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New Jerusalem "there shall in no wise enter anything that
defileth or maketh a lie." Over its gate is written, "Without
holiness no man shall see God."

Here, then, we have before us a description of
The dweller in the Holy Hill of God.

PSALM XVI.

Michtam of David.

1 PRESERVE me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art My goodness extendeth not to thee;

my

Lord:

3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god :

Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names
into my lips.

5 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup :-thou main-
tainest my lot.

6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel:

My reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

8 I have set the Lord always before me:

Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;

Neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life :-in thy presence is fulness of joy; At thy right hand there are pleasures for everinore.

Christ in a world

It is not sin alone that characterises our world. Misery goes Christin
hand in hand with sin. And hence, as the preceding Psalm
set before us One who was holy in the midst of a world lying
in wickedness, though breathing its air, walking on its high-
way, handling its objects, and conversing with its inhabitants,
so this Psalm exhibits One who is happy, truly happy, not-
withstanding a world of broken cisterns around him, and the
sighs borne to his ear on every breeze. This happy One is

His inembers, $00.

"he Man of Sorrows,"-no other than He! For Peter, in Acts ii. 31, declares, "David speaketh concerning Him!"

This happy One (followed in all ages by his chosen ones) walks through many a varied scene, and at every step expresses satisfaction and perfect contentment with the Father's arrangements. In verses 1, 2, he tells, with complacent delight, into whose hands it is he has committed his all: "Thou art my Lord,"-my soul has said this with all its strength. And "My goodness is not over Thee;"

*

whatever is good or blessed in my lot, makes no pretensions to add anything to thy blessedness, to overshadow thee; nor do I allow the bliss I enjoy to supersede Him who blesses me. And does not every member of his body respond to all this! Who of them does not reply, "My Lord and my God! thou art the very bower of bliss under which I sit. We are blessed in thee; but thou needest not us to bless thee !"

Satisfied with his Father as God, and Lord, and Guardian, he is equally so with the sphere within which he must move : "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." None on earth, seem to Him so pleasant and "honourable" (778), (see Psa. viii. 1) as the saints. And not less is He pleased with his separation from all idols and all idolatry. (See ver. 3 and 4.) And does not every member of his body respond, "Amen!" gladly recognising their own company as the circle within which is "all their delight." But how instructive and wonderful it is to find, in ver. 5, such entire contentedness with the Lord's doings, and such a recognition of his will. For it was enemies that brought him many a bitter draught to drink, the vinegar and the gall,-it was "not an enemy," but worse far, a perfidious friend, that plunged the dagger into his heart; and yet in all this he sees the Lord giving him his cup and portion. Nor less remarkable is it to hear, in ver. 6, the Man of Sorrows tell that his lines have fallen to him in pleasant places! He that had nowhere to lay his head, how happy is He! What * As for "goodness," see Psalm cvi. 5, and the equivalent of Psalm exxviii.. 5. In the there may be reference to the sky over our head. Such a passage as Psalm cviii. 5 is parallel; "Great above the heavens"-the heavens not above thee, but thou over them.

a calm contentment sits upon his pensive brow! Earth and hell are unable to destroy his blessed lot. He has (ver. 7) found communion with his Father, when others sleep,--in the retired valleys and hills of Galilee, on the Mount of Olives, in the wilderness. The presence and care of his Father is a fund of enjoyment in itself. (Ver. 8.) All may be scattered and leave him alone; but yet he is not alone, for the Father is with him.

Such joys as these still gladden every believer's soul, even as they did refresh the "Author and Finisher of our Faith." He drank of these brooks by the way, "therefore was his heart glad." That he might endure to the end, and as man endure, he tasted of needful draughts in his sore undertaking; and his draughts of refreshment were of the kind which we have seen above. We, too, can taste the same, and we need the same. Nor less do we need what follows in ver. 9, secure confidence in prospect of death, and (ver. 10) the hope of blessed resurrection. Our Head laid his flesh in the Joseph's sepulchre, expecting the future result, a speedy resurrection. His soul was not to be left long separate from his body-out of paradise it was soon to come, and on the third day to rejoin its body ere corruption could begin. But we, too, his members, are as sure of a return of our souls from paradise to join our bodies on the Resurrection Morn, when "this corruptible shall put on incorruption." And thus to the Head and members shall their full satisfaction be realized, and that for ever. He and they shall tread the path of life, and enter into "fulness of joy, pleasures for evermore,”—the blessedness of the eternal kingdom.

