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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 46:1 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1-11 THERE are two events, one or other of which probably supplies the historical basis of this and the two following psalms. One is Jehoshaphat’s deliverance from the combined forces of the bordering nations. { 2 Chronicles 20:1-37 } Delitzsch adopts this as the occasion of the psalm. But the other more usually accepted reference to the destruction of Sennacherib’s army is more probable. Psalm 46:1-11 ; Psalm 48:1-14 have remarkable parallelisms with Isaiah. The noble contrast of the quiet river which makes glad the city of God with a tossing, earth-shaking sea resembles the prophet’s threatening that the effect of refusing the "waters of Shiloah which go softly" would be inundation by the strong and mighty river, the Assyrian power. And the emblem is expanded in the striking language of Isaiah 33:21 : "The glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars." Encircled by the flashing links of that broad moat, Jerusalem sits secure. Again, the central thought of the refrain in the psalm, "The Lord of hosts is with us," is closely allied to the symbolic name which Isaiah gave as a pledge of deliverance, "Immanuel, God with us." The structure is simple. The three strophes into which the psalm falls set forth substantially the same thought, that God’s presence is safety and peace, whatever storms may roar. This general theme is exhibited in the first strophe ( Psalm 46:1-3 ) in reference to natural convulsions; in the second ( Psalm 46:4-7 ) in reference to the rage of hostile kingdoms; and in the third ( Psalm 46:8-11 ) men are summoned to behold a recent example of God’s delivering might, which establishes the truth of the preceding utterances and has occasioned the psalm. The grand refrain which closes the second and third strophes should probably be restored at the end of Psalm 46:3 . In the first strophe the psalmist paints chaos come again, by the familiar figures of a changed earth, tottering mountains sinking in the raging sea from which they rose at creation, and a wild ocean with thunderous dash appalling the ear and yeasty foam terrifying the eye, sweeping in triumphant insolence over all the fair earth. It is prosaic to insist on an allegorical meaning for the picture. It is rather a vivid sketch of utter confusion, dashed in with three or four bold strokes, an impossible case supposed in order to bring out the unshaken calm of those who have God for ark in such a deluge. He is not only a sure refuge and stronghold, but one easy of access when troubles come. There is little good in a fortress, however impregnable, if it is so difficult to reach that a fugitive might be slain a hundred times before he was safe in it. But this high tower, which no foe can scale, can be climbed at a thought, and a wish lifts us within its mighty walls. The psalmist speaks a deep truth, verified in the spiritual life of all ages, when he celebrates the refuge of the devout soul as "most readily to be found." As the text stands, this strophe is a verse too short, and Psalm 46:3 drags if connected with "will not we fear." The restoration of the refrain removes the anomaly in the length of the strophe, and enables us to detach Psalm 46:3 from the preceding. Its sense is then completed, if we regard it as the protasis of a sentence of which the refrain is the apodosis, or if, with Cheyne and others, we take Psalm 46:3 , "Let its waters roar," etc .-what of that? "Jehovah of hosts is with us." If the strophe is thus completed, it conforms to file other two, in each of which may be traced a division into two pairs of verses. These two verse pairs of the first strophe would then be inverted parallelism, -the former putting security in God first, and surrounding trouble second; the latter dealing with the same two subjects, but in reversed sequence. The second strophe brings a new picture to view with impressive suddenness, which is even more vividly dramatic if the refrain is not supplied. Right against the vision of confusion comes one of peace. The abrupt introduction of "a river" as an isolated noun, which dislocates grammatical structure, is almost an exclamation. "There is a river" enfeebles the swing of the original. We might almost translate, "Lo! a river!" Jerusalem was unique among historical cities in that it had no great river. It had one tiny thread of water, of which perhaps the psalmist is thinking. But whether there is here the same contrast between Siloam’s gentle flow and the surging waters of hostile powers as Isaiah sets forth in the passage already referred to, { Isaiah 8:6 } the meaning of this gladdening stream is the ever-flowing communication of God Himself in His grace. The stream is the fountain in flow. In the former strophe we hear the roar of the troubled waters, and see the firm hills toppling into their depths. Now we behold the gentle flow of the river, gliding through the city, with music in its ripples and sunshine in its flash and refreshment in its waters, parting into many arms and yet one in diversity, and bringing life and gladness wherever it comes. Not with noise nor tumult, but in silent communication, God’s grace and peace refresh the soul. Power is loud, but omnipotence is silent. The roar of all the billows is weak when compared with the quiet sliding onwards of that still stream. It has its divisions. As in old days each man’s bit of garden was irrigated by a branch led from the stream, so in endless diversity, corresponding to the infinite greatness of the source and the innumerable variety of