used by the p~almist i~ the revealed na!11e of Israel's redeemiug God, Jehovah. OC !ho Yast meamng of this name the scoffing heathen knew nothing. And now when l he world scornfully asks, ",vhere is their God?" they do so iu entire ignor~nce of the blessed throne of grace to which the believer can repair. "With my voice "-while !heir voice defies God, my voice shall address God. The blessed reality of inter- communion with the infinite and eternal God, through his own appointed way of sacrifice :tnd mediation, is one of which the carnal mind knows absolutely nothing. None laugh at prayer who understand what it is. 'l'bose who know God know well that he is a Refuge and a Hiding-place in any time of trouble. III. IlESCUE. In. God he ha~ a Del~verer. In three forms is this expressed, each c•ne full of suggestiveness. 1. A Shield. The word means more than this even a protection which compasses one around. 2. My Glory. The believer can' make his boast in God, even when men are scoffing at the great Name. 3. Tlie Lifte1·-up o/ my head. One who enables me to rise superior to my troubles, and to smile upon them. All these expressions show not only what God was to David, but what he is lo the saints still. Not~: Whether we sink in trouble or rise above it will depend ou our faith and prayer. We may fetch snch help from God as will enable us to "smile ~ t the storm." IV. FEARLESSN~ss. 1. In spite of all his foes, he could lie down and sleep. How many a wakeful mght would have become one of sweet repose if the troubled ones did but thus hide in God ! As the little child sleeps away his griefs on his mother's breast, so we can have sweetest repose when we make God our Hiding-place. 'l'he prophecy is, ".A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind," etc. 2. As he sleeps in holy calin, so he awakes in holy courage. (Ver. 6.) "I will not be afraid," etc. (cf. Pss. xxvi., xh-i.). The courage of David, Elijah, Jeremiah, Daniel, etc., may well be repeated in us. "Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" 3. Tlie answers to prayer already received strengthen his confidence for the future. (Vers. 4, 7.) "He heard me," etc.; "Thou hast smitten all mine enemies," 1 etc.; and because this has been rn, his faith in future deliverances is confirmed. V. TEsTlllONY. The psalmist had prayed to Jehovah; he now testifies /01· him, as the result of his experience. 1. Experience furnishes the best answer to the scorner. In ver. 2 David quotes the words of the heathen, "There is no help for him in God; " but he knows better. He has tried what prayer will do. He has asked for help, and help has come. So that in direct opposition to wicked men, and as the result of positive knowledge, he can affirm, "Salvation belongeth unto the Lord," i.e. (same Hebrew word as in ver. 2) "help" or deliverance. This, of course, would be true of salvation from sin, etc.; but that is not its reference here. It means deliverance or help in any time of trouble. 2 Experience warrants a confident statement of the trath. "Thy blessing is upon thy people." How rich this blessing (or favour) of God is cannot be told in words. Not even the Old Testament saiuts knew its fulness of wealth and glory. Not till snch teachings as Rom. viii. 31-39 were known to believers was it possible that they should. Of this blessing it was then true, "Eye bath not seen, nor ear heard, nor bath it entered into the heart of man, what God bath prepared for them that love him." And in Rev. vii. the double form of that blessing is given (see the present writer's homily thereon), viz. safe keeping now, while in the tribulation; and safe leadership out of the great tribulation, to the glory yet to be revealed !-C.
Ver. 3.-Bright morning after a dark night. I. THE SORROWS OF THE NIGHT. 'l'he darkness without images the darkness within. 1. There is the consciousness of danger. 1 No difficnlty ought ever to have arisen on the" morality" of such phrases in the psalms.
'!'hey are the expressions ofmun,not words of God. .And, when read in the light oftbe history to which they belong, it would be very etrange if any should find fault with them; since no believer's 1houghts anl prayera can possibly rise above the ~co.sure of light to w~ich that believer has attained. With our fuller light, we ought to rise above such express1o_ns, but it i,, unseemly if we reflect disparagingly upon those who, in those early days and Ill such eircumstaucts, uttered them. Old Testament morality ie not to Le measured by the expressions of 1hi.s or that individual believer, rrv.1 more than New Tcst11ment momlit1 ii to be mo.,~ured by the letter~ of Cromwell, Pll. III.1-8.] TilE IlOOK OF PSALMS. 21