension of wrath to come. 3. In bitter disappointment. “Death found me, and I found trouble and sorrow. I did not seek it, but in what I was seeking I found this. Whatever we fail to ‘find’ in the pursuits of life, we shall not fail to find troubles and sorrows”—Barnes. 4. In any kind of trial. Whole text. II. The subjects of special prayer. “O Lord, deliver my soul”1. The Psalmist’s prayer literally was for life. This value of and desire for life runs through the Old Testament. Not that we are warranted in believing that the Jew held that death was the extinction of the soul’s life. But life that was spared was ever viewed in the light of consecration to God. The rest of this Psalm, and the conclusion of the previous, bears this out. He wished for life that he might pay his vows. 2. The Psalmist’s prayer admits of a spiritual interpretation. Soul deliverance is deliverance from sin. Sin is the soul’s death. All other aspects of death are comparatively insignificant. Of all legitimately special subjects this is the sum. If the soul is saved from death, physical dissolution can be apprehended calmly. 3. The Psalmist’s prayer suggests that subordinate details should be left in the hands of God. His subsequent path is a matter of unconcern. If God spares his life, he knows that God will support it. “Is not the life more than meat?” All God’s larger blessings include the lesser. (Romans 8:32.) III. The manner of special prayer. 1. Earnestly. “Called.” The case is urgent. 2. Resignedly. “I beseech Thee,” i.e., if it be Thy will. IN .—God sometimes allows His servants to approach extreme peril, that they may experience His extreme nearness, and the extreme efficacy of prayer. FOR PRAYER(Psalms 116:5) Under certain circumstances prayer would be impossible. If its object were unbending, and therefore incapable of hearing it, it would be useless; if capricious, or too easily moved, it would be worthless; if severe and implacable, we should have no heart to pray. The Christian is encouraged by the fact that God is gracious, righteous, and merciful. “He is righteous, He did me no wrong in afflicting me; He is gracious, and was very kind in supporting and delivering me. Let us speak of God as we have found: and have we ever found Him otherwise?”—M. Henry. “Instead of saying, ‘Jehovah answered me,’ he magnifies those attributes, which, from the days of His wonderful self-revelation to Moses (Exodus 34:6) had been the joy of every tried and trusting heart.”—Perowne. I. Pray because God is “the Lord.” Jehovah, the Unchangeable One, who has eternity with its wealth and in its duration, in which and by which to supply all our need. II. Pray because the Lord is “our God.” Our dwelling-place, inheritance, and covenant possession. Hence all He is and has is ours. (Romans 8:32, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23.) III. Fray because the Lord is “gracious.” ηַ ?πּ ?εּ ?ο1. Condescending. God stoops to hear prayer, and comes down to answer it. 2. Favourable to prayer. He has commanded it and promised to bless it. His Son has taught men how to pray, and ever lives to mingle their prayers with His. His Spirit helps men to pray. 3. Kind to those who pray. Does not lay upon them heavy burdens. Does not impose heavy penances or long liturgies. Hears the faintest sighings of the broken and contrite heart. 4. Beneficent is His answers to prayer. “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” &c. IV. Pray because the Lord is “righteous.” 1. God is just in all His dealings. Nothing that is right will be withheld; nothing that is wrong, bestowed. 2. God is truthful in all His words. His promises can never fail, because “He is not a man that He should lie,” &c. 3. God is reliable in all His ways. We may depend upon the principles of His government as on an unshakable foundation. 4. “God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” V. Pray because “our God is merciful.” ψָ ?ηַ ?ν. 1. God interests Himself in our case. He is perfectly acquainted with it. “He knoweth our frame,” &c. 2. God is tenderly solicitous of our interests. We are His “inheritance;” the “apple of His eye;” the “sheep of His pasture,” &c. 3. God is compassionate of our sorrows. “In all our afflictions He was afflicted.” Christ is “touched with a feeling of our infirmities.” 4. God is friendly towards our persons. We are His “children,” His “friends,” “loved with an everlasting love,” and “loved unto the end.” IN .—Notice (i.) The crime and folly of unbelieving despondency. (ii.) Let the considerations urge you to earnest and believing prayer. THE TIMELY HELP OF (Psalms 116:6) I. Who are the helpless? “The simple.” τָּ ?ϊַ ?δ has three meanings:— 1. To be open in the sense of being foolish and thus simple. The immature in experience, the weak in understanding or will. God does not despise the poor imbecile, nor those who, through no fault of their own, are peculiarly open to the craft of those who “lie in wait to deceive.” 2. To be open in the sense of being frank, trustful, and ingenuous. One who yields readily to truth and duty; without cunning, trickery, or guile. A Nathaniel. 3. To be open, as in the case of little children, which is indeed the rendering of nearly all the versions. Such, being members of the Kingdom of Heaven, are under the special care of its King. “Take heed how ye offend,” &c. 4. To be open, as in the weakness of sickness and old age. II. When are they helped? In their extremity. γָּ ?μַ ?μ to wave, to totter, to be loose; to be dried up, drained, to fail; to hang, to swing from side to side, as miners letting themselves down (Job 28:4); lit., they hang, they swing, far from men. 1. In their insecurity. The simple of all kinds are open to crafty and unscrupulous foes. How often are the weak of intellect or will outwitted in trade, opportunity, or health! How often does the guileless honesty and unsuspicion of the man who is determined to do right lay him open to intrigue! How often is the trustfulness of little children, and the semi-imbecility of old age, imposed upon! How often is sickness taken advantage of! But let their foes beware; for the Almighty has pledged Himself to be on their side. 2. In their exhaustion. (1.) In the exhaustion of their natural resources. (2.) In the failure of their understanding “God will guide them by His counsel.” (3.) In the abortion of their preventive efforts the Lord will fly to their succour. (4) In the decrepitude of their physical strength, in the feebleness which harassing anxiety has engendered, and in the failure of power at the hour of death. “His rod and His staff shall comfort” them. III. How are they helped?1. “The Lord preserveth.” ωָ ?ξַ ?ψ. To pierce, to be wakeful and active as a gatekeeper or shepherd, to protect and to attend to strictly. Then (1) God keeps a vigilant watch over the weakness of the simple and the strength and subtlety of their foes. “He that keepeth Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” (2) God throws an omnipotent protection round the simple. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower,” &c. “The Lord God is a sun and shield.” “Underneath are the eyerlasting arms.” But are the weak thus cared for? Notice (1) Do the weak trust in God, or lean to their own understanding? (2) Have the TRUE. interests of the weak, in so far as they have trusted in God, been permanently assailed? Have their losses, sufferings, been real? Unsuspecting persons have been robbed of their temporal rights, perhaps, but has not the soul been safe, and is there not treasure in heaven? Children have been slaughtered, but they have passed to their crown without the pain and danger of the conflict. 2. “He helped me” ιָ ?ωַ ?ς (1.) God will SAVE the simple in their extremity. Let them be assured that if they will trust in Him they are safe. (2.) God will SUPPORT them in their weakness. “My grace is sufficient for thee.” (3.) God will ultimately give them victory (Ephesians 6:13, Romans 8:35-37). IN .—(i.) “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” (ii.) The enemies of the simple are the enemies of God. (iii.) Isaiah 40:27-31. THE SOUL’S RETURN TO ITS REST(Psalms 116:7) The many afflictions of the Psalmist had agitated his soul and shaken his confidence in God. He had been bound by the cords of death. He had felt the painful straitening of the tomb. Trouble and sorrow were the discovery of his search for good. His enemies had overmatched and exhausted him. In the midst of his affliction miraculous help had been vouchsafed. The Lord saved him, and now he returns to the rest of joyous confidence in God which stills for ever the tumult of his soul. I. The soul is commanded to return to its rest. Therefore this rest is its rightful heritage. “Thy rest.” 1. This rest is not (1) the rest of mere local habitation. The soul may be in a state of the greatest disquietude on the most comfortable couches, and in the most splendid dwelling-place. It refuses to be stilled by the tenderest caresses, and by the enchantment of the richest music, and is proof against slumber on beds of the softest down. Heaven itself would afford no repose to a soul in certain moral conditions. (2) Insensibility. When the soul ceases to feel it is not at rest, it is diseased or dead. Better the keenest anguish than this. (3) Inactivity, if, indeed, that were possible. An inactive soul would be a soul exhausted of its powers. 2. This rest is, the harmony, health, and tranquil action of all the forces of the soul. (1.) The soul’s rest consists in pure affection for a worthy object. The soul was made for love: “Thou shalt love … with all thy soul.” There can be no rest where there is no love, where that love is impure, or where it is fixed on unlovely objects. Hell is the state where irregular passions rage and clash with one another and cause agony, because there is no love and no object for love. Unholy love is feverish and insatiable lust. Love of the unlovely is the cause of more unrest than all other causes combined. The soul returns to its rest when it sets its regenerated affections on the things above. (2.) The soul’s rest consists in satisfying faith in an all-sufficient power. Man was made for trust. No man is conscious of independence. He is therefore at unrest until he finds some one on whom his faith can utterly repose itself. He is at unrest if he is trusting to a broken reed; and when that has given way he trembles to trust again. The doubtful mind (Luke 12:29, μετεωριζεσθε) is that which is tossed about in the open and stormy sea. The soul can only be at rest when its anchorage is in God. Only as we can say with Paul when the blast of Euroclydon was on the vessel, “I believe God,” can we have peace. (3.) The soul is at rest when its volitions are in harmony with a will higher than its own, and stronger. Self-will is the cause of perpetual unrest. It is constantly thwarted and disappointed, and therefore never at peace. Only as far as the soul is in harmony with Him whose will rules the universe, and cheerfully assists in the fulfilment of the counsel of that will, can it be at rest. Its rest is this, “I delight to do Thy will,” &c. (4.) The soul is at rest when engaged in that work for which it is divinely fitted. Ignoble callings, vulgar ambitions, and immoral pleasures, have no affinity with that which is the image of the great Creator. The soul was made to fight the good fight of faith, to work the works of Him that sent it; and only in such occupations can it be at rest. (5.) Therefore, only as the soul is free from the perturbations of sin can it be at rest. Sin has destroyed the moral balance of the soul, and introduced discord where all was harmony. That, thank God, can be removed. Peace follows pardon. Purity precedes refreshment. And the soul pardoned and refreshed, with its love fixed on God, its faith reposing on God, its will governed by God, and its work directed by God, it realises the promise to the full: “I will give you rest.” II. The soul is commanded to return to its rest; there is hope for weary man, that his lost rest may be regained, Man has lost his rest. Furrowed brows, blasted hopes, ruined fortunes, early graves, all bear witness to this. “Art thou weary, art thou languid,Art thou sore distressed?Come to Me, saith One, and coming,Be at rest.”“For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.” The details of that bounty are specified in the following verses. Those details may be summed up in one word, GOD. Elsewhere the soul may seek rest, but it will find none. God provides the soul with (1) a lovely object: He is “the King in His beauty;” (2) a trusty object: “Casting all your cares on Him;” (3) a governing will: so that the soul can say, “Thy will be done;” (4) an appropriate work; “Workers together with God;” (5) purity, harmony, peace. IN .—(i.) Seek the true rest, God. (ii.) Seek it in the proper plate, God. (iii.) Seek it by the best means, God. “God is the centre to which all immortal spirits tend, and in connection with whom they can find rest. Everything separated from its centre is in a state of violence; and if intelligent cannot be happy. All human souls, when separated from God by sin, are in a state of violence, agitation, and misery. From God all spirits come; to Him all spirits must return, in order to be finally happy.”—A. Clarke. (Psalms 116:8) I. Of “the soul from death.” We are warranted in taking this in its most comprehensive sense. Of the life— 1. From physical death. The Psalmist had been brought to death’s door and was restored to health and strength. Then are few men who cannot say the same. Most have passed through dangerous sicknesses, or just escaped what might have been fatal accidents but for the interposition of a higher power. And, indeed, subtle perils lurk in the atmosphere we breathe, and the circumstances by which we are surrounded every moment, and yet we are spared. 2. From intellectual death. How near men are to that let our asylums show. The brain has a limit to its power, and excess, the anxieties of life, and the grapple with great intellectual problems, sometimes brings us to the very margin which bounds sanity from madness. But God has interposed His “hitherto shalt thou go,” &c. 3. From social death. How near are many men to ostracism from the friends who love them and the homes that cherish them! Many a man has uplifted a hand, which, had it fallen, he would thenceforth have been an outcast from his fellow-men. Many a man has entertained thoughts, which, had he uttered in the feeblest breath, men would have shunned him as a wild beast. Many a man has spoken five words, which, had they been six, the very wife of his bosom and the children of his heart would have spurned him. There have been men whose emotions have risen fifty degrees, and one degree more the brand of Cain would have been written on their forehead for life. God has saved their soul from death. Some men have committed social suicide, and God has given life to the dead. 4. From moral death, the real death of the soul. The soul is now dead in trespasses and sins. Those who live in sin are dead while they live. God can and does raise the soul into newness of life. Sinners, remember that there is a death, which, while it never dies, admits of no resurrection. This is “the second death.” II. Of the “eyes from tears.” 1. God sometimes delivers us from the occasions of sorrow. Many things which would have caused us helpless grief, God has mercifully checked. Friends have been spared, losses averted, sharp arrows of pain missed their mark. 2. God sometimes gives us grace to bear our sorrows, so that we can say with more than resignation, more than acquiescence, with adoring gratitude even through our tears, “The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away,” &c. 3. God sometimes wipes the tears from our eyes. He “comforts those who mourn,” &c., sends the Comforter, whispers the promises, and assures of the time when there will be no more pain, and when “He will wipe all tears from all faces.” III. Of his “feet from falling.” 1. Preservation from snares and pitfalls, enabling us so to thread our way as to avoid those dangers which, if encountered, would be perilous to the soul. 2. Firm establishment. On a rock, so that nothing shall shake us. On a broad basis, so that looking down from the lofty pinnacle we shall not be made giddy, and fall. 3. Sudden rescue. The Psalmist’s feet, like Asaph’s (Psalms 72.), may have well-nigh slipped, one foot over and the other going, but God interposed. We have all had times like this. IN .—Notice (i.) This deliverance was personal. “Thou,” “My.” Not law, chance, providence. (ii.) This deliverance was conscious. It was not a beautiful theory, or a clever speculation. It was a fact. These two ideas, a personal relationship with a personal God, constitute the charm of the Psalms. Let us not break it. Speaking thus the Psalmist speaks for man. WALKING BEFORE GOD(Psalms 116:9) “We mean by men’s ‘walking’ their conduct, the mode in which they carry themselves, and the progress they make as men. All men have ‘ways,’ all men ‘walk’ somehow. The difference between men spiritually is not between walking and not walking, but between walking rightly and wrongly; walking to heaven and to hell. Activity, incessant activity, is impressed upon all. It is the universal law. But some walk after the spirit, and others after the flesh; some in darkness, others in light. True religion is walking with God.”—A. J. Morris. I. What walking before God implies. 1. That man is a social being. Man was made for companionship. Hence marriage. “It is not good for man to be alone.” Man seldom cares for a solitary walk. Hence, in the journey of life, some “walk with the wise,” others “go with the evil.” 2. That man was made for social intercourse. Without this companions are useless or a burden. Man must have fellowship and interchange of thought and feeling. Without this his best life is sapped. His mind will be dwarfed by narrowness. His affections will be consumed in their own fires. 3. That man’s social instincts find their full development in intercourse with God. Only by this means can the mind be fully fitted for man who is made in the image of God. His love for God, whom he has not seen, will qualify him for loving his brother, whom he has seen. 4. That this bringing of God and man together in social intercourse is the end of providence and grace. This was man’s natural privilege as having affinity with God. By sin he forfeited it. God became offended, and man careless. But in the fulness of time Emmanuel came, and through Him God and man are reconciled and made at one. II. What walking before God means. 1. Conscious companionship. Not mere intellectual belief in God’s existence, nor a consciousness of God’s omnipresence, but the nearness of God experienced and enjoyed. 2. Spiritual sympathy. “Two walk together because they are agreed. There must be unity of purpose, of taste, a correspondence of circumstances, and a harmony of will. We can admire a man, converse with him, receive favours from him, confer favours on him, dwell in the same house, exchange the courtesies of life with him, without walking with him. There is a general benevolence or humanity that engenders politeness, i.e., kindness seasonably offered ‘in form or reality.’ But the man I walk with is my friend. I have proved his character, and I find it sound. I have noted his conversation, and not only approve his opinions, but imbibe his spirit. I have watched the issues of his heart, and I find their counterpart in my own bosom. He may be separate from me, his profession may be opposite to mine, his attainments, rank, look down upon mine, I still walk with him.… I doubt whether a man or an angel could commune with so entire a union. Then how are we to conceive of a man walking before God?” Genesis 1 supplies the answer.—E. E. Jenkins. 3. Moral progress. Going on to that perfection to which God leads. 4. Careful circumspection. “As ever in the great Taskmaster’s eye.” III. Where walking before God takes place. “In the land of the living.” 1. Not in the other world. 2. Not in the contemplative sphere. Men have considered this as presenting unusual facilities. Alas! they have found as many hindrances as they have escaped. Men now frequently look forward to the time when, retired from the turmoil and business of the world, they will be enabled to walk before God without distraction. But before that time arrives disinclination sets in, powers are demoralised, and walking before God fully becomes next to impossible. 3. But in the land of the living. In the midst of the living; in the engagements of the living; consecrating living activities to His services. IN .—“What a glorious life is this! Who loves not to walk with a dear friend?—and the more if he be very wise and pure and good. Who that had to travel a doubtful road would not rejoice if that friend were a safe guide as well 1 and still more, if there were fear of evil, one of a strong and skilful arm? And further yet, if, being poor himself, that friend were able to meet all the possible charges of the way? We ‘walk with God,’ who can supply ‘all our need,’ who ‘guides us with His eye,’ encompasses us with favour as a shield; and ‘we joy in God.’ ”—A. J. Morris. THE NATURE AND POWER OF FAITH(Psalms 116:10) I. The nature of faith. δָ ?ΰֱ ?ξַ ?πְ ?ϊִּ ?ι Hiphil preterite of ΰָ ?ξַ ?ο. To make fast or strong; to build. Hence, fig., to maintain, foster, bring up. The Hiphil (text) signifies to hold fast, to stand firm, to trust. “Powerful as is the effect of these words (Genesis 15:6, where same word is used) when we read them in their first untarnished freshness, they gain immensely in their original language, to which neither Greek nor German, much less Latin or English, can furnish any full equivalent. ‘He supported himself, he built himself up, be reposed as a child in his mother’s arms (such seems the force of the root of the Hebrew word) in the strength of God; in God whom he did not see, more than in the giant empires of earth, and the bright lights of heaven, or the claims of kindred or country which were always before Him.”—Dean Stanley. Hence the Psalmist’s faith was not a mere intellectual assent to certain truths; but the conscious experience and actual realisation of certain facts. “The true living Christian faith … is a sure trust and confidence in God, that through the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God.”—Wesley. II. The power of faith. “I believed, therefore have I spoken.” Everywhere faith and speech should be inseparable. The man who speaks what he doesn’t believe is a hypocrite; the man who does not speak what he believes is a coward. 1. The power of faith is to find expression for itself. Hence this Psalm becomes a creed, and from this fact springs the vitality of creeds. The three great confessions of the Christian Church are a witness to the heroic faith of those who composed them. May they long continue the same for those who use them. 2. The power of faith is to constrain those who believe to confess their belief. The Psalmist had the burden upon him. He could not help but speak (Acts 4:20). And so the Christian who is conscious of the great salvation will not only proclaim it, but do so under an irresistible impulse. 3. The power of faith is to inspire loyalty to the truth we believe. This saves from (1) narrowness, which contracts the truth and conceals part of it. A sound Christian faith holds “all the truth” and proclaims “all the counsel of God.” (2) From latitudinarianism. The Psalmist’s was not only a comprehensive, but a correct faith. Latitudinarianism mixes error with truth, or softens its rigour by a spurious charity. A sound Christian faith takes hold of and proclaims “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” 4. The power of faith is to impress us with the necessity of its declaration. He felt his confession to be not only truth, but the only truth. The Lord, and the Lord alone, helped him; the Lord, and the Lord alone, could help others. Mighty is the obligation which rests on Christian men. Christian faith takes the facts of humanity and of God as they stand. Man sinful and helpless. Christ not one Saviour among many, but alone sufficient. It will brook the presence and pretentions of no rival in the work of man’s regeneration, and declares again and again that without its efficacy man must perish. Hence the “woe is me, if I preach not the Gospel” which rests on the Christian man. 5. Faith is the power of loyalty to the Lord of faith. The Psalmist believed God, and was thereby strengthened in his submission to God’s will. Faith empowered him to declare what God had done for his soul. And if we believe Christ as the Psalmist did God we shall keep that command, “Go ye into all the world,” &c., disobedience to which is disloyalty to Christ. 6. Faith is the power of confidence, and confidence is the power of successful enterprise. This faith has moved and still will move the world. Men who have faith in themselves succeed every where. What, then, must that faith be which has as it object the Lord God Omnipotent? (Psalms 116:11) The Cynics were a sect of Greek philosophers founded by Antisthenes, who from his morose and disagreeable proclivities was termed “the dog.” He with his more famous disciple, Diogenes, are representatives of a class of men all through the ages who cultivate and exhibit a feeling contemptuous of or hostile towards their fellow-men. All are more or less subject to this, and all should strive against it. The Psalmist fell into it in his trouble, but soon got out of it. I. The Psalmist’s cynicism consisted in a hasty conclusion and an uncharitable verdict. On the spur of the moment, “I was greatly afflicted, and then I said in my haste,” &c.; somewhat rashly and inconsiderately in my amazement (so some); when I was in a consternation—in my flight (so others). Observe the faith of the best of saints is not perfect, nor always alike strong and active. When the Psalmist believed he spoke well; but now through unbelief he spoke amiss.—M. Henry. “The Psalmist, on reflection, felt that he had said this without due thought, and that he was now disposed to think better of men than he did on the day of affliction and trouble. The world is much better than what we think it is when our minds are morbid and our nerves unstrung.”—Barnes. II. That the Psalmist’s cynicism was natural under the circumstances, although not justifiable. He had been brought low, near to death, and was greatly afflicted. We may suppose that a great deal of his affliction was the result of treachery and bitter disappointment. The words seem to imply the cry of one who fled from men in ambush. But such a hasty generalisation, although natural, was not justifiable, because not true. III. That the Psalmist’s cynicism was only a passing mood. “He does not seem to have cherished this mood; on the contrary, he seems to have been conscious of its wretchedness.… Most of us must have known what it is to have our sympathies and affections temporarily soured in times of vexation and disappointment.… The great danger is lest it should pass into a habit—lest we should nurse it until it becomes a chronic attitude of mind, and take a morbid pleasure in indulging it.… The fully-developed cynic prides himself on his indifferent tone. Like Iago he is ‘nothing if not critical.’ It is simply his ‘way’ to pick faults and sneer. We find the culmination of cynicism in Mephistopheles; and indeed the word ‘devil’ means ‘accuser,’ slanderer of God and man.”—Finlayson. IV. That the Psalmist’s cynicism was successfully resisted and overcome. The spirit of cynicism is abroad, how shall we resist it? (i.) By a charitable estimate of human infirmity; (ii.) By a generous recognition of human excellencies; (iii.) By a modest estimate of our own worth. “Wounded vanity and disappointed ambition and trouble coming on an intense egotism are fruitful sources of cynicism.… A humble recognition of our own faults and defects will help to keep us from it;” (iv.) By looking at all men through Christ. “This is the great antidote to the cynical spirit.”—Finlayson. (Psalms 116:12-13) The Psalmist is overwhelmed with a sense of the divine benedictions. He asks what return he can make. He feels that no return is so appropriate as acknowledging them in devout and public thanksgiving, and in asking God for more. A later custom of the feast of Tabernacles was to form a grand procession from the Temple to the Pool of Siloam, and for the high priest to hold aloft a golden goblet full of water from that pool, and pour it out as an oblation to God for His goodness. It was on that occasion, and probably in reference to that ceremony, that our Lord said, “If any man thirst,” &c. After the Passover the master of the house lifted up the cup of wine, and blessed God for His mercy, and then passed it round. To this the Apostle referred when he said, “The cup of blessing which we bless,” &c.; and the Evangelist when he tells us that Christ took the cup which was the cup of the New Testament in His blood; so typifying to us the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which becomes us until, as His guests, we shall sit down with Him in heaven and drink the cup of full salvation, which He, the Master of the house, shall pass round to all who shall be with Him there. Notice— I. That God requites His saints for their prayers. “All His benefits towards me.” These benefits were the salvations for which he had prayed (Psalms 116:4), and the answers he had received (Psalms 116:6-7). This requital is based on 1. The goodness of God. 2. The fidelity of God to His promises. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble,” &c. 3. God’s approbation of the use of divinely-prescribed means (2 Chronicles 7:14). II. That the divine requital is ample and sufficient. There is not enough in God’s benefits to intoxicate; they are not dealt out at random; but they exactly meet, and to the full, the creatures’ need. 1. Temporal benefits. God has favoured each one of us with that which is sufficient for our good. The sorrowful and suffering are the first and most earnest in their acknowledgments, that, as their necessities have arisen, God’s supplies have been adequate. 2. Spiritual blessings. These have been full and overflowing. God’s gift of Himself, by His Son and through His Spirit; the means of grace, the hope of glory, &c. All are as rare and costly as they are rich and full. 3. Mitigated sorrows. “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.” They are benefits from the beneficent hand of God. They are mitigated by the fact that they are not penal, but disciplinary; that they are shared by the “Man of Sorrows;” that they are the subjects of the ministry of the precious promises and the consoling Spirit. 4. Holy joys. God’s benefits are for the purpose of making us happy; they are earnests of our inheritance, and heaven begun below. III. That the divine requital of man’s prayers should be reciprocated by man’s requital of God’s love. 1. How should man requite God for benefits received? (1.) By a cheerful reception of what God has given. The cup of salvation is of God’s filling. We requite that by drinking it. There is nothing more wounding to a generous heart than to slight his gifts. And to refuse to make our own the things which are freely given us of God is to slight and affront His love. And yet, alas! although God spared not His own Son, and that Son spares not His own Spirit, and that Spirit spares not Himself in providence and the means of grace, yet the great mass, not merely of mankind, but of professing Christians, stand stolidly indifferent, and allow divine blessings to run to waste. (2.) By a correct appreciation of the contents of our cup. We must recognise that whatever of bitterness there is in it, that it is of God’s filling; and that, however nauseating it may be to our depraved palate, its contents are salvations. Let us take care that we know our blessings, or the empty cup will be eloquent of the mercies of which it once was full— “That which we have we prize not to the worthWhiles we enjoy it; but being lacked and lost,Why then we rack the value, then we findThe virtue that possession would not give usWhile it was ours.”—Shakespeare.(3.) By a thankful recognition of the fact that all our benefits are from Him. “Call upon the name of the Lord.” Only he who enjoys life in Him enjoys it at all. This is the true infusion that gives sweetness to the bitter, and more sweetness to the sweet. Without this religion will be but a drudgery, and life an empty void. 2. Why should we requite God in this way, viz., by a thankful reception of His gifts? (1.) Because we are already so much in debt to His mercy. “One reason why we should never come to a fellow-mortal for a favour is, that we have received so much already. Yet this is the only way in which we can discharge our debts to God; and, strange to tell, every such attempt to discharge the debt only serves to increase it.”—A. Clarke. (2.) Because God delights in no recompense, except “in the payment of a heart won to His love and melted by His mercies. His deep heart is glad when we taste the full cup of His blessings, and as we raise it to our lips and call on the name of the Lord.”—Maclaren. (3.) Because this will test the contents of every cup proffered to us in life. “There is an old legend of a cup full of poison put treacherously into a king’s hand. He signed the cross over it, and it shivered in his grasp. Take this name of the Lord as a test. Name Him over many a cup which you are eager to drink, and the poison will be spilled on the ground. What you cannot lift before His pure eyes, and think of Him while you enjoy, is not for you. Friendships, amusements, &c., can you call on the name of the Lord while you put these cups to your lips? If not, fling them behind you; for they are full of poison, which, for all its sweetness, at last will bite like a serpent and sting like an adder.”—Maclaren. IN .—There is another cup. “In the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red—it is full of mixture, and He poureth out the same; but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them.” Why should you drink of that cup while God offers to you the cup of salvation? Psalms 116:14, see Psalms 116:16GOD’S OF DEATH(Psalms 116:15) I. A high estimate ιָ ?χָ ?ψ is applied to things of (1) Substantial importance. (2) Considerable dignity or magnitude. (3) Rare and costly value. (4) Majesty, splendour, beauty. (5) To things held dear, beloved, and precious. II. An unusual estimate. This value is placed upon death. Death is usually regarded as loss, and with dread. He is called the great robber. It deprives the body of animation. “Absorbs me quite;Steals my senses, shuts my sight,Drowns my spirit, draws my breath.”Takes ruthlessly that which is most near and dear to the weeping wife, child, husband, friend. Yet, according to our text, “To die is gain.” III. An unexpected estimate. “In the sight of the Lord.” One would have thought it otherwise. Death is a blast upon God’s fair creation, and blights all on whom it falls. It takes the bloom from the pictures which the divine artist has pencilled, withers the majestic tree which the divine gardener has planted, crumbles the monument which the divine architect has reared, and curses him into whom God breathed the breath of life. Yet God says, “Death is precious.” IV. A specific estimate. Precious is the death of saints. Their death is a thing of (1) Substantial importance to God, to the final result of the universe, to the deceased himself. (2) Considerable dignity. “God took him,” “With Christ.” (3) Great value. It is a release from the uncertainties, cares, and pains of life. (4) Majesty. It is the portal of immortality. (5) To be held dear. It unites us to our friends and to the noblest of our race for ever. And above all, “We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” IN .—How precious it is may be seen. Ignatius, Polycarp, Huss, Latimer, Jerome of Prague, Baxter, Scott, Wesley, Halyburton, Payson. “Let me die the death of the righteous,” &c. TWO VIEWS OF DEATH(Psalms 116:15) 1. The Psalmist had been snatched from the very jaws of death. He therefore may have meant that it was too costly to be given to the foe. 2. The Psalmist’s life had been lengthened that he might fulfil the Divine purposes: death was too costly a thing to be given him till his work was done. Both views are true. I. Death is very precious, therefore God spares life. No weapon can touch God’s people till their appointed time has come. 1. In the family. The great Father sees how far a parent, a child, a friend are necessary, and the reason why so many are spared is because of the preciousness of death. 2. In the nation. The great Governor sees how far, and for how long, princes and citizens are necessary, and the reason why He stays His hand is because of the unspeakable value of death. 3. In the Church. The great Shepherd and Bishop of souls spares as many of His ministers as can be spared, because of the costliness of their death. II. Death is very precious, therefore God gives it. 1. It is the fitting reward of a saintly life (2 Timothy 4:6). 2. It is the soul’s movement towards perfection. 3. It is a stage in the direction of the completion of God’s plans in the universe. 4. It illustrates the triumphs of redeeming grace to those who are left behind. IN .—These two views are one theory. Death is too precious to be given without deliberation. Death is so precious, that at the appointed time it must not be withheld. It was Paul’s theory, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” There is another. A precious life makes a precious death, a worthless life a worthless death. If to me to live is self, then death is loss and despair. “Died—as a fool dieth”—is the epitaph on the lost soul. DIVINE (Psalms 116:14; Psalms 116:16-19) This is the appropriate conclusion of the Psalm. The Psalmist has all along recognised a relationship between himself and God, by which God has given certain benefits and he rendered certain services. This relationship is so close that its termination is too costly to be lightly entertained. God cannot spare him just yet, but when He does it will be to dismiss him to his reward. This relationship is now fully disclosed. He is God’s servant, yet God’s friend. God’s friend, but His servant still. As His servant God spares his life, as His friend God walks with him. And while he feels that God has loosed his bonds, he feels that he must not relax his service. I. This relationship is one of obedience, yet friendship. “I am thy servant.… Thou hast loosed my bonds.” 1. This relationship is characterised by generous devotion. We obey God not as a hireling toils for wages, but as a friend gives himself to promote the interest of his friend. 2. This devotion is based upon an interest in our friend’s wishes. Every word of our text displays the Psalmist’s interest in what he was doing. And why? Because he felt that God had taken an interest in him. Could he fail to see that? Can we? 3. This interest is based upon love of our friend. “I will offer Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving.” II. This relationship is one of friendship, yet obedience. Friendship must not degenerate into over familiarity or presumption. Remember— 1. That this relationship ceases with our obedience. The moment we forget the special conditions on which this divine friendship is based, that moment God ceases to be our friend. 2. That this relationship is not merely human choice, but Divine election. “Thou hast loosed my bonds.” We have not gained this liberty by our own might and by our own power. God has freed us from the thraldom of sin, that He might bind us by the loving cords of the royal law of liberty. 3. That the power to fulfil the duties of this relationship comes from God. “I will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord.” Our divine friend shows Himself friendly in hearing our prayers. He hears them that He may empower us to fulfil our obligations. III. This relationship must receive a formal and public acknowledgment. 1. In personal consecration. “I will pay.” So august a friendship, and so noble a service, must not be passed by with the informalities of our ordinary life and friendship. And yet if a friend is worth having he is worth marking out before all others; and if our worldly occupations deserve our attention at all, they deserve special attention. Much more God and His service. 2. In union with His people. “In the court of the Lord’s house.” He who is God’s friend and servant will associate gladly with God’s friends and servants. (1.) He will gladly unite with them in their public worship. (2.) He will let not a little hinder him in showing who and what he is by formal membership. A Christian, and yet a member of no church, is an anomaly. 3. Before the world. “In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem!” He is no true friend whose friendship is for private and home consumption. IV. This relationship should be sought and professed at once. “Now.” Every hour’s delay is a loss of privilege and a neglect of duty. If not done soon, it will be done never. 1. Authorship, &c., unknown. 2. Probably a liturgical introduction to, or dismissal from, a service, either by separate choirs or the whole people. 3. “The lyrical expression of the consciousness of the Old Testament Church, that it was the object of the special and everlasting care of God; that the former proceeded from His mercy, the latter from His truth; and that for this very reason Jehovah is the worthy object of praise for all peoples.”—Moll. “In Romans 15:11, the Apostle developes the idea which is the germ of the Psalm; it calls upon the heathen to praise God for His mercy and truth exhibited to His chosen, in which the heathen will one day share. (Deuteronomy 32:43.) It expresses all the elements of a Messianic Psalm.”—Speaker’s Com.MAN’S OF GOD’S (Psalms 117:1-2) “Some of the Jewish writers confess that this Psalm refers to the Kingdom of the Messiah; … that it consists of two verses to signify that then God would be glorified by two sorts of people—by the Jews according to the law of Moses, and by the Gentiles according to the seven precepts of the son of Noah—which should make one Church, as these two verses make one Psalm.” Notice— I. That God’s goodness is manifested to meet man’s need. Men everywhere need mercy and truth. All need is represented here. 1. Man needs God’s mercy. Jew and Gentile alike need forbearance and redemption; for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” God’s merciful kindness is great (1) in forbearing to punish; (2) in the gift of His Son; (3) in the mission of His Spirit; (4) in the establishment of His Church; (5) in its comprehensiveness; (6) in its regenerating and glorifying power. 2. Man needs God’s truth. The provision for that is, “His truth endureth for ever.” This may mean God’s word, or God’s fidelity to His word. Both are true. Consider the state of the world without the Bible. Natural religion is only known when Bible light is thrown upon nature. Man needs (1) the true knowledge of God; (2) guidance in his duty; (3) comfort in his trouble; (4) a revelation of his hereafter. Nothing supplies that need but God’s truth. From that truth God has never swerved. He has never repealed it. He has ever fulfilled it. What was truth to Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, is truth to us, and will be throughout the ages. II. That the divine goodness shall be universally recognised. 1. Why? Because (1) it deserves to be. (2) Because the order of things destines it to be. It was so at the beginning; it must be so at the end. 2. By whom? (1.) By the Jews. The Cross is now a stumbling-block because the veil is on their hearts (Romans 11). But that veil will be removed, and “all Israel will be saved.” (2.) By the Gentiles, to many of whom both the Cross and its revelation are foolishness. They shall yet confess it to be the wisdom of God. “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow,” and every tongue shall confess that Christ is “the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of His people Israel.” 3. How? By praising God. (1.) Gratitude. (2.) Consecration. III. That universal recognition will characterise the redeemed and glorified Church for ever. (Revelation 7:4-12; Revelation 9:5-6.) IN .—(i.) When is the implied prophecy of our text to be fully realised? Apart from the speculations of ingenious commentators, and the tabulations of prophetic almanacs, it will be (1) In God’s own time. (2) In the right time. And (3) “It is not for us to know the times and the seasons,” &c. (ii.) How is the prophecy of our text to be fulfilled? By earnest Christian testimony. The means are efficient: “The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation,” &c. The means are consecrated: “Go ye into all the world,” &c. The means are permanent; “The everlasting Gospel.” We have no warrant for the belief that the presence of the King will effect that for which the power and influence of the crucified and risen Saviour are not equal. Christian men, put on your strength. Vitalise and increase your agencies. Work in faith. “Jesus shall reign,” &c. 1. The last of the group (113–118.) constituting the Hallel. 2. Certainly a temple Psalm, most probably composed for a great occasion. “Some incline to the Davidic authorship, when he was anointed king, when he brought back the ark, or after (2 Samuel 21:16). Others to Hezekiah (cf. Psalms 118:17 with Isaiah 38:1). Others, after the exile, in celebration either of Feast of Tabernacles (Ezra 3:1-4), or Founding of the Temple (Ezra 3:8-8), or its Dedication (Ezra 6:15-18), or Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8:14). 3. Often quoted in New Testament. Many Rabbins interpret the Psalm of Christ; and Jerome says that the ancient Jews so interpreted it, which is borne out by Matthew 21:9. This was Luther’s favourite Psalm.”THE DIVINE MERCY(Psalms 118:1-4) Our text forms an appropriate introduction to, and is a miniature of, the whole Psalm. It contains the germ of all God’s goodness, and the ground for all human gratitude. Next to the phrase, “Praise ye the Lord,” the expression of Psa 118:1 is of most frequent use in the Book of Psalms. I. The nature of divine mercy. 1. It is divine. “His mercy.” It is therefore perfect. It is not liable to the fluctuations and temptations to which human mercy is exposed. The divine character is not only perfect as a whole, but in its parts. The divine perfections characterise each other. The divine mercy is omnipotent and all wise, beneficent, yet just. It always goes far enough, it never goes too far. Man’s mercy sometimes stops at the boundary of self-interest, and thus leaves its object unattained; sometimes goes beyond both and defeats its object. Not so with perfect mercy. It ascertains accurately the measure of our need, and powerfully supplies it. 2. It is the outcome of the divine goodness. Man’s mercy is often the result of weakness. Thus it rests on unworthy objects, encourages sin, and manifests itself in unproper ways. God’s mercy is ever governed by sound motives, manifested in good ways, to worthy objects and beneficent results. 3. It is everlasting. Man’s mercy is frequently a matter of mood, tense, and ability. God is always in a merciful mood, and always powerful to bless. II. The objects and manifestation of the divine mercy. 1. Nations: “Israel.” God, as King of kings, cares for national life. Illustrations of this are plentiful in the history of Israel and in the history of England. The divine mercy is seen (1) In the planting of nations, with due regard to wants and peculiarities. The characteristics of a nation may be due to the circumstances in which they are placed, but it may also be due in the divine adaptation of circumstances to temperament—e.g., Greece, art and poetry; England, commerce, &c. (2) In the growth of nations. Wars, revolutions, reforms, &c. (3) The decline of nations. When a nation has lost its virtue and its vigour it is a mercy to itself and to other nations that it should fall. Israel, Rome, &c. 2. Ministers: “House of Aaron.” (1.) In their call (1 Timothy 1:16; Galatians 1:15-16). (2.) In their preparation for their work (3.) In their encouragement in the midst of difficulties and dangers. (4.) In their spiritual enrichment. (5.) In their moral success. (6.) In their eternal reward. 3. The Church, “Them that fear the Lord.” (1.) As a whole. α In its marvellous preparation; the gradual consolidation of the world into a political brotherhood by the Persian, Alexandrian, and Roman conquests; the dispersion of the Jews; the spread of the Greek language and Roman civilisation; the yearning for spiritual life and unity. β. In the merciful gift of Jesus Christ to be its living head, and of the Spirit to guide it into all the truth. γ. In the persecutions which dispersed it, and the blood which watered it. δ. In its marvellous preservation when the whole world was against it. ε. In its enrichment by the stores of learning and art. ζ. In its Pentecostal baptisms in all ages. η. In its continual progress. θ. In the promise of its glorious close. (2) As individuals; in conversion, the means of grace, &c. III. The recognition of the divine mercy. “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord.” 1. This mercy is often unrecognised. Nations attribute their blessings to fortunate circumstances, patient perseverance, or martial prowess; ministers to their learning, eloquence, or zeal; the Church to its orthodoxy, political alliances, or enthusiasm; individuals to happy chances, or human sympathy and help. 2. This recognition is a matter of imperative obligation. Without this recognition (1) the evils of selfishness and sin can never be extinguished, (2) the mercy will be withdrawn, and (3) retribution follow. 3. This recognition should take the form of devout, grateful, and earnest praise. “MAN’S GOD’S ”(Psalms 118:5-7) I. Man in distress. ξִ ?ψδַ ?ξֵּ ?φַ ?ψ “Out of straits.” The figure is that of a fortress surrounded by a beleaguering army, or of soldiers hemmed in on every side (see Psalms 118:10), or of a torrent dammed up by the pass through which it rushes; imprisoned, constrained. This applies to— 1. The Church. How often is it surrounded and hemmed in by infidelity, ungodliness, superstition, persecution, want of opportunity, political restriction, and popular opinion! 2. The individual. In business, family, society, by temptations, hostility of friends, personal weakness, malignity of foes. II. Man’s duty in distress. I. Prayer. Without this we shall always be in distress. Our own resources are soon expended. Friends are often unwilling or helpless. Let us “call upon the Lord.” (1.) It is our duty to God, for He has commanded it. (2.) It is our duty to ourselves. A prayerless man is a moral suicide. “Not sit by thyself, or lie upon thy bench, hanging and shaking thy head, and letting thy thoughts bite and devour thee; but rouse up, thou indolent fellow! fall upon thy knees, raise thy hands and eyes to heaven, and present thy distress before God with tears.”—Luther. 2. Courage. “I will not fear.” Fear blanches the courage, exhausts the strength, and diverts the aim. As long as courage lasts, hope is not extinct; but the moment fear comes in, defeat supervenes. III. Man’s consolations in distress. 1. The Lord is on his side. The Lord has pledged Himself (1) to be with His Church always; (2) with His individual children. What is there then to fear? “Greater is He that is for you” (Isaiah 43:1-2). 2. The Lord consecrates all His confederates for His good (Psalms 118:4). Whether they be friends or instrumentalities. IV. Man’s deliverance in distress. 1. Victory over foes. This has been the realisation of the Church in all ages. (Romans 8:35; Romans 8:39). 2. Perfect liberty. “The Lord set me in a large place.” The misery of the Psalmist was that he was straightened. His deliverance was liberty in a large open plain. This may be applied (1) to Missionary enterprise. The Lord is ever opening doors for His Church, loosing her bonds, and enlarging the field of her operations. (2) To spiritual life. We are “called unto liberty,” freedom, from sin, of thought, of mental and moral cultivation, philanthropy. COURAGE(Psalms 118:6-7) Courage is a very complex and difficult subject. We speak of physical courage, mental, moral courage, courage of convictions, &c. Many a man who could walk up to a cannon’s mouth could not face a public audience. Many a man who has planted his country’s flag in the thick of her foes has betrayed his most cherished convictions. True courage is described in our text. I. In its source. “The Lord is on my side.” Courage is supposed to spring from self-reliance. That man is counted brave who scorns all allies and dares to face the enemy alone. Hence much of human courage is reckless hardihood. True courage is the courage of trust in God. II. In its manifestations. “I will not fear,” &c. 1. It trusts God to do for it what it cannot do for itself. It wisely dares to acknowledge that by itself it is unequal to certain enterprises. This of itself requires a great deal of courage, because it requires so much self-abnegation, is so unpopular, and is often apparently not warranted by circumstances. 2. This trust produces fearlessness of consequences. Who can fear who has taken this initial and most formidable step of declaring himself on the side of God? Young men, take this initial step; for who can fear who knows that God is on his side. 3. Fearlessness of consequences produces the true courage of fidelity. Why is it men are unfaithful? Consequences, unpopularity, poverty, &c. “The fear of man bringeth a snare.” “Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then have nothing else to fear.” TRUST, HUMAN AND DIVINE(Psalms 118:8-9) I. Man must trust. All experience proves this. Like the creeping parasite, the soul must throw its tendrils round some support. II. Whom should man trust? Some one whose qualities warrant that trust. 1. He must be ail-sufficient, able to provide for all actual and possible necessities. To trust for wisdom to the foolish, for strength to the weak, &c., nothing but disappointment can follow. 2. He must be of supreme moral excellence. If we trust to the suspected or the worthless we shall be in a state of perpetual unrest. 3. He must be the same at all times. Trust in the feeble is ruin. Man must have as the object of his trust one whose omnipotent resources and spiritual perfection are beyond the mutation of this world and abide for ever. III. Who warrants that trust?1. Do men generally? No; (1) man, is weak in wisdom and material resources; (2) morally imperfect; (3) ever changeful2. Do princes? Least of all. They are but men, sometimes the weakest, worst, and most fickle of men. What they have done let the followers of Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, the Pope, and Priestcraft everywhere tell. One thing: ruin. IV. God offers Himself as the object of human trust. It is better that man should trust Him— 1. Because He warrants that trust. “He is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c. He is “glorious in holiness.” He is “the same yesterday, to-day,” &c. 2. Because man’s confidence can thereby be secured. That confidence has been sadly shaken. Hence man’s distress. In God it will stand firm. 3. Because of the blessed consequences which will follow. (1.) salvation; (2.) inward peace; (3.) human brotherhood; (4.) heaven. WARFARE(Psalms 118:10-13) I. Danger. 1. A surrounding danger, “compassed.” The foes of the Christian are not all in the front or in the light. They are subtle, and everywhere. A sudden temptation may reveal a weakness hitherto unobserved. They assail us at all points, at home and abroad, at work and at rest, in the Church and in the world. 2. A formidable danger. (1.) In point of numbers, “like bees.” We wrestle with principalities and powers. Countless multitudes are waiting for every weakness, and plotting for every fall. (2.) In point of pertinacity. The fourfold repetition of the phrase, “They compassed me,” indicates assiduity and perseverance. (3.) In point of weapons. The sting of the bee is formidable from its very insignificance. So it is not at first by great temptations, but by small, that we are assailed. The sting of the bee is sharp, so the weapons arrayed against us can pierce body, affections, temper, intellect, and soul. (4.) In the point of dexterity. It is difficult to strike the bee when on the wing. Happy the man who has transfixed the tempter with the sword of the Spirit, and has him under his feet. 3. A fatal danger. “They thrust sore at me that I might fall.” Their aim is not to weaken, but to destroy. Hence quarter is neither given nor taken. Victory or death is the only issue for either side. II. Help. “The Lord helped me.” 1. By fighting Himself where and when we are helpless. There are certain antagonists we can never cope with. Sin, Satan, and death have to be encountered by Him first, and their power crippled and themselves chained. In effecting this Christ becomes “the Captain of our salvation.” 2. By animating us with the warlike spirit. “God has not given to us the spirit of cowardice (διιλείας), but the spirit of power.” 3. By arming us for the conflict. (Ephesians 6:13-17). 4. By assurances of victory and reward. III. Victory. “In the name of the Lord, I will destroy them.” 1. The victory will come swiftly. Like the dry thorns, they shall consume. It remains very much with the Christian, with his faith, courage, and fidelity, when the victory shall be won. 2. The victory shall be complete. “Destroy.” “Sin shall have no more dominion over you.” “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” “Death shall be swallowed up in victory.” 3. The glory of the victory shall be given to him to whom it is due. “In the name of the Lord.” Note:—This takes all the malevolence out of this determination. It was a judicial vengeance of which the Psalmist was only the instrument. God takes all the responsibility. Let persecutors see to it that they have God’s warrant. We know we have it in our war of extermination against sin. “Not unto us, but to Thy name,” &c. AND FAMILY PIETY(Psalms 118:14-15) Notice:— I. That piety is sadly wanting. There are men to whom these words are unintelligible. They know nothing of God’s strength; they are strangers to His salvation; no song wells up from their thankless hearts. Sad is their condition; sad the condition of their homes. In many homes all is vice, misery, want, and broken-heartedness, as the result of the parent’s irreligion. In all houses which are not sanctified by the Word of God and prayer, the deepest wants of the family are unsatisfied. II. That the want of piety is supplied. “The Lord … has become,” &c. Piety consists of three things. 1. Salvation. “The Lord is become … He is my salvation.” Not simply personal rescue or divine blessing, but indwelling God. This involves every other phase. It drives out sin, rescues from impurity and death, gives heaven. 2. Salvation employed. “My strength,” for use, of course. Strength unemployed will be strength dissipated. If we do not “work out our salvation,” viz., that which God has worked in, “to will and to do of His good pleasure,” spiritual loss and death will supervene. 3. Salvation acknowledged. “My song.” Salvation will and must express itself. The praiseless lip argues the thankless heart, and the thankless heart is the heart from which God has fled. III. That piety must be personally appropriated. “My.” 1. Piety is a matter between the personal soul and its personal Saviour. There can be no mediation or proxy. No man can either get or keep our religion for us. 2. The means of its appropriation is personal faith. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” 3. The test of its appropriation is personal experience. “Is become.” The Psalmist’s experience was no fiction. He knew that there was a time when he felt nothing of the sort. He knew that now that time was over. He had entered on a new phase in his career, and of that phase he was sensible. IV. That piety is appropriated to be diffused. The sphere of its diffusion here is the home (Psalms 118:15). Piety may be diffused at home by 1. Personal example. 2. Careful self-discipline. 3. Intelligent and patient training. 4. Interesting and constant worship, &c. V. That piety, and piety alone, will make a home happy. “The voice of rejoicing … is in the tabernacles of the righteous.” 1. Some pious homes, it is said, are not happy. Does true piety reign there? or cant, laxity, or severity? 2. True piety must make a happy home, because it is “alway rejoicing.” VI. A happy home is a miniature of and a nursery for heaven. IN .—(i.) Parents, it rests with you whether your home is a heaven or a hell. (ii.) Children, value your homes. The time may come when you will want them. (iii.) Children of pious parents, make your future home what your past has been. THE LORD’S TRIUMPH(Psalms 118:15-16) These words may be applied (1) to God’s sovereignty over the material universe and His power over its laws; (2) to national deliverances, such as Moses, David, elsewhere acknowledged, yes, and such as we ought to acknowledge. But (3) it suggests (and we will consider it as suggesting) the triumphs of Christ and His Gospel in the world. I. The personal triumph of Christ. 1. Over Satan. This began in the wilderness, continued without intermission during His life, and ended by the victory of the Cross. 2. Over the world. Our Lord confronted the world in all its forms, provincial, metropolitan, social, political, upper, lower. “He measured the world and condemned it. And it fully understood Him. It recognised His aim; it quailed before Him, and it hated Him; and it rested not till it had led Him to His Cross; but He said, ‘I have overcome the world.’ ”—Liddon. 3. Over sin, by bearing its penalty on Calvary. 4. Over death, by His resurrection. 5. This fourfold triumph condensed into one at His ascension (Colossians 1:15, Ephesians 4:8). II. The triumphs of His Gospel in the human heart. 1. In its conversion from sin to holiness. Every other means has been tried and has failed, human efforts, education, moral philosophy. But Christ has subdued the will, cleansed the soul, introduced a powerful motive, and imparted a new life. 2. In empowering the soul to resist sin, strenuous opposition, favourable circumstances, human encouragement have been in vain. 3. In promoting the growth of moral excellence. 4. In giving us victory over the world, tribulation, and death. III. The triumphs of His Church in the world. 1. Over persecution. Its early years were years of blood. 2. Over old heathenism, supported as it was by poetry, learning, and extensive popularity. 3. Over heresy, e.g. (1) Arianism, in spite of its wide influence and royal patronage; (2) Popery, that giant superstition, still reels under Luther’s blow, and will yet fall. 4. Over religious indifference. Nothing ever has, or ever will excite such interest and move so much as the simple preaching of the Gospel. Where are the crowds so numerous as at our churches? 5. Over human hearts. Witness Pentecost, the preaching of Luther, Latimer, Wesley, Whitfield, &c. Nor are its triumphs confined to one class. In its early ages the illiterate fisherman, the intelligent publican, and the learned rabbi were charmed and subdued. And the same Gospel has since exerted its influence over Bunyan the tinker and Newton the philosopher. (Psalms 118:17-18) The first of these verses was hung up by Luther in his study, as his favourite verse of his favourite Psalm. “It has come to my aid again and again, and supported me in heavy trials, when Kaiser, king, philosopher, and saint could do nought” Chastisement— I. Its nature. “The Lord hath chastened me sore.” 1. It was the Lord’s chastisement, therefore sovereign, fatherly. 2. By human instrumentality. His enemies were permitted to “thrust at him sore.” 3. Thorough. “Sore.” Not too much, not too little, but sufficiently to accomplish the divine purposes (Job 30:11). II. Its limits. “He hath not given me over to death.” 1. Physical death. 2. Intellectual death. Despair. 3. Moral death. Destruction. III. Its consolations. “I shall not die, but live.” 1. It was corrective, remedial, and therefore not simply punitive (Jeremiah 10:24). 2. Hopefulness against the worst. “I shall not die.” 3. Confidence for the best. “But live” (Acts 27:22-25). IV. Its effects. “And declare the works of the Lord.” 1. Devout gratitude. 2. Personal improvement. 3. Religious earnestness and testimony. “No affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, but afterward,” &c. THE SACRED (Psalms 118:19-21) I. The enclosure. 1. Literal. Our text primarily refers to the sacred enclosure that was accessible to true Israelites alone. (Isaiah 26:2.) That enclosure was the house of God, where His glory was manifested, His name worshipped, and His people’s righteousness confirmed and strengthened. So the Christian Church is where God’s presence is felt, His word proclaimed, His worship celebrated, &c. 2. Moral. Christian life is a temple of the living God and the sphere of righteousness. A way of holiness where God dwells and walks with His people. 3. Heavenly (Psalms 24:7). Heaven is the sanctuary of God, and the dwelling place of righteousness. II. The gates of that enclosure. “The gates of righteousness.” “The gate of the Lord.” 1. The gate which belongs to the Lord. The Lord keeps the gate; not Peter, not His ministers, but Himself. 2. The gate is of the Lord’s appointment. All who enter by any other climb over the wall and are thieves and robbers. There is only one way opened. “There is only one name given under heaven,” &c. 3. The gate is the Lord Himself. “I am the way.” “I am the door.” Christ alone is the entrance to God’s righteousness. III. The keys to that enclosure. 1. Ardent supplication. “Open,” implying need of entrance, desire to enter. “Ask;” “seek;” “knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” 2. The divine willingness. “Thou hast heard.” God has a sovereign right to admit or exclude all He chooses; but we know that He will be guided by righteousness, and will not select on arbitrary principles. 3. Salvation. “Art become my salvation.” Nothing that is defiled or maketh a lie can enter. Only “the redeemed shall walk there.” They “enter in and find pasture.” IV. The privileges and duties of that enclosure. 1. Worship. “I will praise the Lord.” 2. Righteousness. IN .—(i.) The outer courts are open to all. (1.) Many privileges of the material sanctuary. But let the Church beware how she throws all her privileges open. (2.) Opportunities for righteousness. (3.) Opportunities for qualifying for heaven. (ii.) The inner court is open to all who are qualified to enter. (1.) All the means of grace; (2.) the fulfilment of all righteousness; (3.) all the hopes and fruits of glory. CHRIST THE CORNER-STONE(Psalms 118:22-23) Whatever literal application these verses may have had, that application is now merged into the richer, larger, and undoubted application to the Messiah. No text is more frequently quoted in the New Testament. Six or seven times it is quoted word for word, and in innumerable instances is it unquestionably referred to where Christ is made the one, true, and only foundation of the Church. “Must we, in opposition to the perverted and obstinate exegesis even of believing commentators, begin to prove that this Psalm is Messianic—that the corner-stone is a real prophecy of the Spirit concerning Christ? We frankly confess ourselves to be so often vexed by such contentions with brethren who do not understand the scripture, that we lose patience; and, however unscientifically, are inclined rather to rebuke them with Christ (Luke 24:25) until their hearts burn, and their burning hearts begin to read in the light of the Pentecostal fire what is written.”—Stier. Observe— I. That Christ is the corner-stone. 1. What the corner-stone is not. (1.) Feelings towards Christ. These are most unsubstantial and shifting. (2.) Doctrines concerning Christ. These merely tell us about the corner-stone. (3.) The example of Christ. This is simply the character of the corner-stone. (4.) The Church of Christ. That is the building reared on the corner-stone. 2. What the corner-stone is. “Jesus Christ Himself being the chief stone.” This only is solid, constant, and eternal. All else is sand. This is rock. Jesus Christ in His divine-human personality. Incarnate, crucified, risen, glorified, and reigning. 3. What the corner-stone is for. (1.) For beauty. Corner-stones are the most costly, choice, and adorned. Other stones derive their excellency from them. So the Christian building derives its beauty from Him who is “full of grace and truth.” “Of His fulness all we have received, and grace for grace.” (2.) Stability. They are chosen for firmness, strength, and durability. They uphold and maintain the building which without them would crumble and fall. So Christ supports the individual believer and the collective Church, in weakness, trials, hour of death, day of judgment. (3.) Unity and compactness. Take away the corner-stone and the sides of the house become separate buildings. This unity is not uniformity. The other stones are of various sizes, value, colour, material. The corner-stone gives harmony. So different men have different capacities, preferences, modes of thought and feeling. Christ binds them into a mighty whole—His Church. II. That Christ is the only cornerstone. There have been many rival corner-stones. They have been tried, but they have failed, and so have those who have built upon them. Paganism, Unbelief, Socialism, Philosophy, Ethics. “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,” &c. He is the only cornerstone by which God and man can be brought together on terms that are at once honourable, amicable, strong, and abiding. He alone can bring the dispensations together into a harmonious whole and make them an enduring basis for faith and morals. He is the only means by which the disintegrated masses of mankind can find their principle of cohesion. “One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren.” He is the only means whereby the disorganised faculties of our nature can be reduced to order and compacted in strength and “so make our new man.” III. That Christ is the divinely established corner-stone. “This is the Lord’s doings.” It is no myth or speculation. It is not the doing of men or angels, but of— 1. The Holy Trinity. The Father “sent forth His Son,” and consecrated Him. “Him hath God the Father sealed.” The Son “came,” and by His own power laid “down His life and took it again.” The Holy Spirit takes of the things of Christ and imparts them to us. 2. The divine attributes. Wisdom devised it; justice instituted it; love gave it; and power laid it. 3. The divine providence. (1.) By a wonderful preparation. Moral: the Jews; intellectual: the Greeks; political: the Romans. (2.) In an age which by its peculiar fitness was “the fulness of the times.” IV. That Christ is the rejected corner-stone. In all ages since His advent He has been the despised and rejected of men. The Jewish people and the whole heathen world combined at first to resist His claims. He was a stumbling-block to the one, and foolishness to the other. Persecution and controversy since have proved that the human heart is alien to Him. Sin, infidelity, heresy, and worldliness all refuse to build upon Christ. V. That Christ is the marvellous corner-stone. 1. Marvellous when we consider who is the corner-stone. (1.) In its unlikelihood. The man Christ Jesus, born in a manger; the Man of Sorrows, crucified as a malefactor. (2.) In its condescension. The brightness of the Father’s glory, creator of the universe, governor of angels, Lord of man. 2. Marvellous when we consider the means by which He has become the cornerstone. By the simple preaching of truths alien to natural inclinations, political institutions, moral usages; demanding the resignation of pride of intellect, independence of will, pleasure, profit; by men, weak and unlearned in the world’s estimation, whose weapons were not learning or swords, but holiness, suffering, zeal, and prayer. 3. Marvellous when we consider the numbers and quality of those who have made it their corner-stone. Countless millions have eschewed beliefs consecrated by the profession of unnumbered ages, have thrown off their allegiance to priesthoods armed with every terror and device, have resisted the fascinations of philosophy, and have left darling vices and besetting sins. These have been from all ranks—monarchs, nobles, warriors, statesmen, poets, &c. THE LORD’S DAY(Psalms 118:24) I. The day— 1. Of temporal deliverance. God has made that. By a variety of providential dispensations. Indirectly, through men and other instrumentalities, e.g., in sickness, through the physician; in perplexities, by friendly advice and help. Directly, by the interposition of His mighty power. 2. Of salvation. The whole Christian dispensation is the time accepted by God in which to bless mankind. It is the time acceptable to man in which his pressing spiritual wants may be supplied. 3. Of conversion. The day when God gives, and we personally take, Jesus Christ to be our chief corner-stone. Let that “happy day” never be forgotten. 4. The sabbath day, by Jehovah’s rest and Christ’s resurrection. II. The duties of that day. (1.) Rejoicing. Implying intense gratitude, cheerful consecration, holy zeal. (2.) Gladness. Let no man say that religion is a thing of gloom. God blesses us that we may be happy. Let the day of rest be the gladdest of all the seven. (Psalms 118:25-26) This passage received its fulfilment only in Him who came in the supremest sense in the name of the Lord (Matthew 21:9). Here, however, it admits of a human and general interpretation. I. The blessing supplicated. 1. This supplication is the expression of a want. “Save.” “Send prosperity.” “Save,” implying moral evil and degradation; “Prosperity,” loss and misery. 2. This supplication was earnest. “Beseech.” Our need is great, so must be our cry. Listless prayer implies unconsciousness of need. 3. This supplication was urgent. “Save now.” “Send now.” Need is always present. Blessings are ever wanted. II. The conditions of blessing fulfilled. 1. Coming. (1.) This is inexorable. “Come, now, let us reason;” “Seek ye the Lord,” &c. (2.) Can only be fulfilled through Christ. “No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.” (3.) Is equivalent to Christian faith. Faith is the soul’s approach to God through Christ. 2. Coming in the name of the Lord. (1) Not in our name, or (2) by our own merits, but (3) in the name of the Lord. Self-distrust, resignation, confidence. III. The blessing vouchsafed. 1. Salvation; from the guilt, power, pollution, and punishment of sin. 2. Prosperity. The great gift of God through His Son and Spirit. Regeneration, sanctification, indwelling peace, joy, power, heaven. IV. The place of blessing. “The house of the Lord.” 1. All the means of grace are there concentrated. 2. The vast majority of Christians receive their highest blessings there. (Psalms 118:27-29) I. Personal religion consists in the acknowledgment of a personal God. Religion must rest on a dogmatic and theological basis. Whatever definition we give to the term religion, this is primarily involved. If it consists in the bond which unites the soul to the Supreme Being, then we must know who that Supreme Being is. If it consists in duty, then with reference to whom are those duties performed. To resolve God into a “stream or tendency which makes for righteousness” does not avoid theology or dogma. II. Personal religion consists in the acknowledgment of a personal God accessible to man. God is accessible, because He is “good.” If He is not good, He is unapproachable, and must be the object of man’s fear. God is permanently accessible, because His mercy endureth for ever. Religion must have an object who can be approached through all the vicissitudes of life. III. Personal religion consists in the apprehension of a personal God. “My God.” “This is a truth unknown beyond the precincts of revelation. The Almighty and Eternal gives Himself in the fulness of His being to the soul that seeks Him. Heathenism, indeed, in its cultus of domestic and local duties, of its penates, of its θεοὶἐπιχωρίοι, bare witness to the deep yearning of the human heart for the individualising love of a higher power. To know the true God is to know that such a craving is satisfied.”—Liddon. IV. Personal religion consists in the acknowledgment and enjoyment of a divine revelation “which hath showed us light.” If God is to be approached and apprehended, He must reveal Himself. If man is to receive his Maker’s blessing, be united to his Maker’s person, and fulfil his Maker’s will, he must be told who that Maker is and what He would have him do. God hath showed us light in the Bible and in the revelation of Him who said, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” V. Personal religion consists in personal sacrifices (Psalms 118:27). VI. Personal religion consists in devout worship, thanksgiving, and praise (Psalms 118:28-29). 1. Date and authorship. Some ascribe the authorship to “David, before his accession to the kingdom, in exile and peril (Psalms 119:9; Psalms 119:23; Psalms 119:46; Psalms 119:141; Psalms 119:161). Others (of chief authority), from the language and contents, imagine it to be of much later date. Jebb thinks, Daniel; others, Ezra; Dean Stanley says that the rhythm seems to mark the age of Jeremiah; Kay supposes it to depict the mental state of those who have passed through the discipline of the captivity; Hitzig, as usual, refers it to the days of the Maccabees (see Macc. 12:48).”—Speaker’s Com.2. Character. There are twenty-two sections in this Psalm, arranged according to the Hebrew alphabet, each consist of eight verses, and every eight begins with the same letter. Thus, there are eight initial Alephs, eight initial Beths, &c. In nearly every verse the divine law is mentioned, and the sacred name of Jehovah is brought in twenty-two times once for each letter. “It contains many repetitions and imitations of earlier Psalms.… No part of Scripture is more suggestive of edifying trains of thought, or more saturated with a spirit all but Christian, of humility, trust, devoted love to God, and realisation of His near presence.… It is an epitome of all true religion, and must be studied by any one who wishes to fathom the meaning of the law, and the elevation, hope, joy, confidence, felt in presence of kings and princes by pious Jews.”—Speaker’s Com.3. Contents. “There is no grouping or arrangement of the subjects of this Psalm, and little or no connection between the sentiment of its verses. Much in it is proverbial or aphoristic.… It might be possible to make an arrangement under particular heads—such as the following—under the general title of the Word of God:— 1. In youth. 2. In trial. 3. In duty. 4. In meditation. 5. At night. 6. In public. 7. In private. 8. In prosperity. 9. In adversity, &c.”—Barnes.THE BLESSED LIFE(Psalms 119:1-3) Notice— I. That all men are not happy. Our text specifies those who are, and implies that all else are unhappy. 1. All men desire happiness. The heathens were ever in quest of the chief good. Bad men and worldly men are ever pursuing their vices and follies to this end. 2. This happiness is not attained— (1) Because the end aimed at is only mistaken for happiness. Riches, honour, pleasures, &c., when secured are frequently found to be misery rather than bliss (Luke 16:25). That which makes a man happy must exactly answer all the cravings of his soul and secure the equilibrium of his being, so that intellect, conscience, will, &c., shall cry in harmony, “It is enough.” Again, that which makes a man happy must be enduring, but the things of the world perish in the using (1 Corinthians 7:30-31), and the pleasures of sin are only “for a season.” (2) Because the means employed are not adequate. Some are ignorant of the true means, and some dislike them (John 6:34., cf. John 6:66); (3) and if adequate means are not employed, and the right end not secured, all becomes “vanity and vexation of spirit.” II. That all men can secure happiness only by a right state of the heart. “That seek Him with their whole heart.” 1. A right state of the heart contemplates the true end of happiness. “Him.” God alone is the soul’s satisfying portion. The completest worldly abundance leaves some craving unsatisfied. When the soul is “filled with all the fulness of God,” it can ask no more. 2. A right state of the heart seeks happiness in the right way. “With the whole heart.” The sensualist seeks physical gratification; the intellectualist, mental; the moralist, ethical. A right state of the heart seeks complete happiness, the satisfaction of all its higher cravings, so as to leave none unblessed. III. That all men can maintain happiness only by a right state of the life. The blessed are those who 1. “Are the undefiled in the way.” (Marg. Sincere; not absolutely perfect men, but men with a clear conscience and an upright intention.) 2. “Walk in the law of the Lord.” The inconsistent, the lawless, are unhappy. The law of God is so exactly suited to all our faculties, that only by keeping it can their well-being be secured. 3. “Do no iniquity.” “The way of transgressors is hard.” IV. That provision is made for man’s happiness in the Word of God. 1. That word indicates what true happiness is. It tells us that man was originally happy; that angels and the spirits of just men made perfect are happy; that God only can make men happy, and that He does so by the gift of Himself and the “unsearchable riches of Christ.” 2. That word is an infallible guide to true happiness. There can be no happiness where there is uncertainty as to means or ends. Man left to this world’s fluctuating rules of good intention, custom, desire, &c., adopts measures which land him in disappointment. The Bible is the perfect and authoritative counsel of God. Guided by that we shall be received into glory. 3. That word affords us a powerful help towards true happiness. It is God’s “testimony.” It testifies to the facts of God’s fatherhood, goodness, and power; to Christ’s atonement and intercession; to the Holy Spirit’s regenerating, consoling, and sanctifying influences; and to heaven. LAW, PRAYER, DUTY(Psalms 119:4-6) I. Law. “Thou hast commanded us,” &c. 1. The Bible is based upon the personal authority of God.” “Thou. (1.) Not man’s. The obligation to attend to its precepts does not rest upon the fact that great and good men wrote it, acknowledged it, and kept it. (2.) Not its own. The inherent excellence of its doctrines and morals would be enough if only intellectual or moral assent and admiration were demanded. But (3.) God’s. This accounts for its moral excellence and commanding influence. But let it be emphasised that primarily it rests upon His sovereign will. There are many things that transcend reason and run counter to merely human interests; but we believe and obey them, because “God spake all these words.” 