HE SHALL CUT OFF THE SPIRIT OF PRINCES:

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expressions of their love and adoration: like the wise men of the east, they shall open the treasures which they have brought from afar, and present unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh; they shall emulate each other in the offerings which they present; and he who sitteth upon the throne will graciously receive them. This is no ideal, but a true representation, grounded on many scriptures, as to the manners and customs of the world, when peace and truth shall be universal, and God in very deed shall dwell with man upon the earth, and there be visible in his holy mountain.

"He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth."

In that day when the stout-hearted are spoiled, "he shall speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure:" then will he "cut off the spirit of princes; and be terrible to the kings of the earth," "and to the rich men, and the great men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men." The leaders of the great rebellion will be the especial objects of his vengeance, in the great day of his wrath.

PSALM LXXVII.

1. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.

2. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

3. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah. 4. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5. I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.

6. I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart; and my spirit made diligent search.

7. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?

8. Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?

9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

10. And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.

11. I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

12. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.

13. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God?

14. Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou

hast declared thy strength among the people.

THE LIFE OF CHRIST WAS A LIFE OF PRAYER. 9

15. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

16. The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.

17. The clouds poured out water; the skies sent out a sound: thine arrows also went abroad.

18. The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven; the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.

19. Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. 20. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

"I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear to

me."

The life of Christ was a life of prayer; "O my God, I cry unto thee in the day time, and thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent." While he exhorted men to pray always, and not to faint, he himself was a perfect example of this great duty; thus his faith never wavered, and whatsoever he asked of God he received. There is a beatiful illustration of this confidence in God, at the raising of Lazarus, "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always." He prayed without ceasing; he was continually with God.

"In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord."

His was a life of troubles, yet not such as are known among men; he was wholly free from all

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I REMEMBERED GOD AND WAS TROUBLED.

those heart burnings which arise from envy and jealousy and disappointed hopes; an entire stranger to the sorrows of the world; "for the sorrow of the world worketh death." It was sin which occasioned all his trouble, and profound grief; sin, but not his own; he, the holy one of God was surrounded by sinners, ever violating that sacred law which was so dear to his soul; as he saith in the 119th Psalm, "O, how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day." Because of the sins of men his soul was full of troubles, and his life drew nigh unto the grave." (Psalm lxxxviii. 3). "Trouble and anguish have taken hold upon me; yet thy commandments are my delights." In the day of his trouble he sought the Lord, and said, "Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily." (Psalm cii. 2).

"My sore ran in the night, and ceased Lot; my soul refused to be comforted."

It was an internal sore; a heart disease; a troubled soul; a soul so troubled as to refuse to be comforted; "for the reproaches of them that reproached God fell on him ;" and he was alone in his sorrow, and in the deep dejection of his soul; he had no comforters, nor any to symathize, or to mingle their tears with his. "I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert; I watch, and am as a sparrow alone on the house top." (Psalm cii. 6).

"I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed."

HE WATERED HIS COUCH WITH HIS TEARS. 11

How could the remembrance of God occasion trouble to his soul, seeing he lived on God, and delighted in God, and that all his happiness was bound up in him? It was this intense devotion to God, (whom all around him were disregarding and dishonouring,) that occasioned his profound grief; "horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that forsake thy law." (Psalm cxix. 53). When he remembered God, and beheld his law set at nought, and despised, then was he troubled, and his spirit was overwhelmed within him.

"Thou holdest mine eyes waking; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.'

Although his face when seen, could not fail to depict the habitual grief of his soul; (for the face of a man is usually the index of his heart,) yet it was in seclusion and retirement that he gave full vent to the profound grief which overwhelmed him: thus "he watered his couch with his tears," for hour after hour in the silent watches of the night, his eyes trickled down with tears, and ceased not, until his sight became dim with weeping, and "by reason of the voice of his groanng, his bones did cleave unto his skin." 66 "Depart from me all ye workers of iniquity, for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping; the Lord hath heard my supplications, the Lord will receive my prayer." (Psalm vi. 8.)