even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until He have mercy upon us.

Like servants depend upon their master, in whose power they are, and like a handmaid depends upon her mistress, both for reward and for punishment, so do we, the servants of the Lord God Almighty, depend upon Him for all we have in this life, and that which is to come. Yea, like a faithful servant watches attentively the slightest motions and pointings out of the wishes of his lord, so do we wait and watch for the indications of our Master's will, hoping through His love and power to gain the full assurance of His mercy. Each holy soul will in its degree share in the humility and the patience of the Blessed among women, who said, 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.'

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3. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us for we are utterly despised. 4. Our soul is filled with the scornful reproof of the wealthy and with the despitefulness of the proud.

We must needs look to heaven if we would obtain mercy, for if we look to earth, there is great fear lest we find it not. It is not from those who are puffed with false riches, or that are proud of earthly power, that the meek and the faithful in heart will meet with esteem or reverence. Christ, the first Wayfarer Who ascended from earth to heaven, found but shame, reproof, and spite from the mighty of the

earth; and they who follow in His steps must be ready for the same, and must therefore ever look for their defence, not to the great ones who dwell on earth, but to the greater than all, Who dwelleth in the heavens.

This pilgrim-song" has no date contained in its title. It is probably an early one, but would be very appropriate, in later times, to the journey through Samaria, for those who travelled to Jerusalem by that route. It was, however, more usual for those who lived in Galilee to cross the Jordan and journey southward through Peræa, and then to cross the Jordan a second time, and so to arrive at Jerusalem without passing through the hostile country of Samaria. Verse 2 probably alludes to the Eastern custom of masters and mistresses summoning their servants by clapping the hands, and then giving them directions by signs and movements of the hands, without speaking-the effect of which is to make the servant watch attentively every motion of his master's hands. It may, however, merely mean that the hand of a master dispenses both reward and punishment to his servants.

PSALM CXXIV. Nisi quia Dominus.

1. IF the Lord Himself had not been on our side, now may Israel say if the Lord Himself had not been on our side, when men rose up against us;

2. They had swallowed us up quick when they were so wrathfully displeased at us.

3. Yea, the waters had drowned us and the stream had gone over our soul.

4. The deep waters of the proud : had gone even over our soul.

Not only each soul, but the whole Church and Israel of God is, during her pilgrimage of this passing life, forced to confess her Lord alone to be her de

fence in all adversity, and in all persecutions. When evil men, or evil angels, are aroused to harass God's elect, they would soon work their will, unless there were One mightier than they to take His people's part:

they would, as it were, swallow them up alive-they would sift them as wheat-they would, if they might, engulf them in the waters of death, and in those waters deeper and bitterer than death, which drown not the body, but the soul in the depths of perdition.

5. But praised be the Lord: Who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth.

6. Our soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler : the snare is broken, and we are delivered.

But He Who has made us His, and in Whose hand is our eternal life, wills not that His people should become a prey to the teeth of the devourers. He has broken the snare of hell, and hath opened the pit of death, and our souls, once tied and bound with the chain of our sins,' may now once again soar up to Him through the open firmament of heaven, like a wild bird set free from a broken snare.

For He hath set the bondsmen free, and made the dead alive, to Whose holy Name be ever ascribed all blessing from Israel sojourning on earth, and from Israel in rest in heaven.

7. Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord Who hath made heaven and earth.

Yea, against the Israel of God is arrayed the ma

lice of wickedness, strong and cunning; while on their side is the help of the Almighty, Whose love made all the worlds: and in the might of that help the wickedness of earth and hell is utterly swallowed up and lost, just as a single drop of water is consumed and vanishes within a mighty fire. He by Whose word alone the heaven and earth were built, and without Whose will not even one single sparrow falls into the snare, is our help; and in that help how can we not be safe?

This "Song of the Pilgrimages" was written "by David," and bears the plain marks of his style. The date of its composition cannot be fixed, but it was, perhaps, written during the war of the Syrians and Ammonites against Israel. (2 Sam. x. 6-19.) It would be well fitted for those who had been so far preserved from the perils of their journey, from robbers and enemies, in their way up to Jerusalem.

PSALM CXxv. Qui confidunt.

1. THEY that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as the mount Sion: which may not be removed, but standeth fast for ever. LXX. He that inhabiteth Jerusalem shall not be moved for ever.

2. The hills stand about Jerusalem: even so standeth the Lord round about His people, from this time forth for evermore.

'By faith we are saved;' by faith we are made strong. By trusting in our God we share His strength; by cleaving to His Church we become like His Church herself. As the spiritual Sion can never be moved or overthrown, for that her foundations are in eternity; so the elect of God stand

changeless and strong, like the hill of David, among the storms of this world. And like the other hills of Judæa stand round that holy mountain, as walls of rock, or as sentinel angels keeping guard round the Church of God, so does the Almighty God Himself, with all His attributes of wisdom, power, and love, maintain an everlasting watch round each one of His redeemed—a watch which lasts through the ages of this world and that which is to come.

3. For the rod of the ungodly cometh not into the lot of the righteous: lest the righteous put their hand unto wickedness.

Heb. For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest on the lot of the righteous,

So that the righteous put not forth their hand to unrighteousness.

This is the one mighty watch that God keeps over His people, that they may not fall under the dominion of the wicked. He kept Sion from the Assyrians, that the rod of the heathen should not be stretched over the lot of Israel. He keeps His Church, that the sceptre of the Evil one should never so rule her children that they should be forced to put forth their hands, which are made to do the works of God, to do the works of death and sin. Woe for those who have so fallen under the power of the sceptre of the prince of this world, that they are compelled to do his evil service at his evil pleasure!

4. Do well, O Lord unto those that are good and true of heart.