(See "Land and the Book," by Thompson.) Indeed such gates seem to have been common in the castles erected in the Middle Ages. The tops of those gates were probably ornamented in such a way as to give the idea of heads. These words were supposed to have been uttered as the procession approached the city where the ark was to abide, and uttered as demanding the admission of the King of glory to a permanent residence on the Holy Mount. The gates and doors of this Acropolis are here personified. They are called everlasting on account of their antiquity, rather than on account of perpetuity. Ver. 8.- Who is this King of Glory?" The glorious king. The approaching procession gives out its summons to the ancient gates of the fortress of Jebus to exalt themselves for their new king, a mightier king than had ever entered before-Jehovah enthroned upon His ark, and going before their army in triumph to take possession. The warders demand in astonishment who this new king may be? This demand is answered first by a description of the new and more glorious title by which from that time forward God was known no longer as under the patriarchs Elohim, the strong ones; nor as under Moses, Jehovah the eternal: but Jehovah God of hosts, the hosts of battle, the hosts of heaven and earth. The change is important, and is brought prominently forward in the history. David brought up" the ark of God," whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubims. And he "blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts!" "This Psalm is the solemn inauguration of the new and great Name, thus wonderfully introduced for the first time."-(The Four Friends.) Dr. J. A. Alexander thinks that there is no need for supposing any such responses as are indicated above, and more fully represented in a preceding article.* He regards it as an interrogatory style of oratory, like that practised by Demosthenes, and which more or less characterizes the composition of all very animated speakers who frequently ask questions for the purpose of returning the answers themselves. As if he had said, do you ask who this King of glory is? I'll tell you who He is. It is "the Lord strong and mighty," &c.

ARGUMENT.-We have already said that the whole Psalm contains three subjects. (1.) God's mundane property and man's moral obligation. (2.) The soul's cry and the true response. (3.) An urgent demand and an earnest enquiry. The third is the subject of these verses.

HOMILETICS: In these verses we have an urgent demand and a solemn enquiry.

I. THE URGENT DEMAND. three events.

This demand may be applied to

First To the entrance of the ark into the Holy City. This is

* See HOMILIST, vol. i., Editor's series, p. 300.

the literal application. (2 Sam. vi.; 1 Chron. xv.) As the procession approaches the entrance of the citadel, the demand is

made for the gates to open. will of God. It was His dence among His people. gates were thrown open, and for ages He continued there as the Theocratic King. It may be applied

This demand was according to the purpose that He should have a resiThis demand was acceded to, the

Secondly: To the advent of Christ at His incarnation. When Christ was born in Bethlehem, the demand was made to the world to make way for Him. His herald said, "Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." The "doors and gates” of the world's heart were shut against Him. "He came to His own, and they received Him not." The voice of justice to the Jewish Sanhedrim and the whole nation was, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors." Make way for Him-make way for His teaching, for His conquests, for His dominion! It may be applied

Thirdly To the ascension of Christ into heaven. Amidst what loud acclamations of delight did Heaven throw open its gates to receive back into its pavilion the mighty hero who triumphed over principalities and powers, and made a show of them openly. It may be applied

Fourthly: To the admission of Christ into the human heart. The strong gates and massive doors of prejudice and depravity shut out the human soul from the Divine Christ; He approaches that citadel, and demands an opening. "Behold I stand at the door and knock." "In the Gospel history," says an old writer, "Christ had a fourfold entertainment amongst men. Some re

ceived Him into their house, the Pharisee. (Luke vii. 44.) house, as the faithful centurion. the house nor the heart as the faithless Gergesenes. (Matt. viii. 34.) Some into the house and the heart as Lazarus, Martha, and Mary." It may be applied—

but not to their heart as Simon Some into the heart, but not the (Matt. viii. 8.) Some not into

Fifthly To the spiritual mission of Christ now in the world. Christ is now in the world-as truly here now as He was 1800 years ago. He is here to put down wrong and to establish the empire of right through the world. Worldliness, superstition, idolatry, scepticism, and wickedness in all its forms have closed the world's gates against Him. The divine demand to the

world on His behalf is, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors." Let the King of Glory enter your homes, your markets, your temples! It may be applied

Sixthly: To the return of Christ to Heaven at last. When he shall have finished His work on earth, subjugated the world to His moral authority, He will return to His everlasting rest. "After the judgment," says Keble, "he will pass again through the everlasting doors with a greater company than before for He will lead along with Him into the heavenly habitation all those who shall have been raised from their graves and found worthy. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up, together with them in the clouds," &c.

II. THE EARNEST ENQUIRY. "Who is this King of glory?" The question is twice put, expressive of the importance of the subject and the solicitude of the speaker. Nor is there a greater enquiry for any created mind than this. Who is the glorious king? Who is He who rules the universe, and demands my subjection, and the subjection of my race? Christ when here on earth sought to give man the impression of the importance of this question, "Whom do men say that I am?" Unless we know something of Him, we shall never open the doors of our hearts, and admit Him to the throne of our natures. This question is here fully answered. The answer says—

First That He is One who is strong in Himself.

