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20[So unreasonably, and without grounds.]

22 [Near, or with thee under the care of shy good Providence.] To support and di

red me.

26 [Depart from thee, and worship false Gods. Hof. iv. 14.

20 [Thus] my heart was grieved and it went even through my reins.

21 So foolish was I, and ignorant: even as it were a beaft before thee.

22 Nevertheless, I am alway [by thee]: for thou haft holden me by my right hand †.

23 Thou fhalt guide me with thy counfel and after that receive me with glory.

24 Whom have I in heaven but thee: and there is none upon earth that I defire in comparison of thee.

25 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

26 For lo, they that forfake thee fhall perifh: thou haft deftroyed all them that [commit fornication against thee.]

27. But is is good for me to hold me faft by God, to put my truft in the Lord God: and to fpeak of all thy works in 27 [City.] See Pfal. the gates of the [daughter]

ix. 14.

of Sion.

A Pfalm

A Pfalm of Afaph, wherein he bewails the destruction of Jerufalem, and the Temple, by Nebuchadnezzar and his Army. 'Tis uncertain who this Afaph was, who compofed it: But this feems evident enough, that be was one of those who were permitted to stay in their Native Country, and was a Spectator of all thofe Tragedies that were acted by the Babylonians, both in Jerufalem, and other parts of the Land. See Jer. lii,

Ut quid, Deus? Pfal. LXXIV.

God, wherefore art thou abfent from us fo long: why is thy wrath fo hot against the fheep of thy pasture?

2 [Church.]

3 The Tribe which

God did in an efpecial

manner chufe for the

2 O think upon thy [congregation]: whom thou haft purchased, and redeemed of old. 3 [Think upon the tribe of thine inheritance: and MountSion, wherein thou haft dwelt.] place of publick Worship, and the Royal Seat was Juda, Pfal. Ixxviii. 6. For it is cer tain, that fome part of the City Jerufalem ftood within the bounds of this Tribe, Joh. xv. 63. and if any, then of confequence Zion, which flood on the South-fide of Jerufalem, which was that part of the City which look'd toward Juda, Pf.xlviii. 3. [Confider, in an efpecial manner, that Tribe which thou haft fingled out from all the rett; and as it were appropriated to thy felf: Think on the whole Tribe, for the fake of that which is the chief glory of it Mount-Zion, where thou thoughteft fit to fix the Token of thy Prefence, the Ark.

4 [Lift up thy feet,] that thou mayeft utterly deftroy every enemy: which hath done evil in thy fanctuary.

4 [Come, or make hafte.] So the like Phrafe is used,Gen.xxix.

'tis there tranflated in our prefent English Bi

bles [went on his Journey,] but the Hebrew Phrase is put in the

Margent.

5 Thine adverfaries roar in the midft of thy congregations; and fet up their banners for tokens t.

+3

and Victory.

st of their Triumph 6 [He

6 [He who at the building of the Temple,

hew'd and carved the
Timber and other Ma-

terials for that purpofe,
was a Man famously
known, and spoken of
with Honour, for his
admirable Performan-
ces of this kind. ]
2 Chron. ii. 13,14.
Jer. lii. 12, 13.

9 [Synagogues, places for praying and hear ing the Law.]

10 [Miracles, as in former times.]

Here in our Native Country, for there were Prophets among the Cap

6 [He that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees: was known to bring it to an excellent work.]

7 all the carved work thereof: But now they break down with axes and hammers.

8 They have fet fire upon thy holy places: and have defiled the dwelling-place of thy Name, even unto the ground.

9 Yea, they faid in their hearts, Let us make havock of them altogether: thus have they burnt up all [the houfes of God]

in the land.

*

to We fee not our [tokens,] there is not one prophet more t: no not one is there among us that underftandeth any more. tives in Babylon, as Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, &c. but there were none at home after the death of Jeremiah; when this Pfalm muft therefore have been compofed."

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* No not one among us that understandeth any more,] that is, our Statesmen and Generals, and all that were skilful in any Science, are now vanish'd and gone. See Ifai iii. 2, 3.

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Exod. xiv.

II O God, how long fhall the adverfary do this dishonour: how long fhall the enemy blafpheme thy Name, for ever?

12 Why withdrawest thou thy hand why pluckeft thou not thy right hand out of thy bofom to confume the enemy?

13 For God is my king of old: the help that is done upon earth, he doth it himself.

14 Thou didst divide the fea through thy thy power thou

brakeft

brakeft the heads of the [dragons] in the waters.

and

15 Thou fmoteft the heads of [Leviathan] in pieces gaveft him to be meat for * the people in the wilderness.

14 [Sea-Monsters.] So he calls the Commanders of the Egyptian Army.

Is [Pharaoh.] Ezekiel alludes to thefe words,Chap. xxix.3,&c. By the People in the Birds: These may be

Wilderness is here meant the Beafts and called People in the fame fenfe that the Ants and Conies are, Prov. XXX. 25, 26. Pharaoh and his Army being drowned in the Red-Sea, and thrown up on the Shore, were there left as a Prey to the Birds and Beafts, the proper Inhabitants of the Defart,

16 Thou broughteft out fountains, and waters out of the hard rocks thou driedft up mighty.

waters.

17 The day is thine, and the night is thine: thou haft prepared the light and the fun.

18 Thou haft fet all [the borders] of the earth: thou haft made fummer and winter.

19 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy hath [rebuked:] and how the foolish people hath blafphemed thy Name,

20 O deliver not the foul of thy [turtle-dove] unto the multitude of the enemies and forget not the congregation of the poor for ever.

21 [Look upon the covenant: for all the earth is full of darkness and cruel habitations.]

Exod. xvii. 6,
Numb. XX. II.
Jef. iii. 15, 17.

18 [The feveral Climates, and the bounds of all Kingdoms and Empires. Acts xvii.25,

19 [Reproached.]

20 [Thy Church, which is as true to thee, as the Turtle to her

Mate, and, like that Bird, makes her moan, and filent Complaints to thee.]

21 [Remember thy Covenant with Abra

ham, whereby thou

didft promife this Land to him and his Pofterity, Gen.xv. 7. whereas 'tis now invaded by ignorant Idolaters, and inhabited by the moft cruel Enemies.]

22 Olet not the [fimple]

22 Humble, op, go away afhamed: but let the preffed. See Vocab, L 4

poor

poor and needy give praise unto thy Name.

23 Arife, O God, maintain thine own caufe: remember how the foolish man blafphemeth thee daily.

24 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the prefumption of them that hate thee, encreafeth ever more and more.

The Fifteenth Day. Morning Prayer.

A Ffalm or Song of Afaph, probably the Seer mentioned 2 Chron. xxix. 30.

Confitebimur tibi. Pfal. LXXV.

2 [Thy Power is always prefent, and at hand]

The 3d and 4th Verfes are the words of God Himfelf., Ham.

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*

3 When I receive the congregation: I fhall judge according unto right.

3 To receive the Congregation is a Phrafe fignifying to undertake the Government of a People, to interpofe or prefide in State-Affemblies: Sometimes God is reprefented as difcarding a People to fuch a degree, as to take no notice of their publick Tranfactions, Hof. viii. 4. but when he receives them again into Favour, then he takes their publick Confultations into his Care, and does by his Providence direct and moderate their Counfels.

4 [Laws and publick 4 The earth is weak, and all Juftice] which are elfe the inhabiters thereof; I bear up the [pillars] of it.

where called Foundati

ons, Pf.xi.3.here Pillars,

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5 I faid unto the fools, Deal not fo madly and to the ungodly, [Set not up your horn,

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