28 Let them fall from one wickedness to another: and not come into thy righteousness.

29 Let them be wiped out of the book of the living: and not be written among the righteous.

30 As for me, when I am poor and in heaviness: thy help, O God, fhall lift me up.

31 I will praise the name of God with a fong: and magnify it with thanksgiving.

32 This alfo fhall pleafe the Lord: better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

33 The humble fhall confider this, and be glad: seek ye after God, and your foul fhall live.

34 For the Lord heareth the poor: and despiseth not his prisoners. 35 Let heaven and earth praise him :the fea and all that moveth therein.

36 For God will fave Sion, and build the cities of Juda: that men may dwell there, and have it in poffeffion.

37 The pofterity alfo of his fervants fhall inherit it: and they that love his Name fhall dwell therein.

|| Pfalm 70.

Deus in adjutorium.

[ASTE thee, O God, to deliver me: make haste to help me,
O Lord.

HAS

2 Let them be ashamed and confounded, that seek after my foul: let them be turned backward and put to confufion, that with me evil.

3 Let them for their reward be foon brought to fhame: that cry over me, There, there.

4 But let all thofe that seek thee be joyful and glad in thee: and let all fuch as delight in thy falvation, fay alway, The Lord be praised.

5 As for me I am poor and in mifery: haste thee unto me, O God.

"David being obliged by his Son Abfalom to flee from Jerufalem, here implores the divine aid against is Enemies.

As for me I am poor and in mifery. This is the language of one, who, perhaps, a few Days before, was one of the happiest and most potent Princes of the

;

6 Thou art my helper, and my Redeemer: O Lord, make no long tarrying.

MORNING

|| Pfalm 71. In te, Domine.

IN

N thee, O Lord, have I put my truft, let me never be put to confufion: but rid me, and deliver me in thy righteousness; incline thine ear unto me, and fave me.

*

PRAYER.

2 Be thou my strong hold whereunto I may alway resort: thou haft promised to help me, for thou art my houfe of defence and my caftle.

3 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the ungodly: out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

4 For thou, O Lord God, art the thing that I long for: thou art my hope even from my youth.

5 Through thee have I been holden up ever fince I was borne thou art he that took me out of my mothers womb, my praise fhall be always of thee.

6 I am become as it were a monster unto many: but my fure trust is in thee.

O let my mouth be filled with thy praise: that I may fing of thy glory and honour all the day long.

7

8 Caft me not away in the time of age: forfake me not when my ftrength faileth me.

9 For mine enemies fpeak against me, and they that lay wait for my foul, take their counsel together,, faying: God hath forfaken him, perfecute him, and take him; for there is none to deliver him..

10 Go not far from me, O God: my God, hafte thee to help me. II Let them be confounded and perish, that are againft my foul:

Eat. So uncertain is human greatnefs! fo frail is our
dependence upon worldly enjoyments !-How. ftrongly
aught this to infpire thofe that are rich in this World
with Humility and Moderation!

This Pfalm feems to have a connection with the preceding, as it was probably wrote on the fame occas

fion in which, David befeeches God to deliver him, and to let him again experience the fame goodness, which he had felt the effects of from his Youth. He complains of the infults and cruelties of his Enemies ; and, in full affurance that God will protect him, is filled with an holy joy, and vows to praise him for ever.

let them be covered with fhame and difhonour, that feek to do me evil.

12 As for me, I will patiently abide alway: and will praife thee more and more.

13 My mouth fhall daily fpeak of thy righteousness and salvation: for I know no end thereof.

14 I will go forth in the ftrength of the Lord God: * and will make mention of thy righteousness only.

15 Thou, O God, haft taught me from my youth up until now: therefore will I tell of thy wondrous works.

16 Forfake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am grayheaded: until I have fhewed thy ftrength unto this generation, and thy power to all them that are yet for to come.

17 Thy righteoufnefs, O God, is very high: and great things are they that thou haft done; O God, who is like unto thee?

18 O what great troubles and adverfities haft thou fhewed me! and yet didst thou turn and refresh me: yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again,

19 Thou haft brought me to great honour: and comforted me on every fide.

20 Therefore will I praise thee and thy faithfulness, O God, playing upon an inftrument of mufick: unto thee will I fing upon the harp, O thou holy One of Ifrael.

