the pattern now before us, in fervent zeal and unwearied labor, for the salvation of men, and the glory of their great Redeemer; both which will then be complete, when the church militant shall become triumphant, and the heavenly paradise shall be filled with plants taken from its terrestrial nursery.

Theodore Zuinger, of whom some account may be found in Thuanus, when he lay on his death-bed, took his leave of the world, in a paraphrase on the foregoing Psalm; giving it the same turn with that given to it above. I have never been able to get a sight of the original; but one may venture, I believe, to say, that it

Since the publication of the first edition, a learned friend has obliged me with a copy of these Latin verses of Zuinger, transcribed from the 303d page of Vitæ Germanorum Medicorum, by Melchior Adamus. They are as follow:

O lux candida, lux mihi

Læti conscia transitus!
Per Christi meritum patet
Vitæ porta beatæ.
Me status revocat dies
Augustam Domini ad domum:
Jam sacra ætherii premam
Lætus limina templi.
Jam visam Solymæ edita
Cœlo culmina, et ædium
Cœtus angelicos, suo et
Augustam populo urbem :
Urbem quam procul infimis
Terræ finibus exciti

Petunt Christiadæ, et Deum

Laudent voce perenni :
Jussam cœlitus oppidis
Urbem jus dare cæteris,
Et sedem fore Davidis
Cuncta in sæcla beati.
Mater nobilis urbium!
Semper te bona pax amat :
Et te semper amantibus

Cedunt omnia recte.
Semper pax tua mœnia
Colit; semper in atriis
Tuis copia dextera

Larga munera fundit.
Dulcis Christiadum domus,
Civem adscribe novitium ;
Sola comitata Caritas-

Spesque Fidesque valete

has lost nothing in a translation of it by the late learned and pious Mr. Merrick; which is so excellent, that I must beg leave to present it to the reader. Some of the lines are retained in his more literal poetical version, published in 1765. It may serve as a finished specimen of the noble and exalted use which a Christian may and ought to make of the Psalms of David.

PSALM CXXII.

What joy, while thus I view the day
That warns my thirsting soul away,
What transports fill my breast!
For, lo, my great Redeemer's pow'r
Unfolds the everlasting door,

And leads me to his rest.

The festal morn, my God, is come,
That calls me to the hallow'd dome,
Thy presence to adore:

My feet the summons shall attend,
With willing steps thy courts ascend,
And tread th' ethereal floor.
E'en now to my expecting eyes
The heav'n-built towers of Salem rise;
E'en now, with glad survey,
I view her mansions, that contain
Th' angelic forms, an awful train,
And shine with cloudless day.
Hither from earth's remotest end,
Lo, the redeem'd of God ascend,
Their tribute hither bring:
Here, crown'd with everlasting joy,
In hymns of praise their tongues employ,
And hail th' immortal King:

Great Salem's King; who bids each state
On her decrees dependent wait;

In her, ere time begun,

High on eternal base uprear'd,
His hands the regal seat prepar'd,
For Jesse's favor'd son.

Mother of cities! O'er thy head

See Peace, with healing wings outspread
Delighted fix her stay.

How blest, who calls himself thy friend!

Success his labors shall attend,
And safely guard his way.

Thy walls, remote from hostile fear,
Nor the loud voice of tumult hear,
Nor war's wild wastes deplore
There smiling Plenty takes her stand,
And in thy courts with lavish hand
Has pour'd forth all her store.
Let me, blest seat, my name behold
Among thy citizens enroll'd,
In thee for ever dwell.
Let charity my steps attend,
My sole companion and my friend,
And faith and hope farewell!

PSALM CXXIII.

ARGUMENT.

[This Psalm containeth, 1, 2. an act of confidence in God, with, 3, 4. a prayer for deliverance from that reproach and contempt which infidelity and sensuality are won't to pour on the afflicted people of God.]

1. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens,'

The church, when distressed and persecuted on earth, " lifteth up her eyes to him that dwelleth in the heavens,' from thence beholding and ordering all things here below. It is by his permission that she is depressed and insulted; and he only can deliver her out of the hands of her enemies.

2. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.

The servants of God, like other servants, if they are injured and suffer violence, expect redress and protection from the Master whose they are, and whom they serve. Under the law of Moses, a master was to demand satisfaction, and to have it made him, for any hurt done to his servant. And shall not the best of masters avenge the wrongs done to those who serve him; and done,

perhaps, because they serve him? Without doubt, he will avenge them speedily, and reward the sufferers gloriously. 3.Have mercy upon us O LORD, have mercy upon us; for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.' 4. 'Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.'

Unbelieving, ungodly, and worldly men, who are 'at ease,' and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, will always be ready to cast on the afflicted servants of Christ some portion of that reproach and contempt, which were so plentifully poured on their blessed Master, in the day of his passion, and indeed through his whole life. With these they may justly complain that their souls are exceedingly filled,' insomuch that they are compelled to exclaim with redoubled earnestness, Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us.' And let them know, for their comfort, that the Lord will have mercy upon them' in that day, when sensuality shall be succeeded by torment, and pride shall end in shame and confusion; when patient poverty shall inherit everlasting riches, and oppressed humility shall be exalted to a throne above the stars.

PSALM CXXIV.

ARGUMENT.

[In this Psalm, which, as we are informed by the title, hath David for its author, the church describeth the danger in which she had been, and giveth to God alone the glory of her deliverance out of it.]

6

1. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;' 2. If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:' 3.' Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us.'

The people of Israel, rescued from impending ruin, break forth into a joyful acknowlegement of that almighty aid, to which they were indebted for their deliverance. 'Men' rose up against them, but Jehovah' was on their side; men intended to devour, but God interposed to save. May not 'the Israel of God' say, in like manner,

"If the Lord had not been on our side,' when our spiritual enemies, sin, death, and hell, were in arms against us, surely now they had swallowed us up quick,' and we had perished everlastingly? It is thou, O Lord Jesu, who hast wrought for us this great salvation; it is thou who from the beginning hast preserved thy church in the world, amidst the persecutions which must otherwise have put an end to its very existence.

4. Then the waters had overwhelmed us; the stream,' or torrent, had gone over our soul;' 5. 'Then the proud,' or swelling, 'waters had gone over our soul.'

The redeemed are astonished, on looking back, at the greatness of the danger to which they had been exposed. They can compare the fury and insolence of their adversaries to nothing but overwhelming floods and desolating torrents; and they consider themselves as snatched by a miracle from instant destruction. Happy they, who are taken from the evil to come, and have passed from the miseries of earth to the felicities of heaven, where they are neither tempted nor molested more. The devout Christian, whom in perilous times, and towards the close of life, a gracious Providence has thrown ashore in some sequestered corner, from whence he views those secular tumults with which he hath no farther concern, is perhaps arrived at the next degree of happiness to that of just spirits made perfect.

6. Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.' 7. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.'

The marvellous deliverance of Israel is illustrated by two other images. It is compared to the escape of a lamb from the jaws of a wolf, or a lion; and to that of a bird, by the breaking of the snare, in which it had been entangled, before the fowler came to seize and to kill it. Save us, O God, from the rage and the subtility of our spiritual adversary; save us from his teeth, when he would devour; from his snares, when he would deceive: suffer us not, either by persecution or temptation, to fall from thee; let the lion gnash his teeth, and the fowler look for his captive, in vain; that so we too may sing the song of