the sleep of death. How, in a moment,' were the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!' How astonishing the downfall of the tyrant! How complete the triumph of the daughter of Sion! Such will be the destruction of the world; such the salvation of the people of God.

7. 'Thou, even thou, art to be feared; and who may stand in thy sight, when once thou art angry?'

Why are the miraculous exertions of omnipotence recorded in the book of life, but to suggest to us this reflection, that God, and God only, is the proper object of our fear; since neither the wisdom of the wise, nor the power of the mighty, no, not the world itself, can stand a single moment before him, when once he is angry? Yet we continue to dread any frowns but those of Heaven; and one poor, vain, sinful man shall, through a course of sixty or seventy years, incessantly and undauntedly tempt and provoke Him who destroyed 185,000 in a night. What is this, but madness?

8. Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still;' 9. When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth,' or the afflicted of the land.

A destruction so far exceeding human power, was evidently the sentence of God's judgment, audibly pronounced from the eternal throne; and it was heard by all the earth with an awful silence, as when he speaks to attentive nature in thunder. Such was the effect which this interposition in behalf of his people produced among the surviving Assyrians, and the neighbouring nations. Let us carry our thoughts on to the sensations which will be felt in the hearts of men, at that hour when the last trump shall sound in the heavens, and the earth shall shake from her foundations; when God shall arise to execute judgment on the adversaries of his church; and to save, with an everlasting salvation, all the meek and afflicted of the earth.

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10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.'

The wrath of man, and of Satan himself, against the church, turns, in the end, to the praise and glory of God, who represses it when at its height; and at all times

appoints those bounds which it cannot pass, any more than the raging waves of the ocean can overflow their appointed barrier of sand.

11. Vow and pay unto the LORD your God; let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.' 12. He shall cut off,' or restrain, 'the spirit of princes; he is terrible to the kings of the earth.'

If such should have been the gratitude and devotion of Israelites, for a temporary deliverance from the fury of an earthly tyrant: how much higher ought that of Christians to rise, for eternal redemption from the great oppressor! How ought they to vow and pay their vows unto the Lord their God; to bring presents,' to offer all they have, and all they are, to him who is so greatly 'to be feared,' so highly to be loved; to him who 'restrains' the fury of evil angels, as well as 'the spirit of princes;' and is 'terrible' to the powers of darkness, no less than to 'the kings of the earth!'

PSALM LXXVII.

ARGUMENT.

[As the foregoing Psalm was evidently composed when the church had obtained deliverance from her enemies, this seems no less plainly to have been written at a time when she was in captivity under them. It contains, 1-4. a complaint of sufferings; and, 5-20. a description at large of the struggle between distrust and faith; which latter prevails, by having recourse to the consideration of ancient mercies; particularly that of redemption from Egypt. The Psalm is admirably calculated for the use and consolation of any church, or soul, when in affliction and distress.]

1. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.'

Uneasiness in the heart will utter itself by the 'voice;' and when the pain is intense, the 'cry' will be loud. Only let it take a right direction, and ascend to heaven; let the application be made to God,' who will both 'hear' and help; not to the world, which will not do one, and

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cannot do the other. The cries of the Son of God alone were heard for his own sake; the cries of all other men are heard for his sake.

2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my sore ran in the night, and ceased not;' Heb. my hand was stretched out in the night, and ceased not, or without intermission; my soul refused to be comforted.'

To a soul deeply sensible of the world's vanity, and the misery of sin, every day is a ' day of trouble,' and the whole time of her pilgrimage is a long, dark, and wearisome night,' during which she seeks after her beloved by prayer; and, for the sake of him, and those future joys which she expects in his presence, the pleasures of sense are put away from her, and she refuses to be comforted' by such comforters. An Israelite cannot enjoy himself in Babylon; a Christian cannot find perfect satisfaction in the world: a return to Jerusalem will employ the thoughts of both.

