![]() Eight stanzas commence with one letter, and then another eight with the next letter, and so the whole Psalm proceeds by octonaries quite through the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Its obscurity is hidden beneath a veil of light, and hence only those discover it who are in thorough earnest, not only to look on the word, but, like the angels, to look into it. Again and again have we cried while studying it, "Oh the depths!" Yet these depths are hidden beneath an apparent simplicity, as Augustine has well and wisely said, and this makes the exposition all the more difficult. It is loaded with holy sense, and is as weighty as it is bulky. Placid on the surface as the sea of glass before the eternal throne, it yet contains within its depths an ocean of fire, and those who devoutly gaze into it shall not only see the brightness, but feel the glow of the sacred flame. The more you look into this mirror of a gracious heart the more you will see in it. It contains no idle word the grapes of this cluster are almost to bursting full with the new wine of the kingdom. As those who drink the Nile water like it better every time they take a draught, so does this Psalm become the more full and fascinating the oftener you turn to it. The more one studies it the fresher it becomes. He never repeats himself for if the same sentiment recurs it is placed in a fresh connection, and so exhibits another interesting shade of meaning. Using only a few words, the writer has produced permutations and combinations of meaning which display his holy familiarity with his subject, and the sanctified ingenuity of his mind. Many superficial readers have imagined that it harps upon one string, and abounds in pious repetitions and redundancies but this arises from the shallowness of the reader's own mind: those who have studied this divine hymn, and carefully noted each line of it, are amazed at the variety and profundity of the thought. It is like the celestial city which lieth four square, and the height and the breadth of it are equal. Nor is it long only for it equally excels in breadth of thought, depth of meaning, and height of fervour. It equals in bulk twenty-two psalms of the average length of the Songs of Degrees. It is THE LONGEST PSALM, and this is a sufficiently distinctive name for it. There is no title to this Psalm, neither is any author's name mentioned. ![]()
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