we love we shall be continually be meditating; and our meditation will end in action; we shall "lift up the hands which hang down," Heb. xii. 12. that they may work the works of God, while it is day; because the night cometh, when no man can work," John ix. 4.

"49. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope."

God promiseth salvation, before he giveth it, to excite our desire of it, to exercise our faith, to prove our sincerity, to perfect our patience. For these purposes, he seemeth to have sometimes forgotten his word, and to have deserted those whom he had engaged to succour and relieve; in which case he would have us, as it were, to remind him of his promise, and solicit his performance of it. The Psalmist here instructeth us to prefer our petition upon these grounds; first, that God cannot prove false to his own word;"Remember the word unto thy servant;" secondly, that he will never disappoint an expectation which himself hath raised;" thou hast caused me to hope."

me."

upon which 50. This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened

While performance is delayed, we "rejoice in hope," Rom. xii. 12.; and the promise is our "comfort in affliction;" a comfort, divine, strong, lasting; a comfort that will not, like others, fail us when we most want it, in the day of sickness, and at the hour of death; but will always keep pace with our necessities, increasing in proportion as the pleasures of the world and the flesh decrease in us, and then becoming complete, when they are no more. So powerful is the word of God to revive us, when dead, either in sins or in sorrow; "thy word hath quickened me."

"51. The proud hath had me greatly in derision; yet have I not declined from thy law."

A true servant of God believeth the promises, and practiseth the precepts of his blessed Master. The haughty infidel will scoff at him for one part of his conduct; the insolent worldling will ridicule him for the other. But neither will induce him to disbelieve, or disobey. Let us be certain that we have the Divine "law" for our warrant in what we believe, and in what we do; and then, let not the "derision of the proud" prevail upon us to "decline from it."

"52. I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself."

The great remedy against that temptation which ariseth from the reproaches of our scornful and insulting adversaries, is here prescribed, namely, a "remembrance of God's judgments of old," whether we understand the judgments of his mouth, or those of his hand; his righteous decrees for the punishment of bad, and reward of good men, or the many and wonderful instances of his executing those decrees, from the beginning of the world, recorded in the sacred history. These are sources of real and endless comfort upon such occasions; because nothing can happen to us, which hath not happened to God's people of old; no case, of which there is not a precedent in Scripture, where we may read the process of similar trials, their issue, and the final sentence of the Judge, who is still the same, and whose rule of procedure and determination is invariable.

53. Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that for sake thy law."

The consequence of a due meditation on God's judgments, will be a compassion for the "wicked," on whom those judgments, in the end, fall; so that instead of feeling for ourselves, on account of the injuries they do us, we shall feel for them, who are thereby drawing down vengeance and de

struction on their own heads. "Daughters of Jerusalem," said the blessed Jesus, when led to be crucified, "weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children," Luke xxiii. 28.

"54. Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." The soul, which descended from above, and longs to return thither again, is a stranger and a sojourner upon earth. The body is "the house of her pilgrimage," in which she is confined, during her state of exile. And, how harsh soever the usage may be which she receiveth from the world, she ever findeth joy and comfort, as once did the fugitive and wandering son of Jesse, in making God's statutes the subjects of her psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, until death shall restore her to liberty. Then, ascending to heaven from whence she came, and like the early lark, singing as she ascends, she will seek her native abode; there to celebrate her redemption from the earth, and to chant forth the praises of Him who hath redeemed her, in a new song, before the throne.

"55. I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law."

By the name of God, his nature, so much at least of it as we are concerned to know, and are capable of receiving, is revealed to us. Such a love had the Psalmist for it on that account, that as in the day God's statutes were his songs, so in the night God's name was the subject of his meditation. With his tongue he praised him in the day, with his heart he desired him in the night-watches. At night, the dissipation, noise and hurry of business, cease; external silence produceth internal calmness and composure, inviting us to celestial contemplation; the world is dead to us, and we are dead to the world; the soul is then most alive, and seemeth to experience a foretaste of that time, when the body and its concerns shall no more molest and impede her. The good effects of hours thus secretly passed in holy exercises, will appear openly in our lives and conversations: "I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and," as the fruit of it, "have kept thy law."

56. This I had, because I kept thy precepts."

As one sin is often the consequence and the punishment of another, so one act of obedience is the issue and the reward of another; and, to him who hath well used the grace already received, shall more be given. "This I had;" this ability to perform my duty, and to delight in the performance of it day and night, was vouchsafed unto me, "because I kept thy precepts," because I was not heretofore disobedient, but employed the strength with which thou, O Lord, hast endued me, not in doing mine own will, but thine.

