Trouble and Deliverance.

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But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

CXXVI.

Luke 14: 12-14.

Trouble and Deliverance.

Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust,
Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground,
Yet man is born unto trouble,

As the sparks fly upward.

I would seek unto God,

And unto God would I commit my cause :
Which doeth great things and unsearchable;
Marvellous things without number:
Who giveth rain upon the earth,

And sendeth waters upon the fields:
To set up on high those that be low;

That those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
He disappointeth the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness :

And the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the daytime,

And grope in the noonday as in the night.

But he saveth the poor from the sword,

From their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor hath hope,

And iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth :

Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the

Almighty :

For he maketh sore, and bindeth up:

He woundeth, and his hands make whole.
He shall deliver thee in six troubles :

Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
In famine he shall redeem thee from death:
And in war from the power of the sword.

Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue;
Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it

cometh.

At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh :

Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the

earth.

For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field:

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with

thee.

Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age,

Like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. Job 5: 6-23, 26. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Matt. 6:19-21.

Cease to do Evil: Learn to do Well. 147

CXXVII.

"Cease to do Evil: Learn to do Well."

Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Isaiah 1: 16-20.

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Eph. 4:28, 29.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. Eph. 5:11.

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.

And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another.

Eph. 4:31.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.

law.

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no

Gal. 5:22-23.

If ye fulfil the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well:

CXXVIII.

The Parable of the Excuses.

Jas. 2:8.

And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.

Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many; and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.

And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.

So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt and the blind.

And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.

And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into

The Deliverer.

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the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

CXXIX.

The Deliverer.

I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.

Luke 14: 15-24.

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

My God, my strength, in whom I will trust;

My buckler, and the horn of my salvation and my high tower.

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: So shall I be saved from mine enemies.

The sorrows of death compassed me,

And the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
The sorrows of hell compassed me about:

The snares of death prevented me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried unto my God:

He heard my voice out of his temple,

And my cry came before him, even into his ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations also of the hills moved
And were shaken, because he was wroth.
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,
And fire out of his mouth devoured:
Coals were kindled by it.

He bowed the heavens also, and came down: