The X. Day. forning Prayer.

Luke xix 22.

ai. 18.

L11.

19 Thou hast let thy mouth speak | wickedness and with thy tongue thou hast set forth deceit.

20 Thou satest, and spakest against thy brother yea, and hast slandered thine own mother's son.

21 These things hast thou done, and I held my tongue, and thou thoughtest wickedly, that I am even such a one as thy self but I will reprove thee, and set before thee the things that thou hast done.

22 O consider this, ye that forget God lest I pluck you away, and there be none to deliver you.

23 Whoso offereth me thanks and praise, he honoureth me and to him that ordereth his conversation right will I shew the salvation of God.

Os tuum abundavit malitia: et nequitia lingua tua concinnabat dolos.

Sedens adversus fratrem tuum loque- detrahebas baris: et adversus filium matris tuæ ponebas scandalum; hæc fecisti, et tacui.

Existimasti inique quod ero tui iniquitatem similis : : arguam te, et statuam contra faciem tuam.

Intelligite hæc, qui obliviscimini Deum: nequando rapiat, et non sit qui eripiat.

Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me: et illic iter quo ostendam illi salutare Dei.

Ferial Lauds.

HA

after thy great goodness according to the multitude of thy mercies

magnam misericordiam tuam.

Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum: dele iniquitatem meam.

Lauds of the departed.

et u delicto meo

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: ab injustitia mea et a peccato meo munda me.

Quoniam iniquitatem meam. ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra agnosco et delicme est semper.

Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.

tum meum

coram me

Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum: et in peccatis concepit me mater in delictis peperit

mea.

His words spoken by the prophet, "Come, now, and let us son together, saith the Lord; Though your sins be as scarlet, ty shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, By shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat good of the land."

The references to sacrifices which this Psalm contains, are to be ken in two senses. First, they speak of the unacceptableness of erings made in hypocrisy, and which are not accompanied by ritence, obedience, and love; offerings which are again repuited by God in the penitential Psalm that follows: "To what rpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto Me? saith the d: I am full of the burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of I beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of abs, or of he goats..... Bring no more vain oblations; incense an abomination unto Me." [Isa. i. 11-13.] Secondly, they k prophetically to the passing away of the old dispensation, ich was founded on a system of sacrifices wherein slain imals were offered, and to the coming in of the new dispensa

tion, which is founded on the once-offered sacrifice of Christ, presented before God continually in Heaven, and re-presented on earth, in the sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist. Thus, "Offer unto God thanksgiving," and, "Whoso offereth Me thanks and praise, he honoureth Me," look to that of which the prophet Malachi spoke when, after saying, "I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand," he added, "For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My Name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My Name, and a pure offering: for My Name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." [Mal. i. 11.]

PSALM LI.

Such was the completeness of our Blessed Redeemer's identification of Himself with our nature, that even these words of deep and sorrowing penitence are His words, spoken as the Representative of all sinners. God laid upon Him the iniquities of us all, and

The X. Day. Morning Prayer.

Lev. xiv. 1-9. Numb. xix. 11

20.

Mark xvi. 16.

John iii. 5.

xiii. 10.

Luke xv. 7. 22.

Matt. v. 8. Jer. xxiv. 7.

Ezek. xviii. 31. xi. 19. xxxvi. 26.

Mattins and Evensong Versicles.

11 Cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy Spirit from me.

12 O give me the comfort of thy help again and stablish me with thy free Spirit.

13 Then shall I teach thy ways unto the wicked and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou that art the God of my health and my tongue shall sing of thy righteousness.

