SERMON I.

THE CHARACTER AND PRIVILEGES OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.

PSALM XLVIII. 12, 13.

WALK ABOUT ZION, AND GO ROUND ABOUT HER: TELL THE TOWERS THEREOF MARK YE WELL HER BULWARKS, CONSIDER HER PALACES; THAT YE MAY TELL IT TO THE GENERATION FOLLOWING.

THERE is something extremely peculiar in the character of this Psalm, from which our text is selected. It partakes in no respect of that tone of depression and sadness, which breathes through so many of the inspired hymns of the Psalmists, and which tells us that their hearts were overclouded by sorrow at the moment they gave utterance to their expressions. It is, from first to last, conceived in emotions of triumph; and so far from being tinged by the slightest shade of dejection, it peals forth its strain of praise in notes of exultation which must have thrilled to the heart of every true worshipper in Israel. We have not been permitted to know, with historical certainty, what

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the occasion was which called it into existence. The song of triumph is left upon record, but it announces not the events which produced it; so that we are left to infer them rather from the spirit and expression of the Psalm itself, than from any evidence which points decisively to them. And this is an attempt of no trifling difficulty, because the incidents in the history of Israel which might well have suggested such a burst of thanksgiving are so many, that perplexity must gather round the endeavour to select one out of such a crowd of rival wonders. The records of Israel are a narrative of successive deliverances effected by God for his people; and as we pursue our way through their pages, the many scenes of peril giving place to as many scenes of victory; the many approaches of disaster converted by the touch of Divine interposition into the glories of conquest, pass so rapidly before our notice, that when we turn to a Psalm of gratitude for national blessings conferred or deliverances effected, we feel ourselves at a loss to connect the event and the memorial; to choose out of Israel's brilliant annals the special circumstances to which the Commemorative Hymn refers.

And this difficulty, which attaches itself to many of the Psalms, meets us in our endeavour to determine the history of that at this moment before us. There are several events in Jewish chronicles with which it might with propriety be associated. It ap

pears to me, however, that the allusions which occur in it, and the general character of its expressions, harmonize more closely with the deliverance vouchsafed in the times of Jehoshaphat than with any other similar event of Jewish history. We shall find this recorded in the twentieth chapter of the second book of Chronicles: "It came to pass after this, also, that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and Jehoshaphat feared and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court; and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thy hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, behold, I say, how they

reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession which thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee." In this striking passage we have spread before our view the scene of Israel's distress, and the refuge into which she retreated in the day of her threatened calamity. Her hereditary foes had united in a bold and determined effort to carry the desolations of war over the sacred territory of Judah, and to effect the destruction of the kingdom, which was the object alike of their envy and cherished hatred. The strength of the confederacy, the multitudes which followed the standard of invasion, and the oftexperienced hostility of the nations who united to uphold it, all augured darkly for the safety of the Lord's inheritance. But the dependence of Jehoshaphat was not upon an arm of flesh; God was his trusted refuge, and prayer in the Lord's house the weapon of defence selected by him and the congregation of Judah. And upon that occasion the God of Israel manifested himself as a prayer-hearing God, for the answer which reached the downcast yet trustful Israelites assured them of a triumphant deliver-a deliverance which should be effected by no skill or prowess of man; for "the battle was not to be theirs, but God's." Their part was to sit still,

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and see the salvation of the Lord. this gracious declaration-in full anticipation of the promised help, the provisions for thanksgiving were made before the blow of rescue was struck, and in the very presence of a formidable army, the singers of Israel were to " 'praise the Lord whose mercy endured for ever." corresponded to their expectations; "according to their faith it was unto them." By dissension and strife among themselves, the forces of the confederate invaders were destroyed, and Israel found herself, by the power of that God who made the wrath of man to praise him, released from her imminent peril, and enriched by the spoils of an enemy against whom she had not drawn a sword nor made a resisting movement. "The battle was God's, and the salvation of the Lord was with his people."

It is impossible to compare the circumstances of this deliverance, the number and strength of the invaders, the marvellous manner in which they were defeated, the infatuation which possessed them in the very crises of their plans, the spirit of trust which moved the hearts of the Israelites, and the burst of wondering praise which made the valleys of Berachah and the streets of Jerusalem re-echo with thanksgivings to the Lord, with the expressions and allusions of the Psalm before us, without being struck by the conjecture, almost by the conviction, that the