He sitteth between the cherubim. Jennings and Lowe render, "Jehovah has become King, the peoples tremble; (even) he that sits upon the cherubim, the earth shakes." There is a designed contrast. The peoples tremble, the king is established firm; the earth shakes, the throne of the king is steady and unmoved. The figure of God as sitting on the cherubim is difficult, because we cannot be quite sure of the ideas Israelites had of the position and relations of the fire symbol of God in the holy of holies. In Psalm 80:1 God is presented as sitting, throned above the cherubim;" and the idea here is probably "above the cherubim" rather than "on the cherubim." Then we get a clear meaning. The cherubim represent all created beings superior to man, all superseusual beings; and God is to be thought of as beyond and above even them, as superior to them as to the people of this earth, and as unaffected by conceivable changes in them as he is unaffected by the commotions of earth. The more usual way of explaining the figure is given by Spurgeon, thus: "In grandeur of sublime glory, yet in nearness of mediatorial condescension, Jehovah revealed himself above the mercy seat, whereon stood the likeness of those flaming ones who gaze upon his glory, and forever cry, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.'"

I. GOD'S REIGN ESTABLISHED. Keep the associations of the restored exiles. They set up again the theocratic kingdom, and conceived of Jehovah as coming again to reign. So they naturally recalled the old sign of his presence and rule, the Shechinah-light which shone above the mercy seat, which the cherubic figures guarded. The sign of the lapse of the nation from Jehovah was the fading or removing of that light.]Now the restored exiles rejoiced in the resumption of Jehovah's reign, and in figure presented it as God taking his seat again above the cherubim. God takes the throne only when hearts are willing to receive him.

II. GOD'S REIGN CONFIRMED. The satisfaction of the psalmist evidently is in the fact that God means to stay enthroned. He is conceived of as unaffected by the trembling of the people or the shaking of the earth. There is even a more striking poetical figure. If even the cherubim were to tremble, or shake, or fail, God's reign is too confirmed to be affected by it. We may think of him as "above the cherubim." Absolute reliance on him may find expression in loyal and loving service of him. - R.T.

God is ever within the Church. Therefore the greatness of the Church is God. Not her wealth, prestige, orthodoxy, culture, or intelligence, but His inhabitation.

I. He is her greatness as A LIVING FORCE — attracting, new-creating, enlightening, and teaching men; as her Vital Energy moving and moulding individual character and national life (where it is allowed free course) to the high ideal of the Perfect Life. Gold, like steam in the locomotive, rightly used and directed, is a power for good. Without it the machinery will be idle. It is indispensable to the aggressive activity and beneficent service of the Church, to the carrying out of her plans of operation, and for the accomplishment of her benignant purposes. "Bring the tithes into the storehouse," saith the Lord of Hosts. But let the Church try to draw her life from her wealth, and she will be strangled in the very attempt. God is her life — not national approbation and prestige. What the soul is to the body, He is to the Church. Her organization may be complete; on her roll of membership she may count the names of millions. She may look upon the nations as her friends. She may have the most stately buildings, the most exquisite architecture, music, and ritual; wealth may fill her coffers, eloquence may flow from her pulpits, scholarship, literature, and the sciences may flourish in her soil. She may spread herself until the melody of her bells shall tremble in the breeze of every clime, and the music of her songs and psalms shall be heard wherever man is found; yet, if God be not great in the midst of her, statue-like she is beautiful, but dead! All her action will be forced and mechanical, not the spontaneous outflow of life. "The Lord is great in Zion."

II. God in the midst of His Church is the greatness of her MORAL EXCELLENCE. Apart from Him humanity has no moral excellence, as apart from the sun there can be no vegetable life and fruitfulness, and no floral beauty. Every man is therefore morally excellent to the extent that he thinks, and feels, and acts like God. The true Church is in all her action consistent, dignified, noble. Her obedience is filial and faithful, and the glory of her supreme Head is her single and constant aim.

III. God is great in the Church as her INFALLIBLE TEACHER. The two books — Nature and Revelation — which He has put into her hands, with reverent intellect and devout heart she studies, seeking from Him the right interpretation thereof. She finds "tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." She finds no contradiction between the two volumes. And when "things hard to be understood" present themselves — seeming antagonisms and contradictions — she does not doubt, or dispute, or discard, but waits for "more light," knowing that the defect is in the reader, in the student, and not in the book.

IV. God in the Church is the source and secret of her STRENGTH. Every man is strong to the extent that he incarnates the Divine. God's thoughts actualized in man give sturdiness to moral muscle, firmness to the moral step, fixedness to moral purpose, a triumphing power to moral effort. Filled with God, omnipotence is man's strength. Therefore, as the individual soul's strength is proportionate to the measure of the Divine he incarnates, so is the strength of the Church. Her language has always been (Isaiah 12:2). The power which has sustained her hitherto shall not fail her in days to come. No weapon formed against her shall prosper. She shall never fail. The end of time and the destruction of earth will be but the dawning of her day — the beginning of her life in heaven. Ever closer will be her connection with the Infinite Father.

V. God being great in His Church, He is THE MOTIVE POWER OF HER ACTION — the highest reason for all she does.

(J. O. Keen, D.D.)