Ver, 17.-Spirieual sacrifices, "Sacrifice of thanksgiving." Acceptable to God, the great Spirit, not as thanksgiving, which may be as much a formality as a sacrifice, but as the sign of the thankful, loving heart, which gives itself to God in the thanks- giving. The story of Cain and Abel, in the earliest age, stamps this truth. They did not merely bring their offerings as expressions of their thankfulness for temporal prosperity. The story clearly indicates that they looked for the Divine acceptance of themselves, in some sense, for the sake of their gift. Abel's humble, earnest, grateful, trusting heart can receive God's favour; from Cain's formalities God's favour must be withheld. Religion is not acts, but it can express itself in acts. Religion is heart- feeling. It is the devotion of a man's self to God. Formal sacrifices are but the representation of the spiritual sacrifices for which God calls; and their value depends on tho spiritual sacrifice being offered through them. "They that worship the Father must worship him in spirit and in truth." "Not sacrifices, not temples, not services, not prayers, not good deeds, not steadfast morality, not generous giving, can of them- selves ever gain Divine favour. 'l'he Spirit-God asks for spirit-worship. Because man is a spirit, it is beneath his dignity to offer, and it is beneath the dignity of God to accept, othor than spirit-worship." I. SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES AS TH.A~"XSGIVINGS. The formality of thanksgiving was strikingly illustrated in the great national services held when the Prince of Wales was restored to health. It was an appropriate national act; and to many devout souls it was also a spiritual sacrifice. The worship of the Church is a sncred duty to be formally done; but it only rises to its highest when the souls of the worshippers are fully in the praise. The spititual element in formal worship is an uncensing care to all devout souls. God asks to hear men's souls sing when their voices raise the psalm. II. SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES AS .ADORATIONS, Calling upon tho "Nome." There is a feature in the early Jewish ritual which it is difficult to retain in the Christian. The Jow had sublime, revereut, oppressive views of the majesty and holiness of God, So there was an element of adoration in the worship, and an element of adoration in the psalms. The truth of the Divine Fatherhood is misapprehended if iL is allowed to lighten the soul's august impressions of the Divine glory. III. SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES AS PRAYERS. Our Lord spoke against "vain repeti- tions." Prayer is soul-dependence and soul-desire. It n1ay be spoken out, but it may not. God r~ads hearts.-R. 'f. Vere. 1-9.-Gocl the Deliverer. I. CELEBRATES A GREAT l>ELIVERANCE, (Voai. 84 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PB, CXVII, 1, 2,
3--8.) 1. From threatened death. (Ver. 3.) 2. From the pains of the unseen world or of death. (Ver. 3.) 3. His whole nature is troubled and so"owful. (Ver. 3.) II. THE MEANS OR INSTRUMENTS OF HIS DELIVERANCE. 1. Prayer. (Vers. 1-4.) 2. The goodness and m,ercy of God. (Vers. 6, 6.) III. THE EFFECTS OF THIS DELIVERANCE. 1. An increa.w of love. (Ver. 1.) 2. .An inc,-e,ase of obedience to the Divine will. (Ver. 9.) 3. .A more untroubled rest in God-the rest of faith. (V1:r, 7.)-S,
EXPOSITION. Ver. 1.-0 praise the Lord, all ye natiou; PSALM CXVII. or, "all ye Gentiles," as in Rom. xv. 11. The goim a.re especially the heathen nations IT has been doubted whether this exceed- of the earth (comp. Pss. ii. 1, 8; ix. 5, 15, ingly short psalm can e'l"er have been in• 19, 20, etc.). !'raise him; rather, laud him tended for e. separate composition, o.nd was (Revised Version). The verbs in the two clauses are different. All ye people; rather, not rather written as a conclusion to Ps. all ye peoples. cni. or an introduction to Ps. cxviii, In Ver. 2.-For hie meroiful kindness (or, Hebrew manuscripts it is often attached to his mercy) ie great towards ue; literally, one or other of these two psalms; but in the has been great o-oer us. The appeal is to versions and in the best manuscripts it is history, and the mercy intended is that shown in God's continue.I protection of always separate. The writer calli! upon all Israel. And the truth of the Lord endureth the nations of the earth to laud e.nu praise for ever. God's" truth" is here, as so often, Jehovah, on the gronnrl of his great mercy his faithfulness to his promises, the promises aud faithfulness to Israel. The solidarity being especially those me.de to Abraham of the rest of mankind with Israel is assumed ond David. His "mercy and truth" to Israel were an indication of what the Gen• ( comp. Pss, xlvii. l; lxvi. 1, 8; xcviii. 4; tiles might expect of him in hie dealings c, 1, eto,). with them (comp. Rom, xv. 8, 9).
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1, 2.-The kingdom of God. The psalmist, consciously or unconsciously, anticipates the glories of the kingdom of God, as that is now being established under the reign of Christ. We have- I. lTs STRONG FOUNDATION. It is founded on mercy and truth. Not on irresistible power, not on unchangeable Jaw, but on Divine mercy and truth. 1. God's mercy to mankind, secured by the redeeming work, and promised by the unchanging word, of Jesus Christ, is one stone of that foundation. 2. The other is the whole body of truth spoken by him or by his apostle11 under his inspiration. Those who go everywhere preaching "the gospel of the kingdom" are charged to make known God's abounding grace to all men, from the best to the worst, from those "near" to those that are "afar off." They are also charged to declare the will of God in the righteousness, the trutbfulness, the purity, the charity, the peacefulness, of those who give themselves to bis service. These two great principles may never be disjoined. With the message of mercy carried to the worst of the children of men must be closely and inextricably associated all that utterance of God'1:1 mind and purpose which requires holiness, wisdom, love. IL !TB BOUNDLESS RANGE, "Praise the Lord, all ye nations," etc. (ver. 1), It is tifficult to understand how a Jew, under the Law, could expect all the heathen to be worshippers of God. 'fhe psalmist's must have been a pious wish rather than a serious expectation. Not such is the Christian's hope; he looks forward to the time when God will be honoured under every sky, and his praises sung in every language. He sees islands, communities, nations, that were once barbarous and idolatrous now con- verted to the truth; he sees the hoary systems of antiquity honey-combed with doubt and distrust; he sees groups and companies of men and women, as well as individuals, ll!<Juiring at the feet of Jeaus Christ, lie seep the ChlU'ches of Chri~t "_puttin, on tb~ir •re. CXVII, 1, 2.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 85