"Waiting" expresses quiet confidence, It is both "praise" and "prayer." 2. With assured hope in God's mercy. Sin meets us when we come before God. It fills our henrts with shame and apprehension. But when we look to Christ we are comforted. In him we hove redemption nnd the forgiveness of sine. It ie as sinners pardoned that we should praise God. All God's gifts are enhanced in value when we take them from the hands of the Crucified. 3. Wilh adoring thanksgiving. Relieved of sin, our hearts riso in joy to God (ver. 4). God in Christ is the true home of our souls. Here wo reach peace, Here wo are made glad in the light of our Father's face, and enriched out of the fulness of his grace and truth. Nay, more. Remembering God's" great love," and "the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us" (Eph. ii. 7), and realizing the power of Christ, we can rejoice in hope of the blessedness of the corning time when the "God of oar salvation" shall be the Confidence of all the ends of the earth, and the people of every kindred and tongue shall sing his praise. III. TUE SUBJECTS WHICH SHOULD SPECIALLY ENGAGE OUR ATTENTION. The world is not a dead world, a mere piece of mechanism, subject to cold material laws. It is God's world, and is ruled by God's laws. Looking back, we should recall the great events of the year. We may consider what is general-national, social, and religious blessings common to all. Not only mercies, but chastisements; for every chastise- ment is, when rightly received, a blessing. How comforting to know that the same God who "by his strength setteth fast the mountains" is the God "who heareth prayer;" that the same God "who stilleth the noise of the seas and the tumult of the people" is the "God of our salvation" I In particular we should consider God's good- ness in the harvest (vers. 8-13). How vivid and beautiful is the picture! We see the various stages, from the sowing of the seed onward to the reaping-time; from the sweet greenness of spring to the golden glow and manifold glories of harvest. All this is of God. "He worketh hitherto." During all the ages of the past he has blessed the labours of the husbandman, and every year we see new proofs of his faith- fulness, and enjoy richer manifestations of his love and bounty. "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest ... shall not cease" (Gen. viii. 22), and as often as the harvest comes round God's Name will be praised.-W. F. Ver. 3.-Defeat and victory. I. Here is A CONFESSION OF DEFEAT. When we look v.1thin we find that, instead of all being right, all is wrong. This alarms us. We rouse ourselves to action. We resolve to live a new life of love and holiness. But the more we try the less we succeed. Our strength is weakness. Our purposes are broken off. Oar best endeavours end in defeat. Instead of overcoming evil, we are overcome of evil. Instead of gaining purity and freedom, our case grows worse, and we groan in misery as the bond-slaves of sin. Confused and confounded, our cry is, " 0 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" II. THANKSGIVING FOR VIOTORY. Though we despair of ourselves, we must not despair of God. vVe know what God is, and what he has done for ns, anJ. therefore we turn to him with hope. Casting ourselves simply upon his mercy in Christ, we are able to grasp the gracious promise, "Sin shall not have dominion over you." God's love to us is a personal love. God's work io us is designed to make us pure from sin, and he will perfect it in the day of Christ. While we say, therefore, with grief and pain, "Iniquities prevail against me," let us with renewed hope proclaim, "As for our transgressions, thou shale purge them away."-W. F.
Ver. 9.-Thanksgivingfor corn. "Thou preparest them corn." I. BECAUSE IT IS THE BPEOUL GIFT OF Goo TO MAN. It came from God at first. [t is renewed year by year. Wherever man dwells it may be cultivated in some form vr other. "How it stands, that yellow corn, on its fair t3per stems, its golden head bent, all rich and waving there I '!'he mute earth at God's kind bidding has produced it once again-man's bread" (Luther). II. BECAUSE IT IS INDISPENSABLE TO THE WELFARE OF MAN. Corn is not only valuable, but necessary, Individuals may live without it, but for man, on the broad scale, it is indispensable, The worth is known by the want. When there is a scarcity of corn, all the markets of the world are affected. Bread is the staff of life. It is because of its worth and its suitablenest to human needs that corn is constituted the FIIALMS-ll. D 84 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. LXVI. 1-20.
i;ymbol of the highest blessings. It stands for the Word of God. It figures the great redemption (John xii. 24). It foreshadows the glory of the resurrection (1 Cor. xv.). III. BECAUSE IT DEPENDS FOR ITS OONTINUANCE ON THE LABOUR OP MAN, Many gifts come to us irrespective of our own efforts, but corn is not one of them. Its enjoyment is conditional. It is an annual. It has not an independent existence, It does not live and propagate itself by its own seed. It requires the ea.re of man, else, it would soon die out and be lost. In order to be preserved it must be sown by man's own hand in ground which man's own band has tilled. The land m11st be prepared for the corn, ss well as the corn for the land. Manifold blessings result from this arrangement. Thrift is good. Labour is a healthful discipline. .Providing for the Wllnts of ourselves and others binds us more closely together a.s brethren. ]f there be famine in Canaan, there is corn in Egypt; and this leads to commerce and friendly intercourse between nations. Besides, in the fact that year after year we must sow in order to reap; that each season's supply is but a measured quantity, never much in excess of what is required for food; and that the powers of heaven must work together with the powers of earth to secure a bountiful harvest ;-we are taught in the most impressive manner our dependence upon God, and our obligations to praise him for his goodness and his wonderful works.-W. F.