HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-9.-Incongniity in religion, 'l'he psalm brings before us in very vivid colour- I. TnE DARK SHADOW CAST BY A GREAT GOOD, Patriotism is an excellent thing, and we are all of us glad and thankful to belong to e. land of light and liberty. We would not, on any account, forego so great an advantage, so valuable a privilege, But how much suffering that blessing may ante.ill Who can me\sure the intensity of the humiliation and distress which the children of Israel endured when they were torn from their native land, or when they were me.de to feel their subjection in the streets or the fields of Babylon? They "wept when they remembered Zion." The very beauties of its situation (Ps. xlviii. 2), as contrasted with the dreary levels befo,e their eyes; the very fulness of its privileges, as contrasted with the privations to which they were then submitting, filled their suuls with grief. '!'he richer our treasure, the severer our loss; the deeper and stronger our love, the keener and the more sustained our sorrow. "Our affections bring great afflictions, but they are well worth the cost." If we aro wise we shall be more than content to pay that price for so grent o. good. For these sorrows are sncred; they are softening, and they o.re purifying; they provide the best opportunity for filial resignation; they draw us to God in hallowing communion, o.nd in the prayer which brings down o. large blessing from his Holy Spirit. II. THE LIMITS OF THE MosAio CIVILIZATION, No doubt tho Law given by Moses wo.s a civilizing institution, and made Israel much wiser and worthier in every wo.y than that people would otherwise have been. But it left much to be desired. Among other things it left its disciples unredeemed from the cruelties (or many of them) pro.ctised in war, No Christian writer could, with any sort of propriety or consistency, have written the last verse of this psalm. It pains and shocks us as wo read it. We conclude that the world wanted another Teacher, whose spirit should inspire, and whose principles should guide and control, his disciples in their treatment of friend o.nd foe. It is not, indeed, that passages could not be found in the Law enjoining mercy; it is lhat there was needed One who by his own life, o.nd by his gmcious Spirit, and by his sovereign power, should be able to influence and inspire his followers with his own thought, and be able to lead them along a higher and nobler way. Ill. So.ME MARKED INCONGRUITIES IN oun EXPERIENCE. "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land 'i" How shall we sing the happy songs of Zion when we are in the power of the enemy, away from the city that we love, the sanctuary which 298 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. cxxxvm 1-9.
is our spiritual home? There are "utrange lands" to the Christian man in which the soun~~ tha~ are n~tive to the soil cannot be expected to be heartl. 'fhere' are spiritual cond1t1ons m which the graces of Christian character will not flourish but will die away. Of such are pride, selfishness, covetousness, self-indulgence, un~haritableness. It would be quite an incongruous thing for thankfulness, helpfulness, piety, forbearance anticipation of the heavenly kingdom, consecration to the cause of Christ and man t~ abound in such "strange lands" as these. When we are called upon to practise the graces of Christian character, and when we find ourselves quite indisposed to do so, when any one of these is uncongenial to us, we should seriously inquire of ourselves where we stand. Are we on lmmanuel's ground? Are we on the King's hiahway? Or are we in some strange land which belongs to the enemy? Is there good reason why we should return, promptly and penitently, to the kingdom from which we have been carried away captive? This is the first thing to do; and the way home is open to all earnest souls.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-9.-Fruits ef exile from God. It was Israel's, or rather J udah's, exile from Zion and Jerusalem that this psalm commemorated; but the fruits that exile bore, and which are here told of, set forth the fruits of the yet sadder exile from God which many a soul has known. I. THE MEMO BY OF WHAT RAS BEEN LOST IS FULL OF BOBROW. (Ver. 1.) "Yea, we sat down and wept." And if, as with God's ancient people, we through sin are banished from God, then, when we remember, we too shall weep. II. Musrc, MIBTH, AND SONG ARE IMPOSSIBLE. (Vers. 2-4.) How could Israel sing? How can <l.'e under like conditions? He who bas once knowa, yet more if he has lived for a long time in, the joy of God's love, when he loses that, loses all joy along with it. How can he sing the Lord's song, etc. (ver. 4)? III. PASSIONATE DEVOTION AND DESIRE TOWARDS WHAT HAS BEEN LOST FILL THE SOUL. (Vers. 5, 6.) His one desire is to return back; his most fervent vows that never, never will he again forget. IV. IlUR!,,"ING HATRED OF THOSE WHO RAVE WROUGHT THIS WRONG TAKES POSSESSION OF HIM. (Cf. 2 Cor. vii. 10, 11.) In this sense we may use language which towards earthly enemies would be contrary to the spilit of Christ.-S. C.
Ver. 4.-" The Lora's song in a strange land." What a wonderful mixture this psalm contains of tears and tragedy, of pathetic sorrow and fiery patriotism I We can almost certainly fix the time when it was wlitten. 'l'he first party of exiles had just returned frow Babylon, and had come to Jerusalem, where everything on which their gaze rested-the universal desolation and ruin-rerninrled them of what the spoiler had done, and brought back to their memory the horrors of those dreadful days when Jerusalem was besieged, and at length captured and destroyed. The psalm tells also of the land of their exile-their widespread plains watered by the artificial canals and rivers, in the construction and maintenance of which it is probable that many of the exiles were employed. These were the rivers of Babylon, by which they sat down and wept. And he speaks of the exiles themselves; how their captors bade them sing one of those soags for which their land was famous; but they would not. Their captors wanted to be amused, and thought that these Jews should help them by their song. Dut the sorrow and shame of their exile had smitten their hearts too terribly, and stifled all their power of song. All that there they were capable of was tbo fierce and almost frantic prayer for revenge with which the psalm concludes. But the text ho.a wider apPlication than merely to those sad circumstances which first called it forth. Hence- L INQUIRE WHAT rs MEANT DY "THE LoBD'B BONG." Not only one inspired utterance, however beautiful or sacred, but all such psalms and hymns as they had been wont to Bing in their happy homeland. And the Lord's song includes those many sweet songs which may have no words, but are sung in the heart of God's people, to their great joy PS. oxxxvu.1-9.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 2\J!)