"Praise ie the only employment in which self finds no part, In praise we go out o! ourselves, and think only of him to whom we offer it. lt_is the most purely disinterested of all services."-R. T. Ver. 30.-The desired ha1len. "So he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be" (Prayer-book Version). 'fhe picture of the sea connected with this text is "painted as a landsman would paint it, but yet only as one who had himself been exposed to the danger could paint the storm-the waves running mountains high, on wllich the tiny craft seemed a plaything; the helplessness of human skill, the gladness of the calm, the safe refuge in the haven." It is difficulb for those who love the sea to enter into the feelings with which Eastern people in olden times, and especially the Israelites, regarded it. That feeling of mystery and dread must have been intense before Solomon's time, when a commercial navy was employed in both the Mediter- ranean and Red Seas. For the severity of a storm in the Mediterranean, the story of Jonah, and of St. Paul's shipwreck, may be studied. What seems more especially to have influenced ancient minds was the constant unrest of the sea. This is reflected in many of the Bible references to it; and this has always struck both poetic and pious minds. I. THE FAB0INA.TION OF REBT. To man it is the supreme idea of heaven; it is the perfection of bliss on earth. That not so much because of toil, as because of change and trouble. The rest man seeks is not rest from work, but rest from worry. The activity of work is, for healthy minds and bodies, the truest rest. But uncertainty, change, anxiety, make us long for the moral rest, which can only come when God's will is no longer checked by man's. It is not the rest of the grave man wants; it is the rest of the " desired haven "-the rest of the moral issue of life. Every mlln is, according to his own idea, moving towards and into rest. Alas I that so many make shipwreck. II. THE SYMBOL OF BEST. A "desired haven." Harbour after a long and stormy voyage. "In the fierce gales of November or March, when the shrieking blasts drive furiously up the channel, and the huge mountain-billows, green and white, open threatening graves on every side, how welcome would be a safe harbour, easy of access, and placed at a part of the coast which else would be unsheltered for many leagues on either side I" (Gosse). "The stately ships go on, to the harbour under the bill" (Tennyson). The point suggestive of practical teachings is thrown out by the Prayer- book Version. Our "desired haven" is, " the haven where we would be." It is the realization of our life-objects, of our hopes; and so we are led to discuss men's life-aims. Their rest, when they gain it, too often proves to be no rest. He only reaches rest that is rest indeed, who has voyaged life's seas in hope of entering at last the harbour of God.-R.T. Vers. 33-39.-God's commonplace mercies. The difference in the style and contents of the latter part of this psalm has been noticed by al.most every writer. The pictures, with their closing refrain, cease; and in a hurried way instances of God's providential government are given. It has been thought that the psalm was completed by another poet; but in that case the structure of the psalm would have been closely imitated. 'fhe peculiarity of this portion may be explained by showing that the psalmist had spoken of God's gracious relation to special forms of trouble; and he might leave the impression that God was only in them, And men might be feeliag very deeply how commonplace their life was. Without such special experiences they might take up the notion that they were out of the spheres of special Divine mercies; and so the didactic •psalmist puts in a word for these: in a few skilful sentences he sketches ordinary, com- monplace life, and shows God's relation to it. 'l'he things briefly mentioned suggest- !. TBE 0OMMONPLA.0E ADVERSITIES OF LIFE. Such are the difficulties of the seasons, the rains, the floods, the drought, in their relation to agricultural life. II. TBE OOH.M0Nl'LA0E ENTERPRISES OF LIFE. working for a living, tillage, building, planting, tending cattle, etc. III. 'l'BE 00.M.M0NPLA0E DISASTERS OF LIFE. Accidents, diseases, plagues, etc. IV. 'l'HE 00.MMONPLA0E ENMITIES OF LIFE. For few men pass through many years without suffering from the mischief-making schemes of those who, by reason of envy or masterfulness, make themselves their enemies. The psalmist urges that God is quite H THE DOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. ovu. 1-43.
as truly in the commonplace as in the unusual'. He is working through our everyday life-experience some high and gracious moral end. And therefore every man should be quick to obsen-e the "loving-kindness of the Lord," and ever ready to "praise the Lord for bis goodness, and for bis wonderful works to the children of meu."-R. 'f.