In the courts of the Lord's house we know there were trees. Josephus plainly tells us so, and Pa. lxxxiv. implies it when it speaks of the home of the birds there. .And in the palaces of the great, in the quadrangles around which they were built, there were generally many beautiful plants; and there would be aldo conspicuous the beautifully worked and decorated stones, placed at the angles of the building, or the polished pillars on which they rested. So, prays the psalm, may our daughters be. Here the aame ideas are suggested by this metaphor as by the other. The corner-stone rest8 on its foundation as the plant springs from its root. St. Paul speaks iil Eph. iii. as if he bad these verses in his memory, of" being rooted and grounded in love;." roote,l like the plant, grounded as is the foundation of a building. So must character be-based on firm foundation. Then the idea of visibility is common both to the matured plant and the polished pillar. Beauty also is even more suggested by this second figure than by the first, St. Paul teaches the same lesson when he speaks of our comprehending "with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and hd~ht." It is the fair proportion and the beautiful comeliness and completeness of the Christian character which he dcsiderates so earnestly. Strength, again, is in this metaphor, as in the other. Both pillar and corner-stone would alike need to be strong. Some have regarded the word as pointing to "the Caryatides, the exquisitely sculptured forms of maidens which adorned the corners of some magntficent hall or chamber of a palace" (Perowne). But, with all their beauty, these pillars supporting the angles of the building must have strength. Ilut inasmuch as the Prayer-book Version, and other authorities beside, give the meaning of" tewple" rather than "palace," and as such rendering is more in harmony with this devout utterance, we accept it, and find in it that suggestion of God in the character here spoken of which is also found in the emblem of the plant (Ps. xcii. 13). Added on to the idea of strength sn,l beauty which belonged to the temple of God there is that of godliness-consecration and devotion to him, without which no character is perfect and complete. III. How WHAT 1s so DESIRED MAY BE SECURED. 1. Parents, and all who have charge of children, must pray for it; and the prayer must be endorsed by appropriate action. 2. Believe in God's willingness to bestow this. He would not have inspired such prayer else. 3. Our young people must yield themselves up to God. They must renounce sin, end surrender their all to him, and then continually trust and expect the blessing sought. IV. THE GREAT EXAMPLE OF TBIS BEAUTIFUL CHARAOTEB. Our Lord Jesus Christ. V. WHY YOU, OUB SONB AND DAUGHTERS, SHOULD THUS PRAY. 1. For the sake of the Lord, who calls you to this bles,ed life. 2. .And for the sake of those who love you, nnd long tho.t you may be the Lord's. 3. .And of those whom you must influence for good or ill. 4 . .And for your own sake. Oh, how many have mourned, and are mourning now, that they have not lived this true life I But never one who did so live has done other than be profoundly grateful for God'11 grace that led him thereto. -S.C. Vers. 1, 2.- War-figures of Gor£s relations. "The psalmist recounts glorious victories in the past ; complains that the nation is now beset by strange, i.e. barbarous, enemies, so false and treacherous that no covenant can be kept with them; prays for deliverance from them by an interposition great and glorious as bad been voucbsnfe,l of old; and anticipates the return of a golden age of peace and plenty " (Perowne). If it ever has been right, the manifest duty of the hour, for a man to engage in war, it must be right to associate God with that doing of duty. No man would venture to say that it never bas been right to engage in war. '!'ill human nature is wholly renewed aDll sanctified, war will probably continue to bo one of the forces which help collective humanity to ::nake right triumph over wrong. .And God may be thought of as the Trainer of soldiers for the wars of righteousness. I. HE wno TRAINS FOR WAR TRAINS ONLY FOR WARS OF WHICH HE CAN APPROVE. It is usual to say that defcnsi ve wars mny bo necessary, but offensive wars never o.re ; but this is to taken very limited view of life, facts of history, and Divine dealings with men. God has con,missioned nations to carry out his purposes of judgment and mercy by offensive wars. War as a scourge of organized societies, of nations, has beell, and 368 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, 0XLIV, 1-15.
may still be, used by God in execution of his judgments, and even in the movement ol the locations of men to different parts of the globe. Old Testament history distinctly associates God with aggressive war. Israel invaded Palestine for God. Assyria invaded Palestine as God's servant. Mere dynastic wars are selfish wars, and wholly wrong. Wars thnt are renlly race-movements may be right. There is a good end in all war of which God approves. II. HE "\'\"HO TRAINS FOB WAR PUNISHES THOSE WHO USE TRAINED POWERS FOR THE~R OWN ENDS. And this is the thing to which nations, and rulers of nations, are contrnually tempted. It is illustrated by God's dealing with Assyria, which was the rod to execute his anger against his people, but proceeded to serve its own ends, and so brought upon itself the judgments of God.-R. T.