We will resume our reading of the book of Psalms during the present month. Our portion will be psalms 83:-106:These form the third and fourth books of the entire collection, answering much as the two previous do to the corresponding books in the Pentateuch. Thus, psalms Ixxiii.-89:would answer to Leviticus, and it is significant that the authorship of many of these is Levitical. Thus, Asaph wrote psalms Ixxiii.-83:; and psalms Ixxxiv., 85:, 87:and 88:were written for the sons of Korah, and the concluding one by Ethan the Ezrahite. Only one psalm in this third book has the name of David mentioned with it.

Appropriately with this Levitical authorship, the general theme of the book relates to the sanctuary, the holiness of God, the inheritance of His people, and His corresponding ways with them.

The first ten psalms present the great truths of God's holiness manifested in grace. Psalm Ixxiii. teaches the great lesson of the sanctuary, the only place where the problem can be solved why the wicked are prosperous and the righteous suffer.

Psalm 74:brings in the enemy who has intruded into the sanctuary. The prayer is an earnest plea to God to bestir Himself for the people's need, yea, to plead His own cause.

Psalm 75:passes out into the light. God's name is near. His wondrous works declare this. It is Christ alone who can manifest the excellence of this name.

Psalm 76:magnifies the glory of God in His sanctuary, and His rebuke and judgment upon the ungodly. The wrath of man is restrained, or else turned into praise.

Psalm 77:dwells upon God's ways in the sea, in the midst of all the confusion, and in the sanctuary, where everything is made plain.

Psalm 78:is one of the didactic psalms, gleaning lessons from God's deliverance of His people. It is in many respects similar to the 105th and 106th psalms. The faithfulness of God is fittingly seen in establishing His name and His sanctuary in mount Zion.

Again, in psalm 79:we have the intrusion of the enemy, while psalm 80:is another prayer for reviving, beautifully bringing out, in crescendo order, the glories of God's name.

Psalm 81:is God's voice speaking in peace and blessing to His people-a most beautiful psalm. In psalm 82:we see the Judge, the Judge of judges; while 83:shows a climax when evil reaches its height, and God overthrows it. This will be fulfilled in the last days.

The second subdivision, from psalms Ixxxiv.-89:, presents the same theme of divine holiness, but now more closely connected with the person of Christ than the previous ones.

Psalm 84:is familiar, and most beautiful. God's tabernacles are before the soul, the desire which leads on His people through all the intervening trials until they shall appear before Him. He is a sun and shield, and will give grace and glory.
Psalm 85:celebrates the salvation of God for His people.

In psalm 86:we have the loyal One who can, in His fulness, be none other than Christ, pouring out His soul in dependence upon God. Beautifully associated with this is psalm 87:, where the full result of deliverance is celebrated. Not only is " this Man " born there, but "this and that man."

Psalm 38:cannot but remind us of the sufferings of our blessed Lord, though doubtless the sufferings of His people are also suggested.

In psalm 89:we have the deliverance flowing, surely, from the sufferings of Christ, and which will succeed the afflictions of His people. God has laid help upon One that is mighty. This closes the third book.

Book four (psalms 90:-106:) presents quite a different theme. Answering to the book of Numbers, what is prominent here is the wilderness experience of God's people, and final blessing brought into the earth through Christ. The book most appropriately opens (psalm 90:) with the prayer of the great wilderness-hero, Moses, who spent forty years of his own life, and forty years more as companion of the people, in their testing, in the wilderness. The general thought of psalms 90:-93:is the testimony as to creation, the vanity of man, the blessedness of confidence in God exemplified in Christ, and the joyful celebration of God's praise.

Psalm 90:, as we have said, is by Moses. It celebrates the vanity, feebleness and brevity of human life, suggestively reminding us of the fall and our association with the first man.

Psalm 91:is an entirely different atmosphere. Here we have the second Man, who is preserved in all His ways because He trusts in the Lord. It requires little skill to see here the perfect Man of psalm 16:; and, thank God, it is our privilege to walk in His steps, by His grace.

Psalm 92:then will follow. Sweet praises of God will be declared as His sabbath rest is entered into. The ten-stringed instrument will be. brought into full use, every capacity of our once ruined nature engaged in praising Him.

Psalm 93:peacefully closes this portion, looking forward really to the close of the whole book. Jehovah reigns, His majesty and glory are established over the earth, which, therefore, is established in security. Let the floods lift their voices; let the waves dash upon the shore:they can but break themselves against the mighty Rock where His throne is established, and that Rock is Christ.

The second portion of this book (psalms 94:-100:) celebrates the blessing that is coming upon the earth, but which must be introduced by judgments; for it is only when the judgments of the Lord are abroad in the earth that the inhabitants will learn righteousness.

