that the "good hand" had been on the nation all through its time of captivity. It had been in the purifying fires, but the silver had been kept safe through all the testings. And the brightness and joy of a Christian life always makes this witness for God. It says- "I bav·e been upheld till now: Who could hold me up but thou?" Ill. IBBAEL'B JOY IN Goo WITNESSED TO THE DIVINE PURPOSES. God restored Israel because be had something for Israel yet to do in the world. And Israel's joy seemed to say," It is plain that God needs me." God's goodness always unveils God's purpose.-R. 'l'. Ver. 4.-.A plea for renewed foyous experiences. In renewing prayer for the "turning again of captivity," the psalmist may but put into a figure his desire that God's full work of redemption may be completed, and some form of present limitation or peril may be likened to the old captivity, and even seem to be a sort of relic of it. There is a sense in which we may always be praying, "Turn again our captivity." But the figure may be one giving force to prayer for an immediate and unexpected Divine deliverance, such as the return from captivity had been. " 0 Jehovah, relieve our misery suddenly, and, as it may well be said, miraculously; as streams. in the wilder- ness, which one moment are dead and dry, and then suddenly become flowing rivers." It may be that in the mind of the psalmist was the fact that only a small portion of the nation had responded to the edict of Cyrus. And his prayer may be that the rest of Israel might be induced to flood the still desolate land. "Restore our captive com- patriots, just as water is restored by heavy rains to the water-courses of the parched district south of Palestine, to the delight of the inhabitants" (comp. Isa. xlix. 18, where the land, like a bereaved mother, waits for her children, whose return will fill her heart with joy). I. 'fHE PAST OF Goo's BLESSING MAY BE JOYFULLY RECOGNIZED. It ~hould be. Israel loved to hear the story of God's ways with the fathers told over and over. We should never tire of going over our early experiences of delivering o.nd redeeming mercy. II. THE PAST OF Goo's BLESSING OUGHT NEVER TO SATISFY us. It is past and gone; it is but a memory. "Things won are done.'' We continue, and we cannot rest without the assurance that God is doing for us what he has done. The restored exiles cannot rest with God's turning their captivity, and restoring a few of their number; they must ask for a renewal of the blessing. "Turn again our captivity.'' From God's grace in the past we "draw a plea, to ask him still for more." We co.nnot be satisfied save with renewals of joyful experiences. III. Trm PAST OF Goo's BLESSING IS TUE PLEDGE OF GREATER BLESSING, God never exhausts himself in any good he does. Instead, by a present blessing, he opens the way for, and prepares us to receive, a larger blessing. Giving, he does but make possible his giving still more.-R. 'l'.
Ver. 5.-Sad sowing-times. Thomson says, " I never saw people sowing in tears exactly, but I have often known them to do it in fear and distress sufficient to draw them from any eye. In seasons of great scarcity, the poor peasants part in sorrow with every measure of precious seed cast into the ground. It is like taking bread out of the mouths of their children, and in such times many bitter tears are actually shed over it." Compare the tears at the laying of the foundation of the second temple (Ezra iii. 12), and the joy when it was complete (Ezra vi. 16, 22). And keep in mind the strain and anxiety through which the first returned company of exiles had to pass. I. SAD SOWING-TIMES OF BOABCITY. Such always followed on famine years, when the old corn stores were used up, aud the harvest of the yoar allowed no proportion to be reserved for seed, and, if reserve was made, the quality guaranteed no good coming harvest. Then the sprina seed-sowina0 was an anxious timo. It involved a serious loss of what was immediately needed. And experience of past famine made the harvest from this seed-sowing seem unusually uncertain. It is thus in Christian work. "WG have toiled all night, and taken nothing," and it is hard to put down tho net again. When the Church is cold and dead, even preaching the gospel comes to be sad and _rSALMB-llI, ' Q 226 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, 0XXVL 1-6,
heartless work. Yet it must not be given up. Weep we may, but sow we must, We never know where God's showers of blessing fall. II. SAD SOWIN0·TIMES OF INSECURITY. Travellers tell of seeing sowers in the East sowing with one hand, and holding a musket in the other, for the Bedouin will steal the seed-corn, as well as rush in and aweep away the harvest. How anxious the farmer will be until his precious seed is safely in the soil! This may suggest those circum- stances which so often hinder the success of our Christian work; things beyond our control which render our work fruitless. Spite of them, we must persist in eowino-, if "~~-~in~ 0