, er. 15.-Trnc prayer. "He shnll call," etc. This is the simplest view of prayer. Au,l in our present wcakness, sin, need, that which comes most home, suits us most. Prayer may extend far beyonu the range of our own need, as in the first three prtitions of the Lord's Prayer. Jt may rise above petition into converse with God, ndoralion, thanksgiving, consecration. But this is the alphabet of those loftier le~sons, "Ask and receive" (Luke xi. 9, etc.; Ps. I. 15). I. PRAYER 1s A LAW OF Goo's GOVERNMENT. He has ordained it among the con- ditions of the blessings he is ready to bestow, as surely as he has ordained sowin<> as the condition of reaping, or the dependence of the child on the parent (Matt. vii. 11). We hear nrnch in our day of la,cs; and no wonder, for the progress of science depends on the disco1·ery of the laws which regulate nature. Rightly understood, they are the glorious witness of which Ps. xix. 1 speaks. The mischief and folly come in when men erect "laws" into an imaginary self-existence, and worship them as a sort of fetish, just as in old times people worshipped imaginary powei·s in nature. A strange idolatry I Laws can have no existence but in mind. In our minds they are truths which we ciscover as con$t&nt amid the infinite, ever-changing variety of nature. In the Divine mind they are the principles and rules according to which the Creator has madP-, upholds., and rules the universe. Now, if prayer be one of the great laws which G,,d has ordained for human life, it must needs be in perfect harmony with all nature's laws. God•s laws cannot contradict one another. The so-called "scientific" objection against prayer (which bas really nothing scientific in it) amounts to this-that if God i~ influenced by prayer, so that he causes events which would not have happened had prayer not been offered, nature must be irregular, and God irresolute. The answer is- It is God's will that "men pray everywhere," as much as that the sun shall shine and rain fall. He has built this universe as a temple. All nature is so under his eye, hand, will, that it is no more deranged by his granting our petitions than by a parent granting a child's request (1 John v. 14, 15). Men can disobey, disbelieve, despise, this great law of prayer. 'l'he difference between natural laws and laws for intelligent beings is just this-things cannot disobey God. Men can; but they must take the consequences. 11. THAT Goo ANSWERS PRAYER IS A FACT OF EXPERIENCE. The truth of any law is verified by experience. So God say~, "Prove me." The law of proyer is established by the teaching of the whole Bible, by abundant express promises, by our Saviour's example as well as teaching. It has been tested constantly for thousands of years; is beiug tested hourly-nay, every minute. And the immense witness of experience is, '' This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him." If experience can establish any fact, iL is this. But here is a difficulty. All prayers are not answered.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. I-16.-The man that trusts i'n God. I. WE HAVE RIB DESCRIPTION, 1, He dv:ells in the secret place, etc. 2. He abides under the shadow ef the .Almighty. IL His CONFESSIO:!i' OF FAITH. (Ver. 2.) !J.'he Lord is bis_Refuge, Fortres~, the Joy of his soul, his God, his constant Confidence. III. Hrs COMMENDATION OF Gon TO OTHERB, (Vere. 3-13.) 1. As a BWre Deliverer from the hidden foe and from the devouring pestilence. 2. .As Protector; like that of the mother-bird over her young; like that of shield and buckler to the soldier, 3. .As tl,e In~pirer of confidence. (Ver. 5.) Against the midnight attack-the terror by 11i"'ht (cf. Juda. vii.). Against open war, when the :flight of arrows almost darkened tl.1~ sky. Aginst secret disease (ver. 6) and sudden death-the sickness that wasteth at noonday. 4. As rescuing from the very faws of death. Thousands falling all around, but God's servant kept unha.·med (ver. 7). Seeing only, but never experiencing, the awful recompense of the wicked (ver. 8). 5. He gives the reason of thia. (Ver. 9.) He made the Lord his Refuge and 1,is Habitation; there no evil could come, nor any plague. 6. Be 'tills of the angdic ministries through which God thus guards his people; they keep and they upbear, so that no hurt shall come. Still more, they render the 1,,an invulnerable (ver. 13). Forces terrible as the lion and subtle like the adder cannot PB, XCI, 1-16.] THE BOOK OF PSALMS. 271
harm. Thus, from his own experience, the man that trusts in God commends him to his fellow-m11n. And next- IV. THE DIVINE APPROVAL AND DELIGHT IN BOTH THE MAN AND HIS TESTIMONY. At ver. 14 God begins to speak. 1. Declaring his mind towards his faithful servant. We may regard these verMs (14-16) as a Divine soliloquy, in which God well- pleased, meditates what he will do, and why, for bis servant. He will: deliver,' exalt, answer, keep near to, honour, satisfy with long life, and reveal to him the fulness of his love. 2. J,,'ndoraing the testimony in the mind of him to whom it ha~ been given. Making him feel .that it is all true, and that much mon, is true. ThlL~ does God deal with bis faithfully witnessing servants, and for and through them to others. This psalm is as true for to-day as for the day when it was written. Let us but thus trust in God, confess, and commend him.-S. C.