THE COMMON PRAYER, &c. 434 21 They gaped upon nie with their mouths, and faid: Fie on thee, fie on thee, we faw it with our eyes. 22 This thou haft feen, O'Lord: hold not thy tongue then, go not far from me, O Lord. 23 Awake, and ftand up to judge my quarrel: avenge thou my caufe, my God, and my Lord. 24 Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy righteoufnefs and let them not triumph over me. 25 Let them not fay in their hearts, There, there, fo would we have it: neither let them fay, We have devoured him. 26 Let them be put to confufion and fhame together that rejoice at my trouble: let them be clothed with rebuke and difhonour that boaft themselves againft me. 27 Let them be glad and rejoice that favour my righteous dealing: yea, let them fay alway, Bleffed be the Lord, who hath pleasure in the profperity of his fervant. 28 And as for my tongue, it fhall be talking of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long. Pfalm xxxvi. Dixit injuftus. Y heart fheweth me the wickednefs of the ungodly: that there is no fear of God before his eyes. MY 2 For he flattereth himself in his own fight: until his abominable fin be found out. 3 The words of his mouth are unrighteous, and full of deceit he hath left off to behave himself wifely, and to do good. 4 He imagineth' mifchief upon his bed, and hath fet himfelf in no good way: neither doth he abhor any thing that is evil. PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. Pfalm xxxv.] We must not conclude from what David fays here against his enemies, that we are allowed to with evil to those who injure us, or to rejoice when any evil happens to them. We are to remember, that the enemies of David were enemies to God himself; and that David, as a prophet, and one who had an exprefs promife of the divine affiftance, might denounce deftruction against those who oppofed him. PRAC 5 Thy mercy, O Lord, reacheth unto the heavens and thy faithfulness unto the clouds. 6 Thy righteoufnels ftandeth like the ftrong mountains: thy judgments are like the great deep. 7 Thou, Lord, fhalt fave both man and beaft: How excellent is thy mercy, O God: and the children of men fhall put their truft under the fhadow of thy wings. 8 They fhall be fatisfied with the plenteoufnefs of thy house and thou fhalt give them drink of thy pleasures, as out of the river. 9 For with thee is the well of life: and in thy light thall we fee light. 10 O continue forth thy loving kindnefs unto them that know thee and thy righteoufnefs unto them that are true of heart. 11 O let not the foot of pride come against me: and let not the hand of the ungodly caft me down. 12 There are they fallen, all that work wickedness: they are caft down, and fhall not be able to ftand. F EVENING PRAYER. RET not thyfelf becaufe of the ungodly neither be PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. Pfalm. xxxvi.] 1. In this. pfalm we have a defcription of the fentiments and behaviour of the wicked and ungodly, who have no fear of God before their eyes, but flatter themselves, and are confirmed more and more in their wickedness, and without any dread of evil feek only to hurt others. 2. David here obferves, that the righteous have very different fentiments; that they adore the power and justice of God, manifefted in his works and all his judgments; that they are transported with the confideration of his immenfe goodness, and the favours he bestows on those who love him and put their trust in him. The reading of this pfalm teaches us to avoid all impiety, and to cleave fedfatly to God by a fincere love and holy fear, that we may rejoice in him with righteoufnefs, and fay with David, "O God, how precious is thy goodness! the children of men hide them felves under the fhadow of thy wings. We fhall be Latisfied with the fatnefs of thy house, and thou shalt give us to drink of the rivers of thy pleafures." PRAC. 2 For they fhall foon be cut down like the grafs and be withered even as the green herb. 3 Put thou thy truft in the Lord, and be doing good : dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. 4 Delight thou in the Lord: and he fhall give thee thy hearts's defire. 5 Commit thy way unto the Lord, and put thy truft in him: and he fhall bring it to pass. 6 He fhall make thy righteousness as clear as the light: and thy juft dealing as the noon-day. 7 Hold thee ftill in the Lord, and abide patiently upon him but grieve not thyfelf at him whofe way doth profper, against the man that doeth after evil counsels, 8 Leave off from wrath, and let go difpleafure: fret not thyfelf, elfe fhalt thou be moved to do evil. 9 Wicked doers fhall be rooted out: and they that patiently abide the Lord, those shall inherit the land. 10 Yet a little while, and the ungodly fhall be clean gone: thou shalt look after his place, and he fhall be away, 11 But the meek-fpirited fhall poffefs the earth and fhall be refreshed in the multitude of peace. 