The subject of this psalm, as of the whole group to which it belongs, is the reign of Christ. Some glorious revival in the Jewish Church so uplifted the thought of the writer of these psalms that he sees, as if already present, that blessed advent and reign of the Lord which, whilst it must be the confusion of his adversaries, must also be the everlasting joy of his faithful people. We observe -

I. THE AFFIRMATION or THESE PSALMS - that Jehovah is King. "The Lord reigneth." The writer has no doubt of it at all. Therefore:

1. He bids the whole earth rejoice, even to its uttermost parts, the scattered islands of the sea.

2. He admits that much mystery remains. "Clouds and darkness are," etc.

3. Nevertheless, he affirms that righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. The Lord is enthroned, and righteousness and judgment shall be habitually upheld.

4. Nature bears witness to him. Lightnings, earthquakes, volcanoes, the earth melting like wax, symbolize his majesty and power.

5. The heathen are confounded, whilst his people,for abundant reasons (ver. 9), rejoice.

II. THE GENERAL DENIAL OF THIS AFFIRMATION, which is met with in our day. There are not a few who say that the Lord will reign; but that, as yet, the state of the world is getting worse and worse, and will do so until the coming of the Lord, when he will bring all evil to an end. They look forward to that second coming of the Lord as the great hope of the Church. Hence it is only as having the right and the power to reign, and as now and then manifesting that power, that, at present, the Lord can be said to reign. They believe that the Lord shall reign, not that he does. But note -

III. THE NEW TESTAMENT CONFIRMATION OF THIS PSALM.

1. It everywhere declares that the Lord is King, is reigning now. Because such is the just conclusion from its constant statements that the coming of Christ was "at hand;" that generation in which our Lord lived was not to pass away until the coming of his kingdom. Some standing around him - so he declared - should not taste of death till they had seen him coming in glory. And with this all the teachings of the apostles agree. They tell of the Lord's coming as "at hand." They believed that some of them should remain and be alive at his coming. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," was the burden of their preaching; they went everywhere proclaiming that, and the coming of the Lord as its inauguration. But if our Lord has not come, then how are his words, and the words of his apostles, whom the Holy Spirit was to lead into all truth, to be understood? We shrink from saying that they were mistaken, and, unwittingly, taught error. Therefore we believe that he has come, and that he is indeed and in truth reigning now.

2. And the objection - Why, then, is evil so rampant? - is met by St. Paul's statement in 1 Corinthians 15:23-26. There the reign of Christ is plainly declared, and that "he must reign till he hath put," etc. (ver. 25), evidently implying that, though he doth reign, yet there will be enemies still to be subdued, and this will be only a gradual process. His coming was not to put an end all at once, in a moment, to all evil; but it should ultimately be done.

3. And this is still being done. Let the laws and customs of Christian nations tell. They are evil enough in many parts still, but will any one dare to say that the lot of humanity is as dark now as it was in our Lord's day? Has he done nothing for us? Who will say that? And let the growth and increased purity of the Church - far short, doubtless, of what they should and will be - also tell. And the Lord's work by his Spirit in the individual believing soul. Are we not conscious that he is more and more putting all our spiritual foes under his feet? Therefore we believe that the Lord has come, and that he reigneth.

IV. THE BLESSED RESULTS OF THIS BELIEF.

1. The need for twisting the Scriptures is taken away. We can read them in their plain and obvious meaning.

2. The infidel's taunt is silenced. Gibbon sneers at the Christian's belief, taking it for granted that the Lord has not come. And many today base their unbelief on the glaring contradiction between the Scriptures and the doctrine of so many Christians that Christ has not yet come.

3. We are not fighting a losing battle. The state of the world is not darkening drear - as so many say - but brightening. The Church has not to wait for, but to rejoice in, his presence.

