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Expositor's Bible Commentary Psalm 86:1 A Prayer of David. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Psalm 86:1-17 THIS psalm is little more than a mosaic of quotations and familiar phrases of petition. But it is none the less individual, nor is the psalmist less heavily burdened, or less truly beseeching and trustful, because he casts his prayer into well-worn words. God does not give "originality" to every devout man; and He does not require it as a condition of accepted prayer. Humble souls, who find in more richly endowed men’s words the best expression of their own needs, may be encouraged by such a psalm. Critics may think little of it, as a mere cento: but God does not refuse to bow His ear, though He is asked to do so in borrowed words. A prayer full of quotations may be heartfelt, and then it will be heard and answered. This psalmist has not only shown his intimate acquaintance with earlier devotional words, but he has woven his garland with much quiet beauty, and has blended its flowers into a harmony of colour all his own. There is no fully developed strophical arrangement, but there is a discernible flow of thought, and the psalm may be regarded as falling into three parts. The first of these ( Psalm 86:1-5 ) is a series of petitions, each supported by a plea. The petitions are the well-worn ones which spring from universal need, and there is a certain sequence in them. They begin with "Bow down Thine ear," the first of a suppliant’s desires, which, as it were, clears the way for those which follow. Trusting that he will not ask in vain, the psalmist then prays that God would "keep" his soul as a watchful guardian or sentry does, and that, as the result of such care, he may be saved from impending perils. Nor do his desires limit themselves to deliverance. They rise to more inward and select manifestations of God’s heart of tenderness, for the prayer "Be gracious" asks for such, and so goes deeper into the blessedness of the devout life than the preceding. And the crown of all these requests is "Rejoice the soul of Thy servant," with the joy which flows from experience of outward deliverance and of inward whispers of God’s grace, heard in the silent depths of communion with Him. It matters not that every petition has parallels in other psalms, which this singer is quoting. His desires are none the less his, because they have been shared by a company of devout souls before him. His expression of them is none the less his, because his very words have been uttered by others. There is rest in thus associating oneself with an innumerable multitude who have "cried to God and been lightened." The petition in Psalm 86:1 is like that in Psalm 55:2 . Psalm 86:2 sounds like a reminiscence of Psalm 25:20 ; Psalm 86:3 closely resembles Psalm 57:1 . The pleas on which the petitions are grounded are also beautifully wreathed together. First, the psalmist asks to be heard because he is afflicted and poor. {compare Psalms 11:17} Our need is a valid plea with a faithful God. The sense of it drives us to Him; and our recognition of poverty and want must underlie all faithful appeal to Him. The second plea is capable of two interpretations. The psalmist says that he is Chasid ; and that word is by some commentators taken to mean one who exercises, and by others one who is the subject of, Chesed - i.e. , lovingkindness. As has been already remarked on Psalm 4:3 , the passive meaning- i.e. , one to whom God’s lovingkindness is shown-is preferable. Here it is distinctly better than the other. The psalmist is not presenting his own character as a plea, but urging God’s gracious relation to him, which, once entered on, pledges God to unchanging continuance in manifesting His lovingkindness. But though the psalmist does not plead his character, he does, in the subsequent pleas, present his faith, his daily and day-long prayers, and his lifting of his desires, aspirations, and whole self above the trivialities of earth to set them on God. These are valid pleas with Him. It cannot be that trust fixed on Him should be disappointed, nor that cries perpetually rising to His ears should be unanswered, nor that a soul stretching its tendrils heavenward should fail to find the strong stay, round which it can cling and climb. God owns the force of such appeals, and delights to be moved to answer, by the spreading before Him of His servant’s faith and longings. But all the psalmist’s other pleas are merged at last in that one contained in Psalm 86:5 , where he gazes on the revealed Name of God, and thinks of Him as He had been described of old, and as this suppliant delights to set to his seal that he has found. Him to be-good and placable, and rich in lovingkindness. God is His own motive, and Faith can find nothing mightier to urge with God, nor any surer answer to its own doubts to urge with itself, than the unfolding of all that lies in the Name of the Lord. These pleas, like the petitions which they support, are largely echoes of older words. "Afflicted and poor" comes, as just noticed, from Psalm 40:17 . The designation of "one whom God favours" is from Psalm 4:3 , "Unto Thee do I lift up my soul" is taken verbatim from Psalm 25:1 . The explication of the contents of the Name of the Lord, like the fuller one in Psalm 86:15 , is based upon Exodus 34:6 . Psalm 86:6-13 may be taken together, as the prayer proper, to which Psalm 86:1-5 are introductory. In them there is first, a repetition of the cry for help, and of the declaration of need ( Psalm 86:6-7 ); then a joyful contemplation of God’s unapproachable majesty and works, which insure the ultimate recognition of His Name by all nations ( Psalm 86:8-10 ); then a profoundly and tenderly spiritual prayer for guidance and consecration-wants more pressing still than outward deliverance ( Psalm 86:11 ); and, finally, as in so many psalms, anticipatory thanksgivings