burnt offerings; I will pay thee my VOWI, Ver, 16.-Come and hear, a.11 ye that rear In tlic old world the strict performe.uce of God. Tho Bddrcss is scarcely to e.ll the.t vows WRB nlwnvs held to be one of the mnin he.vo Bny sense of religion anywhere, as obligntione of ·religion. A vow W68 of the Professor Cheyne suggests, but re,ther to the nature of B compact with God, and to break religioue section of his own ne.tion-the it. -n·as nn e.ot o[ flagre.nt dishonesty, from "righteous" or "godly" of other pse,lms. v.-hich men shmnk. The Mnsnic Lnw They Bro invited to draw near, And be sanctioned vows of various kinds, BB the received into the psBlrnist's conBdence. vowing of chil,lrcn to the scn•ice of God And I will deole.re what he bath done for (Le,·. xnii. 1-S; l Se,m. i. 11); the .-ow of my soul. Whe.t God had dono for tbo the Naz,irite (Numb. vi. 2-21); e.nd vows psBlmist was to give him confidence and of clean or unclean r.nime,ls (Lev. xxvii. e.ssure,nce. He knew that his pmycrs would 9-13, 27-29), etc. Clee.n nnime,ls, when be ineffectue,\ uuloss his hee,rt was pure. vowed, must be either redeemed or sacri6ced. God heard him, and then he bece,me sure The importe,noe of performing vows is borne that he was free from the "great trans- frequent witness t-0 by the psRlmists (see gression" (Cheyne). Pss. xxii. 25; I. 14; lvi. 12; lxi. 8; lxv. l ; Ver. 17.-I cried unto him with my mouth, cni. H, IS; cxxxii. 2). and he we.a extolled with my tongue; rather, Yer. H:.-Which my lips have uttered, and praise was under my tongue; i.e. I was and my mouth bath spoken, when I was in l!O confident of being beard that e. soug of trouble. Vows were oommonly me.de in a pmise was already in my mouth, on the time of trouble, or, nt e.ny rate, of difficulty point of bursting forth. (see Judg. xi. 30, SI; I S3m, i. 11). Ver. 18.-If I regard iniquity in my Ver. 15.-1 will offer unto thee burnt heart, the Lord will not hear me. This is 11&erifices of :fatlings; i.e. of fatted beasts the iuwe.rd conviction of every simple, un- (comp. I Se.m. xv. 9; 2 Se.m. vi. IS; Ezek. sophistiooted soul. It is confirmed by xxxix. 18). With the incense of rams; i.e. numerous passe,ges of Holy Writ (Job the smoke, or savoury odonr of re,ms. I will :s:xvii. 9 ; xx:x.i. 27; Prov. xv. 29: xxviiL off'er bullooks with goats; literally, I will 9 ; Isa. i. 15 ; Zech. vii. 13; J obn ix. prepare-i.e. dreBB for se,crifice (see I Kings 81, etc.). xviii. 28, 26). Ver. 19.-But verily God he.th heard me. Vere. 16-20.-In oonclusion, the psalmist The psalmist's prayer he.d been answered so nnmiste,kably, so directly, that be could calls on e.11 pious Israelites to "hearken," not donbt of the result, which he,d been while he explains to them bow it is the,t bis brought e.bout, being the consequence of his prayers and vows have been so effectne.l. It vows and supplicdions (vers. 13, 14). He has been because his pre.yers and vows pro- hath attended to the voice of my prayer. oeeded from e. sincere and honest bee.rt, one Strange o.s it might seem to be tbn.t God had attended to the voice of a man (Job vii. which we.a free from "iniquity" (ver. 18). 17; Pas. viii. 4; cxliv. S; Je,s. v. 14-18), A;; Hengetenberg points ont, this portion of yet so it was ; the pse.lmist did not and the pse.lm is didactic, and inculce.tes the conld not donbt it. lesson "that there is no way of se.lvation Ver. 20.-:Blessed be God, which he.th not except the,t of well-doing." God, by answer- turned a.way my prayer, nor his meroy from me. The psalm of thanksgiving appro- ing the psalmist's pre.yer, and giving the priately concl udee with e. special blessing deliverance for which be ha.d entreated, had of God by the psalmist, who felt that such set his testimony to the fa.et of the psalmist's especie.l mercy had been shown to himself integrity (vers. 19, 20). (vera. 16-20).
HOMILETICS. Ver. 5.-Holy fear a reasonable element of true spiritual worship. "Come and see," etc. Joy and terror seem so diverse and ~ontrary, that one migh~ seem to s~ut ~ut the other. Yet this pee.Im, which opens with a note of exultant JOY, follows 1t with e. note of terror (vers. 1-3). So in Ps. ii. 11, "Rejoice with trembling." I. },jj INSPIRED BY GoD'B ClliBACTEB AND GLOBY. "Perfect love casteth out fear." "Ye have not received," etc. (1 John iv. 18; Rom. viii. 15; 2 Tim. i. 7). But there is a fear which love does not cast out, which is not tormenting or slavish, but salutary and akin to" a sound mind." To contemplate the infinite greatness, majesty, power, wisdom, and eternal unche.ngeableness of God, and the fact that we e.nd e.11 creatures live, move, and have our being in him, with no emotion of profound e.we and sacred PB, LXVI, 1-20.] THE BOOK OE1 PSALMS. 37