17 Shew fome token upon me for good, that they who hate me may see it, and be afhamed: because thou, Lord haft holpen, me, and comforted me.

§ Pfalm 87. Fundamenta ejus.

HE

ER foundations are upon the holy hills: the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 2 Very excellent things are spoken of thee: thou city of God. 3 I will think upon Rahab and Babylon: with them that

know me.

Behold ye the Philistines alfo: and they of Tyre, with the Morians; lo, there was he born.

4

5 And of Sion it shall be reported that he was born in her: and the moft High shall stablish her.

6 The Lord fhall rehearse it when he writeth up the people: that he was born there.

7 The fingers alfo and trumpeters shall he rehearse: all my fresh fprings fhall be in thee.

Pfalm 88. Domine Deus.

Lord God of my falvation, I have cried day and night before thee: O let my prayer enter into thy presence, incline thine ear unto my calling.

O

2 For my foul is full of trouble: and my life draweth nigh unto hell.

3 I am counted as one of them that go down into the pit: and I have been even as a man that hath no ftrength.

4 Free among the dead, like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave: who are out of remembrance, and are cut away from thy hand.

5 Thou haft laid me in the lowest pit: in a place of darkness and in the deep.

The Prophet here celebrates the praises ofthe City of Jerufalem and Mount Sion, in preference to all the neighbouring Kingdoms and Cities: who, although they might boaft of famous and remarkable Perfonages being born among them; yet could not equal

Judea as to the Men of renown who were natives of it.

This Pfalm feems to have been compofed by one who was under the deepest Affliction, and almoft deprived of all confolation. He reprefents herein the violence and continuance of his Sufferigns, and the

6 Thine indignation lieth hard upon me: and thou haft vexed me with all thy forms,

7 Thou baft put away mine acquaintance far from me: and made me to be abhorred of them.

8 I am fo faft in prifon: that I cannot get forth.

9 My fight faileth for very trouble: Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have ftretched forth my hands unto thee.

10 Doft thou fhew wonders among the dead: or fhall the dead rife up again, and praife thee?

11 Shall thy loving kindness be fhewed in the grave: or thy faithfulness in deftruction?

12 Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark: and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten?

13 Unto thee have I cried, O Lord: and early fhall my prayer come before thee.

14 Lord, why abhorreft thou my foul: and hideft thou thy face

from me?

15 I am in mifery, and like unto him that is at the point to die: even from my youth up thy terrors have I fuffered with a troubled

mind.

16 Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me: and the fear of thee hath undone me.

17 They came round about me daily like water: and compaffed me together on every fide.

18 My lovers and friends haft thou put away from me: and hid mine acquaintance out of my fight.

EVENING

PRAYER. ‡ Pfalm 89. Mifericordias Domini.

M

fong fhall be alway of the loving kindness of the Lord: with my mouth will I ever be fhewing thy truth from one generation to another.

Terrors which difcompofed his mind, complaining that God did not hear him, tho' he called upon him with great fervency. This Pialm agrees with thofe

that are commonly called penitential.

This Paim was compofed at a time when the Jews were under some publick calamity. The writer

2 For I have faid, Mercy fhall be fet up for ever: thy truth fhalt thou ftablifh in the heavens.

3 I have made a covenant with my chofen: I have fworn unto David my fervant,

4 Thy feed will I stablish for ever: and fet up thy throne from one generation to another.

5 O Lord, the very heavens fhall praife thy wondrous works: and thy truth in the congregation of the faints.

6 For who is he among the clouds: that fhall be compared unto the Lord?

7 And what is he among the gods: that fhall be like unto the Lord?

8 God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the faints: and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him.

9 O Lord God of hofts, who is like unto thee: thy truth, most mighty Lord, is on every fide.

10 Thou ruleft the raging of the fea: thou ftilleft the waves thereof when they arise.

11 Thou haft fubdued Egypt, and destroyed it: thou hast scattered thine enemies abroad, with thy mighty arm.

12 The heavens are thine, the earth alfo is thine: thou haft laid the foundation of the round word, and all that therein is.

13 Thou haft made the north and the fouth: Tabor and Hermon fhall rejoice in thy Name.

14 Thou haft a mighty arm: ftrong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

15 Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy feat: mercy and truth fhall go before thy face.

16 Bleffed is the people, O Lord, that can rejoice in the: they fhall walk in the light of thy countenance.

here celebrates the majefty, power, and goodness of God which appeared in the deliverance of the Ifraelites from Egyptian Bondage; and the Covenant that he made with David, to confirm the Throne to him and his

pofterity. He then reprefents the defolation to which Judah was reduced, and implores the divine compafhon.

17 Their delight fhall be daily in thy Name: and in thy righteousness fhall they make their boast.

18 For thou art the glory of their ftrength: and in thy loving kindness thou fhalt lift up our horns.

19 For the Lord is our defence: the holy One of Ifrael is our King.

20 Thou fpakeft fometime in vifions unto thy faints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, I have exalted one chofen out of the people.

21 I have found David my fervant: with my holy oil have I anointed him.

22 My hand shall hold him fast: and my arm shall strengthen him.

23 The enemy fhall not be able to do him violence: the fon of wickedness fhall not hurt him.

24 I will fmite down his foes before his face: and plague them that hate him.

25 My truth alfo and my mercy shall be with him: and in my Name fhall his horn be exalted.

26 I will fet his dominion alfo in the fea: and his right hand in the floods.

27 He shall call me, Thou art my Father: my God, and my strong falvation.

28 And I will make him my first-born: higher than the kings of the earth.

29 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore: and my covenant fhall ftand faft with him.

30 His feed alfo will I make to endure for ever: and his throne as the days of heaven.

31 But if his children forfake my law: and walk not in my judgments;

32 If they break my ftatutes, and keep not my commandments: I will vifit their offences with the rod, and their fin with fcourges.

33 Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him: nor fuffer my truth to fail.

34 * My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips: I have sworn once by my holiness, that I will not fail David.

35 His feed shall endure for ever: and his seat is like as the sun

-before me.

36. He fhall ftand fast for evermore as the moon: and as the faithful witness in heaven.

37 But thou haft abhorred, and forfaken thine Anointed: and art displeased at him.

38 Thou haft broken the covenant of thy fervant: and caft his crown to the ground.

39 Thou haft overthrown all his hedges: and broken down his ftrong holds.

40 All they that go by, fpoil him: and he is become a reproach to his neighbours. De

41 Thou haft set up the right hand of his enemies: and made all his adverfaries to rejoice.

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42 Thou haft taken away the edge of his fword: and givest him, not victory in the battel.

43 Thou haft put out his glory: and caft his throne down to the ground.

44 The days of his youth haft thou shortened: and covered him with dishonour.

45 Lord, how long wilt thou hide thyfelf, for ever: and fhall thy wrath burn like fire?

46 O remember how fhort my time is: wherefore haft thou made all men for nought?

My Covenant will I not break, &c. This cove nant and the promises which God had made to David, and his pofterity evidently relate to Jefus Chritt, for

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in him alone they are fully verified, of whofe Kingaom there shall be no end. Luke i. 33.