exact circumstances which are referred to; but many times in Israel's history had there b~en the t~reatening of overwhelming cal~mtty. _In t~e old times, in Egypt, in the wilderness, Jn Judah and Jerusalem, as durmg the 1nvas1on of Sennacherib when they were carried off to captivity, and during that captivity (see the Book of E;ther), Israel had abundant cause for such grateful acknowledgments as W'l find here. But the special circumstances we do not and cannot know; and this is w,,11, for now we are left free to make application of them to any out of the many like circumstances which from time to time recur in the histories of nation~, Churches, and individual souls. II. IT IS THAT OF REDEEMED HUMANITY. Mankind everywhere, as well as the redeemed in heaven, might well render praise like thi8. For the whole human race was in dire peril. When men turned out so ill, as they did and still do, so that the Lord repented that he had ma.de man, wherefore should God have preserved any of them alive? Their guilt, their wickedness, their subjection to the spirit of evil,-tbese were ready to swallow the race of man up quick. The might and ma.lice of the_'d!!vil were eager for the work. Why should it not have been? And the a.lone answer is- the love of God (John iii. 16). And still to-day we often all but despair of humanity; the whole world, save a minute fraction, yet lietb in wickedness, dead in trespasses and sins, rushing ruin wards with headlong speed. But yet the race is spa.red, for the Lord is on our side. This is the gospel of man. God would not have created us bad it not been true. III. IT MAY WELL BE THAT OF THE CHURCH OF Goo. For often and often in her history has it seemed as if there were but a step betwixt her and death. See that boat on the Lake of Galilee in the midnight storm: it contains the whole of the disciples and Jesus, and be asleep. One wave more, and they would all go to the bottom, swallowed up quick, the proud waters had gone over their soul (ver. 3). But that wave never came. And so has it been again and again with the Church of God. Persecution for three long centuries did its worst; false doctrine has many times, from the earlier centuries down to the present, threatened to submerge the faith we held; worse still, corruption, vile and loathsome, has fastened on the life of the Church, so that religion bas been hateful in men's esteem, as it was in the pre-Reformation ages. But the heart of the Church bas remained sound amid all ; the Lord was on her side, and so she h,,s escaped as a bird, etc. (ver. 7). IV. NATIONS, Too, MAY ADOPT THIS LANGUAGE. See the times of the Armada: how fearful the peril seemed then I And so in the days of tbo French Revolution, when the colossal power of Napoleon tbre11tened the life of every indopendent nation. V. AND HOW OFTEN INDIVIDUAL DELIEVERS HAVE HAD CAUSE THUS TO SPEAK! In regard to the power of temptation, they have been all but gone, their feet well-uigh slipped. Ilut the Lord was on their side. So in regard to the malice of enemies, nnd the cruel power of disnster and distress. CONCLUSION. If the Lord has been thus on our side-as he hM-we will, by his grnce, be -evermore on his.-S. C.
Ver. 7.-The soul'a birdlike experiences. We have a number of objects presented lo us in this verse. L THE SOUL AB A BIRD. We are often bidden consider the birds who," without barn or storehouse, are fed," so that from them we may learn the lesson of trust. Even the ravens may teach us that. But the psalmist here bids us think of birds in perpetual peril of ensnarement, and actually taken, but, by rare good fortune, finding escape. 'l'bat is the image of the soul which he here pictures. How true it is perpetual peril is our lot I II. THE SNARES FOR THE souL. 1. IIow many there are I And they are everywhere, and especially where we least expect them. Temptations to sin, to misbelief, to unbeliet~ to compromise with the world, to doubt, to pride, and to many other such things. 2. And the end and aim of tliem all is the same-to sepnrate the soul from God, nnd so to destroy it. 3, And these snares are of various kinds. Sometimes tho soul is captured by means of another that seems to be at liberty. A man who bas a religious reputation, is much thought of by many-be is used to tempt, to decoy, others astray. Sometimes, indeed always, there is some attraction the forco of which we cannot help feeling. And these baits are varied according to the cha.meter of each soul. 208 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PB. CXXIV, 1-8,