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speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul (or life) take counsel together, saying,' &c.What, pray, would a man in the flower of his age make of that same flower of his age, and prime of strength, more than an old man of his old age, if God were to leave him?-But we pass to ver. 17. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto I have declared thy wondrous works. Now also, when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have showed thy strength to this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.'-The margin* has another reading, which is according to the Hebrew, Unto 6 old age, and gray hairs, O God, forsake me not'or, abandon me not.-Now, where is there any thing dark here, but the prepossessed judgments of the commentators?-How amazing is the power of prejudice!-When we hear of a man who has lived fast, and wasted his strength in riot and debauchery, it is reckoned even elegant, as it is indeed most expressive language, to say, that such a one is an old man, or an extreme old man, (meaning in constitution,) although he has not attained to what, in another situation, would be called the flower of his age. --but when THE SON OF DAVID, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs; who, when he was seen, had no form nor comeliness, why he should be desired; whose visage was more marred than the sons of men; who himself bare our infirmities and pains, and became like a bottle in the smoke, consumed with the zeal of his Father's house; who wasted himself in watchings, fastings, and prayers, by night and by day, doing the work which he came to finish in his blood :—when he, I say, describes his personal sufferings, and the real visible effects thereof upon his body, rendering him, when but about thirty years of age, apparently feeble and weak, like an old man; insomuch (which even the commentators allow, and make their own use of upon occasions)

Prose Psalms of the Bible.

that his countrymen, when ridiculing him for saying, Before Abraham was, I am,' cry out, • Thou art not yet FIFTY years old, and hast thou seen Abraham ?—If his countenance had not borne the traces of near fifty years, they would surely have taken nearer marks of his age, to have insulted him the more. -But yet he cannot be allowed the common use of common language, to describe one of the plainest things in all the now revealed mystery of godliness!-But Satan and his ministers could not so effectually hide the gospel from the minds of men, nor have the honour of marching so popularly and cordially, upon the head of their thousands and ten thousands, to hell, were it not for their artful blinds, and deceitful manoeuverings about the Psalms. May the sovereign Lord of all, whose words they have grievously and fatally wrested, pluck the blind leaders, and the blind led, as brands from the fire, and save them by his own blood!

In various forms, and various phrase,
Obedient to his Father's will,
Messiah speaks his Father's praise,
And hastens to his holy hill:
Grown old and weak with pain and grief,
Before his years were half complete,
He calls on God to send relief,

Preventing him with mercy sweet.
LORD, my hope and confidence
Is plac'd in thee alone; -
Then let thy servant never be
Put to confusion.

2 And let me, in thy righteousness,
From thee deliv'rance have:

Cause me escape, incline thine ear
Unto me, and me save.

3 Be thou my dwelling-rock, to which
I ever may resort :

Thou gav'st commandment me to save,
For thou'rt my rock and fort.

4 Free me, my God, from wicked hands, Hands cruel and unjust:

5 For thou, O Lord God, art my hope,
And from my youth my trust.

6 Thou from the womb didst hold me up;
Thou art the same that me
Out of my inother's bowels took ;
I ever will praise thee.

7 To many I a wonder am;

But thou'rt my refuge strong.

8 Fill'd let my mouth be with thy praise
And honour all day long.

90 do not cast me off, when as
Old age doth overtake me;
And when my strength decayed is,
Then do not thou forsake me.
10 For those that are mine enemies,
Against me speak with hate;
And they together counsel take
That for my soul lay wait.

11 They said, God leaves him; him pursue And take: none will him save.

12 Be thou not far from me, my God: Thy speedy help I crave.

13 Confound, consume them, that unto My soul are enemies:

Cloth'd be they with reproach and shame
That do my hurt devise.

14 But I with expectation

Will hope continually;

And yet with praises more and more
I will thee magnify.

15 Thy justice and salvation

My mouth abroad shall show.

Ev'n all the day; for I thereof
The numbers do not know.

16 And I will constantly go on

In strength of God the Lord;

And thine own righteousness, ev'n thine
Alone, I will record.

17 For even from my youth, O God,
By thee I have been taught;
And hitherto I have declar'd

The wonders thou hast wrought.

18 And now, Lord, leave me not, when I Old and gray-headed grow:

Till to this age thy strength and pow'r
To all to come I shew.

19 And thy most perfect righteousness,
O Lord, is very high,

Who hast so great things done: O God,
Who is like unto thee?

20 Thou, Lord, who great adversities,
And sore, to me didst show,
Shalt quicken, and bring me again
From depths of earth below.

21 My greatness and my pow'r thou wilt
Increase and far extend

On ev'ry side against all grief
Thou wilt me comfort send.

22 Thee, ev'n thy truth, I'll also praise,
My God, with psaltery:
Thou Holy One of Israel,

With harp I'll sing to thee.

23 My lips shall much rejoice in thee,
When I thy praises sound;

My soul, which thou redeemed hast,
In joy shall much abound.

24 My tongue thy justice shall proclaim,
Continuing all day long;

For they confounded are, and sham'd,
That seek to do me wrong.

PSALM LXXII.

THE same as Psalm ii. with its parallels.

Resound aloud the voice of praise!
Let soul and voice ascend to heav'n!
Messiah claims your highest lays :
To him the glory due be giv'n!
The King of Righteousness extol!
The King of Righteousness and Peace!
Where rivers flow, and oceans roll,
Let nations all his reign increase!

10 LORD, thy judgments give the king,

His son thy righteousness.

2 With right he shall thy people judge,
Thy poor with uprightness.
3 The lofty mountains shall bring forth
Unto the people peace;

Likewise the little hills the same
Shall do by righteousness.

4 The people's poor ones he shall judge,
The needy's children save;

And those shall he in pieces break
Who them oppressed have.

5 They shall thee fear, while sun and moon Do last, through ages all.

6 Like rain on mown grass he shall drop, Or showers on earth that fall.

7 The just shall flourish in his days,
And prosper in his reign:

He shall, while doth the moon endure,
Abundant peace maintain.

8 His large and great dominion shall

From sea to sea extend:

It from the river shall reach forth
Unto earth's utmost end.

Z