The title. sceptre of a happy world, behold the whole earth as one great congregation uttering praise, and blessing, and thanksgiving, led by Messiah, the Chief Musician! ,תודה Its title is, "A psalm for thanksgiving." The word ni♫, the word used in Lev. vii. 12 for sacrifices of thanksgiving, when thankful men brought to the Lord fine flour, and oil, and wine, in token of their deep sense of blessings bestowed. Here, then, is Earth's thankoffering day arrived "Raise the peal of melody to Jehovah ! All the earth !” The contents They sing, in verse 2, of his redemption, not of creation-work. They say, "He made us," i.e., made us what we are, a people to himself; as in Psa. xcv. 5, 1 Sam. xii. 6, and Deut. xxxii. 6. It was not we that made ourselves his (comp. Ezek. xxix. 3). "He (and not ourselves) made us His people, and the flock whom he feeds." (Ver. 3.) And of this psalm for all nations, this thanksgiving for redemption, this utterance of every heart and lip on earth and in heaven, this song of the whole family of God, of the glorified from their place, and the saved nations on earth in theirs, the burden is that old and well-known ascription to Jehovah “Jehovah is good—(1 John iv. 8, 'God is love).' His mercy endureth for ever," sung at the altar long ago, 2 Chron. v. 13, and vii. 3, and 1 Chron. xvi. 34, Ezra iii. 11, and Jer. xxxiii. 11. To this they add “ And his truth is from generation to generation.” The heartfelt thanksgiving of the Great Congregation led by PSALM CI. A Psalm of David. 1 I WILL sing of mercy and judgment: unto thee, O Lord, will I sing. 2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. 4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. 5 Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off. Him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. 6 Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, That they may dwell with me: He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. 7 He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house: He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. 8 I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; That I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord. WE descend into the valley again. The Righteous One is before A new series. us, proposing to himself the rules of rectitude that shall be exhibited in his kingdom. We may suppose him pacing the valley of Jehoshaphat, while still only on his way to the kingdom. The Psalm that follows (cii.) lets us hear his complaints, and shews us his comforts; and the series proceeds, till we reach the end of the cviii., where we rest under the banner of victory. The first note of the Psalm guides us to Jehovah's true character, the grace and yet the holiness of his blessed name. This is Israel's "Arma virumque cano." Israel's theme of The title. praise is never man, but always Jehovah. It is "A Psalm of David;" and therefore let us take it as David's utterance when anticipating the establishment of his throne in Jerusalem-but as typical of David's Son, when he shall receive that kingdom foretold in Isa. ix. 7, as well as now while he presides over the Church, which is "His house,” (Heb. iii. 6). believers. The whole Psalm may be used by a belicver. When he re- David and calls "that night to be remembered" in his history, his time of escape from bondage, he will sing of "mercy and judgment," and not less when he reviews the way God has led him since, The contents. Proverbs. mingling chastisements with forbearance. And, then, his desires and his resolutions as to the way he is to follow, resemble what is here breathed out by his Head. Still, it is of Christ that every clause speaks most fully. David could use it only in the measure in which a believer can. "The perfect way," in verse 2, reminds us of faithful Abraham (Gen. xv. 1), whose seed, Christ, obeys what was then enjoined; nor less are we reminded by "I will deal prudently," or "walk wisely," of David, in 1 Sam. xviii. 14, 15, exhibiting a type which was more than fulfilled by him of whom Isaiah (liii. 13) has sung in lofty strains. If he asks, like one wearying for a friend that seems to tarry, "When wilt thou come unto me?" it is no more than the language which David would be inclined to use in his wanderings, and even at Hebron, when still the kingdom was only half his own-" When wilt thou give me my promised kingdom? when wilt thou come to me with that glory wherewith I am to come to my own?" T : He sees that day as if already come, and tells how he shall rule, from verses 3-7. May we not say that the germs of the Book of Proverbs are here-germs unfolded in the sunshine of Solomon's reign? There can be no doubt of the similarity in many characteristic expressions (even such as using the word "iba, ver. 5, occurring nowhere else again but Prov. xxx. 10); and, indeed, these verses sketched what that great book of practical wisdom expands, the rules of holy living, by which every subject of Christ's kingdom shall be guided-the principles of Divine jurisprudence that shall be applied to the details of government in every province and in every house. With truth to which Absalom was a stranger, he could say, "Oh that I were made judge in the land, that any man that hath any suit or cause might come to me, and I would do him justice,” (2 Sam. xv. 4). Rising early and standing beside the way of the gate, Absalom feigned to be eager for the interests of justice and of his fellow-men, even as Antichrist can still pretend; but Christ shall sit on the throne of judgment for ever, the true antitype of every faithful judge who, at morning, sat at the gate— From morning to morning will I destroy all the wicked of the land, Terrible words! the words of that same Jesus who, in expounding on the Mount of Beatitudes the law which he came to obey, declared his purpose to cast off all unholy pretenders to his favour, "Ye that work iniquity, depart from me," (Matt. vii. 23). And thus shall he sit on "the throne of David” (Isa. ix. 7), to order it and to settle it, and to rule earth at large. Then shall it be well known, that to "sing of mercy and judgment" (ver. 1), was to sing of Christ ruling "his own house." And thus the Psalm presents us with The Righteous One's rules of holy government. PSALM CII. A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. 1 HEAR my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee. 2 Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; Incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily. 3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth. 4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass: so that I forget to eat my bread. 5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin. 6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert. 7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top. 8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; And they that are mad against me are sworn against me. 9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, 10 Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down. 11 My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass. 12 But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever; And thy remembrance unto all generations. 13 Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion, For the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come. 14 For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof. 15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, And all the kings of the earth thy glory. 16 When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. 17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer. 18 This shall be written for the generation to come: And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. 19 For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; From heaven did the Lord behold the earth; with the preceding. 20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed 21 To declare the name of the I orl in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem ; Lord. 23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. 24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days! Thy years are throughout all generations : 25 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 26 They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: 27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. 28 The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. The connection THE Greek lawgiver, Zaleucus, exemplified his own laws, even in their sorest penalties, by bearing half of his son's justly-deserved doom; and men read of the deed, and praise it. But our Lawgiver, God over all, has cast into the shade every such act of homage to law by the infinitude of suffering he in our nature endured, to honour the law of heaven and save the doomed transgressors. The twinkle of a taper bears more proportion to the blaze of the ever-burning sun, than this one act of Zaleucus, dictated by partiality for his own family, does to the honour rendered to law and justice by our Divine Redeemer. out of love to that holy law. In this Psalm we may see him, of whom Psa. ci. sang, giving honour to those rules of rectitude which there he proclaimed. For here we see the Righteous One, the Lord Jesus, laying the foundation of his kingdom of redeemed ones, by fully satisfying the demands of justice in their room. The title. It is Christ, in the days of his humiliation, that is before us. The title has been thus versified, "This is the mourner's prayer when he is faint, And to the Eternal Father breathes his plaint," (Keble). The simplicity of the Hebrew is most expressive-" The prayer of the needy one when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord." The "needy one" is Christ, who, "though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich." A believer, also, |