9 For they ftretch forth their mouth unto the heaven: and their tongue goeth through the world. 10 Therefore fall the people unto them: and thereout fuck they no fmall advantage, 11 Tufh, fay they, how fhould God perceive it: is there knowledge in the moft High? 12 Lo, thefe are the ungodly, thefe profper in the world, and thefe have riches in poffeffion: and I faid, Then have I cleanfed my heart in vain, and washed mine hands in innocency. 13 All the day long have I been punished: and chaftened every morning. 14 Yea, and I had almost said even as they: but lo, then I should have condemned the generation of thy children. 15 Then thought I to understand this: but it was too hard for me, 16 Until I went into the fanctuary of God: then understood I the end of thefe men; 17 Namely, how thou doft fet them in flippery places: and cafteft them down, and destroyeft them. 18 Oh how fuddenly do they confume: perish, and come to a fearful end! 19 Yea, even like as a dream when one awaketh fo fhalt thou make their image to vanish out of the city. 20 Thus my heart was grieved: and it went even through my reins. 21 So foolish was I, and ignorant: even as it were a beast before thee. J7 22 Nevertheless, I am alway by thee: for thou haft holden me by my right hand. 23 Thou fhalt guide me with thy counfel: and after that receive me with glory. their deepest distreffes, from the confidération that they cious God, who will make all things work together for good to them that love him. M 24 earth, that I defire in comparison of thee. 25 My flesh, and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. 26 For lo, they that forfake thee fhall perish: thou haft deftroyed all them that commit fornication against thee. 27 But it is good for me to hold me faft by God, to put my truft in the Lord God: and to fpeak of all thy works in the gates of the daughter of Sion. *Whom have I in heaven but thee: and there is none upon || Pfalm 74. Ut quid, Deus? O GOD, wherefore art thou abfent from us fo long: why is thy wrath fo hot against the sheep of thy pasture? 2 O think upon thy congregation whom thou hast purchased, and redeemed of old. 3 Think upon the tribe of thine inheritance: and mount Sion, wherein thou haft dwelt. ་་ 4 Lift up thy feet, that thou mayeft utterly deftroy every ene my: which hath done evil in thy fanctuary. 5 Thine adverfaries roar in the midst of thy congregations: and fet up their banners for tokens. 6 He that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees: was known to bring it to an excellent work. 7 But now they break down all the carved work thereof: with axes and hammers. 8 They have fet fire upon thy holy places: and have defiled the dwelling-place of thy Name, even unto the ground. 9 Yea, they faid in their hearts, Let us make havock of them altogether: thus have they burnt up all the houfes of God in the land. * Whom base I in Heaven but thee, Sc. "If a Man "were to chufe a Happiness for himself, (fays Dr. Tillotfon, on this paffage,) and were to ranfack Heaven and Earth for it; after all his fearch and enquiry he would at laft fix upon God, as the chief happiness "of Man, and the true and only reft and center of our "Soul." The destruction of the Temple feems to have been the occafion of this Pfalm in which the Jewish Nation defcribes the melancholy fituation to which it is redu ced in its captivity-implores the affiftance of the Almighty, and is comforted with the confideration of the deliverances he had formerly granted to that People, and the proofs of his power in the order of the 10 We fee not our tokens, there is not one prophet more: no, not one is there among us, that understandeth any more. 11 O God, how long fhall the adversary do this difhonour: how long fhall the enemy blafpheme thy Name, for ever? 12 Why withdraweft thou thy hand: why pluckest thou not thy right hand out of thy bofom to confume the enemy? 13 For God is my King of old: the help that is done upon earth, he doeth it himself. 14 Thou didst divide the fea through thy power: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. 15 * Thou fmoteft the heads of Leviathan in pieces: and gavest him to be meat for the people in the wilderness. 16 Thou broughteft out fountains, and waters out of the hard rocks: thou driedft up mighty waters. 17 The day is thine, and the night is thine: thou haft prepared the light and the fun. 18 Thou haft fet all the borders of the earth: thou haft made fummer and winter. 