Designed for fruit; carefully tended; highly esteemed; thoroughly cleansed; diligently gurmled. 2. Israel had been brought out of Egypt. 3. The nations of Canaan were driven out. 4. Israel became a settled nation. 6. Strong. 6. Populous. " Fi /led the land;" covering the hills and the plains. 7. Dominion increasing, from the Mediter- ranean in the west to the Euphrates in the east. Then, at the time when this psalm was written: 8. .A great change harl come. Fierce foes, as Assyria. and Babylon; and wild-beast-like enemies, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and others, all made havoc of Israel, uprooting and devouring. But all this led Israel, as God purposed it should, to turn again wito him in penitence, faith, prayer, and reconsecrat.ion (ver. 18). But also- II. As ill ALLEGORY OF THE CHRISTIAN SOUL. 1. In prosperity. For it, too, is God's vine. Redeemed from the slavery and wretchedness and sin of the Egypt-like world. Tlie heathen, the terrible spiritual enemies, God drove out, and saved his people from their sins; planted the soul in the kingdom of grace; made it happy in God, so that it took" deep root." And that grace of God governed the whole being, "filleu the land," so that, as Paul, he could say, "I live, yet not I, butt etc. The Divine life in him attained to noble proportions, in height, in breadth (ver. 10). And becan,e victorious over many, and possessor of wide and beneficent power (ver. 11). All this tells of the soul happy and strong,and abiding and useful in God. Blessed conuition. 2. In adversity. (Ver.12.) We are told (2 Chron.xxxii. 31) how God left Hezekiah. That was an instance of God breaking down the "hedges." It was done " to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart." This God often does, At other times in anger, to punish, as with Israel. Yet again to teach the soul its dependence upon God. What are these hedges? Holy habits, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the soul, means of grace. Sin forfeits all these, breaks through holy habit, drives away the Spirit, sterilizes all means of grace. It is not God who breaks down the hedges, but our sin-our forgetfulness of God, our disobedience, our pride. "Let him that thiuketh he standelh, take heed," etc. And then who.t is told of here is sure to follow (vers.12, 13). Any passer-by is able to pluck away her strength, to rob the soul of some of its power. '!'he soul gives in to them, does what they say. And some foul, fierce, strong, wild-boar-like sin will geL itself entrance into the soul, and, oh! the wasting tha:t there is then I what rooting up and devouring of all good! and lesser creatures, but of like nature, rush in and do similar work. 0 my soul, keep near thy God, lest thy hedges be broken down I 3. In recovery. Thank God, the allegory does not close with the misery we have just contemplated; but we see recovery beginning. For there is (ver, 14) earnest crying to God; pleading of the ancient covenant (ver. 15). God himself planted the vine and loved it. Confession of utter misery (ver. 16) and help- lessness and guilt; for their misery is because of God's rebuke. Pleading again God's former love, so great, so precious, how he made Israel " strong for thyself; " protest- ing (ver. 18) that they will no more go back from God; and interceding for that ago.in turning to God, and that consciousness of his favour which would ensure that they would go back no more. These are the steps of the upward ascent, even out of the depths.-S. C.
Ver. 18.-Going back from God. This psalm, this ver:ie, is a penitent confession that Israel had been guilty of this sin, and it is a prayer for pardon and restoration. But such backsliding did not cease with Israel. We have here- I. A CONFESSION OF THE SIN. Israel needed to make such confession. But so do others now. 1. ..dpostales, liko Demas, Judas, etc. 2. Those who know God has called them, but from fear of man refuse to confess him. 3. Those who have confessed him, but live inconsistent lives. 4. Those who, after special seasons of nearness to God, go back to indulge their old sins. These, and yet others, need this confossion. II. A PORTRAYAL OF ITS IIIISERY. (Seevers. 5, 6, 12, 13, 16.) The backslider is the most miserable man on the face of the earth. He can never forget that he has known the better way, and has chosen the worse. III. AN ASSURANCE OF ITB PREVENTION. 1. Such p1·evention needed; for going back is so easy, so secret, so perilous, so shameful, so condemned of God. 2. .And is sure, by the grace of God turning us again, leading us into the possession and retain- weut of the fulness of his grace, and giving us the joy of his salvation.-S. U. 1'8ALM8-II. K 162 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, LXXX, 1-19,