meek or humble, not of the distressed. But the common text affords a better sense, and really includes the other, as the innocence of the sufferers is implied though not expressed. The general import of the verse is that God's judgments, though deferred, are not abandoned; that he does not forget, even what he seems to disregard, and that sooner or later he will certainly appear as an avenger. Murder is here put as the highest crime against the person, for all others, and indeed for wickedness in general." (Alexander.)

66

"Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death; that I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation." This prayer shows that David, notwithstanding the discomfiture of some of his enemies, had still others to grapple with, and that his deliverance from them required the interposition of God. The phrase 'gates of death,' relates to the prevalent views about the unseen world-the world where the dead abide. That world was represented as beneath; as a dark and gloomy abode; as enclosed by bars and walls; as entered by gates-the grave leading to it." (Barnes.) He prays for the perservation of his life, in order that he might praise his Maker. "That I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion." "In the gatesexpositors commonly remark-were the assemblies, and judgments held; hence, in the gates means in the public meetings. But this explanation is untenable. God's praise is not to be celebrated in the gates, amid the throng of worldly business, but in the Temple. The expression is to be regarded as simply meaning within." (Hengstenberg.) We are commanded to enter his "gates with thanksgiving."

"The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken." The destruction, which the heathen, the idolatrous people, his enemies, had designed for him, overtook themselves. "The net" here referred to, seems to have been particularly a net to take wild beasts, to catch one of their feet like a modern trap. David's enemies had set a trap for him, and they had got into it themselves. "The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah." A repetition of the same idea. Wicked men entrapped in their own trap. "Higgaion," in the margin, is meditation, and is so rendered elsewhere. (Psa. xix. 14.) It may indicate a pause stronger than "Selah." The two words together, as here, may mean, "give special thought to this."

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." "Hell"-sheol-here means the grave, the world of departed spirits. Some render the words thus: "Know that the ungodly shall be turned into the grave, the heathen, yea all that forget God." But is it not suggested that hell here means more than the grave, for do not all godly and ungodly go alike to the grave?

"For the needy shall not always be forgotten the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever. The idea of the passage is, that the

persecuted and oppressed will not always be neglected. They will one day have justice done them.

"Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail: let not the heathen be judged in thy sight." David, rightly or wrongly, regarded war against him as war against God, and as a theocratic king it was so, and hence he calls upon God to interpose.

←

"Put them in fear, O Lord: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah." "The word translated fear' is elsewhere used to signify a razor. Hence some would render the first clause, apply the razor to them, i.e., shave them, in allusion to the Oriental feeling with respect to the beard. But this seems far-fetched, and the masoretic reading yields a better sense. The precise import of the first phrase seems to be, set fear as a guard over them (Psa. cxli. 3), or join it to them as a constant companion." (Alexander.) "That the nations may know themselves to be but men." Alas! men do not know themselves to be but men; ignorant, depraved, frail, dying.

ARGUMENT.—" (1.) David personally thanks God for interposing as the righteous Judge to maintain his cause and punish his foes. (Ver. 1-6.) (2.) He rejoices in the thought that evermore and everywhere God will be found acting in this character. (Ver. 7-10.) (3.) He calls on his people to join him in celebrating God's kindness to himself and the nation. (Ver. 11-18.) (4.) He concludes with a prayer to God to complete his work of righteous retribution." (Ver. 19, 20.) (Dalman Hapstone.)

HOMILETICS.-As this psalm evidently embraces two leading subjects, the one referring to past triumphs, and the other to future struggles, it may be homiletically employed to illustrate The past conquests and the future struggles of the good.

I. THE PAST CONQUESTS OF THE GOOD. The Psalmist, in reviewing what the Almighty had done for him, in turning back and overthrowing his enemies, was filled with religious gratitude, and this gratitude expresses itself in two distinct forms, that of worship, and that of meditation.

First: Here is the worship of gratitude for the past. His soul goes up to heaven with thanksgiving. (1.) His gratitude was hearty. "I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart." His gratitude was no fleeting emotion, no divided affection, no partial sympathy of mind. It was deep, absorbing, engrossing all the powers of his soul. There is no true worship where the whole heart is not engaged. (2.) His gratitude was practical. "I will show forth all thy marvellous works." All my deliverances are thy marvellous works; I ascribe my victories to thee; I will count my triumphs as thine, and publish them abroad as thy works. True gratitude loves to publish to the world the

VOL. XXIII.

L

kindness of the benefactor. (3.) His gratitude was joyous. "I will be glad, and rejoice in thee; I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High." Gratitude is joy; it is divine goodness acting on the soul, like the sunbeam of spring on the songsters of the grove, setting all to music. It is the transporting spirit in the pan of angels and of saints. "Unto him that loved us," &c. (4.) His gratitude was special. By this I mean it arose at this time from a special deliverance, and this is described. “When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence. For thou hast maintained my right and my cause," &c. (3-7.) Whilst a good man is always thankful, special interpositions of Heaven serve to stimulate and intensify his gratitude.

