16. All the whole heavens are the Lord's : the earth hath He given to the children of men. 17. The dead praise not Thee, O Lord : neither all they that go down into silence. : 18. But we will praise the Lord from this time forth for evermore. Praise the Lord. For these His blessings must we pay Him back blessings on our part again. The heaven of heavens is where the eternal God unveils His glory, and there the Seraphim who dwell there bless Him evermore. The earth hath He given to us as our portion for a time, therefore while we live on earth let us bless Him for His mercy and His truth, with our lips and in our lives. The dead are departed from this earthly scene; their bodies sleep within the sepulchre, and they have no longer a portion in the things that are done under the sun; they can nc longer praise God with a mouth of flesh. But the saints made perfect in His brightness, as well as the believers in His Church on earth, can thank their God. The dead in trespasses and sins have no spirit of life or love within their hearts, and no voice of praise upon their lips; but we who are alive in Christ, citizens of the highest heaven, though sojourning for a while on earth-we will praise our God for all that He hath done for us, from this time forth for evermore. This Psalm, which is without a title, has sometimes been considered a part of the preceding one: it rather seems suited to the return from 1 the captivity. It is impossible to fix the date of its composition. The latter portion bears the mark of having been intended to be sung by choirs of priests, Levites, and Israelite worshippers at the temple, responding to one another alternately. In verse 1, the words "mercy and truth" should be compared with Rom. xv. 8, 9; and the opening portion of the Psalm, which is almost identical with the latter part of Psalm cxxxv., with Isa. xliv. 9-20; and also verse 15, with Gen. xiv. 19, 20. Morning Prayer. ONE OF THE PSALMS IN THE OFFICE FOR THE CHURCHING OF WOMEN. PSALM CXVI. Dilexi, quoniam. : 1. I AM well pleased that the Lord hath heard the voice of my prayer; LXX. I have felt love, for that the Lord will hear the voice of my petition. 2. That He hath inclined His ear unto me: therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. All the joy, and trust, and love of the human soul spring from the knowledge of the love of its God. Whether in Hezekiah healed from his deadly sickness, or in the Church of Israel coming back— 'she and the children whom the Lord had given her' -from her prison in Babylon, and once more keeping festival before the Lord in Zion,-whether in the Christian mother returning thanksgiving in the house of God for 'preservation in the great danger of child-birth,' or in the pardoned spirit absolved through Jesu's blood from the doom of sin, and de livered from eternal death,-wherever there is felt any joy or any love, it is but in answer to the loving-kindness and the goodness of our Father in heaven, Who hath heard us, and will ever hear us when we cry to Him. We can only love Him, because He first loved us; therefore while we live can we call with confidence in all our trouble on Him Who is our life. 3. The snares of death compassed me round about and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. 4. I shall find trouble and heaviness, and I will call upon the Name of the Lord O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul. : Sin hath come upon us, and pain and death, the close companions of sin. 'In the day that thou sinnest thou shalt die' was the warning given to the first man, which he despised; he strayed from God, and so fell into the snares of death. 'In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children' was the penalty pronounced upon the first woman. And so death and pain are become the heritage which the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve have gained from their first parents' sin. Each one of them has his and her allotted share; each one of them may make a most true prophecy,-'I shall find trouble and heaviness.' Yet through that overshadowing cloud of trouble and heaviness the love of our Father is shining still; and each one may add to the prophecy of trouble the resolve which bears them safe through it,-'I will call upon the Name of the Lord.' From amid the very snares of death, and under the oppression of pains of conscience, which are the foretaste of hell, the cry, 'O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul,' will reach the bowed-down ear of the Lord of love. 5. Gracious is the Lord, and righteous : yea, our God is merciful. 6. The Lord preserveth the simple: I was in misery, and He helped me. 7. Turn again then unto thy rest, O my soul for the Lord hath rewarded thee. : 8. And why? Thou hast delivered my soul from death mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. : : 9. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Grace, righteousness, and mercy are the three glories of our Lord and God. He is merciful, for He blessed the little ones that were brought unto Him, and ever preserveth them who seek to do His will in simpleness of heart and child-like faith. We may be in misery through our own fault and sin, yet if we be not obstinate in sin, He will seek us, help us, save us. He is righteous, for He chastens us when we deserve chastisement, and rewards us ten thousandfold for our obedience and right-doing. He is gracious, for He hath not only delivered our soul from spiritual death, but hath by His Holy Spirit saved our eyes from those blinding tears-the tears of too late repentance; and our feet from that most deadly fall -the fall into unforgiven sin. Should not then our souls-which yet we cannot truly call ours, seeing they are His-turn to Him Who hath turned to us, and find their rest in Him? Turn we to Him with the prayer of the soul,-for that is the very soul of prayer, and entreat we Him with all our mind and strength to guide us, by that path which is Himself, unto that land of life where all live unto Him, where there is no more weeping, because there is no more falling, and where there is no more falling, because there is no more weakness. 10. I believed, and therefore will I speak; but I was sore troubled I said in my haste, All men are liars. : When faith is joined to love, then are both made perfect; then can we make an acceptable confession before our Lord and Saviour. We believe, and therefore we speak, and He inclines His ear to us: 'for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' Faith and love together will overcome all this world's troubles, how sore soever they may be. We cannot trust to man; we may lean awhile upon an arm of flesh, but when trouble comes it will be of no help to us, and in our impatience and transport of grief we shall declare that all men are liars and deceivers, and shall feel sure that all men are utter nothingness and vanity. But 'he that believeth |