continue in it, with what sloth and slackness is it pursued I But the psalmist feels that no service he can render is too great; his one desire is to be confessed as the servant of the Lord. II. AND BIGHT BEASON ENDORSES THIS COMMENDATION. 1. We cannot escap6 se1-vice of some sort; some lord will have rule over us. Where is one whose rule is righteous and reasonable as is that of the Lord? 2. Has he not all claim1 He is our '.Jreator, Preserver, our Redeemer, and daily Benefactor, our heavenly Father, 3. The noblest of mankind have been the first to confess this. III. So ALSO DOES EXPERIENCE. Who ever repented of having servtd the Lord too well, or thought he had clone so sufficiently? The best of his servants are eager to have all those they love, and all whom they can influence, in his service. It brings here and now such rich recompense of reward, and promises eternal reward by-and-by. Our happiest hours are those spent in serving him. "He has loosed my bonds, and I must and will serve him,"-S. C.
Ver. 1.-.7Vie various bases on which love rests. A tradition associates this psalm with the serious sickness of Hezekiah. It may not be a trustworthy tradition. The Aramaisms of the language suggest that it belongs to the time of the restored exiles. It is a psalm of one who passed through a similar sickness to that of Hezekiah; and we are justified in illustrating the psalm from the experiences of the good king. The writer was evidently a man who had been brought through a sickness which had imperilled his life. fie feels and sings as one who has just stepped up from the "border- land." He is in the first flush of restored life, deeply feeling what God has done for him, and realizing a new personal affection for God, which is bringing to him a thrill of holy joy. Compare Hezekiah's psalm on his recovery. One thing especially seems to be present to thought, and it is made the basis of new love. That restored life was a direct answer to prayer. It therefore indicated God's personal interest in him. God loved him ; and love surely begets love. I. Goo HEARING IS A BASIS OF LOVE. "He bath heard my voice and my suppli- cations." Then God is a living Being; in his image we aro made; and he is responsive to his children. Contrast the feeling of the heathen, who prays to the stone figure of his god. He can only vaguely fear or vaguely hope, for there is no response from the stone face; and if he gets what he asks he cannot associate it with the action of the god,-it is but a happy accident. We can only love Ii ving persons. We use the term "love" in a very secondnry sense when we apply it to things. God hearing is God living; and the living God can be the Object of human love. II. Goo LOVING TO HEAR I8 A FURTHER BASIS OF LOVE. .. He bath inclined his ear unto me." Inclining the ear is a sign of disposition, even of personal feeling and regard. When we do not care for those who make requests of us, how short and sharp we are with them I When we have personal rege.rd for them, how patiently we listen! how we bend down to attend to them I how we incline our ear I The psalmist read personal interest e.nd affection in that inclining of the Divine ear; and it was precisely fitting thnt he should respond to love with love. Ill. Goo's ACTmG ON WHAT HE HEARS BECOMIJ:S A FURTHER BASIS OF LOVE. He may incline his ear, and so show his interest in us, but go no further. Then he would hut be like so many of our earthly friend~, who sympathize with us, bnt cnn or will do nothing for us. For God to hear is for God to heed, and for God to heed is for God to bless and help. And new love to him is kindled as we experience his de!ivere.nces and salvations. From every man God e.sks worship. From his healed, restored, redeemed ones he aska the worship of love.-R. T. Ver. 3.-Depression attending sickness. There is a most snbtle connection between the body and the mind. This was recognized by the psalmist, when he found such comfort in saying of God," He knoweth our frame; he remembereth th~t we are dust." It is embodied in the familiar idea of the healthy man-Mens sana in corpore sano. The mind can only work through the body as its agent, and is as dependent on its condition as the workman on the state of his tools. The influence of body on mind is fully recognized in certain forms of sickness. When the nerves or certain vital organs are affected by disease, fits of depression are characteristic features, and extremely 78 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PB, CXVI, 1-19,
distressing features. When life is imperilled, there is often a bodily prostration which acts upon the mind, and produces something approaching despair. It is often hard to get sick folk to see the" bright light in the cloud." We are in danger, however, of making two mistakes in connection with this subject, We may make too much of the influence of the body on the mind, and so unworthily excuse bad mind-conditions. We ma.y make too little of the influence of the body on the mind, and so unduly dis- tress ourselves about our mental conditions, Both extremes should be avoided, I. THE DIVERSE INFLUENCE OF SICKNESSES. Different diseases have different effects. And the influence of any disease depends on the bodily organization, mental disposition, ,md even religious sentiments of the man in whom it works. It has different effects according to the season of Lhe yea.r, and the state of the atmosphere; and it varies even according as the patient is well or badly nursed. All these things ma.n cannot esti- mate, but we may be sure God does. II. THE SPECIAL EFFECT OF SOME DISEASES. They directly affect the brain. They make a man become a sort of double self, as did the devil-possessions of our Lord's time. There is the man of Christian trust and hope, and at the same time a man say- ing all sorts of bitter and unreasonable things against himself, a.nd so a. distress to him- self anti to all who have to deal with him. III. THE MENTAL CONFLICT OCCASIONED BY SICKNESSES. When this· dual life is created, there must be conflict between the ma.n of trust a.nd the ma.n of despair. The soul's love to God struggles hard to hold its own. It persists in hoping on. And its persistency is seen at every moment when the tight grip of the disease is loosened, It is the constant conflict of the flesh a.nd the spirit. IV. THE COKDITIONB OF SOUL-VICTORY UNDER SICKNESSES. To use a business expres- sion-we must discount the influence of the body. We must keep from thinking about our spiritual state till we are free to judge it fairly. We must cling to what God is, and is to us.-R. T.