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10 Their throat is an open fepulchre

their tongue.

they flatter with

11 Destroy thou them, O God; let them perifh through their own imaginations: caft them out in the multitude of their ungodliness; for they have rebelled against thee.

12 And let all them that put their truft in thee rejoice: they shall ever be giving of thanks, because thou defendeft them; they that love thy Name, fhall be joyful in thee;

13 For thou, Lord, wilt give thy bleffing unto the right-" eous and with thy favourable kindness wilt thou defend him as with a fhield.

EVENING

PRAYER.

Pfalm vi: Domine ne infurroe.

Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation: neither chaften me in thy displeasure.

2 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O Lord heal me, for my bones are vexed.

3 My foul alfo is fore trubled: but, Lord, how long wilt thou punish me?

4 Turn thee, O Lord, and deliver my foul: O fave me for thy mercies fake.

5 For in death no man remembereth thee: and who will give thee thanks in the pit?

6 I am weary of my groaning, every night wash I my bed: and water my couch with my tears.

7 My beauty is gone for very trouble and worn away because of all nine enemies.

8 Away from me, all ye that work vanity: for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weaping.

PRACTICAL

OBSERVATIONS.

9 The

Pfal. v.] Obferve, 1. The fervency and confidence with which good men call upon the Lord in their neceflities. 2. Their zeal for his fervice, and the joy and reverence with which they adore him, in places set a part for public worship. 3God's abhorrence and deteftation of fin, and efpecially of pride and deceit; and the punishment referved for the proud and unjust. And lastly, His favourable protection of all thofe that fear him and truft in him.

9

The Lord hath heard my petition: the Lord will receive my prayer.

10 All mine enemies fhall be confounded, and fore vexed: they shall be turned back, and put to fhame fuddenly.

Pfalm vii. Domine, Deus meus.

Lord my God, in thee have I put my truft : fave me from all them that perfecute me, and deliver me;

2 Left he devour my foul like a lion, and tear it in pieces : while there is none to help.

3 O Lord my God, if I have done any fuch thing: or if there be any wickednefs in my hands;

4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that dealt friendly with me: yea, I have delivered him that without any cause is mine enemy;

5 Then let mine enemy perfecute my foul, and take me : yea, let him tread my life down upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the duft.

6 Stand up, O Lord, in thy wrath, and lift up thyself, because of the indignation of mine enemies: arise up for me in the judgement that thou haft commanded.

7 And fo fhall the congregation of the people come about thee for their fakes therefore lift up thyfelf again.

8 The Lord fhall judge the people; give fentence with me, O Lord: according to my righteousness, and according to the innocency that is in me.

9 O let the wickednefs of the ungodly come to an end: but guide thou the juft.

10 For the righteous God: trieth the very hearts and reins. 11 My help cometh of God: who preferveth them that are true of heart.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATION S.

Pfal. vi.] The first words of this pfalm, "O Lord, rebuke me not in thine indignation, neither chaften me in thy difpleafure," exprefs the humility of those, who with a lively fenfe of their fins, and of the need they fland in of the divine affiftance, implore God's mercy. When we ufe this prayer, we should do it, not only with a defire to be delivered from the evils and afflictions of this life, but chiefly in order to obtain pardon for our fins, and deliverance from the punishments of the life to.

come.

PRAC

12 God is a righteous Judge, ftrong and patient: and God is provoked every day.

13

If a man will not turn, he will whet his fword: he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

14 He hath prepared for him the inftruments of death: he ordaineth his arrows against the perfecutors.

15 Behold, he travaileth with mischief: he hath conceived forrow, and brought forth ungodliness.

16 He hath graven and digged up a pit and is fallen himself into the deftruction that he made for other.

17 For his travail fhall come upon his own head and les wickedness fhall fall on his own pate.

18 I will give thanks unto the Lord, according to his righteoufnefs: and I will praife the Name of the Lord moft High.

Pfalm viii. Domine, Dominus nofter.

Lord our Governor, how excellent is thy Name in all the world: thou that haft fet thy glory above the heavens !

2 Out of the mouth of very babes and fucklings haft thou ordained ftrength, because of thine enemies: that thou mighteft ftill the enemy, and the avenger.

3 For I will confider thy heavens, even the works of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou haft ordained. 4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him and the fon of man, that thou vifiteft him?

