Ver. 16.-" When the Lord shall build up Zion." L WHAT 1B THIS WORK HEBE SPOKEN OF? The building up of Zion. 1. By the conversion of individual souls. The true Church can be built up in no other way. 2. By the public confession of their faith on the part of these converted ones. If they refuse this, how can the Church be built up? 3. By their union in the fellowship of the Church. They must openly range themselves on the Lord's side in this his appointed we.y. 4. By the full sancti- fication of these converts. This is a further gift of grace, and it is the privile6e of all who will fully consecrate themselves to the Lord, and then trust him to accomplish his own will in them-even their sanctification (1 Thess. iv. 3). Thus are they qualifier:! to become co-workers with God in the further upbuilding of his Church. 5. By their becoming builders for God-going forth to make converts and win others. Such is this blessed work. IL WHAT 1s HEBE SAID oF IT? 1. It is the Lord;s work. Many may co-operate, but apart from God he can <lo nothing. 2. It will be a gradwl work. 'l'he very idea of building implies this. 3. That from various causes it may be at a standstill, or almost so. Who does not know this? Ob, these miserable lulls in the work, these ebb-tides in the flow of holy zeal, faith, and love I It is so in the Church and in the individual soul. 4. There are special times for this upbuilding. (Cf. vers. 13, 14.) A hallowed excitement on the matter is felt, a sacred and deep sorrow because of Zion's desolation (cf. Nehemiah). A faithful ministry is raised up. Such are some of the indications of the set time to favour Zion having come. 5. Great glory accrues to God. The building of his Church is God's greatest glory, that for which he put forth his greatest power, that on which he lavished his greatest love, even tho gift of Christ. 'l'hat glory appears in the poorness of the instruments he employs (1 Cor. i. 26-30) ; in the i;etting aside of man's chief agencies, their great churches, hierarchies, and priesthoods; in the discomfiture of the innumerable and mighty adversaries which staod in the way of this work. All this is taught here. Ill. THE M:O.MENTous coNcLUSIONII THAT FOLLOW, 1. The worlc shall surely be done, "l will build my Church," said Christ. It is not a mere possibility, but a fixed will. 2. .As to our duty. To be patient. To inquire what is our relation to this work. Are we helping or hindering? A.re we ourselves forming part of this glorious building, or are PB, Cll. 1-28.] TIIE BOOK OF PSALMS. 877
we wilfully refusing, as we can do, to have part or lot therein? If we 11re of the Lord's Zion ourselves, are we striving to win others? Many fail here. Let us be found workers together with God.-S. C. Ver.17.-" The prayer of the destitute." I. A TRUE DESCRIPTION OF MAN'S SPIRITUAL CONDITION. He is destitute, not merely badly off; and he is without expectation, aad without power of his own to better his condition. II. A WIBE COUNSEL THAT WE ALL SHOULD FOLLOW. That we should wait upon God in fervent prayer and earnest cry. There is nothing else that we can do. There is nothing better that we could do. There is nothing that bas ever succeeded so well. There is no fear that, notwithstanding the Lord's greatness and majesty, be will disregard us. III. A GLORIOUS ENCOURAGEMENT TO FOLLOW THIS COUNSEL. The text is a plain declaration of what the Lord will do, not merely of what we may desire be should do. Our Lord was surrounded by destitute people, who begged of him, and be never seat one away unblessed. And when he comes in his power he will do the same. Only let us remember that we must come as destitute.--S. C. Ver. 24.-Lives taken away in the midst. I. WHAT LIVES ABE THESE? 1. They are not those of little children. 'l'bey have not yet come to the midst of their days. And the sadness that overwhelms us when they die is, after a while, lit up with the conviction that they rest in the love of God, and can never know the sins and sorrows which men and women cannot but know. 2. But they are lives mature, but not aged- lives in the full meridian of their strength. Of such the psalmist is here speaking. 3 . .And there are others, and yet more sad. For old age has been denied to many of God's beloved ones-to the well-beloved Son himself, for he was one of those who seemed to be taken a.way in the midst of their days, in the very prime of his manhood and his service. We may desire length of days; many and worthy motives prompt such desire; but it is often refused. God may have some better thing for us and for our beloved ones, and so we have to go. But the real sadness is not in such shortened lives, but in those which end, it may be, not literally in the midst of their days, but with the real purpose of life unachieved. God's forgiveness i.ot gained because never sought after. The regenerate nature, indispensable for entrance into the kingdom of God, never desired, and therefore never striven for in faith and prayer, and therefore never given. The good works by which God should be glorified, and his fellow-meu cheered and blessed, never wrought, his day's work all undone. The bright hope of eternal life with God never valued, never cherished, and now never to be realized; death coming on the man with all its sting, and the grave exulting in its victory. These are the real incompleted lives by side of which the sorrow over mere brevity of earthly life is but small indeed. God grant our lives may not be thus really cut off in the midst I II. WHEREFORE ABE THEY so DEPRECATED? See how piteous is the psalmist's supplication. Wherefore this? Because for him, like Moses, who- " On the very verge did stand, Of the blessed promised land," but yet was never permilted to enter; so the psalmist feared that in the restoration of bis own people to Zion he should not live to share. But for all, life is such a blessing when the purpose for which it was given is attained; that for men to die without that purpose being attained is sad indeed. Think of lifo's capacities: what glory it may bring to God I what blessing to one's fellow-men I what peace, purity, and joy to oae's own ~elf! And all this which might be, not attained I III. BuT THIS NEED NOT BEFALL ANY ONE. He who will commit bis way unto the Lord shall find that the Lord will bring it to pass. He shall not be one who goes about asking-Is life worth living? and voting it all n failure. God did not bring us into existence for nothing, or without gracious purpo:;cs of good in regard to us. He sets before us life aud death, and we nre free to choose. Alas I many sin-blinded ones mistake the one for the other, but "whosoever will may take of the water of life freely."-S. C, 3i8 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. (rs. on. 1-28.