from day to day, and during the lonesome hours of midnight was kept awake by our woe. His moisture (ver. 4), or vigour of vitality, was changed, "through means of (see Hengstenberg) the drought of summer, i.e., from the excessive heat of wrath, resembling the most parching heats of summer's hottest days, when the sun is fiercely shedding down his intolerable rays on the arid earth. In this state He acknowledged our sin; it was only ours he had to acknowledge; he spread it out before God on the cross; he continued to do so till it was forgiven to him as our substitute. Our head could use these words only in that one way. But in a personal sense, from personal experience of wrath, from a personal consciousness of our own sin, every member of His cannot but use the Psalm as expressing what they have passed through. Yes, they have each felt the silence, the waxing old, the roaring, the drying up of moisture, and the spreading out before the Lord of the whole sin and misery of their case; and each has also found the forgiveness. (Ver. 5.) "Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." Here is a pause. Here is "Selah." Stay and ponder. Forgiveness is so great a blessing that all else may follow. If the Lord forgive our sin, what next may we not ask? On this account, then, His people pray. Our Head intercedes, because his offering of himself was accepted; we pray, because through Him we have already got pardon, and may get any other real blessing. Yes, we may get such blessing, that "at the time of (?*) the floods of great waters,” whensoever that be-whether calamities personal and national, or the waves of the fiery flood, parallel to that of Noah, that shall yet sweep away the ungodly,-even then we shall be altogether safe. The forgiven man is hidden, instructed, taught, guided by God's tender care. (Ver. 7, 8.) A Selah occurs at verse 7. Solemn truth has been spoken, which the worshipper may muse upon till it *The here is like the in Psalm xxix. 10. The plan. sink into his heart; and then a voice from heaven tells that His eye is ever on them." And (says Hcrne) next to the protecting power of God's being, is the securing prospect of his eye." The forgiven man is sanctified, yielding up his own will to the Lord's, not like the "horse and mule that have no understanding, whose ornament is bit and bridle, because they will not come near unless by force." Unhappy they who know not pardon! "Many sorrows" are their portion; while mercy compasses the forgiven, so that "they are glad, they rejoice, they shout for joy!" Already they anticipate the joy of the kingdom, “glud and rejoice;" though it is when the kingdom comes that they shall say emphatically to one another, feeling mercy compassing them about, and no flood, nor drop of flood touching one of them, "Alleluia! the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him !" (Rev. xix. 7.) And even then they may use this song of Zion; for the Head and his members will often review, as is done here, The way of forgiveness traversed by the Righteous. PSALM XXXIII. 1 REJOICE in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright. 2 Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. 3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise. 4 For the word of the Lord is right and all his works are done in truth. 5 Hé loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. 6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. 7 He gathered the waters of the sea together as an heap: He layeth up the depth in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. 18 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought; He maketh the devices of the people of none effect. 11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; And the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. 13 The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men : 14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. 15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works. 16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: A mighty man is not delivered by much strength. 17 An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. 18 Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; 19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. 22 Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. THE last note of the former is the first note of this Psalm, Connection. 66 Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous!" The last Psalm had much in it of the tone of confession and prayer: this is full of praise; for now the forgiven one is taking up his harp in thankfulness : "Give thanks to Jehovah with the harp, Make music to Him with an instrument of ten strings.” It is a very simple Psalm, yet full of the feelings which a forgiven soul teems with. Never did any heart so abound in those feelings as the heart of the Lord Jesus; and his saints learn from him. It is He who is to lead the praise in the great congregation. (Psalm xxii. 22.) Let us see the topics taken The contents. up in turn. Verses 1-3 prepare us for song, shaking the strings of our heart. And the call is for a "new song"-a redemption melody. Verses 4, 5, praise the Lord for his character. Verses 6-9 praise the Lord for his creation-work, which his providence still continues. Verses 10, 11, praise the Lord for his counsels. Verses 12-19 praise the Lord for nis care of his Church, his chosen ones, who are saved by grace alone (ver. 16, 17), and kept by grace (ver. 18, 19). Verses 20-22 contains the response. As exhorted, "Rejoice in the Lord," (ver. 1),-so we reply, "Our heart rejoiceth in H Him." This will be the eternal response of the saints when the salvation yet in reserve comes. Then their "waiting" (ver. 20), their Jacob-like waiting, is ended (Gen. xlix. 18); then (as ver. 10, 11, as well as Psalm ii. 1, sing) the nations have raged in vain; and then, in the fullest sense, "Earth is full of the goodness of the Lord," as Hosea ii. 21, 22, described in part, and as the seraphim celebrate in Isaiah vi. 3. Then shall it be full of the Lord's glory, when love, redeeming love, the love of the God of Love, shall be felt, by all the earth, the Gift of Love himself being in the midst. It is thus a Psalm wherein Forgiven ones adore the Lord in his counsels and ways. PSALM XXXIV. A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. 1 I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear hereof, and be glad. 30 magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. 4 I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked unto him, and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. 8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 9 O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him. 10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: But they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. 11 Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 What man is he that desireth life, And loveth many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 17 The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth him out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. 20 He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. 21 Evil shall slay the wicked; and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. 22 The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants; And none of them that trust in him shall be desolate. THE primitive Christians used to sing this Psalm at the cele- Title. bration of the Lord's Supper-most suitably. An able writer on this Psalm has allowed himself to say rather rashly, “The title given by the Jewish editors, like most of the other titles they have thought proper to affix to the Psalms, has evidently no connection whatever with the subject." Now, we are not aware of a single case wherein there is no connection to be traced between the title and the contents of the Psalms; and the fact that occasionally this connection is not very obvious at first view, seems to us to speak rather in favour of its genuineness than against it. A mere inventor would have taken pains to pin on to the composition something that would suggest itself easily to the reader as a probable occasion. Here, at all events, there is in the title just that combination of obscurity and probability that inclines us to assent at once to its genuinenesseven apart from the fact that we have no authority for rejecting it. It has frequently been observed, as a most beautiful David. and appropriate circumstance in the life and experience of David, the man of God, that the first notes of his harp should give forth praises at the very time "when he changed his behaviour (i.e., concealed his intellect, or disguised his reason) before Abimelech,* who sent him away, and he departed." Cast out again, homeless, friendless, helpless, David trudges * Abimelech is the general title given to Philistine kings, like Pharaoh to the Egyptian. Achish was the special name of the prince. In Archbishop Parker's translation (1567), the title and argument are thus given "When David fled to Achish king, The door of death he was full near; |