for deliverance yet future, but conceived of as present by vivid faith. Echoes of earlier psalms sound through the whole; but the general impression is not that of imitation, but of genuine personal need and devotion. Psalm 86:7 is like Psalm 17:6 and other passages; Psalm 86:8 a is from Exodus 15:11 ; Psalm 86:8 b is modelled on Deuteronomy 3:24 ; Psalm 86:9 , on Psalm 22:27 ; Psalm 86:11 a, - on Psalm 27:11 ; Psalm 86:11 b, on Psalm 26:3 ; "Sheol beneath" is from Deuteronomy 32:22 . But, withal, there are unity and progress in this cento of citations. The psalmist begins with reiterating his cry that God would hear, and in Psalm 86:7 advances to the assurance that He will. Then in Psalm 86:8-10 he turns from all his other pleas to dwell on his final one ( Psalm 86:5 ) of the Divine character. As, in the former verse, he had rested his calm hope on God’s willingness to help. so now he strengthens himself, in assurance of art answer, by the thought of God’s unmatched power, the unique majesty of His works and His sole Divinity. Psalm 86:8 might seem to assert only Jehovah’s supremacy above other gods of the heathen; but Psalm 86:10 shows that the psalmist speaks the language of pure Monotheism. Most naturally the prophetic assurance that all nations shall come and worship Him is deduced from His sovereign power and incomparableness. It cannot be that "the nations whom Thou hast made" shall forever remain ignorant of the hand that made them. Sooner or later that great character shall be seen by all men in its solitary elevation; and universal praise shall correspond to His sole Divinity. The thought of God’s sovereign power carries the psalmist beyond remembrance of his immediate outward needs, and stirs higher desires in him. Hence spring the beautiful and spiritual petitions of Psalm 86:11 , which seek for clearer insight into God’s will concerning the psalmist’s conduct, breathe aspirations after a "walk" in that God-appointed way and in "Thy troth," and culminate in one of the sweetest and deepest prayers of the Psalter: "Unite my heart to fear Thy Name." There, at least, the psalmist speaks words borrowed from no other, but springing fresh from his heart’s depths. Jeremiah 32:39 is the nearest parallel, and the commandment Deuteronomy 6:5 , to love God "with all thine heart," may have been in the psalmist’s mind; but the prayer is all his own. He has known the misery of a divided heart, the affections and purposes of which are drawn in manifold directions, and are arrayed in conflict against each other. There is no peace nor blessedness, neither is any nobility of life possible, without whole-hearted devotion to one great object; and there is no object capable of evoking such devotion or worthy to receive it, except Him who is "God alone." Divided love is no love. It must be "all in all, or not at all." With deep truth, the command to love God with all the heart is based upon his Unity-"Hear, O Israel: The Lord Thy God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart". { Deuteronomy 6:4-5 } The very conception of religion requires that it should be exclusive, and should dominate the whole nature. It is only God who is great enough to fill and engage all our capacities. Only the mass of the central sun is weighty enough to make giant orbs its satellites, and to wheel them in their courses. There is no tranquility nor any power in lives frittered away on a thousand petty loves. The river that breaks into a multitude of channels is sucked up in the sand without reaching the ocean, and has no force in its current to scour away obstructions. Concentration makes strong men; consecration makes saints. "This one thing I do" is the motto of all who have done anything worthy. "Unite my heart to fear Thy Name" is the prayer of all whose devotion is worthy of its object, and is the source of joy and power to themselves. The psalmist asks for a heart made one with itself in the fear of God, and then vows that, with that united heart, he will praise his delivering God. As in many other psalms, he anticipates the answers to his prayers, and in Psalm 86:13 speaks of God’s lovingkindness as freshly manifested to him, and of deliverance from the dismal depths of the unseen world, which threatened to swallow him up. It seems more in accordance with the usage in similar psalms to regard Psalm 86:13 as thus recounting, with prophetic certainty, the coming deliverance as if it were accomplished, than to suppose that in it the psalmist is ‘falling back on former instances of God’s rescuing grace. In the closing part ( Psalm 86:14-17 ), the psalmist describes more precisely his danger. He is surrounded by a rabble rout of proud and violent men, whose enmity to him is, as in so many of the psalms of persecuted singers, a proof of their forgetfulness of God. Right against this rapid outline of his perils, he sets the grand unfolding of the character of God in Psalm 86:15 . It is still fuller than that in Psalm 86:5 , and like it, rests on Exodus 34:1-35 . Such juxtaposition is all that is needed to show how little he has to fear from the hostile crew. On one hand are they in their insolence and masterfulness, eagerly hunting after his life; on the other is God with His infinite pity and lovingkindness. Happy are they who can discern high above dangers and foes the calm presence of the only God, and, with hearts undistracted and undismayed, can oppose to all that assails them the impenetrable shield of the Name of the Lord! It concerns our peaceful fronting of the darker facts of life, that we cultivate the habit of never looking at dangers or sorrows without seeing the helping God beside and above them. The psalm ends with prayer for present help. If God is, as the psalmist has seen Him to be, "full of compassion and gracious," it is no presumptuous petition that the streams of these perfections should be made to flow towards a needy suppliant. "Be gracious to me" asks