brief pleasure is over, the usual retributions will be sure to follow. And what is true of this vice, is true also of man's general alienation from what is good. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. This is the chief vail which hides from us spiritual trust, and which hinders deep and efficacious convictions. It is a vail which seems as if driven into the very substance of the soul.

Halifax.

ENOCH MELLOR, M.A.

(To be continued.)

Homiletic Sketches on the Book of Psalms.

OUR PURPOSE.-Many learned and devout men have gone philologically through this TEHILIM, this book of Hebrew hymns, and have left us the rich results of their inquiries in volumes within the reach of every Biblical student. To do the mere verbal hermeneutics of this book, even as well as it has been done, would be to contribute nothing fresh in the way of evoking or enforcing its Divine ideas. A thorough HOMILETIC treatment it has never yet received, and to this work we here commit ourselves, determining to employ the best results of modern Biblical scholarship.

OUR METHOD.-Our plan of treatment will comprise four sections:-(1.) The HISTORY of the passage. Lyric poetry, which the book is, is a delineation of living character, and the key, therefore, to unlock the meaning and reach the spirit of the words, is a knowledge of the men and circumstances that the poet sketches with his lyric pencil.(2.) ANNOTATIONS of the passage. This will include short explanatory notes on any ambiguous word, phrase, or allusion that may occur.-(3.) The ARGUMENT of the passage. A knowledge of the main drift of an author is amongst the most essential conditions for interpreting his meaning.-(4.) The HOMILETICS of the passage. This is our main work. We shall endeavour so to group the Divine ideas that have been legitimately educed, as to suggest such thoughts, and indicate such sermonizing methods, as may promote the proficiency of modern pulpit ministrations.

Subject: PICTURE OF SUFFERING SAINTHOOD.

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Why art thou so far from helping me," &c.—Psa. xxii.

HISTORY.-Although this is called "a Psalm of David," there is no certainty that he was the author. Some biblical critics ascribe it to Jeremiah, some to Hezekiah, some to the pious Jews collectively, and some to Jesus Christ. Those who regard David as speaking of himself in this psalm

refer to 1 Sam. xxiii. 25, 26. "Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. And 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 are the sufferings here described great enough to authorize the strong language of suffering implied in this psalm? "David," says Hengstenberg, "never was in such great trouble as is here described: his enemies never 'parted his clothes,' or 'cast lots upon his vesture,' even in the greatest heat of the conflict with Saul, to which alone we can look, he never was in that state of exhaustion, weakness and emaciation, which meets us in the subject of this psalm." We are disposed to accept that view of the psalm which regards it as A PICTURE OF SUFFERING SAINTHOOD. The author, whether David or not, here depicts some righteous soul passing through scenes of suffering, and by prayer obtaining deliverance. Looking at the psalm in this light it may apply to the good man individually under suffering, to the true church under suffering, and especially to Him who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."

ANNOTATIONS.- -"To the chief musician upon Aijeleth Shahar." The expression "Aijeleth Shahar" is rendered in the margin, "the hind of the morning." "The hind may be a poetical figure for persecuted innocence, and the morning, or rather dawn, for deliverance after long distress. Compare 2 Sam. i. 19; Prov. vi. 5; Isa. xiii. 14, with Isa. viii. 20; xlvii. 11; lviii. 8—10; Hos. vi. 3; x. 15. The use of such emblems here is less surprising, as this psalm abounds in figures drawn from the animal kingdom." Some, however, translate the words 'Aijeleth Shahar," the succour of him who early seeks.

66

Ver. 1.-"My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?" Here the sufferer expresses his sense of Divine abandonment, he feels that God has deserted him. These words, with a slight variation, Christ used when on the cross to express the mysterious agony of his soul. "The

cry, thou hast forsaken me,' says Hengstenberg, "does not refer to a real fact, but it depends upon a conclusion which the sufferer draws from his desperate position.

Ver. 2.-"O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not," &c. Notwithstanding his "roaring," his wail of anguish, and his cry all day and all night, his God seemed to remain distant and afar off. Thou seemest utterly indifferent to my cries of intense distress.

Ver. 3.-" But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." This may mean, Thou art the glorious and perfect God who inhabitest the praises of Israel. God always dwells in the midst of the praises of the good.

Ver. 6.—“ I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people." This is said in contrast with the fathers, in the preceding verses, who trusted in God. Thou didst treat them as men. treating me as "a worm," a worthless reptile.

Thou art

Ver. 7.-"All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying." The meaning here is that he was treated with scorn and derision. They showed their contempt by the jeering laugh, the sneering lip, the derisive shake of the head. This conduct was manifested in the most malignant manner to Christ on the cross. Matt. xxvii. 39.

Ver. 8.-" He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him." In the margin it says, "he rolled himself on the Lord," and the margin expresses the true meaning of the Hebrew word. Thus in Proverbs xvi. 3. "Roll thy works upon the Lord." The language is expressive. It means the rolling off of the load from our backs to that of another. (1 Peter v. 7.)

