PSALM. OXX.XL aelf in great matters, or m things too high for me j litero.lly, too wonderful (comp. Tms psalm has been eaid to be " like a Ps. exxxix. 6, "Suoh knowle<lge is too string of a Christinn • Lyre. Innooeatinm '" wonderful for me: it is high : I cannot (Bishop Alexander). It breathes the pro- attain unto it"). The speculative debates foundest humility and submission to God's of so•cBlled "wise men " concerning the deep things of God's moral government are will (vers. I, 2). At the same time, it en- prob11,bly glanced at (see Job xlii. 3). oonrages the faithful to maintain a livoly Ver. 2.-Surely I have behaved and quieted 11 hope" in God's snstaining grace (ver. 3). myself; rather, 1 have stilled and quieted The BBoription of the ps11lm to D11vid is my soul. I hove brought my soul into o. quite in ucoordance, both with the l11ngua.ge sto.te of pe11,ccfulness uncl oontent. As a. ohild that is weaned of his mother. 'l'ho ond the contents. we11ned child is 9uiet and oontent; the Ver. 1.-Lord, my heart is not haughty; suckling al wo.ye 1mpo.tient nnd restless. or," not lifted up" (oomp. 2 Chron. xxvi. 16; My soul is even as a weaned ohild. Another x:uii. 25). Not unduly elated by the repetition for the eo.ke of emphasis (see prosperity that thou h11,st bestowed on me. Ps. oxxx. 5, 6). Nor mine eyes lofty (comp. Ps. ci. 5), Vor. 3.-Let Israel hope in the Lord from "Pride," ns Hengetenberg says, "bas its henoeforth and for ever (oomp. Ps. cxu:. 7). seat in the heart, and betrays itself e,peoi- Israel is exhorted to have like oonfldenc~ ally in the eyes." ll'either do I exeroiae my. and trust in God as tho psalmist.
HOMILETICS, Vers.1-3.-Lowliness of mind. This psalm may have been written by David so far I\B its subject-matter is concerned. For that lowliness of mind of which it treats ts quite as compatible with a high as with a humble position in life. Royalty may ho 254 THE BOOK m• PSALMS, [Pe, oxxu.1-3.
very meek, and obscurity may be very proud. All moral qualities are independent of situations; they a.re a. question of character, not of circumstance. Of the greatest One that ever bore our likeness it is said, "Thy King cometh . . . meek " (Matt. xxi. 5). But we have here- I. A OOMMON TEMPTATION. There are souls that do not a.spire to be or do what is beyond them in any direction; but they are probably the exception rather than the rule. In all departments of activity men and women long for that which is out of their reach. The sailor is looking forward eagerly to a captaincy, or to be commodore or admiral. The soldier will not be satisfied until he is gazetted colonel of his regiment. The politician hungers for an office which is much higher up than the one he holds, .An<! thus it is in every sphere. It is right, indeed, that every one should seek and strive to put out all his powers, instead of allowing them to slumber in silence and inactivity. We are bound to be our best and do our utmost in a world that is crying for help and for redemption. But our temptation is to long and to labour for that which is beyond our capacity, for which we were not created and endowed, which would exalt us, but which we should not adorn. The student want8 to master that which is "t.oo wonderful for him," actually "unattainable" (Ps. cxxxix. 6). The servant of Christ wants to fill a post in the Church for which he is not mentally and morally qualified. The traveller thirsts to reach a latitude which is outside the range of practicable pursuit. Everywhere, in all classes and conditions, men are sighing and striving for that which they will never reach, or will only reach when they have exhausted their strength and cannot enjoy what they have gained. II. THE LESSON OF EXPERIENCE. Experience is continually teaching us the folly of seeking to move in a sphere which is beyond us. It is constantly resulting in defeat, in disappointment, in mortification. The position sought is not won, and there is the deep discontentment of having toiled in vain; or it is gained, and is found to be full of difficnlty that was not anticipated, and, instead of yielding the expected pleasure, it is productive of dissatisfaction and complaint, and it ends in serious, perhaps disastrous, failure. They are wise men who, witnessing this in other people, or beginning to dis- cover it in their own case, reach the psalmist's conclusion; this is- III. THE PRACTICAL CONCLUSION oF THE WISE, To be contented with the sphere which God has assigned us, and to do our best therein. The psalmist has learnt the lesson. He has had to compose a disquieted spirit, and he has done so; he was restless and passionate, like an unweaned child clamouring for its mother's breast. But be has "quieted himself," be has calmed his spirit; he has withdrawn from a false position; he has settled down permanently to the only true one. His heart is not lifted up; his eyes do not look enviou~ly and hungrily to the heights beyond him; he does not dwell in anxious, wearisome thought on matters which are beat left alone; he concentrates his sympathies and his energies on that which demands his attention, and which is productive of good to himseH and those around him; he is perfectly contented to be just what God has made him, to go where his Master sends him, to do what is placed in bis hands to do. He is so far from thinking himself essential to the prosperity of the Church and the redemption of the world, that he hopefully, and even confidently, leaves that in the care of the Supreme (ver. 3).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-3.-The sours most blessed cO'Tldition. That which the psalmist here affirms of himself is undoubtedly the spiritual condition which is nearest to heaven that hero on earth we can know. I. HE TELLS ue WHAT IT IS NOT. 1. Pride of heart is absent from it. "My heart is not haughty." We may say this to our fellow-men_, and deceive them by a show of humility· but it is quite another thing to affirm this, as is here done, before the Lord, "to wh~m all hearts are open, and from whom no secrets are hid." Hnppy are we if before him we can say this. !<'or pride is destructive of all real happiness : it is continually meeting with rebuffs; nothing people like so much as to take down the man who is haughty of heart. To humiliate him is the keenest delight. If the I'S, OXXXL 1-3.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 255