14 The Lord upholdeth all fuch as fall: and lifteth up all thofe that are down.

15 The eyes of all wait upon thee, O Lord: and thou giveft them their meat in due feafon.

16 Thou openeft thine hand and filleft all things living with plenteousness.

17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways: and holy in all his works.

18 The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him yea, all fuch as call upon him faithfully.

19 He will fulfil the defire of them that fear him: he alfo will hear their cry, and will help them.

20 The Lord preferveth all them that love him: but fcattereth abroad all the ungodly.

21 My mouth fhall speak the praise of the Lord and let all flesh give thanks unto his holy Name for ever and ever.

PRAIS

Pfalm cxlvi. Lauda, anima mea.

RAISE the Lord, O my foul; while I live will I praise the Lord: yea, as long as I have any being, I will fing praises unto my God.

2 O put not your trust in princes, nor in any child of man for there is no help in them.

3 For when the breath of man goeth forth, he shall turn again to his earth and then all his thoughts perish. 4 Bleffed is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help and whofe hope is in the Lord his God;

5 Who made heaven and earth, the fea, and all that therein is who keepeth his promise for ever;

6 Who helpeth them to right that fuffer wrong: who feedeth the hungry.

15 The eyes of all] This figure is the fame as that which is employed in pfalm cxxiii. Behold, as the eyes of fervants look unto the hands of their mafters, &c.

18 Faithfully] It fignifies the conftancy of the addrefs, not giving up the petition when it is not immediately granted, but enforcing it with importunity.

Pfalm cxlvi.] This is another folemn form of prafing God, his great power and mercy, his patronage to all that are in diftrefs, his judgments, and the eternity of his kingdom. It is thought to have been compofed at the return from the captivity

7 The Lord loofeth men out of prison: the Lord giveth fight to the blind.

8 The Lord helpeth them that are fallen: the Lord careth for the righteous.

9 The Lord careth for the ftrangers; he defendeth the fatherlefs and widow: as for the way of the ungodly, he turneth it upfide down.

10 The Lord thy God, O Sion, fhall be King for evermore: and throughout all generations.

EVENING PRAYER.

Pfalm cxlvii.' Laudate Dominum.

Praise the Lord, for it is a good thing to fing prafes unto our God: yea, a joyful and pleafant thing it is to be thankful.

2 The Lord doth build up Jerufalem: and gather together the cutcafts of Ifrael.

3 He healeth those that are broken in heart: and giveth medicine to heal their fickness.

4 He telleth the number of the ftars: and calleth them all by their names.

5 Great is our Lord, and great is his power: yea,

and his wifdom is infinite.

6 The Lord fetteth up the meek and bringeth the ungodly down to the ground.

7 O fing unto the Lord with thanksgiving: fing praises upon the harp unto our God;

8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, and prepareth rain for the earth: and maketh the grafs to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the use of men.

7] It is remarkable that one of the spiritual characteristics of the Meffiah is drawn here from his protection of the oppreffed against a corrupt judicature. I fee the idea confirmed by numberlefs paffages, that the perverfion of justice was a national fin among the Jews, and none can support it more ftrongly than thofe where the oppofition to fuch a court and fuch judges is not literally defigned, but is used to exprefs generally the blessings of our Saviour's advent.

Pfalm cxlvii.] It has been conjectured from ver. 2, that this pfalm was written to celebrate the return of Ifrael from Babylon, when Jerufalem and the temple were rebuilt. It is a folemn form of magnifying God in his works of power and mercy.

9 Who giveth fodder unto the cattle: and feedeth the young ravens that call upon him.

10 He hath no pleasure in the ftrength of an horfe: neither delighteth he in any man's legs.

11 But the Lord's delight is in them that fear him: and put their truft in his mercy.

12 Praife the Lord, O Jerufalem: praise thy God,

O Sion.

13 For he had made faft the bars of thy gates: and hath bleffed thy children within thee.

14 He maketh peace in thy borders: and filleth thee with the flour of wheat.

15 He fendeth forth his commandment upon earth: and his word runneth very fwiftly.

16 He giveth fnow like wool: and fcattereth the hoarfroft like afhes.

17 He cafteth forth his ice like morfels: who is able to abide his froft?

18 He fendeth out his word, and melteth them: he bloweth with his wind, and the waters flow.

11 He fheweth his word unto Jacob: his ftatutes and ordinances unto Ifrael.

20 He hath not dealt fo with any nation; neither have the heathen knowledge of his laws.

Pfalm cxlviii. Laudate Dominum.

Praife the Lord of heaven: praife him in the height.

2 Praife him, all ye angels of his : praise him, all his hoft.

9] "He giveth to the beaft his food, and to the young ravens that cry," Bib. tranfl. It may be worth obferving, that the circumftances confine the word tranflated beat to fuch as are wild. Beafts that live among men are taken care of by men; but the wild beafts that live upon the mountains, in woods and defert places, are fed only from heaven. He is faid to provide for the young ravens. An ancient philofopher, in his history of animals fays, the raven expofes her young ones when they are not able to help themselves, and must certainly perifh, if God by his fpecial care did not provide for them.

