satisfy. Without Him, heaven could be no heaven; without Him, what is earth but vanity?

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I transcribe here the remarks of Bishop Horne in his exposition of these verses. They are both comprehensive, clear, and touching. The remainder of the Psalm contains the most dutiful and affectionate expressions of a mind perfectly at ease, and reposing itself, with comfortable assurances, on the lovingkindness of the Lord, of which it had experienced a fresh instance in its support under the late temptation, and complete victory over it. I am continually with Thee," as a child under the care of a parent; and, as a parent, during my danger of falling in a slippery path, "Thou hast holden me," Thy child, "by my right hand." Commenting upon verse 25, he adds: The believing soul seems here to speak in the person and with the affection of a spouse, declaring that not only earth, but heaven itself, would be unsatisfactory and comfortless without the presence of her beloved Redeemer, the God of her salvation. But there is a pathos in the words themselves, which, although the Christian feels, the commentator cannot express.'

Well might Augustine write: 'Tu excitas, ut laudare Te delectet; quia fecisti nos ad Te, et inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in Te' (Confessiones,' Liber I.)

'Thou hast made us for Thyself, nor can our heart find rest until it repose in Thee.' A true assertion, which finds its counterpart in a few words of Dr. Arnold: 'If mankind will not seek their happiness from God, there is a law of their condition which declares they shall not find it elsewhere' (Sermon II., on 'The Interpretation of Scripture'). Such being the case, Pascal aptly puts the questions: 'Si l'homme n'est pas fait pour Dieu, pourquoi n'est il heureux qu'en Dieu? Si l'homme est fait pour

Dieu, pourquoi est il si contraire a Dieu ?' ('Pensées de Pascal'). I now add the translations of both the verses, and conclude my observations, having willingly lingered whilst contemplating the blessed truths taught by this Psalm.

Martin Luther: 'Und nimmst mich endlich mit Ehren an.'
Diodati: 'Poi mi riceverai in gloria.'

Ostervald 'Puis Tu me recevras dans la gloire.'

Patre Scio: 'Y con gloria me amparaste.'

VERSE 25:

Septuagint: Τί γάρ μοι υπάρχει ἐν τῷ οὐρανῶ, καὶ παρὰ σοῦ τί ἠθελήσα ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

Vulgate Quid enim mihi est in cœlo? et a Te quid volui super terram.

Martin Luther: 'Wenn ich nur dich habe, so frage ich nichts nach Himmel und Erde.'

Diodati Chi è per me in cielo (fuor che Te)? io non voglio (altri) che Te in terra.'

Ostervald: 'Quel (autre) che Toi ai-je dans le ciel ? je n'ai pris plaisir sur la terre qu'en Toi.'

Patre Scio: 'Porque qué hay para mí en el cielo? y fuera de Ti qué he querido sobre la tierra.'

6

Prayer Book translations: (verse 24) Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after that receive me with glory.'

(Verse 25) 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee: and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee.'

'What thing is there that I can wish

But Thee in heaven above:
And in the earth there is nothing
Like Thee that I can love.'

The last line of this old Psalter is very expressive,

'Called to suffer with our Master, patiently to run His race; Called a blessing to inherit, called to holiness and grace; Called to fellowship with Jesus, by the Ever-faithful One; Called to His eternal glory, to the kingdom of His Son.'

F. R. HAVERGAL.

PSALM lxxiv. 4.

'Thine enemies roar in the midst of Thy congregations: they set up their ensigns (for) signs.'

The word rendered 'ensigns,' and the word which is rendered 'signs,' are the same; 'for' is inserted, as the italics in our Bibles show. Thus the verse reads, 'they set up; or, preferably, 'they place,' or 'they appoint' 'their signs' (to be) 'signs'-that is, exclusively so. Such is the tendency of all such political sentiment or action as, under the profession of liberty, degenerates into an unchecked license for itself, and into rigid overbearing persecution of others.

As the ages of the world are advancing towards the reign of the Antichrist, this spirit will increase, and will be fully developed under his sway. The will of the monarch has often been tyrannically exercised; the will of the Pope and the Roman Church has filled the world with innocent blood; but the persecution of the Antichrist will exceed them both. I believe that prophetically this Psalm has reference to that persecution through which the Jewish remnant of those days will have to pass. It may point also to similar experiences through which the Jewish people have passed, or are passing locally at present. But there is a goal at which prophecy aims as its point, or Teλos, and for this I turn to Revelation xiii.

It is there said, with respect to the second beast, that he 'doeth great wonders,' the word for which in the Greek correctly answers to the Hebrew word for 'signs.' This, however, is only part of the setting up the signs (for) signs. The mark of the beast must be received, or no business or intercourse can be carried on. There will

be no exception. These are the words: 'And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name' (Rev. xiii. 13, 16, 17). I do not insist here so much upon the word 'mark' as upon the principles which are acted upon. No law of God or man is to be respected but the will of him who is rightly named the avoμos, or 'lawless one.'

Under such circumstances the oppressed people of God say, 'We see not our signs' (verse 9).

Septuagint : εθεντο τὰ σημεῖα ἀυτῶν σημεῖα.

Vulgate Posuerunt signa sua, signa.'

Diodati: Hanno poste le loro insegne per segnali.

Ostervald : 'Ils y ont mis leurs enseignes pour enseignes.'

Patre Scio: 'Pusiéron, sin conocerlo, sus estendartes por señales. Martin Luther: 'Deine Widerwärtigen brüllen in deinen Haüsern, und setzen ihre Gotzen darein.'

PSALM 1XXIV. 20.

'Have respect unto the covenant; for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty.'

When all is dark: when promises seem to be drowned in opposing waves: when the God of love gives no manifestation of regard: when the arm of Almighty power hangs down, though the arm of blasphemy and of persecution is uplifted; such are the times in which the covenant of a God Who cannot lie becomes precious to the soul. For us the covenant is made secure in Christ Jesus; and in consequence there are no changes or failures, as there have been in the former covenants. The legal covenant, for instance, foolishly entered into

of the disobedience of the people, 'which My covenant they brake.' What covenant, then, is it to which God is here entreated to have respect?

I believe that it is the covenant made with Abraham, and renewed to Isaac and Jacob, to which oppressed Israel is represented as looking in this Psalm. I have before said that the Psalm is prophetic, and it points to a time yet future, when the people of God will awake to a sense of their condition, will trace their ruin to its real source, and perceive that nothing but grace can meet their condition.

The covenant made with Abraham to give him and his seed the land' is so unconditional that it is rather of the nature of a promise. It is in abeyance now; but the Apostle Paul, in speaking of the restoration of the nation, grounds the certainty of it upon that most assuring and blessed truth: 'For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance' (Romans xi. 29). In connection with this I would remark that the dark places of the earth' are really 'the dark places of the land;' that is, of the land of Israel. Certainly the word is not always used in this sense; but it is used thus frequently, and you will find it so rendered in the margin of the Revised Version.

Under all circumstances, and in all dispensations of the Church, as in all individual exercises and trials, the thought which brings peace is to this effect: God has respect unto the covenant. 'Look unto it,' saith the soul, and not unto me.' O Lord, I am sin and failure; Thou art the unchangeable and the gracious God. Have you ever thoroughly entered into the fulness of those words, Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ?' Grace without truth would be derogatory to God; truth without grace would be destructive to us. How was it