on the poverty, 2. the holinefs, faith, 3. importunity, and 4. devotion, of the fuppliant; and on 5-7. the goodnefs, and 8. power of God, 9, 10. to be one day acknowledged by all nations, at their converfion. After this follows, 11. a petition for wisdom, ftrength, and fingleness of heart; 12, 13. a thanksgiving for redemption; 14. a complaint of perfecution from the wicked; 15. an act of faith; 16, 17. a prayer for help and falvation,

1. Bow down thine ear, Q LORD, and hear me ; for I am poor and needy.

All prayer is founded on a fenfe of our own wants, and God's ability to fupply them. In the fight of his Maker, every finner is " poor and needy ;" and he must become fo in his own, that his petitions may be regarded; he must pray, with the humility and importunity of a sftarving beggar, at the gate of heaven, if he expect the great King to "bow down his "ear and hear him." "The prayer of the humble,” faith the wile fon of Sirach, " pierceth the clouds; "and till it come nigh, he will not be comforted; " and will not depart till the moft High fhail behold." Ecclus. xxxv. 17. The bleffed Jefus, "though hẹ

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was rich, yet for our fakes became poor, and had "not where to lay his head;" nor is it to be doubted, but that in his ftate of humiliation, he oftentimes made his prayer to the Father in these very words; "Bow down thine ear, O LORD, and hear me; for

“I am

"I am poor and needy." If he fued, in fuch a form of words, for us, fhall we think of suing in any other form, for ourselves?

2. Preferve thou my foul, for I am holy; O thou my God, fave thy fervant, that trusteth in thee.

The word here tranflated "holy," is on the fame which is used in the xvith Pfalm; "Thou shalt not "fuffer thine Holy One to fee corruption." And indeed, if we understand " holinefs" in it's ftrict sense, no one but " he whom the Father fanctified, "and fent into the world," to redeem loft man, could fay to him," Preserve my foul, for I am holy." But the word properly fignifies, "good, merciful, pious, "devoted to the fervice of God," &c. The Chrif tian, therefore, only pleads, in this expreffion, his relation to Chrift, as being a member of Chrift's body, the church, and a partaker of the gifts, which, by virtue of that membership, he has received through the Spirit of holiness. So that this firft part of the verse, "Preserve my foul, for I am holy," when repeated by us, is equivalent to another paffage in the Pfalms, "I am THINE, O fave me." cxix. 94. The latter member of the verfe under confideration teaches us to pray for help and falvation, as the "servants" of God, whofe eyes therefore look naturally to him," as the eyes of fervants," in affliction, "look unto the hand of their mafters." Pf. cxxiii. 2. And happy, furely, are we in a master, who, himself, for our falvation, once lived, and prayed, and fuffered, and died, in " the form of a fervant." Phil. ii. 7.

3. Be

3. Be merciful unto me, O LORD, for I cry unto thee daily.

There is no man upon the earth, but needeth mercy;" he who is truly fenfible of his need, will cry daily" for it; and he who doth so, may comfort himself with hope of obtaining it. The prayers of Jefus, poured forth for the falvation of his mystical Body, in the days of his flesh, were frequent and mighty; his interceffion for us in heaven is continual. Does the man believe this, who prays not at all, or who prays without devotion?

4. Rejoice the foul of thy fervant; for unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my foul.

Sorrow was the portion of Chrift in this world, and the church hath no reason to expect any other from it. He that would have real" joy" in his heart. must befeech God to give it him, for no creature hath it to give. Nay, the love of the world must be renounced, before this divine gift can even be " re"ceived." The affections must be loofened from earth, and "lifted up" to heaven, on the wings of faith and love; for in the foul that is full of fenfual pleasures and indulgences, there is neither room nor tafte for fpiritual delights.

5. For thou, LORD, art good, and ready to forgive: and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

We are encouraged to "lift up our fouls to God" in prayer, because his "goodness" and the "plente"ousness of his mercy" in Chrift Jefus incline him to give his holy Spirit of peace and comfort to " all "that call upon him." His favour is no longer

con

confined to Judea; there is now no diftinction of age, condition, or country: but the finner, whoever or wherever he be, if he call upon the faving name of Jefus, is heard, pardoned, and accepted, upon. the terms of the evangelical covenant.

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6. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer: and attend to the voice of my fupplications. 7. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt anfwer me. In confidence of an anfwer," nourished and ftrengthened by all the foregoing confiderations, the fuppliant renews his prayer, while " the day of trou"ble" lafts; and that day will not end, but with this mortal pilgrimage; fince he who loves his country, will ever be uneafy while he is detained among strangers and enemies, perils and temptations. But the trouble is overpaid with profit, which rendereth us adepts in the practice of devotion, which convinceth us that we are abroad, and maketh us to wish and figh for our true and only home.

8. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O LORD; neither are there any works like unto thy works.

Another reason why application fhould be made to Jehovah, is his infinite fuperiority over all those, that, by infatuated men, were ever called "gods.' From the ancient idolatry, which taught adoration to the fun, moon, and ftars, to the light and the air, we have been delivered by the Gofpel: nor do we any longer profess to worship Jupiter, and the other heathen gods and goddeffes: but do not many ftill trust in idols, and have they not, in effect, other objects of worship, from whofe hands they expect their reward?

reward? Are not the hearts of the covetous, the ambitious, the voluptuous, fo many temples of Mammon, or Plutus; of Jupiter, or Mars; of Bacchus, Comus, and Venus? But what are these deities; what is their power; and what are their gifts? What is the whole world, and all that is therein, when compared with its Maker and Redeemer ; what is it, when applied to, for the eafe and comfort of a wounded fpirit?" Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O LORD; neither are there any works like unto thy works!"

9. All nations whom thou haft made, fhall come and worship before thee, O LORD, and fhall glorify thy name.

The Pfalmift predicteth that this fuperiority of Jehovah fhould one day be acknowledged throughout all the earth, when "neither in Jerufalem only, nor "in the mount of the Samaritans," but in every place, fhould men worship the Father;" John iv. 21. when he who "made all nations," by his Son, fhould by that Son redeem all nations, bringing them from the world to the Church, there to ".worship be"fore" the true God, and "in fongs of praise to glo

rify his holy name." If in these our times, we behold the nations again falling away from God, departing from the purity of their faith, and leaving their first love, let us comfort ourselves with looking forward to that scene of things defcribed by St. John, "I bein which we hope to bear a part hereafter. "held, and lo, a great multitude, which no man ❝ could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and "people, and tongues, ftood before the throne, and

"before