nicious error. Religion is not a means to an end, it is the sublimest end; there is nothing higher for a moral being to aim at in the universe, than moral goodness. In moral goodness there is the highest liberty, the fullest harmony, the sublimest joy of being. It is that which fills the soul with "joy unspeakable and full of glory." In worship the soul bathes in the sunshine of infinite love. To be truly happy, is to be truly good; and to be truly good is the highest end of being. CONCLUSION. From this subject we infer, First: That true religion is the sublimest philanthropy. "The man who thinks of religion as the soul concerning itself, merely or chiefly, with its own spiritual interests and salvation, makes a fearful, but, alas! a popular mistake. The sympathies of true religion submerge the ego, and flow forth and embrace the world. It "bears the griefs and carries the sorrows" of humanity on its heart. It is the sublimest type of philanthropy—a philanthropy that does not work without a God, but stands in beseeching attitude in His presence, breathing out evermore the prayer, "God be merciful unto us and bless us!" A philanthropy that works, not mechanically, by the conventional rules of charity or by the cold dictates of duty, but with the glowing enthusiasm of a world-wide love; a philanthropy, in fine, whose prayers are not verbal but vital; not the liturgy of words but the yearning of life. Tell me not that religion is a thing of creed or of sect, of ceremony or of form, it is love-deep as the heart, wide as the world, strong as death. From the subject we infer also,— Secondly: That true religion gives man a living interest in all men. It widens man's life, spreads it over the world and over the ages. Man's truest, highest life, is the life he lives in others. This life goes not out when the last breath is drawn. If our life were nothing more than mere corporeal existence, what a poor thing! A fleeting shadow, nothing How uncertain in continuance; and how soon lost for ever! The Cyclone which swept as a destroying angel over the region of Bengal the other day, and in a few minutes quenched the life of three hundred thousand men, is but an more. emblem of what the breath of time is doing with us all. Time, like an ever rushing cyclone, sweeps millions of the human race away every year. While I write these sentences hundreds are falling beneath its breath. But is the humanity of these millions extinct? No; it is living, and in its life the godly philanthropist lives in ever deepening sympathies. And more, it lives in the humanity on earth now, and in that yet to come. To live in the narrow circle of our own personal ́interests, is not the life of a man, but of a grub; to live in the interests of a growing universe of souls, this is the only true life of real manhood. From this subject we infer, Thirdly: That true religion inspires a glorious hope of the future of the world. "Let the people praise Thee, O God; let all the people praise Thee: then shall the earth yield her increase," etc. For sixty centuries the condition of man on this earth has been an anomaly in the universe, a disgrace and a curse to himself. What clouds have darkened his heavens, what storms have shattered his energies, plans, and fortunes! But better times are coming. The clouds will melt into azure; the storms shall be hushed into silence. Brotherly love shall reign in all hearts, all oppressions shall vanish, all envy shall cease, each shall "bear another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." The great Father shall be worshipped by all, and the whole earth become a temple resounding with His praise. The prayer of the text goes for this. But will this prayer ever be heard? Never, so long as it is used only as a form. In thousands of churches it has been for ages, and still is, repeated and often sung in transporting music. But where is the answer? The wrong is still as rampant as ever. "Statesmen trifle, and priests deceive, And traders barter our world away; The cannon speaks in the teacher's place, Brothers, this prayer, when rightly offered, carries its own When rightly offered it is the profoundest and answer. strongest aspiration of the suppliant's being, the very breath of his spiritual existence, and therefore in all the thoughts he utters, in all the deeds he performs, there is the answer, for are not these the forces that help on the world? Were the soul, not the mere voice,—of the universal Church to go into this prayer on this the opening of a New Year, what an answer would appear at its close, in the magnificent, in the social, intellectual, and moral aspects of the world. True prayer is always answered-answered as the earth in her ten thousand productions of life and beauty answers the quickening influences of the solar orb.