So high as heflv'd the tumid bills, so low Down sunk a hollow bottom, broad and deep, Oapaoious bed of water~," etc. So Milt.on renders ver. 7. "'l'he mount:i.ins rose, the valleys sank down into," eto, 'l'bus by this emergence of the dry land the waters of the wild seas, hitherto flowing C'vcrywhere, are appointed their bounds, over which they may not pass. Straitened, ~hut in, subdued, and beaten back arc they, as they never were before, for such is their Creator's 1vill. The life of the ocean wa,·e seems a poor affair compared with what it was. But is it so? 2. See, now, the ministi-y of the waters. It is told of in ver. 10 onwards. On the wings of the air the waters send up of their strength, and they thus mount o!1 high, an~ in the form of snow, and dew, and rain they fall on mountain, valley, hill, and plain; and then, by means of moss and glacier and tree (see Hugh Macmillan's beautiful sermon on • Mountain Springs'), God sendeth forth the springs along the -alleys. Thus he "watereth the earth from his chambers: and the earth is rntisfied with the fruit of his work" (ver. 13). '!'hither come the beasts of the field and from the branches of the trees, which love to dwell where the springs are, th~ birds fly down, and alike quench their thirst. And grass and herb, corn, vine, and olive, and the noblest trees, are sustained, and myriad creatures of God are blessed; and even the barren rocks, the steep precipices, and the high mountains, are for the good of some-the wild goats and the conies make these their home. Is it not all a parable? Tbe waters, at the command of God, give up their strength, and they become tbe glorious heavens, the visible palace of God. And this is not all. 'rhey now render unspeakable service; life, and beauty, and strength, and joy spring into existence as the result of their ministry, and this psalm is the song thereof. 3. .And so also is it with the surrendered soul. Yield it up to God in loving self-sacrifice, and he will glorify that soul and use it for the blessings of others far and wide, IL To THE LA.ND. Take it, as so often has been done, as a type of, or rather as ~uggesti,e of, man regenerate. See God's will for him as pictured here. 1. He is to live a separate life. Hitherto earth and sea had been mingled together, as man in the world, but now God's will is this-separation. 2. .And this separation is to be evident. "Let the dry land appear." There must be no hiding away, but open confession of God. 8. And fruitful of good. The earth was to yield" grass," the common excel leuces of the renewed nature, and not these only, but those more precious, and yet more precious still (see vers. 14-16). But all this: 4. Is the work of God. What God commands he is able to secure. Be but passive to bis will, and all will be brought to pass. 5. The old life will seek to regain its power. (Ver. 9.) But will not be able; for: 6. The new life will be sustained and kept satisfied in God. (Ver. 13.)-S. C.
Ver. 19.-The psalm of creation: the fourth day. The order of Genesis is departed from, the moon being named first; nor does the psalm tell of the purpose for which the sun, moon, and stars were formed, as does Genesis; nor does it speak at all of the star~. Now, the relation which the "two great lights "-the sun and moon-bear to this earth sets forth the relation which Christ and his Church bear to the human soul For- L THE SUN IS A. TRUE TYPJ!: OF THE Lonn JEsus CHRIST. 1. He is called "the Sun of Bighteousness," "the Light of the world," and by other titles which are drawn from the sun and its relationship to the world. And when we think what that is, how all creature life and knowledge and joy seem to depend upon it, we cannot wonder that amongst the noblest of the heathen tbe sun was worshipped as e. living deity. If it were not God, then it was "the brightness of his glory and the express image of bis Person." The heathen mind, ignorant of the revelation of Christ, could find no nearer embodiment of its thought of God. 2. See the avowed purpose wherefore the sun was mad,e. It was to rule the day. How emphatically it does this we all know. 3. And in that condition of the enlightened soul, when it has passed out of the darkness and tbe day is come, the Divine idea iB that Ghrist is to rule-that every thought and faculty are to be subject to him. As the psalm declares that there is nothing hid from the heat thereof, 110 there is nothing in our whole life and bein~ that is not to come under Christ's control. 4. The day is also the season of activity. We are to work while his calleu to-day. Men do this ia common life; and where Christ, the true S1111 1'9, 01\r, 1-3,j,] THE 1300K OF PS.ALMS. 4GG