men’s needs, God’s grace comes. "All these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally." The streams gladden the city of God with the gladness of satisfied thirsts, with the gladness which comes from the contact of the human spirit with Divine completeness. So supplied, the city may laugh at besiegers. It has unfailing supplies within itself, and the enemy may cut off all surface streams, but its "water shall be sure." Substantially the same thought is next stated in plain words: "God is in the midst of her." And therefore two things follow. One is unshaken stability, and another is help at the right time-"at the turn of the morning." "The Lord is in the midst of her"-that is a perennial fact. "The Lord shall help her"-that is the "grace for seasonable help." He, not we, determines when the night shall thin away its blackness into morning twilight. But we may be sure that the presence which is the pledge of stability and calm even in storm and darkness will flash into energy of help at the moment when He wills. The same expression is used to mark the time of His looking from the pillar of cloud and troubling the Egyptians, and there may be an allusion to that standing instance of His help here. "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons"; but this we may know-that the Lord of all times will always help at the right time; He will not come so quickly as to anticipate our consciousness of need, nor delay so long as to let us be irrevocably engulfed in the bog. "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. When He heard therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was." Yet He came in time. With what vigour the short, crashing clauses of Psalm 46:6 describe the wrath and turbulence of the nations, and the instantaneous dissolving of their strength into weakness at a word from those awful lips! The verse may be taken as hypothetical or as historical. In either case we see the sequence of events as by a succession of lightning flashes. The hurry of the style, marked by the omission of connecting particles, reflects the swiftness of incident, like Veni, vidi, vici . The utterance of God’s will conquers all. At the sound of that voice stillness and a pause of dread fall on the "roar" (same word as in Psalm 46:3 ) of the nations, like the hush in the woods when thunder rolls. He speaks, and all meaner sounds cease. "The lion hath roared, who shall not fear?" No material vehicle is needed. To every believer in God there is an incomprehensible action of the Divine Will on material things; and no explanations bridge the gulf recognised in the psalmist’s broken utterances, which declare sequence and not mode of operation: "He uttered His voice, the earth melted." Again the triumph of the refrain peals forth, with its musical accompaniment prolonging the impression. In it the psalmist gives voice, for himself and his fellows, to their making their own of the general truths which the psalm has been declaring. The two names of God set forth a twofold ground for confidence. "Jehovah of hosts" is all the more emphatic here since the Second Book of the Psalter is usually Elohistic. It proclaims God’s eternal, self-existent Being, and His covenant relation as well as His absolute authority over the ranked forces of the universe, personal or impersonal, spiritual or material. The Lord of all these legions is with us. When we say "The God of Jacob," we reach back into the past and lay hold of the Helper of the men of old as ours. What He has been, He is: what He did, He is doing still. The river is full today, though the van of the army did long ago drink and were satisfied. The bright waters are still as pellucid and abundant as then, and the last of the rearguard will find them the same. The third strophe summons to contemplate with fixed attention the "desolations" made by some great manifestation of God’s delivering power. It is presupposed that these are still visible. Broken bows, splintered spears, half-charred chariots, strew the ground, and Israel can go forth without fear and feast their eyes on these tokens of what God has done for them. The language is naturally applied to the relics of Sennacherib’s annihilated force. In any case it points to a recent act of God’s, the glad surprise of which palpitates all through the psalm. The field of history is littered with broken, abandoned weapons, once flourished in hands long since turned to dust; and the city and throne of God against which they were lifted remain unharmed. The voice which melted the earth speaks at the close of the psalm; not now with destructive energy, but in warning, through which tones of tenderness can be caught. God desires that foes would cease their vain strife before it proves fatal. "Desist" is here an elliptical expression, of which the full form is "Let your hands drop"; or, as we say, "Ground your weapons," and learn how vain is a contest with Him who is God, and whose fixed purpose is that all nations shall know and exalt Him. The prospect hinted at in the last words, of a world submissive to its King. softens the terrors of His destructive manifestations, reveals their inmost purpose, and opens to foes the possibility of passing, not as conquerors, but as subjects, and therefore fellow citizens, through the gate into the city. 