rather than the destruction of sinners,—and with it the establishment of the just, must be the object of our desire, even as it is the consequence of His holiness and righteousness who trieth hearts and reins. All falsehood and evil, even in His own people, are brought to the light of His countenance, and cannot stand before Him who is of purer eyes than to behold evil.' We are prone to hate the wicked, and to love, or at least to tolerate, wickedness; He compassionates and offers mercy to the wicked, but puts an end to all wickedness. And then, in full apprehension of His mercy and judgment, the soul rises to this joyous assurance, 'My shield is upon God, the Saviour of the upright in heart.' Ah, how difficult is it to be alike earnest and charitable, and charitable and holy! It needs both a sense of sin and experience of grace to be kept both humble and pure. Yet only thus can we cherish the confidence of ver. 10. The ultimate destruction of sinners is not an act of vengeance; it is the necessary manifestation of the character of Jehovah (ver. 11). Believers know, and all men will have to acknowledge, the righteousness and long-suffering mercy of our God. God angrily threatens every day' (for so we would render ver. 10, the original meaning of the expression being 'to boil up'). By His word, and even in His Providence, He leaves no doubt what must be the ultimate consequence of sin. Yet even thus He opens a door of hope in the midst of the most awful denunciations of judgment to come. 'If he turn not,'-if he does not return or be converted,' He will whet His sword.' The preciousness of the bare possibility of return on the part of a guilty, perish ing sinner, cannot be realized by any who has not experienced it. All around me, frowning and threatening, are God's judgments. His Word condemns me, and my own conscience assents to the justice of this doom. Yet there is hope: He waiteth, and waiteth not merely to execute sentence, but 'to be gracious.' Therefore I may pray. There is an open way. This is perhaps realized long before the apparently similar and yet different truth-that this way is But the mere fact that there is an open way, is open to me. like the rending of the clouds. To discover it is to enter on the way of peace. How precious is this Jesus-this man once to us also without form, comeliness, or beauty-when the soul is convinced of its guilt and need! If any sinner has been saved, and that by grace alone, why may not I go to the throne of grace, and to Him who is full of grace? To save me only needs that fulness of grace which is treasured up in Christ. And then, 'Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.' Ever let us cherish these words, 'If he turn not.' In the midst of threatenings they seem all the more reassuring. For sometimes, under a sense of sin, a man may derive more help and comfort from such negative promises (as I would term them), than even from the richest assurances, which at the time the soul seems unable to receive as personally applicable. And then, after having wide opened the door of mercy to one and all, the Psalm closes amid the lurid light of coming judgment, in which, though distantly yet distinctly, are still heard the praises of His redeemed people. There, and more than ever there, the covenant-faithfulness of our Saviour shall appear, when the Son shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father, and it shall have become fully true, 'Those that Thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost,' -to the glory of sovereign grace. 1. Even though savingly turned from sin unto God, let me, in the light of the judgment-day, view the nature and consequences of sin. Its folly and wickedness are alike apparent. For while it is 'iniquity' (ver. 14), the word also signifies nothingness,' a mere 'breath' that passes away. Again, the term mischief' primarily means labour and trouble; and the fruit of all is 'falsehood.' The enemy of souls deceives while he destroys. Let me be more fully on my guard as to the deceptive character of sin. Alas! how often have I experienced it, and yet how prone am I to be still and daily led astray! Consider, my soul, from what awful destruction thou hast been delivered, and art daily delivered, by free and sovereign grace. And how earnestly does it become thee to watch and pray! The approach of sin is as slow as it is deceptive. Let me beware of mingling more than is needed in the way of duty, or for His service, with the world and the men of the world. A weakened frame is not likely to resist disease; a lowered spiritual tone exposes me to all the virulence of sin. O to keep close to God; to walk in the Spirit, as we live in the Spirit! 2. Would that I could more fully live in view of that great day, when the Lord shall take unto Himself the kingdom! Surely I feel it that nothing less will suffice to set right the wrongs of this present state of things. What a bright and glorious prospect this, to keep the heart fresh, warm, and hopeful! Every token of evil then would become an outcry, a groan Arise, O Lord.' All, all must hasten on Thy blessed kingdom. This assurance will support us when the vague and foolish dreams of mere worldly improvement fail. But if the coming of the Lord be indeed at hand, what manner of man ought I to be,—how to conduct myself towards them that are without, how to redeem the time, and how to trade with the talents committed to my stewardship! Through the vista of this day let me look forward to the day which has no night: my present hope will give place to sight; my present experience, how limited, compared with the reality! Meantime, let me in every sense, both so far as I and as others are concerned, occupy till He come. This is to be the innermost Come what may; arise whatever is of flesh and 3. Yet withal will I trust. and uppermost feeling of my heart. who can; persecute who dare; fail even of heart,-O Jehovah, Thou art my God, my Father, my Redeemer; 'in Thee do I put my trust.' To Thee have I committed myself for time and for eternity, soul and body. I am Thine. Though faintly and weakly, yet in 'integrity' would I cleave to Thee and serve Thee. Lord, save me for Thine own name's sake; and in this confidence will I go forward. Amen. PRAISE, honour, thanks, to Thee be brought, For all things in and for me wrought By Thy great mercy, Christ. This one thing only still I pray, Oh cast me ne'er from Thee away. HANS SACHS. XI. CREATION AND REDEMPTION. I O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength Because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, And hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; Thou hast put all things under his feet; 7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; 8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, And whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth !-PSALM VIII. A SWEET song this for the night season, alike literally and spiritually considered. The infinite condescension of the great Jehovah, the glory of our God, the high calling of men as realized in and through Christ, and the devout praises of His people, are its exalted theme. Nor is it merely individual experience which here finds expression; it is the song of the Church, as appears from the opening words, 'O |