SEVENTH DAY.-MORNING PRAYER. PSALM XXXV. ARGUMENT. THE prophet, in this Psalm, as in the xxiid, which it resembles, personating Messiah, in his state of humiliation and suffering, 1-3, beseecheth Jehovah to interpose in his behalf; 4-8, predicteth the confusion of his enemies, and, 9, 10, his own triumph; 11-16, describeth the malice of his persecutors against him, and his love towards them; 17-25, repeateth his supplications for deliverance, and enlargeth upon the cruel insults he met with; 26, he again foretelleth the destruction of the adversary, and, 27, 28, the exultation of the faithful. 1. Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me. David, in his afflictions; Christ, in his passion; the church, under persecution; and the Christian, in the hour of temptation, supplicate the Almighty to appear in their behalf, and to vindicate their cause. 2. Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help. 3. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. Jehovah is here described, as a "man-ofwar," going forth to the battle against the enemies of Messiah, and his church: the protection afforded by his mercy, is figured by the shield of the warrior, covering his body from the darts of the enemy; and the vengeance of his uplifted arm, is represented by the offensive weapons used among men, such as the spear and the sword. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" If he speaketh salvation, who shall threaten destruction? see Deut. xxxii. 41. Wisdom, v. 20. 4. Let them be confounded, or, they shall be confounded, and put to shame, that seek after my soul: let them be, or, they shall be, turned back and brought to confusion, that devise my hurt. The consequence of the omnipotent ap pearing in arms against his adversaries, is here foretold. And the prediction has long since been verified in the "confusion" of Saul, and of the Jews, as it will be finally fulfilled in that of Satan, and all his adherents, at the last day; for the manifestation of which day the church now waiteth, in faith and patience. 5. Let them be, or, they shall be, as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD, or, the angel of the LORD shall chase them. The Jews, separated from the church and people of Christ, become useless and unprofitable to any good work, possessing only the empty ceremonies and husks of their religion, and by the breath of the divine displeasure dispersed over the face of the earth, afford a striking comment on this verse, and as striking an admonition to every opposer of the holy Jesus. See Psal. i. 4. 6. Let their way, or, their way shall, be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD, or, the angel of the LORD shall, persecute them. A traveller, benighted in a bad road, is an expressive emblem of a sinner walking in his slippery and dangerous ways of temptation, without knowledge to direct his steps, to show him the danger, or to extricate him from it; while an enemy is in pursuit of him, whom he can neither resist nor avoid. Deliver us, O Lord, from all blindness, but, above all, from that which is judicial! 7. For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without caus? they have digged for my soul. 8. Let destruction, or, destruction shall, come upon him at unawares: and let his net that he hath hid, or, the net that he hath hid, shall catch him self: into that very destruction -let him, or, he shall fall. The causeless persecution raised against David by Saul, and against our Lord by the Jews, reverted, through the righteous judgment of God, on the heads of the persecutors. The innocent birds escaped; and they who set the toils were themselves taken therein. Saul lost the kingdom which he thought to have secured, and his life also; and the Jews who crucified Christ, "lest the Romans should take away their place and nation," had their place and nation taken away by those Romans, for that very reason. In these histories, all impenitent persecutors of the faith, the church, and the servants of God, may read their doom. it 9. And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: shall rejoice in his salvation. 10. All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him? which the soul and body of Christ were to These verses, as they describe the joy experience after the resurrection, so shall they one day be sung by the mystical body of the Lord, when delivered from the power of the spoiler, and raised entire from the dust. In the meantime, they may express our gratitude for any temporal preservation from enemies, from sad casualties, and dangerous temptations. 11. False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge, Heb. asked me, things that I with him, "cast the same in his teeth." knew not. 12. They rewarded me evil for Whosoever considers these things, will not be good, to the spoiling of my soul. surprised at the expostulation of the following verse. This was never more literally true of David, than it was of the holy Jesus, when, standing before Pontius Pilate, he received no other return from the Jews, for all the gracious words which he had spoken, and all the merciful works which he had done among them, than that of being slandered, and put to death. 13. But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled, or, afflicted, my soul with fasting and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. If David prayed, fasting in sackcloth, for Saul, and his associates, the son of David, to heal the souls of men, put on the veil of mortal flesh, and appeared in the form and habit of a penitent, fasting forty days and forty nights, making continual intercession for transgressors, and grieving to think that any men, by their obstinacy, should deprive themselves of the benefits thereof. 