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God is our refuge and strength. Psalm 46 A psalm of war and peace J. A. Black, M. A. The psalm is divided into three parts, as the Selahs at the end of the third and seventh verses indicate. The first is shorter by one verse, but, were the refrain added to it — it has been said that it was once there — then the psalm stands with a symmetry almost unique. As it is, it has not many rivals. This treasure-house of sacred emotions is built of polished stones, and they are fitly set. 1. The first part teaches us to test and try our faith. The singer anticipates a wider storm, and in imagination launches forth in troubled seas. He imagines a break-up, the sea prevailing on the shore, mountains shaken with the swelling thereof; yet through all his faith remains, and he calmly trusts in God. By anticipation he makes preparation for such a crisis, and disciplines his soul to face such an emergency. Our faith is not for an hour or a day: it is to be our mainstay through life and in the hour of death: it is meant to steady and strengthen us in every calamity, however sad, and in every crisis, however sudden. Let us do with it as men do with the anchor chain — try it in fair weather, subject it to a strain greater even than it will likely be called on to bear. Many a faith, once strong, is allowed to rust into weakness, just through sheer neglect. 2. The second part teaches us wisely to remember and profit by the past. Jerusalem had been besieged by the mighty Sennacherib, and delivered miraculously; and the remembrance of the experience strengthened their faith. That night, when the foe surged around her and beleaguered her gates, was a night of omen and portent; but the watchers, in the stillness of the night, still heard the sound of Siloa's brook as it rippled and tinkled through the silence; and they knew that God was with them. We, whose national life is seldom perilled either when the heathen rage or kingdoms are moved, must never forget that there are mercies as great surrounding us as if our path was more troubled. When the summer sun shines and the moon walks forth, we have in them as great tokens of His goodness as was displayed in the deliverance of Jerusalem. Pity the man whose life has gone well with him and who cannot say, The Lord is good: He has been with me. 3. We learn from the third part rightly to act with regard to the present. The time of war is over, its fierce flame has spent itself in desolation. We walk over the battlefield, and feel the silence which has fallen. Then the Divine command comes: "Be still, and know that I am God." All the peace there is on earth has risen out of the storm of war. Its hills were shaped into beauty amid the storms of nature: the grass grows from the detritus and wreck of storms: our liberties have all been purchased in war: Jesus Christ Himself comes from Bozra with dyed garments. 4. Such was the song of war the Hebrew singer sang; now it is the song of the gospel of peace and of victory; for "peace hath her victories no less renowned than war." By the heading, "A Song upon Alamoth," you will see this was a song for the dance, a song for the women to sing. It could be given to those with the gentlest hearts and silentest lives, as well as to those who had brave deeds to do. It was eminently Luther 's psalm, on which he founded his own hymn, and is plainly fitted to be a song of the Church. ( J. A. Black, M. A. ) The moral mirror of the good Homilist. I. THE EARTHLY SCENE OF THE GOOD IS THAT OF TUMULT AND OPPOSITION. 1. To remind us of the constant presence of moral evil. 2. To heighten our aspirations for a peaceful future. II. THE PRESENT RESOURCES OF THE GOOD ARE ADEQUATE TO EVERY EMERGENCY. 1. Their resources are in God. 2. Their resources, being in God, are ample.(1) They are ever present, lie is ever present: "God is in the midst of her"; we have no distance to go.(2) They are ever certain. "God shall help her, and that right early," or at the breaking of the morning. Deliverance is often delayed till the last moment, but it will come. Abraham in offering Isaac; Israel at the Red Sea, etc. III. THE SPIRIT OF THE GOOD MAY, EVEN NOW, BE CALM AND TRIUMPHANT. "We will not fear." We will "be still, and know that He is God"; and more, we will sing in the fiercest tumult, "The Lord of Hosts is with us," etc. ( Homilist. ) God our refuge Pulpit Analyst. There is an allusion to the cities of refuge. I. WHAT GOD IS TO THE CHRISTIAN. 1. A refuge, which greatly excels those cities of Israel which were appointed for refuge to the man-slayer. It is in Jesus: is very near to the guilty; believing brings him into it at once: it is not temporary, but eternal: those refuges were only for the innocent, but this for the sinful: those were only for protection, not for liberty; only the death of the high priest made the refugees free, but this, how different: those were of no avail to the feeble and weak, they were not helped in any way to escape. 2. Strength: through His Spirit promises means of grace. 3. A very present help in trouble: such as the day of contrition, of temptation, of trial, of death. II. THE CONFIDENCE THE BELIEVER HAS IN GOD. 1. He says he "will not fear." Inside the city of refuge the refugee was safe: so the soul in Christ ( Romans 8:1 ). 2. God, being his help and strength, the want and loss of everything is supplied. 