HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1, 2, 5, 8, etc.-God's faithfulness. This is the key-note of the psalm, the beautiful strain which is heard over and over a.gain in varied forms throughout. 'l'here are pieces of musio in which some one sweet air recurs repeatedly, now as if amid the rush e.nd roar of a tempest, anon, when the music has sunk down into quietness; you hear it now loud, now soft, now Gtirring in sonorous strains, now soothing in plaintive gentle tones; but it is the same air still. And the ble~sed thought of the faithfulness of God thus recurs throughout this psalm. In ver. 1 2-U THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, LXXXIX, 1-/i2,
vrai.se celebrates it. "With my mouth will I m1tke known," etc. Does it not deserve this? ,Yho is there can deny the faithfulness of God? He is ever true to his word, Let us, then, openly confess it, and in the very confession the conviction of it in our own souls shall be deepened. In ver. 2 faith stays itself ttpon it. The verse seems to be a sort of soliloquy. The speaker is encouraging bis own trust by assertina his belil'f that mercy shall be built up for ever; it shall not crumble away and cor~e to' n0ught, but, like some glorious fabric that may take a long time for its completion, it ~hall, nevertl.ieless, be built up, and so built that it shall eternally abide. And as to God's faithruluess, it shall be as are the heavens themselves-the very type of all that is abiding, unchangeable, and the reverse of" the restless vicissitudes, the ever-shifting shores, or earth." So did the soul of the psalmist speak to itsdf of God's faithfulness, and thereby encourage itself to trust in him. Well will it be for us to talk to ourselves in a similar way. In ver. 5 the angels of God praise it. "Thy faithfulness also is praised in the assembly of the holy ones" (Perowne). That is, in the midst of the ans:els of heaven, in that Church of the Firstborn, God's faithfulness is the theme of their song. Compare the songs of the redeemed as given in the Apocalypse. Let ns get ready to join in that blessed choir by our now beginning a like song. In ver. 8 ,io hum.an fait}ifulness can be compare:l with it. "What faithfulness is like unto thy faithfulness? "-so a great scholar renders the last half of ver. 8. And may we not all of us ask the like question? Not but what human faithfulness is a blessed fact; there have been those who have been faithful unto death to God and to their fellow-men. Paul, when ready to be offered up, could declare, "I have kept the faith." And there have been many such. But what is the :fidelity even of the best of men, much more of the mass of men, as compared to that of God? Hence are we bidden, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, iu whom there is no help." Would that we trusted God as we do men l In ver. 24 it is promised to his people. " My faithfulness shall be with him." What a rebuke is this to our wretcl:.ed yet ever recurring misgivings and fears I It is one of the j!;ifts of God that are "without repentance" (cf. Rom. iii. 3). ln ver. 33 the sins of God's people do but change its form, not its substance. God was equally faithful in the sore distresses which be sent to Israel, as in the great benefits and blessings which, when they were obedient, be bestowed upon them. He will have all men to be Eaved (1 Tim. ii. 4). Therefore, if gentle means will not serve, stern ones shall. In vers. 36--51 believing prayer pleads it as an all-prevailing plea.-S. C.
Ver. 2.-Merey buut up for ever. The psalmist seems to have before hie mind the picture of some glorious palace, whose foundation, laid broad and deep and strong, was now uprising in majesty and beauty before him. He seems to see it rising tier on tier, and course on course, and as be beholds it being gradually and gloriously up-built, his adoration and ~raise burst forth, and he exclaims, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever. ' What did be mean? Probably the remembrance of God's mercy to Israel was present to his thought-bow that bad been "built up; " more and more added ; new favours, new enlargemente, new communications of the Divine bounty continually given, until Israel had risen to the height of her national glory ;-so bad God's mercy gone on, building up their state and :filliug them with good. In their own history the text had been shown to be true. But it has other illustrations. Take- I. THE SALVATION OF THE HUMAN BACE, It is the supreme instance of mercy being built up for ever. 1. lt began in the nature of God. For God is love, and love longs for objects on which to lavish itself. Hence came creation, and then redemption in all its successive stages of mercy. 2. The first promisB after man had fallen. 3. The preservation of a ri,ghteoU,B seed in such as Seth, Enoch, and those who "called on the Name of the Lord." 4. The call of Abraham, the father of the faithful, in whose seed all the families of the earth should be blessed. 6. The multi- plication and redemption of his Beed. 6. The giving of the Law. This was to be for the nations as "a cllild-leader to lead us to Christ." And in spite of all corruptions, this knowledge of God was preserved, a.nd by the providence of God spread abroad widely. 7. Then the coming of Christ, of whom all the Law and the prophets did t~sti_fy. 6. The bapti6m of tk Hol'!/ Spirit ll,t Pentecost, a)ld the creat1011 of the Christian t•~. LXxx.tx. l-G2.] 'fHE DOOK OF PSALMS. 2-l;j