If we take hold on God's

gifts already prayed for. power, and grow up into God's purity, we shall not lack material for praise. They must be blessed who reflect the Father's likeness, and who lean upon the Father's arm. And indeed the gifts act and react upon each other. The greatest weakness of the soul is sin. The strength of the Lord in us drives away that weakness which is misery; and then "the joy of the Lord," in beautiful reaction, becomes our strength for more loving and vigorous labour. To be strong, to be pure, and to be happy-can there be richer birth-gifts proffered on the church's natal day? And the loving Father has these in hand for his children. Even now his banner is over us; and in the royal banquet-house, we, the guests of the Divine, are invited. to take these blessings from above. Brethren, are you ready? Then swell forth the prayer, "Arise, O Lord, into thy rest." And let all the people say,

"Amen."

I can give but a few moments to the bountiful answer to the prayer-so prompt, so generous, so full. I am not going into any bewildering speculations about the mode and manner, in which God transforms our litanies into the blessings they supplicate. You know, you rejoice in the fact that God does answer prayer; and I wish, for your encouragement and my own, to remind you of just one discovery which a thoughtful student of the psalm will make-that in every case the answer is more large than the request. Look at it. It is very touching and very beautiful to see how the Lord, as if in compassion to human infirmity, remembers and dwells upon every point, in each case tenderly

intensifying the blessing. psalm are the prayer. begins. In the second verse, David sware unto the Lord; in the eleventh, "the Lord hath sworn in truth unto David." The petition is, " Arise, O Lord, into thy rest"-the answer, "This is my rest for ever." The prayer, "Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness the answer, "I will also clothe her priests with salvation," which is of righteousness the flower and crown and perfecting. The prayer, "Let thy saints shout for joy "-the answer, " And her saints shall shout aloud for joy." And then, as it were thrown in-the largess of the King-there are abundance and bounty, the blessings of the "lamp" and of the “horn "—that is, the gifts of Wisdom and Power; the discomfiture of his enemies (they robed, as the priests, only not with salvation but with shame); and on his head an ever-prosperous crown.

The first ten verses of the In the eleventh, the answer

Ah! but God gives in godlike fashion. And is it not so in all his dealings with the race he has created and redeemed? Oh, the infinite richness with which our Father endows his children! Does he proffer mercy to the ungodly, the perverse, the rebel? In what words? "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Does he woo the wanderer, who in some dark hour has strayed? By what charm of loving speech? "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him." "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of

God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." That is the princely style of benefaction-not after man's hard fashion, with the stern glance, and the cold censure, spoiling the gift by the manner of the giver; taking the music out of kindness, making the generosity a matter of business. No, but free love, multiplied pardons, wisdom without upbraiding. Does he send forth his messengers on an arduous mission? Yes, but not without a warm promise, like a Great-heart guide— Lo, I am with you." Are those who believe put into possession of a peace? What is its character ?

Is it a flimsy and hollow serenity which springs from indifference, and is ruffled by disaster? No, but a deep imperial quiet, which passeth all understanding. They inhale a joy also. What is its kind? The mirth that doth not profit, or the laughter that is mad, shallow as the brook, and fugitive as the flash of lightning? It is a joy unspeakable, and when it lights up the faces, as of Moses on the mountain, as of Stephen in the Jewish assembly, full of glory. They are promised victory over spiritual enemies; but how? A victory akin to defeat, so disastrous as to prompt the saying with the ancient captain, "Another such, and we are undone !"-a drawn battle, which the friendly night terminates, and whose issue is so doubtful that they have to send heralds to ask permission to bury their dead? Nay, they are "more than conquerors." They are promised the inheritance of heaven; but how? Scarcely saved, saved so as by fire; stealthily introduced, pursued to the very threshold by the avenger of blood; smuggled in under the wing of

some guardian angel; left to wind their solitary way along the golden streets, strangers without a welcome. or a friend? No! but an entrance is ministered abundantly. They are in heaven, finally; but in what estate? Menials, permitted scant glimpses of the glory, hearing far-off echoes of the music? Nay; overpassing and wondrous grace they enter into his joy and sit down on his throne.

!

XXVII.

CHRIST, THE KING.

"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?"

HE Son"

"THE

-Ps. ii. 1.

"The King" "The Anointed." Who is this personage, designated by these wonderful names? Are they to be explained by the thought of a triumphal ode, composed by a successful warrior in the moment of victory, and in his natural elation ascribing to himself such titles, and linking his cause with the Divine? So some have thought, and have named David as the warrior, and his victory over the Jebusites, and his capture of Zion, as the theme. But David, who wrote the Psalm, as is declared expressly in the Acts of the Apostles, must have changed his character if he could speak of himself thus boastfully. His loyal harp was never tuned to such self-praise. The strain swells too grandly to find its subject in any earthly potentate. The psalm must have a wider sweep, and a more affluent exposition. There is only one who can exhaust its grandeur; and on his vesture and on his thigh this name is written, 'King of kings, and Lord of lords."

We may assume, then, without further question, that the psalm is a psalm of Christ. Six times at least is it