doing; maintain our souls in faith and patience, in meekness and content; and thus enjoy Thy favour, and glorify Thy name; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

DAY 8.]

PSALM XXXVIII.

MORNING PRAYER.

Penitential. A Psalm of David, written, probably, to bring his sins to remembrance, in consequence of his offence in the matter of Uriah it is deeply penitential.

(I. Prayer.)

1 O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy wrath : Neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure.

(II. Painful state of the Penitent.)

2 For Thine arrows stick fast in me,
And Thy hand presseth me sore.
3 There is no soundness in my flesh,
because of Thine anger;

Neither is there any rest in my bones
because of my sin.

4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head:
As a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
5 My wounds stink and are corrupt

Because of my foolishness.

6 I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.

7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: And there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am feeble and sore broken:

I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

9 Lord, all my desire is before Thee;

And my groaning is not hid from Thee. 10 My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: As for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from

me.

(III. Complaint about friends and foes.)

11 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my

sore;

And my kinsmen stand afar off.

12 They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things,

And imagine deceit all the day long.

(IV. Patience and resignation.)

13 But I, as a deaf man, heard not;

And I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.

14 Thus I was as a man that heareth not,

And in whose mouth are no reproofs.

15 For in Thee, O Lord, do I hope: Thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.

(V. Prayer for divine help.)

16 For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me:

When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves

against me.

17 For I am ready to halt,

And

my sorrow is continually before me.

18 For I will declare mine iniquity;

And I will be sorry for my sin.

19 But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong:

And they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. 20 They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries;

Because I follow the thing that good is. 21 Forsake me not, O Lord:

O my God, be not far from me. 22 Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.

REFLECTIONS.

1. In all our sufferings of body and mind, we should call upon God in prayer, and implore Him to deal with us according to his tender mercies, and not according to our deservings.

2. The true penitent acknowledges the hand of an offended God in all his sufferings. He mourns and is troubled on account of his iniquities. His anguish of spirit may affect his bodily health: or the diseases of the body may represent the sense which he has of his spiritual condition. He is contrite in heart; he is sorrowful and disquieted; and he unfolds his desires to God with the greatest earnestness. quainted with a repentance of this sort?

Are we ac

3, 4. The desertion of friends, and the malice of enemies, may add to the bitterness of our trials. Such was the experience of our blessed Lord Himself. What need of patience in such seasons! What need of remembering our great Exemplar ! Our hope

must be placed in God; and our persuasion must be, that He will hear us: this is our support.

5. In seasons of sanctified affliction we learn our weakness and our sins; and we unfold both before our God, and implore His pardoning mercy and sanctifying and sustaining grace. We pray that God may be nigh to us, and help and save us. We are thus enabled to glorify Him, and to "put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."

PRAYER.

O blessed God, work in our hearts, we beseech Thee, the good work of a true repentance. Make us sensible of our sinfulness; and may we humble ourselves before Thee in godly sorrow and serious confession. Enable us to hope in Thy mercy as the God of our salvation; and grant that we may obtain the blessings of pardon, health, and strength; of joy and peace; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

PSALM XXXIX.

Instructive. Vanity of human life. A Psalm of David. The argument is the same as that of Ps. xxxvii.; but patience and resignation are here inculcated from a view of the brevity of human life.

(I. Resolve to be watchful and silent.)

1 I said, "I will take heed to my ways,
"That I sin not with my tongue :
"I will keep my mouth with a bridle,
"While the wicked is before me."

2 I was dumb with silence,

I held my peace, even from good; my sorrow was stirred.

And

3 My heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned:
Then spake I with my tongue.

(II. Shortness and vanity of human life.) 4 Lord, make me to know mine end,

And the measure of my days, what it is:
That I may know how frail I am.

5 Behold, Thou hast made my days as a handbreadth; And mine age is as nothing before Thee:

Verily every man at his best state is altogether
vanity.

6 Surely every man walketh in a vain show:
Surely they are disquieted in vain :
He heapeth up riches,

And knoweth not who shall gather them.

(III. Prayer for pardon and relief.)

7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in Thee.

8 Deliver me from all my transgressions:
Make me not the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth;
Because Thou didst it.

10 Remove away Thy stroke from me:
I am consumed by the blow of Thy hand.

(IV. Man a fading creature.)

11 When Thou with rebukes dost correct man for

iniquity,