HOMILETICS. . '\:er. !--~e e.•stnce! ce1:tai7!ty, a_nd predous~s of Divine :eve7ation. "Thy N11ruo 1s nigh. This rendering 1s given m the margm of the Revised Version and another in the text. The difference arises from the exceeding brevity of the Hehrew making th~ sense doubt[~!. But the sense given in our ~uthorized Version is supported by weighty authontJes ; and has the advantage of being at once full of meaning and full of grandeur. We may regard it as bringing before us the essence, the certainty, and the preciousness of Divine re'l'elation. I. EssENCE OF DrvT~E REYELATION. The possibility of knowing God, and the possibility of conve1·sing, holding communion, with God are the two fundamental truths of revelation. A part from these, the Bible would give us nothing but dead history, barren doctrine, baseless imagination. 'fhe first is expresse,l in the Scriptures by the Name of God ; the second by his drawing near to us, and hringina0 us near to him. 1. Goas Name stands in Scripture for all that we can know and do know of him. Names are the instruments of all our knowledge. What we cannot name, 01· name wrongly, we do not know. Giving names was the beginning of speech (Gen. ii. 19). Moses, therefore, asked how he was to name God to Israel (Exod. iii. 13-15; comp. Exod. xxxiii. 19; xx:xiv. 6, 7; xxiii. 21; Prov. xviii. 10). 2. Communion with God and enjoyment of his favour a.re constantly expressed under this image of God's nearness (though "in him we live," etc.) (Dent. iv. 7; Ps. cxlv. 18; Prov. xv. 29; Jer. xii. 2; Eph. ii. 13, 17). II. THE CERTATh'TY. How do we know that we know God, and that we can converse with him? By the evidence of experience, historical and personal. "That thy Name is near, thy wondrous works declare." Divine revelation goes exactly on the lines of human nature and life. We know one another-our fellow human beings by speech and action. These reveal character. The Bible is the continuous record of God's manifestation of himself to men by word and by deed. His works of nature reveal him (Ps. xix. 1; Rom. i.19, 20). But be bas" magnified his Word above all bis Name;" '1-d. the living voice of bis prophets and the record in Scripture of their message, bas brought God near to us, and us to him, as nature never could-yet a. very large part of Scripture itself consists in the record of his "wondrous deeds, his dealings with bis Church and maokind." Above all, the incarnation, the personal life, and atonement of the Lord Jesus, reveal God as nothing eliie can (John xvii. 8; xiv. 9; 1 John iv. 9; 2 Pet. i. 16). IIL THE PBECI0USKEBB. "Unto thee do we give thanks." What blessing, what treasure, is comparable with this-the certainty that God is near, and is known /-not the infinite Unknowable, but our Father in Christ Jesus. We do not pretend to a complete knowledge of Goel. The Bible, far from professing to give such knowledge, declares it impossible (Job xi.7; Ps. cxxxix.6; Isa. lv.9). We do not completely 1."now our fellow-men or our own selves. But we know a.II we need to know. Our knowledge, as far as it goes, is real and cert.a.in (John i. 18; Job xxviii. 28; Jer. ix. 23, 24-). It is an ample resting-place, both for intellect and heart (Matt. xi. 28).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-10.-The ttridaunted one. Such is the spirit of this p~nlm; fearlessness characterizes it throughout, and concerning this spirit it teaches much. I. Os WHAT SUCH SPIRIT BESTS. 1. On tlte conviction tltat God is mar at ltarid for our help. "For that thy Name is near,'' etc. (v?r. 1). 2. £?n the evidence f_or this wnvictiun which God's "wondrous works" supplies: works m nature, providence, grace. II. TrrE FBUITB sucn SPIRIT JIEABB. 1. Thankfulness. (Ver. 1.) 2. Iligltteotts ,uoling. (Ver. 2, "I will judge uprightly.") 3. Clear-sightedness as to th? reality of things (ver. 3). Where this spirit is, there is no fear of man. He ehrmks not from facing and confessing the actual truth, however unwelcome it may be.. 4. Oheerful toil,. "I bear up the pillars of it" (ver. 3); cf. St. Paul, "I can do all thmga through 1'8, LllV, 1-10.) THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 93