how beautiful it becomes! But put it in wrong conditions, exclude it from sunshine and fresh air, and how colourless and unhealthy it becomes ! I have not done justice to the latter part of the discourse, or for that matter to any part of it; but I must here conclude, as the time is gone. Had we right conceptions, my friends, about Life, and about Eternal Life, how different would our thoughts and feelings and lives be! Our maxim and motto would then be "I think not much of mine or thine, I hear the roll of the ages." I will conclude with repeating the following beautiful and suggestive lines of an anonymous, but true, poet : "This world I deem But a beautiful dream, Of shadows which are not what they seem Hardly they shine through the outer shrine, Beamed forth the light, Which were else too bright For the feebleness of a sinner's sight. I gaze aloof On the tissued roof, Where time and space are the warp and woof, Which the King of kings as a curtain flings, O'er the dread fulness of eternal things. A tapestried tent, To shade us meant From the brave everlasting firmament, When the beams of the skies come soft to the eyes, But could I see, As in truth they be, The glories of heaven that encompass me, I should lightly hold the tissued fold Of that marvellous curtain of blue and gold. Soon the whole, As a parched scroll, Shall before my amazèd sight uproll, And without a screen, at one burst be seen, The Presence wherein I've ever been. But who may bear The blinding glare Of the majesty that shall be there? What eye may gaze on the unveiled blaze Of the light-girdled throne of the Ancient of Days?" May God add His blessing. Amen. J. COLE. Aspects of Piety. "BLESSED ART THOU," etc.-Psalm cxix. 12-16. THESE words indicate some of the aspects of genuine piety. Here we have-I. Piety ADORING. "Blessed art Thou, O Lord." It is the characteristic of genuine piety, that it exults in the moral perfections of the Infinite it adores the Supremely Good. Here we have-II. Piety SUPPLICATING. "Teach me Thy statutes." It hungers for righteousness, it craves for a knowledge of the Divine will, and that in order to obey it. "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" This is its cry. Here we have-III. Piety PREACHING. "With my lips have I declared all the judgments of Thy mouth." Piety is essentially a preacher; its heart is full of thoughts vital to the interests of humanity, and "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." "We cannot but speak," etc. Here we have-IV. Piety REJOICING. "I have rejoiced," etc. Genuine piety is not the means to happiness, it is happiness. It is within the soul "a well of water springing up to everlasting life." To walk in the "way of Thy testimonies," is to walk in sunny paths, through Paradisaic beauty, treading out music at every step. Here we have-V. Piety RESOLVING. "I will meditate in Thy precepts," etc. It resolves on higher thoughts and higher joys. The Preacher's Homiletical HOMILETIC SKETCHES ON THE BOOK OF PSALMS. Our Purpose.-Many learned and devout men have gone philologically through this TEHELIM, this book of Hebrew hymns, and have left us the rich results of their inquiries in volumes within the reach of every Biblical student. To do the mere verbal hermeneutics of this book, even as well as it has been done, would be to con tribute nothing fresh in the way of evoking or enforcing its Divine ideas. A thorough HOMILETIC treatment it has never yet received, and to this work we here commit ourselves, determining to employ the best results of modern Biblical scholarship. The Our Method.-Our plan of treatment will comprise four sections:-(1) HISTORY of the passage. Lyric poetry, which the book is, is a delineation of living character; and the key, therefore, to unlock the meaning and reach the spirit of the words is a knowledge of the men and circumstances that the poet sketches with his lyric pencil.-(2) ANNOTATIONS of the passage. This will include short explanatory notes on any ambiguous word, phrase, or allusion that may occur.-(3) The ARGUMENT of the passage. A knowledge of the main drift of an author is amongst the most essential conditions for interpreting his meaning.-(4) The HOMILETICS of the passage. This is our main work. We shall endeavour so to group the Divine ideas that have been legitimately educed, as to suggest such thoughts and indicate such sermonizing methods as may promote the proficiency of modern pulpit ministra. tions. No. CX. Religious Individualism. "I WILL GO INTO THY HOUSE WITH BURNT OFFERINGS: I WILL PAY THEE MY VOWS," etc.-Psalm lxvi. 13-15. HISTORY.-See page 169. ANNOTATIONS: Ver. 13.-"I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay Thee my vows.' "I will come into Thy house with burnt offerings, I will pay to Thee my vows."- Hengstenberg. "Thy house." "This name, which we find first in Jacob's mouth (Gen. xxviii.), was given to the tabernacle in the wilderness, and at Shiloh (Exod. xxiii. 