4 For thou art my ftrong rock, and my caftle: be thou alfo my guide, and lead me for thy Names fake.

5 Draw me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my ftrength.

6 Into thy hands I commend my fpirit: for thou haft redeemd me, O Lord, thou God of truth.

7 I have hated them that hold of superstitious vanities: and my

truft hath been in the Lord.

8 I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou haft confidered my trouble, and haft known my foul in adverfities.

9 Thou haft not fhut me up into the hand of the enemy: but haft fet my feet in a large room.

10 Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble: and mine eye is consumed for very heavinefs; yea, my foul and my body. II For my life is waxen old with heavinefs: and my years with mourning.

12 My strength faileth me, because of mine iniquity: and my

bones are confumed.

13 I became a reproof among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours: and they of mine acquaintance were afraid of me, and they that did see me without, conveyed themselves from me.

14 I am clean forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am become like a broken veffel.

15 For I have heard the blafphemy of the multitude: and fear is on every fide, while they confpire together against me, and take their counsel to take away my life.

16 But my hope hath been in thee, O Lord: I have faid, Thou art my God.

17 My time is in thy hand, deliver me from the hand of mine enemies: and from then that perfecute me.

18 Shew thy fervant the light of thy countenance: and save me for thy mercies fake.

David appears to have compofed this falm upon his flight from Saul; and it seems to be well adapted to the ufe of all goed People who are in extreme danger

and diftrefs; as it affords a lively defcription of afflic tion, anxiety, earnest defire and humble confidence in God.

19 Let me not be confounded, O Lord, for I have called upon thee: let the ungodly be put to confufion, and be put to filence in the grave.

20 Let the lying lips be put to filence: which cruelly, disdainfully, and defpitefully fpeak against the righteous.

21 O how plentiful is thy goodness which thou haft laid up for them that fear thee: and that thou haft prepared for them that put their trust in thee, even before the fons of men!

22 Thou fhalt hide them privily by thine own presence from the provoking of all men: thou fhalt keep them fecretly in thy tabernacle from the ftrife of tongues.

23 Thanks be to the Lord: for he hath fhewed me marvellous great kindness in a strong city.

24 And when I made hafte, I faid: I am caft out of the fight of thine eyes.

25 Nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my prayer: when I cried unto thee.

26 ‡ O love the Lord, all ye his faints: for the Lord preserveth them that are faithful, and plenteously rewardeth the proud doer. 27 Be ftrong, and he shall establish your heart: all ye that put your trust in the Lord.

EVENING

PRAYER.
Pfalm 32. Beati, quorum.

Leffed is he, whofe unrighteousness is forgiven: and whose
fin is covered.

$BL

2 Bleffed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no fin: and in whose spirit there is no guile.

O love the Lord, all ye bis Saints, &c. If David found reafon for fuch an affectionate exclamation on account of fome temporal deliverance: then how much ought it to be the fentiment of every Chriftian who enjoys the light of the bleffed Gofpel; in which God hath declared that he will reward every Man according to his works, in the Day when he shall judge the fecrets of Men by Chrift Jefus.

This is the fecond in the number of the penitential

Pfalms; and teaches us that Man's true happines confifts in the pardon of his Sins, and in the party of his Confcience which is to be obtained by fincerely confelling, and forfaking our Iniquities: and concludes with an earnest Exhortation to Repentance, and Ho linefs of Life.

Bleed is he whofe Unrighteoufiefs, &c. This paf age is quoted by St. Paul in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans with a design to fhew that ro

3 For while I held my tongue: my bones confumed away through my daily complaining.

4 For thy hand is heavy upon me day and night: and my moifture is like the drought in fummer.

5 I will acknowledge my fin unto thee: and mine unrighteousnefs have I not hid.

6 I faid, I will confefs my fins unto the Lord: and fo thou forgaveft the wickednefs of my fin.

7 For this fhall every one that is godly make his prayer unto thee, in a time when thou mayeft be found: but in the great water-floods they fhall not come nigh him.