4. Death, in the old dread meaning of the word, is abolished.

5. Satan is judged, fallen, condemned. We, whilst trusting in Christ, need have no fear. The Lord is King. - S.C.

On this truth we observe -

I. IT WAS THE FAITH OF ALL HOLY SCRIPTURE. The Law, the Prophets, the Psalms - these especially - the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Revelation, all alike declare this faith, and in varied form utter their "Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

II. THIS FAITH IS COMMENDED TO US BY ITS NEVER-FAILING FRUITFULNESS IS ALL MANNER OF GOOD. Some beliefs which men have long and largely held have died away, and men have willingly let them die; but this faith is too blessed that we should lightly let it perish. It imparts peace to the mind amid all the vicissitudes of life; vigour to the will, strengthening it for strenuous action; and power for the help and comfort of our fellow men.

III. IT IS, NEVERTHELESS, GREATLY DOUBTED AND DENIED.

1. In some because of the sad and insoluble problems of this present life. Life seems to them an inextricable tangle, not worth living, all vanity and vexation of spirit.

2. In others, the teachings of science seem not only to remove God so far away, but throw doubt on his existence altogether.

3. In others, the increased sensitiveness to human suffering has caused the mind to recoil from doctrines and beliefs which were unquestioningly held by our forefathers, and the sight of the mass of unrelieved misery which crushes beneath its awful weight the multitudes of mankind in all ages and lands has begotten the dark doubt in minds not a few, whether there be an omnipotent and beneficent God at all. Perhaps men's doubts of this faith were never more widespread than they are now.

IV. BUT ITS EVIDENCES, NOTWITHSTANDING, ARE EVERYWHERE.

1. In the natural world, the power, wisdom, and beneficence of the Creator are, in spite of many mysteries, clearly to be seen (see Drummond's 'Ascent of Man').

2. In the order of God's providence, when men will obey its laws.

3. In the history of the Church.

4. In the experience of the individual believing soul.

V. AND THIS FAITH MAY BE ATTAINED TO BY WHOSOEVER WILL, The path is - obedience. "He that doeth my will shall know of the doctrine," etc. Refuse to cherish doubt. "I will trust, and not be afraid." - S.C.

The figures of this verse are evidently taken from the scenes connected with the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. Then "clouds and darkness" were the surroundings, and from these men might get a cursory and an unworthy impression of God; but then "justice and judgment" were declared to be the "pillars of his throne," and if men would but go beyond the appearances, they would apprehend God aright, and even discern the mission and the mystery of the symbols in which he appeared to them.

I. WHAT GOD SEEMS TO OUR IMPERFECT VISION. What could Israel see when the people dared to look up to the holy mount? Compare with what Moses saw who was on the holy mount. "And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke...and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly" (Exodus 19:18). For proper apprehension of God we are under two disadvantages:

1. Distance.

2. Sin.

Distance makes it difficult for us to see things clearly; and difficult for us to get them in the right perspective. Sin brings a dimness of the moral and spiritual vision - somewhat as drunkenness gives a double vision; and so the clouds round about God prove to be sin clouds in our own eyes. And sin brings a strange fear, because man can never separate sin from consequences, and he cannot help feeling that God will see that the consequences come. So our sin makes a "darkness" about God.

II. WHAT GOD IS TO OUR CULTURED VISION. That vision has to be cleansed before it can be cultured. Illustrate cultured vision by the trained eyesight of the sailor or of the scientific man. We at first may see nothing; gradually as we fix our gaze, and think as we gaze, we can see much. Cultured spiritual vision gradually gains right apprehension of what God is, and sees two things as absolutely necessary to the fitting idea of him.

1. He is eternally right in the principles that sway him.

2. He is practically right in the application of those principles. These two things are indicated in the abstract word "righteousness" and the concrete word "judgment." It may be shown how necessarily related these two are. If God is right, we may be confident that his ways are right.]f we can see his ways are right, we know that he is right. - R.T.

Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and truth are the foundation of his throne.

I. WE ARE OFTEN IN DOUBT AND DIFFICULTY ABOUT THE DIVINE CHARACTER AND GOVERNMENT, "Clouds and darkness are round about him." We cannot reconcile all we see with:

1. Divine omnipotence. Abortions. The means do not attain the end.

2. Divine wisdom. Or the wisdom was not perfect.

3. Divine justice.

4. Divine goodness.

II. AN OVERPOWERING CONVICTION THAT THE DIVINE CHARACTER AND GOVERNMENT ARE PERFECT.

1. We feel that we are incapable judges of an infinite plan. We only see a part, therefore we cannot understand the whole.