14. I behaved myself, Heb. I walked, as though he had been my friend, or, brother; I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother, or, as a mother that mourneth. He who so passionately lamented the natural death of Saul, doubtless bewailed greatly his spiritual death of sin; and he who took a comprehensive view of the sins and sorrows of Jerusalem, wept over that wretched city, with the tender affection of a "friend," a "brother," and a "mother"—" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!" 15. But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects, or, smiters, gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not? they did tear me, and ceased not. When the blessed Jesus was suffering for the sins of men, he was insulted by those men for whose sins he suffered. He gave not only his reputation to the revilers, but also his back to the "smiters," though not conscious of the crimes for which they pretended to punish him. 16. With hypocritical mockers in feasts, or, among the profligates the makers of mock, gnashed upon me with their teeth. 17. LORD, how long wilt thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. Christ prayeth, like David of old, for the manifestation of the promised mercy for the deliverance of the nature which he had assumed, and which he delighted in. Who does not behold in him, surrounded by his enraged and implacable enemies, a second Daniel, praying in the den of "lions.” 18. I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thecamong much people, or, the strong people. This verse is exactly parallel to Psal. xxii. 25, wherein, after an enumeration of his sufferings, our Lord predicteth the praise and glory that should accrue to God in the church, after his resurrection, from the preaching of the apostles; which passage see, and compare; as also, Isa. xxv. 3, and Rev. vii. 9. 19. Lt not them that are mine enemics wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause. The prophet, in the person of Christ, returneth again to make supplication, that an end may be put to the insults, the scoffs, and the sneers, of the reprobate. O come that day, when they shall cease for evermore! 20. For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matter against them that are quiet in the land. 21. Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me and said, Aha, aha, our eye hath seen it. David would have lived "quietly” under the government of Saul: our Lord did not aim at temporal sovereignty over the Jews; nor did the primitive Christians desire to intermeddle with the politics of the world; yet all were betrayed, mocked, and persecuted, as rebels and usurpers, and the pests of society. 23. 22. This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far from me. Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God, and my Lord. 24. Judge me, O LORD my God, according to thy righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me. God" seeth" and knoweth all things; yet he permitteth those who love him best, to be However this might be true in the case of often and long afflicted and oppressed, seeming David, it certainly had a literal accomplish- as one at a "distance," or "silent," or ment in the scoffs and taunts of the chief" asleep," that is, regardless of what passes. priests, and others, when Christ was hanging on the cross-"Ah, thou that destroyest the temple," &c. "He trusted in GoD," &. "Let him come down from the cross," &c. &c. &c., nay, one of the theives, crucified At such times, we are not to remit, but to double our diligence in prayer, reiterating our cries" LORD save us! we perish!" Then will he "awake and arise, and rebuke the winds and the seas, and there shall be a calm." 25. Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up. Messiah prayeth for an end of his sufferings; that the enemies of mankind might not triumph in his destruction; that death might not finally "swallow him up," but be itself "swallowed up in victory." The church daily maketh the same request. 26. Let them, or, they shall, be ashamed and brought to confusion together, that rejoice at mine hurt let them, or, they shall be clothed with shame and dishonor, that magnify themselves against me. The accomplishment of this prediction, by the resurrection of Jesus, and the destruction of Jerusalem, is well known. There are two events to come parallel to those two which are past, viz. the resurrection of the faithful, and destruction of the world; when all who, like the Jews, have "rejoiced in the hurt" of Messiah, and have magnified themselves against him," will, like the Jews, be covered with everlasting "confusion." 27. Lt them, or, they shall, shout for joy, and be glad that favor my righteous cause yea, let them, or, they shall, say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. 28. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness, and of thy praise, all the day long. former is destitute of the true fear. of God. Bishop Lowth, by a slight alteration or two in the text, renders it to this effect-"The wicked man, according to the wickedness in his heart, saith, There is no fear of God before mine eyes."* The great truth which the prophet here declareth himself to be convinced of, is, that all wickedness proceedeth from the absence of "the fear of God," in the person who commiteth it; that fear being a principle which, while it is predominant in the man, will restrain him from transgression. Our laws suppose as much, when, in the form of indicting a criminal, they attribute the commission of the offence to his "not having the fear of God before his eyes." 2. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hatoful: or, when his sin is ready to be found out, and to be hated. He who hath lost "the fear of God," is first led into sin, and then detained in it: because, having forgotten the great witness and judge of his actions, he vainly thinks his crimes may be concealed, or disguised, till a discovery breaks the charm, and disperses the delusion. The last day will show strange instances of this folly. 3. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit he hath left off to be wise, and to do good: or, to understand, that he may do good. tongue; and then, an apostasy from wisdom and goodness, or the wisdom of goodness, which is the only true wisdom, cannot be far off. As the preceding verse foretold the sorrow If the fear of God be not in the heart, of the enemies, so these two describe the joy" inquity and deceit" will be under the of the friends to Messiah upon his victory and exaltation, which have been, and shall continue to be, celebrated by the church in these divine hymns, indicted by .the Holy Spirit for that purpose, until the songs of time shall end in the hallelujahs of eternity. PSALM XXXVI. ARGUMENT. In the first four verses of this Psalm, the Prophet describeth the principles, the actions, the conversation, and the imaginations of his wicked persecutors; and from thence raising his thoughts to heaven, 5-9, celebrateth the mercy and loving kindness of Jehovah; for a continuation of which, to himself and the church, he fervently prayeth; 10, 11, and 12, foreseeth the downfall of the ungodly. 1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes. If the present reading in the original be the true one, the meaning must be this-The transgressions of a bad man show plainly, in the apprehension of a good one, that the 4. He deviseth the mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil. From the actions and the words of him who hath not the fear of God before his eyes, the prophet goeth back to the thoughts and imaginations of his heart, which, even in retirement and solitude, are busily employed upon evil, as those of the righteous are, at those seasons, upon God and goodness. A man may know the state of his mind, in some measure, from his morning and evening thoughts "upon his bed." He who doth not give diligence to "set himself in a good way," will soon be set in one that is not good; and he who doth not "abhor" sin, will, ere long, delight in it. 5. Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds, great mountains; thy judgments are a great or, skies. 6. Thy righteousness is like the deep. *See Merrick's Annotations. From the wickedness of the world, in which we live, we must lift up our eyes for help and comfort, to the mercy and truth of God, boundless, pure, and beneficial, as the heavens over our heads; to his righteousness, fixed and permanent as the everlasting hills; and to his judgments, stupendous and unfathomable as the waters of the great deep. Truth will engage mercy to accomplish the promised salvation of the elect; and righteousness will employ judgment in executing upon the reprobate the vengeance that is due. 7. O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. upright in heart, that thy loving kindness and thy righteousness may be our portion for ever. 11. Let not the foot of pride come against me; and let not the hand of the wicked remove m2. The Christian has reason enough to join the prophet in this petition, whether we suppose it to deprecate destruction from proud men and sinners without us, or from pride and sin within us. 12. There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be ale to rise. Faith calleth things that be not, as though they were; it carries us forward to the end of time: it show us the Lord, sitting on his throne of Judgment; the righteous caught up to meet him in the air; the world in flames under his feet; and the empire of sin fallen to rise no more. The good providence of God extendeth over all creatures, nourishing and preserving them, as well as man, for whose use they were made. We can never enough value and extol the "loving kindness" of him, whose overshadowing "wings" protect and cherish us on earth, in order to bear us from SEVENTH DAY.-EVENING PRAYER. thence to heaven. See Matt. xxiii. 37. Deut. xxxii. 11. 8. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. In heaven alone the thirst of an immortal soul after happiness can be satisfied. There the streams of Eden will flow again. They who drink of them shall forget their earthly poverty, and remember the miseries of the world no more. Some drops from the celestial cup are sufficient, for a time, to make us forget our sorrows, even while we are in the midst of them. What then may we not expect from full draughts of those pleasures which are at thy right hand, O Lord, for | evermore? 9. For with thee is the fountain of life; in thy light we shall see light. The rivers before mentioned flow from a "fountain" which fetcheth not supplies from without, but whose spring is within itself,| and therefore can never be exhausted. The "water of life" proceeds from "the throne of God and the Lamb:" Rev. xxii. 1. "This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent:" John, xvii. 3. God, like the sun, cannot be seen, but by the light which himself emits. 10. O continue thy loving kindness unto them that know ther; and thy righteousnes to the upright in heart. The prophet, groaning under the oppression of the wicked, who are described in the first part of the Psalm, prayeth for a continuation of the mercies of God, which he has celebrated in the second part. Give us, O God, the knowledge of thee, and make us PSALM XXXVII. ARGUMENT. FROM the beginning to the end of this Psalm, the Holy Spirit, by the prophet, adminis tereth advice and consolation to the church and people of the Lord, oppressed and afflicted in the world, by prosperous and triumphant wickedness. Faith and patience are, therefore, recommended, upon the double consideration of that sure reward which awaiteth the righteous, and that certain punishment which shall be inflicted on the wicked. These two events are set before us in a variety of expressions, and under many lively and affecting images. As the Psalm is rather a collection of divine aphorisms on the same subject, than a continued and connected discourse, it admiteth of nothing farther in the way of argument. 1. Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. 2. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. The Holy Spirit here prescribeth a remedy to a very common, and no less dangerous disorder of the mind, namely, a distrust of God's providence, occasioned by frequently beholding the prosperity of the wicked, in this present world. He who alloweth himself time to consider, how soon the fairest spring must give place to a burning summer, a blighting autumn, and a killing winter, will no longer envy, but pity, the fading verdure of the grass, and the still more transient glories of the flowers of the field. Herbs and plants are medicinal in more senses than one. 3. Trust in the LORD, and do good: so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed or, dwell in the land, and feed on truth, or, faithfulness. The consideration of the speedy and tragical end of sinners, affordeth a powerful argument for perseverance in faith and holiness; for continuing in the church, and making our abode in the pastures of truth; until, in the strength of that sacred viand, we come to the heavenly land of promise, and dwell. therein for ever. 4. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give the the desires of thine heart. He who delighteth in the creature, hath not always "the desires of his heart" granted, nor is it fit that he should have them; but he who delighteth in God, will desire what he delighteth in, and obtain what he desireth. 5. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noon day. Malice and calumny may, for a time, overshadow the splendor of an holy character; but the sun will come forth, and the clouds will fly away. This was most eminently true of the blessed Jesus, at his resurrection, and will be verified in his saints, at the last day. The history of Susannah affordeth a remarkable instance of it in this life. "Her heart trusted in the Lord, and he brought forth her righteousness as the light; insomuch that all the assembly cried out with a loud voice, and praised GOD, who saveth them that trust in him." Ver. 35, 60. 7. Rest in, or, be silent to, the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself, because of him who prospereth in the way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. If the spotless Lamb of God was dumb, before those who were divesting him of his honors, and robbing him of his life, "silent" resignation cannot but become one, who suffers for his sins. Israel was commanded to "stand still, and see the salvation of God;" but the people gazed upon the pomp and power of Pharaoh, who was in pursuit of them, till their faith failed, and they began to murmur and despond. How often is this our case, before we perceive it! 8. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: See an elegant and beautiful discourse on "the lilies of the field," published among the Sermons of the late learned, ingenious, and worthy Dr. Tottie. fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. 9. For evil doers shall be cut off; but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth. At the day of judgment, when "evil doers shall be cut off," by the flaming sword of eternal vengeance, and when the saints of the Most High shall inherit the new earth," the latter will have no emotions of anger or envy against the former. Let them so meditate on that day, as to make it present to their minds, and they will have no such emotions now. 10. For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be yea, thou shalt d ligently consider his place, and it shall not be. The whole duration of the world itself is but "a little while" in the sight of him, whose hope is full of immortality. But the calamities and deaths of princes; the tragical fate of empires, swept with the besom of destruction; the overthrow of cities, whose dimensions, towers, and palaces, once astonished the earth, but whose "place" is now no where to be found by the most curious and diligent inquirer; and the desolations of the chosen city, Jerusalem; all these are even now sufficient to draw forth the tear of commiseration, and to extinguish the kindling spark of envy in every considerate mind. 11. But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. The "meek" are they who bear their own adversities, and the prosperity of their enemies, without envy, anger, or complaint. For these there is a possession in the kingdom and city of the Prince of "Peace," which "the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give them at that day." "Blessed are the meek," saith that Lord and judge himself, " for they shall inherit the earth" Matt. v. 5. "In the meantime, they, and they only, possess the present earth, as they go towards the kingdom of heaven, by being humble, and cheerful, and content, with what their good God has allotted them. They have no turbulent, repining, vexatious thoughts that they deserve better; nor are vexed when they see others possessed of more honor, or more riches, than their wise God has allotted for their share. But they possess what they have with a meek and contented quietness; such a quietness as makes their very dreams pleasing, both to God and themselves." Walton's Complete Angler, p. 295. 12. The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. 13. The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming. The original enmity between the Wicked |