XXX.

THE SONG OF HOPE.

I THE King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord;

And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

2 Thou hast given him his heart's desire,

And hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness:

Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.

4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever

and ever.

5 His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon

him.

6 For thou hast made him most blessed for ever:

Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.

7 For the King trusteth in the Lord,

And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved.

8 Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies;

Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

9 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger :

The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.

10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,

And their seed from among the children of men.

II For they intended evil against thee:

They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.

12 Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,

When thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the

face of them.

13 Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength : so will we sing and praise

thy power.-Psalm xxi.

THE nearer we approach the view of Calvary (Ps. xxii.), the more distinctively Messianic do the prophetic utterances of the Psalms become. There is less of the type and more of the Antitype, till David seems lost in the Son of David.' Our Psalm is an application of the promise originally given 'for a great while to come:''Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee; thy throne shall be established for ever.' This was alike the glory of David and of Israel, and the desire of all nations.' Indeed, so distinct is the reference here to the King,' that the Jewish Targum paraphrases the expression by 'the King Messiah,' and even later Jewish commentators apply it to Him. Here then we have a song of Christ; the establishment, exaltedness, and triumph of whose reign was faintly prefigured in, but distinctly promised to, David.

Miserable indeed would the anticipations of the ancient Church have been, had her hopes of the promise centred in the successors of David. As miserable as our hopes, were we to externalize His precious assurances concerning the Church, and to apply them to any outward or visible community. For the Church of the first-born' is, in this dispensation, invisible, and has not yet appeared, even as under the former dispensation her Lord had been yet unseen, and the object of hope. And all that is now said of the one and indivisible Church of Christ, must be viewed as only applying to the present and visible Church, in the same sense in which the Old Testament promises of Christ applied to the house of David. Nay, it almost seems as if the Lord had allowed the outward estate of David's line thus purposely to run

low, lest the hope of Israel should rest on such earthly stays, even as He has allowed the imperfections and divisions in the present Church, in order the more fully to fix our minds and hearts upon the hope of His coming.

Yet, in a most important, and in the only true sense, are we as a Church one and perfect in Christ Jesus our Lord. 'The whole family in heaven and earth,' owns 'one Lord,' even as we cherish one faith, and have professed in one baptism. The longing anticipations of the Church in our days formed the hope of that under the old dispensation, and her songs of expectant triumph are ours also. This is specially apparent in our Psalm, which differs from others notably in that it is a song of the Church; not the prayer of David, but the praise of Israel. What in Ps. xx. was matter of faith is here subject of hope, and gladsome bursts it from the lips of those who already see its initial typical fulfilment, and in it, afar off, 'the day of Christ.' It is a singular privilege, and one of the characteristics of the Church, that she is allowed to act as God's remembrancer (Isa. xliii. 26; lxii. 7). The promises which belong to Christ we may plead, so that, wondrous to think, we may pray for Him who prays for us. This indeed is the highest glory of our identification with Christ that we have share with Him who took share with us, and that, as He associates Himself with us in our low estate, He also associates us with Him in His exaltedness. 'This honour have all His saints,'-to place themselves by His side as 'sons of God' and 'heirs of glory.' Thus, every time we pray for the coming of the kingdom, we in reality put on our kingly robes. And the highest position which believers can

here attain, is to take up the word of the Lord, and to embody it in a song of hope.

The abruptness with which the Psalm opens well befits the point of view which our faith occupies: 'Jehovah, in Thy strength the King shall rejoice; and in Thy salvation how shall he jubilee greatly!' The idea of strength here conveyed is not that of inherent but of manifested strength, and not merely for defence but for attack, as in the analogous prayer (Isa. xli. 9): 'Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah.' The term also occurs in connexion with the result of such manifested strength or praise. The precious truth contained in the assurance that 'there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth,' is, as it were, infinitely multiplied in its application to Christ and His kingdom. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied.' Most blessedly, because most pointedly, are our narrow views of the love of God here rebuked. His delight was ever with the children of men, and when the time shall come for making bare His holy arm and manifesting His salvation, how greatly shall He rejoice! To be in sym

pathy with Christ in this respect implies not only a believing but a joyous anticipation of our redemption. But it is impossible to rejoice in the coming of Christ without having first rejoiced that Christ has come. The Church beholds Christ as having already received the government (ver. 2). When God raised Him from the dead, He exalted Him to be a Prince and a Saviour.' That for which He died has been achieved; that which He asked has been granted. The finished work of Christ has been accepted. He loved us,

and gave Himself for us; and 'Thou hast given Him His heart's desire.' He interceded for us, and obtained the blessings of salvation. Thou hast not withholden the request of His lips.' Those who have been set free know what great deliverance theirs was, and to whom they owe it. Why should it be so difficult for us to realize the intensity of His love and the completeness of His work? Yet does assurance not spring up within our own hearts. It flows from a view of Christ on the cross. When we feel ourselves bound up with Him, and read our case in the granting of His heart's desire, we are joyous, because consciously safe. So far as the expressions (ver. 2) may be referred to our own entreaties, Luther rightly notes that the desire of the heart must ever precede the request of the lips. But it is sweeter to apply them exclusively to Christ.

The description which follows (vers. 3-6) almost reads like an account of the reception of Christ upon His ascension into heaven. In the welcome which the risen Saviour received may we read our own welcome, for it greeted Him in His capacity as Head of the Church. The blessings of goodness' which met Him were that fulness out of which we all have received, 'and grace for grace.' 'The crown of pure gold' was the royal diadem of our King, or His investiture with dominion over the earth, implying its final subjection to His sway. The eternal length of days' was the continuance of His mediatorial office, in virtue of which 'He remaineth a priest for ever.' The greatness of His glory, honour, and majesty, consisteth in this, 'that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things