3. I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed ;' or I remembered God, and made a noise, i. e., in prayer to him; I meditated, and my spirit was obscured, or darkened, through grief and affliction.

This is a fine description of what passes in an afflicted and dejected mind. Between the remembrance of God and his former mercies, and the meditation on a seeming desertion under present calamities, the affections are variously agitated, and the prayers disturbed, like the tumultuous waves of a troubled sea; while the fair light from above is intercepted, and the face of heaven overwhelmed with clouds and darkness.

4. 'Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.'

Through grief and anxiety it is, that the eyes are made to keep all the watches of the night, and wait in vain for sleep to relieve them from duty, until the dawning of the morning. To a night so spent, may a season of captivity or persecution be compared. Thus the ancient church looked for the first advent of Christ; and thus doth the church, which now is, expect his second; prolonging her vigils, even unto the dawning of that morning,

which is at once to put a period to darkness and to sorrow. In the mean time, she giveth herself to meditation and prayer.

5. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.' 6. 'I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart; and my spirit maketh diligent search.'

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Recollection of former mercies is the proper antidote against a temptation to despair, in the day of calamity. And as in the divine dispensations, which are always uniform and like themselves, whatever has happened happens again, when the circumstances are similar; the experience of ancient times' is to be called in to our aid, and duly consulted. Nay, we may perhaps 'remember' the time, when we ourselves were led to compose and utter a song' of joy and triumph, on occasion of signal mercies vouchsafed us. On these topics we should, in the night of affliction, commune with our own hearts, and make diligent search,' as Daniel did in Babylon, into the cause, the nature, and the probable continuance of our troubles; with the proper methods of shortening, and bringing them to an end, by suffering them to have their intended and full effect, in a sincere repentance, and thorough reformatiou:

7. Will the LORD cast off for ever? and will he be favorable no more?' 8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?' 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?'

The Psalmist now relates the process of his meditations, and of that controversy which arose in his heart between faith and distrust. While he viewed the distressful scene around him, he found himself strongly tempted to question God's love of the church; to think that he had finally rejected his people; that the promised mercy of redemption would never be accomplished; and that indignation. had constrained the bowels of our heavenly Father, which no longer yearned towards his afflicted children. These were the thoughts suggested to a desponding soul by the desolations of Sion at that time; and the state of things in the world may possibly be such as to sug

gest the like thoughts to many in the Christian church, before our Lord shall appear again, for her final redemption. Imaginations of the same cast will offer themselves to the mind of the sinner, when the hand of God has lain long and heavy on him, by the infliction of outward calamities, or the terrors of conscience.

10. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years,' or changes,' of the right hand of the Most High.'

To the insinuations of distrust, faith now begins to reply. The sufferer checks himself in his former train of thought, and humbly acknowleges it to have sprung from a mind dispirited, and rendered timid, by misfortunes: I said, This is my infirmity;' but he immediately strengthens himself by reflecting, that all changes' in the conditions of men are effected, for reasons of infinite wisdom and goodness, by 'the right hand of the Most High;' which is not shortened, but can still, as formerly, when he sees fit, deliver and exalt, as well as punish and depress, his people, What, therefore, though the daughter of Sion be in captivity, and her enemies insult over her? Messias cometh, who shall redeem her, and all nations; and then shall 'the right hand of the Most High' work a universal and a glorious 'change' on the earth.

11. 'I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.' 12. 'I will meditate also of all thy works, and talk of thy doings.'

Thus restored to a right frame of mind, the Psalmist, instead of brooding any longer over the calamities of his own time, resolves to turn his thoughts towards the divine dispensations of old; to meditate on God's former works and wonders; his works of justice and mercy, of power and wisdom, of nature and grace; and, by gratefully celebrating them, to invigorate his faith in the salvation to come, of which they were so many earnests and pledges. And it is this consideration, which makes the eucharistic Psalms ever pleasing, and ever comfortable to the mind; they are appeals to those attributes which have been so often displayed in the cause of the church; they are acts of faith, looking backward to the past, and