house of Israel; all came to pass." "Better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes," says the Psalmist. "The Jews," says Perowne, "had learnt by painful experience, how little they could trust in princes, for the work which had been begun under Cyrus had been threatened under Cambyses, and had been suspended under the pseudo-Smerdis, and it was not till Darius came to the throne that they were allowed to resume it." The other aspect in which these words lead us to look at confidence in God is What courage II. As the INSPIRATION OF COURAGE. breathes in these words, "All nations compass me about, but in the name of the Lord will I destroy them?" Thrice are these words repeated. True confidence in God will always make a man invincible and fearless. The courage of Moses, Daniel, and the the three Hebrew youths, and Paul, who said, "None of these things move me," all grew out of confidence in God. This was the philosophy of Luther's heroic invincibility. "When he was summoned to attend the Diet at Worms, his friends, notwithstanding the safe-conduct granted by the Emperor, Charles V., apprehending danger to his person, would have dissuaded him from going thither. But Luther replied, 'I am determined to enter the city in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, though as many devils should oppose me as there are tiles upon all the houses at Worms.' He was accompanied from Wurtemberg by some divines, and one hundred horses; but he took only eight horsemen into Worms. When he stepped out of the carriage, he said. in the presence of a great number of persons, 'God shall be on my side."" No. CLXVI. God and Man. "THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH AND SONG, AND IS BECOME MY SALVATION." Ps. cxviii. 14-18. The Portion Sung on the Way. ANNOTATIONS :-Ver. 14. "The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation." "My pride and my song is Jah, and he became my salvation." Delitzch. This verse is a literal quotation from Exodus xv. 2, and contains the remarkable name, JAH. "The signal miracles of deliverance, whatever they were, recall the miracles of old. All praise (such is the import) be to Jehovah, from whom, in days past, came miraculous, effectual aid, and now comes."-Canon Cook. Ver. 15.-"The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous." "Rejoicing," see Ezra vi. 16. 66 Tabernacles." This is not the word used for the temporary tents in which the people lived during the feast of the tabernacles, it rather means "dwellings" (Psalm lxxviii. 55; xc.10; cxxxviii. 3). Ver.16. "The right hand of the Lord." "The right hand," the chief organ of active power. It is, of course, metaphor, for God has no organs. This " right hand" is magnified also by Moses (Exodus xv. 7). a Ver. 17. "I shall not die, but live." This is the inference he draws from what the Almighty had accomplished on his behalf. It is said that Luther had this verse hung up in his study. The whole Psalm was one of his most favourite Psalms, and this verse his favourite verse. "Though," he says, "I love all the Psalms, yet I delight especially in this, and look upon it as written specially for me; indeed, it has come to my aid again and again, and supported me in heavy trials, when kaiser, king, philoscpher, and saint could do naught." Ver. 18.-" The Lord hath chas tened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death." “Israel had been sorely chastened, and brought to the brink of destruction; but God had not suffered them to fall a prey to death. He had raised them up in order that they might fulfil their high calling by proclaiming His mighty deeds to the world."Prebendary Young. The chastisement was by the Chaldeans. HOMILETICS: These verses lead us to consider how God should be realised by every man, how He is realised by the righteous, and what He appears in His procedure. I. How God should be REALISED BY EVERY MAN. What should He be to every man? First: He should be his strength. "The Lord is my strength." All the strength we have, physical, intellectual, and moral is from God; nay, more, is God's. Were He to withdraw His strength from us we should be motionless and be no more. But to feel this, feel that our strength is His, is what we need. Conscious dependence upon His strength is the foundation of piety. "Hold thou me up, and I shall be saved." Secondly: He should be his "song:" that is his joy. The source of all his joy and spring of his delights. We should rejoice in God as our Father. Thirdly: He should be his salvation. He " is become my salvation." Though national salvation is perhaps here specially referred to and ascribed to God, He is the moral salvation of every true man. He saves from misery by saving from sin. "The II. How God is ENJOYED BY THE RIGHTEOUS. voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous. Who is the righteous man ? The man who is right in himself and right in relation to God and the universe. First: Such a man has rejoicing. "Being justified," or made right by faith; he has "peace that passeth all understanding." Religion is happiness wherever it exists. "The sorrows of the mind be banished from this place, Secondly: Such a man has salvation. "Rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous." A righteous man is saved-saved from sin, and to be saved from sin, is to be saved from all evils of all kinds. III. How God APPEARS IN HIS PROCEDURE. First: Courageous. "The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly." He moves on in the execution of His eternal purposes with absolute fearlessness. Of what can He be afraid, whose will can at any moment create or destroy universes? Secondly: Glorious. "The right hand of the Lord is exalted." That is, praised, honoured, adored. Who that studies His works, whether the minute or the vast can fail to exalt and adore the right hand of the Lord? Thirdly: Restorative. "I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore; but he hath not given me over unto death." His great purpose in relation to all His operations with man is restoration. The sufferings that He inflicts, or chastisements, the intent of the penalties attached to all His laws is not destruction, but reformation. CONCLUSION.-Such is the view of God which these verses suggest. Let us feel that He is our strength and our exalted song, that He is to us what He is to the righteous, our rejoicing and our salvation. "We can imagine," says Plumptre on these verses, "with what special force the words would come to those who then were or had been but recently, keeping their feast of tabernacles, and rejoicing in the great deliverance which God had given them." No. CLXVII. The Realm of Righteousness. 66 OPEN TO ME THE GATES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.' Ps. cxviii. 19, 20. The Portion Sung at their Entrance to the Temple. ANNOTATIONS:-Ver. 19. "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord." Some suppose that "the gates" here refer to the gates of Jerusalem, the Holy City, which were just restored (Nehemiah iii. 8), but we think the gates of the tempie are specially referred to. The words are supposed to have been sung by the priests and the people as they entered the sacred enclosure. Ver. 20.-"This gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall enter." "The gates of the sanctuary were called the "gates of righteousness," because the fountain of righteousness was there." Henstenburg. This is supposed by some to be a response from within the gate to the words in the processional chant to those outside "Open to me the gates of righteousness," and the word from within reply, This gate of the Lord." "The righteous" here refer to the Israelite people, and the gate through which they entered the temple was the east side of the outer vestibule. 66 HOMILETICS :-The words are suggestive of the realm of righteousness, the sphere where righteousness dwells and reigns, the morally renewed sphere, the new heavens and the new earth. We may consider three things in relation to this realm I. A FELT OBSTRUCTION to it. "Open to me the gates of righteousness." Using the words as an illustration of our spiritual condition they may express the fact that the gates of righteousness are closed to us-closed not by God, but closed by ourselves-closed by ignorance, prejudice, sensuality, worldliness, unbelief, pride. These shut our souls out from that glorious realm wherein dwelleth righteousness. "And there shall in no wise |