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peace. Mahomet's prayer, were it the prayer of a righteous man and a prophet, could not fatisfy divine juftice; the blood of bulls and goats was always infufficient for that purpose, being a figure only for the time then present, which ceased of course when the reality appeared. "Sacrifice and burnt offering "thou wouldeft not; then faid I, Lo I come." God incarnate reconciled all things in heaven and earth. When Chrift appeared in our nature, the promise was fulfilled, and "Truth fprang out of the "earth." And now, Righteoufnefs, " looking down "from heaven," beheld in him every thing that the required; an undefiled birth, an holy life, an innocent death; a fpirit and a mouth without guile, a foul and a body without fin. She faw, and was fatisfied, and returned to earth. Thus all the four parties met again, in perfect harmony: Truth ran to Mercy, and embraced her; Righteousness to Peace, and kiffed her. And this could only happen at the birth of Jefus, in whom " the tender Mercy of

our God vifited us, and who is the Truth; who "is made unto us Righteousness, and who is our "Peace." See Luke i. 78. John xiv. 6. I Cor. i. 30. Ephef. ii. 14. Thofe that are thus joined, as attributes, in Chrift, ought not, as virtues, to be separated in a Christian, who may learn how to refemble his bleffed Lord and Mafter, by obferving that short, but complete rule of life, comprehended in the few following words: Shew Mercy, and fpeak Truth; do Righteousness, and follow Peace. See St. Bernard, in his Sermon on the Annunciation,

and, from him, Bishop Andrews on these two verses of our Pfalm *.

12. Yea, the LORD fhall give that which is good: and our land fhall yield her increafe.

Unless God vouchfafe a gracious rain from above, the earth cannot " yield her increase." The effects of the incarnation of Chrift, the defcent of the Spirit, and the publication of the Gofpel among men, are frequently fet forth in Scripture under images borrowed from that fruitfulnefs caufed in the earth by the rain of heaven. Thus Ifaiah, Drop down ye "heavens from above, and let the fkies pour down

righteousness; let the earth open, and let them "bring forth falvation, and let righteousness spring up together. xiv. 8. I will pour water upon him "that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I "will pour my Spirit upon thy feed, and my bleffing (6 upon thine offspring. And they shall spring up as among the grafs, as willows by the water courses. "xliv. 3. As the rain cometh down from heaven, " and watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth " and bud; fo fhall my word be," &c. lv. 10. Give us evermore, O Lord, "that which is good, that our land may yield her increase;" give us that good gift, the gift of thy Spirit, that we be "neither "barren nor unfruitful in the knowlege of our Lord Jefus Chrift." 2 Pet. i. 8.

• Solutà captivitate, felicem populi ftatum defignat, omni bonorum copiâ et virtutibus florentis; quæ maximè impleta funt, poftquam Chriftus ipfa veritas, idemque pax noftra, è terrâ ortus eft. BOSSUET.

13. Righteousness

13. Righteousness shall go before him, and shall fet us in the way of his fteps; or, and fhall fet his fleps in the way.

Upon the appearance of the Redeemer, "Righte"oufness" is reprefented "as going before him," like his harbinger the Baptift, to prepare and make ready his way. In that way, the way of righteousness, "he fet his steps," and walked therein, without the leaft deviation, until he had finished his appointed course. Draw us, bleffed Jefu, and we will run after thee, in the path of life; let thy mercy pardon us, thy truth enlighten us, thy righteousness direct us, to follow thee, O Lamb of God, whitherfoever thou goeft, through poverty, affliction, perfecution, and death itself; that our portion may be for ever in thy kingdom of peace and love,

XVII DAY. MORNING PRAYER,

PSALM LXXXVI.

ARGUMEN T.

This Pfalm is entitled, A prayer of David, and supposed to have been written in fome of his great diftreffes. Like others of the fame kind, it is calculated for the use of the church, during her fufferings here below, by which the is conformed to the image of the true David, that man of forrows. It contains, 1. an earneft fupplication, grounded

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on the poverty, 2. the holinefs, faith, 3. importunity, and 4. devotion, of the fuppliant; and on 5-7. the goodnefs, and 8. power of God, 9, 10. to be one day acknowledged by all nations, at their converfion. After this follows, 11. a petition for wisdom, strength, and fingleness of heart; 12, 13. a thankf giving for redemption; 14. a complaint of perfecution from the wicked; 15. an act of faith; 16, 17. a prayer for help and falvation.

1. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, and hear me : for I am poor and needy.

All prayer is founded on a sense of our own wants, and God's ability to fupply them. In the fight of his Maker, every finner is "poor and needy;" and he muft become fo in his own, that his petitions may be regarded; he must pray, with the humility and importunity of a ftarving beggar, at the gate of heaven, if he expect the great King to bow down his "ear and hear him." "The prayer of the humble,” faith the wie fon of Sirach, " pierceth the clouds; "and till it come nigh, he will not be comforted; "and will not depart till the moft High fhall behold." Ecclus. xxxv. 17. The bleffed Jefus, "though he "was rich, yet for our fakes became poor, and had "not where to lay his head;" nor is it to be doubted, but that in his ftate of humiliation, he oftentimes made his prayer to the Father in these very words "Bow down thine ear, O LORD, and hear me; for "I am

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"I am poor and needy." If he fued, in fuch a form of words, for us, fhall we think of fuing in any other form, for ourselves?

2. Preferve thou my foul, for I am holy; O thou my God, fave thy fervant, that trusteth in thee.

The word here tranflated "holy," is on the fame which is used in the xvith Pfalm; "Thou shalt not "fuffer thine Holy One to fee corruption." And indeed, if we understand "holinefs" in it's ftrict fense, no one but "he whom the Father fanctified, "and fent into the world," to redeem loft man, could fay to him, "Preferve my foul, for I am holy." But the word properly fignifies, "good, merciful, pious, "devoted to the service of God," &c. The Chriftian, therefore, only pleads, in this expreffion, his relation to Chrift, as being a member of Christ's body, the church, and a partaker of the gifts, which, by virtue of that membership, he has received through the Spirit of holinefs. So that this first part of the verse, "Preserve my foul, for I am holy," when repeated by us, is equivalent to another paffage in the Pfalms, "I am THINE, O fave me." cxix. 94. The latter member of the verfe under confideration teaches us to pray for help and falvation, as the "fervants" of God, whose eyes therefore look naturally to him," as the eyes of fervants," in affliction, "look unto the hand of their mafters." Pf. cxxiii. And happy, furely, are we in a master, who, himself, for our falvation, once lived, and prayed, and fuffered, and died, in " the form of a fervant." Phil. ii. 7.

2.