that the light which pours through the universe, may fall on one heart, which is surrounded by earth-born darkness. As in the introductory verses, so in the closing petitions, the psalmist grounds his prayer principally on God’s manifested character, and secondarily on his own relation to God. Thus in Psalm 86:16 he pleads that he is God’s servant, and "the son of Thy handmaid". {compare Psalm 116:16 } That expression does not imply any special piety in the psalmist’s mother, but pleads his hereditary relation as servant to God, or, in other words, his belonging by birth to Israel, as a reason for his prayers being heard. His last petition for "a sign" does not necessarily mean a miracle, but a clear manifestation of God’s favour, which might be as unmistakably shown by an everyday event as by a supernatural intervention. To the devout heart, all common things are from God, and bear witness for Him. Even blind eyes and hard hearts may be led to see and feel that God is the helper and comforter of humble souls who trust in Him. A heart that is made at peace with itself by the fear of God, and has but one dominant purpose and desire, will long for God’s mercies, not only because they have a bearing on its own outward well-being, but because they will demonstrate that it is no vain thing to wait on the Lord, and may lead some, who cherished enmity to God’s servant and alienation from Himself, to learn the sweetness of His Name and the security of trust in Him. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Psalm 86 Man and the great God Homilist. I. MAN in a variety of aspects. 1. What every man is. "Poor and needy." Morally this is the case with every man. He is "poor" ( Revelation 3:17 ). And "needy." What does he need? Knowledge, pardon, purity, power. 2. What every man requires. "Be merciful unto me, O Lord." "The wages of sin is death." He must throw himself on mercy; mercy is his only ground of hope. 3. What every man should be.(1) Pious. "For I am holy."(2) Trustful "That trusteth in Thee." He is infinitely trustworthy.(3) Incessantly prayerful "I cry unto Thee daily," or all the day. We should "pray without ceasing." True prayer is not a service but a spirit. 4. What every man should believe. "For Thou, Lord, art good," etc.(1) God is essentially good — the primal font of all goodness.(2) Forgivingly good. "Ready to forgive." Many men esteemed good have not sufficient goodness in them to forgive. Forgiving goodness is goodness in its highest manifestation.(3) Abundantly good. "Plenteous in mercy," etc. No sinner need despair. 5. What every man should do.(1) He should seek a knowledge of the Divine will, in order to obey it. "Teach me Thy way," etc. "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" This should be the great question in every man's life.(2) He should strive for unity of heart, in order to praise God for evermore. "Unite my heart," etc. II. GOD in a variety of aspects. 1. He is infinitely incomparable.(1) Incomparable in being. "Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord." Angels that excel in strength, etc. But what are they to God?(2) Incomparable in works. "Neither are there any works like unto Thy works." 2. He is universally attractive. "All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship," etc. Glorious prediction this. 3. He is transcendently great. "For Thou art great," etc. ( Isaiah 44:6 ). "All nations before Him are as nothing." 4. He is unspeakably kind (ver. 15). ( Homilist. ) A pattern of prayer A. Maclaren, D. D. Earnest reiteration is not vain repetition. Christ used many repetitions, as does the psalmist. This is a pattern of prayer in its invocations, petitions and pleas. I. THE INVOCATIONS. The appeals to the Divine Name. 1. The significance of invocation, not a mere formality, but the basis of all prayer.(1) Names expressing certain aspects of Divine character.(2) The use we make of these names. (a) Thought. We think of God under this aspect. (b) Confidence. We avow our faith in Him. (c) Appeal. We remind God of what He has declared Himself to be. 2. The invocations in this prayer. Note the frequent and varied use of the Divine names. These are made the ground of confidence.(1) Jehovah — a name with two-fold meaning. (a) The word itself. Eternal, underived existence. (b) Its history. The seal of the covenant, i.e. the eternal God entering into covenant relations with man.(2) My God. (a) God implies fulness of power. (b) My God. The Godhead appropriated, i.e. Almighty strength, claimed by human need.(3) Lord, not here meaning Jehovah, but the God of authority and dominion. II. THE PETITIONS — a progress in thought and desire. 1. The introductory petition.(1) Loving regard. "Bow down Thine ear."(2) A mighty answer. Hearing means answering. 2. Deliverance under a three-fold aspect.(1) Protection — "preserve my soul."(2) Safety.(3) Mercy. The source of both. The first two emphasize the psalm. ist's peril. The last his unworthiness. No word as to the manner of deliverance. He leaves all that to God. 3. The crowning blessing. Gladness as the result of all these. "Rejoice the soul of Thy servant." III. THE PLEAS. The arguments of prayer. The reasons why God should bless. 1. Man's necessities. "I am poor and needy."(1) Circumstances borne down by outward calamity.(2) Character, destitute of inward resources. These constitute a prevailing plea with God. 2. Man's relations and desires towards God.(1) Divine favour. "I am holy." I am favoured by God.(2) Possession. "Thy servant." The Lord cares for the slave.(3) Confidence. "That trusteth in Thee."(4) Supplication. "I cry unto Thee daily."(5) Aspiration. "Unto Thee do I lift up my soul." 3. God's own character. "For Thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive." This the mightiest plea of all. We can add to these pleas the name of Christ. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Assurances that God will hear prayer A. Maclaren, D. D. The most of these supplications may be found in other parts of Scripture as promises from God. Only so far as an articulate Divine word carries my faith has my faith right to go. In the crooked alleys of Venice, there is a thin thread of red stone, inlaid in the pavement or wall, which guides through all the devious turnings to the Piazza in the centre where the great church stands. As long as we have the red line of promise on the path, faith may follow it, and it will come to the Temple. Where the line stops it is presumption and not faith that takes up the running. God's promises are sunbeams flung down upon us. True prayer catches them on its mirror, and signals them back to God. We are emboldened to say, "Bow down Thine ear," because He hath said, "I will hear." We are encouraged to cry, "Be merciful," because we have our foot upon the promise that He will be. ( A. Maclaren, D. D. ) Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Psalm 86:4 Soul elevation Homilist. The soul's true elevation is a progress — I. GODWARD. "Unto Thee." It does not really rise as it moves towards worldly wealth, position, influence, or knowledge; but only as it moves towards God. II. BY SELF-EFFORT. "Do I lift up my soul." It must rise, not as a stone rises into the air, by the application of a foreign force, and as soon as the force is expended comes down again; but as the lark rises, by its own energy, and the use of its own pinions. Self-lifting is the true lifting; and it requires aa effort, resolute, energetic, and persevering. ( Homilist. ) Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer. Psalm 86:6, 7 Concerning prayer In such a prayer-psalm as this, there is no studying of language: it is the pouring out of the heart as the heart boils over, the utterance of the desires as they bubble up from the soul's deeps, with an entire carelessness as to the fashion of the expression. This ought to be a hint to you when you pray. Do not study how to arrange your words when you come before the Lord. When your heart is like a boiling geyser, let it steam aloft in pillars of prayer. The overflowing of the soul is the best praying in the world. I. David in his prayer sought, beyond all things, to have PERSONAL INTERCOURSE WITH GOD. To my mind that is just the distinction between prayer before conversion and prayer after it. Note well that David, while he thus sought to have dealings with God, to come to close grips with the Lord in the act of prayer, was not presumptuously bold. He perceives the condescension of such fellowship on God's part. This may be seen in the first line: "Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me." As if he said, "Thou art so high that, unless Thou shalt stoop very low, Thou canst not commune with me. But, Lord, do thus stoop. Bow down Thine ear. From Thy lofty throne, higher than an angel's wing can reach, stoop Thou down and listen to me — poor, feeble me." As you further read in this psalm, you will notice that David, in order to obtain this high privilege, pleads his need of it. He cries, "I am poor and needy"; as much as to say, "Lord, do come to me, do let me have personal intercourse witch Thee, for nothing else will serve my turn. I am so poor that Thou alone canst enrich me; I am so feeble that Thou alone canst sustain me. Thou hast made me: Lord, forsake not the work of Thine own hands; I, Thy child, am full of wants, which Thou only canst supply. Oh, deal with me in great compassion!" He next pleads his personal consecration: "Preserve my soul, for I am holy" — consecrated and dedicated to the Divine service. Moreover, David, anxious to use every argument, pleads his trust: "Save Thy servant that trusteth in Thee." This is s conquering plea: "Lord, my sole reliance is on Thee; come to me, then, and justify the confidence which Thou Thyself hast inspired." Then, notice that David pleads for God's presence because He is God's servant. "Save Thy servant." He urges yet another reason why just now he should see God, namely, that he is always in prayer: "I cry unto Thee daily." Blessed are we when prayer surrounds us like an atmosphere. Then we are living in the presence of God; we are continually conversing with Him. May we climb to the top of the mount of communion, and may we never come down from it! David also tells the Lord that, when he could not attain to the nearness he desired, yet he struggled after it, and strained after it. Now, when a man's daily cries and inward strivings are after God, he may certainly expect that God in prayer will have intercourse with him. There are occasions with all His people when the Lord brings them very near, and speaks with them, and they with Him, when His presence is to them as real as the all-pervading air, and they are as much rejoiced in it as in the presence of father, or wife, or child, or friend. Still David, conscious of the great privilege which he sought, was not content without pleading the master argument of all: he pleads the great goodness of the Lord. "For Thou, Lord, art good." As much as to say, "If Thou wert not good Thou wouldst never listen to me. I am, as it were, a noxious insect which a man might far sooner crush than speak with; and yet Thou art so good, my God, that instead of setting Thy foot on me, Thou dost lift me up and talk with me." II. DAVID DESIRED PERSONAL ANSWERS FROM GOD. We hear our fellow-Christians say, when we tell them of instances in which God has heard our prayers, "How very extraordinary!" And we look at them, and say, "Extraordinary?" Has it become an extraordinary thing for God to be true to His own promise? I like better the remark of the good old lady, who, when her prayer was answered, was asked, "Does it not surprise you?" She said, "No, it does not surprise me; it is just like Him." A promise is like a cheque. If I have a cheque, what do I do with it? Suppose I carried it about in my pocket, and said, "I do not see