HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-5.-The spirit of godliness. This, under all dispensations, is- I. THE SPIRIT OF THANKFULNESS. (Ver. 1.) The godly ma.n is he i11 whose mouth the praise of the Lord is found continually, because the spirit of gratitude is deep in hi~ heart. II. THE SPIRIT OF TRUSTFULNESS. (Ver. 1.) "His mercy endureth for ever." To what the pa.st bas witnessed the future will testify. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow,'' etc. (Ps. xxiii.). HI. THE SPIRIT OF REVERENCE. (Ver. 2.) The godly man stands uncovered, awed, filled with a sense of the nearness and greatness of God, sensible of the wonderful works of his holy and mighty hand. This whole world is the temple of God, and every act of ours should be a sacrifice. IV. THE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE. (Ver. 3.) The godly man is earnestly desirous of "keeping judgment and doing righteousness," of preserving inward integrity and bringing forth its fruits; and this because (1) it is a blessed thing to be right; (2) filial obedience secures the loving favour of the Divine Father; (::l) it is attended with a variety a.ud continnity of blessings; it brings a large reward. V. THE SPIRIT OF co:ssc10us DEPENDENCE ON Goo. (Ver. 4.) He who is "of God" knows well that it is only as God enlarges and enriches him that he will be blessed indeed; therefore he lifts his heart in daily prayer for God's "remembrance" and bis "salvation." He knows the need of perpetual supplies and of frequent interposition from above. VL THE SPIRIT OF SACRED, SOCIAL JOY. (Ver. 5.) It is not a truly Christian spirit to restrict our hope and our joy to our own well-being. Thie should continually overflow; it should spread and circulate far and wide, We should enter into the spirit of Moses and of Paul in their magnanimity (see Exod. xxxii. 31, 32; Rom. ix. 3). Our joy is never so pare, so elevating, so noble, as when we are _sharing it with others, and are rejoicing in their blessedness as well as, and as mnch as m our own.
Vers. 6-39.-Sin in many /ONTUJ. It is not only the psalmist who says, "I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord'.' (Pe._ ~x(i, 5~. It become~ us all to say, "We have sinned . . . we have committed rn1qu1ty' (ver. 6). Sm takes many form~, a.s this psalm makes clear. We may be guilty of- I. SINFUL FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND, (Ver. 7.) As the children of Israel "under- stood not God's wonders in Egypt," so we guiltily fail to recognize the wonderful working of the Di vino he.nd, not only in human history and in domeHtic experience, but also in the daily and hourly ministries of nature, and in the ordering of our individual life (see J as. i. 16, 17). II. SINFUL FORGETFULNESS, (Vera. 7, 21, 22.) 1. We also "remember not the multitude or hie mercies," oblivious of all that God has Leen doing for us e.nd in us Pflt OVI, 1-18.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. •131
through o.11 our do.ys. 2, We are too rea<ly to forget the special deliverances which, at the time of their occurrence, we resolved to keep continually before our eyes; wo o.llow them to ho hidden, and to diso.ppear beneath the engagements aDLl excitement~ tbo.t supervene. III. 'l'1m BIN OIi' ll'ITFULNESS. (Vers. 12, 13.) Is not the Divine Master grieved with us when he has to think of us as he did of his own apostle, who in a few hours passed from loud profession to positive denial (see John xiii. 36-38)? Spiritual fickleness is a very grave offence; it is also particularly injurious. IV. THE BIN OIi' UNRESTRAINED APPETITE. (Ver. 14.) In this case it !eel to unhallowed importunity; to a request that became an impious demand, and that brought down retribution (ver. 15). More often such "lust" of the flesh conducts to other evils-to bodily deterioration, to loss of self-respect, to injury wrought on others, to ruin and to death. V. THE BIN OIi' ENVY, (Vere. 16-18.) To envy those who are distinguished from ourselves by the favour of God is most unworthy and culpable. Instead of being grateful to the Divine Giver for bestowing so great a blessing as a strong and helpful man, we cherish a spirit that is mean and selfish. It is a common but a serious sin. VI. 'l'HE BIN OIi' IDOLATRY. (Vers. 19, 20, 28.) 'l'he guilt of idolatry is in the substitution of the creature for the Creator, rendering that honour to the visible or the human which is due only to the Divine (see Rom. i. 19-25). VII. 'l'HE SIN OF UNBELIEF; leading here (vers. 24, 25) to discontent, to the loss of inheritance, to cowardly inactivity; leading, in our case, to the neglect of God's Word and will, to continuance in spiritual obduracy, to a fatal forfeiture of eternal life. VIII. IMPERFECT OBEDIENCE, WARFARE, SEl'ARATION. (Vers. 34, 35.) (1) To leave undone any duty of any kind to which our Lord is calling us, in discharge of what we owe to ourselves, or to our neighbours, or to our kin<lred, or to onr race; (2) to fail to subdue and cast forth from our soul the evil dispositions and unholy principles which are there, when Christ claims us as his own; (3) to admit to close familiarity those who are alien in spirit'and opposite in belief to ourselves ;-this is to fall short of" the will of God in Christ Jesus," and it is to lay for ourselves a "snare," through which we may fall into grievous wrong. Ver. 15.-Outward prosperity, inward decline. Let no one think that. God's goodness to us is to be measured by the degree in which he satisfies our craving. It may be that the worst thing that can happen to us is to secure (1) the bodily grati- fication, or (2) the unhallowed ambition, or (3) the unfavourable friendship on which we have set our hearts. God's truest kindnesses are often found in his withholding or his removing the objects of our regard. He" breaks our schemes of earthly joy," that we "may find our all" in him and his service.