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to forsake God, that he sought him the more earnestly and fervently on that account, rising at midnight to give thanks' for all his 'righteous judgments' and dispensations towards his servants. Thus Paul and Silas, not only impoverished, but imprisoned, for the testimony of Jesus, yet in that situation, with their feet fast in the stocks, sang praises at midnight,' thereby turning their night into day, and their prison into a paradise; when, lo, their hallelujahs ascended to heaven, and God arose to judgment; the earth trembled, the doors were opened, the chains fell off, the gaoler and his family were converted, and the apostles set at liberty. And although there be no obligation on men to 'rise at midnight,' in order to give thanks; yet, if they who awake at that, or any other time, would accustom their hearts, at least, to so divine an exercise, they would find it always productive of the most comfortable effects.

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63. I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.'

As no sufferings should make us neglect our intercourse with God, so neither should they tempt us to forsake the communion of saints, or fellowship of them who fear God, and work righteousness.' These are knit together in love, as members of the same mystical body, insomuch that if one member suffer, or be honored, all the members should suffer or be honored with it;' these we should own at all times, in prosperity and in adversity; with these should our acquaintance and conversation be, for the mutual improvement and consolation of them and of ourselves. Of such was David a 6 companion,' and such the Redeemer himself' is not ashamed to call brethren.' Heb. ii. 11.

64. The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.'

Heaven and earth, and all that are therein, declare from day to day, the 'mercy' of their Creator and Preserver, which is over all his works.' And his goodness, thus displayed through the outward and visible world, forbids us to doubt of his loving kindness towards those immortal spirits, which, in tenements of mortal clay, make, for a while, their abode here below; during

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which short period, they beseech him earnestly to grant them such a portion of that saving knowlege, which is his gift, as may secure to them, when they shall depart hence, a place in a happier country, and a more enduring city. 'Teach me thy statutes!'

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TETH-PART IX.

65. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according to thy word.'

As the sense of our wants should prepare the mind for prayer, so gratitude for blessings received should tune the heart to praise. In preferring our petitions, self-love may sometimes have a share; but thankfulness is the offspring of an ingenuous spirit, and the love of God. Let a man carefully recount the divine mercies shown to him from his birth, considering withal how unworthy he hath been of the least of those mercies, as also how far preferable his state is to that of many others; and he will find reason 'in all things to give thanks,' to acknowlege, with David, the goodness and truth of Jehovah, and to say, 'Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according to thy word.'

66. Teach me good judgment and knowlege: for I have believed thy commandments.'

From thanksgiving, the Psalmist returneth again to prayer, as, while we continue in this world, we must all do. The gift, for which he now prayeth, is that of 'a good judgment with knowlege;' as the former must enable us to make a proper use of the latter. The word by, which is here translated judgment,' signifies bodily * taste,' and that faculty in the mind which answers to it, the faculty of discerning, distinguishing, and judging rightly of, things moral and spiritual, as the palate doth of meats, their different flavors and qualities. Without this taste or discretion, we mistake falsehood for truth in our studies, and wrong for right in our practice; superstition and enthusiasm may pass with us for religion, or else licentiousness may intrude itself on us, under the name and notion of liberty: in a word, our learning and knowlege prove useless, if not prejudicial, to us. Α

sound mind therefore should, above all things, be desired of God in our prayers; and those prayers will be heard, when we can sincerely profess a readiness to be directed by God's laws, through faith in their Author, his promises and threatenings; on which ground David urgeth his request; for I have believed thy commandments.'

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67. Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.'

We collect from this verse, that prosperity is too often the parent of sin; that adversity is, first, its punishment, then, its remedy; and that every considerate man, who hath been afflicted, will thankfully acknowlege as much. When afflictions fail to have their due effect, the case is desperate. They are the last remedy which indulgent Providence uses; and if they fail, we must languish and die in misery and contempt. Vain men! how seldom do we know what to wish or to pray for! When we pray against misfortunes, and when we fear them most, we want them most. The shortest and the best prayer which we can address to Him who knows our wants, and our ignorance in asking, is this-Thy will be done.' Lord Bolingbroke's Reflections on Exile, p. 276.

