and help. And in every case, whether with or without words, it is a song of the heart; the lips alone can never sing the Lord's song, for such song is not alone to the Lord, but from the Lord, inspired by his Spirit and taught by his grace. II. WHEREFORB 0ANNOT 'l'HIS SONG BE BUNG IN A STRANGE LAND? It was not from mere sullenness that the exiled Jews refused to sing; nor from that pride in which the unhappy often entrench themselves ; nor because they had lost all hope in God: they had not-. But it was because of what Babylon itself was t-0 them. 1. Babylon was "a strange w.nd." In its merely physical aspects it was utterly different from all they had been accustomed to; but how much more in all its moral, social, and spiritual character I Hence there settled down upon them the deep depression and sadness which the sense of complete isolation and loneliness ever produces. Ttars, but not songs, abound in such circumstances. It is ill to be separate, to stand apart, especially by our own will. 2. There was no sympathy, but a chill, designed contempt and dislike of all they held most precious. Let any one choose such surrounding~, the Lord's song will be quickly silenced. 3. Babylon was the embodiment of the world- spirit. Splendid, proud, magnificent; but hard, cruel, godless. 'l'hat spirit and the Lord's song cannot coexist. 4. Was full of idols. See the prophet's scorn of them (Ps. cxxxv. 15, etc.). And human hearts are yet haunted by idols not a few; but if so, then the Lord's song cannot be sung. 5. Was full of sin, corrupt to the core. But the heart that holds to sin, any sin, silences the Lord's song.-S. C.
Ver. 9.-.A horrible kind of happiness. Can the sentiments of our text, and of these verses, and the many like them in these psalms, be justified? Are they not wicked, cruel, unchristian, and so to be utterly condemned by all good men? Such questions are continually asked. But let it be remembered- !. OPPRESSION DRIVES EVEN WISE MEN MAD. These terrible utterances are the product of a cruelly oppressed and suffering people. Let us put ourselves in their place. JI. THAT IT IS THE LANGUAGE OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, NOT OF THE NEW. Now, the Old Testament taught: 1. That God's retribuli011:S, both to the good and evil, were given here and now, in temporal blessing or the reverse. They had uo clear know- ledge of a future life, still less of any jud:i:ment to come. 2. That the Divine character was to be known by these retributions, and God's honour mainto.ined, and the true religion upheld by thew. 3. Hence they were told to invoke curses on the wicked, and they would feel it wrong not to do so. How else could God be glorified? 4. The prosperity of the wicked was a great trial to them. It seemed so to dishonour God and to imperil his truth in the world. Hence: 6. We are not justified in attributing these utterancea to mere personal spite and revenge. '!'heir motive was far other and higher. IIJ. 'l'HAT ALL WAR Ill 'l"HE PRACTIOAL CARRYING OUT OF THE PRH(CIPLEB OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. Even with all the alleviations and mitigations of modern and more Christian days, war does the very things which in these psalws many thiuk so wrong. IV. THAT IT IS PO~SIDLE TO DO DREADFUL THINGS WlTHOUT DEING POSSESSED OF A DREADFUL SPIRIT. Many men deem war to be at times necessary and just; and surely it can be so, and often has been; and they have urged such war as iu the sight and under the fear of God. The magistrate is not to bear the sword in vain, but to remember that he is the minister of God. V. RECOGNIZE OUR INDEBTEDNESS TO THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST. And rejoice in it and spread it far and wide. For this gospel not only takes away all excuse for the vindictive spirit, but ever tends to lessen the occasioos which provoke it. Let it but spread, and there shall be no more such horrilile happiness us that which our text aeems to contemplate o.nd approve.-S. C.
Ver. 1.-The tears of memory. "Yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion." The rivers of Babylon and the district were the Euphrates, the Tigrfa, o.ud the branch streams of those rivers. The writer of the psalm is not in Babylon, but is recalling to mind what happened when he w 1s there. It is not easy to recognize the mood of the psalmist when he composed this psalm. Usually it is assumed that there was first a gentle and plaintive mood, and then a fierce and revengeful mood; but perhaps it is true to the weaknesses of human nature to regard it throughout as a bitter retrospect. 300 'l'HE BOOK OF PSALMS. [I'S. CXXXVII, 1-0,
'l'he mo°'?- _is ?ne of intensity, excitement, and auger in the remembrance of suffering~ 11nd bum1h~t1ons that had ~een endured. There is a weeping of anger and of remem- bered suffcnngs and humbhngs; as there is a weeping when enduring humiliations in the thought of bygone joys, relations, and privileges. . I. MEMORY M';Y ;AFFECTINGLY RECALL LOST PRIVILEGES. The psalmist seems to ~1mself to be a.ga.m m Bab:y:lon, again oppressed with the burden of the lost national liberty and the present na.t10nal bondage. He no longer belonged to a nation. He no lon_ger had any capital city. He no longer had any centre for the religious life. 'The kmgdom was broken up, the city was desolated, the temple lay in ruins, the nation was scattered, and the people were virtual slaves to severe and even cruel task- masters. Some sullenly endured their fate; but to some every remembrance of the old days was a cutting pain-it either ma.de them ano-ry and forced hitter tears, or in softer moods it broke them down and caused tears of regret. How often the memory of the past still brings pa.in and tears I There is so much in it that mio-ht have been otherwise. Often our memory-tears are bitter. Only in good moods a:'e they gentle and tender. They may be, they should be, tears of thankful, trustful love. II. MEMORY MAY AFFECTINGLY RECALL THE CAUSE OF LOST PRIVILEGES. It was only an imperfect memory that recalled a desolated Zion. There was something more than loss and woe to remember-there was the sin of the nation that ea.used the loss, and was punished in the woe. Aud it is only when memory of past sorrows includes the sin that brought the sorrows, that memory brings worthy and healing tears.-R. T.