HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-17.-The Lord our Dwelling-place. There is no need to doubt the aesianed authorship of this psalm. It is in entire harmony with the facts and surroundin:s of Moses' and Israel's life in the wilderness. Observe- " J. THE BLESSED FACT. The Lord our Dwelling-place, which this psalm tells of at its beginning. Weary wanderers as the Israelites were, with no settled resting-place, here to-day, g_one to-morrow, h?w blessed for them that there was refugo, a dwelling-place, a home, m God I And this, Moses and such as he had realized and may realize still. 1. Here there may be, there is, perpetual change; but in God a settled abode. 2. Here, weariness and turmoil; in God, rest and peace. 3. Here, continual disappoint- ment; in God, tke soul's sati,sfaction. (Of. Ps. I.xiii. 6.) 4. Here, perpetual peril; in G,1d, perfect security. 5. Here, the coldness and enmity of men ; in God, unfailing sympathy and love. Yes, God is the Rome of the believing soul. II. THE SUSTAINING POWER OF THIS FACT. It enables us to meet with calmness the heart-breaking events of life. The psalmist enumerates a number of them. 1. The b1evity of our life. (Vers. 3-6.) 2. The real, cause of human misery. (Ver. 7.) It is our sin, and God's displeasure thereat. Hence is it (ver. 9) that the sense of that displeasure overwhelms us as with lightning-flash, and our lives are as a breath. And so all life is sad, even at the best (ver. 10). 3. The fearfulness of the Divine anger. (Ver. 11.) "Who knoweth the might of thine anger and thy wrath, accord- ing to the fear that is due nnto thee?" (Perowne). None can even rightly estimate it, much less over-e.o;tim.ate it. III. THE BELIEVING PRAYER TO WHICH IT LEADS. L That we may not miss the instruction which the;;e sad facts should impart. The "wisdom" craved is that we may make the Lord our Dwelling-place. 2. For brighter days. (Vers.13-15.) 3. For the promised salvation-the work and the glory of God (ver. 16). 4. For the beauty of holiness. There had been none of this in Israel in all these many years. 5. Thal life may be worth living. Not a perpetual disappointment, such as it had been hitherto, but that the work of their hands might be established (ver. 17). Such are some of the prayers which the soul whose home is in God will be led to offer in view of the brevity, the frailty, and the sinfulness of life. Let the Lord be our Dwelling-place, and all is well. "Our life is hid with Christ in God. "-S. C. Ver. L-The glorious habitati,on. It has been remarked that we have Moses pre- sented tons in three aspects-as poet (see his song at the Red Sea); as preacher (see Deuteronomy and elsewhere); and as a man of prayer (see the closing verses of this psalm). 'l'hese three characters are not often combined, but when they are they make the subject of them very powerful with God for man, and with man for God. And the secret of his eminence in each character was that his spirit's home was in Gud. Note- I. WHAT DOES THIB MEAN? How can the Lord be our Dwelling-place? 1. It is evident that a spiritual dwelling-place is meant. It is not e. material habitation, such as the body needs, but one for the spirit of man. 2. And the Lord is such a Dwelling- place for our spirits. For if we be such a~ Moses w~s, men o_f Go~, then ~od. will b~ our spirits' home, because there they contrnually abide. Chnst said., "Abide m 1;1ei and this they do, as a man's home is his dwelling-place. And chiefly because 1t 1s there he not only dwells, but loves to dwell. Home is not a mere place: it is only home when love dwells there. A man's habitation may be a hell for him, and it .will be if it be without love. But it is his home when his affections centre there, when it contains those whom be dearly loves, and who in like manner love him. Then, whether rich or poor, great or small, a palace or a pauper's hut, it is yet his home. Now, God is the home of his people, not alone be:cause they do dwell there, b~t because 1i1ey lo1·e to dwell there (cf. Pss. lxiii.; xliii. 3, G). 3. For in God there is rest for I'S, XO, 1-17,] TH:E: BOOK OF PSALMS. 259
our intellects. Even unbelievers have recognized this. A French philosopher in the days of the Revolution said, "If it could be shown that thne was no God, we should have to invent one." 'l'bey felt that for the satisfaction of the understanding God 11":\S a necessity. In him we can ~ee the adequate Cause anrl Creator of all things, and in bis wisdom and power and goodness the mind finds rest. 4. And in him also tl,ere is met the cravings of our affedions. Even the contemphtion of God in bi, spirit11al attributes, in his exalted character, has been found to be full of delight to God's servants; but bow much more when he is revealed to us in Christ! Then the heart goes out to him in a great rush of affection, as it beholds bis iufinite purity and good- ness and love as these are seen in Christ our blessed Redeemer. The heart ot the believer gazes upon him until it grows toward him as the flowers grow toward the sun. 5. .And the will-that lordliest faculty of our nature-finds in him its Inspiration, Strength, and Guide, and loves to lose itself in the will of God. Thus is the Lord our Dwelling-place, our spirit's Home, where it dwells, and loves to dwell, II. WHO ABE THEY THAT DWELL IN GoD? St. John, in his First Epistle, lays down the marks of these blessed ones. 1. They are they who dwell in love. (1 John iv. 16.) He who loveth not his brother cannot dwell in God, nor God in him. 2. They who possess the Spirit of God. (1 John iv. 13.) 3. They who openly confess hirn. (1 John iv. 15.) 4. They who keep his commandments. (1 John iii. 24.) Thw; may we test our right to say, "Lord, thou hast been our Dwelling-place." III. WHAT COMES OF THIS DWELLING IN HIM? 1. The unity nf God's people. 2. The world's conversion, when it sees all God's people thus united (John xvii. 21). IV. How 0AN WE ENTER INTO AND .ABIDE IN THIS BLESSED HOME? (John xiv. 6.) Christ is the Way. Give yourselves up to him.-S. C.