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68. Thou art good, and doest good: teach me thy

statutes.'

In other words, as bishop Patrick hath well connected and paraphrased it, 'Thou art in thine own nature kind and good; and nothing else can proceed from thee, who designest our good, even when thou afflictest us; take what methods thou pleasest with me, only teach me effectually to do as thou wouldst have me.'

69. The proud have forged a lie against me: but 1 will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.'

Every disciple of Christ, who, like his Master, goeth contrary to the ways of the world, and condemneth them, must expect to be, like that Master, slandered and calumniated by the world. To such slanders and calumnies, a good life is the best answer. When a friend once told Plato, what scandalous stories his enemies had propagated concerning him, I will live so,' replied that great philosopher, that nobody shall believe them.'

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70. Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.'

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The fatness of the heart' implieth, in this place, two things in those of whom it is affirmed; luxury, and its consequence, insensibility to those spiritual and divine truths, which are not only the study, but the delight,' of temperate and holy persons, who gladly fly from large companies, full tables, costly meats, and rich wines, to enjoy in private the more exalted pleasures of abstinence, meditation, and prayer.

71. It is good for me that I have been afflicted: that I might learn thy statutes.'

God's statutes are best learned in the school of affliction, because by affliction the great impediments to our learning them are removed; pride is subdued, and concupiscence is extinguished. He that hath suffered in the flesh,' saith an apostle, 'hath ceased from sin :' 1 Pet. iv. 1. and in an immunity from sin consisteth one of the greatest felicities of heaven, which thus descends into the afflicted soul, so as to render even the state of sickness itself, in some sort, desirable. Strange as this proposition may appear, the reader will find its truth demonstrated, by the inimitable bishop Jeremy Taylor, in that truly golden tract, 'The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying,' chap. iii. sect. 6. on 'The Advantages of Sickness. 72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.'

Affliction taketh from us the inclination to offend, and it giveth us, in return, a knowlege of that law which is better,' and which, when we are thoroughly acquainted with it, we shall esteem to be better, 'than thousands of gold and silver;' better in its nature, for it is from heaven, they are from the earth; better in its use, for it bringeth salvation to our souls, whereas they can only procure sustenance for the body; better in point of duration, for the benefits of one are certain and eternal, the advantages of the others temporal and uncertain. Blessed are they who seek in the Scriptures the true riches; who traffic for the spiritual gains of celestial wisdom; for surely 'the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.' Prov. iii. 14.

TWENTY-FIFTH DAY.—EVENING PRAYER.

JOD.-PART X.

73. Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn thy command

ments.'

The formation of man was the last and noblest work of God, and it is a standing miracle of divine wisdom and power. The consideration that God made us, is here urged as an argument why he should not forsake and reject us, since every artist hath a value for his own work, proportioned to its excellence. It is, at the same time, an acknowlegement of the service we owe him, founded on the relation which a creature beareth to his Creator. And the petition implieth in it a confession of our present inability to know his will without his revelation, and to do it without his grace.

74. They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.'

They who 'fear God' are naturally 'glad when they see' and converse with one like themselves; but more especially so, when it is one whose faith and patience have carried him through troubles, and rendered him victorious over temptations; one who hath ‘hoped in God's word,' and hath not been disappointed. Every such instance affordeth fresh encouragement to all those who, in the course of their warfare, are to undergo like troubles, and to encounter like temptations. In all our trials, let us therefore remember, that our brethren, as well as ourselves, are deeply interested in the event, which may either strengthen or weaken the hands of multitudes.

75. I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.'

This humble, pious, and dutiful confession, will be made by every true child of God, when under the correction of his heavenly Father. From whatever quarter afflictions come on us, they are 'the judgments of God,' without whose providence nothing befalleth us. His judgments are always 'right, or just,' duly proportioned to the disease and strength of the patient; in sending them, God

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