the Church. It is of enemies within that he has oftenest been obliged to say with David, "Many are they that rise up against me." It is too, by enemies within that the Christian is oftenest betrayed to his ruin-sinful affections and ungoverned passions banishing Christ from his ruling place in the heart. David, however, was not so much distressed by the number of his enemies, as he was by what many of them said of him, namely,

VERSE 2. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God.

This cut deeper into David's heart than anything else they could say or do. It was equivalent to saying, that he was such a wretch that mercy itself had cast him off. David was willing to admit that the Lord was afflicting him for his sins, but not that he had forsaken him. This is a mistake that the world are very apt to make-that is, to suppose a person who is greatly afflicted to be deserted of God. It was the mistake that Job's friends made in regard to him, and David's enemies in regard to him; hence Shimei, when he saw him fleeing before Absalom, cursed him as one forsaken of God. 2 Sam. xvi. 8. It was this mistake too that the enemies of the Son of David made in regard to him. Seeing him in the power of his enemies and nailed to the cross, they derided the idea that there was any help for him in God. Hence those taunting words upon Calvary, "If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on him. He trusted in God: let him deliver him now if he will have him." Matt. xxvii. 42, 43. Nevertheless, both David and the Son of David found help in God.

Affliction is no certain evidence of Divine desertion. On the contrary, if it draw us, as it drew David, to a closer walk with God, it may be evidence that God is with us. Hence it is written, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." Psal. xxxiv. 19. If, then, his afflictions lead him to a throne of grace, and to a holier life, let no one give place for a moment to the thought-whoever or whatever may say it, the world, the adversary, or his own heart-that "there is no help for him in God." Despair is one of the worst sins that man can commit. It disparages the Divine mercy-God's brightest and most cherished attribute-and distracts the soul as no other sin can. It is of Satan's fiery darts the most burning and consuming. And how are its fires to be quenched? David answers us in the words,

VERSE 3. But thou, O Lord, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head.

This is David's answer to the malicious taunt of his enemies, that "there was no help for him in God." "Thou, O Lord, art a shield unto me; my glory, and the lifter up of my head." head." Oppressive as his sense of sin was, his faith in God did not forsake him; it still sustained him in his sorest trials. He still believed that the Lord was a shield unto him on every side; "his glory" too; the source and author of his honours, and also "the lifter up of his head;" one who had delivered him in times past, and who would still deliver him. David did not cease to trust the Lord, because clouds and darkness were round about him, and he was fleeing before the storm. He recollected that other storms had spent

their fury on him, and left him unharmed; and he believed that this would do the same. How important it is for the believer to remember, in the midst. of present trials, former mercies and deliverances. How often does the retrospect serve to convince him that the Lord has never forsaken him, and therefore that he never will forsake him. Such was the effect upon David's mind of his review of the Lord's former dealings with him. The review strengthened and confirmed his faith. Nor did he combat his fears by faith only, but also by prayer, saying,

VERSE 4. I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill.

This

David had been driven out from the visible presence of the Lord in his tabernacle on Mount Zion, nevertheless he still directed his prayer towards the holy hill, and received from thence an answer. is one of the glorious privileges of the believer-his lot can be cast in no place whence his cry of distress cannot reach the mercy-seat upon God's holy hill on high. It cannot be said of the Lord, Lo, he is here; or, Lo, he is there. He is in every place where there is a heart sighing for his presence and aid. David found a mercy-seat in the wilderness, Jonah in the depth of the sea, Daniel in the lions' den, and the Hebrew youths in the seven-times heated furnace. It is always so. The Lord never fails any who seek him with the whole heart. In what In what way he answered David's cry for help we are unable to say; whether by some visible token of his favour, or secret communications of his grace. This only we know, that David's faith and prayers triumphed over

all his fears, and so triumphed as to enable him to

say,

VERSE 5. I laid me down and slept; I awaked, for the Lord sustained me.

“I laid me down, and slept." Could language more forcibly describe the tranquilizing effect of faith and prayer! David's situation was in every way calculated to drive sleep from his eyes, and slumber from his eye-lids: nevertheless, conscious of having the Lord as his shield, and having committed himself and cause to him in prayer, he composed himself to rest, and slept. His trust was not in vain. He awaked, for the Lord sustained him. How sweet it is to be able, in the midst of danger, to sink to rest without fear, secure of the protection of Him who never sleeps, who never even slumbers! This is the privilege of the believer alone-and the fulfilment to him of the promise, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee." Isa. xxvi. 3. It is the privilege of the believer alone, to say, as he composes himself to rest at the close of each day, and most of all, as he composes himself to rest at the close of life, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit;" and to do it without the least anxiety, confident that the same God that has watched over him in his bed, will also watch over him in his grave, and awake him, as he awaked his Son Jesus, even from its leaden slumbers. Nor was David enabled to sleep only, but also, his faith having been invigorated by prayer, to defy his enemies, saying,

VERSE 6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.

This was literally David's situation. Ten thou

sands of people were posted round about him, panting for his life. But he who has the Lord on his side, need not fear what man can do unto him. Numbers should have no terrors for him, knowing that He whose he is, and whom he serves, can as easily discomfit ten thousand as he can discomfit one. Engaged in the cause of truth and right, he has of course the God of truth and right on his side, and can therefore reckon upon certain victory. He need have no misgivings as to the result of the contest. The final result is certain, and can be but one. It is this thought of certain victory that girds the soul with supernatural strength and courage in all its conflicts with the powers of evil. "Were there as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the housetops, still I will enter it," said Luther, on his way to the city of Worms, alone, to defend the word of God against the world in arms. The same fearlessness of man filled Luther's heart that filled David's; and, in one case, as in the other, must have come from the same source-the inspiration of the Almighty. The thought of each heart was, "I will not fear what man can do unto me." How many a martyr's, confessor's, and reformer's heart, has God filled with this sublime contempt of human power and malice! There is in the defiance, however, nothing of self-reliance-it is entirely the result of trust in God. This we learn from the words of David following his defiance, saying,

VERSE 7. Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

This shows that David's expectation of victory was not in himself, in his personal prowess as a war