HOMILETICS. Ver. 3.-God tlie believer's Glory. "My Glory." When Joseph said to his brothers, "Ye shall tdl my father of all my glory," he meant the dignity and power to which God's wo □ der-worki □ g providence had raised him from the dungeon. In an hour it had ~ud<le □ ly become his ; and a□ y hour death might as suddenly bereave h~m o_f it. When Gud says, "My glory will I not give to another," he speaks of that which 1s eternally, essentially uncbancreably his own. But in the text, faith boldly blends these two in one. 1t'claiw.s as"porUon no perishable glory, bl,t foe everlasting Creator himself. Ho re. m.1-8.J THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 19
permits his creature, servant, child, to say, "Thou, 0 Lorcl, art ... my Glory I " How may we Christians make these words our own? How may we make God our "Glory"? I. BY TIIE KNOWLEDGE OF GoD. Knowledge is the key of power over nature. Man's pre-eminence over all lower creatures is in his intellect. The world pays homage to great thinkers and discoverer~, who widen the sphere of human knowledge. llut "thus saitb the Lord" (Jer. ix. 23, 24; John xvii. 3; 2 Cor. iv. G). II. BY oun DEL0NGING TO GoD. What honour attends even the infant children of a king! But the humblest Christian is a child of God (1 John iii. 1). What reverence is paid to relics, even of little value, that belonged to some great poet, statc~man, warrior, etc.! But the poorest Christian is among God's jewels (Mai. iii. 17, where the Authorized Version is more nearly literal than the Revised Version). Ill. BY CLAIMING ms PROMISE. His pledged word is ours. Men glory in wealth that lays the world nt their disposal; in a fortress no foe can seize; a victorious army; a matchless navy. What are these compared with the wealth, security, triumph, of trust in God (Ps. xxvii. 1; Prov. xviii. 10; 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23)? IV. BY LIKENESS TO GoD. (2 Cor, iii. 18; 1 John iii. 2.) This will be the glory of the Church for ever (Isa. Ix. 19),
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTIIORS. Vt•rs. 1-8.-.LI. morning Eong in perilous times. In this case, as in others, the words which in our version form the title of the psalm arc in the Hebrew its first verse. And they enable us, with less than the usual uncertainty, to fix on the histc,ric occasion on which it was written. This is one of those psalms which come under those in the first division of the introductory homily. It is an l:istorical prnlrn, and as such it must be studied and estimated.1 As an illustration of the way in which excellent men have turned aside from the obvious intent of a psalm to put fancied dogmatic meanings of their own into it, Luthcr'g interpretation of this psalm is a choice specimen.1 By such a process, men not only proceed on insecure bases, but they lose very much of the instruction which the historical psalms are calculatetl to afford. The evangelical truth which they think they find here is abundantly taught else- where; hunce nothing is gained; while very much ii lost by their failing to note the fine shades of personal experience, emotion, and character with which these psalms are marked. We have here one of the many priceless specimens of an Old Testament saint's experience-struggle, prayer, victory, song. "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of mau to man." And it has brought comfort to many a struggling soul in the hard conflicts of life, to find how believers in bygone times have gone through trials even sharper than their own. We note in this psalm five stages of personal experience. I. PEnIL. (Vers. 1, 2.) (Jn orJer to introduce this psalm vividly to the people, a preacher shoulJ study closely the historic incidents to which it refcrs. 3) The writer was (1) compassed with foes; (2) surrounded with plots and snares; (3) scoffed at for bis piety. "There is no help for him in God." 'fhose who were plotting against him thought they had laid their plans securely, and thnt none could upsot them. So it was with Daniel and with St. Peter. Note: If the people of God have to strugglo hard with opposers and revilers, let them remember that they have had and shall have "companions in tribulation;" and that the experience of the saiuts of old, and of the course they adopted, is here recorded as a help for them. II. PRAYER, (Ver, 4.) "I cried unto the Lord with my voice." The name of God 1 11 We can hardly be wrong in o.coepting tho title, which states that !he third psnlm was written by David whon he fled from Absalom his son, and tho tuird psalm carries tho fourth with it" (Kirkpatrick, 'C1Lmbridgo Bible,' p. IS). • Sec Spurgeou's • Trca.snry of David,' vol. i., in loo., nnd also 1Lnother viow of the p$alw by Cheyne (1888), who also omits the title. But he give.i no reason either for lho omission or for his view of the ps!Llw as a national one. In his Bampton Lectures, Dr. Choyno says that tho Jewish Churel1, in whose name the psalmist speaks, uid not exi,t i.u tho days of D~,·i,1. What is his wnrrnnt for theso statements? ~ 2 Sam, xvi., xvii. See also the marvellous sketch iu Denn Stanloy's foctures. 20 'l'IIE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. m.1-8.