19 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy hath rebuked: and how the foolish people hath blasphemed thy Name. 20 O deliver not the foul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the enemies: and forget not the congregation of the poor for ever. 21 Look upon the covenant: for all the earth is full of darkness, and cruel habitations. 22 O let not the fimple go away afhamed: but let the poor and needy give praise unto thy Name. 23 Arife, O God, maintain thine own caufe: remember how the foolish man blafphemeth thee daily. World, and the common courfe of Nature. * Thou Smoteft the Heads of Leviathan in pieces, &c. By this is fgnified the deftruction of Pharaoh and his Hoft in the Red Sea; who being afterwards caft upon the fhore, the Ifraelites probably were enriched with their fpoils.-The remembrance of past Mercies encou rage us to hope for more. 24 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the prefumption of them that hate thee, increafeth ever more and more. PRAYER. § Pfalm 75. NTO thee, O God, do we give thanks. 2 Thy name alfo is fo nigh: and that do thy wondrous works declare. 3 When I receive the congregation: I fhall judge according unto right. 4 The earth is weak, and all the inhabiters thereof: I bear up the pillars of it. 5 I faid unto the fools, Deal not fo madly: and to the ungodly, Set not up your horn. 6 Set not up your horn on high: and speak not with a ftiff neck. 7 For promotion cometh neither from the eaft, nor from the weft: nor yet from the fouth: 8 And why? God is the Judge: he putteth down one and fetteth up another. *For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine UNT MORNING Confitebimur tibi. we give thanks: yea, unto thee do 9 is red: it is full mixt, and he poureth out of the fame. C 10 As for the dregs thereof: all the ungodly of the earth_shall drink them, and fuck them out. 11 But I will talk of the God of Jacob: and praise him for ever. 12 All the horns of the ungodly alfo will I break: and the horns of the righteous fhall be exalted. Pfalm 76. Notus in Judæa. IN Jewry is God known: his Name is great in Ifrael. 2 At Salem is his tabernacle: and his dwelling in Sion. The author of this Palin, who was probably David; praifes God, that after various troubles he had established him in his Kingdom; and he determines to govern it righteously, and to fupprefs Iniquity; he declares that God is the difpofer of all things, raifing fome and debafing others, and who, as Judge of the World, punishes the Wicked, and protects the Righ teous, *For in the band of the Lord there is a cup. c. The fente of this paffage is as if David had faid "Uniefs "ye ceafe to rebel against me, God will inflict the most grievous calamities upon you, which shall be worfe 66 3 There brake he the arrows of the bow: the fhield, the sword, and the battel. 4 Thou art of more honour and might: than the hills of the robbers. 5 The proud are robbed, they have flept their fleep: and all the men whofe hands were mighty, have found nothing. 6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob: both the chariot and horse are - fallen. 7 *Thou, even thou art to be feared: and who may stand in thy fight when thou art angry? 8 Thou didft caufe thy judgment to be heard from heaven: the earth trembled, and was still, 9 When God arofe to judgment; and to help all the meek upon earth. 10 The fiercenefs of man fhall turn to thy praife: and the fiercenefs of them fhalt thou refrain.. 11 Promise unto the Lord your God, and keep it, all ye that are round about him: bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. 12 He fhall refrain the fpirit of princes: and is wonderful among the kings of the earth. § Pfalmi 77. Voce mea ad Dominum. I WILL cry unto God with my voice: even unto God will 2 In the time of my trouble I fought the Lord: my fore ran, and ceafed not in the night-feafon; my foul refused comfort. his Providence difpofes the iffue of all we projecthis eleem is of more importance to us than that of all the World and his pleafure determines both all our eafe and all our fufferings-In a word he is able to detroy both Body and Soul in Hell. The Prophet being oppreffd with most grievous Afiction here exprelles the extreine deje tion and trou ble of his mind; and beautifully defcribes the conficts and struggles he underwent before he could make his anxiety give way to hope and humble confidence in the divine goodness! |