Verse 20.
1. The title given to heathen nations: dark places of the earth.
Not without the light of nature, or of reason, or of natural conscience, or of philosophy, as of Greece and Rome; but without the light of revelation.
2. Their condition: full of, etc.: cruelty in their public, social, and private relationships. See Romans 1: "without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful."
3. Their part in the covenant. This is known from their part in its promises, and in prophecies: I will give thee the heathen, etc.
4. The prayer of others on their behalf: Have respect, etc.; Oh send forth thy light, etc.
The conversion of the world will be in answer to the prayers of the church.
Verse 22. God pleading his own cause in providential visitations of nations and individuals, as also in remarkable conversions and awakenings.
Verse 22.
1. The glory of our cause: it is the Lord's own.
2. The hope of our cause: he will plead it himself.
3. The hope thus derivable from the violence of man: it will move the Lord to arise.