3. This absence of fear is not temerity. They have abundant reason for saying, "There. fore will not we fear." ( Pulpit Analyst. ) Man's refuge, strength and help Robert Bruce Hull. The author of this psalm is unknown, but the occasion, it is almost unanimously agreed, was the deliverance of Jerusalem from the army of Sennacherib. Christians in all ages have drawn encouragement and strength from its promises and triumph. ant declarations. Luther , in trouble, was accustomed to say to his friend Melanchthon , "Come, Philip, let us sing the forty-sixth psalm": when his face would brighten like the sky after a summer shower. Even the profligate Byron, infidel, yet true poet, breaks forth in lofty strains as he tells us how "The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold." I. GOD AS A REFUGE. God's children often need such refuge. A bird pursued by a hawk took shelter in the bosom of a man, who said to it, "I will not kill thee nor betray thee to thine enemy, seeing thou hast fled to me for sanctuary." Christ came into this world that the soul hunted by the fierce hawks of temptation and sin might have a safe refuge. II. GOD AS THE STRENGTH OF THE BELIEVER. Many would be Christians if they could only be assured that they would be eminent Christians. God never promises that, but only strength and grace. We are entirely dependent on Him for this. It has enabled men to — 1. Endure great trials. 2. To conquer. As the old crusaders put upon their bannered cross, "In hoc signo vinces," so many a believer to-day faces and conquers his enemies in the strength that God gives. III. GOD IS ALSO A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. This world, beautiful as it is, has its dark and gloomy side. No one is exempt from trial. A motherless little girl was asked, "What do you do without a mother to whom to tell your troubles?" She replied, "My mother told me before she died to go to the Lord Jesus. She said that He had always been her friend, and that if I would go to Him He Would always be my friend." "But," said the questioner, "He is a great way off, and has so much to do; He cannot attend to you." "I don't know how much He has to do," said the child, "but He has said He would take care of me, and I believe He will." Would that we all had the faith of this orphan child. ( Robert Bruce Hull. ) The safe shelter W. Birch. There are many who make their wealth their refuge. Others trust in their health and strength. They say, "Look at this strong arm, this robust chest, and this firm body! Talk of death: ah! ah! see my strength!" I. THE CHARACTER OF OUR GOD OFFERS TO US A SURE REFUGE, for there is no deception in Him. You have had fathers and mothers whose noble testimony to the character of God has been before you. They trusted in Him; and were their lives a failure? II. OUR FATHER GOD IS A REFUGE FROM ALL THE ATTACKS OF SATAN. Our Father will not allow the devil to battle with His children above their tiny strength. III. OUR FATHER IS A REFUGE FROM THE WICKED DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS. IV. OUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS OUR REFUGE FROM THE ALLUREMENTS OF THE SINFUL WORLD. Keep as far as ever you can from the paths that lead so many to a ruined life and an agonized death. V. IN JESUS WE SEE THAT GOD IS OUR SHELTER FROM THE SMITINGS OF A CONVICTED CONSCIENCE. ( W. Birch. ) A very present help in trouble. Sure help W. Birch. Since the days of King David the forty-sixth psalm has been a song of comfort for God's people. It was the song of the Christian martyrs of Europe, and of the persecuted Quakers of this country; and when our English dragoons pursued God's people in Scotland as if they were wild beasts. We cannot all bear trouble alike. Some men pass through deep waters without apparently feeling it very much, while others appear old almost before they are young men in years. Trouble comes in different ways. Sometimes through trade or business. When you lose your money, why should you also lose your peace? If your joy rests on your money, I would not give twopence for it. God is never so near as when we are in trouble. If this be so, let us march bravely under our burden, like Christian soldiers. Others may have trouble because they are vexed by a few enemies. If you are successful in any great and good work, men of feeble and envious mind will seek opportunities of showing their spite; but it ought not to vex and annoy you. And others may be in some trouble because of bereavement. ( W. Birch. ) Our present help W. Birch. Some years ago on fine Saturday afternoons it was my custom to scamper in the fields with some of our fatherless children. Once we went round by Salford to Weaste Lane, returning by the river bank and the adjoining fields. We were very weary and hungry when we reached Throstle Nest, and much disappointed to see no ferry-boat there to carry us across the river. After shouting to the opposite side until we were hoarse, we gave it up in despair, and I said to the children, "What shall we do?" Little Annie, a tiny girl with golden hair, replied, "I don't care, while you are here!" Does our God ever forget to attend to the requests of His people? When He has been very busy with revivals in ten thousand worlds, does He say to His angels, "Ah, angels, I am sorry I forgot to attend to that poor man in his trouble"? No, no! Our God never forgets. He is always a present help in time of trouble. I. THE LORD IS OUR PRESENT HELP WHEN WE ARE TRIED BY TEMPTATION. When Joseph was being tempted every day, the wife of his master may have said, "Nobody shall know"; but God was Joseph's present help in that continual temptation. "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" The fact of God's presence is the most powerful remedy against every temptation. II. THE LORD IS A PRESENT HELP WHEN WE ARE ENDURING TROUBLE. All God's people are tried. If we were not tried we should not be worth much in the battlefield of faith. Only tried veterans can be relied on in a difficult enterprise. "These are they who came out of great tribulation." If you are tried, be not disheartened; remember that God will be a present help to enable you to bear up in every trouble. It is God's will to try us, because it is the only way to make us meet for the grandeur of heaven. III. OUR GOD IS A PRESENT HELP WHEN WE ARE STRIVING TO ATTAIN A NOBLE LIFE. Notice the student working hard, long after the midnight hour has struck. See, be binds a wet cloth round his head to calm the fever of his brain; and the world says it is all right; yet when they see a man struggling to overcome bad passions and acquire virtue, they have but little sympathy; but God beholds all your weary battles, and encourages you with His presence. IV. OUR GOD IS OUR PRESENT HELP WHEN HE ASSURES US OF SALVATION. You may have heard of a ship which sailed off from a sinking vessel and left the crew and passengers to perish; but our God, in Christ, shall leave no sinner to perish in the ocean of iniquity, without making an effort to rescue him. Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. You may reply, "Ah, but, sir, Christ would refuse me, because my soul is diseased." Some insurance societies might refuse your body, but Christ will never refuse any man's soul. A man who is in very bad health, and in despair about his life, goes to a physician and tells him all about his case. Having listened to all lie has to say, the doctor comes up to him with a cheerful face, saying, "Well, I can guarantee to cure you." Why, the man goes away almost better! Now, Christ says to every soul that is diseased with sin, "I can cure you." And He has cured myriads of such souls. ( W. Birch. ) Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed. Psalm 46:2 Deliverance from fear H. J. Campbell, M. A. Charles Wesley preached from this text, I think, in City Road, in the year of the London earthquake. People fled terror-stricken from their homes and crowded City Road Chapel, feeling that if disaster were overtaking the world safety might be found in the company of godly people. The great preacher thundered forth, "Therefore will we not fear," etc. It was a great moment, and yet some of you doubtless will remember that the founder of Methodism himself at a certain crisis in his life passed through an antithetic experience to this. John Wesley records in his Journal that when he was crossing the Atlantic a storm came up which threatened to overwhelm the vessel in which lie was borne, and he cried out for fear. He felt ashamed of his terrors when he came to think of them afterwards. "I, a Christian man, afraid in the presence of death." What brought his shame home to him was the spectacle of a group of people — Moravians they were — men, women and little children — singing, some of them kneeling, some of them standing, in a tiny circle on the deck of the ship — singing as fearlessly as though they were on their own hearthstone; and he thought to himself, "These possess something that I do not possess." And the time came when John Wesley was as remarkable for his absolute fearlessness in the face of overwhelming odds compared with which most religious workers of the present day have a very easy time indeed. The time came when he could not only say but help other people to say, "Therefore will we not fear," etc.; and He was able to make that Old Testament experience his just because he had come into a closer relationship with Him who says, "It is I; be not afraid." Though the Christian may have much to do with pain, there should be in his experience no place for fear. Take three examples — three orders of experience shall I call them? — and describe them. Take one who has a business worry. Alongside of him suppose one who brings a home sorrow; and we ought not to omit the man who knows himself to be guilty of moral transgression. To begin with, then, there may be here a small tradesman who has been overtaken, like many other people, by bad times. Your assets are good enough, but you cannot realize them, add yet you are being pressed to meet claims, perfectly just, but which, If they are pressed to the full, will ruin you. You are working so hard, yet you never have an hour free from worry. Now, what is really the matter with you? Is it not fear of something? It is not just what you passed through yesterday. If you knew every day was to be no worse than yesterday — hard though it was, and extensive as your efforts were, and difficult some of the problems undoubtedly are — if you could be sure that things would be no worse, it would not look so very sad. What is the reason? Those who are near and dear to you are part of your problem. If you could only get rid of all fear concerning their future and your own as bound up with theirs, would it not make a difference? Now, not far from such a person there is another whose heart is full of pain, caused not by one thing merely but by fifty. Perhaps within recent days sickness has invaded your home, and misfortunes never come singly, That sickness means more than the suffering of the loved one whom it has attacked. It means disaster in some other form. It means there is less money coming in; it means perhaps that you are called upon to make sacrifices that you can only make up to a certain point. Then in the train of this there comes, perhaps, the loss of friends, the loss of reputation, or you have to suffer from being misjudged. Somebody is saying something about you. You do not like it — none of us cares about false accusations. Now, you cannot but feel, and imagination helps you a little, that these things one on top of another constitute an immense problem and make life more dark for you. Supposing, now, that I could stretch forth my hand and sweep all the fear out of your experience, you have got none left; supposing things were just as bad as they were yesterday, supposing they were worse to-morrow, but no fear — what a difference that would make to the strength with