2. What we can see and understand gives us unbounded faith in God in reference to what we cannot understand.

3. We feel assured that God is able to overrule what seems evil for final good. "All things work together for good." - S.

(comp. Exodus 19.; 20.; Habakkuk 3.; Hebrews 12:18-21; see also Psalm 77:17, 18). There is here an evident reference to an Eastern thunderstorm. Lightning and thunder, among all superstitious peoples, are regarded as special manifestations of the Deity. To us storms are but nature forces, having their intensity, and their comings and goings, according to ordinary nature laws. But poetry can now do, better than superstition, what superstition has done in all ages and in all lands. We inquire what the "storm sign" tells concerning God. The one common feeling in tempest is the sense of the presence of an august and awful force that is uncontrollable by man, but controllable by God. In addition to this it may be said that the storm-witness for God is universal; it is rendered in every land and in every age. Point out that in Jewish history storms are directly associated with the destruction of God's foes, and the deliverance of God's people, as in the case of Sisera. See also the revelation of God to Elijah, at Horeb, in the wild storm and the still small voice. The storm voice says concerning God -

I. HE HAS AUGUST FORCES AT COMMAND. Nature forces are sublime in themselves, but they represent moral and spiritual forces far more sublime.

II. HIS FORCES ARE ALTOGETHER OUT OF MAN'S LIMITATION. Tempest makes us feel this. All the combined powers of all humanity could not stop a flash of lightning or silence a peal of thunder. What makes the storm so trying to us is the sense it brings of our utter helplessness. But that lesson man needs to learn in a thousand ways, and over and over again.

III. HIS FORCES MAY BE USED IN MISSIONS OF JUDGMENT. The lightning strikes some. The storm may damage much. And though we may not say in a particular case the lightning stroke is a particular judgment on the individual, we do properly get the impression of God's power to carry out the Divine threatening.

IV. HIS FORCES, HOWEVER USED, HELP US FULLY TO REALIZE HIMSELF. There is constant danger of men's being satisfied with one-sided views of God. Christianity exalts his love; therefore it is needful to qualify our view of God by the nature-teachings and the older revelations. - R.T.

The figures which men worshipped in the olden time were either shaped of wood or molten metal; but in either case they were hand carved or hand graven, finished off by man's skill; and to set prominently the fact of man's share in their making, they are called "graven" images. It does not matter what form a man's god may take - whether it be a creation of his hand or of his imagination; the thing that makes it an idol, a vanity, an altogether unworthy thing, is that it is his. Man is a dependent creature. He did not make himself; he has a Maker. He does not want a God; he has a God. Whatever a man makes is less than the man. The god a man makes must be an inferior being to himself; and so cannot be really his God.

I. THE INFLUENCES ON MEN OF WORSHIPPING THEIR OWN GODS. As they have no standard beyond themselves, there is no hope of their rising higher in intellectual or moral attainments. And men make their gods to represent what they like - their pleasures. So their gods are always actually lower than their best selves, and the worship of them must debase and degrade them. This is abundantly illustrated by the immorality of all heathenism, both formal and intellectual.

II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF MEN'S WORSHIPPING THEIR OWN GODS. They must come into a "confounding." Life brings round the strain-times when the helplessness of idols is revealed. Illustrate by the helplessness of the Baal priests in the great testing day of Carmel. Intellectual idols, in which men boast themselves now, can provide no cheer for sorrow, no light for death.

III. THE INFLUENCES ON MEN OF WORSHIPPING THE ONE GOD. They have the inspiration of an absolute standard. They can always see in God what they ought to be, what they might be, and what they should strive to be. They can always find in God something beyond them, something that they are not. High thoughts of God draw us on to noble attainments.

IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF MEN'S WORSHIPPING THE ONE GOD. They are never "confounded." They do receive Divine help. They are lifted above all fear of nature forces or of human forces that may be arrayed against them. - R.T.

