outside the mind, and presented to it. Meditation deals with the contents of the mind itself, and that which may be Auggested by the indwelling Spirit. A panorama of the ,;:ontents of our mind is continually moving before us. Usually we rapidly select to meet the need of the moment, according to the mental laws of association. In medita- tion we let the panorama move by more slowly, pay more quiet heed to its varied con- tent~, and so discover and enjoy much that usually escapes attention. Apply this to the panorama of our knowledge of God's Word, and we have religious meditation. I. MEDITATION HELPS us BY MAKING us KNOW MORE. Illustrate by the difference between the tourist who rushes through delightful scenery, getting no more than general impressions, and the tourist who tarries awhile in one place, finding out ever- fresh charms, and seeing everything beautiful in new moods nnd settings. 'l'he man who only read God's Word may know much, but the man who quietly meditates therein knows more. II. MEDITATION HELPS us DY MAKING us KNOW BETTER. Illustrate by the stereo- scope. Just look into it, and you can see nothing unusual. Look fixedly, quietly, and everything in the picture seems to get place and relation. You realize vistas and distances, and the full charm is revealed. The Word of God has but little to give in response to a mere look; all its best things come to view when the soul is quiet enough to fix its gaze, and look long and lovingly.-R. T. Ver. 149.-The C'l'!J for more. The Revised Version has a marginal note which is suggestive, "Quicken me, 0 Lord, as thou art wont;" but this is given also in the Prayer-book Version, and for ver. 156. The point suggested is, that when a soul has received spiritual blessing from God, it can never be satisfied unless that blessing is renewed. Or, to put it in another wny, the good man can heartily rejoice in the gracious past, but he cannot be satisfied with what has been, or with what he has had-he always wants the past to become the present. I. A MAN MAY HAVE BINGLE BLESSINGS FROM Goo. We arc accustomed to think of" quickening" as a single Divine act, and to say, "Ye must be born from above." And if by quickening we mean the imparting of new life, that must be a single blessing, But a life existing may need quickening; 1md in that sense the blessing may be renewed, Life is full of single blessings from God, and these may unduly occupy our attention. They really nre the only indications of the blessings that attend ns every day in life. They are like the miracles of Jesus, which do but show what the Father God is doing for us, in healing and providing, every day. II. A MAN MAY HAVE CONTINUOUS BLESSINGS l'ROM Goo. If we may use language that properly applies only to man, we may say that God gets into the habit of blessing us with his daily quickenings, He blesses us as he is wone to do. There is a ground of confidence in this, God in the soul's life is like God in nature. He is in such a way of making his sun rise day by day, that we have come to depend on it. But there is a side of peril in this for us. God's regularity in blessing makes us either set up a claim, or miss the recognition of God's hand. He has sometimes to break the continuity in order to arouse our attention. Ill. A MAN MAY HAVE PRESENT BLESSINGS FROM Goo. That is, blessings recog- nized as present; the soul awake to observe that they are present, and so responding aright to them. When the soul wants more it is prepared to recognize God's quicken- ing grace actually with it to-day. What God has done, and what God usually :loes, are not enough. The soul cannot rest unless it knows and feels what God is doing, -R.T.
Ver. 163.-0onditions beyond self-help. "Oh, consider my adversity, and deliver me." Plainly the adversity is such that the psalmist feels he cannot deliver himself. Therefore he pleads with God to deliver him. Some of the trio.ls and afflictions of life are within the man's own reach and control, if he has the help of God. But there are some forms of adversity which bring to a mnn an overwhelming sense of self-helpless- ness. 'fhen, if he be a good man, he makes absolute committal of his case to God, and seeks Divine intervention in his behalf. Illustrate by the helplessness of Israel at the shores of the Red Sea, Then they wore bidden "Stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah." Men, however, often seriously mistake if they ask Divine intervention, 172 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. oux. 1-176.