HOMILETICS. Vers.1-9.-God's pleasure in us, and owrs in Mm. The more particularly inviting passage is found in the fourth verse; but those before and after are also suggestive. 'l'aking them first, and that last, we have- I. THE 0ONBTANOY OF O00ABION FOR PRAISING GOD. (Ver. 1.) The "new song" of the psalmist is surely not a fresh composition, though we may well be thankful for the new hymnologist, and consider him a very valuable gift of God to the Church; but it is rather the song which rises fresh from the heart at the consciousness of some fresh mercy received at the hand of God, whether uttered in a familiar or an original strain. And if our hearts are as full of thanksgiving as our lives are crowded with blessings, we shall be always ready to sing "a new song" unto our God. "Moments come fast, but mercies are more free and fleet than they." They who arc quick to see loving-kindnesses will not be long before they find a fresh reason for lifting up the heart in praise. ll. PuBLIO WORSHIP. Private and publio worship are the complement of one another; neither is complete without the other. We praise God" in the congregation of saints" all the more happily and heartily because we bless him for his goodness in the home. We worship him more reverently in the home because we sing his praise with his people in the sanctuary. III. Goo's 0LAlll ON us AS OUB CBEATOB AND OUB RULER. (Ver.2.) We cannot too often or too earnestly recall the great fact that our God called us into being, gave us our very selves, made us all that we are, with all our immeasurable capacities and possibilities. He also is the indisputable Sovereign to whom we bring our loyal allegiance, in whom, as our righteous and gracious Ruler, we rejoice. IV. THE TRIUMPH OF THE TRUTH. (Vers. 6-9.) The psalmist saw in his vision the people of God mingling the praises of their lips with brave and strong blows from their hand dealt against their enemies and the Lord's. We see in our vision another and better warfare. W o see tho ministers and missionaries of the gospel assailing error and superstition with "the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;" doing battle earnestly and devotedly with all forms of sin and wronl?, their one weapon being the revealed truth of God. And we see, not kings in chains and soldiern slaughtered on battle-fields, but bee.then temples in decay, the ashes of old idols that have been "utterly abolished," peoples clothed and in their right mind, nations walking in the fear and love of God. V. Goo's GOOD PLEASURE IN us, AND OUR HOPE IN HI.M. (Ver. 4.) 1. His heritage in tu. (1) God is deeply interested in all his children, is concerned for their well-being, is seeking those that are afar off, is prepared to welcome them home; but while they nre rebellious, obdurate, indifferent, he regards them with a Divine regret and even displeasure. (2) He is looking with deepest interest on those who nre inquiring their way home to him (see Mark x. 21). (3) Ho receives the repenting and believing ono with every sign of parente.l joy (see Luke xv.). (4) He is accepting the service, loving though imperfect, which his returned children are rendering him. (6) He looks with tenderness and joy on all earnest endeavours to grow in wisdom and worth, to extend his kingdom, to bless and so.ve others. His people are his heritage, and in their service he finds e. Divine pleasure. 2. Our hmtage in him. The proud uncl the contentious find little satisfaction anywhere; but "the meek," who are willing to learn anu to receive, are adorned or crowned with "salvation." To them are given the peace, tho joy, and the hope, which the gospel of Christ confers on the humble-hearted.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 1.-The ever-repeated call for a new song. "A new song (e.s in Pss. xxxiii. 3; xcvi. 1; cxliv. 9) is the old song of praise, made new by newness of heart and newness of air." "New as expressive of all the new hopes anu joys of a now em; a new spring of the nation; 11 11~w youth of the Church, bursting forth into a new life." •. A NSW t,Ot!O l8 WANTED Dl':CAUSE TIIEI\E ARE ALWAYS NEW OCCASlONS. A song H4 THE IlOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, CXLIX. 1-9,
was sung by Israel, under the lead of Moses and Miriam, when the people were safely on the further shore of the Red Sea. It was well to keep that song in remembmnce and it was wisely repeated when the great Jcliverance was recalled. But there cam~ occasions in the national history when that son"' was unsuitable, and n new son"' on the old lines haci to be made. Illustrate by the ~on"' of Deborah; the sonc,s of D~vid on bringi~g. up the ark; of Solomon on dedicating the temple; of the exile; on return from cnpt1v1ty; of the Maccabecs on recovering the holy city: of Mary on rcceivin"' the visit of the angel. So iu a single life there arc recurrin"'0 occasions when the heart is inspired to make a new song. II. A :t-EW SONG MAY BE TllE OLD SONG PUT IN A NEIV FORM, Perhaps it would be true to say that there really is no new song; for man there can never be anything more than the old song put into a new form. l!'or man's song is ahvays a loving and ~rateful recognition of God's goodness. And yet how much importance attaches to the fact that the old song docs get set in ever-varying forms I The old song would lose interest., would become formal; its old form would become too strait, unsuitable repressive of feeling. The song of Moses will not always satisfy. It will need ~ have much more put into it, and then it will appear as the "song of Moses and the Lamb." III. A'3 OLD so:rm IS lIEW WilEN A NEW SPIIUT IS PUT INTO IT, And that is the ~pirit of a man's individuality. Everything is new to me that is actually mine-a genuine expression of myself. It may be as old as the hills; it is new to me; it is the output of my feeling, the creation of my experience, It is like nothing else, for on it rests the stamp of my individuality.-R. T.