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our hopes of an answer upon some express word of His. And here we have such an express word in the tenth Psalm, which runs thus; "Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart" (the marginal rendering is nearer to the original, "thou wilt establish their heart," by giving them comfort and sure confidence in Thee), "thou wilt cause thine ear to hear." 1 Thus we have God's own assurance of His listening to the hearty desires of the humble. How confident may we be then that, in His own due time, He will turn and notice us!

"And stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty to be our defence." Again a petition is put into our mouth, suggested, inspired by God Himself. For it is only an echo of what we find in Psalm cxxxviii.; "Thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me;"2 and again; "O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom."8_ But let us not fail to appreciate the full force of the expression," the right hand of thy Majesty." The Christian knows that at the right hand of God's Majesty there is both power and sympathy. Sympathy-because our Lord, who took upon Him all the infirmities of our flesh,* and "was in all points tempted like as we are," 5 is now seated "on the right hand of the Majesty on high." " Power-because this ascended and exalted Saviour, in

1 Psalm x. 17. Dr. Hengstenberg's rendering is; heart firm-through the inward conviction which thou hearing of their prayer." Dean Perowne renders; their heart." 2 Psalm cxxxviii. 7.

3 Psalm lxxiv. 10, 11.
5 Heb. iv. 15.

Thou makest their givest them of the "Thou establishest

4 See St. Matt. viii. 17.

6 Heb. i. 3.

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the days of His flesh, defeated the devil for us,1 slew Satan (as David slew Goliath) with His own sword, through death" destroying "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil," 2 and, "having spoiled principalities and powers, made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in ""his cross." "3 St. Stephen, under the cruel assault of his persecutors, saw this Conqueror of the strong man armed "standing on the right hand of God "5 to succour His martyr. And from that glorified Form, on the right hand of the Majesty on high, must flow forth even now the sympathy and succour we need under the assaults of our spiritual foes.

Against all our enemies." This expression establishes, as we have already remarked, an interesting connexion between the Collect and the Gospel, the latter giving an account of the re-entry of Satan, with "seven other spirits more wicked than himself," into a heart from which he had been temporarily ejected. Satan, as being only a creature of God, cannot himself be omnipresent; yet the legions of evil spirits, which move in obedience to his command, and are everywhere doing his work, make him virtually so. This plurality of evil spirits is recognised in St. Paul's designation of our spiritual antagonists as 'principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places," while the universality of Satan's presence, in virtue of their number, is indicated by the name given him in the Epistle to the Ephesians, "prince of the power of the air." The air is everywhere; so that a bird cannot fly to the pin

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1 See St. Matt. iv. 1-12; St. Luke iv. 1-14.

2 See 1 Sam. xvii. 51; and Heb. ii. 14. 4 See St. Luke xi. 21, 22.

6 Eph. vi. 12.

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3 Col. ii. 14, 15. See Acts vii. 55, 56.

7 Eph. ii. 2.

nacle of the temple, nor hide itself in the hollow of a decayed oak, without encountering it; and Satan's power is, by means of his satellites, universally diffused through the moral atmosphere. Nor must it be forgotten, in

speaking of "all our enemies," that, over and above evil angels, there are arrayed against us the world and the flesh-in other words, evil men and evil self; and that these three constitute an unholy Trinity, three separate yet allied powers, actuated by a common design of drawing us away from our Father, Redeemer, and Sanctifier;the survey of which may well make us watchful, humble, and constant in prayer, while it never need discourage or make us distrustful," because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world."1 "Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.'

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CHAPTER XXIV.

THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT.

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut qui ex merito nostrae actionis affligimur, tuae gratiae consolatione respiremus. Per Dominum.-Greg. Sac.-Miss. Sar.

As in the wilderness, after making trial of the bitter waters of Marah,1 the children of Israel came to an oasis called Elim, "where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters;"2 so in the heart of Lent, the dreary ungenial season of the Christian year, when sin, its guilt, and its consequences, are the subjects uppermost in our thoughts, the true Israel of God finds a Sunday called from a very early period "Dominica Refectionis," Refreshment Sunday, where they encamp, as it were, in a green pasture, beside the waters of comfort. The Gospel, Epistle, and Collect of this Sunday are a threefold cord, -a cord with three silver strands, most artfully and beautifully twisted together. The Epistle spiritualises the Gospel; the Collect takes it up as spiritualised, and turns it into a prayer. The Gospel gives the account of the feeding in the wilderness of the five thousand who

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3 St. John vi. 1-15.

had followed Christ thither," because they saw his miracles which he did on them that were diseased."1 It was, no doubt, the recital of this tale of wonder in the Gospel which led to the Sunday's being called "Refreshment Sunday." But the bodily refreshment ministered by our Lord on this occasion was symbolical of our higher spiritual refreshment by His grace, and the sacraments of His grace. Indeed, the miracle may be regarded as an outward bodily fulfilment of the promise made in that blessed invitation; "Come unto me all that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you." The people who followed Christ into the wilderness travailed and were heavy laden. Many of them were sick and suffering, labouring under the burdens of humanity, and brought to Him to be healed; for in St. Matthew's account of the miracle we read: "Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick."3 All were travel-stained, footsore, faint, and hungry; they were in a desert spot, where no supplies could be obtained, and had, as far as appears, brought no provisions with them. Our Lord would show, by what He did for them, that even this lower kind of coming to Him shall not lose its reward; He will give refreshment to those who toil after Him on foot into the wilderness, intent only upon obtaining a bodily cure for themselves or their friends. But the Epistle leads us

on to another sort of burden and weariness, besides that

1 St. John vi. 2.

2 This is the translation of St. Matt. xi. 28, which is given in our Com. munion Office. In the English Bible the translation runs ; "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The former is rather more close to the original than the latter, the word translated give rest being in the Greek only one word-“ ȧvaπavow.”

St. Matt. xiv. 14. 4 See St. Matt. xiv. 15. 5 Gal. iv. 21, end. VOL. I. U

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