AFTERNOON. PSALM CXXX. This is a prayer for pardon and acceptance, and an encouragement to wait on the Lord for thefe bleffings.. They who have known what the guilt of fin is, and have been exercifed in the fchool of repentance, can fee a great beauty in this pfalm. It is their very cafe. And when they have found mercy, and plenteous redemption, then they understand it all, and can blefs the Lord for his goodness to their fouls. O that we may fing it to day, as our own experience. Indeed fo far as we believe ourselves raised from the depths of fin and mifery, and partakers of the mercy of God in Chrift Jefus, we fhall blefs and praise his holy name. May our lives as well as our lips fhew forth his praises now and for ever. LORD, from the depths to thee I cry'd, my voice, Lord, do thou hear, Unto my fupplications voice give an attentive ear. HI. Lord, if in justice thou shouldst mark Who could stand in thy fight and fay, III. But thou art merciful and free and boundless in thy grace, That we might always careful be to fear before thy face.. Eighteenth IN Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity. PSALM CXXX. I. N God the Lord I put my trust, my foul waits on his will, His promife is for ever just and I hope therein ftill. II. My foul to God hath great regard waiting for him alway, Waiting much more than they who watch to see the dawn of day. III. O Ifrael truft in the Lord, IV. Ev'n he it is, who Ifr'al fhall thro' his abundant grace Redeem from his offences all, and wholly them deface. PSALM CXXXI. We have here a pattern of perfect humility. Learn of me, fays Jefus, for I am meek and lowly. In this pfalm he appeals to his Father for the lowliness of his heart and looks and converfation: Who could ever make fuch an appeal, but himself? And then he re quires all his difciples to hope in God for grace to follow his example: And they do. Taught by his word and enabled by his Spirit the fame mind is in them, which was also in Chrift Jefus. Thus he gives them his promifed reft, a fweet holy reft unto their fouls, which none upon earth but the humble know, and which they partake more of, as they grow more humble. Jefus mafter fave us from pride, from the guilt and from the power of it, O make us willing to learn of thee, and make us able to follow thy steps in true meeknefs and lowliness, fo fhall we fing of thy grace and tell of thy goodness, as long as we have our being. MY I. Y heart not haughty is, O Lord, Nor do I deal in matters great, II. But as a child, that weaned is, III. O Ifrael truft in the Lord, let him be all thy stay, Truft in the Lord from this time forth from age to age alway. AFTER N O O N. PSALM CXXXIII. This is a beautiful defcription of the communion of faints-being made one with Jefus, he by his Spirit unites them to one another under him. This communion with him their life-giving head, and with each other through him is like the fanctifying oil on the high priests head, which was upon Jefus without measure, and from thence flows down to the lowest believer, and it is like the fruitful dew, which made the dry hills of Hermon and Sion afford plenty of pafture, and this communion lafts through life, and will be perfected with the blefling of life everlasting. Well may we fing of it then in this our pilgrimage. It brings with it many mercies, and alleviates many miferies. O that we may all be one with Jefus our head, live in love as members actuated by his Spirit, and with mutual prayers, advice, and helps endeavor to fhew that we have been taught of God to love one another. May we fing as brethren with harmony of hearts to the praise of the God of love. I. BEHOLD how good a thing it is and how becoming well, Together fuch as brethren be in unity to dwell. II. Like precious ointment on the head which down the beard did flow, Ev'n Aaron's beard, and to the skirts did of his garments go. III. Like Hermon's dew, like dew which doth on Sion's hill defcend: For there the bleffing God commands life that fhall never end. Nineteenth Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity. PSALM CXXXIV. This is a command to the Lord's fervants to afcribe all bleffings to him, and to do it conftantly night, as well as day, and to exprefs outwardly their heart dependence on him, by lifting up their hands to the holy place, to Chrift, who was there reprefented, expecting all good from him. Afcribe this to him, and he will blefs you. He has promifed it: And he is able to make his word good: For he is the almighty creator of heaven and earth. We are going to fulfill this command in the letter: May we all perform it, as a fpiritual fervice. May every heart afcribe its bleffings, whether we have them in hand or in hope to the God of our falvation, and may we fing together glorifying him in deed and in truth. BEH I. EHOLD and have regard Who in his houfe by night do watch, II. Lift up your hands on high unto his holy place, And give the Lord his praises due, his benefits embrace. Jehovah is our God, III. who heav'n and earth did frame, He will bless Sion, and preferve for evermore the fame. |