weakened regiments are strengthened, new alliances are formed, &o. The mischief may lie deeper. Sometimes God is calling the people not to redeem national honour, but to seek national righteousness. The teaching of the verse may be applied :figuratively to defeats suffered by Christian controversialists or by philan- thropic workers, &c. Every check in onward progress is a summons to thought and prayer. " In the day of adversity consider." Illustrate by examples in Scripture, e.g., by the defeat of Israel at Ai, and its issues. III. WHEN MEN ABE TREMBLING UNDER NATURAL CALAMITIES. Reference ie made in ver. 35 to the withholding of rain; in ver. 37 to "famine, pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, and caterpillar." Such troubles were sent in vain to bring the Egyptiaus to repentance. Compare those plagues with Elijah's message to Ahab, and with the threats of other prophets. Such statements as Deut. xi. 17 enshrine an abiding truth. In the long run the violation of God's laws do bring disasters of the very kind specified here. If the law of industry be violated, the harvests fail; if the law of mutual dependence be ignored by nations, co=erce is crippled, and impoverishment comes ; if the laws against self-indulgence, pride, ambition, &c., be defied, the spendthrift has the result in poverty, the proud nation in the miseries of war, &c. Even the disasters which are accounted "natural phenomena," then, should lead the wise-hearted to prayer, the sinful to penitence; and God will hear in heaven His dwelling-place, and answer and forgive. Show how, during the ministry of our Lord, the cripples, the blind, the diseased came to Him.. Their misery made them feel their need of what He alone could give, and many of them became conscious of their spiritual wants from considering first the want that was physical. As they were thus led, so the Church has been which in the Old Testament was oppressed most by the earthly wants, and in the New by the spiritual. Those in the far country learn, by beginning to "be in want," that God is calling them to arise and 1·eturn to Him. IV. WHEN MEN ARE CONSCIOUS OF THEIR SIN. All through this prayer reference is made to sin and to the consequent necessity for pardon (vers. 38, 46-50). Point out the climax in ver. 47: (1) "We have sinned''-have not kept in the ways of God-sin in its negative aspect; (2) "have done perversely ''-acts of perversity; (3) "have co=itted wickedness"-the overwhelming passion which drives into corruption. The necessity of humble confession as an integral part of prayer from the lips of fallen man can readily be shown from Scripture. Examples of con- science of sin impelling to prayer seen in David (Pea. Ii), the publican (Luke xviii. 13). " If we confess our sine, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sine, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John i. 9). V. WHEN MEN ARE GOING FORTH TO CONFLICT IN Goo's NAME. "If thy people shall go out to battle against their enemy whithereoever thou shalt send them,'' &c, (ver. 44). We must not forget that Israel was a theocracy. David, for example, spoke of his foes as being God's foes. So had it been with Moses, Joshua, &c. The consciousness of that gives almost superhuman power. " Man, being linked with Omnipotency, is a kind of omnipotent creature," says Bacon. Even when the belief that one is on God's side is false, the belief itself is an inspiration. Examples from history of such belief well or ill founded-Joan of Arc, the Puritans, &c. In actual war no nation can fairly put up this prayer unless the cause of war is that of which we can say, "whithersoever thou shalt send.'' No mistake need exist in reference to foes whom Christ came to destroy. The promise, '' Lo I I am with you,'' was the inspiration of the apostles as they confronted false philosophies, erase ignorance, brutal customs, degrading superstitions. Hence, if they were going forth to battle with such evil~, the J?r9:yers o! t?ie Church went _up on their behalf. Men were set apart for the1.r Christian m1ss1on by prayer (give examples), and in their work they often turned to their intercessors, saying, " Brethren pray for us I" Feeling our insufficiency to overcome the adversaries of the gosp~l, let us, like the apostles, " continue in prayer and supplication" till we a.re" endued with power from on high."-A. R.
Ver. 61.-A. B01Jal Benediction, The prayer of Solomon is followed by e. <111. vm. 1-66.J THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 188