trumpet.. No wish so sudden, strange, ambitious, as to take him by surprise. No lawful desire but he has provided for its satisfaction, either in creatures or in his own uncreated fulness. .And unlawful desires are ao, not because he forbids anything really good for us, but because they mean our harm, not nappiness, This perfect Divine knowledge of all our desires, and of the wisdom or unwisdom of granting them, is not confined, remember, to tbe momeut when we become conscious of them, or present them in prayer. They are foreseen. For the most part-perhaps, if we knew all, in every case-an answer to prayer implies preparation. Our prayer fur" daily bread" is auswered out of the fulness of last year's harvest-the fruit of all harvests since corn was first reaped and sown. This abyss of Divirie forelcnowledge nllerly confounds our intellect; yet to doubt it would be to doubt if God is God. Why then, with this boundless knowledge-foreknowledge-of all our desires and the conditions of their fulfilment, has God appointed prayer 1 Why does his Word show it to us as tbo very heart of religion? Partly, we may venture to say, becau,e God delights to answer prayer. If not, it would scarcely be true-at least intelligible-that "God i3 love." Partly because blessings arc doubly, nay, tenfold, precious when they come in answer to prayer; a strong help to faith, a spur to hope, an assurance of God's love, and powerful motive to love (Prov. xiii. 19). But supremely (I venture to think) in order that what is deepest, innermost, strongest, in our nature-our "heart's desire" -should bring us closest to God ; make us intensely feel our dependence on him ; be consecrated, beiug oITered to him in prayer. V. Thank God, OUR HEART'S DESIRES-how large, lofty, pure, reasonable, soever- ARE NOT THE MEASURE OF Goo·s GIVING j do not circumscribe his willingnes~, any more than his power. He is" able to do exceeding abundantly,'' etc. (Eph. iii. 20). If men's desires arc like the sea, his mercy is the shore. Hi8 chiefest, "his unspeakable Gift" came in answer to no desire of humau hearts or prayer from human lips. "God so loved" a prayerless, thankless, godless "world, that he gave his only begotten Son." This Gift has given us a new measure of expectation (Rom. viii. 32). What is more vital, it has opened a new fountain of desire in our hearts, and thereby enlarged, deepened, exalted, the whole scope of our life. Desire to be lik$ Christ, to glorify Christ, to bo with Christ,-these three give to life a new meaning, purpose, hope. If these be our heart's desires, they are secure of fulfilment, because they are in agreement with God's most glorious Gift, his most merciful purpose, his most precious promises. Here, as everywhere, our Sa'l"iour has left us o.n example, that we should follow his steps. We know what the supreme consnmiug desire of his heart was John iv. 34. In the midst of life o.nrl usefulnese, he louged for death; not as an cscapJ from this world, but as the accomplishment of his destined work (Luke xii. 50; John x. 17, 18). "For tho joy," olc. (Hcb. xii. 2). In your salvation and mine ho sees "of the travail of his soul" (Isa. liii. 24). CONCLUSION. We are furnished with a practical test-first, of our desires; secondly, of our prayers. Our desires (we said) are the index to our cho.racter. Will they fit into our prnyers? Are they such that we can come with boldness to the throne of gro.ce through the blood of Jesus, and say," Lord, all my desire is before thee" (Ps. x:nviii. 9; Isa. xxvi. 8)? Prayer (wo said) is living, real, worth offering, only 11s it is the utternnce of our desires, the pourin~ out of our heart. Are our prayers such II true outbrcathi □ g of our "henrt's desire"? Suppose, when you have joined in some hi~h- toned hymn, or prayed in the earnest words of some ancient saint, a voice frum heaven were to ask, "Do you mean what you say?" would it be for good or ill, here o.nd hereafter, if God indeed grunted your heart's desire?
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-13.-A ro!Jal, thanksgiving/or answers to prayer. (For a day of national thanksgiving.) We fail to see, in the structure of this psalm, sufficient indi~ations of its being the counterpart of the preceding one, to lead us to call it a Te l!wm, to be sung on returnin!): from battle as victor. It would equally well suit other occasions on which the grateful hearts of king and people desired to render praises in the house of God for mercies received; e.g. vcr. 4 would be equally ndapte,1 to the recovery of the king from sickness. Its precise historic reference it is, however, now impossible to 148 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. xu. 1-13,