Such are the riches of this Psalm that some have been led to think the obscure title, "Michtam," has been prefixed to it on account of its golden stores. For on is used of the "gold of Ophir,” (e.g., Psa. xlv. 10), and a might be a derivative from that root. But as there is a group of five other Psalms (viz., lvi., lvii., lviii., lix., lx.) that bear this title, whose subject matter is various, but which all end in a tone of triumph, it has been suggested that the Septuagint may be nearly right in their hoygapia, as if "A Psalm to be hung up or inscribed on a pillar to commemorate victory." It is, however,

Title.

more like still that the term, "Michtam" (like "Maschil"), is a musical term, whose real meaning and use we have lost, and may recover only when the ransomed house of Israel return home with songs. Meanwhile the subject-matter of this Psalm itself is very clearly this

The Righteous One's satisfaction with his lot.

The tone.

PSALM XVII.

A Prayer of David.

1 HEAR the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry,

Give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.

2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence;

Let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.

3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night;
Thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing;

I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

4 Concerning the works of men,

By the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.

5 Hold up my goings in thy paths,-that my footsteps slip not

6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God:

Incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.

7 Shew thy marvellous loving-kindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand. Them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

10 They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. 11 They have now compassed us in our steps:

They have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;

12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey,

And as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

13 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down:

Deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

14 From men which are thy hand, O Lord,

From men of the world, which have their portion in this life,

And whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure:

They are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness:

I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

THE same strain again--only here the sin and sorrow of the world are brought together, and the Righteous One is seen

lifting his eyes to heaven, as sure conqueror over both. Earth, whether viewed from the top of Peor, or the field of Zophim, is still the same fallen earth; and not less gratefully does the shout of the King of Jeshurum greet our ears, by whatever cliff of Pisgah it may happen to be echoed back. It is called A Prayer, for it consists of strong appeals to God.

The title.

While fully satisfied with his lot, the Righteous One tells us how little reason there is to be satisfied with the world The plan. wherein his lot was for a time cast. Dissatisfied with man's judgment, he appeals to the Lord, and ver. 1 is equivalent to those two words in his prayer (John xvii. 25), “O righteous Father." Before Him he spreads his cause, expecting (ver. 2, 3) a reversal of the world's sentence. The Father "proved him and could find nothing." Was it to this he referred in John xiv. 30, when telling of Satan's attempt? Mysterious trial! all-perfect righteousness! Heaven and hell have tried it ; and neither the holiness of God, nor the envy of Satan, could detect a flaw. We find him appealing to the Father as to his heart (ver. 3), as to his words (ver. 4), and as to his ways (ver. 5) -sure of the verdict from the lips of Holiness itself. And, united to Him, each believer may make the same appeal, with the same success, while he is led also, in the very act of so doing, to plant his steps in the footsteps of his all-perfect Surety. In ver. 6, emphasis rests on I (N); "I have called;" let others do the same.

Still dissatisfied with men, in ver. 6-8 He seems to unbosom himself to the Father, fixing his eye on the marvellous love shewn in redemption, "the tender mercies," or "bowels of mercy," by reason of which the "Dayspring from on high hath visited us," (Luke i. 78).

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Single out thy lovingkindness, thou deliverer of those that trust.” Saints are called "Trusters," (D'Din) and the prayer is, Set apart (Psalm iv. 3) for me some special mercy. Make it appear in its singular brightness, O thou who deliverest me who trust in Thee, and wilt deliver all others who simply trust in Thee through me!" We, too, may follow Him even into the very secret of the Most High, when in ver. 8 he presses forward and sits down under the wings of majesty and love-at

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