Ver. 2.-Gorls merciful dealings with nations. The psalmist, no doubt, refers to the character of God's dealings with Israel, but he implies that they do but present a model of God's dealings with all nations; and he calls upon those nations to examine and see what God's dealings had been with them, so that they might find cause for praise. The early Jews realized monotheism as a. special possession of their nation. The later prophets and psalmists realized monotheism as a. trust, concerning which the Jews were t,o make witness to all nations around them. What we still do is what the psalmist here calls upon us to do. We study the records of God's dealings with his ancient people, in order that, seeing bis mercy, loving-kindness, and truth to them, we may come to know him better, understand his ways with us more perfectly, and praise him with the praise that comes of perfect trust. L It is quite true that we can learn God's faithfulness and considerateness (merciful kindness) in nature, which, if it be a. system of law, is a. sy~tem of varying and opposiag laws, whose relative working must be in some restraint and presidency. And in providence, which is the adjustment of nature-workings to meet the needs of individuals, and implies a. Divine Director, who knows the individuals, and has power over every- thing, and, with infinite kindness can fit the two together. IL But the term "merciful kindness" suggests something better and deeper than this. True, the people of Israel were men, even as we a.re men. And what God did for them as men illustrates what God can do for us as men, and even assures us what be is doing. But we must never lose sight of this point-God dealt with Israel as sinful men ; and the merciful kindness is so impressive because it was pitiful and com- passionate dealing with sinful men. But that is precisely what we are, and therefore God's merciful kindness to Israel is so interesting to us. It reveals him who is also our God. When the idea. is once in our mind, we can read our lives, individual and national, aright, and speak of his merciful kindness to us also.-R. T,
Ver. 2.-Truth regarded as reliabi?ity. "The truth of the Lord endureth for ever." The term "truth" is constantly employed without a. well-defined o.nd precise meaning. 'l'ruth sometimes only means that which seems true to a. particular individual at a pn.rticular time. Sometimes it only means "veracity," or the correspondence between a propoHition and a man's belief. Truth is the correspondence of the proposition with fact. There is a standard truth. It is close kin with eternal righteousness. The love of truth is the love of realities; the determination to rest upon facts and not upon semblances. But when the psalmist spoke of the "truth of God," no such abstract or criLical ideas were in his mind. He thought of the truth or righteousne~s of God as seen in his faithfulness to the promi8es on which he has ever made his people to hope. 'J',1 him the truth of God was not his verity, but his reliability. His truthfulness, his dependableness, regarded as a. basis of trust. His reliability has never failed his r,euJ_,ic; we may be absolutely confident that it endureth, and will endure for ever, A re. oxvm. 1-29.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 87
man's truth is the basis.of our trust in him. God's truth is the basis of our reliance on him. I. TRUTH, AB A FEATURE OF OHARACTE'lt, IS A SIGN OF STABILITY, When we speak of a man as a man of truth, we know that we describe a firm, steadfast man; a man who can make up his mind, and stand to his mind when it is made up. There is no wavering, no "shilly-sballying," about the man. He is a prop fixed firmly into the ground, and can bear a good strain. To some men there seems to be no such thing as truth, only varying opinion, nothing worth suffering for, worth living and dying for. Such men easily bend this way or that, swayed by every passing wind. II. TRUTH, AS A FEATURE OF CHARACTER, IS A SIGN OF CONSISTENCY. Consi~tency is keeping strictly to a line of conduct which we have marked as right. But only a man of truth will ever look on a line of conduct as right, for only such a man bas an absolute moral standard. And only the man of truth will have any anxiety e.boui •deviations from the line. III. TRUTH, AS A FEATURE OF CHARACTER, IS A SIGN OF PEBMANEN0E. No dis- integrating forces can ever destroy it. By the necessity of things the truthful character endures; nothing can end it. These things may be applied in their sublimest forms to God, in whose image man is made. Because be is truth, and his truth endures, we may trust in the Lord for ever.-R. T.