source. We may not be able t-0 explain fully why and how the heart is corrupt, but of the fact there can be no question. It is better to seek deliverance from the pit, than to weary and vex ourselves in vain with inquiries how we came there. II. THAT THE EVIL OF SIN IS SEEN IN THE CONTRADICTION OF TRUTH. What God ,3esires must be right and good. But instead of "truth in the inward parts," it is the vpposite. Instead of law, there is self-will; instead of order, there is confusion; instead of the unity of the Spirit, there is enmity and strife. Tho mind and the will are in contradiction to God. It is this that makes the disease so desperate, and the remedy so difficult (Gen. xvii. 9). We might make clean tho outside of the cup, but it remains defiled within. ,ve may whitewash the sepulchre, but after all it is a sepulchre, full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Helpless, and well-nigh despairing, our cry is, "0 wretched man that I am I who shall deliver me?" III. THAT DELIVERANCE FROM BIN CAN ONLY BE EFFECTED BY THE RE-ESTABLISH- MENT OF Goo's AUTHORITY IN THE HEART. Healing that-does not go to the root of the disease is vain and delusive. The heart must be made right or nothing is right. This is the work of God through Christ Jesus (Rom. vi. 8-14). It is not slight, or half-and-half work, but thorough. We cannot serve two masters. Dut by the grace of Christ we are saved from the bondage and misery of our old master, and God is again enthroned in our hearts as our true and rightful Lord, whose service is perfect freedom, and whose rewards are peace and joy for evermore.-W. F. Ver. 7.-" Whiter than snow." Snow is remarkable for whiteness. As it glistens on the mountains, or lies in virgin purity on the fields, what can compare with it? And yet David speaks of something whiter. Where? Not in nature, but in the kingdom of grace. Of whom? Not Christ, not the holy angels, not the saints in glory, but, strange to say, of himself. Like Paul, he was" the chief of sinners," and he was, therefore, the fitter ensample of the marvellous kindness and grace of God. In his prayer we find- . I. THE RECOIL OF THE SOUL FROM SIN. Many find pleasure in sin; but when once the soul is quickened, there is an end to this. Sin is felt to be vile and loathsome. Its touch is defilement; its presence is abhorrent; its effects are dreaded as the most terrible. II. Tm: YEARNING OF THE SOUL FOB PURITY. All thiDgs around us that retain their freshness and their purity condemn us and put us to shame. They show what we have lost; they intensify our pains and our sorrows. At the same time, they help to keep alive our hopes. While they testify that we are fallen, they testify also that sin is not of our true nature-that it is not something that rightly belongs to us, but that it should be abjured and abhorred. The more we compare ourselves with God's Law, and the more truly we realize God's will concerning us, the more earnestly shall we cry for deliverance. UL THE SUl'REME TRUST OF THE soUL IN Go». There is the cry, "Wash me I " This implies weakness and submission. We cannot" wash" ourselves. Our tears and prayers, our penitences and endeavours, are in vain. We cast ourselves implicitly upon God. Let God, who is holy and good, do this great thing for us, and do it in his own way. It is not the priest, it is not the saints; God only c:in save. There is also the glad faith. "And I shall be whiter than snow." The lost purity will be restored. What God does, he does perfectly. What joy in being "whiter than snow" I-not only pardoned (Isa.. i. 18), but cleansed (1 John i. 7; Rev. vii. 14). It is heaven begun.-W. F. Vers. 10, 11.-True prayer. Prayer is the index or the heart. When true, it is tho "heart's sincere desire," and expresses not only the feeling, but the cry of the soul to God. I. Tim PRAYER HERE IS THOROUGH-GOING. It is not pardon that is asked-that baa been obtained; but renewal. It is not present relief that is craved, but comp)ete restoration, such a change wrought in the heart as is equivalent to a reconstruction, and as will re-establish aud fix the right relation to God for evermore. II. THIS PRAYER IS FOUNDED ON Goo's PROMISES. We should only ask for things agreeable to God's will. Here we can have no doubt. What God wants is a "clean PB, LI. 1-19.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 405
heart." What God delights in le "a broken and a contrite heart." When we look to ourselves, and remember God's command, "Make yo11 clean" (Isa. i. 16); "Make you a new heart" (Ezrk. xviii. 31), we are filled with despair. But when we look to God, and remember his promises," A new heart will I give you" (Ezek. xxxvi. 26), hope springs up anew. God's commands are not the comma11ds of a tyrant like Pharaoh (Exod. v. 6-8), but of a Father great in love as in power. We should put his commands and bis promises side by side, and then we have confidence that what we ask we shall receive. III. '!'HIS PRAYER IMPLIES COMPLETE SELF·SUBBENDEB TO THE WILL AND WAYS OF GoD. God is sovereign and holy. He has his own ways of working. We must be brought low before we are raised up. We must be emptiecl of self before we can be filled with the fulness of God, There will be not only the Word which quickeneth, but the rod which disciplineth (ver. 8). •• IV. Tms PRAYER, FINALLY, LEADS TO A NEW LIFE OF LOVE AND OBEDIENCE. Life is made a sacrifice (Rom. xii. I)-offered, not on the altar of burnt offering, but upon the golden altar of incense; not as an atonement, for Christ's blood alone maketh atonement, but as a thanksgiving for redemption.-W. F