2. The Bible comes to us on the personal authority of God. “Thou hast commanded.” (1.) The Bible is not a recommendation from God, which man may or may not accept either as a whole, or on a principle of eclecticism in its parts. The Bible as a whole and in its parts being the charge of sovereign will and the revelation of the only remedy for human sin, therefore man must keep it as a whole. (2.) The Bible is not the product of man’s intellect in a high spiritual mood. Its philosophy and virtue were not the discovery of good men studying and sympathising with the need of their fellow-men. But (3.) the Bible is the collection of certain “precepts,” exhibited in the form of doctrine, history, example, &c., binding on the heart and conscience of men, direct from the counsels of the Most High. 3. The Bible must be diligently kept. (1.) It must be kept. In the mind. It is necessary first to have it, so “he that receiveth the word into good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it.” By the will, in assenting to it. By the heart, in loving it. By the life, in practising it. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” (2.) Comprehensively; Heb.: very much, all of them. In small duties, as well as great, must we exercise ourselves to have a conscience void of offence, &c. At all times. “Blessed is he that doeth righteousness at all times.” “Blessed are they that sow beside all waters.” With all our powers. (3.) Diligently. II. Prayer. The Psalmist contemplating the exceeding breadth of God’s commandments, and his own weakness, implores divine help (Psalms 119:5). This shows us— 1. The necessity of prayer. The Heb. particle, “O that!” is an intense sigh, indicative of earnest desire. This necessity is based upon (1) Our ignorance. We know not what to do till we are told. Religion does not come to us by instinct. (2) Our forgetfulness. Anxiety and self-conceit often drive the most necessary things out of our mind, we therefore need and must pray for what is promised (Isaiah 30:21). (3). Our moral weakness and indisposition. Our hearts are naturally averse and our feet prone to wander from God’s statutes. “These people do err in their hearts,” &c. 2. The substance of prayer. “Were directed.” (1.) Generally by the Bible, the course of providence, and the example of good men. (2.) Specifically by the Spirit, in the various ways which we from time to time have to tread. “The Lord directed his steps.” “O Lord, I know that the way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man to direct his steps.” (3.) Literally, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light to my path.” “In all thy ways acknowledge Him,” &c. (4.) Effectually by the Holy Ghost applying to the heart and disposing it. “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God,” &c. 3. The end of prayer. “To keep Thy statutes.” (1.) It is to be remarked that, of all the ends desired in this long Psalm, the first is holiness. (2.) That end is practical holiness, not contemplative or ascetic “ways,” “statutes.” (3.) That is the best and most desirable end. “Seek ye first,” &c. III. Duty. The Psalmist looks forward to the result of answered prayer, and feels that under divine guidance he will not be ashamed when he has respect unto God’s commandments. 1. Duty contemplates a regard for God’s law; implying (1) moral susceptibility. The wicked are callous, their hearts being hardened, and their wills set. (2) Mental respect. Unless we respect God’s law, we can never acknowledge it. (3) Practical observance. 2. Duty consists in an universal obedience to God’s law. “Unto all Thy commandments,” whether (1) its precious promises, (2) its elevating precepts, or (3) its stern obligations. 3. Duty is rewarded by the approbation of God’s law. “Shall not be ashamed,” i.e., shall have no reason to be ashamed. (1.) God’s law will approve a clear conscience (Romans 8:1). (2.) God’s law will approve us so that we may dispense with the judgment of man. “With me it is a very small thing to be judged with man’s judgment,” for “God will bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon-day.” (3.) God’s law will approve us at the great day. “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed at His coming.” IN .—(i.) God’s commandments are commandments with promise; if we keep them we shall not be ashamed. (ii.) We are unable to keep them without divine help; let us pray for that help. (iii.) When that help is vouchsafed let us use it diligently, comprehensively, and perpetually. GOOD (Psalms 119:7-8) Our text shows— I. That good resolutions depend on the presence of God for their fulfilment. “O forsake me not utterly.” Therefore— 1. God’s presence should be earnestly supplicated. (1.) Because of our impotence. “Without Me, ye can do nothing.” (2.) Because of our instability. Nothing is more fluctuating than mere resolutions. Peter said, “Though all should forsake Thee,” &c. (3.) Because it is of God to give grace to help,” &c. (Ephesians 6:10). 2. God’s presence will be vouchsafed. Not always sensibly, but always effectually. “Lo, I am with you alway.” Therefore (1) Be not discouraged when God seems to be away. When the bird is away from her young, she is in search of food. When pioneers are away from the army, they are preparing the way for it. So God sometimes fulfils the promise, “I will go before thee, to make crooked places straight.” (2) Be not discouraged when God withdraws His comforts. We may sometimes lose our sense of God’s love, as Asaph did. But is God necessarily away? No (Psalms 83:18). But (3) Be encouraged to resolve under the inspiration of the promise, “Certainly, I will be with thee.” 3. God’s presence may be withdrawn. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” And nothing will drive Him away more than selfish, conceited, or hypocritical resolutions. II. That good resolutions have respect to divine law. “I will keep Thy statutes.” All other resolutions are vain which omit this as their great and commanding aim. 1. God demands it. 2. Our new nature demands it. 3. Our desire for blessedness demands it. III. That the fulfilment of good resolutions depends on the right state of the heart and life. “With uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned Thy righteous statutes.” Good resolutions are easily formed; their fulfilment is a very different matter. God’s presence is easily supplicated; but God’s power is exerted in the employment of adequate means. There must be— 1. A right state of the heart. Before God’s statutes can be kept, the heart must be disposed to keep them. The heart naturally inclined from the law of God, must be re-bent and inclined towards it. 2. A learning of “the judgments of righteousness” concerning our state, Matthew 16:6; thoughts, Hebrews 4:12; actions, Ecclesiastes 12:14; the way of justification, Romans 3:22. We must ascertain the things we ought to resolve, and then trust to God’s Spirit to enable us to carry them out. IV. That the fulfilment of good resolutions should be followed by gratitude. “I will praise Thee.” 1. Duty binds us to it. The fulfilment of resolutions that are really good has been by the help of God, and has secured our highest good. 2. The permanent result depends upon it. 3. Fresh resolutions are strengthened by it. IN .—(i.) Let your life be characterised by strong and noble resolutions. Don’t be discouraged if you fail at first. Resolve, by the grace of God, not rashly, but firmly. (ii.) Compare your resolutions with the Word of God. (iii) Carry them out at all costs (Matthew 16:24). (iv.) Crown and glorify them all by profound gratitude. A SERIOUS WORD FOR YOUNG MEN(Psalms 119:9) “The case supposed is that of a young man pondering the question how he may be saved from the corruptions of his own heart, and escape the temptations to which he is exposed in early years, and lead a pure and upright life. There can be no more important inquiry for one just entering on the journey of life; there can be found nowhere a more just and comprehensive answer. All the precepts of ancient and modern wisdom, and all the results of the experience of mankind, could furnish nothing in addition to what is here suggested.”—Barnes. I. A serious question asked. 1. The importance of a way. “A way has a direction, and leads some whither. A way is continuous, and if we are in it we are advancing in it. A way differs in its direction from other ways, and diverges more and more from them the farther one travels upon it. There are in our lives no isolated acts, but only ways. Every present has its closely affiliated future. We are moving on in character as in years. The wrong of which you say, ‘Only this once,’ provokes its own repetition and starts you in its own direction. The violation of truth, &c., involves you in a labyrinth of mole paths. You meant an act, you have found it a way; a precipitous way, too, in which you gain momentum at every step.”—Dr. Peabody. 2. The danger of having an impure way. Our text “is a metaphor which appeals to our experience. What is more disheartening than the necessity of treading muddy streets. There is a consciousness of unfitness for society. There are miry soul paths, miry they are to every eye in their more advanced stages; for there is no evil course that does not tend by sure and generally rapid steps to open shame, squalor, and misery.”—Ibid. 3. The special appropriateness of this question. ΰָ ?ψη, “a track, a rut, such as are made by wheels, &c. A young sinner has no broad beaten path; he has his private ways of offence, his secret pollutions; and how shall he be cleansed from these? how can he be saved from what will destroy body and mind and soul?”—Dr. A. Clarke. The future, too, depends on the young; upon the pure or impure paths they follow depends the intellectual, social, and political life of the future. II. A satisfactory answer given. “By taking heed thereto according to Thy Word.” 1. God’s Word is the only rule of righteousness. All other rules must, in the long run, lead astray. Conscience will never give a wrong direction, but it sometimes fails to give a right. You can’t bribe it into falsehood, but you can drug it into silence. When on the judgment seat you can depend on its decisions; but it is not always there. So with sentiments of honour, self-respect, self-interest, &c.; there is no security in any of them. Only the Word of God is pure. It alone exhibits the sum of all perfection in the holiness of God and the character of Christ. “I have given you an Example.” “Be ye holy, as He who has called you is holy.” 2. The Word of God is the only means by which we can be cleansed. “Sanctify them by Thy truth,” &c. (1.) It is the only clear revealer of the character of sin. (2.) It alone urges upon us the necessity of holiness. (3.) It alone encourages us to seek holiness by its exceeding great and precious promises (2 Corinthians 7:1, 2 Peter 1:4). (4.) It alone reveals the all-sufficient remedy for sin. 3. The Word of God must be studied and applied. “By taking heed.” (1.) A careful study of its principles. (2.) A careful reference of its precepts to our special requirements. (3.) A careful walking according to its rule. III. Sufficient reasons suggested. 1. Because God demands it. (1.) God should not be long kept out of His rights. “Remember now thy Creator.” The vessel should as soon as possible be made meet for the master’s use. God has made everything ready, so there need be no delay. (2.) God should have our best at its best. All we enjoy we owe to Him. The Mosaic law recognised this (Leviticus 2:4). Youth is the best time. Health and vigour belong to it. Shall the best be devoted to the devil, and when you are no longer of use to him will you offer God the dregs? (Romans 12:1.) 2. Because reason demands it. (1.) Youth is the time of special temptations (2 Timothy 2:22.) Children are of no use to the devil. The aged he has done with. But he loves to get hold of young men (1 Timothy 3:6.) (2.) Evil habits grow and strengthen by every indulgence. A twig may be easily bent, but the branch is fixed; a sapling may be transplanted, an oak never. (3.) The longer you delay the more useless you are for God and good. 3. Because self-interest demands it (1.) Life is uncertain. Such a momentous question must not be trifled with. Warning is not always given. Nadab and Abihu were young men. There is but a step between us and death. (2.) God is provoked to anger by delay, and retribution accumulates both in this life and the next (Job 13:26). (3.) Divine blessings are delayed. It is good for a man to bear this yoke in his youth. IN .—You are beginning life, begin it with God. You have great temptations, but you have great help (Job 2:9-10) and bright prospects (Mark 10:14). There are only two ways, the way of life and the way of death—where are you? WITH GOD(Psalms 119:10) God offers to reason with man. He offers to reason with the sinner, permits him to state his own case and to “bring forth his strong reasons” in support of it. He offers to reason with the saints; and the saint here takes up the challenge. The Psalmist presents before God’s notice a fact. He then bases an argument upon this fact, and then turns the fact and argument into a prayer. I. The fact, “With my whole heart have I sought Thee.” 1. What is it to seek God? (Psalms 24:6). It is an earnest and diligent endeavour to find God in certain definite characters for certain definite purposes. (1) As our God, Sovereign, Father, Friend; (2) as our Guide by His Word and Spirit; (3) as our exceeding great reward. 2. Where should we seek God? (1.) In sinfulness, notwithstanding Adam’s flight from Him and Peter’s desire that He should depart. That is the one reason why we should desire God’s presence to pardon it, and help us out of it. (2.) In difficulties. In doubt for His direction; in weakness for His strength; in sickness for His health; in trouble for His consolation; as Paul (2 Corinthians 12:7-9). (3.) In our daily life. The heathen consulted their penates; Laban, his teraphim; Balak, Balaam. Shall God’s people be behind these? Seek God’s permission, counsel, blessing. (4.) In personal communion, not when we are obliged to go, and simply because we are obliged to go, but because we love to go (Psalms 22:26). 3. How should we seek God. “With the whole heart”— (1.) Personally. “Thee with my.” Men sometimes profess to seek God, when they are but seeking their own interests (John 6:26). When we seek from God other than Himself, or send others with our requests, we fail. We cannot find God by proxy. (2.) Comprehensively. “Whole.” The combined faculties of the soul. Intelligently by the study of His Word and works; morally, by faith and love. (3.) Earnestly and uniformly, not by fits and starts. Such, then, is the fact that the Psalmist lays before God, and which forms the premises of his argument. II. The Argumentative value of the fact. 1. The Psalmist does not offer it (1) Boastfully—the plea goes side by side with confessions of unworthiness—or (2) Meritoriously. No one can argue with God on that basis. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive?” We can only glory that we are in debt to God (1 Corinthians 1:31). 2. The Psalmist does offer it as a reason why God should help him. (1.) He wants to find God. He is using the means. God is implored to bless those means. (2.) He wants further blessing. God has already commanded and wrought in him the desire to seek. He now asks that he may find. III. The prayer founded on the argument and fact. This is worthy of special note. He does not ask for temporal advantages, but for steadfastness in God’s ways. Notice— 1. Man’s proneness to wander (Jeremiah 14:10; Isaiah 53; Luke 15.). 2. The saint’s sensibility of this proneness to wander. The more we desire to seek God, and are on the way to find Him, the keener will be our sensibility of error. 3. The saint’s conviction of God’s ability to keep him from wandering. FINALLY.—Those who seek God shall find Him. Those who have arguments to plead will find those arguments valued. Those who pray shall have their prayers answered. THE WORD OF GOD, ITS SPHERE AND ITS SERVICE(Psalms 119:11) The Word of God is the revelation of His person and will. It is the duty of man to treasure it up where it can be preserved most safely. If it is only on our shelves or in our heads, it may be stolen or forgotten; but if it is in our hearts, cherished by our affections and guarded by our will, and embodied in our spiritual life, it is safe from loss or decay. But once in the heart it is not only kept by the heart, but keeps the heart. “Thou bearest Cζsar and his fortunes.” The fortress keeps the granary, but the granary keeps those who man the ramparts. I. What is done? “Thy Word have I hid in my heart,” which implies— 1. Understanding it. Thoughts must pass into the heart through the mind (Proverbs 2:10). Not that it is necessary that it should be fully comprehended. Water does not always fill the channel through which it flows. It is enough if it fills the vessel into which it flows. Many mysteries baffle the intellect, but the heart is the proper organ for their comprehension. 2. Believing it. Until unbelief is broken down, the Word appeals for entrance in vain. When, however, it is welcomed by the hand of faith, it enters in and dwells there. It did not profit the ancient Jews, because it was not mixed with faith. 3. Loving it. The heart is the seat of the affections, and where there is no love the Word cannot enter. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” 4. Appropriating it. There may be understanding faith and even love, and yet no hiding of the Word. These are but means to an end; its reception into our very heart’s life, so that we may become a law unto ourselves, walking Bibles, living epistles. II. How it is done. 1. By reading it continuously, constantly, and systematically. 2. By searching it: as the miner does for hid treasures, as the workman does for the best materials and the best tools. Superficial work will produce only superficial results. 3. By meditating upon it. If we simply read it, we shall forget it. If we merely search, we may treat what we find as subjects of interest or curiosity. But if we meditate, what we have found in our search will become seed-corn in our hearts, to bring forth fruit to the glory of God. III. The advantages of doing it. In the heart the Word of God is— 1. Safe (1) from the fluctuations of memory; it has become part of ourselves, and is as unchangeable as our identity. (2) From the assaults of unbelief. It has passed out of the region of speculative belief and tentative hypothesis into the region of facts. (3) From the deprivations of affliction. We may be unable to hear the Word of God or even to read it, but if it is stored up in the heart we can dispense, if necessity demand it, with external means. (4) From the hand of the persecutor. Said that lad of whom Foxe speaks, when the Marian persecutors took his Bible from him, “Thank God, you cannot take away those chapters He has written on my heart.” 2. Ready for every emergency. The most powerful remedy and the most valuable blessings are nothing worth if not close at hand when required. “Every scribe that is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven bringeth forth out of his treasures things new and old.” It is ready (1.) To comfort in distress. (2.) To provide arguments against unbelief. (3.) To furnish us with pleas in prayer. Our prayers are effectual in proportion as the word of Christ dwells in us richly (4.) To make spiritual intercourse more sweet and edifying, Colossians 3:6. (5.) To afford instruction, stimulous, sanctity, and diligence in the concerns of daily life. IV. The grand purpose of doing it. “That I might not sin against Thee.” The Word of God hid in the heart safe from attack, but ready to attack will:— 1. Expel sin. The heart “abhors a vacuum.” It will be filled with something. If not with the Word of God, with sin. But both will not dwell together there. Divine principles, however, will extirpate sin. 2. Preserve from falling into sin. “The law of the Lord is in his heart, none of his steps shall slide.” 3. Enable us to overcome sin. In this great warfare all other weapons but the sword of the Spirit will fail (1 John 1:8). THE SOURCE AND MEANS OF (Psalms 119:12) I. God is the source and fountain of all blessedness. “Blessed art Thou, O God.” 1. God is absolutely blessed in Himself. He is “the blessed God,” “the blessed and only potentate.” “Over all, God blessed for ever;” free from all misery, enjoying all good, all-sufficient in Himself, contented with Himself, delighted with Himself, neither needing any good or fearing any evil from the work of His hands (Psalms 16:2). 2. God communicates all blessings from Himself (P. Psalms 145:16; Ephesians 1:3). He is the most conspicuous illustration of His own saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (John 1:16). 3. God appropriates all blessings to Himself (Psalms 145:10; Revelation 5:13). II. Man’s blessedness consists in the enjoyment of God. “Happy is the people whose God is the Lord.” God, being absolutely blessed, has enough for Himself, and therefore enough for us. He is “God all-sufficient.” 1. Man misses happiness if he seeks it from any source short of God. Everything else is (1) imperfect. Let the world’s contributions be ever so copious they leave some void. Solomon, Ahab, Naboth, &c. (2) Illusive. The happiness they bring is only apparent. They cannot quell one unquiet passion, or still or satisfy conscience (Proverbs 14:3). (3) Transient. An immortal soul can only be satisfied with “pleasures for evermore.” 2. Man gains happiness when he seeks it in God. (1.) God is “able to supply all our need.” “In His presence is fulness of joy.” (2.) God’s blessings are real. Sin is cleansed, passions subdued, conscience satisfied, soul fed, and the whole man kept in perfect peace. (3.) God’s satisfactions are charged with His own immortality. III. Man’s blessedness is secured through instruction in God’s statutes. 1. They teach us the way to God. 2. They teach us how to partake of the blessed nature of God (2 Peter 1:4). 3. How we may live the life of God and engage in His blessed work. IN .—Proverbs 8:34-35. (Psalms 119:13) This verse is closely connected with the two preceding. In Psalms 119:11 the Word is hid in the heart, now it finds expression on the lips. To express what we do not feel is hypocrisy; and what is really in the heart will find an outflow. In Psalms 119:12 God is asked to teach His statutes: the prayer is now answered, and, mentally and morally qualified, the Psalmist teaches others. I. The subject of this testimony. “All the judgments of Thy mouth.” 1. God’s judgments are divinely revealed. Not human discoveries or speculations. 2. God’s judgments are the divine criteria whereby to decide in all matters affecting truth, duty, and destiny (Isaiah 8:20). Not reason, interest: what man thinks or feels; but God’s infallible judgment. 3. God’s judgments are the rule by which He judges the world. Now (John 5:45-46). They are not arbitrary and capricious, but fixed, written down. By them He will adjudicate at the last day. (John 12:48). Notice, then, that what God has said, and said in His sovereign and official character, is the subject of our testimony. II. The manner of this testimony. 1. Clearly. “Declared.” 2. Fully. “All the judgments” (Acts 20:27). 3. Faithfully. “All the judgments of Thy mouth.” Not our own opinions, speculations, or doubts (1 Peter 2:2). ἄδολονγάλα, unmixed milk. “To mix it with sugar and the luscious strains of human evil disguises it and hides it from a spiritual taste. To mix it with lime (as Jerome says of heretics) makes it baneful and noxious.”—M. Henry. III. The reason for this testimony. 1. It is a duty we owe to God. He gave us the organs of speech (Psalms 12:4). When we give our bodies a living sacrifice we must not reserve our tongue (James 3:9). 2. Because the lips should be in harmony with the character. “The tongue of the just is as choice silver.” The sensualist will talk of his pleasures, the man of business of his trade, the student of his books, and shall the righteous restrain their testimony? (Matthew 12:35.) 2. Because the tongue is the most important member in the propagation of divine truth. Perhaps example is overvalued. True Christianity is not profession, but life. But how can example influence without a declaration of those judgments upon which it is based? The preference of life over testimony may perhaps spring from a shrinking from an arduous duty. IN .—Let the example of the Psalmist stimulate us to a more perfect fulfilment of this much-neglected or badly-discharged obligation. How much there is of mere speculation and laboured rhetoric in preaching! How much of foolish talking and jesting, to say no more, in the family and social circle! Let the preacher prepare himself by the more diligent study of the judgments of God, and let private Christians remember Coloss. Psalms 4:6, and let the Church in its private gatherings remember Hebrews 3:13, and Psalms 37:30. GOD’S A GROUND OF JOY(Psalms 119:14) I. What the Psalmist did. “I have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies as much as in all riches.” The testimonies themselves are a “way.” God’s Word is a progressive revelation. And the life to which it bears testimony and for which it is a guide is the “way of holiness.” Thus the Psalmist rejoiced in the study and practice of the Word of God. Looking around him he observed that riches were the main elements in human joy, and that men considered themselves happy in proportion to their wealth. But his conclusion is, that all riches could afford him no greater joy than that which he had in the Word of God. He rejoiced in the way of God’s testimonies. 1. As truth, which was good for his understanding (Proverbs 24:13-14). When any capacity is filled with that which is suitable to it, joy and satisfaction will naturally arise. The mind is disordered by perplexities and errors, but is satisfied with truth. 2. As the highest and most absolute truth (Deuteronomy 4:6-7). What man calls truth is not always certain truth. The so-called truths of philosophy and science to one generation are often errors to another, and the mind is often bewildered by the dogmatism of its teachers. What men have taught most certainly has frequently been exploded or revised. Only the truth of God is immutable, and subject to no revision. The mind can, therefore, rest upon it without fear. 3. As truth which could satisfy the higher cravings of his soul. All truth is more or less satisfying. More or less, because there are degrees of value even in truth. A truth which shall guide a man to a right destination is of more value to him than a scientific curiosity. Truth which makes a man better and nobler, is of more value than that which tells the number of the stars. God’s truth is of the supremest value, because it guides the soul to God and immortality, and “converts the soul.” II. Why he did it. The Psalmist rejoiced in God’s testimonies as much as in all riches, because— 1. Of their exact suitability to his need. Joy is that which inevitably results from the reception of a suitable blessing. Food rejoices the hungry soul, not the full one. The parched ground rejoices after a shower, not the saturated morass. So riches are good in their way, they bring bread to the starving, clothes to the naked, &c. In that way do the testimonies of God “rejoice the soul.” There is a class of need which they alone satisfy. They are God’s great spiritual treasure-house of food, raiment, &c., which fully meet all the requirements of our nature. 2. Because the greater covered the less. Profit and pleasure, the sum of the worldling’s store, and the result of his expenditure of his wealth, are these his alone? Nay, verily. God’s people have these and a hundredfold beside if they fulfil the conditions (Psalms 19:10-11). The distinction between God’s people and others is that the former seeks true riches and true happiness and gets them, the others false riches and false happiness and do not always get them. (1.) They get the true profit. True wealth makes not the surroundings but the man more valuable. The value of a picture does not consist in its frame, neither does that of a man in the abundance of the things which he possesses. True wealth relieves in the greatest extremities. Money is of no use in the day of sickness and the hour of death. True wealth purchases things of the highest value. True wealth is that which is so estimated by those who are best capable of judging. The savage may think himself wealthy, and be thought wealthy by his fellow-savages, by his accumulation of shells and beads, but what does civilised man think of him? So true wealth is that which is pronounced so by God (Luke 12:20-21). Knowledge (Colossians 2:2; Colossians 3:16). Faith (James 2:5). Good works (1 Timothy 6:17-18). This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/phc/ THE SONGS OF DEGREESPsalms 120-134GENERAL The principal hypotheses on which to account for the “Songs of Degrees,” “Songs of Ascents,” “Pilgrim Psalms,” and to each of which great names are attached, and each of which has something to say for itself, are as follows:— 1. The songs of the pilgrims returning from exile (Syr. Chrysostom, Theodoret). 2. The songs chanted by the Temple worshippers on each of the fifteen steps of the Temple (The Rabbins, Gospel of Mary, Vulg.—Luther, Grotius). 3. Denoting some peculiar structure, a gradation of thought approaching a climax (Gesenius, Delitzsch). 4. A musical term denoting some peculiarity of rhythm or music (Michaelis, &c.). 5. And most supported songs for pilgrims making their periodical journeys to Jerusalem (Ewald, Perowne, Hengstenberg). The true interpretation probably is yet to be given, none of the above hypotheses completely answering the requirements of the case. Characteristics—“Sweetness and tenderness; a sad pathetic tone; an absence generally of the ordinary parallelism; and something of a quick trochaic rhythm.”—Speaker’s Com. This Psalm carries on its face the notion of individual and hardly bearable trial, more than that of national distress (opposition of foreigners to the rebuilding of the Temple, &c.). The trial is like that of David (1 Samuel 21:7; 1 Samuel 22:9, &c., mentioned in the contents of A. v.), and is inflicted by a slanderous tongue. It is soothed by the recollection that God hears the cry of the suppliant, and answers it always. A difference of opinion exists respecting almost every word and verse.—Speaker’s Com.THE GODLY UNDER (Psalms 120:1-2) I. That the godly are not exempt from misrepresentation. Rather are they most subject to it. They of all men have characters to lose, and from their guilelessness and sincerity are most open to attack. A greater than the Psalmist said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation,” and one of the keenest forms of tribulation comes from “lying lips and the deceitful tongue” (Matthew 10:24-28). The motives of the godly are misrepresented, their words, their actions. Misrepresentation exists in many forms, direct lying, suppression, innuendo, &c. No man can expect to be entirely free from it. The thing itself might be endured but for the senseless minds who take it in, and the bad hearts who rejoice to believe it. Misrepresentation in its worst form is that which is covered by professions of friendship to the person misrepresented. II. That the godly are distressed by misrepresentation, and, humanly speaking, they may well be. No circumspection can guard against it. No force can destroy it. Its origin cannot always be traced. Some will even believe it to be true. It reaches those who can never be reached by its refutation. Always leaves its object open to suspicion. “Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue [breathOutvenoms all the worms of Nile; whoseRides on the posting winds, and doth belieAll corners of the world: kings, queens, and states,Maids, matrons; nay, the secrets of the grave,This viperous slander enters.”—Shakespeare.III. That the godly should cry to God in misrepresentation. 1. Because God knows all the facts of the case, and therefore judges righteously. Slander should not affect a man whose conscience is clear in the sight of God. He is the Master to whom man stands or falls. Let men, therefore, commit their case to Him (1 Peter 2:24). 2. Because the slandered and suspected soul naturally yearns to unbosom itself. This it often dares not do to its dearest friend. Vehement vindication sometimes only gives rise to suspicions that there must have been something in it after all. The soul can tell its troubles to God without fear of this. IV. That God clears the godly from misrepresentation. 1. God enables His people to live slander down. This is the only effectual refutation. Men who refuse to listen to the clearest vindication are compelled to recognise the manifestation of the truth, and the commendation of ourselves to every man’s conscience (2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 1:12). 2. God will vindicate them before the assembled universe, when all shall be made manifest; and throughout eternity. THE SELF- OF SLANDER(Psalms 120:3-4) “ ‘What punishment shall be assigned thee, or what shall be done or added to thee, in recompense for misery caused?’ or, ‘What shall (God) give unto thee, and what shall (He) add unto thee?’ Answer—‘Sharp arrows (Psalms 45:5) wielded by a mighty one (Psalms 127:4; Jeremiah 50:9), and burning coals of juniper’ (Psalms 140:10; Proverbs 25:22). Thus the punishment of the slanderous tongue is appropriate; for itself is a sharp sword (Psalms 57:4), a pointed arrow (Jeremiah 9:8), and it burns like hell fire (James 3:6). The root of the retem or broom is used for fire in the desert, and retains its heat for a year.”—Speaker’s Com. I. The work of slander. Like that which shall destroy it. 1. To sting. It is always hurtful, harassing, and annoying. It will always more or less damage the reputation, and inflict a wound on the mind or temper which will take some time to heal. Its sting often remains. 2. To burn. It sometimes blasts and utterly destroys. It has frequently undermined a man’s character beyond recovery, and brought him down with grief, affliction, and poverty to an untimely grave. II. The retribution of slander. The law of requital holds terribly good here. 1. It is stung in return. God’s arrows fly thick and sharp upon the slanderous soul. He is ever in fear lest the lie should be traced back to its source, lest it should be proved to be a lie, and lest his calumny should miss its mark. He bears about him, too, the sharpest javelin in God’s armoury—! 2. It is consumed. Society consumes the evil speaker and his speech. It sternly condemns him whether his mischievous tales are true or not, and avoids his company and leaves him in contempt to perish. His accumulated fears consume him; and he that maketh a lie inherits the hottest fire of God’s wrath. THE TRIALS OF THE GODLY(Psalms 120:5-7) I. Uncongenial neighbours. The Psalmist’s residence in Mesech and Kedar is probably not to be understood literally, as Mesech (Genesis 10:1) inhabited the mountain ranges south of and adjoining Caucasus, and the south-coast borders of the Black Sea, and Kedar was probably an Arabian tribe. They evidently stand for Barbarians. A man can hardly be subjected to a greater trial than to be compelled to mix in society with which he has no sympathy and which has no sympathy with him,—e.g., a scholar with those who despise learning, an artist with those that have no taste, the pure with the impure, the sober with the profligate, and vice versa. So the Psalmist felt himself unhappy amongst men with whom he had no spiritual affinity. This is the case with the godly through all time. They dwell in a world that does not acknowledge their God, and with men who cannot appreciate their worth. Heaven is the place where all is harmony, and whose pursuits, &c., are congenial to all. Hell is the opposite. II. Unrighteous contradictions. “They will listen to nothing. They are for discord, variance, strife. All my efforts to live in peace are vain. They are determined to quarrel, and I cannot prevent it. (a) A man should separate himself in such a case as the only way of peace. (b) If this cannot be done, then he should do nothing to irritate and keep up the strife. (c) If all his efforts for peace are vain, and he cannot separate, then he should bear it patiently as divine discipline. There are few situations where piety will shine more beautifully. (d) He should look with the more earnestness for the world of peace; and the peace of heaven will be all the more grateful after such a scene of conflict and war.”—Barnes. THE NATURE AND DOOM OF CALUMNY(Psalms 120:1-4) The Israelites had returned from Babylon, and were engaged in rebuilding the demolished Temple at Jerusalem. The Samaritans—heathens by extraction, and still continuing heathens at heart—wished to join in the work. The devout Jews, thinking it out of place for any who did not fully acknowledge Jehovah to take part in so sacred an enterprise, quietly but firmly declined their overtures. Exasperated with the repulse, the Samaritans employed every means to annoy the workers, and to hinder the work. They concocted the vilest slanders, and sought to prejudice the mind of the Persian king, by whose permission the liberated Jews were allowed to rebuild the Temple. The Church of God is still assailed by the malice of the wicked. What they cannot accomplish by open violence, they seek to effect by the subtlety of the tongue. Observe:— I. That calumny is a terrible instrument of mischief. 1. It is subtle in its insinuations. “A deceitful tongue.” It affects a reluctance to tell all it knows. It implies more than it openly states. It deals in half truths, or in a small modicum of truth, which it makes the pivot on which a whirlwind of the most pernicious slander revolves. It is eloquent in facial expression. A wink, a shrug of the shoulder, a little hieroglyphic finger-writing on the viewless air, a whispered innuendo, will insinuate more evil into the midst of a community than the most outspoken declamation. Calumny is cheating with the tongue. 2. It is false in its representations. “Lying lips.” A liar does his mischief openly for the most part. Stung by a well-deserved rebuff, or prompted by a feeling of spontaneous hatred, he circulates the most flagrant falsehoods. The more barefaced the falsehood the less harm it does among the thoughtful. The consummate liar rings his own alarm bell, and the unprejudiced are sufficiently warned. But there is always a large class of people who will believe the most abominable lies: the more confidently and unblushingly they are uttered, the more firmly are they credited. The splenetic detractor is never at a loss for defamatory material. A word is falsely reported, an act misconstrued, a motive misread, and the whole plan of life misconceived. When all else is exhausted, the vile calumniator falls back upon the endless fabrications of a corrupt imagination. 3. It is dangerous in its use. It pollutes and debases those who traffic in it. “Let falsehood be a stranger to thy lips;Shame on the policy that first beganTo tamper with the heart to hide its thoughts!And doubly shame on that unrighteous tongueThat sold its honesty and told a lie!”—Havard.It is pernicious in its effects on individuals, societies, and commonwealths. “A lie,” says Carlyle, “should be trampled on and extinguished wherever found. I am for fumigating the atmosphere when I suspect that falsehood, like pestilence, breathes around me.” The march of calumny is invisible as the wind, and often more terribly destructive. II. That calumny is productive of acute suffering. 1. It fills the soul with anguish. “In my distress.” It wounds the soul as with the barb of an envenomed arrow, and inflicts incredible pain. The distress is aggravated when we discover that the javelin is thrown by the hand of a professed friend. The discovery of treachery in human nature is a painful shock to the confiding. Calumny is not easily traced to its source, and is often difficult to refute. 2. It mars the happiness of a life. “Deliver my soul”—my life. The Psalmist felt that his whole life was endangered. Calumny has ruined the fairest reputation, embittered many a life, blasted its prospects, diverted its influence, and injuriously affected its destiny. III. That calumny drives the soul to seek redress in prayer. 1. The refuge of the calumniated is in God. “In my distress I cried unto the Lord. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips.” No man is safe from the shafts of falsehood. He cannot always refute it. He cannot prevent its effects on his reputation. Slanders may penetrate into regions where its refutation never comes. The sufferer can do nothing but commit his case to God, and trust to his own conscious integrity, the lapse of time, and the operations of Divine providence to clear his character. 2. The cry of the calumniated is not in vain. “He heard me.” Prayer is the surest method of relief. The soul is comforted. Grace is given to act circumspectly, and to live down the false imputations. When Plato was told how his enemies slandered him, he quietly replied, “I fear them not. I will so live that no one shall believe them.” In His own way, and at His own time, Jehovah vindicates His suffering people. IV. That calumny involves its perpetrators in severest vengeance. “What shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.” The juniper sparkles, burns, and crackles more vehemently than any other wood, and is of such a nature that, if covered with ashes, it will continue alive the whole year. Fiery arrows, or arrows wrapped round with inflammable material, were formerly used in sieges to set the place on fire. The Chaldee has it:—“The strong sharp arrows are like lightning from above, with coals of juniper kindled in hell beneath.” The tongue of the calumniator was often like a sharp, fiery arrow shot by a strong hand, causing intense and prolonged pain; but now the fierce, burning arrow of vengeance, shot by the Mighty One, has pierced the soul, and will rankle there in ever-increasing torture. The future retributive sufferings of the wicked will infinitely exceed anything they ever inflicted on their most helpless victims. Beware of indulging revenge. We may safely leave our oppressors to their merited punishment. “Speak not of vengeance; ’tis the right of God.” LESSONS:— 1. Calumny is the source of many evils. 2. The best of characters are liable to its most distressing assaults. 3. God will defend, sustain, and vindicate His people, and signally punish their calumniators. THE OF THE WICKED A SOURCE OF TO THE GOOD(Psalms 120:5-7) Mesech refers to a barbarous race inhabiting the Moschian regions between Iberia, Armenia, and Colchis. From this people the Muscovites descended. Kedar describes the wild, restless, nomadic offspring of Ishmael, who occupied the territory of Arabia Petræa. The Psalmist did not personally reside in either Mesech or Kedar. The sixth verse gives the key to the sense in which the words are to be understood. He dwelt in the midst of a people as rudely barbarous, and as fiercely contentious, as those in Mesech and Kedar. The Church of God is now situated in the midst of a mass of gross wickedness that surrounds and assails it like an angry sea. I. That the Good are brought into Unavoidable Contact with the Wicked. There is no spot under heaven into which evil cannot penetrate. Go where we will it presses in upon us from every quarter. The exigencies of life will sometimes lead the godly into the company of the wicked. But for this, not only would commercial extension be impossible, but the humanising influence of social intercourse be lost to the world. The Providence of God may conduct His people into the midst of the wicked—to testify against their pernicious practices, to moderate their violence, to present a holy and beneficent example, to attract to a better life. The residence of the good among the habitations of the wicked is sometimes compulsory. Without any fault of their own they are banished from home and temple, and compelled to mingle with people whose principles they disapprove, and whose practices they detest. It is possible to be encompassed with evil, and yet not participate in it. As the fire-fly will pass through the flame without being singed, as fresh water currents circulate in the sea without partaking of its saline property, as the pearl is unimpaired by the unsightly shell in which it is clasped, so the good may move about in the midst of abounding wickedness without contamination. II. That the attitude of the wicked is one of fierce antagonism to the good. They hate peace—they are for war. The presence of the good is a perpetual rebuke to the wicked. Their simple transparency of character makes them conscious of the duplicity and blackness of their own; their pacific temper, instead of soothing, is made an occasion of ungovernable irritability. 1. The antagonism of the wicked is prompted by a spirit of intense hatred. “My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.” Hatred is the great mischief-maker. It sets man against himself; against society; against God; against the universe. “A man,” says Plato, “should not allow himself to hate even his enemies; because if you indulge this passion, on some occasion it will rise of itself on others; if you hate your enemies, you will contract such a vicious habit of mind, as by degrees will break out upon those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to you.” Hatred in the heart of the wicked is a fiend let loose. 2. The antagonism of the wicked is unreasonable. “I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.” There are some restless, quarrelsome spirits, whom nothing will propitiate or pacify. If no provocation is given, they will invent one. Whatever efforts are made to promote peace, they construe into causes for new hostilities. They are like the Macedonians, of whom it was said, in the time of Philip, “To them peace was war, and war was peace.” Such conduct is senseless and unreasonable. III. That the ferocity of the wicked is a source of distress to the good. “Woe is me.” There is no greater pain to a tender, sensitive spirit, than to be brought in contact with prevalent wickedness. The most pathetic lamentations of Jeremiah were uttered when he beheld the moral degeneracy and violent discord of his countrymen. Evil is abhorrent in any aspect; but when it assumes the fierceness of a reckless, impetuous, and fiendish aggression, it is intolerable. To be compelled to dwell in the midst of the quarrelsome is a miniature pandemonium. Such an experience is often the means of discipline to the good. It teaches forbearance, patience, and self-control. It calls for the exercise of a spirit of god-like forgiveness and charity. It reveals the diabolic character of sin, and its inevitable tendency to transform men into demons. Learn— 1. The universality of sin. 2. The greatest troubles of life are the result of sin. 3. A time is coming when the good will be for ever delivered from the assaults of sin. This “Song of the Ascents”—a title slightly varying from that of each of the other Gradual Psalms—is as suitable as any for the Israelite’s use when not leaving his home for the earthly Jerusalem, but only meditating on the circumstances and prospects of his spiritual progress, especially when life is drawing to a close; but its beauties are more apparent if we regard it as bursting from the lips of the pilgrims as after their long, weary, and dangerous march, in spite of Mesech and Kedar, though not yet beyond their reach, they come at last in sight of the mountain range of Moriah and Zion. O joyful! Yonder is Jerusalem! There is the sheen of the Temple! Our journey is nearly over! Jehovah is appealed to by the Church or saint in the first three verses, and in the remainder answers and confirms His believing people.—The Caravan and Temple.JEHOVAH THE REFUGE OF THE (Psalms 121:1-4) Wherever the devout Hebrew wandered, and whatever might be his condition, his eyes turned towards the mountain heights of his native Judea. In the distance those heights assumed the appearance of one vast mountain, on which there was a particular eminence that arrested the gaze of the eager worshipper, as if held by the spell of an irresistible fascination. This was Mount Zion, the consecrated hill of the Lord—the foundation on which He had built His Church, and the symbol of its permanency—the charmed circle of divinest manifestation—the central fountain from which streams of blessing have issued for the healing of the nations. As the mountaineer, pressed and worsted in the conflict, fled to his native hills for refuge and defence, so the suffering Israelite sought comfort and protection from Him “whose righteousness is like the great mountains.” Note.— I. That the soul is often placed in circumstances of distress. Suffering is the commonest, yet most mysterious, feature of our human life. None are exempted. Heaven has no dispensations to grant to special favourites. Whatever differences there may be in mental endowments, wealth, or social position, there is, among all the descendants of Adam, an unavoidable, all-levelling communism in suffering. Apparent and numerous as may be the physical sufferings of mankind, there is a depth of mental distress of which the outer world knoweth not, and with which a stranger may not intermeddle. The hope deferred that maketh the heart sick; the collapse of undertakings that have cost days and nights of anxious thought and devoted labour; the wounds inflicted by unjust and mean insinuations, or by words barbed with envy and dipped in the venom of a heartless cruelty; the nameless pang of disappointment occasioned by the faithlessness of one we trusted, and to whom we knew not how far we had surrendered our heart till he flung it from him a pierced and bleeding thing—all these, and infinitely more, are hidden from the great world outside; they are beyond its power to assuage, or even to appreciate. II. That in every time of distress Jehovah is an ever-available Refuge. 1. His power is unbounded. “My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” The Creator of all can succour and defend all. The great forces of both worlds are under His control. He restrains their malignant, and multiplies their beneficent, ministries. However complicated our straits and pungent our grief, His power is all-sufficient. With such a refuge despair would be madness. 2. His defence is invincible. “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” The sliding of the foot is an emblem of misfortune frequently used, and a very natural and suggestive one to the dweller in the Hebrew mountains, where a single slip of the foot was often attended with great danger (Psalms 38:16; Psalms 66:9). The foundation on which the believer rests—the Divine power and goodness—is immovable, and while fixed on this basis his foot shall not be moved. The giddy whirl of pleasure; the artful devices of the tempter; the sombre tempest of calamities will, alike, be powerless to harm while he is circled by the Divine defence. 3. His vigilance is unwearied. “He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” Sleep is necessary to repair the waste occasioned by toil. It is an indication of weakness and limitation. All mundane creatures sleep. God never sleeps. He knows no weariness. To Him there is no night; the darkness and the light are both alike to Him. Nothing can escape His eye. No enemy can secrete himself unnoticed; no ambush can surprise Him. The sentinel may slumber at his post; the steersman at the helm; the mother by the sick-bed; but God never slumbers. He is never exhausted; never inattentive to the condition of His people, or the wants of the universe. III. That the most signal manifestations of Divine help are realised in the sanctuary. “The hills from whence cometh my help.” On those hills the Temple stood—the pride of the Hebrew, the marvel of the ages. There Jehovah localised His presence; there the ineffable glory hovered; there the people held sublime communion with their God; there were witnessed the brightest visions of His face; there were realised the strongest consolations of His love. The fondest, dearest memories of life cluster around the experiences of the sanctuary. The sad heart has there lost its burden; joy has been raised into a purer passion; the holy resolution been confirmed; and the future lit up with the kindling radiancy of hope. Who can estimate the loss to the worshipper of a single careless neglect of the service of the sanctuary! IV. That the soul is delivered from its distress only as it turns to Jehovah. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” Help is not to be found in man. We cannot look to idols, or to the mighty, who, like hills, fill the earth, and raise their heads towards heaven. Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from these hills (Jeremiah 3:23). When all human help fails, with God nothing is impossible. To brood over our distress is to increase it. Our greatest distress comes when we wander farthest from God, and vanishes when we turn again to Him with a sincere heart. LESSONS:— 1. Distress is never far to seek. 2. The Divine Refuge is open for all. 3. To receive timely help be always in your place in the sanctuary. DIVINE (Psalms 121:5-8) A celebrated traveller—after an absence of three years, during which he had walked across the continent of Africa from east to west, through vast regions never before trodden by the foot of the white man—recently received an enthusiastic welcome home. As he approached the quiet Kentish village where he had spent his boyish days, his first act, before entering his much-loved home, was to pass through the portals of the church where his aged father ministered, and, humbly kneeling, offer his devout thanksgiving to that God who had watched over and preserved him in all his wanderings. Among other appropriate Scriptures, this Psalm was read. It was a touching scene! Many hearts heaved with emotion, and many tears were shed, as the reader, in trembling accents, uttered the words, “The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coining in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” It was a graceful and fitting acknowledgment of that Divine Goodness which had safely conducted the weary, sun-burnt traveller through all the perils of his great and adventurous journey. We should be ever ready to acknowledge and adore the Gracious Power that shelters and protects us every moment. Observe— I. The Divine protection is ample and efficient. I. It is ample. “The Lord is thy shade.” He surrounds His people, and guards them at every point of attack. Without His encompassing shadow they are exposed to the fierce onslaught of numberless enemies, and must become an easy prey to their violence. Where the danger is greatest, there the Divine shade is thickest. The foe must be able to pierce the invulnerable, and conquer the invincible, before he can touch the feeblest saint who is sheltered by the wings of God. 2. It is efficient. “Upon thy right hand.” The right hand is the organ of action, either in aggression or defence. If that is paralysed, man is shorn of his main strength. As the enemies of God’s people are ever standing at their right hand to frustrate all their efforts in well-doing, so Jehovah is at their right hand to encourage and sustain those efforts, and restrain their enemies. At the point where the forces of evil most thickly concentrate, there the Divine protection operates most powerfully. II. The Divine protection shields from the most open assaults. “The sun shall not smite thee by day.” To the inhabitants of the East, where the fierce rays of the sun are sometimes fatal in their effects upon the incautious traveller, these words would have a special significance. They also indicate figuratively the open dangers which threaten God’s people every day, and the flagrant, cruel, persecuting hatred of their most furious enemies. “Dangers stand thick through all the ground;” but God is present to defend. The worker in the dismal mine, the traveller by road, or rail, or sea, the toiler surrounded by the most destructive materials, is alike under the shadow of the Divine protection. III. The Divine protection guards from the effects of the most secret treachery. “Nor the moon by night.” The moon is the ruler of the night; and everything belongs to it which happens during its reign, so that it is not necessary to trace all the evils of the night directly to the influence of the moon. The Lord will protect from all the subtle and invisible attacks of the wicked, though they come upon His people as silently and unseen as the penetrating cold of the moonlight night. He sees the approach of the least suspected danger, estimates the force of the subtlest influence, smiles at the treachery of His enemies, and disconcerts their cleverest combinations. The Divine Sentinel never slumbers. He can never be outwitted by the cunning of the most malicious. IV. The Divine protection is a defence against every evil. “The Lord shall preserve thee from evil: He shall preserve thy soul.” He protects from the evil of sin and of suffering. He turns away the evil that is feared, and alleviates and sanctifies the evil He permits. He will preserve the life (the soul) of His saints in war or peace—when the weapons of destruction hurtle through the air, or when disease silently sheds around its noxious poison. He will keep the soul from doing evil, cleanse it from all pollution, and invest it with a purity immaculate and fadeless. V. The Divine protection is realised amid the active duties of life. “The Lord shall preserve thy going out.” The good man is directed in the beginning of his undertakings, and shielded by the Divine presence during their active prosecution (Deuteronomy 28:3-6). He is safe wherever his duties carry him—in the workshop, the street, the busy mart, on the restless sea, or in strange and distant countries. “In foreign realms and lands remote,Supported by Thy care,Through burning climes they pass unhurt,And breathe in tainted air.When on the dreadful tempest borne,High on the broken wave,They know Thou art not slow to hear,Nor impotent to save.”—Addison.A moment comes when there shall be the last going out—the ebb of life when the soul shall go out with the tide, to return no more! Then shall it be enfolded with the Divine protection, and preserved in endless bliss. VI. The Divine protection overshadows the rest and quietness of home. “And thy coming in.” Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof. The Divine protection is not less exercised in the conclusion of any undertaking than in its commencement. Evening brings all home; and the weary one, after the toils and dangers of the day, enjoys the peace and rest of his home all the more because he knows he is encircled by the Divine guardianship. And when the shadows of life’s eventide gather round him, he fears not. The Lord will preserve his coming in—his tranquil entrance into the heavenly home! VII. The Divine protection is unremitting. “From this time forth and even for evermore.” He is the continual portion and defence of all who trust in Him, in all places, at all times, in all actions, in life, in prosperity, in adversity, in death, in time, in eternity. No evil shall befall them to endanger their present and ultimate good. The safety of the Church and of every individual member is insured. LESSONS:— 1. Offer grateful praise for the protection of the past. 2. Fear not the most furious assaults of the enemy. 3. Put all your confidence in the Divine Protector. This Psalm, which the title ascribes to David, was probably composed by him after he had settled the Ark in Mount Zion, to encourage the people to resort to Jerusalem to the three annual feasts, or to express his pleasure in observing that they did assemble there in great numbers. With how much greater joy ought Christians to embrace all opportunities of approaching God and assembling with His people in the more rational, spiritual, and edifying worship of the New-Testament Church!THE JOY OF DIVINE WORSHIP(Psalms 122:1-2) This Psalm is a song on the entrance of the Church and State of Israel into a superior habitation. It seems to have been originally written in the interval between the translation of the Ark to Zion by David and the erection of the Temple there by Solomon. We may picture the multitudes of eager worshippers singing this song as they journeyed in companies from different parts of Palestine to the holy sanctuary of Zion. As they leave their homes, as in the morning they resume their march, as they approach the gates of the city, or as they pause within them and prepare to go up in solemn procession with music and song to the sanctuary, they unite in singing these words of joy and gladness. Observe— I. That the joy of Divine worship is realised in anticipation. “I was glad when they said unto me” (Psalms 122:7). The invitation to worship is met with an eager and joyous response, as though the soul had been pleasantly musing on the theme and was longing for the time of public worship to return. Much of our happiness in life, and of our misery too, are realised by anticipation. The same power by which we forecast the future and fill the mind with sombre pictures of coming calamities, may also be used to portray with the vividness of reality the exquisite pleasures which are yet to come. Prolonged absence from the sanctuary, whether from sickness or distance, gives piquancy to the spiritual appetite, and adds an additional charm to the prospect of soon joining again with the happy worshippers. The joy of the devout emigrant as he returns once more to his native village, is intensified by the hope of again worshipping God in the rustic temple with which are associated the happiest moments of his youth. II. That the joy of Divine worship is enhanced when shared with others. “Let us go.” Man can worship God alone, but he can worship Him better in company. The song of the solitary bird does not create such a tempest of tumultuous rapture as when it is blended with the summer-morning chorus of a thousand merry choristers, rising over brake and woodland. The journey of the pilgrim is not so long and tedious when it is prosecuted in the society of kindred spirits and enlivened with songs of gladness. Our worship of God will reach its highest joy when it is rendered in fraternal union with that great multitude which no man can number (Revelation 7:9-12). III. That the joy of Divine worship is most fully realised in the sanctuary. “Into the house of the Lord.” Here Jehovah dwells, making His home in the hearts of the sincere worshippers. Here His majestic glory is displayed with overwhelming splendour. Here the mysteries of His providential dealings are explained. Here His will is made known with unmistakable plainness and emphasis, illustrated with the commentary of passing events. Here the worshipper has received his most memorable blessings—his fears have been banished, his murmurs silenced, his false ideas corrected, his faith invigorated, his soul tuned to harmony and love. The blissful associations of the sanctuary in the past assist the worshipper every time he visits the loved and sacred shrine. Many are thankful in the recollection of those whose advice and example led them to the sanctuary. The Christian mother of Gregory Nazianzen often begged her Pagan husband to join the Lord’s people in their worship, but had to go without him for a long time. At last her remembered words were irresistible music to his spirit. In a dream, he repeated the first words of the Psalm: “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.” The opposite had been the fact; but the dream would come to pass. Such happiness was soon his lot. He felt a longing to accept the Christian religion, and was soon able, when wide awake, to say the same words with literal truth. IV. The joy of Divine worship is abiding. “Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem” (Psalms 122:2). The joy of worship is satisfying and permanent: it remains with us when other joys have vanished—vanished like the bloom of a short-lived flower, like the picture of a pleasant dream, like the delicate tints of a lovely scene, like the sweet strain of an entrancing melody. David governed with his harp as much as with his sword and sceptre; and the songs of Zion which he taught his people to sing were a potent and constant influence in the formation and solidifying of the national religious life. The unceasing praise of Jehovah in the Heavenly Jerusalem will be an occasion of unceasing joy. “In thy gates, O Jerusalem bright,Have our feet often stood with delight:And again shall they measure the way,Till within them, enchanted, we stay.”LESSONS:— 1. The true praise of God is the highest worship. 2. The worship in the Church below begets a preparedness and fitness for worship in the Church above. 3. The highest worship is the unfailing source of the highest rapture. 4. Much spiritual loss is suffered by changing or neglecting the sanctuary. A TYPE OF THE CHURCH OF GOD(Psalms 122:3-5) I. Because it is securely founded. “Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together” (Psalms 122:3). It was situate on a lofty eminence: it was strengthened till it became an impregnable fortress: it was beautified by a series of princely palaces: it was crowned by the most magnificent Temple: it was circled and invested by the Divine presence. So the Church of God has its basis in invulnerable truth: it is defended by the ablest intellects: it embraces the good of all ages: it has survived the wreck of the mightiest empires, and the rage of the most formidable enemies: it is overshadowed with the glory of God: it is dowered with a fadeless immortality. II. Because it is the place of general assembly. “Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord” (Psalms 122:4). 1. There the will of God is made known. “Unto the testimony of Israel.” The ark was there, containing the tables of the law, the testimony of God’s will and Israel’s duty (Exodus 25:21-22). In the Church of God, as in the Temple of Jerusalem, the Word of God is expounded and the individual path of duty clearly marked out. Obedience is encouraged by promises of blessing, and its failure threatened with corresponding punishment; and the law of God is an awful and imperishable testimony of the Divine faithfulness in each sphere. 2. There the Name of God is worshipped. “To give thanks unto the Name of the Lord.” The Divine Name is the embodiment of the Divine perfections; and that mysterious Name is the legitimate object of all true worship. Thanksgiving is the essence of acceptable worship. “To give thanks” becometh a creature who is so absolutely dependent on the Divine bounty as man. Thanksgiving should be offered humbly, fervently, constantly. III. Because it is the seat of universal government. “For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David” (Psalms 122:5). It is a picture of combined and quiet strength. The pilgrims do not look upon a solitary throne, exposed and insecure; but see thrones, firm and safe, beneath and around David’s, occupied simultaneously by his advisers, administrators, and magistrates, including his sons, all in his royal name and service (2 Samuel 8:18; 1 Chronicles 18:17). They behold a broadly organised and settled government. (Vide “The Caravan and the Temple.”) From this metropolis of power all civil and ecclesiastical mandates must issue, and to it all classes were taught to look for justice. So the Church of God is the seat and centre of government If justice is not found here, it can be found nowhere. And not justice only, but all that which government exists to promote and conserve—righteousness, peace, joy, love—these are the stable constituents and ornaments of the Divine throne. LESSONS:— 1. The Church of God is the repository of the greatest mental and moral wealth. 2. A secure place in the true Church is gained only by a Divinely implanted moral fitness. 3. A member of the true Church is amenable to the Divine laws. PEACE AND (Psalms 122:6-9) I. That peace and prosperity should be subjects of earnest prayer. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalms 122:6). It is not in mortals to command success, nor is it always in the power of man to maintain peace in either Church or State. It is an Apostolic direction—As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. But the best intentions are often misinterpreted, and, such is the perversity of the human mind, the very efforts made to promote peace are often the occasion of strife. The baffled mediator finds his readiest and most potent resource in prayer. All who truly love the Church of God will be constant and fervent in supplication for its peace and prosperity. Prayer succeeds when the most astute diplomacy fails. II. That peace and prosperity are correlative blessings. “Peace be within thy walls and prosperity within thy palaces” (Psalms 122:7). When peace takes its flight from a community or nation, prosperity soon follows: one depends upon the other. Nothing is prosperous with the man who is not at peace. The prosperity of the wicked is but temporary and apparent: it is for the present life only. It sows the seeds of discord and rebellion, and involves thousands in suffering and adversity. The man who strives to promote peace is a benefactor to the race. We should strive with others, as Lord Bacon says, “as the vine with the olive, which of us shall bear the best fruit; not as the briar with the thistle, which is the most unprofitable.” “A peace is of the nature of a conquest:For there both parties nobly are subdued,And neither party loses.”—Shakespeare.Peace is the condition of a permanent and increasing prosperity. III. That peace and prosperity are necessary for the cultivation of fraternal intercourse and affection. “For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee” (Psalms 122:8). The unity of a nation depends upon its loyalty to the Church of God; and the welfare of the Church is the measure of a nation’s prosperity. Let Jerusalem be secure and blest, and the population generally will be secure and happy. How often is the peace of a home wrecked by the absence of love and harmony. A drunken husband, a scolding wife, a dissipated son, make sad havoc of what might be the happiest of homes. “As hatred by quarrels exposes the faults of others, so love covers them, except in so far as brotherly correction requires their exposure. The disagreements which hatred stirreth up, love allays; and the offences which are usually the causes of quarrel it sees as though it saw them not, and excuses them. It gives to men the forgiveness which it daily craves from God.” “Love is the happy privilege of mind;Love is the reason of all living things.A trinity there seems of principles,Which represent and rule created life—The love of self, our fellows, and our God.”—Festus.IV. That peace and prosperity should be sought for the sake of the Church of God. “Because of the House of the Lord our God I will seek thy good” (Psalms 122:9). In promoting the good of the Church, we promote our own best interests and those of all mankind. If we love God, we love His Church. We stand very much in the estimation of God according to our worth to His Church. The character of Eli is redeemed from much of its weakness and blame-worthiness, when we discover the tenderness and strength of his attachment. The brave old man bore up heroically when he was told the astounding news from the battle-field, that Israel was defeated and his own sons were among the slain; but when the messenger announced as the climax of his doleful tidings, that the Ark of God was taken, a deeper chord was touched than that of the patriot and the father, and, smitten to the heart, he fell backward and expired; and the sublimity that massed itself around the close of the aged prophet’s career seemed to overshadow the feebleness and imperfections of his previous life. God will forgive a great deal to the man who helps—in gifts, in work, in witness-bearing, in sacrifices, in suffering—to promote the peace and prosperity of Zion. LESSONS:— 1. Sin is the fruitful source of war and poverty. 2. It is the mission of Christianity to confer a universal and permanent peace. 3. prospers best who prays the most. Since the time when it was produced by its now unknown author, when was not this hymn of hope a favourite with God’s people? The pensive individual might use this form of meditation and prayer with comfort and edification in view of his private distresses; the tuneful company might probably beguile the way to or from Jerusalem with its plaintive cry; and it was fit to be chanted in the courts of Zion, in the name of the Church universal. After the afflicted pilgrims of Israel, in their successive generations, troubled Christians have repeated it in all countries; and it still describes the griefs and aspirations of the tempted servants of the Lord, as, in their various degrees, they “climb the steep ascent to heaven.”—The Caravan and Temple.THE GLANCE(Psalms 123:1-2) I. Is directed to One who is enthroned in glorious majesty. “Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens” (Psalms 123:1). From God’s footstool of hills and altars the suppliant looks up into the face of the Master. “The Lord’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men” (Psalms 11:4). All the glories of the upper world circle round that lofty throne, and borrow their meaning and their lustre from Him who sitteth thereon. To Him cherubim and seraphim continually do cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.” The starry constellations render Him ceaseless homage, and obey His mandate. The heavenly intelligences live in His smile, and rejoice in His service. The splendour of the greatest earthly monarch is extinguished by the glory of the Heavenly King. And it is to this glorious Ruler that man is permitted to direct his inquiring gaze, and from whom he must derive his mightiest help. II. Is directed to One who has supreme government and power. “Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress” (Psalms 123:2). The Divine Hand— (1) Guides. The Eastern ruler, reticent and sparing in words, directs his attendants and agents by signs, and they are his best servants and least likely to incur sorrow who, not from fear but love, are swift to notice and obey the slightest movements of his speaking hand. The heart must be in the eyes that wait upon Jehovah. “Leave to His sovereign swayTo choose and to command,So shalt thou wondering own His way,How wise, how strong His hand.”(2) Supplies. Servants look to their masters for sustenance (Proverbs 31:15). So must we look to God for daily bread, and for needed grace (Psalms 145:16). (3) Protects. If the servant meet with opposition in his work, if he is wronged and injured, he looks to his master for protection. God is the shield of His people, not like the martial shield covering a portion of the person, but guarding every part (Genesis 15:1; Psalms 5:12). When threatened by our spiritual foes, we look to God for shelter and protection. (4) Corrects. God smites with the same hand with which He guides and protects. Harmer observes—“As a slave ordered by a master or mistress to be chastised for a fault turns his imploring eyes to that superior till the motion of the hand appears which puts an end to the punishment, so our eyes are up to Thee, our God, till Thy hand shall give the signal for putting an end to our sorrows; for our enemies, O Lord, we are sensible, are only executing Thy orders, and chastening us according to Thy pleasure.” It is wise for us humbly to submit to the mighty Hand of God. (5) Rewards. The hand of the world is filled with tempting rewards, but, like the fabled fruit of Sodom, they turn into bitter dust and ashes between the teeth of its votaries. But the faithful servants of Jehovah are rewarded with satisfying and endless pleasures. III. Is directed to One who is rich in mercy. “The Lord our God, have mercy upon us” (Psalms 123:2). Stung with a sharp sense of guilt, oppressed with the burden of multiplied troubles, and conscious of utter helplessness, the sinner turns a piteous gaze to Him whose mercy as well as righteousness endures for ever. “Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee; they poured out a prayer when Thy chastening was upon them” (Isaiah 26:16). The severity of God is tempered with mercy. “He delighteth in mercy.” IV. Is persevering and triumphant. “So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that He have mercy upon us” (Psalms 123:2). The believing soul fixes its eye upon the Divine mercy, and keeps it there till the gracious answer comes. We remain unblessed for lack of steady fixedness in our faith. Persevering faith is ever triumphant. LESSONS:— 1. Man must look heavenward for all true help. 2. God never disappoints the humble and sincere suppliant. SARCASM THE CAUSE OF PUNGENT (Psalms 123:3-4) I. That sarcasm is a common weapon of the enemies of God. 1. It is used by the worldly minded. “The scorning of those that are at ease.” When the Jews, who had returned from captivity, were engaged in rebuilding the Temple and city of Jerusalem, they were much tried by the interference of certain dwellers in Samaria, who seemed ready to declare themselves Israelites or Pagans, as it might suit their interests; and when they were rejected as unfit to engage in so sacred a work, they did all they could to hinder and annoy. They misrepresented the motives of the Jews to the Persian king, who then held rule over Palestine; and poured contempt and derision on the struggling patriots (Comp. Ezra 4:1-3; Nehemiah 2:19-20; Nehemiah 4:1-4). “In every succeeding age the protesting and conservative faithful, the heart and bone of the undying Church, have been first courted, and then bantered and baffled by their worldly-minded and semi-heathen neighbours. The world about and among them, divided by rival idolatries, is united in jealousy, hatred, and scorn of the true Israel. The Samaritans will join the working church, if in so doing they may carnally benefit themselves; but when their help, which would be ruin, is not accepted, they unscrupulously hinder, misrepresent, and despise God’s children” (The Caravan and Temple). 2. It is used by the intellectually proud. “And with the contempt of the proud.” The scorner is deluded by the most despicable vanity. He assumes a superiority of knowledge, of virtue, and of authority over all others, of which all the time he is most lamentably destitute. Pride of intellect is the most dangerous form of self-deception, and the most hopeless of reformation. “He that is proud eats up himself. Pride isHis own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle;And whatever praises itself but inThe deed, devours the deed in the praise.”—Shakespeare.It is easier to sneer than to argue and to scoff at goodness, than to imitate it. II. That sarcasm is the cause of pungent suffering to God’s people. “We are exceedingly filled with contempt.” It is hard to bear the blame of a wrong of which we are wholly innocent, to have our holiest motives misinterpreted, our failings exaggerated, our best actions maligned, and our God insulted and blasphemed. The suffering is increased when the injured one is powerless to respond or retaliate, and when a sensitive and passionate nature is to be held in check while writhing under a sense of injustice and cruelty. When John Nelson, a vigorous and successful lay-helper of Wesley, was impressed as a soldier, he was subjected to very aggravating insults from a pompous young ensign. “It was very difficult to bear,” said the stalwart Yorkshire mason, “when I knew how easily I could tie the head and heels of the young stripling together.” But suffering endured for Christ’s sake is a very potent element in moral discipline, and in the perfecting of the Christian character. III. That the suffering occasioned by sarcasm is counterbalanced by the consolations of the Divine mercy. “O Lord, have mercy upon us.” The mercy of God never fails. From the inhumanity of man the tortured soul turns to the Divine mercy for comfort and strength. It then learns that the suffering occasioned by sarcasm is only brief in duration, and that it is made the means of attaining a higher righteousness and an ampler reward (Romans 8:28). LESSONS:— 1. The holiest do not escape the attacks of the adversary. 2. The bitterness of sarcasm is its unscrupulousness. 3. The Divine mercy should be sought in every time of suffering. This jubilant song speaks of a sudden peril and narrow escape, and praises God for the great deliverance. We take it to be, according to its title, a Psalm of David, not a hymn founded upon his character, writings, and history. It is full of his force and fire, suits not a few situations in which he shared the lot of Israel as herein described, and contains expressions parallel with words occurring in compositions of which he is the undoubted author. The figures employed describe the situation of God’s people in any place or age, when they suddenly find themselves overtaken by calamity as if in the earthquake’s jaws, when sorrow bursts upon them like the mountainous waves on a ship, when floods of ungodly men make them afraid, when they seem to feel in their flesh the teeth of slander and malice, when they are unexpectedly entangled in perplexities and difficulties, like the bird in the snare.—The Caravan and Temple.THE OF THE WICKED(Psalms 124:1-6) I. That the wicked are ever ready to devour the righteous. “They had swallowed us up quick” (Psalms 124:3). “The Lord hath not given us as a prey to their teeth” (Psalms 124:6). 1. The righteous are assailed with the anger of the wicked. “Men rose up against us; their wrath was kindled against us” (Psalms 124:2-3). The sight of virtue, however modest and inoffensive, will inflame the anger of the wicked. It is said of a certain lady that when the mirror revealed the wrinkles in her face she dashed it to the ground in a fury. So is it with the wicked; they are enraged with the transparency of a character in which they see reflected the moral deformities of their own. The anger of the wicked is unreasonable. It springs from the basest passions, and scorns all attempts to control it. It is like a rudderless vessel tossed about in a tempestuous sea. The anger of the wicked recoils upon themselves. Says the proverb, “Anger is like ashes which fly back in the face of him who throws them.” Pope pithily observes, “To be angry is to revenge others’ faults upon ourselves.” 