15 Thou shalt open my lips, O Lord and my mouth shall shew thy praise.

16 For thou desirest no sacrifice, else would I give it thee but thou delightest not in burnt-offerings.

17 The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit a broken and contrite heart, O God, shalt thou not despise.

thus He speaks as One in whom all the woes of mankind, all original and all actual sin, were for the time condensed into a focus, that, by the intensity of His penitence, they might be brought within the reach of mercy and pardon. Hence, all the millions of mankind that have inherited sin from the first Adam, are brought before the all-righteous Judge in the Person and by the voice of the Second Adam, Who says for them, and not for Himself, "Have mercy upon Me," "Do away Mine offences," "Wash Me," "Cleanse Me." Have mercy upon Me, for in Me Thou dost behold not Thy sinless Son alone, but Him whom Thou hast made sin for all Thy sinful children. Do away Mine offences, for not only am I Thy Son, in Whom is no guile, but the new Head and Leader and Representative of Thine offending offspring. Wash Me, Whose Immaculate Conception left no need for baptism, and cleanse Me, Who have no defilement of My Nature, for I am made like unto My brethren in all things, that I may win purity for them. I acknowledge My faults, for theirs have I taken on Me, and My sin is ever before Me, for the burden of their sin weighs Me down from My cradle in the manger at Bethlehem to My Cross on the hill of Calvary. O be favourable

and gracious unto Thy Sion, and build Thou the walls of Thy Ne Jerusalem, that the Eucharists of My atoning Sacrifice ever be presented before Thee, and in that and in them other sacrifices find their fulfilment, their completion, and the climax.

It is only in the way thus indicated that a full explanation ca be given of (1) the deep and intense spirit of self-accusation; the entire confidence in the cleansing power of God; and (3) t sense of most intimate relation between Himself and His Jul by which the penitent's words in this Psalm are so striking characterized. In his degree, and that a very high d David was a type of our atoning Lord when he uttered th Psalm, and thus his tone of penitence so far exceeded t which ordinary sinners could thoroughly assume: but Dav penitence was that of an actual sinner, who could say litera of himself individually, that he was shapen in wickedness, the his mother had conceived him with the taint of original sin, he needed purging with hyssop from the leprosy of actual sin. deliverance from blood-guiltiness. The personal sinlessness of th Lamb of God aggravated the pain of the burden laid upon

and also enabled Him to see the whole of God's hatred for sin as so actual sinner could1. And thus when He "was made sin for us," that Fe might make intercession for us by a vicarious penitence, the intensity of the words of penitence was in proportion to His thorough and penetrative perception of its necessity. As He was set forth to us for an example of innocence, so He is also set forth for an example of penitence; and hence, where we should least expect it, in Him Who knew no sin, we find the perfect Pattern which the sinner is to copy when he comes before God confessing his transgressions, praying for pardon, promising amendment of life, and faithfully expecting a perfect absolution.

Part of the tenth, eleventh, and fifteenth verses of this Psalm are daily used as versicles at Mattins and Evensong. The whole Psalm was formerly used every day except Sunday.

This explains "Against Thee only have I sinned." In the depth of His vicarious penitence, the offence against God becomes so blindingly apparent that the offence against man is for the time invisible.

PSALM LII.

The title of this Psalm connects it with the iniquitous acts of Doeg in slaying Ahimelech and a multitude of other priests and their families at the command of Saul. [1 Sam. xxii. 18, 19.] By this wicked act both Saul and Doeg constituted themselves types of Antichrist, and the words spoken against them by the Psalmist derive a part of their force from the fact that they are also a prophecy respecting the great enemy of the Lord, and of His Church. This gives the key to the strong language respecting the “ lies" of the " tyrant" by which the Psalm is characterized; for the whole rule of Antichrist will reflect the one great lie set up in his person, when "he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." [2 Thess. ii. 4.] But the "sharp razor" of Antichrist will be vanquished by the "two-edged sword" [Rev. i. 16] of truth, which proceeds out of the mouth of "the WORD of God." [Ibid. xix. 13. 2 Thess. ii. 8.]

The X. Day. Morning Prayer. Jer. xi. 16.

Evening Prayer. Ps. xiv. 1. Ps. xiv. 2.

Ps. xiv. 3.

Ps. xiv. 4.

Ps. xiv. 8.

