October 4

Psalm cxxxvii.—1. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? 5. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem! let my right hand forget her cunning. 6. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. 7. Remember, O Lord! the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof. 8. O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed! happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. 9. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Jeremiah 1.—29. Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the Lord, against the Holy One of Israel.

30. Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets, and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord. 31. Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud! saith the Lord God of hosts; for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. 32. And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up; and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. 33. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 34. Their Redeemer is strong; the Lord of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.

The Jews were punished for their apostasy by being carried as captives to Babylon, their city and temple being destroyed by fire. A captivity of seventy years cured them of their propensity to idolatry, and caused them to long for the land and the worship of their fathers. Babylon, in turn, was overthrown for her pride, her idolatry, her luxury, and her cruelty. These last two verses of the psalm shook our Christian sensibilities: yet, when interpreted according to the customs of ancient warfare, they simply express the desire of victory; for, "according to the barbarous usage of those days, the slaughter of infants belonged to the practice of war, when a fortress had been carried by storm. At a much later period, we find that the curiosity of the Greeks was so great, that, during an insurrection, the mob had the children of the rich trampled to death by oxen; and, when the aristocracy had regained their power, they ordered their enemies, along with their wives and children, to be cast into the flames." Such imprecations in the Psalms should not be judged by that more merciful feeling which Christianity has infused into the code of war;

neither should they be taken for the mere cry of personal or national revenge. The Jews had so far identified their capital and kingdom with the kingdom of God upon earth, that an assault upon these was the double crime of sacrilege and rebellion against Jehovah; and hence their patriotism was intensified by their religious faith. This comes out very beautifully and tenderly in the preceding verses of the psalm. The Jews were then in a land of great beauty and fertility; and, though they were captives, the way to wealth and preferment was open before them, if they should choose to adopt the country and its customs. But they clung to the memory of their beloved Zion. Though Jerusalem had been burned, and its walls razed to their foundations, it was yet to them the most precious spot of earth. No beauty of scenery, no diversion of society, no hell of pleasure, could cause them to forget the sorrows of the Lord's house. So should we set the kingdom of God above all our joys, and account whatever evil befalls that kingdom a personal sorrow and disaster.

APPROPRIATE HIMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 12, 28, 32.

Our Father in heaven, we bless thee for the gospel of peace. Oh! hasten the time when war and violence, oppression and cruelty, shall come to an utter end.

Hear us while we plead with thee for the spread of thy gospel throughout the world. More especially do we entreat thee for thine ancient Israel, whom thou hast for so many ages preserved a separate people, witnessing among all nations to the truth of thy Word. We thank thee that in these latter days they are so far exempt from the violence and persecutions of other times; and pray, that, through their experience both of the goodness and the severity of God, they may be brought to a saving

knowledge of thy grace in Christ. Almighty God, the Governor and Disposer of the world, grant that, in the history of its kingdoms and peoples, we may ever see thee preparing the way of thy Christ, and putting all things under his feet; and grant that we, looking for the kingdoms of this world to become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ, may be found faithful at his appearing.

O Lord our Preserver! we humbly thank thee for thy merciful protection during the past night; and we commit ourselves and all dear to us unto thy gracious guidance this day, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.