this-Thy will be done." Lord Bolingbroke's Reflexions on Exile, p. 276.

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 I 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.'

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

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. I; 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 knowledge 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 mer

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chandise 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 commandments.

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 acknowledgment 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 upon 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 is faithful' and true to his word, wherein he hath never promised the crown without the cross, but hath, on the contrary, assured us, that one will be necessary in order to our obtaining the other; and that they who are beloved by him shall not sin with impunity, nor go astray without a call to return. All this we ought to know,' or to be assured of beyond doubt, as we may be from the many declarations in Scripture, from our own experience, and from that of others.

76. Let, I pray thee, thy mercy and kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy ser

vant.

In the former verse the criminal, finding that the hand of God was upon him, had owned the justice and the faithfulness of his judge in the punishment inflicted. Judgment having thus had her perfect work, the offender, now humbled and penitent,

maketh application to the throne of grace, and sueth for that mercy which God, by his word,' hath promised to his servants, who are chastened, not for their destruction, but for their salvation. When God's judgments' have brought us to an acknowledgment of our sins, his merciful kindness' will speedily be our comfort.'

77. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live for thy law is my delight.

The mercies of God are ' tender mercies,' they are the mercies of a father to his children, nay, tender as the compassion of a mother over the son of her womb. They ' come unto' us when we are not able to go to them. By them alone we 'live' the life of faith, of love, of joy and gladness. And to such as delight' in his law, God will grant these mercies, and this life; he will give them pardon, and, by so doing, he will give them life from

the dead.

78. Let the proud be ashamed, for they dealt perversely with me without a cause; but I will meditate in thy precepts.

This complaint of the Psalmist hath been made by the faithful in all ages, that the men of the world' dealt perversely with them without a cause," or oppressed them falsely, first spreading slanders and calumnies concerning them, and then persecuting them for those supposed crimes. Such usage should have no other effect upon us than it had upon David. He prayed that shame' and disappointment might teach humility to the proud, and applied himself still more and more to meditate in the precepts' of his God.