2. The anger of the wicked is insatiable. “Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters had gone over our soul” (Psalms 124:4-5). As the advancing tide carries everything before it, and sucks it back again into the capacious throat of the stormy sea, so the wicked pour out their anger like a flood, and would fain swallow up the righteous, on whom their fury is spent. But the anger of the wicked, though insatiable, is impotent to destroy the good. It is limited by power Divine, and may be made to minister to the Divine praise (Psalms 76:10). II. That the Lord is the Deliverer of the righteous. “The Lord was on our side” (Psalms 124:1-2). More than ordinary help was needed on this occasion. The enemies were too fierce and too formidable for any human power to withstand. Jehovah champions the cause of the helpless; and when the last moment of extremity is come, He strikes in for victory. There is a waste of power with Him. When the sinner sinks down in despair, and gives up all for lost, then the Lord stretches forth His hand and saves. In this way He demonstrates the salvation to be Divine. III. That thanksgiving should be offered to the Lord for His delivering power. “Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey” (Psalms 124:6). This is the leading sentiment of the Psalm. Let God have all the glory. He only is the Deliverer, and His help is all-sufficient. The grateful heart rejoices in rendering its praise to God; and in proportion to the depth of distress from which we are lifted up will be the reality and fervour of our thankfulness. LESSONS:— 1. If the wicked had their way, every vestige of righteousness would be utterly destroyed. 2. The power of the wicked is divinely restricted. 3. The righteous have always some cause for grateful praise. THE SOUL’S ESCAPE FROM DANGER(Psalms 124:7-8) I. That the soul is surrounded by many dangers. “As a bird, the snare of the fowlers” (Psalms 124:7). 1. It is ensnared by worldliness. One of the most gigantic dangers against which God’s people have specially to guard—an enemy to all spirituality of thought and feeling. 2. It is ensnared by selfishness—a foe to all simple-hearted charity, to all expansive generosity and Christian philanthropy. 3. It is ensnared by unbelief—the enemy of prayer, of ingenuous confidence, of all personal Christian effort. These are not imaginary dangers. We meet them in every-day life. They threaten us at every point, and often have we to lament over the havoc they make in our hearts. II. That the dangers surrounding the soul are not invincible. “The snare is broken, and we are escaped” (Psalms 124:7). 1. May be overcome by watchfulness. 2. By prayer. 3. By obedience. And yet all our endeavours will fail, if we depend on them rather than on God. We cannot boast of our natural powers. “What pride has a bird in its wings and feathers when once caught in the silken thread, or fast in the golden wire? However splendid their endowments, only God can deliver souls from evil, and keep them free.” III. That a way is divinely provided for the escape of the soul from all danger. “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalms 124:8). Here we learn that the name of Jehovah is the source of help, and that this help is omnipotent. He “who made heaven and earth” is infinite in resources: all the forces of the universe are within His view, and obedient to His nod. “We may not see any peril, when our safety is to let our Saviour see for us. We only see beautiful shrubs and shadowy trees. He who is on our side sees the foe behind them in ambush. We only see the pleasing bait on a bosom of shining grass and showy flowers. Our constant Friend sees there the hidden trap. We only see the smooth turf inviting our feet, tired of ruts and stones. He who is yet for us sees the pit artfully concealed. We only see the glancing water and the smiling sky. Our Keeper sees the hurrying squall, and cries, “Beware! take in sail” (The Caravan and Temple). As we look back upon the past, we see that our help in extremity has come from Jehovah. In Him, therefore, may we place implicit confidence for the future. LESSONS:— 1. Our greatest dangers are those we least suspect. 2. The utmost vigilance does not always avail. 3. The only reliable help is from God. This Psalm belongs most probably to the times after the Captivity, and has been applied, with apparent propriety, to the opposition which Sanballat the Horonite, Geshem the Arabian, and Tobiah the Ammonite gave to the Jews while employed in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and restoring the Temple. It is designed to encourage and comfort God’s people in all ages against the plots and malice of their enemies. The three prominent themes are danger, defence, and duty; and every verse contains a word descriptive of those for whom the Songs of Degrees were intended, and of the militant Church in every age and country. They are called Israel, the good, the upright in their hearts, the righteous, the people of Jehovah, they that trust in the Lord.THE AND OF THE GOOD(Psalms 125:1-2) I. It is the privilege of the good to trust in the Lord. “They that trust in the Lord.” Man cannot trust himself; he is too conscious of personal weakness and infirmity. He cannot trust in others; he has been too often disappointed and deceived. He finds true rest, comfort, and peace by trusting in the Lord, the All-Perfect, the All-Powerful, the All-Sufficient One. This trust should be unhesitating and complete. “Thy God hath said ’tis good for theeTo walk by faith and not by sight:Take it on trust a little while,Soon shalt thou read the mystery right,In the bright sunshine of His smile.”—Keble.II. It is the security of the good to be guarded by the Divine Presence. 1. The Divine Presence is the guarantee of stability. “Shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever” (Psalms 125:1). Zion was a mountain, built upon and surrounded by other mountains: to all natural appearance it was immovable. But the spiritual Zion is still more stable and enduring. It rests on the mountains of unchallengable truth, and is bound together by the invisible bands of Divine safeguards. 2. The Divine Presence is an impregnable defence. “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people” (Psalms 125:2). Jerusalem was fortified by nature; it was situated on a rocky elevation, and, with the exception of a small space to the north, was encircled by deep valleys, and these again were protected by an amphitheatre of hills. The situation was such as to be easily rendered impregnable; but the most impenetrable rampart was the Divine presence. While this hovered over the city, it defied the skill and prowess of the mightiest armies; when it was withdrawn, the hills and valleys were of no avail; Jerusalem was laid low by the hand of the Assyrian and the Roman. Jehovah surrounds His people with an unpierceable shield. He is above, beneath, around them; they defy the fury of the foe. III. The security of the good is perpetual. “From henceforth, even for ever” (Psalms 125:2). Mountains may crumble and come to nought, and the rocks be removed out of their place, but God’s promise to His obedient people cannot be broken, nor will His protecting care be withdrawn. (Isaiah 54:10). While they keep within it their fortress is impregnable, and they can suffer no evil. The security of the good reaches its highest realisation in the heavenly Jerusalem. LESSONS:— 1. There is no true goodness apart from trust in God. 2. Faith in God will give strength in temptation and victory in conflict. THE TYRANNY OF THE WICKED (Psalms 125:3) I. That the rule of the wicked is one of tyranny. “The rod of the wicked upon the lot.” When Israel reached its highest point of wealth and influence under David and Solomon, there were many who coveted possession of its rich inheritance. The sceptres of the Babylonians, Romans, and Mohammedans often fell upon Zion, like the rod of a merciless oppressor. “What was signified in their assaults and successes? The rod of sin, in the power and authority of the outward oppressor, often answered to the ascendancy of iniquity in the heart of Jerusalem. The prevalence of spiritual wickedness within Israel attracted the earthly tyranny of heathenism outside. God was working in every instance, using the rods of wickedness for the probation and punishment of those who ought to have been righteous; and He still chastises sinners by means of sin; their own inviting wrath, and that of aliens inflicting it—thus extirpating iniquity, purifying and preserving the Church, and making unfaithfulness and apostacy praise Him.”—The Caravan and Temple. II. That the tyranny of the wicked is transient. “The rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous.” The righteous may not always escape the rod of the oppressor. “They that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution.” The mailed hand that smote shall not rest on its victim. The triumph of the wicked is short. The reign of terror cannot be permanent. It wearies and disgusts its most brutal agents. It breeds a rebellion which erelong overthrows its power. The fierceness of tyranny consumes itself. III. That the unchecked tyranny of the wicked would be a serious discouragement to the righteous. “Lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.” If the wicked had absolute sway religion would soon become extinct. The professor would become weary of a cause that involved unmitigated suffering, and would be tempted to give it up. His faith would become demoralised, and he would cast off God, thinking he was forsaken of Him. In a moment of despair he would adopt unlawful means to rid himself of his misery (Ecclesiastes 7:7). But the Lord proportions trial according to the strength of the sufferer, and never permits it to remain longer than required to accomplish a beneficent purpose (Isaiah 10:24-26). LESSONS:— 1. The policy of the wicked is short-sighted, and defeats itself. 2. True goodness cannot be crushed by oppression. 3. The Lord knows the right moment in which to deliver from the tyranny of the wicked. THE AND THE (Psalms 125:4-5) I. That the obedient are sustained by a consciousness of personal rectitude. “Them that are upright in their hearts” (Psalms 125:4). The holy principle imparts uprightness of heart and prompts to uprightness of life. The way of holiness is straightforward; there are no windings and turnings in it. Job was an upright man, one who feared God and eschewed evil; and his conscious integrity bore him up under the unparalleled trials that fell upon himself, his family, and his possessions. When the sense of right becomes dim in the soul, the man gives way and is lost. II. That the obedient enjoy the Divine aid and blessing. 1. Their goodness is Divinely strengthened. “Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good” (Psalms 125:4). Goodness intensifies the desire for more; it claims the fulfilment of the Divine promises; it lays hold on the power of God. “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart” (Psalms 73:1). The rod of the oppressor has been used as a trowel by the wise Master Builder in restoring and strengthening His spiritual temple. 2. Their very troubles shall result in peace. “But peace shall be upon Israel” (Psalms 125:5). While those who apostatise from God meet with punishment and ruin, the faithful shall find that their distresses will issue in a permanent and more hallowed peace. The calm that succeeds the furious tempest is all the more soothing and refreshing because of the terrors and tumults of the previous storm. The prayer for peace in Psalms 122 is here answered. This is what comes of serving God, and trusting in His defence. Peace is an unspeakable blessing to the empire, the church, and the individual. Peace in its widest range of meaning and blessing is the special gift of Christianity (Ephesians 2:14). III. That the apostates will be certainly punished. 1. By their own tortuous policy. “As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways” (Psalms 125:5). The unfaithful get into the spirit of the world, and are warped into its crooked and winding ways. They twist about to conceal their base intentions, to accomplish their sinful purposes, or to elude punishment for their crimes; but disappointment, confusion, and misery overtake them. “No sufferings in God’s service are reasons for unfaithfulness and apostacy. His grace makes us able to drink whatever cup His providence administers. At the worst, it is death; and then the worst is best.” 2. By an act of Divine justice. “The Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity” (Psalms 125:5). As malefactors are led to the place of execution. The justice of God binds Him to punish sin. The apostate will exchange the lot of the righteous for the heritage of evil-doers. LESSONS:— 1. There is an eternal distinction between right and wrong. 2. Jehovah is the friend of the upright, and the foe of every worker of iniquity. 3. The most consummate hypocrite will be exposed and punished. This Psalm was penned with reference to some great deliverance of the people of God out of bondage and distress, most likely their return out of Babylon in Ezra’s time. It is very beautiful and highly descriptive of the circumstances which it represents. The liberation of the captive Hebrews was a type of the redemption of the human race, and the return to Zion of such as improved their opportunity a figure of the salvation of believers. A THEME FOR JOYOUS SONG(Psalms 126:1-4) I. Because of the misery from which it emancipates. “The Lord turned again the captivity of Zion” (Psalms 126:1). To a free and privileged people it is a painful indignity to be robbed of liberty and treated as slaves. Though the captivity of the Jews in Babylon might not be marked by any acts of cruelty, it was suffering keen enough to feel they were in bondage at all. But, lo! how real, how degrading, how miserable is the slavery of sin. To liberate from sin is a Divine work. The LORD must turn again our captivity. II. Because of its unexpectedness. “We were like them that dream” (Psalms 126:1). The deliverance was so unlooked for, and came upon them with such a surprise that it seemed more an illusion than a reality. But when the full meaning of the event dawned upon them, their joy knew no bounds. A similar incident is recorded by Livy, when the Romans, having conquered Philip of Macedon, restored liberty to all the Grecian cities. The proclamation was made by the herald in the midst of the circus when a vast multitude of the Greeks were assembled to witness the Isthmian games. The people were so stunned with the news that they could scarcely believe their own ears. They “were like them that dream.” But when, at their request, the proclamation was repeated, and the glad tidings thus confirmed, they shouted and clapped their hands with such vigour as showed how heartily they appreciated the blessing of liberty. The Lord often surprises and gladdens His people with His marvellous deliverances. III. Because of its reviving effects. “Turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams of the South” (Psalms 126:4). Accomplish our deliverance, as well in delivering of our brethren which are yet remaining in Babylon, as in fulfilling of ours, who yet lie languishing under grievous burdens; that it may be such a comfort and refreshing to us as watering is to dry and desolate places, which are refreshed and flourish again by the coming in of running streams (Diodati). Drought and barrenness disappear under the showers of Divine blessing; and the Church is quickened with new life and hope. IV. Because of the irrepressible gladness it occasions. “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing” (Psalms 126:2). It was like being in a new world. Our deliverance came upon us with such a surprise, that we could not contain ourselves. We burst into a transport of rapture, and laughed and sung in turns with delirious joy. The heathen, who had rejoiced in our captivity, noticed the gladness occasioned by our deliverance, and acknowledged its Divine source. “Then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them” (Psalms 126:3). How much more is our deliverance from sin and death the theme of endless rejoicing and praise! V. Because of its evidence of the Divine mightiness. “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad” (Psalms 126:3). The predictions of Isaiah and Jeremiah were fulfilled (Isaiah 52:9-10; Jeremiah 33:10-11). The Lord has more pleasure in exerting His power to deliver His people than in creating a world, or in sustaining the whole fabric of existing things. “’Twas great to speak a world from nought,’Twas greater to redeem.”LESSONS:— 1. God is not unmindful of His captive people. 2. Deliverance is near when we least suspect it. 3. Every act of Divine deliverance is an occasion for joyous praise. SOWING AND REAPING(Psalms 126:5-6) Sowing and reaping, tears and laughter, are never far asunder in a world like this. The Jews who escaped the captivity of Babylon were not without their trials. The joy of deliverance was sobered by their toils and difficulties. Their journey to Zion was long, wearisome, and full of peril. When they reached their beloved country it was to find it a wilderness waste—Jerusalem and its Temple in ruins. How great must be the labour and sacrifice, and how long the period before the city could be restored and the Temple once more erected. Pestered by violent enemies, and invaded by bands of roaming robbers, it was with trembling the Hebrew husbandman ventured into the field and hastily buried the grain, not knowing whether he or the enemy would reap the harvest. It is ever so in every work we do for God—the tears of anxious labour give place to the gladness of success. “Toiling, rejoicing, sorrowing; onward through life we go.” Observe— I. That the time of sowing is often attended with anxiety and sorrow. “They that sow in tears: he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed.” 1. Because of the high estimate we have formed of the value of the seed sown. “Precious seed.” The teacher of God’s holy Word, whether from desk or pulpit, cannot be too strongly imbued with the unspeakable value of the Divine treasure which is thus put into earthen vessels. The views that are sometimes caught of the grandeur and appropriateness of the Divine Word are overwhelming; and the human vehicle trembles with fear lest the truth should lose any of its Divine force and meaning in transmission—in the act of sowing. 2. Because of the toil involved in becoming possessed of the seed. The greatest prizes of life are not obtained without pains. The blessing that does the most in elevating and perfecting the human soul, and in conferring the greatest good on others, is secured only after numberless failures and infinite efforts. No wonder that is “precious” to man which has cost him so much. The gardener values the plant the more which has involved so much care in bringing to its present state of perfection and beauty. 3. Because of the meagre results witnessed in comparison with the effort put forth. True worth is not always appreciated. It is the fate of every man who raises himself by his talents and industry above the common level to be abused and hated by those whom he has eclipsed. Joseph was envied by his brethren, and David was persecuted by his. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, who bewailed the fallen fortunes of Jerusalem, and whose fate was like Cassandra’s, always to speak truth but never to be believed, pathetically exclaimed, “O my mother, thou hast borne me a man of strife!” (Jeremiah 15:10). And it is often cause of bitterest sorrow to the Christian worker that so few accept his testimony, or understand the nature and drift of his most unselfish labours. II. That the time of reaping is one of inexpressible joy. “Shall reap in joy: Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” 1. Because it is the realisation of patient hope. The man who blossoms suddenly into a genius has often been toiling and suffering for years in obscurity, though assured in himself his day of triumph would come. There is a kind of prophetic instinct in great minds that tells them of the bright prospects in reserve for them, and whispers to them the secret of their after greatness. In early youth, Joseph saw by anticipation his sheaf higher than all the sheaves of the field, and the sun and moon and the eleven stars bowing down to the soles of his feet. Nelson, stung by the neglect of his superiors to his professional claims, said, “I shall one day have a gazette to myself”—and he had. Raffaelle, in youth, triumphantly exclaimed, “I, too, am a painter;” and posterity endorsed the estimate he had formed of himself. It is with every true work, as with every true worker: patient waiting and working will bear fruit in joyous success. 2. Because it brings blessing to many for whose welfare we have been painfully concerned. 3. Because it is an additional evidence of the Divine faithfulness (Isaiah 61:11). LESSONS:—Here is encouragement—1, To the Christian thinker; 2, the true patriot; 3, the faithful preacher; 4, the Sunday-School teacher; 5, the anxious parent. Various considerations taken together require the opinion that this middle Song of Degrees was composed by Solomon. It suits the time of peaceful house-building and civil settlement and progress during which he reigned. It uses a word answering to his name Jedidiah, meaning beloved of the Lord, and seems in connection with it to refer to the promise made to him of wisdom, riches, honour, and length of days. “So He giveth His beloved sleep,” or to His beloved in sleep (2 Samuel 12:25; 1 Kings 3:5-15). It appears to suggest that the claims of the Temple to the efforts of builders are superior to those of any other intended erection. And it agrees with Solomon’s sententious style in his proverbs. The ambitions may not boast of their own wisdom and might; and the prosperous may not suppose they are self-sufficient. It is God who gives skill to plan and ability to execute. He is the Source of blessing.—The Caravan and Temple.THE OF SOCIETY ON THE DIVINE (Psalms 127:1-2) I. That family greatness should be founded in the Divine blessing. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it” (Psalms 127:1). It has been the ambition of many to found a family and to hand down a name to posterity. The love of posthumous fame is a mania with some men. But if God be ignored and the law of righteousness disobeyed, the most colossal efforts to raise a distinguished and enduring house, though protected by all the laws that the ingenuity of the legislature can invent, will prove futile. The history of the changes that have taken place among the families of some of our old nobility furnishes some of the saddest and most humiliating revelations of social life. II. That the safety of civil society is secured by the Divine blessing. “Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalms 127:1). It is sometimes a marvel with some how the vast populations of our large cities are fed: it is no less a marvel how they are protected. Around the masses of society is drawn the strong cordon of Divine law, and over all there rest the ample wings of the Divine protection. If the Lord were to withdraw His presence, the vigilance of the police and the utmost alertness of the civic authorities would not avail. Society would be unendurable, indeed impossible, as at present constituted, but for the action of our Divine Guardian. How much less can a spiritual commonwealth be reared or preserved without the blessing of God! III. That the prosperity of society is dependent on the Divine blessing. 1. Labour is useless without the Divine blessing. “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows” (Psalms 127:2). Labour is the prime necessity of man and the first condition of prosperity. The most princely fortunes have sprung from toil, and are kept together by it. A wealthy farmer when asked why he should trouble himself to rise so early as he did, replied“—If you want the world you must rise and seek it, and if you have the world you must rise and keep it.” Often more anxious labour is involved in taking care of this world’s goods than was spent in first acquiring them. And yet no amount of labour, no amount of parsimonious care will suffice, if God withhold His blessing. “Except the Lord conduct the plan,The best concerted schemes are vain,And never can succeed;We spend our wretched strength for nought:But if our works in Thee be wrought,They shall be blest indeed.”2. Rest is a Divine gift. “For so He giveth His beloved sleep” (Psalms 127:2). Sleep is half meat; it is the most beneficent medicine of wearied and suffering humanity. “The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep” (Ecclesiastes 5:12): if he eat much when he ought to eat little, or if his plenty be a load upon his conscience, or if his godless puzzle day and night be how to retain. The man loved of God may lie down in peace and sleep. Prosperity brings no joy to him who cannot sleep. LESSONS:— 1. Jehovah is the founder, defender, and preserver of the family, the State, and the Church. 2. The happiness of society rests, not on the wisdom and toil of its most gifted members, but on the Divine blessing. THE GIFT OF GOD(Psalms 127:3-5) I. That children are the gift of God. “Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord; and the fruit of the womb is His reward” (Psalms 127:3). This view is frequently and emphatically stated (Genesis 30:2; Genesis 30:18; Genesis 33:5; Genesis 48:9; Deuteronomy 7:13; Proverbs 19:14). The gift of children is an evidence of the Divine favour. They are to be welcomed with joy and affection, and not to be regarded as an encumbrance and a burden. The childless pair, whatever worldly affluence they possess, feel that one of heaven’s choicest gifts is withheld. It is a most unenviable home, if home it can be called, where a child is unwelcome. II. That children are to be firmly and judiciously trained. “As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth” (Psalms 127:4). They are a sacred trust and solemn responsibility: not to be weakly fondled or foolishly spoilt; but to be wisely, kindly, and strictly disciplined to obedience and duty. “Parents must not trifle with their children, like idiots playing with sharp tools; but as the bowman straightens and polishes his arrow, gives it a solid point and wings it with proper feathers, they must educate their sons and daughters in the name, and with the help of the Rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The arrows that are not prepared and directed when in the hand, may, when they are gone abroad into the world and all parental training is too late, prove arrows in the heart. III. That a large family is a source of domestic joy. “Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them” (Psalms 127:5). The parents live over again the happy period of their youth in the gambols and laughter, and the indescribable “little ways” of their children. It is a dismal house where there is a silent nursery. It may be scrupulously clean and faultlessly prim, but there is a strangely felt absence of life, of voice, of genial humanity. When the father of John Wesley received his son unscathed from the window of the burning parson age, he exclaimed, “Come, neighbours, let us kneel down; let us give thanks unto God: He has given me all my eight children; let the house go, I am rich enough.” The good children of a large family help one another, and are a source of comfort and support to their aged parents. IV. That children are the strength and defence of the home. “They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate” (Psalms 127:5). The parents shall courageously plead their cause in courts of judicature, which were held at the gates of cities, not fearing to be crushed by the might of their adversaries, as weak and helpless persons frequently are. Or, as some understand the words, the children shall not be ashamed to plead for their parents in the gates, but will be ready at all times to appear for them, to answer any charge, and to vindicate them in their persons, their good name, or their property. The Chinese have a proverb—“When a son is born into a family, a bow and arrow are hung before the gate.” In Eastern books sons are spoken of as the arrows of their fathers. People fear to offend a family where there are many sons, lest the arrows should be sent at them. The training of children has a reflex influence for good upon parents. Many a hint is unconsciously given as to “training up a parent in the way he should go.” LESSONS:— 1. A large family has its cares, but it has also its special rewards. 2. The training of children is also a training of the parents. 3. Children may become the greatest blessing, or the greatest curse. This, like the former, is a Psalm for families. In that, we were taught that the prosperity of our families depends upon the blessing of God: in this, we are taught that the only way to obtain that blessing which will make our families comfortable, is to live in the fear of God, and in obedience to Him. It is thought by many to have been sung at the marriages of the Israelites, as it is a part of the matrimonial service used in modern times.THE OF THE GOOD(Psalms 128:1-6) I. That the blessedness of the good is the result of a holy life. 1. A holy life begins in the fear of God. “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord” (Psalms 128:1). Not the shuddering fear of conscious guilt. Not the fear of the hypocrite, or the formalist. But the fear that arises out of a profound reverence and love of God. This fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom 2. A holy life is maintained by constant obedience. “That walketh in His ways” (Psalms 128:1). As Comber remarks—“He only truly fears God who is afraid to displease Him by forsaking the paths of His commandments.” Loving fear is the strongest motive to obedience; and obedience is the practical manifestation of true piety. That is a happy home indeed where the fear of God is the regulating principle. II. That the blessedness of the good consists in a happy and contented livelihood. “For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee” (Psalms 128:2). Some men labour and worry, and all in vain. They are never any better off, and they have no enjoyment in the fruit of their labour. But the good man, though not exempt from toil, is happy in his daily work, and enjoys what he earns. The fruit of his labour is not taken from him and possessed by others, as was threatened to the disobedient Israelites (Deuteronomy 28:33; Deuteronomy 28:38-40; Leviticus 26:16). “Noble, upright, self-denying toil,” wrote Hugh Miller, “who that knows thy solid worth and value would be ashamed of thy hard hands, thy soiled vestments and thy obscure tasks, thy humble cottage and hard couch and homely fare!” Religion gives dignity to labour, and transmutes what was originally a part of man’s curse into a blessing. III. That the blessedness of the good is found in the joys of domestic life. “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table” (Psalms 128:3). The woman pictured in the Song is not to be seen lounging at the door, an idle gossip, with something to say to every passer-by, but attends to her duties in the interior of the dwelling, and, like her husband, fears the Lord (Proverbs 9:13-14; Amos 6:10). The clinging vine is a symbol of attachment, grace and fruitfulness, dressing the props and walls to which its curling tendrils hold with leaves that shade the verandah and cool the house, and enriching them with clusters of juicy fruit that maketh glad the heart of man. The pious and loving wife, the screen, adornment, and crown of the God-fearing husband, who is her support and strength, so smiles and speaks and acts that the master is happy everywhere because most happy when at home. The children are like olive-plants—vigorous, able to stand alone and separate, bright with the promise of goodly fruit and rivers of oil. Rooted to the spot, glad to stay at home, “round about thy table,” loving and dutiful, they shall abundantly delight thy heart.—The Caravan and Temple. IV. That the blessedness of the good is augmented by witnessing the advancing prosperity of Zion. “Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed,” &c. (Psalms 128:4-6). The good man is not only blessed by the Church, he is also a blessing to it. He becomes identified with all its interests; mourns over its reverses and rejoices in its success. A happy home is a blessing both to the Church and to the nation. “It is a circle of blessing, the Lord, the saint, and the neighbour; closet prayer, family worship and temple service; the Home, the Church and the State. Like the cloud falling upon the earth, the river running to the sea, and the ocean rising to the sky, it is a perpetual round of fertility, beauty, and thanksgiving, regarded with complacence by the radiant Artificer enthroned in the heavens.” The chief concern of the good is the peace and prosperity of Israel. LESSONS:— 1. There is no blessedness apart from goodness. 2. None are excluded from this blessedness—it is for “every one that feareth the Lord.” This Psalm was written after the Captivity, and contains a reference to the many tribulations which the Jews passed through from their youth—i.e., the earliest part of their history,—their bondage in Egypt. The intent of the Psalmist is to comfort the Church in affliction, and to stir her up to glorify God for His providence over her, always for her good, and bringing her enemies to confusion and sudden ruin.—A. Clarke.THE OF THE GOOD(Psalms 129:1-4) I. That the good in all ages have been greatly afflicted. 1. The afflictions of the good are manifold. “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth” (Psalms 129:1). The Jews had been oppressed by Pharaoh in Egypt, by the tribes north of the wilderness, by the Canaanites, Philistines, and Ammonites, by the Assyrians and Babylonians; and now they were harassed by the time-serving Samaritans. So has it been in all ages. The Church has suffered from a variety of enemies—from the reigning powers for the time being, from the envy and hatred of unbelievers, from the falseness and apathy of professed friends. 2. The afflictions of the good are marked by unusual severity. “The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows” (Psalms 129:3). The sufferings of God’s people have been unparalleled. They have been torn as the husbandman tears the ground with his ploughshare. Many martyrs for the truth have been “first lashed with the terrible scorpion and loaded whips; and then, as they hung on the little horse, torn with the hooked rake, which literally dug deep, long furrows in their bleeding and quivering flesh.” But there is One in whom we see all Israel, and in whose sufferings the words of the text received a remarkable fulfilment. The incarnate Son of God gave His back to the smiters (Isaiah 50:6). II. That the good have always survived the cruelty of their tormentors. “Yet they have not prevailed against me” (Psalms 129:2). The combined powers of evil have not been able to destroy the Church. A Swedish captain has recently invented a fire-proof dress, the wearer of which is enabled to walk up and down in the fiercest furnace without being injured. So the people of God have outlived the fiery assaults of the wicked, because clothed in the unconsumable panoply of the Divine protection. The afflictions of the Church have tended to its purity and strength. When Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (A.D. 107), was taken to Rome and cast to the lions, he exclaimed, “I am God’s wheat, and must be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts that I may be found His pure bread.” The Church of God is unconquerable. “It is,” says Trapp, “as the palm tree, which spreadeth and springeth up the more it is oppressed: as the bottle or bladder that may be dipped but not drowned: as the oak that sprouts out the thicker from the maims and wounds it receiveth.” III. That the afflictions of the good are Divinely limited. 1. The character of God is a pledge of timely deliverance. “The Lord is righteous” (Psalms 129:4). As His people become worldly and unfaithful, He permits them to be afflicted; but when they cry to Him in penitence and faith, he delivers them out of their distresses. They suffer not a moment longer than may be necessary for their more complete consecration to God and holiness. 2. The power of the wicked to harm is limited. “He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked” (Psalms 129:4). Evil is not omnipotent, and it is restrained and defeated by the strong hand of God. The very instrumentalities by which the wicked sought to destroy the rising Church have been used to frustrate their cruel designs, and to effect their own ruin. LESSONS:— 1. The holiest are not exempt from suffering. 2. Affliction may prove a blessed moral discipline. 3. The good are Divinely rescued from trial. THE FATE OF THE CHURCH’S ENEMIES(Psalms 129:5-8) I. They are signally defeated.—“Let them all be;” or, “They shall all be confounded, and turned back that hate Zion” (Psalms 129:5). Though advancing in formidable and threatening array, they shall be thrown into confusion and driven into ignominious retreat. They are engaged in an unequal conflict. They are allowed to gain some unimportant conquests, and while full of boastful daring, and reckoning upon certain and final victory, they are “melted like snow in the glance of the Lord” (Job 34:20-21; Psalms 70:2). II. Their wicked life-purpose is abortive. “Let them be as the grass upon the house tops, which withereth,” &c. (Psalms 129:6-7). On the flat roofs of Eastern houses it is not uncommon to see grass growing, but for want of proper nourishment and soil, it cannot grow to maturity, and speedily withers away. It is sad to see one’s life-purpose suddenly collapse and hopelessly perish. But so must it be with the designs of the wicked, after a lifetime of plotting and toiling; so must it be with the wicked themselves (Isaiah 37:27). III. They remain unblessed. “Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord” (Psalms 129:8). An emblem of Israel blessed by the Lord is a wide field of thickly growing corn stirred by gentle breezes under a ripening sun. As the labourers, humming or shouting snatches of cheery song, bind the sheaves and carry load after load away, they receive friendly salutations from people passing by (Rth 2:4). The thought is ridiculous of house-top harvesting occasioning such benedictions. Equally out of question is it for the Church’s adversaries to be blessed by God or man. (The Caravan and Temple.) It is impossible for nature to furnish an emblem that can sufficiently express the utter confusion, disaster, and misery that will certainly overtake the enemies of God. It is the highest aggravation of their sufferings that they remain for ever unblest. LESSONS:— 1. A life of sin is a series of disappointments and defeats. 2. The enemies of God cannot escape His righteous vengeance. 3. The haters of Zion ignore the hope of salvation, which it alone offers. The Psalm before us, like the other pilgrim-songs, implies circumstances of bitterness; but it is, as in truth is each of them, more than a cry occasioned by outward hardship and danger. The sixth of the seven penitential Psalms, so styled by way of eminence, and not with a meaning that there are no other Psalms of penitence—this is intensely spiritual. It is at once a soliloquy, a petition, a statement, and an exhortation, a hymn for private use and public service, the voice of the soul and of the congregation. The former half is an address to the Lord: the latter is, first a profession of hope and expectation in His mercy, and then an argued invitation to the mind and course described as happily adopted. Throughout it is the language of deep distress on account of sin, a prayer for compassion and forgiveness, and an expression of trust in the promises and provisions of God’s love.—The Caravan and Temple.DE (Psalms 130:1-4) I. That a consciousness of sin sinks the soul into depths of penitential sorrow. The Psalmist is penetrated with a sense of personal defilement, and measuring sin according to the standard of Divine purity, is plunged as into an abyss of humiliation and despair. “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” The light makes manifest the darkness, the beautiful in nature reveals by contrast the ugly and repulsive; so an exalted purity brings out the loathsomeness and deformity of sin. Better to be overwhelmed with a genuine sorrow for sin than with the wrath of God that will certainly overtake the impenitent (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). II. That from the depths of penitential sorrow the soul cries earnestly for pardon. “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice; let Thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications” (Psalms 130:1-2). The distressed soul finds relief in cries and tears. The heart would break if it found no outlet for its pent-up grief. In the darkest, deepest sorrow, it is our privilege to cry to God and to be heard. To cry to God in sorrow for sin is to pray to be delivered from it: it is an appeal for mercy. It is only when we taste the bitterness of sin, only when we are surrounded by its black horrors and the terrible vengeance it merits, that we are truly in earnest in pleading for forgiveness. The wail of despair is transformed into a song of hope when assured that pardon is attainable. “There is forgiveness with Thee.” But for this, the soul might cry in vain: answered only by its own mocking eche; despair recoiling upon yet deeper despair. III. That the penitent soul seeks pardon in order to serve God acceptably. “But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared” (Psalms 130:4). True religion is justly defined as the fear of God. Not the cowering terror of the slave, not the sullen, pouting fear of the culprit, not the half-hope and half-dread of the awakened sinner, but the loving, reverential, obedient fear of the forgiven and accepted child. Pardon is absolutely necessary for acceptable and useful Christian work. God forgives, not simply to deliver from the depths of penitence, not to give license for indulgence in wickedness; but to create a moral fitness for exalted and extensive service (Psalms 51:12-13). LESSONS:— 1. From the deepest depths of misery the cry of penitence reaches the heights of heaven. 2. The more vivid our sense of sin, the more appreciative are we of the blessing of forgiveness. 3. The Lord delivers from sin that we may serve Him with loving fear. THE HOPE OF (Psalms 130:5-8) I. Is based on the revelation of the Divine Word. “I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in His Word do I hope” (Psalms 130:5). Hope must have a solid foundation to rest upon, else it is mere dreamy conjecture, the rosy bloom of fancy that is shrivelled up by the first rude blast of trial. The Word of God is the foundation of the soul’s hope of redemption; and that redemption is the theme which pervades every page of revelation. The word translated to wait, properly signifies the extension of a cord from one point to another. The Word of God is one point, the soul the other; and the extended cord between both is the earnest believing desire of the soul. This desire, this hope, strongly extended from the heart to God, is the active energetic waiting which God requires and which will be successful. God never disappoints: His Word never fails. Myriads have looked to Him for redemption, and not in vain. II. Rouses the most passionate longings of the human soul. “My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning” (Psalms 130:6). It is an emphatic repetition, indicating that the whole soul is waiting and watching for redemption. “The priest staying in the temple for the moment of the early oblation, the warder on the tower looking for the first streak of day, the benighted traveller unable to take another step till the long darkness shall be over, the sick man sleeplessly longing for the family to be astir, the mariner wanting the light that he may examine the doubtful coast,—not one of them so earnestly hopes for the morning which will end his watch as my soul waits for the Lord, who forgives repented iniquity.” The nearer a great blessing appears to us the more eager are we to possess it. The blessing of redemption is worthy of the most ardent and patient hope. III. Is encouraged by reflecting on the amplitude of the Divine mercy. “Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption” (Psalms 130:7). The first conception of redemption was the offspring of the Divine pity and compassion. The Lord yearns to deliver man from sin: He delighteth in mercy. (Compare Jeremiah 31:20; James 5:11; Exodus 34:6-7). There can be no true peace, no moral safety, without pardon. How great and condescending is that act of Divine mercy by which the sinner is pardoned, and his soul, wearied and distracted with long and anxious waiting, is set at rest and filled with unutterable peace! IV. Is strengthened by the assurance of the completeness of redemptive blessings. “And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Psalms 130:8). It is no temporary, or indistinct, blessing that is so anxiously sought; it is nothing less than a complete deliverance from all iniquity. Redemption from sin includes redemption from all other evils: it is the greatest and most perfect work of God, and bestows the most exalted blessings on man. “A sacred presence in this Psalm asks the conscience a succession of important questions. Have you been in depths of distress on account of sin? Did you cry to the Lord to deliver you from the deep waters? Have you given up all thought of escaping by your own righteousness? Is all your appeal to God’s redeeming mercy? Are you contentedly waiting and watching till He shall give you His promised blessing? Is your heart set upon the full daylight of holiness to the Lord?” LESSONS:— 1. Redemption is a Divine work. 2. The most degraded soul is not beyond the hope of recovery. 3. Redemption must be eagerly and prayerfully sought. “A Song of Degrees.” See introduction to Psalms 120. In the superscription this Psalm is ascribed to David, and although it is so short, it contains marks of its Davidic origin. “This short Psalm,” says Perowne, “one of the most beautiful in the whole Book, assuredly breathes David’s spirit. A childlike simplicity, an unaffected humility, the honest expression of that humility as from a heart spreading itself out in conscious integrity before God—this is what we find in the Psalm, traits of a character like that of David.”ASPECTS AND OF We have here— I. Humility in certain of its features. “Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” Here are three negative features of humility. 1. The absence of the proud heart. “Jehovah, my heart is not haughty.” In the heart of the truly humble man all high thoughts of self-righteousness, and all notions of self-reliance, are effectually abased. He is “poor in spirit,” conscious of spiritual poverty and deep need, and consequently humble before God. 2. The absence of the “high look.” “Nor mine eyes lofty.” Hengstenberg: “Pride has its seat in the heart, and betrays itself especially in the eyes.” (Compare Psalms 18:27; Psalms 101:5; Proverbs 6:16-17.) The man of proud heart will look disdainfully upon his fellow-man, as the Pharisee did upon the Publican, in the parable of our Lord. That Pharisee may fairly be regarded as an illustration of spiritual pride, and the Publican of sincere humility. 3. The absence of ambitious projects. “Neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” The marginal reading is the correct one. The Psalmist did not strive with or after things that lay beyond his power or his sphere. (1.) He did not seek to know the mysteries of the humanly unknowable. Even if we could “understand all mysteries and all knowledge,” that would not give rest to our soul. (2.) He did not attempt to do that which was beyond his power. Rest is not attained through the efforts of daring and “vaulting ambition.” “I would not have the restless willThat hurries to and fro,That seeks for some great thing to do,Or secret thing to know;I would be treated as a child,And guided where I go.”—A. L. Waring.II. Humility as connected with contentment and rest. “Surely I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child.” Perowne’s note is excellent: “I have stilled my soul, i.e., the pride and passions which were like the swelling waves of an angry sea. The word is used in Isaiah 28:25, of leveling the ground after the clods have been broken by the plough. The E. V. uses ‘behaved’ in the old sense of restraining, managing, as for instance in Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens, ‘He did behave his anger ere’t was spent.’ The next two clauses of the verse would be more exactly rendered:— ‘As a weaned child upon his mother,’(i.e., as he lies resting upon his mother’s bosom); ‘As the weaned child (I say), lies my soul upon me.’ The figure is beautifully expressive of the humility of a soul chastened by disappointment. As the weaned child when its first fretfulness and uneasiness are past no longer cries, and frets, and longs for the breast, but lies still and is content, because it is with its mother: so my soul is weaned from all discontented thoughts, from all fretful desires for earthly good, waiting in stillness upon God, finding its satisfaction in His presence, resting peacefully in His arms. “ ‘The weaned child,’ writes a mother, with reference to this passage, ‘has for the first time become conscious of grief. The piteous longing for the sweet nourishment of his life, the broken sob of disappointment, mark the trouble of his innocent heart: it is not so much the bodily suffering; he has felt that pain before, and cried while it lasted; but now his joy and comfort are taken away, and he knows not why. When his head is once more laid upon his mother’s bosom, then he trusts and loves and rests, but he has learned the first lesson of humility, he is cast down, and clings with fond helplessness to his one friend.’ ” And M. Henry: “Thus does a gracious soul quiet itself under the loss of that which it loved, and disappointment in that which it hoped for, and is easy whatever happens, lives, and lives comfortably, upon God and the covenant-grace, when creatures prove dry breasts.” Pride is never satisfied, never restful, but fretful and discontented. Humility is content with the Divine allotments, and restful in the Divine love. The childlike spirit is simple, docile, modest, and lowly. Such a spirit was the Psalmist’s. III. Humility growing into hope. “Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and for ever.” The ancient Hebrews were animated by great hopes. But greater and more exalted are the hopes of the Christian. He hopes for complete triumph over evil, for utter purity of heart, for the vision of God, for transformation into His image, &c. “We are saved by hope.” But mark the characteristics of this hope, 1. It is Divine. “Hope in the Lord.” The Christian’s hope rests not in anything transient, changeable, or limited; but in the eternal, unchangeable, infinite, holy God. A true hope resting in Him “maketh not ashamed.” 2. It is common. “Let Israel hope in the Lord.” It was not the exclusive privilege of the poet, the priest, the prophet, or any one class. The whole nation is here called to exercise it, and rejoice in it. In the inspiring and glorious hope of the Christian believer all men may share. 3. It is present. “From henceforth.” If we have not cherished this hope hitherto, we may begin to do so at once. We should cherish it at all times and under all circumstances. 4. It is perpetual. “From henceforth, and for ever.” Hope, like faith and charity, is an abiding thing. Earth and time cannot exhaust the hope of the Christian. His being will eternally rest in God. His expectation will be directed to Him for ever. In heaven itself the child of God will have much to hope for; further discoveries of the perfection and glory of God, and further growth of the faculties and capacities of his own being, will for ever invite him onward. Now, this glorious hope grows out of humility. The humble soul claims nothing, yet hopes for everything, from God. Humility is the root of all Christian graces. “Humility, that low, sweet root,From which all heavenly virtues shoot.”—Moore. Humility is becoming in us, agreeable to others, and acceptable to God. Prayerfully and diligently let us cultivate it. “The bird that soars on highest wingBuilds on the ground her lowly nest;And she that doth most sweetly singSings in the shade when all things rest:In lark and nightingale we seeWhat honour hath humility.“The saint that wears heaven’s brightestIn deepest adoration bends; [crownThe weight of glory bows him downThe most when most his soul ascends;Nearest the throne itself must beThe footstool of humility.”—Montgomery. (Psalms 131:1) If good men cannot always use this language of David, it is their prevailing desire to be able to do so; and if at any time they have been “exalted above measure,” like Hezekiah, they will humble themselves for the pride of their hearts (2 Chronicles 32:26). I. The humility he displayed. 1. This is a grace of the Spirit—the fruit and product of inward religion. Humility is not a plant that grows in Nature’s garden. Of all the evils in our corrupt nature there is none more natural than pride: this is the grand wickedness—self-exaltation in our own or others’ esteem. St. Augustine truly said: “That which first overcame man is the last thing he overcomes.” Nothing can effectually overcome it but Divine grace. If we imagine that we can humble our own proud hearts by our own strength, we shall be disappointed. That pride, which is the curse of our nature, has struck its roots too deeply within us for any human arm to pluck it thence. We are not able to plant a single grace in our hearts, nor to preserve it when planted; but every spiritual good is God’s gift, a gift as freely bestowed as the rain that comes down from heaven. But though we are thus weak and worthless in ourselves, the Holy Spirit generally works His purposes of grace by the use of means, and through these He allows and commands us to seek His grace. He is ready to pour down His richest spiritual gifts, &c. 2. It is peculiarly acceptable in the sight of God. The Lord “giveth grace unto the humble.” He gives grace to make them humble, to keep them humble, and then honours the grace He has given. There is no mansion He loves so well as a sinner’s humble heart. (Comp. Isaiah 57:15.) “He giveth grace to the humble;” pours it out plentifully upon devout and humble hearts. His sweet dews and showers of grace slide off the mountains of Pride, and fall on the low valleys of humble hearts to make them fertile and prosperous. The law of God’s procedure is, that “before honour is humility.” He pours the oil of grace into none but broken hearts. God first humbles, then exalts. So David, Abigail, Moses, Luther. As the lower the ebb the higher the tide, so the measure of our humility is often the measure of our exaltation: the lower the foundation of our humility, the higher is the crown of our glory (1 Peter 5:6). 3. This grace has shone most brightly in the most eminent saints. Specify Moses and Elias under the Law; Isaiah and Daniel among the Prophets; and John the Baptist and Paul under the Gospel. But Christ is the great Exemplar and Pattern. II. Some of the methods in which the possession of this grace will be shown and attested. 1. It will regulate our inquiries after truth. “I do not exercise myself in things too high for me.” 2. It will be seen in the exercises of devotion. The Pharisee stood and boasted; the publican smote upon his breast and prayed. 3. It will prepare us to receive the principles and doctrines of the Gospel as the basis of our acceptance with God. It led Paul to a simple dependence upon Christ—renouncing everything else. (Comp. Philippians 3:4-9.) He neither depends upon his graces as a Christian, his attainments as a man, his labours as an Apostle, nor his success as a minister. Dependence on Christ must flow from humility of heart. Nothing but a heartfelt sense of our sinfulness will lead us to the Cross, or keep us there. 4. It will be seen in practical submission to God’s will. III. Some of the means of producing it— 1. Meditate upon the greatness and holiness of God. 2. Keep near to the Cross of Christ. 3. Frequently review your transgressions and sins. 4. Think of your obligations to Divine grace. 5. Anticipate the Judgment Day.—The Late Samuel Thodey. The author of this Psalm and the occasion upon which it was composed are both unknown. The opinion of M. Henry, Perowne, and others, is that it was composed for the dedication of Solomon’s Temple. Many ancient expositors held that it was composed by David, either at the time of the bringing of the Ark to Zion, or at the time when it was in his heart to build the Temple of the Lord. Many modern expositors hold that it was composed for the dedication of the Second Temple. It is quite impossible to arrive at any certain conclusion on the question. “This Psalm,” says Perowne, “is a prayer that God’s promises made to David may not fail of fulfilment, that He will dwell for ever in the habitation which He chose for Himself in Zion, and that the children of David may for ever sit upon His throne. It opens with a recital of David’s efforts to bring the Ark to its resting-place; it ends with a recital of the promises made to David and to his seed.”Homiletically we shall view it as presenting Lessons for Church-Builders, and Encouragements for Church-Builders.LESSONS FOR CHURCH-(Psalms 132:1-10) From these verses we learn— I. That when churches are needed their erection is of great importance (Psalms 132:1-6). Previous to the bringing of the Ark to Mount Zion, the arrangements for religious worship were most unsatisfactory. “The sacred tent was without the Ark of the covenant, a body without a soul; and the Ark was at Kirjath-jearim, deposited as in its grave, without any rites of worship, well-nigh lost sight of.” David himself said, “Let us bring again the Ark of our God to us; for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul.” He was deeply solicitous for the revival of the national religion, and that arrangements should be made for the worship of Jehovah, with suitable dignity and magnificence. The Psalmist represents him as tormenting himself with anxiety to prepare a becoming dwelling-place for the Lord. The intensity of his concern was manifest in— (1.) The solemnity of his declaration concerning it. “He sware unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty One of Jacob.” This solemn vow is not recorded in the history. Nor do we know whether it was made concerning the removal of the Ark to Zion, or the fixing the site of the Temple and the preparation of materials for its erection (1 Chronicles 22:1-5). But that it was made is an evidence of the anxious care of David that appropriate provision should be made for the worship of the people. This care was manifest in— (2.) The promptitude of his declaration. “Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed,” &c. (Psalms 132:3-5). So in 1 Chronicles 22:5 David says, “I will now make preparation for it.” The matter was too important and urgent to admit of any delay; so he resolved to make it his first business and to set about it at once. Now the lesson we deduce from this is, that when adequate and appropriate provision is not made for religious worship, the building of churches is of great importance. This will appear from the following considerations:— 1. The religious element in man is the grandest portion of his nature. Reason, conscience, affections, and that in us which wonders, admires, adores—these are the highest things in us. 2. The religious element in man needs worship for its right development and growth. The worship of the Highest humbles, purifies, exalts, enriches our being. Worship transforms the worshipper into the image of the object of worship. The complete and harmonious development of our being is impossible apart from worship. 3. That churches are needed for the becoming and profitable exercise of worship. We need the absence of distracting scenes and circumstances, the aid of quiet and of hallowed associations, in order to worship in a becoming manner and with spiritual advantage. These are secured by the erection of churches. But are not the temple of nature and the sanctuary of home sufficient for the worship of man? They would be if man were not a social being; but man is a social being. “It is not good that man should be alone.” In work and play, in enjoyment and sorrow, man needs and delights in fellowship. Private and family worship is not enough; we need public worship also to help us to realise our relation to our fellow-men, that we are members of one great family, children of one Divine Father. We need both the closet and the temple, both the quiet and solitude of private worship, and the fellowship and inspiration of public worship. Where adequate provision is not made for the public worship of the people, the building of Christian churches is a work the importance of which it is impossible to exaggerate. II. That churches should be erected for the worship of God. “We will go into His tabernacles; we will worship at His footstool.” We fear that all persons who are zealous in the building of churches do not always regard the worship of God as the great purpose for which they are to be used. The grand use of Christian churches is— 1. Not the propagation of any ecclesiastical system. The laudation of “the church,” or of “our denomination,” or of “our body,” seems to be the object for which some churches are built. This is misleading and injurious. 2. Nor the propagation of any theological system. Some churches seem to be built chiefly for the propagation of Calvinism, Arminianism, Sacramentarianism, &c. But our interpretations of God and His Word are one thing, while God and His Word are other and sometimes very different things. Even at best “our little systems are but broken lights” of the Most High. 3. Nor for the delivery of religious addresses or theological lectures, however able or eloquent they may be. We are far from undervaluing the importance of the preaching of the Word, but it seems to us that the worship of God is a higher use of Christian churches than even that. 4. Nor for ritualistic display however brilliant, or musical performances however perfect. When forms and ceremonies, processions and pageants, are the great things in what ought to be Christian churches, intelligent and earnest Christians cannot but regard such a state of things as a prostitution of such edifices. 5. But for the worship of God. The grand use of churches is to worship the Lord God in spirit and in truth. This worship should be humble and reverent. We are not worthy to approach His throne or look into His face, but we may “worship at His footstool.” III. That in the worship of God in His Church the manifestation of His presence should be earnestly sought. “Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest,” &c. (Psalms 132:8-9). The Lord is here entreated to dwell in His Church— 1. As an abiding presence. “Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest.” This may have been spoken when the Ark was brought to Zion, and certainly was spoken at the dedication of the Temple. The Ark was no more to be removed from place to place, but was to be fixed there. We need the abiding presence of God in our churches; for without this, however stately and beautiful they may be, they will be but as beautiful corpses. 2. As a strengthening presence. “Thou, and the Ark of Thy strength.” The Ark was the symbol of the Divine presence and power. When it was taken with them into battle, the people were nerved to courage and endurance and conquest. When God by the Holy Ghost dwells among His people, they are “strengthened with might in the inner man.” 3. As a sanctifying presence. “Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness.” One of the effects of the abiding presence of God in the Church will be that His ministers will be holy in heart and life. “Righteousness is the best ornament of a minister.” It is an essential qualification for the office. 4. As a joy-inspiring presence. “Let Thy saints shout for joy.” Sincere worshippers of Jehovah are here designated His “saints.” They find their highest blessedness in the realisation of His presence. They sing, “In Thy presence is fulness of joy.” Here is the great want of religious assemblies and of the Church of God as a whole in this day—the realisation of His abiding presence. Having this, she will be nerved with might, clothed with righteousness, and inspired with joy. IV. That in seeking the manifestation of the presence of God in His Church, we have powerful pleas which we may urge. We may, like the Psalmist, plead— 1. The solicitude of our pious ancestors for His worship. “Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions.” David’s anxiety to provide for the becoming celebration of the worship of God is here urged with God on behalf of his descendants. And as we seek the Divine blessing we may surely make mention of the devotion of our godly forefathers. 2. His covenant relation with our pious ancestors and with us. “For Thy servant David’s sake, turn not away the face of Thine anointed.” Perowne: “The anointed here must be Solomon, or some one of David’s descendants, who pleads David and the promises made to David as a reason why his prayer should not be rejected.” And we in this age plead— “God of our fathers, be the GodOf their succeeding race.”God will ever be mindful of His covenant, and we shall do well to encourage ourselves in prayer by the remembrance of this. .—To build churches for the seeking of the manifestation of the Divine Presence, and for the offering of humble and reverent worship to the Divine Being, is to engage in a work of sacred significance and great importance. Churches consecrated to such purposes are blessings of incalculable worth to society; they aid the spiritual education and growth of the race towards perfection; they promote in a high degree the wellbeing of man, and they honour the Lord God. ON THE (Psalms 132:8-9) Notice two or three thoughts— I. The Temple is here called the place of rest, or the abiding place of God. “Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest,” &c. The words mark a transition from the nomadic condition of the tribes to the compacted life of the nation, and a transfer of obligation that was suited to the change. In the free, wild life of the desert, with its perpetual migrations, the Sacred Tent might be pitched and struck like the others. But when the city was laid out for man, God would have His honoured house chiefest and costliest of all.… The Christian dispensation, although it is a dispensation of universality, and bases all its promises and sanctions upon the fact of spiritual service, has not annulled the seemly and the sacred in connection with the worship of God. It nowhere approves the idea that all places are equally sacred, or that God has ceased to visit Zion, and to dwell in its tabernacles with His manifestations of peculiar regard. If you want to know whether God can manifest His Spirit and His power in connection with the houses that are set apart for Him, you have but to think of the building of the Temple. “It seems as if God had built a Solomon on purpose that Solomon might build a house.” And then, underneath that, how all inferior forces were brought into tribute!… Has not the Lord Himself proclaimed it,—“The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob”? II. The Temple, gorgeous as it was, was altogether incomplete and valueless without the Ark. In all ages the Ark in the Temple is its life. Still the quick heart within the man, and you will have the stately skeleton soon. Withdraw the magic vapour, and the wheels whirr no longer, and the most exquisite contrivances are mute and motionless machinery. Take the breath from the great organ’s heart, and in vain you bid it discourse its harmonies. And as the heart to the man, as the engine to the machinery, and the breath to the instrument of sound, so is the Ark to the Temple, because it is the symbol of the presence of the Lord. There is no age that needs to be more impressed with this truth than the age in which we live. Our organisations are multiplied, &c. We are too apt to vaunt of our institutions, of our efforts, of our sacrifices, and thus damage our usefulness fatally by putting the instrument in the place of the power. III. Look at the other blessings which are asked for, either obviously or by direct implication in the Psalm. The presence of God is the chief, the all-absorbing object of desire; but then that presence is manifested by the diffusion of itself in blessing. 1. The Ark of God’s strength in the Temple implies that God’s power is in the Temple, and He waits to exert it in the Word, in the ministers’ appeals, in the people’s prayers. God’s power is always in the Temple when God’s presence is there. Power “to make the sinner quail,” and to “sound the unbelieving heart;” power to send healing to the spirit of the wounded; power to make the selfish bountiful, &c. 2. The prayer proceeds to ask that the priests may be “clothed with righteousness,” which is, in fact, a petition for universal purity. There is no priesthood now except the priesthood of the Saviour in heaven, and the priesthood of the whole community of the faithful, who are “kings and priests unto God.” It is a prayer, therefore, not only for us who minister, but for you who hearken, that we may, all of us, be robed always, robed already, in the new linen, clean and white, in which the saints were seen in heaven. Righteousness is a word of comprehensive import, and it includes all that is alleged of it touching the purification of the soul before God.… It is, in fact, Paul’s Thessalonian supplication, embodied in a solemn litany, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly,” &c. (1 Thessalonians 5:23). If we are to be a strong church, we must be a pure church. 3. The third blessing that is asked for is holy joy in God, which has its foundation in oneness with God, both in favour and feeling, and which has its outlet in the appropriate expressions of praise. This will, indeed, be a natural result of the blessings already asked, for if we take hold of God’s power, and if we reflect God’s purity, be sure we shall never lack materials for praise. I cannot dwell, except for a moment, upon the beautiful answer which the prayer received—so prompt, so generous, so full. In every case the answer is more large than the request. The prayer is contained in the first ten verses of the Psalm; in the eleventh the answer begins. It is worth looking at.… Mark the ineffable wealth with which He fulfils the promises He makes to His people.—W. M. Punshon, LL.D. FOR CHURCH-(Psalms 132:11-18) The Psalmist, for the encouragement of the people, recalls certain promises which were made to David. The Lord had promised him that the government should be perpetuated in his family (2 Samuel 7:12-16). But the promise was conditional. The great majority of the Divine promises are so. It was distinctly intimated to David that if the conditions were not fulfilled, though the promise would not be withdrawn, yet its operation would be suspended. The descendants of David failed to comply with the conditions; they violated the covenant; and the sovereignty for a long time passed away from the house of David. But that sovereignty in a higher form, on a vastly wider scale, and with more glorious significance, was resumed by “the Root and Offspring of David,” even by Jesus Christ the Lord. In Him the promises made to David have their full and splendid realisation. Here, in this section of the Psalm, are promises which are richly fraught with encouragement for those who are engaged in the building of churches, or in any other work for the extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom. We have here a promise of— I. The presence of God in His Church. “For the Lord hath chosen Zion,” &c. (Psalms 132:13-14). (See Hom. Com. on Psalms 48:1-2; and Psalms 76:2.) 1. He dwells there by His own choice. “The Lord hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it,” &c. “I have desired it.” Henstenberg translates: “He has selected it for His habitation.… I have selected it.” God dwells in the Church, not because of the excellence or worthiness of the members thereof, but because of His own good pleasure. 2. He dwells there perpetually. “This is My rest for ever.” “Shiloh,” says Perowne, “had been abandoned; for a time the Ark was at Bethel (Judges 20:27); then at Mizpah (Judges 21:5); afterwards, for twenty years, at Kirjath-jearim (1 Samuel 7:2); and then for three months in the house of Obed-Edom, before it was finally brought to its last resting-place.” The Ark and the Temple have long since passed from Zion; but this Divine assurance finds its fulfilment in the Christian Church. In the darkest days of her history His presence has not been withdrawn; nor will He ever withdraw from His Church. Here then is a most inspiring assurance for all who are interested in His Church. Here is consolation for Christians in the dark and stormy day. Here also is inspiration for the Christian worker. II. The blessing of God in His Church. 1. His blessing as an accompaniment of her ordinances. “I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread.” M. Henry interprets this as provision for both body and soul, and applies it to both “the poor of this world” and “the poor in spirit.” And Barnes says: “A strong affirmation, meaning that He would do it in every way; that every needed blessing would be imparted; that God would provide abundantly for their support.” But it seems to us to refer to spiritual provision. God by His blessing will vitalise the ordinances of the Church; He will make her services means of grace indeed to His people,—channels by which pardon shall flow to the guilty, comfort to the mourner, strength to the weak, holiness to those who long for it, &c. 2. His blessing upon her ministers. “I will also clothe her priests with salvation.” This is an assurance that the petition in Psalms 132:9 should be granted. (See on that verse.) Perhaps the change of the word “righteousness” for “salvation” is meant to indicate that God will not only bless them with holiness of heart and life, but also make them instrumental in saving souls. Usefulness is a result of holiness. 3. His blessing upon her members. “And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.” This also is a promise that the petition in Psalms 132:9 should be granted. (See on that verse.) M. Henry: “It was desired that the saints might shout for joy; it is promised that they shall shout aloud for joy. God gives more than we ask, and when He gives salvation He will give an abundant joy.” Here then is encouragement, &c. III. The triumph and glory of the Head of the Church. “There will I make the horn of David to bud,” &c. (Psalms 132:17-18). David is here put for the house of David. And we must look to the Christ for the complete fulfilment of these promises. The horn is the symbol of power. To “make the horn to bud” is to make it shoot forth and grow. In Christ God “raised up an horn of salvation in the house of His servant David.” He is “mighty to save.” We have here an assurance of— 1. The subjugation of His enemies. “His enemies will I clothe with shame.” God will frustrate their deepest designs, and overthrow their mightiest forces. “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” 2. The success and glory of His reign. “I have ordained a lamp for Mine Anointed.” (On the application of this to David, comp. 1 Kings 11:36.) But the lamp is frequently used in the Scripture as an emblem of prosperity. And so we regard it here in its application to the kingdom of our Lord. We have the same idea in the last clause of the Psalm: “Upon Himself shall His crown flourish,” or blossom. The glory of the Redeemer’s crown shall never fade; amaranthine are the flowers which adorn His brow. “O’er every foe victorious,He on His throne shall rest;From age to age more glorious,All-blessing and all-blest.The tide of time shall neverHis covenant remove;His name shall stand for ever;That name to us is—Love.”—Montgomery..— 1. Here is warning to the enemies of the Lord. If you persist in your opposition to Him He will clothe you with shame, and crush you by His power. 2. Here is exhortation to the enemies of the Lord. Submit yourselves to Him, ere His anger wax hot against you. 3. Here is amplest encouragement to His people, and especially to those who heartily labour in His cause. According to His promise He is ever present to enrich His Church with grace and power; and all who labour for the extension of His kingdom will find in the end their labour crowned with complete and glorious success. THE SONG OF THE (The whole Psalm) Our Psalm has been universally and wisely applied to the Church of these Christian days, and its invocations and promises claimed as expressive of the desires and confidences of Christian people in their work for God. We are God’s building, and we are God’s builders too. The Psalm is full of strength and encouragement for us in both characters.… We may call it the Song of the Builders.… For our present purpose it will be most convenient to divide the whole into three sections, in the first of which, extending to the close of the seventh verse, the Church pleads with God the many thoughts and long toil that had laid the foundation for His house. I. Let us gather from this portion some lessons touching preparatory work. “Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions.” The Psalmist looks upon the fair dwelling, reared at last for God, and goes back in thought to the days when the design thus happily accomplished was first conceived. It was David’s thought which was the parent of this holy and beautiful house, though Solomon was its builder; and his name springs first to the singer’s lips.… Not the toil of hand and arm which carries out, but the mind which conceives the plan is its true author. “Lord, remember David.” Look at the picture which is given of the aged king setting himself to his task. (Comp. 2 Samuel 7:1-2 with Psalms 132:3-4 of the Psalm). He was an old man now, wearied with “all his afflictions,” &c. And he had the other excuse for repose that he had done much work, as well as suffered many changes.… But not so does a true man think.… He will put his own comfort second, God’s service first. The picture may be a rebuke to the slothfulness of us all, &c. But it should come with a special message to men and women of comparative leisure and freedom from corroding frets and consuming toils, whose lives are only too apt to be frittered away in trifles and dissolved in languid idleness, or corrupted by self-indulgence. To such the lesson from that picture of the old soldier-king is, Brace yourselves for continuous service, &c. Notice, too, that David’s devotedness does make a plea with God. The prayer goes upon the supposition that his toil and self-sacrifice will not, cannot, be all in vain. And the prayer is answered. God does not require perfect faithfulness in us ere He blesses us with His smile; He does not need that the temple shall be all complete ere He enters in. He receives, and pardons, and loves an imperfect faith; a wandering heart He still blesses and welcomes; stained services, in which much of the leaven of earthly motives may be fermenting, and many a taint of sloth and selfishness may be found, are not therefore rejected of Him. And consider, too, how God’s remembrance of such preparatory work is shown. David saw no result from all his toils to build the Temple. He got together the great store, but it was reserved for another to mould it into completeness, and to see the cloud of glory fill the house. But none the less was it true that God remembered David, and accepted and crowned his work. We all receive unfinished tasks from those who go before; we all transmit unfinished tasks to them who come after. Our vocation is to advance a little the dominion of God’s truth, and to be one of the long line who pass on the torch from hand to hand. “One soweth and another reapeth,” &c. You may never see the issues of your toils. If you can see them, they will generally not be worth looking at. We work for eternity. We may well wait for the scaffolding to be taken away. II. The prayer for God’s blessing on the builders’ work (Psalms 132:8-10). Picture to yourselves the moment. The Temple is finished, shining in its new beauty on its hill top. (See 2 Chronicles 5-7) The Psalmist asks first that God would dwell in the completed Temple, and that the symbol of His presence may now at last, after so many wanderings, rest there, &c. May we not, from all this, draw needful lessons for ourselves? And first, as to the one great blessing which all builders for God should desire. The Temple may be finished. But something more is needed. Not till the Ark is in the Holiest of all, and the cloud of glory fills the house could they say, “It is finished.” The lesson is of everlasting importance. We need to guard ourselves most jealously lest we come to put the instrument in the place of the power. You may perfect your machinery, but all its nicely-fitting parts stand motionless—a dead weight; and not a spindle whirrs till the strong impulse, born of fire, rushes in.… When we have done all, we have to pray, “Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest,” &c. That presence will surely be given, if we desire it. And that presence is all which we need to make ourselves strong and our work effectual. From this fundamental petition all the other clauses of the prayer flow. I can only glance hastily at them. There is first power—“The ark of Thy strength.” They in whom God dwells will be strong.… There is next righteousness, with which the Psalmist prays that the priests may be clothed. In the new Israel all the people are priests. Righteousness is to be the robe of every Christian soul.… Thank God for that “fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness” with which Christ covers our wounded nakedness. Remember that growing purity in life and deed is the main proof that Christ’s righteousness is indeed ours. If we are to do God’s work in the world we must be good, true, righteous men.… Further, the prayer desires that gladness from God’s presence and the possession of His righteousness may burst into the shout of praise. All true religion is joyful.… Finally, the Psalmist prays that the king of Israel and his people with him may be heard and accepted when they pray. Such are his desires for his nation. What do we desire most for our brethren, and for ourselves? III. The Divine answer, which more than fulfils the Psalmist’s desires (Psalms 132:11-18). Throughout these verses there is constant allusion to the preceding petitions. The shape of the response is determined by the form of the desires. (Comp. Psalms 132:2 with Psalms 132:11, and Psalms 132:5 with Psalms 132:13). Not in us, but in Him, lies the motive for His grace, and so it can never change. Then, notice, that each single petition is enlarged in the answer to something much greater than itself. (Comp. Psalms 132:8 with Psalms 132:14-15; Psalms 132:9 with Psalms 132:16; and Psalms 132:10 with Psalms 132:17-18.) Put this in its widest form, and what does it come to but that great law of His grace by which He over-answers all our poor desires, and, giving us more than we had expected, shames us out of our distrust? And the law holds for us in all our works and in all our prayers.