the use of this bit of paper, I cannot buy anything with it," a person would say, "Have you been to the bank with it?" "No, I did not think of that." "But it is payable to your order. Have you written your name on the back of it?" "No, I have not done that." "And yet you are blaming the person who gave you the cheque! The whole blame lies with yourself. Put your name at the back of the cheque, go with it to the bank, and you will get what is promised to you." A prayer should be the presentation of God's promise endorsed by your personal faith. We expect our God to answer our prayer all the more surely when we are in trouble. David so expected: "In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee: for Thou wilt answer me." Trouble is sent to make us pray. When we pray, the prayer becomes the solace of our trouble; and when the prayer is heard, it becomes the salvation out of our trouble. Many of you would be out of trouble quickly if you prayed. "Sir, I have been doing my best." And what is your best? A better thing than your best is to wait upon the Lord. Now, if we expect God to answer us, we do so on very good grounds. There are certain natural reasons. I was turning over in my mind the question, "Why do I pray? Why have I any reason to believe that God hears me?" And I thought to myself, "Well, on natural grounds I have a right to believe that God will hear prayer, or otherwise why is prayer commanded?" The Scripture is full of prayer. It is an institution of the old covenant, as well as of the new, and yet it is a piece of folly if God does not hear it. Observe, again, that prayer has been universal among all the saints. There have been saints of different moulds and temperaments, but they have all prayed. Some of them have been, like Heman and Asaph, masters of song, and they have prayed; others could not sing, but they have all prayed. But, if you turn to scriptural reasons, why was there a mercy-seat if there is nothing in prayer? Why does the throne of grace still remain as a permanent institution, of which Paul says, "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace," unless there is a reality in it? Tell me, why is Christ the way to the mercy-seat? Why is He Himself the great Intercessor and Mediator, if there is nothing in prayer?. The Holy Ghost helpeth our infirmities in prayer; surely there must be something effectual where He lends His aid. What! is He, after all, helping us to do a thing which produces no result? For, once more, we know that God hears prayer, because we have met with multitudes of His people who can tell of answers to prayer. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) In the day of my trouble I will call upon Thee: for Thou wilt answer me. Psalm 86:7 The day of trouble Homilist. I. HERE IS A DAY THAT MAY BE EXPECTED BY US ALL, Though all men do not "walk in the midst of trouble," all must meet with trouble sooner or later. There is no human experience that has not had, or will not have, such a day — personal and relative troubles, bodily and spiritual troubles. II. HERE IS A DETERMINATION THAT SHOULD BE FORMED BY US ALL. "I will call upon Thee." This resolution — 1. Agrees with our instinct. In trouble, men involuntarily call on God. This resolution — 2. Agrees with our reason. Who else can really help us? Money profiteth nothing in the day of trouble; and the tenderest, truest friendships are helpless. III. HERE IS A HOPE THAT MAY BE ENTERTAINED BY US ALL. "For Thou wilt answer me." 1. Thou hast answered others who called on Thee in trouble. 2. Thou hast promised to answer all who call on Thee in trouble. ( Homilist. ) Among the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto Thy works. Psalm 86:8 God's works unique Homilist. I. God's works in the MATERIAL domain have no equal. 1. How exquisite in perfection. How delicate in structure, symmetrical in form and hue. Compare the finest fabric that the human hand has ever produced with the commonest flower of the field, and what a difference. 2. How infinite in variety! From the microscopic atom to that central orb that holds the material universe together, from the animalcule to the archangel, no two alike. How limited the range of man's inventions, what a sameness in all his productions! 3. How immeasurable in extent! "The works of the Lord are great," etc. Ill. God's works in the MORTAL domain have no equal.For example, how different the way in which God deals with enemies with the way men do! 1. God offers forgiveness to the rebel; man crushes him. 2. God offers forgiveness to the rebel after he has frequently refused it. 3. God offers forgiveness to the rebel, and makes the greatest sacrifice, "He gave His Son," etc. Verily, "His ways are not our ways." ( Homilist. ) The wonder-working God J. Irons. I. THE GLORIES OF ISRAEL'S COVENANT GOD UNEQUALLED. "There is none like unto Thee." II. THE OPERATIONS OF HIS HANDS. "Neither are there any works like unto Thy works." 1. In nature, who can make a tree such as God makes? You may make an imitation of it. Who can make a blade of grass such as God makes? 2. In providence there are no works like unto God's. If He send forth His servants, as He did Jeremiah, to throw down, root up, and overturn nations and empires. It is He that giveth power to get wealth, He it is that fixes the bounds of our habitations; nay, more, it is His constant employ to order the very steps of every good man. 3. Now, look at what might be accounted religious works, or what may be termed the work of grace. Can any god work like Him? III. THE DESIGNS OF HIS LOVE. 1. The salvation and redemption of His Church. 2. The new creation of every member of the Church, to qualify them to enjoy redemption. What a subject for personal self-examination! 