Ver. 10.-Peerings into the future. "Wilt thou show wonders unto the dead?" "It is both curious and instructive to mark how, throughout the psalm, whether it is his own infirmity which he bewails, or the loss of friends, the mind of this wise man is straining toward 1.he great darkness in which so many of his lovers and companions have been swallowed up, and into which he is himself about to pass. He is for eve1 speculating on the physical and moral conditions of the world which lies in or beyond that darkness. He cannot get away from the theme. He is for ever fingering it, and returning to it." "He was for ever asking-Is the life beyond death a true life? is it a life worth livina? Will it redress the wrongs of time, and vindicate the ways of God with men? "is the world to come a world of righteousness and charity and peace, in which Truth will lift her veil, and all alienations and enmities will be swallowed up in love?" Peerings into the future arc natural; they may be healthy, they may be unhealthy; they depend very much on personal disposition, and quite, as much on particular circumstances. Concerning the future, enough is known to prove a constant incentive to moral goodness; so much is unknown that faith may be kept in lively exercise. These points may be illustrated. L PEERIKGB INTO THE FUTURE A.RE NATURAL. Man has never been able to accept the idea that his life ends at death. Heathen and pagan religions meet the cry for light on the world beyond death. Our friends die, but we cannot think them lost. So many die young, just fitted for life; there must be life for them beyond. We must die, but we cannot admit the idea that our real life ends at death. We are consciously fitted, by our earth-life, fur something more. ll. PEERINGS INTO THE FUTURE MAY BE HEALTHY. They will be if they bring a vivid sense of the relation of the coming life to this life. If we see that the powers of that life are the powers gained in this. IIL PEERIXGS INTO THE FUTURE MAY BE UNHEALTHY. They will be if they become time-consuming, vague, impractical speculations, which fritter away the powers of the soul, and make present duties seem dull. 'l'he sitting in a window-seat and dreRmily peering into the west may be all very well, supposing the dreamer has got no house- PB, LXXXVIIJ, 1-18.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 237
work to do, She would be wise to do her duty anil leave the future alone. Unhealthy speculation on the future is a. modern religious epidemic, seriously injuring the vitality of our Churches. IV. PEERINGB INTO THE FUTURE DEPEND ON DISPOSITION AND CIR0UMBTANCE. Some are speculative; they cannot live in the actual, they are always imaainin" the possible. They nre always awa.y yonder. No doubt they have their missio;; b~t we are glad not to have too many of them, or the work of to-day would never get done. When men are in illness, or at gravesides, or set thinking hy national calamities, then "peerings into the future" are bdittiug, and may be helpful things.-R. T.
Ver. 13.-Prayer getting in front of God. "In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee." The idea. is a. siugular one, baseJ upon the older meaning of the worrl IC prevent." Thinking of God under the figure of a.n earthly King, he conceives of himself a.s a petitioner who is so intense in his desire that he reaches the palace gate before the King is up. His prayer is there before the King is. To "prevent" now· means to" hinder." In older days it simply meant to'' go before," to "anticipate.' 'l'he word is never used in the sense of "hinder," either in the Bible, as we have it, or in the books of the age in which it was translated. But it should further be observed tha.t getting up very early in the morning to do a thing is a frequent Bible figure for doing a thing earnestly, doing it with all your heart. It is still true of us that if we are thoroughly in earnest about a. matter, we can easily get up early in the morning to attend to it. So this figure of the psalmist does but express his intense earnestnes~ in prayer, the fervency of his desire, his almost passionate waiting on God, that makes him feel as if he could get before God, as if he could be there to plead before God was there to hear. It can be but a figure of man's feeling. He never can be ready before God is; he cannot get before God. Ma.n is al ways second in prayer; God is always first in waiting to receive prayer. I. MAN TlllNKING HE 0AN BE FIRST WITH GoD. He can get before his fellow-man, and a.sk what his fellow has not thought about, and is not quite prepared to give. And so, in his intensity, man thinks he can even be first with God; he thinks he can ask what God has not thought about. Be can tell God something. God does indeed gently and graciously deal with impetuous and impulsive souls, a.nd let them freely speak out all their hearts, and even think they have informed him a great deal. Be loves our confidences, even if they are intense; but he must often smile as the mother smiles on her impetuous boy, who tells her, as if it was something quite new, what she has suspected or known for a Jong time. But the earnestness that tries to be first with God cannot fail to be acceptable to him. II. MAN FINDING OUT THAT Gon IS ALWAYS FIRST WITH HIM. It comes to us occasionally as a great surprise, that what we have asked God a.bout so intensely, be has been a long while attending to. He knew our need before we felt it, and let it take shape as prayer. And that is one of the most important blessings that follow prayer. Asking God's help in some things, we find out tha.t God's help has a.11 the while been in everything.-R. T.
Ver. 14.-God's hidden face. "Why hidest thou thy face from me?" The shinings, or the hidings, of the face are frequently referred to in the Psalms. Masters and kings in the East show their dignity by speaking as little as possible. They convey their wishes, and express their feelings, by their looks, or by simple movements of their hands. So their servants a.nd their courtiers anxiously watch their faces, to see in them signs of approval, acceptance, a.nd favour. If the king does not look at them, turns his face away, hides his face from them, they know that they a.re out of his favour; they fear that some mischief will befall them. And so, if a man brings a petition to e. king, it is enough answer if the king simply turns bis face away, hides his face; tha.t is a virtual refuse.I. Compare such poetical expressions ns IC Make thy face to shine upon thy servants; n IC LHt up the light of thy countenance upon us ; " " Why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" "Verily thou art e. God that hidest thyself." I. Gon's HIDIN<lS ARE NEVER MERE ACTS OF SOYEHE(G:,(TY. A thoughtful writer .says, "I know that some have maintained that God sometimes forsakes his people in THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [:1-'B, LXXXU:, 1-62,