* "He prayeth well who loveth well REVOLVING YEARS. "All the year round its changes but remind us : The future year: it seems a golden glory Betwixt young faces and the morning light; A tremulous dull haze before the hoary, Through whose faint redness shine the stars of night. "All the year round a clearer faith is shining, And the long yearnings after rest increase; Soon to descend with sunshine on its head. "All the year round the watchful heaven is o'er us; H. W. * This Homily follows in regular order the Author's Sketches of all the preceding Psalms. 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 contribute 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. Our Method.-Our plan of treatment will comprise four sections:-(1) The 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 ministrations. No. CVI. God as He appears in Human History. "PRAISE WAITETH FOR THEE, O GOD, IN ZION: AND UNTO THEE SHALL THE VOW BE PERFORMED," etc.-Psalm lxv. 1-5. HISTORY.-This Psalm is ascribed to David; but not all the Psalms that are ascribed to him are his productions. Some think that the reference to the Temple in the fourth verse is a proof that David was not the author, for the Temple was not in existence until David had finished his course and passed away. Nor can the exact occasion when it was composed be determined. Some think it was after a copious shower of rain, following long and severe drought. Some think it was composed to celebrate some great anniversary, enumerating the acts of God in the revolving seasons. a It is entitled "a Psalm and Song." The reason of this double title is not clear, nor is it easy to discern the difference in the meaning of the words. It is dedicated, like many others of the Psalms, "to the chief musician," or the precentor. ANNOTATIONS: Ver. 1.-" Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion" For "waiteth," the margin reads, "is silent." Delitzsch reads it, "Resignation is as praise;" others, "Praise becometh Thee;" others, "Unto Thee, O God, belongeth praise." Hapstone renders the clause, "To Thee in Zion there's silence, there's praise," and remarks, that "Silence alludes to the silence in the sanctuary while the high priest was making the yearly atonement, no person being permitted to be present during the whole time (Lev. xvi. 17). The same term occurs several times in the Psalms (xxii. 2; xxxvii. 7; lxii. 1,5), but in none of the other books of the Bible." "And unto Thee shall the vow be performed." Nothing is more natural or common to man, in certain circumstances, than to make vows, or resolutions to God. These vows impose an obligation. The promise made to God must be redeemed. Ver. 2.- O Thou that hearest prayer." "O Thou who answerest prayer." Delitzsch. That God hears prayer, is no great encouragement, for He hears everything; but that He answers, is one of the most inspiring facts that can under the attention of man. "Unto Thee shall all flesh come." Flesh here, of course, means humanity. Unto Thee shall all mankind come or go. Some render it, "It is inevitable that all men must go sooner or later to God," go to Him in conscious contact. Ver.3.-"Iniquities prevail against me." Margin, "Words or matters of iniquities." Perhaps he means charges of wrong were so strong that he could not meet them or refute them, they were the echo of his own experience. "As for our transgressions, Thou shalt purge them away." Some read, "Thou expiatest them." But the word "purge " has the sense of cleansing. come Ver. 4.-" Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to ap proach unto Thee, that he may dwell in Thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple." Happy he whom Thou wilt choose and bring him near," i.e., admit him to Thy presence and to intimate communication with Thee, so that he shall inhabit Thy courts: we shall be sated, satisfied, or filled with the good, i.e., the pleasure, the enjoyment of Thy house, the holy place, Thy temple or Thy holy temple, Thy sanctuary, an expression used both of the Tabernacle and the Temple properly so called. The privilege described is not merely that of public worship at the place of God's appointment, but of residence in His family and participation in the privileges of His household."-Alexander. Ver. 5.-"By terrible things in righteousness wilt Thou answerus, O God of our salvation." " In terrible deeds of righteousness dost Thou answer us, O God of our salvation, the Confidence of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea."-Delitzsch. The idea is, Thou wilt give us answers to prayer, though in righteousness they will be so terrible as to strike reverence and awe into the soul. "Who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea." That is, the object of universal trust. ARGUMENT. The subject of the whole Psalm is worship. And worship directed to God, (1) As He appears in human history (ver. 1-5); (2) As He appears in material nature (ver. 6-13). HOMILETICS. The words before us represent God as He appears in human history, and as He appears in human history worshipped. I. God as He appears in HUMAN HISTORY. ented to us,― He is here pre |