July 26

Psalm xi.—1. In the Lord put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

2. For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

3. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

4. The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

5. The Lord trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

6. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

7. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

Psalm xii.—1. Help. Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

2. They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.

3. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things;

4. Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own; who is lord over us?

5. For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.

6. The words of the Lord are pure words; as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

7. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord! thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.

8. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest men are exalted.

Psalm cxxi.—1. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.

2. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.

3. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.

4. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5. The Lord is thy keeper; tho Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

6. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.

7. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul.

8. The Lord shall preserve thy going-out and thy coming-in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

These psalms are all in the same key,—trust in the Lord in times of danger and trial. Adopting the view of Tholuck, and inverting the order of the first two, we have a connection in time as well as in thought. Psalm xii. was written while David was at the court of Saul, which was daily becoming more and more corrupt. He sees that fraud and flattery pave the way to promotion. He knows that he is the object of envy, and surrounded by hypocrites and insigniers. But, though he is thus heinous about by the ungodly who are plotting his destruction, he will not lose heart "so long as the gate of prayer is open." By that he can always escape to his Refuge and Helper.

Psalm xi. was written when David, driven out by the jealousy of Saul, was hunted "as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains." For years he was a fugitive in the mountains of Judah bordering upon the Dead Sea, flitting from height to height as a bird pursued by the marksman; but,

though the wicked seemed to triumph, he never lost his confidence in God. "Though justice, faith, and truth may seem to have fled from the earth, Jehovah will never suffer the boundaries which separate right from wrong to be effaced. He continues holy and unchangeable on his heavenly throne, and is able in a moment to reverse the most desperate condition of his servants."

Psalm cxxi. is of later date, and by another hand. The troubled soul looks for help to the hill of Zion where Jehovah dwells. "The weak in faith are prone to imagine, at the delay of divine deliverance, that God has forgotten them;" but he never ceases his watch, never withdraws his care. It is a token of the inspiration of the Psalms, that, however they may have been prompted by the circumstances of the writers, they come home to our personal experiences, and utter our thoughts and feelings as if coined out of the conflicts and the desires, the sorrows and the hopes, of our own hearts.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 17, 35, 37.

Thou only, Lord, makest us to dwell in safety: therefore will we lie down in peace, and sleep. We commit ourselves to thy keeping; for the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Oh! keep us this night under the shadow of thy wings; grant us the sleep which thou givest to thy beloved.

O Lord Jesus, who hast invited the weary and heavy-laden to come unto thee that thou mayest give them rest! grant us, we pray thee, rest from all care and trouble, from all sin and sorrow; and prepare us by thy grace for that holy and blessed rest which remaineth for the people of God.

We thank thee for this holy day,—its sacred memories, its blessed communion of prayer and praise, its comforting sacraments, its teachings and promises, and its immortal hopes.

Bless thy Word, O Lord! to all who have heard it: to the young, for their guidance; to the aged, for their comfort; to all, for their instruction in righteousness. And, O Lord! send, we pray thee, thy Word to those who have it not. Let thy salvation be known in all the earth; and hasten the coming of thy kingdom. And unto thy name be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.