Ver. 17.-Tokens for good. We remark upon the prayer contained in this verse- I. THAT BUCH PRAYER MAY BE AN IMPROPER ONE. Our Lord said to the people of his day, "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." And how many to-day are like these people! Now, such request for tokens is wrong: 1. When we :presume to sel.ect tokens for ourselves. God may allow this, as he did to Gideon in connection with the fleece of wool; but it is very improper for us to be stipulating for specific signs. With how many their religion is one dependent on their feelings, and varies as they do I Naaman "turned, and went away in a rage" (2 Kings v.), because God's prophet did not fulfil his idea as to the way in which he should be healed. 2. When we trust to a token more than we do to the Word of testimony. St. Peter, though he had seen the glorious vision on the Transfiguration mount-a token for good, if ever there was one-is yet careful to add, "But we have the more sure word of prophecy." And of all our tokens, as well as all our opinions, we are bound to bring them " to the Law, and to the testimony," and there test them; fur "if they be not according to this word, it ls because there is no truth in them." And not a few ur men's fancied tokens have turned out to have no truth in them. 3. When we withhold faith till we have some token which we think will justify it. (See Luke i. 18.) And when the Jews demanded a sign from heaven, as they were perpetually doing, it was refused them, as such requests ever will be (cf. Luke i. 18). II. Sucu PRAYER IB NEVER ONE WHOSE ANSWER 1B ESSE~TIAL. For without any such special tokens as we might wish for, there is no child of God but has tokens for good in abundance. 1. 'fhere is the Lord Jesus Christ. Is he not God's great and eternal token for good to us? 2, And the fact that God has created us, brought us into being. Would he have done that had ho meant evil to us? "Knuwn unto uod are all his works." 3. And the further fact th<1t we have come to Christ, are trusting him uow, and the Holy Spirit is doing his blessed work in us still. 4. AU the promises of God, so exceeding great and precious,-are not all the1;e tokens for good l Assuredly they are. 218 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [re. LXXXVI. 1-17.
III. BUT IT IB, AT TIMES, A PERMISSIBLE ONE. It was BO in the case of the psalmist,. For in spite of all difficulties he looked to God; his troubles drove him to God, and to God only, and not to the help of men. Such a man was not one who m,uld arbitrarily select some given token, or who woll'id trust it more than the Word of God, or who would withhold his belief until it was given. But he desired it for the convincement and discomfiture of his enemies, as well as for the confirmation of his 01\'D faith. IV. AND Gon BAS OFTEN GIVEN sucH TOKENS. Moses and the rod; Gideon with the fleece; Hezekiah with his dial. And he gives the like still, in answers to prayer in providential help, in support under trial, in unlooked-for events. ' V. THE RESULTS WHICH HAVE FOLLOWED. God's enemies have been ashamed. See in Israel's history, when God gave them such tokens, how we read of their enemies having "no more spirit in them." And still, when God visibly sustains his people unbelievers look on and are silent in fe.ar, because conscious of the _presence of God. But let us remember that we are never without tokens for goocl.-S. C. Ver. ~.-Man's claims ()f'I, God. Historical associations for this psalm cannot be fixed with any confidence. It may be a fragment of David's which was enlaraed and a~apted, iu a later age, to liturgical purposes. Its fragmentary character must strike every careful re.ader. It is suitable for any pious soul that is in distress, and is a fitting utterance for our burdened hearts. 'l'he point before us now is, that the pious soul feels it has claims on God, and may plead those claims in pmyer before him. Right ideas of the sovereignty of the Divine mercy can be held along with clear convictions of man's claims on God, if only we keep fully before us that the claims are wholly based on relations in which God has been pleased to set himself. If he con- descends, in his infinite love, to enter into covenant with his people, then we may recognize that he puts himself into the limitations and obligations of the pledges he takes. If we are faithful to our pledge in covenant, we can claim that God should be faithful to his pledge in the covenant. This is in part the feeling of the psalmist; and if associated with a due dependence, humility, and submission, it is a right and worthy feeling. A child has claims on his father; and if he does so in a childlike spirit, he may plead those claims before his father. It has been wisely said of our text, "This is not the highest ground that can be taken in pressing for an answer to our prayer, but it is a ground which God suffers us to take." L TllE PLEAS BY WHICH THE PSALIIUST'B PBAYEB 18 URGED. Notice that they concern the psalmist himself, and the conditions in which he is placed. It may seem unworthy thus to speak of himself; but if a man is to be sincere, he must say the truth about himself; and no harm comes when he says it out to God, because we cannot be boastful befO'l'e him. In vers. 1-3 we find four descriptions of the psalmist himself, made into pleas. 1. He is poor. This may refer to circumstances, but more probably it is a word for humble-mindedaess; the feeling of the man who wants God because he knows he cannot help himself. 2. He is needy. Which may mean in distress, or may express an actual longing for, and crying for, God's help. 3. He is holy; which simply mean", "one of thy saints;" "one who is in the full covenant relations with thee;" "one whom thou favourest;" "one whose habit of life is piety." If this is true of us, it need not be a wrong thing to say so. 4. Trustful and prayer- ful. Actually reliant; honouring God by a full confidence. And Gou surely responds to all who put their trust in him. II. THE PBAYEB WHICH TIIE PLEAS ABE EMPLOYED TO UBGE. For Divine help. 1. Bow down to the poor. 2. Preserve the godly. 3. Save the trustful. 4. Be merci- ful to him who cries. The requests for precisely adapted grace.-R. T. Ver. 2.-Man's so,il a sphere of Divine influmce. "Preserve my soul." .In the Old Testament the term" soul" is often used as we use the term "life." But there always seems within the term more or less perfect apprehension of the truth that the soul is the ,,,-..an. The commonly received division of man's being is into "body" and "eo~l; " but a more scientific analysis divides into body-which includes animal soul, ~r hfe- snd spirit. The" tripartite division" is body, soul, spirit. As a moral redemption, the v;urk of Christ has brought prominently before us that man is a spiritual b~ing. Aa re. t,xxxvr. 1-17.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 21Cl