No wonder, if in thought of these things, we should cry, "Spare me I" II. Tlu.T GOOD MEN BOMETDIES SOBIN)[ FBOM DEATH UNDER A SENSE OF WEAK• NESS .AKD UNPBEPABEDNESB. Some are prepared to die. But such a state of mind is rare and inconstant. The best of men have their times of misgiving, as well as their moments of exulting faith. Doubting Castle and the Valley of the Shadow of Death lie in the pilgrim's path, as well as the Delectable Mountains. Even the sweet Land of Beulah is bounded by the cold flood and the swellings of Jordan. The moods of the soul vary. He who says to-day, "I will fear no evil" (Ps. xxiii. 4), may cry to-morrow from the dust, "Oh, spare me I " Paul bad a large experience. He had been "in deaths oft" (2 Cor. xi. 23); his heart bad been well-nigh broken by separations (.Acts xx. 37); bis whole soul shuddered at the thought of being a "castaway" (1 Cor. ix. 27); but what chiefly moved him in the thought of death was sic. "The stin" of death is sin." And this bas been the feeling of many, and thereforn the cry is n~t merely," Spare me I" but, "that I may recover strength." 1. Strength is needed to /ace death with fortitude. 2. Strength is lost through sin. 'l'here is the action of the body (ver. 11) and of the affections (ver. 12), but worst of all is sin. It clouds the mind, bt:rdens the conscience, racks the heart, darkens the future (Ps. xxxi. 10). 3. Strength may be recovered if sought in due time. "Before I go hence." To every- thing there is a season, Hence the urgency of the prayer. Life should be used for invigoration of the souL To be ready we must have our lamps burning. We all receive warnin"s. Perhaps we have been "spared" already. Therefore take heed. It is as we can say, "'l'o me to live is Christ," that we can add, "To die is gain." 111. TlllT IN THE SOUL'S DABKERT HOUR GOD IS A SUFFICIENT REFUGE. "Spare me!" Wh:y? Is it that you are young, that you have bright hopes, that you are concer~-;.:i a~,iut those near and dear to you, that you have the consciousness of powers l'l'I, XL.1-17.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 811
unused, or that yon desir9 to do more for God than you have yet done? The great thing is-Are you seeking this high boon for yourself or for God? If you put your hand in the fire, or cast yourself before the railway car, what boots it to cry, "Spare me"? We can only be spared, in the truest and best sense, by being brought nearer God. God is the Lord of life (1 Sam. ii. 6; Rev. i. 18); God is very pitiful and of tender mercy (Exod. xxxiii. 11) ; God is mighty to save. Let us, therefore, trust in him. '' Spare me I "-if not the body, the soul; if not to longer life on earth, to eternal life with thee in heaven.-W. F. Vere. 1-18.-The a.ffiicted man. The old question of the retributive justice of God lies at the bottom of this psalm. Why should the righteous be afflicted and the wi.cked prosper, since the sins of the latter are greater and more numerous than those of the former? Bnt he has determioed that he will not discuss his difficulties before the wicked, lest he should seem to complain of the Divine ways. But when he can no longer restrain speech, this is what he says, in which we have two main divisions of thought. I. AN AFFLICTED MAN'S PERPLEXITIES. (Vers. 1-6.) 1. He wishes to know when his sufferings shall come to an end-in dea.th. (Ver. 4.) 2. He is deeply impressed that humar, life should be so brief and fleeting. (Ver. 5.) Man is but a breath, so that it seems scarcely worth while to live. 3. The restless exertions which men make here are to no purpose. (Ver. 6.) Men are but fleeting sharlows, and all that they seek for is evanescent; they are troubled in vain. II. THE AFFLICTED MAN'S HOPE. (Vers. 7-13.) In God. 1. The good man is waiting/or God. (Ver. 7.) 'l'o unfold his purpose toward him more fully. 2. To be delivered from all his transgressions. (Ver. B.) 3. His hope in God teaches him self• restraint. (Ver. 9.) 4. Teaches him to pray for the Divine mercy to remove his sufferings. (Ver. 10.) 5. He pleads for mercy because of the brevity of his life. (Ver. 12.) A stranger, "one who is but a passiug guest;" a sojourner," one who settles for a time in a country, hut is not a native of it." 6. And because it is near its close. (Ver. 13.) I shall soon be no more. Help before it is too late for help. Such faith in God, with such views of this life as being all, is something marvellous, when compared with our faith in him, who believe in an immortal life.-S.
EXPOSITION. dnngers. There a.re sin and iufirmity within PSALM XL. (ver. 12), there nre cruel enemies without TBE occasion of tliis psa.lm is some great (rnrs. H, 15). He therefore (in vers. 11-17) deliverance wliich hns been vouchsafed to betakes himself to humble supplication for the author of it, for which he desires to himself (vors. 11, 13, 17) llnd for the godly prniso and thank God. Of thi~ deliverance genernlly (ver. 16), that God will bo their l,e speaks in vers. 1-3, which form n sort Helper and Defender, nnd, abovo all, will of introduction to the whole. He then pusses "ma.ke no tarrying" (ver. 17). on to a more general praise of God for nll his glorious manHestatioos of himself in the The a.uthor of the psalm, according to the title, was David, o.nd no o.rgument of the history of his people (rer. 5). The thought lellst weight hns been brought llgllinst tlJis 11extoccurs-How is ho (the wriler)to mani- view. Tho occllsion mny be conjectured fest his grntitudo? And this leads to the to hllve been his rcstorlllion to his throno noble outburst in vers. 6-10. Not by llfter the brief usurpation of Abslllom. sncrifico and offering, not by a mere legal nnd Absalom's lliders llnd a.betlors may bo formal obedience, but by complete devotion alluded to in ver. 4, nnd the remnant of hi~ of the inner man as rcg:mls himself (vcrs. 6-8), nnd conste.nt proclamation of God's party in ,·er. 14. goo,lnoss as regards others (vers. 9, 10). Tue The psalm folls into three portions: (l) stmin then ohangod. Although ree,ently the introduction (vors. 1-.'1): (2) praise of delivered from some great peril, the psalmist God and promise of obedience (vers. 4-10): ia still encompassed by sufferings and (8) prayer to God (vers. 11-17). 812 THE IlOOK OF PSALMS. [PB, XIJ, 1-17.