for so doing by an answer to his supplications; "He inclined unto me, and heard my cry."

As the Archer shoots his arrow, and then looks to see the effect, so when our prayers are sent up to God, we must not be content with having uttered the words, but we must patiently and expectantly wait for a response. And if we receive it not, we must ask again and again, and give God no rest until He grants our request.

We read of Joseph being cast into a pit by his envious brethren, and of Jeremiah being let down into the deep dungeon; and both were rescued from their pitiful condition. But David's was a still deeper and more horrible pit. He had sunk into the lowest depths of sorrow; but God, with His own right hand and with His holy arm, delivered him, and set his feet upon firm ground again.

"He

And now hear how thankfully he speaks; hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord." He describes too the happiness of trusting in God, and not in man. They are "proud," but He is gracious; they deal in lies, and deceive us and disappoint us; but He is faithful and true. Therefore is it not our wisdom and our happiness to trust God, rather than lean upon an arm of flesh?

In the sixth and following verses, the Psalmist

speaks of the mere formal offering of sacrifice, as being of little value in God's sight, in comparison with a holy and cheerful obedience to His will. Well is it if it is our delight, as it was David's, to do the will of God.

But these words were not David's only; they were also Christ's. This we learn by referring to Heb. x. 5-9. Yes, David's Lord could say more truly than any other, "Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation (before assembled multitudes): lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest."

Instead of sacrifices, He came to offer Himself. He gave Himself willingly, feeling it to be His great delight to do the work His Father had committed unto Him. And oh that "our ears may be opened" to know the will of God, and may our hearts be so influenced by His Spirit, that it may be our greatest enjoyment to labour in His service!

VOL. I.

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PSALM XL. 11-17.

Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord : let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me. For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head therefore my heart faileth me. Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it : let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified. But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

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N this second part of the Psalm David gives himself unto prayer; and from it we may learn how to pray acceptably in the time of distress; "Withhold not thou (he says) thy tender mercies from me." As if he had said, 'There is abundant mercy treasured up in Thee: O let me be a partaker of it; let it flow out towards me.'

He speaks of his troubles, and especially that greatest of all troubles, his sins. These, he says, have so overwhelmed him, that he is "not able to

look up." The tears he has shed have made his eyes dim, and a sense of his guilt has made him ashamed to lift those eyes up heavenward.

Sometimes we need to be thus brought low and humbled before God. It is a blessing when the Holy Spirit shows us the exceeding misery of sin. And far better is it to stand self-condemned like the Publican in the temple, than to have the ill-founded confidence of the self-satisfied Pharisee. From the one God turns away His face, but to the other He extends the loving arms of His forgiveness.

Having simply asked for deliverance in the thirteenth verse, he goes on to express his desire that his enemies may be altogether disconcerted and disgraced; "Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha;" that is, Silence their taunts, and bring their enmity to nought.

And then he also asks that this may be a cause of rejoicing to the people of God —that when they see how graciously He deals with His servant, and how He throws the shield of His protection around him, they may one and all exclaim with the voice of adoring gratitude, "The Lord be magnified!"

Once more David thinks of his own distress, and exclaims, "But I am poor and needy; yet the

Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God." Though he had no helper and deliverer on earth, he felt that he had a Helper in heaven. And though God might seem slack in affording His promised aid, it would come, and there would be no unnecessary tarrying.

These words were suitable to David, suitable also to Christ in the day of His humiliation, and suitable to each one of His followers. 'The Church,' says good Bishop Horne, 'like her Redeemer, is often poor and afflicted, but Jehovah is her Help and her Deliverer. With such a Father, and such a Friend, poverty becomes rich, and weakness itself is strong.'