expresses his desire for the happiness of the Godly, and his ground for expecting it. ARGUMENTS.-We cannot better give the argument than in the language of Hengstenberg: "After an introduction in ver. 1 and 2, in which the Psalmist entreats the Lord that He would hear his prayer, the prayer itself follows in two strophes of equal length, each consisting of five verses, ver. 3-7, and ver. 8-12, which run parallel in point of matter, both treating on the same subject, and doing so in corresponding parts. In the first strophe the Psalmist prays the Lord, that as he made haste to pray to Him-being his first business in the morning-so the Lord might hasten to help him against his enemies, ver. 3; ver. 4-6 grounds this prayer upon the circumstance, that God, as holy and righteous, hates sin and sinners, and dooms them to destruction; and in ver. 7, the hope and confidence is expressed, that He, the righteous, delivered through God's grace, will give thanks to him in his temple. The second strophe, like the second table of prayer, which, as in the Decalogue, is comprised in the number ten, begins anew in ver. 8, with a supplication for the Psalmist's deliverance in this conflict with the adversaries; then follows in ver. 9, 10, the ground of it, pointing to the sinfulness of the adversaries, which, in a manner, called for God's judgments on them, and bringing them to destruction. And the conclusion here again, ver. 11, 12, contains an expression of joyful hope for the righteous, as those whom God cannot fail to bless."

HOMILETICS.-We shall regard the Psalm as revealing David's state of mind in relation to God and in relation to society.

I. HIS STATE OF MIND IN RELATION TO GOD. And here are revealed his beliefs, feelings, and purposes.

First: His beliefs of God. (1.) He believed in God's omniscience. "Consider my meditation," not merely attend to my vocal utterances, but to my inward musings, my unspoken aspirations. The omniscience of God was one of David's strongest convictions. The Eternal knows our "meditation." Solemn thought. (2.) He believed in God's moral holiness. "Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee." David felt as felt another old saint. "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. (Hab. i. 13.) God is glorious, in holiness. He is light, in Him is no darkness at all. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. God's being is the foundation, God's will the standard, and God's influence the fountain of all moral excellence in the universe. (3.) He believed in the administrative rectitude of God. "Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing.

The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man." The Holy God must punish unrepenting sinners, wherever they are found. The punishment may in mercy be delayed, but come it must. All liars shall have their part in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." There is administrative justice in the universe which will righteously balance the affairs of humanity one day.

Secondly: His feelings towards God. (1.) He has the feeling of personal interest. "My King, my God." He felt that the God of the universe was in a high sense his; his guardian, his father, and his friend. This God shall be my God for ever and ever. "The Lord is my portion, saith my soul." What an inexpressible privilege to feel that the Eternal is ours. (2.) He had the feeling of earnest supplication. "Give ear to my words, O Lord." And again, "Hearken unto the voice of my cry." And again, “Lead me O God in my righteousness, make my way straight before my face." Deeply did he feel, as all should feel, his dependence upon God; and this is the spirit of all true prayer. The absence of this leaves the soul practically without a God, like a planet without a sun to roll through darkness and disorder into ultimate ruin. "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (3.) He had the feeling of practical expectancy. "I will direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Like a man who expects an answer to a momentous message, this man expected an answer to his prayers. Much that is called prayer in these formal times has not expectancy in it. Were the things asked for bestowed at once, the suppliants would be struck dead with fear upon their knees. David " looked up" expecting.

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Thirdly: His purpose in relation to God. (1.) He purposed early prayer. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning." Of all the seasons in the day, no season more favourable to devotion than the morning. The faculties are freshened by that sleep which bathed them in unconsciousness. Our blessed Lord prayed in the break of day, and in "the morning rising up a great while before day, Jesus rose up and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." (2.) He purposed orderly prayer. "I will come into thy house." "I will worship toward thy holy temple." Though the temple proper was not yet built, the tabernacle was the

special residence of the Almighty King. That was the house of prayer. Towards it, because God was specially manifested there, the good of olden times were accustomed to turn their faces. Thus Daniel, an exile in Babylon, opened his windows towards Jerusalem, kneeled upon his knees, and prayed three times a day. There is a becoming order in worship. Christ has given us a model. We are commanded to take with us words, and turn to the Lord: to keep our foot when we go to the house of the Lord, and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

II. HIS STATE OF MIND IN RELATION TO SOCIETY.

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First: He regards all who are his enemies as enemies to God. It is mine enemies whom he describes as so faithless in mouth, so wicked in heart, so voracious in throat, so flattering in tongue, and upon whom he invokes divine destruction. 'Destroy thou them, O God," &c. Whilst I cannot justify David in taking this view of men, I see in his conduct (1.) the common mistake of bigots. All bigots regard those who oppose their narrow views and paltry policy, as the enemies of God. The common mistake is (2.), the persecuting spirit of bigots. Let a man with a strong, religious feeling, as David naturally had, be so egotistic and arrogant as to regard all who are his enemies as enemies to God, and he will soon burn with the same spirit as that which seems to come out in the passage, "Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee."

