PSALM CXIV.

1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.

3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.

5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thon wast driven back?

6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? 7 Tremble, thon earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of

waters.

EVERY tear dropt on the golden altar would appear golden, The tone. because the gold shone through; and common things presented in sanctuary-vessels would become sacred. So it is with events of history referred to in these songs of Zion. Even if they were not wondrous in themselves, still they could not fail to be felt as unlike all other events, because so exquisitely celebrated on the harp of Israel.

This Psalm sings of the past, and of the future too. past extends from verse 1 to verse 6, the time

"When Israel, of the Lord beloved,

Out of the land of bondage came.

The The contents.

When we find in verse 1, as in Psa. lxxxi. 5, Egypt spoken of as a land where the people were of a "strange tongue," it seems likely that the reference is to their being a people who could not speak of God, as Israel could; even as Zeph. iii. 9 tells of the " pure lip," viz., the lip that calls on the name of the Lord. In verse 2, " Judah" (Sept. Iỏvdàra) is followed by a feminine verb, both to shew that it was not the land, but the people, and also to remind us of their helplessness at that time. It is, q. d., the "daughter of my people." And in the same verse, we hear of "His sanctuary," as in Psa. lxxxvii. 1, without naming the person, because the heart is full of him. God dwelt in the camp, making the hearts of the people his "Holy place," and taking the tribes as his Kingdom; while the Red Sea and Sinai testified of his presence and power. What a

privilege to have such a king! What a blessedness to be dwelt in by the Holy One.

There is a future time when the like shall occur again, and the question be again asked, "What aileth thee, O sen, that thou fleest?" For (ver. 7, 8) the closing verses seem to be parallel to Haggai ii. 6, and Heb. xii. 26, when all the earth shall be moved at the presence of him whose presence so affected Sinai, and the Red Sea, and Jordan. Augustine also

Illa quoque miracula, cum in illo populo fierent, præsentia quidem, sed non sine futurorum significatione, gerebantur." And Dr Allix says--" "Tis a meditation upon the coming out of Egypt, and upon the several miracles which changed the order of nature; from whence the sacred author lifted up the minds of his people to the thoughts of their redemption, when the Messiah, appearing for their deliverance, will cause the same changes in the world." See Micah vii. 15-17, Isa. xi. 15. And on that day they shall come forth from the crushing dominion of a power that has trod Jerusalem under foot, "whose tongue thou shalt not understand," (Deut. xxviii. 49).

Whether in the lips of Jesus at the passover table in the upper room, when using this as part of the great Hallel, or in the lips of any of his members, the song is one of Praise to Him who has redeemed, and will again redeem, his Israel.

PSALM CXV.

1 Nor unto us. O Lord, not unto us,

But unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

2 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

3 But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

5 They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

6 They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

7 They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk

not:

Neither speak they through their throat.

8 They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth

in them.

9 O Israel, trust thou in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
10 O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.
11 Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and their shield.

12 The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us;

He wil bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. 13 He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.

14 The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

15 Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's:

But the earth hath he given to the children of men.

17 The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

18 But we will bless the Lord, from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord.

THE missionary, Adoniram Judson, was arrested in the midst The theme. of ambitious schemes, and led to lay himself at the feet of his Lord by the first verse of this Psalm, “ Not unto us.

This "Not unto us" has reference to the undeserving character of the recipients. Our God gives liberally; and withal he gives as none other gives; for (as Milton sings) he gives,

"With his good upbraiding none."

It is this divine peculiarity in his giving that ought more than all else to induce us to hasten to his throne with our thanks and adoring praise. His "mercy and truth" (ver. 1) are the Jachin and Boaz of the redemption-scheme; his grace, or love, or mercy, prompting the gift of his Son, and his truth, or adherence to every word he ever spoke, to every law he ever gave, to every attribute of his character, are the reigning manifestations of his name. In giving praise, therefore, should not his redeemed continually refer to "mercy and truth”—to "grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ?" It is thus we give him "glory in the highest."

But contrast Jehovah with any other god. Why should the The contrast. heathen say, Where, pray, (N) is your God?” Take up Moses' brief description in Deut. iv. 28, and expand it as is done here. Idols of gold and silver have a mouth, but give no counsel to their worshippers; eyes, but see not the devotions nor the wants of those who serve them; ears, but hear not their cries of distress or songs of praise; nostrils, but smell not the fragrant incense presented to their images; hands, but the thunderbolt which they seem to hold (as Jupiter Tonans

in after days), is a brutum fulmen, they cannot launch it; feet, but they cannot move to help the fallen. Ah! they cannot so much as whisper one syllable of response, or even mutter in their throat! And as man becomes like his god, witness indoo idolaters whose cruelty is just the reflec tion of the cruelty of their gods), so these gods of the heathen being "soul-less, the worshippers become soul-less themselves," (Tholuck).

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Happy Israel! trust in Jehovah

"For to all such an aid he is,

A buckler and defence." (Oldest version.)

Some

Their help" means "the help of such as do so. understand it as if a chorus uttered these words in reply. In either way the sense is clear. Israel at large ! house of Aaron ! all fearers of God! trust him alone; for all of you can say verse 12, 13.

In verses 14, 15, the latter-day blessing of Israel is referred 40. Their God whom they praised pronounces blessing, a creation-like blessing (Gen. i. 28), upon them, by the mouth oi his High Priest, we may suppose; and in that case, how appropriately uttered by the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed, while using these words at the passover table:

It is like Melchizedec blessing Abraham in the name of the Most High God, "possessor of heaven and earth." They who receive the blessing respond in the closing words—

"As to the heavens—the heavens belong to Jehovah !

And it is he that giveth earth to the children of men ! "

Ay, and it is he who will give earth, in its renovated beauty, to the children of men. To him we owe all things. Should he not be praised-praised on his own earth?

See note on Psalm xxviii, 7.

“It is they that are not dead who will praise Jehovah,
And not those that go down to silence (Isa. xxvi. 14):
And as for us, let us bless Jehovah (TIN))

From henceforth and for ever! Hallelujah!"

What a fervent act of praise !—a song, in defiance of idols. Praise to Jehovah, the sovereign source of blessings manifold to all that fear his name.

PSALM CXVI.

1 I LOVE the Lord, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications,
2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him
as long as I live.

3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon

me:

I found trouble and sorrow.

4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul!

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

6 The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death,

Mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

10 I believe, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.

12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?

13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
16 O Lord, truly I am thy servant;

I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my

bonds.

17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.

18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, 19 In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.

of the Psalm.

If the greatest wonder that eye shall ever see, ear ever hear, The key-note and the heart of man and angel ever conceive, is the sacrifice of God manifest in the flesh, "Deity expended upon human