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THE COMMON PRAYER, &c..

MORNING PRAYER.

UNIO

Pfalm lxxv. Confitebimur tibi.

NTO thee, O God, do we give thanks: yea, unto thee do we give thanks.

2 Thy Name alfo is fo nigh: and that do thy wondrous works declare.

3 When I receive the congregation: I fhall judge according unto right.

4 The earth is weak, and all the inhabiters thereof: I bear up the pillars of it.

5 I faid unto the fools, Deal not fo madly: and to the ungodly, Set not up your horn.

6 Set not up your horn on high: and speak not with a ftiff neck.

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For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the weft: nor yet from the fouth.

8 And why? God is the Judge: he putteth down one, and fetteth up another.

9 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full mixt, and he poureth out of the fame. 10 As for the dregs thereof: all the ungodly of the earth fhall drink them, and fuck them out.

11 But I will talk of the God of Jacob: and praise him for ever.

12 All the horns of the ungodly alfo will I break: and the horns of the righteous fhall be exalted.

PRACTICAL

OBSERVATIONS.

phet was grieved for the defolation of the temple, and the calamities of the Jews, and moft devoutly prayed for their reftoration; fo Chriftians ought to be fenfibly affected with the misfortunes of the church, and to pray continually for its deliverance and profperity.

Pfalm lxxv.] The inftructions we meet with in this pfalm are; 1. That it is God who establishes and ftrengthens kings, and gives peace to their dominions. 2. That it is the duty of kings and princes, and in general of all magiftrates, to exercife juftice, reftrain the wicked and the proud, and to protect the innocent. 3. That we must not be lifted up in profperity, nor make an ill ufe of power. 4. That the exaltation and abafement of men proceed from God, who by his providence governs the world with wifdom and juftice. And lastly, that God referves a juit

and

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ILLUSTRATED AND EXPLAINED.

Pfalm lxxvi. Notus in Judea.

Jewry is God known: his Name is great in Ifrael.

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2 At Salem is his tabernacle: and his dwelling in Sion. 3 There brake he the arrows of the bow: the shield, the fword, and the battle.

4 Thou art of more honour and might: than the hills of the robbers.

5 The proud are robbed, they have flept their fleep: and all the men whofe hands were mighty, have found nothing. 6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob: both the chariot and the horse are fallen.

7 Thou, even thou art to be feared: and who may stand in thy fight when thou art angry?

8 Thou didft caufe thy judgment to be heard from hea'ven the earth trembled, and was ftill.

.9 When God arofe to judgment: and to help all the meek upon earth.

10 The fiercenefs of man fhall turn to thy praise and the fiercenefs of them fhalt thou refrain.

11 Promise unto the Lord your God, and keep it, all ye that are round about him: bring prefents unto him that ought to be feared.

12 He shall refrain the fpirit of princes: and is wonderful among the kings of the earth.

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Will cry unto God with my voice: even unto God will
I cry with my voice, and he fhall hearken unto me.

PRACTICAL

OBSERVATIONS.

and fevere punishment for the wicked, but that he always gives proofs of his favour to good men.

Pfalm 1xxvi.] In this pfalm we have a magnificent defcription of the power which God difplayed in behalf of his people Ifrael, when they were affaulted by powerful and formidable enemies. From whence we may conclude, that as God is always the fame, he will do for his church, as he has always done; and therefore, that we need not fear either the wrath or power of men.

2 In the time of my trouble I fought the Lord: my fore ran, and ceafed not in the night-feafon; my foul refused

comfort.

3 When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God: when my heart is vexed, I will complain.

4 Thou holdeft mine eyes waking: I am fo feeble that I cannot speak.

5 I have confidered the days of old: and the years that are past.

6 I call to remembrance my fong: and in the night I commune with mine own heart, and fearch out my fpirits. 7 Will the Lord abfent himself for ever: and will he be no more intreated?

8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever: and is his promife come utterly to an end for evermore?

9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious: and will he shut up his loving kindness in difplealure?

