Despondency is turned into thankfulness; the prayer of anguish into tho song of praise. Its music, beginning with a plaintive, pathetic minor, passes through a solemn strain of pleading prayer into the triumphant major of full-voiced faith aud joy. 'l'his is the music t-0 which many a Christian life is set. It is not a strictly prophetic psalm; hut we may well suppose that it is one of those in which tho "Man of i:lorrows " read his own experience. I. DA vrn's PATHETIC APPEAL. "How long," etc.? Two questions run into one. It bad endured so lonii;, he felt as if it must go on for ever. The flame of hope flickered in the socket. Total darkness seemed at hand. Did David really think God had forgotten him? No; but be felt as if it were so. "Not that faith in God's promises was dead in his soul, or that ho no longer relied on his grace; but that, when troubles long press upon us, and no token of Divine help appears, this thought cannot fail to thrust itself into our mind, • God has forgotten me' n (Calvin). Causes of his despon- dency. 1. The long continuance of his trouble. 2. Prayer seeming to remain unanswered. 3. His foes' exaltation. 4. Fear lest he should die before deliverance came (see 1 Sam. xxvii. 1). 11 DA vm's JOYFUL THANKSGIVING. "I will sing," etc. Light suddenly breaks out of darkness. What is the secret of this surprising change? Have his troubles ceased ? Not at all. But that which made their worst bitterness is gone-his doubt of God's goodness and truth. In the very act of prayer, his mind is led out of himself, and faith rekindled. "The grace of God, which is bid from carnal apprehension, is grasped by faith" (Calvin). Despair said," Faith is an illusion. I have trusted and am for- saken." Faith answers, "God is faithful. I have trusted; therefore I cannot be forsaken."
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-6.-Sorrow and trust; siglting and song. This is one of those numerous psalms which come under the first division specified in our introductory homily. It belongs to those which give us an insight int-0 the religious experiences of an Old 'l'estament saint-probably David-but it matters not whose they were. For they are a precise reflection of the alternations of spiritual mood through which many a sorrowful believer since then has passed; yea, through the like of which many of our readers may be passing now. We can never be too thankful for such psalms as these, showing us, as they do, not so much the objectivities of Divine revelation, as the subjectivities of inward experience. Not that we are bound, in our experience, to find that which corresponds to every phase. By no means. Experienced nurses say that no two be.bes ever cried exactly alike ; and certainly no two children of God ever went through precisdy the same experience. Still, the course pursued by the early believers is a fine lesson-book for modern ones. We shall find our study of this psalm suggestive of much in the experience of believers and in the dealings of God with them. l. Hmrn A.BE BEHA.BKADLE ALTERNATIONS OF MOOD AND EMOTION.1 'l'here are seven notes in music; there are seven colours in light. If there are seven stages in religious emotion, surely this psalm notes them all. We have a believer: 1. Thinking himself shut off from God. "How Jong wilt thou forget me ••. hide thy face from me ? " It does not follow that God had hidden his fa.cc ; and assuredly he had not for- gotten the troubled one. Had it been so, the afflicted one had not survived to offer this pra.ver. Note : It is not in the midst of sore anguish that wo can rightly gauge the mind uf Gotl towards us. We may be the objects of tenderest compassion even when our sun i;eel1l8 to be eclipsed. 2. Fearing ltis adversaries. (Seever. 4.) He was evidently tmrrounded by those who lay in wait for him. He could have faced them boldly had it not heen for the hiding of God's face. Dut that made him tremble, and no wonder. 3. Sorroufully musing. (Ver. 2.) What a tumult of agitation was he now passing through! And what a bewilder( d and bewildering host of troublous thoughts and queries seize the mind at such times as these! 4. Sinking under the pressure. (Ver. 3.) 'l'he phrase indicates that the psalmist was at the very verge of despair. "Courage ' Bishop Perowne bas e. most helpful note on this psalm. The Rev. R. A. Fausset'& study thereon i2 very valuable (lcct. v. p, 34). rs. xm. 1-6.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 83