—A. Maclaren, D.D. ZION A TYPE OF THE CHURCH(Psalms 132:13-16) I. God’s delight in Zion. 1. There He dispensed His ordinances. 2. There He vouchsafed His presence. 3. There he communicated His blessings. II. God’s promises to Zion. 1. In respect to its institutions. 2. In respect to its ministers. 3. In respect to all its worshippers. Infer— (1.) That formalists do not really belong to the Church. (2.) That the Church cannot be overthrown. (3.) That Christians are bound to serve and honour God.—George Brooks. In the superscription this Psalm is attributed to David. It has been thought by some that it was composed on the occasion of the coming of the elders of Israel to Hebron to anoint him king over all the tribes of Israel (2 Samuel 5:1-3; 1 Chronicles 12:38-40). Others have opined that the assembling of the people in great multitudes at Zion to celebrate the great religious festivals gave rise to the Psalm. But it is impossible to come to any certain conclusion as to the date or occasion of its composition.Herder says that this Psalm “has the fragrance of a lovely rose;” and Perowne: “Nowhere has the nature of true unity—that unity which binds men together, not by artificial restraints, but as brethren of one heart—been more faithfully described; nowhere has it been so gracefully illustrated, as in this short ode. True concord is, we are here taught, a holy thing, a sacred oil, a rich perfume which, flowing down from the head to the beard, from the beard to the garments, sanctifies the whole body. It is a sweet morning dew, which lights not only on the lofty mountain-peaks, but on the lesser hills, embracing all, and refreshing all with its influence.”THE AND BEAUTY OF UNITYBy unity we do not mean uniformity, or the harmony which is brought about by regulations and restrictions. We are unable to discover any beauty worth speaking of in the unity which is the result of artificial and mechanical arrangements. It is the unity of life and activity and variety which is here celebrated. Uniformity is monotonous, wearisome; but unity is refreshing and beautiful. The only unity worth contending for is “the unity of the Spirit.” We have seen an orchestra with five thousand musicians and singers playing and singing magnificent choruses with the most inviolate and enrapturing harmony. There was a great diversity of instruments, and of performers upon them, and of voices, yet there was a sublime and splendid unity. Unity of spirit and aim it is that is insisted upon in the Scriptures. (See Ephesians 4:1-16.) The Psalmist sets before us— I. The propriety of this unity. “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.” Those who form part of one family, should surely live together in peace and harmony. All mankind are children of one father, and are “made of one blood,” and should therefore live in peace and harmony. The words of Abram to Lot are applicable between man and man all the world over: “Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee; for we be brethren.” “He that soweth discord among brethren” is “an abomination unto the Lord.” This unity is specially binding upon and appropriate amongst Christian brethren. Barnes: “They are redeemed by the same Saviour; they serve the same Master; they cherish the same hope; they are looking forward to the same heaven; they are subject to the same trials, temptations, and sorrows; they have the same precious consolations. There is, therefore, the beauty, the ‘goodness,’ the ‘pleasantness’ of obvious fitness and propriety in their dwelling together in unity.” II. The comprehensiveness of this unity. Perowne holds that it is this which the poet intends to set forth by the figures of the anointing oil and the dew. He says, “The first figure is taken from the oil which was poured on the head of the high priest at his consecration (Exodus 29:7; Leviticus 8:12; Leviticus 21:10). The point of the comparison does not lie in the preciousness of the oil, or in its all-pervading fragrance; but in this, that being poured on the head, it did not rest there, but flowed to the beard, and descended even to the garments, and thus, as it were, consecrated the whole body in all its parts. All the members participate in the same blessing. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 12) This is the point of the comparison.… If, as is commonly assumed, the point of comparison lay in the all-pervading fragrance of the oil, the addition to the figure, which descended upon the beard … which descended to the edge of his garments, would be thrown away. But understand this as typifying the consecration of the whole man, and the extension of the figure at once becomes appropriate, and full of meaning.” Luther remarks:—“In that he saith ‘from the head,’ he showeth the nature of true concord. For like as the ointment ran down from the head of Aaron, the high priest, upon his beard, and so descended unto the borders of his garment, even so true concord in doctrine and brotherly love floweth as a precious ointment, by the unity of the Spirit, from Christ, the High Priest and Head of the Church, unto all the members of the same. For by the beard and extreme parts of the garment, he signifieth that as far as the Church reacheth, so far spreadeth the unity which floweth from Christ, her Head.” Perowne holds that in the figure of the dew, the same idea is conspicuous. “Here, again, it is not the refreshing nature of the dew, nor its gentle, all-pervading influence, which is the prominent feature. That which renders it to the poet’s eye so striking an image of brotherly concord, is the fact that it falls alike on both mountains: that the same dew which descends on the lofty Hermon descends also on the humbler Zion. High and low drink in the same sweet refreshment. Thus the image is exactly parallel to the last; the oil descends from the head to the beard, the dew from the higher mountain to the lower.” III. The joyousness of this unity. Anointing with oil was practised by the Jews on occasions of rejoicing and festivity. From this custom it became an emblem of prosperity and gladness. (Comp. Psalms 23:5, and Isaiah 61:3.) As Perowne thinks that the comprehensiveness of the unity is the chief feature in the comparison, so Barnes regards the joyousness of the unity. He says, “There is no other resemblance between the idea of anointing with oil and that of harmony among brethren than this which is derived from the gladness—the joyousness—connected with such an anointing. The Psalmist wished to give the highest idea of the pleasantness of such harmony; and he, therefore, compared it with that which was most beautiful to a pious mind—the idea of a solemn consecration to the highest office of religion.” Discord and strife are painful things; peace and concord are delightful. IV. The influence of this unity. This is represented as— 1. Delightful. The anointing oil was beautifully perfumed, and, when it was poured forth, it diffused its fragrant odours to the great delight of all who were near. Unity is not only good and pleasant in itself, but it agreeably affects all who behold it. When the world beholds a truly united Church, it will speedily be won to Christ. (John 17:21.) 2. Gentle. “As the dew.” Quiet, yet most mighty, is the influence of unity. We may apply to it the words of Tennyson— “Right to the heart and brain, though undescried,Winning its way with extreme gentlenessThrough all the outworks of suspicious pride.”3. Refreshing. “As the dew.” In eastern climes, because of its refreshing effects upon vegetation, the dew is inestimably precious. So unity cheers and invigorates the heart. 4. Powerful. “Union is strength.” “A threefold cord is not quickly broken.” “Separate the atoms which make the hammer, and each would fall on the stone as a snowflake; but welded into one, and wielded by the firm arm of the quarryman, it will break the massive rocks asunder. Divide the waters of Niagara into distinct and individual drops, and they would be no more than the falling rain; but, in their united body, they would quench the fires of Vesuvius, and have some to spare for the volcanoes of other mountains.”—Dr. Guthrie. 5. Securing the Divine blessing. Where true brotherly unity is, “the Lord commands the blessing, life for evermore.” A life of peace and love is Divine and everlasting. .—“Behold, how good and pleasant it is,” &c. 1. Behold, and admire. 2. Behold, and imitate. UNION(Psalms 133:1) Christian union is my theme on this occasion. Christian union—not simply the union which should prevail among the members of any particular denomination of Christians, but the love and unity which ought to exist among all the real people of God. I. Its nature. 1. Unity in sentiment. 2. Union of feeling. 3. Union of effort. II. The desirableness, or importance, of Christian union. 1. The teachings of Scripture. 2. The example of the early Christians. 3. The evils of division. 4. Christians are engaged in the same cause. 5. Union is strength. 6. Union is promotive of happiness. 7. It is only by the exercise of that love, which is the substratum of union, that one can resemble God and become imbued with the spirit of heaven.—W. C. Whitcomb, in “The Preachers’ Treasury.” “Three things,” says Delitzsch, “are clear with regard to this Psalm. First, that it consists of a greeting, Psalms 134:1-2, and a reply, Psalms 134:3. Next, that the greeting is addressed to those priests and Levites who had the night-watch in the Temple. Lastly, that this Psalm is purposely placed at the end of the collection of Pilgrim Songs in order to take the place of a final blessing.” The words of Psa 134:1-2 were probably addressed by the people to the priests and Levites, and those of Psa 134:3 by the priests to the people. Both the author of the Psalm and the occasion of its composition are unknown. AND . Doxology. In Psalms 134:1-2 the people exhort the priests and Levites to praise the Lord. Consider— 1. The offering to be presented. “Behold, bless ye the Lord.” The ministers of the Temple are called to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord. Here are two points. (1.) The nature of this offering. Praise. “Bless ye the Lord.” This should be presented (a) because of what He does for us. Gratitude urges—“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” And (b) because of what He is in Himself. He is “glorious in holiness.” Admiration and reverence urge us to “Bless His holy Name.” (2.) The importance of this offering. “Behold.” This word calls attention to the exhortation which follows as a thing of importance and urgency. Worship is an engagement of the utmost moment to man. The obligations to it are most binding. And the exercise of it is essential to the right development and to the perfection of the human spirit. 2. The persons by whom it is to be offered. “All ye servants of the Lord, which by night stand in the house of the Lord.” The priests and Levites are here addressed. But in this Christian dispensation priesthood is a thing of character, not of class. Every believing and reverent soul is a priest unto God by virtue of the highest and holiest consecration. Every Christian is exhorted to “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips giving thanks to His Name.” 3. The time at which it is to be offered. “By night.” Some of the ministers of the Temple were in attendance there all night. (Compare Exodus 27:20-21; 1 Chronicles 9:33.) They were there to guard the sacred and precious things of the Temple, and to keep the lamps alight and the fire upon the altar burning. Hengstenberg thinks that when the Pilgrim bands arrived at the Temple in the evening they addressed this exhortation to the servants of the Lord. The rest and quiet of the night render it a suitable season for praising God. When the duties of the day are done, and its busy and confused noises are silenced, the soul may be lifted up in adoration to God without interruption. 4. The place towards which it is to be offered. “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary.” Margin: “in holiness.” Hengstenberg and Perowne regard ÷ֹ ?øֶ ?ùׁ as “the accusative of direction,” and translate, “to the sanctuary.” The most holy place was regarded as the audience-chamber of the Most High, the place where God hears prayer, and whence He communicates answers to His people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the true Shekinah and Holy of Holies. We draw near unto God through Him. He is the meeting-place between God and man. Thus, then, let us offer to God the sacrifice of praise from grateful and adoring hearts. II. Benediction. “The Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.” This benediction is taken in part from the form used by the high priest in blessing the children of Israel. This accounts for the use of the singular, “thee,” not the plural, you. Notice— 1. The power of God to bless. “The Lord that made heaven and earth” is omnipotent. He “is able to do exceeding abundantly,” &c. 2. The means by which God blesses man. “Bless thee out of Zion.” God blesses the world through the Church. He employs the Church in communicating spiritual blessings to mankind. 3. The authority of the servants of God to pronounce His blessing. The poet represents the priests as authoritatively pronouncing the blessing of God upon the people. And the ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ still possess this authority, not because they are priests, but because they are Christians. Every Christian has the right to pronounce the benediction of God upon devout worshippers; and the minister of Christ has this right not only as being himself a Christian, but as the representative of the Church. .—Here are two of the highest privileges to which any created spirit can aspire. Through Christ we may draw near to the great God with ascriptions of honour and praise, being confident of audience, acceptance, and blessing. And by our voice the Divine blessing may be conveyed to the ear and heart of our fellow-men. Let us endeavour to live in the grateful and reverent exercise of these privileges. “We have now,” says Hengstenberg, “a group of twelve Psalms, sung after the prosperous completion of the Temple, and probably at its dedication, consisting of three new Psalms at the beginning, and one at the end, Psalms 146, which enclose in the middle eight Psalms of David.… No period was more suitable for the appropriation of this Davidic cycle of Psalms than that in which the Davidic stem was, poorly enough, represented by Zerubbabel, whose humbled condition also gave occasion to the prophets of that period, Haggai and Zechariah, to lay a firmer and deeper hold on the rich promises given to the race of David.”This is one of the Hallelujah Psalms; it was intended for use in the Temple service; it is general in its character, and consists of exhortations to praise Jehovah, with reasons for so doing. This Psalm has much in common with the preceding one. Both are exhortations to worship; both are addressed to the priests and Levites engaged in ministering in the Temple. But this Psalm differs from the preceding in that in it the exhortation to praise the Lord is enforced by several reasons. There is no superscription to the Psalm; and we know neither its author nor the date of its composition. TO PRAISE THE LORD(Psalms 135:1-7) In this strophe we have a fervent exhortation to celebrate the praise of God, supported by weighty motives to do so. Consider— I. The persons to whom this exhortation is addressed. “Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Name of the Lord,” &c. (Psalms 135:1-2). (See the Hom. Com. on Psalms 134:1.) The exhortation is addressed “to the Levites who sang psalms and played on the different musical instruments which were used in the service of God, and to the priests who blew with the trumpets and repeated the liturgical prayers and the blessings.” In this age we have no priestly class, for all Christians are priests, and the exhortation of the text is applicable to all Christians. Two characteristics of those to whom it is addressed are here specified— 1. They have access to God. They “stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.” Every believer in Jesus Christ may “enter into the holiest by His blood.” “Through Him we have access unto the Father.” 2. They serve God. “Servants of the Lord, that stand in the house of the Lord.” They stand ministering in His Temple. They wait His behests, and then hasten to obey them. The Christian looks to Christ not only as a Saviour to be trusted, but as a Sovereign to be obeyed. They who are thus admitted into the presence and service of God are under special obligations to praise Him. II. The reasons by which this exhortation is enforced. 1. Because of the holiness of God. “Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good.” In Himself God is absolutely perfect. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” In Him the conscience finds the Supremely Righteous; the intellect, the Supremely Intelligent; the heart, the Supremely Kind; the soul, the Supremely Beautiful. Therefore it is fitting that He should be praised, and that with all our powers. 2. Because of the delight which the exercise yields. “Sing praises unto His Name; for it is pleasant.” Sincere praise to God exalts and exhilarates the spirit of him who presents it, strengthens his faith, increases his strength, and transforms him into the image of God. The reverent and hearty praise of the Divine Being is the heaven of the godly soul. 3. Because of His special relation to Israel. (1.) In a special sense they were His people. “For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, Israel for His peculiar treasure.” As His people they enjoyed special privileges. He guided them, sustained them, gave to them a goodly inheritance; many a time He delivered them, &c. As His people they had special obligations. They were called to be witnesses to the great truths of His unity, spirituality, and holiness, to the heathen nations. By their civil and religious institutions, and by their life and conduct, they were to testify for the Lord God amongst men. (2.) In His esteem they were specially precious. “His peculiar treasure.” “The Lord taketh pleasure in His people.” “If ye will obey My voice, indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” “God is good to all;” but to His people He manifests His special regard. He— “Keeps with most distinguished careThe man who on His love depends.”(3.) He had chosen them for this position. They did not attain it by their own effort, or merit it by their own excellence; but were selected to it by Him in His sovereign favour. This special and privileged relation to Him supplies most cogent reasons for praising Him. And the argument applies with still greater force to the people of God to-day. 4. Because of His sovereignty in nature. “For I know that the Lord is great, and that our Lord is above all gods,” &c. (Psalms 135:5-7). The poet represents this sovereignty as (1.) Absolute. “Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did He.” “He does what He pleases, because He pleases, and gives not account of any of His matters.” (2.) Omnipotent. Whatsoever in His sovereignty He willed, that by His power He effected. (3.) Universal. “In heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” By these expressions the Psalmist intends to set forth the entire universe. “He everywhere hath sway,And all things serve His might.”The poet represents the Lord as absolutely supreme over all the forces and phenomena of nature. And this representation we regard as (á) Philosophic; (â) Scriptural; (ã) Assuring. (See the Hom. Com. on Psalms 107:23-32.) As the universal Sovereign, He has a right to universal praise. .—Let us offer to God the sacrifice of praise continually. Let us praise Him not only with the lip, but with the life; not only in church, but everywhere; not only on the Lord’s day, but every day. Let us seek for a heart of constant praise— “Not thankful, when it pleaseth me;As if Thy blessings had spare days:But such a heart whose pulse may beThy praise.”—Herbert.THE OF GOD AN TO PRAISE HIM(Psalms 135:8-14) In this strophe the poet presents illustrations of the greatness and supremacy of the Lord to invite the people to praise Him. He illustrates His greatness by— I. His judgments upon the heathen. “Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast,” &c. (Psalms 135:8-11). 1. His judgments fall upon all classes of men, and even upon the brute creation. “Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. Who sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants.” Servants suffer for their masters’ sins. The consequences of a king’s obstinate tyranny over man, and rebellion against God will fall heavily upon his subjects. And even the brute creation feel the smart of the penalty of human transgressions. When the Divine judgments fall upon the land, all classes, from the sovereign to the serf, feel the weight of the stroke. 2. His judgments reach the mightiest powers. “Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings,” &c. “Sihon king of the Amorites,” was a man of great courage and audacity, and a distinguished military leader. “And Og king of Bashan,” was a man of gigantic size and stature, the ruler over sixty proud fenced cities, inhabited by a brave and powerful people. Yet, these great and warlike kings, with their valiant armies, were smitten and slain when the Most High arose against them. His frown strikes with dismay the heart of the most courageous, and the strong arm falls nerveless, and great and powerful nations are brought to nought. 3. His judgments are lessons. They are “tokens and wonders.” “Wonders”—things calculated to beget surprise and amazement. “Tokens,” or “signs”—things calculated to excite inquiry, and to teach inquirers important truths. The plagues of Egypt were significant of important truths concerning the Divine Being and His government. To the “earnest listener” they announced the almighty power of God, His hatred of tyranny and oppression, His regard for the oppressed, &c. These miracles of judgments were parables of the Divine character and procedure towards men. In this great power which is arrayed against tyranny and oppression we have a motive for celebrating the praise of the Lord. II. His regard for His people. 1. He makes His judgments upon the heathen an advantage to His people. He “gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel His people.” (See Psalms 111:6.) In His government of the world the Lord has special regard to the interests of His loyal subjects. He makes “all things work together for their good.” 2. He defends the cause of His people. “For the Lord will judge His people.” (See Deuteronomy 32:36.) He will see that they have that which is right, and in due time will rid them of their oppressors, and avenge them of their adversaries. 3. He pities them in their distresses. “He will repent Himself concerning His servants.” (See the Hom. Com. on Psalms 90:13.) He will not suffer them to be oppressed beyond their power of endurance, but in His mercy He will visit them in their afflictions and “compass them about with songs of deliverance.” Here then is a stirring incentive to praise the Lord; an incentive that should move the dullest heart to joyous and reverent strains. III. His eternity and unchangeableness. “Thy Name, O Lord, endureth for ever; Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.” God’s eternity involves His immutability. It is the omnipotent and unchangeable eternity. All earthly things are transient and mutable; but God abides for ever, and He is for ever the same. In this we have— 1. An encouragement to faith. He is still the same as when He wrought mighty wonders and signs on behalf of Israel. Age does not diminish His interest in His people, or His faithfulness to them, or His power to aid them. Therefore they may sing, “Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid.” 2. An argument for praise. The constancy of God’s love for His people and of His great and glorious doings for them, should constrain them to offer to Him the lowliest adoration and the heartiest praise. Here, then, in these illustrations of the greatness of God, we have what ought to prove to all who are loyal to Him, irresistible incentives to exalt and magnify His holy Name. THE VANITY OF IDOLS AN TO PRAISE THE LORD GOD(Psalms 135:15-21) “To show more fully the propriety of praising God, and Him alone as God, the Psalmist institutes a comparison between Him and idols, showing that the gods worshipped by the heathen lacked every ground of claim to divine worship and homage. They were, after all that could be done to fashion, to decorate, and to adorn them, nothing but silver and gold, and could have no better claim to worship than silver and gold as such.”—Barnes. Psalms 135:15-20 correspond almost exactly to Psalms 115:4-11. And as that passage has already engaged attention in this work, it will be sufficient in this place to indicate briefly a homiletical method of treatment. Here are four main points for consideration— I. The innate religiousness of human nature. The manufacture of idols indicates the religious tendency of human nature. Man must have a god of some kind; he must worship. Without an object of worship there are instinctive desires and cravings of the human soul which find no satisfaction. 1. Man wants an object of trust. Man is conscious of insufficiency for the deep meanings and momentous issues of life, and looks for help from beyond and above himself. If he find nothing higher, he will trust even in a dead idol (Psalms 135:18). 2. Man wants an object of worship. He has instincts which urge him to pay homage and reverence to a being or beings higher than himself. Worship is not imposed upon human nature, but the development of some of the deepest instincts of that nature. If it be objected that peoples have been discovered amongst whom there was no sign of the religious element, the reply is obvious, that such extreme exceptions prove the rule. II. The sad perversion of the religious element in human nature (Psalms 135:15-18). That which should find its exercise and satisfaction and blessedness in the holy and ever-blessed God is here exhibited as turning to dead idols—vain simulacra—in trust and reverence. 1. This perversion indicates amazing stupidity. How irrational! how absurd to suppose that a wooden, silver, or golden thing can be worthy of homage or of trust! 2. This perversion indicates moral derangement. If the conscience and the affections were in their normal condition, idolatry would be impossible. Idolatry is sin as well as folly. 3. This perversion is deplorably degrading in its effects. “They that make them are like unto them, so is every one that trusteth in them.” “They who, turning away from God’s witness of Himself in the visible creation, worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, received in themselves the sentence of their own degradation. ‘Their foolish heart became darkened.’ They became blind, and deaf, and dumb, and dead, like the idols they set up to worship.”—Perowne. Worship is transforming. Man becomes like his god. These remarks are applicable to the idolatries of our own land,—the worship of wealth, social status, &c. III. The grand Object of worship for man as a religious being. “Bless the Lord,” &c. (Psalms 135:19-20). Here is an Object— 1. Suited to the needs of man. We have pointed out that man wants in his god an object of trust and of worship. The Lord is supremely trustworthy. He is unchangeable and infinite in power, kindness, and faithfulness. He is supremely excellent. He is “glorious in holiness.” “God is light.” 2. Suited to the needs of man as man and of all men. The “house of Israel,” the “house of Aaron,” the “house of Levi,” and all “that fear the Lord,” are here called upon to praise Him. The Lord is the God not of any one class or race, but “the God of the spirits of all flesh.” Here is the grand object of worship for all men. All others are false and vain. Let all men worship the Lord God, and in so doing they will find the satisfaction, perfection, and blessedness of being. IV. The chief place of worship for man as a religious being. “Blessed be the Lord out of Zion, who dwelleth at Jerusalem. Hallelujah.” “As in Psalms 128:5; Psalms 134:3, Jehovah blesses out of Zion, so here, on the other hand, His people bless Him out of Zion. For there they meet to worship Him; there not only He, but they may be said to dwell (Isaiah 10:24); and thence accordingly His praise is sounded abroad.”—Perowne. The church, though not the exclusive, is the chief place of worship. There devout souls meet; there He has promised to meet with them, &c. To the Lord God, and to Him alone, let the hearty and reverent praise of all men be given. “Praise ye the Lord.” “This Psalm,” says Perowne, “is little more than a variation and repetition of the preceding Psalm. It opens with the same liturgical formula with which the 106th and 118th Psalms open, and was evidently designed to be sung antiphonally in the Temple worship. Its structure is peculiar. The first line of each verse pursues the theme of the Psalm, the second line, ‘For His loving-kindness endureth for ever,’ being a kind of refrain or response, like the responses, for instance, in our Litany, breaking in upon and yet sustaining the theme of the Psalm: the first would be sung by some of the Levites, the second by the choir as a body, or by the whole congregation together with the Levites. We have an example of a similar antiphonal arrangement in the first four verses of the 118th Psalm; but there is no other instance in which it is pursued throughout the Psalm. The nearest approach to the same repetition is in the ‘Amen’ of the people to the curses of the Law as pronounced by the Levites (Deuteronomy 22:14).”The Subjects Mentioned as the ground of the praise of the eternal mercy of God have so frequently engaged our attention in previous Psalms as to require but little additional illustration.MERCY IN GOD AND IN (Psalms 136:1-9) I. Mercy in the Divine Being and Character (Psalms 136:1-3). We have here— 1. A revelation of God in the names applied to Him. (1.) “O give thanks unto Jehovah.” Jehovah = ὁὤ ?í = the Self-Existing, the Continuing, the Permanent, the Everlasting. (2.) “O give thanks unto the God of gods,”—the Most High God, the Supremely Powerful, who is far above all that is called God or worshipped as God. (3.) “O give thanks to the Lord of lords,”—the Ruler of rulers, whose authority is supreme over all governors, princes, and kings. Such, then, are the ideas of God embodied in the names which are applied to Him by the poet—the Self-Existing, the Supremely Powerful, and the Supremely Authoritative. (2.) A revelation of God in His character. “O give thanks unto Jehovah; for He is good.” (See Hom. Com. on Psalms 106:1; Psalms 135:3.) He is good both in Himself and in His dealings with His people. 3. A revelation of God in His relation to men. “His mercy endureth for ever.” Mercy is a modification of goodness. It is goodness in its relation to the sinful, the ill-deserving, and the miserable. To men “God is rich in mercy.” He delights in showing mercy to them. Connect the mercy of God with those aspects of His Being which are brought into view in the names applied to Him. “Jehovah,” the Self-Existing, is essentially merciful. His mercy is eternal as His Being. “The God of gods,” the Supreme Deity, the Omnipotent, is merciful. We cannot reverence mere power. Might is sometimes terrible. But the Most High is as tender as He is strong. He is infinite in mercy as in power. “The Lord of lords,” the Supreme Ruler over all kings and magistrates, is a merciful Being. His compassion is as wide and deep and lasting as His authority. For these reasons let us praise Him. II. Mercy in the Divine work in Creation (Psalms 136:4-9). To the Psalmist the universe was neither eternal, nor self-originated, but a creation of God. 1. Creation is a work of wonder to man. “To Him who alone doeth great wonders.” The contrivances and constructions of the universe are wonderful in their skill and in their strength. The more thoroughly man becomes acquainted with the heavens and the earth, the more astonishing are the evidences which he discovers of infinite intelligence in designing and almighty power in creating them. 2. Creation is an embodiment of the wisdom of God. “To Him that by wisdom made the heavens.” The scientific student discovers design and the most benevolent and beautiful adaptations in every department of nature. Only a being of infinite intelligence could have designed the universe with its indescribable wonders, beauties, and utilities. 3. Creation is an expression of the mercy of God. It exhibits the benevolence as well as the wisdom of the Creator. In the devout student it excites not only wonder and admiration, but gratitude and praise. His mercy is manifest in the heavens. In their order and harmony and beauty, and in their benign influences, we discover indications of His mercy. It is manifest also in the earth. In making the earth fit for human habitation, and a pleasant habitation; in making it so fruitful, so safe, and so varied and beautiful in appearance, we see His kindness. It is manifest in the sun and the day. The sun is the source of light, warmth, life, and beauty. The reign of darkness would soon lead to the reign of death. By its light and warmth the sun sustains life and promotes joy. In a great measure the beauties of the universe are produced by his influence, and without his light no gleam of beauty would be discernible. So we see in the sun and the day the kindness of the Creator. His mercy is manifest in the night and the moon and stars. Night with its darkness and silence so eminently adapted for sleep and rest, with its enchanting and refining beauties of moon and stars in the heavens, and their reflection on the rippling surface of rivers and the restless waves of the sea,—for these we have felt deep thankfulness times innumerable. But the Psalmist represents the sun as ordained “to rule by day,” and “the moon and stars to rule by night.” (a.) They rule by determining the duration of day and night. (See Hom. Com. on Psalms 104:19-23.) (b.) Their rule is an illustration of the principle taught by our Lord that he who is chief in service shall be chief in sovereignty,—the true ruler most diligently and heartily serves those whom he governs. (Luke 22:25-27.) The mercy of God which is manifested in creation is eternal. “His mercy endureth for ever;” literally: “For unto eternity His mercy.” When the heavens and the earth shall have passed away, the mercy which was manifested in them shall continue. We shall need mercy throughout this life, in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment; and mercy will still endure and meet our need. The generations that shall tread this globe in the future will need mercy as much as we do, and for them also mercy shall remain as free and plenteous as ever. “Unto eternity is His mercy.” Let us— “Make life, death, and that vast for-ever,One grand sweet song”of praise to Him whose mercy, like Himself, is eternal. MERCY IN THE OF (Psalms 136:10-22) There is no difficulty in discovering the kindness of the dealings of God with Israel. But where is mercy manifest in His treatment of the people of Egypt, of Pharaoh, Sihon, and Og? This we will endeavour to show. There was— I. Mercy in the judgments upon Egypt. “O give thanks to him that smote Egypt in their firstborn; for His mercy endureth for ever.” The Egyptian oppression of the Israelites was unjust, wicked, cruel; they had reduced them to slavery; they treated them with brutality; they refused to liberate them, although the command to do so was authenticated by extraordinary wonders and signs; judgments of less severity had produced only a transient and brief effect upon them; and so the Lord brought upon them the severe stroke of the death of the firstborn, both of man and beast, and of small and great. It is not only right but merciful to compel the strong to respect the rights of the weak, if they will not do so without compulsion. It is merciful to insist upon the doing of justice amongst men. II. Mercy in the destruction of tyrannical kings. “O give thanks to Him who overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for His mercy endureth for ever. To Him who smote great kings,” &c. (Psalms 136:15; Psalms 136:17-20). (See Hom. Com. on Psalms 135:8-11.) We hold that it is in mercy that tyrannical and oppressive rulers are swept from the earth. 1. It is a mercy to themselves. (1.) Supposing there be no retributory state in the future, then it is a mercy to terminate their existence; for their life must be tormented by the passions which they cherish in their breasts. Ambition, lust of power, cruelty, impoison their life at its very springs. (2.) Supposing there be a retributory state in the future (and the evidence for the existence of such a state is to us irresistible), then it is a mercy to terminate the earthly existence of the incorrigibly evil; for while it continues, they are increasing their guilt, and “treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” For them prolongation of life in the present will involve corresponding increase of misery in the future, therefore it is merciful to them to cut short their wicked career. 2. It is a mercy to mankind. The existence of cruel and tyrannical oppressors afflicts humanity like some terrible nightmare. When they are removed the race breathes freely once again. Such ambitious tyrants, if unchecked, would convert the fair world into a slaughterhouse reeking with human gore. The peace and progress of mankind unite in demanding the removal of ambitious tyrants and cruel oppressors from the face of the earth. To destroy such men is a mercy to the entire human race. Therefore let us “give thanks to Him who smote great kings; for His mercy endureth for ever.” III. Mercy in the history of Israel. It was manifest— 1. In their emancipation from Egypt and its bondage. This was not accomplished by a single act or effort. It involved a series of Divine interpositions. The poet here mentions:— (1.) Their deliverance from slavery and from the land of Egypt (Psalms 136:10-12). It was in mercy to them and to mankind that the Israelites were rescued from the crushing burdens which their oppressors imposed upon them. The greatness of the mercy may be approximately estimated by the severity of the sufferings from which it rescued them, and by the persistency and power exerted in doing so. Blessings have flowed to the entire human race through the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. (2.) Their deliverance from peril at the Red Sea (Exodus 14). Point out their extremely perilous position. Can they be rescued from it? And how? Jehovah answers (á.) By dividing the waters of the sea. “To Him that divided the Red Sea into parts.” (â.) By nerving them to pass through the watery walls. “And made Israel to pass through the midst of it.” He manifested His power over the waters in dividing them, and over the hearts of the dismayed people by giving them courage to travel through a passage so unprecedented, and apparently so perilous. (ã.) By the destruction of their enemies by the same sea. “And overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea.” Thus the Lord completely and gloriously delivered them from the hands of their enemies, and conspicuously displayed His mercy to them. 2. In leading them through and supporting them in the wilderness. “To Him which led His people through the wilderness; for His mercy endureth for ever.” For the space of forty years He protected them from their enemies, provided for their necessities, and guided them in their wanderings by supernatural agencies; and He did this notwithstanding their oft-repeated unbelief and rebellion against Him. In His dealings with them in the wilderness, we have a most impressive display of His mercy to them. 3. In giving to them the land of Canaan for an inheritance. He “slew famous kings; and gave their land for an heritage unto Israel, His servant; for His mercy endureth for ever.” (See the Hom. Com. on Psalms 135:12.) The land had been defiled by the wars, the crimes, and the idolatries of the ancient Canaanites, so God overthrew and disinherited them, and gave their land for an heritage to the people of His choice. God manifests His mercy to His people by a special regard to their interests in His providential government of the world. .—Inasmuch as the mercy of the Lord is perpetual— 1. Let oppressors take warning. The constancy of His mercy towards His people is a pledge of the constant course of His justice against their enemies. 2. Let the oppressed and afflicted take encouragement. His mercy is far greater than their misery; it is infinite, and it “endureth for ever.” MERCY IN HUMAN AND (Psalms 136:23-26) The poet refers in the 23rd and 24th verses to the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity. But this section of the Psalm may appropriately be applied to the spiritual redemption and sustentation of man. Consider— I. The mercy of God in redemption (Psalms 136:23-24). 1. The need of redemption. This arose from (1.) Man’s depressed condition. “Our low estate.” From his high estate man fell by sin; the crown and glory of his being are gone; the completeness of his moral power is broken; he is a degraded, ruined being. (2.) Man’s oppressed condition. He is troubled from without as well as from within. He is begirt by “enemies.” The Chaldeans had taken the Jews into captivity and oppressed them. Man is enslaved by sin, led captive by the devil; his spiritual enemies are many and subtle and strong; and he is unable to cope successfully with them. He needs an emancipator, a redeemer. 2. The stages of redemption. The poet mentions two steps in the process of the redemption of man. (1.) The exercise of Divine thoughtfulness. He “remembered us in our low estate.” It is unspeakably assuring and encouraging to know that the Lord thinketh upon us in our helplessness and need. He is interested in us. He careth for us. We never pass beyond His kindly notice and care. (2.) The exertion of Divine power. “He hath redeemed us from our enemies.” He set free the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. He has redeemed sinful and lost men by the power of His love, manifested in the teaching and work, the life and death, of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Ye were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.” “We have redemption through His blood,” &c. 3. The source of redemption. “For His mercy endureth for ever.” In the heart of God our redemption took its rise. The streams of mercy by which we are refreshed, strengthened, and saved, flow from the throne of God. Our redemption must be traced to the loving-kindness of the Lord God. “O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever.” II. The mercy of God in provision. “He giveth food to all flesh; for His mercy endureth for ever.” “At length,” says Calvin, “He extends the fatherly providence of God indiscriminately, not only to the whole human race, but to all animals, so that it might not appear wonderful He should be so kind and provident a Father towards His own elect, since He does not reckon it a burden to provide for oxen and asses, ravens and sparrows.” (Comp. Psalms 104:27-28.) Two inquiries may fairly be proposed here— 1. If He giveth food to the beasts, will He be unmindful of the needs of man who is made in His own image? “How much then is a man better than a sheep?” “Ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Psalms 34:9-10.) 2. If He provides food for man’s bodily necessities, will He not much more provide for His spiritual needs? He who has redeemed us from sin has also promised us strength to empower us for life’s duties, and grace to sustain us in life’s trials. “The Lord will give grace and glory; no good will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.” The mercy to which we owe so many and great blessings, both in the past and in the present, will never fail us. Through all eternity it will continue to enrich us with purest and most precious treasures. “O give thanks unto the God of heaven; for His mercy endureth for ever.” HUMAN AND DIVINE (Psalms 136:23-24) Any one would remember us in a high estate; but Jesus remembers us in a low one. I. To take a view of the wretched condition of mankind, in consequence of their apostacy from God. Language does not afford a more emphatic description of complete wretchedness than to say of a man that he is lost—a captive—a subject of corruption—dead!1. Man has gone astray from the path of life and happiness. Apart from Revelation, human nature itself bears witness to itself by evident marks of degeneracy and corruption. The passions which enslave our minds; the diseases that afflict our bodies; the disorders in the natural and moral world around us; the various wretchedness of man; and the universal law of mortality, all proclaim that some unhappy change has passed on our nature since its original formation. Various conjectures have been formed to account for this state of things. But the Bible alone solves the appearances so difficult to be reconciled by unassisted reason. Here we are taught that man, by transgression, has debased himself below the rank originally assigned him in the creation of God; and that the consequences of the sin of our first parents attach to all their offspring, in the evils which arise from a sinful, sorrowful, and mortal condition. Our steps are now voluntarily turned far away from the only path of happiness. (See Job 21:14; Jeremiah 2:13; Romans 3:11-12.). For this is the habitual state of mind, not of the more grossly profligate and abandoned only, but of mankind generally, however improved by culture and enlightened by education—the active principle of rebellion against God, which Grace alone can subdue. 2. Man has not only left the path of life, but stands exposed to the fatal effects of Divine displeasure, by actual transgression. The sentence of the broken law holds in full force (Galatians 3:10; Colossians 3:6). And who knoweth the power of God’s anger? Who can imagine the judgments which God has in store against the enemies of truth and righteousness? (Job 34:29; Job 38:22-23; Psalms 39:11). If such be the effect of His fatherly chastisement under a dispensation of mercy, how dreadful must His fiery indignation be when Guilt has run its full course, and Justice is compelled to take its unrestricted sway! (Hebrews 10:31.). There is not a part of these fleshly tabernacles which He cannot visit with exquisite anguish; and if but a spark of His wrath fall upon the soul, how dreadful is the ruin! Witness Cain, Judas, Simon Magus, Ananias, and Sapphira. 3. That we are unequal to our own deliverance. II. To admire the method of Divine compassion to man in his rescue from this state of guilt and misery. 1. By the incarnation and death of the Son of God. Throwing a veil over the dazzling glories of Divinity, He came among us in great humility, bearing the attractive character of a kinsman and a friend. He is a Physician to heal, a Shepherd to seek, and a Saviour to restore. (Luke 19:10.) To see the nature and importance of His work, look back to the Old Testament. See what a space our redemption has occupied in the Divine counsels; see how all events in Providence were made to prepare for it; see what lofty representations are given of it by the ancient prophets; see how all the types and institutions of the law prefigured His approach, and how all these ancient prefigurations are accomplished in His death. You become convinced of His high qualifications for this important work, when you observe the perfection of His mediatorial nature, blending the attributes of earth and heaven—all the tenderness of suffering humanity with all the glory of the unapproached Divinity. In magnitude the work of redemption has no rival; and none but the Lord of life and glory was equal to such a work. We know that Infinite Wisdom would not make choice of a weak and ineffectual instrument, or appoint to so important an office one unqualified to perform it. All objections vanish and all fears are banished when we read of Him as “Emmanuel, God with us.” (Matthew 1:23; John 1:14; 1 Timothy 3:16). You may see the ability of Christ to save in the high attestations He received. Thrice did the Voice from heaven proclaim, “This is My beloved Son,” &c. On the Cross, when He offered Himself a sacrifice holy and acceptable, all nature was convulsed, and the veil of the Temple was rent in twain. At His resurrection the stone was rolled away from the door of the sepulchre, and He was declared to be the Son of God with power. By His ascension He rose victorious to heaven, that he might fill all things. And He is now exalted at the right hand of power as a Prince and a Saviour. (Hebrews 7:25). Meditate much, therefore, upon His equal ability and willingness to save. As the merit of His atonement exceeds by infinite degrees the guilt of your sin, so does the power of His grace surpass the strength of your corruption. 2. By the work and agency of His Blessed Spirit. He who made your hearts can surely renew them; and He who glorified Christ in the days of the Apostles can glorify Him still in your experience, by applying the testimony of the Word, and raising you from the death of sin to the life of holiness. Commit yourself to Christ, therefore, as the great Physician. He will purify your souls by His Spirit, &c. 3. By the combined influence of His Providence and Grace. Christ is engaged to bring many sons to glory; and He overrules all the scenes of their earthly lot and mortal history, to guide their footsteps through time and discipline their hearts for the purity and bliss of heaven. (Isaiah 26:7; Psalms 16:11.)—Samuel Thodey. “There can be no doubt whatever,” says Perowne, “as to the time when this Psalm was written. It expresses the feeling of an exile who has but just returned from the land of his captivity. In all probability the writer was a Levite, who had been carried away by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar when Jerusalem was sacked and the Temple destroyed, and who was one of the first, as soon as the edict of Cyrus was published, to return to Jerusalem. He is again in his own land. He sees again the old familiar scenes, the mountains and the valleys that his foot trod in youth are before him. The great landmarks are the same, and yet the change is terrible. The spoiler has been in his home, his vines and his fig-trees have been cut down, the house of his God is a heap of ruins. His heart is heavy with a sense of desolation, and bitter with the memory of wrong and insult from which he has but lately escaped.“He takes his harp, the companion of his exile, the cherished relic of happier days,—the harp which he could not string at the bidding of his conquerors by the waters of Babylon; and now with faltering hand he sweeps the strings, first in low, plaintive, melancholy cadence pouring out his griefs, and then with a loud crash of wild and stormy music, answering to the wild and stormy numbers of his verse, he raises the pæan of vengeance over his foes.“What a wonderful mixture is the Psalm of soft melancholy and fiery patriotism! The hand which wrote it must have known how to smite sharply with the sword, as well as how to tune his harp. The words are burning words of a heart breathing undying love to his country, undying hate to his foe. The poet is indeed—“ ‘Dower’d with the hate of hate, the scorn of scorn,The love of love.’ ”, YET , (Psalms 137:1-6) The poet here expresses the deep sorrow of Israel during their exile from the land of their fathers, and their solemn vow never to forget the holy city. No song of praise was heard amongst them, their harps were hung upon the willows, and their recollections of Zion filled them with sadness. Attracted by a common sympathy, a fellowship of suffering, they assembled in companies upon the banks of the Babylonian streams, and expressed their deep grief in sighs and tears. The scene is intensely poetic; it awakens our sympathy, and excites our imagination. But our business is to elicit its teachings. I. They wept at the recollection of lost privileges. “We wept when we remembered Zion.” 1. Their tears express their patriotism. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,” &c. (Psalms 137:5-6). We all know something of love of country. Whatever may be the natural, political, or moral characteristics of the country which gave us birth and education, there is none like unto it in heart attractions. In everything else it may be greatly surpassed by other countries; but in its hold upon our heart it stands unrivalled. “No power can sever our heart from the land of our birth.” But if a country be beautiful or sublime in its scenery, fertile in its soil, wise and liberal in its institutions and government, and rich in historical associations, then its hold upon the heart of its people is more intense and close. Thus stood the case in respect of the Jews and their country. To them there was no land like Canaan. It was a magnificent country, with grand old mountains towering sky-ward, and delicious plains fertile and flower-clad, and watered by delightful streams. “A good land, a land of brooks of water,” &c. (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). Moreover, it was sacred to them by immortal and precious memories,—memories of Abraham and Moses, Joshua and Samuel, David and Solomon, Elijah and Elisha,—memories of the glorious doings of God on behalf of their fathers. Well may these Jews love such a country. But this country they had lost; and these tears bewail their loss. 2. Their tears express their yearning for freedom. Once they were free under their glorious theocracy. But their freedom they had lost. They had lost their civil liberty, and were captives; their religious liberty, and were in the land of idolaters. Their tears expressed their sorrow for the loss of their liberty, and their longing for its recovery. Their tears expressing their yearning for liberty tell us that man was not made for bondage, that in proportion to the force and fulness of his manhood will be his unwillingness to submit to bondage in any form. In the same proportion he will feel the degradation and smart of the yoke of the oppressor, and pine and struggle for liberty. God made man to be free. Freedom is the birthright of man as man, and of every man. 3. Their tears express their love for the house of God and the ordinances of worship. The loss of their country and of their political privileges was great, and was deeply felt by them; but their spiritual deprivation in being sundered from Zion was a greater loss, and was more deeply felt by them. “We wept when we remembered Zion.” (On Zion and its associations, see Hom. Com. on Psalms 48:1-3; Psalms 76:2; Psalms 132:13-14.) Zion was inseparably connected with the supply of their spiritual requirements, and the development of their moral and religious nature. The loss of those things which tend to ennoble and develop our higher nature—our true self—is the greatest of all losses. Having those things upon which the growth and progress of our soul depend we are rich, though in other respects we may be as destitute as Lazarus: without those things we are abjectly poor, though in other respects we may be as rich as he at whose gate Lazarus was laid. These most costly things, these divinest things, the Jews had lost. From Zion, with all its sacred mementoes, and delightful associations, and divine ordinances, and religious privileges, they were ruthlessly torn. They had lost all. Country lost, liberty lost, the Temple lost, the manifestation of God lost,—all lost! Well may they weep! Two facts are suggested by this portion of our subject:— (1.) True love is independent of bodily presence or nearness. When far removed from Zion the love of the captive Jew for the sacred place became not cold, but more fervent. Material distance cannot quench the holy flame. Moral distance is the only thing which can. (2.) True love endures through time and all its changes. Seventy weary years of deprivation and sorrow failed to extinguish the love of the pious and patriotic Jew for Zion. Neither duration nor change can exhaust genuine affection: it is a growing and abiding thing. II. They wept at the recollection of privileges which they had lost by reason of their non-appreciation of them. They were removed from their country and their home because of their sins. They were carried to Babylon in consequence of their neglect of Divine ordinances, their idolatry, rebellion against God, and spiritual apostacy. No people were more favoured, or were so favoured as they were. They had been warned, exhorted, entreated, encouraged, &c. (Comp. Jeremiah 7:25-26; Jeremiah 25:1-11.) They were thoughtless, disobedient, stiff-necked, determined to pursue their own course; and it led them to Babylon with all its sorrows. And now in the sufferings of exile they begin to consider, now recollection plays its part, now their eye is turned upon themselves, and reflection brings self-reproach and added sorrow. How painful must have been their recollections of Zion! Zion which they had neglected, dishonoured, despised; and from which they were justly exiled;—Zion which once in the beauty of its situation they had regarded as “the joy of the whole earth,” now ruined and desolated by their Pagan foes, the fertile vales of Palestine all dreary and neglected, the walls of Jerusalem levelled to the ground, the city destroyed, the Temple desecrated—painful, indeed, must have been their recollections! Yet, could they forget their country and Zion? Never! Recollection constantly led them there, and their sins rose darkly before them. When they had their privileges they failed to appreciate them, neglected them; when they lost them they saw their value. “The well is never prized until it is dry.” Observe here three important facts— 1. We are prone to disparage the ordinary and regular blessings of life. We see this as regards the blessings of the kind and pious home, the Christian ministry and means of grace, the Bible, and even salvation and the Saviour. Familiarity engenders neglect. 2. The disparagement of these blessings is an ample cause for their withdrawal. The Jews disparaged their privileges, and for seventy years God withdrew from them some of His most precious gifts. Let those who neglect the familiar blessings of this Christian land and age be warned. God may withdraw His most precious gifts from you, &c. 3. Should these blessings be withdrawn their value would then be felt—be felt when it is too late. The privileges of Zion were valued by the Jews in Babylon; they were valued when lost. “Like birds whose beauties languish, half concealed,Till mounted on the wing, their glossy plumesExpanded shine with azure, green, and gold;How blessings brighten as they take their flight!”—Young.Let us be wise and appreciate Heaven’s gifts while we have them. What a solemn view of life this subject presents! Every circumstance and action of life by the operation of memory is endless in its influence. Memory eternalises the records of life. Memory makes the fleeting present everlasting. How important then is life! Do you love Zion? Are you wisely estimating and using your religious advantages and opportunities? Or are you penitently sorrowing at the recollections of the past? What opportunities neglected, blessings depreciated! &c. Thank God! the blessings are not yet withdrawn; salvation is still offered, &c. Look from the guilty past to Jesus for pardon and life. Then take your harp from the willows, and join in the song of the ransomed, “Unto Him that loved us,” &c. Our responsibilities are proportioned to our privileges. The Jews were banished from their Temple and country for neglecting their privileges. This was the most bitter ingredient in their sorrow by the rivers of Babylon. How great, then, are the responsibilities of the people of this land and age! HARPS ON THE WILLOWS(Psalms 137:2) This is a beautiful and pathetic picture of the captive Jews and their sorrows in the land of Babylon.… And is not that a picture of many conditions of your human life? Sorrow has invaded our lives. We wander by the side of some Babylonian stream. We hang our harp upon the willow that bends above it. We weep when we remember the happier moments that have fled. There are three things that we would learn from this picture of sorrow. I. Every man has a harp. The harp was the well-known instrument for the accompaniment of song. Its music was sweet and delightful. When calamity fell upon the nation their harps were silenced, &c. And thus it is with all our lives. We have the elements of joy in them, the powers of song and gladness, and there is no man who has not the capacity and the occasion for delightful mirth. 1. Just think of the constitution of our nature, wherein a place is secured for joy. The body is attuned to pleasure. God might have made us with organisations fitted for life, for recreation, for intelligence and activity, and yet altogether without the capacity of experiencing pleasure. Consider the sense of hearing. Sounds might have been so indistinct that to hear would have required the constant exercise of attention, the strain of effort painful and wearying; or they might have been so powerful that a whisper would be shocking, whilst the natural speech of our friends would be like the explosion of cannon close to the ear. And yet how exquisitely has God harmonised the sound and the sense! 2. What a harp man possesses in physical nature if he would only let its music be heard. Every sight and sound, every scene and action, all things fair and good, bright and godly, are but fingers of Nature’s skilful hand, which will touch the strings of the harp of our being, and wake their perfect tones of rapture. 3. Man has the harp for pleasant accompaniment of happy song in the region of the immaterial and the intellectual. What delights there are in intellectual operations! The joy of learning—when it is indeed learning worthy of the name; the discovery of the unknown; the pursuit of the law which underlies obscure phenomena; the search for causes; the enumeration of effects—these and others afford keen and lasting delight. 4. The pleasure which belongs to the still higher sphere which we are privileged to enter. I forbear to pursue the delights of our soul in its affections—the raptures of home; the loves of children, &c. Let me now only remind you of that sacred melody which is attuned when the joys of the spirit are experienced. The sinner seeks his Saviour, and finds the pardon of Father and of Friend. You remember the hour of forgiveness. Heaven’s clouds were cleared, the storm was bushed, the dread was dissipated, and a Father’s love received you through the mighty merits of a Saviour’s death. The best music of all the Christian poets falls far short of the rapture which dwells within the forgiven heart. And with what language shall we tell of the occasions for harping that have occurred so often since the first forgiveness! Have there not been Bethels of a Divine covenanting, Horebs of refreshment, and Red Sea passages of deliverance and triumph? Prayer has had its blessed answers, and meditation its holy raptures. Nothing but song could express our heightened feeling; and we felt as if angel-hands were sweeping the cords of our harp of life, and making the glad accompaniment to our joyous mood. (Comp. Isaiah 51:11.) Remember, this harp must be tuned and practised on. And yet it is the last thing some Christians think of—tuning their harp. Let Zion re-echo with your songs. II. But sometimes the harp has to be hung upon the willows. In the land of Babylon the Israelites had no heart to sing. Tears were the only out-pourings of which they were capable. And so it is with the harps of life. We have to lay them aside or hang them upon willows that droop over rivers of sadness, by whose banks we sit and wail. 1. It is thus when disease invades our bodies or sorrow smites the soul. Songs are not suitable to funerals, and harpings in the house of mourning are out of place and impertinent. 2. There are some silences still more profound that fall upon the music of our life. The father whose eldest son forswears his father’s faith, and throws away his father’s virtues, and wins only a name that will be a dishonour among men—such a father has little heart for harpings, and is, indeed, in a silent land of bitter exile. 3. And then how useless is the harp when we ourselves are in the hours of spiritual distress. God is absent, and we know no gladness till He shows His face again. They sang a hymn when the Master was among them, even though when they rose from the supper it was to pass to Gethsemane, and Pilate’s bar, and Calvary. But their hearts had no desire for singing in the suspense and numb agony of the hour when the Christ lay dead. And so it is with the Christian still, &c. III. But though there is no heart or place for song, and the harp must be laid aside, it needs not to be cast away. They had been foolish and wicked men of Israel if they had flung their harps beneath the running river, and thus deprived themselves altogether of the means of melody when the days of joy came back again. (See Ezra 3:9-13.) So, brethren, cast not away your harp. The weather will clear and the soul will awake to gladness when the sunshine comes. And the sickness will depart, and the strengthened frame shall recover its wonted sense of health and vigour. Not always the darkened room, &c. Yea, and there shall be some hours of gladness even for the wailing weary heart that sickens over the sinfulness of child and friend. It was a sad home when the prodigal was far away. But one day the father saw the returning son, ragged, worn, and disgraced, and that night there was music and dancing in the long silent homestead. Keep your harp, my friend, &c. And thou, too, depressed and cast down Christian, throw not away thy harp. There shall be peace and joy and fulness of blessing yet for thee. God shall show Himself, and Christ will yet return. The time when the harp shall be needed may not come until the moment of death. A life of sorrow, doubt, or conflict may not have one hour of leisure or delight, and only swan-like can be the song; and yet, then the harp will be needed, though only one chord may be struck from it upon earth—its strains sounding amid the music of heaven. Then, for all a harp will be gained, for all shall sing the new song of Moses and the Lamb.—Ll. D. Bevan, LL.B. THE OF SINGING SONGS IN EXILE(Psalms 137:4) I. What the world is to the Christian. “A strange land.” Like Babylon to the Israelites. There they had many comforts; for God “made them to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.” They were treated more like colonists than captives; and many of them grew wealthy and were even loth to return. But it was not their home. What Babylon was to Israel such is the present evil world to the Christian. Like a man born in a cottage, the son of a prince, to whom a rich inheritance belongs in another country, when he comes to know the secret of his birth, the rank he sustains, and the possessions that belong to him; then that which was his home ceases to be so, and he longs to cross the river, or climb the mountain, or set sail for his true country: so it is with the Christian who, though born a worldling, and once satisfied with his portion, now learns the secret of his true and nobler birth. Many of the sons of the captives were born in Babylon; but, having the heart of an Israelite, felt it not a home: it was “a strange land” to them. On earth the Christian feels himself to be an exile—distant from his Father’s home—distant from near and beloved connections and friends who have got home before him. True, he has many comforts, &c. But still this is not his rest; not his birthplace; not the condition for which his faculties and affections were originally designed. There are times in which his hope is full of immortality, and he has bright glimpses of the better country in his hours of faith and devotion; and then he feels indeed a stranger and a pilgrim; he spurns the yoke; he mourns the chain; and, like a captive minstrel, hangs his harp upon the willows, and cries, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove,” &c. II. Whence arises the difficulty of singing the Lord’s song in a world like this? It may be done; it is important that it should be done; provisions are made for doing it, for they had harps and they had the subject of their song, just as Christians have now the means, the materials, and the elements of their spiritual joy. Yet there are obstructions to the full enjoyment of the peace which the Gospel brings. Whence arises the hindrance? 1. From want of sympathy in those around us Their oppressors did not ask for the song from love to the religion, or sympathy with the captives, but to add insult to their misery by holding up their religion to contempt, and mocking at the hope and promise it contained. Here we admire the captives. They did not forget to take their harps with them to Babylon. They did not refuse to sing because they were ashamed of their religion, or would make a secret of it. They did not hide their harps, as if they were afraid of their avowal; and they did not break their harps, as if they were abandoned to despair; but they hung them upon the willows in sight of the foe, and only refused to sing because the company was uncongenial. And is it not so still? Are not the peace and happiness of the children of Zion grievously diminished by the uncongenial society with which they are called to mingle—sometimes in their own families, when a believing wife is yoked to an unbelieving husband, or a religious husband to an irreligious wife? “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). How much less can two sing together? When Christians mingle with irreligious persons in the same house, the same shop, the same workroom, &c. 2. From the pressure of outward trial and of mental grief. I know that all the troubles of the wilderness ought not to put us out of tune for singing the songs of Zion; but they sometimes do. We have often observed a counter-effect produced for a season by the calamities of life—that whereas they are both designed and adapted to lead us at once and directly to God, yet under the first and immediate pressure an opposite effect is produced, till principle has time to rally and grace obtains her triumph. The cup intoxicates; the blow stuns. David expresses this in Psalms 60:3. But even then the Christian does not break his harp: he only suspends it; and if he cannot find a song, he will at least hush the breath of murmuring and complaint. David corrects his despondency, and at the very worst anticipates brighter times (Psalms 42:11). Yet the Lord Jesus anticipates even His sufferings with a song (Matthew 26:30.) 3. Because our hearts are out of tune for the exercise. Under the consciousness of spiritual declension it is very difficult to “sing the Lord’s song.” III. What answer shall be returned to the inquiry—“How shall we sing the Lord’s song”? &c. 1. If you would sing the Lord’s song in adversity, make yourself well acquainted with it in prosperity. It is bad to have our comforts to seek when we want to enjoy them; our anchor to provide when we want to use it; our song to learn, &c. (Isaiah 12:1). 2. Live close to God, and exercise renewed acts of faith in Christ. Retrace your steps if you have wandered. “Repent, and do thy first works.” 3. Be much in prayer. “Open Thou my lips,” &c. 4. Honour the work and agency of the Holy Spirit.—Samuel Thodey. SONGS IN A STRANGE LAND(Psalms 137:4) I. The Christian on earth is in a strange land— 1. As to his feelings. 2. As to his supplies. 3. As to his dangers. II. The Christian on earth, although in a strange land, has songs— 1. Of gratitude. 2. Of penitence. 3. Of resignation. 4. Of hope.—George Brooks. (Psalms 137:7-9) We have in these verses— I. An important feature of the Divine government of the world. The designs of God are sometimes wrought out by wicked men, but this affords no excuse to such men, nor will it secure to them any exemption from the just consequences of their deeds. In the Babylonish captivity this is strikingly exemplified. The Jews were carried into Babylon by the permission of God as a punishment for their many sins, particularly their idolatry. And in one respect, at least, the captivity accomplished its purpose; for the Jews have never since relapsed into idolatry. So far the Babylonians did the work of God. But they did it unintentionally, unconsciously. They had no thought of working out the purposes of God in so doing, but simply of fulfilling their own proud and lawless designs. The captivity was overruled by God for the accomplishment of His designs, yet on the part of Babylon it was unjustifiable and wicked. And did she go unpunished? No. The hour of retribution struck, the strange fingers appeared in the royal banquet hall, the letters of doom with appalling distinctness and mystery were inscribed upon the wall, the enemy even then was close upon the city: “in that night was Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans slain,” and Babylon, “the lady of kingdoms,” was a kingdom no longer. We see the same principle in operation in the life of Joseph (Genesis 50:20; Psalms 76:10). How magnificent is this aspect of the Divine government! All things in the universe are under the control of the Almighty, and the most malignant powers are used for the accomplishment of His glorious purposes. There is no real triumph of falsehood and evil. Their victories are only brief appearances. All things in the universe are aiding to enthrone the True and the Good. II. A cry for retribution. “Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom,” &c. “Deepest of all,” says Dean Stanley, “was the indignation roused by the sight of the nearest of kin, the race of Esau, often allied to Judah, often independent, now bound by the closest union with the power that was truly the common enemy of both. There was an intoxication of delight in the wild Edomite chiefs, as at each successive stroke against the venerable walls they shouted, ‘Down with it! down with it! even to the ground!’ They stood in the passes to interrupt the escape of those who would have fled down to the Jordan valley; they betrayed the fugitives; they indulged in their barbarous revels on the Temple hill. Long and loud has been the wail of execration which has gone up from the Jewish nation against Edom. It is the one imprecation which breaks forth from the Lamentations of Jeremiah; it is the culmination of the fierce threats of Ezekiel; it is the sole purpose of the short, sharp cry of Obadiah; it is the bitterest drop in the sad recollections of the Israelite captives by the waters of Babylon; and the one warlike strain of the Evangelical Prophet is inspired by the hope that the Divine Conqueror should come knee deep in Idumean blood (Lamentations 4:21-22; Ezekiel 25:12-14; Obadiah 1:1-21; Jeremiah 49:7-22; Isaiah 63:1-4).” This cry to the Lord for retribution to Edom implies— 1. The existence of the sense of justice in the human soul. 2. Belief in the righteous government of God. 3. Belief in the efficacy of prayer to God. III. An illustration of the nature of retribution. “O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.” Margin: “That recompenseth unto thee thy deed which thou didst to us.” Perowne, literally: “The requital wherewith thou hast requited us.” “Agreeably to His justice,” says Tholuck, “God exercises the justalionis. Justice is elastic; the unjust blow I inflict upon another, by the order of the moral world, recoils upon myself.” (Comp. Judges 1:6-7; Jeremiah 51:54-56.) “God has undertaken,” says Bushnell, “to dispense justice by a law of natural consequence. He has connected thus, with our moral and physical nature, a law of reaction, by which any wrong of thought, feeling, disposition, or act, provokes a retribution exactly fitted to it, and to the desert of it. And this law is just like every law of natural order, inviolable, not subject to suspension, or discontinuance, even by miracle itself. And justice is, in this view, a fixed principle of order, as truly as the laws of the heavenly bodies.” IV. The desire for retribution is prone to develop into vindictiveness towards those who have injured us. “Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock.” In ancient warfare the indiscriminate slaughter of persons of all ages and of both sexes was common. Perhaps the Psalmist in this utterance “only acts as a Divine herald to confirm former predictions.” As a matter of fact Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, is reckoned amongst the heroes of history. But “there is great need to have the heart well guarded with the fear of God, for, otherwise to allow the dashing of little ones against the stones, might make a man guilty of savage cruelty.” Guard earnestly against a vindictive spirit. “Consider this,—That, in the course of justice, none of usShould see salvation: we do pray for mercy;And that same prayer doth teach us all to renderThe deeds of mercy.”—Shakespeare. “This,” says Barnes, “is the first of a series of eight Psalms (Psalms 38-145) placed together in this part of the book, and ascribed to David. They appear to be of the nature of a supplement to the Book of Psalms, composed of Psalms unknown to the original collector and arranger of the Book, and subsequently discovered and ascertained to be the works of David. It is not to be regarded as strange that there should be Psalms of this nature composed by David at different periods of his life, which might have been preserved in different branches of his family, and which might not have been generally known to exist. It is rare that the works of an author, especially a poet, are collected and published, and that things of this kind—fugitive and occasional pieces—are not subsequently found; nor is it very unusual that such pieces may, after all, be amongst the most tender, touching, and beautiful of his compositions. Burn’s ‘Highland Mary,’ so much admired, and his, ‘When wild War’s deadly blast was blown,’—a poem which no one can read without tears,—with not a few others of his, are of this description. They are said, in his Biography, to have been ‘extracted from the correspondence of Burns.’“The occasion on which this Psalm was composed cannot now be determined.”A DEVOUT , , AND AN (Psalms 138:1-5) We have here— I. A devout resolution (Psalms 138:1-2). The poet resolves to celebrate the praise of God, and to do so— 1. In the most excellent manner. (1.) Heartily. “I will praise Thee with my whole heart.” It is remarkable that he does not say whom he will praise until he comes to the fourth verse. This is significant. “It is as though in the Psalmist’s heart there could be but one object of praise, whether named or unnamed.” Whole—heartedness and fervour in worship are acceptable unto God. (2.) Confidently. “Before the gods will I sing praise unto Thee.” “ ‘The gods,’ ” says Perowne, “are the false gods, the objects of heathen worship, in the very presence of whom, and to the confusion of their worshippers, the Psalmist will utter his praise of the true God.” When our faith in God is strong we shall be neither afraid nor ashamed to praise Him before any person. (3.) Becomingly. “I will worship toward Thy holy temple.” The Psalmist was not allowed to enter the interior of the tabernacle, which he here designates, “Thy holy temple.” The tabernacle was regarded as the special residence of the Most High. Because He specially manifested Himself there, the pious Israelites turned their faces towards it when they worshipped. Thus Daniel in his exile prayed with “his windows open in his chamber toward Jerusalem.” There are certain forms and arrangements for worship which are reverent and seemly, and these every devout worshipper will endeavour to conform to. “Keep thy foot when thou goest into the house of God,” &c. We must worship reverently through the mediation of Jesus Christ. 2. For the most excellent reasons. “I will praise Thy Name for Thy loving-kindness and for Thy truth; for Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy Name.” The poet resolves to praise the Lord because of the kindness and faithfulness which He had manifested according to His Word. The final clause in the second verse has occasioned considerable difficulty to some expositors. The interpretation of Barnes, Hengstenberg, Henry, Perowne, and others seems to us undoubtedly correct,—that the revelation of Himself which God has given to man in His Word surpasses in clearness and preciousness all the other manifestations which He has made of Himself: Thus Perowne: “Thy word, or ‘promise.’ (Comp. Psalms 56:10; Psalms 60:6; Psalms 62:11.) No particular promise is meant. The same word occurs frequently in Psalms 119. Above all Thy Name. The expression seems to mean that to the soul waiting upon God, and trusting in His word, the promise becomes so precious, so strong a ground of hope, that it surpasses all other manifestations of God’s goodness and truth; or in the promise may here also be included the fulfilment of the promise.” In His Word God has given many exceeding great and precious promises, and they are all worthy of acceptation; for God in His fulfilment is better even than in His promises. Here then is an excellent reason for praising God, because He has manifested so much of Himself, and especially of His loving-kindness and faithfulness to us in His Word. Our revelation is much fuller and richer than was that of David. “We see Jesus,” “And, in His face a glory stands,The noblest labour of Thy hands;The radiant lustre of His eyesOutshines the wonders of the skies.”—Watts.Therefore, our praise should be more hearty and confident than was that of David. II. A grateful recollection. “In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.” Perowne: “Thou madest me courageous with strength in my soul.” In time of need the Psalmist had sought the Lord in prayer, and the Lord had heard and graciously answered him. God had answered him— 1. Speedily. “In the day when I cried Thou answeredst me.” “Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” (Comp. Daniel 9:20-24.) 