David himself would have bean bound to punish in another man, we kno\v not what answer he could have found, except to say, "God is Sovereign I" The gospel alone reveals how God is "just, e.nd the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus" (Rom. iii. 23-26). It was a wonderful new doctrine which the apostles proclaimed, that sins for which the Law of Moses provided no sin offerings are atoned for by him (Acts xiii. 38, 39). ".All sin" (1 John i. 7). God has himself provided the Sacrifice which all the sacrifices of the Law faintly foreshadowed (John i. 29). Therefore the sacrifice of one contrite heart and of one joyful tongue, blemished, blind, lame, though it too often is, is accept- able to God, because our High Priest ever lives to intercede. Ver. 18.-Relations of ruler and people. "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion," etc. This psalm would be very defective if it ended without such a prayer as this. For David the'penitent transgressor, David t.he inspired psalmist, was also David the anointed of God, king of his people Israel. Modern criticism, eager to use its sharp shears, would cut away these two verses as added by a later hand. But modern criticism, keen and accomplished as it is, is sorely lacking in sympathy and imagination. As matter of history, David's work of "building the walls of Jerusalem" was left incomplete, and finished by Solomon (2 Sam. v. 9; 1 Kings ix. 15; xi. 27). But he knew and felt that the true wall of Zion was God's protection (Ps. cxxv. 2). And as his people Israel had shared the shame, though not the guilt, of his crimes, he trusted they would share the blessing of God's pardoning mercy and restoring grace. (With ver. 19 comp. 2 Sam. xxiv. 25; 1 Kings iii. 15; viii. 63.) We are reminded- !. NATIONS BUFFER THROUGH THEIR RULERS' SINS. What is guilt in the ruler IS calamity for the people. 'l'his is not arbitrary or unjust. It is but a case of the great law of solidarity pervading human life (Rom. xiv. 7). So with the parent and the family, teacher and scholars, head of a business and all in his employ. Power and privilege mean tremendous responsibility. No men have such heavy burdens as rulers, and few get less sympathy. II. NATIONAL SAFETY LIEB IN Goo's PROTEOTION. Scarcely even the history of Israel illustrates this more wonderfully than the history of our own nation. III. PBAYEB FOR OUB COUNTRY IS A WEIGHTY DUTY, A HIGH PRIVILEGE, AND CLAIMS A CONSTANT PLAOE m OUR PUBLIC, FAMILY, PRIVATE DEVOTIONS. (Ps. cxxii. 6.) Yet a venerable Jewish tradition. It belongs to the time when the temple at Jerusalem had not even been thought of. The tabernacle was at Nob, not far from the Mount of Olives (1 Sam. xxi. ; ' Handbook to Bible,' p. 277). It is possible to maintain Christian life in secrecy and solitude. But that is not what the New Testament describes as history, and reveals as Christ's will. It is neither natural nor safe. Mushrooms may grow in cellars; not fruit trees. The embodiment of spiritual life in fellowship is one of the most remarkable presentments of the New Testament records. Wherever the gospel took root, the fence of Church fellowship was built round it, not by man's wisdom, but by him who said, " I will build my Church." IV, THEREFORE THE BOOT OF CHRISTIAN LIFE, THE BECilET OF ITS FULNESS, DEAUTY, FRUIT-BEARING, IS PERSONAL FAITH. "I will trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever." Tho olive did not grow because it was planted in the house of the Lord, but because God put the hidden life into the seed. Church forms a.re but a delusion and a J.anger, if trusted in, to those who a.re strangers to the hidden life (Gal. ii. 20).
HOMILIES BY VA.RIOUS AUTHORS. Vers, 1-19.-This might be call the minister's psalm. We may imagine the servant of the Lord engaged in devout meditation. He looks before and nfter. He communes with himself as to his life and work. The deepest thoughts of his heart are revealed. I. EVER-GROWING SENSE OF THE EVIL OF BIN. Sin is thought of iu the abstract, and its badness is seen. It is looked at in the world, in society, in the Church, and more and more its evils a.re discerned. But worst of a.II, it is felt to belong to one's self- " My sin." II. DEEPER SYMPATHY WITII ALL TBUE SEEKERS AFTER TRUTH AND Il0LINESS. The task is noble 1 but difficult. Only those who have tried know how difficult. Tlit>ru PSALMS, 2 t> 402 THE BOOK 01:<' l'SALhlS. [PS. LI, 1-19,