'For we

who ever pleadeth for us and watcheth over us. have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.'

1. Why should we be cast down when there is a promise of grace? If we were left to ourselves we might well shrink from self-examination, and fear even after we had obtained pardon. But to fear in view of grace is not to believe. Freely all is given; fully all is given; lovingly all is given. The thought of grace should indeed transport us. It is in the nature of grace to meet every one, and to meet him whereever he be. There was no greater claim to grace in the case of Paul than there is in my case. Grace is its own reason. It springs from the love of God in Christ Jesus, His Son. Grace does not indeed equally meet all, but all may equally have it. 'Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.' I am not to reason on this promise, but to believe and to receive it. My question as to the 'how' of its fulfilment shall be answered, or rather shall be met, when, like the man with the withered hand, I shall have stretched it forth at His command. Therefore, this day let me come in obedience to the call of mercy; now, let me believe-flee to Him, cleave to Him, and trust in Him-and live.

2. How precious is the redemption of the soul! Let me meditate on the value of it; let me realize an eternity of glory; let me now taste the joyousness of believing fellowship with Him. Truly earth's gold is but dross, and its joys

but toys. Thou, Lord, art Thyself the joy and strength of my soul. How soon will this shifting scene pass for ever— and what then? Nay, if I could only occupy till He come! How soon shall earth and her works be burnt up? Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.' We live too much in time and for time. This day let me press closer, if it were but to touch the hem of His garment, for power goeth forth out of Him. Of all thoughts the most precious is that of walking with Jesus, here and hereafter. And now, Lord, art Thou near to me. Come and take me, and make me wholly

Thine.

3. Yet our joy in prospect of eternity must not unfit nor indispose us for the duties of this life. It must encompass them as with a halo of glory. Let me remember in my daily walk that the inscription on the high priest's mitre shall in that day' be even upon the bells of the horses' (Zech. xiv. 20). With most scrupulous care let me guard the issues of the heart. I must be a Christian in all I undertake and in all I do, as well as in all I believe and hope. Thus must I seek to glorify God, thus must I manifest the new nature, and not only as to its fruits, but also as to its character, let me ever bear in mind that it is a new nature, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.' Lord, live and reign in me, that I may live and reign with Thee!

XXI.

HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP.

I 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 Lord :

My goodness extendeth not to thee;

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 maintainest my lot.-Psalm XVI.

THIS is a precious Psalm of the Church and her King. It is true of the Church, because it became true in Christ, and it was true of Christ, because He was the Head of the Church. In all their fulness and literality the promises which it contains applied to Christ (Acts ii. 29-32; xiii. 35-37), and because they were 'Yea and Amen' in Him, did they apply to David, and to all who like him call Jesus Lord. It is this identification of the Church with Christ, and of Christ with the Church, which forms so large a part of the Messianic element in the Psalms. And, perhaps, from the very dimness of their knowledge, did Old Testament saints realize, even more than we,

K

this covenant unity of the Head with the members. There is a gradual rising in these aspirations until seemingly the two elements almost commingle, if we may so say, in a manner analogous to the union of the two natures in Christ. What is said to us, is true in Christ; what is promised to us is held out in Christ. And it is our joy to have all things This identification with Jesus is the

bound up in Christ.

very corner-stone of our hope.

At

At the outset we note, that the utterances of this Psalm are rather those of a representative man than of David or of any other 'sweet singer of Israel,' and that they were a prayer in dark and troublous times. It seems as if apprehensions of death and destruction had called forth this song in the night. And so it ever is trial which tries and proves our confidence. Times of sorrow are precious seed-times preparatory for harvests of glory. Because the God-man suffered, His sufferings and His triumph become ours. the same time, we cannot fail to remark how the confident expectation that we shall not be allowed to be moved (Ps. xv. 4), shapes itself here into prayer (Ps. xvi. 1), and again expresses itself in the language of joyous faith (ver. 8). For what we expect from Divine grace, we ask; and what we ask, we ask in faith. How sweet to the believer thus to press forward, and while he recognises himself in the language of his representative, to look up to Jesus through the long vista of those who in the morning have anointed their Beth-el pillow with the oil of gladness. The Master Himself rested by this fountain and drank of its waters. And of Him, and through Him, those promises are true.

Blessed be God, earth in its present state is not our home. Not a footbreadth is ours, and yet all things are ours, both life and death, time and eternity. Our souls are sin-stained, yet washed clean; our steps faltering, yet we are immovable; our bodies also are decaying, yet their dust is precious. It is this hope which gives such calmness and joy. The forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus,'—entered as the forerunner, and entered for us. Our Joshua has given us rest. Accordingly, in view of the sharpest conflicts and trials, this Psalm breathes not the language of fear nor despondency, but even more than others that of joyousness and triumph, so that, as one has said, 'the cry for help becomes scarcely audible for the abounding sense of blessedness and the peacefulness of hope.' And so it ever is. An abundant entrance is ministered unto us: 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?' Yet do we ever begin with prayer. Preserve me' (or keep me, watch over me), 'O God, for in Thee do I put my trust' (literally, ‘in Thee have I sought refuge'). The Lord watches over and thus preserves His people. On the ground of having sought refuge in Him, may we plead for needed grace. We have 'a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before us.' It is very sweet so to lean on the arm of the Beloved, and so to have in the past the pledge of the future. And now it seems as if his whole soul became absorbed in the contemplation of God. Prayer merges into praise: 'O my soul, thou hast said to Jehovah: my Lord art Thou; my good' (my weal) is not out of Thee' (nothing beyond or beside Thee). There is a spiritual ex