8 Thou art a place to hide me in, thou fhalt preferve me from trouble: thou shalt compass me about with fongs of deliverance. 9 I will inform thee, and teach thee in the way wherein thou fhalt go: and I will guide thee with mine eye.

10 Be ye not like to horse and mule, which have no understanding: whofe mouths must be held with bit and bridle, left they fall upon thee.

11 Great plagues remain for the ungodly: but whofo puttetly his truft in the Lord, mercy embraceth him on every side.

12 Be glad, O ye righteous, and rejoice in the Lord: and be joyful all ye that are true of heart.

§ Pfalm 33, Exultate, jufti.

R

Ejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for it becometh well the juft to be thankful.

2 Praise the Lord with harp: fing praifes unto him with the lute, and inftrument of ten ftrings..

3 Sing unto the Lord a new fong: fing praises luftily unto him with a good courage.

Man had a claim to the bleffings and privileges of the Gofpel on account of his obferving the rites and ceremonies of the Law of Mofes, neither because he was a Jew or a Gentile: but that these were the gift alone of God's unmerited favour to all of every Nation, who hould believe and embrace the Gospel.

§ David here exhorts the Righteous to praife God.

with the utmoft fervency and fincerity, from the confideration or goodness, righteoufnefs, and power, whichappear in the works of his Creation and Providence.. He reprefents God alfo as feeing all things, examining the actions of all Mer, and difplaying his mercy to wards them that fear and truft in him.

For the word of the Lord is true: and all his works are faith

4 ful.

5 He loveth righteoufnefs and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

6. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the hofts of them by the breath of his mouth.

7 He gathereth the waters of the fea together as it were upon an heap and layeth up the deep as in a treasure-house.

8 Let all the earth fear the Lord: ftand in awe of him all ye that dwell in the world;

9 For he fpake, and it was done : he commanded, and it stood faft.

10 The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: and maketh the devices of the people to be of none effect, and cafteth out the counfels of princes.

II The counfel of the Lord fhall endure for ever: and the thoughts of his heart from generation to generation.

12 Bleffed are the people whose God is the Lord Jehovah: and bleffed are the folk that he hath chofen to him to be his inheritance.

13 The Lord looked down from heaven, and beheld all the children of men: from the habitation of his dwelling he confidereth all them that dwell on the earth.

14 He fashioneth all the hearts of them: and understandeth all their works.

15 There is no king that can be faved by the multitude of an hoft: neither is any mighty man delivered by much strength.

16 A horse is counted but a vain thing to fave a man: neither fhall he deliver any man by his great ftrength.

17 *Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him: and upon them that put their truft in his mercy.

Behold the Eye of the Lord is upon them, &c. From hence it may be obferv'd, that the true way to make God our Friend is to have fuch a reverential fear of

him as will engage us to obey his commands; and to repofe fuch a pious truft in him, as will make us refign'd to his will under all his difpenfations.

18 To deliver their foul from death: and to feed them in the time of dearth.

19 Our foul hath patiently tarried for the Lord: for he is our help, and our shield.

20 For our heart shall rejoice in him: because we have hoped in his holy Name.

21 Let thy merciful kindness, O Lord, be upon us: like as we do put our trust in thee.

§ Pfalm 34. Benedicam Domino.

I

Will alway give thanks unto the Lord: his praise shall ever be in my mouth.

2 My foul fhall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear there of, and be glad.

3 O praise the Lord with me: and let us magnify his Name together.

4 I fought the Lord, and he heard me: yea, he delivered me out of all my fear.

5 They had an eye unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not afhamed.

6 Lo, the poor crieth, and the Lord heareth him: yea, and faveth him out of all his troubles.

7 The Angel of the Lord tarrieth round about them that fear him: and delivereth them.

8 O taste, and fee, how gracious the Lord is: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

9 O fear the Lord, ye that are his faints: for they that fear him, lack nothing.

10 The lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they who feek the Lord, fhall want no manner of thing that is good.

II Come, ye children, and hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord.