In the first verse, the psalmist expresses the pleasure with which he witnessed the general unanimity of the people, in assembling at the appointed season in this city for the worship of their God. "I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." It rejoiced my heart when I perceived this to be the general voice of the people, and that public opinion thus exhorted and quickened individuals to the common duty,censuring and condemning that listlessness and indolence through which any are inclined to excuse their omissions. The subsequent verses depict the admiration, joy, and devotion of the people themselves on their first entering the city and beholding at once its glory and grandeur. "They are represented as crying out with triumph, in the height of their surprise and joy, when from the gate they behold the buildings which present themselves to their view; Jerusalem is built! It is a city compact within itself, stately, beautiful, and regular!' description places us, as it were, under the very gate, and the houses and palaces rise almost conspicuous to our view. What added to their joy, when they beheld the city, was the presence of the ark in it, the courts of judicature, and the several other circumstances mentioned in the psalm." Jerusalem, the great seat and centre of religion and justice, was the centre of union to all the tribes; the palace, the centre of the city; and

The

"Blessed and hap

the tabernacle, of the palace. py," says Dr. Delaney, "is that nation whose prince is the centre of union to his people; and God, that is, true religion, the common centre and cement both of people and prince.”

It

In the sixth and seventh verses we have a sudden, but natural and affecting transition from admiration to devotion,-breathing out ardent prayers for the peace and prosperity of a city, which so many considerations united to endear to its inhabitants, and render them solicitous for its safety: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces." has been remarked that the original word here rendered, peace, "signifies pure, unmixed prosperity; undisturbed, and free from the corruption of any calamities." The ode then closes with a solemn assurance from the author to his people, whom he styles his brethren and friends," that for their sakes, and the high reverence he bare to the house of God, he would himself both pray for the prosperity, and in the whole of his government, endeavour to secure the tranquillity and welfare of the city: "For my brethren and companions' sakes, Peace be within thee !"

I will now say,.

Whoever might have been the real author of this ode, it was undoubtedly composed for the use of the public assemblies of Israel when convened

in the place where God had recorded his name. In singing it, while they manifested their reverence for the institutions of religion, they cherished the love of their country and the social virtues in general.

From this psalm, rightly understood, we may learn two practical lessons,-the one, relating to our duty as men and citizens; and the other to our obligations as Christians, favoured with the knowledge and privileges of the true religion. The first has the name of patriotism, the love of our country, of the civil community of which we are born members. I know not whether there be in the whole Bible another passage where this virtue, in its true and genuine nature, is more clearly and strongly inculcated. The whole composition breathes the public spirit of its author, and shows how dear to his heart were the interest, peace, and prosperity of his native soil. To enjoy these in common with his brethren and fellow-citizens, was what he desired above all other worldly objects, and for which he daily prayed to God and exhorted all about him to pray. Such were his patriotic feelings, originating in one of the constituent principles in the human constitution. Self-preservation is the first and great law of our nature. The principle of self-love implanted in our bosoms prompts every man to obey this law in seeking his own safety and happiness. But he finds his per

sonal happiness inseparably connected with that of his family, relations, friends, neighbours, in short, of the whole community subsisting under the same social compact, governed by the same laws and magistrates, whose several parts are variously connected one with another, and all united upon the basis of a common interest. The love of one's country, therefore, is the natural expansion of self lovea necessary consequence of the wise and rational love which a man owes to himself; since his own. happiness is connected with that of his country. This love of our country is natural to all men. They feel an attachment to the soil, the climate, the spot of earth where they had their nativity, and to all the objects around it; and these natural ideas are associated with those moral conceptions which are derived from parents, kindred, and fellowcitizens, and the whole tends to give the utmost strength to that affection which we call the love of our country. Hence patriotism has, in all ages and by all nations, been deemed one of the noblest passions that can warm and animate the breast of man. Those individuals, therefore, who are destitute of this affection, who are capable of preferring foreigners to their own people, and the interests of a foreign government and community to those of their own, must be deemed insensible to the feelings of nature; a degenerate offspring; rebels at

once against the dictates of reason and the precepts of religion.

Such moral inconsistencies, however, sometimes appear. They are among the baneful effects of human depravity. In consequence of the corrupt prejudices, with which sin has filled the human heart, men frequently mistake their own happiness, embrace evil under the delusive appearance of good, love darkness rather than light, and choose that which virtually tends to their own ruin. Our liableness to such self-deception and self-destruction, is the ground on which we are directed to seek the guidance of Him who made us, and his influence on our judgment, will, and affections. In praying to him for the peace and prosperity of our Jerusalem, that is, of our country, or of the community of which we are members,-we acknowledge our hearts and ways, our counsels and pursuits, to be in his hand, to be turned and changed at his pleasure; that he has an efficacious superintendency over all our affairs; is the source of all wisdom and might; through whose providence nations are prospered and increased, or wasted and destroyed; and that the destinies of all men, as societies and individuals, as public and as private characters, depend upon his giving or withholding that wisdom which is from above. To him therefore we should pray, that we and all our brethren of the community may be impressed with the true