Ver, 9.-Reverence for the Name, "Holy and reverend is his Name." "Reverend" here means "worLhy of reverence," Horace Bushnell has a striking sentence: "This age is at the point of apogee from all the robuster notions of Deity." .And therefore this age is an irreverent age. Even in the shaping of religious beliefs there are signs of undue familiarity with God. And that undue familiarity explains much of the weakness of Christian living, and lightness of Christian worship. The nineteenth century lacks awe of God. I. JEWISH REVERENCE FOB THE NAME, Explain that in older times a name was supposed to gather up, and suggestively express, the attributes of a person. Moses asked for a name which would express God-stand for God-to the people. And though the word given him we.a, properly, a declaration of fact rather th£m a narne, it came to be treated as God's Ne.me, and such a superstitious reverence for it grew up, that the Jewish people persisted in altering the vowels of it, so that never, by any accident, should they pronounce the hallowed Name. There was at least the danger of their coming to reverence the Name, rather than the Divine Being who was represented by the Name. If they did, their honouring of God was but a helpless and degrading formalism. A proper reverence for the sacred Ne.me was enjoined in the third commandment (Exod. xx. 7); and such reverence was characteristic of all loyal e.od saintly souls. See Abraham (Gen. xviii. 22-23); Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 29); Moses (Exod. iii. 13, 14); Joshua (Josh. vii. 9); and also the psalmists and prophets, It may be said that reverence for the sacred Ne.me was the key-note of the Jewish system. Of nothing were they more jealous. And if in this they were sometimes wrong, they were mostly right; for "holy and reverend is his Name." II. CHRISTIAN REVERENCE FOR THE NAME, The Name of God revealed in Christianity is not the same as that revealed in Judaism. 'l'o the Jewish Church God is the one .Existence, unique, spiritual; absolute Being, To the Christian Church God exi~ts in relations, and only the highest and dearest of human relations is fitting to represent him, He is our Father. But that is the most reverend of all names. And the.filial feeling ought to triumph over the superstitious. Show the reverence that is due from us in all our relations with the heavenly Father, the holy Father, the righteous Father. The Fe.ther-N amc must never be "taken in vain."-R. T.
Ver. 10.-The starting-point c,f human wisdom. "The fear of the Lord is the 4,2 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. (PS, OXII. 1-10.
beginning of wisdom." 'l'his is the familiar statement of the Book of Proverbs (see I'roL i. 7; ix. 10). "Here the fear of God, keeping his revealed commandments, is the key of• wisclorn,' which is the knowledge of the true end and purpose of life." The "frar of the Lord" is the Old Testament term for piety. 'l'he fear is not dread, but loving revrrence, which finds its expression in ready and hearty obedience. It includes belief in God, knowledge of God, recognition of the claims of God, awe of the power and holiness of God, and the cherished sense of the presence of God. The fear of piety is a glorified fear. I. PIETY IS THE INSPIRATION OF THEORETICAL WISDOM. It always awakens a thirst for knowledge. It has been constantly observed that when a man becomes pious he begins to become intelligent. His eyes are opened to the supreme mystery, and he wants to know all mysteries. He who becomes interested in God is sure to become interested in God's works and God's \Vord. And it may further be urged, that wisdom cannot be limited to the knowledge of material things which the senses can give us. There is a ~piritual world apprehensible by those spiritual faculties which are only quickened by the revelation of God to the soul. The scientific man who ignores the spiritual cannot attain true wisdom. Belief in God is the absolute foundation on which alone can rest a complete knowledge of the world, of facts that are both sensible and spiritual. "Spiritual knowledge-the knowledge of self, the universe, Christ, and God-is the true knowledge. This grows out of piety-grows out of reverent love." II. PIETY IS THE INSPIRATION OF PilACTICAL WISDOM: which is, obedience. Every man has the practical ordering of a human life, and human relations. A man of him- self can only shape his life under the impulse of what he finds pleasing to himself. And no life can be ordered wisely under that rule. Man cannot act wisely if he be his own king, because be is created as a dependent being; and can no more bear fruH by leaning on himself than can the trailing vine. Dependent man must/ear God. He mnst cherish the sense of duty; must carry out the designs of his Creator. Practical wisdom is taking our lives to God day by day, and saying, in filial love, to him," Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Life is only ordered aright when God orders it.-R. T. Vers. 1-10.-" The works of the Lord." I. Gon's WORK CLAIMS OUR EARNEST STUD,. 1. His worl~ in nature. Presents three aspects. (1) The poetical. (2) The scientific. (3) The religious. 2. His work in provid~. Go~ in histor;f is wor~- ing out a righteous government of the world. 3. His work in redemp~ion. This the manifestation of his grandest power-the power of God unto salvation. Three kil'ds of power. (1) Physical. (2) Intellectual. (3) Moral or spiritual. II. Gon'e WOBKB ABE A REVELATION OF THE DIVINE THOUGHT AND NATURE. 1. TJ;ey reveal his infinite greatness. (Vers. 2-4.) 2. They reveal his U/11,changing right- eousness. (Ver. 3.) 3. They reveal his grace and compassion to the sinful. (Vcrs. 4, 5.) 4. They reveal his laws for the governmtnt of our lives. (Ver. 5.) They show that obediem::e is the highest wisdom. (Ver. 10.)-S.
EXPOSITION. Ver. 1.-Praise ye the Lord. Agn.in a PSALM CXII. "beading," or "introduction" (see the oom- IN this "complementary psalm" the writer ment on Ps. cxi. 1). Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. Connect this with sets forth the blessedness of the true wor- Ps.·md. 10. The closing thought of Ps. cx.i. shipper of God. He is blessed in his seed is taken up and expanded in Ps. cxii. That ( ver. 2), in his possessions (ver. 8), in his delighteth greatly in his oommandment■ unchanging goodness (vers. 3, 9), in the (comp. Pss. i. 2; cxix. 16, 17, 24, 70, 77, light vouchsafed him (ver. 4), in his many etc.). "Truo obedience can only come from virtues (ver. 4), in his management of affairs pleasure in the commandments of God" (Hengstenberg). (ver. 5), in his great trust and confidence Ver. 2.-llia aeed ahall be mighty upon in God (vers. 6--8), aud in his attainment to earth. The phrase used of Nimrod in Gen. honour (ver. 9). The ungodly man is con- x. 8, but not necessarily to be taken in 11umed with envy at the sight of him (ver. 10). exactly the s11me sense; rather a.s gibl10r haiJ re. oxu. 1-10.J THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 43