power, and false whisperings of Satan, in the hearts of men, which makes this seem a remedy for their sins and misery, against which they are so specially reluctant.

Why will they cover up their sins; excuse them; try to palliate them; if they can, forget them; fancy that others are guiltier; turn every way, rather than to the Cross of Jesus?

Why will they say that they are wiser, strive with their inclinations, change their companions, set up new hopes and expectations; but, the one thing, of thinking about Him that loved them, and gave Himself for them, they cannot away with? If they can conquer old habits, well; but if it be otherwise, then must old nature bear the blame there is something which will not let them say, 'I will seek help from Jesus; I will pray that the same mind may be in me, that was in Him; I will believe His word, "Without Me ye can do nothing."

We cannot but have secret misgivings that many a soul is the victim of this fatal perverseness. But, if our wise and good Creator has chosen this means to save us from perishing, if He has set up, before our hearts, the image of His Crucified,-O let us not turn away from it! O let us not know, from experience, that sin is misery, and despise God's counsels, because we will be governed by our own devices!

Let us not close our eyes to the sight-which would heal us, but let us, in humble thankfulness, accept His pardon of the past at the foot of the Cross. And let us pray, daily, that the laws of Jesus, and, above all, the thoughts of His behaviour upon earth, may be with us in every hour of temptation; so that we, too, may be able to say, at last, not, 'I have done this or that,' but that we may truly say, 'The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.'

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XXV.

THE SINGERS AND TRUMPETERS.

'The singers also and trumpeters shall He rehearse: all my fresh springs shall be in Thee.'-Ps. lxxxvii. 7.

N the case of this Psalm, as in many other

examples, there is a difference between the two versions which our Church makes use of; and this difference is not a very small one.

The same kind of difficulty presents itself to our minds, in comparing the Hebrew Bible with the Greek one, and the versions of one age and country with those of another. So that a question does naturally arise to our minds,-How can all these be the true unfailing word of God to us? But, on inquiry, it turns out,-sometimes, that the words admit of two meanings; sometimes, that a dot or a letter would account for the variation; sometimes, that a whole word may have been put in by way of explanation; in short, that human error, or the inexactness of language—as God has been pleased to give it to mankind-occasions these differences.

This at first startles us; we secretly ask: What would a caviller or unbeliever say to this? And, what should we say to him?

But, as we go on, from year to year, studying the Bible, there meets us a remarkable fact; quite sufficient, I think, to set our minds at rest,-and very wonderful; namely, that the same Christian doctrine would be delivered and proved out of any of these versions, however diverse they may be. Taking the whole volume together, and balancing one part with another, the same revelations,―of God, of ourselves, of our being, our duties, our hopes and fears, in short, of religion altogether, would be exhibited by any version. which we could find.

So that, what seems at first a stumbling-block, comes to be a strong argument, at last, that the hand of God's Spirit did indeed, overrule the book,-using imperfect faculties of language and writing, but using them in such a manner that no great truth which was necessary to our happiness should be endangered by these little uncertainties.

It is quite agreeable to a state of trial, that God should prove us, whether we will accept His instructions presented to us with such an accompaniment. This mark of the Scriptures appears to me to be in harmony with the whole of His dealings, and certain enough for

a right mind, uncertain enough for a crooked

one.

Now, I will invite your attention, brethren, to the eighty-seventh Psalm. And I will take the Prayer-book rather than the Bible; partly because you are almost sure to use it the oftenest, and I wish to leave a thought in your hearts which it shall always bring back to you; and secondly, because the turn of it, in the Prayerbook version, contains a meaning most suitable to our present occasion.

Now, with regard to the Book of Psalms, let me make one observation.

When you are reading other parts of the Bible, it is desirable, as much as possible, to put yourself in the place of the persons addressed; e. g. to imagine yourself an Israelite at the gate of Jerusalem, or a disciple in the school at Ephesus, when you read Isaiah or St. Paul. But when you have got the Psalms before you, the case is different; you will do well, almost always, to put yourself in the place of the writer. You must fancy a man who is communing with his own heart, in solitude, in the presence of God; who is disclosing his hopes and fears, and secret interests before his Heavenly Father. And, as you read, the Holy Spirit exhorts you to be a looker-on to this man's soul; to see what your fellow-creature had in his heart; and to consider

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