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THIS is a most conspicuous and most blessed prophecy of the kingdom of Christ, and of its extension from the rising unto the setting of the sun throughout all the kingdoms of the earth: it calls upon all nations to laud and magnify God, and to proclaim the riches of his grace; that is, the remission of sins for Christ's sake. For Christ is the God of the humble, the God of the afflicted, and the God of those that call upon him and that cry unto him; he is an altogether loving and lovely Saviour and God, who sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty on high, and loves and has respect unto the humble, the afflicted, the oppressed, and the trembling and contrite in heart.

The peculiar and express office of Christ, and the work of the kingdom of Christ is to bring down the proud, to put to shame the wise, and to condemn hypocrites and false saints: and, on the other side, to raise up and exalt the humble, to enlighten and instruct fools, to sanctify unclean sinners, to make fruitful the barren, to comfort the fatherless; that is, those who are in any way afflicted or distressed.

PSALM CXIV.

An exhortation, by the example of the dumb creatures, to fear God in his church.

WHEN Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,

Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.

The sea saw it, and fled; Jordan was driven back.

The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs,

What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?

Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills like lambs?

Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

THIS is a Psalm of thanksgiving, and a song for the people of Israel, to praise God while celebrating the feast of the passover; to magnify him for bringing them with a high hand out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, through the desert, over mountains, and through Jordan, into the land of promise. We use this Psalm to give thanks unto Christ, who delivered us from the kingdom of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of light, even into his own kingdom, the kingdom of God's dear Son, and led us forth into eternal life.

PSALM CXV.

Because God is truly glorious, and idols are vanity, he exhorteth to confidence in God.-God is to be blessed for his blessings.

NOT unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

But our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not;

They have ears, but they hear not; noses have they, but they smell not;

They have hands, but they handle not; feet have they, but they walk not; neither speak they through their throat.

They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

O Israel, trust thou in the LORD; he is their help and their shield.

O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; he is their help and their shield.

Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; he is their help and their shield.

The LORD hath been mindful of us; he will bless us: he will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron.

He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.

The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

But we will bless the LORD from this time forth Praise the LORD.

and for evermore.

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THIS is a glorious Psalm of thanksgiving, wherein the God of Israel is praised, as being the one, only, true, living God, the Saviour of all men, and especially of them that believe; and wherein also, all the other gods of the nations, who can save neither themselves nor others, are confessed, in the true faith, to be dumb idols.

Wherefore the Psalmist, in the first verse, saith "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give the glory." As if he had said, ' Look not upon us, O Lord, to see how good or how righteous we are, for if thou do this, thou wilt never help us, thou wilt never save us; we shall remain a people without salvation, and without God, like all the nations around us; or we shall ever be at an uncertainty whether we shall be saved or not. But look, O our God, at thy holy word, and at the glory of thine own name,—that thou callest thyself our God; and that thou art the true and the living God, with whom is mercy, and with whom is plenteous redemption. According, O Lord, to thy promises of grace, according to thy counsel and thy covenant, in the which thou hast said, "I am the Lord your God;" according to this thy glorious name deal thou with us, O Lord; but not according to any name of ours, whereby we may be called sacrificers, or good-workers, or singers, or fathers, or the like: for all these names the nations that know not thee may assume, and yet remain still nations without God.

PSALM CXVI.

The psalmist professeth his love and duty to God for his deliverance.— He studieth to be thankful.

I LOVE the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, there

fore will I call upon him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and

sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of the LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.

For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted.

I said in my haste, All men are liars.

What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits towards me?

I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of LORD.

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