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CHETH. PART VIII.

57. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words."

Happy the man who can sincerely say, "Thou art my portion, O LORD;" I have considered, and made my choice; from henceforth, I renounce all things for the love of thee; thou art sufficient for me; thee only I desire to enjoy, and therefore, thee only I desire to please; "I have said that I would keep thy words."

"58. I entreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me, according to thy word."

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He who hath chosen God for his portion, will earnestly seek his favour, and the light of his countenance; he who hath promised and vowed to keep the words" of Gcd, hath need to seek that favour and that light, that he may have grace and power to fulfil his engagements. Mercy is the sole fountain of every good gift for which we ask, and God's promise the only ground upon which we ask it; "Be merciful unto me, according to thy word."

59. I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies." The Psalmist did not content himself with barely praying for strength and grace, but his faith, relying on the word of promise, put itself in motion. He considered his "ways," his course of thinking, speaking, and acting; how far he had proceeded in it, and whither it led him; and this consideration produced a conversion of the whole man, of the heart and its affections, from the creature to the Creator, as he hath revealed himself in the Scriptures of truth; "I turned my feet unto thy testimonies."

"60. I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments."

A true penitent suffereth no time to be lost between his good resolutions and the performance of them. "Draw me," saith the church, "and we will RUN after thee," Cant. i. 4. Andrew, Peter, and others, stayed not for a second call from Christ, but followed him immediately upon the first. By deferring our return to duty, we lose many comfortable fruits, which it would have produced both in ourselves and others, while the difficulties of ever returning, and the danger of never returning, are daily and hourly increasing.

"61. The bands, or, troops of the ungodly have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law."

To be robbed, or plundered of his possessions in this world, was by no means a case peculiar to David. The primitive Christians were continually so treated; and our Lord gives all his disciples warning to stand prepared for such events, ready in disposition, in heart and mind, to quit all, as they who first followed him literally did. The Apostle tells us of some, who not only bore patiently, but even "took joyfully, the spoiling of their goods:" the reason he assigns for so extraordinary a behaviour, deserves to be noted and remembered; "knowing that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance," Heb. x. 34. They who part with earth to gain heaven, and exchange the world for its Maker, certainly lose nothing by the bargain. Nay, there will come an hour, when, for that foretaste of glory which a good conscience affordeth to its happy possessor, the dearest lover of mammon would joyfully give up all the gold of Peru, and all the diamonds of Indostan.

"62. At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments."

So far were temporal losses from causing the Psalmist to forsake God, that he sought him the more earnestly and fervently on that account, rising at "midnight to give thanks" for all his "righteous judgments" and dispensations towards his servants. Thus Paul and Silas, not only empoverished, but imprisoned for the testimony of Jesus, yet in that situation, with their feet fast in the stocks, "sang praises at midnight," thereby turning their night into day, and their prison into a paradise; when, lo, their hallelujahs ascended to heaven, and God arose to judgment; the earth trembled, the doors were opened, their chains fell off, the gaoler and his family were converted, and the apostles set at liberty. And although there be no obligation upon men to "rise at midnight," in order to give thanks, yet if they who awake, at that, or any other time, would accustom their hearts, at least, to so divine an exercise, they would find it always productive of the most comfortable effects.

"63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts."

As no sufferings should make us neglect our intercourse with God, so neither should they tempt us to forsake the communion of saints, or fellowship of them who "fear God, and work righteousness." These are knit together in love, as members of the same mystical body, insomuch that "if one member suffer, or be honoured, all the members should suffer, or be honoured with it;" these we should own at all times, in prosperity, and in adversity; with these should our acquaintance and conversation be, for the mutual improvement and consolation of them and of ourselves. Of such

was David a "companion," and such the Redeemer himself "is not ashamed to call brethren," Heb. ii. 11.

64. The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes." Heaven and earth, and all that are therein, declare, from day to day, the "mercy" of their Creator and Preserver, which is "over all his works." And his goodness, thus displayed through the outward and visible world, forbids us to doubt of his loving-kindness towards those immortal spirits, which in tenements of mortal clay, make, for awhile, their abode here below; during which short period, they beseech him earnestly to grant them such a portion of that saving knowledge, which is his gift, as may secure to them, when they shall depart hence, a place in a happier country, and a more enduring city. "Teach me thy statutes!"

TETH. PART IX.

"65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according to thy word."

