166 Lord, I have looked for thy saving health and done after thy commandments.

167 My soul hath kept thy testimonies and loved them exceedingly.

168 I have kept thy commandments and testimonies for all my ways are before thee.

Appropinquet deprecatio.

ET my complaint come before thee, O Lord: give me understanding, according to thy word.

170 Let my supplication come before thee deliver me, according to thy word.

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171. My lips shall speak of thy praise: when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

172 Yea, my tongue shall sing of thy

word for all thy commandments are righteous.

173 Let thine hand help me for I have chosen thy commandments.

174 I have longed for thy saving health, O Lord and in thy law is my delight.

175 O let my soul live, and it shall praise thee and thy judgements shall help me.

176 I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost : O seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments.

"Let my complaint," &c.-A sentiment of deep humility pervades the whole of this Divine psalm. Mercy is sought for, and not a reward claimed. A believer in justification by human merits, could use scarcely a single expression in the psalm without many modifications. Confidence in human wisdom, or in any means of improvement but those offered by the Holy Spirit, would equally prevent the fair adoption of its language. The goodness of God, working freely in the fulness of compassion,-the corruption of the human heart needing a vital regeneration,-the wickedness of the world, despising the means of grace, and the sorrows of God's people, looking for deliverance through the progress of the Almighty's inscrutable designs,-these are the subjects of the Psalmist's contemplation; and he will have advanced far both in wisdom and holiness whose mind can occupy itself in similar meditations, mingling thought with prayer, and both prayer and thought with the sighs and tears of a contrite spirit. It is said that this psalm was regarded by the ancients with so much reverence that they committed it to memory, rejoicing in the possession of so admirable a formulary for the exercises of self-examination, and a pure, devotional faith. "The Book of Psalms," said the great leader of the Reformation, " is an epitome of the Bible, and the 119th psalm is an epitome of all the rest." Scripture, in every part, is a condensation of a vast series of truths; and it is one of the characteristics of a rightly-ordered Christian mind that it delights, above all things, in unfolding the great moral and spiritual mysteries which lie wrapped up in the succinct language of inspiration. The 119th psalm, taken up by a mind like this, presents an infinite variety of subjects out of which may be drawn the noblest lessons of practice; and, illustrated by the Gospel, an outline of doctrines the most necessary to the comforting and the strengthening of the soul.

MORNING PRAYER.

HEN I was in trouble I called upon the
Lord and he heard me.

2 Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and from a deceitful tongue.

3 What reward shall be given or done unto thee, thou false tongue even mighty

and sharp arrows, with hot burning coals. 4 Wo is me, that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech: and to have my habitation among

5 My soul hath long dwelt among them that are enemies unto peace.

6 I labour for peace, but when I speak unto them thereof they make them ready to battle.

PSALM CXX.-It is the comfort of the righteous to know that the Lord will not fail to deliver him at last, whatever be the power or number of his enemies. The greatest of the troubles with which the child of God has to contend, arises from his being surrounded by those who hate the Divine law, and the peace which it would establish. Mesech and Kedar, the one the son of Japheth, and spoken of by Ezekiel xxvii. 13, and the other the son of the wild Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 13), here personate the powers of the world, setting themselves in battle array against the believer. This is the first of the fifteen psalms which are called the Songs of Degrees. They are supposed to have been sung on the steps before the great gate of the Temple.

Psal. cxxi. Levavi oculos.

WILL lift up mine eyes unto the hills: from whence cometh my help.

2 My help cometh even from the Lord : who hath made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel : shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord himself is thy keeper: the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand;

6 So that the sun shall not burn thee by day neither the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in: from this time forth for evermore.

Psal. cxxii. Lætatus sum.

WAS glad when they said unto me: We will go into the house of the Lord.

2 Our feet shall stand in thy gates : O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built as a city that is at unity in itself.

4 For thither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord to testify unto Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord.

5 For there is the seat of judgement: even the seat of the house of David.

PSALM CXXI.-God on His everlasting throne receives the prayers of His people, and thence pours down upon them the abundance of His blessing. The experience of countless generations of His worshippers has proved the readiness with which He hears and answers prayer. God sent help from Sion, when worshipped there by His faithful people :-how much more will He bestow grace on those who offer up their prayers, through Christ, before the throne of Heaven! This psalm was probably sung in chorus by the worshippers and the priests.

PSALM CXXII.-It is supposed from the nature of this psalm that it was sung by companies of people going up to Jerusalem at the periods appointed for the great public festivals. It is beautifully expressive of the delight which the nation took in the service of God-of the reverence which it felt for His sanctuary-and the fervent desire which it had, that the city so blessed and sanctified might ever flourish as the palace of the Great King.

60 pray for the peace of Jerusalem they shall prosper that love thee.

7 Peace be within thy walls and plenteousness within thy palaces.

8 For my brethren and companions' sakes: I will wish thee prosperity.

9 Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God: I will seek to do thee good.

Psal. cxxiii. Ad te levavi oculos meos.

NTO thee lift I up mine eyes: O thou that dwellest in the heavens.

2 Behold, even 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 even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until he have mercy upon us.

3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have

mercy upon us for we are utterly despised.

4 Our soul is filled with the scornful reproof of the wealthy and with the despitefulness of the proud.

Psal. cxxiv. Nisi quia Dominus.

F the Lord himself had not been on our side, now may Israel say if the Lord himself had not been on our side, when men rose up against us;

2 They had swallowed us up quick : when they were so wrathfully displeased

at us.

3 Yea, the waters had drowned us : and the stream had gone over our soul.

4 The deep waters of the proud : had gone even over our soul.

PSALM CXXIII. This short psalm was evidently written in a period of great distress, probably during the Captivity.

PSALM CXXIV. As the preceding psalm was composed in a season of trouble, so this was written in commemoration of deliverance. The hour of prosperity, as well as that of adversity, is reflected in the clear mirror of these divine compositions. "If any be merry among you, let him sing psalms." How strange that cheerfulness should so rarely be expressed according to the apostolic precept!

5 But praised be the Lord who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth.

6 Our soul is escaped even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler the snare is broken, and we are delivered.

7 Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord who hath made heaven and earth.

Psal. cxxv. Qui confidunt.

HEY that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as the mount Sion: which may not be removed, but standeth fast for ever.

2 The hills stand about Jerusalem: even so standeth the Lord round about his people, from this time forth for evermore.

3 For the rod of the ungodly cometh not into the lot of the righteous: lest the righteous put their hand unto wickedness.

4 Do well, O Lord: unto those that are good and true of heart. 5 As for such as turn back unto their own wickedness: the Lord shall lead them forth with the evil-doers; but peace shall be upon Israel.

EVENING PRAYER.

Psal. cxxvi. In convertendo.

HEN the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion then were we like unto them that dream.

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2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with joy.

3 Then said they among the heathen: The Lord hath done great things for them.

4 Yea, the Lord hath done great things for us already whereof we rejoice.

5 Turn our captivity, O Lord as the rivers in the south.

6 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.

PSALM CXXV.-This psalm is supposed to refer to the final establishment of God's people under the reign of Messiah. By the rod of the ungodly is meant their power, or sceptre; and it is here stated, according to the comforting faith of the just in all ages, that the righteous shall not, for any length of time, be exposed to their oppressions.