and his brethren.' This was the first he appointed to be sung in the public service, the several parts whereof were afterward nnich enlarged, as you may see by comparing the 105th Psalm with the former part of the song in the place fore-quoted, and Psalm cxvi., with the latter part of it. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon used the very form of words in praising God which his father had penned. Good Plezekiah commands the ' Levites to sing praise inito the Lord with the words of David,' 2 Chron. xxix. 30. This holy man, no doubt, was able to have poured forth extemporary praises, as it is thought he did in that prayer which he on the sudden put up on the occasion of that railing letter sent him, 2 Kings xix. 14; yet he did not think it luilawful to use a form in this public administration. Yea, oxu- blessed Savioui', an instance beyond all, both gave a form of prayer to his disciples, and himself disdained not to pray three several times, one after another, the very same form of words, Matt. xxvi. 44 : ' He left them, and went again and prayed the third time, saying the same words.' And that hymn which he sang with his disciples, is conceived by the learned to be that portion of Psalms which the Jews used at the celebration of the Passover; see Beza and (ierhard Harmo, i7i locum.
CHAPTER XLIV.
THIS HEAD OF PUBLIC PRAYER BRIEFLY IMPROVED.
I COME now to the fifth thing propounded, and that is applicatory.
Section I. — This shews what reason the people of God have to pray for good magistrates, especially kings and princes. As the inn is to the traveller, so kingdoms are to the church in its pilgrimage here on earth. Pray ' for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty,' 1 Tim. ii. 2. By godliness, he means in an especial manner the free profession of the truth, and the public exercise of God's pure worship. No magistrate can hinder the saints' living godly, as to the embracing of the truth in their hearts, and secret performance of prayer. Daniel would and could pray, though Nebuchadnezzar should do his worst. But princes carry the keys of the church doors at their girdles, and can shut or open them. When faithful magistrates sway the sceptre, then the ways to Zion are easy and open ; when enemies to the ways and worship of God bear rule, then the saints mourn, church doors are shut, and prison dooi's opened to the servants of Christ: then the woman flies into the wilderness, and the church into private chambers, as we find in the apostles' days, when the church was met with the doors shut to pray for Peter. O, pray for kings and princes! for as they carry the keys of the church doors, so God carries the key that opens the doors of their hearts.
Section II. — It reproves those that turn their backs on public worshij). Now, they are of two sorts :
First, The irreligious atheist, — such as, out of a profane spirit, turn their back on the public worship of God. The Jews have a saying, — -he that dwells in a city where there is a synagogue, and comes not to prayer there, is the person that deserves the name of a bad neighbour. How many bad neighbours do we live among, who are seldom seen in the public assembly from year to year ! Many live as if they had rent the bond that was sealed at their baptism, and renounced all homage to their Maker, and would tell the world they owe him no worship. They are worse brutes than the hog in his sty, or the horse in liis stable. They were made for our use, and accordingly serve us : man was intended for the service of his Maker, a creature made for religion, by which some would define thelunnan nature from that of brutes, rather than by his rational faculty : indeed, in some brutes there is a sagacity that looks something like man's discoursive facidty ; but religion is a thing their nature is wholly incapable of, and therefore nothing makes man so tridy a brute as irreligion. The Jewish Talmud propoimds tliis question. Why God made man ? and gives this as one reason. God made man on the evening just before the sabbath, that he might forthwith enter upon the observation of the command to sanctify the sabbath, and begin his life, as it were, with the worship of God, which was the chief end why it was given him. May we not therefore wonder at the patience of God in suflcring these ungodly wretches to live, that, by casting this horrid contempt
WITH ALL PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION. QQ'J