shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." We see by these passages what is offered us in answer to our longings. Not holiness in the abstract, but a living and holy Christ. Christ and righteousness are convertible terms. Christians assume this as one of the axioms of their faith. Let us however indicate briefly two senses in which Christ is the embodiment of all righteousness, and therefore complete satisfaction of all our soul-hunger and soulthirst. (a) Negatively. Christ was sinless. He was born a 'holy thing.' He grew up in childlike innocence in the humble home in Nazareth. But it was as yet untried innocence. Forces were at work which were to destroy for ever the calm of this unconscious purity. By God becoming man, infinite goodness had consented to ally itself in the same personality with the wickedness and vileness of hell. But the alliance was of short duration. A conflict for the supremacy began at once in the Godman. All heaven stood aghast, and the infernal depths gaped with wonder at the sight-the existence of God Himself hung in the balance. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the victory was won, and the demons of filthiness, and corruption, and death slunk shame-faced to their caverns for ever. In the majesty of a tried and matchless purity, the Son of God, and Son of Man stood forth to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation from sin to all people. This was Christ's spiritual resurrection, and is the guarantee of our resurrection from the grave of sin, just as His bodily resurrection is the prophecy of ours. In this sense, then, Christ is our righteousness. (b) Positively. We are told that Christ " fulfilled all righteousness." He did not live the life of an ascetic, seeking a selfish perfection by the destruction of all human passions and sympathies. No, His whole being flowered out into innumerable blossoms of loving, selfsacrificing deeds for others. Joy and blessing sprang up like flowers in His path wherever He went. He was, and is, the Sun of Righteousness, raying forth a million genial, fertilizing influences on human hearts. If we are filled with Christ, we have realised the truth of the text. Happy are we, if we can say with Paul, "It is Christ that liveth in me." We have not all the same capacity. But we can all be filled. No human soul is large enough to contain the whole of Christ. The finite cannot grasp the infinite within its But we may all make good the poet's tiny hand. dream, and "Be filled of God-head as a cup Filled with a precious essence," each one according to his measure, and thus help to sweeten the world with the fragrance we have borrowed from the source of all sweetness, and light, and beauty. E. T. DAVIES, M.A. (Cantab.) THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT." In this sermon our Lord is laying broad and deep the foundations of His spiritual edifice. A pure and loving heart, an open and trustful conscience, a freedom of communion with the Father of spirits, a love of man as man, the measure of which is to be nothing less than a man's love of himself; above all, a stern determination at any cost to be true, such the moral material of the first stage of our Lord's public teaching."-Canon Liddon. The Preacher's Homiletical Commentary. HOMILETIC SKETCHES ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. OUR PURPOSE.-Many learned and devout men have gone Philologically through this TEHELIM, this book of Hebrew hymns, and have left us the rich results of their inquiries in volumes within the reach of every Biblical student. To do the mere verbal hermeneutics of this book, even as well as it has been done, would be to contribute nothing fresh in the way of evoking or enforcing its Divine ideas. A thorough HOMILETIC treatment it has never yet received, and to this work we here commit ourselves, determining to employ the best results of modern Biblical scholarship. OUR METHOD.-Our plan of treatment will comprise four sections:-(1) THE HISTORY of the passage. Lyric poetry, which the book is, is a delineation of living character; and the key, therefore, to unlock the meaning and reach the spirit of the words is a knowledge of the men and circumstances that the poet sketches with his lyric pencil.-(2) ANNOTATIONS of the passages. This will include short explanatory notes on any ambiguous word, phrase or allusion that may occur.-(3) The ARGUMENT of the passage. A knowledge of the main drift of an author is amongst the most essential conditions for interpreting his meaning.(4) The HOMILETICS of the passage. This is our main work. We shall endeavour so to group the Divine ideas that have been legitimately educed, as to suggest such thoughts and indicate such sermonizing methods as may promote the proficiency of modern pulpit ministrations. No. CLXII. The Religion of Gratitude. 'I LOVE THE LORD, BECAUSE HE HATH HEARD," &c.—Ps. cxvi. 1-19. HISTORY:-Whoever was the author of this Psalm it was one who had escaped from death-one who had been in great suffering, almost in mortal agonies, and yet been delivered. Was it Hezekiah? Some say so. It might be So. There are resemblances in it to Isaiah xxxvii.-xxxviii. Some portion of it is used in the service of the Church of England for the "Churching of Women." ANNOTATIONS :-Ver. 1, 2. "I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live." Better perhaps, these have loved the Lord. It was the love of gratitude that he felt. It was because the Lord attended to his supplications, and delivered him that he loved. The "" name Lord," or Jehovah, occurs no less than fourteen times in this Psalm. Ver. 3.-"The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow." "The cords of death encircled me, and the straits of Hades caught me, distress and sorrow did I experience." His afflictions bound him like a cord, and "the pains of hell," the straits of Sheol or the grave pressed upon him. He was at the brink of the grave. Ver. 4.-" Then called I upon the name of the Lord, O Lord, I beseech thee deliver my soul." Prayer in distress is an instinct of the soul, and a law of the spiritual constitution. Ver. 5.-"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful." This is the testimony of his experience. Ver. 6.-"The Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low, and he helped me." The word "simple" here does not mean foolish, but rather guileless. Ver. 7.-" Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." The word "rest" is plural, and may express completeness, that completeness of rest that is found only in God. "Return:" addressed to his own soul, which had left its centre. "The Lord hath dealt bountifully," or well. God's bountihood is an argument for the soul's return to the true rest. Ver. 8.-" For thou hast deliv ered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." Deliverance from "death," from "tears," and from “falling." Ver. 9.-"I will walk before the Lord in the land of the Ver. 10.-"I believed, therefore have I spoken; I was greatly afflicted." His confession of God's goodness here given was the expression of his irrepressible sentiment of gratitude, as if he had said, because I feel I speak. Ver. 11.-" I said in my haste, All men are liars." Under the heavy pressure of unkindness, selfishness, fraud, injustice, persecution, from my fellow men I spoke rashly, and said, "All men are liars." Ver. 12-14. "What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people." "The cup of salvation." Lit. "The cup of deliverances." Below (ver. 18), a thankoffering is plainly mentioned, and a vow to be performed openly. Hence some think that a feast followed such thank-offering, and that a cup, here called a cup of 66 deliverances," was passed round to the guests after such feast, to which allusion is made here. On the great feast of the Passover, after the feast, a cup of thanksgiving was passed round (Matt. xxvi. 27), but no Old Testament Scripture refers plainly to any such general custom as that supposed. Hence, others consider the word used figuratively (as in xi. 6; xvi. 5; xxiii. 5), and the meaning to be, "I will receive and enjoy the lot of salvation,' or the prosperous, joyous lot which God has given."--Canon Cook. Ver. 15.-"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." "His saints." His gracious ones, so precious is their death that it is turned into a blessing. It is said. that Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, A.D. 251, died with these words on his lips. Ver. 16.- O Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds." "Truly." Ah, now, this is the beseeching was Ver. 17.-" I will offer to thee the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord." "The sacrifices of thanksgiving." This is the principle form of the S |