2. Spiritually. “Thou madest me courageous with strength in my soul.” We pray in time of difficulty, and He gives us wisdom and courage to meet and surmount the difficulty; in time of affliction, and He gives us patience and strength to bear the suffering. “My grace,” saith He, “is sufficient for thee.” Recollections such as this one of David’s stimulate the heart to grateful and joyous praise. III. An encouraging anticipation. The Psalmist confidently anticipates a time when all the kings of the earth shall recognise Jehovah as God, and render to Him devout homage and cheerful obedience. 1. All kings shall be made acquainted with the highest revelation of God and with His glory. They shall “hear the words of His mouth,” and see that “great is the glory of the Lord.” The Gospel shall be preached in all the world, and the glory of the Divine grace shall be exhibited to all peoples. God in Christ shall be made known to all men. 2. When all kings are acquainted with “the words” and “the glory of the Lord” they will heartily praise and cheerfully serve Him. “Shall praise Thee, O Lord,” &c. “Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord.” “The ways of the Lord” are those of obedience and worship; the ways of reverence towards God and righteousness towards men. They shall tread them with cheerfulness. Obligation will be regarded as a privilege. Duty will be transformed into delight. Statutes will be translated into songs, and set to joyous music. A true acquaintance with the highest revelation of God is calculated to lead to such a result. The revelation of God in Christ is fitted to inspire our trust, to captivate our affections, and to secure our enthusiastic obedience. Let the world heartily accept Christ—the Christ not of the creeds and the churches, but of the Evangelists—as the supreme Revelation of God, and it will speedily bow to His authority, resound with His praise, and delight in His service. GOD’S WORD EXALTED(Psalms 138:2) “Thou has magnified Thy word above all Thy Name.” I. As the medium of His self-manifestation. II. As the exposition of His government. III. As the record of His will. IV. As the instrument of His power. V. As the revelation of His love. —W. W. Wythe.AN EARNEST PRAYER, AND AN ANSWER(Psalms 138:3) Consider— I. The earnestness of his prayer. “I cried unto Thee.” Beautiful description of prayer—crying unto God. “Prayer,” says Mrs. More, “is the cry of want, to Him that can relieve it; of guilt, to Him who is able to pardon it; of sorrow, to Him who is able to relieve it.” (So Psalms 119:145.) 1. It supposes the pressure of distress, under the frowns of the world; under the temptations of Satan; under the difficulties of the way; under the exigencies of the Christian conflict. The day of trial, a long day—a dark day—a stormy day—a day that brings God and the soul together. The time of affliction is the time of supplication. God afflicts us that He may hear from us. 2. It supposes the ready recourse of the Christian to God in prayer. No sooner does the storm of danger come down than the cry of faith and fervour goes up. It is this spirit of heartfelt continued instancy in prayer that keeps the Christian in the hour of temptation, or in the floods of adversity, and maintains the spiritual life within. But often is the Christian constrained to acknowledge that his heart has little to do with the cry of his lips. Yet in danger still he cries—sometimes with a cry which no words could fully express, that vents itself only in “groanings which cannot be uttered”—a cry that “enters into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” 3. It supposes previous habits of acquaintance with God; for we do not run to a stranger in distress, much less to an enemy, but to a known and tried friend. 4. It supposes the union of prayer and thankfulness. Praise should always follow where prayer is answered. A gracious man is a praising and a grateful man. As answers come down, praises should go up. II. The effectual relief he gained. God is a prayer-hearing and a sin-pardoning God. 1. He obtained an immediate answer. “In the day when I cried Thou answeredst,” &c. Moses cried at the Red Sea, and had instant help. No needless delay: no indifference to the state and condition of the Church on the part of God. (Compare Psalms 32:3-5.) … While the voice of penitent confession was suppressed, his cries and lamentations were disregarded; but upon the first utterance of prayer from his lips, or rather on the first purpose of contrition formed in his heart, the pardon, the full and free pardon, is granted. “I said, I will confess, … and Thou forgavest.” How prompt was the answer to Jacob’s prayer at Jabbok (Genesis 32:24-30); to Gideon’s (Judges 6:36-40; to Daniel’s (Daniel 9:20-23). 2. He was replenished with inward grace. “Thou strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.” Strength to bear troubles; strength to overcome temptations; strength to war with the powers of evil. Especially was he strengthened in the actings of faith—led to renewed exercises of dependence upon the power and grace of Christ. Weak indeed are our purposes without grace to strengthen them, and worthless our good resolutions without grace to carry them out; but when the grace is enjoyed, difficulties give way, enemies are overcome, and inward peace is attained amidst outward trials. This is God’s way of putting life into the soul, when by an inexpressible sweetness and power He allures the soul to Himself. Every step, indeed, to the very end will be a conflict with besetting sin or with remaining enmity and unbelief. But in answer to prayer there will be a continual drawing of the Spirit of God towards high and holy things. The same Hand that gave a new bias to the soul in a heavenward motion, will confirm and strengthen it to the end. 3. The principle of hope was itself reinvigorated, that he was not only strengthened for the present, but enabled to anticipate the future. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble. Thou wilt revive me.” III. The force and inspiration of his example upon other minds. “All the kings of the earth shall praise Thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of Thy mouth,” &c. We not only must be religious ourselves, but help others to be so.—Samuel Thodey. GOD’S OF CLASSES OF (Psalms 138:6-8.) I. God’s treatment of the humble. “Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.” 1. The character. “The lowly.” Not the lowly in outward condition merely, but in inward disposition—the humble. Humility is not a thing of circumstances, but of soul. 2. The treatment. “The Lord hath respect unto the lowly.” He “looks upon” them. He not only sees them, but regards them graciously. He views them with approving interest, and affords them kindly aid. 3. The reason. “Because the Lord is high He hath respect unto the lowly.” The A. V. in giving the impression that the Lord looks upon the humble notwithstanding His greatness does not represent the poet’s meaning. God graciously regards the poor in spirit because He is so great. A more correct rendering is, “For the Lord is lifted up, and looks upon the lowly.”—Hengstenberg. Or: “For lofty is Jehovah, and the humble He sees.”—Barnes. God is a great Being, and therefore He is condescending. Hengstenberg: “The lofty elevation of the Lord forms the ground, on account of which He lifts up the lowly, brings down the proud; not: and yet; but: and therefore.” “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” II. God’s treatment of the proud. “The proud He knoweth afar off.” 1. The character. “The proud.” Not the exalted in station, but the haughty, the arrogant. Pride is unbecoming, foolish, sinful. “Pride,” says Sidney Smith, “is not the heritage of man; humility should dwell with frailty, and atone for ignorance, error, and imperfection.” 2. The treatment. Jehovah knoweth the proud afar off. He regards them only at a distance. Pride is an insuperable barrier between God and man. A haughty man is not regarded by God with favour, nor can he have any communion with Him. “Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord.” III. God’s treatment of His afflicted people. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble,” &c. We have here— 1. A depressing possibility in the life of good men. The life of a good man may be— (1.) Surrounded by trouble—a journey “in the midst of trouble.” Piety does not secure a man from the afflictions of life. The godly man is exposed to infirmities and diseases of the body, to losses and difficulties in temporal affairs, to family and social trials and bereavements, to spiritual conflicts and distresses. Like Job, the godly man is sometimes almost overwhelmed with trouble. The life of a good man may be— (2.) Imperilled by angry enemies. The Psalmist seems to have been exposed to the wrath of his adversaries when he wrote this Psalm. The godly soul is exposed to the assaults of spiritual foes. The lusts of the flesh, the cares and anxieties, pomps and vanities, shams and dissipations of the world, and the subtlety and power of the devil are arrayed against him. The good man is acquainted with both trouble and peril; he has trials and enemies. 2. An encouraging confidence in the life of good men. David was confident of— (1.) Revival in trouble. “Thou wilt revive me.” He had an unfailing hope that the Lord would quicken and strengthen him to bear his trials. He sustains and comforts His afflicted people. David was confident of— (2.) Deliverance from enemies. “Thou shalt stretch forth Thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and Thy right hand shall save me.” God exerts His almighty power for the protection and salvation of His people. The good are shielded by Omnipotence. IV. God’s treatment of His trustful people. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me,” &c. Notice:— 1. The inspiring assurance. The poet was confident that the Lord would accomplish the work which He had begun concerning him. God does not abandon His work in an incomplete state. We are “confident that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” “Grace will complete what grace begins.” 2. The firm basis of this assurance. The confidence of the Psalmist was grounded on the unchangeableness of God’s everlasting mercy. “Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever.” He who bases his trust of complete and glorious salvation on this foundation will never be put to shame. 3. The humble dependence of this assurance. “Forsake not the works of Thine own hands.” The poet here translates into a prayer what he had just before expressed as a conviction of his soul. Prayer is one of the means whereby the completion of the Divine work in us and for us is secured. The good man is sensible of his own weakness and waywardness, and depends upon God to perfect His own work in his salvation. In the material universe there are no unfinished worlds or systems; no half-made and forsaken works of His hands. And His work in the soul that trusts Him He will continue until it attains full and glorious perfection. Here, then, is encouragement to His people to trust in Him at all times. THE MAJESTY AND OF GOD(Psalms 138:6) “Though the Lord be high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly.” I. The majesty of God. 1. Consider His eternity. 2. Consider His immutability. 3. Consider His power. 4. Consider His goodness. II. The condescension of God. 1. Consider the persons to whom His preference is shown. 2. Consider the special blessings with which He honours them.—Geo. Brooks. “Nowhere,” says Perowne, “are the great attributes of God—His omniscience, His omnipresence, His omnipotence, set forth so strikingly as they are in this magnificent Psalm. Nowhere is there a more overwhelming sense of the fact that man is beset and compassed about by God, pervaded by His Spirit, unable to take a step without His control; and yet nowhere is there a more emphatic assertion of the personality of man as distinct from, not absorbed in the Deity. This is no pantheistie speculation. Man is here the workmanship of God, and stands in the presence and under the eye of One who is his Judge. The power of conscience, the sense of sin and of responsibility, are felt and acknowledged, and prayer is offered to One who is not only the Judge but the Friend; to One who is feared as none else are feared, who is loved as none else are loved.“Both in loftiness of thought and in expressive beauty of language the Psalm stands pre-eminent, and it is not surprising that Aben Ezra should have pronounced it to be ‘the crown of all the Psalms.’ The Psalm both in the Hebrew and the LXX is ascribed to David.“The rhythmical structure is, on the whole, regular. There are four strophes, each consisting of six verses; the first three strophes containing the proper theme of the Psalm, and the last the expression of individual feeling.“I. In the first strophe the poet dwells on the omniscience of God, as manifested in His knowledge of the deepest thoughts and most secret workings of the human heart, Psalms 139:1-6.“II. In the second, on His omnipresence, inasmuch as there is no corner of the universe so remote that it is not pervaded by God’s presence, no darkness so deep that it can hide from His eyes, Psalms 139:7-12.“III. The third strophe gives the reason for the profound conviction of these truths of which the poet’s heart is full. No wonder that God should have so intimate a knowledge of man, for man is the creature of God: the mysterious beginnings of life, which none can trace; the days, all of which are ordered before the first breath is drawn,—these are fashioned and ordered by the hand of God, Psalms 139:13-18.“IV. In the last strophe the Psalmist turns abruptly aside to express his utter abhorrence of wicked men—an abhorrence, no doubt, deepened by the previous meditation on God and His attributes, and called forth probably by the circumstances in which he was placed; and then closes with a prayer that he himself may, in his inmost heart, be right with that God who has searched him and known him and laid His hand upon him, and that he may be led by Him in the way everlasting, Psalms 139:19-24.”GOD’S PERFECT OF MAN(Psalms 139:1-6) Our purpose is not to write on the omniscience of God in general, or to make an attempt to set it forth with completeness and show its relations and bearings; but to call attention to those aspects of it which are mentioned by the Psalmist, and to indicate the practical bearing of these aspects upon human life. The poet sets forth in this strophe the omniscience of God as related to human life. I. God knows all men. David does not write of himself alone. That the Psalm is addressed “to the chief musician” is a proof that it was intended to be set to music for use in public worship. The entire congregation was to use the Psalm. Its utterances were to be adopted by every member of the congregation. Every person in the world may say with truth, “O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me,” &c. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight; but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” II. God knows all men thoroughly. 1. He knows all their words and actions. “Thou art acquainted with all my ways, for there is not a word on my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether.” The entire course of every human life, and every step in every individual course, are perfectly known to God, and not a word that is uttered by human tongues escapes His ear. 2. He knows all their thoughts. “Thou understandest my thought afar off.” However great the distance between God and man may seem to be, yet He is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of his heart.” Calvin: “God is not shut up in heaven, as if He delighted in an idle repose (as the Epicureans feigned), and neglected human affairs; but though we live at a great distance from Him, still He is not far from us.” All worthy thoughts and pure and generous feelings He knows, and all evil thoughts and impure and malignant feelings He also knows. “Before men we stand,” says Beecher, “as opaque beehives. They can see the thoughts go in and out of us; but what work they do inside of a man they cannot tell. Before God we are as glass beehives, and all that our thoughts are doing within us He perfectly sees and understands.” III. God knows all men constantly. At all times and under all circumstances He is perfectly acquainted with us. He knows us in work and in rest, in our daily walk and in our nightly repose. ‘Thou knowest my down sitting” for rest, “and mine uprising” for action. “Thou compassest my path and my lying down.” Perowne: “My path and my bed Thou hast examined.” Lit. “Thou hast winnowed,” or “sifted.” Hengstenberg: “æָ ?øָ ?ä, properly, to sift, then poetically, to prove, to know.” God knows our “path,” our way of active life, and our “couch” or “bed,” our thoughts and feelings in our place of rest. We are altogether and always perfectly known unto Him. God’s knowledge of us differs from our knowledge of each other not only in its extent and completeness, but in other respects. First, His knowledge is underived and independent. We receive instruction from tutors and information from books. But He receives not his knowledge from anything without Him. His knowledge is as independent as Himself and His own essence. “Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being His counsellor, hath taught Him?” “Our knowledge,” says Charnock, “depends upon the object, but all created objects depend upon God’s knowledge and will: we could not know creatures unless they were; but creatures could not be unless God knew them.” Second, His knowledge is clear and perfect. “We see through a glass, darkly;” and only “know in part.” He knows all things clearly and distinctly, intimately and thoroughly, infallibly and perfectly. “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” “His understanding is infinite.” Let us endeavour to point out the practical bearing of this knowledge on us and on our life. It ought to prove— 1. An antidote to the pride of intellect. “Such knowlege is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.” We cannot comprehend the Divine omniscience. Our attempts to do so end in ignominious failure. We can but cry, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” &c. How vain and ridiculous it is for any man to pride himself in his intellectual attainments or acquisitions! What we know is almost as nothing in contrast to what we do not know. “We have a drop of knowledge, but nothing to the Divine ocean. What a vain thing is it fo a shallow brook to boast of its streams before a sea, whose depths are unfathomable!” 2. An effectual restraint from sins both of heart and of action. The eye of man often imposes a restraint upon the evil-doer; and shall the eye of God, which is ever upon us, be disregarded? Men seek to hide their evil doings by the darkness of night, saying, “How doth God know? can He judge through the dark cloud?” But darkness cannot hide from Him. He knows the evil thought, the dark design, the impure feeling. Secret sin is impossible. Let the fact of God’s omniscience check evil in its first beginnings. 3. A solemn warning to the sinner. Secrecy does not hide from God, hypocrisy does not deceive Him, the lapse of time does not cause Him to forget, all sins are known to Him, and will be visited upon the sinners unless they are pardoned. “What a terrible consideration is it to think that the sins of a day are upon record in an infallible understanding, much more the sins of a week: what a number, then, do the sins of a month, a year, ten or forty years arise to!” Sinner, take warning. 4. The utter impossibility of any man justifying himself in the sight of God. God knows all and everything. “Our secret sins are in the light of His countenance.” He sees defects and imperfections even in our best deeds. “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.” 5. A comfort to the people of God when misjudged by man. Men frequently mistake the motives of their fellow-men and judge them harshly. But how comforting it is to turn from man unto God. “Behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. He knoweth the way that I take,” &c. Our cause is in the hands of the Omniscient and All-Merciful. 6. A guarantee of the well-being of the people of God. God not only knows, but also cares for His people. “As providence infers omniscience as the guide of it, so omniscience infers providence as the end of it.” He knows them in their weakness to sustain them, in their need to provide for them, in their dangers to rescue them, in their sorrows to comfort them, &c. Our Lord Himself set forth the Divine knowledge as an encouragement to His people to trust in God. “Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things,” &c. (Matthew 6:31-32). 7. A pledge of the triumph of the Divine government. All the dark and cunning designs of His enemies are known to Him. Their most secret plans cannot surprise Him. Their most subtle plans cannot baffle Him. He will make their counsel of no effect, and frustrate their deepest schemes. His omniscience assures us of the triumph of His cause. All things are under His control. He, and He alone, can say, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” GOD’S (Psalms 139:7-12) The Psalmist here treats of the omnipresence of God, not as a metaphysical conception, but as a momentous practical truth. This truth he sets forth in language of great force and beauty. In other portions of the Holy Word this truth is clearly and forcibly expressed. 1 Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:23-24; Amos 9:2-3. According to the representation of David— I. God is personally present everywhere. The Psalm was not written by a Pantheist. He speaks of God as a Person everywhere present in creation, yet distinct from creation. In our text He says, “Thy Spirit, … Thy presence, … Thou art there, … Thy hand, … Thy right hand, … darkness hideth not from Thee.” God is everywhere, but He is not everything. All things have their being in Him, but He is distinct from all things. He fills the universe, but is not mingled with it. He is the Intelligence which guides, and the power which sustains; but His personality is preserved, and He is independent of the works of His hands, however vast and noble. Charnock: “Where light is in every part of a crystal globe, and encircles it close on every side, do they become one? No; the crystal remains what it is, and the light retains its own nature. God is not in us as a part of us, but as an efficient and preserving cause.” “In Him we live, and move, and have our being.” “We live and move in God, so we live and move in the air; we are no more God by that than we are mere air because we breathe in it, and it enters into all the pores of our body.” II. God is influentially present everywhere. The Psalmist felt that where-ever he was—in heaven, in Sheol, or on the utmost verge of creation—he would be led and sustained by God. “Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.” He is everywhere present in His sustaining energy. “O Lord, Thou preservest man and beast.” “By Him all things consist.” “He upholds all things by the word of His power.” He is everywhere present by His controlling energy. He restrains and overrules all evil. He originates and fosters all good. “This influential presence may be compared to that of the sun, which, though at so great a distance from the earth, is present in the air and earth by its light, and within the earth by its influence in concocting those metals which are in the bowels of it, without being substantially either of them.” III. God is intelligently present everywhere. The poet felt that, wherever he was and in whatever circumstances, he would be fully known to the Lord. “And should I say: Only let darkness cover me, and the light about me be night; even darkness cannot be too dark for Thee, but the night is light as the day; the darkness and light (to Thee are) both alike.” “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” “With one single look He beholdeth the whole universe. As I am accounted present in this auditory, because I see the objects that are here, because I am witness of all that passes here; so God is everywhere, because He sees all, because veils the most impenetrable, darkness the most thick, distances the most immense, can conceal nothing from His knowledge. Soar to the utmost heights, fly into the remotest climates, wrap thyself in the blackest darkness, everywhere, everywhere, thou wilt be under His eye.”—Saurin. IV. God’s presence is everywhere realised by the godly soul. To the Psalmist the Divine omnipresence was not a mere opinion, not a mere article of a creed, but a realised fact. “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?” He felt the presence of God everywhere. At every step and in every circumstance of life he felt himself in that presence. In all the phenomena of nature he recognised that presence. To him all things are full of God, “yet all distinct from Him. The cloud on the mountain is His covering; the muttering from the chambers of the thunder is His voice; that sound on the top of the mulberry trees is His ‘going;’ in that wind, which bends the forest or curls the clouds, He is walking; that sun is His still commanding eye.” The godly soul is possessed by an intense consciousness of the constant presence of God. “God is a sphere or circle, whose centre is everywhere, and circumference nowhere.” So far is His presence from being bounded by the universe itself, that, as we are taught in our text, were it possible for us to wing our way into the immeasurable depths and breadths of space, God would there surround us, in as absolute a sense as that in which He is said to be about our bed and our path, in that part of the world where His will has placed us. As He is larger than all time, so He is vaster than all space. Let us now point out the practical bearings of this great truth. 1. It should restrain us from evil. The eye of a child will effectually check the execution of some evil purposes; more the eye of man or woman; yet more the eye of a holy man or woman. Men chose darkness and secrecy for the perpetration of evil. But “there is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” God’s eye sees all things everywhere. He is in the darkness by the side of the worker of iniquity. And He is perfectly holy. 2. It should lead us to hold humble thoughts of ourselves and exalted ideas of God. How small are we to God! Our existence seems almost as non-existence when placed beside His immensity. Let His greatness excite our reverence. Let our littleness lead us to constant lowliness. 3. It should comfort and strengthen the people of God in severe trial, in painful loneliness, and in arduous duty. He accompanies His people into the furnace of affliction, and preserves them from injury. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,” &c. (Isaiah 43:2). When exiled from friends, or forsaken of friends, or bereaved of friends by death, His presence is never withdrawn. If He call us to some difficult task, He assures us, “My presence shall go with thee.” His realised presence is the secret of the success of Moses, Paul, &c. 4. It should be an incentive to holy action. The athletes of Greece and Rome were inspired to run or wrestle by the knowledge of the fact that they were surrounded by a vast assembly of spectators. It is said that, at the battle of Prestonpans, a Highland chief of the noble house of M‘Gregor was wounded by two balls and fell. Seeing their chief fall, the clan wavered, and gave the enemy an advantage. The old chieftain, beholding the effects of his disaster, raised himself up on his elbow, while the blood gushed in streams from his wounds, and cried aloud, “I am not dead, my children: I am looking at you to see you do your duty.” These words revived the sinking courage of the brave Highlanders, and roused them to put forth their mightiest energies; and they did all that human valour could do to stem and turn the dreadful tide of battle. Oh! if we but realised God’s presence, felt Him near to us, our life would become brave and beautiful and holy. God is not only present everywhere, but everywhere present to inspire, and aid, and bless. 5. It is of vital importance to all worshippers of God. The consideration of the Divine omnipresence is calculated to destroy formality, to inspire reverence, and to strengthen faith. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” THE OF GOD AND ITS UPON MAN(Psalms 139:7-12) There is one circumstance in the text which directs a humble mind how it ought to be treated, and that is with the utmost humility of devotion; for it is a direct address to God Himself. However discursive the imagination might be on other texts, on this it is quite out of character. If this thought be powerful on the mind of your preacher, there is another which ought equally to affect the minds of the hearers; and that is, that you are now in a place where you ought to feel yourself most exposed to His survey. God indeed is about your bed and about your path; but in the house of prayer you voluntarily expose yourself to His immediate notice, you court His scrutiny. Recollect that God is present; the King is now come in to see His guests: He knows with what motives you have come hither; whether you prayed before you came; whether you listened to the reading of the Scriptures as to the Word of God; whether you prayed in prayer; whether you sung with devotion, “making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Yes, my brethren, even now you are weighed in the balances of the sanctuary. God grant that you may not be found wanting. I. Let us endeavour to realise the grand sentiment which the text contains. God is everywhere present. The first thought of the sinner is how he may escape. “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?” &c. How vain! A reflection upon human nature. Grace is wiser; it teaches us to seek His presence. “Let him take hold of My strength,” &c. “When shall I come and appear before God?” How many present have never reflected upon the subject; and though always surrounded by God, have never derived comfort from His presence! Without hope, without God—awful thought! 1. How great must be the Being who possesses such an empire! These are His attributes; these are not limited. A wing that never tires: an eye that never sleeps. 2. How melancholy the reflection that the great thought that occurs to the sinner is how he may escape Him! “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?” &c. This is not natural: sin is the cause of it. How false the hope! How miserable the condition! 3. How valuable is that religion which teaches us to hope in His mercy; which tells us that over all worlds He exercises a Father’s care; that His fostering wing extends to the minutest object; and that He especially discerns the returning sinner. II. Let us trace some of the impressions which it ought to produce on individual character. 1. The utter hopelessness of a career of crime or of indifference to God. Wherever you are engaged in guilt, God is there to interrupt, to record, to disappoint, to vex the soul. Think of this in your plans of life, in business, in your families. Examples: Achan (Joshua 7:16-26), Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27). 2. The strong consolation afforded to the humble penitent. He sees every desire, hope, effort. “Why sayest thou, O Jacob?” &c. (Isaiah 40:27-31). 3. The absolute necessity of making this God our Friend. 4. The glory of heaven, where His presence is felt only to bless. 5. The dreadfulness of that world in which His mercies are “clean gone for ever,” and His influence is felt as an unmitigated and insupportable curse.—Samuel Thodey. MAN A OF GOD(Psalms 139:13-16) The connection of these verses with the preceding seems to be this—God must needs have a perfect acquaintance with man because He created him. Hengstenberg suggests that Psalms 139:13 refers back to Psalms 139:2. “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, Thou understandest my thought afar off.… For Thou hast formed my reins,” &c. The Psalmist here states that— I. Man is a creation of God. “Thou hast formed my reins, Thou didst weave me together in my mother’s womb.”—Perowne’s translation. Man was created— 1. According to God’s design. “In Thy book all my members were written,” &c. What the architect is to the edifice God is to man. We existed first as an idea in the Divine mind. And if we read, “In Thy book all of them were written, the days which were ordered when as yet there was none of them,” we still have the idea of the Divine design in the life of man. Man’s entire being is prearranged by God. 2. Under God’s inspection. “My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret,” &c. The great Creator superintended the formation of man’s bodily frame in the secrecy and obscurity of the womb. 3. By God’s power. “Thou hast formed my reins, Thou didst weave me together in my mother’s womb.” God is the Author of our being: our parents are but the instruments thereof. Every human being is a creation of the Divine power. II. Man is a wonderful creation of God. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvellous are Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.” This is manifest— 1. In his body. “The frame of man’s body, and the cohesion of its parts,” says Lord Herbert, “are so strange and paradoxical, that I hold it to be the greatest miracle of nature.” “An anatomist, as Dr. Paley observes, who understood the structure of the heart, might say beforehand that it would play; but he would expect, I think, from the complexity of its mechanism, and the delicacy of many of its parts, that it should always be liable to derangement, or that it would soon work itself out. Yet shall this wonderful machine go night and day, for eighty years together, at the rate of a hundred thousand strokes every twenty-four hours, having at every stroke a great resistance to overcome; and shall continue this action for this length of time without disorder and without weariness. Each ventricle will at least contain one ounce of blood. The heart contracts four thousand times in one hour, from which it follows, that there passes through the heart every hour four thousand ounces, or two hundred and fifty pounds, of blood. Now the whole mass of blood is said to be about twenty-five pounds, so that a quantity of blood, equal to the whole mass of blood passes through the heart ten times in one hour; which is once every six minutes. When we reflect also upon the number of muscles, not fewer than four hundred and forty-six in the human body, known and named; how contiguous they lie to each other, as it were, over one another; crossing one another; sometimes embedding in one another; sometimes perforating one another; an arrangement which leaves to each its liberty, and its full play; this must necessarily require meditation and council. Dr. Nienentyt, in the Leipsic Transaction, reckons up a hundred muscles that are employed every time we breathe: yet we take in, or let out, our breath without reflecting what a work is hereby performed—what an apparatus is laid in of instruments for the service, and how many such contribute their assistance to the effect. Breathing with ease is a blessing of every moment; yet of all others, it is that which we possess with the least consciousness.”—Buck. “The human body is ever changing, ever abiding; a temple always complete, and yet always under repair; a mansion which quite contents its possessor, and yet has its plans and its materials altered each moment; a machine which never stops working, and yet is taken to pieces in the one twinkling of an eye, and put together in the other; a cloth of gold to which the needle is ever adding on one side of a line, and from which the scissors are ever cutting away on the other. Yes: Life, like Penelope of old, is ever weaving and unweaving the same web, whilst her grim suitors, Disease and Death, watch for her halting; only for her is no Ulysses who will one day in triumph return.”—Dr. G. Wilson. Truly we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” 2. In his rational soul. That which thinks, feels, desires, resolves, we call the soul. The soul is wonderful in itself. We do not know what it is; we cannot apprehend it by any of the senses; it has neither shape nor size; it is a mystery. It is wonderful in its powers. How great and marvellous are its powers of memory, reflection, reasoning, anticipation, imagination, &c. And these powers are capable of endless development and increase. How fearfully and wonderfully are we made. 3. In the union of soul and body. How dissimilar they are; yet they are united! Man “is sure that he is distinct from the body, though joined to it, because he is one, and the body is not one, but a collection of many things. He feels, moreover, that he is distinct from it because he uses it; for what a man can use he is superior to. No one can mistake his body for himself. It is his, it is not he.… When two things which we see are united, they are united by some connection which we can understand. A chain or cable keeps a ship in its place. We lay a foundation of a building in the earth, and the building endures. But what is it that unites soul and body? how do they touch? how do they keep together? So far from its being wonderful that the body one day dies, how is it that it is made to live and move at all? how is it that it keeps from dying a single hour? “Again: the soul is in every part of the body. It is nowhere, yet everywhere. Since every part of his body belongs to him, a man’s self is in every part of his body. The hands and feet, the head and trunk, form one body under the presence of the soul within them. Unless the soul were in every part, they would not form one body; so that the soul is in every part, uniting it with every other, though it consists of no part at all.”—J. H. Newman. This seems contradictory, yet it is true. How mysterious is our being! How fearfully and wonderfully we are made! III. Because man is a wonderful creation of God he should celebrate the praise of his Creator. “I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Man as a creation of God presents many and remarkable illustrations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of his Creator, and these should excite his wonder, admiration, gratitude, and praise. The highest praise we can offer to our Creator is to fulfil His design in our creation. He who most completely embodies and most clearly expresses the will of God presents to Him the truest and highest worship. Psalms 139:1-16 may be taken as the text of one homily and its teachings developed under an arrangement of this kind:— I. The Statement of God’s perfect knowledge of man (Psalms 139:1-6). II. The Proof of God’s perfect knowledge of man. This is drawn from— 1. His Omnipresence (Psalms 139:7-12); 2. His Creatorship (Psalms 139:13-16). III. The Effect of this knowledge upon the godly man. 1. A deep impression of intellectual limitation (Psalms 139:6); 2. An inspiration to celebrate His praise (Psalms 139:14). IV. The Practical uses of this great truth. THE AND NUMBER OF GOD’S (Psalms 139:17-18) In forming so wonderful a being as man there must have been much thought. Many thoughts and deep are embodied in man. Yet man is only a small portion of the creation of God. Looking at the universe as an embodiment of Divine ideas, we are almost overwhelmed at the number, profundity, and preciousness of God’s thoughts. The thoughts of a being indicate his character. “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” But in order to be known, thoughts must be expressed. Men express their thoughts by means of speech, writing, and action. Action is embodied thought. God has unfolded some of His thoughts. What a revelation of wisdom, goodness, beauty we have in the universe! God’s thoughts in relation to the human race as sinners are expressed in the Bible. Jesus Christ is a Revelation and Revealer of the thoughts of God. What purity, tenderness, love, righteousness, majesty shine forth in Him! David rejoiced in God’s thoughts. We have more of His thoughts and more precious ones than David had; how much more then should we rejoice! Consider— I. The preciousness of God’s thoughts. “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God.” God’s thoughts are precious— 1. Because of their originality. If a man be the originator of some new and useful process or machine, or the author of a clever or able book, he is honoured as a genius and a benefactor of the race. But absolute originality is not in man. The most original thinkers can only make new groupings of old ideas, or bring old thoughts into new associations and applications. But God’s thoughts are absolutely original. The astonishing ideas of the moral restoration of man and the mode of effecting it are God’s own original thoughts. There is originality in God’s thoughts in nature, in the superintendence of human affairs, and in the great redemptive plan and work. 2. Because of their moral excellence. Distinguish between great thoughts and good ones. The devil is a great thinker, but his thoughts are not precious. Thoughts must be good to be precious. God’s thoughts combine the highest intellectual power with supreme moral excellence. All the ideas of the Divine Mind that have been revealed are perfectly true, righteous, and beautiful. 3. Because of their practicableness and utility. Amongst men there are many original and morally excellent thinkers whose ideas are utterly impracticable—they will not work. But God’s thoughts are all practicable. See this in nature, in history, in redemption. Ultimately His every plan will be fully developed, His every thought perfectly embodied. His ideas are useful in themselves, and they stimulate others to usefulness. They arouse men to thought and action. 4. Because of their influence upon our thoughts. God’s thoughts quicken ours. See how His thoughts in the Bible have stimulated the minds of men. Poets and artists have obtained from it their grandest subjects and their mightiest and holiest inspirations. Nature and the Bible are of exhaustless significance. They are replete with germs of thought. God’s thoughts correct ours. Without the thoughts of God ours would be wild, chaotic, conflicting. Our ideas of God, the soul, truth, &c., are regulated by the revealed thoughts of God. 5. Because of their generosity. Forgiveness for the guilty, holiness for the depraved, rest for the weary—these are some of His thoughts. “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil.” “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” II. The number of God’s thoughts. “How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.” Many of His thoughts are revealed, and we see them. Many others may be revealed, but we have not yet the capacity to perceive them. And many more may be revealed by Him in the future. His mind is infinite, ever active, ever productive, ever revealing. His thoughts are not only multitudinous in number, but profound in meaning. In our present state we have neither the time, the facilities, nor the capacity fully to number and comprehend the thoughts of God. But in the future, with quickened faculties, increased facilities, and everlasting existence, some of the great thoughts of God will probably be perceived in their completeness by us. “Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face,” &c. If one of God’s ideas is so precious as that of redemption is, how infinitely valuable must be the whole of His thoughts! “Many, O Lord my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward,” &c. III. The realisation of God’s presence. “When I awake, I am still with Thee.” “As often as he awakes from sleep, he finds that he is again in the presence of God, again occupied with thoughts of God, again meditating afresh with new wonder and admiration on His wisdom and goodness.”—Perowne. The poet had an abiding sense of the presence of God with him, which was a comfort, and refreshment, and strength to his soul. .— 1. Endeavour to understand God’s thoughts. Examine them, meditate upon them as you find them in nature, the Bible, and Christ. 2. Rejoice in the preciousness of God’s thoughts. Rejoice in them notwithstanding that many of them are mysterious, and perhaps even painful at present. David said, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,” &c. Yet he rejoiced. His thoughts may be too great for us, yet they are all wise and kind. Think of a few of His thoughts. Here is one of His thoughts for the guilty: “Let the wicked forsake his way,” &c. (Isaiah 55:7). For the suffering: “Our light affliction which is but for a moment,” &c. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). For the perplexed: “In all thy ways acknowledge Him,” &c. (Proverbs 3:6). For the bereaved: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,” &c. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14). 3. Seek to become embodiments of God’s thoughts. Live them. THE POET’S VIEW OF THE WICKED(Psalms 139:19-22) “How strangely abrupt,” remarks Perowne, “is the turning aside from one of the sublimest contemplations to be found anywhere in the Bible, to express a hope that righteous vengeance will overtake the wicked. Such a passage is startling—startling partly because the spirit of the New Testament is so different; partly too, no doubt, because ‘our modern civilisation has been so schooled in amenities’ that we hardly know what is meant by a righteous indignation. It is well, however, to notice the fact, for this is just one of those passages which help us to understand the education of the world. Just because it startles us is it so instructive. The 63d Psalm presents us with a similar contrast. There, however, the feeling expressed is of a more directly personal kind. David is encompassed and hard pressed by enemies who are threatening his life. He has been driven from his throne by rebels, and the deep sense of wrong makes him burst forth in the strain of indignation and of anticipated victory. ‘They that seek my life to destroy it shall be cast into the pit,’ &c. Here, apparently, the prayer for the overthrow of the wicked does not arise from a sense of wrong and personal danger, but from the intense hatred of wickedness as wickedness, from the deep conviction that, if hateful to a true-hearted man, it must be still more intensely hateful to Him who searcheth the hearts and trieth the reins. The soul, in the immediate presence of God, places itself on the side of God, against all that is opposed to Him. Still, the prayer, ‘Oh that Thou wouldest slay the wicked,’ can never be a Christian prayer.” I. The character of the wicked described. They are—1. Cruel. “Bloody men.” Perowne: “Bloodthirsty men.” (Comp. Psalms 5:6; Psalms 26:9; Psalms 55:23.) 2. Rebellious. “They speak against Thee wickedly.… Those that rise up against Thee.” Wicked men rebel against the most righteous and benevolent authority. 3. Enemies of God. “Them that hate Thee.” It is a terrible thing to hate a Being of infinite wisdom and truth, righteousness and love. Men may, and sometimes do, grow so wicked that they hate the God whose holy law condemns them. II. The end of the wicked predicted. “Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.” We may interpret this in three ways. 1. As expressing the assurance of the Psalmist that God would destroy the wicked, that he would “slay” them, bring them to an utter end. Or, 2. As expressing the assurance of the Psalmist that God would severely punish the wicked. He might perhaps have used the word “slay” figuratively, to denote the punishment which would be inflicted on cruel and rebellious haters of the Lord. Or, 3. May we not say that God will “slay the wicked” by slaying their wickedness? You destroy an enemy when you make him your friend. “He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet.” III. The companionship of the wicked avoided. “Depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.” The Psalmist seeks to separate himself from the workers of iniquity. He is moved to this by— 1. Desire for his own safety. Dark and threatening are the prospects of evildoers, and therefore David shunned association with them (Psalms 139:19). 2. Sympathy with God. “Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee?” &c. The man who sincerely loves God will find the society of the wicked repugnant to him. 3. The influence of divergent characters. “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?” .—“Let the wicked forsake his way,” &c. (Isaiah 55:7). “As I live, saith the Lord God,” &c. (Ezekiel 33:11). A PRAYER OF THE UPRIGHT(Psalms 139:23-24) We have here— I. A request for Divine examination. “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.” This request implies— 1. Consciousness of sincerity. It is not the request of one who was ignorant of his true character and inflated with presumption, but of one who was conscious of his freedom from hypocrisy and of his integrity of heart. To make an appeal like this unto the great Searcher of hearts a man must be thoroughly conscious of his own sincerity, or must have fallen very low indeed. 2. Distrust of self. David felt his liability to error, and to self-deception, and therefore he appealed to the Omniscient and the Infallible. 3. Confidence in God. We would not that our heart should be completely exposed, that all our thoughts should be fully revealed even to our most trusted friend. “That man,” says Calvin, “must have a rare confidence who offers himself so boldly to the scrutiny of God’s righteous judgment.” There are many things we would not disclose to any fellow-creature, and yet we are thankful that God knows them. This thought is beautifully expressed in Keble’s Hymn for the “Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity.” II. A desire for entire freedom from evil. This seems to be implied in the request, “and see if there be any wicked way in me.” The poet was not aware of any wicked way in him. But if any evil tendency or way had escaped his scrutiny, it could not escape that of God. And if God discovered such, the clearly implied desire of the Psalmist was that he might be delivered from it. “Any wicked way.” Margin: “Way of pain or grief.” “The way of pain is the way which leads to pain.” The wicked man causes pain. Fürst says that the idea here is the way of “affliction, injury which one causes.” The wicked man suffers pain. “The way of transgressors is hard.” David wishes to be free from every evil way. One unguarded entrance to the beleagured city may admit the invading hosts; one wicked way may ruin a soul. III. A request for Divine guidance in the way of righteousness. “Lead me in the way everlasting.” “The one true abiding way which leads to the true and everlasting God.” “The way which leads to everlasting life.” “The way which leads to the blessed eternity.” “The way everlasting” is in contrast to “the way of pain.” The one leads to misery; the other leads to joy. Here are two points— 1. Man’s need of guidance. David felt this. We are exposed to temptation, prone to go astray, &c. 2. Man’s infallible Guide. David sought the Divine lead. The Lord is perfectly acquainted with both the traveller and the way. “Lead us, O Father, in the paths of right;Blindly we stumble when we walk alone,Involved in shadows of a darksome night,Only with Thee we journey safely on.“Lead us, O Father, to Thy heavenly rest,However rough and steep the path may be,Through joy or sorrow, as Thou deemest best,Until our lives are perfected in Thee.”—W. H. Burleigh.A NEEDFUL PRAYER(Psalms 139:23-24) This is a very honest prayer—a very practical prayer. The text before us is a very personal text. “Search me, O God, and know my heart,” &c. We will consider— I. The need there is for such a prayer as this. You have not to travel far to find out the need for such a prayer. You have but to look within,—to consider the motives and the thoughts and the desires and the purposes which are continually working within your own hearts, and you will find out, if you be honest, the need for such a prayer as this. There may be some amongst you who know that you are cherishing sin in the heart, and who have no desire to part with it. Does not that prove the necessity for such a prayer as this, that God would search your heart, and make you so feel your need of repentance and of a Saviour that you might forsake that sin this very night? But the prayer is rather the prayer of a true servant of God. There may exist in the heart of a genuine Christian much undetected evil. A conviction of the omniscience and omnipresence of God is quite consistent with the presence of evil in the heart. We have no grander description of those great attributes of Jehovah than in this Psalm; and yet the Psalmist recognised the possibility that evil was lurking within. A conviction of the evil of sin, a deep abhorrence of iniquity, is quite consistent with the presence of evil in the soul.… Again, a deep sense of our acceptance in Christ, of our reconciliation to God, of our pardon, and of our blessedness in Christ, is consistent with the presence of evil in the heart. Our acceptance in Christ does not destroy the old nature. That nature remains, and shall be destroyed, but not yet. Once more. We may say also, that an earnest purpose and determination to get rid of all evil is consistent with its presence. The man of God longs for the complete deliverance which shall be the perfect answer to the prayer before us. There is need, then, for such a prayer as this. II. The manner in which such a prayer as this receives its answer. Let us be well assured that God knows the heart. But the question is, How does God make that known to us which is known so perfectly to Him? How does God search the heart? Take an illustration. After David’s great fall, sin certainly was in his heart. For months, apparently, he lived without confession and without forgiveness.… (See 2 Samuel 12:1-14.) “Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God.” It was God’s authoritative word that brought conviction,—which revealed and detected the evil. David confessed his sin, was pardoned, and restored. Peter denied his Lord, &c. “And Peter remembered the word,” &c. (Matthew 26:75). That word searched him, and he went forth and wept bitterly. The Word, then, is that instrument which the Lord God uses to search the depths of the human heart; and bringing home that Word by the power of the Spirit, He reveals the sinner to himself, and so teaches him his need of repentance. There is no one present who has not a history. There are facts in every life, perhaps, which we would not tell to those nearest and dearest to us. There have been sins cherished in the heart, if not practised in the life. There are secrets unrevealed, scarcely, perhaps, remembered, seldom dwelt upon; but there is a history in each one of us. Now, the Word of God has a wonderful power of fastening upon some critical point in that history, so as to detect the evil—to lay bare the secret—to drag it out, as it were, into light, and, letting the light of truth shine in upon it, to lead the man to know himself. Take, for example, the secret of sin. Illustration: Our Lord and the woman of Samaria (John 4:1-42). Or, again, a case the very opposite to the woman of Samaria, a man upright, moral, devout, religious, learned, admired, honoured, respected. You have it in Nicodemus; and how does the Lord meet that man’s conscience? (John 3:1-13). Or one who was wedded to one particular idol, though all the rest of his life was fair and good and upright (Matthew 19:16-22). And would you have an example of one who was upright, who feared God, and who eschewed evil, and who yet was brought to confess that he was a grievous sinner? You have it in the well-known case of the patriarch Job.… And how are those convictions wrought? By the suspicious silence of his friends? No. By the blunt and open charges of those same friends? No. By the wiser counsel and the more truthful accusations of Elihu? No; but by the solemn word of Jehovah, &c. (Job 38-41). And what is the result? (Job 40:3-6; Job 42:5-6). There are probably few Christians present who do not feel the pointed application of these words to their own hearts. You know that there is evil lying within. What you want to know is how to get rid of that evil. You must get rid of the evil within by the application of the very same principle of faith as that by means of which you have become established in Christ. We are justified by faith; we are sanctified by faith in the Lord Jesus.—Sir Emilius Bayley. THE WICKED WAY WITHIN US, AND THE PRAYER (Psalms 139:24)—”See if there be any wicked way in me.” This a beautiful and impressive prayer for the commencement of every day. It is, also, a great sentiment to admonish us at the beginning or close of each day. “The law of sin in our members,” warring against the law of truth, of holiness, and of God, is still very powerful, and often very painfully exemplified. There is the way of unbelief within, to which we are very prone. There is the way of vanity and pride, to which we often accustom ourselves—vain of something in connection with the body, the accomplishments of the mind, &c. And then how frequently we show a proud and inflated spirit, instead of the temper of deep humility. There is the way of selfishness in which we frequently walk. We are sometimes quite absorbed in considerations which relate only to our personal advancement or happiness. There is the way of worldliness we often pursue. The empty pleasures, the shadowy honours, &c. There is the way of sluggishness, by which we are often marked, and in connection with which we are sadly injured. What apathy in prayer, in the examination and application of God’s Word, we manifest! There is the way of self-dependence, by which we often dishonour God and injure ourselves. There is not simple, unhesitating, unbroken reliance on the perfect work, the infinite merits of our Divine Redeemer always unfolded, which we are bound invariably to exercise. There is, unhappily, the way of disobedience in which we often walk. At any rate, our obedience is cold, reluctant, uncertain—not distinguished by its simplicity, its entireness, its fervency. Now, each of the “ways” to which reference has been made is radically unsound, radically bad,—to every one of which we are individually prone, and from which we require to be delivered. How necessary is it, then, to go to God at once, and, with the utmost earnestness, to prefer the petition, “Lord, see if there be any wicked way in me.” Anything dark to enlighten, anything erroneous to correct, anything injurious to remove, anything degrading to elevate, anything impure to cleanse, anything deadening to quicken. Let nothing that is wrong, that is opposed to Thy character, repugnant to Thy Word, or injurious and debasing to ourselves, remain, or be harboured within us. Can anything be more consistent than this? Anything be wiser than this? Can any prayer issue in a larger, richer, or more abiding blessing? Let us remember that if there be what is holy within, there will be nothing that is unholy without; if there be irregularity within, there must be irregularity and confusion without. If the heart be unsound, the life must inevitably be unsound also. Can you prefer, with the utmost sincerity, this fine prayer?—T. Wallace. “This Psalm is a prayer for protection against enemies who were at once violent and crafty, and unscrupulous in the use of their tongues. The general strain of the Psalm is like that of many which occur in the earlier books, and like them it is ascribed to David. In tone and language it resembles Psalms 58, 64. The chief peculiarity of the Psalm is, that it has several words which occur nowhere else.”—Perowne.In ascribing the Psalm to David, the superscription is confirmed by the Davidic style and spirit of the Psalm. The Psalm is addressed “To the chief musician,” which shows that it was intended to be set to music for use in the public services. The occasion on which it was composed is not known.TROUBLE IN LIFE, PRAYER IN TROUBLE, AND IN PRAYERI. Trouble in life. It is quite clear that the occasion on which the Psalm was written was one of trouble, and that this trouble arose from the enemies of the Psalmist. From what he says of them in the first part of the Psalm we have a clear idea of the character of his enemies. They were— 1. Malignant. “The evil man; … which imagine mischiefs in their heart; … the wicked.” Their hostility arose not from any misapprehension, but from malice; not from the suggestions or force of circumstances, but from their depraved souls. Many of the troubles of life spring from the mischievous devices of wicked hearts. 2. Confederate. “Continually are they gathered together for war.” They had banded themselves into an organisation for the accomplishment of their wicked designs. The archleader of the forces of evil aims at unity of design and effort in the great struggle against the right and true. 3. Slanderous. “They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips.” They invented and published malicious lies against the poet to ruin his reputation. The words of the slanderer are like the poison of the bite of the adder, which is among the most poisonous of serpents. The slanderous tongue is the virulent weapon of the malignant heart. 4. Violent. “Preserve me from the violent man.” They used not only the slanderous tongue, but the strong arm against the Psalmist. The tongue, the pen, and the sword have all been used at times against the people of God. The reviler, the controversialist, and the persecutor have set themselves against the Church of God. 5. Determined. “Who have purposed to overthrow my goings.” Their evil thoughts and feelings had led to the formation of an evil design. Their attempted injuries to the poet were the expression of their firm determination to effect his ruin. Men sin not only through weakness, but by settled purpose. There are men who “do evil with both hands earnestly.” 6. Proud. “The proud have hid a snare for me.” They were haughty and arrogant, “conceited of themselves and confident of their success; and herein they resemble Satan, whose reigning ruining sin was pride. The pride of persecutors, though at present it be the terror, yet may be the encouragement of the persecuted, for the more haughty they are the faster are they ripening for ruin. ‘Pride goes before destruction.’ ” 7. Cunning. “The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me.” They employed fraud against him as well as force. They not only made open war against him, but they plotted and schemed to overthrow him suddenly and unawares. “Great persecutors have often been great politicians, which has indeed made them the more formidable.” Such is the description which David here gives of his foes. We cannot wonder that they troubled his life. The good man is still troubled in his life upon earth by outward enemies and inward fears, by bodily sufferings and mental distresses, by social trials and spiritual conflicts. “In the world ye have tribulation.” II. Prayer in trouble. The Psalmist prays for— 1. Preservation from his enemies. “Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man; keep me from the hands of the wicked.” His enemies were endeavouring to blast his reputation, to rob him of his throne, and to take away his life; he knew their malice and cunning and power, and his own peril, and he entreated the Lord for deliverance and looked to Him for protection. Prayer is the great resource of the righteous in the troubles and perils of life. When every other refuge fails, there is safety at the throne of grace. He whom God protects is inviolably secure. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee,” &c. “God is our refuge and strength,” &c. The Psalmist prays for— 2. The overthrow of his enemies. He asks that this may be accomplished by (1.) The recoil of their evil designs. “As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.” His wish is that the mischief which they had designed against him might fall upon their own heads. The cruel and cowardly calumniator, the violent persecutor, and the crafty plotter of the overthrow of his fellow-men, will each find the injury which he has inflicted upon others falling with fury upon himself. There are many Hamans who to-day are building gallows for many Mordecais upon which they will be hung themselves. (2.) By the infliction of Divine judgments. “Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, that they rise not up again. Let not an evil-speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.” Instead of, “into deep pits,” Hengstenberg translates, “into water-floods,” and Perowne, “into floods of water.” We are by no means certain that a retaliative and sinful spirit did not give rise to the tenth verse. But it is inspiring to know that an evil-speaker shall not be established in the earth or anywhere else. A lie cannot live always. The slanderer builds on the sand, and his building shall fall into ruin upon the builder. “ ‘Evil shall hunt the violent man,’ as the blood-hound hunts the murderer to discover him, as the lion hunts his prey to tear it to pieces. Mischievous men will be brought to light, and brought to ruin; the destruction appointed shall run them down and overthrow them. ‘Evil pursues sinners.’ ”—M. Henry. III. Confidence in prayer. The prayer of David was neither the cry of despair nor the entreaty of doubt or fear, but a confident appeal to the Lord God. The confidence of the Psalmist was based upon— 1. His relation to God. “I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God.” In the time of trouble, when we approach God in prayer, it is most inspiring to be able to claim personal relationship to Him, and to cling to Him by faith. If He is “my God,” He will not leave me to the might and malice of my foes. 2. His ideas of God. “O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation.” His appeal is to Jehovah Adonai. Jehovah is the Self-Existent One; Adonai is the Supreme Ruler, the Governor of all things and all beings. The possession of an interest in such a Being may well inspire confidence. So the Psalmist looks to Him as the strength of his salvation. “Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid; for the Lord Jehovah is my strength,” &c. 3. His experience of the protection of God. “Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.” As the helmet shields the head (that vital part) amid the perils of the battle-field, so God had guarded him from the assaults of his enemies. The experience we have had of God’s protecting care in the past should inspire us with confidence in the present, and with hope for the future. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear.” He is “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” 4. His faith in the righteous rule of God. “I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, the right of the poor. Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto Thy name; the upright shall dwell in Thy presence.” The Psalmist was convinced that the government of God was opposed to wicked oppressors. God is the Champion of His oppressed people. He will vindicate their cause, and give them abundant reason to offer unto Him grateful praise. The wicked shall shrink in dismay from His frown; but the upright shall dwell in His presence, and rejoice in His favour. (Comp. Psalms 11:7; Psalms 16:11; Psalms 61:7.) A faith like this in the government of God is one of the truest and greatest supports of man amid the trials and difficulties of life. .—Learn,— 1. That the true and good are sometimes exposed to severe trials and extreme perils. 2. That the true and good have no adequate reason for fear at any time. 3. That the resources of the true and good are more than adequate to every trial and peril. Their security is guaranteed by ONE who is infinite in wisdom, almighty in power, and unchangeable in truth. THE DAY OF BATTLE AND THE OF GOD(Psalms 140:7) Consider:— I. The period spoken of. “The day of battle.” Heb. lit. “armour,” as in 1 Kings 10:25; 2 Kings 10:2; Ezekiel 39:9-10. “ ‘The day of armour’ is not the day of preparation for battle, but the day on which the armour is carried for the battle, consequently the day of battle.”—Moll. David had been in many battles; he was well acquainted with their toils and dangers, their excitements and horrors. But let us notice— 1. What the battle implies. (1.) Enemies. The Psalmist had many foes; and they were bitter and violent, crafty and combined, in their hostility to him. The godly soul has to contend against “the world, the flesh, and the devil”—against evil in society (John 15:18-21; 1 John 3:13; 1 John 4:4-5; 1 John 5:4-5), in our own nature (Romans 7:21-23; Galatians 5:7), and in malignant spirits (Ephesians 6:10-18; 1 Peter 5:8). Our enemies are many, subtle, and strong. (2.) Peril. The field of battle is a scene of danger. The day of moral battle has its perils. The godly soul may be injured. There is danger that we may yield to the subtle suggestions, or be overpowered by the vigorous onslaughts of our foes. Good men have received injury in this battle; e.g., Moses and Aaron (Numbers 20:12); David (2 Samuel 11; 2 Samuel 12:7-12; Peter (Matthew 26:69-75). Few, if indeed any, come out of this battle without some wounds or scars. (3.) Effort. There is no battle without strenuous exertion. The godly soul has to resist the attacks of his enemies; to watch and ward that he be not surprised by his foes, and to endeavour to overcome them. We have to act not only on the defensive, but on the offensive; not only to guard ourselves, but to conquer the world for Jesus Christ. The maintenance and growth of the Christian life cannot be attained by merely wearing the uniform and carrying the weapons of a soldier, or by appearing in the army on review days only. We must fight if we would conquer; we must fight if we would not sustain defeat. 2. How long the battle lasts. “The day of battle.” The conflict is only for a brief season. It is severe, but short. “The strife will not be long;This day the noise of battle,The next the victor’s song.”The battle is but for a day; the triumph is eternal. Therefore, Christian soldier, fear not, faint not. “Fight the good fight of faith,” &c. II. The protection acknowledged. “O Jehovah Lord, the strength of my salvation, Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.” God had defended David in many battles, kept him in safety amidst many perils. Gratefully and hopefully he calls this protection to mind in his present dangers. 1. Protection of a vital part. “Thou hast covered my head,” i.e., as with a helmet. (Comp. Psalms 60:7.) In the battle of life we may suffer in many things, but our vital interests are safe: we may be wounded, but we shall not be slain: we may suffer loss, but we shall not fall a prey to our adversaries. 2. Protection by an all-sufficient Being. “Jehovah, the Lord, the strength of my salvation.” Here is a Being of— (1.) Independent existence. “Jehovah,” the Self-Existing, the Permanent, the Everlasting. He ever lives to guard and save His people. (2.) Sovereign authority. “The Lord,” the Supreme Governor. “His kingdom ruleth over all.” (3.) Saving power. “The strength of my salvation.” He is “mighty to save.” III. The encouragement to be deduced. 1. To trust in Him for protection. What He has done is an earnest of what He will yet do. David was accustomed to argue from the past to the future. “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion,” &c. (1 Samuel 17:37). “Because Thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of Thy wings will I rejoice.” He who has protected us in the past still lives, still He is sovereign in authority, and still He is strong to save, therefore let us trust Him. 2. To pray to Him for protection. The Lord will “be inquired of by the house of Israel to do for them.” Sincere and believing prayer is a Divinely-appointed condition of blessing. Let His protection in past times inspire our petitions in the present. “Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.” Let our own experience stimulate and strengthen our confidence in Him and our prayers to Him as the God of our salvation. “This Psalm presents,” says Perowne, “some peculiar difficulties of Interpretation, which, however, are due neither to the words employed nor to the grammatical construction, but to the extreme abruptness with which in Psalms 141:6-7 the thoughts follow one another, and the extreme obscurity which hangs over the allusions. To translate each sentence by itself is no difficult matter, but it is almost hopeless either to link the sentences plausibly together, or to discover in them any tangible clue to the circumstances in which the Psalmist was placed. As all the ancient versions must have had substantially the same text, the deviations in any of them being very slight, it is hardly probable that, as Olshausen and Hupfield maintain, the text is corrupt: it is more likely that our entire ignorance of the circumstances under which the Psalm was written prevents our piercing the obscurity of the writer’s words.“It has been usual to accept the inscription which assigns the Psalm to David, and to assign it to the time of his persecution by Saul. Psalms 141:5 has generally been supposed to allude to David’s generous conduct in sparing the life of his foe when he was in his power (see 1 Samuel 24); but it is quite impossible on this supposition to give any plausible interpretation to Psalms 141:7.“Delitzsch, with more probability, refers the Psalm to the time of Absalom’s rebellion. He sees an allusion to David’s distance from the sanctuary and the worship of the sanctuary in Psalms 141:2, and he explains Psalms 141:6 of the punishment which shall overtake the rebel leaders, and the return of the people to their allegiance.”It is unmistakably clear from Psalms 141:7-10 that the Psalm was written at a time of trial and peril. And it brings before our notice—THE CONDUCT OF A GOOD MAN IN A TIME OF TRIALWe can trace in this Psalm with considerable clearness the spiritual mood and exercises of the Psalmist in this time of trouble and danger. We have here— I. Earnest prayer. In his distress David lifted up his voice and his heart to God in prayer. He asks— 1. For Divine audience. “Give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto Thee.” Not even the whisper of sincere prayer escapes the ear of God; yet it is becoming in us humbly to entreat Him to hear favourably our prayers. Our asking tends to strengthen our faith in His hearing. 2. For Divine acceptance. “Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.” “The sacrifice here meant,” says Perowne, “is strictly the offering consisting of fine flour with oil and frankincense, or of unleavened cakes mingled with oil, which was burnt upon the altar (Heb. minchah, E. V. ‘meat-offering:’ see Leviticus 2:1-11). This, however, like the ‘incense,’ was only added to the burnt-offering, the lamb which was offered every morning and evening (Exodus 29:34-42; Numbers 28:3-8). It would seem, therefore, that these two, ‘the incense’ and ‘the offering of fine flour,’ &c., stand for the morning and evening sacrifice; and the sense is, ‘Let my daily prayer be acceptable to Thee as are the daily sacrifices of Thine own appointment.’ “The incense which ascended in a fragrant cloud was a symbol of acceptable prayer. And the lifting up of the hands was a symbol of the lifting up of the heart. The poet offered his heart to God in prayer. And he asks that his prayer may find acceptance with God. 3. For speedy Divine assistance. “Lord, I cry unto Thee, make haste unto me.” The burden of his trouble was heavy, and his peril was imminent and his need urgent; therefore he entreats God to appear quickly for his help. 4. For preservation from sinful speech. “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.” He asks to be kept from the utterance of foolish or bitter words in his time of trial. (See the Hom. Com. on Psalms 39:1.) 5. For preservation from sinful conduct. “Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity; and let me not eat of their dainties.” Not for one moment can we entertain the idea that God ever exerts any positive influence to induce men to sin. His holy nature, His revealed will, and all His arrangements are utterly opposed to such an idea. The prayer of the Psalmist is in effect that God would not leave him to himself to go astray, or to any evil influence that would lead him astray. He seeks preservation from (1) sinful practices, that God would keep him from the wicked doings of the workers of iniquity. And from (2) sinful pleasures, that God would keep him from the easy, luxurious, sensual life of the wicked who have their portion in this world, that he may “not eat of their dainties.” Two points are worthy of notice here— First: This sense of dependence on God, which the Psalmist manifested, would ensure his safety. “They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” Second: In thus taking his trouble to God by prayer the Psalmist would find relief. The mere utterance of our anxieties or griefs to a Being of perfect love and faithfulness affords us relief. The exercise of prayer to God is itself a helpful and blessed thing. II. Noble resolutions. David expresses his resolution— 1. To welcome the rebukes of the righteous. “Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head.” Perowne more correctly translates thus: “It shall be as oil upon (my) head, let not my head refuse (it).” The rebuke of the righteous may be painful, but it promotes our well-being. The pain which it causes is, like that which is inflicted by the knife in the hand of the skilful surgeon, for the good of the sufferer. The true friend who, because of his regard for us, faithfully reproves us when we are in fault, is a great blessing. And the man who, like David, is wise and good will welcome his reproofs with joy, though they are painful. He will not only not refuse them, but will receive them as the oil which was poured on the head on festive occasions, “the oil of gladness.” “Faithful are the wounds of a friend.” “It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.” 2. To defend himself by prayer against his adversaries. It appears to us that our translation of the last line of Psa 141:5 does not give the true meaning. Hengstenberg renders it:” If still, then, I shall pray against their wickedness.” And Perowne: “For yet is my prayer against their wickedness.” The idea seems to be that he would have recourse to prayer as the best defence against the wickedness of his persecutors. He would not seek to retaliate upon them, or meet their wickedness towards him with wickedness towards them, but he would commit his cause unto the Lord in prayer. Surely these resolutions indicate a true and great soul. III. Confident expectation. The Psalmist expresses his assured hope of deliverance from peril and of the triumph of his cause. His statement of his expectation presents three points:— 1. That the chief men among his enemies would be overthrown, and that their overthrow would promote his triumph. “When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.” Perowne: “This verse, difficult in itself, is still more difficult, because it has no very obvious connection either with what precedes or with what follows. The allusions are so obscure that it is impossible to do more than guess at their meaning.” The interpretation which he proceeds to suggest seems to us the most probable. “(When) their judges have been hurled down the sides of the rock, then they shall hear my words that they are sweet.” Their judges must be the rulers or princes of the wicked adversaries of the poet. The verb hurled down is the same which is used of the throwing down of Jezebel from the window (2 Kings 9:33); and it indicates a punishment which David anticipates will be inflicted upon these rebel rulers (see 2 Chronicles 25:12). The words they shall hear refer not to the judges, but to their followers who have been led astray by them. If the Psalm refers to the rebellion of Absalom or any similar occasion, the sense will be, “when the leaders in the insurrection meet with the fate they deserve, then the subjects of the king will return to their allegiance.” And the expression, “they shall hear my words that they are sweet,” would be a thoroughly oriental mode of describing the satisfaction with which they would welcome the gracious amnesty pronounced by their offended sovereign. 2. That his present sufferings would promote his triumph. “Our bones are scattered at the grave’s mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.” The explanation of this verse also is difficult. It seems quite clear that the supplying of the word “wood” as the object of the verb, as in the A. V., is both unnecessary and misleading. Perowne translates: “As when one furroweth the earth (with the plough), our bones have been scattered at the mouth of the grave.” The interpretation of Delitzsch and Hengstenberg seems to us correct. It is thus stated by the latter: “As in ploughing the tearing up of the earth is not the ultimate design, but only the means of a fruitful result, only serves the purpose of making the earth yield its produce; therefore, with an equally beneficent design, or in order that, through the present injury, new life may arise, our bones also are scattered about. While the enemies are conducted from life to death (Psalms 141:6), we are conducted from death to life.” The sufferings of the present were as the seed from which would grow a plenteous harvest of prosperity and joy. This truth is taught frequently and clearly in the New Testament (Romans 5:3-5; James 1:2-3). 3. That his confidence was reposed in God. “But mine eyes are unto Thee, O God the Lord; in Thee is my trust.” His expectation of deliverance and triumph was fixed in God,—not in the skill of his strategy, or the strength of his forces, but in Jehovah the Lord. The poet closes the Psalm as he began it, with— IV. Earnest prayer. He prays— 1. That he may be protected from his enemies. “Leave not my soul destitute. Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.” Here are three points:— (1.) His enemies had cunningly devised his overthrow. (2.) God was able to protect him against their deepest designs. (3.) For this protection he prays, in it he trusts. The all-wise and Almighty One will baffle the most subtle plots that are formed against His people. 