21 My lips will be fain when I fing unto thee: and fo will my foul whom thou haft delivered.

22 My tongue alfo fhall talk of thy righteoufnefs all the day long: for they are confounded, and brought unto shame, that seek to do me evil.

Pfalm 72. Deus, judicium.

G1

IVE the king thy judgments, O God: and thy righteousness unto the kings fon.

• And will make mention of thy Righteousness only. The word highteousness here as well as in many other

places of Scripture (when it relates to Ged) fignifies, Javing Mercy, or preserving goodness: And this paffage

2 Then fhall he judge thy people according unto right: and defend the poor.

3 The mountains alfo fhall bring peace: and the little hills righteoufnefs unto the people.

4 He fhall keep the fimple folk by their right: defend the children of the poor, and punish the wrong docr.

5 They fhall fear thee as long as the fun and moon endureth: from one generation to another.

6 *He fhall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool: even as the drops that water the earth.

7 In his time fhall the righteous flourish: yea, and abundance peace, fo long as the moon endureth.

of

8 His dominion fhall be alfo from the one fea to the other: and from the flood unto the worlds end.

9 They that dwell in the wildernefs fhall kneel before him: his enemies fhall lick the duft.

10 The kings of Tharfis, and of the ifles fhall give presents: the kings of Arabia, and Saba shall bring gifts.

II All kings fhall fall down before him: all nations fhall do him fervice.

12 For he shall deliver the poor when he crieth: the needy also, and him that hath no helper.

13 He fhall be favourable to the fimple and needy: and shall preferve the fouls of the poor.

He fhall deliver their fouls from falfhood and wrong: and dear fhall their blood be in his fight.

him to govern his People: defcribing, at the fame time, the future glory and extent of Solomon's Kingdom, and the happiness his Subjects would enjoy under him. Yet, feveral of the antient Jewish Writers allow that this Pfalm relates, in a more exalted fenfe, to the Meffiah.

*He fhall come down like the Rain, &c. This may be applied in a temporal fenfe to Solomon's wife adminiftration of juftice, whereby his Kingdom and People fhould flourish and increafe. But it feems to be mot perfectly fulfilled in the influence which Chrift's Doe

15 He shall live, and unto him shall be given of the gold of Araprayer fhall be made ever unto him, and daily fhall he be

bia:

: praised.

16 There fhall be an heap of corn in the earth, high upon the hills: his fruit fhall fhake like Libanus, and fhall be green in the city like grass upon the earth.

17 His Name fhall endure for ever, his Name fhall remain under the fun among the pofterities: which fhall be bleffed through him, and all the heathen fhall praife him.

18 Bleffed be the Lord God, even the God of Ifrael: which only doeth wondrous things;

19 And bleffed be the Name of his Majefty for ever: and all the earth fhall be filled with his Majefty. Amen, Amen.

EVENING PRA Y E R.

Pfalm 73. Quam bonus Ifrael!

RULY God is loving unto Ifrael: even unto fuch as are of a clean heart.

TR

2 Nevertheless, my feet were almoft gone: my treadings had well-nigh flipt.

3 And why? I was grieved at the wicked: I do alfo fee the ungodly in fuch profperity.

4 For they are in no peril of death: but are lufty and strong. They come in no misfortune like other folk: neither are they plagued like other men.

6 And this is the cause that they are so holden with pride: and overwhelmed with cruelty.

7 Their eyes fwell with fatnefs: and they do even what they

luft.

8 They corrupt other, and speak of wicked blafphemy: their talking is against the most High.

trine hath upon all true Believers: by which they are rendered fruitful in every good Work, increafing with the increase of Ged, Col. i. 10. See alfo Ifaiah lv. 10, 11. This Pfalm teacheth us how we ought to judge of

the profperity of the Wicked, and the afflictions the Righteous. For that the felicity of the Wicked is, at beft, but fleeting, tranfitory and unsubstantial; whereas the Righteous enjoy comfort and peace, amidst