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Pfalm xxxi. In te, Dimine, fperavi.

I never be

put to confufion, deliver me in thy righteoufnefs.

z Bow down thine ear to me: make hafte to deliver me. 3 And be thou my ftrong rock, and house of defence: that thou mayest save me.

4 For thou art my ftrong rock, and my caftle: be thou alfo my guide, and lead me for thy Names fake.

5 Draw me out of the net that they have laid privily for me for thou art my ftrength.

6 Into thy hands I commend my fpirit: for thou haft redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth.

7 I have hated them that hold of fuperftitious vanities: and my truft hath been in the Lord.

8 I will be glad, and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou haft confidered my trouble, and haft known my foul in adverfities. 9 Thou haft not fhut me up into the hand of the enemy: but haft fet my feet in a large room.

10 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: and mine eye is confumed for very heavinefs: yea, my foul and my body.

11 For my life is waxen old with heaviness: and my years with mourning.

12 My ftrength faileth me, because of mine iniquity > and my bones are confumed.

13 I became a reproof among all mine enemies, but efpecially among my neighbours: and they of mine acquaintance were afraid of me, and they that did fee me without, conveyed themselves from me.

14 I am clean forgotten, as a dead man out of mind: I am become like a broken veffel.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. and that when he cried to the Lord, he was heard by him. Let this convince us of the ufe and neceffity of afflictions. Even the belt of men fometimes forget themselves in profperity: bat God makes ufe of adverfity to infpire them with a holy fear, to bring them to a fenfe of their duty, and to oblige them to have recourfe to him; and then he is reconciled, and hears their cry, changing their forrow into joy, and their complaints into fongs of praife..

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15 For I have heard the blafphemy of the multitude: and fear is on every fide, while they confpire together against me, and take their counsel to take away my life.

16 But my hope hath been in thee, O Lord: I have faid, Thou art my God.

17 My time is in thy hand, deliver me from the hand of mine enemies: and from them that perfecute me.

18 Shew thy fervant the light of thy countenance: and fave me for thy mercies fake.

19 Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee: let the ungodly be put to confufion, and be put to filence in the grave.

20 Let the lying lips be put to filence: which cruelly, difdainfully, and defpitefully speak against the righteous.

21 O how plentiful is thy goodness which thou haft laid up for them that fear thee: and that thou haft prepared for them that put their truft in thee, even before the fons of

men.

22 Thou fhalt hide them privily by thine own prefence from the provoking of all men thou shalt keep them fecretly in thy tabernacle from the ftrife of tongues.

23 Thanks be to the Lord: for he hath fhewed me marvellous great kindness in a strong city.

24 And when I made hafte, I faid; I am caft out of the fight of thine eyes.

25 Nevertheless, thou heardeft the voice of my prayer: when I cried unto thee.

26 O love the Lord, all ye his faints: for the Lord preferveth them that are faithful, and plenteously rewardeth the proud doer.

27 Be ftrong, and he fhall establish your heart: all ye that put your put your truft in the Lord.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Pfalm xxxi.] 1. The evils and perfecutions which David fuffered, even from his nearest relations, and the manner in which he fubmitted to these fevere trials, prove, that if we are exposed to fufferings, we ought to bear them patiently, without entertaining any malice or hatred in our hearts against thofe who injure us; not refenting the evils they

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EVENING PRAYER.
Pfalm xxxii. Beati, quorum.

Leffed is he, whofe unrighteoufnels is forgiven: and
whofe fin is covered.

2 Eleffed is the man, unto whom the Lord imputeth no fin and in whofe fpirit there is no guile.

3 For while I held my tongue: my bones confumed away through my daily complaining.

4 For thy hand is heavy upon me day and night: and my moisture is like the drought in fummer.

5 I will acknowledge my fin unto thee: and mine unrighteoufnefs have I not hid.

6 faid, I will confefs my fins unto the Lord and fo thou forgaveft the wickedness of my fin.

7 For this fhalf every one that is godly make his prayer unto thee, in a time when thou mayeft be found; but in the great water-floods they fhall not come nigh him.

8 Thou art a place to hide me in; thou fhalt preferve me from trouble: thou fhalt compafs me about with fongs of deliverance.

9 I will inform thee, and teach thee in the way wherein thou shalt go and I will guide thee with mine eye.

10 Be ye not like to horie and mule, which have no underftanding: whofe mouths must be held with bit and bridle, left they fall upon thee.

11 Great plagues remain for the ungodly: but whofo putteth his truft in the Lord, mercy embraceth him on every fide.

PRACTICAL

OBSERVATIONS. do us, but waiting with refignation for the divine affiftance. Obferve, 2. How David is tranfported with the fenfe of God's favours towards thofe that fear him, and of the greatnefs of thofe good things he lays up in ftore for them. Let all that fear God confider this for their comfort; and let this confideration encourage them more and more to obey and pleate him. The exhortation watch concludes this hymn, naturally rends to produce this effect: O love the Lord, all ye his faints, for the Lord preferveth them that are faithful; be frong, and he shall establish your heart, all ye that put your trust in the Lord."

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12 Be glad, O ye righteous, and rejoice in the Lord and be joyful, all ye that are true of heart.

Pfalm xxxiii. Exultate, jufti.

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for it becometh

well the juft to be thankful.

2 Praife the Lord with harp: fing praifes unto him with the lute, and inftrument of ten strings.

3 Sing unto the Lord a new fong: fing praifes luftily. unto him with a good courage.

4 For the word of the Lord is true: and all his works are faithful.

5 He loveth righteoufnefs and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord,

6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the hofts of them by the breath of his mouth.

7 He gathereth the waters of the fea together, as it were upon an heap and layeth up the deep, as in a treasure-houfe. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord: ftand in awe of him, ye that dwell in the world;

all

9 For he fpake, and it was done; he commanded, and it

ftood faft.

of The Lord bringeth the counfel of the heathen to nought: and maketh the devices of the people to be of none effect, and cafteth out the counfels of princes.

1 The counfel of the Lord fhall endure for ever and the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation.

12 Bleffed are the people whofe God is the Lord Jehovah : and bleffed are the folk that he hath chofen to him to be his inheritance.

1

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Pfalm xxxii.]. We must make the fame reflection upon the first words of this pfalm, as St Paul does in the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Romans; which is, that the happiness of man, and his juftification before God, confifts in the pardon of fins, in peace of confcience, and a fenfe of God's mercy. 2. David teaches us, that if we desire to attain this happy condition, we must have a clean heart, and a pure con fcience; that the remiffion of fins is the effect of God's mercy; that in order to obtain it, we must fincerely confefs and forfake our fins; which, as foon as we confess and forfake them, are blotted out, and God reftores us to a fenfe of his grace and favour, PRAC.

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13 The Lord looked down from heaven, and beheld all the children of men: from the habitation of his dwelling he confidereth all them that dwell on the earth,

14 He fashioneth all the hearts of them: and understandeth all their works.

15 There is no king that can be faved by the multitude of an hoft neither is any mighty man delivered by much ftrength.

16 A horfe is counted but a vain thing to fave a man: neither fhall he deliver any man by his great ftrength.

17 Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him and upon them that put their truft in his mercy;

18 To deliver their foul from death: and to feed them in the time of dearth.

19 Our foul hath patiently tarried for the Lord: for he is our help and our fhield.

20 For our heart fhall rejoice in him because we have hoped in his holy Name.

21 Let thy merciful kindnefs, O Lord, be upon us: like as we do put our truft in thee.

PRACTICAL

OBSERVATIONS.

I.

Pfalm xxxiii.] This pfalm leads us to make these reflections. That it is a duty highly reasonable as well as delightful, to praise God; but that none but upright men can discharge it in a becoming manner, and that the praife of God is only proper in their mouths. 2. That we ought to praise God, because he has created the world by his almighty power, and because he governs it wifely and justly by his providence. 3. That if it was a great advantage to the Ifraelites, to be the people whom God had chofen for his inheritance, and who were in a peculiar manner protected by him; the favour which God has vouchfafed us, in admitting us into his church, and entering into covenant with us, is a ftill more glorious privilege. 4. That God has a perfect knowledge of all that paffes in the world, and in particular that he fece all the actions and thoughts of men. This thought should continually poffefs our fouls, that the confideration of the prefence of God and of his infinite knowledge may engage us to walk before him in holiness and righteoufnefs. Laftly, Since David has told us, "That the eyes of the Lord are upon them that fear him, and upon them that put their truft in his mercy," let us obferve from thence, that the true way to have God our friend is to trust in him, to fear him, without ceafing to apply to him for mercy; and to this end, to pray continually in the words of the prophet, "Let thy merciful kindnets, O Lord, be upon us, like as we do put our trust in thee,

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