These are sadly wanted. Evil is not hated as it ought to be, as in this verse it is commanded to be. The world and the Church alike are suffering from need of those who hate well. The world is left without guidance, and the Church without strength, or honour, or joy.

I. THERE ARE MANY WHO HATE NEITHER GOOD NOR EVIL.

1. They do not hate goodness. They would be shocked to be told they did. They often say fine things about it, and, like Herod with John the Baptist, do "many things" because of it. They do not practise it much - never, unless it is conventional and in good form. Still, they do not hate it. It would be almost better if they did. For then they could not deceive themselves as now they do. They imagine all is well with them, simply because they do not openly oppose goodness. Though not with it, they are, so they flatter themselves, not against it. It was specially to such that our Lord spoke his stern, solemn word, "He that is not with me is against me." They are the would be neutrals. Our Lord likens them to the "house swept and garnished," from which one devil is gone out, but who soon comes back with seven others worse. The publicans and harlots, who know and feel their sin, go into the kingdom of heaven before such.

2. And assuredly they do not hate evil. If it be very gross and flagrant, they will condemn it, but if it comes to them in plausible and specious garb, as it generally does, they make excuses for it, and allow it both in themselves and others. The devil has it pretty much his own way so far as these people are concerned. He fears none but those who hate evil.

II. BUT THOSE WHO LOVE THE LORD MUST HATE EVIL.

1. It stands to reason. Such hatred of evil is but the necessary consequence and concomitant of the love of the Lord; where the one is, the other is also.

2. They will do so always and everywhere. Most and first of all in themselves. Not only in its outward manifestations, but in its secret spring - the heart from whence it proceeds. It is of no use fulminating against evil in others whilst we cherish it in ourselves. This they deeply feel, and hence their perpetual prayer is for the "clean heart." And they will hate evil in others also. They will not connive at it, nor in any way countenance it; their lives will be a witness and protest against it, they will be "the salt of the earth."

III. THE MOTIVES THAT URGE THEM ARE FULL OF FORCE.

1. Sin is the curse of humanity. Its steps are blood marked all through the world's history. It "brought death into the world, and all our woe;" and as it was, so it is still.

2. It slew our Lord. How would we feel towards the murderer of our dearest friend?

3. Whenever we in any degree allow it in ourselves, it weakens and humiliates us, and brings darkness into our souls.

4. It is life or death with us. If we do not destroy it, it will destroy us.

5. It robs us of power over others, save to do them harm.

IV. BUT THIS HATRED OF EVIL NEEDS TO BE DILIGENTLY CHERISHED. For we are in peril of getting used to it, and so of acquiescing in it as a thing that cannot be helped. Therefore:

1. Pray the Holy Spirit to fill you with the love of Christ.

2. To reveal you to yourself.

3. Walk in the light.

4. Confess at once if you have sinned.

5. Openly commit yourself on the Lord's side.

6. Attack evil wherever possible.

7. Pray without ceasing. - S.C.

Hate evil. In Scripture the term "evil" is employed in two senses - calamity and wrong doing. We can only "hate evil" when it stands for wrong doing. But it is necessary to carefully distinguish between hate of the wrong doer and hate of the wrong doing. The first is never right, the second is always right. We are to hate our own wrong doing, and to hate other people's. The term "hate" is also used in Scripture in two senses. Sometimes it means "feel intense dislike towards;' sometimes it means "put in the second place of your regard." The use of the term as applied to evil, and as representing the attitude towards evil of those who love God, may be seen in the other synonymous terms used in the Bible.

1. To hate is to eschew. A strong term, applying to something found unpleasant in the mouth, and therefore cast out. Of Job as an upright man it is said, "He feared God, and eschewed evil."

