the form which had been adopted for the temple-worship, and which was restored to the public service under the direction of Hezekiah.

PSALM liv. Deus, in nomine.

FOR GOOD-FRIDAY.

1. SAVE me, O God, for Thy Name's sake: and avenge me in Thy strength.

2. Hear my prayer, O God and hearken unto the words of my mouth.

3. For strangers are risen up against me : and tyrants, which have not God before their eyes, seek after my soul.

Not once only or twice have we to know and be sure that God is our help and safety. We have to be taught it again and again; we have to turn to Him in prayer again and again, that He may save us for His own sake, not for ours, and that He may defend our cause in His own almightiness. The experience of David is but the experience of every faithful soul; as the trials of David will too, in some degree, be the trials of every faithful soul. And all human experience, and all human trials, are summed up in the passion and the patience of the Crucified. David was resting for a little while 'in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand. Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? Now therefore, O

king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand.' So when the strangers, the Ziphites, were betraying him, and Saul, who was following his own tyrannical and darkened spirit, was seeking his life, prayer became his sole refuge, and the strength and justice of God was all the power he had.

4. Behold, God is my helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

5. He shall reward evil unto mine enemies : destroy Thou them in Thy truth.

But that was enough, and more than enough. They who seek God will find that He is with them. He is a most sure and faithful upholder of the soul which is committed to His mercy. 'Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,' was the cry of the Son of God Himself. And this too David found, when 'Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain, and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them. But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land; wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines.' The tyrant who was hunting after David's soul, had to haste and return lest his own throne and family should be destroyed; it was shewn to him that the righteous

providence of God was not asleep, though his eyes had been blinded so as not to see it.

6. An offering of a free heart will I give Thee, and praise Thy Name, O Lord because it is so comfortable.

7. For He hath delivered me out of all and mine

my trouble

sire upon

and mine eye hath seen his de

mine enemies.

And in many a deliverance from trouble, not unlike this, can the believer rejoice, as David rejoiced, giving his heart as a free-will offering to Him Who hath freely given to him both life and grace, and praising Him Who is not only the God of all consolation, but Whose Name is The Comforter. He has delivered them who trust in Him, and He will deliver; He has executed justice upon the unjust, and He will do it yet again.

The title of the Psalm shews when it was composed. It is "to the chief musician on Neginoth, or the harps and instruments with strings, an instruction of David, when the Ziphim came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?'" The inhabitants of Ziph twice betrayed David when he took refuge in the strongholds and the wilderness which was part of their territory, (1 Sam. xxiii. 19, and xxvi. 1). But it seems clear that the first occasion of their so doing was the one which called forth this Psalm; for David's deliverance from his great danger, for which the last two verses express his gratitude, was due solely to the merciful providence of God in stopping Saul, his enemy, in his pursuit of him by an invasion of the Philistines, (xxiii. 27, 28). While on the second occasion Saul and David were reconciled, and parted with words of friendship which were for the time sincere, (1 Sam. xxvi). The wilderness of Ziph is on the south-east of Judæa, near the Dead Sea, and to the north of the wilderness of Maon. The danger and deliverance of David,

and his trust in God, are types of the passion and deliverance and trust of the Son of David; and therefore this Psalm is fitly chose for Good-Friday.

PSALM lv. Exaudi, Deus.

1. HEAR my prayer, O God and hide not Thyself from my petition.

2. Take heed unto me, and hear me how ■ mourn in my prayer, and am vexed.

3. The enemy crieth so, and the ungodly cometh on so fast for they are minded to do me some mischief; so maliciously are they set against me.

At one time the believer can pray in full assurance of faith; at another time he craves of his Father in heaven to hear him in his deep distress and perplexity. Like the apostle, he 'beseeches the Lord thrice' in the anguish of his heart; he comes before his God mourning and yet praying. The world seems to him only a scene of unending trials, life but a long temptation. The enemy of souls roars against him; the powers of evil seem joining their cunning and their might to cast him down. They are strong in malice, while he is but weak in faith

4. My heart is disquieted within me and the fear of death is fallen upon me.

5. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me and an horrible dread hath overwhelmed

me.

The most miserable of perils is the being 'in perils among false brethren.' In disquiet and terror, as the love of a friend is a great and wonderful comfort, so is the treachery of a friend a most bitter and dreadful blow. Among all the fearful thoughts and horrible visions that came upon the Saviour in His sore amazement and agony in the garden, the knowledge of the treachery of Judas was one of the most dark and deadly, adding horror to the fear of death itself.

6. And I said, O that I had wings like a dove for then would I flee away, and be

at rest.

:

7. Lo, then would I get me away far off : and remain in the wilderness.

8. I would make haste to escape : because of the stormy wind and tempest.

LXX. I was waiting for God Who maketh me safe

From my weakness of mind, and from the tempest.

In this misery and doubt, when life is all dark with the shadow of death, and the best founded hopes of earth prove frail and treacherous, there will come a deep longing to flee away from here and to be at rest, to be borne aloft to the abode of peace and calm by the gentle power of the eternal and all-loving Spirit, as a dove that spreads her wings and flies swiftly from danger to her own safe nest. To get away from this scene of strife and sin, and to be far off from it, to be alone with Christ even though in the desert, to escape from the