as the habitation of God, That firmament-the gloriQUS new-m cloud-caprisoned and star-bespangled heavens, whose beauty and splendour far surpass all human power t() set forth, and which id h~re spoken of as the palace of God-was the creation of the second d11y. The close of the firHt day saw the creation of the Jic,ht., but there was as yet no lire possible. For that there was needed the gift of G~rl which we call the atmosphere, the air we breathe; that without which no life of plant or animal could be. That wide expanse which surrounds our earth, and in which we live, and move, and have our being," softer than the softest <lown, more impalpable than the finest goss~mer, it leaves the cobweb undisturbed, and scarcely stirs the lightest flower that feeds on the dew it supplies; yet it bears the fleets of nations on its wings, and crushes the most refractory substances with its weight." But that which is named in Genesis is its power to separate the waters that lie on the surface of the earth from those that float above it. And this it does, first drawing them up in vapour from the sea, and then suspending them in cisterns of clouds, but casting them down again in snow, rain, or dew, when they are reqnired. But all this is full of sacred suggestion in regard to the things of the soul. And this- I. IN ITS UPLIFTlNa. 1. That which the atmosphere d,:;esfor the cold dark wa 1ers which enshrouded the earth, those waters, fit type of the sin-laden soul of man,-that does the blessed breath of God accomplish for the human soul. That desolate round earth was taught as it were the law of sacrifice, and yielded up itself to the encom- passing breath of God. At once the vapour:1 uprose along the unseen channels of ,he air, and are no longer desolate and deadly waters, but are transformed and transfigured into the glorious heavens. 2. And this is what is taught also by the ancient law of sacrifice. The worshipper brought his sacrifice, telling of his OIVn will and desire to be surrendered to Go,1-the blood, symbol of the will, was poured out; the body that had thus yielded its very life was placed on the altar, and the fire fastened upon it aml transformei that cold, material, dead bo<ly into a spiritual thing, so that it seemed on the wings of the fire to mount up to God. 3. .And tl.is is all true of the human soul. Let that. yield itself to the breath of God, and give itself up to the will of God, rising up to him in that blessed self-surrender, and it will he indeed "born again." II. IN ITS GLORIFICA'l'ION, 1. See the glorious heavens. 2. See God dwelling in the place of sacrifice. 3. See the present indwelling of God in the surrendered soul, and the soul dwelling with God in the eternal glory hereafter.--S. C.
Vers. 5-18.-The psalm of creation: the third day. On all this the preacher will compare Miltou's magnificent lines (' Paradise Lost'). The opening verse of this section was laid hold of by those who opposed Galileo, as with eqnal reasonableness or unreasonableness like verses are laid hold c,f in like controversies now-as utterly con- tra.dieting the conclusions to which his iuvestigatio~Js had led him. Ever since there has been a clearer perception that the poetry of the Bible is poetry, e.nd is to be judged by its appropriate laws. In the former homily we traced suggestions of the law of self-surrender to God; in this ther13 ar& yet others on the same theme. The verses of this section tell of the separation of the land, the other part of the created earth, from the waters, and the fruitfulness that then followed. The deep mountains were still beneath the waters: "Above the mountains did the waters stand." There has been already an uplifting of the waters by means of the creation of the atmosphere, and their glorificat,ion in consequence. Now we are to see another aspect of the law of self. surrender in the blessed service of the waters, in the ministry they fulfil. In thi:, section, therefore, as in the corresponding one in Genesis, which tells of the creatiou work of the third day, we have the twofold command. I. To THE WA'l'BRS. 1. They were to "beguthered together into one place." Here, in the psalm, this is poetically described as the result of tho Divine rebuke. The terrible volcanic action by which the mountains were uplifted and the deep valleys hollowed out, and the consequent downrush of the waters, is tl1Ll of as if it were the thunder-voice of God bidding them haste a.way.
" Immediately the mountains huge appear Emergent, and their broad, bare backs upheave luto the cloud:!, their tops ascend the sky; THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PB. CIV, 1-35,