Ver. 7.-Not afraid of evil tidings. I. MosT PEOPLE ARE. The postman's knock, much more a telegram, will often set their hearts palpitating. 'l'hey realize how precarious is the tenure by which they hold their good things; they have many times had experience of the instability of that in which they have most trusted; and hence they are afraid, etc. ll. BUT OF THE SERVANT OF Gon IT IB BAID, " HE BliALL NOT BE AFil.,PD OF EVIL TIDINGS." 1. .As a fact, real religion does ensure this. See Daniel, when he knew the decree was signed (Dan. vi.10). See Paul's letters in his imprisonment. See Nehemiah, de. 2. It does not mean t!tat evil tidings do not come to them as to others. '!'hey do, and often of a disastrous sort, affectiug them in body, mind, and estate. 3. Nor does it mean that such tidings have no effect upon them. '.!'hey do, saddening and distressing them much. Jesus wept. 4. But they are not afraid of them. 'l'hey do not recognize such thincrs as having power to touch them where their real treasure is, or as having any powe~ in themselves at all; they are but God_'s ministersi and the ultimate issue of them cannot but be good. .And those forebodmg fears which so often precede them, God's servants are delivered from:; for they believe the words, ".As thy day so i;hall thy sirength be." Ill THE SECRET OF THIS BLESSED FEARLESSNESS. It is plainly pointed out in our text. 1. '' His heart isfiud;" that is, he has come to a settled conviction as to his relation to God, and as to God's mind to him. He is as certain of God's good will and all-sufficient power and grace as a dear child is of his mother's love. His feet are on a rock· he has come to be fixed in heart as to the Lord's leading him in the right way; he doe~ not merely think it, he is fully persuaded of it, he knows in whom he has believed (Isa. xxvi. 3). 2. This fixedness of heart, wh~ch is so blessed, is the result of habitual tr_ust. "Trustino- in the Lord." We can form habits of trust, as of any other act of the mrnd. It is not ; single act of faith, or a. spasmodic intermittent t~ust, whic~ '_Viii ensure this fixedness of heart. But it must be perpetually repeated uutil the habit 1s formed. vVe must put our will into it, and we must abandon everything which would render such trust impossible, as all allowed sin will and must.-S. C.
Ver. 2.-Goodness repeated in new generations. It has been very su.:;gestively said "that God is, from the first, looking for a godly seed; or, wh~t is nowise different, I'll. OXII. 1-10,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 47
inserting such laws of population that piety itself shall finally over-populate the world. 'l'here are two principal modes by which the kingdom of God amon" men may be, and is to be, ex.tended. One is by the process of conversion, and the oth:r by that of family propagation; one by gaining over to the side of faith and piety, the other by the popu- lating force of faith and piety themselves." Bushnell coins words in which to express this, and calls it "the out-populating of the Christian stock." 'I he modem doctrine of heredity is usually seen in its application to bad things: men deal with the laws which preside over the propagation of physical diseases and moral dispositions and bodily charac- teristics; but Christians are interesteJ in the working of the laws in relation to good things. They equally-perh11ps in even a more effective way-preside over the propaga- tion of physical health and vigour, of moral virtues, and of bodily beauty. It may even yet be shown that there is a prnpagation into new generations of the new and Divine life in Christ; a deepor fulness of meaning than has yet been discovered in the expression, "Instead of the fathers shall come up the children." Bible language even suggests that heredity works more strongly on behalf of the good than ou behalf of the evil, for while judgment on sin continues for three or four generations, reward of virtue keeps on its benedictions unto thousands of generations. I. p ARENTAL GOODNESS GIVES CHILDB1':N A CIIAN0E. Think how many children are born into the world over-weighted with disabilities. For extreme cases, take the vicious and criminal classes. But the fact is for us more effectively illustrated by cases of self-indulgence in youth, which involve weakened health and lowered moral tone. Good parents give their children a fair chance in the struggle of life. The children are not burdened with low vitality, self-indulgent appetite, or inability to find pleasure ia. pure things. Sometimes good people's children fail, but reasons for the exceptional cases can usually be fouud. II. PABENTAL GOODNESS IS RECOGNIZED BY BLESSINGS ON THEIB CHILDilEN, .And this is the form of reward that parents best appreciate. '!'hey live over again ia. honourable, successful, and pious children. Therefore Ea.sterns desireJ familie~. No nobler ambition possesses humanity than. the passion. to make the coming generation wiser, stronger, and better than the passing one. Ill. PARENTAL GOODNESS IS THE ONE GROUND 01' ROPE FOR THE RACE. Napoleon. was asked what one thing France supremely needed. His reply was almost an inspiration. He said, "Better mothers."-R. T.