2. That the designs of his enemies may be turned against themselves. “Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.” The sinner digs the pit for his own destruction, builds the prison for his own incarceration, collects the fuel for his own hell-fire. The blow which he aims against others recoils upon himself. “No law can be more just than that the architects of destruction should perish by their own contrivances.” (See the Hom. Com. on Psalms 140:9.) When the wicked are overthrown, like Pharaoh and his host, by the waters of that sea into which they have presumptuously and wickedly adventured, the righteous shall pass in safety and triumph unto the other side. THE OF GOD’S , AND THE RELIEF WHICH THE GOSPEL AFFORDS(Psalms 141:7-8) I. That God’s most favoured servants have often been exposed to the utmost extremity and danger. “Our bones are scattered,” &c. It is an expression denoting the extreme of suffering—hopeless calamity. When the prophet Ezekiel would express the overwhelming ruin under which Israel was sunk, he compares their case to a valley of dry bones, many, and exceeding dry; and explains the allegory thus—“Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost” (Ezekiel 37:11). A similar destitution of hope and happiness has often characterised God’s people. David was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains, whilst Saul was on the throne. Moses was a fugitive and outlaw from Egypt. Paul was in bonds, whilst Festus was on the bench. Job was on the dunghill. Those “of whom the world was not worthy were “destitute, afflicted, tormented.” Christ was a prisoner at the bar, whilst Herod, in royal apparel, sat on the judgment-seat. More remarkable still,—they who possessed miraculous powers could not employ them for the relief of their own wants. Peter’s shadow could heal the diseases of others; but he could not release himself from prison. But why is all this suffered? Certainly not from indifference to their interests; for He calls them His jewels, His children, His flock. Not from inability to help or save; for He hag all power in heaven and earth,—and He who conducts them to thrones of glory in the next world could equally enrich them with the treasures of this. 1. To lead the soul to God, in the immediate exercise of faith and dependence, for better treasure than the world can give. This was the immediate effect here: “Our bones are scattered; … but mine eyes are unto Thee.” God reveals Himself as the Refuge: He loves to be known and trusted under that character. He is never more present with His people than when the world forsakes. Nothing is more delightful than the view afforded by the Cross of Christ of the revealed character of God. Every creature has its refuge—some place of defence to which it can betake itself in the hour of threatening danger. The lion has its den; the hunted deer betakes itself to the running stream; the dove flies to the clefts of the rock, &c.; the good man turns to God. 2. To prove principle and purify character. These trials are necessary to prove grace and to improve it. “That the trial of your faith being much more precious,” &c. (1 Peter 1:7). God often chooses His people in the furnace of affliction, but always refines them in it. Whilst you are under affliction you are under a process of cure. The true thought is, that sin introduced suffering, but God, superior at all points to evil, employs suffering as an instrument by which sin may be destroyed in His own people. It is one means of fulfilling the prayer: “Keep me from the snares they have laid for me” (Psalms 141:9). 3. To prepare for greater usefulness here, and for endless happiness hereafter. II. That in the most hopeless circumstances the Gospel affords relief. 1. From the fact of Divine appointment. HE causes grief; not an enemy. They come not from the enemy of souls, but the Friend of sinners. The same hand that opens the fountain of our joys opens that of our sorrows too. God administers them. They are the signs of His lore. They shall not exceed the measure of your strength, nor be continued a moment longer than needful. 2. From the sympathy and compassion of Christ. 3. From the promises of the Gospel. 4. From the bright prospects of future glory. III. That in proportion to the happiness and safety of God’s children must be the misery and wretchedness of His enemies. Samuel Thodey. “A maschil of David,” ie., an instruction or a didactic poem by David. “A prayer when he was in the cave;” “That is,” says Barnes, “either a prayer which he composed while there, or which he composed afterwards, putting into a poetic form the substance of the prayer which he breathed forth there. The reference may be either to the cave of Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1), or to that in Engedi (1 Samuel 24:3). In both cases the circumstances were substantially the same, for David had fled to the cave to escape from Saul. It is a cry of distress when there was no refuge—no hope—but in God; when there seemed to be no way of escape from his enemies; and when, forsaken by his friends, and pursued by an enemy who sought his life, he seemed now to be in the power of his foe. It may also be used to express the feelings of one now in danger,—as of a sinner under condemnation, seeing no way of escape, exposed to ruin, and shut up entirely to the mercy of God. Such a one feels as David did on this occasion, that there can be no escape but through the interposition of God.”Many of the Psalms give utterance to the same feelings. Over and over again we have Psalms containing an expression of trouble, prayer for relief, and believing expectation of deliverance. With such similarity of sentiment, variety of homiletic treatment is very difficult, if the main points in each Psalm are to be indicated in such treatment. The chief characteristics of this Psalm—distress, prayer, and hope—we have met with repeatedly in our survey of this book.A PRAYER OF THE GODLY MAN FROM THE DEPTHS OF We have here:— I. A picture of deep distress. Several features of the distress of the poet are here set forth. 1. The persecution of his enemies. “In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.… Deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.” His enemies were (1) cunning. In his path they had hidden a snare for him, with a view to entrap and injure him. Their persecution was not open and manly, but secret and artful. Even in the path of his duty they had concealed their snares for his overthrow. They were (2) powerful. “My persecutors are stronger than I.” Saul and his emissaries are here referred to. They were more in number, better equipped, and better fitted for warfare than David and his party were. He felt that he was no match for his enemies. There were times in which David suffered the deepest dejection and distress of spirit by reason of the persecutions of Saul (1 Samuel 20:1; 1 Samuel 20:3; 1 Samuel 20:41-42; 1 Samuel 27:1). Of ourselves we are unable to cope successfully with the enemies of our spiritual life and interests. Our foes are too subtle and too strong for our unaided efforts; but, like David, we can seek help from on high. 2. The failure of human help. “I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would know me; refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.” These words are not to be taken as a literal description of the circumstances of David either in the cave of Adullam or in that of Engedi. The meaning is that there was no one to whom he could look for protection, no one on whom he could rely. Those who were with him were not able to protect him; those who were able to do so cared not for his life. Deep and painful was his sense of loneliness. He was in constant peril, yet of those who might perhaps have rendered him effectual aid none were concerned for him. There are times in the life of almost every man when he seems bereft of human sympathy and help. There are some cases in which man might render aid if he would, but he will not. There are others in which man would render aid if he could, but he cannot. There are needs to which only He who is both God and man can minister. 3. The depression of his outward circumstances and inward condition. In his outward circumstances he seems to have been greatly reduced. “I am brought very low.” And his spiritual state was that of deep distress. “My spirit is overwhelmed within me.” His outward condition was almost desperate, and the deep prostration of his spirit corresponded thereto. Darkness seemed to be settling down upon both his soul and his circumstances. Many a godly soul has passed through similar experiences. Darkness and trial to some extent fall to the lot of every good man in this life. It is well that it is so. The gloom of the night is as needful as the glory of the day. “Sweet are the uses of adversity.” II. A prayer of strong confidence. The Psalmist manifests his faith in—1. God’s accessibleness to him. “I cried unto the Lord with my voice; with my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before Him; I showed before Him my trouble.” The fact that he thus unfolded the tale of his woes to God, and entreated His mercy, is conclusive evidence that he believed that God may be approached by His creatures in prayer. 2. God’s interest in him. Unless the Psalmist had believed in God’s kind interest in him, he could not have poured out his complaint before Him as he does in this Psalm. God is both accessible to us and interested in us. “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.” “The Lord heareth the prayer of the righteous.” “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us.” “He careth for you.” 3. God’s knowledge of him. “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path.” The dangers that beset the poet and the troubles that distressed him were all known to God. The conviction of this must have been a source of unspeakable comfort and strength to David. This assurance was precious to the afflicted Patriarch of Uz. “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me I shall come forth as gold.” Be comforted, my distressed brother; the Lord knoweth thy path, He is watching over thee, He careth for thee, &c. 4. God’s protection of him. “I cried unto Thee, O Lord; I said, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” The Psalmist found security and comfort in the Lord, who was the source of his help and the God of his salvation. The Lord was his only refuge. There is a well-known picture of a large cross hewn out in the form of a rock standing in the midst of a wild and raging sea to which a struggling form clings with the tenacity of despair. Our Lord is that rock. The floods of this world’s strife and sorrow and pain may well-nigh overwhelm us, the seething waves of sin may lash wildly about us, but if we have found Him, He will be to us a sure refuge and rock of defence. God is the only sure refuge in the storms of life, and He is a refuge which is inviolably secure and ever available. 5. Upon this confidence in God the Psalmist bases his prayer to Him for deliverance. “Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name.” David seemed imprisoned by difficulties and dangers, encompassed with enemies, and unable to effect his escape, and he cried with well-founded confidence to God for emancipation. We know how glorious an answer he received to his prayer. God granted him complete deliverance and high distinction—translated him, in His own time and way, from the cave of the outlaw to the throne of the king. In this we have an illustration of the way in which He ever answers sincere and believing prayer. III. An anticipation of a happy issue of his distress. The poet anticipates— 1. That God would completely deliver him. “Thou shalt deal bountifully with me.” He anticipated not mere deliverance, but such a deliverance and such blessings as would result from the bountiful dealings of the gracious Lord. 2. That he would praise God. “That I may praise Thy name.” In the complete deliverance which he anticipated he would have occasion to praise the name of the Lord, and he would joyfully improve the occasion. The benefit of the salvation being his, its glory he would heartily ascribe to God. 3. That the righteous would rejoice in his deliverance. “The righteous shall compass me about, for Thou,” &c. David anticipated that the righteous would be encouraged by his salvation, and would resort unto him with gladness and with congratulations. Thus in his distress the poet anticipates complete and joyous deliverance,—a deliverance that shall awaken his own heart to glad and grateful praise, and call forth the congratulations of all the godly. .—Distress is a common experience in this life. But the resources of men when in distress greatly differ. There is but one true and adequate Refuge. To Him David turned in confidence, and found safety and relief. Let all distressed souls look to Him, and they shall not be disappointed. THE SORROWS OF THE SOUL AND THE OF GOD(Psalms 142:3) “When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then Thou knewest my path.” We have here— I. A figure indicating great sorrow. “My spirit was overwhelmed within me.” The expression sets forth the sorest distress. 1. Distress in that part of man’s nature where it is most severely felt. “My spirit.” “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” If the spirit be peaceful and blessed, if it be inspired by joy and hope, it enables man to triumph over the severest physical sufferings. Paul and Silas at Philippi, in the inner prison, with their feet fast in the stocks, and their backs torn and tortured by many stripes, rose superior to their circumstances and their sufferings, and caused the prison to resound with their songs of praise. Christian martyrs have exulted in the flames which were consuming their bodies. St. Stephen, who was stoned to death, “fell asleep.” Physically his death was a cruel and painful thing; but the faith and hope and vision which animated his spirit made his death a euthanasia. But who can rise above the sorrows of the soul? When the spirit suffers, the man himself suffers; when it is overwhelmed, the whole nature is overwhelmed. 2. Distress of the severest kind. “My spirit was overwhelmed.” Sorrow had submerged him. Great afflictions are frequently represented by the figure of overwhelming floods. “Deep calleth unto deep,” &c. (Psalms 42:7). “Let me be delivered out of the deep waters,” &c. (Psalms 69:14-15). “Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves” (Psalms 88:7). “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee,” &c. (Isaiah 43:2). Such sore distress sometimes befalls the servants of God. Great saints have great sorrows. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,” &c. (Hebrews 12:6-7). II. A fact affording great consolation. “Then Thou knewest my path.” All the painful and perilous wanderings of David were known to God. (Comp. Psalms 56:8.) 1. This fact may be abundantly confirmed. An infinite Being must know all things. Nothing is so great as to exceed His comprehension; nothing so small as to elude His notice. The Bible asserts God’s omniscience (2 Kings 19:27; Psalms 139:1-4; Hebrews 4:13). How strikingly our Lord declared God’s perfect knowledge of His people! (Matthew 6:32; Matthew 10:30.) The history of good men illustrates it. In the lives of Joseph and Moses, David and Daniel, Paul and John, how clearly does this truth shine forth,—“Thou knewest their path.” 2. This fact is very comprehensive. It implies much more than it expresses. The knowledge which is here affirmed implies approbation and guidance, protection and provision, kindness and care. Thus David Dickson says: “ ‘Thou knewest my path;’ that is, Thou approvedst my part, who was unjustly pursued.” And Charnocke: “This knowledge adds to the simple act of the understanding, the complacency and pleasure of the will. ‘The Lord knows who are His,’ that is, He loves them; He doth not only know them but acknowledge them for His own. It notes not only an exact understanding, but a special care of them.… On the contrary, also, whom God doth not approve, He is said not to know (Matthew 25:12), ‘I know you not,’ and (Matthew 7:23), ‘I never knew you;’ He doth not approve of their works. It is not an ignorance of understanding, but an ignorance of will; for while He saith He never knew them, He testifies that He did know them, in rendering the reason of His disapproving them, because’ He knows all their works: so He knows them, and doth not know them in a different manner: He knows them so as to understand them, but He doth not know them so as to love them.” “Thou knewest my path” implies, Thou didst approve and direct, sustain and secure, my way. 3. This fact is very consolatory. That it was so to David appears from our text, and from Psalms 56:8. It was so to the sorely-afflicted Job: “He knoweth the way that I take,” &c. (Job 23:10). Amid misrepresentation to be able to make our appeal to Him; amid persecution to be assured of His protection; amid sorrow of soul to know that we have His sympathy; in loneliness to realise His friendly presence,—these afford the richest consolation and the most effective help. To possess these is the privilege of every child of God. THE DUTY OF CARING FOR SOULS(Psalms 142:4) “No man cared for my soul.” Let us inquire— I. What it is to care for the souls of others. The care of the soul involves— 1. A deep and heartfelt conviction of its worth. The care of an object is generally in proportion to its value. The soul is spiritual in its nature, noble in its capacities, and eternal in its duration. 2. A deep and thorough sense of the danger to which it is exposed. We are not in the habit of caring for that which is invaluable if it is secure; but here is an object of inestimable worth exposed to danger the most imminent—to a destruction the most severe. 3. Tender solicitude for its welfare. Examples of tender solicitude for souls are not wanting in the inspired volume (Psalms 119:136; Jeremiah 9:1). But if we want to see true solicitude for souls, we must look for its manifestation in the conduct of Him who, when He beheld the city, wept over it, &c. 4. Zealous exertion for their salvation. If love to souls really exist, it will manifest itself in ardent and continued effort to diffuse the knowledge of Christ among men. In solemn warning, affectionate entreaty, earnest prayer, and liberal contribution. II. On whom this duty devolves. 1. It is incumbent on the heads of families. God holds them, to a certain extent, accountable for the souls under their care. 2. On all the members of the Church. Collectively and individually. To these is committed the evangelisation of the world. 3. Pre-eminently on ministers. The “care of souls” is the minister’s province. His studies in private, his discourses in public, his prayers, his visits, his time, his talents, ought all to be devoted to this object. III. The great evil of neglecting this duty. 1. It is cruel. A man would be considered cruel who saw one of the “beasts that perish” in danger, and did not attempt its rescue. He is cruel, who, having it in his power to relieve the necessitous, or save the perishing, does not do it. But the cruelty of the man who, knowing the danger of souls, does not care for them, is beyond expression. 2. It is ungrateful. If others had not cared for us, we must have perished. And shall we refuse to feel and labour for those who are now what we were once, and for whom the Saviour has, as well as for us, shed His own precious blood? 3. It is criminal. We cannot neglect the salvation of others and be innocent. Disobedience to God, and cruelty to men, are joined in neglecting to care for souls. 4. It is fatal. Fatal to those who are perishing, and fatal to those who have a name to live; fatal to all genuine piety, fatal to all ardent love to the Saviour’s cause, fatal to zealous exertions for others, but especially fatal to our own souls.—N. in Sketches of Sermons. Abridged. HUMAN AND DIVINE (Psalms 142:7) “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise Thy name.” We shall use these words to illustrate— I. Man’s imprisonment as a sinner. Man as a sinner is in bondage, oppressed with guilt, enslaved by carnal passions and evil habits; he is in “prison.” Now imprisonment implies— 1. The criminality of the prisoner. The prisoner is either awaiting his trial on a charge of crime, or enduring his punishment as a criminal. Man has sinned and is guilty before God. The voice of God, both in the Bible and in his own conscience, condemns him. 2. Deprivation to the prisoner. The prisoner is deprived of (1.) Liberty. He is confined by massive walls, strong bolts and bars, &c. The sinner is bound by the chain of his sins. (2.) Light. Darkness is almost entirely supreme in the prison cells. The soul which is dominated by sin is blind to the beautiful light of the spiritual universe: its “understanding is darkened.” (3.) Society. The prisoner is secluded from society. The unrenewed soul is a stranger to the highest fellowship; he is self-exiled from the society of true and holy souls. The imprisonment of the soul is a far greater evil than that of the body. When the body is imprisoned, the soul may be free and joyous. When the bodies of Paul and Silas were in prison at Philippi with “their feet fast in the stocks,” their souls went forth in worship, &c. When the body of Bunyan was in Bedford jail, his soul went forth on that glorious pilgrimage to the celestial city. His body was in the jail, but his soul—himself—was in the interpreter’s house, and the house beautiful, on the delectable mountains, &c. “Stone walls do not a prison make,Nor iron bars a cage;Minds innocent and quiet takeThat for a hermitage.If I have freedom in my lore,And in my soul am free,Angels alone that soar aboveEnjoy such liberty.”—Lovelace.But the imprisonment of the soul is the imprisonment of the man himself. Death terminates the imprisonment of the body, if it is not terminated before. But death has no power to liberate the soul from the prison and the fetters of corrupt passions, sinful habits, &c. “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” II. Man’s emancipation by the Saviour. “Bring my soul out of prison.” This prayer implies— 1. A consciousness of the misery of imprisonment. This is the first step, and an essential step, to liberation. 2. A desire for emancipation. “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me?” &c. 3. A consciousness of inability to effect his own deliverance. Man is too completely and securely fettered to be able to liberate himself. He must feel this before he can obtain his freedom. 4. Confidence in the Lord Jesus as the great Emancipator. He was “anointed to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to the bound.” “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” III. Man’s praise to the Emancipator. “That I may praise Thy name.” 1. Imprisonment restrains true praise. Sin crushes the affections and aspirations of the soul towards God. 3. Emancipation gives occasion for praise. It would be such an expression of the goodness of God as would merit grateful and hearty acknowledgment. 3. Emancipation imparts inspiration to praise. The sense of freedom, the beauty of light, the pleasures of society, to which the liberated soul is introduced, will constitute an irresistible impulse to praise the Emancipator. This is the last of what are called the Seven Penitential Psalms. In the Hebrew it has the superscription, “A Psalm of David.” And in the Septuagint and the Vulgate there is added, “When Absalom, his son, pursued him.” Yet many expositors regard the Psalm as written in subsequent times, after the manner of David. Thus Delitzsch views it as “a later effort to copy after the Davidic Psalm-poetry.” And Moll doubts “whether such a poet as David would have so copied himself, as would be the case if the Davidic authorship were proved. One might pray in the same language, but would not repeat himself in different poems.” Perowne regards the Psalm as having been written after the exile. “The spirit and the language,” he says, “it is true, are not unworthy of David; yet the many passages borrowed from earlier Psalms make it more probable that this Psalm is the work of some later poet.” This objection loses sight of the fact that “there are many instances of repetitions in Psalms in the earlier portion of the Psalter, which are acknowledged to be those of David, and they do not occasion any difficulty.… At all events, the poem, even with the familiarity of its ideas, forms a complete whole, which is worthy of David, and which no critic need on that score hesitate to assign to him.” Alexander, Barnes, Hengstenberg, Henry, Wordsworth, and most English commentators, accept the Davidic authorship.“The Psalm,” says Perowne, “consists of two parts, each of which is of six verses, the conclusion of the first being marked by the Selah. The first portion contains the complaint (Psalms 143:1-6); the second, the prayer founded on that complaint (Psalms 143:7-12).”Homiletically we regard the Psalm as presenting to us The cry of a distressed servant of God (Psalms 143:1-6), and The prayer of a distressed servant of God (Psalms 143:7-12).THE CRY OF A SERVANT OF GOD(Psalms 143:1-6) In this cry of the troubled poet to the Lord, we have— I. A picture of great distress. “For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life,” &c. (Psalms 143:3-4). He was distressed by— 1. Malignant outward persecution. “The enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have long been dead.” “The Psalmist,” says Moll, “evidently means to say that his enemies are intent upon his utter destruction, and that he would remain without deliverance, unless God in mercy were to take up his defence.” With what terrible malignity and untiring persistence did Saul persecute David! And how bitterly David suffered from the rebellion of his son Absalom! (2 Samuel 15:30.) And the servants of God still suffer from without,—from the persecutions of the world (2 Timothy 3:12); from the treachery of those whom they had trusted, as David did from Ahithophel; from temporal losses, &c. “In the world ye have tribulation.” 2. Insupportable inward suffering. “Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.” Thus the poet expresses (1.) His sore sorrow. “My spirit is overwhelmed within me.” (See a sketch on Psalms 142:3 a.) (2.) His painful perplexity. “My heart within me is desolate,” “or rather, ‘is full of amazement,’ lit., ‘astonies itself;’ seeks to comprehend the mystery of its sufferings, and is ever beaten back upon itself in its perplexity: such is the full force of the reflexive conjugation here employed.”—Perowne. The mystery of suffering is to many minds, and those not the least noble, its most painful element. The experience of the poet was not a solitary or exceptional one. Good men are still liable to outward persecution and inward anguish; they still suffer both in their circumstances and in their souls. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you,” &c. “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,” &c. (Hebrews 12:5-11). II. An exercise indicating great wisdom. “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.” 1. The distinguished mental powers exercised. (1.) Recollection. “I remember the days of old.” The poet recalled the past; made it live again before his “mind’s eye.” (2.) Meditation. He reflected upon the scenes which recollection reproduced; and thus endeavoured to ascertain their significance, learn their lessons, &c. 2. The great subjects on which these mental powers were exercised. (1.) “The days of old.” What a wondrous volume is the past! How marvellous are its revelations! how instructive its contents! how wise its lessons! To this volume the poet turned his attention. (2.) The doings of God. “All Thy works, … the work of Thy hands.” How vast a theme for meditation is this! and how sublime? how fitted to inspire the soul with confidence and hope! (For a fuller treatment of the hints given under this head, see on Psalms 77:3-6; Psalms 77:11-12; vol. i., pp. 431–437.) Now, in all this the Psalmist seems to act with great wisdom. In turning his mind from the restless present to the calm past, and from the cruel doings of his enemies and the sore troubles of his heart to the glorious deeds of ancient date which God had done, he adopted a course calculated to calm his fears, strengthen his faith in God, arouse his courage, and inspire his hope. III. An appeal of great power. “Hear my prayer, O Lord; give ear to my supplications,” &c. This appeal is— 1. Directed to the best Being. “O Jehovah, hear my prayer,” &c. He never turns away His ear from the cry of the troubled heart; He is merciful and gracious; He is able to succour all suffering and needy souls; and “His love is as great as His power.” 2. For real blessings. He solicits from Jehovah— (1.) Acceptance of his prayer. “Hear my prayer, O Jehovah; give ear to my supplications: in Thy faithfulness answer me, and in Thy righteousness.” No utterance of man escapes the Divine ear. The Psalmist prays not for a mere hearing, but for a gracious audience, and a favourable answer to his appeal. (2.) Forgiveness of his sins. “And enter not into judgment with. Thy servant; for in Thy sight no man living is righteous.” The poet here manifests—(α) His consciousness of sin. “He traces his suffering to his sin: the malice of his enemies is the rod of God’s chastisement, calling him to repentance.” (β) His conviction of the Divine holiness. He who appears quite righteous before man, appears sinful before the infinite purity of God. “What is man, that he should be clean?” &c. (Job 15:14-16). “How can man be justified with God?” &c. (Job 25:4-6). (γ) His belief in the Divine judgment of man. “Enter not into judgment,” &c. “God shall bring every work into judgment,” &c. (δ) His earnest desire for Divine forgiveness. The petition that God would not enter into judgment with him implies his longing for mercy and pardon of his sins. Here is a need which is common to all men in this world. Our hope must ever be in the forbearing and forgiving mercy of God. (3.) Deliverance from his enemies and distresses. This, though not directly expressed in this section of the Psalm, is the great object of the Psalmist’s appeal to God. Such were the blessings which the distressed poet sought, &c. 3. Enforced by the strongest pleas. (1.) The sore need of the suppliant (Psalms 143:3-4). (2.) The relation sustained by the suppliant to God. “Thy servant.” The phrase, “Thy servant,” in Psalms 143:2, “is not a mere oriental circumlocution for the person speaking, and not merely a term of polite address,” as appears from the way in which it is used in Psalms 143:12. “The expression, ‘with Thy servant,’ contains,” says Hengstenberg, “the grounding of the prayer; with His servants God cannot go into judgment; He chastens them indeed, but He does not give them over to death.” (3.) The revealed character of God. “In Thy faithfulness answer me, and in Thy righteousness.” “The faithfulness of God,” says Moll, “is His faithfulness to His promises, or the truthfulness of His nature, in conformity with which everything that He has spoken or ordained is reliable and unchangeable. His righteousness is the corresponding course of action by which His ordinances are firmly established and fulfilled in the world, so that there is rendered to every man according to his works. God’s faithfulness and righteousness are thus assured, as in 1 John 1:9, and the repenting receive the forgiveness of their sins, but the impenitent, judgment.” This is the most powerful plea that we can use with God. He cannot be untrue to His promise or to His character. “He cannot deny Himself.” IV. A desire of great fervour. “I stretch forth my hands unto Thee; my soul thirsteth after Thee as a thirsty land.” Notice:— 1. The Object of his desire. “Unto Thee; … after Thee.” “Observe how he binds himself to God alone, cuts off every other hope from his soul, and, in short, makes his very need a chariot wherewith to mount up to God.” (On this and on the next point see on Psalms 42:1-2; Psalms 63:1; vol. i. pp. 206, 207, 314.) 2. The fervour of his desire. “I stretch forth my hands unto Thee,” “as the weary child stretches forth its hands to its mother, that on her bosom it may be hushed to rest.”—Perowne. “My soul thirsteth after Thee as a thirsty land.” “As a parched land,” says Hengstenberg, “stands related to the rain, so my soul to Thee, and to Thy salvation.” And Calvin: “In great heat we see the earth cracking and gaping, as though with open mouth she asked for the rain from heaven.” So fervently the soul of the poet craved the help and joy of the presence of God. .—Exhibit the Psalmist in this cry to God in his distress as an example to the servants of God in times of (1) severe spiritual suffering, and (2) tribulation from without. DIVINE (Psalms 143:2) Let us consider— I. The truths which are here implied. 1. That the Psalmist was conscious of sin. So far as his enemies were concerned he felt that they were persecuting him without cause; he was innocent in relation to them; but in relation to God he felt that he was not innocent. The persecutions of his enemies he regarded as the chastisement of God because of his sins. 2. That the Lord is the Judge of man. The poet regards Him as having authority to enter into judgment with His creatures. This truth is frequently expressed in the Psalms. “God is Judge Himself.” “God is the Judge; He putteth down one,” &c. “Lift up Thyself, Thou Judge of the earth,” &c. “The Lord will judge His people,” &c. 3. That the Lord is a righteous Judge. He cannot pass by unrepented sin. If sin be not forgiven and forsaken, He will visit with His judgments because of it, and His judgments are true and righteous. “He shall judge the world in righteousness; He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.” “He shall judge the people righteously.” “He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth.” II. The petition which is here offered. “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant.” This is a petition for— 1. Forbearing mercy. It is a request that God will not call him to render a strict account for his offences against Him. “If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” We need the forbearance of God, because of our imperfections, omissions, and transgressions. 2. Forgiving mercy. Though not directly expressed, this is sought by implication in this petition. Even a faithful servant of the Lord needs the forgiveness of sins arising from remaining depravity and moral weakness. And it is an encouragement to know that “there is forgiveness with Him; … with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption.” “He will abundantly pardon.” Freely, graciously, and completely He forgives all those who in sincere penitence seek Him. III. The reasons which are her urged. “With Thy servant; for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified.” Perowne more correctly translates: “For before Thee no man living is righteous.” Here are two pleas by which the Psalmist strengthens his petition— 1. The universal sinfulness of man. “Before Thee no man living is righteous.” “No one of the race, no matter what his rank, his outward conduct, his gentleness, his amiableness, his kindness—no matter how just and upright he may be towards his fellow-men,” he is not righteous before the holy God. Before man we may appear righteous; but not before a Being of infinite holiness. Most clear is the testimony of the Bible on this point. “There is no man than sinneth not.” “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” “There is not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not.” “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Hence if God were swift to judge and strict to punish, all men must perish. 2. The relation of the Psalmist to God. “Thy servant.” David was a distinguished servant of God, yet he felt that he was a sinner before Him. Even a sincere and faithful servant of God cannot stand before Him in judgment; cannot plead any merits of his own, or appeal to God on the ground of His justice. “When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants;” &c. But when a man can sincerely speak of himself to the Lord as His servant, he has good ground upon which to base his hope of protection and salvation from Him in His mercy. “When a man resolves with heart and soul to be and remain a servant of God, God will not forsake him; but where He is, there will also His servant be.” :— 1. If a true servant of God cannot stand before Him in judgment, how shall the wicked appear at His bar? “The ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away,” &c. (Psalms 1:4-6). 2. Let every man seek an interest in the infinite mercy of God. “Let the wicked forsake his way,” &c. (Isaiah 55:7). “Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord,” &c. (Jeremiah 3:12). “God is rich in mercy.” “The Lord is merciful and gracious,” &c. (Psalms 103:8-12). “Who is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity,” &c. (Micah 7:18-19). THE PRAYER OF A SERVANT OF GOD(Psalms 143:7-12) Notice:— I. The blessings which are here sought. The Psalmist first solicits the Divine favour in general, and a speedy answer to his prayer: “Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth: hide not Thy face from me,” &c. (Psalms 143:7). He then proceeds to specify certain blessings in particular, and to entreat the Lord to bestow them. He asks for— 1. The lovingkindness of God. “Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning.” It is a petition for an early assurance of the mercy of God. Divine lovingkindness is the root of which all other blessings are branches—the fountain from which all other blessings flow. It is also the crown of all other blessings. “Thy lovingkindness is better than life.” 2. Deliverance from his distresses. (1.) From outward enemies. “Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies.… And of Thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul.” Perowne translates: “And of Thy lovingkindness cut off mine enemies, and destroy all the adversaries of my soul.” On this verse Barnes says, “The destruction of the wicked is a favour to the universe; just as the arrest and punishment of a robber or a pirate is a mercy to society, to mankind; just as every prison is a display of mercy as well as of justice.—mercy to society at large; justice to the offenders.” There is truth in this; but the prayer for the destruction of our enemies is not becoming in the lips of a Christian. “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you,” &c. (Matthew 5:44-45). “Bless them which persecute you,” &c. “If thine enemy hunger, feed him,” &c. Such is the Christian rule. But we may petition God for deliverance from our adversaries. (2.) From inward sufferings. “For Thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.” The poet was in sore distress of soul; he looks to the faithfulness and mercy of God for deliverance from the same. Let the godly in all times of spiritual trial and sorrow direct their prayer to the same gracious Being. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee,” &c. 3. Inward and spiritual blessings. In the view of the Psalmist his salvation requires both external deliverances and internal communications of Divine grace. “The way of deliverance,” says Moll, “is to the servant of God no external one, but a way of salvation, which the commandments of God point out, in which the Spirit of God, who is good, is the Guide.” So the Psalmist petitions for— (1.) Divine teaching;—(α.) That he might know the way which God would have him to pursue. “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk.” Even the most experienced and holy of men need the direction of God in life. (β.) That he might do the will of God. “Teach me to do Thy will.” Correct knowledge alone cannot save man from sin or suffering; correct conduct must be added thereto. Mere theories, however true and good, never raised a life into sanctity and strength. To do this, theories must be reduced to practice—embodied in life. Most needful and important is the petition, “Teach me to do Thy will.” (2.) Divine help. “Thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” Perowne: “ ‘Let Thy good Spirit lead me in a plain country,’ lit., ‘in a level land,’ or ‘on level ground,’ where there is no fear of stumbling and falling.” Conant translates: “Let Thy good Spirit guide me on even ground.” The poet desires to be led into a way of safety. It is a request not simply for enlightenment; but for the Holy Spirit’s help, His guiding, guarding, and strengthening influence. Hengstenberg’s note is to the point: “David’s proper regard is directed to the obtaining of deliverance, which is the object of all his prayers in the preceding and following verses. But he shows himself throughout deeply penetrated with the conviction, that the foundation of the deliverance is righteousness—that it never can come, where this foundation is wanting, but that it of necessity must come where this foundation exists. He knew, also, that nothing could be done here by one’s own power (Comp., for example, Psalms 19; Psalms 51) Hence he prays here, expanding his views farther, that the Lord would (internally) teach him to do His will, convinced that this first gift must necessarily draw the second in its train, that of salvation; so he prays that the good Spirit of God would make him good, and consequently would guide him upon the path of salvation.… The good Spirit works good in those who partake of the gift.” (3.) Divine life. “Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name’s sake.” Here the poet prays for an increase of spiritual life and strength. In the way of the Divine commands there is salvation; and the teaching, the guidance, the life, and the strength which are necessary to tread that way, God alone can bestow. Like the Psalmist, let us seek them from Him. II. The grounds upon which these blessings are sought. 1. The sore need of the Psalmist. “Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth; hide not Thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.” “The pit” is the grave. Apart from the help of God, the Psalmist despairs even of life itself. The greatness of his misery is a touching and forcible appeal to the tender and infinite mercy of God. 2. The personal relations of the Psalmist to God. (1.) Confidence in God. In various ways does the Psalmist give expression to this: “For in Thee do I trust.… I flee unto Thee to hide me.” Margin: “Heb.,‘Hide me with Thee.’ ” Perowne: “ ‘Unto Thee have I fled to hide me;” lit., ‘Unto Thee have I hidden (myself).’ But the phrase is very peculiar, and its meaning doubtful.” Conant: “With Thee I hide myself.” “The notions of covering and refuge,” says Moll, “are united in the intermediate one of hiding.” The expression undoubtedly indicates strong confidence. (Comp. Psalms 27:5; Psalms 31:20.) Hengstenberg says admirably, “The allusion points in this direction, that God must conceal those who conceal themselves with Him.” Could He fail to deliver one who so utterly confided in Him? (2.) Prayer to God. “For I lift up my soul unto Thee.” This language denotes earnest desire and confident expectation. “Prayer is the ascent of the soul to God.” “Where the soul is really directed towards God, it is full of seeking for help, and longing for salvation.” “To lift up the soul to God is to begin the lifting of the entire man out of all need.” Could God disregard such a desire, or disappoint such an expectation as this? (3.) Consecration to God. “For Thou art my God; … for I am Thy servant.” If we have sincerely taken the Lord for our God, and consecrated ourselves to Him as His servants, we may be sure that He will guide and defend us, sustain and save us. (See on Psalms 143:2.) 3. The revealed character of God. The Psalmist pleads (1.) His righteousness. “For Thy righteousness’ sake, bring my soul out of trouble.” (See notes on Psalms 143:1.) (2.) His grace. “And of Thy mercy cut off mine enemies.” He pleads that, in the lovingkindness which He had declared to His people, He would interpose for his deliverance. (3.) His honour. “Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name’s sake.” This is a bold and powerful plea. Moses used it with remarkable results (Exodus 32:11-14; Numbers 14:13-20). So also did Joshua: “What wilt Thou do unto Thy great name?” (Joshua 7:6 seq.) And frequently David urged it with God. Assuredly God will not fail to maintain the honour of His holy name. Thus cogent are the arguments with which the Psalmist entreats God for salvation. III. The urgency with which these blessings are sought. “Hear me speedily, O Lord; my spirit faileth,” &c. Perowne translates: “Make haste to answer me, O Jehovah; my spirit faileth,” &c. “Matters had now come with the Psalmist to an extremity. Where this is the case with the servants of God, there the Divine help cannot be longer withheld.” The poet manifests similar urgency in the petition, “Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness in the morning,” i.e., soon, speedily. “The idea is not that He would wait for another day, but that He would interpose as the very first act,—as when one enters on a day.” A prayer like unto this, with such powerful pleas and such urgency of entreaty, is itself a sign of the nearness of the interposition and salvation of the Lord. A GOOD MAN’S PRAYER FOR GRACE AND (Psalms 143:8) Value of the Book of Psalms as presenting a test of religious character and experience. Shows what religion is—what religion can do: what it once was, it always is—what it has once done, it can always do. I. David prays for God’s distinguishing favour as a God of grace. “Cause me to hear Thy lovingkindness,” &c. 1. The blessing itself is very emphatic. “Thy lovingkindness.” Not God’s general benevolence as it shines in nature; not His general protection as it is seen in Providence; but His special manifestation of mercy as it shines in the covenant of grace. “Remember me, O Lord, with the favour of Thy people.” “Look Thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as Thou usest to do unto those that love Thy name.” This he desires beyond created good—beyond his crown as a monarch—beyond his eminent distinction as a man of genius—beyond his highest estimation as a gifted prophet, he values God’s favour; just as Moses did “the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the bush” beyond “the chief things of the ancient mountains and the precious things of the lasting hills.” These desires are common to all the saints. In New Testament phrase—the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit. Judge of your character by your habitual desires. 2. The period in which it is desired. “In the morning.” It is sought first in point of time—first in point of importance. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God,” &c. “In the morning” of the day, that we may begin it with God. “In the morning” of the week—the Sabbath. “In the morning” of life—youth. “In the morning” of the resurrection. “Cause me:” Divine influence needful. II. For God’s daily guidance as a God of Providence. “Cause me to know the way,” &c. 1. Prompted by a sense of our weakness and ignorance. How much we need a guide! We have as much need of daily guidance as of daily bread. We cannot get safely through a world of sin and danger without the Presence and Grace of Christ. It is not a matter of indifference to the Christian how he passes through life. Not enough to say, “What shall I eat?” &c.; but, “Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.” The soul has wants as well as the body. The Christian has moral interests to secure; he has a race to run—a battle to fight—a prize to gain—a God to glorify—a soul to be lost or saved. He is in a world where the great destroyer has his seat. He knows that the interests of others are linked in with his own: cannot stand or fall alone. Hence he prays, “Cause me to know,” &c. 2. Prompted by knowledge of the character of Christ as a Guide. Wise, powerful, gracious. “The Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” Having had large experience of the conduct of sinners. III. For the constant acceptance of his devotions as a prayer-hearing God. “In Thee do I trust; … I lift up my soul unto Thee.” This is partly a profession of his daily faith and experience, and partly a plea for the exercise of God’s mercy. “In Thee do I trust:” Thou wilt not disappoint. God is a perfect circle of wonders and miracles; a good perfectly adapted to our moral nature. They who know anything of Him are anxious to know more.—Samuel Thodey. DIVINE (Psalms 143:8) “Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee.” Life is like a heath with paths stretching in various directions. Many appear pleasant and safe that lead astray. Man is often bewildered. He often chooses wrongly. How important this prayer. I. This was the prayer of one who felt his need of Divine guidance. Many will be their own guides. They are self-reliant; like wayward children, or foolish Alpine travellers, forgetting their own ignorance and liability to error. Some are wise; they will not take a step without God. They feel their need of His guiding hand. This sense of need may arise— 1. From seeing the errors of others. Men, however, are seldom wise enough to learn from the sorrows that attend the wanderings of others. Second-hand experiences do not teach much. 2. From bitter experiences gained in self-chosen paths. God does not always save us from erroneous ways, but often through them. Our freedom is part of our discipline. 3. From Divine enlightenment. Seldom will a man be humble enough to seek God until he sees what he is by the light of God’s Spirit. Bitter experiences fail to teach us without grace. II. This was the prayer of one who believed that God had a way marked out for him. Life is not a pathless wilderness. God has a way laid down for every man. He regards the individual life. Laws are general, but the progress of each life is a speciality. There is a way in which every man should walk. 1. This it true morally. Right is straight, wrong is zigzag. Right is distinct from wrong,—a Divine way, clear to those who will see it. 2. This is true intellectually. Truth is the Divine path for the intellect. Truth, as a narrow way, lies often in the midst of the devious windings of error; but they who are guided by God shall not fail to discover it. 3. This is true circumstantially. From the cradle to the grave God has a way for every man. The prayerless miss it; the prayerful find it. III. This was the prayer of one who believed that God could reveal His way to him. The days of Divine revelations are not over. “There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.” He causes us to know His way— 1. By His Holy Spirit. God is nigh to every man. He can act directly upon each man’s spirit. He often leads men when they know it not. His saints are often conspicuously guided. 2. By His Word. Its instruct, its revelations enlighten, us examples encourage and warn us. 3. By the incarnate life of His Son. He is the way. Those who follow Him do not walk in darkness. 4. By the force of events. Way after way is hedged up, and only God’s way is left to us. By this God causes us to know the way wherein we should walk. IV. This was the prayer of one who had placed himself in the right attitude to receive Divine guidance. Attitude is important. Some are listless, others fanatical, others unbelieving. This was— 1. An attitude of expectancy. Faith was stretching out the soul-hands to receive (Psalms 143:6). Every faculty was awake and eager. God would find a receptive nature, a waiting heart. 2. The attitude of ardent desire. Desire had raised the soul out of its ordinay life. It was rising to meet God. It was lifted up to take hold of Him. 3. The attitude of importunate prayer. He would not be denied the light he sought. He would continue before Him until the mists rolled away, and the Divine path shone out as light in the midst of obscurity. Such an attitude is sure to obtain a knowledge of God’s way. Learn:— 1. To distrust self. 2. To take no step until God makes known His way. 3. For in His way there will be found safely, peace, and ultimately heaven.—W. O. LILLEY. From “The Homiletic Quarterly.” “This is a singularly composite Psalm. The earlier portion of it, to the end of Psa 144:11, consists almost entirely of a cento of quotations, strung together from earlier Psalms; and it is not always easy to trace a real connection between them. The latter portion of the Psalm, Psalms 144:12-15, differs completely from the former. It bears the stamp of originality, and is entirely free from the quotations and allusions with which the preceding verses abound. It is hardly probable, however, that this concluding portion is the work of the poet who compiled the rest of the Psalm: it is more probable that he has here transcribed a fragment of some ancient poem, in which were portrayed the happiness and prosperity of the nation in its brightest days, under David, it may have been, or at the beginning of the reign of Solomon. His object seems to have been thus to revive the hopes of his nation, perhaps after the return from the exile, by reminding them how in their past history obedience to God had brought with it its full recompense.”Thus Dean Perowne writes—rejecting the Davidic authorship, and bestowing no notice whatever on the superscription, which ascribes the Psalm to David. And Moll says, “It is doubtful whether it should be assigned to David himself.” But Hengstenberg says “that it is one of David’s peculiarities to derive from his earlier productions a foundation for new ones.… This Psalm can only have been composed by David.” And Alexander: “The Davidic origin of the Psalm is as marked as that of any in the Psalter.” And Perowne, notwithstanding the passage above quoted, says, “The language of Psa 144:1-4, as well as the language of Psa 144:10, is clearly only suitable in the mouth of a king, or some powerful and recognised leader of the nation; and it is difficult to find a person of rank in the later history in whose mouth such a Psalm as this would be appropriate.” For ourselves we are inclined to accept the superscription, and regard the Psalm as a composition or compilation of David’s.“The Psalmist recounts glorious victories in the past, complains that the nation is now beset by strange, i.e., barbarous enemies, so false and treacherous that no covenant can be kept with them, prays for deliverance from them by an interposition great and glorious as had been vouchsafed of old, and anticipates the return of a golden age of peace and plenty.” ASPECTS OF THE DIVINE BEING(Psalms 144:1-2) These verses are taken almost verbatim from different portions of Psalms 18. We regard them as presenting to us the Divine Being in certain inspiring aspects. I. As the Author of human skill. “He teacheth my hands to war, my fingers to fight.” The skill which the poet had in the use of the weapons of war, he attributes to the Lord. The abilities by which battles are planned and victories won come from Him. All beauty of design, and dexterity in labour, and success in achievement in human works, must be attributed to the Great God. II. As the Protector of human life. In several different forms the poet expresses this. “Jehovah my rock.” Two Hebrew words, which slightly differ in meaning, are translated by the word rock. The one which is employed here (öåּ ?ø) suggests the ideas of strength and fixedness; Jehovah is a strong and steadfast refuge. “My fortress,” i.e., a strong place, generally difficult of access, and thus a secure retreat. “My high tower,” i.e., a place so high as to be out of the reach of danger, or some almost inaccessible crag affording safety to those who reached it. “My deliverer,” who rescues me from the power of my enemies. “My shield,” protecting me from the arrows of the enemies on the field of battle. Now these figures set forth a protection which is— 1. Unchangeable, as a rock. 2. Enduring, as a rock. 3. Inviolable. The various figures which the poet employs suggest this fact. “On the heaping together of epithets and titles of God Calvin remarks, that it is not superfluous, but designed to strengthen and confirm faith; for men’s minds are easily shaken, especially when some storm of trial beats upon them. Hence, if God should promise us His succour in one word, it would not be enough; in fact, in spite of all the props and aids He gives us, we constantly totter and are ready to fall, and such a forgetfulness of His lovingkindness steals upon us, that we come near to losing heart altogether.”—Perowne. So these various figures are used to impress us with the invincibility of the Divine protection, and to inspire our confidence therein. 4. Ever available. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe.” By prayer, by the exercise of faith in Him, we can at any time avail ourselves of the inviolable protection of Jehovah. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” III. As the Source of human authority. “Who subdueth my people under me.” “The Psalmist is not triumphing in the exercise of despotic power, but gratefully acknowledges that the authority he wields comes from God.” David was chosen to be king by God, and in His providence all the tribes were led to submit to his government. “Let every soul,” saith St. Paul, “be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the Judge; He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” IV. As the Object of human trust. “And He in whom I trust.” Perowne translates: “He in whom I find refuge.” The idea is that the Psalmist confided in Him, sought unto Him for protection in times of peril, fled unto Him as His refuge in trouble. The Lord is an adequate object of trust for man, and the only one. “They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.” V. As the Supreme Good of human life. “My goodness.” Margin: “My mercy.” Perowne: “My lovingkindness.” So also Conant. The idea seems to be that the Psalmist regarded the Lord as his Chief Good, as the Source of all his blessings. David frequently gives expression to this sentiment. “There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us.” “In His favour is life.” “Thy lovingkindness is better than life.” And Asaph also: “Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” &c. In Him we have the supreme truth for the intellect, the supreme righteousness for the conscience, the supreme love for the heart, the supreme beauty for the soul. VI. As the Recipient of human praise. “Blessed be Jehovah my rock,” &c. The Psalmist here praises Jehovah for what He is to him, and for what He does for him. 1. Gratitude urges to this. Its language is, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” 2. Reason urges to this. It is in the highest degree rational that He who is Supremely Good should be reverenced and loved; that our greatest Benefactor should be praised by us, &c. 3. This is blessed. He who sincerely blesses God finds blessing in so doing. True worship tends to purify and strengthen, to sanctify and gloriously transform the worshipper. .—The people of God in this world are still a militant people; but the Lord their God is still their omnipotent Protector and their Supreme Good. Let them loyally trust Him, and heartily worship Him, and soon and for ever they shall become a triumphant people over all foes. THE AND OF MAN(Psalms 144:3-4) The connection of these verses with the preceding is correctly pointed out by Calvin: “David remembers all that God has done for him, and then, like Jacob, thinks: Lord, I am too little for all Thy lovingkindness, and so contrasts his own nothingness and that of mankind generally with the greatness of such a gracious God.” Thus the goodness of God produced humility in the poet; and the truest, deepest humility is always produced by the grace of God. The poet sets before us— I. The insignificance of human life. “Lord, what is man?… Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away.” Here are two ideas:— 1. Human life is unsubstantial. It is here compared to “vanity”—more correctly, “a breath”—and “a shadow.” St. James also speaks of human life as “a vapour.” How unsubstantial are a “breath” and a “shadow”! So is human life. We may see this— (1.) In the objects for which men live. “All the fret and stir,” says Perowne, “all the eager clamour and rivalry of men, as they elbow and jostle one another to obtain wealth and rank, and the enjoyments of life, are but a breath.” “With what idle dreams, what foolish plans, what vain pursuits, are they for the most part occupied! They undertake dangerous expeditions and difficult enterprises in foreign countries, and they acquire fame; but what is it?—Vanity! They pursue deep and abstruse speculations, and give themselves to that ‘much study which is a weariness of the flesh,’ and they attain to literary renown, and survive in their writings; but what is it?—Vanity! They rise up early, and sit up late, and eat the bread of anxiety and care, and thus they amass wealth; but what is it?—Vanity! They frame and execute plans and schemes of ambition—they are loaded with honours and adorned with titles—they afford employment for the herald, and form a subject for the historian; but what is it?—Vanity! In fact, all occupations and pursuits are worthy of no other epithet, if they are not preceded by, and connected with, a deep and paramount regard to the salvation of the soul, the honour of God, and the interests of eternity.… Oh, then, what phantoms, what airy nothings are those things that wholly absorb the powers and occupy the days of the great mass of mankind around us! Their most substantial good perishes in the using, and their most enduring realities are but ‘the fashion of this world that passeth away.’ ”—Dr. Raffles. The great majority of those who seek these things do not attain them; and the few who do attain them find them utterly unsatisfactory. (2.) In life itself. How unsubstantial is our life as it appears here! How easily is the vital flame extinguished! A breath of air laden with disease may soon lay the most robust frame low in death. A draught of tainted water may quench the vital spark in the most beautiful body. A very little accident may still for ever the brain of the wisest man. Men “dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth. They are destroyed from morning to evening; they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? They die, even without wisdom.” 2. Human life is transitory. “As a shadow that passeth away.” “Come like shadows, so depart,” seems to be a law of human life. (1.) “A shadow passeth away” constantly. It is never stationary. As the sun advances the shadow moves onward. It cannot rest. So is it with human life. “Whate’er we do, where’er we be,We’re travelling to the grave.”(2.) “A shadow passeth away” rapidly. How soon the sun sets, and the shadow is gone! But the sun may be obscured by clouds long before his setting; then also the shadow is gone. A striking illustration of the brevity of human life. If, like Jacob, a man lived an hundred and thirty years, like Jacob he would say, “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been.” But the great majority of men do not live half so long as that. Much more rapidly do they pass away. (3.) “A shadow passeth away” completely. The departing shadow leaves not a trace behind. Is it not so with almost all men? How few of all the millions that have lived in the past have any memorial upon earth now! “Some sink outright,O’er them and o’er their names the billows close,To-morrow knows not they were ever born.Others a short memorial leave behind;Like a flag floating when the bark’s engulfed,It floats a moment, and is seen no more.One Cæsar lives; a thousand are forgot.”—Young. This aspect of life should humble human pride. Life is unsubstantial and transitory, as a mere “breath” or a passing “shadow.” “It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” “Life’s but a walking shadow—a poor player,That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,And then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.”—Shakespeare.II. The greatness of human life. “Lord, what is man, that Thou takest knowledge of him? A son of man, that Thou makest account of him?” Man is thought of, cared for, graciously regarded by God. This invests human nature with great importance and dignity. God’s regard for man is manifest— 1. In the provision which He has made for us in nature. He has created all nature to minister to man’s needs. Earth and sea, air and sky, all serve us. (Comp. Genesis 1:28-29.) 2. In His care over us in Providence. It was this protecting and sustaining providential care which led the Psalmist to inquire, “Lord, what is man?” &c. He guides and guards and sustains with tenderest care and infinite wisdom. (Comp. Psalms 40:17.) 3. In the redemption which He has wrought for us. “He remembered us in our low estate,” &c. (Psalms 136:23-24). “God so loved the world,” &c. “God commendeth His love,” &c. 4. In the home which He has provided for us. “In My Father’s house are many mansions,” &c. “He hath begotten us again unto an inheritance incorruptible,” &c. When man passeth away like a shadow, it is to enter upon an immortal and glorious life. .—Let our lives harmonise with God’s regard for us. MAN(Psalms 144:3) “Lord, what is man?” I. What was man as he came from the hands of his Creator?1. Rational. 2. Responsible. 3. Immortal. 4. Holy and happy. II. What is man in his present condition?1. He is fallen. 2. He is guilty. 3. He is sinful. 4. He is miserable, and helpless in his misery. III. What is man when he has believed in Christ?1. He is restored to a right relation to God. 2. He is restored to a right disposition toward God. 3. He enjoys the influences of the Holy Spirit. 4. He is in process of preparation for the heavenly world. IV. What shall man be when he is admitted into heaven?1. Free from gin and sorrow. 2. Advanced to the perfection of his nature. 3. Associated with angels. 4. Near to his Saviour and his God. —George Brooks. HUMAN LIFE A SHADOW(Psalms 144:4) Man and his days are here compared to “a shadow;” and the propriety of the similitude is attested by the experience of all mankind. The resemblance lies in the following particulars:— I. A shadow is compounded of light and darkness; for when no object intercepts the light of the sun, or when the light of the sun is withdrawn, no shadow is produced. In like manner, the state of man in the present world is made up of joy and sorrow; while, as in the emblem, the latter greatly preponderates. II. A shadow seems to be something, when in reality it is nothing. If you grasp it, you prove its emptiness. The pleasures, riches, and honours of the present world seem important to the eye of the carnal mind when viewed at a little distance; they attract attention, excite desire, and are eagerly pursued. But when, the object being attained, they are closely examined, how empty and unsatisfactory do they prove! III. A shadow is the subject of continual changes, till at length it finally and suddenly ceases. In the morning, when the sun first rises above the horizon, it is weak and extended to a great length. Towards noon it gains strength, and is contracted in its dimensions. From thence to sunset it gradually becomes less distinct, and at last suddenly and wholly disappears. Man, survey in this emblem thy life! How lively and affecting the description! (Comp. Job 14:1-2; James 4:14.) IV. A shadow cannot exist longer than the sun’s continuance above the horizon, and is every moment liable to annihilation by the intervention of a cloud. In like manner, human life generally lasts but three score years and ten, or four score years; and may, by a sudden accident or the power of disease, be much curtailed. We have no security for the protraction of life through another day or hour; and the probability that our life will not reach its customary limit is as great as that the shadow will cease before the evening arrives. V. A shadow, when gone, leaves no track of its existence behind. This also is the case with the riches, pleasures, and honours of the world. “We brought nothing into the world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” This world is no further substantial, or of importance, than as it stands connected with the next.—“The Christian Guardian.” A PRAYER OF THE GODLY FOR FROM THEIR ENEMIES(Psalms 144:5-11) In these verses we have the Psalmist’s prayer for the overthrow of his enemies, and for his own victory. Let us notice— I. His description of his enemies. 1. They were foreigners. The Psalmist speaks of them as “strange children;” or, taking Perowne’s rendering, “sons of the alien” (Psalms 144:7), and “strange persons” (Psalms 144:11). It seems that at this time David was engaged in warfare with some of the heathen nations; but with what people or peoples we know not. The spiritual enemies of the people of God are strangers both to Him and to them. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own,” &c. (John 15:18-21; John 16:1-3.) 2. They were deceivers. “Whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” “Deception,” or “falsehood,” would be a better rendering of the Hebrew than “vanity.” The right hand amongst the Jews was uplifted towards heaven in taking an oath. These enemies swore falsely; they were covenant-breakers; their most solemn engagements were not reliable. In the present day falsehood is rife. On every hand and in almost every province of life we are confronted with shams. The great enemy of God and man is the original liar, the arch deceiver. “The devil abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him,” &c. (John 8:44). “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” Let the godly be on their guard, “lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” Let them be true in word and deed and life. 3. They caused him great trouble. The Psalmist represents himself as in “great waters.” This is a Scriptural figure for deep distress. “All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over me” “Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves.” “When Thou passest through the waters,” &c. (Isaiah 43:2). The people of God sometimes suffer sorely from their spiritual enemies. II. His prayer for deliverance from his enemies. This is expressed in language which is vigorously and strikingly poetical; and which is very natural in so strong-winged a poet as David. “Bow Thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down,” &c. “The Psalmist longs for a Theophany, a coming of God to judgment, which he describes in language again borrowed from Psalms 18:9; Psalms 18:14-16.” These poetic figures having been dealt with there, we need not dwell upon them here. He prays that he may be delivered— 1. With Divine majesty. “Bow Thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down,” &c. (Psalms 144:5). The ideas are doubtless those of awful majesty and irresistible power. 2. By Divine power. “Cast forth lightnings, and scatter them; shoot out Thine arrows, and destroy them. Send Thine hand from above,” &c. The lightnings are the Lord’s arrows. The poet prays that his deliverance may be accomplished by Divine power, as verily effected by the immediate presence and finger of God as if He had come down in visible form to accomplish it. 3. With Divine completeness. “Scatter them; … destroy them,” or “discomfit them.” They whom God scatters and discomfits are utterly overthrown; they whom He delivers are triumphantly saved. The Lord is the glorious Deliverer of His people from their spiritual foes. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” “We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” “Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” III. His resolution to praise God for deliverance from his enemies. “I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God,” &c. (Psalms 144:9-10). Notice here— 1. The assurance of deliverance. He speaks of God as a present Deliverer to him (Psalms 144:10), and he looks forward with confidence to singing the new song for the new victory. The people of God may well be assured of victory in their moral conflicts; for the purposes, the promises, and the power of God in Christ Jesus, unite to guarantee it unto them. 2. The basis of this assurance of deliverance. The Psalmist seems to have grounded His confidence upon God’s wonted doings. “He giveth salvation unto kings; who delivereth David His servant from the hurtful sword.” God was the great giver of victory to kings; many a time had He delivered David from the sword of his enemies. What He has done in the past, we may expect Him to do again in similar circumstances and to similar characters. Let His past deliverances be to us so many pledges of our full and final triumph. 3. The promised song of deliverance. “I will sing a new song unto Thee, O God; upon a psaltery, an instrument of ten strings, will I sing praises unto Thee.” More correctly: “Upon a ten-stringed lute will I make music unto Thee.” The goodness of God in the new victory shall be celebrated in a new song; and the new song shall be accompanied with the sweet strains of music. Let new mercies evoke new gratitude; and let the new gratitude be expressed in new songs. Let us through our Lord Jesus Christ anticipate with confidence the new song of heaven: “And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy,” &c. (Revelation 5:9-14). A PICTURE OF A HAPPY PEOPLE(Psalms 144:12-15) We regard these verses as presenting a picture of prosperity which the poet desired for Israel. Let us look at its main features— I. The blessing of a noble offspring. 1. Sons characterised by strength. “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth.” The idea is that of young men of vigorous and well-proportioned growth. But the Psalmist certainly could not mean strength of body simply. We interpret his meaning to be vigorous young manhood, including physical, mental, and moral strength. (1.) Physical strength is good. (2.) Intellectual strength is better. (3.) Moral strength is best. The strength of righteous principles, virtuous habits, holy attachments, and devout aspirations—this it is which ennobles manhood. What greater blessing can be desired for any nation than that its manhood should be of this order? 2. Daughters characterised by beauty. “Our daughters as corner-stones polished after the similitude of a palace.” Conant translates: “Our daughters as corner-pillars, sculptured after the structure of a palace.” And Perowne: “Our daughters as corner-pillars, sculptured to grace a palace.” Some expositors discover here the idea of usefulness: useful as pillars supporting a building, or as corner-stones uniting an edifice. But the main idea is undoubtedly that of the gracefulness and beauty of the maidens. The Psalmist cannot mean external beauty merely. (1.) Beauty of feature and of form is desirable. It is a gift of God. (2.) Beauty of mind and of manner is much more desirable. It is of a higher order, and more lasting than that of feature and form. (3.) Beauty of soul and temper is pre-eminently desirable. This is the highest, the divinest, the unfading, and immortal beauty. This is an unmixed, a pure blessing. Beauty of form and feature, when associated with mental weakness and vacuity, appears misplaced and incongruous; when associated with moral deformity it becomes repulsive and loathsome even. The highest visible beauty is that of the soul manifesting itself in the “human face divine.” “I have come to the conclusion,” says Professor Upham, “if man, or woman either, wishes to realise the full power of personal beauty, it must be by cherishing noble hopes and purposes; by having something to do, and something to live for, which is worthy of humanity, and which, by expanding the capacities of the soul, gives expansion and symmetry to the body which contains it.” ‘What’s female beauty, but an air divineThrough which the mind’s all-gentle graces Shine;They, like the sun, irradiate all between;The body charms, because the soul is seen.”—Young. Who does not wish that our daughters may shine in the beauty of meekness, gentleness, purity, piety, and love? II. The blessing of secular prosperity. “That our garners may be full,” &c. (Psalms 144:13-14). Several rare expressions occur in these verses, which are of very doubtful interpretation. It is certain that it is intended to set forth great temporal prosperity; and the entire picture contains three prominent features:— 1. Well-stored granaries. “Our garners full, affording all manner of store” Heb. as in Margin: “From kind to kind.” Conant: “Supplying of every kind.” The idea is, abundance of all kinds of produce. 2. Fruitful flocks. “Our sheep bringing forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets.” More correctly, “In our fields.” A great part of the wealth of eastern peoples consisted of flocks of sheep. 3. Laden oxen. “Our oxen strong to labour.” Margin: “Able to bear burdens, or loaden with flesh.” The Hebrew is simply: “Our oxen laden.” But with what? (1.) With fat and flesh, say some, and therefore strong to labour. (2.) With young, say others, and interpret the clause as descriptive of the fruitfulness of the herds. (3.) With the abundant produce of the fields, say others. “Laden oxen presuppose a rich abundance of produce.” The exact meaning is doubtful; but the interpretation last named appears to us the most probable. This however is certain, that the poet is setting forth the great temporal prosperity of an eastern people. III. The blessing of settled peace. “No breaking in, nor going out, and no complaining in our streets.” Perowne translates: “No breach and no sallying forth, and no cry (of battle) in our streets.” He says, “ ‘No sallying forth,’ lit., ‘going out,’ which has been interpreted either of ‘going forth to war,’ or ‘going forth into captivity.’ This and the previous expression, taken together, most naturally denote a time of profound peace, when no enemy lies before the walls, when there is no need to fear the assault through the breach, no need to sally forth to attack the besiegers.” There are other interpretations of these clauses; but this seems to us the most probable. “The image is that of security, peace, order, prosperity.” IV. These blessings are viewed as flowing from the favour of God. “Happy is the people that is in such a case; happy is the people whose God is Jehovah.” It was common amongst the ancient Hebrews to regard temporal prosperity as an evidence of the Divine favour. “National piety,” says Matthew Henry, “commonly brings national prosperity; for nations, in their national capacity, are capable of rewards and punishments only in this life.” And Barnes: “The worship of Jehovah—the religion of Jehovah—is adapted to make a people happy, peaceful, quiet, blessed. Prosperity and peace, such as are referred to in the previous verses, are, and must be, the result of pure religion. Peace, order, abundance, attend it everywhere, and the best security for a nation’s prosperity is the worship of God; that which is most certain to make a nation happy and blessed, is to acknowledge God and to keep His laws.” But the Christian view of the evidences of the Divine blessing is truer, deeper, nobler than that of the ancient Hebrew. God has granted unto us a fuller and clearer revelation of Divine truth. We look for the evidences of His favour in our souls rather than in our circumstances; in inward joy rather than in outward happiness; not in well-stored granaries, but in the abounding “fruit of the Spirit, in all goodness and righteousness and truth.” ON BEHALF OF SONS AND (Psalms 144:12) I. The objects of this solicitude. First: Our sons are objects of solicitude. “That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth.” The desire is— 1. That our sons may be as plants of the right kind. We desire that they may possess right knowledge, right principles, right habits, and be found truly righteous in all they think, say, and do. 2. That our sons may be as plants in a good situation. There are honourable situations: such are the lawful callings of life, all stations of virtuous industry. There is one situation we covet for our sons. We mean that described in Psalms 92:13. We desire that our sons may value and enjoy religious ordinances, &c. 3. That our sons may be as plants rightly cultivated. Our sons, left to themselves, will grow wild, and bring forth the fruit of a depraved heart. A change of heart is indispensable before our youth can grow up as plants of righteousness. Training is absolutely necessary (Proverbs 22:6). And with their training pruning is requisite. 4. That our sons may be as plants that flourish well. A good profession, with consistency, is a great ornament to character. They will flourish most who make God’s Word their study, &c. (Psalms 1:2-3). 5. That our sons may be as plants most fruitful and useful. The plants most admired are fruit-bearing. We would have our sons abound in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, doing good to all men as they have means and opportunity. 6. That our sons may be as plants of perennial verdure and perpetual stability. The Psalmist speaks of the blessedness of those whose “leaf shall not wither.” He speaks also of the righteous bringing forth fruit in old age. So the prophet Jeremiah says,” Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord,” &c. (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Here is the perennial verdure and stability we desire. We would have piety adorn both youth and age. We would have our sons grow in grace as they grow in years. Second: Our daughters are objects of solicitude. “That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.” 1. That our daughters may be polished with sound education. “If either of the sexes ought to have superior training, that privilege should be especially ceded to women. If you have ignorant women, you must have a large mass of foolish and depraved men; but, on the contrary, make the female portion of any nation intellectual, and the other sex must also be mentally improved.” 2. That our daughters may be polished with good manners. Beauty of person, without good manners, is worthless. “Favour is deceitful,” &c (Proverbs 31:30). Grace and affability are adornments to the female character. Urbanity, tenderness, sympathy, charity, a constant desire to promote universal happiness,—are embellishments above the most splendid attire. 3. That our daughters may be polished with true piety. Piety is an adornment which all our daughters may possess. A polished education, and polished manners, in the sense in which these terms are understood in the fashionable and polite world, can be the lot of but few. But true piety is open to all (James 2:5). Religion refines and elevates the character when all merely secular education fails. It adorns with a meek and quiet spirit, &c. 4. That our daughters may, as corner-stones, cement and adorn our families. Benjamin Parsons observes justly: “In the character of companions, friends, sisters, wives, mothers, nursemaids, nurses, and domestic servants, there is a sphere of usefulness assigned to women which angels might envy. In a majority of cases the minds of youth of both sexes are formed by females. Girls are generally educated by their own sex, and boys, in most instances, have their character stamped before they leave the guardianship of mothers and governesses.” Sisters may make home to be home to our sons, &c. 5. That our daughters may, as cornerstones, support and beautify the fabric of the state. “Verily, it is of more importance to have an intelligent and moral population, than to have great capitalists or landowners. Wealth cannot make any nation great. Enlightened moral principle is the true glory of any kingdom or empire; but this dignity cannot be obtained apart from the due cultivation of all the powers of the human soul, and to accomplish this we must have the agency of mothers.” 