The second Sunday after Eafter.

Ps A l M LXIII.

This psalm contains the holy breathings of the prophet

after God and his ordinances. He thirsts for the means of communion with God, remembering what he had formerly found in them, and especially being now deprived of them, he longs the more. May this appetite be ever keen in our souls. May we hunger and thirst night and day after growing fel. lowship with God. If ever we had any tast of its sweetness, we shall then have a key to the psalm, Our experience will open it to us. And may we find the desires here expressed in our own breasts. May we feel what the prophet did when he spake the words, and may we use them to day to quicken the same desires in all our hearts.

1.
GOD, my God, I early seek

to come to thee in haft, My soul and body both do long and thirst of thee to tatt:

II.
And in this barren wilderness

where waters there are none,
My flesh is parche for thought of thee,
for thee I wish alone :

. III. That I thy pow'r may now behold, .

and brightness of thy face, As I have seen thee heretofore within thy holy place. : . ,

M . IV. Because

ALN

IV.
Because thy mercies far furmount

this life and wretched days,
My lips therefore shall give to thee
thine honor and thy praise.
Psalm LXIII.

1. I ORD, while I live I will not fail led to worship thee alway, And in thy name I will lift up my hands when I do pray.

: II. Ev'n as with marrow and with fat

my mouth shall filled be, Then shall my mouth with joyful lips sing praises unto thee.

.. . III. When I do thee upon my bed

remember with delight, And when on thee I meditate in watches of the night :

IV.
In shadow of thy wings I'll joy,

for thou my help haft been ;
My soul thee follows hard, and me
thy right hand doth sustain. .
AFTERNOON."

PSALM LXV. The subject of this divine hymn is praise. It waiteth for God in his Sion. The church will always praise him

for

for pardoning fin, for bringing the pardoned finner near to him, and for satisfying him with loving kindness. He will ever be glorified for his power to protect his church, and for his blessings conferred upon her, which are in the latter part of the psalm compared to the fruitful influences of the rain and shining of the heavens upon the earth. The redeemed of the Lord know how to fing this hymn. Their praise is always due, and they wish to pay it: They wait to do it at all times, but especially when called upon in the great congregation. May we offer up our facrifice acceptably to day, even the fruit of our lips, giving thanks unto his name.

I. PRAISE waits for thee in Sion, Lord, I to thee vows paid shall be, O thou that hearer art of prayer, all fesh shall come to thee.

II. Iniquities I must confess

against me do prevail,
But as for our rebellious fins
thou shalt forgive them all.

III.
Blest is the man whom thou dost choose,

and mak'it approach to thee,
That he within thy courts, O Lord,
a dweller still may be.

IV. We surely shall be fatisfy'd

with thine abundant grace, And with the goodness of thy house ev’n thy most holy place. :

M 2

The third Sunday after Easter:

PSALM LXV.

1.
GOD our mighty Saviour

thou in thy righteousness, By fearful works unto our prayers thine answer doft express:

II.
Therefore the ends of all the earth

and those afar that he
Upon the sea, their confidence
will wholly place in thee.

III.
Who being girt with pow'r sets fast

by his great strength the hills,
Who noise of seas, noise of their waves,
and people's tumults stills.

IV.
The folk that dwell throughout the earth

shall fear thy signs to see,
Morning and ev’ning with great mirth

Thall praises give to thee."

PSALM LXXI.

This is the prayer of a person in great distress, never

theless he places his perfect faith and hope in God, yea he rejoices in the promises of deliverance. Some take this psalm to be a plain prophecy of Christ, in

which his humiliation, and his exaltation are treated of. Jerom and Augustine are of this opinion. The Syriac version calls it, “ A prophecy of the passion «s and resurrection of Christ." Through faith in him we see our intereit in this pfalm, and can sing of what he did and suffered, of what he was, and is, and is to us. The promises already fulfilled to him, are in him yea, and in him amen to all his members. May we fing with believing hearts, loving and blesling him for all that he has done for us, and waiting in joyful hope for the glory that is to be revealed at the coming of our Lord Jesus Chrift.

1.
LORD, my God, in all distress

my hope is whole in thee,
Then let no shame my soul oppress
nor once take hold on me:

II.
And let me in thy righteousness

from thee deliv'rance have,
Cause me escape, incline thine ear
• unto me, and me save.

III. .
Be thou my dwelling rock, to which

I ever may resort,
Thou gav'st commandment me to save,
· for thou’rt my rock and fort.

IV.
Free me my God from wicked hands,

hands cruel and unjust;
For thou, O Lord God, art my hope
and from my youth my trust.

AFTER