'FRET NOT THYSELF'

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in disaccord with facts; it is rather their synthesis and interpretation; the light which transfigures them; the bond which holds them together.

Fret not thyself because of evildoers,

Neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon fade away like the grass,

And wither as the green herb.

Trust in the Lord, and do good;

Dwell in the land, and pursue fidelity.

Delight thyself also in the Lord;

And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

Commit thy way unto the Lord;

Trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light,
And thy judgement as the noonday.

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him:

Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

Cease from anger, and forsake wrath:

Fret not thyself; it leadeth only to evildoing. (?)

For evildoers shall be cut off :

But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be:

Thou shalt give heed to his place, and he shall not be there. But the meek shall inherit the earth;

And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

The wicked plotteth against the just,

And gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

The Lord laugheth at him:

For he seeth that his day is coming.

The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent

their bow,

To cast down the poor and needy,

And to slay such as are upright of way.

Their sword shall enter into their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken.

A little that a righteous man hath

Is better than the great riches of the wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken:
But the Lord upholdeth the righteous.

The Lord knoweth the days of the upright:
And their inheritance shall be for ever.
They shall not be ashamed in the evil time:

And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

For the wicked shall perish,

And the enemies of the Lord shall be as the kindling of the furnace:

They are consumed like smoke; they are consumed.

The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again:
But the righteous sheweth mercy, and giveth.

For such as are blessed of him shall inherit the earth;
And they that are cursed of him shall be cut off.

The steps of a man are ordered by the Lord,
Even of him in whose way he delighteth.
Though he fall, he shall not lie prone:

For the Lord upholdeth his hand.

I have been young, and now am old;

Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

He is ever merciful and lendeth;

And his seed is blessed.

Depart from evil, and do good;
And dwell for evermore.

For the Lord loveth justice,

And forsaketh not his loving ones.

The unrighteous are destroyed for ever:

And the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

The righteous shall inherit the land,

And dwell therein for ever.

'WAIT ON THE LORD'

The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom,
And his tongue talketh of justice.

The law of his God is in his heart;
None of his steps slide.

The wicked watcheth the righteous,
And seeketh to slay him.

The Lord will not desert him in his calamity,
Nor condemn him when he is judged.

Wait on the Lord, and keep his way,

And he shall exalt thee to inherit the land:
When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

I have seen the wicked in great power,

And spreading himself like a green cedar: I passed by, and, lo, he was not:

Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

Keep integrity and pursue uprightness;

For there is a posterity to the man of peace. But the transgressors shall be utterly destroyed: The posterity of the wicked shall be cut off.

The salvation of the righteous is of the Lord:
He is their strength in the time of trouble.
And the Lord helpeth them, and delivereth them:
He delivereth them from the wicked, and saveth them,
Because they taketh refuge in him.

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'Fret not thyself.' A famous phrase and a noble thought. The Hebrew means literally: 'Be not incensed.' To the injunction we have now to give a deeper reason. Whether the wicked prosper

or fail, their wellbeing' is hollow.

Delight thyself also in the Lord.' The means is the end. So

far as feeling goes, this delight is the goal of religion.

Rest in the Lord.' This is the rendering of the Authorized Version. Coverdale has 'Hold thee still in the Lord,' which is somewhat more literal and equally significant.

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'The Lord laugheth at him.' All anthropomorphisms are false, but there are good ones and bad ones. This is a bad one. human wickedness God rather weeps than laughs.

'I have been young, and now am old,' &c.

Mr. Abrahams, than

whom there is no more competent authority, tells me that no verse in the Bible has been dearer to the Jews in their varied and terrible sufferings than this one. And yet these very sufferings continually contradicted it. Faith and hope prevailed over experience, and spiritual interpretations were substituted for the literal meaning. What a lesson have we here! The worst sufferers are the best believers; sorrow deepens fidelity: the persecuted cling with all the greater confidence to the loving watchfulness of God.

§ 6. The forty-ninth Psalm: Audite haec, omnes gentes.-The thought of the next Psalm (xlix) is far deeper. The writer is, as it were, trembling on the verge of the larger hope; the veil is lifting; some would say that it has lifted. The subject is very similar to that of the previous Psalm; unfortunately the Hebrew is difficult, and in places corrupt.

The belief in immortality was reached in Israel by more than one converging pathway. One way was the different treatment which God must allot to the good and the bad, to the faithful and the apostates, to Israel and its foes. The wicked would be gathered into Sheol for ever. What then of the righteous? The answers are various and come but slowly. (1) In the days of Messiah death shall be no more. (2) In the days of Messiah the righteous dead shall be quickened back into life eternal. But there was another way, better and more spiritual. The wicked and the 'foolish' are far from God, and the end of their 'pomp' is Sheol. But the righteous are near God now; and he will be near them for ever. How then can they go down to Sheol? They can never be separated (like the shades in Sheol) from God. Near the source of life, they will continue to live. What can death do unto them? Death is forgotten; death is ignored; death is overcome. Such seems to be the thought near which our Psalmist is hovering, but no one can mark with certainty the precise deductions which he has drawn for himself, or the exact point in the spiritual journey to which he had attained.

Hear this, all ye peoples;

Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:

Both low and high,

Rich and poor, together.

My mouth shall speak of wisdom;

And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable:

I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

" THE WAY OF FOOLS'

Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil,

When the guilt of my foes surroundeth me, Even of such as trust in their wealth,

And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches? Surely none can redeem himself,

Nor give to God his ransom,

That he should still live for ever,

And not see the pit.

For the redemption of his soul is too costly,

He must let that alone for ever. (?)

For.

The fool and the brutish perish,
And leave their wealth to others.

The graves are their houses for ever,

And their dwelling places to all generations,
Who called their lands after their own names. (?)
Man in his pomp abideth not:

He is like the beasts that perish.

This is the way of fools;

Yet after them men approve their speech. (?)

Like sheep they sink down unto Sheol;

Death is their shepherd;

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[And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning ;]

Their form soon falleth to decay,

Sheol is become their dwelling. (?)

But God will redeem my soul;

From the grasp of Sheol he will take me.

Be not thou afraid when one groweth rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away:
His glory shall not descend after him.

Though while he lived he blessed his soul

(And forsooth men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself):

He shall go to the generation of his fathers;

He shall never see the light.

II.

Man in his pomp, but without understanding,
Is like the beasts that perish.

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