Ver. 12.-" Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round." In this, the next, and the sixteenth verses, the enemies of the suffering saint are represented as "bulls," a roaring "lion," and "dogs.” Bashan embraced the territory which was on the north of Jordan and east of Gilead, which was distinguished for the richness of its land. The bulls there were noted for their size, strength, and savageness. These creatures are suitable emblems of certain persecutors of the good. The lion, the most ravenous of ravenous creatures, and dogs, the most contemptible of animals to the Jewish mind. The men who engaged in the enormous crime of crucifying the Son of God are represented by these three kinds of animals, "bulls," "lions," "dogs."

Ver. 14.-" I am poured out like water." This means weakness: an expression similar to this is found in Joshua vii. 15. "The hearts of the people melted and became as water." It is customary for us to speak of ourselves, when in a state of debility, as being as weak as water. "All my bones are out of joint." Margin, "sundered." It is not necessary to suppose that dislocation is here meant, but feebleness. "My heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels." Additional figures to express weakness, utter prostration.

Ver. 17.-" I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me." He was reduced to such a skeleton that his very bones lay bare. His emaciated frame arrested the attention of his enemies, they stare upon him. Ver. 18-" They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my resture." This verse, whether intended to predict the conduct of Christ's enemies or not, was literally fulfilled in their diabolic conduct. Matt. xxvii. 25: Luke xxiii. 34: John xix. 23, 24. Ver. 20." Deliver my soul from the sword."

The word "soul" here means life, and the sword death. It means, deliver me from death. "My darling from the power of the dog." Margin, "my only one." Who is the darling-the only one, meant here? Evidently his life, the dearest thing to every man, is his life. Job ii. 4.

Ver. 21.-Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.” "The common version, 'unicorn,' rests on the authority of the Septuagint: but although the unicorn, long regarded as a fabulous animal, has now been proved to be a real one, we have no reason to believe that it was ever known in Palestine, or to dissent from the common judgment of the learned, that the Hebrew word denotes the wild bull, or a species of the antelope, most probably the former."-Alexander. "Thou hast heard me from the horns of the

unicorns." i. e. from the midst of the most terrible danger. Ver. 22.—“ I will declare thy name unto my brethren," &c. His prayer has been answered, the Almighty has interposed, and his resolution is to celebrate the praise of his Maker unto his brethren. "In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee." His gratitude shall be publicly expressed.

Ver. 23.-" Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel." Not satisfied with celebrating His praises himself, he calls upon all the congregation to join him in the blessed work.

Ver. 24.-" For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted," &c. "This is the ground on which the fearers of the Lord are called upon to praise Him, namely, the faithful execution of His promise to the sufferer in this case, and the pledge thereby afforded of like faithfulness in every other."-Alexander.

Ver. 26.-" The meek shall eat and satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him your heart shall live for ever." The word "meek" here means the afflicted, the distressed, the miserable: and what is asserted is, that all such who call upon God in prayer shall be " satisfied," filled with "praise" and "live for ever."

Ver. 27.-" All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.” There is a prediction of better times. The whole heathen world shall remember and turn to the one true and living God.

Ver. 28. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations." This is the reason for the hope, "The kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among the nations."

66

Ver. 28.-"All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul." The general idea of this is, that all classes of people shall worship God. (1.) The rich. They that be fat." (2.) The poor. They that bow down to the dust." Those who are oppressed and crushed. (3.) The dying. "And none can keep alive his own soul," or rather, he who cannot keep his own soul alive. The aged, the sick, the infirm, the dying.

Ver. 30.-" A seed shall serve him: it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." Alexander renders this-"Posterity shall serve him: it shall be related of the Lord to the generation." "The last restriction to be done away is that of time. The effects of this salvation shall

no more be confined to the present generations than to the higher classes of society, or the natural descendants of the patriarchs." The word translated Lord here is not Jehovah, but Adhonai, the name properly devoted to sovereignty. This verse has been elegantly rendered, "Our seed shall serve him: the story shall be told to them that come after."

Ver. 31.-" They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." "The subjects of the first verbs are the 'seed' and 'generation' of the preceding verse. They shall come into existence, shall appear upon the scene. But even they shall not monopolise the knowledge thus imparted, but communicate it to a people now unborn, but then born, i. e., to their own successors." The verse may be rendered, "They shall come and declare his deliverance, yea, to the people who are not yet born shall they declare this." ARGUMENT" The Psalms," says Hengstenberg, "naturally divides itself into three strophes, cach containing a distinct subject of its own, of the same length, and consisting of ten verses, ver. 1-10, ver. 12—21, ver. 22-31. Between the first and second strophe a verse is thrown in, which connecting the two together, leads on from the one to the other." In the first the sufferer pleads the necessity of God's interposition, in the second he urges it on the ground of his imminent danger, in the third he declares the glorious effects which would follow the answer of his prayer.

HOMILETICS.-Homiletically, we shall regard this psalm as a sketch of suffering sainthood, and, looking at it in this light, it falls into two general sections.

And

I. The prayer of the righteous under GREAL SUFFERING. under this part two subjects of thought are presented. 1. The sufferings. They are (a) spiritual. (B) social. (2.) The supplications. They are (a) intensely earnest. (B) Ultimately

successful.

II. The RELIEF of the righteous from great suffering. (1.) The instrumental cause of the relief. It was prayer. (2.) The blessed results of the relief. (a) The celebration of Divine goodness. (B) The conversion of the world to the true God. (y) The celebration of His religion to the end of time.*

* Each of these points will be further amplified in our next number.