9. He will not alway be chiding : neither keepeth He His anger for ever.

10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our wickednesses.

'And the Lord passed by before Moses, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin,' and yet just and righteous to the guilty. These His attributes He proclaims no less clearly by His providence now, than He proclaimed them by His voice on Sinai. He Himself is hidden, but His love is shewn most plainly. His patience and His goodness, His readiness to forgive, if we would only be ready to repentance, His ceasing from His anger, if we would only cease from our evil doing,-all these are made most plain by His dealings with His people. He did not deal with Israel after their sins, He rewarded not them according to their wickedness; and therefore His Church now has boldness to pray, 'O Lord, deal not with us after our sins: Neither reward us after our iniquities.'

11. For look how high the heaven is in comparison of the earth: so great is His mercy also toward them that fear Him.

12. Look how wide also the east is from the west so far hath He set our sins from us.

13. Yea, like as a father pitieth his own

even so is the Lord merciful unto

children
them that fear Him.

Mighty indeed is the space between the infinite height of heaven above and the earth beneath, yet mighty as that,—or if there be aught higher,—is the mercy of our Lord toward them that humble themselves before Him. Wide indeed is the distance between the east and the west, yet so far,-or if there be anything more distant,-hath He set our sins from us. The measure of His Cross reacheth, like the ladder of Jacob, from earth to heaven, and such was the space that the mercy of the Redeemer spanned. His arms were extended wide to the east and to the west, separating in the vastness of His atoning love our sins from us. Like as a father loves his children, pities them in their sorrows, aids them in their efforts, and supplies them in their wants, so doth He Who is very love, from Whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named, look in mercy upon His creatures when they turn to Him in fear and worship. He Who hath taught us to say to Him, 'Our Father, Which art in heaven,' will ever be to us the Father which He hath bidden us to call Him. may one while be angry with us, yet He is our Father; He may chasten us and afflict us, yet He is our Father. Children are we, often profitless and self-willed; yet as a father pitieth his children, so ever doth He pity us.

He

14. For He knoweth whereof we are made: He remembereth that we are but dust.

15. The days of man are but as grass for he flourisheth as a flower of the field.

16. For as soon as the wind goeth over it, it is gone and the place thereof shall know it no more.

He knoweth what we are,-what we were made, -how we have fallen,-by what means we may be again restored. He knoweth from what He made us in the beginning. We are formed of clay: 'the first man is of the earth, earthy, the second Man is the Lord from heaven.' He remembereth His sentence upon us, 'Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.' Adam our father was the first who brought death upon us, Christ our Redeemer, Who came after him, yet rose before him, and brought life and immortality to them whose days were but as grass, whose beauty and honour beneath the breath of their Maker's displeasure were but like a flower breathed upon by the scorching wind, and withered, and forgotten.

17. But the merciful goodness of the Lord endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear Him and His righteousness upon children's children;

18. Even upon such as keep His covenant : and think upon His commandments to do them.

'All flesh is grass;' but the Word was made flesh, and became as we are, that we frail things might be

P

clothed with immortality. His merciful goodness, by which He pitied us, is not merely for the brief summer day of our mortal life, but endureth for ever and ever upon them who abide in His faith and fear. He is God, the faithful God, Which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations; therefore all the children of men unto many generations, if they will keep His covenant Who hath saved them, and walk in the way of His commandments Who hath loved them, shall be made righteous before God in Him Who, being the Word Which abideth for evermore, became even one with the grass which goeth in a day.

19. The Lord hath prepared His seat in heaven and His kingdom ruleth over all.

He Who descended and died, hath lifted up to heaven the nature which He took upon Himself, and there sitteth on the right hand of God, the King of a kingdom boundless and eternal. But He hath also, as it were, another seat and another heaven, even the heart of each one who loveth Him and keepeth His commandments. He Whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, will yet deign to dwell within a faithful and contrite heart.

20. O praise the Lord, ye angels of His, ye that excel in strength : ye that fulfil His commandment, and hearken unto the voice of His words.

21. O praise the Lord, all ye His hosts ye servants of His that do His pleasure.

:

22. Q speak good of the Lord, all ye works of His, in all places of His dominion: praise thou the Lord, O my soul.

Therefore praise we our God. But not alone: the angels, the mighty beings whom He has created to do His pleasure, to see His glory, to hear His voice, are ever praising Him; the hosts of Cherubim and Seraphim cease not their eternal cry of Holy, Holy, Holy. They praise Him with their deeds as with their words-readily, unweariedly, perfectly. All His works, in all the worlds which He has made, bless and praise Him Who made them what they are. Surely those souls which He has redeemed should join in the same ceaseless Alleluia,-surely His praise should be spoken on earth, as it is in heaven!

This Psalm is an alphabetic Psalm; it is in the title ascribed to David. It is full of the most eager and loving feelings of praise and thankfulness to God, the compassionate and forgiving Father of His creatures. With verse 13 compare St. Matth. vii. 9—11.

Ebening Prayer.

FOR WHITSUNDAY.

PSALM civ. Benedic, anima mea.

1. PRAISE the Lord, O my soul : O Lord my God, Thou art become exceeding glorious; Thou art clothed with majesty and honour.