Ver. 5.-The King is the Creator. "Who laid the fo1mdations of the earth." Having filled Lis soul with adoring thoughts of God, by considering his palace, his surroundings, and his attendants, the psalmist goes out into the kingdom of this eternal King, to see what he can learn of him from the provisions, and order, and adaptations, and rule of his dominions. And then an introductory thought comes to him. This eternal King not only founded this kingdom, he actually made everything in it. "The sea is his, and he made it, and his hands formed the dry land." High honour is given to the man who founds a kingdom. What honour is due to him who absolutely originates the great, mysterious, complex, nature-kingdom? Bible-writers see in the psalm a sketch of creation. Browne calls it "a bright aod living picture of God's creative power, pouring life and gladness throughout the universe." But t)1e reference to creation is only a brief, passing, introductory one; and what the psalmist fully dwells on is the marvel of the Divine order and rule in the earth-sphere as created. I. THE SHAPING OF THINGS IS THE ETERNAL KING's IDEA.. Take but the infinite varieties of form for material things-a crystal, a tree, a mountain, a weed; or for a,,i,-,ated things-a bacillus, a mammoth, a dragon-fly, an albatross, a worm, a man;- a;,,;'.i our roiuds are overwhelmed by the effort to iDJagine the ideas of all fo1ma PB, OIV, 1-35.] 'l'HE BOOK OF PSALMS. 411
fashioned in one intellect. There is no form of being that was not first of all a thought of God_. He is the Foundation of all. If original forms modify and change, it is only nccordmg to God's ordered laws. II. 'l'HE POWER OF THINGS 18 THE ETERNAL Krno·s ENDUEMENT. For there is noLhing made that can really be ea.lied dead. Everything bas a possibility of doing something. Even a stone can hold moisture on its under side. Meta.ls have their chemical properties, and the very dust can at least combine. In higher ranges of being each creature has its power and its mission. And the power in things is ordered, not just developed. What must he be who is Source of power in everything? llf. THE RELATION OF THINGS 1B THE ETERNAL KING'S ARRANGEMENT. Everything is connected with everything else. Nothing in the world is isolated. Everywhere there is flux and reflux. Everything is touching something, and influencing it by the touch. What must he be who devised all relations and all their consequences ?-R. 'l'.
Vers. 6-13.- Water-witnesses to the glory of God. The psalmist dwells most lovingly on the various wonders of God's ways with the water ; and nothing more readily influences us than masses of waters, or falling waters, or gentle streams, or pouring rains. Poetically, man is very sensitive to the manifold forms in which God arranges this one simple thing-water. And nothing brings to man such a sense of irresistible power as loosened waters. I. THE LEVELLING OF THE WATERS. (Vers. 5-8.) Evidently the poet is conceiving the original condition of the earth, when God dealt with it to make it the abode of man. 'l'hen it is conceived as a solid mass, surrounded by an envelope of watery mist, which rose higher than the tops of the mountains. The ancients did not apprehend the circular form of the earth, and so mists rising above the mountains presented to them no difficulty. The poet sees this mist dispelled by the command of God, and any one who has seen the mists roll away, in a mountain district, will fully appreciate his figures. They do seem to "go up by the mountains and down by the valleys." But in the Divine leading, the issue is that the waters gather into their various appointed places, and the dry land appears. What intangible, fickle things these mists seem to be! Then how glorious must he be at whose bidding they move I II. THE CONTROLLING OF THE WATERS, (Ver. 9.) This impression is best associated with the sea. Sometimes, when it is driven high by wind and tide, its destructive possibilities seem overwhelming. Yet even then we calmly take onr place on the tide- line, and feel sure God's bound of silver sand will be an effective defence. When be is pleased to loosen his control, the world is flooded again, as in Noah's days. What must he be who holds in restraint the great wide sea? Ill. THE EMPLOYING OF THE WATERS. Even more wonderful than the restraining of the sea in bounds is the storing of the waters in the thousandfold cisterns of the bills, whence they come forth in perennial springs to supply the creatures of God. More wonderful is the continuous uplifting of the great sea into the sky, where it may form the banks of clouds, which, at fit times and seasons, burst over the earth, and, falling in chemically enriched drops, fertilize the earth, and make it bring forth food for beast and man. What must be the glory of him who is the God of the springs, and the God of the rain, to whom the waters nre but an ever-obedient ministry ?-R. T.
Ver. 20.-The Divine mission of the darkness. "Thou makest darkness, and it is night." What arrests the attention of the psalmist is the twofold mission of the darkness. It is a call to activity for some creatures; it is a call to rest for others. In a very striking article, Isaac Taylor showed that there were only one or two nights in each year that could be considered absolutely dark, and those few nights had a peculiar mission, which made them essentials in the economy of nature. Darkness is properly regarded as the resting-time of the creatures. It is, indeed, a resting for the ve!!:etable, as well as animal, creLLtion; though the term "resting" can ouly be used in a limited sense, because there are activities maintained in the darkness. Too long continuance under one set of influences has a deteriorating effect on moral natures. The impres• sivo illustration of this is the majesty of human trans1~ression when men's lives were prolonged by centuries. Darkness i_s sent to_break men's lives and relationships up _into small pieces. God cannot trust frail ffi[ln with more than some twelve hours at a time. 412 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. (rs. CIV, 1-35.