Ver. 18.-Eye-opening. "Open thou mine eyes." This figure of speech is a familiar Eaatern one. It is baseil on the observed fact that the eye, as an organ, is dependent on the mind and the will. Men I.Jave to he helped to see everything that is really worth seeing; and if they are to apprehend Divine and spiritual thiugs, it can only be with Divine illuminations. He who sees the unseen must have come into the eye-opening power of God. The servant of Elisha, with the partly closed eyes, could see nothing but the chariots and horsemen of Syria. With opened eyes he saw all round the hills the chariots and horsemen of God. Our Lord opened the blind bodily eyes of men in order to illustrate his gracious work in souls. And the Jiving Lord counsels his half- blinded Church at Laodicea, "Anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." 'l'he opening of the soul-eyes is a figure of speech for the quickening; of the spiritual discernment. Nothing do we need more thau keen sensitiveness to Divine and etemnl things; insight of the Divine will; the sharpness of vision thnt can detect at once the pointing of the Divine finger. The prayer of the text implies- !. A CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE DLMNESS OF OUR SPffilTUAL VISION. Our Lorn reproached the Pharisees because they were blind, yet thought they saw with unusual cleo.rness. "Ye say, We see, therefore your sin remaineth." There ia no prayer in the mau who thinks he sees. 'fhere is no conscious want to find expression. It is not merely that the vision is distorted by the self-willed spirit ; it is that in the godly life things seen and temporal have the power to dim and darken the vision of things unseen and eteronl. If humility proves mightier than self-satisfaction, the sense of dimness is a constant source of anxiety; but that is an anxiety which is altogether healthy. !I, A OONSCI0USNEB8 OF OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD FOR THE CLEARING OF OUR SPIRITUAL VISION. A man may feel the imperfectness of his soul-vision, but think to clear it himself. It is not alwnys duly considered that the idea of self-help spoils the religious life as truly as it prevents our entering the religious life. It mny have to come through a bitter experience, but it must come somehow, that we may diRcover the nelplessness of self-help for clearing the soul-vision; and then we pray to God, "Open thou mine eyes."-R. 'l'.
Ver. 20.-The soul breal.ing through its forced watchings. "My soul brcnketh out for the very fervent desire that it bath always unio thy judgments," This expression reminds us of our Lord's beatitude, "Blessed are they which do huuger and thirst after righteousness." "True godliness lies very much in desires. AJ3 we nre not what we shall be, so also we are not what we could be. The desires of gracious men after holiness are intense-they cause a wear of heart, a straining of the mi11d, till it feels ready to soap with the heavenly pull. A high value of the Lord's commandment leads to a pressing desire to know and to do it, and this so weighs upon the soul that it is ready to break in pieces under the crush of its own longings." Tlie idcn seems to be that the psalmist is really trying to know God's will, and strictly and carefully watching himself, and seeking to get what he knows to be God's will adjusted to his conduct. But he is dissatisfied; he wants to reach a freer and nobler kind of obcdicmce. It is 148 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. CXIX. 1-178.
all t-Oo formal for him. He wants to serve with a bound: to fly e.t the Lord's bidding, His lo,ing soul frets against all limitations and restraints. He would break out of his cage. I-le would get into the large liberty of unhindered service of God. 'l'he apostle gives the answering Christian mood when, frettiug against body-bonds, he says, "O wrekhcd man that l am, who shall deliver me from tho body of this death?" I. 1T IS WELL TO HAVE '£HE SOUL BIGG!,;R THAN TUE C!RCUMSTAN0EB. Consider this especially in relation to the obedience of God's Law which circumstances permit, Bouily conditions and earthly circumstances put limits on our obedience. It is a bad sign i~ a man _keeps contentedly within his limits. We must want a higher, fuller, worthier obedience than we have ever attained. II. lT IS WELL TO HAVE THE SOUL ACTUALLY PRESSING OUT OF 'l'HE LIMITS O.B' ITS crr.cuMSTANCES. Wbat a humdrum life it would be if we had always to keep within what we call facts I We press beyond facts into the glorious world of imaginations and possibilities. And so there is an imagined obedience to God, and joy in his Word and will, toTI·ard which we should ever be pressing, breaking bounds to get into that higher world of service. And a measure of triumph over circumstances limiting obedience is attainable now, and it prepares us for the full liberty unto righteousness which is the glory of our by-and-by.-R. T.