Psalm 49:11

Verse 11. Mr. A was a wealthy farmer in Massachusetts, about sixty years of age, and it had been his ruling, and almost only passion in life to acquire property. His neighbour B owned a small farm, which came too near the centre of A's extended domain, was quite a blot in his prospect, destroyed the regularity of his lands, and on the whole it was really necessary, in his opinion, that he should add it to his other property. B became embarrassed, and was sued; judgments were obtained, and executions issued. A now thought he should obtain the land, but one execution after another was arranged, and finally the debt was paid off without selling the land. When A heard of the payment of the last execution, which put an end to his hopes of obtaining the land, he exclaimed, "Well, B is an old man, and cannot live long, and when he dies I can buy the lot." B was fifty- eight, A was sixty! Reader, do you ever expect to die? K. Arvine's Cyclopaedia of Moral and Religious Anecdotes.

Verse 11. I have purchased, saith one, such lands, and I have got so good a title to them, that certainly they will remain mine and my heirs for ever; never considering how all things here below are subject to ebbings and flowings, to turns and vicissitudes every day. Joseph Caryl.

Verse 11. The fleeting nature of all earthly possessions is well illustrated in the life of William Beckford, and the unenduring character of gorgeous fabrics in the ruin of his famous Babel, Fonthill Abbey. Byron sang of Beckford's palace in Spain, in language most applicable to Fonthill:

Verse 11-12. "They call their GROUNDS after their names. But the GROUNDLING, in the midst of splendour, endureth not." In Psalms 49:11 , we have (twmra), "grounds." In Psalms 49:12 , it is (~ra), "groundling," with a designed iteration and play upon the word; for want of an attention to which the passage has not been fully understood. John Mason Good.

HINTS FOR PASTORS AND LAYPERSONS

None.