MORNING PRAYER.

Psalm ix. (q)

I 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 songs will I make of thy Name, O thou most Highest.

3 While mine enemies are driven back: they shall fall and perish at thy presence.

4 For thou hast maintained my right, and my cause: thou art set in the throne that judgest right.

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

6 O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end : even as the cities which thou hast destroyed; their memorial is perished with them.

Name will put their trust in thee : for thou, Lord, hast never failed them that seek thee.

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

12 For when he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them and forgetteth not the complaint of the poor.

13 Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider the trouble which I suffer of them that hate me: thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;

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

15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the same net which they hid privily is their foot taken.

16 The Lord is known to execute judgement: the ungodly is trapped in the work of his own

(q) A spirited song of triumph and thanksgiving, after success against some of the Heathen nations. David is supposed to have been the author, and if so, it might have been after the Ammonites and Syrians came out against him, and were overcome. See 2 Sam. x. This was about 1037 years before the birth of Christ.

(r) "A refuge," &c. In what classic writer can we find such comfortable and spirited assurances as in the scriptures? "Look at the generations of old, and

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

18 For the poor shall not alway be forgotten: the patient abiding of the meek shall not perish for

ever.

19 Up, Lord, and let not man have the upper hand : let

the heathen be judged in thy sight.

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

Psalm x. (s)

WHY standest thou so far off, O Lord: and hidest thy face in the needful time of trouble?

2 The ungodly for his own lust doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the crafty wiliness that they have imagined.

3 For the ungodly hath made boast of his own hearts desire : and speaketh good of the covetous, whom God abhorreth.

4 The ungodly is so proud, that he careth not for God : neither is God in all his thoughts.

5 His ways are alway (t) grievous: thy judgements are far above (u) out of his sight, and therefore defieth he all his enemies.

thievish corners of the streets: and privily in his lurking dens doth he murder the innocent; his eyes are set against the poor.

9 For he lieth waiting secretly; even as a lion lurketh he in his den: that he may ravish the poor.

10 He doth ravish the poor: when he getteth him into his

net.

11 He falleth down, and humbleth himself: that the congregation of the poor may fall into the hands of his captains.

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12 He hath said in his heart, Tush, God hath forgotten : "he hideth away his face, and " he will never see it."

13 Arise, O Lord God, and lift up thine hand: forget not the poor.

14 Wherefore should the wicked blaspheme(x) God: while he doth say in his heart, "Tush, "thou, God, carest not for " it."

15 Surely thou hast seen it : for thou beholdest ungodliness and wrong.

16 That thou mayest take the matter into thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; for thou art the helper (y) of the

friendless.

17 Break thou the power of the ungodly and malicious : take away his ungodliness, and thou shalt find none (z).

18 The Lord is King for ever and ever: and the heathen are perished out of the land.

19 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the poor: thou preparest their heart, and thine ear hearkeneth thereto;

20 To help the fatherless and poor unto their right : that the man of the earth (a) be no more exalted against them.

Psalm xi. (b)

In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye then to my soul, "That "she should flee as a bird unto "the hill?

2 (c) "For lo, the ungodly "bend their bow, and make ready

"the sword, and your wives shall be " widows, and your children fatherless." Exod. xxii. 22 to 24. Solomon says, "Rob not the poor, because he is poor, " neither oppress the afflicted; for the " Lord will plead their cause, and spoil "the soul of those that spoiled them." Prov. xxii. 22, 23.; and again, "enter not " into the fields of the fatherless, for their " redeemer is mighty." Prov. xxiii. 10. And Isaiah gives as a reason for God's entering into judgment with the antients of his people, and the princes thereof, that "the spoil of the poor is in their houses. "What mean ye that ye beat my people

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to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord of Hosts?" Is. iii. 14, 15. See also Ps. xii. 5, 6.xxxv. 10. cxl. 12.-cxlvi 6 to 9.

(z) "And thou shalt find none," i. e. till thou leave none remaining; take it away utterly, effectually.

(a) "The man of the earth," i. e. the oppressor, the man who careth not for God.

(b) A spirited Hymn of David's, disdaining to seek safety by flight, on ac

" their arrows within the quiver : " that they may privily shoot at "them which are true of heart.

