heard by all the earth with an awful filence, as when. he speaks to attentive nature in thunder. Such was the effect which this interpofition in behalf of his people produced among the furviving Affyrians, and the neighbouring nations. Let us carry our thoughts on to the fenfations which will be felt in the hearts of men, at that hour, when the last trump shall found in the heavens, and the earth shall shake from her foundations; when God fhall arife to execute judgment on the adverfaries of his church; and to save, with an everlasting salvation, all the meek and afflicted of the earth.

10. Surely the wrath of man fhall praise thee ; the remainder of wrath fhalt thou reftrain.

.

The wrath of man, and of Satan himself, against the church, turns, in the end, to the praife and glory of God, who repreffes 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 fand.

11. Vow and pay unto the LORD your God; let all that are round about him bring prefents unto him that ought to be feared. 12. He fhall 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 Ifraelites, for a temporary deliverance from the fury of an earthly tyrant; how much higher ought that of Chriftians to rife, for eternal redemption from the great oppreffor! How ought they to "vow and pay their vows unto the LORD their

God; to bring prefents," to offer all they have,

and

and all they are, to him who is fo greatly to be "feared," fo highly to be loved; to him who "re"ftrains" the fury of evil angels, as well as "the fpirit of princes ;" and is "terrible" to the powers of darkness, no lefs than to "the kings of the << earth!"

PSALM LXXVII.

ARGUMENT.

As the foregoing Pfalm was evidently compofed, when the church had obtained deliverance from her enemies, this feems no less plainly to have been written at a time when fhe was in captivity under them. It contains 1-4. a complaint of fufferings; and 5-20. a description at large of the struggle between diftruft and faith; which latter prevails, by having recourse to the confideration of ancient mercies; particularly, that of redemption from Egypt. The Pfalm is admirably calculated for the use and confolation of any church, or foul, when in affliction and diftrefs.

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

Uneafinefs in the heart will utter itself by the "voice;" and when the pain is intenfe, the "cry" will be loud. Only let it take a right direction, and afcend

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

2. In the day of my trouble I fought the Lord; my fore ran in the night, and ceafed not; Heb. my hand was ftretched out in the night, and ceafed not, or, without intermiffion; my foul refused to be comforted.

To a foul deeply fenfible of the world's vanity, and the misery of fin, every day is a "day of trouble," and the whole time of her pilgrimage is a long, dark, and wearifome" night," during which the she feeks after her beloved by prayer; and for the fake of him, and thofe future joys which the expects in his prefence, the pleasures of sense are put away from her, and the " refufes to be comforted" by fuch comforters. An Ifraelite cannot enjoy himself in Babylon; a Chriftian cannot find perfect fatisfaction in the world; a return to Jerufalem 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 noife, i. e. in prayer to him; I meditated, and my Spirit was obfcured, or darkened, through grief and affliction.

This is a fine defcription of what paffes in an afflicted and dejected mind. Between the remembrance of God and his former mercies, and the meditation on a feeming desertion under prefent calamities, the affections are variously agitated, and the prayers dif

turbed,

turbed, like the tumultuous waves of a troubled fea; 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 fleep to relieve them from duty, until the dawning of the morning. To a night fo fpent, may a feafon of captivity, or perfecution, be compared." Thus the ancient church looked for the first advent of Chrift; and thus doth the church, which now is, expect his fecond; prolonging her vigils, even unto the dawning of that morning, which is at once to put a period to darkness and to forrow. In the mean time, the giveth herself to meditation and prayer.

5. I have confidered the days of old, the years of ancient times: 6. I call to remembrance my fong in the night, I commune with mine own heart, and my Spirit maketh diligent fearch.

1

Recollection of former mercies is the proper anti. dote against a temptation to defpair, in the day of calamity: and as, in the divine difpenfations, which are always uniform and like themselves, whatever has happened, happens again, when the circumftances are fimilar; the experience of " ancient times" is to be called in to our aid, and duly confulted. Nay, we may perhaps "remember" the time, when we ourselves were led to compofe and utter a " fong" of joy and triumph, on occafion of fignal mercies

in

vouchfafed us. Upon thefe topics we should, "the night of affliction, commune with our own "hearts, and make diligent fearch," as Daniel did in Babylon, into the caufe, the nature, and the probable continuance of our troubles; with the proper methods of fhortening, and bringing them to an end; by fuffering them to have their intended and full effect, in a fincere repentance, and thorough reformation.

7. Will the Lord caft off for ever? and will he be favourable 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 Pfalmift now relates the process of his meditations, and of that controverfy which arofe in his heart between faith and diftruft. While he viewed the distressful scene around him, he found himself ftrongly 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 fuggefted to a defponding foul by the defolations of Sion at that time; and the ftate of things in the world may poffibly be fuch, as to fuggeft the like thoughts to many in the Chrif tian church, before our Lord fhall appear again, for her final redemption. Imaginations of the fame caft will offer themselves to the mind of the finner, when the hand of God has lain long and heavy upon