lence which the murmuring of Israel had brought upon them; and Samuel the prophet, when he prayed to Him and He discomfited the battle-array of the Philistines at Mizpeh. When they appealed to Him as the Almighty King, He heard them and gave judgment in their cause. Then He even visibly answered their call; for when, after the gainsaying of Korah, 'the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, they looked toward the tabernacle of the congregation, and behold the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment.' He was ever the King of His chosen ones, and they have ever been His people, and have kept 'the law that He gave them.' He ever heard them when they prayed; He ever forgave them when they craved for mercy; He ever punished them-even Moses, the giver of His law, and Aaron, the priest of His sanctuarywhen they followed their own will and their self-advised plans, rather than His royal law and word. Yea, from the beginning even unto the end, seen and unseen, among the children of Abraham and among the nations of the world, in the darkness of Sinai, and in the light of Tabor, in the day of His humiliation and His flesh on earth, and on the right hand of God in heaven,-Christ the Son of God hath ever been an Almighty, all-righteous, ever-present King, reigning in the unity of the Father and of the Holy Ghost, very and eternal God. To Him is all wor

ship due from His Church on earth and from His Church in heaven, from men here below, and from saints, and angels, and cherubim, and seraphim, in the world on high, where they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, Which was, and is, and is to come.'

This Psalm, which is untitled in the Hebrew, in the LXX. resembles those which precede it, in being given to David. It was clearly written in the period between the death of Samuel and the captivity. The word "holy," which is three times repeated, at the end of verses 3, 5, 9, seems to divide the Psalm into three parts, and to recal the threefold "Holy, Holy, Holy" in the song of the seraphim in Isa. vi. 1-4, and in the ascription of the four Living Things in Rev. iv. 8. With verse 7 compare also Exod. xxxiii. 7—11.

ONE OF THE CANTICLES AT DAILY MORNING

PRAYER.

PSALM C. Jubilate Deo.

1. O BE joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: serve the Lord with gladness, and come before His presence with a song.

The Gospel was to be preached to all lands, beginning at Jerusalem-therefore shall all lands be joyful in their Lord. Where there was once the slavery of sin, through Him is proclaimed the freedom of grace. We who once were the bondsmen of corruption and the captives of death, have indeed still a Lord; but we do Him service, not by constraint, but with gladness,-the gladness of love, for He is the One Who loved us, and died for us, and redeemed us; and in the fulness of eucharistic joy we come before Him not only with prayers and peni

tence, but with a song of joy like that of angels,— of 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards men.'

2. Be ye sure that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

By faith are we saved. Let us be sure that our Lord He is God: we crucified Him, scourged Him, spat upon Him, crowned Him with thorns, clothed Him with mockery, hanged Him upon the Cross, pierced Him with nails, wounded Him with a spear, sealed Him within the tomb; we made Him vile, and rejected Him in our pride and sin; yet let us believe, be confident, be sure that He is God. He at Whom we mocked is He Who made us; He Whom we pierced is the Shepherd Who came to save us wandering sheep. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.' We could not make ourselves, neither could we save ourselves; but He Who loved us hath made us His, and led us back again into His own immortal pastures, both feeding us and being Himself our food.

3. O go your way into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and speak good of His Name.

Therefore in all joyfulness and lovingness let us go our way in Him Who is the Way, by His truth,

Who is Himself the truth, unto life-unto Him Who is the Life for ever and ever-Who is the Way without erring, the Truth without deceiving, the Life without fading;-the Way by example, the Truth by promise, the Life by reward. Let us, His people, go within His gates of faith and holiness with thanks for His calling and His electing love; let us enter into His earthly courts, His Church below, with praise to Him for the means of grace He has stored therein. The offering of thankfulness and praise which we bring, He will accept, and will lay up for us in His treasury, until we can offer it again most perfectly in His eternal courts of heaven.

4. For the Lord is gracious, His mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth from generation to generation.

For our Lord and God is gracious, yea, He is grace itself. His mercy is eternal: He never ceases to be merciful. He hath mercy upon us in our mortality, and His mercy fails not until it bringeth us to immortality. His truth endureth for this world and for that which is to come. His promise cannot fail,-'Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.'

This is most justly entitled in the Hebrew "A Psalm of praise." The LXX. render it "A Psalm of confession." It calls upon the redeemed world to rejoice in its Lord, and assigns as grounds for thankfulness, His grace, His mercy, and His truth. It was anciently appointed to be used at the offering of the peace-offerings for thanksgiving, (Lev. vii. 12). It is very fitly appointed by the Church now to be used as one of the Canticles after the second lesson at Morning Prayer. The following remarks of Bishop Horsley, in his Trans

lation of the Book of Psalms, will throw considerable light upon the six preceding Psalms, that is, the ninety-fifth to the hundredth. He says "These six Psalms form, if I mistake not, one entire prophetic poem, cited by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews, under the title of 'The Introduction of the First-Born into the World.' Each Psalm has its proper subject, which is some particular branch of the general argument, the establishment of the Messiah's kingdom. The ninety-fifth Psalm asserts Jehovah's Godhead, and His power over all nature, and exhorts His people to serve Him. In the ninety-sixth Psalm all nations are exhorted to join in His service, because He cometh to judge all mankind, Jew and Gentile. In the ninety-seventh Psalm, Jehovah reigns over all the world, the idols are deserted, the Just One is glorified. In the ninety-eighth Psalm, Jehovah hath done wonders, and wrought deliverance for Himself. He hath remembered His mercy toward the house of Israel: He comes to judge the whole world. This, I think, clearly alludes to a restoration of the Jewish nation. In the ninety-ninth, Jehovah, seated between the cherubim in Zion, the visible Church, reigns over all the world, to be praised for the justice of His government. This Psalm alludes, I think, to a reign of Jehovah in Zion subsequent to the restoration of the Jewish nation, when Moses, Aaron, and Samuel are to bear a part in the general worship. In the hundredth Psalm, all the world is called upon to praise Jehovah the Creator, Whose mercy and truth are everlasting." Vol. ii. pp. 85, 86.

PSALM ci. Misericordiam et judicium.

1. My song shall be of mercy and judgement unto Thee, O Lord, will I sing.

Each member of the Church of Christ, when the preciousness of his birthright as a child of God and the mightiness of his privileges as an inheritor of heaven is set before his mind, cannot but, like David when exalted to be the ruler of Israel, turn unto his Lord in heaven, 'Who hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father,' with thankfulness and earnest longings to keep the commandments which He Whom he loves hath given. The thoughts