Psalm 94:is a celebration of what we have already spoken of, the absolute need for vengeance upon His adversaries, if God is to bless His people. Thus faith will put itself upon the side of God, and plead for that judgment which is His only way of purging the earth of evil that will not judge itself. How solemn is the thought that this time is steadily drawing nearer when the proud in heart must bow to His righteousness whose grace they now refuse!
Psalm 95:opens with the joyous notes of praise to the great God and King-surely Christ-who holds in His hands the deep places of earth and sea, as well as the high mountains. Let us bow ourselves before Him our Maker, and no longer harden our hearts as our forefathers did in the wilderness, and were thus shut out from entering into rest. Now, the rest so near, let us bow to Him who brings it in.

Psalm 96:continues this praise. A new song is sung, in which all the earth can join. Jehovah's name is blessed, and made known to the ends of the earth. When this is done, heaven will rejoice with the earth, and roaring sea and trees of the wood will unite their voices in praises to Him who comes, though as Judge, still to bring peace and blessing.

Psalm 97:is similar. Fire and judgment have prepared the way for the Lord. Zion is at peace, and can rejoice in Him who is thus exalted.

Psalm 98:celebrates the wondrous acts of the Lord, quite similar to psalm 96:

In psalm 99:the King is seen triumphant over all evil. A glance backward is taken at His faithful servants, Moses, Aaron, Samuel, who are associated with the remnant of the latter day in praising the holy name of Him who triumphs over all evil.

Lastly, psalm 100:, brief as it is, is an outburst of praise-"The Lord is good, His mercy endureth forever, and His faithfulness from generation to generation."

The closing portion of this book (psalms 101:-106:) enters more minutely into the dwelling of God with His people, and therefore manifests, if in a less exalted way perhaps more completely even, the full results of what salvation from sin means.

In psalm 101:we see in type Christ, the true King, purging His kingdom of all that offends, and them that do iniquity; but we are not to look upon Him alone in His Kingly authority. We know that His path to that throne of glory lay through the anguish of Gethsemane and the darkness of the cross. This is magnificently brought out in psalm 102:, where we have the sorrows of our holy Lord at the hands of God, the witness of His perfect manhood and His extreme sufferings; and yet in this very psalm Jehovah addresses Him as the everlasting God, whose years shall never fail. Nowhere in all the pages of inspiration is there a more amazing and magnificent declaration of the absolute humanity and lowliness of our adorable Lord, coupled with His eternal Godhead. Little wonder it is that the praise of His people should now flow forth unhinderedly in celebrating Jehovah's name in psalm 103:Let us add from our hearts ever our amen:" Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."

The praise now widens, and in psalm 104:all God's works are made to tell His ways of goodness and mercy. This is the great nature-psalm. Well would it be for us did we learn more of the perfection of the divine ways in the works of His hands! We would find them but an echo of that grace which has been made known to us in the work of His heart.

The book closes with the two companion psalms (105:and 106:). Psalm 105:is a review of God's ways with His people from a divine standpoint. Their course is traced, but by His various acts of mercy, from Egypt all through the land. On the other hand, psalm 106:goes over the same ground, but now dwells upon the failures of His people at the various stages. What a comfort it is to know that if at the judgment-seat of Christ there is a faithful review of our history, in which all our own evil and shortcomings are brought out, there will be, parallel with it, the record of the unfailing grace and faithfulness which triumphed over all our evil, and brought us safely through to sing His praises !

A brief word must suffice for the first epistle to the Thessalonians. As is known, it is perhaps the first of Paul's fourteen epistles, written a few weeks after having left the beloved saints at Thessalonica, who manifested such wondrous energy from the very outset of their course. How significant it is that in this earliest epistle the prominent theme throughout should be the coming of our Lord! This is seen in the four divisions of the epistle.

In chapter one the conversion of the Thessalonians is described as turning to God from idols, that they might wait for His Son from heaven (ver. 10).

Division two, chapters 2:-4:12. The apostle here dwells upon his service amongst them, recalling his faithfulness and unworldliness while there, dwelling also upon the persecution which the saints had suffered at the hands of the enemy, and his earnest desire that they might stand in the midst of this persecution. He therefore exhorts them to faithfulness and godliness and love. Once and again does he speak of the bright hope of the Lord's coming. He desires that they may be established. They are his crown and boasting at the coming of Christ. He desires that they be established until that coming, with all His saints.

The third division (chapters 4:13-7:) is exclusively devoted to the coming of the Lord in its twofold aspect, in relation to His saints (chapter 4:13-18) and to the world (chapter 5:i-n).

The last division (chapter 5:12-28) is devoted to practical exhortations as to their walk, which is to correspond with the blessed hope which had been unfolded in the previous chapters. Love, holiness, diligence, faithfulness, will ever mark a true waiting for the coming of our Lord.