sea; while the fair light from above is intercepted, and the face of heaven overwhelmed with clouds and darkness.

4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

Through grief and anxiety it is, that the eyes are made to keep all the watches of the night, and wait in vain for sleep to relieve them from duty, until the dawning of the morning. To a night so spent, may a season of captivity or persecution be compared. Thus the ancient church looked for the first advent of Christ; and thus doth the church which now is expect his second ; prolonging her vigils, even unto the dawning of that morning, which is at once to put a period to darkness and to sorrow. In the mean time, she giveth herself to meditation and prayer.

5. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. 6. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart; and my spirit maketh diligent search.

Recollection of former mercies is the proper antidote against a temptation to despair, in the day of calamity: And as in the divine dispensations, which are always uniform and like themselves, whatever has happened happens again, when the circumstances are similar; the experience of "ancient times" is to be called in to our aid, and duly consulted. Nay, we may perhaps "remember" the time, when we ourselves were led to compose and utter a " song" of joy and triumph, on occasion of signal mercies

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vouchsafed us. Upon these topics we should, "the night of affliction, commune with our own hearts, and make diligent search," as Daniel did in Babylon, into the cause, the nature, and the probable continuance of our troubles; with the proper methods of shortening, and bringing them to an end, by suffering them to have their intended and full effect, in a sincere repentance, and thorough reformation.

7. Will the LORD cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies ?

The Psalmist now relates the process of his meditations, and of that controversy which arose in his heart between faith and distrust. While he viewed the distressful scene around him, he found himself strongly tempted to question God's love of the church; to think that he had finally rejected his people; that the promised mercy of redemption would never be accomplished; and that indignation had constrained the bowels of our heavenly Father, which no longer yearned towards his afflicted children. These were the thoughts suggested to a desponding soul by the desolations of Sion at that time; and the state of things in the world may possibly be such, as to suggest the like thoughts to many in the Christian church, before our Lord shall appear again, for her final redemption. Imaginations of the same cast will offer themselves to the mind of the sinner, when

the hand of God has lain long and heavy upon him, by the infliction of outward calamities, or the terrors of conscience.

10. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years, or, changes, of the right hand of the Most High.

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To the insinuations of distrust, faith now begins to reply. The sufferer checks himself in his former train of thought, and humbly acknowledges it to have sprung from a mind dispirited, and rendered timid, by misfortunes: "I said, This is my infirmity;" but he immediately strengthens himself by reflecting, that all changes" in the conditions of men are effected, for reasons of infinite wisdom and goodness, by "the right hand of the Most High;" which is not shortened, but can still, as formerly, when he sees fit, deliver and exalt, as well as punish and depress, his people. What, therefore, though the daughter of Sion be in captivity, and her enemies insult over her? Messias cometh, who shall redeem her, and all nations; and then shall "the right hand of the Most "High" work an universal and a glorious "change" upon the earth.

11. I will remember the works of the LORD : surely I will remember thy wonders of old. 12. I will meditațe also of all thy works, and talk of thy doings.

Thus restored to a right frame of mind, the Psalmist, instead of brooding any longer over the calamities of his own time, resolves to turn his thoughts towards the divine dispensations of old; to meditate on God's former works and wonders; his

works of justice and mercy, of power and wisdom, of nature and grace; and, by gratefully celebrating them, to invigorate his faith in the salvation to come, of which they were so many earnests and pledges. And it is this consideration, which makes the eucharistic Psalms ever pleasing, and ever comfortable to the mind; they are appeals to those attributes which have been so often displayed in the cause of the church; they are acts of faith, looking backward to the past, and forward to the future ; they are praises, and they are prayers.

13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary, or, in holiness: who is so great a god as our God?

Faith, now reinstated in its sovereignty over the prejudices and fears of the soul, and again placed upon the judgement-seat, pronounces the "ways" or proceedings of God to be such, as, when weighed in the balance of the " sanctuary," and judged of by the divine rule and manner of acting, will be found agreeable to the standard of perfect " holiness." An assurance is likewise expressed, that the power of God, however it may, for a time, lie dormant, yet still retains the same superiority, of which former exertions show it to have been possessed, over the gods of the nations, the elements of nature, and the powers of the world; insomuch that nothing, which was ever called by others, or called itself, "god," was able to stand before Jehovah, the God of Israel: "Who is so great a god as our God?" Thus, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth," saith our blessed Lord, Matt. xxviii. 18. for the everlasting consolation of the Christian church.

14. Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast declared thy strength among the people. 15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph.

Israel, in times of trouble and distress, was wont to look back to the "wonders" wrought in Egypt, and the redemption of all her tribes from that house of bondage. We Christians are taught, while we use the same words, to regard parallel, but more important, transactions; we reflect on the "wonders" wrought for the bodies and souls of men, by the "strength and the arm" of Jehovah, revealed and manifested to the world in Christ; and we celebrate the redemption, not of "the sons of Jacob and Joseph" only, but of all nations, from the bondage of corruption; a redemption compared with which, the deliverance from Egypt, though glorious in itself, hath yet no glory at all, by reason of the glory that so far excelleth. Our confidence in God, during the seasons of affliction, should therefore rise in proportion.

16. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

The waters of the Red Sea are here beautifully represented as endued with sensibility, as seeing, feeling, and being confounded, even to the lowest depths, at the presence and power of their great Creator,when he commanded them to open a way, and to form a wall on each side of it, until his people were passed over; until his people were passed over whom he had redeemed. In this amazing transaction, let