5. Let them be confounded and turned backward as many as have evil will at Sion.

6. Let them be even as the grass growing upon the house-tops which withereth afore it be plucked up;

7. Whereof the mower filleth not his hand : neither he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosom.

8. So that they who go by say not so much as, The Lord prosper you we wish you good luck in the Name of the Lord.

The mischief that the cruel and wicked have done to the faithful shall return with far deeper bitterness upon themselves. Their plans shall be brought to confusion; their progress shall be downward and backward. They shall become fruitless and withered, like the grass growing upon the flat house-roof under the southern sky, which springs up only to die. It withers and perishes before one can pluck it up; sapless and tasteless, it is of no value as hay to the mower; it cannot even be twisted as bands to be used in binding up the sheaves. It gives occasion for none of the joy of harvest, nor for the mutual salutations and blessings between those who are reaping in the fields and the passers-by who greet them at their work. Even so shall they that have evil will at the Church of God 'fade away in their ways.'

It is difficult to say whether this Psalm belongs to the time of the captivity, or to an earlier period. Verse 3 is generally taken by the

Fathers as a prophecy of our Lord's being scourged, (St. John xix. 1). It may illustrate verse 6, to remark that the roofs of houses in the East are flat, and often made of clay beaten hard, on which grass might spring up, but would soon become too dry and brittle to be of any value either for fodder or hay-bands. (Compare St. Matt. xiii. 5, 6.) With verse 8 compare Ruth ii. 4. The expression of our translation, "We wish you good luck," is still commonly used as a valediction in some of the north-western counties of England.

FOR ASH-WEDNESDAY, BEING THE SIXTH
PENITENTIAL PSALM.

PSALM CXXX. De profundis.

1. OUT of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord Lord, hear my voice.

2. O let Thine ears consider well: the voice of my complaint.

Not merely from the mouth, but from the very depths of the soul, do the righteous cry to God in their trouble. Out of the deepest do we cry loudest unto the Highest. Like Jonah from the bottom of the sea, like the Redeemer from the floods of death, they are ever heard who cry from the deep of contrition and the overwhelmings of repenting shame and sorrow. His ear is ever open to the prayer that comes up from the depths of a troubled spirit.

3. If Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss: O Lord, who may abide it?

4. For there is mercy with Thee: therefore shalt Thou be feared.

If God should judge us narrowly and strictly,

being extreme in marking all our shortcomings and transgressions, who of all the sons of Adam could stand before Him? He would be indeed to be dreaded with a deep and terrible fear! But He is most merciful; He judges rather as a Father than a Judge: He hath loved us, and given His Son to be the propitiation for our sins; therefore do His mercy and His love make us fear to offend Him still more as a merciful Father than as an extreme Judge. Perfect love casteth out terror; but love only heightens and purifies the fear that is holy and divine. It is because our God is merciful to us, that we should really fear and reverence Him.

5. I look for the Lord; my soul doth wait for Him in His word is my trust.

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6. My soul fleeth unto the Lord before the morning watch, I say, before the morning watch.

LXX. From the morning watch until night,

Let Israel hope in the Lord.

7. O Israel, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy and with Him is plenteous redemption.

8. And He shall redeem Israel: from all His sins.

So amid all the darkness of our own waywardness and evil, we look out waiting for the mercy of our Lord, like a watchman impatiently watching and longing for the morning, after a night of anxious

ness. Let us wait for Him from the morning of our birth until the night of death, and still watch through the night of death, unto the morning watch of the everlasting day. Patience is the perfection of faith; we can wait, because we know that with Him is mercy. He knows the time, and if we wait long enough we shall most surely find redemption from Him,―redemption not only from the guilt of sins that are past, but from the power of those that may come upon us. In our patience we possess our souls; if we wait and watch, we at length shall see the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world'-if we seek we shall find Him 'Whose name should be called Jesus, for that He should save His people from their sins.'

This "pilgrim-song" is evidently a Psalm of the captivity, and was used after the return to put the Israelites in mind of their trouble and punishment, and that patient faith which at length brought them out of their distress. Bp. Horsley thinks it was used on bringing a sinoffering. With verses 7, 8, compare St. Luke ii. 38; Rom. xi. Rabbi Kimchi says that "this last verse was added to the Psalm that Israel might never despair of redemption on account of iniquities, however great the number of them might be. Their God," he says, " will pardon these, and will give them a new heart, and then a full redemption both of body and soul will follow." This is the sixth penitential Psalm, and it is appointed for Ash-Wednesday.

PSALM CXXXI. Domine, non est.

1. LORD, I am not high-minded : I have no proud looks.

2. I do not exercise myself in great matters which are too high for me.

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They that would be Christ's will ever seek for the

grace of humility. They will quench within themselves the pride of the heart and the pride of the eye. They will be humble, and will seem humble, who follow Him 'Who humbled Himself even unto death.' They will not strive for honours, or riches, or power, knowing how dangerous these are to the soul; still less will they doubt, or reason, or question, concerning those great matters of faith which God has revealed concerning Himself, but which are too high for us to understand or search into-which are too high even for the angels.

3. But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, like as a child that is weaned from his mother : yea, my soul is even as a weaned child.

LXX. If I was not humble-minded,

But exalted my soul:

As unto a child weaned from his mother,
Thus shalt Thou reward unto my soul.

As David, though anointed to the kingdom, returned back to the care of his father's sheep in the wilderness, in humility and meekness of heart; as the Lord of David took upon Him the form of a servant, and abhorred not the Virgin's womb, but came into this world as a little Child, gentle, mild, and tender, to be borne upon his mother's bosom, and to receive soothing and comfort as a weaned child; even so must we, baptized to be children of God, bear to be weaned from the delights and the enjoyments of earth; even so must we look not to ourselves, but to our Father Who gives us each day our daily bread; and think ever on the words and