Precious and appropriate are the terms which the Psalmist here employs,-" Loving kindness and tender mercy !" Compound terms these are of a most comprehensive and consolatory import. It is not only love, nor only kindness, which the Psalmist here celebrates. It is love and kindness in beautiful and harmonious combination. Love may exist in the heart, and yet not have been exhibited towards us in any outward act. And again, a kind action may be performed to help us in our distress, and yet it may be pity, and not love, which exists within the breast of Him who relieves us. But here, in this Psalm, David exults both in the love that prompts, and in the kindness that performs. He recognizes and acknowledges with joy that there is love in the heart, and kindness in the hand, of God towards him. Again, it was not only mercy which gladdened the Psalmist's soul, it was tender mercy." The mercy of the Lord is mild and gentle, and gracious in its operation; it is exquisitely tender, and most considerately adapts itself to our situation, and our feelings, to our fears, and our necessities. "The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy," says St. James, v. 11. David gratefully acknowledges, in another Psalm, that "the tender mercies of the Lord are over all his works." Psa. cxlv. 9. And, again, "Great," he says, "are thy tender mercies, O Lord." Psa. cxix. 156. Therefore he thus prays for them continually, "Let Thy tender mercies come unto me that I may live." Psa. cxix. 77. "O remember not against us former iniquities, let Thy tender mercies speedily prevent us." Psa. lxxix. 8.

The "loving-kindness," also, of the Lord has formed the

favorite topic of all His believing children throughout their generations. This has been their song in the house of their pilgrimage all the days of their life. Hear how Isaiah expatiates upon this theme in the fulness of his heart: "I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses." Isa. lxiii. 7. David exclaims, "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." Psa. xxxvi. 7. Again, speaking in the name of his fellow-worshippers, as well as in his own, he says, "We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of Thy temple." Psa. xlviii. 9.

The loving-kindness of God formed a most fruitful theme to David. It was his first subject of thanksgiving on awaking from the slumbers of the night. "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. To show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning." Psa. xcii. 1, 2. It formed the rallying of his soul when cast "Yet the Lord will com

point, the strength and consolation down and disquieted within him. mand His loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life." Psa. xlii. 8. It constituted the frequent topic of his converse and discourses with his fellow-men.

"I have not concealed Thy loving-kindness and Thy truth from the great congregation." Psa. xl. 10.

The loving-kindness and the tender mercies of his God formed conjointly the plea and argument of David's supplications in very many Psalms. "Remember, O Lord, Thy tender mercies and Thy loving-kindnesses; for they have been ever of old." Psa. xxv. 6. "Have mercy upon me,

O God, according to Thy loving-kindness, according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.” Psa. li. 1. God himself also makes these the topics of His own most gracious and soul-reviving declarations. "Nevertheless, My loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail." Psa. lxxxix. 33. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." Jer. xxxi, 3. "I will betroth thee unto Me forever: yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies." Hosea ii. 19.

Well, therefore, may David call it a "marvellous loving kindness." Psa. xvii. 7. Marvellous in its origin, marvellous in its excellency, marvellous in its method of communication, marvellous in its immediate effects, and marvellous in its everlasting duration.

Is your life, Reader, thus crowned with the loving-kindness, and the tender mercies of your God and Saviour? Is every earthly benefit, a common, or a royal, blessing, in your estimation? Do you know, and feel, and continually remember, that you deserve nothing-literally nothing, at the hand of God? And, therefore, does even the smallest mercy appear to you in its right light, as a bounty-as a bestowment -as a thing which tells of love, and generosity, and benefi

cence from above? And is that love which every gift bespeaks, more precious to your soul than the gift itself? And does that love, shining upon every earthly thing, constitute in your eyes its beauty and its honor, its fulness and its perfection? Then surely it will be both your duty and your delight to join heart and soul with David, and daily say, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who crowneth thee with. loving-kindness and tender mercies."

VI.

The Mouth satisfied with Good, and the Strength Renewed.

Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.-Verse 5.

DAVID had experienced more than most other men the vicissitudes of life. He knew both plenty and penury in their varied forms. When scarcity and famine overspread the land, or when circumstances, as in war and wanderings, deprived him for a time of the enjoyment of abundance, he had felt the saddening effects in corporeal weakness and exhaustion. The continuance of want for any lengthened period, produces a wasted and haggard appearance. Premature old age comes on. The bloom of youth gives way to the wrinkles of care, and to the furrows of anxiety. There is neither satisfaction in the mind, nor energy in the frame. The spirit broods discontented within the wasted body, and looks forth with a scowling eye upon the barren fields around. When, also, in addition to all this, the ravages of disease break forth with power, how miserable is the spectacle which famished, sullen, sickened man presents!

But when it pleases God to reverse the scene, how de