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when the Pagan persecutions were at an end, and the Roman empire became Christian. Far more transcendent is the felicity of a soul when it exchanges the miseries of the world for the delights of paradise, there to wait, with its sister spirits, until the bodies of saints shall pass from the dishonors of the grave to the glories of immortality.

16. 'Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers?' or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity ? 17. Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.'

But in the mean season, while 'evil-doers' are permitted to prosper, and the workers of iniquity' carry on their designs, the Prophet asks, in the person of the church, who is there that will or can protect, defend, and deliver? The answer is, God only can do it: 'Unless the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence,' or, I had almost been in the state of death. How often have our spiritual enemies arisen against us, threatening to bring us into a state of eternal death, but the Lord Jesus was our help and our salvation!

18. When I said my foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up.'

When the child of God, walking in the slippery paths of life, findeth himself falling into temptation, if he confesseth his inability to stand his ground, and crieth out, like Peter on the water, to his heavenly Father, Lord, save me, I perish:' a merciful, gracious, and powerful hand will immediately be stretched out, to support his steps, and establish his goings.

19. In the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.'

The excellent Norris, in a masterly sermon on this verse, has given us the following elegant and affecting paraphrase of it: When my mind sallies out into a multitude of thoughts, and those thoughts make me sad and heavy, anxious and solicitous, as presenting to my view my own weakness and infirmity, and the universal vanity of all those seeming props and stays, on which my deluded soul was apt to lean; the many great calamities of life, and the much greater terrors of death; the known

miseries of the present state, and the darkness and uncertainty of the future; still urging me with fresh arguments of sorrow, and opening new and new scenes of melancholy, till my soul begins to faint and sink under the burden she has laid on herself: when I am thus thoughtful, and thus sorrowful, then it is, O my God, that I feel the relief of thy divine refreshments; I find myself supported and borne up by the strong tide of thy consolations, which raise my drooping head, strike a light into my soul, and make me not only dismiss, but even forget, that sorrow and melancholy, which my thoughtfulness had brought upon me.' Who that reads this will not thank-. fully take and follow the advice offered in another part of the same discourse? Whenever, therefore, thoughts arise in thy heart, and troubles from those thoughts; when thy mind is dark and cloudy, and all the regions of the soul are overcast; then betake thyself to thy oratory, either to thy closet, or the church, and there entertain thy soul with the pleasures of religion, and the satisfaction of a clear conscience.' See Norris's Practical Discourses, vol. iii. ser. 4.

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20. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law??

One consideration which affordeth comfort to the faithful under persecution and affliction, is this, that God 'can never be on the side of oppression and injustice, though, to answer wise and salutary purposes, he may, for a time, suffer them to have the dominion, and to establish iniquity by law. A distinction there certainly must be between right and wrong; and the former must as certainly triumph at the last day.

21. They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.'

Righteousness and innocence are most atrocious crimes, in the eyes of wickedness and guilt. For these crimes Cain slew his brother Abel, the Jews crucified Christ, the Pagans tortured and murdered his disciples, and bad men in all ages have persecuted the good. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.' I John, iii. 13.

22. But the LORD is my defence and my God is the rock of my refuge.' 23. And he shall bring upon them

their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.'

Jehovah is our defence;' we fear not the fiery darts of the enemy: He is the rock of our refuge;' we bid defiance to the rage and malice of earth and hell. Armed with the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, we rise superior to every effort of diabolical malice aud secular power; waiting, in patience and hope, for the coming of that day, when He who hateth unrighteousness, and with whom the throne of iniquity can have no fellowship, shall visit the wickedness of the wicked on them; when the world of the ungodly shall share the fate of apostate Jerusalem, and the righteous shall be glorified with their Lord and Saviour.

NINETEENTH DAY.-MORNING PRAYER.

PSALM XCV.

ARGUMENT.

