moment a fatal stroko may fall on him. His adversaries prowl around. They have rich stores of provisions and of gold, while he himself has to depend for the means of subsistence on supplies brought to his camp from without. Unscrupulous rebels were in power, while David and bis host were like a band of men who are dependent on begging or on plunder, But it was precisely this combination of ills that brought out some of the finest traits in bis character. Even then he can take up bis pen and write, "'l'bou bast put gladness," etc.; "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." Here, then, we have one of God's people, who h:18 seen calmer days, writing in his tent and telling of a secret of peace and joy which nothing can distw·b. It is a secret worth knowing. Let us 3.1:certain what it is. I. HERE IS AN INQUIRY PUT. "Who will show us good?" By which is meant, not so much-Whnt is good in itself? ns-What will mnke us happy, and bring us a sense of satisfaction? Over and above our intellectual, we have emotional faculties. 'l'be emotions are to the spiritual part of us what the sensations are to the bodily part . .Among the various fallacies of some wise men of this world, one of the wildest is that emotion has no place in the search after, and in the ascertainment of, truth. It would b~ quite safe to reverse that, and to say that unless the emotions have their rightful play, few truths can be rightly sought or found. .An equilibrium of absolute indiffer- ence concerning truth or error would be a guilty carelessness. Our craving after happiness is God's lesson to us through the emotions, that we are dependent for satisfaction on something outside us; and when such satisfaction is actually reached, it is so far the sign that the higher life is being healthfully sustained.. Our nature is too complex to be satisfied with supply in any one department. Our intellectual nature craves the true. Our moral nature craves the right. Our sympathetic nature calls for love. Our conscious weakness and dependence call for strength from another. Our powers of action demand a sphere of service which shall neither corrupt nor exhaust. Our spiritual nature cries out for God, life, and immortality. Who can show us "good" that will meet all these wants? Such is the inquiry. II. TilERE ARE THOSE WHO KNOW HOW TO ANSWER THE INQUIRY. (Ver. 7, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart," etc.) 'l'he psalmist shows us: 1. The source of his joy. God-Goa--himself. How often do the psalmists luxuriate in telling whllt God was to them-Rock, Shield, Sun, High Tower, Fortress, Refuge, Strength, Salvation, their Exceeding Joy I Much more is.this the case now we know God in Christ. In him we have revealed to us through the Spirit nobler heights, deeper depths, larger embraces, and mightier triumphs of divinely revealed love than Old Testnment saints could possibly conceive. 2. One excellent feature of this joy is the sense of security it brings with it in the most perilous surroundings (see last verse). (Let the Hebrew student closely examine this verso. He will gain thereby precious glimpses of a meaning deeper than any bare translation can give.) The psalmist discloses and suggests further: 3. The quality and degree of the joy. "More than . . . when their corn and their wine increaseth." (1) The gladness is of a far higher quality. A filial son's joy in the best of fathers is vastly superior to the delight a child has in his toys. So joy in God himself for what he is, is infinitely higher than delight in whitt he gives. (2) It is a gladness of greater zest. No joy in worldly things that a carnal man ever reached can approximate to tho believer's joy in Goel. It is a joy "unspeak- able, and full of glory." (3) It is a gladness remarkable for its persistency. Tho worldling's joy is for tho bright days of life. Joy in God is for every dny, and comes out most strikingly in tho darkest ones-D11vid, Daniel; Shadrnch, Meshach, and Abeclnego; Peter, John, Stephen, Paul and Silas, etc. We never know all that God is to us until he takes away all our earthly props, and makes us lean with all our weight on him, (4) The believer's joy in God surpasses the worldling's gladness in the effects of it. lt not only sntisfies, but sanctifies the mind. (5) 'l'his joy never palls upon the tasLe. "'l'be world passcth away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." Ill. THE PdALMIBT SHOWS us IIOW THIS JOY JN GOD WAS ATTAINED. .After his delights tho worldling has many a woary chase. To ensure his, the psalmist sen<ls up a prayer, "Lord, lift thou up," etc. 'l'his prayer had been taught him of old. It was a part of the priestly benediction (Numb. vi. 22, ad fin.). Its meanicg is," Give us 28 THE IlOOK OF PSALMS. [re. 1v. 1-8.
the sign a.nd seal of thy favour, a.nd it is enough." Truly in fois all else is ensured. Forgi\·eness from God and peace with him prepare the way for the fulness of joy. Nothing is right with a sinful m!Ln till there is peace between him and God. If our view of the chronology of the Psalms be correct, Pss. Ii, and xxxii. preceded this. If it be true that the bclie-ver attains the highest heights of joy, it is also true that he ho.s first gone down into the deep vale of penitential sorrow. As in Christian toil, so in personal religion, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy," Let the sinner "behold the Lamb of God, which ta.keth away the sin of the world," and then his hope, his joy, will begin.-C.