the Lord, and that we deserve whatever kind of distress we may be experiencing. Sorrow proceeds from sin and points to it. IV. THE noPE OF THE PENITENT. This is not in God's justice, but in his mercy. If God were to "ma.rk iniquities," i.e. to mark them for immediate punishment accord- ing to their desert, no ma.n could "stand in his sight" (Ps. lxxvi. 7). There ~ust be withdrawal from his presence, banishment from his hand. But our God is a God of patience, of forgiveness; he gives opportunity to the penitent. While unqualified severity would drive us into abject terror and hopeless exile, Divine mercy draws us near in true and manly confession, in hope of restoration, in return to his service. There is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared, that he may be approached, and that we may be restored. 1. With God, as he is revealed to us in Jesus Christ, there is" plenteous redemption." No guilty man, however deep his stain, need remain in the distance; he may draw nigh with a strong assurance of forgiveness and restoration. 2. The hope of the penitent rests on the sure basis of God's inviolable Word (ver. 6). Heaven and earth may pass away, but not the word of Christ's promise. "Come unto me, all ye that labour ... I will give you rest;" "Him that cometh ... I will in no wise cast out; "-these assurances constitute an immovable rock on which the troubled soul may build. 3. The true attitude of the penitent and believing spirit is that of con- fident expectation. As surely as the morning comes arter the night, so surely will God's delivering grace follow the earnest prayer of the penitent. Let there be the earnestness of the watching sentinel, or of the shipwrecked sailor as he longs for the light of the morning, and there may be perfect confidence that he will not seek or wait in vain. V. Tm: BLESSED ISSUE. Not merely recovery from sickness, or removal of trouble, but "redemption from all iniquity" (ver. 8; Titus ii 14).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-8.-De profundis. This psalm, whose date, author~hip, and special refer- ence no one certainly knows, nevertheless presents to us three marked stages in the experience of the writer of the psalm. I. IN THE DEPTHS. (Vers. 1-3.) Undoubtedly he knew what these were; and very deep depths they appear to have been. 1. Bia sad condition seems to have been brought about, not so much by any outward cirC'Umstances of his life, as by som~ inward spfrit'U(Jl distress. His soul was consciously separated from God; some grent guH, into which he had fallen, had opened between him nnd the God who had once been his delight and exceeding joy. It mny hnve beeu that the sense of guilt nnd condemna- tion lay heavily on him, or that he was in dread of some nppronching cnlnmity, or thnt ho wns plunged in grief and shame by the might and mastery of some sin. Sin hnd undoubtedly to do with it, as it hns to do with like distressin~ experiences in our own lives. 2. And it is a matter for deep thankfulness when sin docs cast us into such depths. Too many people regard sin as a mere trifle; it never troubles them seriously at all. And the cause or the vapid, feeble, and ineffectual Christian lire which so many professed Christians lead is that they hnve never had any real conviction of sin; they have never been in any "depths" about it. Would to God nll had I for there seems no hope of a real, earnest, and devoted Christian life without it. Dut the psnlmist was in the depths, and this explains the hei~hts to which he afterwards rose. 3. fle cries unto the Lord. It is an earnest, self-abasing, y~t pnssionate, appeal. He implores the Lord to be attentive to his supplication. It is only people in such depths that thus cry unto the Lord. Others may say prayers; but these men "cry." 4. He is filled with fear, lest the Lord should mark his iniquities. If the Lord did that, there could be no hope for him; and, remembering this, be seems to sink down deeper than over. It is a vivid instance of the Holy Spirit's conviction of sin. II. Hrsnm OUT oF THKM. (Vers. 4-G.) I. The upward ascent begins by his laying hold of the truth that there is forgiveness with God. Faith bas come; and as he believes, he sees that God's forgiveness can alone ensure that state of heart in him, that feor, which God desires to see in us all. He feels that he will never get right, 248 THE BOOK. OF PSALMS. [i's. cx:u. 1-8.
save as he believ~ in God's forgiveness. And this is undoubtedly true. 2. Then he proceeds to put that faith in pi"O.Ctwe, aud to wait on the Lord. And this he does in no half:-hearted way. He says, "I wait;" then, "My soul waiteth;" then be stays him- ~elf on God's word of forgiveness, and hopes therein; then he likens his faith to the <'ager expectation of those who are anxiously, but believingly, watching for the morn- ing-yea, with more than their desire and confidence does he wait I Of course, there can be but one response to faith like this-the man rises out of the depths, as such mc,n ever will. III. CLEAR ABOVE THEM. (Vers. 7, 8.) 1. He has got what he desires-the assur- ance of God's forgiveness. 2. In the joy of it he turns to others, and exhorts them to hope in the Lord, and testifies that" with the Lord there is," etc. (ver. 7). 3. And then, in the conviction that the love which has so blessed him cannot fail for Israel, he confidently predicts that the Lord "will redeem," etc. (ver. 8). All this earnest witnessing for God is the sure sign that he is now clear up above, and right out of those depths in which he at first was. In the depths we cannot thus witness, but out of them we must and shall.-S. C.