6. That our daughters may be as corner-stones in the Church of the living God. Our Sabbath-schools, our ignorant and destitute neighbourhoods, our sick-chambers, our walks of benevolence, can all yield spheres of usefulness for our daughters.… But all this is preparatory to a higher state. The stones that are polished here are preparing to be built up in the heavenly Temple. Whilst, therefore, we may aim to promote their temporal interest, let us not overlook the infinitely more valuable inheritance of personal salvation and eternal glory. II. The subjects of this solicitude. This desire may be considered as,— First: The cherished anxiety of all right-minded parents. Second: That of the friends of the young. Among these are the Sabbath-school teachers of our land, &c. Third: That of true patriots and genuine philanthropists. Let us remember that without the Divine blessing all our efforts are in vain.—J. Sayer. THE GOD IN WHOM MAN IS BLESSED(Psalms 144:15) “Happy is that people whose God is Jehovah.” Our text warrants two observations— I. That all peoples have a god. This is clearly implied in the text. Man must have a god. The need of a god is constitutional, it is innate, in the case of man. 1. Man must trust. Every man does trust n some being or in some thing. The credulousness of man is amazing; and is often a great curse. Men are trusting in idols, in wealth, in friends, in priests, in themselves, in Jehovah. 2. Man must love. “Some one to love” is perhaps the deepest cry of the human heart. Every man loves, at least, some person or some thing,—e.g., wealth, honour, self, friends, God. Every man loves some person or something pre-eminently; has some object of supreme love. 3. Man must worship. There are in each of us at times feelings of wonder, awe, and reverence, which compel us to worship. You hold your breath in the felt presence of mystery; you are silent in the presence of death; the realisation of the sublime fills you with awe—these are signs of the working of the religious element and instincts of your being. Now, that which man chiefly trusts, supremely loves, and truly worships, is his god. All history testifies with unmistakable clearness to the fact that man must have a god. II. That that people only is blessed whose God is Jehovah. “Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah.” 1. He is the only adequate Object of trust. Idols, wealth, friends, priests, ourselves, each and all are terribly insufficient as objects on which the soul may repose its confidence. They are unstable, transient, and equal only to very few of the emergencies of life. Jehovah is all-sufficient;—eternal, unchangeable, equal to every emergency, infinite in His resources, &c. 2. He is the only worthy Object of our supreme love. To love material things is degrading to the lover. To love relatives or friends or any created person supremely, is to seek our own disappointment and sorrow, because they are changeable, mortal, imperfect, &c. The object of our chief love should be a person perfectly lovable, true, good, beautiful, unchangeable, and ever-living. Jehovah is all this. 3. He is the only worthy Object of our worship. The worship of Jehovah is the only worship which purifies, strengthens, ennobles, and crowns our nature. The old idolatries were terribly degrading; they produced terror, cruelty, uncleanness, and other evils in the worshippers. Worship wealth, and you will degrade your being, &c. Make a relative or friend your god, and you are lost to progress, &c. Make self your god, and you forego all that is noble, &c. The object of our worship should be such as tends to educate, exalt, satisfy, and perfect our spiritual nature. In Jehovah, and in Him alone, have we such a God. “Happy the people whose God is Jehovah;” because He is supremely good, unchangeable, and eternal, and He stands in covenant relation with His people. His wisdom and power, His goodness and faithfulness, are all pledged to them. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” THE HAPPY PEOPLE(Psalms 144:15) “Happy is that people whose God is Jehovah.” Let us— I. Examine what is comprehended in the relation referred to. It refers— 1. To God as the Object of religious worship. 2. To Him as the Author of every blessing. 3. To the covenant relation in which He condescends to stand to His people—including Divine acceptance, delightful intercourse, pleasing satisfaction. II. Confirm and illustrate the declaration itself. They are happy— 1. Because all the Divine perfections are engaged in their behalf. Mercy to pardon their sins, and deliver them from guilt. Wisdom to direct and guide them through the intricate mazes of the world to heaven. Omnipresence to guard and defend them. Omnipresence to survey them in all conditions. Consummate goodness to supply their needs. And faithfulness to perform all that He has spoken. 2. Because in Him they are assured of finding a refuge in time of need. 3. Because they are warranted to expect every needful supply. 4. Because in Him they have “a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” 5. Because all the promises of the Gospel are “yea and Amen” in Christ Jesus. 6. Because they have a sure prospect of being with Him for ever. LEARN.— 1. How mistaken the men of the world are with respect to the people of God. 2. How insignificant is the worldling’s portion. 3. How dangerous is the condition of those who have not the Lord for their portion.—L … s. “This it the last of the Alphabetical Psalms,” says Perowne, “of which there are eight in all, if we reckon the ninth and tenth Psalms as forming one. Like four other of the Alphabetical Psalms this bears the name of David, although there can in this case be no doubt that the inscription is not to be trusted. As in several other instances, so here, the acrostic arrangement is not strictly observed. The letter nun (ð) is omitted.” In the Septuagint, a verse which begins with ð is supplied between Psalms 145:13-14. But this is unquestionably an interpolation, and is borrowed from Psalms 145:17, with the exception of the first word, which is taken from the nun-strophe of the Alphabetical Psalms 111.While Perowne, in the passage quoted above, pronounces so positively against the trust-worthiness of the superscription, Hengstenberg is equally firm in asserting “the originality of the superscription,” which, he holds, does not admit of doubt. Barnes, David Dickson, M. Henry, and others, accept the Davidic authorship.“This is the only Psalm which is called a Tehillah, i.e., ‘Praise’ or ‘Hymn,’ the plural of which word, Tehillim, is the general name for the whole Psalter.” The word is admirably descriptive of the contents of the Psalm, which is laudatory throughout.“The Ancient Church employed this Psalm at the mid-day meal, and Psalms 145:15 at the Passover. The Talmud assures us (Berachoth, 4 b.) that every one who repeals this Psalm three times daily may be satisfied that he is a child of the future world. The Gemarra adduces in support of this the curious reason, that it is not only written in Alphabetical order, like Psalms 119. and others, and not only praises the Divine care over all creatures, like Psalms 136:25, but combines both these important characteristics in itself.”This Psalm “admits of no analysis, being made up of variations on a single theme, the righteousness and goodness of God to men in general, to His own people in particular, and more especially to those that suffer.”THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE (Psalms 145:1-7) Here are two main lines of thought for us to pursue— I. The reasons of the Divine praise. The grand reason of praise in this section of the Psalm seems to be the greatness of God. “Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised; and His greatness is unsearchable.” Jehovah is great in Himself; His being is underived, independent, eternal, infinitely perfect. “God’s greatness—His infinity—is in itself a just ground of praise, for we should rejoice that there is One Infinite Eternal Being; and as all that greatness is employed in the cause of truth, of law, of good order, of justice, of kindness, of mercy, it should call forth continued praise in all parts of His dominions.”—Barnes. 1. He is great in His deeds. “Thy mighty acts; … Thy wondrous works; … The might of Thy terrible acts.” “We must see God,” says Matthew Henry, “acting and working in all the affairs of this lower world. Various instruments are used, but in all events God is the supreme director; it is He that performs all things. Much of His power is seen in the operations of Providence (they are ‘mighty acts,’ such as cannot be paralleled by the strength of any creature), and much of His justice—they are ‘terrible acts,’ awful to saints, dreadful to sinners. These we should take all occasions to speak of, observing the finger of God, His hand, His arm, in all, that we may marvel.” 2. He is great in His majesty. “I will speak of the glorious honour of Thy majesty.” “By this accumulation of words,” says Geier, “the incomparable glory and majesty of God are set forth.” The Psalmist is “striving after a suitable mode of expression for his exuberant feeling.” Or, as Barnes puts it: “This accumulation of epithets shows that the heart of the Psalmist was full of the subject, and that he laboured to find language to express his emotions. It is beauty; it is glory; it is majesty;—it is all that is great, sublime, wonderful—all combined—all concentrated in one Being.” 3. He is great in His goodness. “They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness.” “Great goodness,” says Moll, “is not referred to in the sense of abundant mercy (most), but in the sense of the universal excellence of His attributes, His goodness in every relation.” Hengstenberg: “The essential goodness.” 4. He is great in righteousness. “They shall sing of Thy righteousness.” The goodness of God is not that weak, molluscous quality which is sometimes called goodness in man: it is a strong thing, a righteous thing. He ever manifests the strictest regard for justice and truth. How great is God! supremely, infinitely great! II. The characteristics of the Divine praise. 1. It is constant. “Every day will I bless Thee.” Hengstenberg translates: “Continually will I praise Thee.” The translation of the A. V. is more faithful to the letter; but Hengstenberg seems to us to present the idea of the poet, that he will offer to God constant worship. Praise with the godly man is not an occasional exercise of the voice, but a continual disposition of the soul. “Praising God must be our daily work; no day must pass, though ever so busy a day, without praising God. We ought to reckon it the most needful of our daily employments, and the most delightful of our daily comforts. God is every day blessing us, doing well for us; there is therefore reason that we should be every day blessing Him, speaking well of Him.”—Henry. 2. It is perpetual. “I will extol Thee, my God, O King; and I will bless Thy name for ever and ever.… I will praise Thy name for ever and ever.” Here are two aspects of the perpetuity of the praise of God:— (1.) The devout soul. will praise God for ever. “So long as his being lasted in the lovingkindness of God, he must also continue to give praise.” “Through all eternity to TheeA joyful song I’ll raise:But oh! eternity’s too shortTo utter all Thy praise.”—Addison.(2.) Every succeeding generation shall praise God. “One generation shall praise Thy works to another, and shall declare Thy mighty acts.” “The generation that is going off shall tell them to that which is rising up, shall tell what they have seen in their days and what they have heard from their fathers; and the generation that is rising up shall follow the example of that which is going off: so that the death of God’s worshippers shall be no diminution of His worship, for a new generation shall rise up in their room to carry on that good work to the end of time, when it shall be left to that world to do it in in which there is no succession of generations.” 3. It is fervent. “Greatly to be praised.… They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness,” &c. Conant translates: “Let them pour forth the memory,” &c. The idea is that the heart is filled to overflowing with thoughts of the great goodness of God, and that it pours forth its feelings in grateful and fervent praise. God shall be praised with glowing enthusiasm. 4. It is songful. “They shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.” His praise is celebrated by His people openly and publicly; not in cold and measured prose, but in glowing and rapturous poetry; not in ordinary speech, but with music’s highest and sweetest strains. Their adoring joy pours itself forth in holy and exultant songs. Let our hearts and voices be much engaged in this holy and delightful service. THE PRAISE OF TIME(Psalms 145:4) We may consider this— I. As the decree of God. He who made the world has willed that it should praise Him. The works of God carry out His decree. The sun and moon proclaim His power. Day and night utter His wisdom. The seasons declare His bounty and His faithfulness. And the history of man, even yet more strikingly, sets forth God’s glory. This truth is ever written—“The Lord is King.” He rules. “None can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” Look at Pharaoh; … Nebuchadnezzar. Or call to mind the history of Joseph, Balaam, Jonah, Sennacherib, Cyrus, Saul of Tarsus. Or the Jewish rulers who crucified the Lord of glory, &c. (Acts 4:27-28). The mysteries of affliction teach the same lesson. The erring has been thus brought back, or the faithful confirmed, or God’s power displayed (John 9:3). And the Church of Christ is a standing witness of the same great truth. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Man’s opposition has proved the wave that has wafted the truth onward (Acts 4:31; Acts 11:19; Acts 13:51; Acts 14:20; Acts 17:15; Acts 25:11; Acts 28:31). What a contrast is there in all this to the name and acts of men! How does every annual revolution of time find human propositions annulled, human names forgotten, human greatness brought low. But each succeeding year finds one Name unchanged; one arm still mighty to deliver; one King ruling, as ever; one Lord still faithful to His promise; one memorial enduring through all generations. The decree of God is kept. All time sets forth His praise. II. As expressing the resolution and work of Christ’s Church. Praise is the rightful attitude of the redeemed (Psalms 107:2). Mercy felt love appreciated, salvation embraced and enjoyed, is sure to beget true thanksgiving. God hath chosen His people to praise Him (Isaiah 43:21; 1 Peter 2:9). And even angels cannot sing the new song which belongs to the saved from earth alone (Revelation 14:3). And the people of God have ever claimed their holy privilege. They have sung of creation and of providence, and the wonders of redeeming love. God has never left Himself without this witness in the world. In every age, however corrupt, there have been those who rejoiced to declare His mighty acts. Even before the Flood, there was Noah; in the time of idolatrous Ahab, Elijah; in Babylon, Daniel. In New Testament days we have the same history. Every martyr, from Stephen onward, bore in his blood the testimony of praise. If Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,” Paul answered, “I am willing … to die for the Name of the Lord Jesus.” If David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times,” Paul, again, added, “Rejoice in the Lord alway.” If Elijah showed himself to Ahab, Luther did not shrink from meeting those who sought to take his life. If the Apostles went forth, in obedience to the Lord’s command, and preached the Gospel, hazarding their lives for the Saviour’s Name, this noble act of praise has been re-echoed in later days in Sierra Leone, in New Zealand, in India, in the Sandwich Islands, in Central Africa, by those who have gone forth to brave every danger in making known the same good tidings. Thus in all time the resolution of the Church of Christ is one and the same. “One generation shall praise Thy works to another.” Three thoughts seem to arise in conclusion:— 1. What are WE doing to make our generation one of praise? We have received from the generations before a glorious light; are we sending it onward and around? 2. Do we possess in ourselves that salvation which alone enables us truly to praise? Have we tasted that the Lord is gracious? 3. How glorious shall be the praise of heaven! Now one age to another, one land to another, praise God. What shall be the glory of the song when every age and every land shall join in the song of Moses and the Lamb!—W.S.Bruce, M.A. From “The Homiletic Quarterly.” THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE (Psalms 145:8-10) In these verses the poet celebrates the praise of God as a good or benevolent Being. Three leading considerations claim our attention:— I. The various manifestations of God’s goodness. The goodness or benevolence of God is here clearly stated. “Jehovah is gracious …; Jehovah is good to all.” And it seems to us that the expressions used by the Psalmist suggest certain manifestations of this goodness. Here is an indication of His— 1. Pity for suffering men. “Jehovah is full of compassion.” Perowne: “Of tender compassion is Jehovah.” It presents to us the goodness of God in its attitude towards the wretched. How great and manifold are the sufferings and sorrows of human life! God regards all sufferers with tenderest pity. In all their afflictions He is afflicted. He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities;” and touched deeply, for He is “full of compassion.” “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” 2. Patience with sinful men. “Slow to anger.” He holds back the outgoings of His wrath. He has great patience with perverse rebels. “The Lord is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 3. Pardon for penitent men. “Of great mercy;” or, “great in mercy.” How freely and fully in His great mercy does God forgive all who penitently seek Him! His “mercy is great unto the heavens.” “His mercy is everlasting.” The greatness of His mercy is seen— (1.) In the immense numbers to which it extends. “His tender mercies are over all His works.” He is “not willing that any should perish.” (2.) In the characters to which it extends. It reaches to the chief of sinners. It offers pardon to the most guilty. It “saves unto the uttermost.” (3.) In the sacrifice which its exercise involved. “God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” “God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us,” &c. “He spared not His own Son,” &c. (4.) In the blessings which flow from it. The free and full forgiveness of sins is but the beginning of its blessings. Holiness, peace, joy, heaven, are all bestowed upon believers in Christ Jesus, in the exercise of the Divine mercy. The blessings which flow from it are rich, inexhaustible, everlasting, and unspeakably precious. Truly God is “great in mercy.” “He delighteth in mercy.” II. The universality of God’s goodness. “Jehovah is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” It has been well observed that “this is a saying which does not seem as true in the winter as in the summer of life. Spoken in the quiet church, amid all the accompaniments of prayer and praise, with the quietude of the holy place to calm us, and music and memory and hope to bear us company, it is a saying that men will let pass as something they do not think of questioning; but, spoken to a poor woman who has just lost the stay of her home; spoken to a hard-working man who has just seen the hopes of years disappear; spoken to little children who have just been thrown on the world without father, or mother, or friend, or home; spoken to a good man whose reward seems nothing but disappointment and trouble and loss,—I do not wonder that it sounds to some like a mockery: and I do not wonder that men have turned away and said that these things are all very well in the church, but that they break down when men go into the open world. “Let us look at these words, then, that we may, if possible, find some solid ground for this saying that God is ‘good to all.’ And here the fact we have to master is this:—That we must judge of God’s dealings towards us with reference to some system or order under which we live. The system under which we live is something like this:— “ 1. A vast, complicated, and beneficent set of laws are at work, which apply in common to all. We are in a world the central principle of which is the universality and certainty of every prevailing law—this necessitating that God shall not come forth to accommodate the facts and the laws of the universe to every individual need, but that He shall provide for the steadfast abiding of everything in its place, and for the constancy of that thing to the law of its being. In this very thing, then, which has seemed so hard, inexorable, and cruel; in this steadfastness of the laws of the universe, I find the first proof of the universal goodness of God—a goodness which would not be increased, which would indeed be marred and spoiled and thwarted if He made the connection between cause and effect uncertain; and if, by special interferences on behalf of individuals, He brought uncertainty into the common life of the race. For if He specially came forth, to interfere in particular cases, to reverse or suspend the ordinary laws of life, or to save men from the effects of causes, every man would look for such interferences on his behalf; and recklessness, and presumption, and indolence, with all their attendant miseries and disappointments, would be increased a thousandfold. Here, then, where God’s goodness seems to be defective, we find an abiding proof of it. “ 2. We see that in the Divine administration of the laws of the universe, there is no partiality; all these great laws are steadfast, whoever applies to them. God is good to all in working by beautiful and beneficent laws that are as generous and as steadfast as Himself A man who has just denied the very existence of God goes into his field, and sows his seed; and, in a moment, all the wonderful laws of God leap to obey and bless him, and to give him the result of his seed-sowing, quite as readily, quite as speedily, as in the case where the sower thanks God and sows his seed with prayer. God is clearly no partial administrator of His laws. His sun shines and His rain falls on the evil and on the unthankful. He holds all the myriad laws of the universe to their appointed place, for He is ‘good to all.’ “ 3. Then, closely connected with that, is His impartial bestowment of all the common mercies of life for all. God distributes His mercies, not to bless this man or that, any more than He maintains His beautiful laws to advantage this man or that; but He scatters His mercies as men scatter seed, as though He reflected not which should prosper, this or that, or which was good or which was thorny ground. God’s sun shines; but if the sinner opens his eyes first, he will first behold it. God’s pure air comes on the wings of the morning; but if the impious one goes out first to breathe it, he will first be invigorated by it. God’s rain falls on every field, and if the sinner’s seed is in, it will first get the sweet enrichments of it. It is the same with everything. The mercies of God come to all, are open to all. It is only when sin makes a man naturally unable to find or keep a mercy of God that he finds the mercy disappear; but in every case there is a natural connection between the sin and the deprivation. Thus, again, if a man be pure, and wise, and good, he may be blest above the man who is impure, and foolish, and debased; but if so, it will be because there is a necessary and natural connection between his virtue and the blessing he finds, the one growing out of the other, and not because God selects him for rewards. “ 4. We may find His universal goodness in that wonderful law of our being, by which, as a rule, men are so easily and insensibly adapted to their condition. Thus, we find that a condition of life which would be insupportable to one, has become quite bearable or even satisfactory to another. The back adjusts itself to the burden; and the mind, the temperament, the tastes, the habits, the hopes, the likes and dislikes of a man, all, as a rule, naturally fall into harmony with his state; and this without his knowing it, or planning it, or striving after it. Thus, it is really quite an open question, whether men who are very rich enjoy life more than men who are moderately poor; or whether the palaces have contained more pleasure than the cottages of the world. You have heard men express their love for occupations that you would despise, and their contentment in habitations that made you shudder, and even their delight in persons from whom you shrink. You wonder how they can do without this or that—how they can bear with this or that; but the want is not felt by them, the burden galls them not. To this I might add the touching and most significant fact, that time seems to have a gentle healing virtue in it to soothe and comfort men; so that not only to our general condition in life, but to our special griefs, this blessed law applies. It is not that we forget; for often, as time goes on, memory only brightens and deepens with the passing years; but a gracious hand seems to steal over us, smoothing down the wrinkles of the spirit, and healing the wounds of the heart, and in this we may see a touching proof that God is ‘good to all.’ “ 5. We may look for a closing proof of this statement to the results that follow much of what we call not good and not merciful in this world. Much that seems not good, much that seems not merciful, is the best part of the discipline of life—or sometimes even the best guide to the ‘still waters’ and the ‘green pastures.’ A vast number of the ills of life are incentives to action, calls to duty, motives for exertion, wonderful schoolmasters to give us the needed mastery of the knowledge of good and evil. Many of the results of hardships are beneficent. “God is indeed good to all; to every creature—to the lowest, the saddest, the meanest, the sinfullest; and His tender mercies are over all His works.” III. The praise of God’s goodness. “All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Jehovah; and Thy saints shall bless Thee.” Concerning this praise two points require notice:— 1. Its universality. “All Thy works praise Thee, O Jehovah.” “All God’s works do praise Him, as the beautiful building praises the builder, or the welldrawn picture praises the painter.” All His works combine in setting forth His perfections; they manifest His power, and wisdom, and goodness. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” &c. 2. Its diversity. “Thy works praise Thee; and Thy saints bless Thee.” “His saints praise Him actively, while His other works praise Him only objectively.” Angels and glorified saints in heaven, and His people upon earth, praise Him with their will and affections, their reverence and loving obedience. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy name,” &c. ERRORS THE DIVINE BEING(Psalms 145:9) Right views of God are most important. Our religion will necessarily be a reflection of them. Our spirit, our hopes or fears, will be influenced, &c. Nations always are as the gods they worship. For the moral character of God we must go to His Word. Our text is an epitome. I. Let us see what it means. The goodness or benevolence of God is that which makes Him the source of blessing to His creatures. It takes in kindness, goodwill, love, benignity, &c. In our text it includes mercy, kindness to the guilty and miserable. Now, observe, this view of God is the doctrine of all dispensations— 1. See God as man’s creator (Genesis 1:26-28). 2. Hear God under the law (Exodus 33:18-19; Exodus 34:6). 3. In the age of Solomon and the Temple (2 Chronicles 5:13). 4. The prophet Nahum saying, “The Lord is good; a stronghold,” &c. (Nahum 1:7). 5. Now, hear the Apostles. John: “God is love.” Paul: “God is rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4). James: “The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy” (James 5:11). Peter: “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious,” &c. (1 Peter 2:3-9). Now, before we leave this view of God, see the extent of the Divine goodness. “To all.” “Over all.” It must be so. God is infinite, and His goodness and love are thus unbounded. “A sea without a bottom, or a shore,” &c. And see its duration. “From everlasting to everlasting.” “Endureth for ever.” Unchanging and eternal. II. What views of God are inconsistent with this portrait, and therefore necessarily erroneous. 1. The view that represents God as possessing implacable wrath. This is the opposite pole; never can harmonise; and thus is, of necessity, false. He hateth all evil; but His mercy embraces all sinners. 2. Views which represent God’s goodness as partial and limited. Flatly contradicting the text and the passages we have quoted. 3. Views of the Divine reprobative decrees. By which men have been unconditionally appointed, or left by God, to perish for ever. This is at total variance with the text. 4. Views which represent God’s goodness as only attainable through sacrifice. That God would not be good to sinners until Christ appeased His wrath, &c. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,” &c. Christ is the effect, not the cause, of the Divine mercy. The channel through which it flows, not the spring from whence it rises. 5. That God can be made good by some acts or ceremonies of ours. Tears, penance, &c. How futile! We may come to it by tears, repentance, and faith; but there it was in God before we wept, &c. 6. That God will only be good in the highest sense to a very few. But the Scriptures say: “The earth is full of His goodness.” “He delighteth in mercy.” “Not willing that any should perish.” Such, then, is the great goodness of God; His true merciful character. Application. If so— 1. Then even reason says, Adore Him. 2. Gratitude says, Love, praise, and serve Him. We say to all— 3. Come to Him by faith. Trust Him with all your hearts, and evermore, &c. 4. Love says, Delight in Him; be filled with His complacent favour. 5. Wonder marvels at it. “Herein is love,” &c. “God commendeth His love to us,” &c. It “passeth knowledge.” Here is redemption’s rock—eternal, immutable, &c. “Oh give thanks,” &c. 6. Jesus is the grand unspeakable manifestation of it. “God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself,” &c. (2 Corinthians 5:19, seq.).—Jabez Burnt, D.D. THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE REIGN(Psalms 145:11-13) The Psalmist here celebrates the greatness and goodness of God as a King in His kingdom. The suggestions of this part of the Psalm may be grouped under two heads:— I. The characteristics of the reign of the Lord. The poet here speaks of it as— 1. Glorious. “They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom; … to make known to the sons of men the glorious majesty of His kingdom.” The glory of Jehovah’s kingdom is not in external pomp and pageantry, but in its moral perfections. In its goodness, its righteousness, its beneficence; in the fact that He reigns to bless His subjects. “Where,” asks Perowne, “is the conspicuous excellence of that kingdom seen? Not in the symbols of earthly pride and power, but in gracious condescension to the fallen and the crushed, in a gracious care which provides for the wants of every living thing.” (See our remarks on “the blessings of His reign” in vol. i. pp. 383, 384.) 2. Mighty. “They shall talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts.” Barnes refers this to His power “as put forth in the works of creation; as manifested in the dispensations of His providence; as evinced in the conversion of sinners; as displayed in carrying His truth around the world; as exhibited in sustaining the sufferer, and in giving peace and support to the dying.” The might of the reign of Jehovah is moral, the power of truth, righteousness, goodness. 3. Perpetual. “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.” (On “the perpetuity of His reign” see vol. i. pp. 224 and 385.) II. The conversation on the reign of the Lord. “They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known,” &c. Three homiletical points are here:— 1. Delight in His reign. This is here clearly implied. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” We talk of the things in which we are interested, and of those which afford us pleasure. The reign of the Lord is to His people a delightful theme of meditation and discourse. 2. Praise of His reign. The poet here celebrates its perfection and perpetuity. The saints speak of it because they feel that it is worthy of praise and honour. It is one of the reasons for which His saints do bless Him. (On “the praise of His reign” see vol. i. p. 385.) 3. Desire for the extension of His reign. The saints speak of its glory and power “to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.” They are solicitous that others should understand and appreciate the perfections of His reign; that they might be led “to yield themselves His willing subjects, and so put themselves under the protection of such a mighty potentate.” “The Lord,” says David Dickson, “will have His saints to instruct such as are not converted to know His glory, power, and majesty, that they may be brought in and made subjects of His special kingdom of grace.” What is our relation to this glorious King? THE GLORY OF CHRIST’S KINGDOM(Psalms 145:11) As the kingdom of Christ is so conspicuous an object in both Testaments, and is the only one among men by whose government their happiness can be secured, it cannot be improper, from the words before us, to direct your attention to some particulars relating to the nature, extent, and durability of its glory. I. The glory of this kingdom is manifested in its origin. It had its origin in infinite mercy and grace. It entered into the councils of the Eternal before the foundation of the world was laid. In order to establish this kingdom, it was necessary that the Son of God should become incarnate.… The foundation of the kingdom was laid in the incarnation and atonement of the Son of God; a foundation proportionate to the grandeur and beauty of the edifice that was to be erected. The doctrines of the Gospel were, and are, the grand instruments in the hand of the Lord Jesus for bringing souls into subjection to His sceptre. The warfare is entirely spiritual; it is carried on by the light of truth and the burning of conviction. This is a glorious manner of raising a kingdom, worthy of Him who is a Spirit, and who reigns by spiritual and intellectual means in the hearts of His people. II. The glory of Christ’s kingdom is manifested in the manner and spirit of its administration. The last words of David describe the manner of administering this government; “The anointed of the God of Jacob,” &c. (2 Samuel 23:1-4). The most essential quality in the administration of any government is justice; and justice is most conspicuous in this administration. “With righteousness shall He judge the poor,” &c. (Isaiah 11:4-5). He will render to each of His subjects, not for their works, yet according to their works. The administration of His kingdom is also benign and gracious—it is indeed a kingdom of grace. He revealeth His grace, which is His glory; and thus He captivates the hearts of His people. “He delivers the poor when he cries, the needy, and him that hath no helper.” “When the poor and needy seek water,” &c. (Isaiah 41:17-18). In earthly kingdoms the subjects are governed by general laws, which must necessarily be very inadequate to the variety of cases and occurrences. But our King is intimately acquainted with all hearts, and being present in all places, He can apply His acts to individual examples, and appropriate smiles and frowns to each, as if there were no other beings that participated in His attention. In human administrations, the law extends only to outward acts; it relates only to objects of sense: but the kingdom of heaven is a spiritual one—it extends to the heart; it is “within you,” and relates to “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” It is justly considered a high excellence in a ruler, that he is disinterested, that he pursues no interest of his own apart from the general good of the empire. But never was any one so disinterested as the King of Zion, who laid down His life for His people, while they were yet enemies. The glory of the Father, and the good of man: these engaged His heart, these brought Him from heaven, &c. III. The glory of the kingdom of Christ appears in the character of His subjects. 1. These subjects are enlightened. They form right estimates of objects, as they are holy or sinful, temporal or eternal, &c. 2. The subjects of this kingdom are renewed. They are made, imperfectly, yet truly holy. It is in this kingdom that patience, purity, humility, faith, and love to God and men, reside. 3. The subjects of this kingdom have in them a preparation for perfect blessedness. They have that which renders them meet “to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” All the love and joy that glow with celestial fervour before the throne of the Heavenly Majesty, is only the consummation of seeds like those which are sown in the hearts of believers. IV. The glory of the kingdom of Christ is manifest in the privileges that are attached to it. 1. Peace is a peculiar blessing of this kingdom. This begins in reconciliation with God. The consequence of peace with God is peace with one another. 2. The dignity of the subjects of this kingdom is another privilege. To “as many as receive Him,” &c. (John 1:12; Romans 8:16-17; 1 John 3:1-2). 3. Immortality shall be the blessing of this kingdom; the subjects shall partake of endless life (John 6:54; John 6:58). Believers receive in them the embryo of eternal life; the spiritual life rises up into eternal life, and will be displayed in its perfection in the world of glory. These terms include everlasting felicity in the presence of God. I might mention other properties of this kingdom, which, though they do not enter into the essence of it, are very important. It is a growing kingdom. “Of its increase there shall be no end.” The perpetuity of this kingdom must endear it to a good man. It shall never be taken away to be given to any other people. Let us, while we live here, sincerely pray and labour for the advancement and glorious increase of this kingdom. Finally, let us look to ourselves, that, while we hear these things, we may possess a personal interest in this glorious and happy kingdom.—Robert Hall, A.M. THE PRAISE OF THE DIVINE TO (Psalms 145:14-21) In these verses Jehovah is praised because of the attitude He sustains and the blessings He bestows upon persons in different classes of character. I. His relation to the weak and the burdened. 1. He sustains the weak. “Jehovah upholdeth all them that fall.” The weak and the sinking are here meant; those who by reason of their feebleness are ready to fall. Many are ready to sink beneath life’s sorrows, many are almost falling before temptations to sin; but the Lord is their Sustainer: He upholds them. 2. He relieves the burdened. “And raiseth up all those that be bowed down.” The Psalmist means those who are heavily laden with the duties, the cares, and the trials of life; to whom these things are a heavy burden, bowing them down. Such persons the Lord relieves:— (1.) By removing the burden. In answer to prayer He sometimes takes away the load of care or trial. (2.) By increasing the strength of those who are burdened. By giving more grace the weight and painfulness of the burden are taken away—the burden ceases to be a burden. Let the weak and the heavy-laden trust in Him. II. His relation to the dependent. “The eyes of all wait upon Thee,” &c. (Psalms 145:15-16). We have here— 1. Universal dependence. “The eyes of all wait upon Thee; … Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” Every creature in the universe is a dependent one. God alone is independent. All creatures depend upon Him. “By Him all things consist.” Dependent creatures should be humble. 2. Divine provision. “Thou givest them their meat in due season,” &c. Here are three points— (1.) The seasonableness of the Divine provision. “In due season.” God’s gifts are always timely. He will not bestow them too soon; He will not withhold them one moment after their due time. (2.) The ease of the Divine provision. To supply the needs of the universe does not tax the resources of God, or cause Him any anxiety or effort. He has but to open His hand, and the countless and endlessly diversified needs of His creatures are supplied. “Thou openest Thine hand,” &c. (3.) The sufficiency of the Divine provision. “And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” “This,” says Barnes, “is to be taken in a general sense. It cannot mean that absolutely no one ever wants, or ever perished from want, but the idea is that of the amazing beneficence and fulness of God in being able and willing to satisfy such multitudes; to keep them from perishing by cold, or hunger, or nakedness. And, in fact, how few birds perish by hunger; how few of the infinite number of the inhabitants of the sea; how few animals that roam over deserts, or in vast plains; how few men; how few even of the insect tribes—how few in the world revealed by the microscope—the world beneath us—the innumerable multitudes of living things too small even to be seen by the naked eye of man!” All this implies unlimited resources in God; and should inspire the hearty confidence of man in Him. III. His relation to the prayerful. “The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,” &c. (Psalms 145:18-19). Notice— 1. The character indicated. This is marked by— (1.) Prayerfulness. “Them that call upon Him.” Here we have not simply dependence, but dependence felt and acknowledged; dependence rising into prayer. We have also an interesting and true view of prayer; it is here presented to us as expressed longing, the cry of desire. “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him; He also will hear their cry,” &c. (2.) Sincerity. “All that call upon Him in truth.” Sincerity is utterly indispensable to acceptable approach unto God. (3.) Reverence. “Them that fear Him.” This fear is not the terror of a slave, but the filial reverence of a child. 2. The blessings promised. (1.) The manifestation of His presence. “Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,” &c. He is near unto all men; but His true worshippers feel Him near unto them, they have communion with Him. “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,” &c. (2.) The granting of their desires. “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him.” “Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” The desires of godly souls accord with the holy will of God. (3.) The bestowment of His help. “He also will hear their cry, and will save them.” Perowne: “And when He heareth their cry He helpeth them.” “Call upon Me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee,” &c. The unanimous testimony of the history of His people confirms these assurances. IV. His relation to His saints. “The Lord preserveth all them that love Him.” 1. The human character. “Them that love Him.” They have confidence and complacency in Him; they have given their hearts unto Him. Their language is, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee?” &c. “The chiefest among ten thousand.… He is altogether lovely.” 2. The Divine keeping. “Jehovah preserveth,” or “keepeth them.” It is implied that they are exposed to danger. They are beset by spiritual enemies; they are weak and liable to receive injury; their spiritual interests are threatened. But Jehovah keepeth them. They “are kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation.” “He preserveth the souls of His saints; He delivereth them from the hand of the wicked.” By curbing the power of temptation; by restraining from evil by His Holy Spirit; by quickening the conscience, and strengthening the will, and increasing the spiritual life and activity by the same Holy Spirit, the Lord keepeth His people. V. His relation to the wicked. “But all the wicked will He destroy.” See here— 1. A sad character. This character is the opposite of the godly in all those aspects which have come under our notice. The wicked do not love God, do not reverence Him, do not pray to Him; but the evil of their character is positive and deep rooted; they have fitted themselves for destruction. 2. A dread destiny. “Will He destroy.” “The enemies of the Cross of Christ; whose end is destruction.” They “shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.” VI. His righteousness and kindness in all His relations. “Jehovah is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” Instead of “holy,” the Margin has “merciful, or bountiful.” Conant: “kind.” Perowne: “loving.” In His relations to all His creatures, whatever may be their character, He is just and merciful,righteous and kind. He wrongs no one; He requires of no one services which would be unjust. Even to the rebellious and wicked He is kind. “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” He is slow to anger even with the greatest sinners, and swift to save them when they turn to Him. VII. His praise because of all His relations. “My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord; and let all flesh bless His holy name for ever and ever.” We have here— 1. A resolution to offer personal praise. “My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah.” 2. A desire that He might be praised universally. “Let all flesh bless His holy name.” The godly soul. intensely desires that all men should worship the Lord. 3. A desire that He might be praised perpetually. “For ever and ever.” AND DIVINE SUPPORT(Psalms 145:15-16) The Psalmist here teaches— I. The universality of dependence amongst creatures. “The eyes of all wait upon Thee.” We depend upon God for “life, and breath, and all things.” “He giveth breath to the people upon earth, and spirit to them that walk therein.” “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” &c. Entire dependence should beget deep humility. “What hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” II. The infinitude of the Divine resources. “Thou givest them their meat in due season; … and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” This indicates the possession of resources— 1. Infinitely vast. “Every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle upon a thousand hills.” “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of bosts.” His resources are adequate to the abundant supply of all the wants of all creatures. His riches are unsearchable. 2. Infinitely various. They are not only more than sufficient for all necessities, but adapted to every variety of need. III. The timeliness of the Divine communications. “In due season.” The Divine Being is punctual in the fulfilment of every engagement. His gifts are bestowed at that time which infinite wisdom and infinite goodness adjudges to be the “due season.” In this we have a reason for patience if His interpositions or communications seem to be delayed. IV. The sublime ease of the Divine communications. “Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” To satisfy the innumerable needs of the myriads of His creatures does not tax His resources, or challenge an exertion of His power. He has but to open His hand, and the countless needs of the universe are satisfied. What an encouragement is this to believing prayer! He “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” V. The sufficiency of the Divine communications. “And satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” “God giveth to all liberally.” The provisions of His table are both bounteous and free. He gives “bread enough” for all His creatures, “and to spare.” So in spiritual things, His “grace is sufficient.” “God is able to make all grace abound toward yon; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: being enriched in everything to all liberality.” Our subject urges all men to— 1. Gratitude. Constant provision should lead to constant thankfulness and consecration. 2. Trust. (1.) For temporal supplies. “Be not careful for your life, what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink,” &c. (Matthew 6:25-34.) (2.) For spiritual supplies. “Grace to help in time of need” will surely be given to all who look to Him. AND OF PRAYER(Psalms 145:18-19) What is prayer? According to Psalms 145:18, it is a sincere calling upon God. According to Psalms 145:19, it is the cry of the desire of the godly soul. In our text we have— I. Some attributes of acceptable prayer. 1. Sincerity. “All that call upon Him in truth.” “God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” All unreality is known unto Him, and is abhorred by Him. Words and forms of prayer without the heart are an abomination in His sight. 2. Reverence. “Them that fear Him.” This is not dread, but reverence,—a devout, trustful, filial spirit. Religiousness of spirit is an essential condition of acceptable prayer. There are other attributes of acceptable prayer, which are not expressed here, although they are perhaps implied. Of these, two are of prime importance, viz.—Faith. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” And, Accordance with the Divine will. “If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.” II. Some advantages of acceptable prayer. 1. The realisation of His presence. “Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon Him,” &c. In His omnipresence and omnipotence He is near unto all men, but in gracious fellowship He is near only to devout souls. Locally, He is everywhere present; but sympathetically, He is present only with the truly pious. “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” &c. In gracious interest and tenderest regard He is nigh unto them; they realise His blessed presence. “Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.” 2. The fulfilment of their desires. “He will fulfil the desire of them that fear Him.” God does not promise to grant the desire of the irreligious, the worldly, or the wicked. It would be neither kind nor right to do so. But He pledges His word to grant the desire of the godly. Their desires are pure, unselfish, spiritual, in harmony with His will; and to fulfil them will promote both His own glory and the good of His universe. This truth is very clearly stated in the book of Job 22:21-23; Job 22:26-27; and by David: “Delight thyself in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (See also John 15:7; James 5:16.) 3. The obtainment of His salvation. “He also will hear their cry, and will save them.” “There is no rhetoric, nothing charming, in a cry, yet God’s ears are open to it, as the tender mother’s to the cry of her sucking child, which another would take no notice of.” In answer to prayer He helps His people in all their need, and ultimately saves them from all evil into perfect purity and joy. .—“Oh, fear the Lord, ye His saints; for there is no want to them that fear Him.” “Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him: God is a refuge for us.” In the Hebrew this Psalm has no superscription. The Septuagint has the superscription, “Hallelujah. Of Haggai and Zechariah;” and is followed in this respect by the Vulgate and the Syriac. This is based perhaps on ancient tradition; but has no higher authority. Modern expositors are generally agreed that the Psalm was composed after the exile. Thus Perowne: “The Psalm bears evident traces, both in style and language, and also in its allusions to other Psalms, of belonging to the post-exile literature.” All that can be determined concerning the occasion of its composition is well expressed by Hengstenberg: “That the Psalm was composed in a period of depression for the people of God, is indicated by the predicates given to God, which are all of a kind fitted to elevate the distressed, to console the afflicted, and give them confidence in their God.”This is the first of a series of five Hallelujah Psalms, with which the Psalter is closed. At a later time this series was used in the daily morning prayers, in conjunction with portions of other Psalms and Books of the Old Testament.The Psalm is chiefly an exhortation and an argument to trust not in man, but in Jehovah.TRUST AND PRAISELet us notice— I. The trust prohibited. “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help,” &c. Trust even in the most exalted and powerful of men is here prohibited; and reasons are given for the prohibition. Trust them not, because of— 1. Their inability. “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help,” or “salvation.” We are prone to confide in the great and the high ones of the earth, who seem able to do for us, able to help us, to promote us to rank and wealth, and to establish our state, therefore the Psalmist declares that no man, not even the mightiest, has power to save either himself or others. Prince and pauper are alike destitute of salvation in themselves; alike they must receive it from God, or remain without it. “He giveth salvation to kings.” 2. Their mortality. “His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.” Here are three points:— (1.) The termination of bodily life. “His breath goeth forth.” Without respiration, i.e., without inspiration and expiration, we cannot live. While there is breath there is life. But the time comes when expiration takes place, and is not followed by inspiration; when “his breath goeth forth” and returns not again, and life has ceased. Death “Is the cessation of our breath;Silent and motionless we lie,And no one knoweth more than this,I saw our little Gertrude die;She left off breathing, and no moreI smooth’d the pillow beneath her head.”(2.) The destiny of the body. “He returneth to his earth.” Barnes says, “The earth—the dust—is his:—(a.) It is his, as that from which he was made: he turns back to what he was (Genesis 3:19) (b.) The earth—the dust—the grave is his, as it is his home—the place where he will abide. (c.) It is his, as it is the only property which he has in reversion. All that a man—a prince, a nobleman, a monarch, a millionaire—will soon have will be his grave—his few feet of earth. That will be his by right of possession: by the fact that, for the time being, he will occupy it, and not another man. But that, too, may soon become another man’s grave, so that even there he is a tenant only for a time; he has no permanent possession even of a grave. How poor is the richest man!” (3.) The failure of temporal projects. “In that very day his thoughts perish.” All man’s plans and purposes which relate only to time and this world are cut off by death. The patriarch Job gives striking utterance to this truth: “My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.” When the breath goeth forth, “however grand the conception, however masterly the execution, all come to an end. The science, the philosophy, the statesmanship of one age is exploded in the next. The men who are the masters of the world’s intellect to-day are discrowned to-morrow. In this age of restless and rapid change they may survive their own thoughts: their thoughts do not survive them.” This truth has a very dread aspect to those whose thoughts and purposes are wholly or even chiefly of the things of sense and time; and this aspect our Lord brings into prominence in Luke 12:16-21. But the practical aspect of this truth with which we have now to do is that which shows the utter vanity of man as an object of human trust. All the kind purposes and designs which man has for us come to an end when he dies; and all the hopes that are placed on him perish at his death. Therefore, “Trust not in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help,” &c. “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man,” &c. (Jeremiah 17:5-8). II. The trust encouraged. “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help,” &c. (Psalms 146:5-10). We regard the word “Jacob” as denoting in this place the whole people of Israel; and “the God of Jacob” as the Lord Jehovah whom they worshipped, in contradistinction to the gods of the heathen. The position of the Psalmist is, that they are blessed who trust in Him; and that for the following reasons:—because of— 1. His almighty power. “Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is.” The creation of the world manifests the omnipotence of God, and this is engaged on behalf of them whose hope is in Him. The Divine name which is here used (àֵ ?ì = God) is also expressive of strength. He is strong to succour and help His people. 2. His unchangeable fidelity. “Who keepeth truth for ever.” Perowne holds that this is “the central thought of the Psalm. For on this ground beyond all others is God the object of trust. He is true, and His word is truth, and that word He keeps, not for a time, but for ever.” “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” 3. His righteous judgment. “Who executeth judgment for the oppressed.” “The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.” By His Providence He calmly and steadfastly works for the vindication of the injured. And in the last judgment He will redress every wrong, &c. 4. His bountifulness to the needy. “Who giveth food to the hungry.” “He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.” “The hungry,” says Hengstenberg, “represents generally all who stand in need of help.” Jehovah is the liberal benefactor of all the necessitous, and especially those of them who trust in Him. 5. His compassion for the afflicted. The poet mentions several classes of distressed or troubled men, and of God’s gracious dealings with each class. (1.) “Jehovah looseth the prisoners.” By the prisoners we understand captives—those that are bound, and those also who are in the prison of distress. He thus set Israel free from their bondage in Egypt, and afterwards from their captivity in Assyria. Christ is the great Emancipator. It is His “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to the bound.” “If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” (2.) “Jehovah openeth the eyes of the blind.” Heb., lit.: “Jehovah openeth the blind.” Hengstenberg: “The blind are the naturally blind, and such as cannot discern the way of salvation without wisdom and help; blindness occurs as an image of want of wisdom and support in Deuteronomy 28:29; Isaiah 59:10; Job 12:25.” (Comp. also Psalms 119:18; Isaiah 35:5.) (3.) “Jehovah raiseth up them that are bowed down.” Those who are weighed down and crushed by the burden of anxiety, trial, or sorrow, He sustains and cheers. (See our remarks on Psalms 145:14.) (4.) “Jehovah preserveth the strangers, He relieveth the fatherless and widow.” Instead of “relieveth” Hengstenberg translates, “raises up;” and Perowne, “setteth up.” “The stranger, the widow, and the fatherless are representatives of persons in a miserable condition;” they are “the three great examples of natural defencelessness.” The Lord succours all the helpless; He has a gracious regard for all who stand in special need of His care; He espouses the cause of the destitute and the weak. “A Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.” In Him “the fatherless findeth mercy.” 6. His complacency in His people. “Jehovah loveth the righteous.” Starke says, “What a sweet word: the Lord loves thee! I would not take a kingdom for that word. Love unites God’s heart to mine.” And how broad and firm is the basis of trust which it supplies! 7. His righteous retribution to the wicked. “The way of the wicked He turneth upside down.” Perowne: “He turneth aside.” Conant: “He subverteth” The projects of the wicked Jehovah defeats. Under His government their way leads down to ruin. Moll: “The crooked way of the wicked in which death lies (Proverbs 12:28) is turned by Jehovah down towards hell (Proverbs 15:24; comp. Psalms 2:18, Psalms 1:6). “Delitzsch:” There is only a single line devoted to Jehovah’s punitive justice. For He rules in love and wrath, but delights most to rule in love.” 8. His everlasting reign. “The Lord shall reign for ever; thy God, O Zion, unto all generations.” No opposition can shake His throne. All the subtlety and strength of His enemies are utterly powerless against Him. (On the everlasting reign of Jehovah, see vol. i. pp. 224 and 385.) In the perpetuity of His reign we have another evidence of the blessedness of those who trust in Him. Surveying all these reasons for confidence, are we not prepared with the accent of conviction to say with the Psalmist, “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God”? (Comp. Psalms 2:12; Psalms 84:12; Jeremiah 17:7-8.) III. The praise celebrated. “Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.,” &c. Here is— 1. A declaration of personal praise. The poet determines to praise God— (1.) Spiritually. “Praise Jehovah, O my soul.” “For discharging the duty of praise,” says David Dickson, “all the powers of the soul must be stirred up; the mind, to meditate; the memory, to bring forth former observations; the heart and affections, for discharging the duty of praise in the best manner.” (2.) Perpetually. “While I live will I praise Jehovah; I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.” “I’ll praise my Maker with my breath,And when my voice is lost in death,Praise shall employ my nobler powers;My days of praise shall ne’er be past,While life and thought and being last,Or immortality endures.”—Watts.“Not in this song only will he utter his praise, but ‘his life shall be a thanksgiving unto the Power that made him.’ ” 2. A summons to others to praise Him. “Praise ye the Lord.” Heb., as in Margin: “Hallelujah.” Thus the Psalm begins, and thus also it closes. “As one light kindles another,” says Starke, “so a believing heart seeks to awaken others and excite them to the righteous praise of God.” THE OF DEATH(Psalms 146:4-5) The text refers— I. To the destiny of all. 1. To a special day. “In that very day.” This is the day of death. There are many important days in a man’s history. Often days of great moment. Each perhaps the crisis of some eventful period of our history. But the day of death is peculiarly momentous: it is invested with unusual solemnity. It is the termination of probation, and the entrance on the unchanging realities of a future world. The aspect of this day depends entirely on the moral condition of the individual, whether it be bright or dark—a day of bliss or woe—of exaltation to heaven or degradation even to the lowest abyss of hell. It would be well to read and meditate on this day; to look at it in all lights, and in all its consequences; and especially for this reason,—it is a day which we, every one, must personally realise. “It is appointed unto men once to die,” &c. “I know Thou wilt bring me to death,” &c. Our text refers— 2. To a striking view of death. “His breath goeth forth.” When God made man, He “breathed,” &c. Life is a succession of breathings. By the act of inspiration we take in the air, which supplies the blood with a fresh supply of oxygen, and thus makes it wholesome and nutritious to the system. By the act of expiration, the breath which has become impure is thrown off. Now, this ceasing to breathe is the extinction of life, and this may be produced by a variety of causes,—impure air, organic disease of the heart, affections of the lungs, &c. Oh think of this, and remember every instant there is but one step between us and death. The text refers— 3. To man’s last earthly home. “He returneth to his earth.” From that our first parents sprung. On that we move and live. It yields our supplies of food. We at length return to it. “Dust thou art,” &c. “His earth”—every man has a claim on the earth for a sepulchre. The poorest have this, and the richest only this. “I know Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed,” &c. “If I wait, the grave is mine house,” &c. The text refers— 4. To the cessation of mental activity. “In that very day his thoughts perish.” His worldly plans and schemes; his anxieties and cares; his purposes and projects; even his religious thoughts of repentance and serving God. His resolutions and vows, &c., all perish—all die with him. Whether king or peasant, philosopher or rustic. Not his soul—no, that still lives. Our text refers— II. To the peculiar privileges and happiness of a certain description of character. The character introduced is represented under two interesting features. 1. As sustained by the God of Jacob. “The God of Jacob for his help.” Man requires Divine help. This help Jesus obtained by His obedience and sacrifice. Even the Old Testament saints enjoyed this help by prospective faith in the Redeemer. How God helped Jacob! delivering him from the wrath of his brother, and the oppression of Laban. Helped him to sustain his domestic troubles; helped him in all his trials and difficulties, and led him at last to dwell in the rich and fruitful land of Goshen. God is the help of all the spiritual posterity of Jacob—all who like Jacob are distinguished for prayer, faith, and obedience to His word. God is a help at hand; all-sufficient; unchangeable; everlasting. This character is represented— 2. As expecting all good in and from God. “Whose hope is in the Lord his God.” The hope of the pious has respect to God’s wisdom, truth, goodness, mercy, fidelity, &c. Hope is the balm of life, the very joy of existence. What would man do in the sorrows and trials of his present state, or what in looking towards the eternal future, without hope? He alone can sustain, deliver, bless, and save. Hence, notice— 3. The blessedness of this character. “Happy is he,” &c. We are often struck most forcibly by contrasts. Contrast the godly man who hath Jehovah for his help with the poor benighted pagan, dwelling in the region of death—anxious, wretched, despairing. Contrast him with the sceptic, who is all doubt and uncertainty. With the worldly, whose hope and happiness are identified with gold and silver. With the neglector of religion, who trifles away opportunities, and mercies, and privileges, until “the harvest is past,” &c. Oh, yes, the godly man is happy—happy in the enjoyment of heavenly knowledge—happy in the enjoyment of Divine peace, internal tranquillity—happy in the prospect of immortality and eternal life. “They shall return and come to Zion with songs,” &c. Our subject contains matter— 1. For solemn admonition. Think of the day of death, &c. 2. For rejoicing, to those who have God for their help. What a privilege! Oh, value it—often praise God for it. 3. For exhortation. Who will consecrate himself to the Lord?—Jabes Burnt, D.D. THE LORD THE (Psalms 146:7) “The Lord looseth the prisoners.” The text suggested to the preacher to go through the corridors of the great world-prison in which prisoners were confined. I. The common prison—the ward of sin. II. The solitary cell—the place of penitence, where was a secret spring, called faith, which, if a man could touch, he could go forth. III. The silent cell, where he met with people who could not pray. IV. The cell of ignorance. V. The prison of habit. VI. The hard labour room. VII. The low dungeon of despondency. VIII. The inner prison—the hold of despair. IX. The devil’s torture chamber. X. The condemned cell.—C. H. Spurgeon. From “Lamps, Pitchers, and Trumpets,” by E. P. Hood. “Like the last Psalm, and like those which follow it, this is evidently an anthem intended for the service of the Second Temple. It celebrates God’s almighty and gracious rule over His people and over the world of nature, but mingles with this a special commemoration of His goodness in bringing back His people from their captivity and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In the allusions to these events in Psalms 147:2-3, and Psalms 147:13-14, we shall probably be justified in seeing the occasion of the Psalm. It may have been written for the dedication of the wall at Jerusalem, which, as we learn from Nehemiah 12:27, was kept ‘with gladness, both with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.’ It is indeed not improbable, as Hengstenberg suggests, that not this Psalm only, but the rest of the Psalms to the end of the Book, are all anthems originally composed for the same occasion. The wall had been built under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty and discouragement (Nehemiah 2:17; Nehemiah 4:23); its completion was celebrated with no common joy and thankfulness; ‘for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the wives also and the children had rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.’ (See Nehemiah 12:27-43.)“The Psalm cannot be said to have any regular strophical arrangement, but the renewed exhortations to praise, in Psalms 147:7; Psalms 147:12, suggest a natural division of the Psalm. It is a Trifolium of praise.”—Perowne.THE OF PRAISE TO GOD(Psalms 147:1-6) The Psalm opens with the summons to praise Jehovah, and proceeds to adduce motives for praising Him. We may arrange these under two heads:— I. The praise of God is excellent in itself. “Praise ye the Lord, for”— 1. “It is good to sing praises unto our God. The adjective here used is a very comprehensive one—θεֹ ?ακαλός pulcher, beautiful; or, ἀγαθός bonus, good; or, useful, profitable, beneficent. The same word is applied to the praise of God in Psalms 92:1. (See our remarks on that verse, vol. ii. pp. 63, 64.) 2. “It is pleasant.” To the godly soul praising God is a delightful thing; a thing affording purest satisfaction, and real joy to the heart. This truth is expressed also in Psalms 135:3 : “Sing praises unto His name, for it is pleasant.” 3. It “is comely.” This clause is probably taken from Psalms 33:1. “Praise is comely for the upright.” To praise God is a most seemly thing. Nothing can be more appropriate than that man, who owes to God so much, and is to some extent capable of appreciating the perfections and glories of His character, should pay to Him humble and hearty worship. It is a becoming thing in man; an honour and an ornament to him. II. The praise of God is excellent in its reasons. “Jehovah doth build up Jerusalem,” &c. (Psalms 147:2-6). God is here praised because of— 1. His relation to His Church. “Jehovah doth build up Jerusalem; He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.” There are references here to the rebuilding of the walls and the city of Jerusalem after the Captivity, and to the restoration of the exiled people to their own land. (Comp. Isaiah 11:12; Isaiah 56:8.) The Lord is the builder of His Church. “Upon this rock will I build My Church.” “Ye are God’s building.” He hews the stones out of the quarries of nature, cuts them into shape, works them into the glorious edifice, and carves them into grace and beauty. “The Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved.” He will carry onward the building to splendid completeness. And when His people have been scattered by persecution, or famine, or strife, He brings them together again. “As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out My sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.” 2. His relation to troubled souls. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” There is much sorrow of heart in the world. It is probable that broken hearts are more frequent amongst men than is generally supposed. Broken hearts are not paraded; they are rather carefully concealed. Hearts are broken by sorrow for sin, by painful disappointments, by wicked calumnies, by distressing bereavements, by severe afflictions, by heavy losses. The Lord is the comforter and healer of such suffering souls. He heals the troubled penitent with His gracious forgiveness of sin; to the disappointed He presents new and brighter and well-assured hopes; to the calumniated He gives the assurance of a splendid vindication (Psalms 37:5-6); before the bereaved He holds out the prospect of everlasting and joyful reunion with the beloved departed in our Father’s house; He transforms afflictions into angels laden with blessings; and out of temporal losses He evolves eternal gains. “He heals the broken in heart,” &c. It is His “to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,” &c. (Isaiah 61:2-3). “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you,” &c. 3. His relation to heavenly hosts. “He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names,” &c. (Psalms 147:4; Psalms 147:6). “This is adduced,” says Perowne, “as a proof of the omniscience and omnipotence of God, and hence as a ground of consolation to His people, however they may have been scattered, and however they may have been oppressed. Surely He must know, He must be able to succour, human woe, to whom it is an easy thing to count those stars which are beyond man’s arithmetic (Genesis 15:5). The argument is precisely the same as in Isaiah 40:26-29 : ‘Lift up your eyes,’ &c.… Evidently the words of the prophet were in the mind of the Psalmist.” It is stated that in our sky there are one hundred millions of stars visible by the aid of a telescope, each of which is the centre of a cluster of tributary stars, making altogether “a great multitude which no man can number.” “If we ask,” says Dr. Chalmers, “the number of suns and of systems, the unassisted eye of man can take in a thousand, and the best telescope which the genius of man has constructed can take in eighty millions.[3] But why subject the dominions of the universe to the eye of man, or to the powers of his genius? Fancy may take its flight far beyond the ken of eye or of telescope. It may expatiate in the outer regions of all that is visible—and shall we have the boldness to say, that there is nothing there? that the wonders of the Almighty are at an end, because we can no longer trace His footsteps? that His omnipotence is exhausted, because human art can no longer follow Him? that the creative energy of God has sunk into repose, because the imagination is enfeebled by the magnitude of its efforts, and can keep no longer on the wing through those mighty tracts, which shoot far beyond what eye hath seen, or the heart of man hath conceived—which sweep endlessly along, and merge into an awful and mysterious infinity?” [3] The number is now said to be one hundred millions or more.Yet God counts all these stars; marshals all these stars. What an illustration we have in this of— (1.) His unlimited might! What power is involved in marshalling the countless hosts of stars, in guiding and keeping them in their spheres! “Great is our Lord, and of great power.” (2.) His infinite knowledge. “He calleth them all by their names.” Perowne: “He giveth names unto them all.” The expression indicates “the most intimate knowledge and the most watchful care, as that of a shepherd for his flock (John 10:3).” Or the figure has been interpreted thus: “ ‘He calleth them all by their names’—as if each one had a name, and God could call them forth one by one by their names, like the muster-roll of an army.” “His understanding is infinite.” Margin: “Of His understanding there is no number.” In the Hebrew there is a play upon the word which is translated “number” in Psalms 147:4. Unlimited is the number both of His understanding and of the stars. The limit of human knowledge is soon reached, but “there is no searching of His understanding.” Now this infinite intelligence and almighty power of God should prove an encouragement and an inspiration to all who trust in Him. The idea has been well expressed by Dr. Chalmers: “The God who sitteth above, and presides in high authority over all worlds, is mindful of man; and though at this moment His energy is felt in the remotest provinces of creation, we may feel the same security in His Providence as if we were the objects of His undivided care. It is not for us to bring our minds up to this mysterious agency. But such is the incomprehensible fact, that the same Being, whose eye is abroad over the whole universe, gives vegetation to every blade of grass, and motion to every particle of blood which circulates through the veins of the minutest animal; that, though His mind takes into its comprehensive grasp immensity and all its wonders, I am as much known to Him as if I were the single object of His attention—that He marks all my thoughts—that He gives birth to every feeling and every movement within me—and that with an exercise of power which I can neither describe nor comprehend: the same God who sits in the highest heaven, and reigns over the glories of the firmament, is at my right hand to give me every breath which I draw, and every comfort which I enjoy.” 4. His retributive relation to men. “Jehovah lifteth up the meek; He casteth the wicked down to the ground.” He who “rules the stars in their courses, rules also the world of man.” (1.) He exalts the humble and the oppressed. “Jehovah lifteth up the meek,” or “the afflicted.” (See our remarks on Psalms 145:14; Psalms 146:8.) (2.) He abases the wicked. (See our remarks on Psalms 146:9.) “His rule and His order are a correction of man’s anarchy and disorder.” “Praise ye the Lord; for it is good,” &c. THE AND OF GOD(Psalms 147:2-5) The text reveals the constructive side of the Divine government. I. As shown in the building of the Church. “The Lord doth build up Jerusalem,” &c. That He should do so shows (1) that the Church is self-demolished; (2) that it is selfhelpless; and (3) that God is the Gatherer, the Redeemer, and the Builder of the Church. It is not God’s purpose to destroy. It is His very nature to preserve, extend, complete, and glorify. He does destroy, but never willingly. His arm does not become terrible until His heart has been grieved, until His patience has been exhausted, and until the vital interests of the universe have been put in peril. II. As seen in the gentle care of human hearts. “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” Still, you see how constructive and preservative is God. His work is edification, not destruction. Who cares for broken-hearted men? Who has patience with the weak and faint? The greater the nature, the greater the compassion. “It is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men.” Learn from this gentle care of human hearts— 1. The personality of God’s knowledge. He knows every bruised reed. Hearts suffer in secret; there is nothing hidden from God! 2. The infinite adaptations of Divine grace. Every heart, whatever its grief, may be healed? There is “a sovereign balm for every wound.” Are we wounded on account of sin? Are we writhing under the agonies of penitence? Are we tortured by circumstances over which we have no control—the waywardness of children, physical prostration, the opposition of bad men, and the like? For every wound there is healing in the grace of God. 3. The perfectness of Divine healing. Other healers say, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” Others, “Heal the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly.” We are not healed until God heals us. God offers to heal us; our disease and our sorrow are challenges to prove His grace. What of the responsibility of refusal?III. As seen in the order, the regularity, and the stability of creation. “He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.” Creation is a volume open to all eyes. Read it, and see the might and gentleness, the wisdom and patience, of God. “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth.” Jesus Christ taught us to reason from the natural to the spiritual: “Consider the lilies,” &c.; “Behold the fowls of the air,” &c. (1.) God takes care of the great universe, may I not trust Him with my life? (2.) Where God’s will is unquestioned, the result is light, beauty, music: why should I oppose myself to its gracious dominion? Let the Church be of good courage. “When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory.” “The gates of hell shall not prevail.” Are we truly broken in heart? Hear, then, the Saviour: “He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted,”—sent His Son to heal us. Are we contrite, humble, penitent! “Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Our brokenness attracts Him. The cry of our sorrows brings Him down from heaven.—Joseph Parker, D.D. THE GREAT(Psalms 147:5) Here are three aspects of the Divine greatness:— I. God is great in His essence. “Great is the Lord.” He is great by reason of— 1. His spirituality. “God is a Spirit.” Spiritual substances are more excellent than material. “The more perfect anything is in the rank of creatures, the more spiritual and simple it is, as gold is the more pure and perfect that hath least mixture of other metals.” So God is a pure and perfect Spirit: He “is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” In Him there is “spirituality without any matter, perfection without any shadow or taint of imperfection.” 2. His self-existence. His Being is underived and independent. With Him life is essential. He is the “I AM.” His name is Jehovah, the Self-Existent One. 3. His infinity. (1.) He is infinite as regards duration. “From everlasting to everlasting Thou art God.” He is eternal in the largest sense of that word. He endures always. He “inhabiteth eternity.” (2.) He is infinite as regards space. He is present everywhere, from infinity to infinity. “There is no part of the universe, no portion of space, uninhabited by God, none wherein this Being of perfect power, wisdom, and benevolence is not essentially present. Could we with the swiftness of a sunbeam dart ourselves beyond the limits of the creation, and for ages continue our progress in infinite space, we should still be surrounded with the Divine presence, nor ever be able to reach that space where God is not.” (Comp. Psalms 139:7-12; Jeremiah 23:23-24.) 4. His unity. There is but one God. “The Lord our God is one Lord.” “If God be an infinitely-perfect Being,” says Bishop Wilkins, “it is impossible to imagine two such beings at the same time, because they must have several perfections or the same. If the former, neither of them can be God, because neither of them has all possible perfections. If they have both equal perfections, neither of them can be absolutely perfect, because it is not so great to have the same equal perfections in common with another as to be superior to all others.” Well did Masillon exclaim, “God alone is great!” II. God is great in power. “And of great power.” “The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass whatsoever He please; whatsoever His infinite wisdom can direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of His will can resolve.” This power is manifested— 1. In the creation and sustentation of the universe. “He spake, and it was done,” &c. “He is mighty in strength,” &c. (Job 9:4-10). “He stretcheth out the north over the empty place,” &c. (Job 26:7-14). “By Him all things consist.” 