And prosperity within thy palaces.

8 For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee.

9 Because of the house of the Lord our God

I will seek thy good.

REFLECTIONS.

1. The public ordinances of religion are inestimable blessings. The proper resolve is, always to attend them and the right feeling when we attend them is, joy and gladness.

2. Happy is the nation, happy is the Church, in which we see unity and concord. All division and confusion are the fruits of sin, and the springs of misery. When we worship, we should thank God for all blessings, spiritual and temporal; for the blessings of the Church, and for those of civil government.

3. Thus we all ought to pray; to pray for the prosperity of our land, that peace and happiness may abound in it. Our country should be dear to us, as the land of our brethren and companions, and especially as the land of true religion.

PRAYER.

Give us, O Lord, a due sense of all our blessings, religious and civil, in this favoured land: and be Thou merciful unto us, and grant that faith and love, unity and concord, may abound and prevail among us, with all the fruits of righteousness, to Thy honour and glory, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

PSALM CXXIII.

Prayer, as Psalm xliv. David might have written this Psalm during the rebellion of Absalom: but it is probably the complaint of the captives in Babylon.

(I. Confidence in God.)

1 Unto Thee lift I up mine eyes,

O Thou that dwellest in the heavens.

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants

look unto the hand of their masters,

And as the eyes of a maiden

unto the hand of her mistress;

So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God,

Until that He have mercy upon us.

(II. Prayer.)

3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: For we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

4 Our soul is exceedingly filled

With the scorning of those that are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud.

REFLECTIONS.

1. Here we see faith and patience; faith looking up to God; and patience meekly waiting for the divine mercy. This is at all times, and especially in times of trouble, the frame of mind that becomes us.

2. The proud may treat us with contempt; and this we may keenly feel: but, instead of railing at them, we should implore the divine mercy and favour; that we may be comforted under, and delivered from, all our troubles.

B B

PRAYER.

To Thee, O Lord, may we always look up in faith, and on Thee may we wait with patience. Whatever be the perverseness of man, be Thou merciful to us, and succour and comfort us, that we may rejoice in Thee, through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

PSALM CXXIV.

Thanksgiving, as Psalm xlvi. A song of degrees of David. (I. Thanksgiving for deliverance.)

1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, Now may Israel say;

2 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, When men rose up against us :

3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, When their wrath was kindled against us: 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us,

The stream had gone over our soul:

5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. 6 Blessed be the Lord,

Who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird

out of the snare of the fowlers:

The snare is broken, and we are escaped. 8 Our help is in the Name of the Lord,

Who made heaven and earth.

REFLECTIONS.

If we look back upon the history of the Church; if we recall to mind our own history; with this Psalm

before us, we shall have three subjects for our consideration: the wrath of enemies and the waves of trouble; the goodness of God; and the thanks and praise that we owe to Him, who has been, is, and always will be, the helper and deliverer of those who trust in Him.

PRAYER.

Merciful and gracious God, may we, and Thy whole Church, always bless and magnify Thy goodness. Deliver us from all our enemies; and in all our dangers and troubles be Thou our almighty defender and deliverer, to the glory of Thy Name, for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.

PSALM CXXV.

Instructive, as Psalm i.

(I. Safety of those who trust in God.)

1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, Which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. 2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, So the Lord is round about His people From henceforth even for ever.

(II. Prayer.)

3 For the rod of the wicked

Shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous;
Lest the righteous put forth

their hands unto iniquity.

4 Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good, And to them that are upright in their hearts.

5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways,

The Lord shall lead them forth

with the workers of iniquity: But peace shall be upon Israel.

REFLECTIONS.

1. The image by which the safety of the good, through the divine protection, is here represented, is plain to every reader. The lesson which we are here taught is, that if we trust in God, and call upon Him, we shall be secure amidst the assaults of our enemies.

2. We have here encouragement: God may try His people by the power and malice of the wicked for a season; but the wicked shall not always be pre-eminent, lest the good, wearied and exhausted by oppression and cruelty, should plunge into sin. We have here also a prayer for the good, and a declaration of the different ends of the wicked and the righteous. If we be truly good and upright in heart, then the Lord will do us good; He will preserve and bless us, and we shall enjoy peace. But the workers of iniquity, however they may rule for a time, will be visited with punishment according to their evil doings.

PRAYER.

Grant, O Lord, that we may be always safe in Thy protection. Whatever be the power of the wicked, keep us from all sin, do us good, and grant us the peace and happiness of Thine Israel; for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen.