Ps. lxxxix. 28 — 35. My mercy ivill I keep for him for ever- more, anal my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments ; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto David.
IN seasons of deep affliction, when, through unbe- lief, we are ready to think that God has forsaken and forgotten us, it is well to look back to God's covenant engagements, whereon, as on a rock, we may stand firm amidst the tempest that surrounds us. It was under such circumstances (probably about the time of the Babylonish captivity) that this psalm was penned. In it the stability of God's covenant is fully declared. The fears and apprehensions of his people, as arising from his apparent violation of it, are next delineated : and it concludes with fervent adorations of God, who, notwithstanding all the dic- tates of unbelief, is worthy to be blessed for evermore.
For the just use, as well as understanding, of the passage before us, we shall,