2. In the government of the universe. He rules over holy angels. “He maketh His angels spirits,” &c. He presides over human governments. He “bringeth the princes to nothing,” &c. (Isaiah 40:23-24). “He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth,” &c. He rules even over His enemies. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee,” &c. “The angels which kept not their first estate,” &c. (Jude 1:6). 3. In the redemption of mankind. We see here the power of infinite wisdom and truth and love overcoming the antagonism of rebellious wills, the alienation of estranged hearts, &c. This is the grandest, sublimest display of the power of God. He is “mighty to save.” The consideration of the almightiness of God should (1.) prove a warning to the wicked. He has power to fulfil His threatenings. “Hast thou an arm like God?” (2.) Awaken awe in all men. We should reverently fear so great a Being. (3.) Encourage faith in His people. Omnipotence is pledged for their help and keeping. “The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” “If God be for us, who can be against us?” III. God is great in knowledge. “His understanding is infinite.” 1. He knows Himself. “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God,” &c. (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). 2. He knows all creatures. Angels, men, and even the meanest creatures. (Comp. Job 38:41; Psalms 50:11; Luke 12:6-7.) And He knows them clearly and completely. Thus He is perfectly acquainted with man’s thoughts (Psalms 139:2; Ezekiel 11:5), and secret sins (Psalms 90:8), and necessities (Matthew 6:32), and circumstances, and works, and ways (Psalms 139:1-6). 3. He knows all events. (1.) All past events. He never forgets anything. This knowledge is clearly implied in Ecclesiastes 12:14; Revelation 20:12. (2.) All present events. Nothing escapes the vigilance of His eye (Hebrews 4:12-13). (3.) All future events (Isaiah 41:21-26; Acts 15:18). (4.) All possible events. All the possibilities of all things, and beings, and worlds must be present to Him “whose understanding is infinite.” The consideration of this infinite knowledge of the holy God should (i.) Check sin both in thought and in deed. You cannot sin in secret. “There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.” (ii.) Humble all pride of intellect. As compared with God, what does even the most intelligent man know? “We are but of yesterday, and know nothing,” &c. (iii.) Destroy all notions of our self-righteousness. In the presence of this holy and heart-searching Being, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” (iv.) Inspire confidence in the triumph of His cause. His enemies cannot outwit Him. His designs are formed in infinite knowledge and wisdom. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against” His Church, (v.) Inspire confidence in His providential dealings with us. His infinite knowledge is pledged to all who trust in Him. He knows their trials and dangers and sorrows, their wants and ways; and He will guide and support them, &c. “He knoweth our frame,” &c. THE AND OF GOD A REASON FOR HIM(Psalms 147:7-11) Let us consider— I. The providence of God. The Psalmist exhibits the providential agency of God in— 1. Presiding over the elements. “He covereth the heaven with clouds, He prepareth rain for the earth.” (Comp. Job 5:10; Job 28:25-26; Job 36:27-28; Psalms 104:13.) The clouds do not cover the heavens, neither does the rain descend upon the earth by chance; both are governed by fixed laws; and these laws were appointed and are controlled by God. He is sovereign over all the arrangements and forces of nature. 2. Creating vegetation. “He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.” The mountains are mentioned because Palestine was a mountain-land. “A land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven” (Deuteronomy 11:11). And these, which are not watered by the rivers, God clothes with verdure and beauty. (Comp. Psalms 104:14; Acts 14:17.) 3. Providing for the wants of His creatures. “He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” (See our remarks on Psalms 104:21; Psalms 104:27-28; Psalms 145:15-16.) The ravens are mentioned here rather than other birds probably because they are offensive birds, in order to show that no creature, however regarded by man, is uncared for by God. Seeing that He supplies the needs of the ravens, is not the conclusion irresistible that He will provide for His children? (Comp. Matthew 6:26; Luke 12:6-7.) II. The pleasure of God. 1. It is not in those who trust in their own resources. “He delighteth not in the strength of the horse; He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.” Horse and foot soldiers are here meant; the cavalry and infantry of an army God has no delight in armies great and strong, or in those who trust in them. Perowne expresses his idea of the meaning of the verse thus: “His delight is not in those who trust in their own strength and swiftness.” It is one thing to trust in great and mighty armies and skilful generals; it is another, and in the sight of God a far nobler thing, to say with Jehoshaphat, “O our God, we have no might against this great company,” &c. (2 Chronicles 20:12). 2. It is in those who reverence and trust in Him. “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy.” “A holy fear of God,” says Matthew Henry, “and hope in God, not only may consist, but must concur. In the same heart, at the same time, there must be both a reverence of His majesty and a complacency in His goodness, both a believing dread of His wrath and a believing expectation of His favour; not that we must hang in suspense between hope and fear, but we must act under the gracious influences of hope and fear. Our fear must save our hope from swelling into presumption, and our hope must save our fear from sinking into despair.” God delights in the man who looks to Him for all good, who reverences Him in all things, and who leans upon Him at all times and in all circumstances. Man’s confidence in God is a pleasure to Him. He loves to be trusted by His creatures. III. The praise of God. “Sing unto Jehovah with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God.” The praise which man offers unto God is here represented as— 1. A response for Divine favours. “Sing unto the Lord.” The fundamental signification of the word here translated “sing” is to reply, to answer; and, according to Fόrst, as used here it means “always to sing in reply, not to sing merely.” Conant translates: “Answer Jehovah with thanksgiving.” And Moll: “ ‘Answer to Jehovah.’ There is no allusion here to an antiphonal choral song, as in Exodus 15:21, but a song of praise is called for as the answer of grateful men, to the honour of the Divine Giver (Exodus 32:18; Numbers 21:17; Isaiah 27:2).” The idea seems “to be, that we are to make a suitable response or answer to the manifold favours which we have received at the hand of God.” God blesses man by the bestowal of His gifts, and man responds to God by the presentation of praise to Him. 2. An expression of gratitude for Divine favours. “Answer unto Jehovah with thanksgiving,” &c. A grateful recollection of the goodness of God to us should find expression in our songs to Him. In our hymns of praise His blessings to us should be thankfully acknowledged, and the glory of them should be given to Him alone. In the spirit of such worship let us endeavour to live. GRASS, AND ITS MORAL (Psalms 147:8) He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.” Mr. Ruskin in his Modern Painters (III. Pt. 4. ch. 14. § 51, 52) says some beautiful and suggestive things concerning grass. “Gather a single blade of grass, and examine for a minute, quietly, its narrow sword-shaped strip of fluted green. Nothing, as it seems there, of notable goodness or beauty. A very little strength, and a very little tallness, and a few delicate long lines meeting in a point—not a perfect point neither, but blunt and unfinished, by no means a creditable or apparently much-cared-for example of Nature’s workmanship; made, as it seems, only to be trodden on to-day, and to-morrow to be cast into the oven; and a little pale and hollow stalk, feeble and flaccid, leading down to the dull brown fibres of roots. And yet, think of it well, and judge whether of all the gorgeous flowers that beam in summer air, and of all strong and goodly trees, pleasant to the eyes or good for food—stately palm and pine, strong ash and oak, scented citron, burdened vine—there be any by man so deeply loved, by God so highly graced, as that narrow point of feeble green.… Consider what we owe merely to the meadow grass, to the covering of the dark ground by that glorious enamel, by the companies of those soft, and countless, and peaceful spears. The fields! Follow but forth for a little time the thoughts of all that we ought to recognise in those words. All spring and summer is in them—the walks by silent, scented paths—the rests in noonday neat—the joy of herds and flocks—the power of all shepherd life and meditation—the life of sunlight upon the world, falling in emerald streaks, and failing in soft blue shadows, where else it would have struck upon the dark mould, or scorching dust—pastures beside the pacing brooks—soft banks and knolls of lowly hills—thymy slopes of down overlooked by the blue line of lifted sea—crisp lawns all dim with early dew, or smooth in evening warmth of barred sunshine, dinted by happy feet, and softening in their fall the sound of loving voices: all these are summed in those simple words; and these are not all. We may not measure to the full the depth of this heavenly gift, in our own land; though still, as we think of it longer, the infinite of that meadow sweetness, Shakespeare’s peculiar joy, would open on us more and more, yet we have it but in part. Go out in the spring time, among the meadows that slope from the shores of the Swiss lakes to the roots of their lower mountains. There, mingled with the taller gentians and the white narcissus, the grass grows deep and free; and as you follow the winding mountain paths, beneath arching boughs all veiled and dim with blossom,—paths that for ever droop and rise over the green banks and mounds sweeping down in scented undulation, steep to the blue water, studded here and there with new-mown heaps, filling all the air with fainter sweetness,—look up towards the higher hills, where the waves of everlasting green roll silently into their long inlets among the shadows of the pines; and we may, perhaps, at last know the meaning of those quiet words of the147th Psalm, ‘He maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.’ “There are also several lessons symbolically connected with this subject, which we must not allow to escape us. Observe, the peculiar characters of the grass, which adapt it especially for the service of man, are its apparent humility and cheerfulness.” We discover in the grass an illustration of— I. Christian humility. It illustrates— 1. The usefulness of humble service. Grass “seems created only for lowest service,—appointed to be trodden on and fed upon.” Yet of what great use and value it is! In like manner the lowly services of humble souls are indispensably necessary and unspeakably precious. 2. The beauty of humble service. To a person of pure and refined taste grass is very beautiful. To gaze upon it is in the highest degree restful and grateful to the tired eye. How beautiful is a life of humble service! Our Lord “came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.” He said, “I am among you as He that serveth.” He “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant,” &c. 3. The divine acceptance of humble service. “Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water,” &c. The Most High has declared His special regard for the humble. (See Proverbs 16:19; Proverbs 18:12; Proverbs 22:4; Proverbs 29:23; Isaiah 57:15; 1 Peter 5:5.) Let us cultivate lowly thoughts of ourselves; for— (1.) They are most likely to be true. (2.) They will promote our usefulness. (3.) They attract the Divine regard. II. Christian cheerfulness. Grass illustrates— 1. Cheerfulness in the prosperity of others. When spring comes the grass “rejoices with all the earth,—glowing with variegated flame of flowers,—waving in soft depth of fruitful strength.” The Christian rejoices with them that rejoice; he looks “not on his own things, but also on the things of others;” he is animated by the charity which “seeketh not her own.” 2. Cheerfulness in the midst of adversity. When winter comes, the grass, “though it will not mock its fellow-plants by growing then, it will not pine and mourn, and turn colourless or leafless as they. It is always green, and is only the brighter and gayer for the hoar frost.” In like manner the Christian “glories in tribulation,” &c. (Romans 5:3-5). He “reckons that the sufferings of this present,” &c. (Romans 8:18). Thus the truly pious are cheerful in the midst of adversity. 3. Cheerfulness increased by adversity. Grass “seems to exult under all kinds of violence and suffering. You roll it, and it is stronger the next day; you mow it, and it multiplies its shoots, as if it were grateful; you tread upon it, and it only sends up richer perfume.” Thus afflictions increase the serenity and cheerfulness and strength of humble souls. The proud are hardened and embittered by them; the humble are enriched and blessed. Their “chastening yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” (Comp. James 1:2-3; 1 Peter 1:6-9.) Let us learn the lessons which the grass may teach us (Matthew 6:28-30). Let us cultivate humility of spirit. PRAISE FROM SOCIETY AND FOR REASONS(Psalms 147:12-20) We have here another paragraph in this hymn of praise, in which the poet appeals especially to Jerusalem to celebrate the praise of Jehovah; and mentions the special reasons which its inhabitants had for doing so. Here are two main lines of thought— I. Praise from excellent society. “Praise Jehovah, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.” By Jerusalem and Zion the Psalmist means the chosen people of God, the ancient Church. The people of God are under special obligations to praise Him. 1. They have a clearer knowledge of Him than others. They have His revealed mind and will. He manifests Himself unto them as He does not unto the world. He bestows upon them His Holy Spirit for their instruction and sanctification. 2. They have a closer relation to Him than others. “Thy God” (Psalms 147:12). Jehovah was in covenant relation with Israel. He speaks of them as “My people Israel.” “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be My people.” “Say unto Zion, Thou art My people.” Christians, in like manner, are now spoken of as the people of God. (See Acts 15:14; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 8:10; 1 Peter 2:9-10.) Into this relationship they were called with a view to the praise of God, as Peter distinctly states (1 Peter 2:9). 3. They receive richer blessings from Him than others. This is a result of their closer relation to Him. It was so in the case of Israel (Leviticus 26:1-13). It is so in the case of Christians. They are guided by Him (Romans 8:14); heirs of Him (Romans 8:17); interceded for by His Spirit (Romans 8:26); have all good guaranteed by Him (Romans 8:32); have communion with Him (1 John 1:3); are called and kept by Him unto a glorious inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-6). Therefore they are under special obligation to praise Him. II. Praise for excellent reasons. 1. For the blessings of His providence. “He hath blessed thy children within thee.” Three of these blessings are specified by the poet. (1.) Protection. “He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates.” The reference is to the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem and the setting up of the gates by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 7:1-3). God had enabled them to succeed in this, notwithstanding crafty and determined opposition. “God’s almighty protection is the true defence of a country; without it all other defences can neither help or endure.” God is the guardian of His people and of His Church. (2.) Peace. “He maketh peace in thy borders.” The Margin is correct: “Who maketh thy border peace.” (Comp. Isaiah 60:17-18 : “I will also make thy officers peace,” &c.) “If there be trouble anywhere,” says Matthew Henry, “it is in the borders, the marches of a country; the frontier towns lie most exposed, so that, if there be peace in the borders, there is a universal peace, a mercy we can never be sufficiently thankful for.” Peace in the soul, in society, and in the world is the gift of God. The universal supremacy of the spirit and principles of Christ would result in universal peace. (3.) Plenty. “He filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.” The literal rendering is, “He satisfieth thee with the fat of wheat.” (Comp. Psalms 81:16.) God gave them abundance of provisions, and those of the best kind. Here, then, we have reasons for praising God. 2. For His agency in nature. “He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth,” &c. (Psalms 147:15-18). He is here represented as— (1.) The controller of Nature. All its changes are ordered and effected by Him. And they are effected with ease. “He sendeth forth His commandment,” and it is at once fulfilled. “He spake, and it was done,” &c. (Psalms 33:9). They are effected also with rapidity. “His word runneth very swiftly.” Snow, frost, ice, cold, warmth, wind, all obey Him without reluctance and without delay. (2.) The proprietor of Nature. It is “His ice, His cold, His wind.” God is still the sovereign Proprietor of His universe. (3.) The instructor of man by means of Nature. (α) His sovereignty over the changes of Nature illustrates His control over the changes of the life of His people. Hengstenberg: “In Psalms 147:15-18 there is probably not only an allusion to the omnipotence of God as manifested in Nature not less than in the government of His people, but at the same time an allegorical representation of this government, so that the Psalmist perceived in the operations of God in Nature the image of His administration in Grace—in the snow, hoar-frost, and frost, an image of the now no longer existing time of trouble; in the spring (Psalms 147:18) an image of the returning salvation. (Comp. the similar figurative representations in Psalms 107)” He regulates the vicissitudes of their life, and causes them to “work together for good to them that love God.” (β) His agency in nature shows the futility of opposing Him. “Who can stand before His cold?” “If we cannot stand before the cold of His frosts, how can we stand before the heat of His wrath?” (γ) The ready obedience of Nature to Him is both a rebuke and an example to man. The immediate and universal obedience of Nature is a reproach to disobedient man. He alone is rebellious, &c. He may profitably imitate winds and stars, heat and cold, in their prompt fulfilment of the Creator’s will. 3. For the blessings of His revelation. “He showeth His word unto Jacob,” &c. (Psalms 147:19-20). “God’s works in Nature,” says Perowne, “are for all men; ‘He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust’ (Matthew 5:45); but there is a special privilege belonging to His chosen people. They, and they alone in the world, have received the lively oracles of His mouth. (Comp. Romans 3:1-2.)” Delitzsch: “The joyful Hallelujah is not sounded because these other nations do not possess such a positive knowledge of God’s judgments, but because Israel does possess it. It is declared abundantly in other places that this knowledge of Israel shall be the means of making salvation the common property of the whole world of nations.” And Barnes: “There is no nation now so favoured as the nation that has the revealed will of God—the Bible. The possession of that Book gives a nation a vast superiority in all respects over all others. In laws, customs, morals, intelligence, social life, purity, charity, prosperity, that Book elevates a nation at once, and scatters blessings which can be derived from nothing else. The highest benevolence that could be showed to any nation would be to put it in possession of the Word of God in the language of the people.” Here, then, we have abundant and excellent reasons for uniting in the praise of God. Let us praise Him not only occasionally with our voice, but constantly by the loyal obedience of our life. WINTER, AND ITS MORAL (Psalms 147:16-17) The Psalmist believed in God’s supremacy over Nature. He saw His hand in all its various changes. The more we discover of law and order in Nature the more should we be impressed with the wisdom and power of God; and so we should render to Him a more intelligent worship, and exercise in Him a firmer trust. The Psalmist also believed in the moral significance of Nature. So also did David: “The heavens declare the glory of God,” &c. Our great dramatist speaks of finding “Tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,Sermons in stones, and good in everything.”And the Supreme Teacher read and pointed out the significance of Nature: “Consider the lilies of the field,” &c. The seasons of the year are full of instruction. Spring is a manifestation of the beauty and tenderness and love of God; summer, with its light and heat, speaks of His glory; autumn proclaims His bountifulness; and winter indicates the stern aspects of His character. Let us consider some of the suggestions of winter. I. Winter indicates the severity of God. It hints that there is wrath as well as love in God. Nor is it alone in its testimony in this respect. Earthquakes, floods, storms, also testify to a terrible power in Nature, and to something answering to it in the God of Nature. (Comp. Romans 11:22; Revelation 6:16-17.) II. Winter suggests the retributiveness of the Divine arrangements. Many of those who during the preceding seasons have been guilty of indolence, intemperance, or extravagance, will find the bitter result now. It is in winter that the defective garment is painfully felt, and the dreary home seems utterly intolerable. “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.” These retributive laws are at work in the spiritual realm also. III. Some of the things which are peculiar to this season have special instruction for us. 1. Snow illustrates the wisdom and tastefulness of God. “Snow is congealed vapour formed in the air by the vapour being frozen there before it is collected into drops large enough to form hail. In the descent of the vapour to the earth it is frozen, and descends in the numerous variety of crystallised forms in which the flakes appear. Perhaps there is nothing more fitted to excite pleasing conceptions of the wisdom of God—not even the variety of beauty in flowers—than the various forms of crystals in which snow appears. These crystals present an almost endless variety of forms. Captain Scoresby, who gave much attention to the subject and to other Arctic phenomena, says that, ‘The extreme beauty and the endless variety of the microscopic objects perceived in the animal and vegetable kingdoms are perhaps fully equalled, if not surpassed, in both particulars of beauty and variety, by the crystals of snow. Some of the general varieties in the figures of the crystals may be referred to the temperature of the air; but the particular and endless modification of the same classes of crystals can only be referred to the will and pleasure of the First Great Cause, whose works, even the most minute and evanescent, and in regions the most remote from human observation, are altogether admirable.’ ” The Divine wisdom and love of beauty are everywhere manifest. 2. Snow illustrates the power of God. “Not the thunder itself speaks God’s power more than the snow. It bears His omnipotence, soft and beautiful as it seems. While it is yet in the air, it is lord of the ocean and the prairies. Ships are blinded by it. It is a white darkness. All harbours are silent under this plashy embargo. The traveller hides. The prairies are given up to its behest, and woe to him that dares to venture against the omnipotence of soft-falling snow upon those trackless wastes!… But when flake is joined to flake, and the frosts within the soil join their forces to the frosts descended from the clouds, who shall unlock their clasped hands? Who shall disannul their agreement? or who shall dispossess them of their place? Gathered in the mountains, banked and piled till they touched the very clouds again in which once they were born and rocked, how terrible is their cold, and more terrible their stroke when, slipping, some avalanche comes down the mountain-side, the roar and the snow-stroke loud as thunder and terrible as lightning! God gives to the silent snow a voice, and clothes its innocence and weakness with a power like His own.” 3. Snow also illustrates “the power of littles.” Small, insignificant, and feeble in the extreme is the snow-flake when alone; but when multitudes of them are united and firmly frozen, their power is dreadful—sometimes irresistible and terribly destructive. IV. Winter is an emblem of old age. Poets and artists in personifying winter have generally pictured it as an aged man or woman. Spring is an emblem of youth; summer of young manhood; autumn of mature manhood; and then our life passes into the winter of old age. How frequently does old age seem like winter—cold, cheerless, barren! But as spring is being prepared in winter, and winter shall pass into spring, so the aged Christian is preparing for eternal youth, and the winter of his age shall pass into the “everlasting spring” of heaven. V. Winter is an emblem of the present state of the bodies of the departed. In winter Nature is not dead; it only seems so. It is full of life and activities; and the result will be manifest in spring. So also with the bodies sown in “God’s acre.” God shall awake them from their deep wintry slumbers. “All that are in the graves shall hear His voice,” &c. VI. Winter is an emblem of the present moral state of the world as it often appears to us. We see much of evil and suffering, much of darkness and mystery, much of madness and more of sin amongst men. But it will not be so always. God is at work; and out of the darkness He will educe light, &c. “Ye noble few who here unbending standBeneath life’s pressure, yet bear up awhile,And what your bounded view, which only sawA little part, deemed evil is no more;The storms of wintry time will quickly pass,And one unbounded spring encircle all.”—Thomson. THE DIVINE IN NATURE, , AND GRACE(Psalms 147:18) We owe much to Divine revelation for the more exalted views we entertain of the character, the perfections, and the grace of God. It was the distinction of the Jews that they possessed “the lively oracles.” Hence the superiority of their faith and worship over those of neighbouring nations. Men mould their idols in their own shape and image: and the worshipper soon reflects the character of the idols he adores. God condemns this. The controversy between Him and man has been,—“Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself.” I. We see much of the Divine goodness in the vast economy of Nature and Providence. “He sendeth out His word, and melteth them,” &c. God changes the times and seasons— 1. In an unexpected moment. When the frost was at its height. The wintry season was sometimes very severe in Judea and Palestine; usually lasted about six weeks; though sometimes intermingled with casual mitigations. Severe about Jerusalem—having both hail and snow. But when the sky is agitated by those tempestuous winds called Levanters, the cold is so piercing, the conflict so great of hail, ice, snow, and rain, that many of the poor people and their cattle perish. And it is dreadful to be at the mercy of armed bands at those times. An Oriental describing a defeated army near Ascalon says: “In haste they threw away their armour and clothes, but soon sunk under the cold, together with want of food, slippery and rugged roads, which were everywhere furrowed and broken up by torrents, that they were taken captives in the woods and on the mountains, and threw themselves into the hands of their enemies rather than perish.” How welcome, then, the sudden and unexpected change in the text! “He causeth His wind,” &c. 2. By very simple means. The south wind particularly;—for then the waters, before still and motionless, flow abundantly. So it is by very slight means that God in His Providence relieves trial and restores peace. (Comp. Psalms 126:1; Psalms 126:4.) A word of advice from a friend may change our plans—a letter—or an accidental interview with a stranger, &c. II. We owe much to God in the economy of Grace. God has His softening dispensations. 1. In the conversion of the sinner it is not all terror, but much mildness. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia. By nature the heart of man is hard and impenetrable, like the earth beneath the frost; cold and stubborn; without any wermth of love to God and Christ and spiritual things. But when God sends His word, accompanied with Divine power, it melts them. When the south wind of His blessed Spirit penetrates the heart, they are convinced of sin and righteousness and judgment. 2. In the edification of believers it is not all terror. They owe much to Barnabas the son of Consolation, as well as to Boanerges the son of Thunder. The strong wind, earthquake, and fire were succeeded by the “still small voice.” When the Sun of Righteousness arises on them, it is with healing in His wings. “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south” … to show that every wind may blow kindly to the Christian. 3. In the descent of the Dark Valley it is not all terror. Death comes with gentle step. We tread on velvet. Stephen pleading, ha. (Acts 7:59-60.) III. We shall owe much to God in a future world. The curse banished. A more favouring constitution of things. “Long nights and darkness dwell below.”—Samuel Thodey. “In this splendid anthem the Psalmist calls upon the whole creation, in its two great divisions (according to the Hebrew conception) of heaven and earth, to praise Jehovah. Things with and things without life, beings rational and irrational, are summoned to join the mighty chorus. The Psalm is an expression of the loftiest devotion, and embraces at the same time the most comprehensive view of the relation of the creature to the Creator. Whether it is exclusively the utterance of a heart filled to the full with the thought of the infinite majesty of God, or whether it is also an anticipation, a prophetic forecast, of the final glory of creation, when, at the manifestation of the sons of God, the creation itself shall also be redeemed from the bondage of corruption (Romans 8:18-23), and the homage of praise shall indeed be rendered by all things that are in heaven and earth and under the earth, is a question into which we need not enter The former seems to my mind the more probable view; but the other is as old as Hilary, who sees the end of the exhortation of the Psalm to be, ‘Ut ob depulsam sœculi vanitatem creatura omnis, ex magnis officiorum suorum laboribus absoluta, et in beato regno œtenitatis aliquande respirans, Deum suum et lœta prœdieat et quieta, et ipsa secundum Apostolum to gloriam beatœ œternitatis assumpta.’“The psalm consists of two equal parts—“I. The praise of God in heaven (Psalms 148:1-6).“II. The praise of God on earth (Psalms 148:7-12).”—Perowne.GOD’S PRAISE IN THE HEAVENS(Psalms 148:1-6) The opening verse of the Psalm “is not to be restricted merely to the angels. It is the prelude comprising all afterwards enumerated, angels, sun, and moon,” stars, highest heavens, and waters above the heavens. Notice— I. The praise of God by heavenly beings. “Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts.” “His hosts” we understand as signifying His angels, as in 1 Kings 22:19. The expression indicates (1.) Their immense number. “The number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” (Revelation 5:11). (1.) Their disciplined order. Like a vast army they execute the commands of the Lord, their great Leader. The praise which they offer to God is— 1. Voluntary. They are intelligent beings, and possess moral freedom; and their worship is free, fervent, and joyous. The hosts of stars praise God without will; the hosts of angels praise Him in full and hearty exercise of their will. 2. Constant. The praise of God is the vital breath of their being. “Their worship no interval knows.” “They have no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy,” &c. And yet they ever rest; for all their service is refreshing and rapturous. 3. Thorough. They praise God with all their powers,—with their songs and their services; with their lips and their lives; with their reverent adoration (Isaiah 6:2-3), and their ready obedience (Psalms 103:20-21; Daniel 9:21-23). I. The praise of God by heavenly bodies. “Praise ye Him, sun and moon,” &c. (Psalms 148:3-6). “The heaven of heavens” is the highest heavens. “The waters above the heavens” are, we think, the clouds. (Comp. Genesis 1:7.) Thus in the first member of Psa 148:4 the highest region of heaven is spoken of, and in the second member the lowest region of heaven. These heavenly bodies and places are called upon to praise Jehovah because they were, 1. Created by Him. “Let them praise the Name of Jehovah; for He commanded, and they were created.” How great is the power that created all these, and that with such perfect ease I He merely uttered His commands; and they came at once into existence. (Comp. Genesis 1:3; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9.) 2. Sustained by Him. “He hath also stablished them for ever and ever.” Perowne: “And He made them to stand (fast) for ever and ever.” The stability and permanence of the heavenly bodies are owing to the omnipotent will of God. He commands, and they stand fast. “By Him all things consist.” 3. Governed by Him. “He hath made a decree which shall not pass.” Perowne: “ ‘He hath given them a decree, and they transgress it not:’ lit., ‘And none of them transgresses it;’ for the verb is in the singular, and therefore distributive.… The verb is never used elsewhere of the passing away of a law, but always of the transgression of a law.” “The law,” says Hengstenberg, “is the sphere of being which is appointed to each part of creation, and in which it is held by the Divine omnipotence; as, for example, the stars must pursue their course, the upper aud lower waters must remain continually distinct.” He has marked out the orbits in which the heavenly bodies “move; He has so bound them that they perform their revolutions with unerring accuracy in the very path which He has prescribed. So accurate are their movements that they can be predicted with exact precision; and so uniform, that any succession of ages does not vary or affect them.” In thus fulfilling their course, and answering so perfectly the design of their Creator, they praise Him. As a faithful and masterly rendering of The Messiah is the most eloquent tribute to the splendid genius of Handel; as St. Paul’s cathedral is the grandest memorial of Sir Christopher Wren; so the stability and order, the serviceableness and beauty of God’s creations praise Him. They exhibit His power, and wisdom, and goodness, &c. “All Thy works shall praise Thee.” “The heavens declare the glory of God,” &c. (See Exposition of Psa 19:1-6; Psalms 145:10.) III. The interest of godly men in God’s praise in the heavens. The devout Psalmist calls upon the heavenly beings and bodies to praise Jehovah. We may not infer from this that they need any incitements from us to awaken their praise to God; but it is an evidence that pious souls would have Him praised universally. “When we call upon the angels to praise God,” says Matthew Henry, “we mean that we desire God may be praised by the ablest hands and in the best manner,—that we are sure it is fit He should be so,—that we are pleased to think He is so,—that we have a spiritual communion with those that dwell in His house above and are still praising Him,—and that we have come by faith, and hope, and holy love, to the ‘innumerable company of angels.’ ” GOD’S PRAISE ON THE EARTH(Psalms 148:7-14) Let us consider— I. The variety of God’s praise on earth. “Praise Jehovah from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps,” &c. The Psalmist calls upon every province of our world and every variety of life to celebrate the praise of God. He summons— 1. The inorganic creation. “Fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills.” “Mountains and hills” are mentioned probably because they are the most conspicuous objects on earth, and rise nearest to the heavens. The “stormy wind” is named, because in its wild course it seems to spurn all law, and to defy all control, and yet it fulfils the will of God and faithfully performs His behests. The “fire” is probably the lightning, and the “vapour” is not mist, but smoke, answering to fire as snow answers to hail. 2. The vegetable creation. “Fruitful trees, and all cedars.” Fruit-trees are mentioned in distinction from forest trees, and because of their usefulness. “The cedars are named because they especially proclaim the creative power of God through their greatness and majesty; on which account they are called the cedars of God in Psalms 80:10.” 3. The animal creation. “Praise Jehovah from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps.… Beasts, and all cattle, creeping things, and flying fowl.” The sea-monsters are named in particular, because “by their gigantic size they more especially proclaim the omnipotence of God’s creative power. The same end is served by the description of leviathan in the Book of Job.” By “beasts and all cattle” the poet probably intended to set forth wild and tame beasts; “those which roam the forests, and those which have been domesticated for the service of man.” “Creeping things and winged fowl” “are grouped together for a reason similar to that for which fruitful trees and cedars, and beasts and cattle, are grouped together, to embrace the whole. The expression embraces the loftiest and lowest; those which ascend farthest above the earth, and those which creep upon its surface.” All these—the whole of the inorganic, of the vegetable, and of the animal creation—are summoned by the Psalmist to praise God. According as they fulfil the purposes for which they were created they may be said to unite in the great chorus of praise to God, inasmuch as in their sphere and measure they manifest the power, and wisdom, and goodness of God. (See Exposition of the preceding verses, and of Psa 19:1-6; Psalms 145:10.) 4. The rational creation. “Kings of the earth, and all peoples,” &c. (Psalms 148:11-13) Perowne: “Man is mentioned last, as the crown of all. The first step (see Psalms 148:7) and the last are the same as in Genesis 1.” The Psalmist clearly intends to include all men in His summons to praise God. (1.) Persons of all ranks. “Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth.” The rulers and the ruled; those who have much authority and those who have none; the high and the low. Those high in position and in authority are under special obligations to praise God, and those in the lowest position are not exempt from this obligation. (2.) Persons of both sexes. “Young men and maidens.” Men by their strength and skill, women by their trust and tenderness, &c., must praise God. (3.) Persons of all ages. “Both young men and maidens; old men and children.” “Those in the morning of life,” says Barnes, “just entering on their career; just forming their character—with ardour, elasticity, cheerfulness, hope;—let them consecrate all this to God:—let all that there is in the buoyancy of their feelings, in the melody of their voices, in their ardour and vigour, be employed in the praise and the service of God. Old men, with what remains of life, and children, with all that there is of joyousness—let all unite in praising God. Life as it closes, life as it begins, let it all be devoted to God.” As the unreasoning creation praises God unconsciously, the rational creation should praise Him intelligently and voluntarily. By the songs of their voices, by the affections of their hearts, by the adoration of their spirits, and by the obedience of their lives, all men should praise God. II. The universality of God’s praise on earth. The Psalmist calls for universal praise. In the first part of the Psalm he summons all the heavens and the heavenly bodies, and in the latter part of the Psalm everything upon earth, to join the grand anthem to the honour of God. The lower ranks of creation never fail to praise God. “The material world, with its objects sublimely great or meanly little, as we judge them; its atoms of dust, its orbs of fire; the rock that stands by the seashore, the water that wears it away; the worm, a birth of yesterday, which we trample under foot; the streets of constellations that gleam perennial overhead; the aspiring palm-tree fixed to one spot, and the lions that are sent out free;—these incarnate and make visible all of God their natures will admit,” and thus they praise Him. Man alone fails in the tribute of praise to God. But this summons to universal praise may be regarded as a declaration of— 1. God’s right. The homage of the universe is due to Him. 2. The good man’s desire. The cry of the heart of the godly man is, “Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; Thy glory above all the earth.” “Give unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people,” &c. (Psalms 96:7-9). 3. A fact which will be realised in the future. “All the ends of the world shall remember,” &c (Ibid. Psalms 22:27). “All the earth shall worship Thee,” &c. (Ibid. Psalms 66:4). “The earth shall be full of the knowledge,” &c. (Isaiah 11:9). “Unto Me every knee shall bow,” &c. (Isaiah 45:23; Romans 14:11). III. The rationality of God’s praise on earth. It is manifestly and sublimely reasonable that universal worship should be offered to God. The Psalmist adduces certain reasons for praising Him. 1. The glorious majesty of God. “Let them praise the Name of Jehovah; for His Name,” &c. (1.) His majesty is supreme. “His Name alone is exalted.” “Who in the heaven can be compared unto Jehovah?” &c. (Psalms 89:6) (2.) His majesty is universal. “His glory is above the earth and heaven.” As His majesty is universally manifest, His praise also should be universal. 2. The great goodness of God. (1.) In bestowing prosperity upon His people. “He also exalteth the horn of His people,—the praise of all His saints.” The lifting up of their horn is the bestowment of power and prosperity upon His people. The line, “a praise for all His saints,” is of doubtful interpretation. Perowne: “This may either be (1) in apposition with the whole previous sentence, viz., the lifting up of the horn is ‘a praise,’ a glory to His beloved (comp. Isaiah 61:3-11; Isaiah 62:7); or (2) in apposition with the subject of the previous verb, God Himself is ‘a praise (i.e., object of praise) to,’ &c. So the LXX., ὓ ?ìíïò, Jerome, laus. So the P. B. V. gives the sense: ‘All His saints shall praise Him.’ ” The latter seems to us the more probable interpretation. God had so blessed His people that praise to Him was especially binding upon them, and appropriate from them. (2.) In bringing His people near to Himself. “The children of Israel, a people near unto Him.” The Israelites were blessed spiritually above other nations. “Unto them were committed the oracles of God.” “Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory,” &c. “But now in Christ Jesus ye” (Gentiles) “who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” In these things we have the most cogent reasons for praise to God. That man should praise Him is more than reasonable; it is obligatory; it is sacredly binding. Not to praise Him is to manifest an utter want of reverence, and to be guilty of basest ingratitude. “Praise ye the Lord.” A SUMMONS TO PRAISE(Psalms 148:11-13) We regard these verses as suggesting three aspects of God’s revelation of Himself:— I. As adapted to persons of all ranks, and of the most varied duties. “Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth.” God’s revelation of His mind and will must be adapted to these, or this summons to praise Him would be unreasonable. It is so adapted— 1. Because of its provision for the needs which they have in common. Kings and their subjects alike need pardon, long for immortality, &c. God reveals these, and the conditions upon which they may be obtained. 2. Because of its provision for the needs which pertain to their respective ranks and duties. It has messages for both kings and subjects, rich and poor, &c. II. As adapted to persons of all ages. “Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children.” He reveals Himself as moral Governor, wise and kind Father, infallible Guide, abiding and unchanging Friend, &c. “Children” can understand fatherhood; “young men and maidens” need guidance; “old men” can appreciate the Friend that knows neither change nor death; and to all beings of conscience moral government is intelligible. III. As fitted to inspire the praises of persons of all ranks and ages. “Let them praise the Name of Jehovah; for,” &c. Men of all ranks and ages are here called to praise God, because of— 1. The incomparable excellence of His character. “For His Name alone is exalted.” 2. The conspicuous display of His majesty. “His glory is above the earth and heaven.” And, we may add— 3. Because He confers rich and abundant blessings upon persons of all ranks and ages. No man can refuse to praise Him without incurring the guilt of blackest ingratitude. With heart, and voice, and life, let us praise the Lord. A PEOPLE NEAR UNTO THE LORD(Psalms 148:14) “A people near unto Him.” I. They are near to Him because they are reconciled to Him by faith in ChristII. They are near to Him because they live in habitual communion with Him. III. They are near to Him because they seek conformity to Him. IV. They are near to Him because they enjoy His protection. V. They are near to Him because they shall be with Him for ever.—George Brooks. This Psalm, like the others of the series of which it forms a part, bears evident traces both in style and language, and in the feelings which it expresses, of belonging to the post-exile literature. It was probably composed soon after the return from the captivity in Babylon. “It breathes,” says Perowne, “the spirit of intense joy and eager hope which must have been in the very nature of things characteristic of the period which succeeded the return from the Babylonish captivity. Men of strong faith and religious enthusiasm and fervent loyalty must have felt that in the very fact of the restoration of the people to their own land was to be seen so signal a proof of the Divine favour, that it could not but be regarded as a pledge of a glorious future yet in store for the nation. The burning sense of wrong, the purpose of a terrible revenge, which was the feeling uppermost when they had first escaped from their oppressors (as in Psalms 137), was soon changed into the hope of a series of magnificent victories over all the nations of the world, and the setting up of a universal dominion. It is such a hope which is expressed here. The old days of the nation and the old martial spirit are revived. God is their King (Psalms 149:2), and they are His soldiers, going forth to wage His battles, with His praises in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hands. A spirit which now seems sanguinary and revengeful had, it is not too much to say, its proper function under the Old Testament, and was not only natural but necessary, if that small nation was to maintain itself against the powerful tribes by which it was hemmed in on all sides. But it ought to require no proof that language like that of Psa 149:6-9 of this Psalm is no warrant for the exhibition of a similar spirit in the Christian Church.”THE PEOPLE OF GOD(Psalms 149:1-5) The summons to praise in this Psalm is addressed to the people of God. He is to be praised “in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in Him,” &c. The tone of the Psalm is intensely joyous. Let us notice— I. The reasons of their rejoicing. 1. The mercies received by them from God. That they had received recent and great mercies from God is implied in the summons to “sing unto Him a new song.” The new song was for some new and special occasion for praise. Probably the mercies to be thus celebrated were the return from captivity, and the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and of the Temple. And these blessings had awakened new hopes which were also to find expression in the new song. In the life of the people of God new mercies are ever calling for new songs. His goodness should enkindle the gratitude and joy of His people. 2. The relationships sustained by them to God. (1.) They are His subjects. “Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.” Barnes: “In God as their King. (a.) That they have a King, or that there is One to rule over them. (b.) That they have such a King; One so wise, so powerful, so good. (c.) That He administers His government with so much efficiency, impartiality, equity, wisdom, goodness.” Perowne: “Such a King will not leave them under foreign rule; He will break the yoke of every oppressor from their neck.” Let the Christian rejoice that he is a subject of the Lord Jesus. (2.) They are His saints. “The congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him. Jehovah taketh pleasure in His people. Let the saints be joyful in glory.” They are His people and His saints because He has made them what they are. He selected and called the Israelites to their high spiritual privileges; He made them His own covenant-people. Christians are now made by Him. “All that they have and are is to be traced to Him, as really as the universe of matter is to be traced to His power. Their condition is not one of development, or one which is the result of their own wisdom, grace, or power;” but of His grace and power. (3.) They are His delight. “Jehovah taketh pleasure in His people.” He regards them with complacency. He taketh pleasure (a) in their progress and prosperity; (b) in their worship and service; (c) in their future destiny. He has provided heaven for them, and He is preparing them for heaven. “So shall we ever be with the Lord.” 3. The adorning wrought in them by God. “He beautifieth the meek with salvation.” The primary significance of these words is well expressed by Moll: “The help which God vouchsafes to His oppressed people against their oppressors is not merely manifested to the world as deliverance and salvation generally, but serves also as an ornament and honour to that people themselves, so that, coming forth arrayed in it, they gain for it recognition and praise (Isaiah 55:5; Isaiah 60:7; Isaiah 60:9; Isaiah 60:13; Isaiah 61:3; Isaiah 62:7).” God’s spiritual salvation is a beautifying of the human character and life. The lowly and meek He clothes with Divine grace. “The beauty of the Lord our God is upon them.” “Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, they are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” For all these reasons let the people of God rejoice in Him. II. The character of their rejoicing. 1. It is religious. They are called to “sing unto Jehovah;” to “rejoice in Him;” and to “praise His Name.” Their exultation is not sinful or selfish, but holy and in honour of God. 2. It is constant. Both by day and “in the congregation of saints,” and also by night and “upon their beds.” They are to cultivate an abiding spirit of pious gladness; to “rejoice evermore.” 3. It is intense. The number of times and the various forms of expression employed by the Psalmist in calling upon them to rejoice, and the various modes in which he calls upon them to express their joy, show that the joy is deep and full, active and abounding. III. The expression of their rejoicing. The poet calls upon Israel to express their joy— 1. With “a new song.” The exultant soul naturally speaks the language of poetry in the tones of music. New mercies demanded “a new song.” They required “a new song” also to express “all the new hopes and joys of a new era, a new spring of the nation, a new youth of the Church bursting forth into a new life.” “Thus far His arm hath led us on;Thus far we make His mercy known:And while we tread this desert land,New mercies shall new songs demand.”2. With music and dancing. “Let them praise His Name in the dance; let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp.” “The dance,” says Dr. Hayman, “is spoken of in Holy Scripture universally as symbolical of some rejoicing, and is often coupled for the sake of contrast with mourning, as in Ecclesiastes 3:4, ‘a time to mourn and a time to dance’ (comp. Psalms 30:11; Matthew 11:17). In the earlier period it is found combined with some song or refrain (Exodus 15:20; Exodus 32:18-19; 1 Samuel 21:11); and with the tambourine (A. V., ‘timbrel’), moreespecially in those impulsive outbursts of popular feeling which cannot find sufficient vent in the voice or in gesture singly.… Women among the Hebrews made the dance their especial means of expressing their feelings.” But, as Barnes remarks, “there is much in the Hebrew mode of worship which cannot be transferred to the forms of Christian worship without an obvious incongruity and disadvantage; and because a thing has been done, and is not in itself wrong, we should not infer that it should always be done, or that it would be always best.” Yet whatever is seemly and suitable in music may be employed as an aid in the expression of religious joy. 3. Both in public and in private. “In the congregation of saints,” and “upon their beds.” In the public assemblies for religious worship we should extol our King and our God. And in the quiet of the night our holy joy may rise to Him in songs of praise. The godly man praises God both in the chamber and in the church. Let Christians see their privilege, and cultivate and exhibit a spirit of religions thankfulness and joy. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: again I say, Rejoice.” THE PEOPLE AND OF THE LORD(Psalms 149:4) “For the Lord taketh pleasure in His people.” I. The people. 1. They have a special relation to God. 2. They are regenerated and sanctified by His Spirit. 3. They are conformed to His image. 4. They are zealous for His glory. II. The pleasure. I. In their persons. 2. In their welfare. 3. In their services. 4. In their graces. 5. In their fellowship. (1.) Are we the Lord’s people? (2.) Do we realise our privilege as the objects of the Divine delight? (3.) Do we delight in God?—George Brooks. “THE OF ”(Psalms 149:4) “He beautifieth the meek with salvation.” “Salvation” is a word which is used by men to represent very different things. The lowest conception of it is that miserably selfish one of deliverance from punishment and the realisation of happiness. The highest is perhaps this, the attainment of spiritual beauty, becoming like Christ, finding our heaven in God. Salvation beautifies human character and life. I fear we are not sufficiently alive to the importance of beauty in the culture of character. God has made the soul receptive of the beautiful, capable of appreciating it, and profiting by it; and “He hath made everything beautiful in its time,” to minister to man’s thirst for beauty. The beautiful in character is for many reasons the highest beauty. This God promises to the meek. How many blessings come to the meek which the proud never receive! “The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way.” “The meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” “The Lord lifteth up the meek” “The High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity dwelleth with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” “Thus saith the Lord, To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit,” “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” “Jehovah beautifieth the meek with salvation.” Meekness in itself is beautiful. Who does not love the modest violet? “The ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is in the sight of God of great price.” Our Lord Jesus is “meek and lowly in heart.” Haughtiness repels; meekness attracts. Meekness is further beautified with salvation. Salvation is the transforming of our morally disfigured natures into glorious and unfading beauty. I. Salvation promotes physical beauty. Sin is moral ugliness; and it tends to produce physical ugliness. The sins of the drunkard, and glutton, and sensualist, banish refinement, purity, and beauty from the features, and make them coarse, vulgar, and brutal. Every debauch thickens the lips, dims the fire of the eye, effaces something of the spiritual from the countenance, and stamps it with something animal or even brutal. Now, as salvation promotes temperance, chastity, and spirituality, it also promotes physical beauty. Purity of heart will gradually and silently mould even coarse features into refinement and comeliness. Again, evil passions deform their victims I once saw three portraits of one man, taken at different periods of his life. There was that of youth—fair, beautiful, and apparently ingenuous; there was that of young manhood, still fair and beautiful, but with more of maturity and less of ingenuousness; there was that of the man still young in years, but old in passion, old in sin; and now the features are hard, cynical, bitter, repulsive, reminding one of his own words— “To be thus—Grey-hair’d with anguish, like these blasted pines,Wrecks’ of a single winter, barkless, branchless,A blighted trunk upon a cursed root,Which but supplies a feeling to decay—And to be thus, eternally but thus,Having been otherwise!”But while evil passions darken and scar the features, salvation, which curbs and conquers evil passion, and imparts calmness and peace and love, gives repose and sweetness and beauty of countenance. If truth and purity, spirituality and meekness, peace and love are ours, they will inform the features with a spiritual and divine beauty. II. Salvation is spiritual beauty. “Beauty is the robe of holiness: the more holiness, the more beauty.” 1. The beauty of salvation resembles the beauty of God Himself. Moses prayed, “Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.” Meekness and patience, truth and righteousness, purity and love,—these constitute the infinite loveliness of the ever-blessed God; and these are the beauties with which He adorns the meek. All human beauty is but a reflection of “the beauty of the Lord our God.” Every grace that adorns human character is a ray from the splendours of the loveliness of the Infinite. 2. This beauty is varied. The beauty of creation is varied. Each of the seasons has its own peculiar charm. There are the beauties of the sea and shore, the beauties of wild mountain districts, and the beauties of quiet, fertile, pastoral scenes. So spiritual beauty is varied. In Mary we have the beauty of a receptive, meditative, deep, deathless love; in Martha that of an active, careful, ministering, and equally deathless love; in Job we have the beauty of trust in God sorely tested and sublimely triumphant; in Paul the beauty of a self-surrender and earnestness which has never been surpassed by man, &c. The totality of beauty is found only in Jesus Christ He is the “Altogether Lovely.” 3. This beauty is immortal. The beauty of flowers soon perishes. The beauty of “the human face divine” is short-lived even at the longest. As our great dramatist says— “Beauty is but a vain and doubtful good,A shining gloss that fadeth suddenly;A flower that dieth when first it ’gins to bud;A brittle glass that’s broken presently;A doubtful good, a gloss, a glass, a flower,Lost, faded, broken, dead within an hour.”But spiritual beauty is a pure good, and it never perishes. “Truth, love, and holiness are Divine, and always young and beautiful. The beauties with which they invest the soul have nothing temporal about them; they are the beauties of eternity.” The beauties of salvation are unfading. 4. This beauty is ever-increasing. The meek, rejoicing in perpetual youth, will increase in loveliness through all eternity. The redeemed soul will become invested with more and more of the Divine beauty for evermore. Let us seek to be beautified with salvation. We have not sufficiently thought of salvation as an adornment, a thing of light and loveliness. We have not sufficiently sought to add sweetness to strength, and tenderness to integrity of character. Too often the thought of our safety has filled our mind to the exclusion of the nobler solicitude to be beautiful with Divine grace and radiance. Yet we are being saved only “so as by fire” if we are not growing in amiability and loveliness. Oh, seek to be “beautified with salvation”! THE PEOPLE OF GOD(Psalms 149:6-9) In interpreting this portion of the Psalm we shall do well to heed the words of Delitzsch: “The dream that it was possible to use such a prayer as this, without a spiritual transubstantiation of the words, has made them the signal for some of the greatest crimes with which the Church has ever been stained. It was by means of this Psalm that Casper Sciopius in his ‘Clarion of the Sacred War’ (Classicum Belli Sacri), a work written, it has been said, not with ink, but with blood, roused and inflamed the Roman Catholic Princes to the Thirty Years’ War. It was by means of this Psalm that, in the Protestant community, Thomas Mόnzer fanned the flames of the War of the Peasants. We see from these and other instances that when in her interpretation of such a Psalm the Church forgets the words of the Apostle, ‘the weapons of our warfare are not carnal’ (2 Corinthians 10:4), she falls back upon the ground of the Old Testament, beyond which she has long since advanced,—ground which even the Jews themselves do not venture to maintain, because they cannot altogether withdraw themselves from the influence of the light which has dawned in Christianity, and which condemns the vindictive spirit. The Church of the Old Testament, which, as the people of Jehovah, was at the same time called to wage a holy war, had a right to express its hope of the universal conquest and dominion promised to it, in such terms as those of this Psalm; but, since Jerusalem and the seat of the Old Testament worship have perished, the national form of the Church has also for ever been broken in pieces. The Church of Christ is built up among and out of the nations; but neither is the Church a nation, nor will ever again one nation be the Church, κατʼ ? ἐξόχην. Therefore the Christian must transpose the letter of this Psalm into the spirit of the New Testament.” We may use these verses as suggesting certain features of the spiritual warfare of the Church of Christ. I. The true spirit of the Church militant. The people of God in this world are a combatant people. They have enemies which they must war against. They have to contend against evil (1) in themselves. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit,” &c. “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection,” &c. Starke: “Wage a good warfare against thyself above all; take vengeance and inflict punishment upon the heathenish desires of thy heart; strike down with the sword of the Spirit what contends against God and His honour.” They have to contend against evil (2) in the world. Satan is active in human society. Wicked men are arrayed against the cause of God. Sinful principles and practices are mighty upon earth. Against these Christians have to do battle. They have to conquer the world to Christ by the power of His grace and truth. The spirit in which they should wage this warfare is indicated in the text: With “the high praises of God in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand.” Let them go into the conflict with songs; let their spirit be that of triumphant trust in God. The victories of truth and grace are never won either by cowards or by the self-confident, but by those whose strength is in God, and whose courage is inspired by Him. Not with craven fears, but with confident hopes, let the soldiers of Christ war their warfare. II. The trusty weapon of the Church militant“A two-edged sword in their hand.” The grand weapon in Christian warfare is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” “The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” The only weapon which can slay error is truth. The only power which can convert men to God is His own power in the Gospel. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God,” &c. Many and glorious victories have already been won by this weapon, and yet wider and more brilliant triumphs will be achieved by it in the future. III. The Divine warrant of the Clhurch militant. “To execute upon them the judgment writtell.” Various interpretations have been given to these words; some of which we need not mention here. The correct view, we think, will be found in this brief quotation from Perowne: “Others understand by ‘a judgment written’ one in accordance with the Divine will as written in Scripture, as opposed to selfish aims and passions (so Calvin). But perhaps it is better to take it as denoting a judgment fixed, settled—as committed to writing, so as to denote its permanent, unalterable character—written thus by God Himself. As in Isaiah 65:6, God says, ‘Behold, it in written before Me,’ &c.” Christians have a Divine commission for their holy warfare. That warfare accords with the purposes and plans of God.” As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.” “Go ye, make disciples of all the nations,” &c. “Go ye into all the world, and preach,” &c. And He who thus sends them forth, promises to be with them, and to conduct them to complete victory. IV. The grand design of the Church militant. “This honour have all His saints.” More correctly, “It is a11 houour for all His saints.” “That is,” says Perowne, “the subjection of the world described in the previous verses. But perhaps it is better to take the pronoun as referring to God: ‘He is a glory to all,’ &c.: i.e., either (1) His glory and majesty are reflected in His people; or (2) He is the autllor and fountain of their glory; or (3) He is the glorious object of their praise.” The latter seems to us the true interpretation. The glory of the victory of the Church in the subjection of all the world to God will be entirely His in the eyes of all His people. All the praise and honour they will ascribe to Him. The glory of God is the grand end of the work and warfare of the Church. God shall “be all in all.” “It should lead us to shout ‘Hallelujah,’ that we are permitted to be employed in any way, however humble, in carrying out the Divine plans, or in accomplishing those great designs which He contemplates toward our race” “Praise ye Jehovah.” Dean Perowne speaks of this Psalm as “the great closing Hallelujah, or Doxology, of the Psalter, in which every kind of musical instrument is to hear its part as well as the voice of man, in which not one nation only, but ‘everything that hath breath,’ is invited to join. It is one of those Psalms which ‘declare their own intention as anthems, adapted for that public worship which was the glory and delight of the Hebrew people; a worship carrying with it the soul of the multitude by its simple majesty and by the powers of music, brought in their utmost force to recommend the devotions of earth in the ears of heaven.’ ‘Take it,’says Isaac Taylor, ‘as a sample of this class, and bring the spectacle and the sounds into one, for the imagination to rest in. It was evidently to subserve the purposes of music that these thirteen verses are put together; it was no doubt to give effect first to the human voice, and then to the alternations of instruments,—loud and tender and gay,—with the graceful movements of the dance, that the anthem was composed and its chorus brought out,“ ‘Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord! Praise ye the Lord!“ ‘And so did the congregated thousands take up their part with a shout, even as the voice of many waters.’ ”THE . The sphere of the Divine praise. “Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary, praise Him in the firmament of His power.” 1. In His temple upon earth. “Praise God in His sanctuary.” We understand this of the earthly temple, the place which He had chosen for the special manifestation of His presence and bestowment of His grace. 2. In the heavens. “Praise Him in the firmament of His power;” or “in the expanse of His power.” “The call here is on all that dwell above that expanse, in heaven, to unite with those on earth in His praise. It is called ‘the expanse of His power’ because it is in the heavens—in the sun, the moon, the stars—that the power of God seems to be principally displayed.” The earthly temple and heaven are mentioned together probably to indicate the universality of His praise. (Comp. 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Kings 8:43; 1 Kings 8:49; Psalms 11:4.) II. The reason of the Divine praise. “Praise Him for His mighty acts.” 1. In creation. “By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made,” &c. (Psalms 33:6-9). 2. In providence. What marvellous and mighty acts He had wrought on behalf of the Israelites! 3. In redemption. In this the power of His wisdom and grace is most clearly and impressively displayed. III. The measure of the Divine praise. “Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.” Hebrew: “The multitude of His greatness.” Conant: “His abundant greatness.” We are to endeavour to praise Him in a manner which shall be in proportion to His greatness and glory. Man’s praise should correspond with God’s perfections, as far as this is possible. But when the most perfect praise is offered by the whole universe to God, it will still fall below His infinite greatness and glory. “He who will review only his own life will discover so many of God’s deeds that he will not be able to thank Him sufficiently through eternity.” IV. The manner of the Divine praise. “Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet,” &c. (Psalms 150:3-5). These verses suggest the following observations as to the manner in which God should be praised:— 1. The praise of God should be joyous. “Beyond doubt,” says Hengstenberg, “the pipe” (A. V., “organ”), “which otherwise did not belong to the Temple service, was brought into requisition here only because the feast had at the same time the character of a popular rejoicing. In like manner also timbrels and dances.… The cymbals were used only at festivals of a joyful kind. (Comp. 2 Samuel 6:5; Ezra 3:10; Nehemiah 12:27.)” Joyful worship is acceptable to God and honours Him. 2. The praise of God should be as perfect as possible. “Everything pertaining to worship should surely indicate a reverent solicitude to bring to God the best that we can proffer—an offering perfect in every appliance that can give emphasis to its adoration, intensify its rapture, or beautify its love. Hence, the devoutest worshippers will provide for their praise hymns of the highest poetry, and music of the richest harmony.”—Dr. H. Allon. 3. The praise of God should thoroughly engage the powers of our spirits. It behoves us to stir up our warmest and holiest affections to praise God. Where these are not engaged, the most perfect poetry and music will not find acceptance with God. “The finest music before God is the harmonious praise and glorifying of God by the soul united in all its powers, with all the senses and all the members.” V. The offerers of the Divine praise. “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” “The very ambiguity of ‘all breath’ gives,” says Alexander, “an extraordinary richness of meaning to the closing sentence. From the simple idea of wind-instruments mentioned in the context, it leads us by a beautiful transition to that of vocal, articulate, intelligent praise, uttered by the breath of living men, as distinguished from mere lifeless instruments. Then, lastly, by a natural association, we ascend to the idea expressed in the common version, ‘everything that hath breath’ not merely all that lives, but all that has a voice to praise God. There is nothing in the Psalter more majestic or more beautiful than this brief, but most significant, finale, in which solemnity of tone predominates, without, however, in the least disturbing the exhilaration which the close of the Psalter seems intended to produce, as if in emblematical allusion to the triumph which awaits the Church and all its members, when, through much tribulation, they shall enter into rest.” All living creatures are summoned to unite in celebrating the praises of God,—all in the air and in the waters, all on earth and all in heaven,—let everything according to its capacity and power join in the universal anthem. “All creatures,” says Moll, “should join their voices to the praise of God; but the members of His Church should lead the choir.” THE AND OF PRAISEGospel worship should be joyful worship. “Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” The Gospel was sung at Bethlehem before it was preached. We may well say with Greg. Nazianzen: “Lord, I would be a musical instrument for Thee to touch, that I may show forth Thy praise.” I. Some subjects of praise in which we should unite, derived from these closing Psalms. Praise the great Head of the Church— 1. For what He is in Himself. “Praise Him according to His excellent greatness;” and according to the display of that greatness in each succeeding dispensation. (1.) Rejoice in the plenitude of His Divine perfections. The inspired writers always speak of Christ as of One who was far greater than any description that could be given of Him. God has given Him as Mediator, “a Name which is above every name”—above every name on earth or in heaven. For power: He has all power in heaven and on earth. For wisdom: in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. For love: His love passeth knowledge. For unchanging truth and faithfulness: His righteousness is like the great mountains. “Thy faithfulness hast thou established in the very heavens.” (2.) Rejoice in the tenderness of His human sympathies. It is remarkable that those who have suffered the most for the cause of Christ, replete with His consolations, have spoken the most loudly of His name. As David’s Psalms in the wilderness are the sweetest of his psalms, so Paul’s letters in prison are the most delightful of his epistles. 2. For the wonders of His Providence in the defence and preservation of His Church. “Praise Him for His mighty acts.” Some of these are enumerated in these last five Psalms; e.g., the bringing back of Israel from the Babylonish captivity; the rebuilding and the fortification of Jerusalem; the erection of the second Temple, which was a wonderful thing for a colony of returned exiles to attempt. All Providence is subordinated to the interests, and to the Church, of the Messiah. The government of earth and heaven is upon His shoulder. (Comp. Isaiah 9:6.) The world was built by Him and for Him, for this very purpose, that it might be the scene and theatre of His Divine and gracious government in the great economy of human salvation. (Comp. John 1:1-3; John 1:16.) With the work of Redemption in promise, the Psalmist might well say, and with the work of Redemption in fulfilment, we may well add with him, “Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to His excellent greatness.” 3. For the special relation in which He stands to us; that is, to all who bow to His sceptre, and experience the efficacy of His redeeming grace. He is their King; and they have the greatest reason to rejoice in Him. II. In what way our love and loyalty to Christ should be made manifest. 1. In a more full and frequent contemplation of His infinite excellence, His ineffable love. In Psalms 148:14 He is said to be “The praise of all His saints,—a people near unto Him.” Especially should this be the case with us when we are called to contemlate the great mystery of redemption, “wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” In other events and providential deliverances we see the putting forth of the power of His arm; but here we see unveiled the movements of His heart. Think then of the mighty acts of our all-glorious Redeemer, &c.… These are the trophies of Christ’s power; these the putting forth of the resources of His boundless and ineffable love. 2. By a careful study of His Providences—towards the Church in general, or towards ourselves in particular. A great cluster of Providences is referred to in these Psalms. Great and signal revolutions of empire among the Persians, the Babylonians, and the Medes, brought about their return from captivity;—their conquerors being moved only by political considerations, as our public men are this day, and not at all about God’s designs. He girded Cyrus with his might, though Cyrus knew Him not (Isaiah 45:5). So the great Reformation in Germany was backed by reasons of state, as they are called; it being the interest of many princes there to countenance Luther’s doctrines to stop the growing greatness of Charles V., who designed to enslave them. How wonderful that the building and the fortification of Jerusalem should have been consented to and brought about by their original enemies and enslavers, and even at the cost of their conquerors!… How much we may see the hand of God in our national history! in the Norman Conquest—the encouragement of the Reformation by Henry VIII.—the defeat of the Spanish Armada—and the glorious Revolution by William III. 3. In zealous efforts for the extension of His kingdom. “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” III. What great losers they are who have no part in these benefits!—Samuel Thodey. PRAISE(Psalms 150:6) This summons to praise Jehovah with which the Book of Psalms closes, is not Jewish, but human; not narrow or exclusive, but broad and catholic. Let us look at universal praise— I. As the grand prerogative of God. Praise is due to Him from all His creatures because— 1. Of the perfections of His Being. We should praise Him for what He is in Himself—the Supremely Great and Good. His character is fitted to awaken the devout admiration, and inspire the reverent affection, and enkindle the hearty praise of all His intelligent creatures. 2. Of his relations to the universe. (1.) Creator. “Of old hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands.” “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” “We are also His offspring.” (2.) Sustainer. Constantly and completely all things depend upon Him. “By Him all things consist.” “Everything that hath breath” draws that breath from Him. “He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.… For in Him we live and move and have our being.” (3.) Sovereign. All things are ordered by Him. “He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?” Therefore, “everything that hath breath” should praise Him. The lower orders of creation praise Him as embodiments of His ideas, and by fulfilling in their existence His purpose concerning them. And the intelligent orders of creation should praise Him by their loyal obedience, reverent worship, and supreme affection. This is due to Him. He has a most righteous and powerful claim upon this. 3. Praise is due to Him especially from man. Man’s creation is a higher thing than that of other creatures, and brings him into closer relations with God. “Man’s origin as to his essential inward being, the intellectual, moral, and spiritual, is not so much a creation as an outbirth” “The Lord God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” “There is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” “The God of the spirits of all flesh.” Hence man’s increased obligation to praise God. The position assigned to man still further increases his obligation to honour God. The Creator made man sovereign over the lower ranks of creatures; and gave the earth to him for his sustentation and service (Genesis 1:28-29; Psalms 115:16). And man, as a sinner, was redeemed by God at an immense cost. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things,” &c. (1 Peter 1:18-19). The obligations of man to praise God are of the most sacred and binding character. Universal worship belongs by right to God: it is His prerogative. “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His Name,” &c. II. As the precious privilege of man. To contribute to the universal worship of God is not only the binding duty, but the exalted privilege of man. 1. Because of the acceptance of our praise by Him. That we are permitted to approach God with our praises, and assured of a gracious welcome, is surely great condescension on His part, and a great privilege on ours. Holy angels worship Him with intensest ardour and humblest reverence (Isaiah 6:3); yet He deigns to hear and receive the praises of such ignorant and sinful beings as we are. 2. Because of the influence of our praise upon us. The worship of God has the most blessed effect upon the true worshipper. (1.) Worship is joygiving. It affords richest and purest delight to the devout spirit. One of the highest joys of heaven is the joy of worship. (Comp. Revelation 4:10-11; Revelation 5:9-14; Revelation 7:9-12.) (2.) Worship is transforming. Man becomes like unto the thing or the being whom he really worships. The worship of God pronotes in the worshipper the attributes of humility, reverence for all that is true and holy, self-forgetfulness, sanctity, and the highest spiritual beauty. They who worship God in spirit and in truth are changed into likeness to Him “from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Brothers, behold your privilege! To worship God doubtless is your duty; but it is much more than that: more beautiful and blessed than a mere duty; it is a sacred, precious, exalted privilege. Regard it as such; practise it as such. III. As the fervent desire of the good. It is the wish of all godly souls that “everything that hath breath would praise the Lord.” They manifest their desire by— 1. Praising Him themselves. To praise Him is to them a rich delight By their songs and by their services, by their profession and by their practice, they honour Him. 2. Calling upon others to praise Him. “Let everything that hath breath praise Jah. Praise ye Jah.” The godly soul would incite others to join in this blessed service, and would have all creatures to unite in the melodious and mighty chorus to the praise and glory of God. This is the best mode of attaining to this universal praise to God. The time advances when “everything that hath breath will praise the Lord.” We may contribute to its advent by sincerely praising Him ourselves, and by inducing others to join us in praising Him. “Dear Lord, our God and Saviour! for Thy giftsThe world were poor in thanks, though every soulShould nought but breathe them; every blade of grass,Yea, every atomie of earth and airShould utter thanks like dew.Wherefore let us Him ceaselessly adore;Praise Him, ye chosen of the earth and skies,Ye visible raylets of invisible Light,Blend with the universal Heavens your lays!Immortal leaflets of Love’s holy flower,Breathe forth the perfume of eternal praise.”—Bailey. “LET THAT HATH BREATH PRAISE JAB! !”