the feelings of the hour; they are based on no careful considerations. Men take them up when they are vexed at not getting what they wish, or not having things accord- ing to their minds. The moods of the hour may well be called" vanity."-R. T. Ver. 12.-The triumph of the wiclced may be the chastening of the righteous. It alters everything when we can see our trouble to be Divine chaatening. Look on it as human oppression, the masterfulness of unprincipled magistrates, the persecution of an idolatrous Jezebel, the scheme of those who cherish enmity against the righteous, an,l our trouble is hard to bear; everything noble in us rises up to resist. But have a supreme faith in God; feel sure of his comprehensive ruling; apprehend that he works for the highest moral ends, and uses even the self-will and the wrong-doing of men as agents in the accomplishing of bis loving purposes ;-and then the soul goes down into the quietness of a holy submission, and out of its enduring sings its songs of hope, even as apostles sang their joy in God when in the dungeon at Philippi. We can never read life aright until we can fully receive the idea of the Divine chastening. "Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom be receivetb." Illustration may be found in God's dealings with his ancient people. In Egypt, in the days of the judges, and in the age of the later kings, we find what, at first sig~t, seem to be pure calamities. But we are helped to read them aright, and then we see that they are chastenings, designed to secure the moulding and the correcting of God's people. See also the story of the patriarch Job. There, too, we have calamities, but we are taught to see in them chastenings, and chastenings of the highest order, not meant to secure mere correction, but designed to effect the noblest spiritual culture. I. WE KAY MISTAKE IF WE READ THE TRIUMPH OF THE WICKED FROM BELOW. That is, as those actually crushed down under it. Suffering prevents both right feeling and right thinking. II. WE MAY MISTAKE II!' WE READ THE TRIUMPH OF THE WICKED FROM THE LEVEL. That is, as those who are not suffering themselves, but are watching the depressions and woes of God's people. So far as earthly issues are concerned, we can see no good in the trouble. Indeed, evil seems better off than good. III. WE CAN ONLY READ THE TRIUMPH OF THE WICKED FROM ABOVE. From God's point of view. Then we can see how things fit, and what things work towards. The wicked are only his staff with which he chastises his children for their good.-R. T. Ver. 19.-The comfortable thoughts God gives. They are the thoughts God starts in our minds concerning himself. 'l'he "multitude of thoughts" here suggest "anxious thoughts," "distractions;" "divided or branching thoughts." Keep before the mind that this psalm was written in some time of personal or national anxiety, which was causing very grave perplexity. Multitude of thoughts, complexity, conflict of thoughts. I. OUB MULTITUDE Ol!' THOUGHTS, A suitable and suggestive term. A. true descrip- tion. Have you ever tried to watch the process of the mind in ordinary times or in special times? Explain how the law of association brings up not one string of orderly thoughts, but various series, which branch and cross and conflict one with the other. Past, present, future, bring in their various thoughts. The importance of good order- ing of thoughts, to the pious man, may bo seen from these considerations. 1. Sin lingers in them. 2. Character is exhibited to God as much by them as by our actions; for "as a man thinketh in his heart-, so is he." 3. The power of religion is first felt in them. 4. They are the real springs of action, and they give character to our action. II. Go»'s COMFORTING THOUGHTS, He gives comforting assurances for us to think about. God makes himself a Key-thought to the thoughts that we should cherish. Illustrate how the godly soul may fill his mind with the "exceeding great and precious promises," and how these will be always ready to come up, to dispel distracting thoughts, and soothe troubled thoughts. God's comforts are thoughts that realize God as the holy Father, Christ as the elder Brother, the Spirit as the present Guide, and "all things working together for good." : III. THE DUTY OF CHERISHING Go»'s COMFORTING THOUGHTS. They will ease our distress; they will recall us to trust; they will put a "song into our mouth." We may cherish them by full acquaintance with God's Word, which is the great storebous!.'I of 310 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS. XCV, 1-11,
Divine thought-suggestions, and by daily communion with God, which ia sure to start fresh comfo1tings in our souls.-Il. T.
Ver. 20.-Man's riva.l law. "Frameth mischief by a law." "Making legislation a means of wrong." The idea is that, in the psalmist's time, the courts of justice were corrupt; and man's law, instead of being in harmony with God's Law, and its expres- sion, had become a rival. It had come to do what God's Law never does. It worked towards injustice and unrighteousness. God's Law is" holy, and the commandment holy and jnst and good." The thing that seemed so unbearable to the psalmist was, that the tyrants of bis day claimed to be acting according to law, seeking to hide their unrighteousness by a holy name. I. SUllMISSION TO LAWFUL AUTHORITY IS A l'BIMARY RELIGIOUS DUTY. Inculcated by Old Testament and New. Felt to be the right thing. Necessary to the individual and national well-being. II. RESISTANCE TO UNLAWFUL AUTHORITY IS A PRIMARY RELIGIOUS DUTY. Unlaw- ful authority is that which conflicts with the authority of God. All law that has claims on men is the translation, for particular relations, of the Law of God. Unless we can be sure that a thing can stand the Divine Law-test, we are not bound to render obedience. III. The case of the text is, however, more subtle than this. It brings before us lawful authority abused, and Divine Law dishonoured in its applications. And it may be difficult for men to see what is their duty in such a case. The psalmist seems to see his way clearly. He suggests that we should submit to the injustice, aud cry mightily to God, that he would turn the hearts of the rulers. And he is right. To right law wrongly administered we should present submission, for history abundantly proves that throngh suffering the wrong-doing of rulers is best revealed. Bot submis- sion would be wrong if men had not the profound conviction that God rules the rule1·s, and is the Avenger of all the persecuted aq_d oppressed.-R. T.