HOMILIES BY VARLOUS AUTHORS. Yers. 1-26.-Repetitions many, but not vain. Over nnd over again the refrain co?les, "~is mercy endureth for ever." But it is never a vain repetition, unless the mrnd, by its heedlessness, makes it so. It is like the German piece of music which ie called 'The Fremensberg,' which tells one of the old legends of the region-how "a great noble of the Middle Ages got lost in the mountains, and wandered about with his dogs in a violent storm, until at last the faint tones of a monastery-bell, calling the monks to a midnight service, caught his ear, and be followed the direction the sounds came from, and was saved. A beautiful air runs throuah the music without ceasing, sometimes loud and strong, sometimes so soft that it can hardly be dis- tinguished, but it is always there. It swung grandly along the shrill whistlin" of the storm-wind, the rattling patter of the rain, and the boom and crash of the thunder• it wound soft and low through the lesser sounds, the distant ones, such as the thro~ bing of the convent-bell, the melodious winding of the hunter's horn, the distressed bayings of bis dogs, and the solemn chanting of the monks ; it rose again, with a jubilant ring, and mingled itself with the country songs and dances of the peasants assembled in the concert-hall to cheer up the rescued huntsman as he ate his supper, imitating all these sounds with marvellous exactness. The solemn chanting of the monks was not done by instruments, but by men's voices, and it rose and fell and rose again in that rich confusion of warring sounds and pulsing bells, and the stately swing of that ever-present enchanting air, and it seemed to me that nothing could be more divinely beautiful" (Mark Twain). So the sweet refrain of this psalm is heard amid all ,a.riety of circumstances, and is never absent, but investing with its own charm every one of the manifold statements which \he psalm contains. But wherefore all this repetition? I. BECAUSE WE ARE so APT TO FORGET THE TRUTH IT TELLS OF. Is not thie BO? "The ox knoweth its owner," etc. (Isa. i.). II. BECAUSE IT IS A TRUTH BO UNSPEAKADLY IMPORTANT. We repeat messages to those who we know arc liable to forget, and we do so the more according to the impor- tance of the message. And none can be more important than this, consider it how we will Who is there that does not need to remember it, that is not every way tho better for the remem bra.nee of it? III. BECAUSE, WHEN IT IS REMEMDERED, BELIEVED, AND REALIZED IN THE HEART WE CANNOT KEEP SILENCE ABOUT IT. "I believed, there.fore have I spoken," said St. Paul; and it bas ever been so. He who wrote this psalm believed this most blessed truth of God's mercy enduring for ever, and be could not keep silence; nor shall we when we in like manner believe.-S. C. Vers. 1-26.-Does his mercy endure for ever P How many voices there are that seem to deny the blessed declaration which is repeated in every verse of this psalm, and in so many other psalms and Scriptures beside! I. THE VOICE OF EARTHLY SORROW SEEMS TO DENY IT. "What I" says one, "his mercy endureth for ever? And I, once so happily placed, and to whom nil life was bright, and now so utterly poor, a ruined mau: how can hi~ mercy endure for e~er? I cannot believe it." And here is another who bas been bitterly bereaved, the hght of his home gone out. And an?ther whos~ heart sm~rts within h_im from a se_ns~ of cruel wrong which ban been infhctPA on him, and which bas embittered all his hfe • .A.nd another whose cidstence is 0ne long pain. And another racked with anxiety, Oh, how many such there are to whom the talk of God's mercy seems as an impossible and an idle thought I II. A.ND THE VOICE OF THE POPULAR TliEOLOGY IIAS PRACTICALLY DENIED IT. For it represents God as a moral Governor who baH attached a tremendous penal~y t? sin-;- a penalty at the very thouiht of which the heart shudders, a_n,d who would mfl1ct th1e PB, C:XXXVI, 1-26.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 289
on mnnkind generally, for that all have sinned, only that mercy interposes, and by the sacrifice of Christ opens a way of escape for all who will believe. Now, in this repre- sentation there is very much that is scriptural and true, but it errs in representing the foundation of the Divine character as that of the magistrate rather than of the father. As if hie great purpose were to maintain a Jaw rather than to train and to teach, to restore and to redeem. And hence they limit this salvation to the baptized, or to the elect, or to those who dwell in Christian lands. And they limit it likewise to the present life. Thus, practically, they seem to deny the ever-enduring character of God's mercy. Ill. AND THERE IS MUCH IN SCRIPTURE THAT SEEMS TO SUPPORT THIS DENIAL. Certainly there are no direct statements that teach that outside the limits of faith in Christ, and of the present life, there is yet salvation, and there are many \\ hich seem to distinctly say there is not. IV. A.ND THERE ARE AWFUL FA0TB IN LIFE WHICH POINT IN THE BAME DIRECTION. Meu, many of them, do, so far as we can see, die in their sins, having no part nor Jot in the kingdom of Goel. V. BUT, IN SPITE OF ALL THIS, Goo's MERCY ENDURETH FOR EVER. 1. It must be so, because of his declared character. God is love. He is our Father. His mercy is not an attribute external to himself, something that he has assumed; but it is what ho is in his own inherent nature. Therefore so long ns God exists, his mercy must exist likewise, that is, must endure for ever, 2. Because of his declared purpose. He has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. He will have all men to be saved. He gave his only begotten Son to die for us all, and to him every knee sh!j,11 bow. "The Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." Can his purpose, then, be for ever thwarted? 8. The manifest design of all his dealings with us. His perpetual goodness. The afflictions and sorrows he sends, they are for good, not ill; for healing, not harm. And the punishments he inflicts, they are not in vengeance, but to subdue the perverse will. Love is at the heart of things, the ultimate reason of them all. 4. What he has already done. The most stubborn wills he bas subdued, and does subdue day by day. The resources of his mercy are not exhausted or exhaustible.-S. C.