which you would meet the problems of your life — yes, and to the fashion in which you would overcome the adversary that besets you to-day. Now we come to the third. Years ago you contracted a bad habit.. You thought very lightly about it then, you fancied you could do wrong with impunity, and you knew that while it was wrong you went on till you found you were growing a devil out of your own substance, and he will not leave you now that you want him to go. He has got his steel talons fixed upon your throat and is tearing the manhood out of you. Your friends are beginning to whisper about you, and your own heart is filled with foreboding, and it will only be a matter of time before you are wrecked — wrecked not by what any man has done to you, but by what you have done to yourself. You have trifled with moral questions in the past. You have been a strong man and could afford to give range to your passions, but now you feel a very weak one indeed, and far weaker than you would care to own. Now, how do you feel about your experience? What is most wrong is that you have very little hope of getting free. If you could only see a way out of the moral entanglement, if you could only be perfectly sure that a battle for righteousness, however late it was taken, would be a successful battle. It would lighten your load, and you would go home feeling a far different man. Now, there are more ways than one of getting rid of this enemy, of which we are all sooner or later conscious — fear. Some people take the wrong way. I want you to take the right way. For some natures the way of escape has been to fling oneself into the arms of a greater enemy. That is the reason why so many unlikely men, for instance, take to the wine-cup. Morbid excitement, or some anaesthetic that will dull thinking are the way in which some people try to get rid of the fear that blights and blackens their life. The philosophy of "Let us eat and drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die" has its adherents still, and certain it is that it is a miserable cheeriness, a wretched, cynical sort of happiness which comes by that means. Deliverance from fear under such circumstances is never complete. Observe the hunted looks in the eyes of the man who is trying to forget himself, who leads the laughter in a company, but should not be laughing at all. You know that fear is not gone, it is only waiting outside the door. Very different is the man who cultivates a habit of mind or an order of character which meets hardness with hardness. Sometimes we are almost compelled to admire the dauntlessness of a bad man. He knows he has made the world black. His heart may be very sore, but he does not give way. Sometimes the people upon whom we are hardest in our censures deserve our pity more than our censures. We think them unscrupulous and unrepentant, whereas remorse, which is just next door to repentance, has gripped them. Well, that is one way. I believe it is possible for a man to gradually, as it were, harden his feeling until pain does not make the same inroad upon him as it did at first, and it is possible to expel fear by defying it and keeping on in the old, bad way. But there is a better way than that; that way is a poor sort at the best, and often. times it breaks down completely in the stress of life, and you will see a man become as a little babe, weak as water, when fate has tried him beyond a certain point, and his philosophy all goes for nothing. "Therefore will we not fear," he says, as long as he can, then one day comes the dread spectre before him and overshadows him, and he sinks before it in the darkness of despair. The real way is not to destroy fear, but to expel fear by faith. Watch your own little child, and he can teach you something. The child is troubled with a real trouble. Look upon him with love, and the sunshine breaks over his little soul. He will enjoy life even when it is dark to you; if only you are there. He somehow feels that his father is good for anything. And that trust of his is justified. The more he trusts you the better you like it; the more complete and beautiful the innocent loyalty that he offers to you, and his confidence in your strength, the more willing you are to rise to fulfil his expectation. I wish we could do as our Master taught us to do, and learn that the fatherhood that we see is just that — a corner of the reality. It is the pale glimmer of the light from which it came. "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more your Heavenly Father "Now, that is the simple duty, but expanded it means a great deal. Trust what? Well, I say this — trust in the essential rightness of things; trust that, though life seems to be organized so that hardness is part of your lot; trust, too, that there is such a thing as the peace passing understanding which comes to the soul of the man who is willing to place himself upon the altar for righteousness' sake. Believe this also, that when you trust God it is not yours to dictate, but God. God is master of the issues of your life; what have you got to be afraid of? ( H. J. Campbell, M. A. ) Earthquake but not heartquake All who are truly the chosen of God should exhibit a fearless courage. I. THE CONFIDENCE OF THE SAINTS. It is altogether beyond themselves. There is nothing about what is their own, but their confidence is all in God. This confidence is gained by an appropriating faith. "This God is our God." And is greatly sustained by a clear knowledge of God. Pope said, "The proper study of mankind is man." It is a deplorably barren subject. Say, rather, "The proper study of mankind is God." "They that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee." All