"The Lord

is strong." Who is strong as the Lord? He is Almighty. The Force of all forces. The answer says

Secondly: That He is mighty in battle." By the presence of His ark what victories He won with the armies of Israel. Christ, is mighty in battle. His conquests are moral, and how numerous -constant, universal, and ever multiplying they are! The answer says

Thirdly: That He is vast in command. "The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory!" Who are His hosts? All material existences are His hosts; the heavenly orbs are His hosts. He marshals them as a commander his battalions. All spiritual existences are His Hosts. Men, angels, and devils, are his hosts.

A Homiletic Glance at the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.

The student is requested to keep in mind the following things, which will throw much light upon the Epistle. First: The circumstances of the writer when he wrote. He was a prisoner in Rome. During his residence there, in "his own hired house" (Acts xxviii. 30, 31), from the spring A.D. 61 to 63, he wrote the Epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, and to the Ephesians. It is generally supposed that this Epistle to the Ephesians was the first he wrote during his imprisonment. Secondly: The circumstances of the persons addressed. They lived, it is thought, in Ephesus, an illustrious city in the district of Iona, nearly opposite the island of Samos, and about the middle of the western coast of the peninsula commonly called Asia Minor. It had attained in Paul's day such a distinction as in popular estimation to be identified with the whole of the Roman province of Asia. It was the centre of the worship of the great goddess Diana. Paul resided here on two different occasions. The first, A.D. 54, for a very short period (Acts xviii. 19-21); the second, for a period of more than two years. The persons therefore addressed in this letter are those whom he had converted from paganism, and in whom he felt all the interest of a spiritual father. Thirdly: The purpose of the letter. The aim of the Epistle seems to be to set forth the origin and development of the Church of Christ, and to impress those Ephesian Christians, who lived under the shadow of the great temple of Diana, with the unity and beauty of a temple transcendently more glorious. For the minute critical exegesis of this apostolic encyclical, we direct our readers to the commentaries of Alford, Webster and Wilkinson, Jowett, Harless, Stier, Eadie, Hodge, and last, though not least, Ellicott. Our aim will be to draw out, classify, and set in homiletic order, the Divine ideas reached by the critical aid of such distinguished scholars.

Subject: CHILDREN AND THEIR PARENTS.

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honour thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise,) that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."-Ephes. vi. 1-4.

ANNOTATIONS.-Ver. 1.—“ Children obey your parents." Though the word Téкva, translated "children," generally signifies young, it is here used to denote those young especially who are at home dependent upon their parents. A time comes when children become independent of the support of their parents, leave their home, and are no longer amenable to the laws of the parental empire. "In the Lord." Though this expression is omitted by some of the oldest MSS. it is accepted by our best authorities. Kúpos undoubtedly refers to Christ, as is shown by the context. The idea is that filial obedience should be rendered religiously or out of regard to Jesus Christ. "For this is right." The duty rests not on the ground of expediency, but on the ground of justice. It is an obligation rising out of the relationship existing, and frequently urged with great explicitness and force in the Word of God.

Ver. 2.-" Honour thy father and mother: which is the first commandment with promise." To "honour" is to reverence, and this shows that the obedience enjoined is not merely external, it springs from the heart. This precept is said to be πρώτη ἐνἐ παγγελία. This may mean it is the first commandment in the Decalogue, which has a specific promise attached; for the promise connected with the second commandment does not relate to the observance of that particular precept, but to keeping God's covenant. Or it may mean that it is the first commandment of the second table of the law, and has a promise annexed; or, πрúτŋ may be taken here as in Mark xii. 28-30, in the sense of chief, i.e., the first in importance. The sense would then be, "Honour thy father and mother: this is the prime commandment, the first in importance among those relating to our social duties, and it has the specific promise annexed."-(Hodge.)

Ver. 3.-"That it may be well with thee." This is found in the fifth commandment (Deut. v. 16). True filial obedience tends to happiness on the earth. "Thou mayest live long on the earth." This commandment, as recorded in Exodus xx. 12, has the promise thus :-"that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” True filial obedience is a virtue, and virtue ever tends to physical health and long life.

Ver. 4.-" And ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath." Alford renders this—" And ye fathers fret not your children to anger." The irritation of a child's temper is a great evil. There is often a great tendency in the conduct of parents to do so. In many households children are constantly fretted by petty commands, by needless civilities. "But bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." "Bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord."--(Ellicott.) Пaidela is a comprehensive word; it means "the training" or cation of a child," including the whole process of instruction and discipline. Νουθεσία, from νουθετέω (νοῦς, τίθημι), “ to put in mind,” is included under the more general term, and is correctly rendered "admonition." It is the act of reminding one of his faults or duties.” -(Hodge.")

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HOMILETICS: In the preceding paragraph the apostle had treated of the relative duties of husbands and wives, here he directs attention to the relative duties of parents and children.

I. The duty of CHILDREN. The words lead us to consider the nature and reason of the obligation which children owe to their parents.

First: The nature. The duty is (1) "obedience." "Children obey your parents." This duty has its limitation. When, for example, the command is impracticable, it is not binding.