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27 Add thou iniquity unto

their former wickedness;

And do not let them come at all
into thy righteousness.

28 Out of the book of life let them
be raz'd and blotted quite;
Among the just and righteous
let not their names be writ.

29 But now become exceeding poor
and sorrowful am I :

By thy salvation, O my God,
let me be set on high.

30 The name of God, I with a song
most cheerfully will praise;
And I, in giving thanks to him,
his name shall highly raise.

31 This to the Lord a sacrifice
more gracious shall prove
Than bullock, ox, or any beast

that hath both horn and hoof.
32 When this the humble men shall see,
it joy to them shall give :

O all ye that do seek the Lord,
your hearts shall ever live.

33 For God the poor hears, and will not
his prisoners contemn.

34 Let heav'n, and earth, and seas, him praise,
and all that move in them.

35 For God will Judah's cities build,
and he will Sion save,

That they may dwell therein, and it
in sure possession have :

36 And they that are his servants' seed
inherit shall the same;

So shall they have their dwelling there
that love his blessed name.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost:

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Ver. 8-John vii. 5.

PARALLEL PASSAGES.

Amen.

Ver. 15-Isaiah xliii. 2. 21-Matt. xxvii. 34. 26-Zech. i. 15.

9-John ii. 17.

13-Isaiah xlix. 8.

Ver. 36-Rev. xxi. 27.

PSALM LXX.

To the chief Musician, a Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.

In this short Psalm, the believer, feeling himself beset with many enemies, and sorely tried by their malice and enmity, prays (verse 1) for deliverance, and (verses 2, 3) predicts the certainty of their shame and confusion; and (verse 4) prays that all his fellow-believers in the Son of God may experience that inward joy which the world cannot give, and cannot take away; and, lastly, (verse 5,) renews his suit to God for help and a blessing. [ST. BRIDE'S.]

1 LORD, haste me to deliver;

with speed, Lord, succour me. 2 Let them that for my soul do seek sham'd and confounded be: Turn'd back be they, and sham'd that in my hurt delight.

3 Turn'd back be they, Ha, ha! that say,

their shaming to requite.

4 In thee let all be glad,

and joy that seek for thee:

Let them who thy salvation love
say still, God praised be.

U

5 I poor and needy am;

come, Lord, and make no stay:
My help thou and deliv'rer art;
O Lord, make no delay.

ANOTHER OF THE SAME.

[BLOW'S CHANT.]

1 MAKE haste, O God, me to preserve ; with speed, Lord, succour me.

2 Let them that for my soul do seek
sham'd and confounded be:

Let them be turned back and sham'd,
that in my hurt delight.

3 Turn'd back be they, Ha, ha! that say,
their shaming to requite.

4 O Lord, in thee let all be glad,
and joy that seek for thee:
Let them who thy salvation love
say still, God praised be.

5 But I both poor and needy am;
come, Lord, and make no stay:
My help thou and deliv'rer art;
O Lord, make no delay.

PARALLEL PASSAGE.

Ver. 4-Isaiah lxi. 10.

PSALM LXXI.

A Prayer in distress.

THIS Psalm is intended for any branch of the church of Christ in the season of affliction or persecution, or for any individual member of it, when beset with prevailing sins, or surrounded by calumnious and persecuting enemies. In the first fourteen verses, there is presented a series of very suitable and expressive prayers; and, in the remaining part of the Psalm, there is described the confidence which the believer feels of being heard and answered.

Let us lift up these and all our prayers through Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit will impart the confidence which is specified here. The amount of our faith is generally the measure of the answers we receive. If we give ourselves, by prayer, to God, in our youth, he will not forsake us when we are old and grey-headed. [ST. GREGORY.]

1 O LORD, my hope and confidence is plac'd in thee alone;

Then let thy servant never be

put to confusion.

2 And let me, in thy righteousness,
from thee deliv'rance have:

Cause me escape; incline thine ear
unto me, and me save.

3 Be thou my dwelling-rock, to which
I ever may resort:

Thou gav'st commandment me to save,
for thou'rt my rock and fort.

4 Free me, my God, from wicked hands,
hands cruel and unjust:

5 For thou, O Lord God, art my hope,
and from my youth my trust.

6 Thou from the womb didst hold me up;
thou art the same that me
Out of my mother's bowels took ;
I ever will praise thee.

7 To many I a wonder am;

but thou'rt my refuge strong.

8 Fill'd let my mouth be with thy praise
and honour all day long.

9 O do not cast me off when as
old age doth overtake me,

And when my strength decayed is,
then do not thou forsake me.

10 For those that are mine enemies against me speak with hate; And they together counsel take that for my soul lay wait.

11 They said, God leaves him; him pursue and take none will him save.

12 Be thou not far from me, my God; thy speedy help I crave.

13 Confound, consume them, that unto my soul are enemies;

Cloth'd be they with reproach and shame that do my hurt devise.

14 But I with expectation

will hope continually ;

And yet with praises more and more
I will thee magnify.

15 Thy justice and salvation

my mouth abroad shall show, E'en all the day; for I thereof the numbers do not know.

16 And I will constantly go on in strength of God the Lord; And thine own righteousness, e'en thine alone, I will record.

17 For even from my youth, O God, by thee I have been taught; And hitherto I have declar'd

the wonders thou hast wrought.

18 And now, Lord, leave me not when I old and grey-headed grow:

Till to this age thy strength and pow'r to all to come I show.