Secondly: He regards all who were God's friends as his own. "Let them that put their trust in thee rejoice; let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield!" Whether David was justified in regarding his own enemies as enemies of God, or not, he was undoubtedly right in regarding God's trusting children as his own friends, and in desiring for them an abundance of joy. God's friends should be our friends, his people our people.

A Homiletic Glance at the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.

The student is requested to keep in mind the following things, which will throw much light upon the Epistle. First: The circumstances of the writer when he wrote. He was a prisoner in Rome, During his residence there, in "his own hired house" (Acts xxviii. 30, 31), from the spring A.D. 61 to 63, he wrote the Epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, and to the Ephesians. It is generally supposed that this Epistle to the Ephesians was the first he wrote during his imprisonment. Secondly: The circumstances of the persons addressed. They lived, it is thought, in Ephesus, an illustrious city in the district of Iona, nearly opposite the island of Samos, and about the middle of the western coast of the peninsula commonly called Asia Minor. It had attained in Paul's day such a distinction as in popular estimation to be identified with the whole of the Roman province of Asia. It was the centre of the worship of the great goddess Diana. Paul resided here on two different occasions. The first, A.D. 54, for a very short period (Acts xviii. 19-21); the second, for a period of more than two years. The persons therefore addressed in this letter are those whom he had converted from paganism, and in whom he felt all the interest of a spiritual father. Thirdly: The purpose of the letter. The aim of the Epistle seems to be to set forth the origin and development of the Church of Christ, and to impress those Ephesian Christians, who lived under the shadow of the great temple of Diana, with the unity and beauty of a temple transcendently more glorious. For the minute critical exegesis of this apostolic encylical, we direct our readers to the commentaries of Alford, Webster and Wilkinson, Jowett, Harless, Stier, Eadie, Hodge, and, last though not least, Ellicott. Our aim will be to draw out, classify, and set in homiletic order, the Divine ideas reached by the critical aid of such distinguished scholars.

SUBJECT: The Redemptive Predestination of God a Reason for Man's Exultant Gratitude.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ; according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved."-Ephes. i. 3-6.

ANNOTATIONS. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Which might be rendered, "Blessed be God, and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (EvλoyNTÒS O OEds.) "Blessed be God." The word evλoyev, like its English equivalent "to bless," signifies to praise, as when we bless God; to pray for blessings, as when we bless others; and to bestow blessings as when God blesses us. (Hodge.) The language is that of thanksgiving and praise. "Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings." Spiritual because they pertain to the spiritual nature of man. God blesses us by gifts. We bless Him by thanks. The same word, but it represents acts, essentially

and eternally different. The apostle here blesses, praises God for the blessings which God had bestowed.

"In heavenly places." ('Evrois érovρavíos.) Ellicott renders that in "the heavenly regions in Christ." The expression occurs in four other places in this epistle. (See chap. i. 20; ii. 6; iii. 10; vi. 12.) True Christians are now in the heavenly state, they are citizens of heaven. (Phil. iii. 20.) "In Christ." All the spiritual blessings of redemption. (Ev XpTŵ.) All the spiritual blessings of redemption come to mankind through Jesus Christ. He is the great minister. "God is in Christ reconciling the world," &c. We have failed to discover here any reason to suppose that Paul alludes to the three persons of the Godhead. "According as he hath chosen us in him." Or as it might be "Even as he chose us in him." "The primary meaning of eкλeyeσ0αι, and similar words, is undoubtedly to be looked for in their general and national references in the Old Testament." "Us." Not the apostles alone, nor the Ephesians alone, but all genuine Christians in all ages, and in all lands. The salvation of men springs from the loving choice or purpose of God.

"Before the foundation of the world." (pò катаßоλîя кÓσμov.) This expression is used in two other places in the New Testament. (John xvii. 24; 1 Peter i. 20.) Whatever the Eternal does, He does from eternity. His works are no after thoughts, no expedients to meet unexpected crises. "Whatsover God doeth, he doeth for ever." "That we should be holy and without blame before him." The eternal purpose of God concerning man is "that through Christ they might be redeemed from all inquity, and purifies unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works."

"In love having predestinated us." The word love in our version is connected with "holy and without blame." But with Ellicott and others, is regarded as properly belonging to the predestinating act of God. God acts from an eternal plan, and his plan is the effect, expression, and instrument of love. Love is the root of the universe.

"Unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself."

His grand purpose with mankind is that they should be restored through Jesus Christ to that true filial love for Him which they lost in the fall, and which constitutes their great sin and misery. Who is the divinely adopted man? The man in whose heart the spirit of true sonship has been generated. A God-revering, a God-loving, a God-honouring

spirit.

"According to the good pleasure of his will."

(Katà tǹv evdokíav.) This

is the primal font of all the streams of divine operation. "To the praise of the glory of his grace." The grand tendency of the whole is to inspire men with sentiments of the highest worship of God, on account of the glory of his grace. "Wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

HOMILETICS. The leading subject of these words is "THE REDEMPTIVE PREDESTINATION OF GOD A REASON FOR MAN'S EXULTANT GRATITUDE.

VOL. XXII.

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