2. To hate is to depart from. So the psalmist (Psalms 34:14) bids us "depart from evil, and do good."

3. To hate is to abhor. The Apostle Paul (Romans 12:9) bids us "abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good." Gibbes says, "A man may know his hatred of evil to be true, first, if it be universal: he that hates sin truly hates all sin. Secondly, true hatred is fixed; there is no appeasing it but by abolishing the thing hated. Thirdly, hatred is a more rooted affection than anger; anger may be appeased, but hatred remains and sets itself against the whole kind. Fourthly, if our hatred be true, we hate all evil, in ourselves first, and then in others. Fifthly, he that hates sin truly hates the greatest sin in the greatest measure. Sixthly, our hatred is right if we can endure admonition and reproof for sin, and not be enraged." The points that may be opened and illustrated are these -

I. THE HATE WE CHERISH FOR EVIL IS AN INWARD FEELING. Show the natural repulsion of the pure minded from foul conversation. Those who love God become like minded with God; and so inwardly feel sin to be "the abominable thing."

II. THE HATE WE CHERISH FOR EVIL WILL FIND OUTWARD EXPRESSION.

1. In separation from it.

2. In resistance of it.

3. In fighting with it.

But never in any persecution of, or unauthorized attempts to punish, the wrong doers. - R.T.

It has always been a source of questioning and doubting to anxious minded men, such as the Psalmist Asaph, that God does not always preserve the bodies, or the circumstances, of his servants. But this ought to be no surprise to those who apprehend that God promises to preserve the soul; and he may, sometimes, be actually preserving the soul by not preserving the body. But perhaps this involves the higher Christian idea of the soul. In the older Scripture, and sometimes in the newer, the word "soul" is equivalent to "life;" and preservation of natural life is the thing assured. Take the promise in its twofold sense.

I. GOD PRESERVES OUR NATURAL LIFE. We press that truth into the familiar saying, "Man is immortal till his work is done." Nothing can ever touch a man's life save on God's permission. Evil of circumstance can never of itself rise to that height. Illustrate by the permissions and restrictions given to the "Satan" of the Book of Job. But our Lord raises an argument on God's care of our life. He who keeps alive will surely provide. The Preserver of our soul is surely the Provider of our need. What we may ever need of deliverance is guaranteed in the grace of our Preserver. Keeper always, Redeemer at call of our need.

II. GOD PRESERVES OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE. That is our supreme treasure; or rather, that is our true, our permanent self. Natural, animal life we do but share with the animals, and we can have it but for a time; circumstances are only the surroundings of our time of probation. They may all go, and we remain. What we are, when we have done with circumstances, and have ended our animal life, is the matter of supreme concern to us. It is, then, the soul character that God preserves and delivers; as the apostle says, "He will keep that we have committed to him unto the great day." Not a thing we have, and say we own, is safe. All may take wing and flee away. But with absolute confidence we may say, "He shall preserve our soul." - R.T.

The sacred writers often use strange metaphors; as here, light is said to be "sown for the righteous." Milton uses the same figure of the dew -

"Now Morn, her rosy steps in th' eastern clime Advancing, sowed the earth with Orient pearl." But let us get beneath the strange figure, and ask -

I. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

1. What is meant by light? It is a constant symbol for joy, gladness (Esther 8:16; Psalm 27:1, etc.). And, on the other hand, sorrow is likened to darkness.

2. What does the word "sown mean? It is a very suggestive word. It teaches that the seed of joy is:

(1) Scattered abroad. And so it is for God's people; they find it everywhere, and often in most unlikely places. As Paul and Silas in their dungeon at Philippi.

(2) For a time out of sight. The seed, when sown, is so. See this in our coal beds. Light is sown there. Let there be the application of a due amount of heat, and the light will flash forth that was sown by the sun long ages ago. And in like manner, the grace of God has stored up joy and gladness in places where you would never have looked for them. Light is sown in them, and, though now out of sight, will in due time break forth (Psalm 126:5). Then

(3) certainly not lost. Sometimes it seems as if our light had gone from us forever. But it is not so; the losses, bereavements, trials of all kinds which darkened our life, they are but the furrows of the field into which the seed has been cast, and by which it is for the time buried. But as the farmer does not count his seed sown as seed lost, but quite otherwise, so should our thought be.

(4) But is in the care and keeping of God.

(5) Will come back multiplied.

(6) And glorified (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44). We are wont to speak of God's acre," the old and beautiful name for our churchyards, and they are full of sown light. But all our life is a field thus sown. And there are many harvests, the resurrection morn chief of them all. Yet other fields are the Holy Scriptures, God's providence, the Holy Spirit's work. Light is sown for the righteous in all these. But the question will arise -

II. IS IT ALL TRUE? And we reply:

1. The order of nature seems to affirm it. How often has the righteous career been trampled upon and apparently destroyed, but it has sprung up again!

