from whence this river has flowed down; we realize the glorious truths about God- bis omnipresence and omniscience-which are the source from whence this prayer we are to consider he.a sprung. But such thoughts about God have not always such results. They are terrors to the mind of the godless, and of all who are not walking in the light of the Lord. Hence the truths taught in this psalm serve as a test of our own spiritual condition. Are. they welcome to us, or the reverse? They cannot be welcome to an ungodly soul, but they are to such as him who wrote this psalm. Now, in our text, note- I. WHAT IS IMPLIED. 1. That there has been a previous searching of ourselves. Here is one great excellence of this prayer-it compels sincerity. For how can the sin-loving man pray," Search me, 0 God I" when he can see quite plainly himself what he is? And how, "See if there be," etc., when there is no" if" at all? It is only those who, like Peter, can lay bare their hearts, and say, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee," that can thus pray. We do not say that a man must be sinless, but he must be sincere. Can we pray this prayer? 2. That our searching is not sufficient. It is implied, what all experience proves so surely, that none of us can understand his errors; and we ever need God to cleanse us from our secret, hidden, and so, to us, unknown faults. "The heart is deceitful above all things; . . . who can know it?" None but God can. II. THE REGIONS WHERE Goo's SEARCHING IS FELT TO BE IIEEDED, 1. In the heart. Our life is visible to others and to ourselves, and our words audible, but our hearts are neither. The seeds of conduct and character are so minute, so seemingly insignificant, our motiyes are of such mingled, mixed nature, so chameleon-like, that we are baffled. 2. In the thoughts. " Try me . . . thoughts." They need to be tried; they often seem right when they are not so. Judas was, no doubt, self-deceived in this way, thinking his thought to be right when it was all evil. And God does try them ; he is ever applying his tests and revealing us to ourselves, as the moonlight reveals the ship that crosses its path, as the lightning reveals the unseen precipice. .And he does this for gracious purposes, that so we may be led to betake ourselves to this prayer. 3. ThtJ ways. "See if , . , way in me." The prayer confesses that a man's ways are in him before he is in them. There were evil ways he knew-behind him, and he had gone in them; around him, many were going in them; before him, seeking to attract bim. But all this did not matter so long as they were not in him. That the ship should be in the water is all right; but for the water to be in the ship I It is what is in us which is all-important. III. 'l'HE ULTIMATE 0DJEOT OF THIS PRAYER, That he might be led "in the way everlasting." 1. There is such a way-the way of the everlasting God. 2. And the ways of God are fitly so called. Other ways may go on for a long distance, but they are out short at last. 3. All ;'oy, ,qoodness, and strength are in these ways; all that the heart can desire, ell that can bless our fellow-men, and that can glorify Christ. 4. And in thestJ ways we need to be "led," not merely have them shown to us. Many see them, but do not walk in them; and none ever will unless thu Lord leads them. But this he is most willing to do. If sincerely wo pray this prayer, his leading has begun.-S. 0.
Ver.1.-The Divine inspection. "Searched;" the figure is "winnowed• or "sifted." "Before men we stand as opaque bee-hives. They can see the thoughts go in and out of us, but what wol'k they <lo inside of a man they cannot tell. Before God we are as glass bee-hives, and all that our thoughts are doing within us he perfectly sees and understands" (Beecherf. How near the ancient poets of India could got to the thought and feeling of this psa m is indicated in the following hymn taken from tho Atbarva- Veda : " 1. The great lord of these worlds sees as if he were neat·. If a man thinks he is walking by stealth, tbe gods know it all. 2. If a man stands, or walks, or hidos ; if he goes to lie down or to get up; what two people sitting together whisper,-King Ve.rune. knows it: he is there e.s a third. 3, This earth, too, belongs to Varuna the king, and this wide sky with its ends far apart. '!'he two seas (the sky and tho ocean) are Varuna's loins; he is also contained in this same drop of water. 4. Ho who should flee far beyond the sky, even he would not be rid of Varuna the king. His spies proceed from heaven toward this world; with thousand eyes they overlook this earth. PSALMS-III. Y 322 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [PS, CXXXIX, 1-24,