10 And I faid, It is mine own infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the moft Higheft.

1 I will remember the works of the Lord: and call to mind thy wonders of old time.

12 I will think alfo of all thy works: and my talking fhall be of thy doings.

13 Thy way, O God, is holy: who is fo great a God, as our God?

14 Thou art the God that doeth wonders: and haft declared thy power among the people.

15 Thou haft mightily delivered thy people: even the fons of Jacob and Jofeph.

16 The waters faw thee, O God, the waters faw thee, and were afraid the depths alfo were troubled.

17 The clouds poured out water, the air thundered: and thine arrows went abroad.

18 The voice of thy thunder was heard round about: the lightnings fhone upon the ground, the earth was moved, and fhook withal.

19 Thy way is in the fea, and thy paths in the great waters and thy footsteps are not known.

20 Thou

20 Thou leddeft thy people like fheep: by the hand of Moles and Aaron.

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EVENING PRAYER.
Pfalm lxxviii. Attendite, popule.

EAR my law, O my people: incline your ears unto
the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will declare hard fentences of old;

3 Which we have heard and known and fuch as our fathers have told us;

4 That we fhould not hide them from the children of the generations to come: but to fhew the honour of the Lord, his mighty and won erful works that he hath done.

5 He made a covenant with Jacob, and gave Ifrael a law which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children;

6 That their pofterity might know it: and the children which were yet unborn;

7 To the intent that when they came up they might fhew their children the fame;

8 That they might put their trust in God: and not to forget the works of God, but to keep his commandments:

PRACTICAL

OBSERVATIONS.

Pfalm. Ixxvii.] There are two things to be confidered in this pfalm, which are particularly adapted to perfons in affliction. 1. The fighs and complaints of the prophet thew, that perfons who are otherwife acceptable to God are fometimes in extreme anguish, and have great conflicts in themselves, and are deprived of the actual fenfe of God's grace to fuch a degree, that God feems to have forfaken them, and withdrawn his love from them. 2. Those who pass through fuch trials may learn from hence, that the way not to fink under their grief, is to meditate on God's infinite mercy, the firmnefs of his covenant, and the marks he has given, at divers times, of his love and protection to his people, and to all his faithful fervants. But Chriftians have fill greater motives of comfort, when they reflect upon God's love manifeited in Chrift Jefus, and all that our great Redeemer has fuffered in body and foul for our redemption, and to bring about our reconciliation with God. 3 Q

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9 And not to be as their forefathers, a faithlefs and ftub born generation: a generation that fet not their heart aright, and whofe fpirit cleaveth not ftedfaftly unto God;

Io Like as the children of Ephraim who being harneffed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle.

11. They kept not the covenant of God; and would not walk in his law;

12 But forgat what he had done: and the wonderful works that he had fhewed for them.

13 Marvellous things did he in the fight of our forefathers, in the land of Egypt: even in the field of Zoan.

14 He divided the fea, and let them, go through: he made the waters to stand on an heap..

15 In the day-time alfo he led them with a cloud: and all the night through with a light of fire.

16 He clave the hard rocks in the wilderness and gave. them drink thereof, as it had been out of the great depth. 17. He brought waters out of the ftony rock: fo that it gufhed out like the rivers.

18 Yet for all this they finned more against him: and provoked the moft Higheft in the wilderness.

19 They tempted God in their hearts: and required meat, for their luft.

20 They fpake against God alfo, faying: Shall God prepare a table in the wilderness?

21 He finote the ftony rock indeed, that the water gushed out, and the ftreams flowed withal: but can he give bread alfo,, or provide flesh for his people?

22 When the Lord heard this, he was wroth: fo the fire was kindled in Jacob, and there came up heavy difpleasure ag.inft Ifrael;

23 Because they believed not in God: and put not their trust in his help.

24 So he commanded the clouds above: and opened the doors of heaven.

25 He rained down Manna alfo upon them for to eat : and gave them food from heaven.

26. So man did eat angels food: for he fent them meat enough.

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