19; Josh. xviii. 1; 1 Sam. i. 17). Along with it in the time of Samuel, the term temple came into use (1 Sam. i. 9) though it strictly denoted the holy place (1 Kings vi.)” --Murphy. "I will pay Thee my vows." Fulfil my resolutions, redeem my promises. Ver. 14. Which my lips have uttered" [margin" opened "]. 66 Literally, have opened, i.e. vehemently uttered."-Fausset. “And my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble." In the depths of some great trouble which greatly excited his feelings, he blurted out some vow or promise. Ver. 15.-"I will offer unto Thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings." The best of the flock, not the defective (Mal. i. 14). "With the incense of rams. The fumes of the fat burnt on the altar, as used to this day. The corresponding word is applied to the burnt-offerings. (1 Sam ii. 15).— Murphy. “I will offer bullocks with goats." "The different species of victims are enumerated here to show the regularity and order of the sacrifice, implying more than ordinary care."—Alexander. ARGUMENT.-See page 170. HOMILETICS. The subject of these verses is religious individualism. Here is a deep conscious self-hood; the speaker is concerned with his own feelings and his own obligations to God. It is all I. “I will go,” “I will pay : "My lips have uttered," "My mouth hath spoken," "I was in trouble,” “I will offer unto Thee." It is not the I of egotism. It is the I of conscious individual responsibility. Men can never feel too deeply their religious self-hood, feel that they stand alone in relation to God, detached from all, occupying a position which no other can take. Here is a personal resolution to worship and to worship publicly, faithfully, and heartily. I. PUBLICLY. "I will go into Thy house.' Why should a man whose heart is charged with the sentiments of worship desire to speak and sing them out in public? Why should he not allow them to rest in the secrets of his own nature, or whisper them out to God alone? Public worship is no arbitary institution; it is founded in the reason of things, it grows out of the religious nature of man. There are two instincts that urge to it. We are so formed that First: That of self-satisfaction. strong emotions urge expression. Our profoundest feelings, whether of joy or sadness, we yearn to communicate to our fellow-men. The religious feelings are the strongest, and hence they impel social expression. "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." The sublimest satisfaction of a man is to tell to his fellow-men what a glorious thing personal religion is. The other instinct that urges to public worship is, Secondly That of social love. : The principle of social sympathy is implanted in every man; in some by nature it is stronger than others, in some by sin it is transmuted even into antipathy. Still the principle is there. Religion quickens it, strengthens and developes it, so that the religious man, in spired with the happiest feelings, is urged by social love to communicate them; he would have the whole world to participate in his joys. There are men who not only neglect public worship but deny its need. They say they can worship God alone. It may be So, but our impression is, that where there is not public worship there is no private. Happy emotions seek publicity. As sunbeams go forth to bless the world, the happiest sentiments in man yearn to pour themselves into other souls. "There is a joy, which angels well may prize, To see and hear and aid God's worship when Unnumbered tongues a host of Christian men, Youths, matrons, maidens, join."-Bishop Mant. Here is a personal resolution to worship: II. FAITHFULLY. "I will pay Thee my vows, which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble." First: Great trouble has a tendency to excite men to make religious vows. What pastor of any experience has not visited many men on their couch, exclaiming thus:—“ Oh, if God would only raise me up to health again, if He would only preserve me in strength for a few years, what an improved life I would lead; I would renounce my evil ways, break away from my worldly companionship, consecrate myself to God, identify myself with the followers of Christ, and devote my days to usefulness"? Ah! what "vows are made in hospitals, in sick chambers, and on dying beds! Secondly: The godly man will ever be faithful to these vows. How many make vows in the depths of suffering and in the prospect of dissolution, and utterly disregard them when restored to health! I have known such. One starts to my memory as I write. As I stood over his bed of languishing he said to me, “Oh, sir, if God would but raise me again, what a different life would I lead." He had been a very bad man. God did raise him. He not only disregarded his vows, but became worse than ever. Not so with the good man here. He had made a vow in the depths of his suffering; and though it seems to have been somewhat of a hasty one, he Ꮓ |