may
abide it? For there is mercy with Thee, therefore shall Thou be
feared. I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for Him: in His word
is my trust. My soul fleeth unto the Lord before the morning watch: I
say, before the morning watch. O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with
the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He
shall redeem Israel from all his sins.

Let us consider this psalm awhile, for it is a precious heirloom to
mankind. It has been a guide and a comfort to thousands and tens of
thousands. Rich and poor, old and young, Jews and Christians, Romans,
Greeks, and Protestants, have been taught by it the character of God; and
taught to love Him, and trust in Him, in whom is mercy, therefore He
shall be feared.

The Psalmist cries out of the deep; out of the deep of sorrow, perhaps,
and bereavement, and loneliness; or out of the deep of poverty; or out of
the deep of persecution and ill-usage; or out of the deep of sin, and
shame, and weakness which he hates yet cannot conquer; or out of the deep
of doubt, and anxiety--and ah! how common is that deep; and how many
there are in it that swim hard for their lives: may God help them and
bring them safe to land;--or out of the deep of overwork, so common now-a-
days, when duty lies sore on aching shoulders, a burden too heavy to be
borne.

Out of some one of the many deeps into which poor souls fall at times,
and find themselves in deep water where no ground is, and in the mire
wherein they are ready to sink, the Psalmist cries. But out of the deep
he cries--to God. To God, and to none else.

He goes to the fountain-head, to the fount of deliverance, and of
forgiveness. For he feels that he needs, not only deliverance, but
forgiveness likewise. His sorrow may not be altogether his own fault.
What we call in our folly "accident" and "chance," and "fortune,"--but
which is really the wise providence and loving will of God--may have
brought him low into the deep. Or the injustice, cruelty, and oppression
of men may have brought him low; or many another evil hap. But be that
as it may, he dares not justify himself. He cannot lift up altogether
clean hands. He cannot say that his sorrow is none of his own fault, and
his mishap altogether undeserved. If Thou, Lord, wert extreme to mark
what is done amiss, O Lord, who could abide it? "Not I," says the
Psalmist. "Not I," says every human being who knows himself; an