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tion, and death itself; that our portion may be for ever in thy kingdom of peace and love.

SEVENTEENTH DAY.-MORNING PRAYER. PSALM LXXXVI.

ARGUMENT.

[This Psalm is entitled, A prayer of David,' and supposed to have been written in some of his great distresses. Like others of the same kind, it is calculated for the use of the church during her sufferings here below, by which she is conformed to the image of the true David, that man of sorrows. It contains, 1. an earnest supplication, grounded on the poverty, 2. the holiness, faith, 3. importunity, and, 4. the devotion, of the suppliant; and on, 5-7. the goodness, and, 8. power of God, 9, 10. to be one day acknowleged by all nations, at their conversion. After this follows, 11. a petition for wisdom, strength, and singleness of heart; 12, 13. a thanksgiving for redemption; 14. a complaint of persecution from the wicked; 15. an act of faith; 16, 17. a prayer for help and salvation.]

1. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, and hear me; for I am poor and needy.'

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All prayer is founded on a sense of our own wants, and God's ability to supply them. In the sight of his Maker, every sinner is ' poor and needy;' and he must become so in his own, that his petitions may be regarded; he must pray, with the humility and importunity of a starving beggar, at the gate of heaven, if he expect the great King to bow down his ear and hear him.' The prayer of the humble,' saith the wise son of Sirach, pierceth the clouds; and till it come nigh, he will not be comforted; and will not depart till the Most High shall behold:' Ecclus. xxxv. 17. The blessed Jesus, 'though he was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, and had not where to lay his head;' nor is it to be doubted, but that, in his state of humiliation, he oftentimes made his prayer to the Father in these very words; ' Bow down thine ear, O LORD, and hear me; for I am poor and needy.' If he sued in such a form of words for us, shall we think of suing in any other form for ourselves?

2. Preserve thou my soul, for I am holy; O thou my God, save thy servant, that trusteth in thee.'

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The word here translated holy,' is, 'on, the same which is used in the 16th Psalm; Thou shalt not suf fer thine Holy One to see corruption.' And indeed, if we understand' holiness' in its strict sense, no one but 'he whom the Father sanctified, and sent into the world,' to redeem lost man, could say to him, 'Preserve my soul, for I am holy.' But the word properly signifies good, merciful, pious, devoted to the service of God,' &c. The Christian, therefore, only pleads, in this expression, his relation to Christ, as being a member of Christ's body, the church, and a partaker of the gifts, which, by virtue of that membership, he has received through the Spirit of holiness. So that this first part of the verse, 'Preserve my soul, for I am holy,' where repeated by us, is equivalent to another passage in the Psalms, I am THINE, O save me :' cxix. 94. The latter member of the verse under consideration teaches us to pray for help and salvation, as the 'servants' of God, whose eyes therefore look naturally to him, as the eyes of servants,' in affliction, 'look unto the hand of their masters :' Psal. cxxiii. 2. And happy, surely, are we in a Master, who himself, for our salvation, once lived, and prayed, and suffered, and died, in the form of a servant. Phil. ii. 7. 3. Be merciful unto me, O LORD, for I cry unto thee daily.'

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There is no man on the earth, but needeth mercy;' he who is truly sensible of his need, will cry daily' for it; and he who doth so, may comfort himself with the hope of obtaining it. The prayers of Jesus, poured forth for the salvation of his mystical body, in the days of his flesh, were frequent and mighty; his intercession for us in heaven is continual. Does the man believe this, who prays not at all, or who prays without devotion?

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4. Rejoice the soul of thy servant; for unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.'

Sorrow was the portion of Christ in this world, and the church hath no reason to expect any other from it. He that would have real 'joy' in his heart, must beseech God to give it him, for no creature hath it to give.

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Nay, the love of the world must be renonnced, before this divine gift can even be received.' The affections must be loosened from earth, and lifted up' to heaven, on the wings of faith and love; for in the soul that is full of sensual pleasures and indulgences, there is neither room nor taste for spiritual delights.

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5, For thou, LORD, art good, and ready to forgive: and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.' We are encouraged to lift up our souls to God' in prayer, because his 'goodness,' and the plenteousness of his mercy' in Christ Jesus, incline him to give his holy Spirit of peace and comfort to all that call upon him.' His favor is no longer confined to Judea; there is now no distinction of age, condition, or country: but the sinner, whoever or wherever he be, if he call on the saving name of Jesus, is heard, pardoned, and accepted, on the terms of the evangelical covenant.

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6. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.' 7. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee; for thou wilt answer me.'

In confidence of an answer,' nourished and strengthened by all the foregoing considerations, the suppliant renews his prayer, while the day of trouble' lasts; and that day will not end, but with this mortal pilgrimage; since he who loves his country, will ever be uneasy while he is detained among strangers and enemies, perils and temptations. But the trouble is over, paid with profit, which rendereth us adepts in the practice of devotion, which convinceth us that we are abroad, and maketh us to wish and sigh for our true and only home.

8. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O LORD; neither are there any works like unto thy works.'

Another reason why supplication should be made to Jehovah, is his infinite superiority over all those that, by infatuated men, were ever called 'gods.' From the ancient idolatry, which taught adoration to the sun, moon, and stars, to the light and the air, we have been delivered by the Gospel: nor do we any longer profess to worship Jupiter, and the other Heathen gods and goddesses. But do not many still trust in idols, and have

they not, in effect, other objects of worship, from whose hands they expect their reward? Are not the hearts of the covetous, the ambitious, the voluptuous, so many temples of Mammon or Plutus, of Jupiter or Mars, of Bacchus, Comus, and Venus? But what are these deities; what is their power; and what are their gifts? What is the whole world, and all that is therein, when compared with its Maker and Redeemer? what is it when applied to, for the ease and comfort of a wounded spirit? Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O LORD; neither are there any works like unto thy

works !'

9. All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship hefore thee, O LORD; and shall glorify thy name.' The Psalmist predicteth that this superiority of Jehovah should one day be acknowleged throughout all the earth, when neither in Jerusalem only, nor in the mount of the Samaritans,' but in every place, 'should men worship the Father;' John iv. 21. when he who 'made all nations' by his Son, should by that Son redeem all nations, bringing them from the world to the church, there to worship before' the true God, and in songs of praise to glorify his holy name.' If in these our times we behold the nations again falling away from God, departing from the purity of their faith, and leaving their first love, let us comfort ourselves with looking forward to that scene of things described by St. John, in which we hope to bear a part hereafter: I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.' Rev. vii. 9. 10. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.'

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'Great' is Jehovah in his power, in his wisdom, in his mercy; wonderful' in the creation of the world, wonderful in the preservation and the government of it, wonderful in its redemption; wonderful in the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, in the descent of the Spirit, the propagation of the Gospel, the

sufferings of saints, and the conversion of sinners; most wonderful will he be when he shall raise the dead, judge the world, condemn the wicked, and glorify the righteous. And then shall every tongue confess, Thou art God

alone!'

11. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth unite my heart to fear thy name.'

It is the continual subject of the Mediator's intercession above, and of our prayers below, that we may be 'taught the way of Jehovah,' the way to life eternal, prepared for us, through faith and love which is in Christ Jesus; that being so taught, we may likewise be enabled 'to walk in the truth,' without error in doctrine, or deviation from duty; believing all things which God hath revealed, and doing whatsoever he hath commanded us; that the affections of the heart' may be withdrawn from other objects, and, being no longer divided between God and the world, become united' in the filial' fear of his name,' as the grand principle of action.

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12. I will praise thee, O LORD my God, with all my heart; and I will glorify thy name for evermore.' For great is thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.'

Gratitude for mercies already received, will obtain a continuance and increase of those mercies. The church is never in so afflicted a state, but she hath still reason to intermingle hallelujahs with her hosannas, and, in the midst of her most fervent prayers, to praise the LORD her God with all her heart, and to glorify his name for evermore;' since, whatever she may suffer on earth (and even those sufferings will turn to her advantage), 'great," most undoubtedly, hath his mercy been toward her, in delivering her, by the resurrection of Jesus, from the bondage of sin, the dominion of death, and the bottomless pit of hell.'

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14. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before their eyes.'

From praises we return again to prayers. When Christ was on earth, we know the treatment he met with from proud and violent men, who had not set God before their eyes;' from self-righteous Jews, and con

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