SECT. CXVI. CHRIST IN HIS PASSION DECLARETH THE GREATNESS OF HIS
SUFFERINGS, AND THE MALICE OF HIS PERSECUTORS THE JEWS; AND
FORETELLETH THEIR REPROBATION.

soul.

SAVE me, O God: for the waters are come in even unto my Psalm

I stick fast in the deep mire: and there is no sure standing. I am come into the depth of the sea and a tempest hath overwhelmed me.

I am weary with crying; my jaws are become hoarse mine eyes have failed, whilst I hope in my God.

They who hate me without cause: are multiplied above the hairs of my head.

Mine enemies who have wrongfully persecuted me are grown strong: then did I pay that which I took not away.*

O God, Thou knowest my foolishness: and my offences are not hidden from Thee:

Let not them who look for Thee, O Lord the Lord of hosts: be ashamed for me.

Let them not be confounded on my account, who seek Thee, O God of Israel.

Because for Thy sake I have borne reproach: shame hath covered my face.

I am become a stranger to my brethren, and an alien to the sons of my mother.

For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up:† and the reproaches of them that reproached Thee are fallen upon me. And I humbled my soul in fasting and it was made a reproach to me.

:

And I made hair-cloth my garment: and I became a by-word to them.

They that sat in the gate spake against me: and they that drank wine made me their song.

But as for me, my prayer is to Thee, O Lord: for the time of Thy good pleasure, O God.

In the multitude of Thy mercy hear me in the truth of Thy salvation.

Draw me out of the mire that I may not stick fast deliver me from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

Let not the water-flood drown me, nor the deep swallow me up and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

*Christ in His Passion made restitution of what He had not taken away, by suffering the punishment due to our sins, and so repairing the injury we had done to God. DOUAY BIBLE.

+ These words are applied to our Lord in S. John ii.

Hear me, O Lord, for Thy mercy is kind: look upon me according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies.

And turn not away Thy face from Thy servant: for I am in trouble, O hear me speedily.

Attend to my soul and deliver it: save me because of my enemies.

Thou knowest my reproach, and my confusion, and my shame.

In Thy sight are all they that afflict me: my heart hath expected reproach and misery.

And I looked for one that would grieve together with me, but there was none and for one that would comfort me, and I found him not.

And they gave me gall for my food: and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.*

Let their table become as a snare before them: and a retribution and a stumbling-block.

Let their eyes be darkened that they see not: and their back bend Thou down always.

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Pour out Thine indignation upon them: and let Thy wrathanger take hold of them.

Let their habitation be made desolate: and let there be none to dwell in their tents.

Because they have persecuted him whom Thou hast smitten: and they have added to the pain of my wounds.

Add Thou iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not attain to Thy justice.

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living: and with the just let them not be written.

But I am poor and sorrowful: Thy salvation, O God hath set me up.

I will praise the name of God with a canticle: and I will magnify Him with praise.

And it shall please God better than a young calf: that putteth forth horns and hoofs.

Let the poor see and rejoice: seek ye God, and your sou) shall live.

For the Lord hath heard the poor: and hath not despised His prisoners.

Let the heavens and the earth praise Him: the sea, and every thing that creepeth therein.

For God will save Sion: and the cities of Juda shall be built up.

*See Matt. xxvii. 34.

And they shall dwell there and acquire it by inheritance. And the seed of His servants shall possess it: and they that love His name shall dwell therein.

SECT. CXVII. A PROPHECY OF THE COMING OF CHRIST, AND OF HIS KING-
DOM, PREFIgured by soLOMON AND HIS HAPPY REIGN.

GIVE to the king Thy judgment, O God: and Thy justice Psalm unto the king's son.*

*

To judge Thy people with justice: and Thy poor with judgment.

Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills justice.

He shall judge the poor of the people; and He shall save the children of the poor: and He shall humble the oppressor. And He shall continue with the sun, and before the moon: throughout all generations.

He shall come down like rain upon the fleece: and as showers falling gently upon the earth.

In His days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace: till the moon be taken away.

And He shall rule from sea to sea: and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Before Him the Ethiopian shall fall down: and His enemies shall lick the ground.

The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:

And all kings of the earth shall adore Him: all nations shall serve Him.

For He shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper.

He shall spare the poor and needy and He shall save the souls of the poor.

He shall redeem their souls from usuries and wrong and their name shall be honourable in His sight.

And He shall live, and to Him shall be given of the gold of Arabia: for Him they shall always adore, they shall bless Him. all the day.

And there shall be abundance on the earth on the tops of mountains; above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth. Let His name be blessed for evermore: His name continueth before the sun.

*This Psalm is attributed to Solomon.

LXXI. 1-13,

Psalm

And in Him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify Him.

Blessed be the Lord the God of Israel: who alone doeth wonderful things.

And blessed be the name of His majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with His majesty. So be it, so be it.

SECT. CXVIII. THE SOUL ASPIRETH AFTER HEAVEN; REJOICING, IN THE
MEAN TIME, IN BEING IN THE COMMUNION OF GOD'S CHURCH UPON
EARTH.

How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! my soul LXXXIII. longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord.

1-13.

Psalm LXXXVIII.

My heart and my flesh have rejoiced: in the living God. For the sparrow hath found herself a house: and the turtle a nest for herself where she may lay her young:

Even Thine altars, O Lord of hosts: my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house, O Lord: they shall praise Thee for ever and ever.

Blessed is the man whose help is from Thee: in his heart he hath disposed to ascend by steps, in the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set.

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from

For the lawgiver shall give a blessing, they shall strength to strength: the God of gods shall be seen in Sion. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of

Jacob.

Behold, O God our protector: and look on the face of Thy Christ.

For one day in Thy courts: is better than a thousand.

I have chosen to be despised in the house of my God: rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners.

For God loveth mercy and truth: the Lord will give grace and glory.

He will not withhold good things from them that walk in innocence: O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee.

SECT. CXIX. THE CHURCH OF CHRIST SHALL LAST FOR EVER; BUT GOD
PERMITS HER TO SUFFER SOMETIMES MOST GRIEVOUS AFFLICTIONS.

THE mercies of the Lord: I will sing for evermore.

I will show forth Thy truth with my mouth: to generation 1-53. and generation.

For Thou hast said; Mercy shall be built up for ever in the heavens: Thy truth shall be established in them

I have made a covenant with Mine elect: I have sworn to David My servant: Thy seed will I establish for ever.

And I will build up thy throne: from generation to generation.

The heavens shall confess Thy wonders, O Lord and Thy truth in the church of the saints.

For who in the clouds can be compared to the Lord: or who among the sons of God shall be like to God?

God, who is glorified in the assembly of the saints: great and terrible above all them that are about Him.

O Lord God of hosts, who is like to Thee? Thou art mighty, O Lord, and Thy truth is round about Thee.

Thou rulest the power of the sea and appeasest the motion of the waves thereof.

Thou hast humbled the proud one, as one that is slain: with the arm of Thy strength Thou hast scattered Thine enemies.

Thine are the heavens, and Thine is the earth; the world and the fulness thereof Thou hast founded: the north and the sea Thou hast created.

Thabor and Hermon shall rejoice in Thy name: Thine arm is an arm of might.

Let Thy hand be strengthened, and Thy right hand exalted: justice and judgment are the preparation of Thy throne.

Mercy and truth shall go before Thy face: blessed is the people that knoweth gladness.

They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance: and in Thy name they shall rejoice all the day, and in Thy justice they shall be exalted.

For Thou art the glory of their strength: and in Thy good pleasure shall our horn be exalted.

For our protection is of the Lord: and of the Holy One of Israel our king.

Then Thou spokest in a vision to Thy saints, and saidst: I have laid help upon one that is mighty, and have exalted one chosen out of My people.

I have found David My servant: with My holy oil I have anointed him.

For My hand shall help him: and Mine arm shall strengthen him.

The enemy shall have no advantage over him: nor the son of iniquity have power to hurt him.

And I will cut down his enemies before his face and them that hate him I will put to flight.