12 The ungodly feeketh counfel against the juft: and gnafheth upon him with his teeth. 13 The Lord fhall laugh him to fcorn: for he hath feen that his day is coming. 14 The ungodly have drawn out the fword, and have bent their bow to caft down the poor and needy, and to nay fuch as are of a right conversation. 15 Their fword fhall go through their own heart: and their bow fhall be broken. 16 A fmall thing that the righteous hath: is better than great riches of the ungodly. 17 For the arms of the ungodly fhall be broken: and the Lord upholdeth the righteous. 18 The Lord knoweth the days of the godly and their inheritance fhall endure for ever. 19 They fhall not be confounded in the perilous time: and in the days of dearth they fhall have enough. 20 As for the ungodly, they fhall perish, and the enemies of the Lord fhall confume as the fat of lambs: yea, even as the finoke fhall they confume away. 21 The ungodly borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous is merciful, and liberal. 22 Such as are bleffed of God, fhall poffefs the land; and they that are curfed of him, fhall be rooted out. 23 The Lord ordereth a good mans going and maketh his way acceptable to himself. 24 Though he fall, he fhall not be caft away for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. 25 I have been young, and now am old and yet saw I never the righteous forfaken, nor his feed begging their bread. 26 The righteous is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his feed is bleffed. 27 Flee from evil, and do the thing that is good: and dwell for evermore. 28 For the Lord loveth the thing that is right: he forfaketh not his that be godly, but they are preferved for ever. 29 The unrighteous fhall be punished: as for the feed of the ungodly, it fhall be rooted out. 30 The righteous shall inherit the land: and dwell therein for ever. 31 The mouth of the righteous is exercised in wifdom: and his tongue will be talking of judgment. 32 The law of his God is in his heart: and his goings fhall not lide. 33 The ungodly feeth the righteous and feeketh occafion to flay him. 34 The Lord will not leave him in his hand: nor condemn him when he is judged. 35 Hope thou in the Lord, and keep his way, and he fhall promote thee, that thou shalt poffefs the land: when the ungodly shall perish, thou shalt fee it. 36 I myself have feen the ungodly in great power: and flourishing like a green bay-tree. 37 I went by, and lo, he was gone: I fought him but his place could no where be found. 38 Keep 438 THE COMMON PRAYER, &c. 38 Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right for that shall bring a man peace at the last. 39 As for the tranfgreffors, they fhall perish together: and the end of the ungodly is, They fhall be rooted out at the laft. 40 But the falvation of the righteous cometh of the Lord: who is alfo their ftrength in the time of trouble. 41 And the Lord fhall ftand by them, and fave them; he fhall deliver them from the ungodly, and fhall fave them, because they put their truft in him. oth MORNING PRAYER. Pfalm xxxviii. Domine, ne in furore P UT me not to rebuke, O Lord, in thine anger: neither chaiten me in thy heavy difpleature. 2 For thine arrows stick faft in me: and thy hand preffeth me fore. 3 There is no health in my flesh, becaufe of thy difpleafure neither is there any reft in my bones, by reafon of. my fin. 4 For my wickedneffes are gone over my head; and are like a fore burden, too heavy for me to bear.. 5 My wounds ftink, and are corrupt: through my ifhnefs. fool 6 I am brought into fo great trouble and mifery: that I go mourning all the day long. PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS. Pfalm xxxvii.] The fum of the doctrine contained in this pfalm is, that we ought not to envy the happiness which the wicked enjoy in this world, nor be offended at the afflictions of good men. For if the latter are fometimes in affliction, in their trials they experience the divine affiftance, and have a happy iffue out of all their troubles: But it is not so with the ungodly; their profperity is only imaginary, and of short duration; God confounds their unjuft defigns; and his anger, in a very fenfible manner, falls upon them and all that belongs to them. Every day's experience verifies what this pfalm teaches; and therefore the effect which the reading of it should produce, is to convince us, that our whole hap piness depends on our perfeverance in piety, which is attended with fuch fure and glorious rewards. PRAC. |