purity, as
well as the triumphant tone of the whole, neither of which
characteristics corresponds to the sad and shaded years after his great
fall, point in the same direction. On the whole, then, we may fairly
take this psalm as belonging to the bright beginning of the monarchy,
and as showing us how well the king remembered the vows which the exile
had mingled with his tears.

It is one long outpouring of rapturous thankfulness and triumphant
adoration, which streams from a full heart in buoyant waves of song.
Nowhere else, even in the psalms--and if not there, certainly nowhere
else--is there such a continuous tide of unmingled praise, such
magnificence of imagery, such passion of love to the delivering God,
such joyous energy of conquering trust. It throbs throughout with the
life blood of devotion. The strong flame, white with its very ardour,
quivers with its own intensity as it steadily rises heavenward. All the
terrors, and pains, and dangers of the weary years--the black fuel for
the ruddy glow--melt into warmth too great for smoke, too equable to
blaze. The plaintive notes that had so often wailed from his harp, sad
as if the night wind had been wandering among its chords, have all led
up to this rushing burst of full-toned gladness. The very blessedness of
heaven is anticipated, when sorrows gone by are understood and seen in
their connection with the joy to which they have led, and are felt to
be the theme for deepest thankfulness. Thank God that, for the
consolation of the whole world, we have this hymn of praise from the
same lips which said, "My life is spent with grief, and my years with
sighing." "We have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is very
pitiful and of tender mercy." The tremulous minors of trustful sorrow
shall swell into rapturous praise; and he who, compassed with foes,
cries upon God, will, here or yonder, sing this song "unto the Lord, in
the day that the Lord delivers him from the hand of all his enemies."

X.--THE KING--_CONTINUED_.

In our last chapter we have seen that the key-note of "The Songs of the
King" may be said to be struck in Psalm xviii. Its complete analysis
would carry us far beyond our limits. We can but glance at some of the
more prominent points of the psalm.

The first clause strikes the key-note. "I love Thee, O Jehovah, my
strength." That personal attachment to God, which is so characteristic
of David's religion, can no longer be pent up in silence,