"Those holy flel<ls, Over whose sores walked tbose blessed feet." How many love to walk there likewise! But it is not many who can do this literally; }·et in the holy ways of love to God, and obedience and faith, in which he ever walked, we may walk if we will. 2. It is the way/or which we were designed. Nothing work.!! well in that for which it was not intended. The delicate instruments of the mathe- matician will not serve for the coarse work of the artisan. And so with mao.'8 nature- it is made for God, and in his obedience finds its real welfare. 3. It is the way of peace, 4. .And of eternal life, III, BuT FOB Tms WE NEED Goo's DIBECTION.-S. C. Ver. 6.-How to steer clear of sha~. L WE ALL SHRINK FBOM BBAUE. Whether it be: 1. BP/ore our own cmscience. An inward blush, though unseen by any fellow-man, is to many, and to all who are capable of it, a source of pain, and to some of very real pain. To be ashamed of one's self is the reverse of pleasant. 2. Yet more, before our fellow-men. 'l'hat h:i.s often driven men to self-destruction, so intolerable has it been. Or: 3. Before God. (See Ps. :xl. 12.) And who has not known, by reason of ingratitude and sin, what this shame is? And there is the last awful shame-that: 4. Before the Lord at his coming. (1 John ii. 28.) May he keep us from that 1 II. 'l'HE BURE WAY OF AVOIDING IT. By having "respect unto all thy command- ments." 1. But can any one have respect unto all Goa:s commandments, Not so as to merit salvation thereby; for "by the works of the Law shall," etc. And even if we could for the future, what about the past? People often talk of turning over a new leaf, but what of the old ones? 'l'he new leaf will not blot out those old ones. If a man baa broken the law of his country in the past, the plea that he will never do the like again will not avail for his pardon. 2. But in reference to God's commandment, it is possible (ver. 3) to" do no iniquity." Christ will keep the soul that daily, hourly, trusts in him. As the pebble that lies in the bed of the stream is ever kept bright and clean by the constantly flowing water that passes over it, so be who will" walk in the light," that is, honestly strive to live in such wise as that bis whole conduct will bear God's light, a.ad who will, so to speak, keep touch with Christ, continually looking to him for grace, he will find that the blood of Christ does, as a fact of experience, cleanse him, keep cleansing him, from all sin. There are thousands that can attest this. And: 3. This is what WB should desire. Not out of dread of wrath, but out of love for God (Ps. lxiii.), has come to be our deep longing. 4. Such desire will lead to conduct very different from that of most. For most men do not have respect unto all God's commandments. They may be public duties, but not private ones. So the commands of the first table, but not those of the second, or it may be vice versa. Or in great matters, but not in the little ones of daily life. The agreeable duties, but not the disagreeable. III. DuT HE WHO WILL HAVE RESPECT UNTO ALL GoD's COMMANDMENTR, SHALL NOT ONLY AVOID SHAMK, DUT D~ FILLED WITH THE LOVE 01!' Goo.-S. c.
Vera. 9-16.-Sanctified through the truth. We have here- I. A DIFFICULT QUESTION. " Wherewithal shall a. young man," etc.? (ver. 9). 1. ThB very word "wherewithal" implies this. It seems to suggest that all manner of means had been tried, but found inadequate. 2. It is also implied that the way is already defiled. And this most true, as most sad. The young man starts with an evil bias, and be has ma.de this stronger than before by frequent compliance with it. So that it is not a. clean way that has to be kept clean-that is difficult enough, but a defiled way that bas to be ma.de clean. 3. And youth -is so open to temptation. The passions and appetites of the body clamouring like a set of foul harpies for indulgence. 1:he mind, impatient of control, giving heed to all manner of unbelief and doubt and denial of the truth; the h,3a.rt inexperiencd and untaught, ready to be ensnared with the varied deceits of the world, the 1esh, and the devil, Here is the fuel ready and the fire, and they come together in youth. What can prevent the conflagration? ] r. BuT IT 18 NOT A QUESTION THAT CANNOT BE ANSWERED. It has been a.gain aod again, See the history of Joseph; of Daniel and the noble Hebrew youths in exile 126 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. cxu:. 1-170.
with him; see the young men to whom St. John writes (1 John ii. 1~.14). And there are many such t.o--day, glory be to God! III. HERE WE ARE TOLD now TIIE QUESTION IS AN~WF.REO. ".:!y taking heed thereto," etc. (ver. 9). 1. There must be taking heed to the way: thouo-ht and care given to it. It will not come right by chance, or when we are asleep, but it will need strenuous endeavours. 2. And this must be according to God's Word. For that Word supplies the pattern and model of such cleansed way; especially in Christ "who did no sJn," who was" holy, harmless, and undefiled." And it supplies the all-c~nstraining motives-the love of God, the cross of Christ, the beauty uf holiness, the eternal reward. And it gives the wisest counsel as to all holy living; there the light road is marked out for us. God's W orrl is a sure guide (ver. 105). And it points to the one source of help-the Holy Spirit of God, by whom God causes us to will and to do according to his good pleasure. 3. .And all this he had done. See the followincr0 verses in this section. He tells how he had sought God with the whole heart, had hidden God's Word in his heart, etc., so that he had come to rejoice therein; and this doubtless, because of their help.-S. C. '