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2 For I have faid, Mercy fhall be fet up for ever: thy truth fhalt thou ftablish in the heavens.

3 I have made a covenant with my chofen: I have fworn untɔ David my fervant,

4 Thy feed will I stablish for ever: and fet up thy throne from one generation to another.

5 O Lord, the very heavens fhall praife thy wondrous works: and thy truth in the congregation of the faints.

6 For who is he among the clouds: that fhall be compared unto the Lord?

7 And what is he among the gods: that fhall be like unto

the Lord?

8 God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the faints: and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him. 9 O Lord God of hofts, who is like unto thee: thy truth, most mighty Lord, is on every fide.

10 Thou ruleft the raging of the fea: thou ftilleft the waves thereof when they arise.

11 Thou haft fubdued Egypt, and deftroyed it: thou haft fcattered thine enemies abroad, with thy mighty arm.

12 The heavens are thine, the earth alfo is thine: thou haft laid the foundation of the round word, and all that therein is.

13 Thou haft made the north and the fouth: Tabor and Hermon fhall rejoice in thy Name.

14 Thou hast a mighty arm: ftrong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.

15 Righteoufnefs and equity are the habitation of thy feat: mercy and truth fhall go before thy face.

16 Bleffed is the people, O Lord, that can rejoice in the: they fhall walk in the light of thy countenance.

here celebrates the majefty, power, and goodness of God which appeared in the deliverance of the Ifraelites from Egyptian Bondage; and the Covenant, that he made with David, to confirm the Throne to him and his

pofterity. He then reprefents the defolation to which Judah was reduced, and implores the divine compaffion.

17 Their delight fhall be daily in thy Name: and in thy righteousness fhall they make their boast.

18 For thou art the glory of their ftrength: and in thy loving kindness thou shalt lift up our horns.

19 For the Lord is our defence: the holy One of Ifrael is our King.

20 Thou fpakeft sometime in visions unto thy faints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, I have exalted one chofen out of the people.

21 I have found David my fervant: with my holy oil have I anointed him.

22 My hand shall hold him fast: and my arm shall strengthen him.

23 The

The enemy shall not be able to do him violence: the fon of wickedness fhall not hurt him.

24 I will smite down his foes before his face: and plague them that hate him.

25 My truth also and my mercy fhall be with him: and in my Name fhall his horn be exalted.

26 I will set his dominion also in the sea: and his right hand in the floods.

27 He shall call me, Thou art my Father: my God, and my ftrong falvation.

28 And I will make him my firft-born: higher than the kings of the earth.

29 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore: and my covenant fhall ftand faft with him.

30 His feed alfo will I make to endure for ever: and his throne as the days of heaven.

31 But if his children forfake my law: and walk not in my judgments;

32 If they break my ftatutes, and keep not my commandments: I will visit their offences with the rod, and their fin with fcourges.

33 Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him: nor fuffer my truth to fail.

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34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips: I have sworn once by my holiness, that I will not fail David.

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His feed fhall endure for ever: and his feat is like as the fun -before me.

36. He fhall ftand faft for evermore as the moon: and as the

faithful witness in heaven.

37 But thou haft abhorred, and forfaken thine Anointed: and art displeased at him.

38 Thou haft broken the covenant of thy fervant: and caft his crown to the ground.

39 Thou haft overthrown all his hedges: and broken down his ftrong holds.

40 All they that go by, spoil him: and fie is become a reproach to his neighbours.

41 Thou haft set up the right hand of his enemies:" and made all his adverfaries to rejoice.

42 Thou hast taken away the edge of his sword: and givest him, not victory in the battel.

43 Thou haft put out his glory: and caft his throne down to the ground.

44 The days of his youth haft thou fhortened: and covered him with dishonour.

45 Lord, how long wilt thou hide thyself, for ever: and fhall thy wrath burn like fire?

46 O remember how fhort my time is: wherefore haft thoi made all men for nought?

My Covenant will I not break, &c. This cove nant and the promises which God had made to David, and his pofterity evidently relate to Jefus Chritt, for

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in him alone they are fully verified, of whofe Kingaum there shall be no end. Luke i. 33.

47 What man is he that liveth, and fhall not fee death: and fhall he deliver his foul from the hand of hell?

48 Lord, where are thy old loving kindneffes: which thou fwareft unto David in thy truth?

49 Remember, Lord, the rebuke that thy fervants have: and how I do bear in my bofom the rebukes of many people ;

50 Wherewith thine enemies have blafphemed thee, and flandered the footsteps of thine Anointed: praised be the Lord for evermore, Amen, and Amen.

MORNING

PRA Y E R.

Pfalm 90. Domine, refugium.

:

ORD, thou hast been our refuge from one generation to

Lanother.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made: thou art God from everlasting, and world without end.

3 Thou turneft man to deftruction: again thou fayeft, Come again, ye children of men.

4 For a thousand years in thy fight are but as yesterday: feeing that is paft as a watch in the night.

5 As foon as thou scattereft them, they are even as a fleep: and fade away fuddenly like the grafs.'

6 In the morning it is green, and groweth up: but in the evening it is cut down, dried up, and withered.

7 For we confume away in thy difpleasure: and are afraid at thy wrathful indignation.

8 Thou haft fet our misdeeds before thee: and our fecret fins in the light of thy countenance.

9 For when thou art angry, all our days are gone: we bring our years to an end, as it were a tale that is told.

This Pfalm was compofed by Mofes, probably whilft the raelites were in the Wilderness, and at the time of fome public Mortality, when God was

executing his vengeance against them for their per verfenefs as threatned in the 14th Chap. of Numbers. In which he seriously reflects upon the many examples

P 8 A L M

10 The days of our age are threescore years and ten; and though men be fo ftrong that they come to fourfcore years: yet is their ftrength then but labour and sorrow; fo foon paffeth it away, and

we are gone.

But who regardeth the power of thy wrath: for even thereafter as a man feareth, fo is thy displeasure.

12 So teach us to number our days: that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

13 Turn thee again, O Lord, at the last: and be gracious unto thy fervants.

14 O fatisfy us with thy mercy, and that foon: so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.

15 Comfort us again, now after the time that thou hast plagued us: and for the years wherein we have fuffered adverfity.

16 Shew thy fervants thy work: and their children thy glory. 17 And the glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us: profper thou the work of our hands upon us, O profper thou our handy-work.

|| Pfalm 91. Qui habitat.

HOSO dwelleth under the defence of the most High:

WHO shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will fay unto the Lord, Thou art my hope, and my strong hold: my God, in him will I trust.

3 For he fhall deliver thee from the fnare of the hunter: and from the noisome peftilence.

4 He fhall defend thee under his wings, and thou shalt be fafe under his feathers: his faithfulness and truth fhall be thy fhield and buckler.

thon Lefore him of God's difpleasure against Sin, and by fervent Prayer endeavours to engage the divine mercy and protection towards the People for the future.

So teach us to number our Days, &c. He that feriously and frequently confiders how bort the time is which we have to pafs in this World, and how long that Eternity of happiness or mifery as which is to fucceed it, will be aloft neceffarily induced to apply

his Heart to Wisdom, i. e. to the practice of Religion and Holiness. What pity is it then that that which is our greatest concern, hould, by many, be least thought of!

This Pfalm can never be fufficiently admired for the peculiar elegance and fublimity both of its language and fentiment. The fabject of it is the fecurity victory, and reward of the Virtuous.

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