Vere. 1-7.-.A battle in the soul. Faith and fear are in conflict. Plausible reasons nre suggested why the fight should be given up, but nobler thoughts prevail. I. FEAR CONFRO!',"'TING FAITH. (Vers. 1-3.) The outlook is discouraging. Our foes are many and strong; more, they are inveterate in malice; more still, they have already gained ground, and amidst the overturn of all right principles and the confusion worse confounded, it seems as if they were to prevail all along the line. In such a state of things selfish fear suggests-Why fight longer? Our best efforts are fruitless; we are spending our strength and labouring in vain. Better bow to the inevitable; better look to ourselves ere it be too late. The temptation is subtle and dangerous; even the best of us have felt its force. It was Jeremiah who said, "I will not speak any more in his Name" (Jer. xx. 9); it was the great Elijah who cried out, as if in despair, "I only am left, and they seek my life" (1 Kings xix. 10). 'l'he~ ~~ere are uot wanting false and mistaken friends, who say, as St. Peter to our Lord, ' '.lh1s shall not be unto thee" (Matt. xvi. 22), or as the disciples said to St. Paul, "Go not up to Jerusalem" (Acts xxi.11-13; Neh. vi. 10, 11). So it has been in all great enter• prises. '£here are lions in the way; difficulties arise that seem to the fearful impos- sibilities. So it is specially in the Christian life. "The fear of man bringcth a snare1" but so also does the fear that rises in our own hearts. II. F AITII CONQUERING FEAR. (Vers. 4-7.) God's truth is like Constantine's banner: "By thi~ we conquer." 1. Realizing God's presence. God is not afar olf, but near; be is not an indifferent spectator, but pledged to defend the right. 'l'he end is in bis hands. He will save bis people. '!'be presence of an eart!Jly chief gives co~rag? to his soldiers : how much more should we take heart when we know that God lB with us I 2. Co-nfiding in God's protection. It is not chance, nor caprice, nor arbitrnry rule, PB, XI, 1-7,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
that settles things, but the will of God. He "trieth the righteous." There is a holy loving discipline. '.l.'he furnace may be hot, but it is for the purifying of the gold (Job xxiii. 10). Let us have patience (Jas. v. 10, 11; 1 Pet. i. 3-7). 3, .Antici- 1,ating God's deliverance. Faith looks beyond the seen. When the vision of God'~ power is revealed, our fears give place to confidence, our tremblings to tranquillity "(2 Kings vi. 17). What God loves must live. What God has promised he will certainly perform (2 Pet. ii. 9). "Put we our quarrel to the will of Henven, Who, when he sees the hour is ripe on earth, Will rain hot vengeance on th' offenders' heads." (ShO: Iespeare.) W.F. Ver. 7.-" The righteous Lord lo'l!eth righteou.mess." This is trne for ever. I. RIGHTEOUSNESS IS CONGRUOUS TO Goo's NATURE. If light is pleasant to the eye, and music to the ear, and beauty to the soul, it is because they are in the line of rightness. "No man ever yet hated his own flesh" (Eph. v. 29): how much more must God love that which is akin to himself-which is of the very essence of his character! II. RIGHTEOUSNESS FULFILS Goo's PURPOSES. What God seeks is righteousness. This is the end of the Law ; this is the purpose of all good government; this is the teaching of the prophets and the great object of Christ (Isa. xiii. 1-14; Matt. iii. 15; Rom. v. 21). Christ is the "Righteous One;" and of him the Father said, "'l'bis is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." "Christ suffered once the Just for the unjust;" and we see how dear righteousness was to God when "he made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." The cross is the measure of God's love of righteousness. III. RIGHTEOUSNESS SECURES THE BLESSEDNESS OF Goo's CREATURES. Sin brought death into the world, and all our woe. It is by the taking away of sin nnd the re-establishment of the rule of God in the heart, that happiness is restored (Rom. xiv. 17). The prophets tell with rapture of the good time coming; and note it as the peculiar glory of the new heavens and the new earth, that in them "dwelleth righteousness" (Isa. !xv. 17-25; 2 Pet. iii. 13, 14). Here is a test : Do we love as God loves? "Whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God" (1 John iii. 5-10).-W. F. Vers. 1-7.-Faith's antidote to fear. This psalm is referred by some to the early struggles of David against the unrelenting jealousy of Saul; by others to the rebellion of Absnlom; by others to the general conflict ever waging between the good nnd the evil powers, The subject of it is "Confidence in tho Lord, and his protection oven against the mightiest force of the wicked." The two leading ideas nre tho doctrino of David's friends, and David's own doctrine. I. SAFETY IN DANGER COULD BE FOUND ONLY m FLIGHT. (Vers. 1-3.) This was the temptation with which his friends assailed him-to abandon the righteous causo by flight, The temptation was plausible: 1. Because his very life was in danger. If anything less had been threatened-re))utation or property-it might have been prudent to remain; but "skin for skin," etc. 2. The attaclc upon his life was secret, and not open. (Ver. 2.) He might resist and conquer nn open nttnck; but what can defend us against cunning plots hatched in secret? 3. The greatest soc-ial disorder prevailed. (Ver. 3.) "What shall the righteous do?" was their plea with him. "You are powerless if you remain." They wero iu despair, and thought that flight was his only desperate resource. But David's doctrine was- II. THAT SAFETY WAB FOUND DY TRUSTING TO Gon's PilOTECTIVE CADE. (Vcrs. 4-7.) 1. 7'rust in God enabled him to stand by the righteous cause; by jliyM he would abando11 it to the wicked. l!'aith in God gives an unconquerable devotion to the right; flight is unbelief and cowardice. Indolent trust-a trust that does not work and fight in the good cause-is no better than cownrdly flight. 2. He trusred in God's overruling power. (Vera. 4, 6.) That somehow he would uphold tl1e righteous canso an,l righteous men; thnt as long ns his throne was in the henvens, they could not bo in any 'iS THE BOO}{ OF PSALMS. [Ile, xrt. 1-B,
lasting peril, whatever appearances might be. 3. He trusted in the ret1·ibutive providence of God. (Vers. 5, 6.) A providence that dealt with the righteous and the wicked; an inward nnd an outward retributive providence, which rewards and punishes in both Rpheres. 4. Whatever his outward lot, he trusted that he should one day see God's/ace. (Yer. 7.) That is safety; that is salvation from all danger and all trouble, The hi"hest salvation is of a spiritual kind, not outward and temporal. 'l'o sec God's face is to stand firmer than the mountains, and to be richer than all the outward universe.-S.