prosperous course aside, mal-es the path crooked instead of straight, full of trouble and calamity instead of prosperous and sure." "That which happens in tho course of God's providence, and as the inevitable result of his righteous laws, is usually ascribed in Scripture to his immediate agency." "Turneth upside down." "Ho fills it with crooked places; he reverses it, sets it down, upsets it. 'l'hat which the man aimed at he misses, and he secures that for himself which he would gladly have avoided. The wicked man's way is in itself a turning of things upside down morally, and the Lord makes it so to him providentially, Everything goes wrong with him who goes wrong" (C. H. S.). I. PLANS MADE WITHOUT GOD WILL RA VE, SOONER OU LATER, TO TAKE Gon INTO t.ccouNT. The honest truth is that man can never safely make any plans without taking God, and God's relo.tion to things, into consideration. And yet this must be acknowle<1ged as a truthful description of tho wicked man-" God is not in all his thoughts." But all man can ever do is, strong-willedly persist in putting God out of consideration. And God may respond by leaving him a.lone for a while. Dut the man cannot keep up his self-willedness long, and God will not keep aloof for ever. When God puts himself into consideration, man's schemes are confused, and man's plans fall about him in ruins. Man proposes; God disposes. H. Gon WILL SURELY OVERRIDE ALL MAN'S SELF-WILLED PLANS m THE LONG BUN. Asaph and the psalmists of his class are full of fretfulness because the plans of the wicked seem to succeed. "He bringeth wicked devices to pass." Dut .Asaph goes into the sanctuary of God, and then he understands their end. Wait but a while. God is sure to "arise and shake terribly the earth," and shake down the most apparently stable erections of self-willedness.-U. T. Vers. 1-10.-God alone worthy of trust. "Beare evident traces of bolonging to the post-Exile literature; and the words of vers. 7~9 are certainly no inapt expression of the feelings which would naturally be called forth at a time immediately subsequent to the return from the Captivity." : I. EVEN THE MIGHTIEST OF .MANKIND ARE UNWORTHY OF TRUST. 1. They cannot save in our greatest extremities. "In whom is no help." From waut of ability and often from want of will. 2. The plans and pro}ects of man soon come to an end. (Ver. 4.) Hie purposes perish, and he passes away. 'fhe masters of one age are deposed by those who come after them, and their systems are exploded. II. THOSE ONLY AnE HAPPY WHO TRUST IN JEHOVAH. (Vers. 5-10.) 1. God is the almighty Creator. (Ver. 6.) Of the heaven~, the earth, the sun, and all Jiving things. This is power, spiritual and physical. 2. God wn,cha~geably adh~res to the f uljilment of his promises. (Ver. 6.) "Keepeth truth for ever. Men easily change their mind, and do not keep their word. 3. He obtains right for the oppressed. (Ver, 7.) Cannot allow unrighteous men a final ~riumph over the we~k and _unprotected. Succours those who suffer wrong without dorng wrong. 4. Provides daily bread for the poor and needy. (Ver. 7.) God is a bountiful God,"who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." 5. Is beneficent a71;d gracious, as the Rule'/' of men. (Vers. 7-9.) "Looseth the prisoners" (Isa. lx1. 1), "Openeth the eyes of the blind "-both of the mind and the body. "Raiseth up the fallen, and upholds the.> fainting." "Ho loveth the righf-:ous," but he is tender towards a~l the naturally defenceless-the tdrangera the widow, and the fatherlcEs. 6. God}s kingdom endureth for ever. (Ver. 10.) Th~ eternal durati~n of ~is k!ngdnm is the guarantee for ita future glorious completion, and for the ultimate v1ctones ol love,-S,
EXPOSITION. put in their places (see ver. 13; and comp. PSALM CXLVIL Neb. vii. 1-3). It ill, more manifesUy than TH1s psolm ill generally assigned to the any of the others, a Return joy-song (vers. time of the dedication of the city wall 2, 12-14). Its delicate apprcci11.tion of (Nch. xii. 27-43), when tho gate-towe.rs the grandeur and beauty-of nat11re, and of l1ad btcn set up, and the gates and bare God's closeness to nature (vcrs. 4, 8, 9, 14, r&. CXLVII, 1-!::0.] TIIE BOOK OF Pel.ALMS.