5 Thou madeft him lower than the angels: to crown him with glory and worship.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Pfal. vii.] In this pfalm we are taught to have recourfe to God in our afflictions, as David had when he was perfecuted by his enemies. But we are here likewife taught, that if we would have God hear us, there fhould be no iniquity found in us; that God fearches the heart and reins, and favours thofe who walk in fincerity and uprightness of heart. As for the ungodly, David declares that God bears with them for a time; but if they perfift in their wickedness, he will make the evil which they de fign for others fall upon their own heads. Thefe are powerful motives to induce us to adore the juftice of God; to improve by his forbearance and long-fuffering; and to avoid every thing that may expofe us to his ven

geance.

PRAC

ILLUSTRATED AND EXPLAINED.

399

6 Thou makeft him to have dominion of the works of thy hands and thou haft put all things in subjection under his feet;

7 All fheep and oxen: yea, and the beafts of the field; 8 The fowls of the air, and the fifhes of the fea; and whatsoever walketh through the paths of the feas.

9 O Lord our Governor: how excellent is thy Name in all the world!

I

MORNING

ay

PRAYER.

Pfalm ix. Confitebor tibi.

Will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, with my whole heart I will speak of all thy marvellous works.

2 I will be glad and rejoice in thee: yea, my fongs will I make of thy Name, O thou moft Higheft.

3 While mine enemies are driven back: they fhall fall and perifh at thy prefence.

4 For thou haft maintained my right, and my caufe: thou art fet in the throne that judgeft right.

5 Thou haft rebuked the heathen, and destroyed the ungodly thou haft put out their name for ever and ever.

60 thou enemy, deftructions are come to a perpetual end even as the cities which thou haft destroyed; their. memorial is perished with them.

7 But the Lord fhall endure for ever: he hath alfo prepared his feat for judgment.

8 For

PRACTICAL

OBSERVATIONS.

Pfal. viii.] This pfalm engages our attention to the marks of God's infinite power, which we difcover in the heavens, in the ftars, and in the wonders we meet with by land and water. The ufe we ought to make of this meditation is to adore the majefty of the Lord, and from the due confideration of his greatnefs, and our own meannefs, to fay, "Lord, what is man, that thou art mindful of him; and the fon of man, that thou vifitest him!" And fince God has created us in his own image, enduing us with reason and understanding, that we may know and praife him, and has made other creatures fubject to us, we ought gratefully to improve thefe advantages to his glory, and continually praife our creator and benefactor; faying, with David, "O Lord our governor, how excellent is thy name in all the world!"

8 For he fhall judge the world in righteoufnefs: and minifter true judgment unto the people.

9 The Lord alfo will be a defence for the oppreffed : even a refuge in due time of trouble.

10 And they that know thy Name, will put their truft in thee for thou, Lord, haft never failed them that feek thee.

11 O praise the Lord, which dwelleth in Sion: fhew the people of his doings.

12 For when he maketh inquifition for blood, he remembereth them: and forgeteth not the complaint of the poor.

13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; confider the trouble which I fuffer for them that hate me thou that lifteft me up from the gates of death:

14 That I may fhew all thy praises within the ports of the daughter of Sion: I will rejoice in thy falvation.

15 The heathen are funk down in the pit that they made: in the fame net which they hid'privily, is their foot taken. 16 The Lord is known to execute judgment: the ungodly is trapped in the work of his own hands.

17 The wicked fhall be turned into hell: and all the people that forget God.

18 For the poor fhall not alway be forgotten: the pasient abiding of the meek fhall not perish for ever.

19 Up, Lord, and let not man have the upper hand : let the heathen be judged in thy fight.

20 Put them in fear, O Lord: that the heathen may know themselves to be but men.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Pfal. ix.] In this fong David fhews forth his piety, joy and gratitude, on account of the victories he had gained by the divine affiftance; which fhould likewife ftir us up to praise God with all our heart, for the deliverances he grants us, and for all his favours to us. Not content with praifing him ourselves, we should, like David, publish abroad his kindness to us, and by that means engage others to join with us in bleffing God and in fearing him. Moreover, the pfalmift here teaches us, that those who fear the Lord may rely upon him, and that the expectation of the righteous fhall not be in vain.

Pfalm

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