Pfalm cxlviii.] All the creatures in the invifible and vifible world, are called upon by the pfalmift to unite in a grand chorus of praife and thanksThe various parts are performed by the angelic hofts, the mateand the luminaries placed in them; the ocean with its inmeteors of the air; the earth, as divided into hills and

3 Praife him, fun and moon: praise him, all and light.

4 Praise him, all ye heavens and ye waters that are above the heavens..

5 Let them praise the Name of the Lord : for he spake the word, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created.

6 He hath made them faft for ever and ever: he hath given them a law which fhall not be broken.

7 Praise the Lord upon earth: yedragons, and all deeps; 8 Fire and hail, fnow and vapours: wind and ftorm, fulfilling his word;

9 Mountains and all hills: fruitful trees and all cedars ; 10 Beasts and all cattle: worms and feathered fowls; II Kings of the earth and all people: princes and all judges of the world;

12 Young men and maidens, old men and children : praise the Name of the Lord: for his Name only is excellent, and his praise above heaven and earth.

13 He fhall exalt the horn of his people; all his faints fhall praife him even the children of Ifrael, even the people that ferveth him.

Sing unto the Lord a new fong: let the congregation of faints praise him.

2 Let Ifrael rejoice in him that made him: and let the children of Sion be joyful in their King.

3 Let them praise his Name in the dance: let them fing praises unto him with tabret and harp.

4 For the Lord hath pleasure in his people: and helpeth the meek-hearted.

vallies, with the vegetables that grow out of it, and the animals that move upon or about it; the human race of every degree, of each fex, and of every age, more especially the church of God. The paraphrafe of this pfalm, composed by Dr. Ogilvie, is truly fublime; Dr. Horne has it in his commentary on the pfalms.

Pfalm cxlix.] This is a thanksgiving for fome great victory afforded to the people of God. It myftically exprefles the eminent favour of God to his church, and the conqueft of the Chriftian faith over the heathen potentates.

5 Let the faints be joyful with glory: let them rejoice in their beds.

6 Let the praises of God be in their mouth and a two-edged fword in their hands;

7 To be avenged of the heathen: and to rebuke the people;

8 To bind their kings in chains: and their nobles with links of iron.

7] The Jews, mistaking as ufual the time, place, and nature of Methah's glorious kingdom, imagine this pfalm will receive its accomplishment by their being made rulers of the nations, and lords of all things here below.

Pfalm cl. This is a folemn exhortation to all men in the world, to make ufe of all melodious inftruments and voices to celebrate the praifes of God's power and majesty. The pfalmift concludes his divine book of praifes by calling upon every thing that hath breath, to employ that breath in declaring the glory of Him who gave it. HOSANNAH, HALLELUJAH!

I am concerned that I cannot affent to the principal part of the new interpretation of the lxxxviith pfalm, which has been lately propofed in a fermon by the Rev. Dr. Eveleigh, provost of Oriel college, Oxford, that "Zion had been in a certain fenfe the birth-place of the furrounding nations;" namely, Philiftia, Tyre, and Arabia. It is agreed that this pfalm was compofed in praise of Zion; and it feems to be the object of the author in the 4th verfe to compare the most celebrated countries with this place. Egypt, Babylon, Philiftia, Tyre, and Arabia, would comprehend perhaps all the nations with whom the Ifraelites had any intercourfe, certainly fome of the most diftinguished that were fituated in their neighbourhood: and even further, this enumeration might be confidered as comprehending the whole of the civilized world known at that time, with whom any comparifon of this kind could be made. The meaning of the verfe may be this "It is more honourable to me (any Jew or Ifraelite in general, as Dr. E. well explains it) to be called a native of Zion, than a native of any of the moft renowned places of the heathens."

Whether the laft clause should be tranflated as in the Bible verfion, or as Kennicott and the prefent learned author have fuggefted, "But princes are as flain men," the difference will not affect this explanation. According to the first tranflation, the players on inftruments should celebrate in their fongs, as worthy of fuch a record, this place, as the place of his birth; and I do not know how it can be otherwife, when, as Dr. E. admits,

all the old verfions appear to confider the Hebrew words as declaratory, in fome way or other, of gladness and rejoicing." According to the other tranflation, princes will fignify the chief perions in the places of the heathens before-mentioned, who would be without regard in comparison of a perfon who had the fimple advantage of being a native of Zion.

It will be feen, that there is no neceflity for referring this pfalm to a period after the Babylonifh captivity, if this fuppofition is juft. The compariton then does not refpect, as I have faid in the notes from Hammond, the number of eminent perfons born in Judea, but the circumftance only of being born there, that being a fufficient caufe of pre-eminence.