2. The Scriptures assert it unhesitatingly, and furnish perpetual proof, that the light of the righteous is never lost, but only sown preparatory to a blessed harvest.

3. And our heart's deepest convictions confirm it. We could not live without this faith.

III. WHAT THEN?

1. The instincts of our nature are not mocked. We were made for the light, for blessedness, and the righteous shall realize it.

2. What a terrible thing that any should be self-excluded - as the ungodly are - from the number of those for whom this word is spoken!

3. Be patient when some of your light is taken from you. It is wanted for seed.

4. Yield your hearts to Christ, that by his blessed Spirit he may make them righteous.

5. Look on to the harvest. - S.C.

(Another outline.) The text leads us to consider -

I. WHENCE WHAT LIGHT OF GLADNESS AND JOY WE HAVE HAS COME. The seed was sown:

1. At the Creation.

2. In God's plan of providence.

3. In the gift of Christ.

4. In the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church, the Scriptures, and in our own soul.

II. WHERE WHAT OF LIGHT WE HAVE LOST IS CONE.

1. Into God's keeping.

2. As seed.

3. For increase and glory.

III. WHITHER WE MUST LOOK FOR WHAT WE WOULD HAVE COME BACK.

1. In the way of submission to God's will. (1 Peter 5:6.)

2. To the Holy Spirit's work in our souls.

3. To the unfolding of God's providence.

4. In the endeavour to help and comfort others.

5. To the resurrection morn, and the heavenly home. - S.C.

Light is sown. Light is the type of everything pleasant. Perhaps it is conceived of here as hidden, like seed, in the ground. God's people no more see light about their paths than men can see seeds in the ground. They walk in darkness. But the seeds are there, and the light is there. And one day there will surely be revealings both for the seeds and the light - a harvest of the seeds, a harvest of the light. Perowne and others think that the verb "sown" is to be taken in the sense of "scattered," "diffused;" but the figure of light as hidden at present and waiting for a revealing day, is certainly more poetical and suggestive. Professor Grove gives the material for an effective illustration. "Marvellous as it may appear, light can actually be bottled up for use. Take an engraving which has been kept for some days in the dark; expose it to full sunshine - that is, insulate it - for fifteen minutes; lay it on sensitive paper in a dark place, and at the end of twenty-four hours it will have left an impression of itself on the sensitive paper, the whites coming out as blacks." Take "light" for vindication and blessing, see -

I. LIGHT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS ACTUALLY IN EXISTENCE. They may not see it, but that does not matter. The farmer does not see his seed. God's response to all goodness is immediate; but he often keeps his response a secret until the right time for revealing comes. There is comfort and strength in knowing that the light exists.

II. LIGHT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS IS IN GOOD KEEPING. AS the earth keeps the seed, so God keeps vindication, full deliverance, and blessedness for the righteous. See the figure of martyr souls safely kept under the altar, only crying, "How long, O Lord, how long?" There is comfort and strength in knowing that the light is safe.

III. LIGHT FOR THE RIGHTEOUS MUST BREAK FORTH SOME DAY. As surely as grass blades will show from the seeds, and loaded wains carry home the harvest. The time for breaking forth will be God's time, and that is, in every way, the best time. - R.T.

The psalm tells of the Lord coming in majesty and righteousness to judge the world. And here at the end of the psalm the writer remembers this judgment and the holiness which characterized it, and bids all righteous men rejoice.

I. WE ARE COMMANDED TO DO THIS - to "give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness."

1. "His holiness. It means not alone his righteous deeds, but yet more his righteous character; not alone for what he does, but for what he is in himself. He cannot be tempted of evil, cannot be moved away from perfect righteousness. God is holy in all his ways.

2. We are to give thanks for this. We are ready to give thanks for God's providential love and for his redeeming grace; but for his holiness we commonly cherish reverence and awe rather than joyful praise. This is wrong, and we are bidden here rejoice and give thanks.