this will be certified to us by our experience. You that know the Lord, can you not say by experience, "God is our refuge"? Look at the little chicks yonder under the hen. See how they bury their little heads in the feathers of her warm bosom! Hear their little chirp of perfect happiness as they nestle beneath the mother's wing! "He shall cover thee with His feathers," etc. We can also say that God has been "our strength," and "a very present help in trouble." We feel something of the mind of Sir Francis Drake who, after he had sailed round the world, was buffeted with a storm in the Thames. "What," said he, "have we sailed round the world safely, and shall we be drowned in a ditch?" So do we say at this day. Helped so long and helped so often! But in order to realize this fearlessness we need an immediate enjoyment of the Divine help. "God is my refuge and strength." II. THE COURAGE WHICH GROWS OUT OF IT. This courage is very full and complete. "Therefore will not we fear." It does not say, "Therefore will not we run away, or even faint, or swoon in dread," but "we will not fear." And this courage is logically justifiable. The believer's fearlessness is founded upon argument. Hence it says, "Therefore we will not fear." For nothing that happens affects God, the ground of his confidence. Now, this fearlessness is exceedingly profitable. Serenity of spirit, such as was ever in Jesus; no temptation to do wrong. And it brings great glory to God. I knew a youth, near forty years ago, who was staying with relations when a thunderstorm of unusual violence came on at nightfall. A stack was struck by lightning and set on fire within sight of the door. The grown-up people in the house, both men and women, were utterly overcome with fright, the men even more than the women; all sat huddled together: there was a little child up-stairs, and, though anxious about it, the mother had not courage enough to pass the staircase windows to bring the child down. But this youth was quietly happy. The babe cried, and he went up and fetched it down and gave it to its mother. He needed no candle, for the lightning was so continuous that he could clearly see his way. He sat down and read a psalm aloud to his trembling relatives, who looked on the lad with loving wonder. That night he was master of the situation, and all felt there was something in the religion which he had lately professed. III. THE CONFLICTS TO WHICH THIS FEARLESSNESS WILL BE EXPOSED. It will be tried in ways novel and unusual. "Though the earth be removed." Sometimes mysterious and threatening: "the mountains carried into the midst of the sea." If we saw that we should be at our wits' end to account for it. Some trials also appear to he utterly ungovernable. "Though the waters thereof roar," etc. And sometimes the fear of others affects us. "The mountains shake with," etc. CONCLUSION. If war should come, as it may; or anarchy and a break-up of social order; or trade fail, or persecution come back; or heresy prevail. Fear not. I remember years ago meeting with that blessed servant of God, the late Earl of Shaftesbury. He was at Mentone with a dying daughter, and he happened that day to be very downcast, as, indeed, I have frequently seen him, and as, I am sorry to confess, he has also frequently seen me. That day he was particularly cast down about the general state of society. He thought that the powers of darkness in this country were having it all their own way, and that, before long, the worst elements of society would gain power and trample out all virtue. Looking up into his face, I said to him, "And is God dead? Do you believe that while God lives the devil will conquer Him?" He smiled, and we walked along by the sea, communing together in a far more hopeful tone. In the Book of Revelation tremendous events are foretold, and they will come, but we need not fear. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Fearless fronting of the future Homilist. I. THERE MAY BE GREAT TEMPESTS IN THE FUTURE, The annals of the past are filled with records of social earthquakes and raging tempests. "The mountains," the largest things in human life, thrones, governments, fortunes, have been carried into the midst of revolutionary seas, which have roared and heaved, and with their dashing floods made things stable as the "mountains shake." What has been may come again. Into whatever domain we step there is commotion: in the realms of politics party is contending with party and kingdom with kingdom; in the realms of commerce what fierce competitions — every little spirit is striving for the mastery; in the realms of literature opinions battle with opinions and systems with systems; in the realms of religion, in the very heart of the holy city, "the waters roar with the swelling" of acrimonious controversies and sectarian feuds. Of all revolutions, none is greater to the individual man than death, involving the utter disorganizing of the body, the disruption of all material ties, and the launching of the soul into the awful mysteries of retribution. And then, in the future not only of ourselves but of all departed and coming men, there are revolutions more terrible than any that has yet happened. II. THERE NEED BE NO DREAD FOR OUR FUTURE. "God is our refuge," etc. 1. His protective sufficiency. Infinite in its amplitude, impregnable in its resistance, interminable in its duration. We can be involved in no difficulty from which He cannot extricate, exposed to no danger from which He cannot shelter, assailed by no enemies from which He cannot deliver. 