The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-08-18

comfort, and reposes in the arms of
blessed trust; "But | trust in TN
ton. -
In many cases a further stage ;s
reached-that of triumphant exultation
God is our refuge and strength, very
present help in trouble Therefore wifi
we not fear, though the earth be re.
moved, and though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the sea; though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled
though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof. There is a river. the
streams whereof shall make glad the citv
OF God, the holy place of the tabernacle
of the Most High. -
Can any one doubt that all this was q
real experienced Let us mark how hui
man the first stage is-that of agitation
restlessness, impatience. That stage, be-
yond doubt, has all the marks of a
genuine experience. Why, then, should
1t be doubted that the remaining parts of
the experience are genuine too? Peo-
pie do not commonly get rid of care and
trouble by trick of fancy. Often
enough fancy magnifes and multiplies
trouble; but when does it take it away?
tits certain that through faith in an un-
seen God the Psalmist was able to get rid
OF trouble, and that he attained the hap
Ply art of lying down and sleeping peace
fully in the midst of what otherwise
would have robbed him of all repose.
The cry of need had SO often been an
swered in the past, that he felt confident
1T would be answered again. God had
shown Himself to be his God in so many
times of need, that he had only to turn
to Him for relief when trouble was near.
" In my distress 1 called upon the Lord
and cried unto my God; He heard nv
voice out of His temple, and my cry came
before Him, even into His ears. How
much of the bitterness and pain of life
would be avoided if men knew the same
solace and refuge in all their times of
need.
There is in the Psalms yet another
great cry of need-the cry for will con-
formed to Gods will, for life ordered in
His ways, for emancipation from the do
minion of sin, for cleansing of heart from
secret faults, for the grace that leads in
the way everlasting. 1t is not necessary
to dwell on the consistency of this cry
with the sense of complete forgiveness of
SIN and freedom from future punishment
The same heart that exelains, GAS far
as the east is from the west, so far hath
He removed our transgressions from us"
may, in perfect harmony with that
thanksgivTS &, breathe its cry, ooh, that
my ways were directed to keep Thy
stftut-s! then shall I not be ashamed
when have respect unto all Thy com
mandments."
Sin may be forgiven as deserving pun
lshment, and yet it may be an active
power In the heart. No man ever felt
more deeply what disorderly, polluting
and degrading thing sin in the heart is.
1t is curse to have even the remains of
a, disposition that goes against the will
of God, that loses sight Of the good and
gracious Guide as He goes before showing
the way, and wanders into some wretch
ed bypath, beset by crafty enemies, or
studded with noisome pitfalls. Hew ear
nest are the cries for complete emancipa-
ton Create in me clean heart. O
God, and know my heart; try me, and
know my thoughts; and see if there be
any wicked way in me, and lead me in
the way everlasting.
And in reference to this cry, too, we
have to observe, as of the Others that it
is never the cry of despair. Underlying
it, there is always a conviction that what
is sought will come. Even in the dread
full depth of the fifty-frst psalm this APP
pears. The Psalmist has been plunged
in the ditch, SO that his own clothes alb
hor him. Yet when, he cries, (" Purge me
with hyssop," he can add, " and I shall
be cleanj wash me, and I shall be aOl,iter
than the Sno10." What confidence in the
reality of an infinite cleansing power is
shown in that last cry David, caught
red-handed, stained with adultery, pol
luted with murder, degraded by perfdy,
become for all ages proverb and by
word-feeling sure that he shall be made,
nevertheless, whittier than the snow"
Here then is one of the chief charms
of the Book of Psalms that though it is
full of cries of distress and need, the cry
of guilt, the cry of trouble, and the cry
Of conscious unholiness-its cries are the
cries of hope, ever full of the expectation
of deliverance, and by faith entering
upon it as if it had come. Is this feature
to be matched in the songs of any pagan
book2 Let us mark, further in what