The Pulpit Commentary — Psalms — Volume 3 — Section 336

III. OR THERE MAY BE ONLY THE ONE. There have been scenes where but one solitary voice has been lifted up for God, whilst all the rest have been either indifferent or his declared foes. Elijah thought he was such a one: "I only am left alone." And our blessed Lord foretold that it would be so with him: "Ye shall leave me alone," he said to his discipleg. And sometimes it is so with faithful servants of God, ns St. Paul before Agrippa and before Nero, when he said," No man stood by me.n And many a faithful missionary has known this awful loneliness; and had not God, for who:n they alone witnessed, come and revealed himself to them, they could not have borne it. ~ut this is the encouragement of the faithful yet solitary servant of God, that God will never let him be really alone, because the Lord himself will come and manifest himself to such servants, and thus fill them with his own joy. "My grace is sufficient for you." So spake Christ to the much-tried Paul; and so he speaks still to e-.ery one of his lonely witnesses, wherever they may be. IV. OR TRERE MAY BE THE MANY, AND NOT THE ONE. The one may live in a very atmosphere of worship and service, and yet stand aloof from it himself. Have we not known families where every member is an avowed and faithful servant of Christ, and yet some one of their number stands separate and apart from all the rest? How is this? Sometimes such sad facts occur becauEe, half unconsciously, but yet really, the reserved one is trusting to the godliness of the rest, and reckoning that that will serve for him without his becoming as they are. But let such remember that not one of us " can by any means redeem his brother, or give to God a ransom for him ; " each one of us must personally and individually give himself to God. There is no praising in a crowd, There was but one at the wcdding-fe::.st that had not on the wedding- garment; but when the king came in to see his guests, he was at once detected, and cast out into the outer darkness. That is a never-to-be-forgotten fact. And what makes the sin of such the greater is that they were so favourably placed for gaining eternal life. Everything is in favour of an individual soul, if all those around him are pressing into tbe kingdom of God. He has but to go with the stream-not against it, as so many have to. How much increased, therefore, is their responsibility I Be thankful for such hallowed, helpful surroundings, and avail yourselves of them, as you should.-S. C.