tougue which is itself "a fire" (Jas. iii. 6) is to be consumed with burning conls. As is the sin,. so is the sorrow and the shame. The king that had done grievous domestic ~rong was to suffer in his own family (2 Sam. xii. 11). The traitor who betrayed his Master was to be deserted and thrown over by his own companions. The pitiless man g?es unpitied in the hour of his own' desolation. The miser who keeps b~ck the blessmgs he might confer on others withholds all comforts and delights from his own heart and his own home. He who does not regard the sacredness of his body will live to suffer in the body; he who neglects his mind will pay the penalty in intellectual poverty and feebleness. "Whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap" -loss, suffering, death, according to the nature of his sin. III. THE MISERY OF UNCONGENIAL SURROUNDINGS. (Vers. 5-7.) The psalmist bewails _his ill fortune in thnt he has to dwell in places remote from the civilization and the privileges of his home; he is surrounded by ungenial associates whose spirit is hostile, with whom he cannot Jive on terms of amity and good will. This "Mesech" of his is found in every latitude and longitude. It is the experience of a very large proportion of men and women, especially in the earlier period of life, to find themselves !i,·iug or labouring with the unsympathetic, and even with the unfriendly; with those whose views on serious and even sacred subjects are dissimilar or opposite, We may have much to do with those whose spirit and whose attitude are positively provocative, who invite and almost compel us to dispute, It is trying in the last degree. Bnt: 1. It is a recognized and accepted part of our earthly lot, and it will not last very long; it will give place, in time, to the holy friendships and blissful intercourse of the heavenly world. 2. It is a necessary part of the discipline through which we pass, attempering and strengthening our character. 3. It provides daily opportunity for self-mastery, for submission to the will of God, for honouring the Name of Christ. IV. OUR REFUGE IN Goo. (Vers. 1, 2.) Assailed by unjust or ungenerous attack, surrounded by uncongenial companions, we can always realize the near presence of one sympathizing Friend, of the all-powerful God, who can extricate us from the worst situation, or sustain us in it, so that our souls will be at rest.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-7.-Jn Mesech and Kedar. This psalm is a piteous declaration of the unhappy lot of him who is surrounded by the false, the treacherous, and the crneL They of Mesech-the Moschi of Herodotus (see Exposition)-dwelt where now the horribly bloodthirsty Kurds have their habitation, who of late years have horrified all Christendom by their barbarous atrocities inflicted on the Christian Armenians. Amid men of such sort the psalmist is complaining thnt he has to dwell (ver. 5). It is a tale of treachery and cruelty that he portrays or rather suggests to us in this psalm. Concerning all such men of lying lips, we learn:_ I. THEY ABE THE DISTBESB OF THE GODLY, How many a faithful missionary, amid siinilar hordes, has felt his heart die down in hopeless despair as· he witnesses their horrid cruelty and deceit! We at home forget too much this special trio.I of tho m1ss10nary. Nothing bnt the abundant supply of the Spirit of all grace can possibly sustain him amid such sad and revolting circumstances. If he gets used to them, and so indifferent to them, he can no longer be a true missionary; nor either if he fears them or yields to despair about them. And in less unusual form, God's servants may yet have to say, "My soul is among lions" (Ps. 1v.ii. _4). Many a _God-f~aring wor½ing man amid a crowd of godless mates, many a Chr1st1an servant-girl amid compamons who have no love for God, mauy a youug disciple of Christ in school or office,-these and others like them know by sad experience the treachery and cruelty of the ungodly. II. 'l'HE AWFUL AND OVERWHELMING WRATH OF Gon AWAITS TBEBE PEBSEOUTORB. (V ers. 3, 4; see Exposition for meaning.) '!'he faiije nna !yin~ ~ongne is often likened to fire, fire of bel~ to sword and sharp arrow, and now here 1t 1s declared that what snob tongue hath sown, that shall it also reap (cf. Pss. !vii, 4; !xiv. 3; lv. 21; !ix. 7; Jas. iii. 6; and especially Ps. ex!. 9, 10). Sometimes even in this world we see the Divine vengeance poured out on those who have pl iycd the part of bloody and re. cxx.1-7.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 181