3. The tribute of praise He designs shall be paid to Himself. "My glory," says He, "will I not give to another," nor my praise to graven images; therefore is there no god like our God, and no other god shall have any of His tribute. ( J. Irons. ) God's work W. L. Watkinson. The text is the expression of the unsophisticated man in the presence of earth and sky; and, mind, Jesus Christ is on the side of the unsophisticated man. "Consider the lilies, how they grow," etc. He did not say that Solomon was not a match for a landscape, but he was not arrayed like "one" of these. That is, in the estimation of Jesus Christ, there was more splendour in a single wild flower than there is in all our manufactured magnificence. It is something like what Mr. Ruskin said: "There is more beauty in a bluebell than would be necessary to decorate a dozen cathedrals." The unsophisticated man feels that there is no rivalry between our creations and the magnificence of the Creation. Everybody knows that when Aladdin's palace was built the magicians were disturbed, and left a window incomplete, and all the genius of the East failed to complete that window. But, I say, if a bit of the sky had been left incomplete, or a section of the rainbow unpainted, or the petal of a flower organically defective, who would have finished that? Oh, no, "amongst the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord." A great many art critics fancy that God Almighty is not much of an artist, and that you require a great deal of correction and idealization before you can get a picture. The botanist feels that flowers must have a great deal of care and training before they are fit for the show; and most people who have to deal with nature have a consciousness that it does not satisfy their artistic sense. So to-day, you perpetually hear of the limitation, the irregularity, the defectiveness, and failures of nature. Now, what are you to say to these? Are you to deny them? Not for a moment. But remember this, that whenever you mark the defects of nature, those alleged defects are only part of a larger ultimate perfection. Let me say this — two great canons — everything in nature is good in its place, and everything in nature is good for its purpose; not ideally perfect, but good in its place, good for its purpose. But I wish to speak to you on the perfection of God's works as revealed in His government of the race. Now, the unsophisticated man, looking at the structure of society, the independence of the nations, the unfoldings of evolution, would say at once that God was wonderful in counsel and excellent in working; amongst the gods there is no ruler like Thee, O Lord, neither is there any government like unto Thy government. But the critic steps in again. What! Look at the planet; think of human history; mark all the confusions and catastrophes of the ages; and could any government be worse than the government of God — that is, if there be such government? Now, what are we to say? Let us begin again. Everything good in its place. What is that? Get the right distance, look at the thing with a true perspective, and you will give a favourable verdict. Let me illustrate it. There has appeared, almost in our own day, a new historian — the philosophical historian. The old historians gave anecdotes of kings and of camps, stories of the people, the movement of the times. It was a series of sketches, a series of anecdotes; and there they finished. But in modern times we have another historian — the philosophical historian. What is his particular vocation? He shows how the different nations have contributed to the development of civilization; what part the Egyptian civilization played, what part the Greek, what part the Judaic, what part the Roman. Why did not the philosophical historian come earlier? Because the right point of view had not been reached; the Egyptian did not know what he was doing — the Greek did not, the Jew did not, the Roman did not. They were up in the dome, they were far too near. But the philosophical historian is the man who has got the proper distance; he has got the floor, and he begins to see that the past has not been a gigantic muddle, but there has been system in it, order, purpose. The chaos is revealing itself as a picture. The philosophical historian says, "Under everything there is a plan; running through all things there is a purpose; and what for ages looked to men but a confused and purposeless history begins to show to-day the great, universal, and splendid purpose of Him who sits upon the throne and governs all things to His own great ends." Don't you judge too quickly; you wait ten thousand years; you have plenty of time. What is ten thousand years to you? The great purpose of God that is hidden begins to make itself known through the mist, and what you once thought to be a chaos you see to be a cartoon. Yes, you say, but ten thousand years is rather trying to us, with our impatience. It is; you need not always wait so long. Three centuries ago an ugly tyranny in this nation drove out from us some of the noblest women and noblest men that belonged to the commonwealth. Now, if you had been on the Atlantic coast, and had seen the Mayflower driving across that wild sea to an unknown world, you would have said, with your little view of things, "Where is the wisdom and purpose of this? Talk of the government of God — could there be a worse government than the government that permits the expatriation of these noble men and women?" The American Republic of to-day is God's explanation of the mystery of three centuries ago, and the voyage of the Mayflower. Yes, you say, but one gets a bit tired in three centuries. It is tedious. Well now, let me tell you this. God does not always keep you waiting three centuries. You know, young people think they know every thing, and they do pretty nearly, but there are a few things that God keeps for the aged, there are a few odd truths that He whispers in our ear; and I tell you one is this. As a man gets older he begins to see that his life has not been made up of unrelated patches, but it has been an intelligent working