The psalmist lamenteth the loss of God's favour.

38 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, thou hast been wroth with thine anointed.

39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground.

40 Thou hast broken down all his hedges; thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin.

41 All that pass by the way spoil him he is a reproach to his neighbours.

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42 Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice.

43 Thou hast also turned the edge of his sword, and hast not made him to stand in the battle.

44 Thou hast made his glory to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground.

45 The days of his youth hast

thou shortened: thou hast covered him with shame. Selah. 46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

47 Remember how short my time is wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

49 LORD, where are thy former loving kindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

50 Remember, LORD, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people; 51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. 52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

LECTURE 934.

How the covenant of God may be made void.

Countless are the devices of man's deceitful heart, for reconciling a life of disobedience with the enjoyment of the divine blessings. The covenant of God, for instance, is pleaded by some, as authorising or sanctioning a life of ungodliness. And men express themselves as if they were surprised to find that there is any risk of their perishing everlastingly, after they have once been bound to God, and God bound to them, by that most sacred bond. Let such persons hear the psalmist, the inspired psalmist say to God, "thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant." Let them learn hence, that this must be a righteous thing for God to do, whensoever his people by their transgressions make void their covenant with Him. The descendants of David had no ground to complain in their grievous calamities. Their disasters and disgrace were the consequences of their own misconduct. And Christians, the seed of Him who is the seed of David, Christians who according to the promises of Christ might

look to wear "a crown of glory that fadeth not away," 1 Pet. 5. 4, will have no one but themselves to blame to all eternity, if they should be given up to the malice of their spiritual enemy, and sentenced to everlasting shame.

We must own that there appears to be some difficulty here. There appears to be some ground for the devices of self deceit in this unquestionable truth, that God is at once just, and the Justifier of them which believe in Jesus; in the life and immortality brought to light by Christ in the gospel, and offered in his name to the very chiefest of sinners. But though there is ground on which those who wish to be deceived may be deceived, there is nothing which need perplex an honest enquirer after truth; there is nothing to uphold any one in the notion, that because he is a Christian, because he is by covenant a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, therefore he may the more safely lead a life the very opposite to that which God has commanded. No, certainly; for the same holy Scriptures, which tell us the glad tidings of the Gospel, set forth this great instance of God's love, the redemption of mankind by Christ, as in itself a most weighty reason for standing in awe of his judgments. And even our own sense could tell us, that the greater is the mercy which we venture to abuse, of so much the sorer punishment are we worthy.

And yet who is there amongst us that has not by wilful transgression made void his covenant with God? Who durst venture to abide by the words of the Gospel, as the rule of his life, and the measure of his sentence, to be applied to him in all their fulness, and in all their strictness, to be applied to all that he has done, and said, and thought, all that he has wished, and loved, and feared, since the time when he was made partaker of the Christian covenant? Blessed be God, that we are yet allowed to plead for fresh acts of grace on his part, for renewal of pardon, and renewed restoration to his favour. Let us with the psalmist plead our own infirmity, how short our time is, how frail we are,

lovingkindnesses, and beseech Him to repeat them yet once more in our behalf. Let us urge the reproach wherewith his enemies are apt to reproach not only us, but the cause which we bring into discredit, if we fall away unto perdition. And whilst we pray that God may raise us up, and make us to walk uprightly in the ways of his commandments, let us not conclude without praising his holy name, alike for the mercies we have heretofore experienced, and for those which we pray and hope for in time to come. "Blessed be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen."

The psalmist lamenteth how short our time is.

A Prayer of Moses the man of God.

1 Lord, thou hast been our 10 The days of our years are dwelling place in all genera- threescore years and ten; and tions. if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and

withereth.

7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

s Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

LECTURE 935.

The prayer of this psalm adapted to our case.

If this psalm were written, as the title implies, by Moses, it was probably on occasion of the great mourning wherewith the people mourned in the wilderness, on being informed that by reason of their faithless murmurings they should perish there, and never come into the promised land. See Numb. 14. 39. It certainly expresses sentiments very suitable to the Israelites in that season of most deep affliction, but which are also just, and true, seasonable, and profitable, at all times, and to all mankind. God, the eternal God, is in all ages a never failing refuge to mortal man. His eternal being is ever fitted to inspire confidence

and adoration in us, who for our sins have been made mortal, and whose time, whether it be a thousand years as at the first, or threescore and ten as now, is but as yesterday in the sight of the Almighty. His sentence it is that has turned us to destruction, saying, "Return, ye children of men," or, as it is written in the book of Genesis, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Gen. 3. 19. He it is who makes us to be swept away "as with a flood," to pass off" as a sleep," to be cut down and wither "like grass." It is by his anger that we are consumed, by his wrath that we are troubled. And why? because of our iniquities; because our most secret sins are open in the sight of Him with whom we have to do. Because we are transgressors of his will, rebellious children, creatures that submit not to the laws of their Creator; therefore are our days few and evil, therefore do we soon bring our years to an end, even as a tale that is told.

But with our mortality thus staring us in the face, with the many instances daily reminding us, that in the midst of life we are in death, how few are there that seriously lay to heart the power of the wrath of God! how few who seem to understand, that in proportion as they duly fear God, the risk of suffering by his wrath is less! Well may we all join in this supplication of the psalmist, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." The shorter our time is, and the more we therefore hasten to enjoy it, make us, O Lord, sensible, that our way to live in pleasure, is to live according to thy will. In the marvellous forbearance and loving kindness, which Thou hast shewed to thy servants, let us find a constant source of joy, a continual theme of thankfulness. And as Thou hast been pleased to work good out of evil, and hast turned even the sin of man into an occasion of manifesting thy own great goodness in the redemption of mankind through Christ, so let us also be "glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us," let our transitory years of trouble soon be turned into an eternity of joy. "Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children." Yea, Lord, give us the wisdom to see, to understand, and to acknowledge, thy marvellous work, in the saving of our sinful race. "And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us," that is to say, the beauty of holiness in which Thou Thyself art ever glorious. "And establish thou the work of our hands upon us : yea, the work of our hands establish thou." Work in us that which is good; and accept the good works which we are thus enabled to do; establish them, record them in our favour, and reward them according to thy promise, in the world which is to come, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The psalmist setteth forth the safety of the godly.

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

3 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

4 He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7 A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

8 Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the LORD which is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation;

10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

11 For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

12 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

13 Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

LECTURE 936.

The witness of prophecy to the blessedness of Christ.

Happy indeed are they to whom this beautiful description may justly be applied; safe in the midst of danger, with angels to minister to their safety, with God himself for their Friend; happy they of whom it may be truly said, that they dwell "in the secret place of the most high." Surely these are they to whom the apostle writes, "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Col. 3. 2, 3. Surely this is to dwell "in the secret place of the most high," when in our hearts we are much with Him by faith, not caring for our devout affections to be gazed on by mankind, but delighting to pour them out in prayer and praise unto our "Father, which seeth in secret ;" Matt. 6. 18; and delighting to pour them before God in acts of self denial, zeal, and bounty, so privately and quietly performed,