Secondly: Here is the reflection of gratitude for the past. From the seventh to the thirteenth verse we have his reflections. (1.) Upon God's government. He thinks of God's government (a) as eternal. "The Lord shall endure

for ever." Amid the thrones that David had seen wrecked in battle, he thought upon God's throne as eternal. "Thy throne O God is for ever," &c. (b.) As universal. He shall judge "the world." Not a province, not a section of the human race, but all men. He ruleth over all. (c.) As righteous. "He shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness." Just and right is He. His nature is the foundation, his will the rule, his expressions the revelation of universal right. We have his reflections, (2.) Upon God's character. He thinks of God's character (a.) As merciful. "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in time of trouble." God is a friend to the tried, "a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow." What a refuge! He thinks of God's character (b.) As faithful. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee." His character is worthy of confidence; they that know Him most will trust Him most absolutely. He thinks of God's character (c.) As praiseworthy. "Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Zion," &c. He is worthy of the sublimest strains of gratitude and adoration, therefore, sing praises. He thinks of God's character. (d.) As retributive. "When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them." There is a time when he will make the " inquisition." At that time wickedness shall be punished, and virtue shall be

66

rewarded. Such are the workings of David's mind in view of the past triumphs God had won for him. He worships and reflects. Let us do the same.

II. THE FUTURE STRUGGLES OF THE GOOD. The Psalm shows that though many of his enemies were destroyed, several were still alive, and active, and with them he had to struggle. In view of the foes that still surrounded him, and the troubles that loomed before him, he appears, in the last seven verses before us a suppliant, a teacher, and an intercessor. He He appears here—

First: As a suppliant. He offers two distinct prayers. The first in the 13th and 14th verses, "Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble, which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death; that I may show forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. I will rejoice in thy salvation." This prayer contains three things. (1.) The expression of great distress. "I suffer." (2.) The acknowledgment of divine help. "Thou that liftest me up." God hath helped me before. Past mercies are pleas for future favours. (3.) The declaration of religious purpose. "That I may show forth all thy praise," &c. The other prayer is the last two verses. 66 Arise, O Lord; let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy sight. Put them in fear, O Lord that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah." This prayer contains four things. (1.) Restrain the wicked. "Let not man (that is, wicked man) prevail." Thwart him in his purposes. To pray against the success of wicked men is to pray for their happiness. (2.) Reckon with the wicked. Let the heathen be judged in thy sight." Pronounce a just judgment upon them, make their wrongness appear, and vindicate the just. (3.) Terrify the wicked. "Put them in fear." They are callous and reckless in their doings. Strike terror into them, that they may pause, reflect, and reform. (4.) Enlighten the wicked. "That the nations may know themselves to be but men." Self-ignorance is the curse of humanity. He appears here

Secondly: As a teacher. The fifteenth and three following verses are didactic. The verses teach three things. (1.) That wickedness is ruinous. (a.) Its ruin is self-inflicted. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net

which they hid is their own foot taken," &c. The sinner is short-sighted; all his actions go to deepen the pit in which he is to fall, to fabricate the net in which he is to be entrapped. (b.) Its ruin is inevitable. "The wicked shall be turned into hell." A moral sheol awaits every wicked soul. (2.) That human history reveals God. "The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth." Providence is a divine revelation. (3.) That retribution will right all classes. "The needy shall not alway be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever." The time hastens when God shall balance all human accounts.

A Homiletic Glance at the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.

The student is requested to keep in mind the following things, which will throw much light upon the Epistle. First: The circumstances of the writer when he wrote. He was a prisoner in Rome, During his residence there, in "his own hired house" (Acts xxviii. 30, 31), from the spring A.D. 61 to 63, he wrote the Epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, and to the Ephesians. It is generally supposed that this Epistle to the Ephesians was the first he wrote during his imprisonment. Secondly: The circumstances of the persons addressed. They lived, it is thought, in Ephesus, an illustrious city in the district of Iona, nearly opposite the island of Samos, and about the middle of the western coast of the peninsula commonly called Asia Minor. It had attained in Paul's day such a distinction as in popular estimation to be identified with the whole of the Roman province of Asia. It was the centre of the worship of the great goddess Diana. Paul resided here on two different occasions. The first, A.D. 54, for a very short period (Acts xviii. 19-21); the second, for a period of more than two years. The persons therefore addressed in this letter are those whom he had converted from paganism, and in whom he felt all the interest of a spiritual father. Thirdly: The purpose of the letter. The aim of the Epistle seems to be to set forth the origin and development of the Church of Christ, and to impress those Ephesian Christians, who lived under the shadow of the great temple of Diana, with the unity and beauty of a temple transcendently more glorious. For the minute critical exegesis of this apostolic encyclical, we direct our readers to the commentaries of Alford, Webster and Wilkinson, Jowett, Harless, Stier, Eadie, Hodge, and, last though not least, Ellicott. Our aim will be to draw out, classify, and set in homiletic order, the Divine ideas reached by the critical aid of such distinguished scholars.

SUBJECT: Gospel Reconciliation-its Subjects, Agency, and Results.

"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of