[This Psalm hath been long used in the Christian church, as a proper introduction to her holy services. It containeth, 1, 2. an exhortation to praise Jehovah, 3. for his greatness, 4, 5. and for his works of creation; 6. men are invited to worship him as their Maker, and, 7. as their Preserver; 8-11. they are warned against tempting and provoking him, by the example of the Israelites in the wilderness. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews hath taught us to consider the Psalm as an address to believers under the Gospel.]

1. O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.'

In this first verse, Christians now exhort and stir up each other, as the Jews did of old, to employ their voices in honor of Jehovah, to celebrate the rock of their salvation.' Jesus, by redeeming us from our enemies, hath opened our lips, and our mouths ought, therefore, to show forth his praise. He is the Rock of ages, in which is opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness; the Rock which attends the church in the wilderness, pouring forth the water of life for her use and comfort; the Rock which is our fortress against every enemy, shadowing and

refreshing a weary land. O come, then, let us sing unto this our LORD; let us make a joyful noise unto this rock of our salvation.'

2. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.'

The presence' of Jehovah dwelt formerly between the cherubim, in a tabernacle, or temple, made with hands, whither the Israelites were to resort, until God became manifest in the flesh. After that time, the divine presence left the synagogue, and removed into the Christian church; by her we are now invited to come before that presence with thanksgiving,' and, while we make a joyful noise,' by chanting these divine Psalms,' to imitate, in some measure, 'the heavenly choirs, who rest not,' from their blessed employment of praising God, 'day or night.' Rev. iv. 8.

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3. For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.'

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It is not without reason, that we are exhorted to give thanks and praise unto our God and King; for he is worthy to receive glory and blessing:' Rev. v. 12. He is a God above all that are called by that name; above those deities, which were once worshipped by the ancient Heathen; above the world, which still continues to be an object of adoration among infatuated mortals. His throne is over all, and power and dominion are his.

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4. In his hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is his also.' 5. 'The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.'

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The treasures, which lie hid in the 'deep places' of the earth beneath; the majestic pride and strength of the hills,' which tower above, and lift up their heads to heaven; the unnumbered waves of the great and wide 'sea,' which roll in perpetual motion round the world; the rich and variegated produce of the dry land,' crowned with verdure and beauty; together with every thing that liveth in the waters, or on the earth; all are under the government of our God; by him were all things created; by him have all things been redeemed.

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6. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.'

As in the beginning of the Psalm we were called on

to 'praise' Jehovah, so here we are invited to humble ourselves before him in 'prayer.' From him we had our being him, therefore, we are to supplicate for every other blessing, both in this life, and that which is to come." And since he made our bodies, as well as our souls, it is meet and right that they should bear their part in his service, and that internal worship should be accompanied and signified by that which is external.

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7. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.'

An additional reason why we should both praise Jehovah, and pray to him, is the peculiar relation into which he hath been pleased to put himself by the covenant of grace; he is our God;' we are the objects of his tender care and unspeakable love: we are his 'people,' and his 'sheep; his chosen flock, which he hath purchased with his blood, which he feeds with his word, and refreshes with his Spirit, in fair and pleasant pastures. From those pastures, O thou good Shepherd! suffer us not to stray; or, if we do stray, bring us speedily back again, by any means which thou, in thine infinite wisdom, shalt think fit. Wholesome is the discipline which drives us into the fold, and keeps us there.

8. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.' 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.'

The first clause of these two verses may be joined to the preceding verse, thus, 'He is our God, we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand, if ye will hear his voice to-day;' that is, if ye will be his obedient people, he will continue to be your God. Or else the word Ds, translated 'if,' may be rendered in the optative form, O that you would hear his voice to-day,' saying unto you, 'Harden not,' &c. However this be, what follows to the end of the Psalm is undoubtedly spoken in the person of God himself, who may be considered as addressing us, in these latter days, by the Gospel of his Son; for so the apostle teaches us to apply the whole passage, Heb. iii. iv. The Israelites when they came out of Egypt, had a day of probation, and a promised rest

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