the tumult drowns the voice of mercy, and the billows rising higher and higher threaten us with total engulfment. The cry now takes a nobler form. It is not to the soul, but to God (ver. 6). Mark that there is hope. This points to comina good. Further, it is hope in God. This gives rest. Our own feelings vary. We ctnnot get comfort from them. Neither can we rely upon past experiences. \Ve may deceive ourselves. Nor can we of ourselves change the circumstances which cause us pain. But the living God is a sure Refuge. He cannot change. He is more stable than the everlasting hills. 'rhis hope in God also opens up to us a way from the darkness into the bright future. "I shall yet praise him." At last it rises to full assurance, 1md the joy of inviolable and everlasting possession," My God."-W. F. Ver. 6.-" The hill Mizar." Association is a potent factor in life. Here it may have worked by contrast. "Mizar," as a little hill, may have called to the mind of David, in exile, the mountains of Judah, and the far-off land of his fathers and his God. We may take " Mizar " to illustrate- I. THE CHANGES OF LIFE. .As with David, so with us, changes come. We may have rest or be compelled to wander. We may have the joys of home or we may be doomed to solitude and to exile. Wherever we are, let us" remember" God (Ps. lvi. 8; Dan. ix. 3, 4). 11. THE RESTISG-PLACES OF LIFE. We may be weary and sad, but God is able to give us comfort. Seated on some" Mizar," we may rest and be thankful. Looking back, there is much to awaken, not only our penitence, but our praise. Looking on, there is much to inb-pire us with hope. There are heights before us to be won. Let us press on with renewed courage. III. THE SACRED MEMORIES OF LIFE. The noblest and most inspiring associations are those connected with God. Jacob had Bethel, Moses had the burning bush, Daniel the lions' den. So we too may have our holy places, to remember with gratitude aud love and hope. The thought of what God has been to us leads us to remember what we should be to God. Past kindnesses and deliverances assure us of continued fa,·our. Let us walk worthy of our high calling. IV. THE UNDYING HOPES OF LIFE. Whatever happens, God is with us. He does not change. His purposes and his love are the same now as in the past. From our "Mizar" let us say, "I will remember thee." Thus "Mizar" may be to us as "the Delectable Mountains" to the pilgrims, and though it be little in itself, by faith it may enable us to gaze upon the way before us with hope, and to gain glimpses of the glorious land which, though far off, is yet near, where we shall see the King in his beauty, and serve him in love for ever and ever. "Not backward are our glances bent, Bat onward to our Father's house," W.F. Ver. 1-Ps. xliii. 5.-Remonstrance of the spiritual man againae ehe natural man. Supposed to be written by some king o_r priest on his way into exile, p~rhaps some~he_re in the region of Mount Hermon. It 1s the remonstrance of the spmtual man w1th1n him against the despondency of the natural man. I. THE CAUSES OF ms DESPONDENCY. 1. .An unsatisfied longing/or God. He was being carried away from the temple i-? a la~d of heathen ~dolaters, and ~his ar?used in Lim an intense longmg for some mamfestat1on of God which should deliver hrm from such a calamity. .A.e the hunted stag pants for the watercourses, so he pants for the Ji vino God. 2. His enemies repro~h him with being f orsalcen of God. (Ver. 3.) And he ca°n only answer them with tear11. His adverse circumstances seem to warrant the reproach; for he sees no prospect at present of a Divine deliverance. '!'hey were like Job's comforters. Spiritual calamity the greatest of all calamities. 3. He remembera with anguish the religious privileges he has lost. (Ver. 4.) In former days he had gone up with the pilgrim-processions to worship at Jerusalem, to keep holy day; nnd now he was goiug in a very different procession away from Jerusalem, as a captive to Babylo1_i, and he is filled with bitter sorrow. Worship and fellowship with God the very air that he brealhtd. rs. XLIIT. 1-5.J THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 337
II. How HE ATTEMPTS TO CONQUER HIS DESPONDENCY. 1. In the repeated question " Why 1 " he remonstrates with himself for yielding to it. As if it was only his lower self that was giving way, his higher self was braving itself to courage and strength. 2. He comforts himself with the everlasting resource of the soul. He hopes in God; for God is still the Health of his countenance and his God, who will show his lovin"- kindness in the open day of hie favour, and give him songs of praise in the night ~f adversity. This is a hope that springs into the highest regions of faith. 3. lie antici- pates with assurance a time when he shall praise God/or his deliverance. (Vers. 5, 11.) Here again is unconquerable faith, which refuses to believe tl-at God will abandon him, though now he has lost the evidence of his presence. Even C1-rillt cried," My God, my God, w by hast thou forsaken mo ? "-S.