II. How FAB Ill TRE OOUBBE TAKEN BY DAVID, IN ms AFFLICTION, A GU1DE FOR us? 1. In some respects we may well imitate him. In restraining our words before man, and in telling all our cares and woes to God exactly as we feel them, and in such a way as will best relieve an overburdened heart. 2, In other respects we should go far beyond him. Believers ought not to confine themselves now within the limits of such a prayer as this; they should always transcend it. We know more of God's Fatherly love; we :know of our great High Priest; we know the fellowship of the Spirit; we know of "the unsearchable riches of Christ;" and hence our prayers should rise above those of David as much as the prayer of Eph. iii. 14-21 is above the level of this psalm. Note: The best preventive of sins of the tongue is the fuller and more frequent outpouring of the heart to God.-C. Vers. 1-13.-Lessons from a funeral. It is told of Archbishop Leighton that a friend once met him by the way, and sairl, "You have been to hear a sermon?" His answer was, "I met a sermon-a sermon de facto, for I met a corpse, and rightly and profitably are the funeral rites performed, when the living lay it to heart." 'l'his psalm, so often read at deaths and funerals, suggests some precious lessons for such solemn occasions. I. A funeral is a time for silence, There is much to think of and ponder in our hearts. We have need to put a restraint upon ourselves, lest we speak rashly or fall into idle and unprofitable talk. But silence cannot always be maintained. As we muse the fire bums, and we are constrained to speak. Let us take caro that we speak wisely, with feeling and solemnity, as in the presence of God. 2. A funeral is a time when we are taught the vanity of life. One thing forced on our attention is that life has an end. We know it had a beginning, but we arc slow to recognize, at least as to ourselves, that it must have an end, "All men think all men mortal but themselves." 3. Another thing brought to our mind is that life is frail and soon passes away. Measured by human standards, it is but a very little thing-a" hand- breadth;" looked at in the light of God and of eternity, it dwindles away to "nothing." And yet of what stupendous importance to us is this "nothing" I 4. Another thing is that life at the best is full of sorrow and disappointment (ver. 6). Sophocles, one of the wisest of the heathen, said, "I see that we who live are nothing else but images and vain sl:adows." The great orator, Burke, said, "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue I " Shakespeare also speaks to the same effect- "Out, out, brief candle, Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour up:in the stage, And then is heard no more." What, then, comes of all our labours, all our cares and disquietudes, all our hopes nnd ambitions? Is there no good that abideth? Is there no wealth laid up which will endure? Must we say, "All is vanity"? Yes, if there were no God, no future world. But let us take heart; let us turn from the thoughts that vex and disquiet our souls, and that leave us without hope, to the Lord our God and to Jesus Christ who has brought life and immortality to light thcough the gospel. When we mourn the loss of friends, or when we take part with others in love and sympathy in the last rites of the dead, let us renew our faith in God. "My hope is in thee." Thus we shall gain strength to bear our trials meekly, and to rise, even at the grave's mouth, to the bright vision of immortality. Let us also cry to God for deliverance from sin (vers. 8-11), from the burden of its guilt, from the slavery of its power, from the miserable reproaches which it brings upon us from without and from within, from the base murmurings and discontent which it breeds, and from the cruel forebodings of evil with which it darkens our lives. God alone can bring us help and comfort in such straits. Finally, let us pray earnestly for spiritual invigoration, that we may not fail in our duty to God and to our brethren. We have not only to sympathize, hut to act. The best way we can honour the dead is to work for the living. Every !Jreach made in our ranks is a call to close up-and to quit ourselves like men, as good svldiers of Jesus Christ. Every bereavement is a reminder to us that we too mtt but 11 strangers" and sojourners here, and that soon God will call us home. If som~ father in the Church is gathered as a" shock of corn in his season," let us give than \s. an<l 310 THE BOOK OF PSALM& [Ps. xxxur. 1-18.
take courage to follow in his steps ; if some young man of rare gifts and promise, and very dear to our hearts, is cut down early, let us be assured that it is because his Master bas need of him for service in nobler fields, and let us strive to fill up what he may have left undone of good work for God; if some child, the light of our eyes, has beeu taken from us, let us believe that it is to enter a higher school than ours, where the holy angels are the teachers, and where progress is quick and sure under the radiant smiles of God.-W. F.
Ver. 13.-Death deprecated. "Spare me I" This prayer is common. From many a bed of sickness, and in the time of weakness and of fear, the mournful cry goes up to heaven. Often there is a gracious answer (Isa. xxxviii. 2, 6). But the mercy of God is not always remembered, nor the vows made in trouble performed. The words suggest- I. THAT DEATH IS AN EVENT OF DREAD SIONIFIOAN0E. 1. It puts an end to our present mode of being. "Be no more." Yet a little while, and what a change I You will see no more with those eyes ; your heart will cease to beat; and your spirit, disen;!:aged from the flesh, will wing its flight to other worlds. What your experiences will be at the awful moment of dissolution, and afterwards, none can tell. All is mystery. 2. It separates us from all we hold dear on earth. " Go hence." This world is dear to us. Here we were born, and have lived; here our minds have been formed and powers developed; here we have tasted the delights of knowledge, of friendship, and of personal achievement; here, in a word, bas been our home. To separate from all, to have no more anything to do with what goes on under the sun, is a distressing thing. No wonder if we recoil with pain. 3. It settlel for ever our spiritual destiny. "Before I go hence." Life is associated with hope, death with doom. So long n.s a man lives, there is a possibility of amendment. Errors may be corrected, follies retrieved, evil courses abandoned; but let death come, and it will end all this. lili.y event that affects our future is important, but this is the most important of all. "Great God, on what a slender thread H!mg everlasting things I The eternal states of all the dead Upon life's feeble l!_tringa I "