11 The Lord will give his people strength, and with peace bless them all.

PARALLEL PASSAGES.

Ver. 5-Acts ix. 1-6.

Ver. 9-Heb. iv. 13.

Ver. 11-Isa. xl. 29-31.

PSALM XXX.

A Psalm and Song at the Dedication of the house of David.

THIS Psalm was sung at the dedication of the Temple. The Lord Jesus, on his resurrection and session at the right hand of the Father, praises and blesses our God and his God that he was heard in his distresses, and rescued from the grave. If we are risen with him to newness of life, we may sing with him, and anticipate our resurrection to a state of incorruptibility and immortality. In verses 4, 5, all are exhorted to praise God for his lovingkindnesses and tender mercies. In verses 6, 7, we are told that our brightest hours are overshadowed in an instant if God leave us to ourselves. In verses 8-10, we have a model of earnest supplication in affliction; and in verses 11, 12, God is praised for his answer to believing prayer.

[STROUDWATER.]

1 LORD, I will thee extol, for thou hast lifted me on high,

And over me thou to rejoice

mad'st not mine enemy.

2 O thou who art the Lord my God,
I in distress to thee

With loud cries lifted up my voice,
and thou hast healed me.

3 O Lord, my soul thou hast brought up,
and rescued from the grave:

That I to pit should not go down,
alive thou didst me save.

4 O

ye that are his holy ones,

sing praise unto the Lord :

And give unto him thanks, when ye
his holiness record.

5 For but a moment lasts his wrath;
life in his favour lies:
Weeping may for a night endure,
at morn doth joy arise.

6 In my prosperity I said,

that nothing shall me move.

7 O Lord, thou hast my mountain made
to stand strong by thy love:

But when that thou, O gracious God,
didst hide thy face from me,

Then quickly was my prosp'rous state
turn'd into misery.

8 Wherefore unto the Lord my cry
I caused to ascend:
My humble supplication

I to the Lord did send.

9 What profit is there in my blood,
when I go down to pit?

Shall unto thee the dust give praise?
thy truth declare shall it?

10 Hear, Lord, have mercy, help me, Lord:
Thou turned hast my sadness

11

To dancing; yea, my sackcloth loos'd,
and girded me with gladness :

12 That sing thy praise my glory may,
and never silent be;

O Lord, my God, for evermore
I will give thanks to thee.

PARALLEL PASSAGES.

Ver. 3-Isaiah xxxviii. 17.

Ver. 11-Isaiah lxi. 3.

PSALM XXXI.

To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David.

As the 5th verse of this Psalm was used by our Lord when he expired upon the cross, we are bound to believe that it is the same

glorious person that speaks throughout. What value is impressed upon the Psalm by the fact that our Saviour deemed its language best suited to his life and death and feelings! In verses 1-6, Christ prays for deliverance from his bitter enemies. In verses 7, 8, he revives his faith by calling to mind his past experience of favour and aid. In verses 9-13, he lays before us in prayer the agony of his condition and the depth of his affliction, while bearing the ignominy of the Jews and the curse of imputed sin. In verses 14-18, he lifts up his prayers to God for the experience of his love, and the ultimate overthrow of the schemes of his enemies. From verse 19 to the end, he calls upon his people to take courage from him, the great captain of the faith, and to rest assured that in living faith on God in Christ there is a security which hell cannot shake, and a perpetuity which time cannot interfere with. "He that hath an ear, let him hear."

[ST. THOMAS.]

1 IN thee, O Lord, I put my trust,
sham'd let me never be:

According to thy righteousness,
do thou deliver me.

2 Bow down thine ear to me with speed,
send me deliverance :

To save me, my strong rock be thou,
and my house of defence.

3 Because thou art my rock, and thee
I for my fortress take,

Therefore do thou me lead and guide,
e'en for thine own name's sake.

4 And sith thou art my strength, therefore
pull me out of the net,

Which they in subtilty for me

so privily have set.

5 Into thine hands I do commit
my sp'rit; for thou art he,
O thou JEHOVAH, God of truth,
that hast redeemed me.

6 Those that do lying vanities

regard, I have abhorr'd;

But as for me my confidence
is fixed on the Lord.

7 I'll in thy mercy gladly joy:
for thou my miseries

Consider'd hast; thou hast my soul
known in adversities.

8 And thou hast not inclosed me
within the en❜my's hand;

And by thee have my feet been made in a large room to stand.

9 O Lord, upon me mercy have,
for trouble is on me;

Mine eye, my belly, and my soul
with grief consumed be.

10 Because my life with grief is spent,
my years with sighs and groans,
My strength doth fail; and for my sin
consumed are my bones.

11 I was a scorn to all my foes, and to my friends a fear;

12

And specially reproach'd of those
that were my neighbours near:
When they me saw, they from me fled.
E'en so I am forgot,

As men are out of mind when dead;
I'm like a broken pot.

13 For slanders I of many heard,
fear compass'd me, while they
Against me did consult and plot,
to take my life away.

14 But as for me, O Lord, my trust
upon thee I did lay:

And I to thee, Thou art my God,
did confidently say.

15 My times are wholly in thine hand:
do thou deliver me

From their hands that mine enemies
and persecutors be.

16 Thy countenance to shine do thou
upon thy servant make:
Unto me give salvation,

for thy great mercy's sake.

17 Let me not be asham'd, O Lord,
for on thee call'd I have:

Let wicked men be sham'd, let them
be silent in the grave.

18 To silence put the lying lips

that grievous things do say,

And hard reports, in pride and scorn,
on righteous men do lay.

19 How great's the goodness thou for them. that fear thee keep'st in store,

And wrought'st for them that trust in thee the sons of men before!

20 In secret of thy presence thou

shalt hide them from man's pride:

From strife of tongues thou closely shalt as in a tent them hide.

21 All praise and thanks be to the Lord: for he hath magnified

His wondrous love to me, within

a city fortified.

22 For from thine eyes cut off I am,

I in my haste had said;

My voice yet heard'st thou, when to thee with cries my moan I made.

23 O love the Lord, all ye his saints, because the Lord doth guard