use of the wicked, to chastise and punish thy servants, when thy designs shall be accomplished, thou wilt cast them from thee, and make them suffer humiliation and shame, as a punishment for their violence and pride.

VERSES 6, 7.

And awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded. So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about.

HAST thou not commanded us, O Lord, to defend the innocent? Hast thou not established it as a law that we should not suffer strength and injustice to oppress weakness and innocence? I plead this command, and ask of thee the same succor for my innocence, with which thou commandest us to succor the innocence of our brethren. Let all the people see that thy servants have a protector in heaven, always ready to appear for them. Let them know that all the malice of men can effect nothing against those whom thou coverest under the shadow of thy wings; and that thou knowest how, when it is necessary, to make thy power manifest by protecting them. The people struck with these wonders, will come in crowds to surround thine altars; the number of thy worshippers will be augmented; and the faith of the righteous, and their confidence in thy promises will be increased.*

*The Translator has omitted the Meditations of the author upon the remainder of this Psalm, in order to give room for other Psalms, which, in his view, would afford more instruction to the reader.

PSALM VIII.

Adoration of the divine perfections, as manifested in the works of creation; and thanksgiving to God for his wonderful goodness to man.

VERSE 1. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

can

OST great and eternal God, sovereign master of the universe! What part of the earth I go over, where I shall not find, all around me, evident marks of thy presence, and reasons for admiring the greatness and magnificence of thy holy name? If some savage people have suffered the idea of thee, which thou hadst engraved upon their souls, to be effaced, all the creatures which they have under their eyes bear it written in characters so indelible and so bright that they are inexcusable in not acknowledging thee. In vain does the proud infidel boast that he knows thee not, and that he does not find in himself any idea of thine infinite essence. It is because he looks for thee, O most holy God, in his depraved heart, and in his passions, rather than in his reason. But let him look around him, and he will find thee every where; all the earth will proclaim his God to him; he will see traces of thy greatness, of thy power, and of thy wisdom, enstamped upon all creatures; and his corrupt heart will be found the only thing in the universe which does not announce and · acknowledge the author of its being.

VERSE 1.

Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

MAN, having become wholly carnal, and minding earthly things, knows how to admire those beauties only which strike his senses. But, O most great and glorious God! if he would silence those debasing thoughts which obscure his reason,-if he knew how

to elevate his mind above himself and all sensible objects, he would immediately acknowledge that all that is great and magnificent in the universe is but a rough sketch and faint shadow of that greatness and glory which surround thee. The heavens themselves, whose height and magnificence seem to us so worthy of admiration, are as an atom in the view of thine immensity. Those stupendous globes, though so highly elevated above us, are infinitely more beneath the feet of thine adorable throne, than they are above the earth. Every thing manifests thy greatness, and yet nothing can trace out even a faint image of it. Raise then my soul, O God, above all visible things. Let me see thee, and love thee alone, in the midst of all the objects which thou hast created. Let them never, in my view, be exalted above their original destination and use. They were made only to display the perfections of him who created them, not to attract the love and homage of mankind.

VERSE 2. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

O THOU great supreme! Thou hast so visibly engraved thy holy name on all the works of thy hands, that there is no necessity either of sublime light or of proud science to lead to a knowledge of thine existence. The first impressions of reason and nature are sufficient for this; and were not these obscured or extinguished by the darkness of passion, or the false light of an abstruse and foolish philosophy, all men would recognize thee. Thou manifestest thyself to the humble only,-to those who are babes in their own estimation. It is they alone who know thee, and who render to thee the only homage worthy of thee, by loving thee, and publishing the praises of thy grace. But thou blindest proud sinners; thou deliverest up those enemies of thy name to the vani

ty and wickedness of their thoughts. Thou sufferest them to fall from abyss to abyss, from darkness to darkness. And because they wish, by their proud researches, to elevate themselves to a knowledge not possessed by the rest of mankind, thou permittest their reason to be darkened, and their souls to lose even that light which is common to all men. Do not abandon me, O God, to that detestable pride which leads to a forgetfulness and finally to a rejection of thee; give me that humble and submissive disposition which wishes to know no more of the adorable secret things belonging to thee than what thou shalt see fit to reveal,-and which thinks it knows all that is necessary, when it knows that man is but ignorance and darkness.

VERSE 3. When I consider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

AND indeed, O Lord my God, what necessity is there of deep researches and laborious speculations, to know what thou art? I have but to raise mine eyes on high. I see the immensity of the heavens which are the work of thy hands,-those great bodies of light which roll so regularly and majestically over our heads, compared with which the earth is but an imperceptible atom. What magnificence, great God! Who said to the sun, spring from nothing, and preside over the day; and to the moon, appear, and be , the torch of the night! Who gave being and name to that multitude of stars which, with so much splendor, decorate the firmament, and which are so many immense suns giving light to numerous worlds revolving around them. Who is the workman whose almighty power could produce these wonders, in which all the pride of dazzled reason is lost and confounded? Ah, What Being but thou, O sovereign creator of the universe, could have produced them? Did they

themselves spring from nothing by chance? And will the infidel be mad enough to attribute to that which is not, an almighty power which he dares to " refuse to him who exists essentially, and by whom » every thing was made?

VERSE 4. What is man that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

FOR myself, deeply humbled at the view of so much glory and magnificence, I exclaim,-Is it possible that a God so great and so glorious will abase himself so low as to think of man, and make him the object of his care? That in thy sight, O holy God, I am but dust and ashes is nothing, compared with the wickedness of my heart, and the sinful stains which pollute me. Yet a rebellious worm of the dust, such as I am, attracts thy regards; and it has not appeared to thee unworthy of thy glory to remember me, and to visit me in thy great mercy.

VERSES 59. For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast feet. All sheep and oxen, yea, field; The fowl of the air, and whatsoever passeth through the LORD our LORD, how excellent earth!

put all things under his and the beasts of the the fish of the sea and paths of the seas. is thy name in all the

BUT I cease, O my God, to be surprised when I call to mind the state of glory and innocence in which thou didst create man. Thou didst impress upon him the glorious image of thy divinity. Thou didst breathe into his clay the spirit of life, an immortal soul, capable of knowing and loving thee. Thou didst adorn him with the gifts of knowledge, holiness, and righteousness. He only of all visible creatures had a right to raise himself to thee, to speak to