3. And this whenever we remember his holiness. We do so in retrospect, looking back upon the righteous acts of the Lord. And we do so in prospect, anticipating the time when his will shall be done on earth as in heaven. We are to stay ourselves on the faith that he cometh to judge the earth, and that he shall judge the people righteously.

II. IT IS ASSUMED THAT WE ARE RIGHTEOUS. Such, in the first part of the verse, are distinctly appealed to. For only such can obey this command. To the ungodly the holiness of God is hateful; it is to him a constant and awful threatening, a dark cloud lowering over his life; he shrinks from coming into contact with it. How fearful are, often, the deathbeds of such men! And until we are regenerate, and know that we are accepted in Christ, the holiness of God must excite in us fear rather than thanksgiving.

III. And that THERE ARE GOOD REASONS FOR SUCH THANKSGIVING. And there are; for:

1. The holiness of God is the sure pledge and guarantee of our redemption. The atoning work of Christ, on which our redemption rests, is no plan whereby God's love may be satisfied at the expense of his holiness. For nowhere is that holiness more conspicuous than in that atonement. It magnifies the Law, and makes it honourable as nothing else could (cf. Romans 8:1, 2). The tables of the Law in the ark of the covenant, on which the mercy seat rested, symbolized the eternal fact that God's mercy rests on righteousness; his love is sustained by and based upon his holiness.

2. And it is the assurance of our own holiness, that we shall be made like him. For whatever be the character of any man, one sure effect of it will be that he seeks to make his surroundings like himself. And so the holy God must seek to make his people holy; he cannot be satisfied until they are holy as he is holy.

3. And of our eternal blessedness. Could sin enter heaven, it would cease to be heaven - it would be the world over again. But nothing can enter heaven that defileth. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." 4. And of the kingdom of God upon earth. The curse wrought by the Fall shall be banished by the redemption of God. Not in us alone, but in humanity at large, shall God's blessed holy will for our sanctification be done on earth as it is in heaven.

IV. AND THAT THERE NEED RE NO REASONS WHY ANY OF US SHOULD NOT "GIVE THANKS AT," ETC. For the two essentials for our thus giving thanks are ours in Christ.

1. We can be reconciled to God in him. Until we are we cannot be thankful for his holiness. But if we will come away from our sins, and confess them, and believe in him, then we shall be reconciled to God, and to us shall be given the new nature, the regeneration, without which we cannot even see the kingdom of God.

2. And we may be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Not forgiven only, but saved from sin itself (see Ezekiel 36:25, 27). And when this is done, then the very thoughts of our heart will be changed, and whereas we could not heretofore do aught but tremble at the remembrance of God's holiness, now we shall rejoice and give thanks. - S.C.

Give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Why does not the psalmist say, "at the thought of his holiness"? See that his point is this - you may be full of perplexity as you try to understand God's dealings with you just now; but you can always get comfort from thinking of God's ways with you in the past. And then you can very easily argue from what God has always been to what God surely is.

I. THE PLEASURE OF OUR CHERISHED MEMORIES. We love to live in the past. Like the old soldiers, we are always "fighting our battles o'er." As we grow older, we find more and more pleasure in thinking of our early days - school day scenes; youthful friendships; opening struggles; first love. But the Christian finds his great interest in tracing God's guiding hand. He has no doubt at all about God's goodness and mercy as he reads over his past. Life seems to him dotted over with pillars, on which over and over again he has written his "Ebenezer" And the "rightness," the "holiness," of God is the thing that so much impresses him. He can see how God led, and where he led, and can say, "It was a good way." Verily the "Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works."

II. THE ARGUMENT FROM OUR CHERISHED MEMORIES. Whatever may be the appearances of things, God is the Unchangeable One; the Rock; the same yesterday, today, and forever. If we know what he was, we know what he is. The better we know what he has been, the more fully and clearly we know what he is doing. No friend can bear that we should doubt that he will always be what we know him to be. We ourselves are distressed when those about us seem to fear lest we should be other than they know us to be. Never distrust God. All the ages tell what he has done, and what he was, and what he is. - R.T.