2. His perennial grace. "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God," etc. What is the true "city of God"? Not architecture, not an assemblage of buildings, not a place of habitation; but the community of godly spirits. This is the city of Elohim. A city pure, harmonious, ever-growing. As the stream that issued from Eden to water the whole garden, so the gracious influences of Heaven, like a river, roll through all the parts of this blessed community. This river of grace has never failed, and never will, hence let us trust in Him. 3. His providential interposition. "What desolations He hath made on the earth." Mark them well. Not the desolation of virtue, order, or peace, or aught that ennobles or beautifies human nature. But desolations amongst the desolators of human rights, of human happiness and progress. He destroys the works of the devil. With confidence in such a God as this, we need not fear. ( Homilist. ) There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. Psalm 46:4-7 The city and river of God A. Maclaren, D. D. There are two remarkable events in the history of Israel, one or the other of which most probably supplied the historical basis upon which this psalm rests. One is that singular deliverance of the armies of Jehoshaphat from the attacking forces of the bordering nations, but I think rather that the more ordinary reference is the correct one, which sees JCr/ this psalm and in the two succeeding, the echoes of that supernatural deliverance of Israel in the time of Hezekiah, when "The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold," and Sennacherib and all his army were, by the blast from the breath of His nostrils, swept into swift destruction. Now, these verses are the cardinal central portion of the song. We may call them The Hymn of the defence and the deliverance of the city of God. The main turning points in them are — I. THE GLADDENING RIVER — an emblem of many great and joyous truths. This river is God Himself in the outflow and self-communication of His own grace to the soul. The stream is the fountain in flow. Concerning this communication note — 1. The manner of it. In the previous verses you can hear the wild waves of the sea dashing round the base of the firm hills, sapping their strength, and toppling their crests down in the bubbling, yeasty foam. Remember how, not only in Scripture but in all poetry, the sea has been the emblem of endless unrest. Its waters, those barren, wandering fields of foam, going moaning round the world with unprofitable labour, how they have been the emblem of unbridled power; of tumult and strife, and anarchy and rebellion! Then mark how our text brings into sharpest contrast with all that hurly-burly of the tempest, and the dash and roar of the troubled waters, the gentle, quiet flow of the river, "the streams whereof make glad the city of God," the translucent little ripples purling along beds of golden pebbles, and the enamelled meadows drinking the pure stream as it steals by them. Thus, says our psalm, not with noise, not with tumult, not with conspicuous and destructive energy, but in silent, secret, underground communications — God's grace, God's love, His peace, His power, His Almighty and gentle Self flow into men's souls. The extremest power is silent. 2. Their number and variety. "The streams whereof," that is to say, "the divisions whereof." As Eastern rivers are broken up into canals that are led off to each man's plot of ground. Listen to words that are a commentary upon this verse, "All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing unto every man severally as he will." 3. The effects of this communicated God. "The streams make glad." They to whom this stream pours shall know no thirst; they who possess it from them it shall come. Out of him "shall flow rivers of living water." "The least flower with a brimming cup may stand, And share its dewdrop with another near." The city thus supplied may laugh at besieging hosts. With the deep reservoir in its central fortress, the foe may do as they list to all surface streams; its water shal

46:1-5 This psalm encourages to hope and trust in God; in his power and providence, and his gracious presence with his church in the worst of times. We may apply it to spiritual enemies, and the encouragement we have that, through Christ, we shall be conquerors over them. He is a Help, a present Help, a Help found, one whom we have found to be so; a Help at hand, one that is always near; we cannot desire a better, nor shall we ever find the like in any creature. Let those be troubled at the troubling of the waters, who build their confidence on a floating foundation; but let not those be alarmed who are led to the Rock, and there find firm footing. Here is joy to the church, even in sorrowful times. The river alludes to the graces and consolations of the Holy Spirit, which flow through every part of the church, and through God's sacred ordinances, gladdening the heart of every believer. It is promised that the church shall not be moved. If God be in our hearts, by his word dwelling richly in us, we shall be established, we shall be helped; let us trust and not be afraid. 46:6-11 Come and see the effects of desolating judgments, and stand in awe of God. This shows the perfect security of the church, and is an assurance of lasting peace. Let us pray for the speedy approach of these glorious days, and in silent submission let us worship and trust in our almighty Sovereign. Let all believers triumph in this, that the Lord of hosts, the God of Jacob, has been, is, and will be with us; and will be our Refuge. Mark this, take the comfort, and say, If God be for us, who can be against us? With this, through life and in death, let us answer every fear.