the inclement influences of the nocturnal heavens, by the kindly warmth and splendour diffused from the pillar of fire. Be thou with us, thy servants, O Lord, in the world, as thou wast with Israel in the wilderness; suffer not our virtue to dissolve before the sultry gleams of prosperity; permit it not to be frozen by the chilling blasts of adversity.

7. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8. The LORD shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in, from this time forth for evermore.

To dissipate our fears, and remove every ground of diffidence, Jehovah promises, by his holy prophet, to preserve us from all evil, which might befall us in the way; either by turning it aside, or turning it finally to our advantage, so that we shall not perish, but see our labours happily begun and ended in him: he shall preserve our going out, and our coming in, until, through all the vicissitudes of this mortal state, he shall have brought us into his holy temple, there to become pillars, and to go no more out. Rev. iii. 12.

PSALM CXXII.

ARGUMENT.

THE author of this Psalm, as we are informed by its title, was David. The subject of it is, that joy which the people were wont to express, upon their going up in companies to keep a feast at Jerusalem, when the divine services were regulated, and that city was appointed to be the place of public worship. Every thing which can be said upon this topic, must naturally hold good in its application to the Christian church, and the celebration of her feasts; at which seasons the believer will as naturally extend his thoughts to the Jerusalem above, and to that festival which shall one day be there kept by all the people of God.

1. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.

Great was the joy of an Israelite, when his brethren called upon him to accompany them, on some festive occasion, to the tabernacle, or temple, at Jerusalem; great is the joy of a Christian, when he is invited, in like manner, to celebrate the feasts of the church, to commemorate the nativity, or the resurrection, and tọ eat and drink at the table of his Lord. Such, in kind, but far greater in degree, is that gladness, which the pious soul experiences, when she is called hence ;

when descending angels say unto her, Thy labour and sorrow are at an end, and the hour of thy enlargement is come; put off mortality and misery at once; quit thy house of bondage, and the land of thy captivity; fly forth, and "let us go together unto the house of the LORD, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

2. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem!

Yes, O thou holy and happy city of peace, and love, and everlasting delight, our God will in time bring us to behold, and to enter thee; our feet, which now, with many a weary step, tread the earth, shall one day stand within thy gates, which are opened to all believers; we shall at length rest in thy celestial mansions, and converse for ever with thy blest inhabitants!

3. Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together.

We see thee not, indeed, as yet, but we hear of thy stability, thy unity, thy beauty, and thy magnificence. Thy foundations are firm upon the holy hills; they are garnished with all manner of precious stones; and in them are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Thy gates are of pearl, twelve in number, and open to all quarters, for the tribes of the spiritual Israel to come in. Thy streets are of pure gold, as it ́ were transparent glass; thou art crowned with the unfading brightness of eternal glory; and the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, are the temple in the midst of thee. All these glorious things are spoken

of thee, thou city of God! And yet, when we come to see thee with our eyes, we shall be forced to confess, as the queen of Sheba did upon viewing the earthly Jerusalem, with its material temple, and the court of its mortal king, that thou far "exceedest the fame which we had heard," and that "the half was not told us."

4. Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto, or, according to, the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.

As all the tribes of Israel, three times in the year, were seen going up to the old Jerusalem, in compliance with the testimonies, the injunctions, and institutions of their law, to acknowledge the mercies, and to give thanks unto the name of Jehovah, who had done such great things for them; so from the ends of the earth are the redeemed of the Lord, out of every nation, and kindred, and people, continually ascending, by faith and charity, to the new Jerusalem. St. John saw the nations of them that were saved, walking in the light of the heavenly city, and he heard her streets resound with the hallelujahs of ten thousand times ten thousand.

5. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

The Israelites resorted to Jerusalem, because it was the metropolis of the country, and there was the residence of their monarchs, after the kingdom was established in the house of David. But, alas! that metropolis is desolate, and the thrones of judgment, which were therein, have been long since cast down

to the ground. A Jerusalem, however, remains, which shall never be moved; in that Jerusalem is the throne of eternal judgment erected, and the Son of David sitteth upon it. Of him it was said by the angel to Mary: "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end:" And he himself thus addressed his apostles: "Verily, I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

6. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.

In this latter part of our Psalm, the members of the Israelitish church are exhorted to pray for its peace and welfare. What that church was, the Christian church militant upon earth now is, and demands, in like manner, the prayers of all Christian people, for its peace and welfare in a troublesome and contentious world. Its increase here below, is in reality the increase of Jerusalem above, of which it is a part, and ought to be a resemblance. Heaven has therefore decreed, that they who contribute their labours, as well as their prayers, to promote so good and so glorious an end, shall enjoy its protection, and its blessing shall be upon the work of their hands; "They shall prosper that love thee."

7. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity, or, plenteousness, within thy palaces.

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