The true city watchman.
"Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." This would come home very forcibly to the restored exiles if, as we may well assume, the psalm was written before Nehemiah restored the walls of the holy city. Then the only protection of the city must have been the vigilance of the night-watchmen, which never could be depended on. And yet the city containing God's people was absolutely secure; and would have been as secure if no watchmen had ever paced their ordered rounds. Their God was their defense. In older days, foes gathered round, but they never broke in, unless God gave them a commission of discipline or judgment. The restored exiles were surrounded by active enemies, and exposed on every side. But it did not matter. The fiat of Divine love and power held them in strictest restraint. Scheme they might, but they could not overpass Jehovah's limits, "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further." The truth may be illustrated in all those human arrangements for mutual safety which have for their type the city watchman, and which we call national and local government. So elaborate is man's device for securing the liberty of the person, the safety of property, and the health of the family, that there is grave danger of losing all sense of needing God. Indeed, God in city life is but a sentiment. And yet we remove his direct relation from the various forms of human association at our peril. Be it government, or socialistic self-government, "unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." Very remarkable is the way in which man's civilization brings mischief as well as good; and his seemingly perfect schemes leave loop-holes for the entrance of desolating evils. This may be illustrated from city sanitary schemes, and from the prevalence of particular types of diseases, and from the masterful spread of epidemics such as' influenza. It may be shown that the true preservation of a city is an immaterial matter as well as a material; it is as closely related to morals and religion as to safety for property, healthy houses, and pure water. And if it could be so—which it cannot—that we succeed in separating God from the material, no one can delude himself with the idea that God is not concerned with the moral and religious. So, after all, it must be God who "keeps the city."—R.T.