When from the dust of death I rise, And crave a mansion in the skies, E'en then shall this be all my plea'Jesus hath lived and died for me.'

XVI.

Everlasting Benefits.

THE UNIVERSAL KINGDOM,

And His kingdom ruleth over all.-Verse 19.

THE Son of Jesse at this part of the Psalm reaches the climax of his enumerated blessings. From the third and onward through every succeeding verse, he had specified a great variety of benefits as subjects of thanksgiving to his God and Saviour. He now sums up all by giving utterance to a most comprehensive truth, and by placing on record that one grand blessing which imparts fulness and security to every other—“His kingdom ruleth over all.”

In the preceding verses the Psalmist had spoken of the Lord as his Benefactor, his Forgiver, and his Physician-as his Deliverer and his Preserver-as his Teacher, as his Teacher, as his Friend, and as his Father, and now he speaks of Him as the Universal King. What joy does this truth infuse into the heart! What stability does it impart to all our blessings! To have a Benefactor and a Forgiver is truly delightful; but when we can add that our Benefactor and our Forgiver is a Potentate whom no circumstances can baffle, and whom no adversaries can control, what language shall express the measure of our delight? To hear that we have a Physician

and a Deliverer, a Preserver and a Teacher, is indeed “glad tidings;" but to learn that He is also an Everlasting King, whose Almighty skill and wisdom are invariably, and shall be unceasingly, exerted for our benefit, is "GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY." To possess a Friend and a Father is a blessed cause of thanksgiving; but to know assuredly that this Friend and this Father is also the Universal King, the love of whose heart and the power of whose hand will rule and overrule all things for our good in time and in eternity, oh, this is transporting knowledge, and fills the soul with overflowing gratitude, and the mouth with over-flowing praise.

Such is the last and crowning benefit with which David completes his catalogue of mercies received from his Redeemer, and which He would not that his soul should ever willingly forget-"Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits"—for "His kingdom ruleth over all."

Deeply and indelibly let this truth be impressed upon our minds. Throughout the ages that are past, when kingdoms were born, lived their appointed time, then died, and were forgotten amid the multitude of their successors, this kingdom of the Lord was ruling over all. Amid the diversity of nations, and the multiplicity of governments that now exist on the more widely inhabited surface of the globe, this kingdom of the lord is ruling over all. Whatever may be the principles of the governed, or the powers of the governors, whatever may be the overturnings of thrones, the assumptions of monarchs, or the devastations of nations in

the periods that are yet to come, this kingdom of the Lord shall rule over all for ever.

Unspeakable is the joy and thankfulness of the believer to know that the kingdom of his Lord ruleth over all. The kings of the earth may war, and the nations be agitated to their centre-―men's minds may fail them for fear—and havoc and cruelty and death may threaten on every side: the lust of conquest and the pride of power may set the strong against the weak, and deadly struggles for the mastery may mark the progress of their conflict: the passions and the principles of men may be enlisted against all established order, and the limited tyranny of the Ruler may be displaced by the unlimited tyranny of the multitude-losses may be sustained and untold hardships be endured, yea, life itself may be tortured from the frame of the believer under the rule of man; but this is his consolation, this his triumph, that these are all working together for his good, because the kingdom of his Lord ruleth over all.

Unspeakable is the joy and thankfulness of the believer to know that the kingdom of his Lord ruleth over all. The church of Christ may be overrun with error. The worship of the Saviour may be cast into the shade by idolatrous devotions presented to His mother, and offered to the bread of His own sacrament. The "power of the keys" may be boasted as superior to the power of the sword, and she who bears them may say in her heart, "I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." Rey, xviii. 7: the false prophet may extend his faith by the sword, and wave his green banner over lands held sacred in the history of the

past: the midnight of heathen superstition and idolatry may envelope the great majority of the human race-the whole earth may be debased and prostrated under the rule of the "god of this world," 2 Cor. iv. 4; but still the believer looks to the working of that mighty power which hath put all things under the feet of Jesus, Eph. i. 19-24, and he assuredly knows that the idols shall be utterly abolished, and the power of the Mohametan superstition be overthrown, and the city on the seven hills be burnt up with all her pomp and power; yea, Satan himself shall be cast down, and the "earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord," for His kingdom ruleth over all.

Unspeakable is the joy and thankfulness of the believer to know that the kingdom of his Lord ruleth over all. The reign of sin, of Satan, and of the world, had often vexed his soul, and many an earnest conflict had he waged against them. The dominion which they maintained over his flesh, his judgments, and his affections, he had often in vain attempted to subvert. Pierced by many a wound he had groaned, and, borne down by combined assaults, he had looked anxiously round for aid or refuge. "Oh wretched man that I am," he has been heard to exclaim, “who shall deliver me?" And then, like a joyous conqueror, he has been known to add, “I thank God through Jesus Christ my Lord," Rom. vii. 24, 25—sin shall not have dominion over me, Rom. vi. 14-He will bruise Satan under my feet shortly, Rom. xvi. 20—He will deliver me from this present evil world, Gal. i. 4-their triple tyranny shall be stripped of power, for "God's kingdom ruleth over all.”