3 "For the foundations will "be cast down : and what hath " the righteous done (d)?"

4 The Lord is in his holy temple: the Lord's seat is in heaven.

5 His eyes consider the poor: and his eye-lids try the children of men.

6 The Lord alloweth (e) therighteous: but the ungodly, and him that delighteth in wickedness, doth his soul abhor.

7 Upon the ungodly he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, storm and tempest: this shall be their portion to drink.

8 For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness: his countenance will behold the thing (f) that is just.

count of his confidence in God. It was perhaps written, when Saul first began to conceive ill-will against him. See I Sam. xviii. 9. 11. &c. This was about 1063 years before the Birth of Christ.

(c) These verses contain the arguments used to induce him to fly: and in the following verses he states his grounds for rejecting the advice.

(d) The Bible translation is, "If the " foundations be destroyed, what can "the righteous do?" and this seems preferable. The meaning probably is, If the foundations (i. e. of Justice, Government, &c.) are so disregarded that the ungodly bend their bow, &c. at them that are true of heart, what can the righteous do, but fly. In Ps. lxxxii. 5. where the conduct of the judges is arraigned, it is said, "all the foundations of the earth are " out of course," as if "the foundations" were a known expression for "law, justice," the basis of all government. (e) "Alloweth," i.e. favoureth, loveth,

in opposition to " abhor."

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(f) For thing," ," read "man;" God will watch and protect the upright man.

EVENING PRAYER.

Psalm xii. (g)

troubles sake of the needy: and because of the deep sighing of the poor;

6 "I will up,” saith the Lord : " and will help every one from " him that swelleth against him, " and will set him at rest."

7 The words of the Lord are pure (i) words: even as the silver, which from the earth is tried, and purified seven times in the fire.

8 Thou shalt keep them (k), O Lord: thou shalt preserve him (1) from this generation for

ever.

9 The ungodly walk on every side: when they are exalted, the children of men are put to rebuke (m).

(1) For "him" read " them."

(m) "Put to rebuke," i. e. probably, discouraged from turning to thy worship, from putting their trust in thee. It was very common with David to press upon God's consideration the influence the of his worshippers and the failure of the wicked was ikely to have upon the conduct of others. See Ps. vii. 7. and the note there.

Psalm xiii. (n) How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

2 How long shall I seek counsel in my soul, and be so vexed in my heart? how long shall mine enemies triumph over me?

3 Consider and hear me, O Lord my God : lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not in death; 4 Lest mine enemies say, “I " have prevailed against him” for if I be cast down, they that trouble me will rejoice at it.

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5 But my trust is in thy mercy : and my heart is joyful in thy salvation.

6 I will sing of the Lord, because he hath dealt so lovingly with me: yea, I will praise the Name of the Lord most Highest.

Psalm xiv. (0)

THE fool hath said in his heart : "There is no God (p)."

2 They are corrupt and become abominable in their doings : there is none that doeth good, no,

not one.

(n) An earnest prayer to God for deliverance, apparently commenced in great distress, with a triumphant conclusion, as if God had acceded to his prayer. It is supposed to have been written by David.

(0) Upon the blasphemy, wickedness, &c. of the persons against whom the Psalm is written, with an allusion to some discomfiture God had given them. The occasion of writing it is not known; some suppose it was written by David upon Absalom's rebellion; others that it was written during the Jews captivity in Babylon. It is nearly verbatim the saine as the Psalm liii. except that the 53d omits the 5th, 6th, and 7th verses, and they are probably an addition transcribed from Rom. iii. 13, &c. where the 4th verse is cited, for they are not in the

3 The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men: to see if there were any that would understand (q), and seek after God.

4 But they are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become abominable : there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

5 Their throat is an open sepulchre (r); with their tongues have they deceived: the poison of asps is under their lips.

6 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : their feet are swift to shed blood.

7 Destruction and unhappiness is in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.

8 Have they no knowledge, that they are all such workers of mischief: eating up my people as it were bread, and call not upon the Lord ?

9 There were they brought in great fear, even where no fear (s) was: for God (t) is in the generation of the righteous.