escutcbeoo, no barrier against their renewed consecration and acceptance, The senti• rueol of the text is-Delight in GO<£s wo,·ship and service. "A day," etc. Secondly, a single day so spent-in worship, such as every devout Israelite partook, and service, the pri,·ilei!e of a Levite-outweigbs in true joy and solid worth all the time spent in mere worldly business or plea.sure. I. 'l'ms IS THI,: LANGUAGE OF A HEART WHICH DELIGHTS IN GoD. Not every one can say this. For a worldling it would be rank hypocrisy, In Malachi's day there were those who said, "What a weariness I" (Mai. i. 13). Are there not even reo.l Christians for whom such a sentiment is an exaggeration; whose sense of duty exceeds their sense of privilege; to whom the sabbath brings the shadows of constraint rather than the lamp of joy? Their worship has a slightly penitential flavour rather than a rich fra/!rance of joy. They have not learned the secret of the son of Korab (Ps. !xiii, 4), or of David (Ps. !xiii. 1-3). Joyless service is neither profitable nor acceptable. These are heart-searching considerations. If we can venture to think of anytq.ing as bringing sadness to our heavenly Father's heart, would it not be this-that his children take small delight in drawing near to him? We live at too low a level, among the clouds, when we might be in the sunshine and pure air of the mountain-top. II. THE SOURCES OF TfilS DELIGHT ARE MANIFOLD. 1. The joy of praise, worship, adoration. Notice bow inseparably praise and rejoicing are united in the Bible, especially in this Book of Psalms. "That God is what he is" (says John Howe) is the source of infinite ioy to his children. 2. The joy of personal communion with God. He is "our God" (Ps. xlviii. 14); "my God" (Ps. xlii.1, 2, 6; Phil. iv.19). 3. The joy of fellow- ship with God:s people. (1 John i. 3.) Common prayer, harmonious praise, public worship, have blessin1:s and promises distinctively their own. It was when all the hundred and twenty "continued with one accord in prayer and supplication," the blessing of Pentecost came. "\Vhen "many were gathered praying," Peter was set free (comp. Acts iv. ·24, 31). 4. The jny of service. A Christian, whether a minister or private Chnrch- member, can be more than "a door-keeper "-a door-opener; setting wide the gate of the city of refu~e to the refngee from sin; opening the door of the kingdom to the young, and leading them through the gate Beautiful into the temple; helping fellow- believers to enter with boldness "into the holiest" (Heh. x. 19, 20). All that the ancient psalmist found in the temple, we have, not in shadow, but reality-the one sacrifice (Heb. x. 2, 4, 10, 12); the Divine Priest (Heb. viii. 1, 2); the true holy of holies (Heb. ix. 8-12, 24); and in place of the ceremonial service of the Levites, to maintain which the free-will offerings of the people were dedicated, the ministry of truth, the relief of need and snffering the wide world over, and the spread throughout the world of the gospel and kingdom of Christ (1 Pet. ii. 6). Which way does the balance incline? which has really our heart's devotion and yields supreme delight-God's service or the world's?
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-12.-The soul's sweet home. This is one of the Korahite psalms, like Pss. xiii., xliiL, and some eight others. The late Dean Plumptre, in bis 'Biblical Studies,' pp. 163-166, gives reasons for concluding that they all belong to the reign of Hezekiah, and were written by members of the Levitical family of Korab. One or more of them, it may be, hindered by the presence of the army of Sennache1ib from going up tu the temple, as they had been wont to do, pours out his grief in these psalms. It may have been so: we cannot certainly say. There have been two great interpre- tations of this psalm-that which reads in it- I. THE LONGING OF THE SERVANT OF Gon AFTER THE wonSHlr OF THE SANCTUARY. This is the most 0creneral meaning found in it, as well as the most obvious. To this day the sparrows f!y round the Mosque of Omar a.s they flew about the precincts of the temple which once stood on that same spot, as the writer of the psalm had often noticed. There was "No jutting frieze, Buttress, nor ooigne of vantage, bot these birda Had ma.de their pendant bed." PS, LXXXIV, 1-12.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 105