Ver. 8.-" Bring an offering, and come into his cou.rts." This psalm is one continuous appeal for all to render praise unto the Lord. Not men alone, though they, of course chief of all, are to join in the song unto the Lord; but the heavens, the ea.rtb, the sea: the fields, the trees,-all are to testify to their Creator's praise. And the psalm tells of a threefold expression of this joy in God. 1. The song. .A.11 are to join in; no stopping to inquire into the motives, but all are to sing (ver. 1). It will be good even for evil men, as well as the people of God, to unite in his praise. It may help them to pass over t,o the side of God's people. 2. Preaching. The very idea of missions as here set forth is the ornrf10wing, the exuberance, of the Cburcb's joy. So only can missions rea.lly succeed (see homily on ver. 3). 3. Offerings. Of these we would specially speak. For our text lays down- I. THE DUTY OF OFFERING TO Gon. 1. The witnesses to this will of God are numerous. (1) The patriarchs. See their sacrifices. Noah's offerings. Abraham's tithes (Gen. xiv. 20). Jacob's vow (Gen. x.xviii. 22). (2) The Jews. The tithes they bad to pay amounted to nearly a third of their income. The treasury was a constituent part of the temple, and large sums were continually cast in there (Yark xii. 41-43). (3) The early Church. They had a common fund (Acts ii. 44, 45). Paul and Ba.rnabas (Acts xi. 29, 30) gathered for the poor of Jerusalem. Paul from the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 1). Christ said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (see parable of unjust steward, Matt. xxiv. 6, etc.). 2. The ne,ed of ,t is so great. Think of the multiplied objects which call for such offerings. Tl,e Church of God needs such aid for the maintena.nce of her ministers, her fabric, her missions, and her varied religious agencies. The poor rightly cla.im our help. If we have not compassion for them, how dwelleth the love of God in us? Our own spiritual life demands that we make such offerings. The only way to overcome that idola.try of money which seduces so many is to give it awa.y in wise and Christian manner. If we hoard and keep it, the love of it will drive out the love of God. II. THE MANNER OF FULFILLING THIS DUTY. 1. Presenting it in the house of God when we come t-0 worship. This wa.s the custom of the Jews (see 1 Chron. xvi. 1). Also of the early Christian Church (see 1 Cor. xvi. 1; 2 Cor. viii. and ix.). St. Paul's argument on this matter is very interesting and noteworthy. He was very anxious to relieve hill own countrymen; to fulfil his own promise (Gal. ii. 10); to prove the reality of the faith of the Gentile Churches and their love to their Jewish brethren, and tbus to heal the breach that so sa.dly severed the Jewish and Gentile Churches. Hence he wa.s very anxious about this collection, and hence, also, he would be sure to seek out the best means for securing it. Hence he directed that there should be the weekly Lord's day storing for this end (1 Cor. xvi. 2). Now, as this plan is so good, and no other is so commended to UB, we may regard it as having special claim 011 our attention. 2. For tt has great advantages. It takes away the temptation to neglect of this duty which arises from: (1) 'l'be largeness of the offering asked. What is given week by week is not felt as when a great sum is asked for all at once. (2) Delay of offering. (3) Infrequency. (4) Dependence upon the excitement of the moment. Moreover: (5) It makes worship more real. (6) It is far more productive i's. xovr. 1--18.J THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 825
(7) It is a witness-bearing for Christ. (8) It nourishes our own spiritual life. But, of courso, this especial manner of offering is not obligatory, though it has especial sanction. III. 'fHl!l MOTIVE, Love to Christ (2 Cor. viii. 9). That is the only worthy and reliable motive. Others Bre sure to break down sooner or later, a.nd to miserably fail in securing the end sought after. Let Christ possess a man's heart, all else will go along with thnt.-S. C.
Ver. 1.-The call for a new song. "The series of psalms to which this belongs is by nearly all commentators assigned to the period immediately succeeding the seventy years' captivity. 'l'he joyous feelings, the glorious expectations, the marked repetition (both in matter and style) of the later prophecies of Isaiah, their rhythmical character sugge8ting that they were intended for liturgical purposes, combine to identify them with this period." Take this idea of historical connection, and the newness of the song called for is at once explained. God is spoken of as beginning to reign, and as coming to judge, or rule; and this precisely represents the feeling of the returned exiles, who were setting up a new theor:racy. They were restoring, beginning again, their theocratic, social, and religious system, The altar of burnt offering was new. The temple was new. The order of worship was new. .And if the Divine relations were not new, they were at least freshly realized. On the call to song, H. W. Beecher suggestively says, "The wings God has given us to fly up to him are the wings of song. The lyrical element is the best expression of feeling. All forms of experience have been touched in the poetry of chant and song. Singing is the process by which intellectual proposi- tions can be converted into emotion and heart-expres~ion." The point for us is this- a new age finds a new song to God. Illustrate from the Book of Revelation, which presents the white-robed host singing a new song, because no song can ever have risen before for a completed redemption. The Christian's is a new song, because it is that fresh thing, a soul's joy in God revealed and apprehended in Christ Jesus. Illustrate the following topics from the circumstances of the returned exiles. I. NEW SUDJECTS FOR BONG, Divine faithfulness. Divine mercy. Renewed national lifo. Freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. Signs of Divine favour. Realization of the Divine presence. We can always find subjects for new songs in our new and ever-varying circumstances. II. NEW FORMS OF SONG. Every generation makes its own hymns. Davidic psalms may be partly used by the exiles; but the thoughts and emotions of the hour called for an immediate and natural expression. The thoughts of God in these psalms are new. Note especially the idea of God as "coming to r,eign." III. NEW FEELINGS TO EXPRESS IN SONG. Contrast the depressed moods of the time of captivity, and the joyous moods of the time of restoration. In Babylon they hung their harps on the willows, and could not sing. When back at Jerusalem they called for harp and song with which to praise the Lord.-R. '!',