and patient Jesus himself, "how long shall I be with you, how long shall I suffer you?"-Matt. xvii. 17.

5. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state, (Heb. settled,) is altogether vanity."

The age of man, or that of the world, is but a 'span' in dimension, a moment in duration; nay, it is less than both, it is 'nothing,' if compared with the unmeasurable extent, and the unnumbered days, of eternity; every hour from that of our birth, brings us so much nearer to our death: nor can we continue, for a second of time, in one stay. Behold, then, O Lord, the 'vanity' of man; and be so merciful unto him, as to open his eyes, that he may behold it himself!

6. "Surely every man walketh in a vain show," or in a shadowy image: "surely they are disquieted in vain he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them."

This world is, to the other, as a 'shadow' to the substance; nay, temporal life, health, riches, honours, and pleasures, can hardly be called shadows of those which are eternal, in point of resemblance; though for their illusive and fleeting nature, they are shadows indeed. The mortal state of man is compounded of light and darkness; seeming to be something, when really it is nothing; always altering, and ending on a sudden; nearest to disappearing, when at full length; sure to continue no longer than while

the sun is above the horizon; but liable to vanish at the interposition of a cloud; and when it is gone, leaving no track behind it.' The fate of riches heaped up by misers, with unutterable care and anxiety, may convince us, how ' vainly' men are 'disquieted!'

7. "And now, LORD, what wait I for? My hope is in thee."

The soul, that hath a true sense of the vanity of the creature, will at once fix her thoughts and affections on the Creator. A celebrated writer, describing a man of the world on his death-bed, hath expressed this sentiment with wonderful sublimity and elegance-'whoever would know, how much piety and virtue surpass all external goods, might here have seen them weighed against each other, where all that gives motion to the active, and elevation to the eminent; all that sparkles in the eye of hope, and pants in the bosom of suspicion; at once became dust in the balance, without weight, and without regard. Riches, authority, and praise, lose all their influence, when they are considered as riches, which to-morrow shall be bestowed upon another; authority, which shall this night expire for ever; and praise, which, however merited, or however sincere, shall, after a few moments, be heard no more.'

8.

"Deliver me from all my transgressions ; make me not the reproach of the foolish."

Affliction hath then had its proper effect, when the sufferer is thereby convinced of sin, and therefore prayeth for a removal of the latter, as the only way to be delivered

from the former. The 'reproaches' of the foolish make no inconsiderable article in the account of a Christian's sufferings; and our Lord frequently complaineth of them, in the Psalms, as one of the bitter ingredients in his own cup.

9. "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it."

Whatever materials compose the rod of affliction, and from whatsoever quarter the stroke cometh, let us remember, that the rod is grasped, and the stroke is inflicted, by the hand of our heavenly Father. To revenge ourselves on the instrument is folly; to murmur against the agent is something worse.

10. "Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thy hand."

The Christian, who knows from whence his troubles proceed, knows where to apply for relief; and having first 'petitioned' for remission of sin, ver. 8. he then humbly supplicates for a mitigation of his sorrow. 'Father,' saith the beloved Son of God, "if thou be willing, remove this cup from me." Luke xxii. 42.

11. "When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty," or all that is delightful, or desirable in him, "to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity,"

The body of man is as a 'garment' to the soul in this garment sin hath lodged a 'moth,' which by degrees,

D

fretteth and weareth away, first, the beauty, then the strength, and, finally the contexture of its parts. Whoever has watched the progress of a consumption, or any other lingering distemper, nay, the slow and silent devastations of time alone, in the human frame, will need no farther illustration of this just and affecting similitude; but will discern at once the propriety of the reflection which follows upon it :-'Surely every man is vanity!'

12. "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry: hold not thy peace at my tears; for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were."

Meditation should terminate in devotion: and meditation on human vanity and misery, if indulged as it deserves to be, certainly will do so; it will bring us to our 'prayers,' our 'cries,' and our 'tears;' and teach us to address the throne of grace, as poor pilgrims in a strange land, who have here no abiding city, but are soon to strike our tents, and be gone for ever. Such was David, though king of Israel; and such was the Son of David, in the body of his flesh, though Lord of all things: both were strangers and sojourners, as all their fathers,' Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were before them, and as all their children have been and shall be after them, upon the earth.

13. "O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more."

Most fervently and affectionately, therefore, ought the Christian pilgrim to pray, that God would spare his life

and respite the fatal sentence, until all that hath been decayed, through the frailty of nature, be renewed by the power of grace; that his perfect reconciliation with the Almighty may be accomplished, and his plenary pardon sealed in heaven, before he taketh his last farewell of the world, and ceaseth to have an existence in these regions of vanity and sorrow.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Domine, refugium.

PSALM XC.

Bishop Horsley considers this as 'The prayer of Moses the man of God, occasioned, probably, by God's sentence against the murmuring Israelites;' but as before, I select Horne, his Argument and Commentary.

[This Psalm is called, in its title, prayer of Moses, the man of God.' By him it is imagined to have been