were unmoved. There have been more ways than one in which onr moral and spiritual integrity has been in danger of being undermined, but the peril is past; we are true, we are free, we are pure; we have "kept the faith; " the Lord has been on our side; the aim of the enemy has been turned aside. III. OUR REFUGE IN GoD. David makes his appeal to God (vers. 1, 4, 6, 8-11). He prays God to preserve him while he brings his enemies to destruction. In his -position as aspirant to, or occupant of, a throne, assailed by unscrupulous and sanguinary ,memies, and in his day when war was regarded as a natural, if not necessary, element in a nation's. life, it is perfectly comprehensible that David would desire, and would ask God to accomplish, the ruin of his foes. To him with his measure of enlightenment, not to have done this would have been positively irreligious, for he would then have failed to bring to God what he regarded as bis first duty as well as his pressing need. It is otherwise with us. In the light which shines on our path, it becomes us: 1. To ask daily and earnestly for God's help against our spiritual adversaries, that we may defy and defeat them. 2. To pray for our individual opponents, that they may be won to all that is wise and good. 'l'he "burning coals" we, as Christian men, desire should fall on the beads of our enemy, are those of Rom. xii. 20-the complete triumph of magnanimity, in which hatred is converted to love, and cruelty to kindness. IV. OuR ASSURANCE OF VICTORY. (Yers. 12, 13.) Our confidence is in the God of righteousness. He will not regard with indifference either the arrogance and assumption of the proud and strong, or the suffering of the poor and weak. Divine Providence is Mt "on the side of the strongest battalions; " it was for the small band under Gideon, and against the mighty host of the Midianites; it was/or the hundreds under Judas Maccabams, and against the thousands under Antiochus of Syria; it wasfoi· the small vessels of England, and against the great galleons of Spain. God is "for the right," and that very often means for the poor and the despised; and they who fear him and do bis will and live his life will not seek bis help in vain. The night of adversity may be long, but "the morning cometh," and" joy cometh in the morning." "Surely the righteous shall give thanks" unto him. The upright will dwell before him now, conscious of his favour and his blessing; they will dwell in bis nearer presence soon, partakers of hie glory and his joy.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-13.-Our adversary and our IJefence. Some there are who unhesitatingly and strongly condemn this psalm : they sa.y it moves only on the low plane of bodily needs; it never mounts up to holy, spiritual desire at all. Further, it is wholly personal, not to say selfish; it is a.II for "me," no one else, throughout the psalm; nlso, it is aflame with the "burning coals" of fierce revenge, and is, at the same time, saturated with self-righteousness. Such are the charges brought against this psalm, and n protest is entered against its being used in Christian worship, or regardeLl as Christian at all. But, to take a present a.nd pressing matter: how do we Christians feel in regard to the unspeakable Turk, now inflicting such awful crueltie~ on the Armenian? Is there a scctence in this psalm that we would hesitate to apply to tlll\t detest.able oppressor? If in an Armenian church this psalm was sung just now, as probably it often is, would we unchristianize them for it? Surely not. 'rhen let us, ere we condemn its writer, try and place ourselves in his oppressed and persecuted condition, then we shall be able to judge more fairly and to speak less rashly. But the psalm hns its use and application for ourselves; for we have, if cot earthly, yet nssurcdly, spiritual enemies, above all, our" adversary the devil," and of him and of his agents all may be said that is here said, and all prayed that is here prnyed. Therefore consider- L OuR GREAT ADVERSARY. 1. Is lie not evil P Do not the manifold manifestations of evil around us and within us prove the ex:iijtence of a prince or evil, a.s do thu liko manifestations of goodness prove the existence of One whom we call God our Father '? 2. And violent. With what cruel might does he ofton assault our souls I 3. And even aiming at our hurt. "Going about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." Are not the declarations of vers. 2-5 absolutely true-so incessant, so subtle, so 330 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS. CXL, 1-13.