As the sense of our wants should prepare the mind for prayer, so gratitude for blessings received should tune the heart to praise. În preferring our petitions, self-love may sometimes have a share; but thankfulness is the offspring of an ingenuous spirit, and the love of God. Let a man carefully recount the Divine mercies shown to him from his birth, considering withal how unworthy he hath been of the least of those mercies, as also how far preferable his state is to that of many others; and he will find reason "in all things to give thanks," to acknowledge, with David, the goodness and truth of Jehovah, and to say, "Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according to thy word."

"66. Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments."

From thanksgiving, the Psalmist returneth again to prayer, as, while we continue in this world, we must all do. The gift, for which he now prayeth, is that of "a good judgment with knowledge;" as the former must enable us to make a proper use of the latter. The word, yo, which is here translated "judgment," signifies bodily taste, and that faculty in the mind which answers to it, the faculty of discerning, distinguishing, and judging rightly of things moral and spiritual, as the palate doth of meats, their different flavours, and qualities. Without this taste, or discretion, we must mistake falsehood for truth in our studies, and wrong for right in our practice; superstition and enthusiasm may pass with us for religion, or else licentiousness may intrude itself upon us, under the name and notion of liberty; in a word, our learning and knowledge prove useless, if not prejudicial to us. A sound mind, therefore, should, above all things, be desired of God in our prayers; and those prayers will be heard, when we can sincerely profess a readiness to be directed by God's laws, through faith in their author, his promises and threatenings; on which ground David urgeth his request; "for I have believed thy commandments."

"67. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I have kept thy word."

We collect from this verse, that prosperity is too often the parent of sin; that adversity is, first, its punishment, then its remedy; and that every considerate man, who hath been afflicted, will thankfully acknowledge as much. "When afflictions fail to have their due effect, the case is desperate. They are the last remedy which indulgent Providence uses; and if they fail, we must languish and die in misery and contempt. Vain men! How seldom do we know what to wish, or pray for! When we pray against misfortunes, and when we fear them most, we want them most. The shortest and the best prayer which we can address to Him who knows our wants, and our ignorance in asking, is this-Thy will be done." Lord Bolingbroke's Reflections on Exile, p. 276.

68. Thou art good, and doest good: teach me thy statutes."

In other words, as bishop Patrick hath well connected and paraphrased it, "Thou art in thine own nature kind and good; and nothing else can proceed from thee, who designest our good, even when thou afflictest us; take what methods thou pleasest with me, only teach me effectually to do as thou wouldest have me."

69. The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart."

Every disciple of Christ, who, like his Master, goeth contrary to the ways of the world, and condemneth them, must expect to be, like that Master, slandered and calumniated by the world. To such slanders and calumnies, a good life is the best answer. When a friend once told Plato what scandalous stories his enemies had propagated concerning him, "I will live so," replied that great philosopher, "that nobody shall believe them."

70. Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law."

"The fatness of the heart" implieth, in this place, two things in those of whom it is affirmed; luxury, and its consequence, insensibility to those spiritual and divine truths, which are not only the study, but the "delight" of temperate and holy persons, who gladly fly from large companies, full tables, costly meats, and rich wines, to enjoy in private the more exalted pleasures of abstinence, meditation, and prayer.

71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes."

God's statutes are best learned in the school of affliction, because by afflic tion the great impediments to our learning them are removed; pride is subdued, and concupiscence is extinguished. "He that hath suffered in the flesh," saith an apostle, "hath ceased from sin;" 1 Pet. iv. 1. and in an immunity from sin consisteth one of the greatest felicities of heaven, which thus descends into the afflicted soul, so as to render even the state of sickness itself, in some sort, desirable. Strange as this proposition may appear, the reader will find its truth demonstrated by the inimitable bishop Jeremy Taylor in that truly golden tract, "The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying," chap. iii. sect. 6. on "the Advantages of Sickness."

72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver."

Affliction taketh from us the inclination to offend, and it giveth us, in return, a knowledge of that law which is better," and which, when we are thoroughly acquainted with it, we shall esteem to be better than thousands of gold and silver;" better in its nature, for it is from heaven, they are from the earth; better in its use, for it bringeth salvation to our souls, whereas they can only procure sustenance for the body; better in point of duration, for the benefits of one are certain and eternal, the advantages of the other temporal and uncertain. Blessed are they who seek in the Scriptures the true riches; who traffic for the spiritual gains of celestial wisdom; for surely "the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold," Prov. iii. 14.

TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.-EVENING PRAYER.

JOB. PART X.

"73. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments."

The formation of man was the last and the noblest work of God, and it is a standing miracle of divine wisdom and power. The consideration, that God made us, is here urged as an argument why he should not forsake and reject us, since every artist hath a value for his own work, proportioned to its excellence. It is, at the same time, acknowledgment of the service