fall, the watchman will wake and the soldier will fight in vain. If God intends to humble a man whose pride needs to be brought down, his utmost exertions in his trade or in his profession will not bring success. Many a man hae found, as he at first thought to his cost, but as he afterwards knew to his great advantage, that when God's wise and faithful providence is against his prosperity, he wakes early and works hard in vain. But how much more blessed is he in a corrective adversity, than he would be in a hardening prosperity I We do well to ask that God's blessing may wait upon and crown all our activities; we do well, also, to remember that it may happen that, for our own sake, God will not grant us our desire in the form of temporal success. 3. We find no blessedness in a pro~perity which is not hallowed by devotion, It is a vain thing for a man to strive hard and to attain the immediate object of his pursuit, if he is not making his life a life of holy service. Even if the bread be eats is not "bread of sorrows" in the sense that it is scanty, yet it will be such in the sense that it yields no abiding joy; for it is abundantly clear that a life of even prosperous labour, ap:1rt from the service and without the friendship of God, selfish and earthbound, is a life of dissatisfaction and practical defeat. The springs of pure and lasting joy do not rise on that lower ground. II. NEEDLESS ANXIETY, "It is vain that ye rise up early," etc.; "for he giveth to his beloved in sleep and without labour, 'so,' i.e. just as, even as to those who vainly harass themselves with labour and think not of him" (' Speaker's Uommentary '). To those who serve God and are beloved of him he will grant sufficiency, though they do not turn labour into hard toil, but take the rest they need. It is not godless struggle, but reverent activity, that attains the goal and receives the prize of happy life. The two elements of success are (1) a moderate and rational activity with need- ful and appropriate rest; and (2) the enjoyment of God's favour bringing down his blessing on our work. Be diligent at your post, give to muscle and to brain the relaxation they demand, spend your days and powers in the fear of God,-then you may commit yourself to his promise and await its fulfilment. There is no need for anxiety if you are honestly and wisely laborious, and also prayerful and obedient (see Phil. iv. 5-7). III. Tim FULNEBB AND OVERFLOW OF DIVINE BLESSING, " So he giveth to his beloved in sleep.'' 1. What great things God does/or our bodily well-being in sleep I Every night he lays his restoring hand upon us, refreshes us, renews our muscular and mental powers, gives back tone the vitality and strength which had been exhausted. Every morning we owe to him a "new song" of praise. 2. What great things God does for us in the outside world during our unconsciousness I Our Lord reminds us that, while we are otherwise occupied, "night and day," the seed we have sown springs and grows, we "know not how." Many things God does for us when we are as unconscious of his action as if we were "in sleep." It is an unseen hand, working with such silence that no ear hears the sound, that is carrying on those wonderful operations by which he "satisfies the wants of every living thing." 3. What great things he does for us in the human world in which we take no part I His hand was working and overruling in all the toil and strife of the nations of the earth, leading the world up to, and making it ready for, the great advent of the Rodeemer. Unknown to us, while we arc practically "in sleep," he is directing all our strife and all our labour to a beneficent result. 4. We are hoping that God will make our past life effective for good in many hearts and through many generations when we "fall on sleep." When our body rests in the grave, the influences he enabled us to exert in life will, under his gracious guidance, be telling and bearing fruit, 'l'o those who love and serve him now he will give the blessing of the workman whose labour is producing and reproducing long after he has left the field. IV. THE BLEBBINO OF l'ABE~TAGE, (See next psalm.)
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers.1-5.-771e builder's psalm. Our ignorance of the exact reference of this psalm enables us to apply it, as perhaps otherwise we might not be able, to all builders whatsoever. Four sucli seem to be pointed at here. PB, OXXVll, 1-5.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS, 220