Ps. xiv. 9.
Prov. xxviii. 1.
Job xv. 20.

Ps. xiv. 11. Rev. vi, 10.

3 God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that would understand, and seek after God.

4 But they are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become abominable there is also none that doeth good, no not one.

5 Are not they without understanding that work wickedness eating up my people as if they would eat bread? they have not called upon God.

6 They were afraid where no fear was for God hath broken the bones of him that besieged thee; thou hast put them to confusion, because God hath despised them.

7 Oh, that the salvation were given unto Israel out of Sion Oh, that the Lord would deliver his captivity.

people out of

8 Then should Jacob rejoice and Israel should be right glad.

Sund, and all
Festivals,
Prime. Good

Friday Mall
2nd Noct.

EUS, in Nomine tuo salvum me fac et in virtute tua judica Easter Eve,

3rd Noct libera me

mention of "the Poor" and "the Righteous," after the words They were afraid where no fear was." This omission gives the Psalm a more direct application to the persecution of the Church by Antichrist than to the opposition offered by him to our Le personally; and thus it may be taken as a hymn of the Churc in the last days of its militant condition, when the souls under the altar will cry, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost The not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ?" and when Antichrist having been empowered "to mace war with the saints and to overcome them," they also will cry "Oh, that the salvation were given unto Israel out of Sit;

HR hide

tion.

hide not thyself from my peti

2 Take heed unto me, and hear me how I mourn in my prayer, and am vexed.

3 The enemy crieth so, and the ungodly cometh on so fast for they are minded to do me some mischief, so maliciously are they set against

me.

4 My heart is disquieted within me

et ne despexeris deprecationem meam; intende mihi, et exaudi me. Contristatus sum in exercitatione mea et conturbatus sum a voce inimici, et a tribulatione peccatoris.

Quoniam declinaverunt in me iniquitates: et in ira molesti erant mihi.

Cor meum conturbatum est in me:

that the Lord would deliver His people cut of captivity." "he that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity; hat killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. e is the patience and faith of the saints." [Rev. xiii. 10.] PSALM LIV.

The long-established custom of the Church has given us the meaning of this Psalm by appropriating it to the commemoon of our Blessed Lord's Passion. In the words "Save me, God," we hear the same voice as that which uttered the bitter which was taken from the twenty-second Psalm. In "strangers risen up against me," we hear the prediction, ages beforehand, the fact that Jesus would be put to death by a foreign ruler foreign soldiers, a circumstance in the last degree unlikely to ve occurred to the uninspired mind of a Jew in David's time, clearly foreseen and foreordained by God. In "the tyrants ich have not God before their eyes," we see the unjust conduct Pilate, who was convinced of the holy Sufferer's innocence,

comfortable] i.e. strengthening. So the earliest English Bibles read xli 7, "And he comfortide hym with nailes, that it shulde not be ed." And Phil. iv. 13, "I may alle thingis in him that comfortilh "The ultimate derivation of "comfort" is from "fortis."

and yet condemned Him through fear of men. In "God is my helper" may be traced the spirit which prompted the words, “Put up thy sword into the sheath," and "Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above." In the "offering of a free heart," we see the submission expressed in the words "not My will but Thine be done," and the voluntary yielding up of His life when no man had power to take it from Him. Lastly, the “ vengeance" spoken of here receives its proper interpretation by a comparison of the last words of the Psalm with our Lord's words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." The prayer was heard, and Jesus, looking forth from His cross, "saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied," for even His enemies were afterwards made to be at peace with Him by the power of His Intercession.

PSALM LV.

The sorrows of our Blessed Redeemer's soul are here predicted by His own inspiration, so that the prophecy becomes a history, setting forth the mental trouble which preceded His apprehension and death. This anguish culminated in the Agony of Gethsemane and the Cross, but it also pervaded all His life, and especially that period of it when His Ministry brought Him within the nearer contemplation of man's ingratitude.