henceforward through the wilderness, but this we know, that He is watching over us; that His loving presence will never be withdrawn from us, and that even in the deepest gloom, He will give us gleams of sunshine, and 'lead us in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.'

This is my prayer for you, beloved friends, that He may give you the blessings of His help ever with you, upholding and strengthening you; His mercy continually following you, preserving and guiding you, and His precious comforts always abounding towards you, even unto the end. Then we shall together sing our song of triumph. No longer shall we ask, 'Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?' but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' Thanks be to Him, who has delivered us from the power of sin and Satan for ever. Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.'

We speak of the realms of the blessed,
That country so bright and so fair;

And oft are its glories confessed-
But what must it be to be there!

We speak of its pathways of gold,
Its walls decked with jewels so rare;
Its wonders and pleasures untold-
But what must it be to be there!

We speak of its peace and its love,
The robes which the glorified wear,
The songs of the blessed above-

But what must it be to be there!

We speak of its freedom from sin,

From sorrow, temptation and care,
From trials without and within-

But what must it be to be there!
Do Thou, Lord, midst pleasure or woe,
For heaven our spirits prepare ;
That shortly we also may know

And feel what it is to be there!

PSALM CI. 1.

SINGING OF MERCY AND JUDGMENT.

'I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing.'

I WISH, dear friends, to draw your attention at this time to the first verse of this Psalm, which declares the purpose of the writer. David was led by God to form the holy resolution, I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way;' 'I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.' He first gives himself to the Lord, desiring to be conformed in all things to the perfect will of God, and to order his steps in the holy way of God's precepts; I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way.'

Then, as regards his household, 'I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.' He had come to the holy resolution, As for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord.' He determines that in his family and household everything should be done with a view to the glory of God.

Further than this, 'I will not know a wicked person; beyond my own household I will have no fellowship with the ungodly, I will have nothing to do with those that fear not God. And even further still he will go he will exercise his authority as king in the same godly direction. He will root out as far as possible from his kingdom all that is evil, singling out the servants of the Lord as those who shall bear rule under him, and endeavouring to frame all his laws after the pattern of the divine laws, and to administer the same faithfully to all his people. Such was David's resolution as regards himself, his household, his companions, and his kingdom. I need hardly remind you, my friends, that David failed to carry it out. The story of his life is before us with all its sins and failures. May we not be permitted to explain his failure in every particular of this his resolution by the way in which he set about to

make it? Like Peter, he relied too much on himself. He promised in his own strength, and his strength proved to be weakness. And is not this, dear friends, the case with some of us? We resolve well, but oh, how often have we to mourn over our broken resolutions, our shortcomings, and our backslidings! And the reason is that we have resolved according to our own wisdom and in our own strength, and not in dependence upon God above.

Let us observe here, that whilst this Psalm tells us of David's resolve to walk before God with a perfect heart, it may also be taken as prophetic of the great Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ. By His acts He declared that holiness became His house for ever. He truly did 'behave Himself wisely in a perfect way,' for He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Of His kingdom of glory He declared that there should in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.'

Let us now go back to the first verse. 'I will sing of mercy:' yes, for God had been merciful to his soul. With Hezekiah, he could say, 'Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back.' I hope, dear friends, that we are all partakers of this great mercy. Have we all responded to the invitation, 'Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.' If we have done this, if we have gone to Him in our natural condition of emptiness and poverty, we shall have learnt something of His mercy. But there is mercy far beyond this first step in the Christian life. There is the complete 'deliverance from the pit of corruption.' Are we experiencing this mercy, beloved friends, in a daily conquest of indwelling sin? Then may we too sing of it. And where could we find a better form of words than one

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which Isaiah furnishes us with (chap. xii.): 'And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee: though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; He also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.'

But there is more even than this to sing of, brethren. How many mercies do we experience day by day! As individuals, in our families, in our work, in the world, or in the Church, O how many mercies have we to record! Have we not all some special mercies to look back to, special seasons when we stood more in need of mercy than at other times, and God did not fail us? In that day, for example, which we well remember, when the feeling of loneliness and depression had settled upon us, and every thing appeared so dark: the Lord came to us and it became light round about us. Or, when we were on the point of yielding to some strong temptation to sin, the Lord appeared for our help, and we were saved from falling ourselves and from casting a stumbling-block in the way of others. Again, when spiritual things had lost much of their interest to us, when the word and worship of God had become dull and cold, and prayer a lifeless performance, the Lord came and lifted once more the veil, and drew us nearer to Himself, and made us happy in His love.

Then again, beloved, there are the Lord's providential mercies. O how many of these could we record! And yet how apt we are to forget them. When anything has gone wrong with us, when any evil has threatened us, or when the dark cloud has burst over our dwelling; by and by perhaps the storm has passed away, and the sun has shone forth again in all its splendour. We should think more of our ordinary daily mercies than we do; the

loving care of our God in furnishing us with things needful for the present life, and far beyond what is actually needful, such as health and strength of body and of mind; provision for both, in the shape of food for the body and books and conversation for the mind; for a peaceable home and loving friends, and all the things which assist to lighten the burden of life and make us happy. Surely we have in these, beloved, a theme for a song: I will sing of mercy.' Then there are many mercies which at the time do not appear to be mercies, because they are not what we desire. We have set our hearts upon doing a certain thing, or having a certain thing, or following a certain course, and suddenly something has come in which has upset all our wishes. We thought this hard at the time, but soon we learnt that there was more mercy shewn to us in withholding from us our desire than there would have been in granting it. There is no greater mercy of the Lord toward us than the withholding from us what He sees would be hurtful to us. Let us, then, try to remember that if He sees fit to keep anything back from us which we had desired, we are not simply to say, 'It is well; it is the Lord's will, and therefore I bow to that will;' oh, no, we must not rest satisfied until we can thank Him and praise Him for His mercy. We think of some mentioned in Scripture, who, in the midst of abundant cause for sorrow and weeping, yet sang of the mercy of the Lord: Daniel in the den of lions; the three children in the fiery furnace; Peter and John, who left the presence of their persecutors 'rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name,' the name of Jesus; Paul and Silas, who in the prison at Philippi at midnight 'prayed and sang praises unto God.' And it has been ours to witness something of the same kind among the people of God whom we have known. We have seen the tear roll down the cheek, telling of deep anguish and sorrow of heart, and we have heard at the