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30 Then stood up Phinees and prayed: and fo the plague ceased.

31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness : among all pofterities for evermore.

32 They angred him alfo at the waters of ftrife: fo that he punished Mofes for their fakes;

33 Because they provoked his spirit: fo that he fpake unadvisedly with his lips.

34 Neither deftroyed they the heathen: as the Lord commanded them;

35 But were mingled among the heathen: and learned their works.

36 Infomuch that they worshipped their idols, which turned to their own decay: yea, they offered their sons and their daughters unto devils.

37 And fhed innocent blood, even the blood of their fons and of their daughters: whom they offered unto the idols of Canaan, and the land was defiled with blood.

38 Thus were they stained with their own works: and went a whoring with their own inventions.

39 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people infomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance. 40 And he gave them over into the hand of the heathen: and they that hated them, were lords over them.

41 Their enemies oppreffed them: and had them in fubjection.

42 Many a time did he deliver them: but they rebelled against him with their own inventions, and were brought down in their wickedness.

43 Nevertheless when he faw their adverfity: he heard their complaint.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Pfalm cvi.] To improve this pfalm to our edification, we must obferve chiefly these three things. i. The confeffion which the Jews made of their fins and rebellion, their murmurings and ingratitude, and the idolatry they had several times been guilty of. From hence we may learn, on one hand, not to imitate the ingratitude and infidelity of that people, fince God has conferred infinitely greater mercies on us than on them; and on the other, to acknowledge and confefs our fins before God, when

we

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9.2.

44 He thought upon his covenant, and pitied them, according unto the multitude of his mercies: yea, he made all thofe that led them away captive to pity them.

45 Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the heathen: that we may give thanks unto thy holy Name, and make our boast of thy praise.

46 Bleffed be the Lord God of Ifrael from everlasting, and world without end: and let all the people fay, Amen.

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MORNING PRAYER.
Pfalm cvii. Confitemini Domino.

Give thanks unto the Lord, for he is gracious: and
his mercy endureth for ever.

2 Let them give thanks, whom the Lord hath redeemed: and delivered from the hand of the enemy;

3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east and from the weft: from the north, and from the fouth.

4 They went aftray in the wilderness out of the way: and found no city to dwell in.

5 Hungry and thirsty their foul fainted in them.

6 So they cried unto the Lord in their trouble: and he delivered them from their diftrefs.

7 He led them forth by the right way that they might go to the city where they dwelt.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATION S. we have offended him. 2. We here fee, that whenever the Ifraelites fell into difobedience, they felt the effects of God's wrath. God does not fuffer the difobedience of men to go unpunished; but punishes the fins of thofe whom he has received into his covenant, and who abufe his favours: which he does in order to recover them to their duty. Therefore, when God vifits us, either with general calamities, or particular afflictions, inflead of murmuring, we ought to acknowledge the juftice of his chaftiicments, make a right ufe of them, and be afraid to draw new ones upon curfelves by the hardness of our hearts. 3. It is faid in this pfalm, that God in his great goodness had borne with the Jews, taken pity on them, and even delivered them upon feveral occations. These are proofs of God's great mercy; that he is full of compaffion and long-fuffering to men, even to thefe who have offended him; and is always ready to pardon men, as foon as they grow better by his correction, and to make them happy.

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8 O that men would therefore praife the Lord for his goodnels and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men !

9 For he fatisfieth the empty foul: and filleth the hungry foul with goodness ;

10 Such as fit in darkness, and in the shadow of death : being faft bound in mifery and iron.

11 Because they rebelled against the words of the Lord : and lightly regarded the counfel of the most Highest:

12 He alfo brought down their heart through heaviness: they fell down, and there was none to help them.

13 So when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble: he delivered them out of their distress.

14 For he brought them out of darkness, and out of the fhadow of death: and brake their bonds in funder.

15 O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!

16 For he hath broken the gates of brafs: and smitten the bars of iron in funder.

17 Foolish men are plagued for their offence: and be-caufe of their wickedness.

18 Their foul abhorred all manner of meat: and they were even hard at deaths door.

19 So when they cried unto the Lord in their trouble: he delivered them out of their diftrefs.

20 He fent his word, and healed them: and they were faved from their deftruction.

21 O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men !

22 That they would offer unto him the facrifice of thanksgiving: and tell out his works with gladnefs!

23 They that go down to the fea in fhips: and occupy their bufinefs in great waters.

24 Thefe men fee the works of the Lord: and his wonders in the deep.

25 For at his word the ftormy wind arifeth: which lifteth up the waves thereof.

26 They

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26 They are carried up to the heaven, and down again to the deep their foul melteth away because of the trouble. 27 They reel to and fro, and ftagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end.

28 So when they cry unto the Lord in their trouble: he delivereth them out of their distress.

29 For he maketh the ftorm to cease: fo that the waves thereof are ftill.

30 Then are they glad, because they are at reft: and fo he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.

31 O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men !

32 That they would exalt him alfo in the congregation of the people and praife him in the feat of the elders!

33 Who turneth the floods into a wildernefs: and drieth up the water-fprings.

34 A fruitful land maketh he barren; for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

35 Again, he maketh the wilderness a standing water: and water-fprings of a dry ground.

36 And there he fetteth the hungry: that they may build them a city to dwell in.

37 That they may fow their land, and plant vineyards: to yield them fruits of increase.

38 He bleffeth them, fo that they multiply exceedingly : and fuffereth not their cattle to decrease.

39 And again, when they are minished and brought low: through oppreffion, through any plague or trouble;

40 Though he fuffer them to be evil intreated through tyrants: and let them wander out of the way in the wildernefs:

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Pfalm cvii.] This very inftructive pfalm. ferves to teach us, that God does wifely difpenfe all that happens to men; and that when they are fugitives, and difperfed, captives, fick, and in danger of perithing, affiated with famine, or in fome other manner, it is God that makes them pafs through all thofe trials, that he may engage them to call upon him, and have recourfe to his power and goodnefs. This pfalm therefore thews

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41 Yet helpeth he the poor out of mifery and maketh him houfholds like a flock of sheep.

42 The righteous will confider this and rejoice: and the mouth of all wickednefs fhall be stopped.

43 Whofo is wife will ponder thefe things: and they fhall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.

have.

EVENING PRAYER.

Pfalm cviii. Paratum cor meum

God, my heart is ready, my heart is ready: I will fing and give praise with the best member that I

2 Awake thou lute and harp: I myself will awake right early.

3 I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the people: I will fing praises unto thee among the nations.

4 For thy mercy is greater than the heavens and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.

5 Set up thyself, O God, above the heavens and thy glory above all the earth.

6 That thy beloved may be delivered: let thy right hand fave them, and hear thou me.

7 God hath spoken in his holinefs: I will rejoice therefore, and divide Sichem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

8 Gilead is mine, and Manaffes is mine: Epraim alfo is the ftrength of my head.

PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS.

us, that it is the duty of perfons in affliction, to apply themfelves to God by humble and fervent prayer for deliverance out of all their misfortunes; that when men cry to God in their distress, and turn to him, he takes pity on them, and delivers them from all their troubles; and that it is the duty of thofe, who, by the help of God, have efcaped any great fickness, danger of death, or other afflictions, to fhew their gratitude to him all their lives, and to celebrate his loving-kindnefs before all. Those who have been in affliction should take particular notice of these things. It is very common with men to fly to God in their fufferings; but when the danger is over, they generally forget the divine favours, and fall into ingratitude.

PRAC.

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