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 ARGU MENT 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 ministra. tions.

Subject: Prayer under Trial.

"And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee," etc.-PSALM xxxix. 7-13.

HISTORY:-See page 145.

ANNOTATIONS:-See pages 146, 147, 148, on the whole Psalm.

HOMILETICS.-In the previous sketch exegetical remarks were offered on the whole Psalm, which may be homiletically divided into two sections-the one comprising thought under trial, and the other comprising prayer under trial. Having dealt with the first section, we proceed now with the other.

II. PRAYER UNDER TRIAL. In the prayer which extends from verse 7 to the end of the Psalm, the suppliant does four things:

First He expresses his confidence in God. "And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in Thee." This blessed state of mind, which is essential to all true prayer, always implies two things. (1) A settled belief in the personal existence of God. You cannot trust anything in whose existence you have no

faith, nor can you trust an impersonality. He that cometh to God must believe that He is. The faith must be not a mere intellectual belief, not an occasional mood of soul, but a permanent and all-powerful conviction. (2) A supreme appreciation of the character of God. Who can trust a being that is unkind, untruthful, unjust, or unholy? No moral intelligence can do so. Hence, to trust the Almighty, we must have the highest estimate of His moral excellence. Where these two things are, there will be full reliance of soul. The soul will find a resting-place in which it will feel no apprehensions, from which it cannot be dislodged, and where it will remain in blessed peacefulness amidst all the mutations and storms of life.

Secondly: He implores deliverance from sin. "Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish." What does deliverance from sin mean? Not deliverance from the memory of sin. The sin of a moral being is such a terrible fact, originating such momentous issues, that it can never be blotted from the page of memory. Will the saints in heaven ever forget their regeneration and salvation? If not, never will they cease to recollect their sin. The memory of their sin in heaven will intensify their gratitude and heighten their song,-" unto Him that loved us and washed us," etc. What does it involve then?

(1) Deliverance from its foreboding power. Sin in unrenewed natures, and sin in hell, fills the sinner with terrific forebodings of ever-approaching anguish. In all, there is "a fearful looking-for of wrath and fiery indignation." But where the soul has been delivered from sin by the interposition of redemptive grace, such fearful forebodements are

Hope takes the place of fear. A glorious paradise, instead of a flaming hell, looms on the horizon of the soul.

(2) Deliverance from its reigning force. Sin often becomes such a habit that it gains the entire mastery of all the susceptibilities and faculties of the soul. Men everywhere are "the servants of sin." They are carnally sold unto it. Now, true deliverance from sin involves the destruction of this

habit, the entire overthrow of its dominion. The delivered soul, should it sin again, sins not intentionally but incidentally; not as a rule, but an exception. Who can deliver from the habit of sin but the God of almighty power and grace? He alone can strike the despot down.

(3) Deliverance from its social reproach. The Psalmist refers to this in the verse, “Make me not the reproach of the foolish," that is, the wicked. To be the subject of reproach by your contemporaries and the circle in which you live, is a fearful calamity. And the man under the dominion of sin is justly exposed to this. From the constitution of conscience, he cannot but be reproached. Men cannot approve, respect, or admire falsehood, dishonesty, impiety, 'meanness, moral carnality. To be delivered from this social reproach, you must be delivered from sin. No soul can reproach goodness, truth, honour, etc.

(4) Deliverance from an unsubmissive spirit. "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it." Under his severe sufferings he was dumb, not because he had nothing to say; many thoughts under such circumstances would rush into his mind. Not because he felt it inexpedient to speak, and dreaded the consequences, but because the spirit of insubordination was gone, and the spirit of cordial submission and entire acquiescence in the Divine Will possessed him. "Because Thou didst it." Whatever God does is right. And whatever is right, though it involve our misery, we should rejoice in. "Not my will, but Thine be done." To have this spirit, involves perfect deliverance from sin, and is the source of all happiness.

Another thing which the author of the prayer does is—

Thirdly: He supplicates the removal of his sufferings. Notice here two things-(1) The nature of his sufferings. (a) He regarded them as Divine chastisements for sin. "Remove Thy stroke away from me. I am consumed by the blow of Thine hand." The word "stroke" here is regarded as equivalent to chastisement. In the next verse the idea of chastise

ment for sin is kept up. "When Thou with rebukes dost

correct man for iniquity." God has so arranged the moral universe, that suffering must follow sin as a chastisement or judgment. Human suffering does not come as a matter of chance or of blind fatality. It comes as the result of a Divine, benevolent, immutable plan. Wherever there is a sin, there must come a Divine stroke. (B) As Divine chastisements, they were terribly painful. "I am consumed by the blow of Thine hand.” And, again, “When Thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth." Sense of sin is the soul of suffering. “A wounded spirit, who can bear?" If a man under the severest sufferings felt all was undeserved and he was innocent, his burden would become comparatively light. The fire in our suffering that consumes us, that burns up our beauty, that eats us up like a moth, is consciousness of sin. Notice(2) The urgency of his appeal. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear unto my cry; hold not Thy peace at my tears." prayer was not a mere form of words, was not the expression of a passing emotion; it was the deep cry of his heart, it was the pouring out of his soul unto tears.

His

The plea he employs is very striking. "I am a stranger and a sojourner as all my fathers were." * He entreats a renewal of strength before his latter end. "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence and be no more." What is death? Going hence-going hence never to return-to "be no more"'-no more here. Why does he want a renewal of strength before he went? wish to die with infirm faculties, but rather in the full possession of his powers. Without a full possession of our faculties in death, (1) we cannot have or show full confidence in God, (2) we cannot have or show a full hope of a glorious immortality.

He did not

How reasonable the prayer, "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more."

*See a Homily on this expression elsewhere.

Homiletic Sketches on the Book of

Job.

The Book of Job is one of the grandest sections of Divine Scripture. It has never yet, to our knowledge, been treated in a purely Homiletic method for Homiletic ends. Besides many learned expositions on the book found in our general commentaries, we have special exegetical volumes of good scholarly and critical worth; such as Drs. Barnes, Wemyss, Mason Goode, Noyes Lee, Delitzsch, and Herman Hedwick Bernard: the last is in every way a masterly production. For us, therefore, to go into philology and verbal criticism, when such admirable works are available to all students, would be superfluous, if not presumption. Ambiguous terms, when they occur, we shall of course explain, and occasionally suggest an improved rendering; but our work will be chiefly, if not entirely, Homiletic. We shall essay to bring out from the grand old words those Divine verities which are true and vital to man as man in all lands and ages. These truths we shall frame in an order as philosophic and suggestive as our best powers will enable us to do; and this in order to help the earnest preachers of God's Holy Word.

Subject: Job's Second Reply to Eliphaz, in which He Reproves His Friends of Unmercifulness. I. His Censure.

"Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all," etc.-JOв xvi. 1-22.

EXEGETICAL REMARKS.-Ver. 1, 2.-" Then Job answered and said, I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all." "What he means here is, that the irritating sentiments which they had addressed to him were by no means original. He had often heard such things before. Perhaps they had spoken in such a way as to indicate that they were great discoverers in the realms of morals and religion. Job declines to regard them as such: "Miserable comforters are ye all." They had come from a distance with the avowed object of administering consolation to him under his great afflictions, but the speeches they addressed to him had produced a result the most opposite. They wounded his feelings, they intensified his distress.

Ver. 3.-" Shall vain words (margin: words of wind) have an end?"? Eliphaz had charged Job (xv. 2, 3) with using such words-words devoid of thought-volatile. Here Job retorts on him, returns the accusation, "Oh, what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?" "Provoketh" perhaps would be better than "emboldeneth." What has exasperated thee that thou shouldest speak thus to me?

Ver. 4.-"I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's

stead." He means to say, If you were in my place, I could speak to