contrary. The last day will demonstrate the same thing to the whole world, and open the mouths of men and angels to declare, concerning all the divine proceedings, what the good Mauritius acknowledged, at the time, with regard to the murder of his children.

138. Thy testimonies, that thou hast commanded, are righteous and very faithful.

The revelations of God's will are "righteousness" and "truth;" his commands are just, and ought to be obeyed; his promises and his threatenings will infallibly come to pass, and deserve, above all things, to be regarded.

139. My zeal hath consumed me; because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

"Zeal" is a high degree of love; and when the object of that love is ill treated, it venteth itself in a mixture of grief and indignation, which are sufficient to wear and "consume" the heart. This will be the case, where men rightly conceive of that dishonour which is continually done to God by creatures whom he hath made and redeemed. But never could the verse be uttered, with such fulness of truth and propriety, by any one, as by the Son of God, who had such a sense of the Father's glory, and of man's sin, as no person else ever had. And, accordingly, when his zeal had exerted itself in purging the temple, St. John tells us, "his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me 66 up. The place where it is so written, is Psalm Ixix. 9. and the passage is exactly parallel to this before us.

140, Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it.

Thy word is very pure," in the original,“ tried, "refined, purified, like gold in the furnace;" absolutely perfect, without the dross of vanity and fallibility, which runs through human writings. The more we try the promises, the surer we shall find them*. This pure word hath likewise in it a power of purifying us. It containeth precepts and examples of purity, helps and encouragements to purity, and the Spirit of purity goeth with it, and worketh by it. Therefore thy servant loveth it ;" and no one, but a true servant of God, can "therefore" love it, because it is pure; since he who loves it must desire to be like it, to feel its efficacy, to be reformed by it, and conformed to it.

141. I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.

Faithfulness to God will often reduce men to straits, and bring upon them the contempt of the world; happy are they who, under these difficulties and discouragements, "forget not his precepts," but still continue faithful, looking unto Jesus, who once "endured the cross, despising the shame, and is now "set down at the right hand of God," Heb. xii. 2.

142. Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

Men may decree wickedness by a law, or they may

* Pure gold is so fixed, that Boerhaave informs us of an ounce of it set in the eye of a glass-furnace for two months, without losing a single grain.

change their decrees, and, with them, what was right to-day, may be wrong to-morrow. to-morrow. But the law of God is "righteousness," and it is "truth," to-day, and for ever. His justice, goodness, and fidelity, are unchangeable; he will never forsake us, unless we forsake him, but will remember us in our lowest estate, if, in that estate, we "do not forget his pre"cepts."

143. Trouble and anguish have taken hold upon, or, have found me, yet thy commandments are my delights.

We need not take pains, as many do, "to find "trouble and anguish," for they will one day "find

us." In that day, the revelations of God must be to us instead of all worldly" delights" and pleasures, which will then have forsaken us; and how forlorn and desolate will be our state, if we shall have no other delights, no other pleasures, to succeed them, and to accompany us into eternity! Let our study be now in the Scriptures, if we expect our comfort from them in time to come.

144. The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.

In every sense, O Lord Jesu, thy righteousness is "everlasting:" Grant us the "understanding" of it, in every sense, and we "shall live," in thee now, and with thee for ever.

TWENTY-SIXTH DAY.-EVENING PRAYER.

KOPH.-PART XIX.

145. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes. 146. I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.

Believers, in time of affliction, make their prayer to God with fervour and importunity, petitioning for deliverance, that they may the better serve their Deliverer, and keep his laws.

157. I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word. 148. Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

It is a certain sign that our hearts are set upon a work, when the thoughts of it cause sleep to depart from us, and we awake readily, constantly, and early, to the performance of it. David delighted in the holy exercises of prayer and meditation; therefore he "prevented the dawning of the morning,” and was beforehand with the light itself; therefore his "eyes "prevented the watches," that is, the last of those watches, into which the night was by the Jews divided; he needed not the watchman's call, but was stirring before it could be given. Climate and constitution will, doubtless, make a difference, and claim considerable allowance; but by Christians, who enjoy their health, in temperate weather, the sun should not be suffered to shine in vain, nor the golden hours of the morning to glide away unimproved; since of

David's Lord, as well as of David, it is said, "in "the morning rising up, a great while before day, "he went out and departed into a solitary place, and "there prayed." Mark i. 35.

149. Hear my voice, according unto thy loving kindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgement, that is, thy word. 150. They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law. 151. Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.

If our enemies" draw nigh" to destroy us, God is still "nearer" to preserve us; and, however his "word" may be rejected by the wicked, the faithful always find it to be "true," to their great and endless comfort.

152. Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old, that thou hast founded them for ever.

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This portion of our Psalm endeth with the triumph of faith over all dangers and temptations. "Con"cerning thy testimonies," the revelations of thy will, thy counsels for the salvation of thy servants, "I have known of old," by faith, and by my own experience, as well as that of others, "that thou hast "founded them for ever;" they are unalterable and everlasting as the attributes of their great Author, and can never fail those who rely upon them, in time, or in eternity.

RESH.-PART XX.

153. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me : for I do not forget thy law.