PSALM LXXXIII.

Or the same spirit with Psal. ii. and xxxv.

Behold, thine enemies advance
With roaring rage, like seas,
To swallow up thy saints at once,
Devouring them with ease,
Unless thou, Lord, in mercy come,
And drive them back again--
Behold, Messiah brings us home,
And with him makes us reign!

KEEP not, O God, we thee entreat,
O keep not silence now:

Do thou not hold thy peace, O God,
And still no more be thou.

2 For, lo, thine enemies a noise
Tumultuously have made;
And they that haters are of thee
Have lifted up the head..

3 Against thy chosen people they
Do crafty counsel take;

And they against thy hidden ones
Do consultations make.

4 Come, let us cut them off, said they,
From being a nation,

That of the name of Isr'el may
No more be mention.

5 For with joint heart they plot, in league Against thee they combine.

6 The tents of Edom, Ishm'elites, Moab's and Hagar's line;

7 Gebal, and Ammon, Amalek, Philistines, those of Tyre;

8 And Assur join'd with them, to help Lot's children they conspire.

1

9 Do to them as to Midian,

Jabin at Kison strand;

10 And Sis'ra, which at En-dor fell,
As dung to fat the land.

11 Like Oreb and like Zeeb make
Their noble men to fall;
Like Zeba and Zalmunna like,
Make thou their princes all;

12 Who said, For our possession
Let us God's houses take.

31 My God, them like a wheel, as chaff Before the wind, them make.

14 As fire consumes the wood, as flame Doth mountains set on fire,

15 Chase and affright them with the storm And tempest of thine ire.

16 Their faces fill with shame, O Lord, That they may seek thy name.

17 Let them confounded be, and vex'd, And perish in their shame:

18 That men may know that thou, to whom
Alone doth appertain

The name JEHOVAH, dost most high.
O'er all the earth remain.

PSALM LXXXIV.

EXACTLY similar in all respects to Psalm lxiii. whose illustration see.

To mansions in our Father's house,
Our FORERUNNER has gone,
That he may then prepare for us,

And come again anon:

How pleasant were they unto him!
How pleasant now to us!

Our glory there shall ne'er grow dim ;
Our gain ne'er suffer loss!

1

HOW

OW lovely is thy dwelling-place,
O Lord of hosts, to me!

The tabernacles of thy grace
How pleasant, Lord, they be!
2 My thirsty soul longs veh❜mently,
Yea faints, thy courts to see:
heart and flesh cry out,

My very

O living God, for thee.

3 Behold, the sparrow findeth out

An house wherein to rest;

The swallow also for herself
Hath purchased a nest;

Ev'n thine own altars, * where she safe
Her young ones forth may bring,
O thou almighty Lord of hosts,

Who art my God and King.

4 Bless'd are they in thy house that dwell, They ever give thee praise.

5 Bless'd is the man whose strength thou art, In whose heart are thy ways:

6 Who passing thorough Baca's vale, Therein do dig up wells;

Also the rain that falleth down

The pools with water fills.

To me, it is inconceivable, how sparrows or swallows could fix their nests in the altars of God, which were of brass or rough stones, and had a fire perpetually burning upon them, and multitudes of priests and Levites crouding around them. God did not allow of any trees to be planted near to them. I cannot believe God's tabernacle or temple was polluted with the nests and ordure of birds, in the manner of our ruinous churches. Nor, can I see this idea answerable to the context, or scope of the Psalm : Might not the verse be rather translated, As the sparrow findeth the house, and the swallow the nest for herself, where she hath put her young ones, my soul findeth thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God, i. e. with inexpressible ardour I long for, and desire them; and with ineffable pleasure I approach them, in order to intimate fellowship with my God. Compare ver. 1, 2. 10. of this Psalm. with Psalms xlii. 1, 2. -xlii. 3. 4.-(Rev. Mr Brown, Haddington.)

7 So they from strength unwearied go
Still forward unto strength,
Until in Sion they appear

Before the Lord at length.

8 Lord God of hosts, my prayer hear; O Jacob's God give ear.

9 See God our shield, look on the face Of thine Anointed dear.

10 For in thy courts one day excels
A thousand; rather in,

My God's house will I keep a door,
Than dwell in tents of sin.

11 For God the Lord's a sun and shield:
He'll grace and glory give;

And will withhold no good from them
That uprightly do live.

12 O thou that art the Lord of hosts,
That man is truly blest,
Who by assured confidence
On thee alone doth rest.

PSALM LXXXV.

DESCRIPTIVE and commemorative, according to the season then being, of the past, present, and future ways of the Lord God towards his people, his elected church; who indeed, as to their persons, are innumerable, but as to their spirits, are one with their Lord their Head, in whose name and communion, by the Holy Ghost, who dwelleth in them all, they are authorised and led, conjunctly and severally, to breathe forth their joyful spirits into their Father's bosom, in this gloriously triumphant song of praise.

Behold the blessings, here describ'd,
Of everlasting Grace,

Whose reign is only circumscrib'd
By the utmost bounds of space:
For truth and mercy both are one :
Justice hath kissed peace;

And God's come down to join with man
In a divine embrace.

1

LORD, thou hast been favourable
To thy beloved land:

Jacob's captivity thou hast
Recall'd with mighty hand.

2 Thou pardoned thy people hast
All their iniquities;

Thou all their trespasses and sins
Hast cover'd from thine eyes..

3 Thou took'st off all thine ire, and turn'dst
From thy wrath's furiousness.
4 Turn us, God of our health, and cause (
Thy wrath 'gainst us to cease.

5 Shall thy displeasure thus endure
Against us without end?

Wilt thou to generations all
Thine anger forth extend?

6 That in thee may thy people joy,
Wilt thou not us revive?

7 Shew us thy mercy, Lord to us Do thy salvation give.

8 I'll hear what God the Lord will speak : To his folk he'll speak peace,

And to his saints; but let them not
Return to foolishness.

9 To them that fear him surely near
Is his salvation.

That glory in our land may have
Her habitation.

10 Truth met with mercy, righteousness
And peace kiss'd mutually: