here and there to stern duty. We get such hours with Christ, but they are brief as the soldier's furlough, spent with loved ones around the hearth at home, with love glances brightening, soon over; and then the stir of camp, the tread of the night-watch, and, perhaps, the rush and noise of battle. It is impossible to "build" on Hermon! We have each our post away down there at the foot of Hermon, on the bloodless battle-field of Duty, Sacrifice, and Service; and we must be there, waiting, watching! It is "good" to be there alone with Christ. It is " "better to be making Christ known-"better" to be influencing others by the power of a Christ-like character-"better" to wear the light and peace we found on Hermon out in the thick of the world, and let our holiest experiences act and re-act upon our commoner and more ordinary life, and help to transfigure all we do. In heaven such feelings and experiences will be "permanent"-"for ever with the Lord." Our best thoughts and feelings will "abide," or if they pass away, only as the young bud of spring passes into the full flower of July, and that into the mellower fruit of autumn.

How dull a life unchequered by such visions! The worldling has no Mount Hermon to enjoy; and yet the world promises bright and glowing visions to her votaries, but instead of the visions of Pisgah or Hermon, it is the dulness of the grim desert-the mocking mirage, and the taste of the brackish waters of Marah. The world leads us to no spot of which we can say, as the Christian whom Christ leads to Hermon's summit, "it is good to be here." Amen. THEODORE HOOK.

Chelmsford.

I have given Mount Hermon as the scene of the Transfiguration, it being more generally accepted than Mount Tabor. See "Genius of the Gospel" for full elucidation of the whole scene, page 426, seventieth section.

Homiletic Sketches on the Book of Psalms.

OUR PURPOSE.--Many learned and devout men have gone philologically through this TEHILIM, 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.

Subject: LIFE'S STORMS-(continued.)

"Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice:
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
When thou saidst, Seek ye my face:

My heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not Thy face far from me;

Put not Thy servant away in anger:

Thou hast been my help: leave me not,

Neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

When my father and mother forsake me,

Then the Lord will take me up.

Teach me Thy way, O Lord,

And lead me in a plain path,

Because of mine enemies.

Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies :

For false witnesses are risen up against me,

And such as breathe out cruelty.

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the

Lord in the land of the living.

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen thine heart:

Wait, I say, on the Lord."-Ps. xxvii. 7-14.

HISTORY.-For the history of this Psalm, see HOMILIST, p. 17.

ANNOTATIONS.-Ver. 7.-" Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me." "With my voice," that is, audibly aloud. The spirit of prayer becomes sometimes so strong as to break silence and take voice.

Ver. 8.-" When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto me, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." In the margin, it is, "My heart said unto me, let my face seek Thy face." There is an obscurity in this expression, still the idea is obviously this--" Seek ye my face" is to be regarded as God's word to David, and David's response is, "Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek."

Ver. 9.-" Thou hast been my help: leave me not, neither," &c. "Thou hast been." The past tense is essential; the idea is, what thou hast been, continue still to be.

Ver. 10." When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." For "take me up," the margin reads, "gather me." The case which David here puts is a suppositious one; he does not say that his father or mother had ever forsaken him, or ever would; he merely supposes their desertion. Should such an event occur, should his nearest friends desert him, he felt sure that Jehovah would take him up.

Ver. 11.-" Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." "Plain path" in the margin reads "path of plainness," and "mine enemies," "those which observe me."

Ver. 12.-" Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies." The word "will" here means soul, and is used for the ruling wish.

Ver. 13.—“ I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Though the words, "I had fainted," are supplied by our translators, and are not in the original, they express the true sense of the passage. "Unless I believed, or fully expected to look upon Jehovah in the land of light." This, perhaps, is the literal translation, and the language is an instance of the figure called aposiopesis, in which the conclusion of the sentence is suppressed, either from excitement and hurried feeling, or because of some unwillingness to utter what is necessary to complete it. Thus, in this case, the apodosis would probably have been, "I would despair, or I must have perished.”—Alexander.

Ver. 14.-"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord." This verse, and the preceding one, have been thus poetically rendered

66

'Oh, if I had not believed verily to see the goodness of Jehovah
In the land of the living!

Wait on Jehovah, be strong, and let thine heart take courage,
Yea, wait on Jehovah!"

"Here," says Hengstenberg, "is the strong part of the soul speaking

to the weak. The Psalmist is not exhorting others, but exhorting himself: it is a kind of monologue."

ARGUMENT. We have said that the Psalm consists of three parts-(1.) A triumphant declaration of faith in God; (2.) An earnest appeal in prayer to God; (3.) A self-exhortation to wait upon God.

HOMILETICS.-Homiletically the great subject of the Psalm may be regarded as Life's Storms: and it reveals-(1.) Courage in life's storms; (2.) Shelter in life's storms; (3.) Prayer in life's storms; (4.) Self-exhortation in life's storms. The first two subjects we have already treated: the last two we shall now indicate.

III. PRAYER in Life's Storms. Profitable reflections might be obtained from the following points discoverable in this prayer:

First: This prayer is earnestly vocal and appeals to mercy for relief. "When I cry with my voice, have mercy." There are silent prayers, prayers that go forth from the soul in ejaculatory sighs, they take no voice, they are inarticulate, and sometimes inarticulatable; "they cannot be uttered." But this prayer went forth in the voice of earnest crying; the soul was roused into excitement, its emotions of fear were surging and strong, and it cried, and cried for what? "Mercy." It is "mercy" that the distressed soul wants. There are certain things that a responsible being requires in order to be held responsible, such as the means of knowing duty, the power of performing it, and freedom of action. It can claim these as a matter of justice, but sinners want mercy. Mercy to forgive, to rectify, to deliver, and to bless.

Secondly This prayer expresses ready compliance with the Divine request. "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek." The "face" of God in the Bible sense means His favour; thus,"The Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make His face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." (1.) God requires us to seek His favour. The Bible is full of this:

"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found." "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." Why does He require us to seek His redemptive favours? Why does He not bestow them, as He bestows the light of day, the riches of autumn, and all the blessings of nature irrespective of our requests? (a.) Not because our appeals can induce Him to be more merciful than He has ever been. Infinite goodness is unpersuadable. (b.) Not because the prayers of His creatures can in any way merit His favours. Why then? Because earnest prayers qualify the suppliant rightly to receive, appreciate, and use the blessing sought. Because God says to us, "Seek ye my face," our hearts should respond promptly and fully, "Thy face, Lord, will I seek."

Thirdly: This prayer deprecates the disfavour of God as a terrible evil. "Hide not Thy face from me: put not Thy servant away in anger." To hide the face is expressive of displeasure. It is common for men when they receive an insult from another, when their sense of honour or justice is offended, to turn away their face from the offender with disgust and contempt. This is a severe punishment in some cases. It is a severe punishment to the son, when a tender and loving father turns the face away from him: to the wife, when a pure-hearted and noble-minded husband turns away his face from her. Hence David speaks of the hiding of God's face as the most terrible of evils. God's face-His favour is the sun of the soul. Were the sun to continue to hide his face from the earth, our planet would soon lose all its life and all its beauty. It is in the presence of God only is pleasure to be obtained. "In Thy presence there is fulness of joy, at Thy right hand," &c.

Fourthly: This prayer recognises the transcendent character of Divine friendship. "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up." The love of father and mother is the strongest, purest, faithfullest, the most self-sacrificing love we have on this earth. Earth has no brighter reflection of the Divine heart. But this may fail, it has often failed; instances occur when parents desert their children, ⚫ when parental love turns into friendly hate.