and programme throughout. When a man is young, life seems made up of events unrelated, contradictory, grotesque; life seems made up of ups and downs, ins and outs, births, deaths, and marriages, without rhyme and without reason. But when a man gets old, at the right distance from the dome, he begins to see that God girded him when he knew it not, and that God has been shaping things from infancy to age. I don't think for a moment that I deceive myself when I think to-day of my life; I can see to-day what I did not see before, that God has been standing at the back, and He has ordered things, and what I once thought a mistake I see now to have been right, and before I have done, very likely, I shall see the picture more clearly than I see it to-day. I am a philosophical historian on a small scale, and I begin to feel that God has worked out my life with a distinct purpose and plan, and I have a deep conviction that He has done all things well. Everything good in its place — what did I say? — everything good for its purpose. Try that again. What is the object of the government of God? To make us perfect, to make us into noble men and women. The failures of society are only imperfections that aim at a larger perfection — the perfection of the man. When you judge things, you judge they are blunders, because they have spoiled your money, or they have spoiled your health, or they have spoiled your happiness. Not at all. Think how they stand related to your discipline, your higher education, your perfecting in knowledge and righteousness; think of that. Judge the purpose, and then you will see that it was not a blunder. "Thy judgments are a great deep," says the psalmist. Yes, a great deep, that is now, and we are sceptics, we are complaining, the air is filled with criticism and cynicisms and blasphemies. "Thy judgments are a great deep," and we say all sorts of wicked things. But on the last page of the book I read, "For Thy judgments are made manifest." ( W. L. Watkinson. ) The ways and works of God W. L. Watkinson. The psalmist is here speaking of the incomparableness of the workmanship of God. The perfection of the Divine action as we witness it in creation: "Amongst the gods there is none like unto Thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto Thy works." That is the utterance of the unsophisticated man as he stands in the presence of the grandeur of the world. You know that in the old story of the building of Aladdin's palace by the spirits, that they were disturbed in their work and they left one of the windows incomplete, and all the artistry of the East failed to finish that window and make it harmonize with the work already done. But I say if a bit of the sky had been left uncoloured, who would have dared to dye it? If the fragrance had been left out of the rose, who would have supplied it? But we are not left to instinctive admiration, for the critic comes along. There is not a man in this place but who knows that there is more said to-day about the imperfection of nature than about its perfection. Our artistic friends are sure they could have improved the world vastly if they had been consulted. The result is that many people speak much about the imperfections of nature, the imperfections of society, and the imperfections of life. Now, what are we to say about these? How are we to deal with these questions? Are we to deny them? No, not for one moment. Admit them, and then declare that the apparent imperfections of the world are only the proofs of a more glorious and more wonderful perfection. There are two principles which I want you to keep in mind while we follow this thought — that everything in nature is good in its place. It does not seem good if you take it out of its place. Now, when you went to Rome and had climbed to the dome of St. Peter's, the thing which struck you was the imperfection of the fabric, the material was coarse, the inlaying was carelessly done, and the colours were crude. But when you came down to the floor 250 feet beneath and looked up, it was a triumphant success; its very imperfection was its perfection. The artist knew that his work was to be looked at from the floor, and he made his plans accordingly. If he had finished it in fullest detail he would have defeated his own purpose. But instead he made it rough, and so created a picture of great beauty. It is just like that in nature. The sacred writer, with a fine discrimination, says: "Everything is beautiful in its time, in its season." Everything is beautiful in its order, everything is beautiful in its place, so that when a man sees only the imperfect or the unscientific, all I can say to such an one is that he has taken it out of its context, he has looked at it out of its perspective. There is a further principle, everything is good for its purpose. The ideally perfect is not always the ideally practical. One of the greatest scientists of this age has told us that if any optician was to send him an instrument as imperfect as the eye, he would return it at once with a severe reprimand for his carelessness. We are told that the eye has serious technical defects. The optician could make us a better, but he does not. I do not doubt that he could make us once more theoretically and ideally perfect. But if we got an eye like that, its very refinements would be an impediment to us. It would not be of service for its purpose. With all its defects the human eyes is good for its purpose. I want to say a word about the Divine action in the ways of God's government. The unsophisticated man looks on the world all down the ages, and he says, How wonderful, how marvellous in counsel! What providential leadings we have seen. Don't you be in too great a hurry, for you will have the critic down on you. He will ask you if you can shut your eyes to the suffering of the world, to the bankruptcies of civilization, to the tragedies of nations, and to the miseries of