making an arın of flesh my trust, and thus reaping its curse; or of saying to my soul, 'Take thine ease,' and finding the destruction which attends such folly.

3. By faith, and ever by faith, my soul. Far, far rather would I owe preservation and deliverance to the Lord than to any or all of His creatures. I would choose, so long as I am on earth, faith rather than sight; faith, because it binds me to my Lord, and keeps me ever dependent upon Him.

A SURE stronghold our God is He,
A trusty shield and weapon;
Our Help He'll be, and set us free
From every ill can happen.

That old malicious foe

Intends us deadly woe;

Arm'd with the strength of hell

And deepest craft as well,

On earth is not his fellow.

Through our own force we nothing can,

Straight were we lost for ever;

But for us fights the proper Man,

By God sent to deliver.

Ask ye who this may be ?
Christ Jesus named is He,
Of Sabaoth the Lord;
Sole God to be adored;
'Tis He must win the battle.

LUTHER.

(Lyra Germanica.)

XLIX.

THE BROKEN SNARE.

I IF it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; 2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against

us:

3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against

us:

4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul :

5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers : The snare is broken, and we are escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

PSALM CXXIV.

IT is a precious thought that in these Psalms 'of Degrees' we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit Himself, who indited them, to help us in their spiritual understanding. Tracing the successive steps of ascent, we can kneel at each, and make each a spiritual resting-place. Thus the Lord opens to us the riches and the beauty of His precious Word, and enables us to go from strength unto strength.' The slight irregularity in the repetition of the words' of degrees' in vers. 6, 8, is sufficiently explained by the outburst of thanksgiving called forth by the signal deliverance experienced. Besides, this seeming irregularity exists only so far as the words are

concerned; the idea of ver. 5 being taken up in ver. 6, and that of ver. 7 in ver. 8.

Before the spiritual vision of the inspired singer, the dealings of God in grace unfold, and they carry to his heart, the sweet consolation of perfect assurance of safety. The song opens with a record of the fundamental fact in grace : 'Had it not been Jehovah who was on our side,' which is repeated in ver. 2. What an if here, on which all depends! 'Bless Jehovah, O my soul.' Had it been otherwise, 'then'-ver. 3. What awful sequences are implied in the

little word 'then' in that connexion is further illustrated in ver. 4. This word 'then' implied no less than spiritual destruction: 'the proud waters had gone over our souls' (ver. 5). But it is only a hypothetical case, 'blessed be Jehovah' (ver. 6). We look back to mark the greatness of our deliverance and its completeness, for He 'hath not given us a prey to their teeth.' Accordingly, the next step or degree is: our soul is escaped out of the snare,' which is repeated with some enlargement of idea in the next clause (ver. 7). And so closes the Psalm with praise to our God and Father in Christ. Or, to sum up this outline in the words which mark the degrees: If Jehovah had not been for us-then-waters had overwhelmed us-(blessed be Jehovah!)-escaped from the snare-snare broken and we escaped (all help henceforth and for ever in the revelation in grace of Jehovah our Almighty Creator and ever present Redeemer)!

The subject of this song, therefore, is the gracious deliverance of the soul from the power of the enemy; its translation from death to life, and from darkness into

light. It is remarkable with what intensity of feeling the soul ever reverts to spiritual deliverances. Religion is never felt to be so precious as when its reality has been put to the test. While frames and feelings give way, the power and grace of our God remain. Generally, the greatness of the danger is only seen when it is past. Mercifully a full view of it had been withheld, while we were in the midst thereof. So it is in the history of the individual, and in that of the Church. But when emerging on the other side of the sea, which has engulfed the hosts of Egypt, our rapturous song bursts forth, to the praise of Him who clave its waters. These truths constitute the burden of our thanksgiving the extremity of our danger now past; our utter helplessness in meeting it in our own strength; the special interposing power of Jehovah; and the completeness of our safety. On these grounds, the soul now resolves to place itself, and that for ever, under the guardianship of God in Christ. Most true it is, my soul, that if the Lord had not been on thy side, thou wouldest have been swallowed up, and that quickly, by the wrath of man and malice of devils. Between thee and utter despair, or entire failure, nothing interposed. What plea couldest thou have urged against the accuser, what answer given to the charges brought against thee, or what defence raised against assaults? But He that said, 'Fear not, little flock,' has made it good in thy experience, far beyond thy fears. Oh, jubilee! the Lord has been on thy side. One look of His gracious countenance, and thy guilty fears fled; one word of His mouth, and the storm was hushed into a calm; one motion of His hand, and the enemies were

dispersed. When we thought not of Him, He remembered us; when we sought Him not, He came to us; and when we cried for Him, He made haste to help. After this, surely, we can never despair. If at first it was guilt, now it is sin which threatens to 'overwhelm' us, and to 'go over our soul.' But from both dangers we are now completely safe and free. Truly these two things are most marvellous to us-how that from which we might naturally have expected help failed; and how He who was unseen proved nigh, even at our side. What thanksgiving, then, becomes us to Him who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver! If but one such instance were on record, it would prove a door of hope in the valley of Achor. But consider that the whole history of God's covenant people, from first to last, is a history of God's dealings, and that all these dealings are in the way of deliverance. From Adam, the first sinner, to Paul, the injurious blasphemer, God has showed mercy, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.' 'If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say' (the whole Israel of God). We greatly mistake the purport of Scripture history and sacred biography, when we read it as the record of men's lives, instead of that of God's manifestations. Why should I seek to vindicate Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, or Peter? They were but men, compassed with the same infirmities as we are. These histories are so glorious and so precious-not because they relate what is past, nor merely for the promises which they contain, but because they are the record of God's dealings, and the revelation of His character. They show