beasts that perish, must he be who would call such men happy, and would envy them their ill-used wealth or power! Such a feeling is a most pitiable yielding to the animal portion of our nature. The stain of such envious grief needs to be washed away in the grief of deep repentance for indulging it, and in tears of shame for the ignorance which gave rise to it. 22. Nevertheless, I am alway by Thee: for Thou hast holden me by my right hand. 23. Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel and after that receive me with glory. : This thought must indeed pierce us to the heart— that all through our impatience, our envy, and our ignorance, God, in Christ, was with us, holding us up that we might not fall, leading us by the hand that we might not miss our way;-was with us in His birth, that He might make our nature clean; in His passion, that He might save us from our sins; in His death, that He might give us life; in His ascension, as our Forerunner in heaven; in His scat at the right hand, as our Advocate; in His coming again as our immortal King. He Who has left the wicked to themselves in slippery places, guides the pure in heart with His spirit of counsel, and after this life receives them into eternal glory. 24. Whom have I in heaven but Thee : and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee. 25. My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. What is it to prosper in the world and to have riches in possession, if it be compared with the attaining unto the sight of God in heaven! The pure in heart shall see God, and what is there upon earth to desire in comparison with that infinite blessing! Our flesh may suffer, our heart may fail when sorrow, and trouble, and death, come upon us; but though weak in ourselves, we are strong in the mighty love of God; though poor in ourselves, we are rich in the portion of His everlasting joy. 26. For lo, they that forsake Thee shall perish Thou hast destroyed all them that commit fornication against Thee. : 27. But it is good for me to hold me fast by God, to put my trust in the Lord God: and to speak of all Thy works in the gates of the daughter of Sion. To forsake God is to perish. To indulge an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God,' is to be self-destroyed. Every soul that gives itself to fleshly lusts, and joins itself to earthly idols, divorces itself from its true and only Lord. As the Israelites were destroyed who joined themselves to Baal-peor, and were led into sin by the women of Midian, so shall the unchaste and the corrupt ever be destroyed. But there is but one true good; and if we attain to that good, we have all good. The one good is God. There is none good but One, that is, God.' What more can we have than Him, what better thing can we do than hold Him fast, what wiser thing than trust in Him? And having Him and being His, we shall no longer doubt or fear evil, but shall be talking of His goodness, and grace, and righteousness, within His holy Church. This Psalm was written by Asaph. The design of it was to prove to the unthinking that God is truly loving to His own people. This truth which the first verse asserts is the key to the whole Psalm. The writer had seen the wicked enjoying earthly prosperity, and it had seemed wrong to him that they who lived evil lives should have the advantages of wealth and power, while the God-fearing were often suffering, and were always under restraint. This reflection had weakened his faith, but by grace he at length arrived at a right understanding of the ways of providence; and to instruct others in what he had been taught himself, he composed this Psalm. PSALM lxxiv. Ut quid, Deus. 1. O GOD, wherefore art Thou absent from us so long why is Thy wrath so hot against the sheep of Thy pasture? : 2. O think upon Thy congregation whom Thou hast purchased, and redeemed of old. 3. Think upon the tribe of Thine inheritance and mount Sion, wherein Thou hast dwelt. Churches have their trials, even as individual souls have theirs. The Church of Israel had to suffer and to mourn at different times, sometimes through the violence and cruelty of heathen enemies, some times through the unbelief and wickedness of Israel themselves. So too the Church of Christ has suffered persecution again and again; at one time from the powers of the earth openly raging against her, at another from them who have been her own children, but have become faithless, and have added open violence to neglect and unbelief. In all these trials the Church must look to God, and not to man; she must implore His pity, and seek to appease His anger, and not look to the compassion or caprice of man. It is because they have displeased Him, because He is angry with His sheep and leaves them, that these things come upon them. They must turn to Him, and so will He turn to them. They must plead before Him the redemption which Christ wrought, and the inheritance which He gained for us, Who once took our nature and dwelt in our world, yea, still abides in His Church and will abide unto the end. 4. Lift up Thy feet, that Thou mayest utterly destroy every enemy which hath done evil in Thy sanctuary. Heb. Raise Thy feet unto the places lastingly desolate : for tokens. His people must humbly pray that He will arise and come to see what evil has been done, what desolation has been wrought in His Holy Place. The ruin that Ahaz brought upon the Temple by his idolatry, is but a type of the ruin that sin, and false doctrine, and 'covetousness, which is idolatry,' will always bring upon the Church. Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord; and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem.' He also erected an altar in the very front of the temple of Jerusalem, and there chanted the praises of false gods, and set up the banners of the idols of Damascus, 'according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.' 6. He that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees was known to bring it to an ex cellent work. Heb. They are like men bringing up axes Into a thick forest. 7. But now they break down all the carved work thereof: with axes and hammers. The wicked are like fellers going into a forest with axes, not to cut down wood for use or ornament, but merely to destroy and to make havoc. They mar the beauty of God's Church, they break down its carved work and take away all its glory. So did Ahaz when he took the silver and gold which was found in the house of the Lord, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria.' Yet this desolation was but a warning and a prophecy to the |