his mind with wonder and praise, that wherever he might be, God was there! He could more easily understand the eye of the Lord taking in at a glance the past, the present, and the future, but when he thought of His being always by his side and laying His hand upon him, he could only exclaim, 'Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.'

'Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?' This interrogation involves a denial of all possible escape from God's inspection, when a guilty conscience would prompt us to seek one. Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from My sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them and though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set Mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.'

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'If I ascend up to heaven, Thou art there; if I make bed in hell, behold, Thou art there.' The Hebrew of this passage is very striking, as given by Bishop Horsley ; 'Shall I climb the heavens? Thou art there; or shall I throw myself down into hell? (or, make Sheol, the grave, my bed) behold, I meet Thee!' Very wondrous and striking is the language and imagery of this passage, 'Shall I climb the heavens? Thou art there;' yes, beloved, for heaven is God, and God is heaven; and even if we lay us down in Sheol, Lo, Thou there!' Yes, by that open grave, as we see the earth cast in, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,' He is there, and every particle of that ransomed dust is safe in His keeping; safe till the resurrection morning, when the shadows of night shall flee away for ever, and the latter day glory be ushered in.

Beloved, it is surely a terrible thing to the natural man to die; to have the ties which have for many a year bound us to earth suddenly severed, and to have to take a long farewell of the loved ones whom we leave behind; but, oh, if we remember that even there He goes with us, this is happiness, this is rest; the dark place is made bright by His presence, and though the body is left behind to slumber till the sound of the trumpet and the voice of God are heard, still the soul can rejoice in Him who once said, 'To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.'

Yes, beloved, thanks be to God, we all know somewhat of the blessing of being loved and cared for by God's people; and very sweet and blessed it is to be surrounded by brethren and sisters in the Lord, but when the time comes for us to depart, to leave all these behind, what will it be to feel, 'Thou there!' We We may be leaving behind us a father or a mother, a brother or a sister, a wife or a child, but, oh, with Him we have all and more than all that we can desire.

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.' The 'wings of the morning,' or the ray of the morning sun as it spreads itself over the world at daybreak; even if I take the wings of the morning and with the rapidity of a ray of light dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, still He will be with me even there. This is evidently a thought full of joy to the Psalmist, that there is no place in earth or sea where God is not. Yea! if I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.' He did not wish to be covered from the sight of God; he did not, like Adam and Eve with their conscious guilt, desire to hide from God. He had known times of spiritual darkness, when the light seemed gone for ever; when the heavenly light in his soul had grown dim, and when he was ready to exclaim,

Surely the darkness shall cover me.'

Yet, he says, 'even

the night shall be light about me.' Yes, beloved, and in the darkness of bereavement, when perhaps we look around upon the wreck of our most cherished earthly hopes, and feel as if the light and joy were for ever crushed out of our hearts; ah, even then, the night shall be light about us, night shall be turned into day, darkness and sorrow shall be exchanged for joy and blessing, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.' Some of us, beloved, may know what it is to meditate on God in the night season, until heaven seems almost to open before us with the innumerable company of the redeemed, the great cloud of witnesses brightening up the very shades of night around us, and is it not because He is there! Therefore light springs up before us, and the darkness of our night brightens into a morning of unutterable joy.

These passages must, of course, be regarded as the expressions of a heart at peace with God; and since this is so, if we are the children of our heavenly Father, we may rejoice with David in the sweet assurance of His presence with us always and everywhere; whether He leads us by the still waters and in the green pastures, or whether He calls upon us to go down into the dark depths of some valley of humiliation,' or whether into the deeper darkness of the death shade, still He is there! In all our pilgrim way on this side of Jordan we can say with David, Thou there!' And when the end comes, and the Lord Himself shall welcome each one of us saying, ‘Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord,' it will still be, 'Lo, Thou there!' Thou, who hast pitied me in days of weakness and sin and misery, who hast been my Saviour, my friend, who bore with me in all my infirmities and weaknesses; Thou, who hast made my very sorrows sweet and turned my heaviest trials into my richest blessings; 'Thou here!' Ah, what a glorious awakening to be in His unveiled

presence for ever. To look back upon the cloud lands of earth, where so much seemed strangely dark and mysterious, and to see His guiding hand in it all, never for an instant leaving His child to wander from Him, watching, guiding, helping him! Yes, Lord! to be with Thee in the glorious home of our Father's house; to live ever in the enjoyment of Thy manifested presence, to bask in the sunshine of Thy love-this will be indeed 'joy unspeakable and full of glory!'

PSALM CXXXIX. 13-18.

MARVELLOUS WORKS.

For Thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

'I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

'My substance was not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

'Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

'How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

'If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with Thee.'

IN the first few verses of this wonderful Psalm the theme of the sacred writer is the omniscience of God. The thought is gathered up in the saying of the fifth verse, Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid Thine hand upon me.' After that we have the omnipresence of God, 'Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? These are the great themes which have occupied us in the two preceding lectures upon this Psalm. We pass to-day to another subject equally great and marvellous for us to contemplate, beloved friends, viz., the omnipotence

of God. We have touched upon it before, but here it is dwelt upon at greater length and in more minuteness of detail. The first word of the 13th verse seems to introduce it as a new topic of the Psalm, For Thou hast possessed my reins; Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.' The verbs are in the present tense, not the past; Thou possessest,' or 'art in possession of, my reins.' My reins,' that is, my innermost thoughts: 'Thou hast in Thy power and at Thy control, the very seat of my strongest sensibilities, my pains and pleasures; and this subjection is coeval with my being, for even before birth I was under Thy protection and command, as I am now 1'

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In the 14th verse the Psalmist carries on the thought of his wonderful creation. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.' The expression 'fearfully and wonderfully made,' in the original is fearfully I am distinguished;' 'distinguished' as the highest and most wonderful work of God, and separated by a wide gulf from all the creatures of His hand which are placed in subjection to man. Yes, beloved, we are indeed fearfully distinguished above all else which God has created and made. The animals of the lower creation. suffer and pass away, and all is over and gone with them according to the word of God, which says of the 'spirit of the beast' that it goeth downward.' For them there is no judgment set at last, no answering before God for all that has been done or left undone. But I (says the Psalmist) am fearfully distinguished, in that having been so wondrously made and fashioned by my great Creator, there is given to me besides a soul which must live or die eternally, for which I am accountable to God. And there is this to be taken into account further: not only has God created me, body and soul, after so wonderful

1 Alexander.

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