Yer. 7.-The instability of the success of the ungodly. "Spring as the grass." In Eastern countries, after a time of drought, the grass responds with marvellous sudden- ness to the refreshing rains. But the grass which grows so swiftly is as swiftly cut down by the blazing sunshine or the scorching wind. The sudden success of the ungodly was a surprise and distress to God's people, who looked on temporal success as a special sign of Divine approval. It seemed to them as if, after a.II, God was practically on the side of the wicked. In drearier moments they might even think that God made fair promises to the good, but gave the actual blessings to the ungodly. The relief which the saints of olden time found for this their distress is not just the relief which we should provide now. They, like .A.saph, went into the sanctuary of God, and there they came to understand the end of the wicked. Really, their high places wero slippery places; and in God's time they were "cast into destruction." There is a certain measure of comfort in the thought that things gained by unright- eousness are insecure. But it is a higher 5tandpoint that enables us to see that no success is worth having that has no righteousness at the heart of it. God is the secret of all stability, and God is not in a thing, unless goodness is the charact,eristic of the thing. Goodness al ways tends to permanency. Bible history is full of illustrations of the instability of all success attained by the ungodly. If a man's gains are secure for his own life, they are squandered by his sons. In the north of England the uncertainty of sudden prosperity is enshrined in a popular saying, "The first generation buys tbs carriage; the second generation rides in the carriage; the third generation pawns tha carriage." See the cases of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, Herod; and no~e e.lso our Lord's parab~e of the "rich fool." I. THE SUC0ESB OF Q'll~ WIUKED IS u;:;BTADLE m THE NA.TUBE OF THINGS. 1. THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [Pll. XOII, 1-15,
They vrho ot"erreach are always in danger of being overreached. 2. The wicked are nlll'a:vs nrnking enemies, who are quick to avenge themselves, if opportunity offers, 3. The wicked make mistakes which dissipate all their gains. JI. THE SUCCESS OF THE WICKED IS UNSTABLE BECAUSE, SOONER OR I.ATER, GoD 1s ElURE TO DEAL WITH IT. He tests foundations; if they are not found righteous, the grandest houses of attainment will surely fall.-R. T.
Ver. 10.-The stability of human good lies with God. God exalts the horn. God anoints with oil. "The horns in animals, where the Creator alone planted them, were their weapons of defence; and man, who lays all nature under tribute to enrich bis stores of images and figures, very early made it synonymous with power, and then for what that will always confer upon the possessor. 'l'o exalt the horn means to advance in power, honour, and dominion." 'l'he unicorn of Scripture is, in all proba- bility, the wild buffalo. AbM Hue, in his travels, te~ls of having heard of an animal resembling the unicorn of heraldry; but we can hardly regard bis work as trustworthy. Horns were, and are still, worn by the women of the Lebanon; but the psalmist is much more likely to take his figure from the common features of animal life than from merely local customs of women. The figure of " anointing with fresh oil " is not easily explained. Attention is due to the suggestion that the use of oil in the toilet was the sign that a man was in health. When a man was sick, he refrained from bis customary use of oil. So being anointed came to be the sign of good health. And established health is one of God's best blessings. So we get the two ways in which God secures the stability of the good. I. HE LIFTS THEM OUT OF, KEEPS THEM A.BOVE, THEIR OIROUMSTA.NOE8, Things may be always tending toward pulling down, depressing their horn. God is always raising it up, and keeping it up. This is a familiar thought to the psalmists: "He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet 11pon a rock, and established my goings;" "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." IT. HE RENEWS THEm OWN VIGOUR AND VITALITY. And so his people are able to keep wrestling with evils, and winning victories over circumstances. God is the secret of stability, because be is both in the circumstances and in us. "What can harm you, if ye be followers of the thing that good is?" What, indeed, seeing that "he who is for you is more than all that be against you;''! They who upset your good, must shift God's relations to it, before they can reach yo1L-R. T.
Yer. 1.2.-Grace and strength characterizing the righteous. Palm trees are types of gmce. Cedar trees are types of strength. The palm gracefully rises from the plain, and bears a beautiful crown of fruits and leaves. 'l'he cedar strikes its roots wide and deep into the everlasting hills, and securely spreads forth its great branches through ages of winters. Perhaps trees were actually planted in the courts of the temple, as they are in the courts of mosques nowadays; but the characteristic forms of palm and cedar are alone required for the teaching of this verse, which will go into this sentence, "They who by daily worship rest their life in communion with God, shall find the secret of unbroken freshness and undying stability." I. THE BEAUTY OF THE RIGHTEOUS. Observe the distinction between the two "flourishings "-the flourishing of the wicked, and the flourishing of the righteous. The one is wholly a matter of outward, material good; the other is primarily a matter of personal character. The wicked may flourish by reason or what be has ; and that can be easily taken from him. The-.godly man flourishes by reason of what he t's; and that can never be taken from him. Against that the "gates or bell cannot pre- vail" The figure of beauty given in the palm suggests uprightness, gracefulness, gentleness, aboveness, fruitfulness, and secret sources of renewal for its life. If the palm tree was an ideal for a poet, we have a better model than they ; we may eay, "The righteous shall flourish as did the Man Christ Jesus." And what grace and beauty shone forth from him I It is not enough that we who bear his name are good, we must be beautiful. II. THE STRENGTH OF THE BIGBTEoue. Strangely men associate weakness with gentleness ; and think beautiful Christly souls are out of place in this workaday world. So the figure of the "cedar" i~ joined to the figure of the " palm." The cedar PI!, XCII, 1-15,] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 293