individuals. Let us go back to our first principle. Everything is good in its place. If you are going to judge wisely, you must have a true standpoint, and before we can judge history we must have such a true standpoint and wait long enough. In our day you have a new school of historians — the philosophical historian. The old historian used to give us pictures of things; he would tell us anecdotes about the kings, parliaments, and contemporaries, and the events of great personages. The philosophical historian is of another type. His method is to find out the succession and harmony of events. He says to you that "through the ages one increasing purpose runs." He tells you how the great nations have worked for one purpose. The Jew contributed ethics, the Greek beauty, the Roman jurisprudence, and he points out to you how the different nations were all working unconsciously for the bringing in of a wider purpose. Now, what I want to know is, why did not the philosophic historian come sooner? To see the providence of God sometimes you have to wait six, eight, or even ten thousand years, but what is that to you and me? We have plenty of time, for we are alive for evermore. God's plan runs on, and it is not for us to say Chat we can interpret His workmanship. If you had stood on the shore that day when the Mayflower steered her course from our land! The occupants were fleeing from tyranny in this country. Surely it was cruelty and a spectacle for pity. It seemed as if the great men and noble women were driven out to find a home in another part of the world. But we were too near to the pinnacle to see rightly. You wait until you get to the floor. Wait three hundred years, and the American Republic is God's interpretation of the Mayflower. The young people will not understand this, but it has its appeal to the patriarchs. They will agree with me that the difference in the past and the present vision of life is all a matter of a new perspective. Thus what was once a shapeless, purposeless confusion is revealed as the perfect plan of God. So I say to you, when you are tempted to judge God's ways hard, always be sure that you have waited long enough. "He maketh the wrath of men to praise Him." What is the purpose of the government of God? Is it to make us rich, or strong, or to make us famous and happy? If His government aimed at such results, it has broken down most pathetically. But it does not aim at such results. It aims at the moral development of the individual and the cleansing of the community, the making of a holy nation. These are the aims of His government, not material but moral aims. A German writer, in pointing out the defects of nature, shows that many animals are woefully defective. The organs of motion are often mechanically defective. We cannot argue with these men, they say it is so, and no doubt it is true. But t was most struck with the last line of the paragraph. He finished by saying, "Considerations of a higher order have determined these imperfections." I tell you that as I walk along the streets of the city and look on the suffering world, on the sickness and the loss, the poverty and the tears, I often whisper to myself, "considerations of a higher order have determined these imperfections." Ah! God sometimes smites us on lower grounds for higher purposes. He afflicts me to-day that He may give me to-morrow higher and better things, "considerations of a higher order have determined these imperfections." Let us consider this in relation to the Divine action in revelation. How you could emphasize this! How wonderful those pages have been to you, promises full of stars for dark times. Sweet pastures where the Shepherd leads His flock. But suddenly the critic comes down upon us, and he says with a mighty scorn, "That Book perfect! It is full of crudities, full of inconsistencies, and full of imperfections." Don't deny these charges, but reveal the greater perfection. The sun has spots, but you don't break it up and cart it away for scrap iron. Go back to your principles. Everything good in its place. Now, there are those who find fault with the Old Testament, and especially with the Pentateuch. I say to you that the Pentateuch has been effective not in spite of its imperfections, but because of them. It was the only way in which God could educate a sensual age. Just think of a rose looking down at its roots, and saying, "There is a nasty thing. It has got no colour, no shape, and no fragrance." But the root is perfect as a root, and the perfection of the root is the rose which graces its top. And I

86:1-7 Our poverty and wretchedness, when felt, powerfully plead in our behalf at the throne of grace. The best self-preservation is to commit ourselves to God's keeping. I am one whom thou favourest, hast set apart for thyself, and made partaker of sanctifying grace. It is a great encouragement to prayer, to feel that we have received the converting grace of God, have learned to trust in him, and to be his servants. We may expect comfort from God, when we keep up our communion with God. God's goodness appears in two things, in giving and forgiving. Whatever others do, let us call upon God, and commit our case to him; we shall not seek in vain. 86:8-17 Our God alone possesses almighty power and infinite love. Christ is the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth. And the believing soul will be more desirous to be taught the way and the truth of God, in order to walk therein, than to be delivered out of earthly distress. Those who set not the Lord before them, seek after believers' souls; but the compassion, mercy, and truth of God, will be their refuge and consolation. And those whose parents were the servants of the Lord, may urge this as a plea why he should hear and help them. In considering David's experience, and that of the believer, we must not lose sight of Him, who though he was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.