their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power pre-serve thou those that are appointed to die;

12 And render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have re-proached thee, O Lord.

13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will shew forth thy praise to all generations.

These psalms [LXXIX and LXXX] are a beseeching of God to return. This is just where some of the Old Testament writers fail in their conception of God. God is first a Principle and only sequentially a Person, hence, as St. James says, “with him is no variableness neither shadow of turning.” It is our own weakness, as Ps. LXXVII: 10 says.

Psalm 80

GIVE ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

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